Just picked up the Weegee, anything I should focus on?

[treemustach]

I just picked up Luigi and by god do I love him. His movement is nice and fluid and the wavedash is beyond my expectations. I have been practicing my wavedash and getting used to his weight (I mained Doc before) and now I can't be happier, but on a more serious note, are there any particular approaches and defensive techs that I should focus more on to become better? As of right now I tend to d-smash quite a bit, maybe even too much, so to push my limits and become better I want to move away from d-smashing every other move. Any help for a beginner Luigi?

 

[Stride]

He weighs exactly the same as Doc, so there's nothing you have to get used to (unless you meant his floatiness instead of his weight).

• Learn to mash out the tornado (and read this thread: http://smashboards.com/threads/rising-cyclone-ptp-frame-data-guide.384946/). Luigi's recovery is much less terrible with a good tornado. Learn everything about how the tornado works.
• Luigi generally has a lot of trouble approaching in neutral; he has to spend a lot of time waiting for openings. This mens you have to be confident in capitalising on those openings. Know your guaranted punishes and have good control over your movement.
• Be very careful with fullhopping; Luigi is far too vulnerable in the air. Practice quickly getting to the ground after combos and such.
• When using up-B to sweetspot the ledge, always try to tech; it's an option select so there's no reason not to do so. Be sure to get into tho habit of releasing up on the control stick after each up-B; Luigi does not ever want to do the jumping tech that occurs if you're holding up since you'll need to missile back to stage, which practically guarantees your death unless you misfire.

• Wavedash grab, down smash, or forard tilt are common approaches are a good approach. Forard tilt is very crouch-cancellable and shieldgrabbable, so be wary of that at lower damages or when the opponent is grounded. Tornado clanks with pretty much everything and lets Luigi act quickly afterwards, so that can work sometimes too.
• Against space animals you have an up throw chaingrab into up smash, which you can end early if you need to.
• I found ledgedashing something important to work on early; Luigi's is extremely good because it has lots of intengibility (it's possible to do a perfect ledgedash to a buffered roll without leaving Luigi vulnerable) and reaches extremely far into the stage.Has has pretty strong options he can use during it too (namely down smash and grab).
• Weak nair combos into a lot of things. Up aerial combos into a lot of things but not on DI away usually.
• Learn double aerials and short hop waveland aerials.Mix up your aerial choices and timings.
• If you have all the basic tech down, you might want to work on platform drop canceled nair. It's the fastest way to put out Luigi's best move; that's definitely a good thing.

These threads will be useful if you haven't looked at them already:
http://smashboards.com/threads/luigi-hitboxes-and-frame-data.306546/
http://smashboards.com/threads/luigi-trials-video.347163/

Read lots of Luigi threads, watch lots of Luigi videos.

 

[Scarlet Bean]

I can't stress out how much you should practice on wavedash distance

 

[treemustach]

Ah, it is his floatyness that can mess me up at times. I meant that, not the weight. I noticed that a lot of the time my wavedash does mess up and i screw up. This happens mostly when I play vs people or bots. I can get wavelands, wavedashes and moving around platforms quite well for a beginner just practicing my techs but if I am in a match my wavedashes turn from getting 8/10 correct to 5/10 correct. Thanks for all the tips as well, i really appreciate the time you have put into this post! I may just need more time to remember everything as well.

 

[BluEG]

Prepare to be edgehogged. A lot.

Up-air good for intercepting offstage edgeguard attempts on your life!

 

[onehunna]

Prepare to be edgehogged. A lot.

Up-air good for intercepting offstage edgeguard attempts on your life!

Great advice, and yeah, I bolded that top statement. I regularly have nightmares of Marths in every different color edgeguarding me ad infinitum.

treemustach, if you're searching for approaches, a few I like: wavedash into cross-up jab (this can lead into the grab game and more stuff like down smash), wavedash into forward tilt is bread and butter business, wavedash into shield to bait something out (like a Marth forward smash), and wavedash into (a recurring theme) up tilt and up smash are great for getting a combo started or finishing a stock. However, I think it's important to note that with a character like Luigi, you'll be taking more advantage of the punish game than the approach game. My advice would be to focus on your movement (i.e. an effective mix of wavedashing [with appropriate variations on the distance] and dash-dancing), so you'll in turn improve your ability to punish effectively and bait out bogus approaches.

In terms of defense. Neutral air is an incredibly useful combo breaker. If you're getting tossed up in the air and are in doubt, tap out that A button and get Luigi to stick that leg out. A lot of the time, this can turn an opponent's combo in your favor, popping them up and leaving them vulnerable. Luigi's Tornado is a decent 'get off me' move as well and in situations where you might find yourself vulnerable in the air, you can use it to recover safely and alter your trajectory by sliding across the stage or a platform. As I mentioned above, wavedashing straight into shield is a solid approach that can open up punish opportunities and keep you safe while mobile. Practice wavedashing out of shield to compliment this defensive approach.

 

[treemustach]

I guess all I have to do now is practice, practice and practice some more. Do you often jc-grab out of dash when playing luigi or does this at some point become "inefficient"?