I need something to keep me occupied so I am going to compile a list of my personal strategies for specific Luigi match ups. Let me know, if there is a character you would like to see. This list is in progress. Also, any insight that isn't listed is greatly appreciated.
Match ups I am not good at and will not provide guides for - Falco, sheik, link, young link
I also want vids for this stuff.
LUIGI MATCH UP THREAD
Table of Contents
<a href="#falcon">Falcon</a>
<a href="#peach">Peach</a>
<a href="#samus">Samus</a>
<a href="#fox">Fox</a>
<a href="#doc">Doctor Mario</a>
<a href="#marth">Marth</a>
<a name="falcon"></a>
Captain Falcon
Falcon in general has an slight advantage on Luigi.
OFFENSE
Bread and butter versus falcon are grabs and up tilts. Falcons approach is usually short hop nair or stomp. Up tilt out prioritizes these moves if timed right. Upsmash works too but it is hard to time. Try wavedash to up tilt. At mid percents this is a fantastic combo starter. If they DI - tech chase grab. Keep falcon on the defensive as pong as possible. If you can keep Falcon from getting momentum you should be alright.
The second Falcon loses that momentum, strike. Tech chase with a grad or down b. Jab resets -> grab are also really useful. Most fast faller combos will work. Chain down smashes, use up throw, and nail him with aerials.
Thanks to COEY for this part:
I find that the fair is a really good against him if timed well, unlike wheres its often better to dair in place of a fair against fox/falco. Its really fast and if timed well will help alot if like you said you full jump alot and are getting punished. Also i believe that you should pretty much never try to beat falcons up air.
Finally as dsmash is very good in this match up i'm sure it can be overused by alot of players. As with the peach falcon match up, everytime you miss a down smash you are vulnerable to falcons dair. Which is actually never very awesome for any character.
I tend to ftilt a lot but it isn't the best idea. Falcon is usually in the air. Use Ftilt to edge guard and continue combos, but look for up tilt and short hop nair approaches.
A big goal against falcon is to get him off stage and keep him off. Falcon's recovery is awful and predictable. It is easy and mostly safe to wavedash off the stage and bair or fair(if they are up+bing right below the ledge) a falcon's recovery. Keep him off stage. Good Falcon mains use DI to trick you. They Up+B high and early to get you off the ledge and DI back to grab it. Don't use the roll from the ledge unless you are SURE the falcon won't get on the stage. Use stand and ftilt if the go for the ledge.
Also, for falcon and ganon, predict the down + B and try and be there to f-air them.
Defense
Falcon will have momentum most of the time, so you need to play defensive and pick you moment to take that away from him. Bate with wavedashes and try and get him close to the edge to get him off when you can get an opening.
Don't full jump a lot unless you are continuing a combo. I tend to do this and get punished a lot. If you do full jump, DI away and retreat safely. Otherwise, you will get comboed. In general you want to be under falcon and not above him. This is because falcon's upair has speed and priority and leads to bad things. Luigi falls too slow to safely approach in the air.
Nair out of grab combos if you can. DI falcons up airs away, nairs in and knees up.
If the falcon is hammering your shield. Look for an opening to Up smash out of shield. If you don't do this, learn it. It really helps.
If the falcon screws up his spacing nail him with an UP+B out of shield.
At low percents crouch cancel.
Recovery
Falcon has the ability to hit you way out there off the stage. Keep this in mind, when forward B-ing. Charge it so Luigi gets a long low approach.
Don't get daired while UP+bing. Sweet spot that.
Use down B and air dodge as you see fit. Aside from the stuff he can do way off stage your recovery should be pretty standard.
CP Stages
Falcon is one of the few characters where you should avoid FD. When picking counter pick stages you have to weigh your enemies weak stages against your strong ones. Although you improve your tech chasing and chain grabbing on FD, if you get naired, you are pretty much dead. If you can, pick a small stage. Falcon's need to run around to be effective. Go with Yoshi's or FoD to screw with them. The other advantage is Falcon's crappy recovery. Smaller stages make it easier to get him off of the level and allow for an edge guard gimp.
I would say Luigi stands a decent chance on Mute City, but make sure your falcon player doesn't have a Peach or Jiggs as a secondary. Since falcon can't grab the edge, he has to finish his combos on stage. Meaning you can survive better. Luigi has more recovery options and can stall better on the stage. Falcon just dies.
Videos
Pakman VS Scar
KaMaster VS Darkrain
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<a name="peach"></a>
Peach
This match up is annoying, but somewhat even.
The peach match up is defensive because of her priority.
OFFENSE
The key to beating characters with priority and certain camping patterns is patience. Peach happens to have a lot of aerial priority and can turnip camp you. Offensively you need to be smart about when and how to attack. Wavedash around using ftilt and jab grab. Peaches throw turnips and follow up with aerials or roll prediction. I like to catch turnips and keep her on the defensive.
Luigi versus peach in the air is just a mess of trading hits. Luckily, Luigi's nair does around 15% which is a ton. Getting that damage up is really important, because peach will die at lower percents than other characters.
Which brings me to killing moves- I generally go for the upsmash. I trade hits a lot but that move has a surprising amount of knockback. Luigi's upsmash is stronger and usually safer then the dsmash, but it has much less combo potential. An UP+B around 80% is death and she is floaty enough to eat jab -> Up+B's. A lot of Peaches like to dash attack tech chase. Predict this, block the attack and UP+B out of shield. I get a lot of ooos and aaaaas for that.
Being able to edge guard a peach is rare, but useful. If they are umbrella-ing they you want to trick them into fast falling so you can ftilt or grab the ledge. If not try and get them off the stage. Peach is a tough edge guard and a lot of the times I give her the ledge and try and grab or ftilt her when she gets up.
Out of grabs I try down throw fair. Be quick or you will get naired. She loses her stun pretty quick.
Defense
Never jump when peach is above you on a platform. This is true for all characters. Crouch canceling a peach can be useful but don't eat a dsmash or you will be in for some pain.
Turnips are tricky. Be careful for the mix ups. Turnip -> grab/dash attack/roll prediction. If you are going to shield a turnip your shield will get faired jabbed and then grabbed. There is no safe time to counter attack that combo so just roll away. I see a lot of people try and get a move in between the fair and jab but the move is auto-canceled so just don't try it roll away and start over.
If peach if floating she is looking for a dair -> nair, bair, or fair. You're ideal position is in front of her and above her. Time a dair right and kick her in the face. But that positioning is key.
I get a ton of kills against peach shielding into Up+B. Look for them.
Recovery
The only point I am going to make about recovery is that never forward B into a floating peaches ***. Go under above just not into it. Good peaches will jump out backwards and wait for a forward B and then double jump and float to catch you out of the 2nd forward B. At this point I use my Down B or jump and try and surprise them. Against peach you can afford to aim for the stage and not the ledge. Peach can't punish very hard if you have good DI.
CP Stages
This is pretty dependent on style. Aggressive Luigis will do well on FD and pokemon while the more patient ones favor Yoshi's BF and FoD. Peach doesn't need space to camp. She can camp on any stage. It is much harder for her to camp without platforms and Pokemon and FD are the best for that. Stay away from dreamland for obvious reasons. I really like Yoshi's against peach. I go for easy Up+B or Up Smash kills. I have killed peach with ftilt a bunch of times on this stage. More so than most characters, peach gets gayed by the battlefield edges. So that is always a decent choice.
Videos
Pakman vs ZigZag
Ka-Master vs KosMos
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<a name="samus" ></a>
Samus
I don't know how useful this will be. I have fought a fair amount of samus mains but none of them were exceptional.
OFFENSE
I prefer to be fairly aggressive versus samus. As long as you are aware of the possibility of an up+b out of shield from the samus you can pressure her all day. She rarely shield grabs and has a terrible roll. So if you pressure a shielding samus, she can either wavedash out of shield or up+b out of shield. If she rolls, punish with a grab or a well timed shoryuken.
I wavedash around her all day. No grabs = safer ground game. Space ftilts. One of my favorite things to do is start a double aerial attack and the samus will up b after the first hit. If you are ready you can smash DI out and get a free hit, many times even a shoryuken. I like dsmash's range a little better versus samus, but upsmash is better for killing and getting her offstage. Grab down throw fair is you friend as well.
Everyone needs to know how to edge guard samus. She has great recovery but it is pretty predictable. Also, a samus on the ledge isn't as dangerous so getting aggressive offstage is less risky. It you think she is gonna grapple, wave dash off the stage and FAIR. Usually you do wd bair, but a grappling samus will be hugging the wall so you want to attack that. Use fireballs to pressure her bomb recovery. The key isn't to get a killing blow but rack up damage and keep the pressure up. So don't try a lot of fancy stuff just ftilt and fireball and only if you see an opening should you use dair and fair.
Defense
Samus is about projectile pressure and crouch canceling into dsmash.
Missile spammy samus mains are my favorite. For two reasons, 1 I am decent at power shielding and 2 you can down B through them. The missile stops the down B animation and you can get a free ftilt or jab->grab. Make sure you time it right.
This is probably more offensive oriented but I think it fits better here.
Here are things to avoid against crouch canceling samus players. Do NOT use down b offensively. Crouch canceling is why I rarely use that move anymore. Low percent down smash gets crouch canceled. Badly spaced tilts. Stick to double aerials and grabs.
Never let a samus kill you before 120%. Luigi has decent horizontal recovery and samus can't kill off the top easily. If you can avoid offstage missiles and the charged neutral B. Samus will have a very hard time killing you.
Fun Fact: You can up+b samus is she dash attacks your shield.
Recovery
When you are recovering remember that charging your forward B slows your fall and use that to avoid missiles off stage rather than your jump. Down B only cancels missiles when you are on stage so be careful. One thing to look out for is the run off nair. That is why I like to recover High against her.
CP Stages
Rule number 1. NO DREAMLAND. Unless you want to kill the samus at 200% every stock, stay away from it. Battlefield is a great choice. It is harder for Samus to grapple correctly on BF. Platforms are good versus Samus too. However the Samus matchup is all about opportunity. If you get ***** by missiles, avoid FD. If you find samus surviving too high, go with YS or BF. I also do well on FoD although I don't know why.
Videos
Ka-Master vs Hugs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<a name="fox" ></a>
Fox
Fox is a strange opponent for Luigi. Novice and mediocre Fox players generally get obliterated by a decent Luigi, but foxes above that are quite a challenge. Knowing the fox match up is huge for Luigi's game. Make it your favorite match up.
OFFENSE
Grabs. You need to grab Fox as much as possible. Comboing fox isn't terribly difficult, but starting a combo can be. Low percents I do upthrow upsmash and expect them to miss the tech and dsmash and then just follow their DI. Mid-High percents I do upthrow dair or if they DI really well I chase with WD and ftilt upwards. If they miss that tech I shoryuken and it is very sexy. You can go for the Ka_master wavedash chain grabs, but they are really easy to miss. Grabbing is really important to this match. Jab grabs and tech chased grabs are very useful. Also, get used to doing jab resets.
Edgeguarding fox is important too. Making fox up+b below the ledge is glorious for Luigi fox doesn't have an many options for direction and Luigi can dair or fair him. Try to get recovering foxes below the ledge with fireballs and bair. Or ftilt from the stage.
Down+B can be good against fox, but be wary of crouch canceling and techs. Sometimes I will downthrow a fox and tech chase with down B.
People like to CC dsmash against fox. I would suggest cc upsmash. Foxes like to shorthop all over the place. Dsmash is more useful as a combo started because it is harder to DI effectively but a well timed upsmash can catch him short hopping. Upsmashing out of shield is good too.
You should usually kill fox by edgeguarding, but if he is at high enough percents, you are gonna need to catch him with a strong hit. I hit with retreating short hopped dairs and fairs sometimes. Up+bing out of shield works sometimes too.
DEFENSE
The first thing about fighting fox is about doing as much damage as you can when you have the momentum. Chances are that fox is going to keep it most of the match. However, those momentum shifts need to come some time.
Foxs that abuse nair and bair you best bet is to crouch cancel dsmash to change momentum combos.
Foxs that do dairs generally don't do it out of short hop so you can wavedash away and back when he is vulnerable or try and catch him by jumping with a nair.
Depending on the pressure game the fox is doing your strategy has to change. Laser camping foxes require you to be aggressive and heavy aerial foxes require you to play defensive.
Everyone hates to get shine spiked and Luigi happens to fly off the stage after being shined. This is good because its hard to combo, but bad because you are just asking to get shine spiked...
*IMPORTANT* ALWAYS DI SHINE DOWN AND INTO THE STAGE. If you fall off the stage you grab the ledge and if you stay on the stage you can CC an aerial and get a smash in.
RECOVERY
Learn to sweet spot the up+b. Otherwise you can get CC shined. From the edge. One of your best defensive options against fox is air dodge. If you get shined off the stage, either jump air dodge or jump fair. Mix it up and keep them guessing. They are going to try and spike you it is a matter of who makes the first move. Air dodging gives them a grab or upsmash which is preferable to a shine spike. ALWAYS try to airdodge onto the stage. Try to hit the ground so if you get shined again you get a jump. Defending a shine spike is about good DI and mixs up.
If you are lucky you can turn the tables with an airdodge and have fox up+bing and you on the stage.
Anyway, practice your mix up game with this and **** those foxes.
CP Stages
I HATE getting shine spiked. It is the worst. I try and stay away from Yoshi's in the match up. I like FD and Dreamland the best. Pokemon is usually a good fox stage. Fox has the advantage on most of the weird stage changes. I would stay away from it, but it probably doesn't deserve your ban. I like to ban Battlefield, because it limits your recovery options. FoD is a decent choice. Unless the fox is Cactuar or Silent Wolf, the platforms will screw up their tech skill and you can capitalize.
VIDEOS
Pakman vs Jman
KA-MASTER vs Silent Wolf aka How to **** fox with Luigi
<a name="doc" ></a>
Dr Mario
Doc has a fair amount of good weapons against Luigi. He has a spammable projectile and the dreaded cape. Luigi's big advantage are range and Doc's terrible recovery. A good Luigi versus a good doc is probably about 50/50. I would say Luigi has the offensive advantage, but doc's potential to gimp Luigi makes up for it. Although he has recently become inactive, Velocity from Philadelphia had an impressive Doc and most of my strategy is based off of playing him.
OFFENSE
The generic strategy for doc is to get him offstage. He is ridiculously easy to ledge hog. Doc's down B generally doesn't give him height but is more of a stall or a tool to get you off his ledge so you usually want to hold your ground. Be vary wary of wd off stage bairs. If he catches you with a well timed up+b from doc you will get stage spiked.
Onstage against Doc you want to see what his defensive strategy is before you formulate your offense. The way I see it, all doc's are going to pill spam when you are far away. Close range there are two types of doc players. Aerial and turtle. Aerial docs look for uptilt to up air chains to fair or fsmash. Turtle docs shield grab, cc downsmash, and jab dsmash.
Against the aerial one just do hit and runs. Use a LOT of ftilt. Get under him and utilt. You want to wavedash in and out of range and try and trick him into throwing a pill when you are close. Ftilt, or smash through it. Or Wavedash crouch under it and get a smash or a grab.
The turtling strategy is tougher for Luigi then the aerial one. You have to pick the right attacks. Ftilt and low percent smash attacks will be crouched into a dsmash. Go for more grabs and short hopped aerials into waveland.
After a grab, most of the time you want to down throw into aerial. You have to be quick. Doc's nair comes out quick. More so then other characters, don't be afraid to forward throw or back throw doc off the stage at mid percent. One hit off stage and Doc has no choice but to die.
I would say platforms favor Luigi. Keep that in mind for counterpicks and bans.
DEFENSE
STAY ON STAGE. I can't emphasize this enough. Anytime Luigi gets off stage, it is a potential stock loss against the jerk Doctor. Never take pill hits. They not only deal damage but have a nice amount of stun to let doc get close and hit you. If doc kills you off the top, consider that a successful stock defensively.
Key to staying on stage: Shield A LOT. Keep shielding after doc's dair. He can DI off of your shield after a shielded full jumped dair and land on either side of you meaning your CANNOT shield grab that move if they do it right. It frequently results in a free fsmash. Shield jabs and wait for the smash attack in your shield. You can wd out of shield against a dsmash and get a free grab.
Don't full jump. Doc's up air up tilt and up smash all have decent priority. Short hopped aerials are more useful.
Keep in mind that Doc's nair gets more powerful the longer it is out. It is the opposite of Mario's.
RECOVERY
The key to recovery is to recover HIGH (not stoned, but elevated). The cape is very easy to get off on Luigi's up+b so use it ONLY as a last resort. Also, don't let him cape the green missile. Try and avoid shooting straight at him. Air dodge onto the stage. Use your Down+ b wisely. If you are vulnerable and have to take a hit, take it if it will get you on stage.
Other than the cape, doc can bair you. The good thing about this is that it is very easy to see which one he is doing. If the doc is on the ledge or in the air, he is probably gonna try and back air. This is when you should use your airdodge to get back.
CP Stages
You are usually going to kill Doc without hitting him out the side, so big stages favor your recovery. I like Dreamland. Doc can gimp your UP B with a well placed Cape and on FD you are always aiming for the ledge. Dreamland has platforms you can aim for and is big enough to have you survive forever. Platforms give doc a better pill game so keep that in mind. I generally like to ban Pokemon against doc. He has a lot of tricky things on that stage. Another good option is battle field. Doc's recovery is already awful. He can't ride walls on battle field and has to align his up+b horizontally as well as vertically.
VIDEOS
none yet
need help acquiring
<a name="marth" ></a>
Marth
Everything you need to know.
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=91241
<3 ROFL
In Progress
Match ups I am not good at and will not provide guides for - Falco, sheik, link, young link
I also want vids for this stuff.
LUIGI MATCH UP THREAD
Table of Contents
<a href="#falcon">Falcon</a>
<a href="#peach">Peach</a>
<a href="#samus">Samus</a>
<a href="#fox">Fox</a>
<a href="#doc">Doctor Mario</a>
<a href="#marth">Marth</a>
<a name="falcon"></a>
Captain Falcon
Falcon in general has an slight advantage on Luigi.
OFFENSE
Bread and butter versus falcon are grabs and up tilts. Falcons approach is usually short hop nair or stomp. Up tilt out prioritizes these moves if timed right. Upsmash works too but it is hard to time. Try wavedash to up tilt. At mid percents this is a fantastic combo starter. If they DI - tech chase grab. Keep falcon on the defensive as pong as possible. If you can keep Falcon from getting momentum you should be alright.
The second Falcon loses that momentum, strike. Tech chase with a grad or down b. Jab resets -> grab are also really useful. Most fast faller combos will work. Chain down smashes, use up throw, and nail him with aerials.
Thanks to COEY for this part:
I find that the fair is a really good against him if timed well, unlike wheres its often better to dair in place of a fair against fox/falco. Its really fast and if timed well will help alot if like you said you full jump alot and are getting punished. Also i believe that you should pretty much never try to beat falcons up air.
Finally as dsmash is very good in this match up i'm sure it can be overused by alot of players. As with the peach falcon match up, everytime you miss a down smash you are vulnerable to falcons dair. Which is actually never very awesome for any character.
I tend to ftilt a lot but it isn't the best idea. Falcon is usually in the air. Use Ftilt to edge guard and continue combos, but look for up tilt and short hop nair approaches.
A big goal against falcon is to get him off stage and keep him off. Falcon's recovery is awful and predictable. It is easy and mostly safe to wavedash off the stage and bair or fair(if they are up+bing right below the ledge) a falcon's recovery. Keep him off stage. Good Falcon mains use DI to trick you. They Up+B high and early to get you off the ledge and DI back to grab it. Don't use the roll from the ledge unless you are SURE the falcon won't get on the stage. Use stand and ftilt if the go for the ledge.
Also, for falcon and ganon, predict the down + B and try and be there to f-air them.
Defense
Falcon will have momentum most of the time, so you need to play defensive and pick you moment to take that away from him. Bate with wavedashes and try and get him close to the edge to get him off when you can get an opening.
Don't full jump a lot unless you are continuing a combo. I tend to do this and get punished a lot. If you do full jump, DI away and retreat safely. Otherwise, you will get comboed. In general you want to be under falcon and not above him. This is because falcon's upair has speed and priority and leads to bad things. Luigi falls too slow to safely approach in the air.
Nair out of grab combos if you can. DI falcons up airs away, nairs in and knees up.
If the falcon is hammering your shield. Look for an opening to Up smash out of shield. If you don't do this, learn it. It really helps.
If the falcon screws up his spacing nail him with an UP+B out of shield.
At low percents crouch cancel.
Recovery
Falcon has the ability to hit you way out there off the stage. Keep this in mind, when forward B-ing. Charge it so Luigi gets a long low approach.
Don't get daired while UP+bing. Sweet spot that.
Use down B and air dodge as you see fit. Aside from the stuff he can do way off stage your recovery should be pretty standard.
CP Stages
Falcon is one of the few characters where you should avoid FD. When picking counter pick stages you have to weigh your enemies weak stages against your strong ones. Although you improve your tech chasing and chain grabbing on FD, if you get naired, you are pretty much dead. If you can, pick a small stage. Falcon's need to run around to be effective. Go with Yoshi's or FoD to screw with them. The other advantage is Falcon's crappy recovery. Smaller stages make it easier to get him off of the level and allow for an edge guard gimp.
I would say Luigi stands a decent chance on Mute City, but make sure your falcon player doesn't have a Peach or Jiggs as a secondary. Since falcon can't grab the edge, he has to finish his combos on stage. Meaning you can survive better. Luigi has more recovery options and can stall better on the stage. Falcon just dies.
Videos
Pakman VS Scar
KaMaster VS Darkrain
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<a name="peach"></a>
Peach
This match up is annoying, but somewhat even.
The peach match up is defensive because of her priority.
OFFENSE
The key to beating characters with priority and certain camping patterns is patience. Peach happens to have a lot of aerial priority and can turnip camp you. Offensively you need to be smart about when and how to attack. Wavedash around using ftilt and jab grab. Peaches throw turnips and follow up with aerials or roll prediction. I like to catch turnips and keep her on the defensive.
Luigi versus peach in the air is just a mess of trading hits. Luckily, Luigi's nair does around 15% which is a ton. Getting that damage up is really important, because peach will die at lower percents than other characters.
Which brings me to killing moves- I generally go for the upsmash. I trade hits a lot but that move has a surprising amount of knockback. Luigi's upsmash is stronger and usually safer then the dsmash, but it has much less combo potential. An UP+B around 80% is death and she is floaty enough to eat jab -> Up+B's. A lot of Peaches like to dash attack tech chase. Predict this, block the attack and UP+B out of shield. I get a lot of ooos and aaaaas for that.
Being able to edge guard a peach is rare, but useful. If they are umbrella-ing they you want to trick them into fast falling so you can ftilt or grab the ledge. If not try and get them off the stage. Peach is a tough edge guard and a lot of the times I give her the ledge and try and grab or ftilt her when she gets up.
Out of grabs I try down throw fair. Be quick or you will get naired. She loses her stun pretty quick.
Defense
Never jump when peach is above you on a platform. This is true for all characters. Crouch canceling a peach can be useful but don't eat a dsmash or you will be in for some pain.
Turnips are tricky. Be careful for the mix ups. Turnip -> grab/dash attack/roll prediction. If you are going to shield a turnip your shield will get faired jabbed and then grabbed. There is no safe time to counter attack that combo so just roll away. I see a lot of people try and get a move in between the fair and jab but the move is auto-canceled so just don't try it roll away and start over.
If peach if floating she is looking for a dair -> nair, bair, or fair. You're ideal position is in front of her and above her. Time a dair right and kick her in the face. But that positioning is key.
I get a ton of kills against peach shielding into Up+B. Look for them.
Recovery
The only point I am going to make about recovery is that never forward B into a floating peaches ***. Go under above just not into it. Good peaches will jump out backwards and wait for a forward B and then double jump and float to catch you out of the 2nd forward B. At this point I use my Down B or jump and try and surprise them. Against peach you can afford to aim for the stage and not the ledge. Peach can't punish very hard if you have good DI.
CP Stages
This is pretty dependent on style. Aggressive Luigis will do well on FD and pokemon while the more patient ones favor Yoshi's BF and FoD. Peach doesn't need space to camp. She can camp on any stage. It is much harder for her to camp without platforms and Pokemon and FD are the best for that. Stay away from dreamland for obvious reasons. I really like Yoshi's against peach. I go for easy Up+B or Up Smash kills. I have killed peach with ftilt a bunch of times on this stage. More so than most characters, peach gets gayed by the battlefield edges. So that is always a decent choice.
Videos
Pakman vs ZigZag
Ka-Master vs KosMos
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<a name="samus" ></a>
Samus
I don't know how useful this will be. I have fought a fair amount of samus mains but none of them were exceptional.
OFFENSE
I prefer to be fairly aggressive versus samus. As long as you are aware of the possibility of an up+b out of shield from the samus you can pressure her all day. She rarely shield grabs and has a terrible roll. So if you pressure a shielding samus, she can either wavedash out of shield or up+b out of shield. If she rolls, punish with a grab or a well timed shoryuken.
I wavedash around her all day. No grabs = safer ground game. Space ftilts. One of my favorite things to do is start a double aerial attack and the samus will up b after the first hit. If you are ready you can smash DI out and get a free hit, many times even a shoryuken. I like dsmash's range a little better versus samus, but upsmash is better for killing and getting her offstage. Grab down throw fair is you friend as well.
Everyone needs to know how to edge guard samus. She has great recovery but it is pretty predictable. Also, a samus on the ledge isn't as dangerous so getting aggressive offstage is less risky. It you think she is gonna grapple, wave dash off the stage and FAIR. Usually you do wd bair, but a grappling samus will be hugging the wall so you want to attack that. Use fireballs to pressure her bomb recovery. The key isn't to get a killing blow but rack up damage and keep the pressure up. So don't try a lot of fancy stuff just ftilt and fireball and only if you see an opening should you use dair and fair.
Defense
Samus is about projectile pressure and crouch canceling into dsmash.
Missile spammy samus mains are my favorite. For two reasons, 1 I am decent at power shielding and 2 you can down B through them. The missile stops the down B animation and you can get a free ftilt or jab->grab. Make sure you time it right.
This is probably more offensive oriented but I think it fits better here.
Here are things to avoid against crouch canceling samus players. Do NOT use down b offensively. Crouch canceling is why I rarely use that move anymore. Low percent down smash gets crouch canceled. Badly spaced tilts. Stick to double aerials and grabs.
Never let a samus kill you before 120%. Luigi has decent horizontal recovery and samus can't kill off the top easily. If you can avoid offstage missiles and the charged neutral B. Samus will have a very hard time killing you.
Fun Fact: You can up+b samus is she dash attacks your shield.
Recovery
When you are recovering remember that charging your forward B slows your fall and use that to avoid missiles off stage rather than your jump. Down B only cancels missiles when you are on stage so be careful. One thing to look out for is the run off nair. That is why I like to recover High against her.
CP Stages
Rule number 1. NO DREAMLAND. Unless you want to kill the samus at 200% every stock, stay away from it. Battlefield is a great choice. It is harder for Samus to grapple correctly on BF. Platforms are good versus Samus too. However the Samus matchup is all about opportunity. If you get ***** by missiles, avoid FD. If you find samus surviving too high, go with YS or BF. I also do well on FoD although I don't know why.
Videos
Ka-Master vs Hugs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<a name="fox" ></a>
Fox
Fox is a strange opponent for Luigi. Novice and mediocre Fox players generally get obliterated by a decent Luigi, but foxes above that are quite a challenge. Knowing the fox match up is huge for Luigi's game. Make it your favorite match up.
OFFENSE
Grabs. You need to grab Fox as much as possible. Comboing fox isn't terribly difficult, but starting a combo can be. Low percents I do upthrow upsmash and expect them to miss the tech and dsmash and then just follow their DI. Mid-High percents I do upthrow dair or if they DI really well I chase with WD and ftilt upwards. If they miss that tech I shoryuken and it is very sexy. You can go for the Ka_master wavedash chain grabs, but they are really easy to miss. Grabbing is really important to this match. Jab grabs and tech chased grabs are very useful. Also, get used to doing jab resets.
Edgeguarding fox is important too. Making fox up+b below the ledge is glorious for Luigi fox doesn't have an many options for direction and Luigi can dair or fair him. Try to get recovering foxes below the ledge with fireballs and bair. Or ftilt from the stage.
Down+B can be good against fox, but be wary of crouch canceling and techs. Sometimes I will downthrow a fox and tech chase with down B.
People like to CC dsmash against fox. I would suggest cc upsmash. Foxes like to shorthop all over the place. Dsmash is more useful as a combo started because it is harder to DI effectively but a well timed upsmash can catch him short hopping. Upsmashing out of shield is good too.
You should usually kill fox by edgeguarding, but if he is at high enough percents, you are gonna need to catch him with a strong hit. I hit with retreating short hopped dairs and fairs sometimes. Up+bing out of shield works sometimes too.
DEFENSE
The first thing about fighting fox is about doing as much damage as you can when you have the momentum. Chances are that fox is going to keep it most of the match. However, those momentum shifts need to come some time.
Foxs that abuse nair and bair you best bet is to crouch cancel dsmash to change momentum combos.
Foxs that do dairs generally don't do it out of short hop so you can wavedash away and back when he is vulnerable or try and catch him by jumping with a nair.
Depending on the pressure game the fox is doing your strategy has to change. Laser camping foxes require you to be aggressive and heavy aerial foxes require you to play defensive.
Everyone hates to get shine spiked and Luigi happens to fly off the stage after being shined. This is good because its hard to combo, but bad because you are just asking to get shine spiked...
*IMPORTANT* ALWAYS DI SHINE DOWN AND INTO THE STAGE. If you fall off the stage you grab the ledge and if you stay on the stage you can CC an aerial and get a smash in.
RECOVERY
Learn to sweet spot the up+b. Otherwise you can get CC shined. From the edge. One of your best defensive options against fox is air dodge. If you get shined off the stage, either jump air dodge or jump fair. Mix it up and keep them guessing. They are going to try and spike you it is a matter of who makes the first move. Air dodging gives them a grab or upsmash which is preferable to a shine spike. ALWAYS try to airdodge onto the stage. Try to hit the ground so if you get shined again you get a jump. Defending a shine spike is about good DI and mixs up.
If you are lucky you can turn the tables with an airdodge and have fox up+bing and you on the stage.
Anyway, practice your mix up game with this and **** those foxes.
CP Stages
I HATE getting shine spiked. It is the worst. I try and stay away from Yoshi's in the match up. I like FD and Dreamland the best. Pokemon is usually a good fox stage. Fox has the advantage on most of the weird stage changes. I would stay away from it, but it probably doesn't deserve your ban. I like to ban Battlefield, because it limits your recovery options. FoD is a decent choice. Unless the fox is Cactuar or Silent Wolf, the platforms will screw up their tech skill and you can capitalize.
VIDEOS
Pakman vs Jman
KA-MASTER vs Silent Wolf aka How to **** fox with Luigi
<a name="doc" ></a>
Dr Mario
Doc has a fair amount of good weapons against Luigi. He has a spammable projectile and the dreaded cape. Luigi's big advantage are range and Doc's terrible recovery. A good Luigi versus a good doc is probably about 50/50. I would say Luigi has the offensive advantage, but doc's potential to gimp Luigi makes up for it. Although he has recently become inactive, Velocity from Philadelphia had an impressive Doc and most of my strategy is based off of playing him.
OFFENSE
The generic strategy for doc is to get him offstage. He is ridiculously easy to ledge hog. Doc's down B generally doesn't give him height but is more of a stall or a tool to get you off his ledge so you usually want to hold your ground. Be vary wary of wd off stage bairs. If he catches you with a well timed up+b from doc you will get stage spiked.
Onstage against Doc you want to see what his defensive strategy is before you formulate your offense. The way I see it, all doc's are going to pill spam when you are far away. Close range there are two types of doc players. Aerial and turtle. Aerial docs look for uptilt to up air chains to fair or fsmash. Turtle docs shield grab, cc downsmash, and jab dsmash.
Against the aerial one just do hit and runs. Use a LOT of ftilt. Get under him and utilt. You want to wavedash in and out of range and try and trick him into throwing a pill when you are close. Ftilt, or smash through it. Or Wavedash crouch under it and get a smash or a grab.
The turtling strategy is tougher for Luigi then the aerial one. You have to pick the right attacks. Ftilt and low percent smash attacks will be crouched into a dsmash. Go for more grabs and short hopped aerials into waveland.
After a grab, most of the time you want to down throw into aerial. You have to be quick. Doc's nair comes out quick. More so then other characters, don't be afraid to forward throw or back throw doc off the stage at mid percent. One hit off stage and Doc has no choice but to die.
I would say platforms favor Luigi. Keep that in mind for counterpicks and bans.
DEFENSE
STAY ON STAGE. I can't emphasize this enough. Anytime Luigi gets off stage, it is a potential stock loss against the jerk Doctor. Never take pill hits. They not only deal damage but have a nice amount of stun to let doc get close and hit you. If doc kills you off the top, consider that a successful stock defensively.
Key to staying on stage: Shield A LOT. Keep shielding after doc's dair. He can DI off of your shield after a shielded full jumped dair and land on either side of you meaning your CANNOT shield grab that move if they do it right. It frequently results in a free fsmash. Shield jabs and wait for the smash attack in your shield. You can wd out of shield against a dsmash and get a free grab.
Don't full jump. Doc's up air up tilt and up smash all have decent priority. Short hopped aerials are more useful.
Keep in mind that Doc's nair gets more powerful the longer it is out. It is the opposite of Mario's.
RECOVERY
The key to recovery is to recover HIGH (not stoned, but elevated). The cape is very easy to get off on Luigi's up+b so use it ONLY as a last resort. Also, don't let him cape the green missile. Try and avoid shooting straight at him. Air dodge onto the stage. Use your Down+ b wisely. If you are vulnerable and have to take a hit, take it if it will get you on stage.
Other than the cape, doc can bair you. The good thing about this is that it is very easy to see which one he is doing. If the doc is on the ledge or in the air, he is probably gonna try and back air. This is when you should use your airdodge to get back.
CP Stages
You are usually going to kill Doc without hitting him out the side, so big stages favor your recovery. I like Dreamland. Doc can gimp your UP B with a well placed Cape and on FD you are always aiming for the ledge. Dreamland has platforms you can aim for and is big enough to have you survive forever. Platforms give doc a better pill game so keep that in mind. I generally like to ban Pokemon against doc. He has a lot of tricky things on that stage. Another good option is battle field. Doc's recovery is already awful. He can't ride walls on battle field and has to align his up+b horizontally as well as vertically.
VIDEOS
none yet
need help acquiring
<a name="marth" ></a>
Marth
Everything you need to know.
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=91241
<3 ROFL
In Progress
