Hey guys. This is the last of this mini-series to be coming out not quite on schedule. From now on you'll be seeing these on Saturdays and Sundays, and not scattered throughout the week.




Lloyd was a brand new character to the Smash Bros playing field in 0.1, and he's a brand new character to the world in 0.8. It's been a long time since Lloyd was top of the ranks. Back in the 0.5 era, he stood strong as one of the best characters in the game, yet in 0.7 he found himself residing at the bottom of the tier list. How did he get there? What's more important though is where he's going.

Lloyd is meant to be a Glass Cannon. Lloyd really knows how to dish out the pain this time around. His moves are quick, they flow together, and they hurt. He's so good that we actually had to turn down his already bad recovery and jumping ability in order for him to not become overpowered. With his exciting new Linking mechanic and a new move, Lloyd is truly a force to be reckoned with.

The primary way for Lloyd to keep his opponent on edge is to get them into the air. There are a couple of ways to do this, the most readily available of which is utilt, which can easily be followed up with an aerial move, which in turn combo into each other. Utilt is also able to lightly spike if it hits at the right angle. Ftilt and Dtilt are similar, but serve different purposes. Ftilt is a risky but rewarding option, with high power but equally high end-lag. Dtilt on the other hand has a lot of range and can cut straight through most moves, but lacks killing ability.




Lloyd's Up Smash has been taken in an all new direction. It's overall MUCH faster than it had been previously. This means it takes a little bit more timing to successfully hit with, but it's also much harder to be punished for missing. Down Smash has been sped up a lot too. Beast is a whole new... Well, beast. It comes out damn fast, with a ton of power, but the "beast" fades and shrinks as it moves away from Lloyd, and becomes weaker with every moment. It's important to hit with the start of Beast, and if you don't, you'll regret it.




Other than a hook move like Utilt to get you started, Lloyd's combos consist of one thing only. His aerials. Uair chains into itself at low percents, and has enough hitstun to set a foe up to be hit by nair or fair. Bair is a fantastic move to serve any purpose, being able to kill off stage, combo at low percents, and pop a foe into the air to start a combo. Dair is an incredibly effective kill move, often driving an opponent further downward than they can possibly recover from. Be careful though, chances are you'll be going down with them.




The usage of Lloyd's throws can really vary depending on the player. Uthrow can start up any number of combos, as it puts the opponent right above Lloyd with a good amount of hitstun. All Lloyd has to do is jump up and chase them. Bthrow has the opponent land and slide a decent distance along the ground behind Lloyd, which is incredibly useful for dropping the foe off the edge. Fthrow and dthrow are both throws that are always weak enough to not send a foe too far away from Lloyd to start a combo.

Grave Blade is Lloyd's new Down Special, and it serves an interesting purpose. All foes that are close to Lloyd and are touching the ground when Lloyd slams it are pushed up into the air, which, as we know, is where Lloyd really shines. Sonic Thrust is a kill move, Demon Fang is, as always, a great way to control the stage, and using Tiger Blade is now a beautiful way of carrying your opponent into the air.




The Linked Artes mechanic is really what makes Lloyd special, though, allowing you to dash all about the stage with a variety of attacks, pulling your opponent with you.




Lloyd is, in the simplest terms, fun. He's really fun. He hits hard and fast, and everything slides together so seamlessly. It's really quite beautiful to watch Lloyd combo his opponents. As long as you can keep mostly on the stage, and don't stray too far from it, you've got Lloyd under control.

I hope you enjoy playing as him in 0.8!