My Impressions on Shulk in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U

            As expected of a Xenoblade fan like me, I immediately tried out Shulk as soon as I booted up Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. And I love what I’ve played; he’s one of my mains alongside Lucario and Megaman. Shulk is slow, but his attacks have good range. It’s best to play him somewhat defensively; stay at a mid-range and focus on using his excellent aerial attacks.

• Neutral B: Activates Monado Arts. You cycle through each one by pressing B again. To activate it, leave the B button alone once the symbol you want appears; it activates after about a second of no input to the B button. In order, we have: Jump (increases Jump height but makes you take more damage), Speed (increases your speed at the cost of some attack power and jump height), Shield (makes you heavier, slower, and take/deal less damage), Buster (increases the damage you do and take, but decreases the knockback of your attacks), and Smash (increases the knockback of your attacks, but reduces the damage they do and causes you to be launched farther when hit). You can cancel an active art by pressing B three times in a row. Any used art will temporarily be unavailable, preventing you from using the same one twice in quick succession.
• Side B: Back Slash. As the name implies, the attack has more knockback and inflicts more damage when hitting someone from behind. However, it’s slow, predictable, and easily punished. It’s best to use it to catch someone off guard or if they’re unable to retaliate in time. A useful trick early in the match is to use a back-throw followed by Back Slash, especially if Buster is active.
• Up B: Air Slash. A recovery move similar to Marth’s and Lucina’s. However, pressing B again at the peak of the attack adds a sideways slash that knocks opponents away. It’s actually good for KO’ing someone at high percentages. This second slash also gives you a little more height.
• Down B: Vision. When struck during the vision pose, Shulk will perform a counterattack similar to the Fire Emblem characters. It deals good knockback, and can KO opponents at high percentages. Holding forward when the Vision activates causes a second variation of the counterattack where Shulk dashes forward; it's a little tricky to use at first, but is the stronger of the two versions. What I find notable is that the window you’re given while using this move is quite lenient; the other characters with a counter have to use theirs closer to the last minute for it to be effective.

            Shulk overall is a fun character to use, but tough to master. His neutral-air, forward-air, and back-air are all great moves with high range. His forward-tilt and down-tilt come out fast, and forward-tilt can KO at high percentages. The Monado Arts can vastly change how to approach a given situation, and should be utilized as such:

• Jump should be used to chase opponents off stage and aid your recovery (Air Slash also goes higher while Jump is active). You can also play mindgames with your opponent; by jumping around the stage, you can land near an opponent if they try to shield (having expected an aerial attack) and grab them.
• Speed can be used a multitude of ways. Shulk's increased running speed allows him to use Pivot Grabs (where you dash, turn around mid-dash, and immediately do a grab). You can approach by running and shielding, blocking projectiles. Also, running towards the opponent and suddenly rolling back can catch them off guard. Using short-hop neutral or forward airs is a good way to approach as well.
• Shield's most obvious use is to survive at higher percentages. It also decreases the amount your shield shrinks by when hit. However, opponents can take advantage of your lower speed by trying to grab you or edge-guard you. Avoid this by using mainly neutral/foward-airs, as well as any of Shulk's moves that come out fast and are lag-free. If you're launched far off-stage, quickly disable Shield and activate Jump to recover, since you weigh much more (and your jump height is reduced) when Shield is active.
• A good strategy is to activate Speed at the start of a match, and rack up around 30% to 50% on the opponent. Once Speed ends, switch to Buster and start using combos. Try using a grab and up-throw followed by an up-tilt, ending with an Air Slash.
•  Smash is a simple, high-risk, high-reward art. It's best to use this art only if the opponent's percentage is much higher than yours. On top of that, even your Smash attacks will do no shield damage, so if your opponent blocks you, you're left wide open.