Great Aether
Great Aether is Ike's Final Smash. It was described by the DOJO!! as a more powerful version of his Aether. 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) fifteen times with his sword aflame, and knocks them downward with a powerful finishing blow, similar to Link's Triforce Slash. Upon impact with the ground, a large explosion knocks any character that happens to be too close.
The Great Aether hits twelve times. All slashes do 3% and there are 2 kicks in the middle that do 2% each. The explosion at the end does 12%, turning into 74% damage overall (assuming the opponent was hit by Ragnell on the way up).
The attack does about 74% damage (62% from the attack, 12% in the explosion), and is one of the most damaging Final Smashes in the game. Because the knockback from the explosion is vertical, enemies may not die immediately due to the high blast lines on some stages. In most cases, however, the move does provide significant knockback 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 full height that the move elevates to the highest point of the stage and particularly stays to the center. On 75m it is an automatic KO because the enemy is brought up to the top platform, very close to the stage boundary. It may also be so on Pirate Ship, if the character is light.
At the beginning and middle of the move, Ike yells "Great...AETHERRRR!!"(in the Japanese version, he shouts, "DAI...TEN...KUU!" which can, in fact, 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.
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.
Trophy Description
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.
Glitch
There is a glitch with Ike's Final Smash involving the Ice Climbers: You must knock out the lead Ice Climber and just before the other one disappears, hit them with Ike's Final Smash. If timed correctly, Ike would do his Great Aether with no one to hit. This also works with Link/Toon Link's Final Smash. Another way is only in training: hit 3rd or 4th player with Great Aether and then turn the character off. If done correctly, Ike will hit nothing. Players can also be knocked out of it by Kat and Ana or Latios and Latias.
Trivia
- Great Aether is one of the only Final Smashes that appears in the Subspace Emissary. He uses it on the Subspace Bomb being carried by the Ancient Minister, destroyinh it. Others include Rocketbarrel Barrage and possible Blue Falcon, although the latter is not actually used by Captain Falcon against the enemies.
