Emblem Lord
The Legendary Lord
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2005
- Messages
- 9,720
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- Scotch Plains, NJ
- NNID
- ShinEmblemLord
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- 3926-6895-0574
- Switch FC
- SW-0793-4091-6136
This thread should have been made a month ago. Dancing Blade is just godly and I'm going to give out all the info on why. I'll talk about mix-up potential, set-ups, shield pressure, how to stay safe, and also talk about important data. Dancing Blade is a swiss army knife and IMO it's his best tool. After reading this thread, you too will agree that Dancing Blade is the best move in the game.
Properties & Data
Let's start with the basics. Dancing Blade is a very unique move. The smashwiki explains some basic properties very well, so here is an excerpt from the wiki that describes Dancing Blade.
"Marth's Side Special, Dancing Blade, is the largest move-choice Special in the game, involving him swinging his sword once, then allowing players to choose between centered or up for the second slash, then down, centered, or up for the third, and then down, centered, or up for the finale."
And here is another.
"Dancing Blade is Marth's Smash B. It's a unique special move, as it consists of four different attacks chained together; a variety of combos can be performed depending on ones tilt on the joystick for each attack. This makes it one of exceptionally few attacks in the series which relies on this type of input - most attacks require only one direction. It is, however, common in other fighting games.
The options on the tilts lead to 18 possible combinations (First attack is always the same, second attack has a standard/forward/down or up option, third and fourth attacks are standard/forward, down, and up as options)."
So right from the start we can see how unique Dancing Blade is. Each attack has slightly different properties and serves a different purpose. I will go over all the different attacks and give a brief description about each one.
1st Series
Forward B - This is the move that really makes Dancing Blade amazing. Marth does a quick downward one handed slash. It comes out in 4 frames. This is one of the fastest moves in the game. Marth steps forward for this attack which gives it good range. This move leads into the rest of Dancing Blade. Does about 2% in damage and 3% when tippered.
2nd Series
Forward B - Marth does a downward stab. He moves forward a bit for the attack. A fast poking attacking that leads into the rest of Dancing Blade. Does 2% and 3% when tippered. Pushes the opponent back.
Up B - Marth does a fast one handed upward slash. Pushes opponents upwards. Does 2% and 3% when tippered.
3rd Series
Forward B - Marth does a fast diagonally upwards slash with one hand. Does 3% and 4% when tippered. Pushes opponents back.
Up B - Marth brings his sword down with a fast two handed swipe. Does 3% and 4% when tippered. Pushes opponents upwards.
Down B - Marth lowers his body as he smashes his blade sideways at a downward angle. Does 3% and 4% when tippered. Can meteor smash an opponent in the air, but they must be very close to you. Can knock an opponent back quite a bit of distance on the ground. Tends to send opponents straight back at lower angles. If you stop the Dancing Blade here, Marth will step back so ends up about half a step from his original position.
4th Series
Forward B - Marth does a powerful spinning downward slash. Does 5% and 6% when tippered. Starts to kill around 130% if you hit with the tip and it isn't diminished. Has high backwards knockback.
Up B - Marth does a more powerful and flashier version of the up b attack in the second series, twirling around as he finishes the attack. The knockback is very high and it can kill starting around 115% if you hit with the tip and it's not diminished. Knocks the opponent into the air.
Down B - Marth steps forward and crouches low. He then proceeds to do 5 lightning fast stabs. The attack does about 10% whether you hit with the tip or not. Good against heavier characters, but less effective vs lighter characters. Has similar knockback to the Forward B in the 4th series but the knockback isn't as high.
Ok, after looking at this it's plain to see that the Dancing Blade has some interesting qualities. I'm sure this is obvious, but since the player must actually enter each command manually one after the other for the Dancing Blade, this attack is considered to be 4 seperate attacks in sequence. This means that Dancing Blade can regenerate Marth's other moves easily.
This is a pretty big deal since move degeneration really effects knockback and damage. So the fact that Marth has a move that essentially allows him to laugh at move degeneration is a HUGE advantage. This means a Marth player doesn't really need to worry about this at all, as long as the player makes good use of the Dancing Blade.
Since Dancing Blade is so fast it's an all purpose combo ender. It can link after pretty much any set-up attack that Marth has. D-tilt, Uair, Fair, F-throw, and D-throw all set-up really well for it, especially at lower percents. It is the go to attack when you want to deal good damage quickly.
It's also an excellent punisher thanks to it's blinding speed. Dropping your shield into Dancing Blade will punish anything that can be punished on block. Any good Marth should get into the habit of immediately dropping their shield after it's attacked by a punishable move and then doing Dancing Blade.
Approaching, Shield Pressure and Mix-ups
3 subjects to cover in one, but this is appropriate since they are all so closely intertwined when it comes to the Dancing Blade. Approaching with the Dancing Blade is easy. Run into Dancing Blade, dash into Dancing Blade, or walking to Dancing Blade. Simple stuff right? But that's what's so wonderful about it. You don't need any elaborate set-up to abuse the Dancing Blade. The move is fast enough that you can use it as an approach with great success as long as you use it INTELLIGENTLY. You can stop the Dancing Blade at anytime during the sequence. The down b hit of the 3rd series is good for that, since Marth moves back if you decide to stop there. The fact that you can stop the attack at anytime is what makes it tricky. Your opponent doesn't know when they can grab, or try to attack you so they will usually just sit in their shield and wait a bit until they are positive that it's to take action. And Marth can take advantage of this hesitation and do some pretty cool mix-ups.
Anytime you stop the Dancing Blade you can do a number of things. You can go for a grab. This is pretty effective, since alot of people just expect Marth to continue on with the attack. You can go for a ShieldBreaker. If you break their shield then you either got a free kill or you gave them alot of damage and set them up for edgeguarding. If you didn't break their shield then you scared them half to death and they probably won't shield for the next 10 seconds, which makes it alot easier to pressure them. You also have dash cross-up tricks you can pull out. Dash cross-up to pivot grab, dash cross-up to ShieldBreaker, and dash cross-up to Dancing Blade. You can just go into your other shield pressure moves like Fairs, D-tilts, or F-tilts. You could just do another Dancing Blade. You could even do something as basic as delaying the next hit so your opponent thinks they can attack or shield grab and they just get hit instead.
Marth has sooooooooooo many options when an opponent blocks his Dancing Blade. The moment you approach someone shielding your approach turns into shield pressure and once your forward b hits that shield and you stop and do something else it turns into a mix-up game. 3 important aspects that a character will need in order to be a solid character and Marth has it all in one technique. Still, to use DB mix-ups effectively you really need to watch your opponent, get a feel for their habits and condition them to do what you want so they don't counter your DB mix-ups easily. Work at it though, and it will be a valuable asset to your game.
Set-ups
Dancing Blade can set up well for edgeguarding and juggling. The up B attacks will launch opponents into the air and from there Marth can draw out airdodges and try to keep them in the air. The forward B attacks are mainly GTFO type attacks. Use them when you want some breathing room. The two down b attacks have different uses. The third one is good for edgeguarding set-ups. The knockback isn't too crazy and the angle it sends enemies at isnt high. The fourth down b is just for damage. Opponents can DI out of it though which limits it's usefulness. You really shouldn't rely on it. For the most part stick to the up b attacks, since it leads straight to an advantegeous situation that you can exploit pretty easily.
Marth also has some nice set-ups using his other moves to allow him to pressure with the Dancing Blade. Fair cross-up to Dancing Blade is one that I really like. Fair and then when you are on the other side do a reverse Dancing Blade. It can catch an opponent off guard and you can mix-up with fast fall to grab or Shieldbreaker after the intial cross-up fair.
Another one I like is SHFF tipper Fair to Dancing Blade. Very good for pressure. D-tilt to Dancing Blade is another good one. And if either the fair or the d-tilt hits then the Dancing Blade is a free follow-up if the opponents percent is low enough.
Recovery
Marth can use his Dancing Blade for recovery purposes. When Marth rises in the air and then does forward B he will get a boost in height. This can also be useful for stalling when people attempt to edgehug Marth when he is recovering low. This gives him a little extra time to stay in the air while his opponents invincibility wears off, so he can up b to the ledge once they roll off. Marth only gets one boost in height from his forward b per jump. To be able to get that boost in height again he has to touch the ground or grab the ledge.
Cool Tricks
These are just some pretty cool tricks Marth can do with his Dancing Blade and how to do them.
Wave Blade - To do a wavebounced Dancing Blade just jump in any direction. Then hit b and the direction that is the opposite of you are facing. Then IMMEDIATELY hit the direction you are facing. You know you got when Marth does a forward B but moves backwards. Also the first hit of the Dancing Blade will look rather jagged. This can also be done on the ground. Marth will step back instead of stepping forward for the Dancing blade.
Reverse Blade out of a run - Normally you can't do a Reverse Dancing Blade out of a run, but with this method you can. It's the method as the Wave Blade, When you are in a full run hit forward b then immediately hit the opposite direction on the analog.
I think Wave Blade has alot of potential in regards to spacing the Dancing Blade and staying safe. Reverse Blade is just an extra option Marth has out of a run. It's just a little something extra he has up his sleeve IMO. Wave Blade can definitely be used regularly though and has good spacing applications. A nice little set-up would be SH Fair on an opponents shield then Wave Blade so Marth goes back and spaces out the hits to stay safe.
Note - If you wanted to space the Dancing Blade the same way you would do a Wave Blade on the ground, you can get the same effect by dashing back then doing Dancing Blade in the opposite direction. Wave Blade on the ground is still super sexy though. ^_^
Well, that does it. I hope it was a good read and I hope you now realize that Dancing Blade is the best move in the game.
Allow me to leave you with some insight, before the end of this post.
Dancing Blade = win, but Dancing Blade online = Hot garbage fresh out the oven.
Discuss.
And if you think I should mention something in this post, let me know.
Properties & Data
Let's start with the basics. Dancing Blade is a very unique move. The smashwiki explains some basic properties very well, so here is an excerpt from the wiki that describes Dancing Blade.
"Marth's Side Special, Dancing Blade, is the largest move-choice Special in the game, involving him swinging his sword once, then allowing players to choose between centered or up for the second slash, then down, centered, or up for the third, and then down, centered, or up for the finale."
And here is another.
"Dancing Blade is Marth's Smash B. It's a unique special move, as it consists of four different attacks chained together; a variety of combos can be performed depending on ones tilt on the joystick for each attack. This makes it one of exceptionally few attacks in the series which relies on this type of input - most attacks require only one direction. It is, however, common in other fighting games.
The options on the tilts lead to 18 possible combinations (First attack is always the same, second attack has a standard/forward/down or up option, third and fourth attacks are standard/forward, down, and up as options)."
So right from the start we can see how unique Dancing Blade is. Each attack has slightly different properties and serves a different purpose. I will go over all the different attacks and give a brief description about each one.
1st Series
Forward B - This is the move that really makes Dancing Blade amazing. Marth does a quick downward one handed slash. It comes out in 4 frames. This is one of the fastest moves in the game. Marth steps forward for this attack which gives it good range. This move leads into the rest of Dancing Blade. Does about 2% in damage and 3% when tippered.
2nd Series
Forward B - Marth does a downward stab. He moves forward a bit for the attack. A fast poking attacking that leads into the rest of Dancing Blade. Does 2% and 3% when tippered. Pushes the opponent back.
Up B - Marth does a fast one handed upward slash. Pushes opponents upwards. Does 2% and 3% when tippered.
3rd Series
Forward B - Marth does a fast diagonally upwards slash with one hand. Does 3% and 4% when tippered. Pushes opponents back.
Up B - Marth brings his sword down with a fast two handed swipe. Does 3% and 4% when tippered. Pushes opponents upwards.
Down B - Marth lowers his body as he smashes his blade sideways at a downward angle. Does 3% and 4% when tippered. Can meteor smash an opponent in the air, but they must be very close to you. Can knock an opponent back quite a bit of distance on the ground. Tends to send opponents straight back at lower angles. If you stop the Dancing Blade here, Marth will step back so ends up about half a step from his original position.
4th Series
Forward B - Marth does a powerful spinning downward slash. Does 5% and 6% when tippered. Starts to kill around 130% if you hit with the tip and it isn't diminished. Has high backwards knockback.
Up B - Marth does a more powerful and flashier version of the up b attack in the second series, twirling around as he finishes the attack. The knockback is very high and it can kill starting around 115% if you hit with the tip and it's not diminished. Knocks the opponent into the air.
Down B - Marth steps forward and crouches low. He then proceeds to do 5 lightning fast stabs. The attack does about 10% whether you hit with the tip or not. Good against heavier characters, but less effective vs lighter characters. Has similar knockback to the Forward B in the 4th series but the knockback isn't as high.
Ok, after looking at this it's plain to see that the Dancing Blade has some interesting qualities. I'm sure this is obvious, but since the player must actually enter each command manually one after the other for the Dancing Blade, this attack is considered to be 4 seperate attacks in sequence. This means that Dancing Blade can regenerate Marth's other moves easily.
This is a pretty big deal since move degeneration really effects knockback and damage. So the fact that Marth has a move that essentially allows him to laugh at move degeneration is a HUGE advantage. This means a Marth player doesn't really need to worry about this at all, as long as the player makes good use of the Dancing Blade.
Since Dancing Blade is so fast it's an all purpose combo ender. It can link after pretty much any set-up attack that Marth has. D-tilt, Uair, Fair, F-throw, and D-throw all set-up really well for it, especially at lower percents. It is the go to attack when you want to deal good damage quickly.
It's also an excellent punisher thanks to it's blinding speed. Dropping your shield into Dancing Blade will punish anything that can be punished on block. Any good Marth should get into the habit of immediately dropping their shield after it's attacked by a punishable move and then doing Dancing Blade.
Approaching, Shield Pressure and Mix-ups
3 subjects to cover in one, but this is appropriate since they are all so closely intertwined when it comes to the Dancing Blade. Approaching with the Dancing Blade is easy. Run into Dancing Blade, dash into Dancing Blade, or walking to Dancing Blade. Simple stuff right? But that's what's so wonderful about it. You don't need any elaborate set-up to abuse the Dancing Blade. The move is fast enough that you can use it as an approach with great success as long as you use it INTELLIGENTLY. You can stop the Dancing Blade at anytime during the sequence. The down b hit of the 3rd series is good for that, since Marth moves back if you decide to stop there. The fact that you can stop the attack at anytime is what makes it tricky. Your opponent doesn't know when they can grab, or try to attack you so they will usually just sit in their shield and wait a bit until they are positive that it's to take action. And Marth can take advantage of this hesitation and do some pretty cool mix-ups.
Anytime you stop the Dancing Blade you can do a number of things. You can go for a grab. This is pretty effective, since alot of people just expect Marth to continue on with the attack. You can go for a ShieldBreaker. If you break their shield then you either got a free kill or you gave them alot of damage and set them up for edgeguarding. If you didn't break their shield then you scared them half to death and they probably won't shield for the next 10 seconds, which makes it alot easier to pressure them. You also have dash cross-up tricks you can pull out. Dash cross-up to pivot grab, dash cross-up to ShieldBreaker, and dash cross-up to Dancing Blade. You can just go into your other shield pressure moves like Fairs, D-tilts, or F-tilts. You could just do another Dancing Blade. You could even do something as basic as delaying the next hit so your opponent thinks they can attack or shield grab and they just get hit instead.
Marth has sooooooooooo many options when an opponent blocks his Dancing Blade. The moment you approach someone shielding your approach turns into shield pressure and once your forward b hits that shield and you stop and do something else it turns into a mix-up game. 3 important aspects that a character will need in order to be a solid character and Marth has it all in one technique. Still, to use DB mix-ups effectively you really need to watch your opponent, get a feel for their habits and condition them to do what you want so they don't counter your DB mix-ups easily. Work at it though, and it will be a valuable asset to your game.
Set-ups
Dancing Blade can set up well for edgeguarding and juggling. The up B attacks will launch opponents into the air and from there Marth can draw out airdodges and try to keep them in the air. The forward B attacks are mainly GTFO type attacks. Use them when you want some breathing room. The two down b attacks have different uses. The third one is good for edgeguarding set-ups. The knockback isn't too crazy and the angle it sends enemies at isnt high. The fourth down b is just for damage. Opponents can DI out of it though which limits it's usefulness. You really shouldn't rely on it. For the most part stick to the up b attacks, since it leads straight to an advantegeous situation that you can exploit pretty easily.
Marth also has some nice set-ups using his other moves to allow him to pressure with the Dancing Blade. Fair cross-up to Dancing Blade is one that I really like. Fair and then when you are on the other side do a reverse Dancing Blade. It can catch an opponent off guard and you can mix-up with fast fall to grab or Shieldbreaker after the intial cross-up fair.
Another one I like is SHFF tipper Fair to Dancing Blade. Very good for pressure. D-tilt to Dancing Blade is another good one. And if either the fair or the d-tilt hits then the Dancing Blade is a free follow-up if the opponents percent is low enough.
Recovery
Marth can use his Dancing Blade for recovery purposes. When Marth rises in the air and then does forward B he will get a boost in height. This can also be useful for stalling when people attempt to edgehug Marth when he is recovering low. This gives him a little extra time to stay in the air while his opponents invincibility wears off, so he can up b to the ledge once they roll off. Marth only gets one boost in height from his forward b per jump. To be able to get that boost in height again he has to touch the ground or grab the ledge.
Cool Tricks
These are just some pretty cool tricks Marth can do with his Dancing Blade and how to do them.
Wave Blade - To do a wavebounced Dancing Blade just jump in any direction. Then hit b and the direction that is the opposite of you are facing. Then IMMEDIATELY hit the direction you are facing. You know you got when Marth does a forward B but moves backwards. Also the first hit of the Dancing Blade will look rather jagged. This can also be done on the ground. Marth will step back instead of stepping forward for the Dancing blade.
Reverse Blade out of a run - Normally you can't do a Reverse Dancing Blade out of a run, but with this method you can. It's the method as the Wave Blade, When you are in a full run hit forward b then immediately hit the opposite direction on the analog.
I think Wave Blade has alot of potential in regards to spacing the Dancing Blade and staying safe. Reverse Blade is just an extra option Marth has out of a run. It's just a little something extra he has up his sleeve IMO. Wave Blade can definitely be used regularly though and has good spacing applications. A nice little set-up would be SH Fair on an opponents shield then Wave Blade so Marth goes back and spaces out the hits to stay safe.
Note - If you wanted to space the Dancing Blade the same way you would do a Wave Blade on the ground, you can get the same effect by dashing back then doing Dancing Blade in the opposite direction. Wave Blade on the ground is still super sexy though. ^_^
Well, that does it. I hope it was a good read and I hope you now realize that Dancing Blade is the best move in the game.
Allow me to leave you with some insight, before the end of this post.
Dancing Blade = win, but Dancing Blade online = Hot garbage fresh out the oven.
Discuss.
And if you think I should mention something in this post, let me know.
Almost nothing gives you inevitable damage (except for the ness CG) on contact quite like it. Its set-up, damage, and punisher all rolled into once convenient joint, so prepare to light up. Anyway, you covered most of the important stuff. The only thing i noticed was missing was the gimpage the first poke of the DB has (the aid in vertical recovery was missing too but thats fine). I think you could add a few Dancing blade set ups that are similiar to dancing blade -> dolphin slash and uses for each. Since you did say the move is good for set ups though, this is just a suggestion. Good job on the thread and info.
