I have trouble landing with Ness...

[LkNessMonster]

Do I throw out an aerial? Do I go for the ledge? Do I PKT (fall from heaven tech)?
I have trouble getting out of many characters juggles, and I have a tendency to throw random aerials/air dodge and get punished. What is the best way to land with Ness?

Edit: I forgot to mention, I have a terrible habit of going for diagonal PK fires in the air. Is there every a situation this can be useful? I find myself getting punished a lot from it.

 

[Meccs]

Personally, Fair is my usual go to for landing.

 

[Uffe]

My perspective with Ness is that you can aerial attack all you want, but your opponent will just end up blocking and then grabbing you afterwards. Tell me fair wasn't nerfed.

 

[BakaFlocka]

I especially have a hard time landing against opponents who just read where I am going to land and just run and do a dash attack. Even if I manage to air dodge it, the landing lag from the air dodge is what gets my punished. Just like you OP, I really would like some tips on this and maybe even examples of what to do.

 

[neomadgic]

Personally, I love going for the ledge, because I have more options afterwards. But ideally, you have to mix it up. What is your opponent doing to that is preventing you from landing? when falling, you have many options. Mixing in a fast fall is great in throwing off your opponent. SAVE your double jump, its great tool to throw off your opponent as well. If they don't have that high of prioritiy, try using your last jump with a rising nair. fair is great if they are trying to grab you.

But it's all about mixing it up and seeing what works. Sometimes I have trouble landing too, but its because my opponent is reading me very well.

 

[Uffe]

Here's a thought, though it won't always work. Assuming your opponent won't jump in the air after you as you're falling, use your PSI Magnet once and then drop wherever from there on. Doing this a second time will probably have your opponent jump after you as you're returning from above, so use it sparingly. Sometimes you can get the drop on them by PSI Magnet > nair. But again, they usually block for me when I come at them, so it may not be all that practical.

 

[BakaFlocka]

Here's a thought, though it won't always work. Assuming your opponent won't jump in the air after you as you're falling, use your PSI Magnet once and then drop wherever from there on. Doing this a second time will probably have your opponent jump after you as you're returning from above, so use it sparingly. Sometimes you can get the drop on them by PSI Magnet > nair. But again, they usually block for me when I come at them, so it may not be all that practical.

I imagine the landing lag will be zero if you don't do a nair from PSI Magnet, so fast falling into a grab could be a good way to change that up too. I really like the idea you proposed, I am going to try and work it into my game for mix ups!

 

[LkNessMonster]

I have tried mixing it up, and it seems to be working. Fast fall catches people, and leads into more down throw to fair combos at low % which really helps.

Now on a stage like battlefield or yoshi's with platforms, what do you suggest there? From experience, if I land on a platform I get slaughtered from the underneath, So I normally just for the ledge there.

 

[BakaFlocka]

I have tried mixing it up, and it seems to be working. Fast fall catches people, and leads into more down throw to fair combos at low % which really helps.

Now on a stage like battlefield or yoshi's with platforms, what do you suggest there? From experience, if I land on a platform I get slaughtered from the underneath, So I normally just for the ledge there.

On Battlefield, I actually try to land on some of the platforms. If my opponent chases me in the air, I try to air dodge or fast fall onto a platform immediately. From here, I either jump to punish the missed aerial, or I just shield and wait for the aerial, into grab, nair, etc.

On Yoshi's Island I do the same for the most part, but I try to fast fall through the platform instead and retake stage control.

 

[Uffe]

I imagine the landing lag will be zero if you don't do a nair from PSI Magnet, so fast falling into a grab could be a good way to change that up too. I really like the idea you proposed, I am going to try and work it into my game for mix ups!

It was a constant thing I did in Brawl and pretty much brought it over to the 3DS. Other Ness mains probably do this as well. There are times when the PSI Magnet pushes the opponent away as they come at me. But if you're fighting against a character such as Marth or Lucina, then there is a chance you may get hit by their swords.

 

[wingedarcher7]

My biggest problem is the landing animation when I get back on the ground. If a quick opponent like Sonic or Fox is far away enough that I can't hit them with an aerial, I land on the ground and the animation goes on long enough that the person going against me has the time go in for an attack for a grab with me being able to do nothing about it. Although, this is usually when I try to air dodge right before hitting the ground, so it's most likely just my own fault.

 

[Eagleye893]

I'm finding it fun to just land doing nothing. Fast-Fall --> DTilt for teh lulz

 

[Speculator]

I believe Ness's down air has no landing lag, you can use that to get on the ground and jab straight out of it.

 

[Ranias]

Do I throw out an aerial? Do I go for the ledge? Do I PKT (fall from heaven tech)?
I have trouble getting out of many characters juggles, and I have a tendency to throw random aerials/air dodge and get punished. What is the best way to land with Ness?

Edit: I forgot to mention, I have a terrible habit of going for diagonal PK fires in the air. Is there every a situation this can be useful? I find myself getting punished a lot from it.

I never use PK Fire in the air. It might be occasionally useful for catching people after a move though. PK Fire is much better on the ground overall because it travels so far.

Stalling with PSI Magnet or PK Thunder is my usual method of landing against someone juggling me. Sometimes if you time it right, you can stall with PK Thunder, make your opponent miss an Up Smash or whatever, then counter by PKT2ing into him. You can also just try to fast fall to the ground. Overall, you don't want to be above your opponent as Ness though.

Edit: I'm dumb and talked about recovering instead of landing.

 

[foppy]

pk fire in the air is an awful habit. there is tons of landing lag and it is very punishable. i speak as someone who also went for aerial pk fires and got punished for it.
when landing, it is best to counter with fair or nair. nair can be a bit tricky at times since it is easy to misspace, but both options work. as mentioned by Ranias, ness isn't at an advantage when above the opponent.
another thing you can try is autocancelling with nair or fair. nair is easier to autocancel with (at least from my experience, might just be me) but fair can autocancel into jab.

 

[Eagleye893]

I believe Ness's down air has no landing lag, you can use that to get on the ground and jab straight out of it.

It has no landing lag before the move comes out. The problem is that sometimes it'll come out and leave you in trouble. If you can time it so that the DAir comes out and you land just after the move ends, then that's perfect. I'm not as consistent with the move.