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Stage Tournament: Pokemon Stadium 2 Vs. PictoChat

Frown

Frown

poekmon
Joined
Nov 1, 2007
Messages
8,538
Location
Right here, not quite now
Today, I'll just post a bunch of pictures that I know you guys like.

Sonic the Baron:



Da-D-Mon-109:



Tyfighter:



Ange:



Spadefox:



Roy_owns:



This is not my vote btw. I'm making it right now.
 
Da-D-Mon-109

Da-D-Mon-109

Smash Lord
Joined
Nov 18, 2008
Messages
1,169
Location
Dallas GA
Frown said:
Today, I'll just post a bunch of pictures that I know you guys like.


Da-D-Mon-109:



This is not my vote btw. I'm making it right now.
Click to expand...
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT I LIKE!?! HOW DO YOU KNOW I LOVE THE WATER!?! WHO ARE YOU!?! HOW DO YOU KNOW ME!?! WHERE ARE YOU!?! WHY ARE YOU!?! WHAT ARE YOU!?! WHY DO YOU TORMENT ME!?! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIVE!?! WHAT ARE THEY SURVING FOR LUNCH ON TUESDAY!?! WHO'S GOING TO BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!?!

WHY KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA *catchesbreath*aAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN?

But seriously, nice pick. What made you think of this for me? And thank you, by the way.
 
half_silver28

half_silver28

Smash Ace
Joined
Apr 25, 2008
Messages
862
Location
MYM, Ohio


​
Shana is the main protagonist from the Shakugan no Shana anime series. She is a Flame Haze, a servant whose duty is to maintain the balance between the real world and the alternate world of The Crimson Realm. They do this by disposing of Crimson Denizens who consume great amounts of Power of Existence (the energy that fuels peoples' very existence), although some Flame Hazes focus on restoring the balance of PoE after the fact. Each Flame Haze is contracted to a powerful Lord of The Crimson Realm, who manifests their consciousness into an object, and provides them with their power. Flame Hazes are essentially their Lord's catalyst, as a Crimson Lord would consume a ton of PoE if they came to the real world. Flame Hazes come into existence when a human makes a contract with a Crimson Lord: having their previous life erased from the real world's memory and taking on a new existence as a Flame Haze.

After spending years training with Wilhelmina Carmel, Shana becomes a true Flame Haze. She becomes bound to Alastor, the Flame of Heaven, who is one of the powerful Gods of the Crimson Realm. She also obtains the sword Nietono no Shana, and the title of the ‘Flame-Haired Burning-Eyed Hunter’ with it. Alastor takes the form of an amulet which Shana wears around her neck. Shana herself is a brash tsundere who fights Tomogara (weaker Crimson Denizens) with brute force, something that concerns Alastor. Shana originally was so focused on her role as a Flame Haze that she didn't even have a name: only her title.

This thinking starts to change when she encounters Yuji Sakai, a seemingly regular boy who is actually already dead. This is because his power of existence was drained by a Tomogara, and was temporarily replaced, making him a 'Torch'. A Torch's PoE will eventually run out, causing them to disappear along with everyone's memories of them. Yuji however, is a special Torch whose PoE regenerates at the end of every day, so he won't fade away. It is him that gives Shana her very name, and Shana mellows out a bit as they grow closer. Yuji does eventually learn how to control and use his endless power of existence to fight, but Shana's on her own this time, and without a negative mechanic.

In an appearance-related note, Shana’s hair will almost always be fiery red in her smash brothers appearance (with heat visibly radiating from it), but her hair is black whenever she isn’t fighting: she'll appear with black hair and brown eyes in her victory animations and in her entrance before she 'powers up' for the fight.


Stats​
Shana's as tall as Sonic and has Diddy Kong's weight: she is a small anime female after all. Her dash is as fast as Marth's and her traction is average. She really excels in the air: having Wolf's air speed and Peach's incredibly floaty fall speed. Shana also has a wall jump.

Shana also has a glide, but leaving it at that wouldn't do her aerial capabilities justice. She has 5 jumps that put her near the top in terms of jump power, with her fiery wings coming out with the third jump (they aren't a hitbox). Holding down jump at any time causes her to go into Free Flight, not a glide as you'd expect. Shana can basically move in any direction at her normal fall speed, and can fastfall to the ground normally. This obviously allows Shana great freedom of movement when it comes to using her aerials and specials. However, she can only use her free flight for 7 seconds before she is forced back into a normal aerial state. Once this happens, Shana needs to land for 4 seconds to regain use of Free Flight. Until then holding jump will result in a float identical to Peach's, but she must touch down before she'll be able to use it. If Shana's offstage when her Free Flight wears out, she at least has her glide.

Shana can manually stop Free Flight by letting go of jump or by double tapping jump, which will make her go into a glide that is identical to Meta-Knight's, with two changes: Shana goes into a normal aerial state instead of helpless when the glide ends and she can end it manually by letting go of jump or by tapping jump again to go back into Free Flight/float. If Shana is attacked while in Free Flight, she'll be forced out of it, and must wait 2 seconds before she can use Free Flight again. While Shana's ground movement is nothing to scoff at, her air game is far superior to that of just about any opponent she'll face.

Specials

Neutral Special: Blaze
Shana holds Nietono no Shana (her sword) in front of her horizontally, with one hand resting on the blade itself. She closes her eyes, and the blade suddenly lights on fire! This is essentially a move that powers up Nietono Shana. Depending on how long B is held, the sword has three different levels of power (apart from it’s normal state), and they all give Nietono no Shana a different appearance. Just like Samus’ Charge beam and other chargeable moves of that nature, Shana is able to retain any amount of time she spends charging, even if she doesn’t manage to hit one of her three power levels initially. However, she can be forced to lose her charge time if she take a few hard hits consecutively. Speaking of power levels, here are the three levels that Shana can reach:

Shana has to charge for .75 seconds before she reaches Level One. Nietono no Shana’s blade turns red, which causes all her sword attacks to do fire damage (all three levels do this). This ends up adding 1-2% damage to her sword strikes. In the long run though, there's little reason to stick with Level One charge. Charging for 1.5 seconds will get the weapon to Level Two. Nietono no Shana will basically keep the same form that takes while Shana is charging, that is, being on fire. This does not change the shape or size of the blade, however. Shana’s sword moves deal an extra 2-3% in fire damage at this level. I should mention that for Levels Two and Three, some attacks gain additional effects that I'll explain when I get to them. 3.25 seconds of charging is required to reach Level Three, the third and final level of charge. The Nietono no Shana’s blade will blaze ferociously, becoming more than twice its original size (the length of the sword doesn't increase much though). This increases the hitboxes of all Shana’s sword strikes, which are now often able to hit opponents above or slightly behind Shana when they previously couldn’t. In addition, they now deal an extra 3-4% in fire damage.

Additionally, many of Shana's sword attacks have unique effects that only take hold if Nienoto no Shana is at Level Two or Three. I'll cover those when I get to them. Regardless, once Shana reaches a power level, she remains there until she charges long enough to move to the next level, or until one of several things happen. Obviously, Nietono Shana will return to its normal state if Shana loses a life. The sword will revert to its previous level if Shana takes 30% damage without hitting an opponent, or after 20 seconds go by since it initially reached its current level. Shana players have to remember to keep her sword charged, which shouldn't be too hard when they have great aerial movement and Free Flight to work with. Shana does suffer moderate lag when she begins charging, but doesn't have end lag, and stops charging automatically upon reaching Level Three.

Side Special: Burning Flare
Shana extends her hand forward and quickly executes a throwing motion, producing a fireball twice as large as one of Mario's. The fireball can be slightly angled up or down, and travels forward at Shana's dash speed. Shana can throw a second fireball right after the first by hitting B twice, but will suffer some increased end lag if she does so. Each fireball deals 5% damage and very low knockback, but enough hitstun that the foe will at the very least have to block additional fireballs. If Shana has her sword at Level Two or Three, she'll use her sword to throw the fireballs instead, allowing her to throw up to three in one go. The size of the fireballs also increases based on Level: Level Two fireballs are 1.5 times larger and Level Three is twice as big. The fireballs fizzle out upon traveling half of Battlefield's main platform or hitting the ground or a wall.

When fireballs fizzle out, they leave behind an amount of flames equal to 3/4ths of their size. These flames stick around for 5 seconds before disappearing, falling to the ground at Toon Link's fall speed if the flames form in the air. The flames deal 1% damage and briefly cut the dash speed of the foe by 1/3rd if they run through them. If the foe is airborne at the time they suffer brief stun instead. Additionally, If a fizzled-out flame contacts a larger amount of fire, it'll be consumed, ultimately increasing the larger fire by a small amount. If the flames from two fizzled-out fireballs touch each other, they'll combine into a larger amount of flames that lasts 10 seconds. Smart use of this move can keep foes at bay with a barrage of weak projectiles and pseudo-traps.

Down Special: Crimson Fist
Shana laggily pulls one arm behind her, as fire comes out of nowhere to surround her hand and arm in flames, eventually taking the shape of a closed fist and arm (shocking, I know). This fiery fist and arm then suddenly grows to a tremendous size, the fist being the size of King Dedede minus hammer. With a loud yell, Shana punches forward with this giant fist, covering 1 and a half BF platforms with the attack. This deals 28% damage and high knockback that KOs around 78%, a devestating attack that also deals a ton of shield damage. However this comes with Warlock Punch lag, and worse end lag (worse than Warlock Punch end lag, that is). Shana can fly around with Free Flight during the start/end lag at half her normal speed, so there's at least that.

If the giant arm hits any fire, it will carry the fire along the full 1 and a half platform attack path, permanently stretching its length but decreasing its height an equal amount. It'll also cut the damage the fire causes in half (lingering flames from side special will now deal .5% damage). If you haven't guessed by now, spreading fire around everywhere is a big part of Shana's playstyle. Shana and her allies a token 1% damage per second with no hitstun when in contact with her own fire traps, though Shana will avoid damage if her wings are out (after third jump, or during Free Flight/float or glide) to block the flames. Any fire that she stretches out with this move counts as hers, even if she wasn't the one that created it.

Up Special: Fuzetsu
A Fuzetsu, or Seal, is a technique used by both Flame Haze and Crimson Denizens in order to more easily maintain the PoE balance and to more easily devour souls, respectively. It basically freezes all living beings within a certain radius of the caster until they release the spell, and also allows them and others to use their own power of existence to repair any damage done to objects or people while the spell is in effect.

Shana closes her eyes and points above her head. A gust of wind will suddenly fly out from above Shana, visibly moving her hair and stuff. A light bluish, circular insignia then appears just above Shana's head, which quickly expands and disappears off the sides of the screen. A picture of that insignia can be seen here. After that, a Negative Zone-sized circle around Shana takes on a reddish hue, going through platforms. Anyone who happens to get caught in the initial casting (the reddish color effect), will be instantly frozen in place. If the victim is in the air when they’re frozen, they will fall to the ground, and end up in their tripped animation if they hit the ground. If a foe happens to be shielding when they are frozen, they'll be stuck in their shielding state, which might actually be worse than being frozen normally. This doesn't affect offstage foes who are recovering, solely due to the fact that it would be an insta-ko otherwise.

For the sake of balance, the Fuzetsu's effects only last for 4 seconds, during which time Shana is free to come up and attack her frozen opponents, who take full damage, but only 60 percent normal knockback. After being hit, the frozen effect goes away. This doesn't apply for lingering hitboxes like gases or fire though, so foes will take constant damage if they are frozen in the middle of such places. On another note, the red hue actually spreads out from where Shana is standing, giving foes a very brief opportunity to spotdodge and actually avoid being frozen in place. If they mistime this, or are in the middle of an attack or shield when Shana activates this, they're probably screwed. The Fuzetsu does not affect Shana or any of her allies in team battle. Shana can manually deactivate the Fuzetsu at any time by hitting B, even during the start or end lag of an attack. This can lead to some combo attacks that take advantage of the decreased knockback. Oh and by the way, Shana must wait 35 seconds between uses of Fuzetsu, and she needs to wait 35 seconds from the start of the match to use it for the first time. This move can only be used while on the ground: inputting up special in midair has a different function that I'll mention later on.

Smashes

Forward Smash: Scarlet Death
Shana pulls her sword back, before stepping into a fierce horizontal slash that deals 18-27% damage and knockback KOing at 100%. This move is rather good against shields; dealing good damage and stun as well as great shield push. If the attack is charged at least halfway, Nietono no Shana will automatically light ablaze with Level Two flames if it isn't at Level Two or Three already (this doesn't add extra damage though). This move has pretty bad end lag, enough that she'll be left open if a foe blocks the attack at close range. If Shana misses with this, she'll leave a two Kirby-length trail of fire right where her swing would've hit, which deals 2% and flinching and stays in the air for 3 seconds.

This move also has a special property that is shared by several of Shana's stronger moves. Upon being blocked or clashing with another attack, flames will fly out from the point of impact, assuming Nietono no Shana is lit with Level Two or Three flames. Level Two will only result in small specks of fire flying out, which deal .5% damage and the absolute tiniest amount of hitstun and flicker out upon traveling a Kirby length. This results in the move dealing a tiny bit more shield damage and forcing foes to keep their shield up a tiny bit longer to avoid all damage, and can possibly trip up a foe that clashes with this move.

Level Three results in several small dashes of fire, no more than 2/3rds as big as a Mario fireball at most. These dashes of fire travel in random directions at Ganon's dash speed for half a second before disappearing: if they hit the ground they'll stick around for another second as fire patches like the ones from Side Special. These flames deal 1% damage and flinching, enough to keep foes on the defensive for longer after a block or almost certainly hit them if they clash with this. Additionally, the Level Three version of this move causes the foe's shield to light on fire for five seconds, appearing visibly charred. If they keep the shield up or bring it up at any time, it'll burn up at an increased rate. If you can get them to block for any reason. . . use Fuzetsu. They'll be stuck in their shielding animation as it burns down. Shield break anyone?

Up Smash: Eruption
Shana sticks her sword into the ground, which lights ablaze with Level Two flames in a similar manner to fsmash. Two cracks then form in the stage on either side of her, one Kirby length away (or right next to her by edges or on small platforms). The cracks quickly take on an orange glow before erupting in Bob-omb sized explosions that also shoot up orange pillars of fire (as wide as Luigi) that reach slightly above Shana's head. Both the explosion and the pillars deal 16-25% damage and upwards knockback KOing at 140%. If this move is charged, up to two more cracks can appear on either side of Shana, one Ganondorf over from the previous (one at half charge, two at full charge). The additional cracks erupt .25 seconds after the closest ones in order. This move does good shield damage and stun, but no shield push. Combined with the above average start lag and horrible end lag, Shana can easily be punished for a miss.

If any of these cracks form on a spot where there is fire currently burning, the explosion will reach out slightly further than usual, and the pillars will add the fire to their length at the cost of consuming it. The pillars will consume any fire in this manner if they touch it as they rise up too. Also, if Nietono no Shana is at Level Three, this will light the foe's shield on fire for 5 seconds, and increase the width of the pillars to match that of Marth. This also adds a slight 2-3% damage boost and KOs at 115%.

Down Smash: Burning Field
Shana spins around twice, performing a 720 degree attack with her sword that hits on both sides. This deals 15-25% damage and horizontal knockback KOing at 130%, with Shana performing a 1080 degree turn at half charge or above and a 1440 (4 spins) at full charge. More importantly, when Shana charges this attack at least halfway, her sword automatically lights on fire like in the fsmash (no added damage), which greatly changes the properties of the move. Shana shoots flames similar to the ones fsmash emits on a block or clash out of her sword as she attacks, spreading them on both sides of her. The flames mostly travel forward, not rising above Shana's own height, and deal 1% damage and some slight pushback. They stick around for 1.5 seconds before disappearing, and will stay for 3 additional seconds if they touch the ground to create fire traps.

Charging the attack all the way more than doubles the amount of flames Shana shoots out: the flames form a near-literal wave of fire that has a pushback effect half as strong as FLUDD (this doesn't affect foes that are above her though). This not only makes it harder to punish the move's bad end lag, but can create nearly 3/4ths of a platform of fire on the ground on either side of her which will stick around for 12 seconds, save more flames being introduced. If a foe is close enough to a charged dsmash, they'll be hit by plenty of fire as well as the attack itself, boosting the pure damage of the move to crazy levels and dealing a ton of shield damage if they block it all (it also lights their shield on fire for 3 seconds at Level Three). Finally, if Nietono no Shana is at Level Three charge, this move will only have to be charged 40 percent of the way to shoot out fire, and charged 75 percent of the way to create the maximum amount. Overall this move is very powerful, but far more important for its ability to create a ton of fire to play with relatively quickly. By the way, this move takes twice as long as the typical smash attack to charge, so it's tough to spam.

Aerials

Neutral Aerial: Tri-Flare
Shana's aerials have a wide range of functions, keeping in tune with her aerial affinity. Shana turns towards the screen and, turning her sword forward, performs 3 quick slashes that have an awkwardly short range for her. Each slash deals 8% damage and knockback KOing at 180%, though foes will never be hit more than once unless they're on the larger side and at low damage. This has above-average lag on both ends, with the landing lag being the same. If you haven't figured out by now, directly attacking with this move isn't a good idea.

Instead Shana's sword automatically lights on fire (no added damage) while she performs the attack, creating a fiery triangle in midair that's as tall as Pikachu and as wide as Ivysaur. This triangle remains in the air for 7 seconds, dealing 3% and flinching. Shana can have up to 3 of these onstage at a time, the oldest one instantly burning out if another is placed. Other than looking cool, this interacts with some of Shana's moves in a unique fashion. For example, if an up smash flame pillar hits one of the sides of a triangle, a nearly identical pillar with shoot out of the other two sides, dealing the same damage and knockback and lasting for half as normal. Said pillars can consequently hit another triangle, creating more pillar that last for 1/4th as long, and so on with a third. Shana's up tilt interacts with the triangle in the same manner, and her down aerial interacts with them in a slightly different manner I'll explain in the move itself.

Obviously the move gives Shana a ton of freedom when it comes to stage control, allowing her to create a frightening amount of hitboxes/walls in midair that don't damage her or her allies, or even redirect fire to the ground to make more permanent traps. Hitting a direction on the control stick during the start lag of this move makes Shana angle her attacks so that the "tip" of the triangle points in that direction, opening up Shana's stage control potential even further. If Nietono no Shana is at Level Three charge, the triangle is 1/3rd bigger, lasts for an additional second, and shoots fire out of its sides slightly faster when interacting with up smash/dair/utilt.

Forward Aerial: Raging Slash
Shana pulls her sword back as it (again) lights ablaze with Level Two flames, before attacking with a horizontal slice that can be angled up or down slightly. This deals 12% damage and knockback KOing at 130%, and also leaves a trail of fire the same size as Nietono no Shana's blade in the air where it struck that deals 1% and brief stun. If Nietono no Shana has Level Two charge, the rather bad start lag will be reduced as she doesn't have to light its blade first. At Level Three charge, the attack will spread small specks of fire around if its blocked, similar to the Level Two version of the fsmash. It'll also light shields on fire for 2 seconds at Level Three. Assuming Nietono no Shana is at least at Level Two, this is Shana's best move for pressuring while in her float or Free Flight.

Back Aerial: Fiery Depths
Shana twists her body around to face the opposite direction and attacks with a laggy overhead strike with her sword, spiking foes for 13-14% damage and knockback KOing at 120%. A rather straightforward move best used for gimping or unexpectedly dropping foes into flames. This does have an important additional effect, though. When Shana uses this move, she directs all airborne flame traps within half a Battlefield main platform of her to descend up to one Ganondorf length at her own fastfall speed. This is useful for transporting traps to the ground if you'd rather have them there (they will combine with the flames already there), and if she manages to spike a foe while they're in contact with a fire trap's hitbox, move the trap along with them to potentially mess up their attempts to DI out. This move normally does not move Tri-Flare, but tapping A twice will make triangles move with the rest of the fire traps. This move does not affect projectiles or flames not created by Shana herself.

Up Aerial: Scorching Air
Shana performs what is essentially Marth's up aerial, except with a tiny bit more range in exchange for moderate start lag. This deals 9% damage and low knockback, that scales up to eventually KO at 140%, along with good hitstun that allows it to combo into itself at low percents (especially if Shana's in Free Flight and can follow them upwards). As you may have guessed, if Shana hits a foe near the top blast zone with this, she can carry them off of it for an early KO. This move is incredibly straightforward: it doesn't even leave a fire trap (OMFG). What it does do is command any fire traps within half a BF main platform of Shana to ascend upwards one Ganondorf length at her own fastfall speed. Aside from simple repositioning, it can direct traps right above her, especially for a foe she just hit with the actual attack portion of this move. Combined with smart placement of traps and use of Free Flight, Shana can carry foes a long way upwards to the blast zone, or simply put them too far off-stage to make it back. Tapping A twice will make Tri-Flare react to the command as always.

Down Aerial: Firestarter
Shana points her sword downwards as it once again lights ablaze with Level Two flames. She leans downwards before attacking under herself with a crescent-shaped sword swing that, oddly enough, isn't a hitbox. What is a hitbox though is what this attack produces: a thin crescent-shaped fire projectile as long as Pikachu is tall, that travels downwards at Fox's fall speed. It can also be slightly angled forward. This deals 12% damage and a good amount of hitstun, along with flinching if the foe is on the ground and weak spiking knockback for aerial foes. If the projectile hits the ground, it'll create a fire trap as big as a horizontal Pikachu that burns for 10 seconds and deals 2% damage and flinching. Also, if it hits a patch of fire bigger than itself, it'll cause a half platform wide explosion that deals 20% damage and knockback KOing at 110%. Afterwards the fire that originally covered that half platform space will be extinguished. This move is fairly slow, but it's nice for controlling space while flying circles around foes, gimping and for KOing if you can cause an explosion near a stunned foe. If Nietono no Shana at least has Level Two charge, the start lag will be cut by 1/3rd, though the end lag remains bad. At Level Three, the thickness of the projectile is doubled and the damage buffed to 15%.

Like I said, this move also interacts with Tri-Flare. If the projectile hits one of the sides of the triangle, the other two sides will shoot out two crescent projectiles with half the thickness of the original. These deal 6% damage and decent hitstun, and leave Pikachu-sized fire traps on the ground that last for 5 seconds. These projectiles can interact with triangles on their own, forming projectiles that deal 3% and little hitstun. Those create very short fire traps that only last for 3 seconds. When you're busy flying around, a proper triangle setup can have you filling the screen with tons of projectiles at once and creating a lot of traps as well.

Glide Attack: Reckless Assault
When Shana starts her glide, there's probably only one thing she's gonna do: recklessly charge at her foe. Shana immediately dashes/flies forward at 1.5 times her normal fall speed as she brings her sword behind her in preparation for an attack. Shana will continue to charge until A is hit again, unless she is charging upwards, in which case she'll stop automatically after traveling 1 platform. Contact with a foe will have her immediately swing her sword with a yell, dealing 15-16% damage and knockback KOing at 115%. Shana's sword also lights ablaze with Level Two flames after she travels 2/3rds of a platform if it isn't already at Level Two, just for visuals as always. This move has bad end lag and VERY bad end lag, so missing isn't recommended. While risky, this can be a nice follow-up to spiking a foe into flames or for gimping purposes (Shana can always make her way back to the stage, but the foe will have plenty of time to gimp her regardless).

Just like with the forward smash, this move spreads small amounts of fire upon being blocked, assuming Nietono no Shana has Level Two or Three charge. The specific amounts for Levels Two and Three are identical to forward smash. Also when this attack is blocked at any level, Shana and the foe will stay in place for a second, as Shana tries to force her way past their defenses. This causes their shield to deplete at 1.5 times the normal rate for that second, though Shana will be left at a slight lag disadvantage afterwards. Thus blocking this attack may not be the best option, especially if the foe's shield is on fire. Speaking of which, this attack lights the foe's shield on fire for 3 seconds (after Shana tries to break their guard) at Level Three charge.

Standards

Neutral A Combo: Sociometry
As with every set I ever make, the jab is, well, a jab. Shana attacks with an upward swing of her sword, followed by a downward swing and then a vertical swing. The first two attacks deal 3.5% damage and very low knockback, and the third hit deals 5% and moderate knockback. The jab can be canceled after the first and second hits, which can launch foes a decent distance into the air or knock them into prone respectively if their damage is high enough. This can allow an easy transition into a stronger move with well-placed traps or allow Shana to start juggling foes. Foes can tech the downward strike that would put them into prone though. This is probably Shana's least risky ground attack, and her best GTFO.

Dash Attack: Hell's Charge
This is in many regards similar to Shana's glide attack: she pulls her sword back as she speeds up her dash slightly, striking any foe in her path for 11% damage and knockback KOing at 160%. Shana suffers little lag after scoring a hit, letting her easily follow her struck foe, possibly offstage to attempt a gimp. Shana continues with this move until she reaches a ledge or A is hit to cancel it, suffering above average lag when she stops. In a manner exactly like the forward smash and glide attack, this spreads flames upon a block or clash when Nietono no Shana is at Level Two or Three. This deals some good shieldpush and stun, but not enough to prevent Shana's end lag from being punished.

Forward Tilt: Moving Flare
It's been a while since a move didn't involve Shana's sword. Shana pulls back her arm as her fist is suddenly engulfed in flames. She then punches forward, dealing 10% damage and knockback KOing at 170%. This obviously has pretty terrible range, on par with Sonic's forward smash, but it's enough to get foes out of her face. And it's pretty fast too, lacking the bad end lag of many of her sword-based moves. This has an alternate function too: it commands all fire traps within half a BF main platform of Shana to move left or right one Ganondorf length at her own fastfall speed. Double-tapping A will make Tri-Flare respond to the command as per usual.

But what if you want to use this in the air? Well, that's what the aerial function of up special is for: inputting up special and then left or right will have her point in that direction and move her flames that way over half a second. Hitting no direction will have her move them forward.

I should take this opportunity to explain more interactions between Tri-Flare and all 3 of Shana's moves that direct her traps around the stage. If a fire trap no wider than a triangle's side hits a side of one (and is bigger than one of Shana's side special fireballs), it'll spread an identical length of fire out of the other two ends, each of which lasts half as long as the original and deals half the damage. This can even spread to other triangles to make a literal maze of flames. Combined with Shana's projectiles and down special's trap-stretching properties, any amount of fire can be transformed into a lethal space-controlling tool. One final important note: Shana cannot move her flames around while Fuzetsu is active.

Up Tilt: Flame Bolt
Shana throws one of her arms above her head, and shoots what is essentially a fire laser as wide as a Wolf laser directly above her, reaching 1.5 times her own height above her head. This up to 5 hits dealing 3% damage each, and the last hit deals average upwards knockback. This move can also be angled right or left very slightly. If a foe has enough damage, Shana can combo into this from the first hit of her jab and push them further upwards. The entire attack lasts 1.5 seconds, with Shana having average lag on both ends. This interacts with Tri-Flare in the same manner as the up smash, except that the lasers created by triangle are identical to the original (if two triangles are involved though, the damage and knockback is halved).

Ok, this move isn't JUST the weaker version of up smash. If Shana manages to hit the TIP of a triangle with this, the other tips will shoot out identical lasers. If a triangle is already shooting fire out of its sides, this can really shut down foes and leave them with nowhere to go.

Down Tilt: Fire Trail
Shana crouches down and performs. . . Marth's down tilt. This deals 7% damage and decent hitstun, and has a high chance of tripping. It'll always trip foes who are dashing at the time. This attack is pretty quick: Shana can use it to abuse prone or tripped foes.

If Shana has at least Level Two charge on her sword, this attack will create a fire trap 1/3rd of a platform long that burns for 7 seconds, dealing 1% and very slight hitstun. If Nietono no Shana has Level Three charge, the created trap will be slightly wider and longer, last for 10 seconds and deal 2%.

Grabs & Throws

Grab and Pummel
Shana's grab is the typical grab, slightly bad range and nothing notable. Her pummel consists of Shana holding her sword against the foe's chest, dealing 1% per half second if the sword has Level Two charge and 2% per half second if she has Level Three charge.

Forward Throw: Increasing Flames
Shana simply strikes the foe with a horizontal sword swipe that deals 9% and knockback KOing at 170-145% depending on sword charge. However, if there is any fire within a Kirby length of Shana, she'll instantly absorb it into her sword as she attacks, increasing the damage and knockback. Specifically, each Nietono no Shana-sized patch of flames Shana absorbs boosts the damage by 3% and makes the attack KO 5% earlier. If there's a lot of fire around, this can potentially become a good KO move, or at least knock the foe offstage far enough to gimp.

Back Throw: Exs and Ohs
Shana throws her sword up into the air, slightly behind her foe. She then jumps over them and catches her sword. She quickly turns to face her confused foe and holds her sword horizontally, striking the foe as she falls to the ground behind them. This stuns the foe for a bit as they start to fall over, but Shana immediately kicks them in the back, causing them to go into a forward tumble. They'll tumble one platform forward and end up in tripped, though they can tech out of it after tumbling half a platform forward. This throw as a whole deals 11% damage. Also, foes who tumble through fire traps will take constant damage, without having their tumble interrupted by hitstun. Try to make it so your opponent will hit another fire trap if they tech out of their tumble.

Up Throw: Torch Song
Shana quickly tosses the foe above her head, only to catch them with the tip of her sword (no she doesn't impale them, she basically balances them on the sword). Nietono no Shana then lights ablaze with Level Two flames if it wasn't at that level already, and fires out a laser of fire almost identical to the up tilt. The only difference is that it has a little less range. Anyhow, this lifts the foe up with multiple hits that deal 10% damage, and can smack other aerial foes away for 3% and average knockback. At the end the laser deals low upwards knockback. If this happens to hit the side or tip of a Tri-Flare it'll shoot out lasers that deal half the damage and knockback, and so on. This can really limit the options of Shana's foe when they want to get back to the ground.

Down Throw: Violent Breathing
Shana appears to let the foe go, but that's obviously not where this move ends. Immediately, any flames within half a platform of the foe fly at them, dealing 2% for each Kirby-sized amount of flames that hit them. If enough flames to cover the character's entire body hit them (2/3rds for really big characters), they themselves will light ablaze. They stay lit for 4 seconds, with each additional Kirby-sized amount of flames adding an additional half second. Foes take 1% damage every half second while on fire, and if they bring up their shield, it will immediately light on fire for 3 seconds. If they contact more fire, they'll absorb it and take the appropriate damage/added time on fire. Shana obviously wants to pressure her burning foes, either to force them to shield or knock them into more flames to prolong their time on fire. Interestingly, this gives the foe a 2-3% damage buff on all their attacks, except if they're attacking Shana or another fire-based character.

If there is no fire around when Shana uses this, she'll instead dart forward after releasing the foe, impaling them in the chest with. . . her hand. After allowing a moment for the foe to be shocked, Shana pulls her hand out, causing the foe to fall into prone. This deals a total of 11% damage, and leaves them stunned long enough to cover Shana's end lag. Their getup options from this can become limited if there's fire traps behind them. If there's any hesitation on their part, Shana can easily chain a few down tilts on them.

Final Smash: Tenpa Jyousai
Wherever Shana is, she holds her amulet with both hands and says “Tenpa Jyousai”. The amulet immediately starts glowing with yellow light, which increases to almost fully engulf Shana. It then suddenly turns into a huge ball of yellow light, which is one BF platform wide and one platform tall. It then explodes into a huge amount of flames, shooting flames (no they’re not THAT big) that are the same size as a fully charged aura sphere. They deal 15% damage and medium knockback. It also creates a huge, 2 platform-high pillar of flames in the middle of where the ball of light was. Contact with the pillar traps the opponent and deals a total of 60% damage, but they receive no knockback when it subsides. The pillar turns into raging flames after 2 seconds, and shrinks to 3/4ths of a platform high. It continues shooting out flames in every direction for 2 seconds afterwards. Then the fire picks back up, taking up the same area that the ball of yellow light did, but being 2 platforms high. It starts shooting out PK Starstorm-sized balls of fire out randomly, which explode on impact with the ground or an opponent, causing 20% damage and good knockback to anyone they hit. After 3 seconds of this, the huge amount of fire explodes, sending the same amount of fire in each direction. While this fire can be dodged, it deals 30% damage and great knockback to anyone who gets hit, and it automatically breaks shields. Luckly, it only takes up that space for half a second. It also fires a pillar of flames up into the air from the same spot the first one was, only this one reaches all the way to the top of the stage and lasts 2 seconds. Contact with this pillar deals 40% damage, but no knockback when it subsides.

When it does subside, it reveals a huge flaming golem-like creature with a red light on top of its head (you can’t see a face). There are also a short amount of flames burning around his feet, taking up half of Final Destination. That is Alastor, the God of the Crimson Realm himself. He is as wide as Giga Bowser and as The whole point of this was to summon him into the world. Contact with Alastor or the flames at this point causes 12% damage and low knockback. After 3 seconds, Alastor lets out a huge roar, and the flames pick up again, forming a huge pillar of flames that completely engulfs Alastor and reaches all the way to the top of the stage. Contact with this pillar traps the opponent and causes a total of 60% damage and unholy knockback when it ends, practically being a guaranteed KO. After 3 seconds, the screen is suddenly engulfed in yellow light. When it subsides, Shana is seen laying on the ground, completely drained from what transpired.


Playing as Shana: Through the Fire and Flames​
So Shana's a character with a huge amount of options that can easily dominate with her aerial prowess, overpowering attacks and traps, but in the case of the latter two, players really have to work to put them into practice. First time players who just go rushdown from the get-go will find foes easily avoiding and blocking her attacks, and punishing her often-horrible end lag. Shana needs to set some traps to help lead the foe into her attacks, and to do that, she needs to to get some charge on her sword. Luckily, Shana has Free Flight and a float failing that. She can keep the foe at bay with a combination of her aerials and her irritating side special projectiles, while charging up her sword in the meantime. She can also take the opportunity to create some Tri-Flares in her wake, which will be needed later on.

Once Shana reaches Level Two, she can start laying some smaller fire traps with her aerials and dtilt. Shana's fire traps are vital for most of her game to work effectively, allowing her space to further charge up her sword, use down smash to spread large amounts of fire around and space her traps/Tri-Flare to specifically counter her opponent's playstyle. While Shana can easily continue with a campy playstyle, she can start getting aggressive with plenty of traps on the field and Level Two or Three charge on her sword. Shana with a sword charge can be very overpowering, especially against foes that rely on their shield to avoid damage. She can deal some extra damage and shieldstun with the flame burst some of her more powerful moves create on block. Some of them even light the foe's shield on fire, which'll progressively burn it down to nothing if they keep using it. Shielding becomes even more dangerous for the foe when you take Fuzetsu into account: if they mess up a shield needlessly, Shana can trap them in their shielding animation. If their shield's also on fire, or if they're shielding in a flame trap, their shield's pretty much broken. Some foes might opt to just not use their shield because of the dangers it opens them up to. But with all the fire traps lying in wait, it's hard to roll dodge without heading right into one, and a mistimed spotdodge can earn them a forward smash to the face or huge damage from a down smash. With how powerful her smashes and aerials become with a Level Three boost, foes can be surprised if Shana pulls out a neutral combo or dash attack to simply combo them against a wall of flames or knock them into other traps. And whenever Shana starts taking hits herself, she can easily fly away and cover her tracks with fireballs and traps, gaining the advantage once more.

I haven't even talked in-depth about Tri-Flare yet. Thanks to Free Flight, Shana can plant her triangles and aerial flames pretty much wherever she wants, not to mention how several of her aerials can move them around as well. Once several triangles are in perfect position, Shana can really keep foes on the run by sending up smashes, up tilts and down aerials through the triangles, not to mention utilizing her other traps along her "flame movement" moves. Using down special, any amount of flames can be stretched into a line, that can become a pair of giant walls when sent through a Tri-Flare. This can also help Shana's offensive game by cutting off the foe's escape routes and forcing them to choose between getting caught in traps or facing Shana head-on with only their spotdodge as reliable protection.

Also, this might be a weird place to mention this, but if Shana has at least Level Two sword charge, any minion (or certain traps) that she destroys will burn up, remaining on the field as a fire trap, no bigger than a Waddle Doo, that lasts for 5 seconds. With this, the foe's own minions and traps can be used against them, and also allows Shana's partner to assist her with creating flames in doubles.

Then there's the subject of Shana's throws, probably the last thing foes will be expecting aside from actually attacking with a ftilt. Back throw is mostly just generic fodder for sending foes into traps, and up throw can be very damaging with a Tri-Flare sitting above. The forward and down throws both consume flame traps, but the fthrow can be transformed into a decent KO move this way, and the dthrow can light foes on fire. Flaming foes will avoid fire traps like the plague, making them quite predictable, and further discouraging them from using their shield. With all the ways Shana can direct her traps around the field, it won't be too difficult to hit the foe and prolong their time on fire.

When it comes to KOing, Shana naturally has tons of options. With her traps shutting down foe's escape routes and the threat of a shield break keeping them from shielding, a skilled player will eventually land a big KO move. Once off-stage, Shana can use her awesome aerial prowess to gimp them: even if they don't have that much damage, Free Flight allows her to follow them for a period and get multiple attacks in to force them off the blast zone. Or she can simply use her traps and/or Tri-Flare to do the job for her. Even if her triangles are not set up to gimp, she can easily move them into position on the fly. Save for up smash, triangle-created flames generally won't do enough knockback to stop recoveries: it's up to Shana to make the final attack herself.

Shana can play both offensive and defensive styles fairly well, though with the power granted with her sword charge and her sheer options for pressuring make her rushdown very effective. That is how Shana herself likes to fight, but she needs to set up and consider her options before just rushing in, unless she wants to get beaten up when her laggy attacks miss. Shana may have infinite recovery, but she's really light and can be easily gimped without trap support off-stage. Shana learned the hard way that brute force alone won't win every fight; a lesson dedicated Shana players will learn quickly.
 
Da-D-Mon-109

Da-D-Mon-109

Smash Lord
Joined
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Score one more for "The Princess meets the Black Knight". I still dislike the physics involved in the Smash Skift. Exploding Peanuts, Primids jumping out of the water, Falcon flying across the ocean while holding Olimar, Diddy Kong's perfect 10 Landing from a moving vehicle to another moving vehicle.... speaking of which, Diddy Kong is quite acrobatic, no? WHY WASN'T HE IN MARIO AND SONIC AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES!?! HE AND DK WOULD HAVE DOMINATED! WHO'S MORE ATHLETIC THAN MONKIES!?!
 
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