Finishing Blows?

[Nasreth]

Hello everyone, my first post here! I was really into the original N64 super smash and my friend convinced me to get a 3ds and Smash 4 so I've been playing it quite a bit recently. I was super good at the original version (actually won every single tournament at my college) but I think it's caused me to develop some bad habits for Smash 4 due to the removal of lag cancelling.

I main Lucina and essentially spam aerials, and I don't lose too often unless I run into someone who's simply better at spacing than I am. It's been effective, but I know I probably need to work on my ground game more because the problem is that I have trouble finishing people off, especially if they spam rolls. I'm pretty decent at spacing out a good f-air or d-air on a roll spammer by forcing them into a corner and getting them to roll into me or take my aerial to the face, but the problem is that once they get to ~100%+ I find it difficult to land that final blow, and with edgeguarding becoming far more difficult and arguably impossible against a good player, it seems all too often that my opponents reach 170%+ before I'm able to kill them with a b-air or f-tilt.

I know ideally I should be attempting to f-smash/u-smash people or hit them with neutral B as a finisher but it seems like the new roll just makes people a bit too slippery. Any tips for finishing people off once they reach the ~100%+ range in damage?

edit: just realized I posted this in the Wii-U discussion. Sorry! If a mod could delete this would appreciate it.

 

[ArchMageDiablo]

I like down smash for ppl rolling, start rolling with them and try to determine when you unleash the down smash the first attack they should roll, right into the second attack which will hit, if you get enough of a lead on them you can even give it a little charge.

Another way to deal with rolling is to run straight up to them and throw, do a down throw, follow with an up smash and then make like your going to jump up and follow up but only shorthop and change an upsmash, if they aerial dodged theres a good chance they will land right into it.

btw I am by no means a pro, so take my advice with a grain of salt

 

[Nasreth]

That's a good suggestion, especially the grab one. I find myself getting lots of grabs off but unable to follow up on them. I'd taken to just throwing them off the nearest edge and trying to land a b-air finisher but that rarely ended well. I'll try juggling into u-smash instead.

I've messed around with Lucina's d-smash but it just feels so weak compared to her others... Something that typically happens to me is I'll d-smash and they'll roll and get a shield up right when the second half of my d-smash hits and they'll just shield grab me. I'm probably just not timing it right though. I'll give that a try.

 

[Krynxe]

Getting your opponent into the air, easily done when you get a throw, is a really good way to gain some control. Landing options in smash 4 are tough, since you can't airdodge into the floor and aeriels have a lot of lag, so rather than trying to jump after them and follow, it's often best to just stay on the stage and punish your opponent for trying to land or get off the ledge.

At higher percents, you can just stand about fsmash distance away from them as they land since it's out of the range of most character's aerials. If you're concerned about being hit, just shield and grab them during landing lag, throwing them upwards and resetting the situation. While they're falling, you can also do things like empty hop to bait them to airdodge then land and land a smash attack. Hope that helps

 

[Nasreth]

Getting your opponent into the air, easily done when you get a throw, is a really good way to gain some control. Landing options in smash 4 are tough, since you can't airdodge into the floor and aeriels have a lot of lag, so rather than trying to jump after them and follow, it's often best to just stay on the stage and punish your opponent for trying to land or get off the ledge.

At higher percents, you can just stand about fsmash distance away from them as they land since it's out of the range of most character's aerials. If you're concerned about being hit, just shield and grab them during landing lag, throwing them upwards and resetting the situation. While they're falling, you can also do things like empty hop to bait them to airdodge then land and land a smash attack. Hope that helps

Yep! That's really helpful. I noticed I felt weak when I was directly above someone, I guess I just haven't been fast enough or keen enough to take advantage of others in that situation. I feel like I can usually DI away from people while directly above them with smart use of my second jump, but I guess that's all part of the game, eh?

 

[Muttley]

Don't expect too many finishes out of aerials in the 3DS version. They don't seem to be as reliable for kills.

The most viable options in this version seem to be hard hitting punishes. If they're perfecting shielding you, try charging up shield breaker. Down smash has great ground coverage and keeps rolls in check. In Brawl's floaty metagame, I felt like I had control of the spacing while in the air, and Marth's air game is 2 real in Melee, so when I came to sm4sh expecting the same, I had a hard time adjusting at first. Air dodges are ridiculously nerfed for like, everyone, so that really hinders air game as well.

Just practice spacing and avoiding attacks with knockback and go in for the kill when they **** up. Also I'm practicing off stage meteors currently. That's a surefire way to finish in the air lol