Welcome to Amiibo Doctor! In addition to training this amiibo, we also have the most cutting-edge guides for nearly every amiibo in the competitive amiibo scene’s many Discord servers. You should also reference our Raid Boss amiibo guides, and if you’re having trouble winning in competitive amiibo, check the official amiibo tier list! Happy training!
by Penguhr, Guest Contributor, and very long-winded Mii Gunner amiibo trainer
I’m penguhr, one of the better known amiibo trainers in the scene. I am one of the main Mii Gunner amiibo trainers in the scene currently, achieving 4 ranked tournament wins with Mii Gunners, with more unranked and several more top 3s and top 8s with my Gunner amiibo. I’ve trained several Gunners with many different playstyles and special combinations to share what the best possible Mii Gunner does.
If you benefit from Amiibo Doctor guides and information, please consider supporting us by purchasing a Mii Gunner amiibo from this Amazon Affiliate link!
Mii Gunner AI Issues
Doc note: It would appear that the 10.0 AI patch has significantly changed Mii Gunner’s AI. When using this guide, remember it was written for 9.0. We’re trying to update this as fast as our research will allow.
There are a few problems with specials here. The first being the side special, Gunner Missile. This move shouldn’t be spammed too much early into training if you plan on using it as it will start spamming missiles and missiles only, to the point where it won’t use anything else after several games of this. Watching your usage of this move is important. Mii Gunner also doesn’t know what to do with the side special, Stealth Burst, majority of the time. It’s hard to get it used at all, and if they use it, they’ll prefer to use it directly in front of an opponent instead of when they are away, which leads to it being punished easily. Mii Gunner’s Charge Shot, like other charge shots, shouldn’t be equipped because the only thing amiibo AI do with them is sit still and charge it, leading to punishment.
Overall Playstyles + Special Attacks
Optimal Mii Gunners are higher up on most amiibo tier lists because they’ll use various moves that AI respond very badly to and will stay on the ground, unless they’re edgeguarding with neutral air. Mii Gunner is a versatile amiibo as well, being able to do decently with some different styles compared to some characters who have two or only one option. Top Mii Gunners, however, use all 3 smash attacks, combined with neutral air and up air dragdowns. This is a popular method because many of Gunner’s moves are multihits. Multihits are the main part of Gunner’s moveset because most amiibo can’t parry every hit of it unless they were trained to be an extremely parry-heavy amiibo, and even then, it’s still rare to parry their multihits. Up air can be dragged down into an up smash or a down smash, and neutral air is great offstage and makes some matchups, such as Link or Ganondorf, very good for Gunner because they can be easily gimped with it. Now, it’s time for the special attacks.
Neutral Special
1-Charge Shot – This is not recommended at all. As described earlier, all the AI does with charge shot is stand still and charge it, leading to them being punished, and receiving a strong attack straight to the face.
2-Laser Blaze – It’s good for hitting opponents that are offstage and sending them away, but shouldn’t be used onstage.
3-Grenade Launch – Similar to Laser Blaze, this is good at hitting opponents that are offstage, if jumping and hitting them yourself isn’t your style. It’s better than laser blaze at that job, but the AI decides to use it at the worst times onstage if you use it enough, so it ends up not being the best.
Side Special
1-Flame Pillar – I don’t recommend it. It’s bad onstage because unlike Ness’s PSI Fire, it has endlag to the point of Gunner not being able to follow it up with anything. If you’re going with a missileless build, however, I recommend equipping it instead of Stealth Burst, but it still isn’t a good idea to use because of its endlag, and (similarly to Grenade Launch) will be used at terrible times onstage if you teach it.
2-Gunner Missile – Nowadays, the large majority of servers and tournaments ban this move being equipped instead of banning the whole character, which is one reason to not use it. If you know you’re going against more fighters with reflectors and are more aerial, I highly discourage using this. Most of the aerial opponents that missile-heavy gunners face would avoid every missile and it wouldn’t work out, due to them either being a character with a reflector and sending the missiles straight back at you, or a jumpy amiibo doing just that, jumping over them. If you’re against a fighter with no move to defend itself and is very grounded, this is when this becomes the best side special. The AI decides it loves using this move after hitting it or being hit by it enough during training, which leads to trouble no matter the opponent, so PLEASE watch your usage of this move.
3-Stealth Burst – I’ve trained and studied a Gunner and tried to train it for this side special, and nothing has made me think this was a worthy move. The AI, if it decided to use it at all since it refuses to most of the time, will stand directly in front of an enemy while using it, causing the burst to go straight through them and do nothing. This immediately leads to them getting punished harshly. I don’t recommend using or even equipping this special due to this.
Up Special
1-Lunar Launch – This is a very good recovery, and it is the one that I use for most of my Gunners. It makes Gunner hard to gimp for most characters because of how high it launches, and the fireball can accidentally be used to kill if the opponent is trying to recover as well.
2-Cannon Jump Kick – This up special is probably the worst out of the three as a recovery. Using it as an attack onstage might seem tempting due to it being very similar to Zero Suit Samus’s up special, but Gunner has much better options up close, and it’s hard to get the AI to even use it anyway.
3-Arm Rocket – It goes far and high, and the AI uses it to recover well. It’s good to use and doesn’t cause any problems.
Down Special
1-Echo Reflector – This is a reflector that sends projectiles right back at the sender. This is a good down special for Mii Gunner because the AI uses it well, and it can be very useful for matchups against projectile-heavy fighters, such as Snake. The best thing about this move is that Gunner amiibo will use it to defend themselves offstage as well, making them much less vulnerable while recovering.
2-Bomb Drop – This is a move that drops a bomb on the stage, as the name implies. This is another easily spammed move by the Gunner AI, and I wouldn’t recommend a bomb spam playstyle since the bomb takes a while to detonate, leaving Gunner vulnerable before it explodes.
3-Absorbing Vortex – This is a move that protects Gunner from energy-based projectiles. It’s good if you plan on using Gunner in tournament, because there will most likely be Ness allowed, and this vortex gets rid of his PSI moves and heals you.
How to train Mii Gunner
Mii Gunner’s most important tools in amiibo are forward smash, up smash, down smash, neutral air, and up air. As you always should, make sure to play against your Mii Gunner as Gunner yourself with the same moveset while training, don’t taunt, don’t dash dance, and definitely don’t roll or air dodge. Additionally, make sure to always walk, and never run. When you’re onstage, make sure to use forward smash as your primary move. Use it for building up damage and for killing. When the amiibo is launched into the air, make sure to use up smash to catch their landing. When you and the amiibo are at ledge, use down smash and/or down tilt. Make sure to follow your amiibo offstage and edgeguard them with neutral air AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE. You can also mix it up with back air offstage sometimes as well. When you’re landing and the amiibo is on the ground, use neutral air to land and hit them. Use up air when you and the amiibo are both in the air, and if you can, drag it down into a smash attack, either up smash or down smash. Tilts and grabs aren’t worth using often since they’re pretty mediocre compared to the rest of their kit, with the only exception being down tilt at ledge on occasion. I have mixed feelings with forward and back air, don’t use them as your primary tools offstage, but they’re decent on occasion. By the end, you should have a Mii Gunner amiibo that uses forward smash whenever possible, catches landings with up smash, uses down smash or down tilt at ledge, lands with neutral air, and drags down up airs.
Why it works
Mii Gunner is a top tier amiibo with this playstyle because of multihits and strength. Most of the moves Mii Gunner uses (Forward, up, and down smash, up air) are multihits, which opponents won’t respond well to since they’ll only parry the first hit and get hit by the rest, if they parry at all. These moves also have good kill power and have potential to kill at early percents. Forward smash also has good range, not many moves are larger than it or can beat it. Neutral air is a good gimping tool that will make many matchups easier against characters with mediocre recoveries, many of which are also mid to high tiers. I definitely agree with Gunner’s current placement on the tier list, right in the middle of A+ with these factors since they can compete with many of the other scary top tiers: Link, Ridley, Dedede, King K Rool, and Gunner can even beat Incineroar!
That concludes the Mii Gunner amiibo guide. I wish you good luck with training your amiibo and wish you great success in future tournaments and other events. I’ve put many hours of effort into Mii Gunner during the last year and a half, so I’m glad to be making a guide for the character. I’ll still be training new Gunners in search for new wins, but for now, Penguhr out.
Amiibo Doctor 