Great Aether

Great Aether in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

Great Aether, known in Japan as Great Heavenly Air (大天空, Dai Tenkū) is Ike's Final Smash. Ike becomes invincible and swings his sword in front of him and anybody who he hits is sent upward. He then leaps into the air, slashes the character(s) seven times with his sword aflame, kicks them twice, slashes them four more times, and knocks them downward with a powerful finishing blow, similar to Link's Triforce Slash. Upon impact with the ground, a large explosion knocks away the trapped character(s) and any character that happens to be too close. The DOJO!! described the move as a more powerful version of Aether.

Attack Overview

The attack does about 64%-74% damage (52%-62% from the attack, 12% in the explosion), and is one of the most damaging Final Smashes in the game. If the opponent is very close to Ike when he uses it, the initial hit will deal 15% damage, but if they're further away from him it deals only 5% damage. Because the knockback from the explosion is vertical, opponents may not be KO'd immediately due to the high blast lines on some stages. In most cases, however, the move does provide significant knock back to launch enemies off the screen. Multiple enemies can be picked up in this attack and, although Ike is invincible during this move, Ike's victims can be attacked by other players along the way down. The move elevates Ike to the highest point on the stage and always takes place in the center of the stage. On 75 m and the World 1-2 version of Mushroomy Kingdom, it is an OHKO because the opponent is brought up to the top platform, very close to the stage boundary. On Pirate Ship it can also OHKO, but only on Jigglypuff. The attack can be canceled by attacking at the right time.

At the beginning and middle of the move, Ike yells "Great...AETHER!!" (in the Japanese version, he shouts, "DAI...TEN...KUU!" which can be roughly translated to "Great Aether"). Due to the fact that Ike moves to the center of the stage when this move activates, on some created stages the downswing can be somewhat of a Sacrificial KO. As with a standard Aether, Ike tosses his sword up into the air, and jumps after it, before attacking his foe in mid-air. It can be noted that the site of impact, following Ike's final descent, is determined by the character(s) closest to the ground directly below them.

CPU opponents tend to get hit by this move, even if not caught in the initiation. When they try to "add to the woes" of one caught in the move (as Sakurai suggested at DOJO), they don't understand to get out of the way, when Ike plummets down, and get caught in the explosion.

Similarly to Eruption, the flames that are part of Great Aether are changed to blue in Smash 4, making it closer to the move's origin than before.

Brawl Instruction Booklet Description

Take a swing at your opponent and, if the hit lands, finish with a series of powerful attacks. Its success is dependent on landing that first blow.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS Foldout Description

Launch foes into the air, and slash at them repeatedly.

Trophy Description

The Great Aether Trophy in Brawl

Great Aether

Ike's Final Smash--a powered-up version of his signature move, Aether. Ike faces a foe and swings his sword up for a hit, then tosses his sword into the air, performs multiple nasty strikes, and finally unleashes a mighty overhand blow to send his opponent plummeting down. It's a very impressive sight, but if Ike misses with the first upward swing, he can't use the move.

Origin

Oddly enough, this move has never been seen before in the Fire Emblem series. It is possibly a reference both to Ike's mastery skill in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn and that Ike is known in said games as "The Hero of Blue Flame" in the Japanese version (he is referred to as "The Radiant Hero" in the English localisation of Fire Emblem: Awakening).

It could alternatively be a reference to the final blow given to Ashera at the end of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, where Ike uses Yune's Power. However, there the fire is the game is also blue, and the Great Aether uses regular-colored flame, not blue.

Trivia

• Oddly enough, despite the copious amount of fire visually in the move, it has no flame hitboxes.
• When Ike first appears in the Subspace Emissary, he uses a regular Aether on the Ancient Minister, but in the English versions he yells out "Great Aether". Because the voice clip of "Aether" in Japanese is said in two parts (天空 Ten-kū, lit. "Sky") the voice clip of "Great Aether" was used instead.
• As with End of Day, it is possible to self-destruct with this Final Smash if it is used on a custom stage that has a gap in the center.
  • When 3 pairs of Ice Climbers are trapped in a Great Aether, it is possible that the bigger space of characters can save them from being KO'd and save Ike from SDing on these types of stages. This can occur since all the characters trapped will make a wider collision bubble that can be hit by platforms that would not usually be hit with fewer characters and commence the final hit.
  • In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, if Great Aether is used on Gaur Plain or Gerudo Valley after the bridge has been broken, Ike will instead bring the opponent above the closer side of the gap so that he doesn't SD.
    • An exception to this is if the player activates Great Aether during the ocean phase of Dream Land, where Ike and the opponent will dive straight down to the blast line, resulting in a self-destruct.
• If the player is on Frigate Orpheon and the Final Smash is used while the stage is turning it will freeze in its current position.
• Despite this being Ike's Final Smash, it is actually only his third most powerful attack, KO power wise. Both his Eruption and his forward smash can launch opponents farther, if they are charged enough. Great Aether is his most damaging attack, however, dealing almost twice as much damage as a stage 8 Eruption.
• If there is a player using Mr. Game and Watch and Ike is in the middle of using his Final Smash, Mr. Game and Watch can use his up aerial and push opponents out of the attack, causing them to not get KO'ed, but leaving them in that same position until the Final Smash is finished.

External links

• Great Aether
• Confirmation

Ike's special moves

Neutral special	Eruption
Side special	Quick Draw
Up special	Aether
Down special	Counter
Final Smash	Great Aether