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Know My Power: A Meta Knight Guide by Darth Bane
The other guides on the MK boards are a bit lacking, and don't get updated. So I have decided to create a guide that is better by default, and then update it regularly to make it even better.
Meta Knight is a very good character in Project M. He is considered to be around 5-10 in the PM tiers by many.
If you like
-Fast characters
-Multiple jumps
-Surprise kill moves
-Excellent combos
-Chaingrabs
-Have watched Ken's Marth guide and like the part where he mentions that good dash dances are like skating
-Good edgeguard ability
then Meta Knight might be the character for you.
Meta Knight Data
Something very important to note: Meta Knight's sword has transcendent priority, so all moves using his sword will cut through any attack hitbox. This makes him somewhat more susceptible to projectiles.
Anyway! Onward to the guide!
Moveset Description
Will follow this format:
Move
What it looks like, damage it does
Hitbox frames, cooldown frames
Range (Wack, Fair, Good, Gdlk)
Usage
*if necessary, what it combos into*
Description
*All MK Frame Data has been taken from Sarton’s MK Frame Data thread. Click here for more if you’re interested*
Meta Knight does a series of rapid slashes. 4 hits total. 9% max
Hitboxes on 6-7, 10-11,15-16, and 19-20. Cool down on 20-31.
Range: Wack
Usage: Low to Mid Percent Combo Starter/GTFO move
Combos into: Forward Tilt, Down Smash, IDC, Dash Attack, Grounded Shuttle Loop
Description: This move is alright, it seems useless, but it sets up combos and it has large behind htiboxes towards the end of the move, so it can catch cross up rolls. Unsafe on shield, and poor range, use this move sparingly. Notably, it sets up Grounded Shuttle Loop if the opponent DIs the Jab upward or inward. GSL is a pretty good move, more on that later. It can pretty reliably set up any type of IDC on pretty much any DI, even if they end up behind you.
Up Tilt (Utilt)
Meta Knight leaps upwards and stabs with Galaxia. 6%, 7% if tippered, 8% with the latest tipper hitbox.
Hitboxes on 7-18, cool down 19-27.
Range: Good vertically, wack horizontally.
Usage: Combo Extender/Situational Anti-Air/Floaty KO Option
Combos Into: Nair, Uair, Fair, Bair, GSL, ASL
Description: This move has bad horizontal range, but this is not a move to be used in neutral position. This move is really fantastic as a combo extender. Down air into up tilt at mid/high-ish percents is guaranteed. From there you could up air, nair, bair, and more. This move has situational use as an anti air if the opponent is directly above you. This is also a kill move on floaty characters. The tipper kills Peach on a PS2 platform at 117 (you're under the platform).
Forward Tilt (Ftilt)
Meta Knight slashes inward once. Tap A 2 more times while tilting forward to continue slashing. 4%, then 3% then 4% if tippered, or 5% if base hit connected.
Hitboxes on 3-4, 6-7, and 9-10 (fastest Ftilt combo), cool down 11-40
Range: Gdlk
Usage: Poke/Anti Air/Combo Starter/KO Set Up/Mix Up Move/Hardcore Troll Move
Combos Into: Nair, GSL, ASL
Description: This move has so many uses. The number 1 use is for poking in neutral position. The move has excellent horizontal range. It can also do anti air stuff with the last hit, and it sets up combos if the opponent DIs it inward/upward. If you use the first hit only, if sets up IDC, nair, up smash, GSL, and down smash at high percents (100 and onward). Tipper ftilt1 sets up Forward IDC and nair (the spacing for tipper ftilt is also in range for these, allowing them to connect more easily), close range ftilt1 sets up up smash, down smash, and GSL. Because you can vary the slashes, well spaced ftilts can be excellent for hard core shield pressure trolls. Ftilt3 is very unsafe on shield, even when spaced. If you want to pressure shields with ftilt, use the first hit or the first two hits.
Down Tilt (Dtilt)
Meta Knight thrusts his sword downward. 7% base, 5% tip
Hitboxes on 6-7, cool down 8-28, IASA on 19.
Range: Gdlk
Usage: Poke/Combo Starter
Combos into: GSL, ASL, Up smash, IDC (Fast Fallers only), nair, bair, fair, uair
Description: Down Tilt is great. Its a longer ranged poke than ftilt one or two, and its faster than doing the ftilt combo just to poke with 3. It sets up short sweet combos with the base hits. The IASA on allows MK to pseudo-crawl with down tilt. This move along with ftilt are the cores of MK’s ground game. Most PM MKs don’t use the tilts too much other than for combo set ups, so you won’t find much poke play. However, you will IN BRAWL. Watch one MK match and you will understand why his tilts are so potent. I personally recommend APEX 2013 Nairo vs Otori. Two of the best Brawl MKs, both with two of the best tilt games, and they're both aggressive players, so the set shouldn’t be too boring.
Dash Attack (DA)
Meta Knight lunges forward with a kick. 8% strong 7%, second strongest, 6% third strongest, 3% weakest.
Hitboxes on 4-19, cool down on 20-35.
Range: Gdlk
Usage: Combo Starter/Burst Range Approach Tool/KO Move Set Up
Combos Into: Down Smash, GSL, ASL, Nair
Description: It has extremely good range, since MK is moving nearly the entire time the hitbox is out. The weakest portion sets up nair on floaties around 150% and above. It can set up down smash at earlier percents, as long as its the weakest portion. The strong portion sets up nairs and GSL/ASL at low to mid percents. This is good against the fast fallers and down throw into strong dash attack into FH nair is guaranteed on MK around the 95 to 115 range.
Meta Knight balls himself up and vertically spins forward 3 times, hitting with Galaxia. 12%, 8% or 4%.
Hitboxes on 3-31, cool down 32-55. IASA on 43. Normal Landing Lag is 17, L-Cancelled is 8.
Range: Fair
Usage: Approach Tool/Combo Finisher/Edgeguard Move/Combo Starter
Combos Into: Itself, Down Smash (weak nair), IDC, forward tilt, down tilt, GSL
Description: This was a fantastic move in Brawl. And its arguably better in PM because of the physics. No, this move can't do 19% any more. And its KO power was nerfed. However, considering this move killed at 110 in Brawl, and now it kills around 125%, KO power is not a real problem. It has 3 separate hitboxes, making it absolutely amazing in some matchups where you have to stop the opponent from moving. With Melee physics, you can dash and jump and literally fly around the stage doing SHFFL neutral airs. This move is especially effective when doing cross up nairs on shield. It can combo into itself, down smash (if the weak nair hits at high percents), GSL at low percents, etc.
Up Air (Uair)
Meta Knight looks above him and slashes upwards with Galaxia in a half moon fashion. 6%
Hitboxes on 5-6, cooldown on 7-39, IASA on 23. Normal Landing Lag is 15, L-Cancelled is 8. Can Autocancel.
Range: Good
Usage: Combo Extender/Juggle Move/Anti Air
Combos Into: Itself, nair, bair, fair, double jump dair, IDC, ASL
Description: Fantastic move. Juggles, extends combos, and can even kill floaties around 130 if they're near the blast line. You can SH uair and then waveland out of it, or even abuse the IASA and double uair. Its also a fantastic falling move, since the horizontal range is pretty good. Not really much to say about uair. It doesn't do much but what it does do , it does it extremely well.
Forward Air (Fair)
Meta Knight slashes forward three times with Galaxia. 1st two hits do 3%, last hit does 4%,10% total.
Hitboxes on 6-7,10-11, 13-14, cooldown on 15-46, IASA on 34. Normal Landing Lag is 18, L-Cancelled is 9. Can Autocancel.
Range: Gdlk
Usage: Combo Extender/Wall of Pain/Edgeguard Move
Combos into: Itself/IDC/Nair/Uair
Description: Arguably MK's worst aerial, but its still good. Solid range, damage and speed. You can L-Cancel the first hit (or two) to set up grabs, GSL, smash, ftilt, dtilt, downward IDC, and usmash. In the air, on floaties, this is your main combo extender, since it WoPs really well. It can also set up forward IDCs at mid to high-ish percents if the opponent DIs this upward/inward. This move is easy to CC, so you really shouldn’t be using this against grounded opponents. Sometimes you can abuse the IASA, and if the opponent DIs a certain way, you can get nairs and uairs out of fair in a true combo.
Back Air (Bair)
Meta Knight snaps his sword behind him. 14%
Hitboxes on 10-11, cool down on 12-38, IASA on 36, Normal Land Lag is 16, L-Cancelled is 8, can Autocancel.
Range: Gdlk
Usage: Edgeguard Move/Combo Finisher/Raw Kill Move
Description: This move is very powerful. It can reliably edgeguard and kill as low as 95%. It finishes uair juggles solidly, so if you can't got for the IDC, look for the back air finisher. It is a bit slow, but it is his safest aerial on shield because it does a lot of shield stun. This also tends to nullify crouch cancel attempts since its push back is good.
Down Air (Dair)
MK points sword downward, then falls. Landing hit does 6%, falling hits do 1%. Maximum 10%
Hitboxes on 10-43, cool down on 44-61. Norml Land Lag is 26, L-Cancelled is 13.
Range: Wack hitbox range, but since he can alter his trajectory with a hitbox out, Gdlk
Usage: Combo Extender/Jump Refresher/Combo Starter/Situational Meteor Smash
Combos into: Utilt, GSL, any aerial, up smash, ASL.
Description: This move is insanely good in practice. None of the top level MKs use it other than for movement positioning. You can angle your falling trajectory with down air using the control stick. It is a sick combo extender, that sets up up tilt nearly for free. If you need some horizontal range, just GSL It sets up kill moves too. In some MUs, you can do situational spikes by dair'ing their Up B. If you ledge cancel with it, you regain your jumps and specials, which if mastered, can allow MK to stay airborne forever. Its CC’d fairly easily at low percents, but after 55 its fairly safe to use and will generally beat CCing attempts.
Up Smash (Usmash)
MK slashes upwards 3 times. 1st hit does 4%, 2nd does 3%, 3rd does 5%, total 12%. 16% fully charged.
Hitboxes on 5-6, 9-10 and 14-15. Cooldown on 16-41.
Range: Good vertical range, fair horizontal range
Usage: Fast Faller Combo Starter/Combo Extender
Combos Into: Itself, Utilt, Uair, Nair
Description: This is yoru space animal combo starter. Also does work on other fast fallers. Only problem with this this move is that its easy to SDI, and its a bit laggy and unsafe if you miss. Make sure you connect with your up smashes, and make your follow ups count!
Forward Smash (Fsmash)
MK steps back slightly while pulling Galaxia inward, then steps forward while slashing outward.16%. 22% fully charged
Hitboxes on 20, cool down on 21-41.
Range: Gdlk
Usage: Raw Kill Move/Tech Chase Coverage Move/Microspacing Tool
Description: This move is MK's best smash attack. It has amazing range. It even pulls you back slightly, so you can step outside of the tipper fsmash range for Marth, and then counter with your own fsmash if it is well timed. In some MUs (Kirby for example) the shield push and stun make this move safe on shield. Its ending lag is low enough that you can just throw it out and then dash away to bait stuff. It can hit under the edge. This move solidly beats most CCing, however it is pretty slow start-up wise.
Down Smash (Dsmash)
MK strikes forward then behind him. Both sides 13%. 17% fully charged.
Hitboxes on 4-5, 13-14, cool down on 15-42.
Range: Good
Usage: Combo Finisher/Kill Move/Crouch Cancel Counter/GTFO Move
Description: The first hit is somewhat weak, but lightning quick, so if you use it rarely, you can get kills with it via off DI. The back hit is very powerful, though not quite as strong as forward smash. It is MK's most used anti-crouch cancel move and it does its job fairly well. It can be comboed from weak dash attack/nair/weak hits of fair. Because its so quick, if you feel nervous, you can slam down the cstick. But don't get predictable with this, as this move is nowhere near as spammy as it was in Brawl. The front hit gets CC’d for a bit, but the back hit doesn’t.
MK spins and creates a tornado around himself. You can move around while tornado'ing, and you can go higher by rapidly tapping B. Maximum 15%.
Hitboxes on 9
Range: Fair/Gdlk
Usage: Recovery Move
Description: Use it when recovering high. If you use it for low purposes, you may bump into the stage you might rebound away. CC bait. Very high landing/ending lag.
Up B: Shuttle Loop
Grounded Shuttle Loop (GSL)
MK lunges upwards and enters a glide. 9% main hit, 6% weak leaping hit, 3% initial glide hit.
Hitboxes on 8-12, 22-31.
Range: Gdlk
Usage: Combo Starter/Anti-Air/Raw Kill Move
Combos Into: Glide Attack
Description: GSL is incredible. Thanks to its immense vertical range, it serves as a fantastic anti air move. It combos into the Glair, and it can kill floaties off the PS2 platform under 100. It also is your best Crouch Cancel counter option, one that is criminally underrated.
Aerial Shuttle Loop (ASL)
MK loops upwards and then enters a glide. 9% strong hit, 5% weak hit.
Hitboxes on 8-30
Range: Gdlk
Usage: Combo finisher/Recovery Move
Description: Powerful aerial variant of Shuttle Loop. ASL kills floaties between 75-90% on average. It also has situational combo extending usage on space animals. This move puts you ina glide, so its very good for recovering. While recovering, if you're under the stage, you can reverse ASL and loop right back on stage. You can even space it properly (the spacing is right in front of the stage, but under the ledge) and you can ledge cancel ASL.
Drill Rush
Meta Knight rushes forward while slashing with his sword in a drill fashion. Max 10%
Hitboxes on 21
Range: Good
Usage: Recovery Move/Combo Starter
Description: This move is for when you want to sweetspot the edge and you’re far away. Otherwise I wouldn’t use this move for recovery that much. It also has use with setting up combos at high percents against fast fallers.
Down B: Dimensional Cape
Meta Knight disappears and then reappears in a given direction. You can attack out of it in mid air or cancel the vanish with the C Stick to do a quick hit or by holding A to do a power hit at the end of the move. IDC does 14%, Full DC does 16%.
Hitboxes on IDC=13, Full DC 37
Range: Gdlk
Usage: Combo Finisher/Raw Kill Move/Pressure Tool/Recovery Move
Description: There are three variants to this move so I will explain each one as thoroughly as I can. If you are still confused, I will be linking Oakwood’s Dimensional Cape Guide at the end of this move description.
There are 2 types of DCs and 3 variants for each type. I have named each slash. The Lunge is the forward slash. The Deflect is the retreating slash. And the the standing slash is The Spin. Why did I think of these names? For clarity purposes. Considering just how much you can do with DC, using letters to abbreviate (TFFDC for Turnaround Forward Full Dimensional Cape) was just too confusing and it could intimidate newer players. Turnaround Instant Lunge (TIL), or Turnaround Full Lunge (TFL) is much more understandable.
Anyway, the difference between the two versions of DC is that one is nearly instantaneous in start up (this is the IDC) and it uses the C-Stick. The other one is called the DC (I usually call it the Full DC for clarity) and you either hold A/B to do it, and its much slower but much stronger. You can perform with C-Stick, its just a lot harder in my opinion. Each DC variant has an equal amount of power and knockback.
It is important to know that you can turn around during DC. This complicates things. Sometimes you want to Lunge forward, and you do, but the attack hitbox is behind you. Here is a list of every direction you will face when inputting the turnaround while doing a certain DC.
Lunge: Will strike direction you faced when you initiated Lunge.
Turnaround Lunge: Will strike opposite direction you faced when you initiated Lunge.
Deflect: Will strike direction you faced when you initiated Deflect.
Turnaround Deflect: Will strike opposite direction you faced when you initiated Deflect.
Spin: Will strike direction you faced when you initiated Spin.
Turnaround Spin: Will strike opposite direction you faced when you initiated Spin.
Lunge gains the most range. Deflect gains the least range. Spin moves you slightly forward. Deflect is good for spacing, if you predict the move coming at you. Spin is generally the best OoS DC option since it hits on both sides.
Lunge is probably your best bet for finishing combos since it has so much horizontal range, but all DCs are potent and will kill. Full Lunge/Deflect/Spin will kill Mario under 75 with no DI on Smashville.
While invisible, you can move anywhere. You can get a grab, then tech chase forward, read the roll towards center stage to cross up your assumed Full Lunge, but you come back, and then get them with the Turnaround Full Deflect. You can land on lower set platforms if you angle Full DC a certain way, and you can reach the top of Yoshi’s Story if you Full DC straight up.
If you don’t attack out of DC, you can do aerials from DC if you do it and you end up in the air. If you DC from ground to air, you still have all your specials, air dodge, and your aerials. If you DC from air to air, you only have your aerial attacks.
The Full DC can help you recover. When angled at about 45 degrees, Full Lunge can reach the stage in situations where you’re not under the stage, so you couldn’t reverse ASL.
DC is not all pros. Its extremely unsafe on shield (-40 on block), its laggy if missed, and full DC is extremely slow. Watch your use of the move. If you're still confused on how this move works click here to see Oakwood's DC Guide.
MK reaches forward.
Hitboxes on 7-8, cooldown on 9-30.
Range: Wack (for an attack), Good (for a grab).
Usage: Doing throws
Description: MK’s grab is alright. The throws are the important things.
Dash Grab
MK lunges forward while grabbing.
Hitboxes on 8-9, cool down 10-39.
Range: Good
Usage: Increasing range to grab
Description: Dash grab has nice range, but is 1 frame slower than standing grab, and is a lot laggier as well.
Pivot Grab
MK turns around mid dash to grab.
Hitboxes on 9-10, cooldown 11-5
Range: Good
Usage: Cross up grabs
Description: MK’s cross up grab is particularly good as it has nice range. However it is laggy like its dash grab counterpart. Use these carefully.
Pummel
Meta Knight stabs with a wing claw. 3%
Hitboxes on 4, cool down on 5-23.
Range: Grab
Usage: Extra Damage, Move Refresher
Description: Use pummels plz. Refreshes moves. After about 30%, you can get 1 pummel at least on all but the fastest mashers. MK’s pummel is pretty slow though. So as soon as you pummel, make sure to input your throw ASAP.
Up Throw
MK flies upward with his opponent, then drops down and slams them into the ground. 12%
Hitboxes on 44, cool down 45-72.
Range: Grab
Usage: Juggle Starter, KO Set Up, The OmniGay
Description: This move is used to start juggles on average fallers. It can sometimes kill floaties if they DI upward, but I wouldn’t count on it. You can get a nair on spacies if you DJ twice upward to them around 115-144. If average/FFers DI this away (they go forward) at mid percents, you can get a Lunge DC. This move is weight dependent, so the heavier the character, the more lag you suffer after the throw. You can also do an OmniGay with this on characters with explosives. Grab them while they have an explosive in their hand. Then up throw. Time it so they blow up in the sky. If you have port priority, you will not die, but they will.
Forward Throw
MK backflip kicks his opponent away from him. 9%
Hitboxes on 4, cooldown on 5-27.
Range: Grab
Usage: GTFO/Combo Starter
Description: Kinda useless as a throw on all but floaties. You can follow up with fair if you’re quick. But once again it must be properly spaced so you don’t get combo broken. This move is weight dependent, so the heavier the character, the more lag you suffer after the throw.
Back Throw
MK dissapears, then reappears behind his opponent and slashes their back. 10%
Hitboxes on 14, cooldown on 15-34.
Range: Grab
Usage: Mix up move/Spacie Kill Throw/Edgeguard Set Up
Description: Its an alright mixup. It has the opposite combo DI as down throw, so it serves as a DI mix up trap. It also can set up kills on spacies at 115% and above. This move is weight dependent, so the heavier the character, the more lag you suffer after the throw.
Down Throw
MK stomps his opponent several times, then delivers one strong stomp that knocks away. 8%
Hitboxes on 11-13, 17-19, 23-25, 29-31, 35-37, 49, cooldown on 50-63.
Range: Grab
Usage: Combo Starter/Chaingrab/Tech Chase Move
Combos Into: Itself, Nair, GSL, Dash Attack, IDC, Fair
Description: This move is absolutely. On most DI, at 0, you can get two down throws. Only the best combo DI will escape it. It starts combos, sets up various moves at various percentages, and can even set up kills. On floaties, down throw nair is pretty much always guaranteed. On fast fallers, down throw into dash attack into nair is pretty much guaranteed from 95 to 115-120. On spacies, at 0, if you down throw them and they don’t tech, you can do a weak dash attack and “DA” reset them, forcing them to stand, where you can get another grab. Even moreso it is great for tech chasing. Use down throw. This is your best throw by far. This move is weight dependent, so the heavier the character, the more lag you suffer after the throw.
Backward Roll: Invincible 4-12, cooldown 13-33.
Spotdodge: Invincible 2-18, cooldown 19-31. IASA on 28.
Airdodge: Invincible 4-29, cooldown 30-39.
Jumpsquat: 3 frames.
Short Hop: 32 frames of air time, earliest FF frame 18.
Full Hop: 49 frames of air time, earliest FF frame 26.
Meta Knight is a character that relies on strong fundamentals so you don’t have to be particularly technical to be a successful Meta Knight player. However for those who wish to be frame perfect or have options in certain situations, this is what you have.
Every Meta Knight has their own specific style. WHile every good MK has an amalgam of styles, they all have their distinctive differences in their play that allow us to discern who is playing, and how they’re playing. You can tell the difference between Infinity and Plup’s Meta Knight after watching a few of their matches, even though they play somewhat similarly.
There are 5 general styles that MK can play, and each has its own strengths. The Poker, The Baiter, The Stuffer, The Camper and the Pressurer.
In today’s current Project M 3.02 metagame, most Meta Knight player’s punish games consist of down throw into Lunge, down tilt into nair/bair, or uair into ASL. These short simple punishes are not just a result of 3.02 having several broken characters with overpowering attributes, but our players are rather weak in terms of our punishes. Our punishes are too minimalistic, too safe, too cautious, heck I’d call most of them flat out pathetic. I’m sorry. Its what I really think. Meta Knight is a character that allows very long and deadly combos and strings. The way I see it, down tilt to neutral air is not an acceptable punish, when you could down tilt into uair into ASL into Glair for a 35% start, and your opponent is high in the sky from the ASL or the glair, setting up juggles and potential edgeguard opportunities. I have 3 write ups on punishing each type of character, so check em out dawg.
Vs Fast Fallers-
Vs Average Fallers-
Vs-Floaties-
10/11/14-Original Guide posted.
The other guides on the MK boards are a bit lacking, and don't get updated. So I have decided to create a guide that is better by default, and then update it regularly to make it even better.
Meta Knight is a very good character in Project M. He is considered to be around 5-10 in the PM tiers by many.
If you like
-Fast characters
-Multiple jumps
-Surprise kill moves
-Excellent combos
-Chaingrabs
-Have watched Ken's Marth guide and like the part where he mentions that good dash dances are like skating
-Good edgeguard ability
then Meta Knight might be the character for you.
Meta Knight Data
Meta Knight's traction is higher than average, so his wavedash is rather short, however, short wavedashes are great for microspacing, something a Meta Knight has to be very good with in order to succeed. Meta Knight's dash dance is one of the best in the game. His shield is small, making it susceptible to shield pressure/shield stabbing. Meta Knight can moonwalk, and its decently effective as well. His dash speed is the 4th best. Meta Knight has 4 mid air jumps, allowing him to juggle well, edgeguard well, and avoid being edgeguarded. He is the 6th fastest faller and he is the second lightest character in the game (with a weight value of 70), making him prone to being comboed and killed early. Because he is so light, his fast faller attribute doesn't really help him survive vertical KO moves much better. MK's airspeed is 13th best in the game (he is tied with 9 other characters). MK is the 13th best character at applying dash momentum to his jump (he is tied with 7 other characters). Meta Knight has a 3 frame jump squat, so his wavedash difficult to perform when you're first learning him.
Something very important to note: Meta Knight's sword has transcendent priority, so all moves using his sword will cut through any attack hitbox. This makes him somewhat more susceptible to projectiles.
Anyway! Onward to the guide!
Moveset Description
Will follow this format:
Move
What it looks like, damage it does
Hitbox frames, cooldown frames
Range (Wack, Fair, Good, Gdlk)
Usage
*if necessary, what it combos into*
Description
*All MK Frame Data has been taken from Sarton’s MK Frame Data thread. Click here for more if you’re interested*
Normal Attacks
JabMeta Knight does a series of rapid slashes. 4 hits total. 9% max
Hitboxes on 6-7, 10-11,15-16, and 19-20. Cool down on 20-31.
Range: Wack
Usage: Low to Mid Percent Combo Starter/GTFO move
Combos into: Forward Tilt, Down Smash, IDC, Dash Attack, Grounded Shuttle Loop
Description: This move is alright, it seems useless, but it sets up combos and it has large behind htiboxes towards the end of the move, so it can catch cross up rolls. Unsafe on shield, and poor range, use this move sparingly. Notably, it sets up Grounded Shuttle Loop if the opponent DIs the Jab upward or inward. GSL is a pretty good move, more on that later. It can pretty reliably set up any type of IDC on pretty much any DI, even if they end up behind you.
Up Tilt (Utilt)
Meta Knight leaps upwards and stabs with Galaxia. 6%, 7% if tippered, 8% with the latest tipper hitbox.
Hitboxes on 7-18, cool down 19-27.
Range: Good vertically, wack horizontally.
Usage: Combo Extender/Situational Anti-Air/Floaty KO Option
Combos Into: Nair, Uair, Fair, Bair, GSL, ASL
Description: This move has bad horizontal range, but this is not a move to be used in neutral position. This move is really fantastic as a combo extender. Down air into up tilt at mid/high-ish percents is guaranteed. From there you could up air, nair, bair, and more. This move has situational use as an anti air if the opponent is directly above you. This is also a kill move on floaty characters. The tipper kills Peach on a PS2 platform at 117 (you're under the platform).
Forward Tilt (Ftilt)
Meta Knight slashes inward once. Tap A 2 more times while tilting forward to continue slashing. 4%, then 3% then 4% if tippered, or 5% if base hit connected.
Hitboxes on 3-4, 6-7, and 9-10 (fastest Ftilt combo), cool down 11-40
Range: Gdlk
Usage: Poke/Anti Air/Combo Starter/KO Set Up/Mix Up Move/Hardcore Troll Move
Combos Into: Nair, GSL, ASL
Description: This move has so many uses. The number 1 use is for poking in neutral position. The move has excellent horizontal range. It can also do anti air stuff with the last hit, and it sets up combos if the opponent DIs it inward/upward. If you use the first hit only, if sets up IDC, nair, up smash, GSL, and down smash at high percents (100 and onward). Tipper ftilt1 sets up Forward IDC and nair (the spacing for tipper ftilt is also in range for these, allowing them to connect more easily), close range ftilt1 sets up up smash, down smash, and GSL. Because you can vary the slashes, well spaced ftilts can be excellent for hard core shield pressure trolls. Ftilt3 is very unsafe on shield, even when spaced. If you want to pressure shields with ftilt, use the first hit or the first two hits.
Down Tilt (Dtilt)
Meta Knight thrusts his sword downward. 7% base, 5% tip
Hitboxes on 6-7, cool down 8-28, IASA on 19.
Range: Gdlk
Usage: Poke/Combo Starter
Combos into: GSL, ASL, Up smash, IDC (Fast Fallers only), nair, bair, fair, uair
Description: Down Tilt is great. Its a longer ranged poke than ftilt one or two, and its faster than doing the ftilt combo just to poke with 3. It sets up short sweet combos with the base hits. The IASA on allows MK to pseudo-crawl with down tilt. This move along with ftilt are the cores of MK’s ground game. Most PM MKs don’t use the tilts too much other than for combo set ups, so you won’t find much poke play. However, you will IN BRAWL. Watch one MK match and you will understand why his tilts are so potent. I personally recommend APEX 2013 Nairo vs Otori. Two of the best Brawl MKs, both with two of the best tilt games, and they're both aggressive players, so the set shouldn’t be too boring.
Dash Attack (DA)
Meta Knight lunges forward with a kick. 8% strong 7%, second strongest, 6% third strongest, 3% weakest.
Hitboxes on 4-19, cool down on 20-35.
Range: Gdlk
Usage: Combo Starter/Burst Range Approach Tool/KO Move Set Up
Combos Into: Down Smash, GSL, ASL, Nair
Description: It has extremely good range, since MK is moving nearly the entire time the hitbox is out. The weakest portion sets up nair on floaties around 150% and above. It can set up down smash at earlier percents, as long as its the weakest portion. The strong portion sets up nairs and GSL/ASL at low to mid percents. This is good against the fast fallers and down throw into strong dash attack into FH nair is guaranteed on MK around the 95 to 115 range.
Aerial Attacks
Neutral Air (Nair)
Meta Knight balls himself up and vertically spins forward 3 times, hitting with Galaxia. 12%, 8% or 4%.
Hitboxes on 3-31, cool down 32-55. IASA on 43. Normal Landing Lag is 17, L-Cancelled is 8.
Range: Fair
Usage: Approach Tool/Combo Finisher/Edgeguard Move/Combo Starter
Combos Into: Itself, Down Smash (weak nair), IDC, forward tilt, down tilt, GSL
Description: This was a fantastic move in Brawl. And its arguably better in PM because of the physics. No, this move can't do 19% any more. And its KO power was nerfed. However, considering this move killed at 110 in Brawl, and now it kills around 125%, KO power is not a real problem. It has 3 separate hitboxes, making it absolutely amazing in some matchups where you have to stop the opponent from moving. With Melee physics, you can dash and jump and literally fly around the stage doing SHFFL neutral airs. This move is especially effective when doing cross up nairs on shield. It can combo into itself, down smash (if the weak nair hits at high percents), GSL at low percents, etc.
Up Air (Uair)
Meta Knight looks above him and slashes upwards with Galaxia in a half moon fashion. 6%
Hitboxes on 5-6, cooldown on 7-39, IASA on 23. Normal Landing Lag is 15, L-Cancelled is 8. Can Autocancel.
Range: Good
Usage: Combo Extender/Juggle Move/Anti Air
Combos Into: Itself, nair, bair, fair, double jump dair, IDC, ASL
Description: Fantastic move. Juggles, extends combos, and can even kill floaties around 130 if they're near the blast line. You can SH uair and then waveland out of it, or even abuse the IASA and double uair. Its also a fantastic falling move, since the horizontal range is pretty good. Not really much to say about uair. It doesn't do much but what it does do , it does it extremely well.
Forward Air (Fair)
Meta Knight slashes forward three times with Galaxia. 1st two hits do 3%, last hit does 4%,10% total.
Hitboxes on 6-7,10-11, 13-14, cooldown on 15-46, IASA on 34. Normal Landing Lag is 18, L-Cancelled is 9. Can Autocancel.
Range: Gdlk
Usage: Combo Extender/Wall of Pain/Edgeguard Move
Combos into: Itself/IDC/Nair/Uair
Description: Arguably MK's worst aerial, but its still good. Solid range, damage and speed. You can L-Cancel the first hit (or two) to set up grabs, GSL, smash, ftilt, dtilt, downward IDC, and usmash. In the air, on floaties, this is your main combo extender, since it WoPs really well. It can also set up forward IDCs at mid to high-ish percents if the opponent DIs this upward/inward. This move is easy to CC, so you really shouldn’t be using this against grounded opponents. Sometimes you can abuse the IASA, and if the opponent DIs a certain way, you can get nairs and uairs out of fair in a true combo.
Back Air (Bair)
Meta Knight snaps his sword behind him. 14%
Hitboxes on 10-11, cool down on 12-38, IASA on 36, Normal Land Lag is 16, L-Cancelled is 8, can Autocancel.
Range: Gdlk
Usage: Edgeguard Move/Combo Finisher/Raw Kill Move
Description: This move is very powerful. It can reliably edgeguard and kill as low as 95%. It finishes uair juggles solidly, so if you can't got for the IDC, look for the back air finisher. It is a bit slow, but it is his safest aerial on shield because it does a lot of shield stun. This also tends to nullify crouch cancel attempts since its push back is good.
Down Air (Dair)
MK points sword downward, then falls. Landing hit does 6%, falling hits do 1%. Maximum 10%
Hitboxes on 10-43, cool down on 44-61. Norml Land Lag is 26, L-Cancelled is 13.
Range: Wack hitbox range, but since he can alter his trajectory with a hitbox out, Gdlk
Usage: Combo Extender/Jump Refresher/Combo Starter/Situational Meteor Smash
Combos into: Utilt, GSL, any aerial, up smash, ASL.
Description: This move is insanely good in practice. None of the top level MKs use it other than for movement positioning. You can angle your falling trajectory with down air using the control stick. It is a sick combo extender, that sets up up tilt nearly for free. If you need some horizontal range, just GSL It sets up kill moves too. In some MUs, you can do situational spikes by dair'ing their Up B. If you ledge cancel with it, you regain your jumps and specials, which if mastered, can allow MK to stay airborne forever. Its CC’d fairly easily at low percents, but after 55 its fairly safe to use and will generally beat CCing attempts.
Smash Attacks
Up Smash (Usmash)
MK slashes upwards 3 times. 1st hit does 4%, 2nd does 3%, 3rd does 5%, total 12%. 16% fully charged.
Hitboxes on 5-6, 9-10 and 14-15. Cooldown on 16-41.
Range: Good vertical range, fair horizontal range
Usage: Fast Faller Combo Starter/Combo Extender
Combos Into: Itself, Utilt, Uair, Nair
Description: This is yoru space animal combo starter. Also does work on other fast fallers. Only problem with this this move is that its easy to SDI, and its a bit laggy and unsafe if you miss. Make sure you connect with your up smashes, and make your follow ups count!
Forward Smash (Fsmash)
MK steps back slightly while pulling Galaxia inward, then steps forward while slashing outward.16%. 22% fully charged
Hitboxes on 20, cool down on 21-41.
Range: Gdlk
Usage: Raw Kill Move/Tech Chase Coverage Move/Microspacing Tool
Description: This move is MK's best smash attack. It has amazing range. It even pulls you back slightly, so you can step outside of the tipper fsmash range for Marth, and then counter with your own fsmash if it is well timed. In some MUs (Kirby for example) the shield push and stun make this move safe on shield. Its ending lag is low enough that you can just throw it out and then dash away to bait stuff. It can hit under the edge. This move solidly beats most CCing, however it is pretty slow start-up wise.
Down Smash (Dsmash)
MK strikes forward then behind him. Both sides 13%. 17% fully charged.
Hitboxes on 4-5, 13-14, cool down on 15-42.
Range: Good
Usage: Combo Finisher/Kill Move/Crouch Cancel Counter/GTFO Move
Description: The first hit is somewhat weak, but lightning quick, so if you use it rarely, you can get kills with it via off DI. The back hit is very powerful, though not quite as strong as forward smash. It is MK's most used anti-crouch cancel move and it does its job fairly well. It can be comboed from weak dash attack/nair/weak hits of fair. Because its so quick, if you feel nervous, you can slam down the cstick. But don't get predictable with this, as this move is nowhere near as spammy as it was in Brawl. The front hit gets CC’d for a bit, but the back hit doesn’t.
Special Moves
Neutral B: Mach TornadoMK spins and creates a tornado around himself. You can move around while tornado'ing, and you can go higher by rapidly tapping B. Maximum 15%.
Hitboxes on 9
Range: Fair/Gdlk
Usage: Recovery Move
Description: Use it when recovering high. If you use it for low purposes, you may bump into the stage you might rebound away. CC bait. Very high landing/ending lag.
Up B: Shuttle Loop
Grounded Shuttle Loop (GSL)
MK lunges upwards and enters a glide. 9% main hit, 6% weak leaping hit, 3% initial glide hit.
Hitboxes on 8-12, 22-31.
Range: Gdlk
Usage: Combo Starter/Anti-Air/Raw Kill Move
Combos Into: Glide Attack
Description: GSL is incredible. Thanks to its immense vertical range, it serves as a fantastic anti air move. It combos into the Glair, and it can kill floaties off the PS2 platform under 100. It also is your best Crouch Cancel counter option, one that is criminally underrated.
Aerial Shuttle Loop (ASL)
MK loops upwards and then enters a glide. 9% strong hit, 5% weak hit.
Hitboxes on 8-30
Range: Gdlk
Usage: Combo finisher/Recovery Move
Description: Powerful aerial variant of Shuttle Loop. ASL kills floaties between 75-90% on average. It also has situational combo extending usage on space animals. This move puts you ina glide, so its very good for recovering. While recovering, if you're under the stage, you can reverse ASL and loop right back on stage. You can even space it properly (the spacing is right in front of the stage, but under the ledge) and you can ledge cancel ASL.
Drill Rush
Meta Knight rushes forward while slashing with his sword in a drill fashion. Max 10%
Hitboxes on 21
Range: Good
Usage: Recovery Move/Combo Starter
Description: This move is for when you want to sweetspot the edge and you’re far away. Otherwise I wouldn’t use this move for recovery that much. It also has use with setting up combos at high percents against fast fallers.
Down B: Dimensional Cape
Meta Knight disappears and then reappears in a given direction. You can attack out of it in mid air or cancel the vanish with the C Stick to do a quick hit or by holding A to do a power hit at the end of the move. IDC does 14%, Full DC does 16%.
Hitboxes on IDC=13, Full DC 37
Range: Gdlk
Usage: Combo Finisher/Raw Kill Move/Pressure Tool/Recovery Move
Description: There are three variants to this move so I will explain each one as thoroughly as I can. If you are still confused, I will be linking Oakwood’s Dimensional Cape Guide at the end of this move description.
There are 2 types of DCs and 3 variants for each type. I have named each slash. The Lunge is the forward slash. The Deflect is the retreating slash. And the the standing slash is The Spin. Why did I think of these names? For clarity purposes. Considering just how much you can do with DC, using letters to abbreviate (TFFDC for Turnaround Forward Full Dimensional Cape) was just too confusing and it could intimidate newer players. Turnaround Instant Lunge (TIL), or Turnaround Full Lunge (TFL) is much more understandable.
Anyway, the difference between the two versions of DC is that one is nearly instantaneous in start up (this is the IDC) and it uses the C-Stick. The other one is called the DC (I usually call it the Full DC for clarity) and you either hold A/B to do it, and its much slower but much stronger. You can perform with C-Stick, its just a lot harder in my opinion. Each DC variant has an equal amount of power and knockback.
It is important to know that you can turn around during DC. This complicates things. Sometimes you want to Lunge forward, and you do, but the attack hitbox is behind you. Here is a list of every direction you will face when inputting the turnaround while doing a certain DC.
Lunge: Will strike direction you faced when you initiated Lunge.
Turnaround Lunge: Will strike opposite direction you faced when you initiated Lunge.
Deflect: Will strike direction you faced when you initiated Deflect.
Turnaround Deflect: Will strike opposite direction you faced when you initiated Deflect.
Spin: Will strike direction you faced when you initiated Spin.
Turnaround Spin: Will strike opposite direction you faced when you initiated Spin.
Lunge gains the most range. Deflect gains the least range. Spin moves you slightly forward. Deflect is good for spacing, if you predict the move coming at you. Spin is generally the best OoS DC option since it hits on both sides.
Lunge is probably your best bet for finishing combos since it has so much horizontal range, but all DCs are potent and will kill. Full Lunge/Deflect/Spin will kill Mario under 75 with no DI on Smashville.
While invisible, you can move anywhere. You can get a grab, then tech chase forward, read the roll towards center stage to cross up your assumed Full Lunge, but you come back, and then get them with the Turnaround Full Deflect. You can land on lower set platforms if you angle Full DC a certain way, and you can reach the top of Yoshi’s Story if you Full DC straight up.
If you don’t attack out of DC, you can do aerials from DC if you do it and you end up in the air. If you DC from ground to air, you still have all your specials, air dodge, and your aerials. If you DC from air to air, you only have your aerial attacks.
The Full DC can help you recover. When angled at about 45 degrees, Full Lunge can reach the stage in situations where you’re not under the stage, so you couldn’t reverse ASL.
DC is not all pros. Its extremely unsafe on shield (-40 on block), its laggy if missed, and full DC is extremely slow. Watch your use of the move. If you're still confused on how this move works click here to see Oakwood's DC Guide.
Grabs and Throws
Standing/Walking/Jump Cancelled Grab
MK reaches forward.
Hitboxes on 7-8, cooldown on 9-30.
Range: Wack (for an attack), Good (for a grab).
Usage: Doing throws
Description: MK’s grab is alright. The throws are the important things.
Dash Grab
MK lunges forward while grabbing.
Hitboxes on 8-9, cool down 10-39.
Range: Good
Usage: Increasing range to grab
Description: Dash grab has nice range, but is 1 frame slower than standing grab, and is a lot laggier as well.
Pivot Grab
MK turns around mid dash to grab.
Hitboxes on 9-10, cooldown 11-5
Range: Good
Usage: Cross up grabs
Description: MK’s cross up grab is particularly good as it has nice range. However it is laggy like its dash grab counterpart. Use these carefully.
Pummel
Meta Knight stabs with a wing claw. 3%
Hitboxes on 4, cool down on 5-23.
Range: Grab
Usage: Extra Damage, Move Refresher
Description: Use pummels plz. Refreshes moves. After about 30%, you can get 1 pummel at least on all but the fastest mashers. MK’s pummel is pretty slow though. So as soon as you pummel, make sure to input your throw ASAP.
Up Throw
MK flies upward with his opponent, then drops down and slams them into the ground. 12%
Hitboxes on 44, cool down 45-72.
Range: Grab
Usage: Juggle Starter, KO Set Up, The OmniGay
Description: This move is used to start juggles on average fallers. It can sometimes kill floaties if they DI upward, but I wouldn’t count on it. You can get a nair on spacies if you DJ twice upward to them around 115-144. If average/FFers DI this away (they go forward) at mid percents, you can get a Lunge DC. This move is weight dependent, so the heavier the character, the more lag you suffer after the throw. You can also do an OmniGay with this on characters with explosives. Grab them while they have an explosive in their hand. Then up throw. Time it so they blow up in the sky. If you have port priority, you will not die, but they will.
Forward Throw
MK backflip kicks his opponent away from him. 9%
Hitboxes on 4, cooldown on 5-27.
Range: Grab
Usage: GTFO/Combo Starter
Description: Kinda useless as a throw on all but floaties. You can follow up with fair if you’re quick. But once again it must be properly spaced so you don’t get combo broken. This move is weight dependent, so the heavier the character, the more lag you suffer after the throw.
Back Throw
MK dissapears, then reappears behind his opponent and slashes their back. 10%
Hitboxes on 14, cooldown on 15-34.
Range: Grab
Usage: Mix up move/Spacie Kill Throw/Edgeguard Set Up
Description: Its an alright mixup. It has the opposite combo DI as down throw, so it serves as a DI mix up trap. It also can set up kills on spacies at 115% and above. This move is weight dependent, so the heavier the character, the more lag you suffer after the throw.
Down Throw
MK stomps his opponent several times, then delivers one strong stomp that knocks away. 8%
Hitboxes on 11-13, 17-19, 23-25, 29-31, 35-37, 49, cooldown on 50-63.
Range: Grab
Usage: Combo Starter/Chaingrab/Tech Chase Move
Combos Into: Itself, Nair, GSL, Dash Attack, IDC, Fair
Description: This move is absolutely. On most DI, at 0, you can get two down throws. Only the best combo DI will escape it. It starts combos, sets up various moves at various percentages, and can even set up kills. On floaties, down throw nair is pretty much always guaranteed. On fast fallers, down throw into dash attack into nair is pretty much guaranteed from 95 to 115-120. On spacies, at 0, if you down throw them and they don’t tech, you can do a weak dash attack and “DA” reset them, forcing them to stand, where you can get another grab. Even moreso it is great for tech chasing. Use down throw. This is your best throw by far. This move is weight dependent, so the heavier the character, the more lag you suffer after the throw.
Other Frame Data
Forward Roll: Invincible 5-13, cooldown 14-27.Backward Roll: Invincible 4-12, cooldown 13-33.
Spotdodge: Invincible 2-18, cooldown 19-31. IASA on 28.
Airdodge: Invincible 4-29, cooldown 30-39.
Jumpsquat: 3 frames.
Short Hop: 32 frames of air time, earliest FF frame 18.
Full Hop: 49 frames of air time, earliest FF frame 26.
Advanced Techniques
Meta Knight is a character that relies on strong fundamentals so you don’t have to be particularly technical to be a successful Meta Knight player. However for those who wish to be frame perfect or have options in certain situations, this is what you have.
Glide Cancelling
How To Perform: Up B, then tap B. You will do the loop, then fall in helplessness. You can FF this as well.
Use: Stops your glide, but unlike Brawl, you retain your forward momentum. So you’ll fall slightly forward. Be careful when using this around the edge.
Ledge Dashing
How to Perform: Drop off ledge, double jump back on and waveland on stage (angle control stick diagonally downward towards stage and Press L or R at the same time).
Use: Allow you to get off ledge and do invincible attacks. Frame perfect ledgedashes leave you with 10 frames of invincibility. Instant dash attacks, ftilts and down smashes are easy. Down tilt, up tilt and up smash require some timing. SH Nair, IDC, and GSL require you to be nearly frame perfect. SH Fair requires you to be frame perfect.
MK’s ledge dash is good enough to a point where he has a Haxdash that is invincible for 24 out of the 25 frames that it requires to do a frame perfect one. A Haxdash (the name coined by Melee player Hax who used to do it with his Falcon) is performed by dropping down, jumping up and holding slightly towards stage, then wavedashing down and slightly away from stage and then you grab the edge around frame 25.
Boost Grabbing
How To Perform: Initiate a dash, press A then within 3 frames press your grab button.
Use: Increases the range of your dash grab (and subsequently your burst range) significantly. A good way to know whether you Boost Grabbed properly is if you heard the dash attack soundclip. If you heard it, but you did a grab, you Boost Grabbed successfully. If you didn’t you did the grab input too slow, didn’t input the dash attack, or you may be hard of hearing.
Edge Cancelling
How To Perform: Space yourself so when you move and stop, you stop at the edge and start your teetering animation. If you have edge cancelled properly you regain your mid air jumps and all specials.
Use: Allows you to have no lag on certain actions. You can edge cancel down air and thus have a method to stall the air indefinitely. Edge cancelling is also a pretty flashy technique. Edge cancelling your glide attack gives it huge combo potential, as it is suddenly has zero ending/landing lag. If you Shuttle Loop and don’t glide cancel, you can edge cancel your faceplant slide and have no lag as well. A cool little mixup.
Zero Lag Glide
How To Perform: Cancel your glide while extremely close to the ground (when you’re almost about to land) with B.
Use: You don’t have a laggy land from glide animation now. You can do anything from this.
Moonwalk
How To Perform: Method 1: Dash then do a half circle back with the control stick. You will dash and then slide backwards a little.
Method 2: Hold Attack Button, then do the moonwalk input, then tap the C-Stick in opposite direction of control stick in a certain rhythm. MK’s rhythm is pretty easy to get down after a bit of practice.
Usage: Method one is more practical. Sometimes when pressuring opponents, you can walk up to them then dash away and do the moonwalk input, and they’ll probably do a SHFFL aerial/shieldgrab/Up B OoS and you can slide back to them and get the grab. And we know MK gets a lot off his grabs. I use Method 2 when I feel like moonwalking all the way across FD, but Method 1 has more practicality. Walking before you moonwalk makes it easier to moonwalk. Same with dashing one direction, enter your run, then doing the turnaround, and then inputting another dash in the original direction you dashed in, and then you input the moonwalk while you’re still in the dash animation. The tech is not exactly a necessary tech to use, but its flashy and it makes you feel awesome when you incorporate it into your play.
Oaken Reversal
How To Perform
IDC Version: Down B, then C stick front/back/down, then tap control stick in the opposite direction of Cstick tap.
Full DC Version: Down B, hold A/B, when attack comes out tap opposite direction.
Use: Allows you to do cross up Capes, and has some usage with edgeguarding certain recoveries. You can also Oaken Reversal without using an attack, just tap opposite direction once you reappear.
How To Perform: Up B, then tap B. You will do the loop, then fall in helplessness. You can FF this as well.
Use: Stops your glide, but unlike Brawl, you retain your forward momentum. So you’ll fall slightly forward. Be careful when using this around the edge.
Ledge Dashing
How to Perform: Drop off ledge, double jump back on and waveland on stage (angle control stick diagonally downward towards stage and Press L or R at the same time).
Use: Allow you to get off ledge and do invincible attacks. Frame perfect ledgedashes leave you with 10 frames of invincibility. Instant dash attacks, ftilts and down smashes are easy. Down tilt, up tilt and up smash require some timing. SH Nair, IDC, and GSL require you to be nearly frame perfect. SH Fair requires you to be frame perfect.
MK’s ledge dash is good enough to a point where he has a Haxdash that is invincible for 24 out of the 25 frames that it requires to do a frame perfect one. A Haxdash (the name coined by Melee player Hax who used to do it with his Falcon) is performed by dropping down, jumping up and holding slightly towards stage, then wavedashing down and slightly away from stage and then you grab the edge around frame 25.
Boost Grabbing
How To Perform: Initiate a dash, press A then within 3 frames press your grab button.
Use: Increases the range of your dash grab (and subsequently your burst range) significantly. A good way to know whether you Boost Grabbed properly is if you heard the dash attack soundclip. If you heard it, but you did a grab, you Boost Grabbed successfully. If you didn’t you did the grab input too slow, didn’t input the dash attack, or you may be hard of hearing.
Edge Cancelling
How To Perform: Space yourself so when you move and stop, you stop at the edge and start your teetering animation. If you have edge cancelled properly you regain your mid air jumps and all specials.
Use: Allows you to have no lag on certain actions. You can edge cancel down air and thus have a method to stall the air indefinitely. Edge cancelling is also a pretty flashy technique. Edge cancelling your glide attack gives it huge combo potential, as it is suddenly has zero ending/landing lag. If you Shuttle Loop and don’t glide cancel, you can edge cancel your faceplant slide and have no lag as well. A cool little mixup.
Zero Lag Glide
How To Perform: Cancel your glide while extremely close to the ground (when you’re almost about to land) with B.
Use: You don’t have a laggy land from glide animation now. You can do anything from this.
Moonwalk
How To Perform: Method 1: Dash then do a half circle back with the control stick. You will dash and then slide backwards a little.
Method 2: Hold Attack Button, then do the moonwalk input, then tap the C-Stick in opposite direction of control stick in a certain rhythm. MK’s rhythm is pretty easy to get down after a bit of practice.
Usage: Method one is more practical. Sometimes when pressuring opponents, you can walk up to them then dash away and do the moonwalk input, and they’ll probably do a SHFFL aerial/shieldgrab/Up B OoS and you can slide back to them and get the grab. And we know MK gets a lot off his grabs. I use Method 2 when I feel like moonwalking all the way across FD, but Method 1 has more practicality. Walking before you moonwalk makes it easier to moonwalk. Same with dashing one direction, enter your run, then doing the turnaround, and then inputting another dash in the original direction you dashed in, and then you input the moonwalk while you’re still in the dash animation. The tech is not exactly a necessary tech to use, but its flashy and it makes you feel awesome when you incorporate it into your play.
Oaken Reversal
How To Perform
IDC Version: Down B, then C stick front/back/down, then tap control stick in the opposite direction of Cstick tap.
Full DC Version: Down B, hold A/B, when attack comes out tap opposite direction.
Use: Allows you to do cross up Capes, and has some usage with edgeguarding certain recoveries. You can also Oaken Reversal without using an attack, just tap opposite direction once you reappear.
The Neutral Game
Meta Knight’s general neutral game consists of four things. Using dash dances to force commitments to punish with Boost Grabs, dash SHFFL nair, and RAR bairs. These four basic tools are what MK uses to get in. Now how one uses these moves to get in? This is where styles come into play. Styles are mindsets that the player and the opponents use to play neutral. Having a strong punish game via working off grabs is not a style, it is a virtue. Playing neutral using lots of dash dances, wavedashes and boost grabs is a style. There are 5 general styles that MK can play, and each has its own strengths.
Every Meta Knight has their own specific style. WHile every good MK has an amalgam of styles, they all have their distinctive differences in their play that allow us to discern who is playing, and how they’re playing. You can tell the difference between Infinity and Plup’s Meta Knight after watching a few of their matches, even though they play somewhat similarly.
There are 5 general styles that MK can play, and each has its own strengths. The Poker, The Baiter, The Stuffer, The Camper and the Pressurer.
The Poker is arguably the most defensive style of Meta Knight. The Poker will make optimal use of MK’s great disjointed range, high speed, transcendent tilts, forward and down smashes, fairs and bairs. He or she would also make use of Deflect DC and wavedashes back and forth to constantly readjust spacing. The Poker will be using these moves to attack at different angles, but staying generally grounded. I have also read up on concepts from Brawl and some Melee about overspacing. Overspacing is throwing out hitboxes to the point where they’re not hitting, but they’re close to hitting. This catches impatient opponents who want to rush in, and it also catches opponents stuck in their shield looking to perform an OoS option. This is particularly good with forward air and nair, as they have several hitboxes. You can mix up both tilts and aerials to overspace and bait out This style is very reliant on precise spacing. One error in your spacing and you could be punished hard. Poker MKs need fast reaction speed. They need to be able to not just powershield projectiles to reach that optimal tilt range, but they need to be able to powershield attacks as well, so they can counter with ftilts that can’t be CC’d (as the opponent is still suffering lag). They need good movement, make smart use of wavedashes, approaching and retreating dash dances, and dash pivots. The third skill they need to follow up with is knowledge of how to follow up after a tilt combo. Defensive styles are not all about keep away. You’re playing neutral game defensively. Your punish game should be as safe, but aggressive as possible. EMP|P4K|Mew2King is a defensive player in neutral, but his punishes are wildly aggressive (and safe, because he is nearly frame perfect). When playing this style, make sure your punishes are strong.
Plup, one of our best Meta Knights, has adopted this style, but has his own specialized variant of it, which is slightly more aggressive and aerial based, using well spaced bairs and cross up nairs to great effect.
Plup, one of our best Meta Knights, has adopted this style, but has his own specialized variant of it, which is slightly more aggressive and aerial based, using well spaced bairs and cross up nairs to great effect.
Have you ever seen GFs of Genesis 2 Mango vs Armada Game 1? At one point Mango Dash Danced and forced Armada to commit to two safe options, which Mango DD’d away from, and then Mango mentally said to Armada, “You will do a dash attack because that move has range and SHFFL nair doesn’t”, and Armada was like “Yeah sure man, MangoNation amirite?”, and Armada did just what Mango told him, and Mango punished him with a grab into up throw up air. That clip is literally this style in a nutshell. The epitome of this style. Getting grabs/running up smashes/dash attacks and working off these three moves is very crucial. For this style to be effective, you need a fast reaction time, this way your dash dance can be a lot better. You also need fantastic movement. You should be extremely comfortable doing all of MK’s advanced techs and movement tricksies. You need to know what moves are truly safe and what moves appear to be safe but really are not safe. Like you need to know that when Falco shines in place and then fadeaway with SHFFL dair, you need to know thats pretty much safe unless you narrowly avoided the shine at first. And third, you need to be able to gain huge punishes off dash attack, grab, and up smash. No excuse. You need this. Infinity, another one of our top Meta Knight’s has adopted this style and uses it to great effect.
The most aggressive Meta Knight style by far. The Stuffer takes advantage of several MK attributes. First and foremost, he or she abuses the insane speed that MK has. He or she is constantly in your face, applying offensive momentum. The Stuffer also abuses the transcendent priority of Meta Knight’s moves. This allows him or her to rip through the moves of the opponent without fear of taking trades, especially if the spacing is on point. The stuffer is putting hitboxes out at every escape option, and forcing the opponent into a corner where they have limited, predictable escape routes. These are easy reads. The Stuffer cannot neglect spacing. He or she spaces Meta Knight’s moves so they’re always putting the opponent in danger, but their never in immediate danger. The Stuffer has to be good at things. The first one is spacing. Good spacing will help you in every style, but offensively spacing can be used so your opponent’s approaches and offensive attempts get beaten out. The Stuffer has to be good at reading. They cannot make mistakes with their reads. They have to have the appropriate hitbox to cover the option that they are reading, or they can use one move to cover multiple options at once. They need to be able to download a players habits by start of Game 2, preferably during the match of Game 1. Lastly, he or she needs to understand the concept of maintaining momentum. The worst thing for a highly aggressive player is to lose momentum. You need to maintain it, whether that is by hitconfirms, positional advantage or stage advantage. AZHP|K9sbruce and CT|UGC|NME Tyrant play a lot like this.
This is something I thought a long time about, as the entire style revolves around being able to do a certain tech consistently. However, edge cancelling is pretty easy once you get the spacing for it, and enough of our MKs utilize it in their play that I consider it a style. As I said earlier, the key to this style is edge cancelling. The moves you want to edge cancel with the most are down air, IDC, and Drill Rush. Down air is the most variable since you can angle it a multitude of ways. Edge cancelling restores your jumps and aerials, so you can reliably air camp. This means you can now compete with dangerous air campers such as Wario and Jigglypuff in the air if you don’t want to stay grounded. However on stages with little platforms, such as Smashville and Final Destination, the style gets considerably weaker. However there are plenty of platform stages to choose from. You have Skyworld, Dreamland 64, Pokemon Stadium 2, Battlefield, Fountain of Dreams, Yoshi’s Story, etc. Find something you like and play it. This style can not really stand on its own, so you should likely find another style alongside it and utilize both. FS|GuruKid uses this style alongside the Pressurer style, more on that below.
I thought about this as well, but this has more merit than a style solely based on edge cancelling ability. FS|GuruKid is practically the only Meta Knight to use this style, and its extremely risky, but its actually very powerful. GuruKid is pretty good too, and I have a lot of respect for him. The way I look at it, its a conditioning style.
Conditioning is a mindgame used by players to do something predictable in X situation every time. The opponent gets used to this and starts punishing accordingly. Even when they’re getting punished for it, they still do it. Then they mix it up, throwing the opponent off guard and getting sneaky kills/combo starters.
One of the greatest conditions I have seen was in Brawl, APEX 2013, Loser Semis Nairo vs Otori, where second stock, Otori held up his shield near the ledge while attempting to edgeguard Nairo. Nairo naired his shield, which Otori powershielded. Otori then did a retreating SH nair OoS, looking to be safe, but it was purposely improperly spaced (he did not pull back all the way) so Nairo was actually able to powershield Otori’s nair and get in his own SH Nair OoS before Otori was able to powershield in time. Then at 26:10, last stock, both at lethal percentages, Otori is edgeguarding Nairo and he holds his shield up again. Nairo does not fall for this. He air dodges in and shields, because he is at 146% and is afraid of getting KOed. Otori knows this and he retreating SH nairs OoS, but this time he actually pulled back all the way, instead of doing it halfway like he did earlier, and he landed in a safe spot where he could punish any OoS option with down smash. Nairo took the bait and SH naired OoS. Otori was able to powershield, and shield drop down smash to kill Nairo. That sequence of events is a successful condition, and because of this, Nairo broke down mentally and did not stand a chance in Game 5.
That is what this style is all about. You’re looking to use your quick moves to force shield habits. You will be using cross up nairs. Run past shield SHFFL back airs. RAR bairs. Cross up dash attacks. Ftilt pokes (1 or 1 and 2, not the complete combo). Random Lunges. Movement. Very fast movement in front and behind their shields. Dairs angled for the head of the character, so you cross up. Throw off their timing. Then once you have forced them to habitually shield, grab. This conditioning is basically getting people to shield. People shield when they’re scared, when they’re at high percents, or when they’re confident that you’ll come in with an attack. Guess what beats shield? Grabs. This style is a bit different from The Baiter because The Baiter uses movement to force committed actions and weave in and out of burst spacing ranges of the opponent, and punishes with grab/dash attack/running up smash, while the Pressurer uses attacks to force shields up and then grabs. You can combine these two styles as GuruKid has, and you will have strong results. To be good at the Pressurer style, you need to be good at 3 things. You need to have a great sense of how to cross up with moves. Learn the spacing for each MU and learn the spacing for OoS options, so you can learn when you can safely cross up, and how risky is it when you do cross up. You also need to use grabs sparingly. Using a ton of grabs conditions the opponent that you will use grab as your main punish starter, and they will start spotdodging or using movement to avoid grabs. Thats not what we want. The last thing is that you need to moreso learn how to convert off each grab, because unlike the Baiter, The Pressurer uses grabs for starters. You need to maximize your punish. Down throw Lunge is an alright punish, but down throw GSL guarantees at least 30 percent at low to mid percentages, and it sets up other things if you get the glide attack follow up and even more stuff if you edge cancel it.
Conditioning is a mindgame used by players to do something predictable in X situation every time. The opponent gets used to this and starts punishing accordingly. Even when they’re getting punished for it, they still do it. Then they mix it up, throwing the opponent off guard and getting sneaky kills/combo starters.
One of the greatest conditions I have seen was in Brawl, APEX 2013, Loser Semis Nairo vs Otori, where second stock, Otori held up his shield near the ledge while attempting to edgeguard Nairo. Nairo naired his shield, which Otori powershielded. Otori then did a retreating SH nair OoS, looking to be safe, but it was purposely improperly spaced (he did not pull back all the way) so Nairo was actually able to powershield Otori’s nair and get in his own SH Nair OoS before Otori was able to powershield in time. Then at 26:10, last stock, both at lethal percentages, Otori is edgeguarding Nairo and he holds his shield up again. Nairo does not fall for this. He air dodges in and shields, because he is at 146% and is afraid of getting KOed. Otori knows this and he retreating SH nairs OoS, but this time he actually pulled back all the way, instead of doing it halfway like he did earlier, and he landed in a safe spot where he could punish any OoS option with down smash. Nairo took the bait and SH naired OoS. Otori was able to powershield, and shield drop down smash to kill Nairo. That sequence of events is a successful condition, and because of this, Nairo broke down mentally and did not stand a chance in Game 5.
That is what this style is all about. You’re looking to use your quick moves to force shield habits. You will be using cross up nairs. Run past shield SHFFL back airs. RAR bairs. Cross up dash attacks. Ftilt pokes (1 or 1 and 2, not the complete combo). Random Lunges. Movement. Very fast movement in front and behind their shields. Dairs angled for the head of the character, so you cross up. Throw off their timing. Then once you have forced them to habitually shield, grab. This conditioning is basically getting people to shield. People shield when they’re scared, when they’re at high percents, or when they’re confident that you’ll come in with an attack. Guess what beats shield? Grabs. This style is a bit different from The Baiter because The Baiter uses movement to force committed actions and weave in and out of burst spacing ranges of the opponent, and punishes with grab/dash attack/running up smash, while the Pressurer uses attacks to force shields up and then grabs. You can combine these two styles as GuruKid has, and you will have strong results. To be good at the Pressurer style, you need to be good at 3 things. You need to have a great sense of how to cross up with moves. Learn the spacing for each MU and learn the spacing for OoS options, so you can learn when you can safely cross up, and how risky is it when you do cross up. You also need to use grabs sparingly. Using a ton of grabs conditions the opponent that you will use grab as your main punish starter, and they will start spotdodging or using movement to avoid grabs. Thats not what we want. The last thing is that you need to moreso learn how to convert off each grab, because unlike the Baiter, The Pressurer uses grabs for starters. You need to maximize your punish. Down throw Lunge is an alright punish, but down throw GSL guarantees at least 30 percent at low to mid percentages, and it sets up other things if you get the glide attack follow up and even more stuff if you edge cancel it.
The Punish Game
In today’s current Project M 3.02 metagame, most Meta Knight player’s punish games consist of down throw into Lunge, down tilt into nair/bair, or uair into ASL. These short simple punishes are not just a result of 3.02 having several broken characters with overpowering attributes, but our players are rather weak in terms of our punishes. Our punishes are too minimalistic, too safe, too cautious, heck I’d call most of them flat out pathetic. I’m sorry. Its what I really think. Meta Knight is a character that allows very long and deadly combos and strings. The way I see it, down tilt to neutral air is not an acceptable punish, when you could down tilt into uair into ASL into Glair for a 35% start, and your opponent is high in the sky from the ASL or the glair, setting up juggles and potential edgeguard opportunities. I have 3 write ups on punishing each type of character, so check em out dawg.
Vs Fast Fallers-
Meta Knight has a variety of great punishes on fast fallers. Up Smash into up air at 0% is guaranteed on every fastfaller. You can follow up the uair with a nair to get a quick 30%. Everyone but Wolf/Falco/Falcon/Fox, you can down throw Lunge for a quick 22% if you’re looking for minimalistic stuff as well. On spacies+Falcon, you can down tilt, wait a little bit, then Lunge or SH Spin and kill them at high percentages (110 and above). Ftiilt to nair/uair/fair/GSL/SH ASLis a combo if they DI inward or upward at low to mid percents. Down air to up tilt becomes incredible for extending combos. If they DI away to avoid the up tilt, you could wavedash in their direction and up tilt, or dash GSL, or even dash up smash to continue the combo. You don’t always have to follow up with the combo extenders. Sometimes jump up and just Lunge or Spin. It’ll catch them offguard doing combo DI (which is the opposite of survival DI) and they’ll fly really far away from the stage if its at 85-90% or so. You can combo things from jab, but if they SDI it you won’t get much. On spacies and Falcon, you can up smash about 3 times and it will true combo. If you think your opponent will SDI the up smash, do what I do, dash (go into first few frames of run as well) crouch (that is what the run is for, since I cannot crouch during my dash) up tilt. It ruins SDI attempts since it is a single hit. GSL also works too and is probably easier than my method, but my method works wonders when its pulled off. If you down tilt at mid-high percents and they pop up, fsmash right before they land. If they don’t tech, they’ll literally die. Fsmash is fast enough that if they tech roll away, you can dash out of harms way. Make sure that your up air juggles do lots of damage and convert into high power finishers. I wouldn’t advise fair usage against FFers, they fall too fast for WoPs to work effectively, and considering MK’s fair is not the greatest thing for WoPing in general, its just not worth the effort. Dash Attack becomes a decent starter as well at mid high percents and sets up various aerials.
Vs Average Fallers-
These guys require Meta Knight to work harder to combo. Hit confirms are not all you need to combo these guys. You also need appropriate spacing on several key moves here so you don’t get randomly combo broken. Dash attack has use at mid percents as a pop up move into nair and ASL or up air. Down air to up smash, up tilt or GSL is still just as reliable for extending, but up smash is still easy to SDI and up tilt still has bad horizontal range, and GSL kinda forces you to end the combo right there. Forward air gets more viable, as they don’t fall as fast. Last hit of fair to IDC is a true combo around mid percents, its a nice edgeguard combo if you need it. Edge cancelled glair is not as viable against these guys, as they go up higher from it even at low percents. Overall, your best combo tools here are up air, forward air, down throw and down air.
Vs-Floaties-
Ok guys, floaties can get comboed. There is no reason why nearly all our MKs are doing dtilt nair punishes only, and doing it 8 times until say, Mewtwo dies. If anything floaties are pretty easy to combo at low percentages. If you watch AZHP|K9sbruce’s performances at LTC2, you would have probably seen his Losers Quarters match with Kaos. In Game 4, K9 did this absolutely visceral combo on Kao’s Mewtwo, using true combos and great positioning to acheive this, that took Kaos from 0 to 65 in about 3 seconds. It was down throw nair up tilt into FH uair into DJ uair into bair (this was the end of the combo, but K9 was not done yet) and then Turnaround Full Deflect (K9 followed up with this move because he had great positional advantage. He would not have been punished properly even if he missed). He also had several other nice punishes in that set. This is why I think that out of all the MKs, Mr. Bruce has the best punish game. Anyway, fair is great on floaties, and you can successfully WoP a floaty. Up Air is good until about 85%, and then its too strong for follow ups. Ftilts to spaced aerial attacks are nice. Down Throw into nair is pretty much guaranteed on every floaty. If they DI upward or inward, down throw ASL or up air are guaranteed. Steer clear of every other throw. Down throw is the only throw you want to use here. Down tilt sets up its usual stuff, up air has the most potential for the strongest punish, so I’d advise using uair the most. However, at kill percentages, do not hesitate to go down tilt into nair or bair. A lot of floaty combos involve getting a hit confirm, reading the combo breaker hit (so you wait a second) and space yourself so you don’t get clocked, then following up with another hit.
Recovering Back On Stage
MK’s recovery is pretty simple. Use your jumps to weave around the edgeguarder. Drill Rush for the ledge sweetspot. Reverse ASL when you’re under the stage. DC when you want to mix up the ledge, Mach Tornado for the high recovery. A mix up is DCing, then angling down air to fall down. But this is punishable, which is why it is only a mix up. Another mix up is using all your jumps to get near the stage, then Instant Lunging, catching the edgeguarder off guard.
The End
As of 10/11/14, this guide is complete. But it will be updated as time goes on, and it will be revamped once 3.5 releases as well.
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