hey guys i was watching some melee and i noticed how good crouch cancelling was and that got me thinking maybe we could use this in smash 4. so i went into the lab and found that crouching weak hits at lower then 15% is viable. it seems like just spot dodging would be better though. but if your opponent like a fox for example wants to f tilt you you can crouch it and down smash with mario. so please test this and tell me if you think this has any usage i doubt it but if someone found something that would be cool.
What a coincidene, I just examined this today to see what more specific advantages I could glean from this option. So I a got some fresh perspective on it!
But just so we're on the same page, this is not called "crouch canceling" in Smash Wii U, it has been named
Crouch Defensive Value since it is not canceling anything in the formal sense, it is simply making your character more defensive (i.e. heavier, I believe).
I did the same thing as you: I asked myself "Why would I use this option if there are stronger options"? (Shields and Dodges seem to be the better option since you are not taking any damage nor knockback and even just some simple movement to evade attacks would be a huge advantage in position and timing).
The answer lies in niche situations, I found. These are very subtle events that usually need to be read very quickly in a fast-paced close-in battle:
For instance, in a Mario ditto I found that if I used a movement option to gain positional advantage on opponent Mario where I am facing his back with a short distance from him where I could opt to poke at his Shield then he could potentially B-air (or any aerial attack really) Out-of-Shield (OoS) and stuff my attack (beat my attack with his).
However... if I crouched behind him, all his aerial attacks would whiff (miss) over my Mario's head and I could punish him for it.
At this point I have a huge advantage... however there are a couple options he could take that could end up bad for me: Up-Smash (U-Smash) OoS and Up-Special (U-Spec) OoS , both of which potentially could catch my Mario crouching there behind him.
Looking at taking a hit... Crouch Defensive Value really helps because if my character has low damage % then his U-Spec OoS would send me almost nowhere and I would have "frame advantage" (more time) to punish him after. If I have a deadly amount of damage % on my character and he opts for an U-Smash OoS I would normally have my attacks stuffed and my Mario would get KO'd - but with Crouch Defense I survive the hit (and at low % I think I may have frame advantage to at least get a good positional advantage again for the next round of reads/responses).
There's one other option he could take and that is to stay in his Shield. This is a weak option because the Shield drains and eventually will break, giving me a huge advantage if it does. So, with a time limit from Shield Drain he is going to be pressured to Jump (and have his attacks whiff and be punished), roll/side-step (and get read and punished), or drop-shield and turn at me with an attack or run away at which point I should react with my D-tilt (I don't suffer extra time dropping my shield since I am in Crouch Defense) setting him up for some air pressure (using my air attacks or baiting his air-dodge for a stronger punish).
To sum up that example, it is a rather niche situation but when getting into a deeper game, all options must be examined and the
best option must be chosen in an incredibly short amount of time; knowledge + execution is why good players are good.
Just standing behind opponent Mario might make you eat an OoS option; standing behind him with your Shield up might eliminate some options that would have otherwise given you advantage; thus, crouching gives you added protection: Complete protection against those highly likely aerial OoS options
as well as a little bit more defense against the two less-likely grounded OoS options all while keeping your options to D-Tilt poke at his Shield-drop without suffering time to drop your own Shield since you are poised in crouching position ready to D-Tilt if needed; Every Frame Counts!
