Zelda (SSBU)/Down special

Hitbox visualization showing Zelda's Phantom's kick.

Hitbox visualization showing Zelda's Phantom's punch.

Hitbox visualization showing Zelda's Phantom's first swing.

Hitbox visualization showing Zelda's Phantom's second swing.

Hitbox visualization showing Zelda's Phantom's third swing.

Overview

Zelda summons a Phantom behind her which begins assembling armor until launching an attack that varies by its stage of completion. Phantom is a chargeable projectile that performs different attacks depending on the armor present when launched, starting with weak melee attacks and gaining a sword for later charges that improve its range and power. Similar to fighters, it possesses its own hurtboxes (which have limited health), a passive shield (charges 4B-5), experiences hitlag/histun, and has a large collision box that can interact with fighters once launched. Using any attack or special inputs while charging will launch Phantom, but if Zelda does not launch it early she will complete the Phantom and be free to act with Phantom set to automatically launch itself about 1 second later, though she can still manually launch it during that period with a down special input. Charging Phantom cannot be cancelled, making it somewhat committal paired with her poor mobility and any histun Zelda receives before it launches will cause the Phantom to instantly collapse. Once a Phantom is launched, it will linger for a short time after its attack where it cannot be summoned again but its hurtboxes and shield remain active until despawning. All of its attacks are transcendent (cannot be clanked), with charges 2-5 having a windbox on the startup to avoid dashing through opponents and a collision box that pushes other fighters. Due to her ability to delay a launch to adjust her positioning or use an auto launch, Phantom combos into all of her moveset at all percents and grants Zelda the stage control she needs to make an approach. Phantom has good K.O. power but excels in edgeguards and ledge traps- reaching far off-stage with a long active window, able to hit ledges on its downward and upward swings, and is even able to gimp recoveries with its windbox and body blocking. While able to be reflected, reaching full charge allows Zelda to act and she can easily bait an opponents' reflect and punish accordingly.

Unlike in Smash 4, Phantom now charges behind Zelda but various techniques exist to achieve a "Displaced Phantom" (DP) that changes her position relative to Phantom during its charging phase, most commonly involving her dashing into a reverse short hop and buffering down-special so it will stick to the stage while Zelda hops behind it to put a shield between her and the opponent. These techniques give Phantom much more utility since Zelda can retreat behind it while its still charging to protect from some approaches and projectiles. She can also choose to jump in front of Phantom to give her better combo use, or leave it on platforms while she covers lower areas. Even without its shield, having hurtboxes starting frame 1 is a powerful and often overlooked asset- hitting Phantom or its shield causes the attacker to suffer a portion of their attack's typical hitlag, allowing Zelda time to retreat or punish (though Zelda cannot physically interact with Phantom herself).

Update history

3.0.0

• Phantom Slash deals less shield damage (0 (all) → -1 (1st charge)/-1.5 (2nd charge)/-2 (3rd charge)/-2.5 (4th charge)/-3 (5th charge)).

7.0.0

• Phantom Slash deals more damage on all charges (3.8%/4.7% → 4.6/5.9% (level 1), 6.6% → 8.2% (level 2), 8.5%/9.4% → 10.5%/11.8% (level 3), 11.3%/12.2% → 14.1%/15.4% (level 4), 14.1% → 17.7% (level 5)), with knockback scaling partly compensated on the highest two charges (60 → 57 (level 4), 75 → 68 (level 5)).

Hitboxes

The true damage for all Phantom's levels is determined by the general formula base damage + 1.3 * (charge level + 1). This only affects their hitboxes; their windboxes still deal no damage. More specifically, the resulting damage outputs from each Phantom level are the following:

• Level 1A (kick): 2 + 1.3 * 2 = 4.6%
• Level 1B (kick): 2 + 1.3 * 3 = 5.9%
• Level 2 (punch): 3 + 1.3 * 4 = 8.2%
• Level 3A (outward slash): 4 + 1.3 * 5 = 10.5%
• Level 3B (outward slash): 4 + 1.3 * 6 = 11.8%
• Level 4A (overhead slash): 5 + 1.3 * 7 = 14.1%
• Level 4B (overhead slash): 5 + 1.3 * 8 = 15.4%
• Level 5 (rising slash): 6 + 1.3 * 9 = 17.7%

Level 1 Phantom (kick)

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	2.0%	-1.0		Standard	50	30	0		5.5	top	0.0	6.0	14.0 to 10.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All

Level 2 Phantom (punch)

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
Windboxes
0	0	3	0.0%	0		Forward	0	100	60		4.0	top	0.0	7.0	11.0 to 7.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							None		All	All
1	0	3	0.0%	0		Forward	0	100	40		6.0	top	0.0	7.0	11.0 to 7.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							None		All	All
Hitboxes
0	0	0	3.0%	-1.5		Forward	65	50	0		5.5	top	0.0	10.0	11.5	1.2×	1.0×	0%							Punch		All	All
1	0	0	3.0%	-1.5		Forward	65	50	0		4.5	top	0.0	9.5	19.5	1.2×	1.0×	0%							Punch		All	All

Level 3 Phantom (outward slash)

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
Windboxes
0	0	4	0.0%	0		Forward	0	100	50		5.0	top	0.0	8.0	10.0 to 4.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							None		All	All
1	0	4	0.0%	0		Forward	0	100	40		7.0	top	0.0	8.0	10.0 to 4.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							None		All	All
Hitboxes
0	0	0	4.0%	-2.0		Forward	65	60	0		5.8	handr	0.0	0.0	1.0	0.8×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All
1	0	0	4.0%	-2.0		Forward	65	60	0		5.8	handr