Sephiroth (Smash Plus)

Sephiroth is a playable character in Super Smash Brothers Plus for the Nintendo Switch Plus. Representing the Final Fantasy universe, he is listed as Fighter #81 in Smash's modified numbering system and is classified as a Lightweight Fighter. He is hidden at the start of the game, but can be unlocked through random encounters in Versus Mode or by clearing Classic Mode with Cloud.
Sephiroth is a uniquely designed fighter. Despite his height, power and range, he is classified as a Lightweight, and is easily launched with powerful moves. This gives him the typical definition of a glass cannon, one who's power shouldn't be trifled with but also one who can be pressured just as easily as he does the pressuring. The key defense that Sephiroth has is the enormous range of his blade. The Masamune also has varying sweetspots, depending on the type of attack that is being used (generally speaking, slashing attacks have the sweet spot on the middle of the blade, while stabbing attacks have the sweetspot on the edge of it.) His general frailty is also offset by his unique Winged Form, which grants him additional aerial movement, ground speed, and a heavy buff to his already powerful attacks, though Winged Form disappears after he KOs an opponent or reasserts dominance over a match in some other fashion. In short, Sephiroth has a high learning curve. You must utilize his power and range to the best of your ability. Master that, and he becomes nigh unstoppable. Fail, and he will be sent to an early grave. Sephiroth has two normal jumps, except in his Winged Form which grants him a third jump in midair. He can also wall cling, though only by utilizing his sword.
==Moveset==
===Basic Attacks===
*Special Gimmick: Winged Form- Whenever Sephiroth is "in danger," he will automatically trigger his Winged Form state, growing a single black wing out of his back. Though the trigger is partially tied to his damage percentage, it also factors in elements such as remaining stocks or score advantage. As such, Winged Form will trigger earlier if Sephiroth is at a disadvantage, versus than if he is at an advantage, where Winged Form will activate at higher percentages (if it activates at all.) While active, Sephiroth sees strong buffs to his damage output, ground speed, and aerial mobility. He also gains an additional normal jump in midair. Winged Form deactivates once Sephiroth reasserts an advantage, usually (though not always) after KO'ing an opponent.
*Neutral Jab- Sephiroth hits a three hit combo consisting of a roundhouse kick, followed by a side kick, and then a pummel from the hilt of the Masamune Sword.
*Side Tilt- Sephiroth performs a simple outward slash with his sword. It comes out quick and has a powerful killing edge on the sweetspot in the middle of the blade.
*Up Tilt- Sephiroth performs an upward thrust with his sword straight up. It has powerful range in terms of how far the hitbox extends up, but incredibly limited horizontal range.
*Down Tilt- Sephiroth performs a baseball slide kick, similar to Cloud's down tilt attack.
*Dash Attack- Sephiroth lunges forward with a dark-energy infused palm thrust. Has slow startup time, but covers a lot of distance on the ground.
*Grab & Pummel- Sephiroth reaches out and grabs with one hand. He pummels with a burst of dark energy.
*Forward Throw- Sephiroth simply blasts the enemy away with a burst of dark energy. Good for setting up combos.
*Back Throw- Sephiroth teleports the opponent behind him and then blasts them away with dark energy.
*Up Throw- Sephiroth tosses the opponent up and slices them away with a single slash from the Masamune. Does collateral damage to nearby foes.
*Down Throw- Sephiroth telekinetically slams the opponent onto the ground, popping them up into the air for further combos.
*Neutral Air- Sephiroth snaps his fingers, causing a circular burst of dark energy around himself. Comes out very fast and has surprising knockback power.
*Forward Air- Sephiroth lunges forward and stabs with Masamune. Has slow start-up, but very long range. Also has a lingering hitbox
*Back Air- Sephiroth reaches behind himself and performs an outward slash with Masamune. His most powerful aerial attack, but its attack window is rather short.
*Up Air- Sephiroth backflips in midair and swings Masamune above his head. Has immense range.
*Down Air- Sephiroth stalls in midair briefly before falling to the ground with a downward thrust with his sword.
===Smash Attacks===
*Side Smash- Sephiroth performs an inward slash with Masamune directly in front of himself. Has the highest startup time of any of Sephiroth's Smash Attacks, but has an incredibly powerful sweetspot on the middle of the blade to launch foes.
*Up Smash- Sephiroth twirls around and performs an overhead slash with his sword from front to back. Due to its incredible range, it can cover some platforms in one swing, despite its laggy startup time.
*Down Smash- Sephiroth stabs the ground in front of him with his sword. If the blade pierces the ground it will throw up some small debris. Though it has a narrow hitbox, it does immense shield damage, breaking a partially damaged shield with little difficulty if it lands correctly.
===Special Moves===
*Neutral Special: Flare- Sephiroth will launch a powerful fireball projectile forward that explodes when it hits either an opponent or reaches the end of its trajectory. Holding the special button will cause Sephiroth to charge the projectile to either a Megaflare or Gigaflare, causing the explosion at the end to cause much more damage and knockback at the expense of how far the projectile travels across the screen. The charging animation can be canceled, but the charge will not be stored. Despite its power, it has high startup time, limiting its function somewhat.
*Side Special: Shadow Flare- Sephiroth snaps his fingers, firing off a small, thin bolt of dark energy forward. If it hits an opponent, it will cause a small orb of dark energy to circle around them for a short time before homing in on them and exploding. Holding the special button causes the attack to be charged, causing up to three orbs of energy to orbit an opponent at full charge as opposed to one. Up to 5 orbs can orbit a single opponent at a time. Has unusually high priority and is quick to come out, making it a useful disrupting tool.
*Up Special: Blade Dash- Sephiroth will pause in the air for as long as the special button is pressed, gathering energy. A directional cursor will also appear around him that players can aim in any direction. Once the special button is released (or Sephiroth has charged maximum energy), he will dash in the chosen direction, swinging his blade around wildly. At full charge the attack hits up to 8 times, but also at full charge the Octaslash has incredibly high endlag, though still retaining its power as a decent recovery move.
*Down Special: Scintilla- Sephiroth creates a honeycomb shaped wall of energy in front of himself. While active, this barrier acts as a counter to physical attacks, breaking apart and damaging foes who attack it. Alternately, it will break apart on its own after a short time (this time can be slightly extended by holding the special button down) and deal damage to nearby opponents. The counter only works in front of Sephiroth, and it also cannot reflect projectiles, merely absorb their damage. If it is hit by an attack of greater than 25%, it will absorb the damage but will also shatter, causing Sephiroth to stagger backwards briefly, leaving him vulnerable.
*Final Smash: Supernova- Sephiroth performs a wide swing with Masamune directly in front of him. Any opponent (up to three) hit by the sword swing will be sent into a cinematic final smash, where Sephiroth appears in his Final Boss Form. He causes a meteor to strike the opponents, dealing massive damage to them and launching them after the Final Smash ends. Any opponent not caught in the cinematic will be dealt a random status ailment at the end of the Final Smash, ranging from reversed controls to Flower Damage.
===Miscellaneous===
*Entry Animation- Sephiroth slowly descends onto the stage while emitting a dark aura, a few feathers shedding from his back as he does so.
*Idle Animation 1- Sephiroth holds his sword down in the opposite hand briefly, before returning to normal stance.
*Idle Animation 2- Sephiroth shifts his position slightly, as if without a care in the world.
*Side Taunt- Sephiroth holds his sword up in a fighting stance, light shimmering down the length of the blade during the taunt.
*Up Taunt- Sephiroth gestures to the opponent nonchalantly, saying in Japanese "Come at me."
*Down Taunt- Sephiroth shifts his body forward slightly while chuckling, a dark aura briefly forming around himself.
*Victory Animation 1- With his back turned, Sephiroth turns towards the camera, chuckling sinisterly, before turning away and walking into the flames surrounding him, only the sound of his footsteps left.
*Victory Animation 2- Sephiroth raises his head up and glares at the camera, saying in Japanese "I am cut above you."
*Victory Animation 3- With his back turned to the camera, Sephiroth suddenly raises up Masamune to his side and unfurls his black wing, saying in Japanese "Remember who brought this pain upon you."
==How to Unlock==
Sephiroth can be unlocked any of the following ways:
*Playing Versus Matches until he randomly shows up as a "Challenger Approaching" fight. Defeat him to unlock him.
*Clear Classic Mode with Cloud on starting difficulty 3.0 or higher.
*Unlock him in the Finale of World of Light by defeating him.
*Pay 1,000 gold in a shop, where he can randomly appear (though rarely.)
Category:Super Smash Bros. Characters
Category:Super Smash Bros. (series)
Category:Smash Plus Characters