- Game Versions
- Smash 3DS, Smash Wii U
Introduction
If you are a new Pit or Dark Pit player (for the sake of my typing i'm just going to refer to it as pit) player I just want to welcome you to this character. This character to most other people who don't play Pit is just an ordinary average character who is very simple and basic and does not have the tools to be a good viable character in the meta (at lest right now). People like ZeRo and other popular players bash the character which makes it look bad hearing it from such iconic players. I however think that this character has a really good potential and is a high-tier character. No matter what tier you think he is though you can still do great things with him. For example my good friend and doubles partner iTheta plays little mac a character considered by everyone even him to be not a high tier character yet he is still on my Power Rankings. So if your or any big players in your region think lowly of this character do not let them get you down. I've been bashed on anthers ladders at tournaments about how the character is stupid and too honest to be good yet I have still pulled through and I go out and play this character with my heart.You can do the same/ Pit is a good character to learn basic fundamentals and in my opinion a fun character to play if you like juggling opponents edgeguarding and the neutral.
Strengths and weaknesses
Pit is an interesting character for many reasons. One is that he is probably the most balanced all around character the game. Secondly thanks to being an all around character you can play him many different ways. You can do this mainly because of his really good punish options and aggressive mindgames that Pit can possess in the hands of a good player. Pit's weaknesses however is that he has a linear recovery which can easily be gimped and the fact that he can struggle to get the kill. However both weaknesses can be avoided to some extent by learning how to wall tech and learning new mix ups and options to get a kill.
Moveset
:Tilts and Jabs and Dash Attack:
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Normal Jab(9%) : A three hit jab that sends your opponent above you. A safe punish tool out of shield. One cool thing i found is if you see your opponent trying to jump out of jabs sometimes doing jab 1 and 2 then run up u-smash can work. I managed to pull it off when I played salem once but once I did it he would not fall for it again so use that trick at the right time
Rapid Jab: A standard rapid Jab I would only reccomend using this at low percents because it gets easier to SDI out of at high and mid percents leaving you open for a punish
D-Tilt(6%): In my opinion this is a very underrated move. Down tilt sends the opponent at a forward angle a little bit above pits model. If your quick you can dash attack and follow up off the dash attack or if you know they will airdodge run up and punish them when they land if you know they will throw out an attack you can punish it and if they jump out of it you can catch with a up smash. pit has many moves like these and its important to know how to read and punish after you hit one of these moves.
F-tilt(7-10%) A good punish tool. It has more range than an F smash and Pits has a tipper that deals more damage at the end of the blade. Dark Pits has less knockback but can jablock an opponent if they miss a tech
U-Tilt(10%):This move is more like a mixup at low percents the only real time I use it is when my opponent is at low percents and I use and try to suprise them with an up smash after it hits otherwise grab and other moves do a better job punishing than this does.
Dash Attack(11%): The Pit discord's favorite move mainly BlueBeast's(lol) This move is one of his three best punishing moves. It sends your opponent above you you at the perfect distance to follow up on but just like d-tilt you have to read what your opponent does to follow up with it. Mainly though you will want to punish people landing with this move since this is a quick move that has a disjoint.
:Aerials:
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Forward Air(7%): A good move to throw out in the neutral. If you see your opponent jumping this is a good move to throw out and catch your opponents jump. If you can hit one of these from jumping up from the ledge you can combo into a dash attack and go into your strings.
Down Air(10%): Compared to pits other aerials down air has only one real purpose and that is spiking your opponent. This works best for linear non hitbox recovery.
Nuetral Air(7-9%): Another really good move in the nuetral. Nuetral air hits multiple times and the lag can be canceled if you fast fall after the animation of the move is done which is useful for baiting punishes or feeling out your opponent
Up Air(10%): Another multihitter move that you will want to use to juggle your opponent. If you can read an airdodge than this might be the best option to catch it putting you opponent in the air for more juggling.
Back Air(8/12%): Pits strongest aerial. It has a tipper hit box which is a reliable kill move at high 145ish percents depending on weight. The sourspot of the move hits the opponet straight up if you land with it sometimes you can link a suprised up smash.
:Smash Attacks:
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Up smash(13%):This move is insane like all of his smash attacks. However this needs to be used in certain moments. Because of its hit box its not very good to run up and punish with it is used more to catch landings on platforms and juggle your opponent.
Down smash(10-12%):One of your three best punishinf tools. Out of shield down smash comes out on frame 3 and is an insane punish move that can kill sometimes at high percents.
Forward Smash(15%): Pits strongest smash attack and a good kill move at high percents if you can get a good read. If your opponent throws out a really laggy move this is better than a down smash but if you were to punish a jab on shield the down smash is more reliable and safe. Other wise this move should be used for reads and punishing moves that are very laggy
:Specials:
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Up-B (Power of Flight) : A linear recover that can go really really deep. However it is really easy to gimp. I would reccomend getting get at wall teching. BeefySmashDoods made a custom stage to practice this I would search their youtube channel and download it.
Down-B (Guardian Orbitars) : Pit summons two huge shields that your opponent cannot hit you through, reflects projectiles. This isnt used a lot but I would use the orbitars to fall past the ledge against characters with projectiles like samus and then use your large up b to recover otherwise it has really punishable lag on the ground.
Side-B(Pit-upperdash arm Dark pit -electroshock arm): The main difference between Pit and dark pit is this move.This move lunges you forward at your opponent and hits very strong but is punishable if whiffed. Dark pits side b can kill at absurd percents like 80 with high rage at the ledge due to its knockback trajectory. Pits kills around 130 but can kill earlier with some rage. At the begginning of the animation of the move you have super armor so it is really good to recover with.
Nuetral-B(Palutena's Bow/Silver Bow): Another big difference between the pits is the arrows. Pit shoots an arrow that does around 4-9 percent depending on how long it is charged. Dark Pits arrows are faster do more damage but can not be guided as easily. Pits arrows are more versatile because since they can be guided easier they are able to hit your opponent offstage and put them in a bad edgeguarding situation
:Grabs:
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Down throw: Your main combo throw at high percents you can read your opponents air dodge and fall and up smash which will kill
Up Throw: When down throw stops comboing this is your next best throw. You usually want to up throw and get an arrow out and make sure your opponent doesn't land
Forward Throw: This throw can kill at high percents arounf the ledge at around 130%. At low percent you can do a mixup forward throw which can lead into a jab lock with dair or a dash attack
Back Throw: People say this can kill but I never finding it do. This throw is mainly used for if you think you can get an edgeguard against a character with a bad recovery like donkey kong who with arrows and down air can have a hard time making it back to ledge.
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:Nuetral Game/Playstyle :
Pit has an outstanding neutral game and is probably one of the biggest must have things if your going to be a pit main. The two different playstyles pits usually play as is playing defensive or really aggresive. I usually mix in both but both playstyles need to know how to play both ways.
The main neutral is Pit trying to get a combo starter to hit to rack up damage. Some of these include a neutral air at low percents a grab and dash attack. Dash attack and grab are the two main ones but there are other moves that can start a combo these are just the most optimal.
When you are at a stalemate and you are trying to gain ground usually your best option is to be safe and space fairs even if you want to be aggresive you need to be patient before you go in. If you can hit a fair you need to rush in and cover the options they have for example if you think they will land with an aerial you can run up and shield and grab after the aerial hits the shield. If your opponent is being repetitive and throwing out moves and jumping a lot read when he does one and go in for a dash attack which can start a combo. Those are some of the ways to start up but a real useful tool is baiting your opponent. Pit can punish well so baits are good to know. A simple one is a nuetral air on their shield and fastfalling AFTER the animation for nair is done. You will have no lag at all and be able to shield or spotdodge a punish they try and throw out and punish them back. You can do the technique of fast falling aerials with any aerial if you can you need to be able to fastfall any aerial and have no lag after doing the aerial as it can help you have more combos good shield pressure and good baits. After you get an ential combo going you don't stop the pressure you need to continue to throw out aerials and never let your opponent land. Reading air dodges onto platforms and up smashing or up airing is a good way to do so. One more quote from bluebeast (A notable pit player from gainesville) I think will help you think more about pits neutral.
If you are a new Pit or Dark Pit player (for the sake of my typing i'm just going to refer to it as pit) player I just want to welcome you to this character. This character to most other people who don't play Pit is just an ordinary average character who is very simple and basic and does not have the tools to be a good viable character in the meta (at lest right now). People like ZeRo and other popular players bash the character which makes it look bad hearing it from such iconic players. I however think that this character has a really good potential and is a high-tier character. No matter what tier you think he is though you can still do great things with him. For example my good friend and doubles partner iTheta plays little mac a character considered by everyone even him to be not a high tier character yet he is still on my Power Rankings. So if your or any big players in your region think lowly of this character do not let them get you down. I've been bashed on anthers ladders at tournaments about how the character is stupid and too honest to be good yet I have still pulled through and I go out and play this character with my heart.You can do the same/ Pit is a good character to learn basic fundamentals and in my opinion a fun character to play if you like juggling opponents edgeguarding and the neutral.
Strengths and weaknesses
Pit is an interesting character for many reasons. One is that he is probably the most balanced all around character the game. Secondly thanks to being an all around character you can play him many different ways. You can do this mainly because of his really good punish options and aggressive mindgames that Pit can possess in the hands of a good player. Pit's weaknesses however is that he has a linear recovery which can easily be gimped and the fact that he can struggle to get the kill. However both weaknesses can be avoided to some extent by learning how to wall tech and learning new mix ups and options to get a kill.
Moveset
:Tilts and Jabs and Dash Attack:
____________________________________________________________________
Normal Jab(9%) : A three hit jab that sends your opponent above you. A safe punish tool out of shield. One cool thing i found is if you see your opponent trying to jump out of jabs sometimes doing jab 1 and 2 then run up u-smash can work. I managed to pull it off when I played salem once but once I did it he would not fall for it again so use that trick at the right time
Rapid Jab: A standard rapid Jab I would only reccomend using this at low percents because it gets easier to SDI out of at high and mid percents leaving you open for a punish
D-Tilt(6%): In my opinion this is a very underrated move. Down tilt sends the opponent at a forward angle a little bit above pits model. If your quick you can dash attack and follow up off the dash attack or if you know they will airdodge run up and punish them when they land if you know they will throw out an attack you can punish it and if they jump out of it you can catch with a up smash. pit has many moves like these and its important to know how to read and punish after you hit one of these moves.
F-tilt(7-10%) A good punish tool. It has more range than an F smash and Pits has a tipper that deals more damage at the end of the blade. Dark Pits has less knockback but can jablock an opponent if they miss a tech
U-Tilt(10%):This move is more like a mixup at low percents the only real time I use it is when my opponent is at low percents and I use and try to suprise them with an up smash after it hits otherwise grab and other moves do a better job punishing than this does.
Dash Attack(11%): The Pit discord's favorite move mainly BlueBeast's(lol) This move is one of his three best punishing moves. It sends your opponent above you you at the perfect distance to follow up on but just like d-tilt you have to read what your opponent does to follow up with it. Mainly though you will want to punish people landing with this move since this is a quick move that has a disjoint.
:Aerials:
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Forward Air(7%): A good move to throw out in the neutral. If you see your opponent jumping this is a good move to throw out and catch your opponents jump. If you can hit one of these from jumping up from the ledge you can combo into a dash attack and go into your strings.
Down Air(10%): Compared to pits other aerials down air has only one real purpose and that is spiking your opponent. This works best for linear non hitbox recovery.
Nuetral Air(7-9%): Another really good move in the nuetral. Nuetral air hits multiple times and the lag can be canceled if you fast fall after the animation of the move is done which is useful for baiting punishes or feeling out your opponent
Up Air(10%): Another multihitter move that you will want to use to juggle your opponent. If you can read an airdodge than this might be the best option to catch it putting you opponent in the air for more juggling.
Back Air(8/12%): Pits strongest aerial. It has a tipper hit box which is a reliable kill move at high 145ish percents depending on weight. The sourspot of the move hits the opponet straight up if you land with it sometimes you can link a suprised up smash.
:Smash Attacks:
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Up smash(13%):This move is insane like all of his smash attacks. However this needs to be used in certain moments. Because of its hit box its not very good to run up and punish with it is used more to catch landings on platforms and juggle your opponent.
Down smash(10-12%):One of your three best punishinf tools. Out of shield down smash comes out on frame 3 and is an insane punish move that can kill sometimes at high percents.
Forward Smash(15%): Pits strongest smash attack and a good kill move at high percents if you can get a good read. If your opponent throws out a really laggy move this is better than a down smash but if you were to punish a jab on shield the down smash is more reliable and safe. Other wise this move should be used for reads and punishing moves that are very laggy
:Specials:
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Up-B (Power of Flight) : A linear recover that can go really really deep. However it is really easy to gimp. I would reccomend getting get at wall teching. BeefySmashDoods made a custom stage to practice this I would search their youtube channel and download it.
Down-B (Guardian Orbitars) : Pit summons two huge shields that your opponent cannot hit you through, reflects projectiles. This isnt used a lot but I would use the orbitars to fall past the ledge against characters with projectiles like samus and then use your large up b to recover otherwise it has really punishable lag on the ground.
Side-B(Pit-upperdash arm Dark pit -electroshock arm): The main difference between Pit and dark pit is this move.This move lunges you forward at your opponent and hits very strong but is punishable if whiffed. Dark pits side b can kill at absurd percents like 80 with high rage at the ledge due to its knockback trajectory. Pits kills around 130 but can kill earlier with some rage. At the begginning of the animation of the move you have super armor so it is really good to recover with.
Nuetral-B(Palutena's Bow/Silver Bow): Another big difference between the pits is the arrows. Pit shoots an arrow that does around 4-9 percent depending on how long it is charged. Dark Pits arrows are faster do more damage but can not be guided as easily. Pits arrows are more versatile because since they can be guided easier they are able to hit your opponent offstage and put them in a bad edgeguarding situation
:Grabs:
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Down throw: Your main combo throw at high percents you can read your opponents air dodge and fall and up smash which will kill
Up Throw: When down throw stops comboing this is your next best throw. You usually want to up throw and get an arrow out and make sure your opponent doesn't land
Forward Throw: This throw can kill at high percents arounf the ledge at around 130%. At low percent you can do a mixup forward throw which can lead into a jab lock with dair or a dash attack
Back Throw: People say this can kill but I never finding it do. This throw is mainly used for if you think you can get an edgeguard against a character with a bad recovery like donkey kong who with arrows and down air can have a hard time making it back to ledge.
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:Nuetral Game/Playstyle :
Pit has an outstanding neutral game and is probably one of the biggest must have things if your going to be a pit main. The two different playstyles pits usually play as is playing defensive or really aggresive. I usually mix in both but both playstyles need to know how to play both ways.
The main neutral is Pit trying to get a combo starter to hit to rack up damage. Some of these include a neutral air at low percents a grab and dash attack. Dash attack and grab are the two main ones but there are other moves that can start a combo these are just the most optimal.
When you are at a stalemate and you are trying to gain ground usually your best option is to be safe and space fairs even if you want to be aggresive you need to be patient before you go in. If you can hit a fair you need to rush in and cover the options they have for example if you think they will land with an aerial you can run up and shield and grab after the aerial hits the shield. If your opponent is being repetitive and throwing out moves and jumping a lot read when he does one and go in for a dash attack which can start a combo. Those are some of the ways to start up but a real useful tool is baiting your opponent. Pit can punish well so baits are good to know. A simple one is a nuetral air on their shield and fastfalling AFTER the animation for nair is done. You will have no lag at all and be able to shield or spotdodge a punish they try and throw out and punish them back. You can do the technique of fast falling aerials with any aerial if you can you need to be able to fastfall any aerial and have no lag after doing the aerial as it can help you have more combos good shield pressure and good baits. After you get an ential combo going you don't stop the pressure you need to continue to throw out aerials and never let your opponent land. Reading air dodges onto platforms and up smashing or up airing is a good way to do so. One more quote from bluebeast (A notable pit player from gainesville) I think will help you think more about pits neutral.
Instead of giving some long-drawn out description of how you should/could play Neutral
I'll just say this
It all starts with Dash Attacking every time they move
If you Dash Attack them and it hits, start juggling and catching landings
If it doesn't, figure out why it didn't hit that time, and pick an option that would hit
Ex. Dash Attack didn't hit because they shielded. An answer to this? Dash Grab.
Note that there are many different answers. Get creative. -BlueBeast
I really like this statement because it makes you think more about the game and what you do in the game.
But to overall sum it up pits neutral relies on you getting smarter with mixups and getting your opponent in the air for combos.
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Combos
This is a big combo chart worth looking at but right now i'll give you the simple ones but definately look at this though. -Credits to BlueBeast Raze Knepsis and Pepe thanks guys
Note some of the combos listed can last longer or end sooner depending on weight.
The Percent indicated is when the combo should work not how much it damage it deals
Neutral Air - Up Smash (Low Percents 0-15%)
Down Throw - Forward Air( Low to mid percents based on DI)
Down Throw - Up Air(low to mid percents 0-65)
Down Throw - Neutral Air - Try To Follow up (low percents 0-20)
Dash Attack - Aerial Pressure or Up Smash (low to high percents 0-100)
Not Spike hitbox Dair - Aerial Pressure
Forward Throw - Dash Attack(Low Percents 0-10)
Forward Throw - If they miss the tech Dair Lock - Down Throw - Up smash(Low Percents0-10)
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Match Up Analysis/Stage Picking
http://imgur.com/JkhD6LL
Unfortunately I could not get the image to be in the guide so you will have to click on the link. But this is his MU chart which has been discussed by the pit discord and is mainly agreed on by most. Pit mainly loses to characters that he cannot get in against campy characters or ones that can space him out like marth.
If you wish to pick up a secondary if one of his losing MUs is bad his best secondary options would be Cloud, Corrin, Marth/ Lucina. They have a longer disjointed hitbox and can get in easier. But feel free to have any secondary you like.
Below is the ranking of what I believe pits best stages are in order
1st-Battlefield/Dreamland
2nd-Lylat Cruise
3rd-Town and City
4th-Smashville
5th-Final Destination/Omegas
Why each stage is at which position is for one reason.
PIT NEEDS TO JUGGLE
And the best possible way to juggle is having platforms everywhere making it hard for your opponent to land safely which is why Battlefield is number one. I'm not saying Final Destination is bad for him but it does not bring out pits strongest attributes of juggling because up smash is a good kill move and easier to hit with platforms.
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Tech Skill
Side B platform cancel: If you side b just right and time it so that your drop will hit the edge of a platform you will slide off and have no lagMatch Up Analysis/Stage Picking
http://imgur.com/JkhD6LL
Unfortunately I could not get the image to be in the guide so you will have to click on the link. But this is his MU chart which has been discussed by the pit discord and is mainly agreed on by most. Pit mainly loses to characters that he cannot get in against campy characters or ones that can space him out like marth.
If you wish to pick up a secondary if one of his losing MUs is bad his best secondary options would be Cloud, Corrin, Marth/ Lucina. They have a longer disjointed hitbox and can get in easier. But feel free to have any secondary you like.
Below is the ranking of what I believe pits best stages are in order
1st-Battlefield/Dreamland
2nd-Lylat Cruise
3rd-Town and City
4th-Smashville
5th-Final Destination/Omegas
Why each stage is at which position is for one reason.
PIT NEEDS TO JUGGLE
And the best possible way to juggle is having platforms everywhere making it hard for your opponent to land safely which is why Battlefield is number one. I'm not saying Final Destination is bad for him but it does not bring out pits strongest attributes of juggling because up smash is a good kill move and easier to hit with platforms.
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Tech Skill
Arrow Stalling: If you keep changinf the direction of where the arrow shoots you can charge the arrow for longer good for baiting air dodges offstage
D-air canceling: I found this out myself and I don't know if anyone else has but bear with me here. I learned that if you Dair right before you hit the ground the animation will show but there will be no lag. This is great for baits but hard to do. If you want to see it in action I would look up a ness or a diddy kong doing it since they can do it too.
Aerial Lag Baits: I talked about this in Neutral but its simply you short hop aerial and fastfall after the moves animation ends which makes you land with no lag. It is a great bait because if your opponent doesnt know this they might try and punish and you can punish them back if you shield immediatley or spotdodge there attack.
D-air Footstool Combos: This one I cannot explain at all. If you really are curious I would go to the pit discord and ask about it.
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Closing Remarks
By now you should know the basics of how to play the character but you won't have immediate results. This is a tough character at higher play so do not feel bad if you do not yield results the first second heck the tenth tournament you go to. Practice everything from combos and tech skill on a CPU its better than nothing. If you do not have immediate access to playing people in real life I would reccomend playing on anthers ladders its a great place to play and practice. I love this character I really do enjoy playing him and I hope you can enjoy him too.
List of Discords link:http://smashcords.com/smash_4/#characterClosing Remarks
By now you should know the basics of how to play the character but you won't have immediate results. This is a tough character at higher play so do not feel bad if you do not yield results the first second heck the tenth tournament you go to. Practice everything from combos and tech skill on a CPU its better than nothing. If you do not have immediate access to playing people in real life I would reccomend playing on anthers ladders its a great place to play and practice. I love this character I really do enjoy playing him and I hope you can enjoy him too.
Anthers Ladders:https://www.smashladder.com/
Notable Pit players to check out (Nairo, Earth KiraFlax, BlueBeast) if you are looking for an aggresive playstyle I would watch Nairo while patient is more of Earths style.
Special Thanks to BlueBeast for helping a lot with the MU chart Knepsis for pictures and MU chart and a big thanks to the whole pit discord they helped out a lot and told me stuff I never knew
If you would like to talk to me or ask me anything I would try and find me in the pit discord. Also if you have any feedback on the guide I would love to hear it.