Lucario (SSBU)/Pummel

Hitbox visualization showing Lucario's pummel.

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Overview

After a successful grab, Lucario holds onto the opponent's collar with its left paw, and can choose to either a release, a throw, or Pummel. To pummel, press an attack button, specials button, or grab button to start pummeling. Lucario will lower its balance to lunge a bit with the right leg bent and the left leg rise while instantaneously emitting a pulse of aura that envelops around the opponent while being damaged. The hitbox is extremely fast coming out at frame 1, and both Lucario and the opponent undergo Hitlag respectively. During this window of hitlag, however, any nearby opponents can be damaged from what is essentially a side effect from hitboxes, extending the hit detection which can be thought of as 'hitlag activity' similarly like hitbox activity. Normally during hitlag, Smash directional influence can be applied, but pummels keep the opponent in one place alebeit looks like they bounce around in various spots. After hitlag is finished, Lucario rears away a tad before returning back into idle position. From here, Lucario can either continue pummeling, throw, or opt for a release.

Consecutive Damage

While some pummels might not help freshen their staled moves due to being too quick, Lucario's is just fine. Each pummel that's interrupted will go into the stale-queue and help freshen other moves. Multiple pummels also help tack on extra damage to an opponent before throwing them, which can be useful for reasons like securing a stock with Forward throw or Back throw at ledge, or an Up throw killing off the top blastzone. Overall, pummels are underrated as they are not used often, but are very strong given the damage that can be dealt in quick instances before a throw. One crucial bit of counter-play to repeated pummels is the fact that mashing with the control stick is possible on every single frame during hitlag as well as the pummel's ending lag. Multiple pummels can be good until a mash forces a ground or air release, which halts the advantage and prevents more pummeling. Combine that fact with the chance that pummeling a character while near a structure or damageable source like Wario's Bike also extends the hitlag even further.. giving say, Wario even more time to mash from a grab.

As Aura rises from a deficit, or falls from a lead, pummels will also follow suit in how much damage is dealt and hitlag is induced. Surprisingly, Lucario's pummel deals ~1.0% without any aura, which is not bad in comparison to other pummels across the cast. When Lucario reaches base aura strength, the base damage becomes 1.3%. Lastly, at aura's ceiling cap, a pummel can deal ~2.1%, which is very impressive considering the rest of the cast in mind.

Hitlag Overlap

Like all pummels that behave this way, most pummels like Lucario's are active for 1f, but attacker-hitlag occurs, which introduces hitlag extension, but only toward other targets (or another hurtbox e.g. item). Since Lucario's hitlag modifier for pummel is 2.1x, the hitlag duration is fairly long. Even with Lucario's aura in mind, the hitlag window only changes by +1 between each phase (floor → base → ceiling). So the hitlag duration will either be slightly less or more by a couple of frames. As a result, this doesn't change pummel's 'hitlag activity' either, as it remains at a static duration of frames 1-10 via hitlag extension.

To help understand, go into training mode, spawn a Sandbag, and pummel it while an opposing character spot dodges close by. As a result, the opponent can be hit by the pummel's hitlag extension. Not every hitlag frame is hitbox-worthy, though. Interestingly enough, a pummel during hitlag activity has enough hitstun to true combo into Forward throw's collateral hitbox, which is useful enough in doubles when the moment is possible. Here's a rough mock-up for pummel's activity concerning hitlag at the three different stages of aura with even stocks in mind:

Hitlag Activity

Stage (0-190%)	Fresh hitlag window	Fresh activity	Staled hitlag window	Staled activity
Floor (0%)	1-13	1-10	1-13	1-10
Base (65%)	1-14	1-10	1-13	1-10
Ceiling (190%)	1-15	1-10	1-13	1-10

• The biggest takeaway about this is that as aura grows, pummels will deal more damage, but also induce more hitlag. Mashing is possible on every frame of hitlag and ending lag, so knowing how many pummels Lucario can get away with before throwing or releasing is key.

Hitboxes

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Set weight	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Effect	Type	G	A	Sound	Direct	Hit bits	Hit part	Blockable	Reflectable	Absorbable	Flinchless	No GFX	Heedless
0	0	0	1.3%	0		Forward	0	100	40		5.5	top	0.0	8.0	9.0	2.1×	1.0×	0%							Fire		All	All

Timing

Hitbox	1
Interruptible	7
Animation length	23

Trivia

• When browsing the main menu and going to Vault → Tips → Fighters, choosing Lucario will have a tip about Grab Attack. This tip can be seen from either scrolling all the way down with either sticks, or just tapping up on the . It describes that thanks to Aura, an injured Lucario call use pummels more quickly and do more damage than other fighters.
  • Technically speaking, it does. Lucario's pummels at higher aura will deal more total damage against a sitting opponent that takes them. But in competitive play, mashing makes pummeling a liability. Dealing more damage because of aura also deals more hitlag. Higher hitlag is more frames for mashing as counter-play.

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

Interruptible

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