Who or what is a Lawbringer you ask? I'm glad you asked because I'll tell you: Lawbringers are For Honor's most legendary warriors, the most powerful and mysterious knights of all, their armor and weaponry second to none. These big metal boys need nothing other than their devotion to handing out justice to keep themselves going, how inspiring! So if you're unacquainted with them, you're probably wondering what they could bring to the table, huh? Well luckily for you I know exactly that. Aside from the sense of menace that their steel bodies bring, the Poleaxe is a relatively underrepresented weapon, with its impressive reach and versatility though, it allows its user to excel at defensive play whether through keeping the opponent at bay or counterattacking with crushing power. This brings with it a rather immobile heavyweight with impressive reach and versatile attacks, a quick poke to stuff approaches? Check. A multitude of counterattacking options? Check. Powerful, devastating chained attacks? Check. CRAZED LATIN SHOUTING!? CHECK! Although the law may have difficulty translating all of its aspects to Smash, like their weapons, Lawbringers are versatile and adaptable.
Attributes
Lawbringer's heavy armor weighs him down quite a bit, as a result he's quite heavy, being only a small bit heavier than Ganondorf. Like Ganondorf, he is also fat and slow, dashing a little slower than King Triple D, and having the slowest walk in the game. He has a slightly above average falling speed, but below average gravity. Air speed is, predictably, rather slow, but not horrid, I'd imagine it being somewhere around Charizard's. His ground jump is below average, only a bit higher than Manondorf's, but his midair jump has surprisingly decent height, being better than Mario's. "Another slow heavyweight" you must be thinking. And, if we're judging just his stats, you're right! I didn't cover initial dash speed/length or air traction and acceleration because those are a bit too technical for most users to care. But there is a part of his attributes not attached to his stats. The Law, as per his versatility, has three gimmicks that he brings with him. The first is his ability to chain grounded attacks together in versatile combos that cancel the endlag of each other, but will leave him more vulnerable at the end of his chain based on how many moves were included (up to three). The second is his ability to afflict his victims with exhaustion, YES! The dreaded stamina mechanic returns, but FOR EVERYONE! A handful of his moves can inflict exhaustion, and when that happens, targets are subject to multiple side effects that will be expanded upon in his moveset, but in general, startup and endlag on all attacks are slowed by 30% and weaker by the same amount. This effect lasts about 6 seconds. The last is based on his unique Tier 2 feat, Righteous Deflection. With this, the Law will gain super armor and damage reduction upon landing his down special, though only for about 30 frames, so act quickly!Moveset
Ground attacks
The Law's game is quite different from Smash and as such he has had to improvise his attacks. His jab is his iconic top light overhead poke with the bottom end of his Poleaxe, not very strong, but quite quick on startup and ending, with very deceptive reach to boot. His side tilt, based on his side stance heavy attack, is a slow, heavy swing with his Poleaxe with high KO power. If chained into from jab, it will lose its KO power in favor of chaining into side and up smash. For his down tilt, the Law decided to steal from his good friend, the Gladiator, and cruelly pokes at the toes of targets. It has poor range and leaves the Law wide open on miss, but it has quick startup, and if the opponent is inflicted with exhaustion, they will be forced into an untechable floored situation. His up tilt sees him ram the Poleaxe upward, it has impressive vertical reach, with four different hitboxes, a powerful tipper on the spike at the top, a moderately powerful semi spike from the axe head, a weak exhaustion inflicting blow on the hammer at the back of the axe, and a weak hit that places the victim above Law located on the shaft. The horizontal reach leaves a bit to be desired, a tad slow on startup but deceptively low endlag. His dash attack is based on his existing dash attack: his iconic lunging impale, translated into Smash as a multi hitting move as he forces you across the stage, able to move nearly the entire distance of FD if you hold the button the entire time. Extremely fast startup and very high damage and knockback, but massive endlag.Ground attacks
Smash attacks
The Law has powerful, but slow Smash attacks with massive reach. His side smash is based on his side stance unblockable heavy chain finishers, and it sees him rotating his torso a bit while winding up with his axe, before unleashing a massively powerful blow, it can be chained into from a jab followed by a side tilt, but as previously stated, this will give him even more endlag. His up smash is based on his top stance unblockable heavy chain finishers, and is an overhead swing that ends in front of him. It has decent vertical and creamy horizontal reach, but it's on the whole not effective at catching air assaults, since his back is completely exposed, however, this move inflicts exhaustion. His down smash takes inspiration from his zone attack, though he now crouches while doing so to catch low profile opponents. He spins his Poleaxe from behind him then in front of him, hitting with the lower end of the shaft behind, and the much stronger head at the front. This move cannot be chained into.
Aerials
For Honor has pretty much no vertical combat so it's safe to say this was not the easiest to come up with. However, they do have drop attacks which involve the warrior dropping heroically from a ledge to instantly slay any poor soul unlucky enough to be below them. Needless to say, this translates well into a stall then fall dair, the Law lifts his Poleaxe overhead, then brings it slamming down below him as he plummets to his almost certain doom. However, as a callback to successful drop attacks not harming the user for falling from great heights (as much), Law will instantly cancel his fall should he hit a target and will be able to recover, obviously this move is a meteor smash. His fair is based on his shove, it has poor vertical and only mediocre horizontal reach, but hits at a very unforgiving semi spike angle and has good power to boot. His bair has him jam the spiked tip of the Poleaxe behind him with slow startup but great reach and crushing power of tippered. Up air is an arcing swipe with the axe head, its reach is good both vertically and horizontally, with average power. Finally nair is a multi hitting spin of his Poleaxe, quickly turning it around like a helicopter blade, kind of like Darth Maul's fancy twirling move. Now, for the interesting part...
Special moves
His standard special his based on his unique Tier 1 feat: Harsh Judgment. Anyone at a fixed distance (a little closer than explosive flame) will be afflicted with this debuff. Nothing happens to you unless you're hit by his down special, which causes you to instantly become exhausted. His side special causes him to throw out an Igneus Imber explosive. These primitive bombs can be thrown in three ways (inputted like Gordo Throw) with the shortest throw encompassing the Law himself (can deal self harm!) and the furthest reaching nearly 3/4s of FD. A couple of frames after hitting the ground (which they will land on instantly after being thrown) they will explode violently with high knockback. His up special has him hold his Poleaxe by almost the very bottom end and stab upward with it. If the spike or the axe pokes a ledge, Law will grab it. If the shaft touches a ledge, he will fall for a bit until the axe head hooks itself onto the ledge, but he will never miss the ledge this way. This has...very poor distance for a recovery move, but can make a decent KO move, and it can be angled. Finally got his most gimmicky move, his down special: Parry! Operating similar to a counter, when struck, the Law does...nothing! That's right genius, it's up to you to make the followup! You have five options here, choose which one is best for the situation. A jab will use a special light tap based on his light riposte, this exhausts the target and deals low damage. Side smash will instead cause him to use a slightly stronger variant of his dash attack. Up smash works normally, but can be easily avoided unless the target is already exhausted upon being parried in which case it will always land. Down smash is notably stronger and is imminent to grabbing. The final option is grabbing which will be discussed below.
Throws
Less interesting but still part of a character's moveset. Firstly, his grab animation has him hold the Poleaxe in his left hand behind him while he reaches out with his right, it has great reach. When in the grab, he holds the opponent by the chest while still holding his Poleaxe behind him, and his pummel sees him squeeze harder with his right hand. Law's forward throw is based on his forward throw from his own game, he grabs the opponent by the face and brutishly shoves them forward. His back throw is based on his existing back throw, putting his hand on the victim's back and forcefully shoving them behind him. His down throw is based on his Long Arm move, where he jabs the target in the stomach with the back end of his Poleaxe and lifts them overhead, and they end up being slammed on the ground behind him. This exhausts victims but does no damage. His up throw has him perform an animation similar to his impaling execution, briefly rearing back with his Poleaxe before stabbing the victim in the stomach with its spike, lifting them overhead and launching upward. Oh, and the best part? All throws except up throw will cause the opponent to hit the floor instantly without the ability to tech if they are already exhausted. The worst part? This thread which started as a bit of a joke now actually has something that sounds fun to play as...
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