How do you learn how to nair and dash?

[rot1npieces]

Got the game for Christmas and just got a PDP Gamecube controller, so I'm trying to learn Smash basics. Right now, I'm playing Roy, and really want to learn Cloud as well but want to stick to one character until I get somewhat good at them.

My issue with Roy is twofold -- I can't seem to short hop consistently while dashing, and can't seem to nair while dashing consistently either. With Cloud, I have problems dashing, turning, keeping momentum and back air. I mention the Cloud one because it is all in the same vein I believe. How do you practice these moves? I go to the practice room and pick Bowser or DK so I can consistently get hits to practice with a string of them at a time, with % distance but still seem to lack consistency with them. Is this usually something difficult to learn?

 

[kirby3021]

Ultimate has made it much easier to control and change your momentum while dashing. While dashing, let the stick return to neutral, then you can immediately perform any tilt, jab, or smash attack you'd like. You can also immediately dash in the opposite direction with no turnaround animation. Do keep in mind that every character has an initial dash animation that can't be cancelled, so it may be beneficial to learn how long that animation lasts for your characters.

For short hop nairs
If you press the basic attack and jump buttons at the same time, you'll perform a short hop attack. To do a nair, make sure your movement stick is in the neutral position while pressing the attack and jump buttons.
The other method (and I would highly recommend learning this one, it gives you more control) is learning how to reliably short hop and that takes practice. It's dependent on how long you have the jump button depressed (I believe), so practice the heck out of just tapping the jump button in training mode until you can reliably short hop. It might be beneficial to slow down the game a bit and steadily bring it back up to regular speed as you get familiar with the timing. After you can short hop consistently, then you can practice throwing attacks into these (for nair, again, the movement stick will need to be in neutral position when you press the attack button).

I hope this helps. If you have time, find The Art of Smash Ultimate on Youtube by Izaw. He has 3 videos (Begginer, Advanced, Expert) and each is around 10 minutes long. They are all worth watching and teach both the fundamentals of Smash (movement options, etc.) along with more advanced techniques (ledge trumping, reverse aerial rush, attack cancelling, etc.)

 

[Perversion]

Just to piggyback on video suggestions that kirby3021 made. While not always the best to just watch professional Smash players play. ZeRo does have a very good video on movement options in his repertoire. So I would also take a look at that. He goes from very basic, to advanced.