Approaching with UpB

[JRad]

I was trying this out a lot at Apex and had a good amount of success with it against the characters that generally like to aerial out of shield (Ganon, Falcon, Marth mostly) and I just thought I would share. I don't mean to Upb early and then hold toward them, I mean run up to them and up B. You have to put them in a pressure situation first and a lot of times I was able to set this up by Dtilting/Bairing them first and then dashing in and using UpB. IF they jump or grab they should get hit by the forward facing sweetspot and if they shield you can fade away. If they spot dodge then you will hit them anyway but not with the sweetspot. Some of the times my opponent would dash/wavedash into me to try to attack my "approach" and i just reacted with an eariler upb. Unfortunately if you miss you should fade away but they should be able to punish if they space/wait properly. I will just try to get footage of me using this. Thoughts?

Edit: Just also had the thought that maybe jumping right before pressing upb might actually be better at low percent, because if you catch the jump you can catch them in the full up b for massive damage and potentially a follow up. The other benefit to jumping right before the up b is that you can fade back/forward a lot further in the air. I want to say that this is also situational but a good mixup imo

PS - Going to post my match vs. Fiction when its uploaded.

 

[jonnobigz]

Interesting, haven't seen it used like this. This can stuff some approaches but at the cost of the endlag. What kind of follow ups did you manage that you couldn't get with a Dtilt/Ftilt?

 

[JRad]

Its just a mixup approach mostly. If you hit them with an attack then normally we follow up with a potential grab, aerial, down b, etc and this is just another thing to add the mix that covers different defensive options. It can't be spot dodged which they will use to avoid grab, it can't be jumped over like our down b, and our aerials can get shielded and punished except for a bair (or cross up aerial but thats not always feasible). I am more or less saying that this is the follow up to a Dtilt/Bair whatever. If you jump right before upbing, then you can catch your opponent in the upb and if its a floaty/mid weight you may be able to land before them and then hit them with an aerial or grab. I also want to say that if your opponent rolls any time as you are dashing/walking towards him you can just reactionary bair or dash. TO clarify the chain of events here would be an example.

You are both fighting in the neutral and manage to push your opponent out of mid stage. You then hit him with a backair that knocks him back a certain amount of distance (depends on percnt and character of course). Your opponent then techs and this is where you start running towards him to upb, because after his tech he will choose a defensive option to avoid your approach.

 

[jonnobigz]

I see what you're saying, use it kind of like a tech chase? I feel like you get the least out of it, though. If they spot dodge, you get some weak hits and most likely punished once you are done. I like the jumping upB a bit more due to being less punishable but I'd rather bait a grab or their double jump if they aren't grounded. That's just me, though.