Beginner's guide to understanding Palutena.

[Ragna22]

Ragna22 submitted a new guide:

Beginner's guide to understanding Palutena. - The Goddess of Light isn't as simple as some may think.

Palutena is one of the most pure defensive fighters in the game, the recovery animations on most of her normals are long, she's got a reflector, a counter, a teliport. and a projectile, while weak has really good range.

The trick to learning Palutena is learning to adapt to the more defensive play style which can be hard for some if not many people and will require patience from said people. Understanding the properties of her attacks is key, you can't always just randomly throw out dash...

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[MysteriousSilver]

In my experience reflectors don't matter against AR, because of the angle they travel at. At least I've never eaten my own projectile--I guess reflecting them means you don't take shield damage.

 

[Pirunner]

AR is basically a clam-hammer, it opens up anyone playing too defensively. Reflecting it will do nothing, as the angle is to much. The only counter is to play agro at palutena, which is exactly what we want. Honestly, AR it your best tool throughout all your matchups. It is also a great long-distance punish.

 

[-Jax]

I think using dash attack as an example of moves you can't reliably throw out isn't a great example. In my experience, it's one of the few moves (or, possibly even the only move) you CAN reliably throw out randomly and get away with it.

 

[Ragna22]

Thing is while I spent time learning Palutena, I've fought against Palutena players as well and that was how I found that it's not always reliable to throw out, though at the same time it's also probably that since I fight so many people who get in with dash attacks with any character I just sort of expect it now so I just block and punish, though some dash attacks like Palutena's can block projectiles so it's definitely safe in that sense.

 

[chipndip]

The problem I have with this guide is that it paints Palutena as almost exclusively defensive when she's not. If she had better camping tools, probably. The issue is that she invites aggro without a means to wall it out effectively, forcing her to straight up run away without throwing out any projectiles of her own or go for close-ranged combat herself. Also, with the vid just linked here, it's shown even more that Palutena is more offensive than we give credit for.

She has the mobility of a quick offensive char, the attack speed and knock back of a heavier char, and the special moves of a defensive char, wrapped up into a medium weight fighter. It's a pretty unorthodox setup, and it's not completely defensive. The fact that her shield-based attacks, when timed, can eat up attacks for free while doing them further supports that she shouldn't be zoning and camping when most of her best options are close ranged

 

[Ragna22]

I'll admit I based this guide off of how I ended up learning her, I spent the day Smash 3DS came out in the US to learn her and I found the defensive strategies to be the most effective

 

[chipndip]

That's because this game rewards defense. Not as much as Brawl, but still. To continue improving with her, you need to improve your offense with her, and that's the hard part when her KO moves, although she has a good deal of them, leave her extremely open.

 

[Ragna22]

I suppose so.

 

[SilentLight]

I dont know if i would say that autoreticle is very usefull. It does go out pretty far, but it wont really lock on unless youre about half of battle field away. Plus its pretty avoidable. And if your opponent knows what they are doing, the can either perfect shield it and krep going. Roll forward and get in closer. Or Roll back and make you have to approach. Which Palutena isnt really good at doing.