Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Byleth and 7.0.0 patch notes are live!

Nintendo has released the latest patch for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and it is filled to the brim with updates and balance changes for just about every fighter, as detailed in the patch notes. The 7.0.0 patch also makes Byleth, the warrior-professor from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, playable, allowing players to start testing the new character. 

Joining Byleth in Smash are a bunch of new spirits that will appear in the Shop or Vault sections of the game. These spirits are Fire Emblem-based with characters like Edelgard, Claude, Sothis, Rhea, and more for players to collect. Other franchises are also getting some new spirits too, all listed below from Nintendo:

• The following spirits will appear in the Shop on the Vault menu:
  • Edelgard
  • Dimitri (Fire Emblem)
  • Claude
  • Sothis
  • Rhea
  • Seteth
  • Dorothea
  • Ingrid
  • Hilda (Fire Emblem)

• The following spirits will appear in the Shop and Spirit Board:
  • Radiant Gleam
  • Kloster (Grief)
  • Bullet Walker (Brigadier General)
  • High Line (Guns Empress)
  • I-Tetrimino
  • T-Tetrimino
  • S-Tetrimino & Z-Tetrimino
  • L-Tetrimino & J-Tetrimino
  • O-Tetrimino

Along with Byleth and the new spirits, new outfits will be available to players who purchase the Byleth Challenger Pack. These cosmetics include the following:

• Cuphead Hat + Outfit
• Altaïr Hood + Outfit
• Rabbids Hat
• MegaMan.EXE’s Helmet + Armor
• X’s Helmet + Armor

High-tier character changes

For a lot of the higher-ranked characters, nothing was changed to their kit. Characters like Lucina and Peach had no changes made to them. Another high-tier fighter, Young Link, saw an increase in attack speed and increases in launch distances on his up smash, up air, and forward throw. Other high-tier characters like Snake and King K. Rool had changes made to shield size and an animation change for Fox when he receives damage while shielding.

Ryu had a fun update to his kit, with down smash attack now able to be canceled into a special move. 

Glad they gave Ryu a free win button with the new patch pic.twitter.com/N0366HvZUO

— Sho (@Shoyoumomo_) January 29, 2020

Zero Suit Samus has a notable nerf to her Flip Jump attack, shortening the amount of time opponents are buried when stomped on. Joker also got nerfed, reducing the range on his gun, but only when shooting down in the air. More importantly, the summon time for his Persona, Arsene, was reduced when Joker takes damage. This only applies to matches with two or fewer opponents, but for competitive play it means less screen time for the summon.

A large portion of the changes made in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate‘s 7.0.0 update appears to be either increases in shield size or changes in launch distances. The Nintendo support site has a full list of changes made to the roster, but be warned, there is a lot and most of the changes are relatively small.

Did you make it through Nintendo’s giant list? While there are a lot of changes coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, not much seems to be that game-changing, but we will have to see in the upcoming weeks. Don’t forget that the Fighters Pass Vol. 2 is also available for preorder, with six new characters coming periodically until the end of 2021.

Did your favorite fighter get an update? Excited to try Byleth now that they’re out? Let us know in the comments! Follow Daily Esports for all your Super Smash Bros. Ultimate news and updates.