Not to be confused with thefreeze glitch. For game freezing, seegame crash.

Blizzard, a freezing attack, being used inMelee

Blizzard, a freezing attack, being used inBrawl

Blizzard, a freezing attack, being used inUltimate

Freezing, also known asice, is an attackeffect in theSuper Smash Bros. series, which debuted inSuper Smash Bros. Melee and has appeared in every subsequent game. It causes a character to be encased in ice while takingknockback, preventing them from taking action for a certain amount of time in replacement of thehitstun they would usually experience.

Freezing attacks are boosted by Freezing Attackstickers inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl'sThe Subspace Emissary and the supportspirit skill Water & Ice Attack ↑, as well as certainSpirit Battleconditions inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate. InUltimate, the spirit skill or trait Water/Freezing Resist ↑ weakens freezing attacks. The support spirit skill Ice-Floor Immunity prevents the equipped fighter from being frozen or being damaged by Spirit Battle ice floors, but does not affect the damage the player takes from freezing attacks.

General properties[edit]

In all games, a freezing attack needs to inflict knockback of at least 52.5 units to freeze the target, which matches the minimum knockback required to trigger their heavyflinching animation. When a character gets frozen, their knockback is calculated as usual, but they decelerate slower as they fly away (with a launch speed decay of 0.03 per frame, down from 0.051), and theirfalling speed is reduced (by 0.7× fromBrawl onward), giving them significantly floatier physics and causing them to cover a longer distance. While frozen, characters also take 0.5× damage and 0.25× knockback from subsequent attacks, hindering the effectiveness of KO setups against frozen opponents, with even powerfulmeteor smashes dealing negligible knockback. Frozen characters have an enlarged hurtbox and cannot begrabbed.

InMelee, being hit by a freezing attack causes a variation of theping sound to play; only those that deal high enough knockback, such as theFreezie andArticuno's attack, use the actual ping sound. FromBrawl onward, freezing attacks use their own sound effects, with the exception ofMr. Game & Watch'sJudge #8.

Freeze time[edit]

The amount offrames characters are frozen for is determined differently across games, though in all of them, the damage inflicted by the freezing attack is a factor, and it is altered by bothbutton mashing from the victim's part and dealing damage to them while frozen. Additionally, remaining freeze time will begin decaying immediately, even during hitlag, meaning that non-projectile ice attacks effectively have a lower frame advantage. InMelee, the formula for the initial freeze time is${\displaystyle 12.5d}$, rounded down withd being the damage of the freezing attack; button mashing reduces it by 3 frames per input, and attacks reduce it by 0.75× of the damage they would deal to a non-frozen opponent, even if the attack has a freezing effect. InBrawl andSmash 4, freeze time is reduced overall; the formula is changed to${\displaystyle 12d}$ rounded down, and button mashing reduces freeze time by 4 frames per input (7.2 with buttons inSmash 4, though they cannot be inputted as quickly as stick inputs), while attacks reduce it by 2× of the damage they would deal to a non-frozen opponent. In these three games, hitting a frozen opponent with aflame attack thaws them out immediately.

InUltimate, freeze time has undergone significant changes. The new formula for the initial freeze time is${\displaystyle 5d+0.5p}$, rounded down, whered is the damage dealt by the freezing attack (taking the1v1 multiplier and modifiers such asstale-move negation into account) whilep is the target's percent before the attack connects (unlike other status conditions such asburying andsleep, which use the post-hit percent). For example, if a character is hit by a fully chargedPK Freeze (which deals 23% damage) at 25%, they are initially frozen for 150 frames in a 1v1, and 127 frames in battles with more players. Additionally, freezing now has a maximum duration of 250 frames. Button mashing still reduces freeze time by 4 frames per input (7.2 with buttons), but attacking frozen opponents has considerably different effects depending on the kind of attack used and the number of times the frozen opponent is attacked (represented byc below, withc=1 being the first hit after being frozen):

• Ifc is greater than 5 (this is the 6th hit or more), or the freeze duration has reached the cap of 250 frames at any point (either initially or after being extended by further attacks), then:
  • If the attack has a freezing effect, duration is unchanged.
  • If the attack has a flame effect, duration is set to 0, instantly thawing the target.
  • If the attack has neither a freezing or a flame effect, it subtracts${\displaystyle 4d}$ from the duration.
• Otherwise (c is less than or equal to 5 and the duration has not capped), the value of${\displaystyle (5d+0.5p)\times {0.67}^c}$ is used, represented byf:
  • If the attack has a freezing effect,f is added to the duration.
  • If the attack has a flame effect, the duration is set tof. This counter-intuitively means stronger fire attacks will make the ice thaw slower.
  • If the attack has neither a freezing or a flame effect, the duration will be reduced by${\displaystyle 4d-f}$. This can be negative, in which case the duration will increase.
    • If the current duration is belowf or the attack would put the duration belowf, the duration is set tof.

Uniquely,Hero'sKacrackle Slash applies a 2× multiplier to the damage portion of the initial freeze time formula, giving him a greater advantage over the opponent compared to other freezing attacks. Furthermore, multi-hit freezing attacks (namely theIce Climbers'Blizzard) have a new accumulation mechanic that lets them freeze opponents even if they deal less than 52.5 units of knockback. More specifically, each hit's resulting freeze time from the formula (if they would have caused freezing) is added together if the target is kept inhitstun between them, and if the combined value exceeds 263, the opponent is frozen by the hit to have crossed the threshold, using its individual freeze time. For example, in a 1v1 match withstale-move negation disabled, Blizzard can freeze as early as 28.4% with 9 hits; if there is no percent increase between hits (such as by the Fixed Damage option inTraining mode), this instead happens at around 37%, which can be verified by the result of(5 * 2.16 + 0.5 * 37) * 9 exceeding 263. As this only takes damage into account, it works regardless of the opponent's weight or knockback modifiers, unless they take no hitstun as a result of eitherarmor or the attack dealing flinchless knockback.

In all games, a frozen character automaticallyjumps after thawing out, canceling out most of their remaining launch speed, and can perform other actions immediately (except inMelee, where they sustain 16 frames ofending lag), though their horizontal momentum is still temporarily locked. Additionally, they are protected from subsequent freezing attempts for 60 frames after thawing out.

Overall, freezing is unreliable for conventional combos and KO setups compared to other status conditions, due to the opponent's greatly reduced damage and knockback taken during it, as well as lacking any frame advantage when they thaw out. However, it can still be a useful way to build damage, due to button mashing's relatively weak effect on it causing characters to usually remain frozen for a prolonged amount of time. InUltimate,Lucas'PK Freeze is also notorious for launching at a lowangle that is strengthened in effectiveness by its freezing effect, causing characters to fly much farther than usual due to their combination of reduced launch speed decay and longer immobile time, which makes it an excellentedgeguarding and horizontal KO option.

The Subspace Emissary[edit]

Freezing is one of the more usefuleffects inThe Subspace Emissary: it deals extra damage toflame-based enemies and about half of thebosses, and is only specifically resisted byGlices. However, it cannot cause non-fighter enemies to freeze, and attacks with the freezing effect are rare and almost exclusivelyindirect, which most enemies and bosses resist;Judge is the only non-indirect freezing attack available in The Subspace Emissary, and it can only be used at random.

List of freezing attacks[edit]

By characters[edit]

Character	Move(s)	Games
Giga Bowser	Down smash
Hero	Command Selection (Kacrackle Slash)
Ice Climbers	Ice Shot
	Blizzard
	Iceberg
Kirby	Ice Breath
Kirby (Copy Abilities)	Ice Shot
	PK Freeze
	Magic (Blizzaga)
Lucas	PK Freeze
Luigi	Ice Ball
Mega Man	Ice Slasher
Mr. Game & Watch	Judge (number 8)
Ness	PK Freeze (custom PK Flash)
Sora	Magic (Blizzaga)

By items[edit]

Character	Move(s)	Games
Assist Trophies	Krystal: Ice Blast
	Riki: Freezinate
	Wily Capsule: Ice projectiles
Freezie	Thrown Freezie
	Attacking a Freezie
Poké BallPokémon	Abomasnow: Ice Punch
	Abomasnow: Blizzard
	Alolan Vulpix: Icy Wind
	Articuno: Icy Wind
	Ditto: Transform (if the summoner possesses freezing attacks)
	Kyurem: Icy Wind
	Suicune: Blizzard
	Suicune: Contact with head before attacking
	Suicune: Aurora Beam
	Togepi: Metronome (freeze attack)

By enemies and bosses[edit]

Enemy/Boss	Attack(s)	Games
Blue Bubble	Ramming into the player
Crazy Hand	Tri-Poke (third hit)
	Frozen Rope
Cryogonal	Ice Beam
Giga Bowser	Down smash
Glice	Ice attack
Marx	Ice balls
Master Hand	Icy Wind

By stage hazards[edit]

In addition to natural stage hazards, theSpirit Battle condition "The floor is frozen" creates a hazard that inflicts freezing damage.

Stage	Hazard	Games
Gerudo Valley	Kotake's ice spell
Mushroom Kingdom U	Falling Icicles

Trivia[edit]

• According tothe official JapaneseSuper Smash Bros. minisite, an "ice"effect was originally planned for inclusion inSuper Smash Bros., but was ultimately not used.
• InStamina mode, characters KO'd by freezing attacks cannot thaw out unless they are hit by aflame attack. InUltimate, this does not seem to delay the defeated character's self-destruction.

v • d • e List of attackeffects
Introduced inSuper Smash Bros.	Normal •Coin •Electric •Flame •Slash •Sleep
Introduced inSuper Smash Bros. Melee	Bury •Darkness •Flower •Freezing •Grab •Inert •Reverse •Screw •Stun
Introduced inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl	Aura •Down •Stop •Grass •Paralyze •Plunge •Slip •Water
Introduced inSuper Smash Bros. 4	Blaster •Magic •Obliviate •Stab •Solar
Introduced inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate	Autoreticle •Chain •Curse •Dedede •Grapple •Ink •Mushroom •Poison •Rapid •Sparks •Fist-Down •Scintilla

• Effects