Roy (SSBU)/Neutral special

Hitbox visualization showing Roy's neutral special, Flare Blade, at low charge.

Hitbox visualization showing Roy's neutral special, Flare Blade, at max charge.

Overview

Roy charges Flare Blade, swinging the sword down with an explosion occurring thereafter. It deals relatively high knockback even with low charge, though it isn't easy to land without reads. At maximum charge, which takes around 5 seconds, the move is treated as a one-hit KO that also breaks shields. Roy will take recoil damage if the move is fully charged. Flare Blade can deal slightly more damage if the move is released just before it reaches the one-hit KO threshold.

Flare Blade can be turned around during the charge, removing the need for a b-reverse. This also gives it minor utility on the ledge if spaced away from edge attacks. B-reversed Flare Blade does still have utility, however, as the momentum gives it minor use as an approach option, kill move or for general reads. It is committal, however, being -15 on shield and having a relatively long animation.

Hitboxes

When not fully charged, the hitboxes' true base damage is specified in the move's parameters, and is equal to $8+\frac{frames}{6}$, for a maximum of 47.8333% right before reaching full charge. When fully charged, the hitboxes are instead changed directly with no additional damage modifier.

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
Not fully charged
0	0	0	5.0%	0		Standard	40	110	0		8.7	top	0.0	8.5 to 9.0	15.7 to 15.9	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Fire		All	All
Fully charged
0	0	0	50.0%	30.0		Standard	50	83	0		9.6	top	0.0	10.5	16.0 to 15.7	1.5×	1.0×	0%							Fire		All	All
1	0	0	36.0%	30.0		Standard	50	70	0		17.0	top	0.0	10.5	16.0 to 15.7	1.5×	1.0×	0%							Fire		All	All

Timing

Roy can turn around while charging the move, which takes 19 frames, during which the move continues charging. He can continue turning until the move reaches full charge, albeit with a delay of at least 5 frames between consecutive turns.

Not fully charged

Charges between	11-12
Hitbox (from release)	21-24 (10-13)
Interruptible (from release)	45 (34)
Animation length (grounded; from release)	78 (67)
Animation length (aerial; from release)	82 (71)

Grounded
Aerial