Well, this is just a compendium of strategies and tricks that I, as an avid Meta Knight player, have picked up. Some of these may be obvious, while others may not be as obvious (obviously). Sometimes, something may seem obvious, but many people may still not be able to look at it in a certain light. I have divided everything into sections for your convenience. Enjoy.
Controlling the Stage
Meta Knight is a character that is able to exercise complete and total control of his environment. He has five jumps, a glide, and four Specials that greatly aid his movement capabilities – this basically means that he’s free to go where he pleases (even under many stages).
Play tricks on your opponent. Use mindgames. You can go anywhere you please at almost any time, so assert your authority over your foe and the stage by putting yourself in different situations. For example, hang off the edge of the stage, fall down, and immediately Shuttle Loop back up. Many characters have no way of stopping you, and they will either try and fail or stand there and let the seconds on the timer tick down (useful if you have the advantage).
Or, glide under the stage and emerge on the other side. Perhaps take a few jumps out to the left-hand side of the stage and then glide back in; then, before reaching the stage, immediately cancel and Shuttle Loop. Or, stand a good distance from the edge of the stage after knocking your opponent off, and just when he or she thinks it’s all clear, BAM!, use down-B to zoom in and edgehog (be careful not to fall down yourself, though). Or, cancel your drill into the ground and follow up with a down-B (you can platform cancel, i.e,. end your glide on a platform and do down-B, to conserve frames, as well). Etc.
There are countless things that MK can do on almost any stage thanks to his movement. And, since his attacks come out very fast, he can perform these little stage tricks while still holding the offensive advantage over his opponent.
MK’s ability to control any stage basically means that you want to counterpick stages that are odd or quirky against your opponent. Lylat Cruise is one such stage. Lylat wrecks many characters’ recoveries, but not Meta Knight’s – MK can just toss out a few jumps and a glide to get back to the edge of Lylat if it starts to move while he’s off of it. Frigate Orpheon also affords MK the advantage against certain characters – if you’re on a certain part of the stage when the stage flips, you’ll end up trapped under the flipped stage. MK can escape this easily with just his jumps alone – others cannot. On Norfair, MK can use Shuttle Loop to gain quick invincibility from ledges.
General Movement
One good way to move is via “slight dashing” or “dash cancelling,” where you use only the first few frames of your dash animation, stop, and then dash again. This is good since it does not commit MK to performing a dash attack or a dashing grab. Rather, he can stop and weigh his options (which, considering his attack speed, are many), and react according to the situation.
You can also glide around. By moving straight downwards and then coming back up, you can continue your glide for an infinitely long distance. Gliding is useful on stages such as Battlefield, due to all the platforms.
MK has a very good roll, so you can try to roll every now and then and avoid punishment by stringing an attack such as d-smash onto the end of your roll. Don’t do this too often, however – even the best rolls can be punished.
Most of the time with MK, however, you might consider just walking. He can simply fastwalk around on the stage, spacing himself – he can get out of most awkward situations easily enough, so don’t be afraid to focus some of your attention on spacing rather than on your enemy.
Projectiles
Unfortunately, Meta Knight’s jab and f-tilt are simply not going to be able to stop most projectiles. Certain ‘solid’ projectiles (ROB’s gyro, Wario’s bike parts, Dedede’s Waddle Dees) can be stopped via this method, but most cannot.
Since MK has no projectiles of his own, he’s going to have to rely on either aggression or stage control to deal with projectile spam. On a stage such as Battlefield, this is no problem at all; he has full maneuverability on such stages and can easily get around projectile spam. On single-platform stages such as Final Destination, however, MK is going to have to go on the offensive.
Pit and the Star Fox crew are especially dangerous for MK to face on Final Destination. For these characters, try to walk forward while shielding, spotdodging, and short hopping airdodges whenever you see a projectile coming towards you. Don’t dash forward – you can’t shield or spotdodge immediately during the dash animation, so chances are that you will be hit. It’s much safer to just walk.
Fox fires his laser too fast for shielding and dodging to be effective. You’re going to have to either take the hits while dashing forward or use air movement (such as glide + up-b) to get to Fox.
In many cases, however, you have an alternative technique available to you: you can cancel projectiles using the Mach Tornado. You can actually approach while using the Tornado, which is an excellent way to handle things on Final Destination or similar stages.
Here is a list of projectiles that this does and does not work for:
Projectiles that Mach Tornado can stop: Mario & Luigi’s fireballs, Mario’s FLUDD, Link/Toon Link’s arrows, Link/Toon Link’s boomerang, Samus’ uncharged blaster, Pikachu’s Thundershock, Diddy Kong’s peanuts, Pit’s Light Arrows, Ivysaur’s Razor Leaf, Charizard/Bowser’s Fire Breath, Squirtle’s Water Gun, Snake’s Nikita (if he doesn’t cancel), Peach’s turnips, Yoshi’s eggs, Ice Climbers’ ice blocks, Dedede’s Waddle Dees, Lucario’s uncharged Aura Spheres, Ness/Lucas’ up-b, Ness/Lucas’ PK Fire, Wario’s bike parts, Olimar’s Pikmin, ROB’s uncharged gyro, ROB’s gyro (if thrown).
Projectiles that Mach Tornado cannot stop: Link/Toon Link’s bombs, Samus’s missiles, Samus’ charged blaster, Kirby’s sword/u-b, Fox’s laser, Diddy’s bananas, Zelda’s Din’s fire, Sheik’s needles, Falco’s laser, Snake’s Nikita (if he cancels), Snake’s grenades, Dedede’s Gordos, Wolf’s blaster, Lucario’s charged Aura Spheres, Ness’ neutral-b, Lucas’ neutral-b, ROB’s laser, ROB’s gyro.
*Notes/Amendments:*
-Notice that projectiles from Snake’s Nikita will only damage MK if Snake cancels them once they’re inside the Tornado.
-Dedede’s Waddle Dees can not only be blocked, but also thrown completely off the stage.
-Bacon rain is a notable exception to either list. If it strikes the top of the Tornado, it will stop it. If it strikes the side of the Tornado, it will be cancelled out. Most attacks, in fact, if they strike the top of the Tornado, will go straight through it. This is why Game and Watch’s d-air is so effective against it.
**Thanks to Ephidel and Maraneth for testing out Ness’, Lucas’, and ROB’s projectiles**
The Tornado is not limited to just stopping projectiles, however…
Your Tornado and You
Lots of people initially find the Mach Tornado to be a very good move, spam it, get punished for spamming it, and then come to the conclusion that it’s a terrible move. Others realize that the Tornado is truly an amazing move but have trouble putting it to use effectively.
In truth, MK’s Mach Tornado is one of his best moves, and arguably one of the best moves in the game.
It has obvious use as a projectile block, but I most often see it used as an approach. It can be used to approach unexpectedly, yes, but clever opponents can avoid it by double-stick SDI’ing downwards right as it hits. For this reason, it’s best used as a punisher. Wait for your opponent to whiff an attack (or perfect shield through his attack) and then WHAM!, pull out Tornado. It’s very difficult to DI out of when it starts right up next to you, and it’s almost impossible to DI out of it once you’re in the middle of it. Using Tornado as a punisher also doesn’t afford your opponent the chance to use a move that could possibly stop it (Game and Watch’s d-air and Marth’s counter can both do this, for example).
The Tornado can wrack up huge damage (upwards of 20+% if used for the full attack animation), but the most beautiful aspect of it is the knockback. Always make sure you hit with the last attack of the Tornado. This is the attack that knocks your opponent back. The Tornado only gives your opponent a very small window of opportunity to attack you, so if you hit with its last attack, your opponent will be knocked back far enough that you literally cannot be punished. Amazing.
Keep in mind that, usually, you don’t want to go through the whole animation (as in, where you tap B repeatedly) of the Tornado, since this takes you upwards. If you finish the attack while you’re in the air, you’ll go into FallSpecial, and your opponent _can_ overcome the knockback on the last attack and still punish you.
On certain characters, the Tornado is very spammable, and you can and should spam it. Big or tall characters such as King Dedede, Ike, or Zero Suit Samus are very susceptible to being sucked into the Tornado, so you can punish most of their whiffed attacks and grabs with it. You can also combo into Tornado from some of your aerials or your glide, but a few of these characters, such as King Dedede with his u-tilt, can interrupt these combos, so be careful about what combo you use against whom.
You’re Attacking With Your Sword, Not Your Mask
This was a piece of advice given on smashboards to a new MK player, and I find that it’s rather accurate and helpful. Keep in mind that MK has good range on his attacks, such as f-tilt and f-air. As such, you should space yourself properly. You usually just want to hit with the very tip (or a bit before the tip) of your sword. This combines with your ability to pull out attacks megafast to make it very difficult for your opponent to punish you.
Use your f-air or the first strike of your f-tilt to space yourself. Usually, you can spam retreating f-airs (moving back while you f-air) like Marth and be relatively safe, while also moving into a more favorable position. This is also good for baiting your opponent, but its best use is spacing. D-tilt can be good for spacing if it trips your opponent, but in that case you probably want to follow up with an attack.
Walk. The best way to space yourself is to walk around the stage and throw out attacks when your opponent comes after you. You can also glide, but in general, walk. When you find a spot to space yourself, play spacing games and lay down the pressure on your opponent. Remember, the stage is yours.
Spam Spam Spam: Mixing It Up With MK
I can’t stress this enough. Yes, Meta Knight has some very spammable attacks. That doesn’t mean that you should use these attacks exclusively, however. MK has very, very fast moves, and it’s easy to string together several attacks, especially aerials, into “semi-combos” (since most of them can be DI’ed out of, they’re not really true combos), such as:
Dash or u-smash (to launch), u-air, u-air, u-air, Tornado. If the Tornado is performed at a high enough altitude, it can even kill. D-air to n-air is a great combo, both on and off the stage. D-tilt to f-tilt is good – if you can do it in quick succession, you can actually knock off a few frames from your f-tilt, making all three strikes appear as one (such as with u-air/d-air). D-air can trip your opponent, as well, so go right into a dash attack if this happens. As mentioned, Tornado can also be combo’d into from glide.
Don’t just repeatedly use d-tilt or f-tilt. Both are good moves individually, but they’re also great combo starters.
Mix up your grab game, as well. Most often, I see people spamming d-throw and ignoring everything else. While d-throw is a nice move for accumulating damage, don’t neglect the other throws. MK can dash behind his opponent and pivot grab (press towards your enemy while facing away and grab) his b-throw, which will most likely catch his opponent off guard and possibly send them off the side of the stage. F-throw usually is unexpected, as well; your opponent will expect a d-throw and DI accordingly (and incorrectly). If you use different throws, you’ll find that the next time you use your d-throw, it’ll be at its full capacity, or close to it.
Don’t neglect your B moves. Side-B has very little lag if you cancel it into the ground (or if you can platform cancel on stages with platforms), so it’s certainly good as a shield poke. Tornado and Shuttle Loop are both very useful. Down-B is not so useful, but if you can platform cancel, you can down-B and catch your opponent off guard easily.
So, mix up your game. By doing this, you won’t suffer from power decay, and that is quite important to MK’s few good killing options. Which brings me to…
Murder She Wrote: How to Kill With MK
Many people say that one of MK’s biggest weaknesses is a lack of good kill moves. If you play smartly, however, this problem can be largely avoided. As mentioned in the previous section, MK has tons of fast moves and quick-damage options, so any one of his moves will recharge quickly if you don’t spam.
MK’s best kill moves are:
d-smash: It has a 4-frame startup and hits both in front of and behind MK, so it’s decent in almost any situation, but it’s especially good when you’re trying to score a KO. A good idea is to dash attack behind the opponent and then immediately go into d-smash. Only a few attacks can punish you this way (such as Marth’s side-b), and even those won’t successfully connect every single time. The attack behind is better than the attack in front, so this attack is best used when the opponent is behind you (such as after that dash attack).
up-b: Yep, the glide. Kills with this attack are pretty situational, but the situation arises often enough that it matters. Any time you’ve launched your opponent off the stage, you should consider whether or not you can try this move. Reverse Shuttle Loops (as the name suggests, these are simply Shuttle Loops that oppose the direction you’re currently going in) are particularly effective at killing, especially if you’re afraid that your opponent will airdodge (Reverse Shuttle Loops can be unexpected and difficult to stop). A good thing about this move is that it very rarely faces problems from power decay. Most people don’t find themselves using it for anything but killing. In fact, because of that, you can even use the move out of shield (on the stage) at higher percents. Against some light- and medium-weight characters you’ll land a KO if you manage to connect with it that way.
u-tilt: Yep, you read that right. Up-tilt. MK’s u-tilt is my favorite kill move for certain characters. Characters such as Diddy Kong or Meta Knight himself, who are light but have good recoveries, are extraordinarily susceptible to u-tilt. Their recoveries don’t matter a bit in a vertical KO situation, and their lightness comes off as a major weakness in such a situation, in fact. Very few characters in the game have good vertical KO options, so make sure you exercise this to its utmost capacity. Generally, you should use your u-smash for dealing damage and conserve your u-tilt for killing (or, if you’re mixing it up like I told you to, you don’t have to worry about conserving it).
Aerial gimping: O.K., so this isn’t technically a move, but MK’s aerials are fast, and he has five jumps. What more could you want? Chase the opponent off the stage each and every time (unless you’re facing a character with a tether recovery and can easily edgehog him/her), and then attack with a rushdown of f-air, d-air, n-air, and maybe b-air if you can get the positioning right. N-air is an excellent kill move, and if your f-air isn’t suffering from power decay, it can also kill fairly easily. D-air should be used for gimping. If your opponent is a character with huge aerials and high priority, such as ROB or Charizard, you’re going to have to wait a bit. This isn’t a problem for MK, however – he has nearly infinite recovery. Just keep jumping and moving back and forth to bait your opponent until he tries to hit you with something. Avoid that hit and then go for the kill.
Should I Play Offensively or Defensively?
Well, MK certainly has high offense. Along with Game and Watch, he’s probably one of the few characters in this game that can win from sheer pressure alone. While this is a perfectly viable tactic to use, keep in mind that MK is also very light, and getting to the upper 60’s is not a good thing for him. Basically, you want him to take as little damage as possible.
So, does this mean that you should play defensively? Well, sort of.
You should wait for an opportunity. Just because MK doesn’t have a projectile doesn’t mean he can’t camp. Remember, the stage is yours. Use platforms and ledges to your advantage, and wait for your opponent to mess up – that’s when you attack. Once MK begins an attack, he can immediately start a different attack, thanks to his fast speed, so that’s when you can and should play offensively. Be aggressive here. Launch the opponent off the stage, follow, and gimp, gimp, gimp!
So, you must be both offensive and defensive. Your offense is natural – MK’s attacks are fast. Your defense, however, you must come up with. You have to play intelligently. Know the situations. If Ike is charging an f-smash, of course you can go in and attack! If your opponent is spamming fast, high-priority attacks, your best bet is to wait for a mistake and use mindgames until you can get in and get your offensive game going.
Here They Come! Approaching
Let’s finish off with something easy.
MK has various methods by which to approach. Aside from basically dashing and grabbing, you can also short hop a well spaced f-air or b-air as an approach. Simply walking up and using the first strike of your f-tilt (and the rest if you can connect) is effective as well. If your opponent is shielding, try out side-B. Tornado is good every now and then, but be careful with it. You can also feign a dash attack, jump up and d-air to n-air. MK doesn’t have to jump between his d-air and n-air, so even if you hit a shield, you can land a surprise hit on your opponent if he stops shielding to try to punish you (many will). If you’re facing someone with poor priority and considerable startup lag on moves, you don’t have to worry about approaching. All of MK’s attacks are good enough to do so. If you’re facing someone with high priority/range and low startup lag (even with lots of ending lag), you want to take a more defensive approach, as outlined above. Approaching in that situation is more difficult, but only relatively – much more difficult is maintaining correct spacing.
And remember, the stage is yours.
Controlling the Stage
Meta Knight is a character that is able to exercise complete and total control of his environment. He has five jumps, a glide, and four Specials that greatly aid his movement capabilities – this basically means that he’s free to go where he pleases (even under many stages).
Play tricks on your opponent. Use mindgames. You can go anywhere you please at almost any time, so assert your authority over your foe and the stage by putting yourself in different situations. For example, hang off the edge of the stage, fall down, and immediately Shuttle Loop back up. Many characters have no way of stopping you, and they will either try and fail or stand there and let the seconds on the timer tick down (useful if you have the advantage).
Or, glide under the stage and emerge on the other side. Perhaps take a few jumps out to the left-hand side of the stage and then glide back in; then, before reaching the stage, immediately cancel and Shuttle Loop. Or, stand a good distance from the edge of the stage after knocking your opponent off, and just when he or she thinks it’s all clear, BAM!, use down-B to zoom in and edgehog (be careful not to fall down yourself, though). Or, cancel your drill into the ground and follow up with a down-B (you can platform cancel, i.e,. end your glide on a platform and do down-B, to conserve frames, as well). Etc.
There are countless things that MK can do on almost any stage thanks to his movement. And, since his attacks come out very fast, he can perform these little stage tricks while still holding the offensive advantage over his opponent.
MK’s ability to control any stage basically means that you want to counterpick stages that are odd or quirky against your opponent. Lylat Cruise is one such stage. Lylat wrecks many characters’ recoveries, but not Meta Knight’s – MK can just toss out a few jumps and a glide to get back to the edge of Lylat if it starts to move while he’s off of it. Frigate Orpheon also affords MK the advantage against certain characters – if you’re on a certain part of the stage when the stage flips, you’ll end up trapped under the flipped stage. MK can escape this easily with just his jumps alone – others cannot. On Norfair, MK can use Shuttle Loop to gain quick invincibility from ledges.
General Movement
One good way to move is via “slight dashing” or “dash cancelling,” where you use only the first few frames of your dash animation, stop, and then dash again. This is good since it does not commit MK to performing a dash attack or a dashing grab. Rather, he can stop and weigh his options (which, considering his attack speed, are many), and react according to the situation.
You can also glide around. By moving straight downwards and then coming back up, you can continue your glide for an infinitely long distance. Gliding is useful on stages such as Battlefield, due to all the platforms.
MK has a very good roll, so you can try to roll every now and then and avoid punishment by stringing an attack such as d-smash onto the end of your roll. Don’t do this too often, however – even the best rolls can be punished.
Most of the time with MK, however, you might consider just walking. He can simply fastwalk around on the stage, spacing himself – he can get out of most awkward situations easily enough, so don’t be afraid to focus some of your attention on spacing rather than on your enemy.
Projectiles
Unfortunately, Meta Knight’s jab and f-tilt are simply not going to be able to stop most projectiles. Certain ‘solid’ projectiles (ROB’s gyro, Wario’s bike parts, Dedede’s Waddle Dees) can be stopped via this method, but most cannot.
Since MK has no projectiles of his own, he’s going to have to rely on either aggression or stage control to deal with projectile spam. On a stage such as Battlefield, this is no problem at all; he has full maneuverability on such stages and can easily get around projectile spam. On single-platform stages such as Final Destination, however, MK is going to have to go on the offensive.
Pit and the Star Fox crew are especially dangerous for MK to face on Final Destination. For these characters, try to walk forward while shielding, spotdodging, and short hopping airdodges whenever you see a projectile coming towards you. Don’t dash forward – you can’t shield or spotdodge immediately during the dash animation, so chances are that you will be hit. It’s much safer to just walk.
Fox fires his laser too fast for shielding and dodging to be effective. You’re going to have to either take the hits while dashing forward or use air movement (such as glide + up-b) to get to Fox.
In many cases, however, you have an alternative technique available to you: you can cancel projectiles using the Mach Tornado. You can actually approach while using the Tornado, which is an excellent way to handle things on Final Destination or similar stages.
Here is a list of projectiles that this does and does not work for:
Projectiles that Mach Tornado can stop: Mario & Luigi’s fireballs, Mario’s FLUDD, Link/Toon Link’s arrows, Link/Toon Link’s boomerang, Samus’ uncharged blaster, Pikachu’s Thundershock, Diddy Kong’s peanuts, Pit’s Light Arrows, Ivysaur’s Razor Leaf, Charizard/Bowser’s Fire Breath, Squirtle’s Water Gun, Snake’s Nikita (if he doesn’t cancel), Peach’s turnips, Yoshi’s eggs, Ice Climbers’ ice blocks, Dedede’s Waddle Dees, Lucario’s uncharged Aura Spheres, Ness/Lucas’ up-b, Ness/Lucas’ PK Fire, Wario’s bike parts, Olimar’s Pikmin, ROB’s uncharged gyro, ROB’s gyro (if thrown).
Projectiles that Mach Tornado cannot stop: Link/Toon Link’s bombs, Samus’s missiles, Samus’ charged blaster, Kirby’s sword/u-b, Fox’s laser, Diddy’s bananas, Zelda’s Din’s fire, Sheik’s needles, Falco’s laser, Snake’s Nikita (if he cancels), Snake’s grenades, Dedede’s Gordos, Wolf’s blaster, Lucario’s charged Aura Spheres, Ness’ neutral-b, Lucas’ neutral-b, ROB’s laser, ROB’s gyro.
*Notes/Amendments:*
-Notice that projectiles from Snake’s Nikita will only damage MK if Snake cancels them once they’re inside the Tornado.
-Dedede’s Waddle Dees can not only be blocked, but also thrown completely off the stage.
-Bacon rain is a notable exception to either list. If it strikes the top of the Tornado, it will stop it. If it strikes the side of the Tornado, it will be cancelled out. Most attacks, in fact, if they strike the top of the Tornado, will go straight through it. This is why Game and Watch’s d-air is so effective against it.
**Thanks to Ephidel and Maraneth for testing out Ness’, Lucas’, and ROB’s projectiles**
The Tornado is not limited to just stopping projectiles, however…
Your Tornado and You
Lots of people initially find the Mach Tornado to be a very good move, spam it, get punished for spamming it, and then come to the conclusion that it’s a terrible move. Others realize that the Tornado is truly an amazing move but have trouble putting it to use effectively.
In truth, MK’s Mach Tornado is one of his best moves, and arguably one of the best moves in the game.
It has obvious use as a projectile block, but I most often see it used as an approach. It can be used to approach unexpectedly, yes, but clever opponents can avoid it by double-stick SDI’ing downwards right as it hits. For this reason, it’s best used as a punisher. Wait for your opponent to whiff an attack (or perfect shield through his attack) and then WHAM!, pull out Tornado. It’s very difficult to DI out of when it starts right up next to you, and it’s almost impossible to DI out of it once you’re in the middle of it. Using Tornado as a punisher also doesn’t afford your opponent the chance to use a move that could possibly stop it (Game and Watch’s d-air and Marth’s counter can both do this, for example).
The Tornado can wrack up huge damage (upwards of 20+% if used for the full attack animation), but the most beautiful aspect of it is the knockback. Always make sure you hit with the last attack of the Tornado. This is the attack that knocks your opponent back. The Tornado only gives your opponent a very small window of opportunity to attack you, so if you hit with its last attack, your opponent will be knocked back far enough that you literally cannot be punished. Amazing.
Keep in mind that, usually, you don’t want to go through the whole animation (as in, where you tap B repeatedly) of the Tornado, since this takes you upwards. If you finish the attack while you’re in the air, you’ll go into FallSpecial, and your opponent _can_ overcome the knockback on the last attack and still punish you.
On certain characters, the Tornado is very spammable, and you can and should spam it. Big or tall characters such as King Dedede, Ike, or Zero Suit Samus are very susceptible to being sucked into the Tornado, so you can punish most of their whiffed attacks and grabs with it. You can also combo into Tornado from some of your aerials or your glide, but a few of these characters, such as King Dedede with his u-tilt, can interrupt these combos, so be careful about what combo you use against whom.
You’re Attacking With Your Sword, Not Your Mask
This was a piece of advice given on smashboards to a new MK player, and I find that it’s rather accurate and helpful. Keep in mind that MK has good range on his attacks, such as f-tilt and f-air. As such, you should space yourself properly. You usually just want to hit with the very tip (or a bit before the tip) of your sword. This combines with your ability to pull out attacks megafast to make it very difficult for your opponent to punish you.
Use your f-air or the first strike of your f-tilt to space yourself. Usually, you can spam retreating f-airs (moving back while you f-air) like Marth and be relatively safe, while also moving into a more favorable position. This is also good for baiting your opponent, but its best use is spacing. D-tilt can be good for spacing if it trips your opponent, but in that case you probably want to follow up with an attack.
Walk. The best way to space yourself is to walk around the stage and throw out attacks when your opponent comes after you. You can also glide, but in general, walk. When you find a spot to space yourself, play spacing games and lay down the pressure on your opponent. Remember, the stage is yours.
Spam Spam Spam: Mixing It Up With MK
I can’t stress this enough. Yes, Meta Knight has some very spammable attacks. That doesn’t mean that you should use these attacks exclusively, however. MK has very, very fast moves, and it’s easy to string together several attacks, especially aerials, into “semi-combos” (since most of them can be DI’ed out of, they’re not really true combos), such as:
Dash or u-smash (to launch), u-air, u-air, u-air, Tornado. If the Tornado is performed at a high enough altitude, it can even kill. D-air to n-air is a great combo, both on and off the stage. D-tilt to f-tilt is good – if you can do it in quick succession, you can actually knock off a few frames from your f-tilt, making all three strikes appear as one (such as with u-air/d-air). D-air can trip your opponent, as well, so go right into a dash attack if this happens. As mentioned, Tornado can also be combo’d into from glide.
Don’t just repeatedly use d-tilt or f-tilt. Both are good moves individually, but they’re also great combo starters.
Mix up your grab game, as well. Most often, I see people spamming d-throw and ignoring everything else. While d-throw is a nice move for accumulating damage, don’t neglect the other throws. MK can dash behind his opponent and pivot grab (press towards your enemy while facing away and grab) his b-throw, which will most likely catch his opponent off guard and possibly send them off the side of the stage. F-throw usually is unexpected, as well; your opponent will expect a d-throw and DI accordingly (and incorrectly). If you use different throws, you’ll find that the next time you use your d-throw, it’ll be at its full capacity, or close to it.
Don’t neglect your B moves. Side-B has very little lag if you cancel it into the ground (or if you can platform cancel on stages with platforms), so it’s certainly good as a shield poke. Tornado and Shuttle Loop are both very useful. Down-B is not so useful, but if you can platform cancel, you can down-B and catch your opponent off guard easily.
So, mix up your game. By doing this, you won’t suffer from power decay, and that is quite important to MK’s few good killing options. Which brings me to…
Murder She Wrote: How to Kill With MK
Many people say that one of MK’s biggest weaknesses is a lack of good kill moves. If you play smartly, however, this problem can be largely avoided. As mentioned in the previous section, MK has tons of fast moves and quick-damage options, so any one of his moves will recharge quickly if you don’t spam.
MK’s best kill moves are:
d-smash: It has a 4-frame startup and hits both in front of and behind MK, so it’s decent in almost any situation, but it’s especially good when you’re trying to score a KO. A good idea is to dash attack behind the opponent and then immediately go into d-smash. Only a few attacks can punish you this way (such as Marth’s side-b), and even those won’t successfully connect every single time. The attack behind is better than the attack in front, so this attack is best used when the opponent is behind you (such as after that dash attack).
up-b: Yep, the glide. Kills with this attack are pretty situational, but the situation arises often enough that it matters. Any time you’ve launched your opponent off the stage, you should consider whether or not you can try this move. Reverse Shuttle Loops (as the name suggests, these are simply Shuttle Loops that oppose the direction you’re currently going in) are particularly effective at killing, especially if you’re afraid that your opponent will airdodge (Reverse Shuttle Loops can be unexpected and difficult to stop). A good thing about this move is that it very rarely faces problems from power decay. Most people don’t find themselves using it for anything but killing. In fact, because of that, you can even use the move out of shield (on the stage) at higher percents. Against some light- and medium-weight characters you’ll land a KO if you manage to connect with it that way.
u-tilt: Yep, you read that right. Up-tilt. MK’s u-tilt is my favorite kill move for certain characters. Characters such as Diddy Kong or Meta Knight himself, who are light but have good recoveries, are extraordinarily susceptible to u-tilt. Their recoveries don’t matter a bit in a vertical KO situation, and their lightness comes off as a major weakness in such a situation, in fact. Very few characters in the game have good vertical KO options, so make sure you exercise this to its utmost capacity. Generally, you should use your u-smash for dealing damage and conserve your u-tilt for killing (or, if you’re mixing it up like I told you to, you don’t have to worry about conserving it).
Aerial gimping: O.K., so this isn’t technically a move, but MK’s aerials are fast, and he has five jumps. What more could you want? Chase the opponent off the stage each and every time (unless you’re facing a character with a tether recovery and can easily edgehog him/her), and then attack with a rushdown of f-air, d-air, n-air, and maybe b-air if you can get the positioning right. N-air is an excellent kill move, and if your f-air isn’t suffering from power decay, it can also kill fairly easily. D-air should be used for gimping. If your opponent is a character with huge aerials and high priority, such as ROB or Charizard, you’re going to have to wait a bit. This isn’t a problem for MK, however – he has nearly infinite recovery. Just keep jumping and moving back and forth to bait your opponent until he tries to hit you with something. Avoid that hit and then go for the kill.
Should I Play Offensively or Defensively?
Well, MK certainly has high offense. Along with Game and Watch, he’s probably one of the few characters in this game that can win from sheer pressure alone. While this is a perfectly viable tactic to use, keep in mind that MK is also very light, and getting to the upper 60’s is not a good thing for him. Basically, you want him to take as little damage as possible.
So, does this mean that you should play defensively? Well, sort of.
You should wait for an opportunity. Just because MK doesn’t have a projectile doesn’t mean he can’t camp. Remember, the stage is yours. Use platforms and ledges to your advantage, and wait for your opponent to mess up – that’s when you attack. Once MK begins an attack, he can immediately start a different attack, thanks to his fast speed, so that’s when you can and should play offensively. Be aggressive here. Launch the opponent off the stage, follow, and gimp, gimp, gimp!
So, you must be both offensive and defensive. Your offense is natural – MK’s attacks are fast. Your defense, however, you must come up with. You have to play intelligently. Know the situations. If Ike is charging an f-smash, of course you can go in and attack! If your opponent is spamming fast, high-priority attacks, your best bet is to wait for a mistake and use mindgames until you can get in and get your offensive game going.
Here They Come! Approaching
Let’s finish off with something easy.
MK has various methods by which to approach. Aside from basically dashing and grabbing, you can also short hop a well spaced f-air or b-air as an approach. Simply walking up and using the first strike of your f-tilt (and the rest if you can connect) is effective as well. If your opponent is shielding, try out side-B. Tornado is good every now and then, but be careful with it. You can also feign a dash attack, jump up and d-air to n-air. MK doesn’t have to jump between his d-air and n-air, so even if you hit a shield, you can land a surprise hit on your opponent if he stops shielding to try to punish you (many will). If you’re facing someone with poor priority and considerable startup lag on moves, you don’t have to worry about approaching. All of MK’s attacks are good enough to do so. If you’re facing someone with high priority/range and low startup lag (even with lots of ending lag), you want to take a more defensive approach, as outlined above. Approaching in that situation is more difficult, but only relatively – much more difficult is maintaining correct spacing.
And remember, the stage is yours.
