Is Doc Viable?

[FTW]

So I just saw one of ZeRo's videos about how Doc is pointless and that he isn't viable in sm4sh. He said that he is slower, pills are weaker than fireballs, has no trap options, and not as much combo potential. Now I think he meant this in a competitive state, but do you think this opinion transfers over to melee?

 

[trusty]

No. Doc is much better in melee than in sm4sh; he has solid combos, excellent aerials (best sex kick in the game), very good projectile that works wonders for gimping, solid mobility and a poor recovery. Most tier lists have him in the second A tier, below ICs and falcon

 

[JipC]

No way, Doc is borderline unviable in Melee but for almost completely different reasons.

Doc and Mario are the same speed in Melee
In Melee I'd probably say pills are way better than fireballs since Melee has more of a focus on aerial game. They're also about the same as fireballs in terms of speed/percent in Melee
Combo potential is about the same if not better than Mario's in Melee because its harder to DI out of upair combos in Melee and he also has a strong finisher unlike Mario.

 

[DeepDish]

It's biased, but I think Doc is just BARELY viable. I think the tiers go Falcon, then ICs just ever so slightly ahead of the next 3 characters with them being virtually tied as far as viability is concerned.

- Pikachu
- Samus
- Doctor Mario

I think Doc has a lot of tools that keep him at level that's just barely acceptable in the current meta. He shares a lot of similar tools between Sheik and Falcon. His up air combos are okay, but are easier to escape than Falcon's. His d-smash is VERY good, his punishes off of grab are great, his punishes off of low percent crouch cancels are decent, his movement is super slick and his back air is fantastic.

As I'm sure you know, even though you're asking if he's viable, he suffers from a drastic lack of range compared to a lot of the higher tier characters. He has short limbs and has some of the least disjointed hitboxes in the game.

It's very, very difficult for Doc to get in on camping space animals, campy Sheik, bair heavy Puff, a Marth that focuses on walling out, and a fair focused float cancel Peach. All of those matchups are definitely winnable as Doc, but are still really hard to win.

I might be missing a few notable character matchups, but that's generally why he's placed where he is in the minds of most players in the Melee community.

 

[EarthCrash]

Keep in mind, Doctor Mario in Smash 4 was horribly nerfed from here, so that's the main reason why ZeRo said he wasn't viable.

That being said, the current Melee metagame has not been too kind to Doc.

 

[Eionio]

Honestly it kinda depends on what you mean by viable. I don't think we are gonna see Doc win a major but on the local/regional level he can totally win.

 

[Squid Kid]

In Melee, Doc definitely has the tools to contest some of the better characters in the game, but his lackluster recovery holds him back a bit. I'd say that's less of a case in Smash 4.

 

[Uchihadark7]

I think he's totally viable, but no one really plays him so people kind of assume he's just another low tier. Almost all of his attacks are fast and useful, but his recovery does hold him back, but you can get better usage out of his recovery if you do side-b, double jump, and then up-b, similar to Marth's.