Reflection


 * "Reflect" redirects here. For the tournament, see Tournament:Reflect.

Reflection is a phenomenon wherein one fighter gains control of an opponent's projectile and uses it as their own attack. Most but not all projectiles reverse direction upon being reflected, sending them back to their original users.

Properties
To be reflected, a projectile must come into contact with an attack or object that reflects, such as the aptly-named Reflector, Ness's forward smash, or a character wearing a Franklin Badge. Most reflectors increase the damage done by projectiles, as well as the speed at which they travel back, and can also change their remaining active period (lifespan) to further adjust how much effective distance they can cover. Reflected projectiles also change ownership from the original user to the reflector, damaging the original user if they are hit. Projectiles can be reflected in any direction, and can be reflected multiple times to multiplicatively increase the damage dealt. A projectile can theoretically be reflected an infinite amount of times as long as it is active and will change ownership every time, though most reflecting attacks can only reflect projectiles up to a certain damage threshold before some kind of counter-measure activates.

In Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee, if a projectile is too strong for a reflector, the reflector breaks as if it was a shield and stuns the user. From Super Smash Bros. Brawl onward, the projectile simply ignores the reflector and hits the user. In the case of Ness's or Lucas's forward smash, should the overpowered projectile collide with the move's hitbox without striking the user, they undergo a proportionally-substantial amount of lag due to being outprioritized.

Reflectors are generally very useful moves, as they help prevent projectile camping and spamming. As such, characters with reliable reflectors tend to have better matchups against characters that rely upon projectiles, such as Samus, than those who lack a reliable reflector.

In addition to the above, and  are able to grab projectiles and items and store them for later use via their neutral special move, Pocket. While not strictly a reflector, retrieved projectiles have their damage increased by 1.9×, much like the damage multipliers used by reflectors.

In Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, projectiles can only be reflected up to 7 times before disappearing. Additionally, in Ultimate, a visual indicator in the form of a flashing blue hexagon (akin to Fox's ) is displayed when a projectile is reflected.

In Spirit Battles, damage dealt by reflected projectiles is increased by the "Reflect-Damage Buffed" rule, often accompanied by the "All fighters' reflected projectiles have increased power" condition.

List of reflectors
Reflectors only available as custom moves are in italics.

List of reflectable attacks
These attacks can also be blocked by the passive shields worn by Link (from Melee onward), Young Link, Toon Link, and Hero.

By items

 * All throwable items except for the Spiny Shell
 * All projectiles from battering and shooting items (such as the Ray Gun's shots or the Star Rod's stars)
 * Bob-ombs and Bombchus while moving along the ground
 * Rolling Crates in motion
 * Soccer Balls when launched
 * Bumpers (Smash 64 only) and Uniras when set
 * All explosions from Smash 4 onward, such as from a Blast Box or Motion-Sensor Bomb
 * Players who have transformed into a during flight

Trivia

 * Of all reflections in the Smash series:
 * Left Splits Kick has the highest damage multiplier at 2.4x
 * Ness' forward smash and home run bat are tied for highest speed multiplier at 2.5x
 * Since Zelda's Nayru's Love and King Dedede's in Ultimate are neutral special moves that can reflect projectiles, they can also be used by Kirby via his Copy Ability.
 * Pit is the only character to have different reflectors between games.
 * Prior to version 1.0.8 of Smash 4, all but the final hit of Zoroark's Fury Swipes could be reflected. By wearing a Franklin Badge, a character trapped by Zoroark would only take damage from the final hit of the attack.
 * Ness, Lucas, Min Min, and Kazuya are the only fighters whose reflection moves are not special moves. Out of these, Ness' is the only one to be present in all Smash games.
 * Hero has the most reflectable attacks out of any playable fighter in the entire series, with a total of 14.
 * If the Shadow Assist Trophy freezes a character performing a reflection attack, the reflection hitbox will remain active until being unfrozen and trigger if hit. This causes a side effect of some attacks being able to reflect much longer than intended.