Meta Knight (SSB4)/Back aerial

Hitbox visualization showing Meta Knight's back aerial.

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Overview

Meta Knight slashes behind himself three times. A quick and strong move, it is Meta Knight's most reliable aerial finisher, KOing at about 90% offstage. On aerial opponents, this move has the autolink angle, leaving them exposed to attacks if Meta Knight lands. This can notably setup a jab reset with his down tilt, which can be extended into a chain of up aerials and finish with a high-altitude Shuttle Loop. As back aerial combos off of dash attack and down throw, the move has applications in zero-deathing opponents, particularly floatier characters.

While back aerial is already strong, the first two hits can be used to meteor smash recovering opponents. However, this is situational; the only reliable way to avoid landing the third hit (outside of the use mentioned above) is for the first or second hit to clash with an opposing hitbox. Furthermore, the meteor smash is relatively weak, and combined with the previous point, it is a viable tactic only against characters with poor vertical recoveries, such as Donkey Kong.

Hitboxes

ID	Part	Damage	SD	Angle	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			SDIx	H×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Type	Effect	G	A	Sound	Direct
Hits 1-2
0	0	2.2%	0		40	130	0	4.2	?	0.0	4.5	-12.0	1.0x	1.0x	0%							Slash
1	0	1.5%	0		0	0	90	4.2	?	0.0	4.5	-12.0	1.0x	1.0x	0%							Slash
Hit 3
0	0	4%	0		30	212	0	5.2	?	0.0	7.0	-12.0	1.0x	2.0x	0%							Slash
0	0	4%	0		30	212	0	5.0	?	0.0	2.5	-6.0	1.0x	2.0x	0%							Slash

Timing

Initial autocancel	1-6
Hits 1-2	7-8, 13-14
Hit 3	20-21
Ending autocancel	40
Interruptible	52
Animation length	59

Landing lag

Animation length	18

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

Autocancel

Interruptible

Meta Knight's moveset

Neutral attack · Forward tilt (1 · 2 · 3) · 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
Neutral special (def · c1 · c2) · Side special (def · c1 · c2) · Up special (def · c1 · c2) · Down special (def · c1 · c2) · Final Smash