King K. Rool (SSBU)/Down special

King K. Rool down special hitbox visualizations
Preparation
Counter
Reverse

Overview[edit]

King K. Rool puffs out his armored belly before bouncing attacks off. Gut Check serves as both a counter and a reflector, giving K. Rool a degree of flexibility in how he can use the move. This allows him to stave off pressure in disadvantage, especially during ledgetrap situations. Gut Check is tied with Mii Brawler's Counter Throw for second most powerful counter in the game damage-wise, at 1.5× damage, with the highest damage being Joker's Tetrakarn.

Gut Check's purpose is to function as a combo breaker or method of resetting neutral. With intangibility on frame 4, this makes it K. Rool's fastest combo breaker, tied with air dodge. Most players will watch where a combo is going to decide whether to Gut Check or airdodge, as it has incredible reward the counter on hit thanks to the absurd damage, significant knockback, and low endlag on successful counter standards. In addition, even when reflecting moves, the damage of the belly's counter hitbox will go up, enabling it to function as a multihit; however, the gust of wind's hitbox does not trigger in this scenario. Because of the damage increasing like this, though, if reflecting a move like Charge Shot up close, it's possible to deal 100.4% in a single blow^[1], which is almost guaranteed to be a one-hit KO.

Unlike many counters, King K. Rool gains full-body invincibility after using Gut Check, absorbing hitboxes rather than simply passing through them, significantly reducing the chance of him being hit post-Gut Check. It's also a very quick counterattack with a lingering hitbox, being active frame 2-5 if not reversed. The invincibility is also longer on the reverse Gut Check, meaning this can technically be used to absorb more attacks should the situation call for it. Gut Check has an enormous hitbox when the counter goes off, making it very difficult to avoid if it's triggered. The searchbox for the counter goes below the stage, past the feet as of 6.0.0, making it consistent for sniping recoveries below the ledge, such as Chrom's Soaring Slash. In addition, the K. Rool player can have the counter turned around; this can be used to target other opponents in Team Battle by having a teammate trigger the counter. This can also be applied to an attacker's hurtbox extension through the counter, which can be done on reaction by the King K. Rool player, as it has a formidable amount of freeze frames before the counter activates. A reverse Gut Check off-stage can gimp opponents at ridiculously low percentages if successful, making it very useful in disadvantage.

Gut Check can also be used for survivability, by virtue of its 0.5× horizontal air speed multiplier and 0.0025× vertical air speed multiplier^[2]. While K. Rool will be KO'd around 5% earlier, with awareness of KO percentages, it is possible to aid in recovery through keeping both jump and air dodge as mixup options; with this in mind, even being unaware can still justify this for the reward factor. It also takes K. Rool out of tumble, which allows for up aerial to be buffered without any risk of the upward drift not going off. This aids in stalling recovery to exploit the additional ledge intangibility frames as well^[3].

Unlike many counters, Gut Check has an unusual amount of intangibility frames, being frames 4-14. This makes Gut Check catch more attacks than one would expect during this window, including attacks like Chrom's forward aerial, which otherwise hit K. Rool's head. This significantly mitigates the counter's downsides, giving K. Rool more opportunities to use it than one would initially expect. In more niche circumstances, Gut Check's intangibility also allows K. Rool to dodge grabs and sometimes reflect moves from behind, such as Thunder Jolt, Boomerangs, and other similar attacks. However, in a grab scenario, opponents usually maintain the most frame advantage due to Gut Check's failure lag. Most K. Rool players buffer neutral attack or spot dodge in these scenarios in attempt to score a punish, thanks to their decent frame data. However, down smash is perfectly valid as well, as K. Rool leaves the ground to avoid grabs on frame 4. While all of these are inconsistent because of the aforementioned lag, it remains the best option in the case a grab whiffs on Gut Check regardless.

However, Gut Check has some significant downsides, the main one being its whole second of lag on use. While a successful attack is quick, the failure is not, lasting well over 40 frames. As a result, a failed Gut Check can potentially be a stock, allowing for charged smash attacks and other heavy-hitting attacks to be used against it. Gut Check doesn't cover K. Rool completely either; as a result, hitting K. Rool in the face is still possible so long as the intangibility isn't active. Many projectiles can completely bypass Gut Check through this, making it one of the worst reflectors in the game for the intended purpose. Reversing Gut Check, while the payoff is immense, is very inconsistent even when reacting; this makes it difficult to determine risk/reward and potentially drops valuable damage and control of the game, despite the low endlag to the attack. The reward for a reverse Gut Check is also a bit low: despite the difficulty landing it, as well as the hit frame being 2 frames slower, the power remains the same. Furthermore, Gut Check has a noticeably weak sourspot on the gust of wind; while this deals the same damage, its KO power is noticeably low. On top of this, it has an angle of 45 unlike most (usually 361, which often works out to be 35), making it easier to DI than most counters.

Update History[edit]

3.0.0

Gut Check has less ending lag (Fail/Succeed: FAF 68/48 → 63/43).

6.0.0

The counter detection hitbox has more range (size: 6u → 7.8u, Y offset: 8.6u → 7.4u, Z offset: 6u → 4.4u), now covering some area below his belly, the feet and just below the stage base.
The counter hitbox and the counterattack's sweetspot have more range (size: 10u → 12u, Y offset: 11u → 12.5u, Z offset: 9u → 10.5u).
A successful Gut Check has less ending lag (Normal/Reversed: FAF 42/53 → 38/45).

Hitboxes[edit]

Both variants of a successful Gut Check have the same knockback and damage statistics.

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Sound	Hit bits	Hit part
Success
0	0	0	0.0%	1.0	Forward	90	56	0	12.0	top	0.0	12.5	10.5	1.2×	1.0×	0%	Kick	All	All
1	0	0	0.0%	1.0	Forward	80	50	0	14.0	top	0.0	13.0	18.0	1.1×	1.0×	0%	Punch	All	All
Success (Reverse)
0	0	0	0.0%	1.0	Forward	90	56	0	12.0	top	0.0	12.5	-10.5	1.2×	1.0×	0%	Kick	All	All
1	0	0	0.0%	1.0	Forward	80	50	0	14.0	top	0.0	13.0	-18.0	1.1×	1.0×	0%	Punch	All	All