Wolf's main KO move?

[Will-O-Wisp]

Hello everybody I'm new to the forums and new to PM. After playing around I found I really like Wolf's flow and moveset. I used to play Fox and Falco a lot in Melee, and both had their "signature" kill move. Fox had Up-Smash and U-air, Falco had D-air and F-Smash, so what does Wolf have? F-air seems to be really strong, but it doesn't stick out to me like Fox's or Falco's signature moves.

 

[Nguz95]

Signature move is definitely side-b. The wolf mains call it flash, and it's about as powerful as the knee.

 

[Will-O-Wisp]

i see. So I'm gonna have to know how to shorten it if I want to use it effectively? 'Cuz the normal range makes it kind of hard to combo with.

 

[Thane of Blue Flames]

Wolf's beauty is that he has a bunch of kill moves, just not as crazy as Foxco's.

D-Smash, USmash, Side Smash and Dair are all great kill moves, as is sweetspotted Fair, Bair ... actually, really, most of his moves have good kill potential. The exceptions are his tilts, throws, Nair and Uair. And the jab combo.

 

[Will-O-Wisp]

I see, that's probably why nothing really "sticks out to me". I guess I'll try to research and experiment. Does anyone have tips on the timing for shortened Flash? I read that there's varying distances, but I haven't found anything on the timing.

 

[Xef1r]

Hey guys, new to the forums but here to help since I main Wolf and have been playing P:M a lot recently. I agree with his side-b being his main kill move, but I suggest working around that since

1. It can be very dangerous when preformed, especially if it ends off stage
2. It's very easy to DI away from players expecting it
3. If missed, it's easily punishable

with that said I still suggest using it since it's ****ing cool and it's probably one of the prettiest looking moves to pull off after a combo. Wolf can easily pull off juggle combos with his dash attack, and his air game is incredible, to the point where I can outrange my friends Marth main when I time it correctly. His only downsides are his Uair and Nair. Nair because it has absolutely no knockback, and if you don't L-cancel it you're getting smashed, but if you are really good with L-canceling a Nair can lead to a double shine into a side-b. His Uair only kills at very high percentages, besides that it only sends opponents way high and out of reach which is something you don't want as Wolf. His F-smash is ****ING AMAZING because of its incredible reach, and with a quick wavedash out wavedash back in you can smash someone from around 60%+ at the very edge of the stage after they recover. His U-Smash is great too as in low percentage it keeps your opponent near you and its almost impossible to pull a good DI from Wolf's U-Smash since it usually keeps them low, it also has decent kill potential at mid to high percents.

His flash has so many setups it isn't even fair. A badly DI'd back throw will always be the easiest way to pull the flash off at around 40%+ and is almost always a guaranteed kill. A couple of dash juggles into a Bair will give you the same setup, and my personal favorite is the double shine Bair or Fair into side-b. Thats basically what you need to know about his kill moves, save the obvious Dair meteor smash. Hope I helped.

EDIT: Sadly I haven't gotten the timing down to shorten his flash, but all the combos I mentioned are done at full flash range.

 

[Thane of Blue Flames]

Wut? Nair and Uair are both awesome as well, they just have different uses than kill moves. Nair --> Reflector is basically Wolf's version of Fox's Drillshine, plus it can also be followed up with a grab or a downsmash for a surprise kill move pulled out while they're still in Nair hitstun. It's pretty great for approaching as well.

Uair should be treated like Falcon or Marth's Uair: Wolf can juggle with the damn thing all day. Positioning Wolf anywhere on the stage or in the air is absurdly easy and fast and getting over 50% juggling like this is very easy.

 

[Xef1r]

I mentioned Nair into shine. You just gotta L-cancel it to not get punished. And yeah his air game is the ****, but so far my juggle is usually dash dash U-smash into a Bair or Fair for a kill. I guess I gotta practice with his Uair more.

EDIT: Plus yeah I was talking about kill moves. Nair is still great at other things like you said.

 

[Thane of Blue Flames]

If you're having trouble L-Cancelling, Nair is the best to practice with since it lasts the longest. Bair is the trickiest because you always have to fastfall it to L-Cancel, but that's not a bad thing because midair bairs are ridiculously fast.

To be frank, "if you L-Cancel" shouldn't really be mentioned because there's never a reason to not L-Cancel. SHFFL'd Uair is also a great combo-starter and approach mixup in my experience.

 

[Xef1r]

Yeah, but you know it's never a bad thing to remind people to L-cancel, and thank's for the Uair tips, gonna implement that into my Wolf game now.

 

[Will-O-Wisp]

So what I've learned is:
- Flash is dope
- Bair, Fair, All smashes are good for kill moves
- Wolf is awesome
The first time playing Wolf, it was evident that Uair was the **** and Wolf's NairShine = Fox's Drill Shine. But yeah the setup tips helps me out. Only thing is that when I shine or Bthrow, the opponent is almost always too close for a flash, or offstage where flashing would get me killed.

 

[Xef1r]

Remember that Bthrow is really easy to DI because of how obvious it is, so don't expect it to work all the time, and his shine will usually put people at a diagonal position where the most you'll have to do is dash slightly away to put the hit in, but for the shine to send them far enough they have to be at high enough percent.

 

[Thane of Blue Flames]

Shine to [Half-Shortened, Up or Down angled depending on DI] Flash works at mid percents for an almost guaranteed kill.

 

[Will-O-Wisp]

Just an idea for anyone like me having trouble shortening flash, I found that if I mash the B-button after the initial SideB input then i get the shorten, and I can control the distance by the rate of mashing. Obviously this is not ideal but it's just something I've found.

 

[Rat]

If they DI off the stage you can still sideB them. When you hit someone with Wolf's SideB, he does not go into Free fall - you can recover after hitting them offstage.

 

[Bakasama]

The flash goes through the corners of stages, so recovering with it, or even stylin' with a dropoff-walljump flash can hit the sweetspot pretty frequently if the opponent wants to edgeguard, but is too hesitant to do it properly. Eventually, they'll learn that on of the pieces of your arsenal is that approach, which'll switch the game up quite a bit, but early on, flashing /through the corner of the stage/ is something that players often don't expect. Players also don't see Wolf a lot, I imagine, so use whatever you can.

My preferred killmove is honestly just using a straight-down up+b near the ledge when the opponent attempts to sweetspot it. Shoots them straight down. That or just your basic meteor. Wolf deals so much damage that it's pretty effective when combined with fsmash's regular push.

 

[big sleep]

even f-tilt can be a decent kill move, at least to set up for an edge guard

 

[Seagull Joe]

Bair, Fair, and side b are the only safe moves you should be killing off the top or sides too. Fsmash/Dsmash are incredibly unsafe on shield and should only be used as punish options. You can use Dair too of course if you get a spike opportunity.

 

[Justkallmekai]

I feel that Wolf's main ko moves are his USmash and his FSmash, and his Dair. I love using his Dair onstage and offstage, but if you use it onstage be sure to l cancel cause you'll get punished if you miss.