Wood Man's Treehouse: A Leaf Shield Guide

[ChopperDave]

Leaf Shield. Worst move in Mega Man’s repertoire, and possibly worst move in Sm4sh. Right?

Wrong.

I’ve logged thousands of battles with Mega Man, and I can tell you that Leaf Shield isn’t a terrible move at all. In fact, it may even be one of Mega Man's more versatile moves. It enhances Mega Man’s already great ledge guarding game and gives him solid mix-ups and approach options that other characters would kill for.

But don’t take my word for it. Wood Man is here and he is prepared to show you the error of your ways.

I. THE BASICS

Leaf Shield creates four hitboxes that circle around Mega Man. Here are the move's vitals:

• Base Damage: 2% (per leaf), 3.8% (throw)
• Base Angle: 361 (leaf), 45 (throw)
• Base Knockback: 15 (leaf), 50 (throw)
• Knockback Growth: 22 (leaf), 70 (throw)
• Weight-based Knockback Modifier: 0 (leaf), 0 (throw)

The leaves have normal projectile priority, even when rotating around Mega Man.

When Leaf Shield is up, your only options aside from throwing the Leaf Shield are grab, pummel, throw, shield, dodge, pick up items (including generated items such as Metal Blade), throw items, and z-drop items. You can also still attack on get-up or from ledge. You cannot use any other A or B moves while Leaf Shield is active.

Sounds pretty lame so far, right? But here is what makes Leaf Shield special: it allows you to break certain rules of the game in a way that no other character can do. Here is a list of some pretty cool things Leaf Shield can do for you:

• You can have an active hitbox while shielding
• You can have an active hitbox while spot dodging or roll dodging
• You can have an active hitbox while air dodging
• You can have an active hitbox while grabbing the ledge
• You can have an active hitbox while shielding next to the ledge
• You can have an active hitbox immediately before and while footstooling
• You can grab and pummel while the leaves hit for extra damage

In the following sections, I’ll describe some techniques for getting Leaf Shield out and using these qualities to give your Mega Man a unique tactical edge.

II. ESSENTIAL TECHNIQUE: LEAF SHIELD SHORT HOPPING [credit: BBC7]

Ever notice how Leaf Shield freezes you in place when you activate it while on the ground? Don’t do that. You should get in the habit of activating Leaf Shield from the air at all times.

One of the interesting qualities of activating Leaf Shield is that it cancels your upward momentum when jumping. You can use this quality to perform the Leaf Shield Short Hop.

To perform this technique, hold down or diagonal down in the direction you would like to move, then press Y immediately followed by B. The hop is just enough to jump over most projectiles and many dash attacks, and you will be ready to use the Leaf Shield by the time you land.

This technique can be performed on double jump and Rush bounce as well. Normally, characters in Smash cannot short hop their double jumps, but Mega Man actually can by using this technique, giving him still more good mix-up and fake out options. Similarly, if you don’t want to gain full height when bouncing off Rush, simple activate Leaf Shield immediately after you bounce to jump up half as high. When you do this, you'll actually cancel the landing lag you get from Rush Coil -- as soon as you land on the ground, you can begin moving without any landing delay. Pretty cool!

III. ESSENTIAL TECHNIQUES: B-REVERSING AND WAVEBOUNCING

Like most specials in this game, Leaf Shield can be both b-reversed and wavebounced. Don't know that those techniques are? Learn here.

SSB4's meta seems to be moving towards using empty jumps for mind games, and I find LS is pretty handy as a "empty jump plus" that also gives you the option to instantly change your momentum. If you're going to fake someone out with an empty jump or double jump, you might as well fire up a LS while doing so because it will make your subsequent that much harder to avoid.

Also, don't just b-reverse and wavebounce your Leaf Shield activation -- you can do it with the toss, too!

IV. ESSENTIAL TECHNIQUE: HEADSHOTTING

Leaf Shield can essentially be thrown at four heights: standing, “short hop”, full hop, and double jump.

For full hop and double jump height:Throw the Leaf Shield just just before reaching the apex of your full hop or double jump, respectively.

For “short hop” height: Perform a full hop, then begin the throw just after reaching the apex. The timing is a little tricky but if done correctly Mega Man will complete the throw at short hop height.

You want to throw the Leaf Shield at “short hop” height most of the time. When thrown at this height, the Leaf Shield projectile becomes very hard to avoid. Against shielding opponents, the leaves will shield poke and sometimes hit the exposed hurtboxes above the shield bubble. When you successfully damage an opponent who is shielding in this way I like to call it Headshotting. Headshotting can be an effective long range snipe that can let you put on some pressure and open up some follow-up opportunities.

V. ESSENTIAL TECHNIQUES: COURSE CORRECTION AND C-STICKING

Like on activation, Leaf Shield will freeze Mega Man in place if he is standing on the ground. Like with activation, you should really avoid throwing Leaf Shield from the ground whenever possible.

This rule doesn’t apply when Mega Man is in the air. Mega Man retains his full lateral air mobility even during the Leaf Shield throw animation.

Does it look like an opponent is going to double jump over your incoming Leaf Shield? Try moving Mega Man backward as he is throwing it.Very often the new trajectory will catch your opponent as he is in the downswing of his double jump---evasion attempt denied! This technique is also useful for avoiding your opponents’ attempts to hit you before you complete your throw animation.

And keep in mind that you can use the C-stick to control which direction you throw the Leaf Shield. Try using the C-stick to throw it forward while jumping backwards!

VI. ESSENTIAL TECHNIQUES: LEAF SHIELD AND METAL BLADE THROWING

If you manage to get a Metal Blade in your hand, putting up a Leaf Shield gives you a few interesting options.

If you hit A or the C-stick, Mega Man will throw the Metal Blade first. (Unless you're crouching and c-stick forward -- in that case, you'll throw the Leaf Shield).

If you hit the B button first, Mega Man will throw the Leaf Shield first.

I tend to prefer to throw the Leaf Shield first. As of v1.04, Leaf Shield toss -> short hop Metal Blade toss is a very solid string against most charactions. For a fun combo, try Leaf Shield toss -> Metal Blade -> Fsmash -- it creates a barrage of projectiles that lays on a lot of shield pressure and punishes spot dodges.

VII. ESSENTIAL TECHNIQUE: REVERSE AERIAL RUSH AIRDODGE (RARA)

You're probably familiar with the Reverse Aerial Rush (RAR) as a way to quickly get out turn-around bairs. But did you know that you can do the same thing with an airdodge?

To perform, dash toward your opponent, smash in the opposite direction while jumping, then air dodge. If done correctly, you will perform an air dodge and switch directions in midair.

This has a useful application for Leaf Shield. Mega Man can run toward his opponent, perform a short hopped Reverse Aerial Rush Airdodge (RARA) to sail safely over that opponent’s head while the leaves do hitstun or shieldstun, then land facing his opponent’s back and ready to do a grab (if the Leaf Shield is still up) or a utilt (if the Leaf Shield expired during the RARA). It's like a roll that doesn't leave you vulenrable to dsmashes.

VIII. ESSENTIAL TECHNIQUE: LEAFSTOOLING [credit: StylesX2]

Leaf Shield gives Mega Man the option to footstool some opponents who recover low. Normally, you can’t footstool an opponent who is in the middle of an attack or airdodge. But the brief hitstun from a leaf hit is all you need to get a successful footstool. Sometimes you can even get one against a standing, shielding opponent if the leaves chip his shield enough to hit him out of it. I call this Leafstooling.

Certain characters hate this technique. Falco, Caption Falcon, Ganondorf, Diddy, and Ness all come to mind. If the character’s UpB has low damage, long start up, and/or low priority, a Leafstool is a very good option for gimping his recovery.

Be careful using this technique against characters with invulnerability frames and/or high priority in their UpBs, though. Characters like Mario, Dr. Mario, Marth, and Lucina can power right through your Leafstool gimp attempts and possibly even stage spike you.

IX. COMBO TECHNIQUE: LEAFSTOOLING WITH Z-DROPPED METAL BLADE AND/OR DAIR

Having a metal blade in your hand can make leafstool even harder to avoid. Simply z-drop the blade while above an opponent to give you an even bigger opening for a footstool.

A powerful chase, when timed right, is the leafstool to dair combo. If you short hop your leafstool and your Leaf Shield has dissipated, fast fall into a dair. If performed correctly, you’ll spike your opponent just as they are emerging out of their footstool stun. It’s a brutal offsage finisher when you can pull it off.

Naturally, these two techniques can be combined to give recovering opponents a very bad day.

X. COMBO TECHNIQUE: INVINCIBLADE WITH LEAFSHIELD AND RARA

Leaf Shield works well with most Metal Blade ATs, but it has especially nice synergy with the Invinciblade AT, which allows you to z-drop a Metal Blade and Air Dodge simultaneously. Attacking during invincibility frames is fun! Learn how to perform the Invinciblade here: http://smashboards.com/threads/ligh...discovery-thread.367985/page-14#post-17842426

It's also possible to perform a RARA + Invinciblade approach. To execute, you have to do the normal RARA motion, but then let the circle pad return to neutral before executing the Invinciblade. The timing is pretty tough, though, so good luck pulling it off consistently!

XI. ADVANCED TECHNIQUE: LEDGE SLIDE

Ledge Slide (which Mega Man can do with all his specials) is a technique that uses Mega Man's aerial momentum to slide off the stage into a ledge grab and optionally into a ledge grab. When done correctly, this is the quickest way to get from into a ledge grab with Leaf Shield up. Here's a video explainer:

The best way to do this I find is out of a Leaf Shield Short Hopped double jump. Be careful, though, as if you mess it up you might end up self destructing. Better to err on the side of landing on the stage than miss the slide.

XII. APPLICATION: LEAF SHIELD FRAME TRAPPING

One neat thing about Leaf Shield is that it rotates just fast enough to frame trap many attacks. Many attacks will only have time to complete the first frame(s) but not enough to complete the move before getting hit by the next leaf.

So for example, if you have a Metal Blade in hand, a simple but effective approach is to glide toss the Metal Blade, then boost grab. The combined hitstun/shieldstun of the Metal Blade and Leaf Shield will often be enough to trap many opponents into getting grabbed.

Another interesting thing about the leaf hit boxes is that they kill your opponent’s aerial momentum.

There are some fun applications for this. For example, try jumping toward an airborne opponent and air dodging. The leaves will often catch them and frame trap their aerial/recoverymoves, leaving them with nothing to do but fall down right beside you taking damage the whole way. You can then easily grab them as soon as you both touch down on the ground (provided they are still trapped by the leaves at that point). This can be an effective way to keep up the pressure against opponents falling back to stage after an Air Shooter juggle.

But be careful: some characters have powerful and quick aerials with lingering hitboxes that can catch you if you try to do this. Yoshi’s and Ness's nairs comes to mind.

XIII. APPLICATION: ROLLING BUZZSAW

As mentioned earlier, Leaf Shield gives you an active hit box while you’re roll dodging. This has the effect of making your rolls safer, because your opponent will frequently get hitstunned by the leaves if he tries to do something like hit you with a dsmash. It’s not 100% effective and a well-timed attack (usually a tilt) can still hit you, though, so be careful.

If you find yourself backed into a corner by an aggressive player, consider firing up a Leaf Shield and rolling right through him, doing damage the whole way. Sometimes the simplest techniques work the best.

One thing I like to do is fire up Leaf Shield, then roll under opponents who are recovering high onto the stage, or attempting to recover from a juggle. The leaves' hitstun will often trap them, leaving them helpless to a grab.

Another thing to note here is the smash "auto-turn" mechanic. If a character gets hit from behind, he will automatically turn around and face that direction during the hitstun, regardless of whether he is in the air or on the ground. You can use this mechanic to mess with people, as rolling through someone with Leaf Shield up will often force them to turn away from you.

XIV. APPLICATION: WHIFF BAITING [credit: Z1GMA]

People, even good players, tend to get more offensive when you Leaf Shield near them, because they don't want to get grabbed. They've probably met Mega Men who activate LS and simply rush in for a grab, so they'll try to attack you. Use this to your advantage to play mind games with them.

Rather than simply rushing in for a grab, mix it up by shielding or dodging their attack, THEN punish with a grab. Use Foxtrotting to make your approach less predictable. Run in, then wavebounce back while throwing the Leaf Shield forward, THEN follow up with a grab or a fair. Of course, you should mix this up and sometimes go for the immediate dash grab, just to keep them guessing.

Watch out for your opponent's grabs and tilts, though. A well-timed tilt can hit you through your leaves, and a well-timed grab can nab you and make your leaves disappear.

XV. APPLICATION: CAMP COUNTERING [credit: Z1GMA]

Keep in mind that Leaf Shield will nullify and power through almost every projectile except for a few particularly powerful ones and transcendent projectiles (e.g. a fully charged Samus Neutral B, R.O.B.'s laser). Against some characters, you can use this to your advantage to nullify their Projectile Momentum, and give Mega Man a fresh start.

This is useful when you feel the opponent currently has the upper hand in a camp-war. Fullhop, double jump, activate Leaf Shield, and throw it as you land. Many times, Mega Man will have a time-advantage after the Leaf Shield has hit the opponent or their shield, allowing him to close the distance and start his own barrage of projectiles.

XVI. APPLICATION: LEAF SHIELD TECH CHASING

Just sent an opponent flying away from you and they are now in position to tech on the ground? Try short hopping into a Leaf Shield in preparation for a tech chase.

If you think the opponent will tech roll toward you, the Leaf Shield will usually trap them and give you a throw.

If you think the opponent will tech roll away from you, a thrown Leaf Shield will usually catch them.

If you think the opponent will tech up, you can boost grab them.

If you think the opponent will perform an attack wake-up, you can simply run up to them and shield, then grab them after hit confirming a leaf.

If you think the opponent will not tech, the leaves can Leaf Lock them (see below), giving you a free utilt.

XVII. APPLICATION: EDGE GUARDING WITH LEAF SHIELD TOSS

I find that the best time to use Leaf Shield is when you send your opponent far enough away from the stage that you know he will need to use a recovery move to get back. This gives you a few options that can be useful for edge guarding and gimping his recovery.

Sometimes you can put up a Leaf Shield, grab someone, immediately throw him, then toss the Leaf Shield so that it will hit him before his first IASA frame. Do this when possible because the knockback is pretty good.

A thrown Lead Shield is your farthest-traveling projectile, and it will send a massive hitbox your opponent’s way that will nullify and projectiles he uses to cover his recovery (useful in the Mario, Link, and Samus matchups, for example). With the release of v1.04, you can fairly reliably follow up on this with a fair or nair, making it quite nice for stuffing characters with very horizontal recoveries (see: Jigglypuff).

Also, don't forget that Leaf Shield -> Metal Blade -> fsmash combo. If you have the time to set this up, this is a barrage of projectiles that can make getting to the ledge, or up off the ledge, really hard.

XVIII. APPLICATION: MISTAKE FORCING AND LEDGE GIMPING

If you think (or know) your opponent is going to go for ledge, Leaf Shield can be an effective way to disrupt that recovery route and force mistakes that can lead to punishes and KOs.

You have two options here: (1) fire up Leaf Shield, run up to the edge of the stage, and shield, or (2) fire up Leaf Shield, run or Leaf Slide off the stage, and snap to a ledge grab for the invincibility frames. If necessary you can immediately get up off the ledge for more invincibility frames. Both approaches can be useful in different situations. Here are two videos showcasing how this can lead to KOs:

As you can see, using Leaf Shield in this way can be a good, low-risk way to force mistakes at the ledge that can lead to early KOs and painful punishes. If you work it into your edge guard game you can catch many opponents by surprise.

XIX. APPLICATION: ANTI-JUGGLE

Did you just get knocked high over the stage by an opponent’s usmash or uair? Or did you just use Rush and are afraid your opponent will hit you on the way back down to the stage?

Never fear, Leaf Shield is here!

If you activate Leaf Shield high up, then fast fall down and air dodge, you can avoid many of your opponent’s attacks! And the leaves can help protect you against dash attacks and projectiles during your landing lag, as well. Just because it’s a simple tactic doesn’t make it any less effective.

Also, don't forget about Leaf Shield Short Hop, b-reversing, and wave-bouncing. You can use both the Leaf Shield activation and the throw to suddenly change your horizontal and/or vertical momentum, which can make your recoveries very unpredictable. Unless they read you, most opponents won't react fast enough to catch you when you do this, and if they do, your leaves will often still protect you from their aerials or dash attacks.

XX. APPLICATION: COUNTER COUNTERING [credit: Z1GMA]

This is an effective way of getting under the skin of people who are confident with their counter-game. Because leaves are separate from Mega Man, if they get countered you can shield the Counter hit and punish it. Not that getting ountered is a scary proposition given that leaves only do 2% damage, so you're only looking at taking ~3% damage from most counters anyway.

Using Leaf Shield to counter counters is more of a mix-up than a solid method, however. And it's best used when the opponent is falling down from high above, although it can be used on grounded foes as well. If you're running towards an opponent and predict a counter, you can use the RARA technique to get safely through their invincibility frames and in a superior position at their backs.

Keep in mind that the rest of you leaves can reset the opponent after you've shielded their counter if you're unlucky.

XXI. APPLICATION: LEAF LOCK SET UP AND LEAFSTOOL 0-TO-DEATH COMBO

Mega Man can Leaf Lock grounded opponents, bouncing them with his Leaf Shield as long as it's out. Once the final leaf has hit or disappeared Mega Man can immediately combo into a utilt.

As far as I know there's no perfect combo that will reliably set up this situation. The first half of the following video shows the best lead-in I've found, but it relies on your opponent missing an opportunity to get up after the footstool spikes him into the stage:

The second half of this video shows a variation on this combo that can be used as a zero-to-death against most of the cast. Here's how you do it: z-drop a metal blade to pop a grounded opponent offstage into the air, shorthop footstool him into Leaf Shield, then leafstool him again and again until he dies. Like most 0-deaths, the chances you'll be able to pull this off against someone with a pulse are close to nil, but it's fun to do against the AIs!

XXII. SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCE FROM SKULL MAN AND PLANT MAN!

So, are Mega Man’s custom DownBs any good?

Skull Barrier has a quicker start up than Leaf Shield, but lasts for only about 1 second. It does no damage when rotating around Mega Man and 2% damage when thrown, though oftentimes it will combo into itself, hitting twice for 4%. It doesn’t travel very far when thrown, and loses the reflect quality as soon as it leaves Mega Man's hand. It's worth nothing that Skull Barrier does not *consistently* reflect certain particularly powerful projectiles, such as Samus’s and Lucario’s fully charged (and non-staled) Neutral Bs, so be sure to use your normal shield if you see one of those coming.

Skull Barrier can be useful against characters who rely heavily on projectiles, obviously. Just because a character has a projectile doesn't mean Skull Barrier is the right choice, however. Fox's and Mario's projectiles, while annoying, aren't really worth reflecting, for example. Skull Barrier's reflect-boxes serve a fundamentally different purpose than Leaf Shield, and without the hitboxes you lose the ability to do a lot of the things I described above, like Leafstooling, and that trade-off can be very real.

Plant Barrier is similar to Leaf Shield, but with slight differences that can be hard to see unless you're looking carefully. For reference, here are the known differences between the two moves. Green = better, red = worse, blue = equal, purple = different but debateable.

LEAF SHIELD:

• Base Damage: 2% (per leaf), 3.8% (throw)
• Base Angle: 361 (leaf), 45 (throw)
• Base Knockback: 15 (leaf), 50 (throw)
• Knockback Growth: 22 (leaf), 70 (throw)
  
• Weight-based Knockback Modifier: 0 (leaf), 0 (throw)
• Quicker start up on activation
• Quicker throw (I think quicker startup, same cooldown, based on testing in Pac Maze)
• More active frames
• Fixed, shorter range when rotating around Mega Man
• Leaf hitboxes disappear on hit
• Greater range when thrown

PLANT BARRIER:

• Base Damage: 3% (per pedal), 4.2% (throw)
• Base Angle: 45 (pedal), 45 (throw)
• Base Knockback: 20 (pedal),20 (throw)
• Knockback Growth: 35 (pedal), 35 (throw)
• Weight-based Knockback Modifier: 0 (pedal), 0 (throw)
• More start up frames on activation
• Slower throw (I think more start up frames, same cooldown, based on testing in Pac Maze)
• Fewer active frames
• Greater range when rotating around MM, undulates in and out
• Pedal hitboxes do not disappear on hit
• Less range when thrown

In short, Plant Barrier is stronger, slower, has fewer active frames, won't disappear on hit, has more range when rotating and less when thrown, and does more knockback when rotating (and cannot Leaf Lock) and less knockback when thrown.

At the end of the day, this one comes down to personal preference. In general, I find Leaf Shield the better tool in neutral and disadvantage, which Plant Barrier seems the better tool in advantage. I usually go with Leaf Shield myself, as to me its speed and knockback specs make it just a little bit more versatile. Plant Barrier is definitely good, though, particularly if you find yourself using your Shields/Barriers primarily for ledge guarding and pressuring landings.

XXIII. CONCLUSION

I hope you found this guide useful. If you think there are any tricks, techniques, or applications I missed here, please reply below and I’ll try to integrate them into the guide. Also, if there are any people I failed to credit with discovering a technique—anything not credited here is something I discovered myself, though someone else may have beat me to it—let me know and I’ll fix that.

And now, just for fun, here's a video of me 2 stocking a Ness in For Glory by abusing some of these Leaf Shield tricks:

Happy Leaf Shielding!

 

[BromVanBrunt]

Actually a very nice guide. I've been searching these boards for some sort of in-depth explanation of Leaf Shield's applications, since it appears to suck but many people here claim to be making good use of it. This helps a lot.

 

[Locke 06]

Well. Done. Really, this is great stuff. Huge fan of the RARA. Never thought of that and it makes a ton of sense.

I too have started to come around (slowly) to Leaf Shielding, but I'm not sold on the gimping properties/frame trapping. It can catch people off guard (especially since it's so rarely used), but the hitstun is akin to a lemon... aka there isn't much. If people understand this, I think most, if not all, Nairs come out fast enough to not get frame trapped (or air dodge, but then I'm guessing you just follow them until their dodge invincibility wears out). Similarly for gimping, they can Up-B immediately, which avoids tumbling due to any footstool. For instance, the Robin in the leafstooling video could've recovered if he/she understood what was going on. I'm not saying it doesn't have its uses, but it feels too much like Little Mac's NAir gimping (go to the little mac boards and find it... it's hilarious if nothing else).

I haven't done any research on the hitstun/frame trapping business, nor have I used the leaf shield in this way, but I'm interested in what you'd say in response to this.

 

[Z1GMA]

A lot of really nice stuff here, ChopperDave.
While I do agree with most of it, there are some valid points I can't find myself to agree with.

One of them:
"If you send an opponent far off stage, activating Leaf Shield is almost always the first thing you should do."
I know you said 'almost always', but I still think you're overrepresenting LS here a bit.
Against some characters, spending time activating LS for edguarding can make you miss an edgeguarding-opportunity better suited for that character.
While this seems effective against Little Mac, activating LS Vs a launched Peach is a waste of time.

Again, though. Really nice stuff in here, Chopper. Keep up the good work, bro!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I'd also like to contribute with some stuff:

Counter Triggering
This is an effective way of getting under the skin of ppl who are confident with their counter-game.
It's more of a mix-up than a solid method, however. And it's best used when the opponent is falling down from high above, altough it can be used on grounded foes as well.
But don't run in there expecting and waiting for the counter - play as you normally would, but with the possibility of a counter in mind.
If they counter, Shield it and punish.
note: The rest of you leves can reset the opponent after you've shielded their counter if you're unlucky, so keep that in mind to still have the edge.

Wiff Forcing / Leaf Baiting
Ppl, even good players, tend to get more offensive when you LS near them, because they don't want to get grabbed.
They've probably met Mega Men who activate LS and simply rush in for a grab, so they'll try to attack you.
(Sometimes you should simply rush in and grab them, though, to keep them guessing, but don't overdo it in a way that makes you predictable.)
Shield or dodge their attack and then punish.

Furthermore (I made this black cuz it's sorta OT when it comes to Wiff Forcing):
The thing is, if they don't attack you, they're gonna get grabbed.
Watch out for the opponent's grabs though, since they make your leaves go away.
They'll sometimes prefer to roll or get out of the way, but in that case, try to react to that as well.
Sometimes both players will fail to accomplish what they wanted in a LS Scenario, but you might just have inflicted 2% or even 4% damage with the leaves alone.

Camp Nullifying
Against some characters, a thrown LS can nullify their Projectile Momentum, and give Mega Man a fresh start.
This is useful when you feel the opponent currently has the upper hand in a camp-war.
Fullhop/fullhop DJ, activate LS, and throw it as you land.
Many times, Mega Man will have a time-advantage after the LS has hit the opponent or their shield, allowing him to start his own barrage of projectiles before the opponent.

Leaf Locking
Just the term for Jab Locking with LS.
As we speak, there's no solid set-up for it, and you're probably better off using his jabs for Jab Locking,
but Jab Locking with LS excists, thus worth a mention.

 

[ChopperDave]

Well. Done. Really, this is great stuff. Huge fan of the RARA. Never thought of that and it makes a ton of sense.

Thanks!

I too have started to come around (slowly) to Leaf Shielding, but I'm not sold on the gimping properties/frame trapping. It can catch people off guard (especially since it's so rarely used), but the hitstun is akin to a lemon... aka there isn't much. If people understand this, I think most, if not all, Nairs come out fast enough to not get frame trapped (or air dodge, but then I'm guessing you just follow them until their dodge invincibility wears out).

It's true that some nairs are pretty dangerous and can break out of LS's frame trap effect. The moves you want to look out for are those that 1) come out on frame 1 or thereabouts, 2) have disjointed hitboxes or super armor/invincibility frames, and 3) do enough damage to outprioritize your LS.

The way to avoid this is, like you guess, keep air dodging. Between the short vulnerability time between air dodges and your LS, your opponent will need extraordinary timing (or more likely, luck) to sneak in an attack on you before you reach the ground.

(This is something I still need to test to confirm, but I think you can actually Leafstool out of an air dodge, which would give you another option. If I prove this to be true I'll add it to the OP.) ETA: just tested, you can't. Too bad.

On the ground, most characters don't have strong attacks with the three qualities I described above. Usually, what they have is their UpB, but for most characters this can be pretty dangerous to use and very punishable if you predict and shield it.

Similarly for gimping, they can Up-B immediately, which avoids tumbling due to any footstool. For instance, the Robin in the leafstooling video could've recovered if he/she understood what was going on. I'm not saying it doesn't have its uses, but it feels too much like Little Mac's NAir gimping (go to the little mac boards and find it... it's hilarious if nothing else).

It's true that this can happen, thanks for pointing it out.

What I find is that even when your opponent manages to do this, you're still in a pretty good position! Think about it: He just panicked and mashed out an UpB that probably won't hit you or snap to ledge, leaving him in a helpless state, and you are positioned safely above him and your LS at this point has probably dissipated. In these situations,it all comes down to your reflexes and edgeguarding fundamentals. Follow up using the appropriate aerials. If he fast falls to ledge, ledge trump and bair.

I find that Leafstooling (as well as LS ledge guarding), even when it doesn't work as intended, is VERY good at forcing mistakes that you can punish.

 

[ChopperDave]

A lot of really nice stuff here, ChopperDave.
While I do agree with most of it, there are some valid points I can't find myself to agree with.

One of them:
"If you send an opponent far off stage, activating Leaf Shield is almost always the first thing you should do."
I know you said 'almost always', but I still think you're overrepresenting LS here a bit.
Against some characters, spending time activating LS for edguarding can make you miss an edgeguarding-opportunity better suited for that character.
While this seems effective against Little Mac, activating LS Vs a launched Peach is a waste of time.

Again, though. Really nice stuff in here, Chopper. Keep up the good work, bro!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I'd also like to contribute with some stuff:

Counter Triggering
This is an effective way of getting under the skin of ppl who are confident with their counter-game.
It's more of a mix-up than a solid method, however. And it's best used when the opponent is falling down from high above, altough it can be used on grounded foes as well.
But don't run in there expecting and waiting for the counter - play as you normally would, but with the possibility of a counter in mind.
If they counter, Shield it and punish.
note: The rest of you leves can reset the opponent after you've shielded their counter if you're unlucky, so keep that in mind to still have the edge.

Wiff Forcing / Leaf Baiting
Ppl, even good players, tend to get more offensive when you LS near them, because they don't want to get grabbed.
They've probably met Mega Men who activate LS and simply rush in for a grab, so they'll try to attack you.
(Sometimes you should simply rush in and grab them, though, to keep them guessing, but don't overdo it in a way that makes you predictable.)
Shield or dodge their attack and then punish.

Furthermore (I made this black cuz it's sorta OT when it comes to Wiff Forcing):
The thing is, if they don't attack you, they're gonna get grabbed.
Watch out for the opponent's grabs though, since they make your leaves go away.
They'll sometimes prefer to roll or get out of the way, but in that case, try to react to that as well.
Sometimes both players will fail to accomplish what they wanted in a LS Scenario, but you might just have inflicted 2% or even 4% damage with the leaves alone.

Camp Nullifying
Against some characters, a thrown LS can nullify their Projectile Momentum, and give Mega Man a fresh start.
This is useful when you feel the opponent currently has the upper hand in a camp-war.
Fullhop/fullhop DJ, activate LS, and throw it as you land.
Many times, Mega Man will have a time-advantage after the LS has hit the opponent or their shield, allowing him to start his own barrage of projectiles before the opponent.

Leaf Locking
Just the term for Jab Locking with LS.
As we speak, there's no solid set-up for it, and you're probably better off using his jabs for Jab Locking,
but Jab Locking with LS excists, thus worth a mention.

Great contributions! I'll add them to the OP when I get back from work and can post from my computer.

FYI, the RARA technique is really great for Counter Triggering. I love short hop air dodging through a counter and then picking them up with a grab from behind.

 

[ChopperDave]

Update:

Added @ Z1GMA 's contributions. I also made some edits and additions of my own, including a discussion of how to combine Leaf Shield with the Invinciblade AT. Also, more pictures and videos!

 

[fromundaman]

This is awesome, thank you. I started trying to incorporate this move into my game but only had the basic maneuvers with it down.

This post also gave me ideas which I just took to the lab:

-Jab locking with leaves is actually not that hard to set up after all. Just leaf stool them over the stage and fast fall. The best part is it will keep them in the jab lock until leaves dissipate since each leaf resets the jab lock, meaning if you land this it's almost a guaranteed kill.


-I mentioned earlier in another thread that some characters had grab releases that left them in range for a sweet spot Utilt but they could shield. Well with leaf shield active those characters get hit by the remaining leaves the moment you release, and I don't think they can shield it (needs testing).
That said this is hard to set up and isn't terribly useful unless you hit them with tour last lea f and can follow up.

 

[ENKER]

This is awesome, thank you. I started trying to incorporate this move into my game but only had the basic maneuvers with it down.

This post also gave me ideas which I just took to the lab:

-Jab locking with leaves is actually not that hard to set up after all. Just leaf stool them over the stage and fast fall. The best part is it will keep them in the jab lock until leaves dissipate since each leaf resets the jab lock, meaning if you land this it's almost a guaranteed kill.


-I mentioned earlier in another thread that some characters had grab releases that left them in range for a sweet spot Utilt but they could shield. Well with leaf shield active those characters get hit by the remaining leaves the moment you release, and I don't think they can shield it (needs testing).
That said this is hard to set up and isn't terribly useful unless you hit them with tour last lea f and can follow up.

Oh man, I'll definitely try these out today! :D

 

[ChopperDave]

In my games today I had some nice gimps from activating LS, running off stage, and turning around and snapping to ledge just before my opponent was about to use his UpB. Feels like a very SSBM throwback kind of gimp :D

Since you have invincibility frames and your opponent probably doesn't, the leaves will often smack them out of their UpB and prevent them from grabbing the ledge. If your LS has dissipated -- which at this point it often has -- you can then go for a bair or dair from ledge to finish them off. If the LS is still up, leafstool is an option.

Savvy opponents might try to mash UpB to counter this tactic, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. If they mash UpB they're still often going to end up in a pretty bad situation, like above the stage and in their tumble frames or in land lag on the stage.

 

[SSGuy]

I only seem to use Leaf Sheild either when I want to test the waters on my opponents shield habits or after being launched, I normally throw it up and air dodge to neutral game.

 

[Ramzy]

Don't underestimate the Leaf Shield

 

[ChopperDave]

I really like using the Leaf Shield Short Hop tech with my double jump. It's a great little mix up tool.

A lot of players expect us to go up to a certain predetermined height with our double jump, so they'll throw out an aerial that doesn't auto-cancel thinking it'll be safe. The LS Short Hop screws with these people because you a) don't go up as high as they expect, making them whiff the juggle attempt and b) you touch down on the ground sooner than they expect, allowing you to punish the whiff with a throw.

 

[BlackSmoke]

I never touched this skill, welp(over 500 wifi games, most on rockman). Glad someone has been mastering it.
I just tried leaf stooling in for glory and won. Thank you for the valuable knowledge!

 

[Z1GMA]

Another set-up for Leaf Locking:

When rhe opponent is at Utilt Kill%, jump and z-drop a MB at them, then activate LS and bounce them three times > Utilt.
Dropped MBs start knocking ppl over at about the same % as Utilt starts killing, which is perfect.

Situational but kewl.

 

[ChopperDave]

Another set-up for Leaf Locking:

When rhe opponent is at Utilt Kill%, jump and z-drop a MB at them, then activate LS and bounce them three times > Utilt.
Dropped MBs start knocking ppl over at about the same % as Utilt starts killing, which is perfect.

Situational but kewl.

Does this work if you have the LS up when you z-drop the blade? Because that could actually be a pretty nice kill set up.

 

[Z1GMA]

I don't think you've got enough time for that, but I could be wrong.

 

[MarioFX]

Thanks for making this post man. Really opened my eyes to the full potential of the leaf shield.

 

[StylesX2]

I accidentally pulled off the "Leaflock" tech and it was interesting. Nice Leaf Shield guide btw.

 

[BBC7]

This is just partially related, but it looks like Plant Barrier's hitbox and duration is just enough to roll past a character 3 times for 9% before following up with either a Grab, U-Tilt, or downwards Metal Blade(which can then buffer into U-Tilt). Of course, this isn't a true combo but it's hard to escape it. I find that many people will try to Shield during the whole 3 rolls before getting Grabbed as a punish. If they don't shield, you can test your luck with Metal Blade into U-Tilt if you feel like gambling. It's quite potent too, I did this against a friend and went from losing the fight horribly to beating him in the end.

I'm sure it's more than just Grab, U-Tilt, and downwards Metal Blade, although those seem to be the best options in my opinion.

 

[ChopperDave]

Alright, fellas, I figured out how to reliably set up a Leaf Lock. It's a pretty decent KO combo under the right circumstances. I'll add it to the OP when I get home from work.

Here's how you do it:

First, grab a Metal Blade.

Full hop forward while z-dropping the Metal Blade to fish for a hit. You can use the Invinciblade technique to do this safely.

If the z-dropped blade connects, it'll stun your opponent and pop him into the air. Follow him and perform the Leaf Shield Short Hop technique at the footstool position while he is in hitstun.

If done correctly, you will footstool spike your opponent and activate your LS at the same time. The LS activation frames will complete by the time you touch down on the stage and, unless your opponent immediately triggers his wake up invincibility frames, he'll be Leaf Locked. Obviously you can perform this LS footstool tech on any airborne opponent without using the blade z-drop lead in, but I find that blade z-drop is the most reliable way to get the combo started.

All you need to do at this point is stand next to your opponent while your 4 leaves bounce him, then immediately combo into a sweetspotted utilt. If you manage to get your opponent Leaf Locked, the utilt followup seems to be pretty much unavoidable.

Damage-wise, this combo will get you 5-15% from the z-dropped blade depending on the number of times it hits, 8% from the leaves, and 17% from the utilt for a total of 30-40% damage. It seems to work at all percentages, making it a good set-up for a utilt KO.

ETA: Upon further investigation, this is not a true combo. A player can escape it if he wakes up on the first available frame after being footstool spiked. Still, if he isn't quick enough on his feet he'll get Leaf Locked.

 

[ENKER]

This sounds awesome! Is there any chance you can make a video of this in action?

 

[ChopperDave]

This sounds awesome! Is there any chance you can make a video of this in action?

Sure, I'll see if I can grab a quick replay of me doing this against a Lv.1 AI (high-level AIs perfectly execute the get-up every time). Will post later today once I get a chance to record it.

 

[Z1GMA]

This is just partially related, but it looks like Plant Barrier's hitbox and duration is just enough to roll past a character 3 times for 9% before following up with either a Grab, U-Tilt, or downwards Metal Blade(which can then buffer into U-Tilt). Of course, this isn't a true combo but it's hard to escape it. I find that many people will try to Shield during the whole 3 rolls before getting Grabbed as a punish. If they don't shield, you can test your luck with Metal Blade into U-Tilt if you feel like gambling. It's quite potent too, I did this against a friend and went from losing the fight horribly to beating him in the end.

I'm sure it's more than just Grab, U-Tilt, and downwards Metal Blade, although those seem to be the best options in my opinion.

That's really clever, dude. Nice job.
Works just as good with the normal LS, too, right?

I noticed the LS makes that "bzzt-sound" 15 times before it dissapears.
You can actually count them by counting "1234, 1234, 1234, 123" in your head, and then instantly attack afterwards.
However, I think counting them would distract you a lot, so it's probably a really bad idea.
It's w/o doubt better to get a natural feel for it.

Your method is really good, though.

@ ChopperDave , I tried your Leaf Lock Set-up on Mario, but he was able to rise up before my Leafs jab locked him :/

 

[ChopperDave]

@ ChopperDave , I tried your Leaf Lock Set-up on Mario, but he was able to rise up before my Leafs jab locked him :/

Yeah, it's not a true combo. If your opponent immediately gets up he can break out of it. You're kind of relying on your opponent to screw up and not react to the string in time. I bet a human player just mashing buttons would be able to avoid it.

I've got video of using this string off stage as a gimp. Highly situational and risky but it makes a hilarious disrespect.

 

[fromundaman]

That's really clever, dude. Nice job.
Works just as good with the normal LS, too, right?

I noticed the LS makes that "bzzt-sound" 15 times before it dissapears.
You can actually count them by counting "1234, 1234, 1234, 123" in your head, and then instantly attack afterwards.
However, I think counting them would distract you a lot, so it's probably a really bad idea.
It's w/o doubt better to get a natural feel for it.

Your method is really good, though.

@ ChopperDave , I tried your Leaf Lock Set-up on Mario, but he was able to rise up before my Leafs jab locked him :/

Thank you! Counting off the mduration of moves has helped me a lot with strict combo timings in the past, so that info helps me a lot.

 

[ChopperDave]

OK, here's a video where I show how to perform not 1, but 2 combo strings!

#1 is the best Leaf Lock set-up I've found so far (unfortunately not a true combo).
#2 is a pretty neat 0-to-death that is basically an offstage variation of #1. I've tested it against the entire cast and it works pretty well against about 3/5 of them. The only characters it straight up doesn't work against are those whose vertical recoveries are just too good, like Villager, Game & Watch, and Sonic.

 

[Locke 06]

And I thought I was being clever. I just found the leaflock to utilt messing around in training mode. At full jump height, if you footstool I'm pretty sure it's guaranteed. I'll write up more /edit when I get home, but I'm finding this very interesting and super applicable.

 

[Nu~]

OK, here's a video where I show how to perform not 1, but 2 combo strings!

#1 is the best Leaf Lock set-up I've found so far (unfortunately not a true combo).
#2 is a pretty neat 0-to-death that is basically an offstage variation of #1. I've tested it against the entire cast and it works pretty well against about 3/5 of them. The only characters it straight up doesn't work against are those whose vertical recoveries are just too good, like Villager, Game & Watch, and Sonic.

Really impressive, man! Adding more to megaman's gimping game.
Seing both of my main's (Pac-Man and megaman) metagames grow feels so rewarding

 

[BBC7]

I didn't even know about the Z-Drop Metal Blade Air Dodge tech until today, it looks like it could lead into interesting combos though.

 

[ENKER]

Thanks for the video! I liked and subscribed! :D

 

[ChopperDave]

I didn't even know about the Z-Drop Metal Blade Air Dodge tech until today, it looks like it could lead into interesting combos though.

It's actually a pretty nice approach tool that catches a lot of the roll spammers on For Glory mode. I'll probably post a video discussing it later.

 

[Nu~]

It's actually a pretty nice approach tool that catches a lot of the roll spammers on For Glory mode. I'll probably post a video discussing it later.

Just realized that I can perform this with pacman's fruit too. Even better, is that the fruit bounces multiple times after being z dropped. Hope you don't mind me borrowing this technique

 

[ChopperDave]

Updated the OP with the new video featuring the Leaf Lock lead-in and 0-to-death.

For those of you who are curious, I tested the 0-to-death against the entire roster. Here's what I found

The combo works fairly reliably against:

Mario
Luigi
Peach
Bowser
Yoshi (no joke!)
Rosalina*
Wario**
DK*
Diddy*
Sheik*
Ganondorf*
ZSS
Marth
Ike
Robin
Metaknight
Little Mac
Fox*
Falco*
Charizard
Jigglypuff*
Greninja*
Duck Hunt*
R.O.B.**
Ness*
Captain Falcon*
Olimar*
Wii Fiit Trainer*
Dr. Mario
Lucina
Shulk

* Especially effective against these characters due to their weak or nonexistent vertical hitboxes, and/or long start-up, for their recovery moves.
** Effective but requires either 4 consecutive footstools (!) or 3 footstools and a dair spike finisher.

The combo does not really work against:

Bowser Jr.
Mr. Game & Watch
Link
Toon Link
Samus
Pit
Palutena
Kirby
DDD
Pikachu
Lucario
Villager
Dark Pit
Pac Man
Mega Man
Sonic

What do these characters have in common? Well, their recover moves are (1) instantaneous, (2) travel a long way vertically, (3) do strong damage on the initial hit, or (4) do some combination of the above.

 

[ChopperDave]

Just realized that I can perform this with pacman's fruit too. Even better, is that the fruit bounces multiple times after being z dropped. Hope you don't mind me borrowing this technique

Go for it -- I borrowed it from the Toon Link boards, so I can't make a strong claim to ownership :D

 

[Locke 06]

So, after playing tonight, I've found that this is really... really... hard to pull off against good players. I almost got it once tonight in the 15 or so matches I just played.

Basically, knowing that the crash bomb launches at ~ 60˚ angle from the ground (away from the original direction you shot it), you can use that knowledge to lead to a FH footstool every time it launches from the ground. From there, it's rather easy. Instantly activate leaf shield, leaf lock, utilt. Works at every % that launches the opponent high enough.

What makes this really great, is that you can time your jump on reaction to the CB going off. What makes this... not as great... is that a good opponent is rarely on the ground to get hit by the explosion. Usually people take to the air or run away to shield. :/

Anyway, it's one way to lead into the leaf lock. If you can get a foot stool around the height of the apex of your jump, you should get a leaflock-->utilt every time. The CB is just one way to set this up.

PS: @ ChopperDave how did you test... and what is "fairly reliably?"

EDIT: THIS IS VERY CHARACTER DEPENDENT. MORE TESTING IS NEEDED.

 

[ChopperDave]

So, after playing tonight, I've found that this is really... really... hard to pull off against good players. I almost got it once tonight in the 15 or so matches I just played.

Basically, knowing that the crash bomb launches at ~ 60˚ angle from the ground (away from the original direction you shot it), you can use that knowledge to lead to a FH footstool every time it launches from the ground. From there, it's rather easy. Instantly activate leaf shield, leaf lock, utilt. Works at every % that launches the opponent high enough.

What makes this really great, is that you can time your jump on reaction to the CB going off. What makes this... not as great... is that a good opponent is rarely on the ground to get hit by the explosion. Usually people take to the air or run away to shield. :/

Anyway, it's one way to lead into the leaf lock. If you can get a foot stool around the height of the apex of your jump, you should get a leaflock-->utilt every time. The CB is just one way to set this up.

PS: @ ChopperDave how did you test... and what is "fairly reliably?"

Nice. I'll have to give this a shot, never thought to use Crash Bomb to set up into Leaf Lock.

By "fairly reliably," I mean that I could pull off the 0-to-death combo against a Lv.9 AI a few times in a row and didn't see them having a guaranteed opportunity to escape it.

While I recognize that Lv.9 AIs are not all that smart, they do have inhuman reflexes and can UpB out of a Leafstool and toward the stage better than any player I've encountered. (Most people I play against panic when I Leafstool them and aren't nearly as precise as the AIs, even when they do manage to mash out an UpB.)

So I figure that if the AI can't UpB out of the combo and back to the ledge, then the combo should work against that character in general. Some characters, like Sonic and DDD, just have the ability to get back to the stage every time even when I execute the combo perfectly.

Now granted, it's not often that you'll have a human opponent just standing next to the ledge patiently waiting for you to 0-to-death him, so this combo may not be something you can actually deploy very often against good players. But if he's hanging off the ledge and you make the right read and catch him as he stands or jumps back onto the stage...

 

[Locke 06]

I'd test against a human when you get a chance. Computers are also programmed not to use their inhuman reflexes at times.

Also, I'm going to have to revise my Leaflock setup finding. It's really unreliable and I think it has something to do with the weight and gravity of the character you're doing it on. Works as described on Little Mac... not so much on Ganondorf, Mega Man, or Greninja (only 4 characters I've tested with a human).

Also, something of note, leaflock to utilt is REALLY strict in terms of timing. If your opponent knows this technique, they'll shield. It feels like 2 or 3 frames for this to be guaranteed otherwise you'll get punished real hard.

 

[ChopperDave]

I'd test against a human when you get a chance. Computers are also programmed not to use their inhuman reflexes at times.

True. Until this gets tested against a human this is mostly theorycraft. I'll let you all know once I've had a chance to execute this against some poor unsuspecting scrub on For Glory. Of course, that would require him not to roll dodge spam all the damn time, which seems to be all the rage with FG scrubs these days...

FWIW, the blade drop to footstool is a true combo, that much I'm certain. If you hit a character on the front half of his body, he'll get launched up and backwards every time and can't vector out of it, so a follow-up footstool is virtually guaranteed.

 

[Z1GMA]

@ ChopperDave , you should make a similar thread about Crash Bombs.