conTAgi0n
Smash Journeyman
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2015
- Messages
- 416
- Switch FC
- SW 1668 7817 3192
Interesting question. It's hard to choose just one buff that Bowser needs most, since what he really needs is a package of buffs. That being said I do think a single buff could benefit Bowser tremendously if chosen well.
In my experience Bowser has three obvious problems in competitive play:
1. Trouble killing reliably (kind of ironic given that he is built around insane killing power)
2. A really bad disadvantage state
3. A lack of safe options in the neutral
Number 3 is the real problem in my opinion. If Bowser had good tools for the neutral, he would be able to create a lot more opportunities to get reads for the kill, and the fact that he is super heavy would better offset his bad disadvantage state (since he wouldn't be forced into it as often). His strengths, weaknesses, and character concept would all make loads more sense if he had a good neutral game.
So what exactly is wrong with Bowser's neutral? He has good dash speed, his tilts are actually pretty decent, he has an awesome out of shield option in up b, and the range on his grab, especially his pivot grab, is also pretty great. One thing I don't like about his neutral on the ground is that his walk speed is so terrible, but that's not the end of the world either.
The real problems all start when Bowser leaves the ground. He doesn't have any options to safely threaten his opponent from the air. Considered individually, all of his aerials (with the arguable exception of nair) are pretty decent, at least for certain purposes. The problem is that none of them have the right combination of range and frame data for applying pressure in the neutral against a grounded opponent, especially given Bowser's relatively poor aerial movement.
I can think of three ways they could fix this:
1. Buff nair, fair, or both to the point of being safe moves to throw out in the neutral.
2. Greatly increase the range on klaw, so that the grab box extends much further both in front of and below Bowser.
3. As MagiusNecros and others have suggested, improve tough guy a lot, at least against projectiles, so that he can shrug off needles and other things that force him into the air in the first place.
Bowser's most needed buff would therefore either be a buff to fair's range and frame data, or a big buff to klaw's range. It's hard for me to say which of those would be better. Fair is not a move that feels deficient, but rather a move that could be adapted to solve one of Bowser's big problems. Klaw on the other hand is a move that feels more lackluster than it should right now. So if I had to choose one of those improvements, I might lean very slightly towards giving klaw some crazy range.
I feel really strongly that giving Bowser back the Bowsercide is NOT the right solution. If I wanted to play a bad character who relied on one match-breaking gimmick to stay relevant, I'd be a Wario main.
In my experience Bowser has three obvious problems in competitive play:
1. Trouble killing reliably (kind of ironic given that he is built around insane killing power)
2. A really bad disadvantage state
3. A lack of safe options in the neutral
Number 3 is the real problem in my opinion. If Bowser had good tools for the neutral, he would be able to create a lot more opportunities to get reads for the kill, and the fact that he is super heavy would better offset his bad disadvantage state (since he wouldn't be forced into it as often). His strengths, weaknesses, and character concept would all make loads more sense if he had a good neutral game.
So what exactly is wrong with Bowser's neutral? He has good dash speed, his tilts are actually pretty decent, he has an awesome out of shield option in up b, and the range on his grab, especially his pivot grab, is also pretty great. One thing I don't like about his neutral on the ground is that his walk speed is so terrible, but that's not the end of the world either.
The real problems all start when Bowser leaves the ground. He doesn't have any options to safely threaten his opponent from the air. Considered individually, all of his aerials (with the arguable exception of nair) are pretty decent, at least for certain purposes. The problem is that none of them have the right combination of range and frame data for applying pressure in the neutral against a grounded opponent, especially given Bowser's relatively poor aerial movement.
I can think of three ways they could fix this:
1. Buff nair, fair, or both to the point of being safe moves to throw out in the neutral.
Because nair doesn't have a ton of range, you would have to give it extremely low landing lag to make it safe to toss out in neutral. Fair is more a more promising candidate for turning into an effective poke in neutral. If they extended fair's range and reduced its landing lag, and preferably also its faf and starting lag, all of a sudden we would have a great aerial for tossing out in the neutral. If that sounds excessive, look at Ike's fair. That move has a huge disjoint hitbox, and yet it still has very similar damage output and frame data to Bowser's (it even has 6 frames less landing lag). Mind you Ike's fair is pretty godly, but Bowser needs a godly fair a lot more than Ike does.
2. Greatly increase the range on klaw, so that the grab box extends much further both in front of and below Bowser.
I'm not sure which would actually be more useful, but klaw is a move that that cries out for improvement a lot more than Bowser's fair. As it currently stands, an alert opponent can usually wait to see which option an airborne Bowser chooses and then punish accordingly. Klaw with better reach in front and below would force the opponent to anticipate more whether you were going for an aerial or a command grab, and being able to threaten that 50/50 from the air would force opponents to respect you a lot more. Plus you could throw out klaw at a greater range, and since it auto-cancels landing lag you would be a lot safer on whiff.
3. As MagiusNecros and others have suggested, improve tough guy a lot, at least against projectiles, so that he can shrug off needles and other things that force him into the air in the first place.
As much as I would find it immensely satisfying to charge straight through an opponent's projectile game and smack them in the face, I don't think that buffing tough guy is really the right option. It would be hard to get this to work just right, and doesn't feel like a proper solution anyway. Making Bowser essentially immune to annoying projectiles is like admitting that you can't figure how to give him a real way to deal with them. Mind you, I do think that it should be improved somewhat - after all, why even have it in the game when it does so little? But I think looking to the tough guy gimmick to solve our problems in neutral is ignoring the real problem with Bowser. Plus it would be absurdly broken among casual players.
Bowser's most needed buff would therefore either be a buff to fair's range and frame data, or a big buff to klaw's range. It's hard for me to say which of those would be better. Fair is not a move that feels deficient, but rather a move that could be adapted to solve one of Bowser's big problems. Klaw on the other hand is a move that feels more lackluster than it should right now. So if I had to choose one of those improvements, I might lean very slightly towards giving klaw some crazy range.
I feel really strongly that giving Bowser back the Bowsercide is NOT the right solution. If I wanted to play a bad character who relied on one match-breaking gimmick to stay relevant, I'd be a Wario main.
Last edited: