I suck with pac-man.

[mmik]

I decided yesterday I really want to try to be good with him, because he seems a lot of fun. But all of my attacks get read and punished. Granted, I've only played three or four matches online with him. I did get one cool kill where I hydrant-dashed an fsmash.

Most of the time if I try to place a hydrant on the stage, the opponent rushes it and knocks me off of it before I can even respond. Obviously this tells me I can't just throw it down all willy-nilly. But the videos posted up on this board tell another story, and I'm beginning to think I shouldn't necessarily trust them.

I also get a bit flustered trying to use his nuetral b. I get too focused on the roulette and forget to keep an eye on my opponent. My fault. Am I relying too much on my specials? His grab game seems pretty poor as well. I did get a couple of grabs against a really predictable link, but if any of them missed I was punished hard.

 

[Zage]

Most of Pac-Man's kills come from reading your opponent or forcing them into disadvantages situations with your projectiles and capitalizing off it them with your fast aerials.

Don't place Hydrants down close to your opponent unless you're positive your B-Air is unstale and can knock it away in one hit. Generally that tiny gap inbetween a stale B-air and a F-tilt just to knock the Hydrant away is enough time for an opponent to hit it before you.

Unfortunately, his neutral B is a big part of his gameplan so watching the opponent and knowing where you are in the roulette is key to being decent with him. Only use cycle through the roulette if you're decently spaced away from your opponents area of influence, until you're comfortable enough using it more offensively.

As for grabs, I don't see myself using it so often, outside of quick punishes and maybe every so often out of his dash attack. The risk isn't really worth the reward you get out of any of his throws to just randomly throw one out. One miss could be death.

 

[Firedemon0]

The trick I have learned with Hydrant, is that you cannot use it the same way every time. If you always drop it after getting knocked in the air. They will learn and avoid/destroy it. It is the ultimate mix-up move. You can use it to edge guard. Speed boost a dash attack. Pseudo wavedash with it for smashes. You can use it to delay your fall to avoid an oncoming dash attack. You can use it as a zoning tool with a nonstale bair. There are many ways to make use of the Hydrant, it just takes time to learn all of them.

The roulette is much more then just Key, while it is nice to use, each fruit has very interesting properties that make them all have use. Cherry comes out fast, I have used it to stop dashing players. Strawberry seems like the weakest fruit in my opinion, I use it when i have enough time on people rushing me. Peach is great zoning fruit, with Melon being an awesome change up. Apple knocks hydrant higher then other attacks, it also is an amazing edge guard tool when opponents go low. Or recovery when they are sitting at the ledge. Galaxian is high damage, and very easy to catch to reuse. The Bell's stun is amazing to help get stubborn players still to finish them off. Key explains itself, it is fast, hits hard, and goes through almost everything.

Pac is very much a toolbox character, it just takes time to get a good feel for those tools.

 

[mmik]

I'm practicing in training mode now, and I can't 1-shot my hydrant with my bair. i kee trying to refresh the move, but even as my first hit in the match, it just doesn't go anywhere. Is there a sweetspot you need to hit it at?

 

[Firedemon0]

I'm practicing in training mode now, and I can't 1-shot my hydrant with my bair. i kee trying to refresh the move, but even as my first hit in the match, it just doesn't go anywhere. Is there a sweetspot you need to hit it at?

Yes, best way I found to hit it, is to dash off and immediately bair. In training mode, it does not work, but when actually playing it does normally. If you are having issues, you can wait slightly for the up stream to start then immediately fast fall off and f-smash.

 

[mmik]

Alright I'm doing a bit better practicing in for-fun team matches. I'm able to do set-ups and have my teammate cover me while I do so. I haven't been able to launch my hydrant effectively yet, though. And now I must leave for work. :\

thanks for the help, guys

 

[Rashid]

One thing with his neutral B is that you kind of need to make it muscle (and ear) memory. You should know what fruit is up while also being able to observe your opponent. And don't be afraid to use the "lower" fruit often; they're generally slow and can interrupt your opponent. Plus they also have a hurtbox (sort of) so you can even block strong projectiles (like Samus's fully charged shot) with a cherry. This won't work on piercing projectiles, though (mainly custom moves).

Try to use his side B as a way to cover roll options (while also having a fruit ready, like an orange). It also has armor at the end, so you can go reckless if you space it right.

I don't like his up B. I found that it helped my opponents way more than it helped me, and it can be easily stolen. Try to recover with his side B first; you can use it again if you get hit.

And make sure to experiment with his custom moves (not usable in FG, but anyway...). I personally love his neutral 2 and down 2. The side ones... I'm not sure about them. Either of the two up Bs is better; one for recovery, the other for edgeguarding/stage control.

 

[mmik]

Maybe it's a problem that I play sound off, then...


I've been experimenting with upb traps, which is kind of cool, but I don't really know how to follow up, other than uair when they take the trampoline.

I did have a game where I used it to launch opponents up to my teammate. Hah