Fox (SSB)/Down special

Overview

Hitboxes of Fox's down special move.

Fox's Reflector, also known as a shine, creates a blue, hexagonal energy field around him to reflect any projectiles that are fired at him back in the direction they came. It can be used as a direct attack with an electric effect, dealing 5% damage and low set knockback. It sends opponents on a semi-spike trajectory. The move will also slightly lower Fox's falling speed if used in midair, and it can even be used to escape certain combos. Fox can also perform an edgeguarding technique called a shine spike, which involves using the move to gimp the opponent's recovery. Since the shine has set knockback and hitstun, combined with its semi-spike trajectory, it is an effective technique that can KO even at base percentages. Another option is to use the shine immediately after an edge drop to cover the edge and prevent opponents from grabbing it, giving Fox strong ledge play. It is also possible to turn around during the animation of the move so that Fox is facing the other direction, referred to as a shine turnaround.

This move can be land-canceled, meaning using shine in the air and landing on a surface (without holding B) will cancel the move. Due to this, using shine immediately after jumping activates a frame 1 hitbox with little-to-no end lag. This technique can be very useful for extending combos and performing mindgames, and it can also immediately be followed up with many moves, such as a jab to perform a shine jab, an up or down tilt to continue a combo, or another shine to rack up additional damage (this can also throw unwary opponents offguard). Otherwise, a jump or dash "cancel" can be used afterwards, with a perfectly-timed shine cancel allowing Fox to start a tech chase.

Likewise to the move being cancelled out of a short hop, the move can even be used to cancel Fox's aerial momentum just after landing on a platform, allowing Fox to quickly followup with ground moves (most particularly an up smash) while having to go in the air to continue a combo. This is notable in the "shine pillar up smash" combo, done in the rapetent portion of Hyrule Castle and popularized by The Z. It involves launching the opponent to the top of the structure with an up tilt, jumping up to the top of the structure, cancelling aerial momentum with a shine, then immediately using an up smash to KO the opponent while they are still in hitstun.

Experiments with the Red Shell item have shown that the Reflector will shatter if it bounces back the same projectile too many times which indicates an upper limit to how much base damage the reflected projectile should have before making contact with the Reflector. When this happens, Fox will go through the stun animation and be completely vulnerable to attack.