[PTE] Aku Basic Guide

Amaterachu1 · Mar 1, 2022

Yo yo yoooooooo what's up? Hope you are well today!

In Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion XL, Aku is probably one of the most infamous characters in the game who comes equipped with... like a couple of really strong moves and a bunch of mediocre ones. Aku is one of the ultimate edge guarders and has to be the most jankiest character in the game. Three traits to describe Aku are jank, air, and range. Aku's weaknesses are low damage output and the fact he spams a lot of the same moves to get any use.

Smash Comparison: Melee Jigglypuff with a back air that covers half the stage that does jab knockback with a Marth grab
I always love hearing what ridiculous comparisons people have for characters in this game but the truth is there are no Smash bros equivalents. There is no Father is Mr. Game & Watch and Chowder isn't at all like Kirby. Aku isn't Jigglypuff with a back air that covers half the stage with Marth grab, Aku is simply Aku. This game is so weird and janky that there can't really be any smash equivalents.

Here is Aku's entry to the PTE wiki, but I will still list statistics here and do a little more insights on the attacks.
https://punchtimeexplosion.fandom.com/wiki/Aku

I don't fully like telling people how to play and want them to innovate for themselves so this is going to be pretty generalized and have a few tips about what you can do as Aku.

There will also be a lot of PTE terminology in this section. Refer to this as a small guide.
https://smashboards.com/threads/pte-terminology-guide.516979/

We'll start by noting how his transformations and signature attacks work and what makes them unique as they are his most important traits to his character.

Aku is uniqueish in that he can transform into multiple forms, changing his model into various types of animals. This can be a very glitchy case with Aku specifically since he changes so often.
- Normal (or grounded) Aku is generally Aku while on ground. By being in the air Aku changes into bird form. These are categorized as "passive" transformations. Up signature, down signature, and side signature changes into octopus, scorpion, and goat respectively. These three are simply categorized as the signature (or "aggressive") transformations. I will only touch upon the passive in this section. Aggressive transforms techniques will be listed in the Signatures section.
  - It is because of this easy access to transforming that Aku can be incredibly glitchy. Sometimes jumping or landing too fast will make the wrong passive transformation activate resulting in "grounded Aku" in air or vice-versa.
  - And with different transformations come different properties. If grounded Aku is in air his aerial attacks will shorten in distance and have very awkward hitboxes. Aku will finally correct himself if he changes into an aggressive form, or after a certain amount of time.
  - Bird Aku on ground will distort hitboxes as well however he will be a crumbled up on the ground, shortening his hurtbox in the process similar to Kirby crouching.
    - Grounded bird Aku also seems to tank any incoming attacks and causes him to tumble into the ground like a maniac. This can potentially prevent any attack that would normally KO him from getting an early kill. However since Aku is simply tumbling into the ground, he is vulnerable and could be followed by another powerful attack.
  - In addition, there is a possible glitch that keeps Aku in a grounded state every single time he is in the air. How to activate this strange state is still being labbed.
- For whatever reason Aku is the only character that can toggle between fast falling and normal fall. So yeah hold down to fast fall, release to stay in normal fall. This probably gives him the best air control in the game.

Neutral

Aku shoots out a laser beam from his eyes, aiming at the ground in front of him. Deals 2~4% damage depending on the opponent. Does not create any power cubes.
- Pretty good for hitting short opponents or edge guarding/hitting low ground.
When in air, Aku's laser will come out rather quickly, reaching full range, and slightly further than his grounded variant.
- This is perhaps Aku’s most infamous attack. This attack can easily combo with itself at lower percentages due to how fast and spammable it is. It also makes for a powerful edge guard in combination with his up signature.
- Aerial laser is also one of few moves capable of platform ledge canceling.
As a side note laser beams are different from normal projectiles. They will always reach full distance as long as there are no walls or collision blocking the way, just as you'd imagine any laser to be.
Aku’s laser can be very glitchy as there are no “aggressive” transformations at play and only the passive ones. Aku’s laser comes with many different variations and techs that can be done with it.
- There is a glitch where Aku may shoot the laser outside of the ring, or on the "z axis" in the background. This is performed by using a laser as soon as you start a jump (or more specifically when in bird-state while on ground). This is quite impractical to use and hard to actually land.
- Diagonal laser is another laser glitch, activated by having Aku in ground mode while in air, landing, then jumping while still keeping the grounded state. The currently known "consistent" method is to short hop, fast fall, short hop/jump and laser quickly. Only done in air.
  - Diagonal laser also commonly activates during the glitch where Aku is constantly in a grounded state while in air.
  - Similarly to the above glitch, diagonal laser is also common with the tap dancing glitch, but depends more on how long Aku is in air for.
  - This has potential to counter a Vilgax poke, and potential for a whole lot of other things that make Aku even more annoying as this is an entire new angle of attack Aku has access to.
- Vertical laser is performed by falling through a platform (using down left, or down right direction [sort of like the shield dropping directions in Melee]) after landing from air. Aku will enter grounded form while in air. While in this state, using a laser will shoot above him instead of in front. This state will end after a short time or when Aku lands. In addition, after falling through it is possible to jump again in order to reposition Aku and his laser. Jumping will reset the "timer" of changing back.
  - Using a vertical laser would be much faster than using up signature to attack, not to mention that Aku will stay on the ground and not be fast falling. However vertical lasering can't really be followed up as quickly as any normal horizontal laser
    - Buuuuuuuuuuut, if you figure out how to consistently use diagonal laser, you could easily follow up vertical laser with the diagonal laser.
- Launch laser is a rare occurrence when a laser is used after or during being launched by an attack. Variants include flipping Aku upside down and activating laser, or "double direction" laser in which Aku will laser one direction and then another in the same move. Aku may do a semi-t-pose if he lands on the ground and laser directly in front of him similar but not quite the same as an air laser.
  - In addition, if Aku is hit out of an aggressive transformation he can laser, creating not only a hitbox around him but a laser in front of him, which obviously covers a lot of space.
- Laser can be used to perform a super-jump, a technique that will raise Aku a high distance similar to Samurai Jack's up signature. The currently known method is to dash jump, mash in the down, down-right, and down left directions (no specific order currently known) and laser.
  - Super jumps in general can commonly be activated near ledges so praciting this near a ledge first would be an easier first step to mastering this super jump
  - With super jump, you can follow up vertical lasers, or gain a ridiculous amount of aerial control, as this will keep the rest of your jumps. You could also up signature opponents to kill them early.

Side

Aku transforms into a goat of sorts and charges forward slowly. Deals 10% per hit and creates 2 power cubes per hit
- Due to the way Aku's transformations work, the goat transformation will stop only when the animation ends, meaning that even if Aku is hit/launched, the goat will stay out and occasionally may damage opponents nearby.
- Aku's Goat form is affected by side signature vertical influence. Aku can jump and immediately use goat to go to extreme heights. Combining this with the fact that Aku has 3 mid air jumps gives him the best recovery in the game hands down. He can also use this to stall out opponents using Punch Time Explosions as an edge guard, such as Mac & Bloo, or simply go over the Punch Time Explosion itself.
  - And to increase this stalling tactic, he can laser to slow down his falling time.

Up

Aku transforms into an octopus and attacks around him with tentacles that spin around his body. Deals 13% and creates 3 power cubes.
- Due to the way Aku's transformations work, the octopus transformation will stop only when the animation ends, meaning that even if Aku is hit/launched, the octopus will stay out and damage opponents nearby.
- Once people start playing Aku for themselves instead of watching Alpharad videos, this is the next step to realizing Aku's ridiculousness. His up signature is his main killing option as lasers don't really have killing power and rely more on consecutive hits rather than one big attack. Up signature fixes this problem and has absurd range, combined with the fact that the hitbox is still out if he gets hit out of it and you got a really annoying character to deal with.
- This attack begins to scale at 31%. It is heavily discouraged to be using this attack anywhere below that since you're gonna be in free fall and all that, easy punish.

Down

Aku transforms into a Scorpion and does three separate attacks involving his claws and stinger. Deals 6%. Only the last hit creates 1 power cube.
- Due to the way Aku's transformations work, the scorpion transformation will stop only when the animation ends, meaning that even if Aku is hit/launched, the scorpion will stay out and damage opponents nearby.
- The last hit of this attack begins to scale at around 55%~60%.

Using Aggressive Transformations

As stated above, aggressive transformations will not stop until the animation for that transformation ends. This glitch can be used to defend yourself against powerful attacks, or more importantly fight through another character’s attack and hit them.
- You are NOT invincible during these transformations. You will get hit and take damage with knockback, but you will still be attacking. You are essentially sacrificing damage with the ability to hit your opponent. With that in mind let's see how we can use these transformations to screw other people over.
  - Goat pretty okay for getting launched. Aku will ram his crazy head around everywhere and the range on goat is far enough to where an opponent without any significant range can’t follow up with any combos without getting hit. Since goat is a slow attack and can be predictable when used as a recovery it does a very average job when in action.
  - Octopus is by far the best at this. You can use it like a ladder against any nooby Dexters spamming down airs, eventually reaching them and landing a hit. You can use it while somebody does a low knockback or weak attack to basically wipe them away. Since the hitbox for this attack is so unnecessarily big, opponents may have more trouble following up with anything against this, relying solely on range.
  - Scorpion is kinda meh. It deals the least amount of damage, and has jab knockback throughout most of the animation. The final hit is really what counts. This move can somewhat disrupt opponents since the hitboxes are kinda weird and have the awkward jab knockback.

Signature moves are the main part of Aku's entire playstyle. The rest of his moveset is really mediocre in comparison but here they are anyway and what you can do with them.

Neutral
Jab 1, Aku attacks with his left arm, Jab 2 once again, both dealing 2% (the second hit has potential to hit twice for some reason), then swings down both arms dealing 4% and creating 1 power cube.

Aku won't be getting too much out of a jab, maybe you can try doing the last hit but Jabs are never fully true so by the time you're doing the second jab it will be shielded and you'll probably get punished, in fact the opponent doesn't even need to shield they can just hit you. So yeah if you ever want to do this for some reason it better have a cheesy reasoning behind it.
Jab 3 will scale at around 140%

Running
Aku charges forward and reaches both arms to the ground. Deals 8% and creates 2 power cubes.

This attack is.... Weird. For usage, maybe you're lasering against a short opponent and you're having trouble hitting it idk. It has some pretty decent range and maybe you can get an air laser after it hits. It is an average dash attack compared to others but...
Oddly, the end of this move will change him into bird form for a very short time, even though he is on ground. This "short time" actually matters because it usually makes it unsafe on hit.
This attack will finally start to scale at somewhere above 250%

Up
Aku claps both arms upward. Deals 7% and creates 1 power cube.

Kinda slow and narrow move. It will hit players upward and you may be able to follow up with an up signature when it begins to scale.
Reduces range if in bird form.
This attack will scale at around 112%~115%

Down
Aku swipes the ground with his right arm. Deals 8% and creates 2 power cubes.

Somewhat slow attack with fair range. Backs opponents off a little and you can reposition/run off or follow up with lasers after.
Hits behind him instead of in front if in bird form. Reduced range.
This attack begins to scale at 190%+ or so.

Throw
Aku reaches out both arms. Deals 6% when thrown.

For some reason Aku's throw hitbox isn't directly in front of him and is most apparent when trying to grab short characters right next to you.
But because of this, Aku has the longest grab range in the game and can grab anyone else next to him just about Kevin or Ben's size
Getting a bird state grab on ground is so hard for me that I can't really tell you how it is in this state, though I'm not sure why you'd want to anyway considering Aku already has the best grab and bird state has proven that it'll just reduce range on ground.... right??!?!?!?
This throw will begin to scale at 37%.

Aku's knockout attacks are okay. They have significant endlag however but they aren't entirely useless since they generate cubes and do good damage.

Side
Aku breaths in, then breaths out fire. Deals 13%~19% uncharged~charged. Creates 3 power cubes at 13% and 4 power cubes above 14%.

It's an okay attack. Has decent range, can sometimes hit opponents twice taking a good chunk of damage. Can be used in combo with bird state on ground to take cover behind something.
This move will begin to scale at 190%+.

Up

Aku reaches both arms in the air. Deals 16%~23%. Creates 4 power cubes.
Powerful move, only very slightly slower than up air. Faster DPS than using up air (two up airs do 14% and even then I don't think it can combo with itself) Can be followed up with an up signature.
This attack begins to scale at 58%.

Down

Aku changes the dreads at his feet into spikes that stick up. Deals 14%~20%. Creates 4 power cubes.
This move covers some decent range around Aku, also somewhat janky in range. It sends in an upward diagonal angle, and can be followed up with up signature or lasers.
Begins to scale at 50%~60%.

Neutral

Aku, in bird form, spins around horizontally hitting opponents with his wings. Deals 7% and creates 1 power cube.
- Very crumpled up in ground state. Kind of a V shape cone attack. Less range doesn't seem worth it unless you want to surprise me.
- Seems to scale at around 400% or so. Yeah. You can get a guaranteed kill combo (as long as if there aren't any roofs or walls blocking the way) with an up signature when this starts to scale.
- Also this attack sends behind for some reason.

Side

Aku, in bird form, swipes both of his wings forward. Deals about 9%. Creates 2 power cubes.
- It's okay. You can push characters up close away to go back to laser spamming since this is a horizontal attack.
- Doesn't seem worth it in ground form. His hurtbox extends himself forward and the hitbox is the same as normal by the looks of it.
- Begins to scale at 70% or so.

Up

Aku, in bird form, claps both of his wings upward. Deals 7% and creates 1 power cube.
- A bunch of people like using this and then up signature. I doubt it's true in any form to just spam it two times and up signature, I'd rather just do one up air and then up signature if I'm gonna do this. A lot of the other top tiers can bite back since they know what's coming after the up airs. Jack and Vilgax especially with their counter/shield attacks.
- Ground state seems the same. Possibly reduces hurtbox.
- Scales at 100% or so

Down

Aku, in bird form, swipes his right wing downward. Deals 10% and creates 2 power cubes.
- One of the only moves that hits directly below him. You can also use it to hit smaller characters ducking under your laser.
- Ground state barely hits under him. Might be a forward attack. Little to no range notable.
- Starts to scale at 180% or so. At this point, they will be launched into the ground and lay down animation. You can follow up with a ground laser or up signature.
- This may very well be the only move that intentionally sends at a downward angle but even then it's not by much at all. You could use it to send an opponent off stage and then do grounded lasers.

Aku transforms into a dragon and breathes fire in the direction you were facing. Each hit deals 28% and creates 4 power cubes.

Aku's PTE doesn't come out immeadiately and can't be used in the air (unless you're a CPU). Therefore, Aku's PTE is most used as an edge guard, or just something to catch opponents who are going to be slightly to the top-(direction facing) of you
- Also just as a joke with friends/inexperienced players mostly, Aku's second fire breath has an absurd amount of range in front of him that doesn't visually line up at all. You can use it from accross the stage, while your opponent just looks on and wonders why you used it, only to get hit by it.
Aku won't be getting too much PTEs per game since he mostly just lasers a bunch. However if you're using a hefty amount of knockouts and up signatures you may get at least 1 a game.

Well that's a brief basic guide to Aku. If you have any questions I'll be glad to answer them here because I know I didn't touch upon every possible subject for Aku.

[PTE] Aku Basic Guide

Amaterachu1

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