So since I have so much free time over my summer break, I decided to take a looksie of some of my old, unfinshed sets...and in this case, finish one! Yea, poor Helios actually was only missing around 4 moves and a playstyle section before he was forgotten, and since what was finished was lookin' pretty cool to me, I decided to give him his well-deserved time in the spotlight and complete part 2 of the Leviathan Guardians! Though to complete the set I'd have to make an Omega Ridley set from scratch...
Please keep in mind this set is basically 2 MYMs old, so don't expect it to be some amazing top 50 shoe-in. Having said that, enjoy!
THE SECOND LEVIATHAN GUARDIAN
HELIOS
Helios was once a robot caretaker on a Chozo sky-station floating about in the atmosphere of the planet Elysia. One day the Chozo left, but the robots living there forged an alliance with the Galactic Federation. The federation would use the station for research, and the robots would have a continued reason for existence by maintaining the site. However, once a Phazon Leviathan crashed into the surface of Elysia, all the robots were corrupted and became violent, and the station was abandoned. Eventually the Space Pirates found it and used it as a temporary base…
Helios himself was charged with protecting the core of the Leviathan thanks to his ability to control bat-like machines known as swarmbots. Helios is also implied to be the leader of all the robots living on the sky-station as there are computer logs generally believed to have been written by him. Based on these logs, Helios is depicted as being a noble and trustworthy being before phazon corrupted him. Samus acquires the Phazon Missile upon defeating Helios, which allows her to fire ridiculously powerful missiles of doom that would be broken if not for taking up half of an energy tank to fire.
In Brawl, Helios has well-rounded set of core stats. He’s about 1.3x the same size as Jigglypuff and average in weight. His ground movement speed is average and he has slightly below average traction since he floats. All of his jumps are average and he is fairly floaty with good air control. He has 2 midair jumps.
Music:
Helios Fight Theme
Metroid Prime 3: Steamlord
Metroid Prime 3: Ghor Battle
Metroid Prime 3: Skytown
COMMANDING SWARMBOTS
Ah yes, Swarmbots, Helio’s minions that he needs for most of his offensive and defensive maneuvers. Helios has brought a whopping 100 swarmbots with him into Brawl, split up into
20 groups of 5 that, well, swarm all around him rather closely, with most going into the foreground and background to obscure Helios’ position. Each group is about the size of a purple Pikmin so you can imagine how small each individual unit must be. Each swarmbot group will be destroyed in a single hit, and they adjust their positions so that there is always swarmbots in Helios’ position in the z-axis to take hits for their leader. When there are less groups around than needed to completely cover Helios, they will default to his front.
While this strange “shield” is all well and good, what’s more important is how Helios can command his swarmbots for attacks. All swarmbot attacks are either performed while “attached” to Helios or by having them “detach” from him to perform their own attack where it was initiated. All attacks have a certain number of swarmbot groups that they “require”. However, Helios can perform any of his swarmbot attacks with as few as 1 group, making the requirement simply mean the maximum amount of groups it can take when possible. Like with Olimar, using attacks with no swarmbos available results in Helios performing the animation with no hitbox (so don’t do it!). To make things even easier for the player to manage their swarmbots, there are 2 counters atop his HUD that represent how many swarmbot groups he has attached to him, and how many there are on the stage in total. Helios can replenish lost swarmbots with his down-special.
When swarmbot groups detach from Helios, sometimes they will return to him on their own after completing an attack, but other times Helios will need to manually call them back with his neutral special (see that move below for more details). Whenever swarmbots attack, the group(s) has a glow to indicate how much damage they can resist; blue are immune to anything below 15 damage, green die with 10 or more, and red are killed by anything. So without further ado, let’s get to some swarmin’!
SPECIALS
Down Special > Swarmbot Factory
Helios crosses all four of his arms across his front as phazon energy begins to build up in the center of the stage. Helios is vulnerable for .4 seconds during this move, but when he is controllable again the phazon continues to build up for another 4 seconds.
Once the phazon is finished merging, a metallic structure sprouts up in the background, as large as DK.
Every 2 seconds, 3 swarmbot groups will exit the top of the structure and fly over to Helios at the speed of Captain Falcon’s dash, assuming Helios doesn’t have 20 already. Of course, it would be pretty lame if Helios just had to input for this move once and never have to use it again for the rest of the match, so there’s a red knob on the center of the structure that is in the fighting plane but can be passed through. This knob has 35 HP, and when it’s gone the entire thing falls apart, with Helios having to wait another 20 seconds before he can make a new one. Helios and his swarmbots cannot damage his own factory. In matches with multiple Helios, the other players’ factories will spread out next to each other. These factories will naturally compete with the same space that Arthas and Roller Coaster Tycoon use for their own structures, making those matchups all the more intense.
Neutral Special > Rendezvous
A red energy pulse emits from Helios that takes up an area slightly larger than his body. There is virtually no startup or end lag to this, and the pulse lasts for about .6 seconds (Helios can move around while the pulse is being emitted). Helios is essentially calling back his swarmbots in their own robotic language, and his swarmbots are EXTREMLEY responsive to the signal.
All detached swarmbots on the stage will instantly head for Helios at the speed of Captain Falcon’s dash, even canceling out of attacks to return to their leader unless otherwise stated. This move is extremely versatile and is one that you should learn ASAP. The only limiting factor with its usage is that you can only send out a new signal when the old one disappears.
Side Special > Waypoints (Detached)
When you input for the move, a small white cursor appears directly in front of Helios with next to no lag. You can move this cursor around with the control stick. Pressing the attack button to set a red-colored cursor at the position of the main one. You can place up to 10 of these that link in succession, and you can press the shield button to remove the last marker you placed. Press the jump button to cancel the move while saving the waypoints you’ve set up.
When you press the special move button in the preparation phase, Helios waves all four of his arms as a swarmbot group attached to him begins to fly single file to each point in succession at the speed of Sonic’s walk as they take on red status, and you can rapidly tap the button to keep sending groups on patrol. When they get to the last waypoint they will loop back to the first one in a perpetual cycle. Contact with a group deals
2% and flinching knockback, so if you get snagged by the first one in a long line expect to eat up a ton of damage without proper DI. This move has potentially epic levels of stage control, but remember that if you send all of your swarmbots out with this move, Helios is nearly defenseless until you call them back!
Up Special > Personal Transport (Detached)
This move uses up to 4 groups. Helios points his 2 bottom arms downwards as 4 green groups all spread out underneath him in a horizontal line. The groups will remain there for 3 seconds before returning to Helios. During this time, enemies who come in contact with them take
6% and small set vertical knockback. Helios can however, use the groups as an edgeless platform by way of magnetic pulses, assisting in recovery or to use as a temporary retreat from aggressive opponents. There is below average startup and end lag to setting-up the formation.
STANDARDS
Jab > Blade Pincers
This is one of Helios’ few attacks that he uses directly instead of with swarmbots. The front of his sphere-like body opens up to reveal two blade-like appendages concealed within. Helios begins to snip his blades together horizontally like a pair of grass-clippers, going at the rate of 5 snips per second for as long as you hold the attack button. They are the length of Meta Knight’s sword. Each snip deals
2% damage and flinching knockback, being easier than average to DI away. This move has below average startup and end lag and the blades are disjointed, making this a decent tool to defend Helios when he has no swarmbots nearby, or to pin them down when a swarmbot attack is about to strike.
Forward Tilt > Lance Thrust (Attached)
This attack uses up to 7 swarmbot groups for maximum effect. First, 3 blue groups will gather around his hand to form a “grip”. Then, 3 green groups will extend from his hand in single file to create the lance’s body, with a final red group at the very end to be the “tip”. Helios and the swarmbots mimic the startup animation of Marth’s neutral special as they thrust forwards their pseudo-lance, having average startup lag but the range of Olimar’s Up-B with 4 Purple Pikmin straight forwards. If an enemy hits the “tip” of the lance, they take
14% and horizontal knockback that KOs at 120%. Hitting the “blunt body” deals
10% with diagonal knockback that KOs at 160%. Hitting the “grip” at Helio’s hand deals
8% with knockback that KOs at 160%. Besides the damage sweet-spot, spacing is important for this move because if a swarmbot group is destroyed in the attack, all of the other groups that extended further along the lance will leave the attack and return to Helios in their default state. So basically the lance breaks, lulz. This attack has below average end lag.
Down Tilt > Spinning Whips (Attached)
This move uses up to 8 swarmbot groups. 4 groups will go to each of Helios’ bottom arms, 1 red group directly attached to his hand, 2 blue groups extending along the ground from that, and a final green group at the end. The attack tries to evenly spread the groups used for each side. Once the groups form up with below average startup lag, Helios begins to spin in place like a top, the swarmbots hitting low to the ground. The attack lasts for .5 seconds, with the green group dealing
10% with vertical knockback that KOs at 150%, the blue groups dealing
6% with vertical knockback that KOs at 200%, and the red group dealing
13% with vertical knockback that KOs at 80%. This has below average end lag. Like with the FTilt, destroying a group will cancel out the attack for the ones that extend from it.
Up Tilt > Whirling Devil (Attached)
This attack uses up to 10 swarmbot groups. Helios holds up his 2 top arms and starts to spin around like a top. As he does this, 2 blue groups appear just above his arms and start to swirl around. You can keep pressing the attack button to add up to 4 more pairs of swarmbot groups to the attack that will stack on top of each other. If you only have 1 group attached to Helios and you try to add another (or just to start this attack), then it will simply go by itself to the attack. There is .55 seconds of startup lag to this attack so you can add the groups that you want but Helios has super-armor during the startup time.
So finally, the actual attack begins. As you may have guessed, Helios and his swarmbots spinning around causes a tornado to extend from Helios’ hands to the top of the swarmbot column, staying within the swarmbots’ boundaries. This tornado sucks up enemies who are within once Kirby’s size away from it, and then the enemy is pulled towards the top, taking
1% from every swarmbot group they pass on the way (maximum of 10% if the enemy is sucked into the bottom of a full-size tornado of 10 groups). It is impossible to DI out of the tornado once stuck, and when an enemy reaches the top they are held just above it for the remaining duration of the attack (2 seconds total) before being launched with vertical knockback that KOs at 200%. The move has below average end lag
While the attack is going on, Helios can move left or right with the control stick at the speed of his regular walk. He’ll pull caught enemies along with him, so you can drag enemies into detached swarmbot groups for an effective combo attack. Destroying swarmbot groups that make up this attack will naturally shrink the tornado.
Dash Attack > Bowling Ball (Attached)
This attack uses up to 10 swarmbot groups. Helios curls up his limbs to somehow become even more of a ball than he already was as 10 green groups all gather around him to form a nice, compact sphere of death. This “ball” will roll forwards until Helios goes off the edge of the platform he is on or he smacks into a wall. Helios rolls at the speed of Wario’s dash and a collision with this formation deals
11% with horizontal knockback that KOs at 140%. There is below average startup lag to the attack, with below average end lag if Helios rolls of a platform to end it or average end lag if he collides into a wall. Destroying swarmbots that make up this attack will put holes into the ball, allowing you to strike Helios through his minion defenses.
SMASHES
Forward Smash > Hyper Missile
If Samus gets to use this weapon after killing Helios then it’s only fair that Helios gets to use it himself! Helios’ front opens up (no blades this time, sorry) as some phazon energy starts to build up in his core. After charging, a disjointed burst of phazon energy emits from his core, covering an area the size of Kirby in front of him and dealing
12% (22% charged) and KOing at 150% (120% charged). Below average startup and end lag. Don’t worry about your swarmbots, they can’t be harmed by this.
Hey! I thought there was supposed to be a missile in this attack! Well, after you completely charge, Helios doesn’t automatically release the attack. Instead, he begins to flash red as he starts up a second loop of charging!
You have to complete this entire loop to reap the benefit, otherwise he uses the “normal” fully charged attack. If you go the distance, you’re in for a treat. Helios launches a blue missile of phazon that travels as fast as Pit’s arrows until it hits something. If an enemy is caught in its path, they are “rewarded” with
40% and knockback that KOs as low as 30%! Did I mention that this missile has priority so high it may as well be disjointed? When you have to charge for 2 full seconds to use an attack, it had better be God-like!
DSmash > Hammer Time! (Attached)
This attack uses up to14 groups. Helios raises his top two arms as 2 blue groups form a “handle” and 6 blue groups bundle together to form a “head” of a hammer-like formation. As you charge, more blue groups will be added to the handle, increasing its length. If you’ve done the math, up to 4 more groups can be added to the handle’s length, increasing it significantly. After charging, Helios smashes the hammer onto the ground before him. The hammer’s head deals an impressive
14% with horizontal knockback that KOs at 90% regardless of charge, and the handle deals
7% and flinching knockback. There is average startup lag and below average end lag to the move. Destroying groups that make up the handle will cause the entire formation to fall apart and cancel, but destroying groups that make up the head will just put “dents” into it while the attack continues.
USmash > Front Lines (Detached)
This attack uses up to 3 groups. Helios crosses his two top arms as the groups involved gather in front of him. As you “charge”, a small cursor appears directly in front of Helios that you can move around with the control stick, and you can charge for as long as you’d like. When you release the charge, the swarmbots will zoom over to that location as fast as Captain Falcon’s dash and start to slowly rotate clockwise around the marked location, taking on a blue status as they do so. The cursor can mark other detached swarmbot groups so that the ones in this move will actually rotate around that group, following it if need be. Contact with the rotating swarmbots deals
7% with set knockback as far as 1/3 of battlefield, and the groups involved will keep up this defensive formation until they are destroyed or called back to Helios. There is low startup and end lag to this move.
AERIALS
Netural Aerial > Razor Discus (Attached)
Here’s a move that can potentially use up all 20 of your swarmbot groups. Helios faces the screen and floats in place as blue groups start to form a rotating circular formation around him, the circle expanding outwards as more groups join in. If you get to 16 groups, then the next 4 will be red groups that orbit closely around Helios. There is surprisingly below average startup lag to set-up this formation.
Once, the formation is, well, formed, you may move it around with the control stick at a below average speed in any direction. The formation lasts for 4 seconds. Contact with the blue groups deals
12% with knockback in the direction the group was heading that KOs at 160%. While you might think that the huge size of the circle with 16 groups makes this an amazingly spammable move, there is no hitbox in between the circle’s edge where the groups are and Helios, so enemies can just stay close to Helios the entire time and be safe from harm. While Helios has super-armor for the duration of the attack, destroying the red groups orbiting him will instantly cause the formation to cancel as Helios takes 4% with high hitstun (somehow he was using those red groups to maintain the larger circle). Destroying blue groups will shrink the formation, and if there are fewer than 8 groups in the circle, the red groups cancel out of the attack. This takes away the danger of Helios getting stunned from the red groups’ destruction but of course the range on the attack is decreased more than half from its maximum size.
Forward Aerial > Artillery (Detached)
This attack only uses 1 group. What a bargain! Helios points forwards for low lag as our brave little swarmbot group remains where Helios was when the attack was input. The group remains stationary with red status as white energy begins to form inside it and expand. After 6 full seconds a white orb of energy will have formed that is the size of the group, which is when the swarmbots fire the orb at a high speed at the nearest foe. The orb has deals
9% with flinching knockback. After the orb is fired the swarmbot groups remains where it is and begins to charge up a new shot. While this attack may appear undesirable due to the weak defense of the formation and their slow firing rate, remember that Helios is welcome to use his aerial mobility to set these up off the stage as well as use other swarmbots to defend them.
Back Aerial > Patrol Guard (Detached)
Another move that only requires 1 group. Helios points behind himself as a group takes on green status and begins to fly back and forth the distance of 1 Battlefield platform. It travels at a decent speed and contact with it deals
6% and knockback that KOs at 210%. Low startup and end lag.
Up Aerial > Rocket Launch (Detached)
This move uses up to 7 Swarmbot groups. First, Helios gathers energy before boosting upwards the height of 3 Ganondofs at a high speed. His entire body has decent priority and deals
13% with flinching knockback. There is average startup lag and low end lag to this. While he does this, 7 swarmbot groups will be left floating where Helios initiated the attack, taking on a green status. 1.5 seconds after Helios does his attack, these swarmbot groups will perform the same upwards boost in single-file, each group dealing
5% with flinching knockback to anything in their path. Once the swarmbots finish their attack, they will fly back over to Helios. Helios can also use his neutral special to call them back before they attack.
Down Aerial > Sword Beam (Attached)
This attack only needs 2 groups at maximum. Helios swings one arm downwards as 2 green groups bunch together directly in front of their leader and form a red beam of energy that extends as far as twice Luigi’s height. It fires straight ahead but the groups quickly rotate around Helios going to his underside first, the beam rotating as well. The beam deals
10% and knockback in the direction it is facing that KOs at 155%. Below average, startup lag, average end lag. If only 1 group is used in the attack, the beam is half as long.
THROWS
Grab Animation > Humanoid Form (Attached)
This can potentially use up all 20 of Helios’ swarmbot groups. Helios rises upwards as far as 5 swarmbot groups would stack on top of each other. As he does this, 5 groups extend from each of his arms to form “arms” and “legs”. These do not spread evenly; rather, Helios first forms his left leg, then the right leg, then the left and right arms. The groups closest to his actual hands are red, while all others are blue. This all happens surprisingly quickly, taking about .5 seconds to assume this form.
Helios is immobile in this form.
For each limb you have at least one group for, you will have access to a new throw, and the pummel comes free of charge! Destroying the red groups directly attached to Helios will destroy that limb, naturally. Besides removing that throw from his arsenal, if both of Helios’ “legs” are destroyed, he will fall to the ground as the formation cancels and he takes 9% upon hitting the ground. Otherwise, Helios can remain in this form until you perform his pummel, and his actual body is invincible while this formation is active. Keeping with the theme of grabs, all of these “throw” attacks will ignore shields.
Pummel > Exit Stance
Helios cancels the formation and the swarmbots involved will return to swarming around him as he is controllable again after .2 seconds. Simple but efficient at what it does.
Down Throw (Left Leg) > Furious Stomp
Helios’ lifts up the formation’s left leg and stomps it back onto the platform. This has average startup lag and deals
15% with spiking knockback to anything it hits with below average end lag. If Helios’ has enough groups for the leg to reach to the ground, it will cause a small earthquake effect like DK’s Down-Special, affecting an area the length of Luigi’s height to both sides of his foot and dealing
6% with set vertical knockback upwards the height of Mario.
Back Throw (Right leg) > Windup Punt
Helios pulls back the formation’s right leg before swiftly kicking it forwards. There is above average startup lag to the move, and you can hold back on the control stick to charge up the punt for up to 1 full second. The punt deals
12% with horizontal knockback KOing at 140% with no charge, and a full charge yields
24% with knockback KOing at 90%. When you factor in the move’s insane range if you get a full leg of 5 groups, this is a scary move indeed. Still, besides the startup lag there is also average end lag as the leg retracts, so it should be used conservatively.
Forward Throw (Left Arm) > Phazon Paunch!
Just like the name says, Helios reels back the formation’s left arm before performing a powerful thrusting punch. It deals a whopping
28% with knockback that KOs at 70%. Of course, the move has above average startup and end lag, but when you consider its range potential, power, and its shield-ignoring property, this can be an utterly vicious KO move. Just don’t miss!
Up Throw (Right Arm) > Energy Lob
Helios lifts up the formation’s right arm as an energy ball 3x the size of Kirby forms in its “hand”. It takes a full second for the energy ball to form, and then he hurls it at the nearest enemy. It travels at a slow speed but deals a respectable
12% with knockback that KOs that 140%. There is average end lag to launching the sphere.
FINAL SMASH - THE SWARM
Helios rolls around in midair as a large shriek is emmited from within his chassis, invincible the entire time. The fight continues normally for 6 seconds, but then the skies darken as an entire planet's worth of swarmbots flies in to the battlefield, covering the entire screen with the minimum amount of visiblity required to see what's going on. This swarm lasts for 10 seconds, with a non-flinching hit of 1% dealt every .2 seconds that is undodgebale but can be shielded. Helios also has effectively infinte swarmbots to use for attacks during this time while retaining a perpetually self-repairing sheild, making him next to invincible. Finally, the shrieks of so many swarmbots can really instill fear in your opponents (or annoyance depending on who you play).
While you can spam Fair and Bair to all heck during the final smash, once the FS ends any dettached swarmbots on the field, except those in play before the final smash began, will leave with the rest. Helios will also have his "available" swarmbot counter restored to 20.
PLAYSTYLE
Helios’ strength lies in his ability to play both a melee-oriented and stage-control-based strategy and mix them up as he pleases. His swarmbots are the critical element in his technique, using them both for attacks and a passive shield. Unfortunately,
since he can only have a limited amount of swarmbots on the stage at once he isn’t able to play at 100% with all of their uses at once, so it’s important to decide how much of your forces you wish to commit to different tasks in order to emerge victorious.
Let’s start with utilizing Helios’ melee attacks. Helios has amazing melee range with nearly all of his non-projectile attacks, notably his FTilt, DTilt, and DSmash. If you can space them correctly you’ll also find these move pack quite a punch, though they’re not without their weakness to offset such range and power, particularly in the speed department. However, even if your opponent tries to punish you, if you have swarmbots remaining in standby mode they’ll protect you from harm, making these attacks surprisingly safe as long as you have the resources. Utilt makes a good approaching and anti-air tool, and Dash Attack is an interesting “approach” tool against an opponent on the edge of the stage as well as a defensive mobility device. If Helios is in the air, Nair and Dair are good options thanks to covering an area all around Helios, and Uair can work as a melee attack for the first part. Overall, melee Helios wants to play a
primarily defensive game of poking with ranged attacks and punishing your opponent whenever they improperly space themselves for even more damage.
In contrast to the ground-based melee strategy, Helios wants to stick to the air when utilizing his stage control gameplan. Fair and Bair are the centerpieces to this style. They both cost just 1 swarmboth group are lagless to set-up, so when combined with Helios great air mobility can quickly have the stage covered in a cloud of mechanical bats firing projectiles and ramming into foes. You’ll want to place 1 or 2 Fair groups in remote locations so they won’t be near your opponent, then protect them with DSmash satellites to ensure their safety. With 2 protected Fair groups, you’re left with 12 groups to use in other ways, such as overwhelming your opponent with Bair groups fluttering everywhere. To make life even more miserable, be sure to mark out a confusing path with Waypoints and have groups follow that so your enemy can’t keep track of which areas of the stage will become unsafe at any given moment. Uair doubles as a stage-control device due to the groups left behind, and while it costs 7 groups to use you get these groups back when the trap has been sprung, making it a good investment. Use jab when low on attached swarmbots to keep opponents out of your face.
Stage controlling Helios plays a game of keep away, using his aerial speed to stay out of reach while his swarmbots pick apart the enemy as they try to catch him.
Now, the cream of the crop of Helios players, those who can combine the 2 styles! This requires a mastery of budgeting your swarmbot forces; use too much for stage control and your melee attacks lose some of their impact. However, with a few swarmbots left to their own devices, your melee attacks become a lot scarier.
Helios can now take an offensive approach to the fight by using his minions to cover the lag of his attacks and giving the opponent less options for dodging them. He can still go back to his defensive tactics any time he likes, so this offensive boost enables Helios to be very flexible in how he fights, able to change his tactics to adapt to his opponent. Regardless, remember that if you choose this strategy, you won’t be as effective at either “pure” strategy, and in some cases you’ll find it a better commitment to stick to either melee or stage-control and leave it at that. Luckily Helios can easily switch from stage-control to melee combat by calling his swarmbots back to him.
Helios’ has 2 routes to take for a KO; his “grab game” or his FSmash. While landing a move that essentially takes 2 seconds to charge sounds impossible, landing an FSmash is easier than you might think. If you can trap an enemy in place with your swarmbots (Waypoints is great for this) you have a good shot of pulling off an Fsmash thanks to its range and projectile speed. Helios’ humanoid formation is good if you’ve got an opponent cornered but aren’t so close that they’ll break your limbs. Granted, both KO strategies require more set-up than a standard fighter, but the set-ups are flexible enough to be reliable. Helios himself has good survivability thanks to his swarmbot shield, 2 midair jumps, and Personal Transport.
Despite his complexity and depth,
Helios is actually rather accessible for casual players. It’s possible to use Helios’ attacks without having to memorize a required minimum of swarmbots for something to happen, with the exception of his grab. While the swarmbot mechanic and sweetspots of his moves add nuance to them, they are still easy enough to figure out and his shield makes even his slowest moves slightly spammable. Getting more Swarmbots is as simple as pressing down+B, and being able to call back detached swarmbots prevents players from being frustrated from lack of melee attacks. The ease of starting to play Helios, combined with his
flexible yet unique playstyle, ensures that he would see a healthy amount of pro players who each bring their own strategies to the table, giving him a constantly evolving metagame of fun.