At least one Smash Ultimate tier list rates Min Min surprisingly high

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate received its eighth major update on June 29, which buffed some of the game’s weakest fighters and added Min Min from Nintendo’s ARMS franchise to the roster as part of the Fighters Pass 2. Despite some mixed initial reactions, several pros have revealed their update tier lists after the 8.0 update, and some of them rate Min Min rather high.

Any time Nintendo tweaks the Smash Bros. Ultimate roster, it creates a ripple effect on what characters the world’s greatest Smash contenders consider to be the best. Patch 8.0 didn’t touch some fighters — like Pikachu and Joker — which have long been considered some of the most powerful characters in the game, but it also buffed some characters that traditional fall rather low on most tier lists.

It’s still early for Smash Ultimate’s patch 8.0, plus with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, there haven’t been any in-person tournaments that many pro players rely on to test the limits of the game’s characters. Many online tournaments have been held during this period, but Smash Ultimate’s notoriously spotty netplay can make characters that wouldn’t be good offline better in laggy situations and vice versa.

The Smash Ultimate community might still need a few more weeks to figure out exactly how Min Min and these newly buffed fighters stack up side-by-side, but here are a few early tier lists after the 8.0 update:

Samuel “Dabuz” Buzby 8.0 tier list

Dabuz is currently among the top 10 Smash Ultimate players in the world. He posted an updated tier list to Twitter on July 5 with some notable shake-ups. Dabuz clarified that his rankings were solely based on how patch 8.0 would affect offline play.

“This was for offline btw, you guys and myself aren't ready to theorycraft a netplay tier list for 8.0 patch,” he tweeted.

Dabuz ranks Min Min as a "High Tier Fighter," which is probably his most polarizing choice. He didn’t explain his reasoning, but Dabuz is known for playing characters with specialized mechanics, like Olimar and Rosalina & Luma. It’s possible that he sees some potential in Min Min’s ability to throw out a flurry of long-ranged attacks.

Aside from that, Dabuz put Captain Falcon and Falco in high tier after they both received significant buffs in patch 8.0. Both of those fighters were typically ranked as mid tier before the latest patch.

Shockingly, Dabuz put Pichu and Lucas among some of the worst characters in the game. Both characters have more powerful echo fighters — Pikachu in Pichu’s case and Ness in Lucas’ case — which has typically made them a second thought for many top players. But both Pichu and Lucas were ranked much higher by other pros previously.

Smash Ultimate tier list by the numbers

While Dabuz’s tier list was based on his experiences and opinions as a top-player, Redditor FunBuns_Unicrons put together a ranking of the characters that perform the best in tournaments on average.

This tier list does not include Min Min since she hasn’t been used in a major tournament just yet, but by using some preliminary impressions of her strengths and weaknesses, we can ballpark a spot for her.

Many players consider Min Min to be a counter-pick character, or a fighter that is only extremely effective against specific members of the cast. Min Min has the ability to destroy big-bodied characters like King K. Rool and fighters with weak recoveries because of her incredible range.

However, Min Min needs to stay within a certain range of her opponents to be effective. That means characters that have the tools to rush in on her, like Pikachu and Zero Suit Samus, will win over her most of the time.

Min Min will have a tough time against many of the established top-tier characters. And her hit-or-miss matchup spread makes her a solid mid-tier combatant in our estimation. But it’s too early to make a definitive claim. Players will need to continue testing out her unique abilities to get a full understanding of exactly where she ranks among the Smash Ultimate cast.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available for the Nintendo Switch.