Alongside of Joker in version 3.0, Ultimate has received another balance patch. In this post, I will not be going over every change that came with the patch, just those that I think are notable within the meta game. I will also like to discuss some of the changes I was hoping to see, but didn’t.

Notable Fighter Adjustments

Chrom/Lucina/Marth/Roy
All of the above Fire Emblem heroes have received a buff to their dash grab. This is a good buff for the fighters because they each have a solid throw combo game, and their up throw also kills at high percents. Giving them this slight buff to their grab helps their neutral game and combo game both.
Corrin
Continuing the Fire Emblem buffs, Corrin received several changes to his moves.

It’s not like Corrin had much of a presence in tournaments before 3.0, but these are all beneficial changes to the dragon lord so we might see a bit more of him in the future.
Diddy Kong
Diddy received a few buffs as well to his five of his attacks.

Diddy has not made any splashes in Ultimate so far, since he has received quite a few nerfs since Smash 4. The biggest nerf I think that still needs addressing is his recovery, when charged, Diddy falls too quickly and the launch doesn’t bring him as far as it seems it should.
Mewtwo
3.0 was very friendly to Mewtwo, receiving the most buffs in the update.

I thought Mewtwo was a solid character before 3.0, but I can already sense the wave of Mewtwo players coming after this patch. The buff that stands out the most to me is his weight increase, being able to live longer while increasing his offense as much as they did makes him a much stronger character.
Pichu
Pichu has received a highly necessary nerf, in my opinion, in which it is now easier to deal damage to Pichu. What made Pichu extremely frustrating to play against is his tiny size. Many moves would often wiff against Pichu due entirely to the mouse’s size. Going forward, the struggle to land a hit on Pichu shouldn’t be as large. Pichu isn’t the only small top tier, I would have hoped to see this same change for Olimar, Squirtle, and perhaps Inkling while dashing.
Sheik
Sheik received a couple of buffs, but the most important one is her fair now has greater range. Sheik was a dominant force throughout Smash 4, and Ultimate hasn’t been her time to shine. But her fair is much better now making room for more combos. Many fans enjoy seeing Sheik’s technical top level play.

My Future Balance Wishes

Before anyone calls out “git gud”, these are just my opinions and observations from playing Ultimate. Perhaps the better balancing route to a fighting game to make it the most fun is give buffs not nerfs, but sometimes things are just straight wack.
Diddy
As mentioned above, I think Diddy could be back among the top tier crowd, or at least high tier, if his recovery actually made sense.
Olimar
Olimar does a ton of damage, he’s another one of the frustrating tiny top tiers. The biggest change I would like to see to Olimar is a nerf to his side B. When being attacked by Pikmin it should either be easier to kill them or you should receive less damage.
Pichu
Despite Pichu’s nerf, I believe he still needs an adjustment to his kill power. My biggest head scratcher is, how can Sakurai do what he did to Sheik and still have Pichu in this game. I’ll leave it at that.
Wolf
Wolf received a nerf to his down smash, but his kill power isn’t what I had a problem with. My biggest gripe with Wolf is his minimal lag after most of his moves. Wolf is incredibly powerful, which I think he should be among the Star Fox lineup, but there seems to be little risk in his moves for how high his reward is.

Conclusion

Overall, I’m very pleased with what 3.0 had to offer. For the most part, characters got buffed rather than nerfed, making players happier rather than upset. There’s nothing worse than your character getting nerfed out of relevance when they were balanced already. I look forward to watching the meta grow and the rise of character diversity among tournaments.

Noah Borski
University of Wisconsin – Green Bay
Information Science – Game Studies
Communication