Edgeguarding

Mario uses his Cape against Fox trying to use Fox Illusion as recovery.

Jigglypuff's Wall of Pain is a well-known edgeguarding technique.

Meteor smashing is a very popular and effective technique when used for edgeguarding.

Edgeguarding (also known as intercepting in Super Smash Bros. Melee) is the attempt to prevent an offstage recovering opponent from reaching the stage, thus causing them to be KO'd. Players can achieve this in many ways, and the struggle between an edgeguarder and their recovering opponent often leads to many strategies and mindgames. The anti-strategy to this is the guard break.

Execution

There are two main methods of edgeguarding. One is to run or jump off the stage and attack; this is often done by characters with great jumping ability, which includes multiple jumps and good recoveries such as the Robo Burner. The other is to stay on the stage and attack the opponent when they recover should they fail to sweetspot the ledge. This is mostly done with down smashes and tilts and even some projectiles.

Any character can edgeguard, although some are better at it than others. A character's ability to edgeguard offstage is determined by two factors: the length and safety of their recovery, and the utility of their aerial attacks. The most prominent example is Meta Knight, as his recovery is effectively immune to edgeguarding, and because his aerials are quick and send opponents on favorable trajectories. However, some characters are strong edgeguarders despite having subpar recoveries; Ganondorf is the best example. His recovery is slow and short, but all of his aerials are deadly offstage.

Certain characters are worse at defending themselves from edgeguards. These are generally characters with predictable recoveries (like Captain Falcon or Marth), slow and/or easily-disruptable recoveries (like Ness or Lucas), characters reliant on tether recoveries (like Olimar in Brawl or Ivysaur), or characters without a damaging recovery move (like Lucario in Brawl or Olimar in SSB4).

In general, the recoveries of the cast have improved across the games. In Smash 64, aside from Pikachu and, to a smaller extent, Mario, all characters have predictable recoveries, leaving them vulnerable to edgeguards, which is further compounded by the game's high hitstun.

Melee recoveries, while still rather predictable, are benefited by ledge teching. Jigglypuff and Samus are well-known for their recovery ability, with the former having arguably the strongest edgeguarding ability in the game. Melee introduces meteor cancelling, which makes meteor smashes much less potent at securing offstage KO's. However, the increased falling speeds and gravity make semi-spikes more effective. Certain attacks, known as spikes, have downwards knockback that is not recognized as meteor smashes, and characters who possess these moves often utilize them in their edgeguarding, most notably Marth, Captain Falcon, and Falco.

In Brawl, recoveries are overall longer, and the larger ledge sweetspots, as well as the auto-sweetspot mechanic, make edgeguarding less effective. The meteor smash recognition window has been expanded, removing the spikes of the previous game. Meta Knight is infamous for his immunity to being edgeguarded, due to his plethora of recovery options, with his recovery being the best not only in Brawl, but arguably the entire series, and this grants him his powerful offstage game. Brawl's floatier physics, low hitstun, meteor cancelling, air dodges, and the aforementioned changes to ledge sweetspots arguably make edgeguarding in this game the least effective out of all five iterations, along with the ability to buffer wall techs being removed. In these three games, edgehogging is a commonly used tactic to stop opponents who aim their recoveries to the ledge.

In Smash 4, recoveries on their own were generally buffed, and ledges were reworked to remove edgehogging, reducing the effectiveness of onstage edgeguarding. However, meteor cancelling has been removed in Smash 4, making meteor smashes as deadly as they were in Smash 64, and planking is practically impossible. The new ledge stealing mechanic can set up recovering opponents for an attack, most commonly a back aerial. The longer recoveries enforce and encourage more aggressive offstage play, as offstage edgeguarding carries much less risk than before, since an edgeguarder can no longer be edgehogged if their attempt is unsuccessful. Also, the improvements to recoveries are not consistent across the cast. Marth's recovery is largely unchanged from before; Fox's recovery is twice as long as in Brawl, as Fox Illusion and Fire Fox can now be used in tandem, Ganondorf's recovery is even worse due to his lowered air speed and the removal of grab armor, and Charizard suffers severely with the loss of gliding despite the addition of Flare Blitz. Most notably, Smash 4 introduces Little Mac, whose recovery is undoubtedly the worst in the entire series. Lastly, in Smash 4, teching cannot be performed during hitlag, causing certain stage spikes to be untechable, and the new ledge mechanics make stage spikes more common than in past games. All these changes have contributed to more offstage battles in competitive play, as edgeguarding is much safer while still rewarding if successful. As in Brawl, Meta Knight is noteworthy for his edgeguarding ability, along with characters who possess useful meteor smashes, particularly Captain Falcon and Ganondorf.

In Ultimate, ledge sweetspots were overall toned down, making it more difficult to recover safely and easier to edgeguard as a result. Additionally, the changes to air dodge mechanics make it much harder to avoid edgeguarding than the previous games. However, techs have been altered considerably: there is a noticeably larger tech window than the previous games, but techs can no longer be performed if a strong enough attack connects. This makes stage spikes more or less effective depending on the opponent's current damage.

Edgeguarding strategies

Onstage guarding

The simplest and safest way to edgeguard is to stand at the edge and throw attacks — often a powerful forward smash, down smash, or down tilt that can hit even an edge sweet spotting enemy. While this method of edgeguarding requires the least setup, it is often thwarted by sweetspotting or ledge teching.

Using projectiles

In a similar strategy to sitting on stage, a character with projectiles (especially projectiles affected by gravity, like Peach's turnips or Mario's fireballs) can stand by the edge and try to interrupt a faraway, recovering opponent. This strategy is very safe, in that players are very unlikely to be hit while edgeguarding in this fashion, and it can be combined with both edgehogging and attacking from onstage.

Offstage guarding

A risky, but deadly, way of edgeguarding is to jump offstage and interrupt the opponent in midair. The recovering enemy has few options by which they can defend themself, such as using aerial attacks, air dodging, or directing themself away from the edgeguarder, all of which can cause their recovery to fail even if they thwart or avoid the enemy's attack. When using this style of edgeguarding, most characters put their own life in jeopardy, being so far offstage. If, however, the edgeguarder is able to land a powerful aerial attack (like Captain Falcon's Knee Smash) far offstage, their enemy will almost certainly get KOed. Even if unsuccessful, the edgeguarder can often edgehog the recovering opponent anyways, pre-SSB4.

With most characters, it is best to avoid using the second jump before hitting the opponent. Many characters will not be able to make it back without it. Characters such as Jigglypuff, Kirby, and Meta Knight are very useful characters to use for this strategy, since their multiple jumps allow them to go far off stage, deliver an aerial attack, and return to the stage afterwards.

Edgehogging

A common way to edgeguard is to edgehog, or grab the ledge so that the opponent cannot. There are several ways to reach the ledge when standing onstage. The two most common ways are to face away from the ledge and either short hop or wavedash backwards. Many players, when wavedashing backwards, make the mistake of standing too close to the edge before wavedashing, thereby air dodging offstage and self-destructing. Note also that with some characters, it is possible to fastfall the wavedash off the stage and in effect grab the edge sooner.

Usually, an edgehogger rolls the moment the recovering enemy uses their third jump, gaining invincibility frames and defending themself against damaging up special moves. Edgehogging is effective against sweetspotting, but can be beaten by an enemy that comes fully onstage in their recovery.

When an enemy lands fully onstage, they are often caught in the lag of their third jump. Edge hopping is often the method to keep them off the stage. This causes one to return to the starting position of choosing which edge guarding technique to use, but the opponent has slightly more damage, leading to a constant edgeguard game.

Edgehogging is not possible in Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate because of the ledge trump mechanics.[1].

Ledge trumping

Only possible in Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, grabbing onto a ledge that has already been grabbed by another player will gently remove them from the ledge. While ledge trumping was intended to negate edgehogging, it can still be used as an effective edgeguard; an onstage player ledge trumps a recovering player by running offstage and fastfalling onto the ledge as soon as the recovering player grabs it. This causes the recovering player to automatically let go of the ledge and they cannot take any action for a moment, allowing for an easy combo, such as Sheik's back air. In addition, the removal of ledge regrab invincibility can be exploited by a ledge trump edgeguard.[2]

To avoid getting ledge trumped, one can simply buffer an attack, a jump, or a roll from the ledge the moment it is grabbed. A regular getup and dropping from the ledge cannot be buffered, making it much easier to trump someone attempting these ledge options, and waiting too long to buffer the previous options will still result in getting trumped. These can all be mixed up for mindgames.

Deterrence

A somewhat underutilized ability, deterrence, is basically fake offstage guarding. The player would make to jump towards the opponent trying to recover, but instead return to the stage without ever engaging the enemy. If done convincingly, the opponent will attempt to evade the nonexistent attack and hopefully miss the ledge or dodge right into a different attack.

While this strategy works against newer players, it usually requires a twist against more advanced combatants. In this case, doubles play is usually necessary.

For example, one possible strategy involves Marth attempting a spike on an oncoming enemy from an above platform, while having Roy charge a Flare Blade below. From here, one of four things happen:

• Marth connects the spike and KO's the enemy
• Marth spikes the enemy into Roy's Flare Blade
• In attempting to evade Marth's spike, the enemy lands in the hitbox of Roy's Flare Blade
• In attempting to evade both attacks, the enemy completely misses the edge.

Notable edgeguarders

Smash 64

• Captain Falcon: his down aerial is a quick and powerful meteor smash with a long duration. His up aerial is a powerful semi-spike during the late hitboxes. Neutral and back aerials are both fast, decently strong, and the former boasts a lingering hitbox. Down tilt is a quick semi-spike.
• Kirby: like Pikachu, his back aerial is fast, disjointed, and powerful; however, it has a lingering hitbox, allowing it to follow into other moves and wall opponents out. Neutral aerial is also fast and powerful with a lingering hitbox. All of down aerial's hits are powerful, overlapping meteor smashes. Down tilt is a strong semi-spike with decent range. Kirby can also augment his edgeguarding game by Inhaling someone like Mario or Pikachu.
• Pikachu: with a long, quick, and safe recovery, Pikachu can go far offstage, where its fast, disjointed, and powerful back aerial is deadly. Like the above two characters, he has a quick and powerful neutral aerial with a lasting hitbox. Thunder Jolt climbs down surfaces and can be useful for gimping opponents recovering low.

Melee

• Captain Falcon: his forward aerial, the Knee Smash, is an extremely powerful semi-spike. His up aerial also semi-spikes, and his down aerial is both an effective meteor smash and the strongest spike in the game. Back aerial retains its speed and strength.
• Falco: down aerial has quick startup and a lasting hitbox, and spikes powerfully throughout the entire move. Neutral and back aerials are fast, strong, ranged, and have a long duration. Blaster is effective for gimping recoveries. His down smash is a fast and strong semi-spike with a good hitbox.
• Fox: his Reflector has no startup and semi-spikes opponents with high hitstun. Like his clone, his neutral and back aerials as well as his down smash are also effective.
• Ganondorf: he boasts the most powerful meteor smash in the game in his down aerial, which is difficult to survive even with meteor cancelling. He also has a powerful spike in his Wizard's Foot, and his up aerial semi-spikes during the late hitboxes. Back aerial is similar to Captain Falcon's, but even better due to its power and reach. Forward aerial has a huge, disjointed hitbox and is very powerful.
• Jigglypuff: it can perform the Wall of Pain, which involves chaining its back aerial into itself and carrying the opponent offstage. Neutral and forward aerials are each fast moves with lingering hitboxes.
• Marth: his down aerial has low startup, a large hitbox, spikes with high knockback, and is used as the finisher of the famous Ken Combo. Down tilt is a very disjointed semi-spike. His forward and back aerials are effective as well.
• Pikachu: the middle hitbox of its up aerial is a weak semi-spike that can be chained into itself. Neutral and back aerials are both decently fast and powerful. Thunder Jolt is still a decent gimping option.
• Sheik: her forward aerial has quick startup and is a strong semi-spike. Her neutral and back aerials are also effective moves offstage, and with long durations. Needle Storm can sometimes gimp recoveries.
• Mario: Cape deals no knockback and reverses the opponent's direction, making it the best gimping tool in the game. His forward aerial is a meteor smash with a large hitbox. Neutral and back aerials are both fast, strong moves with solid hitboxes. Fireball is a useful gimping option as well.
• Dr. Mario: Super Sheet functions like Cape, but with lower horizontal range. His back aerial is a fast and powerful semi-spike that can chain into itself offstage for a psuedo-WOP and his forward aerial has a long duration, a large hitbox, and deals very strong diagonal knockback. Neutral aerial can be thrown out early to halt recoveries in their tracks.

Brawl

• Falco: his down aerial has quick startup and meteor smashes powerfully in the first few frames. Back aerial is still a fast and long-lasting move, and down smash and Blaster retain their effectiveness as well.
• King Dedede: his back aerial is quick, disjointed, has a lingering hitbox, and is relatively strong. Waddle Dee Toss is very effective for gimping if the Gordo is pulled out. Forward aerial is also a powerful, disjointed move.
• Marth: his forward and back aerials are quick, have long reach, and deal moderate knockback. His down aerial is a strong and fast meteor smash with a wide range.
• Meta Knight: with an incredible recovery and fast aerials, he can perform a pseudo-Wall of Pain with his forward and back aerials. His down aerial is a moderately strong semi-spike, and his neutral aerial also deals relatively high knockback. Aerial Shuttle Loop is a powerful semi-spike as well. Down smash is a very quick and effective semi-spike.
• Ness: his back aerial has fast startup, is easy to land, and deals strong knockback. His down aerial is a meteor smash with very high base knockback. Neutral and forward aerials are both fast and relatively powerful. His neutral, side, and up specials are all situational edgeguarding moves.
• Peach: with her float ability, strong aerial game, and high priority, all of her aerial moves are excellent off the stage, although they aren't reliable KOing options (excluding forward air and down air as an interrupt move). Toad can be used to counter opposing recovery options. Her side and down specials are also semi-spike with solid gimping potential.
• Wolf: his back aerial is quick, longranged, and strong. His down aerial is a rather strong meteor smash, and Wolf Flash can be used to catch opponents off guard. Blaster is a decently strong projectile and down smash is a very powerful semi-spike.

Smash 4

• Bayonetta: Her neutral and up aerials come out relatively fast, but have the added benefit of being extendable if the attack button is held for a time. Her down smash and down aerial can also cover nearly all horizontal recovery options as both are relatively strong meteor smashes. The latter also has a secondary hitbox upon landing onstage, of which acts as a surprisingly powerful launcher that can catch recovering opponents just as well.
• Bowser: Back aerial is among the most powerful semi-spikes in the game, and is also very fast with good range. Forward smash can hit ledge grabbers if spaced correctly, and Fire Breath can be used to push opponents down and away from the ledge. Down aerial is an extremely strong, albeit risky, meteor smash. Forward aerial has quick startup and deals strong horizontal knockback.
• Captain Falcon: his down aerial has large hitboxes and is a powerful meteor smash. Up tilt is also a strong meteor smash, and up aerial still semi-spikes. His Knee Smash, back aerial, and down tilt are also still useful, with the latter being reverted to its 64 angle.
• Fox: his back aerial is decently fast and is a rather strong semi-spike if sweetspotted. Since forward aerial's first four hits have very high set knockback and send at the autolink angle, the opponent is sent down with high hitstun, enough to follow up into a footstool to successfully edgeguard the opponent if a fast fall is inputted alongside the forward aerial.
• Ganondorf: the removal of meteor cancelling makes his down aerial and Wizard's Foot meteor smashes even deadlier than before. Up aerial still semi-spikes effectively. Forward and back aerials also retain their usefulness.
• Greninja: Hydro Pump is effective at disrupting recoveries, as the water does not cause flinching. Forward aerial is powerful, fast, and disjointed. Water Shuriken is capable of gimping recoveries.
• Ike: his back aerial is quick, long-ranged, and deals high knockback. Eruption has a deceptively large hitbox which can also hit ledge grabbers. Tipped down aerial is a strong meteor smash with long vertical range. Forward aerial is very strong and has a massive hitbox.
• Jigglypuff: can perform a Wall of Pain by chaining forward aerials and finishing with a neutral aerial. Its neutral aerial is also effective for blocking recoveries. Back aerial is a very fast and effective way to finish opponents offstage.
• Kirby: forward aerial is effective as a wall of pain, and all aerials are effective to chase opponents offstage with, notably down aerial, which is a multi-hitting meteor smash. Stone can be used effectively as well because it is powerful, has large hitboxes, and is very hard to interrupt.
• Little Mac: despite his infamously weak offstage presence, Little Mac can still edgeguard with his down smash, which is very strong, fast, and can semi-spike, or with Jolt Haymaker, which stage spikes powerfully against opponents grabbing ledges. His forward and back aerials can also be ironically useful edgeguarding tools, as their speed and semi-spike angles allow them to surprise enemies who do not expect Mac to get in the air.
• Lucario: with enough Aura, it possesses the strongest back aerial in the game. Neutral aerial can also gimp recoveries due to its deceptive lingering hitbox. Aura Sphere is very powerful and has a massive hitbox with Aura.
• Luigi: can use his Luigi Cyclone to gimp an opponent, by fastfalling and mashing the special attack button to rise afterwards, hitting the opponent with only the looping hits. Since the move's looping hitboxes have high base knockback and extreme knockback scaling as well as sending at the autolink angle, opponents are meteor smashed with very high hitstun, which proves very effective against slow, low recovering opponents, recovery moves without a hitbox, or trade with characters with short-lenghted recovery moves. Down aerial is a very quick and effective meteor smash as well. Forward aand back aerials are fast, ranged, and effective gimping options. Down smash has little startup and can stage spike opponents near ledges.
• Mario: F.L.U.D.D. and Cape are very useful tools against recovering opponents, the latter being very quick and able to reverse most up special moves. Forward aerial is a powerful spike with a large hitbox. Down smash is a fast and powerful semi-spike. Neutral and back aerials are both very fast with good hitboxes and decent power.
• Marth/Lucina: forward and back aerials are useful offstage due to their speed, range, and power. Dolphin Slash is also useful against opponents near the ledge, since it can stage spike very easily. Marth's tipped forward smash is also capable of hitting opponents on the ledge if spaced correctly, almost guaranteeing a KO if it does. Sweetspotted down aerial is a powerful spike.
• Meta Knight: his forward and back aerials are deceptively strong, and both have a relatively long range and duration, and his down aerial and down smash are quick semi-spikes. Neutral aerial is also very quick and useful offstage.
• Ness: the tail of his PK Thunder is a great tool for preventing characters from returning to the ledge. PK Fire is another effective tool, as attempting to SDI it offstage is incredibly risky. Ness's forward, back, and neutral aerials are all effective tools for edgeguarding because of their fast speed and high knockback. Down aerial is a highly capable meteor smash. Last but not least is Ness's down smash, which is one of the best tools for 2-framing recoveries in SSB4.
• Shulk: using the Jump Art, Shulk can easily take wing after his opponents and perform what would normally be extremely risky attacks such as his forward aerial to push opponents back before safely returning to the ledge. While it's possible to air dodge through the attack, his Art allows him to attack multiple times depending on altitude, and he can quickly return to the ledge to try again if need be. The final frames of his forward aerial also sends enemies backwards, which can cause a surprise stage spike. Neutral aerial has a large and lingering hitbox, and his back and down aerials both have massive range with the latter being a long-lasting spike.
• Villager: can use forward smash or Timber to drop a powerful projectile from the ledge, and has effective aerials along with a long, reliable recovery. Forward and back aerials have long ranges, making them good for gimping. Down aerial is a powerful meteor smash.

Ultimate

• Mario: F.L.U.D.D. and Cape are very useful tools against recovering opponents, the latter being very quick and able to reverse most recovery moves. Forward aerial is a powerful meteor smash with a large hitbox. Down smash is a fast and powerful semi-spike. Neutral and back aerials are both very fast with good hitboxes and decent power, the latter boasting long range and the former a lingering hitbox that can wall out opponents. Fireball is a spammable projectile that can easily intercept recoveries.
• Donkey Kong: Back aerial is a fast and powerful sex kick with good range and a lingering hitbox. Down aerial and forward aerial can both meteor smash opponents if sweetspotted. His down special, Hand Slap, is good for catching linear recoveries and can also meteor smash.
• Link: Link's neutral aerial is a sex kick that is safe and can edgeguard with the both the initial and late hitbox. Down aerial is a powerful, disjointed meteor smash against if sweetspotted. Forward and back aerials are both relatively fast and strong with good range and a disjoint for the former. Remote Bombs are also effective because it can be set off when close to the opponent offstage. Hero's Bow and Boomerang are also capable of gimping.
• Yoshi: Forward aerial is able to meteor smash airborne opponents and back aerial is both disjointed and his most powerful aerial attack, allowing it to be a relatively safe edgeguarding option. Neutral aerial has a lingering hitbox with low lag and a relatively powerful knockback. His Egg Throw can also set up into those two previously mentioned moves if angled properly.
• Kirby: Back aerial is fast and easily his strongest aerial attack, being able to KO at relatively early percentages and boasting a lingering hitbox as well. Down aerial is a multihit that weakly meteor smashes opponents, which lets it drag opponents down to the bottom blast zone. Forward aerial can lead into itself offstage for a psuedo-Wall of Pain. Kirby can furthermore utilize his Copy Abilities to use opponents' edgeguarding tools against them.
• Ness: Up smash and down smash have a charging hitbox which hangs off the ledge and can intercept any incoming recovery. PK Flash, PK Fire, and PK Thunder are both dangerous projectiles that can edgeguard well, especially the latter. Ness’s aerials are also fast and disjointed and can edgeguard effectively (sans up aerial), particularly his down aerial spike.
• Captain Falcon: Forward and back aerial have very powerful horizontal knockback, neutral aerial has relatively strong knockback as well, and down aerial effectively meteor smashes opponents.
• Lucina: Neutral, forward, and back aerials have fast startup, disjointed hitboxes and decently strong horizontal knockback, making them effective edgeguarding tools. Her down aerial has a strong meteor smash hitbox as well in addition to its disjoint, making it a rewarding move to land. Lucina's down special, Counter, is also highly effective against recovery moves with damaging hitboxes as well.
• Snake: Up smash can go off the ledge and KO characters who are under the stage and/or have lost their edge intangibility. Remote Missile edgeguards most characters, has many mix-ups, and the explosion also 2-frames. Snake also has stage control thanks to C4 bombs and Hand Grenade, which can edgeguard people offstage.
• Villager: Forward smash has the ability to go off the ledge and KO opponents going for low recoveries. Forward and back aerials as well as opponents' Pocketed projectiles can also gimp opponents effectively. Down aerial can also meteor smash opponents. Neutral aerial is fast and has a lingering hitbox.
• Mega Man: Forward and back aerials have large, disjointed hitboxes that are also some of his best KO options. Down aerial is a powerful projectile spike that can be used to read low recoveries, although its hitbox is rather small. Metal Blade can also be used in a similar fashion to down aerial, albeit better at intercepting recoveries and stopping aerial momentum. Neutral aerial and Leaf Shield can also gimp opponents with either of their hitboxes.
• Ridley: Plasma Breath can be used to gimp opponents near the edge, especially if fully charged. Forward aerial can be used in conjunction with Ridley's extra jump to perform a Wall of Pain-esque chain offstage. His back aerial is also a reliable option for scoring a KO, and his down aerial can meteor smash on the clean hit. Space Pirate Rush can be used offstage to throw opponents into a stage spike. Wing Blitz can be aimed downwards to spike opponents near ledges.
• Simon and Richter: Axe is notorious for its usage near the edge, being powerful, having the ability to change its trajectory, and literally going through the stage to stop recoveries. Their forward and back aerials also have a long horizontal hitbox, allowing it to KO opponents aiming for the edge. Cross and Holy Water can also gimp opponents to a lesser degree.
• Incineroar: Incineroar’s aerials consist of fast forward and back aerials and a down aerial spike, all of which are incredibly strong when sweetspotted at Incineroar’s feet. Incineroar can also use his Smash attacks for ledge-pressure thanks to their power and range. Its special moves also have some edgeguarding use with Alolan Whip capable of gimping opponents, with the late sourspot or a very early kill with the perfect timed hit depending on where they are facing. Cross Chop can be used as a sacrificial edge-guard due to its meteor smash killing at virtually any percentage off-stage, much like Chrom's Soaring Slash.
• Piranha Plant: Ptooie is a powerful projectile that can be tossed off-stage and can even be held in place while falling by the ledge to hit the opponent. It’s forward aerial has wide range in front of Piranha Plant and down aerial is a powerful meteor smash. Long-Stem Strike has super armor when charging and has tremendous range and kill power. Back aerial is a very strong and disjointed KO option. Neutral aerial has disjointed, overlapping hitboxes akin to Ivysaur's variant.