Samus

Smash Attacks

SIDE SMASH

Samus jabs her arm cannon into your opponent to blast that opponent. You can angle it up or down.

DOWN SMASH

A quick sweep attack that hits both in front of and behind Samus.

UP SMASH

Samus uses her arm cannon in an arc above her head. This can hit grounded opponents but more often hits multiple times against airborne opponents.

Basic Attacks

Standing Attack

A jab that goes into a downward swing of her arm cannon that pushes opponents back.

Forward Tilt

This spinning horizontal kick attack has good range and is fairly quick. You can angle it up or down.

Up Tilt

Samus raises her leg before bringing it down on anyone in front of her. When this hits grounded opponents, it leaves them open to follow-up attacks.

Down Tilt

Samus fires her arm cannon at the ground in front of her. Launches opponents up and away.

Dash Attack

Samus tucks her head and plows into your opponent shoulder first. Comes out fairly quick and has decent range as well.

Edge Attack

Samus returns to the stage with a long-range trip attack.

Air Attacks

Neutral Air Attack

Samus performs a spinning kick that hits in front of and behind her.

Up Air Attack

A spiraling upward drill-kick attack. Good for racking up damage.

Down Air Attack

Samus swings her arm cannon in an arc below her.

Forward Air Attack

Samus blasts her arm cannon in a downward arc in front of her. Can hit multiple times for a lot of damage.

Back Air Attack

A reverse back kick that has a lot of range.

Special Attacks

Charge Shot (Neutral Special)

While grounded, Samus charges up her projectile attack. Hitting Left or Right gives you an evasive roll to continue charging from where you left off. Pressing the button again releases the shot. When used in the air, Charge Shot fires from whatever level you’ve charged to.

Missile (Side Special)

Fires a homing missile at the closest opponent. If you input the attack as a Smash attack, it fires a Super Missile. The Super Missile launches higher and deals more damage but only travels horizontally.

Screw Attack (Up Special)

Samus balls up and spins into the air, striking multiple times anyone caught in her tracks. You can control this a bit to the left or right.

Bomb (Down Special)

Samus drops a bomb from Morph Ball form. The bombs explode on impact or after a short time. These bombs do slightly more damage if they hit an opponent directly. If Samus is hit by the explosion, it sends her upward a bit.

Final Smash

Zero Laser

Samus charges up and fires her giant Zero Laser at all opponents. She can aim it up or down a bit while firing. This attack also has a vacuum effect, pulling in players who are behind Samus and bringing them into the laser beam. Opponents who are immediately in front of the Samus receive a little bit of extra damage during the startup of the beam. Range-wise, it has no problem crossing Gerudo Valley, so you won’t have any issues using it on other stages. Overall, it has great range, damage, and KO potential for opponents with some damage who are near the side of a stage.

Strategy

Samus has a variety of projectiles to attack opponents from long range and some good tools to rack up damage in the air. She is somewhat unique in that she is a fairly heavy character with decent ground speed who is also rather floaty. While she has a strong long-range game, she can also be effective up close. Her main weaknesses are her horizontal recovery and her KO power. She does have a few good tools that rack up damage well enough, so this helps address her KO power.

For Samus’s long-range game, you have a lot of choices. You have Charge Shot, which you can use in quick bursts or fully charged up, and you have two Missile variations. Since a fully charged Charge Shot has good KO potential, consider keeping it fresher by using it less. Mixing up Homing Missile and Super Missile will throw off your opponent’s timing. If you ever hit with a Super Missile, immediately send out more Homing Missiles or charge up your Charge Shot. (When it comes to knockback, Super Missiles are much more effective than Homing Missiles.) If playing in free-for-all modes, use a lot of Bombs around you as small traps to keep you safer while using your projectiles. Since the bombs don’t damage Samus, it literally doesn’t hurt to have one around. You can even use the blast from one to bounce Samus and make her stay in the air longer. Screw Attack has a tiny bit of invincibility and is a decent out-of-shield option, but it’s primarily used for Samus’s vertical recovery. Don’t forget you can also shoot these projectiles in the air to create a vertical minefield for your opponents to avoid!

Up close, Samus’s Side Tilt attack is very quick, given its excellent range, but its damage output is fairly low. Down Tilt is also good for its speed and knockback. You can also use Samus’s long-range grapple to throw opponents while on the ground, as it prevents opponents from approaching recklessly. For KOs, go with Side Smash, Down Tilt, or a fully charged Charge Shot. Up Smash can work for KOs as well, but because it’s hard to use against standing opponents, use it against airborne opponents instead. In the air, Samus has a couple of good damage-racking options with Up Air and Forward Air. For KOs in the air, however, go with Back Air. When opponents are off-stage, use your missiles to edge guard, as this may interrupt their recoveries. If you successfully interrupt them, try to follow up with Down Air for a meteor smash.

Recovery

Samus’s main recovery option is her Screw Attack for vertical recovery. You can aim this a little to the left or right during the input of the attack. Horizontally, Samus doesn’t have a lot of options outside of her grapple. Use the grapple when off-stage to catch onto the edge, and press Up to pull yourself back up. Additionally, you can use Samus’s Bomb to stall temporarily. Moving left or right while dropping bombs will help keep you afloat awhile. This is especially useful when other opponents are off-stage with you.