Zelda (SSBU)/Forward smash

Hitbox visualization showing Zelda's forward smash.

Overview

A multi-hitting powerful blast of magic. It boasts the highest disjoint of any of her ground moves. It has relatively low ending lag for a smash attack, making it difficult to punish out of shield, especially when spaced and/or charged. It is very strong in ledge traps due to having five hits. It can hit ledge roll relatively easily, or simultaneously cover ledge jump, neutral getup and getup attack. Unlike Pichu's similar forward smash, each hit only lasts a single frame, which makes it inconsistent at catching neutral getups. However, charging it will make it quite safe on a shield getup. Combined with Phantom, it can be very difficult for opponents to bypass Zelda's ledge trap.

When fully charged, it is her strongest individual move, making it her most reliable shield break punish at high percents. For a forward smash, however, it is below average in strength. At low percents, Zelda's optimal shield break punish for a KO or maximum damage will instead be a Phantom Slash setup with a Lightning Kick or down aerial finisher.

Uncharged, it is still strong, but is notably weaker than her Lightning Kicks. While it is large and lacks finicky sweetspots, it is much slower at frame 16. It should thus be reserved for when there is sufficient frame advantage and it can KO, or if sweetspotting a Lightning Kick is too difficult.

While relatively good on shield, it is still quite punishable on whiff. Additionally, while it is much more consistent than its Melee and Brawl iterations, it is still susceptible to SDI if the opponent's inputs are strong enough.

Update History

10.1.0

• Forward smash has received various adjustments that allow the move to connect more reliably:
  • The first four hits send at an autolink angle (25°/165 → 366° (both)) and have more set knockback (40/50 → 60 (both)).
  • The last hit's hitbox at Zelda's arm is slightly larger (5.5u → 5.7u).
  • All hits have received a -100% trip chance, preventing them from tripping opponents and missing subsequent hits due to the trip's intangibility.

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
Hits 1-4
0	0	0	1.0%	0		Forward	0	100	60		4.2	top	0.0	9.1	9.0	1.0×	1.0×	-100%							Kick		All	All
1	0	0	1.0%	0		Forward	0	100	60		4.5	top	0.0	9.1	17.0	1.0×	1.0×	-100%							Kick		All	All
Hit 5
0	0	0	13.0%	0		Forward	37	110	0		5.7	top	0.0	9.1	10.5	1.0×	1.0×	-100%							Magic		All	All
1	0	0	13.0%	0		Forward	37	110	0		6.0	top	0.0	9.1	17.0	1.0×	1.0×	-100%							Magic		All	All

Timing

Charges between	10-11
Hits 1-4	16, 18, 20, 22
Hit 5	24
Interruptible	50
Animation length	69

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Charge interval

Hitbox

Interruptible

Zelda's moveset

Neutral attack (1 · inf) · 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