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This definitely helps. This basically laid out everything I need to know, and I'm really feeling good about maining him. Thanks!Usually you want to approach with a PK Fire in front of you. It either sets up for combos or baits a shield, depending on how predictable you are. If they shield, they won't be able to punish your Fire (unless they perfect shield, but I haven't been punished yet).
D-throw (make sure to get some good pummels in first) into fair works well, depending on your opponents vectoring. If your opponent vectors the fair, throw out another, because they're only able to move back (as far as I'm aware). If they don't vector it, double jump into another fair and another fair again.
In other words, d-throw to fair fair fair. It works for me.
Unless they vector properly on the d-throw, in which case a nair or uair will usually keep them from reciprocating.
I think Ness has a generally good punish game. Misspaced jumps are punished by uair strings. Rolls are punished by nair, bair and dash attacks. Bair is also good for edgeguarding; opponents don't usually see it coming and it's easy to sweetspot on approach. Nair is a beautiful get off of me move.
Use his tilts. A lot. Despite their low range, standard A combo, ftilt, and dtilt all come in handy when playing on the defensive since they're all pretty fast and allow for follow ups (learn how to trip with dtilt if you do this). Utilt isn't that useful. It can get some great strings in if you're playing a heavy character.
Remember to apply a mixup game. Ness' mixup options aren't that strong, but they make a big difference as they should. If you're afraid your PK Fire approaches are becoming predictable, full jump into PK Fire or short hop fair. It throws off your opponents timing a lot. If people are responding to your bair edgeguards, throw out a PK Thunder. And make sure to angle it so you knock them back on stage. Unless they're Little Mac, they're going to recover anyway, so bring them close and make the hitstun count. This shouldn't be an issue though, because Ness' b-throw should be killing every time. If you don't think you can kill, d-throw combo.
This is all speaking from For Glory experience. I don't know anything about an "official" Ness meta, and if anyone disagrees with me, they probably know more than me. Hope I helped a little.