Counter Surge
- This article is about the move for Corrin. For other uses, see Counter (disambiguation). For the general class of moves, see Counterattack.
| Counter Surge | |
|---|---|
 Counter Surge in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. | |
| User | Corrin |
| Universe | Fire Emblem |
| “ | Awaits an attack and punishes it by turning into a dragon, launching enemies with jets of water. | ” |
| —Description from Ultimate's Move List | ||
Counter Surge (反竜穿, Opposing Dragon Fang) is Corrin's down special move. It is essentially Corrin's version of Counter, albeit with a different animation and knockback trajectory.
Description
Similarly to counterattack special moves, Corrin will briefly pose, and if an attack hits them during this time, they will evade the attack and strike back with surges of water in front of and behind them, reflecting back 1.2x the damage on both sides (with a minimum of 10% damage dealt to each opponent struck). Corrin utilizes his Dragon Fang for this attack, morphing into his dragon form to stomp the ground with both front feet as they retaliate (akin to their down throw). The move deals more knockback when the counterattack hits as early as possible, making its hitbox akin to a sex kick.
Unlike other counterattacks, Counter Surge bears several unique distinctions: it launches opponents on a vertical trajectory, defends Corrin equally from front and back rather than only in the direction they are facing, and Corrin outright evades the attack rather than absorbing it, meaning that nearby opponents can be hit by the dodged attacks while incoming projectiles will not dissipate.
Upon Corrin's debut and prior to the 1.1.5 patch, the move's damage multiplier was originally 1.3x. By virtue of its nearly purely vertical knockback, this made it easily the strongest non-custom counter in the game in terms of KO power (surpassing even Shulk's Vision and Roy's Counter), being capable of OHKOing after countering a hitbox dealing at least 33% damage, a lower requirement than any other counter move (apart from the custom special move Power Vision, which can OHKO with a hitbox dealing only 30% damage). In the 1.1.5 update, the damage multiplier was reduced to 1.2x and the counter window of the move was reduced, making it less powerful and more in line with the other aforementioned counters.
Customization
Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the variations:
| 1. Counter Surge |
|---|
 |
| "If attacked while in this stance, Corrin turns into a dragon and launches enemies with jets of water." |
- Counter Surge: Default.
Like the other DLC characters, Corrin has no custom move variations.
Origin
Counter Surge is based on a core element of Fire Emblem gameplay: in all games of the series, when a unit attacks another unit, the targeted unit will perform a counter-attack to strike back at their attacker if they currently have an equipped weapon with a compatible range. In addition, some of the games have a Counter skill that reflects half or all damage (depending on the game, with varying rates of occurrence). Corrin in particular can learn the skill itself in their home game by reclassing into the Oni Chieftain class tree, and their use of their dragon form is reminiscent of the attack pattern while equipped with a dragonstone.
While the term 竜穿 translates more literally to "dragon drill", the games even in the Japanese versions dub it contextually as "Dragon Fang".
The pose Corrin makes as seen in Fire Emblem Fates.
The dragon form as seen in Fire Emblem Fates.
Gallery
In his counter pose alongside Marth and Ike in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
About to transform in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
Counter Surge as shown by a Skill Preview in Ultimate.
Trivia
- This is the only counterattack that launches targets upward instead of sending them off in a sideways direction.
- This is also the only counterattack used by a Fire Emblem character:
- That does not involve the direct usage of the wielded weapon.
- That has a different name than the other Fire Emblem characters who share such an attack (especially its Japanese version).
- That is written in kanji in the Japanese version instead of katakana.
- That hits on both sides simultaneously.
- Is the slowest out of all characters in terms of the time it takes for the actual hitbox to appear, since it slows down time somewhat as a result while doing so.
- This is also the only special move with the "Dragon Fang" term in its name (in the Japanese version only) that does not make use of Corrin's limbs by themselves, as it uses Corrin’s full dragon form instead.
- The pose Corrin makes is somewhat lifted from when performing a critical hit their home game, only instead of gripping their sword with both hands, in Smash Bros. Corrin keeps the following hand (the right hand) gripping their sword while holding up their left, along with being partially transformed into their dragon form.
