by Rekcuf_Nmad, Guest Contributor
Doctor’s Note: Please bear in mind this is not a replacement for a Training guide. Samus guides will be coming soon – this post is for people who are interested in spirits and would like to read about what spirits impact Samus.
If you asked most people, they would say Samus and Dark Samus ore the same character; and think the same spirit loadout and training will work for either. That might hold true to most echo fighters, but these two bounty hunters require their own playstyles and spirits when it comes to amiibo battling. I’m here to show you what you will need to consider when loading your Samus or Dark Samus with spirits, and what moves you will need to alter depending on who you choose. To begin, we will need to take a quick look at each move and what spirit(s) would assist them without.
Samus
Neutral A: Quick fist attack with an overhead swing follow-up. Physical damage or fist attack up.
Forward-Tilt: Kick, physical damage and foot damage up.
Up-Tilt: Overhead kick, Physical damage up and foot damage up.
Down-tilt: A lower fire explosion, explosion and fire damage up.
Up-Smash: A series of rapid explosions overhead, explosion and fire damage up.
Forward-Smash: A fire explosion in front, explosion and fire damage up.
Down-Smash: A leg sweep. Physical damage and foot damage up.
Neutral Special: Charge shot, electrical damage. Projectile attack increase and electrical damage up.
Forward + B (simultaneously): Super missile, explosion and fire damage up.
Holding Forward Special: Regular missile, explosion and fire damage up.
Down special: Basic bomb, explosion and fire damage up.
Up Special: Screw attack, electrical damage up
Up-Air: Spinning Kick angled up, foot and physical damage up.
Forward-Air: Series of Fire explosions, explosion and fire damage up.
Back-Air: Reverse Spinning kick, foot and Physical damage up.
Down-Air: Down arm cannon spike, physical damage or fist attack up.
Throw (All): Trade off is the only spirit I noticed to increase the damage of all throws.
Throw (Up & Down): Toss & Meteor
We can see that physical attack, foot attack, and explosion & fire damage appear the most, meaning to maximise the damage with the spirits we should focus more on those moves.
Dark Samus
Neutral A: Quick fist attack with an overhead swing follow-up. Physical damage or fist attack up.
Forward-Tilt: Kick, physical damage and foot damage up.
Up-Tilt: Overhead kick, physical damage up and foot damage up.
Down-tilt: A lower electrical explosion, electrical damage up.
Up-Smash: A series of rapid electrical overhead, electrical.
Forward-Smash: An electrical explosion in front, electrical.
Down-Smash: A leg Sweep. Physical damage and foot damage up.
Neutral Special: Charge shot, electrical damage. Projectile attack increase and electrical damage up.
Forward + B (simultaneously): Super missile, explosion and fire damage up.
Holding Forward Special: Regular missile, explosion and fire damage up.
Down special: Basic bomb, explosion and fire damage up.
Up Special: Screw attack, electrical damage up.
Up-Air: Spinning kick angled up, foot and physical damage up.
Forward-Air: Series of electrical explosions, electrical damage up.
Back-Air: Reverse spinning kick, foot and Physical damage up.
Down-Air: Down arm cannon spike, physical damage or fist attack up.
Looking at that physical attack, foot attack, and electrical damage appear the most, meaning to maximise the damage with the spirits we should focus more on those moves as well.
The most important moves for either Samus are down tilt, up smash, and forward smash, so I prioritized those; with Samus, they were all fire & explosion, which also benefits her missile attacks, meaning they could be implemented into her kit. For Dark Samus, they were all electrical, which also benefits her neutral special and up special, possibly allowing those to see some more use. Because of this, the optimal playstyle of the two Samus amiibo could be radically different if the secondary moves prove to be strong parts of their kit.
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s look at other spirits that will enhance the overall skills of the amiibo. Balance is usually best with most amiibo; however, 2200 ATK / 2000 DEF seemed to work better with the stats. As most tournaments ban the Big Five, I’m just ignore the fact those exist. Insta-drop is also fun, but it’s quite common and doesn’t fit Samus well, so I’ll ignore it for this. That leaves the different Trade-Offs; I would go with Trade-Off Ability, because the equal increases to attack, defence, and speed are great for these characters. For the second slot, adding in Move Speed alongside the Trade-Off Ability can make the amiibo extremely fast, and very hard to hit for most opponents. Other good options are Physical or Foot Attack, boosting some of the amiibo’s normal attacks. For the Third slot, you would use the options mentioned at the beginning of this document; for Samus, Fire & Explosion Attack, and for Dark Samus, Electric Attack. This bonus amplifies their main kill moves, which makes them an overall more solid amiibo.
Below I will include what I believe to be the optimal spirit ability list for Samus and Dark Samus, as well as notes about how their training should change to account for the differences.
Optimal Samus:
Trade-Off Ability +
Move Speed +
Explosion and Fire Damage +
Changes to training: Do not use Up-Special as much, instead try to hit more with missile/super missile in the Air to close the gap and to edge guard. If you need to hit above you, up-smash works well and with the right timing is quite effective. It won’t use it constantly like another amiibo we all know, but it can use it well to edge guard and get close to let Samus do their thing.
Optimal Dark Samus:
Trade Off-Ability +
Move Speed +
Electric Attack +
Changes to training: Up-Special, use it, a lot. Amiibo have issues with multi-hit attacks, and the Screw attack is no exception. It has a long lasting hitbox and is a multi-hit. Again, Amiibo do not do well with Multi-hits so with the increased movement speed from Trade Off-Ability and Move speed; it can come out from nowhere and then the increased damage from electrical attacks just makes it amazing. You can also use down-tilt and up-tilt to launch your opponent into the air and try to hit them with up special to combo into more damage. It is possible to train the amiibo to do that.
Amiibo Doctor 