Marron Moveset ideas

Marron

General properties: Marron is agile with a moveset consisting of mostly low-committal, safe attacks that, thanks to his disjointed sword, are more likely to clank or trade than be completely beat out. However, Marron is very small and his sword is short, so while he has disjoint and speed, his range suffers compared to most of the cast.

STANDARD ATTACKS:

Jab: A two-hit string similar to Marth's jabs. One press gets you a quick sword swipe from the bottom up, then the second brings the sword back down in a curving motion. Like Marth's, the second hit has considerably more endlag than the first, but you can still swipe your sword over and over if you really feel like it. The move pushes opponents back with weak knockback no matter which hit connects, but the second deals more damage and slightly more knockback because of that. Overall, a pretty good jab.

Dash Attack: Marron jumps forward out of his dash and rakes his sword foreground-to-background in front of him. This doesn't cover a lot of room above or below Marron, but it reaches far enough outward that it makes up for that. The inner parts of this attack send upward and behind Marron, usually leaving the opponent right above him. The outside hitboxes send outward, and are more powerful. It serves as a decent horizontal kill option, albeit not one that's easy to lead into.

Forward Tilt: A short, angle-able stab forward. It can be directed quite a ways upward or downward, and can work as a low anti-air or close edgeguarding tool because of that. It's also a good, safe poke in general. Doesn't do much damage, though, and base knockback is poor. KBG is high enough to make its use as an edgeguarding tool viable. The downward-angled hit deals more damage and knockback than the other two. None know why.

Down Tilt: A quick, background-to-foreground swipe at Marron's foot level. Weak in both damage and knockback, but pops foes upward and is a good combo starter.

Up Tilt: Marron swings his sword up in front of him, covering a similar area to something like a Shoryuken. Knockback goes almost vertical, and can easily lead into an aerial. Good as an anti-air or a grounded option, or as a potential follow-up to DTilt or stuffing someone with a Jab.

Throw: Marron grabs the foe up high and drags them down to his level, then smacks them with his sword and flip-kicks them forward. If he's back throwing, he knocks them up with the sword, and then jumps up and back kicks them like a spacie's Back Air. Both options reset the situation well enough, but the front throw sends the foe downward toward the ground, while the back throw sends them higher up and outward. Neither has any real kill power, though the front can catch people off guard if you grabbed them near the edge, since Marron will throw them down into the abyss. It's not a spike, though.

SPECIALS:

Neutral Special: Wing Flash: Marron's sword glows brightly as he swings it forward, releasing a small shock wave in front of him. It's as big as Marron, so to HIM, it's pretty big, but it isn't too tough to work around. If you press B again, he'll swing a second time and release a smaller wave, and he can do it a third time as well, again smaller than the second. You can dash or jump out of the first or second swipes' endlag after a little bit; but it's not unpunishable even if you only use one slash. The slashes fizzle out a moderate distance from Marron, meaning they're not great for harassing people from far away, but rather for controlling the area around Marron. You can use this attack in the air, and if you time your slashes right, you can create a 'wall' of cuts as Marron falls. The actual sword swipe deals more damage and knockback than the shockwave it releases, but only one can hit a foe, and the swipe itself takes priority. Neither the slash nor the wave has much in the way of power.

Up Special: Sagitobu/Rabbit Hop: Marron bounds off thin air, swinging his sword wildly in front of himself. The swipes don't deal much damage, and no knockback, only hitstun, but they're good for harassment as you get back to stage. Marron won't snap to ledge unless he's going downward; you need to sweetspot this move if traveling upward, unless you want to go onstage. As a recovery, it's pretty standard, if quicker than the norm, but its weakness leaves it relatively easy to gimp or trade with.

The more interesting part of the move is that, if you leap into the stage, Marron will land on his feet and seamlessly transition to his idle stance in an extremely short amount of time, allowing him to act almost immediately. If you catch someone with one of the weak hits or your Rabbit Hop before landing, they'll likely be wide open for a jab or DTilt, which you can lead off of. Otherwise, you're good to keep moving and stay unpredictable.

Down Special: Cottontail Counter: Marron swings his sword upward lightly in a similar vein to how Roy handles his in Smash 4; with a backward grip. This move starts up quick, but the sword moves pretty slowly compared to the rest of Marron's kit and has a lot of active frames. The attack is weak, doing pitiful damage and no notable knockback. However, it has a special property: this attack will clank with anything, and if it does, whoever made the attack will suffer a lot of hitstun as if they'd been struck by a powerful smash attack, while Marron is free to move as if it were a normal clank. It'll even protect Marron from projectiles, but of course won't cause their user to suffer hitstun. If you whiff or misread your opponent, Marron will be helpless for a while due to the very high endlag of this attack.

Side Special: Bunny Hop: A wildly different technique from the Rabbit Hop. Never make the mistake of confusing them; this will upset the Marron. Regardless, the user hops forward low to the ground, swiping with their sword. Marron can hop forward or backward, but he won't change his direction - if you go backward, you'll still be facing the same way as you were originally, and you'll be covering your retreat with a slash. If you go forward, Marron slashes downward, but he swipes up if you're getting out of Dodge. The knockback on either hit is set and weak, but sends in the direction of the sword. The forward, downward hit is thus a weak spike, making it slightly dangerous to edgeguard Marron. The upwards retreating hit is a great combo starter at all %s, but it's obviously unwieldy to land consistently. Marron will not hop off the stage with this move - if you're at the edge, he'll just hop in place, or land right at the edge if you're a little further away. If used in the air, though, all bets are off. You'll lose some vertical height if you do this, but the horizontal distance you gain can make up for that, leaving this a worthwhile recovery option.

SMASHES:

Forward Smash: Marron holds his sword behind him, leaning back during the startup and while charging this move. When it's released, Marron hops forward and slams the blade down overhead, landing with the blade against the ground. If you've ever seen Roy do his Big Leapy in Project M, this FSmash is similar to that. It covers a lot of area, as the sword 'stretches' slightly as Smash attacks are wont to do. It's a powerful option against aerial and grounded foes alike, but it's a very choreographed move, with a rather unique animation and sound effect at the start(he probably yells some sort of kiai). It's pretty quick for its strength, but has a lot of endlag if you whiff.

Down Smash: Marron grips his sword out in front of him, held sideways and tilted toward the foreground. When the move is released, he spins like a top in a similar fashion to Link's grounded Up Special. A multi-hit move that can hit upwards or 4 or 5 times, but only the final blow has any real knockback. The rest lead into each other, naturally, and combined they deal a respectable amount of damage. The knockback on the final hit isn't particularly strong, but it sends at a low angle similar to Sheik's Forward Smash; catch someone near the ledge or while they're recovering, and you can make it nigh impossible for them to get back. You can tilt Marron as he spins, too, just like a top, to catch higher or lower areas to his sides.

Up Smash: Marron crouches downward with his sword planted into the ground and charges this attack. When released, he pogo-hops upward with his sword, then shifts it to his side and starts spinning like a maniac. This is a multi-hit move that strikes as long as Marron spins in place, and has a finishing hit at the end. Said finishing hit is very powerful, and is Marron's best vertical kill option outside of a high Up Air. However, if the opponent is only caught by the fringes of the attack, they can DI out of it before the final hit, so you need proper positioning to capitalize off this move.

AERIALS:

Neutral Air: He does the spin. Not quite Meta Knight levels of spin, though. Akin to Kirby's Neutral Aerial, but obviously with more disjoint. Relatively quick, with low BKB and moderate knockback growth. A good "GET THIS GUY OFF ME" option, or a combo filler at low-to-mid %s. Even a decent gimping tool.

Forward Air: A series of three quick sword swipes reminiscent of Meta Knight or a Spacie's Forward Air. They lead into each other pretty well, but landing only the first hit or two before hitting the ground is a great option for extending combos or getting a grab. The first two hits have very little knockback; the last has high-ish base knockback but low KBG, making it better for resetting the situation, rather than use in combos or for kills.

Back Air: Marron flips over backward and brings his sword down behind him as he comes down. The move has higher startup than most of Marron's attacks, but the early hit is a true spike. The late hit has weak horizontal knockback which sends away from Marron, which can still act as an edgeguard if you're far enough out.

Up Air: A lunging stab upward. This actually gives Marron a teeny bit of height, allowing him to stall a bit or aid his recovery slightly. You only get one stall per air time, though, unless Marron gets hit. Not Marron's fastest move, and it extends his hurtbox, but it's powerful with decent BKB and high KBG. Overall, a good combo finisher and kill option that's not too difficult to set up. The strong hit is at the wide base of the sword; hit with the tip or middle and you'll get much less damage and knockback, but it's possible to combo out of those sourspots at some percents. A very versatile move.

Down Air: Marron drills in place with his sword held below him. This is only one hit, and doesn't actually affect Marron's movement; think Pikachu or Falco's Down Air, not Fox or Link's. If you do happen to land while Marron is spinning, the move has a landing hitbox. This attack is quick and strong, but has above average endlag whether you get the landing hitbox or finish in the air. The aerial version is a meteor; the landing hitbox sends up and away. Good for setting up a tech chase situation or mixing up the landing/aerial hitboxes to keep foes on their feet.