Villager

Smash Attacks

SIDE SMASH

Villager drops a bowling ball on the opponent. If he does this on an edge, the bowling ball will drop off the stage, hitting anyone in its path. But beware: this is a projectile and can be reflected!

DOWN SMASH

Villager uses his shovel to dig on each side of him. Enemies hit will be temporarily buried.

UP SMASH

Villager sets off fireworks to blast opponents upward!

Basic Attacks

Standing Attack

Put on some boxing gloves and swing away. Two punches you can repeat but never goes into rapid jabs.

Forward Tilt

Swing an open umbrella horizontally in front of Villager.

Up Tilt

Swing a tree branch in a circle above Villager’s head. Lifts opponents into the air.

Down Tilt

Villager pulls out weeds in front of him. If opponents are above the weeds, they are hit upward.

Dash Attack

Villager stumbles while running and throws a planter forward.

Edge Attack

Villager pulls himself back up then swings a leg around to kick the opponent away.

Air Attacks

Neutral Air Attack

A mid-air cartwheel attack.

Up Air Attack

Villager pulls out between one and three turnips and swings them upward. More turnips mean more damage.

Down Air Attack

Villager pulls out between one and three turnips and swings them downward. More turnips mean more damage, and three can have a meteor effect on hit.

Forward Air Attack

Use Villager’s slingshot to attack your opponent at range!

Back Air Attack

Villager spins around and uses his slingshot to attack behind him at range.

Special Attacks

Pocket (Neutral Special)

Villager can use this to pocket items or projectiles for later use. Press the button again to take the item out or to throw the projectile.

Lloid Rocket (Side Special)

Fires off Lloid like a rocket horizontally. It eventually slows and falls before exploding or it explodes on contact. You can’t fire another one until the first one explodes. Hold the button to ride Lloid. Attacking or jumping from Lloid leaves Villager in a falling state. Riding Lloid until impact deals much more damage. While riding Lloid, slow his speed by hitting Back and speed up by hitting Up.

Balloon Trip (Up Special)

Villager puts on a balloon hat and flaps his arms to gain a lot of height. Repeatedly press the button to gain that height. You can also move left or right while recovering, but the balloons can be popped by incoming attacks!

Timber (Down Special)

This is a three part move. First, Villager plants seeds. This deals no damage and is not an attack in the air. Once seeds are planted, this changes to a watering can that can push opponents around. Watering the seed grows it into a tree. When the tree is grown, the attack becomes an axe swing that deals a lot of damage. If you chop the tree down, it can hit the opponent for a lot of damage. It takes two axe chops on the same side to chop down the tree. You can then Pocket the wood and throw it later!

Final Smash

Dream Home

Villager calls upon Tom Nook and the twin Nook employees to build a house around all opponents within range! The opponents take damage while the house is being built, and when it’s finished, the house explodes, dealing additional damage and knocking back opponents up and away from Villager. In total, this deals about 45% damage to all opponents caught in the house. The range on this attack is limited, but you can estimate the range by identifying the farthest puff of smoke when the raccoons appear. Villager is invulnerable while the house is being built, and if anyone runs into the house while it is building, they take damage as well. Using this on airborne opponents is not a great idea unless they are right beside you in the air. The knockback isn’t great, so use it closer to the sides of a stage to KO an opponent.

Strategy

Villager is a small, average-weight character with average mobility. Unlike most small characters, however, he has surprisingly good range on most of his attacks, thanks to the large number of things he carries around! For example, his Side Tilt is an umbrella, his Dash Attack throws a planter forward, and his Forward And Back Airs shoot a projectile from his slingshot! The downside to this is, in general, he doesn’t deal a lot of damage, and it can be difficult to approach opponents. You can increase Villager’s damage by using his Timber attack to get his axe out, but this limits his range and is temporary, as the tree doesn’t stick around forever.

\Pocket can be very useful against projectile characters, allowing you to return the projectiles at almost double damage! You also have some invincibility while actually capturing projectiles or items. Unfortunately, there are exceptions to what you can Pocket, as you can’t use it on Smash Balls or Assists. Villager also has his own massive projectile attack with Lloid Rocket. Use this with your Forward and Back Air attacks to really zone opponents. It doesn’t deal much damage by itself, but if Villager is riding it when it explodes, the damage is significantly higher! While Villager is riding Lloid Rocket, you can trick opponents by using Up or Down to control the speed of Lloid Rocket. Timber is Villager’s most interesting tool—each step of the process leaves him with a new tool to use for attacking. Once you’ve planted the seeds, your Down Special becomes Villager using his water can. Use this attack anywhere, even in the air. It doesn’t deal damage, but it does push opponents away. Once you water the seeds and they grow into a tree, your Down Special becomes an axe. This deals good damage but is only available until the tree disappears. Since the tree requires two axe swings to chop down, extend the time you have the axe by hitting the tree once before it expires. Note that opponents can attack the tree to destroy it as well. Finally, once you chop down the tree, the falling tree causes massive knockback and damage, so try to place it closer to edges of the stage. Timing this to hit an opponent is very difficult, however, because of the number of steps involved to make it fall. This makes it better suited for a free-for-all scenario or edge-guarding. Balloon Trip isn’t an attack, but it is one of the better recoveries in the game. Against projectile-heavy characters, though, it can be very difficult to use because they can pop the balloons!

\Villager’s throws have decent range, thanks to the handle on the net he swings at opponents. This also makes it slower, so it can be harder to catch opponents. In the air, his Forward Air and Back Air are fantastic to poke opponents while Up Air and Down Air are best for their vertical KO ability. From the ground, Villager’s Side Smash is his best option for KOs, but it’s very slow to attack. You can drop it off platforms, though, to surprise unsuspecting victims below! Instead of landing Side Smash directly, try to land Down Smash so you can bury opponents to rack up damage on them or to land the Side Smash. Down Smash also becomes extra useful when you have a tree nearby for Timber! Edge-guarding is one of Villager’s strengths, thanks to his water can and tree from Timber, his slingshot aerials, and his Lloid Rocket.

Recovery

Villager has some of the best recovery tools in the game. First, though, it should be noted he has decent jump height and the ability to wall jump. His Balloon Trip has incredible vertical recovery, but opponents can pop the balloons, so you have to stay alert! You can control the Balloon Trip to recover horizontally as well. Hold the Special button to increase vertical recovery, and hit the Attack button to enter a fall state. For horizontal recovery, Villager can ride Lloid Rocket by holding the Special button. Hit Down to slow down or Up to speed down. If Lloid Rocket hits an opponent, Villager pops off, but if it passes everyone, Villager can jump off by pressing any button. If Villager jumps off the rocket, he enters a fall state.