Marth (SSB4): Difference between revisions

Marth is a tall, mid-weighted character, with his size being identical to his past appearances. Most likely due to Marth being a top/high tier character in the past in Melee and Brawl, he has been showered with nerfs without much compensation at all.

Marth's height gives him good reach against other characters, however, a huge nerf that was given to Marth was a shorter sword - meaning smaller hitboxes. It should be noticed that Marth's range is much less safe overall from his appearance in Brawl. This forces players to be much more observant when approaching and being defensive. Majority of Marth's staple moves are either slower, or the hitbox does not last as long (i.e down tilt, forward air, down air). As far as movement, Marth shares the fastest walk speed out of the entire cast with Lucina, he has a slightly faster running speed from Brawl, but slightly slower air speed from Brawl. It should be noted that Marth's combo game has been noticeably toned down especially concerning his forward aerials and up aerials compared to Brawl and Melee. Lastly, Marth's grab utility has been nearly removed as Marth has only one semi-reliable combo throw and a weak kill throw.  

Marth's special moves that were very important for competitive play (Dancing Blade and Dolphin Slash) have seen noticeable nerfs with Shield Breaker and Counter being better than they were in Brawl. Dancing Blade, which was known for being almost inescapable in Brawl, has increased endlag and does not connect as reliably; also, the third downard hit of dancing blade doesn't meteor smash anymore, removing one of Marth's edge-guard mixups. Dolphin slash does less damage but from recent patches was given a knockback buff; since edge-hogging no longer exists in Super Smash Bros. 4, dolphin slash allows Marth to recovery at a safe, low, distance where he can sweetspot grab the ledge without fear of someone stealing it from him compared to his past appearances. Thanks to the universal change in Super Smash Bros. 4 regarding no reduction to shield damage, shield breaker can now break shields easier; the move, however, remains unsafe if it does not break the opponents shield, or if missed. Take note that shield breaker now gives a slight horizontal boost when used unfully charged in the air; when fully charged, the move launches Marth a good distance horizontally forward in the air. Counter in this game is stronger having a damage multiplier of 1.2x and having more knockback growth compared to Brawl.

Learning how to play Marth requires a lot of patience and reading. Since Marth has a shorter sword, and majority of his staple moves have been heavily nerfed, this puts Marth in an awkward situation. Forward air is no longer safe on shield or landing, completely removing it's former utility as an approach option. Down tilt is much more unsafe as a poke and edge guard due to the hitbox being much smaller and having increased endlag. Down air's animation is reverted, much harder to meteor smash (the sweetspot lasts 1 frame and meteors only if hit in the middle of the swing arc), and hits 3 frames slower. Marth's approach game hence, is very unsafe and unrewarding compared to other characters. What is worthy to note from past patches is that Marth's jab is better; it can reliably combo into itself now, and depending on the opponent's percentage, character weight, and Marth's rage, jab can combo into a grab, forward tilt, or forward smash. It should also be noted that the Ken Combo does not exist for Marth unless the opponent makes the mistake of jumping after the fair before the dair; this means that Ken Combo is not a real combo for Marth anymore. Marth's grabs all now have much more knockback without much utility to put the opponent in bad positions; combine that with the fact that Marth doesn't benefit from the universal removal of chaingrabs that he had in Brawl. Marth's combo throw is now down throw, which leads to back air/up air at low to mid percents and very rarely to another aerial. Up throw can kill floaties at 150% minus rage, and can kill almost the entire cast at 150% with rage all on Final Destination. Forward throw can combo to forward smash if and only if the opponent DI's inward, which requires a DI mixups. With Marth having shorter range, having his staple moves much nerfed, having almost no combo game now, and having a sub-par grab game, Marth players have to rely on getting tippers much more than past appearances. Marth has to play more read-heavy and defensive to wall out opponents due to his now poor neutral game.