Growth: Some common and not-so-common Wolf knowledge

[Turbo Ether]

This is not a matchup thread. We're at a point where Wolfs meta game really needs to grow. This is me sharing some Wolf knowledge that i've gained. Some of it is well-known, some of it isn't.

Vs. Snake:
Snake thrives on his tilts. They're all punishable with Fsmash. His jab combo is also punishable, even if the first two hits land you can block the third hit and punish. You can punish his Ftilt with Upsmash if you're quick for a free 18% damage. Be wary of Snakes that mix up their Ftilt to throw off you're timing.

Vs. Sheik:

She can 25-to-death you with Ftilt lock-to-upsmah if you DI poorly. The AI Wolf smash DI's up/Jumps out of the lock at around 70ish% percent. This should be doable by human players.

Vs Metaknight:

His Upsmash, Downsmash and the last hit of his Ftilt are punishable on block by your Fsmash. Your Fair and Nair have the priority to win against some of his aerials. Blaster and Shine stop Mach Tornado everytime.

Wolf's Nair: Is incredibly underused. Everyone thinks this move is crap because the last hits provide no hitstun, putting you at a frame disadvantage. Upon impact, you are not left vulnerable if you fastfall and/or if you space it correctly. Despite popular belief, this move has insane priority. It goes through some projectiles. It trades hits with Snake's Uptilt, which is disjointed and is one of the highest priority moves in the game. I've even seen this move beat Metaknights Nair. Nair has a lot of potential.

Wiimote and Nunchuck: Before you laugh, listen up. With the right custom controls, certain things are easier/more efficient to perform than with a Gamecube controller. SH aerials in any direction, or with no directional influence at all, the Dash-Attack-Cancelled-Upsmash, it's all easier with the W+N setup, because the buttons are way less spread out and require less pressure to press in all the way, when compared to the GCN controller. Addionally, the wiimote jacket provides extra grip and comfort, and with the nunchuk being attached by cord, your arms and hands have a lot more freedom. After playing with the GCN controlled for 7 years, i'm strongly considering converting to W+N. If you haven't already, I STRONGLY recommend making a good custom control scheme and practicing it. There's a ton of untapped potential. The discovery of MK's latest broken technique and the ease with which it can be performed by using the W+N is what really got me thinking about the matter.

I'll add more general info in time. Just wanted to get somes subjects out there for discussion.

 

[Ishiey]

I use wiimote and nunchuck with standard controls. What modofications do you use so you can DACUS?

 

[Turbo Ether]

I use wiimote and nunchuck with standard controls. What modofications do you use so you can DACUS?

Side smash bound to Left/Right on the Dpad, Standard attack bound to Down on the Dpad. You just quickly slide your right thumb from Left/Right to Down on the dpad, it's way faster and smoother than the Down+C/Up+Z method that people use with the gamecube controller. Every DACUS in the game becomes easier, especially Sheiks.

 

[Ishiey]

Wonderful news. But I use left and right on the d-pad for grab. Any good ideas on what to switch grab to? I'm thinking C since I use tap jump, or maybe up on d-pad.

 

[Turbo Ether]

Wonderful news. But I use left and right on the d-pad for grab. Any good ideas on what to switch grab to? I'm thinking C since I use tap jump, or maybe up on d-pad.

I switched the A button to Grab. I have tap jump off, and use Up to jump. I can cycle through Fair and Bair very efficiently, because all I have to do is slide from up to left/right, since I have side smash bound to left/right.

 

[Ishiey]

I switched the A button to Grab. I have tap jump off, and use Up to jump. I can cycle through Fair and Bair very efficiently, because all I have to do is slide from up to left/right, since I have side smash bound to left/right.

Hmm... I'll test out some of these controller options. Thanks for the advice.

I never really find any opportunities to use nair though, it never fails me whenever I do use it, and even though I've heard a lot about its priority and stuff I find the reflector better for priority issues and bair better for everything else. So here are some questions (yeah I know I ask way too many questions, forgive me >.>)

1. What specific situations do you use nair for, and for what purpose? e.g. racking up damage, etc. and what makes it better than, lets say something like a spaced bair?

2. Do you find the first hit of nair more useful than the weaker hits, and if so for what situations?

3. For each seperate hit on nair, does each one count for refreshing moves? Cause that would be pretty nice.

 

[Turbo Ether]

Hmm... I'll test out some of these controller options. Thanks for the advice.

I never really find any opportunities to use nair though, it never fails me whenever I do use it, and even though I've heard a lot about its priority and stuff I find the reflector better for priority issues and bair better for everything else. So here are some questions (yeah I know I ask way too many questions, forgive me >.>)

1. What specific situations do you use nair for, and for what purpose? e.g. racking up damage, etc. and what makes it better than, lets say something like a spaced bair?

2. Do you find the first hit of nair more useful than the weaker hits, and if so for what situations?

3. For each seperate hit on nair, does each one count for refreshing moves? Cause that would be pretty nice.

1. Nair is best used defensively imo, not for poking. Bair is a better poke. Nair has very quick startup and has a 360 degree hitbox, whereas the Bair only hits behind and slightly inside Wolf. Nair is a good universal move to get someone out of your face quickly. The high priority and meatiness of the attack can also be used to counter recoveries, like against Fox and Falco for example.

2. First hit of nair is the most important, it has the best knockback and has guaranteed hitstun. The other hits aren't good, so just FF for the autocancel.

3. I'm not really sure about that, i'll try to test it out.

 

[Ishiey]

Hmm... well, when I jump out against other spacies nair does work as a gimp tool but the attack takes a little bit too long to finish so it sometimes gets hard to recover. Then again, it probably is the best option against fox and falco. The weaker hits interrupt second jumps nicely also.

Also, for DACUS, its not working ._. I'm dashing and I press the direction I'm running and pretty much instantly slide to down, but it only does a dash attack. Did I miss something?

Something to note about snake, uncharged fsmash does 15 damage, and dthrow does 12, so even though fsmash is better, shieldgrab with a few pummels would be the same overall thing. Just saying this because I always end up mashing forward and A too early and I end up rolling, even though fsmash is definitely safe to use out of a shield after snake's tilts and jab. Honestly I don't find snake the most difficult of matchups, I usually end up playing a ranged game or taking the fight to the air with him so I don't have to worry about his tilts so much, but for those who prefer a ground game fsmash will help a crapload. I've never fought a good sheik so I can't comment at all on that. Next chance I get i'll have a friend help me test out priority issues in the air against MK and I'll post them here.

 

[Turbo Ether]

If you do the DACUS INPUT too early it won't come out. Slow it down a tiny bit. For me it's one smooth motion since I have tap jump off. I smash diagonal Up+Left/right to iniate the dash and just slide my right thumb from left/right to down on the wiimote dpad.

And I agree that Snake is not difficult for Wolf. Imo, the matchup favors Wolf.

Stages:

Imo Wolf does better on common counterpick and banned stages than neutrals. The problem is DDD. A lot stages are banned because of DDD shenanigans and Wolf loses badly to DDD on walk-off stages, which sucks, because Wolf does well on walk off stages imo.

 

[Ishiey]

Man, my timing is off whack. Wolf definitely has the advantage against snake though.

For stages, I prefer Smashville. Just large enough for your blasters to go close to the whole stage, and you can work strategies around the platform if you like it, and if not you can simply avoid being near it. Scarring works, and the stage is small enough to help against spammers such as pit and also SLIGHTLY reduces chaingrab issues. I'm not a fan of Lylat, its ridiculously easy to get stuck under those ledges. As for counterpicks, Halberd is my favorite because it's essentially a floating smashville but the platform isn't moving.

EDIT: What makes wolf good on walk off stages? I can't really think of much, wolf is actually decent off the stage, even if it is a somewhat risky operation.

 

[ArcPoint]

Vs Shiek: I DI Backwards, so that as the shiek is moving forward due to the Ftilt, I'm moving backwards. I found that to be really helpful. Not sure how much earlier you get out, but it's something.

Also, probably why the Nair has so much priority: It siginifigantly reduces Wolf's hurtbox, while placing hitboxes all around him.

 

[Turbo Ether]

EDIT: What makes wolf good on walk off stages? I can't really think of much, wolf is actually decent off the stage, even if it is a somewhat risky operation.

Wolf's biggest weakness is his recovery. He's worse off the stage than most of the cast, but he's a beast on the stage. On the right stage you have all his strengths without his biggest weakness. Example; Wolf does better against MK on Luigi Circuit or Pirate Ship, than on neutrals imo. This is just my theory, but I think it makes sense.

Also, probably why the Nair has so much priority: It siginifigantly reduces Wolf's hurtbox, while placing hitboxes all around him.

That's useful to know, thanks. It's good to know why the move works the way it does.

 

[ArcPoint]

Although I still think the move is garbage, disjointedness absolutely owns it, it doesn't have any knockback after the first hit, what would be the point of it? Even if you fastfall it, what would make you prefer this over a Fair or Bair?

 

[Ishiey]

Wolf's biggest weakness is his recovery. He's worse off the stage than most of the cast, but he's a beast on the stage. On the right stage you have all his strengths without his biggest weakness. Example; Wolf does better against MK on Luigi Circuit or Pirate Ship, than on neutrals imo. This is just my theory, but I think it makes sense.

That does make sense I suppose, but wolf's recovery actually has very good distance, I can go under smashville and grab the opposite ledge with it (not easy to do at all btw), its only downfalls are the tiny sweetspot, slight difficulty to aim, and how linear it is. And walk off stages don't allow you to use scarring mindgames or the occasional dair spike. I guess all I'm saying is that the pros outweigh the cons.

EDIT: tested aginst MK, all combinations of fairs bairs and nairs. wolf's fair and MK's nair trade hits, wolf's bair works on nair when spaced properly, and nair failed on everything because of MK's disjointed hitboxes. MK's fair and bair did the same, but it seemed as if at close range, fair COULD outprioritize, not so sure about that, I probably just faired earlier than the MK.