Raising a Healthy Pikachu (Things to Practice in Your Spare Time)

[ZTD | TECHnology]

As most of us know, Pikachu is an exceptional character with a strong mix-up game in Smash 4. How strong his mix-up game is highly reliant on the player's technical ability and precision. In order to keep your skills and movement fluid, regular practice is highly recommended. However, you may be wondering what kind of things you should be practicing before tournament matches. Below is a list of techniques and exercises that I practice regularly to stay sharp. If you would like to contribute to this list and add something, please feel free too.

SPACING

This is rudimentary but it should be kept in the front of your mind. Spacing is incredibly important for Pikachu who has relatively low range due to having such a small frame. Pikachu uses his speed to bait, confuse and punish opponents. Part of optimal punish selection is also based on spacing. You need to know where the Sweetspot on Forward Smash is. Practice spacing regularly so you can use your moves with maximum efficiency.

B-REVERSE SPECIALS

This is rudimentary but its worth mentioning as Pikachu has two moves that can really benefit from this. B-Reversing your Thunder Jolts can help you fake out the opponent in the air, surprise them when their own the ground and/or give you the momentum you need to follow up that Thunder Jolt you just fired so you can net a free grab or another follow up. Its a simple technique but its worth practicing.

POWERSHIELDING

Powershielding is useful for any character and Pikachu is certainly not an exception to this rule. Since Pikachu doesn't have as easy of a time killing as a lot of other characters, Powershielding is nice because it can give you that frame advantage you need to actually land that F-Smash or U-Smash. Its also nice when you can read something, dash > Powershield and get that grab that's gonna start your next string. As Pikachu has a smaller frame, your timing needs to be more precise than a bigger character's. Try having a friend test your ability and reaction time by having him or her play a character who can projectile spam. Have them mix up their timing and frequency. Try practicing against physical attacks as well. Powershielding requires some work to perform consistently, but it great aids any player's game.

RECOVERING

Also rudimentary but its essential to our longevity. One of Pikachu's greatest strengths is that he can avoid fatal attacks through smart, defensive use of his mobility. It happens to be the case that he has one of the best recoveries in the entire game. Seriously, there isn't much you can't recover from with Pikachu. However, you'll need to practice this so you can get back to the stage with confidence. Make sure you know exactly how low you can recover from with Quick Attack on each stage. Practice going under stages like Smashville and recovering safely on the other side of the stage for a nice (and crowd pleasing) mixup. Make sure you know the angles on which you can ledge snap with Skull Bash and Quick Attack. Make sure you practice different Quick Attack angles for getting back to the stage. Pikachu's recovery takes a while to truly master. So I advise spending a lot of time on this.

QUICK ATTACK

Before we get into Quick Attack cancels let's just talk about smart usage of the move itself. As previously mentioned, this is a part of our recovery. But it's more than just a recovery move. It's a combo starter, it's a approach tool, it's a escape option and more. This move is incredibly important to us. Therefore it's very important you practice smart usage of the move. Focus on mixing up your angles and really gain the precision you need with this move. Can you Quick Attack back and forth easily? Can you use the move consistently without getting punished? Can you do a double horizontal or vertical Quick Attack consistently? Can you shoot yourself off stage and then ledge snap on your second hit? Can you position yourself for combo setups consistently? Can you Quick Attack Cancel? On every stage?

QUICK ATTACK CANCELING

Quick Attack Canceling or QAC still exists in this game. You just can't do it everywhere like you could in Brawl. However you can perform it at any ledge or platform edge. Mastering this technique adds another level to our great mixup game. It's also incredibly fun and really "wows" spectators when you use it intelligently. Its very easy to do it on a moving platform but stationary platforms and ledges require some time to get familiar with the spacing. Practice performing the move by itself and then combining it with aerials and specials. How many times can you Quick Attack Cancel in succession? I love to confuse people with QAC > QAC > follow-up. Battlefield is a good place to start. Later, try all of your scene's legal stages. Creating your own Custom Stage for practicing this is also a great idea.

CLOUD SPIKING

Of all of our moves, Thunder is probably the most radically changed of our moveset. However, it now provides us with a very useful mechanic that we didn't have before: A spike. And a strong one at that. If Thunder hits the opponent at the cloud, it spikes them. In most cases, you will probably be under the cloud and so they opponent will end up getting hit back into you. However, what if you're off stage? You can flat out kill people by Cloud Spiking them. This adds another dimension to our already scary and "In Your Face" off stage game. First, practice getting the positioning right for spiking. Once you've learned that, try finding creating ways of making this move hit off stage. B-Reversal Thunders are a great way to surprise people and keep your moving so you can not be in the path of the Thunder when it touches down. You may not land these super often, but its extremely rewarding and hilarious when it happens. Its worth learning.

COMBOS AND STRINGS

A big part of Pikachu's punishment game comes in strings and combos. Pikachu may lack hard hitting aerials or tilts but his entire moveset is very mellifluous and many of his moves synergize well with other moves. Its important that you practice your U-Tilt combos and U-Air strings. Do you know how many U-Tilts you can string together before an U-Smash on Fox? Practice your Fast Falled Fair combos. Practice your follow ups from grabs. Practice your Quick Attack follow ups and your Thunder Jolt follow ups. Pikachu can turn small mistakes into dramatic 50% + strings with proper knowledge and reaction. Don't let yourself miss that FF'ed Fair to Grab because you didn't know that Fair doesn't have enough hitstun at X%. Know your strings. Maximize your damage output. Maximum punishment is what separates the decent players from the good ones.

AUTOCANCELED DOWN AIR

I see ESAM using SH'ed Down Airs and a lot and its a very good move. You can also Auto Cancel this move from a Short Hop, however the timing is somewhat strict. Depending on your control scheme and controller, performing this could be tricky. I use a Wii U Pro controller myself because I refuse to spend $80 for a GC Adapter!. because the additional shoulder buttons allow for ease for performance with certain techniques. If you can't seem to land this move and you use X or Y to jump, it might be easier to set a button you may not use to Jump. Its certainly worth knowing this move if you feel you can learn it. The lingering hitbox and great shield push on this move makes it pretty safe.

JAB LOCKING

Something else I notice ESAM do is make good use of Jab Locks. Jab Lacks can net some pretty great setups and possibly kills if you react fast enough. Aside from people not teching F-Throw, and knocking people off platforms we don't have that many opportunities to force this kind of scenario. However its important to be on the lookout for this during matches when you can . And make sure when you do actually start one of these, you have the ability to keep it going for that extra damage. Its situational, but definitely worth knowing.

Thanks for reading,

Tech

 

[busken]

This is great, but maybe adding a section for kill moves? Despite the fact that pikachu aerial mobility and percison can let him quickly rack up dmg getting the kill is the end goal. So maybe others can think of ways to get near guaranteed kill setups outside of jab lock, and thunder spikes both of which can be avoided with a tech or good player acknowledgment.

 

[CarbuncleHero]

Great Thread!
I would also mention practicing pikachu's throw options, they are super important! Down throw is incredibly useful for racking up damage, so is foward throw once down throw combos end. Up throw can be used for up throw into thunder (plus it kills lighter characters at ~180 if you're struggling to get the kill.), and back throw is great for getting the opponent offstage.

Also, i haven't had anyone disagree with this yet, so I feel it's worth mentioning that Pikachu's perfect pivot is worth practicing because pikachu can use it to slide with all of his smashes, including fsmash, about 2 pikachus lengths minus the tail. And of course it can be done out of foxtrot so that's worth practicing. There's also another slide I've been practicing that goes up to 4 pikachus away but it's much slower than pp fsmash (as in you need to complete an entire short hop), but it may have it's uses.

One other thing I have been practicing is never, ever, ever, EVER hitting a shield with the last hit of fair. It's so punishable, and it's hard to work around; pulling away just hasn't been working for me. SH Dair is nice replacement, but I feel like the range lets me down more often than I would like. If there are any suggestions for approaching a grounded opponent without fair I'd be happy to hear it.

Another other thing, if you quick attack into a platform going up (kongo jungle & town & city, and the entirety of pilot wings at times) you get melee-esque ending lag, which is pretty bothersome, so that's something to look out for.

Last thing. I've started practicing pika's using oos options too. Idk how useful they all are, but dash shield into jumpcanceled upsmash might help land a kill, i haven't tested it. I know nair and dair oos are plenty useful.

 

[ZTD | TECHnology]

I plan on making additions and edits to this thread soon. Still waiting to hear more suggestions from people.