Pummel

Ness pummeling Rosalina in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

A pummel (つかみ攻撃 or 掴み攻撃, Grab, grasp, grip or catch attack; referred to as CatchAttack by the internal game files, and officially as Grab Attack in Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate) is an attack usable while an opponent remains trapped in the player's grab. It was first introduced in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and is performed by pressing either the attack or grab button after a successful grab. Pummels deal very low damage (usually from 1% to 3% per use), but can be used repeatedly at a relatively fast rate until the opponent is eventually thrown or breaks free from the grab.

Most pummels consist of knee jabs or headbutts since the pummeling character will already be holding their opponent using their arms. Pummeling is primarily used to rack up extra damage before a throw, and to restore moves from stale-move negation. The latter utility becomes more critical from Brawl onward, as staleness has a greater effect on the knockback inflicted, allowing pummels to bring KO moves back to full strength, and in Brawl, to keep subsequent throws at the appropriate knockback for chain grabbing.

Since accumulated damage increases the period an opponent is grabbed for, pummels are more effective at high percentages. If too many pummels are attempted, the opponent can break free from the grab without allowing the pummeler to throw them. Because of this, a player should balance the number of times they pummel the opponent before throwing, which also depends on their character; those with fast pummels such as Fox can spare a few frames to get some extra damage on the opponent, whereas those with slow pummels such as Ganondorf risk the opponent wriggling out of their grab if they pummel at lower percentages, making it more worthwhile to simply throw them.

Pummels across games

Peach pummeling Ike in Brawl.

Fox pummeling Mario in Melee.

The attack rate of pummels has been generally sped up throughout the Super Smash Bros. series, though their damage has also decreased in the process.

In Melee, all pummels deal 3% damage, and most characters' pummels last 24 frames; the exceptions are Ice Climbers, Link, Young Link, and Zelda's pummels, which last 25 frames, as well as Jigglypuff, Kirby, and Mr. Game & Watch's, which last 30 frames. This causes them to be mostly identical across the cast.

In Brawl, several characters have received more unique pummels that are faster, but deal less damage. The fastest pummel is Wolf's, which deals 1% damage and lasts a mere 6 frames, while the slowest is Mr. Game & Watch's, which deals 3% and lasts 29 frames. The average duration of pummels among the cast is 17 frames, down from 24 frames in Melee, making them much faster overall. Due to Brawl's lack of decimal values for base damage, all pummels deal either 1%, 2%, or 3% damage (or in the case of Olimar's pummel with White Pikmin, 4% damage).

In Smash 4, all returning veterans except Lucas retain their pummel speeds from Brawl. However, due to several newcomers such as Mega Man, Mii Swordfighter, Robin, and Wii Fit Trainer possessing notoriously slow pummels, the average duration has been increased to 20 frames. The fastest pummel is now Lucario's at 7 frames, due to Wolf being cut from the game, while the slowest is Mii Swordfighter's at 33 frames. Pummels are also far more unique across the cast because of the new ability to give moves decimal base damage, with several of them dealing a variety of decimal damage values; this results in some more damaging pummels than the most damaging from Brawl (discounting Olimar's with White Pikmin), with Dr. Mario's dealing 3.64%.

In Ultimate, while some variance remains between characters, pummels have overall been standardized across the board, much like in Melee, except keeping the average pummel duration closer to that of Brawl and Smash 4; this applies to their damage as well, which is considerably lower overall, with a minimum of 1% and a maximum of 1.6%, and the majority of pummels dealing 1.3%. As a result of these changes, previously fast pummels such as Lucario, Ness and Samus's deal slightly more damage, but are noticeably slower, while previously slow pummels such as Ganondorf, Mr. Game & Watch and Robin's are significantly faster, but deal moderately less damage. This eliminates a large part of the imbalance between pummels in previous games, as characters no longer refresh other moves or rack up damage at a disproportionally fast rate compared to others based on pummeling speed.

It is worth noting that like other attacks, pummels inflict hitlag, and from Brawl onwards, opponents can still mash out of the attacker's grab during hitlag, so they are another factor to consider for a pummel's practical duration. Because of this, pummels that inflict less hitlag are more advantageous. In Ultimate, the actual duration of pummels is significantly shorter than in previous games (from 5 to 7 frames), but it is augmented by a much higher hitlag multipliers (typically upwards of 2x), which keep their average speed roughly the same as in previous games.

List of pummels

In the following table, the total duration lists the combined total frames of both the pummels' coded duration and the amount of hitlag they inflict. The damage values and durations for pummels in Melee are listed in the above section.

Character	Description	Damage	Total duration	Damage	Total duration
Banjo & Kazooie	Kazooie pecks the opponent.	—	—	1.4%	19
Bayonetta	Slaps the opponent twice.	1.6%, 1.6%	27	0.6%, 0.7%	24
Bowser	Headbutts the opponent.	3% 3.1%	27	1.6%	22
Bowser Jr.	Hits the opponent with a toy hammer.	2%	20	1.3%	19
Captain Falcon	Knees the opponent.	2%	18	1.3%	19
Charizard	Bites the opponent.	2%	19	1.6%	21
Chrom	Knees the opponent.	—	—	1.3%	19
Cloud	Knees the opponent.	3%	29	1.3%	19
Corrin	Hits the opponent with the Omega Yato's hilt. Knees the opponent.	3%	27	1.3%	19
Daisy	Toad punches the opponent.	—	—	1.3%	19
Dark Pit	Knees the opponent.	2%	18	1.3%	19
Dark Samus	Chops the opponent with her free hand.	—	—	1.3%	19
Diddy Kong	Headbutts the opponent.	2%	19	1%	16
Donkey Kong	Chops the opponent with one hand.	3% 2%	19 18	1.6%	21
Dr. Mario	Headbutts the opponent.	3.64%	27	1.5275%	19
Duck Hunt	The duck headbutts the opponent.	3%	32	1.3%	19
Falco	Knees the opponent.	2%	19	1.3%	19
Fox	Knees the opponent.	1% 1.2%	12	1%	15
Ganondorf	Knees the opponent.	2% 3%	31 32	1.6%	21
Greninja	Squeezes the opponent with water.	2%	29	1%	17
Hero	Knees the opponent.	—	—	1.3%	19
Ice Climbers	Headbutts the opponent.	1%	21	1%	16
Ike	Headbutts the opponent.	3%	26	1.6%	20
Incineroar	Headbutts the opponent.	—	—	1.6%	20
Inkling	Kicks the opponent.	—	—	1.3%	19
Isabelle	Yanks her net backwards.	—	—	1.3%	19
Ivysaur	Constricts the opponent with vines. Headbutts the opponent.	3%	28	1.3%	19
Jigglypuff	Slaps the opponent with its hair tuft. Punches the opponent with its free arm. Kicks the opponent.	3%	24	1.3%	19
Joker	Knees the opponent.	—	—	1.5%	19
Ken	Knees the opponent.	—	—	1.3%	17
King Dedede	Headbutts the opponent.	3%	24	1.6%	21
King K. Rool	Headbutts the opponent.	—	—	1.6%	21
Kirby	Punches the opponent.	1% 1.55%	12	1%	15
Link	Hits the opponent with the Master Sword's hilt.	2% 2.1%	18	1.3%	19
Little Mac	Punches the opponent.	2.1%	18	1%	15
Lucario	Blasts the opponent with aura from its palms.	1% 1%	10	1.3%	19
Lucas	Headbutts the opponent. Zaps the opponent with PSI.	3% 1.2%	16 12	1.3%	19
Lucina	Knees the opponent.	2%	18	1.3%	19
Luigi	Headbutts the opponent. Squeezes the opponent with the Poltergust G-00.	3% 3.2%	27	1.3%	19
Mario	Headbutts the opponent.	3% 3.25%	27	1.3%	19
Marth	Knees the opponent.	2%	18	1.3%	19
Mega Man	Squeezes the opponent.	3%	32	1.3%	19
Meta Knight	Stabs the opponent with one wing.	3%	27	1%	15
Mewtwo	Zaps the opponent with its palm. Blasts the opponent with dark energy from its palm.	2%	24	1.3%	19
Mii Brawler	Headbutts the opponent.	3.25%	27	1.3%	19
Mii Gunner	Hits the opponent with their arm cannon. Knees the opponent.	2%	27	1.3%	19
Mii Swordfighter	Hits the opponent with their sword's hilt. Knees the opponent.	3.25%	37	1.3%	19
Min Min	Knees the opponent.	—	—	—	—
Mr. Game & Watch	Hits the opponent with a bell.	3% 3.2%	33	1.3%	19
Ness	Headbutts the opponent. Blasts the opponent with PSI.	1% 1.2%	12	1.3%	19
Olimar	The Pikmin grabbing the opponent headbutts them. White Pikmin deal more damage than the rest. Olimar chops the opponent with one hand.	2%/4%	21	1%	16
Pac-Man	Headbutts the opponent.	3.25%	28	1.3%	19
Palutena	Blasts the opponent with magic from her staff.	3.1%	26	1.3%	19
Peach	Kicks the opponent. Toad punches the opponent.	2%	21	1.3%	19
Pichu	Zaps the opponent. Causes 1% recoil damage to Pichu. Electrically headbutts the opponent. Causes 0.1% recoil damage to Pichu.	—	—	1.4%	18
Pikachu	Zaps the opponent. Electrically headbutts the opponent.	2% 1.9%	17	1%	16
Piranha Plant	Bites the opponent.	—	—	1.4%	19
Pit	Knees the opponent.	2%	18	1.3%	19
R.O.B.	Squeezes the opponent. Headbutts the opponent.	2%	19	1.3%	18
Richter	Knees the opponent.	—	—	1.3%	19
Ridley	Stabs the opponent with his tail.	—	—	1.6%	21
Robin	Zaps the opponent with magic.	3%	39	1.5%	21
Rosalina	Hits the opponent with her wand.	2%	20	1.3%	19
Roy	Knees the opponent.	2%	18	1.3%	19
Ryu	Knees the opponent.	2%	18	1.3%	17
Samus	Chops the opponent with her free hand.	1% 1.2%	11	1.3%	19
Sheik	Hits the opponent with her free arm's elbow. Knees the opponent.	3% 3.1%	27	1%	15
Shulk	Hits the opponent with the Monado's hilt.	3%	33	1.3%	19
Simon	Knees the opponent.	—	—	1.3%	19
Snake	Tightens his chokehold on the opponent.	2%	20	1.3%	19
Sonic	Knees the opponent.	3% 2%	18	1.3%	19
Squirtle	Headbutts the opponent.	2%	18	1%	15
Terry	Performs a gut punch.	—	—	1.8%	N/A
Toon Link	Hits the opponent with the Master Sword's hilt.	2%	18	1%	16
Villager	Yanks his net backwards.	3%	30	1.3%	19
Wario	Pokes the opponent with his free arm's index finger.	2%	21	1.6%	21
Wii Fit Trainer	Squeezes the opponent.	3%	34	1.3%	19
Wolf	Knees the opponent.	1%	9	1.3%	19
Yoshi	Chews the opponent.	2%	18	1.3%	19
Young Link	Hits the opponent with the Kokiri Sword's hilt.	—	—	1%	18
Zelda	Blasts the opponent with magic.	3%	28	1.3%	20
Zero Suit Samus	Knees the opponent.	2%	18	1.3%	19