Zapp Branniglenn
Smash Lord
Welcome to the Smash 4 Shield Advantage charts. These were originally built by
LordWilliam1234
in Patch 1.10 to better understand the changes to shield hitlag. And they had to be rebuilt completely with Patch 1.11 which drastically increased shieldstun. Between then and the next patch I volunteered to work together to help create full charts for all characters. The full roster was completed on May 1st after hundreds of hours of testing between school and job schedules. We believe that this is too valuable a resource for players to not have bookmarked, so I'm making this Smashboards thread. I would greatly appreciate it if @Thinkaman or any mod can deliver this thread to the Smash Academy sub-forum
Block advantage is a term that refers to how many frames you have before the opponent can act after shielding that specific attack. For our charts, we used 60FPS video capture of every move in the game being blocked to find their block stats, as well as startup, total frames, and other relevant information to determine advantage. Results were obtained from Training Mode, which features no stale move negation, freshness bonus, or rage. To better understand what block advantage for a move is, please refer to this glossary and list of calculations:
If there are any questions or concerns regarding these charts, I would be more than willing to oblige you here in this thread. We hope the charts prove valuable for building block punishing guides and discovering new character possibilities and optimizations.
Latest updates: Shulk Arts page finished.
LordWilliam1234
in Patch 1.10 to better understand the changes to shield hitlag. And they had to be rebuilt completely with Patch 1.11 which drastically increased shieldstun. Between then and the next patch I volunteered to work together to help create full charts for all characters. The full roster was completed on May 1st after hundreds of hours of testing between school and job schedules. We believe that this is too valuable a resource for players to not have bookmarked, so I'm making this Smashboards thread. I would greatly appreciate it if @Thinkaman or any mod can deliver this thread to the Smash Academy sub-forumBlock advantage is a term that refers to how many frames you have before the opponent can act after shielding that specific attack. For our charts, we used 60FPS video capture of every move in the game being blocked to find their block stats, as well as startup, total frames, and other relevant information to determine advantage. Results were obtained from Training Mode, which features no stale move negation, freshness bonus, or rage. To better understand what block advantage for a move is, please refer to this glossary and list of calculations:
Startup: The amount of frames before and including the one where the move hits. Moves with multiple hits are ordered from first to last hit
Lag: The amount of frames after the move hits before the attacker can perform a new action. Specifically does not include the frame the move hits. For moves with multiple hits, the final hit's lag is displayed. For aerials, this field is for Landing lag.
IASA: Interruptable As Soon As. This field only concerns moves with time frames for initiating other, specific actions, like jab transitions. Jab transition IASA frame refers to the frame a second or third jab can start in terms of that move's animation.
Total Frames: The total amount of frames for the move. A simple addition of Startup and Lag for most moves. For aerials, this does not concern landing lag, but instead the character remaining airborne. Note that Total Frames = FAF -1
Block Freeze: Shield hitlag. The amount of frames before shield hitstun begins. Defender does not lose periodic shield health during Shieldlag.
Block Freeze (self): Shield hitlag for the attacker. A less relevant field after Patch 1.11, where Block Freeze was homogenized between attacker and defender. Attacker does not suffer Block Freeze for projectile attacks.
Blockstun: Shield hitstun. Defender does not lose periodic shield health during Blockstun. They must wait for this many frames before they can put down their shield or do any Out of Shield actions.
Advantage (OoS): Literal block advantage. Most moves are unsafe on block and have a negative number of frames telling you how much time the defender can act before you can with Out of Shield actions. A positive number indicates how much quicker the attacker can act before the defender.
Advantage (drop): Block advantage +7. It takes 7 frames to put down shield, so this is the Block advantage when the defender wants to do something he can't from a shielding position.
Further notes: Smash 4 attacks (mainly special moves) are complicated by design, so use these notes to the right of advantage as guidelines for what multiple startup, lag, and advantage values are referring to. We try to be as comprehensive as possible.
Lag: The amount of frames after the move hits before the attacker can perform a new action. Specifically does not include the frame the move hits. For moves with multiple hits, the final hit's lag is displayed. For aerials, this field is for Landing lag.
IASA: Interruptable As Soon As. This field only concerns moves with time frames for initiating other, specific actions, like jab transitions. Jab transition IASA frame refers to the frame a second or third jab can start in terms of that move's animation.
Total Frames: The total amount of frames for the move. A simple addition of Startup and Lag for most moves. For aerials, this does not concern landing lag, but instead the character remaining airborne. Note that Total Frames = FAF -1
Block Freeze: Shield hitlag. The amount of frames before shield hitstun begins. Defender does not lose periodic shield health during Shieldlag.
Block Freeze (self): Shield hitlag for the attacker. A less relevant field after Patch 1.11, where Block Freeze was homogenized between attacker and defender. Attacker does not suffer Block Freeze for projectile attacks.
Blockstun: Shield hitstun. Defender does not lose periodic shield health during Blockstun. They must wait for this many frames before they can put down their shield or do any Out of Shield actions.
Advantage (OoS): Literal block advantage. Most moves are unsafe on block and have a negative number of frames telling you how much time the defender can act before you can with Out of Shield actions. A positive number indicates how much quicker the attacker can act before the defender.
Advantage (drop): Block advantage +7. It takes 7 frames to put down shield, so this is the Block advantage when the defender wants to do something he can't from a shielding position.
Further notes: Smash 4 attacks (mainly special moves) are complicated by design, so use these notes to the right of advantage as guidelines for what multiple startup, lag, and advantage values are referring to. We try to be as comprehensive as possible.
How to calculate block advantage for normal moves: -(lag – blockstun) = Advantage (OoS). The attacker enters lag for their move on the same frame the defender enters Blockstun. Our charts are set up for this easy calculation.
How to calculate block advantage for aerials: We consider a scenario where the attack is blocked just one frame before the attacker lands. The attacker thus enters landing lag on the same frame the defender enters blockstun. If the attacker still had, for example, 4 frames of air time before they landed, you would add that (-4) directly to the advantage.
How to calculate block advantage for projectiles: You add Block Freeze to Blockstun, as the attacker does not experience this. But we assume a scenario where the projectile is blocked on its first active frame in order to maintain the lag – blockstun framework. This is the worst case scenario. Refer to next question for more info on late hits.
How to calculate block advantage for a late hit: We should have block numbers for any late hit of an attack. To use Ganondorf's dash attack as an example, the late hit has three less blockstun, but comes out later in the move, so there's less lag. If Ganon's dash attack was blocked on the very last hit frame (startup 19), then that means he has 18 frames of lag rather than 27 for the initial, first active frame. With this information: -(18 -7) = -11 (OoS) and -4 (drop). Projectiles are no different, just remember to add block freeze to blockstun.
How to calculate block advantage for an auto-cancelled aerial: Very few aerials are safer when auto cancelled from a short hop in terms of frame data, but calculating these scenarios is no less important. For this, you need to know your character's short hop air time, hard landing lag (usually 4 frames but can be 5 or 6), and the aerial's auto cancel window. Hard landing lag is the landing lag you experience upon landing during an autocancel window. To use Yoshi's F-air as an example, Yoshi's Short Hop air time is 42 frames, F-air has 16 startup and auto cancels on frame 40, and yoshi's hard landing lag is 4. Yoshi will be in the air for 26 frames after he's blocked before landing. Add 4 hard landing lag to the 26 air time to get 30 frames of “lag” before Yoshi can act again on the ground. F-air deals 10 shieldstun, so the block advantage is -20 (OoS). Other factors to consider are fast falling the aerial and purposely delaying the attack in order to have less air time before landing. If we look at Yoshi's F-air autocancel, he needs to experience 40 frames of the animation or else he'll suffer landing lag. So the attacker can only delay the attack as long as two frames in a short hop in order for the move to autocancel, so delaying is risky and not much help. Fast falling toward the end of a move can shave off a few frames of air time, but again, the best you can hope for is +2 better advantage on this specific move. Regarding auto cancelled aerials, their main advantage is the ability to move yourself far away from the defender to avoid typical punishes, because it takes the defender time to put down their shield and close that distance chasing you. And always be aware of the potential to double jump before landing or perform another action to further cover yourself from punishes.
How to calculate block advantage for jab transitions and other IASAs. To use Cloud's jab 1 to Jab 2 as an example, Jab 1's startup is 4 and IASA is 9 – That's the first animation frame for jab 2 if it's been input. Counting from 9 with 5 startup, that means jab 2 comes out on frame 13 (not 14). There are 8 frames of animation between Jab 1 and 2's hits, and Jab 1 deals 3 blockstun. Thus the defender has 5 frames in which they can act. With this information you know that shield grabs as fast as frame 6 won't work on cloud since they connect on the same frame and Smash 4 has no grab armor. But dodge rolls are possible because they need just four frames before the defender becomes invulnerable.
How to calculate block advantage for aerials: We consider a scenario where the attack is blocked just one frame before the attacker lands. The attacker thus enters landing lag on the same frame the defender enters blockstun. If the attacker still had, for example, 4 frames of air time before they landed, you would add that (-4) directly to the advantage.
How to calculate block advantage for projectiles: You add Block Freeze to Blockstun, as the attacker does not experience this. But we assume a scenario where the projectile is blocked on its first active frame in order to maintain the lag – blockstun framework. This is the worst case scenario. Refer to next question for more info on late hits.
How to calculate block advantage for a late hit: We should have block numbers for any late hit of an attack. To use Ganondorf's dash attack as an example, the late hit has three less blockstun, but comes out later in the move, so there's less lag. If Ganon's dash attack was blocked on the very last hit frame (startup 19), then that means he has 18 frames of lag rather than 27 for the initial, first active frame. With this information: -(18 -7) = -11 (OoS) and -4 (drop). Projectiles are no different, just remember to add block freeze to blockstun.
How to calculate block advantage for an auto-cancelled aerial: Very few aerials are safer when auto cancelled from a short hop in terms of frame data, but calculating these scenarios is no less important. For this, you need to know your character's short hop air time, hard landing lag (usually 4 frames but can be 5 or 6), and the aerial's auto cancel window. Hard landing lag is the landing lag you experience upon landing during an autocancel window. To use Yoshi's F-air as an example, Yoshi's Short Hop air time is 42 frames, F-air has 16 startup and auto cancels on frame 40, and yoshi's hard landing lag is 4. Yoshi will be in the air for 26 frames after he's blocked before landing. Add 4 hard landing lag to the 26 air time to get 30 frames of “lag” before Yoshi can act again on the ground. F-air deals 10 shieldstun, so the block advantage is -20 (OoS). Other factors to consider are fast falling the aerial and purposely delaying the attack in order to have less air time before landing. If we look at Yoshi's F-air autocancel, he needs to experience 40 frames of the animation or else he'll suffer landing lag. So the attacker can only delay the attack as long as two frames in a short hop in order for the move to autocancel, so delaying is risky and not much help. Fast falling toward the end of a move can shave off a few frames of air time, but again, the best you can hope for is +2 better advantage on this specific move. Regarding auto cancelled aerials, their main advantage is the ability to move yourself far away from the defender to avoid typical punishes, because it takes the defender time to put down their shield and close that distance chasing you. And always be aware of the potential to double jump before landing or perform another action to further cover yourself from punishes.
How to calculate block advantage for jab transitions and other IASAs. To use Cloud's jab 1 to Jab 2 as an example, Jab 1's startup is 4 and IASA is 9 – That's the first animation frame for jab 2 if it's been input. Counting from 9 with 5 startup, that means jab 2 comes out on frame 13 (not 14). There are 8 frames of animation between Jab 1 and 2's hits, and Jab 1 deals 3 blockstun. Thus the defender has 5 frames in which they can act. With this information you know that shield grabs as fast as frame 6 won't work on cloud since they connect on the same frame and Smash 4 has no grab armor. But dodge rolls are possible because they need just four frames before the defender becomes invulnerable.
If there are any questions or concerns regarding these charts, I would be more than willing to oblige you here in this thread. We hope the charts prove valuable for building block punishing guides and discovering new character possibilities and optimizations.
Regarding basic character movesets, the charts are indeed finished, but we still have some things we wanted to add in the future. We have an interest in miscellaneous animation data like skids and turnaround frames. Anything that's not already covered in major data sources. Also in the past we have shown a dedication to custom moves data alongside base movesets, but there are 16 characters who are unfinished in this regard. They are Diddy Kong, Duck Hunt, King Dedede, Kirby, Little Mac, Luigi, Pac-Man, Pikachu, ROB, Robin, Sheik, Shulk, Sonic, Villager, Zelda, and ZSS. We hope to add these customs to the charts in the future. Another addition planned is Shulk's Arts. Similar to Lucario's Aura, Shulk's Arts have an impact on his damage and thus block advantage. Finally, we planned a Kirby Hats page for his copy abilities, but most behave exactly like the original move, so it will probably only have information on copied moves that are actually different from the original in terms of frames or block stats.
Latest updates: Shulk Arts page finished.
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