Q&A The 'Mains' Advice Thread

[Kulty]

Hi guys,

So I came back to this thread for help to find a main for a friend who enters in competitive Smash 4. Initially, he picked (his main in Melee and Brawl), but he didn't like him (not as good). So he decided to choose first just to be safe. According to what he said to me, he basically told me this :

''If the character has a simple, interesting and intelligent (mind game) gameplay. I take the previous example: . He is light, fast and weak. That means he is kind of a scout. He camps a lot with his boomerang, bombs and arrows. When the enemy is closer he got to jab, but his jab is weak. The only reason why Toon Link should be close to his enemy is to throw a kill move (his up-smash is devastating)...He can do amazing combos with his aerials and the re-camp with his arsenal and set up traps. I love this gameplay: You constantly have to change between offense and defense (camp). Marth is like this too (offense: crazy combo -- defense: amazing spacing). is campier, so you can set up more traps and use many strategies. can be everything, he is always safe. I want a character with a nice range so he can space and play defensively when the enemy is chasing him. But at the same time, I want him to punish the enemy when he makes a false move. The kind of punish that can lead you to a kill (just like Marth's ken combo) or at least great percent or even 0 to death. ''

Is there someone who can recommend a character based on this description?

 

[Joeyd123]

Can you describe what you would consider to be fun? I only know that you want a character that allows you to be more creative in the way that you score KOs, but was there maybe anything about Ness that you did enjoy?

The reason I ask is because if you ask somebody to give you a character that is fun, then everybody is going to give you completely different answers.

I'm more asking who you find the most fun

 

[xthefurry]

Im thinking of adding to my mains.
Who should I replace, ROB
Pikachu
Bowser
or
Shulk
(I also have but hes bae so yeah)

I would say ROB or shulk, but i'm more for shulk as you don't have as many zoners as close range

 

[xthefurry]

Hi guys,

So I came back to this thread for help to find a main for a friend who enters in competitive Smash 4. Initially, he picked (his main in Melee and Brawl), but he didn't like him (not as good). So he decided to choose first just to be safe. According to what he said to me, he basically told me this :

''If the character has a simple, interesting and intelligent (mind game) gameplay. I take the previous example: . He is light, fast and weak. That means he is kind of a scout. He camps a lot with his boomerang, bombs and arrows. When the enemy is closer he got to jab, but his jab is weak. The only reason why Toon Link should be close to his enemy is to throw a kill move (his up-smash is devastating)...He can do amazing combos with his aerials and the re-camp with his arsenal and set up traps. I love this gameplay: You constantly have to change between offense and defense (camp). Marth is like this too (offense: crazy combo -- defense: amazing spacing). is campier, so you can set up more traps and use many strategies. can be everything, he is always safe. I want a character with a nice range so he can space and play defensively when the enemy is chasing him. But at the same time, I want him to punish the enemy when he makes a false move. The kind of punish that can lead you to a kill (just like Marth's ken combo) or at least great percent or even 0 to death. ''

Is there someone who can recommend a character based on this description?

why not pac-man? he's got some great long range attacks and you can use his bell and fire hydrant to set stuff up.

 

[Kulty]

why not pac-man? he's got some great long range attacks and you can use his bell and fire hydrant to set stuff up.

Is there other characters? My friend thinks that , and might be solid characters for him!

 

[xthefurry]

Is there other characters? My friend thinks that , and might be solid characters for him!

well, for me roy works very well and my dad is very good with toon link so according to me shulk is out
also, villager maybe?

 

[Kulty]

well, for me roy works very well and my dad is very good with toon link so according to me shulk is out
also, villager maybe?

Why do you say that Shulk is out? He has amazing potential of being a great character. I used to main him before.

 

[Kulty]

well, for me roy works very well and my dad is very good with toon link so according to me shulk is out
also, villager maybe?

Why do you say that Shulk is out? He has amazing potential of being a great character. I used to main him before.

 

[xthefurry]

Why do you say that Shulk is out? He has amazing potential of being a great character. I used to main him before.

true he is a good character, but if you think about it his monado arts can be kind of distracting

 

[Kulty]

true he is a good character, but if you think about it his monado arts can be kind of distracting

What do you mean by Monado Arts being distracting?

 

[xthefurry]

What do you mean by Monado Arts being distracting?

well if you want to increase one stat at a time and decrease the others, it could distract you from completing the battle.
as in this scenario
let's say if you were at palutena's temple and you have shield on, and now you are being attacked from behind, you need to jump to the other side of the temple at high percentage but shield lowers jump and speed so you need to change to either jump or speed but you couldn't do it in time. boom. launched, cant recover because of jump loss, and you get KOed

 

[Kulty]

well if you want to increase one stat at a time and decrease the others, it could distract you from completing the battle.
as in this scenario
let's say if you were at palutena's temple and you have shield on, and now you are being attacked from behind, you need to jump to the other side of the temple at high percentage but shield lowers jump and speed so you need to change to either jump or speed but you couldn't do it in time. boom. launched, cant recover because of jump loss, and you get KOed

Oh ok! I understand! I mean my friend will definitely try Shulk, but I'll try to make him learn the basic strategies and things that he's capable of. You just to get used to it, and react fast. I admit, it does take practice. Thanks for the advice! It will definitely help him.

 

[Kulty]

Oh ok! I understand! I mean my friend will definitely try Shulk, but I'll try to make him learn the basic strategies and things that he's capable of. You just need to get used to it, and react fast. I admit, it does take practice. Thanks for the advice! It will definitely help him.

 

[Nexin]

I'm more asking who you find the most fun

The two characters I find the most fun are Palutena and Ryu.

Palutena has been my main since late October, and I'm only going to talk about her default moves since that is what I use most. The two things that stand out most about her are the range of many of her attacks and the massive end lag of many of her moves, meaning that outside of very low percentages, she doesn't have many guaranteed combos. With that said, she possesses a very strong grab game due to her down throw having very low knock back growth, so getting grabs is a very big part of Palutena's playstyle. Generally, if you want to play Palutena, you will need to be very patient and have a strong sense of spacing.

Obviously Ryu is too new to give you a completely accurate description of his character, but I can still give you an idea of how most people use him. The big thing to know about Ryu is that he plays as if he were from an actual Street Fighter game. He has different jabs and tilts depending on whether you tap or hold the a button, some of his tilts are special cancelable, and if you input the original commands for his special moves from Street Fighter, you'll get the True version of his specials which are much more powerful. Ryu is also one if the most combo oriented characters in the game, so he is able to rack up damage faster than anybody else. The biggest thing you'll need to do is learn how to perform the True Shoryuken consistently and how to set it up. The move KOs ridiculously early, but without it, Ryu often has a very hard time taking stocks.

These are much longer descriptions than I usually write here, but you didn't give me much information on what you were looking for. Hopefully this helps.

 

[Divemissile]

why not choose one close-range one balanced and one zoner, try them out and if you don't like em' repeat until you get the ones you like?


also get mewtwo and ryu they could be real good secondaries

I don't have Ryu, but I did play Mewtwo for a bit, and he was neat.

 

[C0rvus]

Im thinking of adding to my mains.
Who should I replace, ROB
Pikachu
Bowser
or
Shulk
(I also have but hes bae so yeah)

Why replace one of them? If you've already got 5, what's one more?

Honestly, I would delegate 1 or 2 mains, and leave the rest as secondaries. But it all depends on how serious you want to get. I'm not one to talk, I can hardly decide on a main, and I'm sitting on 3 right now lol.

 

[DavemanCozy]

I'm more asking who you find the most fun

You're going to get a lot of different answers, the idea of "fun" varies from player to player.

But imo:
- takes a lot of skill to play and rewards smart play. Requires precision with movement, fluidity, proper execution, good predictions / reads, and good reaction to play effectively. He also has one of the best movesets to counter most projectile and defensive playstyles.

- I find his semi-floaty movement combined with good weight a great combination to live long. He hits fairly hard and has a great moveset to let him threaten the air. He is rather unorthodox though, he has quirks in his playstyle that make him unusual to pick up and play.

Both characters are viable, imo, Fox more so than Wario. And if you're looking for different ways to get KOs other than Ness's B-throw (Ness also has Up-air or setups with PK-fire / thunder and his F-smash, btw), then here you go, characters who find their KO with different moves.

 

[xthefurry]

I don't have Ryu, but I did play Mewtwo for a bit, and he was neat.

well it's good you have as everyone i know mains him, he is a real good character doe

 

[Liyrex]

how many mains is a good amount? I don't know if i should keep my 4 or decrease the number a little

I used to be a one main one secondary guy too. Up until smash 4 It was strictly Marth and falco but with such a huge roster and so many different styles i find it best to have about 1 main and 4 secondaries or 2 mains and 3 secondaries. More than that is hard to perfect. Try to make them varied and cover your weaknesses or enhance your strengths for instance i Main /
I play very aggressive with them and rely heavily on gimping and offstage play, however if im being too aggressive against a defensive opponent to the point in which its hurting me i switch to to offset this.
If i need to play more defensively i switch to
Or if i need to set the pace of the match against a rush down like sonic I use
The best arsenal of characters is one that's suited to your own strengths and weaknesses, and make sure to pick characters you actually like.

 

[Kulty]

How many secondaries are recommendable? I was thinking of either 2 or 3 secondaries for my mains, but I'm not sure about that.
Mains : and
Secondaries (if 3) : , and

 

[xthefurry]

How many secondaries are recommendable? I was thinking of either 2 or 3 secondaries for my mains, but I'm not sure about that.
Mains : and
Secondaries (if 3) : , and

always have 2 secondaries is what i'm hearing

 

[Kulty]

always have 2 secondaries is what i'm hearing

I saw from the previous post (Liyrex) that having three secondaries can be okay. I want to have as much characters as possible to counter my matchups. Someone recommended early on (which I totally agree with), but are and okay to counter and hard matchups?

 

[Kulty]

always have 2 secondaries is what i'm hearing

So if you say that 2 secondaries are more advised than 3, then who do you think between and (or another character) is a good counterpick for , and ?

 

[DavemanCozy]

I'd say the number of mains / secondaries / pockets you want to have depends on how much time you're willing to spend with them. We're all different, we all have busy or not-so-busy lives, it's up to you how you want to manage your time. It also depends on your goals as a player: do you want to be a competitive tournament player? or do you want to just play for fun / glory?

My recommendation is to think about how much time you're willing and able to put into them. You also want to think about how proficient you can be: the more you play, the more you have to remember and do. Playing too many might stale you as a player: in other words, you could play a lot of characters and be good with them, but you might be better off focusing on only a few characters and become really amazing with just those few.

It all depends on your comfort, time, dedication, and goals.

Some characters are particularly harder to play and understand than others too. The general consensus among smashers is that Ryu is harder to play than Mario. I think it's fair to say that you're going to have to invest more time into Ryu if you plan on playing him well than you would with Mario.

This also depends on the person though. Some people have an affinity to certain characters and naturally pick some up easier than others.

 

[Kulty]

I'd say the number of mains / secondaries / pockets you want to have depends on how much time you're willing to spend with them. We're all different, we all have busy or not-so-busy lives, it's up to you how you want to manage your time. It also depends on your goals as a player: do you want to be a competitive tournament player? or do you want to just play for fun / glory?

My recommendation is to think about how much time you're willing and able to put into them. You also want to think about how proficient you can be: the more you play, the more you have to remember and do. Playing too many might stale you as a player: in other words, you could play a lot of characters and be good with them, but you might be better off focusing on only a few characters and become really amazing with just those few.

It all depends on your comfort, time, dedication, and goals.



Some characters are particularly harder to play and understand than others too. The general consensus among smashers is that Ryu is harder to play than Mario. I think it's fair to say that you're going to have to invest more time into Ryu if you plan on playing him well than you would with Mario.

This also depends on the person though. Some people have an affinity to certain characters and naturally pick some up easier than others.

Well, in my case, I want to be a competitive tournament player (even though there's no local tournaments in my region)! So I think it's best to have 2 mains and 2 secondaries. But for me, it's just hard to decide between and as one of my secondaries along with , because I love both of them. Both characters have amazing rewards when mastered, and you can really feel it when you play a character like these two. There are others that I can think of like , and (don't plan on maining them for many reasons), but they are fun characters and I love them so much. So yeah, can't decide between Ryu and Roy for a good counterpick for the Mario Bros. plus Sonic. If I have to choose Ryu, I'm ready to invest the time on it.

 

[Fatmanonice]

How many secondaries are recommendable? I was thinking of either 2 or 3 secondaries for my mains, but I'm not sure about that.
Mains : and
Secondaries (if 3) : , and

Two is what most pros have or sometimes just a pocket to specifically take on one character.

 

[xthefurry]

So if you say that 2 secondaries are more advised than 3, then who do you think between and (or another character) is a good counterpick for , and ?

definitely

 

[Joeyd123]

So just recently I started maining Luigi. I have been very successful with him. However, I have a lot of trouble with characters with a lot of range. Such as Roy, Marth, and Shulk. Any ideas for a good secondary as a Luigi main?

 

[C0rvus]

So just recently I started maining Luigi. I have been very successful with him. However, I have a lot of trouble with characters with a lot of range. Such as Roy, Marth, and Shulk. Any ideas for a good secondary as a Luigi main?

Luigi has one of the best projectiles in the game to help you there, but if you really struggle against characters with disjoints, then why not trying fighting fire with fire? Try a sword character as a secondary. It's hard to say which one is the best at the moment, but all seem pretty good. Link in particular may have the tools to box at midrange and fight at long distance with projectiles, which I think may make him very potent against other swordies.

 

[Funkermonster]

I main Mega Man and have various pocket characters, I'm still trying to find who I want as my secondary to keep things fun.

In my opinion Mega loses to: Fox, Falcon, Sheik, Pac-Man, & Greninja; and he could potentially lose to Kirby, Jigglypuff, Roy, Pit/Dark Pit, Olimar, Wario, & Lucario; with customs on DK, is also a candidate. I also personally despise Mega Man dittos, almost always preferring to switch to another character rather rather than do the ditto.

At the moment I am leaning to these guys the most: I feel these guys would do the best job of covering said matchups and would synergize best with him, and they can all put a decent amount of work on Mega Man himself so I can avoid doing the dreaded ditto.. I WOULD add Duck Hunt up here, as I consider him one of my best characters and I've already had a bit of success with him, but I don't think he covers Mega Man very well at all sadly.

I also enjoy , , and but alas; I feel that these characters would not synergize well with Mega Man and would lose to the same characters he does/probably does and more. In Robin's case, I would very much like to use her in Doubles however, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea considering how I'd have to learn her for singles too, and her already high learning curve. I want to do it since I am a fan of her source game, but wouldn't it be too risky?

For Doubles, I don't really have a main. I will most likely stay with Mega Man; but am also open to using Robin, Pac-Man, Rosalina, Pit, or Lucas in that order. Don't really feel comfortable using the others in doubles since I am usually more of a supporter than an offender.

 

[darktrickster101]

Hey guys thought I would get some advice as I am at my wits end on what to do. I've been trying to find a new main by systematically going through each character until I find a character that naturally fits or at least feels right to a certain extent. The problem is that I've gone through the roster and zero characters have felt natural. Some advice on what to do would be brilliant.

 

[Nexin]

Hey guys thought I would get some advice as I am at my wits end on what to do. I've been trying to find a new main by systematically going through each character until I find a character that naturally fits or at least feels right to a certain extent. The problem is that I've gone through the roster and zero characters have felt natural. Some advice on what to do would be brilliant.

For you, I'd recommend just picking a character that you like and play them near exclusively for a few weeks. It doesn't whether the character is from a game that you enjoy or you just like the way they look, the only requirement is that you actually like the character.

There are two reasons why I think you should try this.

First, you don't seem to know what kind of character you would enjoy yourself, so I really can't narrow character options down for you. The reason I recommended doing this is because if you play a character for a while, then you will begin to know what traits you generally like and dislike, and we can give you much better answers if you decide not to main them.

The second reason is that players tend to be more willing to put the time into learning character that they actually care about. Obviously, if you dislike a character then you probably aren't going to enjoy playing as them for very long periods of time, but this also extends to being apathetic towards a character. For example, I could probably learn Rosalina and Luma if I put a good bit of time in the lab with them, but I'm completely indifferent towards her. I had never played any of the Super Mario Galaxy games and I personally feel the way she was designed is rather bland, so I had no reason to want to play her. On the other hand, I was willing to put many hours into learning my main Palutena simply because I loved the amount of detail that was put into her design. It doesn't matter why you like a character, you just need a reason to want to play as them.

Sorry about this post being rather lengthy, but I didn't want it to seem like I was just giving you a cop out answer. I hope this advice helps you out.

 

[Joeyd123]

Hey guys thought I would get some advice as I am at my wits end on what to do. I've been trying to find a new main by systematically going through each character until I find a character that naturally fits or at least feels right to a certain extent. The problem is that I've gone through the roster and zero characters have felt natural. Some advice on what to do would be brilliant.

What kind of play style do you have?

I had the same problem for the last couple months, but just a couple days ago I found a character who finally feels right.

 

[xthefurry]

I main Mega Man and have various pocket characters, I'm still trying to find who I want as my secondary to keep things fun.

In my opinion Mega loses to: Fox, Falcon, Sheik, Pac-Man, & Greninja; and he could potentially lose to Kirby, Jigglypuff, Roy, Pit/Dark Pit, Olimar, Wario, & Lucario; with customs on DK, is also a candidate. I also personally despise Mega Man dittos, almost always preferring to switch to another character rather rather than do the ditto.

At the moment I am leaning to these guys the most: I feel these guys would do the best job of covering said matchups and would synergize best with him, and they can all put a decent amount of work on Mega Man himself so I can avoid doing the dreaded ditto.. I WOULD add Duck Hunt up here, as I consider him one of my best characters and I've already had a bit of success with him, but I don't think he covers Mega Man very well at all sadly.

I also enjoy , , and but alas; I feel that these characters would not synergize well with Mega Man and would lose to the same characters he does/probably does and more. In Robin's case, I would very much like to use her in Doubles however, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea considering how I'd have to learn her for singles too, and her already high learning curve. I want to do it since I am a fan of her source game, but wouldn't it be too risky?

For Doubles, I don't really have a main. I will most likely stay with Mega Man; but am also open to using Robin, Pac-Man, Rosalina, Pit, or Lucas in that order. Don't really feel comfortable using the others in doubles since I am usually more of a supporter than an offender.

seems like a bit too many, but thats your choice. I would choose lucas btw

 

[xthefurry]

here are my new mains, could you rate them for me (1-10 10 being the best [NO BIAS!!!])
mains:
secondaries:
pockets:
in the lab:

 

[HotMetalGuy]

Hey guys, i'm thinking on maining Dark Pit, what do you think about him?

 

[FalKoopa]

Hey guys, i'm thinking on maining Dark Pit, what do you think about him?

I've moved your post to the appropriate thread.

Don't have any advice regarding Dark Pit though, sorry.

 

[darktrickster101]

here are my new mains, could you rate them for me (1-10 10 being the best [NO BIAS!!!])
mains:
secondaries:
pockets:
in the lab:

In my opinion of where these characters stand on the tier list it would be in the following order (some characters I know more about than others):
-pretty even matchups against top tiers such as shiek and really good grab and follow up game
- not much data to go off but he has some early kill options and great combo game. Loads of potential here.
- excellent projectile and combo game with probably the best kill throw in the game
- while he doesn't have the same combos as ness he does have good projectile game and some nice kill moves (insane up smash)
-great speed, kill power and great follow ups. slow grab is a problem though
-again no data but he has many combos for a variety of purposes and a great projectile as well as good kill power
- great speed, grab follow ups as well as good kill power. however lack of projectile is a minus
-very good kill combos and reasonable speed. however options are not as various as other characters
-speed, some good kill set ups and a very useful shine
-good aerials, good projectile. however grab range is not the greatest
- good range of projectiles but his floatiness and lack of weight can present a problem.
-nifty recovery as well as variety of projectiles is good. lack of good speed and lack of grab range is bad.
- cool combos to utilise but is inferior to a good percentage of the cast
-projectile variety. that's about all that gunner has in the pros section.

 

[Spark31]

So @darktrickster You're trying to tell me that sheik has an even matchup with sheik? Ever heard of fair shield pushback? Sheik can **** all over luigi with needles and fair.

 

[Pippin (Peregrin Took)]

As far as a main is concerned I find myself always going back to but I'm all over the place when it comes to secondaries/pockets. I guess I should be looking for someone who either a) complement's dark pit's weaknesses or b) has a playstyle similar enough that I can transition into them very quickly. These are the guys I've been looking at (most of which I play regularly but a couple I'm more curious about); any thoughts?

Hey guys, i'm thinking on maining Dark Pit, what do you think about him?

IDK what style you prefer but Dark Pit to me both pits seem to have a "pick up and play/jack of all trades" feel to them. They've got a reliable projectile (I prefer Pit's obviously but prefer DP as a character), an advancing side-b that can be used for horizontal recovery (I prefer DP's but I'm not totally sure why, it works better with my keepaway game I guess), strong grabs, and amazing vertical recovery.

The main thing to watch out for is a lack of KO potential with both characters. Pit is slightly better with his side b KOing vertically, but again DP just feels better in my hands. For some reason it seems like his hits are more solid than regular pits even though most people say they work almost exactly the same.