What Makes Ike Unique

Hey everyone,

I want to talk to you about Ike. One of the supposed generic anime swordsman. Ike is also known as: The Hero of The Blue Flame. The Radiant Hero. The Only Fire Emblem Character Who is Not Royal. Eruption and Back Air Hitbox.

Before I get too far ahead of myself let me continue with what makes Ike unique.

Contents Organized in a Table:

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I. Who is Ike?

II. Ike in Competitive Smash

III. Dists and Range

IV. Ike's Strengths and Weaknesses

V. Edgeguarding

VI. Matchups Vs. Top Tiers

VII. Closure

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**Note: At the end, there is a section for those who do not want to read the whole post.

I. Who is Ike?

Ike is the Radiant Hero from the Fire Emblem Series. He first debuted in Fire Emblem Path of Radiance. Ike was also the main character in Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn. He is one of the few characters in Fire Emblem to make multiple Fire Emblem games.

Ike's first Smash appearance was in Super Smash Bros Brawl, due to his appearance in the game Radiant Dawn, which was released around the same time. Ike was based off his appearance in Path of Radiance.

His attacks were slow but powerful. His range was incredible at the time. Ike had one of the best ranges in Brawl. A lot of his downfall in the Brawl tier lists were due to his slow speed and recovery. His recovery was bad because of ledge mechanics. Characters could take the ledge or knock him far away to stop Ike from a recovery.

In Smash 4, Ike is a different character. It was almost like Ike went to the gym. He looks super buff. Super strong. Ike now has an appearance based off of Radiant Dawn. And now Ike's moves are a lot better than Brawl.

Ike has many true combos and strings in Smash 4. This allows him to keep up with characters a lot more effectively in Brawl. Ike's matchup spread has improved. A lot. It's because of the buffs that he received throughout the game. He has become a viable counterpick character as well.

II. Ike in Competitive Smash

[Rant Warning]

"Ike has terrible results. That's why he is low mid tier."

That statement is completely inaccurate. Ryo, San, Rango, Slaps, Critter (Currently busy, not as active), and Waldo (and maybe a few others) have proved that Ike has not lacked in results. Even the former Ike main, Ryuga, still brings out Ike.

While I will it: Ike Mains do not travel as often. So far, I feel I have seen the most improvement in Rango, because it seems he travels the most. Traveling is where Ike's biggest competitive flaw is.

But Ike has really good results.

"What?! Ike mains probably lose in the pools with all the other bad characters. "

Google notable wins for each well-known Ike main. You'll see results in the top 10s and 20s for tournaments with other well known players. Most of the results are phenomenal for a "low-mid-tier" main.

"But Ryo and Rango pull out secondaries a lot. That means their wins are not solo Ike. Those are not Ike results. Those are Mario, Cloud, and Corrin wins."

That is true, but the other Ike mains, such as San and Waldo almost always go solo Ike. And plus, Ryo and Rango have results with Ike, or else they would not be Ike players.

A lot of Ike placings are in major tournaments. Yes, I will it, they do not win all and every tournament, but that is not the point.

"Hey but characters such as [Insert other character name here] have good results with pros that play that character. "

Most likely that would either be a top tier or another character. But characters like Palutena have generally a single notable main, like Prince Ramen. They have one or two mains with good results. The Ike players above represent the fact that there is more than two good Ike mains.

Now I am not saying Ike deserves to be top tier, but he at least deserves some respect as a character. It's not every day that a mid tier can come close to or win a tournament.

III. Ike's Dists and Range

Ike has one of the best ranges in the game. His Rangell can compete with many characters with great range. That's why Ike is even considered a mid-tier. If Ike had a sword with range worse than the Mii Swordfighter, you can almost guarantee Ike would close to or a low tier. What made Ike a decent character in Brawl was his range.

In Smash 4, numerous characters have great range or range good enough to destroy other characters. Ike is no exception to this. If you look at his hitboxes they can double the width and length of his sword. It's why Ike can wall out other characters or throw out moves without getting punished.

Ike's range is often overshadowed and overlooked as well. Don't believe me? I was listening to a Marth main comment on the Ike matchup and why he believed the matchup was +1 in Marth's favor:

"Marth does not have as much of a range Advantage against Ike as you would like, but Marth wins because of his range. Marth still has enough space to punish Ike easily."

(Not an exact quote, but that's besides the point)

Ike and Marth have close to equal ranges, though I am not saying Marth has the worse sword. It's true Marth may have a tipper, but Ike has range as well.

Many people just consider Ike's range great, but he lacks in other strengths, because he is slow, and heavy for combo characters. But that is not the case;

IV. Ike's Strengths and Weaknesses

Ike has to have some reasons why he is only a mid-tier. Let's see why:

His first weakness is his weight and slow moves. His weight and fall speed allow him to be receive more combos than your average fast food t. (Bad joke, sorry) But it is not the worst thing in the world. Ike's weight is really good because it allows him to survive long.

His first strength is survivability. With survivability, comes rage. Ike really benefits from rage. If you did not know, Ike has a kill confirm, up throw to fair. While this kill confirm can have strict percents where it works, rage can help.

"But rage launches the opponent further"

Yes it does. His kill confirm can kill earlier. Back air and

Up tilt kill earlier, which are some of his best kill options.

Strength 2: Ike's attacks may be slower, but he has great spacing for a punish game. The minute you miss that smash attack Ike will get you with one of his combos. Whether it be a combo off of neutral air, down tilt, down throw, or up throw, Ike gets great damage output. They may be one or two hits, but they are great. Ike's combos are unique because of this.

Ike's recovery: A potential strength and weakness. Aether can throw out a hitbox while recovering to prevent any punishes that other characters need to worry about. Duck Hunt needs to worry about a fully charged Smash attack that reaches through the ledge. Ike's sword doesn't. It will stop any attempts edgeguarding attempts at the ledge.

But Ike does have a downside to Aether. Ike has a weak spot where many characters can take an advantage and punish Ike. Cloud's down air can hit Ike for example.

But you have to know that Ike's Aether can still spike. Sometimes the opponents are better off not stopping Aether.

Quick Draw is a hard move to punish. Ike can release it at any time and it is fast. It can be canceled so Ike can protect himself if needed or to pressure the opponent. While it can be punished, the timing is strict.

And yes, if you hit Ike at a specific angle, he cannot recover. And he can struggle without a jump. Overall, I would say Ike's recovery is mediocre, not good or bad.

Another 'Strength' is Ike's individual attacks. Almost all of Ike's moves have a use. His worst moves are down air, forward throw, back throw, and his Smash attacks. But each of these moves have uses. Down air for locking opponents, back throw for dash attack, tech chases and both forward and back throw are viable in doubles. His down Smash can catch rolls and reads, up Smash can cover ledge get-ups, rolls and reads, and side smash is only good for reads and extreme punishes.

In fact, Smashboards ranked moves on each character here: Ranking Character Moves Ike consistently placed in B and A tier with a lot of his moves, which is impressive.

Those are Ike's main strengths and weaknesses. Like previously mentioned, range is another strength, but it was not mentioned in this specific section.

V. Edgeguarding

Ike has probably one of the most odd edgeguarding games. It's not your typical "let me charge a smash attack" or "let me down air you offstage."

Ike can charge eruption, which has an ideal edgeguarding hitbox. It goes through the ledge and is massive as well. It destroys any recoveries that need the ledge or have no hitbox. Although, timing is strict, it is completely rewarding.

"But what about Cloud? His sword can go through the ledge and interrupt Ike!"

Ike can still time Eruption right and kill Cloud, or just use counter to characters like Cloud.

Ike can also use down air to edgeguard (how original) or forward and back air. Forward and back air are really good to stop some moves as well. Ike should use this moves sparingly below the ledge due to his low jumps and poor horizontal recovery below the ledge. Above the ledge, these moves are fine. Ike can back air at the ledge or steal the ledge and then back air. Back air is a great punish move at the ledge.

Up tilt can also cover getup options. Side tilts also cover getup options as well. And then you also have Forward air. You have neutral air for combos as well.

VI. Matchups Vs. Top Tiers

We are almost done, only a section to go.

Ike has an unusual matchup spread to say the least. It is commonly agreed that Ike has bad matchups vs. Bayonetta, Cloud, Pikachu, Mario, Sheik and Diddy Kong. But Ike is an character that is honest, but require fundamentals.

"So?"

Unlike most mid tiers and low tiers, Ike does not have a solid weakness that destroys his strengths in a matchup. Generally, for a matchup to be bad, the strengths of one character has to completely limit the options of another character. We know that Ness vs Rosalina is bad, but that is not Ike's case.

There are many Ike mains out there who say that the Sheik matchup is Ike's worst. But there are some Ike mains who are fine with or good in the matchup.

"That's because they have no experience in the matchup."

That could be true. But in here is a video you might want to see the last match:

Ryuga VS. Void UGC

In the last match Ryuga almost came back and won with Ike. That's amazing for a supposed bad matchup.

"No matchup is 100-0, that's why Ryuga came close."

Generally, the worst matchups prevent characters like Ness from winning consistently.

For example, I main Ike. But I have a secondary/pocket Rosalina. Ike can have trouble in a matchup versus Ness. So I could pick Rosalina. That is Ness's worst matchup. Now the Ness will most likely be in a bad situation.

Based on that example, Ike's worst matchup is Sheik. So let's go onto a new example; I am an Ike main and I have to verse a Ganon main who secondaries Sheik.

This is where Ike is different: Ike has a greater chance than a Ness against Rosalina because Ike wins in range, killing, and survivability against Sheik. Ness has numerous strengths, but struggles a lot offstage. Ness's strengths are not as prominent in this matchup because no player is perfect. If a Ness played flawlessly, the Rosalina matchup could theoretically be even. But a Ness is bound to get caught offstage in a punish in the matchup.

Ike's strengths still matter because they happen to get into Sheik's weaknesses in survivability, lower range(than Ike), and killing.

Also, another argument is that Ike is one of the best counterpick characters due to the fact that he does better in certain matchups that other characters lose. Using the Ike Vs. Sonic Matchup, you can see that Ike can win the Sonic matchup. Ryo and Rango have notable wins over some of the best Sonic mains.

Ike can do well in other top tier matchups such as Rosalina and Lucario. In fact, Day thought that Ike is one of Lucario's worst matchups. While I do not think Ike wins the matchup by that much, (slight Ike win at most) its shows that Ike is a threat to many top tiers.

And that is all....

VII. Closure

For those who didn't want to read the whole post:

-Ike is a blue-haired swordsman from Fire Emblem with a big sword

-Ike has great results, but is limited because Ike mains do not travel as often as other players.

-Ike has one of the best ranges in the game.

-Ike's strengths are range, survivability, punish game, and combos. Ike's weaknesses are weight, and slow attack speed Ike's recovery is a strength and weakness.

-Smashboards says Ike has good attacks.

-Ike has a pretty strong edgeguarding game.

-Ike has some bad matchups, but they are not terrible by any standards.

Just so we are clear, Ike is not a top tier. Ike is a midtier, but has some extreme strengths.

What are your thoughts and opinions on Ike? Is he in the right spot on the tier lists? Is he underrated or unique? You do not have to agree with me and my reasoning on this post. Make sure if you have anything to add, comment it below. Also, should this count as a special for 200 followers? Anyways, thanks for reading!