In Smash 4, air dodging and rolls are a near pandemic. From FG scrubs who prefer rolling as their primary form of transport, to your average joe using it occasionally due to old habits, dodging of any sort is as good as its ever been in Sakurai's newest entry to one of Nintendo's most beloved series. So lets figure out if you have the tools to beat this.
The average reaction speed is around 15 Frames (at 60 FPS). The average input lag on a given setup is 6 FPS. Its safe to say as well that on average most inputs take about 1 frame to fully depress whichever button you're pushing. So on average a given person can react to and shield a move that comes out on frame 22. So I'd say that frame 18-26 would encompass the vast majority of smasher's reaction speed. If you have another person laying around you can quickly test to find out. Simply get as close to other player as possible (in game preferably) and see if you can shield in time each of these attacks.
Donkey Kongs uncharged Neutral B comes out on frame 18.
Donkey Kongs Grounded Down B comes out on frame 19.
Pits uncharged Neutral B comes out on frame 20.
ZSS's uncharged Neutral B comes out on frame 21.
ZSS's Side B comes out on frame 22.
Bowser's Neutral B comes out on frame 23.
Charizard's Down B comes out on frame 24.
Rob's Neutral B comes out on frame 25.
Second hit of ZSS's forward smash comes out on frame 26.
I avoided using smash attacks as much as possible (even though that wouldve been much easier to find), using special inputs instead. This is to avoid any unnecessary charging frames you might input while testing (an uncharged Neutral B would be easier to execute silently than an uncharged smash attack). Also make sure that whoever may be testing this with you inputs these attacks as quietly as possible, since people react differently to audio stimulus than visual.
Whichever number you get from the above list of attacks, it is applicable in interesting ways to smash, mostly when it comes to punishing airdodges, spotdodges and rolls since the majority of moves come out faster than frame 18. Simply take whichever number you got from testing the above 7 moves, and subtract that from the FAF value (You can find these values here: http://kuroganehammer.com/Smash4/Attributes) of (generally) the best spotdodge, airdodge or roll. From the deficit you find there, you can determine how fast of a move you'll need to punish any roll, spotdodge or airdodge in the game.
If you're interested to find out how much input lag there is on your setup, just record yourself pressing jab as ZSS. Make sure your thumb actually pressing down on whichever button is visible alongside ZSS on the screen. Find out at what framerate your camera runs at. It is always preferably that you record with a camera that runs at 60fps or higher, since lower framerates will be missing frames that appear on screen and will lead to inaccuracies. Find the first frame in which you fully depress whichever button you use to jab (if you need software simply download this: http://filmora.wondershare.com/). This will be your frame 0. Then, count up from there. As soon as you see what might be a jab come out from ZSS (and I mean like as soon as her model changes in any way that could resemble the start of a jab) back up one frame. This number is your input lag.
Subtract this number from whichever move that you can constantly shield, and subtract another 1 frame to compensate for actually pressing down the actual button and there you go. That's approximately your reaction speed.
If you're interested in the actual math I used to find out precisely what my reaction speed was, I could write up a second more in depth tutorial on how to find exactly what your own raw reaction speed is. This guide itself was purely a layman's guide to quickly getting a number directly applicable to smash 4. If you're not sure which of your mains moves are fast enough, you can find any characters frame data here, just look for the column where it says "Hitbox Active". http://kuroganehammer.com/Smash4
Regardless, I hope you found this as helpful. If you have any questions related to this you are more than welcomed to ask.
The average reaction speed is around 15 Frames (at 60 FPS). The average input lag on a given setup is 6 FPS. Its safe to say as well that on average most inputs take about 1 frame to fully depress whichever button you're pushing. So on average a given person can react to and shield a move that comes out on frame 22. So I'd say that frame 18-26 would encompass the vast majority of smasher's reaction speed. If you have another person laying around you can quickly test to find out. Simply get as close to other player as possible (in game preferably) and see if you can shield in time each of these attacks.
Donkey Kongs uncharged Neutral B comes out on frame 18.
Donkey Kongs Grounded Down B comes out on frame 19.
Pits uncharged Neutral B comes out on frame 20.
ZSS's uncharged Neutral B comes out on frame 21.
ZSS's Side B comes out on frame 22.
Bowser's Neutral B comes out on frame 23.
Charizard's Down B comes out on frame 24.
Rob's Neutral B comes out on frame 25.
Second hit of ZSS's forward smash comes out on frame 26.
I avoided using smash attacks as much as possible (even though that wouldve been much easier to find), using special inputs instead. This is to avoid any unnecessary charging frames you might input while testing (an uncharged Neutral B would be easier to execute silently than an uncharged smash attack). Also make sure that whoever may be testing this with you inputs these attacks as quietly as possible, since people react differently to audio stimulus than visual.
Whichever number you get from the above list of attacks, it is applicable in interesting ways to smash, mostly when it comes to punishing airdodges, spotdodges and rolls since the majority of moves come out faster than frame 18. Simply take whichever number you got from testing the above 7 moves, and subtract that from the FAF value (You can find these values here: http://kuroganehammer.com/Smash4/Attributes) of (generally) the best spotdodge, airdodge or roll. From the deficit you find there, you can determine how fast of a move you'll need to punish any roll, spotdodge or airdodge in the game.
If you're interested to find out how much input lag there is on your setup, just record yourself pressing jab as ZSS. Make sure your thumb actually pressing down on whichever button is visible alongside ZSS on the screen. Find out at what framerate your camera runs at. It is always preferably that you record with a camera that runs at 60fps or higher, since lower framerates will be missing frames that appear on screen and will lead to inaccuracies. Find the first frame in which you fully depress whichever button you use to jab (if you need software simply download this: http://filmora.wondershare.com/). This will be your frame 0. Then, count up from there. As soon as you see what might be a jab come out from ZSS (and I mean like as soon as her model changes in any way that could resemble the start of a jab) back up one frame. This number is your input lag.
Subtract this number from whichever move that you can constantly shield, and subtract another 1 frame to compensate for actually pressing down the actual button and there you go. That's approximately your reaction speed.
If you're interested in the actual math I used to find out precisely what my reaction speed was, I could write up a second more in depth tutorial on how to find exactly what your own raw reaction speed is. This guide itself was purely a layman's guide to quickly getting a number directly applicable to smash 4. If you're not sure which of your mains moves are fast enough, you can find any characters frame data here, just look for the column where it says "Hitbox Active". http://kuroganehammer.com/Smash4
Regardless, I hope you found this as helpful. If you have any questions related to this you are more than welcomed to ask.
- Applicable Games
- Smash 3DS, Smash Wii U
