How can I improve in tournaments as a Bowser main?

[firedude953]

I'm going to go to Get On My Level 2016, and I go to locals a lot. I'm not doing very good in the locals, and I want to improve so I can get better for Get On My Level 2016, as well as do better in the locals.

 

[Big Sean]

The best way would be to post a video of you losing. It will be immediately apparent to the peeps on this board what needs to be worked on. Even if it's for glory, just use the youtube posting feature and send us the link.

 

[firedude953]

Big Sean I will do that soon with For glory, the game might lag though. Thanks for the tip!

 

[33percentgod]

I struggle hard with edge guarding as Bowser. I know that's a huge detriment to me as a player. People get on the ledge over and over completely free because I don't know what to do other than the safety of fire breath. Running off and trying f-air or b-air scared me to death lol I feel like one wrong move and someone is gonna stage spike me to death or gimp me.

I don't know if edge guarding is an issue you have, but a lot of people say to use Fortress to cover any recovery. Chars like Cloud, Lilttle Mac, Marth, with the vertical recovery...fire breath works great on them. If you're trying to recover against Villager, save that 2nd jump and immediately Up B back to ledge or else you're going to get the bowling ball upside the head.

I'm not exactly setting the world on fire when it comes to Smash, but those are some things I struggle with and thought maybe it could help if you get stuck in a similar situation. Good luck my friend!

 

[Big Sean]

I struggle hard with edge guarding as Bowser. I know that's a huge detriment to me as a player. People get on the ledge over and over completely free because I don't know what to do other than the safety of fire breath. Running off and trying f-air or b-air scared me to death lol I feel like one wrong move and someone is gonna stage spike me to death or gimp me.

I don't know if edge guarding is an issue you have, but a lot of people say to use Fortress to cover any recovery. Chars like Cloud, Lilttle Mac, Marth, with the vertical recovery...fire breath works great on them. If you're trying to recover against Villager, save that 2nd jump and immediately Up B back to ledge or else you're going to get the bowling ball upside the head.

I'm not exactly setting the world on fire when it comes to Smash, but those are some things I struggle with and thought maybe it could help if you get stuck in a similar situation. Good luck my friend!

So firebreath is kind of a big risk. If you let go too early, someone gets a free hit. If you let go too late, someone will roll behind you and get a disgusting punish. Worse though is the opportunity cost. Instead of doing firebreath you could be doing something awesome that could potentially kill the player, or at least is nearly guaranteed to hurt the player.

The basic strategy I use is to get to face the edge in a way where you are perfectly spaced to get a bowser bomb. At that distance, you will cover every option but jump with downsmash and fortress. The default go to should be down tilt, especially at high percentages. The risk/reward is amazing, because if you hit them you take the stock, if you don't, the worse that will happen is that you take a ledge attack to the face. It's also semi safe on shield.

if you suspect:

* roll - fortress, dsmash, usmash, reverse fsmash, reverse bowser bomb
* neutral get up - dtilt, fortress, dsmash, bowser bomb, fsmash
* get up attack - dilt, fortress, dsmash, shield->bowser bomb
* jump - full hop nair, full hop fair, full hop rar bair.
* ledge hop - bowser bomb (by far the best option), up smash (if they go deep into the stage), dsmash, pivot grab.

Of course there's all sorts of other options where you get really close to the edge to either trump or feint trump-> up smash, or where you intententionally stay away from the stage, then run in baiting a roll, then reverse fsmash. I mean there's a ton of stuff you can do, but I consider the information above a good starting point for Bowsers trying to never let their opponent on to the stage.

 

[Greward]

I struggle hard with edge guarding as Bowser. I know that's a huge detriment to me as a player. People get on the ledge over and over completely free because I don't know what to do other than the safety of fire breath. Running off and trying f-air or b-air scared me to death lol I feel like one wrong move and someone is gonna stage spike me to death or gimp me.

Running offstage is always a risk, even in the most calculated gimp attempts.
If you want to hit them on stage, fire breath, down tilt, down angled F-tilt or even a bowser bomb to the ledge can work.
For hitting them offstage, I really like to hang at the ledge, and drop off + fair for stagespike when they go low or look for the bair if they recover from the side.
Nair is also a good edgeguard tool that will do nice damage and actually beats a lot of recoveries, but leaves you up in not the best spot since it sends them upwards.

Bowser is very strong covering getup options from the ledge so it's not like you actually have to run off stage and try to hit them, but you can do it as a mixup or in certain matchups. Ledge trump - bair is super strong if you wanna attempt it but most certainly won't work on high level players since it's not guaranteed (and you lose positional advantage).

If you are scared of going offstage, just go offstage like crazy in all your freeplays. You'll lose the fear of it, even if you **** it up every time lol. Fear is not what bowser players have to feel - it's what we have to make our opponents feel

 

[BarSoapSoup]

33percentgod F-Air is actually one of our best edgeguarding tools - good range and quick speed. I used to have the same fears that I'd get gimped but more often than not I manage to secure a victory.

 

[GerudoKong]

Tomahawk grabs (empty short jump then run grab) are important to be less predictable