There are a few attacks in the Smash Bros. series that cause the darkness effect. Characters hit by darkness will burst into dark purple flames for a moment. Darkness attacks are similar to flame attacks, as they damage the opponent consistently for a few seconds. They differ from flame attacks in that they do not affect type effectiveness and do not gain power from flame enhancement stickers. However, on average, they do more damage per second than flames.
List of darkness attacks by characters
- Ganondorf - forward smash, Warlock Punch, Gerudo Dragon, Flame Choke, Dark Dive (ending uppercut in SSBB), Wizard's Foot, Beast Ganon (dash)
- Giga Bowser - forward tilt, up tilt, down tilt, forward air
- Kirby - can copy Warlock Punch, Shadow Ball, or Pikmin Throw
- Mewtwo - neutral attack (infinite hit), dash attack, up smash, down smash, forward smash, forward air, forward throw, Shadow Ball
- Olimar - with White Pikmin: pummel, Pikmin Throw, Pikmin Chain (while it is considered that White Pikmin inflict poison, it uses the darkness effect)
List of darkness attacks by enemies and bosses
- Crazy Hand - Crawl attack, flying punch catch (combo move with Master Hand, SSBM only?)