After some in-house discussion with Smash for Wii U Backroom members as well as time for various opinions on the list to form, we'd like to address a handful of the more frequently asked questions, as well as talk a bit about some of the characters who have generated more discussion than others.

Frequently Asked Questions​

Why was Bottom Tier dropped?

With a few rare exceptions, many characters in the game are capable of performing well at the regional level, and can sometimes break out at national or higher levels. While the game definitely has tiers, 4BR members seemed to agree; even though there are a few characters that have tended to struggle quite a bit in the meta, there isn't anything that would be worthy of being considered "Bottom Tier" and, thus, the label was dropped.

This can also be extended as to why there has been less individual tiers (7 tiers, coming down from 9) and Top Tier as a whole having grown larger; with more characters being developed and their potential being put to work at the highest levels of play, many characters have shot up in viability, even without a patch.

Why were Lucina and the Miis relegated to the addendum?

Lucina: As stated on the initial release, the 4BR felt that, as a whole, Lucina is a polarizing character with vastly differing opinions on her viability. The 4BR leaders decided to place her as an optional vote, but include her if there was sufficient data, believing that she would likely be a highly contested topic.

Miis: The reasoning was similar to Tier List v2.0. Despite many majors relegating Miis to their 1111 Guest Size ruling, a decent chunk of the world, including some areas of the US, has XXXX Guest Size as their ruling. Out of respect for both rulesets as well as the 4BR members and Mii players who play under different rulesets, along with those who are unfamiliar with the characters, we opted to make them optional once again.

What other projects do you have on the horizon, including Tier List V4?

At the moment, our next immediate plan is to return to creating the Backroom Pass series, which features a 4BR member talking about a specific character they are knowledgeable about, with the next iteration planned for early April. Tier List V4 is targeted for an early September 2017 release (about 5-6 months from now). The next tier will focus on the time period from Frostbite 2017 to Shine 2017, including various major events such as EVO 2017, CEO 2017, CEO Dreamland, Civil War, and so on. In addition, there is some discussion of potential matchup chart projects in the future; more details will come at a later time, but we are aware that there is some interest in the creation of one.

Regional Data​

As it goes, different regions have slightly different metas. While there are many similarities within these areas, there's also some key differences, sometimes even at the more well-defined ends of the tier list (Top and Low Tier).

@Shaya compiled the votes between our Japanese voters, our North American voters, and our International voters (anyone outside of North America). Keep in mind that, as smaller sample sizes result from separating the data like this, they are more indicative of general trends rather than rock-solid arguments.




For additional references, here is the full, raw voting data from all 45 of our voters, which was used to create the tier list.


    Notable Characters​

    As the meta evolves, certain characters seem to become topics of debate and controversy. Here, we'll discuss some of those characters, as well as characters that saw large shifts on the Tier List as a whole.

    :4corrin:
    One of the characters with the most contention on the Tier List was the one sitting at the top of High Tier, Corrin. Despite having a standard deviation on the lower end of the scale, many called the placement into question, especially noting how their results seem a bit more paltry compared to others. That being said, Corrin has gotten some results (Cosmos, Frozen, Ryuga's multiple Top 24 placements at majors, along with YOC's results in Japan). While they may not have been spectacular as some of the other characters in the higher tiers, there is a noticeable element of consistency in how these players have placed in major events with Corrin, one that lends credibility to their status as a high tier.

    :4lucina:
    With the 4th highest standard deviation and the largest jump upwards, it is of little surprise that Lucina ended up being one of the most contested characters on the Tier List. At the time (and still a bit as of now), Lucina is a character that is very much based in ambiguity. Theoretically, she seems to stand at some distance from Marth (with some arguing that they are quite close to each other and others arguing for a gap of some size, usually 5-15 spots), with Lucina being applied in theory to scenarios where Marth would be inferior (with said instances being rather rare). Even with this ambiguity, many voters felt that she was indeed amongst the game's finest characters, especially in Japan (whose voting data had her and Marth apart by a single character, Corrin).

    Despite representation growing from her and more Marth players using her on certain occasions, at the point in which work on Tier List V3 started, it was a bit of a different situation; however, that will likely change by the time Tier List V4 rolls around as she has seen more widespread use, especially with top players.

    :4sonic:
    Sonic found his way into the Top 5 in this Tier List. While that drew some people to question why he was placed here, a lot of it rides on the fact that regional opinions of Sonic differ greatly throughout the world. As indicated by the Japanese Voting Data (as well as the results of players like KEN or Komorikiri), Japan tends to view Sonic as a Top 3 character, sometimes even the best. Meanwhile, North American voting data just had him barely below Mario, and International Data as a whole had him at 5th. When all of the voting data was compiled together, he ended up sticking into the Top 5 position.

    :4ryu:
    When it comes to making a Tier List, there are occasionally characters that find themselves in rather odd gaps. This time around, Ryu fell victim to that. While he remained in Top Tier, he found himself at a sizable gap from both neighboring characters (Zero Suit Samus and Corrin). This was something that largely came down to an executive decision.

    In regards to his ordered score, Ryu was a marginal distance between both characters (9.86 - 12.4 - 15.06, for Zero Suit Samus, Ryu and Corrin respectively). However, his group score had him slightly closer to Zero Suit Samus (6.74 - 6.51 - 6.0, for Zero Suit Samus, Ryu and Corrin respectively). In many cases, this would have likely led to a single character tier, but after some discussion, we decided to place Ryu into the bottom of A Tier, citing the closer group score to Zero Suit Samus. With Ryu's latest placements at Civil War, he seems rather poised to hold his position as a top tier for the time being.

    :4ness:
    Sitting at the top of mid tier is Ness, who suffered from the largest drop (and outright fell out of high tier). While Ness did enjoy a decent set of results in the time periods of v1.0 and v2.0, the time period of V3 wasn't the case, as FOW, considered by many to be the best Ness in the world, took a large break from the game for some time. In addition, NAKAT, for the most part, stopped using Ness in singles, favoring Fox instead. While FOW did return for 2GGT: ZeRo Saga and placed 17th, and S1 placed 5th at BEAST 7, there was still a long period of stagnation, one that resulted in Ness's large drop on V3. With FOW seeming to be back in the swing of things, it is possible to see Ness return to High Tier in Tier List V4.

    Conclusion​

    We hope that these explanations and supplemental sets of data have clarified the release last month, as well as some of the more controversial bits of the list. With a new ruleset becoming the national standard in the US, the metagame is likely to see a shift (with Civil War already showing off what some characters can be capable of with the right conditions), and the viability of certain characters will likely change. As always, we'll be looking forward to your thoughts in the comments below.

    Special thanks to @Shaya for providing Data, and @Popi and @A10theHero for assisting with the release of this followup.


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