Hero (SSBU)

Hero in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
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Universe	Dragon Quest
Availability	Downloadable
Final Smash	Gigaslash

“	The Hero Draws Near!	”
—Introduction Tagline

The Hero (勇者, Hero) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the second third-party representative from Square Enix after Cloud. He was announced during the E3 Nintendo Direct alongside Banjo & Kazooie on June 11th, 2019 as the second downloadable character from the Fighters Pass. The default Hero is the Luminary from Dragon Quest XI, while Erdrick from Dragon Quest III, Solo from Dragon Quest IV, and Eight from Dragon Quest VIII also appear as alternate characters like the Koopalings and Alph. Unlike the Koopalings and Alph, however, they are all listed simply as "Hero". He was released on July 30th, 2019 and is classified as fighter #72.

Mitsuki Saiga reprises her role as the Luminary from the Japanese version of Dragon Quest XI, voicing him in all regions in place of his English voice actor, Rasmus Hardiker. Nobuyuki Hiyama, Takeshi Kusao, and Yūki Kaji also debut as the voices of Erdrick, Solo, and Eight, respectively, also in all versions of the game.

Attributes

The Hero is a tall semi-heavyweight fighter. Contrary to his weight class, the Hero is rather tall, which—in tandem with his sword gives his attacks more reach, yet renders him vertically susceptible to combos; additionally, he sports an above-average damage output and KO potential, giving him attributes similar to those typical of a heavyweight. Collectively, the Hero has respectable mobility: in spite of having a slow walking speed, slightly below-average air speed and poor air acceleration, his dashing speed, initial dash, traction, falling speed, and fast-falling speed are all either average or above-average.

The Hero has a good defensive game, courtesy of his height, his shield, and a long sword. His naturally tall frame and sword give his attacks an impressive range, allowing him to keep a safe distance away from his opponent. In a manner reminiscent of the three Links, the Hero actually sports two shields: the standard one that every fighter has, and another equipped in his left arm most of the time. The Hero's shield can block projectiles while he is standing idle, walking, or crouching; its utility also extends to the first hit of his forward tilt, which in a similar manner to Palutena's dash attack and back aerial, grants invincibility to his left arm, as well as his head and left leg.

The Hero possesses a unique MP Gauge, a bar that starts at 100 and depletes whenever he uses his special moves. The amount depleted varies depending on the spell, but it can be restored over time or from attacking foes with standard attacks. Although his special moves completely rely on the MP Gauge, they possess tremendous utility. His neutral special, Frizz, is a fireball that can travel fast and far and deals decent damage, allowing the Hero to disrupt enemy approaches with this. In addition, unlike other Frizz spells, Frizz weakly launches the opponents upwards, making it possible to start setups or even outright true combos with the right timing. Frizz can be charged into Frizzle that is two projectiles in one, allowing it to beat other projectiles and KO near the ledge or offstage at reasonable percentages or Kafrizz for more damage, knockback, and traveling distance, turning it into a viable KO move even at 100% on stage. The Hero's side special, Zap, has decent range for its startup, deals respectable damage and can KO offstage opponents at high percentages and can be charged into Zapple, which grants it even more range and damage while being a vertical KO option at really high percentages, or Kazap: this results in the move becoming significantly stronger in exchange for a very long startup and less range than Zapple, being able to KO most opponents on center stage at mere 50%. Additionally, Zap and its variants are completely disjointed, giving them a fearsome range and rendering them immune to reflection and absorption. The Hero's up special, Woosh, can be charged into Swoosh or Kaswoosh. Woosh is a good recovery option and is also Hero's fastest and most reliable out of shield, and is further amplified through charging it up into Swoosh or Kaswoosh, granting more knockback, traveling far vertically and granting some horizontal movement. Additionally, all Woosh spells leave behind tornadoes, which serve as lingering hitboxes that can damage opponents and gimp opposing recoveries or setup into devastating setups from below the ledge. Finally, his down special, Command Selection, gives the Hero a random list of four spells that offer a wide variety of effects. For example, the Bounce spell will reflect projectiles without sacrificing mobility. All of the other spells have significant advantages and little disadvantages to boot, which can be seen here. The Command Selection can be canceled by inputting the shield button, allowing the Hero to repeatedly switch the menu of spells until he has an ideal set of them.

The Hero's smash attacks all share a unique perk: they have a 1/8 chance of striking with a critical hit, doubling their damage output and significantly increasing their knockback, allowing them to KO at extremely early percents. In addition, they cause the smash attacks to cause more shield stun, making them slightly safer on shield. Even without this perk, the Hero's smash attacks have some utility: his forward smash is his strongest smash attack in both damage and knockback, having large range to boot, making it terrific for hard reads or punishes; his up smash has high vertical range, being a reliable anti-air option, good for halting aerial opponents' approaches while remaining a good KOing tool (though it suffers from nonexistent horizontal range, being unable to hit grounded opponents); and his down smash is his weakest smash attack, though it is also his fastest and can be used to punish rolls or spot dodges—thus, it is a reliable edgeguarding attack in its own right.

The Hero's other grounded attacks still possess utility, even if they are less overwhelming than his smash attacks and special moves. Neutral attack has a respectable startup, damage output, and good range, making it good for both damage-racking at low percents, spacing and as "get-off-me". As stated earlier, forward tilt's first hit has blocking capabilities, making it a defensive option that can beat other moves or projectiles and then be followed up with a second hit—a sword slash—which offers better range, identical speed, and more power, allowing for setting up edge guards or outright KOs near the ledge. Up tilt has a wide range, which, coupled with its respectable damage output and decent startup lag, makes it a fantastic anti-air option and more consistent than up smash, along with being able to KO at high percentages. Down tilt has good range—superseding the Hero's neutral attack—while offering the same speed and launching vertically; it can be used to hit opponents hanging on the ledge and start setups. Lastly, dash attack boasts high power for an attack of its type at the cost of speed, being able to KO at a mere 80% from the ledge.

The Hero's aerial moveset, while nowhere near as impressive as that of many other swordfighters, is impressive in its own right. Neutral aerial has a wide range around him and launches at a diagonal angle, being a situational combo starter and useful shield poking option. Forward and back aerials are both rather slow (with back aerial, in particular, being among the slowest of its kind), but they both deal respectably decent knockback, KOing at 100% and 85% respectively. Up aerial has the lowest lag out of any of the Hero's aerials and deals very low damage and knockback, enabling it to effectively initiate combos into itself or other moves, or even set up KO confirms at varying percentages. Lastly, down aerial is the Hero's most damaging aerial, but also one of his slowest; its clean hit is capable of meteor smashing opponents, leading to KOs as low as 20% on offstage foes.

Lastly, the Hero's up and down throws sport some utility: the former can not only act as a situational combo starter, but it is also his strongest throw, being able to KO before 200%, unlike his others; conversely, down throw is a good combo starter at low percents and can lead into dangerous set-ups.

But for all the strengths that the Hero has, they do come with a price. Since all of his special moves use MP, the Hero is limited in the number of special moves he can perform at a given moment until the MP Gauge recharges. If he runs out of MP or does not have enough, he will be unable to cast the appropriate spell, which is problematic when recovering off-stage, as the Hero's Woosh spell will only give him a very small hop. While his Command Selection is versatile, its random nature means that there is no guarantee that the appropriate spell will be available for the right situation. On top of that, some of his spells have little utility (e.g, Metal Slash, which deals 1% and extremely low set knockback against non-metal opponents), while one of them, Hocus Pocus, grants the Hero a slew of negative effects, outnumbering the positive effects received from it. Furthermore, the majority of the commands will only work under certain circumstances, which cannot all be accounted for during a given usage.

Many of the Hero's attacks suffer from slow start-up lag (dash attack), high ending lag (up, down, and second hit of forward tilts), or both (forward and back aerials). The Hero's below-average frame data, alongside his high raw damage output and attacks' high knockback values, give him a limited combo ability, only having certain attacks like neutral aerial, up aerial, up throw, and down throw that can successfully generate true combos. Even then, while Hero's grabs have a fast startup for his weight class, they have short-range and up throw only initiates combos at fairly low percentages. Up aerial suffers from poor range and down tilt suffers from the aforementioned high-end lag, preventing it from performing any true combos. As stated earlier, his up smash's horizontal range is nonexistent; thus, it is the Hero's least useful move against grounded opponents and, by extension, his least potent grounded attack.

Due to being a semi-heavyweight with a tall hurtbox, the Hero is vertically susceptible to combos, which is further exacerbated through his falling speed being slightly above-average, his fast-falling speed being exponentially high, and his lack of fast enough means of escaping them. His ability to be comboed fairly easily is pushed even further through one of Hocus Pocus's effects—which makes the Hero giant—as well as Oomph, which makes him take 1.2x the normal damage of any attack (this is further consequential in 1v1 battles).

All in all, Hero’s strengths are on par with his weaknesses. While he does have a plethora of magic spells at his disposal, high damage output, and overall high kill power, he suffers from susceptibility in combos, laggy moves, randomness with MP, and limited combos. While players such as Salem have shown Hero’s potential at tournaments, his representation has been below average overall. As such, his viability remains up for debate.

Update history

So far the Hero has not received any significant buffs or nerfs in-game patches; the majority of the changes made to the character have been bug fixes and other adjustments to align him with the rest of the cast.

5.0.0

• The ending lag after bouncing when prone has been decreased to be in line with the rest of the roster.
• The final hit of Kafrizz can now be reflected, blocked by passive shields and absorbed.
• Magic Burst's looping hits deal more hitstun (0 → +2), preventing opponents from escaping them by using moves with intangibility at the start.
• Using Zoom while under the effect of a Super Mushroom no longer expire until the end of the move. This prevents cases where Hero would become stuck in the animation indefinitely.
• Fixed multiple issues with the initial hit of Gigaslash not granting opponents intangibility; it is no longer possible to perform the following glitches:
  • Fixed an issue that resulted opponents to take damage near a stage hazard, such as lava.
  • Fixed an issue that resulted opponents to lose 2 stocks if KOed at high percents. It no longer puts opponents in combat with no stocks remaining.
  • Fixed an issue that resulted opponents to grapically stuck remain in the Final Smash aura.

6.0.0

• Gravitational Pull and Pocket can no longer affect the explosion of Kafrizz.

7.0.0

• Kaboom's first hit has much less knockback scaling (100 → 40), making it less likely to knock the opponent out of range of the explosion at higher percents.

Moveset

• The Hero's shield can block incoming projectiles, akin to Link, Young Link and Toon Link.
• The Hero's smash attacks have a 1/8 chance of having a critical hit effect, triggering a Special Zoom and dealing twice as much damage. This subsequently increases their knockback by a significant amount, although forward and down smash have lower base knockback values as a slight compensation. Against shields, critical hits have negative shield damage equal to the moves' base damage, causing them to deal the same damage to shields as the standard versions and thus preventing them from easily breaking shields. However, critical hits still inflict more shieldstun due to their higher base damage, making them safer on shield.
  • Apart from Erdrick and Solo, each Hero uses a specific sound effect when a critical hit lands, which are directly taken from their respective Dragon Quest games. Erdrick and Solo share the same critical hit sounds.
• The Hero has an MP Gauge which depletes whenever he uses his special moves. The amount of MP depleted varies based on the spell. The meter is restored over time (at a rate of one point per second), or when damaging foes with regular attacks.
  • The maximum amount of MP is 100.
  • If the Hero attempts to use a spell without the required MP, he will still perform the animation, but without the actual spell (in the case of Zap, there is still a hitbox that deals 2% damage). Additionally, when this occurs, the failed sound effect from Dragon Quest will play.

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

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

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			3%	A three-hit neutral attack, with the first two hits being slashes going straight up and straight down, and the final hit having him swipe his sword inward. Deals decent damage.
			3%
			4%
Forward tilt			5%	A two-hit attack, acting like Snake's forward tilt, a back-handed shield bash followed up by an outward slash. The shield bash resembles Blockenspiel, and can also block attacks. The slash can KO at around 130% near the ledge. However, it has 39 frames of ending lag if the second hit misses, making it highly punishable.
			8%
Up tilt			11% (blade), 9% (body)	An overhead arcing slash while jumping, similarly to Toon Link's up smash. It has a huge reach, making it a potent anti-air. However, it has a noticeable ending lag, which doesn't grant it any true combos.
Down tilt			7%	Kicks forward while leaning on the ground with his arm. Having slightly more range than his neutral attack while having the same 6-frame startup, it launches vertically, which can make it a combo starter, albeit a fairly unreliable one because of its rather high-end lag compared to other down tilts. Resembles Leg Sweep.
Dash attack			15% (blade), 13% (body)	A jumping slash attack, similar to Link's. Very powerful, being able to KO at around 80% from the ledge. However, it has a very slow startup at frame 21 and 29 frames of ending lag. Based on the Hero's long-range standard sword attack from Dragon Quest XI.
Forward smash			18% (blade), 16% (body)	Performs a two-handed downward slash in front of him, resembling Ike and Ganondorf's forward smashes. It comes out at frame 17 but has 46 frames of ending lag, making it very unsafe. There is a chance of a critical hit occurring whenever Hero performs this move, which can even one-hit KO if fully charged.
Up smash			16% (blade), 14% (body)	A single upward thrust, which resembles Marth's up smash. Has a decent vertical range, but extremely poor horizontal range, being unable to hit grounded opponents. There is a chance of a critical hit occurring whenever Hero performs this move. A critical hit from an up smash is extremely powerful, with uncharged versions being capable of KOing at as low as 30%. It has 37 frames of ending lag, making it easy to punish.
Down smash			13% (blade), 11% (body)	A kneeling inward slash in front of himself followed by a kneeling outward slash behind himself, similar to Link's down smash. There is a chance of a critical hit occurring whenever Hero performs this move. It is the weakest out of Hero's other smash attacks, although it is the fastest and does well at punishing rolls.
Neutral aerial			9%	Swings his sword around him, resembling Ike's neutral aerial. It launches at a diagonal angle, making it a somewhat decent combo tool. This combo potential is even more noticeable with Acceleratle, as Hero can follow up with forward aerial at high percentages as a KO confirm. It strongly resembles Hero's attack during the pep power The Real Decoy in Dragon Quest XI.
Forward aerial			12% (blade), 10% (body)	A downward slash, similar to Roy's forward aerial. Somewhat slow, coming out on frame 14, but it deals moderately high knockback, enough to KO at around 100% at the ledge. It also covers a wide arc, making it a good spacing and approaching tool.
Back aerial			14% (blade), 12% (body)	An upward sword swipe behind his back, which resembles Toon Link's back aerial. Very slow startup for an aerial of its kind, at frame 18, but it boasts excellent power, KOing at around 85% at the ledge. It covers behind Hero very well, being able to even hit slightly above him.
Up aerial			7%	Performs an upward kick. Somewhat resembles Lucario's up aerial, although without a backflip at the end. Hero's fastest aerial in terms of the startup, ending, and landing lag, and the only one that can auto-cancel in a short hop. However, it has an extremely short range, and is fairly weak; this doesn't grant it KO potential, although it offers many combo opportunities. Additionally, at high percentages on landing, this move can combo into forward and back aerial as a KO confirm.
Down aerial			16% (clean), 10% (late)	Thrusts his sword downward with one hand. The clean hit meteor smashes opponents powerfully. It is also his most damaging aerial. However, it is rather slow, coming out on frame 19, and it has a very high landing lag. At mid percents (30-65% for mid-weight characters), hitting with the meteor hitbox on a grounded opponent can lead to his up smash (if up smash is a critical hit, it can KO middleweights starting at 30%).
Grab			—	Reaches out with his left hand.
Pummel			1.3%	Knees the opponent.
Forward throw			7%	Throws the opponent away. Low knockback, making it suited only for positioning. Psyche Up turns it into a viable kill throw at high percents at the ledge.
Back throw			9%	Performs the tomoe nage, similar to Toon Link's back throw. Psyche Up turns this into a KO throw at very high percents at the ledge.
Up throw			7%	Heaves the opponent upward, akin to Mario's up throw. A great combo starter due to its low ending lag, being able to combo into neutral aerial and up aerial at low percentages. It is also Hero's strongest throw, although it is rather weak for a KO throw, though Psyche Up and/or rage can make it stronger.
Down throw			6%	Slams the opponent on the ground. A good combo starter that can lead to either his forward or up aerial at low-mid percentages. It can also lead to Kafrizz or forward smash on larger targets at very low percents.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Slashes behind himself, then in front of himself.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Slashes behind himself, then in front of himself.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Slashes in front of himself, then behind himself.
Edge attack Edge getups			9%	Climbs up and slashes inward.
Neutral special		Frizz/Frizzle/Kafrizz	Frizz: 9%/6% (late) Frizzle: 9% (hit 1-2), 18% (total) Kafrizz: 19% (initial hit), 3% (hit 2-5), 31% (total)	A fireball that can be charged up to become Frizzle and Kafrizz, which are stronger variants that travel increasingly farther and faster. Frizz: A small fireball that is produced when the move is uncharged. It is quick to throw, but travels very slowly and is very weak. Frizz is the only variant of the Frizz spells that suffer from damage falloff, which means that it gets weaker and slower after traveling a certain distance. Frizz costs 6 MP to use. Frizzle: Two intertwined fireballs that appear when the move is semi-charged. Frizzle is faster and stronger than Frizz. The two fireballs can actually break-off into separate fireballs if an opponent or attack lands on top of one of the fireballs. Frizzle is decently powerful, being able to KO at 135% near the ledge. Frizzle costs 16 MP to use. Kafrizz: The strongest version of Frizz that appears when the move is fully charged. It is a large, multi-hitting fireball deals extremely high damage and knockback, KOing at around 60% near the ledge. It also deals considerably high shield damage. Kafrizz has noticeable ending lag, though, so it can be reflected and punish the Hero easily. Kafrizz costs 36 MP to use.
Side special		Zap/Zapple/Kazap	Zap: 14% (swing sword + Zap) / 12% (Zap) / 2% (no MP) Zapple: 6% (hit 1), 14% (hit 2), 20% (total) Kazap: 4% (hit 1), 6% (hit 2), 12% (hit 3), 16% (final hit), 38% (total)	A series of lightning spells that can be charged to become Zapple and Kazap. Zap: An electric bolt that the Hero shoots from his sword. It is the quickest Zap spell and has the lowest amount of ending lag, but has the shortest range and is the weakest. The sword swing itself has a hitbox, so if the move is used up close, it will deal extra damage. This also means Zap can still somewhat be used without MP, although the sword swing only deals a measly 2%. Zap costs 8 MP to use. Zapple: A longer electric bolt that is fired when the move is semi-charged. It has considerably long-range and deals decent damage, making it an excellent tool for spacing. Can KO at 155% from the center of Battlefield. Zapple costs 18 MP to use. Kazap: The Hero raises his sword in the air as a lightning bolt strikes it; the Hero then slashes around himself. Kazap is the strongest version of the Zap spell and is an excellent finisher, KOing around 60% from center stage and around 40% near the ledge if all hits connect. Kazap also has super armor frames and deceptively low ending lag. All variations of Zap (with the exception of the first half of Kazap) are disjointed hitboxes and not projectiles, meaning that they cannot be reflected or absorbed. Kazap, however, costs 45 MP to use, the highest out of all the Hero's spells.
Up special		Woosh/Swoosh/Kaswoosh	Woosh: 7% Swoosh: 3% (hit 1-4), 13% (total) Kaswoosh: 3% (hit 1-5), 4% (final hit), 19% (total)	A series of tornadoes spells that the Hero uses for recovery. Can be charged to become Swoosh and Kaswoosh. Woosh: A small and weak tornado that launches the Hero slightly upward. It is very quick, however, coming out on frame 7, making it a good out of shield option. Woosh has set knockback, meaning that it will do the same amount of knockback regardless of the opponent's percentage. Woosh costs 5 MP to use. Swoosh: A larger tornado that hits multiple times and grants a better recovery, both vertical and horizontally. Swoosh costs 9 MP to use. Kaswoosh: Two large tornadoes that hit multiple times and grant the highest vertical recovery, making it a potent recovery move. Can KO at 148% from the center of Battlefield. Kaswoosh costs 18 MP to use. All versions of Woosh have lackluster horizontal movement, especially at the apex of the launch. All versions of Woosh launch opponents in the opposite direction the Hero is facing, which can lead to gimps, stage spikes, and KO's, especially with Swoosh and Kaswoosh.
Down special		Command Selection	(see below)	The Hero chooses between an impressive variety of four randomly-selected spells from a pop-up menu, even standing in a "thinking" position. These spells require MP to use. Shielding closes the menu, canceling the move and allowing the Hero to open it again for a different set.
Final Smash		Gigaslash	40%	Summons the other seven Dragon Quest heroes who are not playable, charging the Hero's sword with bolts of electricity, before the playable Hero unleashes it in the form of a slash.

Command Selection spells

Spell	MP Cost	Relative odds of appearing	Damage	Description
Oomph	16	16	1.6× damage dealt, 1.2× damage taken	Increases the Hero's attack power by 1.6× for 10 seconds. However, he also takes 1.2× more damage.
Snooze	16	17	-	A forward-moving projectile that sends opponents to sleep if it connects and can pass through multiple opponents; however, it can be blocked. The projectile puts opponents to sleep for longer at close range but gets larger at further ranges. Snooze can affect aerial opponents, which can KO offstage opponents should they be too far to maneuver towards the stage. However, opponents in the air are put to sleep for a much shorter amount of time; the clean aerial hitbox puts opponents to sleep for less time than the latest grounded hitbox.
Bounce	14	16	1.5× reflected projectile	A lingering spell that reflects projectiles. Like a Franklin Badge, Bounce lets the Hero move around and act while active. One of the Hero's best-approaching tools against projectile users, due to him being able to perform any action while keeping out an active reflector.
Flame Slash	12	18	22% (blade), 17% (flames)	A quick slash with the Hero's sword cloaked in flame. Deals considerable damage and knockback, and has a huge range in front of him; however, only hitting with the blade itself grants high KO power. Capable of KOing middleweights at earlier than 95% from the center of Final Destination.
Kacrackle Slash	11	18	17% (blade), 13% (frost)	A quick slash with the Hero's sword cloaked in frost. Freezes opponents; the blade freezes for considerably longer.
Kaclang	6	5	15% (falling)	Makes the Hero metal and makes him impervious to both damage and knockback for a period of time, but also prevents him from taking any action. It cannot be canceled once activated. However, the Hero can still be KOed by another Hero using Metal Slash, and any well-timed attack is sufficient to punish him during the ending lag of the move. Using Kaclang in the air will grant the Hero a hitbox on his descent and allow him to move left and right until he lands.
Zoom	8	15	-	Hero jumps directly upward, going past the limits of the camera, and then falls directly downwards onto a random part of the stage, no matter where he was when the spell was inputted. If used when there is a ceiling above Hero, he will shoot up until he meets the platform, at which point he will collide against it, while still being able to act afterward. It has invincibility frames as soon as Hero starts to fly. It can be used as a last-ditch recovery if Hero will be unable to reach the ledge otherwise, and if Hero is close to a blast line (within 40 units), the odds of Zoom being selectable are multiplied by 3. The hero can perform an action as soon as he starts to fall back down, and the descent can be canceled by jumping or charging Frizz.
Kamikazee	1	5	50.1% (close), 35.1% (far)	Hero crosses his arms and begins to glow. After a few seconds, he explodes, instantly KOing himself and delivering heavy unblockable damage and knockback to any opponent in a large radius, and the sweet spot can KO many opponents within the 50-60% range. Using this will count as a KO for the last opponent to hit him. The hero is intangible during the charge-up. Kamikazee does not appear to be available as a menu option during the World of Light Finale.
Sizz	8	16	13.5%	A flame projectile sent forward. Lacks KO potential onstage, but can KO opponents offstage. It cannot appear alongside Sizzle.
Sizzle	20	20	25%	A flame projectile sent forward quickly. Deals high damage for its speed. Deals decent knockback, KOing around 100% near the ledge. It cannot appear alongside Sizz.
Psyche Up	14	16	1.2× damage dealt	Noticeably increases the knockback dealt by the Hero's next attack and increases the damage by 1.2×, acting similar to Revenge. Projectiles are not affected by Psyche Up, and will not use it up. Boosts the power of the Hero's throws as well, making them very powerful, especially the Hero's up throw and his forward throw when used near the ledge.
Heal	7	7	Heals 11%	Heals Hero by 11% damage. After being used twice, it will no longer appear for selection until Hero scores a KO or is KO'd.
Acceleratle	13	16	-	Temporarily buffs the Hero's movement speed by a significant amount, similar to Lightweight, but to a sufficiently high degree that the Hero can outrun Sonic; however, it also increases Hero's launch rate, taking 1.1× normal knockback.
Bang	9	16	15.5%	A small explosive flame projectile sent forward. Explodes on contact with opponents, or after a set distance. Deals decent knockback, KOing vertically starting at around 130%. It cannot appear alongside Kaboom.
Kaboom	37	20	28%	A projectile that explodes after a certain distance, or on contact with opponents. The instant before the explosion pulls opponents in if they're close enough. Possesses high knockback and a very large explosion hitbox, KOing around 85% vertically. It cannot appear alongside Bang.
Hatchet Man	15	18	35%	A forceful, downward slash which resembles his forward smash, triggering Special Zoom on-hit. Has considerable start-up, but possesses extremely high damage and knockback, making it capable of KOing early, around 45% from center stage, and much earlier at the ledge. It can also instantaneously break a full shield, similar to a fully charged Shield Breaker.
Whack	10	8	1%	Hero swings his hand forward, sending out a slow-moving dark purple projectile. Has a chance to instantly KO the opponent, with a higher chance for it to occur the more damage the opponent has. Deals next to no damage or knockback. It cannot appear alongside Thwack. The formula for Whack to instantly KO is 1 + (pt - 20) / (300 - 20) * 200 + 20 * (pH / 300), where pt is the target's percent pre-hit limited to between 20% and 300%, and pH is Hero's percent limited to 300% or less. As a result, the final rate is 1% when the opponent is below 20% damage and scales up to 100% when the opponent is just below 160% damage, with a maximum extra 20% chance if Hero is at 300% damage. The move is notoriously difficult to reflect, as the speed and direction of the reflected projectile depend on the speed and direction the erratically moving projectile was traveling at the moment of reflection. As such, it will often deflect into the ground or up into the air, and in some cases will move so slowly that it seemingly stays in place.
Thwack	30	12	3%	Hero swings his hand forward, and a large dark purple spark appears directly in front of him. Has a chance to instantly KO the opponent, with a higher chance for it to occur the more damage the opponent has. It has a very large hitbox, and a windbox around it which pulls nearby opponents in; however, it also has considerable startup lag. It does only 3% damage and little knockback and can be reflected, absorbed, and shielded. It cannot appear alongside Whack.
Metal Slash	6	7	1%	Hero slashes his sword forward. Instantly KOs any metal opponent, including another Hero using Kaclang. When used against non-metal opponents, it will only do 1% damage and weak knockback. If there is a metal opponent present when the menu is opened, the odds of Metal Slash are multiplied by 4; however, in spirit battles, it is instead multiplied by 0.2.
Hocus Pocus	4	3	(see below)	A spell with random effects, both positive and negative, and also can take the form of other Command Selection spells.
Magic Burst	All remaining MP	5	max: 4.2% (loop), 11% (last)	A powerful and massive blast that grows in size, similar to a Smart Bomb explosion. It hits multiple times and is active for a few seconds. Consumes all of the Hero's remaining MP; the spell's power depends on how much MP the Hero has left. The attack has an extremely large range, covering half of Final Destination, and with full MP, it can KO at merely 20%. Due to these factors, along with the move itself being surprisingly quick to activate, it is widely considered to be one of, if not the Hero's best command specials and arguably the most feared, albeit only in circumstances where Hero has at least around half of his MP remaining. Additionally, the move is blockable, with each hit having slightly reduced shield damage. Projectiles can also cancel out the move, and he can be hit by physical attacks at the very beginning of the move's startup, leaving Hero with no MP and at a great disadvantage, making Magic Burst a rather high-risk, high-reward move. The damage dealt is multiplied by 0.2 + 0.008MP, with the value being between 0.2 and 1×.

Hocus Pocus Effects

Type	Chance of occurrence	Effect
Positive	4.88%	Makes him giant.
Positive	1.22%	Makes him invincible.
Positive	3.96%	MP is refilled to 100.
Negative	6.1%	Applies a timer effect to himself.
Negative	6.1%	MP is reduced to 0.
Negative	6.1%	Inflicts poison to himself, dealing 27.5% damage total.
Negative	6.1%	Inflicts sleep on himself.
Negative	5.49%	Makes him small.
Negative	6.1%	Inflicts the flower effect on himself, dealing a maximum of 22% damage without mashing.
Neutral	6.1%	Turns him invisible.
Neutral	47.85%	One of the Hero's commands is granted for 4 MP instead of the value it usually consumes. Note: if the command is Magic Burst, it will consume all MP as usual.

On-screen appearance

• Flies onto the stage using Zoom.

Taunts

• Up taunt: Charges in place as a purple aura envelops around him. References the original Psyche Up animation from Dragon Quest VIII.
• Side taunt: Raises his sword vertically into the air.
• Down taunt: Fumbles in place as a Slime meanders in front of him.

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  Hero's up taunt.

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  Hero's side taunt.

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  Hero's down taunt.

Idle poses

• Lifts sword in front of him with a small smile.
• Assumes an attack stance. Similar to one of Link's idle animations.

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  Hero's first idle pose

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  Hero's second idle pose

Victory poses

• Left: The Hero raises his sword in the air, slashes twice and finishes in a pose.
• Up: The Hero performs Kazap and strikes a pose.
• Right: The Hero walks up to three Slimes, kneels down and looks at them with a smile. The camera angle before the Hero appears also references the first-person battle screens of most Dragon Quest games.

An arrangement of the ending phase of "Overture", the main Dragon Quest theme.

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In competitive play

Hero's place in competitive play has been controversial even before his introduction into the game; players were immediately divided due to the sheer amount of randomness in his toolkit, which was argued as too unpredictable for a character to work as a competitively fair character. Upon his release, it was not uncommon to watch players pull off unpredictable feats in a competitive setting, with several games ending in Hero's favor due to a lucky giant/invisible Hocus Pocus roll, a random critical hit smash attack, high-MP Magic Burst, and most infamously, a finals game where Puppeh KO'd another Hero player with Thwack at 0% right after he respawned, thus winning the game. Players in support of Hero have also stated the opposite, as even experienced players were capable of making game-changing mistakes from sheer luck, including an accidental Kamikazee, unlucky Hocus Pocus roll, or a Kaclang offstage or onstage, all equally likely to cause a stock loss. These only further added to the controversy, which can be seen below. Overall, it is generally agreed that the character has not been, and likely will not be put into an optimized state for a long time.

Outside of the controversy, however, Hero has not made a significant impact on the metagame; while it is common to see him in pools and small-scale tournaments, he has not gone far in high-level tournaments, with his only notable tournament placements coming from komorikiri and Tsu in Japan, and Salem and Trela in America. This can be attributed to his slow frame data, lack of reliable combo breaking options, and his reliance on MP, all of which can be exploited by opponents. His randomness also plays a part in his unreliability, as it can be just as common to roll an undesired move as it is to get the best option. As a result, Hero's results have been tame in comparison to his moveset's controversy, and his standing in the tier list is up for debate.

Notable players

Active

Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the Fall 2019 PGRU, which recognizes the official top 50 players in the world in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from July 13th, 2019 to December 15th, 2019.

•  +HOPE+ - Co-mains Hero and Roy. Placed 33rd at Valhalla III with a win over SBF and Grove. Currently ranked 1st on the Danish Power Rankings.
•  komorikiri - The best solo Hero player in Japan. Placed 9th at Sumabato SP 8 and 17th at Sumabato SP 7 using solo Hero.
•  Ryuga - Co-mains Ike and Hero. Placed 65th at Super Smash Con 2019 using Hero and Ike.
•  Salem (#30) - Co-mains Hero and Snake and is considered the best Hero main in the world. Placed 1st at Port Priority 5, 4th at Thunder Smash 3: Clash of the Pandas, and 7th at Mainstage in conjunction with Snake, and 49th at both Super Smash Con 2019 and Shine 2019 using mostly Hero.
•  Skilly - The best Hero player in Nebraska. Placed 2nd at Sweet Spot 6 with Hero as one of his characters, as well as 7th at Thwacked, 13th at Smash Out 2019, and 65th at The Big House 9 with solo Hero. Ranked 2nd on the Nebraska Ultimate Power Rankings.
•  Trela - Placed 9th at Standoff 2019. Although he initially dropped the character for Banjo & Kazooie, he continues to use both in tournaments.
•  T (#15) - Has a strong Hero secondary. Placed 4th at both EGS Cup 2 and Seibugeki 4 using both Hero and Link.
•  Tsu - Has a strong Hero secondary and is considered one of the best Hero players in the world. Placed 9th at Umebura SP 4, 13th at Umebura SP 5, and 17th at Umebura SP 6 using Hero as one of his characters.

Inactive

•  Zackray (#7) - Used Hero as a secondary. Placed 9th at Super Smash Con 2019 and 25th at Umebura SP 4 as one of his characters.

Ban controversy

Hero's moveset, specifically Command Selection, has been controversial due to its randomness. Comparisons have been drawn between Command Selection and items, with the argument is that the unpredictable nature of both of them result in a less competitive environment, in which skill alone is not sufficient to win matches (coincidentally so as certain spells like Hocus Pocus grant abilities otherwise only found with items such as the Super Star and Timer). Furthermore, specific commands have also been the subject of controversy, such as Zoom which invalidates any attempts at edgeguarding, Whack and Thwack which are capable of KOing at any percentage, or Magic Burst whose blast radius can easily cover the ledge and prevent a large portion of the cast from recovering without taking significant damage. Random critical hits from smash attacks have also stirred conversation regarding Hero's skill factor, though not quite to the same degree as Command Selection. Finally, issues regarding language barriers have also been raised, as it is not uncommon for players to compete in regions that do not share their first language, which puts one of them at a significant disadvantage, both either when playing as or against Hero.

Many prominent smashers, such as Leffen and Dark Wizzy, have advocated banning Hero, while others such as Dabuz and ESAM have come out against a ban, arguing that the character has significant counterplay and has not achieved overwhelmingly high results at tournaments to the same degrees as a top-tier character. The first region to ban Hero from tournaments was South Australia, where the ban was put into effect on August 15th, 2019. This was met with criticism, with players in the community such as D1 and ZeRo stating that it is too early to declare whether the character should be banned or not. Notably, Nintendo France has also banned the Hero and DLC Fighters released after September 23rd, 2019 from future tournaments in their area, making Hero the first case where a character has been banned in Nintendo-run tournaments. No official reason has been given for the ban by Nintendo France at the time. However, as of September 26, 2019, Nintendo France announced on Twitter that they have overturned the ban, making Hero and DLC Fighters released after the aforementioned date legal in Nintendo-run Tournaments for the area.

Classic Mode: A History of Heroism

Hero's congratulations screen.

Every battle aside from the last one is a stamina battle, referencing the HP system in Dragon Quest and most RPGs. Additionally, every battle uses a song from the Dragon Quest universe regardless of stage. When fighting against all of the Heroes, they will use that costume even if the player is using one of them (a trait unique to Hero until the release of Byleth).

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music	Notes
1	Tiny Kirby (×3)	Gaur Plain (Battlefield form)	The Hero Goes Forth with a Determination	A reference to Slimes and She-Slimes.
2	Hero and Tiny Robin	Yggdrasil's Altar	Unflinchable Courage	A fight against the Hero from Dragon Quest XI. Robin references Veronica, a party member from the aforementioned game.
3	Hero	Temple	Wagon Wheel's March	A fight against the Hero from Dragon Quest IV, Solo.
4	Rathalos	Forest Hill	Fighting Spirits - DRAGON QUEST III	Dragons are recurring enemies in the Dragon Quest series. Rathalos could also be specifically referencing a Red Dragon, an enemy from the original Dragon Quest.
5	Hero and Tiny Pikachu	Gaur Plain (Battlefield form)	War Cry	A fight against the Hero from Dragon Quest VIII. Pikachu references the Hero's pet Pig-Rat, Munchie.
6	Hero	Castle Siege (third transformation)	Adventure - DRAGON QUEST III	A fight against the Hero from Dragon Quest III, Erdrick. The stage does not transition back to its first form.
Bonus Stage
Final	Robin and Giant Charizard	Dracula's Castle (Ω form)	Fighting Spirits - DRAGON QUEST III (Robin) Battle for the Glory - DRAGON QUEST IV (Giant Charizard)	Charizard is not announced in the loading screen. References the fight against the Dragonlord from the original Dragon Quest. In that fight, the Dragonlord starts off in his human form, but upon defeat he turns into a giant dragon for the second phase.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Unlike other fighters, the music that plays differs depending on the costume selected.

• The Luminary uses The Hero Goes Forth with a Determination.
• Erdrick uses Adventure - DRAGON QUEST III.
• Solo uses Wagon Wheel's March.
• Eight uses Marching through the Fields.

Role in World of Light

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

Due to his status as downloadable content, Hero 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 prior to downloading Hero, he is immediately unlocked.

Spirits

Hero's Fighter Spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 coins, but only after Hero has been downloaded. Unlocking Hero 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.

Additionally, the other three heroes have their own fighter spirits, which can only be obtained by purchase in the shop.

• HeroDQXIS.png

  1,324. Hero (DRAGON QUEST XI S)

• ErdrickTrans.png

  1,325. Hero (DRAGON QUEST III)

• HeroDQIV.png

  1,326. Hero (DRAGON QUEST IV)

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  1,327. Hero (DRAGON QUEST VIII)

Spirit Battle

As a minion

Spirit				Battle parameters							Inspiration
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music	Character
1,329	File:Cetacea Spirit.png	Cetacea	DRAGON QUEST Series	•Giant King K. Rool •Hero		9,500	Yggdrasil's Altar (Ω form)	N/A	•Defeat the main fighter to win •The enemy has super armor but moves slower •Timed stamina battle	The Hero Goes Forth with a Determination	Luminary

Alternate costumes

Gallery

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  The Hero's splash art.

• HeroJoinsTheBattleSSBU.jpg

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

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  Luminary crouching on Great Plateau Tower.

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  Luminary posing on Yggdrasil's Altar.

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  Luminary using Heal while Cloud uses his side taunt on Spear Pillar.

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  Luminary attacking Incineroar with his up aerial on Coliseum.

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  Luminary using Frizz on Gaur Plain.

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  The other Heroes (Solo, Erdrick, and Eight) on Palutena's Temple.

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  Luminary attacking Robin with his neutral aerial and Erdrick attacking Wario with his forward smash on Yggdrasil's Altar.

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  Luminary using Kazap on Battlefield.

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  Luminary striking Inkling with his forward tilt on Battlefield.

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  Luminary using Frizzle against Ridley on Yggdrasil's Altar.

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  Luminary hitting Fox with his up smash on Yggdrasil's Altar.

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  Luminary using his neutral attack against Fox on Yggdrasil's Altar.

Trivia

• The Hero is referred within the game files with the codename "brave", a rather direct translation of his Japanese name Yūsha. Notably, the codename was discovered as early as December 2018, after the day-one patch release, although the discovery had only been made public in January. The mysterious codename raised much speculation and debate in the community, with the most common hypothesis on the identity of the mysterious character being a Dragon Quest protagonist.
• Hero shares his heavy carry, battering item, home-run swing and special flag animations with Link. This suggests they were imported over as they were minor animations of low priority.
  • Additionally, he also shares his dash attack and passive shield ability with him.
• The Hero and Joker are the only DLC fighters whose Final Smashes cannot be paused in the middle of the animation. It is unknown why they share this quirk as all other DLC fighters still allow the player to pause the game, though a possible explanation is that both Final Smashes implement pre-recorded video files.
  • Additionally, the Hero's fourth and eighth alternate costumes (Eight and his color variation) are the first and so far only alternate costumes to feature a separate character that is not part of the default costume. In this case, it is Munchie.
• The Hero's trailer is the first of any DLC character trailer to have completely original CGI animation; all previous DLC trailers either used the in-game engine, 2D animation, or (in the case of Corrin) pre-existing CGI animation.
  • It is also the second time an alternate character costume appears as part of any CGI animation for the game, the first being Inkling Girl and Inkling Boy in the opening of Adventure Mode: World of Light.
  • The trailer features a slight rendering issue: when the Luminary falls on the ground, causing some Slimes to scatter, one of them appears in transparency through his hair for a few frames, even though it is behind him.
• The Hero's artwork pose in the panoramic banner is similar to Young Link's pose in his official render, but mirrored.
  • Similarly, the Luminary's artwork greatly resembles Young Link's artwork from Ocarina of Time, which is used for his fighter spirit; however, the positions of the sword and shield are flipped, since the Luminary is right-handed.
• In Japanese, Hero has a chance of calling out a spell's name, excluding the Command Selection spells. This makes him the fifth character in the series to have specific lines in the Japanese language track of a game replaced by generic grunts from the same voice actor outside of Japan after Fox, Sheik, and Falco in Melee and Mewtwo in all of its playable appearances.
  • Kirby also follows this trait as well, making it the first Copy Ability of his to have such a distinction.
• The Hero is the third playable character to feature a non-playable character in the panoramic artwork with them, featuring Slime alongside him. The first two are Olimar and Joker, who feature Mr. Saturn and Morgana with them, respectively.
• In German, Spanish, French, and Italian, the name tag and voice clip from the announcer on the victory screen is slightly different from the one used on the character select screen, instead featuring a noticeable translation of "the" ("der Held", "el Héroe", "le Héros", and "l'Eroe"). Hero shares this trait with Wii Fit Trainer, Pokémon Trainer, Villager, Inkling, the Ice Climbers, and the Mii Fighters.
• In the Japanese version, Hero is named "勇者 Yūsha" and his respective announcer voice clip reads it that way, but his name on the character select screen icon, versus splash screen and results screen is still written as "Hero". He and Young Link are the only characters with this trait, as all others have the respective romanization of their Japanese name, instead of a direct translation to English.
  • Furthermore, Hero is the only fighter to have his name entirely formatted in kanji in the Japanese version. The other fighter to have a common noun as their name, Villager, has his name written in hiragana instead.
• Depending on which version of the Hero is being played, the critical hit sound effect from that Hero's respective game will play when they land a critical hit through a smash attack or Hatchet Man. Additionally, when a Hero lands a critical hit on another Hero, the sound effect from the victim's respective game will play, even if the attacker is a Hero from a different game.
• When Hero charges a smash attack, the "player attacks" sound effect from the Dragon Quest series will play.
• Hero, Ryu, Terry, and Byleth are the only characters who have stamina battles for their Classic Mode routes.
• Hero's Classic Mode is one of only three to feature a fight against a boss (in this case, Rathalos) outside of the boss round, the others being Bowser and Mega Man, and one of the few whose boss round does not feature a designated boss, instead fighting characters who are otherwise playable (in this case, Robin and Charizard).
• Hero is the only character to have tiny-sized opponents in his Classic Mode route.
• When KO'd by reaching 0 HP with no stock remaining in Stamina Mode, Hero uses his heavy knockback scream rather than his standard KO scream. This trait is shared with Mario, Dr. Mario, Terry and Byleth.
• Because of heavy controversy regarding Hero as anti-competitive in Ultimate due to the large amount of randomness in his moveset, Hero is the fourth character to have been officially banned from any tournament matches, the first three being Meta Knight from Brawl, and Cloud and Bayonetta from Smash 4.
• A special battle card was released for the arcade game Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Scanner that references both Hero's Final Smash and his reveal trailer.