by Doc – Owner, Founder, Man Who Begrudgingly Writes Raid Boss Content And Wishes Large Youtubers Had Never Discovered They Could Get Viewers from Amiibo Content
You are probably familiar with the notion of a Raid Boss amiibo – it’s an amiibo trained with spirits for the purpose of having humans, who don’t have spirits, fight them. Raid Boss amiibo were popularized by Alpharad’s “Hard DK”, who was described as the “Strongest amiibo”, and have since become a staple of amiibo content on Youtube (aside from the Amiibo Doctor Youtube channel, of course).
As an amiibo expert who has spent far too much time fighting Smash Ultimate amiibo opponents, there’s a few tricks that I use to beat nearly any Raid Boss amiibo.
Bear in mind we’re not talking about Super Armor or Instadrop – Raid Boss amiibo that have these spirit effects require other strategies. In addition, we’re not talking about Chrom/Ike/Mii Brawler cheese. These strategies are all allowed on streamer’s arenas.
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Platform Hiding
If you’re playing on a stage with platforms, you’re in luck. Much like playing as an offensive lineman in American Football, the key to beating Raid Boss amiibo is often staying lower than your opponent. Pick a character that has very powerful vertical attacks, especially Up Smash attacks, and camp out underneath your Raid Boss opponent when they end up on a platform.
Look at the diagram above. At worst, Ganondorf will throw out Up Smash and it’ll get shielded by Terry. At best, Ganondorf can hit him with an Up Smash and deal easy damage.
What can Terry do in this situation? He can shield, parry or drop down underneath the platforms. Ganondorf’s Up Smash solves all of these problems – if it’s shielded or parried, there’s usually enough endlag to safely attack again, even if you’re Ganondorf. Stats sometimes mess with very long shieldlag, but those stat loadouts are not typical on Raid Boss amiibo.
If Terry drops down underneath the platform, Up Smash still catches it, and knocks him vertically. Sometimes he ends up on the platform again, but even if he doesn’t, he’s going to have enough time to attack again or at least put up a shield.
Infinite Rapid Jab at Ledge
Most amiibo trained by casual trainers favor shielding and don’t parry often. You can use this to your advantage.
Whenever you land a jab on a shielding opponent, go into rapid jab. They’ll shield or parry until you are either pushed away from them (which happens as you jab), or until you end the jab. You should hold rapid jabs until you’re pushed almost far enough away so that you can only land the “Gentleman” last hit of the infinite jab. Then, your last hit should be the stronger final hit.
This will either keep you at enough distance so that it’s not easy for them to counterattack with most characters, or they’ll drop the shield at some point and be knocked off-stage for a gimp. Problem solved.
Sephiroth
Sephiroth is by far the best and easiest character with which to beat a Raid Boss amiibo. Aside from just having ridiculously large Smash attacks that are ideal for killing, Sephiroth also has two specific attacks that are practically designed for killing amiibo.
Sephiroth’s Up Air is so overwhelmingly large that it catches nearly every character as they recover, no matter their fall speed. And if they dodge the first attempt, use it again! And again. And again. It comes out ludicrously fast, and you can also use that to Platform Hide as well.
Gigaflare is the ideal ledge-trapping option, and its epicenter can kill nearly any Raid Boss no matter their stats. All you have to do is stick around at the ledge and release Gigaflare when they come up from the ledge. Amiibo having limited AI works in your favor – they’ll never drop from the ledge, and instead either roll up, stand up, or jump off the ledge. The size of the blast can easily encompass these three options, and the angle that it sends at will force the opponent to recover again. And when they recover again, you’ll be at the ledge waiting…
Amiibo Doctor 