 | |
 AirHocky | |
|---|---|
| Description | Bounce the puck off walls |
| Full name | Air Hockey |
| Class | Standard |
| Library # | 51 |
| Element |  Break |
| Attack power | 60 |
| Codes | L M N |
| MB | 19 (max 5 copies) |
| Chip lockout | 50 frames |
| Part of program advances | PitHocky |
Air Hockey is a Real Time chip that fires a zigzagging hockey puck across the battlefield. It deals 60 Break element Flinching damage per hit. It travels a maximum of 11 panels. It disappears after colliding with a broken/hole panel or by having no traversable panels.
When used in Beast Out, the user jumps to directly in front of the enemy and fires Air Hockey point-blank. If the enemy is standing behind an object, the user jumps to the panel above or below that object instead; if those panels are also unavailable, the user jumps to the front of the object the enemy is hiding behind.
Notes
Movement rules
- When Air Hockey is used from the top or middle row, it travels diagonally downward first. When Air Hockey is used from the bottom row, it travels diagonally upward first.
- Air Hockey cannot re-enter player panels, except for during its first movement path.
- Air Hockey's upward/downward movement must be maintained until it reaches the horizontal edge.
When Air Hockey collides with a field's corner, it is reflected.
When Air Hockey collides with a field's horizontal edge, it moves to a diagonically adjacent enemy panel in the opposite vertical direction, prioritizing maintaining horizontal direction. When Air Hockey collides with a field's vertical edge, it must move to the diagonally adjacent enemy panel in the same vertical direction.
When Air Hockey collides with the player's panel corner, it must move to a diagonically adjacent enemy panel in the same vertical direction.
If there is no diagonally adjacent enemy panel in the appropriate vertical direction, Air Hockey disappears.
Frame data
Has 3 startup frames. Air Hockey hits the panel in front of the user on frames 4-5, then hits the next panels it travels to for 6 frames, then hits the last traversable panel for 4 frames.
Has 50 chip lockout frames.
| Startup | Active | Recovery | Total | Counter Frames |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 4-63 | 5-32 | 60 |
Competitive Overview
Air Hockey's damage potential heavily relies on three factors: its trajectory, the enemy's positioning, and whether the enemy can be flinched.
- Generally, Air Hockey will connect more times if the enemy is in the middle row. For reference, if an Air Hockey bouncing between two corners at neutral area catches the enemy in the very middle, it will deal 5 hits for 300 damage total. However, if the enemy is caught on the bottom or top row instead, it will deal 3 hits for 180 damage total.
- Keeping the enemy in place and/or landing
Uninstll to remove the SuprArmr Navi Cust part is crucial to attempt to connect Air Hockey more than once. At neutral area, getting hit by Air Hockey and flinching confirms the remaining hits.
- Ground Cross boosts Air Hockey's damage by 10 per hit.
Air Hockey while in Beast Out offers some benefits:
- The user can bypass chip lockout by using Air Hockey as part of a Beast Rush combo. As a result, multiple Air Hockeys can be used in quick succession in Beast Out, meaning massive damage potential given the conditions outlined above.
- As the user jumps to attempt to land Air Hockey point-blank, they can use it to fish for a counter hit.
Counterplay
- The less area the user has, the more room Air Hockey has to travel, reducing the number of times it will comeback to certain panels. This also means the enemy can react to Air Hockey's movement more easily. Ironically, if the user has maximum area advantage by using 2
AreaGrabs, Air Hockey can only hit once and disappear.
- The enemy can stay on the top or bottom row to reduce the possible number of Air Hockey hits.
- The massive chip lockout duration of 50 frames can enable the enemy to go through all of their attacks while the user is unable to use chips.
- Even if the enemy can be flinched, it is possible for them to buffer movement to any direction to move out of Air Hockey's trajectory, avoiding the remaining hits.