SO, what is all this razzafrazz and why the heck should you care?
This, my dear trainers, is a closer look at a portion of your advantage state. Consider it a study guide or a pre-match cheat sheet. Taking in this information combined with everything else we've covered thus far in her meta will help you capitalize on your advantage completely. To start us off, lets reacquaint ourselves with the ledge mechanics before we go into how to cover the options our opponents have:
- When you grab the ledge you are forced to hold onto it for a minimum of 19-20 frames depending on your character
- During your hold you will be granted a certain amount of invincibility depending on your %
- If you attempt to grab the ledge again without first being hit or touching the stage, you will receive no invincibility
- After the mandatory some odd 19 frames you can stand from the ledge, let go/drop from the ledge, roll, jump, or attack
- You can not immediately re-grab the edge after coming in contact with it
- If someone else grabs the ledge during these mandatory 20 frames with out any button inputs, you are shoved off and unable act for some time (not sure on the exact frames)
- If you press a button however, it will buffer the corresponding option into the first available frame after the hold preventing any ledge trumps
Essentially~
You have to hold the ledge for a 1/3 of a second after grabbing no matter what
Trump>Ledge Climb and Ledge Release
Roll, Jump, Attack >Trump
Regrabbing the ledge without touching the stage of getting hit means you are vulnerable for 20 frames
If you can't gimp or kill you should be constantly looking to maximize your damage and extend your advantage without reaching too hard. Letting opponents know that you can and will kill them if they slip up is how you condition them into making fast decisions that are just as terrible for them. Speaking of which...
Ledge Roll
This is the most popular option to buffer against the fear of ledge trumps and for good reason as it's generally the safest option, putting some distance between you and your opponent with a reasonable amount of invincibility to cover your travel. As a WFT player you should be ecstatic when players buffer rolls against you, because ledge rolls are the greatest opportunities you can force to land a FFnair and as you know this can lead to anything from a simple 25%+ punish, a bair/header reset of your edgeguard, or KOs as early as 60% with no rage.
With the lowest endlag being 16 frames (Sheik and DDD) you're guaranteed plenty of time to punish hard on the entire cast as long as you're in position to do so and not flailing about in midair trying to predict where they'll stop. There's is nothing that will encourage your opponent to get ledge trumped more than KOing them for buffering.
Ledge Jump
A rarer option for sure but not completely unheard of and it tends to be more common amongst certain characters and playstyle than others. It's the fastest option from the ledge at 12 frames with invincibility all the way through. However, it's not common as it puts you in the air above your opponent, a naturally disadvantaged in most fighting games with Smash being no exception.
SS can sometimes catch this option as it leaves the ledge but honestly you'd be better off holding it for a landing trap and trying to juggle them as they try to land. Constantly killing against the other options can make this option more likely to be used, in which case feel free to use header. It's long active frames will make short work of it and be be extremely satisfying. Be sure to look for it against characters with tether recoveries(ZSS, Link, Samus) and characters with strong disadvantage states (Diddy, Sheik, Pikachu).
Ledge Climb
The most popular option in competitive play. With the way trumps, buffering, and ledge climbs work, in most cases players opt to simply retain their stage control and advantage state rather than attempt something that can beaten so easily making ledge climbs with their insanely safe 1 frame of vulnerability the obvious choice for anyone looking to recover safely. For an option that looks so punishable, there's very few normals/aerials you want to risk catching that 1 frame with. Our longest active normal is usmash at a pityable 9 frames which has an abysmal horizontal hitbox, and even sadder recovery time (57 frames). Alas, what is a poor trainer to do?
One option I don't see nearly enough is simply shooting SS. During the climb they are sitting ducks, and if you're in position to punish this, you most likely did not attempt to edge guard for one reason or another in which case, you should have either gone for deep breathing or charged SS. It's already excellent at catching airdodges, as long as you know the general amount of stand time (beware Palutena and the Miis) you shouldn't have any trouble landing this for an unstaled 18% and edgeguard reset/KO. However, SS for all it's utility and safety is fairly weak as a KO move killing from the default training positions on omegas around 130-140, the same as her ftilt.
This is why an alternative option requires us to revisit some older tech. For those that remember
this guide, we touched on header cancels and their utility. In this case we're looking at the hitbox extending properties that occur when hitting header. Not only does this work with header as is, letting you catch the 1 frame and combo into SS for the kill at later percents, it also works when canceled and attacked, letting you use much riskier moves like Fsmash and Dsmash to go for kills or much harder punishes. Obviously things like header cancel>ftilt and jab work as well for faster options that require much less precision for good damage while retaining your SS charge too.
Finally, it's also worth it to take another look at
Solar Wind. A more reactive option than the others for a trade of less commitment, charging SS just in front of opponents will push them if they attempt any option that isn't shield letting you counter grab or punish with SS on reaction to grounded offensive and defensive options. This position also affords you easy access to OoS bair against rolls and a burst option should they be wary and remain in shield.
All different yet powerful in their own way, use them make it very clear that making it back to the ledge against WFT does not mean you have recovered.
Ledge Release
[to be completed] A lot of players avoid this because of the same reasons as ledge jump with the added possibility of having to regrab the ledge without invincibility but it happens from time to time and is more common from characters with solid disjoints like Villager.
Putting it all Together
[to be completed] Covering multiple options, kill percents, ect.
