Smash Ultimate's 3rd Official Tier List

Welcome to the third iteration of LumiRank’s annual tier list. This most recent list reflects the many dramatic shifts in Ultimate’s metagame throughout 2024, as determined by our 93 globally ranked panelists. Be sure to read the methodology, analysis, and full list of panelists after the list:

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S Tier:

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S+: Steve, Sonic, Snake

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S: Mr. Game & Watch, R.O.B., Pyra & Mythra, Kazuya

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S-: Diddy Kong, Min Min, Fox, Peach/Daisy, Joker, Yoshi, Pikachu

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A Tier:

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A+: Roy, Olimar, Cloud, Luigi, Bayonetta, Samus/Dark Samus, Palutena, Mario

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A: Corrin, Wario, Sora, Falco, Wolf, Hero

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A-: Ryu, Shulk, Mii Brawler, Terry, Zero Suit Samus, Greninja, Pac-Man, Pokemon Trainer, Toon Link, Lucina

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B Tier:

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B+: Young Link, Pit/Dark Pit, Captain Falcon, Ken, Rosalina & Luma

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B-: Ness, Sheik, Meta Knight, Mega Man, Inkling, Sephiroth, Byleth, Ice Climbers, Pichu, Donkey Kong

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C Tier:

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C+: Lucario, Banjo & Kazooie, Wii Fit Trainer, Chrom, Lucas, Mii Gunner, Incineroar

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C-: Link, Ridley, Bowser, Duck Hunt, Kirby, Isabelle, Robin, Bowser Jr., Mewtwo, Jigglypuff, Marth

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D Tier:

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D: Mii Swordfighter, Zelda, Ike, Piranha Plant, Villager, King Dedede, King K. Rool, Simon/Richter, Dr. Mario

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E Tier:

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E: Little Mac, Ganondorf

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Methodology

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Methodology was unchanged from the 2024 list. Any player within the top 150 and honorable mentions of LumiRank 2024.1, LumiRank 2024.2, or the internal LumiRank 2024 full year was eligible to be on the panel for the tier list. Responses were received from 100 panelists in the time frame from January 22nd, 2025 to February 3rd, 2025. Seven ballots were excluded due to rating fewer than 10 characters. Panelists were asked to rate each character they formed an opinion on from 1–10, with 10 being highest and 1 being lowest. They were also asked to provide an ordered top 5 characters in the game. 96% of panelists evaluated at least three quarters of the cast, with 76% of panelists scoring every character in the game. Steve was the only character to be evaluated by all 93 panelists. Unlike previous years, this time Ike and Lucas were the least evaluated characters, with 86 panelists evaluating them. Panelist responses were normalized, with their top 5 scored as 10.x (e.g. their #1 was scored as a 10.5, while their #5 was scored as a 10.1). The highest and lowest 3 responses for each character were removed, and the remaining responses were then weighted by region according to each region’s representation on the internal full year LumiRank 2024, to avoid higher or lower response rates in different regions from biasing the list. Tiers and tier groupings were then determined via K-Means Clustering.

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Analysis:

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• As before, Steve was the consensus #1 character, with 62 of 93 panelists (67%) ranking him #1, a slight decline from the year before. As in previous years, there was one region which put another character 1st above Steve, but unlike in prior years, this year that region was Japan rather than Europe. Although Sonic was the #2 character by a considerable margin, more people (13) actually ranked Kazuya as the #1 character than ranked Sonic there (9).
• The second most common top 5 ranking was once again Sonic #2, but this year only 37 people (40%) ranked him there, and no other ranking of a character within the top 5 got more than a quarter of respondents in support.
• Although Ganondorf was the clear worst character in the game, the margin wasn’t quite as decisive as last year, with only 66 panelists out of 90 evaluating the character giving him the lowest score they gave anyone, and only 20 panelists giving no other character that score. By comparison, 34 panelists out of 89 evaluating the character gave Little Mac the lowest score they gave anyone, and 3 of them gave no other characters that score.
• In a surprise, Japan ranked Simon/Richter as the worst character in the game, below Ganondorf.
• The five characters with the lowest standard deviations were Sonic (0.436), Snake (0.669), Mario (0.763), Roy (0.854), and Pyra & Mythra (0.865). The five characters with the highest standard deviations were King Dedede (1.973), Pichu (1.872), Little Mac (1.869), Marth (1.860), and Ganondorf (1.800).
• Samus/Dark Samus was the highest ranked character to have no panelists put them in the top 5.
• King Dedede was the lowest ranked character to have a panelist place them in the top 5, while Pichu was the lowest ranked character to have multiple panelists put them in the top 5.
• Luigi, Olimar, Hero, Donkey Kong, and Kirby all rose by at least 10 spots from the 2024 tier list, while Marth, Sheik, Pac-Man, Pokemon Trainer, Sephiroth, Lucina, and Jigglypuff fell by at least 10 spots.
• No characters dropped spots despite their score increasing from 2024, while Duck Hunt, Inkling, Lucas, Mega Man, Ness, Piranha Plant, Ridley, R.O.B., and Yoshi all rose despite their score decreasing.

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Regional Differences:

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As with previous iterations of the LumiRank Tier List, different parts of the world differed dramatically in their esteem of different characters. The largest differences were as follows:

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The US and Canada were high on Mega Man (+19), Marth (+14), and Pac-Man (+10), and were low on Lucario (-14), Falco (-12), Olimar (-10), Shulk (-10), Banjo & Kazooie (-10), and Isabelle (-10).

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Latin America was high on Marth (+21), Sheik (+13), Terry (+12), Lucina (+12), Robin (+11), Bowser Jr. (+11), Pikachu (+10), Wario (+10), and Wii Fit Trainer (+10), and was low on Donkey Kong (-16), Captain Falcon (-13), Diddy Kong (-12), Greninja (-12), Shulk (-11), and Banjo & Kazooie (-11).

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Europe was high on Mewtwo (+15) and Marth (+12) and was low on Olimar (-20), Kazuya (-13), and Captain Falcon (-10).

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Japan was high on Captain Falcon (+14), Isabelle (+12), and Falco (+11), and was low on Pikachu (-15) and Wii Fit Trainer (-10).

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Spreadsheet with summary data for each character

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Panelists

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US & Canada:

Anarchy

Anathema

ATATA

AwDaSea

Beastly

BeastModePaul

Bruho

Candle

Char

ChunkyKong

Dabuz

DDee

Dominator

Endothia

Free KayFlock

Geist

IcyMist

JDV

Just Blue

Larry Lurr

Lima

Marss

Monte

omega

Peabnut

PkChris

Pocket (Onin)

Skeleton

Soar

SPARKLE

Teaser

Tweek

Wildz

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Latin America:

HaunterGV

JaZaR

Maister

Romeo Santos

ShinyMark

Styx

WaKa

Europe:
drybie

Ente

Luugi

PeW

Raarchyor

Raflow

Tarik

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Japan:

あcola / acola

水無灯里 / Akari Mizunashi

アキオ / Akio

あしも / Asimo

カルメロ / Carmelo

クレータ / Crete

DIO

ダイナマイト / Dynamite

エルレゴー / ElleGo

ふい / Fui

ふららら麺 / Furararamen

がちぴ / Gachipi

Hurt

じょうぎぶ / Jogibu

からあげ / Karaage

コリンク1219 / KORINKU1219

くろぽんず / Kuroponzu

ラピ / Lapi

りーマック / LiiMac

まいぱん / Maipan

真央 / Mao

まるこす / Marcos

MASA

マイルドなH.O / Mild na H.O

mzk

ネイビー / Navy

なおちゃ / Naocha

Neo

にやえ / Niyae

おちゃ / Ocha

オムアツ / Omuatsu

パルメ / Parme

リム / RIMU

ロン / Ron

りょぺい / Ryopei

シュピ / Shupi

しん / Sin

たまPだいふく / TamaPDaifuku

tameigo

たす / Tas

とみさ / tomisa

TG(トリグリ) / Toriguri

ツバキ / Tsubaki

ヤウラ / Yaura

Yone_pi

ゆず / yuzu