Quillion
Smash Hero
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2014
- Messages
- 5,570
I have never thought that Air Dodging has been a positive addition to the series. In both its Melee iteration and its Brawl/Smash 4 iteration, the act of dodging in the air itself has not had a positive effect on how the game is played.
In Melee, the Air Dodge itself is nigh-useless. The animation is too long and if you actually try to *dodge* an attack, it really won't matter because you're put in helpless and you'll be punished practically all the time. Its only saving graces are the wavedash and recovery mixup, but if those two techniques are ever going to come back, I'd rather have an "air dash" mechanic entirely separate from air dodging but with no helpless state.
Brawl's Air Dodge exacerbates the problem of the hitstun "cap" by slowing your knockback momentum and punishing finishers. Smash 4 fixes it somewhat by giving it landing lag and removing the hitstun cap, but it doesn't fix the main problem: the only way to counter air dodging is to wait and attack. Yes, you can frame-trap air dodging with a "lingering hitbox" attack, but even that entails making the opponent wait for the inevitable. Countering an air dodge just isn't fun when you have to wait it out, and no amount of "limit its use" is going to fix that.
If they're going to replace it with something, why not Air Shielding? And while we're at it, universalize the z-air so that everyone can air grab, and turn the z-air into a grab (with an automatic forward throw to prevent suicides). I believe this would make the air game much more snappy without it being too complicated, as it would bring the RPS relationship of Attack>Grab>Shield>Attack into the air, and allow you to immediately and tangibly punish an air shield by doing an air grab.
In Melee, the Air Dodge itself is nigh-useless. The animation is too long and if you actually try to *dodge* an attack, it really won't matter because you're put in helpless and you'll be punished practically all the time. Its only saving graces are the wavedash and recovery mixup, but if those two techniques are ever going to come back, I'd rather have an "air dash" mechanic entirely separate from air dodging but with no helpless state.
Brawl's Air Dodge exacerbates the problem of the hitstun "cap" by slowing your knockback momentum and punishing finishers. Smash 4 fixes it somewhat by giving it landing lag and removing the hitstun cap, but it doesn't fix the main problem: the only way to counter air dodging is to wait and attack. Yes, you can frame-trap air dodging with a "lingering hitbox" attack, but even that entails making the opponent wait for the inevitable. Countering an air dodge just isn't fun when you have to wait it out, and no amount of "limit its use" is going to fix that.
If they're going to replace it with something, why not Air Shielding? And while we're at it, universalize the z-air so that everyone can air grab, and turn the z-air into a grab (with an automatic forward throw to prevent suicides). I believe this would make the air game much more snappy without it being too complicated, as it would bring the RPS relationship of Attack>Grab>Shield>Attack into the air, and allow you to immediately and tangibly punish an air shield by doing an air grab.
