Limit Charge / Finishing Touch
| Limit Charge / Finishing Touch | |
|---|---|
  Limit Charge (top) and Finishing Touch (bottom) | |
| User | Cloud |
| Universe | Final Fantasy |
Limit Charge (リミットチャージ, Limit Charge) is Cloud's down special move.
Description
Over the course of normal play, Cloud charges up an invisible Limit Gauge while giving or receiving damage. This mechanic is identical to the Power Meter expressed by Little Mac. As much as 250% in raw damage must be dealt by Cloud to players, or 100% taken by him, to fill the meter by only giving or receiving damage, respectively. If not using Cloud's natural moveset, in-hand Battering items (and not damage caused by effects, such as the Flower ailment from a Lip's Stick) and the Speed Crasher and Shield Exploder equipment effects also count.
His down special is merely an alternative method of filling this gauge. It takes seven seconds to fully charge with this down-special alone, and no sustained input is required to continue charging. This is also the only way to see the Gauge's progress. Limit Charge can be charge-canceled by pressing the special button (in addition to all conventional methods of charge-cancelling), which can be used situationally to move or attack quickly out of the charge cancel. Even if Cloud is attacked while charging, the meter will visibly fill up in proportion to the sustained damage.
Regardless of how full charge is obtained, Cloud will undergo a "Limit Break" status, emitting a blue, flame-like aura from his body. If the gauge is fully charged via his down special accompanied by the sound effect from Final Fantasy VII as Cloud announces "限界を超える" (which is localised in Cloud's reveal trailer as "limits are meant to be broken"). While retaining Limit Break status, all of his attributes change: his gravity, fall speed, fast fall speed, initial dash distance, and running speed are increased by 10%, his walk speed and traction are increased by 15%, and his air speed and acceleration are increased by 20%. It also allows him to use a more powerful version of his special moves for one use, which will fully expend the Limit Gauge once performed.
If the down-special input is pressed again when the Limit Gauge is full, Cloud will instead perform Finishing Touch (画竜点睛), a large whirlwind slash that deals only 1% damage, but has very high knockback. It is able to KO most fighters before 70%, launching foes too close to Cloud upward, though enemies that approach after the initial damaging hitbox are pushed away by wind. The move has less knockback when hitting opponents behind Cloud, KOing about 10% later, and even less knockback when performed in the air, KOing about 24% to 36% later, depending on the opponent's position. Despite its power, Finishing Touch can be shielded, countered or armored, negating its huge knockback while leaving Cloud wide open to attack. If used in the air, Cloud will briefly hover in place until the move ends, which can somewhat help his recovery, although a Limit Break Climhazzard is significantly better in this regard. Attempting Finishing Touch counts as using an improved special move, and will reset the Limit Gauge.
The full list of grounded Finishing Touch KO percentages can be found here. Due to Finishing Touch's extreme knockback scaling and decent base knockback while dealing only 1% damage, fall speed has a much greater effect on suvivability than weight. For example, Bowser, the heaviest character, is KO'd at 59.5%/70% (hitting in front and from behind respectively), while Fox, the fastest faller, is KO'd at 74%/85%, which is the highest percentage required across all characters, barring Shulk with the Shield Art activated.
The Limit Break status has no effect on Omnislash, and vice versa.
Customization
Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the variations:
| 1. Limit Charge/Finishing Touch |
|---|
 |
| "Charges up your Limit Gauge. Causes a tornado with immense launching power during a Limit Break." |
- Limit Charge/Finishing Touch: Default.
Like the other DLC characters, Cloud lacks custom move variations.
Origin
Limit Breaks are a key feature of fights in Final Fantasy VII. Like in Super Smash Bros. 4, the Limit Gauge (based on how it appeared in Final Fantasy VII) fills whenever a character takes damage from an opponent. Once the Limit Gauge is filled, the character can use a Limit Break, which, in Cloud's case, is any of his Special Moves in SSB4. Unlike in SSB4 however, one cannot manually charge their Limit Gauge without taking damage. The offensive version of this move, Finishing Touch, is a Limit Break skill from the same game that has the ability to instantly kill any lesser monsters while dealing heavy damage to stronger ones; this is referenced by the move's properties in SSB4, where it deals only 1% damage but possesses outstanding knockback to compensate.
While Finishing Touch is only rendered in SSB4 as a small scale whirlwind, it is instead rendered as a massive tornado in its game of origin, while in the Dissidia games Cloud assaults his target locked within the very same one (save for in the recent Dissidia arcade title where it reverts to its projectile-based origins).
Gallery
The Limit Gauge in Final Fantasy VII.
- FinishingTouchOrigin.jpg
Finishing Touch in Final Fantasy VII.
Cloud's appearance while the Limit Gauge is full.
Trivia
- The Limit gauge is not visible in the mirror in Wii Fit Studio.
- Cloud utters the same dialogue when he finishes charging up his Limit Gauge in both Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, after filling up the Limit Gauge during his EX Burst.
- The Japanese name of Finishing Touch is the same as that of "Dragon Ascent", Rayquaza's signature move in the Pokémon series, albeit written in kanji rather than katakana. In Japanese, the names of both moves are based on the same metaphor for a "finishing touch" in a piece of work. Coincidentally, the name shares its English name with Corrin's up special move (PAL only).
