Brawler Arsenal

Grounded Attacks

Neutral Attacks

Neutral Attacks

For Pichu’s neutral attack, the pint-sized Pokémon emulates Pikachu, jabbing at close range with its head. Like with Pikachu, this neutral attack is among the game’s fastest, just short of Little Mac in the top spot. There’s only one neutral attack for Pichu, which it repeats in a blur as long as you hold down the button. You can score up to a five-hit combo just holding someone at point-blank range with repeated neutral attack headbutts, dealing 6% damage and leaving them at the edge of grab range.

Dash Attack

Pichu emerges from a dash or run with a sideways rushing headbutt. It does a little more damage if you hit with the beginning of the headbutt, but any dash attack hit knocks challengers into a position where Pichu can hit them again right away.

Defensive Attacks

Tilts

Side Tilt

Pichu plants its hands to strike with a quick, shocking double kick directly in front. The range is short, but the speed is excellent. The double kick doesn’t combo with itself, side tilt can only hit each enemy once, but it does give the attack a lengthy active period. Challengers with low-damage percentages are tripped up and temporarily stunned by the electricity; at higher percentages, side tilt knocks them away. Pichu takes a small amount of damage every time this attack is used.

Up Tilt

Pichu’s little tail flips over the top, hitting backward first, then up and over. The main use is for anti-airing enemies and perpetuating combos. For example, after hitting someone with down tilt up close at low percentages, you can almost always score two up tilts quickly before chasing them into the air for another hit. The attack gives some coverage in front at the end, but is too slow to hit to use it this way effectively on purpose. If up tilt DOES hit someone up close in front at a low percentage, Pichu can capitalize with some great combos, like up tilt, down tilt, up smash, then a juggle attempt with air moves or the Thunder special.

Down Tilt

With a low forward tail whip, Pichu pops up anyone nearby for an immediate combo. The speed is respectable for a down tilt, but not extraordinary like with side tilt. As with Pikachu, this move is given extra power thanks to Pichu’s crawling ability. You can crawl forward under many short-hopping attacks and projectiles that bigger brawlers would have to deal with, then sweep with down tilts once in range.

A successful down tilt can lead immediately to up tilts and up smashes at low percentages. From a point-blank down tilt, you can usually juggle up tilt twice before pursuing in midair.

Smashes

Side Smash

The tiny Pokémon juts its head forward and unleashes a close-range sparking flurry (inflicting a little damage against itself in the process!). If this hits anyone, it pulls them into a brief electric blender before they’re kicked away with strong knockback, even if they haven’t taken any damage yet.

The range is short and the windup on the attack is long (for Pichu), but the results on impact are great. If the enemy blocks, it even goes a decent way toward shattering their shield.

Up Smash

Pichu whips its whole body forward in an upward-aimed headbutt. The hitbox is mainly around Pichu’s big head and ears, but its body has a hitbox too, which is only likely to be useful if you’re standing on top of a soft platform aiming at someone above just as another fighter tries jumping into Pichu from underneath with up air attack (or something).

Both up smash and up tilt cover roughly the same area, mostly intended for aiming up, with different characteristics. Up tilt is faster to hit in back, before rotating forward. Uncharged up smash doesn’t hit behind Pichu as fast as up tilt, but it rotates to hit in front faster! You still shouldn’t think of up tilt or up smash as staple attacks for aiming in front of Pichu, but they’re worth remembering.

Down Smash

Pichu spins low to the ground, sparking furiously and hitting both sides. Hitting someone pulls them in and shocks them several times before punting them in the direction Pichu faced when starting the move. Since down smash hits both sides simultaneously with decent speed, the only consideration when aiming this attack is which direction you want foes to end up. Face the stage edge you’re pushing them toward before activating the attack. Pichu takes a little damage each time this attack is used.

Grabs

Grabs

Pichu grabs quickly, just short of the fastest grabs in the game. This grab is actually faster than Pikachu’s by a hair. Its range, as you might expect, is small, so you need to dash right up next to throw candidates, or grab them after a few neutral attack hits up close.

For front throw, Pichu shocks the victim on its back for a second before flicking them forward, potentially hitting anyone else right in front too. Pichu takes a tiny amount of damage from this throw, but not the others. During back throw, Pichu rolls backward before the toss, almost like Ken Masters of Street Fighter fame. For up throw, Pichu headbutts the victim straight up in the air, in position to try juggling them after. At higher-damage percentages, nothing is guaranteed, and you just have to try to catch them as they float down. Down throw offers more guaranteed combo follow-ups, with Pichu bouncing foes off the ground at low altitude directly in front.

Aerial Attacks

Aerials

Neutral Air Attack

Pichu pinwheels into three rapid forward flips, hitting all the way around as it spins. Neutral air attack is one of the fastest-hitting air attacks in the game and lasts for a long time, almost half a second! This makes it great for jousting with enemies air-to-air or sticking it out early above foes before fast-falling into them with later active frames. Despite the spins, this isn’t a multi-hit attack, and only hits any given enemy once. This isn’t a disadvantage for the move; it means Pichu can deliver the attack’s full damage without needing to worry about scoring a hit at the right kind of angle.

With its speed, active period, decent damage, and that fact that it doesn’t hurt Pichu to use it, neutral air attack should probably be your most-used maneuver with the baby mouse.

Forward Air Attack

Flying through the air, Pichu jabs forward with its head four times quickly, while taking a little damage itself in the effort. The initial hit is slow for a Pichu move, so if you need something on short notice, lean toward neutral/up/back airs. If an enemy eats forward air attack, they’ll be drawn into the hits and launched forward at the end. Depending on stage position, you might be able to double-jump and go for a jump, or land and run forward in attempt to catch your target.

If using forward air attack to aggressively chase enemies on the ground, short-hop forward with forward air attack and make sure to fast-fall halfway through, dragging the final hits down toward the ground to land faster. If a standing enemy is popped up and punted forward by this, you can usually dash and catch them with a dash attack before trying for more air hits.

Back Air Attack

Pichu spins toward its back while sparking with electricity, dishing out more hits for a longer period than its other multi-hit moves. Back air hits very quickly, not quite as fast as neutral air attack but barely behind, and the active period of back air is only exceeded by neutral air attack.

Back air attack stays out long enough to sync perfectly with a backward short hop. Using it this way hits against close ground-level foes with about the same speed a typical tilt attack, but with higher potential damage payoff and less-predictable follow-ups.

Up Air Attack

Pichu flips forward while airborne, hitting from up-back to up-forward with its tail. The initial hitbox is active just as quickly as neutral air attack’s, though aimed up and away. Jump and chase after high-altitude enemies from underneath with this attack, or poke at people standing on soft platforms above. If you come up under someone with jumping up air and have a double jump available, you can often double-jump with neutral air attack right after for a short combo.

Although up air attack is aimed upward, Pichu is so small and the attack is so fast that it’s also an effective jump-in against challengers on solid ground. Jump in with up air at the last moment just before landing. A hit in this situation pops them up right near Pichu, assuring a chance for follow-up hits.

Down Air Attack

The tiny Pokémon flips upside down in midair, aiming straight down with an electrified headbutt. As with Pikachu, Pichu causes an extra secondary hit if this is done low to the ground, just before landing (this also adds an extra 0.5% to the damage Pichu inflicts on itself). If down air attack plunges into a target, then hits the ground, the resulting two-hit combo knocks them away. If you dive-bomb with down air and slightly miss a standing foe, this impact hit might knock them away even if the main headbutt misses.

When used against foes in midair, down air spikes them at mid-damage percentages or higher. When chasing enemies offstage and trying to prevent them from recovering, getting above them and striking with down air is ideal. Use the C-stick to execute down air without risking an inadvertent fast fall in that kind of situation.

Special Moves

Specials

Neutral Special: Thunder Jolt

Pichu channels electric energy to send a lively bouncing bolt across the stage. This is similar to Pikachu’s version, but with its own quirks. Pichu’s Thunder Jolt is more damaging than Pikachu’s, while also dealing a little damage to Pichu on every use. It bounces 10 times before vanishing, while Pikachu’s bounces seven; ultimately, they have the same potential range, since Pichu’s Thunder Jolt bounces are shorter and faster. With the range based on how many times a Thunder Jolt bounces, you can eke more reach out of projectiles by jumping before releasing them, so it takes longer before the first bounce (using it on the ground, the first bounce is right at Pichu’s feet). Thunder Jolts stick to the first surface they hit, wrapping around corners and even bouncing along sheer surfaces, or upside-down across the undersides of stages.

Multiple Thunder Jolts can be active at a time. Pichu’s Thunder Jolts fulfill all kinds of rolls, from long-range projectiles to covering options when recovering. The catch is the same as many Pichu attacks in that repeat use quickly pushes your own damage upward, a high-stakes approach.

Side Special: Skull Bash

After gathering energy, Pichu blasts itself horizontally across the stage, hurting itself a little with the exertion. Pichu’s distance traveled while spiraling is greater than Pikachu’s, covering the ground of about five dashes. Hold the side special input to charge up Pichu’s energy before release, increasing the damage and distance traveled by an absurd amount. A fully charged Pichu Skull Bash delivers a tremendous 33 damage hit while basically traveling across the full width of any flat stage. Beware that stage edges don’t automatically stop the lateral travel of an overzealous Skull Bash; without care, you can make Pichu fly right off the side! Luckily, it can act again if Skull Bash ends in midair, though not as fast as Pikachu. If Skull Bash ends near the ground, Pichu has a fair bit of landing lag to worry about.

Aimed sideways at groups of enemies fighting each other, Skull Bash is a great way to opportunistically blast them while they’re distracted. When Pichu is launched offstage, Skull Bash provides another avenue to return to solid ground, making the usual Agility-using route less obvious.

Up Special: Agility

Pichu’s movement-oriented special move is a two-stage air dash, basically. Input up special by itself, and Pichu zips straight up once. Hold any direction before the zip to make Pichu choose a straight-line path in that direction instead. Before Pichu arrives at the end of the first stage’s travel, hold a different direction for a second zip. After the two rapid air movements, Pichu lags until landing. Each use of Agility’s first stage deals 0.6% damage to Pichu, while each addition of the second stage adds 1.4%. Nothing adds up Pichu’s damage on itself faster than repeated uses of Agility, so be very careful with this. Even a successful recovery is slightly upping the stakes for Pichu. Still, you have to vary between recovery with Agility and Skull Bash, so Pichu will get hurt a little either way. Of course, that’s preferable to being KO’d.

Down Special: Thunder

Pichu summons a lightning bolt from high above, which streaks straight down toward it. The lightning bolt has a long thin hitbox, shocking anyone along the way while continuing toward the ground. If it strikes Pichu, the Pokémon absorbs and discharges the energy in an explosion around itself, dealing high damage to anyone close. Pichu is intangible while catching a lightning bolt, so the attack doesn’t lose out if the bolt makes it all the way to its master. Getting hit by a lightning bolt creates a powerful attack, but it’s also the quickest way for Pichu to stack up self-inflicted pain, adding 3% damage to Pichu’s escalating total.

Like with Pikachu, eating a bolt in midair maintains Pichu’s altitude, and the lag isn’t long. Thundering oneself offstage on purpose can be an effective stalling tactic, changing the timing of when you make your play to recover back to solid ground. Just beware that Pichu’s maneuverability after a midair Thunder hit isn’t as flexible as Pikachu’s since Pichu’s Skull Bash has more aerial lag. While a direct hit is painful to Pichu, you don’t have to use Thunder that way. By executing Thunder while drifting sideways in midair, bolts can be dropped in precise locations without worrying about damage to Pichu. This is especially crafty used when edge-guarding, allowing you to jump out over ledges and drop lightning bolts down into the airspace foes have to traverse to make it back from a drop-off.

Final Smash: Volt Tackle

With a Smash Ball’s energy safely stored, Pichu is ready to cut loose with its strongest move. At the start, Pichu rockets straight across in the direction it’s facing, stopping when it smacks onto a valid target along the way. From here, Pichu zips to and fro across the screen in all directions, repeatedly striking all parts of the visible screen. The tiny Pokémon’s focus is on the first opponent it hit upon start-up, but everyone else can take hits with all the movement.