Palutena Bow

Palutena Bow
Pit using Palutena Bow in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
User	Pit
Universe	Kid Icarus
Article on Icaruspedia	Palutena Bow

Palutena Bow (パルテナの神弓, Palutena's God Bow), known as Palutena's Arrow (パルテナアロー, Palutena Arrow) prior to Super Smash Bros. 4, is Pit's neutral special move.

Overview

Pit pulls his bow string back while preparing a blue arrow, and fires it when the button is released. Holding the special button down will charge the arrow for greater power and speed (in Brawl, charging does not affect projectile speed). While charging, Pit can change his facing direction freely, including backwards and upwards; in Brawl only, this animation will delay the firing of a prepped arrow, allowing him hold his drawn bow almost indefinitely if the player keeps switching directions. This is one of the few special moves that can be freely reversed multiple times while charging.

The arrows themselves do minimal damage, only able to KO at Sudden Death percents if fully charged. However, unlike the majority of projectiles, they can be controlled to a great degree while traveling, curving based on the direction the player holds and allowing for precise accuracy, which is especially useful for edgeguarding.

In Brawl, arrows travel very fast and do not despawn until they leave the screen, allowing fired arrows to be curved in full circles if controlled properly, given enough space. This allows for advanced techniques such as "Arrow Rain", which involves firing multiple arrows and circling them around the stage in an attempt to catch opponents offguard; despite this, this mechanic is very niche outside of very large stages. If two of Palutena's Arrows collide, they will cancel each other out.

In Smash 4, the move functions the same and retains its incredible maneuverability. It has received some notable changes: charging an arrow now affects its travel speed, with uncharged and charged versions traveling much slower, especially the uncharged version. Additionally, only one arrow can be at play from each player. Finally, arrows disappear when they reach the blast zone, removing techniques and mindgames that involve it (such as Arrow Rain), and their range have been drastically reduced, only traveling almost the length of Final Destination before fading into sparkles. This means they are no longer able to curve in a full circle on large maps, although this is negligible as it is very difficult to perform in a realistic scenario.

Instructional quotes

instruction booklet		Change the angle of fire and trajectory of your ethereal arrows once you've drawn the bow.
case foldout		Fire a guidable arrow. You can also point the bow up.
Move List		Fires a guidable arrow. While charging, the bow can be aimed straight up.

Customization

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

1. Palutena Bow	2. Piercing Bow	3. Guiding Bow
"Fire a guidable arrow. While charging, you can aim the bow straight up." "Fires an arrow that can be guided. While charging, you can aim the bow straight up."	"Fire a stronger arrow that can pierce through foes. Charging takes longer. Can't be guided." "Fires a powerful arrow that can pierce through your foes. Charging takes longer. Can't be guided."	"Fire an arrow that can be guided much more easily but has less power." "Fires an arrow that can be guided much more easily, but has less power."

1. Palutena Bow: Default.
2. Piercing Bow (known as Bow of Piercing in the PAL version): Shots take longer to charge and cannot be controlled in the air, but they can pierce through opponents. They are also stronger: damage rises by 3-6%.
3. Guiding Bow (known as Bow of Guidance in the PAL version): Shots are weaker and slower (down by 1-2%), but they can be more easily controlled.

Trophies

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Palutena's Bow's trophy in Brawl

Palutena's Bow

The bow Pit got from Palutena after the Medusa incident. As a standard bow, it's capable of firing arrows of light that can change direction. It can also be split to form two short swords--Pit holds one sword in his right hand in a standard grip and one in his left in a reverse grip. He may hold them like this so he can shift between bow and swords without losing a beat.

: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Palutena Bow's trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Palutena Bow

A bow crafted by the goddess Palutena herself. It is said that one night, as Palutena was caring for this bow, the moon's light formed a beam and fell upon it, blessing it with power. A legendary weapon like this requires skill and training to wield effectively.

A bow crafted by the goddess Palutena herself. She worked diligently on it, and as she finished, the moon's rays focused into one great moonbeam that shone down onto the bow. Naturally, a legendary weapon like this requires great skill and a lot of training to wield effectively.

Origin

Palutena's Bow as it appears in Uprising.

Palutena's Arrow didn't appear in a Kid Icarus game prior to Super Smash Bros. Brawl (though it does appear in the later game Kid Icarus: Uprising as the Palutena Bow, which bases much of its aesthetic on designs which debuted or appeared in Brawl), but in the original games, Pit used a bow as his trademark weapon. The move appears to be based on the Arrow of Light, one of the three Sacred Treasures used to defeat Medusa. Normally, Pit fired regular arrows. Also in the original titles, Pit could aim his bow upwards, much like how he can with the Palutena Bow in Smash Bros. Before Kid Icarus Uprising, Pit's bow did not have the ability to split into two blades. This is explained in the Subspace Emissary.

Gallery

• 

  Pit's bow in Brawl.

• 

  Villager catches and throws an arrow in Smash 4.

• 

  Pit and Link using their bows alongside each other.

• 

  Pit charging his bow in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

• 

  Dark Pit and Pit using their bows alongside each other at Mario and Luigi.

• 

  Pit charging his bow while Dark Pit uses Electroshock Arm.

• 

  Pit using Palutena Bow as shown by the Move List in Ultimate.

Names in other languages

Language	Name
Japanese	パルテナの神弓
English	Palutena's Bow (Smash 4) Palutena Bow (Ultimate)
French (PAL)	Arc Palutena
French (NTSC)	Arc de Paluténa
German	Palutena-Bogen
Spanish	Arco de Palutena
Italian	Arco di Palutena
Chinese	帕露蒂娜神弓
Korean	파르테나의 활
Dutch	Palutena's Boog
Russian	Лук Палютены

Trivia

• The trophy is the only one that is not a Final Smash, Subspace Emissary enemy, item, or alloy to have Super Smash Bros. Brawl on its game list.
• The first time that this item is seen in the Kid Icarus universe is in Kid Icarus: Uprising, where it was dubbed "Palutena Bow".
• This is the only special move Pit keeps in Super Smash Bros. 4 from Brawl.
• Normally, Pit has golden rings hovering around his wrist (from wielding the Bow). When he uses this move, the rings slide onto the bow while charging before returning to his wrists when he fires.
  • In Kid Icarus: Uprising, these golden rings will only appear when he is wielding the Palutena Bow, suggesting that they are a part of the weapon itself. His initial appearance in The Subspace Emissary also suggests this, as when Palutena gives the bow to him, the rings appear once he holds the bow.
• In Brawl, if Pit has the arrow on the screen after he is KO'd, he can continue to control it in unlimited time.
• In a similar line to CPU Luigi players spamming Fireballs upon using Negative Zone, higher-leveled CPU Pit players will immediately fire a Palutena's Arrow after throwing an enemy. They do not aim these arrows either, making it possible that this is just a programming error.

References

Pit's special moves

Neutral special	Palutena’s Arrow	Palutena Bow
Side special	Angel Ring	Upperdash Arm
Up special	Wings of Icarus	Power of Flight
Down special	Mirror Shield	Guardian Orbitars
Final Smash	Palutena's Army	Three Sacred Treasures	Lightning Chariot