Monado Arts

Monado Arts
Activating the Smash Art
User	Shulk
Universe	Xenoblade

“	Press to cycle through Arts. Arts increase particular stats.	”
—Smash for 3DS's foldout

Monado Arts (モナドアーツ, Monado Arts) is Shulk's neutral special move. Shulk has access to five Arts: Jump, Speed, Shield, Buster, and Smash, with each Art acting as a buff-type move that temporarily enhances certain abilities in exchange for weakening others.

Overview

Each of the five Arts is indicated by a colored kanji character. When the special button is pressed, a character will appear behind him, beginning with Jump and following the order of Speed, Shield, Buster, and Smash for each consecutive button press. To activate an Art, the special button must not be pressed for a few frames until the colored aura appears on Shulk. While scrolling through the Arts, he will be unable to perform any other special moves until one is activated, although Shulk can still move, dodge and attack normally. If Shulk activates an Art while staying still, he poses and announces the activated Art's name upon activation; this animation grants 14 frames of intangibility (unless canceled into another action), and Shulk will perfect shield any attack that connects with his body during that period should he raise his shield. While an Art is active, several of Shulk's attributes are modified for the duration of its effect, which vary based on the Art chosen.

Kanji	Monado Art	Color	Affected stats	Activation pose
翔*	Jump (ジャンプ)	Green	Increased jump height, air speed (1.5x faster), and Air Slash height More damage taken (1.22x more) Increased falling speed (1.22x faster) An Art focused on aerial mobility, compensated by lowered defense. Makes him faster and more mobile in the air than any other character, and allows him to edgeguard offstage efficiently since Shulk can use any aerial attack offstage and still recover safely. Opens up several KO combos, such as a down tilt followed by repeated forward aerials ending with Air Slash, which can clear a risky yet early stock. Another KO combo is a 50-50 in which Shulk utilizes the buffer period when canceling the Jump Art during his up throw to follow up with an up aerial (a combo known as the Monado Purge), though this combo is not as consistent as the former. Monado Jump comes at the cost of giving Shulk the most damage vulnerability out of all other Arts including Buster; however, while it does reduce his horizontal survivability, Monado Jump's drastic falling speed boost actually provides Shulk with the second best vertical survivability of his Arts, only behind that of Monado Shield.	Holds his hand in the air
疾*	Speed (スピード)	Blue	Increased movement speed (1.7x faster) and air speed (1.3x faster) Less damage dealt (0.8x less) Lower jumps, lower traction An Art that improves Shulk's approach and spacing options, short hops and overall combo ability, but lowers his overall damage output. More efficient short hops allow Shulk to space much more effectively, and a better approach speed makes this Art a good combo starter against slower characters. Decreased damage means Shulk has to land more attacks to compensate for the speed boost, but experienced players can rely on the speed to either trap opponents with barrages of covering short-hop aerial attacks, approach quickly to punish with a grab, as well as weave in-and-out of attacks in order to bait reactions. Lowered traction significantly improves his pivot grab range (becoming one of the longest in the game), but it also leaves him highly punishable when coming to a stop. Lowered jump height can be an issue if recovering vertically, but the speed boost applies to Shulk's air speed as well, allowing him to quickly get close to the stage before either getting in the proper distance/height for Air Slash to sweetspot the ledge, or changing to Jump to help his recovery.	Leans forward, ready to run
盾	Shield (シールド)	Yellow	Less knockback taken (0.78x less) and damage taken (0.67x less), higher shield health (1.5x more) Lower jump height, air speed, and movement speed (all 0.67x less), less damage dealt (0.7x less) An Art focused on defense and survivability, but cripples movement speed, damage output and recovery. A solely defensive Art, as Shulk can survive to extreme percentages, but reduced damage and mobility makes it difficult to gain a percentage lead while in this Art. Reduced knockback can potentially mess up opponent's combos (such as Sheik's aerial combos), but makes him more vulnerable to multi-hitting attacks, notably juggling moves like Kirby's up tilt. Also allows Shulk's shield to survive attacks that would normally break it (e.g. Bowser Bomb). As this Art reduces knockback, it has some beneficial gimmicks in certain situations, such as being able to airdodge out of Mewtwo's forward throw at low percents, and reducing the amount of time Shulk gets stunned by Disable even at high percents.	Crosses his arms in a defensive pose
斬*	Buster (バスター)	Purple	More damage dealt (1.4x more) More damage taken (1.13x more) Less knockback dealt (0.68x less) An Art that allows Shulk to deal high damage in a short amount of time while lowering his KO power and damage defense. His throws open up highly-damaging combo opportunities, and the increase in damage output also makes his attacks deal increased shieldstun and shield damage, making him less prone to shield grabs and allows him to more easily break shields. A notable shield break combo is a MALLC back air into reversed forward smash. However, his KO power becomes extremely low, and this Art makes Shulk incredibly vulnerable to damage which can easily send his percentage up significantly if he is careless, discouraging reckless use.	Holds the Monado in front of him, much like his down taunt
撃*	Smash (スマッシュ)	Red	More knockback dealt (1.18x more) Less damage dealt (0.5x less), more knockback taken (1.07x more) An Art generally used to improve Shulk's KO options and edgeguarding potential, which reduces Shulk's damage output, but also makes most of his moves viable KO moves at under 100%. Shulk's down throw becomes the strongest down throw in the game and his smash attacks can KO as early as 70% even when uncharged. Smash also allows Shulk to mess up certain throw combos at lower percents (e.g. Sheik and Diddy Kong) by launching him slightly further than normal. However, due to the reduced damage, shieldstun and hitlag are reduced as well, and thus makes all of his attacks even more punishable on shield while Shulk's survivability becomes as low as Mewtwo's for the Art's duration.	Points the Monado to the sky

*Barring "shield", all of the Japanese kanji are stylized in different English translations than what they actually translate to.

Also, for all Arts in the Japanese version, Shulk yells out for each respective one: 跳ぶ! (Leap!), 走る! (Run!), 守る! (Protect/Defend!), 叩く! (Thrash!), 打っ飛ばす! (Fly away!)

Each Art lasts for 15 seconds before stats return to normal. The Arts can be cancelled by pressing the special button three times in succession, or by holding down the special button for about one full second. Once an Art activates or is canceled early, it cannot be activated again until 10 seconds has passed. Before then, its corresponding kanji will be grayed out when selecting another Art. The cooldown on all Monado Arts resets when Shulk is knocked out. No two Monado Arts can run at the same time; if one is active, and a different Art is chosen, the previous Art is overwritten and enters cooldown.

Arts can be cancelled even during hitstun, and can be buffer-canceled during an action such as a throw or jump.

When an Art is activated, colored auras appear in areas of Shulk's body that pertain to the effect of the Art itself. For example, Jump and Speed have an aura around Shulk's shoes, while Buster's aura will appear around the Monado. Shield's aura will appear around Shulk's body and Smash's aura appears around Shulk's hands. Also, in the Wii U version, the Art's kanji appears at the top left corner of Shulk's portrait (which blinks faster and faster when the Art is almost ready to deactivate), and Shulk additionally gains a colored trailing aura effect while he moves.

Shulk's Final Smash, Chain Attack, is also affected by the Monado Arts. With Buster, this attack becomes highly damaging, often likely sending the opponent into KO percents if the Art lasts the duration of the full attack, but cannot KO as effectively. With Smash, Shulk can KO at significantly earlier percents but should the attack not clear the stock, Shulk will have hardly done as much damage to the opponent as desired, making it arguably riskier than with Buster. Speed and Shield will only reduce its effectiveness while Jump has no effect whatsoever. Interestingly, the Arts can run out in the middle of the Final Smash, so awareness of their durations and the situation is advised.

Kirby is able to copy the Monado Arts with his Inhale and can receive effects from these Arts when he uses this Copy Ability. This can give Kirby incredible benefits and new previously-unseen options, as Jump gives him high jumps that can easily pass the upper blast line after three jumps and, as a result, can extend his throw combos to pursue his opponent. Buster can trap opponents in a string of attacks far past realistic KO percentages; particularly his up tilt which can juggle most characters for longer than usual to rack up large amounts of damage. Speed also gives Kirby the longest perfect pivot in the game. Conversely, both Speed and Shield make Kirby's jumps the most ineffective in the game, and Smash makes him the lightest fighter in the game. And unlike Shulk, Kirby's up special moves gain no benefit from the Jump Art.

Like Shulk, Kirby's Ultra Sword Final Smash can be affected by the Monado Arts in all of their respective ways to alter its damage and knockback properties.

Even though Kirby's Monado Arts only gives him massive versatility against a Shulk in 1v1 matches, a Kirby/Shulk team in Doubles with Team Attack turned on can easily allow both characters to use such versatile techniques in tandem, especially with MALLC as explained below.

Monado Art Landing Lag Cancel

Landing lag comparisons of Shulk's back aerial, with (left) and without (right) MALLC. The Shulk on the left can cancel the Jump pose into any action due to a successful landing lag cancel.

An advanced technique, named the Monado Art Landing Lag Cancel (abbreviated MALLC) allows Shulk to remove part of landing lag of his aerials or air dodge, which allows him to apply safer pressure with his aerials, escape from juggles, perform longer combos or strings, and even take advantage of the few frames of intangibility during art activation to land safely onto stage. As Shulk cannot act out of an Art's pose for 5 frames, this technique does not fully eliminate landing lag, but reduces it significantly.

To perform this the player should start the activation of any Monado Art while in midair, use an aerial attack, and land with the aerial just before the Art fully activates. Shulk performs a pose after any Art activates (provided he isn't in a non landing lag animation), and this pose will replace the landing lag animation. The pose can be immediately canceled as if Shulk is standing still, allowing him to bypass the usually high landing lag of his aerials. Advanced players can even use this technique to B-reverse in midair, which gives opportunities for unique combos or a quick getaway.

MALLC's timings are affected by what the player hits: if Shulk misses or clashes against a shield (even if perfect/powershielded), he will cancel successfully, but if Shulk hits an opponent, it will cause more hitlag and cause him to land with ending lag. Therefore, MALLCs are safer if the opponent dodges or shields, as it grants Shulk more options straight after (i.e dodging a punish with intangibility), while MALLC on hit is less safe, but grants Shulk more combo options.

This technique is especially beneficial to Shulk because none of his aerials regularly cancel out of a full jump (and most do not cancel even from a double jump). In particular, his back aerial benefits the most from this, as it suffers from high landing lag while having the longest range and good KO power, while his up and down aerials are difficult to Art-cancel as connecting both hits of these moves cause too much hitlag to land at the correct time. This technique comes with the added benefit of giving Shulk a few frames of intangibility right when he poses, allowing him a chance to dodge possible punishes from his opponents.

Due to the changes to shield mechanics made in 1.1.1, cancelling a back air into Buster, and immediately following with a forward smash can instantly break a full-health shield without giving the target a chance to drop shield, provided the initial attack isn't perfect shielded, or aimed at another Shulk or Kirby with the Shield Art active.

Erico9001 first explained the timings of MALLC in his YouTube video here. Later, Jerm provided a more in-depth video guide on the timings and added details of the technique, which can be found here. Finally, Paradigm/Erico9001 uploaded a video providing the exact frames to successful Art Cancel different moves on varying stages, which can be seen here.

Examples of Beneficial Art Cancels

• Short-hop forward/back aerial, Art activated at peak of jump
  • Extremely helpful due to its ease of use, while negating the punishable ending lag of both moves. Only cancels on hit.

• Short-hop up/down aerial (second hit), Art activated after jumping
  • Only cancels if the second hit (the blade beam) connects, as hitting both hits cause too much hitstun. Can setup into up tilt or a grab at low percents, and an up aerial with Jump at higher percentages.

• Full-hop to fast-fall aerial, Art activated after jumping
  • Only cancels if whiffed. Useful for spacing, although less useful for combos as Shulk still gets ending lag if it hits.

• Full-hop to fast-fall neutral/up aerial (second hit), Art activated at peak of jump
  • Cancels landing lag regardless if hit or missed. Allows for a jab or tilt straight after.

• Revival platform drop to back aerial, Art activated immediately after dropping
  • Allows for a simple back air cancel on certain stages. Requires quick fingers, as Monado Arts cannot be chosen on a revival platform.

Via copy ability, Kirby himself is able to make use of this advanced technique as well, despite most of his aerials having low cooldown in general. Kirby can arguably enhance his combo ability further since his aerials also possess low hitlag, allowing him to have even more options on hit compared to Shulk; though like Shulk, Kirby's down aerial suffers from too much hitlag akin to his up and down aerials (and even more hitlag in comparison), making it the least optimal aerial for the technique. However, due to his quicker aerials and different aerial movement speeds, Kirby's timings for the MALLC varies a lot more, but the general principle is the same.

Other Advanced Techniques Utilizing Monado Arts

Monado Art Run Cancel

The Monado Art Run Cancel, or MARC, uses the cancellation of an Art to negate the ending lag/braking animation of the character's run in order to change their running direction in an instant, or to perform tilts immediately out of a run. This allows both Shulk and Kirby to weave in-and-out with the proper art utilized to bait attacks and punish them, or to bait another option that can be punished with an attack, such as baiting out a jump and punishing with an instant up-tilt out of the MARC.

Monado Art Buffered Deactivation

Monado Art Buffered Deactivation, or MABD, allows Shulk to retain his jumping, walking and/or running speed immediately after canceling an Art. The effect will last until Shulk does another action, such as an attack. This has several uses, including fakeouts or doing attacks/combos that requires Monado Speed's mobility without being penalized by its lower damage.

Performing this requires the player to buffer-cancel an active Monado Art during an uninterruptible animation (i.e dropping shield or dodging), while also buffering a movement option during that time. If successful, the Art will cancel, but Shulk will technically begin moving before the Art disappears, causing him to gain the increased movement speed that is provided by the Art until another command is inputted. However, any movement speed gained will slowly change back to the default speed after a while: in the case of running, Shulk will initially start at the speed of Monado Speed or Monado Shield and then either slow down or speed up, respectively.

Uniquely, MABD enhances Shulk's jump height if Monado Jump is canceled and a jump is buffered as well. This is due to Shulk keeping Monado Jump's increased jump height, but not the increased falling speed, causing him to travel higher. This is pivotal for the Monado Purge combo (up throw to jumping up aerial) as the extra height turns the combo into a 50-50 that is only escapable with an air dodge at higher percents.

MABD was originally discovered by Erico9001, who also researched that it boosts Shulk's jump height here.

MonaDACUS

One can perform a MonaDACUS (Monado Deactivated Art Canceled Up Smash, previously referred to as the SABDJCUS or Speed Art Buffered Deactivation Jump Cancelled Up Smash) in a similar vein to the DACUS technique in Brawl (as referenced by the name), using the previously mentioned MABD technique.

By canceling out of the Speed Art during an animation where Shulk can buffer an Art deactivation, Shulk will keep the increased ground speed of his previous Art for a few frames, while losing Monado Speed's increased ground friction, allowing him to slide even further and punish opponents with a jump-canceled up smash. This helps Shulk hit opponents that he usually wouldn't be able to reach. As the technique also involves canceling the Speed Art, it also deals more damage compared to staying in Speed Art and up smashing, as Speed reduces damage output. It should be noted that this technique gains almost no distance without a jump-canceled up smash, and Shulk's up smash is unsafe on shield regardless, so care should be taken.

The technique was originally discovered by Erico9001, and was further refined by Apathy. Likewise, this also benefits Kirby as well due to the nature of his up smash in the same vein.

Monado Art Ledge Snap

Demonstration of the MALS technique.

MALS used for a pivot grab against Ike.

The Monado Art Ledge Snap or MALS allows Shulk/Kirby to laglessly get up from his ledge hanging animation, with the added benefit of the Art activation's intangibility. This allows him to both quickly return onto stage as well as avoid certain ledge traps, such as R.O.B's Gyro.

It is performed by cycling to an art prior to grabbing the ledge, dropping from the ledge, and double jumping onto the stage as the Art is activating. The Art's activation pose effectively 'clips' Shulk/Kirby through the ledge as his hurtbox suddenly changes shape, forcing the game to snap him onto the stage. While difficult to time, this technique provides a much faster get-up option for Shulk/Kirby compared to simply using a standard get-up from ledge. Aside from avoiding ledge traps, MALS can also be used offensively after a ledge trump to immediately return onto stage, allowing Shulk/Kirby to perform a strong punish regardless of the opponent's actions.

The timing varies depending on the Monado Art being activated; for example, the window of success for a Monado Jump ledge snap is the largest, while the timing for Monado Smash is much harder to do consistently.

The technique cannot be performed on all stages. Of the legal (or formerly legal) stages, it can be performed on Battlefield, Smashville, Umbra Clock Tower, and the last transformation of Castle Siege. It can be performed on several Omega Stages as well-- including a few which this technique cannot be done on otherwise. These Omegas include Battlefield, Midgar, Umbra Clock Tower, Luigi's Mansion, Jungle Hijinxs, Skyloft, Temple, Halberd, Kalos Pokemon League, Pokemon Stadium 2, Onett, Castle Siege, Gamer, Town and City, Boxing Ring, Duck Hunt, Windy Hill Zone, and Suzaku Temple.

MALS was first discovered and explained by GetShulked, and summarized by Paradigm.

Customization

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

1. Monado Arts	2. Decisive Monado Arts	3. Hyper Monado Arts
"Activate one of five different Arts, each of which provides a different advantage."	"Activate stronger Arts that last longer. However, they can't be canceled once used."	"Your Arts are much stronger, but the drawbacks are too. Doesn't last as long."

1. Monado Arts: Default.
2. Decisive Monado Arts: Arts last for 5 more seconds, recharge 5 seconds sooner, and boosts positive effects of Arts, but once an Art is activated, it cannot be canceled or changed for another Art. A slightly longer pause is added before an Art becomes active, allowing the user to consider whether they want to be temporarily stuck with an Art. This allows the user to take advantage of a specific art for much longer, at the cost of the inability to switch Arts once it becomes disadvantageous.
3. Hyper Monado Arts: Both positive and negative effects of Arts are amplified, but the Arts have a shorter duration of 5 seconds. Recharging will also take 5 seconds longer. Becomes a short-duration, high risk and reward ability, as the strengths and weaknesses of each Art become some of the most extreme in the game: an example is Hyper Buster, which makes Shulk's moves immensely more damaging than even Ganondorf's, but reduces his KO power to almost nothing even at high percents.

Origin

Shulk using Monado Buster during a cutscene in Xenoblade Chronicles. Here, the Art is one single, giant slash with the beam blade, in contrast to its status as a damage buff in Smash Bros.

In Xenoblade Chronicles, all special attacks and abilities are categorized as Arts, and the term is used as such to describe both playable and enemy character abilities. The wielder of the Monado has access to two additional Arts that are accessed by using their signature ability (or "Talent Art"), "Activate Monado", with more being unlocked as the story progresses for an ending total of eight, three of which return for Super Smash Bros. Unlike what SSB4 depicts, not all Monado Arts are buff-type moves, as several are status-inducing skills or powerful attacks. In addition two Monado Arts, Jump and Smash, were tailor-made for the Smash Bros. series and as such do not exist in the original game.

• Monado Buster is one of the Arts available from the start, acting as a single powerful slash attack with an extended purplish beam that deals additional damage to Mechon (the antagonists of the game, which cannot be damaged by normal weapons without support from the Monado). The Smash 4 behavior of raising attack power is more akin to Monado Enchant (both ability and color-wise), the second starter Art which improves damage and allows other party members' normal weapons to damage Mechon. Buster's original color is blue in its game of origin.
• Monado Shield creates a barrier around all three party members that blocks a single enemy's Talent Art, as long as Shulk has upgraded the Art to a level that matches or exceeds the enemy's Art. The SSB4 behavior of decreasing damage taken is more akin to Monado Armor, an Art that raises the party's defenses.
• Monado Speed greatly increases the agility of one party member, raising both accuracy and evasion for physical attacks. This is somewhat modified for Smash 4 as it gives Shulk increased movement speed instead of evasion and accuracy, although the Art's attributes are reflected in this game as it does give Shulk much more agility, making dodging much easier, and allows him to approach and retreat quickly, mimicking the increased evasion that the Speed Art grants in Xenoblade Chronicles.
• As mentioned above, the Jump and Smash Arts are unique to Smash 4, although both use a color that matches an existing Art in his origin game: Jump uses the green shade of Monado Purge (or Monado Breaker in Japanese; the English name being the origin of the aforementioned kill-combo with the said Jump Art), which applies a status called "Aura Seal" on opponents, removing any existing auras and preventing them from activating any auras or spike abilities for the duration (coincidentally, Shulk does a jump before activating the Art in his origin game), while Smash uses a lighter shade of red of Monado Eater, an Art that removes enemy buffs and inflicts Bleed on victims, causing damage over time.

Battle Arts in Xenoblade Chronicles have cooldown times, with different Arts having differing cooldown times. However, this only applies to Battle Arts; Monado Arts are part of Shulk's Talent Art, "Activate Monado", and instead require Shulk to use part of his Talent Gauge to activate them, which can only be refilled by auto-attacking enemies.

Gallery

• 

  A clear view of the Monado Jump Art kanji.

• 

  A clear view of the Monado Speed Art kanji.

• 

  A clear view of the Monado Shield Art kanji.

• 

  A clear view of the Monado Buster Art kanji.

• 

  A clear view of the Monado Smash Art kanji.

Trivia

• This is the only neutral special move that cannot be performed while on a revival platform, and the only special move that cannot be performed from a revival platform that can be performed in the air.
• Monado Arts are the only neutral special Kirby can copy which can affect a move other than his neutral special.
• Despite having a copy of the Monado equipped after copying Shulk using Inhale, Kirby only uses it to pose after activating an Art, and also blurts out the Art's name after activating it. This is also one of the few copy abilities that do not give Kirby a unique hat or any altering body features.
• The attribute effects of Monado Arts reach several extremes:
  • Kirby becomes the lightest character in SSB4 with the Smash Art activated, as well as the character with the longest vertical recovery with the Jump Art, surpassing even Villager's.
  • In terms of knockback, Hyper Monado Arts gives Shulk the most resistance to knockback, makes his throws the strongest in the game while in the Smash Art, and with giving him the hardest-hitting counter if in Hyper Smash while using Power Vision, with power only rivaled by Lucario's Double Team at maximum Aura.
  • The Hyper Jump Art gives Shulk the fastest air speed of all fighters, surpassing even Giga Mac's air speed.
  • The Hyper Speed Art gives Shulk the fastest walk speed of all fighters, walking faster than Little Mac's run speed. It also gives Shulk the highest traction value in Super Smash Bros. 4.
  • The Hyper Shield Art gives Shulk the worst mobility of all fighters in Super Smash Bros. 4, with his dash being slower than Ganondorf's walk speed.
• While most of Shulk's Monado Art poses are unique to Smash 4, he uses a pose reminiscent of the Shadow Eye Art from Xenoblade Chronicles when activating Speed.
• Even if Shulk is KO'd while selecting Arts, the sound effect of his last selected Art being activated will play after his KO sounds.
• Surprisingly, the Monado Art's effects also affects Shulk's attacking power with battering items like the Beam Sword. For example, Smash reduces hitlag and damage while increasing knockback.
• Shulk's mobility does not reset when an Art expires unless he lets go of a directional key, meaning that Shulk will keep his high dash speed even when the Speed Art expires so long as he keeps dashing, and no increased air speed is granted if Shulk holds down the forward key and switches from the Shield Art to the Jump Art.
• The Monado Arts that alter damage dealt also raise or lower the counterattack damage cap with Vision instead of the regular 50%. In Speed, Vision will deal a maximum of 40% damage; in Shield, 35% damage; in Buster, 70% damage; and in Smash, 25% damage.

Shulk's special moves

Neutral special	Monado Arts
Side special	Back Slash
Up special	Air Slash
Down special	Vision
Final Smash	Chain Attack