Headed to my first major tournament in January, still can't decide on a main

[roysrevengefgc]

Hey everybody, need some advice on my current dilemma. I've played a couple of local smash tournaments and I have always placed mainly towards the bottom. My training schedule isn't exactly as dedicated as I would like it to be but I have a 9 to 5 job and bills to pay. In the last couple of weeks I have freed up my schedule so I can train for the upcoming tournament in January. I play a couple of characters but I can't decide on one single character that I can use in order to compete. The characters I play with or have played with so far are cloud, Captain Falcon, Zero Suit Samus, fox, Greninja, and Lucas occasionally. I have always found it confusing and surprising how some people can become loyalist to a certain character when the game is filled with tons of unique and fun characters to play with. Right now the 4 that I'm leaning towards are either Captain Falcon,fox, greninja, or zero suit Samus simply because I find it easier to close off stocks with these 4. However, I wanted to know if anybody had any pros and cons of each character so I could decide which one I'm going to use in the tournament or if I should use all 4 and keep some as pocket characters as a counter pick. Any recommendations for any character would definitely help me be more specific in my training regimen. Anything helps, thanks!

 

[Deleted member]

Yokoso Smashboards. Watashi wa Kawai Shizuka, gojūroku-sai desu. This is what I like about Smash 4, the wide character selection and diversity.

This thread should be of some help: The Mains Advice Thread. And also feel free to look through the appropriate character subforums for more relevant info. I do not play any of your characters much since I, a 56-year-old female Smasher, tri-main myself. With that, I wish you luck with your next competition!

Sayonara

 

[Crystanium]

Go with the character you feel most confident with. You'll probably get farther than with a character whom you don't feel comfortable with, even if said character would be the better choice.

 

[Dream Cancel]

Out of the four you like, Falcon is the most lenient fundamentally and I feel like you'd make the greatest amount of progress with him. However, he is a very common character (as is Fox) so you'd need to expect well-versed opponents in the MU. The other three would require you to drop everything else in order to solo main them. I say this because you need to funnel your experience into one character and learn the specifics of them.

However, looking past this tournament, you main goal should simply be to gain as much experience as you can and have fun doing so. Most of us have times where we're super dedicated to one character for a bit, then splurge and play other characters for a bit. The four characters you have chosen all have a somewhat similar playstyle, and that is zone breaking/bait and punish/pressure/aggression/whatever. That's good; you have an archetype that you prefer.

To cap things off, when it comes down to business, this isn't pokemon. You want one really strong character that can win you games and sets. Playing other characters is definitely fun, but, in order for you to accelerate your growth, you need to do as much as you can to develop your understanding of one character, so they're strong enough to adapt to a variety of characters and playstyles.

I recommend you watch Core-A Gaming's video on "How to Pick a Character" on YouTube. The channel as a whole is excellent for Fighting Game topics, and this one is no exception.

I wish you the best of luck

Edit: Also check out Smashcords for all of the various character discord servers. They're immensely helpful.

 

[agand5]

switch to melee and actually learn skill by maining flaco / fox?

 

[A Scrub]

switch to melee and actually learn skill by maining flaco / fox?

Tech skill ≠ fundamental skill.

I'd go so far to say you learn neutral quicker in Smash 4 than you do in Melee. There are more neutral interactions in S4 so you get more practice in this area, whereas in Melee there is a greater focus on punishes, so if you memorize your combos and the DI options you're set.