Lucario (SSBU)/Spot dodge

Hitbox visualization showing Lucario's Spotdodge.

This article is in need of additional images. If you have a good image for this article, upload it here.

Overview

Stepping forward momentarily, Lucario sets its right arm upon its left arm before turning the body and stepping aside to evade oncoming attacks. While intangible, Lucario will look down, and eventually, it looks forward again while raising its left arm over its face. Lucario will then return to its idle animation with its left paw in front.

Unlike rolls, spot dodge isn't mobile, but rather, it's stationary. The gist is that it has more intangibility at the cost of no mobility, which is what every character looks forward to when spot dodging. Rather than being both defensive and mobile, spot dodge possesses different merits:

• longer intangibility serves to evade close-quarter options
  • panic option to avoid potential danger in the form of the opponent's answer against aggression
  • maintain aggressive positioning through reacting without giving up position with a roll
• opting to react defensively/passively after ending lag, or for aggressive options via spot dodge canceling
• alternative option to avoid taking damage when shield health is too low

Of course, spot dodge benefits Lucario in many instances in the same manner other characters do too. Common moves to avoid often include tether grabs, and slow, telegraphed moves. On the other hand, tether grabs like PAC-MAN's is not very possible for most spot dodges including Lucario's. Otherwise, spot dodge canceling is a new mechanic added in Ultimate, in which most of spot dodge's ending lag can be canceled with an aggressive option. These are all of the following options that do and do not cancel spot dodge:

YES

• Attack:
  • Jab1
  • Tilts
  • Smashes
• Special:
  • Aura Sphere (B)
  • Force Palm (→+B)
  • Extreme Speed (↑+B)
  • Double Team (↓+B)

NO

• Walk/Dash/Run
  • Instant Dash Attack [due to needing to dash frame 1]
• Jump
• Shield
• Grab
• Taunts
  • Up taunt
  • Side taunt
  • Down taunt

A fresh spot dodge's ending lag can be canceled by more than half the duration with an aggressive option. Though, spot dodge staling once to five times before the next use leads to about less than half of the ending lag canceled from an attack choice. Therefore, it's best to keep spot dodge as fresh as needed. Something not widely known is the use of other dodge options also staling spot dodge. So in general, being conservative and mindful of dodge usage is key. An alternative of relying on spot dodge cancelation against overwhelming pressure is in the form of spot dodge → double team, albeit can be risky. But above all, down tilt is one of, if not Lucario's most bread 'n butter normal, so spot dodge canceling into down tilt is quite good. In fact, due to down tilt's semi-psuedo crawl mechanic, Lucario's next move can be a short hop option with free disengaging drift without even moving the analog stick. This surely adds layers to Lucario's neutral game, maintaining a bait and punish identity that the opponent has to consider before approaching.

A greedy choice with spot dodge canceling in mind is considering up tilt. When the opponent's laggy grounded move, or aerial with high landing lag is avoided.. Lucario's up tilt can scoop the opponent. Granted, that's if their hurtbox isn't shifting low while 'pancaking'. If successful, Lucario hits with the later active frames, which promotes combo ability at even early levels of aura. At mid to high levels of aura, a scoop in the same manner with up tilt can lead to an up air kill confirm.

Just like the rolls, spot dodge also benefits from canceling Aura Sphere charging while grounded, despite that the spot dodge's startup frames cannot be canceled. This is especially welcomed if having low shield health is considered, and that it may not be wise to just fire the current Aura Sphere, or, to try shielding and/or perfect parrying with timing. Additionally, a core use for spot dodge as a tool is to avoid the opponent's answer after receiving shield pressure.

One niche use, however, is when Double Team is activated while airborne, and Lucario becomes closer to the ground as total frames are about to finish. Similar to how dashing into spot dodge can grant a tiny slide.. an air-to-ground Double Team that lands with the right timing into spot dodge causes Lucario to slide a great amount of distance that's unlike any sliding spot dodge before it. It's very rare, but something when present in the moment.

Timing

Staled x0, fresh use

Intangibility	3-17
Interruptible by attack	21
Interruptible	26
Animation length	38

Staled x1

Intangibility	3-16
Interruptible by attack	23
Interruptible	28
Animation length	41

Staled x2

Intangibility	4-16
Interruptible by attack	24
Interruptible	29
Animation length	43

Staled x3

Intangibility	4-16
Interruptible by attack	25
Interruptible	31
Animation length	45

Staled x4

Intangibility	5-16
Interruptible by attack	26
Interruptible	32
Animation length	48

Staled x5, max staling

Intangibility	6-17
Interruptible by attack	28
Interruptible	34
Animation length	50

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Vulnerable

State change

Intangible

Interruptible

Trivia

• As exciting as spot dodge canceling is to the meta, it's a shame that the mechanic clashes with another newly added mechanic in Ultimate –– attack canceling. Spot dodge canceling is applicable with every attack that also can be used with attack canceling, except for dash attack since instant dash attack starts with dash. Unfortunately, it is impossible to spot dodge cancel with said attack, to then attack-cancel from said attack, as a spot dodge cancel into an attack-cancel short hop simply doesn't work. It's ironic that spot dodge canceling and attack canceling were both introduced in Ultimate, but cannot be done consecutively one after the other. The worst part is that if the SDC → AC execution is truly desired, waiting out a fresh spot dodge's entire animation length(38 frames) and one extra frame(+1).. is required. So, fresh spot dodge, then time an attack input on frame 40 or later, then attack cancel said attack into short hop aerial. Obviously, this is absolutely a waste, and not worth. What a shame.
• To translate SDC → AC in Lucario meta, imagine this:
  • Spot dodge canceling via down tilt / forward tilt → attack-canceling short hop forward air, which is one way to dream about punishing the opponent's rising jump.
  • Spot dodge canceling via down tilt → attack cancel short hop down air, which yet again is dream-worthy since it could've been a variant of quick punishing (frame 8 option at the earliest).
• Unlike forward roll and back roll, spot dodge cannot be performed during the initial dash frames of a normal one or a turnaround dash. Interestingly, inputting ↓ + shield, or ↑ + shield during a dash both register as a forward roll input instead.
• Aura Sphere charging can be canceled with spot dodge. Interestingly, there's weirdly more to this:
  • From frame 10 and onward, only tapping ↓ on the analog stick while charging registers as a spot dodge. It's when holding ↓ on the analog stick that spot dodge can be buffered starting frame 7, and it won't cancel Aura Sphere charge until frame 10 instead of 9. However..
  • Holding shield first, and then ↓ on the analog stick second together by frame 9 means Lucario actually cancels Aura Sphere charging right on frame 9 instead of frame 10. This can be done with buffering during frames 2-, in which cancelation on frame 9 is what's normal. Funnily enough..
  • Simultaneously pressing Shield and holding ↓ on the analog stick causes Lucario to cancel Aura Sphere charging on frame 9, but instead of spot dodge, Lucario angles its shield completely downward. The buffer window is from frames 2-6.
    • If the analog stick is held ↓ first early during frames 2-6, and then pressing and holding shield second at any point, Lucario will again angle and hold shield downward.
• Aside from this spot dodge business with Aura Sphere, simultaneously holding shield and ↓ for only one frame(9) and releasing said buttons means Lucario just does a fast charge storage cancel animation. If the buttons are held for two frames or longer during the charge storage cancel, then it registers as spot dodge.
• Like many spot dodges of the cast(startup, intangibility, ending lag, and interruptible as soon as), Lucario's also may not act the quickest from a "On-the-Spot Dodge Into Counterattack", but compared to the fastest ones(short intangibility), and the slowest ones(high vulnerability).. Lucario's is ranked 14-58th.
  • Fresh spot dodge being frame 3 startup, having 15 intangibility frames(3-17), having 8 vulnerable frames(18-25), and 3 vulnerable frames with an aggressive option(18-20), Lucario's spot dodge is considered third-best, but it's still fairly good. The faster spot dodges in the game aren't always better, but they mostly are.
    • Characters like Sheik(first-best) using a fresh spot dodge into a second one will stale while also being vulnerable for 11 frames. Their fresh data is comparable to the fourth-rates when considering vulnerability from a numerical difference. Otherwise, despite their short intangibility window, their data is top-class with the least vulnerability even when fully staled.
    • Characters like Greninja(second-best) doing the same thing are less vulnerable for 10 frames like Lucario, but the second-rate dodges only fair better with longer intangibility when fresh. When fully staled, their vulnerability very slightly drags behind the first-rates numerically-speaking.
    • Characters like Lucario(third-best) doing the same thing are also vulnerable for 10 frames. Third-rate dodges when fresh are identical to second-rates in all categories.. just add +1 to all data. However, fully staled dodges drag behind with more vulnerability for both total frames and spot dodge canceling than the second-rates.
• Interestingly, Double Team is considered an aggressive option despite being a stance without a hitbox. Although, it's too perfect and fitting with the tip about "On-the-Spot Dodge Into Counterattack" in mind.
  • Rather than mashing spot dodges, a fresh spot dodge into Double Team not only keeps your dodges fresh, but also leaves Lucario vulnerable for only 6 frames instead of 10.
• Spot dodge cannot be canceled with any advanced techniques(?), but movement options like sliding spot dodge still exist. Like dashing into shield, simply dash and transition into run so that spot dodge causes Lucario to slide a bit. This result could lead to phasing through the opponent's hurtbox to get behind them.
• With the help of Lucario's Semi-Pseudo Crawl from down tilt, using down tilt into an immediate spot dodge can technically make Lucario slide backward during the startup, albeit by only ~1 training mode unit at best. It's also the same sliding distance regardless if spot dodge were fully staled.
• 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 Lucario's spot dodge. The effect is 1.2x with one equipped, and the ability caps at 1.8x.
  • For Lucario outside of World of Light, having a Amazon Pandora primary spirit with two Kapp'n support spirits equipped nets approximately 1.6x more intangible frames. This increases Lucario's spot dodge intangibility window, going from:
    • fresh use: 3-17 → 3-26
      • a fresh spot dodge augmented in this way is so strong, that both spot dodge canceling and being normally actionable with defensive options are fully protected with intangibility. Absolutely no vulnerability.
    • staled x1: 3-16 → 3-25
      • a spot dodge just staled once being augmented in this way is strong enough, that spot dodge is fully protected with intangibility before spot dodge canceling into attacks.
    • staled x2: 4-16 → 4-25
      • a spot dodge staled twice would still be fully protected with i-frames before spot dodge canceling into attacks.
    • staled x3: 4-16 → 4-24
      • a spot dodge staled thrice would still be fully protected with i-frames before spot dodge canceling into attacks.
    • staled x4: 5-16 → 5-24
    • staled x5: 6-17 → 6-24
  • 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 spot dodge as well. This would likely increase Lucario's i-frame windows enough to make spot dodges even more 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