Relius Clover/Move List

Relius Clover, like Carl, works in tandem with his puppet in order to deal massive amounts of damage. Unlike Carl, who uses Nirvana specifically for trapping the opponent in between the two of them and going for pseudo-unblockable setups, Relius uses Ignis as a pressure and frame trap tool, and can apply pressure from both in front or on both-sides of the opponent with Ignis. In the hands of an expert player, Relius’ offense can become almost impossible to counter or predict without the use of meter, along with powerful usage of being able to dismiss and summon Ignis on-screen and off-screen whenever he needs/wants.

Relius’ moves are a bit odd at first glance, but one thing is clear: he is meant to be as close as possible to the opponent. Many of his normals have very small hitboxes that belie their sprites. His 5B, for example, can be chained into 5C, but to get the full two hits on the 5C you must be standing right next to the opponent. Instead of Carl’s dodging roll (Vivace), Relius has a stationary dodging maneuver thus adding to his versatile offense.

Relius’ Drive, Detonator (デトネーター), allows him to summon and recall Ignis. Ignis is also automatically summoned through many of Relius’ special attacks and Distortions. The main purpose of Ignis is to add damage to normally-weak combos and to force 50/50 frame traps on the opponent if they block.

Relius’ Overdrive is Maxim Dance (マキシムダンス), which speeds up Ignis’ recharge rate.

The use of Ignis is the defining, yet most difficult point of Relius because there are so many combo and frame trap possibilities at your disposal that it can get very confusing at times. If you let yourself get confused, you will most likely drop a combo or get predictable, which is very bad news for Relius, but on the flipside can reward him with solid damage resets in tandem with okizeme and vortex setups. However, compared to Nirvana, Ignis can focus on playing a footsies game from any distance on the fly due to being able to levitate alongside Relius.

Also unlike his son, Relius has moves that summon Ignis/invoke Ignis’ actions much more frequently, as his Ignis-based moves are not exclusive to the D button. This is both a good thing and a bad thing, as Relius can call Ignis out at unexpected times for quick hit-confirms and always have her at the ready, but must remember which moves will involve her and thus, have a chance to put her into a dangerous situation; which is either from spamming too many Ignis-based moves or frequently putting her in harm’s way.

Relius’ main weaknesses are his lack of defensive options and average stamina. His only true and reliable reversal is his Req Vinum (レク・ヴィノム) Distortion, which, like all wakeup Distortions, can be easily predicted and punished. Unlike Carl, who has reliable overheads and a tick-throw option with Nirvana, Relius has only a lone overhead command normal done by himself (much like his son) and two unlikely overheads done with Ignis, along with a slow-startup low attack with her. This forces him to rely more on frame traps and baiting as opposed to actual mixup.

More so however, Relius also has limited mobility options, so his chances at escaping pressure without system mechanics tends to be lacking. Even if he has decent footsies, Relius can’t control space that much without Ignis, for his normals despite their bulk and hitbox size, do not reach far beyond “decent” and have his own hurtbox overlap with them, much like his son’s normal attacks. His air-to-air tools also tend to be weak, as he’s more suited for air-to-ground with them.