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| ==Attributes== | | ==Attributes== |
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| {{cleanup|Needs condensed.}} | | Palutena's characteristics are unique, and defy those set up by characters such as {{SSB4|Mewtwo}}, {{SSB4|Zelda}} and {{SSB4|Rosalina}}. She is tall, she has a respectable [[walking]] speed, a very fast [[dashing]] speed, high [[traction]], below average [[weight]], slow [[falling speed]], high [[gravity]], high [[jump]] force and is tied for the highest air friction. These characteristics give Palutena amazing ground movement, great ground-to-air transitioning, and allow her to quickly change direction in mid-air. However, they also make her very susceptible to [[juggling]], and while her weight isn't that low (91), her slow falling speed makes her heavily susceptible to vertical [[knockback]]. |
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| Palutena deviates from several character archetypes, being a tall yet [[weight|lightweight]] character with solid ground movement, having an above average [[Walking|walking]] and very fast [[Dash|dashing]] speed, and high traction <!--(with a decent perfect pivot, having a value of 3.5)-->. She also has above-average [[jumping]] height and the highest air acceleration in the game. However, she also has low [[air speed]], high gravity and below-average [[falling speed]]. Her slow attacks and tall frame also make her susceptible to knockback and punishment. In addition, her grounded and aerial movesets differ greatly: on the ground, she possesses many laggy yet long-ranged, disjointed moves that allow her to space and zone out opponents, while in the air, her attacks have faster startup but lower damage and range. | | Palutena's greatest strength is, arguably, her phenomenal air game. All of her aerial moves have good utility, fast start-up, and little landing lag (excluding up air). Her neutral air is a useful damage racking move, dealing 11%, and a decent protection move, coming out on frame 5. Her up air is her most gimmicky aerial move, having the strongest knockback while lacking range, having 24 frames of landing lag, and being [[Interruptibility|interruptible]] before it can [[autocancel]]. Her down air, while it only lasts one frame, it has no sourspot, making it an easy-to-use [[meteor smash]], as well as a relatively safe [[out of shield]] option. Her forward air has the longest range of her aerial moves, the least ending and landing lag, as well as completely autocancelling in a [[SHFF]]. Her back air, however, is her most useful aerial, as it is the most damaging, dealing 12%, and having [[invincibility]] frames during start-up and as long as the hitbox is out. This makes her aerial game one of the best in the entire game. |
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| ===Default moveset===
| | Her grab game is also very capable. She has one of the longest, non-tether grab ranges in the game. Her [[pummel]] is one of the most damaging and decently fast, being a great move to rack up damage. Her back throw, while being a rather weak KO throw, having an easily [[DI|DIed]] launch angle (the [[Sakurai angle]]) and, ironically, the lowest base knockback of all her throws, it is nevertheless highly damaging, dealing 10%, and a great way to send the opponent offstage and set up an [[Edgeguarding|edgeguard]]. Her forward throw has high base knockback, deals a good 9% damage, and while it has very low knockback scaling, it is even better than her back throw at setting up edgeguards, as well as an infallible trigger if [[Autoreticle]] is used. Her most versatile throw, however, is her down throw. Posessing the right amount of base knockback and extremely low knockback scaling, it can combo into any aerial move (barring down air) and perhaps an up smash if the player can read the opponent's reaction. Her down throw can even combo at KO percentages into up air, granting Palutena her very own "Hoo-Hah". |
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| With her default moveset, Palutena's primary strength consists of her erratic movement with use of [[Warp]], most notably on levels with platforms. It can be ledge-cancelled much more easily than other teleports, which allows her to act almost immediately out if it. This can be used as a strategy-planning technique, as it allows her to quickly move throughout the stage, allowing for stage control, positioning, retreating, movement and getting out of juggles. She is the only character in the game that possesses both a [[Reflect Barrier|reflector]] and a [[Counter (Palutena)|counter]] on her default moveset, allowing her to deal with both powerful and aggressive foes like {{SSB4|Ganondorf}}, and camping foes like {{SSB4|Villager}}. She has at her disposal one of the best jabs, and it is possibly her best ground attack since it has long range for a jab and it has damage-racking capabilities, along with decent power. It can also be jab cancelled quite early, letting it combo into a grab, another jab, or a back air or up smash at very high percents, although it unfortunately has slow startup for a jab.
| | Despite these tremendous advantages, Palutena is completely crippled by her grounded moveset. Even though Palutena's moves come out relatively quickly, and her smash attacks have a quick [[charge]] release, all of her moves (except jab and down tilt) have disproportionately high ending lag. Her forward and up tilt, as well as her dash attack, have more than 25 frames of ending lag, and all of her smash attacks have more than 40. This makes her missed attacks heavily susceptible to [[punishment]], even if the opponent is a good distace away from her. This makes it crucial for her to never miss a single ground move, or rely solely on her jab and down tilt, and if she fails, she may be sent in the air, where she is at mercy of almost any kind of juggle. The exceptions to this rule are admittedly her only safe grounded moves. Her jab, while it comes out somewhat slowly and the finisher having noticeable ending lag, it can be a very reliable damage racker, especially if one takes into account its high interruptibility, allowing for an easy [[jab cancel]]. Her down tilt is highly interruptible, having only 16 frames of true ending lag, making it a good spacing and roll punishing tool. Her dash attack, while being very unsafe on shield, it has actual KO power, as well as the same kind of invincibility her back air does, making it her least punishable grounded KO move. |
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| Palutena's grab can be comboed from a jab or an auto-cancelled forward aerial at low percents, and her grab range is pretty large for a non-tether grab, and she also possesses one of the best pummels in the game as it does high damage while its speed is decent. Her back throw is her strongest throw as it can KO at high percents with enough rage, usually starting at 150%, while her down throw is her best throw as it sends opponents on a favorable angle for combos; it can combo into a forward aerial, neutral aerial or a RAR back aerial at low percents, an up smash or an up aerial at high percents, or a down aerial near the ledge. She also has a notably good comboing ability thanks to her aforementioned down throw, forward aerial and jab being able to start combos, and all aerials but down aerial being able to combo into the other if properly read the opponent's DI. Her punishing game is also fairly good thanks to her aforementioned combo game, her long-lasting tilts and her powerful smash attacks, which have disjointed hitboxes and relatively fast startup, and her forward and down smashes having windboxes at the tip. Finally, she has also got two moves with temporary invincibility, her dash attack and back aerial, which have invincibility frames that last as long as their hitboxes remain active. | | If that wasn't enough, Palutena's default special moves are notoriously bad. Even though her Autoreticle has homing capabilities, the same can't be said about its projectiles, as they move only towards the fixed reticle, and on top of being incredibly sluggish, each one deals very slightly less than 3%, giving them abysmal [[priority]]. [[Reflect Barrier]], while having an [[unblockable]] hitbox, a [[push]] effect and being a long lasting [[Reflection|reflector]], it does not cover her entirely, and does not move along with her in mid-air, making it one of the worst reflectors in the game. [[Warp]], while being extremely quick and allowing a safe recovery and swift repositioning, it has absolutely no hitboxes, leaving her wide open to attacks before and after she moves. Lastly, even though her [[Counter (Palutena)|Counter]] has a high damage multiplier, it has a sourspot (the only [[counterattack]] to do so), less range and more ending lag than most other counters (only {{SSB4|Lucario}}'s is slower). |
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| Without customs, however, Palutena is crippled entirely by a huge amount of drawbacks. While she has a decent spotdodge and a good air dodge, she posseses poor rolls. Her high gravity harms her overall as it makes her vulnerable to meteor smashes, it makes her easy to combo at low percents while being just as easy to KO vertically at high ones despite not being as light or floaty as other characters like {{SSB4|Zelda}}, and it hinders her recovery, especially when considering her low air speed, and despite her above-average jumping prowess. She is also prone to be juggled due to her below-average falling speed and her aforementioned high gravity as her anti-juggling options are downright bad outside Warp. Her default special moveset is infamous for being unarguably the worst of all the cast, with almost all her specials having very limited utility: her projectile in [[Autoreticle]] is one of the worst projectiles in the game as it is easily avoided, it has long startup lag after it locks on an opponent, long duration and high ending lag should it miss, and it can be outdone by many projectiles with enough priority. While [[Warp]] has good range, it can be gimped at the start/ending of the move as it does not have a hitbox nor gives invincibility/intangibility frames before and after execution making it the worst [[Teleport (disambiguation)|teleport]]. [[Reflect Barrier]] and [[Counter (Palutena)|Counter]] are both easily punishable and slow on both execution and ending, and they are pretty weak for their utility (with Counter even having a sourspot), making them the worst of their kind. She also has one of the laggiest movesets in the game despite not being a heavyweight: she lacks approach options with quick execution, meaning she must look for gaps in the opponent's strategy to press the offensive; she has many moves with long duration wich leave her wide open and in a punishable position; and she has high ending lag overall among her moveset (jab finisher, forward tilt, dash attack, all smashes, almost all of her aerial attacks, all grabs and all her specials except Warp). This makes her ironically the most punishable fighter in the game despite having a good punishing game, which is further exacerbated by her lightweight, tall frame and poor rolls, and it also gives her poor out of shield and neutral games. Her laggy moveset also carries along low damage output overall, as well as notable KO problems, with her smashes having long punishable ending lag, up aerial being avoidable and punishable, and having other attacks that aren't that powerful like her back throw and some that require proper [[spacing]], like her back aerial.
| | All these make Palutena a defensive character, as without punishing, her offensive options are severly lacking, moreso than most other characters. |
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| Overall, Palutena, with her default moveset, is a frail, though defensive-minded character with a higher learning curve than other low tiered characters, who relies a very patient playstyle that consists of shielding attacks and [[turtling|turtle]] for a good portion of the match until an opening can be found, as long as she isn't left wide open as well, even with her good mobility. This is especially true when platforms aren't present. Most of her mains fail to place high with her in a default setting, with some of them either using her as a counterpick or dropping her in favor of another character as she sometimes gets outclassed by other characters, which gives her an extremely low representation in tournament play. This makes it doubtful whether or not she has a niche in tournament play without using a single custom move, with many smashers agreeing that, with customs turned off, she is one of the worst, and possibly, the worst character in the game.
| | Palutena benefits from custom moves more than any other character. [[Super Speed]] allows her to move faster than {{SSB4|Sonic}}, and since it can be jump-cancelled into any aerial move and up smash, or straight into a dash attack, it is considered to have immense utility, making up for its predictability. [[Lightweight]] amplifies her movement speed and jump force, to the point where she dashes faster than Sonic, and jumps almost as high as {{SSB4|Falco}}. This move gives her 15 seconds of drastically improved offstage game, a quicker and safer recovery, blinding ground speed, and a more capable combo game. As a recoil, this move increases damage taken (and knockback because of it, though the difference is marginal), and after expiration of the move, Palutena moves slower for 5 seconds, with her damage vulnerability and jump force returning to their original values. These two moves alone allow for tons of mix-ups, mindgames, combos and edgeguards. |
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| ===With [[Character customization|custom movesets]]===
| | Her other custom moves have notable advantages, but are held back by their easily exploitable weaknesses. [[Explosive Flame]] is a more reliable damage racker than Autoreticle, but it is a pinpoint explosion with limited range, and is just as sluggish. Patch [[1.1.1]] was bad news for this move, since the last hit is no longer unblockable. [[Heavenly Light]], outside of being an invaluable healing move for {{SSB4|Ness}}, {{SSB4|Lucas}} and the {{SSB4|Mii Gunner}}, is useless, as it will never land on any opponent that isn't [[Stun|stunned]]. [[Angelic Missile]] is a good recovery move and a potent edgeguarding option, thanks to its high base knockback, but it has high startup lag, suprisingly low knockback scaling and a linear path, making it extremely easy to intercept. [[Jump Glide]] gives extreme horizontal distance and allows for safe approaches, but it leaves Palutena defenseless, and has the same fatal flaw [[Wings of Icarus]] used to have: if, for any reason, Palutena flinches during the move, she cannot use it again if she doesn't touch solid ground. [[Rocket Jump]], other than having a meteor smash hitbox below Palutena, is inferior to both Warp and Jump Glide in every way. Lastly, [[Celestial Firework]] has intangibility during startup and is a good anti-air move in general, but it is hard to hit with, and delivers unimpressive knockback. |
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| Palutena is one the most customizable characters, with custom special moves that can be used for either long- or close-ranged combat, having many different options to choose from. These can give her a significant amount of approach, mix-ups, recovery, and follow-up options. [[Explosive Flame]] can be used to space out opponents in the neutral while refreshing her other moves, while [[Heavenly Light]] is a superb option when teamed up with {{SSB4|Ness}}, {{SSB4|Lucas}} or the [[Mii Gunner]], as they can absorb it with their [[PSI Magnet]]s and [[Absorbing Vortex]] moves. [[Angelic Missile]] can aid her recovery without leaving her helpless and also gives her another KO option when offstage, but [[Super Speed]] can be used as a mindgame, mix-ups, and mobility option as it allows her to damage opponents and set up an attack. In the air when canceled with a jump, its momentum is maintained with huge horizontal distance, allowing Palutena to approach with an aerial attack or escape pressures above. [[Jump Glide]] has great horizontal and decent vertical recovery. It can be used as an approach by acting out of it with an aerial attack. Although Palutena takes doubled damage (but not knockback) under [[Lightweight]] effect, her speed and jumping prowess are increased, improving her off stage game, and she can nearly guarantee landing her KO set ups from her down throw to up aerial at high percentage. It is also worth mentioning that with the proper use of Super Speed and Lightweight customs as a recovery, Palutena will have one of the best recoveries in the game when combined with Warp or Jump Glide. | | With customs off, Palutena is considered one of the worst characters in the game, courtesy of her pathetic grounded frame data and useless special moves. Many smashers use her as a secondary or counterpick, and almost always fail to achieve notable tournament success with her. However, with customs on, Palutena is considered to be a solid choice, being at the upper parts of the mid tier. This is because of Super Speed and Lighweight concealing her horrendous weaknesses, with smashers such as [[Smasher:AeroLink|AeroLink]] having proved this. Among the competitive community, there exists speculation on whether Palutena should be given the ability to always have the choice to use her custom specials, even if customs are otherwise banned. |
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| Her custom moveset is not flawless, however. Explosive Flame has set range, meaning that it can be predicted and avoided quite easily, and Heavenly Light has no use outside of Doubles play. Super Speed can get predictable as she relies on it with customs turned on, while Angelic Missile is easily predicted as a KO move and is normally outclassed by Super Speed, despite its slightly better recovery prowess. Jump Glide must be used carefully when recovering as she can get gimped before it ends and as she cannot do anything until she hits the ground outside of grabbing the ledge if this happens, this may lead to a KO. While [[Celestial Firework]] can be used as an anti-air option, it is generally outclassed by her other options. [[Rocket Jump]] is unarguably her worst custom special as it doesn't have too much KO power, it cannot be easily landed in a neutral position, and it provides the least vertical distance of her recovery moves and little to no horizontal movement. Finally, none of her custom moves address her KO problems outside of her up aerial and possibly up smash (as it's possible to hit an opponent with the hitbox on Super Speed and follow up with her up smash), and she still has to work around the rest of her laggy moveset in general to refresh her special moves and avoid getting predictable.
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| Overall, with customs on, Palutena is a character that needs to be on the move while overwhelming her opponents with her high speed and combos, while spacing them out when needing to refresh her most important moves. This is drastically different to her patient, slow playstyle without customs. Generally speaking, she is in a much better position than in default, with her tournament placings with customs turned on being more favorable as demonstrated by smashers like {{Sm|AeroLink}}, and some professional smashers arguing that, with customs turned on, she does rank favorably, as a mid or mid-high tier character. Even so, there has been some debate in the community because Palutena's custom moves are all available by default, as to whether her custom moves should be allowed as a special case if disallowing customs becomes the norm.
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| ==Update history== | | ==Update history== |