One tool I have never really incorporated into my game much is the Short Hop Air Dodge, or SHAD.
There's a few reasons for this. One is that I game from Melee, where a SHAD is literally a wavedash; it was awkward to transition to the idea of that input doing an entirely different thing. Second, SHADs vary wildly across characters. Since later in Brawl's life, I've played a lot of characters (Aside: Terrible idea. Stay in school and pick a main, kids.), which means that without even realizing it or intending to, I gravitated towards developing skills where the muscle memory could transition easily between the dozen or so characters I liked.
But it's almost 8 years since Brawl's release, so it's about time I learn how the hell SHADs work. Come join me on this journey--I promise there will only be one graph.
SHAD Disadvantages (compared to ground dodges):
Defensive moves only matter if they put you at a frame advantage over the opponent--if the defensive option has less endlag than the offensive option it avoided. In other words, having such an expensive, long dodge does mean both that there are fewer attacks that SHAD "beats" and that it offers significantly less reward. This is the price you pay for "cheating."
SHAD options and reward also vary wildly by character. I think it's time for the chart; Merry Christmas:
Let's break it down.
First, note that even the best SHAD in the game (no matter how you define that) is mathematically worse than a Samus roll in every way. Even the fastest options out of the best SHADs will yield negative frame advantage against a wide spread of options, including jabs, most tilts, most grabs, and MK f-smash! SHAD will only yield any benefit against medium-slow moves like uncharged smashes and stuff like Needle Storm. Otherwise, you can at best damage control by using your "cheating" to create distance or cross-up the attacker, and minimize the utility of their frame advantage.
Second, let's explain the phases of a typical SHAD:
also have a Zair option, which can interrupt the air dodge at any time. I'm not going to go into that in more detail here.
Some characters cannot SHAD into a ground option without incurring air dodge landing lag. There characters fall into 3 different functional groupings, based on how severe this window is.
can still perform aerial options 2 frames before landing. Because Sheik dair is the only aerial across these characters that can be done without landing in 2 frames, this really just means double jump and specials.
However, do note that doing a special on the first frame will result in an aerial version, while doing it on exactly the second frame will result in doing the move on frame of landing and getting a grounded version. This distinction can be critical for Needles, Vanish, Shuttle Loop, PK Fire, Raptor Boost, Falcon Kick, and others.
These characters can also start an aerial to avoid landing lag.
can perform "aerial" options for exactly 1 frame as they land. This means no aerials or double jump, only specials. They will always get the grounded version of their specials, which is frankly good news. They can also throw items during this frame, which is vastly more relevant to one of these characters than the other.
can do nothing, and will always incur landing lag from a SHAD. I have included the FHADs of these characters in the chart as well, for comparison. Fox's is very competitive with the SHADs of most other characters from a mathematical standpoint; the rest, not so much. Ryu is probably better off sticking to down-b shenanigans, and the rest are terrible.
Note that none of this reflects the multitude of factors concerning aerial movespeed, which dictates exactly how good each character is at "cheating."
Who has the best SHAD? It's too complex and involves too many factors to crown a winner, but I'll talk about some I find interesting:
have the fastest startup, and really good aerial-focused timings too on top of solid aerial control. Do note that these characters already have great ground dodges though.
has the fastest aerial FAF, and fast startup. He also has great aerial control, and a boatload of really useful SHAD aerial options. Fair is amazing and can still come out fast-falled, but Disable and Shadow Ball shine here too. Confusion and Teleport are both interesting GTFO alternatives to double jump.
have the fastest ground FAF and excel in different ways. While this is great for landing and grabbing (or more), these characters have aerial options too. Little Mac and Doc can both still pull out their weak nairs, or go for a high-reward ultra-fast up-b. Mac can also fish for a KO Punch window with less commitment than a roll, but in that situation I wouldn't expect such laggy moves. Wario has Waft and a frame 8 command grab. While Wario's SHAD startup is poor, he makes up for it with top-notch air control.
has some pretty good numbers all around, and can SHAD to break some limits on you.
have access to their entire (disjointed) aerial moveset on decent frame timings.
has poor startup, poor aerial FAF, poor ground FAF, and yet no non-DJ options besides nair and Rest. But her aerial control is fantastic, and nair + Rest is all she needs.
might be prone to landing lag unless he starts an aerial, but he has both zair and a great option in PK fire if he can time that one frame.
ordinarily suffers landing lag without starting aerials and can't do any aerials but dair, but can still do Needles and Bouncing Fish. It will be interesting to see Sheik players finally integrate these moves into their playstyles.
has to do a grounded special, toss a bomb, or do a zair. All of his options are focused on drifting away from the opponent, but grounded up-b is a terrifying thing to suddenly have next to you.
has the worst startup, worst aerial or ground FAF, and can't do a single option except grounded specials. But one of those grounded specials is a reversible frame 8 command grab that does 18% and kills really early. Sure, it loses to spot dodge and rolls, but guess who has a frame 6 grounded special that beats spot dodge and rolls? Fire Breath and Bowser Bomb are nothing to write home about here, beat some options and are kinda hilarious.
is the only character who should consider a FHAD, as explained. He still isn't super motivated to do so, but at least shine and side-b do give him plenty of GTFO possibilities.
Well, that's about it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to roll spamming.
There's a few reasons for this. One is that I game from Melee, where a SHAD is literally a wavedash; it was awkward to transition to the idea of that input doing an entirely different thing. Second, SHADs vary wildly across characters. Since later in Brawl's life, I've played a lot of characters (Aside: Terrible idea. Stay in school and pick a main, kids.), which means that without even realizing it or intending to, I gravitated towards developing skills where the muscle memory could transition easily between the dozen or so characters I liked.
But it's almost 8 years since Brawl's release, so it's about time I learn how the hell SHADs work. Come join me on this journey--I promise there will only be one graph.
SHAD Disadvantages (compared to ground dodges):
- Startup is significantly worse
- Endlag varies wildly based on the next option in question, but all are still consistently significantly worse
- On some characters, certain next options may just not be possible or be restricted by landing lag
- Raises the hurtbox of the character during later vulnerability frames, allowing some tall moves and projectiles to connect
- Invincibility duration is significantly longer (around 24 frames rather than around 14)
- You retain aerial control during every part of the SHAD after jump-squat (though you can't fast-fall)
- Raises the hurtbox of the character during some vulnerability frames, allowing some ground-hugging moves and projectiles to miss
Defensive moves only matter if they put you at a frame advantage over the opponent--if the defensive option has less endlag than the offensive option it avoided. In other words, having such an expensive, long dodge does mean both that there are fewer attacks that SHAD "beats" and that it offers significantly less reward. This is the price you pay for "cheating."
SHAD options and reward also vary wildly by character. I think it's time for the chart; Merry Christmas:
Let's break it down.
First, note that even the best SHAD in the game (no matter how you define that) is mathematically worse than a Samus roll in every way. Even the fastest options out of the best SHADs will yield negative frame advantage against a wide spread of options, including jabs, most tilts, most grabs, and MK f-smash! SHAD will only yield any benefit against medium-slow moves like uncharged smashes and stuff like Needle Storm. Otherwise, you can at best damage control by using your "cheating" to create distance or cross-up the attacker, and minimize the utility of their frame advantage.
Second, let's explain the phases of a typical SHAD:
- Startup vulnerability
- Invincibility period
- Aerial FAF; you can now double jump or perform a special, as well as toss an item or start an aerial (but only come aerial are fast enough generate a hitbox before...)
- Ground FAF; the character lands, and can before their entire standing moveset, including grab, shield, and other defensive options
also have a Zair option, which can interrupt the air dodge at any time. I'm not going to go into that in more detail here.Some characters cannot SHAD into a ground option without incurring air dodge landing lag. There characters fall into 3 different functional groupings, based on how severe this window is.
can still perform aerial options 2 frames before landing. Because Sheik dair is the only aerial across these characters that can be done without landing in 2 frames, this really just means double jump and specials.However, do note that doing a special on the first frame will result in an aerial version, while doing it on exactly the second frame will result in doing the move on frame of landing and getting a grounded version. This distinction can be critical for Needles, Vanish, Shuttle Loop, PK Fire, Raptor Boost, Falcon Kick, and others.
These characters can also start an aerial to avoid landing lag.
can perform "aerial" options for exactly 1 frame as they land. This means no aerials or double jump, only specials. They will always get the grounded version of their specials, which is frankly good news. They can also throw items during this frame, which is vastly more relevant to one of these characters than the other. can do nothing, and will always incur landing lag from a SHAD. I have included the FHADs of these characters in the chart as well, for comparison. Fox's is very competitive with the SHADs of most other characters from a mathematical standpoint; the rest, not so much. Ryu is probably better off sticking to down-b shenanigans, and the rest are terrible.Note that none of this reflects the multitude of factors concerning aerial movespeed, which dictates exactly how good each character is at "cheating."
Who has the best SHAD? It's too complex and involves too many factors to crown a winner, but I'll talk about some I find interesting:
have the fastest startup, and really good aerial-focused timings too on top of solid aerial control. Do note that these characters already have great ground dodges though.has the fastest aerial FAF, and fast startup. He also has great aerial control, and a boatload of really useful SHAD aerial options. Fair is amazing and can still come out fast-falled, but Disable and Shadow Ball shine here too. Confusion and Teleport are both interesting GTFO alternatives to double jump. have the fastest ground FAF and excel in different ways. While this is great for landing and grabbing (or more), these characters have aerial options too. Little Mac and Doc can both still pull out their weak nairs, or go for a high-reward ultra-fast up-b. Mac can also fish for a KO Punch window with less commitment than a roll, but in that situation I wouldn't expect such laggy moves. Wario has Waft and a frame 8 command grab. While Wario's SHAD startup is poor, he makes up for it with top-notch air control. has some pretty good numbers all around, and can SHAD to break some limits on you. have access to their entire (disjointed) aerial moveset on decent frame timings.has poor startup, poor aerial FAF, poor ground FAF, and yet no non-DJ options besides nair and Rest. But her aerial control is fantastic, and nair + Rest is all she needs.might be prone to landing lag unless he starts an aerial, but he has both zair and a great option in PK fire if he can time that one frame. ordinarily suffers landing lag without starting aerials and can't do any aerials but dair, but can still do Needles and Bouncing Fish. It will be interesting to see Sheik players finally integrate these moves into their playstyles. has to do a grounded special, toss a bomb, or do a zair. All of his options are focused on drifting away from the opponent, but grounded up-b is a terrifying thing to suddenly have next to you. has the worst startup, worst aerial or ground FAF, and can't do a single option except grounded specials. But one of those grounded specials is a reversible frame 8 command grab that does 18% and kills really early. Sure, it loses to spot dodge and rolls, but guess who has a frame 6 grounded special that beats spot dodge and rolls? Fire Breath and Bowser Bomb are nothing to write home about here, beat some options and are kinda hilarious. is the only character who should consider a FHAD, as explained. He still isn't super motivated to do so, but at least shine and side-b do give him plenty of GTFO possibilities.Well, that's about it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to roll spamming.
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