Super Smash Bros 64 Arcade Spot
Sofie Kovalcheck
Sephiroth is ranked 37th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing him in the B+ tier. Sephiroth's greatest strength is his unrivaled range and spacing game, the latter of which is courtesy of the Masamune, which grants him the ability to reach farther than most fighters and apply pressure against his opponents without having to risk getting up close. This range is complemented by Masamune's sweetspots, which deals high damage and incredible KO power. Furthermore, Sephiroth has a strong set of special attacks, with Flare Variations helping his ledgetrapping abilities and Shadow Flare being an excellent pressure, combo and kill setup tool. Finally, at higher percents, Sephiroth will gain access to his unique Winged Form, which grants him increased attack power, higher mobility, armor on his smash attacks, and a second double jump throughout the form's duration.
However, Sephiroth has some glaring weaknesses, the most prominent being his endurance and slow frame data. He is a lightweight, and paired with a relatively tall hurtbox, it makes him easier to hit and KO than other characters. Furthermore, a large portion of Sephiroth's kit is afflicted by slow frame data, with most of his attacks aside from his neutral attack coming out at frame 14 or more. This slow frame data also affects Masamune, which combined with its lackluster, narrow hitbox, means Sephiroth has more trouble when fighting up close or against smaller opponents. Lastly, due to being a comeback-oriented mechanic, Sephiroth's Winged From requires him to be at a noticeable disadvantage in order to be accessed, and upon dissipating, it can only be reactivated after Sephiroth is KO'd.
Overall, Sephiroth's range and power allows him to pressure from a farther range than most fighters, however his weaknesses when fighting up close means that he is also rather susceptible to the opponent's pressure. He saw above-average representation in his earlier years in competitive play thanks to the efforts of players such as KEN, Ned, and Tweek, however his weaknesses became more apparent over time, leading to a decline in representation.
Sephiroth is a tall, lightweight fighter, tied with Kirby, Mewtwo, Pikachu and Olimar as the 7th lightest in the game. He has the 14th slowest walking speed, yet his dashing speed and traction are both above-average, with the former being marginally faster than Hero's. Despite his height, Sephiroth's crouch is deceptively low. In the air, Sephiroth's overall jumping force and air acceleration are both average, he has slow air speed and below-average air friction, and yet he has the 11th fastest falling speed and above-average gravity. Notably, Sephiroth's short hop is tied with Steve's for the lowest in the game, which aids him very well in the neutral game.
Sephiroth's ground game offers him fairly crucial tools, with a moveset reminiscent of Cloud to similar effects. Neutral attack, despite having the shortest range of his grounded moves, is Sephiroth's fastest move while having decent melee range for a neutral attack, making it one of his few reliable tools to quickly ward off an opponent. Forward tilt has incredibly long range (comparable to Simon's) and can be angled, making it a superb spacing option and a viable KO option at high percentages when fresh, especially in Winged Form. Up tilt boasts incredible vertical range, a decently long duration, can scoop opponents in front of him and renders his upper body intangible for a brief period. Down tilt is Sephiroth's fastest tilt attack and, although it is slightly slower than Cloud's down tilt, it functions almost identically to his: it boasts great range by propelling Sephiroth forward and significantly lowers his hurtbox, giving him a way to punish more ranged attacks. Dash attack, despite being fairly punishable due to being his slowest melee attack, covers a lot of ground and has respectable power, making it useful as both a burst option and a situational but potent KO option.
Sephiroth's smash attacks also boast varying degrees of utility. Forward smash is a very long-ranged slash that is potent at punishing and spacing, especially in Winged Form, and boasts excellent KO potential at the middle of the blade, but is very slow and easily punishable. Up smash is an overhead arcing slash, much like Ganondorf and Ike's up smashes. Although it is weaker than theirs and slower than Ganondorf's, it is Sephiroth's best anti-air option due to sporting more range overall, to the point that it allows him to cover an area wider than an entire platform of Town and City. Down smash only hits in front of Sephiroth, but it is faster than his forward smash and has the unique property of becoming even stronger if the Masamune's blade hits the ground, dealing immense shield damage. This makes it a good mix up tool to break shields and a niche edgeguarding option due to how low the hitbox extends.
Sephiroth's air game also comprised of long ranged options. Neutral aerial has the shortest range, but is his fastest option in the air, covers his entire body, and its overall low lag allows it to be used very flexibly, such as for warding off close-ranged opponents, including from out of shield, or for starting or continuing combos. Forward and back aerials serve similar purposes as spacing options in the air. Forward aerial comes out faster and is a stabbing attack with a tipper sweetspot and has a unique property where it can be used to pierce solid walls and perform a pseudo-wall cling up to three times in a row before landing. Back aerial is Sephiroth's strongest aerial and is a slashing attacking with a middle sweetspot, making it incredibly deadly in Winged Form, even if used from a short hop. Up aerial, like up smash, covers a wide arc above Sephiroth, though its sluggish frame data makes it punisable if used recklessly. Sephiroth's down aerial, Hell's Gate, is a powerful stall-then-fall that is a meteor smash at the start; when combined with its massive range, going an incredible distance underneath surfaces, it can reliably 2 frame punish an opponent.
Sephiroth's grab game is surprisingly effective compared to other sword users. He holds the distinction of having three combo throws, though each gradually becomes less effective the more damaged the opponent is. Down throw is Sephiroth's most varied combo throw until mid-percentages, as it can lead into neutral, forward, back and up aerials, or be used for mix-ups. It also becomes even more effective in Winged Form in spite of rage, as Sephiroth's enhanced mobility can allow him to catch up to the opponent faster. At low percentages, up throw can set the opponent up for a neutral aerial or up tilt, the former of which can lead to longer combos and the latter of which can lead to juggling. Back throw launches at a favorable angle while having low ending lag. This makes it notable for leading into follow-ups until high percentages, including an infamous KO confirm into back aerial, which becomes especially dangerous when he is in Winged Form. In stark contrast to his other throws, forward throw lacks combo potential, but is nevertheless useful. Thanks to being a semi-spike, it can be used to set up an edge-guard or a tech chase, which could potentially allow him to score an early KO.
Sephiroth's side special, Shadow Flare, is unique among chargeable projectiles in that, while the initial projectile deals little damage and cause flinching, it generates larger, darkness projectiles that do not immediately attack the opponent, but instead orbit around them and deal damage by homing in. Depending on how long it is charged, one to three projectiles can be generated by a single Shadow Flare, and up to five projectiles can be orbiting a single opponent at a time. Its range is also comparable to his sword attacks on top of having low lag all around, making it easily spammable and useful for spacing.
Sephiroth's neutral special, Flare, is a more traditional projectile that can be charged between three different projectiles of different properties: Flare is the quickest and travels slow but has the longest range; Megaflare is stronger overall and has a larger blast radius, at the cost of some range; and Gigaflare has the shortest range and the longest charge time, but has the largest blast radius and deals the most damage (enough to instantly break a shield while in Winged Form) and the strongest knockback, making it an effective way of pressuring at the edge for an edge-guard, or as a way to extend the damage the opponent takes as punishment from a shield break.
Sephiroth's up special, Blade Dash, is a dashing blade attack that functions differently depending on if the button was tapped or held. Tapped Blade Dash is a single-hitting move that sweetspots edges easily. When held, the move becomes Octaslash, which travels slightly farther, has huge range and hits multiple times, dealing higher damage and knockback at the cost of sweetspotting edges.
Lastly, his down special, Scintilla, is unique among counterattacks in that it will always produce a hitbox regardless of whether or not any attacks were countered, while its multi-hitting nature allows it to pressure shields, and is one of the strongest counters in the game with a 1.5 damage multiplier. However, Scintilla only covers in front of Sephiroth and has a damage cap of 25%; any attack that exceeds this cap will break the move, doing no damage but putting Sephiroth in a flinching animation and pushing him slightly backwards.
One of Sephiroth's most defining traits is his range. He notably sports among the longest overall range in Ultimate, thanks to his signature weapon, the Masamune, and surpassed only by Min Min in this regard. This gives him a great advantage in terms of safety and pressure. Unlike other swordfighters, Sephiroth's sweetspot hitboxes differ between his stabbing and slashing attacks: his stabs (up tilt, down smash, forward aerial, and down aerial) have sweetspots positioned along the tip of Masamune (very much like Marth and Simon's own tippers) with a mediumspot at the center of the blade, whereas his slashes (forward tilt, forward smash, up smash, back aerial, and up aerial) have sweetspots positioned along the upper center of its blade (similarly to Roy's inverse tipper, but with better range overall) with mediumspots at the tip. Opponents can be deterred from approaching over fear of being hit at any time, and the various sweet spots force opponents into certain positions to avoid the most damage, which Sephiroth can use to trap and punish them. Sephiroth's extremely low short hop also helps him in the neutral game, as it allows him to mix up whichever attack he will use, allowing his other attacks to be kept fresh until he is in a prime position to use them. Said tools, combined with his grounded mobility, can sometimes even help him counteract opponents with good zoning games, such as Toon Link, Villager, or Simon. Sephiroth's range can also allow him to effectively poke opponents, gradually whittling away at both their health and patience until they are forced to take drastic actions that could easily backfire. Thanks to Shadow Flare, the opponent can also eventually be put into said disadvantage more easily at best, or simply force them to avoid the damage and thus reset the neutral game at worst. His Winged Form helps significantly on both regards, as his increased mobility allows Sephiroth to reposition himself more easily while also increasing the damage he can deal and, unlike other fighter abilities like Limit Gauge or Rebellion Gauge, it will not disappear until Sephiroth is KO'd or has inflicted a lot of damage, which can potentially lead to him turning the tables on the opponent should they try to play around him carelessly.
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