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I have an idea for a Video Game based SpongeBob moveset (extremely surprised nobody has thought of this yet), but I need a fair bit more time to work on it. A Son Goku moveset is in the "maybe section" but I feel like SpongeBob is easier to work with.
What I do have right now is an Arle Nadja moveset made from the MYM template on Google Docs. If there is a rule against movesets you've already made, while this one is similar to a previous one in many ways, it's also (imo) much more fined tuned, and has moves that are different from my original inception of them. It's also just meant for fun as an adaption, but if it's eligible then hey, I'll give it a shot. A link is provided here. It will also be updated when I find the means, mostly for fixing up video and balancing her, regardless of eligibility.
Hi again Ridrool64
figured I’d write you a comment on Arle while I’m wishing you a warm welcome to this community. This set is honestly quite impressive from a presentation standpoint as many long-time MYMers don’t bother getting the requisite images, let alone get these GIFs and time stamped videos. This makes it easy to visualize all the moves where this is used, and where you don’t have a direct image I like your descriptive writing style. The start of the set also has painstaking detail in terms of explaining Arle’s stats, which is very nice too. So all in all, I have no complaints about your presentation, and while this isn’t the most important quality for me in a set it’s still worth some praise. The set does a great job of setting up Arle, Carbuncle and all the mechanics of Puyo-Puyo in a graceful and explanatory way that any player would immediately understand. For your first set I’ve read, this is fairly advanced input placement, getting the most out of smashes, aerials and throws while avoiding some obvious movesetting pitfalls along the way.
I do like the premise you have with the chains and All Clear… but it’s not very well detailed. I don’t know exactly what constitutes a “hit” and let me be clear on that, because that might seem obvious. The jab you would think would be very powerful as landing the full combo is technically 3 hits, the fsmash might be two hits due to Carbuncle getting on board to do his own Thunder. The set does at least avoid multi-hit moves (and smartly avoids having the pummel factor at all into combos) but it’s still very vague, and the chain bonus itself is very powerful. A 4x bonus from a 13 chain combo put into context, Shulk’s Buster Monado Art only deals 1.4x damage, so a 4x bonus? And that can stack with the 1.5x All Clear? That is way too powerful and it’s a problem when the set doesn’t really explain the mechanic all that well.
I do like the set in general though I wish it went further in a lot of areas. For example the down smash doesn’t list how long the opponent is stunned, the puyos in the aerials aren’t given a stated size for their hitbox and the set doesn’t state whether a move has slow or fast start up. I do like that you went to the trouble of listing the puyos’ elemental damage, it’s a small detail but I always enjoyed that quirk where it shows up. In general I felt like the set had plenty of personality but fell short on giving much depth to Arle’s playstyle. That’s largely because the set doesn’t give enough explanation to understand the core mechanics or how they play into the moves. Nonetheless you deserve a lot of praise for your presentation and you clearly have a good grip on the fundamentals of making sets, the one exception being I wasn’t sure if I liked the down smash doing stun rather than knockback (though I do like the smashes being mini-specials).
Arle
Well this is an interesting first effort if nothing else, and I do think it could be made into something better if you're willing to edit it. The visuals are nicely portrayed with the gifs and I do think Carbuncle being used as a component of some of Arle's attacks with different properties like shield breaking isn't a bad idea. The chain concept, for what its worth, could also be a lot better, but the numbers on it right now are ridiculous. Even with her low base damage numbers, the damage multiplier that can be applied by a chain is crazy, with some of her inputs casually dealing 40%+ with it. Neutral and Side Special are particularly egregious however, as even at a 1x damage multiplier if all their hits chain into each other, which as written I would guess they do due to the incredibly low knockback, you can hit the opponent for 50% with the Neutral Special and 48% with the Side Special. With a multiplier going that will just send the opponents percentage into the stratosphere in one hit and its probably too powerful even at a base, you should either make it so the move is sure not to chain more than one or two hits or nerf the damage of the individual hits. As another balance complaint, I think Shield Special might want to be axed entirely, the balance is a massive seesaw of either being really good against projectile dependent characters or just a terrible move all around for the huge cost it takes to use. A permanent projectile reflector on her body at the cost of the loss of your shield is just too extreme of a tradeoff to have be something triggered so casually.
The set's other problem really comes down to lack of detail in places, the most egregious example being Diacute. You say it powers up the spells, and admittedly I can at least tell which moves are the spells in question, but it would really be nice to know what powering them up even means. Does it boost their range, their damage, their knockback, some combination of the three? It could even provide additional properties, or not apply to Carbuncle, or apply to a greater degree for Carbuncle. The lack of information means its impossible to tell what this move actually does, and its pretty critical for evaluating the set for us to know that much. I'm also finding it a bit vague how exactly the All Clear bonus works, does it just activate when every opponent has been knocked off the platform into the air off the side of the stage? Or do you need a KO outright to get it.
In summary, the presentation is nice and you do a good job of describing the actual animations, but the set badly needs balance and some increased detail in places before it will be remotely competitive. I realize that's a bit harsh, but it at the very least seems like the actual fixing process would not be very difficult, so don't lose hope for this set yet.
As a response to the complaints about the Arle moveset I'd posted as being overpowered, there have been some sweeping reforms to the entire set in order to make it much more balanced in terms of what she can do.
Her main weakness was supposed to be how badly she got screwed over if somebody could combo her back, but I've decided to take most of the complaints into account, since it does kinda come off as overpowered (especially when you take all of the implications into account.) I actually had a lot of this in mind, and did feel more like elaborating anyway.
Firstly, only KO's count for All Clear bonuses. Every opponent is dead = you get the boost. I also elaborated a little more about what a spell is, exactly, just in case.
Second, the chaining power and All Clear have been very much nerfed. It should be far less ridiculous. The first one has been nerfed in that stats are lower across the board, getting hit also nullifies the chain, and doing the same move twice nullifies the chain. All Clears override the chain for spells, so while they become much stronger much faster, if you're at a 13 chain they become weaker. No more neutral specials that deal over 50%, and also, no more jabs that instantly get you up to speed.
Third, in the case of Forward Smash, Carbuncle's Thunder is part of the same initial event as Arle's Thunder. This means they happen at the same time, so it's more like one continuous stream of hitboxes.
Fourth, Diacute buffs those powers by means of percent and knockback growth.
Fifth, the aerial attacks have much more thought put into them in terms of lag and hitbox size.
Sixth, more images to better represent the point have been included.
Shield Special isn't permanent, but if the problem is that it affects her entire body [or that access to it is permanent, meaning that there's not very many options, say, Mega Man can do for 15 seconds], I can make it into an always-active reflector in front of her that lasts for 10 seconds and has 5 second recharge (if a projectile hits her in the direction she faces, it's reflected, if it doesn't, it's not). However, it has a place for anti-camping, and it isn't something I am readily able to give up. I will, however, consider it more of a casual thing than a competitive thing.
I have, however, a different idea for the shield special. In the game this ability made an appearance in, it was called a Super Attack. In that game, you had to attack by chaining to charge it up, and eventually you'd have enough points to do it. Of course, the more uses you had the harder it was to charge it, and eventually it'd take way too long to get many more uses out of. Maybe it could serve as a third special trait, as a compliment to the chains, but then she gets way too much reward off of hits (more powerful attacks and the ability to negate projectiles is, honestly, just too much). Having it build up over time, or be charged with the Shield Special command sounds like a good compromise. Now it wouldn't be an off button to projectiles at all, have to be earned, and still be able to play a role when she can find the downtime (like Cloud's limit, or Mac's KO Meter). Does this sound like a good idea? EDIT: I decided to add it in a tentative state. When SpongeBob comes out, I'll make my judgement then.
Overall I'd say it was a marked improvement. Thanks to the both of you for pointing these out. SpongeBob is still coming, but he's taking a backseat to Arle now that she's there. I don't want to do too many movesets (and I have a hard time coming up with sources for DBZ games), so if I do decide to do Goku, it probably won't be in time for MYM 21.
EDIT: Recording footage of SpongeBob games is a bit of a hassle, so... he probably won't have as glorious of imagery as Arle does.
Ridrool64
I dunno if you know about it already but you can use a site called Giphy (others probably exist) to make YouTube videos into GIFs, then upload them to a proper hosting site like imgur. If you recorded all those Arle GIFs yourself I am very impressed.
Only one is one that I borrowed with permission: the Up Victory animation gif. which was part of a mutual borrowship from Dimpsy Boots's own moveset (I was given express permission on Discord). Every other gif was indeed my creation.
Hi everyone! I've made a ton of custom Smash movesets just for fun over the last few years, and I'm super excited to start fleshing them out for MYM, beginning with this little dude! Hope you enjoy!
Welcome to MYM proper, bubbyboytoo
! And might I say, you've debuted with a very solid little set in Blupi. His kit is fairly straightforward, but it all plays together in a nice, easy-to-grasp way. His Glue Bomb is an interesting move, with it being both a fairly unique "air only" projectile and a simple but deadly trap. I see you gave it the nerf of destructibility, which is nice. I WOULD say it could use slightly more health, but given how dangerous it is, I think 1 HP is fine. The Skateboard being Wario's Bike crossed with a ground-crawling projectile is a very fun concept; I like the idea of hybridizing two different "genres" of attack like this, and it gives Blupi some interesting mobility options. I also respect the lack of interaction between the board and the glue trap, because I can't really see any use for such an interaction in this set. The Balloon is another fun hybrid move, being a sort of amalgam of recovery, projectile, and counter; I rather like it! Something that could be fun, though you don't necessarily have to add it in NOW, would be, say, letting Blupi tie a balloon to a skateboard to create a sort of unorthodox trap he can move around. The time bomb was originally a bit TOO powerful, but you gave it a much-needed toning down without making it useless. Good job! The bomb is a very nice centerpiece to Blupi's glue trap and balloon stage control, and I'm very happy to see you took my suggestion of letting him push it with Dash Attack. Another suggestion that could be fun would be allowing him to set bombs ON his skateboard, again making a highly mobile trap. Neither of these board interactions are necessarily something you MUST add in, but they could be fun. The remainder of Blupi's set is solid and straightforward, with Dash Attack's pushing mechanic being very fun in my opinion. Something to keep in mind in the future is that, in MYM, you shouldn't be afraid to include some big, ambitious ideas in the post-special moves. Blupi is fine as he is, but I'd love to see you stretch your wings! All in all, this is an extremely solid debut set; I'm very impressed, and I look forward to seeing more from you!
NECALLI by FrozenRoy
(May edit later for readability, as I am getting this out quite late)
Stats:
These seem to make sense, although I’m confused by the wording of “more stout than Gdorf tall”. So he’s…wider than Gdorf is tall? That seems weird. I assume I’m reading it wrong. Seems slow, but I’ve read enough to know that this is by design and in line with his playstyle/moves. Air stuff looks good.
Specials: Passive: So, a note on meter management in Smash before I get all into this. As I had mentioned in my other comment, it can be done. Countless characters have meters (my pedantry about cooldowns aside), and it can add an interesting element to a character. What does seem to be close to the baseline for Smash, however, is the linear application of meter, by which I mean, almost everything is the same cost. All of Cloud’s moves cost 1 meter. Little Mac’s super punch is 1 meter. Inklings have a weird system which I’m not 100% on the depletion rate, but I don’t believe it varies wildly. Robin *does* have multiple cost usages, but this is notably finicky among the playerbase, and the refill is governed by time, ie, it’s automatic.
All this to say that while there is precedent for multicost meters, it is unusual, and puts Necalli very much into a true meter (a resource which he manually charges) management (needs to balance the use for moves which utilize variable amounts) playstyle. Don’t read this paragraph and think this means I’m disqualifying Necalli right off the bat in my mind – I’m not – but rather that the bar for complexity is raised, something which is neither good nor bad but can occasionally be taken to…extremes.
Even beyond the MM component, I’m also concerned about the interconnected nature of this set; it seems to be focused around this mechanic in a way which few (but some) sets in the games are. Smash movesets are generally a little looser. Which isn’t to say there aren’t gameplans, but these gameplans develop naturally out of their toolset, as opposed to a formalized concepts of things like “mechanic A can make moves W, X, Y, Z into W’, X’, Y’, Z’ and forces state V and open up other moves B, C, (and D while in state V)”. Which, in that case, makes mechanic A uniquely into something which is both a really central and a really formalized approach to moves in a way that strikes me as somewhat anachronistic. I know that it does happen from time to time, which is why I say somewhat, but this alongside the aforementioned metering is something I’ll keep this in mind while assessing the rest of the set here.
Shield Special and all its many forms: For the tap, I like it, but I can’t help but feel like The Calling is something that might work best in the world of SF vs Smash. Which I guess is a mean way to open the paragraph, so let me explain. I get the sense that a move like this – a resource using 360 area attack shockwave with a sweetspot – would work better in a world where the players have a little less aerial mobility (as there’s less of an option to “go around” him, which still matters given the sweetspot), one where matching frame for advantage is more crucial to the play (vis-a-vis the importance here in a game with such comparatively large degrees of knockback and knockback control but I would have to think it’s lessened vs SF; I understand the concept of advantage quite well, just that I have to think it’s rather less of a consideration), and one where there are a few fewer goofy projectiles and disjointed hitboxes (which I do like about Smash, and there exists more than one projectile in SF, but I wish you expounded on the interactions here). None of which means I don’t like the move, because I do; I think it’s a fun pressure option, I just can’t help but thing that there are some aspects of the design here that might not translate as well as hoped. Also, interesting that it’s possible to be done without blocking an attack, which could open up some options with pre-emptive Calling. Presumably that would lead into a tech chase of sorts.
For the V-trigger, what is the distinction between tap and holding? Is it a charge sort of thing? A very small thing, but there’s a difference between tap>press>hold. Would an opponent be able to spot the hold to set up a react in the extremely safe window they see coming, since Calling can’t be used? Is it just a few frames off of tap? If it’s really close, I could see wrong moves coming out sometimes (which could be by design), and if it’s really far, then I could see a punish coming before the activate period proper begins (which could also be by design). Well, however it goes I suppose. Canceling the ending lag is nice, and I can see how that’d work with the rest of his set (wait, the ending lag canceling of a move requires that move to hit?), but (and I know this is from SFV), wow, the entire rest of the stock? These are some serious buffs he gets – speed, better air control, jump height, better moves all around…I know that this precludes the use of The Calling for the stock as well, but considering he gets a powerfully offensive *and* defensive projectile (which I am assuming doesn’t take any resources, as I see nothing about that, and I say defensively useful due to its beefy nature) to cover himself with, on top of the things I pointed out earlier, I at least would be trying to get to Torrent of Power right away. A brief anti-pressure burst isn’t really worth taking 33% longer to have a semi-permanent all-around buff unless the person is, but I don’t know, as of course I’ve never played this. Regardless, my summation for discussion on the shield-b component is overall: a tilt towards the dangerously complicated but not there yet; a lot of setups; one component I’m not sure if a 1:1-ish translation works as well as intended, and one where it seems the far better option given the translation questions.
Neutral special: As I understand it, this is a command grab which has a tapped version, an ex version (wait what), a v-triggered version, and an ex v-triggered version. That sounds like a lot, and others might assume that because of my noted dislike of complication, this is too much, but I think this is fine here. It’ll only ever be two at once, and they’re not so completely different as to be insane. The one tiny bit that’s even a little farther afield is the switch to an in bounce, but it’s eh. I’ll let it slide isn’t it’s still not that out there. Beyond that, I think the followups make sense, I think the way this works into a playstyle makes sense, and although I still maintain my worries that V-trig is just the outright better option with the untechable/armored nature on top of HoG, it at least makes sense. A 1.4x hitstun multiplier seems high though, I will say. Also it’s kinda hard to follow when you cite the down or side specials when those have yet to be introduced. Also also, what makes something “ex”? Did I miss something? Let me know if I did, but I didn’t see anything. The way you lay it out, I assume you mean press here, but see my earlier notes on that tricky business.
Side special: Ah, charge moves. The classic of the side b. Always fun to see that old chestnut of “different levels of charge do things beyond just increase range”. I’m also glad to see it’s punishable on whiff and all that, which I can tell plays into the, well, playstyle. Funky air control too, although I have to wonder if that kind of difference between the partial and fully charged versions will be all that parse-able until it actually happens – which is fine on one level, since there are plenty of moves out there whose real value/mixups are strictly at upper levels of play, but on another, if you’re going to set it up to be a good recovery option and it gains distance on charge, it seems real easy to accidentally go into full charge if not an upper level player and that could make the move seem finnicky. V-trig, much like all the other specials I’ve seen, give this a massive buff. The smash charge gets rid of a time commitment, and the double speed makes any timing harder to keep track of, which is a buff overall but could just as easily exacerbate the precise timing nature. I mean, why go partial distance? Someone would always (well, frequently, I imagine) want to go max distance, and if it’s going to be based on frame perfect timing to avoid the full charge 3/4th thing, good luck doing that at max speed consistently. Even for pros, I’d say. 22% chargeless damage at range with added shield damage is a lot though. For other bonuses, I must admit, I’m confused: you say that the V-triggered fully charged dash can punish the near shield break by…canceling into V-trigger? Isn’t the person already in that state? Am I reading this wrong? I’m assuming too from some of the wording that it gets even more punishable on whiff, which is a wise choice.
Down Special: So for the down spec, I used to have a whole chunk of text breaking down how I felt it was too much, too jam packed despite being comparatively simple, but in looking over it more and comparing it to the game, I don’t think it’s too bad. I think the tilt to aim aspect is a good tweak, one which makes sense within the larger context of the game as it’s known now, and can add a little mixup which fits in well while not going too crazy. Plus, mindgame potential, which is always good. I still worry that the powered up version is, well, too powered up, but I recognize that this is just the playstyle going for and obviously being powered up is the point.
Up Special: Pretty standard out of shield. There isn’t much to write about this, although I will say that this reminds me of The Calling, sans the full 360 degree coverage, as just a good get out of shield anti-pressure move. Obviously not the exact same, but some overlap, and really, just more reason that I’d imagine that, as I play this character, my gameplan would be to get to Torrent ASAP and only maybe use Calling in very specific last chance situations. Being worse in Torrent doesn’t really make those differences any larger, although I do at least appreciate the sidegrade aspect. Overall though, all of that aside, it seems fairly basic. Multi-hit up attack. Reminds me of screw attack, in a way, but perhaps a little beefier on the tail end. I mean it’s all balanced fine, but hmm. Kinda basic. I’m not sure what could be done to make it not basic outside of the application of ToP, considering the provenance of the character to begin with, so I guess it’s pretty good. I can certainly see it being a useful tool, and it works well within the scope of the set and the character (balancing issues nonwithstanding), so yeah, pretty good if basic. Hey, I guess I did have a bit to write.
So that’s my thoughts on the specials. Overall, I can see the playstyle, I can see the moves and how they work, I like them even if they are on the face mechanically a little basic, but we need a grappler character. I have my qualms with the complication arising from the many many many variants every move seems to have, on top of the meter system, on top of the balancing of The Calling vs ToP, on top of overall balancing questions, but none of the individual components seem entirely out of place. The powering up is clearly the basis of the playstyle, and it seems unfair to knock it time and time again, but it keeps me coming back to my :L face with this set:
Whether that playstyle is particularly Smash-like. I wouldn’t say too far outside the realm of possibility, although it is…unusual in it’s regard. You and I had a conversation earlier about the connective tissue of a moveset, and I maintain that a degree of diffusion can be a good thing: it can avoid set play, and leave things more open ended about how to go about to get there in the end, which is something I think Smash as a whole does well compared to, say, Killer Instinct (which I very much enjoy). Now, there are definite benefits to the whole affair; it ties things together, it serves a focal point for the design, but in the end, I’m not sure if that can quite overcome the more improv sense that Smash has in its design, that moves unconnected from others is more often the case than not. Anyway, this aside to say that while the moves are well done, and I can see how it plays into his moveset, I am not sure that the focus serves him the best in a way that most emphasizes the strengths of the game, and I lament that view of mine being re-enforced when I see that a move is again taking big power boosts from another, very formalized, semi-permanent mechanic. I know that some characters in the games already have moves that affect others, but it doesn’t seem to be quite this universal or sustained. *All this said* though, it’s less a question of being overly complicated and moreso a far more up-in-the-air interpretation of the core direction and gameplay construction of the series, and so I can’t ding it too too much (plus variety is the spice of life), and so although I may continue to call it out, it’s not *that* bad.
Smashes: Forward Smash: Seems fine, and what I’d expect of a Necalli sort of character. The range is an interesting touch vs the GDorf comparison; that’s a definite buff, and a 10% less kill percent isn’t a colossal nerf, so on balance it seems to come out on top but again, it makes sense. For the held special combo, are you imagining that these are two charged moves in a row, since you call out the addendum about needing more damage with an uncharged forward smash? I’m assuming that a held special is referring to the ex version, as you mention it. That’s part of what makes the 1.4x multiple work, I’m sure, but it seems a little inorganic/set-play-y (just a tad).
Down Smash: A fine move, albeit one again somewhat overcomplicated/overpowered by ToP, up to which I was like “oh this is where it gets a little less crazy” until I saw that the ground started to explode and interact with other moves to not only cause timing differences but also to change hitboxes. I am wary of the promised “many other interactions”; it was doing so well without all of this stuff. Interesting to have a down smash be a movement one, and also to not hit behind him, which I feel is the far more promising application in the sense of nuanced differences than everything else here. Beyond the complication calc though, I do like it, although it seems somewhat clunky in getting the most out of it, which I have to assume is by design.
Up Smash: I’m into it, in that it seemed to be a literal change of pace, and def helps with his juggle (if not kill) game, which rounds him out and makes him more than just a charge machine. I was all ready to go off on the ToP changes making it needlessly complicated (how unusual a complaint of mine, I know) but then I realized that really it just adds another hit on the way down and a bit of range, and changes up the timing a tad. The interaction with the down smash is unnecessary (I mean, as you said, it almost turns into another special move from another character), but overall I think this is my favorite, most comprehensive smash move.
Standards:
Ok, as the moves get more straightforward (and I find myself behind on the self-imposed deadline for this comment), lightning round time, relatively speaking.
Jab: Fine, I mean, you’d need to get real nutty for the jab to be that weird, and I like the reset potential here. The aggressive neutral follow also tracks for his changes in playstyle for how the V-trigger is meant to work at all.
Forward tilt is also good, always good to set some variety on timing, in the nuts and bolts of a set, and positioning is an oft-forgotten aspect and can definitely play in well here with his down special in particular. I will say that the stun on shield in trigger seems, well, quite powerful and seem a far more, perhaps top much so, competent hit confirm move, but as best I can tell the timing doesn’t change so it’s not entirely wild (although the only true counterplay seems to be…hit him beforehand, right?)
Dtilt: I guess the kind of move I’d also point to for the above callout for a too centralized mechanic of trigger, but I guess it had to go in somewhere and hey, points for at least having a move which goes from real low to high based on it instead of just all being good>great (even if I still have my qualms with the centralization to begin with). A 50% power boost and combo potential, well, that’s pretty great. Perhaps a tad too great, being fast, good damage, and a combo starter, but hey, like I said, the gains gotta go somewhere.
Utilt: Not a ton to say, although Im glad you give him a non trigger starter right here, since as you say, it certainly lends itself to further follows in the air. As a battery combo, it can wind up being a *tad* set-play-y for opponents to download, but hey, thems the breaks if you go for it. A clever conceptualization to the question of how to get resources while not just being a straight forward singular move, as it also has its risks of being overplayed in the relative neutral.
Dash: Seems fine; as you say, a classic semi-laggy punish in the right situations. The range boost he gets when its triggered seems quite a bit, but it continues to be balanced out by the lagginess, which I like to see. What I’m less fond of is the embers effect; why does that need to be there? Just to give it an extra hitbox? I mean, I guess, but I think I would have liked it more if it didn’t have the latent flame. Same too with the dsmash interactions. These things can be fine in moderation, and if they present a unified change, but so far its like there are special secret moves from every interaction which players would need to keep in the back of their heads. It’s not even that it’s too many moves either, it’s that there are just so many option selects which can lead to them and they’re on the outskirts of the set focus. Which you could then say “Well Jaki, you were just earlier complaining about being too clustered”, which, yes, fair, but this doesn’t make it less clustered, it just adds another tertiary system on the sides alongside the existing questions I have about the construction of the set. System X affects moves A-H, then also secret system Q affects/causes moves XYZ, and by then although I don’t necessarily find it to be too complicated per-se, I do find it to be waffling between sticking to a concept and wanting to add thing on top of thing to the bits and pieces that make up that concept, pieces which are largely asides yet still burdened with all manner of secrets; the moons around the planets which orbit the main central star. This is all getting a little metaphorgotten, but hopefully I’ve made at least something of a point, as it’s a little hard to put into words and I retain the rights to edit this down the line. Point being: not a fan of these interactions just hanging out here.
Aerials: Nair: Interesting lag mechanics on the meaty, and pretty cool to see it not reward short hops, although I have to wonder if the timing considerations with that will make it slightly too hard to use, since its not as likely to just happen automatically like if the lag was the other way around. Doubling the damage, just about, in trigger, well, you can guess what I’ll say. Also, weirdly variable damage formula here. Why? Just to have a balance of quicker lag = less damage? I mean, I guess, but sometimes, there doesn’t need to be a sidegrade shift in a move, and I think that’s overall the case here. A lil persnickety.
Dair: How far of a thrust does this give here? Are we saying its just a slight movement, or are we Dante doing some Killer Bee stuff? And then he…has a shockwave on landing? What does the 7% on landing come from, when he and his opponent hit the ground? Uncertain here. I guess if he needs to fall 4x Gdorf to cancel the move, that’s some crazy range for a normal. Unless he moves crazy fast, which would be unfair, that’s crazy meaty, which is also pretty unfair. I can see the specials combo working though, as you lay it out. Vtrigger makes sense, my usual concerns continue to apply here, and overall I wish some of the bonuses were transferred over to the normal version (and it not going nearly as long). Same issues with the down smash combinatorics too.
Fair: So so far it doesn’t seem like he has a top of options for opponents over him. I assume this was intentional, him being a relatively low height character, but considering your efforts to round him out in other ways, it does seem an odd blind spot. But, again, a presumably intentional one. I’d’ve thought this would be his dair, frankly. Vtrigger doesn’t get too crazy, so this is all…fair (haaaaaaaaaaaaaah).
Uair: Good for juggling, as you said, good for working with other tools, nothing super fancy here. The opposite of his, what was it, his dash? Where it got real buff in triggered mode? So I appreciate the mixup here.
Bair: Good punish move, good balance. This is pretty well done, and I think my favorite of the airs. The autocancels are neat, and I like the elegant balancing to keep it from being too ideal a shorthop move. This kind of trigger balancing I think is much, *much* more interesting, compared to making it faster/more powerful: adding an elegant option expansion; not necessarily selects, but amps up the application potential without making it another plane of complication.
Grabs: Grab itself is fine, but…well, ok. So here’s my issue with V trigger. It makes every move *so* much better, that, besides for the fact that it raises the question of why have the option to use up a 3rd of it intentionally ever beyond that it was in the base game, but also it makes the balancing pretty unclear. Will they have trigger most of the time or not? One of those states is relatively overpowered, but the other state is either underpowered, which isn’t good, because that just makes the player weak, or it’s also fairly powerful, and so then you have a character who is already good just getting almost unilaterally better. I know that the better player will have it more, but that just makes the tilt that much more extreme. Considering the variation of power acquisition, how does one balance it? How is balance assessed? I’m inclined to believe that he is already pretty powerful, but then when he also gains a ranged tether grab, it’s like…when does it end? How is this being balanced? Lots of questions, and this is among my issues with the trigger mechanic: too feast or famine. Or at least, how I’m reading the character, feast or even bigger feast. I know it’s how Necalli works, but I also think that the meter implementation is a little bit better balanced there just by the nature of the game.
Bthrow: Fairly normal, like the tech chase aspect, like the turnaround. The down smash effects have the usual addendums, which is that I wish the effects were unified instead of just extra stuff for every single combination.
Dthrow: Weird utility stuff. Im unclear on why Necalli is able to heal himself. Now, Im not a Necalli main in SF5, but could he do that there? I don’t recall, but here is seems out of place. Healing stuff is usually for characters who at least have a bit of a heal-y aura, you know? Whereas Necalli decidedly does not. If he does heal himself in his game, disregard this, but as it stands, this just strikes me as a need to make a throw weird on a topline level, as opposed to something that makes sense for the character.
Fthrow: Here we go, the kill move. No strange effects here, no sir! This fits in with who he is, very straightforward, a blunt instrument means to the ends. Perhaps my favorite of all the throws. A littttle too powerful if triggered, but again, who knows how that should be evaluated from a balance perspective.
Uthrow: The aoe is a nice touch here, I do like that. Like a lot of his other up attacks, this is something I can see working particularly well with the rest of his set, which is fun since I also know (am guessing) that he’s meant to be more of a grounded character, as I’ve mentioned. The trigger version is very strange, more akin to a special move, and I would have to think that a through the shield move could set up for some dirty tricks…potentially too dirty, in fact. Also, does that mean that the damage does 1.2x to the shield? Interesting, and a little unclear. Still, mechanically unique, and straightforward enough that I think it works where it is.
So there you have it. A lot of this is rambly, I know, and while I don’t think it’s too complicated, I do have my questions about it. Mostly how it’s balanced, how Smash-y it is to have such a centered playstyle, and how practical a lot of these unique secret combinations would end up being. On a more base mechanics level, I guess the moves are fine, nothing mind-blowingly interesting, but it’s a cohesive set and the direction is clear (I do read the playstyle sections for these too, although in this case the move descriptions were also great just by themselves). I wish it was a little wilder and a little less “trying to translate a very normal 2D fighter into Smash and all those associated technical aspects”, but I guess that comes with the territory.
Boruto Uzumaki, son of the 7th Hokage, is here! Instead of going for a passive that changes most move on the character, I've opted to give Boruto a special that really defines him and how he fights. Read it over and tell me how it is, what works, what doesn't, and if I've found that elusive "Style" yet.
I've been looking into joining MYM for awhile now, and I figure I'd make my first post now. I went with a rather simple character, so don't expect it to push the limits of MYM. I've always thought his Smash version was a bit mediocre, so I decided to try my hand at a better one. This Kirby is a combo fighter. I didn't feel like spending 3-4 paragraphs explaining every move, but I tried my best at giving good descriptions.
KafkaKomedy
Very cool to see you make another set after Lucario, first of all it's clear with Boruto you have a strong grasp on tone and consistency. I commented on it in Lucario too, nothing here is out of place on a ninja archetype character and knowing anything about Naruto (I did read a good deal of the manga) it's all a good fit. Most of all I like that you chose to have more inventive ideas on the projectile fsmash, the dtilt and the general idea of down special is pretty inventive too! It's impressive how you've caught on to the concept of a playstyle like what you have here, where Boruto has a weak recovery and has to rely on his clone because of his weak on-shield moves. That's pretty advanced thinking and I like how that works into Boruto's character too, given he's just the son of Naruto, and absolutely a beginner even if he's trying to live up to his father. It makes a lot of sense that his playstyle would be on the weaker side, relying on risky gimmicks to win.
There are a few things I was a little less sure on, first and foremost, I don't like the down special both having a stock limit and having a miniature scroll that's just useless on certain opponents, the Dōjutsu. The others are fairly evergreen conceptually but this one really should have some other use in these scenarios. What I dislike about the balance here is that it's used up whether you land or not, and as you know in Smash it's very easy to whiff moves, so you could well burn through these scrolls. If they were used up upon landing, that would be a lot better on top of the Dōjutsu having a use against all foes. The grab I felt was a bit too much as far as exaggerating his weakness in his playstyle. No out of shield grab is just a massive weakness, especially combined with his intentionally poor moveset against shields. I also felt like it wasn't well explained what happens if you're next to the ledge or a solid object. Does the clone appear in midair or not at all in that case? Logically you'd think they'd just appear closer or on top of Boruto in those situations, eliminating the out of shield grab problem.
What was a little disappointing is that the way the clones work, using only Boruto's smashes, aerials and tilts, was not important to those moves. If anything, this comes across very powerful when you do come to those moves for dealing the same knockback. I realize that halving the knockback would just be broken due to combos but this way also means that when the foe is high percent enough to KO, the clone is as dangerous as Boruto if they manage to throw out a lucky smash attack. It would've worked better to just nerf each move as necessary because a move like fsmash which has the upside of a long lingering hitbox into a powerful KO isn't even nerfed much when its damage is halved but not its knockback, especially in a Ice Climbers lite playstyle.
All in all though I am happy about the way this set turned out and I'm impressed especially that you've gotten such a strong grip on playstyle, and really enjoyed how you carved out a personality. That is not an easy task when juggling clones and various ninja magic. I was also pleasantly surprised that you took the risk to make non-special moves projectiles, play with range and other things you'd expect on those moves in small ways, even thinking up clever ways to weaken Boruto's options to balance out his clones. That's also not easy! It's a very solid set and I hope to see more sets from you in the future.
PeridotGX
Hello there, I have seen you around and it's cool to see you post a set at long last! This is pretty much Kirby Remix. What's kind of a relief here is that given the character, you can pretty liberally re-use existing Kirby attacks, even if it's not a complete copy this is a logical approach. It was done by Muno in his Dededemix too. First of all though, and it may seem weird to make a structural criticism first but bear with me, you should have the specials first. Structurally the specials should be the central focus of a set and it's easier for the set maker I feel too when the specials are first to construct the set around them. For the reader as well, it's a big help to immediately visualize a set. That and some colour and other formatting would go a long way in making the set visually appearing, just throwing on some headers for input sections, or even some images if you want to go the whole hog. Very simple stuff that would immediately lift the set.
The set has a very obvious approach to the character that I can understand: make every Kirby move a fun copy ability, and given Kirby's full of potential from all his many games, that's not a bad idea. In concept, this is a fun premise, however I don't feel like you put nearly enough detail for the reader to get the right idea of many of the moves here. For example the down special only spends a short sentence describing each of the potions that Kirby can drink, when a huge amount of fun for the players in this move should be how they can essentially have 4 specials in 1, and the devil is in the detail. The moves in general just don't give a very good idea of what's going on, aside from the moves where he's re-using existing Kirby moves where it's fine to just give a general impression and then state changes, you can assume everyone knows those moves. For example the side tilt, you should give a general idea of the broom's size, how it looks and the size of the hitbox, and when you've done that, also state a speed and lag. Without that key information, it's hard to completely understand the move.
My other criticism here is that the set comes across as kind of random in what moves it picks, although I do actually like some of your choices. I may be biased as I love any poison themed move, Poison Ride was a great visual, and I like moving the side B hammer to side smash, because his old smashes are some of his most boring moves for sure. That's where I completely get the set's approach. But then there are moves like his grab where he grows a horn he randomly grew? He just splits in two for his down smash? I know these are things he is established to be able to do, but something like that is more suited to a special. While I don't mind experimenting it should really serve a purpose too. I also just don't like moves like front/back aerial sharing the same move on two inputs, though you did at least make them not identical.
In any case this set is very creative and shows that you can draw from a lot of material, I didn't even know a lot of these abilities existed for Kirby. That is kind of the problem too though, as it draws from so much material it's hard to keep track of his playstyle. You do at least have a fitting move for each input. It's just kind of overload to be honest, as I'm all for a Kirby based more around powers but he probably should then also be a given a focus beyond Inhale to stop it getting too unfocused. As Smash Kirby does have an existent playstyle, it could easily be deeper and given all of his potential on display here, that wouldn't be too difficult. In the least this set just needs to explain more of these effects in detail for me to judge the playstyle's merits. Anyway, good job on the set as it's great to see you put it out finally, and I hope to read more.
KafkaKomedy
Very cool to see you make another set after Lucario, first of all it's clear with Boruto you have a strong grasp on tone and consistency. I commented on it in Lucario too, nothing here is out of place on a ninja archetype character and knowing anything about Naruto (I did read a good deal of the manga) it's all a good fit. Most of all I like that you chose to have more inventive ideas on the projectile fsmash, the dtilt and the general idea of down special is pretty inventive too! It's impressive how you've caught on to the concept of a playstyle like what you have here, where Boruto has a weak recovery and has to rely on his clone because of his weak on-shield moves. That's pretty advanced thinking and I like how that works into Boruto's character too, given he's just the son of Naruto, and absolutely a beginner even if he's trying to live up to his father. It makes a lot of sense that his playstyle would be on the weaker side, relying on risky gimmicks to win.
There are a few things I was a little less sure on, first and foremost, I don't like the down special both having a stock limit and having a miniature scroll that's just useless on certain opponents, the Dōjutsu. The others are fairly evergreen conceptually but this one really should have some other use in these scenarios. What I dislike about the balance here is that it's used up whether you land or not, and as you know in Smash it's very easy to whiff moves, so you could well burn through these scrolls. If they were used up upon landing, that would be a lot better on top of the Dōjutsu having a use against all foes. The grab I felt was a bit too much as far as exaggerating his weakness in his playstyle. No out of shield grab is just a massive weakness, especially combined with his intentionally poor moveset against shields. I also felt like it wasn't well explained what happens if you're next to the ledge or a solid object. Does the clone appear in midair or not at all in that case? Logically you'd think they'd just appear closer or on top of Boruto in those situations, eliminating the out of shield grab problem.
What was a little disappointing is that the way the clones work, using only Boruto's smashes, aerials and tilts, was not important to those moves. If anything, this comes across very powerful when you do come to those moves for dealing the same knockback. I realize that halving the knockback would just be broken due to combos but this way also means that when the foe is high percent enough to KO, the clone is as dangerous as Boruto if they manage to throw out a lucky smash attack. It would've worked better to just nerf each move as necessary because a move like fsmash which has the upside of a long lingering hitbox into a powerful KO isn't even nerfed much when its damage is halved but not its knockback, especially in a Ice Climbers lite playstyle.
All in all though I am happy about the way this set turned out and I'm impressed especially that you've gotten such a strong grip on playstyle, and really enjoyed how you carved out a personality. That is not an easy task when juggling clones and various ninja magic. I was also pleasantly surprised that you took the risk to make non-special moves projectiles, play with range and other things you'd expect on those moves in small ways, even thinking up clever ways to weaken Boruto's options to balance out his clones. That's also not easy! It's a very solid set and I hope to see more sets from you in the future.
PeridotGX
Hello there, I have seen you around and it's cool to see you post a set at long last! This is pretty much Kirby Remix. What's kind of a relief here is that given the character, you can pretty liberally re-use existing Kirby attacks, even if it's not a complete copy this is a logical approach. It was done by Muno in his Dededemix too. First of all though, and it may seem weird to make a structural criticism first but bear with me, you should have the specials first. Structurally the specials should be the central focus of a set and it's easier for the set maker I feel too when the specials are first to construct the set around them. For the reader as well, it's a big help to immediately visualize a set. That and some colour and other formatting would go a long way in making the set visually appearing, just throwing on some headers for input sections, or even some images if you want to go the whole hog. Very simple stuff that would immediately lift the set.
The set has a very obvious approach to the character that I can understand: make every Kirby move a fun copy ability, and given Kirby's full of potential from all his many games, that's not a bad idea. In concept, this is a fun premise, however I don't feel like you put nearly enough detail for the reader to get the right idea of many of the moves here. For example the down special only spends a short sentence describing each of the potions that Kirby can drink, when a huge amount of fun for the players in this move should be how they can essentially have 4 specials in 1, and the devil is in the detail. The moves in general just don't give a very good idea of what's going on, aside from the moves where he's re-using existing Kirby moves where it's fine to just give a general impression and then state changes, you can assume everyone knows those moves. For example the side tilt, you should give a general idea of the broom's size, how it looks and the size of the hitbox, and when you've done that, also state a speed and lag. Without that key information, it's hard to completely understand the move.
My other criticism here is that the set comes across as kind of random in what moves it picks, although I do actually like some of your choices. I may be biased as I love any poison themed move, Poison Ride was a great visual, and I like moving the side B hammer to side smash, because his old smashes are some of his most boring moves for sure. That's where I completely get the set's approach. But then there are moves like his grab where he grows a horn he randomly grew? He just splits in two for his down smash? I know these are things he is established to be able to do, but something like that is more suited to a special. While I don't mind experimenting it should really serve a purpose too. I also just don't like moves like front/back aerial sharing the same move on two inputs, though you did at least make them not identical.
In any case this set is very creative and shows that you can draw from a lot of material, I didn't even know a lot of these abilities existed for Kirby. That is kind of the problem too though, as it draws from so much material it's hard to keep track of his playstyle. You do at least have a fitting move for each input. It's just kind of overload to be honest, as I'm all for a Kirby based more around powers but he probably should then also be a given a focus beyond Inhale to stop it getting too unfocused. As Smash Kirby does have an existent playstyle, it could easily be deeper and given all of his potential on display here, that wouldn't be too difficult. In the least this set just needs to explain more of these effects in detail for me to judge the playstyle's merits. Anyway, good job on the set as it's great to see you put it out finally, and I hope to read more.
Yeah, Kirby could've used a bit more work (And I probably will give it that). I made too much of an assumption that people had already played Kirby and knew what I was talking about. Add on the fact that it wasn't originally formed with a playstyle in mind and you have a mediocre moveset. I added a combo focus later on, but that was after I finished writing everything up. It really does reek of being a regular moveset retooled to fit MYM (Hence why Jabs and such are first while the specials are last).
The worst part is that I don't know where to go next. I was planning on just editing my Marx moveset to be more MYM-esque like I did with Kirby, but it was made with a similar lack of focus so I don't know.
Yeah, Kirby could've used a bit more work (And I probably will give it that). I made too much of an assumption that people had already played Kirby and knew what I was talking about. Add on the fact that it wasn't originally formed with a playstyle in mind and you have a mediocre moveset. I added a combo focus later on, but that was after I finished writing everything up. It really does reek of being a regular moveset retooled to fit MYM (Hence why Jabs and such are first while the specials are last).
The worst part is that I don't know where to go next. I was planning on just editing my Marx moveset to be more MYM-esque like I did with Kirby, but it was made with a similar lack of focus so I don't know.
That sounds interesting actually, if you want to redo parts of Kirby that'd be cool, but Marx would fit a more random playstyle. He's inherently a very chaotic character so it might work out a lot better! If you just improve it and give it some greater focus, it could end up good. If you want any advice on Marx you only need ask.
Egads! Kafka's made another set so soon? Indeed he has, and it is his finest ware, I bequathe thee to peruse it, posthaste!
(That is to say I made another set, this time of a webcomic character. I'm really proud of it, so take a look and feel free to comment!)
Hello bubbyboytoo
I already gave some basic thoughts on Blupi but only fair I give it a comment too. This set has a very nice foundation in the specials that sets up for a basic zoning playstyle, not unlike Pac-Man. I liked the way you did the specials: the balloon up special, giving it hitboxes to distinguish it from Villager, the skateboard has more utility than the Wario Bike, the simple glue trap and finally the big concept time bomb. That you can change the time bomb's detonation timer and play around it is the obvious highlight of the playstyle. It's a simple idea, but it works. I like how this lends to a playful and experimental playstyle, very fitting for Blupi.
The set largely plays out after specials as a similar playstyle to Pac-Man, having exaggerated, basic attacks that serve a double purpose here to zone the foe into his traps. In this regard my favourite moves were definitely the usmash, dsmash, nair and the dash attack as they work to stall or delay the foe into the various traps at Blupi's disposal. This is very basic stuff, but it does work, just using multihits and literally pushing the foe into these traps on the dash attack. I like too that the set does keep a semblance of characterisation on every move, Blupi's personality comes across as a fusion of Pac-Man and Villager to me given his cartoonish, goofy animations.
My main issue with this set is largely just how simple it is. It is understandable; Blupi's a character who's a lighthearted mascot and would be picked to have fun throwing foes into his traps, skateboarding or flying around. But if I compare this set to Smash Pac-Man, I'd say Pac has a deeper playstyle when he has all the fruit, the fire hydrant and dynamic side special, plus his smashes and grab are very creative. For a first set this is a good start, I just want to see a bit more creativity in your future sets post-specials. Though I can't really say too much critical outside of that.
Glad to see another set from you KafkaKomedy
and I get the sense you’re more invested in Katia than Boruto or Zoroark, and I get why. This set was a far greater challenge than either of those two, Naruto and Pokémon lend themselves to sets, and this character naturally would be harder as it combines several problematic concepts for a moveset. Juggling invisibility and two specials that can backfire on Katia was impressively neat here, and not only those parts. I like how you chose to balance the “health” of her fireballs. It’s explained succinctly, but the nature of the fireballs having both health and a “minimum” threshold is a complex and smart way of balancing the specials. Invisibility was of course advised on heavily by several others and turned out very well in the end too. These specials are so well written and have enough meat to them, you could even use a line break here or there.
The standards are where the set gets into the nitty gritty of Katia’s playstyle and honestly, it reminds me a good bit of Boruto, not that that’s wrong. Katia is pretty weak and relies on the gimmick of invisibility and her telekinesis. However it’s all fairly dependant on the one projectile she personally creates, and I don’t get a very strong sense of how her set really plays into even that one projectile. Essentially she can reliably get a constant active hitbox/hurtbox to levitate in front of her, and she has a pretty regular, arguably slow/underpowered set. It’s hard to see how these mechanics overall work into the set after the specials, other than the fact they do give her a necessary edge on foes, especially invisibility. An interesting balance idea but I felt like Boruto’s set complimented its mechanics a little better.
I was a bit confused over what weapon she’s using in fsmash and usmash, I assume the club, but the hitbox isn’t very clearly defined. The club needs to be compared to something, like Ike’s sword or Dedede’s hammer to give an indication of range. I’d like some more of your typical detail about these hitboxes, I thought the set did a better job describing moves like utilt and ftilt comparing them to Ike and Cloud.
There were honestly a few moves that I didn’t like later, namely the fthrow, dair, nair and uair. The fthrow I just disliked because of the randomness of removing a buff… even Rage. The effect may appear to be random, but 99% of foes will not have a buff, especially not on at the time so this almost always will remove Rage and that is a very significant buff to turn off. This would be absurdly powerful on for example, a heavyweight at a high percent. The three aerials just came across as a bit out of left field, I know she’s a prostitute but she acts mostly like an assassin before these moves. An invisible strip pole and doing the splits is a whole new spin on the character, and I think all three moves would look very weird in motion animation-wise. When she’s spinning around an invisible object, I don’t see how she could possibly look like she has any real sense of motion for an attack (Palutena uses her staff for her taunt, which is grounded). It’d work better if you swapped nair and dsmash. The splits dair would just look silly frankly, and painful/unnatural for Katia to perform, even Bayonetta doesn’t do the full splits. The laying down uair is a similar case to the dair, I assume this is a “pose” uair and it’s weird off the back of the rest of the set, even if it is trying to have a creative animation. Minor complaint, but that FS is also very underpowered to the point I could see using it be actively avoided.
Despite my criticism, I do see why you’re proud of this set, but it’s got a lot more flaws in its execution than your earlier two sets. I think what actually was the problem here is trying to fit in all the aspects of a complex character, and the final flurry of moves reflecting the final piece of her personality especially just make the set feel inconsistent. Besides fthrow the balance is well done. When she has only 1 projectile to manipulate and her invisibility largely is irrelevant to her set, I don’t see as much depth in the set’s playstyle as Boruto. On the other hand it’s easily your most ambitious set yet and you clearly took some risks that didn't fully pay off, but I respect your courage to try anyway. The effort taken to annotate with images and give a lot of flavour at the end of the set was very much appreciated. Hope to see even more sets from you in the future!
KKzinssie
What a character choice. Samson is all new for me, I of course know about the weird world of Japanese games but never looked up this series, hoo boy that was a wild ride. This set has a surprising amount of good ideas despite its simple-looking layout. A perfect example of some of the smart decisions you make is the fact the jounetsu/meter fills up at a very specific per frame amount. I also really liked the balance of the uspec and dspec consuming jounetsu and just not regenerating it respectively, the way the meter is managed is very straightforward. There’s also a good few solid moves like dsmash that while not described in much detail, I really like in concept. In general this set really nails all the animations for the character, I get the sense that you did put a good deal of thought into this aspect of the set. Usually when I’m reading a first set I can pinpoint a few moves that are out of place for their input, here I can’t say anything, you picked a good animation and good input for everything.
One of my major complaints is simply a lack of crucial detail on moves. The nair just says he does a sex kick, it doesn’t state the range, duration, I assume he does a literal sex kick but you at least need to state if it’s an average sex kick, if it resembles a certain character. Another one is grabbing, the grab range and speed is very important and should be stated. The side special doesn’t state the size of the “wave of sparkling masculine essence," and likewise the nspec projectile is only hinted to be similar to Samus’ homing missile. It’s a shame that these details are missing because I think this set has a good eye for animations and moves in general, but there’s a bit of a disconnect for the reader trying to understand how exactly these moves work.
For a set where I’d expect maybe no point or playstyle given the character, you do somehow manage to make a pretty decent playstyle. The taunt system is well balanced and it plays out well enough, it’s even accurate to his game where he wants to create distance to recharge, and can get obliterated when caught off guard. It’s again somewhat vague for example what moves he’d use out of his down special, and while the dair references the uspec no other aerial does, the way that jounetsu running out nerfs his set is never explained fully. I do like however that he is such an aerial focused character and does have some aerials that would be powerful enough to offset his weaknesses, it’s rare to see a heavyweight who has such an aerial focus. Though I have to assume he is heavy, as the set just says his size, not his weight. I’d definitely add a weight, fall speed, air speed and ground speed, and listing animations for how he moves would be good. It’d probably be a pretty interesting animation for this character.
I definitely enjoyed this set in spite of its flaws. Mostly I just want more details filled in, it’s a fun character and the set is surprisingly smart about its inputs and balance. The flavour and overall characterisation is great, I enjoyed all the extras and final smash too. It’s just an overall very solid presentation.
bubbyboytooJebediah Kerman is a solid improvement on Blupi, mostly in its structure, stronger overall playstyle and keeping up the sense of fun, goofy characterisation I liked in Blupi. By comparison, Jeb relies on his tech and when it comes to stage control is a true conservative. He doesn't have the same zoning playstyle Blupi does where he's pushing the foe into his traps and instead is all about mobility and king of the hill, owning parts of the stage using his flag trap. I was surprised by the amount of mobility options Jeb has, ranging from the side special that's similar to Villager's Rocket and the up special is like ROB's up special, then there's the float/hover-like up aerial.
For all of the mobility at his disposal, I didn't get a huge sense of what purpose the aerials served when his aerials have a ton of context they could be applied to, ranging from the side special (as he could recover from dangerous gimps or go far off stage) to up special (meaning all his aerials could be used while floating around) and up aerial (he can cancel his uair into any other aerial or special). The fact his solar panel and flag are ground based also seems to be a little bit of a missed opportunity when he is going to be spending all this time in the air and flying around, to the point I almost wanted to see an aerial version of neutral and down special.
There's a few more interesting moves post-specials that are the biggest part putting it above Blupi for me, the up aerial is an unorthodox quasi-float, but works too as a hitbox and has decent balance. The down tilt moving him around is a simple secondary mobility option on top of all his other ones. When he has such an aerial focus his up smash would've made sense to put Jeb into the air, at least if it was charged, that way he could have an interesting way to go into the air out of a dash too. As with Blupi though, I felt like you could go into more depth on the playstyle, but nonetheless this is a definite improvement on Blupi. Good going, and keep em coming.
Hey again Ridrool64
great to see a new set so soon after Arle, this set hasn't got the production values of that set but Spongebob has a number of interesting ideas displaying your creative style. At one point the playstyle describes itself as "bizarre" and that the challenge in playing Spongebob is in understanding how many of these moves work, and to an extent that isn't a bad idea for a set but the set does get away from itself a little at times. Though on the other hand, it doesn't do anything truly horrible despite cutting it so close using all the props and wacky cartoony attacks it does, which when you get down to it feels very inspired for Spongebob. Before I get into the set proper I'd also like to give you props on the extras like the stage, ATs and other stuff. Did not expect the other Nick Toons to make an appearance. The stats usually are glossed over but I appreciated the effort you went to detailing all of those too, well done.
The set has a fairly strong start in the specials where Spongebob can charge to have stronger bowling balls, a missile and a recovery that can be stronger, at the expense of ledge snap. The last one of those is pretty smart as it's obviously what Cloud does in Smash 4 and it's a fun little mindgame for spongebob to play on the foe. However the worst part of the whole set I'd say is the second part of the Leaf Blower move, down special, where Spongebob inexplicably breaks foe's shields by blowing them away over 100%. As the move is also passive, this means foes are effectively banned from shielding once they hit 100% and that sucks even worse if you're a heavyweight who's likely to get that high in percent. I kind of dislike this move period for being passive, imagine how annoying it'd be if Mario had a permanent FLUDD, even the weakest version or half that strong would be very frustrating to play against. It makes sense for Spongebob to be kind of annoying, but it goes too far when the foe can't shield or even stay close without being passively blown away. It's just bad as compared to the other specials where the small improvements and balance shift made a lot of sense.
I don't have much specific commentary on the standards, these are generally fine moves and make sense for Spongebob, my only complaint is I'm not seeing a particularly cohesive playstyle for Spongebob out of these moves, even compared to his smashes, grab game and aerials. The one standard I wasn't happy about was dash attack as it seems weird to have to press B on a move where you press A to do it, without any intuitive way for the player to know that. Even just a visual clue like Spongebob glowing or doing an action related to his specials, or just a relevant single special, would make it far more intuitive and less random. This comes back again in neutral aerial and is just as weird. I don't get how anyone would know to do this outside of reading a guide. The moves aren't bad or anything outside of this, they're very logical extensions of the move, although the nair is a bit overpowered when he can fight characters reliant on projectiles like MegaMan. Just a cliffnote that nair reflects wasn't really needed unless you made it into more of a gimmick.
In the end this set was fairly creative like Arle and definitely fits the character well. I feel like it could be a lot more nuanced though because it didn't really reference the specials afterwards, and the smashes especially felt very under-elaborated compared to Arle. I also would've liked to see images after Arle was so well captioned, but that's not such a big deal, it did make me wonder on moves like uair which uses a cane apparently from a game I never played. Just hard to understand the reasoning for such moves when I don't know the source, because it seems kind of random. Overall though a lot of fun ideas mostly in the playstyle and on a conceptual level, I'd just work on the balance, making the set more intuitive and cohesive. Hope to see more from you in the future.
Yep, it's the man himself, SpongeBob. I said I'd deliver eventually.
Unfortunately I don't quite have the same level of "this is how it'd look in action" as I do with Arle, which means that the picture I need to paint in your head is harder to achieve, and I doubt I'll find the time to do that. So, here he is. Hopefully everything is accounted for.
SSwaggy-G
Hey if you have ideas, nothing's stopping you. We're all working on our own projects for the most part and I don't get the sense anyone is making a Grinch set.
SCRATCH
The presentation on this set as "hijacking" another set is clever, and definitely gives the set a bit of a unique atmosphere. I know I'm not exactly the presentation guy, but I do love seeing sets get the "feel" of their character down, and even without a proper description of what this OC is I at least got a sense of what they're like. The set COULD really use that though, as I'd like to know what this thing is even supposed to be beyond just "a glitch creature", but I recognize its a bit hard to fit into the presentation as is. Organization aside, the set has some fun concepts, with an ability to modify your moves that you get if you interrupt opponent's attacks successfully. Now, as is, the move that allows this needs to be changed quite badly as adding 12 frames of lag to every move in the opponent's set is obscene and basically prevents them from attacking for seven seconds, but you at least seem like you want to change that.
Now I'll just throw in a bunch of other number crunching complaints that you can easily fix while we're here:
*Side B is another move that feels like it basically shuts off the opponent's ability to attack SCRATCH while its active, albeit its not as strong as the original Neutral B in that regard. Sharing full damage just seems a bit too much to me, if it was half or a third it'd feel a lot less unfun to play against.
*Down B probably holds things a bit too long at 1.5 seconds, it'd be nice to get back to the action a little faster. I'd make it half that duration but allow for faster movement of the grabbed target, or at least half it for opponents.
*I'm not a fan of giving the foe a randomized status effect in general, but the ones she gets out of a throw are too powerful to get off a simple grab, at least right now. This is fine if you nerf them, admittedly, but its worth mentioning.
Now for other commentary, the sets intentional weirdness is fun, but it definitely runs into a bunch of problems in the process. For every neat idea the set has like the clones that act as a liability but have interesting implications with damage sharing, the damage sharing which is a concept I'm fond of in general, and the ability to tweak projectile damage and positioning via the cursor, it has a bunch of ones that feel really wonky. Forward Tilt feels really, really awkward on a tilt and I was never fond of the idea of "latching" your attack hitboxes onto the opponent as a rule. Two of her smashes are a projectile that deals no knockback and a weird extending grab. Vanish in general is a terrible idea, as it basically just exists as a weird stalling mechanism that puts the opponent in the position of having one move to interact with you, even if its for a short time, and would be better off cut from the moveset. Up Tilt randomly deals self-damage and on paper, I don't mind her having self-damage, you can't utilize the potential for multiplying damage with clones at all with it which is arguably the most interesting part of that concept, and its basically just an afterthought tacked onto a tilt. Something like an explosion that could hit all parties would be a lot more interesting. There's also the Nair invisibility, and honestly, the problem with all these random concepts is they don't really feel like they add up to much. It feels more like an idea dump and an attempt to make the character come across as weird moreso than it does anything contributing to a cohesive whole, as by the end of the set I didn't really feel it took much advantage of the concepts it initially showed off. It wasn't without its moments though, I did like Down Smash and with some tweaking the specials would all be pretty good.
As a final aside, I do like people posting this kind of set regardless of the fact that I feel its overall quality is pretty low. This kind of "idea dump" set was a thing that was much more popular back in the MYM13 era, with sets like Oogie Boogie, Putata, and Lizard spawning from it, and throwing out concepts on an open ended character at least gives something for other setmakers to borrow for their own sets later, or for people to make on their own. Obviously Scratch is tamer in that regard than those old sets, having plenty of more generic attacks, but that's probably necessary to balance it. Its a shame those attacks don't really contribute much to the concepts you presented elsewhere in the set, and later on especially in the grab game the whole thing starts to feel a little phoned in. You even drop the whole Shantae thing once you hit the grab game, though I could practically watch you getting more and more exhausted with it as the set went on.
Blados is an antagonist from Dark Dawn, the third Golden Sun. Blados is a fairly unique character in Golden Sun due to his appearance, powers in boss fights and his low-tone manly voice clips. His partner-in-crime, Chalis, accompanies him in every scene they appear. He wields an impressive katana that rivals the size of Cloud's Buster Sword. Blados and Chalis are always teamed up, their goal is to manipulate Matthew and his party. And as you’d expect they try to defeat the party many times. They are not particularly competent at fighting, losing all these boss fights, but do succeed in their manipulation to get Matthew and his party to go along with their plan. Their fairly elaborate plan is by comparison very high on the competency level by Golden Sun standards. That plan being the Dark Dawn in the title of the game, a permanent eclipse that causes half the world to go insane and turn into monsters. The pair comes very close to winning and becoming world rulers controlling this army of beasts.
The final boss of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is an eclipse fusion of Blados and Chalis into a monster named Chaos Chimera. He uses the same items and some new attacks from Blados, combining claws and Blados' sword to use as part of his body. The Chaos Chimera is defeated and destroyed, so it is likely Blados and Chalis were killed, but this is unconfirmed. You have to admire both of their dedication and they happily go down in flames together once their plan finally does fail. Blados is the one character who outright states he hates Alex who is seen in a scant few scenes alongside the pair. As the third member of their group, Alex barely interacts with the other two and largely just shows up to gloat at the protagonists. In the end Alex betrays the trio for the greater good so Blados was right all along.
Elements largely are an arbitrary mechanic in the Golden Sun series but do tend to be emblematic. It is unconfirmed what element applies to Blados, but it can be presumed his element is Water. This is because Chalis is weak to Water and Blados has the opposite weakness to Fire. A few other facts point towards Air.
Blados is an antagonist in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. Together with Chalis, he is one of the commanders of a secretive military nation named Tuaparang. Blados, along with Chalis, is a Dark Adept from the Umbra clan. Elemental alignment is not specified but his weakness to the element of fire leads many to believe him to be tied to the water element, which is the opposite weakness of Chalis.
Spade, his Japanese name, likely refers to the playing card suit of the same name. This is supported by the spade symbol that adorns his armour and greaves. His English name refers to the equivalent suit of swords or blades in the Minor Arcana of tarot. Since the suit of blades is associated with the element of air, it could also be said that Blados is aligned with the Jupiter element.
Blados is described as a warlike swordsman, known in his homeland as "The Blade," and stands before Matthew and company at various points in the game. For an unknown reason, he and his country contact Matthew's group and seem to make use of the protagonists. At the end of the events of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, it was never shown whether Blados was deceased or not. Along with Chalis, he was still able to converse with the party after being defeated.
STATISTICS
Size: Ike Weight: Cloud (100 units/Light Heavyweight) Ground Speed: Marth (Fast) Air Speed: Link (Slow) Fall Speed: Bayonetta (Fast Faller)
Blados' stats are highly comparable to other swordsmen already in the game. He is fairly large and has a high falling speed as well as a decently high weight. Blados’ long katana is a little longer than Ike's Ragnell and that’s toning it down though only as thin as Marth's Falchion. His size becomes a slight issue because of his ninja-like battle pose where he holds his sword in a low stance, almost a crouch. He's got a decent ground speed and great traction despite how heavy and big he is, but falls short in terms of fall and air speed, so wants to largely stick to the ground whenever possible. His jumps are both very good so in spite of his poor air speed and high fall speed, he can get around and has low gravity so it’s not that dangerous to go into the air. As a ninja, Blados can wall jump to the same effectiveness as fellow giant sword fighter Cloud and has a very quick crawl that resembles Greninja. He can also wall cling to the same effectiveness as Greninja. All KO percents are on a midweight at the centre of Final Destination.
SPECIALS
Neutral Special: Zagan Portal
Blados puts forward a hand and summons a black portal that travels forward a platform or up to three platforms away over a second-long charge. The portal is a flat circle the height of Bowser all around and by default points straight forward, This can be angled to instead have the portal face any of the eight cardinal directions (left, up, right, down, left-up, left-down, right-up, right-down). This is a fairly quick, but not incredibly fast move so can be easily punished used in close range.
When there’s only one portal on stage it simply acts as a momentum boost to Blados when he passes over it, pushing him in the direction the portal was facing at the speed of Sonic’s dash for a battlefield platform, then slowing down naturally after that to Blados’ normal air and fall speed. As this rush of speed is active Blados’ side facing where he is going will be given a fiery aura from all the air friction. The portals will then fade to a dull grey and stop its animation of turning in place to signify that it can no longer be used until Blados next lands on the ground. On the ground, the first portal stops working momentarily if Blados re-enters it again after going into the second too soon, to prevent an infinite loop. Blados may act during this boost and use his own attacks while boosted to give them a new dimension. When on the ground Blados won’t be boosted into the air by upward-facing portals and instead has to jump to initiate them like a windbox, and if one is pointing down this can give him an excellent short hop as he will still be able to enter an aerial in this short time.
Blados isn’t the only thing affected by his portals, any projectiles; items or other objects he creates or tosses around will have the same reaction and defy gravity for a brief moment. Foes do not have the same privilege and just fall through the portal as if it didn’t exist, however allies can make use of them just the same as Blados. For ease of use they do not give the same fading out effect for allies so that Blados never gets confused over which of his own portals are active. Blados can have up to two portals at a time and they last for 20 seconds.
When Blados creates his second portal the first will give out a radiant dark aura over a three-Bowser wide area signifying the distance where a second portal can be placed to interact with the first. This is because unlike most portals, the way Blados’ function is quite aggressive and powerful. When placed inside this area the second portal and the first visually become linked by an intangible magical aura that emanates from the first to the second. When Blados touches either, he disappears for a brief 3 frame windows of intangibility before re-appearing out of the other portal, thrown in the direction the second portal faced. The portal doesn’t care how Blados enters the first, but will always reset his momentum and blast him at the regular speed out of the second making it an excellent recovery and generally amazing for getting around the stage.
This would be good on its own, but this functionality of the portals gives a secondary aggressive bonus called the Teleport Rush. Blados holds out his sword in a defensive pose as he’s shot out and this becomes a hitbox dealing constant 1% damage and a final hit of 5% and strong knockback able to KO at 100% at a high angle. This also gives Blados weak super armour on the side he was shot out towards, always resetting him to face that direction in the portal. This lasts as long as an average sex kick, ending slightly before the speed boost. The move has high end lag, but creates a shockwave around him as big as Bowser Bomb’s that does 7% and launching upwards knockback to make it relatively safe, plus this can ledge cancel making it a viable recovery strategy. Portals can be used just like regular boost pads to transports projectiles, items, allies, but not foes.
Only two portals can exist at a time so creating a new one will destroy the oldest and allows Blados the opportunity to constant change his portal alignment to better suit the match’s current challenges. Portals can never overlap and due to them becoming linked can never give a “boost” of momentum together due to being too close. Any other elements going into the portals have the same rules, so projectiles can’t for example be shot up, fall down and re-enter a portal and for anything that can’t technically land it’s instead a 5 second cooldown. Importantly Blados can press a direction to change the portal's facing when overlapping a portal, changing as he uses it, massively bolstering their usefulness. The way that portals work, Blados can rely on them to safely land or recover out of laggier moves and always have a trick up his sleeve if he decides to mix up his portal usage or use them defensively or offensively. For the sake of convenience, the first portals that speed up Blados will be referred to as Momentum portals and the second connected type as Teleporters.
Shield Special: Shadow Shield
Blados throws up a hand and summons a shield in front of him that covers his front, causing a bunch of magic energy to converse on his body for 7 seconds. This has a laggy 25 frame start up where Blados is not protected by his shield. When the move is successfully finished, this gives Blados' shield another 25HP for the effect's duration, when the effect ends this leaves Blados at a minimum of having a 1HP shield never causing a shield break if it gets below 25HP and the effect ends. That 25HP is not insignificant, shields in Smash 4 have 50HP, so this is more-or-less a 1.5x buff to HP.
Any weak projectile that deals 3% or less owned by any enemy or any of Blados' own projectiles or other loose weapons on the battlefield will be picked up in Blados' shadow shield. These projectiles and other objects will rotate around Blados like MegaMan's Leaf Blade, rotating at the same speed, and retain their previous properties, damaging the foe if they touch a projectile that damages them. They spin clockwise and even maintain position when Blados turns, mirroring to the other side. Blados can be damaged by enemy projectiles he picks up only if the effect ends as they’re always kept at a distance. The ownership of these projectiles isn't transferred. Once the 7 seconds runs out these projectiles will continue on their previous path and can run out of their duration while in the Shadow Shield’s orbit, dissipating in the Shadow Shield. On top of a foe’s own projectiles being sucked up if Blados manages to perfect shield a foe’s attacks when Shadow Shield is active, their attack will be translated into a small Mario fireball-sized projectile of dark purple energy. The projectile will rotate around the shield from the opposite to where Blados was attacked, dealing 3-8% damage and low-decent knockback, depending on the attack perfect shielded. This gives Blados a way to sponge projectiles off even melee-only foes. These projectiles will even come back so long as they didn't hit a foe yet upon the Shadow Shield running out, so are a huge reward for scoring a perfect shield.
Blados can press shield special during the shield's 7 second long effect, he then throws out his hands in a 10 frame animation, laughing in his trademark low tone. The energy that conversed on him will be shot out all around in a circular wind hitbox that pushes foes away in a weak windbox and deals 3% with weak knockback. All projectiles Blados may have picked up in his shield will be shot out a battlefield platform at a set speed of Fox's laser, for this short while all now dealing damage to foes too. This will shoot out all projectiles, even those that were below Blados or trapped by walls, then opting to fire at the nearest angle away from Blados. Any projectile Blados himself throws into the mix is buffed to deal 1.2x damage for as long as they’re being pushed out by the windbox before returning to their normal pattern.
Projectiles caught in the shield are absolutely victim to the effects of Zagan Portals. They will be launched out of the orbit of the shield when touching the portal and shot the normal distance, becoming detached. This practically gives Blados his own projectile cannon to fire around and as he can fire these projectiles fairly far, it’s easy to set them up so they can boost back to one another from opposite sides of the stage, or outright abuse the direct portals to make an offensive loop of projectiles as well. Due to the rules, this loop is one-way, but nonetheless allows Blados to double or triple up on his hitboxes. The projectiles will orbit around Blados until separated through a teleport portal however, so Blados has to go out of his way to throw his projectiles off his Shadow Shield or wait for it to die for them to be affected by his momentum boost portals. This is largely helpful for Blados though as it means he will always be defended by them, and not have to worry about them being thrown off in random directions.
Side Special: Psy Grenade/Leech
Blados picks up a grenade, the same size as Snake's, and tosses it forward, bouncing slightly off the ground and exploding moments later for 5% damage and medium knockback. This can be angled the same way as Snake's grenades. The grenade will also explode on contact if it hits any foes early on. The explosion like the size of the grenade is the same as Snake's grenade. These can be tossed around by foes too, but they can’t manipulate Zagan’s Portals in the same way so can easily backfire. Blados can easily have the grenade head back at a foe and hit them as they come out of dodge using his portals.
The Psy Grenade in Dark Dawn has an anti-magic effect, in Smash 4 this translates to extra damage to shields, dealing 10% and a little bit of extra shield stun. However a far more powerful effect happens when the foe's shield directly comes into contact with the Psy Grenade as it becomes a Sticky Bomb of sorts, only on their shield alone, sticking to that part of the foe's shield like a leech and draining it constantly for 1% 5 times a second, though deals no shield stun. The Psy Grenade lingers for a very short while when the foe puts their shield away, only enough for a character to hit it with an OOS up special or other very fast move in that direction, as it quickly fades away after their shield does, and pops up in the exact same place the next time the foe puts up their shield.
Blados can fall victim to his own leech too. If Blados shields next to the leech, it will attach to his own shield and get to work, though its explosion still never damages him in normal matches. This is important as the Psy Grenade doesn't just leech forever, as it leeches it grows in size, going from the size of Snake's grenade to the size of a Bob-Omb. When a grenade is hit off the shield it will not explode but will be hit away like a light weight character at 0%, though this is increased to an average sized character at 0% at the max size, then explodes shortly after. The explosion ranges from the weak one dealing 5% at its lowest size and when it grows as big as a Bob-Omb, taking 15% of siphoning shield health to do so, is now able to deal 15% and KO at 100%! This is even stronger on shields as it deals the same boosted damage of 30% and easily takes a shield down over halfway at full health. At the same time, a Psy Grenade can pass between shields, giving Blados a unique way to pass on the bug after feeding his own shield to it, and won't be damaged if it's dropped back onto the floor. As Blados can also heal his shield, it's not nearly as much of an issue.
The Psy Grenade can be picked up in Shadow Shield the same way as any other projectile, and this can be very useful when it's on Blados' shield as he casually transitions from it being a leech into being a part of his Shadow Shield without having to do any set up. He can then shoot it out, ignoring its heavy weight at maximum strength, to hit opponents at a nice battlefield platform of range using this powerful hitbox. Blados can throw his grenades into the Shadow Shield, though they explode so quickly it's not as useful. A good idea is letting the Psy Grenades/leeches feed on his shield occasionally, this resets their timer to explode and gives them a power boost at the same time.
Blados can easily get grenades into his Shadow Shield by throwing them into the shield using his neutral special, though this does effectively neuter his neutral special, he can always wait out the effect to just drop the grenades to the floor, and they do work as normal within the short range of the Shadow Shield. The rotation of projectiles is a good deal further away from Blados than Leaf Blade for MegaMan, so there's any opportunity to trap the foe inside of it. Even if Blados can't get weapons into the Shadow Shield to use, he can always use the 3% hitbox to start a combo or juggle attempt, especially useful given the circular knockback can go in any direction.
Up Special: Teleport
Blados spins in place and is surrounded by a bright aura at his feet, disappearing and teleporting the same distance as Zelda's up special in a chosen direction. This doesn’t put Blados in free fall but can only be used once per air trip. A similar animation appears at the other end of the teleport, and at both the beginning and end Blados as well as a little bit around his hurtbox is an active hitbox, occurring after the first few frames of the move. This gives him a brief moment of invincibility. The initial hitbox when Blados first teleports will deal 5% and strong base/weakly growing knockback that will hit a foe in the direction Blados teleports, which defaults to straight upward, while the second hitbox when he re-appears deals 12% and strong radial knockback that KOs at 130%. Both of these are slightly smaller than Zelda's hitbox during Farore's Wind.
The move reacts to Zagan Portals the way you’d expect. Blados will be boosted upon appearing on top of a single portal or teleport again when used on one linked to another portal. This largely just prolongs the teleportation and is largely predictable besides in situational plays. Where it’s a good idea is when using it around portals to make the end lag of the move safer or to combo the hitbox of the teleport into the Teleport Rush. Due to the nature of Teleport hiding where Blados is going exactly he can easily mix up what entrance he uses, so he leaves the foe guessing as to what one is used as the exit, or if none are period.
Past the very first few frames the entire recovery is super armoured until end lag occurs. This teleport has slightly longer start up than Zelda's counterpart, partially because of the active hitbox, and the same end lag. Largely this just makes the move easier to punish, but is just as strong a recovery as Zelda's teleport and has more potential to get creative KOs using the first hitbox. Blados takes his Shadow Shield and any collected weapons or projectiles along with him, so the foe isn't safe even if they avoid the move's own hitbox alone.
Down Special: Punish
Blados disappears and re-appears in place to perform a quick and long-ranged slash that deals 5% and almost flat knockback at a weak, easy to combo knockback. Blados is invincible for the short duration he disappears as he becomes intangible. This is very important as it lets Blados perform a fast attack right after this intangibility to allow for an effective counter-attack, then lead into a combo. The attack isn’t too useful outside of combos. Blados can also hold right or left to appear a platform away in that direction to help his mix-ups. This puts Blados into free fall in midair if used off-stage so is strictly useful as the last option for recovery purposes.
Charging the move changes its functionality completely. Blados holds his katana in place and charges it dark purple with energy. He disappears again after a longer start up but re-appears a Mario height in the air as he leaps towards the ground, performing a meteor smash resembling Cloud’s fair that deals 12% and strong spiking knockback, this has long end and landing lag. This will KO off a ground bounce around 100%. It leaves Blados in a fast fall going diagonally towards the ground, essentially giving him aerial momentum or sliding him across the ground. This still has lag however so is mostly useful for evasive purposes. Blados can be turned around when he disappears so that he launches back towards where he started. The mix up of the turnaround, simple slash and powerful spike make this an important part of Blados’ melee if that was where the move ended.
A very significant feature of Punish is that when Blados uses the move and has a Shadow Shield active, it will not follow him in the same way it does for his Teleport up special. When he uses Punish in place it makes no difference but upon moving by holding left or right, the Shadow Shield will become desynch’d from Blados and upon Blados’ end lag ending will home in on his current location at Blados’ very fast walk speed (Marth). A dark cluster of energy represents the Shadow Shield in this state, around the size of Kirby and has 35HP before it and all its projectile dissipate. The shield and any orbiting projectiles will maintain the same duration they had going before Punish was used, up to 7 seconds, all the same rules applying as if Blados was using the move normally.
The Shadow Shield will attempt to reconnect to Blados upon reaching him and if it does manage to centre itself on Blados’ hurtbox, will function as normal. However Blados can keep distancing himself further and further from his own Shadow Shield to force it to keep following him all over the stage. When Blados performs his Shadow Shield, it functions the same way as normal shooting out a wind hitbox and any projectiles with the same animation, a little more dangerous as this now has no hitbox on Blados. As the Shadow Shield is not on Blados however this does open up moves that create projectiles such as his side special to be usable and not sucked up immediately by the shield and at the same time he can easily toss his grenades and anything else into the Shadow Shield at a safe distance.
The Shadow Shield desynch is an essential part of Blados’ playstyle to be able to manipulate what’s in the Shield’s orbit and utilize it offensively. The one downside is that for the duration of the Shield being out independently Blados loses access to his own Shadow Shield buff. Blados can simply shield in place and wait for it to return to him which will immediately boost his shield’s HP by 1-25HP, depending on his shield health when he sent out the Shadow Shield. This itself can act as good counter play to bait the foe to attack a weak shield only to get it buffed as Shadow Shield returns, or bait them then use Punish to teleport onto the other side of Shadow Shield for an effective reset. This is all limited by the Shield’s own duration of 7 seconds and lack of its own hitbox without throwing a projectile or two in first. The mix up option also lets Blados get into the air first to force the projectiles to have greater coverage.
When Punish is used into a portal, this has a couple of results depending on the version. The normal version has Blados immediately perform the slash as he is boosted out of the other end, largely no surprises involved though is quite useful, for example he appears behind a foe and uses a portal to rush back at them from in front or behind. The charged version will have Blados aim the forceful diagonal charge in the direction the portal was facing and increase its power to 15% and KO at 85%. This powerful hitbox replaces the usual Teleport Rush attack but has the same shockwave effect upon landing though has a little more lag.
SMASHES
Forward Smash: Katana Toss
Blados charges by holding his katana behind his back as both hands channel dark energy into the blade then tosses it forward, the glowing-purple katana spinning around in midair, travelling 0.8-1.2 battlefield platforms and dealing 15-21% damage and able to KO at 125% uncharged. The katana travels very fast to its destination and is an active hitbox all the while giving it a long duration, once it does reach the end or Blados is interrupted it disappears in a magical explosion before reappearing held by Blados. The katana is by default tossed forward and has a size 0.75x as big as Bowser as a hitbox (it is a very large katana), it can be angled to go slightly diagonally up or trace across the floor instead. The down angled version is a little different, appearing more like a fan blade and has a marginally bigger hitbox to make up for its lower range. The lag on this move is slow at 22 frames of start up and the end lag is short, but the long duration in practice makes it easy to punish.
Blados can perform a follow up as the blade is being thrown, teleporting to appear above the current location of his katana, grabs it and slashes downward in a falling chop similar to the final part of Ike’s Aether. The attack deals 8% damage and strong upwards knockback able to KO at 150%. This is a good deal weaker than Ike’s Aether and this is to prevent easy gimps, as the katana can be thrown off stage easily. Blados may cancel out of the move after falling for two Ganondorf heights. Blados has high landing lag if he does land on the ground, but has a landing hitbox too that deals 5% and weak semi-spike knockback from the front side. The down angled fsmash instead has Blados appear at the spot the katana was, grabs it and instead leaps upward, drilling his katana into the air for 5 hits of 1% and a final 7% hit to KO at 125%. Blados travels a Ganondorf height very quickly and has low end lag, the downside being this is purely a vertically ranged move.
When inputting the move, Blados’ Shadow Shield if active will give off a strong on-off glow signifying that he can press the shield button to throw his Shadow Shield on his katana as long as it’s being tossed around. Blados does this by emphatically throwing one hand forward as he tosses the katana, passing on the Shadow Shield. The Shadow Shield returns to Blados once the katana does, or upon using the follow up. This technically leaves Blados vulnerable when sending out the katana but will also allow any projectiles to hit the foe, for example the Psy Grenades can easily leech the foe if they try to shield the katana. When there’s nothing on the shield, it will still be sent out when commanded and essentially let Blados pull in any projectiles on the stage without having to directly go there.
The katana when thrown can’t be directly manipulated by the portals, but has many other applications. Most directly, Blados can use the follow up to fall into a portal, or redirect himself at the end to avoid the bad landing lag of the up/forward angled fsmash follow ups. He can also change the direction of his down-angled drill follow up to chase foes or simply get around the stage. The Shadow Shield projectiles that can be tossed on the katana can also be manipulated by stray portals that Blados places around the stage. Blados can toss out his katana in an attempt to propel the projectiles around it to hit the foe, or even toss his katana at a projectile, then launch it at the foe using a portal nearby and the follow up allows Blados to put added pressure used at the right time.
Up Smash: Spark Shuriken
Blados charges a hand behind his back, finishing the charge by quickly tossing upward 1-4 kunais that fly upward at a fast pace a Ganondorf height dealing 7% damage each and decent upwards knockback, though almost never combo. These fan out to hit a decent coverage above Blados, one kunai is always thrown directly up to cover the area right above Blados. A sweetspot exists right as Blados tosses the kunai above his head where they have a sheen that deals 10-14% damage and strong upward knockback to KO at 130%, functioning as the important melee usmash. The kunais are a comparatively huge height of Villager but very thin, the width of a Pikmin and dissipate once they reach a Ganondorf above Blados. The move comes out in 14 frames, not awful for a smash and has decently low end lag.
Blados can perform a follow up to instead forcefully motion down his hands and lets out a deep-toned war cry, causing the kunai to instead of dissipate fall to the ground. The kunai falls at the rate of Fox’s fall speed and fan out even further, naturally landing just besides Blados and a Bowser width past that for kunai #3 and #4. The kunai becomes a hitbox again that deals 6% and low downward knockback, high hitstun if they hit the foe as they land on the ground as well. This has much higher end lag for Blados, though does free him to move just barely as the kunai hit the ground. The kunai will stick to the ground or any wall/solid object that it hits, impaling onto the side of them. The kunai will then quickly dissipate after a short set amount of time.
A second follow up can be performed and can be activated in the final frames of the first follow ups end lag to make it slightly less painful. Blados throws an electrified first forward in the air, a quick animation that has no hitbox but is no less enthusiastic in spite of that. Blados even lets out a Melee/Ultimate Ganondorf “Aaaah HA!” as he performs animation. Once the punch is unleashed this causes all kunais on stage to shoot a Thunderbolt-sized thunder strike upwards, or sideward if the kunai was embedded in a wall. This thunderbolt deals roughly 75% the damage and knockback of Pikachu’s down special. The thunderbolt travels two Ganondorf heights upward and is Mario’s height, its powerful hitbox scaling back pretty quickly to only deal 4% damage and weak knockback by the time it reaches its apex. Instead of dissipating if a kunai is within a battlefield platform of another, the electricity will quickly bow down and connect to the other kunai, maintaining a weak 1% and light hitstun hitbox until they connect. Finally the electricity pulses strongly through the kunais, delivering a final powerful hitbox in a line from one kunai to another, potentially up to 4 at once if they are in range, dealing 12% and high radial knockback to KO at 110%. The kunai will then all dissipate.
This move is among the most complex in Blados’ arsenal and has many applications whether or not the follow ups come into play. The kunai will get sucked into the Shadow Shield when thrown out and it’s active, though the initial powerful sweetspot will still be active to for it not to be completely useless as a melee usmash. The kunais be thrown to orbit at a good distance from one another. The first follow up will then have the kunai will tossed out at whatever portion of the Shadow Shield they were on outwards, so for example if they had rotated to be pointing downwards, they will be thrown into the ground or off stage and potentially delivering a gimp. This can allow Blados to stick the kunais into walls or further away on the ground just by delaying the follow up a little. The kunais won’t stick around any longer than normal but can have fun extended journeys throwing them to fall into a portal, teleporting them back up where they will continue their short momentum instead directed up. This renewed momentum abides by the same physics as the kunai normally do so can result in them falling sideways to the ground or simply going up slightly then back down, resulting in some very creative potential set ups.
The final electrical charge is considered a projectile and can both travel through and be sped up by portals, giving massive range but also letting kunais attach to one another through portals, extending the range insurmountably when portals are played smart. All the advanced portal manipulation is only further helped by the kunais themselves being able to go through or be boosted by the portals. This lets them be thrown much further into the air, or fall much faster downwards, also giving them a boost to deal 3% more damage and an equivalent boost in knockback. The kunai after being teleported can still have the second follow up produce out of them a thunderbolt that will travel outward from wherever is their new position. The second follow up’s final explosive electrical hitbox will use any nearby portals to fish for close kunais, so if another kunai is within range of a portal that is within range of another kunai, the electrical charge will pass through it, so long as both kunai’s electrical trail can reach another. This means this powerful final hitbox can connect vast swathes of the stage together.
Down Smash: Retribution
Blados holds his katana to his side for the charge, then performs a full spin with the blade, hitting first in front for 12-16% damage and behind immediately after for 14-19% damage, able to KO uncharged at an almost flat horizontal angle at 120% uncharged. The range of the katana on this move is impressive, reaching as far as Marth's shield breaker in both directions, though is fairly "thin" so can have problems hitting foes a little above Blados, but is reliable enough against grounded ones. The move has the best lag of any of Blados' smashes, coming out at 15 frames in front and 18 frames for the back. The duration is shorter than the other two smashes too, but is still on the longer side. The Shadow Shield and projectiles are great here as they can easily be poked past by the move's incredible range, while remaining as a defensive shield against foes who try and attack him early from behind or later in the move from the front when the hitbox ends.
The end of the blade shoots a weak projectile similar in appearance to Blade Beam once charged halfway, shooting out a Wario-sized, purple, very acutely-angled crescent from the end of the katana that goes a Kirby width and deals 5-8% damage, with weak knockback. This is shot both forward and back as Blados slashes forward and backwards, but dissipates very quickly, mostly covering the move's end lag. This projectile benefits Greatly from portals as unlike the others, this one doesn't interact normally. The single portal instead of speeding up the projectile stretches it across, doubling its size horizontally in an exaggerated hitbox. This is a straight buff most directly, but also will redirect the projectile in the direction of the portal. The two-way portals will not affect the regular projectile, and instead glows purple for a moment after the dsmash is over, before replicating the slashing hitbox on the other side. This gives Blados a lingering, trap-like hitbox.
Blados' Shadow Shield glows during the start-up like in fsmash signifying that he can press shield to throw his hand out just before he slashes his katana, causing his Shadow Shield to expand out to a wider circle stretching around the dsmash's huge hitbox. The projectile remain where they were before but as Blados slashes, he pushes out his projectiles to the edge of the dsmash hitbox. This will expand out the front side of the shield, while the shield glows again just before the second hit, Blados can press shield again to expand out the back too. He can choose to only expand the back and not the front, or vice versa. This expansion will keep the projectiles in the current Shadow Shield pushed out to a much further distance from Blados until it dissipates, and purely for the melee hitbox, can help to mix up the move and to extend the move's already huge hitbox.
Largely whether Blados chooses to expand his shield's orbit or not depends on the player or match up, as it means Blados is worse in close range but improves his medium and long range. The lopsided shield can emphasize one side over the other as well for a greater control. When pushed beyond the normal orbit, the projectile start to be able to be hit into his non-teleporter Zagan Portals, which is a positive and negative. It lets Blados shoot out his projectiles more casually but also means he can ruin his own Shadow Shield if he's not aware of this, but largely is a positive due to how short-lived and easy to set up the shield is in the first place.
As he builds charge and has projectiles on his Shadow Shield, by pressing shield from midway charge and up he will use the projectile he creates to bat away the projectiles in his shield's orbit, knocking them 1-2 Kirby widths away horizontally as they're covered in a purple energy. Whether the projectile is used up or not depends on the projectile and will give Blados ownership as long as they are being batted away. This can help to push projectiles a ridiculous distance across the stage before they naturally return to Blados. The extreme range in a normal set wouldn't be all that useful but due to the nature of Blados' portals means he can double or triple up on their effectiveness using the right positioning of portals. The charged projectile from the dsmash will also be in play so gives multiple hitboxes all at once, making it harder to dodge and even stronger against shields.
When he extends his Shadow Shield out using dsmash, a small orb of dark energy is apparent on the outstretched part of the shield, a Kirby distance away from Blados. Any move that Blados uses that hits the orb, which is close enough any of Blados' move work, will leave a lingering trail of dark energy from hitting the orb. This recreates the attack's hitbox to linger for a few frames more than normal, applied to any moves that Blados uses besides his grab. The only difference is that the hitbox will now only deal an insignificant 3% and light knockback in the same direction... but this isn't all bad as even the strongest moves are now far safer and can even net a combo under the right circumstances. The knockback will also be ignored if the foe is taking particularly strong/KO strength knockback so the foe isn't interrupted to Blados' detriment. This even goes for projectiles that Blados creates, leaving a trail as far as the Shadow Shield extends, and an orb can even be created on both sides when the shield is extended two ways for a doubly powerful lingering effect. A perfect move for this is the dsmash itself, hitting both sides for maximum coverage. This is a great boon for Blados' advantage state, the only downside is it does go on cooldown if the hits land over 3 times over 2 seconds, at which point it takes another 3 seconds for the orb to glow purple in darkness again to show it's active.
STANDARDS
Jab: Power Strike
Blados carefully slices his sword forward in a strong looking animation, using the full force of the long katana in a nonetheless fast animation, dealing 7% damage and having great range comparable to Marth’s shieldbreaker, able to KO at 130%. Blados has super armour for the active frames of the attack, as his body glows in darkness. This deals knockback at an almost flat angle. The downside is that this has relatively long end lag for a sword strike, not safe on shield. This has Blados rush forward a Kirby width in distance over the course of the move, and this can let Blados dodge some potential counter-attacks such as the foe rolling behind, or chase them if they tried to escape backwards. Despite it being unsafe on shields it does deal a significant amount of shield push so isn’t too unsafe at a medium distance.
The move is one of Blados’ best options used alongside his various set up options, like Shadow Shield, his leeches on shields or simply punishing the foe as they try and avoid his projectiles. This is a great move to use when Blados has desynch’d himself and his Shadow Shield using Punish as the move covers such a great range, the foe’s mobility options become severely impaired in close range combat, forcing them to respect the otherwise easy to punish attack. As well if the foe was snagged by a leech to their shield, a well spaced jab can force the foe back in shield and deal important shield damage. When the foe has to try and hit off the leech too, Blados can snipe the foe’s shield so that they’re forced to use a move not suited to punishing his jab to get rid of it, the obvious choice to not risk a low health or broken shield.
The small rush forward can naturally be extended if Blados runs into one of his Zagan Portals, both enabling him to speed up or slow down his attack, or teleport entirely to another location on stage. The little burst of mobility lets Blados extend the move’s range an even greater amount forward, and strategically can position himself to do this at the start of end of the move’s active frames, or use them to push himself back at the move’s end. Blados may teleport to avoid the end lag of the move, and as the foe can’t go through the portal they are far less safe when stood on top of one.
The move is crucial too when used alongside the dsmash’s orbit-changing properties. Dependant on where the orbit of projectiles now goes, the jab can double up the projectile’s hitbox on the same area so that there is a lasting hitbox for a very long time, discouraging spot dodges or rolls into Blados. On the other hand, this can simply extend the exact range using the projectiles so that the foe has no safe area behind to roll toward, or in front to run from Blados and then punish. Especially when Blados can be boosted, he can predict and cover multiple of the foe’s options with a well timed and spaced jab alone.
Dash Attack: Leaping Slash
Blados bends his knees before leaping forward, performing an overhead swing with his katana for 8% damage and strong, high-angled knockback, rolling over as he hits the ground and ending up standing after a lengthy recovery time. As Blados curls up and vaults, this makes his normally tall hurtbox much shorter, but far wider. This is just above average for a dash attack when it comes to lag but is pretty unique, most comparable to Link and Corrin's dash attacks for the attack's hitbox and the acrobatics performed by Blados. The katana strike has the expected great range, the size and shape is quite comparable to Link's but extends to roughly 1.3x the range and deals slightly more knockback too, making it a very strong dash attack. By the end of the move Blados will have technically moved just under a battlefield platform horizontally forward. He can't end up in midair however, just curling up on the edge like how attacks normally work in Smash.
The one exception where the rules do change is when Blados is vaulting through the air, as normally when grounded the upward-boosting momentum of the Zagan Portals does nothing. When midair in the move's animation, Blados will have these upward-facing portals push him into the air normally, allowing him to end the dash attack in midair in an unusual way. The end lag is greatly reduced as in the air Blados simply doesn't roll up and has a far shorter animation. This also lets Blados hit the move from a far more convenient location, closer to the top blast zone. The move deals high angled knockback so this makes it an even more potent KO move. At the same time Blados can just space the move so he rolls up next to a portal, pushing him back or forward on the ground for safety purposes, and the foe has to guess correctly or play conservatively to not get duped.
The teleport portals largely serve the same purpose when Blados as they cancel the dash attack into the Teleport Rush. The nature of the dash attack makes it a great starter to then finish with the Teleport Rush as Blados traverses a large stretch of the stage, then can appear somewhere else on a similar momentum boost to finish off the foe, or simply get around the stage fast. As the move reduces Blados' hurtbox in the vertical dimension, all the better to use it to get around the stage into a safe portal dodging attacks along the way.
Forward Tilt: Shuriken Assault
Blados quickly tosses a shuriken 0.6x the size of MegaMan’s Metal Blade forward travelling at Fox’s laser shot speed, dealing 4% and high hitstun to foes. This has low start and end lag and can be easily followed out of like a typical combo starter, only this has range. There is a limit of 3 shurikens at a time. The shuriken travels a little further than MegaMan’s ftilt and in the same manner Blados can keep tossing out shurikens as he walks forward. However also like MegaMan’s buster shots, the shurikens quickly stale but can be reactivated again by filling out the stale move queue list and stale a good deal slower than lemons do. This means it’s only an effective combo starter the first couple times it hits.
The shuriken is one of Blados’ quintessential projectiles due to the fact it can be angled up or down on top of the default forward. This will send the shuriken at a sharp diagonal. This is not useful to gimp due to just stealing hitstun, just refreshing the foe’s recovery. The shuriken will get a boost when it goes into a portal, making it travel to the full battlefield platform distance when its momentum is upped before dissipating and dealing a powerful 6% and decent knockback in the direction it was sent. Likewise when sent through a teleport portal the shuriken will travel at least half its normal distance if it wasn’t going to already, potentially refreshing it a little on the second leg of its journey.
The shuriken will become a part of the Shadow shield's orbit, but will go just under its normal full distance before it goes into the orbit. This nerfs its range considerably in one respect, but allows it new dimensions of range as it orbits around Blados. Depending on the angle used, the shuriken will end up further along in the Shadow Shield's orbit and is able to go all the way around to Blados' back foot when up angled, end up behind Blados when thrown at the default angle, or go from just below Blados to above at the lowest angle, giving a unique kind of all-around coverage option. These can still be tossed around if the Shadow Shield is dispelled in the usual way to send the shuriken off at a different angle depending on where it was on the orbit. Blados can create a temporary orbiting shield of shurikens in this way, though as he can only have up to 3, can't get too crazy.
Up Tilt: Crescent Slash
Blados slices his katana overhead in his fastest standard, dealing a low 5% damage in a wide arc similar to Ike's up smash. That low damage comes with low upward knockback, making it one of Blados' best combo starter moves. The good range and low end lag makes it the best defensive moves for Blados when foes are around him, especially at his front where it first comes out at frame 5, impressive for its range. This can be even greater improved by Blados being able to move around using his momentum portals or use his Shadow Shield to protect his back, where the move comes out a couple of frames later. The move is obviously a great juggler too given its massive aerial range. The other great thing about this move is against shields it's very safe so along with Psy Grenades and Blados' other offensive options, can keep the foe reeling to go for a shield break.
Down Tilt: Katana in the Stone
Blados uses both hands to grab the hilt of his katana, raises it into the air as it glows purple with dark energy then slams it back down into the ground, dealing 3% as it falls, then a hugely powerful 13% damage as it lands that KOs at a high angle for 100%. This naturally has a massive amount of end lag as Blados takes the katana out of the ground, and slow if not awfully slow start lag. The katana is a hitbox as it drops that always combos into the second hit and the area directly around the ground is a generously big hitbox. On top of dealing Darkness damage like many of Ganondorf's moves, the katana causes a small eruption of energy on either side of Blados. A small wave of dark energy rushes out as a small tidal wave a Kirby width in both directions, dealing 3% and weak knockback in the direction the wave travelled, largely just covering the move's end lag though at very low percents, won't even do that.
At a very close range the move has a sweetspot will not deal its powerful knockback and instead pitfall the foe into the stage. This pitfall is on the powerful side too, as powerful as DK's side special and more than enough to let Blados punish at any percent regardless of end lag. Needless to say, this is not an effect the foe is going to want see when Blados can casually land his smash attacks or even an up tilt now, or pepper the foe using kunai, Psy Leeches or any other attack. The attack does a devastating amount of shield stun when this sweetspot lands that will keep the foe from punishing the end lag, making it far more of a threat. This hitbox will spike foes at the ledge, but when the foe has ledge invulnerability requires a difficult two-frame and precise spacing/timing to do this, and if it whiffs Blados has to contend with a foe getting up off ledge for an easy punish.
The dark waves can be sent through the Zagan Portals like any other projectile, but also sped up by the momentum portals, and follow other projectiles in being boosted to the end of this platform-wide boost. This buffs the normally fairly situational use of the projectile to have a multi-purpose, redirect them to combo the foe using its weak knockback or going off stage to gimp recoveries. This is pretty difficult however given the move's slow start up. As the wave travels along the ground it ignores the Shadow Shield, itself a nice trait but means that he can time the move for when the Shadow Shield ends to double up his hitboxes when other projectile return to their old patterns.
GRAB GAME
Grab/Pummel: Terrorizing Grasp
Blados grabs forward in above-average range and average lag, he’s a very tall imposing guy so naturally has a good reach but isn’t the fastest grappler. The foe is then pulled in for a typically villainous grasp holding them by the scruff of the neck is physically possible. Blados will then knee them in the stomach for his pummel, an average speed pummel dealing 2%.
Forward Throw: Katana Shuffle
Blados pushes the foe away for 1% damage, then strikes, slashing the foe three times dealing 2% in a horizontal cut, then a 3% vertical hit and ending on a 4.5% diagonal slash, sending the foe at a diagonal angle. This is not a very powerful throw, spacing the foe away at low percents at an awkward angle to combo, and at higher percents only able to KO around 200%. The damage of the throw however makes up for these flaws as all together, it will deal 10.5%, a decent amount of damage. Each time that Blados strikes he and the foe move forward a Kirby width and when pushing the foe against the edge will end up as the best throw to put the foe off stage or merely to space the foe for stage control.
Blados will get a unique change out of his portals when he moves into them in the middle of his fthrow. Importantly each of these portal options give Blados very little end lag and easily enable a combo. Blados will ignore the portals entirely if forward is held during the throw animation, and even release it to pick and choose what hit is changed. Firstly the momentum portals will force Blados to finish the move on his current slash. For the first horizontal cut, this has Blados rush into the foe and stab them, pulling both Blados and the foe forward a battlefield platform width, dealing a far greater 6% and high knockback at an almost semi-spike/flat angle. This turns the fthrow into a powerful KO throw as this will KO foes at 150% and is the best option for off-stage too, given its great angle. On the downside, this does deal 3.5% less damage and can essentially make Blados give up his aggression on the foe by hitting them too far.
The second hit on a momentum portal has Blados perform a leap into the air as he swings his katana up, hitting the foe for 5% damage and doing straight, vertical knockback. This isn't nearly as powerful as the first hit's improved knockback, but still KOs as a respectable 165%. This is mostly useful because it leaves Blados in midair at the end of the move, at the same height as his first jump without technically using up any recovery options, and at low percents can easily lead into an aerial combo.
The final, diagonal slash has Blados rush through the foe instead, dealing 3 hits of 2% for an increased 6% overall, boosting the power of the throw to 12%. After rushing through the foe, they collapse into prone a Bowser width behind Blados, who turns to face them as he and the foe are left at frame neutral. The original portal used will end up just behind the foe, so while Blados doesn't have any particularly threatening tech chase options or grabs, he can absolutely abuse his momentum portal to attack the foe, then be pushed back to safety, setting the foe up for his aggression.
When Blados enters through a teleporter portal during the fthrow instead he will phase out and re-appear where he was, performing a kick delivered roughly to the foe's face for 5% damage and decent knockback at the Sakurai angle. This leaves Blados and the foe spaced well apart on the stage. This can be activated before any hit by holding forward and gives Blados a great degree of control over where the foe ends up on the stage compared to him, while pushing himself back, working as a great defensive option. Left until the last hit, this boosts the move to a powerful 11% too.
Back Throw: Worthless Trash!
Blados holds the foe higher into the air and laughs at their patheticness, creating an explosion of dark energy as he holds them by the head for 5% damage, then tosses them at the ground behind him for 7% damage, dealing 12% and an untechable powerful ground bounce. This is somewhat like Ganondorf's Flame Choke but as it throws the foe behind Blados and leaves him facing forward, and the foe in midair, has a lot less options unless Blados has very situational portals set up. The foe will be knocked at a diagonal once they bounce, making it another great move to lead into Blados' aerials. This will almost never KO given the ground bounce, only able to KO starting around 230%. This naturally makes it a good combo starter too and is a great choice when the foe is at a low percent.
As the foe is thrown they have super armour and the there is a decently long delay between when the foe is thrown and when the animation first starts, obviously always the same. This gives Blados a very direct timer to forcefully toss the foe into any projectile he'd gathered in his Shadow Shield, adding potentially tons of damage to the throw's output. This has no further effect on the throw but means that he can do insane damage to the foe and still combo them at the end, potentially making this do some incredible combined damage over that of even the fthrow. A great way to further build damage in this way is to use dsmash to make an asymmetrical orbit of projectiles then throwing the foe at the right time to hit multiple projectiles at once.
Down Throw: Firecracker
Blados takes out a firecracker, largely resembling a stick of dynamite that has an exaggerated fuse line, and of course ignites the fuse by flicking it against the foe because edge, dealing 4% damage. Blados then grabs the dynamite in his non-katana-holding hand, the hand glowing in dark energy, then perform an open palm strike similar to Ganondorf's jab that weakly pushes the foe away at the Sakurai angle, dealing another 3% damage. The firecracker is then stuck to a part of the foe's hitbox by a cloud of dark energy and can be heard as the fuse visibly burns away, and after 3 seconds will explode in a glorious Bowser-sized explosion for another 5% and weak upwards knockback. It's mostly a flashy effect, because it's a firecracker, so only has much use in FFA or team settings. The explosion only will KO at 250%, but is extremely powerful in the context of Blados' offensive game. The foe's only option is to shield the explosion, which will deal no shield push due to the upwards knockback, or dodge the explosion opening them up for punishment.
The firecracker is somewhat similar to MegaMan's side special Crash Bomber as the foe can pass it on to Blados by passing over him in the same way. However Blados can abuse this in two massive ways using his Shadow Shield. When the foe's firecracker goes over his Shadow Shield normally (this is unaffected during the initial throw animation) it will be picked up and treated like a projectile, exploding over the same time span as normal within the Shadow Shield's orbit. When Blados creates a Shadow Shield and has a firecracker on him already, he can simply perfect shield it and create another projectile to orbit the Shadow Shield, trading the firecracker for a long term bonus to his shield's orbit.
The other important interaction for the firecracker is it will always set off the Psy Grenade leech immediately after if its explosion hits it on the foe's hurtbox, and vice versa is also true. It's easier to explode the grenade through the firecracker due to its big hitbox, rather than the other way around. This can mean the foe takes far more shield stun as both explosions go off at the same time and if the foe dodges one, they'll likely get hit by the other afterwards. This can be used somewhat tactically by the foe if the situation is right to force the two to explode at once and just eat it on their shield but Blados can easily punish them or go for an outright shield break. At the same time Blados can actively have a Psy Grenade on his own shield or Shadow Shield to throw the foe off, trying to explode the foe's firecracker early simply by shielding, or getting close as his Shadow Shield extends outwards. The Psy Grenade itself is a massive detriment in general, sucking the foe's shield's health and making it a lot weaker as an option to just eat up the firecracker's damage.
Up Throw: Death Plunge
Blados slashes his katana and the foe up into the air dealing 3%, then plunges back down hitting the foe and his katana into the ground, dealing 10% and very strong mostly vertical knockback to KO at 170%, far stronger on stages that have platforms. Blados will jump up an incredible three Ganondorf heights before coming back down. This is the strongest basic throw for damage but does too much damage to lead into anything at low percents.
This is another throw like fthrow that is deeply affected by the Zagan Portals. When Blados goes into a momentum portal and isn't holding up, he will rush in that direction. The exact effect differs depending on what part of the move was currently happening. During the initial ascent and ending descent, Blados can't be sent up or down, but will move left or right depending on the direction the portal faced. This can push Blados past the edge of the stage to do a suicide with the foe, but does release the foe as soon as Blados goes past the initial vertical point where the grab started, merely sending the foe weakly downwards and releasing Blados at a slight frame advantage. This is still a very powerful gimp, and pretty much impossible to recover from for fringe cases like Little Mac.
At the peak of the Death Plunge, Blados performs an impromptu version of his Teleport Rush on the foe, kicking them in the portal's direction for 5 hits of 1% before sending them weakly in that direction for knockback. This is a lot like Bayonetta's "ladder" aerials and can KO foes off the top if Blados pulls them far enough, and this can push foes another battlefield platform width in a given direction. This can be an intelligent tactic along with placing high portals, both for vertical KO potential and to be able to have two momentum portals on stage at the same time, with one high and one low on the stage. Still, when not used to KO, this is largely worse than the normal uthrow, other than spacing the foe where Blados wants and does leave him in midair like in his fthrow.
Blados and the foe will both disappear if they go over a teleporter portal during any part of the Death Plunge, re-appearing at the other side. Blados no longer is striking the foe with his katana and instead has grabbed the foe by the head and travelling in the portal's direction, blasting the foe in the face for 6.6% damage, hitting them back past the portal (they can't go through it alone) and pushing him away a small amount. This can lead to some very interesting set ups as Blados can go in any direction. Hitting the ground or a wall, Blados instead slams the foe into the ground like the aerial Flame Choke, dealing 8% and high upwards knockback to KO at 165%. This is itself similar to the Flame Wave custom version of Flame Choke and if possible, one of Blados' strongest KO throw options.
AERIALS
Neutral Aerial: Pinwheel Spin
Blados spins, curling up his body into a circular hitbox and rotates his katana around in a single 360 degree spin, making both the katana and the rest of Blados' body into hitboxes that deal 7% and 5% respectively. The katana is a constant hitbox that deals good but not KO worthy radial knockback, while the body is a typical sex kick dealing radial knockback that decays to deal 3% over the last half of the move's duration. When the foe is positioned right, it's possible to combo the two hits by hitting them with the body first them the katana right after to deal a great 12%, though is pretty difficult. This has low end lag and moderately good landing lag, but a long duration as a quasi sex kick. As Blados does curl up for the move, it really helps to reduce down his hurtbox.
This is a very useful move just for what it is, a long-lasting sex kick that has a powerful and long ranged sweetspot, extending as far as Link's uair in any direction it's facing. The move can space, vertically KO or be a devastating spike if managed to land at the right time but among the hardest to time right. The weaker body hitbox can help to simply get the foe off Blados, but the move isn't fast enough to combo into much at all. A Shadow Shield around Blados can however combo off of the body direct, hitting the foe into projectiles on the further away orbit, and the reverse is true too if the foe gets caught between Blados and his projectiles.
Blados goes over a momentum portal Blados will be shot in the portal's direction at the normal speed boost. When Blados hits a solid object or a wall/the ground, he will ricochet off it at an adjacent angle like a pinball. This can extend the move slightly if performed near the end, as it ends as soonest once Blados travels a small distance off that wall, and can let Blados hit the foe twice far easier due to its high speed as it refreshes the hitbox. This is also very powerful against shielding foes if Blados can catch them in shield, launch himself into the ground and then launch off it into the air, hitting twice.
When the two teleporter portals are positioned next to each other, Blados can easily hit the foe using the nair to then hit them again with Teleport Rush afterwards, due to the radial knockback. This doesn't matter as much for the move's lag, as it comes out and ends fairly fast, but does cut away at the move's lengthy sex kick duration. Blados can land an early hit then go into a teleporter, cancelling out the rest of the move to use Teleport Rush as a combo. When Blados can redirect his portal, he can make use of the move's radial knockback, reliably being able to get to the foe regardless of the knockback angle. This can be very powerful when Blados' player is competent at guessing the foe's DI, likewise if he hits the foe against the ground and reads their reaction.
Forward Aerial: Rapid Kicks
In a change of pace for Blados, he uses his long legs to rapidly kick forwards, dealing rapid hits of 2% that quickly decay and pull the foe down as Blados falls. This is very similar to Fox's fair, only it has slightly higher start lag and reaches a little further due to Blados' height difference/longer legs. This makes it more dangerous too as Blados' hurtbox is extended as his legs are and makes himself a larger horizontal target than usual, as he's not using a disjointed sword for once. Blados falls at his normal fall speed, while he's no Fox (the fastest faller) he falls the same rate as Bayonetta, so this is still a powerful surprise KO move in the right situation off-stage especially against foes that have weak recoveries.
Blados can easily combo this into his projectiles when the foe is dragged along in the way of his Shadow Shield orbit. Depending on the projectile this can help just keep the foe in the combo or try for a KO outright. This will make the move safer in some situations too if the foe falls out of the kicks but then into a projectile, or vice versa can be hit back into the kicks when Blados sets up for it correctly. In general this makes this a shockingly versatile tool alongside Blados' teleporter portals to appear over a foe then drag them down and punish into his projectiles, as one of Blados' few multihits.
The move works wonders under the effects of either portal. The momentum portal can help both entering and entering; Blados can use the fact this move shifts his hurtbox forward (extending his long legs) to reach a further away portal as he attacks the foe at the same time. This can then carry the foe along for the ride, enabling gimp attempts that otherwise wouldn’t have succeeded. This is a roundabout way of making the foe “take the portal” alongside Blados in a way that’d usually be impossible. The teleporter portal likewise can let Blados reach a portal for example close to the foe, even one the foe is being careful to not let Blados reach, then Blados hits the foe away and his leg hurtbox falls into the portal teleporting him to safety, or to hit the foe using Teleport Rush. A simple lanky leg can go a long way apparently.
Up Aerial: Quick Flipkick
True to its name Blados performs a quick flipkick dealing 6% damage and a decent pop of knockback, compared to Fox this comes out a little faster and is a little weaker, but has a greater range too due to the reach of Blados’ legs and a fractionally longer end lag. The landing lag is on the short side. Blados can get around the stage faster than most and lining up for a vertical KO is not that hard, this is one of his fastest moves period and is an essential part oddf Blados’ defensive game too. When he can use the momentum portals, the usage of a high coverage move such as a flip kick is expanded too. The flip kick covers a generous semi-circle above Blados and when speeding around can surprise foes at a melee range and act as a good way to enter into an offensive. The low landing lag would usually be useless on such a move but again out of a portal this can potentially cross up a foe when Blados is sent horizontally.
This move is like the fair in that it can help extend Blados’ hurtbox to hit his own portals and hit into his Shadow Shield. The big difference is that it hits on both sides basically doubling up its usefulness, but doesn’t extend quite as far. In any case this can be a good mindgame when Blados plays well enough he can space his flip kick closely enough he barely grazes or misses a portal to then punish the foe who DIs in a certain direction. The ever present threat of this small spacing movement gives a surprising amount of pressure to Blados so long as he’s in reach of a portal, giving an extra kick to how far he can extend his hurtbox either way.
Back Aerial: Slash Back
Blados performs a simple backwards slash, highly resembling Marth’s bair, this deals 5% and low knockback at a marginally upward angle keeping it from being a semi spike. This is the other major combo move for Blados outside of his utilt as it deals little knockback and comes out very fast. This turns Blados around which is crucially important for numerous reasons, including his combos. He can then go for a fair to trap the foe as he plummets for a suicide,. For one this means he can enter portals at his leisure not having to care about his facing or use his side special to turn around, the move is pretty fast so isn’t too much of an issue to throw out. It also lets Blados turn around as he’s being pushed by his portals so he can cross up a foe and attack them as he brushes past. On top of those things it lets him turn around his Shadow Shield casually in midair, which as already established will mirror his projectiles. This can easily be done on ground through just turning around or ftilt, but bair is fast enough this can effectively surprise foes who weren’t paying close attention to the Shadow Shield movement.
Down Aerial: Digging Spade
Blados quickly extends his legs together, diving at an acute diagonal angle mostly downwards, dealing 9% and low down/forward knockback. This has short end lag in the air. Blados travels just above his fall speed as he falls making it roughly the same speed downward, but gives himself a little horizontal movement too. Blados will be rebounded a small distance, roughly half the height of his second jump upwards if he lands the move, and the move has above average landing lag. This is a decent KO move off stage… except for the fact Blados goes at a slight diagonal so can’t hit foes directly beneath him and travels in a straight line making it far harder to gimp opponents. This means Blados can only gimp with it if he sets up for a foe in front of him off stage and even then, the kick itself is aimed in front of him, requiring careful spacing and timing from Blados. The main claim to fame is that despite the type of aerial it is this is one of his fastest aerials and fastest moves period like his uair and naturally has great utility due to its mobility.
This move is a really useful tool for Blados when being pushed around the stage and is a great get-out of his momentum, letting him bridge a vertical drop between his horizontal movement. Vice versa works too, dropping into a portal and being shot across the stage, then down aerial used again to zig-zag. This can make it very tricky to chase Blados as he falls to the stage. The stretched out leg is as good as the fair for landing on the portals on purpose and this move has the best horizontal movement of any aerial letting Blados activate his portal when he’s a good distance away. When he can simply turn around using bair too, he can always go in the reverse to surprise foes expecting him to fall one side, making his ability to return to the stage largely unmatched despite a high fall speed (though still not good from low in the air due to his fall speed/size/being combo food).
Due to the Shadow Shield and portals this move can also be pretty relentless when Blados has a nearby portal as he can not only keep trying for consecutive dairs at a close range, he can potentially just DI away into a portal to go for a cross up, be shot away or reset the neutral completely. As this is all happening within the confides of his dair the foe will find this hard to approach effectively when they’re in hitstun or ground bouncing/teching off the ground at the same time. The Shadow Shield just makes it even harder for the foe as any projectiles can be used to fake out and hit the foe instead, enough on there making it even safe on shield to land right next to the foe on the ground then lay into them. Suffice to say, all very strong in the context of the up special for the above reasons as it lets Blados position himself a multitude of places above to then swoop down using dair and/or bair on top of the portals.
FINAL SMASH
Spade & Heart
Blados laughs in his usual baritone manner as he performs a massive slash forward, the same hitbox but 3x the range of Marth’s fsmash, launching the foe above the stage for 15% damage. Blados poises himself for a moment snapping his finger, summoning his partner in crime, Chalis to teleport in at his side. They give a knowing nod to each other before they both disappear in a teleportation flash.
The action now cuts to the foe who has been hit so hard that they re-appeared far above the stage, illuminated only by the eclipsed moon from Dark Dawn. In a flash Blados and Chalis appear on opposite sides of the foe. Both are suspended in midair as they chisel away at the foe, Blados slashing away and Chalis slicing with her claws. Over the course of a few seconds they deal a collective 13 hits each for 1%, or 26% damage. Blados deals the final hit, performing a downwards slash that sends the foe tumbling down to the stage for an extremely high knockback spike that can’t be tech’d. This should reliably KO at 30% or higher.
In a match where Chalis is present Blados instead performs a different final smash. He performs the same initial slash, but instead of snapping his fingers he creates a massive Zagan Portal after the foe is launched. He puts away his katana and holds both hands behind his back to build up energy, then throws them forwards releasing a huge amount of pent up energy! When the camera cuts to the foe it shows a portal open up below them as the projectile, an ominously giant dark orb careening towards the hapless victim, hitting them to deal 13% and extremely high upwards knockback that will KO at 90%.
PLAYSTYLE
Aggression by Proxy
On the surface Blados might seem to be another portal user in the annals of Make Your Move, in fact he has a few small but extremely important changes that make for a radically different portal playstyle. These are two traits of the portals: Blados himself can solely go through the portals, and Blados can redirect what way he's shot out of redirected by the portal on contact. The fact foes can't use the portals means they can't abuse the portals or be combo'd out of them and all that stuff normally seen in a portal set, however it goes beyond that. When the foe can't interact with a portal it gives Blados a massive advantage once it's up, Blados' entire playstyle can change depending on its position. The other point about Blados redirecting the portal is most important of all. Simply being able to change how he exits and what way he's facing means the portal is more suited to melee combat than ever before. This gives Blados a huge amount of mix ups and adds a whole other dimension to the way portals are used aggressively, expanding them beyond purely a camping playstyle.
Blados can still use the portals to camp foes and has a few options for that, primarily this is achieved through his Shadow Shield the other lynchpin of Blados' playstyle. The Shadow Shield gives Blados a constant ammo bank of projectiles given enough time. Time is of thee essence however for Blados and that is why another key detail matters, that Blados can use his Shadow Shield to buff his shield and perfect shield it to gain a projectile from the foe. This lets Blados gather projectile on the shield without needing to do any set up aside from putting it up in the first place, which is pretty fast. This is important because Blados doesn't have the best frame data and would be floundering if not for these built-in advantages. His fastest moves are largely aerials, a projectile ftilt and a decent grab. These alone as his faster moves makes for a slow and Ganondorf-like character... though that disjointed massive katana certainly helps at a mid-range, it's surely not enough all on its own.
Playing against a foe smartly is bolstered further in Blados' multitude of recovery options and his Punish move. Punish is far more useful in an environment where Blados has got a portal or two up, but just on its own the effect it has on Shadow Shield is also very important. Just having the Shadow Shield travel to where Blados is after that opens up a massively useful trap-like playstyle. All of a sudden Blados can put the foe on the back foot despite his inherent slowness. Not as if the move is a slouch either, Blados can put the pressure on merely by activating the weaker version which is much safer to get the foe off his back. This gives him a pretty great recovery too as he can use the same trick to recover in surprising ways through a combination of Teleport and Punish, ignoring the ways portals factor into his playstyle.
As Blados' set of specials is already stuffed, his smashes are specials lite in a sense but also serve a purpose in his core aggressive playstyle. The fsmash is a lot like Punish only far high risk/high reward, his up smash is one of his best projectiles and the down smash is essentially another layer on top of his already complex Shadow Shield mechanic to ensure it's never too predictable. The Psy Grenades and Blados' aggressive anti-shield playstyle can potentially cover for many of his natural weaknesses once he has the foe in a bad way, pushing against their shield and other defensives using his projectiles to hit them if they try and dodge or roll behind. Blados is free to try and get up a portal or shield or use projectiles aggressively, he's pretty free to choose what route to take here, and only needs something like a jab to get a fantastic start. A quicker move like uair or fair will do it too of course, but early game won't be all he needs. The typical portal projectile manipulation you'd expect is all there, but is really icing on the cake for Blados to add a necessary safety net.
If you want a typical portal abuser, Blados has that in spades! He's got the shurikens, the kunai, the Psy Grenade, his perfect Shadow Shield projectiles. That's plenty already, not counting if the foe has anything to add to the mix, but it's quite a risk. As it should be, in previous sets Blados could rely on putting the foe through a portal maybe, or more casually set them up without the limits the Zagan Portals have in terms of the quantity/range limit. A limitation here however is why it's okay for Blados to be given free reign to take his portal whatever way he chooses and creates a uniquely melee-focused, aggressive portal playstyle that is fairly unique. Like the character, Blados' set has distinct, obvious flaws but has great strengths to compensate and playing as a normal character he's still not the worst you could find. Outside of the balance his gimmicks are ridiculously aggressive and ludicrously risky when used to brute force foes, though unlike a character like Ganondorf Blados does have a few advantages, for example his huge katana and projectiles that expand his playstyle beyond merely a guessing game or read machine. Still, that core is largely present too, ultimately Blados should be satisfying to play to overcome the challenges of poor frame data and his capability to push his advantage very far in a short frame of time, even if that advantage is a fleeting one.
Chalis is an antagonist from Dark Dawn, the third Golden Sun. Chalis and Blados both have unique voice clips when they attack, in Chalis' case this is a patronizing giggle after attacking her victim. Her partner-in-crime, Blados, accompanies her in every scene they appear. Chalis uses claws attached to the end of her hands as weapons. Chalis and Blados are always teamed up, their goal is to manipulate Matthew and his party. And as you’d expect they try to defeat the party many times. They are not particularly competent at fighting, losing all these boss fights, but do succeed in their manipulation to get Matthew and his party to go along with their plan. Their fairly elaborate plan is by comparison very high on the competency level by Golden Sun standards. That plan being the Dark Dawn in the title of the game, a permanent eclipse that causes half the world to go insane and turn into monsters. The pair comes very close to winning and becoming world rulers controlling this army of beasts.
The final boss of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is an eclipse fusion of Chalis and Blados into a monster named Chaos Chimera. He uses the same items and some new attacks from Chalis, combining Blados' sword and Chalis' claws to use as part of his body. The Chaos Chimera is defeated and destroyed, so it is likely Chalis and Blados were killed, but this is unconfirmed. You have to admire both of their dedication and they happily go down in flames together once their plan finally does fail. Blados is the one character who outright states he hates Alex who is seen in a scant few scenes alongside the pair, though Chalis is less sceptical for no real reason. As the third member of their group, Alex barely interacts with the other two and largely just shows up to gloat at the protagonists. In the end Alex betrays the trio for the greater good so Blados was right all along.
Elements largely are an arbitrary mechanic in the Golden Sun series but do tend to be emblematic. It is unconfirmed what element applies to Chalis, but it can be presumed her element is Fire. This is because Blados is weak to Fire and Chalis has the opposite weakness to Water.
Chalis is an antagonist along with her partner Blados in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. The two together are commanders from a secretive military nation named Tuaparang, and she encounters Matthew at several points in the game.
Heart, her Japanese name, likely refers to the playing card suit of the same name. This is supported by the heart symbol that adorns her gown. Her English name refers to the equivalent suit of cups or chalices in the Minor Arcana of tarot.
STATISTICS
Size: Lucina Weight: Corrin (98 units/Middleweight) Ground Speed: Sheik (Very Fast) Air Speed: Shulk (Average) Fall Speed: Lucina (Average)
Chalis is a largely unremarkable character from a statistical point of view outside of her great walk and dash speed. Her walk and dash are both among the fastest in the game (Sheik is 8th for dash speed in Smash 4) and she isn't as big as her counterpart Blados as her idle stance is pretty "thin" by comparison, widening only when she dashes. She has great traction and good jumps, resembling Zelda's poised jump animations. The biggest downfall for Chalis is easily when she's airborne as she's cursed with both only an average air speed and an average fall speed. The air speed could be worse, but not being a fast faller or especially floaty means that Chalis has problems making it back to stage with her underwhelming aerial speed and as she's not a true floaty, doesn't get a great amount of air time. All KO percents are on a midweight at the centre of Final Destination.
SPECIALS
Neutral Special: Illusion Perfume
Chalis holds a bottle in her hand and crushes it as she cackles loudly, causing a pale blue cloud of perfume as tall as she is to be released half a battlefield platform to her left and right. This has low end lag, but has some moderate start lag. Any foe hits by the cloud of perfume will be hit for 1% and small but notable hitstun and swarmed by a visual effect of hearts giving them a status effect where they're surrounded by a pink haze and small hearts hovering around the foe for the next 10 seconds. The perfume hitbox will go through shields but the foe can potentially dodge either by being very precise with a spot/air dodge, or by rolling towards Chalis as the perfume is released, or past the edge of the perfume. Any roll that doesn't go beyond the perfume's range away from Chalis will not escape the effect. This effect won't stack but can be refreshed.
The status effect will cause the foe to take 0.5% damage once every second passively with no knockback, after 10 seconds and the original 1% damage this deals a total of 6% damage. However for the duration that any foe is under the effect, Chalis is surrounded in a similar effect of upside down hearts as a visual. For every additional Bowser width the foe is away from Chalis, they take another 0.5% per second, maxing out at 3 Bowser widths that causes 2% a second. This deals no knockback but can end up doing up to 20%, but as Chalis has to be close to the foe to land the move, this is unlikely to be too relevant.
Once the foe is the maximum 3 Bowser widths away, the hearts surrounding them stab as purely a visual indicating they have fully become Deluded. At the same time Chalis' own small hearts effect glows and enlarges for the duration of the effect. This means the foe is now locked into that strongest damage over time effect taking 2% a second for the rest of the duration of their status effect, even allowing it to be refreshed for massive damage. The foe can dispel the effect altogether however at any time simply by attacking Chalis with an attack that deals 10% or higher damage. That largely isn't going to be any remotely fast move, but isn't that hard to achieve. This will immediately end the effect in any form as the hearts fade out of existence. Besides the damage there are a lot of other benefits to a Deluded foe that will encourage the foe to approach and attack to end the effect.
Side Special: Haures Claws
Chalis holds both her arms behind her head, her claws glowing dark with energy, then slashes away horizontally for 4% damage in a fast but weak attack knockback-wise, however Chalis can continue the side special by pressing B again to advance forward and strike the foe in a horizontal strike for 3% damage, then a last time for 6% damage in a diagonal strike. The last hit does considerably more knockback, as much as Dedede's jab finisher so is a decent KO move on non-heavies. These hits are mostly useful as a replacement jab in functionality as they're fast and work as a more predictable Dancing Blade.
Chalis can charge as long as a smash attack the first hit of the Haures Claws, this sends out a white, translucent projectile in the shape of three slashing claws forward as she strikes, producing one for each strike she manages to get out. These projectiles deal 3% damage, high hitstun and decent knockback to KO at around 120%. The high hitstun largely allows to combo all of them together if Chalis does all three at once, as the last one will have decidedly lower knockback, but at close range or high enough percent Chalis can try to combo out of the first two projectiles with her own melee attacks. These projectiles are each roughly 2/5ths the size of Cloud's Blade Beam and a similar shape, lined up next to each other this means they're barely bigger than that projectile. These projectiles are created at the same vertical area as Chalis' claws are located and will be launched at Fox's laser speed - very fast. They travel a battlefield platform or up to 2x that at max charge. Chalis can choose to instead use the horizontal or vertical strike first, and then again choose to do whichever strike she wants when the move is charged, potentially creating three of the same. This won't shoot the projectiles straight up however, instead shooting them diagonally and at a harsher diagonal.
The Haures Claws become a sweetspot as they finish their run on stage, exploding into purple darkness as they dissipate, now dealing 7-15% depending on charge in that area. This can KO now from 70% at max charge or 90% at minimum charge, buffing the power of the projectiles tremendously, but will never combo into the others. This effectively grants Chalis far more stage pressure and control at those ranges as if the foe lets her charge Haures Claw she can create these powerful hitboxes at that distance, and if they shield the attacks they will be pushed back further if Chalis elects to do the follow up hits. On the other hand Chalis can whiff and then needlessly send more projectiles, opening herself up for punishment. As Chalis can aim the projectiles forward, diagonally or at a harsh diagonal, this can be an all-purpose defensive tool to pressure foes out of obvious approaches, especially nice for throwing upward against foes expecting her Illusion Perfume. Both version of the move's maximum range play into Chalis' Deluded status effect as the foe will still be within range to take damage, but can then be hit more than far enough by the sweetspot to max out the Damage Over Time.
When the foe is still Deluded and Chalis charges the move, she flashes for a moment signifying the player can press B after charge is over, this instead causes Chalis to launch a single claw forward in a stabbing motion for 8% and strong semi spike knockback. This has the same properties as the other Haures Claws hits, but will also send out a projectile like the other hits too due to the charge. This also works just like the others, except it's shot at where the Deluded foe is when the projectile was launched, weakly homes in on the foe, and if it does hit them, will force them into a grab as an ethereal claw crushes them. If successful Chalis will finish by cackling at the foe, forcefully crunching her own fist, causing the foe to be crushed like Master Hand's one attack for 15% and high upward knockback to KO at 95%. The projectile claw is now a grab hitbox and there is a short-lived tell of the stab, but is hard to predict for foes and works wonders to discourage foes simply shielding the projectiles all together.
Up Special: Teleport
Chalis spins in place and is surrounded by a bright aura at her feet, disappearing and re-appearing a set distance away in a chosen direction, this mirrors Zelda's up special but only goes 2/3rds as far. The move is quite different however as Chalis re-appears with only a weak hitbox dealing 5% and radial knockback, enough to be more than safe on hit, but will never KO like Zelda's version. The plus side is that Chalis has far less end lag on the move, especially in the air and can use it twice in an air trip before entering a free fall equal to her fall speed. This means Chalis has a very nice recovery and can do unorthodox patterns in the air to be less predictable. The move does have far worse landing lag however making it less suited to ground combat. In the context of her Deluded foes, this makes it easy to surprise them by teleporting up to their face when they're about to approach, batting them away and restart the process. Like her Haures Claws this is easy to punish, and especially bad for Chalis when it's shielded.
Where Chalis re-appears and first disappeared, she leaves behind a thin veil of bright light on both ends of her teleport. The light then coalesces into a plane of glass this creates a portal, one on each end of where Chalis teleported. This is far easier to do by teleporting in place, creating a portal behind Chalis with far less lag than the normal recovery, though only 1.2x battlefield platform widths away. The portal is the height of Chalis and lasts for another 20 seconds. This portal will send either Chalis or the foe to the other side when entered from a horizontal angle, but ignore anyone who tries to enter is at a vertical. This means anything travelling at over 45 degrees diagonally up or down. As Chalis re-appears, a direction can be pressed to instead have the portal facing another direction, and this affects the first portal too so they're both facing the same direction. The character will be immediately teleported after only a couple frames of lag to the other side, and this will close the portal, only being able to be used once. Characters will finish moves, even grounded ones as they re-appear in the air, which can be abused to gimp characters who recovery sideways and go into helpless, though is highly predictable. There can only be two at a time linked to each other, having a slightly different tint for each different Chalis in the match. When a character enters a portal, they will appear out of the opposite side of the other, so someone entering the left side of portal A will appear out of portal B on the right side, and vice versa is true. The portal will only open up once Chalis has left the bright light to linger for 3 seconds preventing any cheap gimp KO or the like. The portal is very generous about size, allowing characters far taller than Chalis to go through, though is primarily for Chalis to use.
Any projectiles can go through the portal and not use it up, and naturally Chalis can use the portal as a simple recovery herself, but given how it’s created is unlikely to be all that useful in that scenario. As far as projectiles, they do have to go through the portal horizontally too or are banned, this largely doesn’t affect the Haures Claws and has a massive effect on their sweetspot. Now that they can be teleported, their long distance requirement can be subverted by Chalis to whatever use she wants, summoning them to hit the foe from behind, or simply going even further to hit the foe far, far off stage with the sweetspot, or even hitting the foe above Chalis so long as they’re at a diagonal. As these are horizontal portals, this is limited to hitting foes vertically. This doesn’t stop her special grab either, that goes through the portals too and lets her grab foes from anywhere on stage she can make a portal, making it far more effective in the air, where its knockback is devastating at great heights.
The most straightforward strategy for using the portals with Illusion Perfume is to land the perfume on the foe, create a portal the requisite 3 Bowser widths away from Chalis (before or after landing the perfume) then throw the foe through the portal. The foe will immediately be dealt the most severe DOT and Delusional status effect on the spot, and as the portal dissipates, won’t be able to get back to hit Chalis as easily. Though the portals aren’t that far apart – only two can be active at a time from one Teleport – Chalis can simply grab and throw a foe through a portal, or use another move to hit the foe into the portal and cause them to dissipate. Or even simpler, Chalis can simply play for stage control and use the portal herself to create the same distance. The foe’s only real answer to this is to pressure Chalis into using her up special and create new irrelevant portals that don’t as directly help her playstyle.
Chalis' Haures Claws ignore the portals when used at melee range, but when the move is used when overlapping the portals, Chalis will send the Claw and at the back of the claw will create a hook attaching the end of the Claw and the portal. The portal will be tugged along, and slows the speed of the Haures Claw by half, doubling its duration on stage. The portal will still function while being dragged along, creating a moving portal. As the Claw can travel various distances, this can pull a portal a short or decently long way forward, and the claw retains its powerful sweetspot. The most important attribute this changes is that while in motion, a portal will no longer disappear upon teleporting a character once, only doing so once it has stopped moving entirely. At the start of the move, Chalis can angle the hook to toss it into the air or the ground, immediately having the hook hit the ground or take a moment to do so, once the hook is embedded in the ground it will cause the portal to abruptly stop and start travelling in the opposite direction, stopping at the part of the stage it was created. The hook is the size of a Pokeball and can be destroyed with 20HP to end the effect at any time. The advent of the moving portal means that Chalis can simply stay in place once teleported and be brought back to the location of the first, without having to take nearly as much risk. On the other hand, the constant pushing forward portal can act as an aggressive pressure tool too, as the foe can be teleported off stage from a much further distance than normal.
Down Special: Scornful Caress
Chalis squats slightly and disappears, re-appearing in place or a small distance forward or back while slashing towards the screen, as if she disappeared into the background. Chalis’ claws have decent reach and deal 7% and strong slightly diagonal knockback up and away, Chalis’ body is also a hitbox that deals 4% and weak radial knockback. As Chalis disappears she has intangibility for 3 frames, letting the move act as a counter type. Chalis has low end lag, but the move does have a decent bit of start up. As she re-appears in place when no direction is pressed, this doesn’t move Chalis at all, and can even let a foe move in first before being hit. The move can naturally be used into Chalis’ portals easily as she simply moves forward or back into the portal, then re-appears on the other side of the portal without the foe being able to tell what direction was chosen.
The move becomes far more dangerous for foes when they are Deluded as like the Haures Claws, the move gains a new usage as long as a foe has the status effect active. Chalis can "charge" the move - actually only taking twenty frames to do so - then will disappear as she laughs and the foe is covered in more hearts than usual. Chalis will then appear instead a Bowser width away from the foe to the left or right of the foe, defaulting to behind the foe, and uses a more powerful slash for 12% that will KO from 90% in a semi spike, a great gimp off-stage. Chalis is limited to not being able to re-appear below or above the foe even if they’re airborne, so a foe can trigger fast fall for a little safety. The more obvious, but risky way for the foe to react is to throw out a move in a direction, hoping it lands in the correct direction, or to simply shield the attack on the ground. Off stage just throwing an attack out in front like a fair is the safest option to prevent an outright gimp but can ruin a recovery anyway. This helps to close the distance on the foe wherever they are and doubling as an infinite recovery as long as the foe is Deluded.
The attack has a decent amount of end lag but can be used in quick succession, having the same start up but cancelling the end lag into itself like side special does. This lets Chalis continuously perform a sort of tech chase so long as the foe is Deluded and the foe doesn’t try to shield or get out of the way by jumping, fast falling or simply hitting Chalis to stop the effect. At the same time Chalis can use her portals to chase the foe with the move, or put the foe far away enough she can out camp them herself. This combined with Haures Claws can create very powerful combos of projectiles and melee onslaught that is hard to predict.
If the foe has become Deluded and is within a battlefield platform width of a portal, Chalis can hold the input for 10 frames to perform a more powerful variant, giggling as she disappears holding her claw. Upon re-appearing out of the portal nearest to the foe, she drills forward similarly to Corrin's dash attack, dealing 2 hits of 2% and a final 6% hit for strong radial knockback in the opposite direction. This can KO from 105%. This deals considerable shield stun. It's easy to time this too so that Chalis travels the battlefield platform distance to be in touching distance of her other portal, to disappear yet again and lock the avenue to chase her down as well. This effectively gives 3 options for Chalis when the foe is deluded besides just attacking from either side. As the portals can move too, this means the angle of attack can drastically change in a matter of seconds to keep the foe on their toes.
Shield Special: Shadow Shield
Chalis performs a hand gesture over 30 frames that summons magic energy to encircle her in a shield-like effect, cancelling her out of shield at the same time. Chalis can bring up her shield again cancelling the effect, they can’t co-exist. The Shadow Shield provides a few defensive buffs, giving Chalis a Tough Guy-like super armour against attacks that deal 4% or less and ups her weight by 10 units taking her to match Samus. All these effects only last for 7 seconds however even if Chalis does manage to not shield all that time.
The Shadow Shield has a more significant effect when Chalis performs a melee attack under its effects. Chalis’ attack will translate into a weak disjointed shadow of Chalis’ attack is shot out on the same side the attack was performed as she performs the move. This only occurs at the initial hitbox creation, not persisting for multihits or sex kicks. This shadow largely doesn't resemble the original attack, becoming a distorted abstract claw in the shape of the attack's hitbox. This effectively expands the range of all her melee moves, but these are weakened greatly. When Chalis performs an attack that hits her Shadow Shield, orbiting around just beyond her hurtbox, it will cause an echo of Chalis’ attack to perform the same attack 1.1x beyond the range of the attack, for only 0.6x the damage and knockback. This occurs at the same time that Chalis’ attack is performed. This only works for melee moves and has no effect on Chalis’ grab.
Chalis can alter the shield in a Shield Distortion by shield-tilting – done with a normal shield by tilting a direction when putting up a normal shield – as she creates the Shadow Shield with shield special. This takes another good 30 frames minimum to perform before it clicks into place giving a dark energy burst signifying it’s set and done. Chalis will distort the Shadow Shield’s orbit, making it orbit further to the direction that was pressed, for example pressing down-forward will make it orbit closer to the bottom right side of Chalis’ hurtbox. Melee moves are still turned into echoes of themselves, but instead of being in front of where the hitbox usually appears, they are pulled in the direction of this distortion. This now turns the already abstract claw into a more of a single stabbing and shadowy dagger in appearance. For example a slash forwards when the shield is distorted like this will now be angled down and forwards instead, completely changing the nature of the hitbox as the knockback angle is changed.
The angle isn’t all that’s changed however, depending on how far the move was tilted, tilted or smashed, and the hitbox will be pushed farther in that direction and become stronger too. So a basic forward slash will have a shadowy echo appear slashing down-forward 1.3 as far and will now deal up to 1.0x the damage and knockback of the attack at the same time. This is at the cost of the hitbox being very small, now only hitting right by the foe’s feet. After distorting the angle, Chalis can casually spot/air dodge and press a direction, quickly pointing her hand in that direction to distort that area instead. No matter how she controls her Shadow Shield, it will never affect a move's normal hitbox.
Chalis can do this to even be redirected above or behind her, hitting two places at once with her melee strikes. Attacks that create projectiles but also have a melee element have the same hitbox happen, but not the projectile and Chalis’ grab is unaffected. This effectively lets Chalis hit two places at once through her Shadow Shield, even better when she can use the lower knockback to turn a move into a combo starter. The distortion will also be refreshed so long as Shadow Shield is, so Chalis doesn’t have to go to the trouble of summoning it again.
SMASHES
Forward Smash: Dark Blow
Chalis holds back her arm for charge then rushes forward half a battlefield platform and uppercuts with her right claw, dealing 11-15% damage and decent-high knockback to KO at 100% at max charge. This technically has low start and end lag but a long-ish duration as Chalis doesn't stop if she meets a foe in the middle, pulling them along or being interrupted. As Chalis uppercuts she creates a purple shockwave in front of her that increases in size and strength with charge, beginning at the size of Kirby and dealing 5% at no charge, only dealing minor knockback, but growing to Bowser's size to deal up to 12% at max charge and able to KO at 110%. The knockback is slightly weaker than her melee hitbox, but has a massive range and while the regular melee hitbox deals knockback at a weakly diagonal horizontal angle, this knockback is almost totally vertical, making it the preferred hitbox in many scenarios. This further encourages Chalis to intelligently space the move against opponents. The melee and shockwave will almost never combo.
Chalis can angle the fsmash up or down like most fsmashes to instead perform a different version of the move. Angling up will make Chalis stop short, rushing only half the normal distance, and perform a more powerful looking uppercut as she puts her whole body into the attack. This gives greater melee range and deals a higher 13-18% damage and can KO from 90% mostly due to a now almost vertical knockback angle. This has higher end lag, but takes less time than the normal fsmash due to rushing only half the distance. On top of the melee hitbox changing, the shockwave changed to now be 1.5x as tall, but 0.75x as wide, trading width for height. The knockback is reduced slightly though to KO at 120%. This effectively swaps the melee hitbox's start up speed and strength for a weaker shockwave. The down angled version is very similar to the up angled version only reversing the changed attributes. Chalis rushes forward 0.75x a battlefield platform forward and punches the ground, this deals 12-16% and good knockback, KOing at 80% max charge but greatly reduces its range. The shockwave is even weaker than normal able to KO from 140%, but is stretching out to be 1.3x the width of Bowser, at the cost of only being 0.6x as tall.
The shockwave can pass over the portals Chalis can create if she stops just in front of them, or she can pass through entirely herself if she touches the portals, giving new purpose to her ability to alter how far exactly she rushes forward. This can be extremely powerful on a moving portal, jumping through it to deliver a shockwave to the other side, then letting it continue forward to sucker Chalis back where she was, and likewise the opposite works. Chalis can play possum and dare the foe to defensively wait out her fsmash while the portal is etching closer, potentially dropping them right in the danger zone. By picking the right distance, she can check rolls, dodges and even safely hit a foe's shield, made even easier by using a portal to change exactly where and how the hitboxes are created. This is further strengthened by Shadow Shield's ability to create a hitbox on any side of Chalis to check foe's rolling behind or jumping above Chalis... the significance though is that the foe knows where this Distortion is, so they are effectively banned from that particular defensive manoeuvre. This gives Chalis a massive advantage to narrow down the foe's reaction and makes her advantage state really powerful.
Chalis can perform a follow up just before her shockwave comes out. This cancels the shockwave but Chalis instead giggles to herself and holsters her right hand with her left, punching it forward and creating a shockwave out of her own first. This deals 8% damage and has the same hitbox as Lucario's side special at max Aura, dealing strong knockback able to KO from 145%. This is weaker than most melee versions due to much longer end lag, but has a unique effect too - Chalis is launched backwards a battlefield platform distance, enabling her to defensively recoil. This even works against shields for a great defensive option. The recoil will push the portal back from the other side, pushing it backward a set Bowser width over 2 seconds, before it moves back into place over the next 2 seconds. This is the easiest way to set a portal into perpetual motion, while still attacking the foe.
On Delusional foes hit by Illusion Perfume Chalis' fsmash gets a massive buff. When rushing forward, Chalis will stop if a foe gets in the way, working like Ike's side special instead. This greatly buffs the default and down angled versions of the fsmash as they no longer suffer from the longer duration at close range and limits the foe's counterplay significantly. Instead of the shockwave, the follow up if in a short grab range has Chalis command grab the foe, punching them in a highly similar visual to Lucario's side special grab, dealing an enhanced 12% damage and will KO from 130%, cancelling the recoil as well. This can even make whiffing the move not too bad if Chalis can just grab the foe right after with the follow up, making the move that much more dangerous.
Down Smash: Shadow Clash
Chalis holds both arms with elbows bent beside her for charge, then throws them out to both sides horizontally, creating two large, purple beams that shoot a battlefield platform left and right at Fox's laser's speed before falling to the ground in an explosion. The initial beam deals 10-14% damage and good knockback, able to KO vertically around 130%, and comes out decently fast with good end lag, though a long-ish duration like fsmash. The beams' size is big enough to easily hit crouching or small foes, making it largely unavoidable. The explosion is the more powerful hitbox dealing 14-19% and high upwards knockback to KO around 90%, the explosion as big as a Bob-omb's. The lasers can go off stage but will never gimp due to their upwards knockback barring something crazy like shooting a foe into a portal, though is certainly possible. The distance is also fairly perfect for foes afflicted by Delusion to bully them from a nice distance, but only the "front" of the beam is a hitbox so they can roll past it easily enough once it's seen.
Charging the move beyond the halfway mark will only create an explosion if it collides with a foe, but leave a purple glob of dark energy on the ground where the lasers hit, or on the stage's sides or on any solid construct. This is now a Darkness Mine. Over the same space as Snake's down smash mines in Brawl these mines will explode if any character steps on them, detonating for 10% and high upwards knockback to KO at 115%. In Chalis' playstyle being able to plant mines around the stage is especially powerful as further stage control, and she has the kind of recovery that she can largely not care about setting them off herself. Her Teleport, independent of how it technically works in the engine, will never set off mines as she travels over them intangible. The mine will last for 25 seconds and only two can be on stage at a time.
The mine will have another effect on Scornful Caress, in the same sort of way as the portal does. When held the mine will be highlighted, and if Chalis then holds for a full 30 frames (slightly longer than the normal held input) she'll squat down further than normal, disappear and re-appear over her mine. She will then use it to detonate an explosion under her feet, laughing her towards the foe as she performs her claw drill attack as normal, but now has super armour for the duration of the attack and goes an extended 2 battlefield platforms before entering a longer end lag. If she does manage to enter a portal and hit the ground this has very low landing lag. This only works if a mine is within reach of the nearest foe, but given that's a whole 2 battlefield platforms that's not too hard to set up.
On top of the mine boosting her Scornful Caress, it also works into her portal. If the mine can be used to jump from or to a portal to initiate Scornful Caress, Chalis will shortcut to perform the mine jump boost into or out of the portal to hit the foe. Chalis can use this as a sort of circuit and it's far harder to predict when one part of it, the portal, can even move during the move. This may even change exactly what path Chalis takes as the move will always choose the shortest or shortest-lasting choice from what is available. This is made tougher however by the fact the foe has to be Delusional to do the portal part, but that might be for the best considering how powerful it is as a combination.
Chalis can attach the mine to her Haures Claw by using the side special as she overlaps the mine, it visibly being taken out from whatever it is and becoming a part of the claw's "trail." The mine is implanted a short Kirby width away from the claw itself, this primarily makes the mine powerful to check rolls or dodges. When the claw does dissipate, the mine seemingly harmlessly falls off, but is still active all the while. The mine will re-embed itself into the ground at the end, or even fall through portals or off stage, as it always deals upward knockback, like the laser, this isn't powerful as a gimp or anything. Chalis can even use another claw to embed it in the side of the stage, for a long time too, but is a deserved powerful edge tool if she manages to do something so insanely set up dependant. More importantly this lets Chalis move around her mine on top of a powerful Haures Claw being out at the same time.
Up Smash: Firecracker
Chalis celebrates by lighting a massive Snake Grenade-sized firecracker in her hand, then holds it underarm for the charge, before tossing it up into the air with a trail of fire behind it. This trail deals constant 1% damage for up to 6 hits and carries the foe into the resulting fireworks explosion, dealing 10-14% damage and high upward knockback. This knockback isn't so great, but the fireworks travels up an impressive 2.5 Ganondorf heights into the air, so will be able to KO foes from 90% at near the top of the stage. It becomes ungodly strong on platforms. But it has a long-ish start up and not great end lag either, though its duration is surprisingly decent by the standards set by fsmash and dsmash. The explosion at the end is suitably flashy, lingering for a long while and being as big as a Bob-Omb explosion. Technically Chalis can be pulled into a portal to throw the firecracker from higher in the air, but is another highly predictable technique.
After the firecracker explodes, it creates a heart the size of Bowser in pyre that falls slowly to the stage at Jigglypuff's fall speed, dealing only a weak 1% a second and no knockback/hitstun to any foes in that area until it hits the ground. This pyre can be further manipulated by Chalis if she uses her Illusion Perfume in its range, igniting the normally dull and blackened pyre into a tacky pink as it now stands in place for another 12 seconds before it dissipates. It will now rise and deal the same 1% a second to foes in its range but at the same time, will keep any foes who have been hit by the Illusion Perfume under its effects so long as they are in its vicinity, refreshing it so it doesn't run out. This allows Chalis to artificially increase the duration of Delusion just by hitting the foe into the hearty pyre, only limited by the duration. The pyre won't travel or interact with portals, like the Haures Claws, which makes it even more powerful to prolong Illusion Perfume when a portal is next to it.
Chalis can also hold down B when using Teleport in the middle of a illusion perfume-enhanced heart pyre to only create one portal, at the end she appears from, as the core "heart" of the pyre becomes brightened and pink. This signifies that the portal and heart are now linked as if the heart was a normal portal, staying active until it is destroyed by hitting the ground or dissipates after being hit by Illusion Perfume where it gains a set death. This like creating a moving portal extends the lifespan of a portal indefinitely so long as the pyre is on stage. A character can now no longer go through the heart side of the portal, and if they go through the portal proper will be spat out at the centre of the heart, or close as possible to it if it's in the middle of being crushed against the ground. This one-way portal is not only useful for that fact, but also because it is a constantly falling portal in the same vein as what Haures Claws does to portals. As a foe has no real "direction" when shot into a heart portal, this instead sends the foe straight up. This can be very powerful when Chalis can perform Illusion Perfume when a firework has just gone off, to turn powerful knockback sideward into a vertical KO.
A foe who is fully Deluded will have more reason to fear the fully-powered Heart on stage, as it will now act as a stand-in for Chalis that will keep them Deluded as long as it's not destroyed. The heart does have a set HP for 30HP, upon depleting it the heart will burst into a small explosion dealing 4% and weak radial knockback. Chalis can rest easy and go on the aggressive until the foe takes care of the heart, basically meaning their Delusion will continue as long as it's around. At the same time, Chalis can make use of the Heart as a portal to attack the foe if they do go after it, or simply use it to deal more passive damage to the foe by playing King of the Hill around the heart. As Chalis can let the heart fall to basically anywhere on stage, it's incredibly versatile to keep the foe at bay in any given match up.
STANDARDS
Jab: Predatory Tiger Claws
Chalis slashes forward once for 3%, stepping forward a very short distance, then follows up with another step forward and slash for 2%, then continuously steps forward performs a quick stab for 1% a go, and has a jab finisher that deals 3% and a semi spike that KOs at 150%. This has decent range for a melee attack, but is still close ranged. The final hit can be cancelled by hitting shield. This will always move Chalis forward a small amount each time she performs the infinite jab, and can deal a ton of damage if the foe doesn't know to DI away. The move comes out fast but has moderately bad end lag. The beginning hit has the best distance covered, but even the constant small steps forward move Chalis and her foe forward, very useful for stage control and the final jab finisher is for a change quite threatening if the foe does manage to screw up their DI at the ledge. The problem there is the jab is very generous to DI to counteract how powerful it'd be otherwise when Chalis is constantly moving, so the foe can get out by DIing as easy or easier than a normal infinite jab hit.
Naturally Chalis can get a ton of use out of attacking the foe and moving both characters forward in the jab, but there's a few very significant uses for it. The most obvious being that Chalis will hit the foe forward and then force them to be hit by her mine. In fact, the foe won't be hit by the mine, but Chalis will as she walks over and triggers it, hitting both her and the foe. Chalis can definitely lose out on this but the one advantage is that the foe is placed in the air - that's why they can't trigger the mine in the first place - so using the old "use uthrow on a platform" logic, the foe generally will be KO'd earlier than Chalis anyway unless they are super heavies. In the least, the threat of a mine going off can force a foe to pre-emptively DI upwards and out, which is harder than DIing away to the side because of the move's generosity. Going over the top of Chalis is actually better for her as the foe will end up too far to punish DIing to the side.
The other obvious use of the move is in the context of portals. Chalis can forcefully push a foe into one of her portals from the side as she edges forward, or drop them right in front of one, giving them basically no back to retreat to that isn't through the portal. This can work as a mindgame too, dropping the foe just short of going in a portal and countering their pre-emptive defensive or mobility-based move, depending on the context. On the other hand, Chalis can simply end with jab finisher early and hit the foe through the portal directly. When a portal is moving, Chalis can even keep up with it if she catches a foe behind it as it's moving, and if it's the kind that will boomerang back, she doesn't have to do anything for them to be forced inside. The fact the jab can stall works in favour of the moving portals too as Chalis can land the move close but not touching a portal, then slowly move the move into the portal as the moving on go further and further into a danger zone like off stage, then dump them out at the end.
Dash Attack: Skewering Slash
Chalis leaps off the ground and mashes her claws together in front of her for constant hits of 1% totalling 6% as she and the foe are pulled through the air, finally hitting the foe away for 4% and strong diagonal knockback, able to KO from 110%. This isn't the strongest dash attack by a mile, but also isn't too slow by the standards of a dash attack, and as Chalis leaps into the air slightly she avoids low attacks and her own mines. The end lag is still just as bad as you'd expect. Though it's a footnote compared to jab in a way when it's far slower, she can easily drag the foe on the ground into a mine and not suffer any damage or knockback herself, as she drags the foe around a Kirby width forward before they're launched. By far the best quality of the move is its great range: Chalis' claws are a great disjoint that hits almost at a medium range, and while it is easily shielded it is devastating used against rolls or dodges.
As the hitbox is so large, disjointed and moving in front of Chalis, it can be the best way to effectively counter or trade with foes. Chalis can safely outrange most melee attacks, and this is very relevant in the context of Illusion Perfume. Chalis will be constantly under assault by foes trying to land an attack strong enough to get them out of the effects of Delusion, which generally won't be something able to hit Chalis out of her dash attack. Along the same vein, the move is really good when used into a portal, in the air it's an even better counter due to the foe's more limited options and inability to shield the move. Like the jab, this is a great way to stall and delay the foe, but here more for moves like Haures Claw as the move pushes the foe faster and is more reliable with shorter term set up. The other thing this move is great for is Shadow Shield. The jab is mostly not great due to its slow hits, but the constant hits of dash attack will create decent and constant hits on whatever side of the Shadow Shield is active right then. Especially strong against foes who roll behind Chalis, who will find it hard to dodge the constant hits there, or even jump over the move for similar reasons. Chalis can't do both of these at once however so has to pick and choose per opponents, or simply throw it all out at the front for maximum offence.
Forward Tilt: Pirouette Strike
Chalis spins around, having a few frames of outright invulnerability, then slashes in an uppercut-like motion that has a ton of range for 7% and strong mostly upwards-diagonal knockback, this will KO from around 140%. This is far from Chalis' strongest move and has high start lag due to its dance-like qualities, though the intangibility is really helpful and the end lag on the move is among Chalis' best. Chalis also moves forward a little at the start of the move and as she moves so can move into a mine blowing it up in the foe's face, then slash them and has so little end lag, she can even attack a foe in shield stun. In the least, this creates plenty of frame neutral situations where Chalis can follow up out of ftilt very easily. Generally it's also another nice counter like dash attack solely due to the intangibility, and Chalis can always use the intangibility to simply be the last push to get her into a portal. Compared to the previous standards, this is the most practical for the default portals, avoiding an attack then slashing into a one-way portal, deleting it for the foe to use. In that way, it's a great way to counter projectile-heavy playstyles by utilizing the intangibility without as much potential room for failure as a roll if the foe isn't super far away.
The angling of the move will change the way in which Chalis spins. The down angled version has Chalis spin in place and not move forward at all, performing the slash as she spins back to where she began the move, even more of a counter-type move. This can even be used to move Chalis into a moving portal if it was behind her, appearing somewhere else to perform the strike at the end or simply moving her to safety and baiting out an attack at the same time. The up angled version has Chalis step forward even further, stepping a whole Bowser width forward over the course of the full ftilt for the same attack. The one downside of this is it has slightly higher end lag. The up angled version instead hits for 6% and does slightly higher and higher-angled knockback, while the down version hits just below a semi spike angle for less knockback, making it a good combo starter. The hitboxes on both is pretty much the same as the default.
Down Tilt: Stab
Chalis uses her claws to stab forwards from a crouched position dealing 3%, in a very fast motion, the fastest move in Chalis' set. This is most similar to Ness' down tilt only a bit stronger and with hitstun that largely makes it far safer, without the chance to trip foes. This is largely a reset type move to punish foes for getting in close to Chalis - it's one of her weaker moves for range. This is the objective best way Chalis has to delay foes for her portals to get into place, or to stage control period, basically saying no to the opponent's current approach. On the other hand, it has very poor range as said so is easily countered by anything, not least given its damage. The move is also very nice to use on foes trying to use Chalis' portals against her, all she has to do is crouch near a portal to dissuade foes as she can so easily catch them just walking out of a portal casually by stabbing them in the feet.
The other really obvious nice outlet for the move is in the Shadow Shield. A constant stab that can either be doubled up on at the same angle, and when weakened, is hardly so bad when it can be constantly spammed. This really lets Chalis interrupt any approach at all if she's willing to focus on one particular angle for her Distorted Shield. Focus on an up angle to stop aerial approaches, or behind to stop foes going for their own backstab or rolling behind her. It's arguably the best combination with the Shadow Shield simply going by speed. This is also really nice for shields when Shadow Shield is active to either have an insanely good poke given the bonus range of a Shadow Shield pointed in the right angle, or if pointed the right angle inwards/outwards, can combo the foe in place a little before it stales too much, a little cheap but guarantees a considerable amount of shield damage.
Up Tilt: Eclipsed Crescent Moon
Chalis takes a moment to prepare, then laps into the air and slashes in a crescent shape, ending with her stabbing emphatically into the air above her, all one motion that deals 12% and extremely high upward knockback to KO from 70%. This is one of those moves like MegaMan's up tilt or Shoryuken that is very powerful, but only at an incredibly close range and has horrendous end lag. This is sort of a recurring trend for Chalis and this move takes it to the natural extreme, the ultimate way to blow off the end lag if she knows she's going into a portal anyway just in case the foe is dumb enough to walk into the hitbox. The end lag is bad, but not quite as bad as MM's utilt as a trade off for lower knockback, and the move has overall better range too due to Chalis' claw and hits nicely above Chalis so can ever catch foes doing telegraphed down airs and similar approaches.
Chalis will technically be airborne so can use the move to dodge moving mines from her Haures Claws, but less fringe case, can use this to end in the air once teleported. A portal on the ground won't do this, but an aerial portal will have far less end lag when the move is ended in the air, so Chalis can chain it into an aerial nice and easy. Chalis can then hit a foe, go through a portal and transition into a combo. An easy follow up is to do Scornful Caress out of up tilt to hit a foe under the effects of Delusion, a good choice for a KO if the foe has been hit near enough to the blast zone. Another nice combination is to do this, then fast fall back to ground and do something like fsmash back through a portal, or simply into the foe in another direction if the portal was one-way. As portals can move back and forth too, Chalis can end the move in the air, fall back into a portal during its reverse motion, and then attack the foe after getting rid of all the bad lag of the move archetype.
The Shadow Shield really benefits from this type of move, as while it can't combo into itself, extending the range on this type of move is simply amazing. This makes the forward-tilted Distortion Shield a very scary prospect for foes and makes getting rid of Shadow Shield a top priority. The other possibility, transitioning the insane 12% hitbox to another angle around the shield, is not exactly a good prospect either, so the foe basically has to counter it the normal way and not dodge around or use any other approaches to counter. The other thing is that while the move doesn't have a consistent hitbox the entire time due to the Crescent Moon shape, Chalis can choose instead to have a powerful diagonal hitbox up or down, or get a still decently powerful KO move going backwards. This will always hit at the start of the move even with its length, which is good and bad as it will always hit the foe before the move, giving Chalis some safety, but the foe can then shield and punish used poorly. The fact they have to shield or avoid at all is a small victory.
GRAB GAME
Grab/Pummel: Scornful Grasp
Chalis quickly grabs with one hand, holding the foe by the scuff of the neck similar to Ganondorf, this is a decent speed, decent ranged grab but mostly unremarkable. It’s not a bad grab, just decidedly average. For the pummel Chalis knees the foe in the stomach for 2%, average speed.
Forward Throw: Maul
Chalis kicks the foe forward for set knockback across the ground and 3% damage, ranging from 0.9-1.25x battlefield platforms depending on their percent, then leaps at them and scratches them to pieces for 5 hits of 1% before dealing a final 5% hit that launches foes at a low angle, only able to KO super high percents. This deals considerable damage for a throw at 13% and at low percents is an easy combo starter into Chalis' aerials. The throw has a long duration during the mauling part of the move, and Chalis pushes the foe a battlefield platform width along the ground as she hits them so can drag the foe across the stage into her mines very easily. This makes it an effective move to gain stage control, dragging the foe to the other side and giving Chalis dominance over centre stage.
When the foe is dragged into a portal they are teleported through it, Chalis reacts to this by clawing at the portal, similar in appearance to the disjointed ftilt of Wolf in Smash Ultimate. The bright pink claw visually effects the portal, slashing first one side, then disappearing and appearing on the other side to slash the foe as they reappear. This deals the foe and any nearby foes a higher 7% hit of damage and higher knockback, now able to KO from a respectable 180% from a portal at the top platform of Battlefield. This can of course be strengthened if a portal is placed ridiculously high. The angle of the slash is slightly more horizontal despite being able to KO vertically easier, so can be useful if a portal is placed high off stage to launch the foe to their deaths. As this will send them up and away, this will never gimp foes directly. It is possible to cheaply abuse a portal facing the stage to stage spike in a similar way to K. Rool's Blunderbuss, Ridley's Space Pirate Rush among others, but is very telegraphed and hard to set up.
Chalis will crush the foe in a unique attack when fthrow meets a Haures Claw going in the opposite direction. Special zoom is activated and the foe is dealt 10% and high upwards knockback, able to KO from 95%. This requires a good deal of set up considering the Haures Claws are naturally shot forwards in the first place. Another animation plays when Chalis overlaps a Haures Claw going in the same, forwards direction, if anything harder to set up. Chalis hops upwards and a clanking sound is heard as the foe is dragged forward by the translucent claw. Chalis finishes by tugging on the claw chain, destroying the Haures Claw, exploding on the foe for 12% and KOs from 85% at a high angle. The special Deluded claw simply plays the crushing animation if the fthrow and the claw collide.
Back Throw: Loving Farewell
Chalis grabs the foe by the leg, or another extremity, and spins around in a whirlwind before letting go and chucking them backwards for 10% and strong knockback. This will KO from 160% at the edge, far from the most powerful throw there is but the part where Chalis spins means that she and the foe can travel a decent Bowser width before she lets go so getting to the edge is also easier than is for a normal bthrow. What’s also nice is like many throws like this, Chalis can easily time it to hit the foe’s face into her own traps, projectiles, most obvious being her Haures Claws and mines she spins over. Chalis remains safe from the knockback of these due to being the grabber, while the foe suffers.
The fact that the foe is being grabbed by Chalis makes for a unique situation when they come in contact with a portal. Rather than just the foe going through alone, as both Chalis and the foe are together, they go through together. Chalis continues to spin the foe through the air, but will logically fall at her normal fall speed before chucking away the foe. This can definitely help as the throw has a not too vertical angle, so falling far enough will directly screw over the Little Macs on the roster, well deserved when portals aren’t insanely easy to set up off stage. Chalis stops her momentum briefly when she chucks the foe making it easier to recover, only falling again momentarily after regaining control so she can easily use her double jump and recovery. This helps itself as it allows Chalis to throw the foe off stage for a gimp, not have to use her jumps or recovery, so she can chase them the whole way. In this regard, hitting the portal later is actually better to not fall far so Chalis is in less danger. That way, something like a Haures Claw is also even more dangerous without putting Chalis too insanely low to the point she can’t recover.
Up Throw: Beast Suplex
Chalis picks up the foe by the neck, holding them over her and quickly leaps up into the air, holstering their neck between her arms as she falls, slamming down as the impact hits the foe’s neck or head area for a powerful 13% and high knockback. This has slightly lower knockback than Charizard’s up throw Seismic Toss, still a fine KO throw and by far Chalis’ best. This is further improved in the context of portals, as like the bthrow, Chalis will teleport with the foe is she hits a portal easily taking her to a higher platform to get the most out of the vertical knockback. Chalis leaps up a solid four Ganondorf heights, usually going off the top blast zone before slamming back down, so is very easy to jump into a portal. Chalis can even reverse his facing so that the foe is slammed upwards into solid ground, if she turns around from a portal, this will deal 15% instead and horizontal knockback, roughly the same KO potential though can be stronger depending on the stage and character. As with the other throws, this is a great opportunity for Chalis to jump on top of her own mines and other lingering hitboxes on the stage.
Usually the move can’t suicide but with a portal that’s facing at a slight diagonal Chalis can go for a suicide off stage. This requires a good bit of a set up to achieve specific to uthrow and works like Bowsercide rather than Flame Choke, releasing the foe at the blast zone so they can attempt to recover. This isn’t all that bad when Chalis can have moving portals too so can wait in grab state for it to move into position on either end to go for the suicide and most characters have no chance to recover anyway. The moving portals also let her gain some horizontal movement for the throw, which is especially nice if she can turn around from the portal too so she moves to the edge if not off stage, getting the most out of the horizontal knockback despite it being a uthrow. Chalis can avoid slamming the foe headfirst into the stage with a portal if she lands on one as she’s falling, this will cause her to jump upwards and then slam back down on the ground where the portal exists. This will deal a slightly higher 15%. The uthrow only goes each portal once to avoid abuses, and Chalis can hold up to avoid going through any portal so isn’t screwed out of using the basic very functional KO throw.
Down Throw: Bon Voyage
Chalis takes out and examines a Psy Grenade for a moment, before shoving it onto the foe as a less comical Sticky Bomb sound effect plays, shoving the foe away too for 3% and low knockback at the Sakurai angle. This is a great set up into a tech chase or combo at very low percents, besides that the real meat of the throw is obviously in what happens from the Psy Grenade. After 5 seconds of the grenade visibly reddening the Psy Grenade explodes for 8% damage and good knockback at a harsh diagonal angle away from Chalis whatever way she faced when using the throw. This will only KO from 210%, but as it’s totally disjointed from any action Chalis performs, that’s still not bad.
As it’s a Psy Grenade and not a regular Sticky Bomb, this naturally has some magic-like qualities. When a foe shields the Psy Grenade, it instead deals 3 hits of 8% for 24% damage on the shield after calculating for higher damage as shields do normally. This actively discourages foes from shielding the blast as not only is that massive shield damage, almost half of its full health, but it is considerably shield stun too to let Chalis follow up on the grenade. The one way out for the foe is that like a Sticky Bomb, they can attach it back to Chalis. She has one advantage foe: if she shields, it dissipates the Psy Grenade immediately. This does however become annoying if she had on Shadow Shield, forcing her to drop out of it to avoid being hit by her own Psy Grenade, but in the grand scheme of things isn’t that bad of a trade.
The Psy Grenade will also detonate early if it’s set off by any other explosions, such as the mines Chalis can create on her down smash or her Firecracker up smash. This gives her something of an edge, but the real fun comes when she manages to catch the foe with a Psy Grenade with the grab version of her Haures Claw. She holds the foe more inquisitively/mockingly in her giant claw hand, then laughs hysterically and crushes them causing the Psy Grenade to explode and pulverizing them at the same time for a mega powerful 25% that will KO from 60%. That’s a fair bit of set up, given the foe has to be Delusional and Chalis has to grab and then down throw, and it can all backfire if the foe puts the Psy Grenade back on Chalis before it blows up. The foe can also simply spot or air dodge the single blast too, though is obviously very open to punishment.
Another reward is when Chalis manages to regrab a foe who has a Psy Grenade stuck to them. Chalis sees the foe has a Psy Grenade on and adjusts it before forcefully shoving the foe away for 5%, putting them into prone. The grenade flashes red rapidly as its timer is set back to only half a second after the throw ends, forcing them either to eat the hit from the grenade explosion or be punished, as they can’t dodge both so easily. This is the easiest tech chase in the world, at best the foe can scarper to dodge the grenade and Chalis if they’re smart, but the explosion will not damage Chalis if it’s on the foe so even that won’t help them if they’re close. Chalis also has plenty of options for a prone tech chase like her grab, Haures Claws, or Scornful Caress to name a few.
AERIALS
Neutral Aerial: Spinning Death
Chalis spins around in midair in a mini-vortex similar in appearance to Mach Tornado, dealing three hits of 3% and a final decent bit of radial knockback. This won’t KO but will set up well for combos at low percents and has great coverage all around Chalis’ body, stretching out a little further for her claws and long legs. This comes out decently fast and has low end lag, but has a unique landing attack. As she lands, Chalis claws at the ground/wall she hits, recoiling away a short distance and dealing a higher 5% to any foes in the way, able to KO at 200% at a radial angle. Chalis has far worse lag if this whiffs and the foe can easily punish out of their shield, but this can be used as a fun mix up to bait the foe into defensively waiting out the nair, then Chalis simply bounces away at the end. Importantly this can be punished even worse if it is whiffed or the foe reads it, so the default version is still the best bet. As a not so fast faller, Chalis can get a decent bit out of this move defensively, though its reach isn’t great despite its good coverage.
This is primarily good for using with portals as Chalis can both hit foes easily into them using the radial knockback, safely travel into one herself without fear of foes knocking her away with a melee hitbox, or drag the foe towards/into/out of a portal before or without dealing the final hit. The move combos well too so that Chalis can both chase foes through portals, maybe cancel into Scornful Caress or another aerial, or use a portal to forcefully cancel out of the last hit then go through using a different move. The other thing is it’s obviously a lot easier to hit walls, the ground or side of the stage to get the most out of the recoil using a portal.
The most direct mechanic helped by the nair is definitely the Shadow Shield, as each hit doesn’t count as a multihit, meaning 3 solid hits in a row wherever the Shield Distortion is placed. This means Chalis can even carry multiple foes along with her like a multihit wherever she goes, but more importantly means the move goes from being good defensively to a great offensive one used in the right way. Chalis can focus the shield to her front and have both the defensive great coverage nair hitbox around her while poking away at a foe like a wall of pain, or do the reverse and make it difficult for the foe to recover behind her as she jumps out off stage to prevent their recovery. This is even better with the recoil hit, as this will also create a Shadow Shield claw on the opposite side of whatever part of the ground or stage she hits, potentially letting her hit off the stage and hit the recovering foe at the same time.
Forward Aerial: Axe Handle
Chalis grips both hands together above her then delivers a powerful axe handle, dealing 11% and a strong spike to foes after a long start up, this has average end lag for a spiking fair. This is your typical powerful spike fair, made a little easier to land because of Chalis’ intense playstyle. One slip up by the foe and Chalis can capitalize with an easy spike off stage. This works into her Delusional status effect well too, from high on the stage this should easily put the foe far enough away they max out their own Delusion immediately and have to claw their way back. Chalis also enjoys this type of move when typically, the move will want to rush up to try and force her to shield to get rid of Shadow Shield, or just hit her to get them out of Delusion.
Naturally spiking the foe into the stage is also improved as they can tech the stage but not her portals, letting her spike into the heavens or even into a mine or Haures Claw below, whatever works. It also makes the Heart portal area far more dangerous as a one-way portal, as Chalis can always casually teleport over there, say using a moving portal, to deliver a fair to foes camping there or trying to destroy the heart. As a Shadow Shield moves it’s quite powerful given the strength of the move, though it’s not all that extraordinary used as a spike below Chalis, it really helps the move’s usually less than good coverage. Just being able to juggle a foe above Chalis or behind helps the move’s usage a lot to not be easily punished.
Back Aerial: Back Swipe
Chalis quickly swipes her claw backward, creating a quarter circle hitbox that deals 5% and decent knockback, though will only KO as a wall of pain or gimp. This is Chalis’ fastest aerial and is a necessary input for her basic playstyle as it is absolutely mandatory to be able to swat away foes trying to hit Chalis to end Delusion or Shadow Shield. The bair doesn’t KO at any viable percent but still deals enough knockback to put reset the situation, and is fast enough it can be fairly spammed in midair. Chalis doesn’t care about the bair being weak anyway as she has a fairly reliable recovery, isn’t a fast faller and can easily get into a gimping position.
Like the down tilt having a spammable move is always nice for Shadow Shield, the bair is among the best moves for use in that mechanic. Every time the bair comes out, Chalis can either extend its range making it a powerful poking tool and a great gimp move, or if placed somewhere else use it to cross up foes as she passes or check foes trying to air dodge or jump over Chalis. As it’s only backward, just hitting down for a spike, or up for a vertical KO are viable options too. Chalis can freely throw out bair due to its speed to try for it or either of those other two, though it’ll still be a weak spike or juggle, it’s still obviously a big plus.
Up Aerial: Crazy Claw Clash
Chalis rapidly stabs upwards dealing two hits of 3% that quickly decays, performing a powerful 5% upwards stab if it’s landed during the hits that can KO from 160%. This is hard to land naturally as an up aerial unless Chalis can drag the foe all the way down, made slightly easier by the portals being able to abridge the high air and ground. This is an obvious way to drag foes down into Haures Claws or even to delay so a moving portal moves underneath Chalis or so she can enter one alone. The move has slightly bad end lag when ended normally in the air, so this is a nice way to avoid any obvious punishment. The move is two stabs, but as it’s not multihit this means two hits on the Shadow Shield, so can double up as both a downwards and upwards double hit, or just extend the hitbox to make it a much better KO move high in the air.
Down Aerial: Drilling Kick
Chalis flattens her body into a thin hurtbox and drops down with both feet, drilling for a constant 1% (up to 5 hits) before hitting the floor and drilling further for two hits of 1% and a final 5% hit that launches foes for decent knockback at a diagonal as Chalis recovers with moderate “landing” lag. The move ends in the air after Chalis falls an average distance for a stall then fall, and the stall part is also about average. When ended in the air, Chalis instead kicks away the foe for 5% and is launched back into the air like Greninja’s down aerial, this can itself be very useful to keep the aerial momentum going for Chalis who is not the most aerially mobile character.
While the drilling multihits don’t count towards the Shadow Shield individually, both the ending drill hits and the Greninja-style kick off do, so Chalis can do something unique like hit the foe back down with her Greninja kick, or hit the foe at the start of the move down into the drilling hitbox. The hitbox is very generous too, not quite Falco’s dair in Melee but enough that foes can be hit down and diagonally forward as Chalis moves in that direction to be hit by the drill, which is uncommon throughout the rest of Chalis’ set. This is also very useful if foes do get drilled down but fall just out of range of the ending drill kick into the ground to at least hit them away at the end, but this is a fringe case, still important to note as a general buff to the move.
This is another move like uthrow where Chalis can only go through a portal each once, but also refreshes the amount of hits the dair deals in multihits, extending another 5 hits for 5%. Off this Chalis can increase the move’s already good damage output to 15% in the air or 17% if she manages to hit the ground, and can even use portals to drill the foe into the side of the stage.
When Chalis drills into one of her mines, it has a similar effect to her Scornful Caress as Chalis uses the explosion to leap upwards like the aerial dair, leaving her back in the air, though she does take the damage. This gives a safety net to using dair over the stage if it has mines on it, and can still hit foes if they’re in range of the mine explosion. If that does happen, as Chalis is launched a decent ways into the air, she can then do a follow up aerial to catch them too. This is also a nice way to bait foes by just missing the mine, then using it with Scornful Caress to chase the foe around the stage.
FINAL SMASH
Heart & Spade
Chalis giggles and holds back her claw, then rushes forward across the entire stage, hitting anyone in the way for 12%, knocking the foe into the air as the stage cuts away. Chalis crosses her arms and snaps her fingers, summoning her partner in crime, Blados to teleport in at her side. They give a knowing nod to each other before they both disappear in a teleportation flash.
The action now cuts to the foe who has been hit so hard that they re-appeared far above the stage, illuminated only by the eclipsed moon from Dark Dawn. In a flash Blados and Chalis appear on opposite sides of the foe. Both are suspended in midair as they chisel away at the foe, Blados slashing away and Chalis slicing with her claws. Over the course of a few seconds they deal a collective 13 hits each for 1%, or 26% damage. Chalis deals the final hit, performing a massive claw slash that sends the foe tumbling down to the stage for an extremely high knockback spike that can’t be tech’d. This should reliably KO at 30% or higher.
In a match where Blados is present Chalis instead performs a different final smash. She performs the same slash across the stage, but when the screen cuts away it shows Chalis cackling as she disappears, re-appearing around the foe with Scornful Caress and hitting 13 times, each for 1%, before appearing below them and grabbing them with a massive disjointed Haures Claw, crunching them up in a massive fist. The foe is then dealt 13% damage from where they were originally launched into the final smash, able to KO from 50% or higher.
PLAYSTYLE
A Heartfelt Apocalypse
Chalis is a character who benefits from set up, but also really excels in basic melee combat if played to the match up well. The Shadow Shield and its doubling up on hitboxes is extremely versatile and can easily shut out specific approaches, turning moves that had poor coverage into excellent coverage moves while never negating what was good about them in the first place. Even without a Shadow Shield on, Chalis is not a bad character, though definitely has a few key weaknesses that are covered up by Shadow Shield. That is, her range, while not horrible, is definitely not good and some of her most important moves barely reach beyond her hurtbox. She’s largely reliant on melee attacks, projectiles and disjoints, having very few medium range attacks that don’t also move her position at the same time.
The fact Chalis has to rely on moves that rush her forward for any medium range means she’s going to always be moving into her foe’s face if she’s not rushing in anyway to start going on the offensive. This is where Illusion Perfume and her bevy of other techniques really come in handy. The Illusion Perfume forces the foe to bridge that gap in Chalis’ range instead or to tank all the passive damage, and there’s no guarantee that will stop if Chalis lands the move again. Landing the move is largely the most difficulty Chalis will have in her basic playstyle but without that, she can definitely get locked out by the Smash swordsman or anyone who out-aggresses her in the mid range, or outperforms her in melee. As a projectile user, she’s also only got a few tricks up her sleeve.
Getting past the basics there is of course the portals and their unique nature. The normal portals that disappear upon one person entering are what put Chalis’ aerials into such strong focus, as she can force a foe in one-way, escape herself or simply use it as a pressure tool. The limit here is she has only a scant couple of portals and placing one off stage means it can’t be used aggressively, forcing her to rely entirely on her Delusional status effect again. Another big help here is her various projectiles like Haures Claw, her down smash mines, up smash to try and do some stage control. Moves that move her forward like fsmash or ftilt also have their unique functions in a portal playstyle where she can pick and choose how exactly she uses her portals.
Where Chalis’ playstyle reaches new heights is that she has moving portals, and while that might not seem too revolutionary, it is amazing for allowing Chalis to wait out a better positioned portal or for it to come back to where it was originally. Chalis’ many lingering moves like nair, jab or Scornful Caress are given a new purpose when Chalis can simply stall for her portal to move into a dangerous position for the foe, and this entirely changes the dynamic. The pressure Chalis can exert goes up insurmountably when the foe has to not only worry about being thrown into a portal, but how that portal will change in a few seconds or how Chalis can abuse it using her Scornful Caress. The mines and up smash, among other moves, are just another thing for them to worry about if she’s allowed to go that far.
Chalis has no shortage of gimp and delay tactics to KO, where she surprisingly excels is her potential to KO out of grab. She not only has the uthrow as a typical KO throw but can use fthrow for its own unique set up. The bthrow is another typical KO throw but gains new life under the effects of a portal, and the dthrow just lends to her pressure all on its own. This is another reward because as stated in the grab itself, her grab is nothing great. What Chalis lacks here and in general though is a good way to transition into the air, and from above Chalis has an obvious weak spot, but all the more reason to point a Shadow Shield up. Chalis encourages passionate and hearty play, but investing too much into one approach will inevitably end in disaster. She has to try and read, manipulate and counter the foe a lot of the time, even if she has the ability to go hyper aggressive.
Finally finished mine Rex moveset. Would have had this done a lot sooner, but I was just so swamped with schoolwork. But anyhow, I promised mineself I would finish it before every character in Smash Ultimate was revealed, and I make good on mine promises. [EDIT] Added an image for the dash attack.
As usual, I would benefit more from critical feedback.
Rex is all about stage control. Like Little Mac, Rex is a terror on-stage--but unlike Little Mac, he has more options in the air. The focus of Rex's playstyle is to rush the enemy off the ledge as quickly as he can, then keep them off the ledge. Ironically, if Rex himself is knocked off the stage, he'll have a hard time getting back on. He has a long-ranged tether recovery, and a weak vertical recovery.
Rex is roughly a head shorter than Shulk. His sword has a long reach, matching that of Shulk's Monado beam. He runs roughly as fast a Shulk, but his jump height is low; roughly the same as Shulk's in Speed mode. Even worse, he falls roughly as fast as Roy. Thanks to his heavy salvager's suit, Rex can survive lots of hits, even at higher percentages, but once he's off-stage, the player has to act quickly, or it's game over.
2). Specials:
• Neutral Special (Blade Art): This move has five levels of charge, and like Robin's Thunder tome, each charge has a completely different effect. Above Rex's damage metre, there is a diamond-shaped gauge that indicates how close he is to the next charge. The gauge can be filled by holding the special button, or by landing attacks. This move charges slightly slower than Cloud's Limit Break when holding the special button. When Rex lands an attack other than Neutral Special, the attack's damage output dictates how much the gauge fills.
While holding the special button, Rex can switch between his Blades, Pyra and Mythra, by tapping left or right on the control stick. He can switch between them at any level of this move. Switching from Pyra to Mythra--and vice versa--completely changes each level of this move. The charging animation of this move consists of Rex and Pyra/Mythra raising the sword together. Furthermore, Rex's sword changes form whenever he switches between Pyra and Mythra. Lastly, a small picture of Pyra/Mythra appears near Rex's damage metre. This way, the player always knows whom Rex is with. Pyra and Mythra themselves only appear whilst this move is being charged, or while Rex is executing this move. If the enemy hits Pyra/Mythra during the charge, Rex will take the damage and knockback, and the gauge will revert to zero--but not the charge level. Last but not least, changing between Pyra and Mythra will not affect Rex's other moves in any way. So it ultimately, if not partially, comes down to a matter of preference. Pyra's artes are slow but powerful, and Mythra's arts are quick and efficient.
To execute this move, simply tap the special button twice. As stated before, this move will work differently (1) depending on the charge and (2) whether Rex is using Pyra or Mythra. Once this move is executed, the charge level will revert back to zero. Note: If Kirby inhales Rex, Kirby will only be able to use the Level 0 Pyra Arte.
Pyra:
• Blade Arte Level 0:
Rex slashes his sword, launching a crescent-shaped beam of fire. The beam is roughly the same size as Cloud's Blade Beam, and travels slightly faster. Like Cloud's Blade Beam, Rex's beam will propell him slightly upwards if used in the air. Deals 8.5% damage, with very little knockback. Slightly slow startup.
The main purpose of this move is to keep the enemy at bay; whether you're on the ground or trying to get back on stage.
• Blade Arte Level I (Flame Nova):
A two-hit move. Pyra appears behind Rex, and with telekinetic force spins the Aegis Sword around him in a flat circle. Any opponent cut by the sword will be stunned. Immediately after, she unleashes a flat ring of fire that blows the enemy away. The sword deals 3% damage, while the burst of flame deals 10% damage. Quick startup.
The main purpose of this move is to get the enemy away from Rex. It can be used to ledgeguard or punish dodges and careless approaches.
• Blade Arte Level II (Prominence Revolt):
Pyra appears above and in front of Rex, grabs the sword from him, then plunges it into the ground, sending a tall burst of flame in the air. The sword deals 12.5% damage, spiking the opponent. The pillar of flame deals 9.5% damage, knocking the enemy upwards at 80 degrees, killing at 100%. Slow startup. This move is guaranteed to Meteor KO at 50% damage.
Like Ike's Eruption, the main purpose of this move is to spike recovering enemies. Towards the end of the move, the sword goes well below the stage, making it especially useful for spiking enemies directly below the ledge.
• Blade Arte Level III (Blazing End):
A 9-hit move. Pyra appears behind Rex, and with telekinetic force spins the Aegis sword in front of him like a windmill, damaging the enemy repeatedly. The first eight hits deal 0.9% damage, while the last hit deals 7% damage, launching the enemy a short distance. A total of 14.2 damage. Quick startup.
This move's main purpose is to build up damage. It can either be used to ledgeguard, stop approaches, or punish air dodges.
• Blade Arte Level IV (Burning Sword):
Rex and Pyra both grab the hilt of the sword, raise it in the air, then unleash a pillar of flame that rises in the air. The pillar of flame is roughly as wide as Yellow Devil's torso, and reaches roughly as high as Palutena's up-smash. It also lasts roughly as long as Palutena's up-smash. Deals 20% damage. Sligtly slow startup. This move is guaranteed to Star-KO a middleweight at 90% damage.
Aside from KO'ing, this move's main purpose is to guard the ledge or shark enemies on above platforms. Since the enemy will naturally be expecting it, landing the move will require planning ahead and accurate reads.
Mythra:
• Blade Arte Level 0: Rex slashes his sword, launching a crescent-shaped beam of light. The beam is roughly the same size as Pyra's fire beam, but travels twice as fast. Like Cloud's Blade Beam, Rex's beam will propell him slightly upwards if used in the air. Deals 7.5% damage, with very little knockback. Slightly slow startup.
The main purpose of this move is to keep the enemy at bay; whether you're on the ground or trying to get back on stage.
• Blade Arte Level I (Ray of Punishment):
Mythra appears above and behind Rex, grabs the sword, then unleashes a beam of light at a diagonal angle. The beam always stops at level of Rex's feet--and when it does, it creates a large sphere of exploding light that blows the enemy away a short distance at 45 degrees. Deals 8% damage. Quick startup.
This move's main purpose is to guard the ledge, though it can also be used to punish laggy moves and otherwise predictable opponents.
• Blade Arte Level II (Photon Edge):
A 10-hit move. Mythra grabs the sword from Rex, then with blinding speed performs a flurry of slashes in front of him. During the move, Mythra and the sword are invisible, and only the yellow slashes are seen. The first 9 hits deal 0.7% damage, while the final hit deals 6% damage. A total of 12.3% damage. Quick startup.
This move's main purpose is to build damage. It is best used for ledgeguarding, or for punishing dodges and laggy moves.
• Blade Arte Level III (Lightning Buster):
Mythra appears in front of Rex, grabs the sword, then perfroms three powerful slashes, the last of which sends the enemy flying. This first hit deals 6% damage, the second 8%, and the third 7%. A total of 21 damage. At the edge of Final Destination, this move is guaranteed to KO a middleweight at 100%. Quick startup.
This move is Rex's most efficient Blade Arte, in terms of finishing off the opponent. It can be used at the ledge or on another part of the stage--though the ledge is the most ideal spot.
• Blade Arte Level IV (Sacred Arrow):
Rex and Mythra both grab the hilt of the sword, raise it in the air, then send a barrage of light beams raining downward. The horizontal range of the barrage is roughly as wide as Yellow Devil's torso. The light beams appear roughly as high as Palutena's up-smash, then go all the way down into the blast zone. The move lasts roughly as long as Pit's up-air. Deals 18% damage whilst knocking the enemy downwards.
This move's main purpose is to Meteor KO a recovering opponent. Any other use of this move is unwise. If used on-stage, the spiked enemy will simply bounce upward a short distance. Since the enemy will naturally be expecting it, landing the move will require planning ahead and accurate reads.
• Up Special (Vortex Edge):
A 10-hit move. Rex attaches a pair of Dual Scythes together, then spins them above him, slashing the enemy multiple times before sending them flying with a final slash. Whilst spinning, a vortex of wind draws in any nearby opponent. The first 9 hits deal 1.5% damage, and the final hit deals 3% damage, sending the opponent flying at 20 degrees. If this move is used in the air, Rex will be propelled upward. He travels slightly lower than Toon Link's up-special, and the horizontal distance can be altered slightly. Using this move in the air will also increase the damage output of each hit by 0.5%, and the enemy will be knocked slightly further. Quick startup, but noticeable endlag.
Recovery aside, this move is best used as an anti-air attack. It has roughly the same range as Link's spin attack--and if used in the air, the angle will tilt slightly. A great way to use this move is to bait the enemy into air-dodging with a Level 0 Blade Arte, then punish them with Vortex Edge.
• Side Special (Sword Bash):
Rex performs a two-handed thrust with his sword. As he does so, he slides forward a short distance. The enemy is sent flying at roughly thirty degrees. Although this move seems simple, knowing when to use it can give Rex the upper hand. Just like Shulk's Back Slash, Rex's Sword Bash deals more damage and knockback when hitting the enemy in the back. In front, this move deals 11% damage at the base of the blade, and 9% damage at the tip. From the back, this move deals 15% damage at the base of the blade, and 13% damage at the tip, and at the centre of Final Destination is guaranteed to KO at 100%. Slightly slow startup, little endlag.
Unlike Shulk's Backslash, which often requires accurate reads to land, Rex's Sword Bash has more leeway. Rex has the ability to cancel his jab into many moves, including this one. So if Rex sees an opening, he can stun them with his quick jab, then cancel into Sword Bash.
• Down Special (Foresight):
A generic counter move. Rex holds his sword out in front of him with both hands (similar to Ike's up-taunt). The duration of the pose is slightly shorter than Shulk's counter. Whilst Rex is in this pose, if the enemy hits him with a close-range attack, Rex will dodge the attack. Afterwards, he will either counter with a two-handed vertical strike, or step behind the opponent and hit them with a spinning slash. The latter is performed if the control stick is held forward during Foresight. The two-handed strike deals 13.5% damage, launching the enemy at 45 degrees. The spinning slash deals 10.5% damage, launching the enemy at 30 degrees. The spinning slash is useful if Rex is recovering on stage--this way, he will knock the enemy off-stage, potentially side-KOing them.
Like all counter moves, this should not be used predictably, as it can be punished with a grab.
3). Jab & Dash:
• Jab (Knuckle Claws): A five-hit move. (1) Rex performs a quick hook punch with his right hand, dealing 2.5% damage. (2) Rex follows up with another hook punch with his left hand, dealing 2.5% damage. (3) Rex performs a straight punch with his right hand, dealing 2.7% damage. (4) Rex follows up with an uppercut punch with his left hand, dealing 2.3% damage. (5) Rex finishes with a front kick of his right foot, dealing 3% damage and knocking the enemy a short distance at zero degrees. A total of 13% damage. Quick startup, almost no endlag.
This move's main purpose is to get the opponent off of Rex, and/or set them up for a combo. At any point during this move, sans the fifth hit, Rex can cancel into a Special, Dash, Tilt, or Smash. All of his jabs have fairly high hitstun, making this easy to do. A great way to KO someone? Jab them from behind, then cancel into Sword Bash.
• Dash Attack (Iron Wall):
Holding a Shield Hammer in guard mode, Rex charges forward a short distance, bashing any opponent he collides with. Similar to Little Mac, Rex will shrug off any attack during this move, and the enemy's attack will do significantly less damage than it normally would. Deals 10% damage on the early hitbox, but 6% damage on the late hitbox. The opponent is launched 30 degrees, and the distance at which they are launched depends on the hitbox. Quick startup, but high endlag.
Obviously, this move is best used defensively. If you're cornered and see a powerful attack coming, don't hesitate to use this move, as it can be life-saving. For instance, if Rex is recovering and gets pulled in by Ganondorf's up-tilt, he can quickly use this move--and whether he gets hit or not, will send Ganondorf flying.
4). Tilts:
• Forward Tilt:
Rex raises his sword with both hands, leaning backward, then deals a quick descending slash. This move covers Rex from 70 degrees to zero degrees. If the blow connects, the enemy is launched at 45 degrees. The blade of the sword deals 12.5% damage, while the beam deals 9.5% damage. This is fairly powerful for a tilt, killing near the ledge at 100%. Slightly slow startup.
Due to its slightly slow startup, landing this move requires accurate reads. It is best used to fend off an off-stage enemy. Otherwise, if used up close the enemy can quickly grab Rex before the move executes.
• Upward Tilt: With both hands, Rex swings his sword above him in an arc. The swing starts from behind him, and ends in front of him. The opponent is knocked straight upwards. This move has very little knockback, but can be used in succession, making it great for juggling enemies. Fast fallers will have the hardest time escaping this move. Quick startup. The blade of the sword deals 8% damage, while the beam deals 6% damage.
As stated before, this move is meant for juggling. It is best used as an anti-air move, and works best on enemies behind Rex.
• Downward Tilt:
With both hands, Rex sweeps his sword along the ground, launching the enemy in the air at 80 degrees. Afterward, he can follow up with a f-air or n-air. The blade of the sword deals 11% damage, while the beam deals 7%. Quick startup.
This move's main purpose is to set up the enemy for an aerial, effectively pushing them away from Rex. Its quick startup and long reach make it an efficient defensive move that should be used often--though of course, not predictably.
5). Smashes:
• Forward Smash (Double-Spinning Edge):
A two-hit move. Rex spins around twice, dealing two powerful two-handed sword strikes. Each swing moves Rex forward a short distance. This move has a wide horizontal range, but little vertical range. If the first hit connects, then the second hit is guaranteed to connect. The first hit deals 9% damage, while the second hit deals 11% damage, knocking the opponent away at 10 degrees. At the centre of Final Destination, this move is guaranteed to kill at 100%. Slightly slow startup, and slight endlag.
This move is best used to punish dodges and laggy moves. Otherwise, landing it requires accurate reads. However, due to its long reach, it can also be used to harass opponents off-stage.
• Upward Smash (Grenade Launcher):
A two-hit move. Rex slams the butt of an Ether Cannon on the ground, aiming upwards, then unleashes sphere-shaped blast of energy. The first hit comes from Rex slamming the Ether Cannon, which deals 6% damage whilst knocking the enemy upwards, just above the Ether Cannon's barrel. The second hit comes from the sphere-shaped blast, the range of which is roughly Electrode's size, dealing 13% damage and knocking the enemy straight upwards. At the centre of Final Destination, this move is guaranteed to kill at 90%.
This move should not be used predictably, as it is punishable if missed or shielded. Instead, it's best used to punish dodges and laggy moves. If you're good at reading opponents, then you can use the energy blast as an anti-air move. It can also be used for ledge-guarding. For instance, if an enemy without invincible frames is holding onto the ledge, or if an enemy like Cloud uses a recovery that doesn't snap them into the ledge, Rex can get them with the first hit of this move, then the second.
• Downward Smash (Rolling Smash):
Rex performs a front flip, then with both hands brings his sword down with bone-crushing force. This move has a long reach that covers Rex from above and in front. The above hitbox merely slices the opponent, sending them flying a short distance at 30 degrees. The frontal hitbox, where the sword actually connects with the ground, sends the enemy flying at 50 degrees, or spikes the enemy if they're off-stage or hanging on the ledge with no invincibility frames. Above hitbox deals 10% damage, while frontal hitbox deals 22% damage. Slow startup, and noticeable endlag.
This move is best used to punish a laggy move. Otherwise, landing it requires accurate reads. It can also be used to smite off-stage enemies while they're recovering, especially if their up-special doesn't immediately snap them on the ledge.
6). Aerials:
• Neutral Aerial: Rex somersaults, performing a circular slash around him. The speed at which the sword travels is slightly lower than Cloud's n-air. Any nearby opponent is knocked away at 15 degrees. Quick startup. The blade of the sword deals 7.5% damage, while the beam deals 5% damage.
Like most n-airs, this move's main purpose is to get the enemy away from Rex. It can be used as an advancing move, a retreating move, or a vertically offensive move. Thanks to Rex's fall speed, he can use this move repeatedly to keep the enemy at bay. Though of course, you don't want to become predictable.
• Forward Aerial: Rex raises his sword with both hands, then deals a quick and powerful crescent slash, launching the enemy at 25 degrees. The hitbox covers his entire front, from 90 degrees to -70 degrees. Quick startup, little endlag. The blade of the sword deals 11% damage, while the beam deals 8% damage.
This move's main purpose is to keep the enemy at bay, but it can also be used to set up a combo. It can be used an advancing move, or a retreating move. Thanks to Rex's fall speed, if done right, Rex can do a fast fall version of this move, then follow up with a jab.
• Backward Aerial: Similar to Shulk, Rex thrusts his sword out behind him, launching the enemy at 10 degrees. Unlike Shulk, Rex's sword comes out at zero degrees. It has a slightly slower startup than Shulk's back air, but higher kill power. The blade of the sword deals 13.5% damage, while the beam deals 8.5% damage.
The move's main purpose is to kill an off-stage enemy whom is recovering. However, due to its slow startup, it is hard to land. Furthermore, the enemy will be expecting the move. Ergo, landing this move requires accurate reads. On-stage, if the enemy air-dodges this move, Rex can fast-fall, then punish them with a grounded move.
• Upward Aerial: Rex thrusts his sword straight upwards with both hands, sending them flying straight upward a short distance. This move has high vertical distance, and little horizontal distance. Quick startup. The blade of the sword deals 7.5% damage, while the beam deals 4.5% damage.
This move is not meant for Star KO'ing, but for juggling. Thanks to this move's high hitstun, and thanks to Rex's high fall speed, he can continue to jump and jab the enemy with this move until they fly too far for him to reach.
• Downward Aerial: Facing the screen, Rex raises his sword with both hands then slams it downward, spiking the enemy. This move has high vertical distance, but next to no horizontal distance. The spike box covers the bottom half of the sword. Slightly slow startup, and slight endlag. The blade of the sword deals 14% damage, while the beam deals 9% damage.
Obviously, this move is designed for Meteor KO's. However, Rex's fall speed makes this move risky. Even worse, a recovering enemy will naturally expect it. The best way to use this move is to jump off the stage, spike the enemy, then land back on the stage. If the enemy is smart, then you'll have to condition them with a Level 0 Blade Arte, or an aerial Anchor Shot (see Grabs). If a spiked enemy hits the ground, they'll bounce upward 80 degrees, and will have enough hitstun for Rex to fast-fall, then follow up with a f-air.
7). Grab & Throws:
• Grab (Anchor Shot):
Rex points his fist at the enemy, shooting a miniature anchor from his arm. If the anchor connects, the enemy is immediately pulled toward him. This tether grab has a very long range, reaching half the length of Final Destination. This move is slow to start, but covers the distance almost instantly. However, it also has high endlag. As a result, this move should not be used predictably, especially if the enemy is up close. If the enemy sees it coming, all they have to do is jump over it. Instead, it's designed to punish laggy moves.
In the air, this move will knock the enemy a short distance at 25 degrees, dealing 4% damage. Excellent for harrassing enemies off-stage.
This move is Rex's best recovery option, as it has a longer range than any other tether grab. It is able to latch onto the ledge, even in the blast zone. However, if Rex is too low, this move will not work. The range at which he can tether recover is between 50 and -50 degrees.
• Pummel: Rex pummels the enemy with a Knuckle Claw. Slightly slower than Pit's pummel. Deals 2.5% damage.
• Forward Throw (Mach Straight Punch): As the name suggests, Rex deals a straight punch of his Knuckle Claw. The enemy is send flying a short distance at 10 degrees. Afterwards, Rex can follow up with a Level-0 Blade Arte. Deals 9% damage.
The main purpose of this throw is to get the enemy away from Rex, and potentially off the stage.
• Backward Throw (Bullet Punch): Rex whirls around, taking the opponent with them, then sends them away with an energy-charged punch. Afterwards, he can follow-up with a Level-0 Blade Arte. Deals 8% damage.
The main purpose of this throw is to get the enemy away from Rex, and potentially off the stage.
• Upward Throw (Feral uppercut): With a powerful uppercut, Rex sends the enemy flying high at 80 degrees. Deals 8% damage.
The main purpose is to get the enemy in the air so Rex can juggle them. Very useful for enemies whom have slow aerials. Unfortunately, there are no guaranteed follow-ups.
• Downward Throw (Grand Smash): Rex pins the enemy to the ground, jumps, then delivers a descending punch. Then enemy is launch upwards slightly at 70 degrees. Afterward, Rex can follow up with a grounded Vortex Edge, an up-tilt, or a short hop forward/neutral air. Deals 9% damage.
Like many down-throws, the main purpose of this throw is to chain into other attacks.
8). Author's Notes:
• I had originally planned to avoid using other Blades for Rex's moveset, so as to not drag attention away from his main weapon, the Aegis Sword. However, this barrier greatly hindered mine imagination. In the end, I decided that the more tools I have to work with, the better things I can build. So I restarted the moveset from scratch, this time first deciding the focus of Rex's playstyle: stage control. After that, it became much easier for me to devise unique moves that would chain into each other.
• I considered giving the air version of Anchor Shot a Meteor Effect, but in the end thought that would be overpowered.
I like Rex's grab having a slow startup unlike most other grabs and instead giving him an excellent jab, it's an interesting trade off and allows Rex's grab to have the best range possible. I wish the throws were a bit more interesting, Anchor Shot was such a cool grab just having him punch seemed kinda meh. I liked how you incorporated the other weapons into the set but I wish the weapons were more varied and more a solid part of his set. I also feel while neutral B is too complex, the other specials aren't interesting enough. This may just be my preference but I would have split all the neutral specials into all of the specials, IE the Level 0 is on NSpec, the S Spec is Level 3, D Spec is level 2, and U Spec is level 4, while Shield Special (An input introduced in Ultimate) would switch Blades. That is, again, probably more of a preference thing so I'd like to hear others thoughts on this set.
Also, I feel as if Rex's speed is a bit high for having moves with average lag that can kill at 100%? I do like him being a short heavyweight but I feel he should be just a bit slower, and maybe worse in the air. As a final thing, I'm not a huge fan of his down B just being Vision. Overall the set has interesting ideas like incorporating the other weapons, Pyra and Mythra not being too attatched to Rex, his cool grab, etc. and with some polish it could be really cool.
Admittedly, the throws were rushed, so I'm definitely adding meat to those. As for the different weapons, I actually considered incorporating the Twin Rings in his aerials, but in the end stuck with the Aegis Sword. Also, down-smash originally involved the Greataxe. But after hearing your input, I think I'll reconsider. I'll see if I can find ways to make Rex's other specials more unique, in terms of effect--especially Foresight. Lastly, I might lessen Rex's overall speed a little. Before I even started the moveset, I had decided that Rex would be a small tank whom, like Metal Mario, would be a real pain to get off the stage, but once off-stage, gravity takes care of the rest.
Unique Mechanic: Essence Collection
Any Dehaka player worth their salt would know that his ability to collect Essence plays a heavy factor into his play style. By using Neutral-B, you grab an opponent above 100% damage and Instantly KO them, taking their Essence. When Dehaka collects Essence, he gains the most proficient attribute of that character. Collect Sonic’s Essence and you gains his speed. Collect Jigglypuff’s Essence and you gain her aerial mobility. Collect Little Mac’s Essence and you gain his attack speed.
However, collecting Essence has its limits: Dehaka loses those changes when he’s KO’d, he doesn’t gain the changes made to the character through items such as the Mushroom and the Bunny Hood, and some other forms of stat changes won’t affect the Essence collected. For example, you cannot evolve the buffs induced by Monado Arts or Deep Breathing. Collecting Essence also doesn’t give Dehaka exclusive mechanics such as Ryu’s inputs or Lucario’s Aura. The move itself has terrible end lag at 33 frames, and collecting Essence won’t work if the player isn’t above the Danger Zone threshold. Additionally, similarly to Kirby-on-Kirby inhaling, Dehaka-on-Dehaka collection will result in no improvement. If a player’s Essence is already taken, Dehaka will not gain the buffs a second time. Each bit of Essence collected will also heal Dehaka for 7% damage.
Specials:
Neutral-B: Devour: This is a command grab that only deals 9% damage on hit. Dehaka grabs the opponent and devours one in one gulp. When below the threshold, Dehaka will then spit the opponent out while he swallows if above the threshold. Devouring them give Dehaka Essence, which is described above. This move doesn’t have much range, at one Olimar’s worth, and is easy to predict and punish. The slash has some low knockback, making this a good combo starter.
Essence is classified as a special mechanic, but it's only utilized in the neutral special, and I would argue that it's an extension of that move itself and not an intrinsic mechanic such as Lucario's Aura. My logic in this is that I don't consider Kirby's state of having copied an opponent's move a "special mechanic". My question in regards to this is you mention that Dehaka gains nothing from devouring another Dehaka as Kirby gains nothing from inhaling another Kirby, but what happens if Kirby inhales Dehaka? Can he collect essence from another foe in the fight if it's 3+ players and the Kirby player devours them? If you could clear this up I'd appreciate it! Also, solid moveset by the way, I quite enjoyed reading it.
Essence is classified as a special mechanic, but it's only utilized in the neutral special, and I would argue that it's an extension of that move itself and not an intrinsic mechanic such as Lucario's Aura. My logic in this is that I don't consider Kirby's state of having copied an opponent's move a "special mechanic". My question in regards to this is you mention that Dehaka gains nothing from devouring another Dehaka as Kirby gains nothing from inhaling another Kirby, but what happens if Kirby inhales Dehaka? Can he collect essence from another foe in the fight if it's 3+ players and the Kirby player devours them? If you could clear this up I'd appreciate it! Also, solid moveset by the way, I quite enjoyed reading it.
