Help wanted and appreciated!

[Boozy Blastoise]

Hey guys! I'm a longtime reader but first-time poster. I've been playing PM often and semi-competitively for a few months now. I've been beating people I didn't think I could beat before. That said, I have a very real thirst to get very good, which means I'll have to escalate my game much further. I'll be attending my first big tourney in months on Sunday (SSS in SoCal). I've learned , through humiliating tribulations, to get a pretty firm grasp on most critical tech. One thing that eludes me though: What's the timing for crouch-cancelling and teching? At low percents with Marth, I can crouch cancel attacks and punish with a dtilt or whatever (obviously). At higher percents, though, I'm knocked down when I try to crouch cancel an attack, rendering me in a bad position and unable to punish. I've seen better players crouch cancel and tech the anticipated attack, leaving them in an advantageous position to counter-attack. I can't, for the life of me, get the timing down on this. I can't find a useful way to practice this situation, either. Any input on this dilemma? Many thanks and blessings!

 

[CORY]

crouch cancel is dependent on the weight of the character and the strength of the attack, at its simplest.

the timing for techs is to hit the shield button within 20frames (1/3 of a second) of your contacting the surface you want to tech (in this case, the ground).

so, the short answer is: learn the general percents you have to be at to be knocked down, get used to hitting your shield button within 20 frames of being hit to tech the attack.

long answer: don't depend on cc at higher percents, you're marth, use your mobility and sword more often. there's also factors such as sdi and asdi that i can't properly explain due to lack of detailed knowledge.

 

[Boozy Blastoise]

Thanks for the input! I guess this might boil down to some hand-eye coordination problem or something. I wouldn't say I depend on CC punishes, and my dash dancing is proficient, but CC-teching nonetheless would be a handy wrench in my toolbox, especially in anticipation of a get-up attack. Perhaps I should preempt the anticipated get-up attack by readying myself to tech, as opposed to being completely reactionary as I normally am.

 

[CORY]

if you're anticipating a getup attack, you have MUCH better options than cc-tech-[attack]. learn to bait the getup attack with dash in-wd back or something of the sort to set up proper spacing for fsmash (for kills) or a grab (for more damage).

 

[Boozy Blastoise]

You're right. I normally try to bait get-up attacks with dash dancing, as any Marth should, though I still contend that cc-tech attacking is a spicy option - sometimes. What are the best situations for it, do you suppose?