Marth (SSBU)

Marth (, Marth) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Like all veterans, he was officially confirmed as a playable character on June 12th, 2018. As in his appearances prior to Super Smash Bros. 4, he is unlockable, instead of being available from the start. Marth is classified as Fighter #21.
This is the first time in the Super Smash Bros. series where Marth is not solely voiced in Japanese. In international releases, Marth is voiced in English by , who reprises his role from onwards. reprises his role in the Japanese version, with newly recorded voice clips for the first time since Super Smash Bros. Melee.Nintendo Dream (February 2019) interview (translation)
Marth is ranked 71th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing him in the C- tier. This is a drastic drop from his placement of 11th/12th out of 54 in SSB4 where he was tied with , and is by far Marth's worst placement in the series to date, as well as tying with as the largest drop for a veteran in the transition from SSB4 to Ultimate. This is also a significant drop compared to his Echo Fighter, , who is currently ranked 38th out of 82 and is placed in the A- tier. Like Lucina, Marth possesses above-average speed and long, disjointed range on his moves, as well as great frame data overall, granting him a strong advantage state. His greatest asset, and what sets him apart from Lucina, is his tipper, which deals additional knockback and damage when landed. Some of his tippers have disproportionately high KO potential compared to Lucina, and especially relative to their speed: for example, a tippered uncharged forward smash, fourth forward hit of Dancing Blade, and Shield Breaker are all very fast and capable of KOing opponents at ledge as early as 40-60%, which heavily rewards proper spacing from the player.
Despite this, his strengths are offset by several weaknesses. Like Lucina, Marth has a weak set of throws that are only effective for setting up a positional advantage, with his KO throw (up throw) KOing extremely late. In addition, he can struggle in escaping juggling situations due to his average air speed, low gravity, and tall hitbox. His greatest weakness, however, is his tipper mechanic. The power difference between his sweetspots and sourspots have been further accentuated; this means that landing his sourspots, though effective for setting up combos and tech-chases, is significantly less rewarding than previous games, as he is unable to easily KO opponents without landing tippers. Ultimates faster engine, the removal of certain microspacing techniques (such as perfect pivoting), the hitboxes of his attacks more closely matching his sword's model (which shorten his range), and the reduction in tipper sizes also make landing Marth's tipper attacks notoriously inconsistent. Overall, these combined factors makes Marth's KO potential very unpredictable compared to Lucina, who is able to take stocks through neutral exchanges without accounting for spacing.
Though he shares many strengths and weaknesses with Lucina, Marth's inconsistent tipper attacks meant that he did not enjoy the glowing perception and large playerbase that his Echo Fighter did, especially as many in the community widely consider Lucina as the superior character. Though Marth has seen some success from players such as and , he remains one of the least popular characters in competitive play.
==How to unlock==
Complete one of the following:
*Play VS. matches, with Marth being the 7th character to be unlocked.
*Clear with or any character in his unlock tree, being the 2nd character unlocked after .
*Have Marth join the player's party in World of Light.
With the exception of the third method, Marth must then be defeated on Castle Siege. In World of Light, he is fought on .
==Attributes==
Marth is considered to be emblematic of swordfighters; his playstyle revolves around spacing utilizing his unique signature tipper mechanic to deal high damage and knockback at a distance from his opponent. He is a low-middle weight swordfighter boasting high overall mobility, notably sporting the fastest walking speed in the game (tied with his Echo Fighter, ), a fast dashing speed coupled with the 6th fastest initial dash, average air speed, above-average air acceleration, moderate falling speed, and low gravity.
Marth's playstyle, as in of his other playable appearances, revolves around effective spacing, due to his aforementioned tipper mechanic granting most of his sword attacks more damage and knockback near the tip of the sword, although he can now utilize his sourspot hitboxes more effectively for setting up combos and tech-chases due to his increased mobility and reduced landing lag on aerials, repurposing his former heavily spacing focused playstyle from SSB4 into a more dynamic one that utilizes sourspots to initiate kill confirms and extend combos at higher percents to complement his efficient spacing game. His above average frame data, paired with his high mobility, grant him an effective although linear approach against characters that outrange him with longer disjoints or projectiles, whereas his multiple attacks with low startup and wide range all-around allow Marth to space around brawlers with lower range, this combination of traits permit him to adapt to different gameplans and characters.
Marth maintains well above-average KO potential in addition to his speed and maneuverability, with his sweet spotted attacks boasting impressive damage and knockback. His forward tilt is one of his most reliable tools on the ground, possessing a good range and a sweetspot that is easy to hit with, especially above Marth. It is good for closing out stocks as it can KO as early as 95% near the edge while remaining relatively safe. His down tilt is a safe poking tool when spaced and sets up a tech chase situation starting at 60%, and his up tilt covers a relatively wide area around Marth himself and is among the strongest of its kind in the game. Dash attack possesses extraordinarily high base knockback, KO'ing most fighters when landed at the very edge at roughly 65%, even if forward tilt surpasses it in most other scenarios. His aerials also possess high damage and knockback when sweetspotted, and combined with his aerial maneuverability, grant him a respectable air game. When tippered, his forward smash can KO before 40% next to the ledge while uncharged, making it one of the most deceptively powerful forward smashes in the game, while his up smash can KO as early as 60%, earlier if Marth is standing on a platform. The meteor smash of his down aerial, while requiring exact timing and spacing to connect, can not only gimp recoveries but also bounce opponents off the ground in such a way that it can immediately chain into tippered attacks such as forward and up smash at medium percentages, and aerials at higher percentages. His tipper mechanic benefits greatly from stages with low platforms such as , allowing Marth to tipper with much more ease against opponents using forward tilt, up tilt, and especially his forward smash by covering said platforms with mostly the tipper areas of said attacks. Higher platforms follow a similar pattern except with his aerials, most notably up aerial. In essence, Marth can make a single correct move at the correct time to cut an opponent's stock short suddenly and very early, especially when playing close to the edge.
While Marth's tipper has great KO power, the larger hitboxes of his sourspots provide benefits as well; thanks to their lower damage and knockback, they allow him to effectively combo into attacks one after another at a wider range of percentages. Most commonly, sourspotted neutral aerial when short hopped repeatedly allows Marth to carry an opponent across the stage at low percentages and rack up damage, and up tilt sets up into aerial-based combos and juggles if it connects late. His neutral aerial's first hit also acts as an effective combo starter and extender when sourspotted and landed as close to the ground as possible, as well as his up aerial. He also benefits from being one of the few characters in the game who can outright KO through effective play of his neutral and spacing game; essentially, while Marth's neutral reward is not as rewarding or damaging as some characters, Marth has the ability to win neutral exchanges with relative ease and safety, as well as having consistent set-ups and follow-ups.
Marth's advantage state as a whole is considerably strong. His combination of good speed and range give him powerful juggling capabilities, as he can easily dash to where a falling opponent might land and catch them with his wide attacks, especially his up tilt and up aerial. His fast and disjointed hitboxes also allow him to challenge the opponent's falling attacks safely, and his tipper only further complements this. Because of this, Marth has an easy time keeping opponents in the air and racking up damage with his up tilt and powerful up aerial. These traits also grant him strong edgeguarding abilities, as his wide aerials can cover enemy movement well, and when tippered can outright KO offstage opponents thanks to their power. Moreover, his general floatiness also allows him to recover back to the stage after edgeguarding attempts fairly safely.
Marth's special moveset provides interesting options as well; his neutral special, the aptly named Shield Breaker, deals very high shield damage, even when uncharged, and is useful for covering rolls and landings. It's best used while descending from the air when the opponent is most likely to expect a simple aerial and shield accordingly, and can even be used off-stage to challenge opponents that shield next to the edge intending to cover Marth's ledge recovery options. Dancing Blade is a four-hit combo that can be used to punish sidesteps and rolls, as well as effectively rack up damage. The final upward hit immediately puts the opponent into a disadvantaged state, and the final downward hits deal high damage. The final neutral hit can serve as an effective KOing option at higher percents, but if it successfully tippers, it can KO as early as 70% at the edge with no rage. More situationally, the first hit of Dancing Blade by itself can be used as a knowledge check on opponents: although it cannot truly combo into anything other than the rest of the move, if an opponent is not prepped to escape after getting hit by the near-instant strike, it can be used extend strings in the air, be followed up with the first hit of neutral aerial, and assist in gimping recoveries by interrupting unprepared opponents off-stage. However, those who are aware of the gap after the hit can escape with relative ease, so its use is not recommended at higher level. Dolphin Slash has quick startup, provides slight intangibility during its startup frames, is relatively strong when it first comes out and has high knockback scaling. These attributes make it an excellent out-of-shield option and combo breaker, whilst also giving him an easy and reliable combo finisher and KO option. It is also Marth's primary method of recovery, as its speed can make it difficult to intercept, and it can stage spike reckless edge guarders. Lastly, Counter provides him with the capability to reverse attacks with 1.2× the damage, KOing if the attack was strong enough; it can also be used against opponents with slow and easily predictable recoveries.
Despite his strengths, Marth has some notable weaknesses. The most severe of these is his extreme reliance on tippers and spacing ability, which gives him a subpar up-close game at higher percents, and makes it more difficult for Marth to KO and threaten faster characters such as , , and , who rapidly pass in and out of Marth's 'Goldilocks zone' of tippers when engaging him at close range. The low shieldstun and hitstun generated by non-tippered moves make it possible for opponents to act out quicker than he can, causing Marth to struggle against shields if his attacks are improperly spaced, and Shield Breaker is highly punishable if predicted. His tipper mechanic can equally disadvantage him when attempting to KO, as his attacks do not generate much knockback if not spaced properly, making his KO potential very inconsistent without proper spacing and understanding of his effect ranges (most notably with forward smash, forward tilt, and aerials). Lastly, his edgeguarding ability, though strong, is flawed, both due to the need for tippers to definitively gimp recoveries and the moderately high ending lag on his aerials. As a result, Marth is reliant on being in a certain distance for his moves to be safe while retaining the neutral. Additionally, unlike in past iterations, Marth can have a fairly difficult time consistently landing his tipper sweetspots to begin with as a result of the faster engine and alterations to his hitboxes that made his tipper smaller. His ability to KO effectively other than a raw tippered move in neutral exists in rare and difficult setups that are heavily affected by individual character hurtboxes, player DI, and Marth's own rage, and eventually disappear once his opponent reaches an especially high percentage. This leaves him very little choice but to 'fish' for an aforementioned tipper, a sourspotted smash attack, any of his specials, or an edgeguard scenario, up until the point where the opponent is at an extreme percentage that even a non-tippered stray hit or up throw can KO; This phenomenon is referred to by the community as "Marthritis", and with the exception of the edgeguard scenario, most of these aforementioned moves remain unsafe if the sourspot is shielded or the move whiffs completely, leaving him an easy target for punishment.
Compounding the difficulty Marth experiences trying to land his tipper, the increased knockback granted by tippered attacks can actually conflict with moves that consist of multiple hits, causing them to fail to correctly sweetspot or even connect on all hits unless at very specific percentages and ranges. These include his neutral attack, neutral aerial, and most notoriously Dancing Blade; Due to the changes to Dancing Blade, it is much harder for an opponent to fall or DI out of the sequence but it is also harder for Marth specifically to land more than one tipper in any use of the move. Should he tipper any earlier hits of these aforementioned attacks, it is highly likely that the opponent will be knocked too far away for the later ones to even connect. This means that Marth must initiate each of those moves from the sourspotted areas in order for them to function correctly, and carefully time the strikes of Dancing Blade to tipper the finishers. As a result, Dancing Blade's high KO potential is offset by not only the difficulty of landing the tippered finisher, but also by it intrinsically having lower damage output than other characters' version of the move.
Marth's weak throws tie into his polarized KO power. Except for up throw, they have low knockback scaling, preventing them from KOing at realistic percents, while up throw can only KO starting at 170% when Marth has no rage. His other throws are somewhat lackluster; aside from having a fairly fast pummel, Marth's throws deal low damage and have high base knockback, making them poor for combos and damage-racking outside of down throw leading into an aerial until high percents. However, it should be noted that the high base knockback of his throws allow Marth to take advantage of his good edgeguarding capability, especially at the edge.
Another notable weakness is Marth's difficulty in escaping from juggles, despite being good at juggling opponents himself; his air speed is average at best, his gravity is fairly low, his weight is slightly below-average and his tall hurtbox provides an easy target. Dolphin Slash is his only reliable combo breaker, but as it leaves him helpless, it can inadvertently put him in an even worse position. Also, while Counter can be used defensively, it leaves Marth extremely vulnerable to punishment should it whiff. Marth also has little defense against juggling, as his aerials are ineffective at relieving pressure; though his attacks have quick startup and decent range, many of them come with high ending lag, their large sourspots are fairly weak compared to most other aerials, and they also suffer from short hitbox durations. Additionally, being a solely sword-based character, Marth's neutral game suffers from his complete lack of a projectile, and he can sometimes struggle against projectile-heavy characters and playstyles; however, his combination of high mobility, good range and decent frame data helps to alleviate this issue.
Marth himself is somewhat vulnerable to edgeguarding, though he has options for mix-ups with his recovery. Dolphin Slash is his only reliable vertical recovery option, and while it is still a threat to edgeguarders due to its speed, frame 1 intangibility and high stage spike ability, its path is linear and its distance fixed, making it fairly predictable. Additionally, since this move grants little horizontal distance, Marth is vulnerable to semi-spikes. While Shield Breaker can aid his horizontal recovery, it covers little distance without charging and does not halt his existing vertical momentum either. Marth is also heavily reliant on his double jump and directional air dodge for mix-ups in his recovery, and is in significant danger if offstage without either of them.
Overall, Marth's strengths outweigh his weaknesses. While his reliance on spacing and overall safety hinders him in many ways, his high overall mobility, long and disjointed range, above-average frame data and good damage output make up for it, while his punishes are decently strong overall even if the stronger ones are fairly inconsistent. As such, he is often seen as weaker and more difficult to use than his Echo Fighter Lucina. 
==Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4==
Marth has been a high-ranking character in all of his appearances in the series, with both Melee and Brawl ranking him as one of the best characters, and although SSB4 initially heavily nerfed him, he was significantly buffed by game updates, allowing him to be ranked favorably once again. Possibly as a result of this, Marth has received a mixture of buffs and nerfs in his transition to Ultimate, but he has been nerfed overall.
Marth benefits from some of the changes to the game's engine. The ability to dash cancel into any attack improves his grounded spacing ability (especially for his tilt attacks), and allow him to bait attacks with fox-trotting; this is all further compounded by his fast running speed and greatly improved initial dash. The reduced landing lag on his aerials also makes them safer for spacing and approaching, while also enhancing their combo ability, giving the sourspots better safety on hit on landing and more reliable kill confirms into tippered attacks. The changes to air dodge mechanics also enhance his juggling and edge guarding capabilities, as they provide less leeway for opponents to recover against his wide aerials, further improving his edgeguarding game.
When it comes to direct changes, Dancing Blade has been sped up greatly, making its hits link into each other much more consistently, and the tippered fourth forward hit has significantly higher knockback, being able to KO at much lower percentages than before. The ability to angle Shield Breaker vertically increases the move's coverage, to the point the down angled version will always tipper in a successful 2 frame punish. Many of his moves such as dash attack, up tilt, up aerial and down aerial are easier to tipper, while some of them are also stronger in both damage and knockback.
However, Marth has received some noteworthy, direct nerfs, most notably to his KO ability and neutral attack. Some of Marth's attacks, like his sourspotted forward smash and Dancing Blade's fourth forward hit, as well as his tippered forward aerial now deal less knockback, whereas his neutral, forward and back aerials have had their hitbox positionings worsened, making landing the tippers slightly more difficult. Additionally, his up throw is slightly weaker as well. This makes it more important for Marth to carefully space his attacks in order to land his tippers to finish strings to deal more damage and score KOs. His neutral attack, previously an excellent combo starter and neutral tool due to its first hit, has been altered as with most neutral attacks so that it can only follow up into the second hit from the first, removing its powerful jab cancel from SSB4 that was useful to Marth's gameplan in exchange of more situational jab lock capabilities.
Marth's specials and grab game have also been weakened. Dolphin Slash and Counter are a bit more punishable than before, and Dancing Blade deals less damage in exchange for its improved linking potential. On top of the worsened KO ability on his up throw, forward throw has also lost its combo potential, which weakens Marth's options against shields.
Despite benefitting from some of them, Marth has been also hindered by the gameplay mechanics, due to his defensive playstyle. Particularly, the universal increase in mobility, while improving his approach and further increasing his already fast mobility, has also made landing his tippers more difficult, as the game's faster pace encourages aggressive playstyles more than in SSB4. The removal of perfect pivoting and lack of quick, safe, and reliable grounded micro spacing options further magnifies his spacing troubles. On top of it, Marth's already linear recovery was also made more telegraphed by the changes to air dodging as well as the reduction in edge sweet spot size, making him easier to edgeguard and thus worsening his survivability. Lastly, the weakening of rage weakens Marth's ability to close out stocks at ludicrously low percentages.
Overall, the buffs Marth got and the benefits he gained from the engine do not compensate for the nerfs he received and the hindrances the engine has also indirectly given him, as Marth now has a harder time landing his tipper sweet spots, which is especially troublesome as he relies on spacing in order to KO opponents below high percentages. In addition, the knockback nerfs to some of his attacks have made it more difficult for him to consistently KO his opponents at low percentages. This causes Marth to shift to a more offensive playstyle, where he relies more on his sourspotted hits to combo his opponents while remaining at a safe distance from where he can poke them with tippered attacks. Game updates have remedied some of Marth's issues, making it slightly easier and more rewarding for him to land some of his tipper hitboxes and slightly improving his dash grab range, though these buffs did not raise his standing significantly. As a result, Marth performs worse in Ultimate compared to SSB4, and is generally seen as inferior to his Echo Fighter and semi-clone, and , who are widely regarded as more rewarding than him and thus superior as a result.
==Update history==
Marth was slightly buffed via game updates. Marth received a small, yet worthwhile buff to his dash grab's vertical range in update , which was shared with his three derivatives (, , and ). This most notably increased the consistency of their grabs against some shielding opponents, such as 
After a long absence from patch notes, Marth was given a few worthwhile buffs in update . Most notably, the update repositioned the non-tipper hitboxes of his forward, back, and up aerials, thus making their respective tippers easier to hit. This substantially improved some of Marth's staple moves, and primarily benefits both his air game and his edgeguarding potential. His down smash's tipper also gained more knockback, which improved its KO potential.
In , Marth was once again buffed, all related to some of his tippers. The tipper of his dash attack deals 1% more damage, deals overall more knockback, and the blade hitbox was moved back slightly, making it easier to land to tipper. His up tilt also received a 1% damage increase to the tipper, allowing it to KO roughly 10% earlier, and the middle hitbox was moved to have more coverage. And finally, the tipper hitbox of down tilt was slightly enlarged and extended, and the sourspot was slightly shrunken, making it easier to land the tipper.
Overall, while Marth is more viable than he was at launch, he is still currently seen as inferior to his Echo Fighter, Lucina, as the buffs he gained were not enough to counteract Lucina's overall better consistency and effectiveness. 
 
 
 
 
==Moveset==
*For simplicity if, for example, Marth's blade does 4% damage while the tip does 6%, and the attack has no other hitboxes, it is written as 4%/6%.
For a gallery of Marth's hitboxes, see here.
Dancing Blade
Hit 	Damage 	Description
First Hit (Neutral) 	2.5%/3% 	Does an outward slash. Deals very little knockback even at extremely high percents. Can jab lock. The tipper lifts opponents off the ground slightly, making it combo into the second hit more consistently.
Second Hit (Up) 	2.5%/3% 	An upwards lifting slash. It has greater vertical reach, but shorter horizontal reach than the first hit or the second neutral hit. Lifts opponents slightly off the ground, with the tipper hit pulling them in slightly. At high percents and when at a distance from the opponent, its shorter reach can be used to intentionally miss so that the last two hits can connect properly.
Second Hit (Neutral)	2.5%/3% 	Does an inward slash. It has a slightly shorter hitbox than the first hit, which can lead to it sometimes missing if the first hit is landed from too far away. Deals very little knockback, even at extremely high percents. Can jab lock.
Third Hit (Up) 	3%/4% 	Does an upwards slash while turning clockwise. Launches opponents slightly up and away, leading into the upward finisher's tipper fairly consistently if delayed a bit.
Third Hit (Neutral) 	3%/4% 	Takes a step forward and does a leaning outward slash. At close range, this can be used to combo into the neutral finisher's tipper by delaying it, although otherwise, this hit may push opponents too far away for the fourth hit to connect at all at high percents.
Third Hit (Down) 	3%/4% 	Leans in and does a horizontal slash low to the ground. Deals less knockback than the other third hits, which can make it useful for connecting with the neutral finisher at higher percents, when the third neutral hit may send too far away.
Fourth Hit (Up) 	5%/7% 	Twirls counterclockwise and does an upward slash. Launches opponents up, making it useful for starting juggling strings. Has the least ending lag of the three finishers. Fairly low knockback even when tippered. Has greater vertical reach than any other hit of the move.
Fourth Hit (Neutral)	4%/6% 	Turns counterclockwise, steps forward, and does very powerful vertical slash downward. This is the strongest finisher in regards to knockback. The tipper by itself will KO middleweights at the edge as low as 50%, but the hit is much weaker when not tippered, only beginning to KO around 130%. The tipper is notoriously small and hard to connect most of the time, as Marth needs to be in an exact position to land a tipper with the variant.
Fourth Hit (Down) 	2% (hit 1-4), 4%/5% (hit 5)	Does a flurry of five lower stabs. Deals the most damage of the three finishers, wearing down shields well, and can shield poke low shields. Has the highest ending lag and the lowest knockback of the three finishers.
===Stats===
===Announcer calls===
Marth English Announcer SSB4-SSBU.wav|English/Japanese/Chinese
Marth French Announcer SSBU.wav|French
Marth French EU Announcer SSBU.wav|French (PAL)
===On-screen appearance===
*Warps onto the stage using a warp circle with a twirl and unsheathes his sword.
MarthOnScreenAppearanceSSBU.gif|Marth's on-screen appearance
===Taunts===
*Up taunt: Hoists the Falchion into the air, emitting light from the tip while saying "This is it!" (, Let's go!) Resembles his critical hit animation from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.
*Side taunt: Swings the Falchion once before resheathing it, saying "I won't lose!" (, I won't lose!)
*Down taunt: Swings the Falchion around and says "Keep your eyes open!" ( Everyone, watch over me!)
SSBUMarthTaunt1.gif|Marth's up taunt.
SSBUMarthTaunt2.gif|Marth's side taunt.
SSBUMarthTaunt3.gif|Marth's down taunt.
===Idle poses===
*Holds his hand to his chest, closes his eyes, and silently takes a breath.
*Brushes his hair out of his face.
SSBUMarthIdle1.gif|Marth's first idle pose.
SSBUMarthIdle2.gif|Marth's second idle pose.
===Crowd cheer===
 	Cheer (English) 	Cheer (Japanese/Chinese)	Cheer (Italian) 	Cheer (Dutch) 	Cheer (French)
Cheer 	 	 	 	 	
Description	Marth Marth Marth!	Mar - u - su! 	Marth Marth Marth!	Marth Marth! *claps 2 times*	Marth! *claps 3 times*
 	Cheer (German)	Cheer (Spanish) 	Cheer (Russian) 	Cheer (Korean)
Cheer 	 	 	 	
Description	Marth! 	Marth Marth Marth!	Marth! Marth! Marth!	Maaaareu - seu!
===Victory poses===
*Left: Performs Shield Breaker, then poses with Falchion at his right side, saying "The day is mine!" ("", This time victory is mine.). His ending pose mirrors his official artwork from Smash 4.
*Up: Performs a flare with his sword before sheathing it, and while still gripping it, says "I live to fight again." ("", I was able to survive again today.).
*Right: Jumps in the air swinging his sword twice, then lands in a pose resembling his Counter animation, saying "I cannot afford to lose!" ("", I can't afford to lose.).
MarthVictoryPose1SSBU.gif
MarthVictoryPose2SSBU.gif
MarthVictoryPose3SSBU.gif
==In competitive play==
===Most historically significant players===
See also: :Category:Marth players (SSBU)
* - The best Marth player in North America in 2023, with some of Marth's best American results including 13th at defeating and 17th at .
* - Although uncommon, uses Marth from time and time as a counterpick and is considered one of the best Marth players in the world, notably ranking 1st on the Fall 2019 PGRU with Marth. He notably won using Marth in most of the sets and placed 4th at and 5th at , notably using Marth to counterpick 's in the latter.
* - The best Marth player in the world. Notably won the superregional and also placed 2nd at the major using Marth to win several crucial sets. He is also the only globally-ranked player who uses Marth as a main, with his highest being 49th on the LumiRank Mid-Year 2023.
===Tier placement and history===
In stark contrast to pre-release Ultimate, where it was speculated that Marth could be the best character in the game, Marth initially saw a near-nonexistent playerbase due to nerfs such as smaller tipper hitboxes and the removal of perfect pivoting to space tippers consistently. As a result of this, all of Marth's prominent players from Smash 4 dropped him in favor of other characters, most notably his echo fighter , who was widely considered to be more effective and easier than Marth as a character. Despite seeing brief usage from in the second half of 2019, Marth was considered an "irrelevant" character in tournament play, with data collected from OrionRank co-founder showing that Marth had the third worst representation in the game in April 2020. 
Subsequent patches buffed several of Marth's tipper hitboxes, making it easier to connect tippers reliably. Furthermore, since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, Marth's representation has steadily improved at locals and minor circuits, with success from players such as , and . Finally, MkLeo briefly brought the character back into his roster in late-2022 and early-2023, defeating players such as and . As such, some players questioned whether Marth was underrated in the metagame, due to the positive traits he shares with Lucina and other highly regarded sword-wielding characters, as well as the untapped potential from his tipper mechanic offering him high KO capabilities with safe disjoints. However, other players pointed to how his tipper hitboxes remained inconsistent despite the buffs and that his overall representation remained poor, often hovering around the bottom 10, with all of Marth's best players often using other characters alongside Marth. With little change in Marth's reputation in the post-pandemic metagame, his placement has remained the same on the first two tier lists, ranking 54th on the first in B- tier, and dropping a spot to 55th on the second, although due to the restructuring of the tier list, he is now ranked in the C+ tier. With his representation remaining quite poor and his tipper hitboxes continuing to remain inferior to Lucina's consistency, he dropped to 71st in the third and current tier list.
==: A Kingdom of Dragons==
Marth fights draconic opponents on various medieval-themed stages, referencing the prevalence of dragon enemies in all his games; moreover, his sword, Falchion, was forged to slay dragons. The Mii Fighters sport dragon-themed costumes. As a reference to how Marth fights the dragon Medeus as the final boss in his own games, he fights Rathalos, a wyvern (clearly labeled as a dragon in the original Japanese), as the boss of his route. The name is also likely a reference to Dolhr, a nation of Manaketes (Dragon shapeshifters).
Round 	Opponent 	Stage 	Music 	Notes
1 	Giant 	Castle Siege 	 	Giant Charizard's is absent.
2 	(×5) 	Arena Ferox 	 	Horde Battle (3 at a time)
3 	Giant 	Bridge of Eldin	 	King K. Rool represents in his form in Mystery of the Emblem. Bridge of Eldin resembles the map where Marth fights Medeus.
4 	(×4), , and	Castle Siege 	 	Horde Battle (3 at a time) costume combinations:
*Dragon Helmet and Yellow Dragon Armor (Gunner)
*Devil Horns and Black Dragon Armor (Gunner)
*Dragon Helmet and Woolly Yoshi Outfit (Brawler)
*Dragon Helmet and White Dragon Armor (Gunner)
*Woolly Yoshi Hat and Red Dragon Armor (Gunner)
*Dragon Helmet and Black Knight Armor (Swordfighter)
5 	Giant 	Gerudo Valley 	 	Giant Ridley references Medeus, the main antagonist of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.
6 	(×2) 	Coliseum 	 	
Bonus Stage	Bonus Stage	Bonus Stage 	Bonus Stage	Bonus Stage
Final 	Rathalos 	Forest Hill 	 	
Note: All stages Marth travels to are Fire Emblem and The Legend of Zelda stages.
Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Marth has accompany the credits.
==Role in World of Light==
Marth was among the fighters that were summoned to fight the army of Master Hands.
During the opening cutscene, Marth took notice of the massive number of Master Hands, telling the other fighters that they would "need to take down about ten [Master Hands each]" ("", Maybe we can win this by taking about ten each?), before being reassured by and . He was present on the cliffside when Galeem unleashed his beams of light. He was vaporized offscreen and placed under Galeem's imprisonment along with the other fighters (excluding ).
During the mode itself, Marth can be unlocked early on shortly after rescuing , where the player arrives at a crossroads and has the choice to rescue him, , or . If one of the others is rescued first, Marth's path will be blocked by a force field created by , which will disappear upon defeating a boss or can be circumvented by looping back to the other side.
===Fighter Battle===
No.	Image	Name 	Type	Power	Stage	Music
21 	 	Marth	 	2,500	 	
==Spirit==
Marth's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing as Marth. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Marth has been unlocked. Unlocking Marth 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 Marth.png|610. Marth 
==In Spirit Battles==
===As the main opponent===
Spirit	Spirit	Spirit 	Spirit 	Battle parameters	Battle parameters	Battle parameters 	Battle parameters 	Battle parameters 	Battle parameters	Battle parameters	Inspiration
No. 	Image 	Name 	Series 	Enemy Fighter(s) 	Type 	Power 	Stage 	Rules 	Conditions 	Music 	Character
105 	 	Mario & Luigi Series	• 	 	1,600 	3D Land 	N/A 	•The enemy's melee weapons have increased power 	 	 	
625 	 	Fire Emblem Series 	• (140 HP)	 	3,700 	Castle Siege (Throne Room) 	N/A 	•The enemy can unleash powerful critical hits at random•Stamina battle•The enemy's battering items have increased power 	 	 	
630 	 	Fire Emblem Series 	• 	 	3,700 	Spear Pillar (hazards off) 	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Tiki) 	•Hostile assist trophies will appear 	 	 	
633 	 	Fire Emblem Series 	• 	 	9,200 	Arena Ferox 	•Health Recovery 	•The enemy's melee weapons have increased power•The enemy can unleash powerful critical hits at random•The enemy is healed significantly when the enemy's at high damage	 	 	
641 	 	Fire Emblem Series 	• • 	 	3,600 	Castle Siege 	•Defense ↑ 	•The enemy has increased defense when the enemy's at high damage 	 	 	
1,058 	 	Castlevania Series 	• 	 	2,000 	Find Mii 	N/A 	•The enemy's melee weapons have increased power•The enemy has increased jump power 	 	 	
1,173 	 	Golden Sun Series 	• 	 	3,500 	Coliseum 	•Item Tidal Wave•Earthquake 	•Periodic earthquakes will shake the stage•Certain items will appear in large numbers after a little while 	 	 	
1,316 	 	Persona Series 	• •Giant 	 	3,800 	Fourside (Battlefield form)	•Hazard: Left Is Right, Right Is Left	•Defeat the main fighter to win•Left and right controls will suddenly reverse 	 	 	
===As a minion===
Spirit	Spirit	Spirit 	Spirit	Battle parameters	Battle parameters	Battle parameters 	Battle parameters 	Battle parameters 	Battle parameters	Battle parameters	Inspiration
No. 	Image 	Name 	Series	Enemy Fighter(s) 	Type 	Power 	Stage 	Rules 	Conditions 	Music 	Character
620 	 	Fire Emblem Series	• • 	 	13,500 	Temple (Battlefield form)	•Hazard: Heavy Wind	•Dangerously high winds are in effect•The enemy has increased move speed and reduced weight	 	 	
==Alternate costumes==
							
							
==Gallery==
Fire Emblem Heroes Smash.png|Artwork of all playable Fire Emblem characters and Assist Trophies, as posted on the official Japanese Fire Emblem Heroes Twitter account.
Fire Emblem Smash Bros.png|Screenshot of all playable Fire Emblem characters on Arena Ferox, as posted on the official Japanese Fire Emblem Twitter account.
SSBU Marth Number.png|Marth's fighter card.
SSBUWebsiteMarth1.jpg|Marth countering on the Great Plateau Tower.
SSBUWebsiteMarth2.jpg|Performing Shield Breaker on Coliseum.
SSBUWebsiteMarth3.jpg|Taunting in his white costume on Mario Galaxy.
SSBUWebsiteMarth4.jpg|Dodging 's Plasma Breath on 3D Land.
SSBUWebsiteMarth5.jpg|Taunting on Skyworld.
SSBUWebsiteMarth6.jpg|Idling with Lyn on The Great Cave Offensive.
SSBUWebsiteJigglypuff4.jpg|With , and a giant on The Great Cave Offensive.
SSBUWebsiteLucina4.jpg|Marth and taunting on Castle Siege.
SSBUWebsiteR.O.B.5.jpg|Marth getting hit by 's down smash on Tomodachi Life.
Marth_Joins_The_Battle.jpg|Marth's unlock notice.
SSBUWebsiteRathalos3.jpg|Marth, and advancing towards Rathalos on Coliseum.
SSBUWebsiteTechnique2.jpg|Idling on Great Bay Ω.
SSBUWebsite24.jpg|Idling on Skyworld.
SSBUKirbyJPTwitter2.jpg|With , , Link, , Pit, Ridley and on .
SSBUFireEmblemJPTwitter1.jpg|With all playable veterans on Coliseum.
===Fighter Showcase Video===
==Trivia==
*Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the first Smash Bros. game where Marth points his sword upwards rather than downwards in his official artwork.
*The images of Marth facing Ridley and Rathalos, as well as Marth's Classic Mode battle sequence, are likely a reference to the common trend of Fire Emblem games ending with a boss battle against a dragon, specifically Marth's battle with , the main antagonist of the first Fire Emblem game.
*Marth is the only character from the Fire Emblem series who can be unlocked in The Light Realm in World of Light.
** is also found in , imprisoned by Galeem. This makes Marth and Roy the only Fire Emblem characters affiliated with Galeem.
**Coincidentally, both characters also mark their first Smash debut in Melee and have an Echo Fighter, being Lucina and Chrom, respectively.
*Marth, , , Roy, , and are the only characters that use their crouching animations from a previous Smash Bros. game when holding a small item (in Chrom's case, he uses Roy's previous crouching animation).
**This makes Marth, Lucina, and Wolf the only characters to have both updated idle and crouching animations, but transition to their previous animations when holding a small item.
*There are some minor oversights with some of Marth's sound effects:
**His side taunt still uses the sound effect of his old taunt, causing two sword-swinging sounds to play despite the animation being shortened to only one swing. This can also be seen in Marth's character showcase video.
**The back hit of Marth's up tilt where the attack will always play the tipper sound effect, regardless of whether the move is sweetspotted or not.
*Marth has the most combined clones of any character at three, being Roy, Lucina, and Chrom.
*Marth is the only Fire Emblem fighter who does not face Master Hand as their final boss.
*The name of Marth's back aerial, "About Face", is in reference to his combative background, where it means to turn opposite to the current position being faced in the military.
*When KO'd by reaching 0 HP during his final stock in Stamina Mode, Marth uses his alternate KO scream rather than the standard one. This also applies to using his Radiant Dawn outfit in international versions and his Path of Radiance outfit in the Japanese version.
*Marth's line from the World of Light opening has become somewhat memetic among the Japanese fanbase, with fans jokingly referring to his plan as "Marth Theory" ().
**A possible offshoot of this, Sakurai directly references this line during the Mr. Sakurai Presents "Sephiroth" showcase, when battling Master Hand and Crazy Hand in Sephiroth's Classic Mode route.
==References==
 
Category:Spirits
es:Marth (SSBU)