Failnaught

Failnaught is Byleth's Neutral Special Move. Byleth uses their bow, Failnaught, to fire an arrow, with its damage and knockback dependant on how long the player charges it.

Overview[]

This move, when used with no charge, launches an arrow with moderate distance, deals fair damage, and deals fair knockback. This move is not easily spammable due to the fact that it has a decent amount of startup lag and usually requires charging to be strong. If the player decides to charge the move by holding down the special button, streaks of light will shine from Byleth's bow before an arrow that looks like a beam of light is released. The arrow will have massive range, and if it manages to hit, the opponents caught in it will receive extremely high damage and knockback. Any opponent that was shielding when hit will get their shield broken. However, unlike its uncharged version, Failnaught's charged version has significantly more startup and cannot be cancelled with a shield. The fully charged version of Failnaught travels to its destination instantly. This makes it extremely easy to aim but also extremely easy to reflect if the enemy player can predict your shooting timing, as reflecting in this case does not require calculating how long the projectile will take to get to the reflecting enemy as the bullet gets there instantly. This also means it's impossible to dodge if reflected, and because of its heavy damage and knockback, it is very punishing to get hit by your own bullet in this case. Fully charged Failnaught shots are considered energy-based projectiles and thus will not follow the curves of the Super Mario Galaxy map and can be absorbed by Ness and Lucas’ PSI Magnet. This, however, means the bullet cannot be pocketed.