Lucas (SSB4)

Lucas in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	EarthBound
Other playable appearance	in Brawl
Availability	Downloadable
Final Smash	PK Starstorm

“	Lucas Comes Out of Nowhere!	”
—Introduction Tagline

Lucas (リュカ, Lucas) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4 as the second downloadable character, released alongside Roy and Ryu on June 14th, 2015. He was confirmed to be a playable character during the Nintendo Direct presentation on April 1st, 2015.

Lucas' voice clips from Brawl provided by Lani Minella are reused, with some of them slightly sped up.

Attributes

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Lucas has not changed much since Brawl. He still retains his average dash speed, air speed, below-average fall speed and his incredibly low walk speed. Lucas greatly benefits from having disjointed hitboxes with every smash attack, nearly every aerial attack and some ground attacks having them.

Changes from Brawl

Lucas was overall nerfed in his transition from Brawl to Smash 4 despite being low tier in Brawl. He can no longer use Zap Jump or Magnet Pull, which were his two most pivotal techniques in Brawl, and many of his attacks deal less damage, knockback, have reduced range and increased cool down. His aerials can no longer auto cancel in a short hop, which significantly hurts his already poor approach and landing options, and he additionally has a harder time KO'ing because of his forward smash, up smash, forward air, neutral air and down throw having reduced knockback alongside the loss of his advanced techniques.

However, Lucas also received various buffs to compensate. His 10 extra frame grab release animation (which was one of his most significant flaws (shared with Ness) has been removed, and his recovery has been improved with an increase in distance travelled by PK Thunder 2, as well as his tether recovery gaining more range and a new hitbox that deals damage. He has also benefits considerably from the nerfing of characters who hard countered him in Brawl, such as Marth. As a result, Lucas is considered better relative to the cast than he was in Brawl despite the nerfs.

Aesthetics

Like Ness, Lucas is slightly taller and thinner, with a smaller and more proportionate head. Lucas' colors are more vibrant; his shirt now has completely horizontal stripes, he has a more rosy blush and has lost the blue hue in his eyes.

• Like Ness, Lucas now uses updated sounds for PSI related attacks.
• Lucas now keeps both eyes open while performing PSI Magnet, while in Brawl, he kept one eye shut.
• Lucas's hair doesn't move, despite it doing so in Brawl.
• Lucas is a lot more expressive, such as commonly having a smile on his face.

Attributes

• The extra 10 frames of Lucas' grab release have been removed and normalized.
• Jumpsquat is 1 frame faster (5 → 4 frames).
• Lucas has a higher fast fall speed (1.918 → 2.192) which makes him less vulnerable to juggling.
• Zap Jump and Magnet Pull have been removed, limiting Lucas' advanced player options.

Ground attacks

• Damage reductions on neutral attack (10% → 8.5%), up tilt (11% → 9.5%), down tilt (6% → 3%) and sourspot forward tilt (9% → 7.5%).
• Neutral attack's initial hits send at a higher trajectory which increases its combo reliability.
• Dash attack has reduced start-up (frame 17 → 15) with less cool down (IASA frame 42 → 39). The sweetspot is now located at the tip and deals 1% more damage (12% → 13%) with horizontal knockback.
• Sourspotted dash attack deals less damage (10% → 9%) with decreased knockback.
• Up tilt has reduced cool down (IASA frame 40 → 37).
• Down tilt's point-blank hitbox now weakly sends opponents in the air which gives it better combo potential at higher percent.
• Down tilt no longer trips opponents, has slightly reduced range and increased cool down (IASA frame 14 → 16).
• Forward tilt has increased start up (frame 6 → 7) and cool down (IASA frame 23 → 26).
• Up smash has reduced knockback (50 base/85 growth → 48/77) and has reduced hitbox sizes (14/13/12/10/10u → 12/11/10/8/6.5u).
• Forward smash has reduced knockback (base knockback 60 → 50) and has gained a sourspot on all non tipper hitboxes that deals 1% less damage.
• Down smash has reduced range (10/12/14u → 8/9.8/12u).
• Down smash's first hit has increased base knockback (40 → 43).

Aerial attacks

• Damage reductions on neutral aerial (17% → 8%), forward aerial (12% → 11.5%) and down aerial (20% → 15.5%).
• Neutral, forward and up aerial no longer auto cancel in a short hop due to drastically increased auto cancel timings, significantly hindering Lucas's approach and spacing options.
• Neutral aerial has a slightly altered animation with emphasis on the final hit.
• Neutral aerial connects reliably with the final hit sending opponents at 60 degrees above Lucas, making it an effective combo starter with its reduced base knockback (70 → 40) and landing lag (18 → 13 frames).
• Neutral aerial has increased start-up (frame 5 → 7) and higher aerial cool down (IASA frame 40 → 45).
• Forward aerial has a smaller hitbox (5.5u → 5u) and reduced active frames for the late hit (6 frames → 2).
• Back aerial's non-meteor sweetspot deals more damage (10% → 12%) which increases its knockback.
• Up aerial has increased start-up (frame 5 → 7), fewer active frames (6 frames → 3) and a much smaller hitbox (7u → 5.2u) that is no longer attached to Lucas's head animation, making the range static and misleading.
• Up aerial sends at 80 degrees which helps it KO earlier despite identical knockback values.
• Down aerial has increased start-up (frame 4 → 10) which hurts its reliability against smaller grounded targets. It also has moderately pushed back auto cancel timings (frame 35 → 48).
• Down aerial has less landing lag (28 → 24 frames).
• Rope Snake covers much more distance as a tether and now has a hitbox which deals up to 4% damage with horizontal knockback.

Throws/other attacks

• Start-up reductions on standing grab (frame 13 → 12), dash grab (frame 16 → 14) and pivot grab (frame 15 → 12). Additionally, all grabs have significantly higher active frames (1 → 8 frames).
• Standing grab and dash grab have significantly reduced cool down (IASA standing grab 70 → 51 and dash grab 80 → 61).
• Pivot grab has increased cool down (IASA frame 50 → 61).
• Pummel deals 1.2% instead of 3%, meaning that Lucas no longer has the best pummel in the game.
• Up throw has more growth (65 → 69).
• Down throw has decreased endlag and drastically reduced knockback growth (100 → 51), which when combined with the removal of hitstun cancelling, grants Lucas an excellent combo starter, allowing him to chain into aerial attacks at percentages up to around 150% depending on weight, rage, staleness and DI.
• Down throw deals slightly less damage (7% → 6.5%) and can no longer KO due to its significantly reduced knockback.
• Down throw aesthetically buries opponents during its execution.
• Front and back floor attacks deal 1% more damage (6% → 7%).
• Edge attack always deals 7% damage instead of 6% or 8%.

Special moves

• PK Freeze is slightly slower, takes longer to fully charge, now going lower than Lucas's body, similar to Ness's PK Flash. Because of this, PK Freeze no longer explodes when it touches the ground. Unlike PK Flash, using the move right before it hits the ground does not count as being fully charged.
• PK Freeze travels farther and deals more damage.
• PK Fire deals 1% more damage (8% → 9%).
• PK Thunder is larger, and PK Thunder 2 can be used again after hitting a wall (similar to Ness'). Its trapping abilities are also better and has a stronger final hit. In addition, PK Thunder 2 shoots slightly more distance.
• PK Thunder moves slightly faster. This makes it easier to recover if an opponent goes offstage attempting to gimp Lucas, but also makes situational mindgames slightly harder to play out. PK Thunder is now colored purple.
• PK Thunder 2 deals less damage.
• PSI Magnet is now larger than in Brawl, where it was only centered around his hand. This increase of range and gives it more defensive value. However, it only deals damage if the opponent is in the center of the magnet, whereas in Brawl the entire magnet dealt damage, which decreases its overall offensive value.
• PSI Magnet deals 1% less damage (9% → 8%) and heals Lucas significantly less (1.2x instead of 2.5x the damage of absorbed projectiles) than it did in Brawl. Lucas also no longer turns around if hit from behind.
• PK Starstorm now fires an aimable line of meteors from the top-center of the stage (similar to Aura Storm), just like Ness' version. This leaves it with blind spots but deals more reliable damage when it does hit. Lucas's pose when using PK Starstorm now matches Ness's pose. Lucas's version is much thicker than Ness's. It keeps a consistent width of three meteors throughout, rather than the width of 1.5 meteors Ness's does.

Update history

Lucas has received minor buffs in patch 1.1.0, with the most notable changes being cool down reductions on all his grabs and subtle range improvements in forward and down tilt (though they still do not match up to his range in Brawl). The changes to the shield mechanics in recent patches, however, are a mixed bag for him as it makes his sourspotted moves less safe on shield, but his sweetspotted moves are safer.

1.1.0

• Forward aerial's vertical displacement (1.0 → 2.9).
• Forward aerial sourspot damage increased (8% → 9%).
• Forward aerial's sourspot hitbox size decreased (3.8u → 3.3u).
• Forward tilt's sweetspot hitbox size increased (4.0u → 4.4u).
• Forward tilt's sourspot hitbox size increased (2.0u → 2.2u).
• Forward tilt's horizontal displacement (1.6 → 0).
• Down tilt's far hitbox horizontal displacement (7.0 → 7.2).
• Down tilt's middle hitbox angle altered (0° → 40°).
• Down tilt's horizontal displacement (2.7 → 3.0).
• Down tilt's growth reduced (50 → 45).
• Down tilt's close hitbox angle altered (70 → 76).
• Down tilt's base knockback increased (10 → 18).
• Down tilt's displacement (0 → 3.5).
• Grab range early size increased (2.5 → 3.0).
• Grab range later size increased (2.4u → 2.8u).
• All grabs have reduced ending lag (56/66/66→51/61/61).
• PK Thunder's hitbox size increased (3.5u → 3.8u).

Moveset

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			2.5%	Kicks with his right leg twice, then does a spin kick with his left. The third kick has slightly more range. Can be followed-up with a dash attack at low to mid percentages.
			2%
			4%
Forward tilt			11% (sweetspot), 7.5% (sourspot)	Launches a small burst of PK energy that does more damage further from Lucas. Can be angled and has a disjointed hitbox.
Up tilt			1.5% (hit 1), 8% (clean hit 2), 5% (late hit 2)	Does a flip kick as his foot becomes surrounded by PK energy. Can combo itself or a neutral and up air at low to mid percentages.
Down tilt			3%	Crouches and does a spinning kick. Weak, but fast and combos into itself and other moves (such as his jab and forward smash) easily.
Dash attack			13% (sweetspot), 9% (sourspot)	Lunges forward, sending forth a burst of PK energy. Does more damage further away. Has slight start-up.
Forward smash			14% (base), 15% (tip)	Whacks nearby opponents with a stick. Deals more damage at the tip. Very similar to Ness's forward smash with faster start up, but deals much less damage and is weaker.
Up smash			2% (hit 1); 19%, 18%, 16%, 14%, or 12% (clean to late hit 2)	Releases a burst of PK energy from above his head. The move has a lot of ending lag, making it very punishable if missed. This move also has potential to KO very early, and is the strongest up smash in the game. It's supposedly based on PK Love, Lucas's signature attack from Mother 3. Also, Lucas appears to gain some intangibility frames during a certain part of this move. The move also possesses a huge hitbox making it a good anti-air air if used correctly.
Down smash			17% (hit 1), 14% (hit 2), 11% (hit 3)	Fires three consecutive bursts of PK energy towards the ground, each one with more range but less power than the last. The first hit is very powerful being able to KO as low as 60% near the ledge, this of course depends on your opponents weight and DI. The first hit is one of the strongest down smash attacks in the game. All three hits are disjointed.
Neutral aerial			1% (hits 1-4), 4% (hit 5)	Spins around, releasing rapid bursts of PK energy. Has decent combo potential.
Forward aerial			11.5% (sweetspot), 9% (sourspot)	Kicks, launching a burst of PK energy in front of himself. This move is very fast and disjointed making it a good offstage option. The sweetspot does the most knockback.
Back aerial			12% (sweetspot), 9% (sourspot), 7% (late)	Kicks downwards from a back flip, leaving a trail of PK energy. Can meteor smash, though it's difficult to land. Has disjointed reach.
Up aerial			13%	Headbutts. Similar to Ness's up air, but doesn't have as much range or knockback.
Down aerial			3.5% (rapid hits 1-3), 5% (final hit)	Kicks out rapid bursts of PK energy below himself. If the final hit connects it can meteor smash. All hits are disjointed.
Grab aerial			4% (clean), 2.8% (late)	Sends Duster's Rope Snake in front of him to damage enemies.
Grab			—	Sends Duster's Rope Snake in front of him. Can be performed in midair as a tether.
Pummel			1.2%	Headbutts the opponent. Can be done extremely rapidly.
Forward throw			10%	Uses telekinesis to launch the opponent in front of himself. KO's at 125% to 165% near the ledge.
Back throw			10%	Telekinetically tosses the opponent behind him. Lucas's strongest throw. KO's at 100% to 130% near the ledge.
Up throw			10%	Telekinetically whirls the opponent around his head, then throws them straight up. KO's at 120% to 180%.
Down throw			6.5%	Telekinetically slams the opponent into the ground head first, leaving them briefly buried. Good for starting combos as it can link to his up tilt, up air, forward air, and neutral air, depending on your opponent's weight and DI.
Floor attack (front)			7%	Gets up and kicks at opponents from either side.
Floor attack (back)			7%	Gets up and kicks at opponents from either side.
Floor attack (trip)			5%	Gets up and kicks back and forth.
Edge attack			7%	Climbs onto the stage and performs a low kick.
Neutral special	Default	PK Freeze	9%-22%	Releases a burst of blue, snowflake-shaped PK energy that can freeze opponents. The direction of the burst's path can be controlled, and the attack can be made stronger by holding the special button.
	Custom 1	N/A
	Custom 2	N/A
Side special	Default	PK Fire	3% (lightning), 6% (fire)	Lucas throws a lightning bolt-like projectile that turns into a burst of fire upon contact. His PK Fire doesn't leave a pillar of flame like Ness's, and also has the same trajectory whether it is launched on the ground or in midair. His PK Fire also pushes him back a bit.
	Custom 1	N/A
	Custom 2	N/A
Up special	Default	PK Thunder	2.5% (projectile head), 0.8% (projectile tail rapid hits), 8% (PKT2 initial hit), 2% (PKT2 rapid hits 1-5), 1.5% (PKT2 rapid hits 6-10), 10% (PKT2 final hit)	Launches a purple stream of lightning that can be directed into Lucas to launch him. Unlike Ness' version, it doesn't fizzle out after hitting a foe, and causes repeated damage. The latter also applies to his PK Thunder 2.
	Custom 1	N/A
	Custom 2	N/A
Down special	Default	PSI Magnet	8% (ending), heals 1.2x the damage of absorbed projectiles.	Creates a glowing orb in front of Lucas. Any energy-based projectiles it absorbs will heal him. Additionally, the orb can damage opponents inside of it when it dissipates, which allows it to be used as a situational KO move at high percents.
	Custom 1	N/A
	Custom 2	N/A
Final Smash		PK Starstorm	8% per hit	Lucas summons a shower of powerful falling stars. They descend in a column and can be angled in a "wiper" motion at any time, as well as repeatedly hit opponents.

Taunts

• LucasTaunt1Smash4.jpg
• LucasTaunt2Smash4.jpg
• LucasTaunt3Smash4.jpg

• Up Taunt: Lucas trips, shakes his head, and gets back up.
• Side Taunt: Duster's Rope Snake taps him on the shoulder and has a brief conversation with Lucas, as Lucas shrugs towards it.
• Down Taunt: Lucas creates PSI sparks with his fingers, moving his arms in a sideways motion.

Idle Poses

• Taps the edge of his shoes on the ground.
• Shakes his fists in front of his face cowardly.

Cheer

Lu - cas!

On-Screen Appearance

Rides in on a Mr. Saturn-style coffee table, then hops off. The table is based on the one that Lucas rides to Saturn Valley in Mother 3.

Victory Fanfare

A flourished remix coming directly from Brawl. It is a sped-up remix of a portion of the title theme from the original MOTHER for the Famicom Disk System. It is shared with Ness.

Victory Poses

• LucasPose1WiiU.png
• LucasPose2WiiU.png
• LucasPose3WiiU.png

• He forcefully pulls one of the Seven Needles out of the ground, sending it flying off-screen with a trail of sparkles while Lucas looks towards the screen. This is very similar to his Up Smash.
• With his back towards the screen, crouching, Lucas does something on the ground with a large stick before turning his head around towards the screen, saying "Huh?".
• He bends down on one knee and shoots hexagonal PK shocks from his fingers in the air in front of him.

In Competitive Play

Notable players

•  Nakat
•  Pink Fresh
•  Tweek
•  Kodysti
•  BlueBerrySyrup
•  Luco
•  KoozyK

Alternate costumes

Trophy

This article is in need of additional images. The editor who added this tag suggests: 3DS fighter trophies If you have a good image for this article, upload it here.

While not playable at the release of the game, there has always been a trophy of Lucas in both versions; this trophy matches his appearance in Brawl. Upon his release, he additionally received two (three in the Wii U version) trophies that match the format of the other playable characters. The existing non-fighter one remains unchanged, as with Mewtwo's non-fighter trophy.

Lucas (non-fighter)

Before adventuring, Lucas was a timid, cautious boy. His journey has made him a stronger person. Maybe he met someone to spend his life with... Hang on—we're moving way too fast! For now, remember that Lucas and Ness are favorites in the hearts of EarthBound fans.

Once upon a time, Lucas was a bit of a cry-baby. You might even say he was a wimp. But then, well...he had more than his fair share of rough times and toughened up a bit. Who knows what he's up to now? Whatever he's doing, his story - much like Ness's - lives on in the hearts of all Mother series fans.

: Mother 3

Lucas

The younger of the twin brothers from Nowhere makes his triumphant return to the game of Smash. Hailing from the Japan-only game Mother 3, Lucas's specialty is psychic projectile attacks. He can use these PSI attacks to do things like absorb enemy projectiles and deal supernatural damage!

Lucas, the younger of the twin brothers from Tazmily, comes originally from the Japan-only game, Mother 3, and now makes his triumphant return to Super Smash Bros.! Here he makes great use of his PSI powers with lots of projectile attacks, and can use his faster attacks on anybody who gets too close.

: Mother 3

Lucas (Alt.)

Lucas's up special PK Thunder can hit enemies multiple times, but if you hit yourself with it, you can then tackle and launch opponents! Lucas's up smash has the strongest launch power of any fighter's up smash. The range for this attack is wide, and it's strongest right after Lucas unleashes the attack.

Lucas's up special, PK Thunder, can either hit enemies multiple times, or hit Lucas himself to push him into a powerful charge attack. Meanwhile, his up smash attack is the most powerful launching move in the entire game, so make good use of it! It's a wide-range attack that is most effective right after Lucas unleashes it.

: Mother 3

PK Starstorm (Lucas)

You can adjust the direction of the shooting stars in this attack! Rain stars down on multiple fighters at once, or be mean and pick on a single fighter. The choice is yours! If a star connects, it will deal ongoing fire damage, making it hard for opponents to return to the stage.

• 

  Non-fighter (3DS)

• 

  Non-fighter (Wii U)

• 

  Classic (Wii U)

• 

  Alt. (Wii U)

• 

  PK Starstorm

Annoucement Video

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Gallery

• 

  Splash art.

• 

  On Coliseum.

• 

  Using PK Thunder.

• 

  Lucas's on-screen appearance.

• 

  Performing down taunt alongside Ness.

• 

  Using PK Fire with Ness.

• 

  Shaking his fists at the Wii Fit Trainer.

• 

  Healing himself.

• 

  Alternate costumes.

• 

  On Magicant with "Claus."

• 

  Taunting with Rope Snake.

Trivia

• The month he was confirmed was the same month his origin game, Mother 3, was released.
  • The announcement details for Lucas and v1.0.8 was on the same day as EarthBound's 20th anniversary.
  • The day he became available to purchase was the same day EarthBound Beginnings was released for Wii U Virtual Console.
• Lucas is the only playable character in SSB4 to not have appeared in a non-Smash game released outside of Japan.
• The tagline used for Lucas is a reference to his home of Tazmily Village being located on the Nowhere Islands.
• Segments of Lucas's trailer reference certain elements in Mother 3.
  • One scene references the endgame fight against the Masked Man, represented by Lucas's new gray costume holding a Beam Sword, and his standard costume wearing a Franklin Badge.
  • Another scene references Lucas with his twin brother Claus, and the family dog Boney (represented by a brown costume Duck Hunt).
• Because of his non-fighter trophy, Lucas is the only character who has both Brawl and SSB4 character models in the same game.
• Due to the removal of slow edge recovery options, Lucas no longer has any attack where he directly punches (his +100% edge attack in Brawl).
• Lucas is the only veteran to appear as DLC to not have new voice clips.
• Lucas is currently the only Brawl newcomer to be available as DLC.
  • He is also the only DLC character that was a starter character in a past installment.
• Due to Lucas's down throw not burying opponents, instead forcing them into a unique position, if the character being thrown flinches lightly, they will snap back to their original position. However, in the cases of Peach, Zelda and Rosalina, their dresses cannot keep up with the velocity change and will stay up. Because of this technical oversight, this can lead into bizarre results.