What is the point of playing Lucina?

[Silverfox117]

I really like Lucina as a character in fire emblem awakening, and it just frustrates me that she is completely inferior in almost every single way to Marth. What is the point of making a clone that is purposely worse than the normal character?

Give me your reasons why you play opt out to play Lucina over Marth, or why you dont' play Lucina. Also if someone could explain to me what is the point of making Lucina worse on purpose please do tell.

 

[Wintropy]

I think Lucina is a cooler character.

She's easier to play and, at least to me, more reliable. I'm not particularly good with spacing and prioritising when to strike and when to go into setup mode, so I find Lucina's ability to fight on relatively equal footing with any character works well.

 

[LIQUID12A]

Worse is a subjective term. If you're a skilled Marth main, then yes, she is worse. If you're not skilled at landing tippers, then she's arguably better in a sense if not completely.

And for the "make a clone purposely worse" part? That doesn't apply in full to Lucina because, once again, the subjective part of "worse".

is a better example of the purposely worse part.

I play Lucina because I think she's much better than Marth as a character and I don't want to commit to hitting tippers all the time as a casual player.

 

[Jonarobin]

I play Lucina because she seems faster than Marth and just more fun to play as for me. I think her sword power being more balanced than being moreso in the tip (I think?) is just overall easier and more fun to play as...

I also really like Lucina as a character.

 

[CommanderPepper]

To make people salty.

 

[Reila]

She looks better than Marth. Plus, since she is supposedly worse than Marth, that means le pro players aren't going to play her, which is good.

Plus, while both characters come from arguably bad entries in their series, Lucina comes from a less-bad one.

 

[Robertman2]

She looks better than Marth. Plus, since she is supposedly worse than Marth, that means le pro players aren't going to play her, which is good.

Plus, while both characters come from arguably bad entries in their series, Lucina comes from a less-bad one.

But it saved the series... And that VERY arguable.

 

[P1 Jake]

I've always loved the Fire Emblem reps' playstyles, and after Awakening Lucina was my most wanted newcomer. Once she was announced I was pretty much convinced on sticking to/maining her. Although I do have more success with Marth and landing tippers, I usually switch between the two, and tend to favor Lucina.

 

[PokemonyeWest]

I think Lucina is just supposed to be EZ Mode Marth, thus why she's not as good

 

[EternalFlame]

I side with what one of my friends once said. You have a choice between early kills (Marth) and consistency (Lucina). Now I'll just speak on a purely gameplay standpoint, since a good number of people already covered "liking the character" aspect well enough.

I think Lucina is just supposed to be EZ Mode Marth, thus why she's not as good

Perhaps we can sum it up as the easy mode Marth, but at the same point, Marth has difficulty killing once a certain percentage is reached, and his attacks no longer chain propery or need that tipper to finish the job. Landing tippers is a higher skill requirement, but at the same time, it can unfavourably mess up attack chains and perhaps people prefer consistency for a better combo potential. This is not to say that Lucina is any better than Marth in that department, but it makes it easier to follow an attack chain that does not have the added bonus of messup due to tippers knocking the target too far away or anything. The tipper slowdown/knockback throws me off at points, that I can say from experience.

Does having less to worry about when playing a match make Lucina less worthy of being played? Absolutely not. If anything, some people will gravitate towards this consistency, and the safer and more consistent the option, the better. There's a whole barrel full of monkeys to discuss Lucina's safety compared to Marth, but honestly, a few frames less from block stun can easily be protected by manouvering or throwing out another attack at the right moment (but that is my own opinion there). That tipper slowdown mentioned earlier also comes with a bad point that your opponents will have a more time to react to hit/grab you back. It isn't safe when it is blocked either way, but every milisecond more given for an opponent to react to what you do makes it all the more difficult to get away with it.

Fundamentally Marth is stronger than Lucina. In actual battle, it will ride on who carries the sword with better skill and determination. Not Lucina, not Marth, but the player is the one who carries that sword.

 

[rpgcaster]

Previous poster beat me to the punch but pretty much yes, I play Lucina because she's more consistent than Marth. I like knowing exactly where my attacks will send my opponents so I can make decisions based on that. Sure, at a high skill level if you know how to space, you can probably very simply get tippers when you want, but I don't like that feeling that a missed tipper could mean the difference between winning and losing in clench matches. With Lucina, I know exactly when I can kill and don't have to obsess with perfect spacing.

... and yeah, love Lucina's character too

 

[Phoenon]

Laura Bailey
Better taunts
Laura Bailey
More forgiving to players that can't land tippers well
Laura Bailey

 

[KingTeo]

It's a matter of playstyle for me. When I play marth I've always tended to play semi-offensively, using timed tippers and forward B a low. With Lucina I feel comfortable playing rushdown and i lie the general feel of the character better than Marth. I don't think she's better as a character, but she's a lot more fun and effective for me. 391

 

[Emblem Lord]

The word consistent gets thrown around alot here.

But anyway ignoring all the misinformation, Lucina is for casual players. Marth is for competitive players.

Play her if you like her. Ultimately videogames are about having fun. If playing her gives you an enjoyable experience then you should play her. Period.

 

[Treveen]

I feel like Lucina plays a lot smoother and is less restrictive in playstyle than marth.

 

[~ Valkyrie ~]

I find it strange that apparently due not being based on early kills or necessarily spacing tippers, Lucina is "for casuals" . She shouldn't be weighed by her mechanics in comparison to Marth - and debating who's playstyle being better would be strange as both are clearlydifferent through their mechanics in their falchions and thus give leetway to several different playstyles for many types of players.

As it seems now, she's for the players want to use Marth's shorter range and spacing in Sm4sh to do consistent, reliable damage/knockback and better comboing rather than go for tippers and early kills with chances to be thrown off from the flow by either non-tippered or tippered moves during fighting.
It might make her feel "easier", but sadly that'd be about as same as us having to restrict to rules or playstyles we're doing for sake of keeping dignity or status over the preference. It's rather immature to think we should play in one way (or character, even if superior possibly) only to win, when in general, anything can, and SHOULD BE used to win, especially if it strikes your fancy rather than all other people.

And from what I've seen, Lucina's playstyle is not something that has proven anything lackluster for those purposes, contrary to that even. (She'll be in competitive scene nonetheless, even if becoming potentially lower tier than Marth is)

I've been still trying to get into Marth but he asks quite a lot with his current playstyle and feels not entirely flowing or reliable as Lucina when it comes to playing in matches. This might of course, make Marth much deadlier under better hands, but saying we should keep choosing from double-edged sword all the time over the regular one sounds ridiculous to me if one doesn't like it, yet should be labeled casual.

I'm not too big Lucina-fan myself (actually I'm more of Marth's), but still, I'm playing her due feeling more balanced and reliable. And if it helps or encourages me more to win than using Marth, then that definitely is better than having to pick up someone that I just don't feel clicking to with while there's more preferred - heck, better choice in my hands.

 

[TTTTTsd]

The word consistent gets thrown around alot here.

But anyway ignoring all the misinformation, Lucina is for casual players. Marth is for competitive players.

Play her if you like her. Ultimately videogames are about having fun. If playing her gives you an enjoyable experience then you should play her. Period.

Basically this. Even on a competitive level, if you like or even LOVE the character, play them. I plan on playing Dr. Mario regardless of how good or bad he is in this game (my secondaries will help if I absolutely need them), because I like the CHARACTER (I grew up on Dr. Mario 64 constantly so that explains a lot)

 

[Emblem Lord]

I feel like Lucina plays a lot smoother and is less restrictive in playstyle than marth.

Fallacy. Their frame data is identical. So is their weight, run speed and jump height.

What you are experiencing is known as confirmation bias.

 

[TTTTTsd]

One thing I will give Lucina is that I THINK her air speed is better than Marth's? I'm pretty sure it was, from what I can recall, but this is foggy memories.

 

[chucho]

She feels more natural as a character for me and I don't have to play to defensively like you have to do with marth.

 

[EternalFlame]

I find it strange that apparently due not being based on early kills or necessarily spacing tippers, Lucina is "for casuals" . She shouldn't be weighed by her mechanics in comparison to Marth - and debating who's playstyle being better would be strange as both clearly different throuhg their mechanics in their swords and thus give leetway to playstyles to different types of players.

As it seems now, she's for the players want to use Marth's shorter range and spacing in Sm4sh to do consistent, reliable damage/knockback and better comboing rather than go for tippers and early kills with chances to be thrown off from the flow by either non-tippered or tippered moves during fighting. It might make her feel "easier", but that'd be saying same as being "a scrub" and we should play in one way only to win, when in general, anything can, and SHOULD BE used to win. And from what I've seen, Lucina's playstyle is not something that has proven anything lackluster for those purposes, contrary to that even.

I've been still trying to get into Marth but he asks quite a lot with his current playstyle and feels not entirely flowing or reliable as Lucina when it comes to playing in matches. This might of course, make Marth much deadlier under better hands, but saying we should keep choosing from double-edged sword all the time over the regular one sounds ridiculous to me if one doesn't like it, yet is labeled casual for preferring Lucina.

Heck, I'm not too big Lucina-fan myself (actually I'm more of Marth's), but still, I'm playing her due feeling more balanced and reliable. And if it helps or encourages me more to win than using Marth, then that should be alright instead of getting labeled "casual" (meaning we should invest on the veteran Lord himself instead)

with you on this one, especially since we're comparing the characters and assuming that Marth players will always hit accurately without error. Another issue I think is peoples understanding of consistency, since the knockback and percentage rely on where the opponent is hit. Just because the tipper exists, there is a point of error that lead to either tipper or non tipper knockback and percentage. Lucina has consistency where there is no point of error, and some players like that. Just because Lucina was built off of a spacing type doesnt make what she is for casuals only. I believe that she can be used in competitive setting and can win. Her difference in lack of tipper does not equate to inability in a competitive setting

 

[~ Valkyrie ~]

Fallacy. Their frame data is identical. So is their weight, run speed and jump height.

What you are experiencing is known as confirmation bias.

I guess by this logic I've been Lucina-supporter since the time SSB4 was shown in E3 2013.

They are identical by frame data and other attributes, but their mechanics can give both a completely different kind of a playstyles, feels of accessibility or effectiveness, or methods to play against their opponents. After all, you can't really play Marth in this game in completely same fashion as Lucina or vice versa in higher play.

 

[Feryn Hyrk]

Lucina is for casual players. Marth is for competitive players.

For me, the question "why not picking Marth if he is better for winning a fight?" is not the right question to be asked here.

Why? That would be the same as asking "why not picking HIGHEST_TIER_CHARS if he is better for winning a fight?"

Outsiders put Marth and Lucina in the same boat TOO MUCH, they're from the same game series and play very similar, but they're actually two entire different characters that have their own games, personalities, back history, motivations AND, although similar in a way, they DO look different. Also, different genders.

So, it's not the same feeling when maining them, so instead of puting an supposedly direct logic of "Why playing Lucina if you can play Marth, wich is better", try to think this way -> "Why playing Marth if you can play Fox~Diddy~Sheik~Yoshi... wich is/are better"

And then you'll understand why our choice in maining Lucina is not very diifferent from yours to main Marth or any "less then ideal tier" char.

 

[EternalFlame]

For me, the question "why not picking Marth if he is better for winning a fight?" is not the right question to be asked here.

Why? That would be the same as asking "why not picking HIGHEST_TIER_CHARS if he is better for winning a fight?"

Outsiders put Marth and Lucina in the same boat TOO MUCH, they're from the same game series and play very similar, but they're actually two entire different characters that have their own games, personalities, back history, motivations AND, although similar in a way, they DO look different. Also, different genders.

So, it's not the same feeling when maining them, so instead of puting an supposedly direct logic of "Why playing Lucina if you can play Marth, wich is better", try to think this way -> "Why playing Marth if you can play Fox~Diddy~Sheik~Yoshi... wich is/are better"

And then you'll understand why our choice in maining Lucina is not very diifferent from yours to main Marth or any "less then ideal tier" char.

Well put sir xD

. . .

Play her if you like her. Ultimately videogames are about having fun. If playing her gives you an enjoyable experience then you should play her. Period.

People also need to remember this part of Emblem Lord's argument too, and it is this side of it I agree with. Since I was typing on a phone earlier, there was only so much I could put in when I was in the middle of doing something else. People can have fun and still be competitive, for when we have fun, we are driven to do better at it. We work with our characters and make them viable, no matter what anyone else says or thinks.

I've said it a few times already, but it's not the character alone that will win the battle; it is the players that will take it the rest of the way and determine victory from defeat.

 

[Emblem Lord]

One thing I will give Lucina is that I THINK her air speed is better than Marth's? I'm pretty sure it was, from what I can recall, but this is foggy memories.

Their data is identical save for Marth being taller than his great granddaughter

 

[Funkermonster]

As someone who likes playing Fire Emblem Awakening and Lucina as a character, I think that's reason enough for me to play her over Marth. I think Marth is a cool character too and I have a nostalgic memory of trying to unlock him in Melee when I was little, but I never played his game and his character design kinda turns me off personally, and his color palettes in this game are horrible compared to Lucina's if you ask me. Ideally, I enjoy competitive play and I'd probably do better if I picked him instead of her, but I simply just ignore it and remember that they are mostly the same character and I could probably use them both if I wanted to. I mean, if you can use either of them, you shouldn't be a fish out of water playing the other one. I know and admit he's technically superior to her in most ways, but I simply don't care.

If I wanted to handicap myself and give myself more of a challenge in a match, I guess that's one reason to play her over him, am I right?

Plus since Nintendo's doing balance patches, maybe they'll buff her in the future and give her more advantages over Marth or more importantly (for me at least), more differences from him in gameplay. I doubt they're gonna overlook this for that long, she's gotta get adjusted eventually. If I could pick only one character who should get tweaked, its definitely her.

 

[EternalFlame]

As someone who likes playing Fire Emblem Awakening and Lucina as a character, I think that's reason enough for me to play her over Marth. I think Marth is a cool character too and I have a nostalgic memory of trying to unlock him in Melee when I was little, but I never played his game and his character design kinda turns me off personally, and his color palettes in this game are horrible compared to Lucina's if you ask me. Ideally, I enjoy competitive play and I'd probably do better if I picked him instead of her, but I simply just ignore it and remember that they are mostly the same character and I could probably use them both if I wanted to. I mean, if you can use either of them, you shouldn't be a fish out of water playing the other one. I know and admit he's technically superior to her in most ways, but I simply don't care.

If I wanted to handicap myself and give myself more of a challenge in a match, I guess that's one reason to play her over him, am I right?

Plus since Nintendo's doing balance patches, maybe they'll buff her in the future and give her more advantages over Marth or more importantly (for me at least), more differences from him in gameplay. I doubt they're gonna overlook this for that long, she's gotta get adjusted eventually. If I could pick only one character who should get tweaked, its definitely her.

You and one of my friends who I am learning the fundamentals from would get along great I think for just this bolded statement here xD

 

[Random4811]

I guess by this logic I've been Lucina-supporter since the time SSB4 was shown in E3 2013.

They are identical by frame data and other attributes, but their mechanics can give both a completely different kind of a playstyles, feels of accessibility or effectiveness, or methods to play against their opponents. After all, you can't really play Marth in this game in completely same fashion as Lucina or vice versa in higher play.

Also false. You have to play Lucina and Marth almost exactly the same. The only differences between the way you can play them are that Lucina is less safe on shield, she cannot kill anywhere near as well as Marth (seriously, a ~20% kill vs. what may be ~120%. The power of the tip is real.), she has more consistent knockback every time you hit- rather than tipper vs sourspot Kb- and i've been told that this gives her more combo ability; however I dont know that I buy that without further testing or video conformation, and you get no reward for proper spacing with her.
Dont mistake her lack of tippers for needing a lack of spacing. She still needs to space well like Marth does. Its just as important. Playing as Marth vs. Lucina, your playstyle by nature is going to be almost identical.

She feels more natural as a character for me and I don't have to play to defensively like you have to do with marth.

You cannot play Lucina any more offensively than Marth. If you're playing her as a rushdown character, you're doing it wrong.

 

[Chandeelure]

I actually think Lucina is better than Marth in competitive, but meh, that's my opinion.

 

[Random4811]

I actually think Lucina is better than Marth in competitive, but meh, that's my opinion.

If you think just generally being unsafe, having trouble killing, and having less range than the Hero-King is better for competitive play, then by all means, keep thinking that.

In all seriousness though, Marth is safer to play as, he rewards you more for playing the same way that you play Lucina, and he can kill at ~20% with a well aimed, charged tipper Smash. How the character looks competitively is going to depend on the player. I've noticed a trend of people playing Lucina more in tourneys than Marth. And its based on character bias, not on how good the character actually is. Its like an Olimar main. They're going to play Olimar regardless of how awful he is. When you put two equally good players against each other, one Marth and one Lucina, then the Marth will come out on top.

 

[Emblem Lord]

Hey.

Relax mang. Its all good.

 

[Nyhte]

It was a decision by Nintendo in attempt to change their play style or functionality so they aren't an exact clone

Might be the same issue of Roy though

Mostly character bias or the wrong ideas about viability and power

Competitively there's no reason to use Lucina, I'd say that she's decent for being an in-fighter but there's two problems with that, one being that a lot of people don't like using the Marth move set to be an in fighter, and Marth can punish way harder at his maximum range than Lucina can, so even if both were close up fighters that were unorthodox, Marth has the advantage of being notably more lethal at his max range only sacrificing a bit close up, which is a good trade for Marth

Lucina is easier to pick up for people and people think she's more consistent because from the skill floor she is, since you don't have to worry about tipper mechanics she'll always perform the same, so you only have opponent and % to deal with when factoring in knock back, essentially. Except on Marth the only added part is the tipper mechanic which you can learn, get use to and react to as well, along with tippers not being too hard to land. If the objective is to 'win', then it seems Lucina flat out loses except maybe subjectively with an in-fighting play style and that's not without fault either

That's my thoughts on it

 

[EternalFlame]

It was a decision by Nintendo in attempt to change their play style or functionality so they aren't an exact clone

Might be the same issue of Roy though

Mostly character bias or the wrong ideas about viability and power

Competitively there's no reason to use Lucina, I'd say that she's decent for being an in-fighter but there's two problems with that, one being that a lot of people don't like using the Marth move set to be an in fighter, and Marth can punish way harder at his maximum range than Lucina can, so even if both were close up fighters that were unorthodox, Marth has the advantage of being notably more lethal at his max range only sacrificing a bit close up, which is a good trade for Marth

Lucina is easier to pick up for people and people think she's more consistent because from the skill floor she is, since you don't have to worry about tipper mechanics she'll always perform the same, so you only have opponent and % to deal with when factoring in knock back, essentially. Except on Marth the only added part is the tipper mechanic which you can learn, get use to and react to as well, along with tippers not being too hard to land. If the objective is to 'win', then it seems Lucina flat out loses except maybe subjectively with an in-fighting play style and that's not without fault either

That's my thoughts on it

I can side with this, just only adding that though there is no reason to use Lucina over Marth competitively, a person's preference of the lack of tipper/consistency doesn't necessarily make Lucina bad to use either in a general sense. It isn't like she struggles to get a kill or anything, only that Marth kills sooner. Being a Marth main, I still say the point of error between tipper and non-tipper is inescapable, no matter how good you are at getting them. And that one mistake can cost you the game, simply for not killing your opponent as soon as you'd like. The same can be said for Lucina, but at least she has the assurance of no point of error. That should be what consistency means in this context.

 

[eshu125]

The word consistent gets thrown around alot here.

But anyway ignoring all the misinformation, Lucina is for casual players. Marth is for competitive players.

Holy **** speaking of fallacies.

How is her having consistent knockback and dmg on her sword misinformation? Get your head out of your ass. Being able to score an fsmash read on my opponent at 90% (dependent on character. i.e. much sooner than marth) regardless of my positioning is just one of many advantages in certain situations that lucina has over marth that makes me prefer to play her. That is not fallacious or me being misinformed, it is simply a legitimate argument.

 

[Locuan]

This is turning into a Marth vs. Lucina thread. If you want the information regarding their differences, there is already a thread for that.

If you are looking for reasons to play one over the other there are many and depends on what mindset you have while approaching the game. Are you a competitive minded player? Do you have a certain attachment to the character because of game lore etc? Depending on the question and the answer that you give you can come up with different reasons as to why play Lucina or not.

Now as for the question from @ Silverfox117

What is the point of making a clone that is purposely worse than the normal character?

The only one's that would be able to answer your question would be the game designers themselves. This is not a question that can be answered by us in any shape or form because all of us would have a different opinion and it would devolve into an endless argument with different sides and no clear answer.

I'd like to remind everyone that there are threads pinned at the top with information regarding differences between characters that share the same move set among other things. Additionally, continuing this discussion is dangerous because there is a serious risk of clashes between users when we should all just be enjoying the game and playing the characters that we each find fun.

 

[Oblivion129]

I tried running off the edge of the stage and using double Fair and then midair jump to UpB. Marth makes it back but Lucina doesn't.
Did anyone else notice this? I'm pretty sure it's because of Marth's height. His head would be closer to the edge than Lucina.

 

[TeaTwoTime]

Playing Lucina punishes you less for poorly spacing your attacks - that is, she can get kills with poorly spaced attacks that Marth would not have gotten. Her kit has one less layer of complexity that will enable those who are new to Marth to focus on properly executing aspects of her gameplay other than landing tippers. Also, her Up Smash is objectively better than Marth's, even if he tippers his version.
And as stated above... she's Lucina.

If you're into competing seriously, though, don't play her over Marth unless you're styling, or something.

 

[Random4811]

My biggest problem with Luci is I think her model is kinda ugo in the 3DS version. I need to spend more time with it, but something about it sets me off.

 

[Emblem Lord]

Holy **** speaking of fallacies.

How is her having consistent knockback and dmg on her sword misinformation? Get your head out of your ***. Being able to score an fsmash read on my opponent at 90% (dependent on character. i.e. much sooner than marth) regardless of my positioning is just one of many advantages in certain situations that lucina has over marth that makes me prefer to play her. That is not fallacious or me being misinformed, it is simply a legitimate argument.

I didn't attack anyone in this thread and yet your response was quite aggressive.

Im the one that has their head up their ass?

Interesting.

Btw i get fsmash reads and kill with marth at 70. Much sooner than lucina.

 

[eshu125]

Not aggressive, just shocked at the sheer hypocrisy in your statement.

Oh you've gotten a tipper fsmash read before? Amazing. Tippers are inconsistent, lucina is not. That is the bottom line.

'Being a Marth main, I still say the point of error between tipper and non-tipper is inescapable, no matter how good you are at getting them. And that one mistake can cost you the game, simply for not killing your opponent as soon as you'd like. The same can be said for Lucina, but at least she has the assurance of no point of error. That should be what consistency means in this context.' - EternalFlame

You can use ad hominem all you want but it won't help you backpedal from this ludicrous statement:

'But anyway ignoring all the misinformation, Lucina is for casual players. Marth is for competitive players.'