Down B shenanigans?

[MLGF]

Hey, I'm actually a former Brawl Ness main and I dropped him upon finding new mains in Project M. Recently however, I've found some enjoyment in using him again and think that I may want to get myself back up to that level.

Anyways, I see a large amount of players using the magnet, which was a formerly useless move. I understand one can jump out of it and one can also change their momentum from it. It's a solid move, but I can't seem to use it properly when training.

First of all, what does this move offer besides what I mentioned. I doubt I understand it all considering how much everyone uses it.
Two, how would one recommend pulling off moves with it? I'm pretty horrible at this whole shine thing.

 

[drsusredfish]

well you can still absorb with it. Or you can also use it to stall in the air before you jump cancel it and attack. its not as fast as a shine and its like 1 - 3 frames slower than a lot of his other moves but it does have full body coverage and starts combos well.

 

[powerfox112]

For me, I like to DJC aerial out of his magnet with the control stick. At lower percents you can fair, dair, or even uair depending on the di and what direction your magnet is going

 

[| Kailex |]

Well, it has some hitboxes, so now you can combo it into some aerials or just sheild pressure some people and go for a grab

 

[Bryonato]

Magnet has a ton of different uses. First of all I'll direct you to the "How are you using magnet?" thread already in this subforum.
Magnet thread: http://smashboards.com/threads/how-are-you-using-magnet.334150/
Really great video showing some of it's uses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZZYTPQ1mH0#t

I love using the magnet and IMO it is one of Ness' best tools. It can be used as a combo starter, extender, momentum shift, aerial stall, mindgame tool, and recovery tool (think I listed everything I use it for).
The way I use magnet most is for comboing. On most characters Ness can dthrow -> magnet -> fair -> regrab OR on some floaties a more reliable string is dthrow -> magnet -> weakspot nair -> regrab. Typically if I get a raw magnet in at low %s I immediately djc uair which generally leads to fair, another djc uair or dtilt -> grab. Is so amazing in his combo game. I love it.

Magnet also has a lot of nifty uses with wavebouncing or breversal, whatever you want to call it. Calabrel and SinisterB do this a lot (at one point in the video above you'll hear Daz refer to Sinister's use of it as an "aerial wavedash"). WB Magnet allows you to completely reverse your horizontal momentum while stalling your vertical momentum (I use the vertical stall in my recovery in a similar fashion to how Lucas uses his). This works great as a mixup, techchase, mindgame, etc. throwing out a magnet toward your opponent and then wb'ing the other direction can sometimes be used as a bait which you can quickly djc aerial out of to punish. If you knockdown your opponent it's great as a stall to wait and read their tech and then accordingly jump and djc aerial. I know GMaster has said something before about a mixup he does in this situation with dair. Can't remember what it was though.

I could keep going but unfortunately I have to head to work. I stream smash very often so check out my stream sometime (I'm usually always playing Ness). I love talking Ness tech. Hope this was somewhat helpful.

EDIT: Okay off work so I'll expand a bit. Another thing that is a bit controversial among Ness mains is grounded magnet. I personally like but I know others (NZA, KiddKoopa) don't care for it. At lower percents you can wavedash out of a grounded magnet (considering it hit your opponent) and on most characters it's a free grab. Similar to waveshine. Something you'll see Calabrel and I use is grounded magnet -> jc upsmash. This combos at low % and is a decent defensive tool at higher percents as you quickly throw out multiple hitboxes that cover your whole body. Sometimes if I get someone in a pkfire and I want to be stupid I'll run up and magnet jc usmash heh.

Something I'd like to experiment with more is throwing out magnet as close to the ground as possible and wavedashing out of it for a larger variety in followups. Not sure if many would be better than just an aerial but it's worth considering I think.

That's all I got for now.

 

[roidescacahuetes]

In SSBB, has the PSI Magnet its uses too? Or is it a useless move as MLGF said?

 

[Akhenderson]

In SSBB, has the PSI Magnet its uses too? Or is it a useless move as MLGF said?

PSI Magnet in brawl is still useful for absorbing energy projectiles to get hp back but since a majority of the characters used in tournament play have no energy projectiles, the move rarely sees use. There's also that fun thing you can do to gimp Ness and Lucas by using a PSI Magnet right in front of their face while they helplessly watch their pk thunder get absorbed.

I don't use magnet enough in play, but I know I should be using it because it's such a great tool. The main way I use magnet is a bait tool, but not so much a combo tool. Sometimes I instantly use magnet right after jumping (sometimes I wavebounce it, but most of the time I don't) and then air dodge out of it, either backwards or forwards. Use wavebouncing, Ness's movement gets really confusing as it kinda looks like a really strange way of dash dancing.