JOE!
Smash Hero
Hey guys, I recently was able to get into PSA and decided to try something out:
As you can see, we have a proof of concept with the help of @Draco_The where Zard can Hover whilst using aerial flamethrower. The wing animation needs work but hey, I tossed it together in 15 minutes just to differentiate it!
As for specifics, as of this moment (7/30/15) the hover will stop all his vertical momentum after 20~ frames of start up and then allow him to hover back and forth for up to 80 frames by holding the B button. You can still angle the fire up and down as you move left/right, but letting go of B causes gravity to kick back in. Once the fire stops, Zard suffers 25~ or so frames of end lag from the last hitbox until IASA, which as you can see caused Zard to plummet helplessly when I let go near the ledge! This can be quite a problem as the Hover and Glide are mutually exclusive: if you hover, you not only can't hover again until you touch ground but also lose the ability to glide until you touch ground, and vice-versa.
As for what it offers, as you can see you can strafe forward, backward, hover in place or go back and forth all while spewing a stream of fire. The Fire can clank and thus beat out weaker projectiles for a risky approach option, or conversely cover your tracks in a backwards retreat. The outer 2/3 of the flames can chip away some % at foes who are out of reach of other followups while those who get closer are subject to punishing flames that deal hitstun and high damage. The Flames can even be a (crappy) form of pressure if you hover and land on someone's shield, tho they can just buffer roll behind you and have approximately 8 minutes of free time to punish you lol. Ledge-hopping the fire is also a decent option I show above, either going right into the grounded fire or strafing, but you need to be careful of being hit past the flames as again, it eats both hover and Glide.
As mentioned, the outer 3/5 of the flames deal no stun and lower % while the closer smaller flames deal higher % and stun, but even at best the Flamethrower is some -16 frames on hit. So despite the crazy damage it can achieve against foes with poor decision making when it comes to SDI, you should never be getting decent damage off of FT without getting hit back. The movement allows this to be safer, yet rather telegraphed as to approach, they will be able to react to the big weak hits first unless its a strange followup where you launch -> FT for just raw % and nothing else.
I personally think it is a unique yet non-overbearing change with plenty of checks and balances. Sure he can get good damage, but it will always be punished if he really roasts somebody. He could go out far with it, but then he risks simply dying due to forfeiting horizontal recovery options (also aerials are better). He can stuff approaches or camping with the flames, but it is also easy to react to for the opponent. How do you all feel about this possibility?
As you can see, we have a proof of concept with the help of @Draco_The where Zard can Hover whilst using aerial flamethrower. The wing animation needs work but hey, I tossed it together in 15 minutes just to differentiate it!
As for specifics, as of this moment (7/30/15) the hover will stop all his vertical momentum after 20~ frames of start up and then allow him to hover back and forth for up to 80 frames by holding the B button. You can still angle the fire up and down as you move left/right, but letting go of B causes gravity to kick back in. Once the fire stops, Zard suffers 25~ or so frames of end lag from the last hitbox until IASA, which as you can see caused Zard to plummet helplessly when I let go near the ledge! This can be quite a problem as the Hover and Glide are mutually exclusive: if you hover, you not only can't hover again until you touch ground but also lose the ability to glide until you touch ground, and vice-versa.
As for what it offers, as you can see you can strafe forward, backward, hover in place or go back and forth all while spewing a stream of fire. The Fire can clank and thus beat out weaker projectiles for a risky approach option, or conversely cover your tracks in a backwards retreat. The outer 2/3 of the flames can chip away some % at foes who are out of reach of other followups while those who get closer are subject to punishing flames that deal hitstun and high damage. The Flames can even be a (crappy) form of pressure if you hover and land on someone's shield, tho they can just buffer roll behind you and have approximately 8 minutes of free time to punish you lol. Ledge-hopping the fire is also a decent option I show above, either going right into the grounded fire or strafing, but you need to be careful of being hit past the flames as again, it eats both hover and Glide.
As mentioned, the outer 3/5 of the flames deal no stun and lower % while the closer smaller flames deal higher % and stun, but even at best the Flamethrower is some -16 frames on hit. So despite the crazy damage it can achieve against foes with poor decision making when it comes to SDI, you should never be getting decent damage off of FT without getting hit back. The movement allows this to be safer, yet rather telegraphed as to approach, they will be able to react to the big weak hits first unless its a strange followup where you launch -> FT for just raw % and nothing else.
I personally think it is a unique yet non-overbearing change with plenty of checks and balances. Sure he can get good damage, but it will always be punished if he really roasts somebody. He could go out far with it, but then he risks simply dying due to forfeiting horizontal recovery options (also aerials are better). He can stuff approaches or camping with the flames, but it is also easy to react to for the opponent. How do you all feel about this possibility?