Upthrow followups
Upair:
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Will true combo at pretty much any % below 90%(around there). at 0% - 40%(ish) you can just do a Full jump rising upair and it will true combo into the tailspike hitbox. After around 40%, peach goes too high for you to reach with just your full jump so you simply have to DJ upair to get the combo.
Nair:
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To land nair off of upthrow you need to full jump and then DJ rising nair. I believe this true combos for a very small % range but it is guaranteed until around 40% (before the grab). When I say guaranteed I mean that peach isnt in hitstun the entire time, but she can't actually put any move out to interrupt or avoid the attack.
She cant jump out because the start of her DJ makes her dip downwards. Bair comes out frame 6 and dair comes out frame 12; These moves are much too slow for breaking out of combos. Peach only has 1 real option that's fast enough to interrupt combos, her nair which comes out frame 3.
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As you can see, her leg is exposed and extended. Pikas nair comes out so fast that you can hit her leg before you reach the hitboxes on her body. I have seen FH running nair before but im not sure if peach can nair to trade with pika or not.
Fair followups(namely upsmash)
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Here is Trix putting my patented DI mixup to very good use. If you want to know the specifics, fair has 16 frames of hitstun plus the extra hitlag frame from electric property giving you a +7 frame advantage after landing lag. Since Peach's fastest option is her frame 3 nair you have a 2 frame window to upsmash and the frame after that upsmash will trade with nair. The window is a bit tight but nothing crazy considering the inputs are standard.
Furthermore, I believe fair->upsmash to be the most important DI mixup pika has against floaties. It is primarily used as a DI mixup for strong hit nair past 63%(when Nair breaks CC). The idea is that a fair followup can only be avoided by DI/ASDI'ing down. DI away will cause Pika nair to kill considerably earlier or will let you fair->upsmash while DI down on nair will cause Peach to mistech(or tech if theyre ready) which Pika can punish with upsmash. This forces the Peach to choose between DI up to survive nairs or DI down to avoid the fair kill confirm. Even at around 65% nair wont kill but if theyre DI'ing down it will set up a JC upsmash techchase or a really nice edgeguard if they manage to slide off.
This greatly reduces peaches survivability so that Pika's own can be abused more effectively. Even if peach ASDI down dsmashes the fair, pika will only take 12% so long as you werent holding down.
Do note that if peach is already in the air and you fair the followup is absolutely guaranteed. This makes running fair a great way to punish an umbrella landing, airdodge, or high float.
Uptilt combos
Its a hard move to land usually you can only really threaten it after crossing up after a nair on shield or when sharking peach while youre on a platform.
Uptilt -> JC upsmash from 0% - 20%(maybe 1 or 2 % more I forgot)
Uptilt -> aerial from 0% - 70%(around there, its probably more)
Uptilt -> thunder at any % where theyre too high to reach with an aerial
The great thing about uptilt is that it sends up and behind pikachu, making combos easier to land when opponents DI away. Uptilt leads so well into thunder because of it's send angle and low endlag.
Upair:
Will true combo at pretty much any % below 90%(around there). at 0% - 40%(ish) you can just do a Full jump rising upair and it will true combo into the tailspike hitbox. After around 40%, peach goes too high for you to reach with just your full jump so you simply have to DJ upair to get the combo.
Nair:
To land nair off of upthrow you need to full jump and then DJ rising nair. I believe this true combos for a very small % range but it is guaranteed until around 40% (before the grab). When I say guaranteed I mean that peach isnt in hitstun the entire time, but she can't actually put any move out to interrupt or avoid the attack.
She cant jump out because the start of her DJ makes her dip downwards. Bair comes out frame 6 and dair comes out frame 12; These moves are much too slow for breaking out of combos. Peach only has 1 real option that's fast enough to interrupt combos, her nair which comes out frame 3.
As you can see, her leg is exposed and extended. Pikas nair comes out so fast that you can hit her leg before you reach the hitboxes on her body. I have seen FH running nair before but im not sure if peach can nair to trade with pika or not.
Fair followups(namely upsmash)
Here is Trix putting my patented DI mixup to very good use. If you want to know the specifics, fair has 16 frames of hitstun plus the extra hitlag frame from electric property giving you a +7 frame advantage after landing lag. Since Peach's fastest option is her frame 3 nair you have a 2 frame window to upsmash and the frame after that upsmash will trade with nair. The window is a bit tight but nothing crazy considering the inputs are standard.
Furthermore, I believe fair->upsmash to be the most important DI mixup pika has against floaties. It is primarily used as a DI mixup for strong hit nair past 63%(when Nair breaks CC). The idea is that a fair followup can only be avoided by DI/ASDI'ing down. DI away will cause Pika nair to kill considerably earlier or will let you fair->upsmash while DI down on nair will cause Peach to mistech(or tech if theyre ready) which Pika can punish with upsmash. This forces the Peach to choose between DI up to survive nairs or DI down to avoid the fair kill confirm. Even at around 65% nair wont kill but if theyre DI'ing down it will set up a JC upsmash techchase or a really nice edgeguard if they manage to slide off.
This greatly reduces peaches survivability so that Pika's own can be abused more effectively. Even if peach ASDI down dsmashes the fair, pika will only take 12% so long as you werent holding down.
Do note that if peach is already in the air and you fair the followup is absolutely guaranteed. This makes running fair a great way to punish an umbrella landing, airdodge, or high float.
Uptilt combos
Its a hard move to land usually you can only really threaten it after crossing up after a nair on shield or when sharking peach while youre on a platform.
Uptilt -> JC upsmash from 0% - 20%(maybe 1 or 2 % more I forgot)
Uptilt -> aerial from 0% - 70%(around there, its probably more)
Uptilt -> thunder at any % where theyre too high to reach with an aerial
The great thing about uptilt is that it sends up and behind pikachu, making combos easier to land when opponents DI away. Uptilt leads so well into thunder because of it's send angle and low endlag.
Dealing with CC and ASDI down
One of peach's biggest strengths in most MUs. We've all seen how pika struggles against this but there are some moves that counter it directly.
SH Tailspike:
Against ASDI down(only works till 30%)
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against Crouch cancel(works below 180%) gyf courtesy of Psyant
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Above are gyfs of my patented anti CC/ASDI tech, SH tailspike comboing into upsmash. It puts an opponent in spikestun the same way shine does allowing you to followup on a grounded opponent. Pika can true combo into upsmash grab(as seen in the upthrow nair gyf in the followups section) or running nair. Often times its a difficult move to land but there are two opportune moments to land this.
Additionally, Pika can SH over turnips to punish the endlag of turnip throw.
This gives peach an incentive to shield when pika jumps, creating openings to tomahawk, crossup nair, or simply to take stage.
Crossup nair(the classic): Axe's weapon of choice and a good one if you catch Peach early in your travel arc as it tacks on good %. However, there are 2 problems
SH rising (forward facing)upair: Basically you do a rising upair and hit with the front part which will allow you to do a second upair, FFAC(fastfall autocancel), DJ, or WL, before you hit the ground. DJ and WL are a great way to avoid and punish dsmash after you've baited it with SH rising upair.
Dealing with Shield
If you've seen Axe's set vs Armada at eclipse you've seen Armada shield camp pika(wobbles even talks about it). He does this because his crossup nairs were becoming a problem but Axe didnt really do any followups off of a throw. Crossup nairs may be relatively safe on shield, but doing this often gives up stage control; It's a good option to stop peaches movement and force them into shield but I dont think pika should be doing this so often, as nair can get stuffed or shieldgrabbed if the peach is facing backwards. It's important to keep your opponent guessing to create openings. Here are some alternatives to crossup nair.
SH rising (forward facing)upair: Basically you do a rising upair and hit with the front part. After you hit shield and crossup your actionble much sooner than you would be doing a crossup nair. You can do a second upair before you hit the ground, FFAC(fastfall autocancel), DJ, or WL.
Late nair: it has a frame advantage of 0 on shield which means you can pressure her into an OoS option. You can dash out to wait for an OoS option space tilts on her shield(if you can do those sick *** pivot dtilts) or stuff her OoS options with your fast startup moves. Plup is a great example to watch to learn this kind of pressure. Even though sheiks fair is negative on shield, Plup still pressures effectively by dashing out of grab range, stuffing OoS options, and grabbing when they decide to stay shielding. Keep in mind that peach's fastest OoS option is grab which comes out frame 7.
Tomahawk: This is a more common one. It works especially well as a mixup if you've been doing crossup nair and upair afterwards to stuff them. Crossing up to tomahawk makes this safer since peach's SH bair comes out frame 11. I recommend crossing up unless you plan to tomahawk in front of them to space a move(useful if theyre in the corner). Otherwise crossup so that things like tomahawk dsmash/upsmash are safer. Typically you'll want to grab though, especially since there are newfound upthrow followups. N0ne is a great example to see how effective tomahawking is. Falcon and pika have similar SHFFL speeds and both tend to do many crossup aerials to condition their opponents into shield.
Tomahawks are effective because your opponent is timing their OoS options as if you were hitting their shield. When you hit a shield the player incurs shieldstun + hitlag. Pikas weak nair inflicts 6 frames of shieldstun and 6 frames of hitlag. So you have an opponent who is timing their OoS option 12 frames later while you can act sooner than usual because of normal landing lag.
As I mentioned before, some players(plup and M2k) have opted to shield pivot preemptively to shield grab crossups. Late nair and SH empty crossup DJ upair are really good to counter this. Tomahawk can work if you noticed theyre turned around and land behind them so they cant grab you.
FC(float canceled) and float aerials
Allows peach to throw extremely low commitment aerials or spaced aerials that either stuff or trade with pikas nair. This is what most peach's would opt for if pika is doing a lot of crossup nairs. Peach nair doesnt have too much disjoint but bair will beat out pikas nair reliably. Luckily pika has fair and ftilt to outspace these moves.
Fair: It actually has more disjoint than both peach's nair and bair. If peach thes moves are already out an approaching fair will beat them out. Peach nair can sometimes trade because her hitboxes come out at the same time as she extends her arms but it shouldnt be too much of a problem. If you land a fair while she's in the air it's a guaranteed followup so this is very rewarding.
Tilts: You can outrange and/or stuff her aerials like Axe has done before with a simple WD to get in range. Not much else to say. I will say that pivot dtilt can optimize pika's dashdance game allowing you to stuff peach after retreating with a dash back and making your options out of dashdance more ambiguous.
Dashdancing and floating
Peaches might try to outspace you but pikas movement options really shine here. Just overshoot aerials or throw out some tilts.
Turnips
Peach's turnip throw is lower than it looks and pika's SH is pretty high. So high that you can just jump over turnips when youre within a pretty big range. Even if you drop low enough you can nair or fair through all turnips except doteyes and stitch iirc. As soon as you see peach pull a turnip you can jump at her with an aerial. Her CC and OoS options are limited when holding a turnip as she can only throw it(frame 10) or upb(7). Technically she can do a float aerial but that will be about as slow as a turnip throw.
One of peach's biggest strengths in most MUs. We've all seen how pika struggles against this but there are some moves that counter it directly.
SH Tailspike:
Against ASDI down(only works till 30%)
against Crouch cancel(works below 180%) gyf courtesy of Psyant
Above are gyfs of my patented anti CC/ASDI tech, SH tailspike comboing into upsmash. It puts an opponent in spikestun the same way shine does allowing you to followup on a grounded opponent. Pika can true combo into upsmash grab(as seen in the upthrow nair gyf in the followups section) or running nair. Often times its a difficult move to land but there are two opportune moments to land this.
- When a Peach is CCing in the corner
- When peach pulls a turnip(most will attempt to ASDI down dsmash when hit out of the turnip pull)
Additionally, Pika can SH over turnips to punish the endlag of turnip throw.
This gives peach an incentive to shield when pika jumps, creating openings to tomahawk, crossup nair, or simply to take stage.
Crossup nair(the classic): Axe's weapon of choice and a good one if you catch Peach early in your travel arc as it tacks on good %. However, there are 2 problems
- If Peach is too far away you cant land far enough behind her to avoid getting punished.
- If you close too much space crossup nair will send you offstage, putting you in a bad position.
SH rising (forward facing)upair: Basically you do a rising upair and hit with the front part which will allow you to do a second upair, FFAC(fastfall autocancel), DJ, or WL, before you hit the ground. DJ and WL are a great way to avoid and punish dsmash after you've baited it with SH rising upair.
Dealing with Shield
If you've seen Axe's set vs Armada at eclipse you've seen Armada shield camp pika(wobbles even talks about it). He does this because his crossup nairs were becoming a problem but Axe didnt really do any followups off of a throw. Crossup nairs may be relatively safe on shield, but doing this often gives up stage control; It's a good option to stop peaches movement and force them into shield but I dont think pika should be doing this so often, as nair can get stuffed or shieldgrabbed if the peach is facing backwards. It's important to keep your opponent guessing to create openings. Here are some alternatives to crossup nair.
SH rising (forward facing)upair: Basically you do a rising upair and hit with the front part. After you hit shield and crossup your actionble much sooner than you would be doing a crossup nair. You can do a second upair before you hit the ground, FFAC(fastfall autocancel), DJ, or WL.
Late nair: it has a frame advantage of 0 on shield which means you can pressure her into an OoS option. You can dash out to wait for an OoS option space tilts on her shield(if you can do those sick *** pivot dtilts) or stuff her OoS options with your fast startup moves. Plup is a great example to watch to learn this kind of pressure. Even though sheiks fair is negative on shield, Plup still pressures effectively by dashing out of grab range, stuffing OoS options, and grabbing when they decide to stay shielding. Keep in mind that peach's fastest OoS option is grab which comes out frame 7.
Tomahawk: This is a more common one. It works especially well as a mixup if you've been doing crossup nair and upair afterwards to stuff them. Crossing up to tomahawk makes this safer since peach's SH bair comes out frame 11. I recommend crossing up unless you plan to tomahawk in front of them to space a move(useful if theyre in the corner). Otherwise crossup so that things like tomahawk dsmash/upsmash are safer. Typically you'll want to grab though, especially since there are newfound upthrow followups. N0ne is a great example to see how effective tomahawking is. Falcon and pika have similar SHFFL speeds and both tend to do many crossup aerials to condition their opponents into shield.
Tomahawks are effective because your opponent is timing their OoS options as if you were hitting their shield. When you hit a shield the player incurs shieldstun + hitlag. Pikas weak nair inflicts 6 frames of shieldstun and 6 frames of hitlag. So you have an opponent who is timing their OoS option 12 frames later while you can act sooner than usual because of normal landing lag.
As I mentioned before, some players(plup and M2k) have opted to shield pivot preemptively to shield grab crossups. Late nair and SH empty crossup DJ upair are really good to counter this. Tomahawk can work if you noticed theyre turned around and land behind them so they cant grab you.
FC(float canceled) and float aerials
Allows peach to throw extremely low commitment aerials or spaced aerials that either stuff or trade with pikas nair. This is what most peach's would opt for if pika is doing a lot of crossup nairs. Peach nair doesnt have too much disjoint but bair will beat out pikas nair reliably. Luckily pika has fair and ftilt to outspace these moves.
Fair: It actually has more disjoint than both peach's nair and bair. If peach thes moves are already out an approaching fair will beat them out. Peach nair can sometimes trade because her hitboxes come out at the same time as she extends her arms but it shouldnt be too much of a problem. If you land a fair while she's in the air it's a guaranteed followup so this is very rewarding.
Tilts: You can outrange and/or stuff her aerials like Axe has done before with a simple WD to get in range. Not much else to say. I will say that pivot dtilt can optimize pika's dashdance game allowing you to stuff peach after retreating with a dash back and making your options out of dashdance more ambiguous.
Dashdancing and floating
Peaches might try to outspace you but pikas movement options really shine here. Just overshoot aerials or throw out some tilts.
Turnips
Peach's turnip throw is lower than it looks and pika's SH is pretty high. So high that you can just jump over turnips when youre within a pretty big range. Even if you drop low enough you can nair or fair through all turnips except doteyes and stitch iirc. As soon as you see peach pull a turnip you can jump at her with an aerial. Her CC and OoS options are limited when holding a turnip as she can only throw it(frame 10) or upb(7). Technically she can do a float aerial but that will be about as slow as a turnip throw.