psabr guide - big daddy

Big Daddy

Square Attacks:
NS - Jab
Big Daddy punches forward with his non-drill arm. This is a stupidly short range attack that only gains 10 AP, with basically nothing else to it. The only reason to use it is because it cancels into Drill Skewer, a much better attack. It also cancels into itself for some reason, but highs tarting lag means you can't actually combo into it.

FS - Overhead Palooka
A generic overhead punch with a depressingly low range to it. It has weak super armor, and knocks opponents down on hit. I think the upside is that it just has slightly faster movement than some of the rest of his attacks. No moves seem to actually combo from it, basically making the knockdown state worthless for everything but running away. It can hit two opponents at once, but you need to be hugging them to actually land it. Gains 20 AP.

US - Uppercut
A generic uppercut attack. This is actually a much better ground-to-air tool than some other characters have (Nathan Drake), and even though Big Daddy has a second uppercut attack, it behaves different enough to not be as good. It also has super armor, and can cancel into a few attacks, notable Drill Skewer and Drill Punch. It can also cancel into itself, but it can't combo off of that. Not an amazing attack, but has a purpose. Gains 20 AP.

DS - Sweeping Fist
Big Daddy sweeps his fist forward in front of him. This is a very basic attack, again with depressingly short range, but its basically What If Jab But Good. It gains 20 AP, is significantly faster, and can cancel into more moves than Jab can, thus making it better for combos. While it can cancel into Drill Skewer and Drill Punch, like Uppercut, it can ALSO cancel into itself, but this time it actually works since you can get off two hits with it! You can easily net a 70 AP combo off of this. It also has super armor.

Air NS - Aerial Jab
Jab, but in the air. Gains 10 AP, would be as useless as his grounded Jab if not for the fact this is the only Square attack that cancels into anything, that being Aerial Drill Skewer. This is a decent 40 AP combo, at the least, and makes it, by default, his second most useful Square aerial!

Air FS - Aerial Hard Punch
A swinging hook, in the air. This can launch opponents off on hit, which is very funny considering this is Big daddy's dinky little arm we're talking about, and gains 30 AP. There's really not beyond that here, you can just potentially get opponents away from you easily. The guide has a hilarious suggestion of using Charging Rush as soon as you hit the ground in order to keep up with the launched opponent, and then using a Cyclone Trap, which hopefully the opponent will recover into. This sounds completely unviable, but also hilarious. Oh yeah, and this still has super armor.

Air US - Aerial Uppercut
Uppercut in the air. While grounded Uppercut is one of Big Daddy's best Square moves, this is potentially his overall worst move. While it launches opponents upwards, it can't cancel into anything to actually make that viable. The best I can think is MAYBE being able to follow it up from an Uppercut-Drill Skewer combo, but i don't even know if that's possible. It has super armor, too.

Air DS - Aerial Down Punch
Big Daddy performs a downwards punch. This attack has pathetically small range, even more so than Jab, but it is relatively useful. It has super armor, but also knocks opponents straight downwards, putting them in a knockdown position if they hit the ground. This is obviously a great suppression tool, basically preventing opponents from jumping whenever they threaten better aerial game than you. I would pretty safely call this Big Daddy's best Square aerial. Gains 20 AP.


Triangle Attacks:
NT - Drill Punch
Big Daddy punches forwards with his drill, like you would expect. It gains 20 AP, and knocks opponents down for a short moment on hit. While this isn't extremely powerful, it is a decent combo starter, and is very fast with good range to it. It can cencel into itself, letting you perform a two hit combo just by mashing, but it can also true combo into Drill Skewer, Charging Rush, Overhead Palooka, and Sweeping Fist, making this a pretty great combo starter attack.

FT - Charging Rush
Big Daddy charges forward in a non-Smash Wario-style shoulder charge. This is generically Big Daddy's best move since it lets him move fast, maybe even faster than any other character. On hit, Big Daddy will cancel out of the charge automatically, gaining 15 AP, but you can actually hold the button down in order to charge through the enemy. Pressing Triangle can cancel the move prematurely as well. However, pressing the Triangle button again after hitting the opponent will cause Big Daddy to perform a second hit, an overhead slam with his drill, which gains 5 AP and causes knockdown. This is genuinely more of a mobility tool than an attack, thanks to how little AP it gains, but I'd still call it a Good Move overall.

UT - Drill Skewer
It's an uppercut, but with a drill. We've already talked about this move a lot, as its one of Big Daddy's better combo enders, seeing how it launches opponents off. It moves Big Daddy forward slightly when used, too. It can gain a maximum of 30 AP over 4 hits, making it decently powerful. The guide suggests using it as an anti-air, which is fair enough. There's not really much else to bring up, you can use it out of a lot of moves, so you probably do want to do that.

DT - Drill Slam


Air NT - Aerial Drill Punch
Air FT - Aerial Charging Rush
Air UT - Aerial Drill Skewer
Air DT - Descending Drill Slam


Circle Attacks:
NC - Incinerate
FC - Electro Bolt
UC - Cyclone Trap
DC - Winter Blast

Air NC - Air Incinerate
Air FC - Air Electro Bolt
Air UC - Air Cyclone Trap
Air DC - Air Winter Blast


Throws:
Forward Throw - Drill Forward Eject
Up Throw - Drill Up Ejected
Down Throw - Slam

Supers:
Level 1 - Little Sister Gather
Level 2 - Frenzy
Level 3 - Flood