fSmash Alternatives?

[Gravitirax]

It's dreadful, but I constantly find myself using fSmashes, even at lower percents. So I have 2 questions:

How can I learn to not use it at low percents?

and

What are some good alternatives for mid-range percents with less lag?

 

[dRevan64]

give 'em a hug (grab) or a poke (dtilt)
I assume you're talking about the neutral game since fsmash is still marth's best kill move

 

[Deleted member]

there's nothing wrong with fsmash at low %, just fsmash them out of aerials when you do it.

 

[(G-S.N) Chicago Ben]

It's dreadful, but I constantly find myself using fSmashes, even at lower percents. So I have 2 questions:

How can I learn to not use it at low percents?

and

What are some good alternatives for mid-range percents with less lag?

Play with a bot and use ONLY aerials for a while. I've had that problem playing marth to break that habit so you just have to force yourself to use your all-important aerial and grab game to win.

Good alts can be like approach and run up with short or full hop nair.(recommend nairs most)
Good old spam fair to zone and space it.
Down tilts are really safe to use also if you can zone and mix up with fairs and nairs
A pivot back air would be a nice change (charge enemy and before too close reverse and back air),
Ftilt is good and even better if you can find the tipper on it (lot harder to find than fsmash one),
Hell if enemies shielding you can (short hop option) Neutral B for shield pressure or for people on low platforms above you.
B forwards if you can time it and enemy doesn't see it coming (has a quick release but a bit of after lag).

 

[Nicholas1024]

If your problem is spamming F-smash in neutral, try replacing it with down tilt for a while. Down tilt serves much the same purpose as far as F-smash where spacing is concerned, with the exception that if you whiff or hit a shield, you're much less likely to get punished hard.

 

[Diana's Safe Landing]

Practice with people who can punish you really hard for it. It's pretty hard to break a habit like fsmash spam when it actually works. It's like getting shocked every time you touch a door handle, eventually you wont touch door handles anymore. But fsmash is still a really great move so you don't want to abandon it entirely. You have to study how to use it intelligently and use it in ways where you wont get punished. So ya hopefully you have players who can punish the bad fsmashes.

 

[dtmm]

If you can surprise them with a f smash that takes away their jump that's a good option. I had the same problem as you, I would f smash too much in the neutral game. To remedy it I played someone who could punish me hard for it (like DSL said) and I started to learn what moves worked best in certain situations. D tilt is wonderful and don't be afraid to throw out a tippered f tilit (although it lasts 15 frames longer than IASA d tilit i guess?).