Knee Smash: Difference between revisions

===In ''Super Smash Bros. Melee''===

[[File:T3h Knee.jpg|thumb|The Knee Smash in ''Melee''.]]

The Knee Smash acts as a [[sex kick]], with two main [[hitbox]]es. The initial hitbox (often called the "hard knee"), which lasts only a few frames, is Captain Falcon's primary KO move and is accompanied by an electric effect. The second hitbox (nicknamed the "soft knee" or "weak knee") lasts much longer, but lacks the damage and knockback of the initial hitbox. The attack acts as a semi-spike, albeit a weak one. Despite how seemingly weak it is, it has its uses. The player can use weak knee in comboing the entire cast with the most common combos being: weak knee into hard knee and weak knee into up air. Weak knee can also be used in [[edge guarding]]. By using his speed Captain Falcon can reach extremely far offstage and cover large areas with his knee. While sometimes the weak knee may not be enough to kill, it sets the player up to continue the edge guard.

In ''Brawl'', the Knee Smash was [[nerf]]ed. The initial hitbox was nerfed such that it needs to actually sweetspot on the knee itself for the familiar electric hit to occur, as the back hitbox simply has similar properties of [[NTSC]] ''Melee''{{'}}s late hit, while the late hit in ''Brawl'' acts like the [[PAL]] late hit in ''Melee'', being even weaker than the clean hit's sourspot. In addition, the initial hitbox as a whole now only lasts one frame (instead of three) and its hitbox is significantly smaller (5.2 → 3); as a result, it is much harder to land a hard Knee Smash, especially on smaller characters. Its [[hitlag]] has also been significantly increased, allowing for more [[DI]] and [[SDI]] from the opponent. On the upside, it can [[autocancel]] from a short hop, though on smaller characters, this trait can only be taken full advantage of if they aren't on the ground. Nonetheless, the Knee Smash remains among Falcon's strongest finishers (stronger than all of his smash attacks), sometimes used in an aerial combo in place of his up aerial.

A late Knee Smash can trip a grounded opponent often, and is still useful for [[gimp]]ing recoveries like {{SSBB|Falco}}'s, albeit less so than in ''Melee''. It can also be followed up with an up aerial or a sweet spotted Knee Smash if the opponent is read correctly.  

===In ''Super Smash Bros. 4''===

Despite these nerfs, it sees much more use and effectiveness than in ''Brawl'', largely due to the changes to [[hitstun canceling]], which is now only possible after frame 40 with an air dodge or frame 45 with an aerial, while both hitstun canceling windows scale in proportion to the knockback sustained, rather than the frame 13 or 25 regardless of knockback windows that were in ''Brawl''. These changes make combos into the Knee much more prevalent, such as the classic down aerial into Knee, especially in conjunction with Falcon's altered up aerial that now sends opponents vertically, and the significantly improved burst on his dash grab, that allows Falcon to carry a great deal of momentum into his down throw; the Knee as a fatal followup to these moves at mid-percentages is notably prevalent in competitive play, whether as part of a true combo or to punish an opponent air dodging out of those moves. The Knee's KO power also got buffed, by it sending opponents at a slightly lower trajectory, and the new [[rage]] mechanic that can allow it to KO up to around 20% sooner; it's not uncommon for Falcon to nab KOs below 50% from a combo into the Knee when he has a significant amount of Rage. At high damages however, about after 80-100% damage, even lower when he has significant Rage, it becomes difficult to land a Knee Smash again as the setups into it no longer work, requiring a [[Mindgame#Predicting|good read]] or a precise punish to land it.