Marth (SSBB)

Marth in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	Fire Emblem
Other playable appearances	in Melee in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Critical Hit
Tier	A- (5)

Marth (マルス, Marth) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He was confirmed to be a playable character on the Smash Bros. DOJO on February 5, 2008. Despite being a "hidden" character, Marth appears in the game's opening video, standing back to back with Meta Knight. Hikaru Midorikawa reprises his role as Marth in all regions, with some of his voice clips being reused from Melee.

Marth currently ranks 5th on the Brawl tier list, at the very top of the A- tier. A slight drop from 3rd overall in Melee. This makes him the highest ranking unlockable character, the second-highest ranking veteran in the game and still maintaining a top-tier ranking similar to Falco and the Ice Climbers. He possesses long-ranged sword attacks that give him among the best reach in Brawl, allowing him to space very effectively, especially against characters with poor range. Marth also possesses attacks that have remarkably quick startup and great ground mobility, additional power when he lands an attack on the tip of his sword (his forward smash and down aerial being notable examples), strong combo abilities at low percents due to his fast attacks, a strong aerial game overall and edgeguarding abilities (with his forward aerial being very powerful at both aspects).

However, Marth has his flaws with one being in his recovery move, Dolphin Slash, provides decent vertical distance, but only average horizontal distance, making his recovery predictable and rather easily edgehogged. Marth has difficulty KOing without edgeguarding if he fails to sweetspot his finishers due to the much weaker knockback delivered, requiring very precise hard reads to be effective. He can have problems getting off the ledge above 100% due to his ledge climbing options above 100% being poor, especially when he has RCO lag and especially against characters like Meta Knight. Even then, he has trouble edge guarding due to a number of characters who have better recoveries. His options when directly above the opponent are fairly poor because his down aerial does not protect him very well from opponents that can juggle him. He also can have difficulty approaching due to his lack of a projectile. Regardless, Marth has among the strongest matchup spreads in Brawl (losing only to Meta Knight and King Dedede), and has achieved strong tournament results.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play 10 VS. matches.
• Finish Classic mode on any difficulty.
• Have Marth join the player's party in the Subspace Emissary (The Battlefield Fortress).

With the exception of the third method, Marth must then be defeated on Castle Siege.

Attributes

Marth in Brawl is essentially a reprise from Melee. He retains his status as a quick-footed, high-range lightweight; tall (for his weight class), with stronger aerial attacks. With a great aerial moveset and air defense, Marth is almost unparalleled in the air. Marth also retains certain qualities, such as increased power and hitlag at the tip of his blade, which defines a great part of his playstyle. This tipper mechanic is the basis for Marth's very potent down aerial meteor smash and for his down tilt edgeguard. His attacks, when not tippered, are relatively weak, and hitting with the sweetspot can be difficult (although some attacks are rather easy to sweetspot like his up aerial and down tilt). Most of Marth's attacks have quick startup and good reach, but his attacks can be easily punished if blocked and not spaced well due to often having noticeable ending lag (though his standard special has Shield damage). Marth himself lacks a projectile, but his high mobility allows him to avoid opponents' projectiles. Dolphin Slash, which grants Marth invincibility in its first five frames, allows Marth to escape chain grabs and gives him access to a powerful out of shield option that can KO at higher percentages, though it leaves Marth helpless and vulnerable until he lands, making it a high risk high reward move. As a recovery, the move travels a decent vertical distance, slightly higher than the distance between the main body of Battlefield and its highest platform. Though it can be aimed to travel farther horizontally, Dolphin Slash only provides average horizontal distance and suffers from the landing lag glitch, though Marth can augment his horizontal recovery by charging Shield Breaker. The latter attack has the most horizontal reach out of Marth's moveset, and true to its name, deals high shield damage. Marth players often follow up a shield break with another fully charged, tippered Shield Breaker for a KO. Dancing Blade does high damage and counts as four attacks in the refresh counter, making it great to refresh his other moves as well as inflict high damage on the opponent, and the last hit tilted upwards can KO at higher percentages. As such, Marth is arguably one of the characters least affected by stale-move negation and it is also a good out-of-shield option as it has almost nonexistent startup lag, though like many of Marth's moves, it is easily punished if shielded. Marth's Counter, the fastest counter in the game, can be used to punish opponent attacks and interrupt combos. Marth has good standing grab reach and a very long reaching pivot grab which is combined with the fact that he can chain grab a number of characters using his forward throw (if only for a couple of throws). He also has a grab release infinite on Lucas and Ness (making him a hard counter against those two characters), a chain grab-release to a down air meteor smash (or a slight step followed by a forward smash) on Squirtle, and grab release to down air, forward air, or Dolphin Slash on Meta Knight (although the latter is still considered a hard matchup for Marth). On the downside, his throws are extremely weak in terms of damage and knockback (usually doing only 4% per throw, with the exception of his down throw, which does 5% and his up throw is the only throw that KOs in Sudden Death), although their weak knockback also means they can link into his other moves fairly reliably for racking damage.

Overall, Marth is a fast character whose attack range gives him very potent offensive and defensive options, especially in the air. Thanks to his safety of his moves and their ability to aggressively pressure opponents, he is one of the best offensive characters in the game. His strengths are tempered by his lack of a projectile and his light weight relative to his height, though he is heavy enough to make him vulnerable to King Dedede's down throw chaingrab. Marth also has difficulty KOing the heavier characters, especially those with good momentum canceling, due to his tipped attacks having high base knockback but low knockback scaling, which forces him to rely on edgeguarding to KO. While he has great options below 100% (best regular ledge climb in the game and a ledge jump which gives him up to +10 invincibility, allowing him to ledge jump into invincible any aerial), those options are replaced with laggy ledge get ups above 100% (with ledge jump no longer providing invincible aerials) which can be abused by several characters, especially when he has RCO lag. On the upper side, Marth himself has excellent options both juggling and racking damage on opponents who are trying to climb from the ledge thanks to his quick and safe zoning tools.

Changes from Melee to Brawl

Marth has received a mix of buffs and nerfs in transition from Melee. However, it’s debatable whether Marth has been buffed or nerfed, as he was objectively nerfed in terms of attributes, but buffed in terms of other areas. Marth's incredible ground movement is less effective than in Melee, due to the weakening of dash dancing and the removal of wavedashing. Additionally Marth's grab range is also much shorter, making it harder to set-up follow-ups out of his throws. Thus, Marth's neutral game as a whole is weaker, due to less safe movement, and Brawl's more defensive minded metagame, hindering his approach. Additionally, Marth's large combo potential and phenomenal edgeguarding ability were also toned down, as he can no longer create extended, near zero-to-death juggles with the aid of platforms and can also no longer close out stocks consistently when edgeguarding due to the loss of consistency in his down aerial as well as the altered physics of Brawl.

Despite this, his nerfed combo and edgeguarding prowess still remains among the best relative to the cast, and the new mechanics of Brawl help alleviate one of his critical flaws in his poor recovery. Contrary to popular belief, Marth's overall range was increased relative to the cast, combined with the universal nerf of mobility options, this helps Marth zone out his opponents somewhat better than before. The removal of crouch cancelling also removes one of his weaknesses in Melee, where many of his non-tipper moves were crouch-cancelable at low percents. His moves are also relatively stronger when tippered, giving him more KO potential.

As such, while Marth has more potential KO options at high percents, he can only secure such KOs by fishing for them in neutral, which requires incredible reads and thus cannot be done consistently at high level play. Despite this, Marth is still a very favorable character at high level play, and has fared much better in the transition from Melee to Brawl than other top-tier veterans, such as Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff.

Aesthetics

• All of Marth's sword attacks now make a high-pitched "whoosh" sound that varies depending on the attack's strength.
• Marth no longer vocalizes during his first jump.
• Marth does not sheath his sword during his shielding animation, instead holding it up via an underhanded-grip and bracing himself to the side.

Attributes

• Marth walks slower (1.6 → 1.5), though he still has the fastest walk speed in the game.
• Marth dashes slightly slower (1.8 → 1.7).
• Marth's air speed is faster (0.9 (NTSC), 0.85 (PAL) → 1.034).
• As with all the returning veterans, Marth's falling speed (2.2 → 1.5) and gravity (0.085 → 0.06715) have been significantly decreased. However, relative to the cast, Marth's falling speed and gravity are both slightly faster. While this improves his endurance, it worsens his recovery and makes him more vulnerable to combos and chain grabs.
• The above change and the general physics changes in Brawl result in Marth having a lower fast falling speed (2.5 → 2.1), hindering his defense against juggling.
• Marth's traction is lower (0.06 → 0.055), going from the 15th highest in Melee to the 20th highest. Relative to the cast, however, Marth's traction is higher, making it easier for him to punish out of shield.
• Marth jumps lower (2.4 → 2.16).
• Marth's jumpsquat is longer (4 frames → 5).
• Marth's soft landing is 1 frame faster (4 frames → 3).
• Marth's backwards roll provides more intangibility frames (15 frames → 19).
• Marth's spot dodge provides more intangibility frames (17 frames → 19), and has less ending lag (IASA 28 → 25) now being faster than most spotdodges.
• Marth's air dodge has more startup lag (frame 4 → 5) now being the slowest in the game.
• Due to slightly altered animations to the majority of his sword swings, Marth has less reach overall. However, his reach is longer relative to the cast, giving him better zoning abilities overall.
• From the introduction to hitlag modifiers, Marth's sourspotted attacks now have low hitlag modifiers (≈0.7x), and his tippered moves now have high hitlag modifiers (≈1.25x/1.3x/1.5x). This makes his sourspotted moves less safe on shield, but his tippered moves safer on shield. Conversely, this makes his tippered moves easier to DI, but his sourspotted moves harder to DI.
• The weakening of dash dancing hinders Marth's ability to mix up his positioning, heavily nerfing his ground movement and neutral game.
• The removal of wavedashing significantly hinders Marth's mobility and approach.
• Marth's backwards glide toss covers much more distance.

Ground attacks

• The second hit of neutral attack has more knockback growth (60 → 70).
• The first hit of neutral attack transitions much slower into the second hit (frame 24 → 30) and can no longer be buffered. Due to Marth leaning forward less than in Melee, it has less reach overall.
• Tippered dash attack has more base knockback (70 → 80).
• Dash attack has more startup (frame 12 → 13) and ending lag (IASA 40 → 50). Untippered dash attack also deals slightly less damage (11% → 10%).
• Dash attack now sends opponents horizontally (110° → 45°).
• Tippered forward tilt deals slightly less damage (13% → 12%). Marth also leans over less than in Melee, decreasing its reach.
• Tippered forward tilt has altered knockback (60 (base)/70 (growth) → 40/80).
• Tippered up tilt deals less damage (13% → 12%), less knockback (50 (base)/100 (growth) → 40/90), and has smaller hitboxes (4u → 3.5u). It also has much more ending lag (IASA 32 → 41), removing much of its ability to cover tech options on platforms, and drastically worsening the move's combo potential.
• Down tilt has larger hitboxes (4u/2.8u/3.12u/4u → 4.8u/3.36u/3.74u/4.8u) and now moves Marth forward slightly if used repeatedly, further increasing its reach. The introduction to tripping also allows it to now trip opponents.
• Down tilt has more ending lag (IASA 20 → 22).
• The introduction of SDI multipliers have benefited the tippered hitbox of forward smash, as it has a multiplier of 0x, meaning it can no longer be SDI'd.
• Forward smash has less reach (4u/3.2u/3.6u/4u → 3u/3u/4u/3u/3u), and Marth steps forward less when using it, decreasing its reach even further and overall making platform tippers less common and much harder to perform. Tippered forward smash also deals less damage (20% → 19%).
• Up smash has less startup lag and a longer duration (frame 13-16 → 12-18), less ending lag (IASA 46 → 44), and larger hitboxes (4.4u/4.8u/4.4u → 4.9u/4.9u/5u). The body sourspot hitboxes now launch the opponent into the sword sourspot hitbox (70° → 125°), akin to Roy's up smash in Melee, increasing its overall damage potential (8%/15% → ≈18%), greatly buffing its utility against grounded opponents. Sword sourspotted up smash also has more base knockback (30 → 45).
• Tippered up smash deals slightly less damage (18% → 17%) and significantly less knockback (60 (base)/80 (growth) → 40/70).
• Sourspotted down smash deals more damage (11% → 14% (front)/13% (back)) and the back hit has less startup lag (frame 20 → 18). Both hits also have a longer duration (2 frames → 3) and the tippered front hit also deals more damage (16% → 17%).
• Down smash has more startup lag (frame 5 → 6) and the tippered hitboxes deal much less knockback (70 (base)/100 (growth) → 50/80). The outer hitboxes of the sourspot on both hits also have less knockback growth (72 → 70).
• The inner hitboxes of the sourspots on both hits of down smash have altered knockback (front: 20/16 (base)/100 (growth) → 50/80, back: 30/15 (base)/100 (growth → 50/70).

Aerial attacks

• All aerials except down aerial have less landing lag (neutral, forward and up aerials: 15 frames → 9, back aerial: 24 frames → 21).
• Neutral aerial has less ending lag (IASA 50 → 49), increased reach on both hits (4u → 4.8u), and deals overall more damage (first hit: 4% → 3%/6%, second hit: 10% → 9%/12%, total: 13.91% (due to how stale-move negation works in Melee) → 13%/18%). The second hit also has more knockback growth (80 → 80/90) and a longer duration (6 frames → 7).
• Sourspotted forward aerial deals more damage (10%/9% → 10%) and has more base knockback (30/20 → 40). It can also trip opponents at very low percents and it is easier for Marth to perform two forward aerials in a short hop due to his lower fall speed and the introduction of buffering aerials.
• Forward aerial has more ending lag (IASA 30 → 34).
• Tippered forward aerial has increased knockback (42 (base)/70 (growth) → 40/80) and now sends opponents at a Sakurai angle (67° → 361°). This improves its KOing ability, but hinders its combo ability, particularly, this removes its ability to perform a true Ken Combo.
• Back aerial has a longer duration (4 frames → 5), has increased reach (4u → 4.6u/4.8u), deals more damage (13%/10%/9% → 14%/11%), and has increased knockback (30/30/25/10 (base)/70 (growth) → 30 (base)/90/85 (growth)).
• Back aerial has more ending lag (IASA 35 → 40).
• Forward and back aerials have slightly less reach due to their slightly altered animations where Marth doesn't extend his arm all the way out and his sword being tilted at an angle rather than straight out.
• Up aerial has a longer duration (5-8 → 5-9), increased reach (4u → 4.8u), and the sourspots now deal consistent damage (10%/9% → 10%), as well as having more base knockback (30/20/18 → 40). Tippered up aerial also has more knockback growth (70 → 80).
• Up aerial is overall much worse for combos because of the new hitstun mechanics and its increased power although it still has true combo potential at low percents.
• Up aerial has a slightly altered animation, where Marth holds his blade less outward, giving it slightly less vertical reach.
• Down aerial has less ending lag (IASA 80 → 60), more reach (3.6u → 6u/4.32u), deals more damage (13%/10%/9% → 14%/12%), and the tippered hitbox has more knockback growth (70 → 80). These changes significantly improve its KO potential.
• Down aerial's tipper is more difficult to land due to the overall physics changes hindering its ability to be comboed into. As a result, the loss of a reliable sweetspot renders Marth incapable of getting consistent edgeguards. Additionally, the move has significantly less utility, no longer being a useful tech chase option, an out of shield option, or a combo starter from the ground. The tipper is also a meteor smash instead of a spike like in NTSC versions of Melee, hindering its reliability.
• Down aerial's animation has also changed somewhat, being swung more behind Marth than in Melee.

Throws/other attacks

• Marth's grabs have less start-up (frame 7 → 6 (standing), frame 10 → 9 (dash)), and less ending lag (IASA 31 → 29 (standing), IASA 41 → 36 (dash)).
• The range of Marth's grabs are much shorter, especially his dash grab. The removal of jump-cancelled grabbing is also a particularly harsh nerf for Marth; coupled with the poorer range on the dash grab and weakening of dash dancing, it is significantly harder to land grabs.
• Pummel is faster (IASA 25 → 16).
• Pummel deals less damage (3% → 2%).
• The changes to grab releases benefit Marth more than most characters as he now has multiple followups out of an aerial grab release on various characters while he himself isn't vulnerable to aerial grab release combos.
• Forward throw and Down throw are more reliable for combos at extremely low percents due to the removal of DI for moves which do not put opponents into tumble.
• However, the changes to hitstun hinders their combo potential beyond very low percents.
• Back throw has less base knockback (70 → 50) and sends opponents at a lower angle (117° → 140°), making it better for follow-ups.
• Up throw has less knockback growth (130 → 120) and can no longer chaingrab fastfallers or combo reliably due to the universal physics changes.
• Despite this, up throw has more KO potential due to the universal physics changes.

Special moves

• Shield Breaker has a new animation, where Marth assumes a readying stance and charges the Falchion at chest level before thrusting it forward, instead of performing an overhead slash. This increases its horizontal reach, but decreases its vertical reach. Marth also only vocalizes when the move is fully charged.
• Shield Breaker now gives Marth a horizontal boost when used in the air, regardless of whether it is charged or not, aiding Marth's recovery. An uncharged Shield Breaker also deals more damage (7% → 9%/8%) and deals more shield damage (38/30 → 42). Fully charged Shield Breaker also charges much faster (121 frames (2.02 seconds) → 78 frames (1.3 seconds)).
• Shield Breaker has more start-up with a slightly shorter duration (frame 16-21 → 19-23), noticeably smaller hitboxes (4u/3.12u/3.2u/2.8u/4.4u → 2.5u/3u/3u/2.75u/2.5u), and now extends Marth's hurtbox before the hitbox comes out, due to its changed animation (the animation change and the much smaller hitboxes also greatly nerfed its vertical range). A fully charged Shield Breaker also deals less damage (28% → 24%/22%/20%/18%), making it weaker despite its increased base knockback (40/34 → 50), and less shield damage (60 → 40). Overall the move is much worse as an edge-guarding move due to the aforementionned changes.
• Dancing Blade has been heavily reworked. The first hit has less start-up (frame 6 → 4) and the hits require less precision to use, allowing them to link into each other more quickly and easily, combined with the removal of crouch cancelling. He can now also wavebounce for recovery mix ups or to escape juggles.
• Each individual hit of Dancing Blade is weaker than its Melee counterpart. The variants of its third hit can also no longer tech-chase. The first hit can also only stall Marth in the air when used after a jump (unlike in Melee where it can stall Marth continuously).
• Dancing Blade's final up input now has a brand new animation, where Marth does an upward launching slash in a recovering turn, as opposed to a forward hopping more pronounced version of his forward final input. It also no longer causes Marth to glow. Instead, the sword trail glows according to the direction inputted (red → side, blue → up, green → down).
• Dolphin Slash covers more horizontal distance, has larger hiboxes (clean: 4u → 6.5u, late: 4u/3.2u → 5u/4u), and has more intangibility frames (frame 5 → 1-5), improving its use as an Out of Shield option and allowing Marth to escape most combos and chaingrabs and have a sort of pseudo counter. Clean Dolphin Slash also deals more damage (13%/10% → 13%).
• Clean Dolphin Slash deals less knockback (80 (base)/70 (growth) → 70/68).
• Marth no longer grunts when using Dolphin Slash.
• Counter now deals 1.1x damage of the countered move's damage back with a minimum of 8% instead of 7%. It also has larger hitboxes (3.12u/2.8u/4.4u/4u → 5u), and more knockback growth (35 → 40).
• Counter has a slightly shorter window frame despite its lower startup (5-29 → 4-27).
• Marth now has a Final Smash, Critical Hit. Marth points his sword to the sky and charges forward at lightning speeds. If Marth comes in contact with anyone, he will strike them with the Falchion. The strike has immense knockback, and will usually one-hit KO any character. An HP Gauge from Fire Emblem that starts at full health and quickly drops to zero will appear the head of whoever got hit by the move. However, the HP gauge is purely aesthetic and has no effect on gameplay.

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%.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			4%/6%	Slashes Falchion twice in front of himself.
			4%/6%
Forward tilt			9%/12%	A fast swipe upwards with the Falchion while leaning forward. It has good horizontal reach and decent vertical reach.
Up tilt			Clean: 9% (blade), 12% (tip), 8% (body) Late: 10% (blade), 12% (tip), 9% (body)	Swings his sword in a large arc above his head, front to back. It has good all around reach with fast startup with small ending lag.
Down tilt			9% (blade), 10% (tip), 8% (body)	A quick crouching Falchion poke. Fairly reliable pressure tool against opponents on the ledge. Can also be used to pseudo-crawl.
Dash attack			10% (blade), 12% (tip), 9% (body)	A quick upward sweeping diagonal slash. Has slow startup compared to Marth's other attacks with high ending lag.
Forward smash		Dragon Killer	14%/19%	Rotates body counterclockwise with a strong arc-like swing from his head to the ground. Very fast and long ranged with the knockback of the move being stronger at the tip of the sword.
Up smash		Justice Sword	4% (ground), 14% (blade), 17% (tip)	A quick, direct upward thrust. The weak grounded hit can knock nearby opponents into the main attack. When Marth hits someone at low percentages with his running up smash, it sends his opponent on a bizarre horizontal trajectory with very high base knockback. This is very effective at setting up edgeguard situations at low percentages for an early KO.
Down smash			14%/17% (front), 13%/16% (back)	Sweeps his sword on the ground towards front then towards the back. High vertical knockback if tippered, but its long duration makes it a seldom-used move.
Neutral aerial			3%/6% (hit 1), 9%/12% (hit 2)	Two horizontal slashes around himself. Both hits connect easily on an airborne opponent. The tip of the second strike has rather high knockback and can KO at high percentages.
Forward aerial			10%/13%	Does a forward vertical slash downwards. Although it has fairly low knockback when not tippered, it is very fast in both startup and ending lag. Can easily be done twice in a short hop and is useful for edgeguarding as a wall of pain. It is considered Marth's best aerial and is arguably the best forward air in the game, if not the most versatile.
Back aerial		About Face	11%/14%	Slashes the Falchion from bottom to top behind him in an inward swipe. The attack has the unusual property of turning Marth around when used in the air.
Up aerial			10%/13%	A forward to back upward Falchion slash in a delayed somersault. Hit from close is as powerful as the tip, being a reliable vertical finisher but from medium distance it is quite weak.
Down aerial			12%/14%	A forward to back downward outward sword slash. It meteor smashes powerfully when the tip is connected, but launches opponents horizontally when the blade connects.
Grab			—
Pummel			2%	Knees opponent.
Forward throw			4%	Grabs and pushes forward, tripping with the leg. Great for tech-chasing and can chaingrab heavyweights or fast-fallers at 0% for up to usually four throws maximum and set up a guaranteed forward smash at 0% on most characters, on some characters it can hit with the tipper for more damage, and on certain characters this combo works up until mid percentages. Can also be used to set up a forward aerial combo.
Back throw			4%	Turns around and pulls the enemy over his outstretched leg, tripping them. Similar to down throw, but even weaker knockback wise and is poor for setting up due to high ending lag.
Up throw			4%	Powerful upward throw with one arm. This is Marth's only powerful throw and it can KO lighter characters under 200%.
Down throw			5%	Throws opponent to the ground. Has extremely low knockback with little KO potential.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Sweeps his sword on the ground, front to back.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	A quick stab to the left followed by a horizontal slash to the right.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Gets up and stabs on one side followed by a horizontal slash on the other side.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			8% (blade), 6% (body)	Flips onto ledge with a quick downward diagonal slash.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			10%	Slowly gets up and performs a quick horizontal slice.
Neutral special		Shield Breaker	Uncharged: 8%/9%; Fully charged: 18% (arm) 20% (hilt), 22% (blade), 24% (tip)	Marth charges up Falchion at chest level before powerfully thrusting it forward. Deals high shield damage when fully charged.
Side special		Dancing Blade	Varies (see below)	A sequence of Falchion slashes with several variations based on control stick tilts.
Up special		Dolphin Slash	13% (clean), 7% (late sword), 6% (late body)	Marth performs a rapid jumping slash that can be reversed. Has a powerful sweetspot located in the first few frames.
Down special		Counter	1.1x (min 8%)	Marth assumes a defensive stance and retaliates against incoming attacks. The power of the counterattack scales with the strength of the attack blocked.
Final Smash		Critical Hit	60%	Marth lunges in one direction, attacking the first opponent. Immense knockback, enough to one-hit KO any character on any roofless stage.

Dancing Blade

Hit	Damage	Description
First Hit (Neutral)	3%/4%	Does a vertical slash, has little knockback: incapable of KOing.
Second Hit (Up)	3%/4%	Does an upwards slash. Deals slightly more knockback than the upper slash.
Second Hit (Neutral)	3%/4%	Does a stab, has a little more knockback than the first slash.
Third Hit (Up)	4%/5%	Does a weak vertical slash.
Third Hit (Neutral)	4%/5%	Does a fairly powerful horizontal slash. KOs at around 120%.
Third Hit (Down)	4%/5%	Stabs at the ground. Can meteor smash airborne opponents.
Fourth Hit (Up)	6%/8%	Does a very powerful upper slash. KOs at around 100%
Fourth Hit (Neutral)	6%/8%	Does a very powerful vertical slash. KOs at around 100%
Fourth Hit (Down)	2% (hit 1-4), 3%/5% (hit 5)	Does a flurry of lower stabs. Hits 5 times.

On-screen appearance

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

Taunts

• Up taunt: Points the Falchion in the air with a spark of light emitting from it. Similar to his stance before performing a critical hit in Fire Emblem and identical to his stance when he performs the "Lodestar" technique.
• Side taunt: Slashes his sword twice in front of himself, then sheathes it.
• Down taunt: Twirls his sword, then raises it in front of him saying "みんな、見ていてくれ！," which is Japanese for "Everyone, watch over me!

Up taunt	Side taunt	Down taunt

Idle poses

• Closes his eyes, holds a hand to his chest, and silently takes a breath.
• Brushes his hair from his face.

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer
Description	Marth-Marth-Marth!	Mar-th!
Pitch	Group chant	Group chant

Wii Remote selection sound

• Marth swings his sword and shouts.

Marth's selection sound

Victory poses

A small orchestral cover from the title theme of the first Fire Emblem game.

• Up: Sheaths his sword and says "今日も生き延びることが出来た。", which translates to: "Today I have risen to survive."
• Left: Turns with pride, spins his sword, then clashes it to the ground and says "今回は僕の勝ちだね?", which translates to: "This time it's my victory isn't it?"
• Right: Poses with the sword in his sheath, stretches out his right arm and says "僕は負ける訳には行かないんだ!", which translates to: "There's no way for me to lose!"

Up	Left	Right

In competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

According to the matchup chart, Marth's matchup spread is the fourth highest weighted and unweighted rank. Marth has two soft counters, 9 even matchups, soft counters 10 matchups, counters 8, and hard counters 7. Marth has more even matchups than the other top tier characters, but has the tools to beat almost any character. Marth has a very strong air game, as his forward aerial is helpful in almost any situation, whether it be for camping, edgeguarding, or comboing. His ground game, while not as potent as his air game, is acceptable. His down tilt is fast, strong, and propels him forward. Marth can easily wall out characters like Wario and Pikachu, because of their relatively short ranged attacks and lower KO power, but because of Marth's dependence on edgeguarding, he struggles against characters like Meta Knight. He also has trouble against King Dedede, because of his chain grab, strong recovery, and longevity, forcing Marth to land tippers. Overall, Marth has strong matchups all around, but more even ones than most of the other top tier characters.

Notable players

See also: Category:Marth professionals (SSBB)

•  Anaky
•  Leon - Known for his extremely aggressive playstyle. 22nd on 2014 SSBBRank.
•  Mike Haze - A consistent player during 2008-2014 and arguably the best Marth player in the United States. Formerly ranked 46th on the 2014 SSBBRank.
•  Mikeneko - Formerly the best Marth player in the world. Ranked 10th on the 2014 SSBBRank.
•  Mr. R - One of Europe's best players. 15th at 2014 SSBBRank.
•  NEO - Known for his calculated and patient playstyle. 96th on 2014 SSBBRank.
•  Zex

Tier placement and history

Similarly to Falco, Marth has remained a top tier character even after his transition from Melee. Throughout Brawl's history, Marth has always hovered around the 5th to 7th place positions due to his positive traits as well as his strong representation in tournaments. When Olimar and the Ice Climbers began to rise, Marth's position slipped back to 7th place, with some thinking he would fall further as professionals of characters below him, such as Zero Suit Samus, would discover new innovations in their metagames, while Marth's would remain mostly stagnant due to his simplistic playstyle. However, Marth still did rise back to 5th place for the current Brawl tier list. There are smashers who dispute this placement, stating that Marth is placed far too high; some (such as Keitaro and Mew2King) claim that Marth's nerfs going into Brawl overwhelmed his buffs, and that because his combo ability was completely compromised in the transition, he was a bad character in theory and should be ideally placed around middle tier. Due to these factors, Marth's tier placement is debated and some argue that characters, such as Snake, should be placed higher than him. However, strong tournament results from Marth professionals such as Mr. R and Mikeneko in high-level tournaments such as Apex 2013 have influenced the Brawl Back Room to place Marth at 5th above Falco and Snake.

Role in The Subspace Emissary

Marth in SSE

Two R.O.B.s activate a Subspace Bomb in a barren battlefield. Marth is seen atop his castle watching helplessly as the robots detonate the bomb. He stands and shines Falchion, prepared to fend off the hundreds of Primids advancing toward the castle. Marth confronts the Primids, descending through the building until he reaches the grounds. There he is ambushed by Meta Knight. During the duel (in the same video sequence), they are attacked from behind by a group of Primids, at which point they simultaneously jump into the air, slicing the Primids in two with their swords. Realizing that they share a common enemy, they join forces to defeat the Primids. After fighting against the Primids, both Meta Knight and Marth aim their attacks at the Ancient Minister, who is carrying another Subspace Bomb. Marth misses with Dolphin Slash, while Meta Knight's wing is ignited by a laser shot from the fleeing Ancient Minister. Ike then shows up and dismantles the Ancient Minister's Subspace Bomb with his trusted Aether move. With the Subspace Bomb destroyed, the trio storm the castle once more.

In the desert, they see a vehicle driving off in the distance. Ike immediately jumps off the cliff to pursue it, followed by Meta Knight. Marth merely scratches the back of his head in disbelief before following them. When they find the vehicle, it transforms into Galleom, and the three fight it. The defeated Galleom falls through unstable ground, where it encounters Lucas and Pokémon Trainer in the Ruined Hall. Now severely weakened after being fought again, it grabs Lucas and the Trainer in an attempt to detonate an emergency Subspace Bomb, but Lucas manages to free himself and Pokémon Trainer from Galleom using PK Thunder, commencing a headfirst freefall. Meta Knight catches Lucas and the unconscious Trainer right before they hit the ground and meets them up with Marth and Ike. When the Halberd crashes the Great Fox into a mountain, Marth is unable to catch up with Meta Knight, who is climbing the mountain. Later, the Ice Climbers fall down and befriend Marth, Ike, Lucas, and Pokémon Trainer, only to be rained on by Shadow Bugs from the Halberd above. Mario, Pit, Kirby, Link and Yoshi come to aid them in fighting off the Primids that were dropped. After the battle, the Halberd (now under control of Meta Knight, Snake, Lucario, Zelda, Peach, Fox, Mr. Game & Watch, and Falco) and the Falcon Flyer (carrying Captain Falcon, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Olimar, Samus, Pikachu and R.O.B.) land to pick them up.

Marth and friends destroy the Subspace Gunship (though the Halberd was downed in the process). They enter Subspace and encounter Tabuu, who turns them all into trophies. Fortunately he, and some of the others, are revived by King Dedede, Luigi, and Ness, while the rest are revived by Kirby. Marth helps the heroes in the showdown against Tabuu.

Playable appearances

• The Battlefield Fortress
• The Wilds (Part I)
• Entrance to Subspace
• The Great Maze - if he's rescued in Subspace (Part I)

Exclusive stickers

The following stickers can only be used by Marth or Ike:

• Ninian: [Arm, Leg] Attack + 6
• Lilina: [Leg] Attack + 5
• Mist: [Slash] Attack + 8
• Deke: [Slash] Attack + 9
• Eirika: [Slash] Attack +17
• Ike (Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn): [Slash] Attack +27
• Rutoga: [Slash] Resistance +12
• Ashnard: [Slash] Resistance +34
• Shiida: [Specials: Direct] Attack + 7
• Greil: [Throwing] Attack +14
• Marth: [Weapon] Attack +19
• Micaiah: [Weapon] Attack +21
• Ike:(Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance) [Weapon] Attack +23
• Eliwood: Flame Resistance +33

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• Event 31: The Ultimate Bodyguard: Marth must defend Zelda and defeat two Ganondorfs on Castle Siege. Zelda remains in her crouching position until the third background change, where she'll transform into Sheik and assist Marth.
• Event 34: All-Star Battle Melee: Marth is one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents are newcomers from Super Smash Bros Melee.

Co-op Events

• Co-Op Event 11: The Great Remodeling Battle: Luigi and Peach must fight Marth and Ike and collect 300 coins without destroying any of the breakable pillars on Luigi's Mansion.
• Co-Op Event 13: Blades of the Quick and Mighty: Marth and Ike must defeat Link, Meta Knight, and Ganondorf on Temple.
• Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle: Both players select a character and take on the entire roster on Battlefield.

Trophies

Marth's main and Final Smash trophies can be obtained by clearing Classic Mode and All-Star mode respectively with Marth.

Trophy descriptions

Marth

The prince of Altea, in whose veins the blood of heroes runs. He and a small group of stalwarts fought to free Altea after it was invaded by the kingdom of Doluna and the dark dragon, Medeus. With his divine sword, Falchion, he fought and defeated Medeus. However, Altea was then invaded by King Hardin of Akaneia and eventually destroyed.

: Fire Emblem (Japan Only)

Critical Hit

Marth's Final Smash. He thrusts his sword skyward, then rushes to meet his targeted enemy with furious speed. The blow he strikes is so powerful that his foe is instantly launched off the screen. As in Fire Emblem, a window appears that shows the character's hit points dropping rapidly to zero—but this is just for effect. Smash Bros. does not use a hit-point system.

: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

• 

  Classic

• 

  Critical Hit

Alternate costumes

Trivia

• Marth is the highest rated character in the Prima Official Game Guide for Brawl, receiving a 9/10.
• Marth's back air turns his whole body around to face the other way; it is the only aerial in the game to do this.
• Marth is the first unlockable character to join the player's party in the Subspace Emissary, though he is not the first to be played, as Ness is temporarily available in a previous stage.
• While it can only happen on a custom stage, Marth's sword trail animations on his aerial attacks will only play if done at the peak or near the peak of his jump and midair jump, when attacking after or before the peak of a jump Marth's sword will simply glow and leave no trail, except on his up aerial. This also happens to Ike.
• Marth is the only character who speaks Japanese in the English-language version of Brawl. This is so because the only Fire Emblem games he appeared in were only released in Japan at the time of Brawl's release. However, Kirby shouts "Purin!", Jigglypuff's Japanese name, when using Rollout after copying Jigglypuff.
• Marth, Bowser, and Meta Knight can all perform the floor glitch.

External links

• Marth's Smash DOJO!! page
• Marth Character Guides on SmashBoards
• Marth's hitbox size of each of his moves
• Marth's Moves - History Behind Super Smash Bros. Brawl, by CrappyCaptureDevice