Pit (SSBB)

Pit in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	Kid Icarus
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Palutena's Army
Tier	D (18)

Announced at E3 2006, Pit (ピット, Pitto) is a playable character appearing in Super Smash Bros. Brawl after a sixteen year absence from video games. He uses a bow and arrow as a weapon, and it can also split into 2 small blades. Pit's arrows shoot out beams of light when fired, and the curve of the arrows' trajectory can be controlled by the player, by pressing up or down. The bow itself can be aimed before shooting the arrow, as seen at around 4:18 in this video. This is called Palutena's Arrow. Pit has the ability to jump in midair multiple times; however, according to the DOJO!!, Pit is an angel who cannot ordinarily fly. Pit's up special move, known as the Wings of Icarus, allows him to fly freely for a brief period of time, though, like his midair jumps, he will fall soon afterwards, as if he's tired. This move cannot cause damage, and Pit cancels it if he attacks or is attacked. Like Meta Knight and Charizard, Pit is able to glide.

Pit is currently ranked 18th in the D tier on the tier list, at the bottom of the borderline tier. Pit possesses one of the best projectiles in Brawl with his Palutena's Bow, which is fast, chargeable, has range that covers the entire stage, and gives Pit a great amount of control over its trajectory. Pit also has one of the best recoveries in Brawl, possessing multiple midair jumps, a glide, and a recovery move in Wings of Icarus that gains the greatest distance of any in Brawl, as well as giving him complete control over his movement during the move. Additionally, Pit possesses fast attacks throughout his moveset, above average movement speed and good mobility, one of the strongest planking capabilities, and two effective reflectors. Pit however has problems with KOing opponents, as he's a rather weak character that doesn't possess many finishers, and he's heavily reliant on his back aerial and forward smash to KO (the former requiring the landing of the initial hitbox while being short-ranged, and the latter being heavily prone to stale-move negation while being SDIable out of). Additionally, Pit's recovery is especially vulnerable to gimping, as if he is flinched during Wings of Icarus, he cannot use the move again until landing. Pit also has rather short reach in his attacks (despite being a sword character). Overall, Pit has rather good matchups (losing only a handful and being countered by only one character), and while his tournament results are average in American Meta Knight legal tournaments, his results have been stellar in Meta Knight banned tournaments, and especially good in Japan, where is he ranked 8th on their tier list at the top of high tier.

Attributes

Pit, as seen in the first trailer for Brawl at E3 2006.

Pit is a character who can play into many roles. He combines attacks well, can play up front with low lag smashes and multi-hit neutral attack moves (though his close up game is impaired by poor range), moves relatively quickly, and has a respectable aerial game. Pit is easily juggled due to being a semi-floaty medium weight, but this also makes him difficult to chaingrab. Unique to Pit are two moves that reflect projectiles - his Mirror Shield, which also protects Pit from many attacks, gives him launch resistance while pulling it out and actually turns foes the opposite direction much like Mario's Cape, giving him good gimping capabilities, and his Angel Ring, which is also good for racking up damage.

Pit's Palutena's Arrow is a great projectile due to its fast speed, long range, quick start-up time (making it easily spammable). However, it's also easily perfect shielded due to its fast speed, which makes it lose some of its usefulness. Pit can have only 4 arrows flying around at once, once the player inputs the next arrow the first one will disappear.

Pit has an advanced technique known as Wing Dashing. Pit also has one of the longest recoveries in the game, with three midair jumps, the fastest glide in the game, and an exceptional up special Wings of Icarus. However, should Pit get hit while using Wings of Icarus or attacks out of it, he cannot use it again until he lands onto the ground, grabs a ledge, or (in worst case scenarios) is KO'd. Pit is the only character who cannot use his up special again if he is hit out it.

Pit's moves generally have low lag, low knockback, and deal medium damage. This, however, is one of Pit's greatest weaknesses. Due to stale-move negation, continued use of his smashes can make KOing a difficult task, forcing the player to switch to projectile attacks to buff out smashes again. Pit's back aerial is his most powerful attack, which is a solid KO move thanks to its speed. Careful Pit players can maximize his potential, while playing through his weaknesses, but it can be a difficult task.

Moveset

Ground attacks

Normal

• Neutral attack - Slashes three times, spins the blades together back and forth, hitting repeatedly. Interestingly, Pit cannot enter his rapid fire attack by simply holding the "Attack" button, he will only do a three hit combo. However, once he has entered the rapid fire attack, it is necessary only to continue holding 'Attack' to continue it. This means Pit essentially has two different combos depending if the button is tapped or held initially. 11% damage rapid attack: 1% per hit. Start-up of 5 frames.
• Dash attack - Small slash forward with one of his blades near the ground doing below average knockback, but knockback is much higher at around 100% and up. 12% damage. Hits on frame 7-9.
• Forward tilt - Thrusts both blades forward causing 12% damage and good knockback. Hits on frame 14-16.
• Up tilt - Plants one sword into the ground and does a handstand on it, performing two kicks above him, the first kick connecting to the next. Causes 16% damage if both kicks connect. Start-up of 2 frames. This is Pit's fastest attack start-up wise. If the opponent is caught whilst standing in front of Pit during initiation of his up tilt, the opponent may get hit three times.
• Down tilt - Crouches and swipes the blade towards the ground causing 11% damage. Can spike when the foot and blade touch the opponent. Good for edgeguarding. Hits on frame 6-8.

Smash

• Forward smash - A weak slash followed immediately by a very strong slash, 19% damage cumulative. The second slash can be perfect shielded or DIed out of. All the knockback is in the second slash. Does 26% fully charged. Start-up of 6 frames.
• Up smash - Three quick slashes above his head. Faster, but less knockback than something like Link's, and with more vertical range and less horizontal. All three combined do 13% worth of damage. [18% fully charged] All the knockback is in the last slash, the other two have reverse knockback, sucking the opponent closer to set up for the final slash. If the player hits with only the first slash of this attack, it is actually a spike. However, this is extremely difficult to pull off. Has a start-up of 6 frames.
• Down smash - Slashes toward the ground in front of and behind him. Similar to Link's down smash. If one is overlapping the opponent, both the front and back slash's hitboxes will connect, much like Zelda's down smash. Interestingly, when using his down smash, Pit only utters a sound upon charging the smash. The voice clip will not play if the down-smash is initiated instantly using the C-Stick. Does 13% worth of damage. Front slash hits on frame 5-6, back slash hits on frame 18-20.

Other

• Ledge attack - Slides on stage with a kick similar to Falco's ledge attack.
• 100% ledge attack - Pauses for a moment while getting his swords ready, then stabs 10% damage.
• Floor attack - Slashes with his bow split left and right separately. Identical to Ike's down smash in form.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial - Spins both blades together in front of him, hitting multiple times causing 11% if all hits connect. This can stop weak projectiles if executed at the right time. Start-up of 4 frames.
• Forward aerial - Thrusts both blades forward and quickly brings them apart, slashing horizontally doing 14% damage. Hits on frame 12-15.
• Back aerial - Thrusts sword behind him. Quick and very powerful, Pit's highest knockback aerial move if sweetspoted. Not easy to short hop with, but with a fast-fall used in conjunction with the move, it can provide many opportunities to string up aerial combos. Causes 15% damage. Hits on frame 9-25.
• Up aerial - Spins his blades together above his head, hitting multiple times causing 12% if all connect. Can be used after down throw to hit heavy/fast falling characters reliably. Similar to Meta Knight's up aerial, if tap jump is turned on, Pit will jump (whilst airborne) once every time he uses it if the Control Stick is held up at the right time. Start-up of 9 frames.
• Down aerial - Slashes under him causing 12% damage. High priority, can be used up to 5 times in the air if used right after initial-midair jumps, the 5th is only if the player utilizes the Wing of Icarus special. Hits on frame 10-12.
• Glide attack - Slashes both swords in a 160 degree arc from bottom to forward. Inflicts 12% damage and good knockback. If used right before landing, there is almost no ending lag upon execution. Great KO move. Hits on frame 6-11.

Grabs and throws

• Pummel - Knees the opponent in their midsection, dealing 2% damage. A fast pummel.
• Forward throw - Slashes opponent doing 10% damage. Can chaingrab at very low percentages against heavier characters.
• Back throw - Twirls around with the enemy in tow, slamming them on the ground and launches the opponent backward resulting in 8% damage.
• Up throw - Does a handstand and kicks the opponent with both feet causing 11% damage. Can KO at high percentages.
• Down throw - Slams opponent on the ground dealing 6% damage. Good throw to follow up opponents in the air with aerial attacks.

Special moves

Pit's special moves

Neutral special	Palutena’s Arrow	Palutena Bow
Side special	Angel Ring	Upperdash Arm
Up special	Wings of Icarus	Power of Flight
Down special	Mirror Shield	Guardian Orbitars
Final Smash	Palutena's Army	Three Sacred Treasures	Lightning Chariot

Brawl Manual Description

The hero from Kid Icarus fights with Palutena's Bow, which converts into dual blades.

Taunts

• Up: Spins his blades in each hand, then crosses them. He says, "The fight is on!". In the Japanese version he says, "Shoubu da!" (Let's fight/beat).
• Side: Slices at the air, similarly to a Subspace Emissary video, and from the E3 trailer. He says, "You're not ready yet!". In the Japanese version he says "Mada Mada!" (That's not enough).
• Down: Floats in the air and poses angelically, looking up while feathers fly from his wings.

In Competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Role in Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary

Pit in the SSE

Pit starts off watching the stadium match between Mario and Kirby through a reflecting pool in a sky palace. After witnessing the invasion of the Subspace Army interrupting the match, the goddess Palutena summons him and sends him to attack the Subspace Army, giving him Bow of Light. He eventually meets and teams up with Mario, after battling through a Greap. Mario, stuck in trophy form, is awakened by and joins forces with Pit to fight off the Subspace Army.

Later, they chase after the Ancient Minister but fail to catch him. If the player rescued Zelda, Pit and Mario would face off against a clone of her made from Shadow Bugs/Link, who was passing by with Yoshi, was furious because he thought that the copy of Zelda was the real thing so he and Yoshi attack Pit and Mario. When the player wins against Link and Yoshi, they are turned into trophies and are captured by King Dedede but are rescued by Kirby. Kirby revives Link and Yoshi, then Link fires an arrow at the car that King Dedede stole from Wario to slow him down. Pit, Mario, Link, Yoshi and Kirby then team up to stop King Dedede.

Pit pitted against Primids.

If the player rescued Peach, Link and Yoshi would attack the clone of Peach and Mario and Pit would attack Link and Yoshi, but they would lose and turn into trophies. Then they get captured by King Dedede but are rescued narrowly by Kirby. They are then revived by Kirby and Pit fires an arrow at the Cargo that King Dedede stole and the story continues. The five heroes then come across King Dedede's castle, which has been raided by Bowser. The team catches up to Bowser, who has stolen the trophy of Peach/Zelda. Bowser dodged Mario and Pit's attacks and escaped in his Koopa Clown Car.

Much later, the team once again runs into the Ancient Minister. Pit fires an arrow at the Minister but he dodges before it hit. They then chase after the Minister but are stopped by his R.O.B army. The R.O.B's then start to activate the Subspace Bomb that the Minister carried. Mario and Pit try to take the R.O.B's that are activating the bomb off (Pit tries to pull one off while Mario punches the other) but are pulled away by two other R.O.B's. The team barely escapes when the bomb explodes. Later, the team comes down to help Marth, Ike, Ice Climbers, Lucas, and the Pokémon Trainer from a huge army of Subspace minions. Soon, he and the rest of the heroes stormed into Subspace but were transformed into trophies by Tabuu's Off waves. He was rescued later by Ness, Luigi, and King Dedede. He then helped the characters get through The Great Maze and participated in the battle against Tabuu himself.

Trophy

Pit's trophy in Brawl

The captain of the royal bodyguards of Palutena, goddess of light and ruler of Angel Land. The dark goddess, Medusa, conquered the underworld, the surface world, and the heavens, and imprisoned Palutena. Pit escaped and, armed with Palutena's magical bow, set out to free her. Along the way, he gathered Three Sacred Treasures with which he challenged Medusa.

• Kid Icarus
• Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters

It is important to note that the game titles on the bottom of Pit's trophy description read only Kid Icarus and not the sequel Of Myths and Monsters.

Costumes

Pit's alternate costumes in SSBB

Trivia

Early artwork of Pit.

• Pit's original Brawl artwork portrayed him as having significantly more feathers on his wings, a narrower face, thicker, shorter legs, more tufts of hair, and white rings around his wrist as opposed to the golden ones on the Smash Bros. DOJO!! image.
• Pit is able to completely guard against Samus's Final Smash with his down special, except for the final hit.
• Depending on the last move used by the player, Pit can move around with his bow as a bow or separated (For example, if his side special is last used, it will still be together with the blades still facing in a circular motion when he walks around. If his neutral-b is used last, the bow will remain together while facing the same direction. If he uses a neutral combo, the blades will separate.) It will also be shaped differently if he used one of the spinning attacks.
• Occasionally Pit will utter "I’m done for..." as his death cry (a reference to the "Game Over" screen from Kid Icarus: "I'm finished!").
• When Pit gets a Hammer/Golden Hammer, Pit won't swing his arms up and down, but only pivots his wrist. The animation for him looks almost identical to Mr. Game & Watch's hammer animation, but it is more likely a reference to the very similar animation that occurred when using a hammer in Kid Icarus and its sequel, Of Myths and Monsters. When Pit jumps while holding a hammer, he is posed very similarly to how he jumped in his original games.
• If Pit is holding an item, his bow will never be separated. If the player uses up or side taunt while holding an item, Pit will separate his bow as normal, but the item will disappear until the taunt ends.
• Pit's on-screen appearance is similar to Link's from the original Super Smash Bros., where he comes down from a beam of light. Even though they are visually similar, Link's was a reference to the portals that teleported Link out of a dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time after defeating a boss.
• In Brawl, Pit is unable to crawl, although he could crawl in the original Kid Icarus.

External links

• Confirmation of Event Match
• Pit's page at Smash Bros. DOJO!!.
• Pit Subspace Emissary Video
• Pit Character Guide at SWF
• Pit's hitbox size of each of his moves