SSBU/Pikachu

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Overview

Pikachu

Weight:	79
Spotdodge:The duration and intangibility of this character's on-spot dodges.	24F (3~16F intangible)
Air Dodge:The intangibility of this character's air dodges, both neutral and directional.	2~26F intangible (Neutral) 2~19F intangible (Directional)
Unique Recovery Options:Recovery options that this character may have other than their Up Special.	Skull Bash
Fastest OOS:	Nair (6F)

Overview

Pikachu uses its high mobility and strong tools at all distances to pressure the opponent, capitalize heavy on any mistakes or habits, and confirm kills with its strong edgeguarding and trapping game. With great frame data on nearly all of its moves, Pikachu also uniquely has one of the smallest hurtboxes in Ultimate, not only being small in normal situations, but also squishing quite a bit when it lands with many of its aerials, with Bair notably due to its long duration and extreme squishiness, meaning Pikachu ducks under many moves that would have punished it otherwise.

Pikachu's best tool in neutral is arguably Thunder Jolt (Tjolt), a small electric orb that bounces along the ground, doing higher damage if it's launched from the air. Simply buffering a Tjolt from a fullhop and running after it is a strong enough approach option on the ground, but shooting them at farther distances lets Pikachu interrupt the opponent's flow, read their response then punish it up close, or even just camp them.

If Pikachu lands a Grab, it has very strong throws for several situations, its best being Dthrow, its best combo throw, leading into Utilt at early %s, and most aerials until mid-late %s, with notably Fair being great for sending them offstage, or even killing some characters by the ledge. Uthrow can combo into Thunder at high %s with no DI, and kills around 180%. Bthrow has Pikachu move backwards during the throw, and its high knockback make it great for starting Pikachu's deadly edgeguards. Fthrow is Pikachu's highest damaging throw, but is the most niche of all its throws.

Pikachu's aerials are very strong tools, and a large part of its playstyle and combo game. Pikachu's Nair is a small multihit that can drag the opponent down and leads to Grab and all of its tilts, and even Usmash and Dsmash to kill. Fair is a smaller but useful aerial, as its safety when autocancelled makes it a good approach option, and high knockback make it Pikachu's best aerial to kill. Dair is a slower but rather strong hit with a brief meteor on startup, and is Pikachu's earliest kill move offstage. Its usage is rather niche, but it can still be autocancelled from a shorthop and can also start combos at high %s, meaning it is still a good out-of-shield option. Uair is a surprisingly disjointed tail swipe above Pikachu's head with two main hits: a strong one for the first part of the move and a weak one at the end. The strong one is a decent juggling tool and can combo into Thunder in some situations, and the weak one can combo into itself, and eventually Fair, meaning, with proper execution, Pikachu can repeatedly hit this weak hit on the opponent over and over and drag them to the blast zone, and kill them with Fair. Despite this, arguably Pikachu's best aerial is Bair, as its high autocancel window and long lasting hitbox and speed make it a strong combo starter and one of the best edgeguarding tools in the game. It can combo into itself, Fair, Uair, and Nair at low percents. Even after it stops comboing, its wideness and speed make it one of Pikachu's best out-of-shield options at frame 7.

Other than these, Pikachu has other very strong tools as well. Dtilt is a very fast and safe tail swipe that covers the ground and can trip at most low %s, with a rather high 30% trip rate. At higher %s, however, it sends at a perfect angle to start techchases, being one of Pikachu's best kill options at high %s. Utilt is a strong combo starter that sends the opponent above Pikachu, and Ftilt is Pikachu's fastest tilt and kills at really high %s, with spacing potential due to its length. Fsmash is somewhat safe when well spaced, as its short punish window means slower characters will struggle to punish it with proper spacing. In addition, it can cover every ledge getup option that isn't roll or jump from ledge with proper timing.

Pikachu's other special moves are useful too. Quick Attack (QA) is Pikachu's main recovery tool, going a long distance, meaning Pikachu rarely struggles to make it back to stage. Still, QA is still a great neutral tool due to its speed, and can be used to cover the ground at mid-distance, especially because it becomes a true combo starter around 80%. Thunder is a committal but strong option at catching opponents out of the air or finishing a combo once the opponent is above Pikachu. The hit on Pikachu's body is also very strong, and can be combo'd into from the meteor in the cloud that summons the Thunder.

Pikachu's most niche moves are Jab and Skull Bash, with Jab's negativity on hit making it useless in neutral, but can trap the opponent when they're in the corner and rack up a small amount of damage while also filling the staling queue. It also, as the name suggests, Jab locks, with Pikachu's Jab lock in particular being one of its best methods to take stocks. Skull Bash is mostly a rare recovery tool that is very punishable if used carelessly, but can occasionally be used as a shield-break punish when fully charged, as well as a tool to escape juggle situations. Usmash is also debilitated by having a sweetspot that is extremely hard to hit on most characters not in the air, and as such is only useful on the ground when its sourspot kills, or on taller characters that get hit by its sweetspot on the ground.

Pikachu is a somewhat difficult but rewarding character that can be played with multiple playstyles and has a very strong neutral and punish game. With dedication and practice, Pikachu becomes a very threatening character that is widely agreed to be a top tier, with a few claiming it to be the best character in the game.

Summary

Pikachu does things (placeholder)
Pros	Cons
All-Rounder: Pikachu has tools that allows them to deal with almost any situation without too much trouble. Great Punishes: Pikachu's punishes packs a punch, especially with the use of dragdown Nair loops at lower percents. If needed, they can also go for coast-to-coast combos instead. Great Defense Pikachu's OOS options, while not the fastest, are incredibly rewarding on hit since his mains OOS options are also his main combo starters/fillers. Edgeguard Monster: Pikachu is one of the strongest edgeguarding characters in Ultimate, rivaling even the likes of Steve with its strong edgeguarding, using tools such as Bair, Tjolt, and Dair to take stocks offstage with somewhat low effort. What Disadvantage?: Pikachu's disadvantage stats is one of the best in the game in all areas. Most notably, their frame 2 airdodge and down-B makes escaping combo strings easier than usual. Great Neutral: Pikachu's run speed gives them excellent mobility, able to weave in and out of the opponent's burst range and easily punished. This, coupled with Tjolt, gives Pikachu the ability to control how neutral plays against most characters Low Profile: Being a rat, Pikachu's hurtbox is one of the smallest in the game. This makes him harder to hit, and sometimes even make otherwise punishable moves unpunishable on shield.	Paperweight: Pikachu is tied with Mewtwo, Olimar, Sephiroth, and Kirby for being the sixth lightest character in the game. Struggles to Kill: Despite their great combo damage, Pikachu generally has to rely on edgeguards, hard reads or stray hits at very high percents to close out stocks. Stubby Normals: Being a rat, Pikachu's attacks have very little reach. This makes sword characters harder to deal with in neutral, despite Pikachu's tail being disjointed in attacks using it. Unfavorable Trades: A combination of low weight and reliance on multi-hits makes most trades very skewed in the opponent's favor Linear Neutral: Pikachu's neutral, while great, heavily relies on Thunder Jolt. This makes it somewhat predictable, as learning how to deal with it makes playing neutral against Pikachu much easier. Hard to Use Effectively: Pikachu is a very demanding character that requires tons of efforts and game knowledge to be used effectively.