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First Week and a half of Improving in Sm4sh, need some constructive feedback...

karu

Smash Rookie
Joined
Aug 22, 2017
Messages
4
Location
Canada
NNID
CarlFire900
3DS FC
5172-0976-8568
What's good guys.

Just this month have I began to really care about improving in Sm4sh, and I have been constantly saving replays to look back upon to analyze what my bad habits were. I've watched a few of Omni's videos on the topic and began to capitalize on seeking out what my bad habits are (likely going to be doing this for months) and then essentially eliminating them (which... could also take months). I have quite a few replays saved on my Wii U but only a few so far on my computer.

I'll be honest, a lot of these will really hurt to watch (they sure hurt me to look back on :( ).

Monday August 14, 2017:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVqrd142is0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lP_mSwxieg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxxU_JDw7ec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2g04sjySCA

Tuesday August 15, 2017:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW8OJozOSAA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNjF6RamaCA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP_vSRPKXIY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88eWUe1OQgI

Friday August 18, 2017:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLG2qGj3bt4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1PBAPcSarA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-YluO6EpbU


I've played many more matches for many more days however it's a pain to save each and every one onto my computer. So far the mistakes I could derive are:
-I am lackluster in reading my opponent
-My reflexes for actions are too slow
-I tend to go aerial a lot
-Almost always opt for the defensive action (i.e. run away, roll away, shield when I have an opening, etc.)


Feel free to leave constructive criticism on what I am doing wrong as I am still having shaky progress on my road of self-improvement.



Also I'm doing this on a basis, so I may or may not be making multiple threads on my progress through the months/years, although with school coming up my time for Smash will diminish greatly.



Also if these type of threads are against the rules kindly tell me and I shall report it myself.
Thank you.

-karu, A weeb
 
Last edited:

Dream Cancel

It's just good business
Joined
May 10, 2015
Messages
247
Location
Texas
NNID
DreamXX
3DS FC
4571-1273-3502
Switch FC
SW-4309-2808-7588
Hm, I watched these a while ago but never got around to giving feedback. Seeing that one else has replied, I'll go over some of the general things I picked up on.

-----

Set 1, Game 1

- Save your Double Jump off-stage. You got sniped twice by Fireballs. Mario's Up-B has good hitboxes so you can just power through a lot of things off-stage.
- Focus more on getting grabs and playing around shields with aerials rather than just using Fireballs all the time. They are not combo starters and they do not rack up damage very quickly. They are better at annoying the opponent and forcing a reaction, and work really well in conjunction with shield pressure and FLUDD usage.
- You already mentioned that you retreat unnecessarily, so that's good. You want to force people to earn their way back to stage rather than just letting them back for free.

Game 2

- When an opponent is just sitting there in the corner, take center stage and hold onto it. This forces Lucario to deal with the threat of you running in with a Dash Attack, Grab, or RAR Bair. If he doesn't respect this, you get to hit him for free. Fireball pressure is also better when they're cornered because they don't have the option of retreating, unless they want to go off-stage.
- Practice your D-throw follow-ups. Seriously. It doesn't really matter if your neutral game isn't that great, but if you get 50% just from grabbing them once or twice, people will fear your punish game.
- You roll to escape the corner often. Lucario picked up on this a bit, but I'm giving you a heads up because that habit gets exploited hard later down the road, so consider using FLUDD, your mobility, or safe pokes like RAR Bair to help you stay unpredictable in a corner.
- I highly suggest you learn how to RAR Bair consistently. This move is one of Mario's best and good usage of this will take you a long, long way.

Game 3

- More of the same, to be honest. Work on your recovery; you're dying unnecessarily, and cutting down on simple mistakes like that will make your opponent earn their wins instead of you handing it to them.
- Reserve your usage of Nair unless you're looking to set up Jab Locks with it. You usually Nair with no goal in mind other to just hit Lucario; Bair and Dair do that, but better.
- If you are going for Jab Locks, know your % ranges a bit better so you know when to go for them.

Game 4


- This didn't really happen this game, but chill with your smashes outside of KO %s. You have combos for racking up %, and you're not KO'ing them any time soon, so keep them fresh and ready for when you need them.
- On that note, when your opponent is at KO %s, the moves you're using should change. No more Nair, no more Uair, go for Bairs and moves that can actually threaten their stocks.
- Use a bit more cape, lol. You're playing against Mega Man, so you should be ready to cape Metal Blade (Neutral B), F-smash, and Crash Bomber (Side B).

Set 2, Game 1

- You don't need to approaching much with Lucina. Yes, you can use your movement to space, bait, and threaten people, but Lucina's only fast options out of a dash are Dancing Blade, Dash Grabs, and rising aerials. Her Dash to Shield is slow, so if people challenge your Dash-in, you'll likely get caught before you can defend yourself.
- Learn how to her Dancing Blade effectively. It's a dumb move out of a dash because it does loads of damage and has good range. (Down variation does 20%~ fresh at lower %s)
- Chill with the shield breaker a bit. It will only break shields (uncharged) if you have previously damaged it with an aerial within a few seconds. It has good range and mix-up potential with B-reverses, but I suggest you learn how to use it well before trying to B-reverse it.
- It seems like you know that landing Nair 1 is a combo starter. Good. Practice her combos and timings with it so you don't drop punishes and free %.
- Corrin is great at stuffing approaches, but not necessarily good at approaching herself. Abuse that by letting her commit first and baiting out moves.
- Save your smashes until you're in a position where they may KO. F-smash in neutral stales one of your strongest KO tools, so save it until the time is right.
- Shielding is good against Corrin. Her moveset cannot really deal with good shielding except via a good grab game, which this Corrin did not have.

Game 2

- Probably one of the better games you've had.
- This game was all about whiff punishing. You and him went even the first stock, but then
- Mario was 8 for 11 in his grab attempts the second stock. Try not committing as much to Dancing Blade in neutral, because it's punishable if you miss.
- Additionally, a lot of your movement didn't really amount to much. It didn't pressure him too much, and your execution on of Dash options wasn't too hot. He also began shielding and rolling more to counter your dashing options.
- Use Jab 1 and spaced tilts in neutral a bit more to poke and see how they react when they're in your zone. This can allow you to identify habits and patterns in their play, which you can exploit later into the game.

Game 3


- Marth and Lucina can Dolphin Slash out of Mario's D-air (between the second to last and last hits) at low %s. Mario players should not be going for the Ally combo without taking that into consideration.
- Lucina's D-throw to U-air is not true at mid %s, especially with rage. However, you can see how they attempt to escape it. If you had waited to see what Mario would do to escape, you would have caught the air dodge and been in great position to punish it. If he had jumped, now he's without a jump, above you, and towards the edge of the stage; it's an advantageous position either way.
- Be careful when air dodging near the ground. Similar to rolling into the stage while cornered, this is a common and exploitable habit mid to high level players look for.
- You had a couple good moments in this game; it seems like you're getting a better feel for Lucina's combo game.

Game 4

- Alright so I don't know if you noticed this, but this Diddy is trying to get his nasty hands all over you. He's going for grabs like crazy. Stop showing your shield and throw out a few more attacks to stuff his grab attempts.
- Regardless if you won or lost, it seems like you noticed that you were in ideal F-smash range towards the end of the game, and were punishing Diddy's attacks with it. That's good.

Set 3, Game 1


- Jab to Dancing Blade is a true combo at low %s (with some variation here or there) and deals a healthy 19%-24%. Start using it more at low %s like you did here.
- Your SH Fair usage has improved in one day, nice.
- When your opponent is recovering high and drifting back to stage, do not let him land onto the stage for free. That's your space and he needs to challenge you if he wants to get back on.
- Hmmmmmmmmmmmm there's your Air Dodge habit I just talked about lmao. You played yourself. The ledge is your friend, okay?
- Alright so you need to stop showing your shield against a grab-happy Mario. He's not even pressuring you with attacks, so there isn't much reason to respect him and shield. Focus more on low-commitment pokes like Jab, Titls, and rising aerials.

- Okay you need to re-watch the second stock of this game again. This was good play on your part and it illustrates your gameplay with Lucina in general. You maneuver around with low-commitment pokes against a high-commitment opponent, and you win. You get hit when you commit with not enough respect to spacing or just over-commit with Dancing Blade.

Game 2


- Chill out with the grabs as Lucina. Not only has Mario not shown his shield once (I think), Lucina doesn't get much off of grabs after low %s. Use grabs to deter shielding and as a mix-up, not as a primary punish tool in neutral.
- At your level of play, you strongly need to consider the roll option. This Mario was looking like he owned a bakery with how many rolls he had. Roll > Attack is a very common and strong option for how strong it is, and is precisely why you need to stick with low commitment moves in lower levels of play.
- Please, just recover normally, lol. A charged, off-stage Shield Breaker is very telegraphed off-stage.

Game 3


- Practice your combo game on fast fallers.
- Nair doesn't have enough hitstun at low %s against fast fallers to be of use; stick to Bair and grab combos.
- For your sake, again, please stop air dodging into the ground.

-----

To be honest, the most straightforward thing I can tell you is to master your punish game and stop giving your opponent things for free. Free things include SDs, stage control, escaping combos, easy punishes on committal moves, and backing off when you're in control of the game.

Mastering your punish game will make you lethal to low-level players because you can end them after a few punishes.

I hope my perspective as a decently good player has helped you gain insight on what you could be doing better and what you should try to be identifying in games.

Good luck!
 
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