How to Make Falchion Feared : A Guide on Dancing Blade

[SkRAA]

Here's a guide on the colors of things before I start...
Red - Warnings.
Blue - Info
Green - Tips/Help/Usage

Now, with that out of the way, let's start the guide!

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I haven't seen any guides dedicated to the usage of Dancing Blade, therefore I decided to make an account (I've been a competitive Marth main for a while, just never made an account here -_-) and make a guide.
(I'm fairly sure I wasn't the only one looking for something of this nature.) So, without further ado, my guide, Starting with Dancing Blade Stalling (DBS)

Dancing Blade Stalling (DBS)

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DBS is preformed by only using the first attack of Dancing Blade, which significantly reduces your falling speed allowing you to wait out the invincibility of a ledge grab from your opponent. Info- DBS is a great technique to know, mainly because of Marth's average recovery edge-hogging is fairly easy to pull off against Marth.
This also adds an unpredictability to the timing of your Dolphin Slash when below the stage. It also can allow you to stall in the air for a spike, without using your second jump off stage, greatly increasing the amount of time, a spike could be a viable option. WARNING- When this Technique is used, if the second move of Dancing Blade is preformed you will be stuck falling at the start of the move, causing you, to most likely lose a stock. Be cautious when using this, that you don't click too fast. Tip- Because most people opponents won't know of this option, it may catch them off guard giving you a chance to recover!



The Variations of Dancing Blade

(In this part I assume you know about the red, blue, and green variations of Dancing Blade... If you don't Google it.)
Dancing Blade's variations all have their specific uses, with red being the most rounded, and useful of them all. Even though most of the time you SHOULD be using the red variation, the Blue and Green have their uses.
Blue, is my favorite of the 3 but shouldn't be used often. At around 200% it K.Os fairly reliably, and anything less, may lead into great juggling opportunities for Marth.
Tip- In a juggle, if you are about to lose your juggle, try going to the side and tipper/taper a Fair or Bair. Kinda' common knowledge. Just a reminder of an option in a juggle. Look at me! Getting off track again!
You can also K.O earlier, if you can land it in the air. (Low chance of doing it, because most likely they'll be fast falling which is basically D.I against the move.) BUT, it is a VERY unpredictable move, if your Fairs, Bairs, and Uairs have become stale, and you are desperate.
WARNING!- Fair, or Uair is ALWAYS a better option in the air. You should use this VERY scarcely, especially in higher level play,
Now, to the green Dancing Blade. Basically the most flashy and mostly useless of the 3. It only usage is to rack up extra damage, but has few followups.
WARNING- If this part is D.I'd out of prepare to be punished, it has a LONG animation compared to the others. Free Damage for them.


Finally the main usage of Dancing Blade - Punishes

PUNISH THEM! MAKE THEM REGRET OPPOSING YOU!

Outside of Punishing Dancing Blade is risky to attempt a full set of. (The first hit can be used outside of punishing, and can lead into the other hits, but observe your opponent BEFORE committing. If they DI out, you'll be punished.) Powershielding is the best way to lead into a full Dancing Blade. I can't stress that enough. What they do - Dash Attack, You do - POWERSHIELD, to Dancing Blade. (I guess grab would be a great option too, as a throw could lead into a full Dancing Blade, but uhh... DANCING is in the name. Along with blade... Sounds cooler than grab... Again, off topic... Well, uhh, I guess grab too!) Tip - Powershield to Dancing Blade. Info- Grab works too. In fact its usually a better option when you Powershield. Dancing Blade is also a great punish for people who use things such as Rolls or Spot Dodges too often.
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Well, I guess that's the end for now. I just wanted to make a brief guide on some Dancing Blade tips/options.
If you people enjoyed or it helped you : Tell Me! I love feedback. If you see anything wrong, tell me and I can change it. Also, any information I missed, tell me I can also add more. (As this is to educate Marth's. I think Dancing Blade is a very ignored option, I just felt I'd bring some light to uses.

Thank you for taking the time to read this,
Have a Great Day,
SkRAA

 

[mmKALLL]

So, er, in my opinion Dancing Blade most definitely is not a very ignored option and most opponents are aware of its existence. I guess the guide is kinda decent, I mean, many average Marth players could improve their punishing game a lot by incorporating dancing blade into their game better, but.. I don't really know if this is that needed? I mean, don't all good Marth players already know about the uses of DB that are covered here? The guide doesn't really seem to target especially new players, and if it is, telling the reader to google something is not very helpful.

The thing that puts me off the most is the coloring though. This guide isn't so text heavy that it needs an extensive formatting like this, I think, and the text colors are very bright and have a high contrast. It almost hurts my eyes to try read the blue text against the dark grey background. The fact that there are many visual themes means that picking any colors outside the default will probably make it uncomfortable for someone. You even wrote the "Tip -" and "Info -" headers, so.. I don't really see that much point to the colors in the first place.

I'm sorry to only have such negative feedback. Then again, while this guide isn't of much use to me, I suppose some lower-level players could get something out of it. I'm just kinda wondering about whether a guide on DB is really necessary or not - are there really so many players out in the dark about it? Splitting text into more paragraphs using double line breaks instead of wacky color coding might work better, as far as the visual look goes. With some more polish and another look at the contents, this could become a very helpful intro into the usages of DB.

Have a nice day,
mmKALLL

 

[C.J.]

Dancing Blade thread:

http://smashboards.com/threads/dancing-blade-is-the-best-move-in-the-game.172466/

 

[ZeroPixelHitbox]

Isnt't the first segment of DB faster than a forward smash on land?
It has less range though, as far as I'm concerned.