Lucas (PM)

Lucas; in Project M and Project+
	;
Universe	EarthBound
Base game appearance	Brawl
Moveset inspiration	Lucas (SSBB)
Alternate costume	Masked Man Lucas

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Lucas is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. He has been given new options and moves in his recreation from Brawl to Project M. Lucas comes specifically from the game Mother 3, and is overall more of a support character in it. He uses moves such as Lifeup, Refresh, and Healing. Offensively, he has access to PK Love and PK Flash, the latter being a move Ness uses in Smash; Lucas can also assist himself and his teammates with Shields, Counters, Offense Up, and Defense Up. In his PM iteration, however, he uses mainly offensive moves, and does daring acrobatic stunts for his regular attacks. This implies that it is his fourteen-year-old self, who has learned to be brave and strong, rather than timid and weak. He incorporates PSI into most of his attacks, meaning they have sweetspots which do extra damage. His forward aerial is a great example, as it does 13% on the strong hit, and 9-10 on the weak hit. Lucas is very combo oriented, and has a relatively strong wave-dash. His throws aren't very useful in most cases, with the up-throw being the one most commonly used. It hits multiple times and then throws upward, similar to Mewtwo's in power and concept.

Attributes

Lucas' alternate costume.

Changes from Brawl to PM

Lucas was heavily buffed from Brawl to Project M, as he was given many new options to combo and KO characters on-stage. While it may seem Lucas's recovery has been nerfed due to the shorter distance that his up special travels, the new air dodge and tether mechanics allow him to come back on stage with greater ease than before.

Lucas has gained a long wavedash thanks to Project M's new physics, greatly improving his approach and positioning.
New jab combo is only 2 hits, and is a better combo opener.
Up tilt is now a flash kick in an arc-like fashion, which has more range and utility than his previous up tilt, and it can easily lead-up into combos or a down aerial.
Down tilt does slightly more damage and sends at a higher angle for potential follow-ups.
Forward tilt has less knockback, allowing for easier followups out of it.
Down smash has much less starting and ending lag; its second hit is now optional, performed by pressing the attack button again. This allows Lucas to peform a quick smash attack in with a single hit, or punish crouch cancelers and pressure shields with a double hit, while before Lucas was forced to stay in place for a long time due to the attack's long duration.
Neutral aerial links more fluidly and has less hits, while still dealing consistent damage.
Forward aerial does slightly more damage and boasts improved combo utility.
Back aerial does much more damage and is a much stronger KO move, and is slightly easier to sweetspot and spikes, making it a more reliable offstage finisher and edgeguarding option.
Up aerial was given more juggling potential.
Down aerial now only hits three times and thus has less damage potential, but it no longer changes Lucas's momentum, is much faster, has a strong downwards trajectory on the third hit, and links into subsequent hits more fluidly. This makes it have more utility in combos, either as a starter or finisher.
Standing grab animation is slightly faster, and has less endlag.
All throws are sped up.
Lucas's new up throw has very high KO potential, and is the strongest up throw in Project M.
Forward throw has less knockback, which improves its combo utility.
PK Freeze is replaced with a new special move called "Offense Up", a charging move with storable charge similar to Giant Punch or Needle Storm, that increases the power of Lucas's smash attacks and stays active as long as Lucas connects said boosted attacks. This new addition over the generally competitively non-viable PK Freeze is considered a buff as it can allow stronger Lucas players to gain many quick and efficient KOs.
PK Fire inflicts more hitlag and less knockback, and autocancels upon landing, giving Lucas better follow-ups out of the move.
PSI Magnet can now be jump-canceled and has more hitboxes above Lucas, giving him a quick and deadly combo option. It also deals damage consecutively for the entire duration of the move, making it less punishable.
Lucas can now double jump cancel with the same mechanics as Ness, making his combo game even more deadly.
Lucas's additional lag from a grounded grab release has been removed; he is no longer vulnerable to grab release infinites.
Dash attack is much faster and can now be canceled, giving Lucas a very fast and long-ranged DACUS.
Zair now has a damaging hitbox, and is also generally better for recovering, as it can be used after an air dodge and ignores edge-hoggers thanks to Project M's new tether recovery mechanics.
To compensate for the much greater combo utility of Lucas's moveset and the increased power of Offense Up-boosted smashes, several of his standard moves have slightly less damage output and knockback than in Brawl. Some more notable examples are listed below:

Down tilt can no longer infinite.
Up smash has decreased startup time, but drastically less range and slightly less power.
Up aerial is no longer a reliable KOing option near the ceiling.
Down throw has greatly decreased knockback scaling, and is no longer a KO move.

PK Thunder is now noticeably shorter, and PK Thunder 2's maximum damage was decreased. PK Thunder 2 no longer reliably links into itself, reducing its KO potential greatly.
PSI Magnet is less effective at edgeguarding, and its absorbing hitbox's radius was reduced. It also no longer turns Lucas around to absorb projectiles behind him.
Double jump travels slightly less distance, and can no longer Zap Jump.
Up throw and PK Fire now use freezing graphics instead of PSI and fire graphics, respectively.
When using Lucas's up taunt, holding the input will actually make him trip, allowing situational mindgames.

Revisions

2.5b

PK Thunder no longer disappears when entering the side blast zones, and does not clip stages as easily.
PK Thunder no longer disappears when Lucas is hit, and instead becomes unfriendly towards any player and continuing in the same direction before he got hit.
PKT2 ending is not as short and is able to grab the edge backwards.
PK Freeze has less hitlag and is now SDIable.
Tether no longer has a hitbox attached to it when it is grabbing the ledge.
Cliff jump height slightly reduced.
Air jump animations cleaned up.
Boost smash window adjusted to be more appropriate for his jump speed.
Forward smash angled up does slightly more damage while angled down does slightly less.
Down smash is two parts just like Link's forward smash.
Neutral air now uses weight dependent set knockback on linking hits and is slightly more SDIable.
Forward air has normal hitlag.
Back air now uses the new light element effect.
Up air has normal hitlag, and now has a sweetspot that uses the new light element effect.
Grab animations edited to not look as awkward.
PSI Magnet has an actual start up animation, allowing reversals, but the hit and jump cancel timings remain the same as before.

2.6b

Double jump animation tweaked to better evade chain grabs.
Forward air electric sweetspot hitbox knockback improved to increase its kill potential. Damage is also slightly increased.
Neutral B while holding Offense Up (OU) now has a quick burst hitbox that retains OU if the hit lands.
PK Freeze on the ground has reduced endlag.
PSI Magnet can be released during the absorb lag to go into the end animation afterwards, preventing rapid hitting projectiles like Fox's standing laser that can re-hit before the absorb lag ends from being able to trap him in it.
PSI Magnet time to act after absorbing a projectile has been reduced.
Forward smash non-Offense Up has reduced knockback growth.
Forward smash non-Offense Up projectile reflection active frames reduced.
Up smash non-Offense Up has reduced knockback growth.
Fixed a bug with powershield reflect collision size.
Jab has been changed to be two hits with minor changes in functionality.
Up tilt hitboxes slightly tweaked so it makes more sense with the animation, also polished the move aesthetically.
Down tilt animation angled slightly lower to shield poke better, also removed the sparkle graphic.
Forward smash Offense Up graphics shrunk.
Up smash non-Offense Up graphics shrunk to better match the hitboxes.
Up smash Offense Up electric graphics shrunk to better match hitboxes, also illuminates Lucas.
Neutral air animation has a more centered axis of rotation about Lucas's body and uses stationary hitboxes for more consistent coverage. Multi-hit trajectories are now location dependent and generate the proper amount of hitstun for their knockback.
Neutral air landing hitbox tweaked a bit to better reflect the animation, and now sends opponents behind Lucas backwards, instead of forwards.
Back and down air has been completely revamped to reflect his Brawl animation.
Dash grab tweaked slightly to have the grab better match the animation.
Up throw hitboxes now cannot be clanked, fixing a bug that would have him freeze up similar to Diddy's up throw.
Up throw animation has been improved aesthetically.
Lucas's upper body cannot be hit during tether reel-in.
Ledge roll 100+ works properly on edges with steep slopes like Yoshi's Island: Brawl.
PK Thunder bolt altered slightly so that the tail flinch hits no longer overwrite the head hit.
PKT2 multi-hits now use fixed knock-back. The hitboxes refresh every few frames but are now always out and active instead of turning off to refresh.
PSI Magnet time between refresh hits is slightly reduced.
PSI Magnet refresh hits in the air now pulls an aerial opponent down and towards him.
PSI Magnet multi-hit range more accurately matches release hitbox range.
PSI Magnet aesthetically changed to illuminate Lucas while active.
PSI Magnet release graphic no longer anchored to Lucas.
Up taunt makes Lucas behave as if he actually tripped if held.

3.0

PK Magnet shield damage was significantly reduced.
PK Magnet repeating hitbox refresh rate was reduced.
Fixed a bug that prevented the >100% ledge roll animation from completing.

3.5

Forward aerial has a bigger sweetspot.
- It now deals one percent less damage.
Up aerial causes more damage and knockback.
Down throw causes more knockback.
Lucas' up smash attack has been weakened overall.
Back aerial has more endlag.
Down aerial has more endlag.
- The first two hits of the attack cause less knockback, and are smaller.
Up throw causes less knockback, weakening its KO potential.
Down tilt has been changed to one resembling Lucas' Brawl down tilt.
When using Lucas' Masked Man costume, forward smash attacks now have sword effects.

Moveset

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Up to date as of version 3.0.

	Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		2 hits of 3% (6% total)	Throws out one hand creating sparks of energy, then throws out the other hand, moving Lucas forward a bit.
Forward tilt		11% (sweetspot), 9% (sourspot)	Lucas does a back hand and creates a shock of PSI. Can be aimed up or down slightly.
Up tilt		10% (sweetspot), 9% (late sweetspot), 8% (sourspot)	Lucas does a backflip charged with PSI. Can chain into itself at lower damage percentages.
Down tilt		6% (tip), 4% (body)	Lucas crouches and spins with his leg out.
Dash attack		10% (clean), 7% (late)	Lucas slides forward, shooting PSI energy out of his hands.
Forward smash		16% (24% through Offense Up)	Lucas swings his stick. It reflects projectiles. The tip of the stick sends enemies at a more horizontal angle. It gets stronger the closer the opponent is to the tip. Angling it up increases its damage and knockback and angling it down decreases its damage and knockback.
Up smash		20% (clean) 16% (late) 30% (through Offense Up) 24% (late)	Lucas releases a small burst of PSI that erupts above his head. It has slow start-up and leaves horrid lag afterwards rendering it very easily punished. It is however compensated by its large knockback and range, which is even stronger through Offense Up. When fully charged, it can KO at 62%, and when fully charged through Offense Up, it can KO as early as 45%.
Down smash		17% first hit 14% second hit (26% through Offense Up) first hit 21% second hit	Lucas points at the ground in front of him, shooting up to two bursts of PSI energy at his feet. It is unlikely that two of the hits will connect on the same enemy. The second hit is released by pressing the attack button.
Neutral aerial		4 hits of 2%, then 6% (14% total) 4% (grounded hit)	Lucas spins in a gyro pattern with PSI energy around him with the last hit having decent knockback.
Forward aerial		12% (sweetspot), 8% (late), 8% (sourspot), 7% (late)	Lucas kicks his foot forward with PSI. Can even be linked into itself or even into a down aerial for a Ken combo.
Back aerial		15% (sweetspot), 12% (sourspot)	Lucas backflips and and kicks his feet downwards behind him with a stream of small PSI. Has good ko potential and spikes if one connects with the final hit during the attack's animation.
Up aerial		10%	Does a headbutt, low knockback. Has a bit of ending lag.
Down aerial		3 hits of 5% (15% total)	Lucas thrusts his feet downwards and creates several quick flashes of PSI energy. The third hit meteor smashes weakly. Can be followed up with another aerial or an up smash when the subject bounces off the floor. Can also set up a combo using his down tilt followed by a smash attack, if the opponent doesn't tech the meteor smash. Although it has fast start-up, it possesses considerable ending lag if it is not autocanceled.
Grab aerial		8%	Lucas thrusts his Rope Snake forward.
Grab		-	Grabs the enemy with his Rope Snake. Has noticeable ending lag if it misses.
Pummel		3%	Headbutts the enemy.
Forward throw		10%	Psychokinetically tosses opponent forward.
Back throw		10%	Psychokinetically blasts opponent back. Can KO at high percent.
Up throw		12%	Psychokinetically tosses opponent straight up. Very high KO potential.
Down throw		7%	Psychokinetically slams opponent down.
Floor attack (front)		6%	Lucas gets up and spins on one hand while sticking a leg out.
Floor attack (back)		6%	Lucas gets up and spins on one hand while sticking a leg out.
Floor attack (trip)		5%	Lucas gets up on his hands and kicks backwards, then thrusts his legs between his arms in a kick forward.
Edge attack (fast)		8%	Lucas flips onto the stage, then does a sweep kick.
Edge attack (slow)		10%	Lucas slowly climbs up with his fist drawn back, then delivers a punch.
Neutral special	Offense Up	10% (spark)	When the special button is held, Lucas begins to channel psychic power, complete with a weak wind effect. After a few seconds, Lucas' hands glow with power and the next smash attack that he performs deals greater damage, shield damage, and knockback. A partial charge cannot be held - it must be completed all at once. While Offense Up is charged, Lucas can also press the special button to produce an spark-like attack around himself with little to no startup. Hitting with a smash attack or the spark will allow Lucas to keep the charge, whereas missing will deplete the charge.
Side special	PK Freeze	5%	Thrusts out both hands and shoots an icy ball far out horizontally in front of him. This move goes about half the distance of Final Destination when used on the ground and can be used to edge-guard.
Up special	PK Thunder	Bolt: 10% (head), 1% (tail); PK Thunder 2: 33% if all hits connect	Creates a stream of lightning whose direction can be controlled using the control stick or d-pad. As such, using PK Thunder will result in Lucas not being able to move or defend, because the control stick or d-pad is used to aim PK Thunder. This move can also be used to interrupt recoveries.
Down special	PSI Magnet	2% each hit, 6% release	Lucas holds out his hand which creates a small electrical field in front of him that absorbs any energy projectiles shot against him, lowering Lucas's damage percent by the damage the projectile would have dealt. As an attack, it does a small amount of damage if enemies make contact while it is out, but will take more damage and be launched behind Lucas when he releases it. When used in the air, it halts Lucas's falling speed, similar to Fox's reflector from Brawl.
Final Smash	PK Starstorm	14% each star	Lucas calls down a rain of stars from the sky, yelling "PK Starstorm!".

In competitive play

Notable players

Alternate costumes

Lucas has been given an alternate costume based on a segment in Mother 3 where Lucas is mistook for the Pigmasks' general, the Masked Man, and passes as him for a while. Lucas's costume features no changes to the visual effects of his attacks, other than that his forward smash now uses the Masked Man's energy sword instead of a stick.

Lucas's alternate costumes in PM

Trivia

Lucas's back aerial in previous versions of Project M.

In previous incarnations, Lucas's back aerial in Project M was replaced with an aerial roundhouse kick (similar to Ness's forward tilt) that dealt great knockback with high knockback scaling, while his down aerial, a guaranteed meteor smash, had him perform a flip kick downwards. While very powerful, they were not considered versatile enough for competitive play, and were later removed for subsequent versions of the mod in favor of their Brawl iterations, but with many new buffs (as described above).
In Brawl, all but one of Lucas's specials were taken from Ness, and not actually moves he could perform in Mother 3. Project M partially fixes that by giving him a new B move, Offense Up. It replaces PK Freeze, which then replaces the graphic for PK Fire. Offense Up will make Lucas's smash attacks do 1.5x damage and have balanced knockback.

External links

Project M character page

Lucas in Project M and Project+

Universe	EarthBound
Base game appearance	Brawl
Moveset inspiration	Lucas (SSBB)
Alternate costume	Masked Man Lucas