Perfect shield: Difference between revisions

[[File:Peach Powershield Laser.gif|right|thumb|220px|In ''Melee'', anytime during the first 2 frames of activation, powershielding will reflect any projectile, even ones that have already been powershielded. ]]

A '''perfect shield''' ({{ja|ジャストシールド|Jasuto shīrudo}}, '''Just shield''') (officially called the '''Power Shield''' in ''Melee'') is a technique where one activates a full [[shield]] such that it connects with an incoming [[attack]] on the first few frames. In order for the technique to be executed, one must rely on timing and skill. When the opponent is ready to strike, the player must quickly use the shield. If done correctly, the [[character]] takes no [[shield damage]] (or [[shieldstun]] if a projectile was powershielded) and may immediately perform a counterattack while the attacker is stuck in [[hitlag]]. The powershield technique in ''[[Melee]]'', ''[[Brawl]]'', ''[[SSB4]]'' and ''[[Ultimate]]'' is comparable to a parry in traditional fighting games, as it results in little to no knockback and freezes the opponent for a couple frames.

Perfect shielding up through ''SSB4'' is done by quickly and fully depressing a shield button four frames before an attack connects. If done correctly, there will be a significant flash on the shield and a distinctive "chlink" sound (with the exception of ''SSB4'', where a softer sound plays instead). Because it is technically a shield, it is ineffective against [[grab]]s. In ''Melee'', powershielding can [[reflect]] [[projectile]]s during the first two frames, although they deal half their usual damage (unlike other reflectors, which increase their damage), and [[Poké Ball]]s reflected in this way retain the ownership of the character that threw them. In ''Brawl'' and ''SSB4'', perfect shielding merely redirects projectiles at an angle without changing their ownership.

In ''Ultimate'' the method has been reversed; after a shield has already been raised, perfect shielding is done by releasing the shield button immediately before an attack connects. If performed correctly the defending character will flash. ''Both'' characters will enter [[hitlag]], but the defending character is still able to recover much quicker for a counterattack.

[[CPU]] players, especially level 9s, use this technique a lot to reflect projectiles in ''Melee'', and against any oncoming attack since ''Brawl''. Human players don't use it as much simply because of the reaction times and precision usually required, and as such, it often comes as a surprise and can momentarily disrupt a match. However, it has been made easier to take advantage of in ''Brawl'' onwards than in ''Melee'' due to the ability to drop one's shield twice as fast. At high level play, powershielding in ''Melee'' can be used to reflect a wave of incoming projectiles such as Falco's laser, to punish [[camping]].  

Perfect shielding in ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' functions completely differently than in previous games. It now requires the player to ''release'' the shield button when an attack connects against their shield, instead of the other way around. It is also significantly more dramatic upon activation: it creates a much brighter flash from the perfect shielder, causes their eyes to glow yellow, and they perform a unique animation similar to Ryu's shielding animation from ''Smash 4'', while the sound effect produced is a bit louder like in ''Brawl''. {{SSBU|Ryu}} keeps his unique sound effect and now shares it with {{SSBU|Ken}}. Due to these properties, the perfect shield in ''Ultimate'' is usually referred to as a '''parry''' by the ''Smash'' community, as it better resembles the namesake technique from traditional fighting games.

Perfect shielding is activated during the first 5 frames of a character's shield drop animation, which now lasts 11 frames (up from ''Smash 4''{{'}}s 7 frames), and the shield has to be put up for at least 3 frames before it can be dropped, essentially causing the technique's earliest possible activation to be 4 frames upon shielding. As a result, while it has a larger window, it can no longer be done immediately, and is less likely to be activated unintentionally, thus carrying more risk. However, unlike in previous games, the radius of a perfect shield does not shrink in proportion to the character's shield, and instead always matches the size of a full shield, increasing its consistency.

Upon successfully perfect shielding a direct attack, both the user and the attacker experience a considerable amount of [[hitlag]] (roughly twice more than on a normal shield), and the user is granted [[intangibility]] for the remainder of the animation. The user can then act several frames earlier because there is no shield-stun experienced from the move. For example, an optimal aerial attack that would normally be -5 frames on shield for the attacker (due to 3 frames of shield stun and 8 frames of landing lag), will now effectively be -8 for the attacker since parrying excludes shield stun. Additionally, it lets the player bypass the usual shielddrop lag, allowing them to punish with grounded options besides up smash and up special 11 frames sooner than if they were to have shielded normally, making punishing with grounded options much more viable and significantly expanding their amount of viable OoS options in general. If an indirect attack (such as a [[projectile]]) is perfect shielded, the hitlag the user experiences is unchanged, but they can only act 1 frame earlier than shielding it normally, reducing the technique's utility in this case. Prior to version {{SSBU|3.0.0}} of the game, the user would instead act 2 frames ''later'', which made perfect shielding indirect attacks undesirable.