BreadZeppelin
Smash Rookie
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2017
- Messages
- 5
FOREWORD
This is an extensive guide to using Ness in Super Smash Brothers for Wii U. It is way too long and should probably not be read in one go. For a much more concise guide to Ness with helpful visuals, check out Izaw's wonderful video, The Art of Ness[6]. Although that video is useful, it is somewhat basic and lacks many of the details that this guide provides. As a whole, this guide is more or less everything I know about my main. I made it both to help players understand Ness and his options better and to allay some common misconceptions about the character. Enjoy!
-Tato (BreadZeppelin on SmashBoards)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Enjoy! (:
INTRODUCTION
This is a very long guide. I would recommend looking at individual sections for specific Ness knowledge. I will not name exact combo percents; for those, check the Ness discord. If you are confused as to any terminology that I use, check the Glossary section at the end. With all that said, let me get one thing clear:
Rosalina is not, in my opinion, Ness's worst matchup. That would be Corrin.
There is a popular misconception regarding Ness that Rosalina is his worst matchup. That mostly exists because of Fow vs Dabuz at Evo 2015. While Dabuz made the matchup look impossible, this is not the case. In this Ness guide, I will explain why. But to do that, I need to explain Ness himself.
Ness shares a combination of wario's style of non-lightweight, small body size, and high aerial acceleration when it comes to physics. However, Ness has low run and air speeds. Ness makes up for this flaw with an incredible overall frame data to move power ratio on his aerials, as well as incredible autocancel windows. All this makes Ness highly threatening up close, in the air, but it leaves him with trouble playing a safe ground game and landing. In addition, Ness is a small character with disjoints that pale in comparison to characters with swords and other long ranged attacks. This all results in a general lack of ability for Ness to effectively outmaneuver his opponents, for he lacks both speed and range.
Unlike many other characters who lack mobility or a decent mid-range game, Ness does not have a competent projectile to consistently play the long range game with. This forces him to approach by getting close to his opponent, but this can be extremely risky. Getting close to opponents can mean making it through a barrage of spacing options, and when Ness gets hit, he struggles to bring himself back into the advantage state. Ness's low fall speed means that he has difficulty reaching the ground, and his laggy and unsafe dair provides a very poor hitbox to defend himself with upon landing. This, along with other factors, makes Ness susceptible to juggling. Due to his recovery being heavily exploitable, Ness cannot afford to be juggled or combo'd offstage and forced to use his up special.
Despite this poor neutral and terrible disadvantage, Ness has among the best advantage states in the game. His powerful, abundant kill options make trading a viable strategy, and his strong up close game can really be put to use when the opponent is forced or baited into approaching unsafely. Ness's powerful grab game and low percent combo ability means that he needs relatively few successful neutral interactions in order to secure a KO.
All this makes Ness a high risk, high reward character. While he is often seen as a basic character, his use of advanced movement options and powerful, quick up close mix-ups can often make up for his lack of raw movement speed. In terms of sheer power, Ness is among the most feared characters in the cast. His most powerful practical attack, PKT2, kills most characters from center stage at around 30 to 40 percent.
Corrin and Rosalina both are able to wall out Ness, juggle him, and consistently outspace him. While Rosalina has the edge in edgeguarding, Corrin does most of what Rosa does to Ness just as well and has access to insta pin, an option with burst movement so great that Ness simply cannot punish it, making it a borderline broken punish, neutral, edgeguard, combo, and kill move. It, along with gravitational pull, arguably shows Ness's design flaws better than almost any other move, having high reward and very low risk when used against him, and is one of the reasons I also main Pit as well as Ness.
HISTORY
Originally, Ness seen as a top tier. Fow and Shaky regularly placed top 8 at majors with him, giving him the results he needed to justify his top tier status. His easy learning curve and powerful ability to combat unsafe play made him feared and sometimes hated upon in early Smash 4.
Now, Ness is seen as a mid-tier, which I think is reasonable. Fow and Shaky stopped playing for a while, and without them Ness's results dropped. Since then, no Ness main has made top 8 at a major, even though Fow has somewhat recently returned to competing. The optimization of other characters' punish and edgeguarding games, as well as the refinement of safe spacing and projectile games of many top players, has left Ness somewhat behind. This problem has been confounded by the addition of the DLC sword characters and the buffs to Marcina. Unlike before, Ness's matchup spread is plagued by these sword characters as well as Rosaluma and Sheik, his classical bad matchups. With all of those characters being abdundant in the current meta, Ness is regarded often as being solo unviable, a view that I currently believe in.
However, Ness now serves roles in the metagame that he didn't serve in the beginning of Smash 4. Imo, he beats:
As a result, Ness is a viable and smart counterpick character in today's metagame, and has kept a prominent if more polarized matchup spread as time has gone on. For a current rough picture of Ness's matchups, here is S1's matchup chart posted on April 12, 2017:
GAMEPLAN
Ness has several methods of approaching: sh aerials to start pressure, instant dj aerials to play hit and run, sh airdodge to call out an attack, or sometimes even dash attack to call out movement. When not approaching, Ness can EDD, foxtrot, empty sh away, sh dair cancel away, or try and space with aerials. To catch approaches, Ness has a decently ranged pivot grab, a powerful retreating sh falling bair/upair, and a unique stalling move in PSI magnet that allows Ness to catch people who try to catch his landings. Falling bair/upair are also safe on shield if spaced properly, serving as solid landing options, while psi magnet has the best FAF of most popular stalling moves (Nayru's love, Bucket, Shine, and even Lucario dair by one frame lol) and lets Ness dj nair away to keep himself safe if he doesn't want to commit to landing. Dair cancelling gives Ness the opposite ability, allowing him to land quicker than he normally could. These options give Ness solid mixup options for landing, but do not guarantee a safe landing, and for the most part, fail to protect Ness when he is getting juggled.
Ness's primary goal at low and high (but arguably not mid) percents is to land a grab or a landing upair, for both of these options have high combo potential at low percent and kill potential at high percent. Ness's grab game is great, and grabbing the opponent can oftentimes leave the Ness player with multiple strong options to choose from. For more information, see Ness's Grabs and Throws section below.
When in an advantage state, Ness can pressure people with aerials to the extent which his mobility will let him, and often attempt to anti-approach in order to take advantage of the opponent being forced into making aggressive, unsafe plays. He can also use his high risk high reward projectiles, pk thunder and pk fire, to juggle opponents, edgeguard, and trap landings. While these projectiles are unsafe in neutral due to high endlag, smart use of them while in advantage can be hard to punish and highly rewarding upon landing.
We don't talk about pk flash.
In disadvantage state, Ness can attempt to stall his fall with down b (which cancels fast fall), attempt to fight his way down with aerials (but not dair pls) or airdodge. Ness notably is one of three characters, along with Lucas and Mewtwo, to possess an airdodge that allows free control of aerial movement during the dodge. This helps him avoid many scenarios where airdodging would normally mean death, for Ness can still mixup which way he drifts and attempt to avoid the airdodge read. While Ness has a slower air speed than Lucas and Mewtwo, he has much higher air acceleration than them and can therefore change his position and velocity relative to his body size considerably over the course of the ad.
Once the opponent is in kill percent, backthrow and upair will serve as reliable kill options, while bair, dsmash, nair, and sometimes even pkt2 will serve as situational ones.
People will hate you for your back throw, but don't be afraid to instill some salt. As a wise commentator once said [1],
"Sometimes, if you love someone, you gotta let them go. Behind you."
GROUND GAME
Ness's ground game suffers from a lack of speed, safety, range, and power. While some of his ground moves cover one of these categories, they usually are lacking in the others. In general, while Ness is mostly focused on aerial combat, it is important to be able to use his grounded moves effectively, for they are useful in given scenarios, and constantly staying in the air leaves Ness vulnerable to landing traps, juggles, and potent anti-airs.
As a general rule, Ness functions best up close, and his grounded moves reflect that. His grounded moves generally have little range and cannot be used for safe spacing; his ftilt, fsmash, and up smash are too short ranged and laggy to be used for these purposes, despite having the best range of his grounded moveset. The only grounded move which is safe for these purposes is dsmash, although since that move hits first behind and then in front, the back hit has far too much endlag to be safe, and the front hit has large amounts of startup and can be punished on reaction. Both options leave ness vulnerable to aerial approaches. As for Ness's quick tilts and jab, they both have little range and little reward on hit, with the exception of dtilt, which is an interesting case that I will discuss later. In general, using Ness's grounded moves extensively is a poor idea; instead, each move is best used for mixups and in specific circumstances that will be detailed below.
Ness's best grounded moves are his throws, and as a result, finding grabs is crucial to Ness's gameplan. This can be difficult due to Ness's slow ground speed and average grab range, but Ness has several ways of both setting up for grabs, via literal setups (such as pk fire or dtilt trips) and conditioning the opponent to shield with use of aerials. Once he has grabbed an opponent, Ness will always go for dthrow at low percent to combo, and usually fthrow with pummels at higher percents to tack on damage. Once the opponent is at high enough percent, with proper stage positioning, Ness will use bthrow and they will die.
GROUNDED MOVESET
Jab - A frame 3 punch, with two extra hits. Does not combo due to launching at the Sakurai angle1. The full jab combo does 8% total. Jab is fairly unsafe on shield (-20 oos) due to its decently high endlag; dtilt is much safer and should be used in close-to-shield situations as a non-grab option over jab. Also keep in mind that jab does not always true combo into itself at low percents on certain characters. Jab's decent range and startup make it a solid oos option with longer range than grab and nair and less endlag than ftilt, but its greatest use is for jab locks. See the jab locks section in advanced techniques.
Ftilt - Pretty bad, don't have too much to say. It's a decent oos option as mentioned above, but with a FAF of 35, it is generally fairly unsafe in close quarters combat, and although it does decent damage (9%, 10% if angled) its complete lack of follow-ups makes it a medium-risk, low-reward option.
The ability to angle the ftilt gives it mild use as an anti-air or edgeguarding option, yet Ness has much better tools for those purposes.
Utilt - Although this move has decent vertical range/disjoint, the fact that it requires Ness to be walking/standing to be used, as well as its lack of horizontal range and lack of active frames (active only on frames 7-8) make this move poor for trapping landings. In general, the move will almost never hit grounded opponents, and cannot be followed up after low percents due to its high bkb and kbg. Since Ness's up air is much stronger, widely ranged, and less laggy, sh immediate up air is usually a better option.
With that said, Utilt has one particular niche use, in a combo that works on heavys/fastfallers at low percents, which is:
dthrow -> rising fh fair -> up air -> immediate fastfall -> utilt on landing, preferably buffered -> fh -> immedately do any aerial except dair
This combo is only guaranteed in very specific scenarios, but is worth practicing if you are interested in optimal damage output off throws when your opponent is at very low percentages.
Dtilt - An odd move, Ness's dtilt is very safe on shield yet somewhat unsafe on hit. Its almost nonexistent knockback means that opponents can usually counterattack the moment they are moved out of dtilt range. Dtilt also gets tough guy'd by Bowser at low percents, so be careful on using it on him.
One might look at the low damage and knockback of dtilt and write it off as a useless move, but it in fact has two important uses- on shield and at ledge. However, due to its extremely low endlag, dtilt is generally useful wherever Ness wants more reward than a jab combo but isn't willing to risk going for a grab.
On shield, dtilt will catch most oos options (due to only having 4 frames of endlag between dtilts), and if the opponent doesn't act out of shield, it will shieldpoke. This almost guarantees dtilt spam to eventually hit if done on shield.
At ledge, dtilt will hit opponents who choose not to get up and has a good chance of hitting opponents who choose any getup option other than ledgedrop -> upair. Should the dtilt hit, it will either cause them to trip away from the ledge or hit them back onto it.
Every dtilt that hits has a 30% chance of tripping your opponent. The tripping animation will cause the very next dtilt to whiff (due to the opponent being slightly airborne). However, the third dtilt will hit the opponent out of their trip, meaning that hitting the opponent with more than two dtilts is usually not optimal. As a result, when using dtilt on shield, one should be especially conscious of when dtilt will shieldpoke and if/when the opponent will try to challenge the dtilts on shield with an oos option (which probably won't work, meaning your dtilts will hit). Optimally, only two dtilts should be done every time, with a 51% total chance of getting a trip between the two hits. The problem is that consecutive dtilts come out so fast that the trip they cause cannot be reacted to, so instead it must be predicted, or else by the time the Ness player reacts, the opponent will be able to choose a getup option. Ness has two main options to read out of a dtilt trip- instant dashgrab and fsmash. Grab is more consistent and will sometimes work even if the trip doesn't occur, yet is usually a less rewarding option than fsmash, whereas fsmash leaves Ness extremely punishable if the dtilts do not trip but can take stocks very early if it hits. With a 51% chance of tripping between 2 dtilts, this in a way almost gives Ness a 50/50 kill confirm off dtilts, one that depends not on reading your opponent but simply on RNG. This high followup/kill potential off of frame 2, nearly lagless move is what makes dtilt far and away Ness's best tilt.
However, it is crucial to understand that Ness CANNOT react to the outcome of a dtilt due to its speed, and must make a heavy commitment upon landing one or more dtilts in order to capitalize on possible trips. Should these trips not occur, Ness will be left wide open for punishment. Whiffing an fsmash, for instance, can result in Ness getting hit by many things that can result in death. This makes dtilt a unique move that in itself is very low commitment but can become a high-risk, high-reward option should the Ness player decide to use it that way.
Also keep in mind that dtilt's single frame of hitstun means that opponents getting hit by it can use fast options like jabs, powershields, or invincible up specials to get out of multiple dtilts. Any move that either comes out or has invincibility/super armor frame 3 or quicker will do. With this in mind, it is generally advised to hit with as few dtilts as possible after the first two, with two being the optimal amount to maximize tripping chances and avoid punishment.
Dash Attack - This move has two main uses, the first of which is to catch landings. DA's first hit will send aerial opponents back upwards, as will its third hit. This, along with its decent disjoint on its later hits, makes it a fairly safe way to catch landing opponents. Its second use is as a grounded spacing tool, for it has the most disjoint out of all his grounded moves. On grounded opponents, DA's first hit combos into the next 2 hits, although in general, this hit is not one that Ness aims to hit with (due to it being so close to his body). Instead, he will try and space the move to hit with only the third hit; should this get blocked, it will still be fairly safe. Be wary of throwing this move out too often; it is very unsafe if misspaced or if the opponent jumps over it.
Fsmash - The classic home run bat is a whopper of a move and another example of Ness's absurd killpower. Despite having amount of startup and ending lag, coming out on frame 21, being active for only two frames, and ending on frame 55, the move is surprisingly safe on shield if spaced at maximum range. This is due not to the move having a large amount of range (it actually has roughly the same amount of range as Ness's jab and ftilt), but due to the fact that the move has 3 hitboxes, one for each third of the bat. The innermost one does 18%, the middle one does 20%, and the tipper hitbox does 22%. Thus, hitting a shield with the tipper hitbox will cause an immense amount of shieldstun and push the opponent away significantly, making the safety of this move largely dependent on your opponent's traction and dash grab speed (and whether or not you landed the tipper).
A tipper forward smash, when landed, is devastating. With its high bkb of 70, the move scales very well with rage, and will kill extra early if near the edge of the stage. Keep in mind that the inner hitboxes will override the tipper hitbox if multiple hitboxes touch the enemy, so perfect spacing is crucial to using fsmash as a punish, for a non-tipper fsmash kills much later. When tippered, the move is among the top 10 strongest forward smashes in the game.
Because of all its weaknesses (poor frame data, low range, tiny sweetspot), Ness's fsmash is usually not used in neutral, except as a hard read on an approach. Dash away -> pivot fsmash is especially good for this, although that can be said of almost all fsmashes. Ness does have three crucial ways to set up for this move, though- jab locks, dtilt trips, and pk fire. Each of these are covered in their move's respective sections.
Oh yeah, it also reflects projectiles. Doing so doubles their speed and damage. It will not reflect projectiles that do more than 80%, and attempting to do so will put Ness into 5 seconds of lag. The slow startup of this move makes it difficult to use as a reflector, but if you do land it, it's the strongest reflector in the game.
Ness's fsmash, much like him as a character, is high risk, high reward. You might almost never hit it in tournament, but when you do, you can take stocks at percents Pit mains would only dream of.
Usmash - The around-the-world has a decent disjoint, but is generally inferior to sh up air for anti-air purposes. This is due to its lower damage output, higher endlag, and far inferior kill potential. Still, Usmash is an important oos option, for it can be jump cancelled oos and provides a hitbox directly behind him, something that no other option covers (nair hits too high to cover this area). As a result, it's a good "get off me" option, and is especially effective at countering crossups.
Dsmash - For some reason, Ness's downward variants on his ground moves are better than his other ones, yet his down aerial is far worse than his other aerials. Who knows why. Anyway, dsmash is dope and here's why:
Dsmash's second hit is Ness's only safe grounded spacing option, being only -8 on shield, making it almost completely safe unless done at point blank range (where the opponent can grab oos). However, the first hit is very unsafe, and the second hit has large amounts of startup, making this move far from an end-all-be-all for Ness's ground game. In addition, it leaves Ness completely vulnerable to aerial approaches.
Where dsmash truly shines is at the ledge. The move, when used at the ledge, hangs over the ledge from frames 10-15 and 17-18. This gives the move NINE ACTIVE FRAMES that can 2-frame the opponent, and since it reaches so far, it will often catch higher recoveries before they even reach the ledge. Since it sends opponents at an extremely low angle of 28°, dsmash will kill 2-framed opponents around 100%, providing an effective way of sealing out stocks after forcing offstage situations (especially considering that the move has low enough endlag to allow Ness to sometimes catch high recoveries with an aerial or dash grab on landing).
Should the opponent make it to the ledge, walking away slightly and dsmashing will give Ness the ability to cover normal getup, getup attack, and roll fairly effectively, although it does not cover jump and gets beat out by some characters' ledgedrop -> up air (notably Cloud's). Ness's other ledge coverage options such as nair, shield, and dtilt should be also considered in this situation.
This combination of edgeguarding potential, speed, and killpower makes Ness's dsmash his most useful smash attack, as well as among the best dsmashes in the game.
Grabs - Ness is a half-grappler, and as such has a decent set of grabs, with his dash grab being particularly good. While his normal grab is decent, his dash grab gives Ness a momentum burst, allowing him to get grabs that his normal, poor run speed would otherwise not allow for. His pivot grab, like most, has a significant disjoint, making it a good option to counter opponents running after him.
THROWS
Fthrow - Has the highest bkb of any throw (120) but extremely low kbg (10). This usually means that this throw is just a solid option to either simply tack on damage or throw the opponent offstage to set up for an edgeguard. At percents where bthrow will not kill or set up for an edgeguard, fthrow is usually recommended. This sets up for pk thunder edgeguards if Ness is near the ledge and provides stage control otherwise.
At the very end of the smashville platform, while it is completely extended, fthrow is a guaranteed death on any character at any percent. As Ness's rage increases, it begins to work even farther away from the blastzone. Due to its high base knockback, fthrow scales well with rage, although this matters little unless the fthrow is executed on the smashville platform. However, keep in mind that a rage fthrow DI'd poorly can kill even from ledge, especially on Smashville, where the side blastzones are closer to the ledge than on any other stage.
Bthrow - This is the strongest throw in the game. With a kbg of 130, and a damage output of 11%, Ness's backthrow is a consistent, powerful kill option at high percents. From center stage, it will kill at roughly 130%, from the opposite edge, it will kill at roughly 155% if DI'd properly, and from the ledge, it will kill at roughly 100% if DI'd properly. On lightweights, and with bad DI, Ness's bthrow can kill as low as 75% from ledge. No other throw has this level of power.
At high percents, Ness can choose to either pummel for slightly higher percent or immediately throw the opponent in the hopes that they will DI poorly. Even if it does not kill, bthrow can still be useful for setting up edgeguards, although if Ness is not in the proper position for this, fthrow or possibly uthrow are usually preferred to avoid staling bthrow.
It is important when learning Ness to know when bthrow will kill; it is highly recommended that one tries testing bthrow kill percents with varying weights, levels of rage, DI inputs, and stage positionings. An extra pummel or two can make a huge difference.
Uthrow - The least used of Ness's throws, yet still situationally useful. Its high bkb allows it to set up for immediate pk thunder juggles, especially on floaties or in stages without platforms. If anopponent is bad at dealing with pk thunder or their character has poor options to combat it, this can sometimes rack on large amounts of damage. See the section on PK Thunder below.
With high rage, on platforms (especially those of Town and City or Dreamland), against lightweights, and when in a situation where bthrow would not kill, uthrow can occasionally do the job instead. While this is an extremely specific scenario, it can happen. The most notable instance of this is during FOW vs Larry Lurr at 2GGC: Civil War[4].
Dthrow - Ness's main combo throw at low percents. At zero, this can lead into a sh or fh fair, which can combo into more fairs or an upair. Which option is chosen depends on the opponent's fall speed, weight, and stage positioning. On fastfallers/heavies, a sh fair with perfect fastfall timing can lead into a regrab or another sh fair/nair at 0%. At any higher percents, dthrow -> fh fair -> fastfall up air is optimal, and can either be followed up by an up tilt on some characters or a fh up air if they do not fall fast enough / if a jump is read.On floaties/lightweights, dthrow -> fh fair should usually be followed up by more fairs, as an upair is not likely to lead into anything further. If the dthrow occurs near the ledge, dthrow -> fair -> fair -> dj fair -> fair can work at low percents or with bad DI, and this can put the opponent into an edgeguarding situation. This final fair should be faded back on hit so that Ness's recovery does not get intercepted by the opponent. If percents are too high for a fourth fair to hit, or you are confident in your opponent DIing them properly, dthrow -> fh fair -> fair -> dj nair is optimal, for it will do more damage than dthrow -> triple fair.
At low enough percents, all forms of DI on any character can be caught by fh fair, as long as the Ness uses c-stick for fair and slightly drifts back during the fh to catch DI up and back. At higher percents (15% - 40% depending on weight and fall speed) dthrow will not combo into fair with this DI, but it will still combo into up air, so that should be used instead. At percents starting from roughly 40% to 70%, dthrow will have no true followups. Therefore, Ness can either go for a dthrow -> airdodge read -> up air (only if the percents are slightly past true combo percent), or simply pummel and use a different throw. Unfortunately, Ness's slow initial dj velocity makes it difficult for him to catch double jumps, making jumping away from dthrow always a viable method of escaping it after true combo percents; however, Ness can read this and chase the opponent down with PK Thunder.
AIR GAME
Unlike his grounded moves, Ness's aerial moves are renowned for their speed, safety, and power, and usually have decent range relative to Ness's small body size. While Ness's air speed (just like his ground speed) is poor, he still has reliable aerial combo strings at low percents. Ness's fantastic aerial acceleration makes him highly capable of both crossing up opponents and fading away after hitting their shield, making many of his aerials difficult to punish on block, although they are still easily punished on whiff. Among Ness's largest issues is the fact that his poor mobility causes him to constantly whiff on retreating opponents, who then can reliably either throw out larger hitboxes to catch Ness approaching (such as most sword characters) or use their quick speed to run in and punish him after whiffing (Sheik, Mario, etc.). However, Ness's ability to dair cancel, throw out multiple aerials in a short hop, and abuse his high double jump give him enough potent close-range mixups to be a serious threat to characters who don't have reliable methods of walling him out. In addition, Ness usually benefits from trading with his aerials, for their immense kill power usually puts these trades in his favor, for he will kill earlier.
Most of Ness's offensive gameplan involves using these mixups to either land aerials or dair cancel grabs / dash attacks. He usually aims to be the aggressor, pressuring opponents until eventually one of his hitboxes lands. Still, if Ness can get a significant lead, his aerials can be used while retreating in conjunction with instant dj and dair cancelling to make for movement that can be very tricky to catch. Should he be put in a juggle situation, Ness's poor dair and low air speed / fall speed results in high vulnerability to juggles, so to alleviate this, Ness can both stall his fall with PSI magnet and land extra early with dair, both of which can throw off his opponent's timing while juggling / catching landings. Also, unlike all other characters except Lucas and Mewtwo, Ness retains full control of his aerial drift while air dodging, allowing him to escape some 50/50 setups and evade juggling attempts. Should the opponent commit too hard to juggling, Ness's up air can kill them near the top of the stage at very early percents, and tack on solid damage otherwise.
AERIAL MOVES
Nair - This is Ness's fastest aerial, and looks very similar to Peach's. However, while Peach's nair functions like most sex kicks (with a short amount of initial active frames constituting a strong hit and then far more frames delivering a weak hit), Ness's is the opposite, delivering a strong hit for a whopping 8 frames and then a weak hit for 3 frames afterwards.
Ness's hands expand when using this move, giving it decent range and a very slight disjoint. Its speed and decent range are what make it such an effective oos option, one that is less committal than grab while still dealing decent damage and providing followup potential for another nair or jab lock at low percents.
With 18 frames of landing lag, nair removes hair quickly and painlessly, and is usually unsafe when used to land offensively on shield (except during a crossup, especially if the opponent has limited options to deal with crossups on shield). Instead, it is best when autocancelled. Since nair autocancels on frame 26, it can be shff'd with no landing lag. Should Ness either fade in or out, this becomes a fairly safe way of pressuring shields. If Ness doesn't want to land after a sh rising nair, he can double jump before he hits the ground, allowing him to do another rising aerial and reach platforms high up. When combined with dair cancelling, this method of movement can become a fluid and viable way for Ness to stay hard to hit despite his limited mobility. In addition, Ness can do a second nair in a short hop, but as stated above, this is usually not safe on shield and very punishable on whiff.
With its large amount of active frames, nair can make for a potent edgeguard, but its somewhat lacking range can make the amount of recovery options it covers fairly narrow. Fair also works in this scenario as a less powerful yet longer lasting edgeguard. If the opponent makes it to the ledge, sh nair can be useful for covering ledge jump, normal getup, and roll, especially if done right at the ledge to cover jump while fading slightly back to cover normal getup. While it doesn't kill as quickly as dsmash, unlike dsmash, it covers ledge jump. It will kill at the ledge at roughly 120% to 130%, but is more susceptible to DI than dsmash due to sending opponents at the sakurai angle.
While risky, rising instant dj nair is a decent way to mix up movement, especially on stages with upper platforms that can be dair cancelled on. However, instant dj rar bair is arguably a better way to accomplish this, due to it being usable again immediately after fastfalling as a relatively safe landing option.
Nair's late hit is difficult to hit consistently, but is in theory among Ness's best combo extenders, especially as seen in FOW vs Larry Lurr at 2GGC: Civil War. It can lead into another nair as a combo finisher, or if done backwards while drifting towards the opponent, can lead into an up air (which is more optimal). Bair's late hit is usually more usable, however.
Note that nair is usually a better approach option than fair in situations where aerial trades seem likely. Ness usually benefits off these trades, so keep this option in mind.
Fair - Fair is well known for being a potent combo tool, especially after a dthrow at low percents. It combos into itself, nair, and upair, with upair leading to combo extensions at low percents and nair being a potent combo finisher at slightly higher percents and/or offstage. Dthrow -> sh fair -> regrab can be extremely difficult to escape for fastfallers, and dthrown -> fh fair -> dash regrab -> fthrow can be a 0-death string on smashville if done into the platform, at the end of the stage.
Fair also serves as a good oos option for when opponents are too far away for nair to hit. However, nair is usually preferred, due to its higher damage and knockback.
Sh fair can be a decent approach option, although past low percents, it cannot be followed up well. If spaced properly on shield and fastfallen just after the final hit, it is fairly safe. Due to its solid autocancel window (autocancelling a mere 13 frames after the final hit), fair is also an effective crossup option, especially considering most people expect sh fair to be spaced as far from a shield as possible.
While offstage, it can be used (especially while rising) as a decent edgeguarding tool, although its power is somewhat lacking. For a more powerful yet less space-covering edgeguard, use nair instead.
It is important to note that fair, while a decent ranged option, will still lose to ranged options of many sword characters (e.g. Marth's fair). Unlike all of Ness's other aerials, fair's relatively low damage output and multi-hit nature make it poor for trading purposes. While on the surface fair's range would make it seem like a consistently better approach option than nair, keep in mind that trading with nair is usually beneficial for Ness.
Bair - Ness's most powerful aerial. Consists of a 2-frame initial "sweetspot" hit on frames 10-11 and a late hit from 12 - 18. Despite the visual indicator, this move has no physical sweetspot, requiring only proper timing in order to get the strong hit. Consistency-wise, bair is worse than nair due to its strong hit having so few active frames. However, bair's range is much better than nair's, and due to this, it can be used to safely land on shield. With 10 frames of shieldstun and enough shield pushback to almost completely insure that Ness will be out of shieldgrab range, bair is almost totally unpunishable on shield if timed correctly. The late hit is, in comparison, very unsafe. Just like nair, bair can be autocancelled in a shff, giving it incredible approaching and walling use. Also, because the two have the same FAF, Ness can also either nair or jump after a sh bair.
Bair generally does not combo due to its knockback being too high, although its late hit can do so in some scenarios after landing with it.
Overall, bair's 15% damage makes it a deadly yet somewhat inconsistent kill option. When landed near the ledge, it can kill at roughly 100%.
Up Air - The british call it the "five head". They claim that, surely, Ness cannot be hitting you with his forehead, for four is way too small a number to describe Ness's enormous noggin.
This move is arguably Ness's best move, and is easily among the top 5 up airs in the game (which is saying something in a game with up airs as broken as Fox's and Cloud's). It does everything- combos, kills, and spaces. It is slightly weaker than Mario's usmash, killing middleweights at roughly 130% on the floor of Smashville, and dealing 13%. However, for a move of its power, upair also has no sourspot or late hit and 4 active frames. Not only that, it is extremely disjointed, with the hitbox matching not Ness's head but the accent mark above it that appears when the move is executed. And this is all for a move that only has 15 frames of landing lag, and therefore can be used with little fear of retribution on shield. Ness's up air is a monster.
At near-zero percents, up air combos into grab. At slightly higher percents, fair can combo into up air, leading into a juggle situation. Landing up air also at these percents combos into any aerial except dair, although the most common follow up is another up air to continue the juggle.
If the opponent is at 110% or greater, and they choose to jump from ledge, up air can be a great way to secure a kill, although the opponent has the option to airdodge, which can be baited out and punished.
Since up air's hitbox extends in front of Ness, he can use it as a landing option. This is useful in scenarios such as when an opponent get up attacks; Ness can just jump over the getup attack and come down with an up air. Also, if the opponent runs in with a dash grab and Ness fades back with a sh, he can do the same thing. Up air's large damage output and short landing lag makes it safe on shield if spaced properly, giving him a reliable way to land on enemies shielding in front of him.
The most devious application of this is via sh airdodge up airing. By buffering a sh airdodge, and buffering an up air at the end of the airdodge, one can successfully land an up air despite having been invincible for most of air time. If it lands, this up air will frame cancel, allowing for even better followups.
While most people not familiar with Ness seem to think that he relies on his bthrow for kills, Ness's up air is just as important of a killing option as bthrow, and kills at roughly the same percents as bthrow at center stage. Should Ness read a spotdodge (used to avoid a grab -> bthrow kill), he can often use sh up air fastfall to catch it with up air's final hitbox. Roll behind can be caught by this as well if Ness drifts backwards during the jump and catches the opponent with the initial up air hitbox. Overall this helps Ness round out his kill potential in scenarios where getting grabs might be difficult.
Oh, and one last interesting tidbit- if the opponent is at falling up air -> rising up air percent, try falling up air -> instant dj upair -> up air at peak of dj. If it lands, it'll do lots of damage and set up for pk thunder juggles / landing traps.
Dair - Ahh, the infamous dair. In past smash games it was among his best moves; in this, it is one of the worst meteor smashes in the game. It possesses a unique combination of poor hitbox size, low power, and terrible speed. While it can occasionally be used for edgeguarding, Ness generally has far better ways of doing that, and should only be used if one is absolutely certain it will hit.
Dair's low bkb does give it some use as a locking method. This works especially well on battlefield platforms, where a dthrow lock can set up for an early pkt2 kill. See the jab locking section below for more details.
In the end, dair's abysmal speed ends up being its greatest strength. Although the hitbox does not come out until frame 20, landing on any frame of the animation before that will cause Ness to perform a light landing[3]. This means that any time Ness is sent into tumble, if he is near enough to the ground, he can often just dair -> fastfall and immediately land laglessly. Landing during this pre-hitbox autocancel window is known as "dair cancelling", and has many practical applications, arguably being Ness's greatest tool to overcome his lackluster mobility. This alone turns dair from a terrible move into a fantastic one, and should not be overlooked. See the dair cancelling section below for more details and applications of this technique.
Air Dodge - Unlike every other character barring Lucas and Mewtwo, Ness can completely change his momentum during his airdodge. With Ness's higher aerial acceleration than these two characters, this can make juggling Ness extremely difficult. Use it often, although not enough to become predictable.
SPECIALS
PK Fire - A move renowned for its spam use among low-level Ness's, PK Fire is a surprisingly underwhelming move. If used on ground, it can be easily SDI'd out of, making it nearly impossible to follow up on by anyone who knows how to SDI. Still, if a jump out of PK Fire is read, Ness can potentially chase the opponent down with aerials or PK Thunder. If it misses or is shielded, PK Fire is usually incredibly unsafe due to its large amount of endlag (FAF 59, PK Fire generated on frame 21). This is compounded by the fact that PK Fire's 20 frames of startup make it very reactable and easy to jump over or shield. Even on hit, PK Fire can be jabbed out of by characters with quick jabs and up special'd out of by characters with invincibility or intangibility early on in their up specials. If the opponent has good timing, they can even perfect shield pk fire while in the pillar. Note that none of these options will make the pillar go away, however; also, all of them can be baited out and punished.
Although still not great, PK Fire gains much more utility when used in the air. For those not familiar, PK Fire shoots down at a 45 degree angle when used in the air, unlike Lucas's, which shoots directly horizontally in all scenarios. On hit, PK Fire is usually better from the air, for if it hits directly on top of the opponent, they will have a much more difficult time SDIing out of it than if it hit them from the side. This is because unlike when they are hit from the side and can SDI the other way, PK Fire from the top does not hit from a side, and cannot be SDI'd downwards, for that direction leads into the ground. The exception to this is when they are hit while airborne; in that case, SDIing down is often a decent option, but is unintuitive and risky, for it causes the character to fastfall. If this is done offstage, it can significantly hinder their chance of recovering, especially since the pillar of PK Fire will fall offstage with the opponent.
Usually, using PK fire while in midair after djing will cause Ness to immediately fall with his pk fire. This can be used as a hard read on an opponent; should it land, Ness will be in perfect range to land an fsmash and kill them early, or grab them, pummel them while they burn, and then throw them. However, should it miss or be shielded, Ness will be stuck with a large amount of lag, opening him wide up for punishes.
If done immediately from a fh, Ness can either dj just before touching the ground or dair. Either case will avoid the large amount of lag that would normally accompany a fh PK Fire. Usually, dair is chosen if the pk fire hits, so that Ness can run up and capitalize. If it doesn't hit, dj airdodge or dj nair will allow Ness to retreat to the top platform (see PSI Teleport in Advanced Techniques below). An opponent, if they react/predict this, can simply run underneath Ness and hit him as he descends. This overall Technique is known as PK Jump Fire.
On the other hand, if executed the frame after a dj, Ness will fly in the direction he PK Fire'd, soaring with his PK Fire. Using this at the peak of a full hop will allow Ness to both move with his PK Fire and still dj or dair out of it to avoid its landing lag. This method, when it hits, is the most optimal, often allowing Ness to land a fully charged fsmash. It is known as a PK Fire Jump, and although it is highly rewarding, it also burns Ness's dj and puts him in perfect range for punishment.
PK Thunder - This is, unfortunately, Ness's recovery move. The projectile itself can be reflected, blocked, and absorbed (hence the disaster that is the Rosalina matchup) and Ness himself is very vulnerable while the move occurs. It is highly recommended that all Ness players spend time practicing using PK Thunder to recover via various angles until they are comfortable doing so under pressure.
Two of the biggest threats to PK Thunder involve opponents airdodging through Ness to block PKT from hitting Ness and opponents countering PKT2 as Ness recovers to kill him at any percent. Each of these can be countered by simply PK Thundering the other way around Ness until it reaches the point where Ness will be correctly angled towards the ledge. However, this can sometimes bring Ness too far down offstage to recover, in which case one should try and angle Ness into the stage. Ness is invincible for the first 10 frames of PKT2 anyway, so even if he gets countered during this period, he will still be ok.
Using PK Thunder while right above or in front of the ledge and then aiming the PKT head directly into the stage in front of you is a useful and decently safe method of recovering after using a double jump, for it lets Ness actually abuse the disjoint of PKT in order to recover. Make sure to cancel PKT into the stage, for failure to do so will result in Ness not grabbing ledge.
If Ness PKT2s into the stage and hits it after the initial hitbox ends, he will have 28 frames to use PKT again. On most stages, Ness should wait as long as possible before using PKT again so that the PKT head does not hit the stage. This allows Ness to make it back from places he normally couldn't.
Hitting anything with a hurtbox while using PKT2 will put Ness and the object he hits into a large amount of hitlag; this stops Ness in midair and reduces his recovery length greatly. An opponent can abuse this to try and gimp Ness and then tech the stage and live. If you think this will happen to you, try and angle your PKT to the stage so that you can bounce off it and use PKT again. If your opponent hits your PKT2, you'll still live, and they'll either die or take a lot of damage.
Onstage, PKT is an extremely useful juggling and edgeguarding tool. While its head can be destroyed by enemy attacks, its tail is transcendent and cannot. Try looping it around itself to catch people in the tail so and follow the weak tail hits into the stronger head hit. Doing this can also catch airdodges. While this leaves Ness vulnerable, if an opponent tries to hit him, Ness can use PKT2 to catch them and get early kills.
If the opponent is offstage, PKT is usually used with the intent of hitting with only the tail to gimp the opponent. PKT's intangible tail will beat many recoveries and can cause early kills. Since Ness is so vulnerable offstage, this is a safe way to exert offstage pressure. Hitting an opponent with the head can also be a good option if the opponent is at kill percent, for it will pop them right towards where Ness is onstage, sometimes putting them in a 50/50 kill scenario. If they don't air dodge, Ness can nair/bair/up air them for the kill, and if they do, Ness can wait for the air dodge and fsmash or run to the ledge -> pivot grab -> bthrow. Sometimes, with correct positioning, sh double nair can cover both options.
Make sure to check out Mr. Timtendo's helpful PK Thunder guide! [7]
PSI Magnet - This move absorbs energy projectiles. To see which projectiles this works on, check https://ssbwiki.com/absorb . It starts absorbing on frame 6 and ends on frame 30, however, it is jump/shield cancellable the frame after it absorbs a projectile. It has a tiny windbox used for absurdly disrespectful gimps. Also, if djing back to the stage, using PSI Magnet just underneath the ledge will allow him to sweetspot from a decent distance under the ledge. Useful for PSI Magnet stalls; see section below.
...oh yeah, there's one more:
PK Flash - This... exists. It is extremely laggy (26 frames) but the animation lasts so much longer than the hitbox (which is only active for a single frame) that it seems like it has almost no lag. That's good, at least. It will almost break full shields, so that's also pretty cool, I guess. You can theoretically use it for edgeguarding but you probably shouldn't. If you wanna go for mad disrespect, you gotta do the DNND: PK Flash while offstage and hit someone onstage with it. If you can actually pull this off in tournament, I will give you a dollar.
As _clinton noted, "PK Flash is an ok anti air move IMO cross up wise and can deal with certain characters with very good dair's a bit better. The move also combos into uair and so on at low %s even with low power." So it looks like there are, in fact, some practical uses for it, and even combos from it.
ADVANCED TECHNIQUES
Locks - Arguably the most important use for jab is for jab locks. When jabbing an opponent within 28 frames of them missing a tech, Ness can force them into a getup animation, setting up for a charged fsmash. Note that Ness can do this up to 3 times; after the third, the opponent will no longer be locked. At point blank jab range, two jabs will push the opponent to the perfect spacing for a tipper fsmash to hit, giving Ness a reliable way to take stocks at mid to low percents.
These can be set up especially well if an opponent is jabbed off a platform or pushed off due to their shield being hit; if done toward the edge, this will give Ness a chance to take stocks with an fsmash at percents as low as 30%.
Sh rising nair also sets up for jab locks; at roughly 40% ness can just sh nair and drift with the opponent to catch them as they land and immediately jab them. On characters with faster fall speeds, Ness will need to do shff nair. At a wider range of percents, Ness can sh nair -> fastfall -> run towards the opponent -> shieldstop -> jab. All this must be done while drifting towards the opponent. To see this lock in action, watch FOW vs Lycan at SOS[2] , final game.
On platforms, jab locks can lead to pkt -> pkt2. However, this is very difficult, and is more easier set up off a dthrow -> fh dair at low percents. If the opponent misses the tech on the platform, Ness's dair will lock them, and while this does work on grounded opponents, jab is usually preferred due to its lower ending lag. This is especially useful on battlefield, and can lead to death at 0% if Ness has enough rage. 0 percent! Off a grab! This character's punish game can be absolutely bonkers sometimes.
For more info, check out SSBWiki's article on locks: https://www.ssbwiki.com/Lock
Dair Cancelling - This is probably Ness's most useful movement option; if you're a bit confused as to how it works, watch BSD's video on a-landing. Due to Ness's unique double jump, dair cancelling becomes a viable movement option that sets Ness apart from the rest of the Smash 4 cast.
To perform a dair cancel, simply land with dair during its 19 frame initial autocancel window. This will cause Ness to land slightly earlier if done at the correct height, for he will stick his foot out and extend his hurtbox during the dair windup animation. If done in conjunction with fastfalling, Ness can land earlier, with light landing lag, and can buffer actions during the dair that will execute frame perfectly upon landing. In addition, if Ness is moving horizontally while dair cancelling, he will slide slightly upon landing; this allows him to slide off platforms and execute complicated platform movement. During this slide, Ness can turn around, allowing him to reverse his direction extremely quickly and fall off platforms with immediate bairs.
It is highly recommended that one masters dair cancelling and all of its uses, and applies them practically in matches. These uses are as follows:
Keep in mind that there are two situations where dair cancelling cannot be done. The first is after a PSI Magnet stall, the second is after running/dair cancelling off a platform. In either case, attempting to dair cancel will inflict Ness with full dair landing lag.
PSI Magnet Stalling - PSI Magnet has the following interesting properties when used in the air:
Because of these first two properties, and the relatively short duration of PSI Magnet when not held (FAF of 30), Ness can effectively use his PSI magnet to stall himself in the air. This allows him to both avoid juggles and landing traps, and often fastfall up air to whiff punish. If used enough, it can condition the opponent into waiting for Ness to land, allowing him to land for free. PSI Magnet's stalling power is especially useful immediately after a dj, for it completely stalls his momentum and even gives him a slight vertical boost to avoid attackers. S1 has proven the tournament viability of this strategy in his own matches, and often will do a fh rising aerial, stall himself with PSI Magnet, and then descent with a fastfall up air.
Note that this technique becomes much less effective to avoid juggles once Ness has lost his double jump, for he can only slow himself while falling instead of stalling completely.
FAQ
Q: Ness has such short range! How do I get past sword characters!?
A: Apart from Ike, most sword characters have generally poor grab games. This makes run up shield a great option. If opponents try spacing safe aerials on shield, either run up close and powershield the aerial, or bait out the landing aerial and catch the opponent's landing lag with PK Fire or dash attack. Watch out for Marcina's shield breaker, though! If you predict it coming, just sh over it and attack with a landing up air.
Q: How should I avoid getting gimped as Ness?
A: If your opponent tries to challenge your recover early, try and just dj airdodge back to the stage. If they wait for you to PK Thunder, you might be screwed. Check out the section on PK Thunder for appropriate mix-ups. If you think your opponent will try to hit you as you reach the ledge, either fade back from it and use PKT to protect yourself, or use PSI Magnet during the ascent of your dj to sweetspot it from below.
GLOSSARY AND ABBREVIATIONS
DJ - Double Jump
FAF - First Active Frame. Refers to the frame where a character can perform other actions at the end of a move's animation.
FH - Full Hop. A full-length jump, as opposed to a short hop.
Jumpsquat - The period of time where a character crouches on the ground upon initiating a jump. To see this occuring, go to training mode and set speed to 1/4, then jump. Up specials and up smashes can be done during jumpsquat.
OOS - Out of shield. A move used out of shield is used either after jumping out of shield or dropping shield, usually to fend off attackers. Up smashes, specials, and aerials can be used in conjunction with jump from shield, while other grounded normals can be used after dropping shield. Up specials can be used while still in jumpsquat, however, unlike other specials, which can only be used once a character becomes airborne.
PKT - PK Thunder
Regrab - The act of grabbing the opponent again to extend a combo.
SH - Short Hop. Occurs when the jump input is pressed for fewer frames than the character's jumpsquat. To do this, just press the jump button really quick.
REFERENCES
This guide was made by me, Tato, in April of 2017! Hope you enjoyed it! Shoutouts to S1 and Awestin, my favorite Ness players, as well as Will Braverman, my good friend.
This is an extensive guide to using Ness in Super Smash Brothers for Wii U. It is way too long and should probably not be read in one go. For a much more concise guide to Ness with helpful visuals, check out Izaw's wonderful video, The Art of Ness[6]. Although that video is useful, it is somewhat basic and lacks many of the details that this guide provides. As a whole, this guide is more or less everything I know about my main. I made it both to help players understand Ness and his options better and to allay some common misconceptions about the character. Enjoy!
-Tato (BreadZeppelin on SmashBoards)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Introduction to Ness in Smash 4
- Brief retrospective on his position in the meta over time
- Overview of some of the character's options in various game situations
- Detailed explanations of his moveset:
- Grounded normals and grabs
- Throws
- Aerials
- Specials
- Grounded normals and grabs
- Advanced Techniques:
- Locks
- Dair Cancelling
- PSI Magnet stalling
- Locks
- FAQ
- Glossary and Abbreviations
- References
Enjoy! (:
INTRODUCTION
This is a very long guide. I would recommend looking at individual sections for specific Ness knowledge. I will not name exact combo percents; for those, check the Ness discord. If you are confused as to any terminology that I use, check the Glossary section at the end. With all that said, let me get one thing clear:
Rosalina is not, in my opinion, Ness's worst matchup. That would be Corrin.
There is a popular misconception regarding Ness that Rosalina is his worst matchup. That mostly exists because of Fow vs Dabuz at Evo 2015. While Dabuz made the matchup look impossible, this is not the case. In this Ness guide, I will explain why. But to do that, I need to explain Ness himself.
Ness shares a combination of wario's style of non-lightweight, small body size, and high aerial acceleration when it comes to physics. However, Ness has low run and air speeds. Ness makes up for this flaw with an incredible overall frame data to move power ratio on his aerials, as well as incredible autocancel windows. All this makes Ness highly threatening up close, in the air, but it leaves him with trouble playing a safe ground game and landing. In addition, Ness is a small character with disjoints that pale in comparison to characters with swords and other long ranged attacks. This all results in a general lack of ability for Ness to effectively outmaneuver his opponents, for he lacks both speed and range.
Unlike many other characters who lack mobility or a decent mid-range game, Ness does not have a competent projectile to consistently play the long range game with. This forces him to approach by getting close to his opponent, but this can be extremely risky. Getting close to opponents can mean making it through a barrage of spacing options, and when Ness gets hit, he struggles to bring himself back into the advantage state. Ness's low fall speed means that he has difficulty reaching the ground, and his laggy and unsafe dair provides a very poor hitbox to defend himself with upon landing. This, along with other factors, makes Ness susceptible to juggling. Due to his recovery being heavily exploitable, Ness cannot afford to be juggled or combo'd offstage and forced to use his up special.
Despite this poor neutral and terrible disadvantage, Ness has among the best advantage states in the game. His powerful, abundant kill options make trading a viable strategy, and his strong up close game can really be put to use when the opponent is forced or baited into approaching unsafely. Ness's powerful grab game and low percent combo ability means that he needs relatively few successful neutral interactions in order to secure a KO.
All this makes Ness a high risk, high reward character. While he is often seen as a basic character, his use of advanced movement options and powerful, quick up close mix-ups can often make up for his lack of raw movement speed. In terms of sheer power, Ness is among the most feared characters in the cast. His most powerful practical attack, PKT2, kills most characters from center stage at around 30 to 40 percent.
Corrin and Rosalina both are able to wall out Ness, juggle him, and consistently outspace him. While Rosalina has the edge in edgeguarding, Corrin does most of what Rosa does to Ness just as well and has access to insta pin, an option with burst movement so great that Ness simply cannot punish it, making it a borderline broken punish, neutral, edgeguard, combo, and kill move. It, along with gravitational pull, arguably shows Ness's design flaws better than almost any other move, having high reward and very low risk when used against him, and is one of the reasons I also main Pit as well as Ness.
HISTORY
Originally, Ness seen as a top tier. Fow and Shaky regularly placed top 8 at majors with him, giving him the results he needed to justify his top tier status. His easy learning curve and powerful ability to combat unsafe play made him feared and sometimes hated upon in early Smash 4.
Now, Ness is seen as a mid-tier, which I think is reasonable. Fow and Shaky stopped playing for a while, and without them Ness's results dropped. Since then, no Ness main has made top 8 at a major, even though Fow has somewhat recently returned to competing. The optimization of other characters' punish and edgeguarding games, as well as the refinement of safe spacing and projectile games of many top players, has left Ness somewhat behind. This problem has been confounded by the addition of the DLC sword characters and the buffs to Marcina. Unlike before, Ness's matchup spread is plagued by these sword characters as well as Rosaluma and Sheik, his classical bad matchups. With all of those characters being abdundant in the current meta, Ness is regarded often as being solo unviable, a view that I currently believe in.
However, Ness now serves roles in the metagame that he didn't serve in the beginning of Smash 4. Imo, he beats:
- the grapplers, who did not pose a threat in the beginning of the smash 4 metagame.
- Olimar, who was highly overlooked at the beginning of Smash 4 due to his nerfs from Brawl
- Link, Kirby, and Robin, all of whom have gained significant buffs since release
- and Lucario, who has risen in tier lists since the game came out for a variety of reasons.
- Bayonetta, who rose to top tier status immediately upon release and has not strayed far since
- Ryu, who has seen impressive results due to players discovering how to fully abuse his extreme power and strong up-close game (hmm, that sounds familiar)
- Fox, who has become more prevalent as the meta has progressed
- Mewtwo, who got buffed into a top tier
- and Samus, who got buffed into a mid tier
As a result, Ness is a viable and smart counterpick character in today's metagame, and has kept a prominent if more polarized matchup spread as time has gone on. For a current rough picture of Ness's matchups, here is S1's matchup chart posted on April 12, 2017:
GAMEPLAN
Ness has several methods of approaching: sh aerials to start pressure, instant dj aerials to play hit and run, sh airdodge to call out an attack, or sometimes even dash attack to call out movement. When not approaching, Ness can EDD, foxtrot, empty sh away, sh dair cancel away, or try and space with aerials. To catch approaches, Ness has a decently ranged pivot grab, a powerful retreating sh falling bair/upair, and a unique stalling move in PSI magnet that allows Ness to catch people who try to catch his landings. Falling bair/upair are also safe on shield if spaced properly, serving as solid landing options, while psi magnet has the best FAF of most popular stalling moves (Nayru's love, Bucket, Shine, and even Lucario dair by one frame lol) and lets Ness dj nair away to keep himself safe if he doesn't want to commit to landing. Dair cancelling gives Ness the opposite ability, allowing him to land quicker than he normally could. These options give Ness solid mixup options for landing, but do not guarantee a safe landing, and for the most part, fail to protect Ness when he is getting juggled.
Ness's primary goal at low and high (but arguably not mid) percents is to land a grab or a landing upair, for both of these options have high combo potential at low percent and kill potential at high percent. Ness's grab game is great, and grabbing the opponent can oftentimes leave the Ness player with multiple strong options to choose from. For more information, see Ness's Grabs and Throws section below.
When in an advantage state, Ness can pressure people with aerials to the extent which his mobility will let him, and often attempt to anti-approach in order to take advantage of the opponent being forced into making aggressive, unsafe plays. He can also use his high risk high reward projectiles, pk thunder and pk fire, to juggle opponents, edgeguard, and trap landings. While these projectiles are unsafe in neutral due to high endlag, smart use of them while in advantage can be hard to punish and highly rewarding upon landing.
We don't talk about pk flash.
In disadvantage state, Ness can attempt to stall his fall with down b (which cancels fast fall), attempt to fight his way down with aerials (but not dair pls) or airdodge. Ness notably is one of three characters, along with Lucas and Mewtwo, to possess an airdodge that allows free control of aerial movement during the dodge. This helps him avoid many scenarios where airdodging would normally mean death, for Ness can still mixup which way he drifts and attempt to avoid the airdodge read. While Ness has a slower air speed than Lucas and Mewtwo, he has much higher air acceleration than them and can therefore change his position and velocity relative to his body size considerably over the course of the ad.
Once the opponent is in kill percent, backthrow and upair will serve as reliable kill options, while bair, dsmash, nair, and sometimes even pkt2 will serve as situational ones.
People will hate you for your back throw, but don't be afraid to instill some salt. As a wise commentator once said [1],
"Sometimes, if you love someone, you gotta let them go. Behind you."
GROUND GAME
Ness's ground game suffers from a lack of speed, safety, range, and power. While some of his ground moves cover one of these categories, they usually are lacking in the others. In general, while Ness is mostly focused on aerial combat, it is important to be able to use his grounded moves effectively, for they are useful in given scenarios, and constantly staying in the air leaves Ness vulnerable to landing traps, juggles, and potent anti-airs.
As a general rule, Ness functions best up close, and his grounded moves reflect that. His grounded moves generally have little range and cannot be used for safe spacing; his ftilt, fsmash, and up smash are too short ranged and laggy to be used for these purposes, despite having the best range of his grounded moveset. The only grounded move which is safe for these purposes is dsmash, although since that move hits first behind and then in front, the back hit has far too much endlag to be safe, and the front hit has large amounts of startup and can be punished on reaction. Both options leave ness vulnerable to aerial approaches. As for Ness's quick tilts and jab, they both have little range and little reward on hit, with the exception of dtilt, which is an interesting case that I will discuss later. In general, using Ness's grounded moves extensively is a poor idea; instead, each move is best used for mixups and in specific circumstances that will be detailed below.
Ness's best grounded moves are his throws, and as a result, finding grabs is crucial to Ness's gameplan. This can be difficult due to Ness's slow ground speed and average grab range, but Ness has several ways of both setting up for grabs, via literal setups (such as pk fire or dtilt trips) and conditioning the opponent to shield with use of aerials. Once he has grabbed an opponent, Ness will always go for dthrow at low percent to combo, and usually fthrow with pummels at higher percents to tack on damage. Once the opponent is at high enough percent, with proper stage positioning, Ness will use bthrow and they will die.
GROUNDED MOVESET
Jab - A frame 3 punch, with two extra hits. Does not combo due to launching at the Sakurai angle1. The full jab combo does 8% total. Jab is fairly unsafe on shield (-20 oos) due to its decently high endlag; dtilt is much safer and should be used in close-to-shield situations as a non-grab option over jab. Also keep in mind that jab does not always true combo into itself at low percents on certain characters. Jab's decent range and startup make it a solid oos option with longer range than grab and nair and less endlag than ftilt, but its greatest use is for jab locks. See the jab locks section in advanced techniques.
Ftilt - Pretty bad, don't have too much to say. It's a decent oos option as mentioned above, but with a FAF of 35, it is generally fairly unsafe in close quarters combat, and although it does decent damage (9%, 10% if angled) its complete lack of follow-ups makes it a medium-risk, low-reward option.
The ability to angle the ftilt gives it mild use as an anti-air or edgeguarding option, yet Ness has much better tools for those purposes.
Utilt - Although this move has decent vertical range/disjoint, the fact that it requires Ness to be walking/standing to be used, as well as its lack of horizontal range and lack of active frames (active only on frames 7-8) make this move poor for trapping landings. In general, the move will almost never hit grounded opponents, and cannot be followed up after low percents due to its high bkb and kbg. Since Ness's up air is much stronger, widely ranged, and less laggy, sh immediate up air is usually a better option.
With that said, Utilt has one particular niche use, in a combo that works on heavys/fastfallers at low percents, which is:
dthrow -> rising fh fair -> up air -> immediate fastfall -> utilt on landing, preferably buffered -> fh -> immedately do any aerial except dair
This combo is only guaranteed in very specific scenarios, but is worth practicing if you are interested in optimal damage output off throws when your opponent is at very low percentages.
Dtilt - An odd move, Ness's dtilt is very safe on shield yet somewhat unsafe on hit. Its almost nonexistent knockback means that opponents can usually counterattack the moment they are moved out of dtilt range. Dtilt also gets tough guy'd by Bowser at low percents, so be careful on using it on him.
One might look at the low damage and knockback of dtilt and write it off as a useless move, but it in fact has two important uses- on shield and at ledge. However, due to its extremely low endlag, dtilt is generally useful wherever Ness wants more reward than a jab combo but isn't willing to risk going for a grab.
On shield, dtilt will catch most oos options (due to only having 4 frames of endlag between dtilts), and if the opponent doesn't act out of shield, it will shieldpoke. This almost guarantees dtilt spam to eventually hit if done on shield.
At ledge, dtilt will hit opponents who choose not to get up and has a good chance of hitting opponents who choose any getup option other than ledgedrop -> upair. Should the dtilt hit, it will either cause them to trip away from the ledge or hit them back onto it.
Every dtilt that hits has a 30% chance of tripping your opponent. The tripping animation will cause the very next dtilt to whiff (due to the opponent being slightly airborne). However, the third dtilt will hit the opponent out of their trip, meaning that hitting the opponent with more than two dtilts is usually not optimal. As a result, when using dtilt on shield, one should be especially conscious of when dtilt will shieldpoke and if/when the opponent will try to challenge the dtilts on shield with an oos option (which probably won't work, meaning your dtilts will hit). Optimally, only two dtilts should be done every time, with a 51% total chance of getting a trip between the two hits. The problem is that consecutive dtilts come out so fast that the trip they cause cannot be reacted to, so instead it must be predicted, or else by the time the Ness player reacts, the opponent will be able to choose a getup option. Ness has two main options to read out of a dtilt trip- instant dashgrab and fsmash. Grab is more consistent and will sometimes work even if the trip doesn't occur, yet is usually a less rewarding option than fsmash, whereas fsmash leaves Ness extremely punishable if the dtilts do not trip but can take stocks very early if it hits. With a 51% chance of tripping between 2 dtilts, this in a way almost gives Ness a 50/50 kill confirm off dtilts, one that depends not on reading your opponent but simply on RNG. This high followup/kill potential off of frame 2, nearly lagless move is what makes dtilt far and away Ness's best tilt.
However, it is crucial to understand that Ness CANNOT react to the outcome of a dtilt due to its speed, and must make a heavy commitment upon landing one or more dtilts in order to capitalize on possible trips. Should these trips not occur, Ness will be left wide open for punishment. Whiffing an fsmash, for instance, can result in Ness getting hit by many things that can result in death. This makes dtilt a unique move that in itself is very low commitment but can become a high-risk, high-reward option should the Ness player decide to use it that way.
Also keep in mind that dtilt's single frame of hitstun means that opponents getting hit by it can use fast options like jabs, powershields, or invincible up specials to get out of multiple dtilts. Any move that either comes out or has invincibility/super armor frame 3 or quicker will do. With this in mind, it is generally advised to hit with as few dtilts as possible after the first two, with two being the optimal amount to maximize tripping chances and avoid punishment.
Dash Attack - This move has two main uses, the first of which is to catch landings. DA's first hit will send aerial opponents back upwards, as will its third hit. This, along with its decent disjoint on its later hits, makes it a fairly safe way to catch landing opponents. Its second use is as a grounded spacing tool, for it has the most disjoint out of all his grounded moves. On grounded opponents, DA's first hit combos into the next 2 hits, although in general, this hit is not one that Ness aims to hit with (due to it being so close to his body). Instead, he will try and space the move to hit with only the third hit; should this get blocked, it will still be fairly safe. Be wary of throwing this move out too often; it is very unsafe if misspaced or if the opponent jumps over it.
Fsmash - The classic home run bat is a whopper of a move and another example of Ness's absurd killpower. Despite having amount of startup and ending lag, coming out on frame 21, being active for only two frames, and ending on frame 55, the move is surprisingly safe on shield if spaced at maximum range. This is due not to the move having a large amount of range (it actually has roughly the same amount of range as Ness's jab and ftilt), but due to the fact that the move has 3 hitboxes, one for each third of the bat. The innermost one does 18%, the middle one does 20%, and the tipper hitbox does 22%. Thus, hitting a shield with the tipper hitbox will cause an immense amount of shieldstun and push the opponent away significantly, making the safety of this move largely dependent on your opponent's traction and dash grab speed (and whether or not you landed the tipper).
A tipper forward smash, when landed, is devastating. With its high bkb of 70, the move scales very well with rage, and will kill extra early if near the edge of the stage. Keep in mind that the inner hitboxes will override the tipper hitbox if multiple hitboxes touch the enemy, so perfect spacing is crucial to using fsmash as a punish, for a non-tipper fsmash kills much later. When tippered, the move is among the top 10 strongest forward smashes in the game.
Because of all its weaknesses (poor frame data, low range, tiny sweetspot), Ness's fsmash is usually not used in neutral, except as a hard read on an approach. Dash away -> pivot fsmash is especially good for this, although that can be said of almost all fsmashes. Ness does have three crucial ways to set up for this move, though- jab locks, dtilt trips, and pk fire. Each of these are covered in their move's respective sections.
Oh yeah, it also reflects projectiles. Doing so doubles their speed and damage. It will not reflect projectiles that do more than 80%, and attempting to do so will put Ness into 5 seconds of lag. The slow startup of this move makes it difficult to use as a reflector, but if you do land it, it's the strongest reflector in the game.
Ness's fsmash, much like him as a character, is high risk, high reward. You might almost never hit it in tournament, but when you do, you can take stocks at percents Pit mains would only dream of.
Usmash - The around-the-world has a decent disjoint, but is generally inferior to sh up air for anti-air purposes. This is due to its lower damage output, higher endlag, and far inferior kill potential. Still, Usmash is an important oos option, for it can be jump cancelled oos and provides a hitbox directly behind him, something that no other option covers (nair hits too high to cover this area). As a result, it's a good "get off me" option, and is especially effective at countering crossups.
Dsmash - For some reason, Ness's downward variants on his ground moves are better than his other ones, yet his down aerial is far worse than his other aerials. Who knows why. Anyway, dsmash is dope and here's why:
Dsmash's second hit is Ness's only safe grounded spacing option, being only -8 on shield, making it almost completely safe unless done at point blank range (where the opponent can grab oos). However, the first hit is very unsafe, and the second hit has large amounts of startup, making this move far from an end-all-be-all for Ness's ground game. In addition, it leaves Ness completely vulnerable to aerial approaches.
Where dsmash truly shines is at the ledge. The move, when used at the ledge, hangs over the ledge from frames 10-15 and 17-18. This gives the move NINE ACTIVE FRAMES that can 2-frame the opponent, and since it reaches so far, it will often catch higher recoveries before they even reach the ledge. Since it sends opponents at an extremely low angle of 28°, dsmash will kill 2-framed opponents around 100%, providing an effective way of sealing out stocks after forcing offstage situations (especially considering that the move has low enough endlag to allow Ness to sometimes catch high recoveries with an aerial or dash grab on landing).
Should the opponent make it to the ledge, walking away slightly and dsmashing will give Ness the ability to cover normal getup, getup attack, and roll fairly effectively, although it does not cover jump and gets beat out by some characters' ledgedrop -> up air (notably Cloud's). Ness's other ledge coverage options such as nair, shield, and dtilt should be also considered in this situation.
This combination of edgeguarding potential, speed, and killpower makes Ness's dsmash his most useful smash attack, as well as among the best dsmashes in the game.
Grabs - Ness is a half-grappler, and as such has a decent set of grabs, with his dash grab being particularly good. While his normal grab is decent, his dash grab gives Ness a momentum burst, allowing him to get grabs that his normal, poor run speed would otherwise not allow for. His pivot grab, like most, has a significant disjoint, making it a good option to counter opponents running after him.
THROWS
Fthrow - Has the highest bkb of any throw (120) but extremely low kbg (10). This usually means that this throw is just a solid option to either simply tack on damage or throw the opponent offstage to set up for an edgeguard. At percents where bthrow will not kill or set up for an edgeguard, fthrow is usually recommended. This sets up for pk thunder edgeguards if Ness is near the ledge and provides stage control otherwise.
At the very end of the smashville platform, while it is completely extended, fthrow is a guaranteed death on any character at any percent. As Ness's rage increases, it begins to work even farther away from the blastzone. Due to its high base knockback, fthrow scales well with rage, although this matters little unless the fthrow is executed on the smashville platform. However, keep in mind that a rage fthrow DI'd poorly can kill even from ledge, especially on Smashville, where the side blastzones are closer to the ledge than on any other stage.
Bthrow - This is the strongest throw in the game. With a kbg of 130, and a damage output of 11%, Ness's backthrow is a consistent, powerful kill option at high percents. From center stage, it will kill at roughly 130%, from the opposite edge, it will kill at roughly 155% if DI'd properly, and from the ledge, it will kill at roughly 100% if DI'd properly. On lightweights, and with bad DI, Ness's bthrow can kill as low as 75% from ledge. No other throw has this level of power.
At high percents, Ness can choose to either pummel for slightly higher percent or immediately throw the opponent in the hopes that they will DI poorly. Even if it does not kill, bthrow can still be useful for setting up edgeguards, although if Ness is not in the proper position for this, fthrow or possibly uthrow are usually preferred to avoid staling bthrow.
It is important when learning Ness to know when bthrow will kill; it is highly recommended that one tries testing bthrow kill percents with varying weights, levels of rage, DI inputs, and stage positionings. An extra pummel or two can make a huge difference.
Uthrow - The least used of Ness's throws, yet still situationally useful. Its high bkb allows it to set up for immediate pk thunder juggles, especially on floaties or in stages without platforms. If anopponent is bad at dealing with pk thunder or their character has poor options to combat it, this can sometimes rack on large amounts of damage. See the section on PK Thunder below.
With high rage, on platforms (especially those of Town and City or Dreamland), against lightweights, and when in a situation where bthrow would not kill, uthrow can occasionally do the job instead. While this is an extremely specific scenario, it can happen. The most notable instance of this is during FOW vs Larry Lurr at 2GGC: Civil War[4].
Dthrow - Ness's main combo throw at low percents. At zero, this can lead into a sh or fh fair, which can combo into more fairs or an upair. Which option is chosen depends on the opponent's fall speed, weight, and stage positioning. On fastfallers/heavies, a sh fair with perfect fastfall timing can lead into a regrab or another sh fair/nair at 0%. At any higher percents, dthrow -> fh fair -> fastfall up air is optimal, and can either be followed up by an up tilt on some characters or a fh up air if they do not fall fast enough / if a jump is read.On floaties/lightweights, dthrow -> fh fair should usually be followed up by more fairs, as an upair is not likely to lead into anything further. If the dthrow occurs near the ledge, dthrow -> fair -> fair -> dj fair -> fair can work at low percents or with bad DI, and this can put the opponent into an edgeguarding situation. This final fair should be faded back on hit so that Ness's recovery does not get intercepted by the opponent. If percents are too high for a fourth fair to hit, or you are confident in your opponent DIing them properly, dthrow -> fh fair -> fair -> dj nair is optimal, for it will do more damage than dthrow -> triple fair.
At low enough percents, all forms of DI on any character can be caught by fh fair, as long as the Ness uses c-stick for fair and slightly drifts back during the fh to catch DI up and back. At higher percents (15% - 40% depending on weight and fall speed) dthrow will not combo into fair with this DI, but it will still combo into up air, so that should be used instead. At percents starting from roughly 40% to 70%, dthrow will have no true followups. Therefore, Ness can either go for a dthrow -> airdodge read -> up air (only if the percents are slightly past true combo percent), or simply pummel and use a different throw. Unfortunately, Ness's slow initial dj velocity makes it difficult for him to catch double jumps, making jumping away from dthrow always a viable method of escaping it after true combo percents; however, Ness can read this and chase the opponent down with PK Thunder.
AIR GAME
Unlike his grounded moves, Ness's aerial moves are renowned for their speed, safety, and power, and usually have decent range relative to Ness's small body size. While Ness's air speed (just like his ground speed) is poor, he still has reliable aerial combo strings at low percents. Ness's fantastic aerial acceleration makes him highly capable of both crossing up opponents and fading away after hitting their shield, making many of his aerials difficult to punish on block, although they are still easily punished on whiff. Among Ness's largest issues is the fact that his poor mobility causes him to constantly whiff on retreating opponents, who then can reliably either throw out larger hitboxes to catch Ness approaching (such as most sword characters) or use their quick speed to run in and punish him after whiffing (Sheik, Mario, etc.). However, Ness's ability to dair cancel, throw out multiple aerials in a short hop, and abuse his high double jump give him enough potent close-range mixups to be a serious threat to characters who don't have reliable methods of walling him out. In addition, Ness usually benefits from trading with his aerials, for their immense kill power usually puts these trades in his favor, for he will kill earlier.
Most of Ness's offensive gameplan involves using these mixups to either land aerials or dair cancel grabs / dash attacks. He usually aims to be the aggressor, pressuring opponents until eventually one of his hitboxes lands. Still, if Ness can get a significant lead, his aerials can be used while retreating in conjunction with instant dj and dair cancelling to make for movement that can be very tricky to catch. Should he be put in a juggle situation, Ness's poor dair and low air speed / fall speed results in high vulnerability to juggles, so to alleviate this, Ness can both stall his fall with PSI magnet and land extra early with dair, both of which can throw off his opponent's timing while juggling / catching landings. Also, unlike all other characters except Lucas and Mewtwo, Ness retains full control of his aerial drift while air dodging, allowing him to escape some 50/50 setups and evade juggling attempts. Should the opponent commit too hard to juggling, Ness's up air can kill them near the top of the stage at very early percents, and tack on solid damage otherwise.
AERIAL MOVES
Nair - This is Ness's fastest aerial, and looks very similar to Peach's. However, while Peach's nair functions like most sex kicks (with a short amount of initial active frames constituting a strong hit and then far more frames delivering a weak hit), Ness's is the opposite, delivering a strong hit for a whopping 8 frames and then a weak hit for 3 frames afterwards.
Ness's hands expand when using this move, giving it decent range and a very slight disjoint. Its speed and decent range are what make it such an effective oos option, one that is less committal than grab while still dealing decent damage and providing followup potential for another nair or jab lock at low percents.
With 18 frames of landing lag, nair removes hair quickly and painlessly, and is usually unsafe when used to land offensively on shield (except during a crossup, especially if the opponent has limited options to deal with crossups on shield). Instead, it is best when autocancelled. Since nair autocancels on frame 26, it can be shff'd with no landing lag. Should Ness either fade in or out, this becomes a fairly safe way of pressuring shields. If Ness doesn't want to land after a sh rising nair, he can double jump before he hits the ground, allowing him to do another rising aerial and reach platforms high up. When combined with dair cancelling, this method of movement can become a fluid and viable way for Ness to stay hard to hit despite his limited mobility. In addition, Ness can do a second nair in a short hop, but as stated above, this is usually not safe on shield and very punishable on whiff.
With its large amount of active frames, nair can make for a potent edgeguard, but its somewhat lacking range can make the amount of recovery options it covers fairly narrow. Fair also works in this scenario as a less powerful yet longer lasting edgeguard. If the opponent makes it to the ledge, sh nair can be useful for covering ledge jump, normal getup, and roll, especially if done right at the ledge to cover jump while fading slightly back to cover normal getup. While it doesn't kill as quickly as dsmash, unlike dsmash, it covers ledge jump. It will kill at the ledge at roughly 120% to 130%, but is more susceptible to DI than dsmash due to sending opponents at the sakurai angle.
While risky, rising instant dj nair is a decent way to mix up movement, especially on stages with upper platforms that can be dair cancelled on. However, instant dj rar bair is arguably a better way to accomplish this, due to it being usable again immediately after fastfalling as a relatively safe landing option.
Nair's late hit is difficult to hit consistently, but is in theory among Ness's best combo extenders, especially as seen in FOW vs Larry Lurr at 2GGC: Civil War. It can lead into another nair as a combo finisher, or if done backwards while drifting towards the opponent, can lead into an up air (which is more optimal). Bair's late hit is usually more usable, however.
Note that nair is usually a better approach option than fair in situations where aerial trades seem likely. Ness usually benefits off these trades, so keep this option in mind.
Fair - Fair is well known for being a potent combo tool, especially after a dthrow at low percents. It combos into itself, nair, and upair, with upair leading to combo extensions at low percents and nair being a potent combo finisher at slightly higher percents and/or offstage. Dthrow -> sh fair -> regrab can be extremely difficult to escape for fastfallers, and dthrown -> fh fair -> dash regrab -> fthrow can be a 0-death string on smashville if done into the platform, at the end of the stage.
Fair also serves as a good oos option for when opponents are too far away for nair to hit. However, nair is usually preferred, due to its higher damage and knockback.
Sh fair can be a decent approach option, although past low percents, it cannot be followed up well. If spaced properly on shield and fastfallen just after the final hit, it is fairly safe. Due to its solid autocancel window (autocancelling a mere 13 frames after the final hit), fair is also an effective crossup option, especially considering most people expect sh fair to be spaced as far from a shield as possible.
While offstage, it can be used (especially while rising) as a decent edgeguarding tool, although its power is somewhat lacking. For a more powerful yet less space-covering edgeguard, use nair instead.
It is important to note that fair, while a decent ranged option, will still lose to ranged options of many sword characters (e.g. Marth's fair). Unlike all of Ness's other aerials, fair's relatively low damage output and multi-hit nature make it poor for trading purposes. While on the surface fair's range would make it seem like a consistently better approach option than nair, keep in mind that trading with nair is usually beneficial for Ness.
Bair - Ness's most powerful aerial. Consists of a 2-frame initial "sweetspot" hit on frames 10-11 and a late hit from 12 - 18. Despite the visual indicator, this move has no physical sweetspot, requiring only proper timing in order to get the strong hit. Consistency-wise, bair is worse than nair due to its strong hit having so few active frames. However, bair's range is much better than nair's, and due to this, it can be used to safely land on shield. With 10 frames of shieldstun and enough shield pushback to almost completely insure that Ness will be out of shieldgrab range, bair is almost totally unpunishable on shield if timed correctly. The late hit is, in comparison, very unsafe. Just like nair, bair can be autocancelled in a shff, giving it incredible approaching and walling use. Also, because the two have the same FAF, Ness can also either nair or jump after a sh bair.
Bair generally does not combo due to its knockback being too high, although its late hit can do so in some scenarios after landing with it.
Overall, bair's 15% damage makes it a deadly yet somewhat inconsistent kill option. When landed near the ledge, it can kill at roughly 100%.
Up Air - The british call it the "five head". They claim that, surely, Ness cannot be hitting you with his forehead, for four is way too small a number to describe Ness's enormous noggin.
This move is arguably Ness's best move, and is easily among the top 5 up airs in the game (which is saying something in a game with up airs as broken as Fox's and Cloud's). It does everything- combos, kills, and spaces. It is slightly weaker than Mario's usmash, killing middleweights at roughly 130% on the floor of Smashville, and dealing 13%. However, for a move of its power, upair also has no sourspot or late hit and 4 active frames. Not only that, it is extremely disjointed, with the hitbox matching not Ness's head but the accent mark above it that appears when the move is executed. And this is all for a move that only has 15 frames of landing lag, and therefore can be used with little fear of retribution on shield. Ness's up air is a monster.
At near-zero percents, up air combos into grab. At slightly higher percents, fair can combo into up air, leading into a juggle situation. Landing up air also at these percents combos into any aerial except dair, although the most common follow up is another up air to continue the juggle.
If the opponent is at 110% or greater, and they choose to jump from ledge, up air can be a great way to secure a kill, although the opponent has the option to airdodge, which can be baited out and punished.
Since up air's hitbox extends in front of Ness, he can use it as a landing option. This is useful in scenarios such as when an opponent get up attacks; Ness can just jump over the getup attack and come down with an up air. Also, if the opponent runs in with a dash grab and Ness fades back with a sh, he can do the same thing. Up air's large damage output and short landing lag makes it safe on shield if spaced properly, giving him a reliable way to land on enemies shielding in front of him.
The most devious application of this is via sh airdodge up airing. By buffering a sh airdodge, and buffering an up air at the end of the airdodge, one can successfully land an up air despite having been invincible for most of air time. If it lands, this up air will frame cancel, allowing for even better followups.
While most people not familiar with Ness seem to think that he relies on his bthrow for kills, Ness's up air is just as important of a killing option as bthrow, and kills at roughly the same percents as bthrow at center stage. Should Ness read a spotdodge (used to avoid a grab -> bthrow kill), he can often use sh up air fastfall to catch it with up air's final hitbox. Roll behind can be caught by this as well if Ness drifts backwards during the jump and catches the opponent with the initial up air hitbox. Overall this helps Ness round out his kill potential in scenarios where getting grabs might be difficult.
Oh, and one last interesting tidbit- if the opponent is at falling up air -> rising up air percent, try falling up air -> instant dj upair -> up air at peak of dj. If it lands, it'll do lots of damage and set up for pk thunder juggles / landing traps.
Dair - Ahh, the infamous dair. In past smash games it was among his best moves; in this, it is one of the worst meteor smashes in the game. It possesses a unique combination of poor hitbox size, low power, and terrible speed. While it can occasionally be used for edgeguarding, Ness generally has far better ways of doing that, and should only be used if one is absolutely certain it will hit.
Dair's low bkb does give it some use as a locking method. This works especially well on battlefield platforms, where a dthrow lock can set up for an early pkt2 kill. See the jab locking section below for more details.
In the end, dair's abysmal speed ends up being its greatest strength. Although the hitbox does not come out until frame 20, landing on any frame of the animation before that will cause Ness to perform a light landing[3]. This means that any time Ness is sent into tumble, if he is near enough to the ground, he can often just dair -> fastfall and immediately land laglessly. Landing during this pre-hitbox autocancel window is known as "dair cancelling", and has many practical applications, arguably being Ness's greatest tool to overcome his lackluster mobility. This alone turns dair from a terrible move into a fantastic one, and should not be overlooked. See the dair cancelling section below for more details and applications of this technique.
Air Dodge - Unlike every other character barring Lucas and Mewtwo, Ness can completely change his momentum during his airdodge. With Ness's higher aerial acceleration than these two characters, this can make juggling Ness extremely difficult. Use it often, although not enough to become predictable.
SPECIALS
PK Fire - A move renowned for its spam use among low-level Ness's, PK Fire is a surprisingly underwhelming move. If used on ground, it can be easily SDI'd out of, making it nearly impossible to follow up on by anyone who knows how to SDI. Still, if a jump out of PK Fire is read, Ness can potentially chase the opponent down with aerials or PK Thunder. If it misses or is shielded, PK Fire is usually incredibly unsafe due to its large amount of endlag (FAF 59, PK Fire generated on frame 21). This is compounded by the fact that PK Fire's 20 frames of startup make it very reactable and easy to jump over or shield. Even on hit, PK Fire can be jabbed out of by characters with quick jabs and up special'd out of by characters with invincibility or intangibility early on in their up specials. If the opponent has good timing, they can even perfect shield pk fire while in the pillar. Note that none of these options will make the pillar go away, however; also, all of them can be baited out and punished.
Although still not great, PK Fire gains much more utility when used in the air. For those not familiar, PK Fire shoots down at a 45 degree angle when used in the air, unlike Lucas's, which shoots directly horizontally in all scenarios. On hit, PK Fire is usually better from the air, for if it hits directly on top of the opponent, they will have a much more difficult time SDIing out of it than if it hit them from the side. This is because unlike when they are hit from the side and can SDI the other way, PK Fire from the top does not hit from a side, and cannot be SDI'd downwards, for that direction leads into the ground. The exception to this is when they are hit while airborne; in that case, SDIing down is often a decent option, but is unintuitive and risky, for it causes the character to fastfall. If this is done offstage, it can significantly hinder their chance of recovering, especially since the pillar of PK Fire will fall offstage with the opponent.
Usually, using PK fire while in midair after djing will cause Ness to immediately fall with his pk fire. This can be used as a hard read on an opponent; should it land, Ness will be in perfect range to land an fsmash and kill them early, or grab them, pummel them while they burn, and then throw them. However, should it miss or be shielded, Ness will be stuck with a large amount of lag, opening him wide up for punishes.
If done immediately from a fh, Ness can either dj just before touching the ground or dair. Either case will avoid the large amount of lag that would normally accompany a fh PK Fire. Usually, dair is chosen if the pk fire hits, so that Ness can run up and capitalize. If it doesn't hit, dj airdodge or dj nair will allow Ness to retreat to the top platform (see PSI Teleport in Advanced Techniques below). An opponent, if they react/predict this, can simply run underneath Ness and hit him as he descends. This overall Technique is known as PK Jump Fire.
On the other hand, if executed the frame after a dj, Ness will fly in the direction he PK Fire'd, soaring with his PK Fire. Using this at the peak of a full hop will allow Ness to both move with his PK Fire and still dj or dair out of it to avoid its landing lag. This method, when it hits, is the most optimal, often allowing Ness to land a fully charged fsmash. It is known as a PK Fire Jump, and although it is highly rewarding, it also burns Ness's dj and puts him in perfect range for punishment.
PK Thunder - This is, unfortunately, Ness's recovery move. The projectile itself can be reflected, blocked, and absorbed (hence the disaster that is the Rosalina matchup) and Ness himself is very vulnerable while the move occurs. It is highly recommended that all Ness players spend time practicing using PK Thunder to recover via various angles until they are comfortable doing so under pressure.
Two of the biggest threats to PK Thunder involve opponents airdodging through Ness to block PKT from hitting Ness and opponents countering PKT2 as Ness recovers to kill him at any percent. Each of these can be countered by simply PK Thundering the other way around Ness until it reaches the point where Ness will be correctly angled towards the ledge. However, this can sometimes bring Ness too far down offstage to recover, in which case one should try and angle Ness into the stage. Ness is invincible for the first 10 frames of PKT2 anyway, so even if he gets countered during this period, he will still be ok.
Using PK Thunder while right above or in front of the ledge and then aiming the PKT head directly into the stage in front of you is a useful and decently safe method of recovering after using a double jump, for it lets Ness actually abuse the disjoint of PKT in order to recover. Make sure to cancel PKT into the stage, for failure to do so will result in Ness not grabbing ledge.
If Ness PKT2s into the stage and hits it after the initial hitbox ends, he will have 28 frames to use PKT again. On most stages, Ness should wait as long as possible before using PKT again so that the PKT head does not hit the stage. This allows Ness to make it back from places he normally couldn't.
Hitting anything with a hurtbox while using PKT2 will put Ness and the object he hits into a large amount of hitlag; this stops Ness in midair and reduces his recovery length greatly. An opponent can abuse this to try and gimp Ness and then tech the stage and live. If you think this will happen to you, try and angle your PKT to the stage so that you can bounce off it and use PKT again. If your opponent hits your PKT2, you'll still live, and they'll either die or take a lot of damage.
Onstage, PKT is an extremely useful juggling and edgeguarding tool. While its head can be destroyed by enemy attacks, its tail is transcendent and cannot. Try looping it around itself to catch people in the tail so and follow the weak tail hits into the stronger head hit. Doing this can also catch airdodges. While this leaves Ness vulnerable, if an opponent tries to hit him, Ness can use PKT2 to catch them and get early kills.
If the opponent is offstage, PKT is usually used with the intent of hitting with only the tail to gimp the opponent. PKT's intangible tail will beat many recoveries and can cause early kills. Since Ness is so vulnerable offstage, this is a safe way to exert offstage pressure. Hitting an opponent with the head can also be a good option if the opponent is at kill percent, for it will pop them right towards where Ness is onstage, sometimes putting them in a 50/50 kill scenario. If they don't air dodge, Ness can nair/bair/up air them for the kill, and if they do, Ness can wait for the air dodge and fsmash or run to the ledge -> pivot grab -> bthrow. Sometimes, with correct positioning, sh double nair can cover both options.
Make sure to check out Mr. Timtendo's helpful PK Thunder guide! [7]
PSI Magnet - This move absorbs energy projectiles. To see which projectiles this works on, check https://ssbwiki.com/absorb . It starts absorbing on frame 6 and ends on frame 30, however, it is jump/shield cancellable the frame after it absorbs a projectile. It has a tiny windbox used for absurdly disrespectful gimps. Also, if djing back to the stage, using PSI Magnet just underneath the ledge will allow him to sweetspot from a decent distance under the ledge. Useful for PSI Magnet stalls; see section below.
...oh yeah, there's one more:
PK Flash - This... exists. It is extremely laggy (26 frames) but the animation lasts so much longer than the hitbox (which is only active for a single frame) that it seems like it has almost no lag. That's good, at least. It will almost break full shields, so that's also pretty cool, I guess. You can theoretically use it for edgeguarding but you probably shouldn't. If you wanna go for mad disrespect, you gotta do the DNND: PK Flash while offstage and hit someone onstage with it. If you can actually pull this off in tournament, I will give you a dollar.
As _clinton noted, "PK Flash is an ok anti air move IMO cross up wise and can deal with certain characters with very good dair's a bit better. The move also combos into uair and so on at low %s even with low power." So it looks like there are, in fact, some practical uses for it, and even combos from it.
ADVANCED TECHNIQUES
Locks - Arguably the most important use for jab is for jab locks. When jabbing an opponent within 28 frames of them missing a tech, Ness can force them into a getup animation, setting up for a charged fsmash. Note that Ness can do this up to 3 times; after the third, the opponent will no longer be locked. At point blank jab range, two jabs will push the opponent to the perfect spacing for a tipper fsmash to hit, giving Ness a reliable way to take stocks at mid to low percents.
These can be set up especially well if an opponent is jabbed off a platform or pushed off due to their shield being hit; if done toward the edge, this will give Ness a chance to take stocks with an fsmash at percents as low as 30%.
Sh rising nair also sets up for jab locks; at roughly 40% ness can just sh nair and drift with the opponent to catch them as they land and immediately jab them. On characters with faster fall speeds, Ness will need to do shff nair. At a wider range of percents, Ness can sh nair -> fastfall -> run towards the opponent -> shieldstop -> jab. All this must be done while drifting towards the opponent. To see this lock in action, watch FOW vs Lycan at SOS[2] , final game.
On platforms, jab locks can lead to pkt -> pkt2. However, this is very difficult, and is more easier set up off a dthrow -> fh dair at low percents. If the opponent misses the tech on the platform, Ness's dair will lock them, and while this does work on grounded opponents, jab is usually preferred due to its lower ending lag. This is especially useful on battlefield, and can lead to death at 0% if Ness has enough rage. 0 percent! Off a grab! This character's punish game can be absolutely bonkers sometimes.
For more info, check out SSBWiki's article on locks: https://www.ssbwiki.com/Lock
Dair Cancelling - This is probably Ness's most useful movement option; if you're a bit confused as to how it works, watch BSD's video on a-landing. Due to Ness's unique double jump, dair cancelling becomes a viable movement option that sets Ness apart from the rest of the Smash 4 cast.
To perform a dair cancel, simply land with dair during its 19 frame initial autocancel window. This will cause Ness to land slightly earlier if done at the correct height, for he will stick his foot out and extend his hurtbox during the dair windup animation. If done in conjunction with fastfalling, Ness can land earlier, with light landing lag, and can buffer actions during the dair that will execute frame perfectly upon landing. In addition, if Ness is moving horizontally while dair cancelling, he will slide slightly upon landing; this allows him to slide off platforms and execute complicated platform movement. During this slide, Ness can turn around, allowing him to reverse his direction extremely quickly and fall off platforms with immediate bairs.
It is highly recommended that one masters dair cancelling and all of its uses, and applies them practically in matches. These uses are as follows:
- Tomahawking - Dair cancelling allows Ness to buffer an input upon landing. It also reduces the amount of time Ness takes to get to the ground; if the opponent is used the the timing of Ness's standard shff, sh -> dair at peak of jump -> immediate ff -> buffered dash grab can often catch them off guard. This essentially gives Ness tomahawk abilities that characters of his fall speed should not have, and is especially useful due to his strong grab game. If this option gets read, Ness can still buffer any other option from a sh ff dair cancel, allowing for fast mixups. Beware of using this tactic too much; empty hopping as Ness leaves him vulnerable to anti airs and approaching sh aerials.
- A-Landing - Ness can dair out of tumble, providing him with way to land without teching after being hit horizontally. See the BSD video on this below[5].
- PSI Teleport - I've been waiting this whole guide to coin a dumb catchphrase; might as well do it now. This is a method commonly employed by S1, and is only effective when Ness has a platform above him. It is done by using an instant DJ aerial (usually nair or rar bair) to approach, and then immediately dair platform cancelling. This technique is very difficult to punish on block, due to nair and bair's high shieldstun, and gives Ness a powerful third way to approach with aerials apart from normal short hops and full hops. Effective use of dair cancel can then allow Ness to fastfall from a platform and dj aerial near the ground to rise back up to the platform, repeating the process. For opponents expecting this, Ness can stall after dropping from the platform with dj -> PSI Magnet, then use a ff up air to punish whatever whiffed anti-air the opponent had used to catch Ness's landing. If he reads a high anti-air, such as a fh up air, Ness can either stay on the platform, drop from the other side of it, or if he's feeling brave, drop with an airdodge and attempt to whiff punish their up air with an aerial of his own. I've been rambling on here for a while, but as you can see, the potential of this technique is quite high. The biggest issue of it is the risk Ness faces when using it after low percents; should he get intercepted somehow, he will be left without a double jump. If this forces him into an offstage situation, Ness is not going to have a good time. The technique is especially applicable in the following situations:
- Underneath the top platform on Battlefield
- Underneath the top platform on Dream Land
- On either side of Lylat when that side is tilted downwards. Used in conjunction with Lylat's middle platform
- On T&C most of the time, except when there are not platforms or when the platforms are at their max height, for Ness cannot reach them out of an instant dj
- Underneath the top platform on Battlefield
- Short hop airdodge tomahawk - Short hop air dodge up air can be a useful technique for Ness to approach with airdodge invincibility, however, this is not the only option Ness can use out of a sh airdodge. If he wants to perform any other action, he can dair and nearly instantly land, allowing for mixups as stated in the tomahawk section above. This can be useful as a counter to opponents trying to stuff out Ness's sh aerials or tomahawk attempts.
- Landing mixups - Dair cancelling causes Ness to land sooner; as a result, it can be used to land just before an opponent's juggling attempt and shield before they can hit him. Note that this cannot be used after a PSI Magnet stall.
- In conjunction with PK Fire - See PK Fire section above.
Keep in mind that there are two situations where dair cancelling cannot be done. The first is after a PSI Magnet stall, the second is after running/dair cancelling off a platform. In either case, attempting to dair cancel will inflict Ness with full dair landing lag.
PSI Magnet Stalling - PSI Magnet has the following interesting properties when used in the air:
- If used after a fastfall, Ness will no longer be fastfalling, and can fastfall again.
- If used after a jump or dj, Ness's upwards momentum will come to a halt. This allows Ness to immediately fastfall after an aerial PSI Magnet, anytime.
- Ness can no longer dair cancel ):
Because of these first two properties, and the relatively short duration of PSI Magnet when not held (FAF of 30), Ness can effectively use his PSI magnet to stall himself in the air. This allows him to both avoid juggles and landing traps, and often fastfall up air to whiff punish. If used enough, it can condition the opponent into waiting for Ness to land, allowing him to land for free. PSI Magnet's stalling power is especially useful immediately after a dj, for it completely stalls his momentum and even gives him a slight vertical boost to avoid attackers. S1 has proven the tournament viability of this strategy in his own matches, and often will do a fh rising aerial, stall himself with PSI Magnet, and then descent with a fastfall up air.
Note that this technique becomes much less effective to avoid juggles once Ness has lost his double jump, for he can only slow himself while falling instead of stalling completely.
FAQ
Q: Ness has such short range! How do I get past sword characters!?
A: Apart from Ike, most sword characters have generally poor grab games. This makes run up shield a great option. If opponents try spacing safe aerials on shield, either run up close and powershield the aerial, or bait out the landing aerial and catch the opponent's landing lag with PK Fire or dash attack. Watch out for Marcina's shield breaker, though! If you predict it coming, just sh over it and attack with a landing up air.
Q: How should I avoid getting gimped as Ness?
A: If your opponent tries to challenge your recover early, try and just dj airdodge back to the stage. If they wait for you to PK Thunder, you might be screwed. Check out the section on PK Thunder for appropriate mix-ups. If you think your opponent will try to hit you as you reach the ledge, either fade back from it and use PKT to protect yourself, or use PSI Magnet during the ascent of your dj to sweetspot it from below.
GLOSSARY AND ABBREVIATIONS
DJ - Double Jump
FAF - First Active Frame. Refers to the frame where a character can perform other actions at the end of a move's animation.
FH - Full Hop. A full-length jump, as opposed to a short hop.
Jumpsquat - The period of time where a character crouches on the ground upon initiating a jump. To see this occuring, go to training mode and set speed to 1/4, then jump. Up specials and up smashes can be done during jumpsquat.
OOS - Out of shield. A move used out of shield is used either after jumping out of shield or dropping shield, usually to fend off attackers. Up smashes, specials, and aerials can be used in conjunction with jump from shield, while other grounded normals can be used after dropping shield. Up specials can be used while still in jumpsquat, however, unlike other specials, which can only be used once a character becomes airborne.
PKT - PK Thunder
Regrab - The act of grabbing the opponent again to extend a combo.
SH - Short Hop. Occurs when the jump input is pressed for fewer frames than the character's jumpsquat. To do this, just press the jump button really quick.
REFERENCES
- https://www.ssbwiki.com/Sakurai_angle
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8zIP8f6XP0 - FOW vs Lycan at SOS
- https://www.ssbwiki.com/Lag#Landing_lag
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GCbFm9suqw - FOW vs Larry Lurr at 2GGC: Civil War
- https://youtu.be/PbC_nNAMYsU - BSD on A-Landing
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DTY0Hxdiy8 - Izaw's Art of Ness
- https://youtu.be/11OgjwP9yks - Mr. Timtendo's PK Thunder guide
This guide was made by me, Tato, in April of 2017! Hope you enjoyed it! Shoutouts to S1 and Awestin, my favorite Ness players, as well as Will Braverman, my good friend.
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