Air Attacks
By AlphaZealot | Published: April 23, 2008 9:42pm EST
 Air attacks are performed by pushing the control stick in a direction and pressing the A-button simultaneously while airborne. Air attacks can also be performed by pushing a direction on the C-stick while airborne. Air Attack Abbreviations Neutral Aerial: N-Air Forward Aerial: F-Air Backward Aerial: B-Air Down Aerial: D-Air Up Aerial: U-Air Performing Air Attacks N-Air: Press the A-button while airborne F-Air: Push forward on the control stick and the A-button B-Air: Push backward on the control stick and the A-button D-Air: Push down on the control stick and the A-button U-Air: Push up on the control stick and the A-button Air attacks have always been important to the Smash series and Brawl is no different. If anything, using and correctly applying air attacks is more important than previous iterations of the game. Unlike the 64 or Melee versions of Smash, there is no way to cancel the landing lag of air attacks in Brawl, however, many attacks have auto-cancel properties that you will need to learn and apply. Like Melee and 64, you should familiarize yourself with shuffling air attacks. For more information on this aspect, view the Advanced Tactics - Advanced Techniques section. Like all attacks in the game, the direction and the button-press define which attack will occur. Unlike all other attacks, air attacks take one extra nuance into account, the direction the character faces. Pushing to the side on the control stick is further defined by the direction your character faces, with forward and backward being the further breakdown of this side input. All other attacks except for air attacks are not dependent on the direction your character faces. Many air attacks can be spammed with some efficiency, especially the ones that have auto-canceling properties. Air attacks are great for keeping combos going, but also great for keeping opponents at bay and influencing or controlling space, which is why air attacks are so versatile. Intentionally-missed air attacks, which were used to control space, are the main reason most players never have hit percentages (hit versus missed attacks) at the end of the game above 45% and even this is a rarity. The hit percentage of the winner is usually around 35% (in Melee it was closer to 40%). Only in a game where one player dominates the other will the hit percentage approach 50% or higher. N-Air: This air attack is seldom used by most characters but is also one of the most potent ones, which likely plays into its selective usage. Generally, N-Air attacks have decent damage and knock back. Many of these air attacks actually possess multiple hits, meaning you’ll need to make sure your character is properly spaced and positioned to get the most damage and knock back out of the attack by landing each hit. Frequently, only the last hit of the multiple-hit attacks actually have knock back. If you are looking to KO the opponent, this fact could be a detriment, but this property can also be advantageous for keeping characters grounded and in combos. Practice with Snake and Captain Falcon to better understand the use of multiple-hit air attacks. Other N-Air attacks have large hit boxes and stay out for quite some time. During Melee’s competitive days, this type of N-Air attack was often called a “sex kick,” for what reason, it’s hard to say. A great example from both Melee and Brawl is Samus’ N-Air, which can be used to cover a large area while moving through the air because of the duration and strength of the attack. F-Air: The F-Air is likely the most commonly used air attack in the game. Just about every character has a decent F-Air that can be used to KO opponents around the 150% mark. The sending trajectory on most F-Airs is about 30-45%, similar to S-Smashes. With both trajectory and the strength of the attack in mind, F-Airs are not often used for keeping combos going and are more often than not the last attack in a combo, being used as the finishing move. There are obvious exceptions to this; Marth has an amazing F-Air that keeps the opponent almost right next to him, but with most characters you’ll likely look to use the F-Air as a KO move. B-Air: The B-Air is often similar to a character’s F-Air and as a result will often have the same usage. There will be differences for some characters, but the general rule with B-Airs is like the F-Air, use it for KOs and at the end of a combo. Some B-Air attacks have sex kick-like properties, such as Sheik’s B-Air which can cover a large horizontal span if used correctly because of its long duration. D-Air: The D-Air can often be the most devastating of air attacks if it has an attached property of being either a spike or meteor Smash. Spikes send the opponent downward, usually at an angle between 250-290 degrees, and can’t be recovered from until the character exits the stun of the attack. Characters such as Falco have amazing meteor attacks that can be spammed both while on the ground and as an edge guard. The only downside to meteor Smashes is that they can be meteor recovered by the opponent. Become proficient at anticipating where the opponent will be when they are off-stage and time the D-Air to hit where the opponent will be soon, not where they are. Remember that there is great risk to rushing down a recovering opponent, with committing suicide often the result of overly aggressive tactics. Many players practice this often during casual matches but do so sparingly during tournaments when more is on the line, which is partly the reason casual matches are not at all indicative of what will occur during tournament play, where styles are more conservative and less risky. Still, the best players find ways to end opponents' stocks at early percentages and part of this is because they excel at edge-guarding recoveries. Some D-Air attacks are also great combo starters. If landed on a grounded opponent, the sending trajectory reverses, instead of being between 250-290 degrees, the opponent is instead sent upward between 70 and 110 degrees. At low percentages this can lead to another air attack or even a grounded attack, like a U-Tilt or U-Smash. At higher percentages, this can lead to another air attack and can hopefully create an opening for a KO. U-Air: This type of air attack is often used for juggling opponents and for trying to score over-the-top KOs because its sending trajectory is often close to 90 degrees. Juggling opponents in Brawl has become sufficiently more difficult than in Melee now that air dodges are now recoverable. This doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to juggle opponents anymore; it simply means that it takes a little bit of trickery and anticipation of the opponent's defensive efforts. Like many air attacks, at lower percentages the U-Air can be used to effectively combo opponents, and at higher percentages it can be used to KO. Try mixing in ground attacks, like the U-Tilt, that send the opponent at an upwards trajectory with the U-Air. Note #1: For more in-depth information on each character’s air attacks view the character-specific guides. Note #2: Default control scheme using the GCN controller is assumed. |
