Ken Combo

The Ken Combo refers to an aerial combo which sets up a spike or a meteor smash, often using a low-knockback but high-hitstun forward aerial attack followed by a down aerial attack. The combo has four steps: perform a jump, then perform the desired aerial, jump in midair and then finish with a down aerial. It is often used to finish off enemies at mid-percentage ranges, as they do not take enough knockback for the combo to fail, but cannot be KO'd reliably by most other methods at those percentages. These are often used to close out longer combos, but if the opportunity presents itself, they can be done without the need of a setup move.

The Ken Combo is best utilized by and, whose skill sets match up well for the meteor smash setup to go to fruition. and can easily initiate Ken Combos at lower percentages, but the lack of power in their meteor smashes at said percentages makes the setup unreliable for KOs. Other characters can attempt a Ken Combo, most notably, , and , but their attributes don't lean towards it being a staple part of their metagames.

Black Mage has a variety of methods that lead to Ken Combo, notably his down throw that can lead into a Haste. His forward aerial has one of the longest disjointed hitbox in the game, giving a great reach in order to start the combo. Black Mage's down aerial has five unpredictable hitboxes, four of which can meteor smash and all doing slash damage.

Origins
The term "Ken Combo" is named after Super Smash Bros. Melee professional Ken Hoang, who popularized it. It was initially developed using Captain Falcon's skill set in the original Super Smash Bros., and found to work amazingly with Marth.