Introduction
Samus is Melee's quintessential projectile zoner. She possesses two projectiles, Missile and Charge Shot, that allow her to control the pace of the match from fullscreen. This is only complemented by her strong suite of grounded normals and her excellent wavedash, which give her an excellent poking game. Unlike most traditional zoners, however, Samus processes two strong defensive options out of shield in her frame 3 Nair and invulnerable up-special, screw attack, and a strong crouch cancel game to top it all off. Samus also has a strong suite of aerials, many of which are fast, safe on block, and conducive to combos. Finally, Samus' high weight, floatiness and excellent recovery give her arguably the highest endurance in the entire game, although this is somewhat circumvented by characters with strong vertical kill options, such as Fox.
Samus does, however, have several acute weaknesses. Her grab is the slowest in the entire game, making it nearly reactable and nets Samus a near max damage punish if it whiffs. Samus' aerial mobility is amongst the worst in the game, with an extremely high, floaty shorthop and a very low airspeed. These two attributes make opening up opponents difficult for Samus, despite her otherwise strong set of buttons, and hinders her combo potential after she does get a hit, especially on floaties. These weaknesses generally balance out her strengths, and she currently sits on the fringe of tournament viability, being ranked on 11th on the latest tier list.
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