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Pit's Grounded Footstool Dair - Full Guide

GENIUS

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jul 6, 2015
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17
I’ve been trying to explore (Dark) Pit’s Grounded Footstool Dair (from here on GFS Dair) to its full extend. So I’ve compiled a list for every character where GFS Dair works on, including percent ranges. However, this works on only about a third of the cast. Therefore, I also began exploring Pit’s second GFS. This keeps Pit lower to his opponent and works on almost every character.

So without further ado, let’s get right into it.


A quick disclaimer. These percentages were either tested on CPU in training mode or calculated with Rubendal Sm4sh-calculator. Do keep in mind that rage, DI and staling effect these numbers. Now let’s go over what we see here.

The columns are divided into ‘First Footstool’ and ‘Second Footstool’. First footstool means the first FS you get since you became airborne and second obviously the second. When I refer to first and second FS, I usually mean a GFS. (There are some exceptions where I mean an aerial FS (AFS) for the second FS, but I will clearly state that. Otherwise I always mean a GFS.)
The first and second Footstool columns are further divided into ‘Upwards’ and ‘Spike’, where spike is where you hit with the spike hitbox and upwards where you hit with one of three sourspot hitboxes, sending the opponent upwards. Both columns are explained below within the spoilers.

To get a better understanding of why which hitbox connects, below the hitbox visualizations of Dair frame 10 and 11.

The left image is frame 10, the right image frame 11. With red being the hitboxes (and pink/purple being defensive hitboxes, which we can completely ignore).

The middle small red hitbox in frame 10 is the spike hitbox. This hitbox is out for just 1 frame and is the only spiking hitbox.
Every other bigger red circle sends the opponent upwards. The left one in frame 10/11 stays out for three frames and sends the opponent upwards behind Pit. The other two large red hitboxes in frame 11 stay out for 2 frames and send the opponent upwards in front of Pit.
To hit with the spike hitbox, Pit needs to be very close to the opponent. If Pit is too high for this, Pit is still able to connect in some cases with the bigger middle hitbox coming out on frame 11. Whether Pit can hit the opponent depends on the animation of the opponent being FS’d. If they stand up quickly and Pit isn’t send up too high, Dair will be able to connect. Since the second FS doesn’t send Pit that high up as the first FS, Dair has an easier time connecting. Also keep in mind that to hit the opponent in the first place, you have to buffer the Dair during your FS.

This is the most important category since it can be used as an OoS punish (frame 6, as fast as grab) for whiffed aerials or grabs.

Upwards column (Green)
The upwards column is the one with the most practical uses, since the upwards hit of Dair sets the opponent up for another AFS or aerial, with or without using a double jump (DJ). The AFS can set-up a jab lock, by fastfalling (FF) and hitting the opponent with the spike hitbox of Dair.

The entries in this column consists of 5 numbers. From first to last:
Same combo as 1.

Explanation
- 1/2:
In this category you can simply follow their DI and AFS them again while in the air. After this you can FF Dair to jab lock the opponent. Because the AFS is the second FS in the combo, Pit isn’t send that high up. This makes it easy to FF Dair them in time for the jab lock. (More so than using Dair > AFS from the ground up, where you have to buffer a DJ out of the AFS to be able to FF Dair in time). This works from 0% on most. The only real exception being Palutena, who hits the ground to fast due to her falling animation and being too slim to be hit in time by the spike hitbox from Dair. I calculated whether Dair to AFS can be true and even with full staleness on the heaviest characters you have 1 frame advantage to AFS them at 0% (which can be buffered). (Full staleness still gives 25 frames of hitstun on the full cast at 0%, which is just enough). At higher percentages, you can’t AFS them anymore without using a DJ. Either because of specific parts in their tumbling animations pushing you away or because they simply get send too high.
- 3/4: When they get send too high to AFS them without using your DJ, you need to start using it. At the lower echelon, simply DJ AFS often lets you overshoot the opponent. At these lower percentages, it’s often easier to shortly FF first, before you DJ AFS. At a certain point the opponent gets send so high by GFS Dair that when you AFS them, they can cancel their tumbling animation before they hit the ground. Thus not being able to get jab locked. Number 3 is where the CPU canceled their tumbling animation. It is possible to AFS them however for 10-20% more. On stages with platforms these percentages can still be used to jab lock them when they fall onto one. Potentially netting some early kills. At a certain point however, the opponent gets send up so high by GFS Dair that even using your DJ isn’t enough to AFS them. This percentage is represented by number 4.
- 5: When you can’t DJ AFS them anymore, or the opponent is too far away from the stage or a platform, you can choose to follow up with an aerial instead. The number for this in the list is the highest percentage at which the game registered DJ Uair as a true combo. So basically the last percent where you can true combo off of GFS Dair.

Spike column (Dark green)
The Spike column has a little less practical use and only works on Mewtwo and Yoshi. At lower percentages the opponent is send in hitstun, but they keep their standing position. At higher percentages, the opponent bounces off of the floor getting send straight up in tumbling animation. If they reach the 100% threshold they can either get their normal tumble animation or the spinning animation. Do note however that this can always be teched. Therefore making combo’s when they bounce up never true. When they however don’t tech it, this can be a kill confirm.

The entries in this column consists of 3 numbers. From first to last:
Same combo as 1.

Explanation
- 1/2:
While GFS Dair is always possible from 0%, it is not recommended. This is due to the fact that the spike hitbox deals less hitstun than the other hitboxes (0 BKB instead of 50). Because of Dair’s 26 frames endlag, the opponent is in frame advantage when it deals less than 26 frames of hitstun. This first number provided is where a fresh Dair deals 26 frames hitstun. From here on it is possible to do true trampoline combos, where you can GFS Dair > GFS Dair > GFS Dair. When Dair deals a specific amount of knockback, it stops resulting in the standing animation and starts to bounce them up.
- 3: While the bounce can always be teched, it does have its uses. Especially when it isn’t teched. There are multiple follow ups for this. You can do fancy stuff at the lower most percentages (GFS Dair (bounce) > AFS > FF Dair (spike) > Usmash). Or simply Usmash or Uair to get kills when they get send up high enough. The percentage provided in the list is where Usmash is still registered as a true combo. Do note however that this is largely influenced by whether they get the spinning animation or not, where it can make a difference of as much as 20% in some cases whether Usmash connects or not. At higher percentages DJ Uair is usually more reliable to hit and kill. Uair can also connect at much higher percentages. It is therefore recommended to go for DJ Uair instead at higher percetages, even when Usmash could still connect.

While the first footstool is by far the more reliable and practical one, the second footstool also has its uses. Largely due to the fact that it connects on nearly the entire cast. Burning the first FS is very easy to do, because you can simply phantom FS their shield or an attack for this. The hard part is landing the second one. Luckily Pit has 3 DJs which makes it easier to land the GFS. The situation I find most practical was baiting a grab. Fainting out a landing in front of the opponent or attacking their shield with a floating Dair baiting a shield grab, are your 2 best go-to options. Since Dair has about 26 frames of endlag and most characters’ standing grabs take about 30 frames until their FAF, baiting this out gives you enough time to get the second GFS. In comparison, it wouldn’t be possible to punish that whiffed grab with anything else in time. So having the second GFS as a punish option can increase your punish game, because it’s your fastest option while being airborne as well as it is consistent with what hitbox from Dair you will hit. This consistency lets you easily follow up the Dair and continue the combo, without having to wait and react to which Dair hitbox will hit.

Upwards column (Red)
Unlike with the first footstool, this category is actually the least important category. While the set-ups are the same, it’s a lot less useful. This is because the second GFS sends you less high up and you usually have burned more DJs, each giving you less and less height. These two factors combined can greatly limit your height making it a lot harder to follow-up with an AFS.
The entries in this column consists of 4 numbers. The numbers represent the same as those in the first footstool category, skipping number 3. This is because the opponent never gets sends up too high where you can follow-up with an AFS and they can cancel their tumbling animation, before reaching the ground. (The only exceptions here being King Dedede and Peach).

Spike column (Blue)
The spike column is for the second footstool relatively more useful than the upwards hit, since you can get kill confirms off of it when they don’t tech, as well as being able to do trampoline combos on more than half of the cast. The numbers represent the same as in the first footstool column.

Some entries have side notes (¹,²,³ or *). I’ll now go over each one of them.

- ¹: While every other entry is hit by simply buffering a Dair out of the GFS, for these specific entries you need to also adjust your spacing a little. In these cases you have to move a little bit to the opponent’s front to be able to connect with Dair. This requires a little practice, but is possible to do consistent enough to go for this option.

- ²: This is an interesting category where a buffered Dair after the second AFS can also connect with a buffered Dair’s upwards hit, provided it’s well-spaced. This only effectively works on Charizard, Corrin and Mewtwo. For Mewtwo you can just buffer Dair. For Corrin you can move slightly to its back to hit him/her easier. For Charizard you have to move to its back. You have to be aware of how far you move to their back though, because you can otherwise hit them with the back hitbox sending them behind you (opposite of where you are moving). This can make it hard to follow-up if you're not prepared for this. This is also what makes Charizard the hardest one to combo on with this, since you constantly need to adjust your spacing possibly hitting with the front or back of Dair.
However if you practiced this it can lead into GFS Dair > AFS Dair ladder combos, getting quick damage, interesting combos or early kills. (See the Combos section for examples).

- ³: In every other case the mentioned FS is always a short hop FS. Like your grounded jump you can either get a short hop or full hop FS. To normally connect with the buffered Dair, you need the short FS. In these specific cases however, you need the full FS. Most notably for the upwards hit on Mewtwo. This, combined with platforms, can net you extremely easy early kills as a 6 frame punish. And even without platforms can get you kills from about 85%. (See the Combos section for examples).

- *: Alike side note ¹, these characters can be hit with GFS Dair, provided your spacing is just right. However this spacing is so specific that I had a very hard time landing it, let alone fully test the percentages. Therefore I don’t think that it is worth it to go for the GFS Dair on these characters, as long as there isn’t a way to consistently hit it. Yoshi is a little bit different in this category, because he can be hit consistently. To hit you have to move to Yoshi’s back. The problem with this is that by moving away from Yoshi, Yoshi gets hit even further away from you, making it practically impossible to follow-up with a AFS.

A quick disclaimer. These combos were performed in training mode. Since there is no staleness in training mode, the damage output can be a lot less in versus mode. (For example, 7 Dairs in succession would deal 55% instead of 70% as seen here).
Also be sure to check out the 'First Footstool' category for the basic combos.
CPU was set to control so he wouldn’t DI. It’s still possible with a DI’ing opponent, but for the sake of recording I made it easy for myself. Also sadly, this isn't a true combo. People can shield out of a jab lock in time before you can GFS them again. You will just end up getting a phantom FS.
I used multiple CPU’s here, because recording and timing it with the platform was a pain.
The second AFS can take away the opponents DJ. While this isn’t a true combo whatsoever, it can be a quite early gimp against characters with bad recoveries.
Note that only the first Dair spike is techable. The second one is not.
Techable.
Characters where the first GFS can’t connect into a Dair, the second GFS can still lead into a lot of damage. Only the first Dair spike that sends Bowser upwards Is techable.
Mewtwo specific. On some other characters GFS Dair > DJ AFS > FF Dair jab lock (platform) > Fsmash can be an option though.
Mewtwo is the only one that can die like this.
Mewtwo specific and the percentages where this can kill is very specific. Staleness from Dair along with rage can increase the range where this can kill though.
Corrin and Charizard specific. This can rack up damage very fast and makes it easier to get the opponent jab locked onto platforms. For corrin the 3rd FS needs to be a full hop FS instead of the usual short FS in order to not get the spike hitbox.
Corrin and Charizard specific. For Charizard the 4th FS needs to be a full hop FS. Otherwise Dair won't come out fast enough to jab lock them. You also need to adjust your spacing a lot more after each hit than as with Corrin.
Corrin and Charizard specific. When they DI away you can go for this. The further they DI away, the harder it will be for the opponent to recover. Do note that this isn’t true after the first Dair spike though.

First a couple of general things. I constantly mention Pit during this article, but everything I mention in this article for Pit also applies to Dark Pit. ‘Pit’ is simply shorter to type. The only difference in the combos is that Dark Pit can Ftilt after the Dair jab lock at low percentages to extend the lock.
- For the recorded combos I tried using as many different characters, so I could give a clear image on how to perform the combo’s. Except for the character specific combos (those on Charizard, Corrin and Mewtwo) these combos are possible on the cast according to the GFS list. The platform combos however can be slightly harder on some small characters, because the GFS causes you to land onto the platform with Dair. To be able to continue the combo in these cases you need to prevent being underneath the platforms when you start the combo.
- Also the highest percent on Rosalina might be an underestimation. Luma made the testing a pain. Furthermore, I noticed that I almost never got the spinning animation on Wario from about 185% and on. I don’t know if that was a coincidence, or actually programmed that way. I haven’t tested it further, so I can’t tell.
- Finally when I was practicing against a friend using Megaman, I had way more phantom Dairs after the GFS in versus mode than when I practiced in training mode. I hope I just messed up and there aren’t actual differences with GFS between the modes. Since I tested everything in training mode, the ease to hit the Dair after the GFS might greatly differ. But again, I hope I just messed up.

- Factors influencing the combos.
While this list provides an overview on the different combos with specific percentages there are multiple factors influencing these numbers. Here I’m going over what can influence the combo and in what way.
- DI: DI is our worst enemy in this, because it can greatly mess up our jab lock combos. People switching up their DI can make it harder to follow-up with the initial AFS as well as the FF Dair after that one. Aside from that, people DI’ing offstage avoid the jab lock combo all together. To land the AFS and jab lock it is often to follow their DI on reaction. Therefore reading their DI becomes more important. Luckily since the GFS is often too quick a punish to react to on their part, predicting their DI becomes easier. The opponent is many times simply too slow to completely mix up their DI on reaction.
- Rage: Rage is a double-edged sword in this. Having a lot of rage causes the opponent to get hit up too high. Effectively decreasing the range where follow-ups from GFS Dair work. However getting a jab lock on platforms at higher percentages can make landing kills easier.
- Staleness: Staleness can actually be our best friend in this. At least, when talking about the upwards hit of Dair. Since staleness doesn’t decrease the hitstun of the sourspot so much that it makes AFS not true combo, we only really reap the benefits of it. Contrary to rage, staleness increases the effective range where follow-ups from GFS Dair work. And since these combos almost solely consist of Dair, staling it is inevitable. This gives possibilities to combo the opponent for longer and, when combined with platforms, get kills (as it at the same time unstales your kill moves). However for the spike hitbox, staleness can be detrimental. A fully staled Dair can take about 55%-70% more before you are in frame advantage. A fully staled Dair can therefore become nearly useless for using Dair’s spike hitbox.

- Choosing full hop FS over short hop FS.
While regularly you need to buffer Dair from a short hop FS, there are cases where choosing is full hop FS is a better choice.
A thing to be aware off, is how much GFS’s you use during trampoline combos. While you usually need a short hop GFS to hit with Dair, from the third GFS and on you need to use a full hop GFS when using Dair instead. If you don’t, you will hit the floor before Dair ends and you will be stuck in landing lag unable to follow-up.
The same goes for AFS ladder combos on Charizard, Corrin and Mewtwo, where you need to full hop AFS from the third FS and on in order to get the upwards hit of Dair. If you don’t you get the spike hitbox from Dair. This can give rise to other combos but, due to the spike hitbox having less hitstun, will probably never have true follow-ups after the spike. (Combos like GFS Dair > DJ AFS Dair > DJ AFS Dair (spike) > FF AFS Dair (spike) will stop being true before the FF. This can however catch the opponents DJ.)

- Benefits of GFS Dair over regular Dair.
While Dair from a full hop can also lead into a Dair jab lock or other combo’s, both have their uses. The main advantage of the regular Dair is that it’s possible on the entire cast. Being able to consistently land these combos can greatly enhance your punish game. The best set-up for a regular Dair to AFS is from a down throw at low percentages. However, you have to be fast to true combo into the Dair, be sure to follow their DI well and at a little higher percentages (30??) you won’t be able to follow up with the AFS at all. Furthermore landing the Dair jab lock is a little bit trickier, because you have to buffer a DJ from the AFS to be able to FF in time. Besides from that, landing a Dair without the down throw set-up hurts you quite a lot frame wise (from a 6 frame grab OoS punish to a 15 frame Dair OoS punish).
And this leads right into the benefits of the GFS Dair. As mentioned before, the GFS Dair is a 6 frame OoS punish, being just as fast as a standing grab OoS punish (and being faster than dash grab even if you power shielded). This opens up a lot more hard punish options against a lot of optimal spaced aerials. Another benefit is the ease of landing the Dair jab lock. Because you don’t have to buffer a DJ after the AFS, FF in time becomes much easier. This will help in being consistent with landing the jab lock. It also opens up more possibilities to AFS’ing the opponent twice in a row to get an early gimp, again because you can FF earlier. And lastly it gives rise to AFS Dair on Charizard, Corrin and Mewtwo. While this last category is very specific, it does open up a lot of interesting combos or kill set-ups in these matchups.

- Final remarks.
My apologies for any typos, badly constructed sentences, links that don’t work or simply mistakes I made. If you notice any errors, please tell me so I can correct them. I tried to make the article as orderly as possible. I couldn't really make up my mind whether the spoiler tags made it more or less easy to view, but hope to have find a good balance.
I didn’t had access to a capture card or something, so I had to film my TV screen for the footage. While it’s not the best quality, it does give an idea on the execution of the combos. I hope to have made a list as complete and comprehensive as possible. While most of these combos are already known, they were scattered here and there on the internet. The purpose of this thread was to get them all together in one place along with making the list on percentages to refer back to. Making it easier to know when which option is possible. I hope I succeeded in that and we can develop (Dark) Pit’s meta more and more with the entire community. So if you find any other combos or have ideas, please let them be heard. And if you want, I can add them to the list.
Lastly I’d like to thank Kurogane Hammer for the frame data and Spacejam calculator, Rubendal for the Sm4sh-calculator, Furil for the hitbox visualizations, the Pitcord for ideas as well as the entire Smash community for playing this game.

BKB (Base Knockback), DI (Directional Influence), DJ (Double Jump), FAF (First Acting Frame), FF (Fastfall), FS/AFS/GFS (Aerial/Grounded Footstool), OoS (Out of Shield), Pit (Dark Pit).
 
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