Forsburn

Attributes


Weight:	Normal (1x knockback)
Ground speed:	Normal
Aerial speed:	Slow
Falling speed:	Normal (base) Normal (fastfall)
Jump height:	Normal (base) Normal (double)

Forsburn is a playable character who represents the element of smoke and is a hyena. He was the fifth character to be announced along with Maypul.

He is a very good bait and punish character and is most effective when played patiently and waiting for his opponents to approach. He can capitalize on his opponents mistakes with his strong combo tools both on the ground and in the air (notably with his dash attack chains and up air juggles) and potent KOing options. He can greatly control the pace of a game by throwing out lots of smoke that forces opponents to approach to prevent him from consuming the smoke clouds and gaining his Combust charges.

Forsburn's positives include good overall mobility and relatively long disjointed range on many of his attacks. He possesses a dagger that gives him among the best reach in the game, and disjointed hitboxes allowing him to space very effectively, especially against characters with poor range. As a result, he has one of the most effective movesets for spacing relative to the rest of the cast, which is most evident with his wide-ranged aerials, as well as long-ranged strong attacks that possess respectable overall damage outputs and KO potentials.

While his damage overall is very low, he has a very strong combo game that allows him to rack up damage quickly. Many of his attacks easily combo into each other and are safe and reliable set-up and KOing options. He also has a fair share of strong finishers, such as his down strong and back aerial that can kill at higher percents, and Combust which can kill as early as 60%. Combined with his flexible combo game with many very quick, easily chainable attacks, particularly his neutral aerial and forward aerial, Forsburn has a very capable offensive presence with numerous KO options

However, Forsburn has exploitable drawbacks, the most problematic being his predictable recovery that is easily edgeguarded forcing him to find creative ways to recover. His lack of a projectile also makes it difficult to pressure his opponent from a distance, while making it hard for him to approach against projectile users as well.

Attributes

Forsburn's neutral game relies heavily on effective spacing. As mentioned before, Forsburn possesses one of the longest overall ranges in the game, which plays a vital role in his neutral.

Forsburn's greatest asset is the overall range throughout his moveset, courtesy of his dagger: it grants Forsburn's attacks the overall longest disjointed range in the game. Thanks to this trait and his aforementioned attributes, Forsburn can space out his opponent quite easily, stuff out opposing approach and adeptly punish most careless attacks, all while fighting from a safe distance. A prime example of this trait is Forsburn's aerial moveset: his neutral aerial is a fast three hit move that covers a very wide area and has the lowest landing lag among Forsburn's aerials, making it a go-to option for spacing or carrying the opponent across stage and is very safe to throw out in neutral. It can also be autocanceled after the second hit into another neutral aerial and has a low launching angle, all of which make it great at edgeguarding despite its low power. His up aerial deals decent damage, has mediocre power, high speed, a very long duration, and a large overall hitbox, making it an all-purpose attack. It is good for countering overhead attacks and can control a lot of space around Forsburn, preventing approaches. His down aerial, however, despite having high power and a very strong spike, has a sourspot, slow startup and high landing lag making it very unsafe and easily punishable on whiff or parry. Thus, while it is a dependable edgeguarding tool, it is arguably Forsburn's least useful aerial. Back aerial is Forsburn's strongest aerial attack with its high damage, tremendous knockback and KO potential when hit clean. It is great for edgeguarding, using RAR after knocking opponents in the air and after parries, however, it has the slowest startup and landing lag of his aerials, making it his riskiest aerial to use regardless. His forward aerial deals decent damage and knockback and is a good combo starter. It is Forsburn's safest aerial due to its fast startup and low ending lag and good range, making it one of his best approach tools.

Forsburn also has a rather strong ground game. His down tilt is a versatile ground attack that is good for spacing, stopping approaches, and starting combos. His forward tilt is one of the fastest tilts in the game, and can create smoke in front of him if he isn't fully charged. His up tilt is very slow and unsafe move, but good at catching opponents above him with its wide hitbox. Dash attack is good at punishing whiffs, tech chasing and comboing, but is often prone to punishment when avoided. His forward strong can be canceled after the first hit into tilts and is good for stopping approaches. The second hit delivers high knockback and damage making it good for knocking opponents off stage and securing kills. His down strong covers both sides delivering high knockback and has low startup lag for such a powerful attack. It can easily be comboed into by an auto-cancelled two hit neutral air and is reliable off of parry. It can kill as early as 80% depending on the character and stage making it considerably his best KO move, along with his back aerial and Combust. His up strong is a slow two hit move that is unreliable due to it being techable off of the ground or platform, making it arguably Forsburn's least useful ground attack.

Forsburn's special moveset has high utility and after consuming three smoke clouds, his Specials become empowered. His neutral special, Smoke Screen, creates smoke for a couple of seconds right over his position, and can be spread across the stage strategically. When in the smoke Forsburn is invisible, though he becomes visible again when he uses an attack or special. It can also be used to stall in the air, giving Forsburn mix-up opportunities to recover, land, and edgeguard. When empowered, Smoke Screen restores his double jump and creates a large cross-like formation of smoke around him. Side special creates a clone of Forsburn that approaches the opponent when made. It can be toggled between the "Aggressive" mode and "Defensive" mode by using side special and can be Combusted by using down special. If it is destroyed by the opponent, it creates a single smoke cloud. If it is destroyed early on it will have a cool down until he can create another clone. When empowered, the clone attacks every three seconds on its own and when destroyed creates five smoke clouds in a cross-like formation. Consume (Combust), his down special, is used to make Forsburn consume smoke clouds. After consuming three smoke clouds Forsburn becomes empowered. If he is parried, Forsburn loses all of his smoke charges which are dispersed around him after the parry. When empowered, down special provides him with the capability to Combust which is the strongest kill move in the game. Finally, up special is used as Forsburn's main recovery tool. It lets him teleport a set distance and allows him to both teleport through stages and teleport into smoke clouds a maximum of three times before going into special fall. Unlike his other special moves, up special doesn't have an empowered version.

Forsburn also has a decent defensive game due to his range. He can use dash dancing, wavedashing and smoke to bait his opponent into approaching and punish them by out-spacing their approach and punishing their whiffs.

However, Forsburn does have his fair share of flaws. The most prominent one is his unimpressive recovery. Despite not having any lag when teleporting into smoke clouds and its mobility, Forsburn's recovery is glaringly susceptible to punishes. Although he has numerous ways to mix it up, it can be punished easily with a parry read or on reaction if his opponent is patient. Forsburn also suffers from a lack of a projectile, which can make closing the distance considerably difficult and allowing him to be easily zoned out by projectile characters due to him lacking a projectile himself. It also make it hard for him to control the pace of a match consistently due to the aforementioned reasons.

Strengths

Has a large, disjointed hitbox on many of his attacks that can help zone out opponents and make it hard for them to approach.
A successful parry can guarantee a back aerial, or down strong that can secure the kill against an opponent at a higher percent.
Has great combo tools both on the ground and in the air, notably with his dash attack chains and up air juggles
Can perform long and precise combos allowing him to rack up damage very fast.
Down Air is a fast and strong spike
Charged Down Special (Combust) is a flexible and powerful move. It sends opponents away from Forsburn's center, meaning it can both kill off the top and spike opponents

Weaknesses

Lacks a projectile, impairing his ability to control space and the tempo of a match consistently.
Smoke clouds, although useful can be destroyed in one hit by any move. Because of this a single projectile can take out all of his clouds if not placed well. Additionally, smoke clouds are destroyed when Forsburn dies.
Vulnerable recovery that is predictable and can easily be punished with a parry or a well-spaced move
When his attacks are parried, the smoke clouds he absorbed beforehand are released from his body.

Techniques

Creating a clone behind smoke makes no sound.
Use the first part of Side Strong to extend combos and reach opponents not on the stage.
Use a charged Neutral Special while recovering to release a great amount of smoke offstage. Forsburn can then teleport through the smoke to confuse edgeguarders
Press Neutral Special to change the behavior of the clone from Offensive to Defensive.
Hold the Special button to prevent clones from jumping / using Up Special offstage. This is a good recovery mixup

Gameplay

In-Game Info: "Forsburn can create a Smoke Screen with his Neutral Special. Forsburn hides in the smoke while other characters are visible. Forsburn can consume smoke using his Down Special. After consuming 3 smoke clouds, his Specials become empowered. Forsburn can create a clone of himself using Forward Special. Forsburn can press Down Special to explode his clone."

Elemental Powers:

SMOKE SCREEN - Forsburn can use his Neutral Special to obscure the battlefield allowing Forsburn to remain hidden inside a cloud of smoke.
DECOY - Through his Forward Special, Forsburn can create a smoke facsimile of himself that can attack opponents. The illusory Forsburn breaks into smoke after being hit by a single attack.
CONSUME/COMBUST - By using his Down Special, Forsburn can consume his smoke clouds back into his body. After consuming three clouds, Forsburn is charged up and can use Down Special again to combust: knocking opponents away at high speed.

Moveset

Move	Damage	Description
Dash attack	8%	A quick attack that lunges him forward and sweeps his dagger upwards in a powerful blow. Despite the animation, the hitbox is only in front of Forsburn and not above him. This attack has a large amount of whiff lag, so this attack can be unsafe if it misses an opponent.
Neutral jab	4%, 4%, 6%	Forsburn slashes three times in front of him with his dagger. It is the fastest and safest move in his kit. The first hit confirms into combos, but the second hit can be teched.
Forward tilt	2%, 4%	Forsburn blows in front of him. If he doesn't have all three smoke charges, this attack creates a single smoke cloud. Forsburn can consume the cloud with Down Special right after using Forward tilt.
Up tilt	2%, 5%	A slow crouching attack where he hits upward with his cape twice. It is very punishable but has a large hitbox making it good for hitting opponents above him.
Down tilt	9%	Slashes the dagger while leaning forward. A very good zoning move that can either counter approaches or start combos.
Up strong	4%, 4%, 12%	A slow cape sweep that hits on all sides. If the button is pressed again, Forsburn stabs upward with his dagger. The attack is unreliable at low percents because opponents can roll away from the second hit.
Side strong	4-12%	A long cape sweep that pulls opponents inwards and turns them around. If the button is pressed again, Forsburn will perform a stronger but less ranged stab. The attack is good for stopping approaches or extending combos due to its range.
Down strong	11-16%	Sweeps the dagger on the ground hitting both in front of and behind him at the same time. This attack sends opponents upwards. A very good kill move that can kill anywhere around 80-120% off the top of the screen.
Neutral air	2%, 2%, 4%	Twirls counterclockwise with the first and third hitboxes being in front of him, and the second being behind him. An excellent combo tool that is also good for spacing and edge guarding. First two hits can be auto-cancelled into another neutral air.
Up air	7%	A quick upward long lasting stab with his dagger that has good combo potential.
Forward air	6%	A fast upward kick that hits in front of Forsburn. It is one of his best attacks due to its low end lag and combo potential, but it lacks range.
Backward air	13%/14% 4% (sour)	A backwards stab with his dagger that has some startup, but is strong and viable for both KOing and edgeguarding opponents with a reverse aerial rush. Can kill as early as 90%. Sour spot does substantially less damage.
Down air	12% (front) 12% (back)	A downward swing with his dagger. The first hitbox sends opponents upward and away, while the second hitbox sends them straight down.
Neutral special	N/A	Forsburn begins emitting smoke around him. The smoke clouds automatically spread out. The clouds remain intangible and do not have any effect until the last one is deployed. Using another special move ends the deployment early. You cannot reuse this move until the current smoke generation is complete. Forsburn is completely invisible behind clouds of smoke while not attacking. Other characters still appear in front of them. Using this move when Forsburn has 3 smoke charges releases a large amount of clouds at the same time. The clouds instantly dissipate when attacked by opponents. There can only be a maximum of 24 clouds on the stage, and creating a new cloud beyond that limit dissipates the oldest cloud.
Up special	8% (burst)	Forsburn halts his momentum and disappears into his cloak, reappearing quickly after in a fiery burst. This move leaves Forsburn helpless. He travels a fixed distance towards the direction inputted once he disappears. No input makes him reappear in place instead. This move can travel through the stage a certain distance. If there is a cloud of smoke at his destination, Forsburn will instead reappear centered inside of it. He will not do his fiery burst or be left helpless, and he will restore his double jump. He can teleport into clouds up to 2 times without touching the ground; doing it a third time will always do the fiery burst variation instead.
Side special	N/A	Forsburn halts his momentum and summons a clone. The real Forsburn reappears to the side of your directional input; the clone appears on the opposite side. Only one clone can be present at a time. The clone chases enemies or runs from them. You can change this behavior by pressing the special button. Holding the special button prevents offstage clones from jumping or using Up Special. Down special will force the clone to explode. If Forsburn has all three smoke charges, he will create an empowered clone. This clone will attack every 3 seconds or whenever you press the special button. He chooses his attacks based on his relative position from the enemy. He will never use special moves or strong attacks except up special for recovering. The clone dies from any attack and leaves a single smoke cloud behind. The empowered clone leaves 5 clouds behind. Creating a clone behind smoke makes no sound.
Down special	N/A (consumption) 10% (burst)	Forsburn quickly consumes a nearby cloud of smoke. After consuming 3 clouds he becomes fully charged and dissipates all of his own clouds. A different sound can be heard and his skin becomes more colored. Once he is fully charged this move becomes a single use of combust. Combust unleashes a large burst of flames around Forsburn which deals very high knockback to opponents hit and propels them straight away from Forsburn. Combust gets rid of all three smoke charges. Interrupting Forsburn during the starting time of combust still makes him lose all of his charges. Parrying Forsburn when he is fully charged makes all of the clouds he absorbed release from his body. If a clone is present on the field, Down Special will make the clone explode.

Costumes

Special Costumes

Background

Story

Forsburn is the disgraced, eldest son of the Firelands' ruling family. While his brother Zetterburn served the kingdom through leadership on the battlefield, Forsburn was the Firelands' chief diplomat. Forsburn was the right hand of the Fire King, and he could be relied upon both to broker treaties and to quietly take care of threats to the kingdom. However, after years of unquestioning service, Forsburn began to smell corruption simmering beneath the surface of the Fire Council. But before Forsburn could expose the conspiracy, his father was discovered slain with Forsburn's own dagger protruding from his heart. Assumed to be the assassin, Forsburn was condemned by his brother and barely escaped the Capital with his life. Left wounded and nationless, he wandered for months before meeting a groups of rebels on the outskirts of the Firelands. These outsiders of the kingdom had rejected flame and mastered the way of smoke, a philosophy of truthful deception. Forsburn joined the smoke tribe, soon becoming their leader. He plots to reclaim the Fire Capital from the Fire Council and their unsuspecting pawn, Zetterburn.

Trivia

If two Forsburn both consume a smoke cloud at the same time with Down Special, they will both get the smoke charge. This may be useful in mirror matches / doubles.
Neutral special official name is "Smoke screen", side special is "Decoy", down special is "Consume/Combust".
Forsburn is the fifth character to be announced along with Maypul. He represents the element of smoke.
Forsburn's name is a reference to the ice hockey player Peter Forsberg.