Zelda (SSBU)/Down special

Hitbox visualization showing Zelda's Phantom's kick.

Hitbox visualization showing Zelda's Phantom's punch.

Hitbox visualization showing Zelda's Phantom's first swing.

Hitbox visualization showing Zelda's Phantom's second swing.

Hitbox visualization showing Zelda's Phantom's third swing.

Overview

Zelda summons a Phantom behind her which begins assembling armor until she commands a launch. Phantom is a chargeable projectile that performs different attacks depending on the armor present when launched, starting with weak melee attacks and gaining a sword for later charges which greatly improve its range and power. If Zelda does not launch it early she will complete the Phantom and be free to act, with Phantom set to automatically launch itself about 1 second after, though she can still manually launch it during that period with a down special input. Charging Phantom cannot be cancelled and thus is somewhat committal paired with her poor mobility and any hitstun causing Phantom to break instantly. To offset this, Phantom possesses its own hurtboxes and gains a passive shield in later charges that give it a lot of utility in blocking incoming attacks and worsening their safety. All of its attacks are also transcendent, with most having a windbox on the startup to avoid dashing through opponents and a large collision box that pushes other fighters. Due to her ability to delay a launch and adjust her positioning or use an auto launch, Phantom combos into all of her moveset at all percents and grants Zelda the stage control she needs to make an approach. Phantom has good K.O. power even on its own but excels in edgeguarding, reaching far off-stage with a long active window and able to hit ledges on its downward and upward swings, and is even able to gimp recoveries with its windbox or body blocking. While able to be reflected, reaching full charge allows Zelda to act and she can easily bait a reflect and punish or use her own lengthy reflect.

Unlike in Smash 4, Phantom now charges behind Zelda but various techniques exist to achieve a "Displaced Phantom" (DP) that changes her position relative to Phantom during its charging phase, most commonly involving her dashing into a short hop and buffering Phantom so it will stick to the stage while Zelda hops behind it to put a shield between her and the opponent. 3.0.0

• Phantom Slash deals less shield damage (0 (all) → -1 (1st charge)/-1.5 (2nd charge)/-2 (3rd charge)/-2.5 (4th charge)/-3 (5th charge)).

7.0.0

• Phantom Slash deals more damage on all charges (4.7% → 5.9% (level 1), 6.6% → 8.2% (level 2), 8.5%/9.4% → 10.5%/11.8% (level 3), 11.3%/12.2% → 14.1%/15.4% (level 4), 14.1% → 17.7% (level 5)), with knockback scaling partly compensated on the highest two charges (60 → 57 (level 4), 75 → 68 (level 5)).

Hitboxes

The true damage for all Phantom's levels is determined by the general formula base damage + 1.3 * (charge level + 3). This only affects their hitboxes; their windboxes still deal no damage. More specifically, the resulting damage outputs from each Phantom level are the following:

• Level 1 (punch): 2 + 1.3 * 3 = 5.9%
• Level 2 (kick): 3 + 1.3 * 4 = 8.2%
• Level 3A (outward slash): 4 + 1.3 * 5 = 10.5%
• Level 3B (outward slash): 4 + 1.3 * 6 = 11.8%
• Level 4A (overhead slash): 5 + 1.3 * 7 = 14.1%
• Level 4B (overhead slash): 5 + 1.3 * 8 = 15.4%
• Level 5 (rising slash): 6 + 1.3 * 9 = 17.7%

Level 1 Phantom (kick)

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Set weight	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Effect	Type	G	A	Sound	Direct	Hit bits	Hit part	Blockable	Reflectable	Absorbable	Flinchless	No GFX	Heedless
0	0	0	2.0%	-1.0		Standard	50	30	0		5.5	top	0.0	6.0	14.0 to 10.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All

Level 2 Phantom (punch)

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Set weight	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Effect	Type	G	A	Sound	Direct	Hit bits	Hit part	Blockable	Reflectable	Absorbable	Flinchless	No GFX	Heedless
Windboxes
0	0	3	0.0%	0		Forward	0	100	60		4.0	top	0.0	7.0	11.0 to 7.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							None		All	All
1	0	3	0.0%	0		Forward	0	100	40		6.0	top	0.0	7.0	11.0 to 7.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							None		All	All
Hitboxes
0	0	0	3.0%	-1.5		Forward	65	50	0		5.5	top	0.0	10.0	11.5	1.2×	1.0×	0%							Punch		All	All
1	0	0	3.0%	-1.5		Forward	65	50	0		4.5	top	0.0	9.5	19.5	1.2×	1.0×	0%							Punch		All	All

Level 3 Phantom (outward slash)

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Set weight	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Effect	Type	G	A	Sound	Direct	Hit bits	Hit part	Blockable	Reflectable	Absorbable	Flinchless	No GFX	Heedless
Windboxes
0	0	4	0.0%	0		Forward	0	100	50		5.0	top	0.0	8.0	10.0 to 4.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							None		All	All
1	0	4	0.0%	0		Forward	0	100	40		7.0	top	0.0	8.0	10.0 to 4.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							None		All	All
Hitboxes
0	0	0	4.0%	-2.0		Forward	65	60	0		5.8	handr	0.0	0.0	1.0	0.8×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All
1	0	0	4.0%	-2.0		Forward	65	60	0		5.8	handr	0.0	0.0	8.0	0.8×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All
2	0	0	4.0%	-2.0		Forward	65	60	0		5.8	handr	0.0	0.0	16.0	0.8×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All
3	0	0	4.0%	-2.0		Forward	65	60	0		6.5	top	0.0	8.0	10.0	0.8×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All

Level 4 Phantom (overhead slash)

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Set weight	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Effect	Type	G	A	Sound	Direct	Hit bits	Hit part	Blockable	Reflectable	Absorbable	Flinchless	No GFX	Heedless
Windboxes
0	0	3	0.0%	0		Forward	0	100	110		5.5	top	0.0	8.0	10.0 to 4.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							None		All	All
1	0	3	0.0%	0		Forward	0	100	80		7.0	top	0.0	8.0	10.0 to 4.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							None		All	All
Hitboxes
0	0	0	5.0%	-2.5		Forward	60	57	0		5.0	handr	2.0	0.0	1.5	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All
1	0	0	5.0%	-2.5		Forward	60	57	0		5.6	handr	2.0	0.0	8.5	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All
2	0	0	5.0%	-2.5		Forward	60	57	0		5.6	handr	2.0	0.0	16.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All
3	0	0	5.0%	-2.5		Forward	60	57	0		5.0	top	0.0	8.5	11.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All

Level 5 Phantom (rising slash)

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Set weight	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Effect	Type	G	A	Sound	Direct	Hit bits	Hit part	Blockable	Reflectable	Absorbable	Flinchless	No GFX	Heedless
Windboxes
0	0	3	0.0%	0		Forward	0	100	130		6.0	top	0.0	8.0	13.0 to 8.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							None		All	All
1	0	3	0.0%	0		Forward	0	100	85		8.5	top	0.0	8.0	13.0 to 8.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							None		All	All
Hitboxes
0	0	0	6.0%	-3.0		Forward	60	68	0		6.0	handr	2.0	0.0	1.5	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All
1	0	0	6.0%	-3.0		Forward	60	68	0		6.0	handr	2.0	1.0	9.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All
2	0	0	6.0%	-3.0		Forward	60	68	0		6.0	handr	2.0	2.0	16.5	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Slash		All	All

Timing

Phantom creation

Phantom generated	1
Earliest release	16
Level 1 Phantom	15-19
Level 2 Phantom	20-27
Level 3A Phantom	28-31
Level 3B Phantom	32-37
Level 4A Phantom	38-44
Level 4B Phantom	45-49
Level 5 Phantom	50-120
Animation length	66
Level 5 Phantom auto-attack	121

Phantom
Zelda

Phantom release

Upon release, the Phantom immediately starts the attack corresponding to their level (timings listed below).

Interruptible	40
Animation length	54

Level 1 Phantom attack (kick)

Hitbox	11-12
Animation length	49

Level 2 Phantom attack (punch)

Windbox	1-7
Hitboxes	8-12
Animation length	59

Level 3 Phantom attack (outward slash)

Windbox	1-7
Hitboxes	8-11
Animation length	65

Level 4 Phantom attack (overhead slash)

Windbox	1-7
Hitboxes	8-11
Animation length	80

Level 5 Phantom attack (rising slash)

Windbox	1-6
Hitboxes	7-17
Animation length	120

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

State change

Continuable

Flinchless hitbox

Prop event

Interruptible

Parameters

Move

Horizontal speed multiplier on startup	0.8
Aerial vertical speed multiplier on startup	0.6
Phantom Z-axis displacement	1.5u
Minimum frames before releasing Phantom	15 frames

Phantom

Level increases for all parameters range from 0 to 6 (plus 3 for damage). Additionally, the Phantom's HP functions unusually. By default, its HP is one unit higher, causing it to range from 6 to 18, and when hit by a single attack, it has to take any damage higher (not equal) than this amount to be destroyed (for example, 6.01% for a level 1 Phantom). However, when sustaining multiple hits, each hit is considered as dealing 1% more damage, and the total damage can be exactly equal to the Phantom's HP; for example, the same level 1 Phantom can be destroyed by three 1% hits, or two 2% hits.

Base travel speed	2.5
Added travel speed by level increase	0.45
Friction	0.3
Base HP	5
Added HP by level increase	2
Added damage by level increase	1.3 (7.0.0 onward) 0.9 (before 7.0.0)

Trivia

• The 10-second cooldown used for destroyed Phantoms in Smash 4 is still present in the move's parameters. However, it goes unused, and Zelda can simply summon another Phantom as soon as the destroyed one disappears.

Zelda's moveset

Neutral attack (1 · inf) · Forward tilt · Up tilt · Down tilt · Dash attack · Forward smash · Up smash · Down smash
Neutral aerial · Forward aerial · Back aerial · Up aerial · Down aerial
Grab · Pummel · Forward throw · Back throw · Up throw · Down throw
Forward roll · Back roll · Spot dodge · Air dodge · Techs
Floor attack (front) · Floor getups (front) · Floor attack (back) · Floor getups (back) · Floor attack (trip) · Floor getups (trip)
Edge attack · Edge getups
Neutral special · Side special · Up special · Down special · Final Smash