slickmasterizzy
Smash Apprentice
DISCLAIMER
I want to go over a few techniques that shiek can utilize in order to gimp people im only touching on a few.
VANISH GIMPING
A lot of characters have d-air attacks that work (like shieks down air). Where they fall down unable to do anything for a certain distance or until they hit something. Using a well timed vanish you can punish the attempt at hitting you on the ground with these moves everytime.
The trick is to use vanish right before they would normally hit you. Causing them to go through your body while your invincible and getting hit by your explosion.
CHAIN GIMPING
THE CHARACTERS
Mario-
Samus-
Fox/Falco-
Marth
Game and Watch
YOSHI-
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Lazy/tired will finish more soon. Any questions PM or post em.
Luigi-
Diddy-
Zelda-
Shiek-
Link/toon-down+a can be gimped with a well timed vanish (not recommended for novice)
Pit-
PT(squirt/ivy/char)-
Snake-
Peach-
Ganon-
Ice climb-down+a can be gimped with a well timed vanish
Lucas-
C Fal-
Olimar-
Rob-
Wario-
Ness-
ZSS-down+a can be gimped with a well timed vanish
sonic-
CHARACTERS CURRENTLY LISTEDwork in progress =p
this whole guide is just what i think, if you think im wrong feel free to tell me but explain why. i wont be satisfied until youve proved that your way is better. oh and ill try to make it prettier as i go along but im colorblind so just comment and ill fix it.
LEARNING SOME BASIC TECHNIQUESMario
Donkey Kong
Kirby
Fox
Falco
Samus-(not really i got lazy)
Pikachu
Marth
Game and watch
Yoshi
Bowser
Ike
King Dedede
Metaknight
I want to go over a few techniques that shiek can utilize in order to gimp people im only touching on a few.
this section can be skipped completely if your fairly comfortable with basic shiek techniques
VANISH GIMPING
A lot of characters have d-air attacks that work (like shieks down air). Where they fall down unable to do anything for a certain distance or until they hit something. Using a well timed vanish you can punish the attempt at hitting you on the ground with these moves everytime.
The trick is to use vanish right before they would normally hit you. Causing them to go through your body while your invincible and getting hit by your explosion.
DOWN AIR GIMP LIST
Sonic
Bowser (down+b)
Ice climbers
Link/Toonlink
Mr. Game and Watch
Zero Suit Samus
Shiek
King Dedede (up+b)
Yoshi (down+b)
CHAIN GIMPING
UP+B MECHANICS FOR MOST CHARACTERSThe chain- the chains game engine mechanics . One you use it to grab onto the edge you will NOT be invincible (as you dangle from the chain) .
If you wait too long you will automatically grab the edge and become invincible ( after waiting about 3 seconds).
Pushing up at anytime during these three seconds will instantly pull you up so that your character is using her sexy hands to "grab” onto the ledge and is invincible.
during this invincibility you can screw over people who are attempting to recover at a height where they can only grab on or fall to their death.
you can also become invincible again by hitting your shield while grabbing onto the edge. shiek will have temporary invinciblity as she pulls herself back onto the stage.
GENERAL VANISH MECHANICS+MOST CHARACTERS up+b moves will allow them to grab the ledge only LATE into the move which makes it easier to gank them
For example lets take link (in the air off the stage trying to grab the edge) near the end of links UP+B he will grab the edge but for the first ½ (cough.. Or so) of the move if he is near the edge he will just continually brush against the ledge without grabbing it and have to land on the stage.
Assume that this is true for the characters I talk about ill make a note if it isn’t.
VANISH GLIDING+On the ground you can move in 6 directions after the explosion left/left+up/up/right+up/right/down(you would stay in place)
+In the air you can move in 8 directions after the explosion, all of the above but also down+left/down/down+right
+for both ground and air vanishes if you are NOT holding any direction it will teleport you straight UP
+you can vanish UP through platforms you could drop through. but you cant teleport down through them, sheik will stop on the platform.
NEEDLE GIMPING.Right before you run off a ledge if you time it right and push UP+B you can keep the properties of the ground UP+B (no upward movement) while sliding off the stage making an explosion very close to the edge. it’s a useful technique to master.
+ a cool thing about this is that sometimes certain timings of this move wont make any noise before the first explosion(the “chhhh” sound before the explosion poof“).
Some characters with crappy recoveries REALLY need their second jump as well as their up+b in order to get back. Once people get comfortable with a character they can usually pretty accurately judge the distance they will need in order to “latch” onto the stage.
Using charged needles in the air makes them spread out in wide range. Which is bad for damage but good for gimping.
Short hopping over and over on the edge (or even jumping off) and using your needles (in the air) in order to hit them while they are still gaining elevation from a jump will cause them to stop their upward momentum, doing this with good timing can basically destroy ¾ of the height gained from a jump
THE CHARACTERS
Mario-
Donkey Kong-Mario’s up+b recovery can only latch onto the edge if he has traveled about ½ the distance. Otherwise he will just pop over the edge and land on the stage.
If he is coming in at a distance where his up+b will grab onto the stage jump off and use your chain to grab onto the ledge (you will be hanging some distance under it)
you push up right before he uses his up+b and he falls to his death.
If Mario is coming in at a distance where he cant grab onto the ledge but his up+b would make him pop over it and land onto the stage.
Wait on the stage out of the range of the attack and knock him back off when he lands with a smash or an aerial. (you can also try a well timed vanish to catch him right as he pops over the stage)
If Mario is coming in at a distance where he CAN grab the edge without need of his up+b then a vanish slide can catch him. Sometimes it can even catch him if he tries to hit you with his up+b offensively.
Its important to say that if you time it wrong and he grabs the edge (thus getting invinsibility) your move will miss and if you were holding a direction (like towards the edge) you will fall to your death.
So unless you are CERTAIN you can grab the ledge before the person can not holding ANY direction will defaultly make sheik go UP. Which means you can just land back on the stage. It does leave you open but its so quick that if they do hit you it will only be with their A attack as they attempt to get back onto the stage.
WARNING ABOUT MARIO- Mario’s cape can cause you to kill yourself with vanish. A well timed cape will completely avoid your vanish damage AND reverse the direction your holding.
MEANING- you vanish and are holding towards the ledge. Nope instead you appear away from the edge and just fall to your death
NOT HOLDING ANYTHING AFTER A VANISH (even if its caped) will ALWAYS move sheik upwards. So its suggested against a Mario that loves to cape that you don’t hold any direction after you vanish (im pretty sure this is true but if its not someone PM me.)
Donkey Kongs up+b will only latch onto the edge towards the end of the move… SO
If he is at a range where he will use his COMPLETE up+b thus grabbing the ledge gimp him with your chain tether (see Mario)
If he is at a range where he doesn’t need to use his up+b.
jump off the stage go past him try for a B-air near the back+top of him if you knock dk into the stage dk’s likely to fall some before he uses his up+b which can prevent him from getting the necessary height in order to get back.
OR
Jump off the stage allow yourself to fall some then use vanish. Even though DK has another jump a lot of DK’s will use their up+b in order to try to stop you from the expected aerial attack. Spinning themselves right into your explosion.
If he is at a range where he NEEDS his up+b but it wont grab the edge for at least a second (or even go over it and land on the stage). Vanish slide.
Samus-
Kirby-Samus right now im not going to talk about just because she has two ways to recover and honestly I haven’t really played against a “good” samus. Noob samus’s who only use their up+b to recover can be exploited by using the rules under gimping Mario.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------Kirby can be a little difficult to judge just because if he overshoots the edge and lands on the stage he has a sword that will hit you. He can still be gimped though and because of his light weight it can cause your explosion to send him flying.
If Kirby needs to up+b but will overshoot the stage do a well timed vanish (ON THE STAGE AT THE EDGE) I would suggest holding away from the ledge+up so that if you miss you will be a little distance away and avoid punishment.
If Kirby needs to up+b and will grab onto the stage use your chain to gimp him. There’s a small delay where Kirby pulls out his sword before he actually goes into the air. This delay part is right around where you want to grab the edge with your chain. BE CAREFUL timing this wrong and kirby will spike you while your hanging (kirby d-air) then still be able to UP+b back to the stage.
Fox/Falco-
PikachuI’m combining them because their recover is basically the same.
I’m going to assume you have read about characters before and are getting a feel for chain gimping so I wont touch on that.
BOTH CHARACTERS up+b recovery forces them to stay in place for about a second (before giving an awesome hiiii-ya) the fire produced by the up+b hurts anyone who tries to get close to them in order to protect them…. TOO BAD VANISH STILL HURTS THEM.
Getting the timing down on vanish and you can jump off the stage in front of them. Out of the range of any attacks they use their up+B and you vanish INTO them. Once you get the timing down you can gimp them with this just about every time they try to recover with UP+B which is awesome.
Remember that fox/falco also has a side+b that allows them to recover (and is perfered to be used) if they are coming in from above the stage so only try to gimp them if they have moved UNDER the ledge
to touch more on the side+b usually you can fake them out by pretending that your coming after them when they are off the stage (above the edge) by jumping at them moving backwards and air dodging their side+b. you can then either f-air/n-air them back off the stage if you space it correctly. rinse and repeat.
I guess ill also say that if fox/falco is using their side+b above the stage where they wont grab onto it you can usually hit them with an up+smash if you time it right sending them flying back off the stage. The timing on it is crazy though so don’t yell at me if you cant do it!. Funny when you do it though.
pikachu has two recoveries his side+B and his “quick attack” up+b
Pikachu’s side B will latch onto the edge but like everything else I rant about only near the end of it. This gives you an advantage as a pikachu who “side+b” launches himself too soon will land on the stage and you can space yourself and get a free hit of your choice as he “recovers from the move”.
Now if the pikachu your playing against can time his side+b well enough to latch onto the edge this is easily guarded too. You simply SLIDING VANISH (or just jump off a vanish gimp him in the air you can use the “slight movement up before it goes off” to your advantage.)
Now its important to note that pikachus side B doesn’t cause him to “fall to his doom” should it miss and pikachu can still use his UP+b which is a decent recovery.
SO pikachu MAY try to use his side+b when he doesn’t really need to in order to recover. But like I said pika will grab onto the ledge “only near the end of his side+b” meaning that pikachu will kind of hover against the stage before latching onto the edge if he is falling and you know he has his side b “overcharged” you can jump off the stage air dodge it and b-air him before his move allows him to “latch onto the edge“. I would then suggest that you get back onto the stage as soon as you can as this wont kill pika only disrupt him. Though if you can get back onto the stage quickly you can EASILY knock him right back off with a free hit. More about this in the next part pikas UP+B.
Pikas up+b is a decent move but it has its weaknesses. Its important to note that pikachu can use this move one of two ways. He can either “quick attack” a single time or two times at once.
Being in the path causes minor damage which can throw off your rhythm but his quick attack does NOT
make him immune to your explosion (vanish) and thus a well timed vanish can be the bane of the chu whos path crosses through your explosion.
Pikachu will latch onto the edge at the end of his quick attack either the single space or double space
(PIKACHU CANNOT travel a single space thinking its enough to grab onto the edge then once realizing it isnt enough choose to travel the “double space” he will simply fall to his death if he thinks one “space“ is enough but it isnt.)
This problem causes many pikachus to just ALWAYS use the double spacing of quick attack and that’s what makes it so beautiful to gank.
Using quick attack “twice” close to the stage will cause pikachu to overshoot and land on the stage. Then you punish that little rat with the move of your choice (I personally like f-air) while he is recovering from the after delay.
Many pikachus know about overshooting though so they remedy this by allowing themselves to fall down a little further then “double” quick attacking in order to sweet spot the edge.
NO problem once you see that pikachu is too far for a single “space” to save him you just jump off and at the “start up delay” of quick attack chain grab the edge and CHAIN GIMP him.
Marth
Marth has two recoveries his side+b allows him to travel some distance horizontally and his up+b is a mostly vertical “SLIGHT” horizontal recovery. He can use his side+b THEN his up+b but once he uses his up+b hes doooooooomed
In my experience marth doesn’t use his side+b to recover much. It only works to help him recover if its fully charged and as sheik ive always been able to jump up and at least get him to “release” the attack so he cant get anything from it. If you want to be sneaky you can jump off and time a vanish so that you “move up” and your explosion hits him. Either he keeps charging and gets hit by it. Or he lets go of the attack but your under him so he misses and gets hit by it. In my experience after you do this once (LOL or in some sad marths cases twice/three times) they realize they cant get it off and just focus on their up+b to recover.
Marths up+b is kind of weird. On stages that have a shape like FD marth needs to be away from the stage SLIGHTLY horizontally otherwise he will just up+b into a crack and fall to his death. And THIS IS WHERE zee gimp comes from.
Because of this fact of marth needing to stay back some using up+b too early will overshoot the edge and allow you to spank him from the delay of landing on the stage. Marths that can time their up+b so that they latch “onto the edge” can be CHAIN GIMPED. Just be CAREFUL as marths up+B can cause you to die from the hanging before you claim your invincibility.
whats cool though is that your directly UNDER the edge so even if the marth does end up hitting you and you dying he probably will go into one of those stage cracks (on stages like FD) and end up dying himself too.
Game and Watch
--------------------------------------------------------------------------Game and watches only recovery is his up+b which makes him bounce up then pull out a little parachute. The parachute can be canceled with different attacks (and if game and watch has another jump “saved” he can use this jump now.) game and watch has to touch down before he can use his UP+b again even though it doesn’t cause him to “doom fall”
Game and watch will about 90% of the time be knocked up and pull out a parachute knocking back anyone trying to edge guard him.
Unless they are sheik. Cause shiek can just use vanish at the edge of the stage and catch a game and watch who needs his up+b to recover and would normally just “hug” along the wall of the stage before popping up over the edge.
Game and watch has so many moves that even if you dodge you still get hit by them but unfortunately for game and watch he has to basically be on top of you to hit you with so many of these. So instead of trying to dodge just use a well timed vanish on any of these “attacks” this isnt really a “gimp” strategy but game and watch is stocked easily due to vanish (at low percents) so in a way its kind of a onstage gimp =p
Including his D-air. Once you get the timing on his D-air you will get him slapping himself whenever he uses it as he just gets damaged EVERYTIME by your vanish.
YOSHI-
Bowser-Yoshi has two kinda recovery moves his b (or side b ill just call it b) rolls him into an egg this isn’t really a recovery move in the sense that usually yoshi can just float his way back onto the stage the same distance. But im including it because some players use it as a way to “offensively” get back to the stage.
For shiek you just stand in a place where the egg will “roll/land on the stage” and time your vanish so that he rolls into it
Yoshis other recovery move is his up+b where he throws an egg and gets a “slight” boost upwards. This is honestly pretty useless as anytime that yoshi will need it (in addition to his two jumps) to recover you can just anticipate. Jump off the stage and back kick him(b-air). He either get hit by the back kick and die or dodge the back kick and not get enough height from the up+b to save himself. This also works for yoshis who try to go for the edge (and can make it) with just their second jump. B-air into the stage ledge (epically on stages like FD) will mini spike yoshi.
The major problem with yoshi isn’t even his recovery moves at all but rather that his second jump has super armor frames and moves him really high. But the lack of a decent up+b can make it easy to gimp him. Because he doesn’t have a third jump a yoshi player will usually not try to grab onto the ledge but rather just make it onto the stage. You can punish this by using attacks of your choice right as he is landing (as your air dodge is “canceled” should you hit the ground). Be careful as some of his aerials can hurt but they cancel when he hit’s the ground. So as long as you time it right and you watch his air dodging as he comes back to the stage. You can usually knock him around a bit and he cant really do anything until he lands.
A last thing I want to talk about (this you wont get off often but it is possible so ill include it). Yoshis second jump does have super armor frames through most of it but it is possible to jump and throw needles RIGHT as he starts the jump and thus losing the jump and falling to his death. Its hard to get the timing down as a good yoshi player will expect it and it only works if you throw the needles then about .3-.5 seconds later he tries to use his second jump.
So no promises but short hop throw those needles. Its fun to lol at when it works.
Oh and yoshis down+B can be punished with vanish. A big part of the game against yoshi is spacing and if he tries to use his down+b to get closer to you as soon as he starts it use vanish and he will jump right onto your explosion. The same goes for if he uses it to come down from really high. Stand under him and time the vanish.
same goes for if he wants to egg roll around the stage. its really hard for him to control it so just vanish as he would be going "through" you and he wont be able to turn himself fast enough to avoid it.
Ike-Bowsers only recovery move is his up+b (though he has a few nasty tricks). Bowser is sort of like DK in the sense that his up+b moves him more horizontally then vertically. the trick here is all about the spacing.
if bowser is coming back from off the stage and will be able to grab the edge without need of his up+b presure him by coming at him with a single jump. if he uses his up+b jump back to the stage f-air/n-air him during the afterlag of his up+b back off the stage.
most of bowsers aerials offstage you dont really need to worry about. his neutral air is probably the fastest but a well spaced f-air/b-air will hit him before he hits you. his f-air comes out reasonably fast but once you get a feel for the timing you should be able to either land an attack or airdodge/jump away from him before it hits.
once you have bowser at a distance where he will HAVE to use his full up+b (and thus grabbing the stage) you can then chain gimp him.
a couple things to look out for. DANGER DANGER SHIEK ZELDASON
bowsers side+b can grab you and then bowser can kill both of you. so watch for this if bowser is at the higher percents. REMEMBER that you can control the direction somewhat of both of your movements when your grabbed in a side+b. as long as your at a reasonablly lower percent then him you shouldnt have to worry too much about this. it can help to aim your attacks higher on his body (like his head).
bowsers DOWN+B CAN be gimped repeatly with your vanish. bowser can also down+b while over the edge and grab onto it. if your near the edge and bowser is coming in from above you remember that he might try to do and ready your vanish gimpage.
King Dedede-ike has two recovery moves his side+B and his up+b he can only use one or the other while in the air before helplessly falling.
ikes side+b is great for horizontal recovery. the best way to gimp him is to get hit by his attack and thus forcing him to fall to his death. test it yourself but up to reasonable percents you can get hit by this thus gimping him without during too much harm to yourself.
with ikes side+b he really has two choices.
he can release it at a height where he flies over the stage ( you vanish gimp him as he comes flying at you, he will usually do this after you let yourself get hit by him and he dies)
or he can release it at a height to grab onto the ledge (when means he has to be falling for longer and thus its easier to let yourself get his by the attack and insta killing him)
i wouldnt really recommend trying to chain gimp if he is ABOVE the edge
ok onto ikes up+b. ikes up+b is great for vertical recovery. a lot of people hate it but it really isnt that hard of a move to gimp.
ike can either use his up+b to latch onto the stage (he has to fall furthur down)
or if its used when hes closer to the stage he will pop up ONTO the stage and suffer exetreme after lag (if he misses which he better you ninja you)
so you got ike under the stage he has no chance to use his side+b you KNOW he is going to use his up+b so now its just a matter of guessing where hes going to land. run a tad away from the edge and jump just slightly off the stage (so your facing the edge but too far for his aether to hit you) as he is coming under the stage if he uses his up+b early (meaning he will land on the stage) use your second jump and land a little ways away from the edge and start charging a f-smash releasing it as he hits the ground and punishing him.
if he waits too long and you know his up+b will latch onto the stage wait until he screams AETHER then chain gimp him. please note though the timing can be exetremely tricky
as a final note the best times to air attack ike is when he isnt quite under the stage yet (thus able to be saved by his up+b) but also doesnt have his side+b charged enough to save him that way either.
other then ikes b-air (which you dont have to worry about while offstage gimping) all of ikes air attacks are VERY slow. other then needing to watch for ikes f-air (which is slow) if ike attempts to use any air attacks he will most likily not be able to survive the afterlag and save himself. so thus once again you take a little damage to stock him.
Meta Knight-king dedede is floaty and has multiple jumps but that shouldnt discourage you from jumping off the stage and trying to punch him in the face. all of his air attacks (cough other then b-air) is slow and has easily avoidable hitboxes.
king dedede's best defence to recovering is hitting you away while you harrass him.
his u-air/d-air both hit directly above and below him
his n-air comes out reasonably fast but is useless as it cant hit you as long as you space your b-air/n-air (and even f-air)
his f-air covers a pretty decent area but comes out slow. so you should be able to avoid it he swings it down to up (i only tell you this so you aim your attacks HIGHER on his body but away from the range of his u-air
SO the best place to aim for him is his shoulder.
king dedede has a recovery move up+b but it wont autolatch onto the stage he has to cancel it (and thus enter free fall and get gimped by a ninja punch/kick (its all in the mind))
so if he uses his up+b too high he will have to land on the stage. wait under him with a well timed vanish gimp.
if he is in a position where your unsure if he will land on the stage or cancel and grab onto it. no problem just wait around the general area he will land. if he cancels it punch him before he can grab the ledge (not that hard i promise). or if he is coming in where he will land ON the stage just vanish gimp him.
metaknight is annoying. very very annoying. i would not suggest trying to jump off the stage and gimp him just because his sword comes out fast and your more likily to get yourself killed
the best way to gimp metaknight is to STOP TRYING TO
maddness i know.
metaknight dies at low %'s by flying STRAIGHT up off the screen to your up+smash. (espically if you can hit him twice with it) and your vanish. so your strategy might revolve around killing him with one of these moves.
remember that while metaknight is off the stage he very often wont need to use all his jumps to save himself. and will often attack you for standing close to the edge. BACK UP and charge up those needles. let him come to you.
if your against a metaknight who loves to glide around (and do that freakingly fast attack out of it). wait until hes gliding towards you and you KNOW he will attack you (because if he didnt and he attacked and missed he would have noticeable lag and you could punish him. same with if he landed and didnt attack) and vanish GIMP him. he has to fall into you one way or another so free 20%.
stay OUT of the range of his stupidly fast d-smash.
if he wants to tornado spam run (dont roll) from it. remember you can only get trapped in it if he uses it near you. you can also shield all the way through it.
DONT be afraid to run from meta. hes scary but dies at low percents so those fully charged needles you keep running/charging and throwing at him are going to mean a lot for you.
without making this too much off the topic of purely gimping =p i would suggest also saving your up-smash so it has its full power/knockback. at some time while you two are decently spaced dash at him then start charging your up-smash releasing it on top of him. it wont work against someone who is expecting this too often. but its one of your BEST kill moves in this matchup.
oh and this is one matchup where your d-air can be helpful if meta is using his u-air over and over and knocking you higher and higher
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Lazy/tired will finish more soon. Any questions PM or post em.
Luigi-
Diddy-
Zelda-
Shiek-
Link/toon-down+a can be gimped with a well timed vanish (not recommended for novice)
Pit-
PT(squirt/ivy/char)-
Snake-
Peach-
Ganon-
Ice climb-down+a can be gimped with a well timed vanish
Lucas-
C Fal-
Olimar-
Rob-
Wario-
Ness-
ZSS-down+a can be gimped with a well timed vanish
sonic-
