Eruption

Eruption
Eruption in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
User	Ike
Universe	Fire Emblem

Eruption (噴火, Eruption) is Ike's neutral special move in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. 4. Similar to Roy's Flare Blade in function, Ike lifts his sword, Ragnell, and then plunges it downward in front of him which explodes in a burst of flames. It can be charged for up to 5 seconds, causing the fire to greatly increase its range and knockback. The knockback caused by this move is mostly vertical when not charged fully and becomes more horizontal when it is. Like most of Ike's moves, it is powerful enough that charging is not required for it to be effective. The flames reach high up, so there is a large vertical hitbox as well. There are also smaller hitboxes below, far in front of, and behind Ike.

Description from the Brawl Instruction Booklet

Call forth a column of flame. Don't charge it too long, or you'll strike automatically and damage yourself.

Description from the Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS Foldout

Plunge your sword into the ground. Can be charged.

Reverse Eruption

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. This includes Ike's Eruption; however, reversing it has no animation and no increase to damage or knockback, making it not very useful unless used to attack behind Ike in midair. It is interesting to note that when in Ike's running animation and activating a reverse Eruption, Ike will turn around and slide forward a little while charging or releasing the attack; this is probably because the running momentum has switched direction with Ike since there is no animation for the reverse Eruption and has pushed him forward as if he didn't turn around at all.

Stages

Eruption has 9 stages of power, 8 charging up stages and the fully-charged stage. A fully charged Eruption has a larger hitbox and a horizontal trajectory while, like Flare Blade, dealing 10% damage back to Ike. Ike will start flashing red once he reaches stage 7.

A stage 8 Eruption is Ike's most powerful attack, strong enough to KO at 0% the majority of characters in Brawl (Bowser, Donkey Kong, Snake, King Dedede, Ganondorf, Ike, Captain Falcon, and Link are able to survive a stage 8 Eruption from the center of Final Destination at 0% without DI or momentum canceling). However, charging the move to precisely that stage is very difficult, as the player must release the special button exactly on the frame just before the attack becomes fully charged. If done a frame early or late, the move will be charged to only stage 7 or will be automatically released as fully charged. Incidentally, this makes Eruption the only OHKO attack among playable characters in Brawl that is neither a Final Smash nor relies on counter scaling (such as Oil Panic).

	Damage inflicted	KO's Mario from the center of Final Destination at
Stage 1	10%	134%
Stage 2	14%	94%
Stage 3	18%	68%
Stage 4	22%	50%
Stage 5	26%	36%
Stage 6	30%	24%
Stage 7	34%	14%
Stage 8	38%	0%
Stage 9	37%	37%

• Note that as detailed above, a (frame-perfect) stage 8 Eruption is strictly stronger than a stage 9 fully charged Eruption, and stages 5, 6, 7, and 8 deal more vertical knockback than the fully-charged Eruption does horizontal knockback.

Video demonstration

The following is a video demonstration of the nine stages of Eruption.

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Other properties

This attack, like Ike's Aether, possesses launch resistance: the moment that the special button is released to the point where the sword hits the ground are launch resistant frames. As Ike is particularly susceptible to juggling due to his high weight and falling speed, the launch resistance frames can be useful for defending against it.

A fully charged Eruption can break any character's shield, provided that it was not a perfect shield. It can also be a meteor smash when sweetspotted on the tip at the very end of the hitbox, but the spike is weak and only works on grounded opponents, making it impractical and rarely used (if at all) in competitive play.

Origin

In the Fire Emblem games, neither Ike nor Ragnell have fire-related powers, making Eruption a creation unique to Super Smash Bros. The closest thing to an exception is the climax of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, in which Ike wields the powers of the goddess Yune for a brief period of time to defeat the final boss; Yune's power manifests as blue flames when channeled by Ike, hence Ike's Japanese epithet "Hero of Blue Flames" (translated as "Radiant Hero" in English versions). While this does not match the red flame seen in Brawl, the flame effects are re-colored blue in SSB4, presumably to better match the source material.

Visually, Eruption's explosion bears a strong resemblance to the rare and powerful fire spell Bolganone's effects, which summon a volcanic eruption underneath the feet of a foe; Ike is not a mage and cannot use Bolganone, although some of his allies can after they have been sufficiently leveled up.

Customization

Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the known variations:

1. Tempest: The explosion is replaced by a gust of wind that pushes away enemies and removes all self-damage.
2. Furious Eruption: The explosion grows in size as Ike charges it up, but it will deal more self-damage.

Gallery

• 

  Eruption in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

• 

  Pre-release version of Eruption in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, prior to the flame color being changed.

Ike's special moves

Neutral special	Eruption
Side special	Quick Draw
Up special	Aether
Down special	Counter
Final Smash	Great Aether