I just started using Kirby, got any tips?

[JingleJangleJamil]

I decided to pick up kirby because I find him pretty fun to use in Sm4sh,so I want to figure out more on how to use him. Right now the only stuff I really know with him is SH bair, SH fair, f throw>fair, b throw>bair, and monado arts + = awesome. I want to know about strategies and other combos besides the ones mentioned above.

Oh yeah tell me what match-ups he is good in, I know he eats alive for breakfast, I love approaching them with the neutral b when they try to hit me with a f smash and then walking off the stage with them to kill them.

 

[GrnFzzTgr]

You must've been running into some pretty bad little macs. I haven't run into a good one whose fallen for that at all, are rather difficult to keep off stage, much less get off stage.

Up tilts and Up airs juggles are some of our our best friends when trying to build up damage, especially against heavies/fast fallers. Kirby is quite good at putting on the hurt at when he's able to get in and keep up with an enemy but that's his problem, his air and ground speed is abysmal, and he tends to be out ranged by a lot of other characters, we also don't get many combos out of grabs. We can also build some damage by Using our Dair to lead into other moves, but it's punishable. Nearly all of Kirby's moves seems to be punishable.

Somebody feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here?

 

[JingleJangleJamil]

You must've been running into some pretty bad little macs. I haven't run into a good one whose fallen for that at all, are rather difficult to keep off stage, much less get off stage.

Up tilts and Up airs juggles are some of our our best friends when trying to build up damage, especially against heavies/fast fallers. Kirby is quite good at putting on the hurt at when he's able to get in and keep up with an enemy but that's his problem, his air and ground speed is abysmal, and he tends to be out ranged by a lot of other characters, we also don't get many combos out of grabs. We can also build some damage by Using our Dair to lead into other moves, but it's punishable. Nearly all of Kirby's moves seems to be punishable.

Somebody feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here?

Well almost every non-Japanese Mac player I have faced does the same exact stuff as every other Mac player.

 

[SapphSabre777]

Welcome to the club! Anyways, here's what I can say from my experience about Kirby.

First and foremost, learning Kirby will take a LONG time. Kirby's abilities give him an extremely high learning curve and because of it, he has mindgames to utilize. It is up to the players of Kirby to develop him into the "Star Warrior" that we idolize him as.

Secondly, just to get this out of the way, you will lose a lot in the beginning. Whereas other characters are easy to pick up and win with, you need experience and some skill in order to win with Kirby. Sure, it will take more work, but nothing is more satisfactory than winning in an otherwise "bad matchup." So when you lose a lot, don't fret. Just take it in stride and learn from it. Perhaps just rest from Smash if it goes into your head, but aim to have fun.

I guess next is the actual techs and such:

I would heavily advise you to learn the "Hup Cancel," which allows Kirby to have virtually no landing lag when he lands as D-Air comes out (just FF before you "Hup"). This makes Kirby's mindgame options literally widen like a chasm because of it.

Make sure you also use Kirby's five jumps as a mindgame tool. The jumps can act as a pressure tool and even a deadly lure (chasing a Kirby above you is risky since he can Stone and KO you if they are not careful) when used in the right situations. Again, it is going back to the mindgame mentality.

Live and love the duck. Kirby's duck is downright ridiculous, being even lower than Jiggs (although Jiggs has Rest-punishing). The duck itself will allow you to punish moves and make matchups a breeze. Zero Suit Samus struggles hard on the ground against Kirby, since all but three moves whiff a ducking Kirby.

Finally, Kirby's pummel. I've found Kirby's pummel to be downright vicious, being not only the 3rd strongest pummel in the game (Jiggs beats it, and Luc must be at high % to beat it), but also one of the fastest pummels in the game. Use Kirby's throws and pummels to rack up damage and force mindgames onto the opponent.

There's a bunch of other stuff as well, such as Inhale and whatnot, but it is 11 PM over here, and I need to rest, to be honest. Hope that helps!

 

[JingleJangleJamil]

Welcome to the club! Anyways, here's what I can say from my experience about Kirby.

First and foremost, learning Kirby will take a LONG time. Kirby's abilities give him an extremely high learning curve and because of it, he has mindgames to utilize. It is up to the players of Kirby to develop him into the "Star Warrior" that we idolize him as.

Secondly, just to get this out of the way, you will lose a lot in the beginning. Whereas other characters are easy to pick up and win with, you need experience and some skill in order to win with Kirby. Sure, it will take more work, but nothing is more satisfactory than winning in an otherwise "bad matchup." So when you lose a lot, don't fret. Just take it in stride and learn from it. Perhaps just rest from Smash if it goes into your head, but aim to have fun.

I guess next is the actual techs and such:

I would heavily advise you to learn the "Hup Cancel," which allows Kirby to have virtually no landing lag when he lands as D-Air comes out (just FF before you "Hup"). This makes Kirby's mindgame options literally widen like a chasm because of it.

Make sure you also use Kirby's five jumps as a mindgame tool. The jumps can act as a pressure tool and even a deadly lure (chasing a Kirby above you is risky since he can Stone and KO you if they are not careful) when used in the right situations. Again, it is going back to the mindgame mentality.

Live and love the duck. Kirby's duck is downright ridiculous, being even lower than Jiggs (although Jiggs has Rest-punishing). The duck itself will allow you to punish moves and make matchups a breeze. Zero Suit Samus struggles hard on the ground against Kirby, since all but three moves whiff a ducking Kirby.

Finally, Kirby's pummel. I've found Kirby's pummel to be downright vicious, being not only the 3rd strongest pummel in the game (Jiggs beats it, and Luc must be at high % to beat it), but also one of the fastest pummels in the game. Use Kirby's throws and pummels to rack up damage and force mindgames onto the opponent.

There's a bunch of other stuff as well, such as Inhale and whatnot, but it is 11 PM over here, and I need to rest, to be honest. Hope that helps!

I mean I already am winning quite a bit with Kirby,but sometimes I just fail to do much with him against certain players. I like approaching with back airs a lot and the way my opponents react to it is usually doing something that shows fear, like always trying to roll away,but I predict their roll and they still get hit. I even faced a player I met on here who said they had trouble dealing with my aerial approaches. I have never EVER heard of the "Hup cancel" before. I occasionally use the jumps as a mindgame tool,but I have been using it safely,so my opponent usually just walk around on the ground and wait until my jumps run out to try and punish.

I was beginning to think nobody would read this thread,but thanks for the tips so far!

 

[ryuu seika]

"Hup cancelling" is the act of inputting Dair just before you hit the ground so that it cancels before any hitbox comes out and you get zero lag. If you do after your other aerials end, it will cancel their landing lag.

 

[WiiDude83]

First rule with Kirby in Smash 4...GRAB AND JAB! His jabs in his grab are really fast and apply a tone of damage, use this with his down throw to start racking up damage. You can also at lower percents down tilt which will make them trip fall and then grab them right after. his actually regular jab is also good for punishing and getting damage up. all of kirby's smashes are viable kill options as well as the harmer if you time it right...I would personally try to avoid relying on inhale as the range is a little shorter but only use it if you want the power...and rock...rock i still have yet to find a real use for in this game.

 

[Augi Jr.]

Kirby is tough to do well. It's all about mind games and using your physical characteristics to your advantage. As was previously stated, Kirby's crouch or duck is insane and can be considered an additional defensive move (adding to rolls, shields, and spot dodges). It's only matched by WFT who can also duck under most attacks like Kirby does. A lot of times this will trip your opponent up and force them to deal with you differently. Great for dodging most projectiles.

Final cutter can be good at giving you some space if you can't copy your opponents ranged attack. It's good for mixing things up; again, another mind game.

Other people have mentioned his aerials and pummels/throws. But one other thing I wanted to touch on was Kirby's Hammer. As this is the first game that allows Kirby to move with it, this lets us use it as another mind game tool. This is of course very risky, and highly skilled mind-gaming, but jumping around and "dancing" with a fiery hammer can freak some people out and make them very cautious. This can give you time to breathe with some people or force them to approach you awkwardly (cause they're scared) (especially if they're recovering from off stage) letting you read and punish them. The reward if you pull it off is usually a guaranteed KO. But this shouldn't be a common tool.

With edge guarding, bair if you can is nice. Dair is really good and gimps most players easily. Final Cutter (on stage), if you hit them near the hilt just before they grab the ledge, it can spike. If their UpB is predictable and slow, say like Links, you could choose to Rock drop them as well by predicting when they'll use it, getting into position, then slamming down when they activate it.

With Kirby you may also notice people having a reluctance to chase you into the air for a juggle since you can punish them hard with Rock if they aren't careful...

Kirby's very good defensively, but he has no range to force people to approach him. It's the Kirby dilemma. Personally, I'm in search of a reliable way to suck opponents up so I can get those tasty range abilities.... However, I just had a thought and now I'm wondering - if I just hang off the side against campers I can't duck from, it would force them to come to me... Wouldn't it? At least it would make it much harder for them to sit and spam at you when they have to aim more finely...

 

[GrnFzzTgr]

@ Augi Jr. Custom moves are your best friend, jump inhale and upper cutter really outclass the standards.

 

[WootSnorlax]

Pretty much Dair to uptilt is our bread and butter combo. Here's a small example: http://gfycat.com/SinfulFailingCranefly

Don't rely on it too much though, you don't want to be too predictable. A little help with it is that you can practically change how long your dair stays out depending on if you fastfall or not. Because of that you can mix the opponent up whenever they shield so they never know how long the move actually is. If you think they are going to shield, or if you see the shield already up, try to approach down behind them when you do the dair. Doing that should make it difficult for your opponent to punish it if you throw out an uptilt as soon as you land since they can't just shield grab you unless they turn around and that leaves them to try to do something OOS or roll away.

 

[GrnFzzTgr]

Pretty much Dair to uptilt is our bread and butter combo. Here's a small example: http://gfycat.com/SinfulFailingCranefly

Don't rely on it too much though, you don't want to be too predictable. A little help with it is that you can practically change how long your dair stays out depending on if you fastfall or not. Because of that you can mix the opponent up whenever they shield so they never know how long the move actually is. If you think they are going to shield, or if you see the shield already up, try to approach down behind them when you do the dair. Doing that should make it difficult for your opponent to punish it if you throw out an uptilt as soon as you land since they can't just shield grab you unless they turn around and that leaves them to try to do something OOS or roll away.

If people have fast enough reflexes they can just turn and grab you. I've had it happen frequently.

 

[KirbyInk]

If people have fast enough reflexes they can just turn and grab you. I've had it happen frequently.

With better controllers on the WiiU, Shielding/Grabbing reaction times are a lot better. It is getting very easy to punish Kirby between attacks with a simple grab, or any number of priority/range moves.

You really need to know the stats of the other character, almost down to their frames, in order to get away with attacks. Kirby doesn't have a very easy 'press button, connect damage' move, so almost every match-up needs to be handled differently.

 

[GrnFzzTgr]

This is good advice too!

 

[WootSnorlax]

If people have fast enough reflexes they can just turn and grab you. I've had it happen frequently.

That is why I mention having to mix up your dair. I didn't say that it was impossible to punish, it just makes it difficult.

 

[David Galanos]

I am a Greninja main but I used Kirby in Brawl and I use him some in this game. N-air can be good to approach with, and D-air is a good combo starter. You can do D-air to 1-2 up tilts and then a back air, sometimes even 2 back airs. Also, off stage use your D-air. It will either spike, or push them down to gimp. Also spacing with B-air is a good option, and also a good kill move. You'll want to short hop into an airel. And when you use your D-air on the ground, don't float above them, it's way too predictable, short hopping into it is much better. Also, grabbing then pummeling is good for damage, I like down throw the best. Thats about all I got

 

[Rochette]

I would heavily advise you to learn the "Hup Cancel," which allows Kirby to have virtually no landing lag when he lands as D-Air comes out (just FF before you "Hup"). This makes Kirby's mindgame options literally widen like a chasm because of it.

I agree with that. It's the most important. You can do it after a throw for follow-up.

My habits :

- Beginning of the match : Dash Grab or Dash Pivot Grab + Two hit pummel + Bthrow + Dair fastfall + Side-smash. (~25%) then Short-hop Cutter (seems more fast). Sometines I just Dash attack for hitting with the last rotation which was unexpected. Same with Dair, the last tip is usually surprising (opponent thinks you just bad bad to estimate range)

When the opponent has a large amount of damage on him, I bait him for an aerial escape and punish.

 

[Asdioh]

Unfortunately, Hup Canceling is completely useless when played in certain tournament settings, namely the ones where the TVs are quiet and the players/background noise are really loud. ;_;7

 

[WootSnorlax]

Unfortunately, Hup Canceling is completely useless when played in certain tournament settings, namely the ones where the TVs are quiet and the players/background noise are really loud. ;_;7

At that point it's about as useful as an empty hop with extra controller sounds for the controller mind games!

 

[Rochette]

I used to make Shield poke against some opponent with D-Air. It's great if done correctly. That stop them in their idea of shield grab you.

For Inhale, like in brawl, the success seems to be in an aerial pivot which needs some training... Maybe it's more easy with some settings. I have to work on that.

I encounter difficulties to land a classic Cutter for diagonal spike.

Someone knows if SH cutter are really different than a grounded cutter ?

Like one of us says, cutter+dash and cutter could be useful.

 

[WootSnorlax]

I remember seeing a video, I believe by Asdioh, showing that Final Cutter in the air is shorter than Final Cutter on the ground. For example when you use Final Cutter while grounded in the center of the stage of Battlefield it will put you to the top platform. If you jump right before you use Final Cutter it won't put you at the top platform.

 

[Unknownkid]

That is correct. So it might be better to do a SH Final Cutter if you are want a quicker Final Cutter and Grounded Final Cutter if you want to catch a person above you.

 

[Asdioh]

Conversely, upper cutter goes higher while aerial, and lower while grounded.

 

[Rochette]

That is correct. So it might be better to do a SH Final Cutter if you are want a quicker Final Cutter and Grounded Final Cutter if you want to catch a person above you.

That's perfect for some mind game. I have to test the horizontal movement for each and know the timing for edgeguarding.

Thanks =)

 

[KRBAY]

Try dair to smash attack (dsmash is safest personally). This has won me many online matches.

 

[JingleJangleJamil]

Try dair to smash attack (dsmash is safest personally). This has won me many online matches.

I have actually gotten inescapable kill set-ups by doing dair and then immediately do an f smash.

 

[KRBAY]

I have actually gotten inescapable kill set-ups by doing dair and then immediately do an f smash.

Yeah, any smash will work, but for damage, dsmash comes out soonest.