ESAM releases his Wi-Fi Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tier list
Gotta go fast or really slow to win I guess
Ranking characters based on how well they can perform online and during bad connections has seemingly become hot new thing within the fighting game community which makes sense when that's where many players spend most of their competitive time โ especially given our current global situation.
PG|ESAM has proven himself to be potentially the best Pikachu player in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate right now, so he's decided to jump in on the fun to create his own tier list for the best and worst characters to use while playing on Wi-Fi.
Overall, ESAM seems to value two major components for ranking fighters from assumed not great online connections which are speed / mobility and zoning tools.
With speed being such a potent factor to what can make a Smash character good online, Sonic the Hedgehog unsurprisingly takes the top spot overall which is actually right in line with the Wi-Fi tier list Liquid|Dabuz originally made.
The reason speed demons like Sonic and Zero Suit Samus are ranked among the top here in ESAM's logic is due to how easily they can get a slight lead during a match and then run out the clock by using their tools to play keep away with an opponent that can't follow them well in the lag.
Both players also had characters like Snake, R.O.B., and Samus in their top tiers because, instead of speed, they can keep people out with projectiles with the Pika player noting that Samus' bombs can be a nightmare to work around online.
Fighters at the absolute bottom of the list like Marth and Bayonetta are there due to their reliance on strict placements and timing to land big hits / combos which can be nearly impossible to hit if the online isn't absolutely optimal โ meanwhile other similar characters with Lucina and Roy are near the top.
As for his Pokemon of choice, ESAM did end up putting Pikachu up in the top tier of online though he admits he does not like to play them online as much due to the differences. Another pro player in GG|Seagull Joe disagreed with that placement in his list, however, placing the mascot character in D tier for his Wi-Fi list.
Playing on Wi-Fi for online video games is never the ideal option considering the wireless technology is more prone to packet loss and signal interference among a slew of other issues which can lead to more lag or stuttering matches for fighting games โ that some characters can take advantage of more than others.
If you are still looking to play Smash Ultimate online, we'd highly suggest buying an Ethernet cable adapter for your Nintendo Switch which are fairly cheap to help mitigate these issues... though there's no way to avoid an opponent's crappy connection.
You can take a look at ESAM's full Wi-Fi tier list for Smash Ultimate below, which is partially ordered at least towards the top, and his stream archive going over his placements in more detail can be found here.
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If you want to compare those online rankings compared to the offline meta, you can also take a look at ESAM's Ver. 7.0.0 tier list for the game at the bottom here.
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