Shulk (SSB20)

Shulk is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 20. He was confirmed alongside , , and as apart of the "Four Swordsman" release.
==Attributes==
Shulk's characteristics are balanced overall. His walking speed, dashing speed, falling speed, air speed and gravity are all average compared to the rest of the cast. However, he possesses above-average weight and one of the lowest air accelerations in the game, thus making him a borderline heavyweight.
One of Shulk's greatest strengths is his outstanding range, courtesy of his signature weapon, the Monado. Its beam properties gives him the longest disjointed weapon in the series, even surpassing Marth's in Melee. Thanks to his high reach, Shulk has a very effective spacing ability, as very few other fighters in the game have melee attacks that outmatch his disjointed range. While his neutral attack and tilt attacks are good for combos and spacing (such as his up tilt that can cover multiple get-up options from the ledge) and his smash attacks all being potent KOing options that can easily reach distant opponents (his forward smash being the third highest-reaching forward smash in the game, his aerial moveset benefits him the most, due to the large hitboxes of his neutral and forward aerial. This makes him potent at aerial combat, as his neutral aerial can be used for anything from starting combos to covering landing options, forward aerial being powerful at edgeguarding and spacing, and his back aerial being a long reaching and especially powerful finisher. Stages with platforms such as Battlefield and Dream Land allow him to further take advantage of the large hitboxes of his attacks to effectively space opponents out of a specific side of the stage, making him very difficult to approach on such stages.
Despite his aforementioned average stats, the most unique advantage Shulk has at his disposal are his five Monado Arts, which allow him to tweak his attributes considerably and grant him options for virtually any situation. Jump increases his air speed and jump height, greatly improving his off-stage game and recovery, grants his already effective aerial attacks even more utility, and makes him difficult to catch even for aerial fighters. Speed increases his overall speed while lowering his jump height, granting him tremendous horizontal mobility and efficient short hops, and improves his approach and ground-to-aerial combo ability. Shield drastically improves his knockback defense, and allows him to survive attacks far longer than any other character. Buster lowers the knockback of all his moves and increases their damage outputs, allowing his tilts and throws to efficiently combo, and lets him rack up ludicrous amounts of damage in a very short period of time. Finally, Smash turns many of his moves into potent KOing options, with his smash attacks and both his down and back throws becoming some of the deadliest of their kind. With access to these stat-changing abilities, Shulk has a very effective "adapt-for-the-upper-hand" style of fighting, and usually has an easier time mixing up his game compared to other characters should the Arts be used effectively, especially if used in hand with his powerful aerial game.
His other special moves have their own forms of utility as well. Back Slash is very powerful if striking the opponent's back and has long range regardless, making it a great surprise attack as well as a spacing tool. Air Slash grants a good amount of vertical distance (which is further increased if Jump is active), comes out quickly, and has decent knockback, making it a good recovery and an even better out of shield option. Finally, Vision is the longest-lasting counterattack in the game and has the longest range as well, giving him one of the most effective counters of any character. Its secondary attack also hits harder than any other counterattack in the game. 
However, Shulk is not without his weaknesses. To compensate for his overall high melee range, his moveset is notably sluggish, he does not have a single attack that hits before frame 9 (barring neutral attack and Vision), and none of them have less than 25 frames of ending lag (barring down tilt), making his moves highly punishable if spaced incorrectly or used carelessly, especially against shields at close range. In addition, he is the only character who cannot autocancel any of his aerials at all, forcing him to take landing lag every time he starts an aerial attack. To further compound this, none of his aerials have reasonable auto cancel windows, and without use of the Monado Art Landing Lag Canceling, moves such as back air or up air are unsafe to use upon landing, unlike many other fighters. Essentially, this makes it important for Shulk to space his attacks carefully as he can easily be punished for missing, while his sluggish moveset also makes it difficult for him to deal with juggling, as his faster aerial (neutral air) comes out frame 13, and begins behind his character.
His special attacks are also flawed in some ways. Back Slash's knockback is exceptionally weak if hitting the opponent's front, has considerable ending lag, and does not edge sweetspot. Air Slash provides very little horizontal momentum, and thus makes his recovery predictable, even with Jump. Vision's counter window decays upon consecutive use, discouraging the move's frequent use. But his most noticeable flaws are the Monado Arts' drawbacks: if an Art is active, it causes some of his other stats to drop, weakening some of his abilities. Jump makes him very vulnerable to damage, while Speed lowers his damage output and reduces his jump force to the point of hindering his vertical mobility. Shield drastically reduces his mobility and noticeably reduces his damage output, making it hard to get a percentage lead, as well as making his recovery one of the worst in the game. Shield's increased knockback defense can also be a double-edged sword as it leaves Shulk heavily susceptible to combos and juggling that can be difficult to escape from due to Shield decreasing his mobility. Buster increases his vulnerability to damage (although not to the same extent as Jump) and the lower knockback makes it nearly impossible to KO opponents without smash attacks, even well over 150%. Finally, Smash severely reduces his survivability, hinders his combo game, and his attacks become the least damaging in the game. Hence, while each Art grants him wide benefits, players have to take note of their weaknesses as well, as a careful opponent can potentially take advantage of them to put him at a disadvantageous position.
==Moveset==
Attack 	Name 	Damage 	Description
Neutral Attack 	 	3.5%, 3.5%, 5.3% 	A punch followed by a mid-level roundhouse kick followed by an upward lifting slash.
Side Tilt 	 	5% 	Shulk swings the Monado in front of him inward as he draws it from his shoulder.
Up Tilt 	 	7% 	Shulk leaps in place and does a fast, upward-arcing swipe above himself.
Down Tilt 	 	7% 	Shulk does a forward leaning, sweeping slash at the opponent's feet.
Dash Attack 	 	11% 	Swipes the Monado inward after drawing it from his shoulder into a sliding brake. Similar to his forward tilt and down tilt in terms of motion. One of Shulk's most potent KOing options when boosted by Smash. It has very high ending lag, however, and can be punishable if used excessively.
Side Smash 	 	5.5%, 13%, 11.1% 	A two-handed thrust with the Monado's beam blade revealing itself, causing a slight recoil. The move has two hits, the first from the Monado itself and the second from the beam blade. Angling up increases the move's knockback growth, while angling down allows the move to hit characters hanging from a ledge.
Up Smash 	 	4.5%, 13.5% 	Shulk strikes the base of the Monado onto the ground, causing the beam to strike and reveal itself upward. Like his forward smash, there are two hits to this move, with the first hit dragging foes into the beam blade. Its deceptive horizontal range allows it to punish rolls and landings, and its high vertical range and knockback makes it a great anti-air move in general. Slightly lower but still noticeable ending lag compared to his forward smash.
Down Smash 	 		14% (hit 1 blade), 11% (hit 1 beam), 12% (hit 2 blade), 10% (hit 2 beam), 10% (hit 3 blade), 8% (hit 3 beam), 8% (hit 4 blade), 6% (hit 4 beam), 6% (hit 5 blade), 4% (hit 5 beam)	A high-range, spinning slash with Shulk dragging the Monado around him along the ground. The move is capable of hitting once during any of its five hitboxes (three at Shulk's front and two at his back). The first hit has high power for a down smash, and each hit gains range but loses power. Extremely useful for punishing rolls and spot dodges, and can break full shields if the Buster Art is active and a shielding opponent is cornered at a ledge. However, it suffers from the most ending lag of all his smash attacks.
Neutral Ariel 	 	7.5% (blade), 8.5% (beam) 	A circular, upward-arcing slash spanning from his upper leg to his head, with the shortest landing lag duration of any of his aerials.
Forward Ariel 	 	8% (blade), 6.5% (beam) 	An overhead, forward-leaning descending slash that reaches and ends a bit behind him, resembling Marth's forward aerial.
Back Ariel 	 	12.5% (clean), 8.5% (late) 	Shulk thrusts the Monado behind him after a pause, with the Monado's beam blade revealing itself.
Up Ariel 	 	5.5% (hit 1), 10.5% (hit 2 blade), 8% (hit 2 beam) 	Shulk points the Monado directly upwards as its beam blade reveals itself. Acts like his forward and up smash, with a weak first hit that leads into a second stronger hit. A useful juggling tool against falling opponents and a very strong KOing option when boosted by Smash, considering its deceptively high vertical range. However, it lacks horizontal range, which can make it difficult to land.
Down Ariel 	 	7.5% (hit 1 grounded), 6% (hit 1 aerial), 11.5% (hit 2 blade), 10.5% (hit 2 beam)	Shulk points the Monado directly below him and performs a downward thrust, with the beam blade revealing itself downward.
Forward Throw 	 	3% (hit 1), 8% (throw) 	Shulk pulls the opponent towards him before slashing them with a two-handed upward slash from the Monado.
Back Throw 	 	3% (hit 1), 9% (throw) 	Shulk pulls the opponent behind him and stabs their midsection with the Monado's beam blade while holding the Monado in a reverse grip. With Smash active, this is one of the strongest back throws in the game. One of the few moves that does back-facing knockback, which can be followed up with Back Slash if Buster is active.
Up Throw 	 	3% (hit 1), 4% (throw) 	Heaves the opponent in the air and kneels down similar to his up smash, revealing the Monado's beam blade to stab his juggled opponent's chest.
Down Throw 	 	3% (hit 1), 4% (throw) 	Slams the opponent onto the ground and backstabs them with the Monado. With Buster active, this may lead into dash attack, forward tilt, forward smash or forward aerial at 0%, with a down throw to forward smash being capable of dealing 35% in 2 moves. With Smash active, this is the strongest down throw in the game, and consequently Shulk's most powerful throw.
Neutral Special	Monado Arts 	- 	Shulk activates one of five Monado-based Arts: Jump, Speed, Shield, Buster, or Smash. Each Art enhances a particular attribute at the cost of hindering others.
Side Special 	Back Slash 	10%/9% (front), 16%/14% (back) 	Shulk leaps forward and performs a wide-ranged downward slash with the Monado's beam blade, similarly to 's Jump Attack. The attack is more powerful if it hits the opponent's back.
Up Special 	Air Slash 	6% (hit 1 clean), 5% (hit 1 late), 5.5% (hit 2) 	Shulk jumps and performs an upwards slash with the Monado's beam blade, similarly to Dolphin Slash. The first slash deals set knockback, but pressing the attack button at the end of the slash will result in a second, forward slash which deals moderate knockback and gives Shulk a small vertical boost.
Down Special 	Vision 	1.3x (min 13%/10% or 10%/7%) 	Shulk slightly squats and leans forward while holding the Monado up to the side of his face in order to foresee an attack. Upon taking a hit, Shulk retaliates with a powerful, high-range slash that launches opponents forward. The move can be altered if used on the ground, with the alternative hit being faster and stronger while launching opponents backward, at the cost of less range.
Final Smash 	Chain Attack	3% (hit 1), 2% (hits 2-12), 12% (hit 13), 5% (hit 14) 	Shulk summons Dunban and Riki to perform a Chain Attack on his opponents before he finishes the assault with a powerful slash.
===Taunts===
*Up:Shrugs, shakes his head, and waves a hand as if lecturing someone while saying "Now it's Shulk time!" (穏やかじゃないですね, Not being gentle, huh? or That doesn't sound good.). The English phrase is a reference to Reyn, his best friend and one his party members in Xenoblade Chronicles, who occasionally utters the phrase "Now it's Reyn time!" whenever his Talent Art gauge is completely filled during combat. The Japanese phrase similarly references a popular meme in Japan; in this case, a line Shulk commonly says when accepting quests in Xenoblade Chronicles.
*Side:Grips the Monado's handle with his right hand while triumphantly pumping his left fist and announcing "I'm really feeling it!" (だんだん乗ってきたよ, I'm getting the hang of it!). References one of Shulk's voice lines in Xenoblade Chronicles when his tension level increases in combat.
*Down:Grips the Monado with both hands, activates it and poses similarly to when he activates Buster while saying "This is the Monado's power!" (モナドの力よ！, The Monado's power!/The power of the Monado!). If timed correctly, it can dodge certain projectiles. References one of Shulk's lines when he activates the Monado's Talent Art in Xenoblade Chronicles.
===On-Screen Apperance===
*Jumps down onto the stage while performing a slash using the activated Monado, before placing it on his back after it deactivates. Buster's symbol flashes for a quick moment while his back briefly faces the camera.
===Idle Poses===
*Taps his foot while making a thinking gesture. Based on his idle animation from Xenoblade Chronicles.
*Tenses and quickly looks behind himself, then in front of him before easing up.
===Victory Poses===
*Swings the Monado a few times while it is active, then holds it level to his head as it deactivates, saying either "The future is ours to decide." or "I've got a good rhythm going!".
*Swings the inactive Monado upwards, places it on his back, and poses with a hand on his hip, saying either "I got through that pretty good!" or "This is a good result!". The former is a quote Shulk can exclaim after finishing a battle in Xenoblade Chronicles.
*Bows down with the Monado held lengthwise, activates it and then either quickly flexes his fingers before re-grabbing the Monado's handle or continues to hold its handle before posing with the Monado backhandedly, saying either "I can feel the power!" or "I can change the future.".
==In Competitive Play==
==Alternate Costumes==
==Trivia==
Category:Characters (SSB20)
Category:Xenoblade Universe