Lucina (SSBU)

Lucina (, Lucina) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. She was officially revealed on June 12th, 2018 alongside and the rest of the returning roster. Lucina is 's Echo Fighter, thus being classified as Fighter #21ε.

Both and 's respective English and Japanese portrayals of Lucina from Super Smash Bros. 4 were repurposed for, respectively, the western and Japanese versions of Ultimate. As a consequence of this, Lucina is not voiced by her current English voice actress,, who has otherwise held the role since 2017; she is one of only two Fire Emblem characters in Ultimate to not be portrayed by their current English actor from  onward, the other being Lyn.

Lucina is ranked 22nd out of 82 on the current tier list, placing her in the A+ tier. This is similar to her placement from Smash 4 where she was ranked 14th out of 54, and places her above her base fighter, Marth.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: Lucina must then be defeated on Arena Ferox (the Ω form is used in World of Light).
 * Play VS. matches, with Lucina being the 23rd character to be unlocked.
 * Clear with  or any character in his unlock tree, being the 5th character unlocked after.
 * Have Lucina join the player's party in World of Light.

Attributes
Being 's distant descendant and his Echo Fighter, Lucina's moveset and animations are generally based off of Marth's, and her attributes are also identical to his, being a tall and rather light middleweight with above-average mobility in most aspects; like him, she has the fastest walking speed in the game, a very fast initial dash speed, a decent running speed, a decent jump height, decent air acceleration and an average falling speed; however, her air speed is merely average, and her gravity value is low, the latter of these two values making her feel somewhat floaty in the air.

As in SSB4, the primary difference between Lucina and is that Lucina lacks a tipper, meaning that her sword attacks deal equal damage throughout her blade. While her sword attacks deal more damage and knockback than Marth's weak sourspots, they deal less damage and knockback than his powerful tipper sweetspots. Theoretically, Marth should deal more overall damage when played optimally and can kill earlier, but Lucina can deal consistent damage and kill more reliably without worrying about precise spacing, and her KOing potential is significantly more consistent in comparison, especially at higher percents.

Overall, whether a person wants to use Lucina or Marth is based on their playstyle. Marth relies on spacing, more defensive play, and early KOs with his powerful tippers. Lucina can be played more aggressively, and relies on her more effective combos to increase the opponent's damage enough so she can KO the opponent. Marth has the potential to be more rewarding if used correctly, but Lucina's consistent damage and knockback gives her a stronger up-close game, makes her attacks significantly safer on shield and on hit than Marth's sourspotted moves, and gives her better matchups against smaller or faster characters that Marth can have a hard time landing his tippers against, such as or. Even without a tipper, Lucina is still extremely effective at spacing nevertheless. She also shares Marth's other strengths, such as his decent mobility, above-average frame data, strong juggling and edgeguarding capabilities, and decent out of shield options. As such, she is considered to be one of the easiest and most versatile characters in the game, even when compared to Marth.

Lucina's special moveset also possesses immense utility, and in two cases, more than that of Marth. Shield Breaker can break shields thanks to its high shield damage, even when uncharged, and it is useful for punishing rolls. It also grants some horizontal movement, which is amplified when fully charged, deals additional damage should it directly strike an opponent's head, and deals consistent damage unlike Marth's version. Dancing Blade can be used to punish sidesteps and boasts damage-racking, mix-up, KO and even recovery potential. Unlike Marth's version, the move is easier to properly connect due to its consistent hitboxes. Dolphin Slash has quick startup (coming out on frame 5), provides intangibility during its startup, and is relatively strong upon coming out. These attributes make it Lucina's primary method of recovery, as its speed can make it difficult to intercept, while also making it a decent out of shield option as well. In addition, its power combined with the aerial version's frame 1 intangibility makes it capable of breaking combos, and even stage spiking reckless edgeguarding attempts. Lastly, Counter is a counterattack with a 1.2× damage multiplier that can KO an opponent who uses a sufficiently strong attack, and can also be used to edgeguard many recovery moves with damaging hitboxes.

Despite her strengths and versatility, Lucina is not without flaws, most of them shared with Marth. Perhaps the biggest one is her difficulty in escaping from juggles; her air speed is average at best, her gravity is fairly low, her weight is slightly below-average and her tall hurtbox provides an easy target. Dolphin Slash is her only reliable combo breaker, but as it leaves her helpless, it can inadvertently put her in an even worse position. Also, while Counter can be used defensively, it leaves Lucina extremely vulnerable to punishment should it whiff. Lucina also has little defense against juggling, as her aerials are ineffective at relieving pressure; though her attacks have quick startup and decent range, many of them come with high ending lag, and also suffer from short hitbox durations. Additionally, being a solely sword-based character, her otherwise-excellent neutral game suffers from her lack of a projectile, and she can sometimes struggle against projectile-heavy characters and playstyles; however, her combination of high mobility, good range and decent frame data helps to alleviate this issue.

Like with Marth, Lucina's lackluster grab game is another notable weakness. Except for her up throw, all of her throws have low knockback scaling, preventing them from KOing at realistic percents, while up throw can only KO starting at extremely high percents if Lucina has no rage. Her only other throw with utility is her down throw, which has limited combo potential outside of lower percents due to its high base knockback. However, it should be noted that the high base knockback of her forward and back throws allow Lucina to take advantage of her good edgeguarding capability, especially at the edge.

Lucina herself is somewhat vulnerable to edgeguarding, though she has options for mix-ups with her recovery. Dolphin Slash is her only reliable vertical recovery option, and while it is still a threat to edgeguarders due to its speed, frame 1 intangibility and high stage spike ability, its path is linear and its distance fixed, making it fairly predictable. Additionally, since this move grants little horizontal distance, Lucina is vulnerable to semi-spikes. While Shield Breaker can aid her horizontal recovery, it covers little distance without charging and does not halt her vertical momentum either. Lucina is also heavily reliant on her double jump and directional air dodge for mix-ups in her recovery, and is in significant danger if offstage without either of them.

Overall, Lucina is a "lower-risk, higher-reward" version of Marth, and her strengths outweigh her weaknesses. She trades Marth's stronger KO potential courtesy of his stronger but notoriously inconsistent tippers for more consistent spacing and damage-racking abilities, better close-range capabilities, as well as more consistent KO potential. She has a low learning curve thanks to her straightforward playstyle, since she benefits from spacing at close range while also having several fast and reliably strong KOing options. As a result, Lucina has a very large playerbase, and has achieved excellent results and representation courtesy of players like, and ; as such, she is considered to be a competitively viable character. In recent times, however, her placings have somewhat diminished over time: other sword characters, especially and /, have achieved higher placings and representation. As such, while Lucina is still widely considered a top- or high-tier character, her overall position remains debatble.

Differences from
As mentioned above, the primary difference between Lucina and Marth is that Lucina lacks a tipper, meaning that her sword attacks deal equal damage throughout her blade. This means that Lucina will be able to rack up damage and KO much more consistently, but in turn does not have the option to KO as early as Marth does.

Lucina was also slightly recloned from her previous appearance in SSB4, as she is no longer smaller than Marth (which increases the size of her hurtbox but improves her range), her up tilt will now move her forward slightly, and she no longer keeps her momentum on her neutral attack and up tilt. Despite losing these somewhat negligible differences, she keeps one other difference from SSB4: her up tilt has a unique sweetspot based on how late into the swing the opponent is hit. This ensures that she can rack up damage more easily with her up tilt as long as she is facing away from her opponent.

While Lucina and Marth have largely identical attacks, mobility attributes and frame data, the lack of a tipper spreads across Lucina's entire moveset, making her one of the more unique Echo Fighters alongside her father and. As such, these three characters are ranked separately from their base fighters on tier lists, and are allowed to be used alongside their base fighters in Squad Strike. Lucina has obtained excellent results and representation early in the Ultimate metagame, especially compared to Marth; as such, she is considered to be a top- or high-tier character and one of the best swordfighters in the game (if not the best), though, and / are also in contention for the title of "best swordfighter", especially since they are all ranked higher than Lucina on the tier list. Marth has also received several buffs exclusive to him via in-game updates, improving his competitive standing relative to Lucina's, though he is still widely regarded as worse overall than Lucina.

Special moves

 * Shield Breaker:
 * Dolphin Slash:
 * Counter:
 * Critical Hit:
 * Counter:
 * Critical Hit:
 * Critical Hit:
 * Critical Hit:

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4
Like her ancestor, Lucina was a high-ranking character near the end of SSB4's lifespan, especially after receiving major buffs from game updates, thanks to her combination of speed and range. In the transition to Ultimate, Lucina has received a mixture of buffs and nerfs. Though despite receiving a few notable nerfs in the transition, she benefits greatly from the the indirect changes to the game's engine. As a result, Lucina has been slightly buffed overall.

Compared to other characters, Lucina has received few major, direct changes between games, with most of her notable nerfs being shared with Marth. Her biggest nerf is to her neutral attack; previously an excellent combo starter and neutral tool due to its first hit, it has been altered as with most neutral attacks so that it can only follow up into the second hit from the first, completely removing its powerful jab cancel from SSB4 that was vital to Lucina's gameplan in exchange for more situational locking potential. Her KO potential was also weakened, with her forward smash, forward aerial, Shield Breaker and Dancing Blade receiving knockback nerfs. Dolphin Slash and Counter are also slightly more punishable than before. Lucina's previously weak grab game was further neutered, with forward throw losing its combo potential and up throw, previously an emergency KO option with the aid of rage, being weaker; this limits her options against shields, forcing her to rely on breaking them through the usage of Shield Breaker. Lastly, her already linear recovery was also made less safe by the changes to air dodge mechanics as well as the reduction in edge sweetspot size, making her easier to edgeguard and thus worsening her survivability.

In spite of these nerfs, Lucina benefits from the gameplay changes to an extent far greater than Marth. The ability to dash cancel into any attack improves her grounded spacing ability (especially for her tilt attacks), and allow her to bait attacks with fox-trotting; this is all further compounded by her fast running speed, which has also been improved due to the universal increase in mobility. The reduction in landing lag on her aerials makes them safer for spacing and approaching, while also enhancing their combo ability. The general increase in shieldstun also makes the majority of her attacks safer on shield. All of these changes improve her more aggressive game compared to Marth, as the game's faster pace fosters more aggressive playstyles than in SSB4, allowing her greater close-combat capabilities to be an advantage in far more situations. Adding to this, the changes to air dodges also greatly enhance her juggling and edgeguarding capabilities, as they provide less leeway for opponents to recover against her wide aerials, further improving her edgeguarding game to the point it is among the most fearsome.

Lucina also received a few noteworthy direct buffs, the most notable of them being to Dancing Blade: the move was sped up greatly, allowing her to link each hit into one another more reliably. A few of her moves received slight damage increases, further helping her damage racking game. Lastly, her dash attack, previously one of her more mediocre options in the previous game, also received a knockback buff, giving it more utility.

Overall, Lucina's nerfs weaken the miscellaneous tools she had in SSB4 as well as further defining one of her weaknesses, but the buffs she has received and the game's different engine have benefited her in several ways that generally compensate for these nerfs, as they affect her much less than Marth due to her not relying on tippers at all. As a result of this, Lucina has retained her high-ranking in Ultimate, and is now generally considered superior to Marth; though while originally called the best swordfighter in the game, the slight nerfs Lucina has received in game updates and the prevalence of other swordfighters such as &, , and , have resulted in her being in a similar position relative to the cast overall.

Update history
Unlike Marth, who was slightly buffed, Lucina was slightly nerfed overall, likely as a result of her perceived top-tier status. Update 3.0.0 increased the range of her dash grab, much like Marth,, and. The nerfs to the shield damage of various projectiles also benefits Lucina, making it easier for her to overcome projectile camping from various characters. However, update 3.1.0 reduced the knockback scaling of her forward smash and forward aerial, somewhat hindering her KO ability, though forward aerial combos for somewhat longer as a result.

Despite this, and due to no further nerfing, Lucina remains highly viable in the competitive scene and is seen as superior to Marth, her parent character.

 

 

 

 

Moveset
For a gallery of Lucina's hitboxes, see here.
 * Lucina's overall damage output is close to the weighted average of each of the hitboxes of 's attacks.

On-screen appearance

 * Warps onto the stage using warp magic, and then removes the mask she wears while disguised as Marth.

Taunts

 * Up taunt: Twirls the Parallel Falchion and then assumes a stance highly similar to her pose from her official art in Fire Emblem Awakening, saying "Come at me!" (, "Come at me.") This is also similar to (and mirrors) her father's up taunt.
 * Side taunt: Turns around to have her back face the screen while sheathing the Parallel Falchion and saying "I cannot lose." (, "I won't lose now.")
 * Down taunt: Puts on the mask she used while disguised as Marth while putting her hand on her hip; she then removes the mask.

Idle poses

 * Holds her hand to her chest, closes her eyes, and silently takes a breath.
 * Brushes her hair out of her face.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses

 * Left: Swings her sword, then assumes a pose similar to her official SSB4 render, saying "The future is not written!" ("", Watch me change the future!).
 * Up: Points her sword upward, then poses, saying "Father, I won." ("", I won, Father.).
 * If Ike was present in the match, there is a chance she will instead say "And they call you the Radiant Hero?" ("", This is the Radiant Hero?).
 * Right: Sheathes her sword, saying "You'll never defeat me!" ("", I cannot lose!).
 * If Marth was present in the match, there is a chance she will instead say "This is the Hero-King?" ("", This is the strength of the Hero King?).

Tier placement and history
Lucina has seen strong potential even before the release of Ultimate. Pre-release tier lists ranked her as one of the best characters in the game. Many top professionals noticed her strengths over her original fighter, lacking tippers on her hitboxes. She is also complemented with a low learning curve possessed with a simple neutral, above-average edgeguarding, and consistent KO power. She has been a popular choice among all levels of play. and were early pioneers for the character utilizing her as a strong secondary to their mains  and, respectively. Leo went on to win and be the runner up for. Later on, players, such as, , and , use her as a solo main to consistently do well in tournaments. notably placed well in Japanese tournaments with a 1st place finish at and being the runner up at  and in American tournaments with a 5th place finish at. Although she has seen remarkable success at the top level of play, her results have steadily decreased because of the simple playstyle she has, enabling players to quickly learn the matchup and become more used to how she plays. In the present day, Lucina is still widely considered a top tier and one of the best swordfighters in the game along with, and /, ranking 22nd on the first and current tier list.

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Lucina players (SSBU)


 * - Formerly one of the best Lucina players in Japan before switching to . Placed 5th at, 7th at , and 13th at , , and with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 34th on the Fall 2019 PGRU.
 * - One of the best Lucina players in Mexico. Placed 2nd at, 7th at , and 9th at . Ranked 10th on the Mexican Power Rankings.
 * - One of the best Lucina players in the United States. Placed 3rd at, 7th at , and 17th at with wins over players such as  and . Ranked 3rd on the New England Ultimate Power Rankings. Online, placed 9th at both  and . Formerly ranked 37th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v5.
 * - The best Lucina player in Europe. Placed 4th at, 7th at , 13th at , and 17th at , and with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 5th on the PGRU v3 EU.
 * - Formerly co-mained Lucina alongside but has dropped her for . Placed 9th at, 13th at both  and , and 25th at both  and.
 * - Was the best Lucina player in the world during early metagame but has since dropped her. Placed 1st at, , and , as well as 2nd at and.
 * - The best Lucina player in the United States. Placed 7th at, 13th at , , and , and 17th at with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 15th on the PGRU v3 EU. He is also considered the best Lucina player online, placing 4th at  and 5th at Ranked 49th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v7.
 * - Co-mains Lucina alongside and is considered the best Lucina player in the world. Placed 1st at, , ,  and . Ranked 19th on the Fall 2019 PGRU.
 * - One of the best Lucina players in Mexico. Placed 1st at, 2nd at , and 4th at both and . Ranked 5th with the character on the Mexican Power Rankings.

: A Path of Heroes
All of Lucina's opponents are Fire Emblem characters. They appear in reverse of the order their respective games were released, likely referencing Lucina traveling into the past in her own game.

Note: Every stage plays a track from the Fire Emblem universe, no matter what universe the stage originates from.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Lucina has  accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light
Although Lucina does not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, she was vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (excluding ) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

Lucina was one of the many fighters that fell under Dharkon's control upon Galeem's first defeat. She can be found in the area that resembles the remains of a clockwork guarded by the spirit of Omega Ridley.

Spirit
Lucina's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Lucina has been unlocked. Unlocking Lucina in World of Light allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Her fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with her artwork in Ultimate.

Trivia

 * At least two of Lucina's screenshots on the Ultimate site allude to events from .
 * The screenshot depicting her alongside alludes to their kinship as descendant and ancestor, respectively.
 * The screenshot of her taunting defensively in front of Charizard alludes to "" paralogue from Awakening, in which the must protect the draconic Tiki.
 * In early builds of the game, Lucina's idle animation was unchanged from Super Smash Bros. 4, while Marth received a new one. However, her idle was changed to match Marth's new one in the final build.
 * Lucina has animation folders labelled "bow" and "bowarrow" but have no animations inside each. This is either a mistake due to copying asset folders from, or an indication that she was going to have a bow in her moveset referencing Fire Emblem Awakening and Fire Emblem Heroes.
 * Due to Lucina's height being changed to Marth's height, she stands the same height as her father, who in the Fire Emblem games is significantly taller than Lucina.
 * Lucina, Marth,, , Chrom, and are the only characters that use their crouching animation from their previous Smash Bros. game when holding a small item (in Chrom's case, he uses Roy's previous crouching animation).
 * This makes Lucina, Marth, and Wolf the only characters to have both updated idle and crouching animations, but transitions to their previous animation when holding a small item.
 * Prior to update, Lucina's unique voice clip when winning against Ike ("And they call you the Radiant Hero?") was missing in the Sound Test. She shares this distinction with , , , and.
 * Lucina is the only Awakening character who is always fought on the Arena Ferox stage as is never fought on the stage and Chrom only does so outside of World of Light.
 * Lucina's and 's Classic Mode route share the same theme, as both fight Fire Emblem characters as opponents.
 * Despite fighting all Fire Emblem fighters along with any alternate variants, Ike's Radiant Dawn alternate costume and herself do not appear in Lucina's Classic Mode route, excluding Byleth, who is a DLC character.
 * During certain animations such as jumping, pausing, and zooming the camera around Lucina's belt reveals that her stomach will split open.

Lucina (SSBU)