amiibo are one of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s lesser-explored facets. While some Smashers have amiibo trained purely for fun and entertainment, there exists a competitive amiibo tournament scene. Competitive amiibo fighting has its distinct metagame and peculiarities, which are completely different from standard competitive Ultimate.

As the competitive amiibo scene is not as popular as standard competitive Ultimate, information is not as easily obtained. Fortunately, I have been able to scour the vast ocean that is the Internet. Having done my own research, consulting other tier lists, and asking dedicated trainers, here is my tier list for amiibo in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Credits to the Exion Vault’s and Amiibo Doctor’s tier lists for helping me immensely. In particular, the Exion Discord was very welcoming and answered all my questions perfectly. It was very interesting to see expert trainers discuss their amiibo.

Here are the relevant links:

Exion Vault: https://exion-vault.com/

Exion Vault Discord: https://discord.com/invite/pfBCrnJ

Amiibo Doctor: https://amiibodoctor.com/

The United Smashifist Amiibo Coalition Discord: https://discord.com/invite/k4xWgep

What are the strongest amiibo in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate?

S tier

These amiibo are the best of the best, banned from competitive play due to various reasons. Being so strong and easy to train that they dominated the scene, they are banned in most tournaments, especially the most prominent and professionally run ones. You can train these for fun and use them if they’re not banned, but you might be the subject of salt and hate. 

Bowser (110/100, I’m not kidding)

Bowser has been constantly voted as the best amiibo to train. He is amazingly unkillable, deals a lot of damage, has no counters but Little Mac who himself is easily countered, and is almost cheating as little time is needed to train him. Many tournaments have formally banned Bowser as he is far too broken for fair competition, though other tournaments may choose not to do so at their discretion.

Pros:

• Incredibly strong
• Lives almost forever
• Easily trained

Cons:

• Banned from most tournaments and rulesets
• Incineroar (105/100, also not joking)

Incineroar is only one step below Bowser, as he is also extremely heavy and hard-hitting. The only downside is that his recovery is terrible, but even then, he can take opponent amiibo along with him to his death. What makes Incineroar amiibo incredibly broken is how he can repeatedly almost always hit the opponent Alolan Whip (Side Special) and soft counters like Mii Gunner and Ridley are not guaranteed to win.

Pros:

• One move to defeat them all, one move to subdue them
• Recovery can take opponents along with him
• Easily trained

Cons:

• Not so great recovery
• Mostly banned as well

A+ tier

The best amiibo that are tournament legal (for the most part) and near the pinnacle of amiibo, these are the best Fighters you can get. While they do not guarantee you victory every time, these amiibo are very effective when trained properly. They also have fewer flaws compared to the others. 

Ness (100/100)

Ness was the best legal amiibo you can train (and now mostly banned as of August 2020), as he can easily be taught to abuse his special moves. Besides, he can mash any of his aerials without much fear of getting punished except for the increasingly noticed Japanese parrying metagame. He is only really countered by Ridley, who can shoot fireballs at the perfect angle to stop him from recovering.

Pros:

• Can spam moves
• Special Moves are incredibly overpowered
• Hard to predict his moves

Cons

• Recovery can be gimped 
• Banned from some rulesets

King K. Rool (98/100)

With the buffs from update 8.0.0, K. Rool has been moved to the top of the top, just replacing Ness as the best. He is incredibly heavy, hard to launch, and has many moves that deal absurd amounts of damage. His improved Belly Armor and incredibly hard-hitting Down Smash are possibly the best options against other amiibo. 

Pros:

• Strong attacks 
• Belly armor can tank through opponents’ attacks
• Great tools at the ledge

Cons:

• Slower movement

Ridley (94/100)

The ideal counter for Ness, though only soft-countering, Ridley has tools that place him high up on the tier list. His powerful Smash Attacks, Tilt Attacks, and command grab Side Special are all incredibly useful against opponents. Whether fighting onstage or offstage, Ridley has a potent moveset that allows him to do both quite easily.

Pros:

• Soft counters Ness
• Very powerful moves
• Amazing offstage game

Cons:

• Large hurtbox

Link (93/100)

Link has many long-range and hard-hitting moves, such as his aerials and Tilt Attacks. As such, he can safety pressure from a distance with those and mixing his projectiles in. With his utility and flexibility, you can train a Link amiibo however you like, making him a very dangerous threat even against many of the amiibo mentioned above.

Pros:

• Long reach with many moves
• Versatility
• Good matchup spread

Cons:

• Can be gimped
• Might use Down Special excessively if not trained properly

Mii Gunner (92/100)

While certain moves such as Missile are banned from the Exion ruleset, Mii Gunner amiibo are very deadly nonetheless, relying on zoning and camping to frustrate opponents. With Grenade Launch being a highly effective projectile, Mii Gunner amiibo can find great success. There are even wins with this amiibo from highly regarded trainers Vintro and Cloud.

Pros:

• Amazing zoning
• Customizable Special Moves

Cons:

• Banned or restricted in some tournaments and rulesets
• Will overuse Side Specials if not properly trained

King Dedede (91/100)

Being a heavyweight, King Dedede is regarded as a top tier amiibo. He also happens to have strong Smash Attacks and a very unconventional projectile, Gordo Throw. While not very fast, he can still assert his range and strength around as well as gimp opponents offstage. 

Pros:

• Good offstage game
• Hard-hitting Smash Attacks
• Gordo Throw is a good projectile at the ledge

Cons:

• Easily overwhelmed by attacks with excellent frame data and speed
• Slower speed even after movement buffs from the transition to Ultimate

A tier

These Fighters barely don’t make it to A+ tier but are strong and worth training as amiibo. They have decent matchup spreads and can contend with the higher end of top tiers, holding their own. What prevents them from being higher on the tier list is most having more bad matchups or a strange weakness.

Piranha Plant (90/100) 

Zelda (88/100)

Dark Pit (86/100)

Pit (85/100)

Snake (83/100)

B+ tier

Fighters in this tier are not top tier like those above, but they can cause an upset in an amiibo tournament when expertly trained. Having decent movesets and AI, these amiibo are still capable of securing wins though overall they perform about average. Just barely high tier, they are still viable choices to train.

Ganondorf (80/100)

Doctor Mario (77/100)

Shulk (76/100)

Captain Falcon (75/100) 

Chrom (74/100)

Little Mac (72/100)

Donkey Kong (70/100)

Kirby (68/100)

Wario (67/100)

Olimar (66/100)

B tier

At the higher end of the mid-tier, these amiibo do not offer many incentives for training compared to those in the B+ tier. Just above average, you shouldn’t count them out, as with proper training they can still reap some good wins. However, don’t expect them to beat top tier amiibo very often.

Mii Brawler (64/100)

Corrin (63/100)

Lucina (62/100)

Lucas (61/100)

Luigi (60/100)

Yoshi (59/100)

Ike (57/100)

Cloud (56/100)

Pac Man (55/100)

Wolf (54/100)

Mega Man (53/100)

C+ tier 

The middle of the tier list contains these amiibo. They have average results due to many bad matchups, AI deficiencies, and lower representation. However, when trained extremely well they can still garner high placements and perhaps win championships.

Robin (52/100)

Duck Hunt (51/100)

Pokemon Trainer (50/100)

Isabelle (49/100)

Roy (48/100)

Marth (46/100)

Greninja (45/100)

Palutena (44/100)

Wii Fit Trainer (43/100)

Richter/Simon (42/100)

Ryu (43/100)

Rosalina & Luma (42/100)

Mario (41/100)

Dark Samus/Samus (40/100)

Falco (39/100)

C tier

Not very worth training from a competitive standpoint, but if you love these Fighters, then character loyalty is one good reason to train these amiibo. These amiibo lose many matchups and suffer from more problems. However, sometimes getting the rare upset or even unexpected high placing is incredibly fulfilling.

Toon Link (38/100)

Pikachu (37/100)

Villager (35/100)

Mewtwo (34/100)

Ken (32/100)

Young Link (31/100)

Lucario (29/100)

Sonic (28/100)

Meta Knight (27/100)

D+ tier

Barely escaping bottom tier status, most of the trainers who train these amiibo are low tier heroes or just sticking to their beloved Fighter. Many of these amiibo do not have notable results apart from a few upsets due to many losing matchups. Most of the time their AI does not learn well, which holds them back.

Peach/Daisy (24/100)

Inkling (23/100)

Diddy Kong (22/100)

Bowser Jr. (15/100)

Mr. Game & Watch (11/100)

Jigglypuff (8/100)

Bayonetta (6/100)

D tier

The worst few amiibo in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. There is absolutely no reason to train these amiibo at all unless you were gifted one or happen to collect amiibo for fun. These amiibo lose almost all matchups and perform terribly in tournaments.

Pichu (5/100)

R.O.B (4/100)

Fox (3/100)

Zero Suit Samus (2/100)

F tier

There is only one amiibo objectively worse than everyone, and that is Sheik. While other low and bottom tiers have at least claimed one championship or notable placing, Sheik still hasn’t claimed one. She is considered completely unviable and not worth training at all.

Sheik (1/100)

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• [Top 10] Smash Ultimate Best Amiibo
• [Top 10] Smash Ultimate Best Air Game
• [Top 10] Smash Ultimate Best Aggressive Characters
• [Top 10] Smash Ultimate Best Beginner Fighters
• Top 10 Best Smash Ultimate Players
• Top 5 Smash Bros. Ultimate Tournaments in The World
• Smash Ultimate Tournaments List (All Major Tournaments To Watch)
• 10 Best Smash Ultimate Custom Stages