His frame data is the uncontested worst in the game. Well, frame speed being the right term. His main issue is that, and well he's combo meat in 4 stances (vanilla, buster, jump). The arts do some serious changes which helps him in staying away from low tier territory. Jump art is amazing to switch to once you're at a disadvantage it's your best bet in escaping juggles and recovering. It's also (imo) Shulk's best art because one n-air can easily confirm into a KO, and you can go deep and edgeguard any character easily. Speed art basically has no disadvantages, and it solidifies Shulk's neutral. Shield does its job well, stock tank. Buster art is basically the go-to art for spacing but you need to be really precise with your spacing. Smash art is read based, and it's probably the riskiest art to use.
Basically, you're not suppose to play him aggressively in the first place. You should mostly stay at mid-range. Charge in when it's safe with n-air or dash grab. Or pivot grab. You have range, exploit your generally insane disjoint. Don't go close-range because that's not what you're meant to do with Shulk. Lmao. Shulk thrives at mid-range and spacing and his reward from being at an advantageous state is insane. His arts also do a fine job in fixing his supposed weaknesses (except frame data and lag).
Lastly, we got MALLC because let's face it, they can't patch MALLC out. They're going to have to mess with the IASA frames which may break the character if trifled with. We still need to put that **** in our metagame. 9B has proved to us that we can't make johns for forcing the tech down our own throats.
His moveset (bar lol back slash and dash attack) is ultra solid. All his attacks are useful, even u-air actually. I thought u-throw was bad at first but the set ups from u-throw are rather interesting and it even varies depending on which art you're using
I should also mention, people have a relatively high/positive opinion on Shulk despite lack of representation because basically, a character with that much general range and mobility in jump or speed is utterly insane. I feel like buster is criminally underrated but it's hard to ignore the safety of speed or the stylish combos of jump. He's usually seen as top 20 or top 25 (upper mid tier to lower portion of high tier). At best, some people place him at top 15 (middle of high tier) which I question sometimes
His Monado arts' rewards are insane. You're at 150% and your opponent is at 70%. You still manage to kill them and win. BUT HOW? Shield mode and more importantly, exploiting rage. If you're opponent is smart, he'd camp shield out but that allows you to set the match to your pace, and it also gives your arts more time to come off cooldown
I very much doubt that anyone here actually truly mastered Shulk even at this point. I still feel like we haven't done enough to release his potential. Despite my impressions on Smash and shield (although I like shield now), I still feel like they actually have some hidden uses that are yet to be discovered. That, and we really need to use MALLC more.
So yeah. NOODLES. My impressions of Shulk. Hard to master, makes you question why you'd do this much for a character to be viable, every single action requires precision (decision making, art choosing, art management and spacing). Honestly from a far view, Shulk looks low tier. Well, in actuality, I don't even know anyone that outright called Shulk a bad character, which is weird because the frame data should be a turn off.
I guess we should be glad that this community doesn't end character judgement on solely frame data huh?
Oh and the player in the video was actually one of the best Diddys in Brawl (won MLG Dallas). He got 9th place out of 137 entrants in the tournament. He is slowly rising back....
