Fox (SSBM)/Down aerial

Overview[edit]

Hitboxes of Fox's down aerial.

Fox does a drilling motion downwards while airborne, doing a maximum of 19.38% damage if all hits connect (due to how staling works) and very low set knockback. It's a very weak spike, and can only produce knockback on low handicapped opponents and Wire Frames, which, combined with its long duration, makes it mostly unreasonable to use offstage and very likely to result in an SD. However, it is a good move for racking up damage and a useful comboing move - upon landing it can be followed up with other moves, such as an up tilt to combo into another aerial or a shine, followed by a waveshine to continue the combo with other moves.

Dair, formally known as the Air Drill (usually abbreviated to just Drill) is one of Fox's best moves in neutral due to its effectiveness against both crouch cancel and ASDI-down, as well as its large, disjointed hitbox and long active duration. It's the go-to option to cover an opponent dashing towards Fox and can be used to go over some grounded pokes, like Marth/Roy Dtilt. It's also very fast and works very well as a whiff punish tool, particularly because it can be timed to cover a potential spot dodge. It's especially effective as a counter to Yoshi, whose parry is nullified by Drill's multi-hit nature, and can turn what would've been an advantageous situation for Yoshi into an advantageous situation for Fox.

A notable aspect of this move is that is commonly has different uses in combos depending on if it is timed properly or not. When perfectly timed, which is done by activating the move on the second frame after Fox is airborne (assuming he is SHFFLing the move),^[1] it is possible to true combo it into Fox's up smash, grab, and down tilt, leading to it being a very threatening move. When mistimed, it will frequently have a small gap in hitstun between landing and the hitboxes of those moves, which can lead to Fox getting punished out of a spotdodge or shine. Additionally, the frame disadvantage this move has on shield can vary with staling, as well as timing, meaning it's often impossible for the defender to shield grab unstaled, while it is possible if the move has been staled, mistimed, or both.

Due to its multiple hitboxes, it can be quite vulnerable to Smash DI. Its miniscule knockback and spike-angle also makes it very dangerous to use against an aerial opponent, who can often land from being hit by it before Fox can and get a punish.