Meta Knight (SSBB)/Down smash

Overview

The two hitboxes of Meta Knight's d-smash

Meta Knight slashes in front of him and then quickly slashes behind him, with the back slash being stronger than the front. This is considered Meta Knight's best KO move, having a combination of extremely fast start-up lag, great transcendent reach, and the back slash being his second strongest move from neutral. It is also considered the best down smash in Brawl on par with Wolf's, as not only is it one of the strongest down smashes, but it is also among the fastest start-up lag wise, tied with Wolf's for fastest in overall duration, and has among the best reach. The move is also difficult to punish if used and spaced correctly, due to rather low ending lag and outreaching the majority of attacks in Brawl.

Both slashes have high base knockback, and can KO especially well near blast lines. Their knockback scaling isn't as high, though the back slash has enough to still KO heavier characters reliably even with DI and momentum cancelling factored. The front slash however can have difficulty KOing under 150% under the aforementioned conditions (though due to its start-up, it can often catch opponents offguard and keep them from DI'ing properly). Due to the back slash still coming out reasonably fast, Meta Knight players will often turn around before using down smash to land the stronger back slash (the back slash is also less punishable, due to greater shield stun and the move being nearer to the end of its duration). While usually conserved by competent Meta Knights to keep the move fresh, its effective capability as a "get off me" move sees it used as a stronger alternative to Shuttle Loop and Mach Tornado when the Meta Knight is being pressured.

Overall it's an excellent and not difficult to use move that is heavily used in all levels of play, and that is commonly seen as straddling the broken threshold.

Post hit data

Hitbox	Base knockback	Knockback scaling	KO percent with poor DI	KO percent with no DI	KO percent with good DI
Front slash	2485	28.863	113.12%	128.71%	150.37%
Back slash	2575	32.267	98.40%	112.34%	131.71%

Hitboxes

ID	Part	Damage	SD	Angle	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			SDIx	H×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Type	Effect	G	A	Sound	Direct
Hit 1
0	0	11%	0		50	93	0	5.5	Root	0.0	3.0	6.0	1.0x	1.0x	0%							Slash
1	0	11%	0		50	93	0	5.2	Root	0.0	3.0	11.0	1.0x	1.0x	0%							Slash
2	0	11%	0		50	93	0	4.9	Root	0.0	3.0	15.5	1.0x	1.0x	0%							Slash
3	0	11%	0		50	93	0	4.6	Root	0.0	3.0	20.0	1.0x	1.0x	0%							Slash
Hit 2
0	0	13%	0		50	90	0	5.5	Root	0.0	3.0	-6.0	1.0x	1.0x	0%							Slash
1	0	13%	0		50	90	0	5.2	Root	0.0	3.0	-11.0	1.0x	1.0x	0%							Slash
2	0	13%	0		50	90	0	4.9	Root	0.0	3.0	-15.5	1.0x	1.0x	0%							Slash
3	0	13%	0		50	90	0	4.6	Root	0.0	3.0	-20.0	1.0x	1.0x	0%							Slash

Timing

Charges between	1-2
Hitboxes	5-6, 10-11
Animation length	34

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Charge interval

Hitbox

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 · Glide attack
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 (fast) · Edge getups (fast) · Edge attack (slow) · Edge getups (slow)
Neutral special · Side special · Up special · Down special · Final Smash