tears in rain
Smash Cadet
The original title was, "Why Perfect Pivot Is Mandatory' but after sleeping on it, I realize that it is the incorrect word to have used when talking about Perfect Pivot in relation the cast as a whole. Not only that, but an advance movement technique will never be mandatory. It was a poor choice of words by me; my b. Though, I still think with Fox, and some other characters, it is of the utmost importance to adopt the PP movement game so as to help cover up any and all of your downfalls. That being said, it still is an amazing tool (when in the right hands) for baiting and spacing, regardless of who you choose to play. There is no reason at all that you shouldn't take 10 minutes daily to practise this.
Now, I saymandatory, but that's only if you want to win (with Fox) - but we all want to win, don't we? Before I start, I'd just like to say that this was originally written as a response to the thread in the character discussion of Fox called, "So About that Perfect Pivot..." but I decided it really deserved its own thread in general chat - the more people to see this, the better. First, the obligatory introduction; Hello! I'm an Australian Smash Bros. player named, Callum, and my main in Sm4sh is Fox McCloud ("Here I come" - Fox, 2015) I shouldn't have to explain this, but I will; these are my opinions - they are mine and mine alone, and no, you may not have any. Please, remember this fact. Also, I make specific references to Fox "Here I come" McCloud because 1) Like I mentioned earlier, this was intended for the Fox thread, and 2) He is a good example of how much Perfect Pivoting (PPing) can benefit your game - that being said, the benefit it brings can easily be applied to any and all characters within the roster.
Everything I will say is not intended as a way to toot my horn or claim that, "I am da beeeest." or anything else of the sort, rather I'm just stating facts to help others understand that the points I make are backed up by a certain degree of skill. I've practiced Perfect Pivot (PP) for around a total of 5 hours now (this is all you need, really), and I consider myself to be quite adept at using not only the standard PP, but also the Perfect, Perfect Pivot (PPP). As a side, I don't really care what others say about Fox, my opinion of him is that he is one of the worst characters in the game - I say this because of the overall range on his attacks, the time it takes for some of his moves to come out, and his general lackluster ability to kill opponents. I am, of course, basing this opinion on his kit when compared to other characters. See, a lot of other members of the roster have some kind of kill move that either kills at 80% or just comes out really, really fast and is coupled with armor. Fox, he really doesn't have anything like this - he is the definition of a glass cannon, and in a game where he moves far slower than his predecessors... well, I'll just go back to my original point and say that he's hard to do well with.
When versing players of an equal skill level, it is safe to say that out of the entire roster; Fox is the hardest to win with. I honestly believe he is only viable (if you excuse the term) when you are playing him to the utmost of your ability at all times. There can be no mistakes, period. However, if you can manage this; if you can be play like a beast the entire game, then Fox can do some amazing stuff. With all this being said, it will probably not come as surprise to anyone that I am of the firm belief that PP is not only mandatory, but it is realistically the only type of movement on the ground you should be using: the only other accepted form of ground movement is Foxtrotting, which in fact not only plays a big role in your ability to set up mind games with PP, but it's also a great tool to help transition into PP's on the fly. I'm sure this has already been explained in the past, but the reason dashing is such a no-no when using PP is because of the risk factor when attempting to incorporate PPing into your play; if you were to accidentally mistime the frames of your dash, it could very well result in you sliding right into the enemy (this still happens to me on the rare occasion). This is why foxtrotting is so vitally important; it allows you to have full control your movement at all times, and if you can get the timing right it eliminates any and all risk of sliding into your opponent.
If you are playing Fox (or any other character) then you need to be baiting with PP. By baiting with PP I mean (for example) Foxtrotting towards the enemy, PPing backwards when you have approached too close, PP back into them and begin your up-tilt and jab lock rotations. Another example of a possible bait scenario is to foxtrot twice towards them, PP backwards once, and then purposely input an incorrect PP once (maybe twice) so as to make you dash on the spot (this is called a short dash dance). If your opponent has a basic understanding of the game and wake up times, then they will know how much time they have to act. Granted, this is an incredibly specific example, I know, and it has prerequisite of a certain amount of distance, but it has happened to me in the past quite a bit. If you've been PPing all game very well, then the enemy will come to expect you to perform this all the time. If purposely screw up your PPing advance, they will view this as the perfect opportunity to strike and make their advance - when this happens, all you have to do is PP backwards (essentially right right after the incorrect PP) and precede from there.
Going back to the idea of using PP literally all the time; just do it, seriously. Practice it at least ten minutes a day without fail, and you will find yourself being able to recreate the movement in combat with ease. In almost any situation, deciding to PP over another action will put you in a beneficial position - the extent to which you benefit from this is different every time, but it matters not. If you are falling to the ground, and your opponent is either in the air or on the ground themselves, the most optimal decision for you in this situation would be to PP away from them the instant you touch down. Doing this not only ensures you are a safe distance away from them, but more often than not the enemy will try to predict where you were going to land, attack there, and thus leave their self vulnerable to being attacked. Compare the choice of landing into PP with spot dodging on landing, shielding on landing, or even performing a neutral air (Nair) on landing.
Spot dodging is no longer the safest choice like it was in Brawl, so that's out of the picture; if you attempt to predict their attack/ grab with a spot dodge, they will be able to jab you before your wake up ends. Shielding on landing will work only once or twice before the enemy catches on that this is one of the routes you will take to ensure your safety; so that's out of the picture. Neutral air? Meh. While it is true that most of the cast (Fox in particular) have an incredible neutral air that comes out fast and has little to no landing lag; it has become the accepted norm by majority of the player base. Even when you are juggling someone with your up-tilts, you better be expecting them to be spamming Nair because that is what they are going to do - if they can manage to air dodge one of your hits, then you should be watching for this and waiting for their invulnerability to drop off. If you were to Nair when approaching the ground, a good player will see this coming and they will block the attack (and probably shield grab, too)
Now that I've taken the time to explain almost all the ways you can safely land on the ground against an advancing enemy, let's put PP into the rotation. Let's make up a hypothetical situation; let's say that you are falling through the air, and you can see your opponent relentless charging towards you. You look carefully, and you can see that not soon after you touch down, you will be struck in a place you deem to be most unpleasant. If you PP backwards, you are suddenly safe - not only that, but your opponent will be in wake up of something they've done. This wake up varies, of course, and it's all dependent on what they chose to do. If you can see they've done something with a heavy wake up, you should be using PP to get right back into their face - the most optimal thing in this situation is, as always, to PP into your up-tilt rotation. Ok, but what if that damn ******* starts understanding what you're doing; he knows you will PP backwards once you land, he anticipates this, and he decides to run that extra distance to get to you... uh, so what? Who cares? You've just created a sizable amount of distance between the two of you, and the best part is that you won't have any wake up what-so-ever; you can do whatever the bloody hell you want.
So anyway, he anticipates the PP, and he is in your face - let's just say that this takes you off guard once or twice, and subsequently he punishes you - whatever, it's a part of adapting to the game flow. The next time the situation arises, you shield right after you PP, and then all of a sudden you, once again, have the upper hand. It happens again, and you predict he will try grab you this time, and so you spot dodge instead - this isn't entirely necessary because of the fact that you'll almost always be able to punish him/her with an attack once they are close enough. If you so desire, which you should, you can take this to the next level. This is done by timing your Nair to have 0 landing lag, PPing backwards, and then for good measure you shield, too. This is what I call, The Ultimate Defense (TUD). When attempting to land, nothing beats the TUD.
Don't misunderstand, there are times when you don't want to use PP. Though these times are few and far between, there is no denying that in some situations it just plain a better idea to roll. The best example of this is when you're being jabbed by your opponent, and it just so happens you are practically standing on top of them; right here is when you want to roll - you do so between the hits of the jab; you roll behind them to ensure their punishment. Going a bit off topic for a moment here, I realize that not everyone has the best PP distance, and in fact some of the roster's are actually quite atrocious. A good example of someone having a poor PP distance is Donkey Kong (DK). Even though DK has a terrible PP, he has an amazing Edge Slide distance. To top it off, DK doesn't require an edge to perform this other advance technique - it's important to know that in order to do an Edge Slide, you need to be able to PP.
Whew, it's just about over now; was it as good for you as it was for me? Well, I hope it was - after all, you're happiness is all that I care about /seedy stare. But seriously, though, this is really almost over now. Do you understand where I'm getting at with PP? I hope you do, because I honestly believe that we've been given this movement tool, and it has such a bountiful supply of uses; there is not reason not to use it. Better yet, getting yourself into the habit of almost exclusively using it with foxtrots and the (OCCASIONAL) roll will turn you into a far better player than you ever would be if you didn't PP.
If I could summarize this entire post then I'd say that... don't think that PPing is too daunting for someone like you to learn, because the reality is that it's incredibly easy once it clicks for you - and believe me, it will click for you, eventually. You'll sit down one day, and you'll start practicing it like you always do, and then suddenly you just start doing it. You'll think something like, "Nothings changed, but I can do it so efficiently now." Well, something has changed, and that change is that you put in the effort, and it's starting to pay off. Don't let this bloat your ego, though, because once you are able to effortlessly perform this technique, the next part of your training begins; learning to apply PP in combat. This is where PPing starts becoming difficult; you'll start becoming flustered, you'll feel this immense pressure on your shoulders and you'll find yourself thinking, "I can do it in practice, why can't I do it now?" Do not fret, this is perfectly normal. Personally, I took the hits - once I thought I was good enough, I threw myself into 1v1 against skilled players and tried my very best to PP as much as I could. Can you guess what happened next? Yea, I was punished a lot. It only pushed me to try harder - this type of brutal training where in you are demolished is actually, believe it or not, mandatory for the development of the movement. Then, after all that is said and done; the cows have gone to sleep, the birds no longer sing, and other such things - the speed to which you play the game has been increased monumentally.
I'm sorry, but there is no tl;dr. I invite everyone to openly critique and discuss the points I've outlined - I do not claim to be a god or anything of the sort, please understand; I am only trying aid the development of the way the community plays this game. I know that Sm4sh has a lot of members on the roster that favor an extremely campy style of play, but we don't have to play the game like this - we can make it a far more entertaining game to not only play, but also to watch. For everyone that attempts to make Perfect Pivoting your primary source of movement, I wish you all the best with your endeavors! My only regret is that I'm not able to see each and every one of you go through this magically magical journey that will see you all becomes masters of a much faster type of game play. It'll be worth the pain, of this I am certain.
How to Perfect Pivot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ_ZzAvSFis
How to Edge Slide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtMBrKq_iCE
Special thanks to my good friend, Sebastian "Cream", for helping to point some of the glaring issues in my first draft, for serving as a person to bounce my ideas off, and also for acting like a training dummy as I wreck him every single day of his life in 1v1.
- daeD
Now, I say
Everything I will say is not intended as a way to toot my horn or claim that, "I am da beeeest." or anything else of the sort, rather I'm just stating facts to help others understand that the points I make are backed up by a certain degree of skill. I've practiced Perfect Pivot (PP) for around a total of 5 hours now (this is all you need, really), and I consider myself to be quite adept at using not only the standard PP, but also the Perfect, Perfect Pivot (PPP). As a side, I don't really care what others say about Fox, my opinion of him is that he is one of the worst characters in the game - I say this because of the overall range on his attacks, the time it takes for some of his moves to come out, and his general lackluster ability to kill opponents. I am, of course, basing this opinion on his kit when compared to other characters. See, a lot of other members of the roster have some kind of kill move that either kills at 80% or just comes out really, really fast and is coupled with armor. Fox, he really doesn't have anything like this - he is the definition of a glass cannon, and in a game where he moves far slower than his predecessors... well, I'll just go back to my original point and say that he's hard to do well with.
When versing players of an equal skill level, it is safe to say that out of the entire roster; Fox is the hardest to win with. I honestly believe he is only viable (if you excuse the term) when you are playing him to the utmost of your ability at all times. There can be no mistakes, period. However, if you can manage this; if you can be play like a beast the entire game, then Fox can do some amazing stuff. With all this being said, it will probably not come as surprise to anyone that I am of the firm belief that PP is not only mandatory, but it is realistically the only type of movement on the ground you should be using: the only other accepted form of ground movement is Foxtrotting, which in fact not only plays a big role in your ability to set up mind games with PP, but it's also a great tool to help transition into PP's on the fly. I'm sure this has already been explained in the past, but the reason dashing is such a no-no when using PP is because of the risk factor when attempting to incorporate PPing into your play; if you were to accidentally mistime the frames of your dash, it could very well result in you sliding right into the enemy (this still happens to me on the rare occasion). This is why foxtrotting is so vitally important; it allows you to have full control your movement at all times, and if you can get the timing right it eliminates any and all risk of sliding into your opponent.
If you are playing Fox (or any other character) then you need to be baiting with PP. By baiting with PP I mean (for example) Foxtrotting towards the enemy, PPing backwards when you have approached too close, PP back into them and begin your up-tilt and jab lock rotations. Another example of a possible bait scenario is to foxtrot twice towards them, PP backwards once, and then purposely input an incorrect PP once (maybe twice) so as to make you dash on the spot (this is called a short dash dance). If your opponent has a basic understanding of the game and wake up times, then they will know how much time they have to act. Granted, this is an incredibly specific example, I know, and it has prerequisite of a certain amount of distance, but it has happened to me in the past quite a bit. If you've been PPing all game very well, then the enemy will come to expect you to perform this all the time. If purposely screw up your PPing advance, they will view this as the perfect opportunity to strike and make their advance - when this happens, all you have to do is PP backwards (essentially right right after the incorrect PP) and precede from there.
Going back to the idea of using PP literally all the time; just do it, seriously. Practice it at least ten minutes a day without fail, and you will find yourself being able to recreate the movement in combat with ease. In almost any situation, deciding to PP over another action will put you in a beneficial position - the extent to which you benefit from this is different every time, but it matters not. If you are falling to the ground, and your opponent is either in the air or on the ground themselves, the most optimal decision for you in this situation would be to PP away from them the instant you touch down. Doing this not only ensures you are a safe distance away from them, but more often than not the enemy will try to predict where you were going to land, attack there, and thus leave their self vulnerable to being attacked. Compare the choice of landing into PP with spot dodging on landing, shielding on landing, or even performing a neutral air (Nair) on landing.
Spot dodging is no longer the safest choice like it was in Brawl, so that's out of the picture; if you attempt to predict their attack/ grab with a spot dodge, they will be able to jab you before your wake up ends. Shielding on landing will work only once or twice before the enemy catches on that this is one of the routes you will take to ensure your safety; so that's out of the picture. Neutral air? Meh. While it is true that most of the cast (Fox in particular) have an incredible neutral air that comes out fast and has little to no landing lag; it has become the accepted norm by majority of the player base. Even when you are juggling someone with your up-tilts, you better be expecting them to be spamming Nair because that is what they are going to do - if they can manage to air dodge one of your hits, then you should be watching for this and waiting for their invulnerability to drop off. If you were to Nair when approaching the ground, a good player will see this coming and they will block the attack (and probably shield grab, too)
Now that I've taken the time to explain almost all the ways you can safely land on the ground against an advancing enemy, let's put PP into the rotation. Let's make up a hypothetical situation; let's say that you are falling through the air, and you can see your opponent relentless charging towards you. You look carefully, and you can see that not soon after you touch down, you will be struck in a place you deem to be most unpleasant. If you PP backwards, you are suddenly safe - not only that, but your opponent will be in wake up of something they've done. This wake up varies, of course, and it's all dependent on what they chose to do. If you can see they've done something with a heavy wake up, you should be using PP to get right back into their face - the most optimal thing in this situation is, as always, to PP into your up-tilt rotation. Ok, but what if that damn ******* starts understanding what you're doing; he knows you will PP backwards once you land, he anticipates this, and he decides to run that extra distance to get to you... uh, so what? Who cares? You've just created a sizable amount of distance between the two of you, and the best part is that you won't have any wake up what-so-ever; you can do whatever the bloody hell you want.
So anyway, he anticipates the PP, and he is in your face - let's just say that this takes you off guard once or twice, and subsequently he punishes you - whatever, it's a part of adapting to the game flow. The next time the situation arises, you shield right after you PP, and then all of a sudden you, once again, have the upper hand. It happens again, and you predict he will try grab you this time, and so you spot dodge instead - this isn't entirely necessary because of the fact that you'll almost always be able to punish him/her with an attack once they are close enough. If you so desire, which you should, you can take this to the next level. This is done by timing your Nair to have 0 landing lag, PPing backwards, and then for good measure you shield, too. This is what I call, The Ultimate Defense (TUD). When attempting to land, nothing beats the TUD.
Don't misunderstand, there are times when you don't want to use PP. Though these times are few and far between, there is no denying that in some situations it just plain a better idea to roll. The best example of this is when you're being jabbed by your opponent, and it just so happens you are practically standing on top of them; right here is when you want to roll - you do so between the hits of the jab; you roll behind them to ensure their punishment. Going a bit off topic for a moment here, I realize that not everyone has the best PP distance, and in fact some of the roster's are actually quite atrocious. A good example of someone having a poor PP distance is Donkey Kong (DK). Even though DK has a terrible PP, he has an amazing Edge Slide distance. To top it off, DK doesn't require an edge to perform this other advance technique - it's important to know that in order to do an Edge Slide, you need to be able to PP.
Whew, it's just about over now; was it as good for you as it was for me? Well, I hope it was - after all, you're happiness is all that I care about /seedy stare. But seriously, though, this is really almost over now. Do you understand where I'm getting at with PP? I hope you do, because I honestly believe that we've been given this movement tool, and it has such a bountiful supply of uses; there is not reason not to use it. Better yet, getting yourself into the habit of almost exclusively using it with foxtrots and the (OCCASIONAL) roll will turn you into a far better player than you ever would be if you didn't PP.
If I could summarize this entire post then I'd say that... don't think that PPing is too daunting for someone like you to learn, because the reality is that it's incredibly easy once it clicks for you - and believe me, it will click for you, eventually. You'll sit down one day, and you'll start practicing it like you always do, and then suddenly you just start doing it. You'll think something like, "Nothings changed, but I can do it so efficiently now." Well, something has changed, and that change is that you put in the effort, and it's starting to pay off. Don't let this bloat your ego, though, because once you are able to effortlessly perform this technique, the next part of your training begins; learning to apply PP in combat. This is where PPing starts becoming difficult; you'll start becoming flustered, you'll feel this immense pressure on your shoulders and you'll find yourself thinking, "I can do it in practice, why can't I do it now?" Do not fret, this is perfectly normal. Personally, I took the hits - once I thought I was good enough, I threw myself into 1v1 against skilled players and tried my very best to PP as much as I could. Can you guess what happened next? Yea, I was punished a lot. It only pushed me to try harder - this type of brutal training where in you are demolished is actually, believe it or not, mandatory for the development of the movement. Then, after all that is said and done; the cows have gone to sleep, the birds no longer sing, and other such things - the speed to which you play the game has been increased monumentally.
I'm sorry, but there is no tl;dr. I invite everyone to openly critique and discuss the points I've outlined - I do not claim to be a god or anything of the sort, please understand; I am only trying aid the development of the way the community plays this game. I know that Sm4sh has a lot of members on the roster that favor an extremely campy style of play, but we don't have to play the game like this - we can make it a far more entertaining game to not only play, but also to watch. For everyone that attempts to make Perfect Pivoting your primary source of movement, I wish you all the best with your endeavors! My only regret is that I'm not able to see each and every one of you go through this magically magical journey that will see you all becomes masters of a much faster type of game play. It'll be worth the pain, of this I am certain.
How to Perfect Pivot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ_ZzAvSFis
How to Edge Slide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtMBrKq_iCE
Special thanks to my good friend, Sebastian "Cream", for helping to point some of the glaring issues in my first draft, for serving as a person to bounce my ideas off, and also for acting like a training dummy as I wreck him every single day of his life in 1v1.
- daeD
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