Marth (PM)

Marth in Project M and Project+
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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.

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.

Unlike some other high-tier Melee characters, like Jigglypuff, Marth remains fairly viable in Project M, and is a strong pick for competitive play. Overall, though, 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 that Marth struggles to KO on, while relegating his previously best stage, Final Destination, as a counterpick in most rulesets.

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, previously a risky move to use on-stage due to its high landing lag, had its landing lag reduced, allowing it to be used more effectively as an out of shield option and combo starter.

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 Counter has improved coverage and retains its ability to be wavebounced/B-reversed 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.

Ground Attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The second hit has a longer duration (frame 4-8 → 4-9).
• Up smash:
  • Dash attack can now be canceled, 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.
  • The tipper hitbox has been moved up (Z offset: 0u → 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°).

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral aerial:
  • It deals 0.09% more damage if both hits connect (13.91% → 14%), due to the changes to stale-move negation.
• Down aerial:
  • It has less landing lag (32/16 frames → 25/12).
  • The body hitbox is now closer to the center of Marth's chest as opposed to near his left arm (Z offset: 0u → 1u).

Throws and other attacks

• Grabs:
  • Dash grab has less startup lag (frame 10 → 9).
  • Dash grab's hitbox placements have been altered, and has lost one of its inner hitboxes (7.4214u/7.0308u/6.6402u/6.6402u → 7.6u/7.17u/7.17u (Y offset), 14.0616u/9.765u/5.4684u/1.5624u → 10.55u/5.9u/1.69u (Z offset)). This overall reduces its horizontal range, especially behind Marth.
• Down throw:
  • It sends opponents at a slightly higher angle (135° → 130°).

Special Moves

• Shield Breaker:
  • Shield Breaker uses its Brawl sounds effects, with Marth only vocalizing when the move is fully charged.
• Dancing Blade:
• Hit 3:
  • The forward and downwards variants have increased knockback scaling (160 → 176 (forward), 100 → 107 (downward)), improving their KO potential overall despite their lower damage.
  • Each variant deals less damage (10% → 9% (forward), 6% → 5% (up), 12% → 11% (down)).
  • The upwards variant has more knockback scaling (60 → 68), hindering its follow-up potential, while still not being able to reliably KO at higher percents.
• Hit 4:
  • Each variant has more knockback scaling (120 → 128 (forward), 130 → 141 (up), 130 → 175 (down final hit). improving their KO potential overall despite their lower damage.
  • Each variant deals less damage (14% → 13% (forward), 10% → 9% (up), 5% → 3% (down)).
    • Altogether, these changes make Dancing Blade more reliable and useful as the hits connect more reliably with the altered knockback, in addition to the changes to stale-move negation and knockback stacking. 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.
• Counter:
  • Counter retains its ability to be wavebounced/B-reversed from Brawl, improving its mixup potential and accuracy.
  • 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.

Changes from PM to P+

Marth received small buffs and fixes in the transition to Project+.

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 immediately use his back aerial.
• 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

Throws and other attacks

• 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).

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.

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

Notable tech

Labbing Discord Tech Post

Notable players

•  Jagz$ - Currently top 3 in Florida and one of the best active Marth players. Placed 17th at Undertow, and 5th at Lazer Lazer 20.
•  Jonsch - One of the best players in Europe.
•  Lunchables - Formerly the best Marth player in the world prior to his hiatus. Formerly ranked 3rd on PMRank 2018.
•  Rongunshu - Co-mains Marth and Lucario, currently 9th on PMRank 2019. Placed 2nd at Frozen Phoenix 2018 and Resting Stitch Face 2.

Alternate costumes

Project M

Marth once again uses his default costume when fighting on the blue team, so his blue costume was changed to purple. 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 (Vyron in Japan), his father.

Project+

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

Marth's alternate costumes in P+

Z-Secret Costume: Fire Emblem: Shadow Drgon and the Blade of Light Marth

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.