Reviewing All Defensive Options in Smash Ultimate - YouTube

We’ll admit it - playing Smash aggressively is definitely a lot of fun, but even the most

aggressive players in the game need to defend themselves sometimes.

To do so without simply moving away from your opponent, Smash has a variety of special defensive

options that any character can use, but still vary slightly from character to character.

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Now let’s learn about defensive options.

The most obvious and commonly used defensive option in Smash is, of course, shielding.

Shielding envelopes your character in a bubble (or in some cases, an egg), that protects

you from any attack that should connect with it.

Upon pressing any shield button, your shield will be active and can defend you on frame

one, which is the quickest any action can come out in Smash.

Don’t be fooled by the animation though, because the shield bubble itself isn’t visible

until frame 2 if no attack connects on frame 1.

You can hold your shield up as long you’d like by holding down the button, but your

shield will slowly become smaller as it’s out, and eventually it will break, leaving

you in a very long state of vulnerability.

As a quick note on this, keep in mind that you can reduce the amount of time you’re

in this shield-broken state by mashing, and that this state actually lasts longer the

lower your damage percent is.

Your shield will also get smaller by taking shield damage from attacks that hit it.

Attacks hitting your shield cause shield stun as well, which is a window of lag you undergo

after it’s hit.

In addition to the threat of a shield break, as your shield grows smaller, it also begins

to expose parts of your character’s body, which despite your shield being up can still

be hit if they aren’t covered by the shield.

This is known as a shield-poke or shield-stab.

To prevent this, you can angle your shield by gently tilting the left stick, which is

made easier and more consistent by either holding 2 shield buttons or the special button

while angling the stick.

Additionally, Yoshi is immune to being Shield-poked as his egg-shield does not diminish in size.

While shielding, you have access to a few actions known as out of shield options.

By pressing A, you can execute a grab known as a shield-grab.

Shield-grabs are a great way to punish poorly-spaced moves on your shield, but do be aware that

Ultimate adds 4 frames of startup to your shield-grab if performed right after shieldstun.

By pressing jump while shielding, you can jump with access to all of your aerials.

This can be used to punish unsafe attacks on your shield with a fast rising aerial,

or to simply jump away to escape the situation.

By tapping left or right on the left stick while shielding, you can roll in or away in

the direction you choose.

This can be useful to escape shield-pressure and reset Neutral out of close-quarters situations.

We’ll talk more about rolls in-depth later.

By tapping down on the left stick while shielding, you can spotdodge.

Spotdodging is a great way to defend yourself from grabs, and can be used for many other

things which we’ll also cover a bit later in this video.

Pressing up and B simultaneously while shielding will allow you to perform an Up special out

of shield.

If you have a fast up special, this can be a great way to punish opponents hitting your

shield and escape pressure.

The reason these out of shield options are so good, is because letting go of your shield

will put your character in 11 frames of lag before you can act again - so choosing any

of those options out of shield is about a 6th of a second faster than dropping your

shield first - which makes a big difference in a fast-paced game like Smash.

If your shield is hit within the first 5 frames of releasing it, you will execute a perfect-shield,

known in the competitive community as a parry.

Parrying reduces your shieldstun by 3 frames and creates an attention grabbing animation

with boosted hitlag for both characters, making it easier for you to both react and punish

the parried attack.

It’s worth noting that parrying isn’t possible until the shield has first been out

for 3 frames, as frame 4 is the first on which shield can be dropped.

Next let’s talk about rolls and spotdodges.

Rolls are executed by tapping left or right on the left stick and inputting shield simultaneously.

A roll lets you travel a distance (varying by character) left or right with a period

of intangibility in between a window of startup and a window of cooldown.

There are 2 types of normal rolls: forward rolls and back rolls.

A forward roll sends you in the direction you’re facing, and turns your perspective

around upon completing the roll.

Forward rolls typically have 3 frames of startup with intangibility starting on frame 4, lasting

for 9-15 frames before 14-16 frames of cooldown.

Back rolls send you opposite the direction you’re facing and maintain your original

perspective.

Back rolls also typically become intangible on frame 4 or 5 lasting for 11-16 frames,

but have 18-19 frames of cooldown making them laggier than forward rolls.

Smash Ultimate introduces a staling mechanic to all forms of dodging which decreases their

efficiency the more often they’re used.

For rolls, this can shave as much as 4 frames off of the intangibility and add as much as

7 additional frames of cooldown.

Because it offers intangibility coupled with movement, rolling is a great way to escape

potentially dangerous or uncertain situations, but be careful of rolling too often or your

opponent may catch on and punish the cooldown, especially if it’s stale.

Spotdodging allows you to quickly become intangible while standing still by inputting down and

shield simultaneously.

Spotdodges become intangible on frame 3 after 2 frames of startup for every character besides

Bayonetta who can activate Bat within on frame 2.

Spotdodges are intangible for 12-16 frames with a cooldown window of 9-10 frames varying

by character.

Spotdodges can, however, be acted out of with grounded normals or special moves 5 frames

before their cooldown would otherwise end.

Staling can shave up to 3 frames off of the intangibility and add up to 9 frames of cooldown

to spotdodges.

Spotdodges have less lag than dropping shield, especially if cancelled with an attack, and

they offer protection against both attacks AND grabs unlike shield, so spotdodging can

be a great way to quickly avoid your opponent’s option and punish swiftly.

Spotdodging tends to be effective after swinging a safe attack on whiff or on shield, letting

you take advantage of opponents who attempt to punish what they cannot.

Just be wary though, as keen players will take notice of your spotdodge patterns and

wait for them.

From here we take to the air with airdodges!

Airdodging lets you become intangible in the air with varying startup, cooldown, and landing

lag.

There are 2 types of airdodges: Neutral airdodges, and Directional airdodges.

A neutral airdodge is performed by inputting shield in the air with no direction held on

the left stick at the same time.

Both air dodge types become intangible after 1-3 frames of startup, or 4 for Bayonetta,

and Neutral airdodges are intangible for 25-29 frames before a cooldown window that varies

relative to how fast a character falls such that all characters regain control after falling

the same distance.

Because of this, Fox has the least cooldown on his airdodge as the fastest faller with

the highest gravity while Jigglypuff has the most cooldown.

If you land anytime during a Neutral airdodge, you’ll suffer 10 frames of landing lag.

This rule applies to Directional airdodges as well, automatically adjusting to the direction

- so regardless of direction, you’ll regain control at the same height.

Despite this similarity and the identical startup, Directional airdodges are intangible

for less time and also have universally much greater cooldown, meaning that you’ll need

to drop for a greater distance before regaining control after a Directional airdodge.

As the name suggests, a Directional airdodge is performed by inputting shield in the air

while holding a direction with the left stick.

This will push your character in the direction you aim.

Directional airdodges have 11-19 frames of landing lag, with higher numbers the earlier

you land after inputting the airdodge.

So basically, no wavedashing allowed.

Any airdodge can only be used once before landing, getting hit, or grabbing a ledge,

and both types of airdodges also are subject to staling, shaving frames off of the beginning

and end of the intangibility window.

Staling also reduces the distance traveled by directional airdodges.

Neutral airdodging has more intangibility, less cooldown, and less landing lag compared

to Directional airdodging, so it’s generally better for landing and escaping combos.

If you’re high up and descending, consider fastfalling right before a Neutral airdodge,

and also keep in mind that as soon as the dodge starts, you can control your drift with

the left stick normally despite not inputting a Directional airdodge.

Directional airdodging offers recovery mixups as you can grab the ledge with them, which

is especially beneficial for Lucas and Ness who gain additional distance from their Directional

airdodges compared to the rest of the cast.

Directional airdodging can also be a good escape option when the opponent is chasing

you down horizontally or if you have a convenient platform nearby to dodge onto.

With this knowledge we’re sure you’ll be blocking, dodging, and landing better,

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