Lucina

Smash Attacks

SIDE SMASH

Lucina swings her sword downward immediately in front of her.

DOWN SMASH

Two sword sweep attacks, first in front of and then behind Lucina.

UP SMASH

Lucina steps forward and thrusts her sword upward. This can hit grounded opponents in front of her as well as airborne opponents above her.

Basic Attacks

Standing Attack

Lucina swings her sword upward in front of her up to two times.

Forward Tilt

Lucina uses a diagonal swing of her sword in front of her.

Up Tilt

Lucina launches opponents vertically with an upward swing of her sword.

Down Tilt

Lucina crouches down and stabs her sword at your opponent’s feet.

Dash Attack

Lucina slides forward and attacks horizontally with her sword, knocking opponents away diagonally.

Edge Attack

Lucina returns to the stage and quickly strikes toward your opponent’s shins with her sword.

Air Attacks

Neutral Air Attack

Lucina swings her sword twice horizontally. This can combo and is best utilized with her air mobility.

Up Air Attack

Lucina does a backflip while swinging her sword upward. Opponents are launched vertically on contact.

Down Air Attack

Lucina swings her sword in an arc below her. This attack has a meteor effect.

Forward Air Attack

Lucina swings her sword downward immediately in front of her.

Back Air Attack

Lucina swings her sword behind her as she spins to face the same direction.

Special Attacks

Shield Breaker (Neutral Special)

Lucina stabs her sword forward to pierce and break through shields. This attack can be charged to do more damage.

Dancing Blade (Side Special)

This is a four-hit sword string. Keep hitting the button to continue the string. You can hit Up or Down to vary the hit range on individual hits of the string. Hits 2, 3, or 4 can be modified with Up, and hits 3 or 4 can be modified with Down.

Dolphin Slash (Up Special)

Lucina swings her sword upward as she rises through the air. This can be angled slightly to the left or right during the input of the attack but not after. So, to rise to the left, enter the attack as Up + Left with the Special button. This attack does more damage at the beginning of its animation.

Counter (Down Special)

Lucina readies her sword to counter an incoming attack. The strength of the counter depends on the attack being countered. Lucina can counter while her back is to the opponent!

Final Smash

Critical Hit

Lucina dashes incredibly far across the screen to deliver a critical blow to the first opponent she runs into. Any enemies caught nearby will also be hit. This move has enough knockback to take out the heaviest opponents, even at 0%! You can cancel this attack by hitting any attack button. This can be useful to stop yourself from flying too far off-stage and save you from a self-destruct.

Strategy

Lucina is a lightweight sword fighter who relies on up-close combat to be most effective. Sharing the same moveset as Marth, Lucina’s play style is very similar. The one factor truly separating them, however, is that Lucina does not rely on hitting with the tip of her sword to maximize damage output. Across the board, her attacks deal less damage than Marth’s tip versions but deal more damage than Marth’s non-tip versions. Essentially, this means Marth has more potential but requires much more precision. While this means Lucina should theoretically have an easier time—as KOing heavier characters may be an issue—she may have to battle longer to get the KOs, so this isn’t clearly an advantage. If you’re interested in learning Marth, though, Lucina is a good way to start.

Similar to Marth, Lucina has to use her mobility and range to get in on opponents. Against projectile-heavy characters, focus on shielding, dodging, and rolling to make your way in. Use short hop with Forward Air and Neutral Air to pressure opponents. Additionally, poke them with Side Tilt and Down Tilt. When they are pressured by your offense and you notice them shielding a lot, this is your time to throw! Shield Breaker can deal significant amounts of damage when fully charged, and as its name implies, it can even completely break weaker shields in a single full charge! If you break a shield, either fully charge another Shield Breaker as an attack or follow up with a charged Side Smash that will hit at the tip. Dancing Blade is a multi-hit attack you can use to keep your opponents on their toes or to choose how you want to launch an opponent. Ending with Forward sends opponents horizontally while ending with Up can get you a KO at high percentages. More important, because Dancing Blade counts as multiple hits, it’s a good way to refresh your stronger KO options! Dolphin Slash is extremely fast and high for an attack, but it leaves you in a fall state. You have some invincibility at the start of this move, though, so it’s particularly useful to beat out incoming attacks. This is much better used in a one-on-one situation where landing the attack won’t leave you vulnerable to other opponents during your fall state. As for Counter, Lucina shares Marth’s fast counter startup speed and increased damage return.

When using Smash attacks for KOs, Up Smash and Side Smash are your best bets. Up Smash is Lucina’s one attack that actually does more damage than Marth’s version when both hits connect. From the air, finish with Forward Air and Neutral Air for KOs or Down Air for meteor smashes. KOing heavier characters may be difficult, so maximize your edge-guarding potential. Try to meet opponents off-stage with Neutral Air or Forward Air, and Counter if they attack their way back to the stage. Since you don’t have to use the tip, Down Tilt at the edge can also be very annoying for opponents returning to the stage. For projectile characters focus on shielding, dodging, and rolling to make your way in.

Recovery

Lucina’s recovery tools are fairly straightforward. Her primary recovery tool is Dolphin Slash. This reaches extremely high, but you have to aim it accurately to reach the edge, plus it leaves you in a fall state. For horizontal recovery, Lucina really doesn’t have a good fast option, though uncharged Shield Breakers do move her slightly forward. A fully charged Shield Breaker in the air launches you horizontally, though it takes a while to charge up. If knocked away very high, follow up a fully charged Shield Breaker with Dolphin Slash for best results! Finally, to stall in the air a little, use the first hit of Dancing Blade.