Overview

True to her form and the games she hails from, Bayonetta is unique among Super Smash Bros. brawlers. Her air-to-air pressure, combos, and flexibility with aerial movement are second to none.

Per jumping period, no one is armed to the teeth quite like Bayonetta: two Witch Twist up specials, a double jump, and up to two uses of After Burner Kick. And that’s without mentioning her normal air moves, which are all great. She can wall-jump and wall-cling too.

Her combo and movement abilities are so good that they’re controversial in some competitive circles. But the witch pays for this unique toolkit quite a bit: she may be lithe, but Bayonetta’s moves are quite slow. Most heavyweights have a faster neutral attack jab than she does! She also doesn’t have good two-side clear-out moves on the ground; up tilt and up smash pretty much just hit forward and up, with no backward coverage, and down smash brings down a huge Wicked Weave heel in front, leaving Bayonetta wide open behind it. The ground isn’t really where she wants to be, anyway. But one option she has to counter offense from behind (or anywhere, really) is the Witch Time counter. “Catch” incoming attacks with this move’s intangible period to make a would-be aggressor into a temporary slug, therefore a sitting duck.

If Bayonetta irks you, keep this in mind too: she’s slower than she looks in close and she lacks easy clear-out options, so go after her, and make sure you bait and punish Witch Time if she’s using it defensively.

Bayonetta Vitals

Movement Options

Movement Ranks