Zero vs. Fenri Lunaedge: Claw vs. Claw

Which of the two fierce combatants is a more adept claw user? Let’s find out. This is a 100-point run of Fenri Lunaedge’s stage, the Hibernation Chamber, with the stipulation that I must steal a Variant Claw’s weapon ASAP and use it to clear the stage without any additional weapons or equipment, or at least, no functional equipment. The shining silver color palette Zero’s varnished with is purely aesthetic, and anything that would be beneficial, such as Spike Type I, is forsaken. Starting things off, the claw-only stipulation means that I can’t use the charged Knuckle to tear through the single Variant Fire blocking my ability to ascend straight up the wall, so I’m forced to take the slightly more circuitous route across the collapsed stairs. In this stage, the Variant Claw leap out of dense snow piles, launching indestructible ice chunks to their sides. With the Saber, it’s possible to leap over, cut through the enemy, and avoid the shards in a single move. However, with the charged Knuckle’s lackluster range, that same operation becomes prohibitively difficult, so I make a minor concession to speed for the sake of a massive increase in consistency. Without access to an attack that can evaporate the snow piles, only the top path toward GearBank is accessible. Three more Variant Claw await, but they’re grouped closely enough that only the third one can be sped past with a bounding jump and diagonal claw strike. Once indoors, I take the rare opportunity to demonstrate a hilarious stage hazard kill. After lowering the elevator, standing a specific distance away from the Variant Fire lures it into a precarious position where it gets crushed by the ceiling after sending the elevator upward. En route to the ice segment, I swipe at as many enemies as is feasible without losing much time. Technically, some of the enemy kills are superfluous, but having already lost one run due to GearBank summoning fewer enemies than expected, I wanted to eliminate that as an avenue for failure. Recall that I do not have the spike boots equipped, so while the ice segment comprises an iota of the stage’s total runtime, it presents a rigorous challenge, demanding adroit inputs and phenomenal spacing. After shattering the first icicle, the only way to maintain flow while descending is to perform a series of delayed dash jumps while simultaneously ripping through enemies with acute claw strikes. For the uninitiated, delayed dash jumps are a technique where Zero gains dash momentum after jumping. One of the benefits of this technique is that it allows Zero to ignore terrain that would otherwise encumber his movement. The input window is 4 frames wide—pressing jump and dash on the same frame works, and a 3-frame grace period to press dash after jumping exists afterward. The first jump of the descent is a special kind of brutal; sinking Zero past the ledge and icicle in one smooth motion is easily the single hardest maneuver in the run. Thankfully, the rest of the ceilings that bear icicles on the way down are considerably taller, obviating the demand for high-precision movement. Even so, I tragically fumbled several attempts after clearing that first hurdle by mistiming my delayed dash jumps, halting Zero’s momentum. Concerning the claw as a weapon, it mimics both the Triple Rod and the Chain Rod: it has the 8-directional attacking capabilities of the former, while its impressive range resembles that of the latter. These properties, along with its strength outclassing basic Saber swings, make it a prime candidate for shredding GearBank. Leaving one SerpentGear of the initial marching band alive affords a wealth of time to annihilate the hatches. I delay the end of the fight a smidgen just to ensure that the bizarre machine conjures enough gears to meet the 100-point requirement. The second half of the stage is largely unremarkable compared to the first. Failed attempts here result from a lack of planning rather than resulting from some strenuous, input-heavy movement. It’s important to ascertain a consistent approach to the elevator section and especially to the Mettaur-laden conveyors; it’s surprisingly easy to careen into one of the adorable mascots with heedless jumping. I’ve detailed Fenri’s pattern extensively in the past, so a quick summary is that the type of jump he does reveals what his next attack will be. A high jump means that he’ll leap around the arena launching slashes, a low jump to the corner results in ice clones, and a low jump slightly ahead of the corner portends his EX Skill. His wheel Kirby/Sonic impersonation has a long wind-up; reaction is sufficient to avoid it. More pressing are Fenri’s direct lunge at Zero and his close-range stab whenever the wheel attack ends with him in the center of the arena. A well-timed wall jump over him can avoid both, but it’s still an iffy affair. Fenri is incapable of using the same attack successively, so use that advantage to read him properly. Thanks for watching!