Help With Learning Defensive Tech

[DeadAsDust]

I'm having a lot of trouble learning and implementing a lot of defensive tech into my game. Things like SDI, Shield DI, Amsah Techs, Crouch cancelling, no-tech edge cancelling, meteor cancelling, ledge teching. I'm honestly just not sure how to get acquainted with these things because they're all situational and it seems like you can't just practice by grinding them out like you would with wavedashes or SHFFLing.

Any tips?

 

[Synnett]

Are you kinda new to the competitive scene? If yes, don't worry about this right now, master your neutral game and edgeguards first.

If you try to learn all those techs at once, you will have not a single clue how to use them, and that would be a great issue. If you try to use crouch canceling without knowing what it's useful for, you'll use it everywhere and you won't be able to do anything out of it. Much like the first time you learned how to wavedash: "When would that be useful to use?" Play a lot, and you may encounter some situations where you feel that crouch canceling or SDI would have been useful. That is really how you'll develop your defensive game.

So yep, try to understand how those techs work and how to do them and trust your experience. Most of the time the tutorials for some easy techs make them look over-complicated while in fact you just wiggle your stick on a notch.

 

[DeadAsDust]

My understanding of the game is fine, my neutral is decent and my edgeguards are probably the best out of anyone at my locals (though we don't have many players). I've just found that without being able to go on the defensive efficiently I'm really worsening my gameplay. I can understand theoretically what they're used for and even when to use them, I just don't don't know how I'm supposed to start using them. For instance: in sheik dittos I understand that if I don't crouch cancel dash attacks then I'll be punished quite alot, and I also understand when I'm going to be dash attacked, I just can't consciously tell myself to crouch cancel.

 

[tauKhan]

Actively concentrate on doing whatever you're trying to learn in matches. If you're looking to learn cc and asdi down things, then just try to cc / asdi down everything, don't try to play your best or win the matches. It'll surely make you perform way worse, but doing it enough should help making the techs less taxing on mind or even automated responses.

For things like meteor cancelling, the best way to practice it is to have your opponent just meteor you over and over again in the air. It's boring, but will make you learn waay faster than just playing.

The best case scenario is if you have or can find a regular training partner who's willing to participate in these kind of "boring" exercises. I usually take turns with my training partner to practice whatever is needed every once in a while. I'd assume this is pretty unusual and that I'm in a luxurious position this way though.

 

[Dark Byte]

So if someone can fact check me on this (ace?), That would be awesome. I think that if you l cancel with a full press of the trigger, you won't be able to tech for 20 or 40 frames after. For example, say you are expecting to land a nair on flaco and l cancel with a full press. Then the falco cc down smashes you. You will hit the ground instantly and be unable to tech, but if you went for a half press then you would be able to tech in that situation. So in general if you implement lighter presses of the trigger, you'll be able to get more difficult/surprise techs. Before I learned this, I would end up missing 3-4 techs in a row just because I got hit by something I wasn't expecting.

I think taukhan and synnett pretty much covered everything else, so yeah, half press l cancel -> get more techs.

 

[tauKhan]

full pressing L/R activates tech window (20 frames long) and prevents you from opening new tech windows for the next 40 frames. Pressing L/R fully during tech window also shuts the window and prevents you from teching for 40 frames.

Light shield l-canceling is definitely the way to go. I believe the best method is to double light press l-cancel with 2 triggers or z in close succession to extend l-cancel window and make you bit more resistant to things like opponent spotdodging last second and making your aerial whiff.

 

[DeadAsDust]

Actively concentrate on doing whatever you're trying to learn in matches. If you're looking to learn cc and asdi down things, then just try to cc / asdi down everything, don't try to play your best or win the matches. It'll surely make you perform way worse, but doing it enough should help making the techs less taxing on mind or even automated responses.

For things like meteor cancelling, the best way to practice it is to have your opponent just meteor you over and over again in the air. It's boring, but will make you learn waay faster than just playing.

The best case scenario is if you have or can find a regular training partner who's willing to participate in these kind of "boring" exercises. I usually take turns with my training partner to practice whatever is needed every once in a while. I'd assume this is pretty unusual and that I'm in a luxurious position this way though.

I guess I'll just have to grind it out through netplay then. Thanks for the help.