Fair vs. Nair

[L33thal]

I'm trying to figure out how to use fair and nair, especially in the Fox matchup. I think in general they both act as zoning tools by threatening hitboxes and then following up. My take on them is:

Fair
-Comes out slightly later than nair
-Covers below Marth more
-Can drift in or away more
-More timing variations
-Can follow up with: run up grab (on hitconfirm and no CC at the right percent), dash back grab (on late fair), cross-up grab (on close late fair on shield), can mix up double fairs or set up tomahawks/wavelands

Nair
-Comes out slightly faster than fair
-Longer lasting hitbox

I keep hearing some people in SoCal saying stuff like "I never do fairs against Fox", etc. but it's not seeming that clear-cut to me. Imo against Fox nair serves to claim more space on stage and influence how Fox picks his spots. It's also an anti-air that hits Fox out of nairs but I don't see how you can follow up hard on a hit confirm from Marth's nair unless Fox is at a percentage where he gets knocked down.

I feel like fair is "riskier" on paper since the timing windows allow it to be punished more by stuff like dash dance grab or running shine, but you can mindgame/influence your opponent more as well as have more followups.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[1000g2g3g4g800999]

Fair allows you to defend air to air and air to ground, it's seriously really good. Nair can be good if you don't feel like you can space as tightly in the situation, but many can run under it. And cc the first hit. Fair actually does come out faster than nair anyway, but you want to wait more to make sure you hit with fair.