How to be aggressive with Pikachu?

[Flindigo]

At my local tournament scene, I use Pikachu alongside Ness, and while I've become pretty exceptional with Ness, I can't help but struggle while using Pikachu. Everyone tells me, "In order to succeed with Pikachu, you have to be aggressive. You gotta be in their face!" So I try that, but I only get punished. It makes me feel like I've always got to approach, which can get really punishable. So can my fellow Pika mains help me out? Go over approaches, quick attack, etc.? And is being a bit more defensive even bad with Pikachu? How can I play smart while also being aggressive? (with the new shieldstun changes, this is especially important)

 

[Emuchu]

At my local tournament scene, I use Pikachu alongside Ness, and while I've become pretty exceptional with Ness, I can't help but struggle while using Pikachu. Everyone tells me, "In order to succeed with Pikachu, you have to be aggressive. You gotta be in their face!" So I try that, but I only get punished. It makes me feel like I've always got to approach, which can get really punishable. So can my fellow Pika mains help me out? Go over approaches, quick attack, etc.? And is being a bit more defensive even bad with Pikachu? How can I play smart while also being aggressive? (with the new shieldstun changes, this is especially important)

The big thing here is that "being aggressive" isn't the same as "always approaching." A lot of Pikachu's strength centers around how unpredictable and explosive he can be when he gets in, but you can't be too hungry with him or you'll just get bopped. When I play Pikachu, I spend a lot of time floating around just outside of my opponent's range, while zipping around with Quick Attack and whiffing Fairs, Dairs, and RAR Uairs and Bairs. I also perform SH Fair FF's such that they completely whiff, but I'm in range for a Dtilt, and SH Fair / Dair AC out of shield grab range, but in range for a Ftilt or whatever. The idea is that you want to remain safe while threatening that you can come in at any time--you want it so that your opponent can't call out in advance whether any random Pika short-hopped aerial is just another footsie whiff, or if you're making an attempt to hit them, and you want make sure they never know whether any given Quick Attack is an approach attempt, a cross-up attempt, an escape, or a bait.

I liken Pikachu play to Abel from Street Fighter IV or Sol Badguy from Guilty Gear: While they're both considered "aggressive characters," you have to spend a lot of time floating just outside of your opponent's comfort range and pressing buttons from a safe distance, so that when you actually go in, they don't automatically react with the one magic button that beats you (Shield Grab in Pikachu's case).

In short: Practice your "non-approach," where you get frustratingly close to your opponent with your Fairs and QAs. This will do one of two things: either they will start pressing buttons because they want to punish your approach, except they'll whiff and you'll punish them with Ftilt / Dtilt / Fsmash / Dash Attack / Dash Grab, or they'll start to notice that not every Pika-pproach is actually landing into them, in which case they now have to do the extra mental math of "will he or won't he get in range?" which leads to hesitation and which allows you to actually challenge their shield with your aerials without being punished every single time.

 

[Flindigo]

That's really good advice. That clears a whole lot up about how to be aggressive. Now that I can start thinking more like this, I'll probably make a lot better decisions.

 

[young grasshopper]

thank you so much for posting this. I too have struggled with being constantly punished, and thank you, Emuchu for answering

 

[Gibbs]

Honestly try walking more instead of dashing. Way easier to space aggressively and play the just out of range game. Walk up ftilt is godlike against people who try to break into your space.

 

[Armistice]

Also don't be afraid to abuse TJolt when you're a safe range away, it can cover your QA approach should you find an opportunity to get in there and break neautral

 

[Emuchu]

Honestly try walking more instead of dashing. Way easier to space aggressively and play the just out of range game. Walk up ftilt is godlike against people who try to break into your space.

This is something I'm trying to do more often. Even with the shield stun changes, the walk up and Dtilt / Ftilt / Shield / Dash Grab mixup is still really powerful, since it further reduces the number of commitments you have to make in a round. It's also pretty great for covering landings--Pikachu can walk faster than many characters' horizontal air speed, so you just have to stay roughly under them and Utilt / Dsmash / Shield their landing.

I imagine that it also has a psychological component--all the jumping around and QAC-ing and campy turtling that Pikachu is capable of, and this one is just walking towards you. What do you do!?

 

[M15t3R E]

The psychological warfare during the game is important. Very good advice above to float around outside of their range. Make them think you're about to approach constantly and then do it just as they become numb to this mindgame. I think I have struggled with this greatly in the past but become far better at it lately. If you would view my videos in my sig I think it would help illustrate our points to you fairly well.

 

[Emuchu]

Another thing that helps is to vary which aerials you land with. Fair, Dair, and RAR Bair all vary in length and number of hits, making it more difficult to react with the optimal OoS option.

 

[Coro_]

What about those cases where floating out of their range is harder due to disjoints? The Falchions, Ike and Shulk come to mind, I've always struggled approaching them outside of hard reading their aerials and power shielding my way in, which doesn't always work since I can guess wrong

 

[M15t3R E]

What about those cases where floating out of their range is harder due to disjoints? The Falchions, Ike and Shulk come to mind, I've always struggled approaching them outside of hard reading their aerials and power shielding my way in, which doesn't always work since I can guess wrong

Their spacing game, optimally utilized, is superior to our own and to respect that you just need to stay even further out of their range than for most characters.

 

[Angiance]

Pikachu's main thing is dashing in though

You start out zoning with U.Tilt/D.Tilt, which consists of walking and empty sh's-but when you see the opportunity you dash in with F.Air as your zone

A dash can be cancelled with Shield/Jump so you actually do have a good amount of flexibility during it

 

[iVoltage]

Honestly try walking more instead of dashing. Way easier to space aggressively and play the just out of range game. Walk up ftilt is godlike against people who try to break into your space.

Ive been doing this since running around (not dashing but full on run) is kinda bad when approaching as it only really leaves you dash grab, and jump (dash attack isnt safe) I have also had sucess with run up > pivot ftilt because when you run behind them they normally shield drop to get the punish/ grab. It MAY shield poke but idk if its just cpus getting hit, clarification would be nice since i cant play rn.

Anyway walking is really nice because it allows you access to dtilt which can can trip and lead into all sorts of nonsense. You can hit them with a ftilt which is a really nice get off me tool (though sh nair is better imo) Just more options overall. That said you dont always want to just walk around because its really slow, and you cant really rely on quick attack to move around because they can beat it or shield it if they see it coming.

 

[Gibbs]

Pikachu's main thing is dashing in though

You start out zoning with U.Tilt/D.Tilt, which consists of walking and empty sh's-but when you see the opportunity you dash in with F.Air as your zone

A dash can be cancelled with Shield/Jump so you actually do have a good amount of flexibility during it

Jump and shield either put Pika at a disadvantaged state, or give away stage control for free. Letting your opponent over extend and commit first is super important.

 

[Angiance]

You can stand still and get punished all you like-but Smash Bros is all about mobility, in case you forgot

 

[young grasshopper]

You can stand still and get punished all you like-but Smash Bros is all about mobility, in case you forgot

part of mobility is being unpredictable. There is a time and place for dashing, but in neutral, walking allows for more options and better control of the match. They aren't simply talking about mindlessly walking up to your opponent, they are talking about weaving in and out of your opponent's range and waiting for the right moment to strike

 

[Angiance]

You start out moving slowly, yeah-but Pikachu is all about finding the right moment to dash in and strike

 

[Wishes And Sunshine]

Somebody had to post this. I'm tired of dashing and using my dash attacks to play "aggressively".

 

[M15t3R E]

Too many players forget the value of mindgames. One can be aggressive without landing an attack. Think of the territorial dog who barks at you AND bites if you get too close. In the neutral game, I enjoy baiting opponents with SH aerials like fair and dair and d-tilts to kind of psyche them out if they get the notion to approach. That weighs on their nerves and allows you to more easily pounce when ready. Just make sure to attack when they let their guard down. Don't play like a chihuahua.

 

[Gibbs]

Too many players forget the value of mindgames. One can be aggressive without landing an attack. Think of the territorial dog who barks at you AND bites if you get too close. In the neutral game, I enjoy baiting opponents with SH aerials like fair and dair and d-tilts to kind of psyche them out if they get the notion to approach. That weighs on their nerves and allows you to more easily pounce when ready. Just make sure to attack when they let their guard down. Don't play like a chihuahua.

To add my 2cents to this, one of pika's greatest strengths is his ability to dictate match tempo. Make the opponent match your speed then be dynamic with your level of agression. Go crazy, back off, go even crazier, camp.

 

[Angiance]

You wanna know the key to being aggressive with Pikachu? It's N.Air.

D.Tilt isn't very punishable, technically-HOWEVER, because it hits extremely low there are actually a surprising amount of ways to completely counter it, so I highly recommend using D.Tilt specifically for landing traps or as you're in a string

U.Tilt is absolutely ridiculous in this game; not only does it allow us to auto-dodge many attacks, but it's hitbox covers a surprisingly large area-but it's also lagless and isn't too punishable on shield if it is spaced

U.Air is broken-end of discussion