Brawler Arsenal

Grounded Attacks

Neutral Attacks

Neutral Attacks

A quick two-hit combo available to both Peach and Daisy. The first hit is as fast as any attack in the game, great for beating challengers to the punch in point-blank scrambles, or for retaliating after dropping shield. Having a near-instant basic attack synergizes well with Daisy and Peach’s fast movement speed and grabs. The only caveat is that this one-two sequence does low damage.

Dash Attack

On a run, the princesses can attack by jutting both arms straight forward, then spreading them wide. The initial double-arm jut and the arm spreading are two different attacks, which combo into each other naturally. Dash attack allows quick attacks to the side, and follow-ups after launching moves and throws that knock the enemy away low, around ground level.

Defensive Attacks

Tilts

Side Tilt

This slick high kick has good reach and launches victims into a tumble, creating a great opening for a juggle follow-up. The kick does the most damage at the foot, and less farther up the kicking leg. It’s not notably fast, though not as slow as most smash attacks either.

Up Tilt

This all-purpose up tilt punch is quite useful. It strikes way above the princess crowns with a gorgeous symbol (for Peach a heart, for Daisy a…daisy), striking safely overhead. Rare for an up tilt attack, it also strikes on both sides around the princess (though for a bit less damage). It’s good quick anti-air versus short hops and falling enemies, and a tool for starting and perpetuating juggles.

Down Tilt

Either princess crouches with a sweeping kick. This low-profile attack has decent reach, and always trips the victim up into a comboable tumble. At low percentages you can side/up tilt or side/up smash immediately, then chase your target with jumping strikes. Against more battered challengers, you’ll have to jump after them right away after sweeping.

Smashes

Side Smash

Either princess swings with a variety of blunt instruments. The royals come equipped with a surprising selection, offering different ways to beat up opponents.

Input standard side smash (tapping straight left or right) for a golf-club swing. Of the attacks, this is not only the easiest to consistently produce, but also has the best hitbox by far (it’s less like swinging a golf club and more like swinging a big watermelon wedge).

For a frying-pan swing, start side smash, then immediately hold up on either stick (control and C-stick both work for selecting alternate weapons, a handy tool to remember to improve consistency). This attack has the smallest hitbox (pretty much conforming to the pan), but swats the victim up into the best tumbling position for you to jump after them with juggle attempts.

Finally, for a tennis-racket slice, start side smash, then hold down on either stick. Nailing someone with the tennis racket sends them sailing far and low. It’s the worst for chasing and juggling a foe, but the best when they’re backed to a ledge.

When charging side smash, it’s easy to select the desired weapon every time; charge side smash, then wiggle one of the sticks up and down, and you’ll see the princess quickly swap between options before swinging. Getting the weapon of choice during quick, uncharged side smashes requires you to start side smash, then immediately hold up or down. Like with some run-and-pivot maneuvers, you might find that using separate controls for this can make it more consistent than trying to do it all on the control stick (like, for frying pans: smash with a control stick flick, then hold the control stick up, or smash with the stick plus Attack, then hold the control stick up).

Up Smash

This is a harder-hitting version of up tilt, dealing heaviest damage with a centered hit above the princess, inside the luminous heart/daisy. Strike someone above with the center of the symbol for the best launch potential. They’ll be in position for you to either follow them up to try for further hits, or to watch them tumble down, looking to juggle with more anti-airs.

The sides of up smash offer decent coverage to either side of Peach or Daisy. Damage is highest above, on her hand, a bit less around the head, and least to either side. For pure anti-air purposes, up tilt is still better, since it’s quicker and has a bigger hitbox above Peach’s/Daisy’s head.

Down Smash

Peach and Daisy drop to the ground for a tripping spin kick. Down smash hits to both sides six times, offering good coverage. The finishing kick then flips the victim away at a low angle, like the tennis-racket variant of side smash. Depending on how the victim is blended up by the repeated kicks, they can be launched to the front or back of the princess.

Having several quick hits to front and back makes down smash useful in a number of different scenarios. It can hit multiple enemies at once on both sides, and it’s good for chipping at shields, thwarting defenders trying to dodge-roll past, and edge-guarding.

Grabs

Grabs

Peach and Daisy put the trusty concierge Toad to use with their grab attacks, just like with their neutral special countermove. After the princess snags the defender with her grab animation, Toad joins in for the follow-up attacks or throws. Peach and Daisy have quick grab speed, not the very best but not far from it, which jives well with their superfast neutral attacks and dominating short-hop air pokes.

With a Vegetable in hand, immediate grabs aren’t possible. One option is to throw the turnip straight up before immediately going for a grab; this has the benefit of potentially protecting Peach/Daisy if the grab misses. If the grab works, using a down or up throw will actually bounce them into the Vegetable off the throw, leaving them vulnerable to even more hits if you act fast!

Aerial Attacks

Aerials

Neutral Air Attack

Peach and Daisy spin quickly with both arms outstretched, the action resembling a horizontal propeller tipped slightly forward. Anyone hit by the whirling arms is swatted away too quickly for subsequent twirls to catch them. Though it might look like a multi-hit attack, it’s more like an attack that’s periodically active. The first twirl of arms deals full damage, and the rest are basically halved. This is the quickest attack for the princesses in midair, with good coverage in front and a bit above and behind. This makes it the best in midair scrambles when you’re not quite sure where threats will end up, like when flipping out of a tumble. But when you have time to line up an attack, forward air attack and down air attack are more potent.

Forward Air Attack

Peach and Daisy swing forward with a big hooking crown slap, potentially while moving a long distance forward in midair. The princess deals max damage with her hand holding the crown, with a bit less damage dealt farther up the swinging arm. The attack hits first at an upward angle before arching forward. There’s momentary downward coverage at the end of the attack, but it’s not an attack intended for aiming at stuff just below. It’s great for attacking other airborne fighters air-to-air, for short-hopping at standing defenders, and to use as a pseudo ground attack while floating very low.

Back Air Attack

Daisy and Peach lunge backward in midair, their signature symbols highlighting the impact point of the body bump. Like a lower-powered version of Peach/Daisy Bomber, without the far lateral trajectory. The hitbox on this move is like a cannonball over the back of the princess, hitting a big area but only to her back.

This air attack is laggy hit or shielded and hard to follow up. Your main use of it is likely to be reactionary, because someone approaches from behind while you’re airborne. When facing your quarry, forward air and down air are better attacks.

Up Air Attack

Peach and Daisy do an upward double-wave, leaving rainbow trails with their back-to-front swipes. If the first swipe hits, the second will combo, with the second hit the stronger of the two.

This excellent air attack covers all upward angles, and is great for jousting air-to-air with brawlers above, or for continuing juggles. For example, after popping someone up with a low-floating down air attack, you can float forward and catch them with both hits of up air. And with Vegetable in hand, against someone high above, you can throw the turnip upward, then jump and up air to supplement it.

Down Air Attack

This four-hit stomping air move is one of Peach and Daisy’s signature attacks. The initial three hits deal a bit of damage, followed by a fourth hit that pops recipients up into a vulnerable position. Whether they’re popped up behind the princess or in front of her depends on where the final attack connects. Aim to hit cleanly with just her kicking leg to launch them forward, ready to be carried farther upward with up air attack or Peach/Daisy Parasol. If the final hit strikes farther back, like with the princess’s hip, the target will be bounced up behind her. Try to aim for the clean bounce to maximize the reward for successful down air attacks.

Because down air is four consecutive kicks, hitting them all during a jump’s normal arc isn’t really practical. But down air syncs up perfectly with her floating ability to make the princess into a veritable aerialist.

You can short-hop with down air and keep holding Jump for a rising attack that naturally becomes a short-hop-height float. To attack even lower, essentially repurposing down air as a grounded attack, start a one-inch float by tapping down while holding the Jump button first, then execute the move. This is powerful kicking at foes both midscreen and around stage edges. A low-floating down air attack aimed just over a ledge can potentially interrupt someone’s last-gasp grasp.

Higher in a jump (or similar airborne interval), you can choose where to float by tapping down and holding Jump (the down tap stops you from using up your double jump first, if you still have it). This lets you precisely aim down air stomp kicks at any altitude. Floating left or right dragging repeated stomp kicks just over targets requires finesse, but is a powerful tactic at all heights.

Special Moves

Specials

Neutral Special: Toad

Peach and Daisy briefly hide behind their trusty old friend, Toad (a different Toad for each princess), who steps in to serve as a shield. While Toad is flashing, any incoming attack causes him to retaliate with his countermove, a cloud of poisonous spores that can repeatedly hit anyone in the way.

Toad counter can be used on the ground or in the air. Using Toad in midair slows falling momentum. Beware that opponents expecting lots of Toad counter attempts can just wait for Toad to appear, then roll through Toad to punish the princess.

Side Special: Peach/Daisy Bomber

Her majesty rockets sideways suddenly, trailing multicolored hearts or daisies. Aside from Vegetable tossing, side special is Peach and Daisy’s fastest long-reaching attack. Anything she smacks into gets knocked away by the speedy hip bump, while the princess bounces off into an airborne state. She retains whichever jumping options saved during the airborne period. Nail someone with Peach/Daisy Bomber on the ground, and it’s just like jumping—you have a double jump and float to work with. When jousting with side special against airborne targets, it depends on whether you already used up the double jump or float before the bounce.

Aside from the obvious direct-attack use, Peach/Daisy Bomber is yet another option for her majesty’s elite recovery game. Between her quick speed, floating ability, Peach/Daisy Parasol lofting and gliding, and Peach/Daisy Bomber’s far lateral travel, the princess has many options for returning to the stage without being obvious about her trajectory.

Up Special: Peach/Daisy Parasol

The princess springs upward with a powerful parasol punch, launching anyone in the way quickly upward with heavy knockback. After she ascends behind short-jump height, the extended parasol can catch anyone in the way for a few weaker hits, before the parasol’s opening caps it off. After the parasol is opened, the princess glides back down to the ground, falling speed greatly reduced. To fall faster, tap down to collapse the parasol; tapping up again reopens it, slowing fall speed again. Altering speed while steering left and right can help the princess be less predictable falling back down. As a small added bonus, the deployed parasol is actually an attack, inflicting 2 damage on anyone hit by it.

Peach/Daisy Parasol can score the full number of hits on a juggle, but tends not to unless you hit an opponent who’s slightly higher than Peach or Daisy (like after popping them off the ground with a close-range up tilt).

Down Special: Vegetable

Standing on solid ground, Peach and Daisy pluck a huge turnip from the ground, Super Mario Bros. 2-style. Armed with a fresh Vegetable, the princess has offensive and defensive item options even in tournament-style modes with items disabled. Now inputting Attack or Grab tosses the turnip. Tap the control stick in the desired direction at the same time to increase the toss’s speed, distance traveled, and damage.

Turnips can be used as basic projectiles, but they excel used as aggressive first options when going after opponents. The princess can act again almost immediately after hurling a Vegetable, and she can throw it horizontally or vertically. Coupled with her air mobility and attacks, she can create all kinds of combos and follow-ups by chasing in after a turnip she’s just chucked. For example, a lateral turnip throw chased by Peach/Daisy Bomber (side special), or a vertical throw chased by Peach/Daisy Parasol.

Vegetables have defensive uses too. Pull one up and throw it straight up in the air; what goes up must come down, so anyone approaching you has to account for the delayed threat of the turnip returning to earth. You can even catch the defensive turnip before it lands if no one interferes, whether to toss it up preemptively again or to shift gears and go after foes, preserved Vegetable in hand.

Tapping Grab with the control stick in neutral drops the turnip without throwing it, which can be useful done on purpose far above foes. You can drop the Vegetable like a bomb from double-jump height, falling with it or beating it to the target with fast fall. Or, against someone trying to recover from far below a ledge, you can stand above them and drop turnip after turnip off the edge.

Whether dropping a turnip from high altitude or throwing it straight down, an advanced tactic is to drop/toss a Vegetable straight down before plummeting alongside it. This can be used for both attacking and defending. Whether using the turnip as a spearhead or a moving shield, you can catch it again before it hits the ground to keep it alive.

There are all kinds of turnips, with different adorable faces. The faces tip you off to how powerful a turnip will be. The most powerful have double wrinkly squinting eyes on both sides, and deal tremendous damage with tapped smash throws. Double-pinprick-eyed specimens are also strong. When plucking Vegetables, there’s a low chance the result will be a Mr. Saturn or Bob-omb item! If you happen to score a Bob-omb, that’s the highest-damage option, obviously.

Final Smash: Peach/Daisy Blossom

The princess dances in place while a rain of peaches or daisies saturates nearby territory, and can be acquired to recover health. Anyone too close to the princess takes damage while being put to sleep, as though Jigglypuff’s beautiful singing voice had wafted into their ears! Aside from falling asleep, anyone afflicted also takes heavy damage. The closer to Peach or Daisy they are when this Final Smash is activated, the harder they’re hit. And that’s not taking into account whatever rude awakening royalty decides to dole out!