Recoil damage

Judge dealing recoil damage.

Recoil damage (also known as self-damage) is direct damage taken by a character when certain attacks are used. Recoil damage is constant regardless of any other factors; it is not affected by stale-move negation, and it occurs even if the user is invincible or intangible. Recoil damage does not cause knockback to the user. Being damaged by one's own explosive is not considered recoil damage, as it does not directly deal damage to the character, and it can also be prevented by invincibility or intangibility.

Recoil damage can only be negated by Melee's Cloaking Device item. In addition, the All-Star Rest Area in Smash 4 prevents any recoil damage from harming the player's character. While damage taken will fill the Final Smash Meter greatly in Ultimate, recoil damage does not fill it.

In Ultimate, the 1.2× damage bonus applied during one-on-one fights also applies to recoil damage. It is not, however, affected by the 0.85× short hop damage multiplier, or multipliers from sources such as Inkling's ink, or from Spirits.

List of moves with recoil damage

• Charizard – Flare Blitz deals 5% damage when used and an additional 5% if it hits (for a total of 10%). The custom Blast Burn deals 6% when used and 10% if it hits (for a total of 16%).
• Diddy Kong – Rocketbarrel Boost, when hitting a wall or ceiling, deals 5% damage.
• Donkey Kong – receives 10% damage if someone breaks free from his cargo throw, but only in Melee.
• Ike – Fully charged Eruption deals 10% damage. The custom Furious Eruption deals 10% damage when charged halfway, and 15% damage when fully charged.
• Jigglypuff – Wakie Wakie deals 5% damage from the explosion.
• King Dedede – When holding a fully charged Jet Hammer, King Dedede will receive damage in a fashion similar to hoop damage: it damages at 1% increments, capping at 150% (100% in Super Smash Bros. 4/Super Smash Bros. Ultimate).
• Kirby – When holding a fully charged Hammer Flip or Giant Hammer, Kirby will take damage in the same way King Dedede does, including capping off at 100%. He can also copy Thunder Jolt from Pichu, Flare Blade from Roy or Chrom, or Eruption from Ike, which all damage Kirby just as they would the original user.
• Mr. Game & Watch – #1 Judge deals 12% damage. The custom Extreme Judge will only deal 5%.
• Pichu – All electric-based moves (Recoil for Melee/Ultimate): Thunder Jolt (1%/0.7%), Skull Bash (1%/1.8%), Agility (1%/0.9% for the first leap and 3%/1.4% for the optional second one), Thunder (3%/3.5% when connecting with Pichu), forward smash (2%/2%), forward aerial (4%/1.5%), down aerial (1%/1.5%, or 2%/2% if Pichu hits the ground during the attack), pummel (1%/0.1%), and forward throw (1%/0.8%). In Ultimate, Volt Tackle, its forward tilt (1%), back aerial (1.5%), and down smash (1.3%) also cause recoil.
• Roy – Fully charged Flare Blade deals 10% damage.
• Chrom – Fully charged Flare Blade deals 10% damage.
• Ridley: Hitting Ridley's mouth while he is charging Plasma Breath will cause an explosion near his face, which deals recoil damage to Ridley depending on how much the move was charged.
• Incineroar: Deals 4% damage when failing the command on Alolan Whip.