Due to the move lasting longer compared to his other aerials, it can safely pressure shields. It can also be used as a combo finisher and can be used as a KO move at high percents. The weak hit of neutral air can combo into his tilts, grab, or even a smash attack. Neutral aerial has a long-lasting hitbox, high knockback on the clean hit, very low landing lag, and good coverage, making it a safe landing option. Kirby's air game is also notable, despite his poor air speed, due to the versatility of his aerial attacks. Lastly, down throw is reliable for damage racking when no other throw can yield better results. Up throw is his strongest throw and is able to KO almost all characters around 170%, or even earlier if it lands on a platform. Back throw can be followed up by a back aerial at 0% on certain characters, can KO at high percents, and can send opponents offstage. His forward throw, unlike most other forward throws in the game, has combo potential, leading into aerial attacks from low to mid percentages. His grabs have short range but are among the fastest, while his pummel's meager damage output is counterbalanced by its very fast speed. The usefulness of Kirby's ground game also extends to his grab game. As a result, Kirby has an excellent ground and defensive game thanks to his quick frame data and evasive crouch, requiring opponents to be careful when approaching him in neutral. Kirby is also very small, making him hard to hit, and his very low crouch allows him to avoid almost all grabs and several attacks. His smash attacks have good range, high power, and great speed, making them excellent at scoring a KO. Dash attackās early hit is excellent for whiff punishing and scoring a KO, potentially KOing opponents starting at 90%, while the late hit can set up into an Inhale. Should he trip his opponents with it, he can follow up with a variety of attacks, such as a dash attack, grab, or forward smash. Down tilt's low power is compensated by its very fast speed and it launching opponents at the Sakurai angle, which allows it to trip most opponents even over 80%. Up tilt's low knockback and high speed allow it to combo into multiple moves, such as itself, an aerial attack, or an Inhale. Neutral attack and forward tilt are fast and have decent range, allowing Kirby to quickly distance opponents, with the latter being used for tech chase setups. The majority of Kirby's attacks are characterized by speed, with his tilts being among the fastest in the game, while his slowest moves instead boast high power as a trade-off, while still being quite fast for their power. Kirby's greatest strengths are his fast frame data, high combo potential, and the versatility of his moveset. Kirby's recovery is versatile: despite his slow air speed and low jump height rendering him susceptible to edgeguarding, his five midair jumps, slow falling speed, long vertical airdodge, and Final Cutter's decent distance give him good stalling capabilities and decent safety. Due to these statistics, Kirby has difficulty approaching opponents. He also has the 5th slowest air speed, 15th highest air acceleration, 3rd lowest gravity, the 5th lowest falling and fast falling speeds, and above average traction. He has the 26th slowest walking speed, 33rd fastest dashing speed, and 37th slowest initial dash. True to his franchise, Kirby is a slow, yet floaty character. Kirby is known for being a small lightweight, being tied for the eighth-lightest character in the game. 5.1 Most historically significant players.