Counter
Counter in Ultimate
Users	Marth Roy Ike Lucina Chrom
Universe	Fire Emblem
Article on Fire Emblem Wiki	Counter

Counter (カウンター, Counter) is the down special move for Fire Emblem fighters Marth, Roy, Ike, Lucina, and Chrom.

Overview

It is used as a counterattack to redirect damage and knockback at the attacker when the user is hit. In addition, the move serves as an excellent edgeguarding tool against opponents with predictable recoveries.

Marth

Marth's Counter in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Marth's countering stance has him face away while holding the Falchion slanted downward in reverse grip, and counterattacks with an outward slash in normal grip (akin to a composite version of his first input neutral attack and dash attack). His Counter starts-up faster and lasts twice as long as Roy's Counter, but deals a flat 7% damage and low knockback regardless of the attack, while Roy's is a damage multiplier (1.5×) capable of high knockback. Upon a successful counterattack, he might say "そこだ！" ("There!"), "見切った！" ("I've read you!"), or "させるものか！" ("Like I'll let you!"). In Ultimate, the latter voice clip has been changed to "させない！" ("I won't let you!").

Marth's Counter in Brawl has the same animation as in Melee. It has been generally buffed in terms of utility, now reflecting back 1.1× of the original attack's damage, with a minimum damage of 8%, as opposed to a flat 7%, and allowing him to deliver a OHKO to anyone close to him should he counterattack a strong enough hitbox. It retains its fast startup and long duration, but has lost the ability to deflect projectiles behind him. Curiously, it can be used on any vacuum created by an attack, such as Kirby's Inhale.

In Super Smash Bros. 4 Marth's Counter once again has the same animation as in Melee and Brawl. It has been buffed again, dealing more knockback and now reflecting back ×1.2 the original attack's damage. However, it can no longer be activated by vacuum attacks. In the game's release, there existed a bug where, if Marth were to use Counter just after being ledge trumped, he would propel backwards, which mostly resulted in him being KO'd. This glitch was patched in update 1.0.4. Interestingly enough, instead of using quotes for a successful counterattack, he now uses the generic grunts when he attacks. The reason for this change is unknown. His counterattacking quotes, however, can still be found in the Sound Test.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Marth's Counter retains the same stance and attack animation as in SSB4. However, it no longer has him merely use his standard attack grunts during the actual counterattack, as his counterattack quotes from Brawl have returned with new voice clips; in particular, he now has English-language quotes for successfully countering an attack, uttering "My turn!", "Predictable!", or "Nice try!" when doing so. Both Counter and the counterattack have increased ending lag, making the move easier to punish if whiffed, and limiting its utility in edgeguarding, respectively; however, the counterattack has faster startup.

Roy

Roy counters Falcon Punch in Melee.

Roy's counterattack in Super Smash Bros. Melee has him rear down a bit as he holds the Binding Blade in a front pointed, upwards-and-reverse grip for his countering stance (while also having his arm bracing across his neck), and counterattacks with an inward slash, while still holding in a reverse grip. His Counter deals 1.5× the original attack's damage, and deals more knockback when striking with the full blade, but has very slightly slower start-up, and lasts for a shorter time than Marth's, which makes it unable to be used for as immediate countering, but can be drastically more damage and knockback compared to Marth's Counter. Since only damage is copied from a countered attack, and not knockback scaling, some attacks will deal less knockback when countered, such as the forward smash of a Home-Run Bat. This applies to future games' counterattacks. If used in conjunction with Mr. Game & Watch's Oil Panic, it is the most powerful non-charged attack in Melee, delivering an OHKO (if Oil Panic has absorbed the highest possible amount of damage, which is 250% damage and also delivers an OHKO). His quotes are different from Marth's during a successful counterattack, either grunting or saying "いまだ!" ("Now!") or "そこ!" ("There!").

In Super Smash Bros. 4, Roy's Counter has a different animation: his countering stance is much different, now holding the Binding Blade in reverse grip while pointing it downward while standing upright. The counter slash itself is changed to a reaping swat to Roy's right side (from two-handed-to-one-handed). It has been buffed in the transition from Melee, gaining more counter frames, increased knockback, and range, but its damage multiplier was reduced to ×1.35; this still leaves Roy's Counter with the highest damage multiplier (barring Shulk's Vision with Buster active, which has a ×1.82 multiplier). Unlike Marth and Ike, his counterattacking quotes (and grunt) remain intact. Roy's counter was also given the unique effect of dealing mildly less knockback while airborne.

In Ultimate, Roy's Counter retains its stance and attack animation from the previous installment. Additionally, Roy's lines are now dubbed into English, as he may utter "Now!" or "Gotcha!" when successfully countering an attack. Roy's Counter has a longer duration, and the counterattack has increased knockback that makes it even stronger.

Ike

Ike's Counter in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Ike's counterattack stance has him holds Ragnell right in front of himself in reverse grip, and he counterattacks with an inward slash while still holding it in reverse grip. Like Roy in Melee, Ike's Counter is not as fast as Marth's (the counterattack frames start 5 frames after Marth's), meaning it cannot be used for immediate countering, but the countering stance lasts for the same duration as Marth and has the same duration of counter frames, which gives it less vulnerability after the counter frames end due to its slightly slower activation. His counterattack has greater range and knockback than Marth's, and reflects back ×1.2 the original attack's damage, with the minimum damage being 10%. Upon a successful counterattack, he will shout "You're open!" In Japanese, he will shout "あまい!" ("Naive!").

In Super Smash Bros. 4, Ike's Counter has the same animation as in Brawl. It now activates slightly faster, now leaving him one frame less vulnerable at startup, and is the counterattack with the second-longest counter window, behind Lucario's Double Team and Shulk's Vision when fresh.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Ike's Counter behaves similarly to in previous iterations, but now has a blue flame effect. Additionally, Ike has new quotes in English when successfully performing a counterattack: Ike's Path of Radiance version says "Gotcha!", while his Radiant Dawn version says "Amateur!" Mechanically, Ike's counter has received multiple changes that significantly hinders its effectiveness: its counter duration is 2 frames shorter, and the counter has 15 extra frames of ending lag. This, along with its frame 9 startup, makes it one of the slowest counterattacks in Ultimate overall, which hinders his already poor defensive options.

Lucina

Lucina hitting Robin with her counter in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

As a clone of Marth, Lucina has the same Counter that he does, with the same 1.2× multiplier as well. The main difference setting it apart from Marth's Counter is the animation, as her countering stance mirrors her battle stance in Fire Emblem: Awakening, which is further referenced in her official artwork and her up taunt (though it instantly shifts to Marth's counter stance before she counters), and the counterattacking slash is in a more upward arc while she is kneeling during the active hitbox window. The altered animation for Lucina's Counter causes it to have noticeably shorter horizontal range in front of her than Marth's Counter. Before update 1.0.8 in SSB4, she used the generic grunts when she attacks upon a successful counterattack; after said update (as well as in Ultimate), she may say either "You're mine!" or "My turn!". In Japanese, she may say either "そこ!" ("There!") or "隙あり!" ("An opening!"). In Ultimate, Lucina's Counter shares the changes made to Marth's version.

Chrom

Chrom's Counter in Ultimate.

As an Echo Fighter of Roy, Chrom has the same Counter that he does, using the exact same stance and counterattack animation as well. Also, Chrom shares Roy's ×1.35 damage multiplier on his counterattack. Chrom also shares Roy's effect of dealing less knockback while airborne. Unlike Roy however, Chrom's counterattack does not have flame properties, and it has lower base knockback but even higher knockback scaling, making it weaker against weaker attacks, but stronger against more powerful ones. When successfully countering an attack, Chrom may utter "No way!" or "Not today!" in English.

Instructional quotes

Sokuhō Sumabura Ken!!		Counter. Block the enemy’s attack with the sword and strike back. Anyway, it feels good
		The counter deals damage proportionally to the attack the opponent used, but the window to activate the move is actually half the length of Marth's.
instruction booklet		Block the enemy's attack with the sword.
Smash Bros. DOJO!!		If an opponent lands an attack on you while Marth is in his counter stance, he’ll deflect the blow and strike back with a quick counterattack. [It] delivers damage at 1.1 times the power of the attack he was hit with and will always do a minimum of 8% damage. Regardless of the damage dealt, counters will not knock back opponents any further than the attack deflected.
case foldout		Prepare for an attack, and strike back if hit.
		Counter an opponent's attack. Power is based on strength of enemy's attack.
fighter tips		The move is a little slow to start and only lasts a short while, but if used successfully on an incoming attack, it can deal 1.35x damage back at the enemy.
Move List		Prepares for an attack and strikes back if hit. The power depends on the enemy's attack.
		Prepares for an attack and strikes back if hit. The power depends on the enemy's attack.
		Readies himself and turns aside any attack, sending it back against his foe, with greater force.
		Adopts a stance and counterattacks with greater force than the received attack.
		Blocks and counters an attack. The strength of the opponent's strike decides the strength of the counter.

Customization

Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the variations:

Marth and Lucina

1. Counter	2. Easy Counter	3. Iai Counter
"Prepare for an attack and strike back if hit. The power depends on your enemy's attack." "If timed correctly, dodges an attack, then strikes back. The power depends on your enemy's attack."	"Your counter stance lasts longer, but the attack power is lower." "Counters more easily, but the strength of the counter-attack is reduced."	"A successful counter knocks opponents behind you. Faster but does less damage." "If timed correctly, knocks the attacking opponent behind you with a swift forward dash and slice."

1. Counter	2. Easy Counter	3. Iai Counter
"Prepare for an attack and strike back if hit. The power depends on your enemy's attack." "If timed correctly, dodges an attack, then strikes back. The power depends on your enemy's attack."	"Your counter stance lasts longer, but the attack power is lower." "Counters more easily, but the strength of the counter-attack is reduced."	"A successful counter knocks opponents behind you. Faster but does less damage." "If timed correctly, sends opponents flying off behind you. Deals less damage than normal."

1. Counter: Default.
2. Easy Counter: Expanded hit window, but deals less damage.
3. Iai Counter (known as Rush Counter in the PAL version): Is faster, knocks opponents backwards, and has a higher damage multiplier (1.2× → 1.3×) and launch power. However, it has a considerably narrower hit window, lower minimum damage (8% → 6%), and the counter strike has slightly more ending lag.

Ike

1. Counter	2. Paralyzing Counter	3. Smash Counter
"Block and counter an attack. The strength of your strike depends on your foe's attack." "Blocks and counters an enemy attack. The strength of your counter depends on their attack."	"A counter that paralyzes enemies instead of dealing damage." "Paralyses enemies when you counter-attack rather than dealing damage."	"Deliver a slower, more powerful attack when countering." "Delivers a powerful but slow attack when countering."

1. Counter: Default.
2. Paralyzing Counter (known as Paralysing Counter in the PAL version): Paralyzes enemies instead of damaging them.
3. Smash Counter: The counterattack is slower, but much more powerful, with a damage multiplier of ×1.5. It will result in an OHKO if Ike counters a very strong attack (a hitbox that deals around 30% damage). Similar to Roy's Counter in Melee.

Roy

Like the other DLC characters, Roy has no custom move variations.

1. Counter
" The strength of this counterattack relates to how strong the triggering attack was. Turn aside any attack while in this stance, then send it back against your foe with greater force! Any attack sent at you while in this stance will be turned back at the enemy with added force."

1. Counter: Default.

Origin

An enemy brigand misses his attack, and Marth counterattacks.

Ike activating Counter in Path of Radiance.

Counter was conceived to emulate Fire Emblem's turn-based gameplay within the real-time combat of Smash; reflecting the battle phases that oscillate between player attacks and enemy attacks.^[1][2] Further, in all games of the series, when a unit attacks another unit, the targeted unit will perform a counter-attack to strike back at their attacker if they currently have an equipped weapon with a compatible range. There are also skills that can provide benefits when attacked, such as Vantage, which allows characters to attack first if its conditions are met. However, at the time of Melee, no skill directly increased the damage dealt to an enemy when under attack.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance introduced the identically-named Counter skill, which returns an amount of damage dealt to the skill's user to the enemy. The skill does not exist in Marth or Roy's native games, however, and their appearance in Melee predates its introduction. In both of Ike's games the Counter skill can be assigned to him through the use of the Counter scroll item. Through re-classing to the Warrior class, Marth, Roy, and Ike can all obtain the Counter skill as bonus units in Fire Emblem Awakening; however, Lucina is unable to obtain Counter under any circumstances, as it is exclusive to male units, and her father, Chrom, cannot pass it down to her either, both because he does not have access to the Warrior class and because Aether is the only skill he can pass down to his daughters even if he did.

Gallery

• 

  Marth using Counter against Captain Falcon in Melee.
• 

  Roy, countering Marth's attack in Melee.
• 

  Marth's Counter in Brawl.
• 

  Ike's Counter in Brawl.
• 

  Marth's Counter in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
• 

  Marth hitting Ike with his counter.
• 

  Ike, about to strike Marth with his counter.
• 

  Roy Countering Pac-Man's Key.
• 

  Marth using Counter as shown by the Move List in Ultimate.
• 

  Lucina using Counter as shown by the Move List in Ultimate.
• 

  Roy using Counter as shown by the Move List in Ultimate.
• 

  Chrom using Counter as shown by the Move List in Ultimate.
• 

  Ike using Counter as shown by the Move List in Ultimate.

Names in other languages

Language	Name
Japanese	カウンター, Counter
English	Counter
French	Contre
German	Konter
Spanish (PAL)	Contrataque (Ike) Bloqueo (Marth, Lucina, Roy, Chrom)
Spanish (NTSC)	Contrataque (Marth , Roy, Ike, Lucina) Bloqueo (Marth , Chrom)
Italian	Scudo (Marth, Ike, Lucina) Contromossa (Roy, Chrom)
Chinese (Simplified)	反击
Chinese (Traditional)	反擊
Portuguese	Contra-Ataque
Korean	카운터, Counter
Dutch	Counter
Russian	Контрудар

Trivia

Ike Blocking Marth's Critical Hit

• In SSB4, every character's Counter contains a window of invincibility during the first few frames of activation. As such, they can block a very strong attack (like Critical Hit) without taking damage.
• In Brawl and SSB4, Ike has an unused Counter quote ("Gotcha!") in the Sound Test. There also exist unused sounds in Ike's voice bank intended for his version of Counter, where he shouts "Take this!" or "You're through!". While "Gotcha!" was eventually used in Ultimate, the latter two remain unused. Lucina faced a similar situation prior to update 1.0.8 in SSB4.
• While in SSB4 Marth doesn't talk when his Counter is activated, he can be heard talking while multi-countering in Roy's trailer.
• For Marth, this is his only sword-based move that does not have any sweetspots or sourspots.
• Roy's Counter in Melee does not have a limit to its maximum damage. If 3 or 4 Roys continuously counter each other, they can drive the damage of the counter's hitbox past 512, which crashes the game. This is because hitboxes in Melee only have room to store 9 bits for damage, which equals a maximum of 511 before it overflows into other code.
• As of Ultimate, this is the most commonly-possessed of all moves in the series, with five characters sharing it.
• Counter is one of three moves to share a name and function between non-clone characters (due to Ike not being a clone of any sort to the other four users, as well as Palutena using a move with the same name and similar function). The other two are Inhale and Light Arrow.
• If the Shadow Assist Trophy freezes Marth, Lucina, Roy, Chrom, or Ike while performing Counter, the counter hitbox will remain active and trigger if hit. The frozen character will not attack until being unfrozen, but will remain intangible in the mean time.

References

• Fire Emblem universe
• Down special moves
• Marth
• Marth (SSBM)
• Marth (SSBB)
• Marth (SSB4)
• Marth (SSBU)
• Roy
• Roy (SSBM)
• Roy (SSB4)
• Roy (SSBU)
• Ike
• Ike (SSBB)
• Ike (SSB4)
• Ike (SSBU)
• Lucina
• Lucina (SSB4)
• Lucina (SSBU)
• Chrom
• Chrom (SSBU)
• Counterattacks