I’ve been following the Smash 4 scene since its inception and I’ve finally decided to move on to bigger and better things. However, before I go, I felt I should explain what the competitive community is doing wrong. This has nothing to do with why I am leaving, but has everything to do with why people are losing to ZeRo. The number 1 reason is they don’t study him. Wouldn’t it make sense to study the person who is dominating the entire scene? How do I know they don’t study him? Because they still choose terrible options, something that ZeRo never does.
ZeRo studies options. Now, many of you might say “I’ve seen pro players look at air dodge punishes,” but what ZeRo does goes above and beyond a simple air dodge or spot dodge punish. Let’s consider his final match against Ranai at Genesis. During the “late game” when both players were at high percent and ZeRo’s down throw to up air combo was no longer guaranteed, Ranai started throwing out down airs to combat the up air. A good option since the turnip (or whatever the f*** it is) is a disjointed hit box and will make contact with Sheik’s up air before she can hit him, but what did ZeRo do in response to this? Being a player who thinks about options I started thinking about ZeRo’s options. Maybe a double jump-back air to hit ranai on the side where he has no hitbox? But he’d be too high after the down throw, so that won’t connect. Then, ZeRo gets a down throw and double jumps to the side of Ranai and goes for a bouncing fish. That is GENIUS!! Bouncing fish hits from above and gives Sheik a slight boost upward. Of course the bouncing fish missed, but it was at this single moment that everybody else watching should have recognized why ZeRo chose this option. I have no doubt that this response was rehearsed seeing as cloud and other common characters can challenge Sheik's up air in the same way.
While we’re at it, let’s perform a thought experiment on another common situation. When your opponent is on the ledge, they effectively have 6-7 options.
1) Ledge get up
2) Get up attack
3) Jump
4) Roll
5) Drop off-double jump-aerial
6) Drop off-double jump-air dodge-back air
7) Drop off-up B (only viable with characters that have a hitbox on their up B)
This is a lot of options… how can we cover them all? Let’s assume we are playing Sheik. Sheik has a nice neutral air that stays out for a while and auto-cancels on landing. If you hold the shield button and short hop with a fast fall nair while continuing to hold shield, the second you land your shield should come up. So, what options does standing at the ledge and doing this cover? Options 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. 5 options are covered with one simple attack. How does it cover roll and air dodge? Simple, you can react to both of these options. A roll is easy to react to with a dash grab and as soon as you see an air dodge come out, you can land, hold shield and punish option 6 with a turn-around grab as well. Option 5 is covered against most characters except those with disjointed hit boxes, such as Ike or Cloud. So that’s 6 options covered with one attack. Pretty effective if you ask me... (of course there are a few frames before the neutral air comes out that your opponent can regular get up safely, but nothing is perfect). However, you should not always go for this option. Use mind games to make your ledge guarding unpredictable. Mix in ledge trumps and use projectiles or items to create frame traps. Get creative.
Now, what did I mean when I said “everyone still chooses terrible options,” it’s up there in the first paragraph in case you forgot ; ). Let’s start with reads. It is never a good idea to go for a read UNLESS it is a 50/50 type read (like Sheik’s down throw combo) or the read is unpunishable. I have seen countless matches where both players are at high percent and one attempts to read a ledge-get-up with a forward smash, only to watch with widened eyes as their opponent jumps off the ledge and hits them with a back air, ending their stock and tournament life. The only time I feel you can go for a read that is so punishable is if you are a stock ahead and/or have a very high percent lead. I could be wrong, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen ZeRo attempt a read that was punishable. Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg. From Diddy Kong players pulling out bananas without the proper buffer distance to ZSS players going for neutral air to grab when they know the grab can be spot dodged. The list of terrible options continues…
Now, I'm not saying you should never attempt to make reads, but know when to use them. Know how badly you can be punished, whether it be the amount of percent you'll receive off a combo or if it will lead to your death. If you can lose a stock, chances are attempting the read is not worth it.
I suppose I’m writing this because I’m tired of watching pro players lose because of a stupid option. It is my hope that pro players will start to study options and break down the game into only the most effective choices. Hopefully they will stop choosing unsafe options and will learn from their mistakes rather than repeatedly be punished for them without changing their approach. I could go on and on discussing more options, which ones are right and which ones are wrong, but I’ll leave that up to you to discover.
It’s a shame that this article will probably never make its way to the highest level players like Nairo or Mr. R and I’ll have to continue watching poor choices even at high level. Have a great day everyone, and best of luck in your Smash 4 practice.
p.s. Sorry ZeRo :/
ZeRo studies options. Now, many of you might say “I’ve seen pro players look at air dodge punishes,” but what ZeRo does goes above and beyond a simple air dodge or spot dodge punish. Let’s consider his final match against Ranai at Genesis. During the “late game” when both players were at high percent and ZeRo’s down throw to up air combo was no longer guaranteed, Ranai started throwing out down airs to combat the up air. A good option since the turnip (or whatever the f*** it is) is a disjointed hit box and will make contact with Sheik’s up air before she can hit him, but what did ZeRo do in response to this? Being a player who thinks about options I started thinking about ZeRo’s options. Maybe a double jump-back air to hit ranai on the side where he has no hitbox? But he’d be too high after the down throw, so that won’t connect. Then, ZeRo gets a down throw and double jumps to the side of Ranai and goes for a bouncing fish. That is GENIUS!! Bouncing fish hits from above and gives Sheik a slight boost upward. Of course the bouncing fish missed, but it was at this single moment that everybody else watching should have recognized why ZeRo chose this option. I have no doubt that this response was rehearsed seeing as cloud and other common characters can challenge Sheik's up air in the same way.
While we’re at it, let’s perform a thought experiment on another common situation. When your opponent is on the ledge, they effectively have 6-7 options.
1) Ledge get up
2) Get up attack
3) Jump
4) Roll
5) Drop off-double jump-aerial
6) Drop off-double jump-air dodge-back air
7) Drop off-up B (only viable with characters that have a hitbox on their up B)
This is a lot of options… how can we cover them all? Let’s assume we are playing Sheik. Sheik has a nice neutral air that stays out for a while and auto-cancels on landing. If you hold the shield button and short hop with a fast fall nair while continuing to hold shield, the second you land your shield should come up. So, what options does standing at the ledge and doing this cover? Options 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. 5 options are covered with one simple attack. How does it cover roll and air dodge? Simple, you can react to both of these options. A roll is easy to react to with a dash grab and as soon as you see an air dodge come out, you can land, hold shield and punish option 6 with a turn-around grab as well. Option 5 is covered against most characters except those with disjointed hit boxes, such as Ike or Cloud. So that’s 6 options covered with one attack. Pretty effective if you ask me... (of course there are a few frames before the neutral air comes out that your opponent can regular get up safely, but nothing is perfect). However, you should not always go for this option. Use mind games to make your ledge guarding unpredictable. Mix in ledge trumps and use projectiles or items to create frame traps. Get creative.
Now, what did I mean when I said “everyone still chooses terrible options,” it’s up there in the first paragraph in case you forgot ; ). Let’s start with reads. It is never a good idea to go for a read UNLESS it is a 50/50 type read (like Sheik’s down throw combo) or the read is unpunishable. I have seen countless matches where both players are at high percent and one attempts to read a ledge-get-up with a forward smash, only to watch with widened eyes as their opponent jumps off the ledge and hits them with a back air, ending their stock and tournament life. The only time I feel you can go for a read that is so punishable is if you are a stock ahead and/or have a very high percent lead. I could be wrong, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen ZeRo attempt a read that was punishable. Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg. From Diddy Kong players pulling out bananas without the proper buffer distance to ZSS players going for neutral air to grab when they know the grab can be spot dodged. The list of terrible options continues…
Now, I'm not saying you should never attempt to make reads, but know when to use them. Know how badly you can be punished, whether it be the amount of percent you'll receive off a combo or if it will lead to your death. If you can lose a stock, chances are attempting the read is not worth it.
I suppose I’m writing this because I’m tired of watching pro players lose because of a stupid option. It is my hope that pro players will start to study options and break down the game into only the most effective choices. Hopefully they will stop choosing unsafe options and will learn from their mistakes rather than repeatedly be punished for them without changing their approach. I could go on and on discussing more options, which ones are right and which ones are wrong, but I’ll leave that up to you to discover.
It’s a shame that this article will probably never make its way to the highest level players like Nairo or Mr. R and I’ll have to continue watching poor choices even at high level. Have a great day everyone, and best of luck in your Smash 4 practice.
p.s. Sorry ZeRo :/
- Applicable Games
- Smash 3DS, Smash Wii U
