Thoughts on Shulk. By @XenoM1315 and I

This data is based off a conversation between XenoM and Asmilex, Shulk mains from Spain. Take everything with a grain of salt, as it is all speculation so far



General impressions

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Shulk's overall buffed across the board. Neutral is much more consistent, and juggling has been improved a lot, thanks to several factors.

Its game is going to become much more dynamic. Combo game has been reworked due to the rulette mechanic.

He feels like a new character. Also, he has a lower skill floor, and probably higher skill ceiling. New players will have an easier time with him. Top players will lab the hell out of him.



Mobility

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SO much better. Foxtroting with Speed Art is absurb. It is consistent, goes extremelly fast and dashes can be cancelled to any move.

Grounded game will become key in neutral. Ultimate's new mechanics favour Shulk.

Friction has been lowered, allowing Shulk to reduce the risk of getting punished for missed dash dances.

We'll need to pay special attention to the grounded game now.

Tomahawks and fake outs are probably going to become more useful, given the rulette.



Arts

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Duration nerfed. Their main mechanics remain the same, but stats have been altered. Needs a lot of testing. Specially Buster, since its numbers are still unknown (See: Shulk's Discord)

Smash rullete is gonna be a hell of a mechanic. It opens up a whole different neutral. Rulette will allow Shulk to pull off new combos (e.g: Speed Fair x2 into Smash Air Slash)





Aerials

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Notable changes:

- Nair: fucking awesome. Like. Holy shit. 360. Quick as hell. Is this heaven

- Fair: safe on shield. Now it kills even earlier. Very good edge guarding tool. Nice improvement. We'll need to test KBG

- Bair: angle has been changed. More consistent against small enemies (like Kirby). Front hitbox is gone. Bummer

- Up Air and Down Air seem to have more range. I (Asmilex) hope that they don't suck. Their hitboxes were very misleading



Tilts

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- Up Tilt: it was very good. Now it is awesome. Feels like it has a greater horizontal hitbox. It is faster. Can lead to other moves such as Up Air. Will be used A LOT to juggle.

- FTilt: a little bit more range?

- Down Tilt: more useful thanks to Ultimate. Again, grounded game



Specials

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- Air Slash: quicker. They should connect better. No more magnetic ledges which means it is harder to recover (needs testing). It seems like you lose momentum in second hit

- Backslash: it is faster. That's pretty much it



Throws

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- Down throw animation has been changed

- Up throw will be used more now, in order to setup traps. Again: nair is spectacular

- Back throw: damage nerfed. Not a huge deal



Techniques

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Wavebouncing and B-reversing will probably be in. Although, we'll need to test if it is only plausible with Sm4sh's art changing style or the rulette.

MARC is gone. 0 needs to do it

i-frames could be abused by changing arts on command. For example: escaping Sheik's combos

MALLC is gone. It won't be missed at all, since Ultimate has lowered landing lag accross the board.

MABD is gone (stated by Mewser). This one, on the other hand, could impact significantly the combo game. Needs to be tested.





Disadvantages

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Since startups seem to not have been buffed, he'll probably struggle against fast characters such as Fox or Sheik. Although, we need to check if, by abusing i-frames, Shield, Air Slash or Nair, enable Shulk to escape their combos. It feels like the main weaknesses preserve, but in a lesser extend.





Final words: we're both pretty exited about him. He's just better

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