Shulk Moveset Analysis/Speculation/Discussion (Phase 1/PLEASE READ OP)

[Solfiner]

I kinda wonder if the different modes will change his specials in some way. Jump making his Up-B even better etc. Doesn't seem very likely, but it could be cool.

 

[toadster101]

Normally I hate swordfighters, but Shulk looks so fun to use. Sakurai did a great job implementing the Monado into his moveset.

 

[~ Valkyrie ~]

It'd want to contribute on speculation but I have no idea of Xenoblade (aside from the beginning, I recognized Back Slash). I'm though planning to use Shulk as my 3rd new main because he looks very exciting and versatile- that range looks very reliable too.

Might take PM Roy's place for me in this game, there's some things that remind me of him (Down Smash, Back Slash due Roy having also one, Air Slash and Counter)

 

[Chauzu]

Shulk looks so fun to use! Might be here for the data collection hype in two weeks helping out...

 

[yoonb]

Forgive me if this was already repeated but do you think how fast Shulk's counter comes out depends on how long it takes for him to take a hit. If you look at the gifs, Falcon Punch hit Shulk much quicker than Shield Breaker did.

 

[Hokori]

Forgive me if this was already repeated but do you think how fast Shulk's counter comes out depends on how long it takes for him to take a hit. If you look at the gifs, Falcon Punch hit Shulk much quicker than Shield Breaker did.

A pretty solid explanation on Shulk's Vision/Down-B/Counter has been provided in the OP. Check that out.

 

[DaDavid]

Forgive me if this was already repeated but do you think how fast Shulk's counter comes out depends on how long it takes for him to take a hit. If you look at the gifs, Falcon Punch hit Shulk much quicker than Shield Breaker did.

Yeah the counter is a bit of a confusing point right now. It could be that...
1. We actually saw an example of his custom moves
2. His counter attack changes depending on the Monado Art he has active/if he has one active at all.
3. It's based on the timing of the counter itself.

Personally I'm beginning to think that it's option number 2, as the Miiverse post says that Monado Arts change his abilities and features.

 

[Neo Zero]

Yeah the counter is a bit of a confusing point right now. It could be that...
1. We actually saw an example of his custom moves
2. His counter attack changes depending on the Monado Art he has active/if he has one active at all.
3. It's based on the timing of the counter itself.

Personally I'm beginning to think that it's option number 2, as the Miiverse post says that Monado Arts change his abilities and features.

That's wrong however. Both times the Monado had no Kanji, nor was a part of his body glowing. It had nothing to do with Neutral B.

 

[skstylez]

Wouldn't surprise me to see party members like Riki included in Shulk's taunts. Perfect excuse for more dialogue anyway

What better way to taunt than having a full heart to heart mid combat

 

[GMSTerror]

What better way to taunt than having a full heart to heart mid combat

GASP
XENOBLADE CODECS CONFIRMED

Just kidding, but imagine him talking to his party members in a similar fashion like Snake/StarFox

 

[yoonb]

A pretty solid explanation on Shulk's Vision/Down-B/Counter has been provided in the OP. Check that out.

Thank you for pointing that out to me! It's just what I suspected.

 

[TechPowah]

Aww, and here I thought I was being clever when I made a big post in the general thread on Shulk's Counter-Vision being stronger for activating the counter hit sooner, and here you people figured it all out before then.

 

[Weeginji]

GASP
XENOBLADE CODECS CONFIRMED

Just kidding, but imagine him talking to his party members in a similar fashion like Snake/StarFox

THE BRITISH ARE COMING! THE BRITISH ARE COMING!

 

[Starcutter]

I love his final smash tho

 

[Vinje]

I love his final smash tho

His final smash does look awesome.

 

[DaDavid]

That's wrong however. Both times the Monado had no Kanji, nor was a part of his body glowing. It had nothing to do with Neutral B.

Hmm, you're right. Well blah, that's actually pretty lame. Bad enough it's a counter but one that's even more forgiving than the others?...

Personally I still hope and think it'd be more interesting if it was based on some post-hit input.

 

[Ghoti]

Until Shulk was officially confirmed, I thought my main would be Greninja, but analysing Shulk's moveset has made me fall in love with him.

Now, I'm not really sure how his Art Switching thing works. If he can choose any Art he wants (after it has finished cooldown), then I'm going to main him.

I really can't wait to see the metagame for Shulk.

 

[Hero_of_Time95]

For switching to specific arts, what if the way it works is you hold B, and a specific angle of the analog stick (or D-pad respectively) Up, Down, Left, Right, Or double tap Neutral (all five) activates the art you want? I'd really want something like this, only cause cycling makes me nervous to pull off thorough combos. Either way, Shulk is defiantly gonna be one of my mains, and I cannot wait!!

 

[Neo Zero]

It's either button presses or holding the button. I'm assuming button presses, just press B as many times, then when you reach the Art, hold it until it activates.

 

[skstylez]

It's either button presses or holding the button. I'm assuming button presses, just press B as many times, then when you reach the Art, hold it until it activates.

i'm hoping you press or hold b then press a direction. Judging from the leaked footage, there is no locked animation when you change forms so that hints at B presses. The trailer made it seem like he has a short animation when switching so the leak could be old too.

 

[Neo Zero]

i'm hoping you press or hold b then press a direction. Judging from the leaked footage, there is no locked animation when you change forms so that hints at B presses. The trailer made it seem like he has a short animation when switching so the leak could be old too.

Well, the footage shows it always cycles in the same order. The animation is for when you hold it on the Kanji for seocnd or w/e long enough, where he then does the animation associated (guard stance for Shield, Lucina pose for Buster, in a sprint stance for speed, etc; )

 

[DaDavid]

Hopefully it's as easy as pressing till you get to the art you want and then letting go. I say easy but I actually think this way would be a smart balance as well, since it would "punish" you for going into the stance change cycle without thinking carefully about what you actually wanted, potentially locking you into something you didn't want after all.

 

[FlareHabanero]

I presume pressing the special button, and then pressing again would be the most practical route. Holding and letting go would be impractical during the middle of a fight.

 

[Solfiner]

I presume pressing the special button, and then pressing again would be the most practical route. Holding and letting go would be impractical during the middle of a fight.

I agree. That way muscle memory factors in as well, instead of needing visual cues.

 

[DaDavid]

So you'd press to make the modes automatically start cycling through and then press again to to actually pick the one you want? I guess that sounds like it'd work fine, assuming they don't cycle through too quickly.

 

[young grasshopper]

So you'd press to make the modes automatically start cycling through and then press again to to actually pick the one you want? I guess that sounds like it'd work fine, assuming they don't cycle through too quickly.

I think what he meant is that quickly tapping the button would cycle through and you would just stop on the one you want

 

[DaDavid]

I think what he meant is that quickly tapping the button would cycle through and you would just stop on the one you want

Something about the way he worded it made it seem like he was presenting something new, or I guess it just sounded confusing... But at any rate, if that's the case then yeah, that's pretty much what people landed on earlier isn't it?

 

[Rich Homie Quan]

That sword range is really giving melee marth a run for his money. If he has autocancels on his f-air, he's gonna be a monster.

 

[DaDavid]

I don't know, given what we've seen in the trailers it looks as if his airs come out too slowly to prefer playing him in the air. His Smashes look much better in my opinion.

 

[young grasshopper]

I don't know, given what we've seen in the trailers it looks as if his airs come out too slowly to prefer playing him in the air. His Smashes look much better in my opinion.

while the lack of speed in his airs does put a damper on things, the range allows you to start them from a safe distance away

 

[Hokori]

Shulk's aerials aren't fast, but I don't think they're that slow either. Looking at his moves, he seems to have a fair amount of anti-air options, which I find nice. Characters that prefer the air (inb4 Falco jokes) will likely have to watch how they try to approach Shulk if the player is spacing properly. The SHAD option (Short-Hop-Air-Dodge) isn't nearly as effective since Air Dodging into the ground leaves you with enough lag to punish. But of course, characters that force Shulk to approach (if you have a projectile) won't have to deal with this as much.

Missing techs around Shulk is also pretty damn dangerous since the range on his F-Smash and D-Smash can cover a lot of ground. Kinda like when Link got smacked by F-Smash after missing the tech following Shulk's Jab combo.

...

Speaking of the Jab Combo, unless you land the first hit or two, I wouldn't bother going into the third swing (Jab 3). That's easily punishable on block.

 

[Ape22]

So...how the hell is shulk's monado art switch going to work? There are 5 monado arts which means it can't be something like press neutral B -> use control stick to pick the art you want because there are only 4 directions. Do you have to cycle through them in a fixed order? That would make picking the art you need to have asap become significantly harder depending on if switching has any sort of lag/delay, potentially wasting whatever opportunity you wanted to capitalize on, or even worse, causing your death.

What do you all think?

If the leaked gameplay footage is legit (and I'm pretty sure it is seeing that it perfectly recreated shulk's moveset) then it looks like that either pressing or holding down the b button will cycle through each of the monado arts rather quickly. Then when you either press the button again or release it, the monado art displayed currently will activate.

 

[young grasshopper]

I think that if Shulk spaces properly, he will be nigh untouchable unless you have a projectile. Another benefit of his range is that followups become much easier.

 

[Neo Zero]

To be fair, Nair looked fast. Thus why I joked about it being like Ikes Nair

 

[Hokori]

And Ike has quite the N-Air, so this is a good thing :D

I also really like Shulk's tilts overall. I'm pretty much a fan of most of his normals

 

[Captain Norris]

Shulk's tilts have enormous range (more than Melee Marth from what I understand). He appears a little clunky though, like the move to move transition isn't fluid.

 

[Hokori]

And when I look at B-Air in the trailer again, the landing lag really doesn't look that serious. It could actually serve as a decent approach option with the use of RAR (Reverse-Aerial-Rush).

 

[young grasshopper]

And when I look at B-Air in the trailer again, the landing lag really doesn't look that serious. It could actually serve as a decent approach option with the use of RAR (Reverse-Aerial-Rush).

exactly, he may have a little landing lag, but you have a lot of time to recover because of the range of the attack

 

[Enyalb]

Found this from Famitsu.

 

[Hokori]

Down-B: "The duration of each counter becomes steadily shorter each time it is used"

Well that sure is interesting. Also nice to know that we have control over whether or not the second swing of Air Slash is used.