Elliana Moveset (RoA)

So the next RoA character has been hinted to be a snake named Elliana apparently? Guessing that might be our Super-Grounded Super-Zoner, also probably for the Earth element. In that case, here's one idea of how that might play out!

Elliana Moveset (RoA)

Element: Earth

Design: An upper-middleweight rattlesnake, with pale green and brown stripes. Her rattle is the tan color of sand, and can morph into a hammer as well as other tools.

Background: Elliana, the Dune Sculptor, is a resident of the desert outside the Rock Wall. She makes her living by using her sculpting skills to create beautiful – as well as useful – glass statues from only a pile of sand. Elliana is very much a loner, traversing the vast world of Aether to sell her goods.

In-Game Info: "Elliana can throw a pile of sand onto the stage with her Neutral Special. She can transform the rattle on her tail into a hammer, and by striking the pile of sand with this hammer, she can create glass structures to aid her in battle. Elliana can slither through the air with Side Special and aim her trajectory up and down. With Down Special, Elliana can burrow through the ground, creating a tunnel."

Elemental Powers:
- SAND SCULPTOR: Elliana can create a pile of sand with Neutral Special, then strike it with her hammer to create useful structures. Try striking the sand with different attacks.
- BURROW: Elliana treats all ground like fine sand, and can burrow through it with Down Special. Useful as a movement tool, knocking opponents downward into it also proves handy.
- SUNBEAM: Elliana can focus sunlight with her Side Special, spreading her hood as a mirror. After passing through a glass structure, this long-ranged attack gains power.

Strengths:
- Sand and glass structures give Elliana great area control, as she can create walls or hitboxes out of nowhere with the right setup.
- Heavy-ish weight gives her nice survivability.
- Hard-hitting hammer moves give Elliana the threat to back up her setup.
- Combo moves like Down Tilt, Up Tilt, Dash Attack, Neutral Attack, Down Special, and several Aerials are great for damage-racking.
- Many attacks have good range due to Elliana's unique anatomy.
- Moves such as Up Tilt cover unique angles, and many attacks also launch foes in different, useful directions.
- Down Special gives Elliana a tricky movement option.
- The glass pipe structure gives Elliana unique mixups.
- Side Special boasts incredible range.

Weaknesses:
- Elliana suffers from very poor mobility, with low horizontal speed and poor jump height.
- Despite Elliana's high weight and decent Up Special, her poor jumps and air speed limit her ability to survive offstage when threatened with gimps.
- Most powerful finishers are either telegraphed or punishable if missed.
- High weight makes Elliana susceptible to combos, and her average falling speed doesn't help escaping juggles nor combos.
- Elliana relies on setup to utilize her most powerful combos and punishes, between sand / glass structures and her tunnel.

Techniques:
- Even though Elliana's Up Special mainly goes upward, you can still steer into a glass pipe near the end in order to change up your direction.
- If for whatever reason you need to remove your sand from the stage, hitting it with Down Special at any point will destroy it, while also giving the Down Special a boost in strength.
- Elliana's glass pipe structure can redirect anything thrown into it.



Moves:

Neutral Special: Elliana flings sand forward with her tail, creating a pile on the ground after flying in a small arc. The pile lasts indefinitely and cannot be destroyed. Using Neutral Special with a sand pile already active causes her to twirl her rattle-hammer around in front of her, creating a T-shaped pipe kinda structure facing left, right, and up. Anything coming from the side goes up, and anything coming from above goes to the side (by default, in whichever direction Elliana was facing when she made the pipe). Characters only enter it when launched (or when Elliana uses certain moves), and if they're launched down into it, they can choose a direction for mixups. Any amount of glass structures can be onstage at a time, but they shatter when hit by any attack, including Elliana's own, becoming a decently-sized hitbox.

Side Special: Elliana opens her hood as a faint beam of sunlight shines down on her from above. Her hood focuses it into a concentrated, damaging beam with huge range but very small vertical coverage. Elliana can slowly aim the beam up or down, but the best way to hit airborne opponents with it is to send it upward via the glass pipe. Upon contact with any other kind of glass structure, the beam instead gains intensity and damaging power. The glass pipe, by the way, still powers it up while also redirecting it.

Up Special: Elliana slithers straight upward through the air, dealing damage while traveling at high speeds. She can aim her trajectory sideways, but the effect isn't very quick; you can just about reach 45 degrees by the end of the move. If Elliana breaks through a glass structure with this move, she won't enter special fall.

Down Special: Elliana burrows through the ground. She emerges a short distance in front of her by default, but you can choose either left or right; upon emerging, she pops opponents up for a combo opportunity. The tunnel remains for a few seconds, and opponents or other things launched downward into it pop out the other end. The travel time means that Elliana has more time to prepare an attack as a follow-up! In the air, Elliana dives downward like Maypul's midair Down Special, able to take advantage of the glass pipe. She can also reenter a premade tunnel by pressing Down Special on top of it (or by diving into it from the air), which is quicker than making a new one.



Dash Attack: Elliana slithers through the air in a way, flying through the air and dealing damage. This also works very nicely with the pipe, since Elliana gets sent straight upward to follow up on the move's upward-diagonal knockback!

Neutral Attack: Elliana shakes her rattle in front of her, dealing two hits with only one button press and launching the opponent diagonally upward.

Forward Tilt: Elliana lunges forward and takes a bite out of the foe. This move hits once at the beginning of the lunge, and then a second time when Elliana's jaws slam shut, KOing rather early but leaving Elliana vulnerable if parried or whiffed.

Up Tilt: Elliana transforms her tail into the hammer and swings it upward in an arc behind her, launching opponents up for low-percent juggles and high-end-percent kills. If it hits the sand pile, it creates a character-height wall, acting like a thin version of Kragg's block. It blocks a single projectile as well as impeding movement.

Down Tilt: Elliana swipes the ground in front of her with her tail, covering a really wide area and launching opponents diagonally up and backwards to start a combo. At low percents, it chains into Up Tilt quite nicely.



Up Strong: Elliana swings her hammer in front and above her in an arc, performing the closest thing a snake has to a backflip during the move. Hitting a sand pile turns it into a jagged, sharp-edged "nettle" of glass spikes pointed directly upward, shattering if it hits something immediately (while also dealing powerful damage and knockback) and acting as a normal wall if it doesn't. If you charge the attack, it instead flies upward indefinitely as a projectile, trading a bit of its power for distance.

Forward Strong: Elliana twirls her hammer behind her during the charge (also applies for the other Strong Attacks), and then thrusts it directly forward in a powerful finishing blow with somewhat slow startup. Hitting the sand pile turns it into jagged spikes, like the Up Strong but pointed forward, and does a similar thing when charged.

Down Strong: Elliana slams her hammer into the ground with an overhead swing, dealing a meteor smash in exchange for long windup. By hitting a sand pile with this move, Elliana can create a small field of glass spikes all around her on the ground, popping opponents up for a combo starter while boasting large coverage. Unlike the other glass structures, this one disappears immediately whether or not it hits something.



Neutral Air: Elliana curls into a circle and spins around quickly, acting similarly to Orcane's nair but knocking opponents weakly downward and forward. It's an awesome edgeguarding move, but with Elliana's poor jumps, going deep offstage is risky. Onstage, it can set up tech chases as well as sending foes into your tunnel.

Up Air: Elliana winds up for a moment and then thrusts her head upwards with a powerful bite, KOing at high percents.

Forward Air: Elliana thrusts her head forward and spins around (picture Pika's fair), dealing multiple rapid hits before launching foes forward.

Back Air: Elliana transforms her rattle into the hammer and then slams it downward behind her, having noticeable windup. In exchange, this move deals a powerful spike, except for the sourspot at the very top which launches backward. It's excellent for edgeguarding due to its fatality and horizontal range, and creates the same glass structure as Down Smash upon striking a sand pile.

Down Air: Elliana shakes her rattle rapidly underneath her, dealing lots of little hits that can add up to big damage. Its duration allows it to cover a few different options at once, but also leaves Elliana open if she whiffs and can even make it easier to parry.