Air Slash

Air Slash is Shulk's up special move in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It originated as one of his physical arts from Xenoblade Chronicles.

Upon using Air Slash, Shulk slashes up into the air with his Monado, knocking opponents up while dealing damage to them. By pressing the special move button again while Shulk is in the air, he swipes his sword in mid-air, giving him a small horizontal boost while also clearing away opponents. The move can be used as both a means of recovery and as a means of knocking opponents upward.

Variants
The move has two custom variants in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U:

Advancing Air Slash has Shulk perform a vertical slash, followed by a horizontal slash. This improves Shulk's horizontal recovery, but his vertical recovery is reduced as a drawback.

Mighty Air Slash reduces the range of the Monado's beam, but it deals more damage to opponents to make up for it; the knockback is more vertical than diagonal, however. Recovery distance is the same as the default Air Slash.