User blog:Lasatar/Lute and Ratha Ride On into Battle!

Well, I certainly haven't been active recently. I've had a ton of work IRL and not much incentive to visit the wiki during free time. However, after seeing how the newest Marvel VS Capcom game featured a playable Monster Hunter in its DLC, I thought "Smash needs something like that". However, I've already made a moveset for the Monster Hunter. So what's next? Well, about two weeks ago, a little spinoff title called Monster Hunter Stories was released internationally. Being the massive MH fan I am, I bought it on launch day. It didn't disappoint. In fact, it surpassed my expectations tenfold. So what else can I do but make a moveset for the primary character of the game?

Lute (or his female counterpart Sophia) is the protagonist and playable avatar of Monster Hunter Stories. They are a young rider from Hakum Village that departs to see the world, and ends up confronting this mysterious force called the Black Blight. It's definitely not the best of stories, despite the word "stories" being in the title, but let's face it. Who buys MH games for the story? Essentially, in the game, it's like Pokémon on steroids. You raid monster dens and steal their eggs, hatch the eggs, and use the newly hatched monsters to fight alongside you in battle. And that's the general gist. It gets a lot more complicated than just that, but I'll save you the details and just get straight into the moveset.

Play Style
While you are personally controlling Lute (or Sophia, if you're using the alt costume), you won't be fighting alone, because your trusted companion Ratha the Rathalos (who is basically the Pikachu of MHST) will fight alongside you. While you can't control Ratha directly, you can issue commands to him using your Specials. Otherwise, Ratha will act on his own, and generally attack the nearest enemy. Ratha has his own separate percentage bar, has pretty decent attack, and very high weight. The drawback is his large size, leaving him very open to attack.

Meanwhile, Lute (or Sophia) will use a mighty Greatsword in battle (I was contemplating on whether to use Great Sword or Sword and Shield, due to him using SnS in the official trailer, but he both starts off with a GS in the game, and also uses a GS in the anime. In the end, I went with GS). He has very powerful attacks that have very long reach, but they are quite slow, and leave him open to attack afterwards.

Above Lute and Ratha's portraits on screen is a bar known as the Kinship Gauge. This is effectively mana. Every time you use a special attack or command Ratha to do something, it will drop by a percentage. However, every time you or Ratha hit an enemy with a regular attack, it will rise, and if you can get it to the top, you will be able to ride Ratha. This allows you to control him directly, and you won't have to worry about Lute taking damage until he's knocked off (which will happen if he gets hit by two smash attacks or something with comparable knockback). If Lute is knocked off, the Kinship Gauge will reset to Zero.

Lute
♦ Number of Jumps: 2 ♦ Attack: 7/10 ♦ Speed: 3/10 ♦ Weight: 6/10

Ratha
♦ Number of Jumps: 8 ♦ Attack: 8/10 ♦ Speed: 5/10 ♦ Weight: 10/10

Strengths and Weaknesses
+Strong attacks +Good Weight +Dual Character +Ratha has very good recovery -Lute's attacks are slow -Lute's recovery is terrible (worse than Little Mac) -Ratha is a large target and easy to hit -Ratha's AI while not riding him leaves something to be desired

Standard
◾Neutral Attack: Lute quickly kicks the enemy. Short range and not very powerful.

◾Forward Tilt: Lute performs a fairly quick side bash with his greatsword.

◾Up Tilt: Lute swings his greatsword overhead. Wide reaching.

◾Down Tilt: Lute lets gravity take hold of his greatsword and brings it down quickly. Higher ending lag than normal.

◾Dash Attack: Lute brings his greatsword around in a roundslash.

Smash
◾Forward Smash: A charged slash that brings the greatsword straight down.

◾Up Smash: Similar to his up-tilt, but much more powerful.

◾Down Smash: A low hitting roundslash close to the ground.

Aerial
◾Neutral: Identical to his forward tilt, but airbourne.

◾Forward: Lute brings his greatsword downwards.

◾Back: Lute spins in the air and brings his greatsword around. Hits both sides.

◾Up: Lute stabs above him.

◾Down: Lute holds his greatsword with the point facing downwards and drops onto the enemy (if they're there).

Special
◾Neutral Special: Powerhouse Slash; Lute will charge his greatsword for a powerful attack. The longer you charge, the stronger the attack. Uses 15% of the Kinship Gauge, regardless of when you release it.

◾Side Special: Ground Slash; Lute will dig his Greatsword into the ground and drive it forwards and upwards. Very powerful, but is slow and will downgrade his attack and defence for 10 seconds after using it. Uses 30% of the Kinship Gauge.

◾Up Special: Rising Smash (yes, I know this is an SnS move, but the GS didn't have any possible recovery options). Lute will jump into the air and dive back down in a diagonal arc while attacking with his weapon. Uses 30% of the Kinship gauge (so you'd better be careful not to drain it completely, otherwise your recovery options are slim).

◾Down Special: Command Ratha. You can cycle through various options similar to Shulk's Monado Arts by tapping the B Button multiple times. The choices are between Fire Breath, Savage Fireball, Poison Kick, and Evasive Stance. There is a 5th option for mounting Ratha, but this is only available when the Kinship Gauge is full.

Standard
◾Neutral Attack: Ratha bites the area in front of him.

◾Forward Tilt: Ratha performs a tailswing, which hits the area in front.

◾Up Tilt: Ratha leans backward and performs a flaming bite attack above. The fire has a slightly larger hitbox, but the bite itself is more powerful.

◾Down Tilt: Ratha claws the area below and in front with his talons.

◾Dash Attack: Ratha comes to a stop as he performs a bite attack.

Smash
◾Forward Smash: Ratha charges up a flaming bite that follows the same properties as his Up Tilt.

◾Up Smash: Ratha performs Rathian's signature Tailflip (even thogh he's a Rathalos). Hits enemies on all sides.

◾Down Smash: Ratha stomps the ground with his talons.

Aerial
◾Neutral: Performs a flaming bite.

◾Forward: Ratha attacks with his talons.

◾Back: Ratha doesn't have a back air, as he automatically turns in midair when pressing the backward direction.

◾Up: Idenical to Up Tilt, but while airbourne.

◾Down: Ratha strikes with his talons before landing. If it hits, the game will act as if you grabbed the enemy.

Special
◾Neutral Special: Fire Breath/Savage Fireball. Ratha will charge up a fire breath that will cover considerable distance. If you charge it for longer, it will become the Savage Fireball, which is larger (therefore a bigger hitbox) and more powerful. When commanding Ratha, it requires 15% Kinship to use Fire Breath, and 25% for a Savage Fireball.

◾Side Special: Poison Kick. Ratha will temporarily take flight and strike with his talons. It will cause poison off it hits, which will gradually damage the opponent. When commanding Ratha, it requires 20% of the kinship gauge.

◾Up Special: Fly. Ratha will take flight for about 8 seconds. You have full control over where you go, and can chain into an aerial attack or a special move with no penalties. Can only be used while riding.

◾Down Special: Evasive Stance. Ratha's speed will increase temporarily. Cannot be used while riding him. Requires 10% of the Kinship gauge. While Riding Ratha, this will cause you will dismount. This saves 40% of the Kinship Gauge, as opposed to the 0% you'd get if you were knocked off.

Final Smash
Sky High Dive. Activates the same way as other Trapping Final Smashes. It involves Lute flying towards the enemy on Ratha, before shooting high into the air, and coming down to create a massive pillar of flame. You can see all of the variants of this attack here, but you only need to worry about the first one (I wasn't able to find a video only showing the default one, and Wikia doesn't let me post MP4s).

Alternate Costumes
-Lute wearing default Rider armour with an Iron Greatsword -Sophia wearing default Rider armour with an Iron Greatsword -Lute wearing Rathalos armour with a Rathalos Greatsword -Sophia wearing Rathian armour with a Rathian Greatsword -Lute wearing Azure Rathalos armour with a Rathalos Greatsword -Sophia wearing Pink Rathian armour with a Rathian Greatsword -Lute wearing Silver Rathalos armour with a Rathalos Greatsword -Sophia wearing Gold Rathian armour with a Rathian Greatsword

What's your opinion? Awesome. Great. Good. Indifferent. Bad. Crap.

Like always, leave a comment below.