Blocking
By holding down the Block button your character will enter an indefinite blocking state. This protects you from all attacks, but not grabs. Dropping block is instant, as there are no shield-drop frames that characters have to wait through before being able to act out of block. Block can be jumped out of, as well as can be cancelled into a grab by pressing the Light Attack button.
While blocking you take both chip damage (half the damage a move would have done on a successful hit) and block pushback. Getting pushed back to the edge of a stage or platform makes you enter Teeter, a state that leaves you vulnerable to attacks for a lengthy period of time.
There are ways to circumvent pushback, such as timing the the block to the hit, or by holding a corresponding direction while blocking:
- Left/Right (4/6) for Neutral (5) attacks
- Down (2) for Up (8) attacks
- Up (8) for Down (2) attacks
You'll know when you have performed this correctly when you see your character flash yellow shortly. Yellow Blocking as it's called also incurs 2 frames less blockstun, and reduced the chip damage taken down to just 1-2%.
Grabs
By pressing block and inputting an attack (or using the grab macro) you can perform a grab both on ground and in the air. Grabs bypass block and by grabbing an opponent you are able to Move freely and perform jump with the opponent still in hand, performing an air grab does not allow you to jump until you land but will still let you move. From this you are able to perform throws which damage the opponent and can lead to combos. Grabs can also be chained together.
You can also Grab Incoming Projectiles by timing the grab to an incoming projectile, while holding a projectile you are able to perform the same actions as if you were holding a character player. Grabbed projectiles are also under a damage multiplier which makes them more powerful than initially.
Dash attacks
Every character has a strong and light dash attack. Dash attacks can only be done by holding left or right for 8 frames and then inputting said direction plus light, indicated by a small dust cloud when you can input one. On hit they can be cancelled into anything: jumps, attacks, grabs, etc. Be warned as all dash attacks are extremely unsafe on block. Jumping out of a dash attack keeps the dash attacks acceleration letting you launch yourself across the screen, though immediate air attacks will set you back to normal air speed.
- Know that the cancel happens on ANY hit, not just players, this means your own and your opponents projectiles!
Airdashing
By Pressing block and inputting a direction mid-air you can perform an airdash, They start up frame 1, last 15 frames, and have 10 frames of lag upon landing on the ground using one. Although they grant no invincibility you can perform any action after the 15 frames. You can airdash only once during airtime and if you get hit out of it you are not able to perform another.
Downwards airdashes however are much different; as they are very fast and can be cancelled into any move during the 15 frames unlike normal airdashes. With this in mind you can perform techniques like Wavelanding and Wavedashing. They can also be inputted neutral attack to cancel some of the endlag and keep up your offense. Using it as a "fast fall" option is integral to executing high damage combos for almost every character.
Reflecting
In this game all projectiles are able to be reflected by any character by using their respective strong attacks. Projectiles in this game follow a leveling system meaning that the more they are reflected/thrown, the more powerful they are (capped at a level 3 after 2 reflects). Equal level projectiles will clash and higher level projectiles will destroy lower level ones and keep traveling. Up strong attacks reflect projectiles upward and forward, neutral strong attacks reflect straight forward, and Down Strong attacks reflect down and forward. Each strong can reflect projectiles from anywhere on their body starting at 8 frames before the attacks comes out (shown as pink in with show hitboxes turned on), at which point only the hitbox of the attack will reflect.
Wavedashing
Wavedashing has never been easier! In Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, performing a wavedash is as easy as inputting block and jump simultaneously while holding your desired direction.
NOTE: You cannot already be holding block when inputting jump, otherwise you'll just jump. Both buttons need to be input at the same time.
Neutral Wavedash
When you input a movement (any axial or diagonal movements), this information is stored for 127 frames. If you perform a neutral wavedash inside this window, you will wavedash that direction. The information is stored regardless of actual character movement, meaning the movement can be buffered during get-ups, ledge get-ups, in shield, and during attack animations to allow for less inputs for a mixup. A n-wavedash is performed by pressing block and jump simultaneously you will wavedash in the buffered direction.
NOTS: It is fairly easy to accidentally n-wavedash in an undesired direction due to snapback, input spaghetti. N-dashes only work while grounded. After 127 frames have passed, you will need to input another direction, else you will n-dash in place.
Perfect Guard
If you both hold time the guard to the hit of the attack and hold the direction of the attack, you will perform a Perfect Guard Which negates pushback and allows you to react and perform an attack immediately. You will know if you inputted it correctly with you character flashing light blue and a sound effect plays. Perfect Guard also still leaves your opponent in a recovery state of the attack they inputted.
Strong Attack Rock-Paper-Scissors
Dubbed "RPS" The directional input of a Strong attack affects its interaction with other Strong attacks.
- A Strong Neutral (5) attack beats a Strong Up (8) attack, and causes a turnaround
- A Strong Up (8) attack beats a Strong Down (2) attack, and causes a spin-out
- A Strong Down (2) attack beats a Strong Neutral (5) attack, and causes a stagger
The strong's normal damage is dealt and the opponent will suffer a long stun the higher their percent is. The RPS system uses the same pinkboxes as the reflect system does, so you can RPS an active strong with your attack 8 frames before yours comes out.
Attack Priority System
Their are 3 types of attacks in NASB: lights, strongs, and transient attacks. As their name implies lights are lights and strongs are strongs. Transient attacks include all specials and getup attacks (not ledge attacks). When two hitboxes collide the following rules apply:
- Grounded lights will clank with one another, doing no damage and proceeding with the normal animation. The Same goes for two grounded strongs colliding
- Grounded strongs will beat grounded lights, causing the user of the light attack to recoil provided they don't get hit by the attack anyway (think disjoints)
- Aerial lights will deal no damage if any part comes into contact with either a grounded or air strong, but they will not recoil
- Transient attacks will trade with everything
As alluded to before this means despite their invincible startup, ledge attacks will clank with grounded lights and lose to strongs.
Waveslime
A waveslime is the act of chaining dash attacks together, done so by hitting a dash attack, immediately wavedashing, then doing the other dash attack. You can only wave slime once per initial dash attack, and can only be light dash into strong dash or vice versa. Notable characters that utilize this are April, Nigel, and Patrick.
Taunt Cancelling
A taunt can be cancelled by performed by inputting taunt mid run towards ledge. Upon sliding to ledge, the taunt animation will stop and you will be immediately actionable. Air taunts can be similarly cancelled by grabbing onto ledge while airtaunting.
Goober Boosting
Taunts have less friction. This can be compounded with a taunt-cancel to get extreme slide distance. This can be further compounded with edge-cancel mechanics to make it immediately actionable.
It doesn't have significant utility because dash attacking can already be cancelled into something immediately, however it could be useful.
