Ivysaur (SSBU)

This article is about Ivysaur's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For other uses, see Ivysaur. Also, for information about Ivysaur in regards to Pokémon Trainer, see Pokémon Trainer (SSBU), Squirtle (SSBU), and Charizard (SSBU).

Ivysaur in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Pokémon
Shares character slot with	Pokémon Trainer Charizard Squirtle
Other playable appearance	in Brawl
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Triple Finish
Tier	B+ (36)

Ivysaur (フシギソウ, Fushigisou) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It was confirmed on June 12th, 2018, along with the Pokémon Trainer and the rest of his team. Ivysaur is classified as Fighter #34.

As with other playable characters from the Pokémon franchise, Ivysaur is voiced by several voice actors in different languages, each of them reprising their roles from the respective dubs for Pokémon the Series: XY. The voice actors are as follows:

• Justin Anselmi in English, succeeding Craig Blair's portrayal from Brawl.
• Inuko Inuyama in Japanese, succeeding the late Tomoko Kawakami's portrayal from Brawl.
• Jean-Marc Delhausse in French.

Ivysaur, as part of the Pokémon Trainer's team, is currently ranked 36th out of 82 in the current tier list, putting them near the top of the B+ tier, a huge improvement from their 29th place placement (out of 38) in Brawl. Ivysaur boasts attacks with great range, including mix-ups in its up tilt and neutral aerial, and KO options in its forward aerial and Vine Whip. Ivysaur's grabs are also among the game's longest, and lead to some of the most powerful throws, including the strongest down throw in the game. Ivysaur also received heavy buffs from Brawl, including buffs to its attacks, most notably its down smash and down aerial, which had their damage and knockback increased, and its neutral attack and Bullet Seed, which gained finishers that can launch opponents a decent distance away and are therefore less punishable. Lastly, Ivysaur benefits from the universal changes to Pokémon Trainer, including the removal of type effectiveness and stamina, and the fact that Pokémon Change can now be performed in the air, allowing Ivysaur to switch to Charizard if it is too far to recover.

Despite being heavily buffed from Brawl, Ivysaur retains some flaws. Its smash attacks are powerful, but have long startups and are both predictable and punishable. Due to the presence of stale-move negation, Ivysaur often has to rely on their ranged attacks to keep their best finishers fresh, with none of them dealing a good amount of damage. Although Ivysaur's air speed was buffed, it is still among the slowest in Ultimate, and when combined with its recovery tool, Vine Whip, requiring close proximity to the stage to perform, it makes Ivysaur easy to edgeguard. Ivysaur also has a poor disadvantage state; Ivysaur's slow air and falling speed allow it to be juggled, and Ivysaur's aerials are ineffective in such a state. When combined with nerfs including its reduced weight and the removal of momentum canceling, this greatly reduces Ivysaur's survivability. Ivysaur also received several nerfs to his attacks, with Bullet Seed now having a longer startup and dealing less damage. This makes Ivysaur more reliant on its buffed KO moves, but because most of them launch opponents vertically, it makes them ineffective for edgeguarding. Lastly, updates have nerfed Ivysaur more than they have buffed it, with the most notable nerf being the reduction the size of its down aerial's sweetspot, which is exacerbated by having the knockback dealt by its sourspots decreased.

Overall, Ivysaur's strengths greatly outweigh its flaws, to the point that it is now considered the best Pokémon of the Trainer's team.

How to unlock

Unlocked as part of Pokémon Trainer alongside Charizard and Squirtle.

Attributes

This article or section is incomplete. You can help SmashWiki by expanding or finishing it. The editor who added this tag elaborates: This section needs an in-depth explanation of Ivysaur's strengths and weaknesses.

Ivysaur is one of the characters made playable from Pokémon Trainer, alongside the likes of Squirtle and Charizard. It is a middleweight fighter, having a below average dash and gravity, an average jump height, and high traction. While Squirtle will automatically be the first Pokémon on-screen if Pokémon Trainer is selected, pressing the Y button on the character select screen will toggle Ivysaur as first. In relation to Pokémon change, the order is always Ivysaur-Charizard-Squirtle. If Squirtle is KO'd, Ivysaur will always appear on the next revival platform.

One of Ivysaur's biggest strengths is its range, as its vine-based attacks (neutral attack, up tilt, down tilt, down smash, forward aerial, back aerial, and Vine Whip) all have very generous range that allow Ivysaur to keep foes at a distance with relative ease. Among said attacks, they all either synergize as get-off-me options (down tilt/down smash), mix-up options (up tilt/neutral aerial), or niche KO moves (forward aerial and Vine Whip), which grant Ivysaur a decently effective ranged toolkit. Altogether, this mix gives Ivysaur among the most effective ranges in the game, made more effective by said moves all having at most 15 frames of startup.

Another strength that Ivysaur has is its strong air game. Every aerial Ivysaur has is either a powerful KO move or a potent combo tool and serves as the basis of its powerful advantage state. While its back aerial is among the weakest of aerial attacks in the game, its aforementioned range allows it to keep foes at a distance. Its weak nature allows it to combo into itself at low percentages, and at higher percentages can lead into Vine Whip in certain situations. Its neutral aerial has been used as a combo extender due to its looping hits using the autolink angle, although its low power makes it easy to intercept. Its up and down aerials are notorious for their KO power and large hitboxes, while its forward aerial, despite its slow startup, is a reliable combo starter into Vine Whip due to its diagonal knockback. Additionally, none of its aerial attacks have more than 17 frames of landing lag, making them good for air-to-ground approaches.

Ivysaur's grab game is also useful. While all of its grabs are active on frame 13, they are among the longest-reaching in Ultimate and are decently fast overall, which further adds to Ivysaur's already strong range. To boot, all of its throws deal at least 7% damage. While its forward throw is ironically unsuitable for both combos and KOs due to its high base knockback and low knockback growth, its back throw is a good KO option at the edge, and its up throw is a decent low-percentage combo tool. However, of particular note is its down throw: despite its low damage, it has strong combo potential until around 100%, while its knockback scaling also makes it the strongest down throw in the game, allowing it to KO in situations where back throw cannot.

Finally, Ivysaur has a useful array of special moves. Bullet Seed is a fast, multi-hitting attack that hits foes directly above Ivysaur with decent damage, allowing it to work well as an anti-air. Razor Leaf is a projectile that, despite its slow startup, lingers for a short time and has low knockback, allowing it to be used effectively for stage control, combo setup, or general spacing. Lastly, Vine Whip is Ivysaur's primary recovery move and a strong KO option when sweetspotted, and like other tethers in Ultimate, has a very long range. Notably, it can hit below the ledge, and its animation is very fast, leading to tricky mix-ups for unsuspecting opponents.

However, Ivysaur is held back by various flaws. Perhaps Ivysaur's most prominent issue is its ground game: while its tilt attacks have strong range, they are also equally lacking in power. Down tilt serves as a quick "get-off-me" option, and is its fastest grounded option at frame 4. Up tilt hits directly above Ivysaur and can lead into up air at certain percentages, though it does not have a scoop hitbox, leading to it being a niche move at best. While its smash attacks possess high power, they are generally predictable due to slow startup. Its up smash is among the strongest in the game, but it has a very slow startup at 26 frames, while its horizontal range renders it hard to approach with against grounded opponents. Down smash suffers from the opposite problem: while decently fast, it fails to KO until very high percentages, a fact made worse by its sourspots. Arguably, its most useful smash attack is forward smash, which, when timed correctly, can cover all ledge options and is generally safe on shield at full range. Its dash attack is a good burst option, but it also suffers from low knockback scaling and cannot KO reliably. Finally, due to said problems, Ivysaur is very susceptible to stale-move negation, meaning it will almost constantly rely on its ranged attacks, all of which deal low damage.

Ivysaur also has a problematic recovery. Its air speed is mediocre, ranking 60th in Smash Ultimate. While its up and down aerials provide different vertical movement options, they are only useful when close to the stage due to their ending lag. Vine Whip has long range as a tether, but only works if Ivysaur is sufficiently close to a ledge, where it is susceptible to stage spikes. Altogether, this makes it infeasible for Ivysaur to recover when above the stage, where any sufficiently strong semi-spike or meteor smash can potentially keep it away from ledges.

Finally, due to a lackluster air speed and falling speed, Ivysaur is highly susceptible to juggle situations and has a poor overall disadvantage state. Although Ivysaur has a plethora of amazing aerials, none of them are particularly effective in disadvantage, and without a jump, Ivysaur has few options to get back on the ground. Ivysaur has the opportunity to switch to Charizard for better air speed and another jump, but such options are committal and can lead to even further punishment.

Altogether, Ivysaur fills the "zoner" role for the Pokémon Trainer's lineup, with its long range, disjointed attacks, and projectile, allowing it to excel at keeping opponents out. It is the middle of the three in weight, and is usually used around mid-high percent because of its strong advantage state, combos, and zoning ability.

If the player wishes to centralize their gameplan around Ivysaur, knowledge of Charizard is recommended. Charizard's immense power, in combination with its similar range to Ivysaur's, allows a player to switch between a defensive zoner and an offensive aerial game plan that allows them to keep control over the pace of a battle with ease. Additionally, Charizard's wealth of recovery options and additional mid-air jump covers Ivysaur's lackluster recovery, and their super heavyweight status gives them an edge when staying alive for as long as possible is required.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Ivysaur was previously considered the worst Pokémon in the Pokémon Trainer's party and one of the worst characters in Brawl (especially if judged as a standalone fighter), due to its large amount of significant weaknesses, namely poor damage outputs on its attacks, notable KO problems due to laggy finishers, bad aerial game, even worse recovery, and one of the worst special movesets in the game. Most likely in an attempt to create a higher balance within the team, Ivysaur has been heavily buffed in the transition to Ultimate, and is the most buffed Pokémon in the Pokémon Trainer's party.

Ivysaur's biggest buffs come from the adjustments to the Pokémon Trainer's mechanics alongside universal gameplay changes. The type effectiveness mechanic, which previously gave Ivysaur a disproportionate weakness to the common flame-type attacks throughout the cast, has been removed, while the elimination of stamina allows Ivysaur to stay in the fight without weakening its moves. The universal increase to mobility benefits Ivysaur, significantly improving its air speed. The universally decreased landing lag on aerials fixes its poor aerial approach, and now grants its moves combo potential, which is especially bolstered by the changes to hitstun canceling. However, and most notably, the removal of edgehogging in favor of ledge trumping considerably improves its exploitable recovery, allowing Vine Whip to grab the ledge. This is further helped by the ability to use Pokémon Change in the air, allowing Ivysaur to gain access to Charizard's better recovery in case it's not able to return to the stage.

A large part of Ivysaur's moveset has been modified and is significantly more useful overall. The addition of a finisher and the changes to neutral infinites make its neutral attack more reliable for racking up damage, while down tilt consists of a single hit that semi-spikes. Some of Ivysaur's notoriously weak attacks, such as down smash and back aerial, have had their damage and knockback considerably increased, with down smash gaining a sweetspot that can KO at realistic percents. Tying in with its improved air physics, Ivysaur's aerial game has received several enhancements: it has a new, disjointed neutral aerial that performs much better than its old one, due to its autolink angle and the weakening of SDI from Brawl, enabling it to connect much more reliably. Up and down aerials' momentum changes are less extreme, and down aerial has been heavily buffed, as its small meteor smash sweetspot deals more damage and is slightly larger, and its large sourspot now meteor smashes as well, turning the move into a powerful edgeguarding tool.

In addition, Ivysaur's throw game is vastly more useful; it now has a more reliable KO throw in its back throw, alongside reliable combos from up throw and down throw, while it is also one of the characters to be the least affected by the universal nerfs to grabs, as only its pivot grab's lag was increased, and all grabs except its dash grab have more range. Lastly, its entire special moveset has been improved in several ways: Bullet Seed has gained a finisher (though the move remains situational overall), Razor Leaf is noticeably more useful as a projectile due to its previously unreliable trajectory being more consistent and the changes to hitstun canceling granting it extreme combo potential, and Vine Whip has faster startup, can be angled, and no longer causes helplessness, giving Ivysaur a powerful combo finisher and more opportunities to recover. Altogether, these changes immensely improve Ivysaur's neutral game, damage racking, and zoning abilities, putting them more in line with the rest of the cast.

However, Ivysaur did receive a few notable nerfs. Ivysaur's weight has been decreased, which, combined with the removal of momentum canceling, hinders its survivability. Although forward tilt connects much more reliably due to the weakening of SDI, it has noticeably more startup, while it retains high ending lag and a lack of KO power. Some of Ivysaur's KO options were toned down as well, such as dash attack, forward smash, forward aerial, and its notorious up aerial and up smash, with the latter no longer being the strongest in the game. Most importantly, however, Bullet Seed has a slower startup with no intangibility, and racks up a significantly lower amount of damage due to its shortened duration, greatly reducing its utility despite the new finisher. As a result, Ivysaur is more reliant on racking up damage with its various buffed moves to KO effectively, which is exacerbated by all its aerials except neutral and down aerial launching at upward angles that are ineffective for edgeguarding, often compelling the player to switch to Charizard and utilize its greater KO potential once opponents are at high percents.

All in all, Ivysaur has become a drastically better character since its introduction in Brawl, especially relative to the rest of the cast. While it has been retooled to fit more in line as the zoner the Pokémon Trainer's party, and it has received nerfs in game updates, Ivysaur is now considered to be the most useful Pokémon of the three, with traits like decent weight, disjointed attacks, a conventional projectile, and combos and setups into its most powerful moves, allowing Ivysaur to fill in the gaps its partners lack, namely Squirtle's lack of power at the cost of attack speed, Charizard's slow moveset in detriment of power, and both Pokemon's melee range in exchange for slower (but nowhere near as awful) all-around mobility.

Aesthetics

• Ivysaur's design and proportions have changed. Its flower bud now has multiple layers of petals and a smoother texture. Its pupils and ears are slightly larger, and its toes are much less pronounced. Its patches have also been re-positioned. It is more vibrantly colored overall, with its skin being a lighter shade of blue and its flower bud being a lighter shade of pink with its leaves being a lighter shade of green. In addition, Ivysaur's teeth and toes are white instead of beige. Due to these changes, it now matches match its appearance in more recent Pokémon games.
• Ivysaur is much more expressive than it was in Brawl. It smiles when taunting, has a determined smirk when selected by the Trainer, and scowls during several attacks, grabbing an opponent, or shielding.
• Ivysaur always faces the screen regardless of which direction it turns, causing all of its animations to be mirrored.
• Ivysaur has a new air dodge animation, where it no longer twirls horizontally.
• Opponents now grab Ivysaur by its body, instead of its flower bud.
• The grass type and effect of Ivysaur's moves have been removed and replaced with a weapon or typeless and normal effects.
• Ivysaur's victory animations are slightly changed.
  • Ivysaur has a new victory animation, where it performs Vine Whip in front of itself a couple of times. This replaces the victory pose where it walks in place a few times.
  • The victory pose where Ivysaur backflips now has it land upright, as opposed to landing on its belly.
  • The Pokémon Trainer's animation with Ivysaur's backflip and Vine Whip victory animations are swapped from Brawl, with the one where he tosses and catches a Poké Ball being paired with the backflip animation, and him cheering being paired with the Vine Whip one.
• Ivysaur has been updated with universal features introduced in Smash 4.
  • Ivysaur has a Boxing Ring title, a Palutena's Guidance conversation, and three new alternate costumes, though the formermost is shared by the group.
  • Ivysaur has voice clips for suffering high knockback.
  • Ivysaur now has an individual Sound Test section, rather than being grouped together with the other Pokémon as well as the Trainer.

Attributes

• Like all characters, Ivysaur's jumpsquat animation takes 3 frames to complete (down from 5).
• Ivysaur walks faster (1.05 → 1.1103).
• Ivysaur runs faster (1.5 → 1.595). However, it is slower relative to the rest of the cast, going from average (17th fastest out of 39 characters) to below-average (59th fastest out of 82 characters).
  • Its initial dash is much faster (1.4 → 1.903).
• Ivysaur's air speed is much faster (0.752 → 0.998), going from the 3rd slowest in Brawl to the 58th fastest out of 81 characters in Ultimate.
• Ivysaur's crawling speed is slower.
• Ivysaur's traction is much higher (0.0532 → 0.121), allowing it to punish more easily out of shield.
• Ivysaur's fall speed is slightly higher (1.35 → 1.38).
  • Its fast falling speed is significantly higher (1.89 → 2.208), leaving it much less vulnerable to juggling.
• Ivysaur's gravity is higher (0.07 → 0.082).
• Ivysaur is lighter (100 → 96), reducing its survivability.
• The Stamina mechanic has been removed, eliminating the necessity of switching out Pokémon to restore their power.
• The removal of type effectiveness benefits Ivysaur significantly more than the rest of the Pokémon Trainer's party, as it previously had a disproportionate weakness to the common flame attacks of the cast. This also increases the power of its grass attacks against Charizard.
  • However, this also hinders Ivysaur's endurance against water based attacks (which are slightly more prevalent than in Brawl), and reduces the power of its grass attacks against Squirtle.
• The removal of edgehogging improves Ivysaur's tether-dependent recovery.
• The removal of meteor canceling both helps and hinders Ivysaur. While it improves the reliability of its buffed down aerial, it also leaves Ivysaur significantly more vulnerable to meteor smashes, as it had one of the most lenient meteor cancel windows in Brawl.
• Forward roll has less ending lag (FAF 33 → 31).
• 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 33 → 36).
• Spot dodge has more startup with less intangibility (frames 2-20 → 3-16), and more ending lag (FAF 26 → 27).
• Air dodge has less startup and grants more intangibility (frames 4-29 → 3-29).
• Air dodge has much more ending lag (FAF 40 → 57).

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first hit transitions into the second hit faster (frame 13 → 10 (hit), 16 → 13 (no hit)), which transitions into the neutral infinite faster (frame 15 → 8).
  • The first two hits have altered angles to keep opponents close to Ivysaur (30° (hit 1), 85° (hit 2) → 361°/180°), and the second hit has altered knockback (10 base/50 scaling → 25/20 base/25/20/15 scaling), allowing them to lock opponents and connect more reliably.
  • The second hit has less startup (frame 7 → 5), and can be used without triggering the neutral infinite. If it misses, it can also loop back into the first hit on frame 20 if the button is held, instead of transitioning into the infinite.
  • The infinite has a new animation: Ivysaur swings both vines much faster in front of itself, instead of alternatingly slamming them down at a moderate pace.
  • The infinite has less startup (frame 6 → 4), a much shorter gap between hits (10 frames → 3), a lower hitlag multiplier (1× → 0.5×) and SDI multiplier (1× → 0.4×), keeps opponents on the ground (30° → 361°), and deals less knockback (20 base/20/0 scaling → 7/30). Combined with the weakening of SDI, this allows it to connect much more reliably. Additionally, like all neutral infinites since Smash 4, it has gained a finisher in the form of a double vine slap, making it significantly safer.
  • The first two hits have smaller hitboxes (3u/4u/4u/3u → 2.3u/2.3u/2.3u/2.8u (hit 1), 3u/3u/3u/3u (hit 2)).
  • The first two hits have a shorter hitbox duration (frames 7-9 → 7-8 (hit 1), 5-6 (hit 2)).
  • The first hit and the infinite deal less damage (3% → 2% (hit 1), 2%/1% → 0.5% (infinite)).
  • The first hit no longer uses set knockback (8 set/100 scaling → 25/20 base/25/20/15 scaling), causing it to connect less reliably at high percents.
  • The first hit has a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.3×); however, it remains harder to SDI than in Brawl due to the weakening of the mechanic.
  • The infinite has gained a shieldstun multiplier of 3×. This allows it to lock opponents into their shields between each hit, and thus pressure them more effectively, but also allows them to cancel shieldstun and punish Ivysaur more easily if they shield 10 hits or more.
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt's looping hits have a lower hitlag multiplier (1× → 0.7×) and SDI multiplier (1.2× → 1×). Combined with the weakening of SDI, this allows them to connect more reliably.
  • The looping hits are placed farther horizontally (Z offset: 11u/5.3u/0u/15u → 11.5u/6u/1u/16u), increasing their range.
  • The last hit deals more knockback (40/30/20 base/100 scaling → 55/136).
  • Due to the changes to the jostle mechanics, Ivysaur can no longer cross-up opponents at point blank range and cause them to fall out of the move.
  • It has more startup (frame 6 → 10), with its total duration increased as well (FAF 42 → 46).
  • The last hit has a much higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 2.1×), making it easier to DI.
  • The looping hits deal consistent damage (2%/1% → 1.5%; 14%-8% total → 11%).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has less startup (frame 9 → 7), with its total duration reduced as well (FAF 35 → 33).
  • Due to the changes to the jostle mechanics, it is harder to connect against grounded opponents.
  • It has more base knockback (50/60 → 85), but much less knockback scaling (100/90 → 61), removing its KO potential at very high percents.
  • It has an altered animation, with Ivysaur looking more towards the screen and no longer performing a frontflip.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt hits once instead of twice.
  • It has less ending lag (FAF 38 → 32).
  • It keeps the angle of the previous first hit rather than the second hit's (361° → 30°), increasing its effectiveness for gimping and setting up edgeguards.
  • It deals less damage (2% (hit 1), 5% (hit 2) → 5.5%) and knockback (60 base/100 scaling → 50/65).
  • It has a longer duration than the previous first hit, but still a shorter overall duration due to the removal of the second hit (frames 4-5, 9-10 → 4-6).
• Dash attack:
  • The hitbox is placed farther horizontally (Z offset: 3u → 5.6u/6.4u/6.2u/6u/5.5u (clean), 1u → 3.6u/2.8u/2.5u/1.5u (late)), increasing its range.
  • The clean hit has less knockback scaling (70 → 57), greatly hindering its KO potential, despite launching at a slightly higher angle (70° → 74°).
  • The late hit launches at a slightly higher angle (70° → 73°).
  • It has an altered animation, with Ivysaur performing a tackle rather than a headbutt.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash has a longer duration (frames 15-18 → 15-20), although with a late hit during the last two frames that deals less damage (16% → 14%) and has smaller hitboxes (6u/5u → 5u/4u).
  • The clean hit deals less knockback (20 base/99 scaling → 45/78), and can no longer lock or trip opponents at lower percents due to its higher base knockback.
  • It starts charging earlier (frame 14 → 10), no longer having immediate startup when released.
  • The sweetspot launches at a slightly higher angle when angled up (361° → 44°).
• Up smash:
  • The topmost hitbox is larger (11u → 13u) and placed farther vertically (Y offset: 15u → 17u), increasing its already impressive range.
  • It deals much less knockback (80 base/90 scaling → 78/78), no longer being the strongest in the game.
  • It no longer grants intangibility to the bottom of Ivysaur's bulb while the hitboxes are out.
  • It has an altered animation, with Ivysaur raising its front legs before unleashing the spores.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has less startup (frame 16 → 13) and ending lag (FAF 54 → 46).
  • All hitboxes except the innermost one deal more damage (8% → 8%/10%/12%), giving the move a ranged middlespot and sweetspot.
  • The middlespot and sweetspot launch at lower angles (361° → 34°/30°) and deal more knockback (40 base/80 scaling → 45/50 base/84/77 scaling). Combined with their increased damage, this significantly improves the move's KO potential, no longer being the weakest down smash in the game.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials except neutral aerial have less landing lag (28 frames → 13 (forward), 10 → 7 (back), 22 → 11 (up), 28 → 13 (down)). In combination with the higher shieldstun for aerials compared to Brawl, this makes them much safer on shield.
• Neutral aerial:
  • Ivysaur has a new neutral aerial: it points its bud towards the screen and spins its leaves. It hits eight times, up from seven.
  • The looping hits are consistently active throughout and use a faster rehit rate, instead of possessing gaps between each hit (frames 4-5, 8-9, 12-13, 16-17, 20-21, 24-25 → 7-26; rehit rate: 3). They also have a lower hitlag multiplier (1× → 0.7×), and aside from the innermost hitbox, they use the autolink angle (90°/270° → 361°/367°). In combination with the weakening of SDI, this allows them to connect much more reliably, despite having a higher SDI multiplier (0.2× → 1.2×).
  • The hitboxes are spread better around Ivysaur, more disjointed due to the new animation, and larger for the last hit (3u/6u/6u → 6.5u/6.5u/6.5u/6.5u), improving the move's range and coverage, despite the looping hits' smaller hitboxes overall (3u/6u/6u → 4.5u/4.5u/4.5u/4.5u).
  • The last hit has altered knockback (10 base/220 scaling → 30/200), increasing its safety on hit at low percents. In combination with the changes to hitstun canceling, this also allows it to combo into a forward or back aerial from low to mid percents if Ivysaur does not land during it.
  • It deals much less damage (2% (hits 1-7) → 1% (hits 1-7), 2% (hit 8); 14% total → 9%).
  • It has more startup (frame 4 → 7) and landing lag (11 frames → 16).
  • It auto-cancels later (frame 35 → 41), no longer doing so in a short hop.
  • The last hit launches at a different angle (361° → 43°), removing its ability to lock opponents.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial deals consistent damage (12%/10% → 12%).
  • One of its hitboxes launches at a higher angle (80°/70°/60°/60° → 80°/70°/70°/60°), improving its consistency for KOing.
  • The changes to hitstun canceling coupled with its reduced landing lag allow it to start combos from low to mid percents.
  • It deals less knockback (35 base/103 scaling → 51/46/45 base/76/81/90 scaling), hindering its KO potential.
  • It has smaller hitboxes (4u/4u/4u/2.5u → 3.6u/3.2u/3u/2u), slightly reducing its range despite the hitboxes being placed a bit farther horizontally (Z offset: 3.7u/3u/2.8u/2.8u → X offset: 0u/2u/3.8u/4u).
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial deals much more damage (2% → 3% (hit 1), 3%/2% → 6% (hit 2); 5%/4% total → 9%), no longer being the least damaging back aerial in the game. The second hit's knockback was not fully compensated (10 base/160/170 scaling → 25 base/118 scaling), improving its utility for edgeguarding.
  • The first hit has more startup (frame 4 → 7).
    • However, the second hit's startup remains unchanged, thus reducing the gap between both hits. This allows the move to connect more reliably, despite the first hit's increased knockback (20 base/20 scaling → 30/27).
  • It can no longer auto-cancel in a short hop due to Ivysaur's higher gravity and faster falling speed.
  • It has higher hitlag multipliers (0.5× → 0.8× (hit 1), 1× → 1.2× (hit 2)), making it easier to DI.
  • Ivysaur does not extend its vines as far, reducing the move's range despite having slightly larger hitboxes (3u/4u/4u/2.5u → 4.2u/3.8u/3.4u/3u (hit 1), 4u/4u/4u/3u → 4.8u/4.4u/4u/3u (hit 2)).
  • The first hit launches at a slightly lower angle (80° → 76°).
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial gives Ivysaur a weaker vertical boost downward (-1.8 → -0.3), making it less risky to use offstage. Ivysaur can still fall fast manually when using up aerial, allowing it to mix up its positioning when using the move.
  • The hitboxes are placed higher (Y offset: 14u/9u → 20u/20u), improving its vertical range.
  • The changes to hitstun canceling coupled with its reduced landing lag allow it to start combos from low to mid percents.
  • It deals less damage (16% → 15%), and has altered knockback (32 base/97 scaling → 64/72). While this further aids in the move's combo potential at lower percents, it most significantly hinders its KO potential, despite launching at a higher angle (83° → 90°).
  • The second hitbox is much larger (6u → 13u), matching the first hitbox, but due to its altered Y offset, both hitboxes now occupy the same space, the only difference being that the first one only affects grounded opponents and the second one only affects aerial opponents.
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial's sweetspot deals more damage (8% → 10%), dealing as much as the sourspot, in addition to dealing more knockback (20 base/80 scaling → 27/80 (grounded), 9/98 (aerial)). This significantly improves its KO potential
  • The sweetspot is larger (2.2u → 4u) and placed lower (-9u → -13.5u), improving its range.
  • The sourspot meteor smashes opponents like the sweetspot (50° → 270°). This now allows the move to lock opponents, and combined with the removal of meteor canceling, this significantly improves its effectiveness for edgeguarding.
  • It halts Ivysaur's horizontal momentum for a significantly shorter time (frames 12-51 → 12-13), making the move much safer to use.
  • The changes to hitstun canceling combined with its reduced landing lag allow it to start combos onstage even up to high percents.
  • The sourspot deals much less knockback (32 base/92 scaling → 17/62 (grounded), 8/62 (aerial)), significantly hindering its KO potential onstage, especially when combined with its new angle.
  • The move gives Ivysaur a weaker vertical boost (0.8 → 0.3). Combined with Ivysaur's higher gravity and faster falling speed, this allows it to land faster after using the move, but makes it riskier to use offstage.
    • This notably now prevents the move from auto-canceling in a full hop.

Throws and other attacks

• Grabs:
  • Standing and pivot grab have larger hitboxes against grounded opponents (3u → 3.3u).
  • Standing grab has less ending lag (FAF 50 → 43).
  • Dash grab has smaller hitboxes against grounded opponents (3u → 2.6u), and all grabs have smaller hitboxes against aerial opponents (3u → 1.65u (standing, pivot), 1.3 (dash)).
  • Pivot grab has more ending lag (FAF 36 → 45).
• Pummel:
  • Ivysaur has a new pummel: it headbutts the opponent, rather than squeezing them with its vines.
  • It deals more hitlag (5 frames → 14), but has less startup (frame 6 → 1) and much less ending lag (FAF 25 → 7), shortening its effective duration.
  • It deals much less damage (3% → 1.3%).