Marth (SSBB)/Forward aerial

Hitbox visualization showing Marth's forward aerial.

Overview

Marth does a forward vertical slash from top to bottom with his sword, doing 10% damage on the base of the sword and 13% with the tip. Although it doesn't have much knockback if hit on its base, it has KOing potential at around 150% when hit on the tip, and can KO earlier when used near the edges of the stage. Hits with an arc which covers his entire front body within frames 4 to 7. An extremely useful move for spacing, edgeguarding, and aerial approaches, due to its very quick speed and a long-ranged disjointed hitbox that gives it a long, safe range, and when used properly with reads on a recovering opponent, can create a wall that is difficult to get through without being damaged. At low percents, due to its low ending lag and good damage, it is an excellent combo move and is commonly used multiple times in a row to rack up damage, or combined with other aerial attacks. With its disjoints, even against longer ranged moves (which greatly extend their hitbox, like King Dedede's Back aerial) it is possible to space away and still hit them with Fair without Marth himself getting hit by taking advantage of the opponent's extending of their hurtbox.

With its range, speed and having low amount of ending lag it can be a great tool to offensively pressure Marth's opponent when spaced correctly. The move only has 9 frames landing lag, making it safe to land with. The move has a frame advantage on shield of -4 when not tippered and -8 when tippered, both in the case of hitting a shield exactly one frame before landing. If Marth lands the sourspot, he can shield any Out of Shield punish (except for Mario's Super Jump Punch) and if the opponent tries to grab him, he can either Dolphin Slash or spot dodge through the grab, making it perfectly safe. The tipper is theoretically punishable however in almost all cases, the opponent is pushed too far away to punish Marth (especially when spaced properly), making the tipper even safer on shield.

Considered Marth's best aerial and arguably the best forward aerial in the game. Its only noticeable flaw is its low hitbox duration, making it require precise timing to consistently space with it.

Hitboxes

ID	Part	Damage	SD	Angle	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			SDIx	H×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Type	Effect	G	A	Sound	Direct
0	0	10%	0		40	70	0	4.0	65	0.0	0.0	1.0	1.0x	0.7x	0%							Slash
1	0	10%	0		40	70	0	4.0	61	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0x	0.7x	0%							Slash
2	0	13%	0		40	80	0	4.0	65	0.0	0.0	5.8	1.0x	1.25x	0%							Slash

Timing

Attack

Hitboxes	4-7
Ending autocancel	27-
Interruptible	34
Animation length	39

Landing lag

Animation length	9

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

Autocancel

Interruptible

Marth's moveset

Neutral attack (1 · 2) · 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 (fast) · Edge getups (fast) · Edge attack (slow) · Edge getups (slow)
Neutral special · Side special · Up special · Down special · Final Smash