Bullet Arts

Bullet Arts (, Bullet Arts) is a signature mechanic of Bayonetta.

Overview
Bullet Arts can be used during the initial animation of every normal attack and some special attacks. If the button is held down, several invisible bullets with moderate range will rapid fire out of the gun on the limb Bayonetta is using to attack. Technically, the bullets are not projectiles, but rather indirect attacks with large disjointed hitboxes. As such, they cannot be reflected or blocked by a passive shield, though they can be countered by another player or by another Bayonetta using Witch Time. Bullet Arts are also capable of traveling through multiple characters at once, and thus will hit anyone or anything in their line of fire. Even if blocked by someone's shield, the bullets will damage any opponents behind the shielding character. The bullet hitboxes are similar to a grab aerial's instead of a typical projectile's, which is why they are invisible. The bullets cause flinching at point-blank range, but otherwise deal no hitstun, much like Fox's Blaster, so they can be used to essentially "steal" KOs in timed matches.

In Smash 4, each bullet dealt 0.5% damage. In the beta of Ultimate, each bullet dealt 0.4% damage, but was buffed to 0.6% at launch. Ultimate also gave some bullet arts, specifically those colored pink and purple, a small spike effect. This has some very situational benefits, such as trapping someone with the bullet art version of the third hit of Forward air.

Moves with Bullet Arts

 * All jab segments
 * All tilt attacks
 * Dash attack
 * All smash attacks
 * All aerial attacks
 * Bullet Climax
 * After Burner Kick
 * Witch Twist

Bayonetta's only attacks without Bullet Arts are Witch Time, her ledge attacks, and getup attacks.

Origin
In the series, bullet arts is the signature fighting style of Umbra Witches. The style implements close quarters weaponry combined with ranged projectile weapons, usually magic enhanced guns. Bullet Arts is noteworthy for utilizing both hands and feet during combat, with weapons attached to each. This is shown with most Umbra Witches depicted as using four guns at once, one in each hand and one strapped to each leg. It is mentioned that Rosa, Bayonetta's mother, was regarded as the best and most powerful practitioner of Bullet Arts before she died.

During gameplay in the Bayonetta games, as in Super Smash Bros., holding the button used for an attack will result in the playable Umbra Witch using a further attack with their weapon. Unlike in Super Smash Bros., in the Bayonetta series the bullets are visible, and will specifically target enemies rather than firing straight. The exact form of additional attack varies depending on the weapon; the form used in Smash - namely a rapid-fire stream of bullets - corresponds to Bayonetta's default weapons, Scarborough Fair and Love is Blue.