Snake (SSBU): Difference between revisions

'''Snake''' ({{ja|スネーク|Sunēku}}, ''Snake'') is a playable character in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''. He was officially confirmed on June 12th, 2018, with his appearance exclaiming "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YmIl3jA758 Everyone is Here!]" with the rest of the returning roster. Snake is classified as [[Fighter number|Fighter #31]].

Snake currently ranks 4th out of 82 on the ''Ultimate'' [[tier list]], placing him in the middle of S tier. This is a marginal improvement from his placement in ''Brawl'', where he was ranked 6th out of 38. He is gifted with an exceptionally versatile moveset, having a wide variety of powerful tools at his disposal, including fast [[startup]] on the majority of his attacks, large, [[disjointed hitbox]]es on many of his moves, high damage and knockback output, one of the game's best burst options with his [[dash attack]], an excellent projectile and [[camping]] game with his many explosives, a great [[tech-chasing]] and setup move with his [[down throw]], a fast and highly damaging [[out of shield]] option with his [[down aerial]], and fantastic stage control, ledge trapping and [[edgeguard]]ing capabilities. His [[Hand Grenade|grenade]]s are one of the best projectiles in the game due to their frame 1 startup, making them excellent combo breakers and setup tools, and their ability to be shield dropped and subsequently picked up gives them vast utility for both offense and defense in battle. They can also be [[B-reverse]]d to help Snake mix up his landing, and his [[heavyweight]] status gives him strong endurance, while also allowing him to make use of [[rage]]. His [[up tilt]] remains an extremely lethal KO move due to its decently sized hitbox, as well as its sheer speed and power.

Snake can also struggle to kill. Snake's two most reliable killing options (up tilt and down throw) can be rather predictable at times. This is especially true for down throw. High level players know that reaching 159% means a 100% guaranteed death to Snake's next grab. Though Nikita missiles are strong for edgeguarding, many characters have a variety of options to deal with Nikita. This issue can be partially mitigated by shield canceling it after the missile gets hit to activate a secondary hitbox. However, this tactic significantly reduces the damage and knockback of the Missile.

==Changes from ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''==

Directly, Snake has suffered from several critical nerfs to his moveset. His damage output and KO power from ''Brawl'' have been largely toned down, as his [[neutral attack]], [[forward tilt|forward]] and [[down tilt]]s, [[dash attack]], [[forward smash]], and all of his [[aerial attack]]s deal less damage, knockback, or both; this substantially weakens his damage racking ability and KO potential, putting them more in-line with the rest of the cast despite remaining above average. While he still possesses large disjoints in his attacks, Snake's [[range]] has been significantly neutered, as the infamously large hitboxes on his attacks are now much smaller or have been completely removed; his infamous [[up tilt]], in particular, has had its range drastically reduced. All of his moves' explosions can now be [[absorb]]ed, worsening his matchups against characters with  absorption based moves such as {{SSBU|Ness}}, {{SSBU|Lucas}}, and {{SSBU|Mr. Game & Watch}}. Most notably, Snake's [[down smash]] no longer involves him placing a landmine, removing one of his main tools for stage control (although it remains deceptively strong) in lieu of a more traditional punish tool. Snake's [[weight]] is also much lighter, now being a heavyweight character instead of a super heavyweight, while his [[Cypher]] can now be destroyed by opponents if their attack is powerful enough.

However, Snake has also received some direct improvements to his toolkit. Most notably, his previously poor air game was drastically improved: his [[neutral aerial|neutral]] and [[down aerial]]s' multihits have reduced [[startup]] and better linking angles, significantly improving their consistency and potential as follow ups, while [[down aerial|down]] and [[back aerial]] can now [[autocancel]] in a short hop and full hop respectively. Due to the direct improvements it has received along with Snake's significantly faster jumpsquat, down aerial is much more effective and reliable as a fast and highly damaging [[out of shield]] option. For his grounded moves, down tilt has lower [[ending lag]] and increased damage, making it safer as a poking and shield pressuring tool; up tilt has slightly increased KO potential on both the clean and late hit and the clean hit has a longer duration, making it an even more fearsome KO option; [[dash attack]] has both increased knockback at low percentages and a lower angle and extended duration on the clean hit, allowing it to setup [[edgeguard]] opportunities and making it far more effective as a burst option, especially at lower percents. Furthermore, while down throw is less useful for tech chasing and deals less damage, it immobilizes opponents on the ground for a specific amount of time depending on their percent before the throw, giving Snake guaranteed KO setups at high percents including a KO confirm into up tilt once the opponent is at ~160%.

In spite of the nerfs to his damage racking, neutral game and survivability, Snake immensely benefits from some of the universal changes to ''Ultimate''{{'}}s game engine. Similar to the returning veterans, Snake has faster mobility (although it is still below average) and decreased [[landing lag]] in all of his aerial attacks, giving him landing options. Most importantly however, Snake benefits the most from the universal 3-frame [[jumpsquat]] as his jumpsquat is no longer the slowest in the series, massively improving his ground to air transitioning as well as his [[out of shield]] game. Additionally, while the removal of chain grabbing hurts his down throw's tech chasing potential, it more importantly improves his endurance as he is no longer vulnerable to highly damaging chain grabs from certain characters, most notably {{SSBU|Pikachu}} and {{SSBU|King Dedede}}. The changes to [[air dodge]]s benefit Snake as well, as the reintroduction of directional air dodges improves his recovery by allowing him to get additional distance to the ledge after using Cypher, and Cypher's lingering hitbox can cover his air dodge, while the limit to one air dodge per air time (until the character lands or is hit) combine well with Remote Missile's buffs and grant Snake one of (''if'' not) the best edgeguarding tools in the game. While the changes to hitstun canceling impair Snake's disadvantage, they also allow him to utilize his projectiles as setup tools into his attacks much more effectively. Finally, the shield changes and increased [[shieldstun]] (especially for tilts) makes his moves safer on shield and harder to punish despite his lower damage.  

{{SSB4 to SSBU changelist|char=Snake}}

''See also: [[:Category:Snake players (SSBU)]]''

*{{Sm|AlanDiss|Mexico}} - One of the best Snake players in North America in the post-online metagame, and is also a top 10 player in Mexico during that period. He has placed top 24 at every post-online major he has attended, including 9th at both the supermajor {{Trn|Smash Factor X}} and the major {{Trn|Delfino Maza 2023}}.

*{{Sm|ApolloKage|USA}} - One of the best Snake players in the world in the post-online metagame, placing top 8 at several majors including 5th at the supermajors {{Trn|Let's Make Moves Miami}} and {{Trn|Mainstage 2022}}. His highest ranking is 20th on the [[UltRank 2022]].

*{{Sm|DIO|Japan}} - One of the best Snake players in the post-online metagame, placing top 8 at several majors including 4th at the supermajor {{Trn|Kagaribi 7}} and 7th at the supermajor {{Trn|Umebura SP 9}}. His highest ranking is 27th on the [[LumiRank Mid-Year 2023]].

*{{Sm|MVD|USA}} - One of the most prominent Snake players in ''Ultimate'', and was considered the best Snake player in the world in 2021, ranking 20th on the [[OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse]]. He has placed top 8 at several majors, including 4th at the major {{Trn|Super Smash Con: Fall Fest}} and 5th at the supermajor {{Trn|Let's Make Big Moves}}.

*{{Sm|ScAtt|USA}} - Co-mains Snake with {{SSBU|Mega Man}}, ranking 40th on the [[Fall 2019 PGRU]] with both characters. He used Snake to place 9th at the supermajors {{Trn|Smash 'N' Splash 5}} and {{Trn|The Big House 9}}. His activity has since declined, and he has mostly been participating in events in his region.

*{{Sm|Shogun|Japan}} - Although inconsistent throughout his career, he was the best Snake player in the world from mid-2019 until the start of the online metagame, placing 9th at the major {{Trn|Umebura SP 7}} and 17th at the supermajors {{Trn|EVO 2019}} and {{Trn|2GG: Kongo Saga}} during this time. He retired from competitive play in 2023.

===Tier placement and history===

This high perception, however, wouldn't last as players began learning how to play around Snake's strengths while using Snake's lacking disadvantage state in their favor. Furthermore, Snake's top-level representation also began to suffer mid-2019 due to Ally's ban, MVD's decline in results, and Salem picking up other characters to use alongside Snake. Although Snake continued to have high representation going into, during, and out of the online metagame, players began wondering whether Snake was starting to fall out of the metagame.

=={{SSBU|Classic Mode}}: Weapons and Equipment OSP==