Approaching a grab happy Lucas with Peach?

[haxfactory]

Hey guys, I recently picked Peach back up (it's been since early in Smash 4, but I played her in Brawl and Melee earlier on) because like damn near every other Peach in the world, I picked up Bayonetta for a while and I personally decided I didn't enjoy playing as Bayo, so I went back to the Peach.

I live in Vermont and two of our top 10 PR players are Lucas players (including our #1 actually).

I've been running even with the #8 player (also a Lucas) in friendlies basically losing in last hit scenarios to up throw.

I'm having a bit of trouble with the early game because I feel like I don't know how to approach, so I get lit up and take like 70% uncontested until I feel like I'm able to fight back.

I know I shouldn't be floating against a Lucas because of zair and forward air (or even probably a random nair honestly). So I've been playing at just outside of PK Fire range, but that makes approaching extremely difficult.

I'd think what I'd want to do is inch in closer and shield but the #8 Lucas is super grab happy. I'd consider trying to spot dodge it but Lucas can cover spot dodge by down tilting which he can mash then combo into a grab.

Anyone have any match up knowledge on Lucas or any ideas?

 

[LastTheories]

Hey guys, I recently picked Peach back up (it's been since early in Smash 4, but I played her in Brawl and Melee earlier on) because like damn near every other Peach in the world, I picked up Bayonetta for a while and I personally decided I didn't enjoy playing as Bayo, so I went back to the Peach.

I live in Vermont and two of our top 10 PR players are Lucas players (including our #1 actually).

I've been running even with the #8 player (also a Lucas) in friendlies basically losing in last hit scenarios to up throw.

I'm having a bit of trouble with the early game because I feel like I don't know how to approach, so I get lit up and take like 70% uncontested until I feel like I'm able to fight back.

I know I shouldn't be floating against a Lucas because of zair and forward air (or even probably a random nair honestly). So I've been playing at just outside of PK Fire range, but that makes approaching extremely difficult.

I'd think what I'd want to do is inch in closer and shield but the #8 Lucas is super grab happy. I'd consider trying to spot dodge it but Lucas can cover spot dodge by down tilting which he can mash then combo into a grab.

Anyone have any match up knowledge on Lucas or any ideas?

I know it's been a couple of months since this post so you might have already found a solution or swapped characters, but in case you didn't or people have the same issues I'll post regardless. It's also a good idea to get into the Peach discord for match up questions since more experienced peach players than myself can talk about the MU.
Lucas is a harder character to overcome in general since he like peach is both a zoner and zone-breaker. He also heavily outranges us due to PK fire and zair.

However we zone break in a very different manner than most characters. Rather than using speed to catch Lucas off guard we will generally have to either bait out an offensive option and punish that, or pressure a defensive option.

Peach heavily benefits from movement options like extended dash dancing, Dark.Pch's QFR, and dash into shield. By combining these options it's decently easy to get into Lucas' zone. For example, let's say your aerial approaches have been getting stuffed by zair, your ground approaches are grabbed consistently, and he has percentage lead so he's using PK Fire as a pretty successful wall. You could dash shield into the PK Fire and bait out the grab one of Lucas' slowest options, QFR or ExDD away then back towards Lucas and attack accordingly. Many people will ask why not roll instead, and that's simply because rolls are not only easier to react to after a whiffed grab but are slower since they leave you with zero momentum after the roll. Not to say this is a bad option but instead of punishing the grab you turn it into a situation where you should punish Lucas' defensive option instead. And you're one roll away so it's more difficult to punish.

In order to pressure a defensive option out of Lucas' Short Hop Air Dodge or (SHAD) is your best friend. Using SHAD is the best way to get past Aerial PK fires and short hop Zairs and punish/pressure with float dair.

Now there are infinitely many ways to get past projectiles/zones, you could also bait out a zair by ground floating at zair height, fast falling out of it, then rolling in. Or you could SHAD double jump float fast fall to cross up shield. Or if you're savy enough you could SHAD JCFF. Be creative!

Hope this helped

 

[Freduardo]

He can’t absorb turnips.

Also a short hop float done just right could keep you out of his throw hit box.