Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Palutena (SSBU)

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An icon for denoting incomplete things.
This article is about Palutena's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For the character in other contexts, see Palutena.
Palutena
in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Palutena SSBU.png
KidIcarusSymbol.svg
Universe Kid Icarus
Other playable appearance in SSB4


Availability Unlockable
Final Smash Black Hole Laser
Palutena (SSBU)
With her wings and staff, this goddess's attacks cover a wide range. With her up smash, neutral special, and side special, she can create a ranged attack in almost every direction except for directly beneath her! Keep the pressure on your opponents from a distance with ranged attacks!
Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Palutena (パルテナ, Palutena) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, officially confirmed on June 12th, 2018. Palutena is classified as fighter #54.

Brandy Kopp reprises her role as the voice of Palutena in English speaking versions of the game through reused voice clips from Super Smash Bros. 4, although she recorded new voice lines for Palutena's Guidance for fighters absent from SSB4, as well as those who were previously DLC in that game.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

With the exception of the third method, Palutena must then be defeated on Palutena's Temple.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Palutena has been greatly buffed from SSB4 to Ultimate. In addition to receiving universal mobility buffs, most of Palutena's grounded moves have reduced lag in general. Her tilts and smash attacks come out faster, end quicker, have more reliable hitbox placements, and have more kill power. Her zoning game has improved with Autoreticle coming out faster, and her new side special Explosive Flame allowing her to ledge trap opponents, read landing options, snipe opponents at a safe distance, and KO at reasonable percents. Warp has one more frame of invulnerability and is unique in that it provides Palutena with a landing mix-up option (because of the change to the air dodge mechanic). Finally, her down special is less laggy and now functions both as a counterattack and a reflector. All of these buffs provides Palutena with multiple landing options, a safer neutral, and better zoning tools.

Nevertheless, Palutena did receive some nerfs. Like all other characters, all variations of her grab have more startup and endlag, which noticeably affects her due to her grab and throw games being her main tool for starting combos. Reflect Barrier can no longer be activated by command, and it has less active frames, making it easier for projectile users to bait her into using her riskier new down special. Finally, her back aerial's invincibility starts comes later, making it less safe to use in the neutral game.

As a result of her buffs, Palutena has consistently been a very high-placing character at both the local and regional level thanks to players such as Nairo, Dabuz and Iceninja.

Aesthetics

  • Change Palutena's model has a more subdued color scheme. Her chiton and armor feature simple detailing, and her face appears more realistic and expressive.
  • Change Palutena's sidestep now causes a visible warping effect when she disappears.

Attributes

  • Buff Like all characters, Palutena's jumpsquat animation now takes three frames to complete (down from 5).
  • Buff Palutena walks slightly faster (1.21 → 1.271).
  • Buff Palutena dashes much faster (1.888 → 2.077).
  • Buff Palutena's air speed is slightly faster (0.91 → 1).
  • Buff Palutena's max additional air acceleration is higher (0.1 → 0.105).
  • Change Palutena's falling speed and fast falling speed are higher (1.4 → 1.55) and (2.24 → 2.48) respectively.
  • Change Palutena's gravity is higher (0.105 → 0.12). When combined with her higher fall speed, this improves her vertical endurance but makes her more susceptible to combos.

Ground attacks

  • Neutral attack:
    • Buff The first hit of neutral attack has slightly less ending lag (frame 26 → 25).
    • Nerf The first hit of neutral attack has a shorter duration (frames 8-10 → 8-9).
  • Buff Forward tilt and up tilt have fewer startup frames (frame 17 → 14 (forward), frame 10 → 8 (up) and less ending lag (frame 68 (both) → frame 60 (forward), frame 56 (up)).
    • Buff Forward tilt's second hit deals more damage, now being a situational KO option, much like her up tilt and dash attack.
    • Nerf Up tilt deals slightly less damage (9.7% → 9.5%).
    • Change Forward tilt and up tilt have flashier motion effects.
  • Buff Down tilt has a longer duration (frames 14-24 → 14-27). It also deals more damage (8% → 8.5%).
  • Dash attack:
    • Buff Dash attack has less ending lag (52 frames → 38).
    • Buff Dash attack deals more damage (9%/5% → 11%/7%).
    • Nerf Dash attack travels a shorter distance and gains invincibility later (frame 4 → 5).
    • Change Dash attack now causes Palutena's shield to glow, indicating its hitbox.
  • Forward smash:
    • Buff Forward smash has less ending lag (67 frames → 64) and a the clean hit has a longer duration (frame 18-19 → 18-20).
  • Up smash:
    • Buff Up smash has less ending lag (68 frames → 64).
    • Buff Up smash has a longer duration (frame 18-26 → 18-35).
  • Buff Clean down smash has less startup with more active frames (18-19 → 17-19). It also has less ending lag (72 frames → 69).

Aerial Attacks

  • Buff All aerials have less landing lag (20 frames → 12 (neutral), 12 frames → 7 (forward), 16 frames → 10 (back), 24 frames → 14 (up), 18 frames → 11 (down).
  • Buff Forward aerial, up aerial and down aerial all deal more damage.
  • Neutral aerial:
    • Buff Neutral aerial's final hit comes out faster (frame 31 → 29). [1]
  • Back aerial:
    • Nerf Back aerial's invincibility starts later (frame 3 → 7).
    • Change Back aerial now causes Palutena's shield to glow, indicating its hitbox.
  • Up aerial:
    • Buff The last hit of up aerial has less startup lag (frame 25 → 24).
    • Change Up aerial now hits 6 times instead of 5.
    • Nerf Up aerial has more startup lag and a shorter duration (frames 8-23 → 10-22).
  • Down aerial:
    • Buff Down aerial has a longer duration (frame 10 → 10-11).

Grabs and throws

  • Nerf Dash and pivot grabs are slower (frame 9 → 10 (dash), frame 10 → 11 (pivot).
  • Nerf All grabs have more ending lag (frame 32 → 40 (standing), frame 40 → 48 (dash), frame 40 → 43 (pivot)

Special Moves

  • Autoreticle:
    • Buff Autoreticle's animation is overall faster, with the projectiles being fired sooner (frame 29/35/41 → 25/31/37).
    • Buff Autoreticle deals more damage per hit.
  • Explosive Flame:
    • Buff Explosive Flame, previously one of her alternate neutral specials, is now her side special. Since Reflect Barrier has been merged into her down special, she has effectively gained an additional move. This provides Palutena with another long-ranged attack option.
    • Buff Explosive Flame deals more damage.
    • Buff Explosive Flame's distance can be controlled depending on smash input.
  • Warp:
  • Buff Warp has one extra frame of invincibility (frames 16-31 → 16-32).
  • Counter and Reflect Barrier:
    • Buff Down special now functions as both Counter and Reflect Barrier. If she's hit by a melee attack, Counter activates; if she's hit by a projectile, Reflect Barrier activates. This allows her to respond to a larger variety of attacks using only one move while also freeing up her side special for an additional move.
    • Buff Both Reflect Barrier and Counter have fewer startup frames and a longer duration (frames 10-31 → 7-34). They also have less end lag (frame 75 → 71).
    • Buff Counter deals less base knockback, but has much higher scaling being able to KO at any given percentage depending on strength.
      • Nerf Counter reduced base knockback removes the ability to OHKO any character at the center of the stage even when countering with max damage.
    • Nerf Reflect Barrier has fewer active frames.
    • Nerf Palutena can no longer directly access Reflect Barrier. As a result, she can no longer use its windbox on command to gimp opponents, or use the move early to deter projectile use.
  • Black Hole Laser
    • Buff Palutena's Final Smash, Black Hole Laser, produces a larger black hole and a wider laser, making the attack harder to avoid.

Victory poses

  • Twirls her staff and points it in front of her, saying "No one can hide from the light." (さ、回収しましょうか?, So, shall we recover?).
    • If Pit is present in the match, there is a chance she will instead say "Oh, so sorry about that, Pit." (やられちゃいましたね?, Were you hurt?).
  • Twirls around while hovering, saying "Too bad for you." (ちょっと大人げなかったかしら?, I wonder if you grew up a bit?).
    • If Dark Pit was present in the match, there is a chance she will instead say "Poor little Pittoo." (いつまでも意地っ張りですね~, Forever a nuisance~).
  • Spins around her staff, then sits in midair laughing. In the Japanese version, she says (本気出してもいいんですよ?, It's all right to fight seriously.).
A flourished remix of a small excerpt of the title screen theme of Kid Icarus, with an original ending.

Update History

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 2.0.0

  • Change Reduced hitlag on neutral air, allowing it to execute faster.
  • Buff Palutena can grab ledges more easily during Warp.

Classic Mode: A Little Divine Intervention

Referring to being a goddess herself, Palutena's opponents all come from series where religion and mythology play a key role, such as the Belmonts being devoted Christians with holy equipment or the Zelda series having multiple deities who often require or grant assistance to the players. The title is the same as a phrase she says in her debut character trailer for Super Smash Bros. 4. Her song in the credits is "Destroyed Skyworld".

Round Opponent Stage Music Notes
1 Link and Zelda Great Plateau Tower Overworld
2 Cloud Midgar Magnus's Theme
3 Simon and Richter Dracula's Castle Destroyed Skyworld
4 Shulk Gaur Plain Thunder Cloud Temple
5 Bayonetta Umbra Clock Tower Riders Of The Light
6 Pit and Dark Pit Horde Battle Palutena's Temple Underworld
Bonus Stage
Final Master Hand Final Destination Master Hand On intensity 7.0 and higher, Crazy Hand fights alongside Master Hand, and the track Master Hand / Crazy Hand plays during the battle.

Note: Most stages play a track from the Kid Icarus universe, no matter what universe the stage originated from. The only exception being Umbra Clock Tower.

Role in World of Light

Palutena was among the fighters that were summoned to fight the army of Master Hands.

During the opening cutscene, Palutena was present when Galeem unleashed his beams of light. She attempted to block a beam with Reflect Barrier, which the beam completely pierced, disintegrating her. Her defeat causes Pit and Dark Pit to lose their Power of Flight, making the duo fall victim to the beams as well. They were all placed under Galeem's imprisonment alongside the rest of the fighters, excluding Kirby. A puppet fighter cloned from her is later seen alongside ones cloned from Greninja, King Dedede, Pokémon Trainer and other fighters.

Presumably, Palutena fell temporarily under Dharkon's control after Galeem was first defeated, the narration of Dharkon's introduction being vague on how many fighters he stole from Galeem.

Palutena is the last fighter to be found to be imprisoned by Galeem. In The Final Battle, she is called by Galeem as part of reinforcements after Dark Samus is awakened and Crazy Hand is beaten. She is an obligatory unlock for the true ending, as awaking her leads to a battle with Master Hand that frees him from Galeem's control (both of whom's defeats greatly shifts the balance of power in Dharkon's favor).

Spirits

Palutena's Fighter Spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 500 coins. Unlocking Palutena in World of Light allows the player to preview the spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a Fighter Spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Each Fighter Spirit has an alternate version that replaces them with their artwork in Ultimate.

Alternate costumes

Palette swap (SSBU)
Palutena (SSBU) Palutena (SSBU) Palutena (SSBU) Palutena (SSBU) Palutena (SSBU) Palutena (SSBU) Palutena (SSBU) Palutena (SSBU)

Gallery

Character Showcase Video

Trivia

  • Palutena is the only character to have two previously separate moves merge into one, being Counter and Reflect Barrier.
  • Palutena's artwork was one of three to have been updated on the official site, alongside Falco and Shulk. Compared to her original artwork, her halo was added, and her chiton now covers up more of her thigh.
  • Due to age rating issues, the slit in her chiton was changed to cover up more of her thigh beginning in the 1.0.6. update for Japanese releases of SSB4. This change was retained in Ultimate, including all international versions.
    • While her official artwork depicts the top of the chiton's slit as fused together, it appears to be stitched together on her in-game model.
  • Palutena is the only fighter boss character that doesn't transform after they've been defeated.
  • Palutena is one of the last characters to unlock no matter which method is chosen. She's the last unlockable character in Kirby's Classic Mode column, she is the final opponent in the timed encounters, and in World of Light, and she is in the Final Battle map.
    • Bayonetta is also on the Final Battle map. This could imply that Galeem knew how big of a threat Palutena and Bayonetta were (Palutena being a Goddess, and Bayonetta's slaughter of two gods) to his plans, so he kept them as a last resort.