So, I've reworked Lyn's specials and drew some gestures to give people an idea of what I visualize. I figured I'd debut it here before updating the Lyn thread to give encourage people to do something similar, and also try and garner some excitement/support for this character.
At the very least I can give an example of what I look for in this character so that it pushes aside the idea that "she'd be like Marth," or "she'd be like Takamaru."
It seems to be just in time too, as you guys seemed to be having a Lyn/Takamaru discussion not too long ago.
Anyway, as I was discussing with Habanero a couple days ago. The biggest difference between Takamaru and Lyn is their sword styles. Now this may not seem like a big deal, but it's actually a very large difference, it's like comparing Boxing to Tae-Kwon Do almost.
Takamaru is more of a Kendo-School user, where the movements are calculated and controlled, and the sword is always drawn. Kendo in general is more focused on actual combat. Lyn on the other hand uses what seems to be a derivation of Battoujutsu. If you've ever watched or read Ruroni Kenshin, you'll remember that Battoujutsu was a killing art, it did NOT focus on combat, it was a swift killing technique focused on ending combat as soon as possible. Battoujutsu is a derivation of Iaido/Iaijutsu, the key distinction in this style is that the sword is always sheathed, and is drawn in very swift and accurate movements, only to be sheathed again.
Now with that in mind, this is how I built Lyn's character and combat strategy. Like I said, Battoujutsu is not focused on Combat itself, but on killing enemies quickly, this is essentially her playstyle. She's light weight and suffers from frail defenses, however, her speed and offense are insane, being the fastest sword user in the game, literally vanishing during a lot of her attacks as well as during her rolls, and being equipped with very good pokes and killing moves. The key to using her is managing her distance properly and using her vanishing ability to mix up her opponents and set them up for lethal combos. However, this comes at a price as her range is rather short for a sword user, and she must place herself in harms way to do good damage and knockback. As a compensation for this and her low defenses she comes equipped with hands down the best and most complex Counter in the game.
Specials:
[COLLAPSE="Standard B: Counter"]
As I said, the best counter in the game, it comes out much faster than Marth's however, the timing is a bit more tricky, you have to be skilled in order to use this. Like all counters, she's invincible when DOING the counter. Also, in addition to using this technique, you have the opportunity to follow up with one of 4 commands, each one doing something different.
-Not doing a command will cause her to parry her opponent's attack and leave them open to a counter attack, she sets them up at her sweetspot, but does practically no damage doing this (1%-2%).
-Pressing A right after she counters her opponent's attack will cause her to counter attack with a rapid slash, it does decent damage (13%-17%) and knockback allowing you to pursue your opponents.
-If you instead choose to press B, Lyn will vanish and appear behind her opponent and slash them with a powerful slash, this is a very quick move, however, the slight delay does allow your opponent some time to block if they see it coming, this is where the mind games come in as this is MUCH more powerful attack than the A variation, doing 16%-21% damage and very good knockback, still not quite a killing move, but at high damages it just might earn you a KO.
-Your final option is pressing Jump and any direction (or no direction), with which Lyn will vanish and reappear a short distance away in the direction you pressed. She doesn't cover mush ground with this, but enough for evasive maneuvers. This is essentially her defense against Powerful Ranged Attacks and Explosives, but it can also be used for mind games.
Now, in addition to all this, whiffing Lyn's counter has less delay than Marth's, Peach's, Ike's or even Meta Knight's. This is done due to how tricky the timing can be on it (about as tricky as Hakumen's drive), but she's still open to a counter-attack from quick attacks. Also, her counter works on everything from attacks to projectiles to command grabs (like Bowser's Side B), not Normal Grabs (Z/Shield+A) though.[/COLLAPSE]
[COLLAPSE="Side B: Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki (someone more creative can rename this)"]
She pushes the ground with her front foot and vanishes appearing a certain distance from her starting location. It has much less range than Fox's Illusion, but it is an effective killing move. She only attacks if she catches an opponent with it, so outside of that, it's an OK recovery move as it can also be used in mid-air. It has landing lag on both occasion, but double if she attacks, and the knockback only happens when she sheathes her sword having a delayed effect, so she DOES leave herself exposed to attack for a bit, but you have to be quick.[/COLLAPSE]
[COLLAPSE="UpB: Secret Technique: 15 Lethal Strikes"]
She kicks off the ground doing a high leap. If she catches an opponent with it, she'll stop at their height and draw her sword, the moment it's drawn, they're immobilized and she does 15 rapid strikes at their weak points, each strike does 1%-3% damage, the last strike having heavy knockback. After that, she falls like every other character.[/COLLAPSE]
[COLLAPSE="DownB: Suio-ryu Iai Kenpou"]
She draws her sword and does a rapid slash. This move is delay-able allowing her to concentrate, thus increasing the damage, knockback and range a bit. The high angle of the move makes it a good Anti-Air move, and the fact that you can delay it makes for good mindgames. You can only delay it for a maximum of 2 seconds.[/COLLAPSE]
The rest of her moves are found here:
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=329084
However, I've made some changes.
Her Nair is a spike, it's still the same move, but it's been given an additional property, however it's more risky than other meteors.
DownTitl has been changed from a kick, to a move where she stabs her opponent's foot with her sword. It is a good poke with decent speed and hits low, it also causes opponents to bounce upon getting hit.
As I said before, she vanishes during her rolls, similar to how Slayer in GG vanishes during his dashes, this adds to her unpredictability. She has some of the fastest attack speed in the game, and the fastest running speed out of all the sword users. She has fast fall speed, and about as much jumping height as Marth. She mostly excels on the ground, as her aerials are rather weak compared to other sword users, except for her Dair which makes for mad combos. Also, Takamaru and Lyn are the only sword users who can deflect some projectiles by slashing at them with their sword, this especially helps Lyn a bit who's most vulnerable to ranged opponents.
Anyway, tell me what you think. I plan on making more of these for other characters. I wanna do one for Lyn's Neutrals and Airs, but I also wanna work on one for Ike and one for Link, as I wanna rebuild Link to make him play like GG's and BB's Ky and Jin.