BLACK DOOM
Game of Origin: Shadow the Hedgehog
Black Doom is the powerful ruler of the alien species known as the Black-Arms. He has no legs and three eyes. His top eye can detach from his body, in which case it can communicate Black Doom’s thoughts with other beings, and his free-floating eye is called Doom’s Eye. Black Doom’s biggest contribution to the Sonic series has been giving Professor Gerald Robotnik a sample of his blood to use in the creation of Shadow the Hedgehog, effectively making Black Doom into Shadow’s father. Black Doom is the originator of the “Chaos Control” technique, and as such, can utilize to far greater levels than even Shadow, forming his own special energy attacks with it.
OVERVIEW
Black Doom’s game plan has a lot of comboing involved. However, this isn’t merely “AA Fair”. Black Doom can also use certain moves in conjunction with each other in order to create his own little advantageous positions on the battlefield. Black Doom could be described as a “Devil May Cry” character, as his play style encourages players to create their own custom combos and techniques, making him a very fun character in both casual and competitive play.
STATS
Movement Speed: 6/10
Traction: 10/10 (Since he doesn’t have legs, how can he slide?)
Attack Speed: 5/10 (Most moves are very fast coming out, though he has lag on the end so that he can be countered, so it evens out)
Attack Strength: 3/10 (Worse than average knockback on many moves, though there are a few stronger ones so that Black Doom can actually KO his enemies)
Range: 8/10 (While he doesn’t have many true projectiles, the way some of his moves function mean that he can be nearly anywhere and still damage you)
Priority: 10/10 (95% of his moves are disjointed, and the non-disjointed one also tend to have good priority)
Weight: A little on the light side, a product of his floating.
Jump Strength: 3/10 (He doesn’t really jump, he just floats higher)
Fall Speed: 1/10 (Floatiest character ever. Though considering that’s all the guy does to move around, I suppose it makes sense)
Size: Now, if he had legs, he’d be Ike’s height but a little larger, mainly due to the heavy robes he’s wearing. So imagine that, but he’s floating off the ground without any legs. He floats high enough so that he can see eye-to-eye with Ike, and the tails of his robe fall to almost touching the ground, so it’s not too visualize. Note that his robe tails cannot be hit for damage, and usually have rag-doll physics as Black Doom moves around.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
“Legless”: As said earlier, Black Doom does not have legs and simply floats above the ground. Because he floats high enough that he would have to lower his entire height in distance in order to be touching the ground, he has some different features than other characters who stand on the ground or float just off it.
Firstly, Black Doom does not slide at all, even on ice. Next, his body is high enough off the ground that low hitting attacks might just pass under him. What might take some time to get used to is that when Black Doom falls, he has to actually make contact with the ground as opposed to just stopping when he reaches his floating-height. Afterwards, he will immediately rise to his standard height. Finally, Black Doom cannot crouch. He still has a down-tilt, but there’s no special stance he does it from.
Pros:
Lots of disjointed moves
Has some interesting combo potential
Many moves have favorable startup lag
Excellent “range”
Long distance recovery
Good grab range with a grab that can KO
Floating actually does something other than cosmetics
Cons:
Several moves can work against Black Doom
Most moves are weak on their own
Many moves have punishable end lag
Not very heavy
Recovery is not hard to defend against
MOVE SET
Standard Attacks
A: “Hand Clap”: Black Doom simply claps his hands together in front of himself. This move has abysmal priority but decent range, and does 4%. Overall, you’re only using this move so that you can immediately go to the second part of the neutral combo.
AA: “Dimensional Shove”: Black Doom spreads his arms apart from their ending position in the first hit, creating a distortional rift in the area directly in front of him. It’s about the same size as jigglypuff and its appearance is simply a strange screen distortion in the area it takes up. While this does no damage, it is disjointed and deals average knockback, making it a good spacing tool. Not FLUDD knockback, actual knockback. It also reflects projectiles. How’s that for a handy neutral combo!
>A: “Chaos Time Bomb”: Black Doom snaps his fingers on one of his hands. This snap is insanely quick, having virtually no startup or end lag. After Black Doom snaps his fingers, some sparkles can be seen in the area Black Doom is “standing” in. Black Doom can move once his snap is over, which is good, because after 2 seconds pass, the sparkly area explodes in a purple colored explosion that does 6% with low knockback, and Black Doom himself can be damaged by this. The explosion is disjointed. Note that Black Doom cannot perform the move again until the current inter-dimensional bomb goes off.
VA: “Ground Searcher”: This move is named after the Snake Searcher in Megaman 3, so naturally it has a similar function. Upon pressing the A button, Black Doom spreads his arms and a small black portal appears on the ground directly below him. Now, if you simply tap A, the portal will just explode in a little blueish blast that does 5% with low knockback and is disjointed. Of course, this would never hit anyone. However, if you press and hold A, the portal starts to travel along the ground at a medium speed. Let go of A to detonate it. It travels along the ground like a hot-head and can go as long as you’d like before detonating it, but if Black Doom is damaged beforehand the portal just disappears. Virtually no startup lag, with below average end lag.
^A: “Trace Out Your Death”: Black Doom starts concentrating as a little yellow sparkle appears at his mid-section. For the next two seconds, you can move the sparkle around in any direction, and its speed is such that it could travel 1/3 of battlefield in that time. While it moves around, it leaves behind a thin purple line marking the path it has traveled. After the two seconds are up, the entire path explodes in another purple disjointed blast, dealing 5% with below average knockback. This one cannot damage Black Doom, which is good since he cannot move while creating this path. If you continuously move the “cursor” over the same area, the damage in that spot will stack-up, but the knockback will not stack.
Now, if you’d like, you can press the A button at any time during the preparation phase to instantly end the move and detonate whatever path is there. In this case the damage does not change but the explosion does no knockback or hit stun. In either case the move has above average end lag as Black Doom cannot move again until the explosion clears, though the move starts-up pretty much instantly. As you’d expect this move has many applications. Form a barrier around Black Doom, create a nasty edge guarding trap, or simply have a long range disjointed attack.
Dash Attack: “Bull Charge”: Black Doom continues moving at the same speed as his dash, but he lowers his head and tilts it sideways so that his horns are on the same axis as the playing field. As long as you hold A, he continues moving like this until he falls off a ledge. If you come in contact with anyone with your head lowered, they will take 5% and be carried along on Black Doom’s horns with no chance of escape. This is a grab. Black Doom can theoretically catch all three opponents in a free-for-all in one use, but be careful not to go off the ledge, as the enemies are then freed and can simply recover.
If you let go of A during the charge, Black Doom swings his head back to normal position, popping foes that are either already caught or now hit by Black Doom’s long horns into the air, taking 7% with low knockback. Black Doom enters this attack very quickly, but has average end lag as he exits.
Smash Attacks
FSmash: “Portal Blade”: Black Doom holds out one hand as a tall black portal appears directly in front of himself. It’s about the same size as Captain Falcon. After a few moments, a large red energy blade bursts from the portal and goes about 1 one character length forwards, though it never fully leaves the portal. It is disjointed and deals 9% with average knockback.
Now, if you charge the move, nothing happens unless you charge all the way. In this case, the blade does no true knockback, just hit stun, as a second energy blade will strike as the first one is disappearing, doing the same damage as the first, and this one will do the actual knockback. The move has average startup and below average end lag.
DSmash: “Swift Strike”: Black Doom spreads his arms and says "On guard, swift strike!" as a purple energy disk appears on the ground in front of him, lying flat while spinning (What?! No portal?!) After a few moments, it flies forwards at a good speed, and if it hits someone, they take 12% (18% charged) and above average knockback. The primary problem with this move is that is has above average startup and end lag. As you’ve probably guessed, the disk is disjointed.
A special feature of this move is that the energy disk will ricochet off of surfaces it hits at 45 degree angles, until it disappears. The disk lasts from .9 seconds to 3 full seconds, depending on how long you charge, so this can be a useful move to control space. However, if the disk ends up returning and hitting Black Doom, he will take the damage and knockback, so be careful.
USmash: “Rubble Barricade”: Black Doom does an underhand motion with one arm as a piece of rubble lifts from the ground and floats in place in front of Black Doom. The rubble is the size of Jigglypuff. Depending on how long you charged, the rubble floats there for 4-7 seconds. It effectively forms an obstacle that both yourself and your opponents need to either get around or destroy, as it blocks all attacks and cannot be moved through. The rubble will break apart after taking 16 damage. Black Doom can perform this move as many times as he’d like, but because it takes a few moments for him to raise each new barricade, he’ll never be able to have more than 2-3 on the stage at a time (and of course, the barricades can work against you). Virtually no startup or end lag, but the rubble can be damaged as Black Doom raises it, and if he’s hit before getting it into place, the rubble falls to the ground and breaks. Note that the rubble is floating above the ground it was taken from, so low hitting attacks might be able to reach to the other side, such as Black Doom’s own DSmash.
Aerial Attacks
Nair: “Hand Sparks”: Black Doom faces the camera, spreads his arms, and emits a small blue colored blast of energy from both hands. It’s disjointed and does 7% with below average knockback. After doing this, you may repeatedly tap the A button for Black Doom to float in place and start to rapidly fire little blue sparks from both hands that are also disjointed. Each spark does 2% with small knockback like an A infinite. This can be done indefinitely. The overall move has very little startup lag but average end lag.
Fair: “Chain Grapple”: Black Doom faces the camera and swings one of his arms backwards (or what direction would be backwards if he was facing normally), which causes the spear-like chain on his robes to swing back with it, going a little past his body in its arc. Because the chain is so long, it can actually hit opponents behind Black Doom as this happens, dealing 5% with below average knockback, and the chain is - you guessed it - disjointed.
After doing this, Black Doom then thrusts that same arm “forwards”, which cause the chain to lash out in that direction. This has great range and anyone hit by this take 4% with no knockback but slight amount of hit stun.
After doing this, He then quickly retracts his arm, causing the chain to pull in back to his body, and anyone hit by this part take 5% and are pulled in to Black Doom with the chain. Because the move has virtually no end lag, this is an excellent move to combo into other attacks such as Nair. In addition, the move doesn’t really have startup lag either, as the startup portion can still technically harm opponents. The main weakness of this move is that Black Doom can’t really use it on an enemy who is close and in front of him, as the initial backswing would not hit the opponent. Nonetheless, this is a key part of Black Doom’s arsenal, and he shows that his wardrobe has just as much function as flash. Note that despite the appearance of this move, it CANNOT be used as a tether recovery.
Bair: “Retreat Shove”: Black Doom thrusts both arms forwards, creating a distortion similar in appearance to the one in his AA attack. It even keeps the disjointedness and the projectile reflection properties of the AA one! However, this one is only half as large, and does below average knockback, though it actually does damage, 6% at that. The force of the dimensional rift is so strong that Black Doom actually ends up being pushed 1/4 of battlefield backwards as though he was hit by wind. Very little startup lag with average end lag.
Uair: “Flame Clap”: Black Doom faces the camera and spreads his arms as two small black portals appear directly next to each hand. After a moment, He claps his hands above himself, causing a stream of fire to flow upwards out of each portal, and arcing to meet each other at the center point horizontally, connecting a small distance above Black Doom’s head. At this spot, the fire turns a deeper shade of red. The fire is disjointed. Hitting the fire streams at a point other than their meeting point does 6% with low knockback, but hitting the meeting point does 14% with good vertical knockback. If Black Doom is damaged before clapping, the portals disappear. Black Doom’s clap is mainly cosmetic, and does not harm enemies.
Now, the important thing to note about this move is that while Black Doom continues on his current momentum while doing this move, the portals stay where they were created. This gives the move some interesting uses. For example, you can use it while falling straight down and there’s no way for an enemy above you to hit you as you’re too far below where the attack actually connects. However, this also means that you should NEVER use this as you jump towards a foe, as you’ll simply fly forwards as the attack is left behind, which would make you very vulnerable indeed. The move has very little startup lag, with average end lag.
Dair: “Counter-port”: Black Doom crosses his arms for .4 seconds. If he is hit during this time, he instantly teleports straight down to the ground directly underneath himself and takes no damage. If there is no ground underneath him, Black Doom goes to the height of the closest piece of ground. Virtually no startup lag, and the end lag is different depending on the situation. If he teleports to the ground, there is below average end lag. If he doesn’t teleport or there is no ground, this has above average end lag.
Special Moves
B: “Meteor Storm”: Black Doom slowly move his arms in a circle as five small black portals appear around him like the points of a star. When all five appear, which takes the same amount of time as a Warlock Punch to charge, Black Doom thrusts one arm forwards, and small meteorites fire out of the portals one at a time in quick succession.
The meteorites travel at a good speed and “lock-on” to the opponent. By that I mean that they aim for the point in which the opponent was when they fired. If there are multiple enemies, the meteors aim for the nearest one. While this means that a constantly moving foe should be able to dodge all of the meteorites somewhat easily, this move is not meant to be used by itself, but with other move as well, mainly the VB (see below) in order to make it more difficult for the foe to doge either the meteorites or the other attack.
Now, the meteorites have great priority (ZOMG not disjointed!), and if they hit, do 5% with low knockback, so that other meteorites have an easier time hitting their mark. While this seems pathetic, considering the high startup lag and that it’s not incredibly difficult to dodge the meteors, Black Doom does have one ace up his sleeve for this move. While the meteors are firing, Black Doom can actually move left and right with the control stick, but not jump. The portals will move with Black Doom. You can use this to close the distance between yourself and your opponent, making it more difficult to dodge the meteorites, or you can retreat, using the meteors as cover. Another saving grace is that this move has very little end lag, so you can approach with this attack and use the last meteor to provide cover for your next attack.
>B: “Rubble Tornado”: Black Doom spreads his arms and spins around, creating a purple whirlwind of Chaos Control energy around himself. This whirlwind has similar size and priority to a certain sonic-boom inducing tornado made by a little blue knight, and if it hits you, you take 2% but are caught in the tornado for multiple hits. Fortunately, the move only lasts for about .5 seconds, so the most this move can do is 10% (2% for every .1 seconds), and when it ends you take below average knockback. Black Doom also cannot move while performing this attack. Very little startup lag with average end lag.
If this move is performed in the ground, Black Doom’s tornado causes small bits of rubble to fly out of the ground and travel on a low arc a short distance forwards. These have good priority and do 4% with low knockback if they connect, but won’t knock you out of the tornado if you’re caught, adding more damage to the move. If performed in the air, a little small wind current blows in the direction Black Doom’s facing that travels two lengths forwards, pushing enemies back. He does not enter free fall after the move is finished, but he cannot sweet spot the edge while performing this move.
^B: “Doom’s Eye”: Black Doom phases off the screen, but Doom’s Eye is still there, floating in the spot where he was resting in his eye socket. For the next 3 seconds, you can move Doom’s Eye in any direction, and he moves as fast as pit’s ^B. You cannot attack during this move, but Doom’s Eye has super armor, making it easy to get back to the stage. However, Black Doom enters free fall after he phases back in, and he has above average end lag when he lands. On the bright side, the move has below average startup lag.
VB: “Holo-clone”: Black Doom crosses his arms and concentrates as a green aura begins to form around him. After the same amount of time as falcon punch’s startup lag passes, Black Doom may immediately be controlled again as he has a green tinted transparent hologram floating along with him. The hologram is overlapping Black Doom, not following behind him. If Black Doom is hit before the hologram is formed, it disappears. Additionally, if Black Doom is hit before utilizing the clone, it disappears as well.
Now, just what purpose does this thing do? It actually does the centerpiece of Black Doom’s arsenal! You may keep the holo-clone as long as you’d like before you either get hit or use another attack. When you next attack, the holo-clone will detach and do it instead of the real Black Doom. Black Doom himself can continue on his own without any pause when he gives an order to the clone. What this means is that Black Doom is pretty much guaranteed a combo-op if the clone connects! If the clone is damaged while performing the move (i.e. you tell it to do FSmash, and it’s hit during the startup lag) it is instantly destroyed. The hologram phases off the screen after completing its move. Black Doom cannot create a new one until the current one disappears.
Now, at this point, I’d like to go over just how the clone does some of Black Doom’s weirder moves. Okay, first off, All Smashes are simply performed without charging. The aerials are also easy to understand, the hologram just does the move as if you c-sticked it.
-The clone will automatically attempt the full AA combo
- For the VA, the clones will hold it for 1 second
-^A, the clone will move it in a straight line upwards
-Interestingly, the clone will acknowledge if you hold the A button for the dash attack.
-For Meteor Storm, the clone will never move while the meteors are firing
-For all grabs, the clone will automatically perform the Uthrow, as it is the least complicated of Black Doom’s grab moves.
-When the clone performs Doom’s Eye, it will just float in place, since it’s not like it recovering would do anything
-Lastly, performing this move again will cancel the current holo-clone and Black Doom will attempt to make a new one. There’s never a time in which you would want to do this, so don’t!
As a special note, if you perform the Final Smash with a clone, it will automatically disappear as the real Black Doom performs the move.
Final Smash
“Devil Doom”: Black Doom starts to rise into the air and floats towards the center of the arena as he starts to become enveloped by a sphere of multi-colored energy. The sphere eventually moves to the center of the area and starts to grow very large. Eventually, it explodes into a shockwave doesn’t harm opponents, but who cares, because Devil Doom’s here!
Now, Devil Doom simply flies in place in the center of the arena using his mighty wings. He is invincible. As you can see in the image, he has two heads, one on the front and one on the back. This is important to learning how to use this final smash. Normally, Devil Doom’s arms simply fall to the side. However, if you hold left or right on the control stick, his arms will bend in that direction to be used by that head. While doing this, you may press several buttons to activate a few different attacks.
A: “Rubble Barrage”: Devil Doom lifts his arms as 5-7 pieces of rubble like the ones in his USmash rise in front of the active head. For the most part, they function like the ones that move, however, these don’t have a time limit. They only disappear after being destroyed or you press the A button again with this head active. In that case, Devil Doom does a throwing motion with one hand and all of the rubble flies towards the closest foe at a decent speed, and if they hit without being destroyed, deal 16% and good knockback.
B: “Laser Meteors”: Several meteors materialize appear lined up vertically in front of the active head. After 1.5 seconds, they fire a thin yellow laser straight ahead at a decent speed, and if it hits, does 20% with average knockback. The meteors can be destroyed by dealing 10 damage, and will automatically disappear after firing their laser.
Shield: “Inferno Breath”: Devil Doom exhales a blast of fire from the active heads mouth, curving slightly downwards. It’s a thick blast, about as thick as Lucario’s aura storm, and is disjointed. If you are caught in it, you become trapped and take 10% a second, and the fire lasts for 2 seconds.
Devil Doom is used just like his regular form, by combining attacks into a powerful assault. Use Rubble Barrage to screw up spacing as you force them to jump into Inferno Breath, using the time they’re trapped to set up Laser Meteors. Of course, that’s just one idea. After 14 seconds, Devil Doom phases off the screen and Black Doom reappears in his place.
Grabs
Grab Animation: Black Doom reaches out with one hand to grab his foe. If he connects, the opponent is “held” slightly in front of Black Doom’s hand by way of psychic powers from Chaos Control.
Grab Attack: “Mind Slam”: Black Doom lifts the enemy off the ground slightly and his hand starts to emit yellow light. You can now move the control stick around to fling your enemy in any direction you please until they break free. You can slam them into other things for 4% damage, and if that other thing happens to be another player, they too will take 4% with small knockback. However, once you do this move, you cannot cancel it, so don’t think you can just slam your foe into the ground over and over and then just throw ‘em for even more damage.
Fthrow: “Hyper Flick”: Black Doom flicks one of his fingers forwards with a small green burst of energy emitting from it. This only deals 1% to the enemy, but they take good forwards knockback. A decent KO move, but you’ll have to build up damage via other means first.
Bthrow: “Chain Grab”: Black Doom motions with his other hand to swing his spear-chain into his opponent, and then motions again to slam them backwards. Normally this does 7% with average knockback. However, you can press the A button just as your opponent is slammed to slam them back to the front for an additional 5%.
Now, here’s where the tricky part begins. If you attempt the second strike, but your opponent presses the A button in the same window, they break free of the chain and Black Doom is stunned for .5 seconds, enough for a quick attack to hit him. If your opponent tries to break the chain and you don’t attempt the combo, their efforts only serve to tighten the grip of the chain as they’re slammed, and they take an additional 2%. This provides an interesting mind-game. Do you want to go for the combo-hit or would you rather see if the enemy foolishly tries to counter something that never comes? If neither of you do anything, the first slam just does its normal damage and knockback.
Uthrow: “Mind Toss”: Black Doom lifts the opponent over his head with Chaos Control and starts to form green energy around the opponent. After a moment, the energy bursts into green flames and the opponent is sent upwards with 7% and average knockback. While the energy is forming you can tilt the control stick left or right to tilt the energy formations 45 degrees in the direction you indicate. The knockback will then be angled in that direction.
Dthrow: “Polarity Pulse”: Black Doom rises slightly higher as he carries his foe with himself. The two combatants then float in place a short distance apart as a grey energy ring forms around each of them and begins to shrink.
Before the ring shrinks to nothing, both Black Doom and his opponent must press either the A or B button to set their polarity. After the grey rings disappear, energy waves fire from both combatants in the color of their polarity, white for A, black for B. The grey rings take .7 seconds to disappear
This is where the fun begins. If Black Doom is able to pick a DIFFERENT polarity than his opponent, an effect occurs depending on what polarity he chose. If he chooses white, the opponent takes 12% and good knockback. If black, the opponent takes 6% but instead of knockback, is merely stunned for a brief moment, allowing for combos. Black Doom can even grab his foe again and try this move once more. However, before you scream “chain grab “(That’s the Bthrow people!), keep in mind that if Black Doom ends up choosing the SAME polarity of his opponent, he ends up taking the damage! This provides for an intricate mind-game with your opponent. You can grab them by the edge, activate this throw, and use the combo-throw instead of the KOing one, as your foolish opponent thinks you were going to KO them. Of course, only a complete moron would lose to a black wave over and over, and considering Black Doom could potentially be chain-grabbed if he screws up, it’s not worth going for a 0-death combo with this one grab. If a player does not choose a polarity they automatically lose, and if neither player chooses, both take 7% and average knockback in opposite directions.
Other Attacks
Get-up attack (front): “90-degree Sparks”: A blue aura surrounds Black Doom as 2 bolts of energy fly straight up at a below average speed. When the bolts of energy reach the height of an enemy, they turn 90 degrees towards the foe and continue moving. This only happens once. They have infinite range and decent priority, and if they hit do 5% with below average knockback. Once the bolts fire, Black Doom teleports back into his “standing” position, so if Black Doom reacts quickly enough, he can follow the bolts and potentially combo them with other attacks as well.
Get-up attack (back): “Anger Charge”: Black Doom slowly rises from his back and returns to his standing position. As he’s doing this, a red aura forms around him, and he has super armor while getting back up. Once he gets back up, the next attack he performs has the potential to do 150% damage (that means 150% of the current damage, not literally 150% damage, so put down your pitchforks please), but no increased knockback. However, he loses the charge even if the move doesn’t connect, so make it count!
Ledge attack <100%: “Side Swap”: Black Doom teleports to the other side of the platform he grabbed a hold of. He appears high in the air above the other edge, and when he reappears can immediately be controlled again. While the height he teleports to can obviously be advantageous, something to remember is that it’s high enough so that Black doom can’t simply re-grab the edge and do this attack forever to stall.
Ledge attack 100%: “Chaos Self Destruct”: Black Doom let’s go of the edge and after a moment appears directly next to the last enemy to damage him and grabs him. This all happens so fast that the opponent needs good hand-eye coordination to see the attack coming and then react. After grabbing his foe, Black Doom holds him in a bear-hug, as black energy starts forming around him. After another few moments, a black burst of energy appears, dealing the same damage and knockback of a warlock punch!
Now here’s the kicker - Black Doom also takes the same damage and knockback as his opponent! And considering he has to be at 100% in order to do this move, well, you can kiss your stock goodbye, while the enemy won’t even necessarily die if they’re at a low percent. There’s virtually no end lag if Black Doom botches his grab, because quite frankly, KOing yourself for CONNECTING with this move is enough of a detractor from using it.
STRATEGY GUIDE
Black Doom at first appears to completely bad choice for a tourney. He isn’t particularly strong, he isn’t extremely fast, and he’s got several moves which can work against himself. His projectile isn’t a very good camping tool, and his recovery is easy to defend against because it does no damage.
However, you soon realize that Black Doom is not about single hits, but rather, crazy combination attacks that either help you land one of your better moves or combine several attacks into one damaging assault. Add this to his insane amount of disjointed moves and you have a character who is far from bad, though he is an advanced character for competitive play.
The easiest combo starter to learn is the Fair. Because it has no end lag and pulls enemies in close, if you connect and don’t land you can always combo it into a Nair or Bair. Nair is better for racking up damage as if you tap A fast enough you can trap them in the rapid part before the initial attack’s knockback sends them away, while Bair’s advantage is that you can retreat while using this move. The Bair combo is a good edge guarding tool, allowing you to damage enemies while pushing yourself back to the stage.
Beyond that, Black Doom also has plenty of other “combos” you can perform. Get really close to your opponent with Meteor Storm and use the stun from the last meteorite to transition to the AA combo. Set up a >A and then back off just enough to activate the FSmash as the time bomb goes off, either adding more damage or simply using the >A to help control space. Use the rubble from USmash to provide a barrier while you use DSmash that helpfully goes low enough to pass under the barricade. Really, the sky’s the limit.
These options only increase when you use Holo-clone. Now you have what is essentially one lagless attack to do with as you please. For example, you can use the dash attack and have the real Black Doom continue dashing right behind the clone doing the dash attack, ready to strike just as the clone releases any victims you may have captured. I’m going to give you one example, figure out some more fun stuff on your own.
But of course, Black Doom isn’t only about combo attacks. Uair is the epitome of retreat moves, allowing you to escape without your opponent having any chance of interrupting the attack. Of course, this also the worst approach move ever, as you’d simply have a vulnerable Black Doom flying at his opponent (“Please hit me, inferior life forms!”) ^A is a good edge guarding move, and Meteor Storm isn’t too shabby either. His Bthrow and Dthrow are both great choices for those who love mind-games, and Fthrow is a good KO move, provided you build up damage before attempting it.
Really, it’s impossible to create a concrete strategy section for Black Doom, as that would go against the spirit of his move set. He doesn’t have one set play style; Black Doom is a character whose attacks encourage creativity, making him a character that noobs can enjoy for creating simple combos, while pros can mesmerize their opponents as they destroy their enemies with unpredictable assaults and just general thinking outside of the box. If I had to give him a play style, it would be “create your own play style”.
OTHER
Idle: Black Doom floats in place, slowly moving his arms around in a circle in front of himself. For a better visual, it looks like Algol’s idle animation in Soul Caliber IV, except Black Doom of course has no legs.
Crouch: As stated earlier, he doesn’t have a crouch.
Walk: Black Doom holds his arms a little bit apart as he moves forwards while floating.
Dash: Black Doom holds his arms to the sides and slightly behind himself as he leans forwards and quickly floats forwards
Jump: Black Doom spreads his arms as he rises to a higher elevation. Both jumps look the same.
Roll: Black Doom teleports to the place where a roll would take him.
Side Step: Black Doom spins around once
Shield: Black Doom forms a shield of blue cosmic energy around himself. Like Yoshi’s shield, it doesn’t shrink and simply blackens as it takes damage.
Air Dodge: Black Doom disappears and then reappears in a second. It’s basically what Mewtwo’s air dodge was in Melee. Hey, can’t let that go to waste now can we?
Dizzy: Black Doom holds his face with one hand and mutters, “Curse you…”
Sleep: Black Doom hunches forwards slightly as his arms simply fall to his sides and he closes his eyes.
Wiimote Noise: “Now, prepare to die!”
Star KO: “Imposiblllllllllllle!”
Kirby Hat: Kirby’s normal face disappears, and in its place are Black Doom’s three eyes. Kirby also gains Black Doom’s horns and the little spines on his head. When Black Kirby uses Meteor Storm, he is still allowed to move during the firing phase, he just walks instead of floating.
Logo: Sonic’s Logo
Win Music: Sonic’s Win Music. Actually, screw that, if Meta Knight can have his own win theme then so can Black Doom! -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRvqyHV9yF4
Credits Theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPfd-AWmHVo
Special Animations
Entrance: Black Doom phases into the battlefield and gets into his fighting stance.
Taunt1: Black Doom slowly raises both arms to the sides and laughs
Taunt2: Black Doom creates a small sphere of yellow energy in front of himself and says “Look what I can do!”
Taunt3: Black Doom pulls out a gun, looks at it, and throws it away, saying “This is what Shadow had to resort to using?”
Win1: Black Doom simply laughs at his opponents
Win2: Black Doom is seen holding Black-Arms swords in both hands, and he does a little sword demonstration. Afterwards, he says “Even I use swords more than the Great King of Evil!”
Win3: Black Doom is seen holding up his arms and chuckling as little Black-Arms larvae are crawling around underneath him. The larvae look similar to like-likes from Zelda.
Win against Shadow the Hedgehog: Black Doom points one hand forwards and says, “I created you… you lost before the battle began.”
Loose: Black Doom looks around and teleports a Black-Arms soldier onto the screen. Afterwards Black Doom teleports away, and the soldier is left there as it starts to slowly clap, not really understanding what’s going on.
Loose against Shadow the Hedgehog: Black Doom himself is actually clapping, pleased that his son is a worthy creation.
Smash Taunt - On Black Comet Stage (see below)
*When preparing the smash taunt, Black Doom crosses his arms and closes his eyes as he concentrates. Afterwards, he goes back to normal as an RPG-style text box appears on the bottom of the screen with mug shots of himself and Shadow on the sides*
Black Doom: Behold! This door is linked to my minions! When Sonic and his friends get here, they will have to kill them all to open the door.
Shadow: Fascinating. So, how do we get in?
Black Doom: You see, when Sonic and his friends get here, they will have to kill the minions to open the door.
Shadow: I understand, but how do we get in?
Black Doom: You see, when Sonic and his friends get here, they will have to…
Shadow: Yes, but how do WE get in?!
Black Doom: You see, when Sonic and his friends...
Shadow: Arrrrrrg! *Mug-shot disappears*
Black Doom: Wait, where are you going? You traitor! *mug-shot and text box disappear*
*If Black Doom is KOd during the conversation, Shadow says “Well that was unexpected!” before the display disappears*
Alt Colors
1) Default. Also serves as red team
2) Red parts become green (green team)
3) Red parts become blue (blue team)
4) All black. Even the robes become a dark gray. Evil!
5) Black Doom swaps the red and black parts.
6) Black parts become white. Now he’s White Doom!
Snake Codec
Snake: Colonel there's a big black creatire levitating in front of me. I don't know how to describe it. Seems not of this world.
Colonel: That's Black Doom. He is a powerful alien overlord that rules over a species called the Black-Arms
*Black Doom's voice*: Snake... I can help you achieve your potential... join me...
Snake: Did you hear something?
Colonel: Nothing but your voice, Snake. Anyays, Black Doom is capable of producing powerful energy attacks thanks to a technique called Chaos Control. He can even manipulate the space time continuim.
*Black Doom's voice*: You are not man... you are beast... just a mere clone... you will be wrung dry and discarded...
Snake: Okay, there is someone hacking onto the codec channel. I think we need to stop this conversation Colonel before we're compromised.
Colonel: I don't hear a thing Snake. Maybe the stress is getting to you. When you're finished with Black Doom get back to base, you deserve some rest.
*Black Doom's voice*: Don't let the humans use you like this... achieve your true strength... SNAKE!
note: If Snake is KOd Black Doom's voice is heard overlapping with Colonel for "Snake? Snake? Snaaaaaaaaaaaake!"
Unlock Info
How to unlock: Complete classic mode on very hard with Shadow the Hedgehog or play 600 vs matches (That’s right melee fans, I’m making you earn the combo-oriented character!)
Unlock Message: “Black Doom, the alien overlord, has joined the Brawl!”
STAGE - BLACK COMET
Sorry, I cannot find a good pic of the Black Comet interior.
Ah yes, Black Doom’s home base if of course his stage.
The black areas are solid platforms. The blue areas are drop-through platforms. The green square is the camera boundaries. KO zones are simply the edges of the picture.
While the arena has no special hazards, Black-Arms and GUN soldiers will be fighting in the background. This is not scripted; the combatants actually have their own simplistic AI to kill each other perpetually as backup for both factions constantly appear.
Overall, a pretty simple stage in terms of design, being a good competitive stage while being more interesting than battlefield. While the stage has walk-offs, they’re so close to the KO zones already that if you’re standing on one and allow Dedede to also land on it and grab you, you deserve to be KOd.
Music
I Am - Shadow the Hedgehog Main Theme
All Hail Shadow
What I’m Made Of
Sonic 3 - Final Boss OC Remix
Sonic 2 Final Boss Metal Version
Doomsday Zone Remix
Final Fortress
META GAME PROGRESS
Backroom Social Group
Combos
*wip*
Matchups
*wip*