Marth (SSB4)

Marth in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Fire Emblem
Other playable appearances	in Melee in Brawl in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Critical Hit
Tier	A (11)

Marth (マルス, Marth) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. He was announced on the official website on November 7th, 2013; years before, four Fire Emblem games were released within a similar time frame; Fire Emblem on November 3rd, 2003 in North America, The Sacred Stones and Path of Radiance on November 4th, 2005 in Europe, and Radiant Dawn on November 11th, 2007 in North America. He was among the first wave of amiibo figures that are compatible with SSB4, released on the same day as the Wii U version of the game. He is voiced once again by Hikaru Midorikawa in all regions, albeit using recycled voice clips from Brawl.

Marth is ranked 11th out of 55 characters on the tier list. This is a minor fall from his 5th place position out of 38 in Brawl and is technically his worst placement in the series to date, albeit by a small margin. However, due to the expansion of tiers in SSB4, Marth remains a top tier character, as in all of his past appearances. Marth's positives include good overall mobility and relatively long disjointed range on all of his attacks. As with previous incarnations, all of Marth's sword-based attacks are quite rewarding if they land only at the tip of his sword, with the buffs to his tippered moves now causing them to deal very high knockback despite their quick startup, most notably in the case of forward smash, forward/back aerials, and Shield Breaker. The changes to shield mechanics also indirectly grant his tippers more safety due to them causing higher shieldstun, making it difficult for opponents to punish tippers on shield. In addition, his overall frame data is very good, such as possessing one of the lowest landing lag averages in the game, and as alluded to above, the startup of his moves is also very fast, with most of his moveset coming out before frame 10, and certain moves having little endlag to complement this further (neutral attack, forward, up, and down tilts respectively). All in all, Marth's overall speed in regards to both attacks and mobility give him a dependable neutral game, with optimal spacing being very rewarding due to the danger of his powerful tippers.

Marth's primary flaw is his emphasis on spacing, moreso than in his previous appearances, owing to the reduction in power and efficacy of his sourspotted moves. Furthermore, many of Marth's sourspotted attacks have poor shieldstun, potentially leading to punishes if Marth does not properly space his attacks. Marth is also susceptible to pressure tactics, as he lacks combo breaker attacks and his lack of a projectile prevents him from easily dealing with projectile-based camping. Like in his previous appearances, Marth also suffers from a linear, predictable recovery, and even with ledge trumping and larger ledge sweetspots, Marth is still prone to gimping.

Initially considered a low-tier character in Smash 4 while struggling to make notable tournament impacts, Marth was buffed via updates to the game, particularly in 1.1.4, owing to improvements to his reach, damage, interruptibility, and combo game. Since then, he amassed a large playerbase and above-average tournament representation.

Attributes

Marth is emblematic of sword characters, making extensive use of disjointed hitboxes and his unique tipper mechanic. His attributes remain present: he has high overall mobility, sporting the fastest walking speed in the game (tied with his clone, Lucina), a fast dashing speed, average air speed, above average air acceleration, moderate falling speed, and low gravity, all of which is coupled with slightly below average weight.

Marth's playstyle has remained fundamentally intact from past iterations, being characterized by the properties of his sword, Falchion. His attacks deal significantly more damage and knockback if struck with the tip of the sword, encouraging and rewarding proper spacing. Being a sword-user, Marth also has the benefit of disjointed hitboxes. Many of his moves possess good range, fast startup, and cover wide arcs (e.g, his jab, up tilt, and forward aerial). As such, Marth aims to fight a step away from danger, where he can pressure the opponent without leaving himself open to punishment.

Marth's neutral game relies heavily on effective spacing. As mentioned before, Marth possesses one of the longest overall ranges in the game, which plays a vital role in his neutral, as his mobility allows him to maneuver around opponents and space attacks with relative ease, with multiple moves that are safe to throw out at tipper range or further. In comparison to Melee and Brawl, Marth's neutral game is mainly ground based, with the first hit of his jab being the cornerstone. Said move is fast, disjointed, has high range, low start up, deceptively low cooldown, and due to its hitbox arc, also acts as an anti-air. All of these traits make it exceptionally difficult to challenge. It also has excellent combo potential into many of his moves.

While his tipper is considered the most optimal, Marth's sourspot also provides benefits when he wins in the neutral, as the lower knockback on his sourspot allows him to more easily combo moves into themselves. Marth's neutral game is also unique by scaling with percent, as set-ups and combos become more rewarding at higher percents (e.g, jab 1 to forward tilt serves as a KO set-up at later percents). He also benefits from being one of the few characters in the game who can outright KO through playing his neutral and spacing game; essentially, while Marth's neutral reward is not as rewarding or damaging as other characters, Marth has the ability to win neutral exchanges with relative ease and safety, as well as having consistent set-ups and follow-ups.

Marth's special moveset has high utility. His neutral special, Shield Breaker, deals high shield damage even when uncharged, and is useful for punishing rolls or covering landings. It also grants some horizontal recovery, moreso when fully charged, and a tippered blow deals enough knockback to KO at reasonably low percents. Side special Dancing Blade is a four-hit combo that can be used to punish sidesteps and rolls, is an effective damage racker, dealing 15-20% if all hits connect, has combo and mix-up potential, and at later percents, serves as an effective KO option. It can also be used to stall in the air, giving Marth mix-up opportunities to recover, land, and edgeguard. Counter, his down special, provides him with the capability to reverse attacks with 1.2x the damage, KOing if the attack was strong enough; it can also be used against opponents with easily predictable recoveries. His up special, Dolphin Slash, has quick startup, provides slight intangibility during its startup frames, is relatively strong when it first comes out, and has high knockback scaling. These attributes make it an excellent out of shield option and combo-breaker. It is also Marth's primary method of recovery, as its speed can make it difficult to intercept, and it can stage spike reckless edgeguarders.

Marth's low gravity and average falling speed allow him to maneuver effectively in the air, and his disjointed range provides him with an innately strong edgeguarding capability. His forward and back aerials have fast startup and good range, and are strong when tippered. Down aerial is relatively quick, and it will powerfully meteor smash opponents if it hits at the center of the arc, though its timing is very strict at one frame. Forward smash's range makes it a good choice against opponents aiming their recoveries towards the ledge, and down tilt's range and speed make it good at 2-framing opponents. Both have the ability to hit below the ledge as well.

Despite his strengths, Marth is not without flaws. Due to both the changes to shield mechanics and further polarization of his sweetspots and sourspots, his heavier reliance on tippers and spacing ability gives him a relatively subpar up-close game at higher percents, which makes it more difficult for Marth to KO and threaten faster/smaller characters. The low shieldstun and hitstun generated by non-tippered moves make it possible for opponents to act out quicker than he can, causing Marth to struggle against shields if his aerials are improperly spaced, and Shield Breaker is highly punishable if predicted. His tipper mechanic can equally disadvantage him when attempting to KO, as his attacks don't generate much knockback if not spaced properly, making his KO potential very inconsistent without proper spacing (most notably with forward smash, forward tilt and aerials). Lastly, his edgeguarding ability, though strong, is flawed, both due to the need for tippers and the moderately high ending lag on his aerials. As a result, Marth is reliant on being in a certain distance for his moves to be safe while retaining the neutral, and to KO effectively without setups.

Marth's weak throws tie into his inconsistent KO power. Except for up throw, they have low knockback scaling, preventing them from KOing at realistic percents, while up throw can only KO starting at 160%, if Marth has no rage. His throw game is poor as well; aside from having a fairly fast pummel, Marth's throws deal low damage and have high base knockback, making them poor for combos and damage-racking outside of very low percents, such as aerials at 0%. However, it should be noted that the high base knockback of his throws allow Marth to take advantage of his good edgeguarding capability, especially at the edge.

As a solely sword-based character, Marth's neutral also suffers from a lack of a projectile, and he can struggle against projectile heavy characters and playstyles. This ties in with his vulnerability once he loses the neutral: despite having below average weight and only average falling speed, Marth is susceptible to combos, and his tall hurtbox provides an easy target. Dolphin Slash is his only reliable combo-breaker, but as it leaves him helpless, it can inadvertently put him in an even worse position. Also, while Counter can be used defensively, it leaves Marth extremely vulnerable to punishment should it whiff. Marth also has little defense against juggling, as his aerials are ineffective at relieving pressure; though his attacks have quick startup, many of them come with high ending and landing lag, and also suffer from short hitbox durations (e.g, his forward aerial has a hitbox that lasts only 3 frames, comparatively high ending lag and noticeable landing lag, and along with its very strict autocancel window, it is a surprisingly poor approach option).

Marth himself is somewhat vulnerable to edgeguarding, though he has options for mix-ups with his recovery. Dolphin Slash is his only reliable vertical recovery option, and while it is still a threat to edgeguarders due to its speed and high stage spike ability, its path is linear and its distance fixed, making it fairly predictable. Additionally since this move grants little horizontal distance, Marth is vulnerable to semi-spikes. While Shield Breaker can aid his horizontal recovery, it covers little distance without charging. Marth's also heavily reliant on his double jump for mix-ups in his recovery, and is in significant danger if offstage without it.

With custom moves enabled, Marth gains options to address some of his drawbacks, at the cost of creating different ones. Dashing Assault allows him to punish landings and rolls, create trap situations, and can force opponents off the stage; but it loses the power and utility of Shield Breaker. Crescent Slash provides more horizontal recovery, but less vertical recovery. Also, while it grants him a fairly reliable follow-up from his forward throw and aerials at low percents, and can punish airdodge landings, it loses out of shield functionality. Dolphin Jump provides Marth more vertical distance and greater horizontal control, but loses all of its offensive use. Iai Counter has quicker startup (active from frame 3), increased utility, and deals electric damage as well; however it requires significantly stricter timing.

Overall, Marth's strengths considerably outweigh his flaws. He possesses notable advantages in his tipper mechanic, effective disjoint, fast mobility, above-average frame data, and a sourspot to benefit his combo game; however, his spacing and overall safety is so overly centered on his tipper mechanic that it hinders him in many ways, making his punishes unreliable due to their inconsistency. At his purest, Marth is most rewarding for players with good fundamentals, with many playstyles applicable to him due to his flaws being easily worked around with careful play. Marth has a dedicated playerbase in competitive play, with notable players such as MkLeo, Mr.E, Pugwest, and False achieving strong results at results at top-level play. As such, while he is noticeably nerfed from Brawl, he has proven to be a solid pick in competitive play after his buffs.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Possibly as a result of his strengths in previous appearances, Marth has been nerfed overall in his transition from Brawl to Smash 4 (especially during the initial release of the game). While Marth's disjoint has been slightly increased, he has less range owing to the hitboxes on most of his moves either being smaller or (in a few cases) removed entirely. This makes his range shorter relative to the cast when combined with some returning veterans having increased range overall as well as with a number of newcomers possessing many disjointed attacks, slightly hindering his key advantage from past games (though he still has one of the longest ranges in the game). As a result, this makes it slightly harder for him to control space. Arguably the largest nerf he has received is to his aerial game, another strength in previous iterations: his forward and down aerials are laggier; with the former being laggier in every regard having more startup lag with a shorter hitbox duration, higher ending and landing lag (with it no longer being possible to perform two forward aerials in a short hop), and auto-cancels much later, hindering his main approach option from Brawl, while the latter has more startup lag and the meteor smash is smaller, weaker, only lasts one frame and no longer reaches in front of him, hurting its edgeguarding utility despite the removal of meteor canceling.

Marth's overall damage output has been reduced and his frame data is worse which further exacerbate his worse spacing capabilities and the weakened power of his non-tippered attacks, the smaller hitboxes on his tippered attacks and increased ending lag, his KO power is more inconsistent than before. The base knockback on his throws has been significantly increased, making them even more ineffective for combos past extremely low percents despite the changes to hitstun canceling and DI, and removes his ability to tech-chase. However, their knockback scaling is still low, and so, aside from up throw, they cannot KO realistically. This is further compounded by the removal of chain grabbing, as the low damage output of his throws is more pronounced. The changes to aerial grab releases also hurts his grab game as Marth was one of the characters who could abuse aerial grab releases the most. His aerials are also less effective for comboing and juggling due to their increased landing lag and (in the case of forward aerial) ending lag. Marth has also seen a couple of nerfs to his specials as Dancing Blade's first hit is much laggier and Dancing Blade connects less reliably as each hit is stronger and transitions more slowly while Dolphin Slash is weaker and has less intangibility when used on the ground.

However, Marth has received noticeable buffs in other areas. Shield Breaker has improved utility especially when fully charged due to the weaker shields and higher shieldstun, and Counter reflects attacks with significantly increased knockback. Some of his moves are stronger when tippered, an example being forward smash, which is now the third strongest in the game. As Dolphin Slash was relatively susceptible to edge-hogging and suffered from the landing lag glitch, it greatly benefits from the new ledge mechanics, improving Marth's recovery. His ground game has also been buffed in some ways, with his neutral attack, forward tilt, up tilt and down smash all having decreased ending lag, as well as jab launching opponents vertically. While this removes its ability to jab lock, it allows for many new combo and KO setups he lacked in previous games, which compensates for the loss of the combo ability in his throws. Many of his tipper hitboxes have moved further along his sword, and largely benefit from both the increased shieldstun and shield damage and moves with above average hitlag multipliers being safer on shield, improving his spacing game. His grounded mobility options are also improved, such as possessing a faster dashing speed, having one of the most useful extended dash dances of the game, and the changes to perfect pivots gives him a greater microspacing option. Both of these aid his ground game further and give him options to extend his bait and punish options. These changes give him a better grounded spacing and combo game at the cost of having to more properly space and time his aerials. Marth also benefits from the introduction of rage as while it reduces his own endurance combined with the changes to hitstun canceling, it improves his own KO potential most notably with his tippers and his up throw making it easier for him to close out stocks.

In the end, while Marth was previously considered to be one of the characters to have been the most severely nerfed in the transition to Smash 4 (alongside Meta Knight, King Dedede, Dr. Mario, Falco, Olimar, and Wario), game updates brought useful buffs that significantly increased his effectiveness, while his key strengths remain from his previous two iterations were retained albeit to a lesser extent. While he is still nerfed from Brawl overall, the changes to the game's mechanics benefit him (despite receiving some noticeable nerfs from them) and most other returning veterans who were in Brawl's higher tiers saw a similar treatment which has lead him to being similarly effective relative to the cast and he is still be considered as a viable character in Smash 4's metagame.

Aesthetics

• Marth's design takes elements from Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow and his older design in Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, which was used in Melee and Brawl. This is most notable in the new designs for his cuirass, pauldrons, shirt, belt, and boots. Notably, the armor near his shoulders now hugs them rather than being attached to the chest piece like in Melee, Brawl, and the design it is based on, giving him a less imposing silhouette. His eyes are also smaller, and he has shorter hair.
• Marth's white alternate costume has been updated to the monochromatic palette, which makes no longer based on Leif. Additionally, Marth has received three new alternate costumes, two of which are based on his appearance in Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem and Roy's appearance in Melee, respectively. One replaces his previous blue costume.
• Marth's sword trails are much brighter at the tip; this makes the sweetspot of his attacks more visible than in previous games.
• Marth's sound effects for his sword slashes are less pronounced than in Brawl, overall being quieter. His Dolphin Slash in particular now produces a soft, short slashing sound, compared to the loud and prolonged noise it produced in Brawl.
• Marth's shielding animation has been updated. He no longer sheaths his sword, instead holding it up via an underhanded-grip. However, his sidestepping animation still has his sword sheathed, which is a carryover from Brawl.
• Marth's previously unused damage yells from Brawl's Sound Test are now heard when taking high knockback.

Attributes

• Marth dashes faster (1.7 → 1.785).
• The changes to pivot walking hinders Marth's approach options with his walk.
• Marth's air speed is slightly slower (1.034 → 1.02), going from the 11th fastest out of 39 characters to the 29th fastest out of 58.
• Marth falls faster (1.5 → 1.58). This slightly improves his vertical endurance, but makes him more susceptible to combos.
• Marth's fast falling speed is faster (2.1 → 2.528), improving his air game and making him less susceptible to juggling.
• Marth's gravity is higher (0.06715 → 0.075), hindering his endurance, making him more susceptible to combos and reducing the height of his jumps, but allowing him to reach his falling speed faster.
  • Due to Marth's lower short hop, he now lands before his forward jumping animation ends. This means that Marth no longer enters his aerial transition frame before landing from a forwards short hop.
• Marth's double jump is higher (height multiplier: 0.88x → 1x).
• Marth is heavier (87 → 90), improving his endurance.
• Marth is smaller (model size multiplier: 1x → 0.96x). This makes him harder to hit but reduces his range.
• Marth's item throw is weaker (1 → 0.966). Additionally, the removal of glide tossing hinders his approach with items.
• Marth's rolls have less ending lag (FAF 36 → 31).
• Marth's rolls have a shorter duraiton (frame 4-19 (forward)/4-23 (back) → 4-17).
• Marth's rolls cover less distance due to his smaller size.
• Marth's spot dodge has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frame 2-20 → 3-17) and it has more ending lag (FAF 25 → 27).
• Marth has a new spot dodge animation: he shifts backwards instead of crouching forward.
• Marth's air dodge has less startup (frame 5 → 3) and much less ending lag (FAF 50 → 33), no longer being the slowest air dodge in terms of startup lag.
• Marth's air dodge's has a shorter duration (frames 5-30 → 3-27).
• Most of Marth's attacks have slightly increased reach compared to Brawl due to the tipper hitboxes on a large majority of his moves being positioned further along his sword (although most of his tipper hitboxes are now smaller).
  • Despite this, his overall range is worse due to most of his attacks having smaller hitboxes making his attacks harder to land and hindering his ability to wall out his opponents. This is further exacerbated by the nerfs some of his key spacing tools received such as his forward aerial.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Neutral attack's first hit transitions into the second hit faster (frame 20 → 17) and has has less ending lag (FAF 28 → 26).
  • The first hit has altered knockback (20 (base), 50 (scaling) (sourspot), 30/70 (tipper) → 30/55 (both)), sends opponents at a higher trajectory (361° → 78°/65°/90°) significantly improving its jab cancelling potential.
    • However, its new angles also remove its ability to jab lock removing Marth's most reliable method to lock opponents.
  • The first hit has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 4-7 → 5-7). Its animation has not been changed reducing the move's range below Marth.
  • The first hit deals less damage (4%/6% → 3%/5%).
  • The second hit has less startup lag (frame 4 → 3) with no animation change giving it slightly more range below Marth.
  • The second hit deals more knockback (20 (base), 50 (scaling) (sourspot), 30/70 (tipper) → 62/75 (both)).
  • The second hit has a shorter duration (frames 4-8 → 3-5) considerably decreasing its range above Marth.
  • The second hit has more ending lag (FAF 28 → 29).
  • The second hit's angle has been altered (361° → 45°) which hinders its effectiveness against grounded opponents and removes its ability to jab lock when combined with its higher knockback.
  • The tipper on both hits has been repositioned (z offset: 5.1 → 6.7) now fully covering the tip of the sword.
  • Both hits have smaller hitboxes (4u/4u/3.5u/2.5u → 3.5u/3.5u/3u) and they no longer have a hitbox on Marth's shoulder.
• Forward tilt:
  • Tippered forward tilt deals more knockback (40 (base), 80 (scaling) → 55/85).
  • The tipper has been repositioned (z offset: 6.5 → 7.7) which makes it reach slightly further.
  • Forward tilt has less ending lag (FAF 36 → 34) which gives it a peculiar property; a move buffered during the end of the animation will start a small step forward than usual, similar to his Brawl down tilt moving him forward slightly when buffering the repeated attack. Overall, this property can grant any of Marth's moves slightly increased horizontal range.
  • Forward tilt has smaller hitboxes (4u/4u/3.5u/2.5u → 3.5u/3.5u/3u) and it no longer has a hitbox on Marth's shoulder.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt now always launches opponents vertically (110°/361° (clean), 85°/361 (late) → 100° (clean)/85° (late)), making it more consistent.
  • The tipper has been repositioned (z offset: 5.1 → 6.7) now fully covering the tip of the sword.
  • Up tilt has less ending lag (FAF 40 → 34) which gives it a peculiar property; a move buffered during the end of the animation will start a small step forward than usual, similar to his Brawl down tilt moving him forward slightly when buffering the repeated attack. Overall, this property can grant any of Marth's moves slightly increased horizontal range.
  • Up tilt deals less damage (8%/9%/10%/12% → 5%/6%/9%) and its knockback was only compensated for the tipper (40 (base), 90 (scaling) → 65/100). The other hitboxes did not have their knockback fully compensated (40/30 (base), 120/118/116 (scaling) → 65/100) making them much weaker.
  • Up tilt previously had much more powerful knockback on a "sourspot" hitbox for the last active frame, being a stronger KO move than tippered Up tilt and sourspot Up Smash.
  • Up tilt has smaller hitboxes (5u/3.5u/3.5u/2.5u → 3.5u/3.5u/3u/2u).
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt's tipper has been repositioned (z offset: 4.8 → 8.2) now fully covering the tip of the sword.
  • Down tilt's sourspots with reduced base knockback (25/20 → 40) have been removed with the sourspot now being one single extended hitbox instead of 3 normal hitboxes.
  • Down tilt has a shorter duration (frames 7-9 → 7-8) and more ending lag (FAF 22 → 24).
  • The sourspot deals less damage (9%/8% → 7%).
  • Down tilt has smaller hitboxes (4.8u/3.36u/3.74u/4.8u → 2.7u/2.7u) giving it less vertical range and no longer covering Marth's head.
  • Down tilt no longer moves Marth forward, removing its ability to pseudo-crawl.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack's tipper has been repositioned (z offset: 5.2 → 6.5) making it overlap less with the sourspots.
  • Dash attack has smaller hitboxes (4u/4u/3.5u/2.5u → 3.5u/3.5u/3u/2u).
• Forward smash:
  • The tipper hitbox of forward smash is slightly larger (3u → 3.5u) and has more knockback scaling (70 → 80), slightly improving its KO potential despite its lower damage now being the third strongest forward smash in the game.
  • Forward smash has slightly increased ending lag (FAF 50 → 52).
  • Forward smash deals less damage (14%/19% → 13%/18%) although the sourspot's knockback was compensated (60 (base), 70 (scaling) → 55/80).
  • Forward smash has smaller hitboxes overall especially around Marth's body (3u/3u/3u/4u/3u → 3.5u/3.5u/3u/2u) and the move has a new animation, where Marth doesn't step forward as much as before.
  • The tipper has been repositioned (z offset: 9 → 7.3) giving it less range in front of Marth.
  • Marth's forward smash with a battering item no longer has a initial sword hit which increases the startup lag of Marth's battering item forward smashes (frame 10 → 15) and makes them deal 5% less damage than they otherwise would.
    • However, this also makes his forward smash with battering items more reliable.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash's sourspot is now one large extended hitbox which fully covers Marth's lower body rather than 2 normal hitboxes which cover a space around Marth's feet.
  • Up smash's non tipper main hitboxes are larger (4.9u/4.9u → 5.8u/5.8u).
  • Both the main sourspot and tipper have higher knockback scaling (80 (sourspot), 70 (tipper) → 90/95) improving their KO potential especially the tipper.
  • The tipper has been repositioned (z offset: 6 → 7.3) which makes it reach slightly higher.
  • Up smash has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 12-17 → 13-17) as well as increased ending lag (FAF 50 → 58).
  • The main sourspot deals less damage (14% → 13%).
  • The tipper is smaller (4.9u → 4.6u) and no longer takes priority over the sourspots.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has less ending lag (FAF 65 → 54).
  • The tipper on both hits has been repositioned (z offset: 5.2 → 7.3) now fully covering the tip of the sword.
  • Down smash deals more knockback scaling (70/80 → 88) and the back tipper deals slightly more damage (16% → 17%) improving the tipper's KO potential.
  • The tipper on both hits now launches opponents horizontally (75° → 361°).
  • The front hit deals much less damage (14%/17% → 8%/12%), significantly hindering its KO potential.
  • The front hit has a shorter duration (frames 6-8 → 6-7).
  • The back hit's sourspot deals 1% less damage (13% → 12%).
  • Both hits have smaller hitboxes (4u/4u/4u/3.5u → 3.5u/3.5u/3u/2u).

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial:
  • The first hit's sourspots deal more damage (3% → 3.5%).
  • The sword hitboxes on both hits have been moved further along the sword (z offset: 0 (near)3.6 (tipper) → 2.5/7.7 (hit 1 tipper)/7.5 (hit 2 tipper)) giving the tipper more range as well as making it easier to land.
  • Neutral aerial's first hit now has weight independent knockback, making it more consistent across the cast.
  • Neutral aerial has more landing lag (9 frames → 12).
  • Neutral aerial auto-cancels much later (frame 25 → 47), no longer doing in a short hop. This considerably hinders its spacing potential.
  • Neutral aerial has a shorter initial auto-cancel window (frames 1-5 → 1).
  • Both hits have smaller hitboxes (4.8u/3u/4.8u/4.8u → 3.5u/3u/2u/3.5u), with the nearest hitboxes now being positioned on Marth's arm rather than his back, reducing the move's vertical range as well as its range inside of Marth.
  • The first hit no longer launches opponents towards Marth (100°/90° → 80°/75°/65°/90°) and has higher knockback scaling (40 → 50) hindering its reliability.
  • The first hit's tipper deals less damage (6% → 5%).
  • The second hit deals less damage (9% (near)/12% (tipper) → 7%/9.5%). The previous body hitbox did not receive full compensation on its knockback scaling (80 → 90), the previous head and sword hitbox received no compensation to their knockback and the tipper only received an increase to its base knockback (50 → 60). This considerably hinders its KO potential, no longer being the strongest neutral aerial.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial's sword hitboxes have been moved further along the sword (z offset: 1 (near)/5.8 (tipper) → 2/7.7), giving the tipper more range and overall making it easier to land.
  • Forward aerial has higher knockback scaling (70 (near)/80 (tipper) → 80/90), slightly improving the tipper's KO potential despite its lower damage.
  • Forward aerial has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 4-7 → 6-8).
  • Forward aerial has more ending lag (FAF 34 → 38). When combined with Marth's lower short hop, this prevents him from performing another aerial after it in a short hop, considerably hindering its spacing potential.
  • Forward aerial has more landing lag (9 frames → 16).
  • Forward aerial auto-cancels later (frame 27 → 36).
  • Forward aerial has a new animation where Marth starts his sword swing at a more diagonal angle. This reduces the move's range above Marth, while the move's shorter duration reduces its range below Marth.
    • Additionally, this animation is also slightly longer than the previous one (39 frames → 40). This slightly increases the amount of time Marth cannot grab the ledge after using forward aerial.
  • Forward aerial deals less damage (10% (near)/13% (tipper) → 8%/11.5%). The near hitboxes did not receive full compensation on their knockback scaling, hindering their KO potential.
  • Forward aerial has smaller hitboxes (4u/4u/4u → 3.5u/3.5u/3.5u).
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has less landing lag (21 frames → 17).
  • The tipper deals more knockback (30 (base), 90 (scaling) → 40/94), improving its KO potential close to the blastzone despite its lower damage.
  • Back aerial's sword hitbox have been moved further along the sword (z offset: 0 (near)/5 (tipper) → 2.5/7.7), giving the tipper more range as well as making it easier to land.
  • Back aerial has a shorter initial auto-cancel window (frames 1-5 → 1-2).
  • Back aerial deals less damage (11%/14% → 9%/12.5%). The tipper's knockback scaling was not fully compensated, hindering its KO potential from far distances from the blastzone. The sourspots only received an increase to their base knockback (30 → 40), hindering their KO potential.
  • Back aerial has smaller hitboxes (4.8u/4.6u/4.8u → 3.5u/3.5u/3.5u).
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has higher knockback scaling (70 (near)/80 (tipper) → 80/84), improving its KO potential.
  • Up aerial has more landing lag (9 frames → 14) hindering its followup potential at lower percents.
  • Up aerial auto-cancels later (frame 27 → 38).
  • Up aerial has a shorter initial auto-cancel window (frames 1-4 → 1-2).
  • The near hits deal less damage (10% → 9.5%).
  • Up aerial has smaller hitboxes (4.8u/4.8u/4.8u/4.8u → 3.5u/3u/2u/3.5u). This gives up aerial less range (especially inside of Marth), despite the sword hitboxes being moved further along the sword (z offset: 1 (near)/5.5 (tipper) → 2/6.7).
  • The tipper now has the lowest hitbox priority (ID# 0 → 3). This makes it much more difficult to land, despite the near sword hitbox's smaller size.
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial has a longer duration (frames 6-9 → 9-13).
  • Down aerial has less landing lag (32 frames → 24).
  • The sword hitboxes have been moved further along the sword (z offset: 1 (near)/5 (base) → 2/6.7), now fully covering the tip of the sword.
  • The meteor hitbox deals more damage (14% → 15%).
  • The meteor hitbox now has the highest hitbox priority (ID# 3 → 0), making it easier to land despite its altered position.
  • The removal of meteor canceling improves the meteor hitbox's reliability.
  • Down aerial has a new animation where Marth now starts down aerial from the back instead of his front, essentially flipping its animation around.
    • With this new animation, the hitboxes start at a higher position but end at a lower position. The move has more vertical range on the right but less vertical range on the left.
    • This new animation is longer however (64 frames → 69), increasing the amount of time Marth cannot grab the ledge after using down aerial.
  • Down aerial has more startup lag (frame 6 (sword)/7 (meteor) → 9/11).
  • Down aerial auto-cancels later (frames 48 → 55).
  • Down aerial has a shorter initial auto-cancel window (frames 1-5 → 1-2).
  • The tipper and meteor hitbox have lower base knockback (40 → 20), hindering their KO and edgeguarding potential, despite the meteor hitbox's higher damage.
  • The tipper no longer meteor smashes and now launches horizontally (280° → 361°), making the 1 frame hitbox in the middle of the swing the only hitbox which can meteor smash. This significantly reduces the amount of time and space where the move can meteor smash, hindering its edgeguarding potential.
    • However, this also improves its KO potential on stage despite its lower base knockback.
  • The sword hitboxes are smaller (4.32u/4.32u/4.32u → 3.5u/3.5u/3u).
  • The meteor hitbox is smaller (6u → 4.32u) and it is positioned higher (y offset: -3.4 → -3), reducing its range.
    • This combined with its higher startup lag notably removes Marth's ability to land the meteor hitbox out of a footstool.
  • The meteor hitbox is positioned closer to Marth (z offset: 2 → -3), with the hitbox now overlapping with the sword (rather than being next to Marth's foot), reducing down aerial's horizontal range while it is active.

Throws/other attacks

• Grabs:
  • Standing grab more startup lag (frame 6 → 7).
    • However, its total duration was unchanged, giving it less ending lag.
  • Dash grab has less startup (frame 9 → 8) and ending lag (FAF 40 → 37).
  • Pivot grab has less ending lag (FAF 36 → 35).
  • Marth's grabs have smaller grabboxes (4u/4u (standing), 4u/4u/4u (dash/pivot) → 3.3u (standing/pivot), 2.6u (dash)). This gives Marth's grab less range, despite dash grab extending further away from Marth (z offset: 9 → z stretch: 9.6).
  • Standing and pivot grab do not extend as far away from Marth (z offset: 8 (standing)/-15 (pivot) → z stretch: 7/-13.7) which along with their smaller size, gives them less range.
  • Dash and pivot grab do not extend as far inside of Marth (z offset: 1 (dash)/0 (pivot) → 4/-4) which along with their smaller size, gives them less range inside of Marth.
• The changes to aerial grab releases hinder Marth as he no longer has any guaranteed followups out of his aerial grab release on any character outside of his new custom up special Crescent Slash.
• Pummel:
  • Pummel has a marginally larger hitbox (5.76u → 5.8u).
• Forward throw:
  • Forward throw has significantly higher knockback (70 (base), 45 (scaling) → 100/50) although the throw is still too weak to KO at realistic percents. While this does allow forward throw to set up edgeguards on its own more effectively, this also removes many of Marth's followup options after a forward throw outside of very low percents, as he can now only lead into a neutral aerial or forward aerial until around 20%, as opposed to having multiple mixups right up until high percents.
    • This change also means that Marth can also no longer chaingrab or tech chase opponents with his forward throw, as well as preventing the throw from benefitting as much from the changes to hitstun canceling and DI as much as it could have with its original knockback.
• Back throw:
  • Back throw has much more base knockback (50 → 80). Considering its high ending lag, this allows the throw to set up for potential edgeguards more effectively without losing any potential followups.
• Up throw:
  • Up throw has more base knockback (60 → 70), improving its KO potential.
• Down throw:
  • Down throw now sends opponents vertically (135° → 100°) and it has higher base knockback (65 → 95). When combined with the changes to hitstun canceling and DI, this gives Marth some new followup options with his aerials at low percents. This new trajectory also gives Marth a new throw for getting opponents above him without needing to stale his up throw.
    • However, these changes also remove its tech chasing and chain grab potential, while also removing Marth's ability to lead into a forward smash at lower percents.

Special moves

• Shield Breaker:
  • Shield Breaker has less ending lag (FAF 53 → 51) although it is still laggier than Kirby's version from Brawl.
  • A fully charged Shield Breaker deals more shield damage, now completely guaranteeing a shield break.
  • The tipper now has a larger extended hitbox rather than a normal hitbox (2.5u → 3u). It also has increased base knockback (50 → 60) and hitlag (1.5× (uncharged)/1× (fully charged) → 1.6×).
  • The sourspot now has one extended hitbox rather than 4 normal hitboxes.
    • As a result, the charged version's sourspot deals consistent damage (22%/20%/18% → 22%).
  • Shield Breaker has a shorter duration (frames 19-22 → 19-20).
  • Uncharged Shield Breaker deals less shield damage (42 → 25) and less hitlag when uncharged and sourspotted (1.3× → 1×), making the move worse at breaking shields despite the significant increase in shield damage (having a 1.19x multiplier instead of a 0.7x multiplier) as well as the increase in shieldstun.
  • Marth also no longer steps an extra distance forward when using Shield Breaker, making the move's range shorter despite the tipper being larger.
  • The sourspot deals less knockback (30 (uncharged base)/50 (charged base), 100 (scaling) → 30/90 (both)).
• Dancing Blade:
  • All swings except the fourth ones have higher hitlag multipliers (0.3× → 1×), making the move transition slower and making it easier to SDI out of despite its decreased SDI multiplier (1x → 0.8x).
• Hit 1:
  • The first hit has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frame 4-7 → 6-8) and more ending lag (FAF 30 → 42 (grounded)/32 (aerial)) significantly hindering its followup potential.
    • Marth's higher gravity also makes its hover effect in midair much weaker to the point it is almost negligible, hindering Marth's recovery.
  • The first hit has altered knockback (35/50 (base), 25 (scaling) → 25/75) making it connect into the later hits less reliably.
• Hit 2:
  • Both variants of the second hit have less ending lag on the ground (FAF 41 → 39).
  • The upwards second hit has increased knockback (20 (base), 30 (scaling) → 30/(70/50)) making it connect into the later hits less reliably.
  • The downwards second hit has increased base knockback (22 → 30) making it connect into the later hits slightly less reliably.
    • However, it now has weight independent knockback making it more consistent across the cast.
• Hit 3:
  • All variants of the third hit have less ending lag on the ground (FAF 47 → 44).
  • The upwards third hit has a new animation when used on the ground, where Marth twists around and swings up instead of downwards.
  • The upwards third hit's sourspots have increased base knockback (30 → 40) making it connect into the fourth hit less reliably.
  • The upwards third hit's sweetspot has decreased knockback (30 (base), 60 (scaling) → 40/40) making it connect into the fourth hit more reliably.
  • The forward third hit no longer has set knockback (55/60 (set), 100 (scaling) → 40 (base)/(50/35)) making it connect into the fourth hit less reliably.
  • The downwards third hit deals more damage (4%/5% → 4.5%/5.5%), has decreased knockback (30 (base), 80 (scaling) → 28/50) and now has weight independent knockback making it connect into the fourth hit more reliably.
  • The downwards third hit's angles have been altered (361°/270° → 44°) no longer having a meteor smash hitbox. This along with its reduced knockback hinders its edgeguarding potential.
• Hit 4:
  • The upwards fourth hit has decreased knockback scaling (130 → 118).
  • The forward fourth hit deals less damage (6%/8% → 5%/7%) although its knockback was compensated (50 (base), 125 (scaling) → 60/130).
  • The final hit of the downwards fourth hit deals more damage (3%/5% → 4%/6%).
  • The downwards fourth hit has more ending lag on the ground (FAF 66 → 72) and its final hit has significantly decreased knockback (60 (base), 120 (scaling) → 70/80).
    • Altogether, these changes hinder Dancing Blade's utility and reliability.
• Dolphin Slash:
  • Dolphin Slash has much less landing lag (35 frames → 20 (normal)/30 (RCO hard landing)).
  • Dolphin Slash grants less height due to Marth's smaller size.
  • The grounded version has less intagibility (frame 1-5 → 4-5), hindering its utility as an out of shield option or as an option to stuff out approaches.
  • The clean hit deals less damage (13% → 11%) without full compensation on its knockback scaling (68 → 74), hindering its KO potential.
  • The clean hit has smaller hitboxes (6.5u/6.5u → 4u/4u) and the far hitbox has been moved closer to Marth (z offset: 9 → 8), considerably reducing its range.
  • The clean hit has a higher hitlag multiplier (0.5× → 0.7×).
• Counter:
  • Counter has increased knockback scaling (40 → 60) and has a slightly higher damage multiplier (1.1× → 1.2×), being able to KO reliably off of strong countered attacks at very low percentages.
  • Counter's damage is now capped at 50%.
  • Counter has more start-up with a shorter duration (frames 5-29 → 6-27).
  • Counter's hitbox has a shorter duration (frames 5-9 → 5-7) with no animation change, giving it less range behind Marth.
  • Counter can no longer be wavebounced/b-reversed, which previously allowed it to negate its mid-air stall while moving quickly forward or away with it.
  • Marth now grunts instead of talking when his Counter is triggered.
• Critical Hit:
  • The regenerating terrain glitch has been fixed.
  • Critical Hit ignores armor.

Update history

Marth has been considerably buffed ever since patch 1.0.6, giving him more follow-up options, and drastically improved frame data on all of his aerials and some special moves; however, it is unclear whether the many changes to shield mechanics in 1.1.0 and 1.1.1 have affected Marth for the better or for the worse. While these changes to shield mechanics make Marth's tippered attacks much safer on shield, the same changes reduce his sourspotted attacks safety even further, due to their lower hitlag, making them overall less safe than those of his moveset clone, Lucina. These changes make precise spacing of his attacks mandatory, as the decreased safety of his sourspotted moves can result in heavy punishment; though when properly spaced, they are almost unpunishable. Shield Breaker also deals less shield damage, making it more difficult to wear down shields when partially charged, though the increased shield damage of tippered aerials can mitigate this. The small landing lag reduction on all of his aerials and ending lag on all of his ground attacks have helped mitigate the lag issues with most of his moves and improved his combo game, giving him a more offensive playstyle with fewer flaws in defending. The strengthening of up tilt and Dolphin Slash, and the multiple buffs to Dancing Blade so its hits link better together have also noticeably improved three of his moves that were previously considered situational. Marth was significantly buffed in patch 1.1.4, with increased damage improving his previously poor damage racking, better frame data, and the increased tipper hitboxes that not only address his worsened range, but also improved his aerial game and juggle abilities. Overall, Marth has been significantly buffed and is more viable since the original version, but he still remains rather nerfed compared to Brawl.

1.0.4

• Using Counter after being trumped from the ledge no longer changes momentum.

1.0.6

• Neutral attack has less ending lag on both hits (FAF 30 → 27).
• Forward tilt has less ending lag (FAF 40 → 36).
• The first hit of Dancing Blade has less ending lag on the ground (FAF 47 → 43).
• The third hit of Dancing Blade launches opponents at a lower angle (60°/70°/35° → 50°/55°/40°) and has more base knockback (30 → 40) allowing it to connect into the fourth hit more reliably.

1.0.8

• Neutral attack has been improved. Both hits link more reliably as the transition is faster and the first hit now produces vertical-based knockback, while the second deals increased knockback. The first hit also now has follow-up potential outside of transitioning to the second hit.
• Due to the angle alteration of neutral attack's first hit, neutral attack can no longer jab lock.
• All hitboxes of neutral attack's first hit deal 1% less damage (4%/6% → 3%/5%).
• All hitboxes of up tilt now deal vertical knockback, with improved base knockback, making it a better KO move. It additionally has 3 less frames of ending lag.
• Neutral aerial has 3 less frames of landing lag.
• Dolphin Slash has slightly improved knockback growth.
• Dolphin Slash and Crescent Slash deal slightly more hitlag.

Technical changelist 1.0.8

Change	Old value	New value
Jab 1 damage	4%/6%	3%/5%
Jab 1 angle	Sakurai angle	78°/65°/90°
Jab 1 knockback growth	50/70	30
Jab 1 base knockback	20/30	55
Jab 1 hitlag	1	0.7
Transition from Jab 1 to Jab 2	frame 21	frame 17
Jab 1 ending frame increased	26	28
Jab 2 angle	Sakurai angle	100
Jab 2 initial base knockback	50	65
Jab 2 (late) base knockback	40	52
Up tilt angle	Sakurai angle/100°	100°
Up tilt base knockback	50/40	65/52
Up tilt endlag	42 frames	39 frames
Neutral air landing lag	15 frames	12 frames
Dolphin Slash knockback growth	68	74
Dolphin Slash/Crescent Slash hitlag multiplier	0.5	0.7

1.1.0

• Neutral aerial's first hit damage (2%/3% → 3%/4% and second hit damage increased (6%/8% → 7%/9%) increased.
• Up tilt's ending lag reduced (39 → 36).
• Forward aerial landing lag reduced (18 → 16).
• Back aerial landing lag reduced (19 → 17).
• Up aerial landing lag reduced (16 → 14).
• Down aerial landing lag reduced (28 → 24).
• Shield Breaker endlag reduced (52 → 50). Also affects customs.
• Dancing Blade input window length increased by 5 frames on all strikes from 1st to 3rd.
• Dolphin Slash landing lag reduced (23 → 20). Also affects customs.

Technical changelist 1.1.0

Change	Old value	New value
Up tilt ending lag	39 frames	36 frames
Neutral aerial damage (1st hit)	2%/3%	3%/4%
Neutral aerial damage (2nd hit)	6%/8%	7%/9%
Forward aerial landing lag	18 frames	16 frames
Up aerial landing lag	16 frames	14 frames
Back aerial landing lag	19 frames	17 frames
Down aerial landing lag	28 frames	24 frames
All variations of Shield Breaker ending lag	52 frames	50 frames
Dolphin Slash landing lag	22 frames	19 frames
Crescent Slash landing lag	39 frames	36 frames
Dolphin Jump landing lag	42 frames	39 frames

1.1.1

• Partially charged Shield Breaker deals less shield damage: 30 → 25.

1.1.3

• Multiple changes to the knockback, hitbox sizes, and damage have made Dancing Blade/Effortless Blade link better.

Technical changelist 1.1.3

Change	Old value	New value
Dancing Blade/Effortless Blade hit 2 forward knockback growth (hitboxes 0/2)	70	30
Dancing Blade/Effortless Blade hit 2 forward knockback growth (hitbox 1)	50	30
Dancing Blade/Effortless Blade hit 2 forward base knockback (all 3 hitboxes)	28	30
Dancing Blade hit 3 down damage (hitbox 0)	3%	4.5%
Dancing Blade hit 3 down damage (hitbox 1)	4%	5.5%
Dancing Blade hit 3 down knockback growth (hitbox 0)	60	28
Dancing Blade hit 3 down knockback growth (hitbox 1)	40	28
Dancing Blade hit 3 down angle (both hitboxes)	20°	44°
Dancing Blade hit 3 down base knockback (both hitboxes)	30	50
Dancing Blade hit 3 down size (hitbox 1)	4.3	4.6

1.1.4

• Neutral attack's first hit has less ending lag (FAF 29 → 26) and the tipper on both hits has been moved further away from Marth (Z offset: 6.5 → 7), improving their range.
• Forward tilt and up tilt have less ending lag (FAF 36 → 34).
• Down tilt has its sourspot (Y/Z offsets : 3.2/15.2 → 2.7/16.7u) and tipper (Z offset: 6.7 → 8.2) moved further away from Marth, improving the move's range.
• Down smash has significantly less ending lag (FAF 65 → 55).
• All aerials deal more damage:
  • Neutral aerial (3%/4% (hit 1 near/tipper), 9% (hit 2 tipper) → 3.5%/5%, 9.5%).
  • Forward aerial (7%/10% (near/tipper) → 8%/11.5%.
  • Back aerial 12% (tipper) → 12.5%).
  • Up aerial aerial 9%/12% (near/tipper) → 9.5%/13%).
  • Down aerial 11%/13%/14% (near/tipper/meteor) → 12%/14%/15%).
    • The knockback values on these aerials were not compensated, improving their KO potential.
• The tipper hitboxes on neutral, forward, and back aerial have been moved further away from Marth: Z offset: 6.7/6.5 (neutral hit 1/hit 2), 6.7 (forward and back) → 7.7/7.5, 7.7), improving their range.
• Back aerial's lower sword hitbox has been mvoed further away from Marth (Z offset: 2 → 2.5). This moves the hitbox closer to the tipper although it does not fully compensate for the tipper's increased range, making the tipper easier to land despite this change.
• Dancing Blade's first hit has less startup lag (frame 7 → 6) with its total duration subsequently reduced (FAF 43 (ground)/33 (aerial) → 42/32.)
• Critical Hit can no longer hit invincible opponents.

Moveset

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%.

For a gallery of Marth's hitboxes, see here.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			3%/5%	Slashes Falchion twice in front of himself. If spaced and timed correctly, the first hit has many follow-up capabilities as it can link into any of his smash attacks or tilts that can link into his other moves when untippered, but some of these followups only work if the opponent is very close to the player.
			4%/6%
Forward tilt			9%/12%	A fast upward swipe while leaning forward. Has a large arc that is useful for spacing, and deals moderately strong knockback when tippered, making it a go-to spacing and KO option. Deals much weaker knockback if untippered.
Up tilt			6% (blade), 5% (body), 9% (tip)	Swings Falchion in a large arc above his head, with a large hitbox that can hit enemies behind him. Can combo into itself at low percentages and KO at high percents when tippered.
Down tilt			7%/10%	A quick crouching sword poke. Marth's fastest tilt, which is useful for creating space. Can follow up into a grab, dash attack, or running Dancing Blade if the move is untippered, and the tipper hitbox can hit opponents on and below the ledge, while dealing semi-spike knockback.
Dash attack			10% (blade), 9% (body), 12% (tip)	A quick, running, upward-sweeping diagonal slash. Low knockback, but deals decent semi-spike knockback if tipped. Moderate ending lag and very low hitlag if untippered, making it rather unsafe against shields.
Forward smash		Dragon Killer	13%/18%	Rotates his body counterclockwise with a strong overarching one-handed swing from his head to the ground. Moderately fast startup, but high ending lag. Although lackluster when sourspotted, this move has the third highest knockback scaling of any forward smash in the game when tippered, being able to KO opponents at 75% from the stage's center and as low as 37% near the edge. Despite this, the move's low range compared to Marth's previous incarnations makes landing a tipper somewhat difficult and highly susceptible to punishment.
Up smash		Justice Sword	3% (ground), 13% (blade), 17% (tip)	A quick, direct upward thrust. The weak grounded hit can knock nearby opponents into the main attack. Good for aerial protection and chasing down landing opponents. If tippered, it deals extremely high knockback, KOing around 76%, although this is difficult to do unless an opponent falls directly on top of Marth.
Down smash			8%/12% (hit 1), 12%/17% (hit 2)	Sweeps Falchion on the ground toward the front outward then toward the back inward. The back hit has much stronger power, while the front hit is significantly weak unless tippered, where it will do moderate knockback. It also has high ending lag.
Neutral aerial			3.5%/5% (hit 1), 7%/9.5% (hit 2)	Two horizontal slashes around himself via an inward slash followed into a full 360° outward spin. The second hit can hit on both sides of Marth, and can be used to create space by short hopping then fast-falling immediately after using the move in the air. The tipper of the second hit is very strong, being the second most powerful neutral aerial in the game without rage (only Ganondorf's neutral aerial is stronger, but not by much), KOing near the edge at around 100%.
Forward aerial			8%/11.5%	Does a descending crescent slash in front of him with great coverage. This is Marth's best tool for air combat but is risky to use in the neutral game unless used immediately out of a short hop, due to its weak damage if untippered, low hitbox duration and its strict autocancel window, only cancelling if used in a few specific frames immediately after a short hop. However, it is powerful when tippered for how quickly the move comes out, KOing near the edge at around 110%.
Back aerial		About Face	9%/12.5%	An upward crescent slash behind him in an inward swipe. Has the interesting property of turning Marth around, changing the direction he is facing. Similar use to his forward aerial, although with more knockback and a smaller hitbox. Can be used a few frames before landing to catch opponents with a tipped blow, with correct spacing. Another very powerful move when tippered considering its speed it can KO near the edge at around 90%, and around 145% at the stages' center.
Up aerial			9.5%/13%	An overhead crescent slash with good coverage, ending in a delayed somersault. Marth's fastest aerial, it is good for juggling at low percents thanks to its large arc, making it a good anti-air as well, but it has weak knockback unless tippered. Due to its angle and low ending lag during the first few frames, it can be used for a somewhat reliable KO confirm of a landing up aerial to down aerial meteor smash at around 55-60% near the edge. It can also KO at high percents from a down throw on a handful of the cast when tippered, but only in stages with platforms.
Down aerial			12% (blade), 14% (non-meteor tip), 15% (meteor)	A downward, wide crescent slash with large coverage. If the attack connects at the middle of the swinging arc (directly below Marth), it serves as a powerful meteor smash. However, the meteor smash window lasts only one frame (frame 11). Other hitboxes when tippered result in moderate knockback. It also has high ending and landing lag.
Grab			—	Reaches out with his free hand.
Pummel			2%	A knee strike. A fairly fast pummel.
Forward throw			4%	Throws the opponent forward. Can be used to set up a tippered forward aerial until around 20%, or a Crescent Slash until around 150%. Can also be followed up with a neutral or forward aerial at very low percents against heavier characters.
Back throw			4%	Tosses the opponent over his leg, sending them behind him. Its high base knockback allows him to set up edgeguarding, but it cannot combo or KO reliably.
Up throw			4%	A powerful one-armed upward throw. Marth's strongest throw, which can KO at around 170%. It is also rather tricky to DI due to its launch angle being behind Marth.
Down throw			5%	Throws opponent to the ground with one arm, bouncing them upwards. His primary throw for follow-ups due to its low base knockback, allowing him to follow up with an up or back aerial at low percentages. However, it quickly loses combo potential due to its high knockback growth, sending opponents too high after medium percentages. At low to mid percentage though by reading opponent's air dodge, Marth can setup into a charged up smash.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Spins around gracefully and slashes Falchion in a circle.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Swings Falchion behind, then in front of him before getting up.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Stabs behind him, then slashes in front of himself before getting up.
Edge attack Edge getups			7%	Backflips onto the stage and slashes.
Neutral special	Default	Shield Breaker	8%/9% (uncharged), 22%/24% (fully charged)	Marth assumes a readying stance and charges Falchion at chest level before powerfully thrusting it forward. This attack deals massive shield damage even when uncharged, and will instantly break shields at full charge, although it can be safely powershielded. The aerial version gives Marth a very slight horizontal boost, while a fully charged aerial version will thrust Marth in whatever direction he's facing, giving him a strong horizontal recovery option, albeit with very high startup. Deals very high knockback when tippered, making it a powerful KOing option, especially against dazed opponents.
	Custom 1	Storm Thrust	4% (uncharged), 11% (fully charged)	The stab produces a gust of wind from the tip, with pushing strength dependent on the charge level. In exchange, the attack is much weaker than normal.
	Custom 2	Dashing Assault	6%/5%/3% (ground uncharged early/mid/late), 7%/6%/4% (air uncharged early/mid/late), 16%/13%/9% (ground fully charged early/mid/late), 17%/14%/10% (air fully charged early/mid/late)	Marth performs a lunging thrust with Falchion. Deals less damage and slightly less shield damage, but propels Marth forward, even when used on the ground.
Side special	Default	Dancing Blade	Varies (see table below)	A sequence of sword slashes with several variations based on directional input. Four slashes total, with each capable of being altered in direction, allowing for eighteen total possible combinations. Standard strikes are trailed red, high strikes are trailed blue, and low strikes are trailed green (see table below for details and limits of the move). The first hit comes out on frame 6 and is arguably Marth's best tool for catching and punishing rolls, airdodges, and landings.
	Custom 1	Effortless Blade	2%/3% (parts 1-3), 4%/5% (part 4)	Makes the hits easier to link, but only allows forward (red) swings. On top of swings being slower and slightly weaker, damage potential is limited by only allowing one combination.
	Custom 2	Heavy Blade	7%/9% (part 1), 9%/11% (part 2), 10%/12% (part 3), 13%/15% (part 4 up), 14%/16% (part 4 side), 2.2% (part 4 down hits 1-4), 11%/13% (part 4 down hit 5)	Each swing is more forceful and has more range, dramatically increasing each swing's KO potential, especially the fourth swing. However, the swings are slower, further negating button mashing for controller input and focusing more on timing. The move also has more startup and ending lag, while resultant increase in knockback also makes each separate hit almost impossible to link together.
Up special	Default	Dolphin Slash	11% (clean), 7% (late blade), 6% (late body)	Marth performs a high-speed jumping uppercut slash that can be B-reversed. It grants good vertical distance but is rather lacking in horizontal distance. It has very fast startup lag at frame 5, with a sweetspot with solid power and grants some intangibility during its startup, especially in the air. This makes Dolphin Slash a rather versatile attack, being a great Out of Shield option, a combo ender or even a tool to escape combos.
	Custom 1	Crescent Slash	7% (clean), 12% (late blade), 6% (late body)	Marth uses a lower Dolphin Slash that gains more horizontal distance, and deals the most damage at the midpoint of the arc rather than the start. The move overall has more horizontal recovery potential but less vertical recovery potential. The move travels a good distance horizontally with a strong hitbox with horizontal knockback. Marth gains access to a whole bunch of new followups and KO confirms he normally does not have by using Crescent Slash (such as from a forward throw or a landing aerial). KO confirms with Crescent Slash can KO middleweights at the ledge as low as 50% without rage, with Marth still being able to make it back to the stage. The move does have more startup lag than Dolphin Slash however and the initial hit is much weaker, making it worse as an Out of Shield option at close range (although it is an excellent punishment tool from far distances). The move also has more landing lag. Crescent Slash is overall a great alternative to Dolphin Slash due to the new combo opportunities it opens up.
	Custom 2	Dolphin Jump	0%	Marth performs a purely vertical and gains more height. Dolphin Jump lacks any sort of hitbox however, and it has even more landing lag than Crescent Slash. This makes the move largely useless outside of recovering as while it still has intangibility frames, the opponent can easily punish Marth once he starts falling, as they cannot get hit by the move. This also means that the move cannot be used as a punishment option OoS or as a combo ender. Even in a recovery situation, the move can be contested without much risk due to its lack of a hitbox. Dolphin Jump is overall Marth's least effective up special by far, as its lack of hitbox is far more detrimental than what it gains from its greater vertical recovery potential.
Down special	Default	Counter	1.2× (minimum 8%)	Marth assumes a defensive stance and retaliates against incoming attacks. The power of the counterattack scales with the strength of the attack blocked. Starts up on frame 6 and lasts 22 frames. Ineffective against projectiles and attacks with sufficiently long reach, such as many of Shulk's tilts and smash attacks.
	Custom 1	Easy Counter	0.7× (minimum 4%)	Marth holds his stance longer and strikes with less power. Has a decreased multiplier, but has a wider trigger window. Starts up on frame 6 and lasts 29 frames.
	Custom 2	Iai Counter	1.3× (minimum 6%)	Marth strikes the opponent while moving behind them at lightning speed. Inflicts more damage, knocks foes behind him, and is much quicker, but the trigger window is stricter. Deals electric damage. Starts up on frame 3 and lasts 14 frames. Though the in-game description mentions it’s weaker, that only applies to the minimum % damage, making the difference somewhat negligible.
Final Smash		Critical Hit	60%	Marth raises Falchion skyward, then lunges in one direction, attacking the first opponent he connects. One of the strongest Final Smashes, also inflicting immense knockback, enough to one-hit KO any character on any roofless stage. Pressing the special button again will cause him to stop mid-dash.

Dancing Blade

Hit	Damage	Description
First Hit (Neutral)	3%/4%	A downwards slash towards the left while stepping forwards. At very high percents, this hit launches opponents too far away for the second slash variants to connect, but is generally useful until just under 90%.
Second Hit (Up)	3%/4%	Does an upwards lifting slash. Has a larger hitbox than the standard second slash, meaning it can catch opponents in it when the latter would otherwise fail to at high percents.
Second Hit (Neutral)	3%/4%	Does a right-to-left swiping stab angled slightly downwards. Can sometimes fail to hit at higher percents on certain floaty characters.
Third Hit (Up)	4%/5%	Turns his body and swings upwards. If used after the second upwards hit at high percents, this slash can often miss, although a second neutral hit can lead into this move. The aerial version sees Marth doing a downward slash instead, identical to the version from Melee.
Third Hit (Neutral)	4%/5%	Does an upwards swing while stepping forward. May miss if done too fast after any second hit.
Third Hit (Down)	4.5%/5.5%	Steps forward and does a backhanded stab towards the ground before twirling. Deals slightly more damage than the other hits before, but has a small hitbox and can fail to link after the second neutral hit at higher percents if both hits are rushed and not timed properly. Can set up an easy tipper fourth neutral finisher from mid to high percents, due to the angle of 40°. Is also the safest 3rd variant on shield, due to hitting two frames later and having the same interruptibility, as well as Marth stepping backwards a little after performing this swing. The aerial version sees Marth doing a downward stab before twirling instead, identical to the version from Melee.
Fourth Hit (Up)	6%/8%	Performs a twirling overhead half-moon slash, with strong KOing potential if tippered (KO's Mario at 130% on Final Destination), although it has a rather small horizontal hitbox which can make it miss quite easily as high percentages. On fast fallers at low percents, this move can whiff, as the opponents will land before the strike and avoid the hit.
Fourth Hit (Neutral)	5%/7%	Twirls counterclockwise and produces a strong downward swing that has good knockback if tippered. Can KO early near the edge if tippered (KO's Lucina near the ledge of Final Destination at 90%), although at extremely high percents the first three hits may knock opponents out before the final hit.
Fourth Hit (Down)	2% (hit 1-4), 4%/6% (hit 5)	Steps forward, bends close to the ground, and does a flurry of five stabs. The last hit launches opponents away. The weakest finisher in terms of KO power, but deals the most damage, wears down shields well, and can shield poke low shields. The first four hits may be DI'd out of if an opponent is caught right at the tip of each blow and are at a high percentage.

Announcer call

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• English/Japanese/Chinese

• French

• French (PAL)

On-screen appearance

• Warps onto the stage using a warp circle with a twirl and unsheathes his sword.

Taunts

• Up taunt: Points Falchion skyward with a quick spark of light emitting at the tip. This is similar to his stance before he performed his Critical Hit animation in the DS games of the Fire Emblem series and identical to his stance while performing his Lodestar technique.
• Side taunt: Swings Falchion twice before sheathing it. Marth quickly unsheathes it before the taunt ends.
• Down taunt: Swings Falchion downwards before holding it in front of his face, then going back to his idle pose. Marth says: みんな、見ていてくれ！ ("Everyone, watch over me!" or in official Fire Emblem Fates English dub as "My prayers are with you!") while doing so.

Up taunt	Side taunt	Down taunt

Idle poses

• Holds his hand to his chest, closes his eyes, and silently takes a breath.
• Brushes his hair out of his face.

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer
Description	Marth! Marth! Marth!	Ma-ru-su!
Pitch	Group chant	Group chant

Victory poses

This victory theme is a small orchestral cover from the title theme of the first Fire Emblem game, which has since become the main theme of the series.

• Turns with pride, spins Falchion then poses with it pointed to the ground, and says "今回は僕の勝ちだね?", which translates to "It's my victory this time around, right?"
• Poses with Falchion sheathed and his right hand over his face before dramatically moving his arm away from his head while saying "僕は負ける訳には行かないんだ。", which translates to "I can't afford to lose." or in the official Fire Emblem Fates English localization as "I cannot afford to fail." Marth keeps a stern expression before smiling once the victory pose is over on the Nintendo 3DS version, while smiling throughout the entire pose on the Wii U version.
• Sheaths Falchion and stands facing the camera, while saying "今日も生き延びることが出来た。", which translates to "Even today I was able to survive."

In competitive play

Tier placement and history

In the early lifespan of Smash 4, players quickly recognized the changes and nerfs to Marth's moveset, with players mostly criticizing on his range; while still notable, and even improved in some aspects from Brawl, it was nowhere near as impressive due to other characters receiving significant range increases. This culminated in Marth being widely regarded poorly early on; however, Marth received small buffs in balance patches, and by the time of updates 1.0.8 and 1.1.0, Marth received some notable buffs that helped mitigate some of his initial issues, which contributed to the growth of his playerbase, thanks to dedicated players such as False, Mr E and Pugwest. While Marth's results were still poor overall, the buffs improved his perception as a character, culminating in him being ranked 41st on the first 4BR tier list.

Marth would continue to improve with time, and gained his most significant buffs in updates 1.1.3 and 1.1.4. These buffs, supplemented with previous ones, allowed Marth's game to flow far more consistently, and allowed his playerbase to gain significantly better and more consistent results. As an example, Fuwa was able to achieve strong placings in Japan, a region considered to be difficult for him to earn high results. In the USA and Canada, Mr E was able to place 5th at KTAR XVII, 17th at GOML 2016 and 13th at EVO 2016 (defeating ZeRo 2-1 in the latter tournament), while Pugwest placed 17th at Pound 2016 and EVO 2016, and False placed 17th at GOML 2016, with such finishes prior to the patch being almost unspoken of for him. Most notably, MkLeo begun bringing in his share of highlights: this included 1st place at Smash Factor 5 while using Marth through a majority of the tournament, and notably resetting the Grand Finals bracket against Mr.R's Sheik 3-0. Overall, Marth gained between the 12th and 16th best overall tournament results from patch 1.1.4 to present time, and all of these traits allowed Marth to rise to 19th on the second official tier list, gaining the second largest rise between the first and second tier lists.

While his placement on the second tier list was considered to be fairly accurate, some top players (e.g, ZeRo and Dabuz) believed Marth to be too low, and his increasing tournament success further called his placement into question: Leo won Canada Cup 2016 after beating Ally in very close sets of Grand Finals with Marth, he beat ZeRo 3-0 at 2GGT: ZeRo Saga in Losers Semi-finals and turned around a harsh deficit in Grand Finals against Larry Lurr using only Marth, and he won GENESIS 4 using Marth for the entirety of Top 8 (although he used Cloud exclusively prior to this). These even stronger results have helped Marth rise further in the third and current tier list, at 10th place, this tier rise being the third highest between the second and third tier lists.

However, while Marth has continued to perform well in the current metagame and has achieved strong results, his current placement has been recently disputed due to some smashers viewing Leo as the only Marth player to place very high at major tournaments, while Leo himself has used his other main, Cloud, more frequently over Marth. Mr E had also began to use Lucina more often in tournament. In addition, characters ranked below him on the tier list such as Corrin have placed higher than Marth in tournaments as of late. As a result of this, Marth dropped one spot to 11th place. In spite of these slight downturns, he has tremendously improved throughout the competitive lifespan of the game, and is one of the characters that had its meta developed the most, alongside Mewtwo.

Official Custom Moveset Project

Character	Custom sets available
Marth	3113	3123	1123	3133	1133
	3121	1121	3111	1131	3131

Notable players

Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the PGR 100, which recognizes the official top 100 players in Super Smash Bros. 4 of all time.

•  AirVault - Ranked 9th on the Arizona Smash 4 Power Rankings; 7th at MVG Sandstorm.
•  Dexter - The best Marth in MD/VA. Ranked 4th on the MD/VA Power Rankings. Has set wins over Pink Fresh, ZD and Seagull Joe.
•  False (#73) - One of the best Marth players in the United States. Ranked 41st on the Panda Global Rankings v2, and 5th on the New Jersey Smash 4 Power Rankings; 1st at Midwest Mayhem 3, 7th at CEO 2016, 13th at 2GGT: KTAR Saga, and 17th at Pound 2016 and Get On My Level 2016.
•  Fuwa - One of Japan's best Marth players. Ranked 110th on the JAPAN Power Rankings; 2nd at Sumabato 13, 3rd at Karisuma 11, 5th at Waseda Festival 2016, and 9th at Umebura BenQ ZOWIE Cup. An excellent Doubles player with Earth; 1st at Karisuma 10, 2nd at Sumabato 14.
•  MkLeo (#3)- Widely considered to be the best Marth player in the world. Ranked 1st on the Panda Global Rankings v5, and 1st on the Mexican Smash 4 Power Rankings; placed 1st at Smash Factor 5, 2GGT: ZeRo Saga, GENESIS 4 and GENESIS 5, GameTyrant Expo 2017, 2GG Championship, EVO Japan 2018, CEO 2018, and Super Smash Con 2018.
•  Mr E (#37)- The second best Marth player in the world prior to solo maining Lucina. Formerly ranked 28th on the Panda Global Rankings v4, and 2nd on the New York City Smash 4 Power Rankings; 1st at Glitch 2, 5th at Endgame and UGC Smash Open, 9th at The Big House 6, and 13th at EVO 2016.
•  Pugwest (#91) - One of the best Marth players in the United States. Ranked 39th on the Panda Global Rankings v2, 2nd on the New England Smash 4 Power Rankings and 1st on the Rhode Island Smash 4 Power Rankings; 1st at GUMS 9, 9th at Showdown: Battle Royale, and 17th at EVO 2016. He and Marss comprise one of the best Doubles teams in the world; 3rd at The Big House 6, 4th at UGC Smash Open, 5th at GENESIS 3 and CEO 2016, and 9th at GENESIS 4.
•  Rizeasu (#68) - A master of diversity. Currently the best Marth player in Japan, though he also plays other characters in tournament. 4th at Karisuma 10 and Sumabato 15, 5th at Hirosuma 5, 9th at Sumabato 9 Sumabato 12, Karisuma Tokaigi Qualifiers and Sumabato 17. Ranked 20th on the JAPAN Power Rankings.

Trophies

3DS Classic Mode trophy

Wii U Classic Mode trophy

Marth

The first hero from the Fire Emblem series, Marth is the prince of Altea and descendant of the hero Anri. In Smash Bros., he's known as an exceptional swordfighter, swinging his blade with grace. Striking with the tip will maximize the damage dealt. Teach aggressive foes a lesson with his strong Counter move.

: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (Japan)

: Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (Japan)

Marth, the prince of Altea, is the hero of the first ever Fire Emblem game and its remake, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. In this game, his graceful sword skills are what set him apart. Strike with the tip of his blade to deal extra damage, and use his Counter skill to defend yourself, no matter which direction you're being attacked from.

: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (1990 (JP))

: Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (1994 (JP))

3DS All-Star Mode trophy

Wii U alternate trophy

Marth (Alt.)

Marth's side special Dancing Blade is a four-stage attack. Aim and time your strikes carefully! The tip of his sword does the most damage. For his up smash, Justice Sword, he thrusts his blade into the air. You can use it to block attacks from above and launch nearby foes.

: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (Japan)

: Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (Japan)

Marth's side special, Dancing Blade, is a four-stage attack. Aim and time your strikes carefully! As usual, the tip of his sword does the most damage. For his up smash, Justice Sword, he thrusts his blade into the air. You can use it to block attacks from above, and even to launch nearby enemies off the ground.

: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (1990 (JP))

: Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (1994 (JP))

Critical Hit (Marth) trophy

Critical Hit (Marth)

Marth raises his Exalted Falchion to the sky and then rushes forward to deal an incredibly powerful blow, almost certainly KO'ing anyone and everyone who gets hit! When it's used in the air, he'll fly forward a certain distance. On the ground, however, he'll only dash to the edge of the platform he's standing on.

Marth raises his Exalted Falchion to the sky, then rushes forwards to deal an incredibly powerful blow, almost certainly KOing anyone and everyone who gets hit! When used in the air, he'll fly forwards a set distance, but on the ground, he'll only dash up to the edge of the platform he's standing on.

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• All-Star Battle: Melee: Marth is one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents featured had debuted in Melee.
• In the Name of the Hero-King: Marth must defeat Lucina in a stamina battle.
• The Ultimate Swordsman: Marth is one of the seven opponents Ike must defeat.
• Unwavering Chivalry: Meta Knight must defeat Marth without KOing Peach or Zelda.

Co-op Events

• A Royal Errand: Marth and Robin must work together to collect 500G from Wario and Bowser in a coin battle before the stage reaches the Bazaar.
• The Ultimate Battle: Two players must select their characters and defeat the entire roster (prior to DLC).

Alternate costumes

Gallery

• 

  Marth in the Nintendo Direct from April 8th, 2014.

• 

  Marth's amiibo.

• 

  The pic of the day shown during Marth's reveal.

• 

  Front and Back shots of Marth's new design.

• 

  Marth's appearance in the 3DS version.

• 

  Posing with Falchion.

• 

  Battling with Link.

• 

  Using down smash on Wii Fit Trainer.

• 

  Holding Falchion out.

• 

  Attacking around himself with Falchion; appears to be his neutral aerial.

• 

  Using Counter against Fox's dash attack.

• 

  Using Dolphin Slash on Mega Man.

• 

  Dancing Blade.

• 

  Posing with Peach.

• 

  Marth and Link performing their, respectively, forward tilt and neutral jab.

• 

  Marth lying down after being knocked onto the ground.

• 

  Close-up image of Marth and Luigi's faces.

• 

  Marth and Samus near a Steel Diver.

• 

  The results of Marth using Shield Breaker on Mega Man.

• 

  In battle with Zelda.

• 

  Landing with Ike.

• 

  Marth on the cover of the 3DS version.

Trivia

• Despite now only grunting instead of talking when doing his Counter, the voice clips of him speaking are still in his Sound Test. Interestingly, Marth can be heard talking while countering in Roy's reveal trailer.
• Dashing Assault makes a "woosh" sound when used, but in Corrin's reveal trailer it makes the "shing" sound when executed, likewise when Marth performs his standard Shield Breaker.
• Marth, Roy and Cloud are the only characters to speak Japanese in every regional version of Super Smash Bros. 4.
• Marth's sword and its sheath are not present in his artwork for the cover of Super Smash Bros. for 3DS.
• Super Smash Bros. 4 marks the only appearance of Marth as a starter character.