Q&A Game Play Advice and General Discussion

[I speak Spanish too]

I recently watched a vid on how to improve in smash by omni and one of the key points was "put your opponent in situations that test their reactions" he goes on further to note that if you know how they will react you can effectively punish them which makes sense.

My question is what are situations that test your opponent's reactions? I know the obvious ones likes DI'ing throw combos, or airdodging due to aerial pressure, dash dancing to test how they react to your approaches,as well as hit confirms but what else is their?

 

[Jonz]

Hey! I'm just a guy who wants to get into competitive smash. I've played smash with friends, and its been very fun. I always thought it'd be nice to become competitive, but didn't know where to start, how to train, or anything. I wanted to ask a large audience of fellow Smashers, What should I do? How should I train? When should I enter a tournament? Getting a wide variety of advice I think would be helpful, and I'd really appreciate it if any of you would give me an evaluation (play me and give me critiques).Thanks, and I hope I can come into the fascinating world of competitive smash

 

[Rinku リンク]

Hey! I'm just a guy who wants to get into competitive smash. I've played smash with friends, and its been very fun. I always thought it'd be nice to become competitive, but didn't know where to start, how to train, or anything. I wanted to ask a large audience of fellow Smashers, What should I do? How should I train? When should I enter a tournament? Getting a wide variety of advice I think would be helpful, and I'd really appreciate it if any of you would give me an evaluation (play me and give me critiques).Thanks, and I hope I can come into the fascinating world of competitive smash

I'd start by understanding all the fundamentals and mechanics of the game first (ex. perfect shielding, trumping, teching, etc).

After that I'd recommend reading guides on the character(s) you plan on using in the competitive scene.

Understand what your characters capable of, what their weakness are, and what their strengths are.

Looking up frame data can be super handy for further understanding your characters move set.

As far as putting yourself into practice attending tourneys in my opinion is the best way to get better.

Playing online has some merits but playing offline is the best way to go honestly.

 

[Wintropy]

I recently watched a vid on how to improve in smash by omni and one of the key points was "put your opponent in situations that test their reactions" he goes on further to note that if you know how they will react you can effectively punish them which makes sense.

My question is what are situations that test your opponent's reactions? I know the obvious ones likes DI'ing throw combos, or airdodging due to aerial pressure, dash dancing to test how they react to your approaches,as well as hit confirms but what else is their?

Tech-chase and off-stage pressure (whether via gimping or CQC) come to mind.

 

[Quarium]

I recently watched a vid on how to improve in smash by omni and one of the key points was "put your opponent in situations that test their reactions" he goes on further to note that if you know how they will react you can effectively punish them which makes sense.

My question is what are situations that test your opponent's reactions? I know the obvious ones likes DI'ing throw combos, or airdodging due to aerial pressure, dash dancing to test how they react to your approaches,as well as hit confirms but what else is their?

Wintropy has it right. I also think conditioning falls into this!

Conditioning would be letting your opponent get away freely with some unsafe option they do until they feel comfortable doing it so you surprise them with a huge punish or taking a certain option several times until your opponent "sees it" and then crossing them up when they think they know what you will do. It's a big mindgame.

 

[teluoborg]

Hey! I'm just a guy who wants to get into competitive smash. I've played smash with friends, and its been very fun. I always thought it'd be nice to become competitive, but didn't know where to start, how to train, or anything. I wanted to ask a large audience of fellow Smashers, What should I do? How should I train? When should I enter a tournament? Getting a wide variety of advice I think would be helpful, and I'd really appreciate it if any of you would give me an evaluation (play me and give me critiques).Thanks, and I hope I can come into the fascinating world of competitive smash

I'll emphasize on one thing Rinku リンク said that is : attend tournaments as soon as possible. Nothing can replace tournament experience, because it's the only time you'll have to play at 100% against multiple opponents that play at 100% too. You get to experience real matchups and to train your mental stamina which are both very important if you want to become a good player.
Even if you lose all your tournament matches you'll get better as long as you learn from your defeats.

 

[Wintropy]

Simple yet stacked question:

How can I get better when it comes to reads?

I think this is where I need the most work.

I just don't know how to practice it.

 

[LancerStaff]

Simple yet stacked question:

How can I get better when it comes to reads?

I think this is where I need the most work.

I just don't know how to practice it.

I don't think there's any one thing that can be said that'll help.

At best you can practice, try and slow down and think, and focus on your opponent.

 

[iDaire]

I've got a question.

So when I first joined this forums, I would say that I'm just one of those casuals that play For Glory in an effort to have fun in the game and in an effort to get a very high win rate, which could prove that I am a good player at the game. But nowadays, I've gotten into some tournaments and I've gotten into the competitive scene of Smash 4. I however, have been unable to win any tournaments. Not sure if this is to do with the fact that I've been facing against people like Wes and Ho3k MikeKirby, but I want to able able to win against these people, and with enough caring and hard work, dethrone these people.

So, now that I've covered some background information, I can finally talk about my problems more up. During these tournaments, I find that the most prevalent problems are four:

1. Spacing. I find that when I use people like Roy and Zero Suit Samus, I just come in too close with the Nairs and they end up getting blocked and punished with a grab out of shield. It's like after I advance forward in the air, I've advanced forward too much and can no longer go backwards as to avoid getting grabbed out of shield. It doesn't help that after an attack starts, it becomes slightly harder to fastfall.

2. Momentum. When I play For Glory and get a momentum rush, I start playing much, much better than I normally do and I usually end up sometimes going 20 matches in a row without losing with a single character, no matter who I am matched up against. While this is nothing to be exactly proud of, I find that when I am without momentum in the tournament, I play terribly. Simply put, I get anxious when I'm playing the tournament, no matter how accustomed I was to the friendlies before the tournament, and I end up playing worse as a result.

3. Rage. Whenever I lose a match, I am such a sore loser that I usually forget to take the time to sit down and analyze what I did wrong in the match and how I can get better from that match. I get better by observing the strategy of whoever beats me and stealing bits of their strategy to implement into mine. That's how I've always gotten better, that's how I always will get better, and this rage is getting in the way of that.

4. Reading and Mindgames. I kid you not when I say this is the worst problem I have with all games in general. I need to be able to read people and see their patterns better and therefore, be able to punish them better. When I play a match in a set in a tournament, I'm always just so absorbed with the match that I forget that I need to think about what I'm doing and how I can make my self less predictable and how I can predict my opponent. I know most people say that these are mainly just observational skills and that there is nothing that can really be done about how well one can read, but aren't there any tips or a method that I can practice in Training or Regular Smash that I can do to get to say, eSam or ZeRo's level of reading and mindgames?

The question, as most of you can probably guess, is how can I fix these problems? Please help me out here. I am a player trying to get on a competitive level. Despite being only fifteen, I argue that I am somewhat decent at this game and if you guys could help me, that would be massive.

EDIT: Just to clarify, I have been playing since Melee, but as you can probably guess, I was pretty young and as a result, wasn't very good at Melee or Brawl. I main all of FE (In order of importance: Roy, Ike, Lucina, Robin, Marth).

 

[LancerStaff]

I've got a question.

So when I first joined this forums, I would say that I'm just one of those casuals that play For Glory in an effort to have fun in the game and in an effort to get a very high win rate, which could prove that I am a good player at the game. But nowadays, I've gotten into some tournaments and I've gotten into the competitive scene of Smash 4. I however, have been unable to win any tournaments. Not sure if this is to do with the fact that I've been facing against people like Wes and Ho3k MikeKirby, but I want to able able to win against these people, and with enough caring and hard work, dethrone these people.

So, now that I've covered some background information, I can finally talk about my problems more up. During these tournaments, I find that the most prevalent problems are four:

1. Spacing. I find that when I use people like Roy and Zero Suit Samus, I just come in too close with the Nairs and they end up getting blocked and punished with a grab out of shield. It's like after I advance forward in the air, I've advanced forward too much and can no longer go backwards as to avoid getting grabbed out of shield. It doesn't help that after an attack starts, it becomes slightly harder to fastfall.

2. Momentum. When I play For Glory and get a momentum rush, I start playing much, much better than I normally do and I usually end up sometimes going 20 matches in a row without losing with a single character, no matter who I am matched up against. While this is nothing to be exactly proud of, I find that when I am without momentum in the tournament, I play terribly. Simply put, I get anxious when I'm playing the tournament, no matter how accustomed I was to the friendlies before the tournament, and I end up playing worse as a result.

3. Rage. Whenever I lose a match, I am such a sore loser that I usually forget to take the time to sit down and analyze what I did wrong in the match and how I can get better from that match. I get better by observing the strategy of whoever beats me and stealing bits of their strategy to implement into mine. That's how I've always gotten better, that's how I always will get better, and this rage is getting in the way of that.

4. Reading and Mindgames. I kid you not when I say this is the worst problem I have with all games in general. I need to be able to read people and see their patterns better and therefore, be able to punish them better. When I play a match in a set in a tournament, I'm always just so absorbed with the match that I forget that I need to think about what I'm doing and how I can make my self less predictable and how I can predict my opponent. I know most people say that these are mainly just observational skills and that there is nothing that can really be done about how well one can read, but aren't there any tips or a method that I can practice in Training or Regular Smash that I can do to get to say, eSam or ZeRo's level of reading and mindgames?

The question, as most of you can probably guess, is how can I fix these problems? Please help me out here. I am a player trying to get on a competitive level. Despite being only fifteen, I argue that I am somewhat decent at this game and if you guys could help me, that would be massive.

Just today I've heard Roy's air acceleration/control isn't great, so that combined with his high air speed would make overshooting pretty easy. ZSS I think would be easier to space with. Maybe playing more spacing oriented characters like Marth or Pit would help, or it's frequent online play making you overshoot.

Best way to get rid of tournament jitters is to just keep coming back. Downplay what's at stake. Think about the match and not the whole tournament. Just try to make tournaments a mundane experience if you're not good with pressure.

Rage/soreness I usually see tied to the above; being that you're great in one aspect (for glory in this case) and less so in others. Losing needs to become a "normal" thing in a sense, but obviously not too much so. If you're just stuck then you should probably take a break.

Like I said to miss Wintropy, there's no single thing that can be said that will make you better at mindgames. Practice, practice, practice.

Perhaps these issues are related, perhaps not. I've seen these issues go down like dominos and then spring up in reverse multiple times... But they're all largely resolved by playing more.

 

[teluoborg]

Wintropy and iDaire the key to get better at reading your opponents is to recognize patterns, in the game in general and in your opponent's habits. Things like what moves will make people want to shieldgrab you, what will force them to tech, in what direction do they usually tech, is there a moment when they try to roll behind you, etc etc. LancerStaff is right when he says it comes with practice, so try to think about what is going to happen next during a fight.

 

[LozNerd]

Hey, just a customs question.

I'm trying to build the ultimate aerial character with + lateral movement + aerial attack power and + jump height off badges. I can't decide who to choose though.

First I tried Greninja but his falling speed made it hard to off-stage gimp. Now I'm trying Falco and I think it is working okay, especially if you get your opponent high in the air his jump is so high with the buff he goes off-screen and is to fast to react and air-dodge his up-air. Is there anyone better than Falco for this build though?

Thanks!

 

[Supersteve45]

because i'm switching over to a controller that is more up to par with what you should use for smash.

For SIX YEARS i've used JUST the wiimote... And it's really fun playing that way for me because I'm just so used to it and it's like I don't even have to worry about controls. It's almost as if the characters' movesets are an extension of ME. Except of course, I never even attempted grabs or certain tilts because of the limitations that controller brings..

The only other controller I have right now is a gamepad, and today I've been fighting through the struggles of learning this completely foreign device (for me, the gamecube controller is foreign for smash). I started off playing with my Wiimote and it was so much fun since everything felt so natural... But I have to get used to the other non solo wiimote controller since they'd help me out in the long run. Right now man it is definitely not easy. I'm more fighting myself than my opponent...

The reason i'm doing this though is because I want to get to at least a semi competitive level.... Anyone else have any experiences with switching from the wiimote after using it for so long? This is seriously extremely hard.

I would say to work your way up, try getting a classic controller. It's a good controller that's only a small size up from the wiimote. Once you get good with that, if you feel like going hardcore, it shouldn't be too much trouble transferring from a classic controller to a gc controller. Good luck in your journey for the right controller.

 

[Supersteve45]

Hey! I'm just a guy who wants to get into competitive smash. I've played smash with friends, and its been very fun. I always thought it'd be nice to become competitive, but didn't know where to start, how to train, or anything. I wanted to ask a large audience of fellow Smashers, What should I do? How should I train? When should I enter a tournament? Getting a wide variety of advice I think would be helpful, and I'd really appreciate it if any of you would give me an evaluation (play me and give me critiques).Thanks, and I hope I can come into the fascinating world of competitive smash

I would say to go to a local tournament whenever you get the chance and just see how you stack up. Almost everyone gets crushed there first tourney so there's no pressure to do well. Also most smashers are nice, I'm sure most of them would be glad to give you helpful advice after a match.

 

[Daxter]

Still having serious trouble with sporadic rolling, and simple things like being Meteored by Marios, being unable to reflect back Gordos, or stop Weegees from comboing me to death. Just now I lost 10 matches in a row to a Mewtwo. I knew exactly what was coming - Shadow Balls, Dash attacks, grabs, but I couldn't do a thing about it, despite knowing the ins and outs of Robin. Everything was blocked, dodged, uploaded in 5 different humiliating replays.

The question therefore is, why, after thousands of hours and games, can't I improve? Am I just predestined to be an idiot at this kind of thing? Someone who can't even beat the average FG teabagger? After so long trying, I feel like I might actually start crying if I learn I'll never be better than a casual.

 

[teluoborg]

Daxter Read this thread : http://smashboards.com/threads/your...-to-solving-simple-problems-in-combat.209309/

It's from the early Brawl days so some advices are a little outdated but most of it still applies. In a more general way keep thinking while playing and mix up your game.

 

[StriderAaron360]

Hey all. I'm pretty much good with the fundamentals and I've been placing well in tournaments, but there's still a problem I'm having that's stopping me from reaching the top.

That problem is losing composure after being thoroughly handled in a match or set. Whenever I face someone that gets a big lead on me from gaining tons of momentum, I find my mind feeling scrambled as I try to break out of the momentum and regain stage control. But at that point, they've already documented my habits and start working me with reads. I'm left with nothing to work with because I can't put them into situations to discern their habits, and I wind up losing the set.

I know that I need to pay attention to their behavior and adapt accordingly, but I'm wondering what you guys do when you're put in a situation like this.

 

[Supersteve45]

Hey all. I'm pretty much good with the fundamentals and I've been placing well in tournaments, but there's still a problem I'm having that's stopping me from reaching the top.

That problem is losing composure after being thoroughly handled in a match or set. Whenever I face someone that gets a big lead on me from gaining tons of momentum, I find my mind feeling scrambled as I try to break out of the momentum and regain stage control. But at that point, they've already documented my habits and start working me with reads. I'm left with nothing to work with because I can't put them into situations to discern their habits, and I wind up losing the set.

I know that I need to pay attention to their behavior and adapt accordingly, but I'm wondering what you guys do when you're put in a situation like this.

If I were put in a situation like that and I was being read and punished for all my habits I would probably do my best to do something completely unexpected, something that my opponent wouldn`t expect just to shake their confidence about how well they know my play-style. After that I`d just try to grind out as many quick combos as I can, I`d make sure to go in and out just trying to get fast damage and make sure to put defense first. If possible I`d try go for a big combo just to shift the momentum in my favor and help set myself up for a big comeback.

 

[LivingSunshine]

What seperates mid level players from high level and top level players typically? I want to know so I can work on things that set them apart.

 

[Megamang]

What seperates mid level players from high level and top level players typically? I want to know so I can work on things that set them apart.

Id say learning your opponent more than the matchup is what seperates them. But if your MUs arent very solid id say thats more important at any level.

 

[HeroMystic]

Simple yet stacked question:

How can I get better when it comes to reads?

I think this is where I need the most work.

I just don't know how to practice it.

There's a big thing about reads that players often know but don't quite take to heart. Reads are not character-focused, they are player-focused.

That isn't to say your character doesn't matter at all, but reads are heavily dependent on general knowledge of the metagame. If Player 1 knows that a Luigi player uses Cyclone a lot (because Cyclone interrupts a lot of follow-ups), then he can make calculated guesses on how he can capitalize on that. It's very much like an RTS, or Chess. It's knowing what options your opponent will favor over anything else.

In terms of Smash 4, the most common encounter of this is air dodge reads. As Mario, I can condition (lesser) players to air dodge after taking numerous D-throw > U-air combos because naturally, a player does not want to be combo'd anymore, so they're conditioned to use the fastest escape option. This leads to me charging a smash attack because they're forced to drift towards the ground helplessly.

You will see many top level players do this. One top player I personally know, Trela, destroys people in pools purely with this basic conditioning method.

 

[JamietheAuraUser]

I have a question: How should I go about moving away from an opponent? I often find myself backrolling when I want to distance myself from a foe in order to avoid turning my back on them. I've recently tried empty backward short hops but have found that I get punished for them more than I do backrolls (though that might just be CPUs magically not punishing extremely punishable options while punishing less-punishable options). I guess the best solution is to cover my short hop with a FAir or NAir? I also wonder if being afraid to turn my back on a foe is itself a bad habit, but I feel like I have more options against a foe I'm facing (NAir, jab, DTilt, UTilt). Are pivot FTilts a better idea to rely on for retreating movement?

 

[LancerStaff]

I have a question: How should I go about moving away from an opponent? I often find myself backrolling when I want to distance myself from a foe in order to avoid turning my back on them. I've recently tried empty backward short hops but have found that I get punished for them more than I do backrolls (though that might just be CPUs magically not punishing extremely punishable options while punishing less-punishable options). I guess the best solution is to cover my short hop with a FAir or NAir? I also wonder if being afraid to turn my back on a foe is itself a bad habit, but I feel like I have more options against a foe I'm facing (NAir, jab, DTilt, UTilt). Are pivot FTilts a better idea to rely on for retreating movement?

Seems more like a question for the character boards. Unless you want to know what Pit can do for retreating, you're probably not going to get a good answer out of me.

 

[JamietheAuraUser]

Seems more like a question for the character boards. Unless you want to know what Pit can do for retreating, you're probably not going to get a good answer out of me.

I decided to post here because it's a bad habit I have with just about every character I play. Mii Brawler, Mii Swordfighter, Roy, Pit, Ike, Link, Mega Man, etc. I know how Gunner deals with it (retreating FAir is godly), and I know a few of Pit's tricks (again, retreating FAir), but I don't really know for the others (retreating NAir for Mega Man, I'd guess), so I have to really think about it in order to stop myself from backrolling automatically.

 

[LancerStaff]

I decided to post here because it's a bad habit I have with just about every character I play. Mii Brawler, Mii Swordfighter, Roy, Pit, Ike, Link, Mega Man, etc. I know how Gunner deals with it (retreating FAir is godly), and I know a few of Pit's tricks (again, retreating FAir), but I don't really know for the others (retreating NAir for Mega Man, I'd guess), so I have to really think about it in order to stop myself from backrolling automatically.

You probably just need to be more familiar with each character's options.

And I think you're oversimplifing the whole thing a bit. Pit's got a heck of a lot more then Fairs for retreating. Besides Gunner and maybe Megaman you have to utilize a variety of options to avoid being punished.

 

[JamietheAuraUser]

You probably just need to be more familiar with each character's options.

And I think you're oversimplifing the whole thing a bit. Pit's got a heck of a lot more then Fairs for retreating. Besides Gunner and maybe Megaman you have to utilize a variety of options to avoid being punished.

I know I'm oversimplifying it. That's part of my problem.

 

[Megamang]

Perfect pivots are my favorite low committal back spacing option. Scoots you back, but you still face towards them, it sounds like precisely what you need.

 

[Blazingrefrain2001]

It seems if I fight ANYONE with SA and has a big hitbox, I can't ever beat them. I played about 20 matches in the morning vs a guy who just spammed Ike, Ganon and Charizard and couldn't do anything to them except for maybe 1-3 times when he was just trying to get fancy kills. I can beat almost ever other character easily or at least moderately, why not them? What am I doing wrong?

 

[LancerStaff]

It seems if I fight ANYONE with SA and has a big hitbox, I can't ever beat them. I played about 20 matches in the morning vs a guy who just spammed Ike, Ganon and Charizard and couldn't do anything to them except for maybe 1-3 times when he was just trying to get fancy kills. I can beat almost ever other character easily or at least moderately, why not them? What am I doing wrong?

If you're looking for an easy cheesy way to just beat SA then tethers are your best bet.

For most characters though, you need to just position yourself better or spam projectiles. Aether and Warlock Punch are super punishable, Rock Smash significantly less so.

 

[Wintropy]

Right, I've got a tournament on Saturday and I need feedback.

In a nutshell, I'm reasonably confident I can make it top Top 3, since it's a small tourney between friends and acquaintances. There will be good players there, because the best players in my county have been invited, and I feel I can take most of them on.

Except for my brother, who happens to be the undisputed best player in the scene.

I don't expect to beat him, not right off the bat. But I want to know how I can hone my skills to put up a fighting chance. I train with him every day and we tend to have veeeery close sets, but nine times out of ten he beats me. I have a fair idea of his habits and mine, I think I can pinpoint his weaknesses and my strengths to the extent that I can make him earn his victory.

That said, I'm concerned that I'm not doing enough to go the extra mile. Several things, I reckon, stand between me and being able to finally clutch the win with him:

- He plays quite a few characters. He plays them well. If I can beat one of his characters, there's every chance he will switch to somebody else and the efforts I make to download him will have to be reconsidered from scratch. This isn't too much of an issue, since Pit has even-ish matchups with every character he plays, but it's something I need to keep in mind when playing him. Is it a good idea to keep a counterpick character on hand, just in case?

- He's exceptional with reads and fundamentals. I think this is his greatest strength and my biggest weakness: his fundamentals beat mine hands-down. He seems to know where I'm going to be every time I do something, yet I panic and hit buttons if he get into my space. I freak out and do scrubby things - I don't roll cleverly, I spotdode haphazardly, I throw out empty moves, I even try to pivot and end up facing the wrong way when I do something. Pit is a very fundamentals-based character, and I fear this will bite me on the backside if I commit too much to him, even knowing my fundamentals don't match up to my opponent's. Is it a good idea to stick to what I know and just try to outplay him?

- There is a psychological element to it. I know he is better than me and I find it difficult to play to my strengths when I am being beaten. If he gets momentum going, I find it difficult to reset. I get frustrated with myself and disappointed that I don't play as well as I know I can. Is there an effective way to relieve stress between matches and help me get into the competitive mindset?

- He isn't a good teacher. I don't know how to really improve on this, since I can discern my own weaknesses, but I find it very difficult to fix them without objective feedback; he is, by his own admission, a terrible teacher, so I don't think I get the full benefit of fighting him. I don't think I learn to the same extent that I would if he helped me. Is it right to expect feedback from him, or am I better off just doing it myself and discovering what I need to do by myself?

I realise this is some pretty intense stuff with scarcely a few days to go, but I'd be happy with any kind of response. Thank you so much~

 

[Souly]

Might be in the wrong forum, sorry if it is.

I was wondering why there is a little bit of a delay when I try to jump out of throws. I see most people on stream (Maybe because they are offline) Jump right after they do a throw. I'm just wondering whats up with that. I do use a shoulder Button as jump, but still don't see a difference in using X/Y to jump, there still is a delay. If anybody could give me some input on this, it would be awesome! Thanks!

 

[Raijinken]

Depends on the throw, they have different ending frames for when you can act out of them. Practice is my best suggestion, and obviously if you're playing online it'll be harder to time properly.

 

[Jaxas]

I'm not sure how much help I'll actually be, but...

First up I'd recommend sticking with your main unless your secondaries are very close reliability/performance-wise, unless you feel like something's just that off with how you're playing Pit.

- There is a psychological element to it. I know he is better than me and I find it difficult to play to my strengths when I am being beaten. If he gets momentum going, I find it difficult to reset. I get frustrated with myself and disappointed that I don't play as well as I know I can. Is there an effective way to relieve stress between matches and help me get into the competitive mindset?

I don't know of any special tricks, but I've found that both between games and between stocks (when you're on the respawn platform/getting star KO'd), it's a good idea to stop and take a deep breath or 2. Don't just rush back in off the platform, take your time and think - you have a few seconds of break time, use it wisely!

 

[NotAnAdmin]

Right, I've got a tournament on Saturday and I need feedback.

In a nutshell, I'm reasonably confident I can make it top Top 3, since it's a small tourney between friends and acquaintances. There will be good players there, because the best players in my county have been invited, and I feel I can take most of them on.

Except for my brother, who happens to be the undisputed best player in the scene.

I don't expect to beat him, not right off the bat. But I want to know how I can hone my skills to put up a fighting chance. I train with him every day and we tend to have veeeery close sets, but nine times out of ten he beats me. I have a fair idea of his habits and mine, I think I can pinpoint his weaknesses and my strengths to the extent that I can make him earn his victory.

That said, I'm concerned that I'm not doing enough to go the extra mile. Several things, I reckon, stand between me and being able to finally clutch the win with him:

- He plays quite a few characters. He plays them well. If I can beat one of his characters, there's every chance he will switch to somebody else and the efforts I make to download him will have to be reconsidered from scratch. This isn't too much of an issue, since Pit has even-ish matchups with every character he plays, but it's something I need to keep in mind when playing him. Is it a good idea to keep a counterpick character on hand, just in case?

- He's exceptional with reads and fundamentals. I think this is his greatest strength and my biggest weakness: his fundamentals beat mine hands-down. He seems to know where I'm going to be every time I do something, yet I panic and hit buttons if he get into my space. I freak out and do scrubby things - I don't roll cleverly, I spotdode haphazardly, I throw out empty moves, I even try to pivot and end up facing the wrong way when I do something. Pit is a very fundamentals-based character, and I fear this will bite me on the backside if I commit too much to him, even knowing my fundamentals don't match up to my opponent's. Is it a good idea to stick to what I know and just try to outplay him?

- There is a psychological element to it. I know he is better than me and I find it difficult to play to my strengths when I am being beaten. If he gets momentum going, I find it difficult to reset. I get frustrated with myself and disappointed that I don't play as well as I know I can. Is there an effective way to relieve stress between matches and help me get into the competitive mindset?

- He isn't a good teacher. I don't know how to really improve on this, since I can discern my own weaknesses, but I find it very difficult to fix them without objective feedback; he is, by his own admission, a terrible teacher, so I don't think I get the full benefit of fighting him. I don't think I learn to the same extent that I would if he helped me. Is it right to expect feedback from him, or am I better off just doing it myself and discovering what I need to do by myself?

I realise this is some pretty intense stuff with scarcely a few days to go, but I'd be happy with any kind of response. Thank you so much~

It looks like you've got a mental hurdle in front of you.
From what you said, you can get close to beating him, but you just need to keep your head on straight. Those bad thoughts are making you choke. Don't think of him as your brother, think of him as the next step to winning the tourney or another step to becoming the best. A little confidence goes a long way. From the start, clear your mind and just think about your gameplan. Stick to it and don't panic.
If something goes wrong (which it will eventually), brush it off, the match isn't lost. Make sure you use your main's best options to get out of the situation and get back into a safe spot.
If you lose the round, take a couple seconds in between matches and think about what you did wrong and how to fix your problem.
Just taking a second to reflect on the last match no matter if it went well or not can keep yourself on the right track.
Do you listen to music when playing? I hear that helps as well...

Also have you been keeping replays of old matches? That's an easy way to review what you should work on and what you're doing wrong in the middle of a match. If you feel like he isn't a good teacher you could venture out and play some of the other top players in the area who can probably give you the feedback you're looking for, it's just up to preference, I personally know that learn well on my own, but not everyone learns the same way.

A good question to ask yourself when considering using a secondary is: How comfortable you are with this character?/How often do I win? I lean onto my Falco when it gets rough because even though there may be a secondary that has a better MU when looking at the numbers, in the end it comes down to your skill and your composure.

 

[GhostUrsa]

Simple yet stacked question:

How can I get better when it comes to reads?

I think this is where I need the most work.

I just don't know how to practice it.

To expand on what HeroMystic and teluoborg have covered about reads, a good way to start practicing your ability to read is to setup your opponent so that their options are limited and see what happens. For example, If you get the grab then throw your opponent off-stage and run up to the edge to see what they'll do when they think you are edge guarding. Since their options are down to about 3 choices (on average between characters), you get to see which they prefer. Then you take away that option from them, making them more uncomfortable and giving you a 50/50 guess that is much easier to manage.

Example: As an Ike, I may take a character recovering high, grab them on the landing and back throw them into the low recovery. Having known that they prefer to use a rising aerial to cover their recovery (lets say I'm fighting Ness), I use a retreating F-air to knock him back deeper. I have just taken away his favored option, possibly put him into a panic and gave him now two options. (Snap or thunder into the wall for a tech for a partial reset) From here I just have to pick my option and boom. (In this case, I'd drop down and counter his PK Thunder charge for a KO.)

It looked like a read, but it is conditioning and a well timed trap. It's the difference between a 'soft' read and a 'hard' read, which many seem to think are the same. Soft reads are conditioning someone into a trap, while 'hard' reads are just guesses (either educated or wild types, doesn't matter). Hard reads are what most people at lower and middle level play think of when the topic of 'reading players' come up, but the step up to higher levels requires realizing your opponents options (mentioned above) so you can restrict those options when you need to.

Edit: I should close out this little essay by saying the reason such a thing is good for practicing reads is because you are starting small. The ultimate goal is to be ale to understand the MU so you can have a good prediction on all the possible options, but such a goal is overwhelming when starting (and quite frankly impossible to achieve, but perfection usually is). By starting small, you get the habit of looking for habits your opponent has early in your development so that as your MU knowledge expands, so to does your abilities. (And this progression will be natural.)

 

[TheRealGiygas]

When I've asked players how I could improve, I've been told pretty often that I could improve my movement. With Melee I can understand how to do that; get more consistent with wavedashes, dash dance more effectively, run into crouch, use shield stops, etc. With Smash 4, I'm not finding it as simple.

You can still use shield to stop your run and there's dance trotting/foxtrot cancelling/whatever other names people have given it, but outside of those two things I'm not sure what I should be working on besides basic movement like running and walking. I'm a Ness main, so perfect pivoting isn't as useful for my character as it would be for a character like Fox (maybe there are uses like PP > shield against some attacks, but not much outside of that). I'm not really aware of anything else that I could be utilizing.

So does anyone have tips on how to improve movement both in the air and on the ground? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[BlackRoxas13]

(If this post is in the wrong forum and needs to be deleted or moved, do it and sorry)
Hi everyone, first of all, this is not a guide about a competitive tournament.
I just need to ask for help, there's a tourney coming this friday and I would like to receive some tips from people that have been in an actual tourney.
Ok so to begin with, rules are simple, they're the same as for glory mode (2 lives, final destination, etc)
It is not going to be like official torneys where the best of 3 wins. It's just 1 round and that's all.
So the characters I'm planning to use are
Zero suit samus
Marth/Lucina /
Link
Megaman
Duck hunt
Fox

I know I know too much mains for a tourney, but that's why I need your opinions, such as some tips (specially marth/lucina, megaman and fox). As I said, I'm checking frame data and stuff like that but I need opinions from people who has experience in tourneys.

 

[Aquatics]

So recently i went to Big house and a weekly. At BH i got 197th or something, and at my weekly i consistently get 25th or 33rd out of 70-80 people. At my weekly yesterday i went 0-2 and feel so bad. Got beat but what is the best way you guys and gals get over a bad tourney?

 

[Baby_Sneak]

So recently i went to Big house and a weekly. At BH i got 197th or something, and at my weekly i consistently get 25th or 33rd out of 70-80 people. At my weekly yesterday i went 0-2 and feel so bad. Got beat but what is the best way you guys and gals get over a bad tourney?

Just watch the footage, learn, and move on.

 

[Aquatics]

thats what i do. some of the matches weren't recorded and couldnt seem to find out how i lost. When ever i lose i always ask what did i do wrong