Why NO ONE Plays: Shulk | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Sorry for taking so long with this episode but we're finally back with another episode of Why NO ONE Plays for Smash Ultimate. Today's installment features Shulk!

~Editor (Mash)~

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#SSBU #WhyNoOnePlays #Shulk

[elpickler]

"Shulk approaches situations much more dynamically"
Meanwhile, the clip is showing 2 speed shulks repeatedly just, nairing each other's shield over and over. Very dynamic.

[firstwaddledee]

The big hinderance for Shulk’s popularity is really difficulty. I enjoy learning all these character specific techs but there aren’t many others who would put in that much time on a character especially if it isn’t their main.

[floofzykitty]

Buster's reduced kill power is actually often a strength. With reduced knockback, the percent brackets your hits send opponents too far away shift up slightly, essentially allowing you to continue using combos that rack up high damage where base Shulk would knock them too far away.

[jonathanlgill]

Shulk main. This was a great overview, and I particularly like that you mentioned his handling. He 'feels clunky' when you pick him up. One thing I would add, though, that contributes to this impression is his horrendous air acceleration. Every characters can, in the air, change their current trajectory by drifting forwards/backwards on the control stick. Shulk can too, but his ability to adjust his trajectory is minimal, and it's not helped with any of the Monado Arts. Basically, even his jumps feel commital, because he's basically on a linear trajectory from the moment he inputs the jump. For a character who cares so much about spacing, that's a major hinderance.

(There's also a few other things to note, but much smaller: Air Slash won't autograb the ledge unless you've timed it for a fairly precise sweetspot. And his Vision (counter) is notoriously unreliable. There's a decent amount of 'jank' Shulk mains have to fight against when they play the character.)

[TuWear]

So in conclusion, Shulk has a steep learn curve with high risk, high reward mechanics. No wonder I never get upset when I lose to Shulk

[PsQueak]

Bro, true freaking story here, I turned on the game one time and went to character select just to see that he's there. LOL. I was thinking of the whole "Everyone is here!" tagline and was like, "What about Shulk?". Yeah, he was there, and I don't remember ever playing against one. I don't even remember _unlocking_ _him_ .

[zartoru_]

Shulk is like the strongest character in the game if you've perfectly mastered him and have irl monados so you can predict future

Same case as sheik, on paper they are broken, but in reality they're too difficult to play and master

[penguin]

This is 100% true. Picked up shulk early due to how “easy” he was, but when I got to higher levels I realized that he was insanely hard and I spend a long time trying to grind him. Now, I still main him after years, and still can barely remember the order of the monado arts

[ShadowDante]

Honestly I like Shulk, he’s a pretty underrated Swordfighter

[thehypist]

Great vid, as a Shulk Main I can say most of your points are accurate. He’s not an instant easy-mode pick like Joker or Aegis, you actually have to learn more than just BNB combos to fully grasp the Monado’s Power. I love playing him, not just cause I’m a Xenoblade fan but it’s satisfying to get a Buster string into Smash read.

His mobility arts are also satisfying, it’s always tempting to go for a Nair > Fair train offstage with Speed, or edgeguard with Jump. And of course the best part is denying zero to deaths with the Shield Art cheese.

All in all, Shulk is definitely one of the best characters but HAS to be practiced. He’s my favorite character though and I’m so happy that he’s good in Ultimate.

[amphicyon]

One aspect I think is important with Shulk is that moment to moment decision making from players becomes telegraphed due to the Monado Arts. Whenever an art switch comes up, your opponent knows exactly what strategy you are going for, and can adapt to counter it much more directly than other characters. Watch a recent Shuton vs Kome set, and you can see Shuton switch styles whenever Kome changes arts.

[GeoCaesar]

It’s honestly funny about how many people are apprehensive about playing Shulk, he’s actually pretty easy to pick up, it’s really just mastering him that’s difficult, but what you can do with him as someone learning him is really fun

[Conrad_the_renegade]

I actually changed mains to Shulk over a year ago. I still don’t feel like I’ve scratched the surface of his Monados. Dial storage isn’t the easiest thing in the world and he lacks a good mash option for online. But I’m staying with it Bc I just really like this character

[animecatbaby]

My Dad plays a lot of Smash and he only played Shulk for 1, 5 years, but he NEVER used Monado arts and still was able to win in Elite Smash.
On a Mid level you actually can do very good with Basic Shulk, he ist still a solid Charakter

[banbanthebandit]

Personally I love how shulk’s art cooldowns mimic how shulks arts are used in his home game. You gotta be careful not to waste your arts in case something bad happens and you ain’t got the art to deal with it, it’s amazing how the way shulk plays in xenoblade was so well translated to smash. Yes I’m a shulk main how could you tell.

[ekh.]

It was always strange to me that despite Shulk’s massive potential (and cheese—Thanks, Monado Arts changing while in hitstun), Shulk has only a few select pros that play him and do well with him at all. Now that you explained it, I totally feel the same whenever I play Shulk out of random pick in arenas. Those highs are so amazing when they land, but it’s incredibly frustrating when the opponent doesn’t die at around 150% and Smash art is on cooldown. Or when I need to rack up damage, yet I get too greedy with Buster and take 100% for it or Speed Art causes me to zoom past the enemy I was trying to combo. I still think Shulk is fun to play, but he’s a little too unwieldy for my tastes.

Oh btw, I’m curious if you’re gonna eventually make a “Why Only MKLeo Plays Byleth” video, or just the standard “Why No One Plays Byleth” episode.

[YumiBow]

I would love to see one on Rosalina, a really interesting fall from grace since Smash 4

[TheEmperorGulcasa]

I think the biggest problem with Shulk is that his performance floor is low. If his Monado are not used he's a fairly slow swordie. His long range is great but his moves are really sluggish. Worse, if you're using the wrong Monado at the time, you're even disadvantaged for the scenario you are in. Jump or Shield art when trying to do damage and you're not racking up much. Smash art when you got thrown off the stage and your recovery is worse now. This means if your Monado management slips up at all, you're suddenly a very mediocre character.

The difference compared to the Aegis, is that Mythra's base properties are great. Her kill power isn't even that bad with her extremely fast smashes and lightning buster still able to close out stocks at decent percents. So if you can't maximize Pyra due to whatever is going on, just staying in Mythra gives you an astounding baseline. Similarly Joker is a great character even without Arsen and even if you fail to ever maximize Arsen you still have a reliably fast character with absurd tools like Gun. You can easily close out games with Mythra or base Joker, and it's part of why they are top tier.

When Pyra and Mythra or Joker are executing perfectly, they are godlike. When they are executing poorly they are still great. Shulk is godlike when executing perfectly but kind of mediocre when executing poorly, which makes him much less consistent. Consistency and ease of execution really are huge factors in top level play where you need to do well match after match, stock after stock, all the way to the end.

[scorinnotborin]

I would love to see a “why no one plays Pokémon trainer” so many good players have dropped them and it’s super disappointing since they are theoretically a top 5 character.

[Xel]

Can't wait to see my boys the koopalings being in one of these