NESSBOUNDER
Smash Master
The reason Lucario has an advantage over Marth is because Lucario is more geared towards defensive play, and has a lot less lag on his attacks.
His ftilt has easy the same kind of range as Marth's ftilt or even his fsmash, with just as much speed and half the lag. Probably even more priority. By the time Lucario hits 100%, his ftilt does around 15% per hit, which is crazy for something that comes out so fast and has a huge double-hitbox that shield stabs on occasion and is relatively safe on block. Marth's ground moves have lag, and Lucario excels in punishing lag due to his overall good statistics in almost every category besides power, which he gains at about 70%.
And you havn't played a good Lucario ifyou don't realise how good Aura sphere is for controlling the opponent's movements. The projectile itself travels just slowly enough and has just a large enough hitbox and can be thrown just fast enough to be incredibly annoying. You can jab it, yes, but by the time you do that, Lucario will already be running towards you or will have moved to a better position on the stage. Jabbing the baby aura spheres is probably the best thing you can do, yes, but against a good Lucario player, Marth will be jabbing almost constantly while Lucario will be closing in with relative safety. The big factor is how slow the projectile is: by the time Lucario gains movement again, the aura sphere will still be a threat, meaning that the Marth will have to jab it, evade it or shield it, while Lucario is totally free to move.
Eventually, the Marth will want to close in and attack instead of jabbing aura spheres all day. The best way to do that is to get behind Lucario, which is exactly what Lucario wants to force: a roll.
And Marth can't gimp nearly as well as Lucario. His Fair hits hard, but its hitbox stays out for a very short time compared to Lucario's aura kick fair, which has a really long-duration hitbox with loads of priority, making it much more effective against those who like to air dodge. Two of them strung together actually combo thanks to aura being a stunning effect, while Marth's fairs can be air-dodged inbetween strikes. Marth also has less options when it comes to getting back on the stage, as opposed to Lucario who can easily pursue the opponent right to the very edge of the screen and then recover with extremespeed, which isn't limited to simply grabbing the edge, by the way. It also sticks him to walls, allowing for him to walljump back onto the stage, which is a superior recovery method than simply using extremespeed on the ledge, because you generally have more options when coming up (Air dodge, etc.)
Another reason why Lucario often has better spacing options than Marth is not only to do with range, but also the duration of his aura attacks, all of which stay out MUCH longer than any of Marth's single sword strikes. Even his Fsmash has a lingering hitbox, and his ftilt has two!
His side dodges are a fair bit better than Marth's as well, which gives him an even easier time getting around Marth's attacks and punishing the lag.
Marth's most convenient approach is shorthopped Fairs, which have next to no lag upon landing, but Lucario has a jab combo that can be canceled into a force palm which altogether does more damage than most normal jab combos and is fast enough to hit marth out of his Fair from a single shield drop.
I'm pretty confident that Lucario has an advantage over Marth, however slight.
His ftilt has easy the same kind of range as Marth's ftilt or even his fsmash, with just as much speed and half the lag. Probably even more priority. By the time Lucario hits 100%, his ftilt does around 15% per hit, which is crazy for something that comes out so fast and has a huge double-hitbox that shield stabs on occasion and is relatively safe on block. Marth's ground moves have lag, and Lucario excels in punishing lag due to his overall good statistics in almost every category besides power, which he gains at about 70%.
And you havn't played a good Lucario ifyou don't realise how good Aura sphere is for controlling the opponent's movements. The projectile itself travels just slowly enough and has just a large enough hitbox and can be thrown just fast enough to be incredibly annoying. You can jab it, yes, but by the time you do that, Lucario will already be running towards you or will have moved to a better position on the stage. Jabbing the baby aura spheres is probably the best thing you can do, yes, but against a good Lucario player, Marth will be jabbing almost constantly while Lucario will be closing in with relative safety. The big factor is how slow the projectile is: by the time Lucario gains movement again, the aura sphere will still be a threat, meaning that the Marth will have to jab it, evade it or shield it, while Lucario is totally free to move.
Eventually, the Marth will want to close in and attack instead of jabbing aura spheres all day. The best way to do that is to get behind Lucario, which is exactly what Lucario wants to force: a roll.
And Marth can't gimp nearly as well as Lucario. His Fair hits hard, but its hitbox stays out for a very short time compared to Lucario's aura kick fair, which has a really long-duration hitbox with loads of priority, making it much more effective against those who like to air dodge. Two of them strung together actually combo thanks to aura being a stunning effect, while Marth's fairs can be air-dodged inbetween strikes. Marth also has less options when it comes to getting back on the stage, as opposed to Lucario who can easily pursue the opponent right to the very edge of the screen and then recover with extremespeed, which isn't limited to simply grabbing the edge, by the way. It also sticks him to walls, allowing for him to walljump back onto the stage, which is a superior recovery method than simply using extremespeed on the ledge, because you generally have more options when coming up (Air dodge, etc.)
Another reason why Lucario often has better spacing options than Marth is not only to do with range, but also the duration of his aura attacks, all of which stay out MUCH longer than any of Marth's single sword strikes. Even his Fsmash has a lingering hitbox, and his ftilt has two!
His side dodges are a fair bit better than Marth's as well, which gives him an even easier time getting around Marth's attacks and punishing the lag.
Marth's most convenient approach is shorthopped Fairs, which have next to no lag upon landing, but Lucario has a jab combo that can be canceled into a force palm which altogether does more damage than most normal jab combos and is fast enough to hit marth out of his Fair from a single shield drop.
I'm pretty confident that Lucario has an advantage over Marth, however slight.
