How to use Monado arts for beginners?

[PackAttack91]

Which arts to use and when seems a little overwhelming to me. Any basic tips for a beginner? What are the main things I should focus on?

 

[WolfieXVII ❂]

First rule of the Monado arts:
Don't ask about the Monado arts

But it in all seriousness you can check out the Shulk character guides in his section of the Smash 4 boards

 

[Berserker.]

Come on

What ever happened to going to the FAQ thread? Or the meta game thread?

 

[InfinityZERO]

As an actual answer for the thread, here we go:

I use Speed the most. Shulk is mostly a Short Hopping character and Speed helps out with that because his jump height decreases. Speed also decreases the damage you do, but not the knockback. All the tradeoffs seem worth it because nothing else is changed. You become as fast as Sonic, IE fastest land speed in the game.

Second place goes to Jump. That's for three things: getting back on after getting Smashed off, chasing players you've Smashed off the ledge with ONE JUMP (so you have enough to get back on), and finally sometimes to get around projectile users. Jump does increase the knockback done to you.

The next three I rarely use because I think I'm intermediate and the tradeoffs aren't worth it.

Smash, to add knockback. This makes your Ftilt and Dash Attack pretty great kill moves because they do a lot of knockback already. It also helps turn the Fair into a decent kill move if your opponent is off the ledge. But it decreases your damage done to your opponent and the kicker, for me, is it increases the knockback done to you. In my mind, because at this point you've already taken damage to yourself, this can get you killed.

Second to last is Buster to add to your percentage damage done. This makes your throw pretty deadly (I usually hit around 17% total from a regular throw and one pummel), as well as your Forward Vision (Forward Vision does more damage compared to your regular Vision, but the range is decreased). The problem for me lies with the fact that you take more damage and your knockback, from your attacks, is decreased. Since that leaves your opponent pretty close to me, I don't like taking extra damage because I usually rushdown with Speed.

Last is Shield. You're slow and it makes you heavier (heaviest in the game) so you're harder to Smash off, but when you are it's harder to get back on. I *think* it also decreases the damage you do. Since I use Speed after I take a stock to rundown their invincibility time adter they respawn, this form doesn't really appeal to me unless I'm at 50%-80% and my opponent is terrible.

I'm intermediate, but I'd take more advice from these board members because they helped me go from novice to intermediate: Jerm, Trela, berserker01, and Masonomace.

 

[ChronoPenguin]

I don't read ****.
Jump - Press B, go into Jump you see them off-stage, Jump off and F-air that fool, then cus your bad jump and do a second F-air and then recover. You must recover

Speed - Run in and grab/nair them

Shield - Note their lack of projectiles and become hard to kill, while you figure out how to make a read.

Buster - Hit them.

Smash - Seriously hit them.

Monado arts for beginners.

There is more in-depth talk in the metagame section.

 

[InfinityZERO]

I forgot who pointed this out on the board, but someone made an argument saying Buster was the worst Monado Art because it can get you killed really fast. I've taken this to heart because I side dodge too much and don't do enough spot dodging, so that's why I stay away from Buster. I know Jerm is good enough to use Buster and be really scary with it.

 

[Berserker.]

Jump - Can be used in any way

Speed - Nair/Grab, SH, dash dance, dash dance, dash dance

Shield - Not dying, laughing hysterically

Buster - Mid range sword whacking

Smash - Fish for kills

 

[ChronoPenguin]

Buster increases your damage, this pressures their shield more and increases their shield stun.
If you're using Buster with that in mind, in some respects it is the safest offensive option we have.

 

[Berserker.]

I tried out that n-air on shield to grab you were talking about back in some thread (Forgot which one). I'm not 100% though on if buster n-air has enough shield stun to allow for a grab. Maybe decisive buster does but I'm not sure about that either. I think it might be possible with decisive or hyper but default? I don't think so. I haven't been playing Smash lately because of irl stuff

Anyway, take advantage of your range with buster, space well, take advantage of your safe attacks (FF F-air, N-air, Tipper F-tilt, Tipper D-tilt, Tipper B-air) and you most likely won't get hit that much

 

[ChronoPenguin]

I was trying to see if it could work. Its iffy though.

N-air is frame 13, our grab is frame 7, frame 9 for dashgrab.

I don't know if it really is safe at some angle,

With Roll being 4 frames and some characters having frame 6 grabs.

When I check the frame data it doesn't seem like it may be possible. You can probably just space out the N-air but aren't guaranteed anything safe if they're paying attention. This might be different with an M-art Cancel, but then you won't get the Buster on Shield.

Again though I'm just trying to see how it'll work but Im not sure what the landing lag is for N-air on its cancel. 12 frames?
Would be some kinda BS if B-air is actually just as 'safe' as N-air on shield due to its high damage.

 

[Berserker.]

Landing lag of n-air is at 12 frames

B-air has more shield stun but it's probably not as safe. It has more shield stun so it is safer on shield but it has to be noted that b-air's landing lag is 21 frames which is well... not bad but, not fast either. MAYBE if you FF b-air then land the hit right before you enter landing lag state then it might be safe but the timing has to be strict. Then again, this is all purely guesses.

 

[Masonomace]

Come on. What ever happened to going to the FAQ thread? Or the meta game thread?

This ^

Last is Shield. You're slow and it makes you heavier (heaviest in the game) so you're harder to Smash off, but when you are it's harder to get back on. I *think* it also decreases the damage you do. Since I use Speed after I take a stock to rundown their invincibility time adter they respawn, this form doesn't really appeal to me unless I'm at 50%-80% and my opponent is terrible.

=(. . . Oooooooooh you meant Last but not least is Shield. Gotcha, I can dig it. I'm gonna help clear up your "think" & say that Shield mode reduces your damage by 30%, but reduces damage you take by 33%. Shield got that 3% damage advantage.

As for ya question @ PackAttack91 , here's my 2 cents. Lots of reading but first click the spoiler for some basic info about them:

Spoiler: Monado Art Table Stats

Art | Increased stats | Decreased stats 翔(Jump) | Jump Height / Air speed / Falling speed | Defense / Weight 疾(Speed) | Ground speed / Air speed | Damage dealt / Jump Height 盾(Shield) | Defense / Weight / Shield health | Damage dealt / Jump Height / Ground speed / Air speed 斬(Buster) | Damage dealt | Defense / Knockback dealt / Weight 撃(Smash) | Knockback dealt | Damage dealt / Weight

Jump
Your everything-air mobility improves. Work on drifting, (aka moving left & right) recovering, & off-stage edge-guarding. Jump used effectively can take a load off your game length & KO players sooner than expected. However your weight decreases & you take additional damage in this stance. The best advice I can give you is straight from Issai:

Don't get hit.

Speed
Your everything-ground mobility including air speed improving (Air speed affects how well you drift airborne left or right). Work on your basic grounded movement like dashing, foxtrotting, walking, running for a prolonged time. And when you get the hang of how it feels on the ground, add shielding to your walking dashing & running to cancel those movement options & that's how you mix up your movement a bit. Pivot grabs are amazing. And since your Jump height decreases, Short Hop N-air is excellent, & when you're Jump Art is on cooldown use Speed to recover horizontally.

Shield
Your everything-defense improves, but, your everything-air & ground mobility is shot. This isn't a Monado Art you'd use carelessly since its main primary function is to keep you alive much longer. For now until you have a better handling on the MArts only use Shield if you're either fighting a character with strong KO power, or if your % health is high, like +100%. Finally if say you're launched off-stage with dangerously high %, opt to mash B to cancel it ASAP if you know you won't make it back with your DoubleJump & Air Slash + their edge-guarding presence.

Buster
This Art teaches you about proper spacing. Your damage output increases by a lot but your knocback stat is shot. (And no this does not mean your combo game majorly improves, but there are combos that work with Buster) Super-space yourself to the extent you're barely touching them with Short Hop N-air or any other aerial, tilts & smashes too. You want to hit them, but you don't have to focus on hitting them, so wall them out with your aerials & wait for them to approach foolhardy, then commence grab punishes. Buster deals good shield-stun & additional shield-damage so it can make spaced hits on-shield safe. If their percent is at least +30%, pummel once & throw them away like it's Trashday Tuesday. If they have per-say +60%, then pummel at least twice & throw them away how you please. And Buster B-throw fresh deals 16%! Lastly Buster makes you take more damage & your weight is reduced, but it's not as bad as Jump mode anymore. The best advice for this Art is:

Don't get hit.

Smash
Your KO potential skyrockets, but your damage output is cut by half, literally. Work on being patient for the kill & learn about the characters you're versing against since lighter characters die much quicker, while still KO'ing heavies too. Fish for kills like Berserk said, & seriously hit them like Chronopengy said, but know that having Smash mode on & hitting someone's bubble shield with your tilts or smashes is going to make you regret it because Smash does very little shield-stun. This Art can make you a gimp machine off-stage, & help you escape combos early game if you wish to do so.

 

[Jiggsbomb]

Well all arts are usefull, but the ones you'll be using the most are Speed, Buster and Smash.

You should start a match with Speed. Because this will be a god like assist for short hop nairs. His nair is sooo good.

After Speed, you'll should use Buster.

After Speed and Buster, you'll should finish it off with Smash or Jump. Because your foe should have about 90-100 % if the match is going in your favor.

If it is a high weight character, then I recommend Smash. But you should use Jump if your foe is jumping around.

Also Shield is only really useful if it is the last stock and you and your enemy has high %