The Arsenal - Super Smash Bros.

With Super Smash Bros. Ultimate recently coming out after a long wait, fans of this platform fighter can now experience everything this game has to offer, from the characters to the stages to even the items. Despite not being a favored feature for competitive play, items contribute a large part to the game’s atmosphere. But when looking at just what this crew of powerful characters can use, which of these items are the best?

To clarify, we will only be looking at items that can be picked up or otherwise interacted with during a match, so weapons and gear that a character carries into battle as part of their move-set don’t count. For those, certain characters may get an Arsenal article of their own in the future.

Here is the Arsenal of the Super Smash Brothers.

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Best Close Combat Weapon – Hammer

First seen in the original Donkey Kong arcade game, picking up the Hammer gives the wielder a few seconds of going into a frenzy trying to pound whoever comes close to them. Hits from this large weapon do a lot of damage and can send opponents flying. There is a chance that the head may fly off the Hammer leaving you helplessly swinging the handle around for no damage, but even then, the head can afterwards be used as a throwing weapon for heavy damage.

Best Ranged Weapon – Super Scope

Based on the real peripheral for the Super Nintendo, the Super Scope in Smash Bros. is a laser gun that can shoot rapid-fire laser shots or be charged up to shoot one large blast, Samus Aran style. The smaller shots are a good way to rack up damage and keep opponents away from you and the large shots can effectively KO high-damage targets.

Best Thrown Weapon – Spiny Shell

These spiky terrors are most infamously seen in the Mario Kart racing games, where they seek out the racer in first place and end their lead with a well-paced explosion. They work similarly in Smash Bros., where after being thrown, they hover over the fighter currently in the lead (except the one who threw it) before slamming down on them and exploding, launching them off and dealing heavy damage.

Best Explosive Weapon – Smart Bomb

First seen in the Star Fox games, where they give the members of the Star Fox team powerful explosives to fire, the Smart Bomb is a thrown weapon that creates a similarly large explosion after hitting an enemy. It creates a large blast zone that traps enemies within it damaging, racking up damage for them before launching them at the end.

Best Assembly Weapon – Daybreak

Coming from Kid Icarus: Uprising, Daybreak is a very powerful weapon and the same can be said for it in Smash. In a match, it comes in three pieces that can be picked up during the fight and can be knocked out of another character’s possession for someone else to pick it up. When someone collects all three pieces, they can form a large cannon that can fire a devastating energy beam. Catching someone in this beam is an almost guaranteed KO.

Best Healing Item – Heart Container

In the Legend of Zelda series, Heart Containers both heal Link and add an extra bit of overall health to his life bar. In Smash, this item heals 100 points from your damage meter. No extra conditions, no complications, no sharing with opponents or teammates; it simply heals the user, no fine print. Something that simple, yet that effective, is hard to disregard.

Best Defense Item – Franklin Badge

Those who have read previous articles here may remember seeing this item in the Arsenal for Ness and his friends from Earthbound. In that game, this badge can reflect any lightning attacks shot at the wearer back to sender, making it useful against some key opponents that used electrical attacks. In Smash, this item gets upgraded to being able to reflect energy-based projectile attacks, making it very useful against characters who use such moves, of which there are several.

Best Summoning Item – Master Ball

From the Pokemon series, this ball used to capture Pokemon has a 100% capture rate, making it a very effective item to use against rare Pokemon, particularly legendaries. This is reflected by the item’s appearance in Smash, where they are guaranteed to summon a legendary or mythical Pokemon that can deal out powerful attacks or buffs to aid the player who summoned them. Assist Trophies and normal Poke Balls are present too, but there’s more of a chance you could get ineffective assist characters or flat-out duds.

Best Power-Up – Smash Ball

A Super Smash Bros. original, this item floats around the stage until a character attacks it and breaks it apart like a piñata. Afterwards, when they start glowing with energy, they can use their Final Smash ability, a strong super move that, if applied correctly, can almost guarantee a KO on an opponent, or at least, inflict a high amount of damage on them. The resulting moves are always on theme with the character that uses them and are always a spectacle to behold.

Best Power-Down – Timer 

Another Super Smash Bros. original, this clock slowly floats down to the stage after appearing. When grabbed by a fighter, time temporarily slows down for everyone else but the user, allowing them to pound on the competition while those affected try to adjust and hope they don’t get KO’d before the effect expires.

Best Miscellaneous Item – Special Flag

Originating from the Namco game Rally-X, this 8-bit flag was a high-scoring item that would double point totals for every subsequent item collected. In Smash, this is a very valuable item, not for directly affecting the battle, but because when held up for a few seconds, this item would grant the user a free point in timed battles or an extra life in stock battles. The effect can be interrupted however, so users must make sure they’re in a safe place where they can avoid getting hit before using it.

Best Item Container – Rolling Crate

The items in Smash don’t always appear on their own. Sometimes, they appear in special containers. They can house one or many items and come in many forms like capsules, barrels, party balls, or crates. They can even change appearance depending on which stage they appear on, gaining a futuristic look on outer space or futuristic stages or appearing as gift-wrapped presents on more whimsical stages. The Rolling Crate stands out among these as not only do they hold items, if they are hit but not destroyed, they can go rolling off in a direction and can cause damage to whoever they run into. Fighters can even stand on these crates, giving them another function as a platform.

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What did you think of these choices? Is there an item you think should have been highlighted? What characters do you think have an arsenal worth looking at? Make your voice heard in the comments below. Thanks for coming!