Lucas (SSBU)

Lucas in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	EarthBound
Other playable appearances	in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	PK Starstorm
Tier	C+ (57)

Lucas (リュカ, Lucas) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was revealed along with fellow EarthBound fighter Ness and all other veterans on June 12th, 2018 and is classified as Fighter #37.

As in Super Smash Bros. 4, Lani Minella's portrayal of Lucas from Super Smash Bros. Brawl was repurposed for Ultimate.

Lucas is ranked 57th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing him in the middle of the C+ tier. This is a significant drop from his 28th/29th out of 54 placement in Smash 4, where he was tied with Ness. Lucas boasts advanced techniques such as double jump cancel zair and attack cancels, able to rapidly accumulate damage thanks to his impressive combo game. He has an excellent edgeguarding game thanks to numerous moves having great utility, such as his down smash and up smash able to 2 frame punish, back and down aerials capable of meteor smashing, and all his special moves being great at ledgetrapping and offstage chases, most notoriously with PK Freeze. Outside of forward smash, his smash attacks are some of the strongest in the game, with up smash having generous protection and allowing it to be used as a pseudo-counter. Lucas also has a long and versatile recovery with his high double jump, PK Thunder and his grab aerial tether recovery. Lastly, he has decent zoning tools with PK Fire and PK Thunder, and three out of his four throws are powerful KO throws.

However, Lucas has noticeable flaws. In contrast to his strong pressuring game, his disadvantage state is notably poor: his out of shield game is one of the worst in the roster due to his slow tether grab and lack of fast aerials, while he is particularly vulnerable in the air due to his floatiness, poor range, and difficulty against juggling due to a lack of attacks that are good for landing. This is made worse by his mediocre ground mobility and rather short range on some attacks, making him particularly vulnerable to rushdowns. His overreliance on a few neutral game options (such as grab aerial) makes his approach relatively linear. Lastly, Lucas is considered one of the hardest characters to master: his advanced techniques require a demanding amount of effort to perform consistently and reap a proportional reward.

Overall, Lucas' advantages, notably with his powerful edgeguarding and combo game, makes him a potent character if utilized properly. However, due to his disadvantage state, sluggish movement and overall difficult advanced techniques, Lucas has historically been an uncommon character in high-level play. In the post-pandemic era, he has been represented in competitive play by players such as Regalo, ChocoTaco and Nitox, who have had solid placements with the character.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play VS. matches, with Lucas being the 36th character to be unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Kirby or any character in his unlock tree, being the 7th character unlocked after Corrin.
• Have Lucas join the player's party in World of Light.

Lucas must then be defeated on New Pork City (the Ω form is used in World of Light).

Attributes

Being a pseudo-clone of Ness, Lucas shares attributes with him in terms of special moves. However, the two are very different from each other in gameplay. Lucas is a middleweight that has slow walking speed, average dashing speed and gravity, fast air speed, and below-average falling speed. He makes up for his lack of ground mobility with the speed of his attacks, with many possessing low lag, allowing him to rack up damage quickly and safely. At the same time, he boasts a large number of high-damage, powerful attacks that can KO at early percentages.

Arguably, Lucas's greatest strength is his extremely dangerous edgeguarding game, which is among the greatest in Ultimate, and allows him to easily KO off-stage opponents at unusually early percentages. PK Freeze freezes opponents and now launches opponents horizontally with powerful knockback, enabling it to KO off-stage opponents at ludicrously low % and making it one of his most infamous edge-guarding techniques. Its incredibly large hitbox makes it an excellent 2-frame punish tool, can be used to punish rolls or techs, and can also be used as a deadly stage spike and ledgetrapping option. PK Fire can be used to snipe offstage opponents for a KO. The orb of PK-Thunder has very high base knockback and hitstun, making it extremely useful for dragging opponents to the blastline, stage-spiking them, and sending off-stage opponents far enough from the stage to completely prevent them from recovering. PK Thunder is especially effective against characters with poor horizontal recoveries, who rely on tether recoveries or characters who recover from below, and Lucas can nearly effortlessly gimp them at awkwardly early percents (as low as 0%), while he remains almost completely safe on-stage. PSI Magnet contains a windbox at the start-up of the move that will pull opponents closer to Lucas. In the air, the strength of the windbox scales based on the opponent's percentage, which can be useful for setting up an edge-guard situation or even outright gimping opponents. The move's semi-spike hitbox can KO off-stage opponents at reasonable percentages or put them in a bad position off-stage. Alongside his special moves, Lucas has some of the strongest smash attacks that are also excellent at edgeguarding and KOing, especially his down smash; the first hit is among the most powerful in the game and can KO under 60% at the ledge. Similar to PK Freeze, it has an extremely large hitbox and a long duration, making it an incredibly deadly tool for 2-frame punishes and ledgetrapping. At the same time, it can successfully catch opponents at certain stages and punish their rolling or teching. Also, a reverse down smash can potentially stage spike opponents at the edge, and all 3 hits can even sometimes land if the opponents don't tech the individual hits successfully. Lucas's forward smash is a strong and quick smash attack that can efficiently KO opponents who recklessly air dodge towards the stage. Lucas's up smash is among the absolute strongest. It has invincibility on frames 1-7, which allows it to punish ledge attacks with proper timing (although it is situational), and can catch some characters hanging on the edge (although it doesn't work on about half of the cast). Lucas's back and forward throws are strong (with the former being among the strongest) and can force edgeguarding situations and KO at high percentages at the ledge. Lucas also possesses two meteor smash aerials, his back and down aerials, while his forward aerial deals strong knockback and is a reliable KOing option. Overall, Lucas has one of the best 2-frame punish abilities in Ultimate, with his PK Freeze, down smash, forward tilt, dash attack, and down tilt being very efficient (especially the former three). In contrast, forward tilt and dash attack are surprisingly powerful for attacks of their type.

Alongside his great edgeguarding potential, Lucas' recovery is among the longest and most flexible in the game, thanks to his Zair tether recovery, his long directional air dodge, and his long-distance PK Thunder 2. His PK Thunder travels in a tighter arc than Ness' and doesn't disappear when hitting an enemy, unlike the latter. At the same time, his PK Thunder 2 sends him a much greater distance, allowing him to safely go far off to the sides or far below the stage to edge-guard his opponents and quickly recover on-stage after efficiently edge-guarding or gimping them. Additionally, if he bumps into part of the stage or a wall, he can use his PK Thunder a second time for a limited time, making his recovery even longer overall. However, some characters can still exploit it, as it is rather slow overall, and his PK Thunder can be absorbed or reflected by some characters, while projectiles can disrupt it efficiently. His PK Thunder 2 also can occasionally have some angling issues, and has long ending lag, making Lucas vulnerable to gimps and punishes by some characters.

Another of Lucas's greatest strengths lies in his excellent comboing. Thanks to his ability to loop his moves into each other fairly easily, Lucas's combo game is incredibly dangerous and can be heavily mixed up. At low to mid percents, neutral air combos into itself, which was mostly popularized by Remi, and all of his aerials, being one of his best combo starters. His forward air can also chain into itself at low percentages, since Lucas can cancel his jump with a technique called "double jump cancel zair". The tether grab can combo into itself across the entire stage. It can lead to unavoidable, highly damaging combos and dangerous edgeguarding situations. Up air can also combo into itself multiple times; when utilized alongside platforms for assistance, it can potentially rack up to 70%. Down tilt is fast enough to be able to loop into itself, jab, forward tilt, forward air, a grab, or even forward smash, especially against fast-fallers like Fox or Greninja and large characters like Bowser. Because of changes in the engine from SSB4 to Ultimate, grounded spikes cannot be teched. This gives Lucas the ability to loop down air into itself and finish the opponents off with forward smash, down smash, forward air, or another off-stage down air if used close enough to the edge. Lastly, aerial spikes aren't techable if they reach a certain knockback this causes back aerial to loop into itself and his other aerials as well at around 60%, and can even lead to an off-stage meteor smash KO when used close enough to the ledge, even though this is more niche and harder to pull off as all the other loops. To complement his great combo potential, Lucas has many reliable combo finishers; most notably, his powerful and quick forward smash, as well as his exceedingly powerful down smash, are extremely useful for ending jab lock combos as well as down aerial loops.

Lucas also possesses some strong ground moves; the down tilt and forward tilt are worth noting. Down tilt doesn't have much range, but it makes up for it by being just as fast as R.O.B.'s down tilt and only 1 frame slower. Combined with the fact that the close hitbox can combo into jab, forward tilt, forward air, and (at high percents or against fast-fallers) a grab, it's definitely a grounded move to respect. Forward tilt is a strong, disjointed poking tool that, when angled upward, can anti-air a wide range of moves. It can also easily 2-frame recoveries when angled down. It's also extremely safe on shield and can only be punished by Link's Spin Attack from out of shield. Up tilt is also used to pop opponents out of the air, similar to forward tilt, but it can combo into up air if they are around 30%. Tap jump is advised to do so, as that's the only way to bypass the short hop macro. Jab is a useful "get off me" and combo tool, but overall, it is outclassed by down tilt's frame data and utility. Dash attack comes out fairly slow, and slows Lucas' ground speed while executing it. However, its hitbox is pretty large and can 2-frame or hit opponents at the edge. Unlike most dash attacks, it can function as a reasonably strong KO option, as its sweetspot is strong enough to KO Mario at 105% at the edge. In comparison, its sourspot is much weaker, yet its decent dash attack interruptibility and its sourspot's higher launch angle make it serviceable for setting up aerial pressure. While his forward smash is not nearly as strong as his other smash attacks in terms of range and knockback, it makes up for it by being his fastest smash attack, while still being powerful; this move also can reflect projectiles and is a great combo finisher. Lastly, forward smash also has a tipper hitbox that KO's much earlier. Down smash has Lucas strike the ground three times in front of him; each hit gets progressively larger, but also progressively weaker (with the first hit of the move being one of the strongest down smashes in the game). The move is incredibly useful for ending jab lock combos, ledgetrapping, and 2 frame punishes. It also has a large hitbox that enables it to catch opponents directly below certain stages, thus being one of his best KO moves. His up smash has invincibility on frames 1-7 (it also avoids grabs), making it a situational counterattack tool. It also has extremely high knockback that can KO reliably at low percentages. However, the start-up and recovery are extremely high, making it a "high risk, high reward" read-and-punish option. Alongside his forward and back throws, his up throw is also among the strongest and can KO reliably at high percentages.

Outside of edgeguarding, Lucas has very versatile special moves, PK Freeze has great maneuverability, and can be a useful pressuring and anti-air attack. PK Fire sends a fiery bolt straight forward, which explodes on contact. It doesn't explode on shields, however. It's a decent spacing tool that deals moderate knockback and can sometimes be used as a combo extender. PK Thunder does not disappear upon hitting an opponent like Ness's, but instead, the tail hits multiple times. This, coupled with its very high hitstun, makes it possible to combo into itself and is a great damage-racking and shield-poking tool. It does disappear when it collides with a hard platform or wall. It also disappears when an opponent hits Lucas while he is doing the attack. PK Thunder 2, while lacking the early KO potential of Ness's, deals an extreme amount of damage and is also strong enough to KO at the top blast line at reasonably low percents. PSI Magnet absorbs energy based projectiles. The amount of damage it heals depends on the projectile's power, as it heals 1.66x more as the projectile caps at 30%. This makes the move useful for improving Lucas' survivability and discouraging projectile camping from characters with energy projectiles. If projectiles are absorbed while grounded, the end lag after the absorption can be cancelled on the same frame as the absorption with a jump, dodge, or spot dodge, improving the move's safety on the ground. The move also has a semi-spike hitbox when the special button is released. Said hitbox is also one of the safest non-projectile moves on shield in the game (being +0 on block), and can lead into some combos at low percentages (PSI Magnet into dash attack or grab aerial being some examples). Finally, Lucas has strong wavebouncing abilities, as each of his special moves (except for PK Thunder) inflicts significant recoil, which can be very useful for mindgames.

However, Lucas is not without his drawbacks. While he has a powerful pressuring game and can put opponents at a disadvantage fairly easily, Lucas himself has almost non-existent anti-pressuring options; thus, his biggest flaw is his horrible defensive game. Because grabs out of shield have an additional 4 frames of start-up in Ultimate and Lucas lacks a fast grab, up special, and up smash, while none of his aerials hit before frame 7, his out of shield game is among the worst in the cast. Additionally, because his overall grounded mobility is average at best, and some of his attacks have rather short range, Lucas primarily struggles with rushdowns, as he can find it difficult to keep out the opponent with forward air and forward tilt, especially if the opponent has superior range and priority to Lucas. He also struggles when put high above his opponents, as he doesn't have a good hitbox under him to force landings, and being floaty makes him extremely susceptible to getting juggled. At the same time, Lucas is nearly incapable of escaping juggles against characters with great juggling abilities (such as Mario) due to his lack of a useful combo-breaking move. As such, Lucas has a terrible disadvantage overall, and a single mistake could cause him to lose a stock quickly.

Outside of his lack of defensive options, despite Lucas having a solid neutral game thanks to his strong zoning options in his PK Fire, his forward aerial and his Zair, he is otherwise over-reliant on those aforementioned moves to force approaches, which leads to his approach becoming predictable and leaving him with few reliable options, especially against fast characters and characters with even longer and more disjointed attacks, as most of his other attacks suffer from relatively short range despite being disjointed, which can result in him getting overwhelmed by many of those characters and forcing him to rely on his overused zoning options and his underwhelming out of shield options. Also, Lucas notably struggles against characters without energy-based projectiles (most notably Link), as he cannot make use of his PSI Magnet to heal himself against them. Although he has a reflector in his forward smash, it cannot be used in the air, severely hindering his neutral game. At the same time, Lucas is virtually unable to successfully approach without getting hit by a single projectile. At the same time, his own PK Fire is too laggy and short-ranged to be useful in camping in those matchups, preventing him from winning any projectile wars against characters without energy-based projectiles.

Despite his powerful throws, Lucas's grab game has its issues. Despite having a decent range, his grab is slow and is easily punishable, while his throws have little utility outside of edgeguarding and KOing. His down throw, in particular, which has been severely nerfed from SSB4, is completely unreliable at setting up follow-ups above low percentages. At the same time, it is by far his weakest throw and cannot KO reliably at realistic percentages. Additionally, his DJCZ, while extremely dangerous when mastered, requires perfect timing to chain it correctly. As such, Lucas's combo game, while extremely deadly, is very hard to master and thus requires good reads and high execution to get serious damage started, giving him a relatively steep learning curve.

In the end, Lucas is gifted with an extremely versatile moveset, with one of the best edgeguarding games in the game, some of the most powerful smash attacks and throws, a long and flexible recovery and great comboing and pressuring tools, Lucas has an excellent advantage state and can rack up damage very easily with his highly-damaging combo strings or with his high-damaging and powerful moves. In contrast, he usually does not have much trouble KOing opponents at early percents either with edgeguarding or with his powerful smash attacks. Lucas fits best into the mix-up type. He has useful zoning options, and he can be effective when controlling foes' space and options thanks to his PK Fire, quick disjointed normals, and Rope Snake. However, he can be a formidable foe in close-ranged combat thanks to his amazing comboing and KOing ability, along with his great aerial game. Lucas players must take advantage of his deadly edgeguarding tools by forcing their opponent off-stage with his powerful throws, many of his aerials, his smash attacks, and his special moves, which are powerful enough to gimp or KO at exceedingly early percents. However, they must be careful when approaching, as his zoning options can quickly become predictable. He can quickly become overwhelmed by his opponents if he is not careful enough, as his almost non-existent out-of-shield options can easily exploit his decidedly average mobility and underwhelming defensive game. At the same time, his floatiness and lack of a reliable hitbox under him can make him very vulnerable to juggles. As a result of this, Lucas is especially vulnerable against characters with superior mobility and longer disjointed range (such as Shulk or Zero Suit Samus), superior zoning abilities (most notably Link) or great recoveries that are difficult to edgeguard (such as Peach), and has an extremely high learning curve.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Lucas has received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition from SSB4 to Ultimate; although he received many more buffs, it's hard to determine whether he has been buffed or nerfed overall. Some of Lucas's biggest strengths from the previous game have been noticeably nerfed, but his moveset as a whole is much more consistent.

Lucas has received comparatively few nerfs, though most of them have been heavy. The most notable of these nerfs is to his down throw, which has more knockback and ending lag, which significantly hinders his previously guaranteed combos past low percentages, no longer having access to semi-guaranteed KO set-ups (into back aerial at the edge, or to up aerial at high percentages). The universally techable footstools and changes to locking have also drastically neutered the more intricate setups his down throw had. Overall, Lucas no longer has access to guaranteed serious damage from his throws, and his footstool-based combos are much less useful unless the opponent isn't able to tech in time. Aside from these nerfs, PK Thunder 2 now has halted momentum at the end of its animation, which shortens his recovery. Lucas also has a slightly harder time landing due to PSI Magnet no longer halting his momentum in the air.

Despite these nerfs, Lucas has predominantly received many more significant buffs. His frame data and damage output have all been strengthened as a whole, which has made his attacks generally safer (especially if sweetspotted, due to their electric effect). Lucas's approach and aerial game are much more effective, as his forward, back, and up aerial are all now capable of autocanceling from a short hop; the former is a much more viable move for KOing. The latter's hitbox now matches its animation more correctly. His grab aerial can now be double-jump canceled as well, which now gives him an additional option for approaching as well as retreating and can be chained into itself repeatedly or forward air, giving it great combo ability. Down aerial can now loop into itself at mid to high percentages, and can now set up kill confirms (most notably forward and down smash, and forward air), and the inability to tech grounded meteor smashes benefits his back aerial, which can also loop into itself and his other aerials. Thanks to these buffs, the aforementioned nerfs to his combo game have been somewhat compensated, with the latter and his mix-up options still being extremely effective in his metagame.

Lucas' grounded game has also seen several noteworthy improvements. Forward tilt has more range and power, up and down tilts have more combo ability, sweetspotted forward smash is more powerful, up smash has significantly increased power and now renders him invincible for longer, and down smash can now once again hit opponents multiple times. Lucas's special moves have all been improved as well; in particular, PK Freeze no longer makes Lucas helpless, can travel through soft and semi-soft platforms, follows the ground on contact with hard platforms, sends at a lower angle that gives it fearsome edgeguarding potential, and leaves opponents frozen for a much longer period of time at higher percentages. PK Fire also sends at a lower angle and has more knockback, making it a more impactful projectile when it connects; PK Thunder travels faster and is an even better edgeguarding and gimping tool; and PSI Magnet absorbs and recovers faster. Thanks to the significant power buffs to most of his already powerful finishers, along with his drastically better edgeguarding game, Lucas' punish game is considerably more varied and less specialized overall.

Aside from the changes to footstooling and locking, some of the universal changes made to Ultimate's engine have significantly benefited Lucas overall. Like with most other veterans, his previously lacking mobility is somewhat better thanks to his faster dashing and air speeds; combined with his improved aerials and PK Fire, this gives him a significantly more useful neutral game. The increased shieldstun further improves the safety of Lucas' attacks on shield, especially if they're sweetspotted. Thanks to the changes to air dodges and the return of directional air dodges, Lucas has another option to mix up his recovery. Furthermore, like Ness, Lucas's directional air dodge travels farther than other characters. Adding to this, because characters can only air dodge once before landing or getting hit, when combined with a retooled PK Freeze, Lucas's edgeguarding game is much more lethal than before. On the other hand, the ability to air-dodge once before landing or being hit has further worsened his ability to land.

Overall, Lucas is less polarized than in Smash 4. He no longer has access to KO setups from his down throw and his footstool and locking-based combos are less effective, but many of his most glaring weaknesses were notably improved, some of his less potent moves became much stronger, the significant buffs to his edgeguarding game and his much more powerful and damaging finishers have significantly improved his KOing ability, and the changes to the game's pace have provided more flexibility for him, granting him far options than he had in Smash 4. As a result, Lucas has a steeper learning curve and now plays better with a mix-up playstyle. However, given the various buffs to other returning veterans and the introduction of DLC characters that Lucas struggles against, it's generally agreed that his buffs were not significant enough to improve Lucas, and he is worse relative to the cast than he was in Smash 4.

Aesthetics

• As with other previous downloadable fighters in SSB4, Lucas' appearance is largely unchanged, although his model features a more subdued color scheme due to the aesthetic used in Ultimate. Details on his clothes and weapons are more prominent, such as the stitching on his socks. Additionally, his hair is more defined, and his skin tone is slightly tanned.
  • The Rope Snake's scales are more pronounced.
• Lucas faces the foreground at an angle, instead of facing directly forward. In addition, he always faces the screen regardless of which direction he turns, causing all of his animations to be mirrored while altering some. However, he reverts to Ness' previous idle animation while holding a small item.
• Lucas has a new idle pose where he points to his forehead with his eyes closed with his leading hand and then waves it in front of him. It replaces the animation of Lucas waving his fists in front of him.
• Lucas is more expressive: his eyes are now more prominent when using his attacks, as well as his new facial features when hit.
• Lucas' PSI graphic effects have been changed: they are now dominantly light blue instead of magenta, closely resembling the colors of PK Love in Mother 3.
• Lucas' left-inputted victory pose now has a light glow from where the Needle is pulled, as well as glittery particle effects coming from its trail. Lucas also strikes a different pose.
• Lucas has a new victory theme; it is an arrangement of the last two out of the Eight Melodies from EarthBound Beginnings.
• As with all previous downloadable fighters in SSB4, Lucas now has a unique Palutena's Guidance conversation.

Attributes

• Like all characters, Lucas' jumpsquat animation takes three frames to complete (down from 5).
• Lucas walks slightly faster (0.82 → 0.893).
• Lucas dashes faster (1.5 → 1.65).
  • Lucas's initial dash is significantly faster (1.3 → 1.815).
• Lucas' air speed is slightly faster (1.1 → 1.155).
• Lucas' double jump grants much more height (34.48 → 44.13), increasing the height of his maximum jumping height (63.89 → 73.54).
• Forward roll has less ending lag (FAF 30 → 29).
• Forward roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-17 → 4-15).
• Back roll has more startup with less intangibility (frames 4-17 → 5-16) and more ending lag (FAF 30 → 34).
• Spot dodge has less ending lag (FAF 27 → 25).
• Spot dodge grants less intangibility (frames 3-18 → 3-17).
• Air dodge has significantly more ending lag (FAF 33 → 56).
• Air dodge grants more intangibility (3-28 → 3-30).
• The reintroduction of directional air dodges benefits Lucas more than the rest of the cast, as his directional air dodge grants more distance compared to other characters' (a trait he shares with Ness), and it provides him with a reliable recovery mixup to avoid leaving himself vulnerable by using PK Thunder.
• Because footstools can now be teched, Lucas' "down throw/up aerial into footstool" combo game has been removed.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • All three hits of Lucas' neutral attack have more hitlag (1.0/1.0/1.0 → 1.7/1.8/2.0).
  • Neutral attack's second hit can be interrupted sooner, improving its potential for mix-ups.
  • Hits 2 and 3 deal slightly less damage (2.0% (hit 2)/4.0% (hit 3) → 1.5%/3.5%), with compensation on the third hit's base knockback (60 → 64).
  • All hits have a lower duration (2-4 (hit 1)/3-5 (hit 2)/6-8 (hit 3) → 2/3/6-7).
  • Hits 1 and 2 have significantly smaller hitboxes, greatly reducing their range (jab 1: 2.8u/2.8u/3.5u → 1.4u/1.6u/1.8u/1.6u/1.8u, jab 2: 3.2u/3.2u/4.2u → 2.0u/2.2u/3.0u.
  • The third hit has altered sizes on their hitboxes and one less hitbox (3.0u/3.0u/5.0u → 4.0u/5.0u). The hitboxes are now placed independently from Lucas's body. Overall, this reduces its range.
  • The third hit launches at a lower angle (48 → 361) and the two first hits now use the Sakurai angle alongside a 180 tipper on the first hit, allowing both to lock.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has less startup (frame 15 → 13) and less ending lag (FAF 40 → 38).
  • Dash attack has a longer hitbox duration (frames 15-16 → 13-17).
  • Dash attack has increased knockback scaling (70 → 81), increasing its KO power.
• Forward tilt:
  • Sweetspotted forward tilt deals more base knockback (30 → 55) and knockback scaling (75 → 80), increasing its KO power.
    • The sweetspot also has a bigger hitbox during the first 2 active frames (4.7u → 5.6u).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has less ending lag (FAF 37 → 34).
  • Up tilt now uses the electric effect.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt deals more damage (3% → 5%).
  • Down tilt's close hit has more vertical angle (76° → 84°), allowing more consistent follow-ups.
  • Down tilt has increased base knockback (18/8 → 20/10) and combined with its higher damage, makes it easier to combo at lower percents.
  • Down tilt has an altered animation and its far hit was removed, lowering its vertical range.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash has slightly less ending lag (FAF 47 → 46).
  • Sweetspotted forward smash has higher knockback scaling (88 → 91).
  • The reflector activates later with a shorter duration (frame 10-19 → 11-19).
• Up smash:
  • Up smash's hitboxes are handled differently. The new hitbox positions jitter a bit more without affecting the total reach of the move.
  • All of the second hit's hitboxes deal 2% more damage (19/18/16/14/12% → 21/20/18/16/14%) without compensation on their knockback , increasing their KO power.
  • The hitboxes in the second hit are all smaller (12u/11u/10u/8u/6.5u → 11u/10u/9u/6u).
  • Up smash has more active frames (frames 30-53 → frames 30-55) due to having an additional hitbox.
  • Up smash has more invincibility during startup (frames 1-4 → 1-7).
  • Lucas's arms are now intangible alongside his head.
• Down smash:
  • Lucas now bends his elbow after each shot of down smash, and his fingers are more pronounced throughout.
  • All hits of down smash have increased active frames (2 → 3 frames).
  • The three hits of Lucas's down smash now reset between hits, allowing it to hit opponents or shields multiple times.
    • The individual hits of down smash deal significantly less shield damage to compensate (0/0/0 → -10/-8/-6).

Aerial attacks

• All aerials except grab aerial have less landing lag (13 frames → 12 (neutral), 12 → 7 (forward), 15 → 9 (back), 12 → 7 (up), 24 → 16 (down)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial has much larger hitboxes (5.3u (loop)/8u (last) → 6.9u/10.2u).
  • Neutral aerial is harder to SDI out of, despite retaining its 2x modifier, as its hitlag has been reduced (1 → 0.44).
  • The looping hitbox has fewer active frames (frames 7-23 → 7-21), consequently reduces the maximum number of hits to 4, reducing its total damage (12% → 10%).
  • Neutral aerial now sends opponents behind or in front of Lucas depending on which part of the hitbox hits the last hit. This makes it more difficult to guarantee combos with.
    • Although this grants it followups with back aerial which it didn't have before.
  • Lucas appears furious during the ending hitbox rather than looking scared.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial auto-cancels earlier (frame 38 → 34), re-enabling it to auto-cancel out of a short hop.
  • Forward aerial's sweetspot deals more damage (11.5% → 12.5%), launches at lower angle (46° → 42°), and has increased knockback scaling (97 → 103), significantly improving its KO potential.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial auto-cancels earlier (frame 39 → 34), enabling it to auto-cancel out of a short hop.
  • Back aerial has more active frames (frames 15-20 → 15-22), giving it additional vertical range below Lucas and allowing it to hit small targets.
    • The sweetspot for aerial opponents has a shorter duration (15-20 → 15-19).
  • Back aerial can now spike grounded opponents. While this benefits from opponents' inability to tech grounded spikes, this hinders its ability to send grounded opponents offstage from behind him.
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial auto-cancels earlier (frame 38 → 34), re-enabling it to auto-cancel out of a short hop.
  • Its hitbox is now attached to Lucas's head. This removes its blindspot and increases its range.
    • The main hitbox is now extended and an extra hitbox is added behind him on frames 8-10, giving the move a noticeable disjoint behind Lucas.
    • A motion trail has been added above Lucas's head to indicate the hitbox's new pattern.
  • It has much less ending lag (FAF 46 → 32).
  • It has increased active frames (frames 7-9 → 7-10), giving it additional horizontal range, and improving its juggling potential.
  • It deals less damage (13% → 11%) without full compensation on its base knockback (10 → 20), giving it less KO power.
    • However, its higher base knockback combined with its lower ending lag makes it safer on hit at low percents.
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial's first three hits connect more reliably due to an altered angle (90° → 363°)
  • It now pushes grounded opponents away from its hitboxes, rather than picking them up from the ground as in Smash 4.
  • The hitboxes are smaller (5u/3.5u → 4.2u/3.2u (Hits 1-3)/6.9u/5u → 5.5u/3.5u (Final hit)) and each hit's tip has a higher hitbox-placement (Y offset: -5 → -4), decreasing its range.
• Grab aerial:
  • Grab aerial has less range.
  • Grab aerial has more active frames (9-19 → 9-21).
  • Grab aerial deals slightly more damage (4% (clean)/2.8% (late) → 5% (snake head)/3% (arm and snake body)).
  • Grab aerial has less ending lag (FAF 60 → 52).
  • Grab aerial can be double jump canceled, allowing Lucas to use it very close to the ground to start combos and approach.

Throws and other attacks

• Grab:
  • The ending animations of Lucas' grabs now feature interruptible animations during which the Rope Snake doubles back to return to Lucas.
  • Lucas's animation when holding a grabbed opponent has been altered; he now holds Rope Snake in one hand and uses the other to hold the opponent in place with telekinesis.
  • Lucas now looks angry during his grab animation.
  • All grabs have fewer active frames (8 frames → 6 frames).
  • Standing grab has one frame more ending lag (FAF 46 → 47).
  • Dash grab has one frame less ending lag (FAF 56 → 55).
• Pummel:
  • Lucas' pummel animation now depicts him blasting his grabbed opponent with PSI.
• Forward throw:
  • Forward throw's animation has been altered: Lucas throws the opponent with single-handed instead of two-handed.
  • Forward throw has increased knockback scaling (65 → 69).
• Back throw:
  • Lucas has a new back throw: a telekinetic-underhanded throw backwards.
• Up throw:
  • Up throw deals more knockback (78 base/69 scaling → 77/73).
• Down throw:
  • Down throw has a new animation: Lucas lifts the opponent in the air using telekinesis, then forcefully slams them into the ground. It retains its aesthetic bury effect before the opponent is released.
  • It deals noticeably more damage (6.5% → 11%), making it one of the most damaging down throws in Ultimate.
  • It has more ending lag (FAF 50 → 58), altered knockback (78 base/51 scaling → 100/32), and no longer inflicts 6 frames of hitlag on the opponent upon releasing them. Altogether, these changes significantly hinder its combo potential, no longer having guaranteed follow-ups past medium percents, and more importantly removing its KO confirm into up aerial at high percentages, which was one of his most reliable finishers in Smash 4.
  • It launches at a slightly more horizontal angle (80° → 74°).

Special moves

• PK Freeze: