| Lucina in Super Smash Bros. 4 | |
|---|---|
 
| |
| Universe | Fire Emblem |
| Other playable appearance | in Ultimate |
| Availability | Unlockable |
| Final Smash | Critical Hit |
| Tier | B (14) |
| “ | Lucina Wakes Her Blade?! | ” |
| —Introduction Tagline | ||
Lucina (ルキナ, Lucina) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. She was revealed during a livestream on July 14th, 2014 on the official Super Smash Bros. website, during which Captain Falcon was announced and her fellow Fire Emblem fighter Robin was also revealed.
Laura Bailey and Yū Kobayashi reprise their roles as Lucina in the English and Japanese versions.
Lucina is currently ranked 14th out of 55 on the tier list, placing her in the B tier. In addition to being the second highest ranking high-tier character, this placement renders her as both the highest ranking clone and unlockable character. Lucina's Parallel Falchion grants her relatively long disjointed range, yet differs from her ancestor's Falchion by lacking a tipper. As a result, Lucina's moveset is less polarized than Marth's and, in turn, possesses several benefits.
Compared to Marth, Lucina's KO potential is noticeably more consistent at high percentages; on a related note, she also has guaranteed horizontal KO set-ups unique to her. In addition, her moves inflict higher shieldstun at close range, which makes her slightly more difficult to punish out of shield compared to Marth's sourspotted moves. Lastly, Lucina is slightly better at defending against close-ranged pressure, most notably against rushdown-oriented characters like Captain Falcon.
Like Marth, Lucina's overall mobility is above-average and the majority of her moveset has minimal start-up lag. When these traits are coupled with the Parallel Falchion's disjointed range, she possesses a reliable neutral game. Lucina also has useful combo starters (neutral attack's first hit; neutral aerial's first hit; and Dancing Blade) and respectably strong KOing options (forward/up smashes and back aerial).
However, Lucina also shares Marth's flaws. Her attacks have short hitbox durations, some of which also have noticeable ending lag, which can make her susceptible to punishment if she does not space efficiently. Lucina also has a poor grab game: each of her throws have meager damage outputs, while her only throws that do have utility (up throw for KOing and down throw for starting combos) are only effective at very high percentages and low percentages, respectively.
Lucina also has difficulty dealing with aerial pressure: Dolphin Slash's linearity leaves her vulnerable to edgeguarding and gimping, while her lack of reliable anti-pressure options leaves her vulnerable to combos and juggling.
The Parallel Falchion's lack of a tipper hitbox is also a double-edged sword for Lucina. While her moveset is safer overall compared to Marth's thanks to her attacks having consistent knockback, low hitlag modifiers, and slightly higher shieldstun at close range, Lucina's attacks are more punishable than Marth's if they are not spaced sufficiently because of Marth benefiting from his tipper's higher shieldstun.
Despite their consistent power, Lucina's strongest KOing options are also weaker than Marth's tippered attacks, preventing her from gaining an advantage by scoring early KOs. Lastly, her higher overall knockback removes several noteworthy sourspotted combos that Marth possesses at high percentages, while her unique KO set-ups are riskier than his.
As a result of these differences, Lucina has ultimately been viewed by many professionals as inferior to Marth. This has been reflected by their respective tier placements throughout SSB4's lifespan. Although Lucina has not achieved the breakout of impressive results that Marth has, several professionals, such as Mr. R, Dabuz, and ZeRo, believe that the gap between her and Marth is not as significant as it seems, if it exists at all. This has been most notably demonstrated by ZeRo adopting her as a secondary for a period of time in 2017, as he had continued winning regional and national tournaments up until his retirement.
How to unlock
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
- Play 40 VS Matches.
- Complete Classic Mode as Marth without using any continues.
After completing one of the two methods, Lucina must then be defeated on Arena Ferox.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
- Play 30 VS Matches.
- Clear Classic Mode on Intensity 5.5 or higher.
After completing one of the two methods, Lucina then must be defeated on Coliseum.
Attributes
Lucina is a clone of Marth: her moveset and animations are primarily based off of his, while their attributes are identical. As such, Lucina is tied with Marth as the lightest middleweight in the game, yet she boasts great overall mobility like he does: she has the fastest walking speed in the game; above-average dashing speed and air acceleration; average air and falling speeds; and low gravity. Lucina is also slightly shorter than Marth, which makes both her hurtbox and range marginally shorter than his.
The primary difference between Lucina and Marth is their swords: Lucina's Parallel Falchion has a consistent damage output throughout its blade, whereas Marth's Falchion is more powerful when hitting with its blade's tip, but is significantly weaker throughout the rest of its blade. By extension, the power of all Lucina's attacks is approximate to the weighted average of Marth's sweetspotted and sourspotted attacks, if not very slightly higher.
These traits collectively grant Lucina a few advantages that help her set apart from Marth; in particular, her neutral game is overall safer because of the higher shieldstun on average her moves can inflict, which makes her moves safe on shield when spaced correctly. A prime example of this is her forward aerial, which is arguably her most useful spacing option, especially when utilizing the middle or tip of her Parallel Falchion.
Another advantage that Lucina possesses is her consistent KO potential: unlike Marth, precise spacing is not required for all her moves to deal dependable knockback, whereas Marth's sourspotted attacks deal mediocre damage and knockback even at high percentages. Noteworthy examples include her up smash, down aerial and Dancing Blade, which are all more powerful than Marth's equivalents in any given case. Although Lucina does not have as many intricate sourspot combos or set-ups that Marth can utilize to set up his tippers, she gains more consistent damage off her own combos than Marth due to her lack of such sourspots.
Lucina also has her own KO set-ups different from those of Marth via the first hit of neutral attack, while sharing some of them with him, and those she shares being arguably easier to perform because of the Parallel Falchion's consistent hitboxes; the most prominent example is the KO combo consisting of her neutral attack's first hit into forward smash, which is overall more effective when compared to Marth's, thanks to her balanced hitstun and knockback.
There are also many strengths Lucina shares with Marth. Like him, many of her moves possess good range, fast start-up, and cover wide arcs, allowing her to pressure the opponent without leaving herself open to punishment. Lucina's special moveset also possesses immense utility, and in two cases, more than that of Marth. Shield Breaker can break shields thanks to its high shield damage, even when uncharged, and it is useful for punishing rolls. It also grants some horizontal movement, which is amplified when fully charged. Dancing Blade can be used to punish sidesteps and boasts combo, mix-up, KO and even recovery potentials. In comparison to Marth's version, it does not link as well because of each hit's higher knockback, but it has much better KO potential.
Dolphin Slash has quick start-up; provides intangibility during its start-up; and is relatively strong upon coming out. These attributes make it Lucina's primary method of recovery, as its speed can make it difficult to intercept, especially from out of shield. In addition, its power makes it capable of breaking combos and even stage spike reckless edgeguard attempts. Lastly, Counter is a counterattack with a 1.2× damage multiplier that can KO an opponent who uses a sufficiently strong attack.
The last strength Lucina shares with Marth is her strong edgeguarding potential: her forward and back aerial's fast start-up and good range make them go-to edgeguarding options. Down aerial is relatively quick, and can strongly meteor smash opponents if it hits at the center of the arc. Forward smash's range makes it a good choice against opponents aiming their recoveries directly towards the edge, such as Little Mac and Falco, and down tilt's range and speed make it good at exploiting an opponent's 2 frame-long vulnerability when grabbing the edge. Both have the ability to hit below the edge as well.
Nonetheless, Lucina also possesses notable disadvantages compared to Marth. The lack of a tipper is both a strength and weakness: while the lack of a tipper does make her combos and rushdowns more consistently damaging than Marth's, if Lucina does not successfully use one of her reliable KOing options, she must rely on scoring KOs with options that are vastly inferior compared to Marth's tippered attacks. On a related note, she cannot secure early KOs with hard reads, or gain as much positional advantage off precise spacing against approaches or shields. This makes Lucina slightly less threatening in the neutral game; attacking opponents do not have to space their approaches relative to the Parallel Falchion's blade the same way they would with Marth's Falchion, and defending opponents do not need to adjust their spacing to avoid being hit by a tipper.
As such, in order for Lucina's attacks to be safe on shield, she must still utilize her Parallel Fachion's range in order to space her moves at the middle portion or the tip of its blade. Opponents also do not have to worry about being KO'd early from a powerful and timely tippered attack, which in turn makes Lucina somewhat inferior at pressuring opponents in comparison to Marth.
Lucina also shares some of the weaknesses Marth does: despite having below-average weight and average falling speed, she is susceptible to combos, and her slightly above-average height makes her a rather easy target. Lucina also has minimal defense against juggling, as her aerials are ineffective at relieving pressure. Though her attacks have quick start-up, many of them come with high ending and landing lag, and lack lingering hitboxes, making her attacks unsafe to use on shield up close despite their greater power. Lucina's moveset also lacks a projectile, making her struggle against projectile-oriented characters.
While Lucina can pressure characters and force them to hold shield and block her attacks, she often struggles against shields, as improperly spaced aerials leave her susceptible to punishment, and Shield Breaker is highly punishable if predicted. This is further compounded by Lucina's poor grab game: although her pummel is fairly quick, each of her throws have low damage outputs, while only two of them (up and down throws) have utility. However, even these throws are ineffective: up throw only KOs at very high percentages, whereas down throw fails to combo past medium percentages.
Lastly, Lucina is vulnerable to edgeguarding. Dolphin Slash is her only reliable recovery option, and despite being hard for edgeguarders to outcome thanks to its speed and power, it has a linear path with fixed distance, making it predictable regardless. Due to its below-average horizontal distance, she is also vulnerable to semi-spikes. She does have options to mix it up, though: Shield Breaker can aid her horizontal recovery when fully charged, while Dancing Blade stalls her after a midair jump. Even so, she is also heavily reliant on her double jump for mixing up her recovery, and she is in significant danger of being gimped if off-stage without it.
Overall, Lucina is a "lower-risk, lower-reward" version of Marth. She trades heavy power and range for more consistent spacing and damage racking abilities, as well as more consistent KO potential. Like Mario and Pit, she has a low learning curve thanks to her straightforward playstyle, since she benefits from spacing at close range while also having several fast and reliably strong KOing options. Despite this, and due to Marth's more rewarding KO and spacing potentials, she must play more defensively in order to utilize her moveset to the fullest, namely her moves' consistently high knockback, though without getting the extra reward Marth obtains by doing so.
While Lucina does possess some advantages that allow her to fare better in certain matchups compared to Marth, such as Pikachu and Captain Falcon, she still lacks the main advantages that Marth's tipper provides. Despite her flaws, Lucina's actual level of viability is debatable: although her playerbase is fairly small, she receives strong results from the players who do use her, with the most notable examples being ZeRo's numerous tournament victories upon adopting her as a secondary in 2017.
Differences from Marth
Lucina's differences from Marth mostly boil down to her lack of sweetspots. Lucina's attacks will deal the same damage regardless of where on her sword the attack lands (excluding Down Aerial). This change made players view Lucina as an "easy mode" of Marth, with players not having to worry about spacing to maximize damage output. Lucina is slightly shorter than Marth, which makes her slightly harder to hit, but would also slightly shorten her range. Her Up Tilt has a timing sweetspot opposed to a tipper sweetspot.
Lucina overall performs similarly to Marth, but her lack of tipper sweetspots makes her play noticeably differently. Her differences essentially boil down to a more consistent version of Marth that isn't capable of getting early KOs compared to Marth's tipper sweetspots.
Aesthetics
Lucina wields the Parallel Falchion from Fire Emblem Awakening, an alternate timeline variant of Falchion.- Unlike Falchion, the Parallel Falchion lacks a tipper. This is demonstrated with its trail being white and opaque during a swing's initial and middle stages, and translucent and blue during the late and final stages. In comparison, Falchion's trail is translucent and blue with an accentuated tip throughout an entire swing.
- Lucina's on-screen appearance; taunts; victory poses; Screen KO and defeated/No Contest animation are different.
- Unlike Marth, Lucina is dubbed in English for non-Japanese versions of SSB4. She also has unique victory quotes against him and Ike.
- Lucina has additional voice clip for taking middle knockback, a trait shared with many other newcomers (except Rosalina & Luma, Greninja, Dark Pit and Bowser Jr.).
Attributes
- Lucina is slightly shorter than Marth (height multiplier: 0.96x → 0.92x). Due to this, Lucina's hitboxes start from a lower position and have slightly less range but she is also slightly harder to hit.
- Due to the Parallel Falchion lacking a tipper like Falchion, its entire blade deals equal damage and knockback. As a result, Lucina's attacks deal more damage and knockback than Marth's sourspotted attacks, but deal less damage and knockback than his sweetspotted attacks.
- Aside from her neutral attack, the rest of Lucina's moveset lacks hitlag modifiers.
- Lucina's dash animation is faster. However, this is merely aesthetic.
Lucina's sidestep retains her horizontal momentum, granting it follow-ups that Marth's lacks.
Ground attacks
Lucina's neutral attack transitions slower (frame 18 → 19). Its second hit also has less knockback scaling (75 → 45), making it slightly less effective at spacing.- Lucina's neutral attack retains her horizontal momentum, granting it follow-ups that Marth's lacks.
- Lucina's up tilt deals damage based on timing instead of its hitboxes (6% (blade)/5% (body)/9% (tip) → 7.6% (early)/8.075% (clean)).
- Lucina's up tilt does not slightly move her forward, making it slightly less effective at spacing.
- Lucina's up tilt retains her horizontal momentum, granting it follow-ups that Marth's lacks.
- Lucina's down tilt has different particle effects.
Aerial attacks
- Lucina’s sourspot down aerial deals more damage than Marth’s, but the sweetspot deals less damage (12% (blade)/14% (non-meteor tip)/15% (tip) → 12.3% (non-meteor)/14.2% (meteor)).
Special moves
- Lucina's Shield Breaker animation is different. She leans farther back during its start-up; trembles more exaggeratedly while rearing her arm back; and takes a step forward during its thrust. This improves its recovery potential.
- Dolphin Slash grants less height than Marth's due to Lucina's smaller size multiplier.
- Lucina may shout when using Dolphin Slash, whereas Marth does not vocalize when using it.
- Lucina's Counter stance is different. Incidentally, her legs are not positioned on the ground during its active hitbox window, although this quirk does not affect gameplay and is likely a modeling error.
- Lucina may say "My turn!" or "You're mine!" when she counterattacks, whereas Marth merely grunts when he counterattacks.
Update history
Initially a poorly regarded character like her ancestor, Lucina has been buffed significantly thanks to game updates. Updates 1.0.6, 1.0.8, 1.1.0 and 1.1.3 collectively improved her overall damage output, decreased the ending lag of several combo-oriented moves, and increased the knockback of many of her standard attacks.
However, the biggest buffs Lucina received were indirect. Originally, the low shieldstun used in SSB4 made her neutral game quite unsafe, and the fact that her moves (aside from neutral attack) lack hitlag modifiers resulted in them being less safe on shield than Marth's sourspotted attacks. The changes to shield mechanics brought about by updates 1.1.0 and 1.1.1 remedied this by making her moves safer on shield, especially when compared to Marth and Roy's sourspotted moves. Shield Breaker was nerfed as a trade-off, however, as its shield damage was decreased.
Lastly, update 1.1.4 increased all of the damage outputs for all of Lucina's aerials, which not only improved her aerial combo and juggle potentials, but further closed the gap between her overall damage output and Marth's. Her grounded attacks and aerial attacks' hitboxes were also increased to the point where, like Marth, her range now overreaches certain characters' ranges, such as Sheik's. When coupled with her multitude of buffs, Lucina is much better than she was during SSB4's initial release.
- Neutral attack's first hit deals less knockback (25 base/60 scaling → 20/50). While this does allow it to connect more reliably into the second hit from far ranges, this more importantly prevents it from linking into the second hit until much higher percents, hindering its reliability as well as its safety on hit.
Fixed a glitch where using Counter after being edge-trumped no longer changes momentum.
- Neutral attack's first hit can be interrupted earlier: frame 29 → 26.
- Forward tilt can be interrupted earlier: frame 39 → 35.
- Down tilt deals 0.5% more damage: 8.075% → 8.575%.
- Forward smash deals 0.55% more damage: 14.725% → 15.275%.
- Down smash's second hit deals 0.5% more damage: 13.775% → 14.275%.
- Forward aerial deals 0.5% more damage: 8.075% → 8.575%.
- Shield Breaker deals more damage: 8.075% (uncharged)/21.85% (fully charged) → 8.575%/22.85%.
- Dancing Blade's first hit can be interrupted earlier: frame 45 → 42 and its hits connect together better.
- Neutral attack's first hit deals 1.425% less damage: 4.75% → 3.325%; its angles altered; and it transitions faster. Altogether, these changes improve its combo potential, and make it connect together better with its second hit. However, they remove its ability to jab lock.
- Forward tilt deals 0.95% more damage: 9.975% → 10.925%.
- Up tilt improved. Its base knockback increased; its angles altered; and its ending lag decreased.
- Neutral aerial's landing lag decreased.
- Dolphin Slash's knockback scaling increased.
- Dolphin Slash and Crescent Slash's hitlag multipliers increased.
- Lucina may grunt when using Dolphin Slash.
- In the English version, Lucina may say either "My turn!" or "You're mine!" when using Counter. In the Japanese version, she may say either "そこ!" ("There!") or "つきやり!" ("An opening!") when using Counter.
Technical changelist 1.0.8
| Change | Old value | New value |
|---|---|---|
| Jab 1 damage | 4.75% | 3.325% |
| Jab 1 angle | Sakurai angle | 78°/65°/90° |
| Jab 1 knockback scaling | 50/70 | 30 |
| Jab 1 base knockback | 20/30 | 55 |
| Jab 1 hitlag | 1× | 0.7× |
| Transition from Jab 1 to Jab 2 | frame 21 | frame 17 |
| Jab 1 ending frame | frame 29 | frame 26 |
| Jab 2 angle | Sakurai angle | 100° |
| Jab 2 initial base knockback | 50 | 65 |
| Jab 2 (late) base knockback | 40 | 52 |
| Up tilt angle | Sakurai angle/100° | 100° |
| Forward tilt damage | 9.975% | 10.925% |
| Up tilt base knockback | 50/40 | 65/52 |
| Up tilt ending lag | frame 42 | frame 39 |
| Neutral aerial landing lag | 15 frames | 12 frames |
| Dolphin Slash knockback scaling | 68 | 74 |
| Dolphin Slash/Crescent Slash hitlag multiplier | 0.5 | 0.7 |
- Neutral aerial deals more damage: 2.375% (hit 1)/6.65% (hit 2) → 3.325%/7.6%.
- Up tilt deals more damage: 6.65% (early)/7.125% (late) → 7.6%/8.075% and its ending lag decreased.
- All aerials' landing lag decreased.
- All variations of Shield Breaker have had their ending lag decreased.
- All variations of Dolphin Slash have had their landing lag decreased.
- Dancing Blade's first, second and third hits' input window durations increased by 5 frames. This makes them connect together better, but makes the first hit harder to follow up with an attack other than another hit of Dancing Blade.
Technical changelist 1.1.0
| Change | Old value | New value |
|---|---|---|
| Up tilt damage | 6.65%/7.125% | 7.6%/8.075% |
| Up tilt ending lag | frame 39 | frame 36 |
| Neutral aerial damage (1st hit) | 2.375% | 3.325% |
| Neutral aerial damage (2nd hit) | 6.65% | 7.6% |
| Forward aerial landing lag | 18 frames | 16 frames |
| Up aerial landing lag | 16 frames | 14 frames |
| Back aerial landing lag | 19 frames | 17 frames |
| Down aerial landing lag | 28 frames | 24 frames |
| All variations of Shield Breaker ending lag | frame 52 | frame 50 |
| All variations of Dolphin Slash landing lag | 23 frames | 20 frames |
- Partially charged Shield Breaker deals less shield damage: 30 → 25.
- Multiple changes to the knockback, hitbox sizes, and damage have made Dancing Blade/Effortless Blade link better.
Technical changelist 1.1.3
| Change | Old value | New value |
|---|---|---|
| Dancing Blade/Efortless Blade hit 2 forward knockback growth (hitboxes 0/2) | 70 | 30 |
| Dancing Blade/Efortless Blade hit 2 forward knockback growth (hitbox 1) | 50 | 30 |
| Dancing Blade/Efortless Blade hit 2 forward base knockback (all 3 hitboxes) | 28 | 30 |
| Dancing Blade hit 3 down damage (both hitboxes) | 3.325% | 4.75% |
| Dancing Blade hit 3 down knockback growth (hitbox 0) | 60 | 28 |
| Dancing Blade hit 3 down knockback growth (hitbox 1) | 40 | 28 |
| Dancing Blade hit 3 down angle (both hitboxes) | 20° | 44° |
| Dancing Blade hit 3 down base knockback (both hitboxes) | 30 | 50 |
| Dancing Blade hit 3 down size (hitbox 1) | 4.3 | 4.6 |
- Neutral attack's first hit has less ending lag: 28 frames → 25.
- Neutral attack's hitbox sizes increased: 6.5u → 7u.
- Forward and up tilt's ending lag decreased: 36 frames → 33.
- Forward tilt's sour x hitbox and main hitbox sizes increased: 2u (sour x)/6.7u (main) → 2.5u/7.7u.
- Down tilt's sour x hitbox and main hitbox sizes increased: 6.7u (main)/15.2u (sour x) → 8.2u/16.7u.
- Down tilt's y hitbox size decreased: 3.2u → 2.7u.
- Down smash's ending lag decreased: 64 frames → 54.
- All aerials deal more damage: 3.345% (neutral hit 1)/7.6% (neutral hit 2), 8.5% (forward), 9.975% (back/up), 11.4% (down sourspot)/13.3% (meteor) → 4.2%/8.5%, 10.5%, 11.8%/11.4%, 12.3%/14.2%.
- Neutral, forward and back aerials' main hitbox sizes increased: 6.7u (neutral hit 1)/6.5u (neutral hit 2), 6.7u (forward, back) → 7.7u/7.5u, 7.7u.
- Dancing Blade has been improved. Its first hit's start-up decreased: 7 → 6 and it had its grounded and aerial ending lag decreased by 1 frame
Moveset
- Lucina's overall damage output is close to the weighted average of each of the hitboxes of Marth's attacks.
For a gallery of Lucina's hitboxes, see here.
| Name | Damage | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neutral attack | 3.325% | Two alternating upward slashes. One of Lucina's most effective set-up options, thanks to its first hit being able to combo into various moves. This includes itself; tilt attacks; down smash; forward aerial; or dash grab at low percentages, and forward smash at medium to high percentages. | ||
| 4.75% | ||||
| Forward tilt | 10.925% | A lunging upward slash. Covers a very large area, making it useful for spacing. While not remarkably powerful like Marth's sweetspotted forward tilt, it deals noticeably more knockback compared to his sourspotted forward tilt. As a result, it is more consistent for spacing. | ||
| Up tilt | 7.6% (early), 8.075% (late) | An overhead arcing slash. Deals vertical knockback and has a large hitbox that can even hit opponents behind her. Oddly, its late hit deals more damage but less knockback than its early hit. A good combo starter at low percentages and a viable KOing option at very high percentages. | ||
| Down tilt | 8.575% | A crouching thrust. Lucina's fastest tilt attack, it is capable of starting tech-chases, especially on heavier characters. It is also useful for edgeguarding. | ||
| Dash attack | 9.975% | A lunging outward slash. A decent follow-up from down tilt and hits grounded opponents, although its moderate ending lag makes it unsafe on shield. | ||
| Forward smash | 15.275% | Rotates her body to perform a lunging downward slash. Its high base knockback and moderate knockback scaling make it Lucina's most reliable KOing option. However, while it has moderately fast start-up, it has high ending lag. | ||
| Up smash | 3% (ground), 14.25% (blade) | An overhead thrust. The move has an initial "quake" hitbox that launches opponents into the Parallel Falchion's blade hitbox. It is a decent anti-air option thanks to its vertical range and high knockback scaling, while its deceptive horizontal range makes it capable of punishing rolls and landings. As such, it is a fairly reliable KOing option. It is also one of the few attacks in Lucina's moveset that is comparatively more reliable than Marth's because of the positioning needed to land a sweetspot in his case. | ||
| Down smash | 9.5% (hit 1), 14.275% (hit 2) | A crouching outward slash in front of herself and then behind herself. The first hit deals weak knockback and it unsafe on shield due to the move's duration. However, the second hit is stronger, making it useful for catching rolls. Oddly, its tip launches opponents at a different angle similarly to Marth's, despite the Parallel Falchion's lack of a tipper. | ||
| Neutral aerial | 4.2% (hit 1), 8.5% (hit 2) | An inward horizontal slash, followed by a spinning, outward horizontal slash. In addition to being a good spacing option, its first hit can combo into other moves when SHFF'd. Its second hit has decent knockback, which makes it useful for edgeguarding. | ||
| Forward aerial | 10.5% | A downward slash. It is fast and has good range, which make it very useful for spacing and fending off aerial opponents. However, landing with this move is very unsafe, because of its short duration and 16 frames of landing lag. | ||
| Back aerial | 11.8% | Rotates her body to perform an upward slash behind herself. Very similar to her forward aerial, although it has slightly more damage and knockback. Additionally, the swing starts from below instead of above, which can make it catch grounded enemies more easily. Has the interesting property of turning Lucina around, changing her facing direction. Has the most knockback of all her aerial moves, making it great for edgeguarding. | ||
| Up aerial | 11.4% | A backflipping, upward arcing slash. Extremely wide arc and decent damage. These factors make it a useful anti-air option and damage racking tool. If timed correctly, a late hit can connect against grounded opponents just before landing, which can lead to aerial combos. | ||
| Down aerial | 12.3% (non-meteor), 14.2% (meteor) | A downward arcing slash. If struck in the middle of the arc, it deals more damage and meteor smashes opponents, while its other hitboxes have moderate knockback. However, it has high ending and landing lag, and its meteor smash hitbox only lasts for 1 frame. | ||
| Grab | — | Reaches out with her free hand. | ||
| Pummel | 2% | A knee strike. A fairly fast pummel. | ||
| Forward throw | 4% | Spins and flings the opponent forward. It can tech-chase, combo into a forward aerial against heavier characters at low percentages, or combo into Crescent Slash until around 150%. | ||
| Back throw | 4% | Tosses the opponent behind herself. It has no follow-up or KO potential due to its high ending lag and extremely low knockback scaling. However, it is very effective at launching the opponent off-stage due to its high base knockback. | ||
| Up throw | 4% | Heaves the opponent upward with her free hand. Lucina's only throw that has KO potential, it starts KOing at 165% and even earlier when Lucina is affected by rage. | ||
| Down throw | 5% | A one-armed body slam. Aesthetically, it appears almost identical to forward throw, with its only difference being a shockwave effect to indicate the opponent hitting the ground. Mechanically, it functions much differently, as it deals slightly more damage and it launches the opponent vertically rather than diagonally, which enables it to combo into neutral, forward, back and up aerials at low to medium percentages. Due to its high knockback scaling, however, it quickly loses combo potential at medium percentages. | ||
| Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge |
— | — | ||
| Techs | — | — | ||
| Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front) |
7% | Gets up while slashing to the left and then to the right. | ||
| Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back) |
7% | Gets into a kneeling position and then slashes around herself as she gets up. | ||
| Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip) |
5% | Hops briskly to her feet and then does a thrust to the left and a slash to the right. | ||
| Edge attack Edge getups |
7% | Performs an outward slash while climbing up. | ||
| Neutral special | Default | Shield Breaker | 8.575% (uncharged), 23% (fully charged) | Rears back and then performs a powerful thrust. It is chargeable and, true to its name, deals a high amount of shield damage, to the point that it can even instantly break shields when fully charged. In the air, it also grants a slight horizontal boost when uncharged, and much more horizontal distance when fully charged. |
| Custom 1 | Storm Thrust | 3.8% (uncharged), 10.45% (fully charged) | The thrust emits a gust from the Parallel Falchion's tip. The gust's pushing strength increases with its charge, but the thrust itself deals noticeably less damage. | |
| Custom 2 | Dashing Assault | 5.7%/4.75%/2.85% (grounded uncharged early/mid/late), 6.65%/5.7%/3.8% (aerial uncharged early/mid/late), 15.2%/12.35%/8.55% (grounded fully charged early/mid/late), 16.15%/13.3%/9.5% (aerial fully charged early/mid/late) | The thrust has improved range thanks to it propelling Lucina forward, but it deals less damage. | |
| Side special | Default | Dancing Blade | 3.325% (first hit/second forward hit), 4.275% (third forward/upward hits), 3.325% (third downward hit), 5.7% (last forward hit), 6.65% (last upward hit), 2% (last downward hits 1-4), 4.75% (last downward hit 5) | A combination of sword swings, which can be influenced by directional inputs. The finishing swing is one of three options: an upward slash with with KO potential at high percentages, but short range (tilting the control stick up); a downward slash with KO potential at high percentages near the edge (no control stick input or tilting the control stick forward); or a flurry of low-angled thrusts that deal the most amount of damage, but have the lowest amount of knockback (tilting the control stick down). Like Marth's version, the first hit stalls Lucina while in midair, which can aid her recovery. It has overall greater KO potential than Marth's thanks to the Parallel Falchion having a higher base damage output than Falchion. |
| Custom 1 | Effortless Blade | 2.375% (parts 1-3), 4.275% (part 4) | The swings are easier to chain together, but only the side inputted swings can be used. The first three swings also deal less damage. | |
| Custom 2 | Heavy Blade | 7.6% (part 1), 9.5% (part 2), 10.45% (part 3), 13.3% (part 4 up), 14.25% (part 4 side), 2.09% (part 4 down hits 1-4), 11.4% (part 4 down hit 5) | Each swing does considerably more damage and knockback, having noticeable KO potential (especially the final swing). However, startup is increased, each hit transitions slower, and it is almost impossible to chain hits together because of their higher knockback. | |
| Up special | Default | Dolphin Slash | 11% (clean), 7% (late blade), 6% (late body) | A jumping upward slash. It deals the most damage during its first few frames and is an excellent out of shield option, thanks to its fast speed and its ability to be B-reversed. It is also useful for escaping neutral infinites should the stage have platforms to land safely on. Grants a decent amount of vertical distance, but very minimal horizontal distance. |
| Custom 1 | Crescent Slash | 7% (clean), 12% (late blade), 6% (late body) | Grants more horizontal distance, but less vertical distance. The clean and late blade hits' damage outputs are also reversed. It is also a true combo from forward throw until around 150%. | |
| Custom 2 | Dolphin Jump | — | Grants more vertical distance, but deals no damage. | |
| Down special | Default | Counter | 1.2× (minimum 8%) | Parries and then counterattacks against any incoming attacks with an outward slash. Damage and knockback dealt scale on the move that is countered. It has the same properties as Marth's, along with the custom variations. |
| Custom 1 | Easy Counter | 0.7× (minimum 4%) | The parrying stance is longer and has a wider trigger window, but the damage multiplier and the counterattack's power are weaker. | |
| Custom 2 | Iai Counter | 1.3× (minimum 6%) | Dashes behind the opponent and slashes them at a blinding speed. Has a stronger damage multiplier, activates faster, launches opponents backward and has an electric effect. However, it has a narrower trigger window. | |
| Final Smash | Critical Hit | 60% | Dashes at a blinding speed to perform an extremely powerful outward slash. Its immense damage output and knockback make it a one-hit KO. Pressing the button again will cancel the dash and immediately trigger the slash. | |
Announcer call
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English
Japanese/Chinese
On-screen appearance
- Warps onto the stage using warp magic, and then removes the mask she wears while disguised as Marth.
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Taunts
- Up taunt: Twirls the Parallel Falchion and then assumes a stance highly similar to her pose from her official art in Fire Emblem Awakening, saying "Come at me!" (かかってきなさい., "Come bring it if you would.")
- Side taunt: Turns around to have her back face the screen while sheathing the Parallel Falchion and saying "I cannot lose." (負けられませんから., "I won't lose from here on.")
- Down taunt: Puts on the mask she used while disguised as Marth whilst she put her hand on her hip, then removes it.
| Up taunt | Side taunt | Down taunt |
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Idle poses
- Holds her hand to her chest, closes her eyes, and silently takes a breath.
- Brushes her hair out of her face.
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Crowd cheer
| English | Japanese | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheer | ||
| Description | Lu-ci-na! | Lu-kin-a! |
| Pitch | Group chant | Male |
Victory poses
- Points the Parallel Falchion upward and then poses, saying "Father... I won." (勝ちましたよ、お父様)
- If Ike is present in the match, there is a chance she will instead say "And they call you the Radiant Hero?" (これが蒼炎の勇者？, "This is the Radiant Hero?")
- Swings the Parallel Falchion, then performs the same pose from her official artwork, saying "The future is not written!" (未来を変えて見せます！, "Watch me change the future!")
- Sheaths the Parallel Falchion, saying "You'll never defeat me!" (負けるわけにはいきません！, "I cannot lose!") After winning a Team Battle, Lucina performs this pose with her back towards the screen if she does not have a point lead.
- If Marth is present, there is a chance she will instead say "This is the Hero-King?" (これが英雄王の力？, "This is the strength of the Hero King…?")
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In competitive play
Official Custom Moveset Project
| Character | Custom sets available | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Lucina |
3113 | 3123 | 1123 | 3133 | 1133 |
| 3121 | 1121 | 3111 | 1131 | 3131 | |
Most historically significant players
Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the PGR 100, which recognizes the official top 100 players in Super Smash Bros. 4 of all time.
See also: Category:Lucina professionals (SSB4)
Kogarasuma - Considered one of the best Lucina players in the United States. Placed 4th at GUMS 13, 7th at GatorLAN Fall 2017, 9th at GatorLAN Spring 2018, 13th at Collision XIV, and 25th at Shine 2016. Formerly ranked 10th on the New England Power Rankings.- Mr E (#37) - The best Lucina player in the world for most of the game's lifespan. Placed 5th at both IBP Masters Showdown and EVO 2018, 9th at Too Hot to Handle, 13th at The Big House 7, and 17th at Super Smash Con 2018 with wins over players such as Ally, Salem, and Tweek.
ZeRo (#1) - Formerly used Lucina as a secondary alongside Diddy Kong and was considered the best Lucina player in the world in the first half of 2017. Won CEO Dreamland, DreamHack Austin 2017, Royal Flush, and Smash 'N' Splash 3.
Tier placement and history
Upon SSB4's release, Lucina was quickly compared to Marth due to her inheriting many of the flaws he had received in his transition from Brawl. Although her Parallel Falchion boasts consistent power, this strength has been viewed as less effective in comparison to Falchion's tipper, resulting in Lucina being widely regarded as worse than Marth, as well being poorly regarded early on. As time went on, however, game updates gradually improved Lucina, with the vast majority of her buffs being shared with Marth. These changes helped her mitigate some of the problems she initially had, although they were not sufficient enough in comparison to Marth's, who began developing a much more dedicated playerbase than her. As such, Lucina achieved much poorer results in comparison, which saw her ranked 47th on the first 4BR tier list, placing her in the bottom-tier and six places below Marth.
However, Lucina continued to improve over time, and gained some other significant buffs in update 1.1.4, with some of them once again being shared with Marth. These improvements allowed Lucina's offense to flow more consistently than before, giving her a niche over Marth in certain matchups. Although these buffs were still not enough to enable her to achieve significant results, even from her best players like Kogarasuma, they still improved her perception within the community. As a result, Lucina ranked 36th on the second tier list, resulting with her being reassessed as a mid-tier character, and gaining the fourth largest rise between the first and second tier lists. Even so, players such as ZeRo and Dabuz considered Lucina's position on the tier list as too low, due to most of her strengths being shared with Marth. To reflect the drastic improvements brought about by game updates, as well as her stronger, if rare, results, Lucina was then ranked 18th on the third tier list; by extension, this was the largest rise between the second and third tier lists.
Although Lucina was still considered to be inferior to Marth overall, some smashers claimed her placing to be somewhat low, especially considering the briefly improved results brought by ZeRo during the spring and summer of 2017 after picking her up as a secondary, as well as better results brought by other players like Kogarasuma and Mr E. Thanks to these results, she has rised to 14th on the fourth and current tier list. She is the only bottom-tier character to ever become a high-tier one and is one of the characters who have improved the most overall.
Lucina also began to earn more results as Mr E got 5th at EVO 2018 while defeating BestNess, Salem, MVD, and Shuton to qualify for top 8 before losing to CaptainZack and Nietono and continued to do very well with her such as getting 17th at Super Smash Con 2018, 25th at Shine 2018, 4th at Canada Cup 2018 and 17th at both GameTyrant Expo 2018 and DreamHack Atlanta 2018. These results which were previously unspoken of for Lucina have not only been more impressive than a fair amount of the characters above her, but also Marth. Due to this and with some people noting that Marth has not achieved that much success with out a secondary on top of him being significantly less consistent at killing as a character, some have said that Lucina is a superior character to Marth. This however, is highly debatable.
Reveal trailer
Trophies
- Lucina
Chrom's daughter and the future Princess of Ylisse. When she arrives from a doomed future seeking to prevent it from ever happening, she goes by the name Marth before her identity is revealed. She fights much like her adopted namesake, but more than just the tip of her sword is powerful.
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Chrom's daughter and the future Princess of Ylisse. When she arrives from a doomed future seeking to prevent it from ever happening, she goes by the name Marth before her identity is revealed. She fights much like her adopted namesake, but her entire blade is equally powerful instead of having a more powerful tip.
Daughter of Chrom and future Princess of Ylisse. When she comes from the future to prevent a terrible future from unfolding, she goes by the name of Marth, but only until her true identity comes to light. She is a very similar fighter to Marth, except it doesn't actually matter which part of her sword she strikes with.
: Fire Emblem Awakening (02/2013)
- Lucina (Alt.)
- Lucina's moves are much like Marth's, but there are subtle differences. With Marth, you need to try to hit with the tip of his sword, but Lucina's sword is equally powerful all along the blade. Her Shield Breaker move lets her attack opponents and break their shields at the same time. Charge it fully to shatter shields in one hit.
- Lucina's moves are much like Marth's, but there are subtle differences. With Marth, you need to try to hit with the tip of his sword, but with Lucina, it doesn't matter, making her easier to use. Her Shield Breaker move lets her damage opponents and break their shields at the same time. Charge it fully to shatter shields in one hit.
- : Fire Emblem Awakening (02/2013)
- Critical Hit (Lucina)
- In Lucina's Final Smash, she raises her sword high before dashing swiftly forward to deliver a deadly blow to whomever she makes contact with first. Even if their damage is low, this strike is powerful enough to take out foes in a single hit. Just make sure you don't dash off the stage when you use it in midair!
- In Lucina's Final Smash, she raises her sword high, then dashes swiftly forwards to deliver a deadly blow to whoever stands in her way. Even if their damage is low, this strike is powerful enough to take them out in a single hit. Just be careful not to dash off the stage if you use it in mid-air!
Classic (3DS)
Alt. (3DS)
Classic (Wii U)
Alt. (Wii U)
Critical Hit (Lucina)
In Event Matches
Solo Events
- In the Name of the Hero-King: As Marth, the player must defeat Lucina in a Stamina Battle.
- New Challengers 1: Lucina is among the opponents fought in this event, alongside Rosalina & Luma, Wii Fit Trainer, Little Mac, Villager, Duck Hunt, and Bowser Jr.
Co-op Events
- Mirror Magic: Lucina and Ike must defeat Ganondorf, a giant metal dark Lucina, and a giant metal dark Ike.
- The Ultimate Battle: Two players select a character and must defeat the entire roster.
Alternate costumes
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Gallery
Artwork of Lucina and Robin from the official site.
Lucina's splash art.
Lucina's amiibo.
Lucina in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
Using Shield Breaker on Link.
Using Shield Breaker on a Phantom.
Using Counter.
Fighting Ike on Coliseum.
On Smash Ball standby alongside Luigi on Coliseum.
Lucina in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
Alongside female Robin.
Laying supine alongside Palutena.
Trivia
- Although Lucina was originally planned as an alternate costume for Marth, she was transitioned into being an entirely separate character later in development once her attacks were given differing traits. Masahiro Sakurai elaborated on this by explaining that "whenever there is even a small difference in abilities, that character gets an actual roster slot." She was one of three intended alternate costumes to be made separate in this way, with the other two being the returning Dr. Mario and her fellow newcomer Dark Pit.
- Lucina makes a few references to her home game:
- Her pose in official art of her for Super Smash Bros. 4 is identical to her pose in official art of her disguised as Marth. Lucina also strikes this pose for her Counter (though she instantly shifts to Marth's Counter stance for an extremely brief moment if her Counter is triggered), her up taunt and a victory pose.
- The battle stance she assumes when her reveal trailer's tagline appears is identical to the stance she and Chrom assume simultaneously during their duel in the Arena Ferox tournament.
- Her in-game model in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U bears the Brand of Naga in her left eye.[1]
- The mask she used while disguised as Marth is used for her on-screen appearance and down taunt.
- Both of her lines emitted after successfully using Counter are the same lines used when she performs a Dual Strike.
- Lucina is the first clone in the entire series whose special moves, including custom variations, all share the same names with the character she is a clone of, and also the first clone to share every single move with the character they are derived from.
- Robin and Lucina are the only playable Fire Emblem characters in Smash 4 to originate from the same game in their home series.
- Lucina is the only unlockable character in both versions of SSB4 who was officially revealed prior to the release of SSB4 and the only unlockable character to appear in the opening movie for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
- Lucina is also one of three unlockable characters prior to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to be revealed as a playable character prior to the release of the game, with the other two being Snake and Sonic in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Of these, Lucina is the only one not to be a third party character
- Lucina is the only one of the three clone characters to not share their counterpart's screen KO animation.
- Lucina, Bowser and Dr. Mario are the only characters that players are not forced to play as in any single player Event Matches.
- Lucina is the only Fire Emblem character whose Counter does not involve her holding her sword in a reverse grip during either her stance or counterattack. However, as stated earlier, she will instantly shift to Marth's stance for an extremely brief moment when her Counter is triggered.
- In the Japanese version of the game, Lucina has an alternate blast KO voice clip, while she grunts in the international releases. The line itself is "こんなところで" (Must I fall here...?), a reference to her death quote in Fire Emblem Awakening.
References
| Fighters in Super Smash Bros. 4 | |
|---|---|
| Veterans | Bowser · Captain Falcon · Charizard · Diddy Kong · Donkey Kong · Dr. Mario · Falco · Fox · Ganondorf · Ike · Jigglypuff · King Dedede · Kirby · Link · Lucario · Lucas · Luigi · Mario · Marth · Meta Knight · Mewtwo · Mr. Game & Watch · Ness · Olimar · Peach · Pikachu · Pit · R.O.B. · Roy · Samus · Sheik · Sonic · Toon Link · Wario · Yoshi · Zelda · Zero Suit Samus |
| Newcomers | Bayonetta · Bowser Jr. · Cloud · Corrin · Dark Pit · Duck Hunt · Greninja · Little Mac · Lucina · Mega Man · Mii Fighter (Mii Brawler · Mii Gunner · Mii Swordfighter) · Pac-Man · Palutena · Robin · Rosalina & Luma · Ryu · Shulk · Villager · Wii Fit Trainer |
 Fire Emblem universe
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| Fighters | Marth (SSBM · SSBB · SSB4 · SSBU) · Roy (SSBM · SSB4 · SSBU) · Ike (SSBB · SSB4 · SSBU) · Lucina (SSB4 · SSBU) · Robin (SSB4 · SSBU) · Corrin (SSB4 · SSBU) · Chrom (SSBU) · Byleth (SSBU) |
| Assist Trophies | Lyn · Black Knight · Tiki |
| Stages | Castle Siege · Arena Ferox · Coliseum · Garreg Mach Monastery |
| Item | Killing Edge |
| Other | Sothis |
| Trophies, Stickers and Spirits | Trophies (SSBM · SSBB · SSB4) · Stickers · Spirits |
| Music | Brawl · SSB4 · Ultimate |
| Masterpieces | Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light · Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem |