Autolink angle

The hitboxes of the pre-final hits of Super Jump Punch in Brawl, an example of an attack that utilizes the autolink angle.

The autolink angle is a special knockback angle programmed into certain attacks in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. While it reads in the game data as an angle of 363° or 365° degrees, as well as 366° or 367° degrees from Smash 4 onward, and 368° degrees in Ultimate, the game gives it a special treatment.

General properties

The autolink angle works differently for each of its possible angles, though all of them have the same purpose: to ensure opponents will stay trapped by certain multi-hitting moves that cause or require their users to move, almost always through the air. To accomplish this, they usually send opponents in the direction the attacker is moving, with some angles additionally pulling them towards the center of the hitbox that struck them. Examples of such moves where the angle manifests itself are Mario's Super Jump Punch and Falco's forward aerial. It is notably much more common in Smash 4 and Ultimate than in Brawl, as many characters with multi-hitting aerial attacks have had these moves adjusted to include it.

The angle does not exist in the original Super Smash Bros. or Super Smash Bros. Melee; all attacks in these games have fixed angles, including those that received the autolink angle in later games. It is typically considered favorable for an attack to employ the autolink angle, as this allows it to connect more reliably and sometimes be used in more versatile ways than one that has a static, unchanging angle; this includes the ability to launch opponents downwards, which causes the autolink angle to be considered a form of unconventional meteor smash.

While not all moves that use autolink angles have set knockback, all of them except those with the 363° angle adjust launch speed using the attacker's distance and (if applicable) the opponent's position, allowing them to still link their hits properly regardless of the opponent's percent. However, hitstun is still determined by the numerical result of knockback, so autolink moves can have low launch speed and high hitstun, rather than them being directly proportional. In Smash 4 and Ultimate, as most autolink moves are multi-hit aerial attacks, this trait can be taken advantage of for several kinds of combos, by dragging the opponent long distances down and landing before the non-autolinking hits come out, then hitting the opponent while in hitstun or locking them if the knockback inflicted is high enough to knock them down as they land. Greninja and Joker's up aerials are well known moves for exceling at these abilities, as they can be followed up from several moves and bring opponents down to the ground to extend combos farther. Alternatively, this can be done offstage to gimp them very effectively with autolink moves that deal high knockback, such as in Smash 4, Luigi's Luigi Cyclone and Fox's forward aerial followed by a footstool jump, which usually take stocks even at very low percents if successful.

In Smash 4, autolink angles have been commonly misconceived as the reason for the first hits of certain multi-hit moves, particularly up specials such as Peach Parasol and Screw Attack, KOing opponents at unnaturally early percents when the attacker has high rage. This actually happens merely due to such moves' first hits usually having high set knockback in order to connect quickly into the other hits as the attacker rises in the air, therefore causing rage to have a much stronger effect on them; in fact, the two examples mentioned lack the autolink angle entirely in their first hits.

Types of autolink angles

363°

The 363° angle is the rarest autolink angle in all three games that feature them. In Brawl, it is only used for the hitbox enemies in The Subspace Emissary produce upon careening, in order to prevent a chain reaction of said effect when knocking enemies into each other. In Smash 4, it is used for the dashing portion of Lucario's Extreme Speed Attack custom, as well as the windbox produced by the Back Shield when it is hit, and has the effect of launching the opponent in the direction the attacker is moving into, albeit without launch speed modifications. For the former move, this allows Lucario to connect the second hit afterwards regardless of the direction chosen for the first hit, while for the the latter, it ensures characters do not end up too close behind another with a Back Shield equipped. However, in the case of Extreme Speed Attack, the angle still does not account for the move's increase in distance as Lucario's Aura grows, thus making it difficult to link both hits at high percents. Ultimate is the only game where the angle is used in characters' base movesets, being present in Duck Hunt's up aerial, Lucas' down aerial and PK Thunder 2, Drill Rush, and Skyward Slash Dash.

365°

The 365° angle is the only autolink angle present in playable character moves in Brawl, and a relatively uncommon angle in Smash 4 and Ultimate. Compared to 363°, it sets the opponent's launch speed to 50% of the attacker's momentum, effectively keeping them closer to the attacker as they move in a given direction, and regardless of the knockback caused by the attack. However, the angle still does not function very efficiently, as it disregards how close or far from the center of the hitbox the opponent is. As a result, moves using this angle can be easily escaped with SDI, especially in Brawl where the technique is much stronger.

367° (366° in Smash 4)

The 367° angle was introduced in Smash 4, and is present in a majority of playable characters' aerial multi-hit moves, being by far the most common autolink angle in Smash 4 and Ultimate. This angle's function is much more sophisticated than its predecessors', as the direction the opponent is sent in is determined by both the direction the attacker is moving in, and the position of the opponent relative to the hitbox; for example, if they are in the upper end of the hitbox, and the attacker is not moving, they will be sent down and towards the center of the hitbox. This is achieved by setting the opponent's launch speed to the attacker momentum, minus 20% of the difference between the hitbox and opponent's positional coordinates, so like the 365° angle, it allows multiple hits to link properly even if they do not have set knockback. Additionally, this is calculated after hitlag is over. Combined with the weakening of SDI from Smash 4 onward, these factors make autolink moves with the 366° angle impossible to escape under most circumstances.

However, this angle still has some restrictions that, albeit avoidable, may prevent moves from connecting all hits:

• When hitting an opponent on the ground, it always uses an angle of 80° and does not modify launch speed. While not problematic for autolink hits that deal relatively low knockback, others will usually fail to connect when hitting grounded opponents unless the attacker is moving upwards at a close speed to the knockback caused, especially at higher percents if they do not have set knockback. Examples of moves with this problem are Luigi's grounded Luigi Cyclone, which will pop opponents up and away from the rest of the move, and Greninja's up smash, which fails to connect the second hit against most characters on platforms.
• 5 frames after the opponent is launched, their launch speed is capped at 3, equivalent to 100 units of knockback, preventing opponents from moving too fast when hit by an autolink move. However, this only matters when speed equipment is used to boost mobility significantly, as no character in the game can normally surpass this speed while using autolink moves.
• In Ultimate, the changes to knockback also affect autolink angles for moves that don't use set knockback, which can result in misfires similar to those of the 366° autolink angle.
• Since update 1.0.4 in Smash 4, and in Ultimate, vertical launch speed has a lower cap of -1, equivalent to roughly 33.4 units of knockback fully downwards, so it cannot be below this value. This prevents a large part of autolink moves from dragging the opponent down too fast and thus turning into abnormally powerful meteor smashes; only those that inflict high enough hitstun to still have the opponent fall a considerable distance within the capped launch speed can achieve this effect. As an adverse effect for the attacker, however, it also prevents the hits from linking reliably if they are moving downwards too fast, be it through fast falling or even some characters' regular maximum falling speeds.

366° (367° in Smash 4)

Introduced in Smash 4, the 366° angle is far less common than 367°, but still more so than 365°. It works similarly to 367° in that it launches opponents in the direction the attacker is moving into, while also pulling them towards the center of the hitbox. However, it does not reduce the launch speed obtained from knockback, and its "vortex" effect only lasts for 5 frames, after which the opponent's launch direction exclusively matches that of the attacker's movement at the time the hit took place. It also does not have any caps for launch speed, nor it launches grounded opponents at a fixed angle. These properties make moves using the angle much more consistent against grounded opponents, and allow them to connect more effectively for characters that move fast in a certain orientation, such as Falco, whose vertical speed synergizes well with the angle for his neutral aerial. However, the angle's linking ability becomes worse if the attacker's movement is too versatile, due to its momentum-changing quirk, or if a move causes too much knockback, since its launch speed is not modified to compensate: an example of this is Lucas's neutral aerial, whose hits at very high percents erratically launch opponents around him and become very hard to connect, whereas a move using the 367° angle would keep them close more effectively.

368˚

Introduced in Ultimate, the 368˚ angle is used in only a few moves, such as Samus' up smash and Peach Parasol. Although its technical specifications are not fully known yet, its basic function is launching opponents towards a certain position that can be indicated by the move, such as above the user in the aforementioned moves' cases; because of this, it is more effective for multi-hit moves that change their hitbox placement between hits.

List of attacks that use the autolink angle

For moves without any specification, the autolink angle is present in all their hits except the final and landing hits. As mentioned above, moves listed as using a 367° angle use a 366° angle in Smash 4, and vice versa.

By characters

Character	Move	Angle	Games
Banjo & Kazooie	Up smash (hits 2-7)	367°
	Back aerial	367° (aerial) 366° (grounded)
Bayonetta	Witch Twist (hits 5-6)	367°
Bowser	Whirling Fortress (aerial)
Bowser Jr.	Down aerial	365° (grounded) 367° (aerial)
Charizard	Up smash	368°
	Mega Charizard X (Dragon Rush)	367°
	Mega Charizard X (Fire Blast)	366°
Chrom	Soaring Slash (hits 2-3)
Cloud	Limit Blade Beam
	Cross Slash (hit 1)
	Limit Cross Slash (hits 1-2)	367°
Daisy	Up aerial	367°
	Daisy Parasol	368° (hit 1) 367° (hits 2-5)
Dark Pit	Up tilt (hit 2)	365°
	Up smash (hit 1, clean)	365° 367°
	Forward aerial	367°
Dark Samus	Up smash	368°
	Forward aerial	367°
	Up aerial
	Phazon Laser (starting windbox)	366°
Diddy Kong	Dash attack (hit 2)	367°
Donkey Kong	Spinning Kong	366° (grounded, hit 1) 367°
Dr. Mario	Down aerial	367°
	Dr. Tornado (aerial only )
Duck Hunt	Up aerial (hit 2)	363°
Falco	Neutral aerial	366°
	Forward aerial	365° 367°
	Fire Bird (hits 9-14)	365° 367°
Fox	Forward aerial	367°
Greninja	Up smash
	Back aerial	365° (hits 1-2, hit 2) 367° (hit 1)
	Up aerial	367°
	Secret Ninja Attack (trap)	366°
Hero	Swoosh	367°
	Kaboom (windbox)	366°
	Magic Burst (hits 1-2)
	Thwack
Ike	Aether (hits 4-5)	367°
Incineroar	Max Malicious Moonsault (trap)
Inkling	Up aerial
Ivysaur	Neutral aerial
	Triple Finish (Solar Beam)
Joker	Up tilt
	Forward aerial
	Up aerial
	Gun and Gun Special (grounded, jump)	365°
Ken	Shippu Jinraikyaku	365° (hit 1) 367° (hits 7-11)
	Shinryuken	366° (windboxes) 367° (geyser)
King Dedede	Up aerial	367°
Kirby	Forward aerial (hit 2)
	Down aerial
	Ultra Sword
Link	Forward aerial
	Spin Attack (aerial, hits 1, 3 and 5)
Little Mac	Neutral aerial
	Rising Uppercut (hits 2-5)
Lucario	Down aerial
	Snaring Aura Sphere (windbox)	366°
	Extreme Speed Attack	363°
	Aura Storm	366°
Lucas	Neutral aerial	366°
	Down aerial	363°
	PK Thunder 2	363° 365° 367° 366°
Luigi	Luigi Cyclone	367°
Mario	Super Jump Punch (hits 5-6)	365°
Mega Man	Up smash (hits 2-6)	366° 367°
	Back aerial	367°
Meta Knight	Up smash	366° 367°
	Forward aerial	367°
	Back aerial
	Mach Tornado
	Drill Rush	363° 365° 367°
	Darkness Illusion	366°
Mewtwo	Up smash (hit 1)	368°
	Neutral aerial	367°
Mii Brawler	Forward aerial
	Flashing Mach Punch	366°
	Onslaught (hits 1-3, 3-6)	367°
	Helicopter Kick
	Piston Punch (hits 2-7)
	Thrust Uppercut (hits 2-5)
	Omega Blitz	366°
Mii Gunner	Up aerial	367°
Mii Swordfighter	Up smash (hit 2)
	Forward aerial
	Blurring Blade (hit 5)
	Skyward Slash Dash (hits 2-6)	363° 367°
	Hero's Spin (aerial, hits 1, 3 and 5)	367°
	Power Thrust (aerial against grounded opponents)	365°
Mr. Game & Watch	Neutral aerial	367°
	Back aerial
Ness	Down smash (hits 1-2)
	Forward aerial
	Up aerial	366°
Palutena	Up tilt	367°
	Neutral aerial
	Up aerial
	Black Hole Laser (black hole)	366°
Peach	Up aerial	367°
	Toad (hits 2-8)
	Peach Parasol	368° (hit 1) 365° (hits 2-5) 367° (hits 2-5)
Pichu	Forward smash	366°
	Forward aerial
	Back aerial	367°
	Volt Tackle (loop)	366°
Pikachu	Neutral aerial	367°
	Back aerial
	Volt Tackle (loop)	366°
Piranha Plant	Forward tilt
	Neutral aerial	367°
	Piranhacopter (hits 2-8)
Pit	Up tilt (hit 2)	365°
	Up smash (hit 1, clean)	365° 367°
	Forward aerial	367°
R.O.B.	Arm Rotor
Richter	Dash attack
	Neutral aerial
	Uppercut (hits 2-5)
Ridley	Forward aerial
Robin	Arcthunder
Rosalina & Luma	Forward aerial (Rosalina's)
Roy	Blazer (hits 2-4)
	Critical Hit	366°
Ryu	Up aerial
	Shinku Hadoken
	Shin Shoryuken (hit 2)	367°
Samus	Up smash	367° (hits 1, 3 and 4) 368°
	Forward aerial	367°
	Up aerial
	Zero Laser (starting windbox)	366°
	Screw Attack (aerial, hits 4-11)	367°
Sheik	Up aerial
Simon	Dash attack
	Neutral aerial
	Uppercut (hits 2-5)
Snake	Neutral aerial
Sonic	Up tilt (hit 1, late)	365°
	Forward aerial	367°
Squirtle	Waterfall
Terry	Rising Tackle (hits 2-4 (normal), 2-8 (charged))
Toon Link	Spin Attack (aerial, hits 1-3)	367°
Wolf	Fire Wolf	365° 367°
Yoshi	Back aerial	367°
	Down aerial
Young Link	Forward aerial
	Spin Attack (aerial, hits 1, 3 and 5)
Zelda	Up smash
	Neutral aerial
Zero Suit Samus	Plasma Whip (aerial, hit 1)
	Boost Kick (hit 6, hits 2-5)