Marth

Historical Background

Marth is the Prince of Altea, a kingdom on the continent of Akanea. He had his kingdom invaded and he was forced into exile. He gathered support of the people of his country and led an army into his land and defeated the King to reclaim the throne.

Later, Marth heard that his former friend had began conquering some other countries on Akanea and went to do some detective work. He discovered that this was true and decides to find artifacts that were necessary to activate the Fire Emblem. While he gets the gems, his former friend had captured his country and he travels with his trusty sword, Falchion, to defeat him. He succeeds, and his friend turns out not to be evil, but he was possessed by an enemy from a distant time. He aquires the artifacts and dawns the Fire Emblem, which turns into a shield and allows him to kill the enemy, and he later gets married.

Fighting Style

- Marth's fighting style is an offensive style, meaning if you like to defend
more and run than being the aggressor you will not be able to play well with
him. You need to always be in their face.

- With Marth, timing is everything. If you attack at the wrong moment you could
seriously mess up a combo or miss and could wind up KO'ed.

- To use him effectively you have to be a king of dodging. He has no projectiles
so you can suffer easily against speedy foes like the space animals.

Moveset

A note beforehand that Marth's blade has two damage areas; if you hit someone from up close on the middle of the blade you will do lower damage. If you hit someone from a little bit away and with the tip of the sword, more damage and a considerable increase knockback will be dealt.



Standard Set

Neutral A - Slice
Damage: Tip: 6% A basic attack that deals next to no knockback. It can be used quickly to avoid being
Middle: 4% battered by a strong attack, and can open an enemy for a small combo or grab.

Combo A + A - Quick Slices
Damage: Tip: 6% per slash total 12% This simple combo can be used to keep an enemy at bay until you come up
Middle: 4% per slash total 8% with another move to do. You can also start a f-air combo with this.

Tilt Up A - Overhead Swing
Damage: 9% This is a great move for starting aerial combos. It can swipe behind you as well
as in front. It is a decent killer at high percents and does a fixed 9 damage.

Tilt Forward A - Forward Slash
Damage: Tip: 12% This move can leave you open for a half second if it misses, use it sparingly unless you have some time. It has a
Middle: 9% bit of knockback as well but if you have the time to set it up it might be worth using a C-Stick smash.

Tilt Down A - Low Poke
Damage: Tip: 10% This move is very handy, while doing combos at the end you can finish off by holding down
Middle: 9% and pressing A rapidly to stab them away. This is also good for rolling behind an enemy and hitting
quickly because the shield doesn't always cover the bottom and you can get some
cheap hits in. It's also wonderful for edge guarding. You move forward if you stab quickly.

Smash Forward A - Lion's Roar
Damage: Uncharged Tip: 19% This move has the most range any of Marth's sword moves have. He swings his
Middle: 14% sword from behind his body and over his head, slamming it down at his feet. If
Charged Tip: 26% you can land one of these, the knockback is fairly far and the time it takes to
Middle: 19% do an uncharged one of these is pretty low. It can also cover above your head,
but the person will go flying in the opposite direction.

Smash Up A - Dragon's Claw
Damage: Uncharged Above: 17% Marth will pop his sword straight up in the air. It will catch people that are
Front: 21% standing behind you, above you and in front of you and throw them upwards. This
Behind 18% move is easily shielded from but if you catch them with it you can start an
Charged Above: 23% aerial combo. The tip of the sword doesn't affect the damage, but the knockback
Front: 25% with this move.
Behind: 25%

Smash Down A - Snake's Fang
Damage: Uncharged 13% Marth will crouch low and swing his sword first ahead of him and then behind,
Charged 18% this will launch the enemy into the air and away from you as well as causing
damage. This is a very good finishing move if you can pull it off.
It has stronger knockback when hit with the tip.



Neutral Aerial A - Aerial Double Strike
Damage: Tip: 6-12% This move is great for beginning combos. If you run, short hop and press A
Middle: 3-9% while traveling towards an opponent, you will often hit them if they are big
or jumped towards you. It can knock someone at high damage back surprisingly far
and is very quick. If someone is trying to recover and is about your height, you
can jump out, Neutral A them to kill them and recover to the edge of the stage.

Forward Aerial A - Aerial Flash Swipe
Damage: Tip: 13% This move is an excellent combo move because it will push them in the direction
Middle: 10% you want. It's also extremely quick, and if you are falling far enough you can
beat them with it two or three times before hitting the ground. Quite useful to use.

Backwards Aerial A - Aerial Scoop Swipe
Damage: Tip: 14% The backwards aerial is similar to the forwards one except that it substitutes
Middle: 11% the speed for more power and better knockback. It, like all of Marth's aerials
is very useful.

Up Aerial A - Aerial Flip Swipe
Damage: Tip: 13% Again, another good comboing move. The swipe is fast, effective and it doesn't
Middle: 10% knock them extremely far, allowing you to quickly hit them again while they beg
for your mercy.

Down Aerial A - Aerial Smash Swipe
Damage: Tip: 14% The down aerial is a spike move you can use it to finish a jumping enemy.
Middle: 12% It's not very accurate, however so you need to be very precise or you
shouldn't rely on it as one. If you hit at the wrong time it actually sends them
upwards, meaning if you are trying to kill them as they recover you actually
help them here. Fortunately it is very powerful. To go into more detail on the
spike: The tip sends them down, anywhere else is up.

Dash Attack - Rip Strike
Damage: Tip: 12% Marth runs towards the enemy, then does a quick but powerful slash that has
Middle: 10% good knockback and power behind it. If you want to hit someone to the edge then
this is a good one to use. This move has some lag so be careful when using it.

Ledge Recovery - Flip Strike
Damage: Tip: 8% When you are hanging on to the edge and press A, you will swing over and attack
Sword: 6% the enemy. It's really just to give you some protection as you recover and is
nothing special to use. However, it can be used to set up some offensive combos.
Also note that the ledge attack will change if you have 100% damage. It changes
to a slower but more powerful version.



Special Set

Neutral B - Shield Breaker
Damage: Uncharged 8% This is just a standard sword stab that will deplete the shield more than usual
Charged Tip: 24% if used. It will leave you incredibly open and easy to hit if you miss however,
Middle: 20% so be careful. Only an idiot will ever get caught by this attack charged. If there is someone that can
fly that is recovering, you can use it to stop them however if you miss you are
most likely going to take a large hit. Fortunately the charge time is rather
low. The range looks longer than it actually is, so be careful when you use it.
This technique works great as recovery, if you are high enough use a fully charged one and
you will fly horizontally towards the stage quicker and can also use a Dolphin Slash immediately after to recover!

Forward B - Sword Dance
Damage: Tip: 4/4/5/8 or 13% When using this attack, you can change the direction after the first one to
Middle: 3/3/4/6 or 11% swing the enemy in different directions. If you finish with a down, you will do
an extra hit and more damage. You have to press the buttons at the right times
to get the third and fourth hits. The best way to learn these times is to go on
training and experiment. Listen to his gasps, press the buttons when he gasps.
Try to remember these. It is unwise to use this as a recovery move because this
will actually slow your fall without gaining you any distance, meaning you can
fall off the stage. However, you can use this to fake people out while recovering,
as they may mistake it for a dolphin slash while under pressure and start their edge guard early.
If the third hit is aimed down, it can be used a weak meteor smash.

Up B - Dolphin Slash
Damage: Full hit: 13% Marth will jump nearly vertically up into the air and slash anyone in his path
Partial hit: 8% up with him. It's a rather weak move unless you hit them from the moment you use
the move. It also leaves you very open to attack, so try using the aerials to
get some hits instead. It's a fairly okay recovery move, but there are a few
characters that have better ones.

Down B - Counter
Damage: 1.1x damage intake Marth will stand still and hold his sword out. Anyone that attacks him during
Minimum of 8% about a one second period will suffer a counter attack that does a bit more than the same
amount of damage back as damage dealt. This is a good move but you have to time
it properly. If someone is charging up a big move, it's a good idea to use this
beforehand because they will get the damage they tried to deal to you and more.
As an emergency you can use this to block a single projectile. If you miss the
counter, expect to be beat around though because you will be very vulnerable.



Throws

The throws will simply toss the enemy in the direction indicated and deal some
damage. The more damage, the higher they can be thrown. Also- the more damage
that you deal to them, the less resistance they have to it. While grabbing them,
you can press "A" to beat a couple % of damage into them, but they will resist
so be sure to chuck them quickly.

Forward Throw
Damage: 4%
The forward throw will chuck the enemy forwards and is best used if you want to
hit them with a quick smash attack or if you want to throw them off the edge to
attempt to block them from recovering.

Back Throw
Damage: 4%
The back throw is nothing special, it's more if you want to get rid of someone
so they can't reach an item you are going for.

Up Throw
Damage: 4%
The Up Throw is good for starting combos because they go straight up into the
air, then fall down to the side. This allows for an easy Neutral A air or to
chain throw someone repeatedly.

Down Throw
Damage: 5%
The Down throw is only used if you want to continue beating them up or if you
want a little extra damage. It's probably the worst throw in the game.



Final Smash

Marth's Final Smash is called "Critical Hit". It's instantly fatal to anyone it
hits. What Marth does is slide across the entire ground he's standing on. Any enemy in the
way will fly off the screen and a nice little health bar will appear showing
them losing health.

Try to avoid using it in the air because if you miss you might fly offscreen. If
you have proper training, it has been brought to my attention that you can
cancel the attack by pressing B again. However this timing has to be quite fast.
You can then use it in the air to get nearly infinite range.

To dodge this final smash, decide whether this guy is good or bad with Marth.
If he isn't too bright, try to keep to the air and never been in a horizontal
line with Marth. He will probably try to use it too early after he is overly
excited. If the Marth is skilled, keep your distance from him and when he uses it then
you should roll or sidestep (rolling works best) to dodge him.

If you press the "up taunt" when you have a Smash Ball, people will freak out because
they think you will use it, allowing you to take advantage of them if they
change their position or run away.



Advanced Techniques

Dash Dancing: This is similar to a dashing smash, instead of holding forwards,
keep tapping the control stick in one direction. At any point in the run you can
stop. You will continuously run forward but the dash animation will be displayed
repeatedly. This also means that if you tap forwards and press forward on the
C-Stick as well you can perform a smash attack quickly while moving towards an
enemy. This is very useful.

Dashing Smash: This is very useful, if you run towards and enemy, let up on the
control stick and quickly press up on the C-Stick (or up and A smash attack)
then you will slide a short distance and stab them upwards. Good for killing
high percent enemies and for starting combos. This is very easy to shield against
so, I don't recommend using it too often.

Dashing Dance: This is useful and simple. All you do is run towards the enemy and
start sword dancing. It is a way to catch your enemy off guard.

Fair Play: Run up, short hop, and double f-air, then d-tilt to try and continue the combo
or f-smash to end it early.

Reverse Aeirial Rush: This techinique is very helpful for the killing blow. Basically, it's
an efficient way to approach with a b-air. Run, then slam the other direction, then jump, and
b-air. It is one of the best ways to kill a recovering enemy.