Life of a Low Tier Hero - Smash Tiers with Pawclaw

Admittedly, I’m not the biggest Smash player. I played a ton of Smash 64, Melee, and Brawl but my interests trended towards traditional fighting games by the time Sm4sh (Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS) came out, and didn’t play too much of it. So when it comes to expertise, I usually have to look to the experts in my sphere of influence for help. So when looking for a low-tier representative from Smash, I consulted a good friend of mine, Pawclaw, for some assistance on the subject.

Pawclaw is a Ganondorf player, who, according to him, is the third-worst character in the game. That being said, he mentioned Ganondorf is underrated, but admits most matchups are a struggle, due to his noticeable flaws. “Most of the time it isn’t easy,” said Pawclaw. “But because Ganondorf runs on how much fear the player has and how much the player fighting Ganondorf respects Ganondorf - but it could be made easier with good analysis.”

For those unfamiliar with Ganondorf, he’s a representative of the Legend of Zelda series whose first appearance was in Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo Gamecube. He was a “clone” character, meaning he was simply a palette swap of another character, in this case F-Zero’s Captain Falcon, with the same moves. His appearances since Super Smash Bros. Brawl have strived to distance himself from Captain Falcon, leading to some differences that help the character - but mostly harm him. Ganondorf’s current iteration is a slow-moving, but more powerful, character as compared to his quicker, more precise counterpart. As such, it’s difficult to handle some of the higher-tiered characters with Ganondorf - he simply can’t keep up.

“Ganon as a character is low-tier.” Said Pawclaw. “But he thrives on mental game. So, putting aside the player, Ganon as a character is not very good. But he is like Little Mac in the way that he plays completely different from any character in the cast - put aside the similar move-set to Falcon. You don’t drive fear with Falcon. So, naturally, with no tourney results and that no one plays him enough (or knows how to), he has severely low placement.”

That being said, Pawclaw is still relatively successful with the character, despite the flaws. Rather than be put off by the challenge, he embraces it - something he wishes more Smash players did. “I definitely believe a lot of people in Smash are what I called Top-tier-washed,” said Pawclaw. “Where they cry about their characters flaws, when it only are noticeable flaws when compared to other high tiers around them, and not in general.” Couldn’t say it better myself.

To check out more Pawclaw, check out his YouTube page. You can also follow him on Twitch, where he streams Sm4ash on a regular basis. 

Are you a Ganondorf player who has similar feelings? Or do you play another low-tier Smash character and feel like you need to vent? Reach out to us and let us know!