Ice Climbers (SSBU)/Down aerial

Hitbox visualization showing Popo's down aerial.

Hitbox visualization showing Nana's down aerial.

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Overview

Each of the duo turns their mallet upside down, frantically clinging to it as they forcibly descend. Like other stall-and-fall down airs, it places a sizeable, highly active hitbox directly below them with a sharp downward trajectory and high landing lag. But unlike most of its kind, the Ice Climbers' down aerial doesn't spike no matter when or where it lands, and doesn't plummet very quickly. The partner's version has a noticably smaller hitbox and a horizontal launch angle rather than a vertical one. While it's fairly unsafe on shield, (the only punishable aerial in their kit, in fact.) down aerial's landing animation has the climbers bounce off the ground, which can cause some out of shield options to miss them.

The below-average falling speed combined with the duo's excellent recovery allow it to be used for edgeguarding, and its high knockback and low launch angle make it very dangerous to opponents who are hit offstage. This is of course, a high-risk-high reward maneuver, as it can put the climbers in a much worse position if they miss, and it may even help foes recover if only the leader's attack connects.

While landing with down aerial normally lack combo potential, it grants a much bigger frame advantage than it normally would when autocanceled. An autocanceled down aerial can lead to a dash attack at low percents, dealing half a stock's worth of damage with the attacks that follow. But the combo routes involving down air wear off quickly due to the move's high horizontal knockback. It can start tech-chases at later percentages, though.

Hitboxes

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
Leader
0	0	0	8.0%	0		Standard	40	90	0		6.0	havel	0.0	6.5	0.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Punch		All	All
Partner
0	0	0	6.0%	0		Standard	40	130	0		4.5	havel	0.0	6.5	0.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Punch		All	All

Timing

Attack

The move first sets the Ice Climbers' vertical momentum to 1 on frames 1-12, then sets their horizontal momentum to 0.3 and their vertical momentum to -2.6 from frame 12 onward. Manual horizontal movement is also disabled during frames 1-35.

Hitboxes	12-51
Ending autocancel	54-
Interruptible	64
Animation length	68

Landing lag

Interruptible	21
Animation length	31

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

Autocancel

Interruptible

Ice Climbers's moveset

Neutral attack (1 · 2) · 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