CHOMPY
Sinbad: King of Sindria
Hi everyone. I have played several Pit players, and I have seen so many common mistakes that all Pit players (even myself do) when we either panic, get impatient, or get lost on where to go. I figure I can shed some light by presenting to you guys a guide on how to use Pit to his fullest potential. Given that I have a ton of insight on what Pit can and can't do, I figure i'll give you guys some ideas on what you can do with Pit. Before reading this, this is NOT a matchup guide, nor is it a guide to beat Diddy.
The guide will cover
Standard Attacks:
Jab:
One of the common mistakes I have seen several Pit players use is the rapid jab. Sure it comes out quick, but it leaves you very vunerable. Instead, go for the simple 3-hit jab. Also, you can walk up to their shield and do a 2-3-hit jab and walk away. Forcing them to do something else the next time you approach them. Another good way to land a 3-hit jab is by doing a cross-up roll behind your opponent as a possible mix up.
Dash attack:
This is one of those moves I have seen many Pit players use. It comes out quick, great range, deals good percentage. With Pits weird disjointed hitbox, it can actually hit the opponent offstage. I find it to be one of those moves that have a 50/50 chance of landing it. Half the time, your opponent will either put up their shield to block it, or throw out an attack and not expect the dash attack.
The problem with that is you get shield grabbed. Also, if you were to whiff, your oppponent can pretty much land a free hit on you.
Specials:
When to use Pits Side B:
Remember when I mentioned "the most common mistakes I have seen all Pit players do"? Well, this is one of them. Why use it sparingly when it has super armor, hits hard, has range, and comes out quick? The reason you should use that move sparingly is because its very laggy, it gets stale, and you make yourself look very predictable when using the move over and over. How do you avoid that? Say to yourself "I'm going to wait until my opponent is above 110% or higher). The problem is landing it because they will put up their shield to block the incoming upperdash arm. So how do you land the move? Well, the way I land the move is simply by running past them with their shield up, by that point they will drop their shield and thats when you go for the pivot upperdash arm to hit them in the face. Another way to use it the move is when your opponent tosses out a laggy move, and thats usually when you punish them hard with that move. Never use the side B in the air as it not only leaves you vunerable until you land, and there is far less knockback when you hit them him in the air. Its another move you can use to safely grab onto the ledge.
Whats a good time to use Guardian Orbitars:
Obviously a good time to use them is when your opponent is going to toss out fully charged projectiles (or Pikmins fsmash or dsmash). The problem with the Guardian Orbitars is the ending lag is slow that you get punished once your on the stage. It doesn't reflect very far against smaller items, like bananas, slingshots, bombs, needles, lasers, etc. Depending on how close to the opponent, it may work, but your opponent will eventually catch on. The best way to use them is landing on the edge of the stage, and Pit will slide right under the stage, then you can instantly grab the ledge of the stage safely.
Arrows:
The arrows are your best friend. When you use them and they are off the stage, try to anticipate where they are heading, rather than trying to aim directly at them. For example, if my opponent is at the top right corner of the screen, try to aim at the center, since your opponent has only one option, and thats falling on the center right part of the stage. My opponent keeps airdododing all of my arrows, what should I do? Hold your arrows until they airdodge, after they airdodge is when you can frame trap them with a fully charged arrow. Once you land the arrows, can easily apply 2-4 chains of arrows before they get back on stage. It can be tricky at first, but once you master the art of arrow spams, you got yourself a powerful Pit in your hands!
Using the arrows when your opponent stage is a bit trickier to use because they have too many options to avoid the arrows. Say that your on neutral ground with your opponent, if you think they will jump, shoot an arrow above them. If they are doing going, charge your arrow rotating left and right. Not only will that confuse the opponent, it can last a few seconds longer when your charging your arrow. I would nt reccommend charging the arrow if your opponent is coming straight at you (from a 45* angle) at close range from an aerial.
Smash Attacks:
Trying to land fsmash:
When your a character apart from one another, they will most likely put up their shield to be on the safe side, so walk up to the opponent, dtilt them and walk away. Walk up to them again and hit him with a fsmash. If your opponent loves to airdodge upon landing, walk away to space yourself properly and hit them with a charged fsmash. My personal favorite tactic is running past them and hit them with a pivot fsmash. Also, pivot fsmashes are really good against players that love to roll off the ledge.
Usmash:
Generally, usmash is really good when your opponent on a platforn, or if they are right above you. Whenever my opponent is on a platform, the way I like to use usmash is wait for my opponent to drop their shield, or roll. Try using some empty hops until their shield gets small enough that you can land the usmash to hit him right their shield. Another good tactic of using usmash is if my opponent hangs onto the ledge and they try to jump, run up to the ledge and hit opponent with a usmash. Don't charge it because your opponent can hit you with a getup attack, or possibly hit you with an aerial. Never use usmash when your opponent is on ground.
Dsmash:
Dsmash may come out quicker than dtilt, but it has more ending lag. The nice thing about the move is it punishes any player that love to roll, especially how when they are near the edge of the stage and they are not sure on how to get to the center safely. It's also a good move to punish out of shield against characters with lagless aerials, like Sheik and Diddys Fair for instance. Don't use it too much as you'll find your self predictable, and its very punishable if the move doesn't hit.
Tilts:
Dtilt:
Great spacing move to keep any rush down characters at bay. After hitting them with dtilt, you can follow it up with a fair to ftilt (depending on the players reaction time). As I mentioned before, you can dtilt them the moment you land.
Using those tilts:
Ftilts and dtilts are honestly your best friend whenever your going up against an aggressive opponent. Moves like those will force them to think twice before approaching you head on. After that, thats when you make your move and approach them with a safe nair. At that point, they will be lost and thats when you start to feel like you have complete control of the match. Just keep using those tilts until you start to realize your opponent is playing defensively.
Aerials:
Fair:
What I like to do is run up to my opponent, jump above them and poke them with a short hop fair. You have no way of getting punished, and if they drop their shield, you can land a free bair. One of the cool things about Pit is he has good running speed to apply pressure. He can apply pressure by running up to the opponent and doing an empty full hop fair to see what the opponent is going to do. Next time around, go for whatever your opponent is going to do. If they shield, go for a grab. Upon landing, you can use a safe Fair to space yourself away from the opponent, just as long you don't get close enough to get shield grabbed. If my opponent is on the platform and you think they'll fall through, go for the fair as it covers the most range horizontally. You can do the same thing with nair, only the hitbox covers the area vertically.
When your going off stage with Fair, go for the fast fall Fair immediately to gimp them. Not only does that move come out quick, but it can catch them off guard. This is usually applied when they are right under the stage and they feel its safe when they least suspect it. The next time around if they were to return back on stage, wait for your opponent to airdodge, and then frame trap them with a Fair.
Nairs against defensive/campy players:
Lets face it, your going to be facing defensive players from time to time. What you should do is run to to him, use a nair, but don't hit them. Depending on what your opponent is going to do next is entirely up to you. If they approach, punish them with forward/down tilts. If not, then grab them if they are playing defensively. Nair is really good OoS if your opponent gets really close to you. It can act as a moving shield that hits players.
Uair:
Short hop empty uairs can good bait tactic to get a feel of your opponents playstyle when they are in the air. Once you hit your opponent with an uair, you can really string up some really cool creative combos, depending on the direction your opponent is traveling. At some point, you may notice your opponent is constantly airdoding all over the place, so charge arrow to try to hit them (it hits great!), they'll dodge the arrow, but they won't be able to dodge the uair. The most common use you'll see if doing the guranteed dthrow to uair. This is something I would not reccomend doing, but I may as well share it. Don't drop down from the ledge to use an uair more than once. At the most, use it once because you won't have any invincibility when regrabbing the ledge the second time. If it hits, your safe, but if it doesn't, then your will have a very hard time getting back on stage.
Running away bair:
By that I purposely jump off the stage, while having my opponent try to chase me and return back to the stage with a surprise bair. That works very well against aggressive players that want to try to keep you off stage, especially against Little Mac players.
Bair:
Bair is another move I like to use when my opponent is getting really hasty with the grabs, so I either run away and do a FFbair, or do a reverse aerial bair. Reverse aerial bair for those of you that don't know what it is simply running to the opponent, then quickly turning around with a bair. Its a great spacing move and can really catch your opponent off guard. Pretend that your going for a dash grab. If your anticipating they are going to sidedodge, run past them and hit him with a SHFFBair to punish it. Bair can also act as a wall of pain, once you manage to land the first hit on your opponent offstage.
Dair:
Ah yes, there are so many things you can do with dair that players (even myself are still discovering). Remember the empty dair that Metaknight would use to always do in Brawl? Well, Pit can actually do the same thing, since he has multiple jumps and the dair has so much range. The longer you do it, the more nervous your opponent is going to be and that is where the whole landing mixups can come into place. Sometimes what I like to do is run up to them and do a reverse aerial Dair. The back arc of the move has more range that you would be better off doing a reverse Dair. Dair is an excellent move to use OoS to an immediate FFbair. If you manage to hit the opponent with Dair at high percentage, they will bounce off the floor and you can follow it up with a free usmash/fsmash to their face! However, it can be risky because if you don't land the hit, you will have a lot of ending lag and your opponent could freely punish you. Being that Dair can cover so much range, you can do a rising Dair from the ledge to ensure yourself safety. Rather than doing a silly getup attack.
Grabs:
Dash Grab:
Dash grabs are a god send for Pit, due to Pits natural fast running speed. Thanks to Pits dash speed, he can dash grab the opponent when they put up their shield the moment they land.
Pivot Grab:
The best times are:
How many times should I pummel them?
I reccommend pummeling them two times before throwing them. After that go for the fthrow or dthrow, depending on the situation.
Dthrow:
If they are not near the edge of the edge, go for the dthrow to sliding usmash. However if they are above 45% or higher, then go for the dthrow to uair/nair/fair. Keep in mind that if you grab them near the ledge, the sliding usmash won't work because you'll be out of reach. Therefore, you have to other choice, but to go for the fair or uair.
Fthrow:
Fthrow is basically your primary kill move. A fresh Fair can kill at about 125% or higher. Also, a fresh Fair can kill at 105% if your in rage mode, making Pit a monster.
General Tactics:
How to land:
Whenever someone hits you, you don't need to have his incentive to jump. Mix it up by fast falling without performing an aerial and go for a simple grab, which is called the TomoHawk grab. Also, you can land behind them, only this time go for a dtilt to poke their shield. Sometimes, your opponent might go aggro to try to hit you, while your trying to land and thats when you make the opportunity to land and aerial with your fair or bair. Never go for a Nair when your landing, since it has so much endlag, and the hitbox doesn't suck the opponent in when your trying to land.
What to do if your right next to each other?:
If Pit is right next to the opponent, poke their shield with a rising dair. However, if they don't put up their shield and you manage to land a hit on them with a rising dair, follow it up with a fast fall bair from there. As I mentioned before, retreating nair is a really good tactic because it has a long lasting hitbox, plus it sucks the opponent in like a vaccuum cleaner.
How to punish Side Dodgers:
Pit has a really good pivot grab, so run up to your opponent, thinking they will side dodge and punish them with a pivot grab. A lot of times when your opponent throws out a laggy move, like a smash attack for instance, they tend to side dodge. That is when you chase after them and punish their side dodge with a nair or a pivot grab.
Edge guarding:
Say that your opponent is hanging off the ledge and your not sure what your opponent is going to do. Limit their options by tossing out a nair once, forcing them to either roll behind you, or jump under to regrab the ledge. Depending on your opponents playstyle, if they like to roll behind you, chase after them with a pivot fsmash or a pivot grab. Also, if your notice your opponent likes to jump above you, thats when you can apply pressure with your uair. When they do airdodge, you can punish them with a nair, since it covers so much range and seems to last the longest.
Hope this guide helps for newcomers!
The guide will cover
- How and when to use certain moves
- What moves to avoid using
- How to approach my opponents
- Bait my opponent
- Punish my opponent
Standard Attacks:
Jab:
One of the common mistakes I have seen several Pit players use is the rapid jab. Sure it comes out quick, but it leaves you very vunerable. Instead, go for the simple 3-hit jab. Also, you can walk up to their shield and do a 2-3-hit jab and walk away. Forcing them to do something else the next time you approach them. Another good way to land a 3-hit jab is by doing a cross-up roll behind your opponent as a possible mix up.
Dash attack:
This is one of those moves I have seen many Pit players use. It comes out quick, great range, deals good percentage. With Pits weird disjointed hitbox, it can actually hit the opponent offstage. I find it to be one of those moves that have a 50/50 chance of landing it. Half the time, your opponent will either put up their shield to block it, or throw out an attack and not expect the dash attack.
The problem with that is you get shield grabbed. Also, if you were to whiff, your oppponent can pretty much land a free hit on you.
Specials:
When to use Pits Side B:
Remember when I mentioned "the most common mistakes I have seen all Pit players do"? Well, this is one of them. Why use it sparingly when it has super armor, hits hard, has range, and comes out quick? The reason you should use that move sparingly is because its very laggy, it gets stale, and you make yourself look very predictable when using the move over and over. How do you avoid that? Say to yourself "I'm going to wait until my opponent is above 110% or higher). The problem is landing it because they will put up their shield to block the incoming upperdash arm. So how do you land the move? Well, the way I land the move is simply by running past them with their shield up, by that point they will drop their shield and thats when you go for the pivot upperdash arm to hit them in the face. Another way to use it the move is when your opponent tosses out a laggy move, and thats usually when you punish them hard with that move. Never use the side B in the air as it not only leaves you vunerable until you land, and there is far less knockback when you hit them him in the air. Its another move you can use to safely grab onto the ledge.
Whats a good time to use Guardian Orbitars:
Obviously a good time to use them is when your opponent is going to toss out fully charged projectiles (or Pikmins fsmash or dsmash). The problem with the Guardian Orbitars is the ending lag is slow that you get punished once your on the stage. It doesn't reflect very far against smaller items, like bananas, slingshots, bombs, needles, lasers, etc. Depending on how close to the opponent, it may work, but your opponent will eventually catch on. The best way to use them is landing on the edge of the stage, and Pit will slide right under the stage, then you can instantly grab the ledge of the stage safely.
Arrows:
The arrows are your best friend. When you use them and they are off the stage, try to anticipate where they are heading, rather than trying to aim directly at them. For example, if my opponent is at the top right corner of the screen, try to aim at the center, since your opponent has only one option, and thats falling on the center right part of the stage. My opponent keeps airdododing all of my arrows, what should I do? Hold your arrows until they airdodge, after they airdodge is when you can frame trap them with a fully charged arrow. Once you land the arrows, can easily apply 2-4 chains of arrows before they get back on stage. It can be tricky at first, but once you master the art of arrow spams, you got yourself a powerful Pit in your hands!
Using the arrows when your opponent stage is a bit trickier to use because they have too many options to avoid the arrows. Say that your on neutral ground with your opponent, if you think they will jump, shoot an arrow above them. If they are doing going, charge your arrow rotating left and right. Not only will that confuse the opponent, it can last a few seconds longer when your charging your arrow. I would nt reccommend charging the arrow if your opponent is coming straight at you (from a 45* angle) at close range from an aerial.
Smash Attacks:
Trying to land fsmash:
When your a character apart from one another, they will most likely put up their shield to be on the safe side, so walk up to the opponent, dtilt them and walk away. Walk up to them again and hit him with a fsmash. If your opponent loves to airdodge upon landing, walk away to space yourself properly and hit them with a charged fsmash. My personal favorite tactic is running past them and hit them with a pivot fsmash. Also, pivot fsmashes are really good against players that love to roll off the ledge.
Usmash:
Generally, usmash is really good when your opponent on a platforn, or if they are right above you. Whenever my opponent is on a platform, the way I like to use usmash is wait for my opponent to drop their shield, or roll. Try using some empty hops until their shield gets small enough that you can land the usmash to hit him right their shield. Another good tactic of using usmash is if my opponent hangs onto the ledge and they try to jump, run up to the ledge and hit opponent with a usmash. Don't charge it because your opponent can hit you with a getup attack, or possibly hit you with an aerial. Never use usmash when your opponent is on ground.
Dsmash:
Dsmash may come out quicker than dtilt, but it has more ending lag. The nice thing about the move is it punishes any player that love to roll, especially how when they are near the edge of the stage and they are not sure on how to get to the center safely. It's also a good move to punish out of shield against characters with lagless aerials, like Sheik and Diddys Fair for instance. Don't use it too much as you'll find your self predictable, and its very punishable if the move doesn't hit.
Tilts:
Dtilt:
Great spacing move to keep any rush down characters at bay. After hitting them with dtilt, you can follow it up with a fair to ftilt (depending on the players reaction time). As I mentioned before, you can dtilt them the moment you land.
Using those tilts:
Ftilts and dtilts are honestly your best friend whenever your going up against an aggressive opponent. Moves like those will force them to think twice before approaching you head on. After that, thats when you make your move and approach them with a safe nair. At that point, they will be lost and thats when you start to feel like you have complete control of the match. Just keep using those tilts until you start to realize your opponent is playing defensively.
Aerials:
Fair:
What I like to do is run up to my opponent, jump above them and poke them with a short hop fair. You have no way of getting punished, and if they drop their shield, you can land a free bair. One of the cool things about Pit is he has good running speed to apply pressure. He can apply pressure by running up to the opponent and doing an empty full hop fair to see what the opponent is going to do. Next time around, go for whatever your opponent is going to do. If they shield, go for a grab. Upon landing, you can use a safe Fair to space yourself away from the opponent, just as long you don't get close enough to get shield grabbed. If my opponent is on the platform and you think they'll fall through, go for the fair as it covers the most range horizontally. You can do the same thing with nair, only the hitbox covers the area vertically.
When your going off stage with Fair, go for the fast fall Fair immediately to gimp them. Not only does that move come out quick, but it can catch them off guard. This is usually applied when they are right under the stage and they feel its safe when they least suspect it. The next time around if they were to return back on stage, wait for your opponent to airdodge, and then frame trap them with a Fair.
Nairs against defensive/campy players:
Lets face it, your going to be facing defensive players from time to time. What you should do is run to to him, use a nair, but don't hit them. Depending on what your opponent is going to do next is entirely up to you. If they approach, punish them with forward/down tilts. If not, then grab them if they are playing defensively. Nair is really good OoS if your opponent gets really close to you. It can act as a moving shield that hits players.
Uair:
Short hop empty uairs can good bait tactic to get a feel of your opponents playstyle when they are in the air. Once you hit your opponent with an uair, you can really string up some really cool creative combos, depending on the direction your opponent is traveling. At some point, you may notice your opponent is constantly airdoding all over the place, so charge arrow to try to hit them (it hits great!), they'll dodge the arrow, but they won't be able to dodge the uair. The most common use you'll see if doing the guranteed dthrow to uair. This is something I would not reccomend doing, but I may as well share it. Don't drop down from the ledge to use an uair more than once. At the most, use it once because you won't have any invincibility when regrabbing the ledge the second time. If it hits, your safe, but if it doesn't, then your will have a very hard time getting back on stage.
Running away bair:
By that I purposely jump off the stage, while having my opponent try to chase me and return back to the stage with a surprise bair. That works very well against aggressive players that want to try to keep you off stage, especially against Little Mac players.
Bair:
Bair is another move I like to use when my opponent is getting really hasty with the grabs, so I either run away and do a FFbair, or do a reverse aerial bair. Reverse aerial bair for those of you that don't know what it is simply running to the opponent, then quickly turning around with a bair. Its a great spacing move and can really catch your opponent off guard. Pretend that your going for a dash grab. If your anticipating they are going to sidedodge, run past them and hit him with a SHFFBair to punish it. Bair can also act as a wall of pain, once you manage to land the first hit on your opponent offstage.
Dair:
Ah yes, there are so many things you can do with dair that players (even myself are still discovering). Remember the empty dair that Metaknight would use to always do in Brawl? Well, Pit can actually do the same thing, since he has multiple jumps and the dair has so much range. The longer you do it, the more nervous your opponent is going to be and that is where the whole landing mixups can come into place. Sometimes what I like to do is run up to them and do a reverse aerial Dair. The back arc of the move has more range that you would be better off doing a reverse Dair. Dair is an excellent move to use OoS to an immediate FFbair. If you manage to hit the opponent with Dair at high percentage, they will bounce off the floor and you can follow it up with a free usmash/fsmash to their face! However, it can be risky because if you don't land the hit, you will have a lot of ending lag and your opponent could freely punish you. Being that Dair can cover so much range, you can do a rising Dair from the ledge to ensure yourself safety. Rather than doing a silly getup attack.
Grabs:
Dash Grab:
Dash grabs are a god send for Pit, due to Pits natural fast running speed. Thanks to Pits dash speed, he can dash grab the opponent when they put up their shield the moment they land.
Pivot Grab:
The best times are:
- When your standing near the ledge and you anticipate a roll from your opponent
- Opponents that love to roll
- If you think your opponent is trying to land behind you
- They may sidedodge after throwing out a laggy move
How many times should I pummel them?
I reccommend pummeling them two times before throwing them. After that go for the fthrow or dthrow, depending on the situation.
Dthrow:
If they are not near the edge of the edge, go for the dthrow to sliding usmash. However if they are above 45% or higher, then go for the dthrow to uair/nair/fair. Keep in mind that if you grab them near the ledge, the sliding usmash won't work because you'll be out of reach. Therefore, you have to other choice, but to go for the fair or uair.
Fthrow:
Fthrow is basically your primary kill move. A fresh Fair can kill at about 125% or higher. Also, a fresh Fair can kill at 105% if your in rage mode, making Pit a monster.
General Tactics:
How to land:
Whenever someone hits you, you don't need to have his incentive to jump. Mix it up by fast falling without performing an aerial and go for a simple grab, which is called the TomoHawk grab. Also, you can land behind them, only this time go for a dtilt to poke their shield. Sometimes, your opponent might go aggro to try to hit you, while your trying to land and thats when you make the opportunity to land and aerial with your fair or bair. Never go for a Nair when your landing, since it has so much endlag, and the hitbox doesn't suck the opponent in when your trying to land.
What to do if your right next to each other?:
If Pit is right next to the opponent, poke their shield with a rising dair. However, if they don't put up their shield and you manage to land a hit on them with a rising dair, follow it up with a fast fall bair from there. As I mentioned before, retreating nair is a really good tactic because it has a long lasting hitbox, plus it sucks the opponent in like a vaccuum cleaner.
How to punish Side Dodgers:
Pit has a really good pivot grab, so run up to your opponent, thinking they will side dodge and punish them with a pivot grab. A lot of times when your opponent throws out a laggy move, like a smash attack for instance, they tend to side dodge. That is when you chase after them and punish their side dodge with a nair or a pivot grab.
Edge guarding:
Say that your opponent is hanging off the ledge and your not sure what your opponent is going to do. Limit their options by tossing out a nair once, forcing them to either roll behind you, or jump under to regrab the ledge. Depending on your opponents playstyle, if they like to roll behind you, chase after them with a pivot fsmash or a pivot grab. Also, if your notice your opponent likes to jump above you, thats when you can apply pressure with your uair. When they do airdodge, you can punish them with a nair, since it covers so much range and seems to last the longest.
Hope this guide helps for newcomers!
Last edited:
Maybe I need to incorporate more short hop aerials? They're so weak and punishable though. I'm a very defensive player. I like to get tippers with f tilt when approached by ground and dash up smash when approached by air. It works well against most opponents who decide to approach rather than deal with arrows. I'm also heavily dependent on the dash grab up smash/up air combo but that only works when they don't spot dodge!