SSBM/Ness

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Introduction

Ness is considered one of the worst characters in Melee, consistently being ranked bottom 5 in the game. While Ness has a hard hitting air game, good combo potential and a strong throw game, it isn’t enough to make up for some glaring weaknesses. Unlike some low tiers, Ness’s weakness comes not from an outright lack of powerful options, but rather due to being hamstrung by a variety of unique shortcomings which make reaching his win condition an eternally uphill battle.

Ness has some of the greatest range issues in the game with extremely limited options for meaningfully threatening space, making it a struggle for Ness to approach, zone, or wall out opponents. While Ness does have a variety of projectiles, they all lack general practicality due to how laggy and punishable they all are, making up what is most likely the worst set of special moves in the game. To top things off, Ness has an extremely exploitable recovery, easily getting hit out of his up special’s startup time and time again. With a risky off-stage game, a lack of get-of-me tools and a slow double jump, Ness is extremely vulnerable in disadvantage.

In order to mitigate Ness’s weaknesses, movement, both on the air and the ground, must take center stage in his gameplan due to his inability to control any space in the neutral-game. Ness must play evasively, using his double-jump-cancel air movement to meticulously prod for openings. Ness gets the majority of his mileage off of setting up combos with his throws, knocking opponents down with aerials to set up for tech chases, or popping opponents up with dash attack, down air, or up air. While often ineffectual in the neutral-game due to their poor range, Ness’s aerials can begin to seem extremely intimidating once he’s right on top of you. Let Ness get in and catch a few too many sweet-spot back airs to the face, and you may find yourself one back-throw away from death, Ness’s being one of the most reliable kill throws in the game.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Air game: Although Ness is not particularly fast in the air, his cancellable double jump makes him very maneuverable, and gives him access to his aerials very close to the ground. This maneuverability, along with an array of stubby-yet-powerful aerials, grants Ness a serviceable air game. Combo potential: Ness has a number of ways to pop opponents up for aerial followups, throws which are good for setting up opponents, and aerials which are good for landing knock-downs. These tools give Ness a difficult yet high potential combo game. Grab game: Ness’s up-throw is a combo-throw on fast-fallers, his down-throw is convenient for setting up floaties and midweights for followups, and his back-throw is a reliable kill-throw. Kill power: While Ness can struggle to kill for all the same reasons he struggles to win neutral, he isn’t lacking in raw power. Back-air and back-throw can reliably confirm kills and forward-smash can situationally serve as a viable stock-ender.

Range: Ness has extremely stubby limbs and very few effective ranged options, as most are too high commitment to be practical. Ness’s only quick ranged option is his forward-air, which must be relied upon despite its shortcomings. Recovery: Ness is entirely vulnerable during the process of aiming his up-special projectile, and this vulnerability lasts for a more-than-reactable timeframe. This makes gimping and edgeguarding Ness very consistent. This issue is exacerbated by Ness’s high risk of getting hit off-stage without a double jump due to how often he uses double-jump-cancels for basic movement. Crouch cancel: Ness has very few tools for beating crouch cancel, with his only direct counters being grab and down-air, which are both difficult to land. Ness’s most commonly used ranged options of forward-air and dash attack are both beaten outright by CC and SDI-down. Disadvantage: Ness has a hard time in disadvantage for many reasons. He lacks strong get-of-me tools, with his jab and down-tilt being mostly ineffectual. His lack of ranged and space-covering options makes him struggle to keep opponents away from him. His double jump’s slow startup makes vertically escaping opponents and getting out of combos difficult. Ground game: Ness lacks powerful grounded options, with his tilts and jab suffering from awful range and his smash attacks suffering from lag and relatively low knockback.

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