Tips for New Luigi Main

[FearTheTree]

Just like the title says, looking for some tips for Luigi, like good stages to pick, combos to work on, and most importantly, recovery help. Thanks for your time!

 

[Escorcho]

If you haven't already, you should learn to incorporate wavedashing into Luigi's main form of movement. This is his best way to move on the ground, being nearly as fast as Captain Falcon.
Another important thing to learn with Luigi is spacing and approaches. Since he has a relatively short range, it's a good idea to punish with Luigi as opposed to just going in there (this is a possibility at times, though). It's a good idea to wavedash shield and then punish with a grab, tilt, up b, or smash. Grabbing works well to set up combos, and tilts (mainly the f tilt and u tilt) are good at keeping your opponent away since they have great knockback. Smash attacks are useful at higher percents. The most effective ones are the u smash and d smash. They send your opponent upward. In fact, most of Luigi's attacks do. That's why he can set up combos well.
In your approach, you can even spot dodge, this is very useful if your opponent likes to grab. If you send your opponent into the air, remember, nair has high priority. Don't use it too much or your opponent will bait you into it and punish.
As for recovery, Luigi's is pretty bad but many have difficulties edgeguarding him. Always remember to charge up a cyclone on the ground so you could use it off the stage. Remember to save your second jump. It is probably the best way to get back on stage.
Hopefully this was helpful. Good luck!
Edit: My personal faviorite stages for Luigi are Final Destination and Dreamland. On Final Destination, there is a lot of room for ground movement and I can do well with the lack of platforms. Dreamland is great because it's so big. Also, the platforms are high enough for Marth not to hit from the ground (Unlike Fountain of Dreams.
My least favorite stages for Luigi are Yoshi Story and FoD. The stages are small and you can be KOd at pretty low percents.

 

[Stride]

This is another thread asking for beginner tips (good advice here, and mine):
http://smashboards.com/threads/just-picked-up-the-weegee-anything-i-should-focus-on.351385/

Bread and butter combos are things like up/down throw into up tilt/nair. These can be repeated to juggle.

Wavedash down smash, up tilt, short hop nair, and up/down/sometimes froward throw are combo starters. Fireballs, spaced back aerials, and up smash are more useful against floaties (especially Jigglypuff) than fast fallers.

Down tilt and dash attack are nearly useless (the dash attack in particular is horrifically punishable). A downwards angled forward tilt can sometimes be used for edgeguarding but is otherwise useless.

The Tornado (down-B) can make Luigi rise if you mash the button while using it in the air, but it must be "charged" by using it on the ground before you can rise. It is necessary for recovering properly with Luigi; learn to charge it at the right moments and mash the button properly (don't be discouraged if the mashing is hard at first; it gets easier as you practice and develop technique).

This thread contains useful information on the tornado: http://smashboards.com/threads/rising-cyclone-ptp-frame-data-guide.384946/

 

[Verda Stelo]

Stages can be very complicated choices for Luigi, and I've been known to go back and forth with my opinions on them.

DL64 - Great stage for Luigi all around, but it certainly can be used against him. Characters with better recovery like Peach and Samus will definitely give you a hard time here, but you can make it work. Fast characters can be dealt with but you might not want to take them here if they like to camp.
FD - Yes you can destroy fast fallers here (side note: versus Falco you should really learn to powershield or you might hate life). Some characters like Falcon and Ganon have a hard time approaching and escaping juggles without a platform. The same can be said for Luigi versus Marth or Sheik. Fighting Peach, Puff, and Samus here is something I've gone back and forth on. On one hand each character has something that platforms help you deal with (floating, bair spacing/aerial mobility, and projectile camping respectively). As Luigi players we want to use our awesome aerials and platform movement and we forget that Luigi is by far more dominant on the ground. Choosing FD will help you play with much more discipline, which may be the edge you need in the matchup.
BF - Pretty neutral for Luigi, this is probably your best choice when you don't feel comfortable going anywhere else. Everybody is going to be practiced on this stage but you can do just as much work. The lip hinders Luigi as much as it hinders anyone else, so don't worry too much about.
YS - Luigi has very powerful combo and stage control games here, as well as aided recovery with the wall and Randall (learn your Randall timings!!). This is a big personal preference stage, if you feel comfortable that you can get control and keep it, take them here, if not, avoid it. Characters like Marth Ganon are very powerful here, so definitely avoid them.
FoD - This is your counterpick if you're maybe hoping to cheese your opponent out, and that can go for pretty much any character in any matchup. Luigi has the tools to use Fountain to his advantage, but you have to put in the effort to know how to abuse Fountain better than your opponent. I CPed a Falcon here once because I thought it might be free but he ended up destroying me with stomps through the platforms. Again, use at your own risk.
PS - Nice open space for Luigi with platforms to work with to boot. It's low ceilings open up early SJP kills as well as up smash and nair. The camera makes you slightly harder to edgeguard if you can use your tornado and double jump stalling effectively. Grass transformation is good for Luigi, water is okay. Fire can be dealt with if you simply resolve never to cross over the tree and you can avoid being wall comboed. Rock is very dangerous from any part of the stage. Luigi can win in the pits and kill from the top of the mountain and get silly with the weird edge but these are all dangerous situations that can quickly get you killed. Try this stage out in multiple matchups to see how you feel in each.

 

[TheHartChip]

I would say Final Destination is good depending on who you are against. I would not go there against Marth or the space animals, but that is just me. My favorite stage is Dreamland. It is a very good stage with the platforms being so big and such. I like Fountain against spacies as for the fact it just gives that extra amount of slide. Enough to make Luigi more slippery and enough to change the way they play. I like Battlefield, but I hate the edges. If you can deal with the edges then I would say it would be a very nice pick. Finally I am not a fan of Yoshi's on Luigi. I am not a fan of how small it is.

On the recovery there are many posts about this, but essentially your green missile is for horizontal movement and your up b is purely vertical. Your rising tornado can be great but you need to practice your button mashing.

If you are approaching one way a lot and it stops working you can always give a tornado a shot. And your tilts are very nice. As much fun as it is to wave dash into an up or down smash wavedashing into an up or side tilt can be just as or even more viable.

 

[FearTheTree]

Thank you all so much for the help, everything here has been super beneficial! I can tell from some other threads that Luigi mains tend to be really awesome.