Does Luigi REALLY kill early?

[The_World]

I've often heard some people and commentators say that Luigi can kill early in Smash 4, but in my own experience, that hasn't really been the case for me. I can never get Luigi to KO anyone until about 150%, unless I manage to land a spike off stage. While very easy to get combos with Luigi, I feel that he really doesn't have a lot of kill options. Is this true? Or is he actually good at KOing and I just need to adjust my playstyle? Tips would be much appreciated.

 

[BSL]

UpB, nair, fsmash

 

[Yonder]

He's not as crazy at killing than Brawl, but at least he's a middle weight with an option to kill at 60% [up b]. WThe patch helped, removing vectoring and buffing F smash to about 70% full charged down tilted f smash.

I say he's tad above average for it. [He's the best comboer in the game though so who cares]

 

[GreenFlame]

Freaking Green Missile misfire kills at 50%. That's pretty early.

In seriousness (since Green Missile is almost never usable on stage), F-smash in incredibly powerful and quick, so's u-smash, up-b and b-air. D-air meteor and f-air edge-guard allow early kills

 

[The_World]

Thanks. I'll keep this in mind.

 

[NewZen]

"F-smash in incredibly powerful and quick, so's u-smash, up-b and b-air. D-air meteor and f-air edge-guard allow early kills"

You're better off utilizing B-air, U-Smash and F-Smash more than his other options. Up-B is still too risky in most situations and D-air Meteor is so hard to get off it's ridiculous. In fact, I use D-Air after Down Throws into combos that lead into U-Smash (It's hard to get off, but it's possible).

 

[VioletSmashfan]

"F-smash in incredibly powerful and quick, so's u-smash, up-b and b-air. D-air meteor and f-air edge-guard allow early kills"

You're better off utilizing B-air, U-Smash and F-Smash more than his other options. Up-B is still too risky in most situations and D-air Meteor is so hard to get off it's ridiculous. In fact, I use D-Air after Down Throws into combos that lead into U-Smash (It's hard to get off, but it's possible).

His Dair was very hard to meteor with in the past 3 Smash games (which kinda turned me off a little, since I usually land it like once or twice in a match), in Smash 4 I can land it pretty easily, almost 50% of the time, they really buffed up the Lean Mean Green Machine this time around, plus his D throw has some nasty setups for him.

 

[NewZen]

His Dair was very hard to meteor with in the past 3 Smash games (which kinda turned me off a little, since I usually land it like once or twice in a match), in Smash 4 I can land it pretty easily, almost 50% of the time, they really buffed up the Lean Mean Green Machine this time around, plus his D throw has some nasty setups for him.

The thing is, his D-air has changed since every game until Brawl and this game-the first one was all about getting off combo hits, the second one was more high damage and one of his better kill options in the air not counting F-air considering it sent opponents left or right, and the one is Brawl was just this one, but worse.

I'm not saying it's not possible to kill with it, but it's risky to do so, given his rather mediocre recovery (still...) and rather poor kill options in the air.

And yes, D-throw leads into so much its not even funny.

 

[frest123]

On lighter characters, you could try chasing with Down B in the air. The last hit can kill quite early. (Obviously the closer to the ceiling the better) It can even frame trap if you follow their aerial movement. This often comes as a surprise to my opponents since Luigi isn't really one to have that great aerial mobility.

At higher percents (130-150%), Down throw, Jump Down B works quite well and I've landed quite a few kills with this. Some inexperienced players on For Glory can even be Dthrow, UpB-ed. xP

Down smash is good too (surprised that ppl haven't suggested it). Little cool down and comes out quite quick.

Oh and for ledge spammers, the down taunt is so pleasurable. Hahahaha

Slightly off topic, Down air I notice is actually a good projectile nullifier. Against characters like Toon Link, I've used it to disable the Boomerang while jumping in for an attack.

 

[ThunderSt0rm]

On lighter characters, you could try chasing with Down B in the air. The last hit can kill quite early. (Obviously the closer to the ceiling the better) It can even frame trap if you follow their aerial movement. This often comes as a surprise to my opponents since Luigi isn't really one to have that great aerial mobility.

At higher percents (130-150%), Down throw, Jump Down B works quite well and I've landed quite a few kills with this

Dthrow>cyclone works on everyone and at earlier percents than 130-150%. Floaties like Rosalina can die to it as early as 85-90% before the dthrow.

 

[hey_there]

Starting from around 80ish% to 110ish% (depending on match up) here's a run down of my mental list of KO options I look for:

- Fresh usmash kills, is fast, and covers a wide area around Luigi. Can bait an air dodge after a dthrow and land a usmash.
- Fsmash kills, and though it can be tricky to land sometimes, it has really high reward for the risk.
- Dsmash can kill and can be charged while sliding across the floor. Can stage spike an opponent hanging on the ledge. Also goes underneath a surprising amount of attacks because he gets so low to the ground.
- Up B can punish and KO at like +60% on the entire cast. Also an OoS option.
- Sweet spot bair kills. It can kill from on-stage, out of dthrow, and, for me most commonly, when hanging off the ledge to intercept an opponent's recovery.
- Cyclone's last hit kills off the top.
- bthrow kills fresh near the edge at around 120-135% or so.
- dthrow -> X. X can be Up B, sweet spot nair, or cyclone, depending on percent, DI, match up. bair also works too.
- dthrow -> dair spike when you get a grab over the ledge (thanks for that, @Dire Creeper!). Luigi can really put on the pressure and corner someone to the ledge. You'll be thankful you practised this stylish tech.
- Gimping with fair, dair, dair spike, bair, and cyclone (if you can rise with it).
- Misfire KOs earlier than Up B and it's not hard to sneak a couple missiles in during a match, and can be combo'd into. Nope, it's not reliable, but giving yourself as the chance for easy, undeserved KOs is a pretty fun, and not something to completely ignore. I was in a tournament last Saturday and literally 0-death'd a Link with dthrow -> dbl fair -> jab -> dthrow -> fair -> misfire.

Luigi has lots of options and set ups. If you're getting everyone to 150% before KOs ... great! You've got the combo part down. Now, it's time to get the finishers down, too =).

 

[Genghis_Connor]

He does kill early, but sometimes it doesn't even matter. I've forgotten to even throw out an up-b or fsmash sometimes just because I combo'd so much. It's a really weird feeling when you combo dthrow into 7 moves, smack 'em around with a few aerial juggles, and finally get a weird kill off a sourspot bair or dair or something only to look down at their damage meter to see something ridiculous like 180%

The only hard part is learning how to read to get a kill with any smash attack, a fresh bair to kill off the side, a stage spike bair as they try to recover, a high cyclone, or a real hard up-b read. Of course, up-b or nair out of dthrow works at higher percents as well and is pretty much guaranteed.

The disrespect potential is also incredible with Luigi. The realest kill I've ever gotten is a dtaunt --> up-B off a ledge roll read. Second place goes to a few tied-up random misfires. I'm starting to tap into that Luigi main magic the more I use him; I swear I can predict exactly when I'm gonna get that side-B kill.

So basically, yeah, he is good for killing. You just have to switch out of combo mode to do it.

 

[gameonion]

Let's not forget his Bair! It's a pretty easy kill-move. Other ones:

Up-Smash
Side-Smash
Nair
Dair (spike)
Up-B
Side-B misfire
Down B in air
Back-throw

 

[The_World]

I will definitely keep these in mind, thanks guys. Hopefully I'll get a video up in the next few days showing my progress.

 

[Shoyo James]

Honestly, Luigi has so many dangerous killing moves. The only moves that can't really kill (can still gimp) are his tilts, uair, fair, fireball, and downthrow... They can all lead into potential kills tho (especially down throw.)

 

[ThegreatVaporeon1]

A lot of his kill moves require him to commit or be closer to the opponent, which is why it can be tough. Upward Fsmash and dthrow cyclone are your best bets.

 

[Mtn64]

Sweet spot BAIRS, has a good gimp game, BUP kills, USmash FSmash, BThrow edge of stage certain percents, DThrow --> DownB (Unavoidable for most characters even with proper DI at certain kill percents.)