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Freezing

Revision as of 00:12, August 2, 2021 by Juju1995 (talk | contribs) (Byte saving.)
Move.png It has been suggested that this article should be moved to Ice.
The reason given for the move is: Neither term seems to be more popular, so we should probably go with the script name (plus it's consistent with the other elemental effect names). (Discuss)
Not to be confused with the freeze glitch. For game freezing, see game crash.
Blizzard, a freezing attack, being used in Melee
Blizzard, a freezing attack, being used in Brawl
Blizzard, a freezing attack, being used in Ultimate

Freezing, also known as ice, is an attack effect in the Super Smash Bros. series that debuted in Super Smash Bros. Melee and has appeared in every subsequent game.

In Melee only, being hit by a freezing attack causes a variation of the ping sound to play; high knockback-dealing attacks, such as the Freezie and Articuno's attack, cause the actual ping sound.

Freezing attacks are boosted by Freezing Attack stickers in Super Smash Bros. Brawl's The Subspace Emissary and the Support Spirit skill Water & Ice Attack ↑, as well as certain Spirit Battle conditions in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the Spirit skill or trait Water/Freezing Resist ↑ will worsen freezing attacks.

In Ultimate, the Support Spirit skill Ice-Floor Immunity prevents the equipped fighter from being frozen or being damaged by Spirit Battle ice floors, but does not affect the damage the player takes from freezing attacks.

Technical Data

 

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

The base time an opponent is frozen is calculated with 5 * d + 0.5 * p, rounded down, where:

Fighters hit by a freezing attack are frozen for an amount of time based on the damage dealt by the attack; in Ultimate only, the duration is typically increased by 1 frame for every 2 percent of the victim's current damage. For example, if a character is hit by a fully charged PK Freeze at 25%, the equation is 5 * 23 + 0.5 * 25, resulting in a base freeze period of 127 frames. Since only damage influences the equation, factors such as weight and knockback are irrelevant. In Ultimate, being hit by ice attacks while frozen causes the base freeze duration to stack, although subsequent ice attacks have a 0.67x penalty on the additional freeze duration. Additionally, base freeze duration now caps out at 250 frames.

Similar to when buried, opponents can mash to reduce the number of frames spent frozen. For every input, 4 frames of ice are removed[1]. However, each attack that hits a frozen opponent adds 4 frames to the base duration.

While frozen, characters take 0.5× damage and 0.25× knockback from subsequent attacks. As a result, it is very difficult to KO a frozen opponent, with even powerful meteor smashes dealing negligible knockback. However, given the amount of time an opponent can stay frozen, despite the halved damage, it is an excellent way to build damage, since they are immobile. Setting opponents up with other external factors such as items and projectiles is also effective.

Additionally, Hero's Kacrackle Slash applies a 2× multiplier to base frozen time[2], giving him ample time to set the opponent up.

The Subspace Emissary

Freezing is one of the more useful effects in The Subspace Emissary: it deals extra damage to flame-based enemies and about half of the bosses, and is only specifically resisted by Glices. However, it cannot cause non-fighter enemies to freeze, and attacks with the freezing effect are rare and almost exclusively indirect, which most enemies and bosses resist; Judge is the only non-indirect freezing attack available in The Subspace Emissary, and it can only be used at random.

List of freezing attacks

By characters

Character Move(s) Games
Giga Bowser Down smash    
Hero Command Selection (Kacrackle Slash)  
Ice Climbers Ice Shot    
Blizzard
Iceberg   
Kirby Ice Breath  
Kirby (Copy Abilities) Ice Shot    
PK Freeze    
Lucas PK Freeze
Luigi Ice Ball  
Mega Man Ice Slasher
Mr. Game & Watch Judge (number 8)     
Ness PK Freeze  

By items

Character Move(s) Games
Assist Trophies Krystal: Ice Blast  
Riki: Freezinate   
Wily Capsule: Ice projectiles  
Freezie Thrown Freezie     
Attacking a Freezie    
Poké Ball Pokémon Abomasnow: Ice Punch   
Abomasnow: Blizzard   
Alolan Vulpix: Icy Wind  
Articuno: Icy Wind  
Ditto: Transform (if the summoner possesses freezing attacks)  
Kyurem: Icy Wind   
Suicune: Blizzard  
Suicune: Contact with head before attacking    
Suicune: Aurora Beam    
Togepi: Powder Snow     

By enemies and bosses

Enemy/Boss Attack(s) Games
Blue Bubble Ramming into the player  
Crazy Hand Tri-Poke (third hit)   
Frozen Rope  
Cryogonal Ice Beam  
Giga Bowser Down smash  
Glice Ice attack   
Marx Ice balls  
Master Hand Icy Wind  

By stage hazards

In addition to natural stage hazards, the Spirit Battle condition "The floor is frozen" creates a hazard that inflicts freezing damage.

Stage Hazard Games
Gerudo Valley Kotake's ice spell    
Mushroom Kingdom U Falling Icicles    

Trivia

References