Editing Ice Climbers (SSBU)/Side special

The duo twirls back-to-back with its mallets extended, happily swinging up and out at the end. If separated, the climber who is present twirls on their tiptoes and ends by swinging out horizontally. It sports a relatively fast startup and a long-lasting multihit nature, with adjustable trajectory and vertical gain, and deals great damage if the move connects in its entirety. During the first 53 frames of the move, pressing B will make the Ice Climbers hop off the ground, even flying through the air if pressed repeatedly. Despite technically being very unsafe on shield, it's quite difficult to difficult to punish since players can put a significant distance between them and their foes at the end of the move, made extra unpredictable by its ability to [[Cross-up|cross up]] shields. On top of being disjointed, the move sports comically high priority, able to overcome such powerful moves as [[Ganondorf (SSBU)/Forward smash|Ganondorf's forward smash]] and [[Villager (SSBU)/Down special|Villager's down special]]. Similarly to their [[Ice Climbers (SSBU)/Up special|up special]], using Squall Hammer teleports the partner climber to the leader's position in order to use its dual variant (provided the partner is not using a different special move, in [[hitstun]], grabbing the [[edge]], or outside of its search radius) This also doubles as a way to quickly regroup the duo and cancel the 2nd Climber's move during a [[Desynching|desync]]. A side special can be done out of a short hop to turn the move into an out of shield option. While the collective 13 frame startup is a little slow for a punish, the partner's shield lag somewhat nullifies this flaw, and the payoff for punishing with a side special is well worth the downside, anyway. For inexperienced players, Squall Hammer is an attractive option due to its great versatility and ease of use, and can lead to spam playstyles early on. Its high speed, priority, and damage output incentivize excessive use of the move at low-level play, and even at higher levels in several scenarios.

At low percentages, a side special can lead to an [[Ice Climbers (SSBU)/Up tilt|up tilt]] or [[Ice Climbers (SSBU)/Up aerial|up aerial]], inducing monstrous combos with the up airs that often follow. While conversions out of Squall hammer are seldom true, they're often only a few frames away, and usually work since the opponents won't have enough time to escape anyway. The move occasionally works as a combo finisher after an up aerial, but this is situational, since it's difficult to get the entire move to land from below an opponent and puts the duo in [[Helpless|freefall]] afterwards. With some desyncing, one of the two can be made to perform their single variant of their side special. This can be used to surround and protect the other climber with disjointed hitboxes while giving them freedom to use any other move, or to trap victims in a prolonged attack that allows the other climber to land a variety of followups. A desynced Squall Hammer with just the 1st Climber can carry the opposition across a large chunk of the stage while granting the 2nd Climber plenty of time to spike the opponent with a [[Ice Climbers (SSBU)/Forward aerial|forward aerial]]. When attempting this, their forward air should be done out of a dash to make sure they're close enough to land it if the aforementioned Squall Hammer knocks the target away. The moves can also be done the other way around, having the duo's leader use a forward air. While this can KO at high percents, it's not nearly as potent as the one that spikes. Additionally, a single side special performed this way can confirm into grabs and initiate a slew of other deadly setups, such as their infamous [[Ice Climbers (SSBU)/Forward throw|forward throw]] to forward aerial confirm. When desynced only slightly, each of the duo will perform their single-climber variant as if they were separated. This can often occur as a result of [[buffering]] the move right after taking a hit or using a different special. This is usually undesireable because it won't have the damage or combo potential of its stronger form, but if positioned just right, opponents can get pulled in between the climbers, taking more of the multihits than they're supposed to and actually putting on more damage than the dual variant would've dealt. A synced side special also works as a desync setup since it makes the duo act at the exact same time. (being perfectly synced can actually result in a desync since the partner can buffer inputs sooner)

Squall Hammer autocancels as long as the Ice Climbers land within a 5 frame window that starts after the aerial version's 25 frames of ending lag, meaning the player should be airborne during the end of the move to autocancel it. Pressing B a couple times during the last swing of the move will cause the Ice Climbers to hop off the ground and enter the autocancel window if they are airborne for long enough. The amount of ending lag left to incur before landing will be continued upon hitting the ground, so landing shortly before entering the autocancel window is sometimes acceptable.

 

 

 

Upon isolation, side special's finisher hit only covers one side, and packs a horizontal launch angle rather than a diagonal one. This changes its utility significantly, setting up [[Tech-chasing|tech chases]] rather than combos or juggles. On top of that, it deals much less damage and no longer gains height when used midair. While the single and dual variants of Squall Hammer are quite different, the dual variant is unsurprisingly much better, and an incredible move in general. But the single variant is not bad by any means.