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Lucas (PM)

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Lucas
in Project M
Lucas in Brawl.
EarthboundSymbol.svg
Universe EarthBound
Base game appearance Brawl
Moveset inspiration Lucas (SSBB)
Alternate costume Masked Man Lucas
LucasHeadSSBB.png

Lucas is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. He has been given new options and moves in his recreation from Brawl to Project M.

Lucas ranks 14th out of 41 on the Project M tier list, near the middle of A tier, a substantial improvement over his 30th out of 38 placement in Brawl.

Attributes

Overview

In Project M, Lucas boasts excellent mobility with fast, low commitment neutral tools, versatile combo tools, and insanely powerful smash attacks. The most notable of his neutral tools is his PSI Magnet, which can be jump cancelled like Fox's shine, making the attack safe on block when combined with his wavedash. Chaining multiple magnets together can help break crouch cancel, or be used on shield to provoke reactions or eventually shieldbreak. Lucas performs daring acrobatic stunts for his regular attacks. While he has less range than most fighters, he incorporates PSI into most of his attacks, meaning they have disjointed sweetspots which do extra damage. His forward aerial is a great example, as it does 13% on the strong hit, and 9-10 on the weak hit. In the right hands, Lucas has the ability to combo every member of the cast into his gigantic Offense-Up Up Smash. Lucas has an excellent dashdance and has a relatively long wavedash. Although following up at high percents becomes difficult for him, if Lucas can land a grab he can use his up-throw to bring a swift end to his opponent.

Strengths

  • Excellent grounded mobility for weaving in and out of threat ranges.
  • DJC aerials and B-reverse allow for some interesting yet committal aerial mobility.
  • Safe and creative shield pressure using jump cancelled PSI Magnet, his great wavedash, and DJC aerials.
  • Combo game with unmatched versatility, allowing him to follow up and KO on both knockdown situations and airborne opponents.
  • DACUS allows him to threaten vertically or finish a combo from across the entire stage.
  • Vertical kill throw that ignores weight, killing floatier characters easily.

Lesser Strengths

  • OK projectile with PK Freeze. Though it can be hit or CC'd, it can lead into followups like DACUS.
  • Can go deep offstage both horizontally and vertically and still recover.
  • Has a plethora of recovery mixups by with his airodge and z-tether, PK Thunder looping, or stalling using PSI magnet.
  • Can respond to camping by absorbing energy projectiles like lasers or fireballs, or charging his Offense Up.
  • Has OK out of shield options with aerials, most notably dair.

Weaknesses

  • Short range with most attacks.
  • Tether grab is quite laggy, and slower to come out than other grabs. Especially bad out of shield, but can reach some laggier attacks even after shield pushback.
  • Easy combo weight and bad tech roll make him an easy target for chain grabs, tech chases, and juggles.
  • Lucas's edgeguards are less than stellar, and he often relies on a read to secure the kill against most recoveries.
  • Struggles against platform camping, with the initial dip in his double jump giving him trouble quickly reaching the highest platform.

Ledge Options

Lucas has decent ledge options. Once he is on ledge, Lucas can stall with PK Thunder, quickly refresh invincibility (once) with his ropesnake, threaten those too close with ledge hop PSI magnet, and has a passable ledgedash. There are also rumors of a legendary "snekdash" which, while bewildering in its technical difficulty, gives Lucas completely invincible options coming off of the ledge.

Offense Up

While Lucas had powerful smash attacks in Brawl, they can be even more deadly in Project M with the help of his new Neutral Special move, Offense Up. This move increases the strength of his smash attacks, allowing him to KO faster from on stage. It also increases the vertical reach and overall size of Up Smash, necessary for finishing a combo on floatier characters like Luigi. Unlike most charge moves, as long as you don't miss with a smash attack, you continue to keep the move charged.

Matchups

Lucas can do well in every matchup thanks to his good mobility, OK projectile and low commitment pokes.

He is an excellent counterpick to characters that struggle against whiff punish or have bad out of shield options, like Ganon, or getting early KOs on characters who would otherwise live to high percents, like DK or Ness.

However, he still struggles against range from characters like Marth and Mewtwo, chaingrabs such as Mario's and Ganon's, and tech chases from characters like Meta Knight or Sheik.

His aboslute worst matchup is Sheik, whose oppressive tech-chases can quickly bring him to kill percent, and whose needles completely smother his recovery.

Though the matchup is positive for Lucas, Ganon can easily chaingrab Lucas beyond 110% into a KO with Ganon's Upsmash.

Lucas' alternate costume.

Changes from Brawl to PM

Lucas was heavily buffed from Brawl to Project M, as he was given many new options to combo and KO opponents on-stage. While it may seem Lucas's recovery has been nerfed due to the shorter distance that his up special travels, the new air dodge and tether mechanics allow him to come back on stage with greater ease than before.

Aesthetics

  • Change Up throw and PK Fire now use freezing graphics instead of PSI and fire graphics, respectively.
  • Buff When using Lucas's up taunt, holding the input will actually make him trip, allowing situational mindgames.

Attributes

  • Buff Lucas has gained a long wavedash thanks to Project M's new physics and his low traction, greatly improving his approach and positioning.
  • Buff Lucas can now double jump cancel with the same mechanics as Ness, making his combo game even more deadly.
  • Buff Lucas's additional lag from a grounded grab release has been removed; he is no longer vulnerable to grab release infinites.
  • Nerf Double jump travels slightly less distance, and can no longer Zap Jump.

Ground Attacks

  • Buff Lucas has a new neutral attack, he creates a spark of PSI in one hand, and then spins around and creates a spark of PSI in the same hand. It is better combo opener than his old neutral attack.
  • Buff Forward tilt has less knockback, allowing for easier followups out of it.
  • Buff Up tilt is now a flash kick in an arc-like fashion in front of him, which has more range and utility than his previous up tilt, and it can easily lead-up into combos or a down aerial.
  • Change Down tilt pushes back the opponent, resetting the close quarters situation into neutral. It can lead into grab or ftilt if the opponent doesn't react in time.
  • Nerf Down tilt can no longer infinite.
  • Buff Dash attack is much faster and can now be canceled, giving Lucas a very fast and long-ranged DACUS.
  • Change Up smash has decreased startup time, but has drastically less range and slightly less power.
  • Buff Down smash has much less starting and ending lag; its second hit is now optional, performed by pressing the attack button again. This allows Lucas to preform a quick smash attack in with a single hit, or punish crouch cancelers and pressure shields with a double hit, while before Lucas was forced to stay in place for a long time due to the attack's long duration.

Aerial Attacks

  • Buff Neutral aerial links more fluidly and has less hits, while still dealing consistent damage.
  • Buff Forward aerial does slightly more damage and boasts improved combo utility.
  • Buff Back aerial does much more damage and is a much stronger KO move, and is slightly easier to sweetspot and spikes, making it a more reliable offstage finisher and edgeguarding option.
  • Buff Up aerial was given more juggling potential.
  • Nerf Up aerial is no longer a reliable KOing option near the ceiling.
  • Buff Down aerial now only hits three times and thus has less damage potential, but it no longer changes Lucas's momentum, is much faster, has a strong downwards trajectory on the third hit, and links into subsequent hits more fluidly. This makes it have more utility in combos, either as a starter or finisher.
  • Buff Zair now has a damaging hitbox, and is also generally better for recovering, as it can be used after an air dodge and ignores edge-hoggers thanks to Project M's new tether recovery mechanics.

Grabs and Throws

  • Buff Standing grab animation is slightly faster, and has less endlag.
  • Buff All throws have been sped up.
  • Buff Lucas's new up throw has very high KO potential, and is the strongest up throw in Project M.
  • Buff Forward throw has less knockback, which improves its combo utility.
  • Nerf Down throw has greatly decreased knockback scaling, and is no longer a KO move.
  • Buff Down throw's lowered knockback combined with the removal of hitstun canceling significantly improves its comboing capabilities.

Special Moves

  • Buff Lucas' neutral special, PK Freeze is replaced with a new special move, Offense Up (a move that Lucas can actually perform in Mother 3), a charging move with storable charge similar to Giant Punch or Needle Storm, that increases the power of Lucas's smash attacks and stays active as long as Lucas connects said boosted attacks. This new addition over the generally competitively non-viable PK Freeze is considered a buff as it can allow stronger Lucas players to gain many quick and efficient KOs.
  • Change PK Freeze is now moved to side special, replacing PK Fire, but functions the same as the latter.
  • Buff PK Freeze inflicts more hitlag and less knockback, and autocancels upon landing, giving Lucas better follow-ups out of the move.
  • Nerf PK Thunder is now noticeably shorter, and PK Thunder 2's maximum damage was decreased. PK Thunder 2 no longer reliably links into itself, reducing its KO potential greatly.
  • Buff PSI Magnet can now be jump-canceled and has more hitboxes above Lucas, giving him a quick and deadly combo option. It also deals damage consecutively for the entire duration of the move, making it less punishable.
  • Nerf PSI Magnet is less effective at edgeguarding, and its absorbing hitbox's radius was reduced. It also no longer turns Lucas around to absorb projectiles behind him.

Revisions

v2.5b

  • Buff PK Thunder no longer disappears when entering the side blast zones, and does not clip stages as easily.
  • Buff PK Thunder no longer disappears when Lucas is hit, and instead becomes unfriendly towards any player and continuing in the same direction before he got hit.
  • Buff PKT2 ending is not as short and is able to grab the edge backwards.
  • Buff PK Freeze has less hitlag and is now SDIable.
  • Nerf Tether no longer has a hitbox attached to it when it is grabbing the ledge.
  • Nerf Cliff jump height slightly reduced.
  • Change Air jump animations cleaned up.
  • Change Boost smash window adjusted to be more appropriate for his jump speed.
  • Change Forward smash angled up does slightly more damage while angled down does slightly less.
  • Change Down smash is two parts just like Link's forward smash.
  • Nerf Neutral air now uses weight dependent set knockback on linking hits and is slightly more SDIable.
  • Change Forward air has normal hitlag.
  • Change Back air now uses the new light element effect.
  • Buff Up air has normal hitlag, and now has a sweetspot that uses the new light element effect.
  • Change Grab animations edited to not look as awkward.
  • Change PSI Magnet has an actual start up animation, allowing reversals, but the hit and jump cancel timings remain the same as before.

v2.6b

  • Buff Double jump animation tweaked to better evade chain grabs.
  • Buff Forward air electric sweetspot hitbox knockback improved to increase its kill potential. Damage is also slightly increased.
  • Buff Neutral B while holding Offense Up (OU) now has a quick burst hitbox that retains OU if the hit lands.
  • Buff PK Freeze on the ground has reduced endlag.
  • Buff PSI Magnet can be released during the absorb lag to go into the end animation afterwards, preventing rapid hitting projectiles like Fox's standing laser that can re-hit before the absorb lag ends from being able to trap him in it.
  • Buff PSI Magnet time to act after absorbing a projectile has been reduced.
  • Nerf Forward smash non-Offense Up has reduced knockback growth.
  • Nerf Forward smash non-Offense Up projectile reflection active frames reduced.
  • Nerf Up smash non-Offense Up has reduced knockback growth.
  • Change Jab has been changed to be two hits with minor changes in functionality.
  • Change Up tilt hitboxes slightly tweaked so it makes more sense with the animation, also polished the move aesthetically.
  • Buff Down tilt animation angled slightly lower to shield poke better, also removed the sparkle graphic.
  • Change Forward smash Offense Up graphics shrunk.
  • Change Up smash non-Offense Up graphics shrunk to better match the hitboxes.
  • Change Up smash Offense Up electric graphics shrunk to better match hitboxes, also illuminates Lucas.
  • Change Neutral air animation has a more centered axis of rotation about Lucas's body and uses stationary hitboxes for more consistent coverage. Multi-hit trajectories are now location dependent and generate the proper amount of hitstun for their knockback.
  • Change Neutral air landing hitbox tweaked a bit to better reflect the animation, and now sends opponents behind Lucas backwards, instead of forwards.
  • Change Back and down air has been completely revamped to reflect his Brawl animation.
  • Change Dash grab tweaked slightly to have the grab better match the animation.
  • Bug fix Up throw hitboxes now cannot be clanked, fixing a bug that would have him freeze up similar to Diddy's up throw.
  • Change Up throw animation has been improved aesthetically.
  • Buff Lucas's upper body cannot be hit during tether reel-in.
  • Bug fix Ledge roll 100+ works properly on edges with steep slopes like Yoshi's Island: Brawl.
  • Change PK Thunder bolt altered slightly so that the tail flinch hits no longer overwrite the head hit.
  • Change PKT2 multi-hits now use fixed knock-back. The hitboxes refresh every few frames but are now always out and active instead of turning off to refresh.
  • Change PSI Magnet time between refresh hits is slightly reduced.
  • Change PSI Magnet refresh hits in the air now pulls an aerial opponent down and towards him.
  • Change PSI Magnet multi-hit range more accurately matches release hitbox range.
  • Change PSI Magnet aesthetically changed to illuminate Lucas while active.
  • Change PSI Magnet release graphic no longer anchored to Lucas.
  • Buff Up taunt makes Lucas behave as if he actually tripped if held.
  • Bug fix Fixed a bug with powershield reflect collision size.

v3.0

  • Nerf PSI Magnet shield damage was significantly reduced.
  • Change PSI Magnet repeating hitbox refresh rate was reduced.
  • Bug fix Fixed a bug that prevented the >100% ledge roll animation from completing.

v3.5

  • Nerf Up tilt now has a sweetspot and deals less damage around the body.
  • Nerf Down tilt deals slightly less damage.
  • Nerf Up smash attack has been weakened overall.
  • Buff Forward aerial has a bigger sweetspot.
    • Nerf It now deals one percent less damage.
  • Nerf Back aerial has more endlag.
  • Buff Up aerial causes more damage and knockback.
  • Nerf Down aerial has more endlag.
    • Nerf The first two hits of the attack cause less knockback, and are smaller.
  • Nerf Up throw causes less knockback, weakening its KO potential.
  • Buff Down throw causes more knockback.
  • Change Down tilt has been changed to one resembling Lucas' Brawl down tilt.
  • Change When using Lucas' Masked Man costume, forward smash attacks now have sword effects.

v3.6

  • Change Lucas has a Smash Taunt, based off the Osohe Dance performed by Wess in Mother 3.
    • Buff If performed without interruption, the ending pose deals 50% of damage to the opponents with paralysis. After all paralysis clears away from the opponent, the move is a one-hit KO.

Full

  • Change The hitlag caused by his Smash Taunt has been significantly reduced.

Moveset

Up to date as of version 3.6.

Name Damage Description
Neutral attack 3% Lucas throws out one hand creating a spark of PSI energy, then spins and throws out the same hand, creating another spark of PSI energy. The second hit moves Lucas a small distance forward.
3%
Forward tilt 11% (sweetspot), 9% (sourspot) Lucas does a palm thrust that launches a small burst of PSI energy. This move can be angled up or down.
Up tilt 8% (sourspot), 11% (sweetspot clean), 9% (sweetspot late) Lucas does a back flipkick charged with PSI. Can chain into itself at lower percents.
Down tilt 6% (foot), 4% (leg) Lucas crouches and spins while sticking his leg out. Hitting at Lucas's foot knocks opponents away, dealing strong set knockback.
Dash attack 10% (clean), 7% (late) Lucas slides forward, shooting out a burst of PSI energy from his hand.
Forward smash Normal: 16%
Offensive Up: 24%
Lucas attacks nearby foes by swinging his stick (energy sword when using the Masked Man costume) horizontally forward. The tip of the stick launches enemies at a more horizontal angle. Can reflect projectiles. This move can be angled up or down.
Up smash Normal: 20% (clean), 16% (late)
Offensive Up: 30% (clean), 24% (late)
Lucas releases a small burst of PSI that erupts above his head. It has slow start-up and leaves horrid lag afterwards, rendering it very easily punished. It is however compensated by its large knockback and range, which is even stronger through Offense Up. When fully charged, it can KO at 62%, and when fully charged through Offense Up, it can KO as early as 45%.
Down smash Normal: 17%
Offensive Up: 26%
Lucas points at the ground and shoots a burst of PSI energy in front of his feet. It's possible for Lucas to unleash a second burst by pressing the attack button right after the first. It is unlikely that both hits will connect on the same enemy.
Normal: 14%
Offensive Up: 21%
Neutral aerial 2% (hits 1-4), 6% (hit 5), 4% (landing) Lucas spins in a gyro pattern with PSI energy around him, with the last hit having decent knockback.
Forward aerial Clean: 12% (sweetspot), 8% (sourspot)
Late: 8% (sweetspot), 7% (sourspot)
Lucas kicks one foot forward, launching a burst of PSI energy. Can even be linked into itself or even into a down aerial for a Ken combo.
Back aerial 15% (foot), 12% (body) Lucas does a backflip and kicks one foot downwards with a stream of small PSI energy. Has good KO potential and spikes if one connects with the final hit during the attack's animation.
Up aerial 10% Does a quick headbutt that deals low knockback. Has a bit of ending lag.
Down aerial 5% (hits 1-3) Lucas thrusts his feet downwards and creates several quick flashes of PSI energy. The third hit meteor smashes weakly. Can be followed up with another aerial or an up smash when the opponent bounces off the floor. Can also set up a combo using his down tilt followed by a smash attack, if the opponent doesn't tech the meteor smash. Although it has fast start-up, it possesses considerable ending lag if it is not autocanceled.
Grab aerial 8% Lucas sends Duster's Rope Snake forward to damage nearby enemies.
Grab Lucas sends Duster's Rope Snake forward to grab nearby enemies. Has noticeable ending lag if it misses.
Pummel 3% Headbutts the enemy.
Forward throw 10% Lucas telekinetically tosses the opponent forward.
Back throw 10% Lucas telekinetically tosses the opponent behind him. Can KO at high percent, especially as a mixup if the opponent is expecting to DI behind for Down throw.
Up throw 1% (hits 1-4), 8% (throw) Lucas telekinetically whirls the opponent around his head, then throws them straight up. Has very high KO potential. Kill % based on fall speed, not weight.
Down throw 7% Lucas telekinetically slams the opponent down, then launches them upwards. Hard behind DI will limit Lucas's followups, especially if sent offstage.
Floor attack (front) 6% Gets up and does a low kick going from back to front.
Floor attack (back) 6% Gets up and does a low kick going from back to front.
Floor attack (trip) 5% Kicks with both of his feet from back to front while getting up.
Edge attack (fast) 8% (foot), 6% (body) Lucas flips onto the stage and does a sweep kick.
Edge attack (slow) 10% Lucas slowly climbs up onto stage and throws out a punch.
Smash taunt 50% Performs the Osohe Dance performed by Wess from Mother 3. Lasts for an incredibly long duration (over 1000 frames), but whenever the dance is successfully performed without any interruption, the ending pose produces a shockwave that deals a a ton of damage, shocking opponents with paralysis before launching them, being capable on landing a one-hit KO on any character, regardless of damage.
Neutral special Offense Up 10% (spark) When the special button is held, Lucas begins channeling psychic power, complete with a weak wind effect that pushes nearby foes. After a few seconds, Lucas's hands glow with power and the next smash attack that he performs deals greater damage, shield damage, and knockback. While Offense Up is charged, Lucas can also press the special button to produce an spark-like attack around himself that can damage foes with little to no startup. Hitting with a smash attack or the spark will allow Lucas to keep the charge, whereas missing will deplete the charge.
Side special PK Freeze 5% Lucas shoots out an icy projectile that flies horizontally forward. This move goes about half the distance of Final Destination when used on the ground and can be used to edge-guard.
Up special PK Thunder 10% (PK Thunder head), 1% (PK Thunder tail)
PK Thunder 2: 8% (hit 1), 3% (hits 2-7), 8% (hit 8)
Lucas generates a ball of lightning which can be directed with the the control stick/d-pad. Like Ness's PK Thunder, it can be directed into Lucas to launch him. Unlike Ness's version, however, it does not fizzle out after hitting a foe and instead causes repeated damage. The latter also applies to his PK Thunder 2. As such, using PK Thunder will result in Lucas not being able to move or defend, because the control stick/d-pad is used to aim the projectile. This move can also be used to interrupt recoveries.
Down special PSI Magnet 2% (loop), 6% (release), heals 1x the damage of absorbed projectiles Lucas holds out his hand and creates a small electrical field in front of him that absorbs any energy projectiles shot against him, healing Lucas's by the damage the projectile would have normally dealt. As an attack, it does a small amount of damage to enemies that make contact with the orb, and deals more damage and launches them behind Lucas when he releases it. When used in the air, it halts Lucas's falling speed, similar to Fox's reflector from Brawl, but will do so less often after each repeated use.
Final Smash PK Starstorm 14% (each star) Lucas calls down a rain of stars from the sky, yelling "PK... Starstorm!"

In competitive play

Notable players

  • USA Ant NYNJ
  • USA Frost MI
  • USA Hyperflame MDVA (PMRank 2016 #8). Currently the best Lucas player in the world.
  • Japan Kaito-The best Project M player in Japan during 3.02.
  • USA Kip GA
  • USA Narq NYNJ
  • USA Neon AZ -One of the best Lucas players in the world during 3.02, but still very skilled in 3.6.
  • USA Scraket NorCal
  • USA Pink Fresh-One of the best Lucas players in the world during 3.02.

Alternate costumes

Lucas has been given an alternate costume based on a segment in Mother 3 where Lucas is mistaken for the Pigmasks' general, the Masked Man, and passes as him for a while. Lucas's costume features no changes to the visual effects of his attacks, other than that his forward smash now uses the Masked Man's energy sword instead of a stick.

Lucas's palette swaps in PM 3.02.
Lucas's alternate costumes in PM
LucasHeadSSBB.png LucasHeadOrangeSSBB.png LucasHeadRedSSBB.png LucasHeadBlueSSBB.png LucasHeadGreenSSBB.png LucasHeadPurpleSSBB.png LucasHeadMaskedManPM.png

Trivia

Lucas's back air in previous versions of Project M.
Lucas's back aerial in previous versions of Project M.
  • In previous incarnations, Lucas's back aerial in Project M was replaced with an aerial roundhouse kick (similar to Ness's forward tilt) that dealt great knockback with high knockback scaling, while his down aerial, a guaranteed meteor smash, had him perform a flip kick downwards. While very powerful, they were not considered versatile enough for competitive play, and were later removed for subsequent versions of the mod in favor of their Brawl iterations, but with many new buffs (as described above).
  • In 3.6, Lucas holds the record for the longest Smash Taunt, exceeding 1,000 frames.