An offline tier list of the best characters in Super Smash Bros Ultimate (SSBU). Find out which characters are top tier in Smash Ultimate Ver. 13.0.3, and learn the best characters for playing competitively in Smash Ultimate, as well as extensive guides on how to play each character.

See The Full Roster of Characters

Recent Tier List Updates

Tier List Revamped!

With offline tournaments taking place again with higher and higher frequency, and top players demonstrating the potential of several characters that were previously seeing less results, the meta of Smash Ultimate has begun to see some large scale changes. Alongside the fact that we have had more time to experiment with the powerful Fighter's Pass 2 characters, we have made some large scale changes to our tier list.

Significant Changes to Our Tier List

Character	Change	Reason
Sonic	A+ → S	・High rate of win results in tournament play ・Amazing matchup spread against most of the roster, including Steve.
Mr. Game ＆ Watch	A → A+	・More displays of strengths through tournament results ・Great ability to counter many of the other top tiers
Pikachu	S → A+	・Lack of significant results in top level competitive play, aside from a handful of players.
Sephiroth	A+ → A	・Weaknesses have become more apparent as players have had more time to use him.

Steve Remains the Best Character

Steve, the second character released in Fighter's Pass 2, has remained unmoved in the top spot of the tier list, as more top players have been able to use him to gain results. As there are no more patches coming to Smash Ultimate, it is unlikely to see him be dethroned from this spot.

Steve Guide: Matchup Chart and Combos

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Character Tier List (December 2024)

Note: Characters are ordered within each tier.

Who Do You Think Is the Best Character?

This poll contains all the characters in S and A+ tier. For next month's update, we will use the top 10 characters from this poll, and then work from there. If you believe someone else should be in this poll, please comment below!

Note that this poll will be reset each month!

Comment Section (1118)

Character Tier List Criteria

Based on Tournament Ruleset (1 on 1, No items, etc)

The tier lists were both made with the following rules in consideration:

Additionally, the tier list shown here is based on Smash Ultimate offline. Since some characters are affected by the online environment more than others, see our Online Tier List to see how we ranked characters there.

Online Tier List: The Best Character For Wifi

Potential and Matchup Spread

Through playing the game for hundreds of hours as and against the full roster, we considered strengths and weaknesses when putting together our tier list. Additionally, we thought hard about each character's matchup spread, and characters with a higher number of winning matchups were ranked more favorably.

Offline Results Factored In

While it was not our top criteria, we did observe statistical data showing the win rates and tournament results of characters in offline competitions. Since this data can be seen as somewhat objective evidence of a character's power, we looked closely at this data and matched it with our own findings.

Smash Ultimate Related Guides

Go back to the SSBU Top Page
List of Fighters	Tier List
Guide for Beginners	Tips and Tricks
World of Light Guide	Spirit List
Stages	List of Items
Updates	Message Boards