Super Smash Bros. Brawl/BBR Official Tier List

This is the official tier list released by the Brawl Back Room, a special group of people within Brawl's competitive gaming community that consists of top players of multiple characters, experienced analysts and tournament organizers. The tier list serves as a ranking of every character's effectiveness based on the competitive ruleset and current metagame. It does not determine the matchups of individual characters, nor should it influence a player's choice of character, especially if said player does not play competitively.

The following is the eighth version of the tier list valid as of April 25th, 2013. Explanations for character positions will be filled in soon.

SS Tier

 * Meta Knight - Infamous for his amazing speed, aerial prowess, great transcendent priority in his attacks, good killing power, ability to rushdown and timeout as well as excellent recovery, Meta Knight remains on the number 1 spot, and will likely continue to do so in the future. Many even consider banning Meta Knight from competitive play.

S Tier

 * Ice Climbers - Possessing the notorious infinite chaingrab, the Ice Climbers' ability to take a stock from a single grab is feared by many. At number 2 on the tier list they are the highest-ranked veteran in the game.

A+ Tier

 * Olimar - Olimar's Pikmin mechanic gives him strong disjointed attacks, great damage-dealers and spammable grabs and smash attacks. He has a very strong defensive game but is hampered by a poor approach and recovery.
 * Diddy Kong - Bananas give Diddy Kong wonderful stage control and sets up lots of attacks. Diddy himself is quick and agile, with lots of fast attacks in his moveset making him a threatening character.

A- Tier

 * Marth - Marth's attacks have great range, speed and power, making him a well-rounded, above-average character. However, his lack of projectile causes problems with approaches, preventing him from getting a higher place.
 * Snake - With his strong attacks and excellent stage control with his explosives, as well as his amazing survival ability allowing him to stay on the stage until extremely high percentages, Snake was considered the second-best character in the competitive scene for quite a while. However, his poor air game and ability to easily be gimped caused a big drop in position in the last tier list, and he remains in the lower end of the top tier.
 * Falco - Falco has solid attacks, a good chaingrab as well as great camping ability with his Blaster. His poor recovery and lack of killing power keeps him from going higher in the tier list.

B Tier

 * Pikachu - A fast character with great mobility thanks to its QAC technique, and good edgeguarding abilities. However, it has trouble landing its best KO moves against many characters until very high percentages.
 * Zero Suit Samus - One of the most agile characters in the game with great aerials and a down smash that can set up numerous combos by stunning the opponent, as well as a versatile recovery. She has mediocre ground attacks however.
 * Wario - Wario has among the best aerial mobility in the game and a good defensive game, as well as the versatile Wario Bike but he has very poor range and is easy to pressure.

C+ Tier

 * Lucario - Lucario is known for its aura gimmick which causes its attacks to be stronger when it is at high damage, but weaker when it is at low damage. Lucario has one of the most solid combo abilities in the game and a great defensive game, but its recovery is easy to gimp/edgeguard, and the aura gimmick reduces his KO power in certain situations.
 * King Dedede - With great range in some attacks and a highly effective chain grab, as well as a decent projectile, Dedede can play defensively well, but is vulnerable to characters rushing right in and playing defensively themselves.
 * Toon Link - Toon Link has a wide array of projectiles and quick, useful aerials, as well as a safe recovery, but he has short range in many attacks and lacks versatile ways to KO.

C Tier

 * Wolf - Wolf has great mobility and a great spacing move in his back aerial, as well as a good projectile, though he is extremely vulnerable to combos and chain grabs, and has problems recovering against edgeguarders, especially since he has a notoriously late meteor smash cancelling window.
 * Fox - Fox is a very fast character with a very fast projectile and the ability to quickly rush in and back out while throwing out attacks, though he is very light and frail, is easy to combo, and also sometimes has an over-reliance on certain moves (such as his up smash and up aerial) to KO.
 * Mr. Game & Watch - A unique character with many great range moves and some surprisingly powerful moves (such as his smashes), though he has trouble approaching and many of his attacks being rather punishable. He is also extremely light (though his bucket braking technique enables him to live much longer than usual).
 * Pit - With an easily spammable projectile and quick aerials and combo moves, Pit is effective in both close and far range, but he is let down by being a rather weak character, with a lack of great KO moves.

C- Tier

 * R.O.B - R.O.B. has great projectiles, one of the best recoveries in the game, as well as good tilt and aerial attacks, though he is rather vulnerable to combos and juggles, and his ability to survive is quite low for his weight class.
 * Peach - Peach has a unique ability called floating, which allows her to move forward and attack while still in the air. She also has a good projectile and good edgeguarding ability. However, she has slow movement and has trouble landing KO moves due to many weak moves, with the strong ones being difficult to land.

D Tier

 * Kirby -
 * Donkey Kong -
 * Sonic -
 * Ike -
 * Zelda/Sheik -
 * Sheik -
 * Ness -
 * Yoshi -

E Tier

 * Luigi -
 * Pokémon Trainer -
 * Lucas -

F Tier

 * Mario -
 * Samus -
 * Bowser -
 * Captain Falcon -
 * Link -
 * Jigglypuff -
 * Zelda -
 * Ganondorf -