#to be fair I'm practically thinking up 3 unique fighters who pretty much HAVE to be changed if they're not going to be broken

[shower-racoon]

long post below the cut because I'm considering how I would do it, personally (part 1: introduction and melee)

first, some general gimmicks.

maybe they could do something like the pokemon trainer, where the down special is switching between loadouts. one loadout has all of the double jump balloons (possible through the bundle of horseshoe balloons) + amphibian boots for jumping around, one has a pair of wings for a decent recovery move, and one has the shroomite hoverboard as a hover, for example. there is another idea I have, but we'll get there later.

since there's 3 loadouts in Terraria and 4 classes, it would be easiest (in my opinion that you're free to disagree with) to remove summoner. one loadout is melee, one is ranged, and the last is magic.

to be fair to summoners, though, there should be some form of summoner representation.

one option would be to use a whip to grab people for the final smash, then have a cutscene final smash where every summon in the game starts attacking the target (with the baby slime getting the last attack, if we want to be disrespectful).

another option would be to use a whip for the grab (similar to Steve's fishing rod), have summons do the pummel, and use a different summon for each throw. I genuinely can't decide which idea I like more, so maybe both could be implemented, and the Zenith could be in one of the win screens instead.

and then a short discussion about cosmetics.

cosmetically, there are plenty of options, to the point where it'd be a struggle to decide on which 24 sets would make the cut. since there are 18 developer sets, either they're not included at all, or there are two costumes that don't have any developer sets. no matter which costume is chosen, however, it is implied that the only difference is what's equipped to the vanity slots.

all of that said, one vanity set has to be the wedding dress. this is non-negotiable. also if at least one vanity set has the cat ears I'd be happy, but that's not a requirement. just personal preference.

now for the actual movesets, starting with melee.

(please tell me if there were better weapon choices for some of these, I really don't know what I'm talking about here and practically chose at random)

we're assuming postgame armor (solar*, nebula, and vortex), so it makes sense to assume postgame weapons, zenith not included**. but, at the same time, we don't have to follow that strictly, and grabbing from every point in progression makes for more interesting options. for example, the melee jab could be the fetid baghnakhs, dealing 0.5% per hit but being a rapid jab with very little knockback.

the dash attack would be the shield of cthulhu, dealing 10% on contact. the palladium sword for the side tilt, dealing 9.5%. the up tilt could be the gungnir, dealing 10.7% but being slow. sweet spot on the tip. down tilt could be the copper shortsword, only dealing 1.2% per hit, but it comes out fast and has little to no end lag.

neutral aerial would be swinging the sunfury, but not throwing it. 10% damage, can spike. forward air would be the cutlass, dealing 8%. comes out fast, sweet spot right in front of the user. back air would be the obsidian swordfish, dealing 13.2%. otherwise the same as the gungnir. up air would be the chain guillotines, dealing 4.5% on each hit. spikes if both guillotines hit. down air would be the jousting lance, dealing between 7.2-11.5% depending on fall duration. potentially switches to shadow jousting lance if user is at a high percent, dealing between 12.3-19.6% instead.

the side smash is the slap hand. deals 12.4% damage, but with increased knockback. up smash is a single swing of excalibur, dealing 20%. down smash is throwing the Kraken yoyo to the left and right really quickly, performing the "walk the dog" yoyo trick. deals 18.3%, but has low knockback. neutral special would be the influx waver. deals 10.7%, but fires its projectile as usual in a straight line. side special uses the trimarang, dealing 4.6% each hit. down special is, as discussed, switching between loadouts.

up special depends on which aerial mobility accessory the melee build gets: flight if it gets the wings (flight stats on par with developer wings), K.O. Cannon off of the hoverboard if it gets the hoverboard, and the solar flare if it gets the amphibian boots and jump balloons. flight does no damage, falling hoverboard does 2.3%, K.O. Cannon does 9.2% and can be used as a regular weapon when grounded. solar flare is fired at a mostly upwards diagonal, does 21.2%, and drags the target down while pulling the user upward. all three end in special fall if solar flare doesn't land. if solar flare lands, it puts you into regular fall. solar flare can also land on the edge of a platform, pulling the user up to the ledge.

I understand that this might need tweaking/alteration to be balanced while still being representative of Terraria's many weapons. but I've spent like 2 hours on this post already, which is way more than I usually put into a post. will reblog with parts 2, 3, and 4 when they're finished, but that probably won't be today.

thank you for reading this long post! part 2 will be about the ranger class.

*minus the dash and explosion upon taking damage. **if you include the zenith, you either nerf it beyond belief or give the Terrarian an instant kill move. neither is a good option unless it's the final smash.

what would the Terrarian's moveset be if they were added to smash? a nerfed* version of the Zenith has to be the final smash, of course, but what would the rest of the moveset be?

*nerfed because if it did its canon damage, it would kill from 0% even at the lowest knockback setting.