TKD
Smash Lord
I'll post everything about anything here (read: Brawl Character Discussion: Fox).
I'll also be completely discriminative against non-Fox mains and hang their pictures up at the "do not serve" section of my restaurant's wall (in other words, don't waste our time with questions bros).
vs Marth:
Spacing bair (preferably autocanceled to maintain position unless fastfall will work better) and surprising with grab is good at the beginning. It should look like your plan is to only space bair for walk-up grab to be a great surprise. Don't worry so much about blocking at first, the opponent only wants that juicy beginning grab combo. I'd prefer risking receiving a weak fair or something than the grab combo, but you shouldn't limit yourself to not mixing it up as things won't get moving that way. If they insist with grabs and fail enough, you may rack up a comfy lead. If you end up getting grabbed near the ledge, I think it's best to multi-SDI the spike upwards and air-jump to the ledge if the spike is anything like Falco's.
If Marth whiffs rising SHFair, you can dash usmash him. To inspire this specific whiff, it works to walk away from the opponent a bit. Walking away sort of encourages recklessness for some reason, including more whiffs. As Marth falls to the ground, it's good to walk up to him for a shieldgrab on his fair.
Getting below him and utilting him is also very good, be that before you're in fair range or after you've waited for something (utilt works easily on reaction to air-dodge, although dsmash is better if they do it early enough to react that way). Dair is a very easy punish if you block it (unblock, and usmash or dsmash), don't stop expecting it.
More about Marth fair. It has 8 frames of landing cool-down. If he drifts into you during rising SHFair, you can usmash from block or maybe SHFair (buffered for same height and smooth landing).
Expect Dancing Blade as the opponent's approach nearing the beginning of the set (expect grab first though!), or after he's used it once (an opponent that's not too happy committing to DB won't go all in with it right away or that often). DB is countered by SHNair into him (somehow it has more range in front of Fox than DB has above Marth), and by block (usmash or grab on the 3rd hit is guaranteed, but you have to execute whichever preemptively if you think or know they won't go into 3rd). I think you can multi-SDI DB's 3rd hit away or something consistently, which would be swell for a ledge grab or a dash usmash punish if they finish it instead of the opponent landing the whole combo and gaining momentum.
Marth gains A LOT of momentum if he sends you off-stage, be patient. Don't sideB into the stage from the ledge if the opponent is far away, since they're waiting for it and there's time to standard get up, ledgejump+shine, etc. back onstage outside of his option's range. If the opponent likes to perform empty shorthops, you can predict one and dash SHFair or dash usmash them (preferrably one for damage, or the other if it'll KO). As most strong punishments, this makes them stop doing it, which means one less option to worry about (if they keep doing it, you know what to do). Dsmash is very good at high percentages, sometimes Marth can't recover from it. The situation can even result in their death if they attempted to DI an usmash sometimes.
Don't edge-guard Marth below the ledge unless you're invincible or something. There's little to do without risking being dolphin slashed. Marth is invincible since frame 1 while performing Dolphin Slash, which is jump-cancelable (so he goes from blocking to invincible from one frame to the next if the opponent performs it from block, unless they uncharacteristically mess up). So watch out for Dolphin Slash and remember it exists (random DS can make for a very good punish, including uair, fair, bair, charged fsmash, or a KOing usmash).
Also, unblock into DB can hit you in around 12 frames, so utilt isn't safe on his shield. This means utilt is bad when the opponent can block it.
Dash Attack interrupts Marth's dash-ins very well and frequently enough! Marth takes awhile before he can block after initiating a dash, so if you're close enough, you'll probably land the Dash Attack interruption. It usually hits the opponent before his intended Dancing Blade comes out.
What else...
Marth's grab range is very good, but he doesn't slide as much as us when we walk block or walk grab, so we can walk up and grab him well. Shield is usually a good approach, and if you're used to walk-up shieldgrabbing (which you should be), you can usually shield-grab them on reaction to them also deciding to block. Remember to use your momentum every time you land an utilt or dthrow, or whatever. Marth has to land with a shieldgrabbable aerial, or an air-dodge...or something. In general he's at a disadvantage when below your ground level if you can get close enough to shield-grab his fair.
Also for some reason Marth players rarely bair (they can be more likely to prefer falling dair!), so it's easy to act as though they have no bair sometimes and get them from behind as they fall. If you get Marth to the ledge, you can wait for him from outside the range of his air-jump aerials and dash attack him after he does anything to get back...besides some exceptions: you can probably dash usmash (or bair ouch!!) his air-jump DB if he ever does it, and if he ledge-jumps, he got himself above you, which is a position easy to settle for.
If you hard-read a dash-in, you can probably dash usmash preemptively btw.
I'd write more or on other chars but maybe next time.
Basics:
If someone air-dodges too early, it's a chance to react to it by dashing up to them and punishing with usmash (remember it hits very high above Fox's head), fair, block+grab (to avoid dashgrabbing), dash attack, etc., the first two specially when the air-dodge will finish before they land. Sometimes they give you chance to walk up and dsmash them too. Another thing the opponent can do too soon is an aerial. You can react accordingly to your position and dash attack, usmash, air-jump fair (if you were both falling for example), etc.. So let it be a lesson: don't act too early while falling yourself!
Walk-up shield-grab (block+attack) is preferable to plain grabbing, because it reminds you to block longer sometimes, the first 3 frames of blocking actually equal a powerblock, and you can decide not to shield-grab immediately but do something else (mostly blocking longer or unblocking).
As your opponent is falling, you can walk up to them and block the first moment their quickest aerial can reach you. Why? If they perform the aerial the first possible moment, you get a powerblock. If they perform it later, you blocked anyway! Also, if they air-dodge, it can be easy to react to with a shieldgrab. This is very good against Falco and Kirby, to name a couple characters. Remember to block high so you're never shield-stabbed.
Don't dash attack too early. Fox gains options as the opponent's percentage rises, and dash attacking too early can mean eating an aerial before your cool-down is over. The example for Meta Knight would be around 50%, but nearing 0% it's also difficult for the opponent to react and punish accordingly (he lands back to the ground too quickly, so not even MK's nair has time to come out). This means that at way low percentages, dash attack can also prove useful. Yes, in general, the opponent needs some damage on them to be susceptible to this move, but it's a very good one.
I'll also be completely discriminative against non-Fox mains and hang their pictures up at the "do not serve" section of my restaurant's wall (in other words, don't waste our time with questions bros).
vs Marth:
Spacing bair (preferably autocanceled to maintain position unless fastfall will work better) and surprising with grab is good at the beginning. It should look like your plan is to only space bair for walk-up grab to be a great surprise. Don't worry so much about blocking at first, the opponent only wants that juicy beginning grab combo. I'd prefer risking receiving a weak fair or something than the grab combo, but you shouldn't limit yourself to not mixing it up as things won't get moving that way. If they insist with grabs and fail enough, you may rack up a comfy lead. If you end up getting grabbed near the ledge, I think it's best to multi-SDI the spike upwards and air-jump to the ledge if the spike is anything like Falco's.
If Marth whiffs rising SHFair, you can dash usmash him. To inspire this specific whiff, it works to walk away from the opponent a bit. Walking away sort of encourages recklessness for some reason, including more whiffs. As Marth falls to the ground, it's good to walk up to him for a shieldgrab on his fair.
Getting below him and utilting him is also very good, be that before you're in fair range or after you've waited for something (utilt works easily on reaction to air-dodge, although dsmash is better if they do it early enough to react that way). Dair is a very easy punish if you block it (unblock, and usmash or dsmash), don't stop expecting it.
More about Marth fair. It has 8 frames of landing cool-down. If he drifts into you during rising SHFair, you can usmash from block or maybe SHFair (buffered for same height and smooth landing).
Expect Dancing Blade as the opponent's approach nearing the beginning of the set (expect grab first though!), or after he's used it once (an opponent that's not too happy committing to DB won't go all in with it right away or that often). DB is countered by SHNair into him (somehow it has more range in front of Fox than DB has above Marth), and by block (usmash or grab on the 3rd hit is guaranteed, but you have to execute whichever preemptively if you think or know they won't go into 3rd). I think you can multi-SDI DB's 3rd hit away or something consistently, which would be swell for a ledge grab or a dash usmash punish if they finish it instead of the opponent landing the whole combo and gaining momentum.
Marth gains A LOT of momentum if he sends you off-stage, be patient. Don't sideB into the stage from the ledge if the opponent is far away, since they're waiting for it and there's time to standard get up, ledgejump+shine, etc. back onstage outside of his option's range. If the opponent likes to perform empty shorthops, you can predict one and dash SHFair or dash usmash them (preferrably one for damage, or the other if it'll KO). As most strong punishments, this makes them stop doing it, which means one less option to worry about (if they keep doing it, you know what to do). Dsmash is very good at high percentages, sometimes Marth can't recover from it. The situation can even result in their death if they attempted to DI an usmash sometimes.
Don't edge-guard Marth below the ledge unless you're invincible or something. There's little to do without risking being dolphin slashed. Marth is invincible since frame 1 while performing Dolphin Slash, which is jump-cancelable (so he goes from blocking to invincible from one frame to the next if the opponent performs it from block, unless they uncharacteristically mess up). So watch out for Dolphin Slash and remember it exists (random DS can make for a very good punish, including uair, fair, bair, charged fsmash, or a KOing usmash).
Also, unblock into DB can hit you in around 12 frames, so utilt isn't safe on his shield. This means utilt is bad when the opponent can block it.
Dash Attack interrupts Marth's dash-ins very well and frequently enough! Marth takes awhile before he can block after initiating a dash, so if you're close enough, you'll probably land the Dash Attack interruption. It usually hits the opponent before his intended Dancing Blade comes out.
What else...
Marth's grab range is very good, but he doesn't slide as much as us when we walk block or walk grab, so we can walk up and grab him well. Shield is usually a good approach, and if you're used to walk-up shieldgrabbing (which you should be), you can usually shield-grab them on reaction to them also deciding to block. Remember to use your momentum every time you land an utilt or dthrow, or whatever. Marth has to land with a shieldgrabbable aerial, or an air-dodge...or something. In general he's at a disadvantage when below your ground level if you can get close enough to shield-grab his fair.
Also for some reason Marth players rarely bair (they can be more likely to prefer falling dair!), so it's easy to act as though they have no bair sometimes and get them from behind as they fall. If you get Marth to the ledge, you can wait for him from outside the range of his air-jump aerials and dash attack him after he does anything to get back...besides some exceptions: you can probably dash usmash (or bair ouch!!) his air-jump DB if he ever does it, and if he ledge-jumps, he got himself above you, which is a position easy to settle for.
If you hard-read a dash-in, you can probably dash usmash preemptively btw.
I'd write more or on other chars but maybe next time.
Basics:
If someone air-dodges too early, it's a chance to react to it by dashing up to them and punishing with usmash (remember it hits very high above Fox's head), fair, block+grab (to avoid dashgrabbing), dash attack, etc., the first two specially when the air-dodge will finish before they land. Sometimes they give you chance to walk up and dsmash them too. Another thing the opponent can do too soon is an aerial. You can react accordingly to your position and dash attack, usmash, air-jump fair (if you were both falling for example), etc.. So let it be a lesson: don't act too early while falling yourself!
Walk-up shield-grab (block+attack) is preferable to plain grabbing, because it reminds you to block longer sometimes, the first 3 frames of blocking actually equal a powerblock, and you can decide not to shield-grab immediately but do something else (mostly blocking longer or unblocking).
As your opponent is falling, you can walk up to them and block the first moment their quickest aerial can reach you. Why? If they perform the aerial the first possible moment, you get a powerblock. If they perform it later, you blocked anyway! Also, if they air-dodge, it can be easy to react to with a shieldgrab. This is very good against Falco and Kirby, to name a couple characters. Remember to block high so you're never shield-stabbed.
Don't dash attack too early. Fox gains options as the opponent's percentage rises, and dash attacking too early can mean eating an aerial before your cool-down is over. The example for Meta Knight would be around 50%, but nearing 0% it's also difficult for the opponent to react and punish accordingly (he lands back to the ground too quickly, so not even MK's nair has time to come out). This means that at way low percentages, dash attack can also prove useful. Yes, in general, the opponent needs some damage on them to be susceptible to this move, but it's a very good one.