I haven't been very active on the boards recently so I thought I'd put this together mostly for my own benefit as a way of organizing my thoughts but also for anyone on the boards to read rather than just the back room.
First, definitions in my own words so we're all talking about the same thing.
Baiting: A tactic used in an attempt to make an opponent do a particular action which puts him into a disadvantageous situation.
Conditioning: A tactic used in an attempt to make an opponent expect a certain pattern which can then be broken to put the opponent into a disadvantageous situation.
Baiting with Lucas
There are numerour ways to "bait" your opponent into some traps with Lucas. Lucas uses a few moves most commonly to bait. However, baiting itself really has no limitations.
One of my favorite ways to bait an opponent is just by understanding the lag on my projectiles. PK Fire and PK Freeze both have very low lag on the end and with the right spacing, even if you miss you can get some jabs on your opponent as they come with the intent of punishing. If you're careful, you can safely abuse this to rack up some damage.
Another common baiting tactic that I use is shield skimming with PK Thunder. After looping PKT1 once around the edge of the opponent's shield, they will often put their shield down allowing you to hit them once for a free 10%. This is risky if it doesn't work because of how laggy PKT1 is though.
Platforms can also be used to bait opponents. Because a platform is generally an unsafe place to be, opponents will be anxious to use them against you if you put yourself on one. What they may not realize is that Lucas has multiple options to hit opponents below the platform while he is standing on them. This can lead to baiting opponents into Dsmash or SH Dairs.
One of my favorite baiting techniques is hitting myself into the ground with PKT2 from the air and using flex kicks when opponents approach to punish. Opponents almost always forget that they can't just grab you off the ground.
Conditioning with Lucas
Lucas has a lot of options with conditioning because he fights so differently from most characters. The majority of the competitive community is already conditioned to not know how to deal with Lucas. However, there are a lot of things we can do to condition our opponents further to make them hesitant of certain things and completely unaware of others.
PK Fire camping is a simple and useful way to condition your opponent. If you space well, it will be difficult or impossible for the opponent to punish you. It will also get them used to a pattern which you can break at any time. One of the most effective ways to condition with this is by using full hop PK Fire because you have multiple options out of full hop. Your opponent will expect a PK Fire while you can simply land and do another move. It also can cover your *** if you mess up by accident. I've had opponents shield at the sound of Lucas yelling PK Fire even when the attack didn't come out.
Natural conditioning from opponents playing other characters will help you out too. One of the simplest that I use to my advantage is Lucas's many methods of edgeguarding. When opponents are expecting Dair, Bair or PK Thunder; using Uair or PK Fire can get easy, sometimes not even DI'd correctly, kills.
Opponents are also naturally conditioned to not hold up well against Usmash on Brinstar because of its massive and invisible hitbox. People will literally walk into it over and over.
Baiting and Conditioning Against the Pros
The more experienced a player is, the less likely he is to fall for baiting and conditioning tactics. The best players rely on reactionary tactics as much as possible which will help them avoid these traps.
There are quite a few other baiting and conditioning options which can be used to your advantage from the most basic to the most convuluted. I just wanted to outline a few of my favorites and get some input about some of yours. It's a great way for me to organize my thoughts for matches to have these ideas planned out.
First, definitions in my own words so we're all talking about the same thing.
Baiting: A tactic used in an attempt to make an opponent do a particular action which puts him into a disadvantageous situation.
Conditioning: A tactic used in an attempt to make an opponent expect a certain pattern which can then be broken to put the opponent into a disadvantageous situation.
Baiting with Lucas
There are numerour ways to "bait" your opponent into some traps with Lucas. Lucas uses a few moves most commonly to bait. However, baiting itself really has no limitations.
One of my favorite ways to bait an opponent is just by understanding the lag on my projectiles. PK Fire and PK Freeze both have very low lag on the end and with the right spacing, even if you miss you can get some jabs on your opponent as they come with the intent of punishing. If you're careful, you can safely abuse this to rack up some damage.
Another common baiting tactic that I use is shield skimming with PK Thunder. After looping PKT1 once around the edge of the opponent's shield, they will often put their shield down allowing you to hit them once for a free 10%. This is risky if it doesn't work because of how laggy PKT1 is though.
Platforms can also be used to bait opponents. Because a platform is generally an unsafe place to be, opponents will be anxious to use them against you if you put yourself on one. What they may not realize is that Lucas has multiple options to hit opponents below the platform while he is standing on them. This can lead to baiting opponents into Dsmash or SH Dairs.
One of my favorite baiting techniques is hitting myself into the ground with PKT2 from the air and using flex kicks when opponents approach to punish. Opponents almost always forget that they can't just grab you off the ground.
Conditioning with Lucas
Lucas has a lot of options with conditioning because he fights so differently from most characters. The majority of the competitive community is already conditioned to not know how to deal with Lucas. However, there are a lot of things we can do to condition our opponents further to make them hesitant of certain things and completely unaware of others.
PK Fire camping is a simple and useful way to condition your opponent. If you space well, it will be difficult or impossible for the opponent to punish you. It will also get them used to a pattern which you can break at any time. One of the most effective ways to condition with this is by using full hop PK Fire because you have multiple options out of full hop. Your opponent will expect a PK Fire while you can simply land and do another move. It also can cover your *** if you mess up by accident. I've had opponents shield at the sound of Lucas yelling PK Fire even when the attack didn't come out.
Natural conditioning from opponents playing other characters will help you out too. One of the simplest that I use to my advantage is Lucas's many methods of edgeguarding. When opponents are expecting Dair, Bair or PK Thunder; using Uair or PK Fire can get easy, sometimes not even DI'd correctly, kills.
Opponents are also naturally conditioned to not hold up well against Usmash on Brinstar because of its massive and invisible hitbox. People will literally walk into it over and over.
Baiting and Conditioning Against the Pros
The more experienced a player is, the less likely he is to fall for baiting and conditioning tactics. The best players rely on reactionary tactics as much as possible which will help them avoid these traps.
There are quite a few other baiting and conditioning options which can be used to your advantage from the most basic to the most convuluted. I just wanted to outline a few of my favorites and get some input about some of yours. It's a great way for me to organize my thoughts for matches to have these ideas planned out.
