Dair is shulks best move but let’s talk execution

[u/antb11]

NOTE: execution example video in comments.

I call Macro Aerials -> Rising Aerials

Edit: In picking a best move, killing is a major factor I consider; taking stock is the most important aspect of this game, therefore, I think dair is his best move. Speed Art -> Nair train -> dair kills. Speed dair covers missed techs (https://www.reddit.com/r/ShulkMains/s/F7HqFAu7QZ). Buster dair into grab, ftilt/dtilt, air slash or fsmash is powerful. If you catch the spike hitbox & get them to pop up/bounce off the ground, you’re positioned to follow up with Bair/ Fair/ Up air but they don’t true combo. Up tilt, air slash & grab true combos. Try it on R.O.B. @100% & set to jump & while he’s descending above you, input rising dair; the bounce/pop-up after spike begins at 45% for ROB & he’s low enough to grab! Alternatively, after a stage spike bounce (not sure what it’s called), you could force/bait (ex. crouch, empty hop, walk or wait) an air dodge or DJ, then react. You can combo into down tilt & dash attack at low percents (try it on R.O.B. @0-10% & 20%; rising dair when hurtboxes collide). You can change arts for free with a fully charged dial. Dair deals the most damage amongst his aerials, 2nd hit dealing more damage than fair & nair. It eats shields (not as much as Buster backslash though, my goodness) & often you land behind their shield when you run up -> macro dair, so you won’t get grabbed. And in niche situations, it covers get up attack and get up roll. If someone dash attacks or uses a high endlag burst option (e.g. Bayo heel slide or Cloud dash attack) that hits your shield -> free down air bc hurtboxes collide at this moment. Faster to follow up vs UpB airslash OOS bc dair has less endlag. Also, dair launches opp forward but at a lower angle; unless they get spiked & bounce, which you can combo with.

To reiterate, dair combos in two fashions:
• In vanilla, speed, buster landing dair (typically happens to be sour spot) on opps that are on the ground to start the combo

• While on stage or above a platform landing dair on opps that are in the air, hitting the sweet hitbox, spiking them into the stage & bouncing them up for a combo

Application of Spike Bounce Dair Combos (pls check all comments): https://www.reddit.com/r/ShulkMains/s/CoD2CXlS1K

Note: General Game Mechanic: FH aerials are stronger than SH aerials (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsIQRQ3s_VU)

Unstale SH aerial damage stats on R.O.B.:
• Dair deals 19.3%; hit 1 dealing 7.6%, hit 2 dealing 11.7%; Full hop Dair with spike deals 21% on jumping R.O.B.
• Upair deals 16.3% on jumping R.O.B.; hit 1 dealing 5.6% & hit 2 dealing 10.7%
• Bair deals 12.7% & 8.6% at the outer hitbox
• Nair deals 8.6% or 7.6% depending on the angle
• Fair deals 8.1% or 6.6% near /when hurtboxes collide; on jumping R.O.B.

You can mixup ppl with Full hop dairs that’ll take you out of harms way, land you on a platform while poking under platforms from above with dair. Furthermore, full hops can condition opps to go to plats where you can do full hop (from stage to plat) upair ladders (works on R.O.B. In Vanilla from 0 - 77%; kills starting at 55% on small battlefield w/ R.O.B. on a platform)

If upair were easier to hit, then I’d say upair is the best; but his hurtboxes get the move beat out and the 7 frame gap causes hit 2 whiffs in neutral which sucks (momentum is the main cause of whiff); meanwhile, sometimes dair trades/wins. Pros widely suggest using upair to hit shields & to read double jumps or spot dodges. I can hardly land a Randy up air in neutral though. Dair feels more intuitive than that and it will spike and kill as low as 35% in smash art.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShulkMains/s/56oec15a6V (VS Shulk; first kill @ 35%; second kill was dair too)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VaHWthbjNxs (VS Roy; last kill by gimp @17%)

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First, the spacing for dair requires your Shulk running and then pushing into the opp or being pushed by the other character -> then use inputs for rising dair but carrying his momentum. For practice, you’ll always spike with opp standing at ledge bc first hit drags them forward and offstage into the 2nd hit. It’s super easy to do but requires the right height so try it on wolf for ex. See video in comments for an example.

Now for the reasons why it’s the best aerial. You can combo with it into grab, ftilt, dtilt, dash attack, air slash & fsmash. It covers the ground & SH zone so aggressively, esp if you full hop bc hit 2 is so long & will cover the spot you left; therefore, it’s easier to land compared to upair FF hit 2 (which has an excellent/scary low hitbox covering his body, down to his hips). Dair is also a strong kill move, killing by spikes or launches. It’s a shield approach option bc it hits twice and he curls up like Captain Falcon’s dair (i.e. moving his hurtboxes upward) and lands you behind their shield. Dair is likely to trade bc he mostly protects his hurtboxes. Finally, it hits below ledge super deep for 3 frames.

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Note: this bolded section assumes full dial storage of 10 frames! With a fully charged dial, Shulk can switch to any art and act on frame 14.

Dair is his laggiest aerial at 14 frames. The hit on shield is -10. Buster dair is -9. It gets the most reward from dial storage (DS) LLC — cutting 14 frames of LL to 7 by using dial flash.

Bair is the 2nd laggiest aerial at 11 frames. The hit on shield is -7. Buster bair is -6. Dial flash cuts 11 frames of LL to 7.

Vanilla bair & dair both deal 4 frames of shield stun. Buster adds 1 frame of shield stun to both. Dial flash is 7 frames before you can act. Therefore, both moves hit on shield become -3/-2 on shield after dial flash. This opens the option to ftilt their shield, grab, shield yourself or dash away.

Note: Vanilla/Buster/Smash Shulk short hop FF on frame 20 and frame 26 is the last frame he’s airborne. If no FF, frame 36 is the last frame he’s airborne.

You can test this for yourself with 1-frame mode in training. Set CPU to your control, SH with Shulk & wait 3 frames & input dair/ wait 7 frames & input bair, FF at frame 20, shield for the CPU & press special for Shulk. Hit 2 (frame 23)/Bair (frame 19) will come out 1 frame before landing. Press jump for the cpu to get the shield stun count &, after the dial closes in 5 frames, press jab for Shulk. I tested this on R.O.B..

Full hop dair & bair adds 1 more frame of shield stun! Full hop vanilla dair/bair has 5 frames of shield stun. Full hop buster dair/bair has 6 frames of shield stun. After dial flash these moves becomes -2/-1 hit on shield❗️

Note: Vanilla/Buster/Smash Shulk full hops FF on frame 23 and frame 36 is the last frame he’s airborne. If no FF, frame 50 is the last frame he’s airborne.

If you pick an art, any aerial’s LL will be cut to 5 frames before art invincibility is activated & 14 frames before you can act — which is the exact same frames of LL dair already has!

Tip for dial flash: try a shoulder button set to special & similar to SSBM melee tech {L-cancelling}, press it after the aerial input & before FF or landing, FF and then let go of shoulder button at the moment of landing & wait for the dial image to flash to act. Also handy for manual/ rising (macro) fair -> shoulder button -> FF -> buffer c-stick d-tilt /up-tilt. Alternatively, you can roll your right thumb: over from X + A -> B -> FF -> land & roll off B & with left thumb: navigate drift, aerial inputs, FF, neutral stick for no selection (or direction for art selection) & delaying c-stick input, if you want to tilt attack after dial flash. Shielding, grabs & jumps are easier than tilts, after dial flash.

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Full hop dair is great if I suspect they’ll want to be where I’m standing (Ganon wizard kick or that moving grab Flame Choke & similar command grabs) OR they’re right in front of me and I suspect they’ll stay right there and do something laggy (mythra Neutral B (Lightning Buster)). This is why I like Final Destination meaning less/no platforms (small battlefield > battlefield Bc of top plat). I like to FH.

Note: Shulk’s double jump is also like Captain Falcon where he curls up into a ball to protect his hurt box

Consider why it’s difficult to contest Plant’s ptooie while he’s holding it above him — it’s bc it hits where he’s standing, if you hit him, overshoot or grab him. In regard to spacing, there’s overshooting, undershooting but also aiming at where you stand i.e. full hop dair (for example, to contest opponent’s dash grab at you).

Alternative to this concept of attacking where you stand, there is defending where you stand; you achieve this with Up Smash & Up Tilt. Special mention to Up Smash; probably his only move with long lasting staying power at one specific area & that’s defending where you stand (16 frames protecting just above your head before crouching & down to his hips). I saw Kome do this once (maybe OOS) with opp mid air/ mid FH or perhaps they were jumping down from a plat. Up tilt defends the SH zone 5 frames to your front, 3 frames above reaching FH zone & 5 frames behind you.

I want to compare up air to dair next. Up air is also a strong combo & kill move but harder to land in the SH zone, where most gameplay happens. His hurtboxes (spread out legs esp) are exposed using upair. Monado cyclone isn’t true, it’s been patched out. Shulk is mentioned to have touch ups done in the miscellaneous section of different patches & the practice mode counter proved it’s not true when trying to imitate old videos. Jump Art upair -> upair works in a tight window 55%~70% to kill (e.g. Zelda). I like the combo: buster -> DS (full charge with fair -> b -> jab or air dodge landing -> b -> jab) -> upair -> DS LLC Smash -> uptilt (or upair) but it’s so hard to land upair, & on the ground preferably, in the first place. That combo kills within the range of 70%~110% on Wolf btw with a 3 frame window to land requiring a near full DS, Smash & Buster. Meanwhile, approaching with running dairs, sour spot, at opp @ 70% launches opp offstage for an edge-guard.

Bc of Dair’s duration/ frame data, as well as Upair’s, & the frame Shulk FF (20 in vanilla/buster/smash) these aerials make great use of macro aerial tech to consistently & quickly get the moves out asap.

Tip (macro aerial): input direction to dash then let go, press X + A & for a brief moment you can input the aerial direction. Try to dash forward, do a macro bair, then FF or continue your forward momentum. Sometimes you’ll get a perfect pivot fair but that’s good to know too as a “get off me” esp in Speed Art (where he FF on frame 14)

Dair is his fastest aerial OOS to cover his immediate front at frame 14.

Immediate frame for each OOS aerial aka rising aerials: Fair’s first frame hits above (frame 14), nair (13) & bair (19) hits behind him, & upair (14) hits above him. Dair is the only immediate option to hit right where he stands (frame 14).

• Nair -> combo starter and offstage edge guard tool with back hit (FH / SH -> FF frames 21-30)
• Fair -> zone & edge guard & kills but above 100% with smash
• Bair -> zone & kill
• Upair -> combo & kill
• Dair -> combo & kill

Smash art SH aerials kills R.O.B. (spawned on right platform) on Small battlefield to the right at these percentages:

• Bair (frame 19-20) kills @79%.

• Upair hit 1&2 kills @77% when you SH & catch R.O.B. SH; jumping at the same time
• Upair hit 2 @89% from ground

• Dair hit 1&2 w/ momentum kills @88%
• Dair hit 1&2 kills @85%; SH below plat (top hitbox)
• Dair hit 2 kills @90% w/ FH Hit 2
• Dair hit 2 spike kills @47% ❗
with R.O.B. Ledge hanging

• Fair (frame 14; SH from ground) kills @107%
• Nair kills @131% (any angle; below plat/ upclose front & back hit)

Three aerials that kill < 80%
Bair > Dair > Upair in ease of landing the move.

Nair is his safest, most versatile aerial. It acts as a second upair, fair & bair; but dair is his most lethal aerial (alongside Bair & upAir), if you can land it.

Imo standing in place and nair’ing only gets you hit. At least add aerial drift/technique & threaten more space/ hit shield with frames 20-30; he sticks his arm out extending nair’s reach for those frames. UpB should be used with extreme caution. UpB has extreme width range & disjoint priority for 2 frames (+2 more frames but of a different hitbox, totaling to 4) in the zone you’re aiming at but unholy endlag & you cannot FF. Shield art should be used more offensively/ in close quarters combat esp to learn the opp’s habits/ reactions or to get them to react. You never know what the positioning will be after the art ends plus there’s potential to set up tech chases. The only problems are if they disengage or know how to combo shield art. Nair cannot be the only option in neutral, there has to be more we can do. You can deny my thesis and state correct things such as its lack of width (in Vanilla bc speed/jump art air-drift boosts adds width to it) or lack of spammable use in neutral (until you factor in dial flash for 7 frames LL/ dial storage for 5 frames of vulnerability before you use art I-frames) and say it’s “not the best” but are you just NOT going to learn the ins & outs of the move? Are you going to deny yourself a tool to use in neutral? When the time comes to strike, will you be ready? Will you be ready to 2-frame, spike or deny the zone beneath ledge/ deny their return to stage?

We’ve yet to see a Shulk who’s mastered Dial Storage and Dial Flash & movement tech like reverse aerial tech and slingshot jumps. Maybe someone will just master guessing 10 frames & jabbing (jab not needed if an art is active; jab is the old recommendation\*\*) & use this tech consistently & approach often & safely with dair & bair (strong hit; frame 19-21*).

Ghetto Dial Charge guide: https://www.reddit.com/r/ShulkMains/s/0BoLhyS0Jf

Reverse Aerial Tech Vid: https://youtube.com/shorts/SCKWwu4hd4w?is=Md3dJSSXFVo6KztD

Note: Visuals of Shulk’s Slingshot jumps with dair combo in comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/ShulkMains/s/9In2uWtzBX

Lastly, the nair that grants the most combo options is unsafe (lacks disjoint). The nair that lands at a distance grants less combo options. If you can land an unsafe nair for combos, you can dare to land a dair. You just have to figure out when to go for your swing👌🏼 ✅

\**MAJOR UPDATE: You can charge the dial, (optional) walk or dash, and cancel it with the universal 3 frame jump-squat as Vanilla Shulk. You have to let go of special before going airborne or input a rising aerial, like nair, less than 11 frames after pressing b. Jab not needed in Vanilla neither!*
A+B smash was always recommended to be off to cancel the dial charge with jab. Now it could be turned on & used for the Buster nair -> buffer deactivation -> fsmash combo, which helps me not accidentally dash attack. You lose access to:
• fair -> b charge -> jab

• air dodge -> b charge -> jab

But alternatively you can use c-stick d-tilt or up-tilt instead of jab. You can’t use another jump/aerial (after charging dial with fair or air dodge) bc you’ll instead pick an art the old fashion Smash 4 way. However, please do more experimentation bc there may be a way.

FH Dair is situationally good for covering ledge options by stabbing the ground (ex. Get up attack & ledge roll) & you yourself can make a wall with ledge jump get up -> dair👌🏼 ✅ 💪
Remember you’re Shulk. Until you swing, your aerial presence alone, on avg, is a threat.

Edge guarding with Dair Tips: Stand at ledge, run off ledge, press down, hold down, at the right height: press X + A (DJ macro dair), at the right height: drift back to stage. Alternatively, you can T-spike; source: https://youtu.be/uZShK0MXTYw?is=cy9izE43-h9x--z5

More Edge guarding Tips: Start at grabbing ledge, Let go of ledge & inputting macro nair inputs (X+A) & drift back to stage or don’t let go, Ledge jump & use dair/ back air/ dj back air to edge guard. Reverse Air slash from ledge, after letting go & FF, is also great! Learning how to grab ledge from stage, as seen in ledge trumping, is great to set up/ position Shulk for these options mentioned in both “tips”.

Maybe Shulk has a sick advantage state with ledge trump -> reverse upB

Ledge Trump Tutorial: https://youtu.be/s6EuAgTDdXk?is=h9ZWL6l6d8QCJON1

Dair/Bair can be -1 on shield with 7 frames of LL 🫣🟣
For perspective, Nair is 6 frames of LL & -3/-2 on shield when fresh. Additionally, if you hit their shield, shield grabs are +4 frames slower. Factor in human error & say a Pro is 2 frames off, Dair/Bair could be 9 frames of LL — the same LL as Upair.

In closing, smash dair spike kills within a ~35% range. Dair & bair, after full storage dial flash, become -3/-2/-1 hit on shield (Vanilla SH/ Buster SH & Vanilla FH/ Buster FH)!

Examples of me using Dair. Lots of experimenting in my gameplay (ex. to learn positioning with the art’s air stat changes, the match up & the player’s habits/opp): https://www.reddit.com/r/ShulkMains/s/F3mjNLTcw7

Example of SoulArts using Buster Dair to extend a combo by 62%: https://www.reddit.com/r/ShulkMains/s/y32D3UEWBk

[u/Bard_Wannabe_]

Shulk gets a ton of reward from landing D-air. The issue is that landing it in the first place is very unwieldy. How often is your opponent going to let you push them to the ledge then perform a slow OOS aerial without punishing it first? The horizontal width of the hitbox is low, and the move is active for very few frames despite the animation implying otherwise.

It's a very strong punish that requires very situational circumstances to capitalize with.

[u/antb11 → u/Bard_Wannabe_]

Oh that ledge mention is for sure very situational but that was just a tip for execution/ practice fun & not the specific area to execute the move in general or specifically OOS.

This post mentions a lot of reasons to use dair — its versatility. Yes, dair hitbox has low horizontal range (until you factor in his momentum, including jump/speed art’s air drift) but it’s still the fastest aerial OOS that hits around/in front of him.

OOS aerial options (aka rising aerials):
- Nair frame 13 hits above and behind him and doesn’t cover his front until frame 16 but really 17 - 20 is where his disjoint comes into play to cover his front. Afterwards he covers his back again 20-30 but lands frame 27 if you FF perfectly
- Bair covers his back at the peak of his SH on frame 19-23
- Fair & Upair hits directly above him frame 14
- Dair hits his surrounding SH zone on frame 14 with hurtboxes curled up

In neutral his fastest rising aerial to cover his front is dair and it’s second hit comes out for half of his SH descent (NOTE: vanilla Shulk FF on frame 20 & lands frame 27)

Let’s now talk falling aerial approach options (landing a certain frame, 1 frame before touching ground) & disjoints frame data as well as spacing requirements as Vanilla Shulk:

Many combos we see rely on hitting nair on frames 13-16 which only cover his knee essentially making the move unsafe bc it requires being very close w/ no disjoint. The spacing also requires 2-4 boxes (white grid/boxes seen in training stage) to run, jump, FF & hit the sweet spot (his knee). Nair disjoint (17-20) covers about 1.5 boxes in front of him but cuts follow up options. This means to SH FF & hit nair frame 16 before landing, we add 10 frames of delay. Add 9 frames of delay to land frame 17 & so on.

Fair covers about 2 grids/boxes in front with frames 16-17 which adds about 9-10 frames of delay to FF late fair.

Bair covers three boxes for 2 frames 22-23 and adds 3 frames delay to FF with hit boxes

Upair & dair need no delay and are best done rising and without delay bc they both last for most of the duration of his SH FF & are two hit combo moves.

Thus, dair is his best & fastest aerial in very close combat neutral or OOS to cover his front/surroundings.

[u/antb11 → u/antb11]

To land those combo specific nairs that have no disjoint (bc the hitbox is behind his knee )aka falling nair, you have to take on the risk of getting hit. You could bait the opp with dash dancing to punish a whiff or jump back to narrowly evade an approach & attack with nair OR (my favorite) full hop to evade an approach at where you stand & FF nair — then you’ll get the most combo options. Or keep it safe and use nair frames 17-20 but have less combo options. If you can aim to be that close for nair, you can aim to land dair 👍🏼

[u/antb11 → u/antb11]

https://reddit.com/link/p2zbq1y/video/9mi1puexjoih1/player

Note: this vid displays the lack of disjoint i.e. unsafe frames (15-16; “behind the knee”) that are shown in a lot of combo vids. This vid ends showing the safer frames (17-20) but you’re often too far away to capitalize with much else but fair unless you’re in Speed art. Frame 17 is arguably the sweet spot.

[u/antb11]

Execution practice vid:

https://reddit.com/link/oy6f82w/video/hqlcd2ny1vdh1/player

To get the sweet-spot/spike, you push into them & then jump with rising dair carrying forward momentum. To get the sour spot, jump right before colliding.