How does everyone train for smash?

[Razorninja]

Hello everyone! I'e recently got back into smash 4 lately but I feel like I've come to a realization lately. I've gotten into Anther's Ladder lately and while I will say it's great, I've come to realise after a few matches that I kind of suck at this game. Well, compared to what I've faced there at least. Now, I really want to get better at the game, but I'm really not sure how everybody practices for this game. I refuse to do lvl 9 cpus and FG for obvious reasons. But so far, one person suggested I do tourneys with twitch streamers and that lead me to consider seeking out tourneys around my area, But really, I want to see what everyone else says on how they train along with the method I mentioned.

 

[Dokokashira]

Hi! I'm pretty new at this game and competitive Smash in general, so take my advice with a grain of salt. I would say what advice I'd give depends on just how good you are... and I don't know how good you are, so my advice won't be very personalized. I also see that you main and , and as I barely know those characters, I can't assist much there.

Personally, what I do is battle all kinds of opponents, even including CPUs and For Glory. I feel like CPUs are actually an underrated way to practice. A Lvl. 9 CPU set to "Run" in Training Mode is decent for honing your offensive game and reading skills, and you can also discover combos and new tricks for your character while you're chasing them around. For Glory is much of the same, but a little more advanced, and they also will punish you for your mistakes in a much more realistic fashion than a CPU. As for other opponents, just plain battling lots of people will get you used to new playstyles and new character combos and tricks.

I also found a friend who was willing to help me train, and they've been an enormous help. They're much more skilled than I am, and passionate about Smash. They've introduced me to new techniques, pointed out any problems in my play, gave me motivation to enter tournaments I was afraid to enter, gave me confidence in myself after I lose badly to someone, and a whole slew of other amazing things. I'd probably place getting a close friend as the #1 way to improve.

Oh, and if you start losing a lot suddenly, take a break for a few days! I learned that the hard way. I hope I helped, and keep in mind I'm still learning, so I could be talking out of my posterior for all I know. ^_^

 

[Putuk]

I go on For Glory and eat people.

It's all I do.

 

[Kurri ★]

Smash Ladder and training mode.

 

[Nixon Corral]

Going to tournaments definitely helps. And Smashfests when I can.

Mostly, though, I play with my regular training buddies. I think we all keep each other sharp. I do well enough in tourney, anyway. But I suppose they might engender some bad habits. I dunno, we have fun.

 

[Takehiko]

I'm no good by any means, and I'm bronze on the ladder, but this is how I train with Peach:

Monday: Movement options Day (Training Mode)
• I do a 30 count of Fox trots, Dash Dances, Regular Floats, Float ATs, and Recoveries ( Build a custom stage with blocks that are wide apart and practice jumping to each one and doing different recovering options: Jumping, Rolling, and Get-up Attacks.

Tuesday: Spacing Day (Training Mode)
• I do 30 counts of each of my moves and work on doing them in different areas, so that I can see the far the moves go out and the properties of the moves . This also gets it use to my mind about using them, so that I don't get into a game and not certain moves. Like Peach's U-tilt is really good when you opponent is coming in too fast from the air and you don't have the time to respond with a smash attack.
Wednesday: Combo/Bnb Day (Training Mode)
• I go to my character fourms and pick 5 Combos/Bnb, practice those for this day. It's a 30 Ct again for this, and the thing is that, I have to get them correct for them to count to the 30. Each time I get to the point when I learn the Combo/Bnb down then I add one more a day.

Thursday: Free day
Anything that you learned duirning your week of playing that you need to work on. Then do it for a 30 count again.

Aside from active training. I got a notebook and I have a basic MU plan to use against each character & kill % time you lose or win. Write down what was good, or what was something you should look out for. This should help you improve.

 

[darkphantomrick]

Playing for glory helps, i'd say 1 on 1 is the best way to train in for glory. Playing online especially against good players really helps in training. You'll get something out of a match whether you win or lose. If you want to work on something more complex lets say combos or techniques, i'd say train on those in training mode, or with a friend. Joining tournaments is a really good way to train. If you see anyone in a tournament who's play style you like make sure to ask them if you could play a match with them before or after the tournament or ask them for any advice. Hope this helps.

 

[Raijinken]

Play for 16 years. You'll gradually improve.

More realistically, just play a lot. Work your way up CPUs, then try handicapping yourself against CPUs, then try beating several, etc. They don't compare to players, but the essential skills are the same. Try to find some friends of comparable (or somewhat higher or somewhat lower) skill to practice with. Once you've memorized each other's playstyle, try getting some other people involved. Swap mains. Do mirror matches. Just play.

 

[Dokokashira]

I'm no good by any means, and I'm bronze on the ladder, but this is how I train with Peach:

Monday: Movement options Day (Training Mode)
• I do a 30 count of Fox trots, Dash Dances, Regular Floats, Float ATs, and Recoveries ( Build a custom stage with blocks that are wide apart and practice jumping to each one and doing different recovering options: Jumping, Rolling, and Get-up Attacks.

Tuesday: Spacing Day (Training Mode)
• I do 30 counts of each of my moves and work on doing them in different areas, so that I can see the far the moves go out and the properties of the moves . This also gets it use to my mind about using them, so that I don't get into a game and not certain moves. Like Peach's U-tilt is really good when you opponent is coming in too fast from the air and you don't have the time to respond with a smash attack.
Wednesday: Combo/Bnb Day (Training Mode)
• I go to my character fourms and pick 5 Combos/Bnb, practice those for this day. It's a 30 Ct again for this, and the thing is that, I have to get them correct for them to count to the 30. Each time I get to the point when I learn the Combo/Bnb down then I add one more a day.

Thursday: Free day
Anything that you learned duirning your week of playing that you need to work on. Then do it for a 30 count again.

Aside from active training. I got a notebook and I have a basic MU plan to use against each character & kill % time you lose or win. Write down what was good, or what was something you should look out for. This should help you improve.

I have to say, I really like this plan of yours! Especially your matchup notebook and day-to-day training regimen. I might start doing it myself. :3

 

[axelalexzander]

Mostly playing on For Glory. Whenever you encounter awful players back out and get someone else to play. You don't get any better by playing horrible players, you probably get worse actually. Ocassionally you'll run into someone really good that's willing to play you tons of matches. That's who you want to play. Save replays from matches where you get destroyed and rewatch them to figure out what you did wrong and how to correct it next time.

Also when not in For Glory, go into training mode and practice your characters twitchy moves. I main Dedede so I practice fast fall bairs, short hop bairs, reverse inhales, short hop nairs, grab combos, ledge trumps, ect. I usually use Kirby to practice against since I believe he has the smallest hitbox. Forces me to be more accurate. Also I practice edgeguarding by putting the CPU at around 100%, then throwing them off stage and try to gimp them. I mix this up with lots of different characters, so I can practice gimping all kinds of different recoveries.

But yeah, like others said playing tons of matches is the best way. In person if possible, but more likely you'll need to resort to For Glory to get the volume of matches you need to get better. Which would be completely fine if the online games didn't lag so often.

 

[DrROBschiz]

Same way i have since i started. Fight my bitter rival over and over and over again (my best friend lol.... i hate/love him so much)

 

[maxpower1227]

I don't get to play as much as I used to, and rarely play online. I mostly just mess around with Lvl 7 CPUs. I play either FFA or I'll do something like me + Lvl 50 amiibo vs 3 Lvl 7 CPUs.

 

[Purin a.k.a. José]

I normally play For Glory, but, before a tournament, I play on the "Smash" mode to get the hang of non-Omega stages.

 

[Takehiko]

I have to say, I really like this plan of yours! Especially your matchup notebook and day-to-day training regimen. I might start doing it myself. :3

I also went more in-depth in this guide, so that you can see holistically how I do it. http://smashboards.com/guides/from-a-beginner-to-a-beginner-training-regiment.473/

 

[BronzeGreekGod]

I usually do it under 400x gravity that usually works.

 

[Ravine]

I usually start with interpretive dance with bird calls playing in the background. I find such combination quite soothing and perfect to get me in the mood to focus.
Then I have my favorite drink, lemonade, to calm me down and to infuse myself with citrus extracts, which I believe are powerful anti-oxidants. Such comfort gives me the peace of mind.

I go on Smash mode and just play with a few CPU, as they are good and agile, and tests your reaction time. Then perhaps browse smash boards to get a final glimpse of some advice/tips, and then proceed with the smashing.

 

[NGUY (guitarstage)]

doing online tournies
and get into da Lab

 

[JJpalmer]

I'm no good by any means, and I'm bronze on the ladder, but this is how I train with Peach:

Monday: Movement options Day (Training Mode)
• I do a 30 count of Fox trots, Dash Dances, Regular Floats, Float ATs, and Recoveries ( Build a custom stage with blocks that are wide apart and practice jumping to each one and doing different recovering options: Jumping, Rolling, and Get-up Attacks.

Tuesday: Spacing Day (Training Mode)
• I do 30 counts of each of my moves and work on doing them in different areas, so that I can see the far the moves go out and the properties of the moves . This also gets it use to my mind about using them, so that I don't get into a game and not certain moves. Like Peach's U-tilt is really good when you opponent is coming in too fast from the air and you don't have the time to respond with a smash attack.
Wednesday: Combo/Bnb Day (Training Mode)
• I go to my character fourms and pick 5 Combos/Bnb, practice those for this day. It's a 30 Ct again for this, and the thing is that, I have to get them correct for them to count to the 30. Each time I get to the point when I learn the Combo/Bnb down then I add one more a day.

Thursday: Free day
Anything that you learned duirning your week of playing that you need to work on. Then do it for a 30 count again.

Aside from active training. I got a notebook and I have a basic MU plan to use against each character & kill % time you lose or win. Write down what was good, or what was something you should look out for. This should help you improve.

This is great i cant perfect pivot havent figured a trick for it yet and i cant maintain dash dance but these are things that are great i will have to try your schedule

 

[Kwinston]

What the heck is Smash Ladder?? :o

 

[CrabLeg]

I train using Anther's Ladder and Online Tournaments.

 

[Takehiko]

This is great i cant perfect pivot havent figured a trick for it yet and i cant maintain dash dance but these are things that are great i will have to try your schedule

Best way that I've found out to is to dash one way then tap your c-stick (set to attack) the other way. You might have to go into your character forum and find out what specific piviots are available to your character. For peach it's limited to F-tilt. The dash dancing over time will come. Focus on being able to dash attack out of it. That will help you.

What the heck is Smash Ladder?? :o

Smash ladder is a site where players can meet other plays online and get ranked based on how they perform in their ranked matches. It's really good. You should try it out.

 

[Malkior7]

I wouldn't say I'm training necessarily but I normally am playing against level 8 CPUs

 

[NipahAllDay]

I mostly play for glory, but I am rank silver in smash ladder. Though I look at YouTube videos when I want to get good with my mains and secondary. I also watch tournaments battles like vgcbootcamp. I just look at how they play. People get better at different ways.

 

[AfroGamerNinja]

Mostly playing on For Glory. Whenever you encounter awful players back out and get someone else to play. You don't get any better by playing horrible players, you probably get worse actually. Ocassionally you'll run into someone really good that's willing to play you tons of matches. That's who you want to play. Save replays from matches where you get destroyed and rewatch them to figure out what you did wrong and how to correct it next time.

Also when not in For Glory, go into training mode and practice your characters twitchy moves. I main Dedede so I practice fast fall bairs, short hop bairs, reverse inhales, short hop nairs, grab combos, ledge trumps, ect. I usually use Kirby to practice against since I believe he has the smallest hitbox. Forces me to be more accurate. Also I practice edgeguarding by putting the CPU at around 100%, then throwing them off stage and try to gimp them. I mix this up with lots of different characters, so I can practice gimping all kinds of different recoveries.

But yeah, like others said playing tons of matches is the best way. In person if possible, but more likely you'll need to resort to For Glory to get the volume of matches you need to get better. Which would be completely fine if the online games didn't lag so often.

Wouldn't backing out prevent you from playing online again after 10 minutes?

 

[axelalexzander]

Wouldn't backing out prevent you from playing online again after 10 minutes?

Only if you back out while the match is underway. In my post I meant back out after the match is over.