Bair was nerfed lol. And Ike can still out range D3 pre-Bair with Fair/Bair, and now it's even easier to do.
He probably has the longest ranged aerial in the game now that isnt a grab/projectile/special move.
you talking about fair?
from what i gather of that move, it is, of course, above average, but how good is it really? first, it's an amazing spacing tool. second, it can kill, eventually. what else is there to say about it? it fits with Ike's paradigm? well, what is ike's paradigm though?
ike looks to be a spacing character that has problems recovering. what else? does he get kills easily? arguably, no. now, that's a bit strange to say, but fair is slow enough to be seen that it's shieldable on reaction. bair is fast, but hitting a crouching or shorter character is a problem, and watching ike approach is a messy situation. nair can combo, at least, but ike isn't terribly mobile to make landing anything this specific an easy task. uair too, though it kills pretty well. maybe neutral combo, or bad DI off of throws? utilts too, i suppose.
originally, i saw ike as a slower marth that overpowered his opponents instead of gimped them, but his speed makes landing things more difficult and his weight combined with his worse recovery than marth make for a character that falls short of that description. in a lot of ways, marth's fair compared with ike's reflects the whole flawed condition of what ike Is: a marth that traded down to a recovery more extreme but predictable and so easily foiled, a slight range increase with a different attack classification (no clanks) for his ability to combo and tipper kill, and overall power for his better mobility and gimp abilities.
what is ike? is being a good spacing character any good when you have to constantly rely on moves as long as fair? What is Ike, if not a lesser Marth, then?!