Super Smash Bros. Ultimate concluded its post-launch development with a roster made up of 86 fighters. Of course, 12 of those characters — Piranha Plant, Joker, Hero, Banjo-Kazooie, Terry Bogard, Byleth, Min Min, Steve, Sephiroth, Pyra & Mythra, Kazuya Mishima and Sora — are DLC challengers.
Typical of the fighting game genre, most of the DLC fighters tend to rank pretty highly on tier lists. Out of all the DLC fighters, Piranha Plant is generally perceived to be the worst of them and is certainly believed to be on the lower half of most player tier lists.
As such, it came off as a bit of a surprise when FaZe|Spargo expressed a desire to start playing Piranha Plant instead of Cloud in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Notably, Spargo has made quite a name for himself thanks to his performance with Cloud.
After Cloud received some meaningful buffs after the game was launched, Cloud became recognized as being around a high tier or top tier in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This is mostly thanks to his incredible frame data, long reaching hitboxes and his powerful kill options.
For example, it can be argued that Cloud’s back aerial is one of the best moves in the entire game (which is really saying something in a game featuring a roster of 86 characters). Though Cloud is recognized as being a very solid character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, players have to play nearly flawlessly with him to be competitive with him due to his susceptible recovery while the Limit Break mechanic is offline.
In other news, I’ve been feeling so down regarding smash recently, but surprisingly playing plant was the most fun I’ve had with smash in a very long time. Like I now have an actual grab, a fast fair, a better jab, I never have to worry about getting gimped, and overall the…
— FaZe Sparg0 (@Sparg0ssb) May 13, 2025
On the other hand, while Piranha Plant does have access to a few good moves (such as the Ptooie neutral special), its frame data and reach don’t compare quite as favorably overall. Indeed, it feels like the Piranha Plant relies more on gimmicky tactics rather than solid play.
However, it would seem that Spargo was serious about putting more time into the Piranha Plant as he ended up mostly using it at 95 Kings of Fields 5, a major Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament being held at Eaubonne, France. A total of 399 players were registered to compete at the event that spanned from May 24 to May 25, 2025.
In a surprising turn of events, Spargo ended up winning the tournament while mostly using Piranha Plant.
Prior to this, Spargo even played Piranha Plant at Kowloon 16, a super major in which Spargo took fifth place at. A total of 393 players had signed up for this event, but it was even more stacked considering the players that chose to attend.
One of the big highlights of this event was Spargo going up against Light, the best Fox player in the world. To everyone’s shock and dismay, Spargo even managed to three-stock Light in the Piranha Plant vs. Fox match up.
It feels like the community is having to reassess Piranha Plant’s viability with Spargo’s recent wins. Check it all out below: