Hitstun

Not to be confused with hitlag, also known as freeze frames.

Hitstun is a period of time after being hit by an attack that a character is unable to act outside of directional influence or teching. It is directly dependent on knockback, so at a same damage percentage, an attack like Falcon Punch will have more hitstun than one like Thunder Jolt. Each Smash game has a programmed value that is multiplied by the amount of knockback received to determine the amount of frames a character is locked in hitstun after being hit; for example, Melee has a hitstun multiplier of 0.4 frames per unit of knockback, so a hit that deals 100 units of knockback will leave the target in hitstun for 40 frames.

Hitstun is an essential component of combos, as the basis of a combo is to have enemies trapped in hitstun while constantly being attacked. As a result, games that have more hitstun for equivalent knockback open up more potential combos.

In Super Smash Bros.

The amount of hitstun in the original SSB is much higher than in the subsequent Super Smash Bros. games, being a 0.533× multiplier. The multiplier is so high that long, highly damaging combos are commonplace, with competitive matches being heavily centralized around them. Zero-death combos are not uncommon in SSB, as every character in the game except Samus is capable of performing a zero-death using their normal moves.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

The amount of hitstun in Melee is a significantly lower 0.4× multiplier, making Melee a less combo-oriented game, and zero-death combos a rarity. However, with the increased falling speeds, and generally faster and more varied movement, combos remain frequent, though generally more difficult to pull off consistently.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Brawl has the same hitstun multiplier Melee has. However, when hit by an attack that causes tumbling (or reeling), characters can now air dodge after 13 frames and use an aerial attack after 25 frames out of hitstun, regardless of the actual amount of hitstun they sustained. This new mechanic, known as hitstun canceling, drastically reduces the amount of actual hitstun characters have to sustain upon being hit, especially at higher knockback. For example, while a character sustaining 100 units of knockback in Melee will be in hitstun for 40 frames, that character will be in actual hitstun for only 13 frames in Brawl if they air dodge or 25 frames if they attack, and if that knockback value is doubled, the Melee character would sustain an inescapable 80 frames of hitstun, while the Brawl character will still only sustain 13 or 25 frames of hitstun.

This change drastically reduces the amount of true combos, and means the only attacks that can truly combo are those that deal low enough knockback to not cause tumbling while having low enough ending/landing lag to followup (such as chain throws and Sheik's forward tilt), and at tumble percentages, very few attacks, if any, are fast enough to followup within 13 frames before the opponent can air dodge, such as Meta Knight's up aerial. Any attack that deals even slightly more knockback or has slightly more ending lag will require the player to read the opponent's action to successfully followup. This new mechanic also allows launched characters to act before their knockback wears off, which allows characters to perform certain actions during knockback to reduce their aerial momentum, allowing them to survive blows that would have otherwise KO'd.

The much slower falling speeds, loss of L-canceling with most aerials not having their landing lag fully compensated, and generally slower movement also reduces the amount of possible combos, though the effect of these is minuscule compared to the ability to act so early out of hitstun.

This new mechanic is one of the most controversial additions to Brawl, with detractors criticising it for making true combos rare and making it impossible to truly combo with moves that deal anything beyond very low knockback. This eliminates the comboing ability of characters that relied on higher knockback moves with faster mobility to combo (Captain Falcon being the most prominent example, with Jigglypuff also suffering severely), allows characters to survive longer than intended through momentum canceling, and significantly increases the chance of getting punished for landing a hit (Ganondorf's Dark Dive is a notable example of this, as its extremely weak knockback means that many characters can hit Ganondorf with a quick attack as soon as the move completes).

While some players argue in support of the mechanic, such as by stating that players should have to successfully read their opponent's actions to get successful followups and that opponents should have means of escaping combos, the majority of competitive players, even those who prefer Brawl over Melee, see the mechanic as a negative addition to the game, due to severely slowing down the pace of matches. As such, those who mod the game usually remove the mechanic unless they intend to keep the vBrawl engine intact (as in Balanced Brawl), and all major mods except the aforementioned have removed the mechanic completely.

In Super Smash Bros. 4

In Smash 4, hitstun has a very slightly altered formula: by default, the result is decreased by one frame compared to Melee and Brawl, but if the character is sent tumbling (not reeling) or launched by an electric attack, one more hitstun frame is added, with both factors being able to stack. For example, if a character that sustains 100 units of knockback is sent reeling, they will be in hitstun for 39 frames, but if they are sent tumbling by an electric attack, they will be in hitstun for 41 frames. On top of this, the ability to act out of hitstun is still present, but it is much less pronounced; characters are able to act out of hitstun after 40 frames with an air dodge, or 45 frames with an aerial, provided the current launch speed is below 2.5 or 2, respectively, meaning that these numbers also increase proportionally to the amount of knockback taken (beginning to increase after sustaining roughly 56 frames of hitstun to cancel with an aerial or roughly 59 frames of hitstun to cancel with an air dodge), and become irrelevant at extreme knockback values. Additionally, unlike with normal hitstun, the hitstun cancel window does consider extra launch speed from the gravity penalty, and as such fighters with low gravity will have a slightly stronger hitstun cancel.

Compared to Brawl, the window for canceling hitstun occurs significantly later, which coupled with the generally increased gravity and falling speeds makes true combos past low percentages possible again. Also due to this, momentum canceling is effectively impossible, allowing moves to KO earlier. Furthermore, air dodging to cancel hitstun actually marginally worsens horizontal endurance, as similarly to Brawl, a fighter is not able to begin opposing their momentum with directional inputs until all of the knockback momentum is gone (despite hitstun actually ending a little earlier than this).

Because of the changes to hitstun, characters such as Sheik and Captain Falcon are indirectly buffed, as their comboing abilities from previous games have been restored, while Brawl newcomers such as Meta Knight and Zero Suit Samus also benefit significantly by gaining a similar or even greater combo potential. However, with the retained ability to air dodge or attack out of hitstun at higher percentages, gravity increasing knockback as in Brawl, and falling speeds still being slower than in Melee, true combos at higher percentages are exclusive to a few characters (and even then, they must not be at high percentages themselves), making them less prevalent than in Melee and especially the original SSB.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

In Ultimate, hitstun uses a different formula if the target is sent tumbling, which is ((knockback * 0.4) - (((knockback * 0.4) - 32) * 0.4)) - 1 rounded down, starting at 80 units of knockback. This means that tumbling no longer adds one frame of hitstun like in Smash 4, and hitstun raises more slowly in proportion to the knockback, with each additional unit of knockback having 16% less of an increase than before. Hitstun for non-tumbling knockback reuses the formula from Smash 4, which is knockback * 0.4 - 1 rounded down. For example, 80 units of knockback now cause 31 frames of hitstun, and 110 units cause 38 frames of hitstun, compared to the respective 32 and 44 frames they would have caused in Smash 4. Furthermore, electric attacks no longer add one frame of hitstun. Hitstun cancelling is no longer present in any form.

As a result of these changes, hitstun remains unchanged in comparison to Smash 4 if a move's knockback is low enough, but it is slightly decreased otherwise, giving characters less time to combo opponents at higher percents. Due to the generally increased mobility of the cast (including faster dashing speeds and air speeds, as well as jumps reaching their peak faster), universally shorter jumpsquats and lower landing lag, combo potential is generally increased at lower percents, and decreased at higher percents. Furthermore, rage's effect on knockback is weaker, making it less of a detriment for combos, and some combo moves of veterans have had their ending lag reduced further, with examples being Luigi's down throw and Falco's up tilt.

Hitstun has received additional minor adjustments in Ultimate. Attacks that cause flinching now always inflict a minimum of 5 frames of hitstun, thus giving attacks with very low knockback slightly higher hitstun.

Hitstun Cancelling

Hitstun canceling is a technique introduced in Super Smash Bros. Brawl which is also present in Super Smash Bros. 4. It is the ability to cancel hitstun early with an airdodge or an aerial attack. This feature is what enables the technique momentum canceling to be performed.

In Brawl

In Brawl, hitstun canceling is very effective. For any attack strong enough to put the player into tumble, said player can cancel hitstun with an airdodge after only 13 frames, regardless of how much hitstun would have otherwise been dealt. Alternatively, after 26 frames, the player can cancel hitstun with an aerial. As a result of this feature, combos are notoriously difficult to perform in Brawl, however due to the high ending lag of airdodges in the game, it is still possible to get followups out of attacks that put opponents into tumble.

Once hitstun has been canceled, one can initiate any action that they otherwise would be able to perform in the air, including initiating a fastfall, the core principle of vertical momentum canceling. The only exception to this is sideways movement through the air, which still cannot be performed until the hitstun would have ordinarily ended (seemingly to prevent characters like Jigglypuff with a high air speed from surviving horizontally far longer than usual); however, this can be circumvented by jumping after the lag from the action used to cancel the hitstun ends, which is one way of performing horizontal momentum canceling.

In Smash 4

Hitstun canceling was significantly weakened in Smash 4. A player can now only cancel hitstun with an airdodge or aerial after 40 and 45 frames respectively, and only if the current launch speed (i.e how much of the initial knockback speed is still present) is below 2 and 2.5 respectively. This has the effect of making hitstun cancelling impossible for attacks dealing 100 units of knockback or less, and causes the effect to scale with knockback unlike in Brawl. As a result, combos are easier to perform than they were in Brawl, and momentum canceling is no longer possible. Also worth noting is that while hitstun itself does not consider additional launch speed from the gravity penalty, hitstun canceling indirectly does (since current launch speed, not initial knockback value, is used to scale the effect). As such, fighters with low gravity have slightly stronger hitstun canceling than fighters with high gravity.

In Ultimate

Hitstun canceling has been removed entirely in Ultimate, and instead hitstun scales more slowly at higher knockback values.