This is Videogamer’s tier list for Super Smash Bros Ultimate’s final update (13.0.1).

Read on to see the tier list for the game’s last update and see the best characters to play for climbing the competitive ladder.

Best Character Tier List

God Tier	Joker, Pyra/Mythra, Pikachu, Peach/Daisy, ROB
High Tier	Palutena, Roy, Snake, Chrom, Sonic, Pacman, Wolf, Game and Watch, Ness, Shulk,  Lucina, Fox, Mario, Wario, Zero Suit Samus, Bowser, Terry, Young Link, Sora, Samus, and Dark Samus, Pokemon Trainer
Mid Tier+	Byleth, Inkling, Diddy Kong, Mega Man, Cloud, Olimar, Minmin, Link, Kazuya, Captain Falcon, Ryu, Ken, Luigi, Falco, Ike, Lucas, Greninja, Samus, and Dark Samus
Mid Tier	Pit, Dark Pit, Sheik, Sephiroth, Meta Knight, Yoshi, Toon Link, Richter, and Simon Belmont, Zelda, Corrin, Hero, Marth, Mewtwo, Rosalina, Wii Fit Trainer, Robin, Banjo & Kazooie, Ridley, Pichu
Low Tier	Villager, Jigglypuff, Piranha plant, Ice Climbers, King K. Rool, Bayonetta, King Dedede, Bowser Jr., Duck Hunt, Incineroar, Lucario, Donkey Kong, Kirby
Bottom Tier	Little Mac, Mii Fighters, Ganondorf, Isabelle, Dr. Mario

Characters in their tier are not ordered and are ranked with the same tier value as other characters in their respective tier.

God Tier Character Explanation

Joker	This is Joker, Joker’s insane as he can easily punish enemies, he’s fast, strong recovery, and Arsene even strengthens this even further.
Palutena	Palutena’s strong and has some of the best air in the game. She has great recovery and even kills options and some ledge traps. She also has a lot of great matchups that are also high-tier.
Pyra/Mythra	Powerful combos and attacks. Mobility is great and punishing moves are also easy. While these bonuses are not universally true as you’ll need to swap between the two forms to maximize these benefits, the two blades are both really good and easily deserves the God Tier placement despite the nerfs.
Pikachu	Insane speed, neutral, kill options, strong recovery, and insane amounts of combo options. Pikachu does suffer from a supper low weight which makes killing him much easier to do. Pikachu’s moves are also weak so he does require some mastery before showing results.
Peach/Daisy	Strong aerial attacks and combos and strong projectiles. She’s great at edge guarding and even has a counter against aggressive enemies. She also doesn’t have clear bad matchups and is just a solid pick overall.
ROB	Rob’s Nair is really good. It has an insane amount of range and can be used for edge guarding and pretty much everything else. His recovery is great, he has a lot of projectiles with his Gyro also being a great combo tool and he has great kill options. He does suffer from being an easy target to combo due to his hurtbox and weight.
Steve	Steve is one of the best, if not, the best character in the game. He has a lot of combos that can easily rack up damage, his edgeguarding and ledgetrapping are insane, and he has a lot of mix-ups.

High Tier Characters Explanation

Roy	A Chrom clone without the recovery issue. While that might make it seem like Roy is instantly a god-tier character, he does have some new issues compared to Chrom. He doesn’t do reliable damage where the tip of his sword does more damage and knockback than the base. His recovery, while being somewhat better, is still predictable. Overall, the lack of consistency doesn’t push Roy into the God Tier.
Snake	Grenades and bombs can allow for strong stage setups and combos. His ledgetraps are great and his damage output is high as well. He also has decent kill setups and he also possesses a lot of projectiles. He does suffer from an exploitable recovery.
Chrom	Aside from Chrom’s weak recovery, Chrom’s performance is insane. Fast movement speed, strong neutrals, and strong combos. Chrom is strong with everything and if his recovery issue is removed, Chrom is immediately a god-tier character.
Pacman	Strong projectiles and a stun(bell) for kill confirm. He does a lot of setups and his combo game is insanely good. He also has a great recovery despite it being predictable.
Sonic	Has one of the most insane combos in the game and his advantage state is good. He has fast movement speed and great recovery and his edgeguarding are decent. He does suffer from a weak kill potential but the rest of his advantages more than makeup for this.
Wolf	Good combo options and grabs. All moves are strong and do a decent amount of damage as well as kill options. He suffers from poor recovery but his neutral game is really strong. The best thing about Wolf is that he doesn’t have the worst matchups at all.
Game and Watch	Strong neutral with the best out-of-shield option. He has strong edge guarding and good projectiles as well as kill options. His main weakness is his lightweight and average speed which makes killing game and watch very doable.
Ness	Strong character with almost everything at its disposal. Strong kill options, good combo game, strong ledge traps, and a kill grab. He does have a poor recovery but that can be alleviated by proper plays we did not put Ness in the highest tier due to the number of bad matchups that Ness has especially against other characters on the same tier.
Shulk	Shulk has a lot of range and his art buffs can switch up his playstyle. His matchups are also mostly favorable but he isn’t the highest tier due to the difficulty of playing Shulk. If mastered, Shulk is easily a God Tier character.
Lucina	Lucina’s advantage state and neutral game are really good. Her disadvantaged state is also not bad and her matchups are mostly even and wins.
Fox	Insane air speed with strong combo options. He can easily win neutral and start combos as well as good midrange thanks to his projectiles.
Bowser	Heaviest character in the game with several strong kill options and strong out-of-shield options. Bowser is also easily one of the easiest characters to use with a command grab that can kill enemies at mid to high percent.
Mario	Insane combo game and a projectile repel. Recovery is great especially vertical and his neutral is good.
Wario	A heavy character. His waft is insanely strong if used correctly and can even win games alone or take a stock from low percentages. His combo game is also great and the only weaknesses Wario has are his slow movement speed and poor range.
Zero Suit Samus	Zero Suit Samus falls off from the God Tier into High Tier after the nerfs. She’s a fast character with strong kill options and a strong combo game. She’s also fast and fast and even faster. Her main weakness is she’s light so she can be killed if caught.
Terry	Strong kill options and these kill options come very fast. He has high survivability thanks to his high weight but his hitbox isn’t as large as other heavy characters. Unlike other fighting game characters, Terry also automatically faces enemies which makes controlling Terry much easier and he has strong out-of-shield options. He does suffer from a bad disadvantage and poor recovery as well as some bad matchups which stops Terry from being God Tier.
Young Link	Young Link’s projectiles are all over the place while also having a lot of safe moves. A very safe character with strong combos and kill options. Easily a high tier character.
Sora	Sora doesn’t have the best neutral in the game compared to the neutrals of some of the best characters out there but he does have some of the strongest combos among the sword characters. Decent frames and some good ranges on his moves like Thundaga which is great for edgeguarding.
Samus and Dark Samus	Some of the simplest game plans are the most effective. A fully charged Charge Shot can easily deal a huge chunk of damage and her bombs and missiles are great for zoning enemies and even damaging them for lethal.
Pokemon Trainer	Pokemon Trainer is three characters into one. Switching Pokemons also grants invisibility which can be used to escape from combos which is a nice bonus against combo-centric characters. All Pokemon have strong kill throws and each Pokemon has its strengths and weaknesses.

Mid+ Tier Characters Explanation

Byleth	Byleth has a lot of options and good neutral games together with solid kill options and edge guarding. Byleth’s recovery is also insane but Byleth’s speed is just average which is Byleth’s main weakness.
Inkling	Insane amount of speed, strong combo games, and a lot of options. Unfortunately, Inkling’s kill options are limited but she does have a lot of options to get there with her strong neutral game.
Diddy Kong	A strong and above-average stats. His neutrals are also strong but his recovery is predictable and can easily be canceled. He does have the banana mechanic to easily outplay and win rounds.
Mega Man	Strong projectiles, decent movement speed, and medium weight. Mega Man is a solid character with strong kill options as well as edge guarding options.
Cloud	Cloud can easily be edge guarded which is Cloud’s main weakness. His recovery is also subpar given that Cloud doesn’t have his limit. His kill options and neutral are good as well.
Olimar	A light character with a mediocre recovery. Olimar can zone you forever with side specials. He also has a lot of decent kill options and strong attacks which makes us put Olimar in the higher Mid+ tier to borderline high tier.
Minmin	Insane amounts of range and ranges. Edgeguarding is also easy for Minmin but she falls off due to having some matchups that are insanely bad for her. Without a counter match though, Minmin easily rises from Mid+ Tier to High Tier.
Link	Link has a lot of strong options but unfortunately, Link’s options cannot be used simultaneously. Link’s moves and long animations are what prevents Link from being a god-tier character. A character that is more focused on decision-making and learning what moves to use rather than playing as a standard character.
Kazuya	Insane combos and strong offensive options. Kazuya unfortunately doesn’t have the best recovery options and a lot of unfavorable matchups.
Captain Falcon	The knee! Captain Falcon does so much damage and has a strong combo game. He suffers from a mediocre recovery and bad out-of-shield options though.
Ryu and Ken	Strong combo options and strong anti-air tools. Both characters are placed in the Mid+ tier. They require more understanding by learning command inputs but if mastered, both fighters can get good kills.
Luigi	He has a lot of bad matchups and predictable movesets but he has some strong combos and even a 0-to-death combo. Luigi is always a scary character to play against which makes us put Luigi up on the higher mid-tiers.
Falco	Falco has long combos which can easily generate damage and get kills. He does have medium speed. Without racking up the damage though, Falco will struggle to get those kills.
Ike	Ike’s a heavy character with insane amounts of range in its attacks and some decent recovery options. These options and moves, however, are highly predictable and Ike will easily fall against players with higher skill levels. This limits Ike which makes us put him in the higher mid-tiers.
Lucas	Lucas is difficult to use character but this also translates to insane amounts of combo. He also has a lot of safe moves like PK Fire. We put him in the higher mid tiers simply due to having other characters in the roster that can do the same things Lucas has without as much effort that Lucas needs to be effective.
Greninja	A light character that has an insane speed and combo into kill options. Without decent knowledge, a Greninja’s damage output will be lackluster. Greninja also has a lot of fast moves and can easily punish enemies.

Mid Tier Characters Explanation

Pit and Dark Pit	Pit and Dark Pit have some decent neutrals. Their mobility is good and they have projectiles for mid ranges to long ranges. However, they suffer from low damage outputs and their recovery is easily exploitable.
Sheik	Sheik’s damage output is abysmal but her speed and combo game is really good. She suffers from kill options but she is a very strong option now together with her buffs.
Sephiroth	Sephiroth’s frame data holds him down from the upper tiers. All of his moves are slow but the ranges on some of his moves are the highest in the game. His body size is also misleading as he is insanely light so some well-placed combos will easily kill Sephiroth.
Meta Knight	Good air combos, a small hitbox, and a multi jump are what meta knight mostly has. He has a kill combo with up airs but it can be messed up with proper DI and if it does fail then he becomes vulnerable for a long time which can easily translate to a kill for the enemy. Meta Knight can see some play but an enemy that knows the matchup makes it hard to put Meta Knight up higher in the tier list.
Yoshi	Aside from Yoshi’s gimmicky side special, all of Yoshi’s moves are strong. Yoshi doesn’t have strong matchups which makes Yoshi games more of a skill matchup most of the time.
Toon Link	Has a lot of projectiles and a strong neutral game. He is lighter and has a lower level of recovery and ranges in his attacks.
Simon and Richter	The Belmonts are a heavy projectile-based character with long-ranged neutrals and even kill setups. Unfortunately, having a read at their inputs and finally winning the neutral also basically guarantees winning the round as their recovery is abysmally poor.
Zelda	Zelda has a lot of long-range plays and setups which makes her great for online play. However, she also does have a lot of weaknesses like her side airs needing the tip to get strong kills. She also has low weight and a lost aerial move speed which makes her an easy target for combos and also makes winning against her in neutral just much easier.
Mewtwo	Mewtwo has some good neutral and even some good moves and range. His recovery is also great but he’s light which makes instantly killing Mewtwo easier to do than other characters. Unlike Samus though, he doesn’t have lots of options to zone enemies if Mewtwo’s shadow ball misses which makes us put Mewtwo here in the mid-tier.
Rosalina	Rosalina is a slightly stronger dual character than Ice Climbers. She has some good combos and strong combos and moves when Luma is alive but she suffers from the same issues where half her kit will be gone if Luma dies which can be done by skilled players much easier. Once done, she becomes vulnerable and her neutral game becomes difficult to play against players that know the match up.
Wii Fit Trainer	Low stats and mediocre kit. An average character put in the mid-tier. Wii fit also has a buff option from Deep Breathing to increase her stats which solidifies her position in the mid-tier.
Robin	Robin is an amazing character with mediocre stats. These stats are protected by his strong movesets but these movesets are also limited in use and once depleted, Robin becomes much easier to win against in neutrals, and depending on which moves are lost, Robin also loses most of his/her kill moves. An amazing character limited by the design of its moveset.
Banjo & Kazooie	Low damage output and a clunky moveset are what Banjo has to offer. He does have some good moveset that can kill at 50 or higher at edges but his clunky playstyle just doesn’t warrant him a high enough placement in the tier. He makes it to Mid Tier simply due to his effectiveness when playing online and the benefit of input delays that heavily favors Banjo’s projectile game.
Corrin	Corrin’s movement is slightly below average but unlike other characters, his/her movesets alleviate this weakness. Corrin also has decent recovery and strong kill options such as Bair. Corrin’s tip attacks are also good kill options and stun to get kills makes Corrin a solid character choice.
Hero	Very inconsistent thanks to Hero’s spells. His stats are all average but the buffs (if rolled) alleviate this issue. Hero, unfortunately, has his lows which mostly come from bad spell rolls but overall, Hero is a decent mid-tier character.
Marth	Marth is a Lucina clone with the tip bonuses on his moves and neutrals. Unfortunately, Marth’s kill options are borderline impossible against players that know how to play the match-up. His base stats are all average but his kill option holds back Marth from going up higher than Mid Tier.
Ridley	Ridley has some good zoning tools and strong kill options as well as a special grab. He also has some good recoveries but these are predictable and they also lack speed. He also has a large hitbox but his weight doesn’t compare to other heavyweights which makes Ridley easy to kill. Strong offensive options but weak defensive stats and tools.
Pichu	The lightest character in the game. Pichu, one combo, will easily reach death percentages or even get killed outright but Pichu does have strong combo games. Pichu gets damaged on some of its moves which unfortunately adds to its weakness where a single hit especially for hard-hitting characters to kill you up straight. Pichu still stays at mid-tier simply due to its insane amount of kill options and combo potentials.

Low Tier Characters Explanation

Villager	Unlike Isabelle, the Villager’s side special can be used for more options such as defending against an enemy approach or even as a mobility tool. He also has some gimmicks like playing around with his trees. This makes Villager a slightly better choice than Isabelle but both characters will sit at the lower ranks of our tier list.
Jigglypuff	Strong combos and strong throws. Rest is also an amazing kill option. Multiple jumps can allow for some unique recoveries for stages with passages beneath as well as strong edge guard options. Jigglypuff is light which makes it easy to kill. Another issue with Jigglypuff is her rest which, if it fails, puts Jigglypuff in a vulnerable state which can easily translate to an enemy kill.
Piranha Plant	A linear character and average stats all around. Piranha Plant has some gimmicks but they are all predictable. His recovery is also easily gimped which makes the match-up even easier. He does have a good ledge trap game which saves him from the Bottom Tier.
Ice Climbers	The Ice Climbers are bad. They have low weight and below stats but what makes the Ice Climbers so good are their Desync combos. Desync is an Ice Climber mechanic where you’ll queue a move for Nana (sister) while Popo(brother) is doing an animation. This allows you to make inputs for Nana which “desyncs” the two characters which open up tons of combo potential. It is much more complicated but that is the general explanation of the Desync. However, Nana can be knocked off stage and the Desync is extremely difficult to do and much more in online play. The things they can do are indeed massive but other characters can easily do what they can do with fewer amounts of time practiced and have less amount of weakness than the twins.
King K. Rool	A heavy character with strong edge guarding options. He also has a lot of kill options and a strong counter. However, he is too heavy and his mobility is also slow which makes him an easy kill target much like Ganon.
Bayonetta	Bayo has an insane combo game. Once she gets a hit on you, you can say hello to an immediate 40+ damage if you have good DI and much more depending on your character’s weight and DI knowledge. Unfortunately, she still has a lot of trouble getting kills and her neutral game is bad. She’s also light which makes knocking her out off stage easy.
King Dedede	A big character with a single projectile heavy playstyle. He has decent damage and some decent kill options. He doesn’t have mobility unfortunately and has enemies that have better kill confirms than King Dedede.
Bowser Jr.	A linear and predictable character as his combos is easily counted on one hand. He does have some good kill options but getting to these kill percentages due to his predictable neutral game.
Duck Hunt	Duck Hunt has a lot of options but you’re going to need your side special to get kills reliably which points out Duck Hunt’s issue. Unlike other characters, you have limited options for getting kills.
Incineroar	Incineroar has an insane amount of damage output especially when his counter is activated. He also has a command grab that can easily kill enemies (especially lightweight characters). Looking at numbers, Incineroar is easily a top-tier character but he is easy to zone off once knocked off stage and his poor aerial movement and recovery do not help.
Lucario	Lucario is a seemingly good character in that he has some good ranged attacks via his Aura Sphere and he has some combos up his sleeve but none of this matters until you start losing the game by utilizing his passive. This forces you to play in a disadvantageous position just to be able to play like a normal character.
Donkey Kong	At a first glance, Donkey Kong is an amazing character. He has a lot of hard-hitting moves, good kill confirms, and even a not-so-bad out-of-shield option. However, his recovery is one of the most exploitable recoveries in the game and his speed doesn’t help out. Once a Donkey Kong is out of the field, edge guarding it to death is often an easier task compared to other enemies.
Kirby	Kirby has an amazing combo game and fun mechanics such as taking an enemy move for yourself. Kirby does suffer from several issues such as bad stats (low weight, low move speeds) which easily prevents Kirby from being a decent character option.

Bottom Tier Characters Explanation

Isabelle	Isabelle is another lightweight character with bad stats all around. She has some zoning tools that can be used for edge guarding but she just doesn’t have all the tools to make it. Her attack ranges are poor and her command grabs can be blocked unlike other characters with extended grabs like Samus.
Mii Fighters	Most of the Mii Fighters have some good moves but several moves on their kit are just average as compared to other fighters that are good at some things. Playing a Mii Fighter is like playing half a character.
Dr. Mario	Dr. Mario has some hard-hitting moves and some kill moves but his low mobility and poor recovery make him pale in comparison to Mario.
Little Mac	Little Mac is easily the best fighter in the game provided that all players will have their jump button disabled and the stage will not have any cliff to fall off from. He has good stats and good poke while on the ground but his abysmal air combat and poor recovery just make him not the best character option in a game where aerial combos and knocking enemies off stage is the final goal.
Ganondorf	Everything about Ganondorf except his high damage and knockback moves is lackluster. He moves slow both in the air and the ground, he has the worst recoveries in the game, and a bad out-of-shield option just turns him into one of the easiest matchups in the game.

Best Character Tier List Criteria

Pro Play Presence

Pros are the best or are among the best players in a game’s given community and the Pro Play scene of Super Smash Bros Ultimate is no exception. Characters that are more apparent and appear much more frequently in pro play are placed higher on the ladder given they have good performance during the said tournament over other characters that display no presence at all.

Lan Performance Over Online

With more Lan tournaments being more frequent as the restrictions slow down. More tournaments are played without the existing latency of online play. Characters that are easier to use during online play are now placed lower on the ladder than characters with reliable performance with no input delays.

Number of Favorable Matchups (Match Up Spreads)

Characters in SSBU naturally have counters to their kit but some characters are not as blessed as other characters in the scene. Characters with more neutral and favorable matchups are naturally placed higher on the ladder than characters that do not.

Ease of Usage and Complexity

While ease of use is, of course, a given factor in the tier list. We also do not dismiss their simplicity as always a positive as several easy-to-use characters have clear weaknesses such as poor recoveries or bad movesets. Characters that are easy to use and still have a balanced move set are naturally placed higher than characters that are not. However, the tier list is still catered towards high levels of play so this does not contribute as much as the other criteria we have placed.

Will SSBU Have More Updates?

Sora’s arrival with 13.0.0 also marks the last DLC fighter to be released for Super Smash Bros Ultimate. The chances of a new patch update are unlikely. It has been shared on Twitter (which, unfortunately, is in Japanese) where Sakurai, the developer of SSBU states that this (the new 13.01.1) will be the final version of SSBU and even a sequel is not around the corner.