Template:SSB4 to SSBU changelist/Ice Climbers

Aesthetics

• Due to the game's graphical improvements, the Ice Climbers gain a sleeker design with more subtle detailing in their hair and parkas, and their overall color scheme is significantly more vibrant. The duo wears coats with detailed furry lining, similar to Melee. The duo has slightly smaller more proportionate heads, more faint blushes on their cheeks, and slightly thinner eyes on top of losing the purple hue in their eyes. Their boots and hammers also appear to be covered in light powdered snow.
• Both Ice Climbers face the foreground at an angle, instead of facing directly forward. In addition, they always face the screen regardless of which direction either of them turns, making all of their animations mirrored while altering some.
• The Ice Climbers have a new idle pose of them turning to look behind themselves. It replaces the animation of them dropping their hammers and then lifting them back up.
• Like other fighters, the Ice Climbers are more expressive than before, they appear excited when using their specials, scowl when shielding and charging their up and down smash, and the partner climber will also panic when the leader is grabbed.
  • In addition, the partner climber will have a worried expression and wince periodically when the main climber gets frozen, dizzy, or gets attacked.
• Spot dodge and ledge-hanging animations have changed.
• The Ice Climbers only jump once when using up taunt as opposed to three times.
• At the end of a solo match, only the leading Ice Climber will be shown inside the losing pane on the results screen. Both Ice Climbers are still shown if the match ends in a No Contest.
• Their victory theme has been shortened to only contain the second half.
• The Ice Climbers' crowd cheer is "I scream, you scream, Ice Climbers!"
• Nana's crowd cheer is no longer the back sound of the menu if she is currently the leader.
• The Ice Climbers has been updated with universal features introduced in Smash 4.
  • The Ice Climbers has a Boxing Ring title, a Palutena's Guidance conversation, and two additional alternate costumes.
    • Their black costume has slightly been modified: Nana's parka is now brown instead of black. Additionally, their costumes have been re-ordered; the Nana-leading costumes now occupy the second half of their costumes instead of the even-numbered costumes, which is how their costumes were ordered in Melee
  • The Ice Climbers' voice clip numbers in Sound Test are numbered individually (i.e. "Popo: Voice [number]"/"Nana: Voice [number]"), similar to other team-based fighters as well as the Mii Fighters, Assist Trophies, Poké Ball Pokémon and bosses.
• The sound effects of the partner are quieter. This is best heard when they're either Star or Screen KO'd.

Attributes

• Like all characters, both of the Ice Climbers' jumpsquat animations take three frames to complete (down from 4).
• The partner climber is generally faster than the leader. This helps them keep up if the two are separated.
• If either Ice Climber lands a hit, the other one takes a small amount of hitlag, regardless of whether their attack connects or not.
  • This makes desyncing slightly more difficult.
• The partner climber takes 1.02x times the damage and knockback from attacks, making them slightly easier to separate and KO.
• The partner now stands slightly behind the leader, in addition to being slightly in the z-axis. This reduces the range of all of their ground moves, except down smash due to hitting behind the partner.
• The Ice Climbers walk faster (0.96 → 1.008 (leader), 1.1088 (partner)).
• The Ice Climbers dash faster (1.388 → 1.53 (leader), 1.683 (partner)). Their initial dash is also faster (1.4 → 1.68).
• The Ice Climbers' air speed is faster (0.7708 → 0.83 (leader), 0.8715 (partner)).
• The Ice Climbers' falling speed is faster (1.2 → 1.3).
• The Ice Climbers' gravity is slightly higher (0.077 → 0.082), although it is lower relative to the cast.
• As with all returning veterans, the Ice Climbers have much higher traction (0.035 → 0.077) although it is still the second lowest in the game.
• The partner climber has higher air acceleration (0.09 → 0.0945).
• The removal of chain grabbing hinders the Ice Climbers more than any other character, as it harshly reduces their damage racking and KO abilities and zero-to-death potential. They also greatly suffer from the ability to tech footstools as it removes their guaranteed lock setups from grabs.
• The partner climber's AI is worse as they have more difficulty recovering and making it back to the leader which can lead to them self destructing.
• The duration enemies are frozen from the Ice Climbers' ice attacks are much longer, allowing for easier unavoidable followups at high percentages. At very high percentages, it can even freeze them long enough to be unable to recover from near the ledge.
• Ice Climbers arguably benefit the most from the reintroduction of wavedashing because of their very low traction, significantly increasing their approach and mobility, as well as giving them more mixups with grabbing and attacking opponents.
• The partner climber's attacks affect the duo's staleness queue; in previous games, they would use the queue but could not alter it. This generally means that the duo's attacks will both stale and refresh twice as quickly.
• When the leader is KO'd by reaching 0 HP during their last stock in Stamina Mode, the partner climber instantly enters the defeat animation regardless of being hit or not, similar to Rosalina's Lumas.
  • This consequently remove the partner climber's ability to intervene the results of opponents, hindering their impact on Stamina battles.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Neutral attack can lock opponents due to its altered angle (60° → 361°/180°) and the partner's second hit deals more damage (2% → 2.6%).
  • Neutral attack does less damage (3% → 2% (leader hit 1), 4% → 3.5% (leader hit 2), 2% → 1.5% (partner hit 1), 11% → 9.6% (total)).
  • Second hit of neutral attack has more ending lag (frame 20 → 30) and both hits have a shorter duration (frames 4-7 (hit 1), 4-6 (hit 2) → 4-5 (both)).
• Forward tilt:
  • The partner's forward tilt deals less damage (7% (non angled) → 6.75%).
  • Forward tilt has a shorter duration (frames 9-12 → 9-10).
• Up tilt:
  • The final hit of up tilt has more combo potential due to the removal of hitstun canceling. The partner's final hit also deals more knockback (40 (base), 100 (scaling) → 38/118).
  • Up tilt deals less damage (1% (loop hits) → 0.8% (leader loop hits), 0.6% (partner loop hits), 17% → 15.4% (total)), the loop hits have increased knockback (10 (base), 20 (scaling) → (65/60/20)/10) and the final hit has more startup lag (frame 23 → 24).
• Down tilt:
  • The partner's down tilt deals consistent damage (4%/5% → 4.5%) making it deal more damage at close range but makes it deal less damage at the tip of the hammer.
  • Down tilt connects less reliably at higher percents when both climbers are present.
• Dash attack:
  • The partner's dash attack deals more damage (4% → 4.5%) and has increased knockback scaling (40 → 60). Dash attack also has a longer duration (frames 11-12 → 11-14).
  • The outer hitbox has been extended forward (Y offset: 5u → 5u—7.5u), increasing its range.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 12-13 → 11-13). It also has less ending lag (frame 49 → 47) and has higher base knockback (30 → 50). The partner's forward smash also has higher knockback scaling (118 → 126).
  • It has an altered animation where the Ice Climbers don't slam their hammers as far, hindering its range. It also no longer has a sweetspot which deals more damage (13% → 12% (leader), 10% → 9% (partner), 23% → 21% (both)).
• Up smash
  • Up smash has less startup lag (frame 13 → 12) and the partner's up smash has higher knockback scaling (113 → 126).
  • The partner's up smash deals less damage (9% → 8.2%) and it has more ending lag (frame 48 → 50).
• Down smash:
  • Down smash is a sweep that hits one side. The partner will use the same attack facing the other way.
  • Down smash covers more horizontal ground when together and it deals more damage (12%/10% → 13% (leader), 9%/8% → 9.7% (partner)). It also has less ending lag (frame 44 → 41) and deals more knockback than the previous sweetspots (30 (base), 105 (leader scaling)/113 (partner scaling) → 50/(100/120)).
  • Down smash only hits on one side when solo. It is also drastically harder to connect with both climbers and even if it does, its maximum damage output is much lower as it no longer has two hits (42% → 22.7% (both)).

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag (15 frames → 7 (neutral/back), 20 → 10 (forward), 30 → 14 (up), 42 → 20 (down).
• The Ice Climbers can no longer use two back or up aerials in a short hop due to their faster falling speed as well as the latter having increased ending lag.
• Neutral aerial:
  • The partner's neutral aerial deals more damage (5% → 5.25%).
  • Neutral aerial connects less reliably when both climbers are present especially at higher percents.
  • The partner's neutral aerial also has less knockback scaling (128 → 120) hindering its KO potential despite its higher damage.
• Forward aerial:
  • The partner's sourspot forward aerial deals more damage (7% → 9%).
  • The partner's forward aerial has increased knockback scaling (100 → 114) improving its KO potential when both climbers are present.
  • The removal of meteor canceling improves the partner's sweetspot's reliability.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial deals less damage (11% → 10% (leader), 8% → 7.5% (partner), 19% → 17.5% (both)) although its knockback was mostly compensated (scaling: 107 (leader), 128 (partner) → 115/138) and connects less reliably when both climbers are present especially at higher percents.
    • The partner's attack now has more knockback overall, and is more in-line with the leader's, although it is still a bit weaker.
• Up aerial:
  • The Ice Climbers have a new up aerial: an upwards hammer swing in a horizontal arc. Compared to the old up aerial, it provides much more horizontal range and hits in front of them, covering them more efficiently than before. It also has higher knockback scaling (120 (leader), 142 (partner) → 129/154.80003) improving its KO potential despite its lower damage.
  • New up aerial deals less damage (10%/9% → 9% (leader), 7%/6% → 5.75% (partner)), has more startup lag, a shorter duration (frames 6-23 → 7-11) and more ending lag (frame 30 → 36) compared to the previous one. It also has less vertical range making it much harder to connect against grounded opponents.
• Down aerial:
  • The partner's down aerial deals more damage (5% → 6%). Down aerial also auto-cancels earlier (frame 58 → 54).
  • The Ice Climbers bounce up before performing down aerial similar to Sheik's down aerial.
  • Down aerial has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 9-51 → 12-51).

Throws and other attacks

• Grabs have more startup (frame 6 → 8 (standing), frame 8 → 10 (dash/pivot)) and ending lag (frame 30 → 40 (standing), frame 40 → 48 (dash), frame 40 → 41 (pivot)).
• The partner climber cannot act while the leader is held by an opponent's grab while on the ground, and enters a panicking animation instead (although this can be avoided with desyncs).
• The partner climber can no longer grab, and will taunt during the leader's throw while on the ground. This removes their chain grabs and locks the Ice Climbers were infamous for in previous titles.
• Up throw deals more damage (2% (hit), 4% (throw), 6% (total) → 3%/5%/8%) and the knockback scaling on the throw was not fully compensated (28 → 26).
• Down throw has the leader grab the opponent with both hands, lift them up in the air, and slam them on the ground.
  • The changes to hitstun canceling improve down throw's combo potential beyond lower percents with a solo climber.
  • The removal of chain grabbing hinders down throw's damage racking potential at lower percents even with a solo climber. Down throw also has increased knockback scaling (100 → 116) hindering its combo potential.
• The leader's front and back floor attacks deals more damage (6% → 7%).
• The partner's floor attacks deals less damage (6% → 5.2% (front & back), 5% → 3.5% (trip)).
• Ledge attack is a horizontal swing similar to their old over 100% ledge attack. It deals consistent damage compared to the previous two ledge attacks but the partner's ledge attack is weaker (8% (hammer), 6% (body) → 8% (leader), 6% (partner).
  • New ledge attack deals less damage compared to their old over 100% ledge attack (10% (hammer), 8% (body) → 8% (leader), 6% (body)) and the Ice climbers do not hunch over when performing it making them easier to hit.

Special moves

• Ice Shot:
  • Ice Shot deals more damage (1%-3% → 2-2%-3.5%). It also has less ending lag (frame 60 → 56).
  • Ice Shot can function as a projectile blocker since the sliding ice pieces won't get destroyed by any projectiles, and will cancel them out no matter how powerful they are.
  • Ice Shot makes a different sound effect.
  • Ice Shot has more startup lag (frame 17 → 18).
  • Reflected ice chunks can damage the Ice Climbers.
• Squall Hammer:
  • Solo Squall Hammer ends with a stronger hit that deals mild diagonal damage and knockback. The move also has less startup lag (frame 12 → 10).
  • Desynced Squall Hammer can be used to trap opponents between both Ice Climbers.
  • Squall Hammer makes a twinkling sound effect when used.
  • Squall Hammer grants much less vertical distance with mashing and it has more ending lag with both climbers (frame 70 → 78).
• Belay:
  • Belay covers slightly more distance with a solo climber and the solo climber has more control while using it.
  • When both climbers are present, the solo climber covers more vertical distance but less horizontal.
  • Belay uses a unique sound effect rather than regular jump sound from Ice Climber.
  • Belay has a smaller hitbox making it harder to land against grounded opponents.
• Blizzard:
  • Both Ice Climbers aim Blizzard forward while on the ground, similarly to their aerial version in previous games. This increases its damage output when used on the ground, but means that Blizzard can no longer hit opponents behind them, hindering its spacing potential.
  • The changes to freeze duration result in Blizzard freezing opponents for a significantly longer period of time overall, no longer allowing the opponent to thaw out almost immediately.
  • Blizzard deals less damage at close range (2% → 1.7%) and it has more ending lag (frame 80 → 85). It also no longer causes hitstun or freezes opponent when used at far range removing its ability to lock and hindering its spacing potential.
• Iceberg:
  • Iceberg spins and features a teetering Polar Bear that launches opponents with greater knockback. During the move, a Condor will circle around the top of the screen, which the Ice Climbers can grab onto, and it will also deal damage to opponents that touch it.
  • Opponents can no longer damage the iceberg and make it recede.
  • When paired, the Ice Climbers no longer make a whoosh sound upon activating Iceberg.
  • Iceberg lasts a shorter duration. While this does make it less obstructive to the partner Ice Climber, this makes it overall much easier for opponents to stall out and avoid entirely, while other changes made to the move make it less likely to cause problems for the partner climber anyway.
  • The iceberg no longer has solid terrain, and instead uses stronger windboxes to push both opponents and the Climbers out. This overall weakens the move's ability to interrupt recoveries, especially combined with the new vertical knockback, and prevents Climbers from standing on the peak. However, it also does not obstruct the Climbers as much, nor will it block ledges, making it less likely to cause the partner climber to SD. In addition, it can no longer be used to make the Climbers clip through stage objects, as this was caused by two merging walls.
  • The iceberg can be moved across the stage, although doing so can be risky if the Ice Climbers are not holding on to the Condor.
  • Iceberg no longer freezes opponents.
  • Iceberg no longer causes platforms to damage opponents.