Joker (SSBU)/Forward tilt

Joker forward tilt hitbox visualization
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Overview

Joker's forward tilt is a very powerful, two hit spacing tool. It has extremely long range, most notably outranging Lucina's forward tilt. Given it's also frame 8, it can be used in neutral against reckless approaches to force the opponent to use other options. Forward tilt can be angled as well, allowing for a high degree of flexibility in its uses (such as the upward angle beating numerous short hop approaches). Given this uses Joker's knife, the disjoint is decently large as well. As a result, forward tilt is often used defensively.

With Arsene active, forward tilt gains a larger disjoint along with a slightly lingering hitbox, improving its utility when it comes to stopping approaches. It also becomes slightly stronger, with +15 base Knockback and +1 Knockback Growth, and added damage from Arsene. Given the base knockback gets the highest increase, this means that the move will send opponents further away at lower percentages, allowing it to further be used as a defensive option. In addition, there is a shieldstun multiplier of 2 applied to the second hit, improving its safety on shield slightly. Given the way Arsene works, if Joker hits on Frame 19, Arsene will connect on Frame 20, effectively giving the hitboxes a slight extension.

All of forward tilt's angles also have different knockback stats. Angled up has a substantial increase (+15 - +18) compared to the other two, although with an angle of 45. It is most optimal to angle forward tilt downwards when it comes to going for the KO; especially with Arsene. This is because downward angled forward tilt also has a knockback angle of 25, which is a solid semi-spike angle for gimping if the player is facing characters like Little Mac. This angle is also substantially harder to DI than the others.

On shield, forward tilt remains the same regardless of angle: -22 on Hit 1, and -15 on Hit 2. While this sounds unsafe, Hit 2's formidable range makes it very safe when spaced correctly. In addition, Arsene makes it just -11, with very few characters being able to punish it without Joker being able to respond. As a result, this move can be used in neutral as a niche shield pressure option while Arsene is around.

In terms of safety on hit, the safest version is the angled up one, being +6 at 0%. However, the low angled variant KOs the earliest, although the advantage becomes more consistent at around 125% (+19 Unangled, +21 Up, +18 Low on Mario). If a Joker player wishes to go for maximum hit advantage, starting with the up angled variant and gradually moving to the lower angled one is a viable strategy to make use of.

Hitboxes

Angled up

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	Shieldstun
Hit 1
1	0	0	3.0%	0		Forward	0	100	10		2.5	knife	0.0	4.0	0.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All							—
2	0	0	3.0%	0		Forward	0	100	25		2.5	knife	0.0	-3.0 to 4.0	0.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All							—
Hit 2 (without Arsene)
2	0	0	5.0%	0		Forward	45	128	0		2.5	knife	0.0	-3.0 to 4.0	0.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All							—
Hit 2 (with Arsene)
0	0	0	5.0%	0		Forward	60	121	0		4.0	knife	0.0	3.5 to 4.5	0.0	1.7×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All							2×
1	1	0	5.0%	0		Forward	60	121	0		4.0	knife	0.0	3.5 to 4.5	0.0	1.7×	1.0×	0%							Fire		All	All							2×

Angled forward

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	Shieldstun
Hit 1
1	0	0	3.0%	0		Forward	0	100	20		2.5	knife	0.0	4.0	0.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All							—
2	0	0	3.0%	0		Forward	0	100	20		2.5	knife	0.0	-3.0 to 4.0	0.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All							—
Hit 2 (without Arsene)
2	0	0	5.0%	0		Forward	45	110	0		2.5	knife	0.0	-3.0 to 4.0	0.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All							—
Hit 2 (with Arsene)
1	0	0	5.0%	0		Forward	60	106	0		4.0	knife	0.0	0.5 to 3.5	0.0	1.7×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All							2×
0	1	0	5.0%	0		Forward	60	106	0		4.0	knife	0.0	0.5 to 3.5	0.0	1.7×	1.0×	0%							Fire		All	All							2×

Angled down

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	Shieldstun
Hit 1
1	0	0	3.0%	0		Forward	0	100	10		2.5	knife	0.0	4.0	0.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All							—
2	0	0	3.0%	0		Forward	0	100	20		2.5	knife	0.0	-3.0 to 4.0	0.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All							—
Hit 2 (without Arsene)
2	0	0	5.0%	0		Forward	45	105	0		2.5	knife	0.0	-3.0 to 4.0	0.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All							—
Hit 2 (with Arsene)
1	0	0	5.0%	0		Forward	60	106	0		4.0	knife	0.0	0.5 to 2.5	0.0	1.7×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All							2×
0	1	0	5.0%	0		Forward	60	106	0		4.0	knife	0.0	0.5 to 2.5	0.0	1.7×	1.0×	0%							Fire		All	All							2×

Timing

Hit 1	8-9
Hit 2 (without Arsene)	13-15
Hit 2 (with Arsene)	13-19
Interruptible	35
Animation length	79

Without Arsene
With Arsene

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

Interruptible

Joker'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