oh hey spaceman stuff
How bad does Olimar and, the better one, Alph get shut down by reflectors? I think reflectors can shut him down pretty hard, and if most of you agree how can Olimar counter it. I figure since we're talking about solo-mains and secondaries would it be better for an Olimar player to have a secondary for characters with reflects or do Olimar's other tools offer him enough to get around reflectors? I was just watching Xandu and FeelTension fought Logic's Olimar and I didn't see a single reflect come from him, I just wonder how good of an option FeelTension was neglecting to use.
Reflectors make some matchups with those that do have them harder for Olimar, but I don't think they're the primary reason why the matchups are hard in the first place. Like
Wintropy
said, a reflector could or could not make a difference in matchups depending on how it works.
- Because of how fast it comes out, Cape makes using side B on him harder and Fsmash a risky move starting from around 30-40%. However, it doesn't stop properly timed dash grabs because the grab hitbox is on the Pikmin, which is unaffected by the cape, and the cape doesn't apply hitstun on Olimar. He also has Dtilt which is fast enough to punish a whiff if he can't time his grabs right. In my opinion, Mario players who tend to cape a lot are easier to handle than those who constantly attempt to get in Olimar's face through frame data and mobility (and use cape unpredictably), which is much more threatening. Most of this also applies to
's Super Sheet, except that he lacks the mobility Mario has to approach Olimar quickly.
- Reflector isn't used too much in my games against him, so I don't think it's a big factor in the MU. It has enough ending lag on it that Olimar can come in with a grab, and if he holds it for too long he could just get hit by Ftilt or Dtilt. Fox is a hard matchup for Olimar mainly because of speed and combo stuff. He has a couple of safe aerials that can take off Pikmin quickly, and his dash attack comes out fast enough and lasts long enough to disregard side B and Fsmash.
- The bat isn't fast enough to consistently keep off side B, so it's threatening only if Olimar attempts to Fsmash close up. However, it's hard for Ness to approach Olimar safely bar dash attack, and since Olimar doesn't prefer to fight up close most of the time, the bat isn't too much of an issue.
- Lucas's stick comes out quick enough that trying to punish an approaching Nair with Fsmash would probably result in Olimar taking the reflect, so Olimar would need to apply pivot grabs instead. Zair can stop side B on top of PK Fire, so it may take a bit to win the zoning battle to force an approach.
- Falco's Reflector is a little more problematic than Fox's because it lasts for a long time even on the way back, has a hitbox, and comes out quickly. That being said, the hitbox only lasts until the reflector hits its peak of its distance, at which point Olimar can Dtilt Falco if he powershields and he's close enough. Also, despite that and lasers, the matchup doesn't look that hard to me because if Olimar can stay right around mid-range and play around the reflector enough, then Falco would have to approach.
- Reflect Barrier lasts for a long time. I'm not sure if full hop side B can go over it aside from yellows. The only weakness the barrier has is that Olimar can still grab Palmtree through the barrier after the first few frames it's out, though it might be impossible to do any followups from Dthrow.
- Not enough experience against Mewtwo, but I'm having difficulties on what I can do against Confusion because it's also a command grab .
- I think
this post explains it well enough.
I don't have a lot of experience with the characters below Ness, so my opinion on those reflectors may be inaccurate.
That I can remember (it's been a while since I fought Olimar), he has three moves that count as projectiles: side-b, f-smash and d-smash. Of these, the only one that he can reliably use without some kind of hard read is side-b, since the others have poor frame data and range to be useful in neutral. Olimar will no doubt be throwing quite a few Pikmin at you to soften you up, but if you're just going to use the reflector every time he does it, you're going to be very easy to bait.
Side B and all of his smashes, including Usmash, are projectiles. All of his aerials are also projectiles, but they can't be reflected (they can clank with most attacks though).
Olimar to me feels under explored. I think he's stronger than people might give him credit for, but at the same time he also looks difficult to use and master.
Olimar does have a lot of intricacies that make him more complex than most characters (taking advantage of whistle armor, cycling for colors, edgeguarding with Dsmash, unreliable desync smashes, etc.), but I think they don't make him as technical as Peach or Ryu because he doesn't require as much player inputs to make use of most of his little details. I do think that making the most out of some of these things (whistle, Dsmash, etc.) can potentially change the overall view on his viability a little because it could make what might be a defensive/reactive character relying on disjointed smashes, side B, and pivot grab into a character with a little more active and pressure-based playstyle (something like
this). Even if they do make a difference, it may not help too much with his MU spread; most of his disadvantageous matchups are those that have the ability to deal with his projectiles, either through sheer speed (Falcon, Sheik, Mario), outcamping (ROB, also Sheik), or avoiding most of Olimar's ground-based stuff (Yoshi, Peach). Most of these characters are tournament viable at the very least, so it's probably the reason why Olimar may be difficult to make widespread tourney results as a solo main or is regarded only as a pocket character for some players, like
False
said.