CLEAR

CLEAR(pronounced Kill-ee-uh) is a playable character in Madwatch 2. She was the first character ever fully developed for the game, succeeded by Aaroy during development.

NOTE: This article is outdated.

CLEAR is currented placed 2nd out of 11 characters on the current tier list, placing her as the penultimate challenger of S tier and the highest ranked newcomer in Madwatch 2. However the current tier list does not account for the 2 newest released characters Dominic and Quinn nor the nerfs to her Up Special Swift Sparrow. CLEAR's most infamous claim to fame is the sheer speed and damage of her kit, most notably when airborne. None of her standard non-Smash attacks have more than 11 frames of startup and due to her using THRILLER in the majority of her attacks, most of her offense is safe on shield, especially when combined with her fantastic air speed. While slower than the rest of her kit, her Smash attacks grant her Super Armor while charging, the opposite of her teacher Giorno, while allows her to punish reckless approaches due to the frame 1 Armor negating flinch and knockback and allowing CLEAR to counter with a powerful punish. Her aforementioned air speed is her greatest boon, allowing her to weave in and out danger zones safely while making many of her most dangerous attacks, namely Neutral Aerial and Forward Aerial, almost unreactable. While not as impressive as her aerials, CLEAR's grounded arsenal is very impressive. Her Jab is commonly considered the best in the game, due to its fast startup, large hitbox, and ability to set up combos any realistic percent, her Forward Tilt is a great spacing tool to safely pressure opponents in front of her, her Up Tilt is an incredibly fast kill move with high damage and knockback, and her Down Tilt allows her to escape many sticky ground situations for free due to its two-part slide and jump nature. Her Specials all grant her unique utility as well. Avenger's Tempest is a chargable projectile that fires at a unique 45 degree angle or directly above her, allowing her to finish off combos powerfully even from a distance due to the high speed and unique travel angle, Suicide Samurai is a powerful command grab that intimidates shields with its ability to setup for aerial combos or outright kill at high percentages, and Wind Wall completely invalidates enemy attempts to zone out CLEAR for a duration with very little commitment. Her recovery is also phenomenal due to Swift Sparrow having a constant long-lasting hitbox around CLEAR that deters enemies from recklessly attacking her and taking free damage, as well as being guidable, allowing for direction mixups. Combined with her high air speed and jumps, any attack that does not outright kill CLEAR, she is most likely to recover from.

However, despite her many strengths, CLEAR has equally definable weaknesses. She has below average weight, meaning that sufficiently strong attacks will KO her earlier than many other characters. While her grounded moves are generally exceptional, her grounded movement is a far cry from her aerial mobility, being slow in all regards. This makes getting to the opponent with her grounded tools very difficult and forces her into aerial approaches, which can make her approach much more predictable than her versatile toolkit would suggest. Her Specials have good uses, but situationally. Avenger's Tempest cannot reliably pressure grounded opponents, Suicide Samurai is exceptionally punishable on whiff and can even result in Self-Destructs when used offstage due to CLEAR's high fall speed and gravity, and Wind Wall requires CLEAR, an aerial fighter, to be grounded to activate it, meaning that if she encounters a projectile in the air she cannot respond with her trademark reflector. While Down Smash is a phenomenal tool, Up Smash is the slowest tool in CLEAR's kit and is unsafe on shield, and Forward Smash is arguably the weakest Forward Smash in the game when not tipped, making taking advantage of CLEAR's Smash Charge Armor realistically lackluster in many instances. CLEAR also has almost no grab game to speak of, having the lowest grab range in the game and low reward for any of her throws even if she does land it. This makes it difficult to CLEAR to deal with shielding opponents who have answers to her aerial's ranges, such as Clover and Elsa, as she cannot reliably grab them due to the combination of her terrible ground speed and low grab range.

Despite this, CLEAR's strengths consistently outweigh her weaknesses and she is the most represented character among the roster due to the sheer agency of her kit.

Attributes
[Character Overview]

WIP

Trivia

 * CLEAR was the first character created for Madwatch 2.
 * CLEAR is one of the initial 4 characters of Madwatch 2. She shares this distinction with Aaroy, Mercury, and Clover.
 * CLEAR was the first character to have an attack that instantly KO's an opponent, with her Suicide Samurai.
 * The text on CLEAR's blade reads "スリラー", reading as "THRILLER", the name of the sword.
 * CLEAR was the first main protagonist of her own game to be added to the game, though this title is technically shared by Aaroy.