I can only win with one character

[endikam]

Hello, everybody. As the title says, I have a problem: I can only win with my main, to the point you can easily tell which characters I've used, since they are all around 200k compared to the 2mil of the other, unused characters. My main, Lucas, is sitting at 3 million GSP, but every time I try to use another character, I just start losing uncontrollably. I'm gonna say it from the beginning: I'm not good at smash. But that doesn't explain why this is happening.

I began looking for a secondary character, and thought Mewtwo looked nice. He also seemed to have a similar playstyle to Lucas, being floaty with a decent recovery, zoning, good tilts and powerful smash attacks. Nope, he's sitting at 200k.
Then I tried the spacies, trying some fast characters. Nope, they're too fast and I just end up throwing attacks that don't land, so they're sitting at 100-400k.
Same with any other characters except Ness (1 mil) and Cloud (1 mil), but Ness is already similar to Lucas, and I don't really like using Cloud. And anyways, I still lose A LOT, I'm pretty sure if I keep using them I'd remain at 700k at most.

I also keep using these characters, to see if I can improve, but I just can't seem to. Why do you think this could be? Any recommendations to get over this frustration? Perhaps a recommended secondary for Lucas? I dunno.
Thanks for reading.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Perhaps online isn't the best place to start.

Try getting used to the characters with CPUs first.

 

[Orlando BCN]

Naturally. But that doesn't mean you're not good.

Jumping straight into online with a character you're not familiar with is a horrible practice. Lab them in training mode before diving back into the salt mines and see what you can do to improve. It's not so simple as going thru the entire roster and hoping some character will win for you free. In SFV I ranked down just for switching from one character to another, but with months of practice, I exceeded my rank and my expectations.

Case in point, just choose *one* character you really like and stick with them, then practice, practice, practice. Smash tends to make it easy to try out other characters, but that's just a lie from the government.

 

[CrusherMania1592]

Jumping straight to online in something you're unfamiliar with is setting yourself up to get wrecked each time.

Like swamp said, practice with the CPU. It'll help you get to know your character better and practice nonstop to know what your strengths and weakness are

 

[saiyan.]

Play on LAN with some buddies or just in training for awhile to get a sense of the characters movements and how their meant to be played in neutral.

 

[Crystanium]

Join Smashcords (https://smashcords.com) and click on the top left where it says SSBU. Join your preferred servers and find out how you can learn to use other characters. Try sticking with a character who isn't your main for about a week. If you're not seeing anything, move on. There's nothing wrong with being good with one character, either.

 

[Arrei]

Getting good with another character involves getting to know their spacing, their movement, what their tools are in each situation, and so forth. That's going to take time, and isn't going to happen by just playing a handful of games with them.

When I try out a character, I try to emulate what I've seen other players doing with them. That gives me a good foundation for figuring out how they work and what they can get away with.

 

[MG_3989]

I used to only be able to win with Ness consistently and I didn’t understand why. Then I realized I’ve been playing him for ten years so I innately know the character and his gameplay and how to win with him

Learning a new character is almost like learning the game from the ground up. You at least have to look at it that way. You have to learn their spacing. Their movement. Their strategy. Their BnB’s. Their kill confirms. Their matchups. Their win conditions. Etc...

No matter how good you are with Lucas and how well you know the game with him pretend you’re a complete beginner with a new character. Don’t beat yourself up over losing. Learn from your loses. Analyze them. Analyze what you did well and what your mistakes are. This is your chance to get really good with a new character and not form bad habits. It just doesn’t happen overnight

 

[saiyan.]

Join Smashcords (https://smashcords.com) and click on the top left where it says SSBU. Join your preferred servers and find out how you can learn to use other characters. Try sticking with a character who isn't your main for about a week. If you're not seeing anything, move on. There's nothing wrong with being good with one character, either.

Thanks for this, didn’t know a discord like this existed.

 

[Crystanium]

Thanks for this, didn’t know a discord like this existed.

You're welcome.

 

[endikam]

Hi, sorry for the late response, I've been sort of busy.

Thank you all for your advice! I guess I forgot to mention it, but I actually take any new character I want to try to training mode, but even then, I just don't know what comboes into what. For example, Falco's D-throw comboes with Fair with the CPU, but in online, I guess my opponents know how to DI properly to evade the Fair, so I just miss and get punished. I also play against CPUs regularly, but again, I'm not sure they're "proper" training when they play so differently to real people.

Still, I'll keep practicing, and if I can't get better with any other character, I guess I'll stick to Lucas.

Join Smashcords (https://smashcords.com) and click on the top left where it says SSBU. Join your preferred servers and find out how you can learn to use other characters. Try sticking with a character who isn't your main for about a week. If you're not seeing anything, move on. There's nothing wrong with being good with one character, either.

I'm from Europe, is that Discord limited to American players? Thanks for the recommendation, by the way.

 

[Crystanium]

I'm from Europe, is that Discord limited to American players? Thanks for the recommendation, by the way.

No. It's available to Europe, too. I played against an Ike from Europe via Smashcords. He needed Samus practice.