Ike (SSBU)

Ike in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
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Universe	Fire Emblem
Other playable appearances	in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Great Aether

Ike (アイク, Ike) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was officially confirmed on June 12th, 2018. Ike is classified as Fighter #32.

Michihiko Hagi reprises his role in the Japanese version now providing new voice clips, and Greg Chun now voices Ike in English version, reprising his role from Fire Emblem Heroes, replacing Jason Adkins who voiced him in Brawl and Smash 4.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play VS. matches, with Ike being the 14th character to be unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Mario or any character in his unlock tree, being the 4th character unlocked after Little Mac.
• Have Ike join the player's party in World of Light.

With the exception of the third method, Ike must then be defeated on Coliseum.

Attributes

Ike is a tall heavyweight swordsman hailing from the Fire Emblem series, being tied for the 13th-heaviest character in the game with Wario, Ridley, Simon, and Richter. Fittingly for a heavyweight, Ike's endurance is respectable at the cost of generally poor mobility: while he has above-average air speed, traction, falling speed, fast falling speed, and gravity, he sports the 14th-slowest walking speed, the 13th-slowest dashing speed, a below-average initial dash, low jumping height, and the 8th-lowest air acceleration.

Ike's power is a staple of his character; in addition to his moveset having some of the strongest attacks in the game, rage further supplements his fearsome KO potential. Additionally, Ike possesses great, disjointed reach throughout his moveset. His forward smash deals among the highest damage and knockback out of any smash attack, with the clean hit being able to KO most opponents at a mere 75% at the center of Final Destination. It is also useful for mindgames and shield breaks due to its excellent reach (the early hit can hit opponents above and behind him). Up smash hits in a wide, semi-circle arc that covers Ike. Like his forward smash, it also deals decent damage and knockback, albeit it is generally weaker. However, it is useful for punishing rolls and landings. Down smash is Ike's fastest smash attack, initially hitting on frame 13, while boasting high damage and knockback overall. The move hits from the front and the back of him (the back hit starts on frame 32), with the clean back hit sporting considerably more power than the front. Other notable attacks that possess great damage and knockback include his forward tilt, up tilt, dash attack, back aerial, up aerial, and down aerial.

Ike also has a unique special moveset. His neutral special, Eruption, is chargeable, grants super armor when released half charge or higher, deals very high damage and knockback, and has an excellent vertical reach and the most horizontal range out of his entire kit, all of which make it a fearsome edgeguarding tool. His side special, Quick Draw, is also chargeable and propels him forward, making it a good mixup in his neutral game as it helps his recovery, mobility, and approach. His up special, Aether, covers decent vertical distance for a recovery move, but minimal horizontal distance. However, the descending hitbox is an incredibly powerful meteor smash that has the potential to KO opponents at 0% when they are offstage (even if just barely), making it quite dangerous to intercept Ike in many circumstances. This move also has a very good knockback, which players can use this on Out of Shield options and can KO around 100% as of update 8.0.0. His down special, Counter, is among the strongest of their kind in the game, having a 1.2× damage multiplier and dealing excellent knockback. It is also relatively useful for protecting against edgeguarding and disrupting some recoveries.

Ike's combo potential is also respectable, with his neutral aerial being his best combo starter. Not only does it cover a large area around him to protect him from many attacks, but it also deals fairly low knockback and has little landing lag, which allows it to combo into itself or other moves at various percentages. Neutral aerial can also combo into his back aerial or up aerial for semi-reliable KO confirms at moderately high percentages. At low percentages, it can combo into grabs. Additionally, Ike can start combos with his down throw at low percentages, leading to moves such as up tilt, up aerial, or Aether. Finally, his down tilt has low knockback scaling and launches at a mostly vertical angle, making it a consistent, reliable combo starter at most percentages.

Despite his strengths, Ike is not without his fair share of flaws. As mentioned earlier, he possesses slow movement speed (especially on the ground), which causes him to struggle against quick, agile characters like Zero Suit Samus and Pikachu. He also has some of the worst frame data in the game, with severe ending lag in most of his attacks and only his three-hit neutral attack (frame 4, 3, and 5 for each respective hit), down tilt, and back aerial (both frame 7) coming out faster than frame 10. Back aerial is also his only aerial attack that can autocancel in a short hop. His aforementioned counter is one of his most punishable options due to being arguably the slowest in the game, with a sluggish startup of 9 frames and considerable ending lag (on both the whiff and counterattack). Consequently, characters with superior attack speed like Mario and Fox can easily overwhelm and punish him, especially if his attacks are whiffed. Most of Ike’s out-of-shield options are slow and committal, granting him a mediocre out-of-shield game. Additionally, Ike's disadvantage state is extremely poor due to lacking effective options to land or protect him from pressure and juggling. Furthermore, several of his landing options (like neutral aerial) are predictable and/or having short-lasting hitboxes. While his high weight grants him long survivability, it also makes him easy to combo and juggle, made worse by his unimpressive landing options. Ike also possesses two linear and predictable recovery moves, Quick Draw and Aether, ultimately making him vulnerable to gimps and low semi-spikes offstage. Quick Draw travels a strictly horizontal distance, and Aether leaves him vulnerable to many attacks when ascending, especially counters and projectiles. These weaknesses grant him a poor approach against many characters, which is exacerbated by his lack of projectiles not allowing him to camp or force approaches from opponents.

Overall, Ike is a character who possesses worthy strengths, but players must be cautious when playing him. As such, his outstanding range and power grant him an excellent punish game, but players must space his attacks precisely so that his advantages are even useful against opponents. They must also bear several drawbacks, such as his exploitable recovery, subpar mobility, and awful frame data. These attributes have helped Ike in achieving strong tournament results in the early competitive metagame, but his playstyle has also become highly superficial as the metagame progressed, causing both his tournament representation and results to collapse considerably. Regardless, Ike is still considered a viable character in competitive play, and active players like Ryuga have achieved respectable results with him.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Ike has received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition from SSB4 to Ultimate, but he was buffed overall.

Ike's mobility has been improved to help with the new faster pace of Ultimate, and he shares the universal buffs of a 3-frame jumpsquat (reduced from 7 frames) and significant landing lag decreases for his aerials. Ike's neutral aerial has faster startup, lower landing lag, reduced damage, and a more reliable disjoint, making it an even better approach option and combo starter, to the point it now has semi-reliable KO confirms on his back and up aerials. He has also received a new up aerial with greatly increased horizontal and vertical range, improving his powerful juggling capabilities. Thanks to his faster jumpsquat, Ike is able to combo with his down throw at low percents more reliably. Eruption can now generate a maximum of three flame pillars if fully charged, improving its already powerful ledge-trapping potential. Finally, the already-high power on a few of his moves has been further increased, such as with forward tilt, forward smash, down smash, and the landing hit of Aether.

However, Ike's nerfs were also noticeable and he still struggles in a few areas. His dashing speed was almost unchanged, making it much worse relative to the cast, now being the 13th-slowest runner in the game. His forward aerial, a staple of his neutral game in Brawl and SSB4, has been nerfed as well, with it dealing less damage, having increased ending lag, no longer autocanceling in a short hop, the hitboxes being repositioned to create new blindspots, and having significantly decreased knockback, making it less useful as an edgeguarding tool and removing almost all of its KO potential. Combined with his much slower grounded mobility relative to the cast, this hinders Ike's approach. While several of his attacks now have increased power, it has been reduced on some of his other moves, most notably with up tilt and his aforementioned forward aerial. Additionally, the changes to rage have indirectly nerfed Ike since it is now less effective for comebacks at higher percents. Also, he is now more vulnerable to edgeguarding offstage during Aether, since Ragnell no longer passes through the stage (instead moving along the perimeters). Combined with the size reduction of most stage's ledges, Ike's recovery remains highly exploitable due to Aether's short horizontal recovery distance, and Quick Draw not receiving changes to help its recovery potential. Lastly, Ike's grabs have been nerfed; while the increased ending lag is a universal nerf for the cast, Ike's grabs also have shorter range, making them much less reliable for punishing.

In the end, Ike's changes and improvements have given him new ways to gain the advantage and also grant him a deadlier punish game. As such, he has less overall difficulty in KOing due to his enhanced overall moveset and combo ability, but because his mobility has not improved significantly (especially when compared to most other characters), he has a slightly harder time at keeping up with the rest of the cast. His worsened grabs also force him more to use his range to punish opponents. As far as tournament representation, Ike achieved impressive results in the early competitive metagame of Ultimate, thanks to players such as MkLeo, Marss, and Ryuga. Unfortunately, Ike's popularity has noticeably diminished as the metagame advanced, and he hasn't achieved nearly as many results as before (with MkLeo completely dropping the character, and Marss only using him as a rare counterpick character). Furthermore, other characters such as Cloud and Lucina have started to become more popular than him.

Fortunately, Ike has received even more buffs in 8.0.0, with his already excellent KO power becoming even stronger, thanks to changes to his dash attack, forward aerial and Aether. Although his neutral aerial was weakened, his combo game has remained strong thanks to improvements to down tilt, while neutral aerial remained as a viable combo tool. Due to these turn of events, Ike's overall perception has become more positive again, with many players considering him to be a high-tier character, making this his best iteration in the series. However, his viability still remains somewhat debatable due to online tournaments currently being more prominent, and it is unknown if he will become more popular than other characters that once became more popular than him before 8.0.0, such as Cloud.

Aesthetics

• Ike's appearance as a Ranger in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance - the basis of his appearance in Brawl - is once again his default costume. His appearance as a Hero in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, which was his default design in SSB4, is now an alternate costume, and five of his previous costumes have been distributed among the two appearances. Additionally, Ike has a new costume inspired by his father, Greil. They replace his "ordinary soldier" and Chrom-inspired costumes, with the latter coincided with Chrom's inclusion as a playable fighter.
  • Palutena's Guidance conversation for Ike has been changed to accommodate for his Path of Radiance costume.
• As with all veterans returning from SSB4, both of Ike's models feature a more subdued color scheme, and his clothing on both designs now features simple detailing. Additionally, both models have been updated:
  • For his Path of Radiance model from Brawl, the inside of his cape is now light pink instead of yellow, and his boots are now colored brown instead of orange. His facial features are slightly different, with Ike's face being less narrow, and now having slightly smaller and rounder eyes, making them closer to his appearance in Path of Radiance. Most notably, his hair has a simpler, tamer appearance, flatter overall and now mostly flowing downwards. While this makes it look less like how it appears in PoR's pre-rendered cutscenes, it closely resembles Yusuke Kozaki’s depictions of Ike.
  • For his Radiant Dawn model from SSB4, his skin tone is noticeably more tanned, and his facial features have been notably modified; his face is narrower, and his eyes are sharper and closer together, and his hair is slightly more voluminous and spiked. In addition, Ike's neck is longer, his collar has been made smaller and is now flared, and his cape hangs lower from the front, giving a better overall view of his face. His pauldron now juts outwards and no longer moves with his left arm, and his arm bandaging is less visible. Finally, Ike's muscles are more pronounced.
• Ike's voice changes slightly depending on the costume. In the Japanese version, Ike's voice is deeper and more masculine in his Radiant Dawn costume. In the English version, Ike sounds more energetic and aggressive in his Path of Radiance costume, and more severe and composed in his Radiant Dawn costume.
• Ike has a new idle animation, which is more similar to his idle stance in Path of Radiance: he faces more towards the screen, and his left arm is no longer suspended, while clenching his left fist.
• Ike no longer does a backflip during his backward jumping animation.
• Ike's clapping animation now differs slightly depending on which outfit he is using. Path of Radiance Ike has a new clapping animation, whereas Radiant Dawn Ike reuses the previous animation from Brawl and SSB4.
  • Additionally, Ragnell is no longer present in the "No Contest" screen.
• Ike has new quotes during his victory animations and has different quotes depending on which outfit is used.
  • On the first one where he swings Ragnell twice, Path of Radiance Ike says, "Your skills were... remarkable," (あんたの戦い、見事だった, Your combat was excellent.) and Radiant Dawn Ike says, "Don't stand in my way." (どうして俺の前に立った, Why do you stand before me?).
  • On the second one where he plants Ragnell into the ground, Path of Radiance Ike says, "I submit to no one," (誰にも、譲る気はない, I cannot yield to anyone.) and Radiant Dawn Ike says, "I must move forward." (俺は前に進む, I move forward.).
  • His previous victory quotes from Brawl and Smash 4 are now used on the third one where he performs Aether, Path of Radiance Ike says, "You'll get no sympathy from me," (極めれば…誰にも負けはしない, To the end... I will not lose to anyone.) and Radiant Dawn Ike says, "I fight for my friends." (俺には守るべき物が在る, I have things I must protect.).

Attributes

• Like all characters, Ike's jumpsquat animation takes 3 frames to complete (down from 7).
• Ike runs slightly faster (1.5 → 1.507), the lowest increase out of anyone who had their run speed changed.
  • Ike's initial dash is faster (1.5 → 1.815).
• Ike walks slightly faster (0.869 → 0.912).
• Ike's air speed is slightly faster (1.08 → 1.134).
• Ike's traction is significantly higher (0.044 → 0.112), improving his punish game out of shield.
• Forward roll has less ending lag (FAF 33 → 31).
• Forward roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-18 → 4-15).
• Back roll has more startup with less intangibility (frames 4-18 → 5-16), and more ending lag (FAF 33 → 36).
• Spot dodge has less ending lag (FAF 28 → 27).
• Spot dodge grants less intangibility (frames 3-18 → 3-17).
• Air dodge has more startup (frame 3 → 4) and significantly more ending lag (FAF 34 → 50).
• Air dodge grants more intangibility (frames 3-28 → 4-31).

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first hit transitions into the second hit faster (frame 10 → 9), which transitions into the third hit faster (frame 11 → 9), allowing them to connect better.
  • The first two hits have altered angles (65° (hit 1)/65°/80° (hit 2) → 361°/180° (both) and knockback (0 base/50 set/100 scaling → (35/25)/0/(15/12) (hit 1)/0/(40/25/50)/(80/100) → (35/30)/0/(25/15) (hit 2)) to keep opponents close to Ike, akin to other neutral attacks. While this removes their already minimal jab canceling potential, this more prominently allows them to connect better and jab lock.
  • The third hit deals more damage (5% → 7%) without compensation on its knockback values, restoring its KO potential from Brawl.
  • The first two hits deal less damage (3% → 2.5%).
  • The first two hits have smaller hitboxes (3.5u → 2u/2.3u (hit 1)/3.5u/3.5u/4.5u → 3.2u/3.2u/3.5u (hit 2)) which do not extend as far (z offsets: 13/6 → 12/6.2 (hit 1)/17.5 → 12 (hit 2)), reducing their range.
  • The third hit has more ending lag (FAF 39 → 41).
• Forward tilt:
  • The move has faster startup (frame 13 → 12).
  • It has less ending lag (FAF 44 → 42).
  • It deals more damage (12.5% → 13.5%) without compensation on knockback, improving its KO potential.
• Up tilt:
  • The move has drastically less ending lag (FAF 48 → 40), which combined with Ike's faster jumpsquat grants the late hit combo potential.
  • The clean hit lasts longer compared to the late hit (frames 11-13/14-21 (clean/late) → 11-16/17-21).
  • The hitbox is smaller and has been repositioned (Y offset: 1-13 → 2.8-13.5), making it less extended and moving it further up the blade. This reduces its horizontal range.
  • The move deals less damage (14% → 12% (clean), 10% → 8% (late)) without compensation on knockback. This hinders the clean hit's KO potential.
• Down tilt:
  • The move has increased combo potential due to Ike's faster jumpsquat.
  • It has less knockback scaling (70 → 55), allowing it to combo at a much wider percent range.
  • Its hitboxes are smaller (3.8u/3.8u/3.8u/3u → 3.4u/3.4u/3.4u/3u) and have been repositioned, reducing both its vertical and horizontal range.
• Dash attack:
  • The move has less ending lag (FAF 52 → 48).
  • The move's hitboxes are larger (6.3u/4u → 7u/5u) and have been repositioned, and it has an extra hitbox. This improves the move's range, and makes it easier to land the sweetspot, since the new hitbox is a sweetspot.
  • The changes to jostle mechanics allow dash attack to hit opponents close to Ike more easily.
  • It has increased shieldstun (1x → 1.2x), improving its safety on shield.
  • It has more knockback scaling (78 → 88 (clean), 100 → 110 (late)).
• Forward smash:
  • The move's sweetspot deals more base knockback (40 base/86 scaling → 49/85), improving its KO potential despite its slightly decreased knockback scaling.
• Down smash:
  • Both hits deal more damage (14% → 16% (hit 1), 17% → 19% (hit 2, clean), 8% → 9% (hit 2, late)) without compensation on knockback, improving the move's KO potential.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag (14 frames → 8 (neutral), 18 frames → 14 (forward), 19 frames → 11 (back), 15 frames → 9 (up), 23 frames → 14 (down)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • The move has faster startup (frame 12 → 10).
  • It deals less damage (10% → 7.5% (clean), 7% → 6% (late)), although its knockback growth has been compensated (105 (clean)/100 (late) → 130), with the late hit dealing more knockback than before.
  • The swing has been slightly sped up, reducing the duration of its hitboxes (frames 12-27 → 10-22), but allowing it to hit around Ike faster.
    • The clean hit now lasts shorter compared to the late hit (frames 12-21/22-27 (clean/late) → 10-14/15-22).
  • The late hit has smaller hitboxes (4u → 3u).
  • It auto-cancels earlier (frame 64 → 50), but still requires a double jump to auto-cancel.
  • Its initial auto-cancel window has been shortened (frames 1-5 → 1-2).
  • It has a different animation, with Ike facing more toward the screen and no longer tucking his legs in. His entire body now moves with the sword. The new animation increases its range.
• Forward aerial:
  • The move has faster startup (frame 12 → 11).
  • It now always launches opponents in the direction Ike is facing, even if hit from behind, improving its reliability for edgeguarding.
  • It now sends opponents at a lower angle (361° → 30°), further improving its edgeguarding use.
  • It has less ending lag (FAF 55 → 52).
  • The hitboxes have been moved towards the middle of the blade, reducing the move's range and giving it a larger blindspot.
  • It has altered knockback (30 base/100 scaling → 55/60). This drastically hinders its KO potential, no longer KOing middleweights until around 175% from the center of Final Destination.
  • Its higher base knockback makes it much safer on hit at lower percentages.
  • It auto-cancels later (frame 36 → 42), thus no longer doing so in a short hop. This hinders Ike's already poor approach.
  • It no longer has an initial auto-cancel window.
• Back aerial:
  • The move now has four smaller hitboxes instead of two large hitboxes, which are moved lower and one of them is now extended, significantly reducing its vertical range.
  • The last active frame has a large extended hitbox directly behind Ike, prohibiting issues with the z-axis.
• Up aerial:
  • Ike has a new up aerial: a wide overhead swing starting from the front, similar to the rest of the Fire Emblem cast, but going inwards rather than outwards, and without a backflip.
    • It has significantly increased range and coverage around Ike, especially horizontally, allowing it to juggle opponents much more effectively.
    • It has a significantly shorter hitbox duration (frames 13-29 → 13-18), no longer allowing Ike to put out a lasting hitbox.
• Down aerial:
  • The removal of teching for grounded meteor smashes improves down aerial's combo potential onstage, compounded further by its lower landing lag and Ike's faster jumpsquat.

Throws and other attacks

• Grabs:
  • All grabs have more ending lag (FAF 33 → 37 (standing), 41 → 45 (dash), 39 → 40 (pivot)).
  • All grabs have altered animations where Ike doesn't lean forward as much. Their horizontal range has been reduced to reflect this (Z offset: 4u-9.4u → 4u-8.4u (standing), 4u-11.2u → 4u-10u (dash), 4u-15.4u → 4u-14.2u (pivot)).
• Pummel:
  • Pummel deals much less damage (3% → 1.6%).
  • It has faster startup (frame 5 → 1), deals more hitlag (5 frames → 15), and has significantly less ending lag (FAF 23 → 7), shortening its duration and increasing the amount of times Ike can pummel the opponent before throwing them or before they break out.
• Forward throw:
  • Forward throw deals more damage (3% → 3.5% (hit 1), 7% → 7.5% (total)).
• Up throw:
  • Up throw deals more damage (3% → 3.5% (hit 1), 7% → 7.5% (total)).
  • It has faster startup (frame 26 (hit 1), 28 (throw) → 18, 20).
    • However, the move's total duration remains the same, increasing its ending lag. Ike's faster jumpsquat also fails to compensate, thus hindering its combo potential.
  • The collateral hitbox has been moved down (Y offset: 21 → 9). This noticeably reduces the throw's vertical range, but makes it much easier to hit bystanders in front of Ike.
• Down throw:
  • Down throw no longer inflicts 5 frames of hitlag on the opponent upon releasing them, slightly hindering its combo potential despite Ike's faster jumpsquat.
• Edge attack:
  • Edge attack deals more damage (8% → 10%).

Special moves

• Eruption:
  • The move now produces multiple flaming pillars of decreasing sizes as it charges, producing two pillars when at a high level of charge, and three pillars at maximum charge. This greatly improves its range and edgeguarding potential.
  • Much like in Brawl, Ike vocalizes when unleashing a fully charged Eruption.
  • Fully-charged or high charge levels of Eruption cause Special Zoom when it hits.
• Quick Draw:
  • The move has less ending lag both when missed (FAF 57 → 53) and when the attack is triggered (FAF 45 → 35).
  • It has much greater vertical range.
  • Its charge can no longer be held indefinitely, now releasing it after roughly two seconds of being fully charged.
• Aether:
  • The move has faster startup (frame 18 → 15), with faster super armor on the aerial version as well (frame 18 → 15).
  • The grounded version grants much more super armor (frames 18-38 → 5-35), allowing it to tank through opposing attacks more effectively.
  • The move has less landing lag (38 frames → 36).
  • The landing hit launches at a lower angle (60° → 50°) and has nearly double the knockback scaling (80 → 155). This drastically improves the move's KO potential, KOing at around 115% from the center stage if all hits connect, and grants Ike new KO setups.
  • Ragnell can no longer clip through the bottom of stages while using Aether, instead moving along the stages' perimeters, making it less safe against opponents at the ledge.
  • The changes to knockback received during meteor smashes significantly improve Aether's sacrificial KO potential, as Ike is now less likely to be KOed first than his opponent.
• Counter:
  • The move's intangibility is faster (frame 9 → 8).
  • In addition to its full intangibility, it grants intangibility on Ike's head for the entire counter duration.
  • It has a shorter counter duration (frames 8-35 → 8-33).
  • It has more ending lag on both the counter (FAF 59 → 74) and the attack (FAF 35 → 44), making it much riskier to use.
  • It now gives off flaming visuals from Ragnell after Ike performs a successful counterattack.
  • Ike's vocalizations in English during a successful counterattack have been altered. Path of Radiance Ike says "Gotcha!", and Radiant Dawn Ike says "Amateur!"
• Great Aether:
  • The final hit launches at a lower angle (70° → 63°), weakening its KO potential.
  • The sword deals less damage when hitting opponents while flying up for Ike to grab it (10% → 3%), thus reducing the maximum damage of the final smash (60% → 53%).
  • The move is significantly flashier, with a dark blue backdrop alongside flaming visuals. Before the final hit, the victim flashes with blue light, and the landing eruption now appears significantly more cartoony, with fewer smoke effects.

Update history

Ike has received a mix of buffs and nerfs from game updates, but has been buffed slightly overall. In update 2.0.0, Aether's meteor smash hitbox was made weaker, a nerf shared with Soaring Slash. Despite this, using Aether after edge trumping the opponent or to secure sacrificial KOs remains a viable strategy. Update 8.0.0 granted Ike a variety of changes, with one notable nerf and a number of buffs. Neutral aerial's combo potential was toned down via much higher knockback and a smaller sourspot, making it less effective for combos at high percents. However, neutral aerial's increased knockback also largely restored its potential as a serviceable, albeit situational, KO option near the upper blast line.

To compensate for neutral aerial's worsened combo potential, down tilt's combo potential was improved via lower knockback. Forward aerial's damage output was restored to its SSB4 level (albeit with minimally compensated knockback) and its ending lag was noticeably decreased, which made it safer and more effective for combos and especially edge-guarding. Dash attack gained higher knockback, which further improved its already respectable KO potential. Lastly, Aether received a few noticeable buffs: its first hit gained transcendent priority (thus enabling it to no longer be canceled by incoming moves), whereas its landing hit gained much higher knockback and a lower launching angle. Altogether, these buffs noticeably improved Aether as an out of shield option, and even made it into a viable KO option.

2.0.0

• Aether's meteor hitbox has reduced knockback (FKB 165 → 150) though it can still KO opponents first.

8.0.0

• Down tilt has less knockback scaling (70 → 55), allowing it to combo at a wider percent range.
• Dash attack has more knockback scaling (78 → 88 (clean), 100 → 110 (late)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • The move has much more knockback scaling (105 → 130). This removes its previous KO setups, but restores most of its standalone KO power from Smash 4.
  • The late hit has smaller hitboxes (4u → 3u).
• Forward aerial:
  • The move has less ending lag (FAF 60 → 52), making it safer to use offstage.
  • It deals more damage (11.5% → 13%), with knockback scaling partly compensated (65 → 60).
• Aether:
  • The first hit has transcendent priority, improving its utility out of shield.
  • The landing hit launches at a lower angle (60° → 50°) and has much more knockback scaling (115 → 155). This drastically improves the move's KO potential, KOing at around 115% from the center stage if all hits connect, and grants Ike a new KO setup from his neutral aerial near the edge at mid percents, regardless of said move's nerfs.

Moveset

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

Note: All numbers are listed as base damage, without the 1v1 multiplier.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			2.5%	A left-handed punch, followed by a right-legged front kick, followed by a kneeling downward slash. The first hit can be repeated by holding the attack button. Due to its hits come out on frames 4, 3 and 5, respectively, it has the lowest amount of startup lag out of Ike's entire moveset. When coupled with its respectable damage output, moderate knockback and its last hit's impressive range, it is very useful as a close-range option.
			2.5%
			5%
Forward tilt			13.5%	A lunging outward slash. Can be angled. Its startup and ending lag are high for a tilt attack, but it has long-range and deals high damage and knockback, KOing middleweights under 130% from the center of Final Destination.
Up tilt			12% (clean), 8% (late)	Hops to thrust Ragnell upward while holding it parallel to the ground. It is overall slow for a tilt attack but deals respectable damage and knockback, and its hitboxes have a long duration, which alongside its high disjointed range allows it to beat out opposing attacks from above very effectively. The clean hit can KO middleweights at around 130%, while the late hit can set up combos into a neutral, forward or up aerial at low to mid percents.
Down tilt			8%	A kneeling inward slash. Due to its hitting on frame 7, it is Ike's fastest tilt attack. It has long-range, relatively low ending lag, and launches opponents vertically with high base knockback and low knockback scaling. Altogether, these traits make it a useful combo starter into any of Ike's aerial attacks except down aerial at low to mid percents. However, it does the least damage out of Ike's tilts, and its knockback renders it unable to KO at reasonable percents.
Dash attack			14% (clean body), 11% (clean blade), 9% (late)	A lunging, two-handed upward slash. It is one of the most powerful dash attacks in the game, with its clean hit's sweet spot KOing middleweights at around 140% from the center of Final Destination. When coupled with its impressive range and its clean hitboxes' anti-rebounding priority, it is extremely useful for punishing opponents at a distance away, most notably when they are about to land. However, due to hitting on frame 15, it is one of the slowest dash attacks in the game.
Forward smash			19% (early, clean tip), 22% (clean blade)	A lunging, two-handed downward slash. It deals extreme damage and knockback, making it one of the strongest forward smashes in the game, and hits in a wide arc that can even reach opponents above and slightly behind Ike, albeit with the early hit. As his strongest overall attack, the clean hit's sweet spot can KO opponents at around 75% from the center of Final Destination. Oddly, there is a tiny tipper hitbox that is much weaker and launches more vertically, KOing at around 95% compared to the clean hit, though this hitbox rarely ever lands instead of the normal hit in regular gameplay. However, it is arguably the slowest forward smash in the game, taking 84 frames to complete (the most of any forward smash). It also has a pitifully slow startup of 31 frames, as well as a ludicrous 49 frames of ending lag. This makes it very difficult to hit and highly punishable on shield. As a result, the move is unreliable to use except for hard punishes or reads.
Up smash			17% (clean), 10% (late)	An overhead arcing slash starting from the front. It possesses a clean hit during the arc itself, and a late hit as a shockwave when Ragnell hits the ground. Like forward smash, the clean hit boasts impressive damage and knockback; however, its slow startup at frame 25 and very high ending lag leave it very punishable. Compared to forward smash, it is noticeably weaker, with the clean hit KOing opponents at around 90%, but has less startup and ending lag, and covers a wider arc around Ike, giving it better utility in punishing landings and rolls if timed properly.
Down smash		Cast Off	16% (hit 1), 19% (clean hit 2), 9% (late hit 2)	A kneeling, two-handed outward slash in front of himself and then behind himself. It is Ike's fastest smash attack by a considerable margin, hitting on frame 13. The front hit is considerably weaker than Ike's other smash attacks, but still boasts respectable power, KOing opponents at around 105% from the center of Final Destination. As a result, it is Ike's most reliable smash attack overall; however, its 35 frames of ending lag still leaves it very punishable if missed or shielded. On the other hand, the back hit is slower, coming out on frame 32, and has a much weaker late hit, but its hitboxes have a longer duration, and the clean hit is far stronger, dealing impressive damage and KOing opponents at around 85% while having less ending lag compared to the front hit.
Neutral aerial			7.5% (clean), 6% (late)	A semi-circular slash in front of himself. It has the lowest landing lag out of Ike's aerials, and its hitboxes have a long duration, provide wide coverage around and below Ike, and launch opponents vertically. Altogether, these traits make it an infamously reliable combo starter when SHFF'd, while also being a relatively safe spacing option. It is renowned for reliably comboing into a wide variety of attacks, including neutral attack, tilts and grab at low percents, and an aerial attack (including itself) at low to mid percents. At higher percent, it can be followed up with any of Ike's aerials and eventually becomes a notoriously reliable kill set-up into Aether near 80%, though at even higher percents this stops being the case. It does the lowest damage out of Ike's aerials, with knockback that prevents it from KOing at realistic percents, and its long duration makes punishable if used high up in the air, as well as risky to use offstage. It is also unable to autocancel even in a full hop, requiring a double jump to do so.
Forward aerial			13%	A two-handed downward slash. It covers the entirety of Ike's foreside, making it capable of hitting above and below him. Combined with its moderate startup at frame 11, landing lag and damage output, this makes it a staple for following up combos and spacing. However, its knockback has been noticeably weakened from Smash 4, rendering it unable to KO reliably except near edges, and it can no longer autocancel in a short hop, while also being risky to use offstage due to its high ending lag. As a result, Ike's neutral and back aerials are now generally superior options because of their lower lag, neutral aerial's better combo potential, and back aerial's higher damage and better power, with forward aerial's only advantages over them being its longer active frames and vertical range.
Back aerial		Repositioning Slash	14%	Quickly turns around to perform an outward slash. Due to its hitting on frame 7, it is Ike's fastest aerial. When coupled with its high damage and knockback for its speed, long horizontal range, and low landing lag, it is one of Ike's most viable approach and KO options. It can KO middleweights at around 120% from the center of Final Destination. Like the rest of Ike's aerials, however, its high ending lag prevents it from being used offstage as safely. It also has a short vertical range. Ike's only aerial move that he can autocancel in a short hop.
Up aerial		Rising Swing	11%	An overhead arcing slash. It starts in front of Ike and has large coverage around him, low landing lag (the second-lowest out of his aerials) and high knockback, allowing it to function as a highly effective juggling move. It can also set up combos into an up tilt or any of Ike's aerials (including itself) when SHFF'd and is able to KO opponents reliably near the upper blast line at high percents. Its disadvantages are its slow startup at frame 13 and high ending lag, making it difficult to land from a neutral state; however, due to its efficiency in punishing opponents and racking up damage elsewhere, it is one of Ike's most useful moves.
Down aerial			15%	A two-handed downward slash between his legs. The tip of Ragnell is a meteor smash, while the blade launches opponents at a horizontal angle. It is Ike's most damaging aerial and has high knockback, KOing opponents at around 125% from the center of Final Destination with its non-meteor hitboxes. The meteor smash hitbox also enables it to start combos against grounded opponents for high damage, leading into nearly any of Ike's attacks depending on the opponent's percent, and even possessing a KO setup into an up aerial at high percents. However, it has the slowest startup at frame 16 and shortest hitbox duration out of Ike's aerials, as well as poor horizontal range. Like all of Ike's other aerial attacks, it also has severe ending lag.
Grab			—	Reaches out with his free hand.
Pummel			1.6%	A headbutt. Moderately slow, but one of the most damaging pummels in the game.
Forward throw			3.5% (hit 1), 4% (throw)	A front kick. It is a semi-spike, which makes it a reliable edge guard setup at high percents. However, due to its high ending lag, it is unreliable for tech-chasing.
Back throw			3% (hit 1), 4% (throw)	A spinning back kick. It is a semi-spike like forward throw, which also makes it a reliable edgeguard setup at high percents, but has less ending lag by comparison that grants it tech-chasing potential, most notably into dash attack at low to medium percents.
Up throw			3.5% (hit 1), 4% (throw)	Plunges Ragnell into the ground and then performs an upward double axe handle. It is tied with forward throw for Ike's most damaging throw by a slight margin. It has overall weak knockback and moderate ending lag, allowing it to combo into a forward or up aerial from mid to high percents for slightly more damage compared to using down throw; however, these followups are not as reliable due to the throw's higher ending lag, while it also lacks any notable KO potential by itself.
Down throw			3% (hit 1), 4% (throw)	A one-handed body slam followed by a knee drop. Its average base knockback, relatively low ending lag, and vertical angle make it an excellent combo starter from low to mid percents, particularly into an up tilt (against larger characters), any of Ike's aerials (except down aerial), and Aether. Due to its surprisingly high knockback scaling, it is also Ike's strongest throw, KOing middleweights at around 190% without rage. As a result of this, however, its followups stop working earlier compared to up throw.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Swings Ragnell around himself.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Swings Ragnell around himself.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Swings Ragnell around himself.
Edge attack Edge getups			10%	Performs an outward slash while climbing up.
Neutral special		Eruption	10% (uncharged), 35%/28%/26% (fully charged, first pillar), 31%/25% (second pillar), 27%/22% (third pillar)	Lifts Ragnell in front of himself in a two-handed reverse grip, and plunges it into the ground to produce a pillar of blue flames. It has transcendent priority and is chargeable, causing Ragnell to become engulfed in flames that become more prominent the longer it is charged. Its impressive vertical range and respectable power even when uncharged make it useful for edgeguarding, hitting recovering opponents before they can grab the edge if timed properly. When reaching full charge level, it grants super armor and produces one additional flame pillar away from Ike, or two if held for the maximum duration, significantly increasing its horizontal range; however, it also deals 10% recoil damage to him in the process. It can KO middleweights at around 150% when uncharged, and at around 55% from center stage when fully charged. The flame pillars at full charge deal more damage the closer to their base opponents are hit. A fully charged Eruption is also capable of instantly breaking a full shield, similar to a fully charged Shield Breaker.
Side special		Quick Draw	6% (uncharged), 13% (fully charged)	Kneels on one knee and readies himself to charge forward. If an opponent comes in range, Ike will perform a lunging outward slash. When fully charged, the slash is strong enough to KO middleweights at around 120%. However, it has a high ending lag if no opponent comes in range. In midair, it renders Ike helpless if he does not hit an opponent, but can still function reliably as an alternate recovery option due to the long horizontal distance it provides when charged, as well as its very low landing lag if timed properly.
Up special		Aether	6% (clean hit 1 clean), 4% (late hit 1), 2% (hit 2), 1% (hits 3-5), 3% (descent), 6% (landing)	Performs the Sol portion of Aether, which sees Ike throwing Ragnell directly upwards, causing it to spin before he leaps upwards to grab Ragnell, perform a somersaulting series of slashes, then conclude with a descending slash. It covers a respectable amount of vertical distance, but almost no horizontal distance. It grants super armor when initiated and until Ike begins rising, which is longer if the move is used on the ground, while all but its first hit have transcendent priority. Although it is primarily used for recovering, it can also function as a useful damage racking option when all of its hits connect due to its high total damage. The start of its descending hitbox also meteor smashes opponents, allowing it to be used for a sacrificial KO. Due to update 2.0.0 decreasing its descending hitbox's knockback, it has become slightly less reliable at KOing opponents early. Update 8.0.0 vastly changed the move’s behavior; the knockback of the last hit is now much more horizontal, and had its knockback increased significantly, to the point of KOing middleweights as low as 70% near the ledge.
Down special		Counter	1.2× (minimum 10%)	Parries and then counterattacks against any incoming attacks with a reverse gripped downward slash while Ragnell is covered in blue flames. It is slow for a counterattack, activating on frame 9, and has high ending lag, but is among the strongest counterattacks in the game. Additionally, due to granting Ike full intangibility on frames 8-15, it can effectively be used to retaliate against attacks one frame before its counter window.
Final Smash		Great Aether	5% (hit 1), 3% (hit 2), 2% (hits 3-15), 5% (hit 16), 4% (hit 17), 10% (hit 18)	Performs an upward slash while Ragnell's blade is engulfed in flames. If any opponents are hit, they are launched upward and Ike throws Ragnell into the air along with them. He then leaps upward, catches Ragnell while its blade is still aflame, and unleashes a devastating series of slashes alongside a thrust, a wheel kick, and a roundhouse kick. Ike then concludes the attack with a descending, two-handed slash that slams the opponent to the ground and creates a massive explosion upon impact. The explosion launches the opponent and any bystanders toward the upper blast line.

On-screen appearance

• Warps onto the stage using warp magic and grunts while briefly performing an inward slash.

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  Ike's on-screen appearance

Taunts

• Up taunt: Holds Ragnell with both hands in front of himself while growling loudly as the wind blows through his cape.
• Side taunt: Rears back and then holds Ragnell to his side while saying "Prepare yourself!" with a smirk on his face. In the Japanese version, he says 覚悟しろ。 (Get prepared.)
• Down taunt: Plunges Ragnell into the ground then folds his arms while saying "Hmph!" with a smug facial expression as the wind blows through his cape, and removes Ragnell from the ground.

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  Ike's up taunt.

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  Ike's side taunt.

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  Ike's down taunt.

Idle poses

• Taps Ragnell's blade on his shoulder.
• Rubs the edge of Ragnell's blade.

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  Ike's first idle pose

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  Ike's second idle pose

Victory poses

• Left: Slashes Ragnell twice, then rests the blade on his shoulder. Path of Radiance Ike says, "Your skills were… remarkable." ("あんたの戦い、見事だった", Your combat was excellent.), while Radiant Dawn Ike says, "Don't stand in my way." ("どうして俺の前に立った", Why do you stand before me?).
• Up: Like his down taunt, Ike forcefully plants Ragnell into the ground, then crosses his arms. Path of Radiance Ike says, "I submit to no one." ("誰にも、譲る気はない", I cannot yield to anyone.), while Radiant Dawn Ike says, "I must move forward." ("俺は前に進む", I move forward.).
• Right: Performs Aether while facing the screen. Path of Radiance Ike says, "You'll get no sympathy from me." ("極めれば…誰にも負けはしない", To the end... I will not lose to anyone.), while Radiant Dawn Ike says, "I fight for my friends." ("俺には守るべき物が在る", I have things I must protect.).

An orchestral, sped-up cover of several bars of the Fire Emblem Theme, the title theme for the original Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, which has since become the main theme of the series and appeared in every game.

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In competitive play

At the beginning of the game’s release, Ike was seen as a significantly improved character from the previous installment, where he was considered a low-mid tier character. At that time, the metagame involved the prominence of disjoints, which benefitted Ike. Thanks to this, Ike developed very strong results, especially from MkLeo. This caused him to have a positive reception, with ZeRo, ESAM, and Mew2King designating him as a high-tier character. However, Ike has been less popular since MkLeo dropped him in favor of other characters. As the metagame progressed, players began to adapt to Ike's gameplan, with his perception worsening due to his over-reliance on slow, predictable aerials (especially forward aerial) which were prone to perfect shielding. Additionally, characters like Cloud or Sonic were progressing their metagame at the same time. Due to most people considering Ike's gameplan being too limited and predictable, Ike was commonly considered to be a mid-tier character.

When patch 8.0.0 dropped, Ike received numerous buffs and a nerf. His neutral aerial, which was once his best combo starter and his main neutral tool, now has more knockback, allowing for fewer followups, most notably his up aerial for a kill confirm. Although this can be seen as a nerf, it also serves as an indirect buff to allow Ike to rely less on his neutral aerial and instead use more moves and not have a one-dimensional linear gameplan. For example, his Aether and Dash Attack has more KO power, both of which now kill much earlier, and also gives Aether a better out of shield option. Down tilt has less knockback, making it more of a combo potential allowing for more new KO setups at higher percents. Lastly, his forward air which has more damage and less ending lag in the air, making it safe to use on the air, especially for edge-guarding. These buffs further improved his perception in the community and some players, such as ESAM, Maister, Dabuz, Marss, and MkLeo now see him as a high tier character. Maister, in particular, believes that Ike is one of Mr. Game & Watch's few losing matchups, if not his worst matchup. As a result, this iteration is generally considered to be his best one in Smash yet, achieving arguably the best tournament results relative to his previous incarnations.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic for online tournaments started, Ike wasn't as generally seen in great placements in big online tournaments due to his lack of perception online. Ever since the online metagame has progressed, Ike's further recepetion on his metagame improved furthermore. Perfect shielding, one of the important things in the game, is harder to perform due to input lag. This allows his moves like aerials and tilts to be safer on shields. Notable players such as Yez and Ravenking have been doing very well with Ike. Yez has done very great in online major tournaments, his first notable result is The Box, placing 7th out of 8,000 players. After his performance in The Box, he has placed in top 8's in other tournaments, such as Super Smash Galaxy and Smash Out Breast Cancer. He had also won a tournament: The Box: Lunch Box 6. Ravenking also has a noticeable player base as well, doing well in Lockhart Series, Collision Online, and even winning an A-Tier tournament The Box: Lunch Box 2. MkLeo, who has dropped Ike in offline, has been playing him more often online. He had gone 17th at Frame Perfect Series 3: ONLINE and 1st place at Ultimate 32, as he used Byleth throughout the whole top 32 and 8 brackets, which he then switch to Ike, whereas he reversed 3-0 Maister in Grand Finals and won a 3-0 in Grand Final Reset. Ike competitive results online are nevertheless considered very successful for most players.

Notable players

Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the Fall 2019 PGRU, which recognizes the official top 50 players in the world in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from July 13th, 2019 to December 15th, 2019.

Active

•  Ark - One of the best Ike players in Japan. Placed 9th at Umebura SP, 13th at both Karisuma SP 6 and TSC 12, 17th at Sumabato SP 2, and 33rd at Umebura SP 6. Has a win over Kirihara.
•  Bokinchan - One of the best Ike players in the world. Placed 9th at Karisuma SP 8, 13th at Kurobra 19, 17th at Umebura SP 2, 25th at EVO Japan 2020, 33rd at Umebura SP 7, and 49th at Umebura SP 6. Has wins over Lea, Gackt, Rotsuku, Jagaimo, TKM, Logix, and Mao.
•  Eldigan - Placed 2nd at Calyptus Cup Begone!, 7th at both Calyptus Cup Ultimate and Smashwick 4, 9th at both DoKomi 2019 and Calyptus Cup Fusion, and 13th at Calyptus Cup X: Powwer Up. Has wins over RobinGG, wusi, Yikarur, Poww, and Luchalitten.
•  Insie - The best Ike player in Australia. Placed 7th at BigWinChampionship 2, 9th at Expand Gong 4, and 17th at Battle Arena Melbourne 11. Has wins over Extra, Ben Gold, Jdizzle, and Hackoru.
•  Logix - One of the best Ike players in the world. Placed 9th at TSC 11, 17th at Umebura Japan Major 2019, 25th at Sumabato SP, and 65th at EVO 2019. Currently ranked 81st on the Japan Player Rankings. Has wins over kameme, Lea, Abadango, HIKARU, Eim, Uto, Banku, and Notty.
•  Lord - The best Ike player in Chile. Placed 5th at Iwanna Torneo Nacional! and 17th at Smash Chile - Civil War. Has wins over Harlonga, Rody and Sekai Doggo.
•  Miloni - Placed 5th at Holiday Heist 4: Ultimate Edition and 17th at Super Bit Wars 7.
•  Nir - Placed 7th at Calyptus Cup Fusion and 13th at Elysium: Yggdrasil.
•  Nojinko - Placed 9th at Karisuma SP 1, 13th at Karisuma SP 2, and 17th at KVOxTSB 2019, has wins over players such as Shogun, OCEAN, Kei, and Shachi.
•  Pokepen - Placed 2nd at Emerald City 8 and 17th at Port Priority 5. Ranked 2nd on the Washington Ultimate Power Rankings.
•  Rango - Placed 17th at 2GG: Grand Tour - South Carolina and 65th at CEO 2019.
•  Ravenking - Placed 13th at both Midwest Mayhem Ultimate, Combo Breaker 2019, and 33rd at Frostbite 2020 defeating players such as BestNess, Tyroy, and Ned. Currently ranked 2nd on the Chicago Ultimate Power Rankings.
•  Ryo - One of the best Ike players in the United States. Placed 9th at GatorLAN Spring 2019, 17th at GatorLAN Spring 2020, and 33rd at DreamHack Atlanta 2019.
•  Ryuga - The best solo Ike player in the world after MkLeo dropped him. Placed 1st at Holiday Heist 4: Ultimate Edition and Wolverine Tailgate, 9th at Frostbite 2019, 17th at both MomoCon 2019 and Glitch 8, and 33rd at Glitch 6, Pound 2019, Smash 'N' Splash 5 and CEO 2019. Has wins over MVD, Goblin, Salem, and 6WX.
•  Shoghi - The best Ike player in Canada. Placed 9th at The Pinnacle 2019 and 13th at both The Pinnacle 2018 and Battle of BC 3. Ranked 8th on the British Columbia Ultimate Power Rankings.
•  Waldo - Placed 17th at both GatorLAN Fall 2019 and Overlords of Orlando: OCTOBERLORDS.
•  Yez - Placed 1st at Sweet Spot 6 and 17th at Combo Breaker 2019. Ranked 1st on the Springfield Power Rankings.

Inactive

•  Marss (#5) - Had a strong Ike secondary and was considered one of the best Ike players in the world. Placed 2nd at Get On My Level 2019, 9th at Let's Make Moves, and 25th at GENESIS 6. Has wins over MkLeo, Samsora, and ESAM. While he hasn't officially dropped Ike, he rarely uses him in bracket and prefers to use Zero Suit Samus in all of his sets.
•  MkLeo (#1) - Formerly the best Ike player in the world prior to dropping him for Joker. Placed 1st at GENESIS 6, Smash Conference United and 2nd at Frostbite 2019.
•  Ouch!? - Placed 9th at Battle of BC 3 with both Ike and Chrom before switching to Wolf.
•  Zackray (#7) - Had a strong Ike secondary and was considered one of the best Ike players in the world. Placed 1st at Umebura SP 2 but has not used Ike since. Has wins over Eim, Yakara, and Daiki.

Classic Mode: The Black-Clad Warriors

Ike's congratulations screen.

Ike's opponents are all fighters in black alternate costumes, referencing his rivalry with the Black Knight.

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music	Notes
1	Meta Knight and Kirby	Fountain of Dreams	Meta Knight's Revenge
2	Morton, Greninja, and Sonic	Spear Pillar	Knight of the Wind	The choice of music references Sonic and the Black Knight; both Sonic and Ike face a foe known as the Black Knight.
3	Dark Pit	Reset Bomb Forest	Dark Pit's Theme
4	Bayonetta	Umbra Clock Tower	One Of A Kind
5	Giant Mr. Game & Watch	Luigi's Mansion (Battlefield form)	On the Hunt - Gloomy Manor Ver.- (Instrumental)
6	Link and Toon Link	Bridge of Eldin	Hyrule Castle (Outside)
Bonus Stage
Final	Master Hand	Final Destination	Master Hand (Less than 7.0 intensity) Master Hand / Crazy Hand (Intensity 7.0 or higher)	On intensity 7.0 and higher, Crazy Hand fights alongside Master Hand.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Ike has Victory Is Near accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light

Finding Ike in World of Light

Although Ike does not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, he was vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (sans Kirby) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

Ike was one of the many fighters that fell under Dharkon's control upon Galeem's first defeat. He is one of the fighters found in the Mysterious Dimension sub-area, being an obligatory unlock before the next necessary fighter battle, Meta Knight is encountered, and after Greninja has been awakened.

Fighter Battle

No.	Image	Name	Type	Power	Stage	Music
32		Ike	Attack	11,200	Coliseum (Ω form)	Eternal Bond

Spirits

Ike's default fighter spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. His fighter spirit is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 500 coins, or by completing a challenge (Classic Mode: KO fighters from Fire Emblem 20 times). Unlocking Ike in World of Light allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Additionally, his Radiant Dawn outfit has a fighter spirit of its own, available through the shop. Each fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces them with their artwork in Ultimate.

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  614. Ike (Path of Radiance)

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  615. Ike (Radiant Dawn)

In Spirit battles

As the main opponent

Spirit				Battle parameters							Inspiration
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music	Character
639		Sigurd	Fire Emblem Series	•Ike		3,800	Arena Ferox	•Defense ↑	•The enemy has increased defense when the enemy's at high damage	Edge of Adversity
726		Magnus	Kid Icarus Series	•Ike		4,300	Coliseum (Ω form)	N/A	•The enemy has super armor but moves slower •The enemy's smash attacks have increased power •The enemy has increased attack power	Magnus's Theme
1,328		Hero's Comrades	DRAGON QUEST Series	•Ike •Tiny King Dedede •Zero Suit Samus •Sheik •Tiny Robin •Zelda •Link		13,300	Yggdrasil's Altar	N/A	•The enemy has increased melee-weapon damage and move speed •The enemy's smash attacks have increased power •Stamina battle	The Hero Goes Forth with a Determination	Hendrik

As a minion

Spirit				Battle parameters							Inspiration
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music	Character
641		Seliph	Fire Emblem Series	•Marth •Ike		3,600	Castle Siege	•Defense ↑	•The enemy has increased defense when the enemy's at high damage	Edge of Adversity	Ghost of Sigurd
653		Eirika	Fire Emblem Series	•Lucina •Ike		9,200	Coliseum	N/A	•The enemy has increased attack power •The enemy has increased move speed •The enemy has increased jump power	Preparing to Advance	Ephraim
658		Soren	Fire Emblem Series	•Robin •Ike		1,800	Temple (Battlefield form)	•Magic and PSI Unleashed	•The enemy favors special moves •All fighters' magic and PSI attacks have increased power	Victory Is Near	Ike
659		Mist	Fire Emblem Series	•Zelda •Ike		3,500	Reset Bomb Forest (hazards off)	•Health Recovery •Defense ↑	•The enemy has increased defense when the enemy's at high damage •The enemy is healed when the enemy's at high damage	Victory Is Near	Ike
976		Gangster, Lady, & Policeman	Hogan's Alley	•Wolf •Peach •Ike		1,700	Tomodachi Life (Battlefield form)	N/A	•Defeat the main fighter to win	Duck Hunt Medley	Policeman

Alternate costumes

Gallery

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  Artwork of all playable Fire Emblem characters and Assist Trophies, as posted on the official Japanese Fire Emblem Heroes Twitter account.

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  Screenshot of all playable Fire Emblem characters on Arena Ferox, as posted on the official Japanese Fire Emblem Twitter account.

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  Ike's fighter card.

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  Ike's unlock notice.

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  Ike performing his neutral aerial on Skyworld.

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  Crouching on Castle Siege.

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  Launching Meta Knight on Coliseum.

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  Throwing Ryu on Boxing Ring.

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  Charging Eruption on Prism Tower.

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  Hero Ike performing his neutral aerial on Coliseum.

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  Evading Bowser's Bowser Bomb with Ness on Gaur Plain.

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  With Duck Hunt on Spirit Tracks.

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  Hero Ike taunting with the Squid Sisters on Town and City.

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  With all playable Fire Emblem veterans on Coliseum.

Trivia

• Ike is the only character who uses different voice clips in alternate costumes while still being the same person, as opposed to gender-swapping (Robin, Corrin, etc.) or becoming a completely different character (Bowser Jr.).
  • Bayonetta also uses different voice clips in her alternate costumes, though this only applies to the Japanese version of the game.
• Ike, like Pokémon Trainer, Wii Fit Trainer, Inkling, and Byleth, is one of the few characters to have alternate costumes with different animations: Ike's Radiant Dawn alternate costume has a different defeated/No Contest animation.
• In the segment in which Ike uses Great Aether from his character showcase video, there is an error in which his portrait displays him in his Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn outfit despite currently being in his Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance outfit.
• Ike's pose in his official artwork resembles the Mii Swordfighter's artwork from Super Smash Bros. 4 and his sidestep in the same game.
• All of Ike's new Japanese victory quotes are derived from his original games and in all but one case are direct quotations.
  • In his Path of Radiance costume:
    • His "誰にも、譲る気はない" (I have no intention of yielding to anyone) is taken from a conversation he has with Mist in the prelude to Chapter 28 of Path of Radiance, prior to his duel with the Black Knight, but is taken out of context for Ultimate: it was originally Ike expressing his determination to fight the Black Knight at all and refusal to let anyone talk him out of it, not a refusal to lose. Accordingly, the English version of Path of Radiance translated the line as "That's one thing I won't let anyone else do in my stead," while Ultimate translates it as "I submit to no-one."
    • His "あんたの戦い…見事だった" (You fought... well.) line originates from his battle with Bryce in the Endgame of Path of Radiance; this line was originally translated in that game as "You fought...a good fight." Ultimate translates it as "Your skills were... remarkable."
    • His "極めれば…誰にも負けはしない" (To the end... I will not lose to anyone.) line originates from his battle with the Black Knight in Chapter 27 of Path of Radiance. In the English version of Path of Radiance, this was translated as "My sword-fighting skills were given to me by my father. If I stay true to them, I cannot lose." The English version of Ultimate replaces it with the pre-existing "You'll get no sympathy from me" line from prior Smash games.
  • In his Radiant Dawn costume:
    • His "どうして俺の前に立った" (Why do you stand before me?) line originates in Parth 3 Chapter 13 of Radiant Dawn, in which he appears as a boss besieging Micaiah's army, and is said when one of Micaiah's allies engages in combat with him. The line was originally translated as "Why would you seek me out?" Ultimate translates it to "Don't stand in my way."
    • His "俺には守るべき物が在る" (I have things in which I must protect.) line is taken from the prelude to the final battle with the goddess Ashera in the final chapter of Radiant Dawn. The line was originally translated as "This battle means more than any of the others because it’s for the life of every person that I’ve ever cared about." The English version of Ultimate replaces it with the pre-existing "I fight for my friends" line from prior Smash games.
    • His "俺は前に進む" (I move forward.) line is a condensed version of a line he speaks in the aftermath of his slaying of the Black Knight in the Part 4 Endgame: 俺は立ち止まらん。死ぬまで前に進み続ける。 (I will not stop. I will keep moving forward until I die.) In the English localization of Radiant Dawn, this was translated as "I will keep fighting. I won't stop until I die," while Ultimate translates the shortened version simply as "I must move forward".
• Ike is the only Fire Emblem character not to travel to any stages from the series in Classic Mode route, nor does he fight any characters from his own series.
• Ike's amiibo selects his Radiant Dawn alternate costume, which was the basis for the figure and his SSB4 design, by default.
  • This makes Ike the only veteran who currently has no amiibo that can scan in his default costume.
• Both Ike's Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn costumes use different knockout voice clips in Stamina Mode when knocked out of HP during his final stock. Path of Radiance Ike uses the standard KO voice clip and Radiant Dawn Ike uses the alternate KO voice clip.
  • In the Japanese version, the voice clips are reversed.
  • By extension, Ike is one of the only two characters who use their alternate KO voice clip when KO'd, with the other being Marth.
• Ike is the only fighter with multiple fighter spirits whose main fighter spirit can be obtained in a method other than completing Classic Mode or buying it from the shop, as his Path of Radiance Spirit can be obtained by completing a challenge.
• When using Aether, there's a visual glitch on Ike's cape where it will suddenly snap back down during the looping portion of his descent.
  • This also happens to Ganondorf whenever he descends on a ladder.