SSBU/Piranha Plant

Overview

Piranha Plant

Weight:	112
Spotdodge:The duration and intangibility of this character's on-spot dodges.	26F (3~17F int.)
Air Dodge:The intangibility of this character's air dodges, both neutral and directional.	3~30F int. (Neutral) 3~21F int. (Directional)
Fastest OOS:	Grab/FAir/UAir (10F)

Overview

[[File:Piranha Plant_{{{2}}}_Stock.png|link=Piranha Plant/{{{2}}}|x25px|alt=]] [[Piranha Plant/{{{2}}}|{{{2}}}]] (PP) focuses on mid-range setplay and poking with the goal to force the opponent to jump, then subsequently hit the opponent using its strong anti-airing options for combos, juggling and killing.

Ptooie is Plant's most recognizeable move, with its immense strength and multipurpose utility. While highly committal, it is a dangerous anti-air, and when thrown, uniquely covers the space up and in front, making it difficult for aerial-savvy opponents to run their usual gameplan VS Plant. It also functions as a pseudo-counter via Ptooie trades, and the massive shieldstun makes it a great lockdown tool, as Plant can easily run up and pressure/punish the opponent for blocking it. However, for how powerful the move can be, it is very slow and telegraphed, as well as having notable weaknesses, meaning this move should be used sparingly.

Poison Breath (PB) is a unique, knockback-less move that does massive damage should the opponent linger too long inside. It is useful for area denial, and as a result one of Plant's more common ways of forcing the opponent to jump. It is heavily dependent on how the opponent chooses to play around it, though, as the lack of knockback can lead to opponents disrespecting and running in, punishing the lag of the move. It also has unique ramifications in specific matchups, as it destroys a few projectiles.

Plant's plethora of anti-airs are another notable aspect of the character. UTilt and UAir are both quick, intangible combo/kill moves that are deceptively safe, USmash is among one of the strongest of its kind and Ptooie has impressive range, combo ability and decent kill power, as well as the opportunity for trades. Plant also has more unconventional antiairs, such as DA, a disjointed, forwards-travelling move that hits surprisingly high up, SH NAir provides similar utility to DA, albeit with more upwards range, active frames and combo ability, and DTilt has surprising utility due to Plant's low-profile crouch and the low profile of the move.

Unfortunately, despite having some great attacks, Plant is brought down significantly by a severe lack of good approach options and its tools for keeping the opponent off the ground are generally very high commitment. Its best poking tools are FAir and DTilt, both of which don't possess impressive range nor frame data, and Dash Attack can only get Plant so far. As such, Plant struggles often VS many keep-out oriented characters due to these unsafe approach tools and generally weaker keepout gameplay compared to the rest. When Plant does score a hit, its great advantage can shine and steal stocks, but in return its disadvantage is also quite dreadful, namely in part to awful ledge options and 2-frame.

Summary

Piranha Plant [[File:Piranha Plant_{{{2}}}_Stock.png\|link=Piranha Plant/{{{2}}}\|x25px\|alt=]] [[Piranha Plant/{{{2}}}\|{{{2}}}]] (PP) is a mid-range setplay oriented character that primarily wins by causing jumps and anti-airing the opponent.
Pros	Cons
Great Anti-Airs: Piranha Plant's large amount of high-hitting, intangible/disjointed moves make it very difficult to jump on top of it without significant risk. Explosive Advantage State: Should Piranha Plant score a hit, even with something as trivial as Jab, Plant can very easily rack up massive damage with tech chases, ledgetrapping or juggling. Strong Setplay: Landing a Ptooie on shield or successfully setting up Poison Breath in a good position allows Plant to maintain a strong upper hand VS the opponent most of the time. Safe Edgeguarding: Ptooie is unique in that it makes for a particularly safe edgeguard, useful for sniping the opponent with little commitment. Long-Stem Strike (LSS) is also one of the best edgeguarding tools in the game, due to its armorA state where a character takes damage but not knockback, absurd range, ability to angle, and good kill power; certain characters can barely get past good LSS usage. Pop Quiz!: Piranha Plant is among one of the rarest characters in the game, and as such, matchup knowledge is very low. This allows you to abuse knowledge checks and strong moves more often than you'd think against certain players, especially those who recklessly approach you.	Sluggish Movement: Piranha Plant has very middling runspeed, awful walkspeed, middling airspeed and awful air acceleration. In spite of having a really good SHFF for baiting purposes, Plant can't reliably move around to avoid attacks or gain better position. Poor Approach Options: Piranha Plant's frame data, range and poor mobility make it exceptionally difficult in some matchups to approach, forcing Plant to play a defensive playstyle a majority of the time, with minimal approaches. Easy to combo: While Piranha Plant is heavy, it's also quite large and has really bizarre hurtbox shifts, leading to very easy combo opportunities in specific situations, and escaping strings is very difficult. Exploitable Disadvantage: Piranha Plant's Piranhacopter, whilst travelling the distance, is absurdly easy to 2-frame or intercept due to its exposed head. Recovering well as Plant means maneuvering with Piranhacopter exceptionally well, and even that won't save you sometimes. Plant's ledge options and landing options also leave much to be desired, as well, overall giving Plant hell if it gets into disadvantage. Poor Out of Shield Options: Should Piranha Plant be forced to shield, it has below-average options for out of shield, as it's fastest attacks are frame 10 with little range or blindspots. Thus, Plant relies more on punishing what the opponent does AFTER hitting shield, or trying to roll/jump away. Mediocre Diagonal Anti-Airs: Surprisingly, despite being THE anti-air character, Piranha Plant's diagonal anti-airs aren't great. Its best diagonal anti-airs are either large commitments (Ptooie throw, DA and NAir), or have poor range (RARA tech that allows for approaching your opponent with your back turned, out of a forward run. UAir and FTilt). High Commitment: Almost everything Piranha Plant does is generally pretty committal. Its least committal tools are FAir and DTilt, and the frames aren't great for their mediocre range. Poor Ground Game: Ironically, Piranha Plant isn't all that great at forcing jumps, so people that know the matchup won't be jumping nearly as much unless properly conditioned to do so, which can take more effort than you'd like.