Sephiroth (SSBU): Difference between revisions

Unlike other swordfighters, Sephiroth's [[Sweet spot|sweetspots]] differ between his stab and slash attacks: his stab moves (up tilt, down smash, forward aerial, and down aerial) have sweetspots positioned along the tip of Masamune (much like {{SSBU|Marth}}'s and {{SSBU|Simon}}'s own tipper mechanics), while his slash attacks (forward tilt, forward smash, up smash, back aerial, and up aerial) have sweetspots along the upper center of its blade (similar to {{SSBU|Roy}}'s inverse tipper mechanic, but with better range overall). This mechanic gives Sephiroth plenty of ranged options if opponents are reasonably within range of him. Another key trait of Masamune is that all of Sephiroth's smash attacks have some varying degrees of utility: forward smash is a very long-ranged punishment and spacing option, up smash is a wide swing much like {{SSBU|Ganondorf}}'s own up smash (slower and weaker, but with more range overall), and down smash only hits in front of him, but deals immense [[shield damage]] that can [[Shield break|break]] [[shield]]s in one hit if spaced correctly.

Lastly, Sephiroth has a strong set of special moves. His neutral special can be [[Charge|charged]] between three different projectiles of different properties: Flare can be used the most flexibly, Megaflare charges from Flare rather fast, is stronger overall, and has a larger blast radius (at the cost of some range), and Gigaflare has the least range and the most charge time, but has the largest blast radius and deals the strongest knockback. His side special, Shadow Flare, is unique among projectiles in that, while the initial projectile does deal a small amount of damage and cause flinching, its main effect is to generate larger, spherical shadowy projectiles that do not immediately attack the opponent, but instead orbit around them and deal damage by homing in; one to three projectiles can be generated by a single Shadow Flare, depending on how much the attack is charged, and up to five projectiles can be orbiting a single opponent at a time. His up special is a dashing blade attack that depends on if the button was tapped or held: if tapped, it becomes Blade Dash, a single-hitting move that sweetspots edges easily. If held, it instead becomes Octaslash, which deals higher damage and knockback while traveling further, although it loses its ability to sweetspot edges. Lastly, Scintilla is unique among [[counterattack]]s in that it will always produce a hitbox regardless of whether or not any attacks were countered, while its multi-hitting nature allows it to easily pressure shields, and is one of the strongest counters in the game with a 1.5x damage multiplier.

|nsdesc=Charges Flare, an explosive fireball, in his right hand that travels slowly when fired. A chargeable projectile as long as the special button is kept pressed, it can be [[charge cancel]]ed (but the charge is not stored). It has three different variations, each producing incrementally stronger projectiles with larger explosions, but also significantly lowers their travel speed and distance. Tapping the button results in Flare, a scarlet red flame that is the quickest and travels the most distance, but has the smallest explosion. Charging it for some time results in Megaflare, a blue flame that is more powerful and has a larger explosion, but travels a shorter distance. Fully charging it results in Gigaflare, which causes the background to darken dramatically, and the music's volume to lower; the small, yellow spark fired travels an extremely short distance, but results in an immense explosion with extreme knockback, being capable of KOing most characters as low as 20% near a ledge, or even potentially KOing at 0% if in Winged form. Gigaflare has somewhat low ending lag, which can allow Sephiroth to follow up with another attack, most notably forward smash. However, it has extremely high startup across all versions, making it punishable if used as a conventional projectile. All three versions can be [[reflection|reflect]]ed and [[absorption|absorbed]]; it should be noted that despite Gigaflare's extreme power, it is relatively unrewarding to absorb due to its initial hit dealing very low damage.

|ssdesc=Snaps his fingers, sending a thin, short-ranged surge of dark energy at the opponent. Should it connect, spheres of dark energy will orbit the opponent, then home in on them and explode after a set period of time. The initial surge can be charged, increasing its damage and range while creating more spheres on hit; an uncharged surge creates only one sphere, whereas a fully charged surge will create three spheres—up to five spheres may be orbiting an opponent at once. Sephiroth can quickly turn 180° before firing Shadow Flare by quickly flicking in the opposite direction. The spheres can also hit bystanders while they orbit around the opponent, with each sphere being able to collide twice before disappearing. The spheres can be reflected and absorbed. If [[Pocket|pocketed]], the dark sphere is thrown as a standard projectile. In comparison to Sephiroth's other moves, Shadow Flare is very spammable, allowing it to be used frequently without fear of retaliation, and allows him to set up followups or condition the opponent into picking an option. However, it should be noted that the move has very low safety due to it causing minimal hitstun and shield damage.

*According to Sakurai, Sephiroth was developed to feel like a boss character while having boss-like strength for players to enjoy when using him.<ref>https://nintendoeverything.com/sakurai-on-implementing-sephiroth-into-smash-bros-ultimate-reveal-trailer-more/?fbclid=IwAR1IsfcBTkcdbOquXt5ZZXv8YiWmw4cWBdnPtSrWhrVTGPF6Qk2OK8BzU5g</ref>