Tipper

Marth's tipper (right) is indicated by a bright motion trail at the tip of his sword. Lucina's lack of tipper (left) is indicated by a motion trail across her entire sword.

The term tipper can be used as a general term of reference for hitting with the tip of any attack, but is usually used in terms of the movesets of Marth and his clones and semi-clones, as well as the Home-Run Contest.

With Marth-based movesets

"Tipper" is typically used in reference to Marth's attacks and those of characters with movesets based on his. Marth's tippers are stronger than his center hits, as it is the sweet spot on his sword. Roy's tippers are the opposite, and are weaker because his sweet spot is at the base of his blade. Lucina, as a result of not having a particular sweet spot on her sword, has no hitbox distinction between tippers and other hits.

Less frequently, the term is also used for other sword-wielding characters' moves which may have slight sweet spot and sour spot hitboxes; for example, Ganondorf's Warlock Blade attack has a sweet spot on the tip of his sword.

Origin

Marth's tipper animation is a close match for the motion blur on the tip of his sword in some attacking animations in Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem.

In Home-Run Contest

A tipper occurs in Home-Run Contest when one hits Sandbag with the tip of the Home-Run Bat during a bat smash. It deals 20% damage to Sandbag and sends it farther than other bat swings (a close hit or midhit). This is the usual method of finishing Sandbag, unless the character has an attack that is stronger such as a Warlock Punch.

An aerial tipper is a tipper in which one hits Sandbag while it is still in the air. It sends Sandbag farther than a normal tipper.