S-Critical
Smash Cadet
Project no.19: More applications to Fox’s Auto Canceled Uair
Provided by the Fox Discord Lab Team
Provided by the Fox Discord Lab Team
IMPORTANT NOTE: Please be aware that there are hyperlinks to examples and demonstrations for visualisation purposes, so be sure to click on them!
Introduction
One of the reasons why Fox’s uair can arguably be considered as one of the best in the game is that it has a good auto cancel window. It can auto cancel from frames 1-8 and after frame 25 until the first actionable frame (FAF) (36). Fox can do AC Uair simply by performing a buffered short hop (SH) Uair. It is one of the main reasons why tilt stick is highly recommended. Other uses involve sharking opponents (to hit an opponent from a platform above you) and to do Uair strings, which can deal a large amount of damage, knowing the fact that it does 16% by itself.
In this lab project, we show more situations in which AC Uair can be used, and can potentially do more than just damage to your opponent…
Using FH Uair on platforms
On any stage with platforms, Fox is able to AC Uair on platforms above him by performing a buffered FH Uair instead of a SH Uair, which can open up to more devastating combos and kills at the right opportunity.
Uair strings
To begin with, by using FH Uair, you can actually string Uairs together a lot better than using SH uair. What Foxes typically do is SH Uair>Double Jump (DJ) Uair>DJ Uair with the assist of platforms. However, because the DJ Uairs are not buffered, they actually tend to take longer to string together, making the percent range in which they can true combo into each other a lot smaller than what it can potentially be. When using FH Uair, almost all of your Uairs will (well, should) be buffered, and can true combo into each other better. Here is an example:
Uair strings using FH Uair>SH Uair>DJ Uair
Uair strings using SH Uair>FH Uair>DJ Uair
Uair strings using SH Uair>DJ Uair>DJ Uair
Note: Be aware that, in the 1st and 2nd example, the first 2 Uairs were buffered. In the 3rd example, only the 1st Uair was buffered
We found that, by doing either FH Uair>SH Uair or by doing SH Uair>FH Uair, the 2nd Uair would hit Pit 51 frames after the first Uair hit, compared to the 55-60 frames it would take for SH Uair>DJ Uair to connect. We also found that, if you were to try and get a 3rd Uair, it would take roughly 10-12 frames later to get it if you were to do SH Uair>DJ Uair>DJ Uair compared to the other two. Therefore, FH Uair is better at stringing them together, and the percent range in which Uair>Uair is true using a FH Uair>Uair on platforms instead of SH Uair>Uair is much larger. At higher percentages, Uair>DJ Uair is necessary to combo into each other.
Uair>Uair kill confirms
Because it takes less time to connect a second Uair, as well as Fox being higher on the ground, Uair>Uair is true at percentages in which it can kill, and it can kill quite early compared to Fox’s usual kill confirms. You can do this both on platforms.
When doing Uair>Uair on platforms that move side to side, like the Smashville and Town & City platforms, you have to drift backwards after landing the first Uair and going for the second one in order to get the 2nd Uair to connect. It should not be too difficult, however. This is one of Fox’s easier kill confirms.
Fox has a few setups for Uair>Uair, the easiest being Utilt>Uair>Uair, which true combos into Uair from roughy 50%, but won’t become a kill confirm until roughly 65%.This is a great setup, as you are more likely to hit the opponent with this move in more situations compared to his other setups. His other setups include using Fthrow>FTHC>Utilt>Uair>Uair and Bair>FTHC>Utilt>Uair>Uair as a tech chase. You can use these setups when the opponent is near the ledge. Fthrow can be better in this case, because you can hold your opponent for a short period of time before throwing them. If they miss their tech, they will get hit by FTHC>Utilt, which will combo into Uair>Uair and kill. Bair can set up the tech chase at lower percent, and launches the opponent at a lower angle, making it harder to react to and tech due to having less time to, compared to Fthrow. However, it is not easy to get the setup to work, especially considering that you need to time and position it so the platform is below you, which can be particularly difficult with moving platforms.
If you would like more information about Fthrow and Bair being used for tech chases at mid percent, check out this lab project.
On tri-platform stages like Battlefield and Dreamland 64, You can combo Uair>FF Fair at mid percent range. The window to make it true is tighter than the other combos, but it true nevertheless. By doing Uair>FF Fair, you can start a tech chase situation. If they miss their tech, you can go for Uair>FF Fair>Utilt>Uair>Uair on the top platform, and can kill pretty early with it. At higher percent, but still before Uair>Uair can kill, you can do Uair>FF Fair to set up a tech chase and drop from the platform and react to what getup option they go for, punishing it with Uair>Uair to kill. Here is an example. Getting this combo is actually quite difficult, and is only really reliable against heavy characters and those with large hurtboxes.
Alternatively, you can use Dair locking at high percent to setup Uair>Uair. One way to get the Dair lock is to use Uair>FF Fair and drag them to the top platform. This will actually kill at percentages lower than when it would kill on the bottom platforms. Another idea is to use tipper Dtilt>Dair lock between around 65-75%. Around that range, they have little time to tech the platform, and missing the tech can lead to a Dair lock, which gives you the perfect opportunity to finish off their stock. You can do the same thing as the Uair>FF Fair tech chase, which may arguably be better because you are already under the platform, giving you more time to react to their getup option and punish it with Uair>Uair.
At higher percent, you will have to DJ Fair in order to connect it from a Uair AND it must auto cancel so you can immediately drop or run off the platform. At mid percent, you can do FH Uair>FH Fair. This one does not require you to auto cancel the Fair, since it isn’t possible to without getting all 5 hits, which is not what you are trying to do. Time the Fair so that you start doing it once you are roughly at the same height as your opponent in order to fast fall and drag them down with you.
Finally, if you manage to do an AC FF Fair after doing Uair, you can do Uair>FF Fair>Usmash. This combo works best against fast fallers, and does not work on floaty characters, as they can jump out before the Usmash connects. This is right below the percent range in which Uair>Uair will kill, so it may not be worth to even go for it at times. Alternatively, you can replace the Usmash with Utilt>Uair, like in this example
There are moves that can combo into Uair>Uair in order to kill, such as Utilt>AC Dair>AC Dair>Uair (on platforms) and AC Dair>Uair>Uair (on platforms). Unfortunately, these combos are not true if your opponent DI’s away, but you can cross up your AC Dair to throw off their DI and allow you to get the kill confirm.
More about AC Dair on platforms has been labbed, so click this link if you want more info!
Using AC Uair at the ledge
If your opponent is standing right next to the ledge while you are hanging onto it, it is common knowledge that a good mixup is to use AC Dair for an aggressive option. If you cross up your opponent, you can make them get launch offstage, which can lead to a fair>footstool at low percent. However, This only applies at low percent. At mid and high percent, some Foxes use Dair and Fair, but the opponent’s percent is outside the range in which anything is true. Luckily, Fox can Drop the ledge and perform an AC Uair, which actually becomes the best punish in terms of damage after the percent in which Dair>Fair>Footstool will work at the ledge.
At low percent, you can combo up to 3 Uairs and deal a large amount of damage, which may seriously help you punish your opponent hard. Uair>Uair combos right into high percent range, in which Uair>Uair is a kill confirm at the ledge. These combos are situational, however. They will only work if your opponent is right at the ledge.
AC Uair on shields
When using AC Uair against shields, whether the opponent is on top of a platform or standing very close to the ledge, it can be punished. It can be punished by a shield grab, an UpB OoS and even by attacks out of shield drop on crossup. It is not a good tool in terms of safe shield pressure, but a great tool for punishes and killing, so how would we even utilise it in real matches?
By using SH Uair to apply shield pressure against opponent on platforms, we can force them to do another option that we can read. The opponent can either try to run off the platform, drop from the platform, try to roll/spotdodge or jump, which can be read and punished by FH Uair. Essentially, all you will be doing is replacing the SH Uair you actually hit with a FH Uair, which can lead to a much bigger punish compared to SH Uair. If you read your opponent dropping from the ledge, you can cover their attack (if they throw one out) by shielding and punishing with Utilt, and you can follow up with up to 3 Uairs that will be true, compared to 2 Uairs and you having to read an option to get a 3rd. In general, you want to keep your sharking shield pressure as unpredictable as possible. You can do this by mixing up what attacks you use to apply shield pressure, such as SH AC Uair, SH Bair, AC Dair (on crossup) and pausing while the opponent sits in shield. This can open opportunities to punish their next option with FH AC Uair.
FH Uair>Uair kill confirm percent range sheet
The lab team was able to create this spreadsheet this shows the percent range in which Uair>Uair will kill while being a true combo. Please check out the sheet!
Link to sheet
We hope that this information helps Fox players expand the damage output in their combos and secure them kills whenever they need it! This lab project was relatively short compared to our previous ones, but probably one of the easiest to apply to your gameplay.
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