Critique my Fox

[Elliott Crawford]

In search for reliable secondaries, I picked up Fox recently. So far, what you see is a week progress of focusing on Fox. I played as him frequently before (4th most used character is battles) but those were more casual games. So I feel like I sorta know how to play as Fox, that's why I came here.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9fzqIXnL7n4

This is a 10 minute video of 3 Fox matches I had, I want some constructive criticism and tips on my Fox play.
Thanks

 

[TheGreatMetagod]

You go for an absurd amount of grabs. Fox really doesn't get enough out of his grabs to justify spamming them so much. His down-throw sometimes combos into his F-air(or B-air), but it can be escaped too easily to be reliable. Grabbing is for when people like to sit in their shields(and shield grab you when you approach). If you do get a grab though, make sure you pummel for a bit (Fox pummels unusually quickly).

Dash attacks are really unsafe. You'll get shield-grabbed all game if you keep using them so much. Dash attacks are more of a whiff punisher than an approach tool. It can combo into up-air at kill percentages.

You should try and grab edge more with the illusion. You can get away with going straight for the stage sometimes, but anyone who knows what they're doing will get a hard punish on you.

And, finally, you use way too many rolls. Fox is one of the fastest characters in the game. When you keep rolling, you hinder his extraordinary movement. Rolling also makes it harder to get good punishes. If you roll past a Lucina's F-Smash, you might be able to get a dash attack. If you shield a Lucina's F-Smash, you can get a free Up-Smash.

I really like your D-air usage (I don't see much of it) and you're really good at punishing whiffs with Up-Smash. The rolling and the Illusion (not grabbing edge) are the most important things though. They're the easiest habits to punish (and the most common.)

I suggest you watch a couple of videos in this thread to get an idea of high-level Fox play:
http://smashboards.com/threads/neve...ox-video-collection-thread-100-videos.392671/

Feel free to dispute anything I've said (if you feel it necessary).

 

[anas abou]

(the guy above said alot of what i was thinking about so i'll just skip our mutual thoughts)
-you hold your shine for way to long you should not hold unstead tap it when projectiles are near you.
-know that up tilt mostly hits you're back and no so much in front of you.
-be more offensive in you're play fox is a rushdown approach more.
-you go for alot of unsafe option (fsmash) when you really don't need to. always keep safe.

and that's about all you're fox is pretty good given the limited time you've had with the character keep up.

 

[EndlessRain]

Fox is not rushdown/approach focused. Do not play rushdown with Fox we have very, very few really good approach options. You need to play safe in the neutral, threatening but not committing and then grabbing any opportunity that presents itself with both hands. Rushdown involves commitment and our commitments are risky, mostly because we don't have much that can handle shields (autocancelled bair works but eh). A better way is to keep moving, weaving in and out and threatening to hit them, and then going ham on them the instant they slip up.
We are pretty mediocre in neutral, but an unholy terror when we have the advantage. Just rushing in is hard because we can't do so in a way that is both safe and capable of giving us an advantage significant enough for us to make a good conversion.

 

[Elliott Crawford]

Thank you guys ^_^ This really helps! Im an aggressive and a lot of times reckless player who likes to make action so I probably did things wrong from the get go. Thanks for investing your time because I really didn't know how Fox was played in comparison to the other fast characters and felt that visual aid was necessary.

You guys are awesome!

 

[luke_atyeo]

Fox is not rushdown/approach focused. Do not play rushdown with Fox we have very, very few really good approach options. You need to play safe in the neutral, threatening but not committing and then grabbing any opportunity that presents itself with both hands. Rushdown involves commitment and our commitments are risky, mostly because we don't have much that can handle shields (autocancelled bair works but eh). A better way is to keep moving, weaving in and out and threatening to hit them, and then going ham on them the instant they slip up.
We are pretty mediocre in neutral, but an unholy terror when we have the advantage. Just rushing in is hard because we can't do so in a way that is both safe and capable of giving us an advantage significant enough for us to make a good conversion.

this is a very good explanation of the correct way to play fox, and probably smash 4 in general.
remember that being patient is good and the more patient player usually comes out on top, but with fox you have to mask that patience with speed and movement and trick them into doing ****.

 

[EndlessRain]

Funny story, I picked up Fox when Greninja got uber-nerfed because they have the same playstyle, but Fox does it better.
(Also I'm a sucker for spacies).

 

[GiMiX]

As far as grabs go you should only use down grab up to about 30%, then switch to forward grab (it has more follow up potential and can push off the ledge at a better angle).
Play a little safer and maybe use lasers to force approach occasionally, that stuff adds up haha.

Also you should be shine spiking. Other than that looks good to me.