Knockback

File:Knockback.jpg

As the damage meter goes up, so does the knockback of most moves. When a character is at low damage, the character won't fly far and can return to the stage. However, if the character has higher damage and gets hit with a powerful attack, they will go farther, usually for a K.O.

Knockback is a measure of how far an attack sends its target. For example, Bowser's forward smash is an attack of high knockback; it launches opponents very far, so far that at high damages it's more powerful than a Home-Run Bat's smash attack. Pikachu's neutral attack, on the other hand, has very low knockback - it hardly sends opponents anywhere, even at ludicrous damages.

Basic physics

The knockback of most attacks increases as the target's damage increases. Knockback is also affected by the target's weight, gravity, and a few other conditions (such as type effectiveness). The damage dealt by an attack is a significant factor in how much knockback it deals, but it is not the primary factor.

Each hitbox of a move has two knockback values: a base knockback and a knockback scaling. Moves with high base knockback deal high knockback under any circumstances, such as the swing of a Home-Run Bat. On the other hand, moves with high knockback scaling take less damage to reach KO potential, such as Luigi's forward smash.

Certain attacks have set knockback. These attacks will always deal the same amount of knockback, regardless of the target's damage. The most famous attack with set knockback is Fox's Reflector in Melee; other examples include Luigi's taunt, the first hit of Young Link's forward smash, and Falco's blaster. Set knockback remains affected by characters' weight and other such factors.

In Brawl, knockback is given in match results as a number measured from 0 to over 60,000. The unit is given as "mph"; while this would presumably mean "miles per hour", this is obviously not the case, as a 1,000mph hit barely sends characters anywhere. The following table gives an idea of various knockback strengths:

Knockback	Example
1120	Jigglypuff's short hop
1440	Jigglypuff's first jump
2100	Fox dashing (without running)
3420	Falco's first jump
4381	Sheik's footstool jump
5500-6500	Average KO range
10000	Jigglypuff's shield leap

Other physics of knockback

• If a Meteor Smash is landed on a grounded opponent, they will be sent upwards with slightly reduced knockback (20% less in Brawl).
• If a character is hit while charging a smash attack, they will take slightly more knockback (20% more in Brawl).
• Based on type effectiveness, Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon will take more or less knockback from certain moves.

List of set knockback moves

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Super Smash Bros. Melee

• Fox: Reflector
• Ice Climbers: down air
• Yoshi: down tilt

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

• King Dedede: down throw
• Luigi: down taunt
• Kirby: Final Cutter (downwards stroke)