Meta Knight (SSB4)/Back aerial

Hitbox visualization showing Meta Knight's back aerial.

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Overview

Meta Knight slashes behind himself three times. A quick and strong move, it is Meta Knight's most reliable aerial finisher, KOing at about 90% offstage. On aerial opponents, this move has the autolink angle, leaving them exposed to attacks if Meta Knight lands. This can notably setup a jab reset with his down tilt, which can be extended into a chain of up aerials and finish with a high-altitude Shuttle Loop. As back aerial combos off of dash attack and down throw, the move has applications in zero-deathing opponents, particularly floatier characters.

While back aerial is already strong, the first two hits can be used to meteor smash recovering opponents. However, this is situational; the only reliable way to avoid landing the third hit (outside of the use mentioned above) is for the first or second hit to clash with an opposing hitbox. Furthermore, the meteor smash is relatively weak, and combined with the previous point, it is a viable tactic only against characters with poor vertical recoveries, such as Donkey Kong.

Update History

1.0.4

Final hit knockback scaling: 180 → 212.

Hitboxes

ID	Part	Damage	SD	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			SDIx	H×	T%	Sound
Hits 1-2
0	0	2.2%	0	40	130	0	4.2	?	0.0	4.5	-12.0	1.0x	1.0x	0%	Slash
1	0	1.5%	0	0	0	90	4.2	?	0.0	4.5	-12.0	1.0x	1.0x	0%	Slash
Hit 3
0	0	4%	0	30	212	0	5.2	?	0.0	7.0	-12.0	1.0x	2.0x	0%	Slash
0	0	4%	0	30	212	0	5.0	?	0.0	2.5	-6.0	1.0x	2.0x	0%	Slash