I Dance Like a White Girl

[geno]

Hey guys, I've been playing smash a lot recently and I'm starting to get pretty good at all the little tricks and whatnot. But I cannot, for the life of me, manage to dash dance effectively. Yes, I know what it's used for, and what a typically effective dash dance looks like, and I know what an awesome dash dance looks like (mango (the player, not the fruit)), but I just can't get it down. I end up dding at the dumbest times and then getting destroyed by people who just charge in and make my puny attempt of a dash dance wish it would have just been a plain old shield or dodge instead.

So how do you guys make an effective dash dance? And how do you practice?

 

[Vashimus]

Yea, every time I try to DD "strategically" to "fake someone out", they don't really care and either stay put or just attack anyway in the middle of it. So really I only DD between stocks for the hell of it because it feels good. I just don't find it too useful.

 

[himemiya]

Training mode at 2/3 speed to get the rhythm then speed it up when you feel your up to it.

 

[MegaGuy]

Dash-dancing's effectiveness varies depending on what character you're playing, and what character you're fighting against. I find myself DDing a lot as Wario because his core gameplay is based around bait-and-punish. As Bowser, however, I don't DD nearly as much. Watch some matches and try to analyze not just when players DD, but why. That's really all I can say, as it's very much up to you how effectively you implement it into your game.

Have fun flicking your control stick back and forth!

 

[geno]

I've found that the only time I can dash dance effectively is when someone is getting up. Then I can see if they're going to attack or roll, the dash over and grab or attack. Other than that though... I got nothing. I actually end up dashing directly into attacks more often than out of their range.

 

[metroid1117]

Hey guys, I've been playing smash a lot recently and I'm starting to get pretty good at all the little tricks and whatnot. But I cannot, for the life of me, manage to dash dance effectively. Yes, I know what it's used for, and what a typically effective dash dance looks like, and I know what an awesome dash dance looks like (mango (the player, not the fruit)), but I just can't get it down. I end up dding at the dumbest times and then getting destroyed by people who just charge in and make my puny attempt of a dash dance wish it would have just been a plain old shield or dodge instead.

So how do you guys make an effective dash dance? And how do you practice?

It honestly depends on the character you play; almost all characters can utilize dash dancing to some extent (like baiting reactions out of opponents who missed a tech), but not all characters can use it as proficiently as characters like Marth or Falcon. Regardless of what you use it for, dash dancing requires you to understand the range of your opponent's attacks, the range on your character's dash dance, and how close you can toe the line between getting hit and baiting a reaction. If you're dash dancing but getting hit by people who rush in, that means that you're too deep into your opponent's space of control; I suggest watching Lucien's Spacing Tutorial to get a better idea of this. Again, dash dancing is best used as bait, but you need to do it right outside your opponent's range in order to profit from it.

As for practicing how to dash dance, you might find it helpful to pick up Marth or Falcon to get down moving the control stick back and forth without pressing up. After that, I would pick your character and try dash dancing with them.

 

[geno]

I suggest watching Lucien's Spacing Tutorial to get a better idea of this.

This right here. This is a gold mine.

 

[Kink-Link5]

Your statements on DD'ing are how I feel about DJC'ing every time I do it lmao

Before I can even do an aerial Marth's just grabbing me like "Calm down spazoid there are adults talking."

 

[Burnsy]

How does Marth grabbing you have anything to do with DJCing?

 

[Vashimus]

He plays Ness.

 

[ph00tbag]

Dash Dances are better for moving out of and into effective ranges than the other way around. It's not typically a good idea to just keep running into attack range, especially if you're going to keep doing it.

When you see two players dash dancing against each other it's actually usually initiated by them both trying to dash dance away, and realizing upon dashing back in that their opponent has gone for a safe option. It's a similar cognitive loop to when two players block while facing away from each other.

 

[Jandlebars]

The way I see it, how effective Dash-Dancing is for you is inversely proportionate to how much you use it against an opponent. If you use it more often in a match (or set), then the likelihood that you get punished for it, or otherwise fail to bait your opponent, will increase. That can be said for a lot of techniques in any fighter, though.

From what I've seen of tournament play (which is admittedly, very little in comparison to virtually everyone here), it's best to do it when your position is already advantageous, as that's when you're more likely to provoke your opponent into acting rashly.

 

[Paradoxium]

I just use it as a way of AMP spamming. I only find it effective when combined with falco's short hop lasers or when playing the bait and punish game.

 

[Burnsy]

He plays Ness.

That's beside the point. DJC only takes 1 frame to execute, I don't see what about it makes you any more likely to get grabbed.

 

[Kink-Link5]

No way in hell does DJC take "just one frame," especially if the goal is to get anything out of it.

-How long does it take an aerial to come out?
-How many frames from where ness is currently until he hits the ground?
-How many frames of jumpsquat do you have to wait?

If you jumpsquat for 4 frames, Double Jump on the fifth frame, then do an aerial immediately, Ness lands without doing anything. There's a wait period between starting the Double Jump and canceling it with a move that must be adhered to or else the move won't come out before Ness simply lands on the ground. Even more of a wait period if you want to DJCFFL the move. When you have to dedicate 10 frames to an action before you can even start a move, are essentially floating in place in the meantime, and Marth's magnet hands grab you from a very vague general area on frame 7-8, it isn't hard to see why it makes it more likely to be grabbed. Ness's DJ goes DOWNWARD for the first frame or so for god's sake. Depending on what point in the DJ you cancel it, then, there is a small wait period before Ness starts to fall, as he'll be rising for a frame or two before being given the option to fast fall. See also: Mewtwo's extended Double Jump

DJC makes your aerials land lower, it doesn't make them any faster to come out and it certainly does not take just one frame to occur.

But, like OP, I'm just not using the tactic in the situations I should, and Marth already happened to be doing the grab anyway. And for future reference, this is the kind of thing I'm talking about when I say I'd rather explain things in person, because the concept is absurdly difficult to communicate through text. In person I get to act out Ness's Double Jump with my hands :<

 

[geno]

Don't worry Kink, I know your pain. Marth has, what seems to be the most absurdly godlike grab in the game. Eats through any of my moves and has more range than a tether grab. That's how it seems to me at least...

Update though! I feel like I'm getting a little better a DDing, still nowhere near effective, but it's not totally pointless when I do it anymore. That Lucien's spacing tutorial thing really helped!

 

[Vashimus]

I've had Marth grab me out of Up-B's before. **** him and his magnetic gloves.

 

[metroid1117]

Update though! I feel like I'm getting a little better a DDing, still nowhere near effective, but it's not totally pointless when I do it anymore. That Lucien's spacing tutorial thing really helped!

Good for you sir, I'm glad to hear that .