Is Ike an easy character or do I just match his pace?

[monky2k6]

First of all:
Hi everyone! I'm new here and a huge Smash Bros Fan since Day 1.

So, here is my concern:
I like Ike. I really do. After I got problems playing Link in Brawl (because he was falling to fast/couldn't use him in Air-Combat like I used to) I tryed all the other Fighters and instantly fall in love with him,

BUT

I also thought he feels ridiculously OP.

That didn't changed in 4 and Ultimate.
His Hit-Area for his Side- and Up-Smash is huge and his overall knockback against even mid-percentage is overwhelming.

I always felt the safest and strongest with him. Almost every Attack hits like it should.
He is the only one right now I can beat a Level 8 CPU with.

So my question is:
Can everybody be good with Ike? Is he OP like I think he is? Or do I just match his pace and got a little lucky picking him?
I'm no pro, not at all. But I want to start playing online and feel certain about my choice of a main. I want to hear/read that it is worth training with him. That many, but not all can play him.
Or is he the Noob-friendly easy slayer I fear he is?

 

[Banjobeast158]

He is not OP; strong in this game, yes! But certainly not overpowered. He is pretty straight forward, he really doesn't have a whole lot of advanced tech. This does not make him easy though. Like many have stated, he is a good fundamental character that relies on proper spacing with his moves to avoid punishment. His combos are not very complicated which makes practicing them pretty simple. To be honest, if you to like him, play him. Who cares if he is a noob slayer? What does that have to do with anything lol. No matter the character's ease of play, you can still train with that character to be better than many.

You state that he feels powerful because of his smashes, these should not be the reason you think he is powerful (depending on who you are playing against). Maximize the use of his quicker options like Nair, Bair, and Dtilt (basically most of his air moves) that might not feel as "strong", but will certainly make you a better player. Use Nair to combo into other air moves, tilts and grabs depending on their percents. He will feel much more fluent and varied than if you rely on smash attacks. The more you play Ike, the less you will rely on smashes as he possesses many kill options that are not slow like the smashes. Also avoid words like "everybody", you usually do not want to generalize in things like this. Best of luck! Try fighting some Level 9 CPUs, they can be pretty tough!

 

[Arrei]

I also thought he feels ridiculously OP.

That didn't changed in 4 and Ultimate.

Take a look at this part of your post.

Now consider Ike was placed pretty low on tier lists in both Brawl and 4.

Ike was historically a fairly simple character who lacked fancy tricks but got a lot of mileage out of good fundamentals like spacing and mindgames, because he could often kill off of a stray hit. However, he's been consistently saddled with multiple incredibly slow moves that were intended to be balanced by their power, but as characters like Brawl/4 Ganon could attest to, that rarely worked out in his favor. You talk about feeling safe with him but his smash attacks were by far his least safe moves.

In this game in particular, he's lost some power in some of his moves, received a bit more power in a couple of others, and gained a deadly combo starter opponents must constantly watch out for, which ultimately makes him want to be more aggressive than previously, but his playstyle is definitely not about chucking smash attacks. In fact, Ganondorf's smashes are both faster and stronger than ours.

 

[monky2k6]

Thank you guys for your responses!

You state that he feels powerful because of his smashes, these should not be the reason you think he is powerful (depending on who you are playing against).

You talk about feeling safe with him but his smash attacks were by far his least safe moves.

That was an example where I especially thought how strong he was. Like, how less Percentage an opponent need to be knocked out.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I was switching to Ike from Link, because I couldn't utilize him in the air like I used to.

Maximize the use of his quicker options like Nair, Bair, and Dtilt (basically most of his air moves) that might not feel as "strong", but will certainly make you a better player. Use Nair to combo into other air moves, tilts and grabs depending on their percents.

I already use lots of his air-attacks, but I will try more of his tilts and grabs. Thank you!

...and gained a deadly combo starter opponents must constantly watch out for...

Tell me about it!

...but his playstyle is definitely not about chucking smash attacks.

Yes, of course. You're right. (But they are pretty fun though).

 

[ishmokin]

MKLeo won Smash Conference United with Ike.

 

[TheHero]

Ike is and always has been a fundamentals focused character. He simply isn't a very deep character and it is easy to figure out what you should be doing with him rather quickly, given you have a solid understanding of Smash. He isn't the kind of character who has some super hard execution barrier keeping other people from being able to play him(ie Melee Fox, PM Wolf).

 

[Smushi]

yeah ike is very straightforward. wouldn't say he's easy to play. more like if you're good at the game you'll be good with ike. just don't **** up.

 

[WeretigerX]

If Ike is coming most naturally to you, then use him. That's how I picked him as my main in Brawl. I was winning the most games with him, even over Meta Knight and Marth. Same thing for having Link as my secondary in Brawl.

Ike is and always has been a fundamentals focused character. He simply isn't a very deep character and it is easy to figure out what you should be doing with him rather quickly, given you have a solid understanding of Smash. He isn't the kind of character who has some super hard execution barrier keeping other people from being able to play him(ie Melee Fox, PM Wolf).

Overall I'd agree, although he is definitely a bit more execution heavy than he ever was. I do like that they pushed Ike just a little bit in that direction without completely changing him.

 

[h4 Gambiteer]

Ike is one character that is really different when playing against noobs vs tournament players. That's because Ike (historically, although I'd say it's not as terrible in Ultimate) is super bad against 2 tournament strategies that noobs aren't very good at: camping and edgeguarding.

Ike will struggle against a good shiek or diddy (going from Smash4 knowledge because I'm not sure how much these MU's have changed yet) because those characters can outrun him and keep a barrage of projectiles going (needles and bananas).

Ike's biggest weakness his his recovery. It's very linear and telegraphed, so good players can always spike him out of it. But if you're not confident enough to spike him out of aether, then it's a very safe move.

If Ike feels good to you, play him! Just a warning that when you play against good players, you'll start to feel how easily he gets combo'd and edgeguarded. A lot of players really don't like that feeling, but Ike's solid and MKLeo already proved that Ike can win against the best players despite the character's weaknesses.