How many mains = too much?

[Spoice]

I have a bit of a problem, I enjoy using way too much character and I want to main them all. Thing is, I feel like if I do that, I won't exactly excel in one character and my skills will be spaced out. Currently my main go to characters are (in order) ZSS, Sheik, Marth and Diddy Kong, with Fox, Meta Knight, Ness and Lucario being secondaries I guess. Problem is, I also want to use Robin, Rosaluma, Toon Link, Sonic, Falco and maybe Lucina. Do you guys think this is getting out of hand, or that's it's ok to use as many mains as I want?

 

[_gold_]

Getting well with a character is possible, but mastering one takes a long time. I'd try focusing on three at a time. Get those down really well, the go one to the next handfull.

 

[Spoice]

Getting well with a character is possible, but mastering one takes a long time. I'd try focusing on three at a time. Get those down really well, the go one to the next handfull.

I'd say, for my skill level, I've gotten my main four down fairly well, my secondaries definitely need some work though.

 

[digiholic]

I would say that you can't really "main" more than one character. That's why it's called a "main". It's your main character, your go-to. That being said, you can have as many "pocket picks" as you want.

 

[Wanderer from Roseyard]

Two mains are too many. There is only one main and the rest are supplementary -u-

Anyway, hair-splitting aside, there is no problem in being proficient with every character. I think it's fun to lay my chip on random from time to time.

 

[Funkermonster]

I kinda have the same problem, I too am playing more characters than necessary and it can kinda hurt my skill level too. I shouldn't really go beyond 4 or 5 mains, but I can't help it:

My main and my 2ndary:
Sidekicks, not my go-tos, but would sometimes use in a tournament: /

I also want to plant Ness in my main train too, since I love him in the other Smash games and has always been one of my favorites, but I think it is getting out of hand for me at least. And there's ones I play exclusively for fun. I don't really take them too seriously and would never actually use any of them in a tournament, but I still practice them to an extent and take away time to practice my real mains:

Yeah, I dunno about you, but I've definitely gone too far with this. I can't help but feel that so many of these guys are just soooooo fun to play, but having only 1 or 2 characters is generally considered the best options since you have more time to focus with them. Someone just might tell you this:

Why be decent with many characters when you can be GREAT with one?

However, at the last two tournaments I attended, I still got pretty far with 5th place out of 35 people the first time, and 7th out of 42 the 2nd; I'm surprised I've gone this far when I don't even have a lot of competitive experience with the other Smash games yet, Smash 4's time is basically when I started entering the ring with it, Melee, and Project M. So considering how far I've gotten in my experience in my 2 recent times, I don't think playing multiple characters has hurt me TOO much, and the same could possibly be said for you to as long as you don't divide your mains too evenly. I've been told I'm good with Greninja, Sonic, and Duck Hunt; while being Decent but not great with most of my sidekicks except Pit, Palutena (I'm getting better with her though), and Robin.

I think I've found a solution for this kind of thing myself: Simply Limit the Amount of characters I would actually use in a tournament, and separate them from ones I plan to bring to tournaments, but am not yet ready.

Tournament Ready
Greninja
Sonic
Duck Hunt
Megaman
Pac-Man

Working on (from greatest to least in terms of readiness), don't use them now
Shulk
Marth/Lucina
Palutena
Robin
Pit
Ness

MAYBE Will practice for tournaments in the future
Pikachu
Rosalina (my little cousin plays her though)
Bowser Jr

Assuming your intent is tournament success, try doing what I do and see if it works for you. But if you never plan on entering tournies, maybe it won't really matter that much. Just only focus on 3 or 4 at a time at most, and then wait for a month or two and then try another handful. And remember that you can only really have one main and one secondary, the rest are mostly pockets.

 

[AuraBreak]

Pick one character you have fun using and generally like playing as to maximize your skill with. For me, that character was Diddy Kong. Played him for about a month straight, still practice him on and off here and there. After you feel like you've reached a high level of skill with that character, pick one other character to do the process over with. Doing this with about 3-4 characters would give you a lot of experience with the game, thus giving you better fundamentals. Better fundamentals make it easier to play characters because it transfers to all characters, so you'll have an easier time picking up like 20 characters like you want.

 

[Weeman]

Technically knowing how to play all charcters is a good thing, since you will be more aware of the matchups, but realistically speaking it's really hard to master all of them, so playing lots of characters is a good thing, but your main should be, as the world implies, the character that you use the most. Wether that is because it's your favorite, most fun to play as, or gives you the better results it's up to you; But the point is that you can only have one main, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't know how to play as everyone else.

 

[Duck SMASH!]

51 mains is too many.

 

[shapular]

I'd say 3 as an absolute maximum, but it's best to limit yourself to 1 or 2. I'd only go for 3 if you're already very good at the game with strong fundamentals. Even so, you can get away with only using your main for 50-60% of your matches (unless you main a hard character to play like Mega Man or Shulk), so you can use the rest of your play time to goof around with other characters and maybe dedicate some of that to a secondary/second main. Keep in mind that even if you only have one or two mains, you can still have other characters that you use in tournaments. If you do that, try to determine the situations you'll use those characters in beforehand and stick to that plan (e.g., I'll use Link against Marth/Greninja and as a general CP, Zelda against Link/Robin, etc.)

 

[Akago]

I've never felt going over 3 is productive at all. In Melee I had 2 Mains and a Secondary sort of "niche" pick, and I did the same in Brawl, PM and smash 4.

I think beyond that you start spreading out too much and getting these weird muddy habits from things that are similar, but ultimately function differently.

 

[Turrin]

Master one before moving on. There's nothing stopping you from using other characters for fun, but if you're wanting to work on getting better, always have that ONE character you can kick butt with. I struggle with this problem, too. One day I'll say "I want to get super skilled with Lucario!" And the next day I'll say the same about Robin. My main is Fox, but I have by no means mastered him, which is why I have to remind myself to use him more than any other character.

 

[MOI-ARI]

I thought you could only have one main? Like thats why its called "main" ? XD Its supposed to be special!