Project M Moveset writeup: Soren

In recent times, I have been dipping my toes back into Project M, and after speaking with the passionate PM EX team, I was reminded of how fun it was to think about concepts for new and existing smash characters. This made me want to try and make character writeups for fun. Do not take these as confirmation of their inclusion.

The first up is Soren, wind mage and staff officer of the Greil mercenaries in Fire Emblem Path of Radiance. 

Soren is arguably the most narratively-developped support characters in the series due to his origins being intrinsically tied to the events that led to the various geopolitical conflicts in the world of Tellius. And the funny part is that most people simply will never see this story unfold, as it is hidden under a litany of extremely obscure events. He is so my favourite character in the series due to the very multifaceted approach to his character. I very much enjoy a tactician character that is pragmatic.

Still, a character isn't really worth adding in a game unless it is fun to use. As such, I tries to make a build that would make for a unique playstyle, leaning into his more shrewd personality and his mastery of magic, especially his wind mastery.

Soren

Physics and attributes:

I was thinking of a slightly under average floaty with okay air mobility, but somewhat quick fast fall. This is more to reflect control over wind.

Running speed would be relatively fast to echo his stats in the games, but any physical move would be weak, and his defense would be quite low, so easy to get early kills on.

Adept meter: 

Some Tellius characters comes into your team with a skill baked into them. It takes no skill capacity for them to keep them, so it is implied that these skills are either innate or fully mastered. Soren's baked in skill is "Adept". Based on his skill stat in PoR or his speed stat in RD, Soren can activate Adept, which allows him to attack an additional time. This is quite powerful, as if he doubles, that is a potential four attacks, and four opportunities to crit / activating another skill. However, random chance is not exactly great character design.

Soren would build up an Adept Meter, enabling him to store up to two adept charges. Not unlike Lucario, A+B and whatever direction you choose will power up the chosen special attack. These will be made to look like very quick successive attacks to echo the effects of an Adept effect. The charge is expended whether the move connects or not. To indicate that a charge is available, Soren's brand on his forehead and his red eyes would glow. This is a reference to his draconic / half-breed heritage.

Potential activation effect GFX

I think he ought to keep his opponents airborne and kill off the top of the screen more than the average character.

I would also use transparent green sword trails to emulate wind in some instances. This is to limit file size issues that come with too many spell effects.

B: Elwind / Elfire / Arcthunder :

Not unlike Robin, he gets to charge up his neutral B in multiple stages. However, unlike Robin, it doesn't send an attack straight forward. In fact, this is more akin to Robin's Side B, but with multiple stages, sending a projectile downwards.

Charge 1: Elwind - Large wind arc sent downwards with starting point over Soren's head, fast, multi-hit, but weak. Sends opponent straight up.

Charge 2: Elfire: - Fire ball, same starting point. Slightly ower than Wind, but explodes on landing. Does more damage. Knockback less vertical. This also "could" instead just be inspired by Robin's.

Charge 3: Arcthunder - not unlike Robin's fully-charged neutral special, stream of lightning is summoned, but this is arced diagonally down from atop Soren's head instead. Will have vertical knockback, a lot if hitstun, so Soren can opt to attack into it (but short window of opportunity to deliberate).

Adept B: Rexcalibur (PoR ver.) : Two quick succession of Ice chunks strike downwards from atop Soren's head. First has decent hitstun. Second would immediately hit after for great damage / Vertical KB. Good for killing off the top of the screen at mid-range. Animation could also be icy wind that then explodes in ice on contact.

References:

Elfire: https://youtu.be/dLoNkLC5FIU?t=381

Arcthunder: https://youtu.be/dLoNkLC5FIU?t=433

Rexcalibur (PoR version) : https://youtu.be/GcJgxQtT08g?t=51

The rationale is that in Path of Radiance, wind is low might but light (so affects speed less), fire is in the middle, and thunder has higher might, but is also heavier (thus more speed penalty). The evolution in power would therefore make sense, but Soren being primarily a wind user, and high-level magic involving ice, the Adept version being ice-based would circle it back to wind magic.

Other potential casting animation: https://youtu.be/dLoNkLC5FIU?t=471

Side B: Wind - Soren swings his hand, up to down in a slashing motion. This sends a slashing arc of wind forward. It is fast, has great, but finite range (Three quarters FD), but it only stuns like a Falco laser. Similar damage.

Adept B: Wind / Wind crit - Same initial motion and action, but very quickly follows it up with a second, bigger arc of wind. The first one has more hitstun on the initial hit (this is to make the second one connects regardless of distance). The second wind strike hits harder, has knockback. A move whose use is to rack up damage. It can kill, but at high percents / close to stage boundaries. When using the Adept version, Soren will stall in the air. This is a workaround to make everything connect.

Reference:

https://youtu.be/dLoNkLC5FIU?t=446

I opted to not make this push opponents because Isaac already has move, and the spells don't do this in game. They do cutting damage, mostly.

Down B: Tornado - Soren sets a tornado in front of him. This remains in place for some time, but Soren can only summon one at a time. This acts similar to how N64 tornados worked in Smash 64, sending opponents upwards. It also acts as a barrier, absorbing (but not reflecting) enemy projectiles. It can so be placed in the air, and Soren will stall for a brief moment while summoning it. This is meant to be a trap / stage control tool for Soren to creatively interract with. I don't expect it to kill easily unless it happens to be summoned very high up

Adept Down B - Twins Tornadoes - It ultimately acts as one entity, but this is two tornadoes being intertwined, covering slightly more space. It deals more knockback, and it can kill off the top of the screen. Adding an ice effect could in fact make it very close to Rexcalibur, justifying its power in lore.

Reference:

https://youtu.be/AEOfO3_HCsw?t=680

Reference for the way Tornado can be set in the air:

https://youtu.be/nAcZS6d6uwQ?t=61

Being a strategist, I would expect Soren to not always take a direct approach. Unlike Robin, he is actually smart.

Up B: Rising Elwind - This is taken from Robin. Same recovery.

Adept Up B: Rising Wind Finisher - Soren rises as he normally does, but he twirls in around, coated in a tornado. This does hits the target as it rises like a drill piercing the heavens, but Soren goes in special fall as opposed to when he uses a normal Rising Elwind.

The reason for the special fall trade-off despite this being a boosted move is that this is an attack that hit both in front and behind him, and would make recovery a lot easier. It did not seem balanced to let him unleash a powerful attack and then move immediately after.

Normal moves:

Jab: Very simple two wind slashes in front of Soren and then an exploding burst of wind, horizontal KB.

Dash attack: Shiek style cross slash with ams, but you use very close transparent green sword trails to emulate wind. Falco’s Brawl dash attack is also similar in that regard.

The rationale goes hand in hand with Soren being a relatively fast mage and using his abilities creatively.

Smashes:

Forward Smash: Imagine a tornado turned to the side. From his palm. Not huge, but has more range than your average smash attack. Multi-hit.

Reference:

https://youtu.be/cUwjrIU9AsE?t=82

(“OH SOREN, ALWAYS LOST IN YOUR BOOKS!”. Masterclass voice acting)

Down Smash: takes a step back while turning a bit, ice spouts from the ground. It lets Soren take a step back while erecting a brief ice barrier.

Reference:

https://youtu.be/nAcZS6d6uwQ?t=48

Up Smash: Raises arm, winds rise around him, trapping enemies toward him and up, then ice explosion.

The rationale with using more ice for smash attacks is because high level wind magic in PoR is ice-based. As such, seems better for kill moves.

Tilts:

Forward tilt: Horizontal hand gesture, nit unlike Zelda. Sends up and behind Soren. Green sword trail / transparent.

Up tilt: swing arm in a wide arc starting low in front of him and then going in front of him. Use green transparent sword trail to emulate wind. Anti-air. Another alternative is actually one based off Falco’s Brawl up tilt, where he would use two sword trail wind strikes as he spins. While the former has some utility, I do think that the later is a more creative move.

Down tilt: Soren takes a hidden knife from his large sleeves and slashes with it, putting it back afterwards. Not amazing damage, but would work as a makeshift jab-reset and weaker Roy D-tilt (e.g. only good at popping up at high percents).

Reference:

https://youtu.be/nAcZS6d6uwQ?t=43

(With obviously way less range)

Aerials:

Neutral air: In order to use the aesthetics of Soren's large sleeves, I would have Soren spin in a full circle with two sword trails (one at each arm). This would allow Soren to continue juggling airborne enemies. Part of me wonders if a Pikachu style single trail that works like his up air could work, otherwise.

Reference:

https://youtu.be/nAcZS6d6uwQ?t=39

Forward air: Wolverine style cross slash motion, but with green sword trails very close to Soren. Good as off stage gimps.

Reference:

https://youtu.be/s-a3TKjv7J0?t=11

(Only the final hit with the X slash)

Back air: Two potential ideas. Either a staff strike

Reference:

https://youtu.be/AEOfO3_HCsw?t=665

Or a knife attack, from a hidden knife in Soren's sleeve. It would actually send up and a bit up and behind Soren to synergize with Up Air.

Up air: Basically Zelda Up Air but using ice. A strong kill move, stronger if sweetspot.

Down air:

Reference:

https://youtu.be/nAcZS6d6uwQ?t=99

Imagine that the sword slash is a wind trail instead. Very diagonal. Ground to air intercept. Pops upwards, slightly back. The tip of the trail is a meteor or weak spike. Slows descent briefly as it comes out (wind is pushing back at his descent)

The point of most aerials is to combo / try and set up the almighty up air kill. So it is all about messing with the opponent's positioning.

Grabs:

Trap foes in transparent wind bonds

Pummel: Cutting wind slashes.

Forward throw: Wind palm strike

Up throw: Trap in tornado throw up.

Down throw: wind slams opponent to the ground. Crushes foe with a little multi-hit damage, then bounces off ground. Could also alternatively be like Snake's dowm throw; wind crushes foe to ground, put in lying down position. Could punish late reaction with down tilt as a jab reset.

Back Throw: A bit like Zero back throw, dashes behind opponent and wind blasts then backwards.

Rationale is that he’s physically weak. He should not be able to lift Donkey Kong. So no physical throws.

Voice clips:

Can be taken from Fire Emblem heroes of other Kyle McCarley voice clips. "Are you ready to die?" Seems like one of the quotes we could use for an adept strike.