The Smash World Tour online qualifiers have concluded, revealing not only top Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players from 11 regions but the most used and most successful fighters on the large roster. 

Over 36,925 games were played, according to PGStats, giving major insight into Ultimate's current online meta. PGStats shared an extensive chart on Twitter, which showed how often a character was chosen as well as how often they actually won. 

The conclusion? The correlation was nonexistent. 

The top five most-picked fighters were Pyra & Mythra, Smash's newest DLC, at 2.9%, followed by Wolf at 2.7%. Palutena and R.O.B. both had 2.5% pick rates. And, to nobody's surprise, Ness was in the top five with 2.5% as well. 

But none of these five popular fighters made it to the top of the win rate pack despite being top tier fighters that are commonly used by competitive and casual players alike. Instead, Duck Hunt and Steve were both on top with a 62% win rate. Not far behind was Dark Samus at just under 61%, Bayonetta at a little over 59%, and Richter at 59% as well. 

A quick analysis of this strange outcome suggests that the more obscure characters had a better chance of finding success since not as many people are used to their online antics. Duck Hunt had a below-average pick rate but dominated opponents, most likely because fighting a Duck Hunt online is not expected and the techniques, strategies, and attacks can throw people off guard.

Meanwhile, who hasn't faced a Ness online? Who hasn't spent hours practicing in order to defeat this spammy, opportunistic online warrior? 

PGStats picked up on this phenomenon themselves, pointing out that Duck Hunt, Dark Samus, Ice Climbers, Ryu, Mii Swordfighter, Lucario, Bayonetta, and Richter all have a win rate of 57% or better but have below-average pick rates. This was usually for one of three reasons: 

• A really good player kept using them to win (like Armadillo on Lucario)
• The character can easily exploit online delay 
• The character just isn't popular and people aren't used to facing them

Meanwhile, a lot of popular fighters like Fox and Chrom don't do well online. For this reason, some of the best Fox and Chrom characters won't play in online tournaments. That significantly lowers that character's chance of placing high in the win rate chart.

The response to PGStat's data was to immediately note that Steve won't be as popular or successful once LAN events return. It comes as no surprise that online play has frustrated the majority of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players. While some competitors have adapted to the online meta, a lot of pros don't consider online play to truly represent true skill. The Panda Global Rankings haven't changed since 2019 to reflect this. 

But the Smash World Tour plans to have in-person competition for Phase 2 and Phase 3. The top players from each region will face off in-person in Phase 2, the Regionals, in an attempt to qualify for the Finals. It will be interesting to see how the top picks change and which fighters will end up on top once top players can compete offline once again.