Any practical use for PK Flash?

[ExigeOlimin]

Whenever I'm playing with anybody, I never seem to use PK Flash. The only time I can ever recall using PK Flash was when I was playing against my friends in stages like Spirit Train or Mute City (without omega form). Anyone know a good way to use to use PK Flash in a competitive setting?

 

[Paper Maribro]

With my very little knowledge of Ness, I will just say it can be pretty handy as an edgeguarding tool. It has a pretty big hitbox and is super powerful and if the opponent doesnt want to take the PK Flash to the face then they may have to disrupt their own recovery.

 

[PSIBoy]

I once lost to an edge guard PK Flash, it's freaking dangerous, I tell you! You just have to time it right, and besides, I find f-air and n-air better gimping tools.

 

[Earthbound360]

Just edgeguarding. Even there it's not that good. Just scary.

 

[aethermaster]

You can use it to intimidate people trying to come back on stage. Otherwise, it can be easily air dodged and it obviously leaves Ness open.

 

[arwnightmare]

i use the pk flash after throwing them off the stage, and its then your decision whether the trajectories of the enemy and your flash will collide, if not explode it early cause ness has a fair recovery on it and you can still be safe to counter if they land close to you

 

[Ranias]

Whenever I'm playing with anybody, I never seem to use PK Flash. The only time I can ever recall using PK Flash was when I was playing against my friends in stages like Spirit Train or Mute City (without omega form). Anyone know a good way to use to use PK Flash in a competitive setting?

You can use it to edgeguard against predictable recoveries like Link's... sometimes. It's something to throw out there from time to time.

Also, you should face backwards when you cast it because you get more range that way.

 

[foppy]

edgeguarding is usually the most practical use for pk flash, and even then its not very good. its ok if you can anticipate and punish the airdodge. it can also work if they're in the middle of their recovery, that way they can't do anything to avoid it

 

[Ref]

Snipe predictable or limited recovery options. Uhh. I only played the game once... on wii u. I don't own it sadly.

 

[Eagleye893]

If you hit an uncharged PK-Flash ("if" is the key word), you can follow up with NAir/UAir a lot of the time, but mostly at lower percents. BAir is possible too if the opponent is low enough.

It's difficult to reliably hit, and even if you do it doesn't give as much benefit as other moves can with more safety (eg UAir/UTilt). I label this under the category of "not quite good enough of a move" alongside DTilt and PSImagnet.

PSI Magnet doesn't even have crazy movement options anymore AND the windbox is small, so it's ness' worst move by far.

 

[Earthbound360]

Actually, I disagree with Magnet. You can still roll back and jump out of it upon absorbing something (but not roll forwards, wtf?), and I THINK it comes out and recovers faster than it ever has (in case you don't absorb something). The wind hitbox feels more powerful to me in this game, or at least I've noticed it actually save me from pain as opposed to Brawl where it did absolutely nothing substantial. Also, it absorbs bombs now.

It was nerfed in a few aspects though. Stalling sucks with it now, it takes longer for the health to actually arrive, and you can't roll forwards out of it.

Worst moves in Ness' kit are IMO:
1. Dtilt
2. Dair
3. Flash

 

[Waael]

Actually, I disagree with Magnet. You can still roll back and jump out of it upon absorbing something (but not roll forwards, wtf?), and I THINK it comes out and recovers faster than it ever has (in case you don't absorb something). The wind hitbox feels more powerful to me in this game, or at least I've noticed it actually save me from pain as opposed to Brawl where it did absolutely nothing substantial. Also, it absorbs bombs now.

It was nerfed in a few aspects though. Stalling sucks with it now, it takes longer for the health to actually arrive, and you can't roll forwards out of it.

Worst moves in Ness' kit are IMO:
1. Dtilt
2. Dair
3. Flash

I find Ness's Down-Air one of his worst moves now, and I love PK Flash!!

 

[Earthbound360]

I find Ness's Down-Air one of his worst moves now, and I love PK Flash!!

Ness' dair just doesn't do anything right these days. It's terrible at spiking because it's got an incredibly picky hitbox (who's idea was it to make it PSI based!?), and it's nto even that strong anymore. By "that strong" I meant like, not strong at all. I swear, every other real meteor I've seen is stronger than it. Falcon's, ROB's, Ganon's, Yoshi's, Mario's, it's just insulting. If you sweetspot it on the ground against someone, it doesn't lift them until like 30% or something stupid like that. In Brawl it lifted at 0%.

In addition to that, it's still slow as balls, got some super lag added to it, and can't combo for crap. So we have a move that's slow to start up, slow to end, bad for spiking, bad for combos, and has bad range. This move literally does nothing useful now. Shame, because it was one of my favorite dairs in Brawl. Now it's one of the worst.

Use it for PKF and air dodge cancelling, pretty much nothing else.

Flash is fun to use sometimes, I wouldn't put it quite in the same league as dair though. It's at least powerful, and doesn't leave you as open as people think it does.

 

[Waael]

Ness' dair just doesn't do anything right these days. It's terrible at spiking because it's got an incredibly picky hitbox (who's idea was it to make it PSI based!?), and it's nto even that strong anymore. By "that strong" I meant like, not strong at all. I swear, every other real meteor I've seen is stronger than it. Falcon's, ROB's, Ganon's, Yoshi's, Mario's, it's just insulting. If you sweetspot it on the ground against someone, it doesn't lift them until like 30% or something stupid like that. In Brawl it lifted at 0%.

In addition to that, it's still slow as balls, got some super lag added to it, and can't combo for crap. So we have a move that's slow to start up, slow to end, bad for spiking, bad for combos, and has bad range. This move literally does nothing useful now. Shame, because it was one of my favorite dairs in Brawl. Now it's one of the worst.

Use it for PKF and air dodge cancelling, pretty much nothing else.

Flash is fun to use sometimes, I wouldn't put it quite in the same league as dair though. It's at least powerful, and doesn't leave you as open as people think it does.

I agree, they changed the entire animation too, the two most important things I miss about brawl ness is the D-Air, (In Team battles I was able to meteor two people and kill them both) and two how satisfying b-air felt when it hit an opponent. In turn we get a really sweet F-air and a better U-Air I guess. But yeah I'm doing my best not to use D-air at all but sometimes instinctively I do. Now whenever I want to spike somebody I need to use Ganon

 

[PSIBoy]

Ness' dair just doesn't do anything right these days. It's terrible at spiking because it's got an incredibly picky hitbox (who's idea was it to make it PSI based!?), and it's nto even that strong anymore. By "that strong" I meant like, not strong at all. I swear, every other real meteor I've seen is stronger than it. Falcon's, ROB's, Ganon's, Yoshi's, Mario's, it's just insulting. If you sweetspot it on the ground against someone, it doesn't lift them until like 30% or something stupid like that. In Brawl it lifted at 0%.

In addition to that, it's still slow as balls, got some super lag added to it, and can't combo for crap. So we have a move that's slow to start up, slow to end, bad for spiking, bad for combos, and has bad range. This move literally does nothing useful now. Shame, because it was one of my favorite dairs in Brawl. Now it's one of the worst.

Use it for PKF and air dodge cancelling, pretty much nothing else.

Flash is fun to use sometimes, I wouldn't put it quite in the same league as dair though. It's at least powerful, and doesn't leave you as open as people think it does.

Agree with d-air, really hard to spike with it this time around. I never use Flash pretty much. I wind up using f-air most of the time for edgeguarding.

 

[Earthbound360]

I agree, they changed the entire animation too, the two most important things I miss about brawl ness is the D-Air, (In Team battles I was able to meteor two people and kill them both) and two how satisfying b-air felt when it hit an opponent. In turn we get a really sweet F-air and a better U-Air I guess. But yeah I'm doing my best not to use D-air at all but sometimes instinctively I do. Now whenever I want to spike somebody I need to use Ganon

You're better off using nair to land. Hell, even PKT is safer to land with than dair.

Fair got nerfed too, whcih pisses me off. It lost range and damage, and sucks as a landing tool now. Honestly, fair, dair, and bthrow nerfs are what made me bank on dropping Ness. I ended up sticking to him, but ehh... they've messed up some of my favorite things about Ness.

 

[C0rvus]

I try to edgeguard with Flash sometimes, but that's about it. It's less risky than trying to spike people off stage. But, it's pretty obvious. It's also not as hard to get away with as some people think.

 

[Freikugel]

You can also bait opponents with it. It can also break shields if the opponent's too incompetent to roll away. ;p

Still a fabulous way to go tbh. I like throwing it out there and seeing if it sticks. Much more effective in Doubles.

If they really wanted to buff it they'd increase its range and speed to PK Freeze~PM Flash. And its fully-charged radius to Melee's gargantuan aesthetics (the hitbox was still puny IIRC).

 

[Kurobii]

Every time I play against Captain Falcon and I use PK Flash for edgeguarding, I win

 

[Ranias]

If they really wanted to buff it they'd increase its range and speed to PK Freeze~PM Flash. And its fully-charged radius to Melee's gargantuan aesthetics (the hitbox was still puny IIRC).

Someone in the community patch notes in competitive discussion suggested removing the helpless state after using PK Flash in the air.

I said that we don't really use it in the air anyways. Plus, Ness doesn't need any buffs.

 

[EarthBoundEnigma]

I use PK Flash heavily to great success. It works wonders on many characters with fixed movement options. (Fox/Falco side B, Captain Falcon side B, Sonic/Megaman's up B, etc.)
It is safer than offstage play, with pretty much 0 penalty. It also does amazing vs characters that have moves like Bowser/Yoshi's down B or Link/Sheik/Sonic/ZSS down aerials.
I have also used it to blanket myself defensively in PK Flash. (Knowing someone is going to charge into you.)

As for using it in the air, YES. While over the stage, you can jump up to start the flash earlier, and attempt to force the enemy to recover from below, instead of above. Remember to fast fall.
I'll find a way to upload replays.

 

[Fatmanonice]

I primarily use it for scare tactics and to direct people where I want them to go. This works especially well if you're fighting against players who have crappy recovery moves because it will force some to land right on the stage or get hit with a full blown PK Flash. I also use it to determine people from attack from directly above, causing them to try to change direction at the last second or destroying their shield as they land.