Kinzer
Mammy
Hello there, Kinzer here.
So if you play Sonic, chances are that dash attack gets a little bit of use from you... or a lot. Either way, I'm sure that you have some things about this move that still elude you, don't you?
No?
Aww c'mon, you're lying! Aren't you curious to know the exact frame advantage or disadvantage for connecting with the attack on shield?
Did you even know that Dash Attack has not one, but two different hitboxes, both dealing different amounts of damage and giving certain amounts of shieldstun?
No matter how much you may know, I encourage you to take a read, you won't regret it I promise!
First, why don't we start off with how to use this move?
On a normal control scheme, you can perform Dash attack by starting a run and then hitting the attack button after. Sonic will curl into ball form; the attack lasts for a while, and Sonic gets carried forward a bit.
But the interesting properties of this attack do not stop there.
Assuming Sonic doesn't connect with the strong attack, the attack will still linger for a bit before Sonic recoils onto his feet. Depending on when you connect with the attack, it will deal varying amounts of damage and knockback, but how much remains constant while taking into consideration the stale move negation.
Still with me? It gets more complicated from here on out...
Allow me to start off slowly and give you some exact number crunches:
Terminology:
What is Frame data?
For those who may not know, a "frame" is one sixtieth of a second. Sixty frames translates to "one second" in real time.
The average reaction time appears to be around 9-11 frames given a certain environment (a gaming tournament) under a certain kind of environmental influence (crowd cheering, external/internal pressure, etc.).
Frame data will tell you how long an animation is, or takes to perform.
What is IASA?
"IASA" is short for "In As Soon As," which a fancy, and easier way to say "this is the frame which 'this' action can be performed." "This" refers to an input, like pressing the attack or special button, tilting or smashing the direction/control stick, and button combinations of that sort.
What is display percentage:
When in a match, your character takes damage for every hit he or she takes. Certain attacks deal a certain amount of damage. Other attacks deal a fraction of a percent. It is difficult to tell exactly how much damage an opponent has, so instead the game, and pretty much everybody else, rounds it off to whichever figure is closer.
To give you an idea of what you can't see, when it says your character has "46%" it could be that your character in reality has "46.32%" or 45.71%." Either way, the display percentage will likely be "46%." The display percentage is a good benchmark on telling you what attacks to look out for, and other things hence forth.
What do you mean "advantage/disadvantage?"
Later on in this guide I'll be mentioning some general, and character specific frame-data crunches. If I tell you "X has a Y frame advantage/disadvantage here," it means how much time a character is stuck in a certain animation. An advantage means the character gets a few extra milliseconds to act, a disadvantage means the character gets punished for either hitting, or being hit, by an attack, for a certain amount of time before the situation (for them) gets reset back to neutral.
What do you mean when you say "from a run?"
Let me get one thing straight, a run doesn't take any amount frames to do or commit to; just the input frame (frame 0). The instant you slam that direction pad left or right, Sonic begins his rush in that direction. Now just one frame after the input frame, Sonic can do a multitude of things. He can cancel his run into a Forward smash, a jump, hit the brakes, and things like that.
To put it another way, of course a run doesn't have a set amount of commitment to it other than in a couple of given situations.
You:
A - Let go of the direction pad.
B - Jump.
C - Run out of ground.
D - Get bored of running around.
Among other things that I will not mention here specifically because that would take me a really long time, and I encourage you to investigate Sonic's options yourself/be creative, plus this isn't exactly the thread/guide for that.
To answer the query, "from a run" means the moment Sonic starts his run, not when he's already running.
Worry not though, I will do my best to mention raw data, and data including the inputs.
Registration frames:
By "registration" I mean the first moment you can input a Dash Attack from a run and get it to come out as a dash attack, and not as a forward smash. That's right, It cannot be done immediately after you start a run, or you may not get what you want.
1 - Sonic starts his run.
2 -
3 -
4 -
5 -
6 -
7 - Dash Attack IASA
From the first frame of input, all the way into the 7th, Sonic will need to commit to his run in order to perform Dash Attack.
If you have already been running, ignore this for the appropriate moment.
Attack Frame Data:
From the moment Sonic goes into his dash attack animation:
Entire attack duration - 43 Frames (49 from a run).
First hitbox comes out on - Frame 4 (10 from a run).
Sonic takes 3 frames to get his hitbox out (9 from a run).
First hitbox ends on - Frame 7 (13 from a run).
First hitbox duration: 4 frames.
Second hitbox comes out on - Frame 8 (14 from a run).
Second hitbox ends on - Frame 24 (30 from a run).
Second hitbox duration - 17 frames.
Time Sonic has a hitbox in his attack - 21 frames.
From frame 25 up until frame 43, Sonic is in ending lag in which he cannot act and is open to counter attack until the 44th frame.
Total amount of end lag - 19 frames.
Total amount of dead frames (Sonic doesn't have a hitbox out in this time) - 22 frames.
What does this tell the mathematically illiterate?
You want me to give you some real-world applications for all these numbers? No problem!
Using dash attack to punish another attack during a run cannot be reacted to by a normal human unless they predicted it. From a run however, it's borderline unpunishable and punuishable (Remember the average reaction time, and how long this move takes to come out from a run?). As a counterattack out of shield, it gets even more finicky, considering that it takes a while for the shield to drop, and different attacks have differing amounts of shieldstun and endlag, which dash attack may or may not be able to punish in that circumstance.
Allow me to give you some food for thought on just what it's like to punish with dash attack out of shield:
Let us say that two Sonics are standing right next to each other. One decides to take a risk and attack with forward smash. The other Sonic puts up his shield for defense from physical harm (grabs would ignore the shield.)
Sonic's forward smash comes out on frame 18.
From the point that forward smash connects, the defending Sonic drops his shield and attempts to counter with dash attack.
Here's what happens:
It takes 8 frames to drop a shield without any kind of interference.
Considering that forward smash delivers shieldstun, it takes the defending Sonic's shield 16 frames to disappear!
However!
Sonic's forward smash has a hefty amount of endlag. I won't tell you exactly how much, but I will say that it is enough for the defending Sonic to punish with a dash attack.
Now let's use another example.
Let us say that two Sonics are standing right next to each other. One decides to take a risk and attack with Homing Attack. The other Sonic puts up his shield for defense from physical harm (grabs would ignore the shield).
Sonic's Homing Attack comes out on...
Well, that's not really important for this example.
41 frames you nitpickers.
... Anyway...
From the point that Homing Attack connects, the defending Sonic drops his shield and attempts to counter with dash attack.
Here's what happens:
It takes 8 frames to drop a shield without any kind of interference.
Considering that Homing Attack delivers shieldstun, it takes the defending Sonic's shield
However!
Sonic's Homing Attack has a hefty amount of endlag. I won't tell you exactly how much, but I will say that it isn't enough for the defending Sonic to punish with a dash attack.
Feeling any deja'vu? Feeling a bit confused?
You're thinking too hard.
Yes, Homing Attack sucks. Yes, it's start-up lag is way beyond easy to react to and punish before it even comes out. Yes, Homing Attack is still pretty laggy no matter what. Certainly though dash attack itself cannot punish it.
Regardless, Sonic can act before he touches the ground from a Homing Attack that hits a shield. This means that he can Spring Jump, he can Spin Dash, he can Spin Charge, he can do an aerial; basically he won't be in enough lag from Homing Attack to punish with dash attack.
Guess what though?
This is where you use your judgment on whether or not the opponent can predict/expect retaliation from dash attack or otherwise. If the real world throws something at you as ridiculous as my last example did, just go with another option. I won't say better, once again that decision falls upon you, but clearly Sonic's Homing Attack has a lot of ways it can be abused.
The dead frames of dash attack can be or can not be deadly. Now that you know the attack lengths/duration/etc., allow me to tell you some more data that I think you will find very useful...
Attack damage:
Strong hit attack damage:
0 prior / No decay - 6%
1 prior - 5%
2 prior - 4%
3 prior - 4%
4 prior - 3%
5 prior - 3%
6 prior - 3%
7 prior - 3%
8 prior - 2%
9 prior / Full decay - 2%
Weak hit attack damage:
0 prior / No decay - 4%
1 prior - 3%
2 prior - 3%
3 prior - 2%
4 prior - 2%
5 prior - 2%
6 prior - 2%
7 prior- 2%
8 prior - 1%
9 prior / Full decay - 1%
What does this tell the mathematically illiterate?
These are the figures you get when you consistently and constantly hit with dash attack. Shield attacks do not register in the stale move negation list, nor attacks that don't hit anything. Display percents will vary from time to time because not only may dash attack not have an exact figure, but other attacks wil lnot have an exact percentage either.
To give you an idea of what I am saying:
A fresh dash attack deals 6% damage. A fresh 1-2-3 jab combo with Sonic deals 7% damage in total. Assuming you hit with both, your opponent should have 13%, although the game is telling you that it did 14% damage.
That's one of the quirks this game has.
Also:
Assuming that you connect with two Dash attacks in a row on the same opponent. Going by my list, your opponent should have 11% but instead has 12%, what's the deal?
Again, that's display percent. Just... What you see is what you get.
Character-specific frame data:
Some things you should know:
The amount of time which the opponent gets stuck in hitstun is constantly +27 frames (in their advantage) when the strong hit of dash attack connects on the first frame.
The reason why follow-ups are possible with dash attack is all entirely dependent on the opposing character and their stats, the percent they are at, the decay of the attack, and when/where the weak hit connects.
The possible/"guaranteed" follow-ups are also at the mercy of the opponents' Directional Influence. Using no DI, the opponent was nowhere near Sonic at the end of his attack after the strong hit IASA connected, however using debug mode to emulate frame-perfect Directional Influence, the opponent ending up right next to Sonic.
More on Weak hit DA as more is discovered. Right now though, it's all good news from here on out.
On shield:
Perfect Shield strong hit frame advantage: -31.
This is the soonest frame strong hit dash attack connects with a shield and gets perfect shielded. This is the absolute most time an opponent will have to punish Sonic, any other instance and there's less time of opportunity for punishment until the weak hit of dash attack comes into play.
Strong hit frame advantage: -28.
This is the soonest frame strong hist dash attack connects with a shield and is not perfect shielded. Any later and there is less opportunity for punishment until the weak hit of dash attack comes into play.
Perfect shield weak hit frame advantage: -28.
This is the soonest frame weak hit dash attack connects with a shield and is perfect shielded. Any later and there is less opportunity for punish until the weak hit dash attack hitbox wears off.
Weak hit frame advantage: -28.
This is the soonest frame weak hit dash attack connects with a shield and is not perfect shielded. Any later and there is less opportunity for punishment until the weak hit dash attack hitbox wears off.
To calculate the frame (dis)advantage for frames not given, consider that the strong hit of dash attack lasts four frames, from 4-7. In this example, add three frames if you want to find out the (dis)advantage for the last frame of strong hit dash attack perfect shielded (28). For weak hit, consider that it lasts 17 frames. subtract 16 to find out the disadvantage for the last frame of weak hit dash attack perfect shielded (12).
Follow-ups:
TBA
Advanced techniques that involve the use of, are related to, or concern dash attack:
TBA
Credits:
TBA
Last words:
If you see anything wrong with this guide, like some data being left out, typed again, incorrect, improperly formatted, or anything else of that matter, please let me know and I will fix it ASAP. The whole point of this guide is to inform and to educate, that goes for the OP too.
Lastly, I want to say that this is your face after you find all the Easter Eggs in this guide and enjoyed them to the point where it made you want to read the whole thing to the end.
... This is the moderators' face after they see that some of the Easter Eggs aren't exactly not-suggestive. I promise there's no nudity though, and if I have to take them out let me know, just please don't I.P. Ban me. I need to be around so I can complete/perfect this guide and help the Sonic community grow. ;_;
