Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: All Special Moves RANKED!
I feel like I don't use these abilities that often (well I use one of them every other battle, but I'll get to that later), but I honestly love using them! However, as much as I love all of them, some aren't great. So here it is... Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: All Special Moves RANKED!
8. Showstopper
So what does this ability do? Basically, when executed perfectly, all enemies under twelve HP have a chance to be instantly killed. Much like other instant death attacks, however, this attack simply doesn't work as often as it should, and due to that, using other attacks is much more reliable (cough... cough... Gale Force...).
7. Clock Out
This ability is actually really awesome, particularly against enemies with high HP early in the game such as Gus or the Dark Koopatrol fought at the end of Chapter 3. This ability immobilizes all enemies onscreen for a few turns, which is great! However, although this is a very solid attack, it doesn't work on bosses. In addition, this attack is kind of hard to use—a lot of times you will just be wasting time using Clock Out over another attack and you may even immobilize yourself while learning how to use the attack! Overall, a great attack that is outclassed because many enemies have status immunities, because it is relatively hard to use in comparison to the other Special Moves, and because it is simply worse to use than simply beating up the opposition.
6. Supernova
15 damage!? That's a whole lot of damage... wait, it is six SP to use? What the crap? That's not good at all! In all seriousness, 15 damage is just not worth it. Would you rather spend six SP or twelve FP (Fiery Jinx anyone?) to do 15 damage to all enemies? Well, I would definitely rather spend twelve FP, that's for sure. Overall, 15 damage is definitely nice, but it isn't worth the cost and it is obtained so late in the game that the ability is simply not worth it in a lot of situations. However, in the situations this ability is worth it (such as the Shadow Queen), it absolutely devastates the opposition, ranking it above the previous entries on this list.
5. Sweet Feast
Imagine this... for 1 SP, restore five health to Mario and his partner, as well as seven FP. Now imagine this... for 5 SP, restore twelve health to Mario and his partner, as well as fifteen FP. If this was two or three SP instead of a staggering 5, it'd probably my favorite Special Move, but overall, just like the conceptually-great Supernova, this isn't really worth it in a lot of cases.
EDIT: I didn't mention this, but if this list was solely based off of the Pit of 100 Trials, this would be in first place.
4. Art Attack
No way! A half-decent high-SP-costing Special Move! This ability, especially against a singular small target, is amazing—if the player is fast enough, they can hit every enemy for upwards of 20 damage! This ability also makes Supernova look kinda bad because it is able to be used for more than just Chapter 8! But overall, it is still rather expensive even though it is so good, so I just couldn't get myself to place it above the rest on this list.
3. Power Lift
This ability is the best Special Move for boss fights, no questions asked. This is because, if executed correctly, Power Lift can boost both attack and defense by 3 or 4 points to both Mario and his partner! This can quite literally make some otherwise strong bosses only do one or two points of damage against you! This ability is also only 3 SP, which is quite a bit of SP but still worth it! Overall, this ability is fantastic, but still rather situational—however, in these situations, this is easily the best Special Move in the game.
2. Earth Tremor
Okay, this may come as a surprise, but this is one of the two Special Moves I use on a semi-regular basis. Unlike Art Attack, this ability is cheap, and hitting the entire enemy party for six damage for 2 SP is worth it in my opinion, especially in the first four chapters of the game. Sure, it falls behind once moves like Fiery Jinx and Bob-ombast are unlocked, but it still holds up on occasion due to enemies like Spiky Buzzy Beetles who are relatively tricky to take down without the right badge setup. Overall, definitely not a better ability than Art Attack or Power Lift from a straight up effect standpoint, but due to the effect that Earth Tremor is cheap and great for quickly taking out high-defense enemies, it just had to place this high for me.
1. Sweet Treat
A singular SP to use? This must suck because it is so dirt cheap, right? Wrong—Sweet Treat allows you to get enough Flower Points (around 7) to use at least one great partner ability as well as giving Mario and his partner a decent chunk of HP. Like what the heck! Getting 1 SP can be achieved with 2 or 3 Appeals and/or Stylish Moves, so this ability can be spammed super often to get the best use of partner abilities! I quite literally used this ability every two battles or so throughout the entire game, which allowed me to get all the way to Chapter 8 with 10 HP, 10 FP, and sixty BP! This ability is just crazy for me, and I don't think I could make it that far in the game with those stats without this fantastic and inexpensive Special Move. Overall, I think I've said enough—hopefully, I have convinced you that Sweet Treat is amazing!
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