Back Slash: Difference between revisions

Back Slash is one of Shulk's physical Arts in ''Xenoblade Chronicles'', and is one of the two Arts (excluding his Talent Art) in his arsenal when he is introduced, being his main physical art. It does the most damage out of all the physical arts in his complete moveset, and as a bonus effect, it deals double damage from behind. Its low cooldown makes it one of the most potent Arts Shulk has, though this is hampered by needing to be behind the opponent, meaning other party members have to distract enemies with aggro (such as Reyn, whose main skill increases aggro towards himself). Otherwise, this attack deals standard damage if hit anywhere else, although the damage is still higher than an auto-attack. The difficulty of landing the move in ''Smash 4'' mirrors this behavior, as opponents need to be caught offguard for a Back Slash to land and rewards Shulk for hitting backs with either increased damage (Buster) or a reliable KO move (Smash). The red color of the Monado's beam is a reference to the red color which identifies physical Arts in menus. Other characters in ''Xenoblade'' also have Arts with the same bonus effect as Back Slash, examples being Fiora's Power Smash and [[Riki]]'s Sneaky. Coincidentally, as of the 1.1.0 update, Back Slash is now as quick as the original version Shulk performs in ''Xenoblade Chronicles'', as the pre-1.1.0 Back Slash had much slower startup, and had a timing unlike the original.