Rango the Mercenary
The Mercenary
In the neutral, I'm certain that many of you have experienced serious problems against certain characters. They beat you out and wrecked your aerials and never let you attack while they comboed you to death. Sheik and Luigi are the two most notorious culprits. Pikachu, Fox, Mario, and Lucario are also detrimental characters. But at what point does the matchup change in your favor?
Someone here told me that using Counter on Luigi's Green Missile can kill him very early. I've confirmed this at a recent tournament. If you can get him off-stage, does the match truly change in your favor? Luigi has THREE recovery moves that leave him highly susceptible to a Counter. You wouldn't even think of going off-stage against someone like Mario - who has FLUDD and Cape to gimp you quickly. But certain characters, like Luigi, make it more inviting since you're given that advantage.
Take it from someone who mains Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat. In MK9 and the recent MKX, Sub-Zero is a defensive-oriented character, not unlike Ike. In the neutral, he is not very fast, can't chip with projectiles, is easy to punish, and must conserve his meter. However, his main draw is his Ice Clone. This Ice Clone protects you from damage and can be used to setup approaches, baits, and punishes.
The MOST important part of the Ice Clone is the corner-trap. The MOMENT you get your enemy in the corner with the Ice Clone, no matter who you are fighting, the matchup instantly favors Sub-Zero. Whether they can teleport or armor through your Ice Clone, with the right defense and setups, they may very well never leave the corner. They're stuck in a prison. The Ice Clone will freeze them for a free combo, and you keep them in the corner the entire time.
Well, I'm looking to see if this can be applied with Ike. Things like jab1, jab 2, into dash-grab and other setups to keep someone off the stage as much as possible. Since you have Eruption, that gives you a clear advantage against someone who's trying to Up B onto the ledge, which is most of the roster. The better your timing gets, the more of a threat Ike becomes. Edgeguarding tools, like retreat Nair to keep your enemy from getting back on-stage or simply throwing them back off-stage become cornerstones. Then you have the option to walk-off Fair, walk-off Dair, setup a Bair, Eruption, or even go low and Counter your opponent.
Notice that word I used? Options. Something Ike seems to lack in the neutral. His approaches are limited, projectiles mess with him greatly, Quick Draw is useless for offense, Counter is not good for you while you recover, Eruption isn't useful, and Aether gets you punished. Most of these moves suddenly become more useful the moment your enemy goes offstage. All it takes is a simple jab combo off stage and you're looking at an advantage.
Granted, while any character can have an "advantage" off-stage, I feel Ike excels at this. Starting with Eruption, its his heavy hits, like Fair and Bair, that kill at MUCH lower percentages than the high majority of the roster's aerial attacks. Mario's Bair will never kill you at 80%, but Ike's sure will.
You have to understand that this is still on a character-by-character basis. Sometimes you'll need to stay on the stage and use Eruption or bait them before throwing them back off. Characters like ROB and Donkey Kong have an amazing Dair, and the best players can use this to reverse your momentum and insta-kill you when you try to Aether back on-stage. Interestingly enough, characters like ROB, Duck Hunt, and Olimar put themselves in critical danger the moment they try to recover vertically. Plus Sheik players swear by Bouncing Fish, which is pure Counter-bait.
We can use this thread to post all off-stage strategies, especially the ones that are character-specific.
Someone here told me that using Counter on Luigi's Green Missile can kill him very early. I've confirmed this at a recent tournament. If you can get him off-stage, does the match truly change in your favor? Luigi has THREE recovery moves that leave him highly susceptible to a Counter. You wouldn't even think of going off-stage against someone like Mario - who has FLUDD and Cape to gimp you quickly. But certain characters, like Luigi, make it more inviting since you're given that advantage.
Take it from someone who mains Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat. In MK9 and the recent MKX, Sub-Zero is a defensive-oriented character, not unlike Ike. In the neutral, he is not very fast, can't chip with projectiles, is easy to punish, and must conserve his meter. However, his main draw is his Ice Clone. This Ice Clone protects you from damage and can be used to setup approaches, baits, and punishes.
The MOST important part of the Ice Clone is the corner-trap. The MOMENT you get your enemy in the corner with the Ice Clone, no matter who you are fighting, the matchup instantly favors Sub-Zero. Whether they can teleport or armor through your Ice Clone, with the right defense and setups, they may very well never leave the corner. They're stuck in a prison. The Ice Clone will freeze them for a free combo, and you keep them in the corner the entire time.
Well, I'm looking to see if this can be applied with Ike. Things like jab1, jab 2, into dash-grab and other setups to keep someone off the stage as much as possible. Since you have Eruption, that gives you a clear advantage against someone who's trying to Up B onto the ledge, which is most of the roster. The better your timing gets, the more of a threat Ike becomes. Edgeguarding tools, like retreat Nair to keep your enemy from getting back on-stage or simply throwing them back off-stage become cornerstones. Then you have the option to walk-off Fair, walk-off Dair, setup a Bair, Eruption, or even go low and Counter your opponent.
Notice that word I used? Options. Something Ike seems to lack in the neutral. His approaches are limited, projectiles mess with him greatly, Quick Draw is useless for offense, Counter is not good for you while you recover, Eruption isn't useful, and Aether gets you punished. Most of these moves suddenly become more useful the moment your enemy goes offstage. All it takes is a simple jab combo off stage and you're looking at an advantage.
Granted, while any character can have an "advantage" off-stage, I feel Ike excels at this. Starting with Eruption, its his heavy hits, like Fair and Bair, that kill at MUCH lower percentages than the high majority of the roster's aerial attacks. Mario's Bair will never kill you at 80%, but Ike's sure will.
You have to understand that this is still on a character-by-character basis. Sometimes you'll need to stay on the stage and use Eruption or bait them before throwing them back off. Characters like ROB and Donkey Kong have an amazing Dair, and the best players can use this to reverse your momentum and insta-kill you when you try to Aether back on-stage. Interestingly enough, characters like ROB, Duck Hunt, and Olimar put themselves in critical danger the moment they try to recover vertically. Plus Sheik players swear by Bouncing Fish, which is pure Counter-bait.
We can use this thread to post all off-stage strategies, especially the ones that are character-specific.
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