Piranha Plant (SSBU)/Forward aerial

Hitbox visualization showing Piranha Plant's forward aerial.

Overview

Piranha Plant swings its pot forwards from below. It possesses little combo potential due to its high base knockback and landing lag, at most being able to possibly lead to a dash grab, and struggles to kill unless used offstage, however it makes for a good spacing aerial, as it has a decently sized hitbox and is somewhat safe on shield, especially when spaced. It can also be used as a way to approach from the air, as it is one of Piranha Plant's less committal aerials, and has good range, which also makes it very good as a retreating aerial as well. Forward aerial can be used a combo finisher from Ptooie or neutral aerial's final hit. It also works as a decent edgeguard tool, being less committal then back aerial, faster and longer ranged over neutral aerial while still having a decently sized hitbox to prevent opponents recovering horizontally, and can kill well offstage, however its somewhat high endlag can lead to Piranha Plant getting punished if the move misses.

Forward aerial also possesses a sourspot up close to Piranha Plant, which has higher priority over the sweetspot, making it less useful up close and further diminishing its low kill power. Up close to Piranha Plant, the move can also whiff against skinnier characters due to having a blindspot, making this move much better suited for longer ranges overall, or as an edgeguard tool. Despite this, it makes for a great ranged air-to-air move as a rising aerial, and functions as a decent out of shield option as well, tied with up aerial and grab for its fastest at frame 10. Forward aerial is also useful from a ledge drop double jump to try return to stage, as it is one of its least committal options while having the range to punish opponents aggressively ledgetrapping, although it is still slow enough to get punished fairly easily if predicted.

Update history

8.0.0

• Forward aerial has less startup (frame 10 → 7), with its total duration reduced as well (FAF 48 → 45). It also autocancels earlier as a result (frame 42 → 39). This makes it more reliable as an approach tool, and especially better for out of shield punishes, as it has superior range to grabbing.

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
0	0	0	9.0%	0		Forward	50	60	0		4.5	potc	3.0	0.5	0.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All
1	0	0	11.0%	0		Forward	55	60	0		6.5	potc	-3.0	0.5	0.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All

Timing

Attack

Initial autocancel	1-2
Hitboxes	7-9
Ending autocancel	39-
Interruptible	45
Animation length	59

Landing lag

Interruptible	14
Animation length	37

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

Autocancel

Interruptible

Trivia

• The move's hitboxes are coded as extended hitboxes despite not actually extending, which prevents them from interpolating.

Piranha Plant's moveset

Neutral attack (1 · 2 · 3 · inf) · Forward tilt (1 · 2) · 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 · Footstooled attack
Neutral special · Side special · Up special · Down special · Final Smash