LanceStern
Smash Lord
I've been sitting and thinking some more, and after lots of practice, lots of beatings, and lots of learning I think it's time to throw out a few more of my thoughts on advancing Samus' metagame. I've done these before and all I'm trying to do is shed light on aspects of samus that I think could help her in brawl.
In no way are these the final say of Samus metagame nor is any of it "new". In fact, some of these may sound strange or downright wrong to you. Feel free to discuss/disagree or add to these. I really want to hear your thoughts or how you use some of these aspects.
1. Jab Cancelling for close combat
You want a quick way to annoy your opponents that use the short or fat characters that beat you close range? Start jab cancelling to more jabs and then mix in a finishing blow. Try it on Ness/Lucas/Squirtle/Pikachu... but most importantly destroy Game and Watch with it. I have one video reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgctAjNVnus
For some reason the jab cancel can't be stopped effectively by G&W. All they can do is either take the beating or run/shield and roll away.
What's more, jab cancelling opponents in the air is nasty. You can often get two to three jab cancels in before finishing with something. If they don't have a fast aerial they can't do much. You can even jab cancel the heavier characters -> anyone without a QUICK aerial or jab themselves can be frustrated pretty fast. I don't know exact frame data but test it yourself and see what works.
I got the idea oddly enough from watching HugS play Melee Samus against SilentSpectre and absolutely punish his shield with jab cancels. We can't do it as effectively, but it's still great. Jab and then run away even.
2. Wittling away damage
Samus is known for being the character that racks up damage slowly and then tries to hit a KO move to finish them off really late. That's the usual idea to wittle away at the percentage with low-risk, low-percentage moves like uair, ftilt, zairs, small charge shots and missiles. This is fine, and I definitely agree with it for the patient samus.
But if you wind up behind in a match or just like to be a TAD bit more aggressive, I've started to change that wittling into taking mass chunks out of their %s.
+ D-throw -> Fair or Plasma shot for easy damage at low percents
+ Charged dsmashes (I got this idea from n00b/NO-IDea) works CRAZY well against opponents. Racks damage up fast!
+ Use Dtilt and full plasma shots at earlier/mid percentages to get that fresh 14%/25% on them. Then use smaller moves to refresh them. They don't KO until ~ 115% anyways.
+ Charged fsmashes for tech chasing (but only if you predict right)
+ Jab-cancel -> hard hitting smash
Honestly this has worked wonders for me. I'm still wittling away the % but at a much faster rate, so I'm lessening the deficit I have to catch up to. Honestly the dsmashes and throw combos catch opponents by surprise.
Also start "double punishing" super laggy moves. By that I mean use frame trap moves to punish an opponent for really stupid moves. I.e. an Ike charges his forward smash and is left a sitting duck. Instead of just punishing with maybe a charge shot or fsmash or zair... use a sh super missile -> charge shot instead. Or sh missile -> grab -> pummel -> release -> charge shot. Maximize percentage punishment
3. TETHER CANCEL
Can't stress this technique enough. And I don't say that because I discovered it...
It's ridiculously good. Opponents don't see tether cancelled attacks coming I don't care how experienced they are. Now you have an advantage because they have no idea how you are coming back on the ledge. Practice it for 10 minutes or so and find applications for it, but it is an INTEGRAL part of Samus' ledge and recover game. Tether Cancel to plasma shot is legit for just punishing foes. Tether cancel -> fair or dair is great for mixing up your recovery and beating up on opponents who THINK they are going to ledge guard you by using a move right at the edge of the stage. Tether cancel -> screw attack is perfect for opponents who try to fall with you and hit your tether recovery.
Please use it.
4. Double super missile
I learned this from a smasher who likes to use Samus sometimes. Short hop and missile cancel a super missile then when you land immediately super missile again. This is not a NEW technique per se but I don't see any Samuses use it, and it makes a NASTY wall because they can't jump and dodging would get you hit by one of the missiles.
5. Down Smash
Is really a lot more useful than I thought it to be, even when NO-IDea tried to stress its' usefulness. It has deceptive range and because it hits twice it can be a little safer if an opponent is trying to land right on top of/next to you or is shielding/rolling right near you: the second hit catches them off guard. It racks up damage very nicely and for some reason opponents don't see it coming when its' semi-charged. Seriously they get hit by semi-charged dsmash a lot haha. It's also probably our best move to get the opponent out of your face: it has the most shield knockback.
One last thing is if you use Morph Ball Bombs.... when you land after dropping the bomb, immediately use dsmash but with down on the analog stick and A (instead of c stick) and she will immediately dsmash. Might be useful later.
6. Frame Traps
Frame traps aren't necessarily guaranteed combos, but the opponent has to be MAD quick with their reaction time if they want to escape them. We gotta know these like the back of our hands because they can make some matchups a lot easier. We have GOT to know the zair -> grab frame trap because that makes Samus one of the few characters with a legitimate grab setup. I'm also looking at fast fall uairs -> anything fast because she can combo and even KO opponents with it (try fast fall uair to fsmash angled up against fat/tall characters).
A new type of frame trap I'm finding is a late dash attack to jab cancels. As stated before you can have a lot of fun with jab cancels when the opponent is in the air. It's especially nasty if you can find a way to dash attack them while they are over a ledge. Then you can Dash attack -> jab cancel once or twice -> falling uair to knock them further off the ledge and possibly gimp.
We need to know these frame traps
7. Smash DI -> Uair to break multihit moves
I think it's self explanatory but it's truth as well. I usually SDI up while mashing Cstick up. It breaks falcos' multihit neutral A, peaches' dair, pits side b (if really good) and more.
8. Don't be afraid to "reset your spacing"
You guys know this but I'm learning it more and more. If you've been playing the match right, in most cases the opponent should be frustrated at the semi-wall you've been throwing at them consisting of projectiles and zairs. Resetting my spacing (coughrunningawaycough) allows me to take a breather and put the opponent in a lot more pain because they have to find a way to get past my wall of projectiles all over again. It lets me charge a plasma shot too. Tools to reset spacing:
+ Simply run away to the opposite side
+ Throw in mini-charge shots and ftilts to discourage approaches
+ Grab them and throw them either behind you or throw them up (NO-ID great idea)
The idea is to get them so frustrated they try to approach hastily, and that's when they make a mistake and you punish them. Drop the projectiles and smash/dtilt/uair->chain them (depending on what you want to do).
9. CONDITION your opponents
Two people gave me great insight on why Samus is a bad character. Samus is a very TRICKY character in that she has a lot of combos and techniques that catch the opponent off guard (uair combos, zair frame traps, ledge trixies). But because she KOs so badly, the match goes on very long and the opponent figures her out before she can get the win.
We can use that to our advantage if we just start conditioning the opponent to react to moves a certain way. Dthrow the opponent and jump after them -> charge shot or fair. Do that a couple of times until they start air dodging. Then wait for the air dodge and punish them.
Recover with a tether grab a couple of times. Note the very first time that the opponent successfully punishes you or tries to jump down and punish you. Next time tether cancel the ledge grab and hit them with an aerial or special attack. Then tether cancel and mix in a recovery. Now they don't know what's going on. Jab cancel the opponent and run away (if they can't punish it). Do that until they chase after you. Now start faking like you're running a direction then pivot grab them.
It's really like mind games, only you're forcing them to think a certain way. Conditioning them to react to one of samus' many tricks, but then using more tricks to offset that.
10. KNOW YOUR KO PERCENTAGES
Ridiculously important. We need to know the KO percentages of our best killing moves to make sure we're not fighting too long and getting killed early. If nothing else, KNOW THE KO PERCENTAGES FOR DTILT. I actually write mine down on a notepad and take them to tournies, it's that important to me. Remember Metaknights' KO % without DI - 116%
I try to combine most of these in my matches now and am finding mad success. Some of these tips are more important than others IMO (especially 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 9 and 10) and can make even the Metaknight matchup easier. I'm going to run back to NO-IDeas' and n00bs topics on Samus metagame as well and see if I can brush up on those important basics as well. Hopefuly will have good results to bring back to you all.
In no way are these the final say of Samus metagame nor is any of it "new". In fact, some of these may sound strange or downright wrong to you. Feel free to discuss/disagree or add to these. I really want to hear your thoughts or how you use some of these aspects.
1. Jab Cancelling for close combat
You want a quick way to annoy your opponents that use the short or fat characters that beat you close range? Start jab cancelling to more jabs and then mix in a finishing blow. Try it on Ness/Lucas/Squirtle/Pikachu... but most importantly destroy Game and Watch with it. I have one video reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgctAjNVnus
For some reason the jab cancel can't be stopped effectively by G&W. All they can do is either take the beating or run/shield and roll away.
What's more, jab cancelling opponents in the air is nasty. You can often get two to three jab cancels in before finishing with something. If they don't have a fast aerial they can't do much. You can even jab cancel the heavier characters -> anyone without a QUICK aerial or jab themselves can be frustrated pretty fast. I don't know exact frame data but test it yourself and see what works.
I got the idea oddly enough from watching HugS play Melee Samus against SilentSpectre and absolutely punish his shield with jab cancels. We can't do it as effectively, but it's still great. Jab and then run away even.
2. Wittling away damage
Samus is known for being the character that racks up damage slowly and then tries to hit a KO move to finish them off really late. That's the usual idea to wittle away at the percentage with low-risk, low-percentage moves like uair, ftilt, zairs, small charge shots and missiles. This is fine, and I definitely agree with it for the patient samus.
But if you wind up behind in a match or just like to be a TAD bit more aggressive, I've started to change that wittling into taking mass chunks out of their %s.
+ D-throw -> Fair or Plasma shot for easy damage at low percents
+ Charged dsmashes (I got this idea from n00b/NO-IDea) works CRAZY well against opponents. Racks damage up fast!
+ Use Dtilt and full plasma shots at earlier/mid percentages to get that fresh 14%/25% on them. Then use smaller moves to refresh them. They don't KO until ~ 115% anyways.
+ Charged fsmashes for tech chasing (but only if you predict right)
+ Jab-cancel -> hard hitting smash
Honestly this has worked wonders for me. I'm still wittling away the % but at a much faster rate, so I'm lessening the deficit I have to catch up to. Honestly the dsmashes and throw combos catch opponents by surprise.
Also start "double punishing" super laggy moves. By that I mean use frame trap moves to punish an opponent for really stupid moves. I.e. an Ike charges his forward smash and is left a sitting duck. Instead of just punishing with maybe a charge shot or fsmash or zair... use a sh super missile -> charge shot instead. Or sh missile -> grab -> pummel -> release -> charge shot. Maximize percentage punishment
3. TETHER CANCEL
Can't stress this technique enough. And I don't say that because I discovered it...
It's ridiculously good. Opponents don't see tether cancelled attacks coming I don't care how experienced they are. Now you have an advantage because they have no idea how you are coming back on the ledge. Practice it for 10 minutes or so and find applications for it, but it is an INTEGRAL part of Samus' ledge and recover game. Tether Cancel to plasma shot is legit for just punishing foes. Tether cancel -> fair or dair is great for mixing up your recovery and beating up on opponents who THINK they are going to ledge guard you by using a move right at the edge of the stage. Tether cancel -> screw attack is perfect for opponents who try to fall with you and hit your tether recovery.
Please use it.
4. Double super missile
I learned this from a smasher who likes to use Samus sometimes. Short hop and missile cancel a super missile then when you land immediately super missile again. This is not a NEW technique per se but I don't see any Samuses use it, and it makes a NASTY wall because they can't jump and dodging would get you hit by one of the missiles.
5. Down Smash
Is really a lot more useful than I thought it to be, even when NO-IDea tried to stress its' usefulness. It has deceptive range and because it hits twice it can be a little safer if an opponent is trying to land right on top of/next to you or is shielding/rolling right near you: the second hit catches them off guard. It racks up damage very nicely and for some reason opponents don't see it coming when its' semi-charged. Seriously they get hit by semi-charged dsmash a lot haha. It's also probably our best move to get the opponent out of your face: it has the most shield knockback.
One last thing is if you use Morph Ball Bombs.... when you land after dropping the bomb, immediately use dsmash but with down on the analog stick and A (instead of c stick) and she will immediately dsmash. Might be useful later.
6. Frame Traps
Frame traps aren't necessarily guaranteed combos, but the opponent has to be MAD quick with their reaction time if they want to escape them. We gotta know these like the back of our hands because they can make some matchups a lot easier. We have GOT to know the zair -> grab frame trap because that makes Samus one of the few characters with a legitimate grab setup. I'm also looking at fast fall uairs -> anything fast because she can combo and even KO opponents with it (try fast fall uair to fsmash angled up against fat/tall characters).
A new type of frame trap I'm finding is a late dash attack to jab cancels. As stated before you can have a lot of fun with jab cancels when the opponent is in the air. It's especially nasty if you can find a way to dash attack them while they are over a ledge. Then you can Dash attack -> jab cancel once or twice -> falling uair to knock them further off the ledge and possibly gimp.
We need to know these frame traps
7. Smash DI -> Uair to break multihit moves
I think it's self explanatory but it's truth as well. I usually SDI up while mashing Cstick up. It breaks falcos' multihit neutral A, peaches' dair, pits side b (if really good) and more.
8. Don't be afraid to "reset your spacing"
You guys know this but I'm learning it more and more. If you've been playing the match right, in most cases the opponent should be frustrated at the semi-wall you've been throwing at them consisting of projectiles and zairs. Resetting my spacing (coughrunningawaycough) allows me to take a breather and put the opponent in a lot more pain because they have to find a way to get past my wall of projectiles all over again. It lets me charge a plasma shot too. Tools to reset spacing:
+ Simply run away to the opposite side
+ Throw in mini-charge shots and ftilts to discourage approaches
+ Grab them and throw them either behind you or throw them up (NO-ID great idea)
The idea is to get them so frustrated they try to approach hastily, and that's when they make a mistake and you punish them. Drop the projectiles and smash/dtilt/uair->chain them (depending on what you want to do).
9. CONDITION your opponents
Two people gave me great insight on why Samus is a bad character. Samus is a very TRICKY character in that she has a lot of combos and techniques that catch the opponent off guard (uair combos, zair frame traps, ledge trixies). But because she KOs so badly, the match goes on very long and the opponent figures her out before she can get the win.
We can use that to our advantage if we just start conditioning the opponent to react to moves a certain way. Dthrow the opponent and jump after them -> charge shot or fair. Do that a couple of times until they start air dodging. Then wait for the air dodge and punish them.
Recover with a tether grab a couple of times. Note the very first time that the opponent successfully punishes you or tries to jump down and punish you. Next time tether cancel the ledge grab and hit them with an aerial or special attack. Then tether cancel and mix in a recovery. Now they don't know what's going on. Jab cancel the opponent and run away (if they can't punish it). Do that until they chase after you. Now start faking like you're running a direction then pivot grab them.
It's really like mind games, only you're forcing them to think a certain way. Conditioning them to react to one of samus' many tricks, but then using more tricks to offset that.
10. KNOW YOUR KO PERCENTAGES
Ridiculously important. We need to know the KO percentages of our best killing moves to make sure we're not fighting too long and getting killed early. If nothing else, KNOW THE KO PERCENTAGES FOR DTILT. I actually write mine down on a notepad and take them to tournies, it's that important to me. Remember Metaknights' KO % without DI - 116%
I try to combine most of these in my matches now and am finding mad success. Some of these tips are more important than others IMO (especially 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 9 and 10) and can make even the Metaknight matchup easier. I'm going to run back to NO-IDeas' and n00bs topics on Samus metagame as well and see if I can brush up on those important basics as well. Hopefuly will have good results to bring back to you all.
