How to prepare for Hero in Smash Ultimate

[Octorockandroll]

I'm really excited for Dragon Quest to finally get some representation in Smash. I love the characters so much that Erdrick was my online handle for years and years so of course I want to pick him up. Problem is that I've never played a swordie in any Smash game, so I want to take the time before his release to get comfortable with them, I just need to know what to do to get myself ready.

I was thinking I should probably try learning Robin since he looks the most like Hero, but the latter also has a nair like Ike and a quicker run speed by the looks of it. Can any of you Luminaries shed any light on what I should do?

 

[Jade_Rock]

Play any sword character really. Learn to space well. Robin seems most similar,but nothing will simulate the mp bar and command menu. Wii fit trainer has a buff, which psych up and oomph probably are.

Link is a sword character with a lot of options and hero has his dash attack and jab and maybe more attacks we have not seen.

Robin has a sword, resource management and isn't that fast which I don't think hero will be. Lots of versitility, but isn't that good.

 

[shinhed-echi]

I think I’m going to play as Marth and Link for a while. Although I have played a lot of Cloud since Smash 4.

If I can do well as Marth, and land a lot of tippers which are hard to pull off this time, then I think I’ll be ready.

 

[Tri Knight]

Yeah I'd definitely say Link or Robin is your best bet.

 

[BlueGoblin]

Link and Robin. Maybe Mii Swordfighter too. Lucina wouldn't be the best option, since she thrives on quick(ish) disjointed attacks, while Hero seems a little on the slower side (like Link) and not all of his moves have a big range (e.g.: side and down tilt). At the same time Hero will (probably) heavily use projectiles, which Lucina lacks.

If you want to practice fast unconventional inputs (the menus) you could try Shulk, except it won't help you on muscle memory, just on quick tactical thinking ("which monado/spell is better for the current phase of the game?"). Shulk also seems to have a ton of additional range compared to hero.

All in all, I don't know if playing a similar character will be helpful, you might catch muscle memory habits that could actually hinder you. Maybe it's better to play whatever you feel like and start as a blank slate when hero comes out.

 

[Octorockandroll]

Thanks to everybody who responded. I started training with Ike today since he seems like the most entry level swordie of the ones mentioned here and it was definitely a slow start but I had a lot of fun.

My spacing with swords still needs a lot of work but when I took it online I really seemed to get the hang of punishing with it and I managed to get some good plays and even picked up a couple of wins along the way.

I plan to keep on developping my Ike and eventually start trying Robin once I feel like I've got a hang of the basics of playing with swords so hit me up with your info if you want to play online sometime and help me get some practice in.

 

[OldHickory]

My votes for "prep characters" are Robin and Shulk.
Robin with his resource management and projectiles.
Shulk with his submenu for Monado whatnot.

 

[GhostM]

I’m pretty sure you can utilize any sword character by practicing spacing and neutral, but I would recommend Robin because of his projectiles and Link since Hero has somewhat the same speed as him, but doesn’t look to have fast attacks like Lucina or Marth utilize.

 

[SleuthMechanism]

We don't even know how the character actually handles yet really. Honestly i'd say the best thing to do would be to play whatever character you actually like right now while switching around between new characters you haven't played much of every now and then(so you don't get too comfortable and become more flexible to the possibilities hero will hold) for the time being and work on your fundamentals as the fundamentals can transfer over to any other character. Best characters for teaching this are probably Lucina and Mario though. regardless picking up ANY new character will have you relearning all your muscle memory and having to forget potentially bad habirts regardless of who you pick unless you're playing a clone or echo of said character.

Based on what we've seen so far shulk is the closest thing to the hero with their monado arts mechanic being the closest thing to the command menu and mp management mechanics but I feel that shulk takes so much investment just to get decent with that it's a waste of time unless you really enjoy the character and want to dedicate yourself to having them as a main or secondary in the longterm