Competitive STAGE GUIDE (Smash Ultimate ver 10.1.0)

[@Nick_Leo]

HONORABLE MENTIONS w/ stats Yoshi’s Island (Brawl) - Has tons of slants, throughout the stage including its long single platform Stage to top blastzone: 179.8 (tied for the 2nd lowest ceiling alongside many other stages) Stage width: 139.9 (very narrow, nearly matching Smashville) Center to side blastzone: 220 (the 3rd narrowest out of all stages only behind WarioWare and Castle Siege, slightly narrower than Yoshi’s Story) Offstage width: 150.6 (fairly narrow, nearly the same as Lylat) Offstage depth: 125.2 (fairly shallow offstage area, matching Lylat and PS2) Fountain of Dreams - has platforms that change in height throughout the match Stage to top blastzone: 191.1 (one of the highest ceilings out of all the stages, very slightly behind battlefield and Kalos) Stage width: 153.2 (slightly narrower than average) Center to side blastzone: 240 (fairly wide blastzones, matching FD’s) Offstage width: 163.4 (the 2nd widest offstage area, only slightly behind Kalos) Offstage depth: 140.9 (the 2nd deepest offstage area, only slightly behind Unova and nearly matching FD) Castle Siege - is asymmetrical and change forms throughout the match Stage to top blastzone: 170 (the lowest ceiling out of all the stages by a decent margin) Stage width: 131 (the 2nd narrowest stage only behind WarioWare- it’s bit shorter than Yoshi’s Island) Center to side blastzone: 210 (the 2nd narrowest only behind WarioWare, a bit narrower than Yoshi’s Story) Offstage width: 144 (the 2nd narrowest offstage area only behind WarioWare, but is very comparable to Town & City’s) Offstage depth: 125 (fairly shallow offstage area, matching Lylat, Yoshi’s Island, and PS2) WarioWare - Has 4 platforms, 2 of which are very high up Stage to top blastzone: 198.4 (the highest ceiling by a considerable margin Stage width: 116.5 (by far the narrowest out of all the competitive stages) Center to side blastzone: 180 (by far the narrowest blastzones, heavily favoring characters who kill off the side) Offstage width: 120.4 (by far the narrowest offstage area, but this isn’t surprising due to its very narrow blastzones) Offstage depth: 106.6 (the shallowest offstage area out of all the competitive stages, a bit behind Smashville)

[@pokerface_1303]

Are these stages allowed in tournaments?

[@Nick_Leo]

@@pokerface_1303 sometimes some of them are, but it’s entirely up to the tournament ruleset. The only ones that are pretty much guaranteed to always be legal are the starter stages listed in the beginning of the video.

[@pokerface_1303]

@@Nick_Leo Ok thanks for answer! But what is about Pokemon Stadium 1? Is it banned or didn't you mention it?

[@Nick_Leo]

@@pokerface_1303 I personally haven’t seen it listed in place of PS2 in a while. When the game was less than a year old, I know some bigger tournaments swapped them around for a short time, but I feel like the community generally picked PS2 over PS1

[@Matanumi]

What about Altar?

[@robo521]

This is some of the most top tier smash content I've ever watched. Anyone looking to get into competitive smash/just starting off their career should check this out. Amazing video 10/10 sending to my mom so she can get good

[@Nick_Leo]

Thanks! and that’s good to hear because your mother is a scrub

[@Nick_Leo]

Sorry for the long wait on this one! I had a lot of unexpected plans come up and underestimated how much work this take to make Hope you enjoy and can get some value out of it :)

[@pg-erk3938]

We appreciate this man. Nice video

[@nightmarecow108cow9]

I knew some of the basics, but having all the info in one place is very helpful. I would recommend all smash players to watch this video. Very good!

[@myabss8336]

Seriously one of the best video for stage explaining ! You’re helping me so much with your Corrin guides and now this !

[@Nick_Leo]

Thanks! I’m glad I could help :))

[@ShimmeringVapidCoal]

Thanks for making this! really in-depth stage guide :)

[@keon8332]

This video is extremely useful; Thank you, NickLeo!

[@veccccctorrrrr]

Bro this is sick thank you so much

[@Nick_Leo]

Thanks glad you enjoyed it ✌🏻😁

[@1MILKgames]

This video is exactly what I was looking for, thanks

[@llamason7044]

Thank you for the guide. I still watch you despite dropping rosa a while ago.

[@therealwnd1820]

Hmm. I hope that Northern Cave is legal because that's a very pretty stage!

[@mehgamer467]

Your quality for everything is so top notch. Especially for rosa. You are incredible and i subscribed.

[@ThatWelshDark]

Another great video! Thanks so much 🙏

[@Nick_Leo]

Thanks! glad you enjoyed it 😊

[@logancruz5378]

I just saw you play Samsora ! As usual, thank you for making these videos! I never took the time to study these stages, but this is really helpful for when I play with friends.

[@Nick_Leo]

Thanks! And yeah, I wish I was more warmed up when I got to play him. I haven’t touched online in a whiiiiiile and he was my first match lol

[@shibarino3705]

Great guide, thanks!

[@maverickgame2095]

This was a very helpful video!

[@ezra6094]

Great video! Super useful!!

[@Nick_Leo]

Thanks ezra! Glad you could get value out of it :)

[@lycanzone]

Really great video again you put a lot of effort into these and it shows, also I want Northern Cave banned because halfway through the match I can’t tell what’s going on and also it adds a wider stage to the list and is too similar to FD imo

[@lycanzone]

I would possibly substitute Kalos for Northern Cave if it weren’t for how it looks

[@Nick_Leo]

@@lycanzone fair opinions 👍🏻and it is really similar inbetween kalos and FD so a healthy stagelist likely won’t include all 3 unless the rule set allows for more bans

[@Ray6695]

Very nice video, keep it up!

[@froggod6484]

love northern cave hope its legal

[@LeahLuciB]

No Yoshi's Brawl or Castle Siege? I know these aren't as common, but a few tourneys allow them (Notably MewTwoKings tourneys)

[@Nick_Leo]

I did consider those 2, but I almost never see them get any tournament play and didn’t want to delay this already very late upload. I think it’s likely because both stages have very close blastzones in both directions + yoshi’s island has too many slants for most players taste and castle siege is asymmetrical and transforms which turns many competitive players off Here’s an interesting stage tool (that I featured in the video) if you want to learn more about those stages! tournameta.com/stage-comparison/ Edit: I’ll add the data for those stages when I get home, thanks for mentioning it!

[@LeahLuciB]

@@Nick_Leo Castle Siege doesn't transform with hazards off. But yeah, the asymmetry does make it pretty uncommon

[@kuruk_war]

I never understood why competitive smash doesn't use the omega and battlefields options of the stages? It would make it more interesting to watch

[@pedrotavarez4801]

Love this video men you help me so much.

[@twuttle1373]

he hits again

[@speedshoes29]

Will you include Sora’s stage when it comes? That stage looked legal

[@tobiasmetalheddiejohansson6724]

I host local tournaments in sweden and use SBF as an aditional counterpick

[@Nick_Leo]

I like that 👍🏻 I definitely think it should be legal and if I were to make my own stagelist I’d probably try work it into the starters (I think it’s one of the most neutral stages)

[@tobiasmetalheddiejohansson6724]

@@Nick_Leo since ps2 is so good in the started side i find no room for sbf there

[@Nick_Leo]

@@tobiasmetalheddiejohansson6724 Although PS2 is arguably the smash community's favorite stage, I feel like Small BF might be more neutral than it, but I also think there could be room for them both in a 7-starter ruleset, but I don't know if anyone wants that

[@tobiasmetalheddiejohansson6724]

@@Nick_Leo yea thats true. Probably why its one of the few options online

[@cheyennearana1016]

Super useful!

[@randomguy8107]

My region (Paris, France) bans both Kalos and Northern Cave. I hate that, especially since they allow Lylat and Yoshi’s story

[@Malik11_RL]

Thank you very nice video

[@krys3001]

Small battlefield should be starter. Northern Cave a counter. Fountain of Dreams with hazards on needs to be tournament legal as well as Smashville and Town and City should be hazards on.

[@Nick_Leo]

Interesting, if small battlefield were a starter, what would it replace? (And if not, which other stage would you add to make it an even number?) Fountain of Dreams could be legal to be honest, I think the only downside it that it’s another triplat stage similar to battlefield, but I agree it should be a counterpick And I’m also curious why you think Smashville and Town should have hazards on vs off (I don’t disagree, just curious)

[@zz45qq33]

😍 niceeee thx

[@chessplayer6632]

Lol, at first I read this as stage builder guide and was confused

[@Nick_Leo]

😆 lol, I would’ve been too

[@beleemoi4433]

I know it hasnt been decided yet, but I think northern cave should be legal

[@Nick_Leo]

I agree, but the real question is: should it be a starter or counterpick, and if it’s a starter would it replace another stage?

[@speedshoes29]

What would you say be Rosa’s up tether kills on Robin be at the top platform of Battlefield, Town and City, and Yoshi’s Story

[@Nick_Leo]

Just tested it: BF-90% TC-89% YS-80%

[@MazuMDS]

Notification squad th

[@speedshoes29]

What would you say are the platforms’ heights above and widths away from the center of the stage (including multiplatforms)

[@Dude902]

Min min pick Pokémon Stadium 2, got it

[@ectsi]

Hiii and Ik u have already said how to do this in one of ur videos but I still can’t do the rosalina and luma rapid jab without hitting something maybe I’m not fast enough or something I’m just kinda sad about it :C

[@Nick_Leo]

If you only get a jab combo, unfortunately you are just clicking it too slowly, it needs to be pressed really quickly. (Maybe try mapping a D-pad direction to attack to hit both alternating?) This is actually by far the most common question I get about Rosalina so it’s not just you! You really need to mash as fast as possible

[@ectsi]

@@Nick_Leo yeah sometimes I do it without thinking I’m just mashing a and I accidently do it I just can’t get the hang of it, thank you so much!

[@lumeckos6143]

What stages do you think are best for Rosa

[@Nick_Leo]

it's always matchup dependent (and playstyle dependent too) so while there aren't any true best stages, against most of the cast Rosa does well with a low ceiling and spacious offstage areas so I'd say Northern Cave, Final Destination, and Pokemon Stadium 2 are good in general, but keep in mind that platforms play a big part, and in my opinion Rosa prefers flat stages vs characters that she can camp, and platforms if the opponent can camp you. I personally love Smashville because it encourages a lot of offstage play with its small stage width and it has a wide offstage area which you can abuse for both edgeguarding and recovering from far away, both of which my playstyle capitalizes on (especially against characters with gimpable recoveries such as ganon, bowser, falcon, ness, etc). Also, on Smashville, Rosa can hold center stage really well when under the platform

[@lumeckos6143]

@@Nick_Leo thank you so much you always respond, thanks to you I've mastered dac nair and Luma wavedash, and to think 2 year ago I had no idea how to play Rosa. :)

[@manoqueenz]

What do you mean by copyright issues with Northern Cave?

[@Nick_Leo]

I don’t know a ton about the issue, but i know it pertains to the DMCA and could lead to streamers content being taken down due to copyright I don’t think it will be a big issue moving forward though, it was just a concern amongst the community

[@pokerface_1303]

Has battlefield the same stats like any other stage in battlefield mode? And is it the same for FD?

[@Nick_Leo]

Yes, the FD and BF forms of other stages are all identical in size. However on the flat versions (such as flat zone or pac land) there are some known glitch-interactions so some tournaments may have those alts banned.

[@krys3001]

Who's this Corrin you keep mentioning? Is she in the game.... just kidding. Need to meet someone that plays her yet.

[@KK-yp2lh]

so which top 3 would you recommend for rosalina?

[@Nick_Leo]

it's always matchup dependent (and playstyle dependent too) so while there aren't any true best stages, against most of the cast Rosa does well with a low ceiling and spacious offstage areas so I'd say Northern Cave, Final Destination, and Pokemon Stadium 2 are good guesses for her generalized top 3, but keep in mind that platforms play a big part, and in my opinion Rosa prefers flat stages vs characters that she can camp, and platforms if the opponent can camp you. My general-favorite stage at the moment is actually Smashville because it encourages a lot of offstage play with its small stage width and it has a wide offstage area which you can abuse for both edgeguarding and recovering from far away, both of which my playstyle seems to capitalize on heavily (especially against characters with gimpable recoveries such as ganon, bowser, falcon, ness, etc). Also Rosa can hold center stage really well when under the platform

[@KK-yp2lh]

@@Nick_Leo tysm

[@therealwnd1820]

Mr. NickLeo, I have sent a request through gmail. Whenever you can, I would greatly appreciate if you would look at it.

[@securatyyy]

Final Destination is for manly men.