Ice Climbers (SSBU)

Ice Climbers in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Ice Climber
Other playable appearances	in Melee in Brawl
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Iceberg
Tier	B+ (45)

The Ice Climbers (アイスクライマー, Ice Climber) are playable fighters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. They were confirmed on June 12th, 2018. Although they are a team, the Ice Climbers are collectively classified as Fighter #15.

The Ice Climbers are once again voiced by Sanae Kobayashi, with her portrayals from Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl being repurposed for Ultimate.

The Ice Climbers are ranked 45th out of 82 on the tier list, placing them towards the end of the B+ tier. This is a huge drop from their 2nd out of 38 ranking in Brawl, and their worst placement in the series. The Ice Climbers serve as an unconventional close-quarters combat character due to their tag-team mechanic, which allows the duo to get away with certain unfavorable situations since the partner climber causes hitlag upon shielding or taking an attack. With proper execution, they possess some of the highest damage outputs of the entire cast in terms of both raw power and combo abilities, alongside solid frame data which allows them to take on an aggressive playstyle in spite of their poor mobility. The Climbers themselves aren't too susceptible to combos due to their short stature and low falling speed, while the partner climber is capable of disrupting combo attempts by their opponent. These advantages grant the Ice Climbers a formidable advantage state and punish game, as one mistake has the potential to lead to heavy damage or a zero-to-death combo, while also making their disadvantage state difficult to capitalize on if their opponent is unable to KO the partner climber quickly.

Despite all their strengths, the Ice Climbers have glaring flaws, mainly coming from the vulnerability of the partner Ice Climber and the loss of a few important tools between the transition from Brawl to Ultimate. Universal changes to prevent chain-grabbing make cheesing opponents much harder, especially since the partner climber cheers while the main climber throws an opponent. The partner climber was also made to panic when their leader is grabbed, making previously near-guaranteed grab escapes far less reliable. While they boast significant damage output and KO potential, it becomes heavily diminished if the partner is KO'd. This is not an uncommon occurrence, either, since they take 1.02× more damage and knockback and deprioritize most attempts to defend themselves if separated. Their main recovery methods, Belay and Squall Hammer, are also drastically weakened if the partner is KO'd during the stock, to the point that Squall Hammer no longer provides any height and Belay becomes nearly useless. With these handicaps on the table, defending the partner climber is essential to the character's success. It is also notoriously difficult to use the duo at their strongest, as their most formidable advanced techniques, such as Desyncing, require high technical skill and are difficult to perform consistently. Finally, the climbers have some innate issues such as a lack of range and an aforementioned low approach speed, alongside a mediocre out of shield game without the help of a partner.

Overall, the Ice Climbers have many unique advantages possessed by no other character, with an extremely high skill ceiling, many advanced techniques and potentially high payout; however, the loss of their most abusable tricks from previous games and the technical skill required to perform optimally with them have led to very low usage rates and representation at top-level play. Nonetheless, they remain a viable character and have seen strong results thanks to the efforts of Big D and several players in Japan.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play VS. matches, with the Ice Climbers being the 10th characters to be unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Link or any character in his unlock tree, being the 2nd character unlocked after King K. Rool.
• Have the Ice Climbers join the player's party in World of Light.

The Ice Climbers must then be defeated on Summit (the Ω form is used in World of Light).

Attributes

The Ice Climbers are a pair of middleweights (weighing 92 units, the same as Lucario, Wolf, Villager, Mythra, and Steve), with small bodies, above average jumps, below average air speed and air acceleration, low gravity, and slow falling speed. Unique to a majority of the roster, they are the archetypal tag team fighters, though each Climber is a unique character in their own right. The partner (Nana by default) is controlled by a CPU and mimics what the leader (Popo by default) does with a six-frame delay. As such, the player is essentially controlling two characters at the same time with slight tweaks; the partner has slightly higher mobility attributes, deals less damage, receives more damage, and is knocked back farther than the leader. When separated, the partner's AI takes control over their movement and guides them back to the leader, ignoring most opponents in their path. While one Ice Climber deals underwhelming damage on their own, the two's power combined can make them very formidable.

Most of the Ice Climbers' grounded moveset is fairly quick and disjointed, allowing for versatile use. Their forward tilt has impressive knockback growth, and can 2-frame and KO fellow middleweights at about 135%. Up tilt is short ranged, but one of the Ice Climbers' most useful moves, hitting multiple times with low knockback and dealing excellent damage. It also allows for a direct chain into a series of up aerials until about 115%, making it paramount in initiating combos and kill confirms. Down tilt is one of their quickest grounded moves, acting as a strong semi-spike at high percentages, and making follow-ups into tech-chases or edgeguards very easy. Dash attack sends opponents above the leader for quick transitions into aerials or desynced combos, similarly to up tilt. However, it has very low knockback growth, making it only useful in starting combos.

Complementing their tilts, the Ice Climbers' smash attacks are also very useful and excellent KO options. Forward smash is the duo's strongest smash, dealing impressive damage despite its quick speed, and respectable knockback even at lower percentages, reliably KOing at about 70% at the edge of the stage. Up smash is similarly powerful, but is slower in its start-up and ending. It hits in a wide area directly above the Ice Climbers, and can KO at about 120%. Down smash is the fastest but also the weakest of the duo's smash attacks. Each Climber swings in one direction and can even catch large targets with both hits, but if only the leader is currently on stage, they become vulnerable to rolls due to the lack of a hitbox from behind.

The Ice Climbers' aerials are all strong options and are the basis of most of their combos. Neutral aerial has weak knockback, but is also quick to start, very safe, fairly damaging, and has a long-lasting hitbox, making it a threatening combo and gimping tool. Forward aerial is an overhead swing, which is slow and deceptively inactive, but deals immense damage and is the safest air attack in the game. The partner's version of the move has a sweetspot with a very strong spike that can net a KO impressively early offstage, and acts as the Ice Climbers' deadliest edgeguarding tool. Back aerial is an exceedingly useful move for its high speed, incredible safety, and staggering power. Up aerial is one of their best moves for a variety of scenarios. The move has excellent combo and juggling capabilities at low percent, and KOs most opponents at around 110-125% when used out of a down throw. Down aerial is a stall-then-fall that, while risky to use, has respectable payoff for landing both on or off the stage, and even offers some combo potential.

The Ice Climbers' specials all have versatile uses. Neutral special has the duo each create a slab of ice that slides across the stage, shrinking as they melt. Unlike most projectiles, the ice acts more like a container or soccer ball in that the incoming projectile is completely tangible, tanking opposing projectiles even as strong as a Shadow Ball or Charge Beam. This allows the Ice Climbers to counter some projectile spam playstyles more easily. It can also freeze opponents, but not within realistic percentages. If attacked with a strong enough attack, the projectile's ownership may change, allowing it to harm the Ice Climbers if collided with. When desynced, the duo can launch 1 Ice Shot at a time and in rapid succession, making for a very dangerous edgeguard and even a frustrating zoning tool in certain matchups. Their side special, Squall Hammer, is a very respectable move for racking up damage and is relatively safe on shield due to the burst of movement during the final swing. With continued presses, the attack can also be used for recovery purposes, which puts them into a helpless state. It is also one of the easiest desync methods available to the player. Up special, Belay, covers an excellent distance, the partner Climber is completely intangible until pulling up the leader, and auto-grabs any ledges within range. They also have a situational, but strong hitbox on the way up, allowing for a risky combo finisher or anti-air, or a means to punish edgeguard attempts by opponents. Finally, down special, Blizzard, is a long-lasting ledge trap and combo extender that freezes opponents in their tracks and deals huge amounts of damage at point-blank range. Using the attack while an enemy is already frozen increases the freeze time slightly and can allow the duo to make space between them and their opponent if need be, or tack on extra damage while frozen. Specifically, this move is very useful when near the ledge, as it can cover most ledge get-up options, and freezing an opponent near the edges of a stage can make it easy to nudge them off without any means to escape. It also has priority over some other projectiles and can cancel them if the two collide. Overall, the duo's specials are all useful in various situations and can help to create openings for additional combos or surprise KOs.

An important part of playing Ice Climbers is learning how to consistently perform a tech called desyncing. Desyncing is an advanced technique that allows a player to manipulate the partner Ice Climber into acting with different timing than usual. At its most basic form, anytime the partner Ice Climber is not within a specific range of the leader, the partner's AI will take manual control of the partner and return it to the leader. During this time, none of the leader's inputs are read by the partner, and its AI inputs are prioritized until it has returned to the leader, and may act independently of the leader's current movements being performed. Using desyncs can allow for some remarkable combos and setups that are completely impossible with other fighters.

The removal of chain grabs (and by extension, wobbling) means that the duo's grab game has become more situational and in line with the rest of the roster, limiting its effectiveness. However, while it is not as potent as it once was, the Ice Climbers' grab game is still respectable. The Ice Climbers' grab itself has been vastly changed. For starters, only the leader grabs opponents, while the partner cheers. This means that the duo can no longer grab more than one opponent at a time. Additionally, the Ice Climbers' grab has the shortest range of any grab in the game, making it difficult to grab an opponent in the first place. Forward throw is a basic throw that has moderately strong base knockback and causes tumble from 0%. But its knockback growth is far too low to KO at realistic percentages. Back throw also has strong base knockback with little growth, with less damage and a higher launch angle. Up throw continues this trend to an extreme degree, with virtually nonexistent knockback scaling but very high base knockback—high enough to take stocks at very low percentages or from light and floaty characters if used on a high enough platform on a stage such as Palutena's Temple. Down throw is by far the duo's best throw. Its main use is to initiate aerial combos, desync combos, and juggles, all of which can be devastating. Most of the Ice Climbers' aerials can be used for combos out of down throw, and the opponent's placement in the air can make it difficult for them to escape from a combo once it has been started, especially if desynced. While all of their throws (except down throw) are normally subpar at best, any of them can be used to hold an opponent in place for a free hit when desynced.

Barring their situational projectile from Ice Shot, the Ice Climbers have no reliable projectile and can be easily camped out, or their projectiles turned against them. The range of their moves is not great—despite being disjointed, their hammers' range can still come up short and can make for some bad matchups, such as Mythra or Sephiroth. Arguably, the changes that hurt the Ice Climbers most are the changes to grab mechanics in Ultimate. The added period of grab intangibility between grabs and the partner's lack of a grab makes the Ice Climbers' previously most potent tool, chain grabbing, nearly impossible. This significantly impedes their cheesing ability compared to Brawl or Melee and makes getting a stock off of a single grab much harder. Desyncing in itself can also have its own drawbacks. An accidental desync off of up tilt or down throw may make it more difficult to follow up with the duo's combos, or can even cause the partner's attack to miss entirely, hindering the duo's damage-racking capabilities. Desyncing can also leave the partner Ice Climber vulnerable because of the inconsistent reaction time between the leader and the partner; abilities such as dodging and jumping can be significantly delayed, giving the opponent time to counterattack if properly read. They also retain most of the flaws that plagued them in Brawl and Melee, such as the difficulty in keeping the partner alive, severe handicaps when the partner is gone, sluggish aerial mobility, and susceptibility to camping, with the former issue being further pronounced as well.

Overall, the Ice Climbers can be intimidating and difficult to understand for new players, and combined with their subpar mobility and severe handicaps when the partner is lost are also considerable barriers to entry. However, learning the quirks of the pair, especially desyncing, can open a potent game plan. This includes long and relatively free-form combos, many being zero-to-death options—some even being true—as well as other unique setups and mix-ups that very few characters have any proper answers for.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

The Ice Climbers were previously infamous for having some of (if not) the most powerful damage-racking capabilities thanks to wobbling in Melee and handoffs in Brawl, with these even allowing them to achieve a KO from them. Most likely owing to this, the Ice Climbers were drastically nerfed in the transition from Brawl to Ultimate.

The Ice Climbers' grab game was impacted the most; the partner climber can no longer grab the opponent or act when the leader is grabbed or throwing someone (except when in the air). This dramatically changes the way their combo game works, as it removes the Climbers' extremely powerful chain grabs they were capable of, instead forcing them to rely on desynching or bread-and-butter strings to combo the opponent. Moreover, the leader's grabs have noticeably more startup and ending lag, and much less range, now being the shortest grabs in the game.

Outside of this, the base damage output on many of their moves has decreased, and many of their attacks connect less reliably when they are together due to reduced hitlag. The partner climber is also launched much more easily than the leader due to taking increased damage and knockback from attacks, and the AI's intelligence has been reduced, leading to more likely self-destructs, making it harder for each of them to stay together. The partner climber also no longer performs Blizzard behind the leader when used on the ground, and the move itself is less effective as a spacing tool due to its lack of knockback at max range. Finally, due to changes in Belay's hitboxes, the move can gain significantly less height if the hitbox is out-prioritized, and its overall size is smaller, making it harder to connect against grounded opponents.

However, the Ice Climbers have received some useful buffs. As with almost every other returning veteran, their mobility has been considerably increased, and the partner climber is now faster than the leader, making it harder to separate them. Some of their moves, including forward smash, down smash, and forward aerial, deal more serious damage with proportional KO power. The Ice Climbers also have superior combo potential on their own due to the removal of hitstun canceling, the weakening of SDI, and desynching remaining mostly intact. Thanks to improved freezing properties, the Ice Climbers can also freeze opponents easier and longer, which can lead to serious damage, KOs while edgeguarding, shield pressure, and follow-ups if performed correctly.

Overall, the Ice Climbers are significantly less effective than in Brawl. Their learning curve has become much steeper, as the removal of chaingrabbing and weakening of miscellaneous moves forces them to rely on desynching to perform at full capacity. Even with the changes to game mechanics and late game updates giving them multiple benefits, the Ice Climbers perform worse than in Brawl, and are by far the most nerfed characters in the transition from Brawl to Ultimate.

Aesthetics

• Due to Ultimate's graphical improvements, the Ice Climbers gain a sleeker design with more subtle detailing in their hair and parkas, and their overall color scheme is significantly more vibrant and subdued. The duo wear coats with detailed furry lining, similar to Melee. The duo have slightly smaller more proportionate heads, more faint blushes on their cheeks, and slightly thinner eyes on top of losing the purple hue in their eyes. Their boots and hammers also appear to be covered in light powdered snow.
• Both Ice Climbers face the foreground at an angle, instead of facing directly forward. In addition, they always face the screen regardless of which direction either of them turn, making all of their animations mirrored while altering some.
• The Ice Climbers have a new idle pose of them turning to look behind themselves. It replaces the animation of them dropping their hammers and then lifting them back up.
• Like other fighters, the Ice Climbers are more expressive than before: they appear excited when using their specials and forward smash, scowl when shielding and charging their up and down smash, and the partner climber will also panic when the leader is grabbed.
  • In addition, the partner climber will have a worried expression and wince periodically when the main climber gets frozen, dizzy, or gets attacked.
• Nana has received new voice-clips for a few of her moveset, such as her smash attacks.
• The Ice Climbers' spot dodging, air dodging and ledge-hanging animations have changed.
  • When air dodging, the Ice Climbers look towards the camera for longer.
  • When hanging onto a ledge, the Ice Climbers grab the ledge with their free hand instead of with both hands.
• The Ice Climbers' on-screen appearance has them give each other an enthusiastic high-five, which was waist-height in Brawl. The animation also no longer differs depending on the starting position based on the player's controller port.
• The Ice Climbers only jump once when using up taunt, as opposed to three times.
• At the end of a solo-match, only the leading Ice Climber will be shown inside the losing pane on the results screen. Both Ice Climbers are still shown if the match ends in a No Contest.
• The Ice Climbers' victory pose where they alternate left and right now has them circling their heads around .
  • Their victory theme has been shortened to only contain the second half.
• The Ice Climbers' crowd cheer is "I scream, you scream, Ice Climbers!"
• Nana's crowd cheer is no longer the back-sound of the menu if she is currently the leader.
• The Ice Climbers' smash-inputted item throwing, teetering, and knockback-based voice-clips will no longer play if Nana is the leader.
• The Ice Climbers has been updated with universal features introduced in Smash 4.
  • The Ice Climbers has a Boxing Ring title, a Palutena's Guidance conversation, and two additional alternate costumes.
    • Their black costume has slightly been modified: Nana's parka is now brown instead of black. Additionally, their costumes have been re-ordered; the Nana-leading costumes now occupy the second half of their costumes instead of the even-numbered costumes and they also show her in front while Popo is in the back, which is how their costumes were ordered in Melee
  • The Ice Climbers' voice-clip numbers in Sound Test are numbered individually (i.e. "Popo: Voice [number]"/"Nana: Voice [number]"), similar to other team-based fighters as well as the Mii Fighters, Assist Trophies, Poké Ball Pokémon and bosses.
• The sound effects of the partner are quieter. This is best heard when they are either Star or Screen KO'd.

Attributes

• Like all characters, both of the Ice Climbers' jumpsquat animations take 3 frames to complete (down from 4).
• The partner climber is generally faster than the leader. This helps them keep up if the two are separated.
• If either Ice Climber lands a hit, the other one takes a small amount of hitlag, regardless of whether their attack connects or not.
  • This makes desynching slightly more difficult to perform.
• The partner Ice Climber sustains 1.02× times the damage and knockback from attacks, making them slightly easier to separate and KO.
• The partner now stands slightly behind the leader, in addition to being slightly in the z-axis. This reduces their grounded moveset's range, minus down smash due to hitting behind the partner.
• The partner has a longer delay (4 frames → 6), causing some of the partner's attacks to miss but also improving their combo and frame-trapping potential.
• The Ice Climbers walk faster (0.96 → 1.008 (leader), 1.1088 (partner)).
• The Ice Climbers run faster (1.388 → 1.53 (leader), 1.683 (partner)).
  • Their initial dash is noticeably faster (1.4 → 1.68).
• The Ice Climbers' air speed is faster (0.7708 → 0.83 (leader), 0.8715 (partner)).
• The Ice Climbers' falling speed is faster (1.2 → 1.3).
• The Ice Climbers' gravity is slightly higher (0.077 → 0.082), although it is lower relative to the cast.
• As with all returning veterans, the Ice Climbers have much more traction (0.035 → 0.077), although it is still the second lowest in the game.
• The following Ice Climber's air acceleration is slightly higher (0.09 → 0.0945).
• Forward roll has less ending lag (FAF 31 → 30).
• Forward roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-19 → 4-15).
• Back roll has more startup with less intangibility (frames 4-19 → 5-16) and more ending lag (FAF 31 → 35).
• Spot dodge has more startup with less intangibility (frames 2-20 → 3-17).
• Air dodge has significantly more ending lag (FAF 48 → 58)
• Air dodge has less startup (4 → 3).
• The reintroduction of directional air dodging benefits the Ice Climbers more than most of the other returning veterans, as the duo have access to using a secondary recovering option with them or can extend or mix-up their recovery by using one, especially when combined with Belay's long distance as a tether recovery.
  • The following Ice Climber now performs a directional air dodge if off-stage when separated from the leader, instead of typically using Belay to recover.
  • The introduction of air dodge landing lag glitch benefits the Ice Climbers more than any other returning veteran, as if the duo perform an uninterrupted air dodge and land on the floor in their helpless states after using Squall Hammer, their normal landing lag will get approximately reduced.
• The removal of chain grabbing hinders the Ice Climbers more than any other character, as it drastically reduces their cheesing ability, and zero-to-deaths, while still possible, are now much harder. They also greatly suffer from the ability to tech footstools as it removes their guaranteed lock setups from grabs.
• The following Ice Climber's AI is worse as they have more difficulty recovering and making it back to the leader, which can lead to them self-destructing.
• The duration opponents are frozen from the Ice Climbers' ice attacks are much longer, allowing for easier unavoidable follow-ups at high percentages. At very high percentages, Blizzard and Ice Shot can even freeze them long enough to be unable to recover from near the ledge.
• Ice Climbers arguably benefit the most from the reintroduction of wavedashing because of their very low traction, significantly increasing their approach and mobility, as well as giving them more mixups with grabbing and attacking opponents.
• The partner Ice Climber's attacks affect the duo's staleness queue; in previous games, they would use the queue but could not alter it. This generally means that the duo's attacks will both stale and refresh twice as quickly.
• When the leader is KO'd by reaching 0 HP during their last stock in Stamina Mode, the partner climber instantly enters the defeat animation regardless of being hit or not, similar to Rosalina's Lumas.
  • This consequently removes the partner Ice Climber's ability to intervene the results of opponents, hindering their impact on Stamina battles.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Neutral attack can lock opponents and connect both hits together more consistently due to its altered angle (60° → 361°/180°).
  • The partner's second hit deals more damage (2% → 2.6%) without full compensation on knockback (45 (base)/100 (scaling) → 60/95), improving its KO potential when combined with the second hit's lowered angle.
  • The first hit transitions into the second hit earlier (frame 11 → 10).
  • The first hit can be transitioned into the second hit by holding/tapping onto the attack input for 10-30 frames, or by holding onto the button until frame 13, as opposed to tapping the button until frame 11.
  • The move deals less damage (3% → 2% (leader hit 1), 4% → 3.5% (leader hit 2), 2% → 1.5% (partner hit 1), 11% → 9.6% (total)).
  • Second hit of neutral attack has more ending lag (FAF 20 → 30).
  • Both hits have a shorter duration (frames 4-7 (hit 1), 4-6 (hit 2) → 4-5 (both)).
  • The first hit has an increased hitlag multiplier (1.0× → 1.3×), giving the opponent more time to SDI it.
  • The first hit has gained 2 additional hitstun frames. This allows it to stun opponents longer to connect into the second hit, and thus pressure them more effectively, but also gives them more time to SDI it.
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt has less ending lag (FAF 33 → 30).
  • The partner's forward tilt deals less damage (7% (non angled) → 6.75%).
  • The move has a shorter duration (frames 9-12 → 9-10).
  • The partner's forward tilt has an increased hitlag multiplier (0.5× → 1×), matching the leader's.
• Up tilt:
  • The final hit of up tilt has more combo potential due to the removal of hitstun canceling.
  • The partner's final hit deals less base knockback and more knockback scaling (40 (base), 100 (scaling) → 38, 118), allowing it to combo better from low/medium percents, while also improving its KO potential at very high percents.
  • The partner hits two more times, now matching the leader.
  • The final hit has more startup lag (frame 26 → 27). With its interruptibility unchanged, this gives the move one less frame of endlag. Combined with a faster jumpsquat, this improves it as a combo starter.
  • The looping hits deal more knockback (15 (base), 20 (scaling) → 65/60/20, 10), with the higher knockback hitboxes being used to raise the opponent towards the higher, low knockback hitboxes.
  • The move deals less damage (1% (loop hits) → 0.8% (leader loop hits), 0.6% (partner loop hits), 17% → 15.4% (total)).
• Down tilt:
  • The partner's down tilt deals consistent damage (4%/5% → 4.5%), making it deal more damage at point-blank range but dealing less damage elsewhere.
  • Due to the increased traction across the cast, opponents do not slide back as much upon tripping from down tilt, improving its reliability for starting combos.
  • The move connects less consistently at higher percents when both climbers are present due to the partner being more delayed.
• Dash attack:
  • The partner's dash attack deals more damage (4% → 4.5%) and has increased knockback scaling (40 → 60).
  • The move has a longer duration (frames 11-12 → 11-14).
  • The outermost-hitbox has been extended forward (Y offset: 5u → 5u—7.5u), increasing its range.
• Forward smash:
  • It has less ending lag (FAF 49 → 47).
  • It has more base knockback (30 → 50) and the partner's forward smash has more knockback scaling (118 → 126).
  • It has an altered animation where the Ice Climbers don't slam their hammers as far as horizontally, hindering its range. It also no longer hits behind and above the Climbers.
  • It no longer provides a sweetspot that deals more damage, reducing its overall maximum damage output (13% → 12% (leader), 10% → 9% (partner), 23% → 21% (both)).
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has less startup lag (frame 13 → 12).
  • The partner's up smash has more knockback scaling (113 → 126).
  • The loss of hitstun canceling improves the move's ability to lead into combos.
  • The partner's up smash deals less damage (9%/8% → 8.25%/6.75%).
  • It has more ending lag (FAF 48 → 50).
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has been reworked: each Ice Climber individually sweep their hammers at specific directions (with the leader sweeping in front, while the partner sweeps behind the leader).
  • The move provides more horizontal coverage when together, making it more versatile for punishing rolls and approaches.
  • The hitboxes come out sooner (frame 9 → 7), improving its utility as a burst punishing option.
  • It deals more damage (12%/10% → 13% (leader), 9%/8% → 9.75% (partner)) and more knockback than the previous sweetspots (30/50 (base), 105/102 (leader scaling), 113 (partner scaling) → 50, 105, 126)
  • It has less ending lag (FAF 44 → 41).
  • The move only hits on a single side with a solo-climber, making the remaining climber more vulnerable to rolls.
  • Due to its altered animation, it is drastically harder to connect with both climbers.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag (15 frames → 7 (neutral/back), 20 → 10 (forward), 30 → 14 (up), 42 → 20 (down).
• The Ice Climbers can no longer perform a two back or up aerials in a short hop due to their increased falling speed, as well as the latter having increased ending lag.
• Neutral aerial:
  • The partner's neutral aerial deals more damage (5% → 5.25%).
  • The partner's neutral aerial also has less knockback scaling (128 → 120) hindering its KO potential despite its higher damage.
  • The move's lowered landing lag improves its utility in combos both desynced and synced.
  • The move connects less consistently when both climbers are present, especially at higher percents.
• Forward aerial:
  • The partner's sourspot deals more damage (7% → 9%) and has more knockback scaling (100 → 114).
  • The removal of meteor canceling improves the partner's sweetspot's reliability.
  • The removal of teching for grounded meteor smashes improves the combo potential of the partner's sweetspotted forward aerial onstage, compounded further by its reduced landing lag.
  • The partner has less active frames, now matching the leader (19-21 → 19-20).
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial deals less damage (11% → 10% (leader), 8% → 7.5% (partner), 19% → 17.5% (both)) although its knockback was mostly compensated (scaling: 107 (leader), 128 (partner) → 115/138) and connects less reliably when both climbers are present especially at higher percents.
    • The partner's attack now has more knockback overall, and is more in-line with the leader's, although it is still a bit weaker.
• Up aerial:
  • The Ice Climbers' up aerial has been reworked: an overhead hammer-swing in a horizontal arc. Compared to their previous up aerial, it provides much more horizontal range and hits in front of them, providing more efficient coverage than before.
  • It has more knockback scaling (120 (leader), 142 (partner) → 129, 154.8), improving its KO potential despite its lowered damage.
  • It deals less damage (10%/9% → 9% (leader), 7%/6% → 6.75% (partner)).
  • It has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 6-23 → 7-11) and more ending lag (FAF 30 → 36).
  • It provides less vertical range compared to the previous one, making it much harder to connect against grounded opponents.
• Down aerial:
  • The partner's down aerial deals more damage (5% → 6%).
  • It auto-cancels earlier (frame 58 → 54).
  • The removal of the stall-then-fall glitch allows the Ice Climbers to land with the move more reliably out of hitstun.
  • The Ice Climbers bounce up before performing down aerial, similar to Sheik's down aerial.
    • As a result, it has more startup with a shorter duration (frames 9-51 → 12-51).