Does certain move counter certain moves?

[Insightful]

Does certain attacks counter other attacks with different characters? Or is every attack basically just used to rack up damage. For example can you out range other people with a character's U tilt?

What is the general strategy that people use to win? Do you go for delays? Do you just use combos to rack up damage and try to get the kill with up smashes? Or is there a way to counter moves without getting hit period? Like out ranging?

Like example: Does Pikachu's D-air counter any other character's move specifically or is it being thrown out as an attempt to just rack up damage?

Confused as to how the smash 4 strategy works. Dunno what exactly I should be looking for or if Im even supposed to try to counter rather than just rack up damage to get the kill. I think about this often but never decided to ask since I thought it might be seen as a dumb question lol.


Generally want a clear understanding of everything in the metagame so that I can condition myself correctly from the jump. I seriously wanna play this game professionally, I aim to beat certain people I look up to at least once lol.

 

[NotAnAdmin]

It's great that you're ambitious. Good luck.

I'm not exactly sure on what you're asking, but I think you're looking for a mix of explanations that include:
Priority
Spacing
Stage positioning
The neutral

Below are a bunch of videos that I think explain these and more fairly well for someone who's a bit fresh. Hope it helps!

 

[Red Shirt KRT]

I think you are looking at it wrong. Most moves can be used in some way to rack up damage. Most work in different ways and have pros and cons

Usually a strong attack has end or start lag (warlock punch)

Usually weak attacks have less lag (quick attack)

If the opponent made a mistake and missed a laggy move you can punish them with a strong and laggy move. If they miss a weak move try and hit them with a quick weak move

Usually people approach with moves with low lag so they have a harder time being punished.

 

[Wintropy]

It depends on your character and who you're fighting. Sometimes you want to play offensively and go in for big damage, other times you want to play defensively and take advantage of holes in your opponent's movements. You need to understand how each move works, when the best time to use it is and why you're using it in that situation.

Some moves are naturally safer than others, either because they are faster (in terms of startup, first active frames (FAF) or overall frame data), have greater range / disjointed hitboxes, can trade favourably with other moves and / or have autocancel properties. Sometimes it's good to go for safe options to poke or space your opponent, especially in neutral, where something slow or committal can get you punished; other times you want to try something riskier and punish the opponent in turn. There's no one way to optimise your gameplan, and no "golden rule" to ensure victory: it's just a case of knowing your moves intimately and being able to choose the right one at the right time.

It gets a bit more complicated when you consider trading, clanking and transcendent hitboxes, but I'll let you research them in your own time. These threads are very helpful resources if you want to study the nature of different hitboxes in greater detail:

The special properties of moves

List of transcendent moves

Hope this answers your question. Good luck!

 

[Insightful]

It's great that you're ambitious. Good luck.

I'm not exactly sure on what you're asking, but I think you're looking for a mix of explanations that include:
Priority
Spacing
Stage positioning
The neutral

Below are a bunch of videos that I think explain these and more fairly well for someone who's a bit fresh. Hope it helps!

I think you are looking at it wrong. Most moves can be used in some way to rack up damage. Most work in different ways and have pros and cons

Usually a strong attack has end or start lag (warlock punch)

Usually weak attacks have less lag (quick attack)

If the opponent made a mistake and missed a laggy move you can punish them with a strong and laggy move. If they miss a weak move try and hit them with a quick weak move

Usually people approach with moves with low lag so they have a harder time being punished.

It depends on your character and who you're fighting. Sometimes you want to play offensively and go in for big damage, other times you want to play defensively and take advantage of holes in your opponent's movements. You need to understand how each move works, when the best time to use it is and why you're using it in that situation.

Some moves are naturally safer than others, either because they are faster (in terms of startup, first active frames (FAF) or overall frame data), have greater range / disjointed hitboxes, can trade favourably with other moves and / or have autocancel properties. Sometimes it's good to go for safe options to poke or space your opponent, especially in neutral, where something slow or committal can get you punished; other times you want to try something riskier and punish the opponent in turn. There's no one way to optimise your gameplan, and no "golden rule" to ensure victory: it's just a case of knowing your moves intimately and being able to choose the right one at the right time.

It gets a bit more complicated when you consider trading, clanking and transcendent hitboxes, but I'll let you research them in your own time. These threads are very helpful resources if you want to study the nature of different hitboxes in greater detail:

The special properties of moves

List of transcendent moves

Hope this answers your question. Good luck!

THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH. I was so confused before lol.

 

[Z1GMA]

Yes. There are high and low "crushes". A term used in other FIghting Games;
http://www.tekkenzaibatsu.com/wiki/Tekken_Tag_Tournament_2/System/Crush_System

Smash Example of a high crush:
Ganon uses Ftilt - Cloud uses Dtilt, which goes under the Ftilt and hits Ganon.

Smash Example of a low crush:
Marth uses Dtilt - Ryu uses Dash Attack, which goes over the Dtilt and hits Marth.

However, since smash is what it is (lots of aerial approaches and stuff), you could also say that a lot of aerials are "low crushes".
(Especially SH Rising Aerials)
Example: Marth uses Dtilt - Ganon uses SH Rising Stomp, which goes above the Dtilt and hits Marth.
This isn't a "traditional crush", but it's smash, so..

 

[Raijinken]

Reflectors reflect projectiles, moves like PSI Magnet and Oil Panic absorb projectiles, command/regular grabs hit through shields, regular attacks override grabs (and some command grabs depending on hurtbox and things), Counter blocks a move and retaliates. Armor can arguably function as a counter to standard attacks. Aerials can't clang while grounded moves can. There's a lot of odd interactions to know, even aside from the somewhat more advanced frame data and hitbox intricacies.

 

[wizrad]

It's great that you're ambitious. Good luck.

I'm not exactly sure on what you're asking, but I think you're looking for a mix of explanations that include:
Priority
Spacing
Stage positioning
The neutral

You're forgetting one of, if not the most important thing about competitive Smash: the mental game. Reading and conditioning your opponent can be the difference between a tie and outright domination.

 

[Machii]

Does certain attacks counter other attacks with different characters? Or is every attack basically just used to rack up damage. For example can you out range other people with a character's U tilt?

What is the general strategy that people use to win? Do you go for delays? Do you just use combos to rack up damage and try to get the kill with up smashes? Or is there a way to counter moves without getting hit period? Like out ranging?

Like example: Does Pikachu's D-air counter any other character's move specifically or is it being thrown out as an attempt to just rack up damage?

Confused as to how the smash 4 strategy works. Dunno what exactly I should be looking for or if Im even supposed to try to counter rather than just rack up damage to get the kill. I think about this often but never decided to ask since I thought it might be seen as a dumb question lol.


Generally want a clear understanding of everything in the metagame so that I can condition myself correctly from the jump. I seriously wanna play this game professionally, I aim to beat certain people I look up to at least once lol.

Play defensively. While an opponent is playing defensively, i.e. waiting to attack after you first do, you are always at a disadvantage. Focus on your movement and manuevers to draw your opponents attacks without getting hit so that you can punish them. With that said, certain attacks in the air allow for quicker recovery after landing than others. Knowing your best options as well as your opponents is the best way to anticipate your openings to land safe attacks. Imagine a version of paper, rock, scissors where the winner is the player that reveals their choice closest to a specified interval, regardless of whichever of the three they choose; that is the core of SSB4.

 

[NotAnAdmin]

You're forgetting one of, if not the most important thing about competitive Smash: the mental game. Reading and conditioning your opponent can be the difference between a tie and outright domination.

Very true, but the OP's a little fresh.... A simple explanation should suffice.
All of that stuff will be uncovered in time.