Afro Smash
Smash Ace
Samus Match-Up Discussion Thread
Welcome to the Samus Match-Up Discussion thread, where you can find tips and advice on how to beat every character on the roster. If there's any specific information you want or want to get a discussion going feel free to post, otherwise information already posted should hopefully be able to help you.
Match Up Chart
|
60 : 40
| Weak |
55 : 45
| Moderate |
45 : 55
| Moderate |
60 : 40
| Strong |
50 : 50
| Strong |
55 : 45
| Moderate |
45 : 55
| Moderate |
65 : 35
| Moderate |
50 : 50
| Moderate |
50 : 50
| Strong |
40 : 60
| Strong |
35 : 65
| Strong |
45 : 55
| Moderate |
65 : 35
| Moderate |
45 : 55
| Moderate |
60 : 40
| Moderate |
60 : 40
| Weak |
45 : 55
| Strong |
55 : 45
| Moderate |
55 : 45
| Weak |
55 : 45
| Very Strong |
50 : 50
| Moderate |
55 : 45
| Strong |
55 : 45
| Moderate |
35 : 65
| Strong |
50 : 50
| Strong |
40 : 60
| Weak |
45 : 55
| Moderate |
60 : 40
| Weak |
45 : 55
| Moderate |
50 : 50
| Weak |
60 : 40
| Moderate |
50 : 50
| Weak |
45 : 55
| Moderate |
50 : 50
| Moderate |
55 : 45
| Moderate |
55 : 45
| Moderate |
35 : 65
| Moderate |
50 : 50
| Moderate |
45 : 55
| Weak |
55 : 45
| Strong |
40 : 60
| Weak |
50 : 50
| Weak |
55 : 45
| Moderate |
40 : 60
| Weak |
50 : 50
| Moderate |
40 : 60
| Weak |
50 : 50
| Weak |
50 : 50
| Moderate |
50 : 50
| Moderate |
55 : 45
| Moderate |
40 : 60
| Moderate |
55 : 45
| Moderate |
40 : 60
| StrongMatch-Up Information
All characters are split in to 3 sections:
Gameplay - Video of Samus Vs the character, so people can visually see what works and what doesn't. The more advanced the players the better.
General - General tips and things to look out for during in the MU.
Stages - What stages are advised, or not advised to pick against the character. All legal stages not listed are assumed to be Neutral.
Bowser- Being the heaviest in the game makes him very susceptible to our combos, use them to rack up lots of damage early.
- On the contrary his weight will often ensure he lives until high percents, making him a scary force with rage and his naturally high knockback moves. Try to avoid this by going offstage early game and gimping his linear recovery.
- Despite his weight Bowser has the 14th fastest Dash Speed in the game, be wary of Missile Zoning too much as he can close space very quickly.
- Bowser has a command grab as his Side B, be wary of this mix up as he comes from the air.
- He can be reliably hit by all hits of our Up Smash on the ground.
- Bowser is huge, which makes him particularly susceptible to Zair Zoning and easy to hit with our Charge Shot.
- Many Bowser's will try to block your recovery attempts to the ledge with his Fire Breath, try to wait this out with bombs and wall jumps if you can, or Tether and wait below the ledge. If that's not possible, after getting hit by the Fire Breath ensure you do NOT Up B early and miss the ledge sweetspot or you will eat a huge punish.
- When recovering from the ledge Bowser has a lot of mix-ups. His Up B can travel enough distance to cover both Roll get up and Normal get up, this can be beaten by shield. His Side B Command Grab will beat shielding however. His D-Tilt has decent range, is 2 hit and reduces his profile a lot, be wary of trading or losing to this when doing Aerials after a Ledge Drop. Ledge Jump with bomb mix ups and Ledge Drop Zair are generally your safest options.
- He has a rather good Up B OoS, be wary of throwing out unsafe Dash Attacks or Aerials.
- His Up Smash has Invincibility Frames, never challenge it from above.
- Avoid Shielding his Dair or Bowser Bomb, simply roll away and Charge Shot or Grab.
- His Jab is very difficult to Shield Grab, Shield Drop Jab or Short Hop Airdodge OoS retreat is usually your safest option as he's fast enough to punish a Roll away.
- Our Jab true combos in to itself from 70% (around the percent our BnB combos stop working), use this to create much needed space.
- Punish his on stage fire breath with zair after its range decreases
Bowser Jr.- Bowser Jr takes 1.15x Damage for Attacks that hit him directly and 0.8x damage for attacks that hit his Clown Car
- Fortunately for us our Rising SH Aerials and CS all hit him directly meaning we can rack damage pretty easily Vs him
- His Mecha Koopa will clash with our Charge Shot no matter how Charged, to simply avoid this just SH before you fire to avoid it altogether
- His Mecha Koopa can also be picked up by simply pressing A as it comes in front of you, dash attacking through it or Air Dodging in to it. For those not comfortable with the timing you can also shield first to take away its hitbox then press A. Most Bowser Jr's will attempt to approach alongside the Mechakoopa, if they arrive at the same time a Short Hop Airdodge will avoid them and pick up the Mecha Koopa. If they are a bit later then simply Dash Attack to pick up the Mecha Koopa and hit them at the same time.
- Their Side B is their main form of approach, this gets easily beaten by our Dash Attack and Projectiles aside from the Super Armour frames at the beginning (I think)
- Their Canon needs to be fully Charged to Clash with out Charge Shot, otherwise we will win. So to easily beat his Canon, if you ever see him Charging just immediately fire your Charge Shot, it will arrive before he is able to Fully Charge and beat him out.
- His Jab has surprisingly low end lag (and deals hella damage), be very precise with your Shield Grab timing or try another option to punish.
- His Dair suffers no End Lag if he connects it, leading to guaranteed follow ups with Fair/Bair. If you manage to Shield it however he will suffer end lag and become punishable.
- His Fair lingers for quite a while, ensure you're precise with your Airdodge timing to reduce the likelihood of getting Gimped.
- His Side B grants him an extra jump off stage, and His Up B already travels a great distance, so to kill Bowser Jr you will often need to send him in to the blast zone
- He can attack out of his Up B with a very powerful Hammer Swing, this is easy to see coming if you're grounded and very easy to punish. However he can true combo in to it out of a hit confirm from his Side-B, so avoid getting hit by this at high percents or you'll likely lose a stock.
- Bomb drops over the ledge can very easily Gimp Bowser Jr out of his Up B, as soft hits do not allow him to use Up B again before landing
Captain Falcon- His combination of Fast Fall speed and Heavy weight means our combos will work all the way up until kill percents, look for Dash Attacks and Grabs all throughout the match.
- Falcon is incredibly fast, avoid use of Missiles entirely aside from full stage length and off stage pressure or expect a Dash Grab punish.
- Be very wary of Air-dodging amidst Up Air juggles, good Falcons will read this and punish with a Knee. It's safest to just jump away and retreat to ledge, using bombs to keep your movement unpredictable.
- Falcon has a lot of powerful aerials to punish us off stage, make sure to mix up recovery with Wall Jumps and Tether to keep yourself unpredictable. Also be wary of just how deep Falcon can go on stages with Walls, his wall jump can assure he'll almost always make it back.
- His recovery is very linear, Nair and falling Fair will usually beat out more horizontal recoveries and Bombs and Dair will beat out more vertical ones. If you get grabbed by his Up B at high percents, be sure you're ready to tech the stage afterwards.
- His Nair/Bair/Uair Autocancel, do not attempt to shield grab them.
- His D-Smash and F-Smash have lots of shield push making them usually safe on shield, Spot Dodge if you can to ensure a punish.
- If you manage to Jab him at low percents be sure to hold Shield straight after as you will likely eat his own Jab combo if you attempt any other option.
- Be wary of cross up Raptor Boosts at kill percents, good Falcons will look for this option, so always be ready to shield.
- His B Throw is a kill move, be wary Shielding near the ledge at high percents. DI up and towards the stage to delay the kill.
- Grounded Falcon Kick can easily punish retreating Rolls, avoid doing this too much.
- Be careful when doing ledge drop aerials back on to the stage, his D-Tilt sends you horizontally, usually resulting in death if you are without your jump, and his U-Tilt will spike you if you're airborne.
- Watch out for Jab Jab Grab mix ups, spot dodge or roll away to avoid this.
- Despite his Speed he is pretty susceptible to Zair and F-Tilt Zoning since he is constantly forced to approach and is a tall character.
- Try to not envy the fact his grab has pretty much the same range as ours but with half the end lag.
Charizard Dark Pit- Gameplay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWUBt5R3Evw
- Gameplay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90pJreMDtFA
- His Orbitars can only be out for 2 seconds before he's forced to put them away
- They can be easily punished whilst they're out with Zair or Grab, or you can wait til he's forced to put them away and punish the end lag with a Charge Shot
- He has no hitbox on his Up B, always challenge it off stage
- His Dash Attack is quick and has surprising range, don't be caught off guard by it
- His D-Smash has virtually no end lag, do not try to shield Grab it
- Charge Shot will eat through his arrows, be ready to punish if he gets overzealous
- His Side-B does a lot of Shield Damage has Super Armour and destroys projectiles, SH AD over it or roll away from it and punish the end lag
- He has a lot of Aerials with lingering hitboxes meaning he can juggle us fairly easily, always try to avoid landing on top of him and retreat to the ledge if necessary
- The 2nd hit of his F-Smash has deceptively huge reach, ensure you don't drop shield or approach early to punish thinking you have space
- His Forward Throw is a kill move, DI Up and slightly towards the stage to delay the kill
- His Roll is very good, try to not over commit too much or throw out laggy attacks early game or he will easily punish with roll behind grab and roll back dash attack
- Ensure you always sweetspot the ledge with Up B, if you miss he can push you away with his Orbitars and you will fall to your death
Diddy Kong Donkey Kong Dr. Mario Duck Hunt Duo Falco Fox Ganondorf Greninja Ike- So, Ike can short hop nair, and this covers a lot of space and if this hits you, it can set up for Ike gimmicks. Also watch out for rolling too much since Ike is one of the best at punishing with up smash (covers both sides rather than one from f-smash).
Ike can not really go deep for edge guarding so always recover low. Watch out for ledge drop bair and run off fair or nair as these are his main edge guards.
So always spam missiles. This covers a lot of his approaches. He has to jump or roll and his roll isn't the best. Missiles cover his side b and all ground approaches though.
Ikes mainly play mind games and they may fake out approaches so watch out for that. One notable thing to mention is that if you get hit high, good Ikes will simply jump and fast fall over and over and essentially shark from under you so go for ledge. This gimmick can be tricky at times since they don't over commit, and you are a sitting duck in the air. Up air is scary. This juggles you and has kill potential.
Alternatively, you can juggle Ike easily, though this is a universal fact for all matchups versus Ike. Your up air is sooooooo good here, it isn't fair.
Maintain consistent pressure with tilts and missiles and zair. Always screw with Ike's momentum because an Ike with momentum messes with your head and puts too much fear in you, but don't be brash because Ike punishes too offensive play. If you can keep ike from getting momentum, then you will be able to whittle him enough that he gets impatient and takes huge risks whereas you can pick off a kill with charged shot or get a grab, and edge guard.
One thing to mention is that Ike has terrible horizontal recovery when low and if you can nair him when he is over the ledge, he is most likely a goner.
Jigglypuff King Dedede Kirby Link Little Mac- When Little Mac gets his KO Punch he cannot lose it for at least 6 seconds
- After the 6 seconds are up, any attack that sends him in to tumble will remove his KO Punch
- Screw Attack and Down Throw will remove it at any percent, Super Missile/Charge Shot/F-Tilt are your safest options at mid percents and Zair is your safest option at Higher percents. Zair 1/Jab/Homing Missiles/Bombs do not cause tumble until very high percents.
- KO Punch will hit through Shields and true combos from D-Tilt. Avoid throwing out anything laggy such as F-Smash and Grabs whilst he has it as he has the Speed to punish. Avoid Missile use too unless he is more than half of FD away and hasn't started Dashing yet. Your safest option is to retreat to the ledge and poke at him with aerials until his KO Punch is gone.
- Your general gameplan Vs. Mac should always just be wait by a ledge and force him to approach with Projectile pressure. Never approach him at centre stage except for a surprise Dash Attack mix up, the centre stage is where he excels with his immaculate Ground game since he has no risk of being tossed offstage where he flounders.
- Manage to get him off stage and he has 1 of 3 options to recover. If he recovers high a Jumping Fair will beat him out. Be wary of his counter though as that will beat you and bring him back on to the stage. If he recovers Horizontally to the ledge, this can be beaten by a run off Nair. If he recovers low (generally the choice of better Mac's) then a simple bomb drop is usually enough to gimp him. Bear in mind he does have a Wall Jump though so he can make it back from deeper than you might think.
- Mac has a frame 1 Jab that he can use to cover the end lag of a lot of his less safe moves, so you have to be very precise with your Shield Grab timing or you risk eating his Jab Combo.
- All his Smash Attacks have Super Armour, avoid trading with these as it will almost never be in our favour, and be particularly wary of them when doing Ledge Drop Aerials as his D-Smash will Armour right through them and send you in to the blast zone.
- Mac's Forward Tilt is incredibly fast and rivals the range of our own, do not assume you are safe because you have a bit of space.
- His D-Tilt is very fast too, too quick to be Shield grabbed, and it will pop you up in to the air for juggle opportunities. Avoid Air Dodging in to the ground as he can punish this with a Smash, instead Jump away and mix up your landing with bombs.
- Whilst Shielding is generally safe against most Macs, good Macs will mix grabs in to their game too. They also have a combo from D-Throw in to Up B, DI away from Mac to avoid this.
- If Little Mac ever gets you up in the air never attempt to land on top of him or near him, retreating to the ledge is always your safest option. He is fast enough to cover landings with Dash Attack and will beat any of our Aerials with Armoured Smash Attacks. Also be wary he can convert his F-Smash > Up-Smash mid charge to Anti-Air us.
- Manage to get Mac in the Air and his lack of an Air game can make it difficult for him to land, be patient and expect him to throw out Counters as he gets close to landing.
- Good Little Mac's will try to bait you out of your shield by dashing away then immediately using Side-B back towards you to punish. This option is lightning quick so keep it at the back of your mind during the match and be ready to shield at all times.
- Little Mac has an amazingly fast Roll, many will try to bait you in to attacks and grabs by Dashing towards you and Rolling back and punishing your whiff. Avoid throwing out laggy attacks (ESPECIALLY Grabs) unless you're certain they're going to connect.
Lucario- Gameplay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2S2ZpIEDD8 (Game 1).
- 8% with a fresh fully charged Aura Sphere beats your uncharged Charge Shot (3%).
- 32% with a fresh fully charged Aura Sphere will beat your regular Missile (5%).
- 88% with a fresh fully charged Aura Sphere will beat your Super Missile (10%).
- We will never beat a fully charge Charge Shot unless you horribly stale it.
- High percent Aura Sphere can hit below the ledge, avoid regrabs or lingering too long.
Lucas Lucina Luigi Mario Marth Mega Man Meta Knight Mewtwo Mii Brawler Mii Gunner Mii Swordfighter Mr. Game & Watch Ness Olimar Pac-Man Palutena Peach Pikachu Pit- His Orbitars can only be out for 2 seconds before he's forced to put them away
- They can be easily punished whilst they're out with Zair or Grab, or you can wait til he's forced to put them away and punish the end lag with a Charge Shot
- He has no hitbox on his Up B, always challenge it off stage
- His Dash Attack is quick and has surprising range, don't be caught off guard by it
- His D-Smash has virtually no end lag, do not try to shield Grab it
- Charge Shot will eat through his arrows, be ready to punish if he gets overzealous
- His Side-B does a lot of Shield Damage has Super Armour and destroys projectiles, SH AD over it or roll away from it and punish the end lag
- He has a lot of Aerials with lingering hitboxes meaning he can juggle us fairly easily, always try to avoid landing on top of him and retreat to the ledge if necessary
- The 2nd hit of his F-Smash has deceptively huge reach, ensure you don't drop shield or approach early to punish thinking you have space
- His Forward Throw is a kill move, DI Up and slightly towards the stage to delay the kill
- His Roll is very good, try to not over commit too much or throw out laggy attacks early game or he will easily punish with roll behind grab and roll back dash attack
- Ensure you always sweetspot the ledge with Up B, if you miss he can push you away with his Orbitars and you will fall to your death
R.O.B Robin Rosalina & Luma- The following moves can knock Luma into tumble animation at full HP:
D-Tilt, U-Tilt, Dash Attack (early and late hit), Sweetspot F-Smash, Up smash, D-Smash (both hits), Bair, final hit of Up air, fully charged Charge Shot and Screw Attack.
- Dash attack hitbox lasts long enough to easily hit both Rosalina and Luma, and since it sends Luma in to tumble she will be unable to prevent our combo follow ups.
- Rising Short Hop Charge Shot, Nair and Bair can all successfully hit Rosalina whilst avoiding Luma.
- Punish any attempts to Luma Shot with Super Missile Spam, Gravtitational Pull will not protect Luma if they are seperated.
- Condition Gravitational Pull with Super Missile and Homing Missile pressure, then go in with Grabs and Zair.
- Rosalina is one of the lightest characters in the game, she can be killed very early with Sweetspot Bair and Charge Shot, and fairly early from Up B OoS.
- Her Up B recovery has no hitbox, always go offstage to challenge it.
- Never challenge her Up Air from above, it is quick and disjointed. If you find yourself being juggled jump away and retreat to the ledge.
- Rosalina deals good damage but low Knockback, Luma deals low damage but good Knockback. Taking Luma out of the equation at high percents will make it exceedingly difficult for Rosalina to KO us.
- Luma can give deceptively good range to a lot of Rosalina's attacks, be wary of this.
- Lots of Rosalina's attacks are disjointed, be wary of this when trying to challenge or punish them.
- Down Throw Fair can be interrupted by Luma, try to avoid this by either directly attacking Luma or arching your jump more than usual. Similarly back throwing Rosalina off stage will leave Luma behind you, as she is called back to Rosalina she will attack, be ready to shield.
Roy Ryu Samus Sheik- Sheki isn't too bad, but she is hard. We can take more hits than she can so our advantage lies there. We have the option to camp, and we have a combo off of d-thrown. If we get the grabs which we are supposed to get, then all is well. Otherwise, we can simply tilt and play keep away. We may get grabbed, but just move for the ledge and we will be fine. Dont jump from the ledge. Cover Sheiks landings with projectiles and fire charged shots liberally, but don't be obvious. Maintain projectile pressure on landings and recoveries. Do not overcommit to an up-b kill since you are likely to miss and get punished. Dont fear needles if you are trading projectiles. Punish needles with charged shot if you canread the throw. F tilt is good, so spam it if sheik is close. Use it to cover ground approaches if you don't want t o whiff a grab. Aerial sheik approaches can be covered with retreating aerials or pivot grabs.
WhEn sheik is at ledge, if you cant comfortable stand your ground at ledge, just run and spam missiles. U tilt covers ledge hop and ledge jump. Reaction is what you have to do at ledge, or you can simply spam u tilt qnd hope they get hit... the match up shouldn't be too hard if you play patient and punish with charged shot. Charged shot is your main kill move here.
The matchup isn't as skewed as 1-9 for samus. I believe samus can handle sheik much better than the rest of the cast.
Shulk- I do have some word of advice for shulk, though not greninja, as I haven't played against him as much. You want to pressure them into jumping. Now key point is to not let them nair you. They recover fast from nair and can probably jab you before you can shield grab. And don't think about punishing them if they know how to nair and land behind you. So you have to meet them in air and catch them with fair. Also for homing missiles, you can cancel into them from any dash. The best thing you can do is change up dashing forward or backward homing missiles, keeping somewhat mobile. Even if they counter, you can just punish with charge shot. Also incorporate zairs as that's your best aerial. Also, constantly find moments to charge up, you can always grab out of charge (R+A or L) or jump (R+Jump) if they're jumping in on you to meet them with fair.
Also if the person is in speed mode, the thing they're going for the most are grabs, so counter this with shorthop dair, or have a missile out before they fully change Monado arts.
Sonic Toon Link Villager Wario Wii Fit Trainer Yoshi- With Yoshi, this dude is deceptively fast, and all his moves put you at disadvantage. You're launched high up and Yoshi is eager to KO via double jump uair or catching you with a fair spike. He can also run, sh air dodge pretty well and he's somehow safe after his aerials from a certain height. He doesn't have good grab or roll options though, and you can kind of outspace him for the most part. But if he gets his game going, just try to get to the ledge — DO NOT TRADE air to air, it's never in your favor. He's heavy too, and his recovery is hard to predict if they're smart, so KOing is a problem. Try to rack up damage as much as you can and go for charge shot/fsmash KOs. He's a monster in the air.
Zelda Zero Suit Samus
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