Meta Knight (PM)

Meta Knight in Project M and Project+
Universe	Kirby
Base game appearance	Brawl
Moveset inspiration	Meta Knight (SSBB)
Alternate costume	Concept Art, Dark Meta Knight, Galacta Knight (Project+), Samurai Meta Knight (Project+)

Meta Knight's Concept Art Costume from Project M 3.0 to 3.6

Meta Knight is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. He was first confirmed as returning Brawl veteran for the mod in his own surprise reveal trailer on July 16th, 2013, a day before the release of Project M: Demo 2.6.

Meta Knight is currently ranked 1st out of 41 on the current official tier list, placing him in the S tier. This is the same as his placement in Brawl, where he was notably ranked 1st out of 38, albeit not in a dominating fashion like his Brawl counterpart. Meta Knight retains his 1st place in the official Project+ tier list.

Attributes

Meta Knight has an unusual character blend of character archetypes. He boasts multiple double jumps, an above average walking speed, the fourth fastest dashing speed, average air speed, the sixth fastest falling speed, and the ability to glide. He is also tied for the fastest jump squat, giving him a quick, albeit short, wavedash. He is small character, and is the fourth lightest character (being surprisingly heavier than Fox). These traits give Meta Knight above average mobility compared to most characters of his size and weight.

One of Meta Knight most positive strengths is his overall frame data; most of his moves have little start-up and ending lag, notably his down tilt. Though his overall reach is average, his sword Galaxia, gives him a useful disjointed range, especially in relation to his size, as he is the only small character who wields a sword. These factors make him difficult to punish, and in turn allow him to pressure his opponents.

His speed also gives him a versatile moveset and combo game. His down tilt can either be used to start combos up close, or be used for spacing or edge-guarding from a distance, thanks to its long reach. His neutral aerial has fast start-up, decent reach, high power, and a long duration, allowing it to be used as an out of shield option, an effective edge-guarding move, or a decent combo move. His forward aerial can be used as effective wall of pain move, especially on characters with poor horizontal recoveries such as Roy. His up aerial has quick start-up, and low knockback, giving it very potent combo potential, notably on stages with low ceilings, where it can combo into itself multiple times, and finish with Mach Tornado, Shuttle Loop, or even Dimensional Cape for early KOs. His grab game is also notably effective, despite his average grab range. His forward throw is very quick, making it difficult for the opponent to react to. His back throw is good for setting up edgeguards and sending opponents off-stage, and can KO lighter characters at very high percentages. His down throw can follow-up into a variety of moves at low percents, has tech-chasing capabilities, and can even chain grab certain characters at low percentages. Meta Knight also has good KOing options for his weight class. His forward smash has high knockback for a character his size, and has low ending lag, making it relatively difficult to punish despite is slow start-up. His down smash has notably low start-up, allowing it to be used as a quick escape option, and a combo finisher. Finally, his back aerial and down aerial have very high knockback and reach for their speed; down aerial also semi-spikes opponents, making it almost guaranteed to gimp characters with poor recoveries, even at low percents.

Finally, Meta Knight's recovery is often considered to be among the best in the game, due to the amount of recovery options he has relative to the cast, as his midair jumps and special moves allow him to cover long distances off-stage. Mach Tornado can be used from nearly any point off-stage, and has good protection due to the hitboxes surrounding Meta Knight. Drill Rush is his quickest recovery move horizontally, and punish edge-guarders who wait near the edge anticipating Meta Knight's return. Shuttle Loop covers the longest horizontal distance due to it transitioning into a Glide, and is also useful for vertical recovery, as if Meta Knight reverses the move at a certain point, he will instantly land back on the stage. Finally, Dimensional Cape is the most unpredictable of his recovery moves, as Meta Knight is invisible during the move, it can punish opponents with the attack proportion of the move, which has very high knockback, and can even be executed earlier by flicking the C-Stick.

However, Meta Knight also has notable flaws. His main flaw, similar to the space animals, is his frailty; his light weight combined with his very high fall speed make it so that he is KO'd fairly easily horizontally. Though his high fall speed gives him a long vertical endurance for his weight, it also makes him vulnerable to many combos and chain grabs despite his light weight; combined with the harsher environment of Project M, this makes approaching risky when he is at high percentages, and thus, having to wait for an opportunity to punish. Despite Meta Knight having potentially the best recovery in the game, it is limited when his options are missing, due to the fact that if he were to get hit out of any of his specials, he would lose all of his midair jumps, and is forced to use only his special moves until he returns to a safe position. His aforementioned fall speed also makes him vulnerable to meteor smashes and spikes, even if he were to meteor cancel.

Outside of edge-guarding, Meta Knight can also have difficulty KOing despite his good options, as many of them either have difficulty hitting due to slow start-up and/or poor reach, or are prone to stale-move negation. His lack of a projectile also makes him susceptible to camping strategies against characters with a strong projectile game, such as Snake or Falco. Finally, if Meta Knight is down a stock, he has difficulty getting the lead back due to his aforementioned frailty, and the fact that many of his combos that have the potential of doing high damage or pressure to his opponent are relatively difficult to perform, as many of them are based on reading the opponent's directional influence.

Overall, Meta Knight stands as a "high-risk, high-reward" character. His high learning curve means he must be able to perform his combos consistently, and because he is a glass cannon, he also has to make careful decisions of his every action. Despite Meta Knight's notable weaknesses, his quick movement and attack speed, strong recovery, and formidable combo game, are enough to make a threat to the rest of the cast. Because of this, Meta Knight is viewed by the Project M community as a viable character (placing 5th on the Project M 3.02 preliminary tier list and 11th on the finalized one). Though his tournament presence had gone down after the significant changes he received in transition to version 3.5, it did not significantly impact his viability when compared to other characters such as Zelda and Mewtwo, as his current 1st place ranking shows, courtesy of the buffs he received in version 3.6b and 3.6.

Changes from Brawl to PM

Meta Knight's down aerial prior to version 3.5, a downward sword-planting stall-then-fall that nods to the down thrust attack from the Sword ability in his home series; it could be directed at a forward angle upon executing.

Meta Knight was universally considered to be the best character in Brawl due to many reasons such as his amazing frame data, aerial game, large amount of disjointed attacks with transcendent priority, his un-contestable recovery/edgeguarding and his insanely oppressive specials (mainly Mach Tornado and Shuttle Loop). These factors resulted in Meta Knight heavily dominating Brawl's metagame with numerous players seeing him as broken. As a result, Meta Knight has received both buffs and nerfs from the tranistion from Brawl to Project M, but was moderately nerfed overall.

He had some of his overwhelming advantages weakened in the transition from Brawl to Project M. His aerial game, recovery and edgeguarding have all taken a hit. Meta Knight now only has 4 jumps instead of 6 and his gliding has seen a huge nerf. Meta Knight can now only access gliding via Shuttle Loop and he can only glide for 80 frames. In addition, he gains much less height when gliding up. As for his aerials, his up and down aerials have seen a huge decrease in their speed making them far less oppressive. His notorious Mach Tornado, and Shuttle Loop have also been significantly downgraded. Unlike most of Meta Knight's moves which have lost their transcendent priority, Mach Tornado has actually gained transcendent priority. This is a detriment as Mach Tornado now loses to every hitbox in the game rather than nullifying a majority of moves. Mach Tornado also has a shorter duration and travels slower. As well as the aforementioned nerfs to Meta Knight's gliding, grounded Shuttle Loop is weaker and has lost its invincibility while the aerial version no longer sweetspots ledges, suffers from extreme landing lag if he lands with it during its startup and the sweetspot is harder to land and has lost its edgeguarding potential.

Despite these nerfs, Meta Knight has received some buffs that continue make him a threat to the rest of the cast (albeit to a lesser extent). His already impressive ground speed was increased further and his previously awful air speed has been greatly increased. Many of Meta Knight's moves have increased KO power such as his forward smash, down aerial and back aerial (which now only consists of a single hit making it more reliable). Some of his attacks also have decreased ending lag and the reintroduction of L-canceling makes his aerials safer than ever on shield.

Overall despite his sizeable nerfs, Meta Knight remains one of the most dominant characters and he was even ranked 1st on the latest Project M tier list. Despite this, he is nowhere near as dominant as in Brawl with the rest of the cast having a better chance facing off against him and his strong tournament results/representation are much less prevalent.

Aesthetics

• Sword SFX changed to sound louder, making his attacks sound stronger.
• Meta Knight now instantly vocalises when using down taunt.
• "Now, my power is without rival" replaces Brawl's "Victory...is my destiny" in the third win animation.

Attributes

• Glide attack deals more damage (12% → 13%) and has more base knockback (30 → 40).
• Glide attack no longer auto-cancels on landing making Meta Knight suffer from the landing lag he would receive from his special fall.
• Meta Knight's already fast dashing speed has been significantly increased (1.847 → 2.1), now having the 4th fastest dash in the game.
• Meta Knight's air speed is significantly faster (0.752 → 1.0).
• Meta Knight's jump-squat is one frame faster (frame 4 → 3).
• Meta Knight jumps higher (2.4 → 2.7).
• Meta Knight has much more traction (0.055 → 0.09) This makes it easier for him to punish out of shield but greatly reduces the length of his new wavedash.
• Meta Knight no longer suffers a 32 frame meteor cancel delay (now being standardized to 15 frames), significantly improving his survivability against meteor smashes.
• Along with Pit and Charizard, Meta Knight can no longer glide with the jump button, though unlike these characters, who received a new special move that allows them to glide, Meta Knight only possesses his Shuttle Loop glide, significantly shortening his recovery. The duration of the glide is no longer infinite (the entire duration was reduced from infinite to 80 frames) and it gains much less height when angled up.
• Number of mid-air jumps reduced (5 → 3), worsening his recovery.
• The majority of Meta Knight's attacks have lost their transcendent priority, hindering his combo potential and approach.
• Meta Knight's falling speed was increased drastically (1.39 → 2.45) especially when compared to the rest of the Brawl cast, going from average to the 6th fastest falling speed in the game. It makes his SHFFL decent, in addition to him taking less vertical knockback. As a downside, it worsens his recovery and makes him susceptible to combos and chaingrabs, despite his small size and low weight.
• Meta's Knight's gravity is higher (0.0956 → 0.11).
• Meta Knight's forward roll has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 5-12 → 4-19) and his back roll has a longer duration (frames 4-12 → 4-19) and less ending lag (frame 33 → 32).
• Forward roll has more ending lag (frame 24 → 32) no longer being the fastest roll in the game.
• Meta Knight's air dodge has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 3-29 → 4-19).
• Meta's Knight spot dodge has a shorter duration (frames 2-20 → 2-18) and more ending lag (frame 26 → 28).
• Meta Knight's glide toss covers less distance.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack has less ending lag (frame 39 → 37), and the multi-hits have an altered angle (361° → 60°/120°) more base knockback (8 → 25), allowing them to connect better, due to the universally increased fall speeds. The final hit also deals more damage (2% → 3%) and knockback (13 (base)/60 (growth) → 40/100).
• Neutral attack can no longer be held and it can no longer be used to jab lock opponents.
• Neutral attack's animation slightly altered to match it's animation in Smash 4.
• Dash attack has less start-up lag with a longer duration (frames 5-11 → 4-14) and has an added late hit that deals 3%, giving it a longer duration.
• The clean hit has a shorter duration (frames 5-11 → 4-7) and dash attack has more ending lag (frame 32 → 38).
• The third hit of forward tilt has more startup (frame 2 → 3) and ending lag (frame 34 → 35).
• The first two hits of forward tilt have different knockback values (14/8 (base)/88 (growth) → 0 (base)/100 (growth)).
• Up tilt has less ending lag (frame 35 → 28).
• Up tilt's sourspot now takes priority over the rest of the move and the sweetspot has lower priority (ID 1 → 2).
• Down tilt deals more consistent damage (4%/5%/6%/7% → 5%/7%), and the inner half of the move now launching foes vertically (361° → 80°), giving the move more combo potential.
• Down tilt has increased start-up (frame 3 → 6) and ending lag (frame 16 → 20). It also gives less distance forward, removing its ability to pseudo-crawling, and decreasing its reach. It can also no longer lock opponents.
• As with almost every other character, Meta Knight no longer has one consistent voice clip for his smash attacks. He also now vocalises when using down smash.
• Forward smash deals more damage (14% → 16%) and has increased knockback (28 (base)/99 (growth) → 30/110).
• Forward smash has more ending lag (frame 42 → 49), and causes Meta Knight to step back more during its initial delay, somewhat decreasing its reach. It also has smaller hitboxes (7u/6u → 5.5u/4.92u).
• Forward smash's ending animation altered to match its animation in Smash 4.
• Up smash deals more damage (3% (hit 1), 2% (hit 2), 4% (hit 3) → 4%/3%/5%), and the third hit has increased knockback (62 (base)/145 (growth) → 40/185). It also has less ending lag (frame 50 → 45) and Meta Knight's DACUS covers more distance improving up smash's approach potential.
• Up smash has smaller hitboxes (5u/6.3u → 4.099983u/6u (hits 1 & 2), 6.5u/7.5u → 6.97/6.5 (hit 3)).
• The first hit of down smash deals more damage (11% → 13%), and the back hit has more knockback growth (90 → 93).
• The first hit of down smash has less knockback growth (93 → 80), and the back hit has more start-up (frame 10 → 14). It also has more ending lag (frame 35 → 45) and smaller hitboxes (5.5u/5.2u/4.9u/4.6u → 4.51u/4.263967u/4.018u/3.772u).

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have increased landing lag (15 frames → 17 (neutral), 15 frames → 18 (forward), 12 frames → 16 (back), 12 frames → 15 (up), 15 frames → 16 (down)) though this is compensated with the introduction of L-canceling.
• Neutral aerial has increased reach, and a longer duration (frames 3-24 → 3-28). The sourspot also deals more damage (7%/6%/5% → 9%).
• Neutral aerial has more ending lag (frame 32 → 43) and auto-cancels later (frame 25 → 36) no longer doing so in a short hop. It also has a new late hit which deals less damage (7%/6%/5% → 4%).
• Forward aerial's final hit has decreased knockback (60 (base)/122 (growth) → 30/130). This makes it easier to use in wall of pain combos under Project M's physics, but gives it less KO potential as a result.
• The first two hits of forward aerial have altered knockback (80/5 (fixed)/100 (growth) → 115 (fixed)/30 (growth)).
• Forward's aerial's hits have a longer duration (1 frame → 2) and it has less ending lag (frame 40 → 34).
• Forward aerial auto-cancels later (frame 22 → 31).
• Meta Knight has a new back aerial, where he performs a single quarter-circle slash behind him making it more reliable. It has less ending lag (frame 46 → 36), making it easier to wall of pain into itself. It also deals more damage (10% → 14%), making it stronger despite its decreased knockback growth (175 → 100).
• Back aerial has increased start-up (frame 7 → 10).
• Up aerial deals more damage (6% → 8%) with its knockback growth compensated (125 → 105). It also auto-cancels earlier (frame 21 → 19).
• Up aerial has increased start-up (frame 2 → 5) and ending lag (frame 14 → 23), reducing it's combo potential despite it's decreased knockback growth (125 → 105).
• Meta Knight has a new down aerial, where he performs a somersault before slashing downward in a horizontal arc. It deals more damage (9%/7% → 14%/11%) and knockback (15/30 (base), 105 (growth) → 30/20 (base), 80/90 (growth)) improving its KO potential. The sweetspot now takes priority over the sourspot and there is only one sourspot hitbox rather than two.
• New down aerial has much more start-up (frame 4 → 12) and ending lag (frame 26 → 40) greatly hindering its utility outside of edgeguarding. It also auto-cancels later (frame 24 → 37) no longer doing so in a short hop and its angles have been altered (23° (clean), 35° → 35°/361°) hindering its edgeguarding potential.

Throws/other attacks

• Standing and pivot grab have increased start-up (frame 6 → 7 (standing), frame 7 → 9 (pivot)) and ending lag (frame 30 → 31 (standing), frame 35 → 36 (pivot)).
• Back throw is now weight-dependent.
• Up throw sends at a more favorable angle (77º → 90º), giving it some follow-up potential at lower percentages.
• The universal increase to all character's fall speeds hinders up throws KO potential as its knockback and damage were unchanged.
• Down throw has a shorter animation due to Meta Knight stomping less times, giving it more follow-up tech-chaseing capabilities, and allowing Meta Knight to chain grab a few characters more effectively.
• The final hit of down throw has altered knockback (50 (base)/110 (growth) → 30/200).
• Down throw has increased ending lag, and the reduced number of stomps results in it dealing less damage (11% → 9%). Its increased knockback reduces it's combo ability at higher percentages.

Special moves

• All special moves go into a special landing lag animation if used in the air, reducing their safety.
• Mach Tornado has less start-up (frame 12 → 9), and the final hit deals more damage (3% → 5%) and knockback (35 (base)/170 (growth) → 50 (base)/128/140 (ground/air) (growth)).
• Mach Tornado's acceleration, deceleration and duration were significantly decreased. Contrary to most of Meta Knight's moves, Mach Tornado now has transcendent priority allowing any move in the game to hit Meta Knight out of it making it far easier to challenge.
• The multi-hits for Mach Tornado have altered knockback (50/90 (fixed)/45/100 (growth) → 30/40 (base)/0 (growth)).
• Drill Rush has less start-up and ending lag, travels faster, and its multi-hits link better due to altered base knockback values (50/60/100 → 60/40/70), and the first hit now sending opponents at an autolink angle, giving it much more utility in combos and approaching. The final hit also has increased knockback growth (100 → 115).
• Drill Rush no longer has a small jump at the end, reducing it's safety. The angling capabilities and distance of Drill Rush were also reduced.
• Aerial Shuttle Loop has a longer duration (frame 8-36 → 8-37). Grounded Shuttle Loop's late hit also deals more damage (5% → 6%).
• Aerial Shuttle Loop now launches opponents vertically (25° → 80°). This improves its KO potential near the upper blast line but removes its edgeguarding potential.
• Grounded Shuttle Loop has less base knockback (90 → 85), lacks intangibility on startup, has a smaller hitbox, and a shorter duration (frames 8-14 (clean), 15-36 (late)) → 8-9/10-31). The aerial version's sweetspot also has a shorter duration (frames 8-14 → 8-9) making it much harder to connect. It also no longer auto-sweetspots the ledge on startup and if Meta Knight lands during its startup, he will now suffer from a high amount of landing lag.
• When using Dimensional Cape, flicking the C-stick before teleporting will perform a quick slash, dealing 14% damage. The normal slash itself deals more damage (14% → 16%), and increased knockback (20 (base)/85 (growth) → 50/40 (base)/100/103 (growth)).
• Dimensional Cape's invincibility frames have more start-up (frame 18 → 23).
• Meta Knight can no longer perform the Infinite Dimensional Cape.
• Galaxia Darkness has a Darkness effect added.

Update history

v2.6b

• Angled down aerial has hitboxes in Meta Knight's body.
• Grounded Dimensional Cape does not disable specials and airdodges.
• Grounded Shuttle Loop is able to go into special landing during the loop, like the aerial version.
• Pivot grab range reduced, and has a bit more startup to match other pivot grabs.
• Down aerial landing lag when not L-Canceled corrected.
• Dimensional Cape attack edge cancels into fall properly when sliding off edges.
• Dimensional Cape non-attack reappearance turn around timing adjusted to match the attack.
• Fixed a bug with glitched specials able to be performed out of aerials following the use of Dimensional Cape.
• Fixed a bug with momentum when Down B was used directly out of hitstun.

v3.5

• Number of mid-air jumps: 4 → 3 (height of jumps compensated).
• Model size/hurtbox: 0.94x → 1.00x.
• Glide duration: Infinite → 80 frames.
• Glide after first aerial usage now exits into special fall after 8 frames, and only refreshes by landing on the ground or ledge.
• Glide maximum upwards angle: 80º → 45º.
• Glide Attack hitlag: 1.5x → 1x.
• Glide Attack and special fall landing lag: 18 frames → 30.
• Glide cancel special fall landing lag: 30 frames → 15.
• Fixed a bug that prevented Meta Knight from holding down to go through platforms with his multi-jumps.
• Multi-hits of neutral attack SDI multiplier: 0.8x → 1x.
• Forward tilt first hit ending lag: frame 21 → 24.
• Forward tilt second hit ending lag: frame 24 → 28.
• Forward tilt third hit ending lag: frame 29 → 35.
  • This does not affect the full combo, and only if the hits are used individually.
• Down tilt ending lag: frame 19 → 22.
• Dash attack ending lag: frame 15 → 16.
• Dash attack duration: frame 4-20 → 4-15.
• Forward smash ending lag: frame 40 → 46.
• Forward smash Z-offset increased.
• Forward smash inner hitbox removed.
• Forward smash body hitbox size reduced.
• Forward smash body hitbox moved outwards.
• Up smash knockback: 62 (base)/145 (growth) → 40/185.
• First and second hits of up smash hitlag: 0.75x → 1x.
• First and second hits of up smash SDI multiplier: 0.5x → 0.8x.
• Neutral aerial duration: frame 3-32 → 3-30.
• Neutral aerial lingering hitbox sizes decreased.
• Neutral aerial middle hitbox damage: 8% → 9%.
• Neutral aerial middle hitbox knockback: 0 (base)/80 (growth) → 15/100.
• Neutral aerial middle hitbox duration: 21 frames → 9
• Neutral aerial sourspot duration: 5 frames → 14.
• Neutral aerial sourspot base knockback: 0 → 10.
• Neutral aerial sourspot outer hitboxes removed.
• Forward aerial first hit SDI multiplier increased: 0.6x → 1x.
• Forward aerial second hit SDI multiplier increased: 0.8x → 1x.
• First and second hits of forward aerial knockback: 50/79 (base) (first)/110/25 (base) (second)/0 (growth) → 115 (fixed)/30 (growth).
• First and second hits of forward aerial angle: 80º/280º → 361º/285º.
• First and second hits of forward aerial outer hitbox sizes decreased.
• Up aerial damage: 6% → 8%.
• Up aerial knockback growth: 125 → 105.
• Up aerial hitlag: 1.4x → 1x.
• Down aerial replaced with Brawl down aerial (*changes listed below will refer to Brawl).
  • Start-up: frame 4 → 6.
  • Ending lag: frame 24 → 34.
  • Inner hitbox damage: 7% → 9%.
  • Outer hitbox damage: 9% → 6%.
  • Inner hitbox angle: 35º → 40º.
  • Outer hitbox angle: 23º → 55º.
  • Inner hitbox base knockback: 30 → 15.
  • Hitbox sizes reduced.
  • 8 frames of L-Cancelled landing lag.
• Standing Grab range reduced.
• Dash Grab total TransN movement distance decreased 25%.
• Turn grab box changed to match animation.
• Down throw knockback: 60 (base)/110 (growth) → 30/200.
• Down throw damage: 8% → 9%.
• Down throw ending lag: frame 66 → 73.
• Mach Tornado final hit angle: 361º → 90º.
• Mach Tornado no longer passes current frame from air to ground on landing, now goes into special fall for 30 frames.
• Aerial Mach Tornado ending has reduced drift control and more horizontal air resistance.
• Aerial Mach Tornado base knockback and knockback growth values now match grounded Tornado.
• Drill Rush outer hitboxes moved back onto hand.
• Grounded Shuttle Loop sweetspot angle: 80º → 75º.
• Grounded Shuttle Loop base knockback: 90 → 85.
• Shuttle Loop longer edge cancels, instead transitions into a non-driftable/interruptible flip animation.
• Late flub hit from grounded Shuttle Loop removed.
• Aerial Shuttle Loop now only hits for the first 9 frames.
• Dimensional Cape now goes into helpless state.
• Fixed a bug that enabled aerial Dimensional Cape to refresh jumps/Dimensional Cape usage by quickly touching the ground.
• Fixed ability to infinite Dimensional Cape by quickly alternating between ground and air states.
• Minimum start-up for instant Dimensional Cape slash: frame 7 → 11.
• Can no longer control Dimensional Cape during the ending animation.
• Can use any attack button for instant Dimensional Cape slash.

v3.6b

• Added a dust effect when Meta Knight is nearing the end of his glide timer.
• Various slash, animation, and other graphical polishes.
• Weight: 70 → 79.
• All specials now cause Meta Knight to lose all remaining jumps if used in the air. Keeps jumps if used from the ground. Previous behavior caused Mach Tornado, Drill Rush, and Shuttle Loop to lose 1 jump, and Dimensional Cape to lose all jumps if used in the air.
• Down tilt ending lag: frame 22 → 20.
• Ported the first hitbox of down tilt knockback growth, damage, and angle stats (the launcher hitbox) to the second hitbox.
• New down aerial, a somersault before slashing downward in a horizontal arc.
  • Damage: 9%/6% → 14%.
  • Knockback: 15 (base)/105 (growth) → 30/75.
  • Start-up: frame 6 → 12.
• Standing grab range: 13u → 14u.
• Down throw always forces tumble, reducing it's combo ability.
• Mach Tornado damage per hit: 2% → 1%.
• Mach Tornado has a re-hit rate of 5 frames (4 at the smaller sweetspot at the middle of the tornado), instead of ranging between 6-10 frames depending on how fast Meta Knight is spinning.
• Mach Tornado sweetspot and side hitboxes have 110 angle, 40 base knockback, and have priority. Larger center hitbox has 90 angle and 30 base knockback, usually only hitting if the opponent is grounded or below Meta Knight.
• Aerial Mach Tornado ending hitbox moved upwards slightly, to the same height as the grounded ending hitbox.
• Beginning of grounded Tornado no longer forces Meta Knight off the ground.
• Modified the coding of Mach Tornado to make mashing easier, but also to remove the ability to use d-pad specials to gain excessive height. Keeps the same practical height gain.
• Drill Rush multi-hit's re-hit rate: 5 frames → 4. Dealing a whole 1% more total damage as a result.
• Drill Rush multi-hit's frontmost hitbox: 3u → 4.5u, and moved it backwards by 1u.
• Drill Rush multi-hits base knockback lowered by various amounts to improve linkage.
• Aerial Drill Rush final hit hitbox sizes: 6.56u (sword)/7.38u (body) → 5u/6u. Moved hitboxes inward by 0.64u/2u.
• All hitboxes on Shuttle Loop normalized to 1x hitlag.
• Flub hitbox on grounded Shuttle Loop reinstated.
• Aerial Shuttle Loop weak hit duration reverted to 3.02.
• Disabled vertical momentum during aerial Shuttle Loop start-up, for more consistent height gain.
• Altered sound effects on Shuttle Loop.
• Grounded Shuttle Loop has Meta Knight take out his wings partway through.
• Strong hitbox of Dimensional Cape knockback growth: 115 → 100.
• Dimensional Cape hitbox size increased
• Ledge cancelling the Dimensional Cape slash causes you to go into regular fall instead of a helpless state.
• Altered ending coding of Dimensional Cape to be consistent between air/ground.
• Galaxia Darkness has a Darkness effect added.

v3.6

• Left foot enlargement of dash attack reduced to 1.3u.
• Forward smash ending lag: frame 46 → 49.
• Down aerial knockback growth: 75 → 80.
• Down aerial hitbox size: 4.25u → 4.5u.
• Rear hitbox of Down aerial changed to 11%/361º/20 (base)/80 (growth)/5.8u.
• Down aerial animation altered to have more force behind it.
• Mach Tornado can now grab the ledge during the ending animation.
• Voice clip for Drill Rush plays earlier.

Moveset

Up to date as of version 3.6.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		Flurry Attack	1-3% (5 hits)	Meta Knight slashes all around him in a flurry, similar to some of the Sword ability moves in the Kirby series. The first swipe only hits from behind while the rest can connect normally. Only three hits can connect when turned away. Only hits for a single series of hits and cannot be rapidly tapped for an increase of blows.
Forward tilt			4%	Slashes twice in front of him (inward then outward), then once upwards. Last hit deals vertical knockback. Only pressing the attack button once will cause Meta Knight to perform only the first hit, press it twice more to slash the second and third time. Even at higher percentages, all three hits can combo into themselves.
			3%
			5% (base), 4% (tip)
Up tilt		Up Thrust	6-8%	Stabs upward while spinning. Meta Knight's famous upward stab during his boss battles. Sweetspot is at the hilt of the sword.
Down tilt			7% (body), 5% (sword)	Thrusts his sword across the ground via low stab. Can set up for a grab at low percents and is great for controlling space. Can be used to pseudo-crawl, but not as effectively as in Brawl.
Dash attack			6-8% (clean), 3% (late)	Does a forward thrust kick into a braking stop with vertical knockback. Due to this move not involving his sword, this attack has normal priority.
Forward smash			16%	Pulls his sword back for a second, then slashes in front of him in a clearing outward strike. It's one of his strongest move in terms of knockback. Has very little ending lag. When fully charged, it can KO at 80%. Steps back a bit more during its initial delay than in Brawl.
Up smash			4% (hit 1), 3% (hit 2), 5% (hit 3)	Slashes above him three times in a spiraling stationary leap. Similar to Link's up smash, but is much faster, has less range, and deals less damage and knockback. Can KO at very high percentages.
Down smash			13% (both sides)	Slashes in front of him, then behind. Arguably one of his best KO moves due to its extremely fast speed and power. The second hit has slightly higher knockback than the first hit.
Neutral aerial		Sword Spin	12% (clean), 9% (mid), 4% (late)	Slashes while spinning in a forward-somersaulting circle, with a similar animation to the Sword ability's midair slash in the Kirby games. Has decent knockback. Good for offstage KOs if the move hits when clean and a good OoS option because of its speed and power.
Forward aerial			3% (hits 1-2), 4% (hit 3)	Slashes in front of him three times. Can perform a wall-of-pain variation, though Meta Knight's air speed somewhat hampers the effectiveness of it so it is not as effective when compared to Jigglypuff's wall of pain.
Back aerial			14%	Does one upward slash behind him. Good surprise offstage KO option at high percents or a powerful combo and gimping option at lower percents.
Up aerial			8%	Slashes above him very quickly. Has decent knockback, but noticeably more ending lag than in Brawl. However, it is still useful for keeping opponents in the air via powerful juggle potential.
Down aerial			14% (sweetspot), 11% (sourspot)	Meta Knight performs a somersault before slashing downward in a horizontal arc. Sends the opponent on a semi-spike trajectory and is quite deadly offstage, especially against opponents with poor horizontal recovery.
Glide attack			13%	Part of his Shuttle Loop glide attack, Meta Knight will slash forward once when the attack button is pressed. A very powerful gliding attack compared to the others. This is only sword-based move of his to lack transcendent priority.
Grab			—
Pummel			3%	Jabs opponents with the talons on his wings. A slow pummel.
Forward throw			6% (hit), 3% (throw)	Boots the opponent away and upward with a back-somersaulting kick. A very fast throw and can lead up into another grab at low percent.
Back throw			7% (hit), 3% (throw)	Warps behind the opponent and slashes at them with an outward strike.
Up throw		Air Drop	12%	Like Kirby's u-throw, Meta Knight jumps into the air holding his foe, and then crashes down. The differences are that his throw doesn't create an explosion, like Kirby's, does more damage, and has slightly more launching power.
Down throw		Fury Stomp	1% (hits 1-5), 3% (hit 6), 1% (throw)	Like Kirby's d-throw, Meta Knight stomps on the opponent multiple times, then ends by fall-stomping down on them with his foot's underside. Compared to Kirby's d-throw, it produces horizontal knockback. It can be followed by other attacks, and even another grab at low percentages.
Floor attack (front)			7% (body), 5% (sword)	Slashes on either side of himself.
Floor attack (back)			7% (body), 5% (sword)	Slashes on either side of himself.
Floor attack (trip)			5%	Essentially the same as his other two floor attacks.
Edge attack (fast)			9% (body), 7% (sword)	Quickly slashes forward with his blade.
Edge attack (slow)			10% (body), 9% (sword)	Gets up slowly, then slashes with his blade.
Neutral special		Mach Tornado	1% (loop hits), 5% (last hit)	Spins at high speed, trapping foes in a tornado. This makes escape via directional influence difficult. When the Tornado is finished, the last hit causes slightly more than moderate knockback, but can be very dangerous if used near the top of the screen as Meta Knight could self-destruct if he cannot touch stage edges in his helpless state when off-stage or with the addition of being put helpless, can be punished. Mach Tornado can be controlled by pressing left or right to move in that direction, and going upwards is done by pressing the special move button rapidly, which also extends the amount of time Meta Knight spins, although as noted above, the amount of time is less than in Brawl. It is also a good recovery move, it gains some horizontal distance on top of a little vertical distance. It also has near instantaneous start-up lag, and with multiple large hitboxes that can clash with ground and aerial hitboxes, it provides great protection to Meta Knight. However, something to note is that Meta Knight will bounce off of edges rather than grabbing them if he hits them while he is in the tornado. He also cannot grab edges during the first few frames of his helpless animation out of the tornado.
Side special		Drill Rush	1% (hits 1-5), 6% (hit 6)	Leaps sideways with his blade outstretched. If he hits an enemy, he performs a combination lasting up to a good second, knocking Meta Knight's opponent slightly upward. Meta Knight can also change the course of the attack, although nowhere near as much as in Brawl, making it less useful as a recovery. After using the attack, Meta Knight becomes helpless. It is possible to cancel the ending lag of the attack by making the end hit the edge, allowing it to be virtually lag free, and allowing Meta Knight to grab the edge which can be used to help with hogging the edge.
Up special		Shuttle Loop	9% (clean), 6% (late ground), 5% (late air)	Jumps into the air with his sword pointed upwards, goes into a loop and glides forward with his blade extended. The Shuttle Loop has good knockback, making it one of Meta Knight's best KO moves. The ground Shuttle Loop has vertical knockback and invincibility frames at the beginning of the move and the air version also has strong vertical knockback, being a solid edge-guarding move due its high base knockback. It should also be noted that the end of the shuttle loop attack automatically initiates a glide, which can be used in addition to the vertical recovery to add good horizontal recovery. In addition, because Meta Knight can do a quick attack to conclude a glide, the shuttle loop can be timed to do two consecutive attacks — the initial upswing, and the quick swing from the glide. The move makes him helpless if the glide ends/is canceled, or if he does the glide attack.
Down special		Dimensional Cape	16% (slash 1), 14% (slash 2)	Teleports in a direction, controllable with the control stick. If the attack button is pressed or the special button is held, he will perform a slash. It can be used to disappear from projectiles, and even attacks. Many players disregard the cape, but it is very useful for surprising opponents, making recovery less predictable and for edgeguarding. This is an extremely "flashy" move, and is often used for showing off. Meta Knight can use this as a recovery move, but afterwards, he will enter helpless state, even if the attack connects.
Final Smash		Galaxia Darkness	40% to trapped opponents, 18% for others	Swings his cape out directly in front of him while shouting "Know my power!" or "Behold....". If he misses with his cape, Meta Knight pauses for a brief time, and the Final Smash fails. When it connects, characters nearby become trapped, the screen then darkens to black, and after a few seconds, a large, single slash appears near Meta Knight, as he then slices the trapped opponents with one, powerful strike. Characters who are trapped by Meta Knight's cape always receive high, upwards knockback that can KO above 60%, with super armor ignored. Any opponents who are not trapped are also attacked, but instead take weaker damage and upwards knockback. These slashes can also damage and even KO allies, without regarding Friendly Fire being disabled or not. The weaker slash part of Galaxia Darkness can be avoided by dodging with correct timing.

In competitive play

Notable tech

Labbing Discord Tech Post

Most historically significant players

See also: Category:Meta Knight players (PM)

•  Boiko - Ranked #23 on PMRank 2023.
•  SipMastah - Ranked #9 on PMRank 2022 Using a combination of Meta Knight, Lucario and Sonic.
•  EmuKiller - Ranked 39th on PMRank 2018, and 13th on PMRank 2017. Placed 1st at We Tech Those 2 using solo Meta Knight.
•  Lunchables - Ranked 11th on PMRank 2022 and has ranked as high as #2 on PMRank 2016. Picked up Meta Knight in 2022 while maining Marth, Roy, and Toon Link.
•  Qtip - Formerly ranked #45 on PMRank 2022 and 3rd on the Washington Project M Power Rankings.
•  swiminonland - Ranked #48 on PMrank 2023.
•  Tealz - Formerly ranked #33 on PMRank 2022.
•  Yung Quaff - Formerly ranked #31 on PMRank 2022.

Alternate costumes

Project M

Meta Knight has gained two new costumes. One is based off of his evil Mirror World counterpart, Dark Meta Knight, from Kirby & the Amazing Mirror. The other is based off of concept art for the canceled GameCube Kirby game, included in the collectible book that came with Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition, which featured a new Meta Knight-like character with a stylized mask and armor that resembles a butterfly. This design would later be used for Morpho Knight in Kirby Star Allies.

The Concept Art costume received a makeover in 3.6, giving Meta Knight white eyes and a new sword to brandish.

Meta Knight's alternate costumes in PM

Project+

Meta Knight gets several new costumes in Project+. His Dark Meta Knight costume has been updated to reflect the Star Allies design, and he also gets a magenta costume inspired by Galacta Knight, which resembles the SSBU version and features a vertical slit in the middle of the mask. His newly-renamed Morpho Knight costume was given a new sword matching its Star Allies design and recolors for team battles, including Morpho Knight EX from Star Allies and Phantom Meta Knight from Kirby and the Forgotten Land. The yellow-and-dark brown Morpho palette is inspired by the Needlous enemies. He also gains a costume inspired by the Samurai Kirby Sub-Game from Kirby Super Star with four recolors. His red costume is based on Takumaru from The Mysterious Murasame Castle, and his golden costume which resembles Parallel Meta Knight from Kirby Star Allies.

Meta Knight's alternate costumes in P+

Z-Secret Costume: NES Meta Knight: Based on Meta Knight's in-game sprite from Kirby's Adventure. Extra details include a thinner horizontal slit, a lack of visible eyes, and Galaxia being replaced with Meta Knight's original straight sword.

R-Secret Costume: Galacta Knight: Based on Galacta Knight, the final boss of the Meta Knightmare Ultra Sub-Game from Kirby Super Star Ultra, who has subsequently appeared as a hidden boss in multiple Kirby games.

Trivia

• Meta Knight is the only character whose down aerial has changed to an entirely different move more than twice between updates.
• Meta Knight's Concept Art alternate costume has an error where his sabaton strap appears to have no texture. There is, however, a patch that fixes this problem- as well as an error involving his cape.[1]
• If Meta Knight is hit enough times when he is shielding, his cape will occasionally disappear. This has no effect on gameplay, however.
• Coincidentally, Meta Knight receives a Dark Meta Knight costume in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate similar to the one in Project M.