Down air stall
The down air stall (sometimes referred to as WindWaking) is an exploit which allows a character with a stall-then-fall aerial to float in midair. It was introduced in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It's also present in Super Smash Bros. 4 and to a lesser extent in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Overview[edit]
Although it was initially discovered with Toon Link in Brawl, hence the "WindWaking" nickname, the glitch is not exclusive to Toon Link. In fact, it may not be considered a glitch at all. It is an exploitation of the way that the physics engine works in the Smash Bros. titles since Brawl. If a character who has a stall-then-fall aerial performs their down aerial at a certain height, they will lag and hover for a while in the normal position for their down aerial. Since its movement can be controlled while the player is stalled (like Peach's float), it can be used as a recovery technique to glide back onstage.
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the technique has been mostly removed for all other characters in patch 4.0.0 who could previously perform it; only the Ice Climbers and Zero Suit Samus can still perform this technique like how it was in the previous games, as of patch 13.0.1. Despite this, it can still be performed by the rest of the characters that have stall-then-fall aerials but only at extremely high percentages with stages that have cave of life.
