I have a confession. I had the FC guide done before the stone one, but my computer rebooted and I was almost certain I'd lost the data, and I wasn't too enthusiastic about writing it all up again. However, Autorecover saved it. Microsoft did something good for once!
As you'll see after reading it, I haven't done stage-specific stuff with this because of how long it'd take, but it's also much more informative than the stone one. It's also lacking any images, but I'll add those tomorrow. I'm really proud of this wall of text :D although fromundaman will undoubtedly spot a ridiculous mistake I made.
Hee-Ya-Hey!: An FC Guide
Table of Contents
Basic Data
Onstage Uses
Offstage Uses
Stage-Specific Uses
Conclusion
Introduction
Many of you reading this guide may not get this title, and that isn’t much of a surprise. This is the phrase (or at least, something like it) that Kirby yells when executing his final cutter (abbreviated as FC), which is a severely unused and underappreciated move. Many Kirby mains avoid it, and with good reason; the startup and ending lag are horrible, the hitbox disappears for a short while at the peak of Kirby’s jump, and missing a ledge is an automatic death. However, FC also has its uses; it is Kirby’s only projectile, largest disjointed hitbox by far and can spike in many situations (more on that later). Final cutter is a unique weapon that I hope you will be able to use to your advantage after reading this guide.
Basic Information
Before we progress much further, you must understand a bit about final cutter. First, let’s examine some frame data and images taken from t1mmy’s Kirby guide:
Start-up: 1-22
Hits: 23, 43-end, 56
Cooldown: 57-91 (35 total)
Hitlag: +7, +3, +0
I’ll describe what this data means now, so skip this bit if you already know.
Start-up: fairly self-explanatory. After the frame you input up+b, Kirby waits 22 frames and then unleashes his FC. See what I mean about that startup? It’s almost half a second!
Hits: These are the frames the attack has a hitbox out (can hit people); 23, 43-on, until he hits the ground, and 56, when the beam projectile comes out.
Cooldown: This is the amount of time after Kirby lands where he is immobile; 35 frames! Optimum time for your opponent to punish you after shielding/avoiding it, which is why many people avoid using this move.
Hitlag: Kirby’s final cutter has 4 parts, 3 with hitboxes: the initial upswing (hee!) with the first hitbox, a moment at the top where his sword disappears, the falling attack (ya!) with the second hitbox, and a blue energy-thing launched out of the sword when Kirby lands (hey!), the final hitbox. This data means that Kirby stalls in the air for 7 frames if he hits someone in the first hitbox, 3 frames for the second, and that the projectile is not slowed down by making contact with someone.
Now a little about the movement capabilities of FC. Standing on the ground, Kirby leaps about the height of falco’s jump into the air (he will land on battlefield’s highest platform if performed directly under it). He can also move back and forth approximately 2 Kirby-widths during the use of final cutter. For whatever reason, both the vertical and horizontal capabilities of the cutter are reduced if it is started in midair.
Next, a brief note about its use in recovery. FC can be ledgecancelled (Kirby can grab onto a ledge if he passes it), but only if he is facing towards the ledge. You also must make sure that you don’t accidentally hold a direction on your control stick as you pass the ledge, as Brawl, for some reason, stops characters from grabbing ledges if this is the case.
Finally, a bit about the power of the hitboxes. The first two hitboxes deal set knockback, with the second being a very powerful meteor smash. The beam projectile at the end deals very low, but not set knockback.
Onstage Uses
Final cutter has a few of uses onstage. Here are some of them.
Punishment
For many attacks (laggy smash attacks, etc.), a final cutter can be used to either outrange them with the blade or hit them from afar with the projectile. In addition, there is a brief moment in the start-up animation where Kirby crouches fairly low, low enough to avoid Ganondorf’s grounded down-b kick (a height slightly taller than his crouch).
Edguarding
The second hitbox, as mentioned in the first section, can be used to spike characters, but is almost always negated by either the opponent hitting the ground or the beam projectile launching them upward. However, if the opponent is over the edge and Kirby can manage to direct himself back onstage while using the cutter, the opponent is meteor smashed and can possibly be gimped.
FC's projectile can also be used to hit recovering characters away from the stage and set up a gimp opportunity (it has the bonus of being pretty flashy as well).
Long-Range Capabilities
It can also be carefully used as a projectile. If you are fighting a matchup against a character without a projectile or characters who can’t deal very well with long-range attacks, you can use it to force an approach. There are always exceptions though; try this tactic on the likes of Marth and DK and you may very well be punished because of their excellent air speed.
The last onstage use is the projectile’s unique movement. If the angle of the ground the beam is on changes, it does one of two things: it may follow the ground or shoot off into the air at the same angle. If Kirby is right up against a wall when he lands (such that the sword sticks fairly deep into it), the beam will go right through the wall and catch enemies off-guard. Try it out on different landscapes for yourself! Stage-specific tactics will be discussed in their own section.
Offstage Uses
Recovery
The first use of FC offstage is obviously for recovery. While it doesn’t improve Kirby’s amazing recovery all that much, it still has recovering uses. If you know that you can latch onto a ledge with little-to-no possibility of being punished, by all means use it. If Kirby has no jumps left, FC can be used together with aerial hammer for an impressive horizontal and reasonable vertical recovery.
Kuttercide
Another use of FC is a suicidal move that his been nicknamed “Kuttercide.” As the name would suggest, it involves using FC offstage to drag an opponent down to the blastline with you, although Kirby may escape alive if he can grab a ledge, while his opponent still falls to their doom. This is useful in a variety of situations; suppose a Meta Knight is edguarding you, and you have little hope of recovery? Go for a Kuttercide, and you might bring him down with you. Or are you a stock ahead but behind in % and want to maintain your advantage? Kuttercide may be the way to go. Note that Kirby usually dies before his opponent (making it a bad idea to end a match with this) and that it is possible for the foe to survive if they have a good enough recovery.
FC Spiking
This is not to be confused with FC’s general ability to spike.
Similar to the Kuttercide, FC spiking is used against an offstage opponent to hopefully score a kill. If Final Cutter is used against an opponent using a recovery attack, Kirby can crash into them with the blade of his attack and meteor smash them, and hopefully be hit up by the hitbox of their attack, saving him from death. For a more concise discussion of the topic, you can visit
this thread for more info.
Stage-Specific Uses
In this part of the guide, I’ll cover almost every stage in the game and explain how FC’s potential can be unleashed on each of them.
[stages to be added later; too tired right now]
Conclusion
Thank you for bearing with me through this large wall of text! Hopefully you’ve learned a bit about this move and have some new things to try out against your friends. And you’ve also learned the weaknesses of this move.
Good luck and continue Kirbying!
