Elwind

Elwind (, Elwind) is Robin's up special move.

Overview
Robin casts two gusts of Wind magic in the form of green-wind cutting waves to attack any opponents below them while propelling themself upward, serving as a recovery move. Each gust of wind inflicts 5% damage; the first shot gives a small vertical boost and is capable of meteor smashing in the air at point blank range, while the second shot sends Robin rocketing up with great vertical distance. The wind blades can be reflected, which can cause Robin to meteor smash himself if the first hit is reflected at point blank (even though the wind will travel upwards). It also changes Robin's active Tome to Elwind if not already in use.

As a recovery, Elwind gives Robin a massive amount of height and grants them great control of their movement at the end of the move as well, making it a surprisingly reliable recovery move. However, it leaves Robin vulnerable to attack from above, and like Robin’s other tomes, Elwind has limited durability. In Smash 4, a fresh Elwind tome has 18 durability points, and each wind blade uses one point, giving the move a maximum of 9 uses. In Ultimate, a fresh Elwind tome has 10 durability points, giving the move a maximum of 5 uses. If the wind tome's durability is used up, Robin will toss the tome away, unable to use the move for anything but a failed casting animation. This disables Robin's only recovery move until the tome is replaced. Because of this, the player has to keep track of the amount of times they have cast Elwind, for Robin risks exhausting it if he gets sent off the stage too frequently. The tome will be replaced after a 6 second cooldown, allowing Robin to cast Elwind again. If Robin uses Elwind with only one durability point left, they will produce the first wind blade but not the second, and will gain very little height. As of Ultimate, using Elwind with the tome depleted will cause them to gain a short vertical boost. This boost will also not render them helpless, allowing them to follow up with a midair jump or directional air dodge.

Robin's jab infinite also depletes the the durability of the Elwind tome. Every second spent jabbing removes one durability point. If Elwind's uses run out, Robin will be unable to use their jab infinite and can only use their explosive Arcfire jab finisher; if the Arcfire tome runs out as well, Robin will only be able to use their first two hits of their jab.

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


 * 1) Elwind: Default.
 * 2) Soaring Elwind: The first gust of wind doesn't propel Robin very far, but the second gust pushes Robin a great distance upward, greatly increasing Robin's vertical recovery but also lowering his horizontal recovery. Does not meteor smash and does less damage.
 * 3) Gliding Elwind: Shoots out the first gust of Wind magic at an angle, and the second straight up. Gives Robin an increased horizontal recovery, but lowers his vertical recovery. Both gusts of wind inflict less damage, with 3% damage each. Both gusts meteor smash in this variation.

Origin
Elwind was introduced in , the fourth game in the Fire Emblem series. It is one of the four "El-" tomes which constitute the second stage of magic, along with,  (which existed by itself in games before Genealogy), and the  spell. As its name suggests, Elwind is the variant and is superior to the basic  tome.

Like most wind spells, Elwind has always been depicted as a blade of wind which blasts the enemy. In all games since , Elwind does in fact summon two or more blades of wind, although they are always shot around the same time, rather than one after the other like in Smash.

Trivia

 * Elwind, along with Robin's neutral infinite, is one of the few attacks in the Smash Bros. series that use wind as a method to deal direct damage. Most existing wind-based attacks in the series were either custom moves (like Ike's Tempest custom move for Eruption) or simply push forces.