Absorption

Ness absorbing Charizard's Flamethrower in Brawl.

Mr. Game & Watch absorbing Bowser's Fire Breath and counter-attacking in Brawl.

For the technique referred to as "absorbing damage" by the Twinkle Toes bonus in Super Smash Bros. Melee, see tech.

Absorption is the process of using a particular special move to "catch" an opposing non-physical projectile, or a teammate's projectile if Team Attack is turned on. The absorber then provides some benefit to the user based on the absorbed attack.

The only three moves capable of absorption are PSI Magnet, Oil Panic, and Absorber; PSI Magnet and Absorber heal the user based on the absorbed attack's power, while Oil Panic stores the strength of up to three projectiles in order to unleash them all at once in a single attack. Floows are also capable of absorbing attacks, though they do not appear to do anything with the absorbed energy. This means that there are only four playable characters who are able to absorb non-physical attacks, namely Ness, Lucas, Mii Gunner and Mr. Game & Watch.

List of absorbable attacks by characters

• Bowser - Fire Breath
• Charizard - Flamethrower
• Dark Pit - Silver Bow
• Dr. Mario - Megavitamin (Melee only)
• Falco - back throw, up throw, and down throw (Blaster shots), Blaster
• Fox - back throw, up throw, and down throw (Blaster shots), Blaster
• Giga Bowser - Fire Breath
• Ice Climbers - Ice Shot (Melee only), Blizzard
• King Dedede - Waddle Dee Toss (Waddle Doo's beam attack), Super Dedede Jump (stars)
• Kirby - Final Cutter (wave), can copy Fire Breath, Flamethrower, Megavitamin, Blaster, Ice Shot, Aura Sphere, Fireball, Shadow Ball, Chef, PK Flash, PK Fire, Toad, Thunder Jolt, Palutena Arrow, Robo Beam, Charge Shot, and Paralyzer
  • Kirby's version of Chef in Brawl allows the projectiles to be absorbed, even though the original version does not.
• Lucario - Aura Sphere, Force Palm (aura shot)
• Lucas - PK Freeze, PK Fire, PK Thunder
• Luigi - Fireball
• Mario - Fireball
• Mega Man - neutral attack, forward tilt, side smash, Crash Bomber
• Mewtwo - forward throw (shadow shots), Shadow Ball
• Mr. Game & Watch - Chef (sausages, Melee only)
• Ness - PK Flash, PK Fire, PK Thunder
• Palutena - Autoreticle
• Peach - Toad (spores when countering attacks)
• Pichu - Thunder Jolt, Thunder
• Pikachu - Thunder Jolt, Thunder (bolt itself, Melee and Brawl)
• Pit - Palutena Arrow
• R.O.B. - Robo Beam
• Robin - Thunder, Arcfire, Elwind
• Samus - Charge Shot
• Sheik - Burst Grenade
• Wii Fit Trainer - Sun Salutation
• Wolf - Blaster (shot)
• Yoshi - Yoshi Bomb (stars)
• Zelda - Din's Fire
• Zero Suit Samus - down smash, Paralyzer

List of absorbable attacks by items

• Fire Flower stream
• Lip's Stick spores
• Poké Ball Pokémon:
  • Blastoise's Hydro Pump
  • Charizard's Flamethrower
  • Cyndaquil
  • Staryu's Swift
• Ray Gun blasts
• Star Rod shots
• Steel Diver shots
• Super Scope shots
• Superspicy Curry

List of absorbable attacks by stages

• Corneria - Arwing/Wolfen shots, Great Fox's cannons
• Venom - Arwing/Wolfen shots
• Sector Z - Arwing shots
• Wily Castle - The Yellow Devil's shots

List of absorbable attacks by enemies and bosses

• Armank - energy shot
• Duon - scattershot
• Gamyga - lasers
• Master Hand - Finger Bullet
• Master Core - Master Edges' shots
• Puppit - lasers
• R.O.B. Blaster - beams
• Scope Primid - both shots
• Spaak - both attacks