Editing Lucas (SSBU)

|tier = C-

|ranking = 61

 

'''Lucas''' ({{ja|リュカ|Ryuka}}, ''Lucas'') is a playable character in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''. He was revealed along with fellow ''EarthBound'' fighter {{SSBU|Ness}} and all other veterans on June 12th, 2018 and is classified as [[Fighter number|Fighter #37]].

Lucas is ranked 61st out of 82 on the current [[tier list]], placing him at the top of the C- tier. This is a sizable drop from his 28th/29th out of 54 placement in ''Smash 4'', where he was tied with {{SSB4|Ness}}.

Arguably Lucas's greatest strength is his extremely dangerous edgeguarding game, which is among the greatest in ''Ultimate'', and allows him to easily KO off-stage opponents at unusually early percentages. PK Freeze freezes opponents and now launches opponents horizontally with powerful knockback, enabling it to KO off-stage opponents at ludicrously low % and making it one of his most infamous edge-guarding techniques. Its incredibly large hitbox makes it an excellent 2-frame punish tool, can be used to punish rolls or techs, and can also be used as a deadly stage spike and ledgetrapping option. PK Fire can be used to snipe offstage opponents for a KO. The orb of PK-Thunder has very high base knockback and hitstun making it extremely useful for dragging the opponent to the blastline, stage spiking them, and sending off-stage opponents far enough from the stage to completely prevent them from recovering. PK Thunder is especially effective against characters with poor horizontal recoveries, who rely on tether recoveries or characters who recover from below, and Lucas can nearly effortlessly gimp them at awkwardly early percents (as low as 0%), while he remains almost completely safely on-stage. PSI Magnet contains a windbox at the start-up of the move that will pull opponents closer to Lucas, in the air, the strength of the windbox scales based on the opponents percentage, which can be useful for setting up an edge-guard situation or even outright gimping opponents. The move's semi-spike hitbox can KO off-stage opponents at reasonable percentages or put them in a bad position off-stage. Alongside his special moves, Lucas has some of the strongest smash attacks that are also excellent at edgeguarding and KOing, especially his down smash; the first hit is among the most powerful in the game and can KO under 60% at the ledge. Similarily to PK Freeze, it has an extremely large hitbox and a long duration that make it an incredibly deadly tool for 2-frame punishes, and ledgetrapping, while it can successfully catch opponents under certain stages and punish rolling or teching opponents. Also, a reverse down smash can potentially stage spike opponents at the edge, and all 3 hits can even sometimes land if the opponents don't tech the individual hits successfully. Lucas's forward smash is a strong and quick smash attack that can efficiently KO opponents who recklessly air dodge towards the stage. Lucas's up smash is among the absolute strongest and has invincibility on frames 1-7, which allows it to punish ledge attacks with proper timing (although it is situational), and can catch some characters hanging on the edge (although it doesn't work on about half of the cast). Lucas's back and forward throws are strong (with the former being among the strongest) and can force edgeguarding situations and KO at high percentages at the ledge. Lucas also possesses two meteor smash aerials, his back and down aerials, while his forward aerial deals strong knockback and is a reliable KOing option. Overall, Lucas has one of the best 2-frame punish abilities in ''Ultimate'', with his PK Freeze, down smash, forward tilt, dash attack, and down tilt being very efficient (especially the former three), while forward tilt and dash attack are surprisingly powerful for attacks of their type.

Another one of Lucas's greatest strengths lies in his excellent comboing capabilities. Thanks to his ability to loop his moves into each other fairly easily, Lucas's combo game is incredibly dangerous and can be heavily mixed-up. At low to mid percents, neutral air combos into itself, which was mostly popularized by {{Sm|Remi|}}, and all of his aerials, being one of his best combo starters. His forward air also has the ability to chain into itself at low percents. Because Lucas can cancel his jump by using an technique called "[[double jump cancel zair]]", the tether grab can combo into itself across the entire stage and can lead to potentially unavoidable and heavily damaging combos, as well as dangerous edgeguarding situations. Up air can also combo into itself multiple times; when utilized alongside platforms for assistance, it can potentially rack up to 70%. Down tilt is fast enough to be able to loop into itself, jab, forward tilt, forward air, a grab or even forward smash, especially against fast-fallers like {{SSBU|Fox}} or {{SSBU|Greninja}} and large characters like {{SSBU|Bowser}}. Because of changes in the engine from ''SSB4'' to ''Ultimate'', grounded spikes cannot be teched. This gives Lucas the ability to loop [[Lucas (SSBU)/Down aerial|down air into itself]] and finish the opponents off with forward smash, down smash, forward air, or another off-stage down air if used close enough to the edge. Lastly, aerial spikes aren't techable if they reach a certain [[knockback]] this causes back aerial to loop into itself and his other aerials as well at around 60%, and can even lead to an off-stage meteor smash KO when used close enough to the ledge, even though this is more niche and harder to pull off as all the other loops. To compliment his great combo potential, Lucas has many reliable combo finishers; most notably, his powerful and quick forward smash, as well as his exceedingly powerful down smash, are extremely useful for ending jab lock combos as well as down aerial loops.  

Outside of edgeguarding, Lucas has very versatile special moves, PK Freeze has great maneuverability and can be a useful pressuring and anti-air attack. PK Fire sends a fiery bolt straight forward which explodes on contact. It doesn't explode on shields however. It's a decent spacing tool that deals moderate knockback and can sometimes be used as a combo extender. PK Thunder does not disappear upon hitting an opponent like Ness's but instead the tail hits multiple times. This, coupled with its very high hitstun, makes it possible to combo into itself and is a great damage-racking and shield poking tool. It does disappear when it collides with a hard [[platform]] or wall. It also disappears when an opponent hits Lucas while he is doing the attack. PK Thunder 2, while lacking the early KO potential of Ness's, deals an extreme amount of damage and is also strong enough to KO at the top blast line at reasonably low percents. PSI Magnet absorbs energy based [[projectile]]s. The amount of damage it heals depends on the projectile's power as it heals 1.66x more as the projectile capping at 30%. This makes the move useful for improving Lucas' survivability and to discourage projectile camping from characters with energy projectiles. If projectiles are absorbed while grounded, the end lag after the absorption can be cancelled on the same frame as the absorption with a jump, dodge, or spot dodge, improving the move's safety on the ground. The move also has a semi-spike hitbox upon releasing the special button. Said hitbox is also one of the safest non projectile moves on shield in the game (being +0 on block), and can lead into some combos at low percentages (PSI Magnet into dash attack or grab aerial being some examples). Finally, Lucas has strong wavebouncing abilities, as each of his special moves (except for PK Thunder) gives him a significant recoil which can be very useful for mindgames.

Lucas has received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition from ''SSB4'' to ''Ultimate''; although he received much more buffs, it's hard to determine whether he has been buffed or nerfed overall. Some of Lucas's biggest strengths from the previous game have been noticeably nerfed, but his moveset as a whole is much more consistent.

 

Lucas has received comparatively few nerfs, though most of them have been heavy. The most notable of these nerfs is to his [[down throw]], which has more knockback and ending lag; which significantly hinders his previously guaranteed combos past low percentages, no longer having access to semi-guaranteed KO set-ups (into back aerial at the edge, or to up aerial at high percentages). The universally [[tech]]able [[footstool]]s and changes to [[lock]]ing have also drastically neutered the more intrincate setups his down throw had. Overall, Lucas no longer has access to guaranteed high damage from his throws, and his footstool-based combos are much less useful unless the opponent isn't able to tech in time. Aside from these nerfs, [[PK Thunder 2]] now has halted momentum at the end of its animation, which shortens his recovery. Lucas also has a slightly harder time landing due to [[PSI Magnet]] no longer halting his momentum in the air.

In spite of these nerfs, Lucas has predominantly received many more significant buffs. His frame data and damage output have all been strengthened as a whole, which has made his attacks generally safer (especially if sweetspotted, due to their [[electric]] effect). Lucas's approach and aerial game are much more effective, as his [[forward aerial|forward]], [[back aerial|back]] and [[up aerial]]s all are now capable of [[autocancel]]ing from a short hop, the former is a much more viable move for KOing, and the latter's hitbox now matches its animation more correctly. His [[grab aerial]] can now be [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA1bVZEyPQ0 double-jump canceled] as well, which now gives him an additional option for approaching as well as retreating and can be chained into itself repeatedly or forward air, giving it great combo ability. [[Down aerial]] can now loop into itself at mid to high percentages, and can now set up kill confirms (most notably forward and down smash, and forward air), and the inability to tech grounded meteor smashes benefits his back aerial, which can also loop into itself and his other aerials. Thanks to these buffs, the aforementioned nerfs to his combo game have been somewhat compensated, with the latter and his mix-up options still being extremely effective in his metagame.

Lucas' grounded game has also seen several noteworthy improvements. [[Forward tilt]] has more range and power, [[up tilt|up]] and [[down tilt]]s have more combo ability, sweetspotted [[forward smash]] is more powerful, [[up smash]] has significantly increased power and now renders him invincible for longer, and [[down smash]] can now once again hit opponents multiple times. Lucas's special moves have all been improved as well; in particular, [[PK Freeze]] no longer makes Lucas helpless, can travel through soft and semi-soft platforms, follows the ground on contact with hard platforms, sends at a lower angle that gives it fearsome [[edgeguarding]] potential, and leaves opponents [[freeze|frozen]] for a much longer period of time at higher percentages. [[PK Fire]] also sends at a lower angle and has more knockback, making it a more impactful projectile when it connects; [[PK Thunder]] travels faster and is an even better edgeguarding and gimping tool; and PSI Magnet absorbs and recovers faster. Thanks to the significant power buffs to most of his already powerful finishers, along with his drastically better edgeguarding game, Lucas' punish game is considerably more varied and less specialized overall.

Altogether, Lucas is a less polarized character than in ''Smash 4''. He no longer has access to KO setups from his down throw and his footstool and locking-based combos are less effective, but many of his most glaring weaknesses were notably improved, some of his less potent moves became much stronger, the significant buffs to his edgeguarding game and his much more powerful and damaging finishers have significantly improved his KOing ability, and the changes to the game's pace have provided more flexibility for him, granting him far options than he had in ''Smash 4''. As a result of this, Lucas has a relatively higher learning curve, and now plays better with a mix-up playstyle. However, given the various buffs to other returning veterans, and the introduction of DLC characters that Lucas struggles against, it's generally agreed that his buffs were not significant enough to improve Lucas, and he is worse relative to the cast than he was in ''Smash 4''.

Lucas was buffed slightly via game updates. Initially, update 2.0.0 only slightly decreased neutral aerial's landing lag and edge lockout duration. Following this, update 4.0.0 buffed Lucas in a few more noticeable ways. Forward tilt's sweetspot gained a larger hitbox (albeit only during the first 2 frames) and higher base knockback; both of these buffs make it a deceptively useful KO option, especially when it is angled upward when used as a follow-up from down tilt.

Dash attack gained additional active frames, although its sourspot was inadvertently nerfed slightly, due to it becoming less advantageous on hit by 2 frames. Up smash gained more invincibility frames during start-up, while up aerial and [[PK Fire]] had their ending lag decreased and landing lag decreased, respectively. Lastly, update 8.0.0 improved the consistency of Lucas' pivot grab by adjusting its axis positioning.

|dsmashdesc=Aims his arm diagonally downward and emits three consecutive blasts of PSI energy towards the ground while holding his hand in a finger gun gesture. With each blast, its range increases at the expense of damage and knockback. It is one of the strongest down smashes in the game when clean, as it is able to KO as low as 60% near the edge depending on the opponent's weight and DI. If well timed, it can also catch recovering opponents before they grab the edge. Has a bit of start-up lag, but surprisingly low ending lag for its power. Unlike in ''Smash 4'', each blast is treated as its own hitbox, meaning that it can potentially hit multiple times at low percents, and damages shields more than once, though its shield damage is low for each hit to compensate.

|pummeldesc=A point-blank blast of PSI energy. Average power and speed.

SSBULucasIdle1.gif|Lucas' first idle pose.

SSBULucasIdle2.gif|Lucas' second idle pose.

|Lu - cas! || Ryuuuu - ka! || Lu - cas! *claps 3 times* || Lucas! Go Lucas! || Luuuuu - cas!

''See also: [[:Category:Lucas players (SSBU)]]''

 

===Tier placement and history===

Likely due to his high learning curve and being outclassed by other characters with a similar archetype, Lucas's representation has been somewhat below average throughout most of the competitive lifespan. Although he has seen notable representation at a regional level thanks to the likes of {{Sm|Mekos}} and {{Sm|WhYYZ}}, his results at a major level were notably more scarce, although they have since been improving in the post-online metagame thanks to the efforts of players such as {{Sm|ChocoTaco}}, {{Sm|Nitox}}. and {{Sm|Regalo}}. As a result, most players consider Lucas to be in the mid-tier, which is reflected in Lucas's placement in the current tier list, where he is ranked 61st as the highest character in the C- tier.

Note: All stages Lucas travels to are ''Super Smash Bros. 4'' stages.