Most often FSmash is used to punish your opponent upon them landing. You just have to time starting the attack before they can see it coming and move out of the way. On levels with platforms, it can hit right above Ike...most people don't think it will hit and it sometimes stabs the shield if it is depleted enough. But in the end, it is mostly mindgames. If someone is approaching, take a few steps back and let it fly...or one of my favorites: FSmash out of shield. You wouldn't believe how much this actually works. Ike's FSmash is one of the most fear inducing moves there is...and people will react stupidly for that reason. That's where you capitalize.
Jabs are a wondrous thing for Ike. Jabbing is actually a tactic you can use to limit options. You give yourself the option to cancel them into more jabs, grabs, tilts, etc. It is a very effective wall against your opponent. Jab --> wait for your opponent reaction puts yourself in a nice position as well. You can punish very well if you are good with reading.
Other than jabs, Fairs can pretty much stop any approach(with shorthop and fullhop variants).
Ike is mostly effective in controlling his opponents in the air. Making them use their second jump, then following up by baiting airdodges or punishing landing lag. UpSmash covers a massive area and is a common attack used with this. Uair and Nair have lingering hitboxes and are good with punishing the end of an airdodge.
That's all I can think of on short notice. Sorry if I didn't answer your question fully or specifically enough...but in any case those are some of things Ike has to offer :o
Well lets see how Lucario would counter these tactics. Ike's walk away f-smash sounds exactly like Lucario's, with a bit more range and yes more knockback, but also more punishable due to greater down time, though the extra range keeps him a bit farther from his opponents than Lucario can. Of course if you walk away and start a f-smash I can toss a fully charged aura sphere at you very easily once your hitbox is gone and you are recovering. So I would say that using this tactic against any characters with a chargeable projectile is unwise and asking for punishment. Ike on the other hand has no counter to Lucario's walk away f-smash mindgames, so all in all Lucario can punish Ike for this tactic, and Ike cannot nearly as effectively (if at all) punish Lucario for doing this.
Lucario's d-air as everyone knows stalls momentum, and can let him wait out the charging of most attacks (most specifically Ikes u-smash and f-smash), being floaty also adds to this, though it makes getting down to the ground in time to shield a little difficult. For Ike's u-smash the hitbox moves quickly even though its out for a while, so it requires precise timing if you want to be able to monopolize on the few frames of a vulnerability a character has when they airdodge and land, of course messing up this timing does beg for punishment too, so its definitely a viable strategy, but not without its risks, and of course Lucario can wait out a lot of the charging if not all of it, and throw off Ike by either fast falling or normal falling making it even harder to hit him during his vulnerable frames right as he lands.
Ike's aerials are risky to perform against Lucario if Lucario has a charged Aura Sphere, though if Lucario doesnt then they are definitely still useful spacing tools. As far as an air battle goes Ike out ranges Lucario, but Lucario with lingering hitboxes, fast aerials, good range, and once again the ability to use d-air to control falling speed can make any fight that Ike brings to the air extremely difficult for Ike.
Ike's jab game probably provides the most trouble for Lucario. But Ike must approach Lucario unless he wants to allow Lucario to fully charge an aura sphere any time he wants. Which Ike then must use slower moves in order to cancel, not difficult to time, but much more limiting than his options are if he only has to use a jab to stop an aura sphere.
As I see it on or above the stage Ike is made to stay close to Lucaro, not necessarily approaching, but he cant keep his distance because against a character with a projectile that is just foolish, let alone a projectile that can be charged and deals significant damage and knockback when charged. I also feel that Ikes air game or more or less shut down by Lucario's aura sphere and own excellent aerial game.
Off stage I still think that Lucario is going to have the better odds here. Most of Ikes moves except throws will send Lucario up and away, making it easy for him to defend his return to the stage with aerials. The same really does apply to Lucario against Ike as well, but Lucario using his aura sphere can force Ike to make an incredibly predictable return to the stage, spacing for the gimp now would be tricky, but not impossible for Lucario to pull off occasionally, given that mindgames dont always work and that applies both ways. I dont think Ike has significant horizontal knockback on any of his throws either, so it will actually take a while to get Lucario to a percent where throwing him off the stage could lead into a gimp. Overall Ike gimping Lucario (while Lucario is at low percents) shouldnt happen ever really as long as Lucario doesnt DI downards and Lucario should be successful at gimping Ike (at lower percents) from time to time.
Taking stages into account I would say that Lucario probably has the advantage on the neutrals, Ike might have a counterpick to use on Lucario, but I am not too sure, any stage that can significantly mess with Lucario's projectile game would be favorable. Lucario will probably want to pick FD as his counterpick stage against Ike, so it should be banned (benefits Ike for neutral round too). With that gone any other stage that is flat and has a wall cling will be on Lucario's mind.
I would say this match is probably about 65:35 Lucario. Stage control is very important and Ike cannot control the stage at all against a character that has a projectile, instead he will be controlled (well Fox I guess is an exception to this, no hitstun on his projectile limits stage control). Charged aura spheres also serve to control Ike as well, though not in the same way as BAS, they prevent Ike from spacing as he normally might, forcing him to keep distance from Lucario rather than the other way around. Thusly Lucario decides how much distance should be between him and Ike more-so than Ike does. Aura Sphere as I have also pointed out will limit Ike's choices for recovery, making his only viable option in most cases to try and sweetspot the ledge. Ike has the ability to kill Lucario at lower percents, but I would expect that to happen as frequently as Lucario might gimp Ike at a low percent. However being the character with the most stage control Lucario should find a significantly easier time bringing up Ike's damage and Ikes most effective moves against Lucario (his Jab mixups) will only serve to make Lucario stronger rather than effectively finishing him off.
I think this might be my longest post to date as well...
Seriously though, a well placed FSmash can seriously ruin your opponent's game. Lately half of my kills have been FSmashes...but that proves nothing, eh? The fact is it's a very strong point in Ike's game. And to those who say 'lolFsmash' I feel sorry for you because you have no idea :D
