Meta Knight (SSBB)/Forward smash

Overview

The hitbox of Meta Knight's f-smash

Meta Knight pulls back his sword for a moment, then slashes in front of himself, dealing 14% uncharged to 19% fully charged. It's among his strongest moves in terms of knockback (KOing earlier than all of his other moves), but is also his slowest move in startup lag, with 24 frames. It can also be considered his only "slow" attack. However, it does have a very fast charge release, and very little ending lag, with even less ending lag than his down smash. The move is a powerful finisher, but its slow speed hinders its effectiveness, and a down smash is usually considered a better option due to having much faster startup. The best use for the move is for punishing the opponent's edge options above 100%, and punishing linear and/or predictable recoveries, or non-transcendent recovery moves where the opponent doesn't grab onto the edge, such as Mach Tornado.

Hitboxes

ID	Part	Damage	SD	Angle	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			SDIx	H×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Type	Effect	G	A	Sound	Direct
0	0	14%	0		28	99	0	7.0	Root	0.0	6.4	5.0	1.0x	1.0x	0%							Slash
1	0	14%	0		28	99	0	6.0	Root	0.0	6.4	19.0	1.0x	1.0x	0%							Slash
2	0	14%	0		28	99	0	6.0	Root	-2.0	9.6	13.0	1.0x	1.0x	0%							Slash
3	0	14%	0		28	99	0	6.0	Root	2.0	3.2	13.0	1.0x	1.0x	0%							Slash

Timing

Charges between	20-21
Hitboxes	24-25
Animation length	41

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Charge interval

Hitbox

Meta Knight's moveset

Neutral attack · Forward tilt (1 · 2 · 3) · Up tilt · Down tilt · Dash attack · Forward smash · Up smash · Down smash
Neutral aerial · Forward aerial · Back aerial · Up aerial · Down aerial · Glide attack
Grab · Pummel · Forward throw · Back throw · Up throw · Down throw
Floor attack (front) · Floor attack (back) · Floor attack (trip) · Edge attack (fast) · Edge attack (slow)
Neutral special · Side special · Up special · Down special · Final Smash