King K. Rool (SSBU)/Up smash

Hitbox visualization showing King K. Rool's up smash.

Overview[edit]

A rising headbutt, followed by King K. Rool falling on his belly. Up smash is incredibly strong knockback-wise while being reasonably well-protected and having an extremely fast startup at frame 6, with intangibility and Belly Super Armor backing it up, making it near-unchallengable on its own. Up smash has an extremely long-lasting hitbox despite appearances, which combined with amazing kill power makes it among the best ways to punish bury popouts. The combination of its excellent startup and kill power is also perfectly suited for kill confirm off down aerial and Crownerang setups. As a result, the move works well in King K. Rool's kit and is an important part of his general gameplan.

Using Up smash as a kill confirm[edit]

Up smash is an amazing tool for ending stocks from mashing punishes out of down throw, hitting opponents during the 12 frames of popout lag through its impressive active frames. Using a dash into up smash out of down throw^[1] is a cornerstone of down throw's mash deterrent game and its power cannot be understated. This was only buffed when the bury time was changed in 2.0.0, making up smash even more consistent against mashing opponents, to the point the so-called nerf has been retroactively seen as a buff by the K. Rool playerbase. The same up smash out of bury concept can be described for down tilt. However, in practice, this is fairly useless and is almost never seen due to down tilt's longer bury duration, as up smash fails to kill when the opponent can still realistically mash out of down tilt, while forward smash is practically guaranteed when up smash starts killing.

By far one of the most useful applications of up smash is as a follow-up from an on-stage down aerial sweet spot. The window for this confirm is very generous against most of the cast, making it one of K. Rool's best kill confirms. It can KO on the ground of stages like Battlefield, Final Destination and Kalos Pokémon League marginally earlier than even up aerial. The movement of the opponent must be accounted for in order to properly connect out of down air, however.

Up smash can also be a very powerful finisher off Crownerang setups. As many players attempt to punish Crownerang's armor by grabbing K. Rool, he can deter this by hitting first two hits of his jab, which can lead into the returning hit of Crownerang, of which K. Rool can follow up with a turnaround up smash. Due to him having an extremely high frame advantage here, K. Rool can often charge the up smash a decent amount, being able to take stocks very early. However, while a very potent confirm, K. Rool may have to predict the right DI off Crownerang's returning hit, which can result in him being punished if guessed wrong.

As an out of shield option and anti-air[edit]

Being frame 6, up smash can be used as a risky yet potentially very effective out of shield option to deny aerial crossups. This acts as a very strong deterrent overall and the lingering hitbox combined with supreme protection makes it surprisingly consistent in this role. Using this after cancelling a run with shield can be a decent commitment, especially when mixing it up with dash cancelled shieldgrabs. Using up smash out of shield can be especially powerful against characters with poor air and/or falling speeds who often perform rising aerials, such as Luigi performing a rising neutral aerial.

While a significant commitment, up smash can be an effective raw anti-air if used fairly sparingly due to its near-unchallengable startup and high power. If the opponent attempts to land directly into K. Rool from above, he can beat most aggressive landings with up smash thanks to its excellent protection. Even if the opponent air dodges to avoid the clean hit, the falling hit usually covers the landing anyway. K. Rool can also use up smash as a risky yet potentially very rewarding way to beat jumps out of shield. K. Rool's fearsome grab can very easily condition to jump out of shield if K. Rool dashes towards them. Knowing this, K. Rool can instead up smash right next to opponent, covering most full hops and taking stocks as early as 90%. Although up aerial is often preferred in these situations due to it being much less committal, especially with platforms, while still being very rewarding, up smash is significantly faster (frame 6 compared to up aerial being frame 10 when jumpsquat is considered) and kills even earlier. As such, using up smash as a raw anti-air is seen in high-level gameplay, especially by a top K. Rool player Ball.

Secondary hits[edit]

Although up smash is nearly always used with an intent of connecting the headbutt's clean hit, the later hits do still have minor utility as well. Up smash is relatively consistent at shieldpoking below platforms, which makes it fair game for platform pressure. The damaged shield can then be pressured by K. Rool's stronger attacks while the opponent is likely cornered by the knockback, giving K. Rool an unorthodox way to gain an advantage. However, the overall weak hits make its utility ambiguous. Regardless, it sees play in high-level gameplay. With the combination of armor and long lasting hitboxes, the 2nd hits can keep K. Rool decently protected even if he misses the clean hit. Even if K. Rool makes a wrong guess out of down throw bury and the opponent doesn't mash out, the falling hit (often referred as the "plank hit" by the K. Rool playerbase) might be able to hit the opponent still stuck in the bury, depending on matchup and whether K. Rool dashed before the up smash or not. Due to its high base knockback, the plank is safe on hit even at lower percents, functioning mostly as a way to protect K. Rool if he misses the first hit.

Up smash's flaws[edit]

However, fittingly for K. Rool, up smash has some extreme flaws to counter its extreme strengths. The most glaring weakness is its ending lag - with an FAF of 72, up smash is one of the laggiest smash attacks in the entire game. The final "plank" hit is -42 on shield, which allows most characters easily punish K. Rool with their strongest attacks. This inherently makes the up smash risky to use in most situations, as missing it can leave K. Rool wide open for a big punish.

The hits after the headbutt's clean hit are generally very flawed and have no real use outside of covering K. Rool for missing the clean hit or for shield poking. The first hit's late hitbox, while hard to connect due to clean hit's active frames, is almost completely useless, being unable to KO at realistic percentages and being unsafe on hit even at decently high percentages. The second hit's mid hit is a meteor smash, with its apparent intention being able to connect to the final plank hit. However, its not only nearly impossible to connect with, but its also one of the weakest meteor smashes in the game. It also often fails to actually connect to the plank hit, resulting it being very unsafe on hit if this occurs. The plank hit itself, while at least safe on hit, has no real KO potential due to its relatively poor knockback scaling. It also has a much smaller hitbox for hitting aerial opponents, being unable to hit ledge against any character despite its appearance. Overall, when up smash is used, it is nearly exclusively used with an intent to connect the headbutt's clean hit, with the other hits being underwhelming at best and nearly useless at worst.

Even the headbutt's clean hit has its fair share of flaws. Due to jostling mechanics and hitbox located high in K. Rool's head, it is unable to connect most grounded opponents, with it only being able to hit very tall characters such as Ridley or another K. Rool in very specific situations. This significantly limits its utility as an out of shield option and is usually reserved solely for denying aerial crossups or reading full hops. Because of up smash's extreme ending lag, the clean hit is also unsafe on hit until around 40-50%. When combined with the limited utility of the later hits, this makes up smash almost completely useless at lower percentages.

Summary[edit]

Overall, K. Rool's up smash is a very unorthodox move and is one of the most unique up smashes in the game. It plays a crucial part in majority of K. Rool's best kill confirms. While up smash is by far at its best as a mash punish out of down throw or confirming it from on-stage down aerial or Crownerang, it does also have niche use as a risky yet rewarding out of shield option and anti-air. However, due to its extreme ending lag and questionable second hits, up smash can be very risky to throw out, limiting its overall utility outside of aforementioned purposes. Nevertheless, up smash is a very important part of K. Rool's kit, being arguably his most useful smash attack overall in high level play.

Update History[edit]

8.0.0

Up smash's first hit deals more damage (15% → 17%) without full compensation on knockback (32 base/95 scaling → 31/90), improving its KO potential.

Hitboxes[edit]

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Sound	Hit bits	Hit part
Clean hit 1
1	1	0	17.0%	0	Forward	31	90	0	8.0	bust	7.5	1.0	0.0	1.2×	1.0×	0%	Kick	All	All
Late hit 1
1	1	0	8.0%	0	Forward	32	84	0	6.5	bust	7.5	1.0	0.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%	Kick	All	All
Early hit 2
0	1	0	8.0%	0	Forward	60	45	0	4.0	bust	7.0	1.0	0.0	0.5×	1.0×	0%	Kick	All	All
Mid hit 2
0	1	0	3.0%	0	Forward	80	5	0	4.0	bust	7.0	1.0	0.0	0.0×	0.0×	0%	Kick	All	All
Late hit 2
0	1	0	3.0%	0	Forward	30	20	0	4.0	bust	7.0	1.0	0.0	0.0×	0.0×	0%	Kick	All	All
Hit 3
0	0	0	10.0%	0	Forward	70	50	0	5.0	top	0.0	5.0	0.0 to 14.0	1.2×	1.0×	0%	Kick	All	All
1	0	0	10.0%	0	Forward	70	50	0	2.0	top	0.0	8.0	6.0 to 15.0	1.2×	1.0×	0%	Kick	All	All

Timing[edit]

Charges between	2-3
Belly Super Armor	6-21
Head intangible	6-11
Hit 1 (clean, late)	6-9, 10-11
Hit 2 (early, mid, late)	19, 20, 21
Hit 3	22-23
Interruptible	72
Animation length	85