The character’s greatest competitive contribution was the popularization of “edge-canceling” and “platform-dashing” in Rivals ’ engine. Because Ori’s side special has a unique property of preserving momentum when it misses, top players discovered that intentionally whiffing Bash on the lip of a platform would slingshot Ori across the stage at inhuman speeds. This technique, known as the “Ori Launch,” was so powerful that it forced a minor patch to adjust the move’s momentum decay. That a DLC character could fundamentally alter the movement meta of a two-year-old game speaks to the boldness of the design. Beyond mechanics, the Ori and Sein DLC succeeds because it respects the source material’s emotional core. Ori and the Blind Forest is a game about sacrifice, companionship, and the fragile beauty of nature. Rivals of Aether is a game about elemental combat. The DLC bridges this tonal gap through subtle animation details.
This playstyle is best described as a “tempo trickster.” Ori has no single kill confirm that works at all percents. Instead, he has a hundred situational confirms. His Forward Strong attack (a sweeping spirit arc) is slow but covers half the stage. His Back Strong (a backward kick) is fast but has no range. To secure a kill, an Ori player must condition the opponent—making them fear the Bash, then punishing their hesitation with a raw Spirit Flame into aerial finisher. This cognitive load is the character’s true strength. Playing against Ori is exhausting because you are constantly guessing which of his six movement options he will use to convert a stray hit into a combo. Upon release, the competitive community was split. Some hailed Ori as top-tier (often placing him in A or S tier on early tier lists), while others argued his weight made him unviable at the highest level of play, where a single read from a Forsburn or Clairen could mean death at 80%. The truth, as revealed by tournament results over 2020-2021, lies in the middle. Ori is a “snowball” character: when the player is in flow, Ori feels unbeatable, weaving through attacks and converting zero-to-death combos off a single Bash. When the player is flustered or the opponent plays a patient, shield-less parry game, Ori crumples. Rivals of Aether- Ori and Sein DLC
Because Sein is part of Ori’s collision profile, moves that would otherwise miss Ori’s tiny body can clip the floating orb. This is a deliberate balancing lever. Ori’s aerial drift is incredible, but his “effective” size is larger than his visual model suggests. Competitive players quickly learned that while Ori can weave through projectile walls, he is peculiarly vulnerable to sweeping upward aerials (like Kragg’s up-air or Zetterburn’s back-air) that catch the trailing Sein. That a DLC character could fundamentally alter the
When Ori lands a fully-charged Forward Strong, the screen briefly dims and then flashes white—a visual homage to the “Sein’s light” cleansing the Decay in Blind Forest . When Ori loses a stock, his death animation is not a violent explosion but a gentle fading, reminiscent of the game’s tearful prologue. Conversely, Ori’s victory animation sees him nuzzling Sein, replicating the iconic comfort pose from the game’s save points. These details matter. They transform Ori from a mere “guest fighter” into a genuine ambassador. For players who had never played Moon Studios’ masterpiece, the DLC served as a two-minute trailer, encouraging them to seek out the original. For fans of Ori , seeing their beloved spirit guardian hold his own against a fire-breathing Zetterburn was a cathartic validation of their emotional investment. The Ori and Sein DLC for Rivals of Aether stands as a gold standard for how to integrate a character from a different genre into a platform fighter. It did not simply copy-paste Ori’s moveset; it recontextualized it. The Bash move is not a reference to Ori ; it is the essence of Ori. The fragility is not a balancing crutch; it is a narrative truth. And the light is not just a visual effect; it is a mechanical system that rewards spatial intelligence over reaction speed. Rivals of Aether is a game about elemental combat