Shield Breaker: Difference between revisions

{{ArticleIcons|melee=yes|brawl=yes|ssb4=yes}}

|image=[[File:LucinaShieldBreaker.png|300px]]

|caption=Lucina's Shield Breaker in ''SSB4''.

|user=[[Marth]]<br>[[Lucina]]

In ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'', it is functionally similar to {{SSBM|Roy}}'s [[Flare Blade]], being useful for edgeguarding, platform tech chases, and extending aerial combos outside the reach of Marth's normal aerials. Compared to Flare Blade, Shield Breaker does not deliver as much damage and knockback and lacks an explosion effect, but charges much faster and does not deal any recoil to Marth when released at full charge. True to its name, it deals high [[shield damage]], and will break any shield when fully charged. Despite being able to break any normal shield, however, it may be [[perfect shield]]ed without any penalty to the receiver.

In ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'', the move has had a change in animation. Instead of an overhead vertical slash with a large arc area, it has become a single powerful stab. The style used now is much more in kind with Marth's battle animations in the {{uv|Fire Emblem}} games. Although ''Brawl''{{'}}s Shield Breaker charges and releases faster and is easier to [[sweetspot]], it is slower, weaker, and the animation change nerfed both its horizontal and vertical reach, thus removing much of the edgeguarding ability it had in Melee.

In ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'', Shield Breaker's shield damage [https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAADRUqFk3Ec8gA was dramatically increased]; additionally, due to shields no longer taking reduced damage from attacks, an uncharged Shield Breaker can instantly shatter a full shield, making ''Smash 4'''s Shield Breaker the most potent incarnation of the move. Perfect shields still prevent the move from doing any shield damage, however. Additionally, an uncharged aerial Shield Breaker now sends Marth forward a small distance, which increases his recovery potential. Despite these useful buffs, Shield Breaker in ''Smash 4'' suffers from the universal nerf of Marth's sword range, making it much harder to land the move without reading the opponent's choices due to the Falchion's drastically reduced range. It is, however, still a useful tool for [[mindgames]] and against players who predictably put up their shields often.

The move was also given to {{SSB4|Lucina}}. Her version of the move inflicts the same amount of damage regardless of whether the opponent is hit by the tip of her sword or not. She also has a different pose when charging and using the move, being highly exaggerated compared to Marth's charging stance.

In ''Brawl'', most neutral special moves can be reversed by tapping the control stick in the opposite direction a few frames after the neutral special move has been activated. Marth's Shield Breaker can be reversed with no increase to damage or knockback and has no reverse animation; this makes reversing only useful if it is used to attack an enemy who has moved behind Marth. It is interesting to note that when Marth activates a reverse Shield Breaker during his running animation, he will turn around and slide forward slightly while charging or releasing the attack. This is probably because the running momentum has switched direction with Marth since there is no animation for the reverse Shield Breaker and pushed him forward as if he didn't turn around at all.

Special Move customization was added in ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''. Both characters have the same variations:

# '''Storm Thrust''': Creates a gust of wind that forces opponents back.

# '''Dashing Assault''': Dashes forward, but deals less damage.

## In {{forwiiu}}, this variation is a [[List of challenges (SSB4-Wii U)|Challenge]] unlock for Marth, only obtainable by clearing [[The Falchion's Seal]] event on normal or hard difficulty.

==Stages==

In ''Brawl'', Shield Breaker has stages of damage and knockback; the stages change when the attack is charged until it reaches the last stage then the attack will commence. There are four stages in total with Shield Breaker, stages 1-3 are during the charging process, these stages always do the same damage even if the attack is tipped, tipping these stages will only increase knockback. Stage 4 is when the move is fully charged, this attack has multiple hitboxes which get stronger to the tip of the sword. The stages on can be determined by listening to the "clack" sounds Shield Breaker makes, stage two commences on the third "clack" and stage three can be performed by predicting the fifth "clack". Stage three is difficult to perform because there are only a few frames before the shield breaker is fully charged, attacking in these frames will let the player use this attack. Stage four is when the attack is fully charged, this attack is the strongest in both knockback and damage (unlike most chargeable moves, which have the penultimate stage as the strongest).

The move's ability to break shields is based on Marth's weapon of choice within the ''Fire Emblem'' series: the [[fireemblemwiki:Rapier|Rapier]], a weapon unique to him in his games. In addition to the attack's animation in ''Brawl'' emulating his standard attack animation, the Rapier had the added benefit of being able to gain a damage bonus when used on armoured enemies (along with foes on horseback), such as [[fireemblemwiki:Knight|knights]].

Sheild Breaker.jpg|Marth's Shield Breaker in ''Brawl''.

File:Marth_Shield_Breaker_SSB4.jpeg|Marth's Shield Breaker in ''Smash Wii U''.

SSB4-Wii U challenge image R12C09.png|Challenge board unlock image for Dashing Assault.