Who is your Smash main? What is your favorite ruleset?

[HylianSwordsman]

I love a lot of variety in Smash, so I haven't settled on a main yet and don't have a favorite rule set. So far, I love the Smash meter so much I can't stand to use Smash balls any more, I only play with the meter. It's just so much more fun. You don't have everyone running around the arena after the stupid ball and only one person gets it and gets maybe 1 or 2 kills with it. With meter, everyone gets the Smash ball eventually, and they need to use it skillfully or it'll fail. Also, while you're running after the ball, if you're unlucky and don't get it right away, you'll often rack up a ton of damage from any player smart enough to sit the scramble out and just pick off players that are focused on the ball. It disrupts the match and anyone really good at getting them will get them all the time and no one else will enjoy it, and even the guy who got it might not enjoy it much since he probably got hurt trying to get it and it can still miss depending on the character.

Aside from that, I tend to do untimed stock with 3 lives a lot, because I hate having a time limit. I love that stamina is a main mode now and like to play around with that a lot. I usually have items off, but turn them on regularly to add variety. I usually try to theme the items though, so that the match has a theme, like Pokeballs, assist trophies, food, battering weapons, guns, explosives, or a grab bag of my favorites. The S flag I usually leave off because it can create a strategy that disrupts the game too much, especially in team matches. If you just have one person guard the other while they collect flags, it becomes a game of how many lives can you get, rather than how many you have left. That can be a fun way to play though, but only if you do it on purpose. Spirits I leave off, unless I feel in the mood for some spirit matches, in which case I create informal rules for each match, like neutrals only, secret teams (where you can't know what spirits the other player is selecting so you can't just counterpick), item spirits only (with items off so your starting item is the only one you get), or whatever else I come up with.

As for fighters, so far of the newcomers I'm loving Inkling, Ridley, K.Rool, and the Belmonts. They're so much fun to play. I'd be most likely to main Inkling of those, I think, but also possibly the Belmonts, likely Simon. I like all the newcomers though. Of the formerly cut fighters, Wolf was an old main of mine back in Brawl, so I can't help but love him, but I hate what they did to his forward Smash. I also like Young Link, he's my best Link, at least until I get good at BotW Link's remote bombs. I didn't buy the Smash 4 DLC, and so far I'm enjoying Cloud and Bayonetta, as well as Mewtwo, who seems way better this time around. Of the veterans, I'm loving Link's improvements but I need to get better with his bombs, I love how different each Link feels now. I can't not like Samus, because she's Samus, and Dark Samus is a fun echo, but I feel like they nerfed her, and she really didn't need that. Fox was always a favorite but he's a mixed bag this time since his side B no longer leaves him helpless but also is much easier to stop. Pikachu feels amazing now. Ganon's sword is one of my favorite veteran additions, he really feels different from Captain Falcon now, as opposed to being a slower, darkness-powered Falcon like he used to feel like. Zelda also feels better, and Yoshi is easier to recover with.

So far the number one thing I hate about the game is how much dodging was nerfed and how everything pushes everyone to use the most aggressive strategies possible in every circumstance. People of all play styles used to do pretty well, but now only people who are comfortable with a very aggressive playstyle are going to shine. Some characters are passively nerfed in this way, as they can't play keep away as effectively, which was sometimes the character's whole point. Defensive play just isn't as effective as it once was. I liked to switch up my playstyle a lot before, but now I can't really.