Hitting a wall with a character

[Diamond DHD]

Here's something that I've been going through, and what a friend who's been playing for pretty much the same amount of time is going through. Hitting a wall with a character, as in the feeling that there's no more a player can do with character on a personal level, of course this is almost never the case, as my main was DHD, there is definitely more that can be done since a DHD main reached top 8 at APEX, I'm not saying that the character literally can't do better. But what I'm talking about is a character's shortcomings becoming too significant to work around while playing at an intermediate level. My example is DHD's main shortcoming, KO power, I playing him at a recent tourney and lost a game due to the other player surviving to insane amounts, but then switched to R.O.B. who I had a much lesser playtime with, and almost won the game, only losing because of an SD at the start of the match which I very almost had a comeback from.

Who else has run in to this problem? Is it a good idea to switch mains to the one that gives better results or stick with the one that the player has better character knowledge with? My main concern is that I'll eventually fall in to R.O.B's shortcomings and be in the exact same situation until I just play top-tier, and that if I stick with DHD I will tough it out until there is a point where nothing more can be done, and I'll have to switch to get better results anyway.

Edit: I thought I'd add, I'm really bad with dual maining, I'd rather have dedicated knowledge with a single character

 

[Wintropy]

I play Pit. I get how the lack of KO power can seem like a challenge, but trust me, you can get over it. If there's a particular issue your main has, you learn to circumvent it and carry on. Admitting defeat now will ensure that you won't get better in future, y'know?

There's no shame in playing multiple characters, either. Most people have a few subs that they can play, in order to mitigate their mains' poor matchups.

 

[JamesDNaux]

Hitting a wall after PKT2 always ruins my day.


Oh, not literally. Actually, I'm a Duck Hunt main as well, and I was starting to feel worn out on him too. I had ended up playing more Shulk and having some awesome matches, but after a few bad matches, I tried Duck Hunt again and bam! I tried applying some new techniques and improved my dexterity with using the can in conjunction with other moves and maneuvering around it. Needless to say, sometimes the best medicine is to just take a breather.

 

[Ducksen]

As a Mega Main, I feel Mega Man boils down to spam at the end of the day, but in my case not the good kind. I'm trying my very hardest to get some lemon action in and some slides as well, but it's very hard.

 

[Sean²]

Change up your playstyle. I was getting tired of being stomped as DH against certain rushdown characters and was messing around with some other characters who do better against those types of playstyles. Seems like the best way to act on those characters is to force them to take the defensive.

Then one day I decided I'm done with the defensiveness - next match I'm going in, hard, as Duck Hunt. I did just that, against a Sheik, Falcon, Fox (Though the reflector is pretty annoying), and several others who prey on forcing shields and spotdodges.

I had tons of fun and this really tested my reflexes and dexterity, but I was able to successfully play their game and force them to shield and roll away, while also setting up traps to KO upwards (So I don't have to rely on a whiffed fsmash or dsmash).

We haven't hit the ceiling just yet.

 

[Roukiske]

I think a large majority of the cast has what it takes to win. All you need is a couple of good moves and you're good to go. Some characters have 4 good aerials, some have 1, but the fact that they have that 1 good aerial is all you need in some cases.

When you've hit a wall with your character, that sounds like a good thing. If you've hit a true wall, then you have done very well with your character and can do anything you can probably come up with and you have most of the knowledge you need to know. So now what you really have to buckle down to doing is learning how to read your opponents.

You have the tools, now you need to work on your decision making. IMO decision making in this game will be the end game. You know your character's best 3 punishes and now when given the opportunity, you need to choose one of them. In some scenarios do you want to shield grab into 10% off the ledge? Or do you want to shield->up-tilt into 8%, but now your opponent is above you which will favor you? When we can all do what we want to do, the smarter player will be the winner in the end.