'Smash Ultimate' 6.1 tier list sees Snake slip while Joker still dominates
Here's what the experts say.
Smash Bros. Ultimate received its sixth major update more than a month ago that added Terry Bogard from the Fatal Fury series to the roster and buffed some of the game’s weakest characters. About a week later, Nintendo introduced the Version 6.1 patch to fix a rare, but serious issue with Terry.
The changes aimed to boost the weaknesses of rarely-used characters. But 6.0 and 6.1 didn’t include any nerfs at all. Some of Smash Ultimate’s best players and biggest personalities have recently released updated tier lists to reflect how Version 6.0 affected the rankings of the best and the worst fighers in Smash Bros. Ultimate. Here’s how each member of the roster stacks up:
Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman’s Smash Ultimate 6.1 tier list
Zimmerman is best known for being one of the best Melee players of all-time and he continues to make videos and analyze Ultimate professional play even though he no longer regularly competes in tournaments.
He placed Peach, Pikachu, Palutena, Joker, and Wario as his top five and Little Mac, Isabelle, Incineroar, Pit (Dark Pit), and Jigglypuff as his bottom five.
Richard “Keitaro” King’s Smash Ultimate 6.1 tier list
King is a Smash Bros. commentator and YouTube content creator, best known for his Snake and Falco gameplay.
He thinks Joker, Peach, Inkling, Wario, Zero Suit Samus, and Pokémon Trainer are the best characters, while Little Mac, Jigglypuff, Kirby, King K. Rool, and Pit (Dark Pit) are the worst.
ProGuides aggregated Smash Ultimate 6.1 tier list
ProGuides is an online platform for premium esports game guides, coaching, and general game facts. Its Smash Bros. Ultimate section aggregates a tier list baed on the rankings from the game’s pros.
Each tier is not ordered and it’s unclear whether or not the list takes balance patches into account.
The site considers Fox, Pikachu, Peach, Daisy, Pichu, Lucina, Snake, Wolf, Palutena, Inkling, and Joker as the upper echelon of characters in the game. It ranks Piranha Plant, Isabelle, Bowser Jr. Little Mac, Jigglypuff, and Kirby as the bottom six.
So what’s changed in patch 6.1?
Version 6.0 and the subsequent slight 6.1 update buffed some of Smash Ultimate’s weakest characters, like Kirby, Jigglypuff, and King K. Rool.
While all of these changes were warranted, they didn’t address the underlying weaknesses of characters like Kirby and Jigglypuff that still lack the tools to approach opponents and die far too early because of their weight. Both Kirby and Jigglypuff still appear at the bottom of a majority of tier lists.
The list of best Smash Ultimate characters remained fairly consistent compared to 5.0 tier lists. Snake and Joker dominated the top of the pros’ rankings, but Snake has slightly slipped compared to other top-tier fighters.
The Metal Gear protagonist is still widely considered to be one of the best characters in the game, but pros seem to consider characters like Peach coming for his throne.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is out now for the Nintendo Switch.
