Ice Climbers (SSBU): Difference between revisions

The Ice Climbers are once again voiced by Sanae Kobayashi, with her portrayals from ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'' and ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'' being repurposed for ''Ultimate''.

==How to unlock==

The Ice Climbers are a pair of [[weight|middleweight]]s, (weighing the same as {{SSBU|Lucario}}, {{SSBU|Wolf}}, {{SSBU|Villager}}, {{SSBU|Mythra}}, and {{SSBU|Steve}}), with a moderately short height, above average [[jump]]s, below average [[air speed]] and [[air acceleration]], with low [[gravity]] and slow [[falling speed]]. Unique to a majority of the roster, they are the archetypical tag team fighters, though each Climber is a unique character in their own right. The partner (Nana by default) is controlled by a CPU and mimics what the leader (Popo by default) does with a seven frame delay. As such, the player is essentially controlling two characters at the same time with slight tweaks; the partner has slightly higher mobility attributes, they will deal less damage, receive more damage, and are knocked back farther than the leader. When separated, the partner's AI takes control over their movement, and guides them back to the leader, ignoring most opponents in their path. While one Ice Climber deals underwhelming damage on their own, the two's power combined can make them very formidable.

The Ice Climbers' [[special]]s all have versatile uses. [[Neutral special]] has the duo each create a slab of ice that slides across the stage, shrinking as they melt. Unlike most projectiles, the ice acts more like a [[container]] or [[soccer ball]] in that the incoming projectile is completely tangible, allowing the Ice Climbers to counter some projectile spam playstyles more easily. At extremely high percents it can also freeze opponents, allowing use of setups or reads. If attacked with a strong enough attack, the projectile's ownership will change, allowing it to harm the Ice Climbers if collided with. Their [[side special]], [[Squall Hammer]], is a very respectable move for racking up damage and is relatively safe on shield or cross-ups. With continued presses, the attack can also be used for recovery purposes, which puts them into a [[helpless]] state. It is also one of the easiest desync methods available to the player. [[Up special]], [[Belay]], covers an excellent distance, the partner Climber is completely intangible until pulling up the leader, and auto-grabs any ledges within range. The leader also has a very situational, but strong hitbox on the way up, allowing for a KO from the top blast zones, or a means to apply extra damage at the end of an aerial combo. Finally, down special, [[Blizzard]], is a slow, read-based punish tool that freezes opponents in their tracks and deals huge amounts of damage at point blank range. Using the attack while an enemy is already frozen increases the freeze time slightly and can allow the duo to make space between them and their opponent if need be, or tack on extra damage while frozen. Specifically, this move is very useful when near the ledge, as freezing an opponent near the edges of a stage can make it easy to nudge them off without any means to escape. It also has priority over some other projectiles and can cancel them if the two collide. Overall, the duo's specials are all useful in various situations and can help to create openings for additional combos or surprise KO's.

The removal of [[chain grab]]s (and by extension, [[wobbling]]) means that the duo's [[grab]] game has become more situational and in-line with the rest of the roster, limiting it's effectiveness. However, while it is not as potent as it once was, the Ice Climber's grab game is still respectable. The Ice Climber's grab itself has been vastly changed. For starters, only the leader grabs opponents, while the partner cheers. This means that the duo can no longer grab more than one opponent at a time. Additionally, the Ice Climber's grab is the shortest ranged grab in the game, making it risky to attempt to grab in the first place. [[Forward throw]] is a basic throw that has moderately strong base knockback and causes [[tumble]] from 0%, which allows it to open options for a tech chase. Back throw has very strong base knockback, while it's knockback scaling has been decreased, making it difficult to use in either combos or as a KO option, but useful in desyncs. [[Up throw]] is similar, in which it has very limited uses, but notably allows quick access to juggling with up aerial. [[Down throw]] is by far the duo's best throw. It's main use is to initiate aerial combos, desync combos, and juggles, all of which can be devastating. The Ice Climbers' neutral, forward, back, and up aerials can all be used for combos out of down throw and the opponent's placement in air can make it difficult for them to escape from a combo once it has been started, especially if desynced.

Barring their situational projectile from Ice Shot, the Ice Climbers have no reliable projectile and can be easily camped out or their projectiles turned against them. The range of their moves is not great—despite being disjointed, their hammers' range can still come up short and can make for some bad matchups, specifically against the likes of {{SSBU|Marth}} or {{SSBU|Sephiroth}}, while Blizzard's range has been nerfed significantly and is dangerous to use liberally. Arguably, the changes that hurt the Ice Climbers most are the changes to grab mechanics in ''Ultimate''. The added period of grab intangibility between grabs and the partner's lack of a grab makes the Ice Climbers' previously most potent tool, chain grabbing, nearly impossible. This significantly impedes their cheesing ability compared to ''Brawl'' or ''Melee'' and makes getting a stock off of a single grab much harder. Desyncing in itself can also have it's own drawbacks. An accidental desync off of up tilt or down throw may make it more difficult to follow-up with the duo's combos, or can even cause the partner's attack to miss entirely, hindering the duo's damage-racking capabilities. Desyncing can also leave the partner Ice Climber vulnerable because of the increase in reaction time between the leader and the partner; in particular, abilities such as [[dodging]], and jumping are significantly delayed, giving the opponent ample time to counterattack if properly read. They also retain most of the flaws that plagued them in ''Brawl'' and ''Melee'', such as the difficulty in keeping the partner alive, severe handicaps when the partner is gone, sluggish aerial mobility, and susceptibility to camping, with the former issue being further pronounced as well.

The Ice Climbers were previously infamous for having some of (if not) the most powerful damage racking capabilities thanks to [[wobbling]] in ''Melee'' and infinite [[chain grab]]s in ''Brawl'', with these even allowing them to achieve a KO from them. Most likely owing to this, the Ice Climbers were drastically nerfed in the transition from ''Brawl'' to ''Ultimate''.

Outside of this, the base damage output on many of their moves has decreased and many of their attacks connect less reliably when they are together due to reduced [[hitlag]]. The partner climber is also launched much easier than the leader due to taking increased damage and knockback from attacks, and the [[AI]]'s intelligence has been reduced leading to more likely self-destructs, making it harder for each of them to stay together. The partner climber also no longer performs [[Blizzard]] behind the leader when used on the ground, and the move itself is less effective as a spacing tool due to its lack of knockback at max range. Finally, due to changes in [[Belay]]'s hitboxes, the move can gain significantly less height if the hitbox is out prioritized, and its overall size is smaller, making it harder to connect against grounded opponents.

However, the Ice Climbers have received some useful buffs. As with almost every other returning veteran, their mobility has been considerably increased and the partner climber is now faster than the leader, making it harder to separate them. Some of their moves, including forward smash, down smash, and forward aerial deal higher damage with proportional KO power. The Ice Climbers also have superior combo potential on their own due to the removal of [[hitstun canceling]], the weakening of [[SDI]], and [[desynching]] remaining mostly intact. Thanks to improved [[freezing]] properties, the Ice Climbers can also freeze opponents easier and longer, which can lead to high damage, KOs while edgeguarding, shield pressure, and follow-ups if performed correctly.

{{SSB4 to SSBU changelist|char=Ice Climbers}}