How does Hero deal with short-hopping, rushdown characters?

[TriforceBun]

By a wide margin, aggressive opponents give me the most trouble when I'm playing Hero. I can't even think about bringing up Command Selection while being juggled. Zap and Zapple are meant to deal with this, but my foe very often jumps repeatedly to avoid them and can easily punish when I whiff. Jab works okay and up-tilt can mess with the pesky jump-in approach but I still have a ton of trouble getting slapped around. Once I get in the disadvantage state, getting back to normal can be like scaling a mountain with my teeth. Any suggestions?

 

[Jade_Rock]

His disadvantage is pretty bad. He needs something like link Nair (large hitbox since it covers his whole body, lingers and what like frame 6?) As it stands I don't see a good way to get out of disadvantage with him. Up air doesn't have a large hitbox horizontally or at all.

Woosh sounds too risky, but can work. Also as an OOS option if they don't expect it. Remember it can be B reversed, to send them in a different direction.

 

[TriforceBun]

His disadvantage is pretty bad. He needs something like link Nair (large hitbox since it covers his whole body, lingers and what like frame 6?) As it stands I don't see a good way to get out of disadvantage with him. Up air doesn't have a large hitbox horizontally or at all.

Woosh sounds too risky, but can work. Also as an OOS option if they don't expect it. Remember it can be B reversed, to send them in a different direction.

Whoosh is an interesting suggestion. I've had a bit of success with it in the past for mixing things up, and it comes out quickly and uses little MP. I'll have to keep that in mind, thanks.

Are short-hop and/or full-hop Zap/Zapples feasible for staving off short-hoppers?

 

[b2jammer]

Yeah, Hero's disadvantage is awful, and is likely his biggest weakness (probably on par with Little Mac, tbh). I think you have the right idea with using Zapple, jab, and up-tilt, but you should also mix it up with Frizz, Frizzle and your other tilts as well (especially down tilt since it's so quick). Shield is probably your best friend in these matchups though; from my experience, most rushdown players only use grab as a mix-up option, since it can usually be countered with Hero's sword reach, and they usually don't have great poking or breaking tools.

 

[GhostM]

This is one of Hero’s glaring weaknesses, since most of his aerials are slow, and he has bad OOS options. My best bet would be to use projectiles against opponents, and try to space out your aerials. He has RNG element on him, but is also a character that relies on reads to punish. You might also want to focus on parrying since it’s technically Hero’s best friend in terms of matchups with fast rushdown characters.

 

[TriforceBun]

I'm also horrible on Battlefield with Hero, which is an obvious problem. I feel like Command Selection is too slow to pop people with strong spells when they can simply hop up to the upper platforms (or lower base of the stage). I get juggled like crazy here.

 

[OldHickory]

Counter point; use Command Select as a feint of sorts to bait them into rushing in and go from there.
Hell, if Flame/Kakrackle Slash pops up in the top in the top option, let them rush you and smack them with it.