Dakpo
Smash Lord
Is the Luigi hype real? What happened to the green man we thought could take a shot at APEX? Didn’t Jmiller take a huge win at BEAST 5? Wasn’t Boss cleaning up his region for a while? Maybe the Luigi hype was just false hope. At APEX top 16, we see one Luigi player, False. False isn’t particularly a Luigi main. He actually mains sheik and used Luigi for a few match-ups or for fun. This is actually pretty disheartening to most Luigi players to hear. For a while we thought this might be a game that Luigi was actually one of the best.
Well folks, I’m here to tell you that Luigi is indeed one of the best characters in the game. Although results at APEX may say otherwise, this character is extremely powerful and the meta-game is just starting to develop. What makes this character so strong? His combo potential and kill power are early signs of potential. Later in the article I will explain this characters combo tree, which is incredibly long and complicated. Another thing that will make this character last is how he does versus the ever changing meta-game.
The Anti-Meta
So what is anti-meta? To define anti-meta, we must first establish the term meta-game. Meta-game is defined as the dominant strategy/methodology that is used at the high level of a game. In simple terms, it just means what’s usually winning and why. I think it can be said that Diddy Kong is everywhere. We saw 2 in top 8 at apex, and one of them won. Diddy Kong has a lot of tournament results as well. Another character to look at would be Sheik. Many sheiks did well at APEX including a 3rd place finish from Nientono and the closest tournament results to Diddy Kong. I feel as though those are the two characters that are showing the best results. This is not to say Rosa, Sonic and others aren't making their way but we need to look at what Sheik and Diddy Kong have in common that really makes them shine. HOO HA! That’s right, among the many tools Diddy has, he is best known for his down throw combos. Diddy can rack up easy percent and snag a KO with a simple grab to up air. Sheik also thrives off of throw combos. These characters also tend to lean on the more aggressive side as well. Both characters can obviously be played defensively, but thankfully that isn’t what’s winning at the moment. Now that we have defined what the meta-game is, we need to find the weaknesses.
The anti-meta is a strategy that is meant to counter or do well versus the current meta. The first thing we need to form the anti-meta is to break down the aggressive playstyles, step by step. For that, we need a character who has the tools deal with Diddy’s and sheiks grab/aerial game. Diddy Kong uses bananas to get easy grabs. How can we stop Diddy Kong from using bananas you ask? By making them more of a risk instead of reward. Luigi seems to be the best character in the entire game with Bananas. This is obvious when you look at the 2 follow ups you can get. First off, if you connect a banana at 63% (before the banana hit) then Diddy dies to a Luigi Up B on all of the current legal stages. This is a true combo! Second of all, If Diddy is any lower than that, it means you get a free grab which should put Diddy around 63% and above. How ridiculous is that. If you can just fathom how much better Luigi is with a banana than Diddy is, then you start to see the beginnings of something called the anti-meta. Luigi’s Up smash actually beats Diddy Kong’s Side B 100% of the time, if spaced correctly. You can grab Diddy Kong at 98%, pummel, down throw, and land the kill with an Up B on all the legal stages as well. Granted you have to follow the DI correctly, but this means Diddy Kong is in extreme danger after 98%. It kills even lower with rage! Luigi also has an incredible gimp game on Diddy. You basically get your choice of using sour spot nair or Down B to knock Diddy out of his Up B. These are exactly the kinds of tool you need to steal a game from the infamous Diddy Kong.
Sheik also has a hard time with Luigi. Not because of gimmicks with a banana or easy gimps but because of something that is very unique to Luigi. Sheik’s game plan depends on using long combo strings and good edge guarding to get kills. Luigi’s floaty nature combined with his incredibly fast nair make him a nightmare to combo. This is also something that applies to Diddy but not as much. Extensive combos, combo breakers, and extreme kill power are the tools that can counter this aggressive style of the early meta-game.
Now I’m not here trying to convince anyone that Luigi is the best character in the game, he has a lot of weaknesses. Luigi can lose to characters who have disjointed walls like Rosalina and Zero Suit Samus and his recovery is sub-par, but paired with the right secondary/co-main, he could win something big. At the bottom I will leave some links to some really entertaining Luigi videos.
Check out some awesome vids from Azazel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wgxhTvKzWs
S/O to some of my Luigi brethren
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2EFIzijDfg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLTmbeQaZYE
Some vids of myself
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOPpGbzHFb4
Shameless plug- Follow me @thedakpo
Well folks, I’m here to tell you that Luigi is indeed one of the best characters in the game. Although results at APEX may say otherwise, this character is extremely powerful and the meta-game is just starting to develop. What makes this character so strong? His combo potential and kill power are early signs of potential. Later in the article I will explain this characters combo tree, which is incredibly long and complicated. Another thing that will make this character last is how he does versus the ever changing meta-game.
The Anti-Meta
So what is anti-meta? To define anti-meta, we must first establish the term meta-game. Meta-game is defined as the dominant strategy/methodology that is used at the high level of a game. In simple terms, it just means what’s usually winning and why. I think it can be said that Diddy Kong is everywhere. We saw 2 in top 8 at apex, and one of them won. Diddy Kong has a lot of tournament results as well. Another character to look at would be Sheik. Many sheiks did well at APEX including a 3rd place finish from Nientono and the closest tournament results to Diddy Kong. I feel as though those are the two characters that are showing the best results. This is not to say Rosa, Sonic and others aren't making their way but we need to look at what Sheik and Diddy Kong have in common that really makes them shine. HOO HA! That’s right, among the many tools Diddy has, he is best known for his down throw combos. Diddy can rack up easy percent and snag a KO with a simple grab to up air. Sheik also thrives off of throw combos. These characters also tend to lean on the more aggressive side as well. Both characters can obviously be played defensively, but thankfully that isn’t what’s winning at the moment. Now that we have defined what the meta-game is, we need to find the weaknesses.
The anti-meta is a strategy that is meant to counter or do well versus the current meta. The first thing we need to form the anti-meta is to break down the aggressive playstyles, step by step. For that, we need a character who has the tools deal with Diddy’s and sheiks grab/aerial game. Diddy Kong uses bananas to get easy grabs. How can we stop Diddy Kong from using bananas you ask? By making them more of a risk instead of reward. Luigi seems to be the best character in the entire game with Bananas. This is obvious when you look at the 2 follow ups you can get. First off, if you connect a banana at 63% (before the banana hit) then Diddy dies to a Luigi Up B on all of the current legal stages. This is a true combo! Second of all, If Diddy is any lower than that, it means you get a free grab which should put Diddy around 63% and above. How ridiculous is that. If you can just fathom how much better Luigi is with a banana than Diddy is, then you start to see the beginnings of something called the anti-meta. Luigi’s Up smash actually beats Diddy Kong’s Side B 100% of the time, if spaced correctly. You can grab Diddy Kong at 98%, pummel, down throw, and land the kill with an Up B on all the legal stages as well. Granted you have to follow the DI correctly, but this means Diddy Kong is in extreme danger after 98%. It kills even lower with rage! Luigi also has an incredible gimp game on Diddy. You basically get your choice of using sour spot nair or Down B to knock Diddy out of his Up B. These are exactly the kinds of tool you need to steal a game from the infamous Diddy Kong.
Sheik also has a hard time with Luigi. Not because of gimmicks with a banana or easy gimps but because of something that is very unique to Luigi. Sheik’s game plan depends on using long combo strings and good edge guarding to get kills. Luigi’s floaty nature combined with his incredibly fast nair make him a nightmare to combo. This is also something that applies to Diddy but not as much. Extensive combos, combo breakers, and extreme kill power are the tools that can counter this aggressive style of the early meta-game.
Now I’m not here trying to convince anyone that Luigi is the best character in the game, he has a lot of weaknesses. Luigi can lose to characters who have disjointed walls like Rosalina and Zero Suit Samus and his recovery is sub-par, but paired with the right secondary/co-main, he could win something big. At the bottom I will leave some links to some really entertaining Luigi videos.
Check out some awesome vids from Azazel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wgxhTvKzWs
S/O to some of my Luigi brethren
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2EFIzijDfg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLTmbeQaZYE
Some vids of myself
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOPpGbzHFb4
Shameless plug- Follow me @thedakpo
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