Sephiroth (SSBU)

Sephiroth in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
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Universe	Final Fantasy
Availability	Downloadable
Final Smash	Supernova

“	Sephiroth Descends to Battle!	”
—Introduction Tagline

Sephiroth (セフィロス, Sephiroth) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and the third fighter from Square Enix after Cloud and Hero. He was confirmed as a playable character on December 10th, 2020 at The Game Awards 2020, and was released on December 22nd, 2020 as the third downloadable character from Fighters Pass Vol. 2; however, he was playable as early as December 17th, 2020 by defeating him in the limited-time Sephiroth Challenge event that ran from December 17th-22nd. Sephiroth is classified as Fighter #78.

Toshiyuki Morikawa, who has voiced Sephiroth since Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, reprises his role as the character in all regions.

Attributes

Sephiroth's attributes are typical of a lightweight: while he is tied with Kirby, Pikachu, Mewtwo, and Olimar as the 7th-lightest fighter in the game, he boasts an above-average run speed (narrowly outrunning his fellow Square Enix fighter, Hero) and the 11th-fastest falling speed. However, unlike his fellow lightweights, he notably sports among the longest range in Ultimate thanks to his signature weapon, Masamune, along with equally strong KO power. Altogether, these traits grant Sephiroth a strong ranged melee playstyle.

One of Sephiroth's most important traits is his "high-risk, high-reward" Winged Form, which can only be activated when Sephiroth has taken enough damage (which in turn depends on how many stocks he has compared to his opponent(s)). When active, his wing unfurls and grants him a third jump, a 1.3× damage multiplier, and higher overall mobility, and his smash attacks gain damage-based armor that can withstand up to 20% damage. However, this form dissipates when he is KO'ed, which means that compared to other "high-risk, high-reward" attributes, such as Lucario's Aura, Little Mac's Power Meter, or Joker's Rebellion Gauge, more careful attack planning is usually necessary to take stocks easily.

Unlike other swordfighters, Sephiroth's 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 Marth's and 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 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 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 break shields in one hit if spaced correctly.

While Sephiroth's ground game is useful due to his range, smash attacks, and power, his aerial game also offers some interesting options. His neutral aerial is a short-ranged finger snap that has fast startup and can be used flexibly. His forward and back aerials are good spacing options in the air, with the former coming out faster while the latter is stronger overall. However, of note is that his forward aerial can also be used to pierce solid walls and jump up off of them up to three times in a row before landing (a pseudo-wall jump that is very similar to what Byleth can do with their up special), which, alongside his recovery options gives him a strong vertical recovery. His up aerial, despite its overall poor frame data, covers a very wide arc around him, and his down aerial is a powerful stall-then-fall meteor smash if landed in the first few frames with its massive reach allowing it to reliably 2-frame opponents.

Lastly, Sephiroth has a strong set of special moves. His neutral special can be 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 counterattacks 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.

However, for as many strengths Sephiroth has, he has an equal number of weaknesses. Despite Sephiroth's Masamune having among the highest and most effective range of any weapon in Ultimate, attacks involving them are equally sluggish in both startup and end lag, namely for his smash attacks. This also applies to his forward and up tilts as well as his non-neutral aerial attacks, which means that opponents can easily punish Sephiroth if certain moves are spammed or used carelessly. His below average frame data also applies to all variants of his neutral special, as even a standard Flare comes out relatively late for a projectile, while it takes over two seconds (120 frames) to fully charge the move, meaning that Gigaflare is only best used after a shield break or to edgeguard.

Another issue that Sephiroth has is the issues of properly using his special moves. Flare and Shadow Flare can easily be predicted as attacks, while their generally slow startup makes them easy to shield, absorb, or reflect. Blade Dash/Octaslash covers only an average distance on its own, and can potentially leave Sephiroth wide open or even KO himself if the attack misses or is not angled properly. Scintilla will break if the countered attack deals 25% or more damage (though this does not cause damage to Sephiroth, it does briefly stagger Sephiroth and prevent the counterattack), while it cannot reflect projectiles whatsoever (although it can stop them with no effort). Scintilla is also flawed in that it does not protect Sephiroth from behind, making timing of the move crucial if opponents are ready to close in on him. Finally, Scintilla's damaging hitbox is treated as a projectile, making it a double-edged weapon if reflected.

Sephiroth is surprisingly fragile as well. With an identical weight to Mewtwo and a similarly tall hitbox, Sephiroth can easily be both juggled and KOed. This is exacerbated when considering his relative lack of reliable up-close options. His poor endurance also weakens his Winged Form, as he will more often than not be one hit away from being KOed when he finally gets the boost.

Sephiroth's grab game is also lackluster. Despite having a fast, effective pummel and three combo throws (up, back, and down), his grab is among the lowest-ranged in the game, while his throws deal very low damage (in particular, his up throw deals the most damage of his throws, but only a mere 7% damage) and are unsuited for KO's due to low knockback or bad throw angles, or both. Altogether, when combined with his possession of two tipper mechanics, his close-range game is very poor compared to most other swordfighters.

Finally, perhaps Sephiroth's worst flaw is his inconsistent KO ability. He is only able to score KO's reliably when in his Winged Form, while being outside of his Winged Form makes it difficult for him to KO foes reliably due to his stab attacks having narrow range and his slash attacks having hard-to-land sweetspots. As a result, Sephiroth must be careful when it comes to being able to secure KO's despite having a strong damage racking capability.

In the end, Sephiroth is arguably the most unique swordfighter in Ultimate due to his strong range, two tipper mechanics, effective projectiles, and the benefits offered from his Winged Form. However, his relative lack of reliable KO power and poor grab game leaves a much-to-be-desired offensive playstyle. How good Sephiroth is remains to be seen due to most USA players being online due to COVID-19. However Mew2King, Tweek, and MKLeo have shown desire to main the character, with Zackray and Rizeasu using him at offline Japanese tournaments.

Moveset

• Sephiroth wields his signature weapon, Masamune, which possesses extremely long reach but a relatively slow attack speed. It has different sweetspots depending on the attack used.
  • For slashing attacks, the sweetspot is located approximately at the middle of the Masamune, while a sourspot covers the inner blade and handle, and a mediumspot at the tip. The sweetspot for slashing attacks is signified by a glowing area in the middle of the swing.
  • For stabbing attacks, the sweetspot is located at the tip of the Masamune, while the mediumspot is at the blade.
  • For simplicity if, for example, the handle deals 8.5%, the blade deals 10%, and the tip deals 11%, and that part of the attack has no other hitboxes, it is written as 8.5%/10%/11%.
• Sephiroth's Forward Aerial lets him pierce walls and cling to them, similarly to Dragon Lunge. After piercing a wall, Sephiroth can choose to jump, boosting his recovery by moving up or pressing jump or attack, or let go of the wall by pressing away or down, or waiting long enough.
• Sephiroth has a unique fighter ability called Winged Form that, among other things, increases his overall damage output by 1.3x while it is active, consequently affecting his knockback as well. The following moveset list details the properties of all attacks when Sephiroth's Winged Form is not active.
  • The conditions for Winged Form to activate can be seen below the moveset table.

For a gallery of Sephiroth's hitboxes, see here.

Note: All numbers are listed as base damage, without the 1v1 multiplier.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			2.5%	A mid-level roundhouse kick, followed by a mid-level side kick, followed by a thrust forwards with the Masamune's pommel. Sephiroth's fastest attack. The third hit launches at a fairly low angle with decent knockback, which grants it tech-chasing capabilities.
			2%
			4%
Forward tilt			7.5%/12%/9%	An outward slash with the Masamune. Has rather slow startup (the slowest of Sephiroth's tilt attacks), but great KO potential at the middle of the Masamune's blade. Thanks to a combination of long range and its ability to be angled, as well as being safe on shield when connecting with the sweetspot, it is one of Sephiroth's most reliable spacing tools.
Up tilt			1% (ground), 11%/12.5%/14% (clean), 7%/8.5%/10% (late)	Stabs upward with the Masamune. Its hitbox is very high, able to reach through the top platform of Battlefield, although its very narrow range makes it difficult to land as an anti-air. It has a weak grounded hit that has transcendent priority and knocks into the main part of the attack, similarly to Marth's up smash. Its early hit has excellent KO potential; the tipper is stronger than even Snake's notorious up tilt, and KOs Mario at 85% from Battlefield's top platform, thus making it the 3rd strongest up tilt in the game, only losing to Mega Man and Ganondorf. It also lasts for a decent amount of time, making it surprisingly difficult to avoid if the opponent tries to challenge Sephiroth from above. Unique to Sephiroth's stab attacks, the tip and blade hitboxes have higher priority than the sourspot at the handle. Sephiroth's upper body is intangible while the clean hit is active.
Down tilt			8% (clean), 6% (late)	A baseball slide, similar to Cloud's. Has the fastest startup of Sephiroth's tilt attacks, propels him a good distance forward, launches opponents vertically, and significantly lowers his hurtbox, allowing him to low-profile many projectiles and even mid-level attacks. However, its combo potential is limited due to the general slowness of Sephiroth's frame data; its only true combos are into up tilt and neutral aerial, although it is hard to set up due to the timing being specific.
Dash attack			13% (clean), 7% (late)	A lunging, dark energy-infused palm thrust, similar to Mewtwo. Has somewhat slow startup and moderate ending lag, but it covers a decent distance. The clean sweetspot deals high knockback, which can KO at high percentages, especially in Winged Form.
Forward smash			13.5%/20%/15%	Spins to perform an upwards side cut with the Masamune. Has the slowest startup of his smash attacks and very high ending lag, but the sweetspot in the middle of the blade is incredibly strong, KOing at medium percentages at the edge, and becoming one of the strongest smash attacks in the game in his Winged form, KOing even the heaviest characters at less than 30% at the ledge when fully charged. The tip hitbox is somewhat safe on hit, but the sourspot at the hilt has below-average knockback, not KOing until around 80%. While in Winged Form, this move gains 20% damage-based armor.
Up smash			10.5%/15.5%/11.5% (early), 12%/17%/13% (clean)	Twirls while performing a wide cleaving slash upwards with the Masamune. Similar to Ganondorf and Ike in terms of functionality. Has fairly slow startup, but covers an extremely wide area in front, above and behind Sephiroth, making it his best anti-air attack and giving him the ability to cover an entire platform with one move. Despite its incredible range, its relative endlag is only moderate, which may make it very hard to punish at farther ranges. While in Winged Form, this move gains 20% damage-based armor.
Down smash			16.5% (tip, piercing), 13.5% (debris, piercing), 10.5% (handle), 11.5% (blade), 13% (tip, non-piercing)	Stabs at the ground in front of himself. This stab attack is unique, as Sephiroth will pierce the ground in front of himself should there be any, making the move larger, stronger and giving the more powerful hitboxes higher priority. Otherwise, the move's hitboxes will behave normally, with the tip being difficult to land and the hitbox being narrow. Should the move pierce the ground, it deals immense shield damage, having the capability to instantly break a damaged shield if the tip and the debris connect. It also has the fastest startup of Sephiroth's smash attacks, though still slow for a smash attack, although its endlag is somewhat short in relation to its power and startup; this makes it hard to punish when spaced. While in Winged Form, this move gains 20% damage-based armor.
Neutral aerial			8.5%	Snaps his fingers, creating a circular burst of corrupted Lifestream around himself. Has the fastest startup and ending lag of Sephiroth's aerials, as well as the lowest landing lag thus making it his safest, and its hitbox covers him all-around, though it's also his aerial with the lowest range and the hitbox only lasts for 2 frames. It is one of Sephiroth's best combo starters; it can combo into forward aerial, up aerial, Shadow Flare and back aerial, with the lattermost being a reliable KO confirm at around 40%-80% depending on the character's weight and DI. It has very low interruptibility, which allows it to combo into itself multiple times without the need to even land on the ground, similarly to Mario's up aerial. Interestingly enough, it has a magic effect.
Forward aerial			8.5%/10%/11% (clean), 5.5%/7%/8% (late)	A thrusting stab forwards with the Masamune. Has somewhat slow startup, but very long range in front of Sephiroth; as with other stab attacks, its hitbox is narrow. The tip can KO at high percentages at the edge. The move is also unique in that it lets Sephiroth pierce walls and cling to them, similarly to Dragon Lunge. After piercing a wall, Sephiroth can choose to jump, boosting his recovery (by moving up or pressing jump or attack); or let go of the wall (by pressing away or down, or waiting long enough). Sephiroth can pierce a wall this way up to three times before landing on the ground, and the jump option does not use up his double jump. The move will fail to pierce a wall below a stage's camera bounds, even if it is the first usage.
Back aerial			9.5%/14.5%/11.5%	Turns around to slash horizontally with the Masamune. Unlike other slash attacks, its hitbox is narrow, in a similar fashion to a stabbing attack, and the hitboxes only last two frames. However, it is one of the strongest back aerials in the game, especially in his Winged form; it has high base knockback and deals exceptionally high damage, often KOing very early when sweetspotted (it starts KOing middleweights at the ledge at around 70%, and the KO confirms into it can happen potentially as low as 40%). Its only average startup in relation to its power also makes it an excellent combo finisher, being able to almost consistently connect after a neutral aerial, back throw or down throw. However, it has an extremely strict autocancel window, only doing so on the first frame of Sephiroth's full hop without his one wing, and not at all with his one wing, making it punishable to land with unless if spaced.
Up aerial			7%/11%/8%	Backflips while performing a cleaving slash above himself. Very slow startup, but has immense range, covering a very wide arc above, in front of and even behind himself, making it exceptionally hard to avoid in the air if the opponent runs out of resources. Despite its massive reach, it also possesses high knockback, with the sweetspot KOing at around 110% on Battlefield's top platform. However, it has the highest landing lag out of any up aerial in the game (22 frames), and it cannot autocancel out of anything but a double jump. As a result, while its early and late hitboxes can hit opponents while Sephiroth is landing, it is very punishable as a landing option compared to other aerials.
Down aerial		Hell's Gate	15% (blade, clean), 10% (handle, clean), 10% (late), 5% (landing, ground), 7% (landing, sword)	A downwards stab with the Masamune. A stall-then-fall aerial; it powerfully meteor smashes aerial opponents during its initial frames. The blade extends through the ground, allowing for opponents under platforms and ledges to be hit by the move. It has excellent vertical reach below Sephiroth (being able to pierce through the edges of Battlefield form stages and even the entirety of Town and City), allowing it to consistently 2-frame opponents with good timing and often KO them very early, even without the need to go offstage to land the move. Unlike other stab moves, it deals the same damage at the blade and the tip, making it more consistent, and it plays a unique stabbing sound on hit. References an infamous scene where he kills Aerith Gainsborough in Final Fantasy VII.
Grab			—	Reaches out with his right hand and telekinetically grabs the foe using dark magic. It has poor range and its speed in comparison to other non-tether grabs is slightly below average.
Pummel			1.3%	Blasts the opponent with corrupted Lifestream from his hand. Similar aesthetically to Mewtwo's pummel.
Forward throw			3% (hit 1), 3% (throw)	Thrusts his hand forward, blasting the opponent in front of himself away with dark energy. Sends at a semi-spike, making it usable for setting up an edgeguard or tech-chase.
Back throw			3% (hit 1), 3.5% (throw)	Teleports the opponent behind him, then pumps his fist to blast the opponent with dark energy and send them away and behind himself. It is moderately weak, but it sends at a rather high angle and has low ending lag. This in turn makes it a surprisingly useful combo throw, being able to combo into neutral aerial, back aerial and forward aerial; if in Winged form, its back aerial combo becomes a KO confirm impressively early, starting at around 35% for lightweights, around 48% for middleweights, and around 60% for heavyweights, while also often being a natural DI mixup as it sends more vertically than most back throws.
Up throw			4% (hit 1), 3% (throw)	Slashes the opponent upwards with the Masamune, which has a collateral hitbox useful for fights with multiple opponents. Sends the opponent upwards and behind Sephiroth, which can lead to an up tilt or neutral air at low percentages if the opponent does not react. It also works as a 50/50 KO setup into his up aerial at around 110%; the opponent's only escape route out of this combo is to jump out of it, which then puts them further into disadvantage due to Sephiroth's huge reach being able to usually catch their landing afterwards.
Down throw			4%	Telekinetically slams the opponent on the floor. Its low damage and extremely low ending lag grants it excellent combo potential at low-mid percentages; it can combo into all of his aerials (except down aerial) at low percentages, and at mid-percentages, Sephiroth can perform a reverse aerial rush back aerial as a KO confirm, which is even more effective when in Winged form due to his better mobility and power.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Kicks around himself with his left leg while getting up.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Kicks around himself with his left leg while getting up.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Kicks around himself with his left leg while getting up.
Edge attack Edge getups			9%	Kicks in front of himself while climbing up.
Neutral special		Flare / Megaflare / Gigaflare	3% (Flare, hit 1), 10.5% (Flare, hit 2), 3.5% (Megaflare, hit 1), 3.7% (Megaflare, hits 2-5), 9% (Megaflare, hit 5), 6% (Gigaflare, hit 1), 3.7% (Gigaflare, hits 2-7), 11% (Gigaflare, hit 8)	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 canceled (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 moderate ending lag, but when it explodes at its farthest ranges, Sephiroth has enough time to follow up with another attack, most notably forward smash which can most likely KO at 0%. However, it has extremely high startup across all versions, making it punishable if used as a conventional projectile. Despite Gigaflare being extremely slow to start, its very large hitbox makes it a notoriously effective ledgetrapping tool, allowing it to simultaneously cover nearly every option when timed correctly; against opponents with a reflector, Sephiroth can simply cancel the charge and punish the attack. All three versions can be reflected and 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. When releasing Megaflare, Sephiroth may say 行け ("Go."), and when releasing Gigaflare, he may say 焼き尽くす ("Burn to nothing.")
Side special		Shadow Flare	1.5%-4.5% (initial surge), 6.5% (dark sphere, homing), 7% (dark sphere, collateral)	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 the orbs make at least two revolutions around the character. 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 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. When using the move, Sephiroth may say 目障りだ ("Annoying." or "Pathetic."), 焼き付ける ("Burn."), 跪け ("Kneel."), 滅びる ("Perish."), 食らえ ("Take this.") or simply chuckle.
Up special		Blade Dash / Octaslash	7% (Blade Dash), 2.3% (Octaslash, hits 1-7), 7% (Octaslash, hit 8)	An omnidirectional slash move with a brief charge time, indicated by a directional arrow which points towards Sephiroth's travel direction before he begins moving. It travels similarly to moves like Fire Fox. Grounded versions of both moves will stop at ledges. Its functionality changes based on whether the special move button is tapped or held. If the special move button is tapped, Sephiroth performs Blade Dash, which deals a single hit, travels less distance and can snap to the ledge. It deals low damage, but has moderately low ending and landing lag, allowing it to be used as a movement option. If the special move button is held down, it becomes Octaslash, a multi-hit dash that, true to its name, hits eight times, gaining significantly more power and slightly increased travel distance. It deals high damage and is an effective combat move, but has high ending lag and extremely high landing lag (one of the highest for an up special). It is unreliable at grabbing the ledge; however, its large hitbox can be used to deter opponents from camping a ledge. If Sephiroth starts a midair Octaslash and aims diagonally at the ground, he will travel along the ground as he moves, similarly to Fire Wolf. If he aims directly down towards the ground, however, Sephiroth bounces up slightly and the attack cancels. Octaslash's hits also slow down significantly on hit. Octaslash has great range overall, not only extending far in front of Sephiroth, but also having great reach above and below him; when combining this with the fact that every successive hit has only a one frame gap, this makes the move excellent for 2-framing nearly every character when timed correctly. When using Octaslash, Sephiroth may say 消え去れ ("Disappear."), 愚かな ("Foolish."), or 恐怖を刻む ("I carve terror.")
Down special		Scintilla	1% (hits 1-3), 5% (hit 4) 1.2×-1.5× (Counter)	A counterattack consisting of a honeycomb-like barrier that deals multiple hits upon counterattacking. It can only counterattack attacks in front of Sephiroth. It is unique for a counterattack in a few ways: for one, it will activate and deal minimal damage even if an attack does not connect with it, though it still grows stronger like a normal counterattack depending on the damage it has taken. Secondly, it has a damage cap of 25%, after which the barrier will shatter, negating the damage and causing Sephiroth to stagger briefly. Finally, the counterattack is considered a projectile, meaning it can be reflected and absorbed. Despite its appearance suggesting so, Scintilla cannot reflect projectiles, as the barrier breaks and nullifies the projectile as if it hit the damage cap. Like most counterattacks, Scintilla freezes the opponent right before the retaliating hit. Its unique properties make it excellent for edgeguarding any sort of recovery due to its ability to automatically trigger. It is also one of the strongest counters in the game with a damage multiplier of 1.5x, making it tied with Gut Check and Counter Throw as the second strongest counterattack. This move can deter most opponents from sharking with their recovery move, making it effective against attacks that don't snap the ledge as quickly. When using the move, Sephiroth may say 目障りだ ("Annoying." or "Pathetic."), 来い ("Come."), 消え去れ ("Disappear."), 愚かな ("Foolish."), いい顔だ ("I like the look on your face."), 打ち砕く ("I will crush you."), 跪け ("Kneel.") or simply chuckle.
Final Smash		Supernova	7% (initial hit), 10% (cutscene), 15% (launching hit)	Performs a wide slash while announcing 星に帰れ ("Return to the stars."). Up to three opponents hit by the slash will be trapped in a cutscene where Sephiroth transforms into Safer∙Sephiroth (his final boss form) to summon Meteor and trigger a supernova, wiping out the earth and causing random status effects to foes who survive the attack. These status effects include an automatic shield break, being slowed down, having reversed controls (indicated by a mushroom on the victim's head), having a flower planted on the victim's head, being put to sleep, or a simple darkness effect, which is accompanied by more knockback than usual, albeit still on the lower end for a Final Smash. Fighters caught in the Final Smash face towards him with their backs to the camera, much like Cloud and his party do in his final boss battle in Final Fantasy VII. The attack is also based on the attack of the same name in Final Fantasy VII. Once the move is successfully finished, Sephiroth adopts his fighting stance from Final Fantasy VII then performs an animation based on his victory pose as a guest party member during the Nibelheim flashback.

Winged Form

Sephiroth possesses a unique fighter ability where he unfurls his single black wing (which takes on a purple glow) and enters his Winged Form while announcing 身の程を知れ ("Know your place.") or 目障りだ ("Annoying." or "Pathetic."). Once Sephiroth's Winged Form is active, he gains a variety of benefits, including a third jump, damage-based armor on all his smash attacks that resists up to 20%, and a wide variety of stat buffs detailed in the table below. Sephiroth loses the form after being KO'd or through a system of points; typically, Sephiroth will lose his wing upon KOing an opponent, though this varies based on this point system. This is inspired by Reunion, his EX Mode from Dissidia Final Fantasy.

As stated by Masahiro Sakurai, Winged Form activates when Sephiroth is "in danger"; specifically, Sephiroth's danger status is determined not only by his current damage percentage, but also the overall state of the match; If he has a stock or score advantage, his Winged Form will activate at later percents, and if he has a stock or score disadvantage, his Winged Form will activate at earlier percents.

For example:

• If Sephiroth has 3 stocks while his opponent has 1, Winged Form activates at ~90% damage.
• If he has 1 stock while his opponent has 3, Winged Form activates at ~39% damage.
• If he has an equal amount of stocks as his opponent, Winged Form activates at ~65% damage.

Winged Form Stat Buffs

Stat buff	Multiplier
Damage output	×1.3
Walk acceleration	×1.15
Walk speed	×1.15
Initial Dash speed	×1.2
Dash acceleration	×1.2
Dash speed	×1.25
Traction	×1.3
Air acceleration (base)	×1.15
Air acceleration (additional)	×1.1
Air speed	×1.2
Air friction	×1.05
Gravity	×1.03
Fall speed	×1.05

On-screen appearance

• Slowly descends onto the stage while emitting a dark aura, which dissipates as he's about to land.

• 

  Sephiroth's on-screen appearance

Taunts

• Up taunt: Gestures forward with an upward hand flick, saying 来るがいい ("Come on.").
• Side taunt: Takes a stance with Masamune in both hands, held at face level and facing the opponent. This directly references his fighting stance as a guest party member in Final Fantasy VII, as well as the climax of the game in which the metaphysical Sephiroth takes the stance against Cloud before being defeated by him (more so apparent with his Coatless costumes).
• Down taunt: Shifts the side of his body forward with a sinister chuckle, emitting a dark aura as he does so.

• 

  Sephiroth's up taunt.

• 

  Sephiroth's side taunt.

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  Sephiroth's down taunt.

Idle poses

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• Holds his sword downwards with his opposite arm under it and his heel up.
• Shifts his position to the other side.

Victory poses

All of Sephiroth's victory screens take place in a fiery area instead of the standard area where most of the victory screens take place, a direct reference to the Nibelheim Incident from Final Fantasy VII. Instead of having a colored background behind him when his name appears, the screen will be tinted red. If Sephiroth is the leader of a winning team, he will use his special victory screens without any of his teammates being seen, similar to Joker.

• Left: With his back turned, Sephiroth turns his head towards the camera while chuckling, then turns around and slowly walks deeper into the fire until he disappears.
• Up: Slowly raises his head and glares at the camera, saying 何度でも導いてやろう。 ("I will usher you as many times as you want."). This is most likely a reference to his role in Dissidia Final Fantasy.
  • In team battles where Sephiroth is not the leader, he faces to the side while doing this pose, keeping his face away from the camera.
• Right: While turning his back to the camera, he swings the Masamune and sprouts his black wing, saying その痛みで私を思い出せ。 ("Remember me through your pain.").

If Cloud is present during the match, he has a chance of saying 思い出にはならないさ ("I will never be a memory.") in any of his three victory poses, a reference to his final line of dialogue from Advent Children and, by proxy, his reveal trailer for Ultimate.

The ending of "Advent: One-Winged Angel", taken directly from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Afterwards, a droning note plays; it is unknown if it is from any source in particular. Then, instead of the regular results theme, only the sound of flames is heard.

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In competitive play

In the online meta, Sephiroth has seen early success, with Sharp placing in the top 8 of Get Clipped 6 and HABBY Birthday 2020. In an offline format, both Rizeasu and Zackray have done well at some Japanese tournaments with the character, with Zackray winning Kurobra 24 and Rizeasu getting top 8 at Sumabato SP 16. Both MkLeo and Tweek believe the character to be top tier, although others like Marss believe his frailty and poor disadvantage, along with many of his attacks being risky and/or situational, could prevent him from being a top tier character.

Classic Mode: The Chosen Ones

Sephiroth's congratulations screen.

Uniquely, Sephiroth's route has him facing off against all bosses in the game (aside from Galeem and Dharkon) in a Boss Rush, referencing his status as a final boss in Final Fantasy VII. The title of his route references his leitmotif from the original game, "Those Chosen by the Planet".

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music	Notes
1	Rathalos	Forest Hill	Roar/Rathalos
2	Galleom	Base	Boss Battle - Super Smash Bros. Brawl
3	Marx	Mysterious Dimension	Vs. Marx
4	Dracula	Dracula's Castle	Phase 1: Nothing to Lose Phase 2: Black Night
5	Ganon	Sacred Land	Calamity Ganon Battle - Second Form
6	Giga Bowser	Final Destination	Giga Bowser
Bonus Stage
Final	Master Hand & Crazy Hand	Northern Cave (Ω Form)	One-Winged Angel	References the final battle of Final Fantasy VII where multiple characters team up to defeat Sephiroth.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Sephiroth has JENOVA accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light

The message that shows Sephiroth's availability in World of Light

Due to his status as downloadable content, Sephiroth does not have a legitimate role in World of Light. Instead, he is unlocked for use in the mode after freeing 10 fighters from Galeem's control. If loading an existing save file that meets this condition before downloading Sephiroth, he is immediately unlocked.

Interestingly, Sephiroth’s trailer takes place during World of Light, where he makes his presence known by slicing Galeem in half and fighting the heroes himself. Additionally, other DLC characters that have no role in World of Light are present fighting Galeem before Sephiroth makes his entrance, including Erdrick, Banjo and Kazooie.

Spirit

Sephiroth's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 coins. Unlocking Sephiroth in World of Light allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Each fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces them with their artwork in Ultimate.

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  1439. Sephiroth

In Spirit Battles

Sephiroth is not currently featured in any Spirit Battles.

Alternate costumes

Sephiroth's base design for Ultimate is based on his redesign from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children with some design elements taken from his in-game model from the original Final Fantasy VII such as the brown-colored straps on his shoulder guards, while his Coatless design is from the final cinematic boss fight in the original Final Fantasy VII. The design of his sword the Masamune is based on the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children variant with the blue leather wraps with a golden hilt, and a golden handle guard with loops on two of the four sides.

Gallery

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  Sephiroth's splash art.

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  Sephiroth's unlock notice after downloading him from the Nintendo eShop.

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  Sephiroth standing and holding Masamune on Northern Cave.

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  Attacking Captain Falcon with Octaslash on Umbra Clock Tower.

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  Casting Flare on Dracula's Castle.

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  In his coatless alternate costume on Northern Cave.

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  Sephiroth using Supernova against Ness, Bowser, and Robin.

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  Fighting Cloud in his Advent Children alternate costume on Midgar.

Trivia

The Super Smash Bros. Ultimate × Final Fantasy at the end of The Game Awards 2020 video.

• Sephiroth is the second character to be revealed at a non-Nintendo event/presentation, the first being Joker. Both of them were revealed at The Game Awards (in 2018 and 2020, respectively).
  • Unlike Joker's, however, Sephiroth's featured actual gameplay footage, was announced ahead of time, and was a standard world premiere trailer, rather than an "intruding" announcement.
  • Oddly, Sephiroth's English trailer shown during The Game Awards is slightly different from the one uploaded to Nintendo's official channels later: the crossover card states Super Smash Bros. Ultimate × Final Fantasy during The Game Awards, whereas in later uploads it displays Super Smash Bros. Ultimate × Final Fantasy VII, in line with Cloud's trailer for Super Smash Bros. 4.
• According to Sakurai, Sephiroth was developed to feel like a boss character while having boss-like strength for players to enjoy when using him.
  • Sakurai also mentions during development of Sephiroth, two problems were how to incorporate Masamune into the game and making it easy for players to use his attacks.
• Sephiroth's internal codename is "edge", a likely reference to his famously long sword Masamune in addition to the name of the city built on top of the ruins of Midgar in Advent Children.
• When KO'd by reaching 0 HP during his final stock in Stamina Mode, Sephiroth uses his heavy knockback scream rather than his standard KO scream. This trait is shared with Mario, Dr. Mario, Hero, Terry, Byleth and Min Min.
• Sephiroth is the fourth enemy in Ultimate to be available as DLC, after Piranha Plant, Zombie, and Enderman, and the first to be the primary antagonist of his game.
• Sephiroth is the first:
  • DLC character from a universe that was introduced as DLC in a previous installment.
  • Third-party playable antagonist (not counting Steve's Zombie and Enderman alternate costumes).
  • Ultimate DLC character to not have their full Final Smash shown in their reveal trailer.
  • Ultimate character to be unlockable through an event before their official release.
• Sephiroth is the second character whose trailer references World of Light, the first being Hero's.
  • Coincidentally, both are downloadable fighters from Square Enix, and both fight opposing forces from the World of Light, as Hero fought Dharkon and its controlled puppet fighters and Sephiroth sliced through Galeem. Additionally, they each hail from one of the two companies that merged into Square Enix, as Sephiroth comes from Squaresoft and the Hero from Enix.
• Sephiroth's trailer makes several references to both the original Final Fantasy VII game, the game's remake, and the CGI-animated film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, with much of his and Cloud's dialogue being adapted from the latter. Several shots in the trailer are direct recreations of shots from Advent Children.
• Sephiroth's trailer currently features the most playable characters in the animated portion of any reveal trailer (excluding himself), with 18 characters.
  • Aside from Erdrick, Banjo, and Kazooie, who are DLC characters, Bowser Jr. and Cloud are the only characters of these that do not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene.
    • Sephiroth’s trailer marks the first time that Cloud has appeared in CGI in the Smash series, with all of his other appearances in trailers and cutscenes using his in-game model. Cloud's CGI model is, notably, based on his Advent Children design.
• Like Cloud, Smash marks the third time that Sephiroth has been playable in a fighting game/series, with the first two being Ehrgeiz and the Dissidia: Final Fantasy series.
• Sephiroth's render resembles a flipped version of his original Dissidia render (albeit in 3D and with his wing displayed).
• Sephiroth's screen KO pose mimics the pose he makes after getting hit by Omnislash in his reveal trailer.
• Sephiroth is the first DLC character who must be unlocked through fighting him, although this is only for early access and not a permanent feature.
  • The is also the first time early access to the DLC was not in the form of a free promotion, unlike Mewtwo in Smash 4 and Piranha Plant.
• Sephiroth is the first character whose Classic Mode consists entirely of bosses.
  • As a result, Sephiroth is the first character whose Classic Mode does not contain fighters as opponents.
  • Because of this, Sephiroth is the only non-The Legend of Zelda character to fight Ganon as a boss.
  • His route is also the only one to show Giga Bowser in the loading screen.
  • Sephiroth's Classic Mode is also one of only four to feature a fight against a boss outside of the final round, the others being Bowser, Mega Man, and Hero.
    • It is also the only one that features multiple "traditional" bosses, not counting the fact that Master Hand and Crazy Hand can be fought simultaneously.
  • Galeem and Dharkon are the only bosses in Ultimate not fought in Sephiroth's Classic Mode, likely due to their status as World of Light antagonists, thus being exclusive to it.
  • Sephiroth, Joker, and Donkey Kong are the only characters to face Master Hand and Crazy Hand on a stage other than Final Destination.
• Sephiroth is one of three fighters not to appear in any Spirit Battles, the others being fellow DLC newcomers Piranha Plant and Terry. He is the only fighter in the Fighters Pass Vol. 2 so far with this distinction.
• Sephiroth is the first DLC character to have a unique quote when winning against certain characters, much like the Star Fox, Kid Icarus, and Fire Emblem characters as well as Simon. He is also the second third-party character with this distinction following Simon.
• Sephiroth is one of five fighters who do not use their dashing animation on the World of Light map, the others being Meta Knight, Inkling, Hero and Banjo & Kazooie
• In his Winged Form, Sephiroth is the only character with multiple midair jumps who cannot change his facing direction with them.
• Sephiroth's victory screens load much faster than other characters, likely due to the fiery background being pre-rendered instead of a modeled setting.
• Sephiroth is one of only five characters to predominantly use his left hand to wield his weapon, sharing this trait with Young Link, Toon Link, Ice Climbers, and Rosalina & Luma.
  • Because of this, Sephiroth is the first and only left-handed swordsman not to be a variation of Link.