Greninja

Smash Attacks

SIDE SMASH

Greninja slashes horizontally with a blade made of water.

DOWN SMASH

Greninja swings downward on either side of itself with blades of water.

UP SMASH

Greninja stabs upwards with blades of water before swinging them downward on either side of itself.

Basic Attacks

Standing Attack

Multiple jab strikes before going into rapid strikes.

Forward Tilt

Greninja kicks forward horizontally. This can be aimed up or down.

Up Tilt

Greninja swings its extremely long tongue in an arc over its body, hitting anything in its path.

Down Tilt

Greninja crouches down then kicks out low, sending opponents back horizontally.

Dash Attack

While running, Greninja spins around and sweeps the opponent!

Edge Attack

Greninja pulls itself back up then swings both legs at the opponent to trip that opponent up.

Air Attacks

Neutral Air Attack

Greninja lets out a burst of water all around itself.

Up Air Attack

A spiraling upward series of kicks. This hits multiple times.

Down Air Attack

Greninja dives downward to stomp on the opponent. The meteor effect on this attack allows you to combo into itself.

Forward Air Attack

Swing forward horizontally with Greninja’s water blade.

Back Air Attack

Multiple rapid kick strikes behind Greninja that knock opponents back horizontally.

Special Attacks

Water Shuriken (Neutral Special)

Shoot a water shuriken at your opponent. Press the button to charge and increase the damage and size of the shuriken. Note that this charge can’t be canceled, so you must release the shuriken.

Shadow Sneak (Side Special)

Sneaky, indeed! Send your shadow along the floor by holding the button. While holding the button, you are still free to move and jump. When you release the button, Greninja teleports with a flipkick to wherever the shadow is and at whatever height Greninja is.

Hydro Pump (Up Special)

Shoots water to propel you in two directions. After inputting Up Special, immediately input two additional directions. The water deals a bit of damage to your opponents and can also push them.

Substitute (Down Special)

Greninja evades the opponent’s attack with a substitute, then teleports and counterattacks from behind. This also counters attacks from behind Greninja.

Final Smash

Secret Ninja Attack

Greninja drops a mat in front of itself, and if the opponent is there, Greninja flips that opponent up into the night sky. Then Greninja rapidly attacks them against the silhouette of the moon before spiking them back down toward the stage. This does about 52% damage! The only downside is it has very limited range compared to most Final Smashes in the game.

Strategy

Greninja is one of the fastest characters in the game and has good jump height and recovery options. Combine this with its average weight and good range—thanks to Greninja’s water blades—and you can see why Greninja can be quite capable in battle! Use your charged-up Water Shuriken to fight from a distance, and punish from a distance with your ground speed or Shadow Sneak! Don’t get carried away with your speed, though, as your weight is your weakness.

As a projectile, the Water Shuriken is effective at interrupting the opponent and dealing some damage. Even the smallest of shurikens causes the opponent to flinch, making this useful at any range. The largest shurikens can hit multiple times and carry opponents off the stage. Shadow Sneak is one of the most interesting special moves in the game. The teleport uses Greninja’s current vertical position but has Greninja appear horizontally wherever its shadow is. When Greninja reappears, it flipkicks the opponent. When knocked vertically away from the stage, you can use this to change your horizontal position during your descent to throw off your opponent’s expectations. On stages with darker ground, it’s increasingly difficult to keep track of the shadow, so opponents will find it harder to keep track of you! While the shadow is moving, you can still control Greninja as well, so you can fake out opponents by jumping toward them so they expect an attack as your shadow teleports to the other side! Similar to Pikachu’s Quick Attack, Hydro Pump allows Greninja to fly in two directions while simultaneously attacking the opponent. Hydro Pump, though, is more to push opponents and allow Greninja to escape than it is to damage opponents. Substitute is Greninja’s counter, which can be good for edge-guarding along with Hydro Pump and Water Shuriken.

In the air, Forward Air stands out for its impressive range, speed, and damage while Neutral Air can be useful to protect you around multiple opponents. Back Air and Up Air are useful for racking up damage, and Down Air is great because of its meteor smash. For KOs, Forward Air and Up Air are your best options. For ground-based attacks, Side Smash is great, and Up Smash can hit multiple times for tons of damage but less knockback. Side Tilt, Down Tilt, and Greninja’s Dash Attack have great range and speed. Remember to use Greninja’s extra mobility like crawl, wall cling, and wall jump!

Recovery

Greninja has a variety of useful recovery attacks. His main tool is definitely Hydro Pump. Similar to Pikachu’s Quick Attack, Hydro Pump allows Greninja to fly in two additional directions to get back to the stage. Additionally, the water it spits out can push opponents and deal damage. For horizontal recovery, Greninja can also use his Shadow Sneak. When you see the shadow get onto the stage, let it go to return to the stage with a flipkick. Because Shadow Sneak retains your current vertical height, however, you need to be above the stage to land on it. Since Shadow Sneak doesn’t put you into a fall state, you can still use Hydro Pump if you don’t quite make it to the stage. Use Greninja’s Substitute Special to slow your fall and try to counter. To slightly stall, you can throw Water Shuriken as well, but you probably won’t want to use this more than once.