Blazer
| Blazer | |
|---|---|
 Blazer in Super Smash Bros. Melee. | |
| User | Roy |
| Universe | Fire Emblem |
Blazer (ブレイザー, Blazer) is Roy's up special move, extremely similar in function to Marth's Dolphin Slash attack. However, the move differs from its counterpart in that it does not grant invincibility at the start of the move (in Melee only), has knockback that scales based on falling speed instead of damage, and that Blazer's recovery vector can be controlled to a larger extent.
Roy soars upwards with his flaming sword which has the ability to engulf enemies in flame. This move can be aimed by quickly pushing the control stick in a direction after the initial up special, making Roy move anywhere from directly upward to a 45 degree diagonal on either side, at the expense of some vertical distance. One of Blazer's unique traits is that its first hit has rather extreme fixed knockback; while this is intended to help drag opponents upwards into the rest of the attack, in some situations this can result in the move being almost a one-hit KO on very light characters (such as Pichu, Jigglypuff, and Mr. Game & Watch). Like Marth's Dolphin Slash, this move can be reversed by moving the control stick backwards immediately upon activation, where it produces a stronger hitbox. The attack's aforementioned odd scaling properties, however, prevents this from being an effective KO move except perhaps on extremely light characters on stage with a low ceiling.
In Smash 4
Blazer returns as Roy's up special move in Smash 4. It is mechanically the same, with Roy sending himself upwards with a fiery slash, although Roy now has a new animation while using it: he slashes upwards with a backhanded slash before swinging his sword sideways slightly during the final hit, sending opponents flying. Although basically the same move from Melee, Blazer has been significantly buffed, both in terms of a recovery and an attack.
As a recovery, Blazer travels slightly less distance than the Melee version, but it retains more horizontal momentum near the peak of the slash, allowing Roy to boost himself slightly once he finishes the move. A more significant buff is its increased ability to be angled: if angled fully forward or backwards right after activation, Blazer gives Roy a completely diagonal recovery (much more than in Melee), allowing him to reliably recover offstage where Marth or Lucina would be unable to.
As an attack, the grounded version now grants Roy invincibility during the first few frames, similar to Marth's Dolphin Slash in Melee and Brawl, allowing Roy to use it to jump out of dangerous situations (such as being caught in a jab infinite) if he is grounded. Additionally, all hits connect better with each other due to the first hit's significantly lowered set knockback, and the final hit does significantly more knockback and no longer scales based on falling speed, giving Roy a new viable KO move. As a side effect, because of the first hit's lower set knockback, it can no longer KO the lightest characters at 0%; however, due to the attack's new knockback angle, it is one of the more reliable stage spike attacks, especially due to its multiple hits and ability to drag opponents towards the sides of the stage. Blazer deals 5 hits for a total of 16%, and begins KOing middleweights at 120% on the stage if aimed up, even earlier in midair.
