A new player looking to start playing competitive. (Need Constructive Criticism/Critique)

[Kuhaku001]

Hey there! I have been playing Sm4sh for about 2-3 months now. I originally started off trying to learn Sheik although the learning curve for her (him/gender-less so I don't piss anyone off) kind of threw me off. I started playing villager about a month ago and I'm liking it and thinking of maining for future competitive play (thanks to me stumbling across Ranai.... my hero). A little more background information I have to give is that I'm sort of new to to Smash itself. I played way back when in N64 days, and a little bit of melee, but never competitively. I've actually never discovered the competative scene until earlier this year.

I am looking for help on what and where exactly I should start off. I do know I have a lot to work on and am open to criticism to help better my techniques towards being a better player as a villager main. I tried to gather videos of myself playing "under pressure" sloppily and decently, and an average game to expect from myself and downright sloppy mess. Thanks ahead of time for anyone that decides to take a look at the post and more so if you've made it through all the videos!

Under pressure and sloppy. It gets worse. I've just never saved those games. I'll try and get one that does justice for how sloppy I get later. Majority of the "Sloppy games" look like the beginning of this match....throughout the entire match..... I also find that my short hops get REALLY sloppy when I'm under pressure and play sloppy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBiw3-MHOLI

Under pressure and decent. Lucky Sheik was going for style for the second kill (Sorry, I don't have a capture card and the video was too long to post to youtube >_<)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUeWLRki5Qo

An average game. This is what majority of my wins look like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8wAUX0XWaU

Extra notes and being upfront with everything that I'm struggling/feel decently good at....

- Although I have been following the competitive scene, I am not so good at taking in the metagame, and advanced techniques. I find it mostly hard that I mostly play for glory, which doesn't really give me a lot of leeway to practice advanced techniques. I don't have too many friends to play with. I am open to friendly invites if anyone is willing to teach me though! (which is why I am here to find out what and where I should start working on)

- I find that when under pressure and playing sloppy, I tend to spam out turnips WAY to much causing myself to be easily read at times.

- I find the easiest match ups are mostly against the heavy easy to read characters (Bowser, Ganondorf, DK, King D, Charizard). I'm hit or miss with most of the lightweight/mid weighted players. My problem is when I end up getting matched up with Link/Toon Link (I usually get wrecked), Kirby (Should Kirby even be a problem?), Mario and Luigi (Luigi more so, I just can't, I think it's mostly because I'm easy to read, being a new player and all. Mario can be hit or miss although I see that the skill level for mario players are hit or miss. I'll either get a really easy match, some decent, or most of the time pummeled), ZSS (I have played against a handful of these but just can't read the moveset. I don't understand it?) I have trouble with Greninja, although I think the biggest problem is that I've only been matched up with 2/3 Greninjas and just don't know the match up as well as the usual that show up.

- Spot dodge, rolls, air dodging. I know for a FACT that I am down right horrible at these things. I feel like this is my biggest problem trying to get into competitive play. Going back to the first note, this is one of the skills that when I tend to try in for glory matches, the skill level of the other player just doesn't allow me to learn. whenever I try it, I'm too easy to read so I give up and rely strictly on heavy spacing with slingshots and turnips when they end up getting close. (I have noticed that I've been sneaking them in here and there this past week.)

- Tilts. Tilts! TILTS! I am not taking advantage of my up and down tilts. I try to space and stay away from forward tilts and replace them with short hop B-AIRS and F-AIRS. I have read quite a few guides on movesets and what I should be using and SHOULD be taking advantage of my uptilts at the very least. (I tend to try and make up for lack of uptilts with short hop Up-Airs)

- Short hops. These are very hit or miss with me. Most of the time I end up hitting them decently throughout matches, is when I am not under pressure. I think this could easily be fixed with playing against a computer though.

- Grabs. They aren't useful as far as I have heard with the pre-lag of grabs but I'm sure there are ways that I can put them to use.

- Edge Guarding. I guess I can say that I'm decent at edge guarding. I try and go for turnip spikes and chase off stage and rarely **** them up leading to an SD. I do try and use bowling balls for predictable/vertical Up-B's. Currently trying to read fast/unpredictable Up-B/Side-B and predict where people will end up for a turnip/stage spike.

If you have any questions for any type of notes that I may not have included that could help the criticism/critique, please let me know. Thanks again for anyone who has made it through this entire post! <3

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Update 9/11/15

Tried to play defense, go for reads and punishes. I can definitely get used to this and it wasn't as hard as I thought switching up form the play style of being aggressive and keep my % as low as I could while getting reads and punishing. I can definitely get used to this, I'll probably be playing defensively and going for punishing/reads for the next week or so before I try and get a little more aggressive (and smart!). Thanks for those who have contributed to the critique and criticism for the post I made here. I highly appreciate it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Szc1w-lolA

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[Kohak]

Your name is eerily close to mine..

Best advice anyone could give you is to continue practicing, don't give up, and get connected with your local scene. I'm not sure where you're from, but smashboards probably has what you need to help you meet people.

 

[Kuhaku001]

Your name is eerily close to mine..

Best advice anyone could give you is to continue practicing, don't give up, and get connected with your local scene. I'm not sure where you're from, but smashboards probably has what you need to help you meet people.

I'm actually from Hawaii. -hi5- Moved up to Washington.

Hoping to connect with the Smash 4 scene more than melee (at least for the time being) I don't see much of a scene up here in Bellingham, I hear it's bigger down in Seattle (although it is with most things I'm guessing). I know there's a small group of people at the college that hold Melee tournaments but not currently my interest now.

One of the reasons I actually got into Sm4sh was a local tournament they hosted at a bar up here. It was a casual doubles thing, me and my partner's first time playing Sm4sh and a long break from us playing smash in general. We got wrecked in our first two matches in a double elimination and I've been keeping a close eye on the competitive scene since. Sadly my friend doesn't have a strong interest in the game as much as he did earlier this year.

Finally decided to pick up a Wii U some time after the tournament thinking they'd hold more but no luck in any other tournaments being set up yet . I'm sure there's at the very least a small sm4sh scene here in Bellingham though, just gotta find it!

 

[Scootch]

You are not bad, especially for only playing for a few months!

 

[JohnnyB]

You have to stop playing in the for glory mindset if you want to be competitive. When you play on for glory you are tied with the other player as long as you have the same number of stocks, but in a tournament the player with less damage wins. In every single one of your matches you were losing badly for the majority of the match. In a tournament your opponent will be playing very safe if they get that far ahead and spamming lloids and dairs is not going to bring the match back. Try to play a little safer, you don't have to throw all of the hitboxes out all of the time.

 

[Kuhaku001]

You have to stop playing in the for glory mindset if you want to be competitive. When you play on for glory you are tied with the other player as long as you have the same number of stocks, but in a tournament the player with less damage wins. In every single one of your matches you were losing badly for the majority of the match. In a tournament your opponent will be playing very safe if they get that far ahead and spamming lloids and dairs is not going to bring the match back. Try to play a little safer, you don't have to throw all of the hitboxes out all of the time.

I find it my biggest problem always chasing stocks and being much more aggressive than I should be (and it doesn't help ), especially when I start freaking out and get pressured too much and start spamming dairs and loids all the time.

I highly agree that I need to work on my defensive play. Like you have noticed already, I tend to rack up way too much damage (my side) that won't help at all if and when I end up in a tournament one day, which like you said, will go off of % based if stocks are tied.

Would it help if I start working on reads even if it means sacrificing for glory records? (Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all for trying for a higher win %, I am up for giving anything to improve my game.) I could possibly try and set a % goal for my matches from now on. When I get used to that, slowly start getting aggressive again?

 

[Kuhaku001]

You are not bad, especially for only playing for a few months!

Thanks but I know I have a lot to work on!

Edit: I think it helped mostly that I was watching competitive smash (mostly melee and sm4sh) and indulging in the competitive scene for about 3-4 months before I actually started playing as well

 

[JohnnyB]

I find it my biggest problem always chasing stocks and being much more aggressive than I should be (and it doesn't help ), especially when I start freaking out and get pressured too much and start spamming dairs and loids all the time.

I highly agree that I need to work on my defensive play. Like you have noticed already, I tend to rack up way too much damage (my side) that won't help at all if and when I end up in a tournament one day, which like you said, will go off of % based if stocks are tied.

Would it help if I start working on reads even if it means sacrificing for glory records? (Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all for trying for a higher win %, I am up for giving anything to improve my game.) I could possibly try and set a % goal for my matches from now on. When I get used to that, slowly start getting aggressive again?

I don't think you need anything to do anything as methodical as setting percent goals in fg matches. You just need to diversify your playstyle. Your passive agressive style was highly effective at certian spots in the matches you posted, but it gets *extremely* predictable after a while. Keep that style in your toolkit, but try to study other ways of playing villager and mix it up. The last thing you want is for your opponent to be able to read your every move, as nearly everything in the game is punishable to some degree if it is read.

Oh and as far as for glory records go i wouldn't even bother looking at them. If i find a great opponent on fg i stick with them until they disconnect, and save the replays where i get absolutely bodied, fg records be damned.

 

[Kuhaku001]

I tried playing defensively, looking for reads and punishes. There are a few parts where I slipped up and there's still a lot to get used to but I'm happy that the transition to taking it a bit easy wasn't as hard as I thought it would be! I still have a lot of work to do and want to thank those who have contributed to the criticism and critiqueing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Szc1w-lolA

 

[Kuhaku001]

I don't think you need anything to do anything as methodical as setting percent goals in fg matches. You just need to diversify your playstyle. Your passive agressive style was highly effective at certian spots in the matches you posted, but it gets *extremely* predictable after a while. Keep that style in your toolkit, but try to study other ways of playing villager and mix it up. The last thing you want is for your opponent to be able to read your every move, as nearly everything in the game is punishable to some degree if it is read.

Oh and as far as for glory records go i wouldn't even bother looking at them. If i find a great opponent on fg i stick with them until they disconnect, and save the replays where i get absolutely bodied, fg records be damned.

Just want to thank you first about putting in your two cents and reading through all this!

I liked the games I put in today looking more for reads/punishes to take advantage of, I do miss the passive-aggressive nature I learned to play while getting acquainted with the character so I'm glad that I don't have to let it go. I just need to learn when to be aggressive, and when to just chill out and play defensive. I'm glad I came here for help as I skim through the forums, as I tend to learn something everyday! I have to admit I was a little scared coming here first and thought the community was harsh with some of the people I ran into during FG :\ I'm glad I was wrong and decided to give it a shot!

 

[Scootch]

Yeah you should stay on the boards they are great!