Soaring Slash

Jumps upward and then slashes down while twirling. Drops straight down and launches opponents to the ground.

Soaring Slash (, Soaring-Style Slash) is 's up special move in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Overview
Soaring Slash is very similar to Aether, 's recovery move. However, instead of throwing his sword upward and jumping to catch it as Ike does, Chrom performs a slash upwards, and then jumps with his sword still in hand, twirling in the air before coming back down. Soaring Slash offers near-negligible horizontal movement, as it stops all of Chrom's momentum and sends him straight up and down with very little horizontal influence at the peak of the jump. As a result, it is inferior as a recovery, even in comparison to Aether. It also lacks a rising hitbox unlike Aether and does not hit above him on the initial slash despite its appearance, allowing for opponents to completely stop Chrom from recovering with strategies that simply place hitboxes in his way, such as repeatedly using neutral attack at the ledge or using aerial moves with lingering hitboxes above him. This can be mitigated through precise spacing for ledgesnaps, but leaves him vulnerable to meteor smashes from above. Chrom also has higher air speed than Ike, however, making up for some of Soaring Slash's lacking lateral movement. Soaring Slash grants Chrom super armor before he leaps upwards to grant him some protection, in a similar vein to Aether and grounded Blazer, though unlike those moves the armor frames do not activate until the attack's hitboxes are active.

While it is lacking as a recovery move, Soaring Slash is an extremely effective out of shield option for Chrom, as its initial hit has a deceptively large horizontal hitbox, a decent startup of 10 frames (which is faster than the frame 15 startup of Ike's Aether) and extremely high damage output if all hits connect (21% base damage).

In terms of KO power, Soaring Slash KOs from the center of  at roughly 145% if all hits connect, which makes it weaker than Ike's Aether, which as of version 8.0.0 KOs Mario at roughly 111% from the center of Final Destination if all hits connect.

Like Aether and Climhazzard, the descent of Soaring Smash contains a powerful meteor smash, which will reliably hit opponents due to the initial slash of the ascent leading directly into the spike, and Chrom having no sourspots on his sword. The meteor smash hitbox of Soaring Slash will usually KO opponents, even at low percentages, although Chrom must generally sacrifice his stock in order to land it. As such, the move can be used as a Sacrificial KO. Previously, Chrom would always reach the bottom blast zone after the opponent, meaning that it could consistently be used to secure the final KO of a match and allow Chrom to win, but as of 2.0.0, Chrom now usually dies first due to decreased knockback and a slightly faster fall speed. However, with precise spacing, it is possible for Chrom to carry an opponent into the air, then grab the ledge during the move's dive while the opponent keeps going down.

Chrom has various voice clips that will play while using the move, including "Out of my way!", "I'll end you!", "How about this?", and a loud grunt. In Japanese, he will say either "" (Out of the way!), "" (How about this?!) or "" (Too bad!); the last of which, become a inside joke within Chrom players, being often associated with the move, and by extension Chrom himself.

Origin
Chrom originally performed this move in the Two Falchions cutscene of Fire Emblem: Awakening, when he was fighting against Lucina in her Marth disguise in Arena Ferox. He is also capable of performing a move very similar to Soaring Slash in Project X Zone 2, Fire Emblem Warriors, and Dragalia Lost.

Trivia

 * If Chrom is hit out of Soaring Slash around the time he gains super armor, his sword will experience a visual glitch and permanently glow with its usual sword trail. This lasts until Chrom uses a sword-swinging move.
 * Soaring Slash is the only special move of an Echo Fighter that is entirely different in function from the equivalent move of the original fighter.