King K. Rool (SSBU)/Up tilt

Hitbox visualization showing King K. Rool's up tilt.

Overview[edit]

An uppercut. Has a wide hitbox, covering the front of K. Rool, and starts low enough to reach prone enemies; this even includes several fighters when hanging on the ledge. The vertical reach of up tilt is significant, with it hitting platforms below while also catching jumps as they begin from them; stages such as Battlefield and Pokémon Stadium 2 are considerable examples of this. Up tilt also works extremely well out of down throw due to its combination of high speed and power, and can kill middleweights over 110%. However, it competes with dash attack for damage; it also has slightly stronger hitbox duration power-wise, though being 3 frames slower if done frame perfectly tends to let up tilt win out.

Up tilt is King K. Rool's fastest tilt attack, coming out on frame 5 along with frame 4 intangibility, which is very fast for a move with strong KO power. The FAF of 38 also makes it one of K. Rool's safest moves. While the move loses power the longer it is out, the fact it lingers until Frame 13 makes it his best anti-air. Due to the hitbox placement, odd angles are possible to get as the fist rises, giving the illusion of a mid hitbox and a good situation to further the advantage state. The sweetspot deals rather strong diagonal knockback, and the sourspot deals weak, mostly vertical knockback, which can potentially lead to another up tilt or up aerial. Up tilt is also viable out of shield, being frame 16 factoring in the "lockout", making it useful for cross-up denial and for punishing noticeably poor moves. However, it is generally inferior to neutral aerial, which is 6 frames faster, albeit with weaker cross-up denial traits.

The length of time the hitbox is out combined with its relatively fast startup makes it a very useful approach option with pivot cancelling, with its impressive range stuffing almost any approach. Using this preemptively in neutral, while somewhat risky, can break apart many aerial approaches while giving a strong situation thereafter. Up tilt is viable out of forward throw when dash attack is no longer possible, which can be achieved through pivot cancelling forwards. This is difficult to do due to requiring a specific c-stick angle, but with practice it is consistent. This leads to ledgetrap and off-stage situations reliably.

Up tilt has some notable weaknesses, however. The intangibility ends 4 frames prior to the hitbox ending, as well as before the arm retracts, making it possible to punish the hurtbox extension of the arm at the end of the move. This makes its ability to stuff aerial approaches somewhat risky in some situations, such as when sharking platforms. Furthermore, the 50 angle makes it relatively easy to DI, with up+in dampening its kill power; however, 13.0.0 has greatly reduced the impact of this issue. It also lacks any true followups—even at the last active frame—making it strictly an anti-air to generate situations that could lead to up aerial KOs. Up tilt has noticeable endlag as well, making it very punishable on whiff, especially after a pivot cancel.

Update History[edit]

13.0.0

Up tilt deals more damage with no compensation on knockback (11.5% → 12.5% (clean), 6.8%/8.2% → 7.4%/8.9% (late)).

Hitboxes[edit]

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Sound	Hit bits	Hit part
Clean hit
0	0	0	12.5%	0	Standard	50	90	0	3.5	arml	2.2	0.5	0.0	1.2×	1.0×	0%	Punch	All	All
1	0	0	12.5%	0	Standard	50	90	0	5.0	arml	7.5	2.5	0.0	1.2×	1.0×	0%	Punch	All	All
Late hit
0	0	0	7.4%	0	Standard	66	72	0	4.0	arml	2.2	0.0	0.0	1.2×	1.0×	0%	Punch	All	All
1	0	0	8.9%	0	Standard	66	72	0	5.0	arml	7.0	2.0	0.0	1.2×	1.0×	0%	Punch	All	All