First impressions of SSBU Palutena

[Crybhabie]

I've been playing Palutena a lot this weekend and I have to say that she feels really great to use !
I don't know if it's because of the general playerbase still trying to get the hang of the game, but I feel like she doesn't need to work as hard to rack up percent. While dash attack lost some foward momentum, I feel like it completely makes up for it with the new animation, seemingly making it even more disjointed to the point where I rarely get stuffed out of it, and will almost always still hit if that happens. Foward tilt is now a great option for catching spot dodges or stuffing out opponents out of their moves, since it hits so fast almost nothing has time to hit you between the 2 hits. I haven't really looked into her edge get up options, but since Explosive flame doesn't put in freefall, it basically walls out opponents trying to 2 frame you or attempting to challenge your recovery. I also attempted to Warp back on stage when too close for explosive flame and never got punished for it except for a jab or a hard read here and there, it actually feels almost lagless landing with it on stage. Down air is also useable offstage without having to risk your stock significantly.

If you find out anyting else about our Goddess of Light let me know !

 

[Repli.Cant]

Yeah so I played her all day today with a friend. He now hates fighting Palutena lol. She's really friggin good this time around.

Nair is an amazing move. A great option OoS, combos into itself till like mid-high %s, landing nair can take some by surprise. All of her other aerials are great too, still doing what they did in s4, and uair is really fast now.

Autoreticle locks on and fires almost instantly now, making it actually worthwhile to use. I think it has some good tracking all throughout it, actually. Cycling between it and Explosive Flare lets you put up some crazy walls, and her counter got some major buffs too, outside of doubling as reflect.

Speaking of EF, move's stupid good at covering ledge options. Pop it at them as they're getting up or are hanging there waiting for something and they kinda gotta respect it. It helps stall approaches because the hitbox lasts forever and you can combo into nair out of the tilt version at low percents.

All her tilts and smashes are usable now, for smashes some more than others. All her tilts are really fast and being able to do them outbof dash is amazing. Dsmash is ok and fsmash is better but the real kicker is usmash. The hitbox now lasts for almost the entire animation with no late hitbox, making it last through spotdodges and still kill.

Jab out of dash is really good and offers mixups like is s4, though jab grab is dead, whether or not you'll follow up with rapid jab or something else is still there.

Dthrow still combos and still has dthrow uair/bair shenanigans which is great and bthrow still kills. Fthrow and uthrow I barely used because we never used them in the first place.

I think that's everything? Idk, it's 4 a.m. and my thumbs hurt and I'm tired lol.

TLDR she's better in every aspect compared to smash 4, no way she's low tier, nothing can hide from the light

 

[Alpha Princess]

Been playing a little bit of Palutena and she feels so much better than Smash 4. Explosive Flame has been fun to use and has nabbed some easy KOs, especially on ledge where it's stupidly busted. lmao and love how it works here, something she really needed. Her ariels feel much faster and can be used safer out of shield. And her counter is actually a counter now! I love how much faster D-tilt and U-tilt are (though I didn't notice any difference in her F-tilt being faster) Palutena is really known for her tilts tho. XD

 

[Crybhabie]

and uair is really fast now.

It's so incredibly fast. It was a great kill move but suffered from its tremendous landing lag and couldn't be autocancelled in anyway. I quickly found myself creating a wall with FFs up-airs at airborne opponents, mixing it up with nair to rack up damage until up-air killed, and it feels incredibly great to use now.

 

[Descended Gaia]

EF is definitely stupid good. The range it depended on if you move the joy stick before pressing B or doing both actions at the sameness time. I’ve been doing EF at higher percents and you can catch them midair with the move and possibly get a KO. (A bit sad that it doesn’t shield break anymore) Ledge Cancelling also helps this move too.

Utilt shield breaks? I’m not so sure. I’ve been cancelling dash into Utilt and all of the people that I’ve used them on had been caught at the last lingering hit box. Although I’m really happy about the move, it just has enough end lag for us not to go into Uair immediately.

AR. They really improved the move as it locks on and shoots immediately. Can’t tell you how many times I was on the verge of tears with how happy I was with the move.

Bair and DA are still broken af. The new short hopping mechanism helps a lot. Nair? That move is a friggin beast. Can’t tell you how many times I went from a landing Nair to Utilt, to a jumping EF.

Ftilt, Dtilt, and Utilt are all good punish moves with how much they hit and how much more faster they are. I only used the tilts for spacing purposes in SSB4 but now I can do both of those.

Smashes are great, especially Usmash. How many directional dodges have I gotten with this single move alone? A lot.

Overall she’s faster and she is a lot less of a pain to use against some characters. Palutena will and will always be my No. 1 main

 

[Repli.Cant]

Yeah, with more playtime I can safely say nair is Palu's new best aerial, which is difficult to say at first because fair was already really good. This thing does just about everything except tuck me into bed at night. I talked about it a bit in my first post but it's just a fantastic move overall.

 

[Eisal]

Been playing her a lot, and while I face my own problems, I think she is so much better compared to before.

I'm pretty confident in saying we will see a whole new bunch of Palutena mains coming. She has reached new heights in viability, and she will be a very good character to know how to play, either as a backup or as your main.

Her only fault is really the smash attacks still, but even they are better compared to before.

I'm also pretty sure we will se a lot of hate on Explosive Flames for being so abusable, maybe even to the point Palutena will get a lot of hate in general.

 

[Condenir]

Palu was my main in 4, and I always thought she was a little underrated but understood her flaws...

But I just now finally unlocked her in ultimate and...?
Holy **** she’s just a whole different character?

That NAIR? Amazing?
Explosive flame? Busted
Dash attack and bair? Fabulous
Fair? Solid
Upair? Get killer

I mean...she feels amazing??
I’m so so excited for this Palutena! I think she will be very much so viable this time around

 

[EmperorKatuunuXVI]

Ftilt is actually useful now, as it actually kills combined with it's transcendent priority. Nair is ridiculous, I can't tell you how many times I've just dropped from ledge with nair and gotten an easy gimp, even on Marth. Auto-reticle I could make do with in 4, now it actually feels safe to use. Explosive flame is the best, even got many people at my college saying it's broken.

 

[Fluttershy]

The first hit of Nair seems to perfect combo into U-tilt at low percents (didn't check high percents. Not sure if this is a confirmed grab but the second hit of nair can lead to a grab then the usual D-throw to Nair or any other aerial. Lady Palutena does feel roughly the same though. Not as much major changes makes trying to relearn her not as much of a hassle lol. She's still as fun to play as she was before.

 

[Poopyhead]

I haven't had much time to play yet but she feels way better. I can't believe I killed with f-tilt... and I especially can't believe I actually used it on purpose!! And Explosive Flame is so useful. Gosh everything is just better.

Don't know if she's for me this time around, but, a legend nonetheless.

 

[Mysteltainn]

She feels amazing, and I'm happy about that. I tend to play "mage-like" characters in quite a few games that I play, and Palutena always fit that bill. Nice to see her feeling a lot less sluggish and more responsive this time around.

 

[Starfang]

How do I control the range on EF?

 

[Repli.Cant]

How do I control the range on EF?

Input side B like a tilt to get the close ranged version. Input it like a smash attack to get the long ranged.

 

[Fluttershy]

Not sure if it was already known.. But ledge warping is back in. That was always a nice flashy tech lol. With how fast paced the game can be it may be more useful..

 

[chipndip]

Why is no one talking about how Explosive Flame -> Auto-Reticle is a legit combo for 30%?

Like, landing that once and spamming with reticle gets people to like 60% or higher before they even get close if they're not some super fast character like Mewtwo.

 

[Augi]

Why is no one talking about how Explosive Flame -> Auto-Reticle is a legit combo for 30%?

Like, landing that once and spamming with reticle gets people to like 60% or higher before they even get close if they're not some super fast character like Mewtwo.

I'll look into that and form some thoughts on it (lunch break coming up soon)

But I have some additional thoughts on EF... Aside from using it as a followup to a lot of attacks (and boy is it great at that, back throw -> EF is pretty solid at certain percents unless they're really quick on their airdodge game). But my other temptation is to use it to create some space to try and prevent an approach. This doesn't always work out with very fast characters and becomes very punishable. Trying to curb that impulse.

Long lead up to ask what others are finding as the best way to create space against a fast, dodgy opponent. Or if I should even be trying to.

 

[chipndip]

I'll look into that and form some thoughts on it (lunch break coming up soon)

But I have some additional thoughts on EF... Aside from using it as a followup to a lot of attacks (and boy is it great at that, back throw -> EF is pretty solid at certain percents unless they're really quick on their airdodge game). But my other temptation is to use it to create some space to try and prevent an approach. This doesn't always work out with very fast characters and becomes very punishable. Trying to curb that impulse.

Long lead up to ask what others are finding as the best way to create space against a fast, dodgy opponent. Or if I should even be trying to.

Personally I jump over them with neutral air and then just peel out to the other side of th-

Yes I'm a campy piece of **** on this character. When you have a legit projectile combo, why wouldn't you be?

 

[Eisal]

Personally I jump over them with neutral air and then just peel out to the other side of th-

Yes I'm a campy piece of **** on this character. When you have a legit projectile combo, why wouldn't you be?

I can't blame you. Palutena really isn't a rushdown character. She can hold her defenses and space quite good, but she's not a good rushdown character.

 

[Augi]

Back from lunch. EF -> AR is solid on those low percents, up until the opponent launches too high for AR to target them. Some smaller characters may wiggle out of the way quick enough though. AR is really only useful against the air when your opponent is at the apex of their upward movement; otherwise everyone just falls too fast. Besides that, if you want to keep your distance, or don't have time to reach them after the FE explosion (It does lend itself to an aerial followup), AR is a great choice.

Pain points for me right now are other Ranged attackers, Small characters, and Fast opponents.

Palutena can sling EF/AR (Hah, If it was Flame Explosion [FE] we'd have "Fear") in the face of other range'd attackers like the Belmonts, but she'll undoubtably get hit in the process... usually. AR does have a wide cone though, I may just need more practice jumping out of the way and slingin shots at em.

Small characters have a tendency to slip effortlessly under her short-hops, some practice on my tech. may help me deal with this better.

Fast opponents... well, self-explanatory.

 

[chipndip]

Back from lunch. EF -> AR is solid on those low percents, up until the opponent launches too high for AR to target them. Some smaller characters may wiggle out of the way quick enough though. AR is really only useful against the air when your opponent is at the apex of their upward movement; otherwise everyone just falls too fast. Besides that, if you want to keep your distance, or don't have time to reach them after the FE explosion (It does lend itself to an aerial followup), AR is a great choice.

Pain points for me right now are other Ranged attackers, Small characters, and Fast opponents.

Palutena can sling EF/AR (Hah, If it was Flame Explosion [FE] we'd have "Fear") in the face of other range'd attackers like the Belmonts, but she'll undoubtably get hit in the process... usually. AR does have a wide cone though, I may just need more practice jumping out of the way and slingin shots at em.

Small characters have a tendency to slip effortlessly under her short-hops, some practice on my tech. may help me deal with this better.

Fast opponents... well, self-explanatory.

For other ranged characters: Rely more on AR, then use EF > AR when you've successfully thrown them off their game. Otherwise, you'll keep trading hits. Palu comes with a reflect, too, so that's nice, but it's hard to just reflect big hitting projectiles like Mewtwo and Lucario's neutral B.

For fast characters: N-Air > N-Air as much as you can string it and peel out. D-tilt and F-tilt to back them off if they run into them. Maybe use throws? EF isn't impossible to land but it'll be hard. Prioritize the closer ranged variants.

Small opponents: Don't use Palutena. Your guess is as good as mine. Pray on it. Idk...throw them a lot?

 

[Repli.Cant]

Yeah, down the line faster and smaller characters are going to be a nuisance for Palu.

Max range EF > AR works till about 50% if they are DIing out. I found that if they are beginning to be sent too high from EF, you can jump and AR and still lock on. Not sure how much DI works with that one, I only have one pair of hands, but I'm going off of matches played with friends/online for this too.

I have limited knowledge vs. the Belmonts, but theoretically we can play it as safe as them with our handy-dandy reflector. If they start trying to bait it out, it's just a matter of knowing what to block vs. what to reflect.

 

[Augi]

Small opponents: Don't use Palutena. Your guess is as good as mine. Pray on it. Idk...throw them a lot?

Yeah, down the line faster and smaller characters are going to be a nuisance for Palu.

All Palutena mains will tremble before the shocking indomitable might of the hell incarnate killer himself... Pichu...

...

I dunno, maybe use more tilts?

Edit: while I was fighting a Belmont in a match earlier, I noticed that AR will cancel out a Belmont Cross if they go head to head. Provided all three AR bullets hit it.

 

[Veenon]

It seems that, without DI, you can do D-Throw to Explosive Flame to DAir offstage. I don't know how practical this could be though. Likely not very, but something for you guys to test in your spare time?

 

[Eisal]

It seems that, without DI, you can do D-Throw to Explosive Flame to DAir offstage. I don't know how practical this could be though. Likely not very, but something for you guys to test in your spare time?

From my attempts, it works, but at higher percentages, Explosive Flame will just launch them too much to do any guaranteed spike.

It's much better just d-throw and then go for d-air. It works at any perfcentage up to 100% at least.

 

[BelChydru]

Hey, people. Not sure if I'm allowed to post this here but here you go! This is my new Palutena guide. If you want to check it out I'll leave the link below. I'm sure it'll be helpful to you. Cheers.

https://smashboards.com/guides/the-playful-goddess-of-skyworld-lady-palutena.1176/