Snakeee
Smash Master
Here are some useful techniques I discovered in my experience playing ZSS.
1. D smash - D air spike (or just D-air): Under certain stages that have a thin floor, such as Delphino, you can D smash someone that is under the stage and then quickly short hop D air them to spike. This works great on characters that like to mindgame and attack from under the stage. Also, this is a lot more obvious but you can just d-air them through the floor.
2. *I was going to get rid of this, but it shows general approaches for combo attempts.
Up tilt- Up air - Up air - Up B - D smash - D smash - Grab - D throw - whatever you want to follow up with. (NOT A GUARANTEED COMBO) This can work from the ledge if your opponent is close to it. Also, they can airdodge the Up B. However, this has worked out for my quite often. Doing up airs to Up B in general can lead into basically the same thing. And you can technically follow up the D throw at the end with the entire combo over again. I've gotten a person from 0-81% with a combo similar to this one. Before people hit me with things like, all people have to do is airdodge, you have to realize that you don't have to always follow up with the same thing. Mix things up and mindgame. For instance you can simply wait for an airdodge if you expect it, and follow up after it.
3. Down smash ultra spam + Platform Down Smash - Whenever you are slightly higher than your opponent, you can double D smash them about 3 or 4 times especially if you move forward a bit after the first time. Say you're at that part of Delphino with the Star (or whatever it's called). You're opponent is on the lower part, and you're on the higher. If he stands anywhere near you...D smash spam. Another time for this is on Pokemon Stadium 1. Stand on the branch on the left side of the tree on that one formation, and if someone's on the other side of the tree....D smash spam. There are other times for this as well.
You can stand on a platform and D smash someone underneath you if It's a big character!!! This works with the D smash spam like above.
4. Armor part juggle - I have done this for a while but I just recently realized just how useful it is. It allows you to spam an attack and infinitely re-grab an armor part. The biggest thing is that with this approach your part will never fly off the stage unless the opponent breaks this. What you do is grab an armor part, short hop, smash throw it into the floor, and up-air as the piece comes back up at you. This is very spammable, as you can do this over and over with ease once you get the hang of it. If you think you'll get hit doing short hops you can also do full jumps, but there is more of a chance of you losing the part that way. With this you can destroy your opponents shield as you're hitting with both an armor part and an an up-air. By doing this you can save an armor part for a long time, sometimes even onto the last stock! Along with this the best things you can do with the armor are forward and backwards glide tosses.
5. Going from under one side of a stage to the other - Ok, this isn't exactly the most useful thing I don't think. I still found it interesting though. I've been able to make it from under one side of some of the stages (including Battlefield), to the other. Simply drop from the ledge, move forward a bit, down b, jump and Up-B at just the right time for the best boost, then Up B onto the other ledge. She can actually grab the ledge from an angle, so sometimes it may look like you'll miss, but you'll still get it.
6. Double D smash chain - No, the D smash chain was not my idea. However, I was the one to suggest doing double D smashes with the chain and thanks DarkShadowRage for confirming it to work on humans. I just wanted to list it here to make sure people know that a double D smash is a better option on the chain than a single one. The method is simply D smash - D smash - walk forward a bit - D smash - D smash - walk forward again - yeah you get the idea. Check DarkShadowRage's Topic on the move to see who it works on and on who it doesn't.
7. Down B/footstool tricks - First off, the Down B special footstool is amazing. It makes the Down B unpunishable if you predict things right and helps it become a more offensive move. When you Down B over someone you have the option of continuing with the Down B attack, or if you think they're expecting that, you can do the footstool over their head and gain a lot of space. If someone is edgehogging you, you're somewhat close to them and you can' make it with your down b you can down b footstool them. You don't have to be directly over their head. I think you can even be a bit to the side of them. As someone said in other topic, the footstool works on almost anything, including over your armor parts. This could add to some armor mindgames. It may also prove to be a great tool in teams by down b footstooling your partner in order to reach an opponent. I would say some more, but some people beat me to some of my favorite combos and tricks. I will probably add to this soon though.
8. Down B Infinite Ledge Stall - I just perfected this, and it's pretty simple to do. From the ledge, you tap backwards and drop a slight bit, then press Down B. You will instantly grab the ledge again and be invincible during the down B. There is little your opponent can do against this. The only way you can possibly get hit is if they can get you the instant you let go of the ledge. Also, if they drop and grab the ledge before you then you can just down b wall jump and jump again to get back onto the stage. This is the perfect thing to do when your opponent respawns.
9. D-smash - Down B spike - If you are edgeguarding from the stage and your opponent ends up recovering close enough for you to D-smash them (not under the stage like the b-air spike), you can simply Down-B and spike them with the attack part while they're stunned. You have to do the attack in whatever direction ZSS' foot will hit them. Stand as close as you can at the edge for the D-smash. Then Down B, and make sure you wait a split second and do the attack part at the very end of the animation or it will not spike.
10. Ledge hop paralyzer shot (+ down B) - it's possible to do a ledge hop, shoot a shot at your opponent, and have ZSS instantly grab the ledge again. This is useful when the opponent is wise to ZSS' ledge game and stays back a bit while you're on the edge. You let go of the ledge, do a short hop, and press B right away on the way up from the jump. If you timed it right the shot will be at a height to hit the opponent and the lag will be over by the time you fall back down to the edge.
If you expect this to hit ,instead of grabbing the ledge again, you can down B attack them immediently after the shot.
1. D smash - D air spike (or just D-air): Under certain stages that have a thin floor, such as Delphino, you can D smash someone that is under the stage and then quickly short hop D air them to spike. This works great on characters that like to mindgame and attack from under the stage. Also, this is a lot more obvious but you can just d-air them through the floor.
2. *I was going to get rid of this, but it shows general approaches for combo attempts.
Up tilt- Up air - Up air - Up B - D smash - D smash - Grab - D throw - whatever you want to follow up with. (NOT A GUARANTEED COMBO) This can work from the ledge if your opponent is close to it. Also, they can airdodge the Up B. However, this has worked out for my quite often. Doing up airs to Up B in general can lead into basically the same thing. And you can technically follow up the D throw at the end with the entire combo over again. I've gotten a person from 0-81% with a combo similar to this one. Before people hit me with things like, all people have to do is airdodge, you have to realize that you don't have to always follow up with the same thing. Mix things up and mindgame. For instance you can simply wait for an airdodge if you expect it, and follow up after it.
3. Down smash ultra spam + Platform Down Smash - Whenever you are slightly higher than your opponent, you can double D smash them about 3 or 4 times especially if you move forward a bit after the first time. Say you're at that part of Delphino with the Star (or whatever it's called). You're opponent is on the lower part, and you're on the higher. If he stands anywhere near you...D smash spam. Another time for this is on Pokemon Stadium 1. Stand on the branch on the left side of the tree on that one formation, and if someone's on the other side of the tree....D smash spam. There are other times for this as well.
You can stand on a platform and D smash someone underneath you if It's a big character!!! This works with the D smash spam like above.
4. Armor part juggle - I have done this for a while but I just recently realized just how useful it is. It allows you to spam an attack and infinitely re-grab an armor part. The biggest thing is that with this approach your part will never fly off the stage unless the opponent breaks this. What you do is grab an armor part, short hop, smash throw it into the floor, and up-air as the piece comes back up at you. This is very spammable, as you can do this over and over with ease once you get the hang of it. If you think you'll get hit doing short hops you can also do full jumps, but there is more of a chance of you losing the part that way. With this you can destroy your opponents shield as you're hitting with both an armor part and an an up-air. By doing this you can save an armor part for a long time, sometimes even onto the last stock! Along with this the best things you can do with the armor are forward and backwards glide tosses.
5. Going from under one side of a stage to the other - Ok, this isn't exactly the most useful thing I don't think. I still found it interesting though. I've been able to make it from under one side of some of the stages (including Battlefield), to the other. Simply drop from the ledge, move forward a bit, down b, jump and Up-B at just the right time for the best boost, then Up B onto the other ledge. She can actually grab the ledge from an angle, so sometimes it may look like you'll miss, but you'll still get it.
6. Double D smash chain - No, the D smash chain was not my idea. However, I was the one to suggest doing double D smashes with the chain and thanks DarkShadowRage for confirming it to work on humans. I just wanted to list it here to make sure people know that a double D smash is a better option on the chain than a single one. The method is simply D smash - D smash - walk forward a bit - D smash - D smash - walk forward again - yeah you get the idea. Check DarkShadowRage's Topic on the move to see who it works on and on who it doesn't.
7. Down B/footstool tricks - First off, the Down B special footstool is amazing. It makes the Down B unpunishable if you predict things right and helps it become a more offensive move. When you Down B over someone you have the option of continuing with the Down B attack, or if you think they're expecting that, you can do the footstool over their head and gain a lot of space. If someone is edgehogging you, you're somewhat close to them and you can' make it with your down b you can down b footstool them. You don't have to be directly over their head. I think you can even be a bit to the side of them. As someone said in other topic, the footstool works on almost anything, including over your armor parts. This could add to some armor mindgames. It may also prove to be a great tool in teams by down b footstooling your partner in order to reach an opponent. I would say some more, but some people beat me to some of my favorite combos and tricks. I will probably add to this soon though.
8. Down B Infinite Ledge Stall - I just perfected this, and it's pretty simple to do. From the ledge, you tap backwards and drop a slight bit, then press Down B. You will instantly grab the ledge again and be invincible during the down B. There is little your opponent can do against this. The only way you can possibly get hit is if they can get you the instant you let go of the ledge. Also, if they drop and grab the ledge before you then you can just down b wall jump and jump again to get back onto the stage. This is the perfect thing to do when your opponent respawns.
9. D-smash - Down B spike - If you are edgeguarding from the stage and your opponent ends up recovering close enough for you to D-smash them (not under the stage like the b-air spike), you can simply Down-B and spike them with the attack part while they're stunned. You have to do the attack in whatever direction ZSS' foot will hit them. Stand as close as you can at the edge for the D-smash. Then Down B, and make sure you wait a split second and do the attack part at the very end of the animation or it will not spike.
10. Ledge hop paralyzer shot (+ down B) - it's possible to do a ledge hop, shoot a shot at your opponent, and have ZSS instantly grab the ledge again. This is useful when the opponent is wise to ZSS' ledge game and stays back a bit while you're on the edge. You let go of the ledge, do a short hop, and press B right away on the way up from the jump. If you timed it right the shot will be at a height to hit the opponent and the lag will be over by the time you fall back down to the edge.
If you expect this to hit ,instead of grabbing the ledge again, you can down B attack them immediently after the shot.
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