King K. Rool (SSBU)/Pummel

Hitbox visualization showing King K. Rool's pummel.

Overview

A simple headbutt. Pummeling opponents prior to using down throw is especially crucial for King K. Rool's success, as well as after a dash grab to make use of the long lunge while still dealing damage. This is because down throw uses all damage prior to the throw itself to calculate the bury frames. This also removes moves from the stale-move negation queue, allowing for K. Rool's damage to remain high (as his high damage is heavily affected by the staleness multipliers). Considering hitlag, a buffered throw from a buffered pummel is guaranteed from around 10%, allowing for almost automatic damage. Thus, buffering pummel into down throw and then using neutral attack will almost completely refresh the queue.

King K. Rool's pummel is also one of the most damaging of its kind, with surprisingly little lag for its damage as well. This allows for an easy down throw into up smash as it prompts mashing from opponents aiming to avoid taking unnecessary damage.

However, King K. Rool's pummel has a tendency to suffer from glancing blows against characters with specific "grabbed animations". As a result, it is not always consistent. It's also only frame 2, which is something only shared with a few characters such as Donkey Kong. This means it's possible for characters to escape grabs before the pummel comes out, though this is rare.