Kirby (SSB4)

Kirby in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Kirby
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in Brawl in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Ultra Sword
Tier	F (49)

Kirby (カービィ, Kirby) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. He was confirmed during the E3 Nintendo Direct on June 11th, 2013. Makiko Ōmoto returns as his voice actor with new voice clips, sounding more akin to his appearances from Kirby's Return to Dream Land onward.

Kirby is ranked 49th out of 54 on the tier list, placing him in the F tier. This is a significant drop from his placement in Brawl, where he was ranked 20th out of 38 characters. Among his strengths are fast attacks for naturally-flowing combos, including up tilt, forward throw, and down aerial – the latter of which is also a great KO set-up attack – and good edgeguarding ability thanks to his versatile forward aerial and powerful back aerial. Kirby's multitude of jumps allow him to recover from long distances and mix up his landings. His small size also makes him difficult to hit, especially while crouching, and he can flexibly and efficiently KO opponents with his powerful smash attacks and back aerial.

However, this comes at the cost of poor endurance. Kirby is one of the lightest and floatiest characters in the game, and his recovery, despite its distance, is linear and predictable. Kirby's mobility and approach are very poor, as he is slow, floaty, and lacks an effective projectile. He also has poor reach in most of his attacks due to his small size and short limbs, which makes him fare poorly against characters with good range, including Toon Link, Villager, Mega Man, and Pac-Man. Lastly, while updates have buffed Kirby considerably, they also buffed other former low-tier characters like Marth, and the introduction of DLC characters like Mewtwo, Cloud, and Corrin proved to be difficult matchups for Kirby, further hindering his viability.

Overall, Kirby's low-tier status has not changed since the game's release, with Komota, Jesuischoq, and MikeKirby being his only notable players. Due to this, he is widely considered to be a non-viable character in the Smash 4 meta.

Attributes

Kirby is a small, short lightweight, tied for the fifth-lightest character in the game. Aside from his average dashing speed, his mobility is poor: he walks slowly and has low traction, while having the fourth-slowest air speed and falling speed, and the third-lowest gravity, but high air acceleration, being the 15th highest. His jumps are very low on their own, but he boasts six of them – tied with Jigglypuff and Meta Knight for the most jumps in the game.

Kirby is a simple character suitable for beginners, and this can be observed in the versatility of his moveset. Many of his attacks are characterized by speed and combo ability, with some outliers trading those strengths for raw power. His jab and forward tilt are both fast and effective close-quarter attacks, while up tilt is a highly versatile attack which combos into itself cleanly. Down tilt is weak, but its speed and Sakurai angle allow it to trip opponents consistently. His smash attacks are notably strong without being particularly slow, making them excellent finishing moves.

Kirby's grab game is similarly effective, as he boasts a fast grab, an effective pummel, and a set of useful throws. His forward throw can cleanly fit into any part of a combo and enables Kirby to set up long and highly damaging follow-ups, even a down aerial into a regrab. Back throw can KO on the ledge at high percentages, and up throw can KO even earlier off the top (especially if he lands on a platform with it. Lastly, down throw, while not especially useful overall, can rack up damage when no other throw can yield better results.

Complementing his six jumps, Kirby has effective aerial attacks as well. Neutral aerial's long duration and short landing lag allow him to protect himself when landing, while forward aerial is an excellent all-around attack for combos, edgeguarding, and KOing at high percentages. His back aerial takes that principle even further, being his fastest and strongest aerial. Up aerial is a standard attack for juggling and low-damage combos, allowing for many potential follow-ups. Finally, his down aerial, while slow, is a multi-hitting spike with low landing lag and generally little risk, making it a great tool for both edgeguarding and setups on grounded opponents.

Kirby's special moveset has some interesting options. Inhale allows him to either copy the neutral special of any character he Inhales, or spit them out as a weight-dependent projectile. The latter can be used to Kirbycide or put the opponent below the stage, almost eliminating their chances of recovering. Depending on what character he copies, the gained neutral special has the potential to greatly improve his kit – whether from an effective projectile like Falco's Blaster or Luigi's Fireball, or a massively beneficial and versatile technique like Monado Arts.

Hammer Flip is very powerful, especially when fully charged. Its slow speed, however, makes it very difficult to use outside of edge-guarding or after a shield break. Final Cutter is Kirby's recovery move and is decent at that, granting good vertical distance and decent horizontal distance, as well as decent protection during his ascent and descent. It also emits a shockwave upon landing, making it difficult to punish if not at point-blank range. Lastly, Stone causes Kirby to plummet straight down and ignore damage by any move that deals less than 30%. It is also very strong and can be canceled at any time, making it useful for playing mindgames.

However, Kirby has noticeable flaws. His most prominent weakness is his endurance. Being light and floaty, Kirby cannot endure strong hits at high percentages. He is also very vulnerable to juggling, due to his aforementioned slow falling and air speeds. Rage further compounds these issues, as Kirby will be launched even earlier, while he will typically not endure long enough to take advantage of it.

Kirby's poor mobility not only makes it significantly difficult for him to approach and pressure opponents, but also makes him susceptible to fast characters like Sonic, or those with disjointed hitboxes like Marth and Cloud. In addition, his very long-distance recovery is very slow, making aggressive edge-guarding and gimp-oriented moves, such as F.L.U.D.D. or meteor smashes, detrimental to him. Kirby's range is also mediocre at best, and his strongest moves happen to be his slowest, making it difficult for him to KO opponents outside of edge-guarding or without a set-up.

Overall, Kirby tends to run hot and cold, similarly to Luigi. He can inflict an impressive amount of damage if he gets close to his opponent, thanks to his potent combo game, but doing so is difficult for him due to his poor mobility. As such, Kirby functions well with a bait and punish playstyle, although being unprepared for an opponent's approach can be hazardous due to his unimpressive survivability. Kirby has achieved average tournament representation and some degree of success: Poyo, Triple R and Prince Kirby have each won numerous local tournaments and continue to place very well at them in singles and doubles play, while MikeKirby and K.I.D.Goggles have collectively achieved a handful of notable results at regional and national tournaments.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Kirby has received some rather significant nerfs in the transition from Brawl to SSB4. Most of his issues in Brawl were not only retained but worsened, and he also suffers from new weaknesses. Kirby's already mediocre range has been reduced further, with his feet becoming smaller and several general nerfs to hitbox sizes. This makes it even easier for opponents to wall out Kirby, especially with the cast having greater range overall. Kirby's air mobility has also taken a hit as his air acceleration is lower, and unlike most returning veterans, his air speed has been decreased, which is hindering both his recovery and ability to escape aerial pressure. As with his transition from each new Smash game as well as with most of the returning veterans, Kirby's damage output has been decreased. Some of Kirby's moves have also seen changes which greatly hinder their utility, with forward aerial having more ending lag and no longer autocanceling in a short hop due to a combination of its autocancel window being unchanged and Kirby's higher gravity and lower jumps, and dash attack and connecting less reliably due to its much shorter range, but the attacks that were affected the most were down throw and aerial Hammer Flip, losing most of their previous utility: the former has lost all of its followup potential due to its more unfavorable angle and increased knockback, while the latter has much more startup lag and has lost its recovery and edgeguarding potential, as to it's no longer being a semispike and now stalls Kirby's horizontal momentum instead of his vertical momentum.

Smash 4's adjusted mechanics have both helped and hindered Kirby. The changes to hitstun canceling overall help Kirby, strengthening his ability to combo opponents. It does, however, make Kirby slightly easier to combo himself, especially due to his increased weight, fall speed, and gravity. Without the ability to momentum cancel, Kirby's already poor endurance has been further reduced, although he had poor momentum canceling in Brawl, and his higher weight somewhat compensates for it. The inclusion of rage further exacerbates this issue, and while it improves Kirby's own KO potential, his poor endurance, combined with his lack of a ladder combo or early kill confirm, prevents him from making great use of the mechanic. The changes to aerial grab releases, however, now make him much less vulnerable to those kinds of follow-ups.

Kirby has seen some buffs, however. His considerably faster dashing speed improves his approach, while some less reliable moves like Inhale and down aerial have been given new utility, with the former being faster and the latter connecting better due to using the autolink angle and its landing hit has less knockback and launches higher, making it better for combos, and forward and back throw are also more useful for combos due to the former's new angle and reduced ending lag, and the latter also has received KO potential thanks to its altered knockback, increasing its versatility overall. Other attacks, namely his up smash, down smash, back aerial, back throw, and up throw, were given more KO power – and this can be better taken advantage of in the new environment of Smash 4, in the absence of momentum cancelling and the presence of rage. His Hammer Flip can now be charged, has more range, no longer has sourspots, and Kirby can move and jump while charging the attack.

Overall, while Kirby still retains most of the strengths he had in Brawl, including his solid combo ability and KO potential for his character archetype, his weaknesses were amplified, and he gained new weaknesses, most notably, his reduced range and aerial mobility. While the changes to the game's mechanics benefit him overall, they do not aid him as much as some of the other returning veterans. As a result, Kirby fares overall worse than in Brawl.

Aesthetics

• Due to the aesthetic used in SSB4, Kirby's overall color scheme is more vibrant. His feet are also slightly smaller, and his skin appears to have significantly more diffused shading, with decreased difference in brightness between the lit and shaded sides of his body. Altogether, these changes make Kirby appear significantly more in line with his appearance as of Kirby's Return to Dream Land.
  • Kirby's mouth is now, by default, a texture rather than a modeled part of his body.
• Kirby has received two new alternate costumes, one of which is based on an unmasked Meta Knight.
• Kirby is significantly more expressive. He now sports a stern look when performing several moves, similarly to how he does in Return to Dream Land, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, and Kirby: Triple Deluxe. His facial expressions when being attacked are also more exaggerated, such as his screen KOs depicting him as having teary eyes; his mouth closed; and the right side of his face pressed against the screen, or having wincing eyes; his mouth open; and his whole face pressed against the screen. Both of Kirby's screen KO expressions are based on his expression when an attack slams him against the screen in Triple Deluxe.
• Kirby's face now faces the screen, regardless of whether he is facing left or right.
• Due to removal of the sound effects and cheers from the Sound Test, Kirby's Sound Test section has now been re-merged into one section, with the voice clips used for the copy abilities listed after his regular voice clips.

Attributes

• Kirby is smaller. This makes his hurtbox slightly smaller, but hinders his range.
• Due to the general change in size between small and large characters, Kirby's smaller size significantly improves his crouch's defensive potential.
• However, Kirby's feet are smaller, with many of his hitboxes being much smaller to match the new length of his feet. This significantly hinders his range.
• Kirby walks slightly slower (0.95 → 0.93).
• Kirby dashes significantly faster (1.371 → 1.57), especially compared to the cast, going from the 29th fastest out of 39 characters to the 31st fastest out of 58.
• Kirby's weight was slightly increased (78 → 79). This slightly improves his endurance.
• Kirby's air speed is slower (0.85 → 0.8), going from the 11th worst out of 39 characters to the 4th worst out of 58.
• Kirby's air acceleration was decreased (0.11 → 0.095), going from the fifth highest in Brawl to being the 15th highest in SSB4.
• Kirby's falling speed was slightly increased (1.2 → 1.23). This slightly improves Kirby's vertical endurance, but makes him slightly more susceptible to combos.
• Kirby's fast falling speed was increased (1.9 → 1.968), although it is much lower relative to the rest of the cast, going from the 22nd fastest out of 39 characters to the 4th slowest out of 58.
• Kirby's gravity is higher (0.061 → 0.06405). This improves his aerial mobility and somewhat alleviates the drawbacks of his floatiness; however, it slightly hinders his endurance and makes him more susceptible to combos, as well as reducing the height of his jumps.
  • As a consequence, double jumps are lower.
  • This also reduces the duration of his short hop (SH air time: 39 frames).
• Rolls have decreased ending lag (FAF 32 → 31).
• Rolls have decreased intangibility frames (frames 4-19 → 4-17).
• Spot dodge has decreased intangibility frames (frames 2-20 → 2-17) and has increased ending lag (FAF 26 → 27).
• Air dodge has decreased start-up (frame 4 → 3) and ending lag (FAF 50 → 33).
• Air dodge's duration is shorter (frames 4-29 → 3-27).
• Soft landing is faster (3 frames → 2).

Ground attacks

• The weakening of SDI makes rapid jab and dash attack significantly more difficult to escape from.
• Neutral attack:
  • The first hit's angle has been altered (361° → 55°). This allows it to connect better with the second hit, but removes its ability to lock.
  • The first and second hits have smaller hitboxes (3.3u → 3u).
  • The second hit has higher base knockback (8 → 15). This hinders its ability to lead into the rapid jab.
  • Neutral infinite now deals consistent damage (2% (near)/1% (far) → 1%).
  • Rapid jab now has a finisher in the form of the Smash Punch from the Fighter ability. This greatly improves its safety if it connects.
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt has smaller hitboxes (5.1u/5.4u/4u → 3.1u/3.3u/3u).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt deals less damage (7% (clean)/5% (late) → 5%/4%), without full compensation on its knockback scaling (102 (both) → 116 (clean)/110 (late)). This improves its combo potential, but hinders its damage racking and KO potential.
  • Clean up tilt's angle has been altered (92° → 100°).
  • It has a shorter duration and less intangibility (frames 4-10 → 4-9).
  • It has smaller hitboxes (5.5u/5u (clean)/4.5u/5u (late) → 4u/4u (both)).
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt no longer has a sourspot, causing it to deal consistent damage (5%/6% → 6%).
  • It has smaller hitboxes and two of the previous hitboxes were removed due to Kirby's shorter feet (4.5u/4u/3.5u/3u → 3.7u/3.7u).
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack's looping hits deal less damage (2% → 1%), which decreases its overall damage output (14% → 9%).
  • Its last hit uses a single small hitbox instead of three larger hitboxes(5u/5u/8u → 3u), connecting less reliably from the looping hits and significantly reducing its range.
  • It has increased ending lag (FAF 50 → 54).
  • The last hit has higher base knockback (90 → 100) and no longer has a sourspot with set knockback.
  • The last hit's hitlag has increased (1× → 2×). This makes it safer on shield, but easier to DI.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash has increased startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 12-16 → 13-15 (clean), frames 17-21 → 16-19 (late)).
  • It has smaller hitboxes (6u/5.5u/(5u/4.5u) (clean/late) → 4.2u (clean)/3.5u (late)).
  • The late hit deals less damage (13% → 12%/11%/10%), although its knockback was somewhat compensated (25 (base), 96/94 (scaling) → 90/69).
  • It is now interruptible, giving it less ending lag (FAF 50 → 48).
• Non angled:
  • Clean non angled forward smash's knockback (38 (base), 98 (scaling) → 30/102) has been altered.
  • Its angle has been altered (38° → 361°) hindering its KO potential especially against aerial opponents.
  • The late hit sends opponents lower (73° → 60°).
• Up angled:
  • Clean up angled forward smash deals less knockback (38 (base), 100 (scaling) → 30/102).
  • Its angle has been altered (45° → 361°) improving its KO potential against grounded opponents.
  • The late hit sends opponents lower (82° → 60°).
• Down angled:
  • Clean down angled forward smash deals more knockback (38 (base), 96 (scaling) → 30/102).
  • Clean down angled forward smash no longer semi spikes (31° → 361°).
• Up smash:
  • Up smash's clean sweetspot deals more knockback (34 (base), 100 (scaling) → 33/104).
  • The late hit has increased knockback scaling (50 → 52).
  • It has a shorter total duration due to now being interruptible (FAF 50 → 48).
  • It has less intangibility (frames 14-24 → 14-19).
  • The clean sourspot has lower knockback scaling (100 → 99).
  • The mid hit has lower knockback scaling (100 → 98).
  • The late hit has a shorter duration (frames 17-24 → 17-19).
• Down smash:
  • Down smash is interruptible again, reducing its ending lag (FAF 56 → 54).
  • It has greatly increased knockback, especially on its far hitboxes (30/20 (base), 100/85 (scaling) → 25/(110/108).
  • The late hit deals consistent damage (11%/9% → 10%).
  • Its angles have been altered (76°/28° → 69°), losing its semi-spike hitbox and having a lower angle. This significantly hinders its edge-guarding potential while also making it susceptible to LSI.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials except Forward aerial have more Landing lag (9 → 10 (Neutral), 9 → 17 (back), 9 → 12 (up), 15 → 17 (down)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial's angle has been altered (361° → 46°).
    • This removes its ability to lock.
    • This improves its follow-up potential.
  • It deals less damage (12% (clean)/10% (mid)/8% (mid-late)/6% (late) → 10%/8%/6%/4%).
  • Its initial auto-cancel window has been reduced (frames 1-8 → 1-4).
  • It deals more knockback (10 (base) 80 (scaling) → 30/90), slightly improving its KO potential despite its lower damage/altered angle.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial's first two hits are weight independent, and their angles were altered to connect more consistently with the last hit (45° → 45°/80° (hit 1), 80° → 366° (hit 2)).
  • The last hit has increased knockback scaling (138 → 148), making it better for spacing, edgeguarding, and improving its KO potential at very high percents.
  • It has less landing lag (15 frames → 13).
  • The last hit's hitlag has increased (1× → 1.2×). This makes it safer on shield, but easier to DI.
  • It has smaller hitboxes (5u/4.5u (hits 1-2)/6.5u/6.5u (hit 3) → 4.3u/4.3u (hit 1)/4.5u (hit 2)/4.9u (hit 3)).
  • It has more ending lag (FAF 44 → 48).
  • It can no longer auto-cancel in a short hop due to Kirby's lower short hop and higher gravity, causing its auto-cancel to fall short by one frame.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has smaller hitboxes (7u/6u (clean)/6u/6u (late) → 4u (clean)/3.4u (late)), now being more in line with Kirby's feet. This significantly reduces its range as it is less disjointed; it covers less of Kirby's body and doesn't fully cover his feet, especially the late hit.
  • Its initial auto-cancel window is shorter (frames 1-4 → 1-2).
  • The clean hit has a shorter duration (frames 6-8 → 6-7) with the late hit's duration being compensated (frames 9-14 → 8-14).
  • The clean hit deals more damage (12% → 13%) with its knockback scaling only minimally decreased (105 → 104), improving its KO potential.
  • The late hit deals less damage (9% → 8%) without full compensation on its knockback scaling (110 → 112).
  • It auto-cancels later (frame 28 → 32), although it can still autocancel in a short hop.
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial deals less damage (10% → 9%) without full compensation on its knockback scaling (98 → 100).
  • It has lost its largest hitbox (5.5u/4.5u/4u → 4.5u/4u).
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial's looping hits deal less damage (2% → 1% (loop hits)/12% → 7% (total).
  • The loop hits have a smaller hitbox (6u/6u → 5u).
  • The loop hits now utilize the auto-link angle (270° → 366°). When coupled with their lower damage and the weakening of SDI, this significantly improves its reliability.
  • The last hit has slightly higher knockback scaling (107 → 110) and a slightly larger hitbox (6u/6u → 6.2u).
  • The landing hit has an altered angle (30° → 60°) and lower set knockback (60 → 40), improving its combo potential.

Throws/other attacks

• All grabs has less ending lag (FAF 30 → 28 (standing), FAF 40 → 39 (dash), FAF 36 → 33 (pivot)).
• Dash grab has less start-up lag (frame 10 → 8).
• Standing and dash grab have less range.
• Pummel:
  • Pummel deals more damage (1% → 1.55%) and has less hitlag, making it now the third fastest pummel in the game. This significantly improves its damage-racking potential.
• Forward throw:
  • Forward throw deals 3% less damage (8% → 5%), with its knockback scaling compensated (100 → 125).
  • It has less ending lag (FAF 62 → 59).
  • Its angle has been altered (65° → 75°). When coupled with the changes to hitstun canceling, these changes grant it combo potential past low percents.
• Back throw:
  • Back throw has altered knockback (80 (base), 50 (scaling) → 30/120) and Kirby releases the opponent later (frame 33 → 41) with its duration unchanged, reducing its ending lag and improving its mix-up, combo, and KO potential.
  • Its angle has been altered (120° → 130°).
• Up throw:
  • Up throw has increased knockback (70 (base), 70 (scaling) → 75/74), improving its KO potential despite its less favorable angle (85° → 78°).
• Down throw:
  • Down throw deals less damage on the first nine hits (1% (hits 1-10) → 0.8% (hits 1-9), 1% (hit 10), 12% → 10.2% (total)) and the throw has significantly increased knockback (40 (base), 140 (scaling) → 60/180). Combined with the change below, this removes its combo potential.
  • It launches at a lower and more unfavorable angle (90° → 63°), and combined with the removal of chain grabbing and the loss of its combo potential as mentioned above, this hinders its damage-racking potential.
  • However, the increased knockback allows it to KO middleweights around or below 200%.

Special moves

• Inhale:
  • Inhale's damage outputs have been reversed (6% (swallow)/10% (spit) → 10%/6%).
  • Inhale has decreased start-up and ending lag. Inhaling non-explosive items also now heals 1%.
  • The removal of grab armor hinders Inhale's safety, as it now results in Kirby getting hit instead of inhaling the opponent.
  • Kirbycide now KOs Kirby first, and the opponent is released from Inhale when this occurs, significantly hindering its utility. However, there are certain characters that, when Kirbycided from a certain angle, will be KO'd as well and thus lead to a Sudden Death.
  • Kirby's copy abilities now share the same hitbox data as their original counterparts, as opposed to Kirby's versions having their own hitbox data. As a result, all of Kirby's copy abilities are now completely identical to their original counterparts in terms of their range, strength, and hitbox durations (with a few exceptions), which benefits and/or hinders certain copy abilities.
    • This change, however, does not affect the copy ability's interruptibility or intangibility since they are now stored in Kirby's parameter file as opposed to the respective ability's hitbox data.
  • All sound effects related to the move are now a direct port of those from Kirby's Adventure.
• Hammer Flip:
  • Hammer Flip is now chargeable, and Kirby can also move around while using it, regardless of its charge. However, fully charged Hammer Flip now deals recoil damage when held. Altogether, these changes make it function almost identically to Jet Hammer.
  • Due to consisting of a consistent hitbox instead of a sweetspot and a sourspot, uncharged Hammer Flip now deals consistent damage (23% (grounded sweetspot)/18% (grounded sourspot) → 19%, 17% (aerial hit 1 sweetspot)/13% (aerial hit 2 sweetspot)/15% (aerial hit 1 sourspot)/10% (aerial hit 2 sourspot) → 15% (both)).
  • Hammer Flip has slightly increased knockback (65 (base), 72 (scaling) (grounded sweetspot), 50/70 (grounded/aerial hit 1 sourspot), 65/75 (aerial hit 1 sweetspot), 60/70 (aerial hit 2) → 60/78 (all)). This makes the previous sourspots and the second aerial hit stronger; however, they do not compensate for the grounded and first aerial hit's sweetspots reduced damage, hindering their KO potential.
  • Fully charged Hammer Flip deals more damage (23% (grounded sweetspot)/18% (grounded sourspot)/ → 35%/27%, 17% (aerial hit 1 sweetspot)/13% (aerial hit 2 sweetspot)/15% (aerial hit 1 sourspot)/10% (aerial hit 2 sourspot) → 27% (both)) significantly improving its KO potential. Hammer Flip also has larger hitboxes and no longer has sourspots.
  • Due to its angle being altered (20° → 55°), aerial Hammer Flip's second hit is no longer a semi-spike, significantly hindering its edge-guarding potential. Aerial Hammer Flip also has greatly increased start-up lag regardless of its charge (frame 17 → 28), and can no longer be used for recovery as it now halts Kirby's horizontal momentum rather than his vertical momentum.
  • Hammer Flip no longer has transcendent priority.
  • Fully charged Hammer Flip now grants armor during part of the swing.
  • Fully charged Hammer Flip deals significantly more shield damage due to its higher damage combined with the 19% damage increase to shields and the increase to shieldstun, significantly improving its shield pressuring potential.
• Final Cutter:
  • Final Cutter's shockwave's range has decreased by half. The rising hit also deals less damage (8% → 5%).
• Stone:
  • Stone has less HP (30 → 25).
    • Additionally, if Kirby's stone is broken, he now takes half the amount of damage from the attack that broke the stone as opposed to no damage.
  • Grounded Stone has less knockback scaling (45 → 40).
  • The 19% damage increase to shields and the increase to shieldstun significantly imp