I need tips for starting in competitive melee.

[PK Kenta]

Hey guys, Kenta here. I am a SSB4 player starting to play competitive melee. Right now I need tips for melee. I can wavedash, crouch-cancel, dash dance, short hop, fast fall, etc. But I struggle to L cancel. I want to go to my first melee tourney but I feel as if I am far from good enough to get out of pools. Any tips will help. I main sheik in melee.

 

[Kadano]

crotch-cancel

Sounds dangerous.

Jokes aside, don't be afraid of going to tournaments. Talk with plenty people who have similar skill to you there and you are bound to find a couple of training partners very quickly.

Oh, and questions like these are better put in the social or Q&A threads than starting a new one for. (Both mentioned threads are stickied in this very subforum.)

 

[PK Kenta]

Sounds dangerous.

Jokes aside, don't be afraid of going to tournaments. Talk with plenty people who have similar skill to you there and you are bound to find a couple of training partners very quickly.

Oh, and questions like these are better put in the social or Q&A threads than starting a new one for. (Both mentioned threads are stickied in this very subforum.)

Thanks. And sorry about my thread in wrong place. I am still new to this website

 

[XLAX_OVERDOSAGE]

Grinding out tech skill is important on your own time, especially if you're starting out. Try comboing lv1 fox CPUs and you will notice a difference in the speed/efficiency of your combos if you've L-cancelled it or not. You could also try practicing l-cancelling with slower characters like ganon/link/bowser if you're unsure of the timing because the difference is most noticeable with them.

You're gonna get rekt your first time going to tourneys anywho so you may as well play some matches and learn from the experience. Go out and ask players for advice/questions if possible.

 

[FlyingAsianBears]

What really helped me was watching matches of the professionals who played my favorite characters. I remember back in the day watching PC Chris helped me improve Falco. And just like the person above me said, ya, you're gonna get wrecked your first tournament. Unless you're like that one kid who got third at Evo in Killer Instinct.

 

[PK Kenta]

Thanks u guys. I can l cancel almost all sheiks air attacks but i am trying to pick up fox and he is reslly hard to play. Short hopping is crazy hard lol

 

[2 +]

For short hopping as fox (and sheik has same jumpsquat) it may help to, rather than press in the y/x button, find a way to slide over the edge of the button. If you can't tell what I mean by this, try placing your fingernail over the button and seeing if you can work it out. I would say it's better to use your finger than the nail for this but it may help get an understanding of how quick you need to be.

 

[PK Kenta]

For short hopping as fox (and sheik has same jumpsquat) it may help to, rather than press in the y/x button, find a way to slide over the edge of the button. If you can't tell what I mean by this, try placing your fingernail over the button and seeing if you can work it out. I would say it's better to use your finger than the nail for this but it may help get an understanding of how quick you need to be.

Ok thanks. And do i have to L cancel to do dair to shine correctly?

 

[2 +]

The only times you shouldn't be trying to l-cancel is if you are instead auto-cancelling or ledge-cancelling the attack. If you don't l cancel after say SH dair, you'll be stuck on landing animation and probably wiff the shine and open yourself to being punished.

 

[PK Kenta]

Ok that makes sense.

 

[PK Kenta]

I know down throw is bad but sometimes at high percents i would down throw to uptilt to hp air which would kill most of the time. Is that a viable combo?

 

[ChivalRuse]

Hm, you started with Smash 64 but you have trouble with l-cancelling? You know z-cancelling was a similar mechanic in 64 right? I personally started with 64 and so learning l-cancelling was a breeze for me.

Definitely grind out your SHFFLs until you can do them without thinking. Make sure that you know when your moves auto cancel too (with Sheik, this is important because her fair auto cancels very quickly).

Sheik is more reliant on tech than you might think. Even running off a platform and bairing requires you to fast fall and l-cancel the aerial...

 

[PK Kenta]

Ok thanks. And lol I was a casual till SSBB

 

[FoxE]

Of course, first thing. Go to tournaments. Find people IRL to play with. And always remember, Melee is based around how well you can understand your opponent. Not how many times you can press buttons in a second. Smash 4 is entirely different from Melee. It's best to understand that smash 4 rewards basic strategy. You're going to actually need to play against people to learn your fundamentals more easily. Spacing, neutral options, all those stuff. Of course it doesn't hurt to learn some tech but it's always better to think about how your opponent is going to play.