Devil's Advocate for Nair
Hey Falco400.
Let me first start off by saying that I love you. I love what you have done for B+, I love what you have done for DK, and I love how you even helped me set up B+.... But, I think you are not giving DK's Nair the credit it deserves.... So, I decided to play devils advocate.
Frist off, I am no B+ veteran. You and some of the other posters here could likely kick my ***.
But nontheless, I am going to argue as if DK's Nair could be a great move. I will accept that I may be completely wrong. I have not analyzed the frame data. But I have seen it used well and I have used it well.... so here I go.
DK's Nair can not be measured in usefulness independently no more then can fox or falcons individual jabs.
Sure, its crappy alone, but when used smartly it can open up oppertunities for some of your better moves.
Think of DK's Nair as a full bodied airiar jab in this regard.
The goal of the Nair is to turn DK's whole body into a jab. That is, your momentum
is your punch.
If you have your opponent in hitlag and you are both moving foward in the air close to the ground, there is nothing better to use then a Nair. You cant stop your momentum for a RAR Bair and you dont have time to perform any of his other airials. so you FF and SH your Nair in the direction you need to give your opponent that last nudge they need to get off the ledge so you can hopefully ledge hog them and create an opportunity for yourself.
Also, if you trip your opponet with a Dtilt and they go flying back abit before they do so, a Nait may uit the purpose there as well... though this one is a tad bit more situational IMO...
Welll all this theorycrafting is all well and good. but pointless alone.
So I decided to look at four matches and see if there were points in time when Nair was the best option.
The first vid is of someone who never used Nair. The last three are of someone who experimented around with it.
After the posted link, I will put a point in time of that vid where I comment on an oppertunity for Nair.... you can just follow along with that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEZsea8_QAc
0:16 If a Nair was used, it would have outlasted his airdodge and hit him as he came out of it.
0:21 A Nair would have been an easy way to keep on pushing him off the ledge. Could have even gotten a Nair > Fair I think.
2:04 following up ad jumping out to hit him with a nair while comming from below and to the side would have killed him I think.
2:50 The cool thing about Nair is that it has zero lag... at this point, I would have ran towards him, SHed and done nair directly above his head, If his airdodge got it, then he would come out of it the second you landed behind him.... just in time for a Fsmash.
2:56 A Nair would have worked here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X04wGUYAL_Y
0:22 Again, a Nair from 5 o'clock would have worked perfectly and allowed for an edgeguard where a Fair just takes way too long
0:45 This has nothing to do with Nair, I just wanted to point out how sexy it was.
1:10 Excellent use of Nair IMO.... Just a poor follow up. Should have Dtilted or tried a grab.... Nair is used to keep forward momentum going, not to change directions of your momentum.
1:20 No way was a Fair going to work here.... a Nair could have though.
1:30 Poor use of Nair here... Bair would have been better.
2:41 Again, when your back is to your opponet and you are moving towards him, there is no reason not to use Bair.... unless you didnt want to use a move that knocked him too far away and you wanted to Smash imeetatly as you landed..... wow. Didnt think of that at first. Ya, that might have worked..... Ya. think of Nair as an airial jab of sorts.... ill elaborate later.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4irR6-o2KGU
0:47 Ledgehop Nair.... no reason I can think of why this would be a bad idea if your opponent is standing and too far away for a Ledgehop Uair.
1:15 Like here. a ledgehopped Nair would have been perfect.
2:27 Perfect use of the Nair here. nothing else would have gotten him in his hitstun and pushed him off of the stage. However, the Fair was just too slow. You should have done another Nair I think. Then edgeuarded with either a Bair or a Dair form the ledge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2KB_Kk_AZk&feature=channel
0:21 Not really a good use of Nair here, but I just wanted to point out how quickkly you could attack out of it after its actual attack wears off.
2:06 This was a good time to use Nair, but you were too slow with it I think. you jump and Nair within a few frames of eachother, and you jump so as to avoid the incoming attack and FF you Nair into them.
2:28 Would have been great, you just read his roll wrong.... of coarse, if you had known he was going to roll towards you, you could have just Fshashed.... Oh well.
Ok..... I have too much time on my hands perhaps....
Just for the record, I played Ganon in melee.... He had a terrible Nair.
Others would say it was actually quite good and underrated.... I still viewed it as a pointless move.
But DK's Nair, I belive has real potential to be worked into the metagame.