Countering grabspam?

[TheREALShadowChaos]

I was playing with Falcon against a DK in Dream Land. And that DK kept grabbing me and then Bthrowing my offstage and when I came back he just repeated.

Like 90% of his moves was a grab.
He did it to prove that grabbing was overpowered because I did the same to him the match before it (Only with Falcon against Kirby).

So what can someone do against grab spam? Especially in small stages it's hard to return without getting grabbed when you get knocked or thrown off the edge.

 

[DMoogle]

For starters when you recover aim for the ledge or one of the platforms.

 

[Blue Yoshi]

Choose Fox, run away, and lazer spam.

Any projectile will work. If all they do is grab, just spam projectiles while staying out of their grab range. that will force them to change plans and not grab... unless they want 100% from continuous projectile spam.

Projectile spam > grab spam... if done properly and with a good projectile (i.e. Mario, Link, Fox... Luigi?)

Other than that, Dair with certain characters will work. If they don't shield, they get hit, which is good for you. If they shield, their shield stun will last long enough for you to grab (for most characters). If they roll, techchase, and you grab again. This is assuming you're playing against a noob that just grabspams. There are ways around this that result in you getting grabbed, but not many people think that far ahead...

 

[SuPeRbOoM]

grab him XD

 

[Kefit]

Remember that your opponent can only grab in front of him. Hit him from the back, the bottom, or the top. Don't use landing aerials that will land you in front of your opponent unless you are sure that they will provide enough shield stun for you to grab first or get away from his shield grab.

 

[DMoogle]

Remember that your opponent can only grab in front of him. Hit him from the back, the bottom, or the top. Don't use landing aerials that will land you in front of your opponent unless you are sure that they will provide enough shield stun for you to grab first or get away from his shield grab.

Oh yeah +1. This is a very important, get into the habit of landing your aerials behind your opponent. Be aware that DK can up-B out of his shield, but you can just shield that and then he's left wide open.

 

[Blue Yoshi]

If you're against a grab-spamming any-character-but-DK, grab-spam with DK. You will more than likely grab them, causing them to stop grabbing and start changing your strategy (which they probably don't know how to do...). Against a DK, grab-spamming as DK won't work soo well.

Best plan, in my opinion (assuming you're Falcon), would be to, as I said, Dair them (but as everyone else said, land behind him). There is nothing he can do against it if he stands or shields. And from the sounds of it, he will likely stand the first few times, then say you're being cheap spamming Dairs

 

[Dylan_Tnga]

If you know what your opponent is going to do, there's really no excuse for losing. Smash is purely based on prediction and reaction.

Use the tips you're getting here to counter the grab spam, clearly short hop aerials and shield pressure are the answer.

But again, if you know what your opponent is going to do then you should be able to win no problem. Lure him into a bunch of desperate dashgrabs and land a combo starter on him, then kill him.

 

[Daedatheus]

For starters when you recover aim for the ledge or one of the platforms.

This is huge and I think most posters didn't add it to what they were saying because they assumed your playing was of a higher level.

If you're Falcon, GO FOR THE EDGE! or FOR THE PLATFORM! or for wherever your opponent won't grab you. Then continue from there.

Against grab spammers, SH aerials are the key. They'll uselessly grab while they continually take fists and legs to the face.

Grabbing is overpowered but it isn't broken, because almost every character in ssb64 can abuse it. DK is the grab king of smash64, he has the best grab range to grab speed ratio, so don't try to out-grab him. He'll just grab you instead. Grabs are a big part of DK's game.

Oh, and if he was complaining about grab spamming as Kirby against your Falcon, he must be pretty bad (grab-spamming shouldn't really work vs. kirby who can shut down that approach easily, and kirby rarely gets shield-grabbed due to high shieldstun and his utilt).

So, destroy his grab-spamming with more aerials (shorthopped and otherwise), and crossups (going behind him), and he'll be flying around like a useless rag as you beat him senseless.

 

[asianaussie]

Speed and low-lag moves. That way you can pressure them. Remember, they have to be grounded to grab, and if they happen to be shielding, you can just get behind them and predict a little.

Grab spamming is not overpowered. It's just a little cheap. Besides, if you're playing Falcon vs DK, use superior manoeuvering to get him into a bad situation.

 

[NixxxoN]

Short hop works well... Dtilt spam with some characters works well too. If you use DK you can counter him by grabbing (dk grab has the best range) and fireball spam with mario and luigi works well too.

 

[greenblob]

I tend to platform camp.

 

[Lawrencelot]

Fox shorthop double laser

 

[TheREALShadowChaos]

Thanks I'll use these tips.

 

[Blue Yoshi]

Most (if not all) of these tips work, and are even better when you do a bunch of them so that you're unpredictable.

I haven't seen anyone post this advice, and as obveous and dumb as it sounds, it's actually probably the most useful advice of them all:

Don't get grabbed

Although it's harder than it sounds, if you actually try not to get grabbed, you can avoid it much easier. Grab-spammers usually win when opponents try to take them head-on... only to get grabbed. Those three simple words are much deeper than they seem... believe me.

 

[Superstar]

Falcon's Dair gives a fair bit of shieldstun I think? SH it close to the ground and you'll either hit him and be able to lead to a combo. Probably Falcon's Fair will help a fair bit due to range, and bair may help as well [shieldstun].

Grabbing is severely overpowered in lower levels, but once you can combo and pressure, it becomes a lot more manageable.

Take what I say with a grain of salt, haven't played in so long and I barely know Falcon ;_;

 

[Dylan_Tnga]

Falcon will grab you. He's made for that. but if he misses and you do the above mentioned shorthop to effective aerial based on spacing and you hit him, even if you suck at this game, you are now comboing captain falcon. Feel free to move him across the stage, taunt, and have a beer while you edgeguard him.

If falcon grabs you, he's falcon. You're on his terms now and he plans to hospitalize you or worse. aka, dun get grab'd

 

[Daedatheus]

Falcon's Dair gives a fair bit of shieldstun I think? SH it close to the ground and you'll either hit him and be able to lead to a combo.

Yup, if you're behind him you can shorthop a dair onto his shield, that way he can't pivot-> grab you and it will land give you a free grab on him because of shieldstun from the dair.

Spaced fairs (as in, fairs that hit him or his shield while keeping yourself out of grab range) will make him whiff grabs if he's a total grab abuser, leading to free hits for you.

 

[Surri-Sama]

Just pick a char that can attack well in the air.

Fox, pika, kirby...they all work well vs graby foes.


Or simply be DK and grab trap...that'll show'em!

 

[Battlecow]

It's all very well to talk about getting to the edge once thrown, but what do I do once I'm there? generally, my DK-playing opponent will just wait within range to run forward just a tiny bit and then grab me if I get up, roll, or get up with an attack: and if I jump off and then use my recovery move, I'm a sitting duck for him!

So, even if I do get to the edge (which isn't always possible without leaving oneself open to edgeguarding) I'm grabbed again. then thrown. then the entire dreary process repeats itself

 

[ballin4life]

Ledgehop fair or get up into an ftilt

 

[Daedatheus]

It's all very well to talk about getting to the edge once thrown, but what do I do once I'm there? generally, my DK-playing opponent will just wait within range to run forward just a tiny bit and then grab me if I get up, roll, or get up with an attack: and if I jump off and then use my recovery move, I'm a sitting duck for him!

Recovery is all mindgames.

Do stuff like a few empty ledgehops (provided the spacing is safe), and/or condition him earlier in the match to expect certain ledge recovery options, and/or try using projectiles from the edge, and/or etc.

There's no one single solution to recovering, you pretty much always have to switch it up. If your opponent is smart about it then yes, recovering will be hard (depending on your character), but not impossible.