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Vanda

Vanda was born as Aether's response to the combined suffering of creatures in the timeline that lost the flame. As the living embodiment of agony it wanders, searching to violently snuff out any trace of sadness or anger.




==Help me make this character even better!==
I'm always looking for more opinions and gameplay footage to analyze. I strongly encourage you to join the Vanda public Discord to contribute feedback and match VODs:
https://discord.gg/jZYA4DpUCT

I'm especially eager to get this character into some tournaments. If you are a tournament organizer looking for new characters to include, please give Vanda a shot! You have my full permission. Just be sure to DM @sirc on Discord so I know where to get involved.

You'll also find a breakdown of the character's moveset there. While I've tried to make Vanda's complex mechanics as easy to understand as possible through gameplay, some things are just better understood when explained. Here's a brief summary:

Up Special
A simple recovery technique where you control your angle angle of movement. It has no hitboxes, so you will have to rely on your movement and small hurtbox to get back to stage safely.

Forward Special
On the ground, Vanda will prepare to leap off the ground as long as the Special button is held. Vanda can delay the leap or even feint it entirely based on how long you hold the button. Upon letting go of Special, Vanda will extend its arms and wildly fling them forwards in the air. It then falls quickly to the ground, spiking opponents along the way. Vanda can only cancel the fall by walljumping.

In the air, Vanda rebounds off a summoned pentagram and glides through the air on its tattered wings. This is a great horizontal recovery tool that can also be cancelled by jumping, airdodging, or using an aerial normal. Vanda can also use NSpecial in this state!

Neutral Special
Vanda lobs a projectile from its mouth that flies in an arc and sticks to enemies before exploding. Charge up the angle of the arc by holding NSpecial; press dodge to store your charge. While charging, let go of special to release the projectile. A fully charged projectile flies straight. Opponents can hit the projectile back at Vanda, but if they are hit it will stick to them and detonate after a short delay.

If the projectile has been hit by any player, it will instead become "armed" and detonate instantly on the first thing it touches. If the projectile touches the ground without sticking or being hit, it will turn into a manual-detonation mine. Once in place, press NSpecial again to detonate it. Vanda can uproot the mine with DAir, FAir, or FStrong.

Down Special
The true gimmick of the character. Vanda readies itself to perform a sacrifice. The body becomes a menu where the player can select the head, arms, or legs. Upon making a selection, Vanda's skin rips apart, revealing flesh. The mutilated body part correlates to a respective move: Up Special, Forward Special, or Neutral Special, respectively. The chosen special move can no longer be used, and Vanda receives more knockback -- but in exchange, Vanda receives a buff to a specific part of their movement.

Sacrifice head = Sacrifice USpecial = Gain improved vertical aerial movement (and +2 double jumps)
Sacrifice torso = Sacrifice FSpecial = Gain improved horizontal aerial movement
Sacrifice legs = Sacrifice NSpecial = Gain improved grounded movement


A project 2.5 years in the making...
Vanda offers an enormous amount of versatility and choices, making it suitable to fight against nearly any foe. However, the goal will always be to balance the character around competitive viability at base cast strength. With so many different character states, this is a huge challenge! That is why your feedback means so much... Please stop by the Discord and join in on the conversation.


I'd like to thank a few special people here, whose contributions made this character possible:
ArtistOfSeer, whose animations are truly top-notch and really bring Vanda's feral animosity to life!

Bumblebomb, Shengon, and Ydrick for internal playtesting and feedback. Their experience steered the character towards that base-cast feeling I'm always aiming for.

Archytas, for answering all kinds of technical questions back when I was still piecing this character together and for giving me the initial inspiration that led to how the character looks.

Muno, for developing the MunoPhone and its iterations. Its versatility saved more time than I could possibly have imagined.

Hyuponia, for making the RoA Alt Colors webpage. Massive time saver!

The ExW Discord, for its wealth of historical discussions and troubleshooting I could search any time I like. Plus the great community as a whole -- I rarely interact but I do lurk.