How to defend against down throw to aerials

[Alex Magnei]

I've been playing Super Smash Bros on 3DS quite a bit, and I'm not too bad at it, but there's always room for improvement. Currently I find myself scratching my head as to how to counter the down throw to nair/fair combo that a lot of players like to spam. If this was a regular fighting game, I would be able to counter the throw with a reversal, but in Super Smash Bros that's impossible. My guess is that through dodging the opponent's attempts at grabbing is the best way to avoid this combo, but the grab gets spammed so often and so quickly that I generally end up getting caught anyway. I'm fairly certain there is no alternative, but if anyone can suggest how to deal with this extremely annoying strategy please let me know.

 

[rabbit.soaring]

First of all, welcome to Smashboards .

Well, using Dthrow > Fair/Nair a lot isn't spam, it's just a way to rack damage. For a lot of characters, a grab is a better way to get in percent than straight out attacking is.

In Smash, there's a sort of rock-paper-scissors relationship between the various offensive and defensive options. For example, shield beats attack, attack beats grab, and grab beats shield. With this in mind, if your opponents are just running up and grabbing you, throwing out a hitbox will force them to mix things up. I doubt it's that simple, but I hope that helped you a bit. Also, if you have another question like this in the future, there's a thread for this.

 

[dragontamer]

Jab the opponent.

Not even kidding. Jabs in this game are typically below 5 frames, and Little-Mac has a 1-frame jab.

Fastest grab in this game is 6-frames. Fastest dash-grab is 8-frames. For most characters, simply jabbing is sufficient to beat your opponent's grab.

If your hitbox is out while they grab you, they typically let you go.

 

[stancosmos]

I main falcon, and i can tell you that at low percents the Dthrow to Uair is a true combo. Your best chance is to dodge, but against characters like falcon or diddy, if timed correctly, you will get hit by both attacks. Your best chance is to mash the Dodge button (or jump button, in Yoshi's case), and hope you're not being true comboed. Also some characters have attacks that hit on the first frame, i believe zero suits Uair is one of them. Those are also viable ways out if you ever get out of the fall animation.

 

[Alex Magnei]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I will try to jab when the player is attempting to grab me rather than attempting to dodge and grab them back. I need to learn some of Pikachu's combos too - anyone who can suggest some good ones please do so. Also apologies to my use of the term spam, I am fully aware that efficient damage dealing combos are fair game if used repeatedly, particularly when they are safe. I will in future refrain from using the phrase unless the player is clearly overusing attacks for the sake of overusing attacks, which is what you all consider to be spamming.

 

[Oimetra]

if you read a grab you can also short hop and punish the grab animation

 

[KeketheBasedCat]

Also, if you don't know what DI is, that's a pretty key way to avoid follow-ups after grabs. But again, a lot of the times it's just a true combo.

 

[Alaya]

Air dodge the first aerial hit and immediately counter attack midair. If you do it a few times they will start waiting on their attack to try and bait your air dodge and it becomes a mindgame, if you think hes gonna bait the air dodge do a down air or something else.

 

[Captain Norris]

Sometimes, you literally cannot get out because it true combos (meaning you are unable to avoid the next attack in any way basically)

 

[Alex Magnei]

Anyone who wants to help me practice please give me your friend codes! I look forward to battling you all!!