Palutena (SSBU)

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Palutena in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Kid Icarus
Other playable appearance	in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Black Hole Laser

“	With her wings and staff, this goddess's attacks cover a wide range. With her up smash, neutral special, and side special, she can create a ranged attack in almost every direction except for directly beneath her! Keep the pressure on your opponents from a distance with ranged attacks!	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Palutena (パルテナ, Palutena) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, officially confirmed on June 12th, 2018. Palutena is classified as fighter #54.

Brandy Kopp reprises her role as the voice of Palutena in English speaking versions of the game through reused voice clips from Super Smash Bros. 4, although she recorded new voice lines for Palutena's Guidance for fighters absent from SSB4, as well as those who were previously DLC in that game.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play VS. matches, with Palutena being the last character to be unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Kirby, being the eighth character in his unlock tree after Lucas.
• Have Palutena join the player's party in World of Light.

With the exception of the third method, Palutena must then be defeated on Palutena's Temple.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Palutena has been greatly buffed from SSB4 to Ultimate. In addition to receiving universal mobility buffs, most of Palutena's grounded moves have reduced lag in general. Her tilts and smash attacks come out faster, end quicker, have more reliable hitbox placements, and have more kill power. Her zoning game has improved with Autoreticle coming out faster, and her new side special Explosive Flame allowing her to ledge trap opponents, read landing options, snipe opponents at a safe distance, and KO at reasonable percents. Warp has one more frame of invulnerability and is unique in that it provides Palutena with a landing mix-up option (because of the change to the air dodge mechanic). Finally, her down special is less laggy and now functions both as a counterattack and a reflector. All of these buffs provides Palutena with multiple landing options, a safer neutral, and better zoning tools.

Nevertheless, Palutena did receive some nerfs. Like all other characters, all variations of her grab have more startup and endlag, which noticeably affects her due to her grab and throw games being her main tool for starting combos. Reflect Barrier can no longer be activated by command, and it has less active frames, making it easier for projectile users to bait her into using her riskier new down special. Finally, her back aerial's invincibility starts comes later, making it less safe to use in the neutral game.

As a result of her buffs, Palutena has consistently been a very high-placing character at both the local and regional level thanks to players such as Nairo, Dabuz and Iceninja.

Aesthetics

• Palutena's model has a more subdued color scheme. Her chiton and armor feature simple detailing, and her face appears more realistic and expressive.
• Palutena's sidestep now causes a visible warping effect when she disappears.

Attributes

• Like all characters, Palutena's jumpsquat animation now takes three frames to complete (down from 5).
• Palutena walks slightly faster (1.21 → 1.271).
• Palutena dashes much faster (1.888 → 2.077).
• Palutena's air speed is slightly faster (0.91 → 1).
• Palutena's max additional air acceleration is higher (0.1 → 0.105).
• Palutena's falling speed and fast falling speed are higher (1.4 → 1.55) and (2.24 → 2.48) respectivelly.
• Palutena's gravity is higher (0.105 → 0.12). When combined with her higher fall speed, this improves her vertical endurance but makes her more susceptible to combos.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first hit of neutral attack has slightly less ending lag (frame 26 → 25).
  • The first hit of neutral attack has a shorter duration (frames 8-10 → 8-9).
• Forward tilt and up tilt have fewer startup frames (frame 17 → 14 (forward), frame 10 → 8 (up) and less ending lag (frame 68 (both) → frame 60 (forward), frame 56 (up)).
  • Forward tilt's second hit deals more damage, now being a situational KO option, much like her up tilt and dash attack.
  • Up tilt deals slightly less damage (9.7% → 9.5%).
  • Forward tilt and up tilt have flashier motion effects.
• Down tilt has a longer duration (frames 14-24 → 14-27). It also deals more damage (8% → 8.5%).
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has less ending lag (52 frames → 38).
  • Dash attack deals more damage (9%/5% → 11%/7%).
  • Dash attack travels a shorter distance and gains invincibility later (frame 4 → 5).
  • Dash attack now causes Palutena's shield to glow, indicating its hitbox.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash has less ending lag (67 frames → 64) and a the clean hit has a longer duration (frame 18-19 → 18-20).
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has less ending lag (68 frames → 64).
  • Up smash has a longer duration (frame 18-26 → 18-35).
• Clean down smash has less startup with more active frames (18-19 → 17-19). It also has less ending lag (72 frames → 69).

Aerial Attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag (20 frames → 12 (neutral), 12 frames → 7 (forward), 16 frames → 10 (back), 24 frames → 14 (up), 18 frames → 11 (down).
• Forward aerial, up aerial and down aerial all deal more damage.
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial's final hit comes out faster (frame 31 → 29). [1]
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial's invincibility starts later (frame 3 → 7).
  • Back aerial now causes Palutena's shield to glow, indicating its hitbox.
• Up aerial:
  • The last hit of up aerial has less startup lag (frame 25 → 24).
  • Up aerial now hits 6 times instead of 5.
  • Up aerial has more startup lag and a shorter duration (frames 8-23 → 10-22).
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial has a longer duration (frame 10 → 10-11).

Grabs and throws

• Dash and pivot grabs are slower (frame 9 → 10 (dash), frame 10 → 11 (pivot).
• All grabs have more ending lag (frame 32 → 40 (standing), frame 40 → 48 (dash), frame 40 → 43 (pivot)

Special Moves

• Autoreticle:
  • Autoreticle's animation is overall faster, with the projectiles being fired sooner (frame 29/35/41 → 25/31/37).
  • Autoreticle deals more damage per hit.
• Explosive Flame:
  • Explosive Flame, previously one of her alternate neutral specials, is now her side special. Since Reflect Barrier has been merged into her down special, she has effectively gained an additional move. This provides Palutena with another long-ranged attack option.
  • Explosive Flame deals more damage.
  • Explosive Flame's distance can be controlled depending on smash input.
• Warp:
• Warp has one extra frame of invincibility (frames 16-31 → 16-32).
• Counter and Reflect Barrier:
  • Down special now functions as both Counter and Reflect Barrier. If she's hit by a melee attack, Counter activates; if she's hit by a projectile, Reflect Barrier activates. This allows her to respond to a larger variety of attacks using only one move while also freeing up her side special for an additional move.
  • Both Reflect Barrier and Counter have fewer startup frames and a longer duration (frames 10-31 → 7-34). They also have less end lag (frame 75 → 71).
  • Counter deals less base knockback, but has much higher scaling being able to KO at any given percentage depending on strength.
    • Counter reduced base knockback removes the ability to OHKO any character at the center of the stage even countering with max damage.
  • Reflect Barrier has fewer active frames.
  • Palutena can no longer directly access Reflect Barrier. As a result, she can no longer use its windbox on command to gimp opponents, or use the move early to deter projectile use.
• Black Hole Laser
  • Palutena's Final Smash, Black Hole Laser, produces a larger black hole and a wider laser, making the attack harder to avoid.

Classic Mode: A Little Divine Intervention

Referring to being a goddess herself, Palutena's opponents all come from series where religion and mythology play a key role, such as the Belmonts being devoted Christians with holy equipment or the Zelda series having multiple deities who often require or grant assistance to the players. The title is the same as a phrase she says in her debut character trailer for Super Smash Bros. 4. Her song in the credits is "Destroyed Skyworld".

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music	Notes
1	Link and Zelda	Great Plateau Tower	Overworld
2	Cloud	Midgar	Magnus's Theme
3	Simon and Richter	Dracula's Castle	Destroyed Skyworld
4	Shulk	Gaur Plain	Thunder Cloud Temple
5	Bayonetta	Umbra Clock Tower	Riders Of The Light
6	Pit and Dark Pit Horde Battle	Palutena's Temple	Underworld
Bonus Stage
Final	Master Hand	Final Destination	Master Hand	On intensity 7.0 and higher, Crazy Hand fights alongside Master Hand, and the track Master Hand / Crazy Hand plays during the battle.

Note: Most stages play a track from the Kid Icarus universe, no matter what universe the stage originated from. The only exception being Umbra Clock Tower.

Role in World of Light

Palutena was among the fighters that were summoned to fight the army of Master Hands.

During the opening cutscene, Palutena was present when Galeem unleashed his beams of light. She attempted to block a beam with Reflect Barrier, which the beam completely pierced, disintegrating her. Her defeat causes Pit and Dark Pit to lose their Power of Flight, making the duo fall victim to the beams as well. They were all placed under Galeem's imprisonment alongside the rest of the fighters, excluding Kirby. A puppet fighter cloned from her is later seen alongside ones cloned from Greninja, King Dedede, Pokémon Trainer and other fighters.

Presumably, Palutena fell temporarily under Dharkon's control after Galeem was first defeated, the narration of Dharkon's introduction being vague on how many fighters he stole from Galeem.

Palutena is the last fighter to be found to be imprisoned by Galeem. In The Final Battle, she is called by Galeem as part of reinforcements after Dark Samus is awakened and Crazy Hand is beaten. She is an obligatory unlock for the true ending, as awaking her leads to a battle with Master Hand that frees him from Galeem's control (both of whom's defeats greatly shifts the balance of power in Dharkon's favor).

Spirits

Palutena's Fighter Spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 500 coins. Unlocking Palutena in World of Light allows the player to preview the 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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  705. Palutena

Alternate costumes

Gallery

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  Palutena's fighter card.

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  Idling on Coliseum.

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  Palutena summoning Explosive Flame on Skyloft.

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  Palutena reflecting Samus's Charge Shot on Temple.

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  Palutena on Lylat Cruise.

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  Palutena using her down tilt near an aerial Villager on Gaur Plain.

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  Palutena in her cyan alternate costume on Prism Tower.

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  Palutena catching Mario in the Black Hole item on Gaur Plain.

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  Getting launched by Lunala's Moongeist Beam along with Fox and Samus on Summit.

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  With Pit and Dark Pit on Skyworld.

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  Palutena, Samus, Villager, and Shovel Knight fighting on Find Mii Ω with the Moon about to crash into the stage.

Trivia

• Palutena is the only character to have two previously separate moves merge into one, being Counter and Reflect Barrier.
• Palutena's artwork was one of three to have been updated on the official site, alongside Falco and Shulk. Compared to her original artwork, her halo was added, and her chiton now covers up more of her thigh.
• Due to age rating issues, the slit in her chiton was changed to cover up more of her thigh beginning in the 1.0.6. update for Japanese releases of SSB4. This change was retained in Ultimate, including all international versions.
  • While her official artwork depicts the top of the chiton's slit as fused together, it appears to be stitched together on her in-game model.
• Palutena is the only fighter boss character that doesn't transform after they've been defeated.
• Palutena is one of the last characters to unlock no matter which method is chosen. She's the last unlockable character in Kirby's Classic Mode column, she is the final opponent in the timed encounters, and in World of Light, and she is in the Final Battle map.