King K. Rool (SSBU)/Pummel

Hitbox visualization showing King K. Rool's pummel.

Overview

A simple headbutt. Pummeling opponents prior to using down throw is especially crucial for King K. Rool's success, as the throw's bury time is based on damage prior to the throw, rather than the grab, thus including pummel damage. It's also essential after a dash grab to make use of the long lunge while still dealing damage. King K. Rool's pummel is also one of the most damaging of its kind, dealing 2% factoring in freshness and the 1v1 multiplier, while also being unusually fast, with an FAF of 8 and 16 frames of hitlag. This allows for an easy down throw into up smash, as it quickly prompts mashing from opponents aiming to avoid taking unnecessary damage.

As pummels remove moves from the stale-move negation queue, this greatly assists K. Rool, as his damage output is heavily affected by the staleness multipliers. Considering its 16 frames of hitlag, a buffered throw from a buffered pummel is guaranteed from around 10%, adding guaranteed damage to his throws very quickly. Thus, buffering pummel into down throw and then using neutral attack will almost completely refresh the staleness queue, greatly assisting K. Rool's damage output between stocks where the player has likely staled forward aerial and other important moves.

To compensate for the sheer damage it can rack up, King K. Rool's pummel is only frame 2. This is something only shared by a few characters, such as Donkey Kong and Jigglypuff. This means it's possible for characters to escape grabs before the pummel comes out, though this is rare.

Update History

8.0.0

• Pummel has a larger hitbox (7u → 8u), allowing it to connect more consistently.

Hitboxes

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Set weight	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Effect	Type	G	A	Sound	Direct	Hit bits	Hit part	Blockable	Reflectable	Absorbable	Flinchless	No GFX	Heedless
0	0	0	1.6%	0		Standard	0	100	30		8.0	top	0.0	10.0	11.0	2.3×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All

Timing

Hitbox	2
Interruptible	8
Animation length	23

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

Interruptible

King K. Rool's moveset

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