Soaring Slash: Difference between revisions

Soaring Slash is very similar to [[Aether]], {{SSBU|Ike}}'s recovery move. However, instead of throwing his sword upward and jumping to catch it as Ike does, Chrom performs a slash upwards, and then jumps with his sword still in hand, twirling in the air before coming back down. Soaring Slash offers near-negligible horizontal movement, as it stops all of Chrom's momentum and sends him straight up and down with very little horizontal influence at the peak of the jump. As a result, it is inferior as a recovery, even in comparison to Aether. It also lacks a rising hitbox unlike Aether, allowing for opponents to simply repeatedly [[neutral attack]] at the ledge to completely stop Chrom from recovering, among other strategies. However, this can be mitigated through precise spacing for ledgesnaps. Chrom also has higher [[air speed]] than Ike, however, making up for some of Soaring Slash's lacking lateral movement. Soaring Slash grants Chrom [[super armor]] before he leaps upwards, in a similar vein to Aether and grounded [[Blazer]].

Soaring Slash's intial hit has a deceptively large horizontal hitbox, which when combined with the move's decent startup of 10 frames, super armor during the initial ascent and extremely high damage output if all hits connect (21% base damage), makes it an extremely effective [[out of shield]] option for Chrom.

Like Aether and [[Climhazzard]], the descent of Soaring Smash contains a powerful meteor smash, which will reliably hit opponents due to the initial slash of the ascent leading directly into the spike, and Chrom having no [[sourspot]]s on his sword. The meteor smash hitbox of Soaring Slash will usually KO opponents, even at low percentages, although Chrom must generally sacrifice his stock in order to land it. As such, the move can be used as a [[Sacrificial KO]]. Previously, Chrom would always reach the bottom [[blast zone]] after the opponent, meaning that it could consistently be used to secure the final KO of a match and allow Chrom to win, but as of [[List of updates (SSBU)/2.0.0 changelog|2.0.0]], Chrom now usually dies first due to decreased knockback and a slightly faster fall speed. However, with precise spacing, it is possible for Chrom to carry an opponent into the air, then grab the ledge during the move's dive while the opponent keeps going down.