Lucas

General
Lucas (リュカ Ryuka) is a main protagonist in Mother 3. Living in Tazmily Village with his family and dog, Boney, Lucas is shown to be shy, cautious and sensitive. In Mother 3, Lucas learns PSI from Ionia, a member of the bizzare Magypsy tribe. Following the death of his mother, Lucas, accompanied with tomboy princess Kumatora and master thief Duster, is tasked with fighting off the Pigmask Army led by King Porky and pulling the Seven Needles.

Changes from Brawl to Crusade
Above all changes, Lucas recieved new special moves. His neutral called Offense Up, allows Lucas to preform even more powerful variations of his smash attacks once he has finished charging. His side special is now PK Paralysis, replacing PK Fire (which now appears in his up throw). Lucas releases a small projectile wave, that stuns opponents when sweetspotted. His Down Special is now PK Ground. Lucas punches the ground, releasing a shock wave that burries opponents if it hits. If used on an aerial opponent, it meteor smashes. If used in the air, Lucas must first dive down until he hits the ground.

Lucas also gained the ability to cancel his PK Thunder by pressing shield, and the ability to grab people in mid-air. His double jump height has been Nerfed from Brawl to Crusade.

Attributes
Lucas is a powerful close- to mid-range rushdown character with a few gimmicks that give him unique tools. Lucas generally posesses quick, potent attacks with strong priorirty because many of them involve PSI sparks. Attacks such as his Up Tilt, Forward Tilt, and Forward Aerial give Lucas access to versatile, quick moves with good range. However, Lucas also uses powerful, slow attacks such as Up Smash to get early KO's on foes. His grab is a short-ranged tether grab, and Lucas's throws are above-average in effectiveness. Lucas is also the only character in SSBC to have an aerial grab - his Zair (aerial tether) - and the only fighter to use a four-part jab combo. In particular, Lucas's aerial moves are very good, as they are generally quick (except for Back Aerial, which is a spike) and powerful. Combined with Lucas's solid aerial movement speed, this makes the air one of Lucas's best places to battle.

Lucas is often compared to Ness. The two are both characters based around PSI attacks and have similar mid-air jumps and recovery moves. Also, Lucas and Ness both benefit from a technique known as Double-Jump Cancelling (DJC). This refers to performing an aerial attack during a mid-air jump to stop the upwards movement of the jump, allowing for very low, short jumps and quick aerials (in tandem with L-cancelling). Lucas's Neutral and Up Aerials are particularly useful as low DJC aerials, and others can be used at greater heights. Like Ness, Lucas must use PK Thunder to hit himself from behind/below to launch himself during recovery. Because this process takes a while, he can be easily gimped.

Lucas is one of few characters who can power up his attacks, in his case by way of his Neutral Special, Offense Up. Using this move significantly increases the strength of Lucas's Smash Attacks, but the power-up state ends when Lucas is hit by a foe's attack. It takes several seconds to fully charge the Offense Up move, but the charge can be stored, as in Goku's Kaioken. Using this technique can have a big pay-off, but it could also be a waste of time if Lucas gets hit upon fully charging the move.

An infamous technique which Lucas once had access to was trapping his foes indefinitely in stun by using his Side Special, PK Paralyze. It reuiqred precise timing and careful jumping, but it could easily yield over 100% damage. As of now, this technique does not work anymore. It is possible to perform tricks using PK Paralyze, but the mechanics of electric stun have changed since this strategy was discovered.

Lucas is currently ranked 19th (A tier) in the tier list. He has a solid set of normal attacks, with spacing moves, combos, and strong finishers. With the advent of DJCs, Lucas has an even better on-stage game. Using his disjointed Bair spike and PK Thunder, his off-stage gimping game is also quite remarkable. Lucas is a flexible, powerful character whose main drawbacks are simply his recovery and limited range in some situations.

Lucas's Normal Moves
Combo


 * Lucas punches twice, then kicks, followed by another kick.

Side Tilt


 * Lucas twirls, waving his hand and producing balls of PSI energy in a small arc.

Up Tilt


 * Lucas flips and creates a ball of energy above his foot, hitting twice.

Down Tilt


 * Lucas spins and kicks low. Extremely quick and may be canceled into itself during its cooldown frames.

Dash Attack


 * Lucas punches forward, creating a ball of energy in front of his fist.

Side Smash


 * Lucas swings with a stick as if using a Home Run Bat. This attack may reflect projectiles.

Up Smash


 * Lucas creates a large ball of energy above himself. Hits twice.

Down Smash


 * Lucas points at the ground and creates three small explosions in sucession. (The hits don't combo into one another normally.)

Neutral Air


 * Lucas flips leaves a trail of energy while he falls, striking up to 8 times.

Forward Air


 * Lucas does a spin kick in the air, creating a small ball of energy in front of his foot.

Up Air


 * Lucas attacks above himself with a headbutt, similarly to how Ness does in his Up Aerial.

Back Air


 * Lucas does a backflip kick with balls of energy following the leg behind himself. When sweetspotted, it's a powerful spike.

Down Air


 * Lucas rapidly kicks below himself four times, creating balls of energy with each kick. The last hit is a spike.

Forward Throw


 * Lucas throws the enemy forward.

Up Throw


 * Lucas throws the enemy upward, then fires a PK Fire.

Back Throw


 * Lucas rolls and throws the enemy behind himself.

Down Throw


 * Lucas uses multiple PSI shocks to damage the enemy.

Ledge Attack


 * Lucas gets up and kicks low, creating a ball of energy in front of his foot.

Notable Appearances

 * Mother 3 (Japan-only, 2006)