Zelda (SSBU)/Down smash

Hitbox visualization showing Zelda's down smash.

Overview[edit]

A simple spinning kick that hits on both sides with decent horizontal range. The back hit does less damage, but its higher knockback scaling makes it only slightly weaker. While one of the weaker down smashes in the game, it still has respectable power, especially for a frame 5 move; it is similar in KO power to Cloud's back aerial. Compared to her other fastest moves, it reaches significantly farther than down tilt (also frame 5), and while marginally slower than jab (frame 4), it also reaches farther and is better at hitting ground level.

Notably, down smash's sweetspot is medium-sized with high priority, making it reliable and easy to land compared to the precise sweetspots of forward tilt and Lightning Kick. Down smash cannot steal stocks like her strongest moves can, but it is very fast and one of her most consistent finishers at high percents.

Both foot sweetspots launch at among the lowest semi-spike angles in the game. At high percents, even if it doesn't outright KO, it is especially brutal on characters with poor recoveries due to severely limiting their recovery path and making Din's Fire very hard or impossible to avoid, among other options like Nayru's Love or down aerial. The sourspots are unremarkable due to not semi-spiking, but will rarely land due to having low priority. On grounded opponents, the sweetspot will almost always land over the sourspot.

The foot hitboxes reach below ledge, but the short duration makes it difficult to land two-frames. It is a good option for punishing ledge re-grabs, though.

With a FAF of 38, it's one of the fastest interruptible smash attacks in the game and can be hard to punish on whiff. It is punishable on hit at very low percents however, with rapid jab or down tilt being safer options.

Update History[edit]

13.0.0

Down smash has more knockback scaling (86 (front)/96 (back) → 89/100).

Hitboxes[edit]

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Sound	Hit bits	Hit part
First hit
0	0	0	12.0%	0	Standard	20	89	0	4.2	top	0.0	3.0	12.5	1.0×	1.0×	20%	Kick	All	All
1	0	0	12.0%	0	Standard	20	89	0	3.0	top	0.0	3.0 to 5.0	11.0 to 7.0	1.0×	1.0×	20%	Kick	All	All
Second hit
0	0	0	10.0%	0	Standard	20	100	0	4.2	top	0.0	3.0	-11.0	1.0×	1.0×	20%	Kick	All	All
1	0	0	10.0%	0	Standard	20	100	0	3.0	top	0.0	3.0 to 7.0	-9.0 to -4.5	1.0×	1.0×	20%	Kick	All	All