It's also an ok ledge guarder, again better in the last demo with the dash Sspec where the momentum would just send them flying if they were in the air, but to be honest that was pretty cheap
This move does 16% and can force opponents offstage. The move is really annoying to deal with if you are on the receiving end due to it's range and it is easily spammable if used correctly. Unfortunately, dair has been nerfed so haste's overall effectiveness is shaky.

I agree with U/Ftilt but I don't really bother with A or Dtilt, I just never found a use for them
Lol Black Mage's jab. I would just grab if you are at the range to be forced to use this move. I haven't tried it in 9b, but I doubt it has been significantly improved from the last demo.


I don't often use it but, it can be used to hit someone whose on the ledge, then once they're in the air, follow up with a Usmash or Utilt
Dsmash is a lot better than it was in 9a, that's for sure. I have to test it further to see what can come out of it.

Fsmash- Pretty bad. The charge seems predictable and takes forever and the regular has tremendous windup for really eh payoff. I

Fsmash is probably his best way of finishing someone now since his dash has been nurfed. It's awkward arc hitbox makes it perfect to hit someone on the ledge without really risking getting hurt and if they do a ledge attack the smash remains for a while and hits them before they hit you. It is also a double edge sword though because it last a long time, and if you miss, well you're definitely getting hurt.
Dash attack was highly situational in 9a. I'm not sure why you would think that was his only KO option. Utilt, fair and usmash KO'd pretty nicely as well. As for fsmash, it is worth the start-up lag it has. The lingering disjointed hitbox makes the move kinda safe, and the reward is well worth it.

Usmash- The absolute worst supercharge as far as I can tell(i've never figured out a way to land this besides high stop levels), but the normal smash is actually very very good, and seems like his go to kill move.

I agree with all this. It has to be a very niche situation to use a full Usmash, like someone is trying to recover and you do the Usmash to pull them in. You can dash and do a sliding Usmash, as well as Utilt, for a bit of maneuverability
I'm not going to talk about how situational charging moves in this game is until the end of my post, but yes firaga (fully charged usmash) is bad. Usmash can KO (unless it changed from 9a) pretty well and it easy to land. Nair to usmash is a solid BnB.

SH into a Nair is great, pulls them in, surrounds the character, and after it's done can be grabbed right after

I don't agree with this. Black Mage does NOT want to be stuck in the air. While the move has a pulling effect, it can easily be baited and punished if the opponent stays out of its range. Simply put, you miss the move, you are a sitting duck. Black Mage has poor falling speed and poor aerial mobility. An opponent can bait a nair and punish you in a plethora of ways. A Black Mage does not want to be put into a situation where he can be juggled or where he has to recover. Try using fair in neutral game over nair. I would say only use nair when an opponent is in hitstun or possibly out of shield. Nair out of shield seems good.

Feels fine to me, pseudo-wavedash still works so i'm fine. also to pseudo-wavedash you SH and then Fair just before you hit the ground
Fair is very strange in this demo. It appears to have worse range than in 9a, but I think it is due to the knockback changes in this demo. It isn't as viable, at first glance when edgeguarding anymore, and it seems that double fair is harder. I think I need to use it more.

Yeah it lost a lot of it's kill power but to me it feels easier to get death with the longer reach
Death is very hard to land now imo. You can't get death on a short hop and you can't connect dair at all on a full hop unless you fast fall slightly. I need to test this out on FD or 3DS, but death seems hard to land on a stage with platforms (sans ToS).

It's like you said, really really bad, at least in this demo. the only reason to use it last demo was because if it hit the knockback was amazing, but now it has so little knockback that, with combined with all that ending lag, it's just not worth it when they only went like 3 feet and then immediately punish you
Also note that the lingering hitbox during it's ending animation has been removed from it.

Throws- Forward was mostly to setup the second dair hit, down seems good, back feels pretty garbage, up might have combo potential, but i've yet to be able to do much.

Fthrow is fine, Dthrow is great and can be chaingrabbed, I don't really use Uthrow or Bthrow

Combos- i'm having input issues(can't shorthop easily with my current setup for some reason), so I've yet to really find anything outside of stop and shorthop fairs. I'm guessing theres more?

Well, as with the Stop one i mentioned, I also use this combo: Dthrow-> SH Nair-> Utilt-> Usmash-> Fair/Bair/Uair-> Dspec, which if done right it should deal 71%-85%
I'm going to test these when I have access to a proper computer, but I have high doubts about connecting an aerial to Meteor at that high of a percent. I'm also having doubts about utilt to usmash.

You probably already knew the charge Stop and Pseudo-Wavedash anyways but hopefully this helps

Also if anyone else wants to offer some BM tips, tricks, and combos i'd gladly appreciate it too, always looking to improve

Dash attack was highly situational in 9a. I'm not sure why you would think that was his only KO option. Utilt, fair and usmash KO'd pretty nicely as well.

I don't agree with this. Black Mage does NOT want to be stuck in the air. While the move has a pulling effect, it can easily be baited and punished if the opponent stays out of its range. Simply put, you miss the move, you are a sitting duck. Black Mage has poor falling speed and poor aerial mobility. An opponent can bait a nair and punish you in a plethora of ways. A Black Mage does not want to be put into a situation where he can be juggled or where he has to recover. Try using fair in neutral game over nair. I would say only use nair when an opponent is in hitstun or possibly out of shield. Nair out of shield seems good.

Death is very hard to land now imo. You can't get death on a short hop and you can't connect dair at all on a full hop unless you fast fall slightly. I need to test this out on FD or 3DS, but death seems hard to land on a stage with platforms (sans ToS).

Dthrow cannot connect into sh nair at higher percents. It can hitconfirm at 0 on maybe DK,

but I think most characters are able to shield nair before it comes out. Even if nair connects, opponents can SDI away from Black Mage to escape follow ups from nair.

I don't think meteor can come out of an aerial either, especially at that percent.

Maybe it's because I main him and play him so much that death seems easy, how long have you played him?

Not quite sure what you mean, if you mean can I meteor right after an aerial then, yeah. I also charge it, if you're wondering

All and all, you made great points, if there is a way to upload replay files to the forums I'd show you the combos (I don't have a recording software), but I don't think there is. (could be wrong though)

Can someone please tell me how to beat black mage?
He has super high priority on his dash attack, plus super-armor when using it That may be so but it is very punishable. Simply Shield Grab and your done., has his side-b which can't be dodged or countered easily with its super long animation If you shield this attack it wont actually hit you. And because it has a long animation it's punishable too. Especially if your opponent uses it recklessly., he has the persistent poison damage on down-thrown, what looks and feels like a disjointed hitbox on every one of his moves, making it hard to hit him when he's attacking, amazing zoning and control with his charged smash attacks Practice Spacing, press Black Mage into doing something he doesn't want too and then follow up on the mistake. Don't play too aggressive against Black Mage, he will punish you., the insane combos with Dairs into grabs into smashes into whatever you want because you can make anyone your bit­ch, one of the best recoveries in the game His recovery is actually predictable. If he's going for the ledge, grab it. If he's going for the stage, Tech Chase., and being able to reflect projectiles which makes range cheese not even an option against him. He can reflect Projectiles with Stop (Correct me if i'm wrong) but Stop is just as punishable as his other attacks.

Playing local multiplayer with people, and I've never lost as black mage, besides playing against other black mages.

Can someone please tell me how to beat black mage?
He has super high priority on his dash attack, plus super-armor when using it, has his side-b which can't be dodged or countered easily with its super long animation, he has the persistent poison damage on down-thrown, what looks and feels like a disjointed hitbox on every one of his moves, making it hard to hit him when he's attacking, amazing zoning and control with his charged smash attacks, the insane combos with Dairs into grabs into smashes into whatever you want because you can make anyone your bit­ch, one of the best recoveries in the game, and being able to reflect projectiles which makes range cheese not even an option against him.

Playing local multiplayer with people, and I've never lost as black mage, besides playing against other black mages.

What parameters does the MISS have for BM's shield?