Jigglypuff (SSB4)/Down aerial

Hitbox visualization showing Jigglypuff's down aerial.

Overview

Jigglypuff spins around while hitting opponents with its feet, then thrusts its feet downwards, launching opponents with weak horizontal knockback. The move is considered one of Jigglypuff's most versatile, due to possesing multiple strengths. Its multi-hit ability combined with Jigglypuff's remarkable air mobility allows the move to be used for covering rolls and ledge get ups, as well as pressuring shields and even being used as an approach/spacing option. Additionally, the move has good damage potential, dealing up to 14% damage if all hits connect. Finally, the move's relatively low knockback and ending lag allow it to be followed up by a number of moves, including neutral aerial, forward aerial, back aerial, another down aerial or even a Rest under specific circumstances.

However the move is held back by two major weaknesses. Firstly, its hitboxes are quite small, and are positioned relatively close to Jigglypuff. This gives the move subpar range, which results in it being potentially difficult to land, as well as sometimes allowing the opponent to escape it early (albeit with some difficulty). The small hitbox also prevents the move from being usable as an effective landing tool. Secondly, the move is rather slow overall in a number of ways. It has the longest duration of all of Jigglypuff's aerials, making usage of the move somewhat of a commitment. It also has the latest autocancel window of all its aerials, not autocancelling until frame 45, which renders it incapable of autocancelling off a short hop, and should Jigglypuff fail to autocancel the move, it sustains a full 30 frames of landing lag.

Overall however, the move is considered a very versatile part of Jigglypuff's moveset, with a wide variety of uses, due to its strengths significantly outweighing its weaknesses.

Hitboxes

ID	Part	Damage	SD	Angle	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			SDIx	H×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Type	Effect	G	A	Sound	Direct
Hit 1-8 (loop)
0	0	1.5%	0		10	100	0	3.4	0	0.0	-2.0	1.0	0.8x	0.8x	0%							Kick
1	0	1.5%	0		0	100	30	2.8	0	0.0	3.5	1.0	0.8x	0.8x	0%							Kick
Hit 9
0	0	2%	0		30	150	0	5.0	0	0.0	-2.4	3.5	1.0x	2.2x	0%							Kick
1	0	2%	0		30	150	0	3.0	0	0.0	3.5	1.0	1.0x	2.2x	0%							Kick

Timing

Initial autocancel	1
Hits 1-8	7-8, 10-11, 13-14, 16-17, 19-20, 22-23, 25-26, 28-29
Hit 9	31-32
Ending autocancel	45-
Interruptible	53
Animation length	54

Landing lag

Animation length	30

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

Autocancel

Interruptible

Jigglypuff's moveset

Neutral attack (1 · 2) · Forward tilt · Up tilt · Down tilt · Dash attack · Forward smash · Up smash · Down smash
Neutral aerial · Forward aerial · Back aerial · Up aerial · Down aerial
Grab · Pummel · Forward throw · Back throw · Up throw · Down throw
Forward roll · Back roll · Spot dodge · Air dodge · Techs
Floor attack (front) · Floor getups (front) · Floor attack (back) · Floor getups (back) · Floor attack (trip) · Floor getups (trip)
Edge attack · Edge getups
Neutral special (def · c1 · c2) · Side special (def · c1 · c2) · Up special (def · c1 · c2) · Down special (def · c1 · c2) · Final Smash