Dragoon



The Dragoon (, doragūn pātsu) is an incredibly powerful item that can cause an instant KO. In order to use the Dragoon, one must find all of the three pieces of it (Dragoon Part A, Dragoon Part B, and Dragoon Part C). Collecting one of the parts causes a small picture of that part to appear to the left of that character's icon at the bottom of the screen. Once the player has collected all three pieces, the Dragoon is assembled and the character flies off-screen, from where they can aim where they want to attack with the Control Stick. The item will automatically fire after a certain amount of time; however it can be fired at will before this point by pressing the A button. If a character is hit, the result is 42% damage and almost always a one hit KO. Dodging the attack can be difficult unless the defenders can predict when the attacker will charge, but it is possible.

Characters can attack each other to force the other player to drop the piece they have; a character can also lose all pieces they have by being KO'd. Once all three parts are in play, Smash Balls will not appear until they have been used or fallen off the stage (Similarly, if the Smash Ball appears, the third Dragoon part will not. This is so the Dragoon's targeting sight does not clash with any Final Smashes).

The Dragoon parts only appear once per match, and may not appear during a match at all. It also never appears in the Subspace Emissary during play, but Kirby uses it in a cutscene to bring down the Subspace Gunship.

Origin
The item comes from Kirby Air Ride, in which the Dragoon had to be constructed in a similar manner. It is one of two legendary vehicles, the other being the Hydra. The Dragoon is known for its flight abilities, while the Hydra is extremely fast and has a great offense.

Trophy Info

 * An attack-capable Air Ride machine you can assemble by combining parts A, B, and C. You can knock off parts held by foes in combat, so stealing parts is something that's sure to occur. In Kirby Air Ride, you control legendary machines, but the Dragoon not only towers above all others in terms of speed, it is also able to fly.
 * Kirby Air Ride (2003)

Role in the Subspace Emissary
Shortly after the destruction of the Halberd, Kirby uses the Dragoon to destroy the Subspace Gunship by flying at full speed through the massive weapon while the other Smashers have it distracted. Kirby then uses the Dragoon to enter Subspace along with the rest of the characters.

Glitches
In the Bridge of Eldin, when firing the item when the bridge is forming, the player that is riding the Dragoon will get Star KOed.

If used when Tingle zooms in on a character, the screen will freeze in the area Dragoon was launched in.

If Ike uses Aether and gets hit, he will come down with no knockback whatsoever.

Trivia

 * If a character is Star KO'd while possessing a Dragoon Part, the part will fall back onto the stage after a few seconds.
 * Contrary to its trophy description, the Dragoon was not the fastest machine in Kirby Air Ride. Hydra, the other legendary machine, was capable of speeds much greater than any other machine could reach without power-ups. The Formula Star, while having abysmal acceleration, was also capable of moving slightly faster than Dragoon on land.
 * In training mode, when any amount of Dragoon Parts are on the field and the Smash Ball is spawned, all the parts on the field not being held by a character will disappear. This occurs viceversa as well.
 * It is actually possible not to be KO'ed by the Dragoon on larger stages. It's just that, normally, it has enough knockback to do so.