Blade Counter


 * For other pages with the name Blade, see Blade (disambiguation).

Blade Counter (, Counter) is one of three down special moves for the Mii Swordfighter.

Overview
True to its name, it is a counterattack. The Mii Swordfighter will lean back and hold its sword in reverse grip upon activating, and if hit with an attack while in this pose, retaliate with a slash of the weapon. The move does 1.25x the damage of the attack that hits the Swordfighter, with a minimum of 8% damage. When the move is initiated, a jagged red line appears upon countering an attack, resembling the one that appears during Little Mac's Slip Counter.

In Ultimate, the counterattack has been altered: the retaliating slash is now an upwards lifting slash that sends opponents vertically. This gives it consistent KO potential regardless of the Swordfighter's positioning, and allows the Swordfighter to land follow-up attacks at low percentages. However, this makes the move significantly worse for KOing opponents near the side blast lines, and very poor for edgeguarding recovering opponents, which counterattacks tend to excel at. Uniquely, the Swordfighter is shown "parrying" during Blade Counter with a twirl of their sword, which triggers an "off-balance" animation for the opponent (actually their grab release animation) and cancels their attack animation before the counterattack hits.

Customization
Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4 and returns in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the s. These are the variations:

Trivia

 * The pose that the Swordfighter adopts while using this move is identical to the pose they strike while shielding.
 * The pose also resembles Roy's counter stance from Super Smash Bros. Melee, except Roy holds his sword in front of him.
 * In Ultimate, victims are forced into their grounded grab release animation when Blade Counter triggers. As of version 13.0.0, this trait is shared with 's.
 * If the Shadow Assist Trophy freezes Mii Swordfighter while performing Blade Counter, the counter hitbox will remain active and trigger if hit. Mii Swordfighter will not attack until being unfrozen, but will remain intangible in the mean time.