Lag: Difference between revisions

[[File:StartLag.gif|thumb|right|{{SSBM|Ganondorf}}'s [[up tilt]] has a significant amount of start-up lag in ''Melee'']]

The primary advantage of lower start-up lag is that the attack gives the opponent less reaction time, as well as the ability to hit before other attacks, giving the user greater flexibility in being able to land the attack (making such attacks all-around easier to land). Moves with lower startup lag can be used in a greater amount of situations, such as being a pressure escaping tool or as a [[punishment]] option. Moves with higher startup lag however cannot be used in nearly as many situations as the opponent can usually punish the attacker for simply throwing out the move before it can connect. Moves with very high startup lag are rarely used as a result, only being useful as a risky hard punish or as a [[shield break]] punish in most situations. While not always true, characters with fast frame data attacks tend to be more successful in competitive play than those with slow frame data attacks; part of the reason why characters such as [[Pikachu]], [[Fox]], [[Sheik]], and [[Meta Knight]] typically rank in the top or high tiers in ''Smash'' tier lists is that the general start-up lag of their attacks are among the fastest. Conversely, a major part of why characters such as [[Ganondorf]] are typically ranked as low tier characters is that the general start-up lag of their attacks are among the slowest. While low startup on attacks is certainly beneficial, it is not required if a character has a trait significant enough to make up for it. For example, {{SSBU|Shulk}} in ''Ultimate'' is commonly ranked as a high tier or top tier character despite having slow startup on almost all of his moves. To compensate, he possesses his [[Monado Arts]] which allow him to adapt to any situation, as well as outstanding [[range]] with some of the largest disjoints in the game, allowing him to face his opponents at a distance where he can attack and punish his opponent before they can even reach him.  

'''Ending lag''', often officially referred to as '''vulnerability''' and also known as '''cool down''' and '''recovery''' in other fighting games, is the delay between a move's effect finishing and another action being available to begin, such as the length of time after an attack's hitboxes ceases before the character can move again. The vast majority of attacks have more ending lag than startup lag, though generally, attacks with lower start-up lag tend to have proportionally more ending lag and vice versa. Attacks such as [[Rest]], [[Ike]]'s [[forward smash]], and [[Mega Man]]'s [[up tilt]] are notorious for having an extreme amount of ending lag. Moves known for having especially low ending lag include {{SSBB|Meta Knight}}'s [[up aerial]] in ''Brawl'', [[Zero Suit Samus]]'s down smash, and [[Mr. Game & Watch]]'s [[up smash]]. Typically, an attack's ending lag can't be avoided, but some attacks can avoid ending lag without the character being flinched or [[priority|out-prioritised]], such as grabbing a [[ledge]] with a recovery move before it ends, and jump canceling Fox's and Falco's Reflector in ''Melee''. Additionally, aerials can avoid their ending lag by the character landing before completion; despite this inducing landing lag, it can be overall faster if the character lands soon enough and the attack's landing lag is low enough (a prominent example of this is Ike's [[neutral aerial]], which has a huge amount of ending lag, but rather low landing lag, thus landing earlier can be utilised to circumvent the attack's high ending lag). Also, if a character using a standard land attack is no longer on land before the attack finishes (such as from being pushed off by [[wind]] or the [[platform]] underneath them ceasing to exist), the attack will abruptly end with the user free to move, thus avoiding the attack's ending lag (though [[special moves]] will continue if this occurs while using them). An example of this technique is seen when [[SSBU|Steve]] builds a [[Mine / Craft / Create Block|block]] and then uses a ground move while standing atop it. When the block disappears, the ground move is instantly canceled, allowing Steve to safely recover or perform an [[aerial attack|aerial]].

The  less ending lag there an attack has, the less time an opponent has to [[punish]] it if it whiffs, and thus the safer it is to use. Attacks with low ending lag are also more effective at [[combo]]ing, as they allow a greater window for the attacker to attack again before the opponent can respond. An example of this in ''Smash 64'' can be seen with {{SSB|Kirby}} and {{SSB|Donkey Kong}}'s [[up tilt]]s. Both up tilts have the same startup lag but Kirby's has much less ending lag, which makes it drastically harder to punish as well as making it a much more effective combo tool compared to Donkey Kong's. While having attacks with low ending lag is considered important in competitive play and characters higher up on the [[tier list]] often tend to have low ending lag across their moveset, it isn't held in equal regard to start-up lag. [[Marth]], for example, is considered a top or high tier character in most ''Smash'' games, despite most of his attacks having high ending lag, whereas there are few highly-ranked characters or particularly effective moves in any of the games that have comparatively high start-up lag. Jigglypuff's [[Rest]] (especially in ''SSB'' and ''Melee'') is the epitome of this, as despite having the highest ending lag of any attack in the series, its almost instantaneous start-up lag (coupled with its extreme power) makes it one of Jigglypuff's best moves. Conversely, Ganondorf's up tilt in ''Melee'' and ''Brawl'' has comparable power with much lower low ending lag than Rest, but its start-up lag is so ridiculously high that the move is almost impossible to land without the opponent being stunned from a shield break, in a position where they have no choice but to position themselves within its reach (such as attempting to [[recover]] or evade a stage hazard), or having already committed to an action that will put them in the attack's reach (i.e. Ganondorf successfully [[Mindgame#Read|reading]] his opponent), and thus it is almost never used in competitive play. The few moves that are very effective in spite of high start-up lag often have a combination of significant attributes besides proportionally low ending lag. {{SSBB|Lucario}}'s forward smash in ''Brawl'', for instance, is considered to be one of the best forward smashes in the game despite being one of the slowest in start-up, as the move not only has very low ending lag, but also has potentially extreme power when at high [[Aura]] and disjointed reach, making it one of the few powerful KO moves that can often be used at ranges at which it is unpunishable.

When landing under normal circumstances, characters undergo either a "light landing" (also known as a "no-impact land") or a "heavy landing". In ''Melee'', there was only one type of normal landing animation so most characters have a 4 frame landing animation, regardless of how fast they are falling (which a few exceptions). Light landings incur only 2 frames of lag (4 frames in ''Smash 64''), whereas heavy landings are character-specific (after ''Smash 64'' where all heavy landings had 8 frames of landing lag), ranging from 4 to 6. The type of landing that occurs is based on the character's downwards speed upon landing. In ''Smash 64'', the difference between a light and hard landing was as simple as whether the player was either falling normally or [[fast fall]]ing. Starting from ''Brawl'' however, a heavy landing occurs once a player has been falling at their maximum falling speed for a set amount of time (the amount of time is character dependent), so landing during the apex of a jump or on an upwards-moving platform tends to be faster than landing from a fastfall or on a downwards-moving platform.

[[File:Punishment Snake F-air Lag KO Brawl.gif|thumb|right|250px|An example of landing lag, in which an improperly timed aerial attack with noticeable amount of landing lag (such as {{SSBB|Snake}}'s [[forward aerial]]) can lead to a [[punishment]].]]