YagamiLight
Smash Champion
Let me be brutally honest here, I think Ike is a top-notch character. Balanced, yet still fantastic. With that said, however, it is unfortunate that many people do not utilize his grab game to the full extent, for grabs will surely improve your game. That's what this guide is for: A centralized location for all the little things that Ike can do to get grabs, while grabbing, and after throwing the opponent. This is written at a fairly advanced level, but with as much explaining as possible. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
To begin, one must ask "Why does Ike need to grab?". It is true that Ike does not have Ness's 110% killing back throw, Ike lacks DeDeDe's chaingrabs on 2/3rds of the cast, and he doesn't have Kirby's true combo throws. Then why would you bother? Because they are a swift option for a character who has more laggy moves than quick ones. They come out fast, have decent range and do rack up moderate damage. They also bait the opponent into getting hit by a true laggy move, more on this later.
Speaking about grabs and throws is one thing, getting the grab is quite another. Actually, that's not particularly hard either. There are a multitude of ways to grab with Ike (All of these are on the Gamecube controller):
Standing Grab (Z)
Dash Grab (Run+Z)
Shield Grab (A while holding down L/R)
Jab Cancel Grab (Down then Z during the AAA combo)
Quick Draw Grab (Side B to Z)
Air Draw Grab (Aerial Side B to Z, this gives Ike a gigantic grab distance)
Pivot Grab (While running, press Shield + A + backwards (on the joystick) or Grab + Backwards simultaneously.)
Now that you have the victim in your grasp, what do you do with him/her/it?
Pummel (A or Z while grabbing) - 3%
Ike delivers a rather slow, unwieldy headbutt right to the opponent's face. This cause more damage than most other grab attacks, which usually do 1-2%. It's a slow attack, however, so your opponent might escape if you overdo it. If you refrain from that, however, you can do pummel damage and use one of your throws. If you don't feel like throwing them, chasing them, etc, you can try the grab release. Essentially you go for a ton of pummel damage by mashing A, and when they get out you keep mashing to get the AAA combo done. If you're really sneaky you can go: Grab->Pummel->AA->Grab->Throw->Follow-up for some really nice damage (Or AA->Grab->Pummel until release->AAA). On a side note, the pummel might sometimes do 4% on first use and degrades to 1%. One last thing, against a wall just holding R and rapidly pressing A will make Ike infinite the other person, useful if the wall is breakable and you don't want to try another infinite, such as on Green Greens.
Now for the important parts, throws. These are in order of what I think to be importance, with Forward and Down being equally good. All of the throws deal 6%, but they sometimes do 7% randomly, all degrade to 3% I think.) Any moves to follow up with are strings, not combos (I.E. they are escapable)
Forward Throw (6%)
The bread and butter of Ike's grab game, this is a fantastic throw for using your highly developed mindgames. Ike swiftly kicks the opponent away, allowing you to follow it up with:
Regrab (At low percents, you should do another throw after this so as not to degrade the Fthrow. This is possible, but will only work if they just stand there or tech in place, as Ike's poor run speed will not allow him to take full advantage of the weak knockback.)
Fair (If they take to the air, use this and hit them for solid damage, be sure to bait an airdodge first)
Dash attack (If they roll away just run and do this)
Against a wall, using this repeatedly allows for an infinite. It'll murder your Fthrow damage, but it'll give them -1 stock, so it's all cool.
Down Throw (6%)
Another great throw, here Ike jumps on the opponent, sending them up. This move has considerable knockback and kills at ~190% (Impressive?). You should use this at low percents to link into:
Aether, this in particular does a lot of damage, but only works if they don't DI.
Up Air (If they use a second jump)
Fair (If they go to the side)
Stalking: Essentially, you wait for them to come down, airdodge and thenup Smash. This is better left to the Up Throw, but is possible with the as well, especially as they might expect an Aether after the first down throw.
Back Throw (6%)
The Forward throw, except Backwards. That's practically it. It has a minimal amount more knockback than the Fthrow, but you can still follow up. It looks really fluid and makes your Ike game more well...pretty (Tourneys don't give money for beauty, however). Use this and:
Dash attack
Dtilt if you send them over the edge
Fthrow if you sent them into a wall
Edgeguard if you threw them over the edge (Using moves such as Dair and Fair)
Up throw (6%)
This is a cool throw. That is all. Actually, it has uses. The problem is, Ike retrieving the sword out of the ground is done while the opponent has control of his character. As such, you must act fast. Fortunately, you can use the low knockback to follow up with:
Up Air (This is especially effective done of platform's such as the top one of BF, as this becomes an inescapable 23% combo)
Dashing or Standing Up Smash
Up Tilt
That's it for the throws, really, but done correctly, it will give you more damage dealing, control and fluidity in your game.
This next section is for advanced throwing techniques, which I shall update whenever new ones are found:
The Penguin Throttle
The Penguin Throttle is a technique that can be used to give some of King DeDeDe's medicine right back to him. Done correctly, it will result in King DeDeDe not being able to move, escape or do anything out of Ike's and ONLY Ike's grab. To use this technique, Ike must be standing on a level platform, a ---- shape. DeDeDe must be on a higher sloped / platform, such and in Yoshi's Island Melee. The practical uses of this technique include using it on a moving stage (Such as Delphino) to get it to switch to the next part (At which point D3 escapes) so you don't get wall infinited. It can also be used as a suicide on Big Blue and other moving stages, hold them as you both go off (Or just throw them off and make it back...). Other practical uses include Team Battles and holding them there so they get damaged by a stage hazard (Corneria lasers, for example). Using it to stall the match is, unfortunately, not legal.
Green Greens Slide:
Fthrowing into a bomb on green greens makes the opponent take much damage and makes Ike slide a fair bit.
Well, that's all for now, any opinions?
To begin, one must ask "Why does Ike need to grab?". It is true that Ike does not have Ness's 110% killing back throw, Ike lacks DeDeDe's chaingrabs on 2/3rds of the cast, and he doesn't have Kirby's true combo throws. Then why would you bother? Because they are a swift option for a character who has more laggy moves than quick ones. They come out fast, have decent range and do rack up moderate damage. They also bait the opponent into getting hit by a true laggy move, more on this later.
Speaking about grabs and throws is one thing, getting the grab is quite another. Actually, that's not particularly hard either. There are a multitude of ways to grab with Ike (All of these are on the Gamecube controller):
Standing Grab (Z)
Dash Grab (Run+Z)
Shield Grab (A while holding down L/R)
Jab Cancel Grab (Down then Z during the AAA combo)
Quick Draw Grab (Side B to Z)
Air Draw Grab (Aerial Side B to Z, this gives Ike a gigantic grab distance)
Pivot Grab (While running, press Shield + A + backwards (on the joystick) or Grab + Backwards simultaneously.)
Now that you have the victim in your grasp, what do you do with him/her/it?
Pummel (A or Z while grabbing) - 3%
Ike delivers a rather slow, unwieldy headbutt right to the opponent's face. This cause more damage than most other grab attacks, which usually do 1-2%. It's a slow attack, however, so your opponent might escape if you overdo it. If you refrain from that, however, you can do pummel damage and use one of your throws. If you don't feel like throwing them, chasing them, etc, you can try the grab release. Essentially you go for a ton of pummel damage by mashing A, and when they get out you keep mashing to get the AAA combo done. If you're really sneaky you can go: Grab->Pummel->AA->Grab->Throw->Follow-up for some really nice damage (Or AA->Grab->Pummel until release->AAA). On a side note, the pummel might sometimes do 4% on first use and degrades to 1%. One last thing, against a wall just holding R and rapidly pressing A will make Ike infinite the other person, useful if the wall is breakable and you don't want to try another infinite, such as on Green Greens.
Now for the important parts, throws. These are in order of what I think to be importance, with Forward and Down being equally good. All of the throws deal 6%, but they sometimes do 7% randomly, all degrade to 3% I think.) Any moves to follow up with are strings, not combos (I.E. they are escapable)
Forward Throw (6%)
The bread and butter of Ike's grab game, this is a fantastic throw for using your highly developed mindgames. Ike swiftly kicks the opponent away, allowing you to follow it up with:
Regrab (At low percents, you should do another throw after this so as not to degrade the Fthrow. This is possible, but will only work if they just stand there or tech in place, as Ike's poor run speed will not allow him to take full advantage of the weak knockback.)
Fair (If they take to the air, use this and hit them for solid damage, be sure to bait an airdodge first)
Dash attack (If they roll away just run and do this)
Against a wall, using this repeatedly allows for an infinite. It'll murder your Fthrow damage, but it'll give them -1 stock, so it's all cool.
Down Throw (6%)
Another great throw, here Ike jumps on the opponent, sending them up. This move has considerable knockback and kills at ~190% (Impressive?). You should use this at low percents to link into:
Aether, this in particular does a lot of damage, but only works if they don't DI.
Up Air (If they use a second jump)
Fair (If they go to the side)
Stalking: Essentially, you wait for them to come down, airdodge and thenup Smash. This is better left to the Up Throw, but is possible with the as well, especially as they might expect an Aether after the first down throw.
Back Throw (6%)
The Forward throw, except Backwards. That's practically it. It has a minimal amount more knockback than the Fthrow, but you can still follow up. It looks really fluid and makes your Ike game more well...pretty (Tourneys don't give money for beauty, however). Use this and:
Dash attack
Dtilt if you send them over the edge
Fthrow if you sent them into a wall
Edgeguard if you threw them over the edge (Using moves such as Dair and Fair)
Up throw (6%)
This is a cool throw. That is all. Actually, it has uses. The problem is, Ike retrieving the sword out of the ground is done while the opponent has control of his character. As such, you must act fast. Fortunately, you can use the low knockback to follow up with:
Up Air (This is especially effective done of platform's such as the top one of BF, as this becomes an inescapable 23% combo)
Dashing or Standing Up Smash
Up Tilt
That's it for the throws, really, but done correctly, it will give you more damage dealing, control and fluidity in your game.
This next section is for advanced throwing techniques, which I shall update whenever new ones are found:
The Penguin Throttle
The Penguin Throttle is a technique that can be used to give some of King DeDeDe's medicine right back to him. Done correctly, it will result in King DeDeDe not being able to move, escape or do anything out of Ike's and ONLY Ike's grab. To use this technique, Ike must be standing on a level platform, a ---- shape. DeDeDe must be on a higher sloped / platform, such and in Yoshi's Island Melee. The practical uses of this technique include using it on a moving stage (Such as Delphino) to get it to switch to the next part (At which point D3 escapes) so you don't get wall infinited. It can also be used as a suicide on Big Blue and other moving stages, hold them as you both go off (Or just throw them off and make it back...). Other practical uses include Team Battles and holding them there so they get damaged by a stage hazard (Corneria lasers, for example). Using it to stall the match is, unfortunately, not legal.
Green Greens Slide:
Fthrowing into a bomb on green greens makes the opponent take much damage and makes Ike slide a fair bit.
Well, that's all for now, any opinions?
Deal with the truth.
