I am a Kirby scrub

[Wintry]

Hi! I just started maining Kirby for Smash 4 because I find him really fun to use and feel great to win with him. As it stands, though, I absolutely suck (no pun intended). Here's a few reasons why:

- I don't know how to approach. The best I got is a retreating Fair, which I have a hard time following up with.
- I have difficulty spacing with my aerials, I seem to get hit out of them a lot, any advice on air to air?
- Generally, I have problems fast falling to follow up on things. Any help there either?

There's a lot of general things I suck at, but Kirby wise, what are some things I should know? Thanks in advance.

 

[IGottaStick]

I main in teams and here are the basics of Kirby:

Approaching is not Kirby's strongsuit IMO so you will usually need to force your opponent to approach. You should try to sit at the edge of the stage, crouch , and when your opponent comes near you, start spamming DownTilt(). This usually will not work on megaman, Villager, or Spamus

Try and go for a forward short hop D-air against your opponent and follow up immediately with your UpTilt. If your opponent is a heavy or at a low percent, short hop, then D-air UpTilt again and keep on repeating until your opponent escaped. When your opponent is at the middle percents, go for D-air Jab and do your full Jab combo. Once he/she is at about 75% or higher, go for Dair and then FSmash in the opposite direction that you were facing(This only works if you use D-air so that your opponent ends up behind you). If they are at an extremely high % then just to D-air DownSmash to be safe.

My favorite part about Kirby is easy Kills
On heavy characters or characters that are at about 0-6%, if you can get a ForwardThrow off of the edge of the stage, then you can get an F-air wall of pain and get an early kill.
You can also use your neutral-B on them to inhale them and walk off the stage(I call this a swallocide) the moment that they get out, you can usually follow up with a footstool(unless if they have a high second Jump) and if not, you can read your opponent for a D-air.

Also there are a lot of characters where if you BackThrow them at 0%, you can follow up with an instant B-air.

Also, some of Kirby's copy ability's are extremely useful but many players never try to utilize them.

 

[Altair357]

I'll give the best answers I can, but this might be underwhelming.

- You kinda don't. Kirby and approaching don't really mix, so you're at a constant disadvantage unless you're close to your opponent. If you really need to get in, try approaching bairs and shorthops. Mindgame them and hit them with a dash grab. You have to trick your opponent, so mix it up.

- Kirby's aerials are outranged by everyone else's, so the best time for air-to-air is if you're juggling them. If they're in the air for any other reason, you should usually be staying on the ground and going for anti-airs. As for spacing your aerials on shield, use fair and bair to hit your opponent's shield with the tips of your feet.

- I'm not sure exactly what you're having trouble with, but I would say to just practice it. If you find that it really doesn't work, try something different instead.

 

[Wintry]

@ IGottaStick
Yeah it seems that much of Kirby's game is reacting to the opponent, and not pressing in too hard. I was already doing that Dair trick as a combo starter, but I have to work on juggling with Uair, as I normally go for a grab (mostly cause Kirby's grab animations are the best). Thanks for the tips!

@ Altair357
Don't worry, I'd rather hear the truth about a character and how he's played. Kirby is going to be a good exercise in patience for me, learning to defend better than I do, and punish well. I'll practice the spacing more today. Thanks!

 

[DrizzyDrew]

some tips since I main kirby:
-at zero for most characters, bthrow into bair is a combo
-up tilts are really good and sometimes hit the opponent in front of you...when you get enough tilts in follow up with upair
-harass in the air, use kirbys jumps to your advantage.
-kirbys jab game is really good. Hold down the a btn if you see people rushing in cause sometimes it catches them in your jab.
-if you land dair do a downsmash for the kill...or up tilt for more damage.
-nair is a great get off me tool.
-crouch to avoid grabs and do down a to trip.
-alitte advanced but chase off stage and try and down b (stone) to make your opponent guess.
-dont use up b unless your at the edge and want to go for the spike or you are recovering, dont use up b to space