Rythe
This 'pokemon' is a genetic experiment, crossing several strands of DNA into a Scyther Egg. One of the million experiments Team Rocket made, only... they were once again successful. In this they created a devastating machine of death, living for only combat. It looks like a Blood-Red Scyther with flaming orbs for eyes and jagged blades, meant for tearing into for wicked damage. The creature named Rythe hacks and tears into brawl!
STATS: This is meant to be played like Captain Falcon, Fast and Powerful, but with a ridiculously poor recovery, and little defensive options.
Power: 4 This demented creature tears away for a lot of damage. He has few techniques that do a lot of knockback however.
Speed: 5 This has the speed of Scyther, absurdly quick.
Weight: 2 This pokemon is fairly light, and easy to send flying away.
Traction: 2 This pokemon nearly hovers, and as such, has little traction, with one exception. When it plants its feet to shield and crouch, it has a traction of 4
Size: 4 This thing is rather tall, and is a fairly large target.
Rythe stands straight, with his arm-blades somewhat close to his side, but loose. His wings are constantly buzzing to the point of being a blur. Its feet just barely touch the ground. After a couple of seconds it raises both arms up and then stretches them downwards, moving up slightly before returning to normal stance.
Rythe is floaty, and kind of light, and is not an easy character to combo. The tips of it's attacks generally reach far, but do next to nothing, as most of his attacks have an area where they 'tear' doing a lot of damage. His attacks also move him about quite a bit, making him appear fluid at times, yet he also has his fair share of attacks that are sudden, and not at all fluid. The biggest problem is that you can 'attack' off an edge, and edges are where Rythe, more than any other character has trouble.
When he jumps he can go vertically as much as he goes horizontally, and even more so when running. He doesn't get a lot of height out of his second jump, but his first one can give him a fair amount of height. The second one gives him minimal height, but allows him to completely change his direction. When jumping, he goes at a 30 degree angle from the ground. His running speed is ridiculously quick, and puts him into the classic Scyther run, which is nearly parallel to the ground and flying only skimming the floor with his rapidly moving feet.
His dodge is very quick, and his spot dodge is normal length. However, his normal dodge, while quick, lacks the normal range, and has less invincibility frames. While sheilding he only stops moving his wings and plants his feet, both blades protecting him in a cross shape. This reduces his target somewhat, more than expected. It isn't perfect however.
GROUND MOVES
Standard Combo: His standard combo is a single, mid range diagonal slash, followed by a rapid series of stabs, ending with a lunge. The slash, like all of his moves, has a sweetspot, where it does much more damage, and same knockback. If it doesn't hit the sweetspot, it does minor damage (3-5). If it hits the sweetspot, it does a fair amount of damage. (+10) The sweetspot on this attack is close range, and this is a good attack to halt other characters that charge in with little range. If he uses only this part of the combo, then it has average recovery.
Tapping A a second time will cause Rythe to go into a series of jabs in the air. These are short range, and very quick, much faster than other rapid A techniques. He only stabs forward three times before he stops, however. Each jab hits above most crouches, but does not push back the enemy at all, keeping them trapped for the rest of the hits. These will definitely hit if they were hit by the sweet spot on the first attack, if they were not, however, then they would be knocked out of this attack's range. The sweet spot only takes effect if they hit one of his arms going from beneath it, which is nearly impossible. Due to the timing required, it is only useful as an edge-guard in certain situations, against specific characters. Each stab does 2-3 damage, and the three stabs last less than a second. If he stops here recovery is very quick as well.
The final part of his A combo is a lunge. He moves forward suddenly, using one final swipe of his blade. The sweetspot is directly infront of his face, and will not hit them if they were trapped in the three stabs, unless they were unusually close to him for some reason. If that sweetspot hits, however, it does impressive knockback, upwards, and damage. It is unusually hard to hit with it though. If they get hit by another part, it is similar to getting hit by the first attack, non sweetspotted. The last movement also takes him forward by four feet, which means using this part of his standard combo for edge-guarding is highly dangerous, as it would put him over the edge. Notably, he recovers from this faster than he would on the ground. There is very little lag at all if he leaves the ground, and moderate recovery if he doesn't.
Forward tilt: This is an uppercut, with large range infront of him, a small piece of his attack going through the floor and a little range directly above him. He continues the motion all the way back down, jumping where he had just slashed, and slashing where he just was. This attack has next to no damage, unless the sweetspot connects. The only point the sweetspot can connect is dead center while it rises, which does a fair amount of damage. As it's fairly safe to assume, it knocks the enemy in the air some going up, and does next to nothing going back down on the other side. There isn't much lag after he finishes turning, and the attack stops if he gets to a ledge, where he does not fall off. He moves after the uppercut quick enough to get out of the way of most characters, but some with good range or fast-falling may hit him during it. He moves five feet forward and ends turned around from this attack.
Down tilt: He slashes the legs of his opponents. This is a fairly standard-issue attack, not moving him in any unusual way. It does average damage, and the sweetspot is close-range, opposed to his arm, which extends to just below mid range. The sweetspot does good damage. This attack is enjoyed by people unfamiliar with Rythe's playstyle, because it is similar to other attacks.
Up tilt: He looks up briefly and lets loose a short, close range flamethrower. This attack is similar to a combination of Zelda's Uair and Samus' Usmash. It is one single attack, but with the same level of power the Usmash has. It is a very quick move, and he returns to neutral stance before the fire dissipates. However, if he goes for a second too quickly, he can hit himself with the attack. The fire remains in the air for a second or so, meaning he can't jump to follow up out of it instantly. Rythe mains lament he wasn't in Melee, because if he was then wave-dashing would have made that the most abusable move in the game. However, without an easy way to get around it quickly to attack efficiently, it is merely used to stop people who spam Dairs. It does mediocre damage and knockback.
Forward Smash: Rythe flips, and lands with a brutal cross-slash! This attack takes him five feet forward before landing, and although he moves very quickly while flipping, it is still leaves him vulnerable briefly. He doesn't land on his feet either, and instead cross-slashes into a dash-like stance. The cross slash has a sweetspot, and getting hit by it does a large portion of damage. The rest of it does moderate damage. The sweetspot does huge damage, but oddly, does not send them flying. Instead, they just collapse, falling. If they get caught in the air during this technique, they fall for a couple seconds before being able to do anything. Otherwise, this smash does decent knockback, nothing special for a smash. It is possible to continue dashing after this move, and if you go out onto air from it you act as if you had ran off the ledge. It has little recovery time afterwards at any event, making it a strong, if difficult to use move.
Down Smash: He sticks one blade into the ground, and his wings suddenly catch fire and vibrate much faster. He sticks one leg out at the same time, and his wings propel him in a circular motion, while his foot catches fire. After a quick semi-circle, tripping all those around him, he suddenly jerks up. The foot does moderate damage, no sweetspot, and is nearly flat to the ground, but doesn't pass through it. When he suddenly rises can also cause damage, although very slight, similar to Luigi's taunt in damage and knockback, although it covers his body.
Up Smash: He puts one blade into the air, and then forces it down suddenly, anyone near the range getting caught is sent straight down into his second blade, which rises less than half a second after. If they're caught in the first blade, then they get launched high in the air, taking a large amount of damage from the second one, which has a sweetspot in Rythe's hitbox, which they're forced into momentarily by the first hit. If only the second hit gets them when it comes up, it does moderate knockback and weak damage, nothing like the sweetspotted version.
Dash Attack: His dash is obviously ridiculously fast, and as such, hard to stop. His attack from it should help him though! He puts one blade into the ground, suddenly halting his dash, and lets the centrifigal force of his foot fly into a kick from underneath him, going up into the air and then putting him back a couple of feet from where he started the attack. The kick has a meteor hidden in it at a ridiculously close range. Just as it leaves the space he occupies it is a meteor smash for a brief moment, then returns to its normal strength, which is still reasonable. Once it starts going upwards it loses most of it's strength, and once it hits directly above and behind him it ceases to be an attack. It knocks back in whatever direction the kick is going, or if it's going up, no direction, just minor knockback. It has the second worst recovery time of all of his moves, although it isn't nearly as bad as his worst. It still is rather bad.
AIR MOVES
Neutral Aerial: He turns slightly, putting one arm behind him and up slightly, and one forward and down, while putting his legs flat out behind him, and then immediately spins 360 degrees clockwise, very quickly. This attack can hit a maximum of three times, if they manage to connect the very beginning of attacks. The dead center of his claws have the usual sweet-spot, and the very end of his spin can spike straight down, although it is difficult to hit with. This attack is a very abused attack at high-level play because it has good range, is very quick in coming out, and can, if sweet-spotted, do quite a bit of damage.
Up Aerial: This attack is super-fast, and difficult to notice. His wings stop moving for half a second, and then catch fire for a while. He cannot jump while doing this, falls at the exact same speed, and has very little range. It does moderate damage, and has no sweet spot. This has no range upward, so it's fairly difficult to use easily. It isn't used often due to this.
Forward Aerial: He uses a single long range vertical slash down. This attack does not do much knockback, but it has unusual range, and as such its sweetspot is also farther out. However, the real value of this move is not it's ability to attack, but to extend his ledge-grabbing range. If he can touch the ledge with this attack he ledge-grabs instantly, and it knocks people off the ledge if they currently have a hold of it. It has a one of the slower start-up times of his moves, and his slowest aerial, both coming out and in.
Back Aerial: He looks back, grinning, and his legs suddenly kick as if he was swimming, rapidly attacking in a limited area. This attack does around 5 hits, and has very little range, but it is very quick, and doesn't change his position very much. It moves him forward ever so slightly, but due to the slow recovery, makes it un-viable for any real recovery using this technique. It is weak on power as well, making it one of his weaker moves. Only every used in professional play as an edge guarding, and even then it is rare, considering most Rythe's don't leave the stage.
Down Aerial: He tilts downward slightly, and takes his arm, and goes from end to the other, in a half moon, from his legs to his head. This attack does little damage, and the sweetspot is very close to his body, making it very difficult to hit with, at least the sweetspot. However, its true purpose is to cover his bottom completely, countering people who attack him from below. Over all, it is one of his weaker, unusued moves.
SPECIAL MOVES
Neutral Special: Double Team! This confusing, and truly annoying tactic replicates Rythe, doubling the mayhem! He pauses, completely still, and then returns to his original stance. However, a second after he starts moving again, another 'Rythe' will appear, either by jumping, running or stopping, depending on what you're doing. It appears to be an exact duplicate with a level 9 CPU. However, this 'close' while trying to attack, defend, and dodge, and acts like a normal CPU, with the exception of when it takes damage or deals it, instead of doing anything, it fades away. This means that the clone cannot do damage at all. However, it makes approaching Rythe nearly impossible during it, although the clone normally goes straight for the opponent.
Side Special: Agility Slash! He jumps slightly in the air, rolling and gathering power! Then, after a second or two, he shoots forward in whatever direction he had momentum wise, stopping and slashing after ten feet (1.25 captain falcon's Side Special) or if he hits someone. This attack does moderate damage, and knocks them back based on whatever direction they were moving at the time and whatever direction the Agility Slash moved. This means that DI is unusally effective on this attack for the opponent. This makes it hard to KO with. However, it does good damage because it nearly always hits with a sweetspot, or not at all. During the air this does not change his momentum at all, nor does it change his momentum while running, meaning it is very easy to kill yourself with this move. It also means that during the start-up, Rythe will fall downwards, which will, in turn, launch him downwards, ending in a faster and crueler KO than usual. He can still jump after using it, and use Up Special, but is moving faster in the direction he was sent. This attack is rarely used by beginners due to it's volatile and difficult to use nature, but is a favourite for combo videos.
Up Special: Limited Flight! This move does not appear to change him too much, although his wings start making a louder sound. During this move, tap b repeatedly to fly upwards. It lasts for three seconds, and during this move he is completely vulnerable. It does not send him up at all without pressing b, and his momentum from however he was moving previously is still in effect, meaning if he was moving downward he would continue for a second. Also, this move makes him go slightly slower, and is hard to control and dodge. The landing lag is about the same as Ness' PK Thunder, when he was hit by it, in Melee. He can attack cancel out of flight, by tapping the A button, but after the attack he free falls. This, combined with it's low vertical gain makes it one of the weakest recoveries in the game. This attack also has the worst recovery time of all his, by a fair bit.
Down Special: Aerial Fire Spin! He crouches down, focusing his power, waiting to jump violently into the air. How much height this moves gets is entirely dependant on how long it is held. If it isn't held, it takes him less than two feet, and at max takes him slightly higher than Marth's Up Special, which takes just over four seconds to charge fully. During his rise into the air, he glows with a slight blaze, signifying things are about to get a lot hotter! During this, touching him directly causes damage and minor knockback, and he can hit with this. He goes up very quickly, much like Yoshi's Down B speed going up.
However, the show starts once he's in the air. As soon as he reaches the height of his jump, just before he stops ascending his arms and feet catch fire. He forms a cross like shape with his body, and spins downward, at the same speed he would normally fall, which isn't very fast. The true beauty of this move is that the fire makes an aura around him, and the spin reflects mid-air projectiles as well as doing damage. However, this move does have a sweetspot. Getting hit by the very base of his foot sends them into the tornado to take a lot of damage, although no knockback. Getting hit by the fringes does some damage. Rythe has a limited amount of control while using this technique, being able to move left or right while in the air a small amount, although nothing like Meta Knight's (from the Demo vids). This move stops for after a given period of time depending on how long it was charged and how long it was in the air.
Simply put, while in the air, Rythe will continue to spin indefinitely. However, there is a timed amount, and he will continue to spin on the ground for a specific amount of time. Normally this equals out to one second, if the ground landed on is the same height as the ground the attack started with. However, it will change based on the height. The maximum possible length of time is five seconds in total, counting air time.
While on the ground using fire spin Rythe cannot move, and although difficult to hurt, is not immune to being hit, if the character has an attack that has enough range to go through his arms, or just by-passes it, as most d-tilts will. If this attack is started in the air then Rythe keeps the same momentum he had, making it useless for recovery. Also, he continues spinning until he lands on the ground. This is treated as if he hadn't charged it, so it only lasts for a second when he lands. It has moderate recovery time, leaning towards slow opposed to fast. It has good start up time however.
GRABS
For an actual grab he jumps into the air, landing on people. This is extremely close range, and has a longer start up than any other grab, but moves him forward about two feet, and can grab out of the air. He lands on them with his legs, leaving his arms free to deal with the enemy. There is a sepcific point he has to hit to grab them though, otherwise it does a small, mediocre amount of damage and knockback. For a grab attack he takes a vicious swipe at their chest/jugular.
Forward Throw: He shoves two claws into the unfortunate victim, and rolls forward, putting the opponent on top, and then continues until the opponent is infront of Rythe, and Rythe is up-side down. During this time Rythe has shifted his legs so that he can kick their stomach, sending them flying. This does a decent amount of damage and knockback, and his one of his better throws. Also, he continues his movement, jumping up, which sends him forward from where he was previously, but not by very much. This attack can put him off the ledge, at which point he starts falling slightly faster than usual.
Up Throw: Much like the animation for the forward throw, he takes the same position and rolls, but kicks them straight into the air, making this attack faster. Also, he moves forward during this attack, but not much. This kick sends them into the air slightly lower than Marth's.
Back Throw: He shoves his blades into the ground next to their head, and then brings his legs up, cracking their jaw before kicking them away! This attack is visually appealing to watch, because Rythe kicks them behind him with a strong kick to the head, an unusually cruel move. It does moderate damage for a throw, decent knockback, and moves Rythe forward a couple of feet.
Down Throw: He brings both arms back, and delivers a ruthless cross slash across the neck! This does a fair amount of damage, and it takes a second to get up from. During the cross slash he jumps off the opponent and back three feet, enough room to breathe for both of them. Above average damage for a throw. If he jumps off a ledge doing this, he does not have a second jump, but does have the aerials and up special. He can use them at the height the platform was that he would have landed on otherwise.
Taunts:
1 He uses agility on the spot, appearing everywhere instantly in a very small area. During this he glows slightly.
2 He suddenly stops moving entirely, except for his eyes, which suddenly spin in every which way, mere blurs in his eyes.
3 He lands completely, stands straight, throws his head back and does a long, insane single howlish shriek, a terrifying combination of pain and rage.
4 This taunt is only useable while he moves, and can be activated by any button. He does a quick couple of barrel roles, laughing and slashing the ground, causing a horrible sound. Although it is possible to get hurt by this taunt, it only hurts if you're directly below him in a small area. If he goes into the air while doing this, he remains level until the taunt is over. This taunt is shorter than most.
Entrance: Agility! The pure speed and instinct to move and seek new battles drives that drives this pokemon sends him now to appear on the stage! This is fairly non-descript, to be honest. He merely blurs on to the stage, and then rises with a screech, ready to battle.
Alt. Costumes: (these are flat-color changes...)
Blue-Rythe: This Rythe is a dark blue. Blue Team Costume
Green-Rythe: This Rythe is a dark green Rythe, darker than other Scythers. Normal eyes.
Albino-Rythe: This Rythe is an albino, and has all the traits of one.
Burned-Rythe: This Rythe is charred black with red eyes.
FINAL SMASH: Utter Fire Storm!
This devastating Final Smash represents the true power and nature of Rythe - Deadly, fast, and insane. He grabs the smash ball, and activates his final measure!
Rythe's form alights, every inch covered in a burning flame, to touch such hot fire does damage no matter what. This form gives him an infinite amount of double jump, and magnifies all of his attributes to ridiculous levels. His attacks come out twice as quickly and do twice as much damage, as well as less recovery, and he has super-armor during this entire attack. His entire body is a hitbox as well. Specific attacks change as well.
If he enters limited flight, then it's time limit is that of the Final Smash's. Otherwise this is unchanged. Normal Special is also changed to flamethrow, which acts as super-spicy curry, constantly releasing fire balls that make any kind of approach even more foolhardy. Down Special summons a huge tornado of fire now as well, doing three times as much damage as it used to.
Finally, all of his taunts are actual attacks now. Taunt 1 remains the same, but the range is increased to roughly the size of Battlefield, and getting hit means getting hurt somewhat. This is very fast and unpredictable to those who don't know it. Taunt 2 does nothing, and Taunt 3 causes him to radiate a massive fire, doing damage all around him. Taunt 4 now released a huge burst of speed and fire.
The downside to this final smash is that it is the equivalent of controlling Rythe at times two speed, and his attacks are not truly powerful in comparison to other smash attacks unless they sweetspot, as usual. Also, his running has become blur like, and is ridiculously fast, and many of his attacks take him farther, meaning self-destructing is made very easy with this smash. Finally, Rythe takes damage from his own fire, which does 3 percent per second. He cannot shield, dodge or grab while in this smash as well. The final smash lasts roughly 20 seconds, and at the end, Rythe stops moving entirely, and convulses on the ground for a second, while his damage meter goes up much faster. While this final smash often does guantee a KO, it nearly always leaves Rythe ridiculously easy to kill afterwards.
Item Note: This character cannot pick up certain items, do to the way he 'holds' them. This includes bom-ombs, which explode, freezies, which break, the beam sword, which... well. Think about it. However, he can pick up the guns, food, boxes, etc etc. He picks things up by 'stabbing' them.
Metagame/Stratagy: Rythe requires a sense of intelligence while being played. If you don't know exactly where his attacks will take him, then if you miss you'll probably end up getting hit, or worse, falling off. The first step to mastering Rythe is to learn each of his moves individually, and learn exactly what they are capable of. Most important is his up special, forward air, standard combo, and forward tilt, although all are important.
At higher levels, Rythe suffers from many obvious problems. His recovery is worse than Falcons, and relies on the speed of your finger to go up at all, making it painfully obvious on what you're trying to do. That, and given how hard it is to control him in the air, and you instantly have a character who's most likely going to die when he's knocked off, and at high level play this is a fact. A dividing line between Rythe uses is ones that edge-guard on the edge, or ones that jump off. Although it is generally considered safer to stay, if Rythe starts comboing off the edge, then the opponent is most likely going to die.
Rythe suffers from an odd case of needing an exact range. This means that there are obvious counter-picks, like Marth, while making him an obvious counterpick against characters that require a different spacing, but aren't as fast as Rythe. In fact, Marth Vs. Rythe is considered one of the most difficult contests to settle, but it is generally assumed Marth will win, because Rythe has a tougher time getting at close range.
Most people will pick up Rythe the first time, and won't sweet spot an attack, making them all seem useless, but cool. This means that Rythe mains are comparatively few, but they can be devastating. Finally, despite his counter-picking potential, he's not used as one by people who main other characters because learning him requires a lot of time compared to other characters.
This 'pokemon' is a genetic experiment, crossing several strands of DNA into a Scyther Egg. One of the million experiments Team Rocket made, only... they were once again successful. In this they created a devastating machine of death, living for only combat. It looks like a Blood-Red Scyther with flaming orbs for eyes and jagged blades, meant for tearing into for wicked damage. The creature named Rythe hacks and tears into brawl!
STATS: This is meant to be played like Captain Falcon, Fast and Powerful, but with a ridiculously poor recovery, and little defensive options.
Power: 4 This demented creature tears away for a lot of damage. He has few techniques that do a lot of knockback however.
Speed: 5 This has the speed of Scyther, absurdly quick.
Weight: 2 This pokemon is fairly light, and easy to send flying away.
Traction: 2 This pokemon nearly hovers, and as such, has little traction, with one exception. When it plants its feet to shield and crouch, it has a traction of 4
Size: 4 This thing is rather tall, and is a fairly large target.
Rythe stands straight, with his arm-blades somewhat close to his side, but loose. His wings are constantly buzzing to the point of being a blur. Its feet just barely touch the ground. After a couple of seconds it raises both arms up and then stretches them downwards, moving up slightly before returning to normal stance.
Rythe is floaty, and kind of light, and is not an easy character to combo. The tips of it's attacks generally reach far, but do next to nothing, as most of his attacks have an area where they 'tear' doing a lot of damage. His attacks also move him about quite a bit, making him appear fluid at times, yet he also has his fair share of attacks that are sudden, and not at all fluid. The biggest problem is that you can 'attack' off an edge, and edges are where Rythe, more than any other character has trouble.
When he jumps he can go vertically as much as he goes horizontally, and even more so when running. He doesn't get a lot of height out of his second jump, but his first one can give him a fair amount of height. The second one gives him minimal height, but allows him to completely change his direction. When jumping, he goes at a 30 degree angle from the ground. His running speed is ridiculously quick, and puts him into the classic Scyther run, which is nearly parallel to the ground and flying only skimming the floor with his rapidly moving feet.
His dodge is very quick, and his spot dodge is normal length. However, his normal dodge, while quick, lacks the normal range, and has less invincibility frames. While sheilding he only stops moving his wings and plants his feet, both blades protecting him in a cross shape. This reduces his target somewhat, more than expected. It isn't perfect however.
GROUND MOVES
Standard Combo: His standard combo is a single, mid range diagonal slash, followed by a rapid series of stabs, ending with a lunge. The slash, like all of his moves, has a sweetspot, where it does much more damage, and same knockback. If it doesn't hit the sweetspot, it does minor damage (3-5). If it hits the sweetspot, it does a fair amount of damage. (+10) The sweetspot on this attack is close range, and this is a good attack to halt other characters that charge in with little range. If he uses only this part of the combo, then it has average recovery.
Tapping A a second time will cause Rythe to go into a series of jabs in the air. These are short range, and very quick, much faster than other rapid A techniques. He only stabs forward three times before he stops, however. Each jab hits above most crouches, but does not push back the enemy at all, keeping them trapped for the rest of the hits. These will definitely hit if they were hit by the sweet spot on the first attack, if they were not, however, then they would be knocked out of this attack's range. The sweet spot only takes effect if they hit one of his arms going from beneath it, which is nearly impossible. Due to the timing required, it is only useful as an edge-guard in certain situations, against specific characters. Each stab does 2-3 damage, and the three stabs last less than a second. If he stops here recovery is very quick as well.
The final part of his A combo is a lunge. He moves forward suddenly, using one final swipe of his blade. The sweetspot is directly infront of his face, and will not hit them if they were trapped in the three stabs, unless they were unusually close to him for some reason. If that sweetspot hits, however, it does impressive knockback, upwards, and damage. It is unusually hard to hit with it though. If they get hit by another part, it is similar to getting hit by the first attack, non sweetspotted. The last movement also takes him forward by four feet, which means using this part of his standard combo for edge-guarding is highly dangerous, as it would put him over the edge. Notably, he recovers from this faster than he would on the ground. There is very little lag at all if he leaves the ground, and moderate recovery if he doesn't.
Forward tilt: This is an uppercut, with large range infront of him, a small piece of his attack going through the floor and a little range directly above him. He continues the motion all the way back down, jumping where he had just slashed, and slashing where he just was. This attack has next to no damage, unless the sweetspot connects. The only point the sweetspot can connect is dead center while it rises, which does a fair amount of damage. As it's fairly safe to assume, it knocks the enemy in the air some going up, and does next to nothing going back down on the other side. There isn't much lag after he finishes turning, and the attack stops if he gets to a ledge, where he does not fall off. He moves after the uppercut quick enough to get out of the way of most characters, but some with good range or fast-falling may hit him during it. He moves five feet forward and ends turned around from this attack.
Down tilt: He slashes the legs of his opponents. This is a fairly standard-issue attack, not moving him in any unusual way. It does average damage, and the sweetspot is close-range, opposed to his arm, which extends to just below mid range. The sweetspot does good damage. This attack is enjoyed by people unfamiliar with Rythe's playstyle, because it is similar to other attacks.
Up tilt: He looks up briefly and lets loose a short, close range flamethrower. This attack is similar to a combination of Zelda's Uair and Samus' Usmash. It is one single attack, but with the same level of power the Usmash has. It is a very quick move, and he returns to neutral stance before the fire dissipates. However, if he goes for a second too quickly, he can hit himself with the attack. The fire remains in the air for a second or so, meaning he can't jump to follow up out of it instantly. Rythe mains lament he wasn't in Melee, because if he was then wave-dashing would have made that the most abusable move in the game. However, without an easy way to get around it quickly to attack efficiently, it is merely used to stop people who spam Dairs. It does mediocre damage and knockback.
Forward Smash: Rythe flips, and lands with a brutal cross-slash! This attack takes him five feet forward before landing, and although he moves very quickly while flipping, it is still leaves him vulnerable briefly. He doesn't land on his feet either, and instead cross-slashes into a dash-like stance. The cross slash has a sweetspot, and getting hit by it does a large portion of damage. The rest of it does moderate damage. The sweetspot does huge damage, but oddly, does not send them flying. Instead, they just collapse, falling. If they get caught in the air during this technique, they fall for a couple seconds before being able to do anything. Otherwise, this smash does decent knockback, nothing special for a smash. It is possible to continue dashing after this move, and if you go out onto air from it you act as if you had ran off the ledge. It has little recovery time afterwards at any event, making it a strong, if difficult to use move.
Down Smash: He sticks one blade into the ground, and his wings suddenly catch fire and vibrate much faster. He sticks one leg out at the same time, and his wings propel him in a circular motion, while his foot catches fire. After a quick semi-circle, tripping all those around him, he suddenly jerks up. The foot does moderate damage, no sweetspot, and is nearly flat to the ground, but doesn't pass through it. When he suddenly rises can also cause damage, although very slight, similar to Luigi's taunt in damage and knockback, although it covers his body.
Up Smash: He puts one blade into the air, and then forces it down suddenly, anyone near the range getting caught is sent straight down into his second blade, which rises less than half a second after. If they're caught in the first blade, then they get launched high in the air, taking a large amount of damage from the second one, which has a sweetspot in Rythe's hitbox, which they're forced into momentarily by the first hit. If only the second hit gets them when it comes up, it does moderate knockback and weak damage, nothing like the sweetspotted version.
Dash Attack: His dash is obviously ridiculously fast, and as such, hard to stop. His attack from it should help him though! He puts one blade into the ground, suddenly halting his dash, and lets the centrifigal force of his foot fly into a kick from underneath him, going up into the air and then putting him back a couple of feet from where he started the attack. The kick has a meteor hidden in it at a ridiculously close range. Just as it leaves the space he occupies it is a meteor smash for a brief moment, then returns to its normal strength, which is still reasonable. Once it starts going upwards it loses most of it's strength, and once it hits directly above and behind him it ceases to be an attack. It knocks back in whatever direction the kick is going, or if it's going up, no direction, just minor knockback. It has the second worst recovery time of all of his moves, although it isn't nearly as bad as his worst. It still is rather bad.
AIR MOVES
Neutral Aerial: He turns slightly, putting one arm behind him and up slightly, and one forward and down, while putting his legs flat out behind him, and then immediately spins 360 degrees clockwise, very quickly. This attack can hit a maximum of three times, if they manage to connect the very beginning of attacks. The dead center of his claws have the usual sweet-spot, and the very end of his spin can spike straight down, although it is difficult to hit with. This attack is a very abused attack at high-level play because it has good range, is very quick in coming out, and can, if sweet-spotted, do quite a bit of damage.
Up Aerial: This attack is super-fast, and difficult to notice. His wings stop moving for half a second, and then catch fire for a while. He cannot jump while doing this, falls at the exact same speed, and has very little range. It does moderate damage, and has no sweet spot. This has no range upward, so it's fairly difficult to use easily. It isn't used often due to this.
Forward Aerial: He uses a single long range vertical slash down. This attack does not do much knockback, but it has unusual range, and as such its sweetspot is also farther out. However, the real value of this move is not it's ability to attack, but to extend his ledge-grabbing range. If he can touch the ledge with this attack he ledge-grabs instantly, and it knocks people off the ledge if they currently have a hold of it. It has a one of the slower start-up times of his moves, and his slowest aerial, both coming out and in.
Back Aerial: He looks back, grinning, and his legs suddenly kick as if he was swimming, rapidly attacking in a limited area. This attack does around 5 hits, and has very little range, but it is very quick, and doesn't change his position very much. It moves him forward ever so slightly, but due to the slow recovery, makes it un-viable for any real recovery using this technique. It is weak on power as well, making it one of his weaker moves. Only every used in professional play as an edge guarding, and even then it is rare, considering most Rythe's don't leave the stage.
Down Aerial: He tilts downward slightly, and takes his arm, and goes from end to the other, in a half moon, from his legs to his head. This attack does little damage, and the sweetspot is very close to his body, making it very difficult to hit with, at least the sweetspot. However, its true purpose is to cover his bottom completely, countering people who attack him from below. Over all, it is one of his weaker, unusued moves.
SPECIAL MOVES
Neutral Special: Double Team! This confusing, and truly annoying tactic replicates Rythe, doubling the mayhem! He pauses, completely still, and then returns to his original stance. However, a second after he starts moving again, another 'Rythe' will appear, either by jumping, running or stopping, depending on what you're doing. It appears to be an exact duplicate with a level 9 CPU. However, this 'close' while trying to attack, defend, and dodge, and acts like a normal CPU, with the exception of when it takes damage or deals it, instead of doing anything, it fades away. This means that the clone cannot do damage at all. However, it makes approaching Rythe nearly impossible during it, although the clone normally goes straight for the opponent.
Side Special: Agility Slash! He jumps slightly in the air, rolling and gathering power! Then, after a second or two, he shoots forward in whatever direction he had momentum wise, stopping and slashing after ten feet (1.25 captain falcon's Side Special) or if he hits someone. This attack does moderate damage, and knocks them back based on whatever direction they were moving at the time and whatever direction the Agility Slash moved. This means that DI is unusally effective on this attack for the opponent. This makes it hard to KO with. However, it does good damage because it nearly always hits with a sweetspot, or not at all. During the air this does not change his momentum at all, nor does it change his momentum while running, meaning it is very easy to kill yourself with this move. It also means that during the start-up, Rythe will fall downwards, which will, in turn, launch him downwards, ending in a faster and crueler KO than usual. He can still jump after using it, and use Up Special, but is moving faster in the direction he was sent. This attack is rarely used by beginners due to it's volatile and difficult to use nature, but is a favourite for combo videos.
Up Special: Limited Flight! This move does not appear to change him too much, although his wings start making a louder sound. During this move, tap b repeatedly to fly upwards. It lasts for three seconds, and during this move he is completely vulnerable. It does not send him up at all without pressing b, and his momentum from however he was moving previously is still in effect, meaning if he was moving downward he would continue for a second. Also, this move makes him go slightly slower, and is hard to control and dodge. The landing lag is about the same as Ness' PK Thunder, when he was hit by it, in Melee. He can attack cancel out of flight, by tapping the A button, but after the attack he free falls. This, combined with it's low vertical gain makes it one of the weakest recoveries in the game. This attack also has the worst recovery time of all his, by a fair bit.
Down Special: Aerial Fire Spin! He crouches down, focusing his power, waiting to jump violently into the air. How much height this moves gets is entirely dependant on how long it is held. If it isn't held, it takes him less than two feet, and at max takes him slightly higher than Marth's Up Special, which takes just over four seconds to charge fully. During his rise into the air, he glows with a slight blaze, signifying things are about to get a lot hotter! During this, touching him directly causes damage and minor knockback, and he can hit with this. He goes up very quickly, much like Yoshi's Down B speed going up.
However, the show starts once he's in the air. As soon as he reaches the height of his jump, just before he stops ascending his arms and feet catch fire. He forms a cross like shape with his body, and spins downward, at the same speed he would normally fall, which isn't very fast. The true beauty of this move is that the fire makes an aura around him, and the spin reflects mid-air projectiles as well as doing damage. However, this move does have a sweetspot. Getting hit by the very base of his foot sends them into the tornado to take a lot of damage, although no knockback. Getting hit by the fringes does some damage. Rythe has a limited amount of control while using this technique, being able to move left or right while in the air a small amount, although nothing like Meta Knight's (from the Demo vids). This move stops for after a given period of time depending on how long it was charged and how long it was in the air.
Simply put, while in the air, Rythe will continue to spin indefinitely. However, there is a timed amount, and he will continue to spin on the ground for a specific amount of time. Normally this equals out to one second, if the ground landed on is the same height as the ground the attack started with. However, it will change based on the height. The maximum possible length of time is five seconds in total, counting air time.
While on the ground using fire spin Rythe cannot move, and although difficult to hurt, is not immune to being hit, if the character has an attack that has enough range to go through his arms, or just by-passes it, as most d-tilts will. If this attack is started in the air then Rythe keeps the same momentum he had, making it useless for recovery. Also, he continues spinning until he lands on the ground. This is treated as if he hadn't charged it, so it only lasts for a second when he lands. It has moderate recovery time, leaning towards slow opposed to fast. It has good start up time however.
GRABS
For an actual grab he jumps into the air, landing on people. This is extremely close range, and has a longer start up than any other grab, but moves him forward about two feet, and can grab out of the air. He lands on them with his legs, leaving his arms free to deal with the enemy. There is a sepcific point he has to hit to grab them though, otherwise it does a small, mediocre amount of damage and knockback. For a grab attack he takes a vicious swipe at their chest/jugular.
Forward Throw: He shoves two claws into the unfortunate victim, and rolls forward, putting the opponent on top, and then continues until the opponent is infront of Rythe, and Rythe is up-side down. During this time Rythe has shifted his legs so that he can kick their stomach, sending them flying. This does a decent amount of damage and knockback, and his one of his better throws. Also, he continues his movement, jumping up, which sends him forward from where he was previously, but not by very much. This attack can put him off the ledge, at which point he starts falling slightly faster than usual.
Up Throw: Much like the animation for the forward throw, he takes the same position and rolls, but kicks them straight into the air, making this attack faster. Also, he moves forward during this attack, but not much. This kick sends them into the air slightly lower than Marth's.
Back Throw: He shoves his blades into the ground next to their head, and then brings his legs up, cracking their jaw before kicking them away! This attack is visually appealing to watch, because Rythe kicks them behind him with a strong kick to the head, an unusually cruel move. It does moderate damage for a throw, decent knockback, and moves Rythe forward a couple of feet.
Down Throw: He brings both arms back, and delivers a ruthless cross slash across the neck! This does a fair amount of damage, and it takes a second to get up from. During the cross slash he jumps off the opponent and back three feet, enough room to breathe for both of them. Above average damage for a throw. If he jumps off a ledge doing this, he does not have a second jump, but does have the aerials and up special. He can use them at the height the platform was that he would have landed on otherwise.
Taunts:
1 He uses agility on the spot, appearing everywhere instantly in a very small area. During this he glows slightly.
2 He suddenly stops moving entirely, except for his eyes, which suddenly spin in every which way, mere blurs in his eyes.
3 He lands completely, stands straight, throws his head back and does a long, insane single howlish shriek, a terrifying combination of pain and rage.
4 This taunt is only useable while he moves, and can be activated by any button. He does a quick couple of barrel roles, laughing and slashing the ground, causing a horrible sound. Although it is possible to get hurt by this taunt, it only hurts if you're directly below him in a small area. If he goes into the air while doing this, he remains level until the taunt is over. This taunt is shorter than most.
Entrance: Agility! The pure speed and instinct to move and seek new battles drives that drives this pokemon sends him now to appear on the stage! This is fairly non-descript, to be honest. He merely blurs on to the stage, and then rises with a screech, ready to battle.
Alt. Costumes: (these are flat-color changes...)
Blue-Rythe: This Rythe is a dark blue. Blue Team Costume
Green-Rythe: This Rythe is a dark green Rythe, darker than other Scythers. Normal eyes.
Albino-Rythe: This Rythe is an albino, and has all the traits of one.
Burned-Rythe: This Rythe is charred black with red eyes.
FINAL SMASH: Utter Fire Storm!
This devastating Final Smash represents the true power and nature of Rythe - Deadly, fast, and insane. He grabs the smash ball, and activates his final measure!
Rythe's form alights, every inch covered in a burning flame, to touch such hot fire does damage no matter what. This form gives him an infinite amount of double jump, and magnifies all of his attributes to ridiculous levels. His attacks come out twice as quickly and do twice as much damage, as well as less recovery, and he has super-armor during this entire attack. His entire body is a hitbox as well. Specific attacks change as well.
If he enters limited flight, then it's time limit is that of the Final Smash's. Otherwise this is unchanged. Normal Special is also changed to flamethrow, which acts as super-spicy curry, constantly releasing fire balls that make any kind of approach even more foolhardy. Down Special summons a huge tornado of fire now as well, doing three times as much damage as it used to.
Finally, all of his taunts are actual attacks now. Taunt 1 remains the same, but the range is increased to roughly the size of Battlefield, and getting hit means getting hurt somewhat. This is very fast and unpredictable to those who don't know it. Taunt 2 does nothing, and Taunt 3 causes him to radiate a massive fire, doing damage all around him. Taunt 4 now released a huge burst of speed and fire.
The downside to this final smash is that it is the equivalent of controlling Rythe at times two speed, and his attacks are not truly powerful in comparison to other smash attacks unless they sweetspot, as usual. Also, his running has become blur like, and is ridiculously fast, and many of his attacks take him farther, meaning self-destructing is made very easy with this smash. Finally, Rythe takes damage from his own fire, which does 3 percent per second. He cannot shield, dodge or grab while in this smash as well. The final smash lasts roughly 20 seconds, and at the end, Rythe stops moving entirely, and convulses on the ground for a second, while his damage meter goes up much faster. While this final smash often does guantee a KO, it nearly always leaves Rythe ridiculously easy to kill afterwards.
Item Note: This character cannot pick up certain items, do to the way he 'holds' them. This includes bom-ombs, which explode, freezies, which break, the beam sword, which... well. Think about it. However, he can pick up the guns, food, boxes, etc etc. He picks things up by 'stabbing' them.
Metagame/Stratagy: Rythe requires a sense of intelligence while being played. If you don't know exactly where his attacks will take him, then if you miss you'll probably end up getting hit, or worse, falling off. The first step to mastering Rythe is to learn each of his moves individually, and learn exactly what they are capable of. Most important is his up special, forward air, standard combo, and forward tilt, although all are important.
At higher levels, Rythe suffers from many obvious problems. His recovery is worse than Falcons, and relies on the speed of your finger to go up at all, making it painfully obvious on what you're trying to do. That, and given how hard it is to control him in the air, and you instantly have a character who's most likely going to die when he's knocked off, and at high level play this is a fact. A dividing line between Rythe uses is ones that edge-guard on the edge, or ones that jump off. Although it is generally considered safer to stay, if Rythe starts comboing off the edge, then the opponent is most likely going to die.
Rythe suffers from an odd case of needing an exact range. This means that there are obvious counter-picks, like Marth, while making him an obvious counterpick against characters that require a different spacing, but aren't as fast as Rythe. In fact, Marth Vs. Rythe is considered one of the most difficult contests to settle, but it is generally assumed Marth will win, because Rythe has a tougher time getting at close range.
Most people will pick up Rythe the first time, and won't sweet spot an attack, making them all seem useless, but cool. This means that Rythe mains are comparatively few, but they can be devastating. Finally, despite his counter-picking potential, he's not used as one by people who main other characters because learning him requires a lot of time compared to other characters.
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