The Dragon's Nest - A Corrin Guide

This will be a long, technical and also filosofical Corrin guide based on my thoughts and experience as a player and what the community thinks about this character as well

In this Guide I will provide you information about:

• Chapter 1: Understanding Corrin - The Basics
  I'll be presenting you the most basic information about the character, like some unique properties that every character has in the game.
  
  
• Chapter 2: Moveset, Hitboxes and Frame data
  I'll talk about each move, giving some information on how to use and when, show its hitboxes and frame Data.
  
  
• Chapter 3: Movement, Neutral game and Objectives
  Here I'll explain how to win the neutral with Corrin and which are the best options to do it, how to position yourself in a match and what are your main goals to take a stock.
  
  
• Chapter 4: Combos
  I'll go through every effective combo that Corrin has, and some tricks to change de game.
  
  
• Chapter 5: Stage Selection
  The best and worst stages for Corrin, and what options you'll have to change your gameplay and reset your oponent Mindset in the match.
  
  
• Chapter 6: Matchups
  Where Corrin strugles and where Corrin gains advantage, and the specific situations to explore your oponents weaknesses

- Before I go deep into the guide I should take some time to send you some messages.-

☆ I'll always give you technical information about Corrin alongside ideas to your gameplay, analysis on matchups and how to deal with specific situations in game.

☆ Love your main , or the characters you play. Feel them and try to have fun with it.

☆ Take some time to discover how you like to play, agressive, abusing of projectiles, spacing, etc. Apply that to your main but always remember that each one is designed to a certain type of gameplay.

☆ NEVER GIVE UP of your Dragon! All top and high tiers may give Corrin a really hard time and sometimes you'll feel useless, but believe in me, Corrin is really good.



First of all, you NEED to know this: Corrin is all about spacing, if you don't have a refined spacing in general you're not playing this character properly, but... what's SPACING?

Got it? So always keep that in mind ! You have to play like this cause Corrin has a HUGE range with the sword and the dragon parts and since i brought this up be aware that all Corrin attacks with the sword and dragon parts are disjointed attacks, so check this list:

• Jab 1: disjoint at its tip ( Dragon part )
• Jab 2: disjoint at sword
• Jab 3: disjoint at sword
• Multijab: has disjoint at the area where de jaws gets big, you still can be hit in between attacks although it's hard to happen.
• Dash attack: disjoint at sword

• F Tilt: disjoint at sword
• D tilt: disjoint at sword
• Up tilt: disjoint at sword
• F air: disjoint at sword
• Up air: disjoint at sword
• N air: disjoint at sword
• B air: disjoint at dragon parts (wings)
• D air: disjoint at the legs but it's a smal one.
• F smash: disjoint at the tip and upper tip (yes this move has two parts in its tip)
• D smash: disjoint at sword and tip of the leg
• Up smash: disjoint at the tip of the arms
• Dragon fang shot: disjoint only at the full charge bite
• Dragon lunge: disjoint at the tip of the lance
• Dragon ascend: disjoint at the wings
• Counter surge: disjoint at all the Dragon attack animation

- Dragon advice: Corrin extends arms and legs when performing a lance and can be hit just at theses areas ( that have hurtboxes ). This can be seen more clearly on f smash animation. If you pause and zoom you'll see a stretched hand inside the armor layers. BE AWARE of this and don't be salty when sometimes you get hit right through a fsmash! -

So...when you're playing Corrin , keep them away from your body with all your zoning tools. You don't have speed, so your sword, lance and wings are your shield!

Below you can see Corrin's range in the air as well on the ground with the representation of hit boxes and the startup frames for each move I do not own these screenshots)





I like to say that Corrin's optimal gameplay is a passive - agressive style, going one step back and two forward. Let them think you're running away when you are just spacing, to let your oponent make a mistake, 'cause once you get in the percentage will rank up very fast.

ZONE 》》 BAIT 》》 PUNISH HARD 》》 KILL

Be patient, watch your oponent and enrich your neutral game to play Corrin, when he or she reaches around 80% you'll be able to take a stock in an edge guard situation for middle - light weight oponents ( that will be explained further on this guide ).


For Corrin's moveset i'll be explaining how important each move is in battle. For hitbox visualization you can serach for "Corrin hitbox visualization" here at smashboards.

For the frame data and damage I'll ask you to visit the amazing kuroganehammer's page and search for Corrin:
http://kuroganehammer.com/smash4/Corrin

• Jab 1 •

Jab 1 can be a good interception tool, if know your oponent is coming for a grab this move can give you space, don't spam it cause its ending lag has a few frames and fast characters can punish you at close range.

Dragon tip: if you hit the tipper jab 1 the oponent will get closer to you, try to follow up with a grab, D Tilt, run away and dragon lounge or just finish with the jab 2-3/ multihit. MIX IT UP!

• Jab 2 •

Jab 2 pushes them away, mostly you can mix it up with a Dtilt on lazy oponents and with a dragon lounge on sleepy ones.

• Jab 3 •

Jab 3 CAN kill at high percentages as 140% close to the edge, so if you want a safe kill go for it. if your oponent jumps out on jab 2 it gives you space and ground control.

• Dash attack •

Dash attack is trash!! = WRONG

Catch a landing oponent with dash attacks is in the fundamentals of the game. Yes it has a dumb ending lag but to master a character is to use all its moves in optimal situations, so try not to erase this move from your mindset as it can follow up a D air in low percentages, and can also be followed up with a F air if you act fast .

Dragon advice: don't ever aproach with dash attack and don't try to use it below 20% cause your oponent will punish you due to its low knockback.

• F tilt •

This move racks up damage at low percentages , like it can follow up itself around 10 %, so it's a good and fast tilt to get you to your objective and keep away your oponent. Also it is a kill move at higher percentages like 150 % against middle- light weight characters.

Dragon advice: if your oponent is shielding to much at low percentages ( 20%) go for a grab after one of these as he/she tries to land and shield, not true but it works. Also after two F tilts you can hit a full hop dragon lounge before the target hits the ground, of course they can jump , but it's your game to keep on zoning. For taller characters you can perform a short hop ( SH ) F air after a F tilt and extend to an aerial string ,works around 30 - 50 %. Try to do pivot F tilts as a spacing tool.

• D tilt •

One of the main combo starters. A fast spacing tool that leads to Corrin's incredible aerials.

From 0 - 60% you can follow up D tilt with one or two Up tilts, then go to F airs or maintain ground control for mixups. Combos will be detailed further on its own chapter.

• Up tilt •

An exellent anti aerial attack, use its disjoint in your favor, also a leading attack to aerial strings. Don' t try to hit an oponent on the ground with this move.

• F Smash •

So this is your best smash attack, a spacing tool and powerfull kill move, try always to get its tipper but don't spam it without pivot, this move is not unpunishable on shield, especially if you don't space it properly. F Smash sends a message to your oponent that he/she is not safe at mid range cause it comes out really fast. Don't use it at low percentages, around 70% you'll get more stage control or maybe a kill, also don't let this move be in your oponent's mind set, catch them by surprise.

Dragon advice: If you charge this move, Corrin's sword saw wil hit at a 0.5 % per second rate starting at frame 13 if I'm not wrong, so don' t be afraid to use the saw to combo. For example: at low percentages you can do D tilt> Up tilt> Charge F smash for 1, 5 sec and them release. Don' t be greedy by charging more than this cause good players can DI out of it, air dodge and them punish you.

Dragon advice 2: A pivot F smash on the ledge facing the stage covers all get up options, but your oponent can still let go and attack you from below or can DI out if they get caught in the saw. Don't charge too much.

• Up smash •

This move... is really cool , but badly designed. Did you notice that Corrin's sword simply disapears while in its animation?! I mean, Ike sticks his sword to the ground while performing up throw... So Sakurai, where were you at Corrin's up smash development ??

This move is a high risk/not so high reward and because of this you shouldn't be using too much, but you must know that it kills early at its tip and it is a follow up to a landing Fair/Nair around 30-40%, If you use a jump cancel. Besides that, use it more often to make reads on an oponent that is above you on a plataform.

Dragon advice: If you're in dream land, town and city or Battlefield this move can result in crazy early kills against light weights. The angle is straight up , so there isn't much to DI.

• D smash •

A simple move, Corrin's leg has a tipper so it's stronger at her/his back and send oponents in a horizontal angle, so it's good against characters that have poor horizontal recovery like Cloud without limit.

Dragon advice: the move itself is simple but you can give it some shine. Use a perfect pivot to turn around fast and hit your oponent with your leg, the perfect pivot + the leg covers almost the same distance as a F smash and if they roll to your back they'll get punished.

• F air •

This move is your best friend! (No, it's not dragon lunge)

This is your primarily spacing tool, combo tool and damage dealer. its knockback growth is smaler than Nair so you'll be using it to combo until higher percentages. With Corrin YOU HAVE TO KNOW how to Short hop F air and how to land with the optimal F air spacing, if you don't know these you're not playing Corrin right at all.

Dragon advice: One thing that brought a great evolution to me in Corrin's gameplay was know how to do a retreating short hop F air and fast falling at the right time. If you fast fall a F air at the right time ( after the animation) you'll get around 3 frames to open a shield, run away, do a dragon lunge, grab, counter, dragon fang shot or jump again and perform another aerial. BELIEVE IN ME ,this will speed up your neutral a lot. Also keep in mind that you can do a dragon lunge, Dragon fang shot or a dragon ascend after a F air before you hit the ground, this will help your combos or your trades if you use a dragon lunge, especially against characters that have a fast starting aerial like mario or yoshi.

A good ofensive mix up in neutral is to cross over your oponent with a dash and do a turn around short hop F air, that will lead to a Corrin common combo.

At low percentages you can do a footstol after a short hop F air and go for a D air and then proced to an instant pin (Dragon lunge).

At mid percentages, you can do F air> F air > footstol> Dair. I' ll explain the advanced and common combos further.

• N air •

So, this move has the same combo starter properties as F air at low percentages. You should use it mostly when you're landing and your oponent is at your back or dodged your fair in the air. Why not use this move after a Up tilt that sends your oponent upwards? Because it has too much ending lag and a F air will always do the work and let you extend the combo more easily. ALWAYS fast fall your short hop N airs cause this move doesn't auto cancel in a short hop so you'll gain time fast faling it.

Dragon advice: If you notice that your oponent is rolling too much to your back you can do a retreating short hop N air as a good punish. A retreating or advancing short hop N air is a good option out of shield as well. Don' t forget to fast fall it!!

• Up air •

This is your main jugling and killing tool in the air. You can do a landing Up air too and it covers more ground behind you, so always remember, if you want to kill don't stall it and if you want to keep a hard landing character in the air don't be afraid to use it. You can only cancel the lag of this move in a full hop so don't use it in a short hop just to build damage, a Fair will do 7% and an Up air will do 10%, so is better to extend your combo with a lagless short hop fair

• D air •

This move is tricky, is your main follow up after a footstol and there is also a "secret" about it. Use it to descend fast and to not give your oponent time to control the stage. Corrin stops in the air for a moment before going down so it can be a mind game if you're oponent is waiting for you with an attack.


Is this too hard to do?? NO, the time is strict, and that's all. This is not so hard as to do perfect pivots consistently.

This AT is so powerfull cause some characters as donkey kong doesn't have a good vertical recovery and it destroys some matches and emotional players as well. You can do this at 0%, the effect will be the same. If you want to master Corrin master this too, it can be a secret weapon in many situations , NO ONE EXPECTS THIS KILL SET UP IN A TOURNAMENT.


• Back air •

One of Corrin's coolest moves. The spacing with this move is HUGE, you should be using it as first option to do an offstage edge guard, if your oponent air dodges it gives you momentum to get back to the ledge first. On stage the optimal use of this move is in an ascending or descending short hop, for these two situations always fast fall after this move to reduce the lag. The descending one is a little bit tricky but it's an answer to some smal characters, cause the wings open much closer to the ground. In the air this move is really safe if you position yourself sideways, a commom aituation is to do a turnaround double jump ( reverse aerial rush) and get a higher edge guard.

You can use this move too when you're launched off the stage, to regain momentum as Corrin pretend to "fly" haha. Also, try to mix up your landing with this move, a lot of characters doesn't have enough speed to punish your reposition in the air.

Dragon advice: On a plataform you can cancel this move lag by doing a full hop> B air> them fast fall as son as the wings open, this will open an oportunity to extend the combo or gain some ground control. Notice that stages like dream land and Battlefield have diferent plataform heights, you'll have to change the timing just a little bit.

• Dragon Lunge •

So...Here it is, Corrin's unique and most useful special.

Before I say anything, learn this Advanced technique:


After the pin to the ground you can perform a kick forward or backwards that covers a lot of ground. The front kick can win some weak projectiles ( some kind of disjoint) and attacks and can kill around 130% and earlier if you have rage and your oponent don't DI.

NEVER use dragon lunge to aproach if you're fighting a fast oponent like sonic, fox, Falcon, pikachu, cloud, Zss. They can punish this move as well as characters with fast projectiles. I mainly use this move to PUNISH rolls, to edge guard or follow up to a F air/ N air at low percentages. Everytime you use this move to apply shield pressure or as a combo starter you lose stage control against fast characters, i mean , against good and aware players. You cant try to condition your oponent to shield your dragon lunges, them punish this repeated reaction!

You can use the pin to edguard in 4 situations:


To edge guard using dragon lunge offstage you have to make a read or a frame trap. For the frame trap you have to do an arising F air , make they think you're going for a second F air, they'll air dodge, them jump slightly backwards and hit them with the tipper. This works mostly from 60% to 90%.

You have a garanted kill set up ,starting around 80%, if you manage to hit your oponent with a DFS and them jump diagonaly for an aerial dragon lunge. You have to hit the DFS at mid range. This set up requires A LOT of spacing and timing training, MASTER IT, IT'S A TRUE COMBO!

Dragon advice: Do a reversal DFS (aerial or grounded) for a mind game, them go for your kill set up.

Dragon advice 2: Do a full hop slightly bacwards and them Dragon lunge for a tipper, if they shield it there will be a lot of shield damage and you will still have time to jump again, use a F air/ Nair , D air, fast fall to shield, fast fall to grab or counter, think of it, this game is a lot about conditioning and gambling.

Dragon advice 3: Try not to just run and Dragon lunge, do revearsal instant pins and revearsal dragon lunge leaps to pin, work on your oponents reactions.

Dragon advice 4: usually around 60% to 90%, to get the tipper in the air you'll have to jump towards the launched oponent and them jump full backwards ( or slightly, depends on DI and rage) performing a dragon lunge as fast as possible. This is some kind of a triangle in the air, think of it.

Dragon Lunge is a smash attack in the air! Put this thought in your oponents head, condition them to air dodge and make them fear dragon lunge.

• Dragon Fang Shot •

Dragon Fang Shot has Crazy Kill power , you can use it to stal in the air for a tricky landing, to finish some combos, for a kill setup and even for a trumping edge guard. Be aware that you can charge de water ball separatedly from the Bite, but you'll be using monstly de non charged ball + charged bit for a faster stun.

At low percentages you can do some mind game and catch air dodges after an Up Tilt or even follow up a Dragon lunge. For example: Hit your oponent with the pin them the kick forward, you'll land just below he/she, at this point som players will try to hit you instantly, so run away and do a reverse DFS, that's good mix up.

After one landing F air/ N air you can catch an airdodge if they're waiting for another F air, this can works too after one short hop F air, in this case they'll be waiting for the second F air after the first lauch. Don't get greedy, at low percentages you don't have to charge your bite too much, cause if they jump away fast you'll get punished.

A crazy trump edgeguard can be done witch DFS, after you sucessfully trump your oponent, just tap fast the analog stick offstage and instantly jump pressing B, them release and charge the bite. By doing this Corrin will jump exactly at the same spot your oponent got trumped and if you hit the stun a stock will burn at 80%. This is hard to pull off, but it's all about muscle memory.

Other offstage edgeguards with DFS requires a read and good perception to know your oponent recovery pattern.

• Dragon Ascend •

Corrin's recovery tool. Be careful with this one cause the wings are disjointed but your head and legs can be hit! Sadly ESAM did some videos explaining how to spike Corrin =/

On the ground and in the air this move has some invencibility on its startup, but it's slow. You can do some reads on air dodges if your oponent is above you and both are near the upper blast zone, in this case try do land de vertical Dragon ascendo to carry the target further upwards.

• Counter Surge ( Best Counter in the Game!) •

This is your Dragon Within, Corrin's high risk/high reward weapon, your best killing upwards weapon if you're hit by a strong attack. It comes out at frame 7 and lasts until frame 24. This move is only for those who have a strong mind and courage. Watch your oponent and make a read to change the game.

Remember that if you activate the counter while airborne you'll stal in the air for several frames and will be able to act right after. On the ground the counter has little ending lag too. Sometimes you can counter projectiles and punish oponents as they try to aproach, misjudging your counter ending landing lag.

Usually I use the counter in a "win or lose" situation, be brave, let them think the game is won and...Unleash the Dragon.

I don't think Corrin has a bad grab game, I mean..Look to Pac Man. Seriously, Corrin can make good use of his/her grabs through all the match. Try to always hit a pummel after mid percentages for optimal damage output. Remember that Corrin doesn't have really fast options at close range other than jab and D tilt, so your reaction time to grab, pivot grab and dash grab has to be on point. This will grant you the space that Corrin needs, that's why i think Corrin's grab game is essential to master. Also, insert Tomahawk grabs in you gameplay cause people always tend to shield too much against Corrins.

Corrin's grabs in general doesn't have much range, but pivot grab and dash grab gives you an acceptable range increase and mobility.

• Up throw •

This is your main kill throw, don't stal it for any reason. Don't try to use it for combos due to its great ending lag.

• Down Throw •

This throw deals the highest damage, you'll want to use it on low percentages and them on high percentages. If don't stal this move for a kill, it can apply good game pressure and provide you stage control. In any case you may chose this option through all the game to put your oponent in a constant landing situation, it depends on the match and matchup.

This throw has some invencibility and splash hitboxes, if you thinking about a doubles situation

• Forward Throw •

This one sends your oponent in a high angle, the main use is for gaining stage control or time to reposition yourself, if the oponent jump right after this it's your time to claim more ground control.

Again, if you're playing doubles, this throw can hit on its tipper, that has great kcnockback, I don't know exactly on what percentage it will kill, but its totally possible to happen.

• Back Throw •

Back Throw sends foes on a lower angle compared to forward throw, it has less ending lag as well. The main use is for stage control, reposition yourself and keep your oponent away. As for forward Throw, this one also has a tipper and can grant your team some strange kills.

Your main objective in smash is to take stocks, but first you may ask yourself what are your characater main objectives.

Corrin's goals are to KEEP MID RANGE > LAND FAIRS/NAIRS > JUGLE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN in this priority order. The way you gonna break the neutral in your favor depends only on the way you're keeping the mid range, once you land fairs/nairs you'll see yourself frequently on jugling situations, so keep the ground control.

The game starts!
The first thing you need to do is gain control of center stage, this is a fundamental of the game, if you're playing against a fast character, just walk to center stage em be prepared to be contested, and if your oponent is slow you can dash or foxtrot, be a tactician! Watch some high level matches, you'll see that they just walk in most part of the the neutral, as Corrin doesn't has a good walk speed you can mix it up with some foxtrots back and forth.

Your main tools to break the neutral are listed by priority below:

• Landing Fair/Nair
• Short hop > Fair > fast fall * at the end of the sword swing * ( retreating, advancing, turnaround )
• Short hop > Nair > fast fall
• Short hop > Back air > fast fall > turnaround Instant pin Dragon lunge
• Short hop > Up air backwards > fast fall
• Pivot F tilt
• Pivot grab backwards ( great range improvement )
• Pivot Fsmash/ Perfect pivot F smash
• D tilt ( if you're ok with attack on C-stick a perfect pivot d tilt can be exelent )
• Turnaround Instant Pin Dragon Lunge

FOCUS on this moves to start anything with Corrin in a high level match, the rest depends much more of your mind set and your oponents. Every match is unique and these are the best tools to build percentage fast. We'll see Corrin's combos soon.

Talking about percentage, 80 % to 90% are Corrin's magic numbers on the ledge, cause almost anything will kill middle -light weight characters. So, at the moment your oponent reaches 90 % your actions need to change, you have set your mind for an early kill situation. Your main objectives, listed by priority at this percentage are:

• Hit a F smash tipper ( more likely a beautiful pivot Fsmash )
• Hit a DFS with full charge bite and non charged shot
• Hit a Back air off stage
• Force a regrab and punish with Dragon lunge tipper / F smash tipper
• Trump > jump > Dragon lunge
• Trump > jump off the ledge > DFS (hard to pull off)
• Tipper D smash

After 120% you may put some moves in Focus on stage, and the edgeguard kill options stay the same, so now focus first on these:

Instant Pin Dragon Lunge
Short hop Back air > Back air > fast fall > turnaround Instant pin Dragon lunge
Pivot Fsmash/ Perfect pivot F smash

At 150% to 160% you may focus on Ftilt and pivot F tilt first. Note that these lists are prioritized to take a stock as fast as you can.

Hint: As you'll try to land as much Fairs/Nairs as you can, your oponent will shield a lot your short hops, so MASTER YOUR TOMAHAWK GRABS!!!
Here i'll talk about every lag cancel Corrin has concerning his/her movement, so you can play as fast as you can. I personaly love to know my main movementations options and explore how to get my gameplay faster, this will be a short part in this guide but I think movimentation is 50% of your Corrin's sucess path.

Corrin is the heavier middle weight, has good fall speed, allowing you to rely much on a short hop based game. Along with Ike, Corrin doesn't have a foxtrot dash dance, like Robin ( even Robin has it ...), Roy, Marth and Lucina. This movent option would be extremely good for Corrin, but let's not cry about it, still She/He has low dash ending lag, wich open oportunities for ground mind games and to attack as soon as she stops. Try to just tap the analog stick for a shorter foxtrot and faster response.

I don't know why they've nerfed Her/His walk speed cause it was never good.

Corrin has a good glide momentum wich allows you do retreating Nairs and Fairs, as I already told you that are great tools for your neutral, also gives the character a good reverse aerial Rush.

Try to allways fast fall after a short hop Fair, wait for the sword to swing. You'll gain som frames to proced with combos or defense. IF YOU FAST FALL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SWING YOU'LL GET MORE LAG than if you don't even tried to do so, the time is strict.

Dragon Fang Shot stals in the air for a short time, enough to catch some airdodges and mix up your recovery

Dragon Lunge in the air breaks your air momentum sideways and stals a bit too, never use it on a short hop ccause it has huge ending lag

Allways fast fall a short hop Up air, it can't be auto canceled anyways and you'll gain some frames this way.

I prefer using C stick for Back airs cause this way you don't lose the momentum given by the wings when going back to stage.

An exelent tool is to dash turnaround and performa a short hop Fair that still can be a retreating one, abuse of this if you are playing a "don't touch me " game , with maximum spacing.

To finish this part, I'll leave you with this message...

DON'T LAG.