In Super Smash Bros., there are many characters that you will face. The base roster alone boasts many different characters. One of those characters includes Bayonetta, the Umbra Witch from her series with the same name.
Bayonetta’s flashy and stylish moves have translated really well from her original game into Smash 4 – for better or for worse. While her Super Smash Bros. Ultimate version is reasonably toned down, she can still be a major threat to unsuspecting players. Here’s how you can deal with those threats and the unique aspects she brings to the table.
Bayonetta’s Strengths
Bayonetta’s most apparent strength lies in her lengthy combos. With the use of her specials and aerial attacks, she can string many attacks together to rack up damage. These combos also have the benefit of carrying her opponents far and high distances, meaning they can result in kills despite the opponent not necessarily being at high percents.
Along with that strength comes her combo versatility. The mobility and speed of her attacks — especially her grounded and aerial Side Special (or Side-B) — mean that she can get a combo started in many situations. The same can be said for her Up-B, which works well to start a combo at close range. This also means that she can mix up opponents very well with her quick burst options.
Unique Abilities
Bayonetta also has some unique abilities that are really beneficial. The first has to do with her previously mentioned Up-B and Side-B. While most characters get them only once in the air, she has means of using them multiple times. This is what helps her with stringing combos together, but it also gives her a great offstage presence in terms of edge guarding and recovering to the stage. There’s also her Witch Time, which is a counter that slows down an opponent after dodging their attack. This also slows down the trajectory they’ll travel from any attack, which opens up her combo game and punish options even more.
Last but not least is her Bath Within. With this, Bayonetta can avoid receiving an attack’s knockback and full damage in the first few frames of a dodge, roll, or her Witch Time special. She’ll also move in whatever direction she’s traveling, taking on the form of a swarm of bats. Bat Within allows Bayonetta to escape combos that would normally land on other characters. This, along with her Witch Time and excellent recovery, gives her a disadvantaged state that demands respect.
Bayonetta’s Weaknesses
One of Bayonetta’s main weaknesses is the damage she deals with. While she can rack up damage in lengthy combos, they compensate for the lack of power in each individual attack. Naturally, the lack of launch distance on her attacks is also a factor in this. Both of these traits lead to Bayonetta tending to have a hard time killing opponents; even those that are typically easy to kill by her capabilities will often live past high percents.
The other main weakness is another unique trait of hers. When Bayonetta performs multiple special attacks in the air, she’ll land with more lag than normal. The amount of lag she lands will depend on the number of special attacks she performs. Since she tends to need her special attacks for extending combos, she’ll usually have lots of landing lag. This can be negated with certain actions, such as using her Neutral-B or Down-B just before landing or going to a ledge. However, these options can leave her in an unfavorable situation if an opponent is out of a combo and waiting for her to land. The only other way she can negate this lag is by being attacked before she falls.
Another weakness is her lack of shield pressure. If an opponent patiently shields, Bayonetta can’t do much against them. Her safe options are either resourceful, or they don’t lead to much if the shield stays up. The fact that her throws are bad in terms of killing, damage, and leading into combos further solidifies that Bayonetta isn’t a threat against a shielding opponent.
Strategy & Counterplay
Because Bayonetta relies on combos and setups to get kills, learning one trick will be very beneficial when battling against her: Smash Directional Influence, or SDI. While regular DI affects the angle at which you are launched from an attack by tilting the control stick, SDI is better used for getting out of multi-hit attacks, like Bayonetta’s Up-B, by repeatedly inputting a direction like a smash attack. This strategy was used as a meme when referring to her back in Smash 4, but there is some truth to it that still holds up in Smash Ultimate. Bayonetta’s combos can be harder to execute against someone that can escape her attacks with SDI.
Another way to mitigate her combo game is to make yourself harder to hit in general. The first way to do this is to move unpredictably and keep yourself out of her attack range. If Bayonetta tries to attack you aggressively with an option, try to move out of the way just enough for you to punish her laggy frames with an attack of your own. The other way is to play very defensively, staying grounded and utilizing your shield very often. This lowers the number of times she can tag you with a stray hit and get lots of damage off of it.
Also, make sure to respect her disadvantaged state. Try not to hit Bayonetta with a combo that you aren’t confident is true on her since her Bath Within and Witch Time can help her escape and turn the situation around. Try to bait out her air dodge and Witch Time to punish her instead. This can not only get meaningful damage piled up on her but also deter her from using those mechanics and make her disadvantage a bit easier to handle.
Good/Bad Matchups
Bayonetta works best against characters that are easy to close the distance against and combo. This can be due to her opponent being slow, being very large, or having no reliable way to keep Bayonetta out. Characters like Donkey Kong, Bowser, King K. Rool, and King Dedede are all bad picks because of those traits. Characters are also bad against her if their attacks and projectiles are easily overshadowed by Witch Time or Bat Within and if their recovery is pretty linear. You probably would be better off not using Link, R.O.B., Wii Fit Trainer, Zelda, or Kazuya.
Those that would be better against Bayonetta are characters that are hard for her to hit and combo consistently. This could be due to them being small, able to force her to approach, or being too fast. Try characters such as Inkling, Diddy Kong, Pikachu, or Greninja. Speaking of forcing her to approach, characters that can wall her out with setups and a variety of projectiles are the best option. For that, characters like Samus, Snake, Mewtwo, and Olimar would benefit very well.
A character that potentially works best against Bayonetta is Lucario. Her ability to rack up damage and her inability to kill reliably are both beneficial to Lucario, thanks to his Aura mechanic, which powers up all of his moves in many ways as he receives damage. The power from these attacks can kill Bayonetta pretty quickly. While his recovery can be punished fairly easily, the right person can make good use of his Up-B and counter Down-B to give Bayonetta a harder time.
