Ike (SSBU)

Ike in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Fire Emblem
Other playable appearances	in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Great Aether
Tier	D- (71)

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

Ike is currently ranked 71st out of 82 on the tier list, placing him in the upper of D- tier. This is a moderate drop from his tier placement in SSB4, where he was ranked 39th out of 54, and is his worst placement in the series. Ike's best assets lie in his overall power and range, having some of the strongest moves in the game. His neutral aerial is an infamously effective combo tool thanks to its low landing lag and base knockback, making it an effective option for spacing and initiating combos, including into KO confirms. Additionally, Ike has a promising combo game, as he is able to use down tilt, neutral aerial, down throw and, to a lesser extent, his up throw to confirm into combos at various percentages. Courtesy of Ike's relatively high power, his combos translate into giving him effective 50/50 KO combos for a heavyweight.

However, Ike also has some polarizing weaknesses, most notably his poor disadvantage state. Due to his tall height, heavy weight, slow mobility, and sluggish frame data, Ike is especially susceptible to combo-oriented and/or speedy fighters. His most effective tools are hampered by poor hitboxes or low speed: some examples include his back aerial, which starts too high to hit most standing characters despite its speed, and his neutral aerial, which has a slow hitbox that starts above Ike and renders it very predictable. He is also vulnerable to perfect shielding due to his overall slow aerial attacks and general reliance on aerials, giving him trouble with landing. Finally, Ike suffers from a predictable recovery: both his recovery moves have fixed travel trajectories (either fully horizontal with Quick Draw or fully vertical with Aether), making him reliant on conserving his double jump and rendering him weak to reasonably strong semi-spikes while recovering.

Ike originally achieved very promising results during the early metagame of Ultimate and was usually considered one of the best swordfighters during that time, courtesy of players such as MkLeo and Ryuga. However, his representation notably declined due to his weaknesses becoming exploitable as time went on, and with his best players either dropping him or becoming inactive. Despite currently having below-average representation, Ike has nevertheless maintained some tournament success in the current metagame, thanks to dedicated mains such as Tora and PsyKoD.

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.

Ike must then be defeated on Coliseum (the Ω form is used in World of Light).

Attributes

Ike is a tall heavyweight swordsman, being tied with Wario, Ridley, Simon, and Richter as the 13th heaviest fighter in Ultimate. 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, Ike sports the 14th slowest walking speed, the 15th slowest dashing speed, a below-average initial dash, low jumps, 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-circular 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 mix-up 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, making it quite dangerous to intercept Ike in some circumstances. This move also has solid knockback, which players can use 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 edge-guarding 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, and has reliable KO confirms into his aerials at high 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. He also has some of the worst frame data in the game, with severe ending lag in most of his attacks and only his 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 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 terrible 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 attributes (particularly his heavy weight) grant him long endurance, they also make him easy to combo and juggle; this is further compounded 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 must utilize his excellent punish game and spacing tools to overwhelm opponents, where he can rack up large amounts of damage with little warning, though players must be cautious of his susceptibility to combos and his lacking recovery.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Ike has received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition from SSB4 to Ultimate, having been buffed overall, though not enough to improve his standing.

Ike benefits from some of the universal gameplay changes. The changes to air dodge mechanics significantly benefit Ike's edgeguarding and juggling game. His mobility has been improved to help with the new faster pace of Ultimate, sharing the universal buffs of a 3-frame jumpsquat. His aerials also have significantly reduced landing lag, making them much more reliable for landing and comboing. When it comes to direct changes to his aerial game, Ike's neutral aerial has faster startup, lower landing lag 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. Ike 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 tilt and down throw at low percentages more reliably; the former also has less knockback, giving Ike KO setups at high percentages against some characters. 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 neutral attack, forward tilt, forward and down smash, and the landing hit of Aether; most notably, neutral attack has had its lost KO power from Brawl completely restored.

However, Ike's nerfs were also noticeable. His dashing speed was almost unchanged, making him much less mobile relative to the cast despite his improved air speed and streamlined jumpsquat. His forward aerial, a staple of his neutral game in Brawl and SSB4, had its hitboxes repositioned to create a small blind spot, no longer autocancels in a short hop, and has significantly decreased knockback, removing a lot of its previously great KO potential. Combined with his much slower grounded mobility relative to the cast, Ike's approach is much more limited. Aether is also a much more polarized recovery option, as his sword now moves along the stage's perimeters instead of passing through the stage. While several of his attacks now have increased power, it has been reduced on some of his other moves, most notably with up tilt. His grabs' range was also nerfed, making them much less reliable for punishing.

A few of the engine's changes also hinder Ike. The universal increase to grabs' ending lag further hinders Ike's own grabs due to their shorter range. The changes to rage prove detrimental to Ike, since he can't take as much advantage of it at higher percentages due to his high weight. Lastly, the size reduction of most stage's ledges, combined with Aether's higher vulnerability and Quick Draw receiving no changes to its recovery potential, mean Ike's recovery is much more exploitable, increasing his vulnerability to edge-guarding just as much as the changes benefit his own.

Overall, Ike's changes and improvements have given him new ways to gain the advantage and also grant him a deadlier punish game, with less overall difficulty in KOing due to his enhanced overall moveset and combo ability. However, because his mobility remains slow (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. Ike has received various changes in game updates that have also toned down his most oppressive moves (most notably his neutral aerial's combo ability at high percentages) in exchange for increased power, though none of these changes have noticeably improved his viability. This is coupled with various returning veterans receiving buffs both on release and through game updates, as well as various metagame shifts and the introduction of DLC characters, some of which Ike struggles against. As a result, while it's generally agreed that Ike is more potent than he was in SSB4, he has not significantly improved from the previous game, instead performing worse relative to the rest of the cast.

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 received a mix of buffs and nerfs via game updates, but was buffed slightly overall. Update 2.0.0 decreased the knockback of Aether's meteor smash hitbox, a nerf that was also applied to Soaring Slash. Despite this, using Aether after edge trumping the opponent or to secure sacrificial KOs remains a viable strategy. After a long absence of changes, Ike received a handful of buffs alongside a single nerf in update 8.0.0. Most notably, neutral aerial's knockback was increased significantly; while this largely restored its potential as a serviceable, albeit situational, KO option near the upper blast line, this is outweighed by its renowned combo potential being toned down. On a related note, neutral aerial's combo potential was further hindered by its sourspot being shrunken.

To compensate for neutral aerial's worsened combo potential, down tilt's combo potential was improved thanks to its knockback being lowered. 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.

Lastly, update 13.0.1 buffed Ike in a few ways. Most notably, neutral attack's final hit had its damage output increased without any knockback compensation. This restored its KO potential from Brawl and, alongside back aerial, somewhat alleviated Ike's glaring lack of a fast, yet reasonably strong KO option. Aside from this, up smash's overall knockback was increased, and uncharged Quick Draw became noticeably safer on hit thanks to its increased damage output and knockback.

Overall, Ike fares somewhat better than he did at the launch of Ultimate. Although the nerfs to his neutral aerial were largely noticeable, the various buffs to his other moves have resulted in him becoming a slightly more versatile character with a less centralized gameplan.

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.

13.0.1

• Neutral attack's third hit deals more damage (5% → 7%), and thus deals more knockback.
• Up smash has altered knockback (base/scaling: 50/86 → 49/90), increasing it overall).
• Quick Draw deals more base damage (6% → 9%), and thus deals more knockback.

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		Bash (殴打) / Thrust Kick (り込み) / Swing Down (振り下ろし)	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. As of update 13.0.1, its last hit is as strong as it was in Brawl, and thus can KO most characters reliably at 140% while near the edge.
			2.5%
			7%
Forward tilt		Swing Out (振り抜き)	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		Strike Up (叩き上げ)	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 medium percentages. It can also 2 frame punish at edge with the first frame the hitbox is active on stages without slants.
Down tilt		Slash Sweep (斬り払い)	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 medium percentages. However, it does the least damage out of Ike's tilts, and its knockback renders it unable to KO at reasonable percentages.
Dash attack		Slash Up (斬り上げ)	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 120% 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		Strike Split (叩き割り)	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: it has a staggering 31 frames of startup, 49 frames of ending lag, and takes 84 frames to complete (the latter of which is the highest of any forward smash). As a result, forward smash is an extremely risky move and is highly punishable on shield, even in spite of its outstanding power. As a result, it is unreliable to use outside of hard punishes or reads.
Up smash		Strike Down (叩き下ろし)	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 (振り払い)	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 70 total frames and 35 frames of ending lag make it very punishable if it misses or is 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. Unlike most down smashes of its kind, both hits come out too high to 2-frame opponents at the ledge.
Neutral aerial		Round Slash (斬り回し)	7.5% (clean), 6% (late)	A downward arcing slash underneath 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 percentages, and an aerial attack (including itself) at low to medium percentages. At higher percents, it can be followed up with any of Ike's aerials and eventually becomes a notoriously reliable KO set-up into Aether near 80%, though at even higher percentages this stops being the case. It is Ike's least damaging aerial, but as of update 8.0.0, its knockback has increased to the point that it can function as a situational KO option at very high percentages while near the upper blast line. While it has excellent strengths, it is very predictable due to its hitbox starting above Ike's head, meaning the hitbox tends to connect around head level for opponents. As a result, it comes out slower than expected and is relatively easy to shield. Its long duration and high ending lag also makes it punishable if used high up in the air, as well as risky to use offstage. Finally, it is unable to autocancel even with a full jump, requiring a double jump to do so.
Forward aerial		Slash Down (斬り下ろし)	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 SSB4, 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　(振り向き斬り)	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, being unable to hit many opponents below standing human height from the ground even though it is Ike's only aerial move that he can autocancel in a short hop.
Up aerial		Rising Swing (振り上げ)	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 percentages. 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		Strike Down (叩き落とし)	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 damage, and even possessing a KO setup into an up aerial at high percentages. 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		Grab (つかみ)	—	Reaches out with his free hand.
Pummel		Grab Headbutt (つかみ頭突き)	1.6%	A headbutt. Slow but strong.
Forward throw		Kick (蹴り)	3.5% (hit 1), 4% (throw)	A front kick. It is a semi-spike, which makes it a reliable edge-guard setup at high percentages. However, due to its high ending lag, it is unreliable for tech-chasing.
Back throw		Back Kick (後ろ蹴り)	3% (hit 1), 4% (throw)	A spinning back kick. It is a semi-spike like forward throw, which also makes it a reliable edge-guard setup at high percentages, but has less ending lag by comparison that grants it tech-chasing potential, most notably into dash attack at low to medium percentages.
Up throw		Up Thrust (突き上げ)	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 follow-ups are not as reliable due to the throw's higher ending lag, while it also lacks any notable KO potential by itself.
Down throw		Knee Drop (膝落とし)	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 percentages, 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 188% without rage. As a result of this, however, its follow-ups 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 edge-guarding, 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 in the latter case. 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, similarly to a fully charged Shield Breaker. Can also hit slightly behind Ike if sufficiently charged.
Side special		Quick Draw	9% (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. It deals more knockback on the ground, becoming strong enough to KO middleweights at around 120% when fully charged. However, it has high ending lag if no opponent comes in range. In midair, it renders Ike helpless apart from a short window after swinging at an opponent where he can use his double jump or up special, but still functions reliably as an alternate recovery option due to the long horizontal distance it provides when charged, as well as its ability to auto-cancel 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 upward 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, for a much longer window 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. Its descending hitbox also meteor smashes opponents, allowing it to be used for a sacrificial KO. As of update 2.0.0, its descending hitbox has less knockback, which makes it less reliable at KOing opponents before Ike loses his stock if used too high up. As of update 8.0.0, its landing hit has significantly more knockback and a much more horizontal launching angle, to the point that it KOs middleweights as low as 70% near the edge.
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 in terms of knockback. 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. However, the counterattack itself has the peculiar trait of not slowing his descent at all during execution, causing him to fall the most distance after triggering it offstage compared to other characters' counter moves and making it very risky to edgeguard with.
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.

Stats

Stats	Weight	Dash speed	Walk speed	Traction	Air friction	Air speed	Air acceleration	Gravity	Falling speed	Jumpsquat	Jump Height	Double jump Height
Value	107	1.815 – Initial dash 1.507 – Run	0.912	0.112	0.009	1.134	0.01 – Base 0.04 – Additional	0.092	1.65 – Base 2.64 – Fast-fall	3	29.9 - Base 16 - Short hop	31

Announcer call

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• English/Japanese/Chinese

On-screen appearance

• Warps onto the stage using warp magic and grunts while briefly performing an inward slash, then brushes aside his cape.

• 

  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 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.

Crowd cheer

	Cheer (English)	Cheer (Japanese/Chinese)	Cheer (Italian)	Cheer (Dutch)	Cheer (French)
Cheer
Description	We like Ike!	Ai - ku! (Ike)	Ike! Ike! Ike!	Ike! Ike! *clap 2 times*	Tous avec Ike!

	Cheer (German)	Cheer (Spanish)	Cheer (Russian)	Cheer (Korean)
Cheer
Description		Ike Ike Ike! Ya! Ya! Ya! Mucho Ike! Mucho Ike! E! E!	Ike! Ike! *clap 3 times*	A - i - keu!

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", You fought... well.), 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 have no intention of yielding 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." ("俺には守るべき者が在る", I have people 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

Most historically significant players

See also: Category:Ike players (SSBU)

•  Bokinchan - One of the best Ike players in Japan in the early metagame alongside Logix. He was the most consistent in the last few months of 2019 and in early 2020, notably placing 25th at the supermajor EVO Japan 2020 and 33rd at Umebura SP 7. He has since gone inactive.
•  Logix - One of the best Ike players in Japan in the early metagame alongside Bokinchan, with his best results being in the first few months of 2019, where he notably placed 17th at the supermajor Umebura Japan Major 2019. He has since gone inactive.
•  MkLeo - Played Ike in the early months of Ultimate and won GENESIS 6 with mostly Ike, which stands as the only major/supermajor win for an Ike player as well as the best tournament run from an Ike player. Since dropping the character, no other Ike player has ever achieved his results, and his GENESIS 6 run remains the only top 8 finish for an Ike player.
•  PsyKoD - One of the best Ike players in North America since 2022, best known for placing 9th at The Big House 10 defeating BassMage and IcyMist, one of the highest major performances for Ike during this period. His other results include placing 5th at Chain Grab 2 defeating IcyMist again and placing 49th at Let's Make Big Moves 2023 and Maesuma TOP 13.
•  Ravenking - One of the best Ike players in North America in the early metagame who consistently placed well in-region, notably 3rd at Spotlight and 33rd at Frostbite 2020, as well as online, where he was ranked as high as 35th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v6. He has since dropped Ike in favor of Joker.
•  Ryuga - The best Ike player in 2019 after MkLeo dropped the character and the only solo-Ike player ranked top 50 globally, ranking 33rd on the Spring 2019 PGRU. His performances in the first half of the year, especially 9th at Frostbite 2019 and 17th at MomoCon 2019, remains some of the best Ike performances of all-time. He became inactive in 2020.
•  Tora - The best Ike player since 2023. Although her major performances have remained inconsistent, she regularly performs well at a regional level, including placing 5th at the superregionals Kurobra 40 and KOWLOON 10. She is also known for having some of the best Ike wins since the early metagame, including defeating Doramigi at Maesuma TOP 7, Gackt at Maesuma TOP 15 "FINAL", and Umeki at Maesuma TOP 13.
•  Yez - First known for his online performances during the pandemic, where he was ranked 7th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v7 and placed 2nd at Mazer Gaming Gives Back 2 and 4th at The Box: Lunchbox+. Although less prominent when offline returned, he remained the best Ike player in the world in the next two years, seeing some of Ike's best placements since the early metagame including 9th at Kagaribi 8 and 25th at Super Smash Con 2022.

Tier placement and history

In the early metagame, Ike was seen as a significantly improved character from his low-mid tier placement from the previous installment, due to disjoints being prominent in the metagame. Initial tournament results were also strong thanks to players such as MkLeo and Ryuga; MkLeo especially won the first Ultimate supermajor GENESIS 6 with Ike. This led to an initial positive reception, with top players designating him as a high tier fighter.

However, Ike's weaknesses, most notably his poor disadvantage state, hampered most of this initial positive reception. Ike's reception further cooled off after MkLeo dropped him and following Ryuga's tournament presence waning in regard to both attendance and significant placements. The latter also retired from competitive play later on, further reducing his representation. Despite an overall lukewarm reception toward his viability offline, Ike had a brief period of success during the online metagame. As perfect shielding is harder to perform due to input lag, Ike's slow aerial attacks and tilt attacks are safer on shield during online play than they are during offline play. Players such as Yez and Ravenking capitalized on this and managed to achieve high placements at large online tournaments alongside their high rankings on the Wi-Fi Warrior Ranks.

In the post-online metagame, dedicated mains such as Yez, PsyKoD, and Tora continue to achieve respectable placements in offline tournaments. However, none of the players were as consistent as MkLeo or Ryuga in his prime, which coupled with his overall below-average representation and noticeable weaknesses led to his placement on the first tier list, where he was ranked 65th as a lower-mid tier.

This unfortunately continued on the second and current tier list where he fell from his previous 65th placement to 71st in the D- tier, registering Ike as a low tier character.

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. The stages are also dark stages as well.

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 Path of Radiance fighter spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold (but only after Ike has been unlocked) 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 design 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 (120 HP) •Tiny King Dedede (120 HP) •Zero Suit Samus (100 HP) •Sheik (130 HP) •Tiny Robin (90 HP) •Zelda (110 HP) •Link (100 HP)		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 for 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. In Ike's case, his Radiant Dawn design features 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 design despite currently featuring his Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance design.
• 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.
• As with his down taunt, when Ike sticks Ragnell into the ground and removes it again during his up throw, a sound effect accompanies it. This is more subtle than with his down taunt, however.
• Ike is the only Fire Emblem character whose Classic Mode route does not involve traveling to any stages from his home series or fighting any fellow Fire Emblem representatives.
• Ike is the only returning character from Brawl whose Codec Conversation cannot be triggered through his alternate look (his Radiant Dawn alternate costume). This is unlike Olimar and Pokémon Trainer, who will still activate their respective Codec Conversations meant for Olimar and the male Pokémon Trainer when playing as Alph and the female Pokémon Trainer.
• 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.
• 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 27 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 this 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 Part 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 this to "Don't stand in my way."
    • His "俺には守るべき物が在る" (I have things 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 to have a unique crumple animation. Ike crumples frontward, whereas the rest of the Fire Emblem characters crumple on their back.