Greninja's True Combos

[MartinAW4]

Today I tested some early % kill setups and I found 2 very interesting strings:

Dash Attack -> Fair -> Uair spike kill at 0-9%
You just have to land a Dash Attack at 0-9% near the edge of the stage and follow up with a true combo Fair to end up in an ideal position for an Uair spike kill. And even though it is very tempting to go for it at 0% for the right to claim you managed to pull off a 0-death kill, it is much easier to perform at 9% than at 0%. So it might be a good idea to start the match with 3 uncharged Water Shurikens (or one almost fully charged) for 9% damage before attempting this. However keep in mind that the Fair -> Uair spike part is not a true combo, so the opponent can escape by simply jumping if they react in time.

Dash Attack -> Fair -> Fair which kills at 30-40%
If you land a Dash Attack -> Fair combo near the edge of the stage at 30-40%, you can follow up with another Fair for the kill (not a true combo). It is not so easy to avoid because you can land the second Fair off screen at 40%. And even if you miss, you are still left in a favorable position because you will end up behind your opponent which will allow you to recover through their recovery for a nice chance to get a Hydro Pump gimp. So you get 2 chances to kill for the price of one.

By the way does anyone know the code for spoiler tags? Greninja has way more combos than I expected when making this thread so I think it`s time to clean them up a bit.

 

[Lavani]

By the way does anyone know the code for spoiler tags? Greninja has way more combos than I expected when making this thread so I think it`s time to clean them up a bit.

[spoiler=spoiler name]content[/spoiler]

Makes:

Spoiler: spoiler name

content

 

[MartinAW4]

[spoiler=spoiler name]content[/spoiler]

Makes:

Spoiler: spoiler name

content

Thanks a lot! I just finished cleaning up the OP, so hopefully it is more lisible now.

 

[MartinAW4]

Alright I`ve got some big news for you. Greninja has an infinite combo against most likely every single character in the game! It starts to work the moment they are at a high enough % to ground bounce (around 70% on average). At that point Uair spike starts to combo into itself and because ground bounce always launches you a set distance, you can continue chaining Uair spikes until 999%. Of course it is not a true combo unless you use your ninja skills to sabotage your opponent`s R button before the match because otherwise they can tech the ground bounce.
So far it seems easiest to perform against King Dedede, so you can try it out for yourself. Pick a lv.1 CPU because they never tech, set him to 73%, use Utilt -> Uair spike (at least 4 hits) to bounce them above you -> Uair spike -> Uair spike... for as long as you want. First try it at 1/4 speed and then you can slowly speed it up until you can do it comfortably at normal speed.

I also found out that Usmash -> Usmash is a true combo against King Dedede at around 20-28%. So I kept testing because he seemed to be much easier to combo than Sheik and I found these 2 crazy combos:
Sweetspot Nair -> Utilt -> Usmash -> Uair spike -> Utilt -> Uair spike -> Utilt -> Uair spike -> Utilt -> Uair spike -> Utilt -> Uair close to the ground -> Fair
It works at 10%, deals 91% damage and is a 35-hit true combo
Fully charged Water Shuriken -> Usmash -> Usmash -> Uair spike -> Utilt -> Uair spike -> Utilt -> Uair spike -> Utilt -> Uair close to the ground -> Fair
It works even at 0%, deals 107% damage and is a 35-hit combo. It is not a completely true combo because the Usmash -> Usmash part seems to be a true combo only at 20-28% and here it is performed at 12% so they might have a frame or two to escape, but all the other moves truly combo into each other.
And in both cases you can replace the Uair close to the ground by the Uair spike -> Uair spike infinite combo to get a kill if they do not know how to tech. If you do this with the second combo, you can get a 0-death kill.

 

[Asdioh]

Hyping up a long combo string that will never EVER work because teching and DI exist?

 

[Funkermonster]

Just two gimmicks I made in training mode. Tried on Mario and Charizard o far.

Utilt > Usmash > Usmash > Nair 53%
Nair> Dtilt > Dash Attack > Fair.

Probably not practical but I thought I'd still point it out anyway

 

[MartinAW4]

@ Asdioh
Of course you most likely will never see a combo involving more than one Uair spike in a real match because you have to be almost frame perfect for them to work. I had trouble performing them even at 1/4 speed, so I don`t expect any human to pull them off. But now you can claim that your character has 0-death combos which will intimidate all of your opponents who do not know how difficult they are to perform.

And because Utilt sends your opponent right into range of the Uair which spikes them back into range of the Utilt and isn`t techable until around 70%, the two 35-hit combos should technically be unescapable regardless of teching and maybe even DI, but I can`t test that with computers.

@ Funkermonster
Are you sure that Usmash -> Usmash and Dtilt -> Dash Attack combo against Mario? I know they never combo against Sheik and Usmash -> Usmash only comboed against King Dedede so far from my testing, so I`d be surprised if it worked against a non-heavy weight character like Mario.

 

[A New England Winter]

Are the combos in the first post still relevant as of 1.04?

 

[JayTheUnseen]

Are the combos in the first post still relevant as of 1.04?

Some are,like Utilt to UpSmash.The data may not be 100% correct now(damage cap,damage output)though.

 

[MartinAW4]

Are the combos in the first post still relevant as of 1.04?

Most of them are except those that include Usmash, Uair or Water Shuriken.
I was planning on updating the list, and testing the new Uair combos which seem very interesting. But seeing how badly Greninja was nerfed and how Uair still seems to be unbalanced, I don`t want to do lots of testing only to have all the newly found combos removed by the next patch.

So for the time being, I will just note that the combos are from v 1.0.3 and focus on other characters until Sakurai releases another update that fixes the Uair and hopefully makes Greninja fun to use again by removing the unnecessary nerfs to Fair and Uair knockback, Water Shuriken end lag and sourspot Usmash damage.

 

[JayTheUnseen]

update that fixes the Uair and hopefully makes Greninja fun to use again by removing the unnecessary nerfs to Fair and Uair knockback, Water Shuriken end lag and sourspot Usmash damage.

I hope that will happen...

 

[FullMoon]

I'm going to be ready for the worst and assume Greninja will stay the way he is until further notice. I can still use him pretty well so I don't mind the nerfs too much.

 

[MartinAW4]

I'm going to be ready for the worst and assume Greninja will stay the way he is until further notice. I can still use him pretty well so I don't mind the nerfs too much.

I agree, Greninja is still a great character despite the fact that his strongest combos lost the Uair follow up after Usmash because of the lag. And the removal of Fair, Uair, Hydro Pump and Water Shuriken nerfs is by no means guaranteed or even likely to happen.
But because of how Uair still has spike properties and now combos much more than before, I think there is a high chance of Sakurai nerfing it even more. And since it combos into almost every Greninja`s move, I don`t want to spend a lot of time testing 10+ combos only to have them removed in the next patch.

 

[FullMoon]

I agree, Greninja is still a great character despite the fact that his strongest combos lost the Uair follow up after Usmash because of the lag. And the removal of Fair, Uair, Hydro Pump and Water Shuriken nerfs is by no means guaranteed or even likely to happen.
But because of how Uair still has spike properties and now combos much more than before, I think there is a high chance of Sakurai nerfing it even more. And since it combos into almost every Greninja`s move, I don`t want to spend a lot of time testing 10+ combos only to have them removed in the next patch.

I find it that Greninja is more balanced now, the Hydro Pump nerf might have been a bit excessive but I can see why they nerfed it. Water Shuriken and F-Air were a bit of weird things to nerf but they don't bother me too much. I'm also unsure if U-Air sometimes failing to get the final hit in was intentional or not so who knows, maybe they could fix that later.

 

[MartinAW4]

I find it that Greninja is more balanced now, the Hydro Pump nerf might have been a bit excessive but I can see why they nerfed it. Water Shuriken and F-Air were a bit of weird things to nerf but they don't bother me too much. I'm also unsure if U-Air sometimes failing to get the final hit in was intentional or not so who knows, maybe they could fix that later.

I have to agree, he was extremely powerful before compared to most of the cast, which I really only realized today. After getting used to the nerfed Greninja, today I went to a small local tournament with 40 players and to my surprise they were still using v 1.0.3. And the Greninja there felt so good to use. Uair and Fair killed much sooner, Hydro Pump got awesome gimps and off the top kills, Shurikens were so much easier to follow up and Usmash felt absolutely broken again. I ended up winning the tournament without much trouble and all matchups seemed like they were easily in Greninja`s favor.
So now I understand that the nerf was needed, but thankfully the tournament organizers forgot to download the new patch, so I can now enjoy my new 3DS XL, which I might not have won with all the nerfs from v 1.0.4.

 

[JayTheUnseen]

Guess my bad luck of picking either an OP character,a weak character,or a hard to learn one is still around.

 

[A New England Winter]

See, this is exactly why I ****ing hate the patching trend in Fighting games today; all the work that people put into the game eventually goes to waste because of the whims of a developer who often hide behind the guise of "balance" but are really just catering to the baddies and scrubs who won't bother to learn how to deal with bad MUs.

brb making my own game. with black jack. and hookers. in fact, forget the game and the black jack.

 

[MartinAW4]

I just finished playing some friendlies against one of the tourney participants with my own 3DS using v 1.0.4 and the difference was huge. While in the v 1.0.3 tournament I won the games pretty convincingly, this time it kept going back and forth and ended up in a draw.

Greninja now has so much more trouble getting KOs. I landed several Uairs and Fairs at what used to be kill %, but now he easily survived. And because Hyphen Usmash is so hard to perform without a C stick and I still haven`t learned to consistently jump cancel Usmash, I lost so many kill opportunities by Dash Attacking or using Uair instead of Usmash. Even the sweetspot range on Usmash seems to be reduced. And I couldn`t even make up for the low kill power with gimps because Hydro Pump got nerfed too. You know something is wrong when you`re relying on Shadow Sneak or Uthrow to score kills.
On average I killed at around 130-160% instead of 90-120% like I used to.

I will still stay with Greninja though because none of the other character`s playstyle seems as fun and interesting as Greninja`s. But I`ll have to think of a way to adjust my playstyle to minimize the effect of all the nerfs. I`ll focus mainly on mastering jump cancelled Usmash, finding ways to use Shadow Sneak safely as a kill move, comboing with the new Uair spike and experimenting with Hydro Pump angles to improve its mediocre gimping ability.
Those are the only areas where I still see potential for Greninja.

 

[momochuu]

are you still playing the 3DS version? i haven't had much troubles killing honestly. his dsmash is amazing, up smash is still good and you can still setup with it from hydro pump, and fsmash is still good like always.

 

[MartinAW4]

are you still playing the 3DS version? i haven't had much troubles killing honestly. his dsmash is amazing, up smash is still good and you can still setup with it from hydro pump, and fsmash is still good like always.

Yes I`m still on the 3DS. That`s why Usmash doesn`t always work for me when I need it and the other smashes are good but nothing special compared to other characters. If the Dsmash which was almost never used in v 1.0.3 is now considered amazing after a 2% damage buff, you know something went wrong with Greninja`s kill options.

Edit:
Alright, I finished practicing jump cancelled Usmash and it really made a big difference in kill %. They`re almost back down to what they were before since the kill power of Usmash is still the same, it`s just riskier to miss now.
I also looked through the combo list for reliable kill combos and I found these still work against Sheik:
Sourspot Nair -> Usmash kills at 83-100%
Uthrow -> Uair kills at 86-100%
Dtilt -> Usmash kills at 83-120%
Utilt -> Uair kills at 100-159%
Uthrow kills at 161+%

And now that vectoring is basically gone, they can`t even vector out of the combos so they are more reliable. Starting from 83%, Greninja always has at least one kill combo ready and if all else fails, Uthrow kills by itself once the other combos stop working.
So luckily my impression of Greninja`s trouble getting KOs was only caused by my lack of practice with the new Greninja which not only has most of its old kill combos intact, they should work more reliably now too.

 

[momochuu]

yeah i'm on wii u version and a cstick makes a big difference.

 

[Karasu]

Alright, I finished practicing jump cancelled Usmash and it really made a big difference in kill %. They`re almost back down to what they were before since the kill power of Usmash is still the same, it`s just riskier to miss now.
I also looked through the combo list for reliable kill combos and I found these still work against Sheik:
Sourspot Nair -> Usmash kills at 83-100%
Uthrow -> Uair kills at 86-100%
Dtilt -> Usmash kills at 83-120%
Utilt -> Uair kills at 100-159%
Uthrow kills at 161+%

And now that vectoring is basically gone, they can`t even vector out of the combos so they are more reliable. Starting from 83%, Greninja always has at least one kill combo ready and if all else fails, Uthrow kills by itself once the other combos stop working.
So luckily my impression of Greninja`s trouble getting KOs was only caused by my lack of practice with the new Greninja which not only has most of its old kill combos intact, they should work more reliably now too.

The Upair kills don't really work like that. Despite the fact that the last hit doesn't connect very well (making the two upair-kills far from reliable) Upair doesn't really kill under 110%. I tried it in training with Shiek too and the Upthrow -> Upair didn't kill once (even if the last hit connected). Utilt -> Upair killed not under 110%. The other combos do work of course but these two are not that reliable.

 

[MartinAW4]

The Upair kills don't really work like that. Despite the fact that the last hit doesn't connect very well (making the two upair-kills far from reliable) Upair doesn't really kill under 110%. I tried it in training with Shiek too and the Upthrow -> Upair didn't kill once (even if the last hit connected). Utilt -> Upair killed not under 110%. The other combos do work of course but these two are not that reliable.

Yes, the % ranges I gave are ranges for when the combo is possible to perform, not necessarily reliable. When you approach either end of the % range, they become harder to pull off and this goes for the Usmash combos as well.
The Uthrow -> Uair combo becomes reliable at 90-98% and the Utilt -> Uair combo at 105-150%. If you`re having problems killing with these combos under 110%, try jumping as soon and as high as possible. When you`re fast enough for the combo counter to register them as true combos, they usually kill.

 

[Karasu]

Yes, the % ranges I gave are ranges for when the combo is possible to perform, not necessarily reliable. When you approach either end of the % range, they become harder to pull off and this goes for the Usmash combos as well.
The Uthrow -> Uair combo becomes reliable at 90-98% and the Utilt -> Uair combo at 105-150%. If you`re having problems killing with these combos under 110%, try jumping as soon and as high as possible. When you`re fast enough for the combo counter to register them as true combos, they usually kill.

The problem is even if the last hit connects (talking about Uthrow -> Uair) Shiek avoids the KO with DI. Doing the combo is not that hard but it just don't kill and I don't know why.

 

[MartinAW4]

The problem is even if the last hit connects (talking about Uthrow -> Uair) Shiek avoids the KO with DI. Doing the combo is not that hard but it just don't kill and I don't know why.

Well if speed is not the problem, then height is. Try jumping as high as possible as if you were aiming slightly above Sheik even if it means losing some speed since it should still be undodgeable. And if done right, you will even get the lightning effect from Uthrow -> Uair at 90% and kill regardless of DI.

 

[Karasu]

Well if speed is not the problem, then height is. Try jumping as high as possible as if you were aiming slightly above Sheik even if it means losing some speed since it should still be undodgeable. And if done right, you will even get the lightning effect from Uthrow -> Uair at 90% and kill regardless of DI.

Then this is harder to pull off than I thought. I will practice that combo. Thanks for your effort :D
Any tips how the last hit from Uair connects better?

 

[MartinAW4]

Then this is harder to pull off than I thought. I will practice that combo. Thanks for your effort :D
Any tips how the last hit from Uair connects better?

The higher you hit the Uair, the harder it is to miss the last hit, so always try to hit the Uair as high as possible. Also I don`t know if this does anything, but I always hold up while hitting with the Uair. I know that holding left or right does slightly affect your movement even while hitting with Uair but I`m not sure if holding up helps keep you higher in the air. If nothing, it at least assures that you don`t fast fall by accidentally pressing down.

 

[Karasu]

Thanks again! And now it is time to practice :D

 

[Marilink]

The C-stick makes Uair spike so slick. Plus, it allows you to keep Tap Jump on for USmash OOS and Hyphen Usmash.

Honestly, I was really sad about the Uair Spike change at first, but I like the fact that the weaker hitboxes lessen the possibility for Ground-Bounce techs.

 

[MartinAW4]

Today I updated the OP with v 1.0.4 combos. So far I mostly just verified which old combos still work and now I will be testing some new ones.

 

[Marilink]

The formatting in the OP is super great, Martin.

 

[MartinAW4]

The formatting in the OP is super great, Martin.

Thanks, I`m glad you like it.

Today I tested the useful strings and sadly none of them work like they used to anymore, but I found some alternatives:
Instead of the Utilt -> Usmash -> Usmash -> Uair string which dealt 52% damage we can do Utilt -> Usmash -> Utilt -> Usmash which deals 47% damage. It is weaker, much easier to escape and only works at 0-1%, but it`s the strongest string we have at the start of the match.
Another nice string is Uthrow -> Bair -> Bair at 0-13% which deals 24% damage. At 0-13% Uthrow -> Uair doesn`t work yet, so this is a good alternative if you get a grab at very low %. And if you fast fall after the second Bair, you might be able to chain two more Bairs or a sweetspot Usmash at the end if your opponent doesn`t dodge or DI correctly.
The last string I added was Nair -> Dtilt -> Dash Attack -> Fair which works at 0-24% and deals 39% damage. It is the most reliable string out of the ones listed because every part of it is a true combo except for Dtilt -> Dash Attack.

I also played some matches and here is what I noticed:
- Nair -> Usmash -> Jab still seems to be safe on shield despite the increased lag on Usmash. I even tried it against lv.9 CPUs with their frame perfect shield grabs and in the worst case scenario my Jab came out at the same time as their grab. So even though I got grabbed I got freed immediately by my Jab. This is great because it means that Greninja can still use Usmash safely after hitting a shield with Nair.
- Uthrow -> Uair is probably Greninja`s best kill combo. In training mode without rage, it kills as soon as 86% and becomes a reliable kill regardless of DI at around 95%. And with maximum rage it can kill Sheik at 60%. It is also easy to land and harder to survive thanks to the removal of vectoring. So whenever my opponent was around 85%, I focused on bringing him to 95-100% (or less if I had rage) with shurikens and then all it took was one grab to get the kill. It stops working above 100%, so the % range is very strict, but ever since I started actively setting it up, my average kill % got reduced by 10-20%.
- Hydro Pump (HP) can push extremely far, I just don`t know exactly how yet. It happened when I hit Sheik with HP while I was testing some combos in training mode. She was in the air at a height of approximately one full jump in the middle of the left half of FD. I was below her to the left, so I used the first pump to push myself diagonally above her and I hit her with the second pump also aimed diagonally back to my original position. However instead of pushing her slightly away from me to the right as usual, she got pushed extremely far to the left and down. From a full jump height in the middle of the left half of FD, she got sent all the way down below the stage on the left from where she could not even come close to recovering despite her above average recovery. I tried to repeat it many times, but I couldn`t get it to work even once. And since it was in training mode, I couldn`t even save the replay either. So it was probably a glitch, but if we found out how to perform it, we could gimp even better than before the 1.0.4 patch.

 

[TTYK]

These options do not seem to strong. Is there any kill combo at like %110? I read through the comments, but the combos you guys are talking about seem unreliable.

 

[MartinAW4]

These options do not seem to strong. Is there any kill combo at like %110? I read through the comments, but the combos you guys are talking about seem unreliable.

They`re weaker than before because Greninja`s strongest combo move, Usmash lost all of its combo ability after v 1.0.4.

Regarding reliablility, all combos in the Combo section cannot be dodged or jumped out of. Only the meteor Dair and Uair spike combos can be teched and some of them might be escapeable with the correct DI if the opponent knows what you`re planning. But otherwise they are guaranteed to hit if performed fast enough and at the right %. Generally the most reliable combos are the ones in green and the most unreliable or weakest ones are in red.
The Useful strings are unreliable, but if they land you will deal a lot of damage.

Above 100%, Greninja`s Uthrow -> Uair stops working, so it has more trouble killing, but there are still some reliable kill combos at all % above 83%:
- Dtilt -> hyphen Usmash at 100-120% (works at 60-120% and starts killing Sheik with 0 rage at 83%)
- Utilt -> Uair at 100-160%
- Dash Attack -> Fair at 100-140% (works at 4-140%)
- Dtilt -> Uair at 130-320% (works from 120%, but starts killing at 130%)
- Dtilt -> Fair at 132-300%
- Uthrow above 160%
The green ones are the ones I use most often but the yellow ones work too if you cannot land an Utilt.
Utilt -> Uair is more reliable than Uthrow -> Uair, but Utilt is harder to land than a grab.
The Dtilt combos require you to be very fast, because Dtilt has very little hitstun.
Dash Attack -> Fair is probably DI-able, but usually it works.
And above 160% your Uthrow will kill Sheik even if you have 0 rage, so no need to combo.

 

[TTYK]

They`re weaker than before because Greninja`s strongest combo move, Usmash lost all of its combo ability after v 1.0.4.

Regarding reliablility, all combos in the Combo section cannot be dodged or jumped out of. Only the meteor Dair and Uair spike combos can be teched and some of them might be escapeable with the correct DI if the opponent knows what you`re planning. But otherwise they are guaranteed to hit if performed fast enough and at the right %. Generally the most reliable combos are the ones in green and the most unreliable or weakest ones are in red.
The Useful strings are unreliable, but if they land you will deal a lot of damage.

Above 100%, Greninja`s Uthrow -> Uair stops working, so it has more trouble killing, but there are still some reliable kill combos at all % above 83%:
- Dtilt -> hyphen Usmash at 100-120% (works at 60-120% and starts killing Sheik with 0 rage at 83%)
- Utilt -> Uair at 100-160%
- Dash Attack -> Fair at 100-140% (works at 4-140%)
- Dtilt -> Uair at 130-320% (works from 120%, but starts killing at 130%)
- Dtilt -> Fair at 132-300%
- Uthrow above 160%
The green ones are the ones I use most often but the yellow ones work too if you cannot land an Utilt.
Utilt -> Uair is more reliable than Uthrow -> Uair, but Utilt is harder to land than a grab.
The Dtilt combos require you to be very fast, because Dtilt has very little hitstun.
Dash Attack -> Fair is probably DI-able, but usually it works.
And above 160% your Uthrow will kill Sheik even if you have 0 rage, so no need to combo.

Yeah, I mostly use dash-fair instictively at high percents, but most of this stuff I already knew. :/ Thanks anyways, but I was looking for more substantial...

 

[PadWarrior]

Man I have the hardest time connecting an up air after an up throw. Seems no matter how fast I go my opponent air dodges.

 

[Spirst]

Man I have the hardest time connecting an up air after an up throw. Seems no matter how fast I go my opponent air dodges.

You have to be really quick with it. You can try buffering a uair with the double jump if they move up to evade it.
If they're constantly evading and you can't hit it, you can FF and do a jab or an utilt to punish their landing. You can also bait the air dodge for a hit. If you're constantly trying the uair after the uthrow, you're falling into the predictability factor. Uthrow>airdodge read>bair works well too. I sometimes throw out empty Uthrows just to see their reaction to it so I can start forming an observed pattern. Way more risky (and probably not worth it) is if they're just airdodging without DI, immediately double jump over them and dair. It'll come out right when their air dodge ends.

 

[PadWarrior]

You have to be really quick with it. You can try buffering a uair with the double jump if they move up to evade it.
If they're constantly evading and you can't hit it, you can FF and do a jab or an utilt to punish their landing. You can also bait the air dodge for a hit. If you're constantly trying the uair after the uthrow, you're falling into the predictability factor. Uthrow>airdodge read>bair works well too. I sometimes throw out empty Uthrows just to see their reaction to it so I can start forming an observed pattern. Way more risky (and probably not worth it) is if they're just airdodging without DI, immediately double jump over them and dair. It'll come out right when their air dodge ends.

Thanks! Will try all of this.

 

[Shack]

Yeah, I mostly use dash-fair instictively at high percents, but most of this stuff I already knew. :/ Thanks anyways, but I was looking for more substantial...

I feel this is Greninjas main weakness, even before the WiiU nerf. Hydro Pump gImp really helped even out his KO potential. Unfortunately as of right now there really aren't any good kill set ups out side of good reads. His combos/grabs do not translate into KO's like some other characters do. You really have to rely on out playing your opponent or going for off stage gimps. Hopefully he will get a slight buff in an upcoming patch, or maybe someone will unlock some hidden potential.

EDIT: Actually now that I think about it, NAir is probably your best approach option since it auto cancels when you land. From there you can try to go for a jab into smash or into a DTilt. The only problem is that NAir has low priority and low range.

 

[MartinAW4]

I feel this is Greninjas main weakness, even before the WiiU nerf. Hydro Pump gImp really helped even out his KO potential. Unfortunately as of right now there really aren't any good kill set ups out side of good reads. His combos/grabs do not translate into KO's like some other characters do. You really have to rely on out playing your opponent or going for off stage gimps. Hopefully he will get a slight buff in an upcoming patch, or maybe someone will unlock some hidden potential.

EDIT: Actually now that I think about it, NAir is probably your best approach option since it auto cancels when you land. From there you can try to go for a jab into smash or into a DTilt. The only problem is that NAir has low priority and low range.

I agree with most of this. Nair is also my favorite approach move. If you SHFF it, it becomes Greninja`s safest move because the hitbox lasts from the top of your short hop until you land on the ground and then you can immediately follow up with any attack, grab, dash or roll. And since it hits from every side around you, you can angle your short hops in a way that makes it hardest for your opponent to intercept the Nair with their attacks. Even the priority on it seems to be good from my experience. What makes you think it isn`t?
It also deals good damage and combos into Jab or Dtilt at low %, into sweetspot Usmash at mid %, then the sourspot hit combos into Usmash at mid-high % and into Fair at high %, both of which are kill combos. I actually think Nair is Greninja`s best move now after the nerfs to all of its moves that used to be better.

I also partially agree that Greninja has trouble killing because most of its kill combos can be DI`d out of. Dtilt -> Usmash and Uthrow -> Uair can be avoided by DI-ing upwards and Utilt -> Uair is not so good because Utilt isn`t easy to land and is very punishable if shielded.
- Most of my kills come from Bair gimps off stage which are really good.
- Dash Attack -> Fair works too.
- Charged Water Shuriken is safe and kills pretty early, especially if landed off stage.
- Hydro Pump sometimes sets up into Usmash if you hit the opponent while they`re in the air and sometimes it still gimps.
- Shadow Sneak tricks are nice as well, but you have to get creative because each one usually only works once.
- Another thing that often works for me is going for Uthrow -> Uair and if they DI or dodge, I fall with them while continuously using Uair to force them to keep dodging. And because I am slightly below them, I will land first and immediately Dsmash or Fsmash to punish their laggy landing from dodging into the ground.
- Then you have combos like Dtilt -> Usmash that work unless the opponents DI upwards, but then instead of Usmash you can combo them with Uair. Same goes for Nair -> Usmash, Nair -> Fair and Nair -> Uair.
- Even Dair is good against characters with vertical recoveries like Diddy, Ike, King DDD, Link...
- And if all else fails, Uthrow can kill by itself starting from 150-170% depending on the character and rage.

So while Greninja doesn`t have any Diddy-level reliable kill combos, it has many different options to choose from. And because the opponent cannot be sure what to expect and which way to DI, you can often pull off combos that would be easily avoidable as long as you keep mixing it up and staying unpredictable. This is what makes Greninja so interesting for me to play and watch. I can often play several matches during which I get every kill using a different move or combo.