Dealing With Pressure

[BlueLettuce]

Hey y'all,

Been lurking for a while since I started playing PM and I have recently started to get some tourny experience. I've done alright at a couple weekly's but recently went to a bigger tournament and got rocked. I admit it definitely had to do with the level of players I was up against, but I don't think I helped myself out much.

I was feeling pressure from myself to get a hit when I was down. Zelda's punishes can net quite a bit of percent so I found myself going fishing quite often and generally ended up getting stuffed. Once they had me backed up I found myself constantly under pressure. What do you guys do to reset the pace? It took a lucky hit for me to get my opponent off me. I notice when I am better than the other player it's easier because they are forced to respect my space. But when the opponent is always on top of me, I was struggling to say the least.

Hopefully this isn't a repeat of something out there. I did a quick look before posting. Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

[uoshi]

I have a tendency to use Nayru's Love and dodge to the left or right to avoid/escape pressure. When Nayru's Love hits, the knock back is pretty decent.

 

[Mentor]

It's a little character dependent. For spacies (the most common characters to shield pressure from my experience), your best bet is to wait until they shine into a wavedash then roll to the left or right while they're wavedashing. The timing is tough though so you need to practice it with a friend. DO NOT JC NL OOS more than 5% of the time since a NL takes forever to come out relative to a shine/grab/jab. You can try up-b OOS but it's only a slightly better option than NL. Up-b OOS for spacies will force them to tech if you land the 1st hitbox though so the reward can be a total conversion if you cancel 1st/2nd frame cause it leads to a tech chase.

Other options to consider would be spot dodge, other OOS stuff (nair, fair, bair, jazz hands if you're feeling frisky). Grab sounds obvious but competent characters will either properly space themselves to account for it or will use a move with a faster hitbox. Not saying it doesn't work but you shouldn't throw it out often.

Like I said, the good options can be a bit character dependent. Just try different things in friendlies & observe which options work against which characters, but go back and look to see if the character could have countered your option.

Worst case scenario, get hit, DI away & NG or jump up-b away

 

[WhiteCrow]

Hey y'all,

Been lurking for a while since I started playing PM and I have recently started to get some tourny experience. I've done alright at a couple weekly's but recently went to a bigger tournament and got rocked. I admit it definitely had to do with the level of players I was up against, but I don't think I helped myself out much.

I was feeling pressure from myself to get a hit when I was down. Zelda's punishes can net quite a bit of percent so I found myself going fishing quite often and generally ended up getting stuffed. Once they had me backed up I found myself constantly under pressure. What do you guys do to reset the pace? It took a lucky hit for me to get my opponent off me. I notice when I am better than the other player it's easier because they are forced to respect my space. But when the opponent is always on top of me, I was struggling to say the least.

Hopefully this isn't a repeat of something out there. I did a quick look before posting. Thanks in advance for your advice.

Welcome aboard BlueLettuce. Zelda requires a remarkable amount of concentration at the higher levels of play, and she must be played very safely. Lightning kicks do a ton of damage but they are only active for a handful of frames so you have to be very precise. Din's Fire is an amazing trap but it can be punished hard because of the animation lag. On top of all that we're also obnoxiously slow in our run, wave dash length, aerial control, and our jump speed. Every movement is a commitment, every attack requires absolute dedication.

That said, Zelda has some of the strongest "get off me" moves in the game. Her back air comes out super quick (frame 5) and has lots of hit stun and knock back, making it an ideal out of shield options. Farore's Wind OoS is a decent option out of shield because you get gtfo while also having a strong mixup, especially on platforms. Up smash OoS is your bread and butter pressure breaker if your opponent isn't pressuring your shield safely. We also have a spectacular shield grab and very little traction, so shield pressure doesn't knock us back much. Don't forget about Project M's shield DI as it can be invaluable in some matches (Fox up smashes your shield which you are angling at him. If the up smash is uncharged you can punish with forward air OoS before he can shield). Nayru's Love is great if you get a hard read on an approach but it can be hard punished if it's baited out or shielded. Our princess has a great crouch cancel game with her grab,down tilt, down smash, LK's, and Nayru's Love.

My advice? Find a spacie player who is better than you and convince them to play with you for hours. It will hurt, and it probably won't be fun, but you need it in this meta game. Learn to feel out shield stun so you know exactly when you can act. Get used to being in the corner. Make the ledge your friend. Oh, and practice your punishes across the cast. You're right in that Zelda needs her punishes to take stops. Make sure you understand your hit boxes.

 

[Kaeldiar]

Sounds like you might be wanting some advice on mental pressure, as well? If that's the case, then try to keep calm. Listen to music if that helps. Try to anticipate a few of the things they might do next. Visualize their angle of attack and be ready for it, rather than simply trying to react. Zelda is slow. You can't react to much. Play patiently and understand that you can't out-speed your opponent, so you have to out-think them. Zelda actually has a fair amount of tools to stop approaches (Nayru's, up-smash, up-tilt, jab, and f-tilt are probably my favorites), so start to become comfortable using them, and WHEN to use which one! Even if you don't get a conversion off them, it can swing the momentum back in your favor and get you a little breathing room

 

[BlueLettuce]

Thanks for all of the feedback, fellas, super helpful. I definitely need to get more experience against better players and I think once that happens my play will slowly flesh itself out. Knowing what I can do when is something I struggle with for sure under pressure.

Also, is WD OoS a good option as zelda? or is it too easy for the opponent to cover due to lack of horizontal movement?

Sounds like you might be wanting some advice on mental pressure, as well?

You got it. I do struggle with what options to do when under pressure, but more than that I let the pressure get to me and I start making dumb mistakes. Like you guys said, experience will likely be my best teacher but it is nice to hear the basics from other Zelda players. Cheers.

 

[WhiteCrow]

Also, is WD OoS a good option as zelda? or is it too easy for the opponent to cover due to lack of horizontal movement?

I can't believe I forgot WD OoS. The opinion is mixed between most Zelda's but I believe Zelda's WD is essential to her punish game. You can punish a lot of smash attacks on shield with WD OoS that you can't punish with b/fair OoS. You don't want to use it all the time because it can be punished if you aren't fast enough, but it is a great mixup OoS.