Sephiroth (SSBU)

Sephiroth (, Sephiroth) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and the third fighter from Square Enix after and . He was revealed on December 10th, 2020 at , and was released as part of Challenger Pack 8 on December 22nd, 2020 as the third downloadable character of . However, Sephiroth could also become playable as early as December 17th, 2020 by defeating him in the limited-time Sephiroth Challenge that was made available from December 17th-22nd.Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Mr. Sakurai Presents "Sephiroth" Sephiroth is classified as Fighter #78.
, who has voiced Sephiroth as of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, reprises his role as the character in all regions.
Sephiroth is ranked 49th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing him in the middle of the B- tier and making him the lowest ranked character from . Sephiroth's greatest strength is his unrivaled range and mixing game, the former of which is courtesy of the Masamune which grants him the ability to reach farther than most fighters. He can pressure against his opponents without having to risk getting up close while still having the option to with high grounded burst and a long dash-grab. This range is complemented by Masamune's sweetspots which deal high damage and possess incredible KO power. Using his respectable base-form ground speed and quick falling he can maneuver around opponents while still threatening attacks with his range. He also, unlike many swordies, has a solid grab game into combos and advantage states. Considering his mobility and strong disjoints he is an effective edgeguarder, especially once he has wing. Furthermore, Sephiroth has a strong set of special attacks, with Flare Variations helping his ledgetrapping abilities and Shadow Flare being an excellent poking tool that can be helpful in maintaining momentum once hit. His wing form along with his top 3 ledge hang allow for effective planking, allowing him to avoid KO's where other characters struggle. Finally, at higher percents, Sephiroth will gain access to his unique Winged Form, which grants him increased attack power, much higher mobility, armor on his smash attacks, and a second double jump throughout the form's duration. 
Sephiroth also has some glaring weaknesses, the most prominent being his difficulty and slow frame data. He is a lightweight, and paired with a relatively tall hurtbox, which makes him easier to hit and KO than other characters. Furthermore, a large portion of Sephiroth's kit is afflicted by slow frame data, with most of his attacks aside from his neutral attack coming out at frame 14 or more, making his attacks very predictable if you rely on a certain tool too much. This slow frame data also affects Masamune, which combined with its precise, narrow hitbox, means Sephiroth has more trouble when fighting up close or against smaller opponents. Lastly, due to being a percent-oriented mechanic, Sephiroth's Winged From requires him to be in disadvantage and at high percent, or otherwise in an incredible disadvantage in order to be accessed. Upon dissipating it can only be reactivated after Sephiroth is KO'd.
Overall, Sephiroth's range, power, speed, and multitude of options allow him to pressure and mix in and out of a farther range than most fighters can deal with, but his difficulties when fighting up close combined with his weight means he is also rather susceptible to the opponent's pressure and can feel quite punishing. He saw above-average representation in his earlier years in competitive play thanks to the efforts of players such as , , and ; however, his often frustrating attributes led to a decline in his representation as many players could not get past his weaknesses.
==Attributes==
Sephiroth is a tall, lightweight fighter, tied with , , and as the 7th lightest in the game. He has the 14th slowest walking speed, yet his dashing speed and traction are both above-average, with the former being marginally faster than 's. Despite his height, Sephiroth's crouch is deceptively low. In the air, Sephiroth's overall jumping force and air acceleration are both average, he has slow air speed and below-average air friction, and yet he has the 11th fastest falling speed and above-average gravity. Notably, Sephiroth's short hop is tied with 's for the lowest in the game, which aids him very well in the neutral game.
Sephiroth possesses a unique fighter ability: the Winged Form. Like Aura and Super Special Moves, it is a comeback mechanic that activates when Sephiroth has received sufficient damage. This threshold is influenced by the score count/stock count; it activates at ≈90% when the score/stock count is even and will activate earlier or later if Sephiroth's score/stock count is behind or above the opponent's, respectively. Upon activation, Sephiroth's wing unfurls and grants him a third jump, a 1.3× damage multiplier, and much higher mobility overall. In particular, Sephiroth gains the 7th fastest dashing speed (tied with '), the highest traction (surpassing 's), as well as higher air speed, air acceleration and air friction. Sephiroth's smash attacks also gain damage-based armor that can withstand up to 20%, making them incredibly risky to challenge, save for a few exceptions. Winged Form deactivates after a cetain amount of time based on attacking and especially KOing opponents.
Sephiroth's ground game offers him fairly crucial tools, with a moveset reminiscent of to similar effects. Neutral attack, despite having the shortest range of his grounded moves, is Sephiroth's fastest move while having decent melee range for a neutral attack, making it one of his few reliable tools to quickly ward off an opponent. Forward tilt has incredibly long range (comparable to Simon's) and can be angled, making it a superb spacing option and a viable KO option at high percentages when fresh, especially in Winged Form. Up tilt boasts incredible vertical range, a decently long duration, can scoop opponents in front of him and renders his upper body intangible for a brief period. Down tilt is Sephiroth's fastest tilt attack and, although it is slightly slower than Cloud's down tilt, it functions almost identically to his: it boasts great range by propelling Sephiroth forward and significantly lowers his hurtbox, giving him a way to punish more ranged attacks. Dash attack, despite being fairly punishable due to being his slowest melee attack, covers a lot of ground and has respectable power, making it useful as both a burst option and a situational but potent KO option.
Sephiroth's smash attacks also boast varying degrees of utility. Forward smash is a very long-ranged slash that is potent at punishing and spacing, especially in Winged Form, and boasts excellent KO potential at the middle of the blade, but is very slow and easily punishable. Up smash is an overhead arcing slash, much like and 's up smashes. Although it is weaker than theirs and slower than Ganondorf's, it is Sephiroth's best anti-air option due to sporting more range overall, to the point that it allows him to cover an area wider than an entire platform of Town and City. Down smash only hits in front of Sephiroth, but it is faster than his forward smash and has the unique property of becoming even stronger if the Masamune's blade hits the ground, dealing immense shield damage. This makes it a good mix up tool to break shields and a niche edgeguarding option due to how low the hitbox extends.
Sephiroth's air game also comprised of long ranged options. Neutral aerial has the shortest range, but is his fastest option in the air, covers his entire body, and its overall low lag allows it to be used very flexibly, such as for warding off close-ranged opponents, including from out of shield, or for starting or continuing combos. Forward and back aerials serve similar purposes as spacing options in the air. Forward aerial comes out faster and is a stabbing attack with a tipper sweetspot and has a unique property where it can be used to pierce solid walls and perform a pseudo-wall cling up to three times in a row before landing. Back aerial is Sephiroth's strongest aerial and is a slashing attacking with a middle sweetspot, making it incredibly deadly in Winged Form, even if used from a short hop. Up aerial, like up smash, covers a wide arc above Sephiroth, though its sluggish frame data makes it punisable if used recklessly. Sephiroth's down aerial, Hell's Gate, is a powerful stall-then-fall that is a meteor smash at the start; when combined with its massive range, going an incredible distance underneath surfaces, it can reliably 2 frame punish an opponent.
Sephiroth's grab game is surprisingly effective compared to other sword users. He holds the distinction of having three combo throws, though each gradually becomes less effective the more damaged the opponent is. Down throw is Sephiroth's most varied combo throw until mid-percentages, as it can lead into neutral, forward, back and up aerials, or be used for mix-ups. It also becomes even more effective in Winged Form in spite of rage, as Sephiroth's enhanced mobility can allow him to catch up to the opponent faster. At low percentages, up throw can set the opponent up for a neutral aerial or up tilt, the former of which can lead to longer combos and the latter of which can lead to juggling. Back throw launches at a favorable angle while having low ending lag. This makes it notable for leading into follow-ups until high percentages, including an infamous KO confirm into back aerial, which becomes especially dangerous when he is in Winged Form. In stark contrast to his other throws, forward throw lacks combo potential, but is nevertheless useful. Thanks to being a semi-spike, it can be used to set up an edge-guard or a tech chase, which could potentially allow him to score an early KO.
Sephiroth's side special, Shadow Flare, is unique among chargeable projectiles in that, while the initial projectile deals little damage and cause flinching, it generates larger, darkness projectiles that do not immediately attack the opponent, but instead orbit around them and deal damage by homing in. Depending on how long it is charged, one to three projectiles can be generated by a single Shadow Flare, and up to five projectiles can be orbiting a single opponent at a time. Its range is also comparable to his sword attacks on top of having low lag all around, making it easily spammable and useful for spacing.
Sephiroth's neutral special, Flare, is a more traditional projectile that can be charged between three different projectiles of different properties: Flare is the quickest and travels slow but has the longest range; Megaflare is stronger overall and has a larger blast radius, at the cost of some range; and Gigaflare has the shortest range and the longest charge time, but has the largest blast radius and deals the most damage (enough to instantly break a shield while in Winged Form) and the strongest knockback, making it an effective way of pressuring at the edge for an edge-guard, or as a way to extend the damage the opponent takes as punishment from a shield break.
Sephiroth's up special, Blade Dash, is a dashing blade attack that functions differently depending on if the button was tapped or held. Tapped Blade Dash is a single-hitting move that sweetspots edges easily. When held, the move becomes Octaslash, which travels slightly farther, has huge range and hits multiple times, dealing higher damage and knockback at the cost of sweetspotting edges. 
Lastly, his down special, Scintilla, is unique among counterattacks in that it will always produce a hitbox regardless of whether or not any attacks were countered, while its multi-hitting nature allows it to pressure shields, and is one of the strongest counters in the game with a 1.5× damage multiplier. However, Scintilla only covers in front of Sephiroth and has a damage cap of 25%; any attack that exceeds this cap will break the move, doing no damage but putting Sephiroth in a flinching animation and pushing him slightly backwards.
One of Sephiroth's most defining traits is his range. He notably sports among the longest overall range in Ultimate, thanks to his signature weapon, the Masamune, and surpassed only by in this regard. This gives him a great advantage in terms of safety and pressure. Unlike other swordfighters, Sephiroth's hitboxes differ between his stabbing and slashing attacks: his stabs (up tilt, down smash, forward aerial, and down aerial) have sweetspots positioned along the tip of Masamune (very much like and 's own tippers) with a mediumspot at the center of the blade, whereas his slashes (forward tilt, forward smash, up smash, back aerial, and up aerial) have sweetspots positioned along the upper center of its blade (similarly to 's inverse tipper, but with better range overall) with mediumspots at the tip. Opponents can be deterred from approaching over fear of being hit at any time, and the various sweet spots force opponents into certain positions to avoid the most damage, which Sephiroth can use to trap and punish them. Sephiroth's extremely low short hop also helps him in the neutral game, as it allows him to mix up whichever attack he will use, allowing his other attacks to be kept fresh until he is in a prime position to use them. Said tools, combined with his grounded mobility, can sometimes even help him counteract opponents with good zoning games, such as , , or Simon. Sephiroth's range can also allow him to effectively poke opponents, gradually whittling away at both their health and patience until they are forced to take drastic actions that could easily backfire. Thanks to Shadow Flare, the opponent can also eventually be put into said disadvantage more easily at best, or simply force them to avoid the damage and thus reset the neutral game at worst. His Winged Form helps significantly on both regards, as his increased mobility allows Sephiroth to reposition himself more easily while also increasing the damage he can deal and, unlike other fighter abilities like Limit Gauge or Rebellion Gauge, it will not disappear until Sephiroth is KO'd or has inflicted a lot of damage, which can potentially lead to him turning the tables on the opponent should they try to play around him carelessly.
However, Sephiroth also possesses a notable amount of weaknesses. The most notable is his frailty: Sephiroth's tall frame results in him being prone to get more easily hit by most attacks, which is further compounded by him being a fast falling lightweight. Much like , these traits collectively result in Sephiroth being easy to combo and KO compared to many other characters of his size and/or weight. Adding to this is Sephiroth's recovery: his polarized air physics result in him covering a mediocre distance midair, meaning that careless use of his resources can lead Sephiroth to be easily edge-guarded or gimped, in spite of both of his recovery options having their perks. Blade Dash, his quickest recovery option, does not cover as much distance as other recovery moves and does not fully protect Sephiroth other than from the front, which can leave him vulnerable to sufficiently disjointed moves. On the other hand, Octaslash offers excellent protection that can deter opponents from edge-guarding Sephiroth because of its range and power making it useful for edge-guard breaking, but has the slowest start-up, leaving Sephiroth vulnerable to being put at a worse position in the air. Semi-spikes can also be especially deadly for Sephiroth, as his air physics do not give him too much air time.
Furthermore, Sephiroth's overall frame data is unimpressive to compensate for his long range. Even his fastest aerial attack, neutral aerial, has mediocre start-up for an attack of its kind. This means that opponents can easily punish Sephiroth if certain moves are spammed or used carelessly. On top of this, Sephiroth's sword moves at the base of the Masamune all deal poor damage, knockback, and pushback, meaning that if improperly spaced, Sephiroth's moves can be easily punished at close range. Moves like up tilt and forward aerial have narrow ranges that can easily be avoided or shielded, while up aerial and down aerial are highly commital attacks that are sometimes difficult to reliably connect. Outside of neutral aerial, Sephiroth's melee-based moves also tend to have high ending lag, which results in him not having much in the way of mixing up his pressure at close range. Adding to this is Sephiroth's grab game, which is polarized in spite of its respectable utility; his grabs are short-ranged, his pummel is merely average, and his throws lack KO potential due to their meager damage outputs, average knockback, and/or unsuitable launching angles. All of these issues result in a poor close-quarters game that, when combined with his frailty, collectively culminates in Sephiroth being vulnerable to rushdown-based pressure if the opponent is able to keep up with his defense, such as or .
Another prominent issue on Sephiroth's moveset is his inconsistent KO potential. Due to his moves' sourspots, Sephiroth must always be at a distance from the opponent in order for them to KO reliably. His differing sweetspot mechanics can also work against him, due to how varied their locations are. His stab attacks possess narrow ranges and require the opponent to be at their longest range in order to be effective, which can result in them missing. On the other hand, his slash attacks do not require perfect spacing at long range to be effective, but their sweetspots are harder to land as a result of being located between the weaker sourspots and mediumspots. In regard to sword attacks, Octaslash should also be noted in that it only becomes consistently reliable for KOing while the Winged Form is active. Outside of his sweetspotted sword attacks, Sephiroth does not have many reliable ways to KO an opponent. Although dash attack's clean hit KOs at reasonable percentages, its slow start-up can make it easily predictable. 
Flare's decent damage output is mostly counterbalanced by its middling knockback and slow start-up and speed, making them easy to shield, absorb, or reflect. This results in it failing to KO at reasonable percentages like Megaflare and Gigaflare, which themselves are compensated by even less range and even slower start-up. As a result, Sephiroth must be careful when it comes to being able to secure KOs in spite of his impressive damage racking potential. Although Shadow Flare has low overall lag, it still must be used wisely, especially if used by a character with a reflector, as it can result in Sephiroth being struck for high damage himself and allow the opponent to capitalize on it. While Octaslash covers a great distance on its own and is risky to edge-guard, characters with counterattacks can easily use this to their advantage, which can leave Sephiroth at an even worse spot for recovering. Finally, despite its animation suggesting otherwise, Scintilla cannot reflect projectiles whatsoever (although it can stop them without effort). It also does not directly protect Sephiroth (especially from behind) and its damaging hitbox is treated as a projectile, making it a double-edged sword if reflected.
Last but not least, Sephiroth's Winged Form suffers from its own limitations. Despite the wide array of benefits it grants, including being able to mitigate the previously mentioned weaknesses, it only activates whenever Sephiroth receives damage, and is further dependent on his standing relative to the opponent. While the Winged Form can activate as low as 30% if Sephiroth is 2 stocks behind the opponent, it conversely activates as late as 110% if Sephiroth is 2 stocks ahead. Thus, the Winged Form suffers from consistency issues similarly to Aura in that Sephiroth will have to play very carefully if he is to keep his advantage, which is easier said than done due to his noticeable frailty. Although the Winged Form's damage-based armor on Sephiroth's smash attacks can definitely help him power through incoming offense, reckless usage of his smash attacks can render him predictable and open to being punished. Additionally, Sephiroth cannot regain the Winged Form until he gets KO'd, which can result in Winged form going to waste if Sephiroth is not able to capitalize on its benefits properly.
In the end, Sephiroth is arguably the most unique swordfighter in Ultimate, as his playstyle is a polarizing hybrid of the glass cannon and turtle archetypes, resulting in a high learning curve. His high overall damage output, immense range, varied sweetspots and effective projectiles grant him a respectably solid ranged melee playstyle, as it can become difficult for the opponent to approach Sephiroth should he consistently make the right choices, and it is equally difficult to surmount him should he break through the opponent's zone or defense. However, Sephiroth's inconsistent KO potential, polarized grab game, and poor close-quarters game can leave a much-to-be-desired offensive playstyle, and he is just as susceptible to pressure as much as he can dish it out himself. The benefits offered from his Winged Form can seriously help him on this regard, as it can help him greatly recover from a deficit should he be able to survive long enough, but his frailty means he also must play carefully in order to retain this advantage.
==Update history==
Sephiroth was buffed slightly via update 11.0.0, in which Scintilla's last hit was enlarged in order to link more reliably with its looping hits. Aside from this, Blade Dash's angle was adjusted and a glitch involving Shadow Flare was fixed.
As a result, Sephiroth's competitive standing has been virtually unchanged since his release.
 
==Moveset==
*Sephiroth has a unique fighter ability called the Winged Form. While active, it increases his overall damage output by applying a multiplier of 1.3×, improves his mobility by applying multipliers to his attributes, and grants him both a third jump and damage-based armor to his smash attacks. The following moveset list details the properties of all attacks when the Winged Form is not active. The conditions for the Winged Form to activate can be read here.
*Sephiroth's sword, the Masamune, possesses extremely long range, yet a generally slow attack speed. It has different sweetspots depending on the attack used.
**For slashing attacks, the sweetspot is located approximately at the middle of the Masamune's blade, a sourspot covers the handle and inner portion of the blade, and a mediumspot covers the tip of the blade. The sweetspot for slashing attacks is signified by a glowing area in the middle of the swing.
**For stabbing attacks, the sweetspot covers the tip of the Masamune's blade, while a mediumspot covers the blade.
***For simplicity, if the handle deals 8.5%, the blade deals 10%, the tip deals 11%, and that part of the attack has no other hitboxes, it is formatted on the table as 8.5%/10%/11%.
*Sephiroth's forward aerial can pierce walls and cling to them, similarly to Dragon Lunge and a misfired Green Missile. After piercing a wall, Sephiroth can choose to jump and thus boost his recovery by moving up or pressing the jump button/attack button, or let go of the wall by pressing away/down or waiting long enough.
For a gallery of Sephiroth's hitboxes, see here.
===Stats===
===Announcer call===
Sephiroth English Announcer SSBU.wav|English/Japanese/Chinese
===On-screen appearance===
*Slowly descends onto the stage while emitting a blackish purple aura and losing a few feathers.
SephirothOnScreenAppearanceSSBU.gif|Sephiroth's on-screen appearance.
===Taunts===
*Up taunt: Uses his right hand to gesture to the opponent to approach him, saying ("Come on at me.").
*Side taunt: Assumes the kasumi-no-kamae, a stance in . It is based on his fighting stance as a guest party member in Final Fantasy VII, as well as the climax of the game in which the metaphysical Sephiroth assumes the stance against Cloud before being defeated by him.
*Down taunt: Shifts the side of his body forward and chuckles sinisterly while emitting a blackish purple aura. The pose heavily resembles the one he assumed during the cutscene in Final Fantasy VII where he destroyed Nibelheim, while the aura is based on the one he emits during his entry cutscene before his boss fight in Final Fantasy VII Remake.
SSBUSephirothTaunt1.gif|Sephiroth's up taunt.
SSBUSephirothTaunt2.gif|Sephiroth's side taunt.
SSBUSephirothTaunt3.gif|Sephiroth's down taunt.
===Idle poses===
*Holds the Masamune downward with his opposite arm under it and his heel up.
*Shifts his position to the other side.
SSBUSephirothIdle1.gif|Sephiroth's first idle pose.
SSBUSephirothIdle2.gif|Sephiroth's second idle pose.
===Crowd cheer===
 	Cheer (International)	Cheer (Japanese/Chinese)	Cheer (Korean)
Cheer 	 	 	
Description	Seph - i - roth! 	Seph - i - roth! 	Seph - i - roth!
===Victory poses===
All of Sephiroth's victory screens occur in a fiery area instead of the standard area where most of the victory screens occur. This is a direct reference to the Nibelheim Incident from Final Fantasy VII and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. Instead of having a colored background behind him when his name appears, the screen will be tinted red. If Sephiroth is the leader of a winning team, he will use his special victory screens without any of his teammates being seen, similarly to .
If Cloud is present during the match, Sephiroth has a chance of saying ("I will never be a memory.") during any of his three victory poses. This is a reference to his final line of dialogue from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and, by proxy, his reveal trailer for Ultimate.
*Left: With his back turned, Sephiroth turns his head toward the camera while chuckling. He then turns around and slowly walks deeper into the flames until he disappears. It is based on the second scene of the Nibelheim Incident cutscene. 
*Up: Slowly raises his head and glares at the camera, saying ("I will guide you as many times."). It references the first scene of the Nibelheim Incident cutscene.
*Right: While turning his back to the camera, he swings the Masamune and assumes his Winged Form, saying ("Remember me through that pain.").
*Team: In Team Battles where Sephiroth is not the leader, he faces to the side in the same pose as his up-inputted victory pose, keeping his face away from the camera. This resembles his victory animation in Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia.
SephirothVictoryPose1SSBU.gif
SephirothVictoryPose2SSBU.gif
SephirothVictoryPose3SSBU.gif
SephirothTeamVictoryPoseSSBU.gif
==In competitive play==
===Most historically significant players===
See also: :Category:Sephiroth players (SSBU)
* - Though primarily a player, KEN also played Sephiroth and used the character extensively in 2022. He is considered one of the greatest Sephiroth player of all time and notably won using Sephiroth for all of top 8; this was the only major won by a Sephiroth player. He eventually dropped Sephiroth following a string of underwhelming performances with the character, though he has since used Sephiroth as a rare counterpick for sets where his Sonic was struggling.
* - The best Sephiroth player in Europe. He is best known for his performances in the first half of 2023, where he placed 3rd at , 5th at , and 25th at , notably defeating at both ICARUS and King Of Fields. These performances led him to rank 7th in Europe for the first half of 2023, becoming the only Italian player to rank top 10 in Europe in any Smash game. Outside of these performances, he also dominated the Italian scene, winning many of their ranked events including .
* - One of the earliest Sephiroth players to perform well offline, placing 2nd at and 9th at . He remained one of the best Sephiroth players in the world in the following year, most notably placing 5th at , 7th at , and 9th at . He was ranked 35th on the OrionRank 2022, which was the only time a player who primarily mained Sephiroth was ranked in the top 50. Though he continued to play Sephiroth after 2022, he also picked up several other characters to act as a co-main or common secondary.
* - Plays Sephiroth alongside and is one of the best players from Australia. He is best known internationally for placing 4th at with a win over , placing 17th at defeating , and defeating to place 33rd at . In Australia, he often placed top 8 at their largest events, including winning and placing 4th at . He was ranked 105th on the OrionRank 2022, becoming only the second Australian player to rank globally.
* - Though predominantly playing in the post-pandemic metagame, Tweek also has a noteworthy Sephiroth secondary that he often uses as a counterpick. He is considered one of the greatest Sephiroth players of all time, notably placing 5th at with solo-Sephiroth and placing 2nd at , and using Sephiroth successfully in matchups that did not favor Diddy Kong as much, such as the matchup.
===Tier placement and history===
Initial reactions to Sephiroth were incredibly positive, with many top players, such as , , and , believing that he was a top tier fighter, citing his incredible range, his unique and powerful projectiles, Scintilla bolstering his advantage state, and his Winged Form being a very strong comeback tool when mastered. Other players, most notably , was less enthusiastic, believing that Sephiroth's frailty, poor disadvantage state, inconsistency, and generally slow frame data could prevent him from reaching such status. Sephiroth saw some early success in online play, thanks to players such as ; however, as Sephiroth was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sephiroth's viability in the offline metagame remained unknown for some time. 
When offline competitive play returned, opinions on Sephiroth mellowed out as players identified how his light weight, tall stature, and unimpressive frame data were noticeable weaknesses. In addition, many players believed Sephiroth was more difficult to consistently play at a top level than most fighters, which led Sephiroth to garner a rather small playerbase compared to other perceived-top tier fighters. Despite this, Sephiroth's overall representation remained strong thanks to performances from players such as , Ned, and , all of whom have achieved respectable placements and wins at majors while using Sephiroth; this was most notably demonstrated by KEN's win at where he used only Sephiroth throughout the top 8. These results helped general impressions of Sephiroth, and he would end up placing 27th on the first tier list, ranking in the high tier. 
However, these results were either set back by the players' inconsistency with the character or were complemented with other characters. For example, KEN mostly played at Battle of BC 4 prior to top 8, while his Sephiroth became less consistent as time went on, including going 1-2 at the invitational ; KEN has since dropped Sephiroth, only pulling him out as an occasional counterpick. Sephiroth's smaller playerbase compared to other characters in his tier, as well as his general inconsistency at higher level play, has led many to reconsider his placement. Most players now agree that he is the weakest character of Fighters Pass Vol. 2, with some even believing that he belongs in mid-tier rather than high-tier. As such, Sephiroth fell to 37th on the second and current tier list, notably seeing one of the largest drops between the first and second tier list.
==: The Chosen Ones==
Uniquely, Sephiroth's Classic Mode route functions similarly to Super Smash Bros. Brawls Boss Battles Mode: each of his opponents are the bosses of Ultimate (excluding Galeem and Dharkon), referencing his status as the final boss in Final Fantasy VII. The title of his route also references his leitmotif from Final Fantasy VII, "Those Chosen by the Planet".
Round 	Opponent 	Stage 	Music 	Notes
1 	Rathalos 	Forest Hill 	 	
2 	Galleom 	Base 	 	
3 	Marx 	Mysterious Dimension 	 	
4 	Dracula 	 	Phase 1: Phase 2:	
5 	Ganon 	Sacred Land 	 	
6 	Giga Bowser	 	 	
Bonus Stage	Bonus Stage	Bonus Stage 	Bonus Stage 	Bonus Stage
Final 	and 	Northern Cave (Ω form)	 	References the final battle of Final Fantasy VII where multiple characters team up to defeat Sephiroth.
Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Sephiroth has accompany the credits.
==Role in World of Light==
Due to his status as downloadable content, Sephiroth does not have a legitimate role in World of Light. Instead, he is unlocked for use in the mode after freeing 10 fighters from Galeem's control. If loading an existing save file that meets this condition before downloading Sephiroth, he is immediately unlocked.
Interestingly, Sephiroth's trailer takes place during World of Light, where he makes his presence known by slicing Galeem in half and fighting the heroes himself. Additionally, other DLC characters that have no role in World of Light are present fighting Galeem before Sephiroth makes his entrance, including Erdrick, Banjo and Kazooie.
==Spirit==
Sephiroth's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing as Sephiroth. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Sephiroth has been downloaded. Unlocking Sephiroth in World of Light allows the player to preview the spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. His fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with his artwork in Ultimate.
SSBU spirit Sephiroth.png|1,439. Sephiroth
==Alternate costumes==
							
							
==Reveal trailer==
==Gallery==
Sephiroth Descends to Battle.png|Sephiroth's splash art.
Sephiroth amiibo.png|Sephiroth's amiibo.
Sephiroth unlock notice SSBU.jpg|Sephiroth's unlock notice after downloading him from the Nintendo eShop.
Sephiroth Challenge title screen.jpg|Sephiroth's appearance in the Sephiroth Challenge title screen.
SSBUWebsiteSephiroth1.jpg|Sephiroth standing and holding Masamune on Northern Cave.
SSBUWebsiteSephiroth2.jpg|Attacking with Octaslash on Umbra Clock Tower.
SSBUWebsiteSephiroth3.jpg|Casting Flare on Dracula's Castle.
SSBUWebsiteSephiroth4.jpg|Using his coatless on Northern Cave.
SSBUWebsiteSephiroth5.jpg|Using Supernova against , , and .
SSBUWebsiteSephiroth6.jpg|Fighting on Midgar.
SephirothTW.jpg|Sephiroth with on Northern Cave.
SSBUWebsiteSora5.jpg|Fighting on Coliseum.
SSBUSoraMarioCloudSephy.jpg|Fighting Cloud, Sora and on Hollow Bastion.
SSBUSoraCloudSephy.jpg|Sephiroth alongside Sora and Cloud on Midgar.
All Fighters from Fighters Pass Vol 2.jpg|Sephiroth alongside all of the other DLC fighters of .
==Trivia==
thumb|240px|The Super Smash Bros. Ultimate × Final Fantasy at the end of The Game Awards 2020 video.
*Sephiroth's internal codename is "edge".
*Sephiroth is the second fighter to be revealed at a non-Nintendo event/presentation, the first being . Both of them were revealed at (Joker in 2018 and Sephiroth in 2020).
**Oddly, Sephiroth's English trailer shown during The Game Awards is slightly different from the one uploaded subsequently to Nintendo's official channels: the crossover card states Super Smash Bros. Ultimate × Final Fantasy during The Game Awards, whereas in later uploads it displays Super Smash Bros. Ultimate × Final Fantasy VII, in line with 's trailer for Super Smash Bros. 4.
*According to Masahiro Sakurai, Sephiroth was developed to feel like a boss character while having boss-like strength for players to enjoy when using him.Sakurai on implementing Sephiroth into Smash Bros. Ultimate, reveal trailer, more
**Sakurai also mentioned that the incorporation of the Masamune and making Sephiroth's attacks easy to use were two problems that occurred during Sephiroth's development.
*According to Naoki Hamaguchi, Sephiroth's inclusion was extremely confidential. Neither he nor the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth dev team knew about this until Sephiroth's reveal trailer.https://nintendoeverything.com/final-fantasy-vii-rebirth-director-says-sephiroth-in-smash-bros-ultimate-was-extremely-confidential/
*Sephiroth is one of three characters to fight Master Hand and Crazy Hand on a stage other than in Classic Mode, with the others being and Joker.
*Sephiroth's introduction tagline is a reference to his leitmotif, "One-Winged Angel". It may also reference one of his battle quotes in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II in which he says, "Descend, heartless angel."
*Sephiroth's trailer makes several references to both the original Final Fantasy VII game, the game's remake, and the CGI-animated film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, with much of his and Cloud's dialogue being adapted from the latter, including him nearly impaling Mario using his Masamune. Several shots in the trailer are direct recreations of shots from Advent Children.
**His introduction tagline pose references his official artwork from Final Fantasy VII.
*Like Cloud, the Super Smash Bros. series marks the third time that Sephiroth has been playable in a fighting game/series, with the first two being Ehrgeiz and the Dissidia Final Fantasy series.
*Sephiroth's render resembles a flipped version of his original Dissidia Final Fantasy render, albeit in 3D and with his wing displayed.
*Sephiroth is the only character from an already-represented third-party universe to not be an Echo Fighter of the former, as and are echoes of and respectively.
*Sephiroth is the first DLC character who must be unlocked through fighting him, although this is only for early access and not a permanent feature. 
*Sephiroth is the only fighter whose Classic Mode consists entirely of bosses and, by extension, lacks any fighters as opponents.
*Sephiroth is the only DLC character to have a unique quote when winning against certain characters. He is also the second third-party character with this distinction, following .
**Also, Sephiroth is the only character who does not show the other characters on the Victory Screen when he wins in a Team Battle.
*Sephiroth, , , Joker, Hero, Banjo & Kazooie, Pyra, Mythra, and Sora are the only fighters who use their walking animation when navigating through the map in World of Light.
*Sephiroth's victory screens load much faster than other characters, likely due to the fiery background being pre-rendered instead of a modeled setting.
*Sephiroth is one of three fighters who are not featured in any Spirit Battles whatsoever, with the other two being and . This makes him the only fighter in Fighters Pass Volume 2 not to be in a Spirit Battle.
==References==
 
Category:Third-party characters
Category:Square Enix
Category:Downloadable content
es:Sefirot (SSBU)