User:Sir Teatei Moonlight/Melia (Smasher)

[intro]

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: After completing one of the two methods, Melia must then be fought on [Sky Terrace], where defeating her unlocks her.
 * Play 88 VS Matches.
 * As Shulk, complete Classic mode on Intensity 7.5 or higher.

Attributes
Melia is a complex character that relies on her summoned elementals to control the stage and deal large bursts of damage. By herself, she's very poor: very light, bad maneuverability, and slow attacks. But her elementals give her the ability to fix many of these issues and cover large swaths of ground, making it difficult for an opponent to reach her.

Much like Olimar, Melia begins each of her stocks with no elementals, and must spend some time summoning some. Until she does, her weaknesses become very apparent. She has very little in the way of fast attacks, with a jab that comes out slower than most characters' tilts, so she has very poor options when under pressure and has difficulty avoiding juggles. She is a small target, but is slow to move about the stage and one of the lightest characters, making it even harder to recover once put on the defensive. And unlike other similar characters, she lacks a "get out of jail free" move such as a counter or armoured attack. Finally, without elementals, the vast majority of her KO moves do not function, instead simply dealing low damage with minimal knockback. Overall, Melia has no time to open a match on the offensive, or to pressure an opponent during respawn invincibility.

Melia does have a few options if she has no time to summon anything. Her tilts and directional aerials have good range and disjointment, so if the opponent's just not close enough yet, she has a chance to keep them away. Her throws are decent for getting an opponent off her, but mediocre otherwise. Starlight Kick is the wildcard; she gains a substantial advantage if the move hits, but she suffers the same effect as a disadvantage if it misses.

Once Melia has elementals, however, she has much more control over the match. Elementals can be set as traps to inhibit opponents' ability to move about the stage, be used to power Melia's KO moves, or simply be kept in reserve to improve her abilities. Bolts deal severe damage and let Melia run faster, making it easier to land the KO blow. Flares let Melia deal more damage with her regular attacks and give her smashes exceptional range, like Shulk's Monado Buster without the knockback downside. Aquas keep Melia's damage low by continuously healing her, or can be used in attacks for short bursts of healing that even surpass Wii Fit Trainer's special moves. Winds make it much more difficult for opponents to punish Melia if she whiffs an attack by blowing them away. Finally, Earths and Ices render Melia more resilient to attacks, improving her longevity as well as having situational attack properties. While there are limits to how much she can keep specific elementals around, Melia should usually have no problem switching up her setup to best suit the occasion.

Moveset
Melia uses her neutral special move to summon elementals. Each one has various effects when summoned and discharged, similar to Pikmin. However, using them to deal damage depletes an equal amount of their HP, and recently-destroyed elementals take much longer to summon. Melia can have three elementals at once, with no duplicates; elementals currently being used in an attack or somewhere else onstage do not have their idle effect applied. Elementals are used first-in-last-out (unlike Pikmin).

Taunts

 * Up taunt: Turns to face the camera and says "This is for the people."
 * Side taunt: Points her staff forward and says "Take me lightly at your peril."
 * Down taunt: Holds up her palm, which emits a cloud of multicoloured particles, and says "The ether flows through me."

Idle poses

 * Taps her toe on the ground.
 * Glances into the sky in both directions.

Cheer
"Me - li - a!"

On-screen appearance
Appears via High Entia transporter.

Victory theme
The second half of the riff of, the battle theme used in Xenoblade Chronicles when fighting a unique monster.

Victory poses

 * Collapses her staff and replaces it on her waist before crossing her arms, saying either "Only now have you realized my true power." or "Hmph. That represented no problem whatsoever."
 * If Shulk is present, there is a chance she will instead say "I'm afraid you have much to learn, Shulk."
 * Jams her staff into the ground, which emits an ether rainbow, saying either "Oppose me and your destruction is inevitable." or "I prepared myself for the worst."
 * Twirls her staff around in the air before taking hold of it and pointing it towards the camera, saying either "Witness my true power!" or "Your fighting spirit is mine!"

Trophies
[...]

: Misstress of the Elements
Each of the opponents represent one of Melia's elementals, in reverse order of her earning them in Xenoblade Chronicles.

Alternate costumes



 * Lavender: Default.
 * Purple: One of her palette swap-type armours of Xenoblade Chronicles.
 * Pink: One of her palette swap-type armours of Xenoblade Chronicles.
 * Orange: One of her palette swap-type armours of Xenoblade Chronicles.
 * Blue: Resembles Kallian, Melia's brother.
 * Magenta: Resembles Lorithia, head of the High Entia Ministry of Research.
 * Grey: Resembles Meyneth, goddess of the Mechonis.
 * Swimsuit: Her armour-less appearance in Xenoblade Chronicles.

Palutena's Guidance

 * Pit: Uh, is there something wrong with this angel?
 * Palutena: Melia's not an angel, she's a High Entia.
 * Viridi: No, she's only half-High Entia. A real High Entia would have much bigger wings and be able to fly! Stupid half-breeds.
 * Palutena: Regardless, she's no easy foe. Her elementals will put some serious hurt on you, but if you just leave them alone they'll power her up.
 * Pit: So just go after the ringleader then? No sweat!
 * Melia: Excuse me, would you keep it down? I'm trying to focus.
 * Palutena: What? You can hear us?
 * Melia: You're blasting your thought waves through the fabric of reality at incredible distances, and you're surprised that a sensitive individual can hear it?
 * Pit: Maybe we need to switch to another mind channel.
 * Palutena: Good call, Pit. We can't have our opponent hearing our plans.
 * Melia: No, don't bother, I'll hear it anyway. I'm far too attuned to the ether to ignore such a brazen shrill. It's not the first time my gift has been both a blessing and a curse.
 * Palutena: ..."brazen shrill"?!

Extra stuff

 * Elementals also apply to nearby teammates.
 * Melia uses her staff to pick up items, and holds them in its head rather than her hands. She wears badges on her headdress.
 * Melia's food-eating animation includes taking out a handkerchief and dabbing her lips with it. This is interruptible.
 * Melia's footspeed when holding a heavy item is by far the worst of anyone, but it is improved considerably when she has more elementals to help carry it.
 * When asleep, Melia thrashes about in bad dreams. Nearby opponents may take minor damage.