Lucario (SSBU)/Air dodge

Hitbox visualization showing Lucario's Airdodge.

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Overview

Essentially as an midair spot dodge, Lucario begins to lean back before rotating its body back toward and rightward out of the way to evade any attacks. While intangible, Lucario stares down the area in front of it before rotating its body to spin right as intangibility finishes. After spinning once, Lucario reverts to its idle freefall animation, having its left arm out and in front, its right knee bent upward, the right arm reared back, and its left leg fully straight.

As a technique that was first introduced in Super Smash Bros. Melee, air dodge has undergone many mechanical changes between different game titles, but currently, it has a plethora of merits in Ultimate.

• neutral air dodge and directional air dodge both:
  • evade aerial threats while drifting.
  • reset tumble fall back to regular falling state.
  • possess hitstun canceling.
    • despite canceling hitstun earlier than aerials, neutral air dodge doesn't cancel the initial momentum too well. Directional air dodge will shift backward in the opposite direction before the intended direction.
      • Either air dodge choice could be a deadly mistake at potential kill percents.
    • using an aerial cancels hitstun later, but it can save a life at times. Doublejumping toward stage absolutely helps survive a few percent longer.
  • catch items with the early startup.
    • both neutral and directional air dodges are frames 1-6.
  • used for canceling Aura Sphere charging in the air.
    • Interestingly, both shield and grab register as air dodge in the air, but it's a bit different for Aura Sphere:
      • if Aura Sphere still needs to charge, shield becomes air dodge. Though, grab fires the Aura Sphere.
      • however, once Aura Sphere is fully charged in still in charge state while midair, both shield and grab register as air dodge.
• neutral air dodge:
  • intangibility is reminiscent to Lucario's in Brawl[4-29], having 26 intangible frames to use for effective aerial avoidance in Ultimate[3-28].
  • landing between frames 2-48 of neutral air dodge only suffers 10 frames of landing lag. Great for landing with minimal risk of punishment.
    • autocancel is 49+.
    • in combination of great airspeed and moderately fast fall speed, Lucario can opt to land quickly.
• directional air dodge:
  • landing with any directional variant suffers anywhere between 10-19 frames of landing lag. Landing lag varies on air time. The earlier Lucario lands, the more lag suffered. Later landing equals less landing lag.
    • however, a side ←→, diagonal upward ↖↗, or just upward ↑ direction will rarely ever get the full 19 landing lag frames from landing early. 19 frames is more realistic from down ↓ and diagonal downward ↙↘ directions, such as from wavelanding onto platform.
  • the return of directional air dodge adds layers to recovering by grabbing ledge shortly after intangibility finishes. Doesn't cause helplessness either.
  • wavedashing across the floor and wavelanding onto platforms are now options too.
  • with the inclusion of footstool combos, directional air dodging promotes Lucario's gameplay capitalizing on someone who doesn't tech.

While air dodge mechanics have changed over time in the span of Smash titles, it's still true that air dodges have built-in hitstun canceling in Ultimate, and it always often cancels earlier than aerials can. However, the use of a neutral air dodge or a directional air dodge is risky for survival. Due to neutral air dodge's air physics, it won't be effective in canceling momentum enough to be seriously considered over aerials, nothing, or a doublejump toward stage. The problem with a directional air dodge for survival is that one pressed toward stage will shift backward in a slingshot fashion during frames 1-5 before moving toward stage starting frame 6. This backward shifting can cause Lucario to die needlessly at times when knockback received is too strong.

Both neutral and directional air dodge serve many functions with more pros and cons over the other, but the core merit about neutral air dodge is the low landing lag helping Lucario land safely when opting to fall like a brick to stage if desired, whereas directional air dodges are primarily the most useful when recovering to ledge within close distance. After all, Lucario already has massive recovery ability in the form of Extreme Speed. However, air dodge has some drawbacks as well:

• only one use during airtime. E.g. using a neutral air dodge means a directional air dodge is unable to be used and vice-versa, until landing on stage, grabbing ledge, or getting hit.
• the staleness mechanic to rolls and spot dodge also apply to both variants of air dodge. [Intangible windows shorten, but the total frames remain the same.]
• having more total frames and animation length makes them weaker defensive tools at avoiding juggles and grabbing ledge. Lucario's not even able to short hop air dodge and retaliate.
• the increased traction in Ultimate has made wavedashing very weak, and wavelanding isn't as prominent since air dodges cannot allow Lucario to ledge-cancel them.
• directional air dodges have massive ending lag depending on direction, making them quite punishable against aggressive edge guarding.

Despite these limitations, Lucario can charge-cancel Aura Sphere using a neutral air dodge or directional air dodge. The most prominent example is when Lucario with high levels of aura recovers toward stage, charging Aura Sphere, and then suddenly canceling the charge with directional air dodge going to ledge. It's a fake-out tactic that instills the fear that Aura Sphere can be fired, or, it won't be fired regardless if it's fully charged or still charging during charge state. That limited yet dangerous factor alone can convince why respect can be given to Lucario grabbing ledge.

Timing

Neutral air dodge

• autocancel is 49+.
• neutral air dodge grabs ledge on frame 60+.

Intangible	varies
Item Catch	1-6
Interruptible	49
Animation length	58

Staled x0, fresh use

Intangibility	3-28

Staled x1

Intangibility	3-27

Staled x2

Intangibility	4-27

Staled x3

Intangibility	4-26

Staled x4

Intangibility	5-26

Staled x5, max staling

Intangibility	6-26

Landing Lag

Animation length	10

Directional air dodge

• all directional air dodges grab ledge on frame 25.
• each autocancel for each directional air dodge is always +2 after its animation length finishes.
  • E.g. ↓ Downward directional air dodge has 65 total frames/animation length, so the autocancel is 67+.
• note: if your air dodge data testing isn't completely accurate, just know that through time via frames, intangible windows slowly regenerate.
• ↖↗↙↘ diagonal directions will vary, differing from the person and the controller. ←↑→↓ are easier and confirmed.
• a directional air dodge's total frames and animation length are identical, regardless of staling.

Intangible	varies
Item Catch	1-6
Animation length	↑ ↑: 108
	← →: 81
	↓ ↓: 65

Staled x0, fresh use

Intangibility	3-21

Up

Side

Down

Staled x1

Intangibility	3-20

Up

Side

Down

Staled x2

Intangibility	4-20

Up

Side

Down

Staled x3

Intangibility	4-19

Up

Side

Down

Staled x4

Intangibility	5-19

Up

Side

Down

Staled x5, max staling

Intangibility	6-20

Up

Side

Down

Landing Lag

• If Lucario lands the earliest it can from any ←↖↑↗→↘↓↙ directional air dodge variant, Lucario suffers the maximum 19 frames. Landing later suffers less, and can be as little as 10 frames.

Animation length	10-19

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Vulnerable

Intangible

Interruptible

Trivia

• Unlike in past games, Lucario is unable to ledge-cancel with air dodge, and the newly added directional air dodge.
• Lucario doesn't have a grab aerial / tether, so both shield and grab register as an airdodge while airborne, except when Aura Sphere is involved.
  • If Lucario still has to charge Aura Sphere, then shield registers as neutral air dodge, and grab registers as firing the Aura Sphere.
  • Once Lucario's Aura Sphere has reached max charge, both shield and grab register as air dodge.
• Aura Sphere charging can be canceled with air dodge, but the cancelation itself cannot be buffered beforehand. It must be manually timed, and it's not early on frame 9 either. Frame 10 is the earliest frame that a air dodge can cancel Lucario's charge state.
• Lucario in Ultimate attained intangible duration almost identically to its Brawl incarnation. (3-28 vs 4-29. Both have 16 intangibility frames)
• Unlike the other dodge options, Lucario's air dodges when staled never increase in total frames or animation length. Only the intangible windows decay. [Universal]
• Lucario is listed as the 32nd character on the list of airdodges. Top 32 implies that Lucario's falling speed and gravity together not only proves Lucario's airdodges are on the shorter and faster side, but also classifies Lucario as a moderate fastfaller by this context.. even if Lucario has been said to be 'floaty'.
• Just accounting for neutral airdodge's individual stats:
  • fresh intangible window(3-28) puts Lucario at the top 20. Tied for top 20-23rd of the cast too.
  • fully staled intangible window(6-26) puts Lucario at the top top 21. Tied for top 21-24th of the cast too.
  • however, the fresh total frames(48) make Lucario drop down at the top 32. Tied for top 32-35th of the cast.
• With the help of Lucario's Semi-Pseudo Crawl from down tilt, using down tilt into an immediate short hopped neutral airdodge creates an option that easily makes Lucario disengage with a retreating airdodge at will. The practicality is unknown, but it's something!
• Interestingly, Masonomace believed directional air dodge's item catch window was only frames 1-5 because of how characters shift away in the opposite direction before going toward the desired direction starting on frame 6. As shown in a video, Lucario can catch an item on frame 6 with directional air dodge.
• With spirit abilities in mind, the Easier Dodging ability from the World of Light skill tree, and from primary and support spirits do in fact increase the amount of intangibility frames for both Lucario's neutral air dodge and directional air dodges. Additionally, the traveling distance is increased for only directional air dodges. Both effects are 1.2x with one equipped, and the effects cap at 1.8x.
  • For Lucario outside of World of Light, having a Amazon Pandora primary spirit with two Kapp'n support spirits equipped net approximately 1.6x more intangible frames and 1.6x more dodging distance. This increases the intangibility windows for Lucario's neutral and directional air dodges, going from:
    • neutral air dodge:
      • fresh use: 3-28 → 3-43
        • short hop has 41 air time frames, so a fresh short hop air dodge augmented would be completely intangible until landing.
      • staled x1: 3-27 → 3-42
        • air dodge staled once still means a short hop air dodge augmented would be completely intangible until landing.
      • staled x2: 4-27 → 4-41
        • air dodge staled twice still means a short hop air dodge augmented would be completely intangible until landing.
      • staled x3: 4-26 → 4-39
      • staled x4: 5-26 → 5-39
      • staled x5: 6-26 → 6-38
    • directional air dodge:
      • fresh use: 3-21 → 3-32
      • staled x1: 3-20 → 3-31
      • staled x2: 4-20 → 4-30
      • staled x3: 4-19 → 4-29
      • staled x4: 5-19 → 5-29
      • staled x5: 6-20 → 6-29
      • even when directional air dodge is fully staled, the i-frame windows are so long that recovering to ledge will always be fully intangible before the ledge snap. A buffered short hopped directional air dodge will always be fully intangible until landing. The distance traveled in both scenarios are also very strong.
        • the dodging distance effect increased also improves the effectiveness of Lucario's Wavedash by a noticeable margin. And, it also very slightly increases the sliding distance when wavelanding onto platforms.
  • In World of Light, found in the skill tree, there is also a Super Easier Dodging skill which further increases the amount of intangibility frames for all air dodges as well as dodging distance for directional air dodges too. This would likely increase Lucario's i-frame windows by so much, that neutral air dodges with max staling will cause short hop air dodge to be completely intangible until landing. Easier Dodging augments Lucario's air dodges the most by far compared to other dodge options barring spot dodge for being so safe.

Lucario's moveset

Neutral attack (1 · 2 · 3) · Forward tilt · Up tilt · Down tilt · Dash attack · Forward smash · Up smash · Down smash
Neutral aerial · Forward aerial · Back aerial · Up aerial · Down aerial
Grab · Pummel · Forward throw · Back throw · Up throw · Down throw
Forward roll · Back roll · Spot dodge · Air dodge · Techs
Floor attack (front) · Floor getups (front) · Floor attack (back) · Floor getups (back) · Floor attack (trip) · Floor getups (trip)
Edge attack · Edge getups
Neutral special · Side special · Up special · Down special · Final Smash