Mid-Air Hit
This is a section devoted to the mid-air hit situation, touched upon in other various topics, but consolidated here.
Receiving hits while in mid-air, from either grounded or air moves, may cause knockdown (tech or untechable).
Depending on what you're hit with, follow-up attacks are possible before that knockdown.
- Air counter-hit while airborne
- See "Counter Hits" section for allowed follow-ups.
- Non-counter-hit special/super while airborne
- Allowed follow-up specials and supers are dependent on the character.
Meanwhile, non-knockdowning, non-counter-hit air hits put you in hitstop, then air hitstun, and then -- after falling -- into an air-hit landing recovery.
- Special/super/TOP attacks that hit in such a way while you are airborne (especially the latter parts of a move).
- Normals, evasion attacks, and jump normals that hit while you are airborne.
All non-knockdowning, non-counter-hit attacks while you are airborne have 14F air hitstun.
Comboing off of this window of air hitstun is limited:
- Only light normals into special cancel connect into a combo.
- Upper-body evasion attacks or heavy normals into special cancel do not connect into a combo.
- Target combos do not connect into a combo.
- Follow-up normals, even if done within this air hitstun, do not connect into a combo.
Cancels and other attacks will whiff instead of hitting.
Similarly, air JDing any attack puts you in air JD blockstop, then air JD blockstun,
and then -- after falling -- an air JD landing recovery.
Mid-air JD has 11F JD blockstun:
- Every type of hit has this same JD blockstun (weak normal, strong normal, evasion attack, special/super/TOP attack).
(See "Exceptions to JD Blockstun Reduction".) - Another JD can be buffered before JD blockstun ends.
(See "Successive JD's".)
- Air Hit Landing Recovery
(Sourced from "0F Move Guard-Impossible Phenomenon".)
- After exiting air hitstun while airborne, your sprite is reset, you fall to the ground, and you have 3 frames before you can move again (for Hokutomaru it is 4 frames)
- You cannot be hit after exiting air hitstun while falling (air invincible) and during these landing frames because there is no hurtbox.
- However, during these landing frames' latter half 2 frames, if a 0F move is done, then you are able to avoid it, but not block against it (unblockable).
The 0F move whiffs on the 1st frame of landing. (For Hokutomaru, the 0F move whiffs on the 1～2nd frame of landing.)
- Air JD Landing Recovery
(Sourced from "Just Defend (JD or JDF)", "0F Move Guard-Impossible Phenomenon", and "JD Buffer Period/Window")
- After exiting air JD blockstun while airborne, your sprite is reset, you fall to the ground, and you have 3 frames before you can move again (for Hokutomaru it is 4 frames)
- You _can_ be hit while falling after exiting air JD hitstun, unless you air JD again.
- But you cannot be hit during these landing frames because there is no hurtbox.
- And unlike Air Hit Landing Recovery, there is no "unblockable" situation. The 0F super whiffs on all the landing frames.
- Both Air Hit Landing Recovery and Air JD Landing Recovery
- In both cases, the ground JD acceptance window starts the first frame of landing and only after landing recovery can you JD.
- Air JD and ground JD do not share cooldown.
- So you can hold back in the air, and after an air hit or an air JD, that held back direction will ground JD after exiting landing recovery.
- See this link for an example after an air JD.