Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Sephiroth Impressions

Sephiroth has arrived in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The one-winged angel shocked fans with his very exciting announcement trailer that was revealed at The Game Awards, and now he’s available for players to get their hands on. I managed to get him early by completing the in-game Sephiroth Challenge event that’s available to players who have the Fighters Pass Vol. 2, so I’ve been spending the past few days playing around with him. What do I think then? Sephiroth’s a good character with some real strengths and not too many weaknesses, just like in his original game.

Sephiroth’s most immediate strength is his attack range. His sword strikes can reach pretty far, both horizontally and vertically. This allows you to keep opponents a comfortable distance away from you, edge guard the stage for people you’ve sent flying off it, as well as be a threat to anyone that’s falling back down towards the stage. If you can properly anticipate what your opponent is going to do, it’ll be nigh impossible for them to get past your Masamune’s blade and avoid being combo’d to death off the screen.

Similar to Marth and Lucina, Sephiroth’s blade does more damage in two particular spots when performing most of his moves. When doing his side Smash attack for example, hitting enemies with the middle part of the blade will inflict more damage than other parts. If you’re doing an upwards stab or a forward side attack while in the air, the tip of the blade is the sweet spot that you want to hit your target with. I find that hitting the side attack in the air can be a bit tricky due to how slim Sephiroth’s sword is, but landing the attack is satisfying and rewarding, especially when edge guarding.

If you thought that Sephiroth’s sword attacks were something to be feared, then you should definitely be worried about his Special attacks. His neutral Special is Flare, a magic flaming orb that travels across the screen and eventually explodes. It does a good amount of damage, but it gets more powerful when you charge it up. You see, Flare has three forms: Flare, Megaflare, and Gigaflare. Flare travels a good portion across the stage, and does adequate damage. Megaflare doesn’t travel as far, but hits harder and has a bigger explosion. Gigaflare only goes a few steps away from Sephiroth, but the damage output and explosion are massive.

Charging it up leaves you vulnerable due to the amount of time it takes, as well as the fact that you’re locked into place (though you can cancel out of it), but the reward is more than worth it. The move is also balanced out by the fact that you can’t store up a charge like Samus can with her beam cannon. Because the move takes time to perform, it’s something that can be easy to dodge. If you time it right though, landing a hit on an opponent trying to return to the stage or even catching them with the explosion and not the orb itself is incredibly satisfying and can lead to combos or KO’s.

Sephiroth’s side Special is a projectile that latches onto whoever it hits. The move can be charged up, resulting in two or three projectiles latching onto your opponent depending on how long the charge was. You can stick a maximum of five projectiles on an opponent. Once they’re attached, they follow the target for a short period of time before homing in on them and doing some good damage to them. This move is best used as a setup or finisher because on its own the move may not seem like much. But when you use it in conjunction with your other attacks or as the final part of a combo, it can lead to you getting an easy KO without having to put yourself in too much danger. I’ve used it as a finisher multiple times by stacking projectiles on an enemy, beating them up and knocking them off stage, then letting the projectiles do the rest for me and send the opponent off screen.

For his down Special, Sephiroth summons a barrier to protect himself. If attacked while the barrier is up, it’ll break and do some real damage to whoever attacked. Even without being hit though, the barrier always leads into an attack. Lastly, there’s his up Special. By simply pressing the button, Sephiroth does a quick slash that sends you in whatever direction you aim. If you hold down the button instead, Sephiroth travels farther and does a series of eight rapid strikes. It’s an invaluable move to use when trying to return to the stage, but its major downside is that missing leaves you wide open to punishment. If you aim the wrong way and go off the stage or don’t return to the stage properly, you’ll fall straight on down to your demise. At the same time, if you don’t hit anybody with the charged up version of the move, the move’s end lag upon landing on the ground is lengthy and will take a while to recover from. This can mean the difference between life and death since Sephiroth can easily be launched off the stage. He may be a bit of a heavyweight in the strength department, but not when it comes to actual weight.

Just like most of the DLC characters, Sephiroth has a unique gimmick, though it’s nothing too crazy. If he is at a disadvantage in a match, he enter his One-Winged Angel form, making him stronger and faster while like this. The form only lasts until he’s either killed, or kills an opponent, so you can’t bank on it for an entire match. It’s meant for getting out of tight situations and it’s great at fulfilling that purpose as it can help net you a quick kill or two.

Overall, I think that Sephiroth is a great addition to the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster. He’s a powerful character that has a lot of strengths, making him a fighter that’s plenty of fun to play as. He’s pretty easy to learn how to play, so anyone can pick him up and do pretty well with him. I’m just a casual Smash player though, so I’m sure that the more hardcore players who compete in tournaments will be able to pull off some really cool things as him and show off even more just how good a character he is. Sure Sephiroth may be another sword user, but he’s unique enough in his own way that he stands out from the others. Plus it doesn’t hurt to have one of the most iconic villains in video game history in the game.