Neb
Smash Lord
So guys I decided to make this thread because I thought some G&W players were having trouble approaching. Some are too repetitive in such a way they become predictable, others are simply limiting themselves to a few moves, then there are those who don't know why they're doing a certain move. And so as a way to get the information out there, I made this thread with hopes of improving the community's knowledge on approaching, be it in a small or large margin. Hopefully the read will spawn a little review and discussion.
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1) Shield Dash
Shield dash is a very useful approach easily achieved by running and tapping the shield button. This will slide G&W forward with his guard up, making him impervious to a foray of attacks with the exception of a grab, though even that is preventable with proper spacing. In this state, G&W is like a folded knife, being able to flick out in front of a foes face and intercept their reactions with his high-priority moveset. There aren't many specks in this approach, so its use is applicable against any style of opponent G&W encounters.
■ Shield Dash > Grab
A great option out of a shield dash is your shield grab. The slide from shield dash gives you the same, if not more distance than the running grab, minus the punishable cooldown. You want to time everything so that you finish inside their hurtbox, or right in front of it. This way you can either just grab them, or bait an attack and let your guard stomach it, then shield grab as the hitbox vanishes.
A throw is a fine option at any percent, at low percentages your u/f/bthrow are easier to follow-up from, while at higher ratios, the f/bthrow set-up nicely into an edgeguard for easy damage or a gimp. And of course, dthrow is always fair game. Grabbing is most effective at cracking a defensive opponent so you can toss them into a trap, the shield helps you close the distance, while still giving you the armor to withstand an offense.
■ Shield Dash > Jab
Depending on your opponent, a jab is a great way to thwart a grapple attempt when you shield dash. It leads nicely into dtilt or chute if you are feeling pressured. You can jab cancel in various tempos to harass your foe, then trick them into spotdodging. G&W can then punish with a lazy hitbox (fsmash, ftilt, etc) or a well-timed attack/grab to hurt his opponent really bad.
A great option out of a shield dash is your shield grab. The slide from shield dash gives you the same, if not more distance than the running grab, minus the punishable cooldown. You want to time everything so that you finish inside their hurtbox, or right in front of it. This way you can either just grab them, or bait an attack and let your guard stomach it, then shield grab as the hitbox vanishes.
A throw is a fine option at any percent, at low percentages your u/f/bthrow are easier to follow-up from, while at higher ratios, the f/bthrow set-up nicely into an edgeguard for easy damage or a gimp. And of course, dthrow is always fair game. Grabbing is most effective at cracking a defensive opponent so you can toss them into a trap, the shield helps you close the distance, while still giving you the armor to withstand an offense.
■ Shield Dash > Jab
Depending on your opponent, a jab is a great way to thwart a grapple attempt when you shield dash. It leads nicely into dtilt or chute if you are feeling pressured. You can jab cancel in various tempos to harass your foe, then trick them into spotdodging. G&W can then punish with a lazy hitbox (fsmash, ftilt, etc) or a well-timed attack/grab to hurt his opponent really bad.
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2) Dash Attack
This approach can be applied at early percentages, covering your typical ground-based attacks, including a number of projectiles. For practicality, you must time and space the attack so you're just brushing them with the end of the lingering hitbox, this is for two reasons. One, so you are less exposed when hitting shield, making your hat safer on block. And two, so that you can follow-up pronto if you manage to clip your opponent.
Supposing you do secure a hit, sting them with a smash, tilt, or aerial as they are flung and placed behind you. If your approach is absorbed by a shield, or clashes with an attack, you may jab and dtilt to bait their shield for a grab, or their spotdodge for you to punish, otherwise escape with upb. You could also crossup with the fishbowl or an airdodge, then upb away, or sneak in an attack for more damage.
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3) Dtilt
The dtilt is a feeler hit, a light easy blow that jars, stings, and annoys an opponent. It is simple to execute, being no more than walking/jumping/shield dashing up to your opponent, then spacing the attack at the tip. You can actually space tipper even farther away based your opponents character as the lid will kick-up and attach to an extended hurtbox, like a finger or shin. If they shield, you should walk away, people are typically conditioned to attack or grab OOS, so you can walk out of range, then slap their wrist with another dtilt or smash. If they jump/aerial, rally up your firemen and fling yourself into their body with your invincibility frames. Whenever your opponent has a far-reaching grab range (ie Dedede), or quick attack (ie MK's dtilt), quickly bailout with chute.
You could also space outside of dtilts hitbox, expecting your opponent to counter-hit with their own attack, then dtilt again as they extend their hurtbox. If you condition them to shield every time you walk up to your foe, you can begin bairing instead, or charging smashes.
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4) Fair
Approaching with the box is an excellent choice at precisely low and high percentages. If you're battling with a towering character, rising fair (FH'd) will steer a crushing blow to the top of the head without having to be terribly close to them. Oppositely, if your foe is on the shrimpy side, you should shield dash, or convince them into challenging you in the air. Try baiting this with a sh, then SJ a retreating Fair as they meet you. This can be applied nicely against characters that outrange G&W as they're generally quick to accept an aerial exchange. Even though they out-reach you, because fair has such a big, encompassing hitbox, often times you can take-out an open portion of their body with a good whack! Aim for these exposed areas.
Example: Against Marth's fair, you'd want to go for his lower body as he leaps.
Sometimes your attack may get stuffed, but the trade-off is usually in your favor. If that ever gets predictable, mix-up with a (SJ*) dair... What makes box approaching more useful is unlike the turtle, it can't be SDI'd to cheapen the damage or counter-hit out, just a single impact that deals 16%. The retreat is also different from bair, which may require you to space very precisely for a meager 3%! With fair you can get in and get out, tacking on full damage. It also leads nicely into crossups at low damage. Just land the hit, DI toward your opponent, then FF an airdodge, nair, bair, or dair, behind them.
■ Soft Fair
At high percentages, the hitboxes tripping property is more pronounced which provides an obvious advantage. Also, the push-away becomes more comparable to the manhole. So as you prod with the sour spot, your opponent kneeling, will skid across the floor in a winced animation. You can then follow them in the air, and land with an aerial, special, or FF into your tilts and smashes. As payoff, the box becomes a stronger and more valid approaching tool. In the air you can can follow a soft fair into many things: strong fair, ff nair, uair, SJ dair, 'chute.
At high percentages, the hitboxes tripping property is more pronounced which provides an obvious advantage. Also, the push-away becomes more comparable to the manhole. So as you prod with the sour spot, your opponent kneeling, will skid across the floor in a winced animation. You can then follow them in the air, and land with an aerial, special, or FF into your tilts and smashes. As payoff, the box becomes a stronger and more valid approaching tool. In the air you can can follow a soft fair into many things: strong fair, ff nair, uair, SJ dair, 'chute.
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5) Nair
Nair is a very unique jump-in, its hitbox properties make for quite a versatile approach, whether it hits or whiffs. Nair pulls in directions, throws out, and its qualities fluctuate as your opponents percentage grows.
■ SH Nair
Nair is sorta weird for you opponent to tackle when you approach at low clearance, the fishbowl swallows your hurtbox whilst the stages floor covers your legs. So often times the SH is more effective than the FH. To a degree its a bashful move, you aren't barbarically running up to your enemy and trying to slap them with a fish, you're only pestering them, gravitating outside their reach. This is critical since nair is easy to shield grab. As you SH nair, DI back until G&W naturally sweeps the floor with his feet. Still holding the analog backward, he should slide in that direction for a good distance, looking ahead. This is to polish your spacing, and give your ground-oriented attacks a retreat. Continue doing this out of reach, and you'll get a movement similar to a pendulum.
This goes on briefly, your opponent will then try their hand at penetrating your flimsy wall. Carefully continue doing SH nair and look for a reaction that you can punish (pick-and-choose). If they try to ease their way inside with a shield or airdodge, you can draw them near then crossup their shield (nair, bair, airdodge), or punish them with anything as they come out of their dodge.They try to hit you with an aerial, you can FH nair/fair, uair, or upb.
You can keep them thinking by sometimes not even nairing, but keeping the same movement. You could randomly do a bair, get them alert, then feint a bair cancel and grab their shield. Or sometimes brush their shield with nair, and other times not in order to bait a shield grab. Just try being creative, maybe retreating and tossing a few bits of food, or sliding back into a charged smash. Its a great little strategy because you aren't offensively committing yourself.
■ Nair vs Shield
Approaching with the tropical fish is susceptible to a shield grab. One thing G&W has against this is smart mix-ups and his crossup game. Just to lay out a rule, it is not very safe to attempt a crossup from far away, you over exert yourself and could get punished for it. Only crossup when you are close to your opponent. Whenever SH nair connects with a shield, to make a foe wary, you can SJ into a retreating fair, or crossup:
There are a lot of follow-up options from being behind your opponent. But remember a crossup is most effective as a surprise, so whip them out sparingly.
■ Nair > Judge
A good mix-up starting at 0% is nair > judge. Since the judgement hammer is random, the opponent'll have a hard time defending themselves. The timing is also strict to escape, but an airdodge can have them scott-free, but open to something else.
■ Nair Footstool Combo
Nair can act like a mid-air jab at low percentages when spaced at the fishes lips. So taking advantage of this, you can nair tip them into the air, DI, then footstool them to the floor, ff a soft fair to reset their grounded animation, then follow-up with just about everything. It has a few holes, but its a nice mix-up, use sparingly.
Nair is sorta weird for you opponent to tackle when you approach at low clearance, the fishbowl swallows your hurtbox whilst the stages floor covers your legs. So often times the SH is more effective than the FH. To a degree its a bashful move, you aren't barbarically running up to your enemy and trying to slap them with a fish, you're only pestering them, gravitating outside their reach. This is critical since nair is easy to shield grab. As you SH nair, DI back until G&W naturally sweeps the floor with his feet. Still holding the analog backward, he should slide in that direction for a good distance, looking ahead. This is to polish your spacing, and give your ground-oriented attacks a retreat. Continue doing this out of reach, and you'll get a movement similar to a pendulum.
This goes on briefly, your opponent will then try their hand at penetrating your flimsy wall. Carefully continue doing SH nair and look for a reaction that you can punish (pick-and-choose). If they try to ease their way inside with a shield or airdodge, you can draw them near then crossup their shield (nair, bair, airdodge), or punish them with anything as they come out of their dodge.They try to hit you with an aerial, you can FH nair/fair, uair, or upb.
You can keep them thinking by sometimes not even nairing, but keeping the same movement. You could randomly do a bair, get them alert, then feint a bair cancel and grab their shield. Or sometimes brush their shield with nair, and other times not in order to bait a shield grab. Just try being creative, maybe retreating and tossing a few bits of food, or sliding back into a charged smash. Its a great little strategy because you aren't offensively committing yourself.
■ Nair vs Shield
Approaching with the tropical fish is susceptible to a shield grab. One thing G&W has against this is smart mix-ups and his crossup game. Just to lay out a rule, it is not very safe to attempt a crossup from far away, you over exert yourself and could get punished for it. Only crossup when you are close to your opponent. Whenever SH nair connects with a shield, to make a foe wary, you can SJ into a retreating fair, or crossup:
- Nair > (*SJ) Dair
- Nair > Airdodge Crossup
- Nair > SJ Retreating Bair
- Nair > Upb
There are a lot of follow-up options from being behind your opponent. But remember a crossup is most effective as a surprise, so whip them out sparingly.
■ Nair > Judge
A good mix-up starting at 0% is nair > judge. Since the judgement hammer is random, the opponent'll have a hard time defending themselves. The timing is also strict to escape, but an airdodge can have them scott-free, but open to something else.
■ Nair Footstool Combo
Nair can act like a mid-air jab at low percentages when spaced at the fishes lips. So taking advantage of this, you can nair tip them into the air, DI, then footstool them to the floor, ff a soft fair to reset their grounded animation, then follow-up with just about everything. It has a few holes, but its a nice mix-up, use sparingly.
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5) Bair
Bair is a situational approach. Versus characters with small reach it can be used till the turtles jaw snaps. But on the other hand, against those out-ranging you or these characters that can hurt you on block, bair should be used sparingly, coming out of its shell to punish lag, apply quick pressure, or hitat weird angles and positions.
■ SH Bair
A pretty descent jump-in, it leaves you suspended long enough to dispense all three hitboxes with the landing buffet appearing soon after, making it an ideal option for shield pressure. You can retreat it to an extent, but even more so if you begin DI'ing in the act of inputting the commands. The attack is pretty telegraphed, and with the right timing, characters can get around the landing hitbox for a grab if their reach allows; an item toss, dragon punch, etc. So mix-up ff'ing and empty jumps. Regardless you'll find in numerous scenarios this style of execution will typically be parried. If you feel your going to get punished, upb and shield will often bail you out in time.
■ Full Hop Bair
This slightly different method of approach is exceedingly more useful than the SH bair. G&W can raise with the turtle while grazing his opponents shield, and have his defensive and offensive options spread out whilst he finishes in the air. This creates a quicker, and safer tool to harass an opponents shield, delivering surgical stabs at desired points. FHFF'ing turtle will grant you additional elbow room. With a FH Bair, you can attack at anytime during the jump, so its a little less predictable.
A pretty descent jump-in, it leaves you suspended long enough to dispense all three hitboxes with the landing buffet appearing soon after, making it an ideal option for shield pressure. You can retreat it to an extent, but even more so if you begin DI'ing in the act of inputting the commands. The attack is pretty telegraphed, and with the right timing, characters can get around the landing hitbox for a grab if their reach allows; an item toss, dragon punch, etc. So mix-up ff'ing and empty jumps. Regardless you'll find in numerous scenarios this style of execution will typically be parried. If you feel your going to get punished, upb and shield will often bail you out in time.
■ Full Hop Bair
This slightly different method of approach is exceedingly more useful than the SH bair. G&W can raise with the turtle while grazing his opponents shield, and have his defensive and offensive options spread out whilst he finishes in the air. This creates a quicker, and safer tool to harass an opponents shield, delivering surgical stabs at desired points. FHFF'ing turtle will grant you additional elbow room. With a FH Bair, you can attack at anytime during the jump, so its a little less predictable.
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So thats about all I could think of, if you have your own solid method of approach, or if I left something out, please let me know. I'll make sure to jot it down if I find it reasonable.
Comment/Discuss.
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