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![](http://static.miraheze.org/dragdownwiki/thumb/b/b0/SSBU_Sora_Stock.png/50px-SSBU_Sora_Stock.png)
Use the navigation/TOC on the right for convenience
Intro
The purpose of this guide is to teach players the general combo tree of Sora's combos. Sora's combo structure relies on a few key moves, and he can follow up, extend, or shorten combos in multiple ways. Damage scales with how good your execution is. This page is an attempt of displaying Sora's combos in comprehensive manner regardless if they are simple or advanced. This is to make it easier to not only execute the combos, but also understand where you may fail.
If you are a novice or not confident in learning Sora because of his skill ceiling, don't concern yourself with what you should or shouldn't learn. Take things one step at a time, get comfortable with the character, and slowly develop how much you push your Advantage and combo/punish game. The character is flexible in playstyles, and many players with different playstyles have all seen success playing how they want to push the character.
If you want a general overview of how Sora combos tend to operate in a video format, watch Dusty_Carpets combo video. It is a well made, cohesive piece of information on Sora's combo game that can give you a great idea of where to start. You can find his video in the resource tab under "videos".
Still here? Alright.
Terminology
Here is some common terminology you should familiarize yourself with:
- N-Air1: This is referring to the first of three N-Airs
- N-Air2: This refers to the second N-Air of the three
- N-Air3: Refers to the third and final N-Air.
- F-Air1: This is referring to the first of three F-Airs
- F-Air2: This refers to the second F-Air of the three
- F-Air3: Refers to the third and final F-Air.
- N-Air1,2/N-Air12: Refers to hitting both N-Air1 and N-Air2 in quick succession, akin to just holding down the attack button. N-Air1 and N-Air2 will be written separate when there is more timing, or for combo recipes. It is very common to say "Nair12-> UpSmash" when talking about Sora. What they are referring to is that there is a fastfall after N-Air2. It is impossible to gain enough frame advantage from doing N-Air1 and N-Air2 rising from a SH just to normal fall into an U-Smash for a true combo. You need proper timing from N-Air1 too N-Air2 and fast fall within the startup frames.
For clarity sake, "Fastfall" will be mentioned whenever it occurs. Just keep this in mind when discussing this with other Sora players when communicating through other forums, chats or discord. The exact same applies for F-Air.
An example of the aforementioned combo "Nair12->UpSmash" will be written as: N-Air1>N-Air2>FF>U-Smash in this page
- Aerial Sweep: Up-B
- Sonic Rave: Side-B
- IDJ: IDJShorthand for "Instant Double-Jump", a technique used to Double Jump as low to the ground as possible., or Instant Double Jump. Very important to learn if you want to push this character to its limit.
- L: Refers to when landing normally without fastfall
- FF: FastFall, when using this acronym it is always assumed for this page that Sora will land before he can do anything else.
- FS: Footstool. For this page, Phantom footstool will just be referred to as "Phantom-FS"
- FH: Full Hop
- SH: Short hop
- SHR or FHR: Refers to rising short hop or rising full hop.
Note for SHR: Most of the SHR starters can also be interpreted as just landing from a platform, or from doing grounded footstools. The most common timing to use are the SHR starters, and inconsistencies may lie in using the other two.
- SHA or FHA: Refers to when doing the move at the apex of a specific jump.
Most combos will have difficulty levels. They range from Beginner, Easy, Medium, Hard, and Godlike difficulties. Some of these combos are very unintuitive to learn at first, but a lot of people have gotten these combos at least once or twice. The sky is the limit.
Combos
Core Moves
Combo Starters
- N-Air
N-Air is Sora's core combo tool. This move enables not only a great punish game, but also a great neutral game. Any part of N-Air can start a combo, what combo you can start depends on a number of factors that will be covered later.
- U-Air
U-Air while falling can lead into other aerials such as N-Air, F-Air or into Uair itself. At high percents, this loses its combo potential and becomes a kill option instead.
- F-Air
F-Air Is another important combo tool that helps to complete certain combos that would otherwise be impossible. It is less flexible than N-Air, but that doesn't make it less impactful. Mastering this move is just as important as mastering N-Air. This is the move Sora uses to dragdown his opponents for certain combos. This is also a common combo finisher that is very good for unstaling moves.
- D-tilt
D-tilt like Nair, will often lead into the imagination. Low percent combos, Kill Confirms, this move can do it all. Just be wary of how the opponent DI's, as it will change what combos you can go for.
- Grab
D-throw at low percents is useful as it pops the opponent up in place for a rising N-Air or F-Air at medium percents, which then can be extended upon as seen fit. At medium it can still consistently combo into Uair. Will kill at high perecent if the opponent DI's in.
- Firaga
Firaga's first hit leaves the opponent in significant amount of hitstun, enough for a Dash-Grab and Dash-Attack. Sometimes you can even connect this into U-Air or U-Smash. This is only true from the first fireball, since the second in succession will have significant less hitstun.
Combo Finishers
- U-Smash
Up Smash is one of Sora's most important combo finishers. A lot of extenders sends the opponent upwards, making this a good option for taking stocks.
- F-Smash
Sora's strongest knockback move. If you can confirm into this, you can take stocks earlier than usual.
- Up-B
Flexible confirm option. Although DI can make this move kill later, Aerial Sweep is a consistent Combo Ender that can be routed into easily.
Combo Theory
- As mentioned above, N-Air is one of Sora's core combo tools. You could almost say it is the "key" to his combos. N-Air1 spins his sword all around him, and it shines for a multitude of reasons. Because the move has a lot of hitstun, you can both rise and fall with N-Air1 and get a follow up afterwards. Second, because of the moves range and relative safety on shield along with mixups of how you land on the opponents shield, the can be used in neutral with below average risk. There are a lot of combo starters in this game that are not great neutral tools because of their lack of safety or inflexibility. Sora's N-Air is able to satisfy both of these conditions.
But to understand N-Air more deeply, look at this image made by WhyDo (@WDBTHtGP on Twitter) that could make things easier to understand.
For reference, "Nooping" is the art of looping someone with just N-Air over and over again. "Foops" also exist, but are even more niche.
The point of the image is that there is a world of difference between each hitbox. Technically, there are way more hitboxes with different values in angles, hitstun and knockback other from just these. The hitboxes displayed have actually the least amount of hitstun out of any of the other hitboxes in N-Air1, and that is 18 remaining hitboxes! WhyDo's image highlights a "garbage hitbox". This hitbox is typically unfavorable due to its low knockback angle and low hitstun preventing it from confirming into certain moves, like F-Smash.
In terms of hit advantage, at low percent (i.e having no rage), against an opponent with 0 percent, the hilt hitbox in WhyDo's visual is 18 frames, 17 frames at the tip, and 12 frames in the middle. The remaining hitboxes after the first frame of N-Air1 are between 19-23 frames. These values are hit advantage from landing right after you connect them. Even if you connect with the "garbage hitbox" you can still connect with N-Air2, the question is if you can get the timing and spacing right, both for reacting properly with N-Air2 and connecting it so you can get the desired followup. As mentioned, how you land these hits will determine the followups.
There is also an important thing to consider regarding execution of the combos. Rage and opponent percent are equally important to consider. Some combos get easier and harder the higher these factors are. WhyDo is correct that you can't DI Sora's N-Air1,2 at frame 1. There are a lot of similarities with F-Air1,2 as well, there are exceptions though, since some parts of the move does send into tumble. Some, like the back hit of N-Air1 will always send into tumble, and others like parts of F-Air1,2 will only send into tumble at high percent and rage.
As a general rule of thumb. Unless you are familiar with Sora, avoid hitting N-Air1 hitbox 2 as much as possible. There are cases where it can be useful, but they are not the norm. It is also not easy to avoid it at all times, since it is in a very convenient spot to hit with. Now that we have learned some intricacies of N-Air, it's time to move to its cousin, F-Air
F-Air, while not as versatile as N-Air, it is still very important. It is because of it's ability to dragdown the opponent. When mentioning F-Air dragdowns it's also very important to mention that not all hitboxes have the same angles, and the one you are looking for is the tipper hitbox which is hard to hit against some characters. Sometimes it's okay to hit the middle hitbox of F-Air1 for some characters. The reason why dragdowns are important for Sora, is that most of his moves send the opponent up. With a way to bring the opponent back down, you could almost "loop" the opponent in a way for extra damage. The most difficult, and high damaging combos Sora can do builds on this principle. A simple way is just to use D-tilt after a dragdown, or even Dash-Grab them. Both of these leads into high damage. But what if you can do N-Air1,2>FF after F-Air? The most common way to get F-Air1,2>DD>FF is from first landing N-Air1,2>FF. So if we can somehow land N-Air1,2>FF after F-Air1,2>DD>FF, then it will be a neverending, non-DI'able combo, right? That is correct, but there is one problem. When Sora hits an opponent with his F-Air1 he does a bounce, and with a shorthop, his "lowest jump" he is still way to high to get any meaningful hit advantage after hitting F-Air2. This would be a dead end if IDJ didn't exist, and it does. What's ironic is that Sora's DoubleJump, or "DJ" is better suited for combos rather than mobility. It's unsure if this is an oversight or not, but that's not why you are here. If you employ an IDJ before F-Air1, you will be just slightly above the ground. And if done correctly, you will have enough hitstun for a bunch of his options. This includes N-Air1. As mentioned before, it isn't easy to land the tipper hitbox of F-Air1, but with IDJ it becomes a lot easier. The only issue again is that you will be hitting "too high" with N-Air1 and will whiff in some cases. That's fine, because again, IDJ will remedy that issue. (IDJ)N-Air will be able to hit in most cases since then the startup of the N-Air1 is closer to the ground. Reason for that phrasing is because there are exceptions. This is the "peak" or most "godlike" thing you can do with Sora. Doesn't mean its the only thing.
To summarize:
- Certain hitboxes have different purposes
- F-Air dragdown combos. IDJ N-Air1 for optimal dragdowns
- You need to adjust to certain timings and spacings
- Certain characters are more prone to certain combos than others.
- Despite DI being a non factor, not all combos will work on everyone.
List of combos
BnB's
These combos are pretty easy, and are excellent at teaching you the timing of when to FF after using N-Air2. You want to fall for a while, enough so that the keyblade has almost turned 450 Degrees (360 + 90) before inputting the N-Air2>FF. You can also look at other part of Sora's animation and come up with your timing in response to an animation. Looking at his shoes, where his head is, are also ways to figure out when to fast fall. These are decent clues to look for when building intuition on the timing. When this becomes second nature, along with getting the U-tilt and U-Air, you can start implementing F-Air1,2,3 as a combo ender, or even extend with F-Air1,2 by dragging them down to the platform with the right spacing and timing. Floaties are harder, or impossible to dragdown on platforms for followups.
- Works at any percent.
- Works versus any character
- Very simple
- Auto combo
Can just hold down the C-stick or attack to perform the combo. The neat stuff starts when you land in between these hits!
- Works at low percent.
- With good DI, F-Air1,2,3 is more inconsistent to hit than U-Air
- Can also be started with Grab>D-throw and then into SHR>N-Air1
- D-throw will not be send into tumble at 0 percent, unless you have rage. Making it true to connect into N-Air1
- Easy and effective for unstaling
- Works at any percent
Very useful to learn for practicing the timings a little vs characters like Fox and
Greninja, since the timing is different, you you actually have to incorporate Fastfall inbetween F-Air2 and F-Air3. Platforms can interfere with the combo. Other than that, it is an auto combo due.
When you start getting more comfortable with Sora's Nair and how to hit it, Sora can start going for slightly more advanced combos. These are still not fairly difficult, but they lead to more damage and kills at earlier percent's and should be prioritized if possible.
This combo can fail more than the basic version of it since connecting the second chain of N-Airs is difficult, or sometimes impossible in certain scenarios. Factors include: Rage, hurtbox shifting and spacing. Matchups will play a big part on Sora's advanced combos. If you play against a big body though, don't hold back.
This combo can fail more than the basic version of it since connecting the second chain of N-Airs is difficult, or sometimes impossible in certain scenarios. Factors include: Rage, hurtbox shifting and spacing. Matchups will play a big part on Sora's advanced combos. If you play against a big body though, don't hold back. You can also use U-Air instead of F-Air1,2,3 if you want a consistent ender.
Common Kill confirms
When rising, normal or fastfalling, Sora's N-Air or F-Air make him bounce on the opponent. However, when fast falling within startup, these moves don't bounce. Usually Falling N-Air1 has enough hitstun for either U-Smash or F-Smash, it mostly depends the angle they are being sent at. Get familiar with the angles! Front, low and back hit of N-Air! If you are unsure on hitting either, you can always use F-tilt. This move has a lot of coverage, and will still kill at high enough percent. If you land this and just want damage, U-tilt1,2,3 is another way of confirming for easy damage. It still sends far, so it can help setup a good situation for minimal effort. Keep in mind, when landing with N-Air1, you need to be aware if you are hitting the "worse" hitbox or not. It is the only one lacking in significant hitstun! You also don't have enough frames to react when you get the hit because of 2 frames of hitlag, so you have to preemptively guess!
There are also confirms for starting with rising N-Air1 > FF > N-Air2. Technically you can also start these confirms with N-Air2, and then do a followup N-Air1,2 or a straight kill move like F-Smash/U-Air. Results do vary on which hitbox you are getting!
This Combo is also strong for when you aren't sure on whether you can get a good combo off of Nair due to getting a weird hitbox. It is one of the most reliable kill confirms due to how consistent it is. Will start killing midweights at around 140-150.
- If you are confident, you can go for a fullhop instead of a shorthop.
- You can also go for a FHR > Up-B instead. Usually kills earlier.
Is the cousin to the previous confirm. The reason why they are quite different is that this one requires the proper delay timing of N-Air1>N-Air2 and proper timing of the fastfall. This confirm will teach you the proper timing of N-Air comparison to the previous combos. You can get this on the combo counter if you add Rage. Preferably 100%.
There is also a possibility to use F-Smash instead, but the timing is stricter, spacing is stricter and it is even more matchup dependant.
- This confirm scales with Rage and opponent percent in terms of difficulty. The higher those numbers, the easier it becomes.
- 100% Rage + opponent 70%-130% is an ideal way of practicing this in training mode for a true combo.
![](http://static.miraheze.org/dragdownwiki/thumb/0/00/Sora_Up_Smash_hitbox.png/200px-Sora_Up_Smash_hitbox.png)
- L>N-Air1 is also a combo starter for other combos.
- You can also use U-Air and Up-B. They kill later however.
- The biggest con is that it has low hitlag, so you have to guess whether you actually land the N-Air1 on hit or on shield.
Platform extensions
Because Sora N-Airs pops his opponents up, if you are under a platform the opponent will sometimes land on the platform in combos. This is not a problem, as Sora can continue the combo by Full Hopping with N-Air1 onto the platform. This allows Sora to threaten kills both on flat stages and on platform stages. Because of the added height, Finishers like U-Smash, Up-B and U-Air will kill earlier. Sometimes even F-Smash is possible. You can use the example in the box below, and replace the U-tilt with whatever is more rewarding while having decent successrate.
What makes some of these combos more difficult than than grounded combos is that you have to adjust to the timing of Fullhops for FHR > N-Air1 or FHR > F-Air1.
- On some characters, its more consistent to get this combo when the opponent is not above the platform, but just slightly below
- The bottom part of N-Air1 will make it possible to get a platform extension even if they are not on the platform.
- N-Air2 helps with the previous point
- Instead of U-tilt, you can use F-Air1,2,3. While you can use U-tilt>F-Air1,2,3 at early percent, F-Air1,2,3 becomes an easy alternative since it is an option at all percent.
Similar to the previous combo, just with dragdown F-Air instead. Works better characters with greater fall speed or big hurtboxes. A common followup option is to use D-tilt, since it leads into more followup.
- A common combo is SHR > N-Air1>N-Air2>FF>FHR>F-Air1>F-Air2>FF>D-tilt>U-tilt>SHR>U-Air. This deals significant damage.
- A kill option is SHR>N-Air1>N-Air2>FF>FHR>F-Air1>F-Air2>FF>Up-B for a way of killing with with dragdown on platforms.
Alternatively, you could use IDJ U-Air (which will be covered below) after getting a D-tilt. What you will get depends not only on your execution, but heavily on the opponents DI. If they DI in so they end up behind you, your U-Air will maximize in hit advantage, sometimes the problem is that it is very tight.
Alternative options for combo starters/Extenders
Firaga
Sora's most versatile spell. It is also fantastic for combos. Firaga can both extend and start combos or confirms. Most important thing to understand is that it mostly true combos with only the first fireball, each fireball in succession has the same, but less hitstun than the first. To get the better hitstun back, you need to rotate back to it through Thundaga and Blizzaga.
Firaga > Dash attack is the fastest confirm you have from Firaga, and it is true at all percents. In terms of similar simplistic inputs, Firaga > Side-B is it's cousin which can be used while in the air. It does true combo, deals more damage when connecting all hits, but it is slower. You can get U-Air or N-Air if you are close enough, or if you dash and jump in after the Firaga. You can even get Firaga>U-Smash. Some of these combos become more or less possible due to being able to drift in the air while using Firaga. When you use Firaga in the air, you can drift slightly back and forth. Some of these, like U-Smash, may require this drift in to work. There is also the case of initial dash, where you may only want to dash in for less than 5 frames and not 6 (where you will be stuck in the dash animation, and only able to jump or Dash attack).
Throws
Sora has a pretty good set of Throws. Down Throw can true combo into Nair at 0 and from low to middle percents. F-throwcan set up for offstage play near the ledge. DI matters against throws a lot, for example: Good DI for D-throw is poor DI for F-throw and vice versa. This is mostly specific to grabbing by ledge in particular (since then the option selects are less useful) D-throw will be a kill confirm when the opponent chooses to DI in with FHR>U-Air. B-throw starts taking stocks by ledge at around 130 to 140 percent on Middle weights. U-throw killing most middle weights at around 180 percent.
Side B
Side-B can confirm into some interesting setups. All thought niche, it is also a combo starter at high percent at the late hit of Side-B. It can also combo into the other parts of Side-B, but sometimes will fail to connect because of a lack of range due to proper DI or improper spacing.
Stage specific combos
IDJ Combos
IDJ Up-Air
As mentioned earlier, Sora's U-Air is a combination of kill power and a combo tool. No one thought it could be this versatile without the double jump. As you can see on the visual to the right, there are a bunch of combo enders. Some of these does vary from dealing damage, to actually killing depending on stage, characters and percent. The recipe above is the most consistent way of getting a hit after the IDJ U-Air, but it will whiff in certain scenarios as shown. It is still the safest option since even if you do whiff the first hit, there is still chance for a followup.
The other options are more tight. It is important to remember that U-Air is active for 9 frames, and hitting the later parts will give you more hit advantage. DI also plays a very large role, if you mess up your drift in the initial stages of the double jump, you will get 0 true followups. Some of these confirms also become impossible if the opponent has competent DI. If you see the opponent mash SDI, and it is not away or in, you can try to exploit it by doing this combo instead of another combo.
The simple variation, and a way of getting the kill confirms more consistently, is to hit the top or back hit of U-Air by hitting a tech option after setting up a tech situation on a platform. When you do it this way, you are much more in control how much time you have, since doing SHR>N-Air1>N-Air2>FF>IDJ>U-Air can often make you hit an unsuspecting hurtbox that can mess up your hit advantage and make your ender whiffing.
For instance, you don't want to whiff Up-B, especially at kill percent.
Alternatively, you can use D-Air to get back to stage more quickly. Sometimes you can hit your opponent with it while they are airdodging and set up a strong presence after.
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There are caveats to this combo. It does not work on everyone, and it requires Rage and a bit of percent to make it consistent and true. Some characters are easier than others that it also works on. There is a chart in the Ars Arcanum section to show which characters this works on. That is only for U-Smash. Earlier it was covered that Up-B can be done after a F-Air dragdown on a platform. It is the same here, and it comes out a frame faster (2 frames if they are upclose). This extends the list, and will make it work on everyone. (Send us message wiki if it doesn't, we will figure out where the jank lies as long as you provide enough details. You can contact us through the discord).
Ars Arcanum
Not discovered, but primarily explored and optimized by Limon (@Limon1211zzz at twitter). Ars Arcanum is Sora's deadliest combo route. There are technically 3 variations of Ars Arcanum:
- Ver1: No IDJ's
- Ver2: IDJ on F-Air
- Ver3: IDJ on both N-Air and F-Air
Mostly, when people refer to "Ars Arcanum, Ars, Ars Arc, Arshu Arcanum, or AA (this one is within Soracord mostly, since AA means Anti-Air otherwise)" they are referring to Version 3. All of the versions have their own place in terms of education, execution and development/discovery history. For the sake of continuiety and clarity, "Ars Arcanum" in this wiki page will be referring to the version 3 variation.
The reason for this is because that while harder, Version 3 has a higher chance of connecting if you are good at doing the combo. If you combine the percent, Rage and hitboxes together, it's sometimes harder to get the Version 2 right than Version 3. Version 2 still works on some characters, but it's more encouraged to learn version 3 due to it's consistent nature.
What's more is that IDJ removes the SH multiplier. Meaning that more dealt will be dealt. So it is more rewarding to learn in terms of damage output for the same opportunities.
There are other variations in terms of what extensions or enders that come when you end a chain, and they will just share a common name right next to "Ars Arcanum". This are some examples: Ars Arcanum - Platform extension Ars Arcanum - Smash attack ender
There are also some characters, like Wario that allows you to slingshot>SHR>N-Air1 in order to not run out of space. You can go from one part of the stage to another part with this combo. This is not the same for most characters.
What makes this combo hard is a series of micro movements along with IDJ at every rising aerial. You always need to be moving forward in this combo. Sometimes you need to be precise depending on what extension you want to have and whatever is possible.
As explained before, The IDJ's are the glue that holds this combo together. It makes landing faster possible, and possible to hit certain hurtbox shifting.
Some finishers are:
- F-Smash can be used after an IDJ N-Air>FF if the opponent is low enough to the ground
- U-Smash can be used either after an IDJ N-Air1,2>FF or IDJ F-Air1,2>FF.
- Up-B can be used after both N-Air>FF and will typically start killing at higher percents.
- IDJ>U-Air>Up-B. While it is hard to get this true sometimes, and often is escapable with good DI, it is hard to DI properly since good DI vs F-Smash is terrible DI vs IDJ>U-Air>Up-B
Please refer to the chart for possibilities. It is mostly correct. Some possibilities, have yet to be experimented upon. The chart provided here created by Dusty_Carpet and Limon, two of the most prominent and impactful Sora labbers.
To elaborate on the tiers:
- "No" refers to Characters that cannot be comboed with Ars Arcanum or IDJ>F-Air properly. You may be able to get other easy enders such as Jab or Up-B.
- The one above, are just characters with f1 escape options, and require the Sora player to be very precise. There are excersizes that are for non-trainingmodpack users that allow you to practice Ars Arcanum, even for characters with f1 escape options. There will be a link in the resources tab.
- Sora
What about strings ?
Refer to the "setplay" page for more information. A lot of these combos does setup good situations for other types of reads and setups, whether they are after, or mid combo.
Escape options charts
These charts are here just to provide a visual in terms of difficulty when it comes to executing combos/strings and
WIP:
Need more video examples
Fix chart PNG's
Check grammar
Make better headers/titles
Video examples for all combos
More Ars Arcanum Variations
Ars Arcanum training mode video with no modpack
Ken and Kazuya pages contain a lot of structured info on structure. Use those formats? What about others?
![](http://static.miraheze.org/dragdownwiki/thumb/b/b0/SSBU_Sora_Stock.png/50px-SSBU_Sora_Stock.png)
Essentials
• Controls • FAQ •
The Basics
• Movement •
Offense •
Defense •
Detailed & Advanced Information
• Damage/Knockback • Frame Data Explanations • States of Play • Universal Strategy • Esoterica •
Archived Information
• Patch Notes • Tier Lists • Alternate Resources • Discords •
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