Brawler Arsenal

Grounded Attacks

Neutral Attacks

Neutral Attacks

Incineroar attacks with a backhand chop to start, then follows with a forward-jutting knee, before finishing off the combo with an elbow uppercut. The initial chop has decent speed, nothing like the quickest fighters but not unusually slow. It’s quick enough to use defensively after blocking moderately laggy attacks, hitting them right back. It’s not the best proactive offensive option, though, since every part of the combo is punishable if blocked. It’s best to save for whiff-punishing, catching people just after rolls or rising from the ledge, or doing your own out-of-shield retorts.

If the full combo is completed, the enemy is knocked away and Incineroar takes a moment to pose, psyched out. This gives it a little extra lag at the end, so watch out during free-for-alls.

Dash Attack

From a run, Incineroar leaps off the ground to cover about a dash’s distance of territory with a rising knee strike. This blasts victims away, with more knockback if you strike early in the attack. Although being blocked here puts Incineroar at a disadvantage, hitting early with the attack may make Incineroar push through to the defender’s other side with later frames. Incineroar is technically punishable after a blocked dash attack, but it’s much harder for most foes to punish if they’re facing away (exceptions of course for something like Fox using up tilt).

Defensive Attacks

Tilts

Side Tilt

Incineroar reaches forward with a midsection stab using the claws on its open hand. This hits about half as fast as neutral attack’s chop, but with a bit more reach. It also does more damage in one hit than the entire neutral attack combo. It can be angled slightly, most useful for flicking foes away at stage edges just as they lunge for a handhold.

Side tilt technically leaves Incineroar at a slight disadvantage when shielded, but better off than most other attacks, and perhaps totally safe from the edge of its reach, thanks to pushback.

Up Tilt

Taking a small upward hop for momentum, Incineroar swings its burly head in an arc from up-back to straight forward, covering upward directions along the way. The initial rearing-back frame hits quick, one of the fastest moves in the toolkit, as long as you’re aiming backward. This is important to Incineroar, thanks to backward-facing up tilt’s speed and combo potential.

The most obvious way up tilt can be good is just after shielding an opponent’s attack into Incineroar’s back. Darkest Lariat (neutral special) is a tiny bit faster hitting backward, but a bigger risk.

Aside from blocking and hitting someone behind with up tilt, it’s useful to be able to turn and up tilt quickly in the neutral game, like as aggressive pre-emptive anti-air. You can accomplish this on purpose by precisely tilting the control stick up-back+Attack; or (a little easier) by holding up-back a bit earlier than the Attack press, for long enough to both 1) register a turn in direction and 2) avoid getting a smash attack instead; or by assigning the C-stick to tilt attacks, then using the control stick to turn a hair before flicking the C-stick upward.

The upward and forward hitting portions of up tilt’s headbutt are useful too, just not as notably fast. Having the back-hitting frame of up tilt leaves Incineroar punishably unsafe. Having the headbutt blocked in front is much safer, but still leaves Incineroar at a disadvantage.

Down Tilt

Planting a hand for balance, Incineroar lies flat and swings its whole body into a sweeping forward kick. Priority is increased with the kicking foot turning intangible during hitting frames. On contact, victims are popped off their feet in front of the Pokémon. At low percentages, you can combo right away by turning and using backward-aimed up tilt, before jumping to pursue for more.

This is a quicker, safer forward threat than either side tilt or (the forward-facing part of) up tilt. If shielded, a quick fighter might shield-grab immediately, but Incineroar can shield any physical retaliation. Though it’s not as quick as neutral attack, this is the wrestler’s safest ground poke, and it leads to combos, or sets up pressure on foes’ techs.

Smashes

Side Smash

Incineroar squats, then throws itself into a bruising rising kick, lagging afterward as it falls back to the turf. This is a swinging-for-the-fences kind of moves, hitting hard with lots of knockback and KO potential, but with lots of end lag. Incineroar flops on its back afterward, incredibly open. It’s not advised to used this on a whim in the neutral game, but may be worth keeping in mind when you’ve used Revenge to deflect a move or three, when the risk/reward starts to really favor Incineroar…

Though you’ll probably be punished if it’s shielded, side smash also does good shield damage.

Up Smash

Clasping its hands together, Incineroar swings a double-hammer-fisted attack in an incomplete circle, striking first directly in front, then rotating to hit up and up-back on the follow-through. Up tilt covers the same angles with less risk (and less range). But uncharged up smash hits in front of Incineroar just slightly slower than front-facing up tilt does, while dishing out more damage. If up smash is shielded, Incineroar is in danger no matter which side, but at least has high shield-shattering potential.

Down Smash

Springing almost instantly into a canned short hop, Incineroar crashes down with all limbs splayed, dealing a flopping hit that covers both sides at once. The wrestler arrives at short hop height right away, then hangs, flopping down almost a third of a second later. Because of Incineroar’s movement, it’s possible for this attack’s start-up period to dodge low-aimed hits, like sliding attacks or up air swings from underneath platforms.

Grabs

Grabs

When Incineroar reaches out to pull in a shielding or inattentive foe, it does so with standard heavyweight grab speed. The reach is maybe a little smaller than you’d expect standing still or during a forward run, but grab range increases a lot during a pivot. If someone is running toward you incessantly, it can be a good reversal play to run in the opposite direction, then turn and immediately grab.

Throws make good candidates for Revenge damage conversion. When Incineroar is powered up after a Revenge counter, opponents may be more inclined to shield up, hoping to block something they can punish rather than risk eating extra-hard hits. Grabs score you the Revenge damage anyway while setting up combos or edge-guarding plays.

The front and back throws can both hit other foes nearby (front throw on all sides, back throw only to the back) while Incineroar tosses the target. Back throw is the highest raw damage, best for KO attempts or easy Revenge conversion. Up throw bounces foes straight up off the ground, where you can harass them on their way down. Down throw bounces them lower in front, in juggle position.

Aerial Attacks

Aerials

Neutral Air Attack

Almost like a weaker version of down smash, Incineroar stretches itself out and lets gravity do the rest with this body flop. This is the fastest air move available, with decent speed used out of a short hop too. An early hit deals the most damage and knockback, but the flop lasts a long time as an active hit, a third of a second. This makes it great both for jumping right into targets, and for starting neutral attack above them, then fast-falling down. The landing-lag penalty for this air attack is surprisingly low, like all Incineroar’s airs.

Forward Air Attack

Incineroar kicks both legs out in front for a powerful dropkick, with surprisingly little ending air and landing lag for a move of its kind. It’s almost like a heftier version of Mario’s back air, a decent jump kick for warding, walling, and going air-to-air. You can stall with two per jumping period as long as you double-jump to full height first.

Back Air Attack

Incineroar strikes with a quick, spinning back kick aimed directly behind. This hits faster, with a longer-lasting hitbox, than forward air attack, while always knocking victims away. It’s a fantastic aerial poking move during manual backward hops (tapping the Jump button ever so briefly, then doing back air later in the hop), for reverse-air-rushing tactics (running, pivoting, and backward-hopping), and for walling with repeated air attacks to see if anyone is willing to just run into them for you (many people will be!).

Up Air Attack

Flipping backward, Incineroar slashes across all upward directions with a one-legged wheel kick. For a heavyweight this is very quick, allowing Incineroar to combo up air, double jump, up air on airborne targets. The speed is decent and the end lag is low, even landing on the wrestler’s head. It’s primarily aimed upward, but if you can hit low or grounded foes just before landing, they’re left in position for you to juggle them right away.

Down Air Attack

Incineroar stomps downward in midair with both legs, potentially meteor smashing victims on a clean hit. The initial leg thrust deals the most damage, but the attack persists as a hit a bit longer, making this easier to aim than many similar short-lived spiking attacks. This also increases its potential for overlapping with enemy hands just when they grip a ledge, usually after using an up special to lunge upward.

Special Moves

Specials

Neutral Special: Darkest Lariat

Whether in the air or on the ground, Incineroar whirls into a long-lasting claw spin that strikes both sides.

This is one of the fastest attacks in the toolkit here, matching neutral attack for speed. It’s a great out-of-shield option against moderately laggy attacks, even against foes standing right behind the Pokémon. During the spins, Incineroar can be steered left or right with the control stick, whether to move toward targets or press repeatedly against someone shielding, which forces them to react or have their shield chipped away. As for the hitting period, this is one of the longest-lasting moves possessed by anyone, a threat for almost a full second.

For the ground version only, after the brief windup period, during the first few hitting frames as arms begin spinning, Incineroar is fully invincible, head to toe! The first spin of Darkest Lariat refuses to lose, if Incineroar isn’t interrupted during the brief start-up. This early invincible interval is also Darkest Lariat’s hardest-hitting portion. After the brief full-body invincible frames, damage drops from 16/12 to 12/10 (front/back), and invincibility ends for the lower body. Arms and head are invulnerable for the attack’s entire active period, almost a full second, but legs can be struck, flinching Incineroar out of the rest of the attack.

Anyone struck on either side is swatted away. Anyone blocking has small windows to act in between Incineroar lariat spins; if they try to shield the whole thing, they have to block four times, and will almost certainly have their shield shattered! Sharp challengers might block one or two spins, then backward-roll away to be safe; or (if they have the tools and reactions for it) might block a spin, then retaliate between spins with a low-hitting attack, going underneath the persistent upper-body invincibility.

Aerial Darkest Lariat lacks the ground version’s generous invincibility. But it lasts just as long, while allowing some movement. It briefly halts downward momentum upon first activation, and can be steered left or right. If Incineroar is far offstage but at least has some altitude to play with before falling too far, you can point toward the stage and string together Darkest Lariat, Alolan Whip, and Cross Chop back toward safety.

Side Special: Alolan Whip

Incineroar rushes forward with a special grab, covering more than two dashes’ worth of ground. The grab speed isn’t fast, slower than the most sluggish tether grabs, but the long grabbing window and distance traveled more than make up for this. If it connects with an opponent, they’re sent stumbling toward temporary ropes and turnbuckles, summoned from thin air to honor Incineroar’s wrestling spirit. The opponent bounces off the ropes and helplessly stumbles back to the wrestling feline.

The timing of your next input determines which attack Incineroar nails them with. An early input—anytime as Incineroar throws them to the ropes, or just as they rebound off them—leads to a high-launching throw catapulting the victim well past double jump height while inflicting 12% base damage. This is a reliable, consistent option for dealing decent damage while creating a situation that imperils the victim. It’s the easiest to time, too, because there’s not any timing needed—just hold down the Special button after the initial side special input to trigger this follow-up.

With no input as the victim scampers to the ropes and back again, or with a late input, Incineroar doesn’t act in time and they bounce off, dealing minor damage (4%) to both fighters.

But for the most brutal, damaging finish, you have to input either the Special or Attack buttons right before the foe returns to Incineroar, after bouncing off the ropes. Done correctly, you can’t miss it: Incineroar nails them with a ferocious clothesline, which sends them flying far backward, 20% damage added to their total!

These inputs apply whether using Alolan Whip in the air or on the ground. While the “perfect” version deals the most damage and hurtles victims backward the farthest, with the most outright KO potential at high-damage percentages, there are situations where you might prefer to fling someone straight up with the “standard” throw, so you can exploit their attempt to drift safely back down to the stage.

Any of Incineroar’s outcomes—perfect input clothesline, normal input catapult throw, or flawed/absent input collision—also hits any other fighters who happen to be nearby, even if Incineroar doesn’t throw them.

Alolan Whip isn’t just a rushing grab move. Incineroar isn’t left helpless after using it in midair, so it can enhance recovery attempts. When attempting to return to safe ground, you can use Alolan Whip for lateral travel before employing midair Cross Chop or Darkest Lariat.

Up Special: Cross Chop

The fiery feline rockets straight upward, almost to the height of a full double jump, before plunging diagonally down-forward. Both portions are attacks, the way up and the way down, and opponents caught by the rising portion are also hit by the diving finish. Like Darkest Lariat, Cross Chop commits Incineroar for an unusual amount of time, almost a full second (though slightly shorter than Darkest Lariat).

The initial upward-rocketing phase starts with the same speed as Incineroar’s side tilt, hitting mainly in front, but with a little coverage above and behind, so takeoff is capable of nailing someone flush against Incineroar’s back (though Cross Chop doesn’t initiate fast enough to be used defensively after blocking someone standing right behind Incineroar). As Incineroar starts to rise, its hands become intangible, helping the move win out against enemy moves aimed downward from above. At the apex of the upward surge, Incineroar spins in midair (without an active hitbox briefly) before diving diagonally down-forward, again with an attack. Finally, upon touchdown, there’s another hitbox on the floor around Incineroar, created by impact.

Without any input, Incineroar dives downward at a 30-degree angle. By holding the control stick toward Incineroar’s back before the dive, you can shorten the angle to 15 degrees, taking Incineroar on a sharper trajectory down. If there are platforms in the way of the dive, holding down makes Incineroar dive through them, so targets can’t avoid Incineroar just by standing under higher floors or platforms. This is the only trajectory-altering you can do with this up special, though, aside from special-reversing it right at the beginning, tapping toward Incineroar’s back immediately after input (a crucial technique if you’re facing offstage over thin air; you don’t want to Cross Chop and dive away from safety!).

Incineroar’s Cross Chop dive traverses more vertical space even than its full double jump. Used midstage, you almost always slam down to the ground with the impact hit at the end, unless you perform Cross Chop at the top of a max-height double jump. So Cross Chop essentially always returns the Pokémon to the ground. Unless…

The exception to this is off the sides of the stage. Despite diving down quite far, and being an up special at least partially designed for recovery, Cross Chop doesn’t leave Incineroar helpless when it ends. You can act afterward—if you still have Alolan Whip and a double jump available, you can potentially recover even after going offstage, then Cross Chopping and descending far down.

You have to use Alolan Whip sometimes to gain lateral ground offstage when recovering, because Cross Chop is more limited than many up special recovery moves. Incineroar jets straight up at first, which means you won’t be lunging to grasp ledges unless you’re right underneath.

Down Special: Revenge

Input down special, and Incineroar flashes with light while jutting out its muscular chest, going for an almost instant defensive countermeasure. Incineroar can be interrupted during the first couple frames of this move, before the counter period begins. Once the counter is active, any incoming hit triggers Revenge, a counterattack roar that powers up Incineroar while knocking attackers away. Once the counter is active, after the brief start-up, it lasts for a third of a second, so it’s fairly lenient for parrying incoming threats.

Incineroar still takes damage from the hit, though it’s reduced to 37.5% of normal. And enemies are knocked clear, though they only take a little damage: 2.4%, barely anything. So what’s the point?

The point is that a successful Revenge counterattack grants a damage bonus to Incineroar’s next connected attack. The damage buff remains on Incineroar until one of four conditions is fulfilled:

• 60 seconds elapse from the successful Revenge activation.
• Incineroar is KO’d.
• Incineroar hits an enemy, dealing bonus damage.
• Incineroar is knocked out of control by an enemy (not simply made to flinch, the Pokémon must be sent tumbling by a powerful attack or throw).

So as long as you don’t get KO’d or knocked off your feet, Revenge attack boosts give you a minute to make something out of them. You can also use that minute to keep trying for Revenge, because the buff stacks, refreshing the one-minute timer! You can’t see exactly where Incineroar’s buff level is—it’s an invisible stat—but average attacks put the Pokémon at about a 1.6x multiplier. Exceptionally strong moves (like certain specials or charged smash attacks) can put the multiplier at 2-2.6x right off the bat. Depending on the power of the attacks you’re countering, it may take two to four consecutive Revenge parries before Incineroar is sitting on a max attack buff, dealing three times normal damage on the next successful hit!

This can be a little risky, continually using Revenge on melee fighters up close. All they have to do to thwart your power-up schemes is grab and throw Incineroar; grabs don’t care about countermoves, and the throw removes the attack buff. But if runaway-inclined foes are trying to pepper you with projectiles and zoning tactics, it can be pretty easy to Revenge a few shots, making Incineroar temporarily incredibly powerful. They continue to feed you attack buffs with ranged shots at their peril. Sure, you take ~20% damage on Incineroar doing so. But nailing a perfect Alolan Whip for 60% or a charged side smash for 84% is a special feeling.

Final Smash: Max Malicious Moonsault

Imbued with Final Smash power, the strongest of the Pokémon fighters (sorry, Charizard) rushes horizontally to grab the first opponent in the way. The unlucky victim is temporarily whisked to Incineroar’s home ring, to be subjected to the meanest wrestling moves Incineroar can muster. Other foes nearby might take damage from the ending slam, but this is primarily focused on one target, so aim carefully.