Who has the best specials.

[Booguette]

So I just picked up ultimate a few days ago, and I was absolutely DESTROYING a CPU as Ness (Mainly because level 4 CPUs still struggle with avoiding PK fire) and as i hurled the CPU into the fiery vortex, I wondered: "Which characters have the best neutral, side down and up specials in the game?" So I decided to be lazy and ask all you long-time players who have the best specials. Specials from previous games are welcome too.

 

[Xiahou Ba]

It's really hard to tell what is the "best" or not because all specials are specifically designed to fit the toolkit of a character and have situational uses. For example, Ness's PK Fire is annoying but it's not his best move (it has significant start up and end lag that is useless on shields, plus it's better if you use it in the air than on the ground), because he needs to use it in tandem with his other moves and his specials, and you can't over rely on it to win. PK Thunder should also be used, as well as PSI Magnet, and you use them accordingly with his other moves to blend into each other. I'm a Ness main, so I can say stuff like this because I know the character the best, but I think other characters too have similar uses with their specials in that it's part of their toolkit, and you need multiple tools to win, not just a single one.

That being said...

hero go thwack heeheehee

Also

In Melee, it is indisputable Zelda has the best down b in the game.

 

[Xiahou Dun]

Been a bump, but just chiming in that Mario's specials are a weird case where powering them up through like spirits and stuff, I'd find as waste of spirits as all of them inflict low damage and relatively low knockback (super jump punch, fireball, cape, FLUDD), but all still have use. Even FLUDD (though by far my least used special). Mario has a funny special kit, where all moves are basically disruptive stuff or just something you tack at the end of a combo, which is just a weird contrast to the rest of the moveset, which is just straightforward damages and stuff. Still, this rounds out Mario's kit and whatnot, they contribute to the reason Mario's so dangerous, like his up-b is a solid OOS option since it comes out so fast.

I think Kirby's specials are pretty solid, probably would use them more than most characters, simply due to his swallow neutral special granting him special moves (especially getting Shulk's ability, heh) but even just grabbing characters midair can be pretty useful. Hammer's fun to use (unlike in Melee which is just pathetic), same for Rock. Final Cutter can kill people if they're not being careful, though that variation in Smash 4 without the plummeting-down aspect of it is arguably superior just because the start-up lag is so little it's a good aerial finisher.

I also think Link's special help have some people be drawn to him, as it's just an attractive theme of the kind of Swiss knife hero Link is? I mean, bow, bombs, boomerang (and hookshot in earlier games) are just pretty varied tools for one character. I'm not a Link specialist so I don't know if Link has great specials, but they're just worth noting.

 

[Salmancer]

You know weird argument, but I would wager everyone who has a grab in their special moves has the best special moves. Why? Well, if you're holding an non-heavy item, dropping/throwing that item takes priority over grabbing. That means all characters holding a (non-Mr. Saturn and non-Fan) item are weaker against opponents who shield frequently. However, all characters can use their special moves while holding an item. (Save for item generators). So if a character has a grab in their special moveset, they curveball around a mechanical restriction of the game by being able to perform a grab to get past opposing shields even while holding items. So this would make the characters with the best special moves:

Kirby, Yoshi, Captain Falcon (though Falcon Dive is risky to throw out as a shield counter because of the helplessness), Ganondorf, Bowser, Mewtwo, King Dedede, Diddy Kong, Lucario, Wario, Robin, Ridley, Incineroar, Mii Brawler, Steve and very technically King K. Rool. (Blunderbuss is too slow to realistically be used to sneak a grab in.)

Aside from that, it might be King K. Rool. Projectiles are really strong in fighting games, and he gets two different ones. And he has a counter, great in general but even better if your opponent is impatient because of all the zoning King K. Rool can do with the projectiles. And this is topped off by an up special that covers a large amount of distance, especially when compared to the heavyweight class in general, that also can still protect him from attacks.

The meme answer is Kirby because Ultimate makes all copied neutral specials deal more damage than the originals. So he "objectively" has a neutral special stronger than each other character, which makes Kirby's neutral special the strongest neutral special as a whole.

 

[Sparks]

Simon and Richter come to mind because they have three amazing projectiles. Their Up Special is OK, but their other moves more than make up for it.

 

[LuigiFan24]

Luigi has the best moves since he's my fav character
Also, his moves are very powerful!
Honorable mentions go to Samus and Dark Samus because they're surprisingly powerful

 

[Troy McClure]

Wario

Neutral Special: Chews up oppenents and heals while doing so, letting them experience his improper hygiene

Side Special: Pulls out his motorcycle and tries to run over any opponents, can even be used to beat up Galeem.

Up Special: Spins into the air surprisingly fast for a grossly overweight man that's lazy.

Down Special: Rips a hole in his pants to unleash an enormous KOing nuclear fart complete with Super Armor. If you get the victory pose where Wario farts, it's just his way of rubbing salt into the wound.

 

[Xiahou Ba]

Up Special: Spins into the air surprisingly fast for a grossly overweight man that's lazy.

the brawl instruction booklet said it's an excellent recovery move so it must be true