Help Returning to Stage

[Staub]

Played against an excellent player tonight and I could keep pace with him on the ground and was able to read him very well and identify his tendencies. However, he was outstanding at not allowing my to touch the stage once I was off: I could get to the middle nor the sides of the stage without getting cracked. He beat me every match so I’m definitely trying to get some tips to come back and play him again to beat him. I know switching it up in terms of how you recover is critical, but he still was able to read everything.

He was pretty cocky too, trying to talk **** about other players around our setup and how he doesn’t understand why they bother. Definitely some added motivation to beat this guy. Any help would be great guys.

 

[Xelrog]

Wolf is not a character with a great recovery. He's one of those characters where the solution is really: don't fall off the stage. If you do, you lose.

Well, maybe it's not that bad, but he's on the lower end of the spectrum for sure. Save replays of your matches and watch them later. Specifically, watch for any point at which you perform the same action twice--generally a person who's trying to read you will assume that if you did it once, you'll do it the next time. When playing, think more about what he's going to do than what you are. Try to read him back. If you were on the stage trying to prevent your character from getting back on, what would you do?

 

[Staub]

That’s a pretty good tip. I get into this mode of “I desperately need to land right now” and go into missle mode and launch myself back to stage at all costs. It would probably help to not do the same thing twice, be on the counter attack, anticipate what he is doing, and react accordingly.

 

[Xelrog]

Attacking him back as he pursues is definitely an option. Vary your angle of recovery if you're not. Generally recovering from as low as possible is safest as it's the riskiest for him to punish, but once he starts expecting that move high. As you said, it's all about variation.

Wolf's got a somewhat safe option in his side special if you can get the distance just right, as trying to attack you will just get him spiked. Aim so that you end the attack hanging, not landing atop the ledge. Landing lag is very easy to punish.