Palutena (SSB4)

Palutena in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Kid Icarus
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Black Hole Laser
Tier	I (50)

“	Palutena Alights!	”
—Introduction Tagline

Palutena (パルテナ, Palutena) is a character from the Kid Icarus series. She was confirmed as a playable fighter alongside the Mii Fighters and Pac-Man in Super Smash Bros. 4 during E3 2014 on June 10th, 2014. As the Goddess of Light, she fights using powers she granted Pit and other angels in the multiplayer mode of Kid Icarus: Uprising. She is voiced in Japanese by Aya Hisakawa, who reprises her role from Uprising, and in English by Brandy Kopp, the latter of whom replaced Ali Hillis due to availability conflicts.

Palutena is currently ranked 50th on the tier list, placing her at the bottom of the I tier and thus making her the lowest ranked newcomer (barring the Mii Fighters). Like the Mii Fighters, Palutena has all of her custom moves available from the start, some of which are among the best in the game and can drastically change her playstyle. Heavenly Light serves as a decent damage racking option and gives Ness and Lucas a reliable healing tool in doubles play. Explosive Flame gives her a good spacing tool against opponents with poor approach options, Super Speed gives her unpredictability when approaching, and Lightweight doubles her otherwise average mobility, allowing her to approach more efficiently, recover better, and give her guaranteed combo options, when combined with Super Speed, courtesy of her useful aerial game. These tools make her neutral game difficult to counter, without a disjointed hitbox or powerful projectile with the exception of Heavenly Light, which works better in doubles play.

However, as custom moves have been banned since EVO 2015 due to conflicts, she cannot make use of those advantages to improve her playstyle in tournament play. Additionally, she possesses no advantages over other fighters whatsoever without custom moves (except arguably her aerial game), and her weaknesses are glaring without them. The most notable of her flaws are her otherwise poor special moveset without the aid of custom moves, as well as her frame data. While her neutral game is still decent without customs, due to Reflect Barrier and Autoreticle, her special moves are generally ineffective and hinder her approach options due to not possessing Super Speed or Lightweight to improve her mobility, and as such her neutral game is predictable. As stated, her frame data is very problematic and is arguably the worst in the game in relation to her weight, with her special moveset and grounded moves being prime examples (none of her grounded moves come out before frame 5), as well as every move (barring her down tilt and neutral aerial) possesses very high ending lag. As such, she is vulnerable to juggling and a bit vulnerable to combos. Her frame data also hampers her KO potential; while she possesses decently powerful moves, as well as one of the best up smashes in the game, few of them are easy to land and all of them are laggy. As a result of these factors, Palutena's representation and results in non-local tournaments are poor.

Attributes

Palutena's characteristics are unique, and defy archetypes set up by characters such as Mewtwo, Zelda and Rosalina & Luma. She is tall, she has a fast walking speed, a somewhat fast dashing speed, the 7th highest traction, high jump force and is tied for the highest air acceleration. On the other hand, she has below average weight, falling speed and air speed, as well as high gravity. These characteristics give Palutena quick ground movement, great ground-to-air transitioning, and allow her to quickly change direction in mid-air. However, they also make her very susceptible to juggling, and while she isn't necessarily a floaty or lightweight character, her high gravity makes her susceptible to vertical knockback.

Palutena's greatest strength is her solid aerial game. All of her aerial moves have good utility, fast start-up, and in most cases, low landing lag (excluding neutral aerial and up aerial), giving her a good combo game. Her neutral aerial is a useful damage racking and a decent protection move, coming out on frame 5. Her up aerial is her most polarized aerial move, having the strongest knockback while lacking range, having 24 frames of landing lag, and being interruptible before it can even autocancel. Her down aerial lasts only one frame and has low range, making it arguably her worst aerial, but its lack of sourspots makes it an easy-to-use meteor smash, as well as a relatively safe out of shield option. Her forward and back aerials, however, are her most useful aerials. Her forward aerial has the longest range of her aerial moves and the least landing lag, as well as completely autocancelling when SHFFd. Her back aerial is her second most powerful aerial, has invincibility frames during start-up and as long as the hitbox is out, and is also able to KO at high percentages. However, the majority of her aerial moves have high ending lag in proportion to their power and range, most notably down aerial, meaning they must be spaced accordingly.

Her grab game is also fairly capable. She has one of the longest, non-tether grab ranges in the game, especially her pivot grab. Her pummel is very good, as it is fairly damaging and having decent speed, being a great move to rack up damage. Her back throw is a rather weak KO throw, having an easily DI'd launch angle (the Sakurai angle) and, ironically, the lowest base knockback of all her throws, as well as needing high levels of rage to reliably KO, but it is still her most damaging throw, and a great way to send the opponent offstage to set up an edgeguard. Her forward throw has high base knockback, deals good damage, and while it has very low knockback scaling, it is generally better than her back throw at setting up an edgeguard, as well as an almost infallible trigger if Autoreticle is used. Her up throw has high base knockback and with the aid of rage, it can KO floaty characters easily. Her most versatile throw, however, is her down throw: possessing the right amount of base knockback and very low knockback scaling, it can combo into almost any aerial move (the exception being down aerial), and perhaps an up smash if the player can read the opponent's reaction. It can even combo at KO percentages into up aerial should the opponent DI the wrong way.

Her grounded moveset also has some interesting options. Her neutral attack comes out slowly (on frame 8), and the finisher has noticeable ending lag, but it can be a very reliable damage racker, especially if taking into account its high interruptibility, which allows an easy jab cancel into another neutral attack or a grab. Her down tilt is highly interruptible, having only 16 frames of true ending lag, making it a good spacing and dodge punishing tool, and her least punishable ground move. It is also decently strong and can KO at very high percentages. Her dash attack, while being very unsafe on shield, has actual KO power, as well as the same kind of invincibility her back aerial does. Her up smash has tremendous vertical range and very high power, making it suited for vertical KOs, though its high ending lag can make it risky to use.

Despite these advantages, Palutena has several weaknesses that drastically outweigh her strengths. Most notably, her biggest weakness is her very poor frame data, almost as high as King Dedede, Ganondorf and Shulk. Despite not being as heavy as any of them, her moveset is overall slow and carries below average damage output overall, which are major issues that set her apart from other characters of her weight. Her most prominent example is her grounded moveset, unfitting for a character with great ground mobility. All of her grounded moves (except jab and down tilt) have disproportionately high ending lag, with her forward and up tilt, as well as her dash attack, having more than 25 frames of ending lag, and all of her smash attacks having more than 40. This makes her missed attacks heavily susceptible to punishment, even if the opponent is a good distance away from her, making it crucial for her to never miss a single ground move, or rely solely on her safer grounded moves. As a result of her moves' delay and damage output, Palutena suffers from notable KOing problems. Her smash attacks, up tilt and up aerial possess high knockback scaling, but are difficult to land and risky to use, with the former being easily punishable and the latter two lacking range. She is also easy to KO due to her tall frame, susceptible to getting juggled due to her unsafe landing options and below-average falling speed and high gravity, and gets easily susceptible to combos due to her tall frame, high gravity and lack of anti-pressuring moves.

On top of this, Palutena's default special moveset is also infamously poor, due to its extremely limited utility and, like her grounded moveset, very poor frame data. Even though her Autoreticle has homing capabilities, the same cannot be said about its projectiles, as they move only towards the fixed reticle, and on top of being incredibly slow, each one deals very slightly less than 3%, giving them very low priority (though this makes them reliable for jab locking). Reflect Barrier, while having an unblockable hitbox, a small push effect and being a long lasting reflector, does not cover her entirely and does not move along with her in mid-air. Warp is quick and allows for a safe recovery and swift repositioning, as well as being easily ledge-cancelled which can make her movement unpredictable on stages with platforms, but it has absolutely no hitboxes, leaving her wide open to attacks before and after she moves. Lastly, even though her Counter has a high damage multiplier, it comes out slow, has low duration, low KO power, a sourspot (the only one to do so), and less range and more ending lag than most other counters (only Lucario's is slower).

All of these traits make Palutena a frail yet defensively-minded character, as without punishing, her offensive options are lacking, more so than most other characters. While she holds a decently strong punish game, her overall slow moveset and lack of approach options means she will mostly rely on hard reads as well as shielding attacks at close range and turtling for a good portion of the match until an opening can be found, as long as she is not left open as well, while being outshined by a lot characters in terms of what her traits are: being outclassed by Mewtwo in terms of mobility, approach and dealing with zoning, Samus in terms of zoning and turtling, Zelda in terms of KOing, and almost all of them in terms of pressuring, frame data and damage output.

Due to her poor special moveset, Palutena benefits from custom moves more than any other character. Super Speed allows her to move faster than even Sonic's Spin Charge, and since it can be jump-cancelled into any aerial move and up smash, or straight into a dash attack, it is considered to have immense utility. The ram itself can also link into the aforementioned attacks, but only as long as it isn't telegraphed or interrupted with a disjointed hitbox. Lightweight amplifies her movement speed and jump force, to the point where she dashes almost as fast as Sonic, and jumps almost as high as Falco. This move gives her 15 seconds of drastically improved mobility and offstage game, a quicker and safer recovery, blinding ground speed and an even more capable combo game, including a guaranteed link into up aerial or down aerial, both of which can reliably KO after 80%. As a recoil, this move nearly doubles damage taken, and after expiration of the move, Palutena moves at half-speed for 5 seconds, with her damage vulnerability and jump force returning to their original values. These two moves allow for various new mix-ups, mindgames, combos and edgeguards.

Her other custom moves have notable advantages, but are held back by their easily exploitable weaknesses. Explosive Flame is a more reliable damage racking tool than Autoreticle, but is it is a pinpoint explosion with limited range and is just as slow. Heavenly Light has no use outside of being an invaluable healing move for Ness, Lucas and the Mii Gunner in doubles, as it will never land on any opponent that is not stunned in singles. Angelic Missile is a good recovery move and a potent edgeguarding option, thanks to its high base knockback, but it has high startup lag, surprisingly low knockback scaling and a linear path, making it easy to intercept. Jump Glide gives extreme horizontal distance and allows for safe approaches, but it leaves her defenseless, and has the same fatal flaw Wings of Icarus used to have: if, for any reason, Palutena flinches during the move, she cannot use it again if she doesn't touch solid ground, which may lead to an inevitable KO. Rocket Jump, other than having a meteor smash hitbox below her, is inferior to both Warp and Jump Glide in every way. Lastly, Celestial Firework has intangibility during startup and is a good anti-air move in general, but is hard to hit with and delivers unimpressive knockback. In addition, none of her custom special improve her KOing issues, except Super Speed and Lightweight, both of which speed her movement up and give her reliable and guaranteed setups.

As of update 1.1.3, Palutena's weaknesses are deceptively more prominent than her strengths with custom moves off. This results in her being one of the, if not, the poorest regarded character in the game in the Western scene. However, she is viewed slightly more favorably in the European scene, while the Japanese scene views her as a viable character as a result of a defensive playstyle. Regardless, she has extremely low tournament representation due to her significantly high learning curve, defensive playstyle with customs off, her playstyle being a case of high-risk, medium-to-low reward and being unpopular as a character (like other characters). Custom moves amplify her strengths and somewhat alleviate her weaknesses, allowing her to be viewed more favorably, however it is curently unknown if she will ever get to use them again in the tournament scene, due to the current universal ban of character customization established at EVO 2015. However, since her custom moves are available from the start, there is debate on whether she should be allowed to always have the option to use them.

Update history

Palutena has received a mix of buffs and nerfs so far via game updates, both directly and indirectly, but as none of her major issues have been alleviated, she has been nerfed overall.

She has directly received some minor buffs from update 1.0.4 to update 1.1.1: her tilt attacks have been slightly improved in some ways, her up smash has a more active hitbox, all of her grabs take less time to end, and the hitboxes on some of her attacks have been slightly increased. However, none of these buffs are good enough to address her biggest weaknesses, most notably her very poor frame data. Additionally, the changes to shield mechanics brought by updates 1.1.0 and 1.1.1 have significantly harmed her, more so than any other fighter: the fact hitlag modifiers now apply on shields have left her previously safe moves unsafe on shield, and due to her moveset having somewhat low damage output overall and high ending lag, she is easier to be punished out of shield in relation to the cast, with the universal increase to shieldstun not properly compensating for it, which weakens her spacing options. The aforementioned increase to shieldstun also makes shielding less safe for her; due to her reliance on it, and her slow out of shield options, her defensive game is less effective, encouraging a more offensive playstyle, which is something she cannot properly afford without customs turned on. She has also directly received some nerfs as well: while Explosive Flame's last hit is larger and more damaging, it is no longer unblockable. Her pivot grab also has reduced range. Some certain bugs on her special moves have also been fixed, most notably the infinite renewal of Lightweight on platforms and the momentum kept from Super Speed after a jump-cancelled attack. Lastly, the significant buffs other low-level characters have received as of 1.1.3 (most notably Charizard, Ganondorf, Bowser and Mewtwo) have left her in an even worse position due to either some of their weaknesses being alleviated in some way, or their strengths becoming more notable, in addition to the fact they benefit from the changes to shield mechanics. Overall, especially with customs turned off, Palutena is much worse than she was in the game's initial release.

1.0.4

• Up and down tilts' ending lag decreased.
• Up smash's hitbox lasts three frames longer.
• Pivot grab's range slightly decreased.
• Fixed a glitch where using Counter at certain parts of a walk or run animation would propel Palutena forward a short distance​.

1.0.5

• Up aerial has improved visual effects.

1.0.6

• Due to concerns raised by CERO, Palutena's shorts and skirt were darkened and lengthened to be less revealing in the Japanese version.
• Fixed a glitch where Super Speed's momentum could be maintained after jump-canceled attacks.

1.0.8

• Up tilt's loop hits deal 0.2% more damage: 1% → 1.2%.
• Up tilt's hitboxes moved: bone 1000 → 0. This means the hitboxes are now centered around herself rather than her staff and thus its loop hits connect together better.

1.1.0

• Forward tilt's hitbox sizes increased: 3.8/2.5 → 4.1/2.8.
• Frames 17-24 and 25-39 of forward tilt have reversed properties. Frames 17-24 have had their angle altered: Sakurai angle → 48° and its knockback growth has decreased: 100 → 65, while frames 25-39 have had their angle altered: 48° → Sakurai angle and its knockback growth has increased: 65 → 100).
• Due to the above changes, forward tilt's hits connect better at lower percentages.
• Down tilt has larger hitboxes: (2.4/1.9 → 2.7/2.1) and decreased ending lag.
• Neutral aerial's hitbox sizes increased: 3.0 → 3.4.
• Forward aerial deals 1% more damage: 7% → 8%.
• All grabs' ending lag decreased by 2 frames.

1.1.1

• Fixed a glitch where Palutena could infinitely renew Lightweight on platforms.
• Explosive Flame's initial loop hits and last hit deal 0.2% more damage: 0.6% → 0.8% (initial), 4% → 4.2% (last).
• Explosive Flame's initial loop hits' and last hit's hitbox sizes increased: 3.7 → 4.8 (initial), 14.0 → 15.5 (last).
• Explosive Flame's last hit is no longer unblockable.

Moveset

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			3%	Holds her staff out and releases a multiple hitting blast from the orb before knocking the enemy away with an upwards swipe. Long range and useful for spacing, making it Palutena's best ground attack. When jab canceled, it can combo into itself, grabs, a back aerial and an up smash. Finishing hit has decent power, but long ending lag. Tied with Wario and Ganondorf for fourth slowest neutral attack in the game, behind Bayonetta, King Dedede, and Zelda, with the first hit active on frame 8.
			1% (loop), 3% (last)
Forward tilt			6% (staff head), 4% (staff tail)	Makes her staff spin in the air in front of her, hitting the enemy up to three times. Long duration, good range, and can be used to punish spot-dodges, rolls, and pressuring shields. However, it leaves her vulnerable to other attacks due to its long duration and high ending lag for a tilt.
Up tilt			1.2% (loop hits), 2.5% (last hit staff head), 1.5% (last hit staff tail), 8.7%/9.7% if all hits connect	Kneels and makes her staff spin in the air above her, hitting the enemy up to seven times. Long duration and decent vertical range. It also can be used for punishing the opponent's air dodge. Has a relatively low hitbox. It has the property of making Palutena's hitbox very low, even lower than her crouch. Good KO potential at very high percents.
Down tilt			8.5% (staff head), 5% (staff tail)	Makes her staff spin along the ground in front of her. It is her fastest tilt, and it can be interrupted noticeably earlier than her other tilts. Great spacing tool and can be used to catch spot dodgers and rolls. Good for ledge-guarding.
Dash attack			9% (clean), 5% (late)	Bashes the enemy with her shield. The shield can block attacks due to the attack having 12 invincibility frames. The attack has a large hitbox. Can be used to catch landing opponents and combo into other moves if read the opponents reaction. However, it has long endlag. Has a decent KO potential at very high percents, starting at 150%. Can deflect.
Forward smash			16% (near), 13% (far)	Conjures her ethereal wings and swings them in front. Has high knockback and long horizontal range, giving it great KO potential. Has a sourspot near the tip of the wings, which deals less knockback, and a windbox that can push opponents that try to punish the move and gimp some some recoveries. High ending lag (48 frames), however, makes it very risky to use. Can KO at 100% when sweetspotted.
Up smash			16% (bottom), 12% (middle), 9% (top)	Creates a blue beam of light from the ground, firing it into the air. It has the highest range of any up smash in the game, and has great KO potential. As such, it is excellent for edge-guarding. However, it has thin horizontal range and high ending lag, though it is her smash attack with the least ending lag at 43 frames. Can KO at 100% when sweetspotted.
Down smash			15% (clean), 13% (late)	Conjures her ethereal wings and flaps them down on either side of her. It also has a windbox at the tip of the wings that can push opponents that try to punish the move and gimp some recoveries. However, it has slow startup lag for a down smash and the highest endlag of all the smash attacks in the game (53 frames), making it one of the worst down smashes in the game. It KOs at 114% if clean, and KOs at 145% when late.
Neutral aerial			1.5% (loop hits), 4% (last hit), 11.5% if all hits connect	Spins her staff around her. The first five hits have the auto-link angle, which can potentially trap opponents in the rest of the attack. Good for pressuring opponents on platform above and catching out of air dodge. Can combo into aerial or ground attacks at low percentage.
Forward aerial			8%	Dropkicks in front of herself. Long horizontal hitbox and low landing lag. Good spacing tool and can combo into grabs and other attacks. It can also be auto-cancelled from SHFF. It is less safe on shield since it delivers less shield stun. Relatively high ending lag.
Back aerial			12% (shield), 9% (arm)	Hits with her shield behind herself. The shield can block attacks due to the attack granting her invincibility frames (8 frames). Can beat out most aerial attacks and certain projectiles. Comes out one frame faster than her forward aerial, it has relatively low landing lag and can be auto-cancelled from a short hop. However, it is easy to miss if the opponents is too close to Palutena since it does not have a hitbox around her, and it has very high ending lag for an aerial (41 frames).
Up aerial			1% (loop hits), 5% (last hit), 9% if all hits connect	Twirls and then lights up her halo, which hits up to five times. Long duration and can be used to pressure aerial opponents above her. Has a great KO potential at high percentage. However, it has fairly high ending lag (24 frames). Interestingly enough, this attack has more interruptible frames than auto-canceling frames, meaning it cannot be auto-cancelled at all. This can, however, be avoided by using other attack with lower ending lag before she hits the ground, like her forward air. As it pulls opponents when fast-falling, it is possible for it to combo into another grab at low percentages despite its ending lag.
Down aerial			9%	Performs an arcing kick below herself, meteor smashing anyone below her. This attack has no late hits, meaning it will always meteor smash. Can be used as an out of shield option. However, it lasts for only one frame and it has very low range, making it difficult to land. While it has high end lag, it does not have high landing lag.
Grab			—	Holds her staff vertically in front of herself, magically trapping the enemy. Fairly large grab range, though her dash grab has some ending lag.
Pummel			3.1%	Blasts the enemy with light. Despite being a bit slow, it is one of the best pummels in the game due to its damage output.
Forward throw			9%	Pushes the enemy away with her magic. It is Palutena's weakest throw in terms of knockback, though it can be used to throw opponents off the ledge for an edge-guard.
Back throw			10%	Performs a ballet-inspired throw, which launches the enemy at the Sakurai angle behind herself. It is her strongest throw, however, it is easily DI'd and won't KO until 155%.
Up throw			8%	Sends the enemy into the air with her staff. Can be used to pressure opponents in the air with aerial attacks or an up tilt.
Down throw			5%	Magically shoves the enemy into the ground. Her best throw, it is ideal for combos and KO set-up; depending on opponent's DI, it can combo into a neutral, forward, back or up aerial, and even an up smash by reading the opponent's air dodge. It can also combo into a down aerial near the ledge for a potential meteor smash.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Swings her staff in front and behind her.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Swings her staff 180 degrees along the ground.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Similar to her other floor attacks.
Edge attack Edge getups			7%	Climbs up the stage and hits with a leg swipe.
Neutral special	Default	Autoreticle	2.9% (per hit)	Takes aim with a charge-shot reticle from Kid Icarus Uprising which appears over the enemy, then fires three light shots at that location. Can be initiated only if an enemy is within range, with nothing blocking her target, and said enemy doesn't have invincibility from teching, or dodging. Can be used as a way for stopping direct approaches. It is also able to hit opponents behind Palutena and be used for jab locks. It also stalls her mid-air, making it useful to stop opponents from gimping her.
	Custom 1	Explosive Flame	0.8% (loop), 4.2% (last)	Creates a Smart Bomb-like explosion at approximately 3 character lengths away. Great spacing and zoning tool, but its slow startup and set distance can make it easily predictable.
	Custom 2	Heavenly Light	1% (per hit)	Projects a huge rectangular field of supernal light above her and to the sides. It deals damage in the whole area without producing knockback or flinching, as well as repelling all enemies from the sides. Because of this, this move can be used to steal a KO from a fighter who launched another. Can be absorbed. Hold the button to extend the duration.
Side special	Default	Reflect Barrier	5%, 1.17x damage (reflected projectiles)	Raises her shield forward, casting a rectangular barrier which pushes opponents away and reflects projectiles. Palutena's shield has a hitbox when it is being raised, allowing her to damage opponents with an unblockable hit. If the wall reflects an attack that deals at least 50% damage, it will break. However, unlike other reflectors, it can be used immediately after it has shattered.
	Custom 1	Angelic Missile	13%	Shoots herself forward to attack with her head, similar to Skull Bash and Green Missile. Can aid her recovery significantly without leaving her helpless. It is also a decent (albeit somewhat easy to dodge) KO move offstage.
	Custom 2	Super Speed	2.6%	Performs a charging attack where she glides along the ground very quickly and for a long distance. She can damage enemies by ramming into them. While in the air, the move will send her diagonally downwards. It is considered her best side special move due to its speed and ability to retain its momentum after canceling the attack, which gives Palutena a plethora of options for mix-ups, recovery, potential pressure, and mobility. Can be cancelled with her jump, up smash, grab, dash attack, and other attacks. It has a small cooldown duration.
Up special	Default	Warp	0%	Disappears and then reappears in a chosen direction, much like Teleport. Can be ledge-cancelled, allowing for defensive and movement options.
	Custom 1	Jump Glide	0%	Jumps a fair distance up, then glides similarly to Peach Parasol. Good for keeping vertical follow-ups, and it has higher horizontal recovery distance than Warp, however, it cannot be ledge-cancelled and, if gimped, she cannot do anything until she hits the ground, which may lead to an inevitable KO.
	Custom 2	Rocket Jump	12% (ground), 10% (air)	Creates an explosion that boosts Palutena upwards and damages nearby enemies. The explosion strongly meteor smashes airborne enemies below her. However, it gives her the least vertical distance of all her up specials and little to no horizontal movement.
Down special	Default	Counter	1.3x damage of countered attacks, 10% minimum	After hiding behind her shield, she performs a counterattack with her staff, similar to that of many of the Fire Emblem characters. It has a surprisingly high damage output. Despite what one of the in-game's tips says, it has the lowest range and lowest power of all counterattacks. It also has very long ending lag should it miss, making it punishable. It also has a sourspot that deals even less knockback. Will One-hit KO anyone if she managed to counter an attack that deals at least 50% damage.
	Custom 1	Lightweight	0%	Increases her speed and jumping height. While in this effect, it significantly improves her off stage game and allows her to have more follow ups and an access to her guaranteed KO set ups from down throw. However in exchange for this effect, she will take increased damage (knockback remains the same). After it wears off, she will become slower for a very short time.
	Custom 2	Celestial Firework	3.2% (toss), 1.2% (blast)	Shoots an explosive firework upwards in front of her. It has invinciblity frames before firing the firework.
Final Smash		Black Hole Laser	2.4% (loop), 12% (last)	Palutena twirls her staff above her, then speeds out of the stage. She then fires a Black Hole, which attracts foes towards it and puts them in a tumbling state, then fires the Mega Laser into the Black Hole to deal damage, concluding with a final hit to knock the victims away as Black Hole dissipates. It KOs at 54%. Palutena will then return to the stage after the Final Smash ends.

On-screen appearance

• Walks out of a heavenly golden door surrounded by a glowing light.

Taunts

• Up taunt: Makes a sweeping gesture with her arms while producing her ethereal wings and her halo shines, saying "You shall be purified!" (浄化してあげましょう, You will be purified.)
• Side taunt: Spins around her staff, dancing with her foot in the air, laughing.
• Down taunt: Lets go of her staff, which floats while she brushes her hair aside as her halo shines, saying "Ready when you are." (いつでもどうぞ？, Feel free whenever.)

Up taunt	Side taunt	Down taunt

Idle poses

• Touches the ground with the tail of her staff and shield in front of her, briefly making her halo shine.
• Looks away while crossing her staff and shield in front of her, briefly making her halo shine.

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer		File:Palutena Cheer JP SSB4.ogg
Description	Pa-lu-te-na!	Pa-lu-tena!
Pitch	Group chant	Group chant

Victory poses

This article or section is incomplete. You can help SmashWiki by expanding or finishing it. The editor who added this tag elaborates: Japanese victory quotes with translations

A small excerpt of the title screen theme of Kid Icarus, with an original ending.

• Spins around her staff, then sits in midair laughing.
• Twirls around while hovering, saying "No one can hide from the light."
  • If Pit is present in the match, there is a chance she will instead say "Oh, so sorry about that, Pit."
• Twirls her staff and points it in front of her, saying "Too bad for you."
  • If Dark Pit is present in the match, there is a chance she will instead say "Poor little Pittoo."

In competitive play

Official Custom Moveset Project

Character	Custom sets available
Palutena	2322	2312	1322	1312	2122
	1122	2332	1332	2313	2323

Notable players

•  AeroLink
•  CapnChreest
•  El_Pitikla
•  Iceninja
•  TLTC

Reveal trailer

<youtube>xqTW13AYniY</youtube>

Trophies

Palutena

In Kid Icarus: Uprising, the goddess of light uses telepathy to communicate and grants miracles to support Pit on his adventure. In Smash Bros., she has special moves like Warp and Heavenly Light at her disposal. She's very adaptable—you can customize her into a long- or close-range fighter!

Said to be able to perform miracles, this goddess supports Pit in battle, using telepathy to communicate with him. She's no slouch on her own, either. She has a huge variety of moves you can customise and use to your advantage. Short or long range, the sky's the limit! Or maybe not. After all, she can teleport.

: Kid Icarus (08/1987)

: Kid Icarus: Uprising (03/2012)

Palutena (Alt.)

Palutena's Reflect Barrier side special deflects any attacks and projectiles that come at her from the front. Unlike other reflective moves, you can leave this barrier in place and it will keep reflecting. If you really want to ruin someone's day, you can push them over an edge using this move.

Palutena's Reflect Barrier special deflects any attacks and projectiles that come at her from the front. Unlike other fighters' reflective moves, you can deploy this barrier and then leave it to its own devices. You can also push opponents with it, so use it on someone who's teetering on the edge of the stage to push them off.

: Kid Icarus (08/1987)

: Kid Icarus: Uprising (03/2012)

Black Hole Laser

Palutena's Final Smash. After doing a divine twirl, she creates a black hole in front of her, drawing in her opponents. When she's got 'em where she wants 'em, she follows up with a wide laser beam that reaches from one edge of the screen to the other. It even changes direction slightly, just in case someone managed to avoid the black hole.

Palutena's Final Smash. After doing a divine twirl, she creates a black hole in front of her, drawing in her opponents. When she's got 'em where she wants 'em, the next step is a wide laser beam that reaches from one edge of the screen to the other. It even changes direction slightly, for that extra chance of taking out her foes.

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  Classic (3DS)

• PalutenaAllStarTrophy3DS.png

  Alt. (3DS)

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  Classic (Wii U)

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  Alt. (Wii U)

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  Black Hole Laser

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• New Challengers 2: Palutena is one of the seven opponents fought in this event alongside Greninja, Robin, Shulk, Dark Pit, Mega Man, and Pac-Man.
• The Demon King and the Goddess: Ganondorf must defeat a giant Palutena, who arrives after defeating Link and Zelda.
• The Destroyer Cometh: Palutena must defeat a giant Ganondorf and 2 other Ganondorfs before they destroy all the terrain on Skyworld.

Co-op Events

• The Ultimate Battle: Two players select a character and must defeat the entire roster.
• Unlikely Allies: Palutena and Ganondorf must defeat 16 Mr. Game & Watches.

Alternate costumes

Gallery

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  Artwork of Palutena used on the website.

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  Palutena's splash art.

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  Reveal image from the Director's Room.

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  Palutena's amiibo.

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  In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

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  Using Explosive Flame.

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  With Phosphora, who appears as an Assist Trophy.

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  On Mario Galaxy.

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  Fighting Marth.

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  Taunting.

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  With Kirby, who copied Palutena's ability.

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  In Battlefield.

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  With Mario in Arena Ferox.

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  In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

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  Palutena's Final Smash, Black Hole Laser.

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  Palutena taking part in the Home-Run Contest in the 3DS version of SSB4.

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  One of Palutena's special moves, Heavenly Light.

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  Palutena's up smash attack.

Trivia

• Palutena and the Mii Fighters are the only characters that have their customizable special moves unlocked from the start.
• Unused sound files exist for Kirby using all three of Palutena's neutral special moves, suggesting either that it was not until late in development that it was decided which would be the default, or that Kirby was originally able to copy any one of her neutral special moves.
• Palutena is the only character who can use both a reflector and a counterattack without customs.
• Palutena is the only character who was part of a Final Smash the previous game and a fighter the next game.
• Excluding Snake with his up smash in Brawl, Palutena has the highest vertical-ranged, non-projectile up smash with her pillar of light.
• Most character's landing animations have them simply land on their two feet. However, Palutena always twirls herself upon landing, excluding landings from a short hop.
• Palutena is the only character (along with a Mii Gunner wearing the Proto Man Costume) in Smash 4 with a visible shield that does not protect her while idle: Link and Toon Link have versions of the Hylian Shield which are able to block projectiles while standing and walking, while Palutena's shield does not have this property. Her shield does give her dash attack and back aerial invincibility frames, however, meaning her shield isn't entirely aesthetic.
• Her pose in her official artwork nearly matches her pose in her official artwork from Kid Icarus Uprising.