Zelkam
Resident Wizard
Index
I. Introduction
II. Character Overview
III. Fox's Moveset
A. Normal Attacks
B. Grabs and Throws
C. Aerial Attacks
D. Special Attacks
IV. Fox's AT's (WIP)B. Grabs and Throws
C. Aerial Attacks
D. Special Attacks
V. Fox's Combos, Attack Strings, and Kill Setups (Coming Soon!)
VI. Strategy Guide (Coming Soon!)
A. Onstage Strategy (Coming Soon!)
B. Offstage Strategy (Coming Soon!)
VII. Stage Counterpicks (Coming Soon!)B. Offstage Strategy (Coming Soon!)
I. Introduction
Greetings fellow Fox mains! First off let me start by introducing myself. I go by Zelkam here on the forums and pretty much anywhere else on the internet. I’ve been playing Smash since Melee and have been working to bring my game up to a competitive level since Brawl. Most of my previous efforts have been focused on Link, my main character, but recently I’ve decided to start branching off to my secondary’s Fox and Luigi. So hopefully you’ll be seeing more of me here on the Fox boards!
Alright, enough with the formalities, let’s get down to business. Sun Tzu’s Art of War says “If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles”. The purpose of this thread is to understand Fox better by making a compilation of his moveset, AT’s, combos, and any other tools he might have. If there are any terms used in this guide that you don't fully understand, be sure to check out the Smash Dictionary.
II. Character Overview
Veteran fighter Fox McCloud makes his return in Super Smash Bros for the 3DS and Wii U. Fox made his debut in the original Smash 64, starting off strong as one of the top characters. He made his return in Melee and infamously became known as the unstoppable force that seized dominance over the entire cast. Sakurai then dethroned him in Brawl to make way for a character of his own creation. Seeking revenge for this misjustice, Fox has the potential to make it back to the top of the ranks in Smash 4. However, don't think this means Fox is an easy character. If there's one thing that's stayed true about Fox throughout the Smash Bros. series, it's that Fox has a very high learning curve. If you're looking for a character that has a lot of pay off with minimal effort then I suggest you stop now. If you're willing to put the time and dedication into learning Fox, however, I can guarantee you won't regret it.
The most notable trait about Fox is that he's all about speed. Fox has the 4th fastest dash speed, 2nd fastest walk speed, and the fastest fall/fastfall speed. This generally categorizes Fox as a rush down, combo oriented character, although he's certainly not limited to that. The inclusion of his blaster along with his speed mean that he can play the long range game, forcing his opponent to approach and react. The ability to switch between these playstyles effortlessly gives Fox a lot of freedom throughout a match.
Fox is no stranger to killing, either. With some surprisingly powerful kill moves such as Usmash, Dsmash, Uair, and Bair along with some very effective kill setups, Fox won't be spending too much time fishing for the KO. Unfortunately, Fox is very susceptible to being killed as well. He has the unfortunate combination of being a lightweight with a fast fall speed. This means that he can be easily comboed and dies at early percents. Add in the fact that he has a very linear and gimpable recovery, and you've got a character that will die a lot if you're not careful.
In the end, Fox can be a very difficult, but rewarding character to play. He requires a skilled player that is capable of reading and conditioning his opponent in order to bring out his full potential. If you think you've got what it takes to become a Fox main, or even to pick him up as a secondary, then below you'll find everything you need to know in order to rise to the top. Good luck, and have fun!
III. Fox's Moveset
Notes
- All of the damage percentages listed here are for fresh hits.
- All kill percentages shown were tested on Mario at the center of Final Destination. Take note that these percentages do not take account of the rage mechanic.
- Even though Smash only displays damages in whole numbers, many times the amount of damage an attack does includes fractions. If the damage of an attack includes a fraction then the number displayed on screen will always be rounded down. For example, Fox's pummel does 1.2% damage. If you were to use five pummels in a row then the actual amount of damage dealt would be 1.2>2.4>3.6>4.8>6, however it would display on screen as 1>2>3>4>6.
Glossary
- Damage: The exact amount of damage each attack does (specific timings or ranges will be in parenthesis)
- Hitbox Begins: The first frame that the hitbox becomes active after the button input is initiated
- Hitbox Ends: The last frame that the hitbox is active after the button input is initiated
- IASA: Stands for "Interruptable As Soon As". This is the first frame in which you will be able to perform a new action.
- Landing Lag: This displays how many frames of lag you will have if you land on the stage before an aerial attack has finished
A. Normal Attacks:
Jab 1
2% | 2 | 2 | 16 | 5
Jab 2
1% | 2 | 3 | 18 | 8
Rapid Kicks
1% (Finishing Kick-2%) | 9 | ? | ?| 297%
Up Tilt
9% (Frames 3-5 Grounded target), 7% (Frames 3-5 Aerial Target), 6% (Frames 6-7) | 3 | 7 | 28 | 179%
Forward Tilt
6% (Normal), 8% (High), 7% (Low) | 6 | 8 | 24 | 216%
Down Tilt
8% (Base), 6% (Tip) | 7 | 9 | 28 | 224%
Up Smash
16% (Frames 8-9), 11% (Frames 10-11) | 8 | 11 | 56 | 106%
Forward Smash
14% (Frames 13-15) 11% (Frames 16-18) | 13 | 18 | 46 | 135%
Down Smash
14% | 6 | 7 | 53 | 153%
Dash Attack
6% (Frames 4-7), 4% (Frames 8-15) | 4 | 15 | 36 | 252%
B. Grabs and Throws:
Standing Grab
6 | 7 | 29
Dash Grab
10 | 11 | 36
Pivot Grab
11 | 12 | 34
Pummel
1.2%
Up Throw
8% | 50 | 289%
Forward Throw
7% | 39 | 296%
Down Throw
7% | 55 | 508%
Back Throw
8% | 50 | 465%
C. Aerial Attacks:
Neutral Aerial
9%(Frames 4-6), 6% (Frames 7-25) | 4 | 25 | 11 | 218%
Upward Aerial
5%-11% (16% Total) | 9 | 13 | 22 | 142%
Forward Aerial
2%-1%-0.6%-0.8%-3% (7.4% Total) | 7 | 33 | 27 | 254%
Downward Aerial
1.4%-1.4%-1.4%-1.4%-1.4%-1.4%-3% (11.4% Total) (Landing Hit-%1)| 5 | 23 | 25 | 275%
Backward Aerial
13% | 9 | 11 | 15 | 155%
It should also be noted that Bair is an excellent approach option. When spaced correctly, Bair is nearly unpunishable on shield. RAR or crossover Bair are great ways to mix up your approaches.
D. Special Attacks:
Blaster
3% (Frames 11-12), 2% (Frames 13-19), 1.4% (Frames 20-30) | 33
Fox Illusion
3% | 21 | 69
This is going to be your primary recovery move. It has less startup than Fire Fox, travels the same distance, and has the benefit of not putting you into a helpless state afterwards.
Illusion's offensive options are situational, but there's one trick that will help minimize the risks. Instead of using a grounded Illusion, jump and then immediately use an aerial Illusion. You will be able to act faster out of it this way because Illusion has less landing lag than it does ending lag.
Did you know that Fox moves so fast during the Illusion that he bends space and time? He moves so fast that he's actually capable of passing right through oncoming attacks. Now he doesn't gain invincibility or intangibility or anything like that. He simply moves so fast that he creates the illusion (see what I did there?) that he does. As you can see from the image below, on frame 21 Fox moves a considerable distance. This creates what I'm calling a "dead zone" that Fox's hurtbox never touches. So any hitbox in that area between frames 20 and 21 won't hit Fox because he essentially teleports right past it. This works for both the grounded and aerial versions of Illusion. This could potentially be useful for dodging enemy projectiles and punishing them all at the same time.
![]()
Fire Fox
2%-2%-2%-2%-2%-2%-2%-14%(strong hit) 8%(weak hit) | 20
Knowing when you should and shouldn't use the Fire Fox to recover is essential to playing Fox. Ideally you never want to use it once you've gotten near the stage. The start up is plenty long enough for your opponent to gimp you however they please. If you're going to use the Fire Fox, try to use it as far away from the stage as possible while still being capable of making it back.
Fire Fox only has two advantages over the Illusion; the hitbox actually covers Fox, and you can choose the direction it travels. That second one is probably the biggest advantage. The main issue with Illusion is that it always goes the same direction and distance making it easy to intercept. If you see your opponent preparing to intercept your Illusion, using a Fire Fox instead can save your life. The longer startup will throw off their timing and you can angle it away from them to further increase your chances of recovering.
Reflector
2% | 6 | 18
IV. Advanced Techniques
Alright, enough with the basics, lets get on to the good stuff. If you want to succeed in Super Smash Brothers then you'll need to know more than what the instruction manual tells you. Throughout every game in the smash series there has been what we call, advanced techniques. This term is used to describe techniques that exploit the game mechanics to produce a result that may or may not have been originally intended. While some AT's might be fundamentally useless, others have become essential to learn in order to keep up in Smash's current metagame. In the following section we'll go over the general AT's that can be performed by any character in the game, and then the character specific AT's that are unique to Fox. So without further ado, lets get started.A. General AT's
Short Hop
As the name implies, short hopping is the act of jumping at a shorter height than normal. To perform this you have to press and release the jump button before your character finishes their jump squat animation. Fox is one of the more difficult character to short hop with because his jump squat is only 4 frames long, meaning you have a 4 frame window to press and release the jump button. If you press it fast enough, Fox will jump about half as high as normal.
Fast Fall
Fast falling is the act of...well, falling faster. It's performed by pressing down on the control stick at any point after you've reached the apex of your jump. You can also do this in conjunction with an aerial attack. if you input an aerial attack after you've already begun fast falling, however, then the fast fall will be canceled.
Dash Dancing
Dash Dancing is when you repeatedly dash back and forth quickly enough so that you stay in place. It's both simple yet difficult to perform as it requires you to be very fast. All you need to do is input a dash in one direction and then immediately input a dash in the opposite direction. Continuously doing this over and over will result in your character simply "dancing" in place.
Fox Trotting
Fox Trotting is the act of canceling the initial dash animation with another dash in the same direction. To perform this, all you need to do is tap the control stick in either direction to start a dash, let it return to the neutral position, and then tap again is the same direction to initiate another dash. If you see your character go through the "skidding" animation then that means your timing is off. When done correctly you should see your character dash across the stage in short bursts.
Perfect Pivot
Perfect Pivoting is the act of immediately canceling your dash animation with a pivot. It is performed by tapping the control stick in one direction to start a dash and then immediately flicking the control stick in the opposite direction, letting it fall back into the neutral position. The result should be your character turning around and sliding backwards in the direction of the initial dash.
Pivot Boosting
Have you ever wanting to moon walk in Smash Brothers? Well have I got the tech for you. Pivot boosting is when you begin walking in one direction and then spin your character around to gain a small boost in the direction you were walking. To perform this one, start walking in one direction, lightly tilt the control stick in the opposite direction so you turn around without going back the way you came, and then tilt the control stick back in the direction you started to continue walking with a small boost to your momentum. It's possible to do this multiple times so that your character will walk across the stage while spinning around.
Craq Walking
Craq Walking allows you to carry over some of your aerial momentum when you hit the ground. The backwards version is easier so we'll start with that. Start off by doing either a short or full hop and then hold the control stick in the opposite direction your character is facing. If you continue holding that direction as your character hits the ground you should turn around and get a small momentum boost in that direction. You can then follow up with any attack or a grab while sliding forwards. The forward variation is similar but requires you to pivot as you hit the ground. So just like last time, start off by short or full hopping and this time you're going to hold the direction your character is facing. Once you hit the ground you want to lightly tilt the control stick in the opposite direction to turn around and then hold the control stick in the direction you were originally going. Like I said, a bit harder than the backwards version and probably not as viable either.
Reverse Aerial Rush
The Reverse Aerial Rush allows you to use a Bair as if it were a Fair. To pull this one off, you're going to dash in one direction, tap the control stick in the opposite direction to pivot, jump, and then hold the control stick back in the direction you were dashing and press attack. The result will be your character dashing across the stage, quickly turning around and using a Bair is the direction he was dashing.
Boost Pivot Grab
Pivot Grabbing is a very useful move in of itself, but boost pivot grabbing allows you to take it to the next level. This one is real easy, all you have to do is initiate a dash attack and then immediately input a pivot grab. If you did it right, you should see the dash attack start to come out and then get canceled by the pivot grab. This will result in Fox sliding a great deal farther than he originally would have with a standard pivot grab.
Kara Smash
Have you ever whiffed a Fsmash because your opponent was just barely out of range? Well no more of that because now you have the Kara Smash! With this technique you'll be able to gain the little bit of extra range you need on your Fsmash to punish that laggy move. To perform it, simply initiate a dash in either direction and then immediately cancel your dash with a Fsmash in the same direction. You can input the Fsmash with either control stick+A or with the c-stick, although using the c-stick is the easier method.
Ledgehop Aerials
Ledgehopping is a technique that opens up a myriad of possibilities while hanging from the ledge. Most new players think you only have five options from the ledge: get up, roll, jump, attack, and drop. Ledgehopping makes use of that last option, allowing you to gain access to all of your aerials and specials. All you have to do is press down on the control stick to let go of the ledge and then use your double jump. You can use a ledge hop in combination with Fair, Nair, Uair, Dair, Bair, airdodge, Illusion, Reflector, Blaster, or Firefox. Or you could just do an empty ledgehop to get back on the stage.
B. Fox's AT's
Turn Around Laser
The first of the three Blaster techs. Turn around Laser allows you to do just as the name implies; turn around and fire a laser. You perform this by flicking the control stick the opposite direction you are facing, letting it fall back to neutral, and then immediately hitting the B button. The result will be Fox firing a laser in the opposite direction he was originally facing while maintaining any momentum he had. You can use turn around lasers while standing, walking, or while in the air.
B-reversal Laser
Similar to Turn Around Lasers, but you end up reversing any forward momentum. Basically all you're going to do is swap the inputs of the Turn Around Laser. While dashing, walking, or drifting forward in the air, let the control stick fall back to the neutral position, hit the B button, and then tap the control stick in the opposite direction you are facing. This will result in you firing a laser and sliding/drifting in the opposite direction you were originally going.
Wavebouce Laser
After you've learned the above two techs you can combine them to perform the Wavebouce Laser. This technique, however, can only be performed while walking or drifting forward in the air. While walking or drifting, flick the control stick the opposite direction you are facing, letting it fall back to the neutral position, immediately hit the B button, and then tap the control stick back in the direction you were originally facing. The result should be Fox firing a laser in the direction he starts off facing while sliding/drifting in the opposite direction.
Turn Around Shine
Similar to Turn Around Laser, but with the Reflector instead. This technique is fairly easy to pull off once you get the hang of it. All you need to do is press down+B to initiate your reflector, circle the control stick around to the opposite direction you're facing, and then release the B button. You can actually turn around as many times as you want while holding up the reflector, but there's really no point in doing it more than once.
Shine Stalling
This is probably the simplest AT Fox has. In fact, its so simple that you can hardly call it an AT. Shine Stalling is simply using your reflector to stall your momentum while falling. Yup, that's it.
Shine Drifting
This is almost identical to Shine Stalling except for one small detail. To Shine Drift you need to use your Reflector immediately after coming out of hit stun. Instead of Fox simply stalling in place he should actually rise up a little bit when the reflector comes out.
Ledge Jump Cancel Shine
Typically, whenever you use a ledge jump there's a small window at the beginning where you can't perform any other actions. However, it seems that Fox's reflector is exempt from that rule. While hanging from the ledge, press the jump button and then immediately hit down+B. If done correctly it will appear as if Fox instantly teleports onto the stage with a Reflector.
Illusion Ledge Cancel
Here's a technique that utilizes the ledgehop. The Illusion Ledge cancel requires you to already know how to ledgehop and have ridiculously good timing. Start off by hanging from the ledge, and performing a ledgehop by dropping from the ledge and hitting the jump button. Here's where the tricky part comes in, you need to Illusion towards the stage at just the right the height so that Fox hits the ledge with his upper thigh. If you Illusion too low then he'll simply snap to the ledge, and if you Illusion too high then he'll fly over the surface of the stage. However, if you can hit it just right then Fox should stall at the ledge and carry out the latter half of a grounded illusion onto the stage.
Flamedashing
A very gimmicky and mostly useless AT, but an AT nonetheless. To perform this one you're going to need a stage with a significant enough of a slope, such as Corneria or Yoshi's Island. Then all you need to do is initiate a horizontal Fire Fox into the slope. This should result in the Fire Fox being canceled upon hitting the slope and Fox sliding a considerable distance. You're capable of using any move you like once you start sliding so you could do things like a Flamedash into an Usmash or a grab.
Double Jab Cancel
So we all know that Fox's rapid kicks are awful, right? Well thankfully with this AT we don't need them. There are two different ways that you can perform a Double Jab Cancel. The first is by quickly double tapping A, waiting a brief moment, and then double tapping A again. The other, arguably easier, way of doing it is to press and hold A long enough to use your first two jabs, waiting a brief moment, and then pressing and hold A again. If you do it too quickly then the rapid kicks will come out, and if you do it too slowly then you'll only end up using Jab 1. It takes a bit of practice to get the hang of the rhythm, but once you get in down it becomes incredibly easy. The result should be Fox repeatedly hitting his opponent with the first two hits of jab until they escape, you run out of stage, or you cancel it into a more powerful attack.
Fair Spike
Fox's Fair has seen quite a few changes over the course of the Smash series. Smash 4 has brought about one of the most interesting changes which allows Fox to spike with his Fair. Out of the five hits on Forward Aerial, only the first four are capable of spiking. Although its yet to be proven, I've heard that this technique has to do with the fact that multihit aerials will pull the opponent in the direction you're traveling. So to pull off the spike you need to hit someone with any of the first four hits of Fair while falling and avoid hitting with the fifth hit. Some of the ways this is done is by fast falling to stage to cancel Fair early, clashing with an opponent's aerial, or simply drifting away from your opponent. If done correctly, your opponent should be hit with a weak spike.
Rising Fair
This is the technique that gave Fair the nickname, Foxcopter. Admittedly this tech is much weaker than it was in Brawl, but it hasn't been removed completely so it still deserves a place in the AT list. Rising Fair takes advantage of Forward Aerial's momentum boost to gain a bit of extra height on Fox's jumps. All you have to do is use a Fair immediately after initiating a jump. If you want to see the difference, go to Battle Field and stand in the middle of the stage. Use a full hop and take note of of the jump height in relation to the top platform, then use a Rising Fair and take not of how much higher it travels. It's not a huge boost, but it's still better than nothing.
Final Impression:
Fox definitely received several nerfs this time around in terms of damage, knockback, and lag. Many of his bread and butter moves or techniques no longer work the way they did in the past. However, despite the fact that Fox seems generally weaker in Smash 4, several of the game's mechanics were changed in Fox's favor. The removal of chain grabs will help drastically in the match-ups that were effected by them. Also, with Smash 4's added hitstun, Fox's combo game is bound to be better than ever.
Fox might not be the unstoppable force that he was in Melee, but I believe that he'll be able to hold his own against most of the cast in Smash 4.
Fox might not be the unstoppable force that he was in Melee, but I believe that he'll be able to hold his own against most of the cast in Smash 4.
Last edited:
