Rivals of Aether/Sylvanos

Overview

Strategy

Resources

Matchups

Story

Sylvanos is the heart of the Aetherian Forest. A rageful deity, Sylvanos has only a single goal - to expand the forest over all of Aether. Unfortunately, the great Rock Wall traps the spirit as he patrols the forest’s floor. Sylvanos leads the plant life in the forest looking for ways to expand his dominance.

Gameplay

Sylvanos is the definitive long-range specialist of Rivals of Aether. He excels at using his exceptional range and strong grounded zoning options to control games.

Overall, Sylvanos has the longest attack range in the game, featuring a wide assortment of big moves with disjointed hitboxes. Moves like Down Tilt, Short Hop Forward Air, and Jab 1/2 are great for grounded space control. Up Tilt and Up Air let him cover vertical options well as well, with the former being a strong anti-air and the latter covering a large area above Sylv in the air. Back Air is a slower option, but as the longest normal in the entire game it can cover distances other characters could only dream of. Combine this with his high run speed and you get an absolute monster in mid-range neutral and footsies.

Sylvanos's Grass lets him keep a presence across the entire stage, with the threat of moves like Howl and Beast Dash keeping opponents on their toes whenever and wherever they're in Sylvanos's territory. Flowers are a unique projectile that can cover some unconventional angles while also helping him spread Grass.

However, he's more than just a keepaway machine. Sylvanos's strong techchases and stage carry tools let him put opponents in a blender to rack up damage quickly. Moves like his Jabs, Petal Wave, and Down Tilt form a strong foundation for grounded DI/techchase mixps, and Neutral and Down Air give him pillar combos with tricky tech timing mixups to keep people trapped. On the other hand, he can have some difficulty closing out stocks once the damage is dealt.

Sylvanos's defense is undoubtedly strong, but once it is breached, things can start getting tricky. Sylvanos trades his great range for relatively poor frame data. It can be difficult for Sylvanos to win a close-range scramble situation. Similarly, his disadvantage is considered to be rather treacherous: he's a fast-falling heavyweight with a big hurtbox and limited access to good reversal options, so resetting to neutral can be quite difficult at times. His recovery tools are great for making it back to the stage, but it can often leave him vulnerable and subject to getting caught in rinse-repeat situations both offstage and at the ledge.

Sylvanos is a character of extremes in many ways. A player who can make the most of his exceptional strengths while managing his more explicit weaknesses can be a terrifying threat with a command over the match unlike anyone else.

Playstyle

Sylvanos is a control-focused heavyweight who uses long-ranged normals to zone and dominate mid-range.
Pros	Cons
Excellent Range: Sylvanos is infamous for his assortment of long-range, disjointed attacks. Key normals like Jab, Down Tilt, and Forward Air have excellent zoning potential and allow Sylvanos to out-space just about anything. Punishing Offensive Vortex: Once Sylvanos gets an opening, it can be quite difficult to escape his clutches. His techchase game centered around Jab mixups and pillar combos is very rewarding and flexible with many ways to loop options and combo routes into one another - good reactions or a few good reads can let Sylvanos rack up damage incredibly quickly. If an opponent manages to get off the ground, Sylv’s excellent juggle and edgeguard tools allow him to continue dishing out the pain. Strong Ground Presence: Sylvanos leverages his great range along with his high ground speed and his Grass to achieve excellent stage control and make it very hard for an opponent to approach him and get an opening. Survivability: Sylvanos is tied for the 2nd lowest Knockback Adjustment value, has very high air friction, and has above-average hitstun gravity, making Sylvanos quite hard to kill compared to the average RoA fighter.	Slow Frame Data: Much of Sylvanos’s kit is on the slower side in terms of both startup and recovery, meaning Sylvanos can have a hard time in scrambles and can be particularly vulnerable to whiff punishing. “Get Off Of Me!”: Sylvanos has a harder time than most other characters in point-blank combat and in disadvantage in general. His large body and poor air mobility can make him a bit of a punching bag in some combo scenarios, his reversal options are very limited, and while his recovery is great at reaching the stage it can be difficult to properly reset to neutral again due to how vulnerable Sylvanos can be during his recovery mixups and the committal nature of Burrow. Inconsistent KO Ability: Sylvanos certainly has no trouble racking up damage, but his strongest options for closing out stocks can be difficult to set up into due to their particular sweet spots and low overall speed. His faster finishers tend to be relatively weak as well. Good situational awareness and spacing are often key to landing the killing blow.

Grass and Flowers

Grass will spawn beneath Sylvanos while he is grounded. Sylvanos uses Grass for many of his Specials. This Grass will stay so long as Sylvanos is grounded, but only remains for 60 frames after Sylvanos has left the ground before disappearing. Becoming grounded again will reset this timer back to 0. You can maintain Grass using Flowers to prevent it from despawning by having one planted on the same level that the Grass exists. Grass will also persist on any surface that has a Flower planted on it.

• Jab Special Finisher (Petal Wave) creates Grass as it travels.
• To perform Up Special's bite there must be active Grass on the part of the ground where Sylvanos emerges from. Grass will also decrease the endlag of emerging out of Up Special's burrow when emerging without the Bite attack.
• Sylvanos will eat active Grass during Forward Special and is able to loop the attack for the full length of Grass by holding Special.
• Down Special spawns roots out of the Grass to attack anyone in their path, which then causes Grass to become inactive for 180 frames, after which despawning completely. Inactive Grass does not provide any of the benefits that active Grass provides and all moves or their properties which require Grass will not be usable on it.
• Using Back Air to pin into the ground or platform or by pinning into the wall counts as being grounded in regard to maintaining Grass.
• Upon being planted, a Flower will grow a small patch of Grass around itself. Likewise, this area of Grass will be destroyed if the Flower is destroyed.
• Being KOed will remove all of Sylvanos's Flowers and Grass.

Flowers can be planted with either Neutral Special or Forward Tilt. Up to three Flowers can be planted at a time. If another Flower is planted while three Flowers already exist on stage, the oldest Flower will be removed from play (however, seeds can still be shot freely regardless of how many Flowers are planted). This maximum Flower count applies only to a single Sylvanos, with each Sylvanos player having their own count. Flowers have 1 HP each.

• The oldest Flower (the one that will be replaced if another Flower is planted) is indicated by a wilting sprite.
• Flowers are invulnerable to all projectiles that deal less than 8 damage for 60 frames upon planting, as indicated by the Flower being closed when initially planted and blooming once this period ends.
• If an attack connects with a Flower and no other entities/players, that attack will have half of its normal hitpause.
• If the ground beneath a Flower disappears it will snap to the nearest ground within 32px, otherwise it will be destroyed.

Sylvanos
The Heart of the Forest
Stage
First Appearance	Release 1.3.5

Notable Players

Name	Color	Activity	Notes	Contact
Giga			Also known as Giga Bowser
Sawtooth
Mystery Sol
Vulnita			Also known as Kodako / Flarey / Vixen / Konzzy / Dakoda / Pizza Master / lunala / Noelle
Brunch			Also known as Brunk

Moveset

Jabs

Jab Combo

Attack > Attack > Attack (Hold OK)

Jab 1

Jab 2

Jab 3 / Rapid Jab

Jab 1

Jab 2

Jab 3 / Rapid Jab

Hitboxes Off

Hitboxes On

Jab 1

sy_a

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
4	2	15	361	4
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
5		23	0	1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
4 + 0	None	2
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
0	1	Y

Great low-commitment neutral poke and techchase starter. One of the better Jab 1s in the game, and one of Sylvanos's most important moves. At frame 6, it's relatively slow for a Jab and can get out-mashed often in point-blank scrambles, but the range and disjoint let it succeed at longer ranges. Starting point for many techchase / stage-carry routes. The fact that this move is a Jab and is therefore safe on parry puts a bow on the whole package as one of the touchstones of Sylvanos's neutral.

• Sylvanos's fastest attack.
• Mind the blindspot towards the center of Sylv's body - this move can miss an opponent who is standing right on top of Sylvanos.

Jab 2

sy_a2

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
4	2	18	361	5
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
4		25	0	1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
5 + 0	None	1
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
0	0	Y

Jab 1 followup; party starter for techchases and stage carry. Be ready to track DI and respond accordingly with one of the many followups available out of this move: look for Jab Special on DI in, Down Tilt on DI out, let the opponent land and attempt a techchase from there, Forward Tilt for quick bursts of damage, etc. Expect to use this move a lot. Excellent range allows this move to cover after a whiffed / misspaced Jab 1 fairly well.

Jab 3 / Rapid Jab

sy_a3

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
6	2(12)2(12)2...	18 (Jabs 3, 4) / 27 (Jabs 5+)	55	11
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
6		-	6	0.75x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
6 + 0.3	Normal	1
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
0	0	Y

• After inputting Jab 3, continue to hold Attack to continue directly into Rapid Jab.

A mediocre catch-all out of Jab 2, notable for its extremely large, disjointed hitbox. Generally less rewarding than other followups, but can be useful if you're uncertain as to where your opponent is DIing out of Jab 2, if you're too close to the edge of the stage/platform to continue the combo on the ground, or if you commit to a misspaced Jab 2.

On paper, the held Rapid Jab version of this move seems great for stuffing out approaches, especially when intercepting predictable movements (such as a recovering opponent). In practice, the active frames are too spotty and the reward is too poor (having mediocre damage and knockback that is difficult to capitalize on) to be considered as your best option. Furthermore, the need to commit to a set sequence of Jabs beforehand can make this attack quite easy to see coming. However, if you find yourself committing to a Jab 3, your opponent is advancing onto you, and you don't have the means to respond with anything else, this move might be better than nothing.

Very high base knockback means this move can sometimes cheese for an early stock on hard DI/drift away if hit near the ledge. However, this is quite unreliable in practice as a method for taking early stocks.

Jab Special

Jab 2 > Special

Hitboxes Off

Hitboxes On

Tail Swipe

sy_js

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
5	3	13 [20]	30	6
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
5		29 [36]	0	1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
6 + 0.1	Normal	6
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
0	0	Y

Petal Wave Projectile

sy_js2

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
2	See Notes		30	6
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
16			0	1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
5 + 0	Extended	1
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
4	0	N

• Performed by pressing Special after Jab 2; consists of a standard Tail Swipe hit followed automatically by a Petal Wave projectile.
• Petal Wave projectile consists of a wave of flower petal hitboxes which are active in the following pattern: 17-20, 20-22, 21-24, 24-26, 25-28, 29-32, 32-34...

A staple of Sylvanos's punish game: a great techchase tool and combo extender boasting plenty of followups and mixups.

The low knockback angles make Tail Swipe > Petal Wave great for stage carry. Can be followed up by a myriad of options depending on the situation, such as Beast Dash, Dash Attack, Forward Strong, etc. Notably, Sylvanos can repeat the Jab mixup by chasing after the opponent as they're being hit by Petal Wave and connecting another Jab.

If the opponent is hit low enough to the ground, they can avoid the Petal Wave with DI down / down + away, landing without teching, and parrying the Petal Wave before it reaches them. If your opponent passes this knowledge check, throw in mixups by either baiting the parry or going for a DTilt instead after Jab 2.

As a projectile, Petal Wave is difficult to use in neutral from a distance, as the long effective startup (requiring Jab 1 and Jab 2 to be performed beforehand) and relatively low speed mean it is easily reactable with a Parry, from which Sylvanos suffers Extended Parry Stun.

Petal Wave leaves grass behind as it travels, making it useful for quickly setting up grass in a large area.

Dash Attack

(while running) Attack

Early Hit (Frames 1-3)

Late Hit (Frames 4-5)

Late Hit (Frames 6-10)

Hitboxes Off

Hitboxes On

sy_ra

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
9 / 6	10 (3 Early, 7 Late)	19 [29]	60	7 / 6
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
6		36 [46]	0	1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
8 + 0.7 / 6 + 0.4	Normal	8 / 4
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
0	0	Y

A solid burst option that's a great choice for whiff punishing and following up on techchases. Comes out suprisingly quickly (tied with several characters for fastest dash attack in the game), does solid damage on the early hit, covers a large area in front of Sylvanos, and the knockback is great for pushing an opponent into a juggle situation. Don't count on using this move to challenge other attacks due to the poor disjoint (especially in the late hit).

Forward Tilt

Your quickest way to plant Flowers

First active frame of projectile

Hitboxes Off

Hitboxes On

sy_ft

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
3	3	30	30	4.75
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
8		47(?)	0	1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
6 + 0.1	Normal	6
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
0	0	Y

• See Neutral Special for more info on the Flower projectile, as the projectile behaves identically in both moves.
• Damage listed is that of the tail swipe hitbox. Flower projectile also inflicts damage separately (11% total if the tail swipe and projectile connect).

An interesting two-part utility normal consisting of a tail swipe followed by a low-angled Flower shot. The Flower projectile's low angle makes this move useful for quickly setting up flowers on the ground right in front of Sylv. Taking a moment to FTilt to keep your Grass and Flowers in position when you have stage control can be quite helpful for maintaining your stage control.

This attack can be mixed into grounded combos as a high-damage option or as a way to create lots of active hitbox frames in front of you with the projectile and potentially stuff an approach. Be mindful of your opponent's SDI on the Flower when going for followups.

The Flower projectile's trajectory can be influenced by holding a direction during the tail swipe portion of the move. Holding Up or Down will make the seed angle higher or lower, and holding Forward or Back will change the forward velocity of the projectile.

The low angle of the Flower shot also makes this move very effective at edgeguarding against low recoveries. In some best-case scenarios, you can connect multiple FTilt Flower shots in a row to rack up damage very quickly on an offstage opponent, especially if they get stuck in tech lockout from missing a tech against the projectile. Offstage Flower hits can also be converted into edgeguards or kills depending on the situation.

• Sylvanos's tail becomes a hurtbox during the tail swipe, and remains an active hurtbox until the Flower projectile is launched.
• Does not have whiff lag; endlag is the same regardless of whether or not the tail or projectile hit.

Up Tilt

The Blender

Hitboxes Off

Hitboxes On

sy_ut

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
2 / 2 / 4	2(2)2(2)2	13 [20]	70 / 70 / 90	7
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
8		31 [37]	9 / 9 / 0	1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
5 + 0 / 5 + 0 / 7 + 0.3	Normal	1
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
0	0	Y

A highly effective anti-air / get-off-me tool with a hard-to-challenge hitbox, high vertical range, and lots of active frames. This should be one of your go-to responses to an opponent trying to jump into you. This is also one of the few grounded options that Sylvanos has which reliably covers the center of his body, making it useful in scrambles, techchases, or any other situation when the opponent is getting too close for comfort.

This move is also one of Sylvanos's better combo tools, with the vertical knockback allowing Sylv to follow up with dragdown setups, juggles, and kill confirms.

• Hits 2 and 3 will hit opponents standing on standard-height platforms and Aethereal Gates platforms, hit 3 will hit on Blazing Hideout's platform.

Down Tilt

"Roll over! Good boy!"

Hitboxes Off

Hitboxes On

sy_dt

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
[5 / 5] 3 / 3	2(2)3	14 [21]	[100] 361	6
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
9		31 [38]	0	1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
[6 + 0, 6 + 0.4] 4 + 0, 5 + 0.3	Normal	[6] 1
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
0	0	Y

When people say that Sylvanos is a "long-range" character, this is one of the moves that they're probably thinking of. This move rounds out the outermost reaches of Sylv's threat zone - use this for extending combos at the edge of your reach, catching an opponent trying to retreat, or to out-footsie your opponents with superior range. Consists of a sweetspot at the flower buds at the tips of the vines and a sourspot on the body of the vines.

The sweetspot at the tip of the vines is what you're aiming to hit - the sourspot is rather unremarkable, but the sweetspot sends up and slightly in. This lets Sylv continue to push an advantage on hit with a juggle or a dragdown setup, especially on DI in. The hitboxes of this attack do not extend very high off the ground, making this move especially vulnerable to jump-ins (even some grounded options which raise the character's hurtbox like Clairen Dash Attack will go over the sourspot).

You can also catch an opponent by surprise by reaching with this move off of the edge of a platform to catch an airborne opponent or even reach across some gaps (such as between the top platforms of Merchant Port).

• Can combo into itself at low percents on DI out, make particular note of this when using this move on an offstage opponent who might be more likely to DI Out to avoid being dealing with Sylvanos's FAir at the ledge.
• On hit, Down Tilt 1 has 4 frames of extra hitpause are applied to the opponent to ensure the first hit links into the second.

Forward Strong

(Forward/Back +) Strong

Hitboxes Off

Hitboxes On

sy_ss

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
2 / 2 / 10	2(6)2(6)4	15 [23]	361 / 361 / 45	2 / 2 / 7
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
14		50 [58]	4 / 4 / 0	1.5x / 1.5x / 1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
2 + 0 / 2 + 0 / 8 + 0.8	Normal	1
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
0 / 0 / 10	2 / 2 / 0	Y

A relatively straightforward multihit Forward Strong. This move's long-lasting window of active frames makes it useful for intercepting rolls, linear recoveries, or predictable landings. Somewhat on the weaker end in terms of KO power for a Strong Attack, but it gets the job done. The first two hits are slightly smaller than the final third hit, which can sometimes catch people by surprise.

Note that the wood spikes that make up this move's hitbox are bound to the ground. This can cause some unusual behavior at the edges of surfaces where the spikes will emerge closer to the center of Sylv's body and cause the hitbox to be shifted backwards.

Up Strong

Up + Strong

The BIG anti-air

Hitboxes Off

Hitboxes On

sy_us

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
10 {14} [18]	3	20 [30]	55	7 {8} [9]
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
26		50 [60]	0	1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
8 + 0.9 {8 + 1} [10 + 1]	Normal	1 / 2 {5 / 6} [8]
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
10	0	Y

• The bottom two hitboxes at the base of the spike make up the “bottom” hit. Values for this hit have no brackets/parentheses.
• The middle and 2nd highest up the spike make up the “middle” hit. Unique values for this hit are in curly brackets {}.
• The hitbox at the end of the spike makes up the “top” hit. Unique values for this hit are in square brackets [].
• The higher hitboxes have higher priority than the ones below, meaning that an opponent who intersects with multiple hitboxes will be affected by the highest one up the spike that makes contact.

A high-risk, high-reward anti-air - perfect for calling out people who get too eager to jump over Sylv's ground control or approach via platforms. This move does more damage and knockback the closer it hits to the tip of the spike - with the base hit being relatively weak and the tip hit being able to take stocks at shockingly low percents. Smart usage of this move can make your opponent very scared to spend a lot of time in the air.

Confirms from Beast Dash on DI in and from Up Tilt with good tracking (sometimes requiring a DACUS in order to connect on DI/Drift out).

Like Forward Strong, the wood spike that makes up this move's hitbox is bound to from the ground. This can cause some unusual behavior at the edges of surfaces where the spike will emerge closer to the center of Sylv's body and cause the hitbox to be shifted backwards.

Down Strong

Down + Strong

Reaction check and techchase finisher

Hitboxes Off

Hitboxes On

sy_ds

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
11	2	24 [36]	50	7
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
10		37 [49]	4	1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
7 + 0.7	Normal	2
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
10	0	Y

A tricky Strong Attack which covers around Sylv with a quick hitbox that sends the opponent towards Sylvanos's center, rather than away. In other words, an opponent hit on Sylv's right will be sent up-left, and an opponent hit on Sylv's left will be sent up-right. This unusual knockback trajectory can catch an opponent off guard for a potential early stock if used unexpectedly. With correct DI, however, this move becomes relatively weak for a Strong Attack - don't be too surprised to see an opponent survive this move at 150% or higher. As such, connecting this attack when right on top of an opponent can make DIing this move rather ambiguous - increasing your chances of getting an earlier kill, so aiming for the center of this attack is ideal. Try using this move as a combo finisher or as a techchase ender to force a quick reaction for best results.

Neutral Air

(while airborne) Attack

The Blender: Part 2

Hitboxes Off

Hitboxes On

sy_na

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
2 / 2 / 2 / 2	1(2)1(2)1(2)3	10 [15]	300	3
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
8		31 [36]	4	1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
4 + 0.1	Normal	2
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
0	0	Y

Multihit combo tool useful for dragdown setups and pillar combos. Each hit has low knockback, leaving the opponent close to Sylv after he either lands or hits the final hit. A rewarding jump-in option when used standalone, but the large area of exposed hurtbox on the underside of Sylv makes it a vulnerable one as well.

A key part of Sylv's techchases thanks to its low landing lag and easy access to followups after landing. Mixing up timing of activation, landing, and hitfalling of this move can make the tech timing difficult to parse.

Offstage, the low knockback strength and angle allows it to be used in some edgeguard setups where the high amount of active frames would be useful for combo extension.

• Landing Lag: 4* on hit, 8 on whiff

Forward Air

(while airborne) Forward + Attack

Ol' Reliable

Hitboxes Off

Hitboxes On

sy_fa

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
6 {8}	3	12 [18]	55 {40}	4 {6}
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
12		28 [34]	6 {0}	1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
5 + 0.25 {10 + 0.5}	Normal	3 {2}
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
0	0	Y

A huge, disjointed attack that's great for air-to-air, jump-ins, edgeguarding, or threatening space in neutral. This is the other move that people think of when they say that Sylvanos is a "long-range" character.

FAir has two hitboxes, each with their own use case:

• The sour hit (hitting with any part of the inner hitbox) has a more vertical KB angle and lower KB strength, making it an excellent setup/juggle tool.
• The tipper hit (hitting with only the outermost hitbox at the flowering tip of the vines) has more horizontal KB angle and higher KB strength, making it a great finisher for offstage combos or as a way to make space.

Forces a tricky DI response from the opponent - one must DI out from the sourspot to avoid being sent nearly straight up and being vulnerable getting hit by more FAirs or some other follow up, but incorrectly DIing out on a tipper FAir will send them flying offstage and possibly result in an early death.

Being ambiguous with your spacing and timing can make dealing with this move very frustrating to play around. Naturally, if Sylvanos is in the air, this is probably the move that people will be looking for, so take some care to not just throw this out too carelessly.

• Landing Lag: 8 on hit, 12 on whiff

Back Air

(while airborne) Back + Attack

Down-Angled, Active Frame #1

Down-Angled, Active Frame #2

Down-Angled, Active Frame #3

Normal, Active Frame #1

Normal, Active Frame #2

Normal, Active Frame #3

Up-Angled, Active Frame #1

Up-Angled, Active Frame #2

Up-Angled, Active Frame #3

Hitboxes Off

Hitboxes On

sy_ba

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
5 / 5 / 5 / 6 / 7 / [16]	3 (See Notes)	20 [30]	135 [148]	5
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
15		39 [49]	0	1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
5 + 0.3 / 5 + 0.3 / 5 + 0.3 / 5 + 0.5 / 5 + 0.7 / [12 + 0.9]	Normal	3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / [8]
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
10	0	Y

A slow but highly rewarding long-range aerial poke, combo finisher, and edgeguard mixup. Back Air consists of six distinct hitboxes: 5 sour hits and one sweetspot. For the sour hits, damage, knockback, hitpause, and priority increase the closer they get to the tip.

• All values are presented in order from base to tip, when applicable. Sweetspot values are marked in curly brackets {}.
• Regarding Active Frames - Hitboxes 1 and 2 become active on the 1st active frame, Hitbox 3 becomes active on the 2nd, and Hitboxes 4-6 become active on the final active frame. All hitboxes remain active until either the third total active frame ends, or the BAir pin state is entered.

Can be performed at one of three angles depending on if an up, neutral, or downward direction is held on the Left Stick during the startup frames (the angle is registered on the final startup frame).

• It is also possible to aim BAir using right stick input, which takes priority over left stick input.

Sylvanos pins to the ground and is held in place if this move collides with any surface after 1 frame, including platforms. This can be used to stall in the air for a short time.

• Platforms cannot be pinned from below.
• Pin can be cancelled into any action immediately on hit or after 10 frames on whiff.
  • Pressing BAir again will end the pin without an action with 10 frames of endlag. Landing during this will put Sylv in the whiff landing-lag state even if the attack hit an opponent beforehand.
  • Pin will be cancelled automatically after 96 frames. Allowing pin to end automatically will cause landing lag to consider if the move had hit an opponent or whiffed prior to the pin.
  • Cancelling the Pin puts BAir on cooldown for 25 frames.
  • Pinning to the wall/floor of the stage counts as being grounded for the purpose of maintaining grass.

The sweetspot hit at the tip of the vine is one of Sylvanos’s strongest kill moves, and the high damage/knockback along with the incredibly long reach makes BAir a rewarding combo ender at mid-percents if an opponent is starting to drift away from you. The long range and high power also let BAir function as an excellent callout tool for making reads on an opponent's position and movement from just outside of Sylv's typical threat bubble. BAir's sour hits can combo into more BAirs depending on spacing and DI, potentially setting up into a sweetspot hit.

Offstage, using this move to pin into the wall while using other resources to climb the wall is a key part of Sylvanos's recovery strategy.

Hitting an opponent with a pinning BAir can allow for some quick followups, especially with a quick waveland to cancel the pin and access grounded options. A BAir pin that doesn't hit can still be deceptively hard to whiff-punish.

If a BAir is performed into the stage, it will actually be fully extended for 1 frame before the pin begins. This allows for a Down-Angled BAir to reach through the ledge and hit an offstage opponent with the sweetspot. A savvy opponent will be able to tech the wall to avoid dying, but it can still be useful as a more committal mixup or to catch an opponent who isn’t quite at the wall - such as when they’re still on their way to it or just after they’re walljumping off of it. In some situations, Sylvanos can exit the Pin after a BAir tech and be actionable enough to still cover options after the tech with quick reflexes.

• Landing Lag: 7 on hit, 11 on whiff

Up Air

(while airborne) Up + Attack

Juggle tool extraordinaire

Hitboxes Off

Hitboxes On

sy_ua

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
3 / 5	3(3)3	15 [23]	82 / 75	2 / 8
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
6		31 [39]	0 / 6	1.6x / 0.85x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
4 + 0 / 6 + 0.5	Normal	2 / 5
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
0 / 3	0	Y

One of the best juggle tools in the game. Comes out surprisingly fast, has lots of active frames, covers a large area above him, does solid damage with if both hits connect, has high base knockback, and the vines are completely disjointed. Furthermore, the 75-degree KB angle and Angle Flipper 6 present on the 2nd hit can make correct combo/survival DI ambiguous. A lot of characters have a very difficult time landing around this aerial. You can easily connect multiple of these back-to-back at low-mid percents on an airborne opponent with decent timing and hitfalling. It can also make for a decent combo finisher at higher percents. High base knockback means that this move can be particularly potent against lightweight characters as they are more susceptible to being laddered towards the top blastzone with the help of platforms.

The quick startup also gives this move some secondary utility as a point-blank landing aerial, notably as a platdrop option. Forward Air and Down Air are generally more reliable as air-to-ground options thanks to their hitboxes and other properties, but Up Air 1's unique properties give it some interesting utility. See Sylvanos's Techniques subpage for more information.

• Landing Lag: 8 on hit, 12 on whiff
• Sylvanos's fastest aerial.
• Be careful to not connect too far on the edge of this move while moving quickly in the air, as the second hit may not always connect if the first hit is not well-spaced.

Down Air

(while airborne) Down + Attack

Early Hit (Frames 1-3)

Late Hit (Frames 4-8)

Late Hit (Frames 9-16)

Hitboxes Off

Hitboxes On

sy_da

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
[10] 7	16 (3 Early, 13 Late)	10 [15]	[280] 361	6
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
8		35 [40]	0	1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
6 + 0.5	Normal	[8] 3
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
[10] 0	0	Y

Pillar combo tool, offstage combo ender, and landing/movement mixup. Sylvanos stops in the air before quickly diving downwards.

The early hit is a decently strong spike with a great angle which is difficult to DI into the wall offstage; just be mindful that the stall-then-fall nature of the move means whiffing the move (or even successfully connecting it in some low% situations) can leave Sylv in a tight spot offstage. Onstage, the spike works well in pillar combos or to set up for some juggles. The late hit is rather weak in comparison. As a landing mixup, it has lots of active frames to catch people with, but the knockback properties make it difficult to convert or kill off of. It can still catch people by surprise off stage for some cheesy kills.

• Landing Lag: 4* on hit, 9 on whiff
• When spaced well, this move can be ledge cancelled for some tricky movement / combo setups.

Neutral Special

Seed Shot

Special (Air OK)

File:Roa wolf nspecial.png

File:Roa wolf nspecial hit.png

Hitboxes Off

Hitboxes On

Seed Projectile

sy_sd

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
4 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1	1(4)1(4)1(4)1(4)1	-	60	4
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
-		-	3	0.5x (initial hit) / 0.9x (multihit)

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
6 + 0.1 (initial hit) / 3 + 0 (multihit)	None (Reflect)	2
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
0	0	Y

• Multihit portion not active during hitpause.

Seed Shot

sy_nb

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
-	(Until Contact)	30	-	-
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
9		40	-	-

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
-	None	-
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
-	-	Y

A vertical projectile useful for setting up Grass/Flowers and controlling space. The shot's trajectory can be influenced by the angle of the Left Stick if it is held in a direction during startup (the magnitude of the direction is not considered). In general, the X-Axis controls the left/right angle of the shot and the Y-Axis controls the initial upward velocity of the shot. The range of shot angles makes this especially useful for setting up Flowers on platforms to extend your stage presence. Using the move while jumping allows Sylv to use the move without being stuck in place on the ground.

As a projectile, the vertical trajectory makes it difficult to use in neutral at the ranges and positionings that Sylvanos tends to want to exist in. However, taking the opportunity to set up Flowers can encourage an approach from the opponent as they'll be incentivized to stop Sylv from freely setting up. Shooting a seed into the air can be useful for intercepting airborne opponents or juggling from outside of Up Air range. Angling the shot forward allows it to cover a steep angle offstage for edgeguarding.

• 20 frames of cooldown, applied on 2nd and last frame of endlag.

Forward Special

Beast Dash

Forward/Back + Special (Air OK) (Hold OK)

File:Roa wolf fspecial.png
Extends combos and quickly closes distance

File:Roa wolf fspecial hit.PNG

Hitboxes Off

Hitboxes On

sy_sb

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
8	4(7)4(7)4...	30	45	8
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
17		53	0	1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
10 + 0.35	Normal	2
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
0	0	N

A burst option useful for combo extension with some interesting movement utility. On its own, Sylvanos will lunge forward and perform a single bite attack. If Sylvanos is grounded, he will consume any grass on the ground as he attacks. If there is grass underneath Sylvanos, the attack can be continued into repeated bites until either no grass remains or if he becomes airborne. Any Flower that Sylv bites will be destroyed.

After hitting any character or breakable object, Sylvanos can IASA cancel Side Special into any Jump, Attack, Special, or Dodge action. In other words, this move can be cancelled into just about anything on hit, making this move very rewarding if it connects. This cancel can be used to quickly continue combos, set up a kill move, jump/wavedash after hitting a Flower to mix up movement, and much more. For non-player entities (Flowers, Kragg Rocks, Ranno Bubbles, etc.), this cancel window lasts for 10 frames after hitpause.

If Beast Dash is cancelled into a Double Jump while Sylvanos is airborne, he will carry the attack's momentum and catapult through the air at a high speed. This technique is known as a Beast Boost. See Sylvanos's Techniques page for more information.

• Grass consumption begins on frame 14.
• Airborne Seed Shot projectiles can be consumed by this attack, allowing Sylvanos to cancel off of it as if hitting an airborne object.
• The check for continuing the attack occurs on the 2nd frame of endlag.
• If Sylv uses this move while airborne and does not hit anything, he will be put in pratfall after the move completes.
• Left Stick can be held forward or backward to make Sylv travel faster or slower, respectively.

Up Special

Burrow

Up + Special (Air OK) (Hold OK)

File:Roa wolf uspecial.png

File:Roa wolf uspecial hit.png

Hitboxes Off

Hitboxes On

Dive

sy_ub

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
2 (per hit)	4(3)[x 5], 4(4)[x n]	6 (Cancel)	45 / 20 / 0 / -20 / -45 / -60	6[x 5] / 7[x n]
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
8		-	0	1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
4 + 0	Normal	1
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
0 (Hits 1-5) / 4 (Hits 6+)	0	N

Burrow

sy_ub2

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
5	5	7	90 (Floor) / 135 (Wall)	8
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
8 (Instant Burrow)		13 (21 on Instant Burrow)	6 (Floor) / 0 (Wall)	1.2x (Floor) / 1x (Wall)

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
6 + 0.1	Normal	3
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
0	0	Y

Emerge

sy_ub3

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
-	-	28 (20 on Grass)	-	-
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
(Burrow)		45 (37 on Grass)	-	-

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
-	-	-
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
-	-	-

Bite

sy_ub4

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
[10] 8	3	30	[90] 60	[9] 7
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
22 (from Burrow)		56	[0] 6	1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
[8 + 1] 6 + 0.5	Normal	[3] 2
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
[10] 0	0	Y

Sylvanos dives up and forward, dragging along anyone he runs into on the way until he runs into a wall or floor - where he will then burrow into the ground and reemerge somewhere else within a fixed radius of where he burrows.

• Holding left or right while underground moves the spot where Sylvanos emerges in a continuous range until he emerges.
• If there is grass where Sylv emerges, he can perform a strong Bite attack by holding Special (see Table 4).
• If there is no grass or Special is not held where Sylv emerges, he will emerge quicker, but with no attack (see Table 3).
• Can be canceled into pratfall by pressing Dodge while airborne, giving Sylv a slight boost forward and up in the process.
• Performing this move while grounded and holding Special will cause Sylvanos to quickly burrow directly into the ground instead of diving forward. This is commonly called an Instant Burrow / Instaburrow.
• Sylvanos can emerge with a Taunt if Taunt is held on frame 16 of being underground.

This move boasts impressive range as a recovery tool, allowing Sylvanos to recover from the depths of offstage. Canceling this move into a walljump and climbing up the wall with BAir pins, double jumps, airdodges, etc. can give Sylvanos some interesting timing mixups while recovering at the cost of being relatively vulnerable. Mixing up your options out of the dive portion of this move along with when/where/if you burrow into the ground is key to getting out of edgeguards, as predictable burrow habits can leave Sylv vulnerable to getting stuck in a long rinse-and-repeat edgeguard.

Going for the Bite portion of this attack can lead to some early stocks as it is one of the strongest moves in Sylvanos’s moveset in terms of kill power. Keep your grass spread out across the stage to ensure your opponent can’t escape the Bite if you connect with the burrow hit.

Landing with certain aerials can allow for a true combo into Instaburrow for a strong kill setup with good tracking / grass coverage.

• See [Techniques] for information about Jump-Cancel Up B setups.

Down Special

Plants Rise

Down + Special (Air OK)

"Awoo!"

Root hitboxes sprout from all available grass in a radial pattern from Sylvanos.

Hitboxes Off

Hitboxes On

sy_db

Damage	Active	Endlag	Angle	KB (Base+Scaling)
4	1 (per Root)	19	110	7
Startup	Landing Lag	FAF	Angle Flipper	Hitstun
16 (Initial), 6 (Root Startup upon grass activation)		35	0	1x

Hitpause (Base + Scaling)	Parry Stun Type	Priority
4 + 0	Extended	1
Hit Lockout	Force Flinch Value	Kills Projectiles?
3	0	N

• Commonly called "Howl".

(Potentially) full-screen reaction check; useful for covering retreats, preempting approaches, or punishing from otherwise awkward angles. Roots shoot up from all active grass, propagating in a radial pattern outward from Sylvanos as indicated by the line effects that emanate from him on startup. Grass is left in an inactive state for 180 frames after the root attacks and will disappear completely soon after that. Given Grass's importance and the long startup, one must exercise caution with this move to avoid losing stage control or getting hit with a telegraphed parry. However, in the right situation it can be quite rewarding.

Down Special's low knockback means that Sylv has to be relatively quick on the draw and close to the opponent to convert off of it, and the opponent typically exits hitstun before landing starting around low-mid percents. This knockback is usually enough for Sylv to land an attack on a platform if Down Special hits an opponent on the ground below.

Alternate Palettes

Default Colors

Unlockable Skins

• Custom Color 2: Beat story mode.
• Abyss: Reach Abyss level 10 with Sylv.
• Ranked: Reach Gold rank with Sylv.

​

Default

​

Alt Blue

​

Alt Red

​

Alt Green

​

Alt White

​

Alt Purple

Custom Color 1

Custom Color 2

Abyss

Ranked

Seasonal Colors

Current seasonal skins rotate every 3 months in the following order (hemisphere dependent):

• Valentines (Feb-Apr)/(Aug-Oct)
• Summer (May-Jul)/(Nov-Jan)
• Halloween (Aug-Oct)/(Feb-Apr)
• Christmas (Nov-Jan)/(May-Jul)

Genesis Old (removed)

Valentines

Summer

Halloween

Christmas

Premium Skins

How to Get

• Champion: Obtainable via the developers.
• EA: Purchase a Steam key for RoA via Humble Bundle.
• Genesis: Obtainable via the RCS compendium during RCS seasons.
• Golden: Purchase a Sylv plush from Symbiote Studios.
• Steampunk: Obtainable via the developers.

Champion

Early Access Promo

Genesis Official

Infamous (unobtainable)

Golden Promo

Steampunk