Browny
Smash Hater
Shadow Ball Guide
TL;DR - http://gfycat.com/BackSatisfiedJellyfish
Part 1: Introduction
This guide is all about Mewtwo's Shadow Ball, how to use it, how to threaten with it and why it is arguably one of the best attacks in the entire game. I am going to go into 9 separate details about the attack and using it to its full potential. There is a lot of smash theory in this guide, but it is all very important information to know. It is the sort of theory that is easy to put into practice though.
Shadow ball is the perfect compliment to Mewtwo's design. He is truly a glass cannon and requires a defensive playstyle. While the typical glass cannon archetype is a character that is aggressive, Smash is a different game where you have aggressive glass canons in Fox but G&W and Jigglypuff are unique in that the rely on spacing and applying the golden rule of 'don't get it'.
Mewtwo requires this sort of patient play style. Unlike the typical glass canon though, Mewtwo is large and relatively easy to hit with attacks. Shadow ball changes everything though. When you mix a defensive play style with a fast, powerful, high priority projectile suddenly you get a character that is extremely hard to approach safely. This guide will explain everything in detail.
With shadowball use there is a simple flowchart play style I like to adopt and it goes like this
Know your enemies options – Reduce them - Predict their option – Punish
To beat anyone using any character, firstly you need to know the enemy character, what they can do in many situations. You put out high-priority, safe hitboxes in order to reduce their safe options or just simply beat them. With their options cut down, now you beat the player by reading their habits which is now far easier with their options reduced and you punish with your strongest moves or highest damaging combos.
If you are a Mewtwo main, you should be very happy if you ever found yourself in this scenario.
You get to play the option reduction game and if you read right, you have an answer to literally every single one of Marios options. The game becomes far, far easier when Mewtwos hand's are glowing as this guide will explain.
The first thing to talk about is always having a full charge shadow ball. While baby shadow balls have their use in attempting to control space, annoying the opponent and being spammed they are completely outclassed by the full charge. This is important because in almost every single situation except jab-locking (Part 10), the full charge is a superior option.
The reason for this is because only the full charge shadowball has the capability to reduce the opponents options thanks to its speed and damage (priority). The fact that it doubles up as a punish makes it an amazing move
In every opportunity you get, you should be attempting to full charge a shadow ball. If you focus on minimising the time you spend committing to movements which are not contributing to the enemy taking damage, you will find that you have a lot of chances to charge shadow ball completely safely. Mewtwo can even make them for himself by floating around offstage or just jumping around. Don't miss free opportunities to get a full charge! Sometimes standing in place charging one will make the enemy scared to commit to anything and you get a free charge.
http://gfycat.com/FastSharpAfricanhornbill
Make use of every chance you get to charge one up, you might need it immediately after to secure a win!
The four advantages a full charge has over a baby shadow ball are the damage, speed, size and priority. Each of these traits seems pretty good on the surface, but each aspect of it has its special use. Every part from here on in in will talk about how the speed, damage and size of the shadow ball is important.
Part 2a: Scaring your opponent, risks v reward
When playing higher level opponents, they are always going to be thinking about the risk vs reward of their approaches and KO attempts. The best characters in the game get the best reward for the lowest risk but still there is always a risk attached. You can break down the game into every single movement being a risk versus reward calculation.
Consider the scenario of Samus' zair. It has extremely high range and is very safe, while only doing a little amount of damage. It is low risk, low reward. Link pulling a bomb is a medium risk for a medium reward. A captain falcon trying to read a roll with sideb in rage mode is an example of a high risk, high reward scenario.
The opponents know that there is a chance of getting hit but they take the risk because its worth it. They might become predictable but it doesn't matter because even if they miss, they don't get punished very hard with only a grab or dash attack. Shadow ball, like other charged projectiles though, changes everything.
Lets take a quick look a Shulk's bair used as a spacing move. Normally this move is only punishable by fast characters with weak attacks. Vs Mewtwo, Shulk knows that his bair will beat literally all of Mewtwo's normals, confusion and disable. The attack does 12% which will cancel out a shadowball charged to 21% or less. If your hands aren't glowing, Shulk knows this is a very low risk attack and if he's fishing for a KO while not trying to die himself, this is a good option.
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Having an FCSB on hand though utterly removes that option from Shulk. He now needs a new KO option and now his risk is greatly increased with his safest KO move now utterly unsafe. This of course works no matter what % you or Shulk are on.
When the enemy is doing their risk versus reward assessment in their head, there is a new addition to the equation, a guaranteed 26% hit which can KO them. Now the risk versus reward equation is drastically skewed into the risk side. This affects how the enemy plays by reducing their safe options. If you make a typically very safe move become completely unsafe, you have basically nerfed your opponent since now they are scared and have to deal with doubt.
When your enemy is scared of using a very good option, they are forced to use weaker options instead and when you have done that, you have already given yourself a big advantage in any matchup however the key thing is that this only applies with a full charge shadow ball. To punish these options you need the speed and priority of it, lesser charges are just far too slow and when Mewtwo's hands are glowing, this is when the enemy realises they cant use their safe option any more.
To further illustrate this point, lets analyse Peach's approaching options vs Mewtwo.
Peach has a safe projectile to throw in turnip which is unpunishable on block from even a short distance, she has her obnoxiously good dash attack that is fast, powerful and has very good range. She can wall out with nair/bair but of course her signature approach is the floating fair into grab/retreating fair.
All of these options are solidly effective vs most of the cast and Mewtwo struggles to deal with this without a heavily disjointed fair. I want people to take a look at this gfy which goes through a few scenarios starting with turnip and a spacing you out with fair. Normally turnip is safe on block and from a distance while her fair can space you out well. A lot of characters simply can not punish Peach for doing this or are forced to try and catch her landing, but she still has her safe-on-block fair to cover that.
http://gfycat.com/QuarterlySleepyHawk
When Peach does risk vs reward calculations for her fair on approach, they are heavily in her favour. If she doesn't straight out prioritise the enemy, she will trade and the move is basically safe on block. It is a low-risk, high reward option. The best moves in the game all have this common trait of low risk high reward.
This next gfy shows how Peaches usual approaches all beat baby shadowballs but are utterly defeated by full charge. I want people to pay extra attention to the very first clip where if you attempt to stuff this approach with a baby shadowball, Peach will fair right through it.
http://gfycat.com/MatureNastyFallowdeer
Not shown there is that with a half charge shadow ball on hand, Peach's f-air is cancelled out, but it doesn't hit her and the situation is reset and you don't want to be in CQC with Peach. Only with a full charge does it rip through her fair, cancelling her attack and hitting her.
You have turned a low risk, safe spammable approach into a safe, unpunishable 26% on reaction to her approaching. You have now completely messed up her game plan and Peach has to rely on her other approaches. Her other approaches which conveniently enough, are also all stuffed by full charge shadow ball.
Part 2b: Risk v reward and the neutral game
An important concept in smash is the 'neutral game' where neither you or the opponent are offstage, pressured or anything. You are completely free to approach or defend as you wish. The best characters in the game have the best neutral game in that they are able to approach easily and safely while also having great defensive options they can pull out on reaction.
Mewtwo typically does not a great neutral game since his acceleration in any direction isn't very great, his projectile has a decent start up time and he lacks a large defensive hitbox to throw out to stuff approaches like DK's bair. But the neutral game isn't exactly a trait a character possesses, it is better defined by who has a stronger neutral game in any given matchup and how your character can answer the opponents approaches and breach through their defenses.
When Mewtwo has full charge shadow ball on hand, in many matches his defensive game is given a gigantic boost. Characters that usually posses strong approaches now have to deal with a massive obstacle they have to overcome to even hit Mewtwo. You must exploit this strength as much as possible.
Without a banana, Diddy has a range of approaches but they aren't exactly safe, all requiring high commitment, his neutral game is average at best. With a banana in hand, it becomes top tier as he now has an attack that he can follow up on with if it hits or if it is blocked. Diddy mains will always utilise this strength to his game plan and Mewtwo mains must do the same. You control the balance of the risk-reward scenarios your opponents are used to, put it in your favour at every chance you get.
As an addendum to this section. Of course having nearly full charge shadow balls has its uses, but we don't want to hit the enemy with a weak attack, we want to make them so scared that they refuse to use their best attacks and the instant they do, punish them hard. The entire strategy is to make the opponent make a mistake and the more nervous and frustrated they get, the more likely it will happen. That is when you have your heavy punish ready. Your goal in life should be to frustrate your opponent, that's a free bonus in any matchup.
Part 3: Landing lag is your friend
In smash 4, landing lag from an airdodge is worse than it has even ever been in any smash. A lot of characters have fairly poor air speed and their options when landing aren't great. If a character attempts to dodge a projectile shot at ground level while landing, they will need to airdodge into the ground however this gives them a massive 12 frames of landing lag. Instead they are just going to have to fall and try to bring up shield. This is your ticket for a free KO move to hit then just before they land. Shadow ball, just like other large projectiles such as aura sphere, charge shot and sun salutation are all incredibly useful and hitting characters as they land.
The trick is to watch when characters have used their double jump as the are trying to land. Keep an eye out for the white ring of the double jump or just watch them recover. Once the enemy is above you and you have a full charge shadow ball ready, as soon as you see them use their double jump be ready to hit them. This works best on flat stages with no platforms but it can hit on platforms too, I will cover that in a later section.
On flat stages though, what you want to do is try and close the gap between you and how much room the enemy has to land. Keep far away enough from them that they cant hit you with an approaching aerial. The ideal range is about half of the stage. If you ever have the enemy in this situation, you have a chance to guarantee yourself a 100% safe kill move on reaction.
As the enemy is coming down what you want to do is throw the shadow ball so that it hits their feet under them. To do this you need to pay very close attention to how the character is moving. If you see them start to fall away from you, you need to react very fast and time your throw so it gets to them in time. If they move towards you, this is very easy to hit and you should be able to easily react in time to put it at their feet. When the enemy has no option but to airdodge into the ground, it can not be dodged.
http://gfycat.com/OblongTepidLacewing
The above gfy demonstrates this. As soon as the enemy uses the double jump, get ready. If you are quick enough and have your spacing correct, with one proper read you can guarantee a full charge hit. It is difficult for sure, but it can be done if you practice it.
Some characters have options to stall their landing which is useful to avoid projectiles so be aware of that, if you predict they will do it, many of these stalling moves have enough commitment that they are going to be left wide open to a shadow ball if you predict it. Also, characters with reflectors have a safe option when landing versus projectiles. But not all of them are safe against Mewtwo which I will explain later.
Of course, this is significantly harder to pull off versus characters with multiple double jumps, it may not even be worth the effort as they can avoid it too easily.
Part 4: Stabbing their toes
Following on from part 3, we now consider what happens when the enemy is landing on a platform or even just standing on one. The most important thing to know is that you cant air-dodge through a platform. Literally everything that was mentioned earlier about timing your shadow ball to hit people as they land applies here too. It can often be a lot more difficult if the platforms are small and you cant react in time to whether the enemy will land past the platform but if you ever find the enemy being forced to land on a platform like on Smashville, the same applies.
A good trick to try and use if you ever get the chance is to fire a full charge shadowball at the halfway height through a platform. This can actually hit characters who being up their shield in time by just hitting their feet. This is extremely effective vs tall characters and is sure to make the opponent get mad at Mewtwo for somehow being able to hit them while shielding.
Although it is quite difficult to get the height perfectly right, it is a safe option and if it works it can be a lot of free damage or a KO. Mewtwo might prefer flat stages to easily camp landing lag but if you ever get taken to a stage with platforms, this is a good way to still punish the enemy there too. You should definitely keep this in mind against enemies that like to land on platforms and bring up their shield, even if they don't airdodge. Smashville is a very popular stage and the platform is used to recover often, you will have multiple opportunities per match to hit them as they land.
http://gfycat.com/HatefulAnguishedCottonmouth
Don't underestimate this strategy!
Part 5: The rules of priority
Extremely useful knowledge with Mewtwo in Smash 4 are the rules of projectile priority. This determines whether or not your projectile will over-ride the enemies attacks or they will clank. Projectiles have their own special rules of priority I'll describe here.
Projectile priority follows is a single rule where if a projectile does 9% or more, the projectile will cancel the counter attack and go through it. If the projectile 8% or less than the counter attack, both attacks will clank. A common misconception is that disjointed attack can override projectiles. That may have been the case in melee but it is definitely not the case in smash 4. There is one other unique case of 'laser priority' where as implied, laser attacks will go through anything, otherwise known as 'transcendent' priority.
Why this matters is because we look at options the enemy has to counter the shadowball. Catching the enemy while they are landing is by far the easiest way to get a full charge shadow ball to hit even the most skilled and aware opponent, but they generally have some options to defeat it in simply attacking the shadowball or reflecting/countering it.
With attacking the shadow ball, this is actually an extremely effective tactic to swat away lesser charged ones. When a character is approaching in the air and they are faced with landing instead of airdodging into the ground, they can simply DI towards you and attack the shadowball. This puts a lot of pressure on the one using the projectile since it cuts off their stage control. Plenty of characters are able to do this very easily. However aerial attacks, just like grounded ones follow the same rules of priority. That means that to swat away a full charge shadowball, the aerial approach has to do up to 17% to clank. Here is a list of aerial attacks that do 17%
[to be added, but its a very small list]
This is a very big deal because if you consider the case of Sheik who approaches with fair, her fair only does a measly 4%, but that is enough to swat away almost every projectile in the game. A full charge shadow ball almost completely negates the options for the cast to swat away them while landing. Now you have really stuck the enemy in a tough situation, for many there is just nothing they can do except take the hit.
http://gfycat.com/FelineQuerulousFirebelliedtoad
Sheik doesn't need to worry about airdodging into the stage to avoid projectiles since she can just slap them away. There are only a handful of projectiles in the game that can punish sheik for using fair, and yours does 26%. However since her fair does 4%, your shadowball must do 13% or more to go through it so you need at least more than half charge. Why do 13% when you can do 26% though?
Part 6: Eating projectiles
When it comes to projectile vs projectile battles the rules of priority remain meaning that a full charge shadow ball with rip through any projectile that does 17% or less. This is extremely useful versus characters like Mario, Pikachu, Luigi, Diddy, Sheik, Link, Samus, Megaman, Rob and anyone that relies heavily on spammable projectiles.
Normally in projectile battles the two will just cancel each other out and the situation resets. With Shadow ball though, it is fast and powerful enough to go through most projectiles. The key to using this is to fire it as soon as the enemy commits to throwing theirs. If you predict the enemy is going to throw something at you and have a full charge shadow ball ready, there is nothing they can do to do dodge it.
Following on from before, many characters will use projectiles to cover their landing, especially Mario, Pikachu and Rob. It forces the enemy to shield or dodge and gives them a free landing. The shadow ball negates that though. This one single attack punishes characters for landing and it can not be cancelled out, it can not be beat with projectiles. With proper timing and spacing, the attack is utterly undodgeable. A 100% risk-free, high power KO move.
http://gfycat.com/UnacceptableUniformDalmatian
Other characters wish they had something that could punish Luigi hard for using his super-safe fireballs.
To put things into better perspective, here is a list of projectiles that the full charge shadow ball will beat.
A special note is made regarding 'laser priority' projectiles which pass through all others. I am actually not quite sure where full charge shadow ball fits in between normal high damage priority and laser priortiy
http://gfycat.com/MeaslyUniformAfricanharrierhawk
As shown there, the baby shadow balls are stuffed by incoming laser projectiles, however the full charge acts like a laser projectile itself. A full charge is still stopped in its tracks by pk fire and Duck Hunt Duo's projectiles which I lack an explanation for at this time. At least though it is a heavy punish if you ever predict a Thoron or needles are coming your way.
Part 7: Reflectors? No problem
Shadowball, like any projectile is risky against characters with reflectors but Mewtwo, like Mii Gunner, possess the deadly combination of a KO projectile and a reflector. Reflectors more than anything act as a deterrent to you using full charge shadow balls. Normally you can throw them out with absolutely 0 risk but now the risk is turned against Mewtwo. With confusion, the risk is turned against the enemy, not completely though.
Characters with reflectors will often use them to cover their landings from being hit by projectiles. This is the last line of defense when they cant airdodge, cant attack and cant cancel the incoming shadow ball with their own projectile. You want to pay very close attention to your spacing when you attempt this technique.
If you use confusion on the enemies reflected shadowball, there is a specific range you can do this from where the enemy is still stuck in the animation of their reflector and they absolutely can not dodge it. If you fire it too close, you wont be able to dodge it and if you fire it from too far away, they will be able to dodge your double reflected shadowball or even triple reflect it.
Consider Mario, normally to cover his landings he will throw a fireball. As I covered before, Shadowball will rip through the fireball and catch Mario before he can do anything. A good Mario knows this, so he uses his other option in falling with a cape to punish the inevitable shadowball. If Mewtwo is the correct spacing away, he can reflect it back at him where Mario will be forced to dodge it or die as it will break a shield and he can't double cape fast enough.
It is important to look at it this way. Without a full charge shadow ball, Mario has 3 options to land with fireball, cape and just land normally. With shadowball in hand, you have removed fireball as an option. If you get your timing right, you remove landing normally as an option. Mario has literally 1 option left – cape. If you get your spacing right, you put a lot of pressure on Mario to be nearly frame perfect to avoid a heavy punish.
Whether you are firing it to catch the opponents landing, trying to rip through their projectile or just firing it in neutral, it is important to learn the safe spacing to fire the shadowball in case the enemy reflects it. Some characters like Zelda and Falco are fairly easy to hit with due to the higher end lag on their reflectors but characters like Palutena and Mario can be tricky since their reflectors last a long time, or have low cool down respectively. There are so many variables, all you want to focus on though is firing it from anywhere greater than the minimum range and if you know you are too far, get ready to jump out of the way if it is double reflected.
A special mention however will go out to Pits reflector which will double-reflect a full charge shadow ball if it is anything less than fresh while a fresh one will trap them in their reflector, break it and kill them.
[gfys go here]
Part 8: Edgeguarding
An obvious use for the shadowball is of course edgeguarding but Shadowball is not as effective as it could be as an edgeguard vs many characters who recover low to sweetspot the edge. Airdodging a shadowball is too easy so your best use is to use it to stop the opponent throwing projectiles while they recover, charge up special moves or basically force them to recover low.
Against a number of characters, they will prefer to recover above the ledge instead of below and these are the characters who are vulnerable to shadowball since by forcing them to recover low, you have now opened up the option to edgeguard them with Mewtwo's aerials. Both baby and full charge shadow balls are effective here, anything to get the enemy low. If you manage to snipe the enemy with shadowball off stage, that's fantastic but it is still rare to pull off, it is better used to shut down their recovery options to allow you to punish a low recovery.
Shadowball does however have a decent use in pressuring the enemy at the ledge and especially vs characters who love ledgehop attacks. As before with my projectile priority description, vs almost every projectile in the game a character like WFT can ledgehop volleyball rather safely on the edge. That equation is completely reversed when shadowball is on deck. Be patient and wait for your moment to attack, then hit them with the strongest move you have.
[more stuff goes here along with some gfys]
Part 9: Baby Shadow Ball uses
I'll add this next I'm just tired of making videos right now.
Part 10: Conclusion
I'll add a proper conclusion later.
TL;DR - http://gfycat.com/BackSatisfiedJellyfish
Part 1: Introduction
This guide is all about Mewtwo's Shadow Ball, how to use it, how to threaten with it and why it is arguably one of the best attacks in the entire game. I am going to go into 9 separate details about the attack and using it to its full potential. There is a lot of smash theory in this guide, but it is all very important information to know. It is the sort of theory that is easy to put into practice though.
Shadow ball is the perfect compliment to Mewtwo's design. He is truly a glass cannon and requires a defensive playstyle. While the typical glass cannon archetype is a character that is aggressive, Smash is a different game where you have aggressive glass canons in Fox but G&W and Jigglypuff are unique in that the rely on spacing and applying the golden rule of 'don't get it'.
Mewtwo requires this sort of patient play style. Unlike the typical glass canon though, Mewtwo is large and relatively easy to hit with attacks. Shadow ball changes everything though. When you mix a defensive play style with a fast, powerful, high priority projectile suddenly you get a character that is extremely hard to approach safely. This guide will explain everything in detail.
With shadowball use there is a simple flowchart play style I like to adopt and it goes like this
Know your enemies options – Reduce them - Predict their option – Punish
To beat anyone using any character, firstly you need to know the enemy character, what they can do in many situations. You put out high-priority, safe hitboxes in order to reduce their safe options or just simply beat them. With their options cut down, now you beat the player by reading their habits which is now far easier with their options reduced and you punish with your strongest moves or highest damaging combos.
If you are a Mewtwo main, you should be very happy if you ever found yourself in this scenario.
You get to play the option reduction game and if you read right, you have an answer to literally every single one of Marios options. The game becomes far, far easier when Mewtwos hand's are glowing as this guide will explain.
The first thing to talk about is always having a full charge shadow ball. While baby shadow balls have their use in attempting to control space, annoying the opponent and being spammed they are completely outclassed by the full charge. This is important because in almost every single situation except jab-locking (Part 10), the full charge is a superior option.
The reason for this is because only the full charge shadowball has the capability to reduce the opponents options thanks to its speed and damage (priority). The fact that it doubles up as a punish makes it an amazing move
In every opportunity you get, you should be attempting to full charge a shadow ball. If you focus on minimising the time you spend committing to movements which are not contributing to the enemy taking damage, you will find that you have a lot of chances to charge shadow ball completely safely. Mewtwo can even make them for himself by floating around offstage or just jumping around. Don't miss free opportunities to get a full charge! Sometimes standing in place charging one will make the enemy scared to commit to anything and you get a free charge.
http://gfycat.com/FastSharpAfricanhornbill
Make use of every chance you get to charge one up, you might need it immediately after to secure a win!
The four advantages a full charge has over a baby shadow ball are the damage, speed, size and priority. Each of these traits seems pretty good on the surface, but each aspect of it has its special use. Every part from here on in in will talk about how the speed, damage and size of the shadow ball is important.
Part 2a: Scaring your opponent, risks v reward
When playing higher level opponents, they are always going to be thinking about the risk vs reward of their approaches and KO attempts. The best characters in the game get the best reward for the lowest risk but still there is always a risk attached. You can break down the game into every single movement being a risk versus reward calculation.
Consider the scenario of Samus' zair. It has extremely high range and is very safe, while only doing a little amount of damage. It is low risk, low reward. Link pulling a bomb is a medium risk for a medium reward. A captain falcon trying to read a roll with sideb in rage mode is an example of a high risk, high reward scenario.
The opponents know that there is a chance of getting hit but they take the risk because its worth it. They might become predictable but it doesn't matter because even if they miss, they don't get punished very hard with only a grab or dash attack. Shadow ball, like other charged projectiles though, changes everything.
Lets take a quick look a Shulk's bair used as a spacing move. Normally this move is only punishable by fast characters with weak attacks. Vs Mewtwo, Shulk knows that his bair will beat literally all of Mewtwo's normals, confusion and disable. The attack does 12% which will cancel out a shadowball charged to 21% or less. If your hands aren't glowing, Shulk knows this is a very low risk attack and if he's fishing for a KO while not trying to die himself, this is a good option.
Having an FCSB on hand though utterly removes that option from Shulk. He now needs a new KO option and now his risk is greatly increased with his safest KO move now utterly unsafe. This of course works no matter what % you or Shulk are on.
When the enemy is doing their risk versus reward assessment in their head, there is a new addition to the equation, a guaranteed 26% hit which can KO them. Now the risk versus reward equation is drastically skewed into the risk side. This affects how the enemy plays by reducing their safe options. If you make a typically very safe move become completely unsafe, you have basically nerfed your opponent since now they are scared and have to deal with doubt.
When your enemy is scared of using a very good option, they are forced to use weaker options instead and when you have done that, you have already given yourself a big advantage in any matchup however the key thing is that this only applies with a full charge shadow ball. To punish these options you need the speed and priority of it, lesser charges are just far too slow and when Mewtwo's hands are glowing, this is when the enemy realises they cant use their safe option any more.
To further illustrate this point, lets analyse Peach's approaching options vs Mewtwo.
Peach has a safe projectile to throw in turnip which is unpunishable on block from even a short distance, she has her obnoxiously good dash attack that is fast, powerful and has very good range. She can wall out with nair/bair but of course her signature approach is the floating fair into grab/retreating fair.
All of these options are solidly effective vs most of the cast and Mewtwo struggles to deal with this without a heavily disjointed fair. I want people to take a look at this gfy which goes through a few scenarios starting with turnip and a spacing you out with fair. Normally turnip is safe on block and from a distance while her fair can space you out well. A lot of characters simply can not punish Peach for doing this or are forced to try and catch her landing, but she still has her safe-on-block fair to cover that.
http://gfycat.com/QuarterlySleepyHawk
When Peach does risk vs reward calculations for her fair on approach, they are heavily in her favour. If she doesn't straight out prioritise the enemy, she will trade and the move is basically safe on block. It is a low-risk, high reward option. The best moves in the game all have this common trait of low risk high reward.
This next gfy shows how Peaches usual approaches all beat baby shadowballs but are utterly defeated by full charge. I want people to pay extra attention to the very first clip where if you attempt to stuff this approach with a baby shadowball, Peach will fair right through it.
http://gfycat.com/MatureNastyFallowdeer
Not shown there is that with a half charge shadow ball on hand, Peach's f-air is cancelled out, but it doesn't hit her and the situation is reset and you don't want to be in CQC with Peach. Only with a full charge does it rip through her fair, cancelling her attack and hitting her.
You have turned a low risk, safe spammable approach into a safe, unpunishable 26% on reaction to her approaching. You have now completely messed up her game plan and Peach has to rely on her other approaches. Her other approaches which conveniently enough, are also all stuffed by full charge shadow ball.
Part 2b: Risk v reward and the neutral game
An important concept in smash is the 'neutral game' where neither you or the opponent are offstage, pressured or anything. You are completely free to approach or defend as you wish. The best characters in the game have the best neutral game in that they are able to approach easily and safely while also having great defensive options they can pull out on reaction.
Mewtwo typically does not a great neutral game since his acceleration in any direction isn't very great, his projectile has a decent start up time and he lacks a large defensive hitbox to throw out to stuff approaches like DK's bair. But the neutral game isn't exactly a trait a character possesses, it is better defined by who has a stronger neutral game in any given matchup and how your character can answer the opponents approaches and breach through their defenses.
When Mewtwo has full charge shadow ball on hand, in many matches his defensive game is given a gigantic boost. Characters that usually posses strong approaches now have to deal with a massive obstacle they have to overcome to even hit Mewtwo. You must exploit this strength as much as possible.
Without a banana, Diddy has a range of approaches but they aren't exactly safe, all requiring high commitment, his neutral game is average at best. With a banana in hand, it becomes top tier as he now has an attack that he can follow up on with if it hits or if it is blocked. Diddy mains will always utilise this strength to his game plan and Mewtwo mains must do the same. You control the balance of the risk-reward scenarios your opponents are used to, put it in your favour at every chance you get.
As an addendum to this section. Of course having nearly full charge shadow balls has its uses, but we don't want to hit the enemy with a weak attack, we want to make them so scared that they refuse to use their best attacks and the instant they do, punish them hard. The entire strategy is to make the opponent make a mistake and the more nervous and frustrated they get, the more likely it will happen. That is when you have your heavy punish ready. Your goal in life should be to frustrate your opponent, that's a free bonus in any matchup.
Part 3: Landing lag is your friend
In smash 4, landing lag from an airdodge is worse than it has even ever been in any smash. A lot of characters have fairly poor air speed and their options when landing aren't great. If a character attempts to dodge a projectile shot at ground level while landing, they will need to airdodge into the ground however this gives them a massive 12 frames of landing lag. Instead they are just going to have to fall and try to bring up shield. This is your ticket for a free KO move to hit then just before they land. Shadow ball, just like other large projectiles such as aura sphere, charge shot and sun salutation are all incredibly useful and hitting characters as they land.
The trick is to watch when characters have used their double jump as the are trying to land. Keep an eye out for the white ring of the double jump or just watch them recover. Once the enemy is above you and you have a full charge shadow ball ready, as soon as you see them use their double jump be ready to hit them. This works best on flat stages with no platforms but it can hit on platforms too, I will cover that in a later section.
On flat stages though, what you want to do is try and close the gap between you and how much room the enemy has to land. Keep far away enough from them that they cant hit you with an approaching aerial. The ideal range is about half of the stage. If you ever have the enemy in this situation, you have a chance to guarantee yourself a 100% safe kill move on reaction.
As the enemy is coming down what you want to do is throw the shadow ball so that it hits their feet under them. To do this you need to pay very close attention to how the character is moving. If you see them start to fall away from you, you need to react very fast and time your throw so it gets to them in time. If they move towards you, this is very easy to hit and you should be able to easily react in time to put it at their feet. When the enemy has no option but to airdodge into the ground, it can not be dodged.
http://gfycat.com/OblongTepidLacewing
The above gfy demonstrates this. As soon as the enemy uses the double jump, get ready. If you are quick enough and have your spacing correct, with one proper read you can guarantee a full charge hit. It is difficult for sure, but it can be done if you practice it.
Some characters have options to stall their landing which is useful to avoid projectiles so be aware of that, if you predict they will do it, many of these stalling moves have enough commitment that they are going to be left wide open to a shadow ball if you predict it. Also, characters with reflectors have a safe option when landing versus projectiles. But not all of them are safe against Mewtwo which I will explain later.
Of course, this is significantly harder to pull off versus characters with multiple double jumps, it may not even be worth the effort as they can avoid it too easily.
Part 4: Stabbing their toes
Following on from part 3, we now consider what happens when the enemy is landing on a platform or even just standing on one. The most important thing to know is that you cant air-dodge through a platform. Literally everything that was mentioned earlier about timing your shadow ball to hit people as they land applies here too. It can often be a lot more difficult if the platforms are small and you cant react in time to whether the enemy will land past the platform but if you ever find the enemy being forced to land on a platform like on Smashville, the same applies.
A good trick to try and use if you ever get the chance is to fire a full charge shadowball at the halfway height through a platform. This can actually hit characters who being up their shield in time by just hitting their feet. This is extremely effective vs tall characters and is sure to make the opponent get mad at Mewtwo for somehow being able to hit them while shielding.
Although it is quite difficult to get the height perfectly right, it is a safe option and if it works it can be a lot of free damage or a KO. Mewtwo might prefer flat stages to easily camp landing lag but if you ever get taken to a stage with platforms, this is a good way to still punish the enemy there too. You should definitely keep this in mind against enemies that like to land on platforms and bring up their shield, even if they don't airdodge. Smashville is a very popular stage and the platform is used to recover often, you will have multiple opportunities per match to hit them as they land.
http://gfycat.com/HatefulAnguishedCottonmouth
Don't underestimate this strategy!
Part 5: The rules of priority
Extremely useful knowledge with Mewtwo in Smash 4 are the rules of projectile priority. This determines whether or not your projectile will over-ride the enemies attacks or they will clank. Projectiles have their own special rules of priority I'll describe here.
Projectile priority follows is a single rule where if a projectile does 9% or more, the projectile will cancel the counter attack and go through it. If the projectile 8% or less than the counter attack, both attacks will clank. A common misconception is that disjointed attack can override projectiles. That may have been the case in melee but it is definitely not the case in smash 4. There is one other unique case of 'laser priority' where as implied, laser attacks will go through anything, otherwise known as 'transcendent' priority.
Why this matters is because we look at options the enemy has to counter the shadowball. Catching the enemy while they are landing is by far the easiest way to get a full charge shadow ball to hit even the most skilled and aware opponent, but they generally have some options to defeat it in simply attacking the shadowball or reflecting/countering it.
With attacking the shadow ball, this is actually an extremely effective tactic to swat away lesser charged ones. When a character is approaching in the air and they are faced with landing instead of airdodging into the ground, they can simply DI towards you and attack the shadowball. This puts a lot of pressure on the one using the projectile since it cuts off their stage control. Plenty of characters are able to do this very easily. However aerial attacks, just like grounded ones follow the same rules of priority. That means that to swat away a full charge shadowball, the aerial approach has to do up to 17% to clank. Here is a list of aerial attacks that do 17%
[to be added, but its a very small list]
This is a very big deal because if you consider the case of Sheik who approaches with fair, her fair only does a measly 4%, but that is enough to swat away almost every projectile in the game. A full charge shadow ball almost completely negates the options for the cast to swat away them while landing. Now you have really stuck the enemy in a tough situation, for many there is just nothing they can do except take the hit.
http://gfycat.com/FelineQuerulousFirebelliedtoad
Sheik doesn't need to worry about airdodging into the stage to avoid projectiles since she can just slap them away. There are only a handful of projectiles in the game that can punish sheik for using fair, and yours does 26%. However since her fair does 4%, your shadowball must do 13% or more to go through it so you need at least more than half charge. Why do 13% when you can do 26% though?
Part 6: Eating projectiles
When it comes to projectile vs projectile battles the rules of priority remain meaning that a full charge shadow ball with rip through any projectile that does 17% or less. This is extremely useful versus characters like Mario, Pikachu, Luigi, Diddy, Sheik, Link, Samus, Megaman, Rob and anyone that relies heavily on spammable projectiles.
Normally in projectile battles the two will just cancel each other out and the situation resets. With Shadow ball though, it is fast and powerful enough to go through most projectiles. The key to using this is to fire it as soon as the enemy commits to throwing theirs. If you predict the enemy is going to throw something at you and have a full charge shadow ball ready, there is nothing they can do to do dodge it.
Following on from before, many characters will use projectiles to cover their landing, especially Mario, Pikachu and Rob. It forces the enemy to shield or dodge and gives them a free landing. The shadow ball negates that though. This one single attack punishes characters for landing and it can not be cancelled out, it can not be beat with projectiles. With proper timing and spacing, the attack is utterly undodgeable. A 100% risk-free, high power KO move.
http://gfycat.com/UnacceptableUniformDalmatian
Other characters wish they had something that could punish Luigi hard for using his super-safe fireballs.
To put things into better perspective, here is a list of projectiles that the full charge shadow ball will beat.
Shadowball beats:
Mario fireball
Luigi fireball
Peach turnip (not stitchface)
Bowser Fire breath
Yoshi egg
Bowser JR Canonball (not full charge)
Diddy Banana
G&W Bacon
Link Boomerang
Link Arrow (not full charge)
Zelda Dins Fire
Sheik Needles
Toon Link Boomerang
Toon Link Arrow (not full charge)
Samus Homing Missile
Samus Super Missile
Samus Charge Shot (not full charge)
ZSS Paralyser
Pit Arrow
Palutena Autoreticule
Robin Arc Fire
Robin Arc Thunder
Kirby Final Cutter
Pikachu Thunder Jolt
Charizard Fire Breath
Lucario Force Palm
Lucario Aura sphere
Greninja Water Shuriken
Ness PK Thunder
Villager Llyod Rocket
Villager Fair
Villager Bair
Wii Fit Trainer Sun Salutation (not full charge)
Doctor Mario Pills
Dark Pit Arrows
Megaman Bullets
Megaman Crash Bomber
Megaman Blade
Megaman Leaf Shield
Mewtwo Shadow Ball (less than 18% charged vs a fresh full charge SB)
Mii Gunner Charge shot (not full charge)
Hadouken (all types)
Shadowball clanks with (both attacks cancel)
Peach Stitch Face
Bowser Jr MechaKoopa
Bowser Jr Full Charge Cannonball
Link Bomb
Link Arrow (Full Charge)
Toon Link Bomb
Toon Link Arrow (full charge)
Samus Charge shot (full charge)
Duck Hunt Cannonball
Duck Hunt Clay Pigeon
Duck Hunt Gunslinger
Rob Gyro
Ness PK Fire
Olimar Pikmin Throw
Wii Fit Trainer Sun Salutation (full charge)
Pacman (all fruits)
Mewtwo Shadow Ball
Mii Gunner Charge Shot (full charge)
Mii Gunner side b
Lucas pkfire
Laser trade (both attacks go through each other)
Robin Thoron
Fox Laser
Falco Laser
Rob Laser
Lucas pkthunder
Megaman Fsmash
Rob Laser
Special case
DeDeDe Gordo
Mario fireball
Luigi fireball
Peach turnip (not stitchface)
Bowser Fire breath
Yoshi egg
Bowser JR Canonball (not full charge)
Diddy Banana
G&W Bacon
Link Boomerang
Link Arrow (not full charge)
Zelda Dins Fire
Sheik Needles
Toon Link Boomerang
Toon Link Arrow (not full charge)
Samus Homing Missile
Samus Super Missile
Samus Charge Shot (not full charge)
ZSS Paralyser
Pit Arrow
Palutena Autoreticule
Robin Arc Fire
Robin Arc Thunder
Kirby Final Cutter
Pikachu Thunder Jolt
Charizard Fire Breath
Lucario Force Palm
Lucario Aura sphere
Greninja Water Shuriken
Ness PK Thunder
Villager Llyod Rocket
Villager Fair
Villager Bair
Wii Fit Trainer Sun Salutation (not full charge)
Doctor Mario Pills
Dark Pit Arrows
Megaman Bullets
Megaman Crash Bomber
Megaman Blade
Megaman Leaf Shield
Mewtwo Shadow Ball (less than 18% charged vs a fresh full charge SB)
Mii Gunner Charge shot (not full charge)
Hadouken (all types)
Shadowball clanks with (both attacks cancel)
Peach Stitch Face
Bowser Jr MechaKoopa
Bowser Jr Full Charge Cannonball
Link Bomb
Link Arrow (Full Charge)
Toon Link Bomb
Toon Link Arrow (full charge)
Samus Charge shot (full charge)
Duck Hunt Cannonball
Duck Hunt Clay Pigeon
Duck Hunt Gunslinger
Rob Gyro
Ness PK Fire
Olimar Pikmin Throw
Wii Fit Trainer Sun Salutation (full charge)
Pacman (all fruits)
Mewtwo Shadow Ball
Mii Gunner Charge Shot (full charge)
Mii Gunner side b
Lucas pkfire
Laser trade (both attacks go through each other)
Robin Thoron
Fox Laser
Falco Laser
Rob Laser
Lucas pkthunder
Megaman Fsmash
Rob Laser
Special case
DeDeDe Gordo
A special note is made regarding 'laser priority' projectiles which pass through all others. I am actually not quite sure where full charge shadow ball fits in between normal high damage priority and laser priortiy
http://gfycat.com/MeaslyUniformAfricanharrierhawk
As shown there, the baby shadow balls are stuffed by incoming laser projectiles, however the full charge acts like a laser projectile itself. A full charge is still stopped in its tracks by pk fire and Duck Hunt Duo's projectiles which I lack an explanation for at this time. At least though it is a heavy punish if you ever predict a Thoron or needles are coming your way.
Part 7: Reflectors? No problem
Shadowball, like any projectile is risky against characters with reflectors but Mewtwo, like Mii Gunner, possess the deadly combination of a KO projectile and a reflector. Reflectors more than anything act as a deterrent to you using full charge shadow balls. Normally you can throw them out with absolutely 0 risk but now the risk is turned against Mewtwo. With confusion, the risk is turned against the enemy, not completely though.
Characters with reflectors will often use them to cover their landings from being hit by projectiles. This is the last line of defense when they cant airdodge, cant attack and cant cancel the incoming shadow ball with their own projectile. You want to pay very close attention to your spacing when you attempt this technique.
If you use confusion on the enemies reflected shadowball, there is a specific range you can do this from where the enemy is still stuck in the animation of their reflector and they absolutely can not dodge it. If you fire it too close, you wont be able to dodge it and if you fire it from too far away, they will be able to dodge your double reflected shadowball or even triple reflect it.
Consider Mario, normally to cover his landings he will throw a fireball. As I covered before, Shadowball will rip through the fireball and catch Mario before he can do anything. A good Mario knows this, so he uses his other option in falling with a cape to punish the inevitable shadowball. If Mewtwo is the correct spacing away, he can reflect it back at him where Mario will be forced to dodge it or die as it will break a shield and he can't double cape fast enough.
It is important to look at it this way. Without a full charge shadow ball, Mario has 3 options to land with fireball, cape and just land normally. With shadowball in hand, you have removed fireball as an option. If you get your timing right, you remove landing normally as an option. Mario has literally 1 option left – cape. If you get your spacing right, you put a lot of pressure on Mario to be nearly frame perfect to avoid a heavy punish.
Whether you are firing it to catch the opponents landing, trying to rip through their projectile or just firing it in neutral, it is important to learn the safe spacing to fire the shadowball in case the enemy reflects it. Some characters like Zelda and Falco are fairly easy to hit with due to the higher end lag on their reflectors but characters like Palutena and Mario can be tricky since their reflectors last a long time, or have low cool down respectively. There are so many variables, all you want to focus on though is firing it from anywhere greater than the minimum range and if you know you are too far, get ready to jump out of the way if it is double reflected.
A special mention however will go out to Pits reflector which will double-reflect a full charge shadow ball if it is anything less than fresh while a fresh one will trap them in their reflector, break it and kill them.
[gfys go here]
Part 8: Edgeguarding
An obvious use for the shadowball is of course edgeguarding but Shadowball is not as effective as it could be as an edgeguard vs many characters who recover low to sweetspot the edge. Airdodging a shadowball is too easy so your best use is to use it to stop the opponent throwing projectiles while they recover, charge up special moves or basically force them to recover low.
Against a number of characters, they will prefer to recover above the ledge instead of below and these are the characters who are vulnerable to shadowball since by forcing them to recover low, you have now opened up the option to edgeguard them with Mewtwo's aerials. Both baby and full charge shadow balls are effective here, anything to get the enemy low. If you manage to snipe the enemy with shadowball off stage, that's fantastic but it is still rare to pull off, it is better used to shut down their recovery options to allow you to punish a low recovery.
Shadowball does however have a decent use in pressuring the enemy at the ledge and especially vs characters who love ledgehop attacks. As before with my projectile priority description, vs almost every projectile in the game a character like WFT can ledgehop volleyball rather safely on the edge. That equation is completely reversed when shadowball is on deck. Be patient and wait for your moment to attack, then hit them with the strongest move you have.
[more stuff goes here along with some gfys]
Part 9: Baby Shadow Ball uses
I'll add this next I'm just tired of making videos right now.
Part 10: Conclusion
I'll add a proper conclusion later.
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