Spirit

Characters shown as spirits

“	Spirits are characters that have lost their physical forms. Equipping your fighter with spirits will power them up with all sorts of new abilties. Wondering how many kinds of spirits there are? You'll have to see for yourself!	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Spirits are a type of power-up in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. They are also featured in Adventure Mode: World of Light, where they assist the fighters in defeating Galeem. Spirits can be seen as similar to stickers in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and equipment in Super Smash Bros. 4, while they also replace Trophies from earlier installments as the successor.

Spirits are characters who lost their bodies through disintegration (due to Galeem's attack) and were transformed into souls, which were then trapped into Puppet Fighters and made to do Galeem's bidding. There are 1297 spirits in the game; an incomplete list of them can be found here.

Spirit Classes

Spirits are separated by their strength which is referred to as "classes".

• ★☆☆☆ Novice (Standard strength)
• ★★☆☆ Advanced (A bit stronger)
• ★★★☆ Ace (Especially powerful)
• ★★★★ Legend (In a league of their own)

Spirit Types

“	There are two kinds of spirits. Primary spirits boost the physical abilities of the fighter you equip them to, while support spirits provide special skills. Try out different combinations to power up your fighters!	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Primary Spirits

Each fighter can only have one Primary Spirit assigned at a time. The Primary Spirit will enhance the fighter's stats. Primary Spirits have strengths based on their type, and grant an advantage against spirits that their type is strong against. However, they will also impose a weakness against the type of Spirit that, they are weak against. Some Primary Spirits also add secondary modifications like a Support Spirit.

“	Primary spirits come in different types: Attack, Shield, and Grab. Attack has an advantage over Grab, Grab has an advantage over Shield, and Shield has an advantage over Attack. Try to equip spirits that are strong against your opponent's spirit team!	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

There is also a fourth type, Neutral, which is not strong or weak against any other type.

Support Spirits

Certain spirits have slots, which can be filled by Support Spirits. The Support Spirits will give fighters passive bonuses such as starting with an item, resistance to certain damage types or status effects, added abilities, and more. They can be useful when encountering traps that appear in certain Spirit Battles, such as winds that constantly push fighters or floors that put any fighter to sleep on contact. The fighter can equip up to three Support Spirits at a time depending on how many slots the Primary Spirit has, although some Support Spirits can take up more than one slot. Support Spirits also seem to be divided into types like Primary Spirits.

Fighter Spirits

Fighter Spirits are based on an existing playable character in the game, and cannot be equipped. Rather, they simply exist to allow the players to enjoy the art and descriptions.

Spirit Battles

“	Spirit battles have various conditions that may remind you of the character you're battling. If you manage to win one of these matches, you'll get a chance to capture the spirit for yourself!	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Most spirits can be obtained via Spirit Battles, which appear similar to the thematic missions seen in Event Matches and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U's Special Orders. Battles can be selected from the Spirit Board, containing up to ten spirits to challenge. The Spirit Board will cycle out new spirits after a short period of time. Each Spirit Battle contains unique challenges and rules. The spirits that are battled against will be paired with fighters of a similar appearance, with the battle’s rules often being reflective of the spirit themselves. During all battles against spirits, the Final Smash Meter will be active, and certain spirits can make the gauge fill up faster. A spirit can be acquired by defeating its respective fighter, then attacking the fighter in a shooting-style minigame. There is a shield that prevents the spirit from being acquired; however, the damage to the shield carries over to the next time that spirit is encountered. Before each Spirit Battle, the two sides' strength will be compared. The higher the player's advantage over the spirit, the fewer rewards will be earned.

There are consumable items one can earn or purchase to make the spirit obtaining process easier. Examples include restocking the Spirit Board or rerolling the board, and items that make the shooting mini-game easier.

One can also battle other players locally with spirits equipped, working in a similar manner to character customization from Super Smash Bros. 4.

Raising Spirits

Inkling equipped with the spirits of Gooey, Lip, Nabbit and the Ouendan.

The player can let spirits return to their worlds in exchange for their cores, which can be combined to summon new spirits. Spirits can level up by training in the gym, learn a style that alters their stats in the dojo, or hunt for treasure. If the spirits are sent for treasure, the process will continue even if playing another mode or if the system is powered off. Some spirits can upgrade to a different spirit once their level is maxed out. New facilities can be unlocked by beating Master Spirits found in World of Light to further modify Spirits.

Spirits can also be released; while this removes the spirit, the core a released spirit leaves behind can be used to create a new spirit when combined with other cores.

Spirits can also power up Figure Players, but will be permanently consumed.

Trivia

• Strangely, some characters that can be summoned from Assist Trophies, such as Knuckles, Shadow, and Skull Kid, have obtainable spirits.
  • Some spirits, such as Samus' Gunship, the Shine Sprite, and Snake's cardboard box, aren't even characters.
  • Alter egos and other versions of playable characters, such as Kaptain K. Rool and Luigi in his Mario Tennis Aces outfit also appear as spirits, despite not being separate characters.

See also

• Conditions (Spirit Battles)