Post by Cloud on Feb 23, 2016 15:42:18 GMT
Hey there! This is the official thread for the general amiibo metagame. It's also the discussion area for the official
amiibo tier list, which you can find by clicking here. It's the most viewed article in Amiibo Dojo history, with well over 100,000 hits since its creation. That's just crazy.
So, unfortunately, the amiibo metagame isn't in a very good state right now. It's overrun by four characters in particular: Ness, Bowser, Little Mac, and Ganondorf. The power levels of these amiibo are so high, there's literally no reason not to use one of them. In Amiibo Dan's tournaments, one of these four characters just about always wins. I can't say I haven't contributed to the metagame trouble we're having.
The amiibo tier list, as I mentioned, has been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people, if my statistics are correct. The two main things people see is which amiibo are in S Rank, and which amiibo are in D Rank. This list is pushing forth a bias towards Ness, Bowser, Little Mac, and Ganondorf, who are all in the S Rank, and deterring people from training Samus, Pac-Man, Sonic, and Donkey Kong, among others. I believe every amiibo has potential, but...well, here's an example. If you give a Pac-Man and Little Mac amiibo the same bonuses and raise them both to Level 50 via the same training method, Little Mac is going to win, period. The problem is that the top tier amiibo have such strong advantages that they just completely decimate any lower-ranked amiibo in their way. That's not to say that A Ranks and below can't win, but they need a lot of training to do so, whereas a fresh Level 50 Ness could probably contend against the other S Ranks. I'm going to go over these four problematic characters to tell you why they're troublesome:
Little Mac
By far the most "broken" amiibo in the metagame right now, thanks to his smash attacks. They're strong, break shields in one hit, and have super armor. Oh, and he has one of the best counters in the game. If your amiibo blocks Little Mac's attacks, its shield will likely break, and it will die. If your amiibo doesn't block Little Mac's attacks, it will get hit, and it will die, so it's a lose-lose situation either way. And if the Little Mac knows how to counter, it can pretty much win any match. It doesn't help that feeding Mac speed points boosts his recovery, and that other amiibo will basically never gimp him. However, if he plays on a stage with platforms, he has an automatic disadvantage.
Bowser
The second strongest amiibo in the game right now. His claim to fame (or infame) is his strong smash attacks and especially that darned side special, Flying Slam. Let's start with the smash attacks. They're even stronger than Little Mac's, and can break shields even easier, but are slower and don't have super armor, so they aren't as visibly "overpowered" as Little Mac's are. His side special is incredibly good because it's a grab that other amiibo cannot escape from by any means, even if they have the Improved escapability bonus. Oh, and it does like 30% and can KO. Side B is just a ridiculous move in general. Bowser's also extremely heavy and has universal armor against weak hits (like jabs) meaning that he will take damage but will not flinch at all. His recovery is also decent for a character of his size, power, and weight.
Ness
The most "legitimate" but strong character on this list. He can become insanely good, but he requires a bit more training than other S Rank amiibo because he really struggles against Bowser and especially Little Mac. Strong, quick smashes, but they don't have any notable shield breaking prowess. He can also fire himself with PK Thunder, which pretty much OHKO's any opponents above 50% or so. He also has PK Fire which is an absolutely silly damage racking move. Ness in particular does really well in Amiibo Dan's tournaments because they have Smash Balls on (Ness' final smash is really good, better than Bowser and Mac's) and platform stages are used (Ness has good aerials, which normally doesn't matter but in this case he's forced to use them).
Ganondorf
Probably the least "broken" character on this list but he's still really dang strong. Power rivals Bowser, and can break shields, but his attacks are even slower. He has good recovery, good survivability, and a command grab (Flame Choke) that true combos into his down tilt. Like Ness, he requires a bit more training than other S Rank amiibo.
Alright, there you have it. In addition to these four, there are some other characters that are really good and are used somewhat often, but not as much as the aforementioned four. Let's go over these guys now:
Lucas
Hasn't been out for too long, but he's proving to be a popular choice so far. He's one of the weirdest, most erratic amiibo to date. He does decent against certain S Ranks like Bowser and Ganon kinda, but goes even with Mac and Ness. I honestly think his biggest strength is PK Freeze. Ness' version is really slow and not at all strong, but Lucas' version is really good at freezing opponents (the AI is also programmed to fsmash frozen opponents). Has strong smashes, a good projectile, and amazing recovery. He can also fire himself with PK Thunder but it's weaker than Ness' version and he sometimes kills himself by firing himself off the edge.
Marth
Not too too common but is used a fair amount. The AI is great at landing the tippers (which do more damage than some of BOWSER'S attacks), he has a great side special that can catch opponents, and a fantastic counter. I'm surprised that he's not used more often TBH, because he can definitely rival S Rank amiibo. Specifically, if he can counter a smash attack from Mac or Bowser, he automatically gains a huge advantage.
Rosalina & Luma
Another great character that I don't see in Amiibo Dan's tournaments all that often. Luma can really confuse opponents and allow her to attack two places at once. She's strong combined with Luma, she can absorb projectiles...oh, and Luma can still attack while her shield is broken. Main problem with her is that Luma just dies instantly to the hits of strong amiibo like Mac and Bowser (Luma has around 50% of health before it dies, amiibo are MORE than capable of dealing 50%+ in one hit).
Shulk
Really common and has a lot of potential but has not actually won an Amiibo Dan tournament yet. Monado Arts are cool but Shulk doesn't use them all that great, he has laggy attacks, but that counter is so good that it makes up for it. Like Marth, if he counters a Mac or Bowser hit he gets a major advantage.
amiibo tier list, which you can find by clicking here. It's the most viewed article in Amiibo Dojo history, with well over 100,000 hits since its creation. That's just crazy.
So, unfortunately, the amiibo metagame isn't in a very good state right now. It's overrun by four characters in particular: Ness, Bowser, Little Mac, and Ganondorf. The power levels of these amiibo are so high, there's literally no reason not to use one of them. In Amiibo Dan's tournaments, one of these four characters just about always wins. I can't say I haven't contributed to the metagame trouble we're having.
The amiibo tier list, as I mentioned, has been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people, if my statistics are correct. The two main things people see is which amiibo are in S Rank, and which amiibo are in D Rank. This list is pushing forth a bias towards Ness, Bowser, Little Mac, and Ganondorf, who are all in the S Rank, and deterring people from training Samus, Pac-Man, Sonic, and Donkey Kong, among others. I believe every amiibo has potential, but...well, here's an example. If you give a Pac-Man and Little Mac amiibo the same bonuses and raise them both to Level 50 via the same training method, Little Mac is going to win, period. The problem is that the top tier amiibo have such strong advantages that they just completely decimate any lower-ranked amiibo in their way. That's not to say that A Ranks and below can't win, but they need a lot of training to do so, whereas a fresh Level 50 Ness could probably contend against the other S Ranks. I'm going to go over these four problematic characters to tell you why they're troublesome:
Little Mac
By far the most "broken" amiibo in the metagame right now, thanks to his smash attacks. They're strong, break shields in one hit, and have super armor. Oh, and he has one of the best counters in the game. If your amiibo blocks Little Mac's attacks, its shield will likely break, and it will die. If your amiibo doesn't block Little Mac's attacks, it will get hit, and it will die, so it's a lose-lose situation either way. And if the Little Mac knows how to counter, it can pretty much win any match. It doesn't help that feeding Mac speed points boosts his recovery, and that other amiibo will basically never gimp him. However, if he plays on a stage with platforms, he has an automatic disadvantage.
Bowser
The second strongest amiibo in the game right now. His claim to fame (or infame) is his strong smash attacks and especially that darned side special, Flying Slam. Let's start with the smash attacks. They're even stronger than Little Mac's, and can break shields even easier, but are slower and don't have super armor, so they aren't as visibly "overpowered" as Little Mac's are. His side special is incredibly good because it's a grab that other amiibo cannot escape from by any means, even if they have the Improved escapability bonus. Oh, and it does like 30% and can KO. Side B is just a ridiculous move in general. Bowser's also extremely heavy and has universal armor against weak hits (like jabs) meaning that he will take damage but will not flinch at all. His recovery is also decent for a character of his size, power, and weight.
Ness
The most "legitimate" but strong character on this list. He can become insanely good, but he requires a bit more training than other S Rank amiibo because he really struggles against Bowser and especially Little Mac. Strong, quick smashes, but they don't have any notable shield breaking prowess. He can also fire himself with PK Thunder, which pretty much OHKO's any opponents above 50% or so. He also has PK Fire which is an absolutely silly damage racking move. Ness in particular does really well in Amiibo Dan's tournaments because they have Smash Balls on (Ness' final smash is really good, better than Bowser and Mac's) and platform stages are used (Ness has good aerials, which normally doesn't matter but in this case he's forced to use them).
Ganondorf
Probably the least "broken" character on this list but he's still really dang strong. Power rivals Bowser, and can break shields, but his attacks are even slower. He has good recovery, good survivability, and a command grab (Flame Choke) that true combos into his down tilt. Like Ness, he requires a bit more training than other S Rank amiibo.
Alright, there you have it. In addition to these four, there are some other characters that are really good and are used somewhat often, but not as much as the aforementioned four. Let's go over these guys now:
Lucas
Hasn't been out for too long, but he's proving to be a popular choice so far. He's one of the weirdest, most erratic amiibo to date. He does decent against certain S Ranks like Bowser and Ganon kinda, but goes even with Mac and Ness. I honestly think his biggest strength is PK Freeze. Ness' version is really slow and not at all strong, but Lucas' version is really good at freezing opponents (the AI is also programmed to fsmash frozen opponents). Has strong smashes, a good projectile, and amazing recovery. He can also fire himself with PK Thunder but it's weaker than Ness' version and he sometimes kills himself by firing himself off the edge.
Marth
Not too too common but is used a fair amount. The AI is great at landing the tippers (which do more damage than some of BOWSER'S attacks), he has a great side special that can catch opponents, and a fantastic counter. I'm surprised that he's not used more often TBH, because he can definitely rival S Rank amiibo. Specifically, if he can counter a smash attack from Mac or Bowser, he automatically gains a huge advantage.
Rosalina & Luma
Another great character that I don't see in Amiibo Dan's tournaments all that often. Luma can really confuse opponents and allow her to attack two places at once. She's strong combined with Luma, she can absorb projectiles...oh, and Luma can still attack while her shield is broken. Main problem with her is that Luma just dies instantly to the hits of strong amiibo like Mac and Bowser (Luma has around 50% of health before it dies, amiibo are MORE than capable of dealing 50%+ in one hit).
Shulk
Really common and has a lot of potential but has not actually won an Amiibo Dan tournament yet. Monado Arts are cool but Shulk doesn't use them all that great, he has laggy attacks, but that counter is so good that it makes up for it. Like Marth, if he counters a Mac or Bowser hit he gets a major advantage.
