with one notable exception

Time for another chunk of text that advances the metagame. There is of course a 'tl;dr' at the bottom.Zan posted this not too long ago http://smashboards.com/threads/the-...o-critique-thread.368737/page-7#post-19995599 I linked FSK to it and we got to labbing. These are the results. I'll start with the basics first.When you get hit and experience low level knockback all actions will be capable of being performed on the same frame (they can of course be buffered). When you get hit and experience medium to high level knockback, all actions will be able to be performed on the exact same frame following hitstun. Airdodge is able to come out earlier than all other options, and the amount of frames earlier that it comes out on will depend on how much hitstun Link would otherwise have had to go through. In other words, from a Sheik D-throw, a Link who is on 60% can airdodge around 4 frames earlier than any other option, but if Link is on 110% he can airdodge around 6 frames earlier.[Edit: Apparently jump and specials come out even later. http://smashboards.com/threads/mechanics-techniques-discussion.368206/page-44#post-20106322 So let's say you're holding a bomb and you get hit with medium to high knockback, what are your options? Well you can throw the bomb, and that will come out on the same frame as everything else except airdodge, and if you try to z-drop it something weird happens. If you input Grab (to z-drop) and you buffer the input before hitstun ends, you'll get a Zair while holding the bomb, the bomb won't be dropped, and the Zair will come out when everything else does. If you instead wait for the period of hitstun to wear off and hit grab at or after the point where all other actions can be used, Link will instead throw the bomb. You have to wait around another 15 frames after the period in which you can act following hitstun to be able to input just grab in order to z-drop the bomb. Normally then, in order to get a Z-drop to work soon out of hitstun, you would have to do it immediately after using your DJ, which has obvious downsides. But then here's where things get interesting.The first four frames of airdodge can be canceled by Z-drop and Bomb throw. These are known in the AT thread as the 'airdodge cancelled z-drop' and the 'instant bomb throw' respectively. What this means is that when Link receives medium to high knockback, he can airdodge earlier than any of his other options then immediately cancel that airdodge by throwing the bomb or Z-dropping the bomb - which allows him to throw a bomb or z-drop a bomb out of hitstun noticeably earlier than usual, at least in comparison anyway. This could just be a generally useful thing to know when throwing Bombs out of hitstun, but for now we're interested in the potential for combo breaking in the airdodge cancelled z-drop and how it can be used as an alternative for airdodging. Note that coming out of hitstun, the airdodge can be buffered, but the Z-drop input must be done separately no sooner than the initial frames of airdodge and certainly no later.To be honest, at this stage I'm quietly skeptical as to just how useful the airdodge cancelled z-drop will be for breaking combos. I just don't want to get ahead of myself here. It's not on the same level as the 'Invincibomb' from Brawl, nor is it on the level of the all too quickly patched out 'Bomb Throw Cancel'. It does in fact put a potential hitbox out much earlier than any other option Link has out of hitstun from medium to high knockback. So there's that. Out of Sheik's D-throw to U-air though for example you need to get the bomb to be dropped right in the way, which is potentially difficult.The position that the bomb is dropped can be controlled to some extent, so that helps, maybe. If you input the Z-drop on the first frame of airdodge it will be dropped in front of Link, on the second frame it will be dropped inside Link, and on the third and fourth frames it will be dropped behind Link. Let me just make a point of mentioning at this stage that airdodge only starts giving you intangibility on frame 3 anyway.In any case, you would need to combine smart DI with precision Bomb drop placement to better ensure that the Bomb gets in the way, and this is easier said than done. If Sheik goes for the D-throw to Up-B, the Bomb has to fall on and hit her before the hitbox comes out, but then Up-B has a semi-decent hitbox size, so if a Sheik catches onto the trick, she could probably just deliberately avoid the bomb entirely by using Up-B to the side of you.One more thing: when you do the airdodge cancelled Z-drop, you are stuck in the air doing your Zair if you don't get hit (in the vid Zan linked he got hit by a single 1% hitbox in the middle of Sheik's U-air), and while the Bomb can provide some protection, you're still quite vulnerable in your Zair state; and worse still, because you cancelled the airdodge with Zair, if you land during that Zair animation (which is very long) you will go through the airdodge landing lag.I think this is about as far as labbing and theory will take it. We'll all need to actually try this out in some real games to get any real answers as to how good this is or not. In any case it's nice to have an alternative to airdodging that comes into effect on the same frame.tl;dr- Airdodge can be used before all other options out of hitstun. Airdodge can also be cancelled with Z-drop and Bomb throw, making these two more options that can be used out of hitstun earlier than anything else. = Potential for combo breaking with airdodge cancelled z-drop.