Mythra (SSBU)
| Mythra in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate | |
|---|---|
  | |
| Universe | Xenoblade Chronicles |
| Shares character slot with | Pyra |
| Availability | Downloadable |
| Final Smash | Sacred Arrow |
| Tier | S (5) |
| “ | Mythra Awakens! | ” |
| —Introduction tagline | ||
Mythra (ヒカリ, Hikari) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. She was confirmed as a playable character alongside Pyra during the February 17th, 2021 Nintendo Direct, and both of them were released as part of Challenger Pack 9 on March 4th, 2021 in Fighters Pass Vol. 2. She can transform into Pyra using her down special move, Swap to Pyra. While her moveset is similar to Pyra's (aside from three of her special moves and Final Smash), she is not classified as an Echo Fighter, and is instead a semi-clone of Pyra. As such, Mythra is classified as Fighter #80.
Although Pyra is the selectable character by default across all palettes, the player can choose to start as Mythra by clicking on her in their fighter portrait or pressing 
at the character selection screen, in the same manner as one chooses which Pokémon to start with when choosing Pokémon Trainer.
Skye Bennett and Shino Shimoji, who voiced Mythra (and Pyra) in the English and Japanese versions of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 respectively, reprise their roles in the international and Japanese versions of Ultimate with new voice clips, the former of whom initially confirmed her reprisal via Twitter.
Mythra and Pyra are collectively ranked 5th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing the Aegis in the S tier. Mythra offers faster frame data and a larger combo game of the two, making her more suited for racking up damage. She also possesses the fighter ability, Foresight, which allows her gain the frame advantage when dodging as her opponent attacks her at the cost of taking a little damage, akin to Bayonetta's Bat Within. However, she does have some weaknesses. She has very low KO power, but she can swap to Pyra to cover that weakness. She’s also a middleweight fast-faller, which not only makes her susceptible to combos but also early kill setups. Finally, her recovery is linear and very predictable as neither Photon Edge nor Chroma Dust travel very far and she cannot use both in the air, which makes her offstage game risky and unsafe.
Attributes[edit]
Mythra is the faster component of the Aegis, possessing vastly superior mobility and overall frame data to her counterpart (mainly in regards to overall duration in terms of ending lag), but weaker attacks and overall shorter range. Like Pyra, she is a middleweight, albeit on the lighter end of the weight class, due to weighing the same as the Ice Climbers, Lucario, Wolf, Villager and Steve. Mythra boasts the 11th fastest air speed, 8th fastest walking speed, 7th fastest falling speed, 7th highest gravity value, 5th fastest dashing speed, and the fastest initial dash in the game, as well as decent traction. However, Mythra's jump height is below-average, while her short hop, double jump and air acceleration values are merely average. Overall, these traits make her a character similar to the likes of Captain Falcon, Sheik, Chrom or Little Mac; she is a very fast and generally offense-oriented character who excels at whiff punishing, tech-chasing, comboing, juggling and maintaining stage control in the neutral game, and has access to useful burst options as well.
One of Mythra's greatest strengths is the speed and utility of her grounded moveset. Neutral attack is Mythra's fastest move, coming out on frame 2; this makes it useful for intercepting opposing attacks or sometimes even approaching, the latter thanks to her incredibly fast ground speed. As a swordswoman who fights with her respective Aegis Sword, almost all of Mythra's standard attacks (barring the first hit of neutral attack) are also disjointed as well, aiding her in directly challenging incoming attacks.
Mythra's three tilt attacks are very quick moves, with each possessing the ability to start or extend combos. Down tilt has fast startup and very low ending lag, as well as fairly low knockback even at very high percents, allowing it to combo into most of her standard moveset; up tilt can combo into itself and/or most of her aerials; and even forward tilt can combo at low to mid percents. The speed of Mythra's tilts can make them difficult to react to, and good spacing can sometimes potentially also make them difficult to punish as well. Her dash attack is fast by swordfighter standards, coming out on frame 9, and it also provides her with solid forward momentum that makes it fairly useful as a burst option. Finally, her smash attacks are decently fast KOing options with solid ranges: forward smash comes out on frame 14 and is her strongest smash attack with the most range, but has the slowest startup of her smashes; up smash comes out on frame 9 and has a lingering hitbox, making it a decent out of shield option from the front; and down smash is her fastest smash attack, coming out on frame 8, and hits twice simultaneously on both sides. However, Mythra's smash attacks are fairly weak; they only KO at moderately high percents, even when fully charged.
Mythra's aerial attacks are quite effective. Her up, back and down aerials can all autocancel in a short hop, and except for down aerial, all of her aerials come out on frame 10 or sooner. Neutral aerial hits three times and provides good coverage all around her; similarly to Byleth's, it also possesses a landing hitbox, which can be used to start combos. Her forward and back aerials are good combo finishers (with back aerial more importantly also being useful for starting or extending combos), covering a decent area in front and/or behind her. Up aerial is a good juggle move, and has an extremely generous autocancel window, even more so than all her other aerials. Finally, down aerial completely lacks the meteor smashing capability of Pyra's equivalent move, but it is Mythra's most damaging aerial attack if hit with the clean hit of the move, and possesses the most KO power of her aerials as well.
Mythra additionally possesses fairly versatile special moves. Lightning Buster is a chargeable move that comes out on frame 9 when uncharged; charging it increases the move's power, and the move even possesses a hitbox on Mythra's sword while charging (nicknamed the "bustersaw" hitbox); it can KO most opponents near the edge at around 100% with a mild charge, and it can even be used off-stage as a mixup to cover airdodges. Lightning Buster can even be reversed after charging, similarly to Mii Swordfighter's Blurring Blade and Sephiroth's Shadow Flare, which can potentially be used for mindgames. Photon Edge is a useful burst option directly which can hit up to six times and has decent damage output as well; it can be difficult to challenge thanks to the move's hitboxes being placed on the multiple visible Mythra duplicates, none of which have a hurtbox, and it can also be used as a horizontal recovery option as well. Ray of Punishment starts on frame 10, making it a decent out of shield option when combined with the initial slash's hitbox, and the initial slash in particular combos into the resulting projectile fairly well thanks to its unusually high hitstun; holding the special button or pressing it more than once turns the move into Chroma Dust instead, with the singular downward projectile instead replaced with multiple smaller projectiles. Ray of Punishment in particular is also an excellent combo finisher as well. As a recovery move, Ray of Punishment/Chroma Dust is capable of sweetspotting ledges while rising, and if Mythra goes past a ledge, the projectile(s) can somewhat cover her ledge grab. Lastly, her down special, Swap, swaps her out with Pyra while granting some intangibility during the switch, allowing the player to switch playstyles on the fly.
Mythra's grab game is not nearly as overwhelming as the rest of her moveset, but it is not without its uses. Her standing grab has average range, but it is slightly disjointed and is tied for the fastest in the game startup-wise. Her dash and pivot grabs also have similarly slightly disjointed grabboxes as well, with the former in particular additionally having decent forward momentum that can be enhanced with a boost grab. Her pummel has average speed but an above-average damage output, making it a decent one overall. Down throw is her most damaging throw, and it is also her main combo throw, leading into any aerial (except for down aerial) as well as Ray of Punishment at low to medium percentages. Forward throw can confirm into dash attack at low percentages against many characters, and can also set up tech-chases and edgeguards quite effectively. Back throw can combo into dash attack against certain fast-fallers, and it can be used for positioning or setting up edgeguards as well, but is less useful than down and forward throws. Finally, her up throw can combo into Ray of Punishment at very low percentages, but is otherwise not very useful; however, it is difficult to react to and can potentially set up juggles.
In addition to her moveset, Mythra also possesses a special mechanic called Foresight, which functions similarly to Bayonetta's Bat Within. If Mythra dodges a few frames before she would have been hit by a move, Mythra takes roughly 50% of that move's damage and no knockback, while the opponent suffers additional lag and is put in a slowdown state similarly to Witch Time, allowing Mythra a free combo, neutral win or even a KO. This helps her disadvantage state, as Foresight allows her to escape slightly untrue combos or juggles.
Despite her immense agility, Mythra is balanced by a severe lack of KO options (although swapping to Pyra remedies this completely). Outside of her smash attacks and charged Lightning Buster, none of her moveset reliably KOs at the ledge at 150%; however, Mythra still has the ability to combo several of her weaker attacks into those moves (such as comboing down tilt into Lightning Buster via the "bustersaw" charging hitbox) for potential KO confirms, which may alleviate this weakness. Additionally, Mythra's raw damage output is also very poor, a weakness shared with Sheik and default Joker. This also ties into yet another weakness that Mythra has; outside of her aerials, forward and down tilts, and sufficiently charged Lightning Buster, none of Mythra's moves are safer than -11 on shield, which can make her vulnerable to shield grabs and aggressive out of shield options if her attacks are not properly spaced. Also, her range is only average for a swordfighter, and she lacks a projectile outside of her up special, meaning she can sometimes struggle against certain zoners, although her excellent mobility compensates for that. Mythra's grab game is also not without its flaws, either; starting at higher percents, her throw combos stop being true, limiting the utility of her forward and down throws (especially the latter). None of her throws reliably KO either, even at Sudden Death percentages. Her only utility from her throws at these percentages is positional throws.
Her aerials also have weaknesses as well. Despite being decently fast for a swordfighter overall, her aerial frame data is only average for a fighter, with her quickest aerials, neutral and forward aerial, coming out on frame 8, making them unsuitable for breaking out of combos. Compared to most other fighters who share a similar archetype, none of her aerials possess decent KO power, with similar fighters having at least one with notable KO potential. Examples include Sonic's back aerial, Greninja's forward aerial, Fox's back aerial, Zero Suit Samus's back aerial, Captain Falcon's back aerial and Knee Smash, Chrom's back aerial, and Sheik's up aerial. Her back aerial, coming out on frame 10, has below-average startup for a combo tool. Her down aerial is inarguably her least useful aerial. Due to coming out on frame 13, down aerial is among the slowest non-stall-then-fall down aerials in the game to lack a meteor smash, and it launches opponents too far to have any meaningful utility after landing, all while still having very poor KO potential.
Her special moves, while decent, have weaknesses to balance them out. While Lightning Buster is a potential KO option, it only covers one side of Mythra (except for the very first hit, which hits both behind and in front of her), leaving her open if misused. Photon Edge is very unsafe on shield and renders Mythra helpless if used in the air. It also does not sweetspot the ledge until after the move ends. Additionally, Photon Edge has transcendent priority, meaning that it is easily intercepted by most projectiles; and while the hitboxes have impressive horizontal disjoint, they are not very vertically disjointed from Mythra's main hurtbox, which is static and does not match up with the Mythra duplicates visible during the move, meaning that if she recovers using the move, she is highly vulnerable to meteor smashes from directly above (especially if she recovers low with the move). Ray of Punishment also covers decent vertical distance but little horizontal distance by itself, although Mythra does have decent horizontal drift afterward.
Foresight is also a double-edged sword for Mythra. While it allows Mythra to punish blockable attacks, it also gives Mythra the slowest dodges in the game, with intangibility for her forward roll, spot dodge, and back roll starting on frame 7 for the former two dodges and 8 for the latter; this makes her vulnerable to grabs and other unblockable attacks. Mythra's directional air dodge distance is counterbalanced by the Foresight mechanic itself. If Foresight is activated during her air dodges, she will travel downward instead of remaining in place, which may lead to self-destructs. Additionally, if it is activated during her directional air dodge, she will travel a shorter distance than usual and will still suffer the entire ending lag of the dodge. Unlike with regular directional air dodges, Mythra in this particular state is not even able to grab ledges, due to the ending lag being considered part of the Foresight animation, along with said animation being impossible to interrupt in any way until it is completed.
Perhaps Mythra's single biggest weakness, however, is her very exploitable recovery. Although she has very good air speed and her directional air dodge covers more distance than most others in the game (barring those of Ness and Lucas), she is burdened by a poor double jump, an incredibly fast falling speed, and as mentioned before, Ray of Punishment is an almost strictly vertical jump, while Photon Edge leaves Mythra helpless and does not snap to ledges until the very end. In addition, neither move offers Mythra any protection from above (except for the initial slash of the former move), leaving her very susceptible to footstools. Additionally, her directional air dodge is risky to use for recovery due to the Foresight mechanic as mentioned above. If Mythra uses Ray of Punishment on an off-stage opponent while she is recovering, they can wall jump tech after getting hit by the projectile and punish her, similarly to the Tech Check technique. Mythra is also susceptible to semi-spikes, as getting hit by a sufficiently strong one means that she will likely be unable to recover. It is also very common for even the weakest of projectiles, such as Mario's Fireball or Banjo & Kazooie's Egg Firing, to be enough to gimp Mythra and prevent her from recovering to the stage.
Disadvantage can also be difficult for Mythra, though doable with Foresight. Her fast falling speed and high gravity render her susceptible to certain combos (such as Steve's jab/forward tilt combos), and her merely average air acceleration can make it difficult for her to adjust her aerial drift while being juggled compared to other speedy characters with superior air acceleration, such as Fox, Sheik, and Zero Suit Samus. And unlike Pokémon Change, Swap does not grant intangibility until frame 6, making it inefficient as a combo breaker. This is further compounded by Pyra's disadvantage state being even worse than Mythra's.
Overall, Mythra is an incredibly quick swordswoman who excels at zone-breaking, pressuring, tech-chasing, and stage control. She also has respectable combo potential, and is decent at juggling and, like Pyra, punishing (albeit not to the same impact as her counterpart). In addition, Mythra is best utilized when she and Pyra have the advantage so as to alleviate their respective weaknesses and amplify their respective strengths, and when horizontal recovery distance is required, whereas it is considered best to switch to her counterpart to keep advantage due to Pyra's vastly stronger attacks and more impactful punishes.
Despite her glaring and exploitable weaknesses, Mythra's strengths compensate for them, and players like Cosmos and Shuton have demonstrated in offline competitive play that she is indeed a competitively viable character, especially when used in tandem with Pyra via Swap. Most players believe that the Aegis is high- or top-tier, with many of them even considering her to be among the best characters in the game, alongside the commonly accepted Steve and Sonic.
Differences from Pyra[edit]
Uniquely among clone characters, Mythra and Pyra act as a transformation character similar to Pokémon Trainer, and to Sheik and Zelda in Melee and Brawl. As typical of both transforming characters and certain pairs of clones, their movesets are designed to complement each other in a speed vs. power dichotomy. Mythra is characterized by an overall extremely fast mobility (especially on the ground), and swift but weak attacks that give her a diverse combo game but difficulty in securing KOs, while on the other hand, Pyra has rather sluggish overall mobility (particularly on the ground), but a longer range on average than Mythra and overwhelming power comparable to that of most super-heavyweight characters.
Additionally, while Mythra has superior frame data overall compared to Pyra, her frame data is not that much better than Pyra's in regards to startup lag. Generally, Mythra's attacks are mostly three to four frames faster than Pyra's, making the latter's attacks more notable as long as the player is certain the attacks will land. The grounded attack with the biggest startup difference between the two is dash attack, coming out on frame 9 for Mythra and frame 17 for Pyra. While this difference is enough to classify the dash attack as quick for the former and slow for the latter, it should still be noted that there is only an eight-frame difference between the two. This also most notably applies to their aerials. All of Mythra's aerials, except for back aerial, are just three to four frames faster in startup than Pyra's, with the biggest startup gap in back aerial being just six frames, coming out on frame 10 and 16 respectively. Interestingly, two of her special moves are slower than Pyra's, making them the only moves in her moveset that are slower than the latter's. Under the condition of their neutral specials being fully charged, Pyra's Flame Nova comes out on 56 with Lightning Buster on frame 69, a 13-frame startup difference. Pyra's Blazing End's first hitbox comes out on frame 14, while Photon Edge's first hitbox comes out on frame 18. Furthermore, despite most of Mythra's standard attacks having worse range than Pyra's, her rapid jab is a notable exception to the rule, in fact having more range than Pyra's.
While all of their special moves (except for Swap, which is required to switch between the two) are fully unique, the rest of their moves have identical animations, similarly to how they function as different variations of the same Aegis Sword moveset for Rex in their game of origin (aside from Blade Specials), and most of their non-attack animations are also identical, with the lattermost of these being a trait shared with Dr. Mario and all Echo Fighters. In comparison to other clones, they have the same amount of different moves from each other as the full clone Young Link has from Link—with Pyra and Mythra just barely being semi-clones due to most of Young Link's different moves from Link being shared with Toon Link. Additionally, Mythra has a unique ability called Foresight, which acts as a form of dodge leniency, whereas Pyra has no similar ability of her own.
Overall, Mythra tends to excel at the start of a match, during the neutral game, and in disadvantage thanks to her superior mobility and frame data, and her combo game is fairly freeform and versatile overall as well compared to Pyra's. However, Pyra's superior power and range in conjunction with her heavier weight, while leading to worse combo potential when combined with her overall only slightly slower frame data in regards to startup, allows her to close stocks much earlier, while also aiding her in more effectively spacing out shorter-ranged opponents; she also benefits more from trading than Mythra as a result of these traits. While Pyra and Mythra are individually both usable on their own as standalone characters, it is generally more optimal to instead use both forms together in battle, alternating between the two depending on the current situation.
Aesthetics[edit]
Mythra's on-screen appearance, idle stance, periodic idle poses, swimming animation, taunts, victory poses, and No Contest animation are different from Pyra's.
Mythra's on-screen appearance, idle stance, periodic idle poses, swimming animation, taunts, victory poses, and No Contest animation are different from Pyra's.
Attributes[edit]
Mythra's walking (0.92 → 1.42), dashing (1.38 → 2.41), and initial dash (1.69 → 2.45) speeds are much faster than those of Pyra.
Mythra is lighter than Pyra (98 → 92).
Mythra's walking (0.92 → 1.42), dashing (1.38 → 2.41), and initial dash (1.69 → 2.45) speeds are much faster than those of Pyra.
Mythra is lighter than Pyra (98 → 92).Ground attacks[edit]
- Neutral attack:
- Forward tilt:
- Up tilt:
- Down tilt:
- Dash attack:
Smash attacks[edit]
- Forward smash:
- Up smash:
- Down smash:
Aerial attacks[edit]
- Neutral aerial:
- Forward aerial:
- Back aerial:
- Up aerial:
- Down aerial:
Throws/other attacks[edit]
Special moves[edit]
- Lightning Buster:
- Photon Edge:
- Ray of Punishment / Chroma Dust:
- Swap:
- Sacred Arrow:
Dodges[edit]
All values here assume fully fresh dodges.
- Spot dodge:
- Rolls:
- Air dodges:
Update history[edit]
Mythra was slightly nerfed via game updates. In update 12.0.0, she received several changes that are partially shared with her counterpart Pyra. Shared changes include increased hitstun on the second hit of her neutral attack, as well as reduced pushback against opponents while she is charging her forward smash, with the latter of the two being intended to prevent opposing attacks from whiffing against her during that state. Additionally, Mythra has less intangibility on her directional air dodge, preventing her from performing a completely intangible air dodge toward a ledge while recovering back to the stage; and Lightning Buster no longer has weight-independent knockback, which improves its KO potential against lighter characters, but worsens it against heavier ones. In update 13.0.1, she received a small reduction to the knockback scaling on her forward smash, weakening its KO potential.
Overall, these changes did not change Mythra's competitive reception in the long term, as her key strengths and weaknesses remain unaltered.
Moveset[edit]
- Mythra is tied to Pyra as a two-in-one fighter, like how Princess Zelda and Sheik functioned in Melee and Brawl. She can switch places with Pyra by using her down special move: Swap.
- Pyra and Mythra are semi-clones of each other; with all of their non-special moves having similar animations, but having different frame data, range, damage, and knockback. Following the archetypical traits of a transforming character; Mythra is the "fast, but weak" counterpart of the duo. Their remaining special moves are all unique.
- Mythra has a fighter ability called Foresight. It is a dodge mechanic similar to Bat Within in both functionality and execution but differs from Bat Within by also applying a slowdown effect on opponents, similarly to Witch Time.
For a gallery of Mythra's hitboxes, see here.
Note: All numbers are listed as base damage, without the 1v1 multiplier.
| Name | Damage | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neutral attack | 2% | A knifehand strike, followed by an inward slash, followed by an upward slash. Alternatively, the second hit can be followed up by repeated bursts of light ether. It is Mythra's fastest move, due to its first hit coming out on frame 2. Holding down the button causes her to repeat the first hit. | ||
| 2% | ||||
| 4% | ||||
| 0.4% (loop), 3% (last) | ||||
| Forward tilt | 5.5% | An outward slash. It is very quick like her other attacks. It launches diagonally upward, allowing it to combo into itself and potentially into other attacks. | ||
| Up tilt | 4% | An overhead arcing slash starting from behind. Great combo potential, allowing it to combo into itself and other aerials. However, the attack has a noticeable blind spot directly behind Mythra that cannot hit shorter or low profile characters at point-blank range behind her. | ||
| Down tilt | 4% (sword), 3% (arm) |
A kneeling inward slash. Mythra's most reliable combo starter, having extremely small knockback even at high percentages. It can combo into tilts and smash attacks at nearly any percentage, including a KO confirm into up smash at around 130% or into forward smash, the latter of which can be used to as a 2 frame punish. | ||
| Dash attack | 8.5% (sword), 7% (arm) |
A lunging, upward slash. It is moderately fast at frame 9 and Mythra travels a decent distance using the move, making it great for closing in gaps and punishing landings. | ||
| Forward smash | 13.5% | A lunging, two-handed downward slash in front of Mythra. It comes out rather quickly for a smash attack, coming out on frame 14 when uncharged. However, it is also the second-weakest forward smash in the game on its own (after Mega Man's when excluding sourspotted forward smashes), KOing Mario at around 126% from center stage—and around 94% at the edge—when uncharged. When fully charged, the move can KO from center stage at around 85%, and around 61% at the edge. | ||
| Up smash | 2% (launcher), 1.5% (hits 2-4), 6% (last hit) |
Throws the Aegis Sword above herself as it twirls telekinetically, slashing above herself before picking back the sword and concluding with a twirl. In contrast to Pyra's, it hits multiple times. It has a launcher hit in front of Mythra. It possesses somewhat low ending lag, not enough for it to combo, though it does a great job at setting up into reads or 50/50s into her other attacks and function as a great anti-air due to its long duration. It is Mythra's fastest out-of-shield option, coming out on frame 9. However, it is the weakest up smash in the game on its own (excluding sourspotted up smashes), as it KOs at around 151% uncharged, and around 113% fully charged. | ||
| Down smash | 10.5% (sword), 9% (arm), 7.5% (kick, lower leg), 6% (kick, upper leg) |
Kneels and slashes around herself while performing a spinning pirouette, stretching her left leg to kick around herself simultaneously. Hits on both sides of Mythra simultaneously, with the sword being stronger while the pirouette kick is much weaker. Both hits have sourspots inside of Mythra's body; this can allow the back kick's sourspot to combo into the back hit's sweetspot at low percentages. It is Mythra's fastest smash attack at frame 8; however, it is one of the weakest down smashes in the game, as the sweetspotted hit starts KOing at around 163% uncharged/115% fully charged from center stage and 103% uncharged/75% fully charged at the edge, whereas neither the sourspotted sword nor the back hit KO reliably. | ||
| Neutral aerial | 2% (hit 1), 3% (hits 2-3), 4% (landing) |
Telekinetically twirls the Aegis Sword in front of herself while facing the screen. In contrast to Pyra's neutral aerial, it hits up to three times, making it functionally more similar to other multi-hit neutral aerials, such as Piranha Plant's. Much like Byleth's neutral aerial, it has a landing hitbox that can combo into other moves. It visually resembles Pyra's Flame Nova, but without the fiery effect and visuals. | ||
| Forward aerial | 7% | A spinning outward slash in front of herself. Has a moderately wide hitbox suitable for catching jumps and for edgeguarding or gimping recoveries. Cannot autocancel in a short hop. | ||
| Back aerial | 7.5% (clean), 6.5% (late) |
Flips while slashing in an upwards arch starting from below herself. It launches vertically, making it a good combo starter on landing and when used in the air. Autocancels in a short hop. | ||
| Up aerial | 6% | An overhead crescent slash that ends in a delayed somersault, resembling the up aerials of most of the Fire Emblem characters. The move has very low overall lag, allowing it to combo into itself multiple times. Autocancels in a short hop fast fall. The hitbox is deceptive, as despite resembling moves such as Chrom's up aerial, it mostly only hits directly above Mythra. | ||
| Down aerial | 8% (clean), 6% (late) |
A delayed, upside down outward slash, resembling Marth's from Melee and Brawl. Unlike Pyra's down aerial, it cannot meteor smash, instead launching opponents horizontally. | ||
| Grab | Grab (つかみ) | — | Clinches the opponent, restraining them with telekinesis. Average range, though its disjoint males it safer compared to other similar grabs. | |
| Pummel | 1.5% | A burst of light ether. Unique compared to other pummels, being marginally slower but stronger than similar pummels like Mario, but slightly faster and weaker than stronger pummels like Bowser. She shares this distinction with Joker, Terry, Min Min, Steve and Pyra. | ||
| Forward throw | 3% (hit 1), 2.5% (throw) |
A light ether-infused palm thrust, similar to Lucario's forward throw. It can combo into dash attack or potentially other tilts at very low percentages. At mid-percentages, it starts putting the opponent in a tech situation, allowing for a potential jab lock or tech-chase. | ||
| Back throw | 3% (hit 1), 2.5% (throw) |
A wheel kick. Extremely weak, but can combo into dash attack at low percentages against fast-fallers to potentially send the opponent offstage. | ||
| Up throw | 4% | Telekinetically throws the opponent upward. Deals little damage and has little to no true combo potential other than Ray of Punishment/Chroma Dust at low percentages. However, the throw is extremely fast, making it difficult to properly DI, which allows it to setup a potential juggle scenario especially at higher percentages. | ||
| Down throw | 4% (hit 1), 3% (throw) |
Places the opponent on the floor and jumps, stabbing them on the way down, akin to fellow Xenoblade character Shulk's down throw. Mythra's combo throw is able to lead into any aerial (except for down aerial) and Ray of Punishment/Chroma Dust. Despite being her main combo throw, it is also her strongest throw. Visually, it appears to resemble an abridged version of Pyra's Prominence Revolt, without the fiery effect and visuals. | ||
| Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge |
— | — | ||
| Techs | — | — | ||
| Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front) |
7% | Slashes around herself while getting up. | ||
| Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back) |
7% | Slashes around herself while getting up. | ||
| Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip) |
5% | Slashes around herself while getting up. | ||
| Edge attack Edge getups |
9% | Slashes in front of herself while climbing up. | ||
| Neutral special | Lightning Buster | 0.5% (charging loop), 2% (hits 1-3, uncharged), 6% (hit 4, uncharged), 4% (hits 1-4, fully charged), 17% (hit 5, fully charged) |
Raises the Aegis Sword in the air, charging light energy, before unleashing a series of slashes in front of herself, with the last hit launching the opponent. The raised sword itself can deal little damage while charging the attack if the opponent touches it. The move can be charged to deal more damage, and a fully charged Lightning Buster adds a hit and increases the move's range, while also having a hitbox on the charging blade, similarly to Corrin's forward smash. Unlike Pyra's Flame Nova, its range is primarily centered in front of Mythra, though the move can be reversed by tilting the control stick in the opposite direction. Additionally, if an opponent is behind Mythra and gets hit by the first slash, the opponent will be dragged in front of Mythra and hit by the following slashes. However, it also renders Mythra intangible for a short period of time when she releases the attack. By far Mythra's strongest move in launching power, capable of KOing at approximately 50% on a full charge. Hitting an opponent while in the air will stall Mythra's descent. | |
| Side special | Photon Edge | 2% (hit 1), 2.5% (hits 2-5), 7% (hit 6) |
Charges forward at the speed of light in order to perform a flurry of slashes. It travels a good distance forwards and has great range, making it an effective combat move, but has high ending lag and still renders Mythra vulnerable. The grounded version will stop at an edge provided Mythra is far enough from it, whereas performing the move at an edge will cause her to perform the aerial version (usually resulting in a self-destruct). It can be used in the air, though Mythra will be rendered helpless afterward. The aerial version can be useful for recovery, but should only be used when Mythra has enough height to safely fall back onto the stage after becoming helpless. Similar to Octaslash, but she can only travel horizontally. | |
| Up special | Ray of Punishment / Chroma Dust | 7% (slash), 2% (Ray of Punishment, hit 1), 4.5%, (Ray of Punishment, hit 2 near), 3% (Ray of Punishment, hit 2 far), 2.5% (Chroma Dust) |
Jumps while performing an uppercutting slash, similar to Dolphin Slash, then fires blasts of light ether towards the ground that burst on impact, before falling. Its functionality changes based on whether the special move button is tapped or held/pressed continuously. If the special button is tapped once, Mythra performs Ray of Punishment, which fires a single, yellow-green blast of light ether that has more power and bursts to form a larger hitbox but covers a limited area. If the special move is held down or tapped repeatedly, it becomes Chroma Dust, which fires five blasts of cyan and yellow light ether that have less power, smaller hitboxes, and do not burst, but cover a larger area in a fanning pattern. The blasts are Mythra's only projectiles; they have long ranges, being able to cover a longer vertical distance than Mythra can cover from the ground, which can be used to hit opponents offstage. Both types of projectiles can be reflected and absorbed. The initial slash has good horizontal range and comes out on frame 10, making the move a useful out of shield option. | |
| Down special | Swap to Pyra | — | Swaps places with Pyra. Unlike Pokémon Change, Mythra does not gain frame 1 intangibility, instead becoming intangible starting on frame 6. Also does not stall Mythra/Pyra's fall. | |
| Final Smash | Sacred Arrow | 8% (hit 1), 7% (hit 2), 2.5%/1.8%/1.4% (hits 3-18), 6% (hit 19, sky hit), 10% (hit 19, direct hit) |
Rex appears in front of Mythra, who lends him the Aegis Sword before he performs an upward slash. If it hits, a cutscene plays briefly where Rex and Mythra raise the Aegis Sword in the air, sending a column of light to the sky, which glows with light. Afterward, it cuts back to the stage, where countless beams of light are fired from the sky, hitting opponents multiple times before being launched. Each beam has its own hitbox, which can result in larger opponents taking more damage from the beam barrage. Up to three opponents can be caught by the initial hit, whereas bystanders who didn't get caught by the initial hit can still get hit by the beam barrage. Compared to Pyra's Burning Sword, Sacred Arrow deals more damage, but the final hit is weaker. | |
Stats[edit]
| Stats | Weight | Dash speed | Walk speed | Traction | Air friction | Air speed | Air acceleration | Gravity | Falling speed | Jumpsquat | Jump height | Double jump height | Empty landing Lag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | 92 | 2.45 – Initial dash 2.41 – Run |
1.42 | 0.121 | 0.012 | 1.22 | 0.01 – Base 0.06 – Additional |
0.137 | 1.87 – Base 2.992 – Fast-fall |
3 | 30.8 - Base 15.6 - Short hop |
33 | 4 |
Announcer call[edit]
English
Japanese/Chinese/Korean
French
Dutch
German
Italian
Russian
Spanish
On-screen appearance[edit]
- Rex appears from the sky and tosses Mythra's Aegis Sword at her as she teleports onto the stage. She will hold out her hand or her Aegis Sword depending on whether she is facing right or left.
Mythra's on-screen appearance.
Taunts[edit]
- Up taunt: Rex appears behind her and pumps his fist up, saying "Come on, Mythra!" (shouting her name excitedly if the game's language is set to Japanese). She waves at Rex once while quietly chuckling. Rex's animation is similar to the one he does while performing a Blade Special in Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
- Side taunt: Holds the Aegis Sword in the air while spreading out her arm and conjuring a small burst of light, saying "Prepare yourself." (覚悟なさい) This is one of her quotes from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, where she could randomly say this before using Photon Edge.
- Down taunt: Puts the Aegis Sword down while turning her back to the player and looking behind her towards the left, with the wind blowing through her hair, saying "Think you can take me?" (本気を見せてあげる, I'll show you my true power.). This references an infamous battle quote of the Ardainian Soldiers in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. If facing left, the taunt is mirrored.
Mythra's up taunt.
Mythra's side taunt.
Mythra's down taunt.
Idle poses[edit]
- Brushes her hair aside with her free hand.
- Turns her body to the side while shifting her foot forward, and grins.
Mythra's first idle pose.
Mythra's second idle pose.
Crowd cheer[edit]
| Cheer (International) | Cheer (Japanese/Chinese) | Cheer (Korean) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheer | |||
| Description | Py - ra! -- Myth - ra! | Homura! - Hikari! | Ho - mu - ra! -- Hi - ka - ri! |
Victory poses[edit]
- Left: Holds the Aegis Sword to her side before doing two slashes and says "Called it." (当然の結果ね, This is a natural outcome.) Rex will jump in next to her and hold his fist up, saying "You show 'em, Mythra!" (やったね、ヒカリ！, Great job, Mythra!) The two slashes that Mythra performs resemble her auto-attack animation in Torna ~ The Golden Country. In team battles, Rex does not appear if the team has three or more characters.
- Up: Warps around the stage while slashing, similar to Photon Edge, and says "Peak form." (最高潮！, The climax!) Rex lands from above and holds his fist up.
- Right: Mythra briefly morphs into Pyra, who does a pose and spins around while morphing back into Mythra, who does a finishing pose by extending the Aegis Sword out. Her pose comes from her official artwork and her figurine with Pyra. They both say "This is the power of the Aegis!" (これが、私達の力ね, This is our power!) in unison, alternating their voices as they swap.
In competitive play[edit]
Most historically significant players[edit]
See also: Category:Pyra and Mythra players (SSBU)
Cosmos - The best Aegis player in the United States. He is the first solo-Aegis player to win a major, doing so at Glitch - Infinite, and has also placed top 8 at several major events, including placing 2nd at both Smash World Tour 2021 Championships and L'Odyssée - Chant I.
MkLeo - The best Ultimate player of all-time, having picked up Aegis towards the end of the online metagame and has since used them as either a main, co-main, or counterpick throughout his career.
Shuton - The best Aegis player in the world, co-maining them along with Olimar. He used Aegis alongside Olimar to win the majors KOWLOON 5 and Wave 4.
Space - Although initially known for his Inkling, he picked up Aegis in mid-2022 and has become the best Aegis player in Europe while maintaining his top 10 status in the continent, placing top 8 at several majors including 5th at King Of Fields 95 3 and 7th at VCA 2022.
Tier placement and history[edit]
Since the Aegis' release, they have received very positive reception from competitive players. This is largely owed to Mythra's outstanding mobility and frame data, overall one of the best in the game, alongside her unique Foresight ability, though this is at the cost of her damage output being largely unimpressive. On the other hand, Pyra brings to the table overwhelming power and range, while losing out on mobility and, to an extent, frame data. These polarized attributes overall complement each other very well and leave Pyra and Mythra with few collective weaknesses, most notably a poor recovery with mediocre distance and vulnerability to edgeguarding. As a result, they have seen strong usage since their debut, with Cosmos, MkLeo, Sparg0, and Shuton using them to place highly at multiple major events. This strong reception led many players to consider them as one of the best characters in the game, and they were ranked 2nd on the first tier list, ranking in the S+ tier alongside Steve and Joker.
However following this list, Aegis's overall representation began taking a noticeable hit as more players began exploiting their weaknesses, most notably their poor recovery. In addition, Pyra and Mythra's individual weaknesses began more apparent as the metagame shifted towards a campier, more patient playstyle. Although Mythra's speed allows her to overwhelm other characters and match the speed of faster characters, her mediocre KO ability and lightweight means that she will likely be KO'd first. Conversely, although Pyra has the raw power, her slow mobility leaves her vulnerable to camping and being overwhelmed herself. Finally, as the Aegis were often one of the most common characters in competitive play and have a rather linear playstyle, many players began figuring out the matchup and therefore were better equipped at dealing with the characters. Due to all of this, the Aegis' representation at the top level saw a small decline in 2023: most notably, Cosmos's results took a massive downturn in 2023 while MkLeo's results also took a hit as he dropped and added Aegis to his roster several times. Nevertheless, Aegis's overall representation remained strong, with Shuton continuing to pilot the character alongside Olimar and Sparg0 successfully using the character in certain matchups, albeit with increasingly mixed results as the year went on. As such, the Aegis only suffered a small drop to 5th on the second tier list, falling to the S-tier.
[edit]
Referencing the fact that Pyra and Mythra share a body, the Aegis' route primarily features pairs of opponents who are canonically clones, or at the very least similar. This extends to Master Hand and Crazy Hand at the end, who are always fought together, regardless of intensity. The items that spawn are from the franchise the characters are from (or in the case of Round 4, no items).
| Round | Opponent | Stage | Music | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Zelda and  Sheik |
Temple (Battlefield form) | Ocarina of Time Medley | A reference to Pyra and Mythra's ability to Swap being akin to Zelda and Sheik's ability to Transform in Melee and Brawl. |
| 2 |  Samus and  Dark Samus |
Frigate Orpheon | Multiplayer - Metroid Prime 2: Echoes | |
| 3 |  Pit and  Dark Pit |
Reset Bomb Forest | Dark Pit's Theme | |
| 4 |  Ryu and  Ken |
Suzaku Castle (Ω form) | M. Bison Stage Type A | Stamina battle. 150 HP. |
| 5 |  Kirby and  Meta Knight |
The Great Cave Offensive (Battlefield form) | The Great Cave Offensive | |
| 6 |   Link (×2) |
Fountain of Dreams (Ω form) | Great Temple / Temple | The stage choice is a reference to the mid-boss room in the Water Temple where Link fights Dark Link in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. |
| Bonus Stage | ||||
| Final | Master Hand and Crazy Hand | Final Destination | You Will Recall Our Names | |
Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Mythra has Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Medley accompany the credits.
Role in World of Light[edit]
Despite their status as downloadable content, Pyra and Mythra do have a legitimate role in World of Light, as they appear in the base game as spirits in The Light Realm and The Final Battle respectively, meaning that they were vaporized by Galeem. The Mythra spirit is called as reinforcements by Galeem and is placed directly in front of Palutena and the real Master Hand, making her an obligatory fight to achieve the true ending. Defeating this spirit does not unlock her and Pyra as a playable character; rather, they are unlocked after downloading them and defeating at least 10 other fighters from Galeem's control, just like other DLC characters.
Spirits[edit]
Mythra's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode as Pyra/Mythra; however, Mythra must be the one chosen as the front on the character selection screen to get her fighter spirit. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Pyra/Mythra has been downloaded. Unlocking Pyra/Mythra in World of Light allows the player to preview the second spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "Mythra (Fighter)". Her fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with her artwork in Ultimate.
Additionally, Mythra has a support spirit as part of Ultimate's base game.
968. Mythra
1,459. Mythra (Fighter)
In Spirit Battles[edit]
As the main opponent[edit]
| Spirit | Battle parameters | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Image | Name | Series | Enemy Fighter(s) | Type | Power | Stage | Rules | Conditions | Music |
| 1,465 |  |
Pneuma | Xenoblade Chronicles Series | •Pyra/Mythra  / (130 HP)•Shulk  (130 HP)
|
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13,400 | Cloud Sea of Alrest | •Metal Shift •Move Speed ↑ •Sudden Final Smash |
•The enemy will suddenly have a Final Smash after a little while •The enemy will occasionally turn metal when the enemy's at high damage •Stamina battle |
Counterattack |
Alternate costumes[edit]
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Reveal trailer[edit]
Gallery[edit]
Mythra's splash art.
Mythra's amiibo.
Mythra and Pyra's unlock notice after downloading them from the Nintendo eShop.
Artwork of Mythra and Pyra, as posted by the official Nintendo of America Twitter account.
Mythra from a Monolith Soft promotional video.
With Pyra on Cloud Sea of Alrest.
Posing on Temple.
Using Lightning Buster on Dark Pit on Pirate Ship.
With Shulk and Rex on Palutena's Temple.
Mythra alongside all of the other DLC fighters of Fighters Pass Vol. 2.
Trivia[edit]
- Mythra's internal codename is "elight". Like Hero's "brave" and Pyra's "eflame", it is a literal translation of Mythra's Japanese and Chinese names (minus the "e", which presumably stands for "element", as below).
- The internal codename "element" is used for code/files shared between the two, such as their victory theme or movement animations.
- Additionally, any files that pertain to Rex are codenamed "diver", referencing his occupation as a salvager.
- Mythra's appearance is altered compared to her default appearance in Xenoblade Chronicles 2—she wears black spandex over her legs and back, and the normally open gap in the blouse of her dress is closed up. This design originally came from her spirit in the base game, which was changed due to age ratings. It was later added to Xenoblade Chronicles 2 as the "Massive Melee Mythra" costume.
- Pyra and Mythra are the fourth team of characters to share a character slot via transformation, the first three being Zelda and Sheik in Melee and Brawl, Samus and Zero Suit Samus in Brawl, and Pokémon Trainer with Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard.
- They are the first DLC characters to be transformations.
- They are the first transforming characters to be semi-clones of each other.
- Unlike Pokémon Trainer:
- Pyra and Mythra have their own separate announcer calls used on the character selection screen and their victory poses.
- Both Pyra and Mythra are shown on the versus splash screen, though higher numbers of players will only show the one in front instead.
- Their fighter spirits must separately be obtained, with the Blade chosen as the front on the Classic Mode character selection is the one that gets the spirit. The Pokémon Trainer obtains Squirtle's, Ivysaur's, and Charizard's fighter spirits all at once, while both the male and female Pokémon Trainer spirits must be purchased from the shop.
- Swapping between the two changes the stock icon to the one currently being used, akin to Zelda and Sheik in Melee. However, in Squad Strike, the stock icon always displays the one who started in the match.
- Pyra and Mythra do not appear in Spirit Battles as separate fighters, only appearing in the battle for their combined form Pneuma as a single transforming character.
- On the results screen, Pyra and Mythra use their separate stock icons in the KO's and Falls section instead of using a single icon to represent both.
- Succeeding Min Min, Pyra and Mythra are the second and third characters that are both spirits and playable.
- Notably, their games of origin were in consideration to have playable fighters for the base game, but the base game roster had already been finished by then, making the idea unfeasible.
- Additionally, all three of them debuted on the Nintendo Switch.
- Furthermore, both Mythra and Min Min's Spirit Battles utilize Corrin as a Puppet Fighter.
- Pyra and Mythra's reveal trailer is the first one to not be directed by Masahiro Sakurai. Instead, it was outsourced to Monolith Soft, the developers of the Xenoblade Chronicles series.
- According to Masahiro Sakurai, the development team considered having Rex fighting alongside Pyra and Mythra, but this was decided against due to the difficulty the team had with the Ice Climbers in contexts such as 8-Player Smash. Sakurai specifically cited the far more complicated design and abilities of Pyra and Mythra compared to the Ice Climbers' relatively simple appearance and moveset.[1] Another issue was getting both characters to move at the same time which the development team found was impossible to do; similarly, it was deemed too difficult to implement Rex as the main fighter with Pyra behind him. This ultimately led to Rex being reduced to a smaller supporting role and Mythra being included along with Pyra with the two being able to swap instead.[2]
- Similarly to fellow clone newcomers Chrom and Dark Samus, Mythra has a unique animation solely used to transition from Pyra's idle animation to her own one after performing various animations.
- Mythra is one of the few fighters who says a line when KO'd, occasionally saying, "Seriously?" (やられた, I've been finished...)
- When fighting Master Hand and Crazy Hand in Classic Mode, Mythra (or Pyra) will start on the far left side of the stage rather than in the center. This also occurs with Sephiroth and Sora in their respective Classic Mode routes.
- Unlike most humanoid fighter models in Ultimate, Mythra's bind pose is uniquely an "A-pose" instead of a T-pose, and only hers and not Pyra's.[3] This is shared with Terry and both male and female Byleth.
- Mythra, Meta Knight, Inkling, Joker, Hero, Banjo & Kazooie, Sephiroth, Pyra, and Sora are the only fighters who use their walking animation when navigating through the map in World of Light.
- Masahiro Sakurai showed pre-release material of Mythra in a YouTube video[4] and showcased several changes made before the final version:
- The angle of Pyra's down aerial was altered to be more intuitively appealing.
- The effects of Foresight was changed to add an after image for visual clarity.
- The polygon count of the tip of the Aegis blade was increased during Mythra's victory animation to look better.
- Mythra's position during Sacred Arrow was changed to raise the Aegis slightly higher to not look like she is impaling opponents.
References[edit]
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|---|---|
| Fighters | Shulk (SSB4 · SSBU) · Pyra (SSBU) · Mythra (SSBU) |
| Assist Trophy | Riki |
| Stages | Gaur Plain · Cloud Sea of Alrest |
| Other characters | Azurda · Dunban · Fiora · Metal Face · Nia · Rex |
| Trophies and Spirits | Trophies · Spirits |
| Music | SSB4 · Ultimate |
