Hit Stop in Games: The Short Freeze on Impact

Hit stop, also called hit pause or hitstop, is a brief freeze of both characters at the moment an attack connects. The animation holds for a few frames, sound and effects play, and then the action resumes. Nothing is lagging: the freeze is a designed signal that makes a hit feel heavy.

Unlike a hit marker, which is an interface signal, hit stop acts on the characters themselves, so it changes timing. That makes it a mechanic in fighting games, where players count frames, and a feel tool in action games.

How fighting games treat it

Dustloop, the community wiki for Arc System Works games such as Guilty Gear and BlazBlue, documents the rules in detail on its Guilty Gear Xrd and BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle mechanics pages. Hitstop freezes both the attacker and the defender for a set number of frames. Commands you input during the freeze are buffered, so a special move cancel entered during hit stop comes out immediately when it ends. This is why hit stop helps combos: the pause gives extra time to enter the next command.

Two details matter in practice:

• Counter hit. The defender receives a few extra frames of hitstop compared with the attacker. In BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle the bonus runs from 0 to 8 frames depending on the attack level, and in Granblue Fantasy Versus from 2 to 12. Because only the defender experiences them, they act like extra hitstun.
• Interruption. If a character is hit while already in hitstop, the earlier freeze ends at once and the new attack's freeze begins.

Frames are measured against the game's update rate. In Street Fighter 6, a frame is 1/60 of a second, and frame advantage is written with a sign: +3 means you can act 3 frames before your opponent, and -6 means they act 6 frames before you. A hitstop of a few frames is therefore a fraction of a tenth of a second, but at that scale it decides whether a follow-up connects.

Hit stop in other genres

In action games hit stop is mostly a feel tool: a very short pause on impact that makes sword hits and punches read as solid. It is not a gameplay rule there, and the amount is a designer's choice.

What hit stop is not

• Lag. Lag delays input over the network, while hit stop is a deliberate pause built into the attack.
• Hit marker. A hit marker is a symbol or sound; hit stop freezes the action.
• Hitstun. Hitstun is the time the defender cannot act after being hit. Hit stop is the freeze at the start.

Related terms

• Combat abilities glossary: other combat timing terms.
• Hit marker: feedback that does not freeze the action.
• Desync: when the network, not design, stalls a game.

FAQ

What does hit stop do?

It freezes attacker and target for a few frames on impact, which emphasises the hit and gives players time to input the next command.

Is hit stop the same as hitstun?

No. Hit stop is the shared freeze when the attack lands. Hitstun is the period when the defender cannot act afterwards.

How long is hit stop?

A few frames, set per attack in fighting games. At 60 frames per second, one frame is 1/60 of a second.

Where is hit stop used?

Mainly in fighting games, where it is counted in frames, and in melee action games as a feel tool.