This article is about the mechanic known by the community as hitstun. For the mechanic known officially as hitstun, seehitlag.

Villager being launched by another Villager's Lumbering part ofTimber, now in hitstun.

Hitstun (known asDamageFly internally) is a period of time after being hit by an attack that a character is unable to act outside ofdirectional influence orteching. It is directly dependent onknockback, so at a same damage percentage, an attack likeFalcon Punch will have more hitstun than one likeThunder Jolt. EachSmash game has a programmed value that is multiplied by the amount of knockback received to determine the amount of frames a character is locked in hitstun after being hit; for example,Melee has a hitstun multiplier of 0.4 frames per unit of knockback, so a hit that deals 100 units of knockback will leave the target in hitstun for 40 frames.

Hitstun is an essential component ofcombos, as the basis of a combo is to have enemies trapped in hitstun while constantly being attacked. As a result, games that have more hitstun for equivalent knockback open up more potential combos.

InSuper Smash Bros.[edit]

Fox performing aGreenhouse combo against another Fox player, leading to anup smash thanks to64's higher hitstun.

The amount of hitstun in the originalSSB is much higher than in the subsequentSuper Smash Bros. games, being equal to 0.533× of the inflicted amount of knockback. The multiplier is so high that long, highly damaging combos are commonplace, with competitive matches being heavily centralized around them.Zero-to-death combos are not uncommon inSSB, as every character in the game exceptSamus is capable of performing a zero-death using their normal moves.

InSuper Smash Bros. Melee[edit]

Ganondorf launchingCaptain Falcon withWarlock Punch.

The amount of hitstun inMelee is a significantly lower 0.4× multiplier, makingMelee a less combo-oriented game, and zero-to-death combos a rarity. However, with the increased falling speeds, and generally faster and more varied movement, combos remain frequent, though generally more difficult to pull off consistently.

A peculiar property of hitstun inMelee is how it is handled for characters landing when taking knockback belowtumbling range. InSmash 64, the character simply remains in their flinching animation on the ground, and the hitstun proceeds as usual. InMelee, however, if the character's launch speed higher than 0.5 (equal to 16.67 units of knockback) when touching the ground, they go into their landing animation, and the hitstun is overriden by their 4 frames of normal landing lag (slightly higher for some characters). Combined withASDI allowing characters to move from the air to the ground (which is forbidden for standardSDI), this property allows characters to "tank" attacks at low percents to punish them more effectively, and is likewise the main factor behindcrouch canceling's defensive utility. Hitstun carrying over to the ground as inSSB, on the other hand, is generally uncommon, and the launch speed required is too low for any individual attack to benefit significantly from it; however,knockback stacking can cause a followup attack to inflict a noticeable amount of hitstun while lowering a character's launch speed to under 0.5, making it relevant for certain characters' combos. The most notable example isFalco'spillaring combos on platforms, where he canspike the opponent close enough to them after ashine and have them remain in hitstun instead of landing, as both moves' launch speeds end up mostly canceling each other out, but thedown aerial carries all the hitstun.

InSuper Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]

Falco's up throw is designed to have the blaster shot connect while the opponent is in hitstun.

Brawl has the same hitstun multiplierMelee has. However, when hit by an attack that causestumbling (orreeling), characters can nowair dodge after 13 frames of hitstun, or use anaerial attack after 25 frames, regardless of the actual amount of hitstun they sustained. This new mechanic, known ashitstun canceling, drastically reduces the effective hit advantage granted to the attacker, especially at higher knockback values. For example, a character taking 100 units of knockback inMelee would invariably sustain 40 frames of hitstun, but inBrawl, they will only be in actual hitstun for 13 frames if they air dodge, or 25 if they attack; if this knockback value is doubled, theMelee character would sustain 80 frames of hitstun, while theBrawl character will still only be in true hitstun for 13 or 25 frames.

This change significantly reduces the amount of true combos, and means the only attacks that can truly combo are those that deal low enough knockback to not cause tumbling while having low enough ending/landing lag to followup (such aschain throws andSheik's forward tilt), and at tumble percentages, very few attacks, if any, are fast enough to followup within 13 frames before the opponent can air dodge, such asMeta Knight's up aerial. Any attack that deals even slightly more knockback or has slightly more ending lag will require the player toread the opponent's action to successfully followup. This new mechanic also allows launched characters to act before their knockback wears off, which allows characters to perform certain actions during knockback toreduce their aerial momentum, allowing them to survive blows that would otherwise KO them.

The much slower falling speeds, loss ofL-canceling with most aerials not having theirlanding lag fully compensated, and generally slower movement also reduce the amount of possible combos, though the effect of these is minuscule compared to the ability to act so early out of hitstun.

Conversely to hitstun canceling,Brawl also no longer allows characters taking knockback below tumbling level to land during hitstun, with the character instead remaining in their flinching animation and not landing until the hitstun is over. In combination with crouch canceling no longer reducing knockback taken, this weakens characters' defensive options at percents before hitstun canceling is possible.

InSuper Smash Bros. 4[edit]

Samus andLink being senttumbling, now in hitstun.

InSmash 4, hitstun has a very slightly altered formula: by default, the result is decreased by one frame compared toMelee andBrawl, but if the character is sent tumbling (not reeling) or launched by anelectric attack, one more hitstun frame is added, with both factors being able to stack. For example, if a character that sustains 100 units of knockback is sent reeling, they will be in hitstun for 39 frames, but if they are sent tumbling by an electric attack, they will be in hitstun for 41 frames.

More significantly, however, while the ability to act out of hitstun with an air dodge or aerial attack returns fromBrawl, its effect is considerably less pronounced. Characters inSmash 4 can only air dodge out of hitstun after at least 40 frames, and if their current launch speed is lower than 2.5; likewise, they can only cancel hitstun with an aerial attack after at least 45 frames, and if their current launch speed is lower than 2. For reference, launch speed starts at 0.03× of the knockback inflicted (so in the former example, it would start at 3), and decreases by 0.051 every frame. As a result, hitstun canceling not only occurs much later than inBrawl, but is further delayed as knockback increases (starting to increase after roughly 56 frames of hitstun to cancel with an aerial, or 59 frames to cancel with an air dodge), to the point of becoming irrelevant at extreme knockback values. Thegravity penalty for vertical launch speed is also taken into account, giving characters slightly better hitstun cancel windows the lower their gravity is.

The significantly weakened hitstun canceling, coupled with the cast's generally increasedgravity andfalling speeds, makes true combos past low percentages possible again, and rendersmomentum canceling effectively impossible, allowing moves to KO earlier. Furthermore, air dodging to cancel hitstun actually marginally worsens horizontal endurance, as similarly toBrawl, a fighter is not able to begin opposing their momentum with directional inputs until all of the knockback momentum is gone (despite hitstun actually ending a little earlier than this). Because of this, characters such asSheik andCaptain Falcon are indirectlybuffed, as their comboing abilities from previous games have been restored, whileBrawl newcomers such asMeta Knight andZero Suit Samus also benefit by gaining a similar or even greater combo potential. However, with the retained ability to air dodge or attack out of hitstun at higher percentages, gravity increasing knockback as inBrawl, and falling speeds still being slower than inMelee, true combos at higher percentages are exclusive to a few characters (and even then, they must notbe at high percentages themselves), making them less prevalent than inMelee and especially the originalSSB.

Hitstun inSmash 4 has received other minor adjustments:

• Characters taking knockback below tumbling level can land during hitstun as inMelee, which no longer depends on their launch speed when touching the ground. However, the hitstun now carries over to their landing animation, taking priority over the standard 4 frames of hard landing lag (or slightly higher for some characters), and in this case, it is also one frame longer than usual.
• Characters bouncing off surfaces due to knockback have their hitstun reduced by 0.8× relative to the initial amount, with the exception of grounded meteor smashes. This does not affect their hitstun cancel windows.
• ForRosalina & Luma, Luma uses an altered hitstun formula if only Rosalina is hit, equal to 0.27× of the knockback taken by her. This effectively causes Luma to take 67.5% of Rosalina's hitstun, allowing it to retaliate faster against attackers.

InSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

Terry making use ofPower Dunk's unusually high hitstun to perform a complex combo. This works thanks toTiger Knee.

Ultimate retains the 0.4× multiplier used sinceMelee to determine the base amount of hitstun, but always reduces the result by one frame, even if the target is sent tumbling or hit by an electric attack, unlike inSmash 4. More significantly, however, hitstun is affected by the new speed-up effect used for tumbling knockback (commonly dubbed "balloon knockback" by the community), which causes characters to be launched faster as they take higher knockback. As a result, aftertumbling starts happening, the effective hitstun frames increase at a slower rate in comparison to previousSmash games. For example, 90 and 145 units of knockback, which would inflict 36 and 58 frames of hitstun (respectively) inSmash 4, inflict 33 and 41 frames inUltimate. Oddly,reeling can sometimes cause an extra frame of hitstun at tumbling percents, but the cause for this is unknown.

To determine the magnitude of the knockback speed-up effect, the game takes theFAF after hitstun (for example, 40 for 100 units of knockback), and calculates aframe speed multiplier between 1× and 6×, which is determined by the FAF's placement between 30 and 80 (though since the effect depends on tumbling, it cannot normally apply to hitstun below 31 frames). This speed multiplier is then applied to the first frame of knockback, and multiplied for subsequent frames by the result of(initial_faf * 0.3 - faf) / (initial_faf * 0.3 - initial_faf), wherefaf is the FAF minus the previous frame's speed multiplier. For example, with 39 frames of hitstun, the initial FAF would be 40, resulting in a frame speed multiplier of 2× for the first knockback frame, which would then decrease to approximately 1.857× on the second frame (multiplied by 0.9285×). Due to the algorithm capping the FAF at 80, the speed-up effect stops scaling for knockback above 200 units, after which hitstun increases at a rate of(knockback - 200) * 0.25.

As a result of these changes, hitstun remains unchanged in comparison toSmash 4 if a move's knockback is low enough, but is decreased otherwise, giving characters less time to combo opponents at higher percents. However, due to the cast's generally improved mobility (namely fasterdashing speeds,air speeds,jumpsquats, and full hop speeds), lowerlanding lag, and the effect ofrage being weakened, combo potential is overall slightly increased up to mid percents, with a detrimental effect only at higher knockback ranges where combos are less common. Furthermore, while hitstun canceling is still possible, and its launch speed thresholds take the knockback speed-up effect into account, its earliest windows of 40 and 45 frames do not, thus providing a considerably smaller benefit. Worth noting, however, is that moves withset knockback do not use this effect, meaning their hitstun at tumble percents is only reduced by one frame compared toSmash 4, and hitstun canceling can still have a noticeable effect on moves with high enough set knockback (such asLuigi's down taunt).

Ultimate retainsSmash 4's adjustments to landing hitstun, hitstun reduction when bouncing off surfaces, and Luma's unique hitstun factor, the latter which is now comparatively lower due to using the same speed-up magnitude as Rosalina. As a new minor adjustment, attacks that causeflinching always inflict a minimum of 4 frames of hitstun, slightly increasing it for attacks with extremely low knockback (such as the late hit of Luigi'sSuper Jump Punch).

Hitstun modifiers[edit]

A new property of hitstun inUltimate is the addition of hitstun modifiers, which can add or deduct hitstun frames to/from individual moves regardless of their knockback, allowing them to combo better or worse (respectively) than they normally would. These are mainly present inneutral attacks, which have additional hitstun to connect better, but a few other moves use them as well, such asFox'sdown tilt (3 extra frames), and the linking hits ofSamus andDark Samus'sup aerials (10 less frames), with the intention of either comboing better into their next hits and other moves, or preventing certain followups, both without altering their knockback or lag. Hitstun modifiers do not alter how early attacks can cause tumbling, and the resulting hitstun is still reduced by the knockback speed-up effect.

List of moves with hitstun modifiers[edit]

Due to a glitch, even if a move has a hitstun modifier only coded for specific hitboxes, the game applies the multiplier to all hitboxes of the move during frames where the specified hitbox is present. Likewise, if a move has different hitstun modifiers for each hitbox, the modifier for the hitbox with the highest ID number applies to all hitboxes, and other modifiers are ignored. This glitch is also present forshieldstun multipliers. However, some hitstun modifiers are marked as "revised" and appear to function normally; these are denoted by an asterisk in the following table.

Notes[edit]

See also[edit]

• Shieldstun
• Hitstun canceling

• Unofficial lingo
• Game physics
• Gameplay
• Techniques (SSBB)
• Techniques (SSB4)