Zelda (SSBU)/Up smash

Hitbox visualization showing Zelda's up smash.

Overview

Zelda sweeps her magic-infused arm to create a powerful overhead concentration of energy. It is a multi-hit with a moderate vertical disjoint, while Zelda crouches slightly downward. It has less overall range than up tilt, with only the final hit being able to reach platforms. Among her kill moves, it is more average in power, but if all hits connect, it can KO relatively early. Up smash is a mediocre combo follow-up due to having middling damage output (14.6% at most), no extension potential and being weaker than her kicks; however, a charged up smash from a down aerial on a platform is a good early KO confirm at mid-high percents.

At frame 9, up smash is tied for her second fastest out of shield option, with much spatial overlap with her neutral air out of shield, but having less horizontal range in exchange for better coverage close to the ground and on her body. It still often has trouble hitting grounded opponents, as its high hitboxes are easily avoided by many landing animations. Its one low hitbox is its smallest one and largely overlaps with her upper body, giving it minimal range in practice with the pushing effects of jostling; on grounded fighters like Kirby, it is ineffectual. This makes it best suited for point-blank punishes, with more reliability the taller and larger the opponent is. Despite its mediocre range, it offers her a consistent KO option out of shield compared to the DI and percentage variables of Farore's Wind or the precision of her Lightning Kicks.

Up smash has 24 total active frames, making it among the longest-lasting smash attacks in the game. Its quick startup and and lingering hits make it a strong anti-air, especially since Zelda can quickly adjust the move’s position by performing it out of a dash. It can also be used to quickly or preemptively call out aerial approaches or reckless ground approaches, but her waving arm is susceptible to causing a trade, and it will generally lose to disjoints. There are only two single-frame gaps between the first and final hits, making it effective at punishing spot dodges, rolls, getups and landings. In ledge traps, opponents will often time their getup i-frames to bypass Phantom's auto-attack, which Zelda can read and punish with up smash, and even using a strong charge (with frame 6 hitboxes on release) on a hard reaction. It is effective at instantly punishing rising aerials on shield, especially when the opponent is trying to cross up; it is unreliable if they are drifting away or have a multi-hit, high enough air speed and/or air acceleration to safely weave out of its range. Overall, it denies the area directly above her well.

Its ability as direct shield pressure is subpar. Each looping hit's shieldstun (3 frames for early hits, 2 for the late) is lower than the rehit rate (4), meaning there are many chances for the opponent to drop shield too early. Due to having seven possible hits, each with several hitboxes, it can also shield poke noticeably damaged shields. However, many attempted out-of-shield options hurtbox shift away from Zelda's subsequent hits, resulting in a trade or even only Zelda being hit mid-move. Since the looping hits are transcendent, they make her particularly susceptible to this, lacking a strength in numbers (i.e. where the first hit would clank, then subsequent hits would punish the opponent). If fully blocked, it is normally -24, which is dangerously unsafe.

Overall, up smash's low horizontal range tilts its functions toward aerial and getup punishes over ground coverage. Combined with its high overall lag, it requires a strong commitment and point-blank usage, making her very easily punishable when misused.

Update history

13.0.0

• Up smash's final hit has more knockback scaling (214 → 222).

Hitboxes

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Set weight	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Effect	Type	G	A	Sound	Direct	Hit bits	Hit part	Blockable	Reflectable	Absorbable	Flinchless	No GFX	Heedless
Multihits (early)
0	0	4	2.0%	0		Standard	0	100	40		3.5	top	0.0	12.0	0.0	0.5×	0.5×	0%							Magic		All	All
1	0	4	2.0%	0		Standard	0	100	20		4.0	top	0.0	18.0	-5.0	0.5×	0.5×	0%							Magic		All	All
2	0	4	2.0%	0		Standard	0	100	60		4.0	top	0.0	18.0	-5.0	0.5×	0.5×	0%							Magic		All	All
3	0	4	2.0%	0		Standard	0	100	20		4.0	top	0.0	18.0	5.0	0.5×	0.5×	0%							Magic		All	All
4	0	4	2.0%	0		Standard	0	100	60		4.0	top	0.0	18.0	5.0	0.5×	0.5×	0%							Magic		All	All
5	0	4	2.0%	0		Standard	0	100	20		4.6	top	0.0	19.0	0.0	0.5×	0.5×	0%							Magic		All	All
Multihits (late)
0	0	4	0.8%	0		Standard	0	100	40		3.5	top	0.0	12.0	0.0	1.0×	0.5×	0%							Magic		All	All
1	0	4	0.8%	0		Standard	0	100	20		4.0	top	0.0	18.0	-5.0	1.0×	0.5×	0%							Magic		All	All
2	0	4	0.8%	0		Standard	0	100	60		4.0	top	0.0	18.0	-5.0	1.0×	0.5×	0%							Magic		All	All
3	0	4	0.8%	0		Standard	0	100	20		4.0	top	0.0	18.0	5.0	1.0×	0.5×	0%							Magic		All	All
4	0	4	0.8%	0		Standard	0	100	60		4.0	top	0.0	18.0	5.0	1.0×	0.5×	0%							Magic		All	All
5	0	4	0.8%	0		Standard	0	100	20		4.6	top	0.0	19.0	0.0	1.0×	0.5×	0%							Magic		All	All
Final hit
0	0	4	5.0%	0		Standard	24	222	0		7.0	top	0.0	21.0	0.0	2.0×	1.0×	0%							Magic		All	All
1	0	4	5.0%	0		Standard	24	222	0		6.5	top	0.0	18.0	-6.0	2.0×	1.0×	0%							Magic		All	All
2	0	4	5.0%	0		Standard	24	222	0		6.5	top	0.0	18.0	6.0	2.0×	1.0×	0%							Magic		All	All
3	0	4	5.0%	0		Standard	24	222	0		8.0	top	0.0	15.0	0.0	2.0×	1.0×	0%							Magic		All	All

Timing

Charges between	3-4
Multihits (early)	9-23 (rehit rate: 4)
Multihits (late)	25-32 (rehit rate: 4)
Final hit	34
Interruptible	64
Animation length	71

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Charge interval

Hitbox

Interruptible

Trivia

• The final hit has a rehit rate of 4 like the multi-hits. However, as it only lasts one frame, it normally can only hit once.
• Interestingly, the single-frame final hit is the only non-transcendent hit. This makes it Zelda's only multi-hit with transcendent looping hits, but a non-transcendent launcher.

Zelda's moveset

Neutral attack (1 · inf) · 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 · Side special · Up special · Down special · Final Smash