- Game Versions
- Smash 3DS
Who is Meta Knight? And more importantly, why should you play as him?
Meta Knight is a returning Brawl veteran hailing from the Kirby series, with his first appearance in Kirby's Adventure(NES, 1993), but not really evolving into a main character until Kirby Super Star(SNES, 1997). Meta Knight's appearance in Brawl is usually synonymous with the words "God-tier", as Meta Knight is usually regarded to be the greatest character ever to appear in a Smash game out of each character iteration in each game. That being said, seeing how brokenly powerful MK was in Brawl, Nintendo really layered the nerf icing on the Meta Knight cake during his transition from Brawl to Smash 4. His moves dropped substantially in power, he lost loads of priority, his recoveries became a lot less viable, and his overall kill power took a harsh drop, leading to the biggest nerf in Smash history, even more so than the 1.0.1 Little Mac nerf or the 1.0.6 Diddy Kong nerf. But, that being said, many players toss Meta Knight to the bench as they scroll over him to select their Falcon or Zero Suit or whoever. Meta Knight now has NO tournament representation, as no one wants to play as him anymore! It's sad! Okay, sure, he may not be the godlike stock-stealing machine he was in Brawl, but still, he needs to be played more! Nobody plays as him because they think he sucks. But. Meta Knight is anything but bad, and people need to realize this(one of the reasons I've mained him and have gone on For Glory for some scrub rekking twice daily with him). Meta Knight is still a great character, and out of my five mains(Lucario, Falco, Dedede, Lucas, and him), Meta Knight is the most fun to play. His attacks follow very quickly into each other, he has awesome hitboxes and ledgeguarding tactics(where I personally like to keep my opponent), he has a relatively easy-to-learn playstyle, not as complicated as some others, and, best of all, if you play him well, it's rare you'll lose, becuase no one knows how to play a good Meta Knight! His playstyle and moves are highlighted in the next paragraph, so keep on reading(if you want to)!
Meta Knight's Playstyle and Moveset
Meta Knight is an oddjob character in terms of his moveset. Most notably, his most reliable kill tool(and that's saying something, because Meta Knight is ASS at killing), Dimensional Cape, his down special. For those of you who don't know, Dimensional Cape is one of the most fun moves to use in the game, especially if you feel like dealing a hard punish on characters with slow forward smash attacks, like King Dedede, Bowser, Charizard, or Lucario, the move is sooooooo much fun to screw around with. He also has a nomber of other tools, from screwing around with Shuttle Loop, his up special, to landing a rewarding read with Mach Tornado, his neutral special. His side special, Drill Rush, in my opinion, is not viable at all, as it is slow, easy to predict, can be shielded against to punish, and doesn't do as much damage as the other three. But anyways, on to his movesets:
Standard special: Mach Tornado: Meta Knight wraps himself in his cloak and spins around like a tornado, dealing repeated damage to enemies that get caught in his minigale. Press the button repeatedly to rise and keep the tornado going for longer, sometimes dealing upwards of 20 damage!
Side special: Drill Rush: Easily Meta Knight's worst special, perhaps its only good point is that it's fun and rewarding to land, but it doesn't do nearly as much damage as Mach Tornado or Dimensional Cape, and leaves Meta Knight open much longer then the other two.
Up special: Shuttle Loop: Ah, the Shuttle Loop. My favorite recovery move besides landing those attack frames on the tail end of Lucario's Extremespeed. Shuttle Loop sees MK rising into the air with one slash, then follow up with another in rapid succession, dealing 12 damage, 6 for each hit. A great follow-up or aerial kill tool.
Down special: Dimensional Cape: My personal favorite move in the entire game. Dimensional Cape causes Meta Knight to disappear into another dimension, only to return shortly after after traveling a direction depending on which direction you input. However, if you press the button repeatedly while he's traveling, he'll strike when he returns. His best punishing tool.
As for his playstyle, Meta Knight favors punishing with his neutrals, jabs, and throws with follow ups, most notable Shuttle Loop. Dimensional Cape can be used as a kill tool above 130%, and Shuttle Loop can kill airborne foes at the top of the screen as early as 80%. He has bad approach options, the best of which include luring them in with a false jab then using Mach Tornado, or a grab combo.
Pros and Cons
Meta Knight has a distinctive set of pros and cons that he shares with no other character. I'll highlight them here. Veteran MK players, skip this.
Easy Combos And Tools
Meta Knight has many easy-to-use combos and tools at his disposal. Here, I will highlight a few of them.
Pros
-A fairly fast character(He is tied with Yoshi, Mewtwo, and Palutena, all fast runners)
-Has six jumps(This is only shared by Jigglypuff, King Dedede, and Kirby)
-Versatile recovery(One of the best in the game)
-Easy to learn(No complicated techniques)
-Many combos, and most of the good ones are easy to pull off
-Able to rack up damage very quickly(Neutrals are best for this)
-Reads are pathetically easy to pull off due to the utter lack of startup and ending lag on almost all of his neutrals(Very few startup and ending frames on neutrals, the most noticeably ending lag, if any, is the finish on neutral attack)
-One of the best ledgeguarding AND edgeguarding games out of the roster(My personal preference on where to keep my opponent, maybe it's yours too)
-Best voice acting in the game(OKay, not useful on the battlefield, and maybe topped by Dark Pit, but still)
Cons
-Pretty light(He has a weight value of 80, making him the 45th heaviest character in the game, right below Zero Suit and right above Fox)
-Smash attacks are very hard to land(Forward smash, while one of the better ones in the game, has a very poor hitbox, and unlike Ness's, which has a similar hitbox, his has no setups, his Up smash is the hardest, as it can't even hit foes on the ground, and while Down smash is the easiest to land out of the three, it does 7-9 damage in the slash in front and 9-11 in the slash on back, making it the weakest offensive smash attack in the game)
-Limited kill options/potential(His smash attacks are hard to land and harder to kill with, as stated above, and while Dimensional Cape and Shuttle Loop are primary kill tactics, at higher percents, your opponent will be expecting them and be able to get a hard read on you from the ending lag on the moves)
-Falters amazingly against a good portion of the roster, at least a third(Notably, Sheik, Sonic, Pikachu, and Greninja, but then again, who doesn't look bad against a good one of those?)
-And, while not a battle drawback, per se, his huge layering on of nerfs turns most characters away from him, sharply decreasing his overall popularity.
Early Game Combos
Grab + Pummel(1-2) + Down-throw + Shuttle Loop
This particular combo is perhaps Meta Knight's most versatile and easy-to-use combos, and can deal 20-25 damage, a lot for such an easy combo to pull off. However, it requires belting out Shuttle Loop immediately after the throw, and loses practicality the more damage they've taken, as they get thrown farther and it's harder to catch them in the Shuttle Loop. You can try running after them, but that's much riskier.
Grab + Pummel(1-2) + Up-throw + Mach Tornado
Meta Knight's most dangerous damage-wise combo, as it can deal upwards of 30 damage on a good day(err, match). It relies on the opponent being thrown out of the grab with just enough force to be within jump + Mach Tornado distance. A riskier combo with a smaller success chance than the one listed before, but very rewarding.
Grab + Pummel(1-2) + Back-throw + Back-air
With the success chance of combo #2 and less damage than combo #1, this isn't one of his better ones, but it's a mix-up that's worth noting, especially the fact that not all of his combos use specials. The one mainly utilzes the backward momentum of MK's jump following them after the throw, then dealing an additonal 3 damage with Bair. Only does 12-15 damage.
Mid-Game Combos
Grab + Pummel(2-3) + Forward-throw + Forward-air
Has a similar mechanic to combo #3 in Early Game Combos, utilizing the same basic principle, but having a lightly higher success rate and a bit more damage involved.
Grab + Pummel(2-3) + Forward-throw + Drill Rush
One of Drill Rush's few practical uses, it's great here for a follow up on this forward-air alternate combo to #1. This is Meta Knight's most solid, most reliable mid-game combo, dealing 18-22 damage and a very high success rate.
Garb + Pummel(2-3) + Up-throw + Up-air
The weakest of Meta Knight's mid-game combos, this one is simply a 14-damage mix-up to keep your opponents on their toes.
Killing Moves and Combos
Forward-jab + Up-air + Shuttle Loop
Forward jab knocks them into the air, up air gets them into Shuttle Loops's killing zone at the top of the stage, and an immediate follow-up of Shuttle Loop results in a quick and satisfying kill. As none of Meta Knight's smash attacks are reliable enough for kills, this is my go-to kill technique.
Dimensional Cape Punishment
This is many Meta Knight's players preferred method of killing. I swap between the above combo and this one, as his smash attacks are easily the worst in the game, being worse than a 0% Lucario AND Robin without his Levin Sword. Okay, forward smash might be a mediocre kill move, but down smash(come on, 7 damage?! 9 at full charge?!) and up smash are easily the worst of their category. Dimensional Cape is much more reliable, a punish kill above all else.
Up-air Jumping Shenanigans
One of my favorite things to do as Meta Knight, and it's easy to see why. At low to mid-high percents(Usually around 0-80% for most of the roster), after using an up-air on the opponent, since it doesn't knock them upward very far, you can just jump into another up-air and hit them again! Until about his fourth or fifth jump, you can chain together this hilarious battle technique, and rack up a hefty 18-20 points of damage if done right, which isn't hard.
I hope these recent edits will appease some of you giving negative reviews.
Well, thanks for reading, I will be updating this soon with new information!
-TriforceOfAura
Meta Knight is a returning Brawl veteran hailing from the Kirby series, with his first appearance in Kirby's Adventure(NES, 1993), but not really evolving into a main character until Kirby Super Star(SNES, 1997). Meta Knight's appearance in Brawl is usually synonymous with the words "God-tier", as Meta Knight is usually regarded to be the greatest character ever to appear in a Smash game out of each character iteration in each game. That being said, seeing how brokenly powerful MK was in Brawl, Nintendo really layered the nerf icing on the Meta Knight cake during his transition from Brawl to Smash 4. His moves dropped substantially in power, he lost loads of priority, his recoveries became a lot less viable, and his overall kill power took a harsh drop, leading to the biggest nerf in Smash history, even more so than the 1.0.1 Little Mac nerf or the 1.0.6 Diddy Kong nerf. But, that being said, many players toss Meta Knight to the bench as they scroll over him to select their Falcon or Zero Suit or whoever. Meta Knight now has NO tournament representation, as no one wants to play as him anymore! It's sad! Okay, sure, he may not be the godlike stock-stealing machine he was in Brawl, but still, he needs to be played more! Nobody plays as him because they think he sucks. But. Meta Knight is anything but bad, and people need to realize this(one of the reasons I've mained him and have gone on For Glory for some scrub rekking twice daily with him). Meta Knight is still a great character, and out of my five mains(Lucario, Falco, Dedede, Lucas, and him), Meta Knight is the most fun to play. His attacks follow very quickly into each other, he has awesome hitboxes and ledgeguarding tactics(where I personally like to keep my opponent), he has a relatively easy-to-learn playstyle, not as complicated as some others, and, best of all, if you play him well, it's rare you'll lose, becuase no one knows how to play a good Meta Knight! His playstyle and moves are highlighted in the next paragraph, so keep on reading(if you want to)!
Meta Knight's Playstyle and Moveset
Meta Knight is an oddjob character in terms of his moveset. Most notably, his most reliable kill tool(and that's saying something, because Meta Knight is ASS at killing), Dimensional Cape, his down special. For those of you who don't know, Dimensional Cape is one of the most fun moves to use in the game, especially if you feel like dealing a hard punish on characters with slow forward smash attacks, like King Dedede, Bowser, Charizard, or Lucario, the move is sooooooo much fun to screw around with. He also has a nomber of other tools, from screwing around with Shuttle Loop, his up special, to landing a rewarding read with Mach Tornado, his neutral special. His side special, Drill Rush, in my opinion, is not viable at all, as it is slow, easy to predict, can be shielded against to punish, and doesn't do as much damage as the other three. But anyways, on to his movesets:
Standard special: Mach Tornado: Meta Knight wraps himself in his cloak and spins around like a tornado, dealing repeated damage to enemies that get caught in his minigale. Press the button repeatedly to rise and keep the tornado going for longer, sometimes dealing upwards of 20 damage!
Side special: Drill Rush: Easily Meta Knight's worst special, perhaps its only good point is that it's fun and rewarding to land, but it doesn't do nearly as much damage as Mach Tornado or Dimensional Cape, and leaves Meta Knight open much longer then the other two.
Up special: Shuttle Loop: Ah, the Shuttle Loop. My favorite recovery move besides landing those attack frames on the tail end of Lucario's Extremespeed. Shuttle Loop sees MK rising into the air with one slash, then follow up with another in rapid succession, dealing 12 damage, 6 for each hit. A great follow-up or aerial kill tool.
Down special: Dimensional Cape: My personal favorite move in the entire game. Dimensional Cape causes Meta Knight to disappear into another dimension, only to return shortly after after traveling a direction depending on which direction you input. However, if you press the button repeatedly while he's traveling, he'll strike when he returns. His best punishing tool.
As for his playstyle, Meta Knight favors punishing with his neutrals, jabs, and throws with follow ups, most notable Shuttle Loop. Dimensional Cape can be used as a kill tool above 130%, and Shuttle Loop can kill airborne foes at the top of the screen as early as 80%. He has bad approach options, the best of which include luring them in with a false jab then using Mach Tornado, or a grab combo.
Pros and Cons
Meta Knight has a distinctive set of pros and cons that he shares with no other character. I'll highlight them here. Veteran MK players, skip this.
Easy Combos And Tools
Meta Knight has many easy-to-use combos and tools at his disposal. Here, I will highlight a few of them.
Pros
-A fairly fast character(He is tied with Yoshi, Mewtwo, and Palutena, all fast runners)
-Has six jumps(This is only shared by Jigglypuff, King Dedede, and Kirby)
-Versatile recovery(One of the best in the game)
-Easy to learn(No complicated techniques)
-Many combos, and most of the good ones are easy to pull off
-Able to rack up damage very quickly(Neutrals are best for this)
-Reads are pathetically easy to pull off due to the utter lack of startup and ending lag on almost all of his neutrals(Very few startup and ending frames on neutrals, the most noticeably ending lag, if any, is the finish on neutral attack)
-One of the best ledgeguarding AND edgeguarding games out of the roster(My personal preference on where to keep my opponent, maybe it's yours too)
-Best voice acting in the game(OKay, not useful on the battlefield, and maybe topped by Dark Pit, but still)
Cons
-Pretty light(He has a weight value of 80, making him the 45th heaviest character in the game, right below Zero Suit and right above Fox)
-Smash attacks are very hard to land(Forward smash, while one of the better ones in the game, has a very poor hitbox, and unlike Ness's, which has a similar hitbox, his has no setups, his Up smash is the hardest, as it can't even hit foes on the ground, and while Down smash is the easiest to land out of the three, it does 7-9 damage in the slash in front and 9-11 in the slash on back, making it the weakest offensive smash attack in the game)
-Limited kill options/potential(His smash attacks are hard to land and harder to kill with, as stated above, and while Dimensional Cape and Shuttle Loop are primary kill tactics, at higher percents, your opponent will be expecting them and be able to get a hard read on you from the ending lag on the moves)
-Falters amazingly against a good portion of the roster, at least a third(Notably, Sheik, Sonic, Pikachu, and Greninja, but then again, who doesn't look bad against a good one of those?)
-And, while not a battle drawback, per se, his huge layering on of nerfs turns most characters away from him, sharply decreasing his overall popularity.
Early Game Combos
Grab + Pummel(1-2) + Down-throw + Shuttle Loop
This particular combo is perhaps Meta Knight's most versatile and easy-to-use combos, and can deal 20-25 damage, a lot for such an easy combo to pull off. However, it requires belting out Shuttle Loop immediately after the throw, and loses practicality the more damage they've taken, as they get thrown farther and it's harder to catch them in the Shuttle Loop. You can try running after them, but that's much riskier.
Grab + Pummel(1-2) + Up-throw + Mach Tornado
Meta Knight's most dangerous damage-wise combo, as it can deal upwards of 30 damage on a good day(err, match). It relies on the opponent being thrown out of the grab with just enough force to be within jump + Mach Tornado distance. A riskier combo with a smaller success chance than the one listed before, but very rewarding.
Grab + Pummel(1-2) + Back-throw + Back-air
With the success chance of combo #2 and less damage than combo #1, this isn't one of his better ones, but it's a mix-up that's worth noting, especially the fact that not all of his combos use specials. The one mainly utilzes the backward momentum of MK's jump following them after the throw, then dealing an additonal 3 damage with Bair. Only does 12-15 damage.
Mid-Game Combos
Grab + Pummel(2-3) + Forward-throw + Forward-air
Has a similar mechanic to combo #3 in Early Game Combos, utilizing the same basic principle, but having a lightly higher success rate and a bit more damage involved.
Grab + Pummel(2-3) + Forward-throw + Drill Rush
One of Drill Rush's few practical uses, it's great here for a follow up on this forward-air alternate combo to #1. This is Meta Knight's most solid, most reliable mid-game combo, dealing 18-22 damage and a very high success rate.
Garb + Pummel(2-3) + Up-throw + Up-air
The weakest of Meta Knight's mid-game combos, this one is simply a 14-damage mix-up to keep your opponents on their toes.
Killing Moves and Combos
Forward-jab + Up-air + Shuttle Loop
Forward jab knocks them into the air, up air gets them into Shuttle Loops's killing zone at the top of the stage, and an immediate follow-up of Shuttle Loop results in a quick and satisfying kill. As none of Meta Knight's smash attacks are reliable enough for kills, this is my go-to kill technique.
Dimensional Cape Punishment
This is many Meta Knight's players preferred method of killing. I swap between the above combo and this one, as his smash attacks are easily the worst in the game, being worse than a 0% Lucario AND Robin without his Levin Sword. Okay, forward smash might be a mediocre kill move, but down smash(come on, 7 damage?! 9 at full charge?!) and up smash are easily the worst of their category. Dimensional Cape is much more reliable, a punish kill above all else.
Up-air Jumping Shenanigans
One of my favorite things to do as Meta Knight, and it's easy to see why. At low to mid-high percents(Usually around 0-80% for most of the roster), after using an up-air on the opponent, since it doesn't knock them upward very far, you can just jump into another up-air and hit them again! Until about his fourth or fifth jump, you can chain together this hilarious battle technique, and rack up a hefty 18-20 points of damage if done right, which isn't hard.
I hope these recent edits will appease some of you giving negative reviews.
Well, thanks for reading, I will be updating this soon with new information!
-TriforceOfAura
