general question about timing

[pikaska]

can it be assumed, should you have the proper timing, that an attack will get through another attack, or are some moves just not going to do that?
for example, i use pikachu. if i'm knocked in the air, and plan on coming down with a dair, is a decent player always going to be able to utilt or usmash through me, or if i time it just right, will my attack work? i've since quit doing this move in this situation, because i don't seem to be able to get through. i don't know if that's due to my lack of skill or just because that's always what's going to happen.

 

[Seala]

If your oponent times their utilt/usmash somewhat right you won't be able to land a pika down air no matter how good your timing is, it just doesn't have enough range/priority like the utilts generally do, there's lots of other options open tho, for example you can fast fall -> back air, if you oponent thinks you're gonna dair it will probably catch them off guard.

 

[Superstar]

It's not so much timing, but range and priority.

Seala got it.

 

[Daedatheus]

And one shouldn't rely on timing to get the hit.

Obviously if your opponent uptilts and upsmashes with say, Samus, you can usually get in fast enough with pika to do a fastfalled dair before they can get it off, but no good Samus is going to be spamming those moves.

If you know your opponent is going to try to uptilt/upsmash you when you come in from above, try baiting it out instead. It's not going to work every time because people pick up on and punish habits, but try fastfalling a dair BESIDE them every once in a while. They might then try to utilt or usmash, and you can punish their lag.

NOTE - kirby's utilt is not punishable this way, haha. It might be better to hit him with a fastfalled bair. Also, hit him from the front. The utilt hitbox of kirby extends awkwardly far behind him...

 

[Nybb]

There are a lot of beast up-tilts, up-smashes, and up-airs in this game that will almost always beat Pika's d-air; its hitbox is just not disjointed enough to challenge moves like a Ness u-tilt or a Falcon u-smash. Even upwards moves with not-so-ridiculous priority are often good kill moves, so it is often not worth the risk while you are still learning; if you are Pika at a high enough percentage to be knocked into the air and not be in a combo, you are probably at a high enough percent to be killed. So no, it is probably not you, pikaska. Just try to mix it up like Seala and Daedatheus have said. There are more options than just falling straight down on your opponents with d-airs, especially as Pikachu.

 

[Seala]

Another good way against some slower utilts (NOT kirbys utilt) is to fall down until you're just above him, and he thinks you're gonna dair him, so he utilts, and then you jump to avoid it and fast fall a dair on him.

 

[Blue Yoshi]

Another good way against some slower utilts (NOT kirbys utilt) is to fall down until you're just above him, and he thinks you're gonna dair him, so he utilts, and then you jump to avoid it and fast fall a dair on him.

Works like a charm against Mario's Up-smash

 

[pikaska]

sweet, thanks!

 

[Daedatheus]

Also remember that if you have been conditioning your opponent to think you will fastfall all your attacks, sometimes you don't even need a second jump, just don't FF and input the attack later. Always make sure you have your second jump just in case though.