Conquer that Mountain, continued! Ice Climbers Stage Talk/FAQ *Pokemon Stadium 1*

[momochuu]

Thread originally started by BlueTerrorist~

Welcome to the Ice Climbers stage discussion!! I haven't seen a thread like this here, so I decided to make one. Let's face it, in order to win, you need to know how to survive in a stage with the character you're using. This is what this is for, a look in the best stages, the worst stages, and how to survive in them. Here's something to get started on.

Battlefield

Description: Good old Battlefield, and as usual ICs do very well on neutrals. No changes or anything to get in the way of desynchs or CG's. However, opponents can easily use the platforms to camp and stay away from getting grabbed. This also means that they can use the platforms to get over any attempts at spam. You'll have to do quite alot of close range fighting most of the time (Provided you don't get camped alot ). Overall, they can still do good in this stage but it's certainly not the best.
Rating: 3/5

Smashville

Description: Smashville is a very good stage for ICs. Although there is that lone platform, it moves back and forth constantly so there is no worry of platform camping from opponents. In fact, ICs can utilize that platform if they want to. Not only that but, it can help them recover and wory less about getting gimped. Definitely one of ICs best stages.

Rating: 5/5

Yoshi's Island

Description: Once again, they don't do too bad. The platform is in the center and it teeters side to side, so getting platform camped isn't too big of an issue. This stage does have hilly terrain, so it could mess up chaingrabs if your not prepared. Support ghost could save you at times so that's a plus in the recovery department. Otherwise, ICs can handle themselves well here like all the neutrals .

Rating: 4/5

Lylat Cruise

Description: Out of all the neutrals, this stage is the most hated. You have 3 platforms on top which makes it really easy to run away from ICs and camp. Add to the fact that slopes at the end of the ledges don't really help much (You can SD with Side B on them). Having a strong non-grab game is gonna help alot here. If you can avoid fighting here, do so.

Rating: 2/5

Final Destination

Description: Easily ICs second best stage. With no platforms, opponents have nowhere to run to to avoid grabs. They will have to be top notch at spacing to successfully keep ICs away in this stage. The only problem is that other characters like ROB has a superior projectile game and can camp ICs easily. Other than that, you should always have this stage as a option.

Rating: 4/5

Castle Siege

DescriptionThe first transition is considered neutral. Slopes don't interrupt CGs much. 2nd part is a walk-off with a high ceiling. Not too bad. 3rd transition is basically a tilting Final Destination. Pretty good.

Rating: 3/5

Norfair

Description: Very bad stage. A lot of platforms and ledges to promote camping, no place to chaingrab, no kind of benefits for the Ice Climbers.

Rating: 1/5

Next stage: Pokemon Stadium 1

 

[Hylian]

Enjoy your sticky.

 

[momochuu]

Yay. :3

I was gonna revive Nintendogs' video thread due to the amount of videos coming in and "Rate my ICs" threads but I think he's back so I'll wait. :x

 

[Funen1]

Mind if I do both? We unoffically started Norfair in the old one anyway.

Castle Siege: The first section is no more reliable than Battlefield. The two platforms allow for camping, but if you catch your opponent on the main stage, it's not too hard to CG (the bump might screw a few things up though). The second section has walk-off edges, but the huge amount of space made available through platforms means that most everyone, even less mobile characters, will be able to stay up high, nullifying your advantages down below. The third section is like a smaller version of FD - nowhere for the opponent to run, and relatively easy to CG (but the bump and tilts make it not as easy to CG as on FD). The transition sections, if you manage a grab on them, will allow an easy setup for a walk-off CG kill (if going to the second stage) or edgeguard (for the other two). However, none of these stages last especially long, so you'll find yourself shifting strategies perhaps more often than you may like. My rating: 3/5

Norfair: The very definition of a platform-camping stage. Naturally, the ICs won't perform well here since there's no room to CG and it's ridiculously easy for opponents to flee your desynched moves. The hazards aren't too terrible in and of themselves - they're easy to see coming and avoid. Throwing your enemy into the various lava sequences is probably the only good thing the ICs can do here. My rating: 1.5/5

Off-topic: You're a mod now, Kawaii Bunny?

 

[momochuu]

Yeah, feel free to do both so we can move on to the next stages. xD

And yes I am. :3

 

[Hylian]

I don't even know why I sticked this for you instead of waiting and letting you do it lol.

 

[:mad:]

Lol, what happened to the last one? Did the creator stop posting or something?

 

[momochuu]

Lol, what happened to the last one? Did the creator stop posting or something?

I've seen him on SWF he just doesn't update that thread.

 

[:mad:]

I've seen him on SWF he just doesn't update that thread.

Alright, sounds good. I just recently started getting back into playing Ice Climbers, so I'll probably be hanging out here more often. So Castle Siege is up next? I really, really don't like this for IC's.

 

[Kage Me]

One note on Yoshi's Island: the Support Ghost can save you, but it also enjoys removing the vertical momentum from your Squall by putting ground beneath your feet. You will fall to your doom.

As for Castle Siege... It might not be as bad as everyone thinks. Yeah, you need to change your strategy arguably more than a large portion of the cast. But in the end, Ice Climbers can do quite well on all parts of it, and players with changing strategies tend to be hard to deal with.
The first section is small and lets them chaingrab moderately well. Blizzard is also a godsend, because the opponent has little room to flee from it. An opponent camping on the platform is easily dealt with because the platforms are so low.
The second section. A walk-off on the main floor means almost guaranteed chaingrab kills, and if the opponent flees upward, they heavily limit their own area. The Climbers will either have easy pickings, or an easy trap and hunt game.
Finally, the third area is a tilting Final Destination. Ice Block allows for amazing stage control due to those tilts (reversed Ice Block leads to shield, spot dodge, roll dodge or jump, all of which can be taken advantage of due to the time it took your Ice Blocks to change direction), but the tilting is not so severe that you cannot chaingrab.
Finally, the transitions allow for easy kills with grabs, like Funen said.

Disadvantages are certainly present, but I'd still rate this stage 3/5.

 

[momochuu]

To get some activity in this thread, let's move on to Luigi's Mansion. I think I'm gonna unsticky this. It really doesn't get enough activity.

 

[Teh Future]

bleh Chewy used luigi's mansion as a counterpick when I was at a tourney in illionisisisis. It definitely makes it a lot easier to get grabs with tech chases and it seems like you can pressure really well with blizzard because of the small space.

Keep the mansion up basically.

Also the ceiling is high so you'd want to go for spike kills like, every single time you get a grab.

Overall I think its a really good stage for Ice Climbers.

but thats just from watching chewy play on it and playing against him on it, I actually dont think ive ever played ice climbers on LM before.

 

[Kage Me]

I'll need to test this, but u-tilt could be an amazing damage racker on this stage with some good positioning.

 

[Fly_Amanita]

I like Luigi's Mansion. You can do fun stuff like run the timer out on characters that can't get around blizzard very well there. I think it could really backfire against characters who can outcamp the ICs, though (I'm mainly looking at characters who have projectiles that go through the pillars and blizzard, like ROB).

 

[Firestormzero0]

I really do like luigi's mansion. luigi's mansion has 3 floors all flat and ez to CG. Blizzard is ur best friend here cuz yes it is very hard to get around. as for killing, yes i would recommend doing it off the sides or the bottom. it would be better for the mansion to stay up and for u too stay on the bottom floor cuz when you start desyncing, it will be hard for you opponent to get to you. and even when the mansion gets destroyed. its just like a final destination.. :D but yes going against ROB's might be difficult. cuz there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide... but other than that an awesome stage.

 

[FrozenHobo]

****ing hate luigi's mansion. opponents use the walls as shields against ice blocks/blizzards, the multi-floor aspect lets them run all day, plus the whole stage doesn't let you use ICs to their full pottential. its a multitiered stage that not only lets taller characters hit you from below, but also forces you into the air and leaves you vulnerable. and if you DO manage to break down the stupid place you get a flat stage for almost no time before the entire place rebuilds itself. horrible, horrible stage. CGs are useless on the bottom floor (no up smash kill and the walls **** you're fthrow chain to the edge). the middle floor is there people like to camp so even if you do manage to get to them they're waiting with an attack. the top is fine except its a fall through platform that still has an entire stage under it. if you do get a grab on the top then its pretty much an easy kill, but most characters stay in teh bottom/middle portions so gettign them to the top is almost impossible anyway.

2-3/5

terrible stage.

 

[Smasher89]

One thing I have trouble with and needs to know on luigis mansion is which % generally KOs the most chars with an usmash from the bottom part of the stage?, other stages is from 80-110 somewere but this stage is bigger :/

 

[FrozenHobo]

can we move onto another stage yet? it seems like we've been on weegee's mansion for a while now....

 

[Lukeozade.]

It's not the greatest stage,but I find it fun to play.
With some speed on the bottom floor, it is possible to use an U-throw to Ice block lock.

 

[Kage Me]

*ahum* Next stage?

 

[lain]

Luigi's mansion is amazing for IC's because they can desync blizzard across the bottom and there's nothing most of the cast can do.

Obvious bad choices here are any characters that can get through the WOB. (lucario fsmash, certain projectiles, etc.)

woooooooo just beat the first disc of RE4. i mean i've beaten this game like 12 times before cause it's so god **** fun, but i lost my memory card.

yep.

 

[momochuu]

*ahum* Next stage?

Sure.

I didn't think people noticed this thread anymore.

 

[Kage Me]

Pokémom Stadium... One of my favourite Ice Climber counterpicks.

The Normal stage is pretty basic. It's essentially Final Destination with two small platforms - not that viable for camping, and they're low enough to punish people for standing on them.

Rock is not that great... People like to camp inside the pit made by the platforms and the mountain sometimes. You can punish this extremely well with Ice Blocks. The area on the right is just wide enough to chaingrab on, and you can camp to some extent on the left with u-air. If your opponent has a high %, camp on top of the rock for early u-smash kills.

Fire is pretty nice. If you get a grab on the left, the "cave" makes for easy grab release chains which lead into very high damage when both Climbers are present. The one platform is not that viable for camping, since people will just camp underneath it. On the right, there's a pretty wide area for chaingrabs, and a single platform that's pretty low. I think u-tilt and u-smash actually go through it, but I'm not sure...

Grass is quite good. People will want to camp on the two platforms above eachother if you pressure them well, making them easy targets for your assault from below. The little branch platform is neglicible, and if you stay away from the little stream, chaingrabs are easy.

Water is my favourite of them all. The windmill can be used to cover more area with your attacks (especially Blizzard), there's a little slope that speeds up your Ice Blocks, and it's all fairly basic aside from that.

All in all, you'll need a good out-of-grab game on this stage, and you need to know how to exert stage control, because you have plenty of chances to use it here.

4/5

 

[lain]

I hate PS1 for climbers.

 

[g-regulate]

lol @ "conquer that mountain"

 

[Kage Me]

I hate PS1 for climbers.

You hate everything, you cynical meanie! T_T

 

[BlueTerrorist]

lol @ "conquer that mountain"

Hey that title is a BT original. No making fun >:3!!!!

 

[Diddyknight]

i dont like PS1 as i thought. Recovring can be bull sometimes.

 

[Funen1]

I wonder if this will ever get updated. Even I forgot about it for a while...

I should at least post something on-topic though. The main and Grass stages I think are decent for the ICs, with a few platforms for the opponent to escape to (more so on Grass), though it is still possible to punish them while fleeing (similar strategies as on Battlefield). The Fire, Rock, and to some extent Water (the windmill) stages can screw up CGs big time, however. I don't know if this holds true in Brawl like it did in Melee, but in Melee some people may just wait out Fire and Rock anyway. On Water, just keep your chaingrabs to the right side of the windmill (if you can land one, that is, what with the higher platforms here). The sweetspot on the ledges seems to be a bit different than other stages, though it can be circumvented with a little practice (you may even feel like using the weird sweetspot to throw off others as you edgeguard them).

I'd say 2.5/5 at most, mostly because you theoretically spend more time on transitions that really hinder the IC's ground game, though they can still step it up when the stage is in its more neutral portions.

 

[momochuu]

I update when discussion actually happens. There's only a few pages in this entire thread. =/

 

[Funen1]

Thing is, IC players usually like to stick with neutrals such as FD and Smashville (I don't blame them, as the ICs do so well there). But because of their relative dominance on neutrals, I fear that many people wouldn't bother discussing counterpick stages at all, especially considering that most players already know to simply avoid places like Norfair or Rainbow Cruise.

 

[Kage Me]

The sweetspot on the ledges seems to be a bit different than other stages, though it can be circumvented with a little practice (you may even feel like using the weird sweetspot to throw off others as you edgeguard them).

Does the ledge even matter to IC recovery? Belay is a tether, and Squall shouldn't be aiming for the ledge from below anyway.

 

[Funen1]

Does the ledge even matter to IC recovery? Belay is a tether, and Squall shouldn't be aiming for the ledge from below anyway.

True. The only thing I can think of is using the midair jump trying to grab the ledge and missing, then the opponent knows you'll have to use Belay or Squall and can edgeguard appropriately. Still unlikely to happen though.

 

[Hylian]

Not very active :/.