Old Nephenee notes

Stats:

Doot (height, weight, jumps, falling, ground movement, air movement)

(Thinking mostly well-rounded stats, with weight being on the lighter end of heavyweight, a genuinely good ground speed, and aerial speed being above-average. Note she has Link’s shield mechanic here, and possibly establish she has good dodge frame data to boot?)


NSpec:

Doot (Javelin. Ranged option that’s consistent in damage and whatnot regardless of where it hits, giving her a decent zoning tool she doesn’t have to sweat the details over. Can be held to delay the attack (and aim it?); not sure if it’d be chargeable or just a case of being very fast to come out on release, so she can punish knee-jerk defensive responses with it easily and make an opening to close in. Sticks in the ground where it lands, and Nepehenee can use it to cancel into another move when standing next to it at the cost of using the Javelin (which has lower power and is returned to her inventory after use).)

(Edit: Brainwave, what if the Javelin attacks lack sweetspots? It’d keep the effective double attack’s power in check, and also let Nephenee access her sourspot tricks when she wants them/when she’s deep into her Wrath buff, good for when she’s just KOed the opponent and wants her more combo-oriented moves back over the sweetspots launching foes just out of reach.)


SSpec:

Doot (Impale? Sweetspot is a grab hitbox, letting her snag foes out of shield and leaving her at a notable frame advantage, but triggering regrab timer (if sweetspot would hit again during regrab timer, it’s a decent KO move?). Slight command dash aspect- on the ground and the first use in a given air trip has her take a large stride/small lunge into the stab.)


DSpec:

Doot (Luna-inspired attack; a strike with a hitbox with bonus shield damage, kinda like Shield Breaker, and with Wrath it also deals shield chip damage.)


USpec:

Doot (Fast to come out, a flying leap with a vertically spinning slash that protects Nephenee in-transit based on one of her crit animations. Safe and surprisingly good range, decent horizontal DI for the duration that lets her adjust where she’ll land, good both OoS and as a recovery. Note that the spin starts partway up, and she drops somewhat quickly with a finishing blow in the animation, so this is sort of a less extreme Aether- she gets moving early and the disjoint makes it safe, plus she gets more horizontal distance, but potentially less vertical distance? Edit: looking at a better vid, she does a finishing hit after the spin with an upward swing, so she could get a small hop out at the end that makes her recovery path surprisingly flexible/harder to predict for ledge guards?)


Forward Smash:

Doot (Takes from Impale’s animation, being a multi-hit thrusting attack that sees Nephenee slide in. Strong, but narrow frontal coverage and a high-commitment attack. The slide can be used to cancel out of the attack via Javelin if you read the foe jumping or dodging, turning this into a small burst movement tacked onto the front of one of Nephenee’s other ground inputs.)


Down Smash:

Doot (Takes from the ‘entering battle’ animation? Spinning slice of her lance, complete with a small jump- lets her clear some low-hitting hitboxes while covering either side of herself.)

(Since DSmash might be based on her entering battle animation, maybe it could be a fast attack that’s not quite reactable in the front and barely reactable in the back. Covers her usual sourspots nicely, while serving as an actual combo starter with its own sourspot (tech chase starter with sweetspot, kill move with super sweetspot?). Animation length makes it a little too committal to spam, would lose to short hops still and while safer on shield would hit a little too high to shield poke (unlike DTilt))

(Thought: since there’s a hop to the attack, there is technically movement- used normally, Nephenee is set up to get poked by an aerial by that jump and the low-hitting knockback. With a Javelin on hand, she can cancel out before the second swing to try and toss out an aerial if opponents get overeager.)


Up Smash:

Doot (Upward and forward stab, like the first half of her battle entering animation; narrow coverage but it hits pretty dang hard, and her ground speed means she can outrun almost any foe in the air to get into position (and possibly bait an air dodge from foes familiar with the spacing she wants for this only to short-hop FAir or use Up Aerial). Lacks the cancel options of Forward/Down Smash, but nicely covers the easy response to either of ‘just jump over it’ and can be a kill move in its own right.)


Jab:

(Sudden shield bash based on shove animation, reliable out of shield spacer that is a bit lacking in follow-ups but very safe in disadvantage due to not lowering her shield. Possible follow-ups: Forward Tilt (sourspot until either Nepehnee (with Wrath’s benefit) or her opponent are at high percents), Down Tilt (slight upward pop keeps it from being a true combo) and Neutral Aerial (lacks range and thus stops being true at mid-percents).


Forward Tilt:

Doot (Good poking tool, sweetspot scaling to become a solid KO option a little late, which means that Nephenee’s Jab becomes a kill confirm if she’s at very high damage. Quick to come out, but lacks vertical coverage, and sourspot (the shaft of her spear) is unsafe on shield. Based on her normal attack animation.)


Down Tilt:

Doot (Since crouching keeps her shield up, I could see Down Tilt being a sort of safe reset to neutral tool (sweetspot starts aerial combos?) that keeps her shield up as she does a low sweep, and it being a shield poke gives her a situational counter to shields that’s not high commitment like Impale potentially is. Alternately/additionally, the move has her move her shield arm back as she stabs forward, then move it back in front as she does the sweep, so the shield actually blocks behind her for a few frames? Could just make it a fast attack so the shield drop is very brief, too.)

(Edit: I would probably make Down Tilt something like a sweep where the sweetspot is a spacer and the sourspot is a true combo starter, sourspot gets smaller with Wrath scale so ends up less combo time.)

(Thinking Down Tilt is also Nephenee’s earliest FAF on a lance move, making it the ‘safest’ thing to Javelin cancel into for defensive purposes between that, lowering her profile, and keeping her shield up.)

(Down Tilt also works as the third part of your tech chase options out of the default Side Special; Down Tilt if they tech past you, Jab in place, or Forward Tilt away.)


Up Tilt:

Doot (Based on one of her crit animations, she swings upward, hopping up as part of the movement to add aerial coverage, then swings down for a second hit that possibly gives it a little semi-spike knockback? Sourspot mostly gets opponents down on the ground where her ground kit can do work, sweetspot can stage bounce and is a decent ledge guard tool, the Wrath sweetspot moreso. If going with both this and the Up Smash idea, this does mean she has to take to the air or use grounded Up Special to cover above her own head, which gives her zoning a weakness.)


Dash Attack:

Doot (raises her shield and charges in, a stance that keeps her shield in front of much of her hurtbox and a move that’s a little slower to come out/lacking in reach, but hits decently hard and has (pick 1: trample priority/armor. Thought: Focus Attack-style armor where she blocks a hit, and the combo-friendly hit means she enters advantage off the trade and might get a benefit from Wrath to boot. Key difference between the armor in Dash Attack and stopping a dash via Jab for a quick shield is the end positioning for Nephenee.)


Neutral Aerial:

Doot (Quick spin of her lance, clears the area around her.)


Forward Aerial:

Doot (Steals Sephiroth’s FAir gimmick as a way to aid her recovery? Animation has her nervously glancing down by comparison- seems this situation is a bit out of her wheel house.)


Back Aerial:

Doot (Whirls around and roughly slams her shield into an opponent behind her? Fast and hits like a truck but lacks her usual reach, could be a good RAR as a tool that gives her good coverage and resets to her preferred range but is a bit committal due to input placement/hitting behind her. Has Jab(/Down Tilt?)’s quality of keeping the shield benefit, putting it behind her even which can lead to an odd jump-in approach with this move (that can be a ruse for an NAir instead to safely land on the other side of the opponent and smack them with a Jab).)


Down Aerial:

Doot (Sweeps her lance below her, clearing her landing zone. Back-to-front movement limits its use as an approach tool, but counters rolls under or attempts to drop below her. Slow enough that it’s not a perfect counter, but the reach makes it an effective escape for juggles that doesn’t have as big a commitment period as NAir?)


Up Aerial:

(Doesn’t quite combo out of the upward variant of Side Special, but it hits hard and reaches far above Nephenee, letting her force an air dodge or air jump out of opponents from that move.)

(I was thinking UAir could be like Pit's but with more horizontal range)


Grab:

Doot (Good speed, short reach. This means there’s a range foes can use their shields in between her grab and sweetspots/Side Special’s coverage to where Nephenee has trouble playing around it.)


Forward Throw:

Doot (Has a ‘sweetspot’ is normally only useful in FFA, against duo characters, or with MYMian minions. Wrath scaling will make it expand enough to hit the foe she throws proper, with max Wrath letting her land the Wrath hitbox. Transforms from a late KO/spacing throw to eventually a deadly kill throw?)

(Idea: Max Wrath lets the Wrath hitbox hit if they DI out/don’t DI in; FThrow and UThrow are both fast throws with opposite desirable DI, latter is a kill confirm later (Up Aerial?) if foes DI in?)


Down Throw:

Doot (Nephenee releases her hold on the opponent and does a small jump back, lance blurring upward to pop the foe up and back slightly, then slap them back down with set tech-chase starting knockback. Aside from putting her in the optimal position for a tech chase, the short movement lets her Javelin cancel into a true combo or try for slower but more rewarding options out of tech chase, or she can cancel on the upswing to use it as an oddball air combo starter.)


Back Throw:

Doot (Ground combo throw that hits opponents in front of Nephenee, more effective angles for knockback as Wrath builds using the same trick as Forward Throw? Alternately, a damage throw that does progressively more damage with the sweetspot and Wrath hitbox that happens to pop the opponent out in front of her. Animation idea: Nephenee cracks-a-whip her opponent behind her and stabs low with her lance, then pitches them over her shoulder like hay? Downward stab has a sweetspot spike, hitting them only if the initial movement sends them over a ledge due to the angle of the stab and the tiny window it’s available.)


Up Throw:

Doot (Aerial combo starter? Kill confirm late in stock if foes DI in (Up Aerial?).)