Kirby's Return to Dream Land/Characters and Copy Abilities/Water

Wave Attack (Press 1)

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • 12 dmg

Surf (Dash)

• Tips
  • Surf is barely faster than Sliding, but it has slow acceleration
  • Surf should almost never be used unless required, for the following reasons:
    • Wave Surf is faster and clears enemies for longer distances
    • Slide Attacking is faster for very short distances as there is no acceleration
    • Every time you jump from a Surf, you must slowly accelerate again upon landing

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • Turn around – 16 dmg
  • Kirby can surf on the surface of water as well as on fire blocks and lava without getting hurt.
  • Acceleration is not affected by icy surfaces.
  • Can crash into enemies without getting hurt (but Kirby bounces off of them)

• Speed ^[2]
  • Flat ground: 8.5 frames/block
  • 1/2 Downhill: 8.1 frames/block
  • 1/2 Uphill: 9.4 frames/block

Wave Surf (Dash+1)

• Tips
  • Use this whenever there is much ground
  • Wave Surf will automatically end if Water Kirby hits something one-block higher than his current height, but he'll bounce over; another Wave Surf can be immediately used
  • Seemingly travels faster and farther downhill, and slow and shorter uphill, but testing needs to be done

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • 32 dmg
  • No need to dash again after the move ends.
  • Can can surf on the surface of water, even when the move ends.
  • Invincible for the duration of the move.

Geyser (Up + 1)

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • 16 dmg per hit
  • Hold UP and Mash 1 for continuous hits.

Fountain Hover (Down + 1 in air)

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • 8 dmg per hit

Water Crown (Down + 1)

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • 16 dmg
  • 14 dmg if rapidly comboed.

Rainbow Rain (Hold Down, then Up + 1)

• Tips ^[1]
  • Rainbow Rain can be immediately chained into another one by holding Down during the attack's animation and then pressing [Up + 1] immediately after the attack ends.
  • Can be used in the air, press down when jumping then press Up+1 when airborne. When in the air, Kirby can remain suspended in place through spamming.
  • Ideal for fighting bosses, due to spammability, invincibility, huge hitbox, versatility on ground and air, and above-average DPS

• Attack properties ^[1]
  • 1st hit - 6 dmg
  • 2nd & 3rd hit - 5 dmg per hit
  • 4th hit - 21 dmg
  • 4th Hit if not comboed from 2nd & 3rd hit - 24 dmg
  • Max total - 37 dmg
  • Invincible for the duration of the move

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7} An ability and damage guide at the Kirby's Rainbow Resort forums. It's mainly maintained by Plas Durock and contains contributions from several members of the Rainbow Resort forum and the GameFAQs KRtDL forum. http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/935607-kirbys-return-to-dream-land/62398037
2. ↑ Frame tests by Yoshifan. This involved DVD-recording a test run, and then analyzing the recording frame-by-frame in 60 FPS using VirtualDub. For detailed info on the setup, see this SDA forum post. The block measurements and frames/block tests are particularly prone to inaccuracy, because the human eye is used to count "blocks" in the terrain and figure out exactly how many frames it takes for Kirby to travel a certain amount of blocks. It is estimated that test results may be up to 0.5 frames/block off from the actual values, possibly more if block-counting or math mistakes were made. If one could test on emulator, using a memory value to see what is Kirby's x and y position (or even x and y speed) according to the game, that could result in much more robust tests than these.