Alternative Jigglypuff play styles?

[theotheo]

Hello all! I've been lurking here a while and now I'd like to join the conversations! A little background: My gamertag is 304 and I am a Jigglypuff solo-main from Minnesota. I am currently ranked 33 in the region. Our region is pretty strange in that our PR is known to not play high tiers (Last season #1 was Ganonthebeast, a Ganon main. Now our #1 is Shinjoebi, a Greninja main). Also, our mid-range players are exceedingly strong. Anyone in the top 40ish region is a definitely a threat. I don't win tournaments, but I typically place pretty well in our weeklies (about 60-70 people average).

What I want to talk about is differing styles of playing Jiggs. I know that everyone has their own particular style, but I tend to see and read a lot about how defensive most Jiggs mains are. This is pretty different to my style of play and I was wondering if anyone out there plays a rush-down style like myself. (maybe this is why I don't win tournaments, hahaha)

My game tends to be offensive zoning with fairs and pounds (MANY pounds) so that I can either; find a way in, or hit shields with pound and chase down the opponent feeling the shield pressure. I poke and bait almost non-stop around the 30%-40% area with pound, hoping to get the follow-up soft hit fair to rest (depending on character weight). I also use rollout as a shield pressure move and a way to punish landings. Every guide tells me that it is a horrible, useless attack. While I think they are MOSTLY right, I think it has it's place in certain match-ups.

If I can't get a rest before 70%-80%, bair walls, or f-smash is usually how I finish the stock.

Another strategy I've had success with is punishing ledge get up attacks with fairs for the majority of the match and waiting for that one roll-in off of the ledge and resting it.

Of course nair and fair strings off the side is always an option as well, but that doesn't tend to come into play against high level opponents.

This is all stuff that works for me, USUALLY! The biggest weakness to my strategy is that it gets demolished by perfect shielding and good range in the air (CORRIN CORRIN CORRIN).

Things that I don't do well: I almost never u-air, dair, or tilt. I've recently started working in dairs a bit more, but I usually feel nair is better option for follow-ups (I'm horrible at sending them forward with the last hit). I use u-air sparingly and almost never use u-smash.

I'm sure that a lot of this sounds basic, but I don't see other Puffs using this style much. I'd love to hear other players talk about their styles of play and what works for them, and maybe we can mash some of our styles together and figure out how to get Puff off the end of the tier list.

Here are some videos of my play style:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT77LbQEbnc
May, vs. Robin/Corrin (2-0)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VSnY3NTaAg
May, vs. Duck Hunt (0-2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loP4aanjvYg
June, vs. Pikachu 19th in our region (2-1)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3vdVsKUjiQ
June, vs Peach 21st in our region (0-2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx6W4xvBFKg
July, vs Sonic 27 in our region (0-2) (TIMED OUT ;____; also I played pretty horribly)

and if that's too much this one is just a combo video I put together for fun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-G5t0N5_vc&list=PLtH1Gd7CSEBKuZJkKHBn1OICnjLuV7Sjg&index=1

 

[MisterDom]

I think people do miss the agro side of Jigglypuff. At high level play where people will try to camp you out or take advantage over you with lots of pressure yes, being agro doesn't help with that sometimes. However, you gotta break the wall somehow, whether it be a read, bait (defensively or aggressively), tomahawk, or your own pressure, it certainly can be done.

I myself have a more aggressive style, being defensive when I want to be. I try to emit as much pressure as I can when someone is trapped on a platform, and my combos are usually on point. Intercepting your opponent and getting the upper hand makes them want to attack more, and in this case being defensive will let you punish they're dumb mistakes trying to catch up on percent.

I believe Jigglypuff is actually a mix of both (leaning more toward defensive), with her baits and punishes and such. Some people say she's a worthless character if you don't attack her sheild, which sure does hurt us but we can get by with our own options. Playing Jigglypuff as only a defensive character is what makes people think she can only go so far. Those people just don't dive deep enough.

 

[theotheo]

It's great to hear about another play style!

I agree that Puff is a mix of both offensive and defensive.

What you said about trapping people on platforms really intrigued me. For the first year the game was out, I basically only played Omega stages with friends, so I struggle a bit with using platforms. Can you go a little more in depth as to how to use them to our advantage?

 

[MisterDom]

Well there's a few ways to take advantage from platforms. Whether you're in the platform or pressuring, there's many things you could use for an advantage. I myself am a tiny bit new to this because like you I used to practice on mostly omegas, but after a lot of games and watching some top players use them, I've been implementing them into my playstyle quickly.

First, I'll talk about the people on platforms

One thing to note with people stuck on platforms is that they will hold sheild until they think it's safe to move away. Like people tend to hold it longer on platforms than any other situation in the game.

Knowing this, we can take this into our advantage pretty well. You could try to bait someone out of sheild by jumping close to them but stall a bit and then attack with something such as a bair or nair or fair, or you could use the little bit of disjoint Jigglypuff has and attack with moves without actually being above the platform, such as pound, bair, nair, and fair to name a few, maybe with a bit of the stall (jumping toward the player shielding, but waiting to strike and "stalling" a move rather than striking immediately to bait them to drop their sheild) or just go totally agro. Some higher level players will keep shielding when you're stalling cause they know the mind game themselves, but if you stall long enough and pound that could be a dangerous decision . If you condition people to holding sheild, you can try to tomahawk if you're in a good position, or even bait with a long lasting move (like nair) but not approach until there's only only a sour spot because their instinct will say you missed, even though the move might still have active frames and you can weave in with your aerial mobility. If you stall and someone decides to keep rolling when you do so, you could also earn a potential free rest, but this outcome usually doesn't happen.

Dair (whether you stall this or not) definitely becomes an even more viable option. It puts up decent sheild pressure, and if you land the move and weave the opponent you could get at least a 3 string combo. Landing dair above the main level and in platforms is probably better because of how much easier it is to land and combo with starting in the air.

Falling through platforms is something I need to utilize more myself and can also benefit your platform game. If someone is approaching from the ground, falling through a platform and attacking to intercept their approach works more than it sounds, and you can see this a lot at high level play. Again with baiting, if your opponent is just shielding cause you're approaching and they want to be safe, falling through the platform he's on and attacking once you're through with something like nair could potentially bait a sheild drop. If you're running off the side of the platform and want to throw out an attack without any lag, an auto canceled bair right when you run off or maybe even an occasional pound can intercept the opponent approaching and keep you safe.

Tech chases are also really good for Jigglypuff :D
We see this a lot in Melee with the likes of Hungrybox, and even though we probably can't create as much tech situations on platforms we can still punish hard. Of course, if you read a roll or a missed tech, it's a free rest. Reading and punishing rolls is easier in platforms cause we can easily jump quickly to where we need to be and its a lesser space to react to. If you're literally under the platform, you can punish a roll with reaction and not a read because we're quick enough. If you decide not to go for rest, another good option that benefits from platforms I already mentioned is dair due to the strings and the damage (dealing 14%), and of course we can try to start a combo with pound, or punish with fair, nair, and maybe a bair.

If we're trapped in a platform, a lot of the time we can wait for the stalled move, but with the potential of a sheild break sometimes you gotta release and take the hit. I've theorized about dropping through the platform from sheild with a nair but I'm not quite sure if it's the best counter. We can jump out of sheild when the bait is over and try to be safe, which is what I do most of the time.

In the end, there's quite a lot you can do with platforms!
If there's anything more you want me to specify I can

 

[hoppyKnitz]

I wanna push in a bit on my playstyle which is NOT good and i rly needa work on it, but i just play a bit too aggro and idk when to back up, and i get punished a lot of overextended fairs. I also dont know any good rest setups and i only rest as punishment. I use sing a lot more then ppl would consider right and they work like 80% of the time, by either covering ledge options, coming from above (they usually fall for it that way idk why) and also when they spotdodge the sing usually gets them.

If anyone can help me on how to approach better id rly appreciats it lol. Thx