[WORK IN PROGRESS] A Fateful Choice - Corrin Guide [1.1.5]

Jab/Neutral Attack
1-2-3 Jab.

Rapid Jab.


Frames: 5-6 (Hit 1), 4-5 (Hit 2), 6-8 (Hit 3)
Move Speed: Fast
Usefulness/10: 6
Combos from: Neutral Air, Forward Air, Dash Attack (low %)
Combos into: None
Damage Output: 3%/2% (Hit 1 - Tip/Non Tip), 2% (Hit 2), 3%/0.9% (Hit 3 - Final Hit/Rapid Jab hit)

Jab is actually a really nice move. It's fast, allows you to build up some quick damage and the rapid jab is pretty nice. You can use it mostly as a combo finisher at lower percentages due to it comboing handily off a Neutral Air or a Forward Air. Admittedly, it's not completely amazing, as neither of the finishers kill to early, and the endlag doesn't accomodate for too many combos from it, however it does it's job as a damage builder or a combo finisher.

The damage output of this move ranges from 7%/8% for the 1-2-3 Jab, or about 11% for the Rapid Jab. This is due to the property of all Dragon Fang moves, sans Back Air and all specials EXCEPT Dragon Lunge, having a tipper effect (doing more damage at the end of the move).

Forward Tilt/Strong Side Attack

Frames: 8-10
Move Speed: Average
Usefulness/10: 7
Combos from: Neutral Air, Forward Air (low percents)
Combos into: Up Tilt.
Damage Output: 10.5%

Forward Tilt is Corrin's strongest tilt attack, doing 10%, however, from a comboing point of view, it is also probably his worst for comboing, as it has the highest knockback growth of all his tilts. But this doesn't say much as it does it's job well as a combo tool. Like almost all of Corrin's tilts, it has vertical knockback, and it can be comboed into from a falling Neutral Air/Forward Air. It's range allows it to work well out of a running pivot and the knockback is low enough to be a reliable damage builder from the two aerials I mentioned at low percents, however it's high knockback scaling prevents it from doing much more at high percents.


Up Tilt/Strong Up Attack

Frames: 7-16 (Including Late Hits)
Move Speed: Average
Usefulness/10: 9
Combos from: Itself, Neutral Air, Forward Air, Up Air (low percents), Down Tilt
Combos into: Itself (low percents), Forward Air, Up Air (mid-high percents)
Damage Output: 9%

Aside from having one of the more unique animations for a swordsman Up Tilt, Corrin's Up Tilt is an absolutely fantastic combo tool. It combos into almost every aerial at low to mid-high percents, and is quick enough to fulfil that role. It's attributes allow it to be a reliable combo tool, with favourable angles, knockback growth and base knockback for a combo tool.

There isn't really much else to say about this move, other than the fact that it's also a pretty good anti-air due to it's fairly long lasting hitboxes (Frame 7-16), and the fact it's a vastly superior option in every way to Up Smash (except for killing that is). Regardless of this, this is probably Corrin's best tilt, if not tied with Down Tilt.

Down Tilt/Strong Down Attack

Frames: 5-7
Move Speed: Fast
Usefulness/10: 9
Combos from: Forward Air
Combos into: Up Tilt (low percents), Neutral Air, Up Smash, Forward Air, Up Air (mid/high percents)
Damage Output: 7.5%

Whilst Down Tilt doesn't possess the number of ways of being comboed into like Up Tilt has, it more than makes up for it by being an amazing combo starter. It can combo into most aerials, Up Tilt and Up Smash, the lattermost of this is especially helped by Down Tilt as you have a chance to hit the Up Smash at the sweetspot.

Down Tilt also has good attributes, it's fast (Frame 5), as well as having low endlag. It probably ties with Corrin's Up Tilt for the title of best tilt, and much like both Up Tilt and Forward Tilt, it has vertical knockback. You should be using this move as a combo starter only though. It won't ever combo into itself and can only be combo'd into by a falling Forward Air at low percents.

Dash Attack

Frames: 11, 14, 17, 20, 23
Move Speed: Slow
Usefulness/10: 5
Combos from: Neutral Air (low percents)
Combos into: Jab (low percents), Neutral Air, Forward Air, Up Air (mid percents)
Damage Output: 2% (Hits 1-5), 3% (Hit 6). 13% total.

Despite originating from the animation of the skill "Lethality", it almost certainly won't be winning any awards for living up to it's namesake. When compared with any of Corrin's other tilts, Dash Attack seems kind of underwhelming, considering it lacks things that combo into it, bar Neutral Air, as well as the speed of all of Corrin's other tilts.

That being said, it does have some uses. If you condition your opponent to roll from the ledge, you can use it to punish that, or cover a few ledge options, and it does good damage (13%). The amount of things it can combo into is fairly respectable. However Dash Attack is a pretty risky move, sometimes relying on a read or a mistake from your opponent, and there are some things that Corrin has, Dragon Fang Shot for instance, that just do that better in many cases.

Forward Smash
Charging Hitbox + Forward Smash

Forward Smash Size Comparisn with .

Frames: 12-68 -Rehit Rate of 5) (Yato Charging Hitbox)
17, 18, 19-22 (Dragon Fang Spear)

Move Speed: Slow
Usefulness/10: 6
Combos from: Neutral Air, Forward Air (low percents)
Combos into: None
Damage Output: 0.5% (Charging hits 1-12)/16% (Tip)/15% (Mid)/12% (Close)

Corrin possesses the longest reaching Forward Smash in the game, as well as the only Smash attack in Smash 4 that has a hitbox whilst charging (Ness's Yo-Yo hitboxes were removed) however, whilst that may sound amazing, there are two things that slightly hinder it's awesome power.

1) The giant dragon spear is not a disjointed hitbox. This means that if you trade blows with someone when using this move, the move has a hurtbox, so you will receive the damage.

2) It's got the tipper effect. This means it's most powerful spot is further away from you. On top of that, as you saw in the gif, the charging hitbox will not confirm into the sweetspot of this move, so you really have to rely on throwing it out to land a tipper, seeing as nothing confirms into it.

Despite these flaws, this is probably Corrin's best Smash attack, and it's especially good at covering ledge getups with the charging hitbox of the sword, as well as recovering s (LOL Quick Attack).

Up Smash

Frames: 13-15
Move Speed: Slow
Usefulness/10: 4
Combos from: Down Tilt, Neutral Air
Combos into: None
Damage Output: 15% (Tip)/13% (Mid)/10% (Side, near the bottom of the move)

Up Smash is probably his worst grounded move, serving only really to exist as an anti-air. Whilst it's his quickest Smash attack, it's got poor horizontal range, bad knockback on the sourspot, and no confirms into the sweetspot.

Whilst the latter quality is shared by all of Corrin's Smash Attacks, Up Smash probably has the hardest sweetspot to land, and can only be reliably used for platform coverage. Despite this, it can still be comboed into for some decent damage.

Down Smash

Frames: 13-15
Move Speed: Slow
Usefulness/10: 5
Combos from Neutral Air (low percents):
Combos into: None
Damage Output: 14% (Leg Tip)/11% (Yato)/9% (Leg Sour).

This Down Smash is very much like 's Down Smash, except disjointed and slower. Much like all of Corrin's Dragon Fang moves, it's strongest at the tip. However, it is Corrin's weakest Smash, with the tipped part only killing at 110%.

Whilst it can be useful covering rolls and some ledge getups, I almost never find myself using this move. It's got a fairly low angle however, which can make it good for purely horizontal KOs. Personally, when I do use it, I make sure to face my opponent so that they're caught with the Yato, which puts me less at risk when using it. It's ending lag is middling between Up Smash (which has the lowest) and Forward Smash (which has the highest).

Neutral Aerial

Frames: 6-7 (early), 8-19 (late)
Move Speed: Fast
Usefulness/10: 9
Combos from: Down Tilt, Itself
Combos into: Jab, Forward Tilt, Down Tilt, Up Tilt, Dash Attack, Forward Smash, Up Smash, Down Smash, Itself, Forward Air, Up Air, Down Air, Back Air, Dragon Lunge, Dash Grab
Damage Output: 7% (clean), 5.5% (late)

So, I imagine you're looking at that list and thinking it's absolute rubbish, but it's true. Neutral Aerial is an excellent combo tool. It has good range, comes out quickly (Frame 6), has a long lasting hitbox, and hits both sides of Corrin, making it's usage as a combo tool an absolute must in any Corrin's playstyle because of this.

It has 13 frames of landing lag (around the same as Cloud's Back Air), and it autocancels after Frame 50. This means that it will autocancel in a full hop without fast falling (Corrin's Full Hop Air Time is 57 Frames), however because of the range it covers, this is fine as it will still probably still hit any crouching opponents. It's also fairly safe to use because of the low landing lag.

Forward Aerial

Frames: 7-10
Move Speed: Average
Usefulness/10: 9
Combos from: Neutral Aerial, Itself, Up Tilt, Down Tilt, Dash Attack.
Combos into: Jab, Forward Tilt, Up Tilt, Down Tilt, Neutral Aerial
Damage Output: 7.5% (clean)

Forward Air has a similar purpose to Neutral Air, except there are a few differences between them.

• Forward Air comes out one frame slower than Neutral Air, and lacks as many combo options.
• Forward Air will autocancel from a short hop, and does a bit more damage than Neutral Air.
• Forward Air has low enough ending lag to reliably combo into itself, Neutral Air doesn't.

By all means, Forward Air is about as useful as Neutral Air, as you will more often than not be using this move at higher percentages. You can frequently link it into an Up Air and other aerial moves and in general, it's one of Corrin's best moves. The vertical knockback is also very helpful for this.

Back Aerial

Frames: 13 (early), 14-16 (late)
Move Speed: Slow
Usefulness/10: 8
Combos from: Neutral Aerial.
Combos into: None.
Back Aerial causes Corrin to sprout wings, which propels Corrin forwards, giving this move a significant amount of versatility. Corrin can use this move to retreat, to recover, out of a reverse aerial rush for mindgame purposes, as well as for netting KOs, being Corrin's strongest aerial. This move is also one of Corrin's only Dragon Fang moves that doesn't have a tipper hitbox. It should always be a go-to move in neutral, or to quote ESAM, "[that] s**t is broken LOL"

However, the move is not completely invincible. It's got a Frame 13 startup, making the move much slower than every move in his arsenal barring specials and smashes. It also extends Corrin's hurtbox a significant amount due to it's range so you can be hit out of it.

Serious question though, where do those wings come out from? His armour? His cape? Do they break his armour each time? I don't know.

Up Aerial

Frames: 7-12
Move Speed: Average
Usefulness/10: 9
Combos from: [Coming Soon]
Combos into: [Coming Soon]
Up Aerial is an amazing tool in Corrin's arsenal. It serves as a combo starter when used as a falling move, it can finish combos from Forward Aerial, Neutral Aerial, or serve as a solid vertical KO. It also has a long disjointed range, and fairly low landing lag (15 frames, about the same as Zero Suit Samus's Forward Aerial).

A neat little trick which requires some pretty solid timing is that you can hit a character with the first frame of Up Aerial, take the landing lag and still be able to true combo into moves like Up Tilt. Falling Up Air still works well as a combo tool as well, so don't worry if you don't get the precise timing down. Regardless of whether you use it from falling or in the air, it still does a very good job as both a combo and a kill move. Solid move all around.

Down Aerial

Frames: 12-28 (6 hits), 1-4 (Landing hit)
Move Speed: Slow
Usefulness/10: 3
Combos from: Neutral Aerial
Combos into: Dragon Lunge (Instant Pin) - Mixup.
Damage Output: 13%.
So, the image above depicts Corrin grabbing the Smash Ball with this move. Neat, right?

Well that's literally all this move is good for...It's got a nice damage output, but it's slow, there's little chance of offstage recovery unless there's a wall next to you because of it's ending lag, it's not safe on shield, and it actually doesn't spike. It's got very little value as a Sacrificial KO simply because you will always die first, so it's about as effective as Bowserciding in Melee.

That being said, if you do catch someone with the move, you can pin them afterwards and it will lead to a kick, which is a potential damage output of 41% if you hit them with the tip, however this is extremely unlikely, and you're best not trying to hit them with this.

Grab
Pummel:

Frames: 7-8 (Standing Grab), 8-9 (Dash Grab), 9-10 (Pivot Grab)
Move Speed: Average
Overall Usefulness/10: 6.5
Corrin's grab and throw game isn't particularly stellar, but it does have it's gems. I'll explain it below further im each of the relevant sections.

Bizarrely, the pummel has no frame data, so my recommendation is to pummel once before making a throw normally, or pummel a few times before using Up Throw/Down Throw. It gets you free percent and can help you kill quicker.

Forward Throw

Weight Dependent: No
Purpose: Positioning/Get-Off-Me
Usefulness/10: 6
Combos from: None
Combos into: None
Corrin's Forward Throw is not designed as a combo starter or a kill throw. It's used as a Get-Off-Me option or to get your foe into position. It sends foes at a high diagonal angle, which allows you to readjust your stage position after use.

The best use possible for this move is to refresh your moves. This move does not KO until very late percentages, so it can just be used as a refresher for moves. Throwing your opponent offstage works too as you can cover their landings or put them into a favourable position, but otherwise, this throw isn't too useful.

Back Throw

Weight Dependent: No
Purpose: Positioning/Get-Off-Me
Usefulness/10: 6
Combos from: None
Combos into: None
Practically everything I said about Forward Throw applies to Back Throw. Back Throw kills slightly earlier than Forward Throw due to the furthered knockback scaling but it still cannot effectively combo. It functions better at the offstage level because of it's higher knockback scaling, but the purposes still remain the same - reasserting your position or putting your foe in a potential disadvantage state.

Up Throw

Weight Dependent: No
Purpose: KO move.
Usefulness/10: 7
Combos from: None
Combos into: None
So, Corrin actually turns into a full dragon when using this move, and the power level increases by quite a large amount. It's a pretty viable kill throw. The percents will vary between characters, however you will have more luck KOing at around 150 or more.

However, the main downside to the move is the ending lag. It could in theory be used to combo with it's low base knockback, but the ending lag of the throw outright prevents this from occuring.


Down Throw

Weight Dependent: No
Purpose: KO move.
Usefulness/10: 7
Combos from: None
Combos into: Up Aerial at very specific percents
Again, the same effectively applies to Up Throw, so I'll keep this one short.

Down Throw changes the angle to be a more diagonal angle, and this causes most characters to die later at certain positions. Much like Up Throw and despite what the tips tell you, this move's base knockback and ending lag prevent this move from comboing effectively, having only one true followup that can rarely ever work.

The move is slightly less reliable than Up Throw, but still works well as a KO throw regardless.

Neutral Special: Dragon Fang Shot

Frames:
15-68 (Uncharged Shot)
24-25 (Uncharged Bite)
45-96 (Fully Charged Shot)
85-86 (Fully Charged Bite)

Move Speed: Slow, but it's a projectile so it's ok.
Usefulness/10: 9
Combos from: None.
Combos into: Everything. No, really, it's a paralyzer. Depending on spacing, it will probably combo into everything.
This move is basically a better version of Zero Suit Samus' paralyzer. The hitbox is bigger, if you hit at the right spacing, it can kill confirm into anything you want. You can stun-lock fastfallers provided you get the spacing right, and if your opponent gets too close, you can fully charge the bite to literally eat their stock away.

The uses for this move are immense. At low percents, you can paralyse them and start a combo with a falling Neutral Aerial or Forward Aerial for starting a combo. You can run up and dash attack for some solid damage. You can use an Instant Pin in order to stick your foes in place for a kick followup into an Up Tilt at low percents, or an Up Air at slightly higher percents. When it gets to kill percents, you either have the option to Side Smash, Down Smash, Dragon Lunge or even let loose the fully charged bite. It's basically an amazing multipurpose option in neutral, usable for starting combos, frametraps and occasionally forcing an opponent to approach. The list is endless.

However, this move is still not completely invincible, because it has one crippling flaw. It's priority is incredibly low, meaning practically any non-transcendent projectile that causes knockback will destroy this move. This issue even remains at full charge, where uncharged aura spheres will kill this move.

If you want to challenge the move with a projectile, chances are it will work. However, some projectiles, such as 's Gordo Throw, 's Blaster and 's Bullet Art extensions (even though they technically aren't projectiles) will either not kill this move, or in the case of , will reflect the projectile back at him. But most characters will most likely be able to kill Dragon Fang Shot because of it's low priority.

Side Special: Dragon Lunge

Frames:
4-5 (Grounded Dragon Lunge)
10-11 (Aerial Dragon Lunge)
10-17 (Forward Kick - Early)
18-24 (Forward Kick - Late)
6-7 (Backwards Kick - Early)
14-21 (Backwards Kick)
22-28 (Backwards Kick - Late)

Move Speed: Fast - The pin is what matters here.
Usefulness/10: 10
Combos from: [Coming Soon]
Combos into:[Coming Soon]
Behold. Corrin's best move.

Corrin's Dragon Lunge is just amazing. It has a variety of purposes. It functions as a kill move at high percents, with the front kick KOing as early as 120% and the tippered spear killing even earlier, it works as a way for Corrin to reassert his position onstage by either advancing or retreating, or it can work as a combo starter, as you can usually get an Up Tilt at low percents, or on walled stages, you can use it for recovery by pinning to the wall.

It's biggest selling point however, is the ability to guarantee certain hits by pinning the foe in place, and this allows you to assert your dominance onstage or do any of the things I mentioned above, but without the worry of your foe giving you grief.

The main technique that every Corrin main should know is the Instant Dragon Lunge technique, more commonly known as Instant Pin. This technique will give you access to Dragon Lunge mixups on the ground much easier, and is an essential part of Corrin's meta. Thankfully, it's incredibly simple, so I'll just explain it here:
1) Input a Side Special, which I'm assuming is Side and B.
2) EITHER Quickly Tap B again

OR

2) Slide your thumb from B to A/Special to Attack.

See, that wasn't too hard was it?

There are four options that you can do upon landing a pin. I will also give you a summary of how to execute them:

• Forward Kick - Control Stick Forwards. Does 12% and can lead into moves like Up Tilt. Probably Corrin's best offensive option out of a pin.
• Backward Kick - Control Stick Backwards. Does less damage from a pin as you get the early hit, however can be used well to retreat. Good for mixups.
• Jump - Control Stick Up OR Jump button. Not the best option, considering it has a surprisng amount of ending lag after the jump, however it works especially well when recovering if you pin to the wall.
• Cancel - Do nothing. Can lead to a free followup, however your opponent can easily tech the cancel.

Both kicks will allow you to grab the ledge.

Whilst the move is amazing, it's not completely all powerful and unbeatable. It's main weakness is that pinned opponents can actually mash out of the pinned state, putting them out of reach of a followup. Additionally, as with all Dragon Fang moves, it extends Corrin's hurtbox, so you can hit him out of it. This is especially useful when edgeguarding Corrin as he may poke out above the edge.

Despite these flaws, it's such a versatile move in general that it remains as Corrin's best move.

Up Special: Draconic Ascent (NTSC)/Dragon Ascent (PAL)

Frames:
10-17 (Intangibility)
18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32 (Hits 1-7)

Move Speed: Slow
Usefulness/10: 7
Combos from: Neutral Air
Combos into: None
So, lesser known fact. Corrin is Rayquaza.

Draconic Ascent is a decent enough recovery, functioning very similarly to Roy's Blazer, except with more distance, more range, and hitbox coverage both sides of him. It can work decently as an out of shield option due to the intangibilty, and can work as a stylish kill move at around 150% or more.

The inputs work in the same way as Yoshi's Egg Throw. Press backwards when ascending to go more vertically and press forwards to go more horizontally. It does it's job well as a recovery, especially when combined with Dragon Lunge.

However, on it's own, the distance is fairly poor and Corrin's recovery is effectively relegated into a bad recovery. Additionally, throwing this move out willy-nilly (which you should never do if you had any idea what you're doing) will lead to you eating a punish.

Down Special: Counter Surge

Frames:
6-7 (Intangibility)
7-24 (Counter Frames)
1-49 (Counter Attack - Intangibilty)
26 (Counter Attack)
27-30 (Counter Attack - Late)

Move Speed: Average
Usefulness/10: 5
Combos from: A read
Combos into: Death
If you either haven't played For Glory since Corrin was released, haven't bought the Corrin DLC, and/or been living under a rock, chances are you will have been on the receiving end of the counter attack. It really is insane.

It's still undoubtedly the best Counter in the game (besides Witch Time), for three reasons:

• The knockback is vertical, making KO percentages completely consistent.
• The range of the attack covers both sides of him. Perfect for 2v1 combos.
• The attack being countered is effectively being avoided by Corrin, so people on the other side will get hit by the original move, and if they're unlucky, the counterattack as well.

"However, if it's the best Counter in the game, why is it so low in usefulness?" I hear you ask.

Well, because it's a counter. All it takes is some careful play, and a bit of baiting to entirely avoid. Deal with the move as you would any other character.

One final tip I'll leave for this though. Don't throw out high damage moves unless you can combo into them. You're just asking to get hit by Counter Surge, which will probably kill you.

If you clicked on this section, uh, I don't know, it's not finished. I'm currently working on something that will actually make sense and not be horrendously misinformed. Lemme go talk to the people at the Corrin discord, as well as labbing a bit more, and I'll see what amazing information I can provide you.

If you clicked on this section, uh, I don't know, it's not finished. I'm currently working on something that will actually make sense and not be horrendously misinformed. Lemme go talk to the people at the Corrin discord, as well as labbing a bit more, and I'll see what amazing information I can provide you.

Finally, a complete section...

So, Corrin is a spacing character. To put it in the shortest way possible, this means he has to be further away from you to deal the most damage and/or be able to kill you. He also relies on building damage with his Yato aerial and tilt combos in order to progress further, as well as being able to utilise his Dragon Lunge and Dragon Fang Shot as options for starting combos or securing a KO.

So, obviously in order to completely annihilate Corrin, we need a character that is/has the following:

• Fast enough and quick enough to get into Corrin's face and out-frame data him.
• Has a fast projectile that can do enough damage to kill Dragon Fang Shot
• Has a really long range in order to prevent Corrin from getting in.
• Has the ability to deal with Dragon Lunge effectively
• Has the ability to give Corrin a horrible time offstage

So...this optimal Corrin counter character would need 's frame data and needles, 's range, 's speed, 's jumps and 's air speed, and 's edgeguarding...Yeah, can go suck it.

Obviously, the above character does not exist, however this imaginary character, who we'll call "Dragonslayer", encompasses pretty much everything that Corrin hates. So, whilst this character may not have existed at all (maybe Brawl Meta Knight), this does encompass the things you can do to annoy the hell out of every Corrin player.

1. Rush him down. If you're too close, there isn't a great deal Corrin can do if you really get in his face aside from chuck out a Nair/Counter and hope for the best. A good rushdown character can really mess Corrin up, especially if they have some method of hindering his approach or counter attack, such as

2. Force him to come to you. If Corrin has to come to you, you'll have to then respond to that by getting up close with him. This can really do him harm if you have a strong close combat option to stop him with. is a good user of this method as he can use Limit Charge to bait the approach, or counter the Dragon Fang Shot with a Blade Beam, and upon forcing the approach, can start a juggle with a down tilt or an up tilt into a few Up Aerials to really ruin your day, or a neutral aerial/back aerial to put you back right to where you started.

3. Punish his Side-B. Mash out of the Pin state and avoid the kick. You can spotdodge the kick, and then punish it on flat stages. Mashing out of the Side-B will give you the opportunity to punish, as well as providing you with additional longeveity due to you taking less damage or avoiding a kill confirm. Alternatively, characters with counters like , , //, , and (as well as and and )

4. Remember that all of his Dragon Fang moves are extensions of his hurtbox. If you have a character with a projectile (a good one, not like 's Gordo) or a disjointed hitbox (a sword for instance, like ), or both (, , and ) and Corrin whiffs a Dragon Fang move, remember that you will have some degree of protection from trading blows, as your hurtbox may not be affected but your opponent's hurtbox might.

5. Bait the counter. Do not throw out strong moves unless you can combo into them. If the Corrin player goes for the counter a few too many times, react and punish accordingly. It's the same as fighting any other character with a counter).

Yeah, I may have told a tiny fib when I said it was complete. A few more tips will be added in the near future. But hopefully these tips are somewhat helpful.

Advanced Techniques
Whatever you guys want.