Dancing Blade

Dancing Blade
Lucina
User	Marth
User 2	Lucina
Appears in	Super Smash Bros. Melee Super Smash Bros. Brawl Super Smash Bros. 3DS/Wii U

Dancing Blade (Japanese: Marvelous Combination - マーベラスコンビネーション, Maberasukonbineshon) is Marth and Lucina's Side Special Move. It's a unique special move, as it consists of four different attacks chained together; a variety of combos can be performed depending on one's tilt on the joystick for each attack. This makes it one of exceptionally few attacks in the series which relies on this type of input - most attacks require only one direction. It is, however, common in other fighting games. Roy's Double-Edge Dance is similar to Dancing Blade.

Overview

General

The options on the tilts lead to 18 possible combinations, as there is always the standard attack, followed by the second, third, and fourth attack. The second attack has two options and the third and fourth have three.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

In Melee, the first attack is often used to gain horizontal recovery. Also, Marth glows a color as he uses his attacks. They are Blue for Up, Red for Neutral and Green for Down. It was quite unlikely that Marth would have to use all four attacks, since both the third and fourth strikes had much higher knockback than the first and second.

This attack is basically the same as Roy's Double-Edge Dance. However, unlike the latter, Marth's strikes increase in damage, while the damage of Roy's decreases.

The first strike of the Dancing Blade in Melee.

Brawl

Dancing Blade has seen quite a few changes since Melee. First of all, the timing no longer matters, so it can be performed easily. If the first hit connects, it is nearly impossible to escape the rest of the combo when the timing is fast enough. Also, the animation in Melee seemed more fluid while the animation in Brawl is more rapid. The final can either be 2 kill moves at high percentages (up and forward) or a quick damage racker (down). The third hit is still a meteor smash, but only if not sweetspotted. However, the move aids Marth's recovery less than the previous game. The knockback on the third strike is decreased, allowing for better combos. Unlike Melee, where Marth would glow, the attacks simply change the motion trail of his sword.

Forward Strikes

Marth slashes over his head, then jabs down in front of him. He then strikes horizontally, and ends with a hard strike over his head.

The first strike of the Dancing Blade in Brawl

Upward Strikes

Marth cuts upward, lunges forward, and strikes over his head.

Downward Strikes

Marth strikes with a hard blow, cuts, and ends with a series of quick jabs.

Marth's Special Moves
	Melee	Brawl	3DS/Wii U	Ultimate
Standard Special	Shield Breaker
Side Special	Dancing Blade
Up Special	Dolphin Slash
Down Special	Counter
Final Smash	—	Critical Hit

Lucina's Special Moves
	3DS/Wii U	Ultimate
Standard Special	Shield Breaker
Side Special	Dancing Blade
Up Special	Dolphin Slash
Down Special	Counter
Final Smash	Critical Hit

Custom Variations

In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, with the introduction of the Custom Moves, Marth and Lucina have 2 variations of Dancing Blade.

Effortless Blade

With this customization, Marth and Lucina can't change the combo type, but they can wait longer between attacks. This move has minor damage.

Strengths:

• Easy to pull off

Weaknesses:

• Deals less damage

• Can't change the combo type

Effortless Blade is, just like the move implies, effortless. The move is very easy to pull off since Marth or Lucina don't have to wait as long between attacks or can wait longer between attacks, granting more options with the attack. However, they can't change the combo type, so are unable to launch opponents up with the blue combo type or trap them in a combo with the green combo type. On top of that, the move does less damage.

Heavy Blade

With this customization, Marth and Lucina's attacks are more stronger, making it very easy to launch the opponents. However, it is very hard to pull off a combo.

Strengths:

• Deals more damage

• Higher launch power

• Has a combo setup

Weaknesses:

• Can't pull off a combo

The Heavy Blade is unable to hit opponents with all four attacks because just one attack is enough to launch opponents away. The move deals more damage to make up for this and though the move itself can't combo, it can set up a combo. The blue combo type for the move will launch opponents into the air, giving Marth or Lucina a chance to follow it up with an up air, up smash, or Dolphin Slash.

Marth using Effortless Blade.

Marth using Heavy Blade.

Lucina using Effortless Blade.

Lucina using Heavy Blade.

Marth's Custom Special Moves
	Custom 1	Custom 2
Standard Special	Storm Thrust	Dashing Assault
Side Special	Effortless Blade	Heavy Blade
Up Special	Crescent Slash	Dolphin Jump
Down Special	Easy Counter	Iai Counter

Lucina's Custom Special Moves
	Custom 1	Custom 2
Standard Special	Storm Thrust	Dashing Assault
Side Special	Effortless Blade	Heavy Blade
Up Special	Crescent Slash	Dolphin Jump
Down Special	Easy Counter	Iai Counter

Trivia

• By repeatedly using the first attack of Dancing Blade with Marth, he can rise into the air during a Tiny, Light Special Brawl or in the Flying transformation of Pokémon Stadium 2.
• Falling off a conveyor belt while using any the first, any of the third or the forward version of the fourth attack gives Marth great horizontal acceleration. The attack that makes him fastest is the up version of the third attack. Note that this works not only for Marth but is most noticeable with him.
• This move is considered to be one of, if not, the best move in Brawl on Smashboards.
• If you use Dolphin Slash in slow motion you can only use two attacks in the combo.