Controlling Spacing

[Vitamin X]

I recently went to a tournament. Had an uninspired performance at said tournament, and ended a lot of matches with 0 stocks. One commonality I noticed in a majority of my bad losses (and I do mean BAD), was that my opponent was in near total control of the amount of space between us.

I am, and have for a long time been, well aware of the significance of spacing. To those experienced players who rarely have this problem except against elite players, do you have any advice for a player who is having extreme trouble controlling spacing against solid opposition?

You would have my appreciation, for what that's worth.

 

[Geenareeno]

Dashdancing and wavedashing are really important for spacing if you didn't know that. Short hop wavelands can be used on certain characters.

 

[Bones0]

A lot of spacing is dependent upon both players' character and the stage. You're not going to get many general tips that are very helpful. The only universal advice is, like Geenareeno said, learn to apply DDWD.

 

[Krynxe]

A great man once told me that your goal is to make sure your attacks either hit, or are safe. Otherwise, you're not doing it right. (<3 Toph)

Try to work on determining what both yours and your opponent's options are, trying your best to not let them do what they want to do and punish them for it while effectively doing what you can do without being punished for it. This is pretty much the golden rule of spacing, it just takes a lot of practice and knowledge to really get down. Hope this helps a bit.

 

[Vitamin X]

I'm appreciating all of your replies, but it might help you guys help me to give you more information, like Bones said.

I had this difficulty against many characters, so I really don't want to concentrate on anything character-specific as far as opponents go.

I play mostly Sheik and rarely dashdance, though those facts aren't immediately related. Most of my ground approach involves dashing to advance and wavedashing to retreat. Out of this kind of approach, I look for a dash attack, a grab, or a down-tilt, or less commonly, shield. I also attempt a standing needle every now and then. From this position, I've seen dash attacks and grabs fall just short of their mark often enough to know it's not a coincidence.

My aerial approach usually involves short hops while facing away from the opponent, which advertises B-air rather blatantly. From there, I usually either do exactly that, reverse needles, or waveland onto a platform. Sometimes I think to mix in empty jumps and go straight into my ground approach. The problem I'm seeing though, is my opponent somehow sneaking right under me instead of being at Sheik's heel where I want them, making B-air suddenly unsafe and putting my opponent in a position to punish me easily.

I've got that I need to learn to dashdance effectively, and that I need to figure out what the opponent's trying to do. In light of this additional information, is there anything else I might try?

 

[Varist]

why are you short hopping in place. short hop away and bair, that's why they're getting under you

space fair after hitconfirming needles

wait for them to jump and dash attack under them

space fair some more too

don't approach first, just charge needles


idk i don't play sheik

 

[Эикельманн [РУС]]

Put a box in front of you in whatever scenario comes to you. Make it so that you can hit him within the range of that box, but he cannot hit you. That's spacing.

 

[Massive]

I'm appreciating all of your replies, but it might help you guys help me to give you more information, like Bones said.

I had this difficulty against many characters, so I really don't want to concentrate on anything character-specific as far as opponents go.

I play mostly Sheik and rarely dashdance, though those facts aren't immediately related. Most of my ground approach involves dashing to advance and wavedashing to retreat. Out of this kind of approach, I look for a dash attack, a grab, or a down-tilt, or less commonly, shield. I also attempt a standing needle every now and then. From this position, I've seen dash attacks and grabs fall just short of their mark often enough to know it's not a coincidence.

Sounds like a job for BOOSTGRAB.

 

[KrIsP!]

Watch that video. Damn I forgot it. Lucien spacing episode 2 should find it on YouTube. That's as general as it gets, everything else is character specific but he says helpful stuff life weave in and out of their range to bait them or scare them. Don't run in until they give up an advantage. DD in and out of the range of their largest attack, like for fox a nairplane can go far so stay that amount away and go in and out of his range to get him to attack while you retreat or give you an opening when he can tell your baiting and doesn't know what to dO

 

[Blu]

I had this difficulty against many characters, so I really don't want to concentrate on anything character-specific as far as opponents go.

Spacing is always going to be matchup-specific; not only are you weighing the opponent's ranges in simple instances like shorthops and SFFLing, but also their options in specific situations (i.e. punishing, out-of-shield options, edgeguarding, etc.) and the hitbox ranges found in those scenarios.

Just take each opposing character in stride, and record your matches whenever you can to pinpoint mistakes.

 

[Violence]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfBuAo_Bfvw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFtGQRm1bTg

You might want to visit the Sheik boards as well.

 

[Vitamin X]

Hey, thanks a ton, gents. You've given me a lot to work with.