Invictus Maneo/Painwheel

**“**Must... KILL...!**”**
— Invictus Maneo selection quip
**Painwheel** is a violent monster made from synthetic parasites, a dose of Skullgirl blood, and the husk of a schoolgirl formerly known as Carol. She was once sweet and caring up until her kidnapping and subsequent transformation in Lab Zero, making her unstable and fueling her with seemingly infinite rage. Though driven by her boiling blood, Painwheel retains her love for leisures like gardening or walking on the beach at sunset, and also likes dogs and flowers. Carol's soul still lives on inside of her, trying to help her monstrous self fight off these voices.

Skullgirls originates from the 2012 game Skullgirls, and her home stage is Lab 8.

## Basics

Painwheel is a heavyweight character who specializes in bait-and-punish tactics, using her overwhelming offensive power to tear into her targets once she's found an opening. She has a lot of range too, thanks to her Buer Drive blade and far-traveling special moves, and applies a lot of pressure on fragile opponents.

Painwheel is ridiculously strong, among the most powerful characters in Invictus Maneo because of her Buer Drive blade and its extensive reach. Though slow, Painwheel's frame data is overall solid, she can make chains of lethal combos at will and control her space, making her difficult to punish. Painwheel has armor on her specials and in her heavy tilt attacks when they're charging up, meaning she won't flinch nor take as much damage when using those moves, although their ending lag means they can't be abused. Many of Painwheel's basic moves recall her Skullgirls moveset, using both her blade and her ability to contort her body into inhuman shapes. Her up tilts are based on Revulsion Shank, her down tilts are based on Cruel Lily, her forward tilts are based on Gae Bolga Stinger, her dash attack is based on Violet Grudge, and her down air is based on Skewer.

However, Painwheel moves sluggishly and has trouble escaping pressure, even though her attacks come out quickly she is at a disadvantage against anyone with projectiles or a fantastic combo game.

## Specials

* **Special A: Bluer Reaper**
Painwheel folds her Buer Drive blade into an axe-like shape, lurching over and having it crash overhead onto the floor. Its tip can meteor smash foes on the way down or bury enemies into the ground. If the player tries using the move again while her blade's in the ground, she'll rush forward with a body slam.
* **Special B: Pinion Dash**
By rapidly tapping the special button, Painwheel will spin her blade rapidly behind her before charging off in a ball-like shape, which hits targets multiple times and keeps them in until the final hit, which can launch them pretty far. Great horizontal recovery move that's difficult to punish. Mash it fast to travel further.
* **Special C: Buer Thresher**
Painwheel will spin her Buer Drive behind herself and rise into the air, damaging anyone that tries to intercept from above. If the player catches a target below them, they can retaliate with a long needle attack followed by a blade strike that sends them flying diagonally downward, but it leaves Painwheel helpless.
* **Special D: Hatred Install**
Painwheel takes 20% damage to release some of her consciousness from her body, bringing her into a blinded rage that temporarily increases her strength and speed, making her even more of a menace than before for 10 seconds. Very risky tactic that can only be used if Painwheel is lagging behind in battle.
* **Showstopper: Buer Overdrive**
Starts up similarly to Pinion Dash, but when Painwheel makes contact with her target, she will shred them up until she knocks them to the floor, following up by bouncing into the air and coming back down as a thousand-needle ball with her blade spinning right through her, finishing them off with her thorny assault.