Sephiroth (SSBU)/Down aerial

Hitbox visualization showing Sephiroth's down aerial.

Hitbox visualization showing Sephiroth's down aerial, when landing.

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Overview

Sephiroth performs his iconic Hell's Gate move, being a stall-then-fall down aerial where he uses both hands to thrust Masamune downwards while falling at a high speed. Being a stabbing move, the sweet spot is situated around the tip of the blade but is only active during its initial frames, transitioning to dealing consistent damage across the entire blade after its spiking hitbox deactivates. Boasts impressive vertical range, being able to hit opponents who are below the ledge, or even below platforms on certain stages. This allows it to be used as a very consistent 2-frame punish move that can be safely performed on stage, made even more dangerous by the powerful meteor smash effect on the move's sweet spot. Additionally, Hell's Gate has a landing hitbox, visually indicated by small fissures forming beneath him. Masamune also briefly gets a hitbox upon landing, which can hit opponents beneath Sephiroth, however this hitbox lacks a meteor effect and is fairly weak knockback wise.

Due to the placement of its hitboxes, it is easier to land if Sephiroth has his back to the opponent. As such, a common set up for 2-framing recoveries is to roll to turn your back to ledge, and then perform Hell's Gate out of a short hop to allow time for the sweetspot to be active.

Hitboxes

Down aerial

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
Clean hit
0	0	0	15.0%	0		Standard	75	65	0		5.5	swordl1	20.0	0.0	2.8	1.3×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All
1	0	0	15.0%	0		Standard	20	90	0		5.5	swordl1	20.0	0.0	2.8	1.3×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All
2	0	0	10.0%	0		Standard	58	73	0		6.0	swordl1	11.0 to 19.5	0.0	1.5 to 2.8	0.8×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All
Late hit
0	0	0	10.0%	0		Standard	58	73	0		4.0	swordl1	9.5 to 21.0	0.0	1.5 to 2.8	0.8×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All
1	0	0	10.0%	0		Standard	58	73	0		4.0	swordl1	9.5 to 21.0	0.0	1.5 to 2.8	0.8×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All
2	0	0	10.0%	0		Standard	58	73	0		4.0	swordl1	9.5 to 21.0	0.0	1.5 to 2.8	0.8×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All

Landing

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
Clean hit
0	0	0	5.0%	0		Standard	70	70	0		2.5	top	0.0	2.7	6.5 to -6.5	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All
1	0	0	7.0%	0		Standard	58	73	0		2.0	swordl1	3.0 to 24.0	-2.0	0.0 to 1.5	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All
2	0	0	7.0%	0		Standard	58	73	0		2.0	swordl1	3.0 to 24.0	-2.0	0.0 to 1.5	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All
Late hit
0	0	0	5.0%	0		Standard	70	70	0		2.5	top	0.0	2.7	6.5 to -6.5	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All

Timing

Attack

The move resets Sephiroth's horizontal momentum and first sets his vertical speed to 1 on frames 1-18, then sets it to -4.2 from frame 19 onward. Manual horizontal movement is also disabled during frames 1-46.

Initial autocancel	1-4
Clean hit	19-23
Late hit	24-39
Ending autocancel	55-
Interruptible	61
Animation length	73

Landing lag

Clean hit	1
Late hit	2
Interruptible	27
Animation length	68

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

Hitbox change

Autocancel

Interruptible

Sephiroth's moveset

Neutral attack (1 · 2 · 3) · 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

Trivia

• The ID 0 and 1 hitboxes for the down aerial's clean hit are coded as extended hitboxes despite not actually extending, which prevents them from interpolating.
• Despite the down aerial's late hit possessing three hitboxes, all of them cover the exact same space and hit the same targets, making the distinction between them pointless. This is also the case with the clean landing hit's ID 1 and 2 hitboxes.
• This move and animation is a reference to when Sephiroth kills Aerith in Final Fantasy 7.