Isabelle (SSBU)/Down aerial

Hitbox visualization showing Isabelle's down aerial.

Overview

Isabelle's Down aerial is her primary means of attacking beneath her. The sweet spot possesses a smaller hit box in the center that that changes the landed hit into a spike if connected. The hit box lingers, improving her ability to circle camp and sometimes allowing her to land more safely on platforms.

Despite being visually similar to her Up aerial, this move has different properties that make it deceptively inconsistent. If the smaller 'spike' hit box within the sweet spot is not landed, the attack will send the opponent downwards or towards the side at differing angles, depending on how the hit boxes connect. This makes any possible follow ups largely improvised and based upon how the opponent reacts, even at higher levels of play. Down aerial's longer startup, the spike hit box being challenging to land, and not providing any realistic combo opportunities make it less useful than its counterpart. Nevertheless, it still plays an important role in Isabelle's kit, and can net her early KO's in the right situation.

Unlike Isabelle's other aerial attacks, it has virtually no use in her combos and strings. Lloid Trap can combo into her Down aerial via footstool, but is mostly an impractical novelty since the setup is very situational, difficult, and is likely never an ideal follow up. For the combo to be setup, Isabelle must be right next to the opponent and fully actionable as the trap is set off- in which case, all of her other potential follow ups are also available. When done correctly, the Down aerial hit will send the opponent into a Tech scenario. As this always gives up a clear desirable outcome, and often higher damage output, it is not worth the additional effort and risk.

Updates 1.1.0 and 8.0.0 have slightly improved its overall speed and reliability by reducing landing lag, startup time, and its total duration. The first buff Down aerial received in 1.1.0 was a "day 1 patch", meaning the original version of the move had virtually no competitive usage.

Update History

1.1.0

• Up and down aerials have less landing lag (12 frames → 9).

8.0.0

• Down aerial has less startup lag (frame 14 → 11) with its total duration reduced as well (FAF 46 → 43).

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
Clean hit
0	0	0	10.0%	0		Standard	10	80	0		3.0	top	0.0	-5.5	0.5	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Punch		All	All
1	0	0	10.0%	0		Standard	30	100	0		6.5	top	0.0	-5.5	0.5	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Punch		All	All
Late hit
0	0	0	5.0%	0		Standard	30	100	0		4.5	top	0.0	-4.0	0.5	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Punch		All	All

Timing

Attack

Initial autocancel	1-10
Clean hit	11-12
Late hit	11-28
Ending autocancel	36-
Interruptible	43
Animation length	56

Landing lag

Interruptible	10
Animation length	22

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

Hitbox change

Autocancel

Interruptible

Isabelle's moveset

Neutral attack · 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