Sephiroth (SSBU)

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Sephiroth in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
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Universe	Final Fantasy
Availability	Downloadable
Final Smash	Supernova

“	Sephiroth Descends to Battle!	”
—Introduction Tagline

Sephiroth (セフィロス, Sephiroth) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and the third third-party fighter from Square Enix after Cloud and Hero. He was confirmed as a playable character on December 10th, 2020 at The Game Awards 2020, and will be released on December 22nd, 2020 as the third downloadable character from Fighters Pass Vol. 2; however, he was playable as early as December 17th, 2020 by defeating him in the limited-time Sephiroth Challenge event that ran from December 17th-22nd. Sephiroth is classified as Fighter #78.

Toshiyuki Morikawa, who has voiced Sephiroth since Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, reprises his role as the character in all regions.

Sephiroth's base design for Ultimate is based on his design from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, while his Coatless design is from the final boss fight in the original Final Fantasy VII.

Attributes

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Sephiroth's attributes are those of a glass cannon: he possesses impressive movement speed, high jumps and a fast falling speed, which can be increased while under the influence of his black wing. However, he has a combination of a large hurtbox and low weight, which means that while he has an excellent approach speed, he is easy to both combo and KO. His attacks mirror his archetype, as many of his moves have massive range and are able to control large portions of the stage or deal high amounts of damage, but are balanced out by having high amounts of lag. Overall, Sephiroth shares many traits with fighters such as Mewtwo; he has impressive mobility and tools that allows him to play very oppressively while in the lead, but he also suffers from a very volatile neutral game.

Moveset

• Sephiroth wields his signature weapon, Masamune, which possesses extremely long reach but a relatively slow attack speed. It has different sweetspots depending on the attack used.
  • For slashing attacks, the sweetspot is located approximately at the middle of the Masamune, while a sourspot covers the inner blade and handle, and a mediumspot at the tip.
  • For stabbing attacks, the sweetspot is located at the tip of the Masamune, while the mediumspot is at the blade.
  • For simplicity if, for example, the handle deals 8.5% damage, the blade deals 10%, and the tip deals 11%, and that part of the attack has no other hitboxes, it is written as 8.5%/10%/11%.
• Sephiroth possesses a unique fighter ability where he unfurls his single black wing (which takes on a purple glow) and enters his Winged Form, stated by Masahiro Sakurai to activate when Sephiroth is "in danger". This grants him a third jump, increases his mobility and boosts his damage dealt by x1.3. It also grants his smash attacks damage-based armor that resists up to 20%. Sephiroth loses the form after being KOed or after scoring a KO. This is inspired by Reunion, his EX Mode from Dissidia Final Fantasy.
  • The damage required to enter winged form varies based on the amount of damage he has taken and how far ahead/behind he is in stocks: for example, if he has 3 stocks while his opponent has 1, it takes ~100% damage to unfurl his wing. If he has 1 stock while his opponent has 3, it only requires ~39% to enter Winged Form.

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

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			2.5%	A low-level roundhouse kick, followed by a thrust kick, followed by a thrust forwards with the Masamune's pommel. Sephiroth's fastest attack. The third hit has high knockback.
			2.0%
			4.0%
Forward tilt			7.5%/12%/9%	An outward slash with the Masamune. Has slow startup (the slowest of Sephiroth's tilt attacks), but great KO potential at the middle of the Masamune's blade. Can be angled.
Up tilt			1% (ground), 14%/12.5%/11% (clean), 10%/8.5%/7% (late)	Stabs upward with the Masamune. Its hitbox is very high, although very narrow, making it difficult to land as an anti-air. It has a weak grounded hit that has transcendent priority and knocks into the main part of the attack, similarly to Marth's Up Smash. The hitboxes last for quite a while, and the clean tip has excellent KO potential at the blade or the tip, while the late hit deals less damage and knockback. Sephiroth's upper body is intangible while the clean hit is active.
Down tilt			8% (clean), 6% (late)	A baseball slide. Has the fastest startup of Sephiroth's tilt attacks, propels him a good distance forward, launches opponents vertically, and significantly lowers his hurtbox.
Dash attack			13% (clean), 7% (late)	A lunging, dark energy-infused palm thrust, similar to Mewtwo. Has slow startup and moderate ending lag, but it covers a decent distance. The clean sweetspot deals high knockback, which can KO at high percentages.
Forward smash			13.5%/20%/15%	Spins to perform an upwards side cut with the Masamune. Has the slowest startup of his smash attacks and very high ending lag, but the sweetspot is incredibly strong, KOing at medium percentages at the edge. The tip hitbox is somewhat safe on hit, but the sourspot at the hilt has fairly low knockback, not KOing past realistic percentages. While in Winged Form, this move gains 20% damage-based armor.
Up smash			10%/15%/11% (early), 12%/17%/13% (clean)	Twirls while performing a wide cleaving slash upwards with the Masamune. Similar to Ganondorf and Ike in terms of functionality. Has fairly slow startup, but covers an extremely wide area in front, above and behind Sephiroth, making it his best anti-air attack. Despite its incredible range, it has a rather low ending lag. While in Winged Form, this move gains 20% damage-based armour.
Down smash			16.5% (tip, piercing), 13.5% (debris, piercing), 10.5% (handle), 11.5% (blade), 13% (tip, non-piercing)	Stabs at the ground in front of himself. This stab attack is unique, as Sephiroth will pierce the ground in front of himself should there be any, making the move larger, stronger and giving the more powerful hitboxes higher priority. Otherwise, the move's hitboxes will behave normally, with the tip being difficult to land and the hitbox being narrow. The tip and the debris, should the move pierce the ground, deal immense shield damage. It also has the fastest startup of Sephiroth's smash attacks, though still slow for a smash attack, and has moderate ending lag. While in Winged Form, this move gains 20% damage-based armour.
Neutral aerial			8.5%	Snaps his fingers, creating a circular surge of corrupted Lifestream around himself. Has the fastest startup and ending lag of Sephiroth's aerials, as well as the lowest landing lag, and its hitbox covers him all-around, though it's also his aerial with the lowest range and the hitbox lasts a very short time. Interestingly enough, it has a magic effect.
Forward aerial			8.5%/10%/11% (clean), 5.5%/7%/8% (late)	A thrusting stab forwards with the Masamune. Has somewhat slow startup, but very long range in front of Sephiroth; as with other stab attacks, its hitbox is narrow. The tip can KO at high percentages at the edge. The move is also unique in that it lets Sephiroth pierce walls and cling to them, similarly to Corrin's Dragon Lunge. After piercing a wall, Sephiroth can choose to jump, boosting his recovery (by moving up or pressing jump or attack); or let go of the wall (by pressing away or down, or waiting long enough). Sephiroth can pierce a wall this way up to three times before landing on the ground.
Back aerial			9.5%/14.5%/11.5%	Turns around to slash horizontally with the Masamune. Unlike other slash attacks, its hitbox is narrow, in a similar fashion to a stabbing attack. Nevertheless, this is Sephiroth's strongest aerial should the blade connect, KOing at medium-high percentages at the edge.
Up aerial			7%/11%/8%	A backflipping cleave slash above himself. Very slow startup, but has immense range, covering a very wide arc above himself, and the starting hitbox can even catch opponents while landing. However, it has very high landing lag, even for its range.
Down aerial		Hell's Gate	15% (blade, clean), 10% (handle, clean), 10% (late)	A downwards stab with the Masamune. A stall-then-fall aerial; it meteor smashes aerial opponents during its initial frames. The blade extends through the ground, allowing for opponents under platforms and ledges to be hit by the move. Unlike other stab moves, it deals the same damage at the blade and at the tip, making it more consistent, and it plays a unique stabbing sound on hit. References an infamous scene in Final Fantasy VII, where he kills Aerith with a stab from above.
Grab			—	Reaches out with his right hand and telekinetically grabs the foe using dark magic. Good range.
Pummel			1.3%	Blasts the opponent with corrupted Lifestream from his hand. A fairly fast pummel.
Forward throw			3% (hit 1, throw)	Thrusts his hand forward, blasting the opponent in front of himself away with corrupted Lifestream. Sends at a semi-spike, making it usable for setting up an edgeguard.
Back throw			3% (hit 1), 3.5% (throw)	Teleports the opponent behind him then pumps his fist to send them away and behind himself. A weak throw that sends at an oblique angle, leaving them close to Sephiroth. This can set up for an up aerial if the opponent jumps.
Up throw			4% (hit 1), 3% (throw)	Slashes the opponent upwards with the Masamune. Sends the opponent upwards and behind Sephiroth, which can lead to an up tilt at low percentages if the opponent does not react.
Down throw			4%	Telekinetically slams the opponent on the floor. Sephiroth's primary combo throw; it leads into forward aerial at low to low-mid percentages.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Kicks around himself with his left leg while getting up.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Kicks around himself with his left leg while getting up.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			7%	Kicks around himself with his left leg while getting up.
Edge attack Edge getups			9%	Kicks in front of himself while climbing up.
Neutral special		Flare / Megaflare / Gigaflare	3% (Flare, hit 1), 10.5% (Flare, hit 2), 3.5% (Megaflare, hit 1), 3.7% (Megaflare, hits 2-5), 9% (Megaflare, hit 5), 6% (Gigaflare, hit 1), 3.7% (Gigaflare, hits 2-7), 11% (Gigaflare, hit 8)	Charges Flare, an explosive fireball, in his right hand that travels slowly when fired. A chargeable projectile as long as the special button is kept pressed, it can be charge canceled (but the charge is not stored). It has three different variations, each producing incrementally stronger projectiles with larger explosions, but also significantly lowers their travel speed and distance. Tapping the button results in Flare, a scarlet red flame that travels a long distance but has the smallest explosion. Charging it for some time results in Megaflare, a blue flame that is more powerful and has more range on the explosion, but travels a shorter distance. Fully charging it results in Gigaflare, a small, yellow spark that travels the shortest distance of the three, but results in an immense explosion with huge knockback. Gigaflare has somewhat low ending lag, which can allow Sephiroth to follow up with another attack, most notably forward smash. However, it has extremely high startup across all versions, making it punishable if used as a conventional projectile. All three versions can be reflected and absorbed; it should be noted that despite Gigaflare's extreme power, it is relatively unrewarding to absorb due to its initial hit dealing very low damage.
Side special		Shadow Flare	1.5%-4.5% (initial surge), 6.5% (dark sphere, homing), 7% (dark sphere, collateral)	Snaps his fingers, sending a short-ranged surge of dark energy at the opponent. Should it connect, spheres of dark energy will orbit the opponent, then home in on them and explode after a set period of time. The initial surge can be charged, increasing its damage and creating more spheres; an uncharged surge creates only one sphere, whereas a fully charged surge will create three spheres—up to five spheres may be orbiting an opponent at once. Sephiroth can quickly turn 180° before firing Shadow Flare by quickly flicking in the opposite direction. The spheres can also hit bystanders while they orbit around the opponent, causing collided orbs to disappear. The spheres can be reflected and absorbed. If pocketed, the dark sphere is thrown as a standard projectile. In comparison to Sephiroth's other moves, Shadow Flare is very spammable, allowing it to be used frequently without fear of retaliation.
Up special		Blade Dash / Octaslash	7% (Blade Dash), 2.5% (Octaslash, hits 1-7), 7% (Octaslash, hit 8)	An omnidirectional slash move with a brief charge time, indicated by a directional arrow which points towards Sephiroth's travel direction before he begins moving. It travels similarly to moves like Fire Fox. Grounded versions of both moves will stop at ledges. Its functionality changes based on whether the special move button is tapped or held. If the special move button is tapped, Sephiroth performs Blade Dash, which deals a single hit, travels less distance and can snap to the ledge. It deals low damage, but has low landing lag, allowing it to be used as a movement option. If the special move button is held down, it becomes Octaslash, a multi-hit dash that, true to its name, hits eight times, gaining significantly more power and slightly increased travel distance. It deals high damage and is an effective combat move, but has high ending lag and extremely high landing lag (one of the highest for an Up Special). It is unreliable at grabbing the ledge; however, its large hitbox can be used to deter opponents from camping a ledge. If Sephiroth starts a midair Octaslash and aims at the ground, he will travel along the ground as he moves. Octoslash's hits also slow down significantly on hit.
Down special		Scintilla	1% (hits 1-3), 5% (hit 4) 1.2-1.5x(Counter)	A counterattack consisting of a honeycomb-like barrier that deals multiple hits upon counterattacking. It can only counterattack attacks in front of Sephiroth. It is unique for a counterattack in a few ways: for one, it will activate even if an attack does not connect with it, though it still grows stronger like a normal counterattack depending on the damage it has taken. Secondly, it has a damage cap, after which the barrier will shatter, negating the damage and causing Sephiroth to stagger briefly. Finally, the counterattack is considered a projectile, meaning it can be reflected and absorbed. Despite its appearance suggesting so, Scintilla cannot reflect projectiles, as the barrier breaks and nullifies the projectile as if it hit the damage cap.
Final Smash		Supernova	7% (initial hit), 10% (cutscene), 15% (launching hit)	Performs a wide slash to trap foes in the attack before transforming into Safer∙Sephiroth (his final boss form) to summon Meteor and trigger a supernova, wiping out the earth and causing random status effects to foes who survive the attack. These status effects include an automatic shield break, being slowed down, having reversed controls (indicated by a mushroom on the victim's head), having a flower planted on the victim's head, being put to sleep, or a simple darkness effect, which is accompanied by more knockback than usual, albeit still on the lower end for a Final Smash. Fighters caught in the Final Smash face towards him with their backs to the camera, much like Cloud and his party do in his final boss battle in Final Fantasy VII. The attack is also based on the attack of the same name in Final Fantasy VII.

On-screen appearance

Slowly descends onto the stage surrounded in a dark aura which dissipates as he's about to land.

Taunts

• Gestures forward with an upward hand flick, as if to dare the opponent to attack.
• Takes a stance with Masamune in both hands, held at face level and facing the opponent. This directly references the climax of Final Fantasy VII, in which the metaphysical Sephiroth takes the stance against Cloud before being defeated by him (more so apparent with his Coatless costumes).
• Shifts the side of his body forward with a dark chuckle, emitting a dark aura as he does so.

Idle poses

• Holds his sword downwards with his opposite arm under it and his heel up.
• Shifts his position to the other side.

Victory poses

All of Sephiroth's victory screens take place in a fiery area instead of the standard area where most of the victory screens take place. A direct reference to the Nibelheim Incident from the original game. If Sephiroth is the leader of a winning team, he will use his special victory screens without any of his teammates being seen, similar to Joker.

• Left: With his back turned, Sephiroth turns his head towards the camera while chuckling, and slowly walks deeper into the fire until he disappears.
• Up: Slowly raises his head and glares at the camera. In team battles where Sephiroth is not the leader, he faces to the side while doing this pose, keeping his face away from the camera.
• Right: While turning his back to the camera, he swings the Masamune and sprouts his black wing.
  • If Cloud is present during the match, he has a chance of saying 思い出にはならないさ ("I will never be a memory.") in any of his three victory poses.

The ending of "Advent: One-Winged Angel", taken directly from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Afterwards, a droning note plays; it is unknown if it is from any source in particular. Then, instead of the regular results theme, only the sound of flames is heard.

Classic Mode: The Chosen Ones

Uniquely, Sephiroth's route has him facing off against various bosses in the game in a Boss Rush, referencing his status as a final boss in Final Fantasy VII. The title of his route references his leitmotif from the original game, "Those Chosen by the Planet".

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music	Notes
1	Rathalos	Forest Hill	Roar/Rathalos
2	Galleom	Base	Boss Battle - Super Smash Bros. Brawl
3	Marx	Mysterious Dimension	Vs. Marx
4	Dracula	Dracula's Castle	Phase 1: Nothing to Lose Phase 2: Black Night
5	Ganon	Sacred Land	Calamity Ganon Battle - Second Form
6	Giga Bowser	Final Destination	Giga Bowser
Bonus Stage
Final	Master Hand & Crazy Hand	Northern Cave (Ω Form)	One-Winged Angel	References the final battle of Final Fantasy VII where multiple characters team up to defeat Sephiroth.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Sephiroth has JENOVA accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light

Due to his status as downloadable content, Sephiroth 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 before downloading Sephiroth, he is immediately unlocked.

Interestingly, Sephiroth’s trailer takes place during World of Light, where he makes his presence known by slicing Galeem in half and fighting the heroes himself.

Spirit

Sephiroth's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 coins. Unlocking Sephiroth 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.

• 

  1439. Sephiroth

Alternate costumes

							File:SephirothHeadCoatless VioletSSBU.png

Gallery

• 

  Sephiroth's splash art.

• 

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

• 

  Sephiroth standing and holding Masamune on Northern Cave.

• 

  Attacking Captain Falcon on Umbra Clock Tower.

• 

  Casting Flare on Dracula's Castle.

• 

  In his coatless alternate costume on Northern Cave.

• 

  Sephiroth using his Final Smash against Ness, Bowser, and Robin.

• 

  Fighting Cloud in his Advent Children alternate costume on Midgar.

Trivia

The Super Smash Bros. Ultimate × Final Fantasy at the end of The Game Awards 2020 video.

• Sephiroth is the second character to be revealed at a non-Nintendo event/presentation, the first being Joker. Both of them were revealed at The Game Awards (in 2018 and 2020, respectively).
  • Unlike Joker's, however, Sephiroth's featured actual gameplay footage, was announced ahead of time, and was a standard world premiere trailer, rather than an "intruding" announcement.
  • Oddly, Sephiroth's English trailer shown during The Game Awards is slightly different from the one uploaded to Nintendo's official channels later: the crossover card states Super Smash Bros. Ultimate × Final Fantasy during The Game Awards, whereas in later uploads it displays Super Smash Bros. Ultimate × Final Fantasy VII, in line with Cloud's trailer for Super Smash Bros. 4.
• Sephiroth's internal codename is "edge", a likely reference to his famously long sword Masamune.
• Sephiroth is the fourth enemy to be available as DLC, after Piranha Plant, Zombie, and Enderman, and the first to be the primary antagonist of his game.
• Sephiroth is the first:
  • DLC character from a universe that was introduced as DLC in a previous installment.
  • Third-party playable antagonist (not counting Steve's Zombie and Enderman alternate costumes)
  • To have a stage cinematic depicting their ending story line.
  • Ultimate DLC character to not have their full Final Smash shown in their reveal trailer.
  • Ultimate character to be unlockable through an event before official release.
• Sephiroth is the second character whose trailer references World of Light, the first being Hero's.
  • Coincidentally, both are downloadable fighters from Square Enix, and both fight opposing forces from the World of Light, as Hero fought Dharkon and its controlled puppet fighters and Sephiroth sliced through Galeem. Additionally, they each hail from one of the two companies that merged into Square Enix, as Sephiroth comes from Squaresoft and the Hero from Enix.
• Sephiroth's trailer makes several references to both the original Final Fantasy VII game, and the CGI-animated film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, with much of his and Cloud's dialogue being adapted from the latter. Several shots in the trailer are direct recreations of shots from Advent Children.
• Sephiroth's trailer currently features the most playable characters in the animated portion of any reveal trailer (excluding himself), with 18 characters.
  • Aside from Erdrick, Banjo, and Kazooie, who are DLC characters, Bowser Jr., Cloud, and Richter are the only characters of these that do not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene.
    • Sephiroth’s trailer marks the first time that Cloud has appeared in CGI in the Smash series, with all of his other appearances in trailers and cutscenes using his in-game model. Cloud's CGI model is, notably, based on his Advent Children design.
• Like Cloud, Smash marks the third time that Sephiroth has been playable in a fighting game/series, with the first two being Ehrgeiz and the Dissidia: Final Fantasy series.
• Sephiroth is the third DLC fighter in Ultimate to hail from a series already represented by a fighter, with the first two being Piranha Plant and Byleth. Out of these, he is the first to come from a third-party series.
• Sephiroth's render resembles a flipped version of his original Dissidia render (albeit in 3D and with his wing displayed).
  • Sephiroth's coatless render uses his battle pose from his fight against Cloud in Final Fantasy VII, similar to his taunt.
• Sephiroth is one of only five characters to predominantly use his left hand to wield his weapon, sharing this trait with Young Link, Toon Link, Ice Climbers, and Rosalina & Luma.
• Sephiroth is the first DLC character who must be unlocked through fighting him, although this is only for an early access and not a permanent feature.
  • The is also the first time an early access to the DLC was not in the form of a free promotion, unlike Mewtwo in Smash 4 and Piranha Plant.
• Sephiroth is the first character whose Classic Mode consists entirely of bosses.
  • As a result, Sephiroth is the first character whose Classic Mode does not contain fighters as opponents.
  • Because of this, Sephiroth is the only non-The Legend of Zelda character to fight Ganon as a boss.
  • Sephiroth's Classic Mode is also one of only four to feature a fight against a boss outside of the final round, the others being Bowser, Mega Man and Hero.
    • It is also the only one that features multiple "traditional" bosses, not counting the fact that Master Hand and Crazy Hand can be fought simultaneously.
  • Galeem and Dharkon are the only bosses in Ultimate not fought in Sephiroth's Classic Mode, likely due to their status as World of Light antagonists, thus being exclusive to it.
• Sephiroth, Joker and Donkey Kong are the only characters to face Master Hand and Crazy Hand on a stage other than Final Destination.
• Sephiroth is the first DLC character to have a unique quote when winning against certain characters, much like the Star Fox, Kid Icarus, and Fire Emblem characters as well as Simon. He is also the second third-party character with this distinction following Simon.