Marth (PM)

Marth in Project M and Project+
Universe	Fire Emblem
Base game appearance	Brawl
Moveset inspiration	Marth (SSBM)
Alternate costume	Sigurd's armor, Hooded Marth (Project+)

Marth is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. He was remade to be nearly identical to his Melee counterpart in terms of attack hitboxes and animations.

Marth ranks 17th out of 41 on the official tier list, at the top of the B tier. This is a far drop from his top-tier placements in Melee and Brawl, where he ranked 2nd out of 26 and 5th out of 38, respectively. In the Project+ official tier list, his position is slightly improved, ranking 11th at the top of the A tier.

Attributes

Marth has been mostly reverted to his Melee iteration, with a few buffs, such as a slightly improved recovery, a more reliable hitbox on his up smash, and less lag on his down aerial. He retains his strengths from Melee, such as his disjointed range, fantastic spacing tools, and great edgeguarding capabilities. However, he still must contend with the same weaknesses, such as his poor horizontal recovery, difficulty landing safely, and lack of a projectile or lingering hitboxes.

Compared to Melee, however, Marth is less effective in the metagame due to the large amount of buffs other characters have received to counter the effectiveness of his tools. The tournament legal stagelist also works against him; while Marth only had some degree of disadvantage in Melee on Dream Land, Project M introduces similarly large stages such as Delfino Secret that Marth struggles to KO on, while relegating one of his previously best stages, Final Destination, as a counterpick in most rulesets.

Unlike some other high-tier Melee characters, like Jigglypuff, Marth overall remains fairly viable in Project M, and is a strong pick for competitive play.

Changes from Melee to PM

Marth was slightly buffed from Melee to Project M, receiving a few additional tweaks and fixes to some of his moves to make them more reliable.

His up smash was notably improved, with the tipper hitbox now properly covering the entire tip of the sword, and now having the ability to DACUS. His down aerial had its landing lag reduced, allowing it to be used more effectively as an out of shield option and combo starter.

Marth's already potent grab game has also seen subtle improvements. His already impressive grab range was increased slightly (although his dash grab range was reduced), and his forward throw notably benefits from grabs no longer negating horizontal momentum, thanks to his low traction. His back and down throws also saw direct improvements, with the former having less ending lag, and the latter sending opponents at a better angle for followups.

His special moves also saw improvements. Dancing Blade's hits connect better overall due to the changes to stale-move negation and knockback stacking, Dolphin Slash is now able to grab ledges when facing away and can control its angle with the C-Stick like Brawl, and Counter has improved coverage. Shield Breaker, Dancing Blade, and Counter, also all retain their ability to be B-reversed/wavebounced from Brawl.

Overall, however, aside from changes regarding mechanics and angle alterations, most of which benefit him, Marth remains relatively unchanged compared to the other top-tier characters in Melee, with the few nerfs he received being largely negligible.

Aesthetics

• Marth retains his shield break animation from Brawl.

Attributes

• Marth's jumps are slightly higher (1.5 (short hop)/2.4 (full hop/ledge jump) → 1.585/2.485).
  • His double jump height multiplier was reduced slightly to compensate (x0.88 → x0.8498994), however, his overall double jump height remains unchanged.
• Marth has an altered size multiplier (x1.15 → x0.975). However, his overall size remains unchanged as his Brawl model is naturally bigger than his Melee model.
  • His shield size was also compensated to match (11.75 → 9.8).
• Marth's lower sword-arm hurtbox is now ungrabbable, making it harder to grab him while he is attacking.
• Marth's rolls have less ending lag (FAF 36 (both) → 32 (forward)/33 (back)).
• Back roll has less Intangibility frames, matching his forward roll (frame 4-23 → 4-19).
• Marth's soft landing is faster (4 frames → 3).
• Marth's star spit when Inhaled by Kirby or King Dedede retains it Brawl damage, dealing less than Melee as a result (15% → 13%), hindering its potential in Doubles.
• The removal of lightshielding benefits Marth moreso than any other returning verteran, as it is harder for opponents to perform the Marth killer against him.
• The changes to ledge jumps now allowing characters to be actionable sooner benefits Marth, as he now has an additional viable way of getting off the ledge, one of his main weaknesses in Melee, while Marth himself is not particularly hindered by other characters being able to use it against him, due to his relatively high jump and large disjointed hitboxes being able to catch opponents off of ledge easily.

Ground Attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The second hit has a longer duration (frame 4-8 → 4-9).
• Dash attack:
  • It has slightly more ending lag (FAF 40 → 41).
  • Dash attack can now be cancelled, allowing Marth to DACUS. This makes up smash a much better approach and followup option, as his DACUS is one of the longest in Project M.
• Up smash:
  • The tipper hitbox has been moved up (Z offset: 2u → 6u), now properly covering the entire tip of the sword, making the tipper much easier to land, and thus, improving its usage for covering platforms and as a combo finisher, combined with its ability to DACUS.
  • The body sourspot hitboxes send opponents at a different angle (70° → 75°).
• Down smash:
  • Tippered down smash now uses the burn sound effect on hit instead of the slash sound effect, matching his other tippered smash attacks.

Aerial Attacks

• All aerials have one extra frame of animation (49 frames → 50 (neutral), 34 → 35 (forward), 39 → 40 (back), 45 → 46 (up), 59 → 60 (down)), slightly increasing the amount of time Marth cannot grab the ledge after using them.
  • In the case of neutral and down aerials which previously lacked interruptibility frames, they have been given one frame of interruptibility before their respective animations end (FAF 50 (neutral)/60 (down)), leaving their ending lag unchanged.
• The ability to interrupt aerials with air dodging from Brawl notably benefits Marth, as he can now perfectly waveland out of his forward and back aerials when done out of a short hop, improving their spacing potential.
• Neutral aerial:
  • It deals 0.09% more damage if both hits connect (13.91% → 14%), due to the changes to stale-move negation.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial has a slightly altered animation where Marth does not lean his legs forward as much while maintaining the same swing arch and reach as Melee, making his hurtbox less vulnerable in front of him, and relatively increasing the move's already impressive range.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial now has an initial auto-cancel window from frames 1-5 like in Brawl.
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has less ending lag (FAF 46 → 44).
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial has less landing lag (32/16 frames → 25/12), noticeably improving its safety and follow-up potential.
  • Down aerial has a slightly shorter initial auto-cancel window and auto-cancels slightly later (frames 1-5 (initial)/frame 48 → 1-4/49).

Throws and other attacks

• Grabs:
  • Marth's standing grab has more ending lag (FAF 31 → 32).
  • Marth's already impressive standing grab range is positioned slightly lower and farther (y offset: 8.20u/7.81u/7.42u → 9.43u/8.98u/8.54u, z offset: 12.88u/9.76u/7.03u → 14.82u/11.23u/8.09u), slightly improving its horizontal reach, and making its innermost grabbox slightly less prone to being low-profiled by smaller characters.
  • Dash grab has less start-up lag (frame 10 → 9).
  • Dash grab's hitbox placements have been altered, and has lost one of its inner hitboxes (y offset: 7.4214u/7.0308u/6.6402u/6.6402u → 7.6u/7.17u/7.17u, z offset: 14.0616u/9.765u/5.4684u/1.5624u → 10.55u/5.9u/1.69u). This overall reduces its horizontal range, especially behind Marth.
  • Compared to Brawl, Marth's pivot grab has an altered animation, where Marth reaches higher, more closely resembling his dash grab animation in Melee. The grabboxes are smaller with the grabbox behind him being removed (4u/4u/4u → 3.91u/3.91u), reducing it is horizontal range combined with its new animation, despite the grabboxes being positioned further away from Marth (z offset: -15u/-6.5u → -16u/-8.09u).
  • The remaining grabboxes on Marth's pivot grab have been repositioned higher (y offset: 5u/6u → 8.54u/8.09u). Combined with its altered animation, this makes it more prone to being low-profiled by smaller characters.
• Marth vocalizes as he throws his opponent for all of his throws, rather than as soon as their animations start.
• Marth benefits from the changes to grabs no longer negating horizontal momentum against characters with low traction, as it noticeably improves forward throw's followup and chain grabbing potential when jump-canceled grabbed, combined with his standing grab's slightly longer reach.
• Back throw:
  • Back throw has a shorter animation (44 frames → 40), improving its follow up potential.
• Down throw:
  • Down throw sends opponents at a slightly higher angle (135° → 130°), improving its followup potential overall.
• Edge attack:
  • Marth retains his edge attack animations from Brawl. As a result, Marth's fast edge attack has a longer animation (54 frames → 55), while his slow edge attack has more startup lag (frame 38 → 44). The different animations also noticeably hinder the moves' coverage in front of and above Marth.
    • However, the different animations improve their coverages behind Marth.
    • Slow edge attack has a longer animation (68 → 75), however, it has been given interruptibility frames on frame 69, leaving its ending lag unchanged.
  • Both edge attacks no longer deal set knockback (90 (set)/100 (scaling) → 70 (base)/50).

Special Moves

• Shield Breaker, Dancing Blade, and Counter all retain their ability to be B-reversed/wavebounced from Brawl, improving their mixup potential and accuracy.
• Shield Breaker:
  • Shield Breaker uses its Brawl sounds effects, with Marth additionally only vocalizing when the move is fully charged.
• Dancing Blade:
  • Hit 3:
    • Each variant deals less damage (10% → 9% (forward), 6% → 5% (up), 12% → 11% (down)), with their knockback scaling compensated (160 → 176 (forward), 60 → 68 (up), 100 → 107 (down)).
  • Hit 4:
    • Each variant deals less damage (14% → 13% (forward), 10% → 9% (up), 5% → 3% (down)), with their knockback scaling compensated (120 → 128 (forward), 130 → 141 (up), 130 → 175 (down final hit)).
  • The changes to stale-move negation and knockback stacking make Dancing Blade's hits connect more reliably. The changes to the former mechanic also improve Dancing Blade's potential damage output if all sequences connect, despite the third and fourth variants' lower damage.
• Dolphin Slash:
  • Dolphin Slash can now grab edges at the height of the jump when Marth is facing away from it, improving his recovery potential.
  • Dolphin Slash retains its ability to control its angle with the C-Stick from Brawl, improving his recovery and mixup potential.[1]
• Counter:
• • Counter has gained an additional hitbox at the tip of the sword, improving its coverage.
  • Counter has a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.2×), making it easier to DI.

Revisions

v2.5b

• Walk, dash, and run animations adjusted to more closely match Melee's.
• Sword trails altered to more closely match Melee's.
• The tipper hitbox of up smash has been moved up (Z offset: 0u → 6u), now properly covering the entire tip of the sword, making the tipper much easier to land
• Forward and down aerial's animation slightly adjusted to more closely match Melee.
• Dancing Blade has added overlayed color effects like Melee.

v2.6b

• Fixed polygonal bugs that could occur when angling his shield.
• Standing grab animation adjusted to more closely match Melee's.
• Pivot grab animation adjusted to better match its range.
• Dancing Blade does not continue by using the c-stick unless set to special.

v3.6

• Dolphin Slash and sword swing sound effects changed to match Melee.
• Second hit of neutral attack duration increased (frame 4-8 → 4-9).
• Dash grab's hitbox placements have been altered (8.54u/8.09u/7.64u → 7.6u/7.17u/7.17u (Y offset), 16.17u/8.98u/1.8u → 10.55u/5.9u/1.69u (Z offset)). This overall reduces its horizontal range.
• Pivot grabs innermost hitbox has been removed, removing grabs from behind Marth.

v3.6b

• Exploit fixed that altered Marth's vertical mobility during Dolphin Slash ending lag.

Changes from PM to P+

Marth received small buffs and fixes in the transition to Project+, although his down aerial and back throw received slightly more landing and ending lag respectively, albeit both still less than in Melee.

Overall, Marth is the least changed character between Project M and Project+, and still remains a viable character in competitive play.

Attributes

• Wall Jump has less horizontal velocity (1.3 → 1). This makes it less likely for Marth to self-destruct after a wall jump tech without having to use his back aerial immediately.
• Back roll has less ending lag (IASA 33 → 32).
• As a universal change across the cast, forward getup roll has less startup with increased intangibility (frame 6-20 → 1-20).
• Fixed a bug where Marth's get-up attack while facing up started a frame late.

Ground Attacks

• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt can now be interrupted by shielding without having to perform another action.
• Forward smash:
  • Adjusted animation on forward smash on the arm rotation to arc more naturally

Aerial Attacks

• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial has slightly more landing lag (25/12 frames → 28/14), though it is still less than in Melee.

Throws and other attacks

• Back throw:
  • Back throw has slightly more ending lag (FAF 40 → 42).
• Down Throw:
  • Down throw's release point and throw animation adjusted to more closely resemble Melee's.

Special Moves

• Shield Breaker:
  • Fixed an issue where Marth’s eyes retained their behavior from Brawl instead of looking forward.
• Dancing Blade:
  • Dancing Blade colors are now based on the direction used instead of being a set order, akin to Brawl. (Red (hit 1), Blue (hit 2), Green (hit 3), Red (hit 4) → Red (forward), Blue (up), Green (down)).
• Counter:
  • Counterattack's intangibility frames were increased to fully cover when the hitbox is active (frames 1-8 → 1-9).

Moveset

Up to date as of version 3.6.

For simplicity, if, for example, Marth's blade does 4% damage while the tip does 6%, and the attack has no other hitboxes, it is written as 4%/6%.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			4%/6%	Marth slashes Falchion twice in front of himself. Both hits can combo into themselves at low percent's.
			4%/6%
Forward tilt			9%/13%	A fast upwards swipe with Falchion while leaning forward. Has a hitboxes that can launches the enemy both vertically and horizontally. Has decent knockback when tipped.
Up tilt			Clean: 8% (body), 9% (arm & blade), 12% (tip) Late: 9% (body), 10% (blade), 13% (tip)	Swings Falchion in a large arc above his head, with a large hitbox that can hit enemies behind him. Can be used to juggle and can be followed up by a forward smash, an up smash, a neutral air, or an up air. It can also set up aerial combos. This move KOs reliably at 135% and above when tipped on lightweights and 150% and above on heavyweights.
Down tilt			8% (body), 9% (blade), 10% (tip)	A quick crouching Falchion poke. It is very useful for edgeguarding, and it can safely be used to interrupt approaches or follow-ups. It can combo into a grab or dash attack below 100%.
Dash attack			9% (body), 11% (blade), 12% (tip)	Marth performs a quick upward sweeping diagonal slash with medium lag, high range, and relatively high damage. Sends opponents above him when tipped and behind him when not tipped.
Forward smash		Dragon Killer	14%/20%	Rotates body counter-clockwise with a strong arc-like one-handed swing from his head to the ground. Very fast start-up, good horizontal and vertical reach, but has noticeable ending lag. The tip can KO at closer distances to the blast lines as early as 75% on lightweights and 90% on heavyweights due its very high base knockback.
Up smash		Justice Sword	8% (sides), 15% (blade), 18% (tip)	A quick, direct upward thrust. The move has very weak sourspots next to Marth if used on the ground, so it is not a reliable KO move on grounded enemies next to Marth, but it can act as a surprise KO option on enemies directly above him in the air or on platforms. KOs as early as 80% on lightweights and 105% on heavyweights at the tip of the sword.
Down smash			11%/16% (both hits)	Marth sweeps his sword on the ground toward the front outward then toward the back inward. If tipped, it sends opponents upward with high vertical knockback, KOing as early as 100% on heavyweights and even earlier on lightweights if used near the edge. If hit at the base, it sends opponents with low horizontal knockback, which doesn't KO reliably until 150% on lightweights 220% on heavyweights. It is generally not a safe option to use in some situations, as the attack has a fair amount of ending lag and takes longer to fully execute than his other smash attacks.
Neutral aerial			4% (hit 1), 10% (hit 2)	Two horizontal slashes around himself; via in inward slash followed into a full 360° outward spin. Both hits connect easily and can follow up into each other, with the second hit having decent knockback.
Forward aerial			9% (body), 10% (blade), 13% (tip)	Does a quick downwards slash forward. It has fairly low knockback when not tipped, but it is very fast in both start-up and ending lag and many characters can't punish it when spaced properly. Can easily be done twice in a short hop and is useful for edgeguarding as a wall-of-pain. However, it can be risky at times to use randomly during neutral. This move is one of the first parts of the Ken Combo.
Back aerial		About Face	9% (body), 10% (blade), 13% (tip)	Slashes his sword from bottom to top behind him in an inward swipe. This move has the interesting property of turning Marth around when used successfully while airborne.
Up aerial			9% (body), 10% (blade), 13% (tip)	A forward to back upward sword slash in a delayed somersault. It has low knockback, tipped or not, but can be used to juggle opponents when combined with forward smash, up tilt, and other aerials.
Down aerial			9% (body), 10% (blade), 13% (tip)	A forward to back downward outward sword slash. Has very low start-up. When tipped, it is a spike that deals high knockback. Vertical spacing (using a footstool to setup the move) is a good method of sweetspotting the attack. It is also a risky edgeguarding move, as it has very high ending and landing lag. This move is usually the finisher to the famous Ken Combo.
Grab			—
Pummel			3%	Knees opponent.
Forward throw			4%	Grabs and pushes the enemy forward, tripping with his leg. Great for tech-chasing and can chain throw heavy/fast falling characters at 0% for up to usually around four throws and sets up a guaranteed forward smash at low percents on most characters, on some characters it can hit with the tipper for more damage.
Back throw			4%	Pulls and throws the enemy while simultaneously extending his leg. Similar to his down throw.
Up throw			4%	Powerful upward throw with one arm. Can chain throw fast fallers at low percentages or can be followed up with an up tilt.
Down throw			5%	Hooks his arm and drags the opponent to the floor sending the opponent backwards. Sets up a tipper forward smash at low percentages, and other attacks like Dancing Blade and down aerial at a ledge. Otherwise it has extremely low knockback with little KO potential.
Floor attack (front)			6%	Sweeps his sword on the ground, front to back.
Floor attack (back)			6%	A quick stab to the left followed by a horizontal slash to the right.
Floor attack (trip)			5%	Gets up and stabs on one side followed by a horizontal slash on the other side.
Edge attack (fast)			6% (body), 8% (sword)	Flips onto ledge with a quick downward diagonal slash.
Edge attack (slow)			8% (body), 9% (sword)	Slowly gets up and performs a quick horizontal slice. Has slightly less range than the fast ledge attack.
Neutral special		Shield Breaker	8-28% (fully charged)	Marth holds Falchion over his head before doing a powerful overhead slash in a similar fashion to his forward smash. When the move is fully charged, it will break any shield in one hit, unless the attack is perfect shielded. Uncharged, it doesn't KO until over 200%. However, when fully charged, it can KO as early as 50% on heavyweights.
Side special		Dancing Blade	Varies	A sequence of Falchion slashes with several variations based on the direction the control stick is tilted.
Up special		Dolphin Slash	Clean: 10%/13% Late: 6% (body), 7% (blade)	A super fast-jumping slash that can be reversed. It is very risky to use on the ground due to the large degree of vulnerability Marth receives if the move doesn't hit. It is also Marth's fastest out-of-shield option.
Down special		Counter	7%	Assumes a defensive stance and retaliates against incoming attacks. The damage and knockback of the attack will always be the same, regardless on what attack is being countered.
Final Smash		Critical Hit	60%	Marth lunges in one direction, attacking the first opponent with a strong outward piercing slash. Immense knockback, enough to one-hit KO any character, and can hit other characters near his initial target.

Dancing Blade

Hit	Damage	Description
First Hit (Neutral)	4%	Does a vertical slash. Has little knockback; incapable of KOing.
Second Hit (Up)	5%	Does an upwards slash.
Second Hit (Neutral)	5%	Does a forward stab. Has a little more knockback then the first slash (but still not much).
Third Hit (Up)	5%	Does a weak downwards slash.
Third Hit (Neutral)	9%	Does a fairly powerful upward slash.
Third Hit (Down)	11%	Spins and stabs at the ground. This move meteor smashes opponents.
Fourth Hit (Up)	9%	Does a powerful jumping slash.
Fourth Hit (Neutral)	13%	Does a very powerful downwards slash.
Fourth Hit (Down)	3% (hits 1-5)	Does a flurry of lower stabs. The last hit launches opponents away.

In competitive play

Most historically significant players

See also: Category:Marth players (PM)

•  Jagz$ - Currently one of the best players in Florida and one of the best active Marth players. Was ranked 41st on PMRank 2022. Placed 2nd at Undertow 2023 with solo Marth.
•  Jonsch - One of the best players in Europe.
•  Lunchables - One of the best Marth players while also playing Roy, Toon Link and Meta Knight. Ranked 3rd on PMRank 2023, and has ranked as high as 2nd on PMRank 2016 primarily using Marth and Roy.
•  Rongunshu - Co-mains Marth and Lucario. Ranked #4 on PMRank 2023 and won Mile High Club with solo Marth.

Alternate costumes

Project M

Marth’s light blue costume was replaced by a purple costume, so his default costume is now used for the blue team like in Melee. 3.5 included a set of alternate costumes based off Sigurd from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, which includes recolors for team battle.

Marth's alternate costumes in PM

The recolors of the Sigurd costume resemble other characters from Genealogy of the Holy War, specifically characters closely related to Sigurd:

• The red costume is based on Eldigan, one of Sigurd's closest friends.
• The green costume is based on Quan, Sigurd's other close friend.
• The blue costume is loosely based on either Seliph, Sigurd's son, or Byron, his father.

Project+

Marth gets a new Hooded costume, along with its own set of recolors. The green hooded costume resembles Ephraim. He also gets back his original blue costume from Brawl.

Marth's alternate costumes in P+

Secret costumes:

Z-Secret Costume: Legacied Hero Marth (based on his appearance in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light)

R-Secret Costume: Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem Marth (much like SSB4 and Ultimate)

Trivia

• Marth's alternate outfit contains a locket with a picture of Caeda, Marth's significant other in the Fire Emblem series.

External links

• Labbing Discord Tech Post