Palutena (SSB4)

Palutena in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Kid Icarus
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Black Hole Laser
Tier	I (50)

“	Palutena Alights!	”
—Introduction Tagline

Palutena (パルテナ, Palutena) is a character from the Kid Icarus series. She was confirmed as a playable fighter alongside the Mii Fighters and Pac-Man in Super Smash Bros. 4 during E3 2014 on June 10th, 2014. As the Goddess of Light, she fights using powers she granted Pit and other angels in the multiplayer mode of Kid Icarus: Uprising. She is voiced in Japanese by Aya Hisakawa, who reprises her role from Uprising, and in English by Brandy Kopp, the latter of whom replaced Ali Hillis due to availability conflicts.

Palutena is currently ranked 50th out of 56 on the tier list, placing her at the bottom of the I tier and thus making her the lowest ranked newcomer (barring the Mii Fighters). Palutena has good mobility, great combos and utility in her fast aerials, a good grab game, and some unique ground moves. However, her weaknesses are quite glaring, with KOing options that are difficult to land, underwhelming special moves that have little utility, and very sluggish frame data on most of her non-aerial attacks, giving her a predictable neutral game and a non-existent approach. Her tall size, below average weight, and high gravity also make her susceptible to comboing, juggling and KOs. She does gain significant benefits from custom special moves that remedy her approaching issues and bolster her mobility, damage racking ability, and combo game, but since most tournaments disallow customs, she cannot make use of those advantages to improve her playstyle in the current metagame.

As a result of these factors, Palutena's representation and results in non-local tournaments are poor, particularly after AeroLink dropped her in favor of Bayonetta. Despite this, she still has some dedicated players to her credit, such as TLTC, Iceninja, and Prince Ramen, with the latter of the three pulling a major upset at CEO 2016 by defeating ZeRo 2-0 in pools.

Attributes

Palutena's characteristics are unique and defy archetypes set up by characters such as Mewtwo, Zelda and Rosalina & Luma. She is tall, has fast walking and dashing speeds, the seventh highest traction, high jumps and is tied for the highest air acceleration. On the other hand, she has below average weight and falling speed, slow air speed and high gravity. These characteristics give Palutena quick ground movement, good ground-to-air transitioning, and allow her to quickly change direction in midair. However, they also make her air-to-ground transition slow, which leaves her susceptible to juggling, and while she isn't necessarily a floaty or light character, her high gravity makes her susceptible to vertical knockback and combos.

Palutena's aerial game is surprisingly solid on its own. Almost all of her aerial moves have good utility, fast start-up, and in most cases, low landing lag (excluding neutral aerial and up aerial), giving her a good combo game. Most of their strengths also overpower their weaknesses. Her neutral aerial is a useful damage racking move, which can also be used to pressure the opponent on a platform or out of an air dodge since it lasts for a good time. Her up aerial has strong vertical knockback with good range above her, which makes it a somewhat vertical KO and juggling move, though it lacks some range on her sides, has fairly high landing lag, and it is interruptible before it can even autocancel. Her forward and back aerials, however, are her most useful aerials. Her forward aerial has the longest range of her aerial moves and the least amount of landing lag, as well as completely autocanceling when SHFFd. This makes it a good combo move at low to medium percentages, since it is able to lead into other moves like a neutral attack, a grab, her tilt attacks or other aerial. Meanwhile, her back aerial is her most powerful aerial, and has invincibility frames during start-up and as long as the hitbox is out, though despite being able to KO at high percentages, it still lacks a lot of power and damage compared to other back aerials, and as a result it works better for edgeguarding. However, some of her aerial moves have high ending lag in proportion to their power, duration and range, most notably down aerial, meaning they must be spaced accordingly. Her down aerial, in particular, is unarguably her worst aerial; despite its lack of sourspots making it an easy-to-use meteor smash, it lasts only one frame, has low range, and the highest ending lag of any aerial in the entire game, rendering her unable to perform any other action even from a full hop, while still being unable to autocancel from a short hop, thus eliminating any out of shield utilty the move has.

Another advantage Palutena has is her deceptively good grab game. She has the fourth longest, non-tether grab range in the game, and has immense reach when she does a pivot grab. Her pummel has decent speed but deals good damage, only surpassed by Lucario's at maximum aura in terms of how much damage it can do before a character breaks free. Her back throw is her strongest throw and is a great way to send the opponent off-stage to set up an edgeguard, though it is a rather weak KO throw, having an easily DI'd launch angle (the Sakurai angle) and, ironically, the lowest base knockback of all her throws, as well as needing high levels of rage to reliably KO. As a result, her up throw is generally a better option to KO the opponent due to its higher base knockback. Her forward throw has high base knockback, deals good damage, and is generally better than her back throw at setting up an edgeguard. Additionally, Autoreticle can be used after it to ensure the opponent lands on an unfavorable position to capitalize on their mistake. Her most versatile throw, however, is her down throw: its overall knockback grants it impressive combo potential into her aerials except for her down aerial and possibly an up smash if she reads the opponent's reaction, though it stops doing so so at high levels of rage. It can even combo at KO percentages into her back and up aerials should the opponent DI the wrong way.

Her grounded moveset also has some interesting options: her neutral attack comes out slowly (on frame 8) and its finisher has noticeable ending lag, however, it is a very reliable damage racking option, especially when taking into account its very quick interruptibility, which allows an easy jab cancel into other move, most commonly another neutral attack or a grab, making it one of the best neutral attacks in the game. Despite its somewhat slow startup, her down tilt is has very low ending lag, making it a good spacing and dodge punishing tool, and one of her least punishable ground moves. It is also decently strong and can KO at high percentages. Her dash attack, while being very unsafe on shield, has actual KO power, as well as the same kind of invincibility her back aerial does. Her up smash has tremendous vertical range and high power (being among the strongest when sweetspotted), making it suited for vertical KOs, though its high ending lag can make it risky to use.

Despite these advantages, Palutena has several weaknesses that outweigh her strengths. Most notably, her biggest weakness is her extremely poor frame data, which is overall the worst in the entire game. Despite not being a super heavyweight like King Dedede or Ganondorf, Palutena's offensive moveset is overall slow and carries below average damage output overall, which are major issues that set her apart from other characters of her weight. Her most prominent example is her grounded moveset, unfitting for a character with great grounded mobility. All of her grounded moves (except neutral attack and down tilt) have disproportionately high ending lag, with her forward and up tilt, as well as her dash attack, having more than 25 frames of ending lag, all of her smash attacks having more than 40, and her special moveset is overall fairly sluggish when it comes to both start-up and ending lag. This makes her missed attacks very susceptible to punishment, even if the opponent is a good distance away from her, which makes it crucial for her to not miss a single move, or rely solely on her safest grounded moves and her quicker aerial moves, giving her a non-existing approach. Her abysmal frame data also extends outside of her attacks, making it a weakness unique to her: despite her item throws being fast, most of them have high ending lag, which limits any follow-up she might have if she is able to steal an item from an opponent. While she possesses a safe edge grab and a decent edge roll, all of her other options are very unsafe, with her edge attack being slow and short-ranged, and her normal get-up and edge jump being the slowest in the game. As a result, she faces edge recovery problems, as her aerial attacks are also unsafe on hit should she drop from an edge and then jump while attacking. The only remotely safe option she has is Warping onto the stage, though its lack of invulnerability renders her prone to being punished afterwards. This makes her easy to predict when trying to recover back onto the stage and punish her to make sure she does not regain the advantage in the neutral game.

Palutena's default special moveset is also infamously poor, due to its limited utility and her aforementioned frame data issues. Autoreticle can outright stop an approach (and being much harder to predict when B-reversed) as well as having homing capabilities, while its damage output makes it reliable for jab locking, though the same cannot be said about its projectiles, as they move only toward the fixed reticle, and have slow start-up. Reflect Barrier, while having an unblockable hitbox, a small push effect and being a long lasting reflector that can be used as soon as it breaks, is still the weakest of its kind, does not cover her entirely and does not move along with her in mid-air, and is slow at start-up. Warp is considered to be her best special move due to its utility: it is quick and allows for a safe recovery and swift re-positioning, is easily edge canceled (which can make her movement unpredictable on stages with platforms) and improves her neutral game. However, it has no hitboxes or invincibility, leaving her open to attacks before and just after she moves. Lastly, even though her Counter has a high damage multiplier, it comes out very slow, has low duration, it is the weakest counterattack while also having a sourspot (one of the few to have one, alongside Shulk's Vision), and has much more ending lag than most other counters (only Lucario's is slower).

Finally, as a result of her grounded moves' delay, Palutena suffers from notable KOing problems; her smash attacks, up tilt, and back and up aerials possess high knockback scaling, but they are either difficult to land, risky to use, or lack power, with the former being easily punishable, the next two lacking some range, and the latter needing to be fresh in order to be a reliable KO move. Some of these facts also give her a poor out of shield game. However, she also ends up being frail on her own right, mostly due to her high gravity: it makes her to KO due to her tall frame and is vulnerable to powerful meteor smashes or a vertical KOing move. It also leaves her susceptible to getting juggled due to her unsafe landing options and her below average falling speed. Lastly, it also leaves her susceptible to combos due to her tall frame and lack of anti-pressuring moves.

All of these traits make Palutena a frail, yet defensively-minded character, as without punishing, her offensive options are lacking, more so than most other characters. While she holds a decently strong punish game, her overall slow moveset and lack of approach options means she will mostly rely on hard reads as well as shielding attacks at close range and turtling for a good portion of the match until an opening can be found, as long as she is not left open as well. Because of her slow moveset, she requires a very high amount of patience and practice in order to deal with the fast-paced metagame, and while not exactly one of the weakest character to rushdowns when mastered, she does require to keep them away with her aerial moves or Autoreticle until she finds the proper opening, then strike back with her few reliable tools for racking up damage, namely her safest ground moves and her aerial and grab game.

Palutena's special moveset is designed to explore the variety and versatility custom moves have, by "customizing her either into a short- or long-ranged fighter", according to one of her trophy's description. Due to her infamously poor special moveset, however, she also finds herself benefiting from custom moves more than any other character. Super Speed is considered to have immense utility, as it allows her to move faster than even Sonic's Spin Charge and it can be jump canceled into any aerial move and up smash, or straight into a dash attack. The ram itself can also chain into the aforementioned attacks, but only as long as it is not telegraphed or interrupted with a disjointed hitbox. Lightweight amplifies her movement speed and jump force, to the point where she dashes faster than Sonic and jumps higher than Falco. This move gives her 15 seconds of drastically improved mobility and off-stage game, a quicker and safer recovery, blinding ground speed and an even more capable combo game, including a guaranteed link into up aerial or down aerial, both of which can reliably KO after 80%. As a recoil, however, this move doubles damage taken (but not knockback), and after expiration of the move, she moves at half-speed for 5 seconds, with her damage vulnerability and jump force returning to their original values. Regardless of their weaknesses, these two moves give her various mix-ups, mindgames, combos and edgeguards her default moveset otherwise doesn't have.

Her other custom moves also have notable advantages, but some of them are held back by their easily exploitable weaknesses. Explosive Flame is a more reliable damage racking tool than Autoreticle, but is it is a pinpoint explosion with limited range and is just as slow. Heavenly Light has no use outside of being an invaluable healing move for Ness, Lucas and the Mii Gunner in doubles, as it will never land on any opponent that is not stunned in singles. Angelic Missile is a good recovery move and a potent edgeguarding option, thanks to its high base knockback, but it has high startup lag, surprisingly low knockback scaling and a linear path, making it easy to intercept. Jump Glide grants extreme horizontal distance and allows for safe approaches, but it leaves her defenseless, and has the same fatal flaw as Wings of Icarus: if, for any reason, Palutena flinches during the move, she cannot use it again if she does not touch solid ground, which may lead to an inevitable KO. Rocket Jump, other than having a meteor smash hitbox below her, is inferior to both Warp and Jump Glide in every way. Lastly, Celestial Firework has intangibility during start-up and is a good anti-air move in general, but is hard to hit with and delivers unimpressive knockback. In addition, none of her custom special improve her KOing issues, except Super Speed and Lightweight, both of which speed her movement up and give her reliable and guaranteed set-ups.

Even as of update 1.1.6, Palutena's weaknesses outweigh her strengths with custom moves off, which results in her being one of the poorest regarded characters in the game in the Western scene, despite her highest tournament representation being there. However, her overall viability is debatable as of CEO 2016, due to a notorious upset caused by Prince Ramen to the undisputed best SSB4 player, ZeRo. She is also viewed in the Japanese scene as a somewhat viable character as a result of a more defensive playstyle. Regardless, she has very low tournament representation due to her significantly high learning curve, defensive playstyle with customs off, her playstyle being a case of "high risk, medium-to-low reward", her unpopularity compared to other characters, and only has a handful of dedicated mains such as Iceninja, Prince Ramen and TLTC. Custom moves amplify her strengths and somewhat alleviate her weaknesses, allowing her to be viewed more favorably. However, it is curently unknown if she will ever get to use them again in the tournament scene, due to the current universal ban of character customization established at EVO 2015. However, since her custom moves are available from the start, there is debate on whether she should be allowed to always have the option to use them.

Update history

Palutena has got a mix of direct buffs and nerfs in game updates, though due to the changes to game mechanics, she is otherwise considered to be nerfed overall. It is unclear whether she has been directly buffed or nerfed, as many of her moves were changed, each in a different way: 1.0.4 made her up and down tilts faster, most notably the latter, to the point it is now one of her safest grounded attacks. However, it also fixed a useful bug on her Counter, removing any mindgames the move could have, and her pivot grab's infamous range was shortened. 1.0.6 removed another benefical bug on Super Speed, where the momentum would be mantained after jump-cancelled attacks. 1.0.8 further improved her up tilt by making it more damaging and now dragging opponent to the center of the attack. 1.1.0 brought further buffs by improving her tilt attacks, reversing her forward tilt's knockback properties which also increases its damage output indirectly, and increased forward and down tilt's, and neutral aerial's hitbox sizes, made her forward aerial more damaging and reduced her previously laggy grabs' ending lag.

However, 1.1.1 brought an immense nerf due to the changes to shield mechanics, as they've hindered her more than any other character: the increase in shieldstun worsened Palutena's already poor out of shield game even further, subsequently neutralizing the crux of her defense. While increased shieldstun does makes spacing her aerial moves very slightly more of an option for her, it is also important to note that due to the disproportionate amount of ending lag compared to her damage output, she remains one of the the easiest characters to punish out of shield as the ending lag still leaves her vulnerable, thus also neutralizing any benefit she could get from these changes. The same update also buffed Explosive Flame's damage output and hitbox sizes but nerfed it overall by now making it blockable. Another bug was also removed where she could instantly renew Lightweight on platforms.

An unknown parameter was altered in 1.1.4, though it is currently unknown how it affects her. Lastly, 1.1.5 brought some other useful buffs by making her neutral attack, and neutral and forward aerials more damaging, with the latter's knockback compensated, slightly improving her combo game. In the end, however, Palutena's position relative to the cast appears to be unchanged, mostly due to other characters also getting very useful buffs, such as Samus, Charizard and most notably Mewtwo.

1.0.4

• Forward, back and up item tosses' ending lag decreased: frame 30 → 28 (grounded)/24 (aerial).
• Up tilt's ending lag decreased: frame 75 → 68.
• Down tilt's ending lag decreased: frame 45 → 42.
• Up smash's hitboxes last longer: frame 18-22 → 18-26
• Pivot grab's range was slightly decreased (Z2 offset: 19.4 → 17.4).
• Fixed a glitch where using Counter at certain parts of a walk or run animation would propel Palutena forward a short distance.

1.0.5

• Up aerial has improved visual effects.

1.0.6

• Due to concerns raised by CERO, Palutena's shorts and skirt were darkened and lengthened to be less revealing in the Japanese version.
• Fixed a glitch where Super Speed's momentum could be maintained after jump-canceled attacks.

1.0.8

• Up tilt's loop hits deal 0.2% more damage: 1% → 1.2%.
• Up tilt's hitboxes moved: bone 1000 → 0. This means the hitboxes are now centered around herself rather than her staff, making its loop hits connect together better.

1.1.0

• Forward tilt's hitbox sizes increased: 3.8u/2.5u → 4.1u/2.8u.
• Frames 17-24 and 25-39 of forward tilt have reversed properties. Frames 17-24 have had their angle altered: 361° → 48° and knockback scaling decreased: 100 → 65, while frames 25-39 angle have had their angle altered: 48° → 361° and knockback scaling increased: 65 → 100.
• Due to the above changes, forward tilt's hits connect better at low percentages.
• Down tilt's hitbox sizes increased: 2.4u/1.9u → 2.7u/2.1u.
• Down tilt's ending lag and decreased.
• Neutral aerial's hitbox sizes increased: 3u → 3.4u.
• Forward aerial deals 1% more damage: 7% → 8%.
• All grabs' ending lag decreased.

1.1.1

• Explosive Flame deals 0.2% more damage: 0.6% (initial)/4% (last) → 0.8%
• Explosive Flame's hitbox sizes increased: 3.7u (loop)/4.8u (last) → 14u/15.5u.
• Explosive Flame's last hit is no longer unblockable.
• Fixed a glitch where Palutena could infinitely renew Lightweight on platforms.

1.1.4

• Unknown parameter decreased: 36 → 16.

1.1.5

• Neutral infinite finisher deals more damage: 3% → 3.5%.
• Neutral aerial deals more damage (1.5% → 1.7% (loop), 4% → 5% (last)).
• Forward aerial deals more damage: 8% → 9% with its knockback compensated.

Moveset

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			3%	Holds her staff out and releases a blast of light from the orb that hits multiple times before launching the opponent away with an upward swipe. Long range and useful for spacing, making it Palutena's best ground attack. When jab canceled, it can combo into itself, grabs, a back aerial and an up smash. Its finisher has decent power, but long ending lag. It is also tied with Wario's for the fourth slowest neutral attack in the game, being surpassed only by Bayonetta's, King Dedede's and Zelda's, with its first hit active on frame 8.
			1% (loop), 3.5% (last)
Forward tilt			6% (staff head), 4% (staff tail)	Twirls her staff in front of her, hitting up to three times. Long duration, good range and can be used to punish spot-dodges, rolls, and pressuring shields. However, it leaves her vulnerable to other attacks due to its long duration and high ending lag.
Up tilt			1.2% (loop), 2.5% (last staff head), 1.5% (last staff tail), 8.7%/9.7% (all hits connect)	Kneels and twirls her staff overhead, hitting up to seven times. Long duration and decent vertical range. It also can be used for punishing the opponent's air dodge. Has a relatively low hitbox, but has the property of making Palutena's hurtbox very low, even lower than her crouch. Good KO potential at very high percentages.
Down tilt			8.5% (staff head), 5% (staff tail)	Twirls her staff along the ground in front of her. It is her fastest tilt and can be interrupted noticeably earlier than her other tilts. Great spacing tool, as it can be used to catch spot dodgers and rolls, as well as being good for edgeguarding.
Dash attack			9% (clean), 5% (late)	Rams the opponent with her shield. The shield can block attacks due to the attack having 12 invincibility frames. The attack has a large hitbox. Can be used to catch landing opponents and combo into other moves if read the opponents reaction. However, it has long ending lag. Has a decent KO potential at very high percentages, starting at 150%.
Forward smash			16% (near), 13% (far)	Conjures ethereal wings and swings them forward. Has high knockback and long horizontal range, giving it great KO potential. Has a sourspot near the tip of the wings, which deals less knockback, and a windbox that can push opponents that try to punish the move and gimp some some recoveries. Its 48 frames of ending lag makes it very risky to use. Can KO at 100% when sweetspotted.
Up smash			16% (bottom), 12% (middle), 9% (top)	Conjures a blue beam of light from the ground, firing it into the air. It has the highest vertical range of any up smash in the game and has great KO potential, making it excellent for edgeguarding. However, it has thin horizontal range and high ending lag, though it is her smash attack with the least ending lag at 43 frames. Can KO at 100% when sweetspotted.
Down smash			15% (clean), 13% (late)	Conjures ethereal wings and flaps them downward on both sides. It also has a windbox at the tip of the wings that can push opponents that try to punish the move and gimp some recoveries. However, it has slow start-up lag for a down smash and the highest ending lag of all the smash attacks in the game at 53 frames, making it one of the worst down smashes in the game. It KOs at 114% if clean at 145% if late.
Neutral aerial			1.7% (loop), 5% (last), 13.5% (all hits connect)	Spins her staff around her. The first five hits have the auto-link angle, which can potentially trap opponents in the rest of the attack. Good for pressuring opponents on platform above and catching out of air dodge. Can combo into aerial or ground attacks at low percentages.
Forward aerial			9%	A flying kick. Long horizontal hitbox and low landing lag makes it a good spacing tool and reliable combo option into grabs and other attacks. It can also be autocanceled from SHFF. It is less safe on shield since it delivers less shield stun. Relatively high ending lag, but low landing lag.
Back aerial			12% (shield), 9% (arm)	Hits with her shield behind herself. The shield can block attacks due to the attack granting her invincibility frames (8 frames). Can beat out most aerial attacks and certain projectiles. Comes out one frame faster than her forward aerial, it has relatively low landing lag and can be autocanceled from a short hop. However, it is easy to miss if the opponents is too close to Palutena since it does not have a hitbox around her, and it has very high ending lag for an aerial at 41 frames.
Up aerial			1% (loop), 5% (last), 9% (all hits connect)	Twirls and then shines her halo, which hits up to five times. Long duration and can be used to pressure aerial opponents above her. Has a great KO potential at high percentage. However, it has fairly high ending lag at 24 frames. Interestingly, this attack has more interruptible frames than autocanceling frames, meaning it cannot be autocanceled at all. This can, however, be mitigated by using other attack with lower ending lag before she hits the ground, like her forward aerial. As it pulls opponents when fast-falling, it is possible for it to combo into another grab at low percentages despite its ending lag.
Down aerial			9%	A downward arcing kick. It meteor smashes anyone below her and as it has no late hits, it will always meteor smash. Can be used as an out of shield option. However, it lasts for only 1 frame and it has very low range, making it difficult to land. While it has high ending lag, it does not have high landing lag.
Grab			—	Holds her staff vertically in front of herself, telekinetically trapping the opponent. Fairly large grab range, though her dash grab has some ending lag.
Pummel			3.1%	A small blast of light. Its decent speed and high damage output makes it one of the best pummels in the game.
Forward throw			9%	Telekinetically pushes the opponent forward. It is Palutena's weakest throw in terms of knockback, though it can be used to set up an edgeguard.
Back throw			10%	Performs an inverted version of the Arabesque, a ballet position, while telekinetically flinging the opponent backward at the Sakurai angle. It is her strongest throw, though it is easily DI'd and will not KO most middle weights until 155%.
Up throw			8%	Telekinetically throws the opponent upward. Can be used to pressure opponents in the air with aerial attacks or an up tilt. It can also be used to KO opponents on stages with platforms.
Down throw			5%	Telekinetically shoves the opponent onto the ground. It is her best throw, due to its impressive potential for combos and KO set-ups. Depending on the opponent's DI, it can combo into a neutral, forward, back or up aerial, or even an up smash by reading the opponent's air dodge. It can also combo into a down aerial near the edge for a potential meteor smash.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Swings her staff in front of herself and then behind herself.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Swings her staff 180° along the ground.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Swings her staff in front of herself and then behind herself.
Edge attack Edge getups			7%	Performs a legsweep after climbing up.
Neutral special	Default	Autoreticle	2.9% (per hit)	Aims a reticle over the opponent, then fires three blasts of light at that location. Can be initiated only if an opponent is within range, with nothing blocking her target, and said opponent does not have invincibility from teching, or dodging. Can be used as a way for stopping direct approaches. It is also able to hit opponents behind Palutena and be used for jab locks. In addition to its offensive potential, it has defensive potential due to it stalling Palutena in midair, making it useful to stop opponents from gimping her. Based on the Power of the same name from Kid Icarus: Uprising.
	Custom 1	Explosive Flame	0.8% (loop), 4.2% (last)	Creates a Smart Bomb-like explosion approximately three character lengths away. Great spacing and zoning tool, but its slow start-up and set distance can make it easily predictable. Based on the Power of the same name from Kid Icarus: Uprising.
	Custom 2	Heavenly Light	1% (per hit)	Projects a large, rectangular field of supernal light above her and to the sides. Its duration can be extended as long as the special button is held. It deals damage in the whole area without producing knockback or flinching, as well as repelling all opponents from the sides. Because of this, this move can be used to steal a KO from a character who launched another. It can be absorbed, although this grants it supplemental use in doubles play if Palutena's teammate has a move to absorb it. Based on the Power of the same name from Kid Icarus: Uprising.
Side special	Default	Reflect Barrier	5%, 1.17x (reflected projectiles)	Raises her shield forward, casting a rectangular barrier which pushes opponents away and reflects projectiles. Palutena's shield has a hitbox when it is being raised, allowing her to damage opponents with an unblockable hit. If the wall reflects an attack that deals at least 50%, it will break. However, unlike other reflectors, it can be used immediately after being broken. Based on the Power of the same name from Kid Icarus: Uprising.
	Custom 1	Angelic Missile	13%	Shoots herself forward to perform a flying battering ram, similarly to Skull Bash and Green Missile. Can aid her recovery significantly without leaving her helpless. It is also a decent, albeit somewhat avoidable, KOing option while off-stage. Based on the Power of the same name from Kid Icarus: Uprising.
	Custom 2	Super Speed	2.6%+distance	Performs a charging attack where she glides along the ground very quickly for a long distance. She can damage opponents by ramming into them. While in the air, the move will propel her diagonally downward. It is considered her best side special move due to its speed and ability to retain its momentum after canceling the attack, which gives Palutena a plethora of options for mix-ups, recovery, pressure, and mobility. Can be canceled with her jump, up smash, grab, dash attack, and other attacks. It has a small amount ending lag. Based on the Power of the same name from Kid Icarus: Uprising.
Up special	Default	Warp	—	Disappears and then reappears in a chosen direction, similarly to Teleport. Can be ledge-canceled, allowing for defensive and movement options. Based on the Power of the same name from Kid Icarus: Uprising.
	Custom 1	Jump Glide	—	Jumps a fair distance up and then glides, similarly to Peach Parasol. Good for keeping vertical follow-ups, and it has higher horizontal recovery distance than Warp. However, it cannot be edge-canceled and, if gimped, Palutena cannot do anything until she lands on the ground, which may lead to an inevitable KO. Based on the Power of the same name from Kid Icarus: Uprising.
	Custom 2	Rocket Jump	12% (grounded), 10% (aerial)	Creates an explosion that rockets Palutena upward and damages nearby enemies. The explosion strongly meteor smashes airborne opponents below her. However, it gives her the least vertical distance of all her up specials and little to no horizontal movement. Based on the Power of the same name from Kid Icarus: Uprising.
Down special	Default	Counter	1.3x (min 10%)	Covers her chest with her shield in a defensive position. If she is hit, Palutena performs a counterattack with her staff, similarly to the counterattacks used by majority of the Fire Emblem characters. It has a surprisingly high damage output, but is the weakest counterattack in the game knockback-wise. It is also one of the few counterattacks with a sweetspot (along with Shulk's Vision), located at the tip of her staff; the rest of her weapon deals even less knockback. It has remarkable horizontal range, but very poor vertical range and high ending lag should it miss, giving the opponent a chance to punish. Will one-hit KO anyone if she managed to counter an attack that deals at least 50%. Based on the Power of the same name from Kid Icarus: Uprising.
	Custom 1	Lightweight	—	Increases her speed and jumping height. While under this effect, it significantly improves her off-stage game and allows her to have more follow-ups and an access to her guaranteed KO set-ups from down throw. However in exchange for this effect, she will take increased damage while the knockback remains the same. After it wears off, she will become slower for a very short time. Based on the Power of the same name from Kid Icarus: Uprising.
	Custom 2	Celestial Firework	3.2% (toss), 1.2% (blast)	Shoots an explosive firework upward in front of her. It has invincibility frames before firing the firework. Based on the Power of the same name from Kid Icarus: Uprising.
Final Smash		Black Hole Laser	2.4% (loop), 12% (last)	Twirls her staff overhead, then speeds away off-stage. She then fires a Black Hole, which vacuums opponents towards it and puts them in a tumbling state, then fires a Mega Laser into the Black Hole to deal damage, concluding with a final hit that launches the opponents as Black Hole dissipates. Palutena then returns to the stage after it ends. KOs at 50% and is based on the Black Hole and Mega Laser Powers from Kid Icarus: Uprising.

On-screen appearance

• Walks out of a golden door surrounded by a glowing light.

Taunts

• Up taunt: Makes a sweeping gesture with her arms while producing her ethereal wings and her halo shines, saying "You shall be purified!" (浄化してあげましょう, You will be purified.)
• Side taunt: Spins around her staff, dancing with her foot in the air, laughing.
• Down taunt: Lets go of her staff, which floats while she brushes her hair aside as her halo shines, saying "Ready when you are." (いつでもどうぞ？, Feel free whenever.)

Up taunt	Side taunt	Down taunt

Idle poses

• Touches the ground with the tail of her staff and shield in front of her, briefly making her halo shine.
• Looks away while crossing her staff and shield in front of her, briefly making her halo shine.

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer
Description	Pa-lu-te-na!	Pa-lu-tena!
Pitch	Group chant	Group chant

Victory poses

This article or section is incomplete. You can help SmashWiki by expanding or finishing it. The editor who added this tag elaborates: Japanese victory quotes with translations

A small excerpt of the title screen theme of Kid Icarus, with an original ending.

• Spins around her staff, then sits in midair laughing.
• Twirls around while hovering, saying "No one can hide from the light."
  • If Pit is present in the match, there is a chance she will instead say "Oh, so sorry about that, Pit."
• Twirls her staff and points it in front of her, saying "Too bad for you."
  • If Dark Pit is present in the match, there is a chance she will instead say "Poor little Pittoo."

In competitive play

Official Custom Moveset Project

Character	Custom sets available
Palutena	2322	2312	1322	1312	2122
	1122	2332	1332	2313	2323

Notable players

Active

•  Arch
•  CapnChreest
•  El_Pitikla
•  Iceninja
•  MM
•  NonoV2
•  Prince Ramen
•  TLTC

Inactive

•  AeroLink

Reveal trailer

<youtube>xqTW13AYniY</youtube>

Trophies

Palutena

In Kid Icarus: Uprising, the goddess of light uses telepathy to communicate and grants miracles to support Pit on his adventure. In Smash Bros., she has special moves like Warp and Heavenly Light at her disposal. She's very adaptable—you can customize her into a long- or close-range fighter!

Said to be able to perform miracles, this goddess supports Pit in battle, using telepathy to communicate with him. She's no slouch on her own, either. She has a huge variety of moves you can customise and use to your advantage. Short or long range, the sky's the limit! Or maybe not. After all, she can teleport.

: Kid Icarus (08/1987)

: Kid Icarus: Uprising (03/2012)

Palutena (Alt.)

Palutena's Reflect Barrier side special deflects any attacks and projectiles that come at her from the front. Unlike other reflective moves, you can leave this barrier in place and it will keep reflecting. If you really want to ruin someone's day, you can push them over an edge using this move.

Palutena's Reflect Barrier special deflects any attacks and projectiles that come at her from the front. Unlike other fighters' reflective moves, you can deploy this barrier and then leave it to its own devices. You can also push opponents with it, so use it on someone who's teetering on the edge of the stage to push them off.

: Kid Icarus (08/1987)

: Kid Icarus: Uprising (03/2012)

Black Hole Laser

Palutena's Final Smash. After doing a divine twirl, she creates a black hole in front of her, drawing in her opponents. When she's got 'em where she wants 'em, she follows up with a wide laser beam that reaches from one edge of the screen to the other. It even changes direction slightly, just in case someone managed to avoid the black hole.

Palutena's Final Smash. After doing a divine twirl, she creates a black hole in front of her, drawing in her opponents. When she's got 'em where she wants 'em, the next step is a wide laser beam that reaches from one edge of the screen to the other. It even changes direction slightly, for that extra chance of taking out her foes.

• 

  Classic (3DS)

• PalutenaAllStarTrophy3DS.png

  Alt. (3DS)

• 

  Classic (Wii U)

• 

  Alt. (Wii U)

• 

  Black Hole Laser

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• New Challengers 2: Palutena is one of the seven opponents fought in this event alongside Greninja, Robin, Shulk, Dark Pit, Mega Man, and Pac-Man.
• The Demon King and the Goddess: As Ganondorf, the player must initially defeat a team of Link and Zelda. After the two are defeated or some time has passed, a giant Palutena appears and the player must defeat her as well.
• The Destroyer Cometh: Palutena must defeat a giant Ganondorf and two other Ganondorfs before they destroy all of Skyworld's terrain.

Co-op Events

• The Ultimate Battle: Two players select a character and must defeat the entire roster.
• Unlikely Allies: Palutena and Ganondorf must defeat sixteen Mr. Game & Watches.

Alternate costumes

Gallery

• 

  Artwork of Palutena used on the website.

• 

  Palutena's splash art.

• 

  Reveal image from the Director's Room.

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  Palutena's amiibo.

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  Palutena as she appears in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

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  Using Explosive Flame.

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  With Phosphora.

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  On Mario Galaxy.

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  Fighting Marth.

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  Taunting.

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  With Kirby, who copied Palutena's ability.

• 

  In Battlefield.

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  With Mario in Arena Ferox.

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  In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

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  Palutena's Final Smash, Black Hole Laser.

• 

  Palutena taking part in the Home-Run Contest in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

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  Using Heavenly Light.

• 

  Using up smash.

Trivia

• Palutena and the Mii Fighters are the only characters that have their customizable special moves unlocked from the start.
• Unused sound files exist for Kirby using all three of Palutena's neutral special moves, suggesting either that it was not until late in development that it was decided which would be the default, or that Kirby was originally able to copy any one of her neutral special moves.
• Palutena is the only character who has both a reflector and a counterattack as part of her default special moveset.
• Palutena is the only character to be part of a Final Smash in a previous installment of Super Smash Bros. and a playable character in a subsequent installment.
• Palutena's up smash has the second highest vertical range of all up smashes in the series. It is surpassed only by Snake's up smash in Brawl.
• Unlike most characters, whose hard landing animations have them simply land on their two feet, Palutena instead twirls herself upon hard landing.
• Palutena is the first character since Link in Super Smash Bros. to wield a shield at all times that does not protect her while idle.
  • This trait is also applicable to the Mii Gunner and the Mii Swordfighter, but only while they are wearing the Proto Man, Hunter, Rathalos and Gil costumes. However, unlike the Miis wearing those costumes, Palutena's shield gives her dash attack and back aerial invincibility frames. This means her shield is not entirely aesthetic like theirs.
• Palutena's pose in her official artwork nearly matches her pose in her official artwork from Kid Icarus: Uprising.
• Palutena's defeated/No Contest animation depicts her wearing a brown sleeve on her left arm, a feature not present normally in her in-game model. Her left vambrace also disappears during the animation.