Snake (SSBU)/Neutral aerial

Hitbox visualization showing Snake's neutral aerial.

Overview

Snake's performs a rapid flurry of four kicks. It deals very high damage if all hit connect, dealing 17.8% if done in a short hop or 21% if done in a full hop and is a useful tool for edgeguarding. It is an excellent confirm out of grenade explosions, being able to dish out absurd damage with a single opening and the fourth hit has powerful knockback, enabling it to KO at high percentages. However, an interesting property that the fourth hit has is that it is weight independent, meaning it KO's all characters around the same percentage.

The move also has potent combo potential. It can combo into a dash attack at low percents, and against heavyweights or fast fallers, can combo into jab or forward tilt at lower percent as well. In particular, on certain characters depending on their weight and fastest escape option (it generally works better on lighter characters), the first hit can combo into jab, forward tilt, or even up tilt for a potential KO setup if done in a short hop fast fall.

However, like the rest of Snake's aerials, it is rather unsafe on shield and on whiff due to its decently high landing lag, and unlike many of Snake's other moves, it lacks a sizeable disjointed hitbox (aside from the last hit) which make it difficult to land, especially combined with Snake's low jumps.

Altogether, it is a move with potent strengths but should not be thrown out recklessly to avoid punishment. Nonetheless, it has good utility when used properly.

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
Hit 1
0	0	0	3.0%	0		Standard	0	100	30		4.0	top	0.0	7.0	4.0 to 11.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All
1	0	0	3.0%	0		Standard	0	100	50		4.0	top	0.0	7.0	4.0 to 11.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All
Hits 2-3
0	0	0	3.0%	0		Standard	0	100	30		4.0	top	0.0	9.0	4.0 to 11.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All
1	0	0	3.0%	0		Standard	0	100	50		4.0	top	0.0	9.0	4.0 to 11.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All
Hit 4
0	0	0	12.0%	0		Forward	25	90	0		7.5	top	0.0	11.0	7.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All

Timing

Attack

Initial autocancel	1-3
Hit 1	10-11
Hits 2-3	18-19, 26-27
Hit 4	36-38
Ending autocancel	50-
Interruptible	60
Animation length	66

Landing lag

Interruptible	17
Animation length	33

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

Autocancel

Interruptible

Snake's moveset

Neutral attack (1 · 2 · 3) · Forward tilt (1 · 2) · 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
Up taunt · Side taunt · Down taunt