Counter (Palutena)

Counter (, Counter) is Palutena's down special move in Super Smash Bros. 4, and part of her down special in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Overview
Palutena uses her shield to catch an opponent's attack. If an attack connects, the shield will defend Palutena while she forcefully thrusts her staff out to retaliate. Upon guarding, Palutena's shield emits a blue ring of light and a blue wave resembling a heartbeat appears behind her, much like other counterattacks in SSB4. This counterattack deals 1.3× the damage of the countered attack, with a minimum of 10% and a maximum of 50%. Dealing the maximum damage with this move (which would require countering an attack dealing at least ≈38.5%) is a one-hit KO.

However, this move has one of the longest start-up durations of all Counter moves, with the counter window not being active until frame 10. It also suffers from high ending lag, which leaves Palutena highly vulnerable to punishment after the counter window is no longer active; the entire animation takes 75 frames to play. The counterattack itself suffers from low knockback values, especially at the sourspot. As a result, it is one of the weakest counterattacks in the game.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, its functionality has been combined with Reflect Barrier, her previous side special. If she counters a projectile, she instead performs Reflect Barrier to reflect it without performing the counterattack.

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

Origin
Counter is a stat-based power that Pit or a can wield in Kid Icarus: Uprising. During the time the power is active, any attack that hits the user will be retaliated. This power also prevents knockback.

Trivia

 * If the Shadow Assist Trophy freezes Palutena while performing Counter, the counter hitbox (and reflect hitbox in Ultimate) will remain active and trigger if hit. Palutena will not attack until being unfrozen, but will remain intangible in the mean time.