Marth (SSB18)

**Marth** (マルス, Marth) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. OC 2018.

## Attributes

Marth is emblematic of sword characters, making extensive use of disjointed hitboxes and his unique tipper mechanic. His attributes remain present; he has good overall mobility, sporting the fastest walking speed in the game, an above average dashing speed, average air speed, above average air acceleration, moderate falling speed, and low gravity, along with average weight.

Marth's playstyle remains fundamentally intact, being characterized by the properties of his sword, the Falchion. His attacks deal more damage and knockback if struck with the tip of the sword, encouraging and rewarding proper spacing. This is more clearly evident in moves such as his forward smash: when tippered, it is the third strongest forward smash in the game, while it cannot KO until well beyond 100% if landed untippered. Being a sword-user, Marth has the universal benefit of disjointed hitboxes. Many of his moves have good reach, fast startup, and cover wide arcs, such as his up tilt and forward aerial. As such, Marth aims to fight a step away from danger, where he can pressure and poke at the opponent without leaving himself open to punishment.

Marth's neutral game is relatively simple, but surprisingly effective. As mentioned before, Marth possesses one of the longest overall reaches in the game, courtesy of his Falchion. This plays a vital role in his neutral game, as his overall great movement allows him to move around the opponent and space his sword with relative ease, with multiple moves that are safe to throw out at tipper range or further, including his forward and down tilts, and his neutral and forward aerials. In comparison to Melee and Brawl, Marth's neutral game is mainly ground based this time around, and the first hit of his jab is the cornerstone. Said move is fast, disjointed, has high range, low start up and deceptively low cool down, and due to its hitbox arc, also acts as an anti-air. All of these traits make it difficult to challenge, as well as having good combo potential into many other moves, such as any of his tilts, a grab, or any of his aerials (sans down aerial).

While his tipper is considered the best part of his sword in most situations, Marth's sourspot actually benefits him a lot for when he wins neutral, as the lower knockback on his sourspot allows him to combo moves into themselves a lot easier, such as landing multiple up tilts into potentially multiple aerials. Marth's neutral game is also unique by scaling with percent; landing a Jab 1 to tipper forward air at low percents is not overly rewarding, but at higher percents, this serves as a very safe KO setup. Marth also benefits from being one of the few characters in the game who can outright KO off of playing the neutral and spacing game, with characters like Spongebob also boasting the same benefit. Essentially, while Marth's neutral reward is not as rewarding or damaging as characters such as Captain Falcon, Dante, or Fox, Marth has the ability to win neutral exchanges with relative ease and safety, as well as having consistent follow ups.

Marth's special moveset has good utility. His neutral special, Shield Breaker, as implied by its name, deals high shield damage even when uncharged, and is useful for punishing rolls. Side special Dancing Blade is a four-hit combo that can be used to punish sidesteps, and is an effective damage racker, dealing 15-20% if all hits connect. Marth possesses a Counter as his down special, giving him the capability to shrug off enemy attacks and return them with 1.2x the damage, and is able to KO if a strong enough attack is countered, making it a good option against overly aggressive foes. Counter can also be used against opponents with easily predictable recoveries, such as Raiden. But his up special is arguably his most potent: Dolphin Slash has quick startup, and provides intangibility frames during its startup frames, and is relatively strong when it first comes out. These attributes make it an excellent out of shield option and combo-breaker. It is also Marth's primary method of vertical recovery, as it grants a high amount of vertical height along with a bit of horizontal distance, and its speed can make it difficult to intercept, while it can stage spike reckless edgeguarders.

Marth's disjointed range gives him an innately strong edgeguarding capability. His forward and back aerials have fast startup and good range, and are strong when tippered. Down aerial is relatively quick, and if it hits at the center of the arc (directly below Marth), it powerfully meteor smashes opponents. Forward smash's range makes it a good choice against opponents aiming their recoveries towards the ledge, and down tilt's range and speed make it good at 2 framing opponents, as well as it and his forward smash having the ability to hit below the ledge. Also, Marth's low gravity and only average falling speed allow him to maneuver effectively offstage.

However, Marth also exhibits some noticeable flaws. As a result of his heavier reliance on tippers and spacing ability, he has a relatively poor up-close game at higher percents, giving him a tougher time KO'ing and threatening faster, or smaller characters, notably Sonic and Pikachu. Though his attacks have quick startup, many of them have high ending lag, with his aforementioned forward smash being a notable case. His attacks also suffer from short hitbox durations. For example, his forward aerial, despite covering a wide arc in front of him, has a hitbox that lasts for only 3 frames, and comparatively high ending lag and noticeable landing lag, and along with its very strict autocancel window, it is a surprisingly poor approach option.

While Marth's neutral game is overall good, he suffers from it being generally one dimensional; there is not much room for mix up, especially when compared to characters like Spider-Man or Mario, who have many options or ways to play in neutral. He also suffers from lacking a projectile, which can give him more trouble playing his neutral game against characters such as Mega Man X. Aside from having a fairly fast pummel, his grab game is poor. His throws deal low damage and have high base knockback, making them poor for combos and damage-racking. Except for up throw, they have low knockback scaling, preventing them from KOing at realistic percents, while up throw can KO only starting at 160%. As such, Marth has generally poor options against shields, and Shield Breaker is highly punishable if predicted. Marth's weak throws tie into his inconsistent KO power. Furthermore, his tipper mechanic actually puts him at a disadvantage here, for his normal attacks are weak and do not generate much knockback if not spaced properly. Lastly, his edgeguarding ability, though strong, is flawed, both due to the need for tippers and the high ending lag on his aerials, with his down aerial suffering from roughly 45 frames of ending lag.

Marth himself is vulnerable to edgeguarding. Dolphin Slash is his only reliable vertical recovery option, and while it is still a threat to edgeguarders due to it's speed and high stage spike ability, its path is linear and its distance is fixed, making his recovery predictable. Additionally since this move grants little horizontal distance, Marth is vulnerable to semi-spikes. Shield Breaker can aid his horizontal recovery, but it still covers little distance and has to be charged in order to be a reliable recovery tool. As a result, Marth will be in considerable peril if he is forced offstage without his double jump, since he is heavily reliant on it to mix up the timing of his up special recovery. Despite having only average weight and falling speed, Marth is susceptible to combos, and his tall hurtbox makes him easy to hit. Dolphin Slash is his only reliable combo-breaker, but as it leaves him helpless, it can inadvertently put him in an even worse position. While Counter can be used against overly aggressive foes, a cautious opponent will find ways to bait it and punish accordingly. He also has little defense against juggling. His aerials' high ending and landing lag make them ineffective at relieving pressure, and are sometimes unsafe to hit if not tippered.

## Moveset

### On-screen appearance

* Warps onto the stage using a warp circle with a twirl and unsheathes his sword.

### Taunts

* Up: Points the Falchion skyward with a quick spark of light emitting at the tip. This is similar to his stance before he performed his Critical Hit animation in the Fire Emblem series and identical to his stance while performing his Lodestar technique.
* Side: Swings the Falchion twice before sheathing it. Marth quickly unsheathes it before the taunt ends.
* Down: Swings the Falchion downwards before holding it in front of his face, then going back to his idle pose. Marth says: みんな、見ていてくれ！ ("Everyone, watch over me!" or in official Fire Emblem Fates English dub as "My prayers are with you!")

### Idle poses

* Holds his hand to his chest, closes his eyes, and silently takes a breath.
* Brushes his hair out of his face.

### Victory poses

* Turns with pride, spins the Falchion then poses with it pointed to the ground, and says "今回は僕の勝ちだね?", which translates to "This time it's my victory isn't it?"
* Poses with the Falchion sheathed and his right hand over his face before dramatically moving his arm away from his head while saying "僕は負ける訳には行かないんだ。", which translates to "There's no way for me to lose." or in official Fire Emblem Fates English dub as "I cannot afford to fail." Marth is smiling throughout the entire pose.
* Sheaths the Falchion and stands facing the camera, while saying "今日も生き延びることが出来た。", which translates to "Today I have risen to survive."