1. ZeRo, would you explain spacing in-depth to me? It's such a broad topic. How can I get better at it? What are good ways to space with
?
I get that it's not just hitting with the tips of hitboxes. I just never understand the concept and it gets thrown around so much. The more text, the better.
2. Can you give me tips on how to fight
? It's my worst matchup.
To define spacing, I must first define the 'space' that we're playing in. Imagine that the game's stage is a square. One one side there's your opponent, and on there other side, you. The more space that you have behind, the more space that you have to maneuver, since you can back out. The opposite happens with your opponent. The less space he has behind him, the less space he has to maneuver.
Spacing is basically gaining space behind you. It's a term meant to gain stage control.
However, when people use it as a way to refer to attacks, it has a different meaning. It's like you said, it's meant to position -space- your attacks with their full range, or at a certain distance so you can't be punished by your opponent. This is the other term for spacing: Positioning of your attacks.
You get better at it by getting to know better your attacks, and especially, their range. Once you understand the range of things, and can manipulate them at will, you can easily control the distance between you and your opponent by simply knowing how to position your attacks. There's no easy way to learn this, it comes down with experience. Simply play a lot and pay attention to the speed and range of your attacks, and try to use them in a way that what you want to do makes sense. For example, if I see my opponent misstime something, and he's at mid range, depending of the MU, I'll have a couple of frames to punish, at this range, I know I can easily dash grab or F-TIlt since both are quick options. If he's above me and falling down with an attack, I should U-Tilt at a certain time when he's falling down, etc. This is how I'm connecting my 'I gotta punish this with this'. This is an example of a 'mastered spacing' works, which is why I'm telling you to focus on how to connect your mental process with your character's moveset.
First of all vs GW:
Don't play aggressive. Play quite campy, and sit back a lot. Especially if you're above 60%. Always watch out for grabs (if you shield a lot) Down airs, and F-Airs. Most GW's throw Smashes for when they expect you to attack them, this is why it's better to wait for them to attack so this doesn't happen.
All GW does is trade. He hits harder and survives longer due to his bucket cancel, so you lose all trades. Don't trade with him. Play campy.
I usually play this way:
B-Airs: Tornado, GSL, F-TIlt. Depending of height, how close he is. If not shield, and then punish his distance as fast as possible with an F-Tilt or N-Air/Grab if he messed up the timing. GSL to kill.
D-Air: If I see it coming, shield and grab/N-Air/D-Air is the best option. U-Tilt is the best option to kill him when he D-Airs.
N-Air: Don't get hit by this, this is how he wins the mu: N-Air combos. Tornado beats it pretty well for when he is juggling you. Simply fall down with tornado.
Shield game: I simply F-Tilt, D-tilt at max range, and then shield/spot dodge his punishes (He can only grab or SH F-Air) or dash grab him right away. If his shield is low I will tornado or SH F-Air. If he sees the tornado coming, I will SH and do nothing and wait for his reaction towards my fake attempt of tornado.
Spotdodge: SH F-Air/F-Tilt a little delayed (Don't F-Air right away, wait a split second. Don't do all 3 hits of F-Tilt right away, wait a ltitle bit in between each of them) owns this. Hard reading this into a N-Air, grab, dash attack, or even a glide attack can give you the openings you need to combo GW hard and gain a solid lead.
Videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdtyDbRPFjw <---Perfect demonstration of what I said, but sadly, the video is kind of laggy from the stream. But still, a very solid and good example of the MU.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct7yLWw8CgA <--- Good example of how to counter GW's moveset in general. However, don't SL as much as I did here, because most GW's D-Air right away, so they beat MK's SL. Neko didn't D-Air that much back when this was played out, which is why I abused SL so much vs him. This is also a good example of how abusing your opponent's weaknesses works!
Edgeguard:
If you can shuttle loop of the stage like Otori, or Kakera do, it works amazing for GW's who don't recover low enough. If not, simply grab the ledge just as he's about to grab it, then press back and jump at him with a F-Air (guaranteed pretty much) and N-Air if he doesn't space properly. If you're going for a N-Air try to land on his 'face' (the other side) so he gets sent,back off the stage again. If he misspaces it, a GSL can also kill him too. But N-Air is a lot of damage and also kills, so I would stick with that move in this situation, personally. Grabs work wonders too! B-Throw is the best option in this case.
Most importantly, never challenge his Down Airs when you're juggling him. Unless you're perfect at it, he will always get you a couple of times. It's safer and easier to simply bait them and shield and punish afterwards.
When he is juggling you with U-Air, simply glide off the stage and then make it to the ledge and then go back tot he stage. Much safer and easier than trying to land from above into the stage.
GL!
