Attack Cancel: Cancelling an attack into a short hop in order to perform quicker aerials and mix up movement. To perform the technique, an applicable jab, tilt or smash attack must be inputted, and then immediately cancelled into a jump. The c-stick or directional stick should then be held in the direction corresponding to the desired aerial attack, or no direction held for a neutral aerial. Due to how short the window is for most attacks, it can be difficult to perform the technique correctly.

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B-Reverse: Hitting the special button and turning it around mid-air. This is done by inputting the special button and then, after, quickly inputting the opposite direction you are facing. This can be applied to some up-special recoveries (such as Mario and Lucina) as well as many neutral specials (such as Snake’s grenades or Mario’s fireball). This causes a shift in momentum and is used to mix up landings or approaches.

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DI, SDI and LSI: DI (Directional Influence) and LSI (Launch speed influence) are generally grouped together as “DI”, but they are separate. DI is holding left or right to influence launch angle. LSI is holding up/down to influence launch speed. These must be input PRIOR to being launched by the attack. Inputting them after will have no affect. SDI is Smash Directional Influence. This is typically done on multi-hit moves and is accomplished by “rocking” the movement stick between two directions (such as left and up) to shuffle away from the move.

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Edgeguarding: Preventing the opponent from recovering back to the ledge or the stage

 

Fair/Bair/Dair: Abbreviations for Forward Aerial, Backward Aerial and Downward Aerial attacks.

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Fast Falling: Inputting down at, or after, the apex of a jump. A little star twinkle animation shows above the character to indicate a fast fall was input.

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Footstool: Done by jumping on the opponent's head.  Simply input jump as their hurtbox is beneath your character.  This sends them into a tumble where they will be unable to act out of for some time. Multiple footstools done in the same jump will become shorter until it is no longer able to be done.

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Gimping: Using attacks to keep the opponent off stage, typically weaker attacks. Pikachu’s T-jolt hitting a recovering Mario and causing him to just be out of reach of the ledge is an example of a gimp.

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Ledge Trapping: Trapping an opponent at ledge, typically after an unsuccessful edge guard. Some characters will utilize tools to assist with this (Such as Snake’s Up smash / C4 and Dedede’s Gordo).

 

Out of Shield: Out of Shield (OOS) is when you are able to use an action directly out of shield without dropping shield.  Dropping shield takes 11 frames and thus is a bad action to take to punish people hitting your shield.  Generally, characters can jump, up special, up smash, and grab out of shield.  Jumping OOS allows for aerials.

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RAR: Reverse Aerial Rush. This is when you dash forward, then reverse your position just before you jump so as to hit your opponent with a certain aerial (usually a Bair). Generally used in situations when a character's Bair is their best kill option. 

 

RNG: Random Number Generator. Any attack where an element of randomness of is involved (For example, Luigi's side-B has a ⅛ chance of being a misfire)

 

Safe on Shield: Moves that are safe on shield mean that the move cannot be punished by an OOS options.  These are moves that either are spaced correctly or have excellent frame data on shield.

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Shield Poke: When an attack deals damage to a shielding opponent because their shield was too small.

 

Short Hopping: Typically half of a full hops height.  Short hops (SH) can be done multiple ways.  Pressing the jump button and then quickly releasing it will cause a SH. Inputting an attack at the same time as a jump will buffer a SH rising aerial. Hitting two jump buttons at the same time (Such as L1 and X) will cause a SH.  Attack performed from a SH will do less damage than attack performed in a full hop. This technique is typically used in conjunction with Fast Falling in order to increase speed and ambiguity in movement.

 

Teching: Teching a move means breaking out of tumble when you are hit against a surface.  If you miss a tech you can be punished with a jab lock or another attack.  To do this, you have to input shield just as you hit the surface.  This can be done to prevent stage spikes as well. If an attack launches you into the stage, press shield to tech against the ledge to break your momentum and prevent the stage spike.

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Whiff Punish: A whiff is when an opponent throws out an option and it misses.  Punishing this requires punishing the end lag of the option that they threw out.