Help on directional influence

[Unicorn Choke-Slam]

I need help on this. A detailed explanation as to how to do it, how it works, and why. Basically, when i play vs other players, everytime i land a seemingly powerful KO move when they are at high percentage, they always seem to never get KO'd, but when i amat like 70% and i get hit, it's certain death for me. I heard it's about tilting the control stick in the direction you want to go or something like that. How does it work, and also, how does one utilize it to their advantage?

Note: I am new to competitive smash.

 

[Xermo]

 

[Smash John]

depending on how much you wanna read, this guide has pretty much all the technical mumbo jumbo of it.
http://smashboards.com/threads/a-gu...-teching-and-crouch-cancelling-updated.60218/

for a tl;dr, DI is just holding the stick in a direction when you're hit to alter the trajectory you're sent at. as Xermo's gif shows, the red link didn't DI, so he's sent at the default angle of ~30% ish. to DI for survival, you'll want to hold perpendicular to the direction you're going to be sent at. The green Link is DI'ing the best for surviving the hit (that would be holding the stick upwards and possibly slightly to the left). you want to be sent towards the top corners of the screen as opposed to straight to the sides or off the top. the blue Link is holding down which is the worst for surviving the hit. the lower you are, the harder to make it back to the stage it is

 

[Unicorn Choke-Slam]

do i have to move the sick down as i get hit? is there timing involved?

 

[Smash John]

you'll press and hold the stick before or as you get hit. anytime before you are sent flying, really. there're different kinds of DI such as smash DI that takes pretty strict timing, but i'd not worry about that for now.

in general, if you're going to die off the side of the stage, you'll hold upwards and towards the stage. if you're going to die off the top, you'll want to hold either left or right. either way, all you're doing is aiming for the corners of the screen simply because there's more distance to travel from the stage to the corner than there is from the stage to the side/top so it gives you more chance to survive

 

[Unicorn Choke-Slam]

i bet it requires hella reflexes

thanks for the help. it helped a bit