King K. Rool (SSBU)/Down tilt

Hitbox visualization showing King K. Rool's down tilt.

Overview

King K. Rool's down tilt is among his largest commitments in his kit, being a frame 13 tilt. Down tilt has 4 unique hitboxes, all with different purposes, including a bury. Generally, the reward for hitting a down tilt bury is usually a KO due to the options that it opens up for the K. Rool player, with little chance for the opponent to fight back.

The first is an aerial-only stomp hitbox on frame 13. This hitbox is extremely strong, often ending stocks as low as 90% at the edge. This can occasionally connect out of down throw when trying to do bury storage with the bury hitbox as the opponent mashes out, creating a trap. The stomp hitbox also goes down and transitions into another hitbox especially for hitting the ledge and 2-framing opponents, which is almost as powerful as the first.

There is also a bury hitbox once the foot comes down for grounded opponents, that has a minor disjoint as well. Being a generic bury, down tilt's bury is affected by rage and stock differences, as well as Bury Tech Situation Storage. This can all be exploited by King K. Rool to a potentially frightening extent, allowing for down tilt to be a quick stock taker should the player be losing.

This bury is quite strong, allowing for combos even at lower percentages, such as through knockback storage with neutral attack into instant dash attack or a grab, or lock confirms against stick mashers through Bury Tech Situation Storage. This is an extremely big benefit, providing basic high damage combos with a wide range of routes to take.

This is also one of the most reliable down aerial meteor smash storage confirms at 40-50%, due to the strength of the bury providing enough advantage for it. This gives opportunities for forward smash, or even a second down aerial for up smash, although this can be teched. Forward smash is also a strong general confirm even without this for its kill power. Forward smash out of down tilt alone can KO as low as 75%.

Should the bury hitbox not connect, there is also an earthquake that goes out, known colloquially as "quake" by the K. Rool playerbase. This doesn't have any reliable hit advantage at lower percentages (+8 on hit at 0, tested on Mario, which isn't enough for followups at all even as it accumulates), but is very good for resetting neutral. It also has very favorable situations for followups, exploiting reaction time and poor panic options.

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
Aerial-only hitbox
0	0	0	13%	0		Standard	40	85	0		4.5	kneel	2.5	-0.5	0.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All
Stomp, Bury and Quake
0	0	0	10.0%	0		Standard	80	50	0		5.0	top	0.0	3.5	16.5 to 18.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All
1	0	0	8.0%	0		Standard	30	50	0		5.0	top	0.0	3.5	16.5	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All
2	0	0	7.0%	0		Standard	100	25	0		10.0	top	0.0	5.5	13.0 to 23.0	0.2×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All

Timing

Aerial-only stomp early	13
Aerial-only stomp late, bury and quake	14-15
Interruptible	43
Animation length	60

Hitboxes

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

Hitbox change

Interruptible

King K. Rool'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