Monado Arts

Monado Arts
Activating the Smash art
User	Shulk
Universe	Xenoblade

Monado Arts (モナドアーツ, Monado Arts) is Shulk's neutral special move.

Overview

Shulk has access to five arts. Each art is represented by a kanji character and a color. Shulk will also perform a pose when activating each art. When the special button is pressed, a kanji will appear, beginning with Jump and following the order of Speed, Shield, Buster, and Smash for each consecutive press. To activate an art, the special button must not be pressed for a few frames until the colored aura appears on Shulk. If a kanji character is behind Shulk, he will be unable to perform any of his other special moves until an art is activated.

Symbol	Monado Art	Color	Affected stats
翔 (shō)	Jump	green	Jump height, Weight, Defense
疾 (shitsu)	Speed	blue	Movement speed, Jump height, Damage dealt
盾 (tate)	Shield	yellow	Weight, Defense, Shield strength, Jump height, Movement speed, Damage dealt
斬 (zan)	Buster	purple	Damage dealt, Knockback dealt, Defense
撃 (geki)	Smash	red	Knockback dealt, Damage dealt, Defense, Weight

Once an art activates, that art cannot be activated again until some time has passed. Before then, its corresponding kanji symbol will be grayed out when selecting another art. Each art lasts for a limited time before stats return to normal. No two Monado Arts can run at the same time; if one is active, and a different art is chosen, the previous art gets overwritten. Monado Arts can be cancelled by pressing the special button three times. Kirby is able to copy Monado Arts with his Inhale and can receive effects from these Arts when he uses this copy ability, though any effect will deactivate as soon as the copy ability is discarded.

To indicate which art is running, a colored aura appears in areas relevant to the effect itself. For example, Jump and Speed have an aura around Shulk's shoes, while Buster's aura will appear around the Monado. Shield's aura will appear around Shulk's chest and Smash's aura will be at Shulk's hands. Also, in the Wii U version, when under the effects of a Monado Art, the corresponding symbol appears at the top left corner of Shulk's portrait.

Customization

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Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the known variations:

1. Decisive Monado Arts: Arts last longer, but once an Art is activated it cannot be changed for another Art.
2. Hyper Monado Arts: Both positive and negative effects of Arts are amplified, and the Arts last for a shorter duration of time.

Origin

The Shield, Speed, and Buster arts are three of the arts that are available in Xenoblade Chronicles. Shulk would learn each art automatically as the story progresses. Shield created a barrier around the target that can block physical talent attacks as long as the strength of the shield is at least that of the incoming attack. Speed increases the target's agility, allowing him or her to dodge attacks more easily. Buster is a powerful slash attack that extends the beam produced by the Monado as well as the damage caused by the slash, and it deals extra damage to Mechon. The Jump and Smash arts, however, are unique to Smash 4, with the Smash art being named after the game.

The fact that each Monado Art cannot be selected again for a short time after use reflects a mechanic in Xenoblade Chronicles, in which arts have cooldown times before they can be used again. How long the cooldown lasts depends on the art.

Trivia

• This is the only neutral special move that cannot be performed while on a revival platform.
• The names of the arts do not consistently correspond to the kanji used for them. Despite this, the same English names are used for them in the Japanese games.
  • The kanji have the following meanings:
    
    • 翔 Fly
    • 疾 Rapid
    • 盾 Shield
    • 斬 Slash, Behead
    • 撃 Attack, Strike, Defeat

Shulk's special moves

Neutral special	Monado Arts
Side special	Back Slash
Up special	Air Slash
Down special	Vision
Final Smash	Chain Attack