Super Smash Bros. series

Air friction

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Air friction is a measure of how long it takes for a character to stop moving from a sideways force when in midair. It is the aerial equivalent to traction, which only applies when grounded. Air friction is measured in negative units/frame². There is also vertical air friction, which applies in some circumstances when a character is falling faster than their maximum fall speed.

Air friction only applies when the player is not holding the Control Stick in a horizontal direction (or the input is being ignored, such as when in hitstun). If the player is attempting to slow down, air acceleration applies instead, and air friction is ignored. This allows characters to be designed with several properties:

  • High acceleration and high friction means a character will change velocity quickly in all situations.
  • High acceleration and low friction means a character will respond quickly to the player's controls, but be very slow to decelerate if the player lets go.
  • Low acceleration and high friction means a character will respond slowly to the player's controls, but be very quick to decelerate if the player lets go. This would lead to an unintuitive situation where a player trying to slow down will take longer than simply allowing friction to take over.
  • Low acceleration and low friction means a character will change velocity slowly in all situations.

Air friction also determines how far a character travels when they are aerial grab released (along with gravity in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl). A character with low air friction will travel a long horizontal distance whereas characters with high air friction will not travel far at all. This is because air friction acts as a force against the momentum granted by the aerial grab release. This results in characters with higher air friction being left in a more vulnerable position after being aerial grab released. This is especially significant in Brawl, due to the long amount of time the grab released opponent cannot act. Characters with high air friction in Brawl are much more vulnerable to aerial grab release followups (unless they have extremely high gravity to compensate), especially if they can be forced into an aerial grab release from the ground. This is the reason why Wario's aerial grab release in Brawl sends him nowhere horizontally, making him extremely vulnerable to followups.

Vertical air friction applies when a character is falling faster than their maximum fall speed, but is not currently fast falling, or is fast falling, but falling faster than their fast fall speed. This can occur if a status increasing a character's fall speed wears off, or starting in Brawl if a character air dodges while fast falling, which ends the fast falling status, although starting in Super Smash Bros. 4, using an aerial during a fast fall will instantly bring a character back down to their regular fall speed, bypassing this stat. It can also apply due to the downwards velocity applied by stall-then-fall aerials, however most of these suppress a fighter's horizontal and vertical air friction for the duration of the move, and thus they won't begin to slow down until the move ends. Finally, in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, if a character's fall speed during vertical knockback is higher than their base fall speed, this stat will be applied to slow their descent once hitstun ends.

It is circumstantial as to whether high or low air friction is good or bad and it is also game dependent (as with the aforementioned Brawl aerial grab release example). Low air friction means a character will not slow down as much if the player attempts to use a neutral aerial when moving, and will cause them to travel a bit further during combos. But on the other hand, high air friction helps resist being KO'd to a degree, and it may be beneficial in some cases to slow to a stop quicker without providing directional input.

Air friction values[edit]

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Super Smash Bros.[edit]

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Rank Character Air friction
1 Jigglypuff (SSB) Jigglypuff 1
2 Kirby (SSB) Kirby 0.5
3 Pikachu (SSB) Pikachu 0.45
4-5 Ness (SSB) Ness 0.4
Yoshi (SSB) Yoshi
6-8 Donkey Kong (SSB) Donkey Kong 0.3
Fox (SSB) Fox
Samus (SSB) Samus
9-10 Captain Falcon (SSB) Captain Falcon 0.2
Mario (SSB) Mario
11 Luigi (SSB) Luigi 0.15
12 Link (SSB) Link 0

Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]

Rank Character Air friction
1 Jigglypuff (SSBM) Jigglypuff 0.05
2 Sheik (SSBM) Sheik 0.04
3 Ness (SSBM) Ness 0.03
4-9 Donkey Kong (SSBM) Donkey Kong 0.02
Falco (SSBM) Falco
Fox (SSBM) Fox
Ganondorf (SSBM) Ganondorf
Ice Climbers (SSBM) Ice Climbers
Kirby (SSBM) Kirby
N/A Male Wire Frame 0.02
10-13 Dr. Mario (SSBM) Dr. Mario 0.016
Mario (SSBM) Mario
Mewtwo (SSBM) Mewtwo
Mr. Game & Watch (SSBM) Mr. Game & Watch
14 Yoshi (SSBM) Yoshi 0.013
15-20 Bowser (SSBM) Bowser 0.01
Captain Falcon (SSBM) Captain Falcon
Luigi (SSBM) Luigi
Pichu (SSBM) Pichu
Pikachu (SSBM) Pikachu
Samus (SSBM) Samus
N/A Giga Bowser 0.01
21-26 Link (SSBM) Link 0.005
Marth (SSBM) Marth
Peach (SSBM) Peach
Roy (SSBM) Roy
Young Link (SSBM) Young Link
Zelda (SSBM) Zelda
N/A Female Wire Frame 0.005
N/A Sandbag 0.001

Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]

Rank Character Air friction
1 Wario (SSBB) Wario 0.08
N/A Wario-Man 0.08
2 Jigglypuff (SSBB) Jigglypuff 0.0375
3 Ness (SSBB) Ness 0.0225
4 Sheik (SSBB) Sheik 0.021
5 Squirtle (SSBB) Squirtle 0.018
6-12 Donkey Kong (SSBB) Donkey Kong 0.015
Fox (SSBB) Fox
Ganondorf (SSBB) Ganondorf
Ice Climbers (SSBB) Ice Climbers
Kirby (SSBB) Kirby
Meta Knight (SSBB) Meta Knight
Olimar (SSBB) Olimar
13-14 Ivysaur (SSBB) Ivysaur 0.014
Lucas (SSBB) Lucas
15 Falco (SSBB) Falco 0.013
16 Mr. Game & Watch (SSBB) Mr. Game & Watch 0.012
17-21 Diddy Kong (SSBB) Diddy Kong 0.01
Mario (SSBB) Mario
Peach (SSBB) Peach
Sonic (SSBB) Sonic
Toon Link (SSBB) Toon Link
N/A Fighting Alloy Team 0.01
22 Yoshi (SSBB) Yoshi 0.00975
23 Ike (SSBB) Ike 0.009
24-26 Charizard (SSBB) Charizard 0.008
Pit (SSBB) Pit
Zero Suit Samus (SSBB) Zero Suit Samus
27-31 Bowser (SSBB) Bowser 0.0075
Captain Falcon (SSBB) Captain Falcon
Luigi (SSBB) Luigi
Pikachu (SSBB) Pikachu
Samus (SSBB) Samus
N/A Giga Bowser 0.0075
32-33 King Dedede (SSBB) King Dedede 0.006
Zelda (SSBB) Zelda
34-35 Lucario (SSBB) Lucario 0.005
Snake (SSBB) Snake
36-37 R.O.B. (SSBB) R.O.B. 0.004
Wolf (SSBB) Wolf
38 Link (SSBB) Link 0.0038
39 Marth (SSBB) Marth 0.00375

Super Smash Bros. 4[edit]

Rank Character Air friction
N/A Wario-Man 0.08
1 Mega Man (SSB4) Mega Man 0.05
2 Wario (SSB4) Wario 0.04
3 Jigglypuff (SSB4) Jigglypuff 0.0375
4 Ness (SSB4) Ness 0.0225
5 Mewtwo (SSB4) Mewtwo 0.016
6-19 Bowser Jr. (SSB4) Bowser Jr. 0.015
Donkey Kong (SSB4) Donkey Kong
Duck Hunt (SSB4) Duck Hunt
Fox (SSB4) Fox
Ganondorf (SSB4) Ganondorf
Greninja (SSB4) Greninja
Kirby (SSB4) Kirby
Mario (SSB4) Mario
Mii Brawler (SSB4) Mii Brawler
Olimar (SSB4) Olimar
Pac-Man (SSB4) Pac-Man
R.O.B. (SSB4) R.O.B.
Sheik (SSB4) Sheik
Ryu (SSB4) Ryu 0.015*
N/A Giga Mac 0.015
20 Lucas (SSB4) Lucas 0.014
21 Dr. Mario (SSB4) Dr. Mario 0.01212
22-23 Meta Knight (SSB4) Meta Knight 0.012
Mr. Game & Watch (SSB4) Mr. Game & Watch
24-32 Falco (SSB4) Falco 0.01
Mii Gunner (SSB4) Mii Gunner
Palutena (SSB4) Palutena
Peach (SSB4) Peach
Rosalina & Luma (SSB4) Rosalina & Luma
Sonic (SSB4) Sonic
Toon Link (SSB4) Toon Link
Villager (SSB4) Villager
Wii Fit Trainer (SSB4) Wii Fit Trainer
33-36 Cloud (SSB4) Cloud 0.009
Corrin (SSB4) Corrin
Ike (SSB4) Ike
Shulk (SSB4) Shulk
37-42 Bayonetta (SSB4) Bayonetta 0.008
Charizard (SSB4) Charizard
Dark Pit (SSB4) Dark Pit
Diddy Kong (SSB4) Diddy Kong
Pit (SSB4) Pit
Zero Suit Samus (SSB4) Zero Suit Samus
N/A Giga Bowser 0.008
43-48 Bowser (SSB4) Bowser 0.0075
Captain Falcon (SSB4) Captain Falcon
Little Mac (SSB4) Little Mac
Luigi (SSB4) Luigi
Pikachu (SSB4) Pikachu
Samus (SSB4) Samus
49 Robin (SSB4) Robin 0.007
50-51 King Dedede (SSB4) King Dedede 0.006
Zelda (SSB4) Zelda
52-54 Lucario (SSB4) Lucario 0.005
Roy (SSB4) Roy
Yoshi (SSB4) Yoshi
N/A Mega Lucario 0.005
55-56 Link (SSB4) Link 0.0038
Mii Swordfighter (SSB4) Mii Swordfighter
57-58 Lucina (SSB4) Lucina 0.00375
Marth (SSB4) Marth

* Ryu is a special case thanks to his Fighter ability. If Ryu jumps, his air friction is 0, meaning he will not slow down at all unless the player attempts to decelerate. If Ryu becomes airborne through other means, his air friction is a standard 0.015.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

Rank Character Air friction Vertical air friction
1 Mega Man (SSBU) Mega Man 0.05 0.01
2 Wario (SSBU) Wario 0.04 0.006
3 Jigglypuff (SSBU) Jigglypuff 0.0375 0.038
4 Ness (SSBU) Ness 0.0225 0.023
5-6 Simon (SSBU) Simon 0.02 0.015
Richter (SSBU) Richter
7 Squirtle (SSBU) Squirtle 0.018 0.018
8 Mewtwo (SSBU) Mewtwo 0.016 0.015
9-29 Mario (SSBU) Mario 0.015
Donkey Kong (SSBU) Donkey Kong
Kirby (SSBU) Kirby
Fox (SSBU) Fox
Ice Climbers (SSBU) Ice Climbers
Sheik (SSBU) Sheik 0.03
Ganondorf (SSBU) Ganondorf 0.015
Olimar (SSBU) Olimar
R.O.B. (SSBU) R.O.B. 0.02
Greninja (SSBU) Greninja 0.015
Mii Brawler (SSBU) Mii Brawler
Pac-Man (SSBU) Pac-Man
Bowser Jr. (SSBU) Bowser Jr.
Duck Hunt (SSBU) Duck Hunt
Inkling (SSBU) Inkling
Ridley (SSBU) Ridley
King K. Rool (SSBU) King K. Rool 0.008
Incineroar (SSBU) Incineroar 0.015
Min Min (SSBU) Min Min
Ryu (SSBU) Ryu 0.015*
Ken (SSBU) Ken
30-32 Ivysaur (SSBU) Ivysaur 0.014 0.014
Lucas (SSBU) Lucas 0.023
Banjo & Kazooie (SSBU) Banjo & Kazooie 0.014
33-38 Mr. Game & Watch (SSBU) Mr. Game & Watch 0.012 0.012
Meta Knight (SSBU) Meta Knight 0.015
Mii Gunner (SSBU) Mii Gunner
Terry (SSBU) Terry
Mythra (SSBU) Mythra
Sora (SSBU) Sora 0.014
39 Dr. Mario (SSBU) Dr. Mario 0.011472 0.015
40-51 Peach (SSBU) Peach 0.01 0.01
Daisy (SSBU) Daisy
Falco (SSBU) Falco 0.013
Sonic (SSBU) Sonic 0.01
Toon Link (SSBU) Toon Link
Villager (SSBU) Villager
Wii Fit Trainer (SSBU) Wii Fit Trainer
Rosalina & Luma (SSBU) Rosalina & Luma
Palutena (SSBU) Palutena
Isabelle (SSBU) Isabelle
Joker (SSBU) Joker 0.015
Kazuya (SSBU) Kazuya
52-56 Ike (SSBU) Ike 0.009 0.009
Shulk (SSBU) Shulk
Cloud (SSBU) Cloud
Corrin (SSBU) Corrin
Pyra (SSBU) Pyra
57-66 Pit (SSBU) Pit 0.008 0.008
Dark Pit (SSBU) Dark Pit
Zero Suit Samus (SSBU) Zero Suit Samus 0.2
Charizard (SSBU) Charizard 0.008
Diddy Kong (SSBU) Diddy Kong 0.016
Bayonetta (SSBU) Bayonetta 0.015
Piranha Plant (SSBU) Piranha Plant
Hero (SSBU) Hero
Byleth (SSBU) Byleth 0.004
Sephiroth (SSBU) Sephiroth 0.008 0.009
67-75 Samus (SSBU) Samus 0.0075 0.008
Dark Samus (SSBU) Dark Samus
Pikachu (SSBU) Pikachu
Luigi (SSBU) Luigi
Captain Falcon (SSBU) Captain Falcon
Bowser (SSBU) Bowser
Pichu (SSBU) Pichu
Little Mac (SSBU) Little Mac
Steve (SSBU) Steve 0.015
76 Robin (SSBU) Robin 0.007 0.004
77-78 Zelda (SSBU) Zelda 0.006 0.006
King Dedede (SSBU) King Dedede
79-82 Yoshi (SSBU) Yoshi 0.005 0.01
Roy (SSBU) Roy 0.004
Chrom (SSBU) Chrom
Snake (SSBU) Snake 0.005
83-84 Lucario (SSBU) Lucario 0.004
Wolf (SSBU) Wolf 0.01
85-86 Link (SSBU) Link 0.0038 0.004
Mii Swordfighter (SSBU) Mii Swordfighter
87-89 Marth (SSBU) Marth 0.00375
Lucina (SSBU) Lucina
Young Link (SSBU) Young Link

* Ryu and Ken are a special case thanks to their Fighter ability. If Ryu/Ken jumps, their air friction is 0, meaning they will not slow down at all unless the player attempts to decelerate. If Ryu/Ken become airborne through other means, their air friction is a standard 0.015.