Finally, a trueSmash Bros.competitor and free-to-play fighting game,MultiVersus,is out as of July 26th, 2022. This Warner Brother’s published and Player First Games developed platform brawlerhas really shown what it’s worthin the multitude of closed and open betas that it’s had.
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That said, there have also been a fair number of changes, and on launch, there are quite a few characters inMultiVersusthat were once thought of as either overpowered or broken but now have glaring weaknesses to exploit.
7Taz The Tasmanian Devil: Small Hitboxes
First up, let’s talk about Taz. In the update that came out alongside the game’s full beta release (not the soft launch the week prior) as well as the Lebron James character drop, Taz had his detestable Side+Special Taz-Nado nerfed (and Bugs is up next). And, while the nerf certainly makes it so that the character can’t just get away with spamming it all fight, it’s far from the only weakness Taz has. For one, Taz has some pretty unforgivingly small hitboxes on most of his moves.
Anything that doesn’t have a Tornado animation on it is pretty exceedingly tight, meaning that Taz has to really jump into the thick of it to even get any hits in. That isn’t to say that Taz is lacking in “good” moves, just that he requires more precision than say…a character like Finn who can swing his sword and hit from ten feet away.
6Garnet From Steven Universe: Predictability & Lack Of Options
Out of all the characters inMultiVersus,theSteven Universereps aren’t being played nearly as much as the rest of the cast. Finn players, even ones that play the character only every once in a while, number in the 900,000s. Meanwhile, Garnet (who is free-to-play right now, by the way) and especially Steven himself fall far behind. And, it’s a shame, because Garnet is a fantastic character! She has her terrifying Crystal Combo options, some great ranged choices such as her Rocket Fist or Spark of Love, and is also one of the heaviest characters in the game both in how much knockback it takes to KO her and how much Knockback her moves inflict.
But, there are a few reasons that it’s only (mostly) diehardSteven Universefans playing her, one, she’s just predictable, and two she really only has a couple “responses” to most scenarios. Her Crystal Combo has three variations, but most players just spam the Armored slam (which is easy to avoid after seeing it once), her vertical recovery is awful, and every Aerial other than her Neutral Starburst has incredibly precise hitboxes.
5Lebron James: Actually Very Technical & Struggles To Ring Out
This might come off as ignorant, considering Lebron James literally just dropped as the newest character inMultiVersus,but his weakness, at least right now, seems pretty easy to figure out. Essentially, while the character is a blast to play and the ball mechanics are absolutely hilarious, Lebron seems to struggle with KO’ing opponents unless the person playing them is incredibly skilled and/or lucky.
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Up until this point, everyone just assumed that his L-Train dunking Special was his main move for KO’ing. It took a professionalSmash Ultimatestreamer,CLG Void, to get Lebron in his handsand figure out that his non-Ball Normals are actually relatively reliable for KO’ing at medium to high damage percentages. But, even then, the non-Ball Normals all have pretty right hitboxes and are pretty easy to see coming.
4Jake The Dog From Adventure Time: Approach Options
Jake the Dog, the belovedAdventure Timecharacter voiced by one John DiMaggio,was one of the characters beginner players got exceedingly familiar within the last open beta for the game before release since he was free. And, for a while, people thought he was sort of likea twist on how Kirby plays in theSmashgameswith That’s Heavy Dude, Rubber Stomach, Dude, and Stretchin' Out. But, as time goes on, it’s quickly becoming clear that this isn’t another “jump up and slam down” spamming character like newer Kirby players. Jake the Dog keeps moving up in the Tier Lists every time someone ranks the roster as they figure him out more, but he’s still just lacking in approach options.
Almost every single Jake player relies heavily on his Hambone Brake Aerial Side+Normal way too much, and his Giddy Up Side+Special that also approaches becomes incredibly easy to punish or dodge after seeing it once. Once players learn how to get around this Aerial perfectly, Jake players usually start playing a lot more sheepishly. Honestly, this isn’t a “glaring weakness” in terms of his ranking compared to other characters, since Hambone Brake is one of the best Aerials in the game, but more of a tentative weakness in his actual design.
3Iron Giant: His Entire Body
Iron Giant is the perfect example of whySuper Smash Broscreator, Masahiro Sakurai, hesitated so muchwith adding large characters into his game. Iron Giant is absurdly large inMuiltiVersus, and this makes him an easy target for the enemy team to just combo him to infinity. On top of that, he’s relatively technical with his Rage Mode transformation, Bolt mechanic, Fuel Gauge, Flying system, and more.
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Sure, players can get away with just spamming big, bombastic moves when they first start playing Iron Giant such as Systems Are Go or Cannonball and find moderate success. But, as the community for this game becomes more skilled on average, Iron Giant players will quickly find themselves as nothing more than walking sandbags if they’re not intensely careful about their spacing and when they go in for damage.
2Steven Universe: The Reach Of His Attacks & His Hitboxes
Steven Universe, one of the least-played characters in the game, actually has a lot going on as a fighter. He has the ability to summon a Watermelon Steven, grant his teammate Shields as well as Armor, and can even place terrain on the map in the form of his Hard Light shields. Honestly, he has a lot of tools in his belt, especially when it comes to his Specials. But, likely to contrast this, his Normals struggle quite a bit because of the fact that they don’t have any “reach” to them and as a result, they have small hitboxes.
Taz at least has speed and moves that have more reach than just his arm’s length, but Steven really doesn’t. Other than his Shield-Breaker Aerial and “Pop!” Aerial Neutral, every other attack Steven has basically only swings his short little arms. And,thanks to a dedicated fan pointing outthatMultiVersusessentially doesn’t have move priority, but rather, which move hits first, Steven’s attacks almost always get beat out by his opponent’s unless a shield is involved.
1Arya Stark From Game Of Thrones: Easily Killed But Can’t Kill Easily
Last up, let’s talk about one of the most hilarious inclusions inMultiVersus, Arya Stark. This isn’t to say that thisGame of Thronesrepresentative is “funny” as a character or anything like that, rather that it’s just very funny seeing her next to Velma Dinkley in the Roster. Now, Arya Stark is an Assassin, and as such she excels in fast attacks, building up damage quickly, and utilizing her unique gimmicks to throw her opponent off guard. And, in 1v1, Arya actually dominates a lot of the time. She’s able to space herself properly, go in for her combos to build damage quickly, and capitalize on them with her Dagger Slash if they’re near the top Blast Zone.
But, if her opponent has equally fast attacks or she’s blindsided in a Teams match, Arya can get KO’d excessively fast. Plus, unless she sets herself up for it well and nothing goes wrong, she struggles to kill her opponents in most situations. Honestly, this isn’t as much of a glaring weakness as it is an intentional design to counteract her fantastic damage-dealing capabilities, but it still functions as a weakness regardless.
MultiVersusis available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
