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Super Smash Bros. can seem like a very simple game on the surface. However, the many components of gameplay become very complex to understand when compared to traditional fighting games. Combos are a prime example of this. Many factors can affect it, such as a character’s weight and size, fall speed, and the player’s DI. Understanding all of these things are important for characters that rely on combos. One of those characters would be Fox McCloud.
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Fox is undoubtedly an amazing character in Smash Ultimate. His tools can make it very difficult to find your footing against a skilled player. Here’s all you need to know about Fox and how you can gain the upper hand in matches.
Fox’s Strengths
Fox’s primary strength is hiscombo game. He can get a combo started in a variety of situations thanks to the speed and properties of his attacks. A notable example of this is his tilts, all of which serve some purpose for starting combos. There’s also his FAir, an ideal combo ender. Thanks to the multi-hit nature of the attack, it can also start or extend combos by dragging aerial opponents downwards. A lot of the combos he can do are also kill confirms, such as NAir into Up-Smash or dash attack into BAir.
Another strong suit of Fox is hisspeed and mobility. When it comes to movement speed, Fox is among the fastest in the game on several accounts, being the sixth fastest character on the ground in terms of dashing speed. He also has the highest falling speed in the game, allowing him to reach the ground just as fast as he can jump in the air. Hisairspeed and acceleration are above-averageas well. This aids in his powerful combo game, giving him agreat advantage statethat allows him to constantly pressure opponents with attacks.
Fox is also equipped withanti-zoning tools. This is thanks to his Down-B being able to reflect projectiles; what makes it much better than most reflectors in the game is that it provides startup intangibility and can be held indefinitely, on top of stalling his falling speed momentarily. He also has hisNeutral-B, a laser gun. It’s low on damage and lacks hitstun, but its range and high fire rate make it a decent zoning option nonetheless. Both of these moves aregreat for forcing approachesfrom his opponent.
Fox’s Weaknesses
Despite his combo game and ability to rack up damage, Foxcan struggle to kill very often. His smash attacks are all burdened with high endlag, making them hard to land without a kill confirm or read, on top of their knockback not being great. The aerials that he can kill with, Up-Air and BAir, both have narrow hitboxes and can suffer from staleness when being used in combos or against shields. Speaking of shields, histhrows don’t killuntil the opponent is at unrealistically high percents. This further hinders his ability to secure stocks since opponents tend to play very defensively against him when they’re close to death.
In contrast, Fox himselfstruggles with survivability.Part of this comes with his weight. Being a very light fighter (the fifth lightest in the game), he gets launched offstage very easily. While his mobility can make him hard to attack, he’ll eventually get tagged with a hit that can send him flying pretty far. This isn’t great for Fox becausehis recovery is exploitable. His two recovery moves, Side-B and Up-B, are very linear and can be punished with attacks easily. This is especially true for the Up-B due to how it stalls him in the air momentarily, as well as how slow the following movement is.
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Strategy & Counterplay
Fox can deliver an onslaught of attacks on the opponent to get a combo started. If you don’t have moves that are just as fast or disjointed attacks, this can be very hard to contest. For that, you’ll need toplay preemptively against himin neutral. This comes from watching Fox closely and understanding his habits when approaching you, such as dashing at you head-on or approaching you from above with an aerial. If you can understand what he’s going to do at any moment, you can try to attack him before he manages to attack you instead.
You shouldplay defensively if Fox closes the distance. A lot of his moves are fast and safe on the shield, so chances are he’ll assault you with one move after another to pressure your guard. Wait out these attack options and punish him if he makes a mistake. If he manages to break you and get a combo started,attempt to escape the disadvantage smartly. This also requires understanding Fox’s options and what he’s capable of since doing an option he can beat out means you’ll be a sitting duck until he’s done with you. Sometimes doing nothing and taking the damage is a good option if it leaves you with means of escape you can use later, such as jumping out of his juggles.
If you get Fox offstage and he tries to recover,punish his recovery as much as you can. The linearity of his Side-B means that his options for using it offstage aren’t vast; he’ll likely do it directly to the ledge or above the stage to avoid getting punished for using Up-B. Going offstage and trying to intercept him isn’t as bad an idea as it would be against other characters since Fox’s edgeguarding capabilities are limited.
Fox performs well against people he can combo easily. This involves characters that are large and heavy or those that struggle to escape their advantageous state.Byleth, Little Mac, Incineroar, Sephiroth, and Min Min don’t do well against him. He also does well against people that rely on projectiles, as he can send them back and force them to come closer.Characters like R.O.B., Piranha Plant, Simon, Snake, and Hero aren’t great choices against him.
Fox is bad against people that can combo him back despite his small size. This will often be characters that benefit more from closing the distance than he does.Characters like Luigi, Yoshi, Terry, Ryu, and Kazuya are great picks. He’s also bad against characters with disjointed hitboxes since he can’t contest them well with his smaller range.Lucina, Pyra and Mythra, Joker, Shulk, and Cloud will definitely give Fox lots of trouble.
