Afrobean
Smash Rookie
When I see Pikachu players use Thunder off-stage, it usually seems to be a rising Thunder, trying to get the meteor smash. This is great and all and I use it all the time myself, but there's more to Thunder's strength than that, and I wanted to share some of the less common ways I like to use it. I wrote up a post on Reddit on it, and all I got in reply was a couple of overly negative posts from people just trying to get my goat and a bunch of downvotes, so I thought I'd restructure the ideas here where they might actually land and do someone some good.
https://gfycat.com/WarmheartedPowerlessGrub
Notice that the Thunder bounces Pikachu upward a little when the lightning hits him. This gives Pika a little extra time in the air and that extra time in the air makes recovery after using it a lot easier than it otherwise would be. It also can be useful for baiting an opponent, then punishing by landing with an aerial attack when they attempt to punish you (as you can see employed in the gif). I sometimes do this as a mixup off-stage to recover high by using a Thunder right near the edge. It confuses my opponent, and then gives me a moment when I can Quick Attack through them back onto the stage. This is a bit risky, but it can still be useful. This also can work well on the ground, however, as jumping and using Thunder at the right time allows you to bounce very close to the ground, tricking your opponent into thinking you're vulnerable and trapped in landing lag when really you're just waiting in the air to fast fall a dair into their face as they run up to try to punish.
The first few Thunders in that gfycat are over the stage, but they could just as easily have been off-stage while still being easily recovered from. And watching it happen, I think it's clear that I was using that wall of Thunders to pressure my opponent into not trying to get back onto the stage, instead forcing them to take the ledge. Walls of hitboxes like that can be very intimidating, even more so offstage, and can cause a recovering opponent to fail to recover just by scaring them and causing them to make a mistake. You don't even need to connect necessarily, you can just discourage your opponent from making it back to the ledge through pure pressure even. Esam made a video not too long ago about how Pikachu can use walljumps to use the move over and over and over and over at the edge ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-lSsE67LSY ), but I don't see players use Thunders anything like this very often. I can only guess that most players are too afraid of the risk? Thunders can be risky, but smart Thunder use doesn't have to be.
I also often drop lightning off the side like I did for that final Thunder in that gif. I do this by jumping or walking off stage, then using Thunder while jumping backward back on stage. It's generally VERY safe when timed correctly, but also potentially lethal for the opponent. Edgeguarding with it sometimes leads to stage spike opportunities if they're under an angled stage, and even if not, it's good, safe damage and usually sends them back off-stage for another edgeguard attempt, if you can't manage to get it to kill them, that is. In the match in the gif, I used that kind of off-stage Thunder for edgeguarding so much against this person that they started to pick up on it, but that's just fine by me. I even threw one earlier on in the match while he was dead JUST to show it off (see full match if you're curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o2-8LXO_C4 ), because I wanted him to remember I could do that. Ultimately, I was able to use this conditioning to bait them in the end, leaving me the opportunity to mix it up and throw an up smash for the KO after they tried to punish my landing with their dair (which they would have if I had actually tried to use Thunder again, I only BARELY got the upsmash out fast enough as it is). That's something else about Thunder you might not have realized consciously: it usually traps Pikachu in lag as the animation finishes, and this can be abused to fool and punish your opponent.
And don't forget, when the Thunder first comes out, the cloud is a meteor smash hitbox, and because the hitbox comes out in such a weird place, people usually don't see the spike coming. Especially if they're only used to getting hit by rising Thunders offstage if anything at all. If I hadn't mixed it up there to bait for the up smash, I might have still been able to get the meteor on that Kirby since they recovered so high. Rising Thunders aren't the only way to get spikes! In fact, I really like doing Thunders like this against people who recover high, because you can be sure that if you get the meteor, they're going down, but with a rising Thunder, even with the spike, good DI may let them survive after the bolt hits Pika's body.
https://gfycat.com/WarmheartedPowerlessGrub
Notice that the Thunder bounces Pikachu upward a little when the lightning hits him. This gives Pika a little extra time in the air and that extra time in the air makes recovery after using it a lot easier than it otherwise would be. It also can be useful for baiting an opponent, then punishing by landing with an aerial attack when they attempt to punish you (as you can see employed in the gif). I sometimes do this as a mixup off-stage to recover high by using a Thunder right near the edge. It confuses my opponent, and then gives me a moment when I can Quick Attack through them back onto the stage. This is a bit risky, but it can still be useful. This also can work well on the ground, however, as jumping and using Thunder at the right time allows you to bounce very close to the ground, tricking your opponent into thinking you're vulnerable and trapped in landing lag when really you're just waiting in the air to fast fall a dair into their face as they run up to try to punish.
The first few Thunders in that gfycat are over the stage, but they could just as easily have been off-stage while still being easily recovered from. And watching it happen, I think it's clear that I was using that wall of Thunders to pressure my opponent into not trying to get back onto the stage, instead forcing them to take the ledge. Walls of hitboxes like that can be very intimidating, even more so offstage, and can cause a recovering opponent to fail to recover just by scaring them and causing them to make a mistake. You don't even need to connect necessarily, you can just discourage your opponent from making it back to the ledge through pure pressure even. Esam made a video not too long ago about how Pikachu can use walljumps to use the move over and over and over and over at the edge ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-lSsE67LSY ), but I don't see players use Thunders anything like this very often. I can only guess that most players are too afraid of the risk? Thunders can be risky, but smart Thunder use doesn't have to be.
I also often drop lightning off the side like I did for that final Thunder in that gif. I do this by jumping or walking off stage, then using Thunder while jumping backward back on stage. It's generally VERY safe when timed correctly, but also potentially lethal for the opponent. Edgeguarding with it sometimes leads to stage spike opportunities if they're under an angled stage, and even if not, it's good, safe damage and usually sends them back off-stage for another edgeguard attempt, if you can't manage to get it to kill them, that is. In the match in the gif, I used that kind of off-stage Thunder for edgeguarding so much against this person that they started to pick up on it, but that's just fine by me. I even threw one earlier on in the match while he was dead JUST to show it off (see full match if you're curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o2-8LXO_C4 ), because I wanted him to remember I could do that. Ultimately, I was able to use this conditioning to bait them in the end, leaving me the opportunity to mix it up and throw an up smash for the KO after they tried to punish my landing with their dair (which they would have if I had actually tried to use Thunder again, I only BARELY got the upsmash out fast enough as it is). That's something else about Thunder you might not have realized consciously: it usually traps Pikachu in lag as the animation finishes, and this can be abused to fool and punish your opponent.
And don't forget, when the Thunder first comes out, the cloud is a meteor smash hitbox, and because the hitbox comes out in such a weird place, people usually don't see the spike coming. Especially if they're only used to getting hit by rising Thunders offstage if anything at all. If I hadn't mixed it up there to bait for the up smash, I might have still been able to get the meteor on that Kirby since they recovered so high. Rising Thunders aren't the only way to get spikes! In fact, I really like doing Thunders like this against people who recover high, because you can be sure that if you get the meteor, they're going down, but with a rising Thunder, even with the spike, good DI may let them survive after the bolt hits Pika's body.
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