Whether you love them or hate them, Byleth from Fire Emblem: Three Houses is the newest addition to the massive roster of gaming icons in Smash Ultimate. They’re a great representation of the Fire Emblem series, using every type of main weapon seen within the series aside from traditional swords.

Their reception has been… mixed, to say the least, with quite a vast array of differing opinions on their viability as a competitive character. When joining Smash House, what attributes of the legendary professor stick out for better or worse? Find out if Byleth is worth a try or not with the help of our rundown.

10 ASSET: Range

Most fans watching Byleth’s reveal stream probably let out a surprised “god damn” when Mr. Sakurai showed off the absolutely ridiculous amount of range this character has. Byleth the most range in the entire game with some of their moves, even out-spacing the Belmonts.

Their range is going to be their greatest strength by far and learning how to properly utilize the max range of their moves is absolutely crucial. This requires some careful placements of attacks, however, as they can be a bit difficult to hit and the sour spots can be quite punishable. Byleth is able to completely shut down some characters with normals alone, making for quite the scary counter-pick.

9 FLAW: Disadvantage State

When an opponent is able to break through Byleth’s wall of massive attacks, things don’t go too well. A disadvantage state is defined as the time spent after getting hit/combo’d by the opponent, and Byleth has an extremely hard time getting their feet back on the ground.

They can be huge combo food at times, and they really don’t have any good combo breakers or options to get out of disadvantage easily. If the opponent has momentum and stage control, it can feel impossible at times to keep your cool and get back in the game.

8 ASSET: Kill Power

Byleth is absolutely not lacking in KO potential in any fashion whatsoever, as is evident by their multiple kill options. All of their smash attacks do massive damage and knockback, Areadbhar, Aymr, and Failnaught are all powerful special attacks, and their aerials are quite devastating as well.

Some of them may end up being a bit slow, but they are a high-risk, high-reward option. Their most frequently used stock-taking moves will be up-air for airborne opponents, forward-smash for ledge-trapping, forward-air and back-air for just about any situation, and their various high-utility special attacks.

7 FLAW: Speed

As Mr. Sakurai made sure to emphasize, Byleth trades their agility for range as a “distance demon.” Byleth has around the same ground and airspeed as Robin, which is never a good sign. It isn’t the worst in the game, but it’s definitely noticeable when trying to get around.

Their lack of speed greatly hinders their combo game, and they instead focus on a few powerful hits rather than a string of fancy attacks. Faster characters can give them a run for their money, and the Byleth player will have to constantly work around their below-average speed.

6 ASSET: Edgeguarding

Byleth really can do some truly awful things off-stage, and we’re only seeing the beginning of it. With a ridiculously long tether-recovery, they’re able to go just about as far off the level as they like to torture opponents and make it as hard as possible to get back to safety.

Up-special is an entire beast of its own, making it possible to gimp characters extremely early, catch air-dodges and jumps, and exploit weaker recoveries with ease. Their range is also super beneficial here, with side-special and their aerials catching opponents quite well. Not to mention down-air’s possibility of taking a stock at 0% just to make your opponent question their sanity.

5 FLAW: Difficulty

Unlike other anime swordsmen like Lucina or Ike, Byleth isn’t a character that can be easily picked up and played by anyone. The combination of slower attacks and movement with required spacing makes them a fairly difficult fighter to use.

A solid understanding of Smash’s neutral-game is essential for getting around opponents that will inevitably be faster than you, and knowledge of spacing and ledge-trapping is just as important. There aren’t too many reference points to go off of since they’re still a newer character that is being figured out day by day, but top-level smashers like MKLeo, ZeRo, and GimR have various tutorials and tips for our favorite professor.

4 ASSET: Recovery

Similar to recoveries used by Joker or the Belmonts, Byleth has a tether recovery that can be used to grab the ledge from quite a distance. What sets Byleth apart, however, is the mind-boggling range that the Sword of the Creator has. It is without a doubt the longest tether recovery in the entire game, and it’s quite surprising from just how far away you can grab the ledge.

This makes it pretty difficult to effectively edgeguard Byleth, as the opponent also runs the risk of getting Mortal Kombat Scorpion’d by their up-special and getting sent to the depths below.

3 FLAW: Lack of Combos

If you’re searching for a character with flashy, 60% combos to earn you sweet Twitch clips and crowd cheers, then Byleth is not the character to be playing. This isn’t to say that they don’t have any combos, but they’re quite limited with their selection.

Most of their combos consist of two to four hits, but those hits are going to do quite a bit of damage. Most of their combos are also not guaranteed in any way and rely on the opponent’s DI, or lack thereof. An opponent with a lot of knowledge on Byleth’s combos and setups can easily escape them, and it can feel like quite a chore to get the ball rolling.

2 ASSET: Advantage State

While they may have an abysmal disadvantage, their advantage state is the polar opposite. When their range and traps are utilized to their fullest, Byleth will cause opponents to snowball into volleys of high damaging attacks that will inevitably lead to their demise.

Opponents will have a difficult time escaping the professor’s wrath, and Naga forbid they happen to get carried off stage for an edgeguard. If any rolls, spot-dodges, or unsafe attacks are read correctly, they may very well be hard-punished for a stock taken at a staggering 40%.

1 FLAW: Failnaught

While the Failnaught may look extremely flashy and have the potential to break shields and decimate opponents, there is rarely any case where a good player is going to get hit by it. The fully charged version of this move should only be saved for the hardest of reads or style points, as it’s just way too slow to have much utility.

The uncharged version of neutral-special isn’t too bad, but it still has quite a slow startup and can be dodged easily. It’s best used to force opponents to approach from afar, edgeguarding, or taking advantage of the canceling mechanic to fake-out opponents, but there’s still a lot to be desired with this move.

NEXT: Ranking Every Fire Emblem Character In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate From Weakest To Most Powerful