Welcome to Smashboards, the world's largest Super Smash Brothers community! Over 250,000 Smash Bros. fans from around the world have come to discuss these great games in over 19 million posts!
You are currently viewing our boards as a visitor. Click here to sign up right now and start on your path in the Smash community!
It appears that you are using ad block :'(
Hey, we get it. However this website is run by and for the community... and it needs ads in order to keep running.
Please disable your adblock on Smashboards, or go premium to hide all advertisements and this notice. Alternatively, this ad may have just failed to load. Woops!
so i'm just getting into the competitive smash world and i have a friend who is training me the meta of the game. but the last time we got together, as i was leaving, he said "you gotta pick a main soon... we can keep drilling techs but it won't matter if you never pick a main". WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR ME TO PICK A MAIN!! originally i thought mewtwo, then i switched to roy (to which my friend suggested i move to marth). but to be completely honest i'd REALLY like to be a lucario main. "that's a big order" was the response my friend had, "besides being one of the techiest characters in the game, i really don't know much about him and wouldn't be able to teach you much from the character's specific meta".
can someone PLEASE help me find my main. or rather, could someone please tell me the best way for me to find my main. obviously i've been trying to decide from lucario, roy, and mewtwo (marth just doesn't feel intuitive enough for me) but i'm completely open to a whole new idea.
Play the character that makes you the most happy playing him or her. Or play multiple characters.You don't HAVE to choose a main, no one's putting a gun against your head. There's no rush. Just chill and enjoy what the game has to offer and stuff like a main will come over time.
Don't limit yourself to your friends standards or to your own experiences playing as them. Remember that two important factors that play into picking a char are (1) how comfortable/fun they feel to you, and (2) how hype/fun the combos players on streams look when pulling crazy stuff off. This gives you an idea of how much you'll enjoy them in both the long-run, and the time it takes to get there.
Many characters like Lucario are a bit daunting because...yeah, as your friend put it, they're technical af. But I don't think anyone could deny that they peed a bit the first time they saw a combo vid lol. Check condition 2. If condition 1 is met as well, try him out for a bit. Remember that your progress with a character is only limited by your comfort with them, how much you enjoy playing them, and the time you're willing to put in practicing tech and researching MUs.
At the same time, though, you should also consider that picking a main shouldn't be some crazy lifelong commitment. True, picking a main and maybe one secondary is a big step towards progressing in your game, and is sort of necessary, but it's not all that uncommon to end up realizing 6 months later during silly friendlies "oh...Charizard is actually a ****ing boss." Not only have you found another potential secondary/main, but you did so without worrying over it forever. And because of that, you were still able to achieve the main reason behind the message of "you should pick a main and start getting better asap" -- to progress your tech/general knowledge/skill in the game. Think of those things as a template that can be transfered between characters, even if it takes a bit of time to adjust.
so i'm just getting into the competitive smash world and i have a friend who is training me the meta of the game. but the last time we got together, as i was leaving, he said "you gotta pick a main soon... we can keep drilling techs but it won't matter if you never pick a main". WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR ME TO PICK A MAIN!! originally i thought mewtwo, then i switched to roy (to which my friend suggested i move to marth). but to be completely honest i'd REALLY like to be a lucario main. "that's a big order" was the response my friend had, "besides being one of the techiest characters in the game, i really don't know much about him and wouldn't be able to teach you much from the character's specific meta".
can someone PLEASE help me find my main. or rather, could someone please tell me the best way for me to find my main. obviously i've been trying to decide from lucario, roy, and mewtwo (marth just doesn't feel intuitive enough for me) but i'm completely open to a whole new idea.
you pick a character you enjoy playing. If you're playing a character "because they're good" and not "because I like them." then you're playing the wrong game.
I main ike in sm4sh just because there's no tech in that game so brute force just tends to go with me. but on the whole I like somewhat floaty characters (I.e. Lucario and Mewtwo). but Lucario had that ability to pull out quick combos that chain for days and who can't fall in love with his f special aerial meteor smash??
Don't limit yourself to your friends standards or to your own experiences playing as them. Remember that two important factors that play into picking a char are (1) how comfortable/fun they feel to you, and (2) how hype/fun the combos players on streams look when pulling crazy stuff off. This gives you an idea of how much you'll enjoy them in both the long-run, and the time it takes to get there.
Many characters like Lucario are a bit daunting because...yeah, as your friend put it, they're technical af. But I don't think anyone could deny that they peed a bit the first time they saw a combo vid lol. Check condition 2. If condition 1 is met as well, try him out for a bit. Remember that your progress with a character is only limited by your comfort with them, how much you enjoy playing them, and the time you're willing to put in practicing tech and researching MUs.
At the same time, though, you should also consider that picking a main shouldn't be some crazy lifelong commitment. True, picking a main and maybe one secondary is a big step towards progressing in your game, and is sort of necessary, but it's not all that uncommon to end up realizing 6 months later during silly friendlies "oh...Charizard is actually a ****ing boss." Not only have you found another potential secondary/main, but you did so without worrying over it forever. And because of that, you were still able to achieve the main reason behind the message of "you should pick a main and start getting better asap" -- to progress your tech/general knowledge/skill in the game. Think of those things as a template that can be transfered between characters, even if it takes a bit of time to adjust.
I main ike in sm4sh just because there's no tech in that game so brute force just tends to go with me. but on the whole I like somewhat floaty characters (I.e. Lucario and Mewtwo). but Lucario had that ability to pull out quick combos that chain for days and who can't fall in love with his f special aerial meteor smash??
Hmmm. Well, couldn't you consider learning tech with Ike, an already familiar character to you? But if you like the floaty, I recommend Kirby. He can pull off nice combos, especially with his new "Side" Up Special.
NP, and go for whoever you're into right now. Don't hesitate and just dive in and get comfortable with him, learn tech, etc. etc. Don't worry about your choice of main until you can reach a point where you can know how to react to any situation (you have a good understanding of what's safe and not safe in different situations), and you can confidently translate that knowledge into actions in the game (movement-wise; making your character perform things exactly as you want them to). Once you feel those two down, then you'll know enough about at least 1 character to know what to look for in other characters you consider.
For instance, if you take Sheik - a character I know well enough to explain aha - I can tell you that she has basically no safe approach options, but can still fair well by waiting on the opponent messing up and then punishing them hard. I know that she's best when grounded, because I never approach and I have more numerous and quicker movement options when grounded. I know when I'm being pressured to back off and throw out unpredictable hitboxes to make them less sure they can approach safely (needle camp or try wall them out with SHFFL aerials). I know when it's safe to go off edge to edgeguard, and when it's better to just needle from afar. I know stages that make some of these practices easier or more difficult. And the list goes on.
When you feel you have a good understanding of a character and their options like this, then you'll know how to look for / re-learn the most effective options that other characters handle similar situations differently. Of course, unless you can consistently perform these actions (the part I mentioned earlier about making the character move exactly like you want)...all that knowledge isn't gonna matter, and you won't be able to look for or judge how effectively you use your knowledge since any issues you run into may just be due to player error.
Think of it like picking running shoes for a race. There could always be another shoe that offers better foot support, or has more/less traction, or whatever lol, and every time you consider changing your pair of shoes out, you'll have to take a long time to learn about and adjust to the differences. But if you hesitate too much and never even buy one - just keep trying out different shoes in the shop - or if you never use proper running form while using them -the player error...your bad running posture may be an issue, so you can't determine how much is the shoe's fault - you'll never get to learn (1) your full potential using that shoe (your weaknesses/strengths, which could influence your decision on pickings future shoes), and (2) important running techniques and such. You gotta pick a shoe at some point aha. (Don't hesitate to return it if you get home and it's very apparent that something is wrong! Or if you're feet start hurting the next week/month! But at least you'll have progressed in learning, and then you can just buy another pair.)
I'm just repeating myself now, but I felt it was important to stress what you should look for while learning a character, that it is ok to swap later on if you doubt something, and the mindset of seeing mains as tools (like a shoe), so you can base your decisions on them based on them being of that level "importance." (Not as important as...say, a car that you'd need to commit to for a long time, but not as disposable as buying a new pen if something's wrong with the others).
Anyhow, good luck with Lucario/other potential mains (:
The most important thing when picking a character to focus on in any game is the fun factor. You have to be entertained by the game before you get deep into it, and if you aren't naturally enjoying the character, move on to one you do. I habitually play random with each game until I find one that feels right.
I strongly urge that you don't listen to a single word about a character being hard to learn. Armada. Sethlon. Wizzrobe. Hax. Ken. All pioneers leading the way for a character that didn't have many footsteps for them to follow in. Take it from me, having to learn Lucario on your own is a blessing in disguise. If Smash God taught you Lucario, you'd be a great Lucario, but as predictable as Smash God and with less experience. Pioneer your Lucario from a blank slate and you'll at least have something fresh up your sleeve that people won't expect. It's completely different to go down a checklist of tech, than to absorb everything because you've got no guide pointing you over here and distracting you from what no one noticed over there. Take the opportunity to see everything.
I'm sure you've already decided on Lucario by now, Ronin. It seems like that's what your heart wanted from the start. I think you made the right decision, though, so I hope this at least re-affirms it for you.
