Hello SmashBoards! Thanks again for the excellent reviews and feedback on my last guide. After giving it some thought, I've decided to kick off a "10 Important Smash Tips" Series in SmashBoards, where each installment will break down a major portion of smash (e.g. edgeguarding, reading, mobility, some advanced tech, etc.) into ten simple tips that can be easily referenced and practiced individually. I'm excited!
So if you haven't already seen the first installment of the series, check it out first here: http://smashboards.com/guides/10-important-smash-tips-for-upping-anyones-smash-game.598/
And without further ado, lets get to ten more general tips for upping anyone's smash game! Note: the numbers will start at 11, as a continuation of the last guide.
11) WHILE ITS NOT NECESSARY, MAINING MULTIPLE CHARACTERS CAN REALLY HELP
You don't necessarily have to learn more than one character in-depth, but it can really help you cover your weak matchups and maximize your strong ones. For example, if you are a Luigi main (smash 4) who thrives on getting grab combos (his down throw versatility is incredible), using projectiles to approach (because he has a poor approach game) and look for such grabs, making good reads and punishing with his stronger moves, and not getting edgeguarded, you'll find yourself performing well against a huge portion of the cast. However, while Luigi certainly has these powerful tools in his arsenal and earns a high tier spot in smash 4 as a result, he has his weaknesses. Characters with powerful offstage presences, campy playstyles, and/or strong spacing tools will make it much more difficult to utilize these strengths (i.e. Sheik, Rosalina, and ZSS). So there are two options here. One, you can try to adjust the way you play your Luigi, but an opponent formidable enough will make that extremely tough. Or two, you can have other characters under your belt. This is especially useful if your opponent doesn't main that many characters--if the enemy only mains Rosalina really well, then pull out your Sheik and suddenly its a fairer, perhaps advantageous fight for you (in my opinion Sheik has a good matchup against Rosalina).
Maining multiple characters can also:
>Expand your in-depth knowledge of other characters you may play against
>Allow you to change to another fighting approach if you're just having an off day with one character
>Counter an opponent's PLAYSTYLE rather than CHARACTER CHOICE. This is really important--if you're opponent plays a super aggressive Marth and is pressuring you too much (This probably isn't a common issue--it's just an example), playing an agile, campy Sheik can be really effective.
If it helps you, I'll share with you my own mainset, which is rather large and took time to develop:
>Sheik for most matches, use her if I know its a strong matchup or just because I'm extremely comfortable with her in general
>ZSS for matches where the neutral doesn't matter as much (because in my opinion her neutral game isn't the best) and I just want to get early grab combo kills and rack up insane damage. Since she's very technical and precise to use, I won't pull her out if I'm feeling off in my spacing or precision that day
>Fox if I want major combos or if I want a stronger KILL punish game than my Sheik (Sheik has a strong punish game, put doesn't OFTEN kill with those punishes). In my opinion, Fox's punish game is excellent, especially if an opponent misses an attack or gives a tiny window at high percent. Sliding up smash and you're done. That Fox up air too is great for punishing air dodges
>Rosalina if I'm feeling campy or want some vertical kills.
>Captain Falcon if you're being overly defensive and I want to get in your grill.
>Lucina / Marth if I want to space my opponent with sword range and rely on hard reads and smart decision making. I know they're kind of bad in smash 4, but I loved playing Marth in brawl so much as a kid that I just can't say goodbye. Please buff them, Nintendo. Please.
>Ganon if I feel pretty confident and I just want to troll
12) BE ABLE TO MAKE READS BASED ON OPPONENT'S PLAYSTYLE
Just identifying if your opponent likes to play offensively or defensively can really assist in the read-making process. If your opponent likes to camp and run away, then you can be almost sure that if you run at them as they are getting up that they will try to roll away or for other situations opt to block and "wait out" the danger. You can make assumptions like these to your advantage and punish their tendencies. The same goes for offensive players: these ones will try to get right back in the fight as soon as they are hit, often rolling toward you, and will often waste their jumps early in recovery and fail in the spacing game. Ok then, I'll sheild grab and edge guard you like crazy, try and hit you right after you waste your jump, and use turnaround smash attacks to punish your revenge-based playstyle (what I mean is an opponent that tries to jump unsafely back on stage can often be punished hard by running or walking away and then surprising them with a turnaround smash. It works because aggressive players think that you are an open target when you're not facing them, and then are surprised when they eat a smash attack just before they can do something).
So knowing this, don't those mistakes yourself. Don't fully commit to an aggressive or defensive playstyle--mix it up, use aggression when it needs to be used and defense when it needs to be used. You don't want your opponent to know that you'll roll away because it's just a defensive habit--this is where patience and critical thinking is key.
13) DON'T OVER-COMMIT TO A CERTAIN OPTION UNLESS YOU'RE MAKING A READ
This is one of the hardest things to explain and really just comes with experience in my opinion, but I'll do my best to lay it out for you.
You'd be surprised how many Marths online think that they will beat you if they run straight at you and start spamming forward air. Every time, they eat my projectile, shield grab, or roll to punish. Now the problem here is not the concept--using Marth's forward air to pressure safely is actually an excellent strategy and a correct utilization of Marth's strengths. The problem comes when they ASSUME that at least one of them will hit very soon and that the opponent DOESN'T know how to deal with it, and then land in shield grabbing range. This is a classic situation of over-committing--in general, assuming that a certain attack will hit is not a good thing unless it is part of a read process. In this situation, the Marth would be much more effective my running then shielding, closing the gap, foxtrotting and foxtrot cancelling around and throwing out some down tilts or neutral airs, and then when they do throw out the forward air, they space it so that they are out of range for you to punish. That Marth is not assuming that anything will hit--they are staying safe and ready to react while still pressuring their opponent. If you want to see what I'm talking about in action (that is, if you didn't like my explanation which is totally fine), check out a Lucina / Sheik main on YouTube named Neo. He's an extremely smart player that almost never over-commits. Watch him play Snow, RandomTask, and Junebug:
>Neo (Lucina) vs. Snow (Fox)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWFaAUrCILk
>Neo (Lucina) vs. RandomTask (Bowser)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iZX9MvBO10
>(My favorite)Neo (Sheik) vs. Junebug (Lucario)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKFyOs2TTmg
Now this doesn't mean you should play super defensively all the time. It just means think a little bit more about the moves you do and realize that just because your opponent seems open now doesn't mean they'll be open five seconds from now--It's easy to focus entirely on your own thought process in smash and forget about the fact that opponents are analyzing you and making reads too and either know or are thinking about how to deal with a lot of things that you could throw at them.
14) CALM DOWN ON THE ADVANCED TECH
If you can master wavebouncing, foxtrot cancelling, b cancelling, perfect pivoting, those crazy footstool combos, and jab locks (all smash 4 stuff), then congrats to you, but for the masses out there that can't perfect pivot every time (I know I can't do it ten times in a row, I'll probably mess it up after five or six), don't worry about it. These techs can be extremely useful if used right, but that's the problem--they're hard to use right. MORE IMPORTANTLY, for many players it takes energy away from the mental game, which is more important, and puts it into trying to pull off something that's strange, difficult and will mix up your opponent. Sure, someone who can perfect pivot so well that it's like wavedashing in melee will be a really tough opponent to fight if their fundamentals are good as well, but the reality is that, at least for me, I have never seen anyone who is able to do that.
I'm not saying don't do it if you can do it. By all means, utilize these techs to your advantage if you know you can do it to pull of that clutch punish, and if you play melee you can probably go a lot more crazy with all sorts of advanced tech. I'm just saying don't worry about it if you can't, or don't fear that you're at a disadvantage if you can't.
Because let me tell you a story about one of the funniest online matches of my life:
I was playing Ganon. My opponent was playing Sheik. My opponent kept trying to pull off crazy tech stuff and down throw chain grab me throughout the match. The entire match, only one perfect pivot actually proved useful for that person--all the flubbed ones, the b-reversals and cancels, and the foxtrot cancels were so over-used that I could read everything--I simply knew they would never go for the normal option. Only taking 63% that match (stats from the glorious replay I saved), I got the first stock by shield breaking with a diving kick above a shield, landed a reverse warlock punch, landed two or three down airs in the middle of the stage, spiked the guy offstage. Next stock got another reverse warlock punch, almost hit a normal one, had another shield break with dive kick, and even got an up tilt kill in the middle of the stage after purposely racking the guy up to ridiculous percentage.
Tyrannosaurus REKT, my friend. The reads that match were so hard.
That may be an extreme example (*laughs remembering that match*), but the point I'm trying to make is still there--just calm down on the advanced techs and use them cautiously in appropriate scenarios.
15) WATCH MELEE FOR SMASH 4 FOLKS
What? Why would I watch melee if I only play smash 4? Well here are two great reasons.
>Melee is really fun to watch
>While melee is a different game, you may notice things done there that can carry over to smash 4, you may learn more about general smash strategies, and you expand your knowledge about how smash has changed or developed over time.
Watch melee, folks. It's pretty sweet.
16) YOU'RE GOING TO GET BETTER PLAYING REAL PEOPLE
This one's very short and sweet. The computer's aren't that good practice--try to play online, or play with friends. The computers don't allow you to improve your read-making skills or mindgame skills nearly as much as playing real people.
17) KNOW HOW TO PUNISH EVERY MISTAKE WITH YOUR CHARACTER
You should know, without thinking, how to punish a roll, spot dodge, air dodge, flub--you name it--in every way with your character. Punishing is an essential part of winning in smash, because everyone, even ZeRo, will make some mistakes in game. To get better at this, head to training or pick it up by playing more matches in general. But here are some of the basics and most common punishes, non-character specific:
Rolls behind you can be punished with:
>Turnaround grab
>Tilt
>Smash attack, if you see it early enough
>Jab combo
>Dash attack
>I could keep listing here, because this is one of the most punishable situations. Almost everything works. Choose whatever is best for your character
Rolls away from you:
>Follow roll, then dash attack
>Follow roll, then pivot grab
>Foxtrot to smash attack
>Projectile
>Ganon down air if you're feeling super troll and see the roll really early
Spot dodge:
>A good read
>Jab combo (a lot of people spot dodge then immediately grab or tilt, so your quickest attack is better to beat this out)
>Pivot grab (safest option in my opinion)
>Take a quick note that there are more roll punishes than spot dodge punishes. I said in my last guide why not to roll unsafely, and this just highlights why.
Air dodge:
>Land on the ground then grab or tilt attack
>Jump once and wait for the air dodge, and then follow up with an aerial
>You lag upon landing when you air dodge, so ground attacks upon landing work
Flubbed attack:
>Foxtrot to smash attack
>Dash attack
>Grab
>Sliding up smash
You'll pick up these kinds of things by watching good players and playing good players yourself.
18) MASTER THE FOLLOW UP GAME
What's a follow up game? Well, when one player takes the advantage in neutral and begins to land a combo or start a string of attacks / movements, they are in follow up game. The main point here is that you want to extend the follow up as long as possible--something that characters like Sheik and Fox are so good at.
Here's an example I see almost every match I play with Fox:
I hit a dash attack and try to follow up with an up aerial. They air dodge the aerial, so now I wait till they land and tilt them away and then hit another dash attack (sometimes / sometimes-often a true combo). I go for another up air, they air dodge, I wait till they land, do another tilt to dash attack. The process continues until they decide to eat and up air or until the tilt no longer combos into dash attack. At that point I dash to shield, since most players like to get up attack in that situation (assuming the latter, that they didn't eat an up air and the dash attack was no longer a follow up option), grab them, throw combo, and keep racking up insane percent. This all happened because they air dodged once.
When you land a punish, don't be satisfied right there. KEEP GOING. If you know your character well enough, you'll begin to have more instinctual combos like the one I described--everything just combos into itself, and you inexplicably know what to do to keep the combo alive. To practice this, mess around with a dummy more in training, trying to land as many attacks in a row as fast as you can. A lot of true combos are discovered this way, and that's always exciting!
19) KNOW THE WHOLE CAST WELL SO THAT YOU ARE NEVER SURPRISED
One of the biggest enemies in smash is surprise. When things become unexpected, the read game falls apart and then you are relying on patterns and analysis in-game to try to win. Don't put yourself in this situation. If there is a character that you have no idea how to fight (for a lot of people, the answer to this would be Olimar or Rosalina), then learn that character for a week. Main them temporarily just so that you can be familiar with their strengths and weaknesses, or even just moveset and options. You don't want to lose to an Olimar that's just spamming side b because you've never seen it. Take the time to prevent that.
This also goes for more general things. Struggle against projectile spammers? Take the time to learn how to counter that (in case you are curious, that one is quite simple--strategic use of dash to perfect shield and utilizing aerial movement to close the gap and punish their likely defensive, roll heavy playstyle will do the trick). Identify your weaknesses and fix them.
20) UNDERSTAND WHEN TO HAVE FUN
I've given you 19 tips so far that are all geared toward competitive gameplay and winning. But I just have to be cheesy and remind you that if you are trying to improve just to crush your friends who aren't that good, then that's no fun. Understand when to play seriously and go all out, but also understand when you just need to play relaxed with your pals and have a good time. Smash is meant to be enjoyed, and if you're not playing it the way to enjoy it, then that's a problem.
And because you know how much I like bonuses and special features from my last guide, here's your bonus tips of the day:
Bonus Tip 1 Yay!!!
Don't go for hard reads if you are losing. When you are down, you need to bring the game back as methodically and safely as possible, and the hard read is just going to give the opponent a chance of being able to punish an over-commitment.
Bonus Tip 2 YAY!!!
Random up smashes or "accidents" like that which are just out of range for your opponent to punish are great baits. People fall for it all the time, so try it and punish accordingly.
Bonus Tip 3 YAY!!!!
Learn how to ledge trump and get free aerials or force the opponent to grab the ledge without invincibility (look up on YouTube "ledge trumping in smash 4"). You can just short hop offstage to get an easy one, but the fastest way to do it is to run offstage and then circle your control stick in the direction you are running (clockwise for right side of stage, counter for left) until you are pointing diagonally toward the opposite corner of the stage with the control stick (if turning clockwise, you'll end up at the 11 o clock position, and 1 o clock if counter clockwise) (yes, it is like a 5/8 or 3/4 circle movement with the stick).
Random Tip That Helps More on the 3DS:
If you are dashing and then immediately input jump-->up on control stick-->attack you will do a dashing, sliding up smash (useful for Fox and Marth). I found this out when I accidentally did it in an attempt to do a short hop up air, but I inputted the up air too fast and it just came out as an up smash.
That's all for now folks! As always, please leave a fix in the comments if there is any false information, and remember to check out the first guide in the installment if you didn't see that.
Next time, "10 Important Smash Tips For: EdgeGaurding". If you want a different guide topic instead (hope to get that up next weekend), let me know and I will plan on doing a different guide! I'm super open to suggestions!
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more guides!
So if you haven't already seen the first installment of the series, check it out first here: http://smashboards.com/guides/10-important-smash-tips-for-upping-anyones-smash-game.598/
And without further ado, lets get to ten more general tips for upping anyone's smash game! Note: the numbers will start at 11, as a continuation of the last guide.
11) WHILE ITS NOT NECESSARY, MAINING MULTIPLE CHARACTERS CAN REALLY HELP
You don't necessarily have to learn more than one character in-depth, but it can really help you cover your weak matchups and maximize your strong ones. For example, if you are a Luigi main (smash 4) who thrives on getting grab combos (his down throw versatility is incredible), using projectiles to approach (because he has a poor approach game) and look for such grabs, making good reads and punishing with his stronger moves, and not getting edgeguarded, you'll find yourself performing well against a huge portion of the cast. However, while Luigi certainly has these powerful tools in his arsenal and earns a high tier spot in smash 4 as a result, he has his weaknesses. Characters with powerful offstage presences, campy playstyles, and/or strong spacing tools will make it much more difficult to utilize these strengths (i.e. Sheik, Rosalina, and ZSS). So there are two options here. One, you can try to adjust the way you play your Luigi, but an opponent formidable enough will make that extremely tough. Or two, you can have other characters under your belt. This is especially useful if your opponent doesn't main that many characters--if the enemy only mains Rosalina really well, then pull out your Sheik and suddenly its a fairer, perhaps advantageous fight for you (in my opinion Sheik has a good matchup against Rosalina).
Maining multiple characters can also:
>Expand your in-depth knowledge of other characters you may play against
>Allow you to change to another fighting approach if you're just having an off day with one character
>Counter an opponent's PLAYSTYLE rather than CHARACTER CHOICE. This is really important--if you're opponent plays a super aggressive Marth and is pressuring you too much (This probably isn't a common issue--it's just an example), playing an agile, campy Sheik can be really effective.
If it helps you, I'll share with you my own mainset, which is rather large and took time to develop:
>Sheik for most matches, use her if I know its a strong matchup or just because I'm extremely comfortable with her in general
>ZSS for matches where the neutral doesn't matter as much (because in my opinion her neutral game isn't the best) and I just want to get early grab combo kills and rack up insane damage. Since she's very technical and precise to use, I won't pull her out if I'm feeling off in my spacing or precision that day
>Fox if I want major combos or if I want a stronger KILL punish game than my Sheik (Sheik has a strong punish game, put doesn't OFTEN kill with those punishes). In my opinion, Fox's punish game is excellent, especially if an opponent misses an attack or gives a tiny window at high percent. Sliding up smash and you're done. That Fox up air too is great for punishing air dodges
>Rosalina if I'm feeling campy or want some vertical kills.
>Captain Falcon if you're being overly defensive and I want to get in your grill.
>Lucina / Marth if I want to space my opponent with sword range and rely on hard reads and smart decision making. I know they're kind of bad in smash 4, but I loved playing Marth in brawl so much as a kid that I just can't say goodbye. Please buff them, Nintendo. Please.
>Ganon if I feel pretty confident and I just want to troll
12) BE ABLE TO MAKE READS BASED ON OPPONENT'S PLAYSTYLE
Just identifying if your opponent likes to play offensively or defensively can really assist in the read-making process. If your opponent likes to camp and run away, then you can be almost sure that if you run at them as they are getting up that they will try to roll away or for other situations opt to block and "wait out" the danger. You can make assumptions like these to your advantage and punish their tendencies. The same goes for offensive players: these ones will try to get right back in the fight as soon as they are hit, often rolling toward you, and will often waste their jumps early in recovery and fail in the spacing game. Ok then, I'll sheild grab and edge guard you like crazy, try and hit you right after you waste your jump, and use turnaround smash attacks to punish your revenge-based playstyle (what I mean is an opponent that tries to jump unsafely back on stage can often be punished hard by running or walking away and then surprising them with a turnaround smash. It works because aggressive players think that you are an open target when you're not facing them, and then are surprised when they eat a smash attack just before they can do something).
So knowing this, don't those mistakes yourself. Don't fully commit to an aggressive or defensive playstyle--mix it up, use aggression when it needs to be used and defense when it needs to be used. You don't want your opponent to know that you'll roll away because it's just a defensive habit--this is where patience and critical thinking is key.
13) DON'T OVER-COMMIT TO A CERTAIN OPTION UNLESS YOU'RE MAKING A READ
This is one of the hardest things to explain and really just comes with experience in my opinion, but I'll do my best to lay it out for you.
You'd be surprised how many Marths online think that they will beat you if they run straight at you and start spamming forward air. Every time, they eat my projectile, shield grab, or roll to punish. Now the problem here is not the concept--using Marth's forward air to pressure safely is actually an excellent strategy and a correct utilization of Marth's strengths. The problem comes when they ASSUME that at least one of them will hit very soon and that the opponent DOESN'T know how to deal with it, and then land in shield grabbing range. This is a classic situation of over-committing--in general, assuming that a certain attack will hit is not a good thing unless it is part of a read process. In this situation, the Marth would be much more effective my running then shielding, closing the gap, foxtrotting and foxtrot cancelling around and throwing out some down tilts or neutral airs, and then when they do throw out the forward air, they space it so that they are out of range for you to punish. That Marth is not assuming that anything will hit--they are staying safe and ready to react while still pressuring their opponent. If you want to see what I'm talking about in action (that is, if you didn't like my explanation which is totally fine), check out a Lucina / Sheik main on YouTube named Neo. He's an extremely smart player that almost never over-commits. Watch him play Snow, RandomTask, and Junebug:
>Neo (Lucina) vs. Snow (Fox)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWFaAUrCILk
>Neo (Lucina) vs. RandomTask (Bowser)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iZX9MvBO10
>(My favorite)Neo (Sheik) vs. Junebug (Lucario)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKFyOs2TTmg
Now this doesn't mean you should play super defensively all the time. It just means think a little bit more about the moves you do and realize that just because your opponent seems open now doesn't mean they'll be open five seconds from now--It's easy to focus entirely on your own thought process in smash and forget about the fact that opponents are analyzing you and making reads too and either know or are thinking about how to deal with a lot of things that you could throw at them.
14) CALM DOWN ON THE ADVANCED TECH
If you can master wavebouncing, foxtrot cancelling, b cancelling, perfect pivoting, those crazy footstool combos, and jab locks (all smash 4 stuff), then congrats to you, but for the masses out there that can't perfect pivot every time (I know I can't do it ten times in a row, I'll probably mess it up after five or six), don't worry about it. These techs can be extremely useful if used right, but that's the problem--they're hard to use right. MORE IMPORTANTLY, for many players it takes energy away from the mental game, which is more important, and puts it into trying to pull off something that's strange, difficult and will mix up your opponent. Sure, someone who can perfect pivot so well that it's like wavedashing in melee will be a really tough opponent to fight if their fundamentals are good as well, but the reality is that, at least for me, I have never seen anyone who is able to do that.
I'm not saying don't do it if you can do it. By all means, utilize these techs to your advantage if you know you can do it to pull of that clutch punish, and if you play melee you can probably go a lot more crazy with all sorts of advanced tech. I'm just saying don't worry about it if you can't, or don't fear that you're at a disadvantage if you can't.
Because let me tell you a story about one of the funniest online matches of my life:
I was playing Ganon. My opponent was playing Sheik. My opponent kept trying to pull off crazy tech stuff and down throw chain grab me throughout the match. The entire match, only one perfect pivot actually proved useful for that person--all the flubbed ones, the b-reversals and cancels, and the foxtrot cancels were so over-used that I could read everything--I simply knew they would never go for the normal option. Only taking 63% that match (stats from the glorious replay I saved), I got the first stock by shield breaking with a diving kick above a shield, landed a reverse warlock punch, landed two or three down airs in the middle of the stage, spiked the guy offstage. Next stock got another reverse warlock punch, almost hit a normal one, had another shield break with dive kick, and even got an up tilt kill in the middle of the stage after purposely racking the guy up to ridiculous percentage.
Tyrannosaurus REKT, my friend. The reads that match were so hard.
That may be an extreme example (*laughs remembering that match*), but the point I'm trying to make is still there--just calm down on the advanced techs and use them cautiously in appropriate scenarios.
15) WATCH MELEE FOR SMASH 4 FOLKS
What? Why would I watch melee if I only play smash 4? Well here are two great reasons.
>Melee is really fun to watch
>While melee is a different game, you may notice things done there that can carry over to smash 4, you may learn more about general smash strategies, and you expand your knowledge about how smash has changed or developed over time.
Watch melee, folks. It's pretty sweet.
16) YOU'RE GOING TO GET BETTER PLAYING REAL PEOPLE
This one's very short and sweet. The computer's aren't that good practice--try to play online, or play with friends. The computers don't allow you to improve your read-making skills or mindgame skills nearly as much as playing real people.
17) KNOW HOW TO PUNISH EVERY MISTAKE WITH YOUR CHARACTER
You should know, without thinking, how to punish a roll, spot dodge, air dodge, flub--you name it--in every way with your character. Punishing is an essential part of winning in smash, because everyone, even ZeRo, will make some mistakes in game. To get better at this, head to training or pick it up by playing more matches in general. But here are some of the basics and most common punishes, non-character specific:
Rolls behind you can be punished with:
>Turnaround grab
>Tilt
>Smash attack, if you see it early enough
>Jab combo
>Dash attack
>I could keep listing here, because this is one of the most punishable situations. Almost everything works. Choose whatever is best for your character
Rolls away from you:
>Follow roll, then dash attack
>Follow roll, then pivot grab
>Foxtrot to smash attack
>Projectile
>Ganon down air if you're feeling super troll and see the roll really early
Spot dodge:
>A good read
>Jab combo (a lot of people spot dodge then immediately grab or tilt, so your quickest attack is better to beat this out)
>Pivot grab (safest option in my opinion)
>Take a quick note that there are more roll punishes than spot dodge punishes. I said in my last guide why not to roll unsafely, and this just highlights why.
Air dodge:
>Land on the ground then grab or tilt attack
>Jump once and wait for the air dodge, and then follow up with an aerial
>You lag upon landing when you air dodge, so ground attacks upon landing work
Flubbed attack:
>Foxtrot to smash attack
>Dash attack
>Grab
>Sliding up smash
You'll pick up these kinds of things by watching good players and playing good players yourself.
18) MASTER THE FOLLOW UP GAME
What's a follow up game? Well, when one player takes the advantage in neutral and begins to land a combo or start a string of attacks / movements, they are in follow up game. The main point here is that you want to extend the follow up as long as possible--something that characters like Sheik and Fox are so good at.
Here's an example I see almost every match I play with Fox:
I hit a dash attack and try to follow up with an up aerial. They air dodge the aerial, so now I wait till they land and tilt them away and then hit another dash attack (sometimes / sometimes-often a true combo). I go for another up air, they air dodge, I wait till they land, do another tilt to dash attack. The process continues until they decide to eat and up air or until the tilt no longer combos into dash attack. At that point I dash to shield, since most players like to get up attack in that situation (assuming the latter, that they didn't eat an up air and the dash attack was no longer a follow up option), grab them, throw combo, and keep racking up insane percent. This all happened because they air dodged once.
When you land a punish, don't be satisfied right there. KEEP GOING. If you know your character well enough, you'll begin to have more instinctual combos like the one I described--everything just combos into itself, and you inexplicably know what to do to keep the combo alive. To practice this, mess around with a dummy more in training, trying to land as many attacks in a row as fast as you can. A lot of true combos are discovered this way, and that's always exciting!
19) KNOW THE WHOLE CAST WELL SO THAT YOU ARE NEVER SURPRISED
One of the biggest enemies in smash is surprise. When things become unexpected, the read game falls apart and then you are relying on patterns and analysis in-game to try to win. Don't put yourself in this situation. If there is a character that you have no idea how to fight (for a lot of people, the answer to this would be Olimar or Rosalina), then learn that character for a week. Main them temporarily just so that you can be familiar with their strengths and weaknesses, or even just moveset and options. You don't want to lose to an Olimar that's just spamming side b because you've never seen it. Take the time to prevent that.
This also goes for more general things. Struggle against projectile spammers? Take the time to learn how to counter that (in case you are curious, that one is quite simple--strategic use of dash to perfect shield and utilizing aerial movement to close the gap and punish their likely defensive, roll heavy playstyle will do the trick). Identify your weaknesses and fix them.
20) UNDERSTAND WHEN TO HAVE FUN
I've given you 19 tips so far that are all geared toward competitive gameplay and winning. But I just have to be cheesy and remind you that if you are trying to improve just to crush your friends who aren't that good, then that's no fun. Understand when to play seriously and go all out, but also understand when you just need to play relaxed with your pals and have a good time. Smash is meant to be enjoyed, and if you're not playing it the way to enjoy it, then that's a problem.
And because you know how much I like bonuses and special features from my last guide, here's your bonus tips of the day:
Bonus Tip 1 Yay!!!
Don't go for hard reads if you are losing. When you are down, you need to bring the game back as methodically and safely as possible, and the hard read is just going to give the opponent a chance of being able to punish an over-commitment.
Bonus Tip 2 YAY!!!
Random up smashes or "accidents" like that which are just out of range for your opponent to punish are great baits. People fall for it all the time, so try it and punish accordingly.
Bonus Tip 3 YAY!!!!
Learn how to ledge trump and get free aerials or force the opponent to grab the ledge without invincibility (look up on YouTube "ledge trumping in smash 4"). You can just short hop offstage to get an easy one, but the fastest way to do it is to run offstage and then circle your control stick in the direction you are running (clockwise for right side of stage, counter for left) until you are pointing diagonally toward the opposite corner of the stage with the control stick (if turning clockwise, you'll end up at the 11 o clock position, and 1 o clock if counter clockwise) (yes, it is like a 5/8 or 3/4 circle movement with the stick).
Random Tip That Helps More on the 3DS:
If you are dashing and then immediately input jump-->up on control stick-->attack you will do a dashing, sliding up smash (useful for Fox and Marth). I found this out when I accidentally did it in an attempt to do a short hop up air, but I inputted the up air too fast and it just came out as an up smash.
That's all for now folks! As always, please leave a fix in the comments if there is any false information, and remember to check out the first guide in the installment if you didn't see that.
Next time, "10 Important Smash Tips For: EdgeGaurding". If you want a different guide topic instead (hope to get that up next weekend), let me know and I will plan on doing a different guide! I'm super open to suggestions!
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more guides!
- Applicable Games
- Smash 3DS, Smash Wii U
