- Game Versions
- Smash 3DS, Smash Wii U
Hello and welcome to this all purpose Kirby main guide. Here I’ll be focusing in various aspects of the Puffball. This guide is for v1.1.0
First, I’ll start by explaining the basics for each move. Beware, this guide will be long.
Jab &Tilts
Jab: Jab1 does 2%, Jab2 does 3% and each of your JabFlurry (JabF) does 1%. Your JabFinisher (JabS) does 2%. Useful to do pokes or small, quick attacks.
Ftilt: Does 8%, , great for keeping away your enemies or as a more range-wise combo finisher in case your opponent is to far for other tilts to hit.
Dtilt: Does 6%. Good for stopping people on their way, if you connect with the tip of Kirby’s foot it will make the opponent trip and you can grab them while in trip animation or follow their get up opion to punish accordingly. For those who follow the OneSmash guys, this serves as a “Prattack”
Utilt: Swetspots (SS) at the back, Sourspots (SoS) at the front. SS does 5% and SoS does 4% It is a great combo follower and it can chain into itself, or Upair
Aerials:
Nair: SS at the start of the spin and does 10%, SoS does 4%. Great Spacing tool and good to wallspike or keep away the enemies from the ledge.
Fair: A 3-hit combo easily chained or chainer. Fair1 does 4%, Fair2 does 3% and Fair3 does 5%, total of 12% if perfectly chained.
Bair: SS (tip and start) does 13% (also, great knockback)and SoS does 8%. At 0%, it can be a True Combo out of Bthrow for some characters. Great for Edgeguarding and setting up walls. Easy wallspiker.
Dair: 6-hit combo. Dair1 to 5 do 1%, Dair6 does 2%. If you land while doing it, you’ll have a landing hitbox, which does 2%, this final, landing hitbox is called DairL and does not necessarily is the 7th hit, it is active after the last hit before you land.. Dair6 spikes and can be followed by a footstool. In the ground, without connecting Dair6 or DairL you can follow with Utilt if the opponent is behind you or with 1 or 2 Dtilts if it is in front of you. But we’ll talk about the combos soon…
Upair or Uair: Does 9% and it is a great juggle option and can be chained into itself or some Utilts.
All of Kirby’s aerials auto-cancel at landing or have very little landing lag.
Smashes.
Each time Kirby flashes yellow, the attack does +1 damage, also it has a SS an SoS. I will show here the data of uncharged smash attacks, to adjust the carge, add 1 damage for each time Kirby flashes yellow up to 5 times. The autorelease also adds +1 to the damage, doing +6 if fully charged.
Fsmash. Good finisher, does 15% (SS) and 11%(SoS). Up variant adds +1 for each tipe of hitbox and charge time and down variant is -1.
Usmash: One of Kirby’s best killing tools, kill very good upwards and does reasonable damage. It has many hitboxes and it is too hard to count’em, so I’ll tell you that you can do from 11% up to 21% depending on timing and position.
Dsmash: Great spacing tool, does 14% and you can do it to cover get up options.
Special Attacks:
Neutral-B:The Puffball’s signature move, Inhale. You can spit or swallow, both options deal 10% but the latter copies the opponent’s Neutral-B. Does not work on Kirby himself and can be punished by some characters. Whether to keep your hat (Copy Ability) or to throw it or to simply not use it is your problem, and depends on each character. I recommend to keep projectile based attacks or counter type attacks such as Ryu’s Hadouken or Peach’s Toad, respectively. You can copy the ability out of a Kirby that already copied an ability. Also with this attack you can do world’s most famos Kamikaze type technique, the Kirbycide. A few tips for Kirbycide are:
-Try catch someone while it’s using its recovery move IF it is not a Warp Type recovery such as Vanish, Warp, Farore’s Wind, Teleport, etc.
-If you’re doing it at the ledge, try catching someone with reasonable damage.
-If both have same stock number but you’re losing, it is fine to do it, although, if the game ends with it, there might be some cases in which you lose the game. To be clear: If the game goes to Sudden Death because of Kirbycide, you win! (according to Apex rules).
-You have right to do the Chuddat if you do it.
Side-B: One of the game’s most powerful attack. IIt has different charge levels, all are good damage dealers! In the air, you’ll swing twice (it is not useless!! I’ve won matches because of the second swing used correctly) When full charged, you won’t do a second air swing. When charging you’re more vulnerable and you receive damage if it is not released (the damage can only be racked up to 100%)
Up-B: It has 4 hitboxes: Rise (5%), Fall (2%), Landing (5%) and Wave (6%) [Kirby’s only projectile and great spacing tool] and it is a medium recovery. I also use it for spacing in some cases, but the wave has been significantly nerfed since Brawl. You spike at the Fall hitbox. As pointed out by another user, this is practically useless if they know how to shield.
Down-B: Least used at top level play, great finisher and does incredible shield damage, but it has significant lag to get out of your transformation. Does 18%. It is not a great back-to-stage tool, only if you know when and how to.
Throws:
Pummel: One of the best pummels in the game. It is fast an does 1.5%. Use 2 or 3 before throwing.
Uthrow: Kirby’s damage dealer throw option, use at mid-high percents to rack up damage.
Fthrow: Kirby’s combo starter (since 1.1.0) throw option. I’ll explain combos later.
Dthrow: Also a combo satarter but not as good as Fthrow.
Bthrow: Kirby’s kill option when it comes to throws. You can cancel the animation by FF Dair after the throw.
Other Attacks:
Dash: 9-hit combo, great for tech chase.
Ledge Get up attack: Short ranged but good to stop edgeguarding attempts
Taunts: Does no damage at all, but you can dump your copy ability with it, I recommend Dtaunt, because it is fast.
Final Smash: A 10 hit combo that racks up good damage and knockback. It is not used in competitive play, but why not include it.
Strategy:
Now, I’ll get to beginners basics:
-You’re a light, floaty character with only one projectile, so you can only attack if you get close to the opponent, but you may be in disadvantage if the character is strong or heavy. However, heavy characters are perfect target for your combos, sice normally, their hitboxes are bigger and easier to hit.
-You don’t have many finishing options, so try racking up damage.
-Kirby is all about detecting mistakes in your opponent, try forcing them to make mistakes and punish accordingly!
-Once you have stage control is very hard to give it up, try tech chase and don’t stop moving!
-Kirby is a combo character, depending on them to rack up damage.
-You have a good air game, with strong spikes and your lethal weapon: Kirbycide!
-If you’re starting smash, it is ok, Kirby is easy to use at the beginning, and you can grow up with it to be a great player. Kirby was my first main and since I tried him, I have become a good Kirby player with knowledge of combos and neutral play.
-Kirby is a mix of air and ground game, making him a lethal combination if it is used correctly.
-Remember: P.O.Y.O. (Pick Others, You’re Open) This means: Don’t put your time only in Kirby. He is mid tier, he is good but he’ll have trouble against top tier character like Luigi.
To start mastering the Puffball, you must first practice your ground and neutral game, don’t rush! When you master the essentials, you can move on to mid level play.
Here are some tips for players from mid-low to mid-high level.
-Kirby demands dedication and knowing your enemy and matchups
-Try learning which copy abilities you like!! Not everyone likes the same hats and playstyle, I like Counter and Projectile type attacks. If you’re having a hard time knowing you style, try studying other characters’ Neutral-B. Do not focus on “which ability is better against all characters” because in competitive playe, you’re doing 1on1, so an ability that counters everyone but does not counter his owner, it is not useful, try thinking “which ability cannot be countered by its owner”. As an example of abilities countered by its owner it’s Mewtwo. With it you’ll copy Shadow Ball, but M2 has a reflector move, but you don’t!
-Try learning and practicing combos! I’ll teach you some combos below
Kirby is a good choice if you know how to use it. He is mid tier, so a lot of high level player are not used to fight it, so try surprising them!
To advance to a high level play it is necessary weeks, months, if not years of dedication to practice it. Here are some tips to top level players:
-Learn you matchups!! A friend of mine uses Sheik so I’m used to that matchup and know how to counter it.
-Your crouch is one of the best since you can avoid almost every projectile (i.e. Sheik’s Needles, Fox and Falco’s Blaster, ZSS’ Paralyzer, etc)
-Try snatching your opponent’s second jump, the you can juggle awesomely.
-Try practicing footstools, they will be useful.
Now, some tips to Neutral Game and Spacing:
-Nair is good to space and cover get up options.
-Dair is also good covering get up options, but you are vulnerable if you fail to read, however, try FFing to defend with your DairL.
-Ftilt is good to stop people on their way, also Dtilt and Up-B
-Try chaining Fairs to swipe your enemy through the stage.
-IF you bait an airdoge out of your opponent with an Uair, you can follow up with a Bair, that sure will be keeping them to get back on the stage after a juggle.
Tips for Edgeguarding:
-Bair can kill or at least keep your enemy from getting the ledge.
-Kirbycide is NOT always useful, try catch your opponent while it is recovering, and, if you die and they not, they probably won’t make it to the ledge. If they cut loose from your trap, try footstooling’em!
-Dair can be chained with footstool, Dair6 spikes.Try using Dair like Inhale for a Kirbycide, with this i mean (not to suicide) try catching your opponents in their way up while they are recovering, this is useful with preddictable and straight up recoveries such as Kirby's, Ike's and Fox's Up-Bs
Now some combos:
-Fthrow into Fair is good uitil ~25%, then you’ll have to start using a double jump to get to your opponent
-At 0%, Bthrow into Bair works on some characters.
-Dair into Uptilt, Utilt, Utilt (…) into Uair works for juggling. Utilts works if the enemy is bejind you after the Dair, if they are in front try a couple od Dtilts, they may even trip! Seize the trip and grab or tech chase
-At mid percent, Fthrow into Up-B works after Fthrow-Fair stops working.
-At midpercent, SoS Utilt into Fair is True Combo
-Dair into Dsmash is not true combo, but if they air dodge before they land, don’t DI, miss their tech or simply not respond in time, a Dsmash is guarantied.
-(Doubles Only) If you inhale, and your partner charges a smash attack or better, let your opponent struggle their way out (DO NOT SPIT NOR SWALLOW) and then your partner must release the attack in time. Because of the autorelease of your enemy, they are in an animation where they cannot move, so it is perfect to release a timed Falcon Punch, Warlock Punch or a Smash attack.
Bouns: HOW TO DEAL WITH ANOTHER KIRBY
Not many Kirby mains are good at countering themselves. No, I'm not saying you travel back in time to beat yourself when you were starting 5-10-15 years ago...I'm saying how to counter another Kirby
This is a great example of a match with characters ful of combos and spacing...is Mano a Mano, Puffball to Puffball.
If you feel like you should treat the other kirby as just another lightweight character...well you should and you shouldn't at the same timer, this is some serious Schrodinger's Cat kind of thing.
If you treat your opponent as some abstract and generic lightweight, then you will be able to mentally pull of things that you could if you were fighting a Jiggs.
If you don't...then you can get into his mind. You are in the same condition as him, you have the same tools and moves, you know how he will play and work.
The latter example obviously sounds good, but what you should do is grab the best of both.
Try applying combos and strategies as you would on a jiggs, or another light character. but at the same time aplly those strategies knowing what he can do, or what woud you do on that possition, if you try to apply pressure on a ditto match, you can easily win...or easily lose.
Remember, Kirby is all about using your foe's mistakes to your advantage.
Thank you for reading, try now reading my guide for Marth: Dolphin Slashin' or wait for my next guides on:
-Captain Falcon
-Shulk
-Duck Hunt
First, I’ll start by explaining the basics for each move. Beware, this guide will be long.
Jab &Tilts
Jab: Jab1 does 2%, Jab2 does 3% and each of your JabFlurry (JabF) does 1%. Your JabFinisher (JabS) does 2%. Useful to do pokes or small, quick attacks.
Ftilt: Does 8%, , great for keeping away your enemies or as a more range-wise combo finisher in case your opponent is to far for other tilts to hit.
Dtilt: Does 6%. Good for stopping people on their way, if you connect with the tip of Kirby’s foot it will make the opponent trip and you can grab them while in trip animation or follow their get up opion to punish accordingly. For those who follow the OneSmash guys, this serves as a “Prattack”
Utilt: Swetspots (SS) at the back, Sourspots (SoS) at the front. SS does 5% and SoS does 4% It is a great combo follower and it can chain into itself, or Upair
Aerials:
Nair: SS at the start of the spin and does 10%, SoS does 4%. Great Spacing tool and good to wallspike or keep away the enemies from the ledge.
Fair: A 3-hit combo easily chained or chainer. Fair1 does 4%, Fair2 does 3% and Fair3 does 5%, total of 12% if perfectly chained.
Bair: SS (tip and start) does 13% (also, great knockback)and SoS does 8%. At 0%, it can be a True Combo out of Bthrow for some characters. Great for Edgeguarding and setting up walls. Easy wallspiker.
Dair: 6-hit combo. Dair1 to 5 do 1%, Dair6 does 2%. If you land while doing it, you’ll have a landing hitbox, which does 2%, this final, landing hitbox is called DairL and does not necessarily is the 7th hit, it is active after the last hit before you land.. Dair6 spikes and can be followed by a footstool. In the ground, without connecting Dair6 or DairL you can follow with Utilt if the opponent is behind you or with 1 or 2 Dtilts if it is in front of you. But we’ll talk about the combos soon…
Upair or Uair: Does 9% and it is a great juggle option and can be chained into itself or some Utilts.
All of Kirby’s aerials auto-cancel at landing or have very little landing lag.
Smashes.
Each time Kirby flashes yellow, the attack does +1 damage, also it has a SS an SoS. I will show here the data of uncharged smash attacks, to adjust the carge, add 1 damage for each time Kirby flashes yellow up to 5 times. The autorelease also adds +1 to the damage, doing +6 if fully charged.
Fsmash. Good finisher, does 15% (SS) and 11%(SoS). Up variant adds +1 for each tipe of hitbox and charge time and down variant is -1.
Usmash: One of Kirby’s best killing tools, kill very good upwards and does reasonable damage. It has many hitboxes and it is too hard to count’em, so I’ll tell you that you can do from 11% up to 21% depending on timing and position.
Dsmash: Great spacing tool, does 14% and you can do it to cover get up options.
Special Attacks:
Neutral-B:The Puffball’s signature move, Inhale. You can spit or swallow, both options deal 10% but the latter copies the opponent’s Neutral-B. Does not work on Kirby himself and can be punished by some characters. Whether to keep your hat (Copy Ability) or to throw it or to simply not use it is your problem, and depends on each character. I recommend to keep projectile based attacks or counter type attacks such as Ryu’s Hadouken or Peach’s Toad, respectively. You can copy the ability out of a Kirby that already copied an ability. Also with this attack you can do world’s most famos Kamikaze type technique, the Kirbycide. A few tips for Kirbycide are:
-Try catch someone while it’s using its recovery move IF it is not a Warp Type recovery such as Vanish, Warp, Farore’s Wind, Teleport, etc.
-If you’re doing it at the ledge, try catching someone with reasonable damage.
-If both have same stock number but you’re losing, it is fine to do it, although, if the game ends with it, there might be some cases in which you lose the game. To be clear: If the game goes to Sudden Death because of Kirbycide, you win! (according to Apex rules).
-You have right to do the Chuddat if you do it.
Side-B: One of the game’s most powerful attack. IIt has different charge levels, all are good damage dealers! In the air, you’ll swing twice (it is not useless!! I’ve won matches because of the second swing used correctly) When full charged, you won’t do a second air swing. When charging you’re more vulnerable and you receive damage if it is not released (the damage can only be racked up to 100%)
Up-B: It has 4 hitboxes: Rise (5%), Fall (2%), Landing (5%) and Wave (6%) [Kirby’s only projectile and great spacing tool] and it is a medium recovery. I also use it for spacing in some cases, but the wave has been significantly nerfed since Brawl. You spike at the Fall hitbox. As pointed out by another user, this is practically useless if they know how to shield.
Down-B: Least used at top level play, great finisher and does incredible shield damage, but it has significant lag to get out of your transformation. Does 18%. It is not a great back-to-stage tool, only if you know when and how to.
Throws:
Pummel: One of the best pummels in the game. It is fast an does 1.5%. Use 2 or 3 before throwing.
Uthrow: Kirby’s damage dealer throw option, use at mid-high percents to rack up damage.
Fthrow: Kirby’s combo starter (since 1.1.0) throw option. I’ll explain combos later.
Dthrow: Also a combo satarter but not as good as Fthrow.
Bthrow: Kirby’s kill option when it comes to throws. You can cancel the animation by FF Dair after the throw.
Other Attacks:
Dash: 9-hit combo, great for tech chase.
Ledge Get up attack: Short ranged but good to stop edgeguarding attempts
Taunts: Does no damage at all, but you can dump your copy ability with it, I recommend Dtaunt, because it is fast.
Final Smash: A 10 hit combo that racks up good damage and knockback. It is not used in competitive play, but why not include it.
Strategy:
Now, I’ll get to beginners basics:
-You’re a light, floaty character with only one projectile, so you can only attack if you get close to the opponent, but you may be in disadvantage if the character is strong or heavy. However, heavy characters are perfect target for your combos, sice normally, their hitboxes are bigger and easier to hit.
-You don’t have many finishing options, so try racking up damage.
-Kirby is all about detecting mistakes in your opponent, try forcing them to make mistakes and punish accordingly!
-Once you have stage control is very hard to give it up, try tech chase and don’t stop moving!
-Kirby is a combo character, depending on them to rack up damage.
-You have a good air game, with strong spikes and your lethal weapon: Kirbycide!
-If you’re starting smash, it is ok, Kirby is easy to use at the beginning, and you can grow up with it to be a great player. Kirby was my first main and since I tried him, I have become a good Kirby player with knowledge of combos and neutral play.
-Kirby is a mix of air and ground game, making him a lethal combination if it is used correctly.
-Remember: P.O.Y.O. (Pick Others, You’re Open) This means: Don’t put your time only in Kirby. He is mid tier, he is good but he’ll have trouble against top tier character like Luigi.
To start mastering the Puffball, you must first practice your ground and neutral game, don’t rush! When you master the essentials, you can move on to mid level play.
Here are some tips for players from mid-low to mid-high level.
-Kirby demands dedication and knowing your enemy and matchups
-Try learning which copy abilities you like!! Not everyone likes the same hats and playstyle, I like Counter and Projectile type attacks. If you’re having a hard time knowing you style, try studying other characters’ Neutral-B. Do not focus on “which ability is better against all characters” because in competitive playe, you’re doing 1on1, so an ability that counters everyone but does not counter his owner, it is not useful, try thinking “which ability cannot be countered by its owner”. As an example of abilities countered by its owner it’s Mewtwo. With it you’ll copy Shadow Ball, but M2 has a reflector move, but you don’t!
-Try learning and practicing combos! I’ll teach you some combos below
Kirby is a good choice if you know how to use it. He is mid tier, so a lot of high level player are not used to fight it, so try surprising them!
To advance to a high level play it is necessary weeks, months, if not years of dedication to practice it. Here are some tips to top level players:
-Learn you matchups!! A friend of mine uses Sheik so I’m used to that matchup and know how to counter it.
-Your crouch is one of the best since you can avoid almost every projectile (i.e. Sheik’s Needles, Fox and Falco’s Blaster, ZSS’ Paralyzer, etc)
-Try snatching your opponent’s second jump, the you can juggle awesomely.
-Try practicing footstools, they will be useful.
Now, some tips to Neutral Game and Spacing:
-Nair is good to space and cover get up options.
-Dair is also good covering get up options, but you are vulnerable if you fail to read, however, try FFing to defend with your DairL.
-Ftilt is good to stop people on their way, also Dtilt and Up-B
-Try chaining Fairs to swipe your enemy through the stage.
-IF you bait an airdoge out of your opponent with an Uair, you can follow up with a Bair, that sure will be keeping them to get back on the stage after a juggle.
Tips for Edgeguarding:
-Bair can kill or at least keep your enemy from getting the ledge.
-Kirbycide is NOT always useful, try catch your opponent while it is recovering, and, if you die and they not, they probably won’t make it to the ledge. If they cut loose from your trap, try footstooling’em!
-Dair can be chained with footstool, Dair6 spikes.Try using Dair like Inhale for a Kirbycide, with this i mean (not to suicide) try catching your opponents in their way up while they are recovering, this is useful with preddictable and straight up recoveries such as Kirby's, Ike's and Fox's Up-Bs
Now some combos:
-Fthrow into Fair is good uitil ~25%, then you’ll have to start using a double jump to get to your opponent
-At 0%, Bthrow into Bair works on some characters.
-Dair into Uptilt, Utilt, Utilt (…) into Uair works for juggling. Utilts works if the enemy is bejind you after the Dair, if they are in front try a couple od Dtilts, they may even trip! Seize the trip and grab or tech chase
-At mid percent, Fthrow into Up-B works after Fthrow-Fair stops working.
-At midpercent, SoS Utilt into Fair is True Combo
-Dair into Dsmash is not true combo, but if they air dodge before they land, don’t DI, miss their tech or simply not respond in time, a Dsmash is guarantied.
-(Doubles Only) If you inhale, and your partner charges a smash attack or better, let your opponent struggle their way out (DO NOT SPIT NOR SWALLOW) and then your partner must release the attack in time. Because of the autorelease of your enemy, they are in an animation where they cannot move, so it is perfect to release a timed Falcon Punch, Warlock Punch or a Smash attack.
Bouns: HOW TO DEAL WITH ANOTHER KIRBY
Not many Kirby mains are good at countering themselves. No, I'm not saying you travel back in time to beat yourself when you were starting 5-10-15 years ago...I'm saying how to counter another Kirby
This is a great example of a match with characters ful of combos and spacing...is Mano a Mano, Puffball to Puffball.
If you feel like you should treat the other kirby as just another lightweight character...well you should and you shouldn't at the same timer, this is some serious Schrodinger's Cat kind of thing.
If you treat your opponent as some abstract and generic lightweight, then you will be able to mentally pull of things that you could if you were fighting a Jiggs.
If you don't...then you can get into his mind. You are in the same condition as him, you have the same tools and moves, you know how he will play and work.
The latter example obviously sounds good, but what you should do is grab the best of both.
Try applying combos and strategies as you would on a jiggs, or another light character. but at the same time aplly those strategies knowing what he can do, or what woud you do on that possition, if you try to apply pressure on a ditto match, you can easily win...or easily lose.
Remember, Kirby is all about using your foe's mistakes to your advantage.
Thank you for reading, try now reading my guide for Marth: Dolphin Slashin' or wait for my next guides on:
-Captain Falcon
-Shulk
-Duck Hunt
However, i'll have to agree to disagree about the Hammer...even though IT IS a slow move, it is good if you know how to use it. I've been practicing and perfecting my use of it and it works just fine. It's hard to use, but it can be a good move.
All other facts have been added to the guide correcting or complementing other facts. Also, more juicy strategies have been added. I look forward to hear from you on this guide again