Uploaded October 2016 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago

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The "Optimising Fox" series is one that I want to keep practical - while there is some dumb, fun things in there like Dair locking, I don't want the series to encourage new Fox players to do approaching, unspaced Nair because it could lead to some sick combos.

...However, there are some really sick combos you can do with Fox. So I thought I'd make a showcase of all the combos that probably won't make it into videos. You may have seen a few of these before in gfycats floating around on my Twitter. Some of these may also appear in later videos if I change my mind!

Incidentally, new commentated tutorial for Optimising Fox IS coming, it's just taking a while. Thank you for your patience!

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Combo 1: This only really works on Dreamland because Battlefield's side platforms are too long. Dreamland also has a glitch where you can't lock people towards centre stage so getting this to actually work is kind of hard.
Combo 2: Larry Lurr actually did something really similar to this against Ryuga at Big House 6. This works against every character in the game but the second Fair requires very specific timing - in this example, I double jump then input Fair eight frames late. It has to be soon enough that it still combos but not so soon that you can't fast fall it.
Combo 3: This is actually a super practical combo but I left it here for the sake of completeness when it comes to later combos. Timing this against heavier characters is very hard to make it all true but I've got it to be true against even Ganondorf so it is doable. It's also harder against smaller characters and against floaty characters like Samus.
Combo 4: If your opponent DIs down and away like they normally do, this forces a tech. Up Tilt to Grab only really works against characters with bad buttons like Cloud.
Combo 5: If you're pressuring a platform and your opponent unshields, you can kill them! You can also go for a Dair lock if you're not confident in your RARFF Up Tilt.
Combo 6: While this isn't all true, you can frame trap on top platform with Up Air to Up Tilt anyway plus they'd have to be mashing airdodge at the right time so it's iffy. This is optimal damage racking anyway even if it doesn't kill.
Combo 7: This one says "true vs all with adaptations". What I mean by this is that some lighter characters, you won't want to go into the second Up Air to footstool and instead just end it earlier whereas against Ganondorf you do it twice. Against some characters you may have to get single hit Up Airs to keep their damage below a certain threshold. Honestly there's a lot of stuff to cover here so I'll probably cover it separately at another time, just showing it's a thing. And yes, falling Up Air to footstool is a thing. #Jank
Combo 8: In this specific example, the third repetition into footstool wasn't true but the others are. However, if you're frame perfect, these are all technically true and I believe the first one is even with DI. However, you can mix up reverse Nair with regular Nair to mess up their DI which makes this effective.
Combo 9: This one looks basic but it's here because you have to fast fall the second Up Air to have the third one connect - in my experience, anyway. This means doing Full Hop Up Air then fast falling soon enough that it'll still combo but not so soon that you miss the autocancel.
Combo 10: Low key the only reason I made the video, I finally found out a way to turn a Dair into a 0-death without any platforms or Fair Spiking. This just combines three different setups: Dair Footstool Locks, Up Air Footstools then Nair Footstools which are all true if you're frame perfect. By God is this one hard but it is, I'm pretty sure, the most optimal Dair of them all.

Here's a video with just the last combo:
youtube.com/watch?v=gTFIlpI3SpE&

I'll make gfycats for the rest of the combos soon if people ask for them!

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Restoring the Light, Facing the Dark (Ori and the Blind Forest)