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by fammydamammy, Guest Contributor
Ever since his inception into the competitive amiibo scene, fammydamammy has been relentlessly training Wario garnering four wins and several top 8’s with an amiibo that throughout the meta has been very underrepresented, really pioneering the Wario amiibo.
He was also the subject of a mini-documentary on the Amiibo Doctor Youtube channel
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AI Issues
First off, Wario has issues with his Side Special, the “Wario Bike.” Wario is hard-coded to recover horizontally with the Bike, and most times there isn’t an issue, but occasionally Wario will happen to land onstage while recovering with bike to where he will slowly ride over to the other side without accelerating leaving Wario horribly vulnerable. Unfortunately since this is a part of Wario’s recovery routine, you can’t prevent it since all recoveries in amiibo are hard-coded. On-stage, Side Special is a niche tool that Wario can use to approach, but if he leaves the Bike on the stage his recovery is heavily nerfed.
In addition to that, Wario also has a tendency to get stuck on platforms if he uses the Bike on them, so because of all this, it’s best that you avoid Side Special entirely onstage.
Another unsavory habit of the Wario amiibo is that the AI is hard-coded to do Up Tilt to Up Special, which often leaves Wario in a bad position even if it hits. Wario has Up Tilt to Up Air programmed in as well, but Up Tilt to Up Special is holding this move from true greatness in amiibo.
One last thing to mention is Down Tilt, Wario struggles to follow-up from it and often gets punished for landing multiple in a row because of that. The most he can get from it in amiibo is Forward Tilt, but it’s not worth the risk Wario puts himself in for it in most cases.
Overall Playstyle
The Wario amiibo in amiibo vs amiibo should stay grounded for a majority of the match to rely on his strong grounded options like Up Tilt, Forward Tilt, and Up Smash, then primarily only leaving the ground to go for Wario’s very strong Up Air juggling, being able to take amiibo to kill percent in mere seconds.
Getting Started
When training, I strongly recommend mirror matching your amiibo, meaning Wario vs Wario the entire training session. Once you see your amiibo use the moves you want to use, turn the learn button off so that it will level up without changing the base amiibo data. Do note that the amiibo get a better AI as they level up and will not play poorly because you turned off learning at an early level.
If you intend to train your amiibo with spirits, it’s best to add spirits before any training happens because of how adding spirits will shuffle an amiibo’s move values, that being said, an even 2100/2100 is the most viable option for pretty much all amiibo. For support spirits, Super Armor, Great Autoheal, and Armor Knight are the best spirits in the game but are banned from the current spirit amiibo tournament ruleset.
A tournament legal spirit set I recommend for Wario is Physical Attack ↑, Fist Attack Up ↑, and Trade-Off Ability. I recommend these spirits because almost all of Wario’s moves are considered “Physical” and so are boosted by Physical Attack ↑, Fist Attack ↑ because most of his optimal moves to use are considered “Fist,” and Trade-Off Ability to boost his Attack, Defense, and Speed at the cost of starting with 30%, which Wario can take thanks to his high weight.
How to Train Wario amiibo in Smash Ultimate
Even with it’s one flaw detailed in AI Issues, Up Tilt is a very solid move in Wario’s kit. It’s relatively quick compared to his other grounded moves and does decent damage, but this moves main use is to get opponents in the air to set up for Wario’s strong Up Air juggles, though it does lack horizontal range. Use this move whenever the opponent is right up close and always follow it up with Up Air.
Forward Tilt is another one of Wario’s best grounded moves, having decent range and good damage behind it, even being able to kill certain characters past 100%. Use this move whenever your opponent is out of range for Up Tilt on the ground.
Neutral Special (Chomp) is Wario’s standing command grab. It is a solid damage racker with the bonus of Wario being able to heal himself with it while chomping away on his opponents in Smash Ultimate. The amiibo can get quite good at catching opponents off guard with it, so use it often alongside Up Tilt and Forward Tilt.
Up Smash is Wario’s most versatile smash attack, good for catching landings, getting KOs, or even just damage building. It’s attribute of short intangibility during the move makes it even better as an anti-air. The move launching upward can even let Wario juggle the opponent for even more damage. Use this frequently to kill and catch landings.
Wario’s Up Air is one his best tools in amiibo. Up Air is quick, does good damage, and the AI is great at using it to juggle. Up Air only does a base damage of 13%, but Wario is often going to land multiple, making it even stronger at damage building. Use this move to juggle the opponent in the air whenever possible.
Wario’s grabs are alright, being able to use Up Throw to set up for Up Air, but since you can’t influence what grabs an amiibo uses, he also uses Down Throw, which is pretty much useless in amiibo. Grab and utitlize Up Throw to Up Air every so often during training.
Back Air is a great move to use on-stage every so often, but prioritize Up Air during training.
Forward Air and Down Air are great moves for Wario to go off-stage with to go for gimps, though don’t go offstage too often with Wario since Bike’s cooldown makes Wario’s recovery a bit inconsistent.
Wario is inconsistent at using Down Special, or his “waft” well. The AI knows when it is fully charged and ready, but when it comes to aiming it the AI just tries it’s best. The best you can do during training is just trying to land every fully-charged waft to get Wario to use it well.
Why It Works
Even with Wario’s rough AI, Wario has a lot of things going for him in amiibo. On top of having favored attributes in the amiibo metagame such as high weight and good kill power, Wario is very good at Up Air juggling, which makes Wario great at building up damage and getting kills quickly. I’d even argue that he has the best Up Air juggling in amiibo if Zelda didn’t exist. In addition to that, Wario also has his “Wario Waft.” While the AI’s waft accuracy is inconsistent at times, it is still a tool that can easily turn a match around if he lands it.
How to push the Wario amiibo even further – Theorycrafting
Wario struggles most against characters that either outrange him or keep him out effectively so that he can’t go for his moves that lead into Up Air. I believe teaching a lot of Dash Attack and a bit of Forward Air to approach can somewhat remedy this, but I haven’t been able to find much success with it just yet.
That about wraps up my Wario amiibo training guide. Happy training!
-fammydamammy
Amiibo Doctor 