I can't kill :(

[MAZAHS]

So before you read this I actually play PM but the Marth forums here are the real shizz and the pm marth forums are just them crying about updates and stuff. Sorry if this has been posted before just ban me or something. (I've been on a losing streak depression is real).

Ok so......

I'm so sorry if I sound like a scrub but I've picked up marth recently. I can combo/shffl stuff like that. I know the basics of him with spacing and I do pretty well with him.

By pretty well I mean every time I play someone with a hella good recovery and I can't edge guard them I resort to trying to kill them.

I can't kill D:

Obviously Fsmash works but they're always expecting it once they realize I can't do anything to them anymore. Shielding just wrecks me and I can't do anything. Mindgames/WD fsmash nothing works anymore when they hit over 100%.

Down smash kills yeah and so does up throw but that's like 200%

Does anyone have some pointers (How old will that joke get) for me? Like should I chase them and just up air the whole time? Also does he have any guaranteed kills at around 100% after a grab like some characters? (Charizards up throw, Ike F-throw fair)

I'm sorry i'm bad but I sorta like Marth and I want to continue playing him but this bump is just really holding me back.

 

[djmath]

the old marth adage goes, you either kill them at 70 or 170. This is a really important issue with playing marth because if you get impatient and just fish for fsmashes just because your opponent is at high percent you're going to get rekt.

The best advice is to close out the stock as early as possible and edgeguard harder.

the second best advice is to not change your play style just to get a kill. marth is not an aggro rushdown character that has hella good approaches. Keep getting grabs, pummel more, keep d-tilting, and just accept the fact that you probably won't be killing them for a while. Don't take any damage, and even the stocks out until you combo them next stock.

As for specific moves, reverse or sweetspot dolphin slash is highly underused and is a solid kill move if you really need it. tippered 3rd hit of dancing blade. a surprise tippered f-tilt. side b to uptilt for floaties.

but freal, get kills early and edgeguard hard

 

[AirFair]

Edgeguarding is probably one of Marth's strongest aspects so it's good for closing stocks out early. Keep space and you can do it.

 

[Gannonspetmoblin]

Now that people got the serious answers out of the way...

Switch to Fox

 

[Sempai]

Disregarding fsmash tippers and spikes, marth rarely kills outright, he usually gets his kill from edge guarding.

Try being more aggressive on the ledge with dtilts, jabs, and sometimes fsmashes. Just fsmashing every time they try to come back gets predictable pretty quickly, and its what most people expect.

Dont be afraid to go offstage with fairs and bairs to edge guard as well, especially against the spacies.

At 100% Marth has no good followups off of grabs, and if someone attacks you and you sheild at 100% your instinct should be Up-B or reverse Up-B OOS.

If you DO happen to grab at 100%, which you will, aim to throw them to gain positional advantage.

Upthrow- pretty much always good, kills at ~200% its hard to challenge a disjointed hitbox from above. Dont let them hit the ground. Can link into an aerial against fastfallers.

Fthrow- has followups at high %s on spacies, use to throw them off the stage

Dthrow- throws farther backward then Bthrow and puts them into a tech chase postion with fastfallers.

Bthrow- has folllowups at high %s on spacies, throw off stage if close enough too, you can sometimes get them to land on a platform into a tech chase situation.


Against floaties- SideB into Utitlt

Against fast fallers- Uthrow into nair.
Dtilt,ftilt to push them off the stage into an edgeguard. DONT FSMASH, you dont need to, at 100%+ a ftilt usually is enough to secure a kill or get them into a postion where you can edgeguard into a kill, especially if its tippered.

This advice also applies to floaties, but sideB into utilt is such a good tool, I want you to remember it.

 

[TheBestinWestPalmBeach]

Keep in mind a lot of this advice is going to be more applicable in melee than in P:M due to the buffed recoveries.

One thing to keep in mind though (in both games) is instead of say rolling off the ledge to forward smash against shiek, remember to instant up air off the ledge and combo for more damage at percents that it's applicable. It's more damage, and you can expect bad di at lower levels for a free tipper instead of the weak hitbox fsmash you'd usually get.

 

[-=Untamed-Beast=-]

Watch good Marths. Are they doing something you don't do? Do that. Are they doing something you can't do? Learn that.
Do you not understand why they do certain things? Analyze it. This is of course not the advice of "copy them", but more like "Utilize that there are people out there doing things you should be doing. Don't ignore them as a fantastic resource."

We're so lucky to be coming up in this game in 2014, when so much has been figured out for us that we can get quite far without ever using our imagination to get ahead. But of course, you'll never be at the top without a little innovation. Just keep learning and practicing. A lot.

 

[Vandire]

Gonna have to go with what Beast said above me. Watch some videos on some Marth players, see what they're doing that you might not be doing, and keep your practice up on a good basis. M2k obviously has a very good Marth. I also recommend Dart! and Azen.

 

[Sempai]

M2k, PewpewU, DRpp.

Dart is a great marth to watch because hes play in such a different way then other marths.

Learn all the little set ups, combos, and basic edge guards from vids. Then expand on that while playing around with your tech skill.