cutter
Smash Champion
G&W's Weapons Cache
Like Bomberman, he must have deep pockets...
Inspired by the Kirby boards for doing this, and also Neb for bringing it up, I think it would be a good idea to analyze G&W's moves in-depth on when to use them and useful situations involved in them.
Much similar to our matchup discussion, we'll talk about one move at a time showing each other useful insight and tactics for that move. Because G&W's are almost all useful, it would be a good idea to do something like this.
I'll change moves every 3-4 days, depending on feedback and activity. We'll start off first with some more of G&W's not-as-used moves. Moves like Bair, Oil Panic, etc. will be saved for the end because those moves have been so discussed in-depth.
*space reserved for summary of move analysis*
Nair (posts #2-#11, #29, #30)
- Fish give G&W great spacing and reach with it. The hitbox is very deceptive, because the water and bowl are also hitboxes.
- Piles on damage very fast. (17% if all hits connect)
- First 3 hits drag the foe into you, and the 4th hit is a knockback hitbox. If you SH Nair and don't let it go through the whole animation, the first 3 hitboxes will pull your foe in. Then you can very easily do a follow-up move since Nair autocancels.
- Great for hitting people through platforms.
- Move autocancels, resulting in very minimal punishment if that.
- This move lingers and has a long duration, allowing you to be able to hit airdodgers.
- Buffer Nair and then Up B to avoid a possible shieldgrab.
- This move can get G&W out of possible "combos" and overrides a lot of attacks in the air.
- Provides great projectile defense since the fish make a nice little shield around you.
- Overall, Nair is a very good move that is very safe to use most of the time.
Dtilt (posts #12-#28)
- Hitbox comes out on frame 6, and IASA frames make it tough to punish.
- Massive disjointed hitbox that lingers. (won't go away until the whole manhole disappears) and provides excellent spacing. Dtilt will follow the angle of the terrain, so on sloped platforms it will be sloped as well.
- Great edgeguarding tool for blocking off the ledge.
- A good, safe follow-up to a Dthrow and also from out of your crouch.
- Against a wall, Dtilt will lock your foe until ~120%. Take advantage of this on stages like Delphino Plaza, Rainbow Cruise, and Pokemon Stadium 1.
- Because of its priority, size of the hitbox, startup time, and IASA frames, Dtilt provides an excellent way to block most projectiles that your bucket can't absorb.
- Dtilt especially comes in handy against Olimar when you can use it to literally catapult pikmin away from you.
- Overall, Dtilt is an amazing utility move at G&W's disposal. While it may not do a ton of damage, it is very important in G&W's ground game.
Dash Attack (posts #32-45)
- An attack that starts up quickly and provides for another approach.
- This attack has HUGE priority which allows it to clash with many smashes (ie Pikachu's Fsmash) and it'll even go through other high priority attacks such as PKT2 and Firefox/bird/wolf.
- If a person holding onto the ledge has lost their invincibility frames, this move will stage spike.
- All of G&W's body is a hitbox; not just the helmet part.
- The move lingers enough for it to go through a spotdodge.
- You can do some minor combing by chaining a couple of dash attacks at low %s, but this isn't foolproof.
- Be careful though; if you miss this or get shielded, you're going to be punished.
- It's a situational attack, but that doesn't mean it's bad. In fact, G&W's Dash can be a fantastic attack, but it isn't a move that should be used all the time like Bair.
Up B (posts #47-55)
- One of the best recoveries in the game, period. It is almost impossible to gimp.
- Invincibility frames on a third of the way up through the trampoline jump.
- High priority, quick attack execution, invincibility, and speed give G&W a very solid move to get himself out of a jam.
- Knockback sends the opponent up and outward, making it pretty good for edgeguarding. It will also stagespike edgehoggers.
- If someone is near the trampoline as G&W bounces off, they will be pushed by the trampoline as well. Sometimes they can even be sucked into the attack. This ability works very well to punish tornado spam from Metaknight.
- If you do an attack right from the apex of the jump, you'll do a fastfall. You can also do this with a special; you'll fall much faster this way.
- A focal point of G&W, his Up B gives him so many options in attacking and recovery that this move is amazing in most situations.
- After all is said and done, this move is just too complicated to write a summary about.
Jab (posts #63-80)
- A fast quick attack that is pretty decent at piling on damage.
- For a jab, it has fantastic range.
- It's great to jab cancel with; ie jab cancel into a Dtilt or jab cancel into a grab or Judgment.
- The jab forces your opponent back up into their standing position, which can allow for a pseudo-chaingrab from Dthrow or back to a jab cancel.
- This can also hit foes directly behind you as well.
- It's a decent move that has its uses; though most times if you want to jab, there's Dtilt which is usually better.
Chef (posts #82-102)
- The food flies in random trajectories that can't be controlled. This can be a good thing by creating a nice wall of high-priority projectiles that do a lot of damage and also bad because they can miss your opponent entirely.
- Frying pan deals a nice blow and sends your foe at a downward angle.
- You can mash B to speed up the rate of the food being fired.
- Makes for a nice edgeguarding tool.
- It's great for luring opponents to use their projectiles; this is beneficial when you can absorb said projectiles with your Bucket.
- The delayed travel of the food can provide some good approach and cover for other moves.
- Chef is a pretty ok special that really shines against opponents that don't have projectiles and are forced to approach (ie Marth and Donkey Kong).
- Random fact that could prove useful: If Kirby sucks you up and starts using Chef, you can absorb the food. Strange thing is, this isn't possible against another G&W that uses Chef.
Judgment (posts #102-133)
- Because it has so-so start up time and the effects are random, Judgment is a pretty situational move.
- Other than a 9, there are many other good things you can get from Judgment. 6 will do a semi-spike akin to Dsmash, 7 does a nice hit and generates an apple, 2 can force a trip, and 8 freezes.
- You can slide off the edge with Judgment as soon as you side B off the ledge; you'll get a nice momentum boost when doing this.
- The best way to land a Judgment hit is off a Dthrow techchase. Edgeguarding Snake while he comes back with his Cypher is also good to get a free hit as well.
- Once your opponent is up to ~85% and above, you're better off using a smash or Fair to kill your opponent instead of trying for a 6 edgeguard or a 9 kill.
- Remember, you have to use Judgment 2 more times after you get a 9 to "reset" Judgment so you can get another 9. Your Judgment hammer will also "reset" when you respawn.
Dsmash (posts #135-150)
- One of G&W's best kill moves, and easily one of the best Dsmashes in the game.
- Tipper Dsmash annihilates virtually every character at ~95%.
- "Sourspot" Dsmash will send you foe downward and away, making it amazing against tether recoveries and characters with horrible horizontal recovery (ie Ike).
- Move has IASA frames, making it hard to punish.
- There are also invisible hitboxes outside the tips of the hammers which will still deliver a tipper hit. The range on where the hammers hit is very deceptive.
- Tipper or no tipper, the Dsmash is a very powerful move that gives G&W some of his obscene killing ability.
Utilt (posts #152-159)
- For fast fallers, Utilt is good for damage dealing by means of juggling at low percentages. Think of Shiek's Ftilt on spacies, except not as extreme.
- Decent startup and IASA frames.
- A fresh Utilt can KO lightweights at high percents (~120% or so).
- Other than that, Utilt is outclassed by other moves like G&W's Up B or his Uair which are better on people above you. Other than random kills when it's fresh and ~30% juggling combos at low %, Utilt is a situational move.
Dair (posts #161-166)
- Dair has ridiculously high priority. It will slice through a LOT of attacks, but don't rely on it to go through everything.
- AoE-style hitbox upon landing makes this attack very hard to punish.
- The first few frames of Dair spike, just like in Melee.
- You can slowfall Dair so you can spike offstage... this helps greatly at keeping you from suiciding.
- SH Dair is fun stuff. Try it sometime.
- Does a ton of damage if both hits land (~19-20)
- Overall, Dair is one of G&W's best attacks because it's just so... good. A lot of times your opponent can't do much about Dair except airdodge or powershield it. It's a very spammable move, but you can be punished if you become predictable with it and telegraph Dair from high distances above.
Fair (posts #168-182)
- Amazing disjointed hitbox; gives G&W huge range and priority.
- VERY powerful kill move offstage when it's fresh; a very good edgeguarding tool.
- This move lasts for a very long time. If you don't hit your foe with the "knockback" hitbox that comes out on the first few frames, the remainder of the attack acts like a sex kick.
- The best situations where Fair can be used the best are offstage and in a complete air battle it seems. SHing with Fair is not advisable because the terrible cooldown on this move means you'll be punished.
- Try to not land with this move as little as possible. It is much better to land on the ground with an autocanceled Nair or Uair, the landing hitbox on the Bair, or with the Dair and its shockwave hitbox upon hitting the ground.
Ftilt (posts #184-188)
- Well... it lasts through spotdodges which is nice.
- Delivers a nice hit that can possibly kill off the edge when it's fresh, but Dtilt is usually the better move because of its superior range, speed, and IASA frames.
- You're going to be hard pressed to find a use for Ftilt in your game (at least for me). It's better to stick with Dtilt.
Bair (posts #190-204)
- G&W's best move, hands down. If you're going to play with G&W, you'd better be using this move.
- Absolutely amazing at approaching. The hitbox is so ridiculously massive, VERY high priority, and it lasts for a very long time. This move has so many hitboxes to it that it will tear through shields like tissue paper.
- If your opponent puts their shield up, continue the attack and DI back so that the turtle is still draining their shield but you're well out of grab range.
- If their shield has been up or is weak, this move will shieldstab almost all the time.
- The landing hitbox makes this move borderline broken. Even if someone rolls away (if they spot dodge they still get hit because of Bair's duration) you can chase them with the landing hitbox and wreck them.
- Because of the size of the hitbox and its priority, Bair can serve has great projectile defense when in the air or SHing.
- Bair is just so good. There is no denying it. It is arguably the best move in the game.
Last updated: 8-13-08
