Keep Calm and Jab - your resource for pressing A

[Jerodak]

This may need a sticky, it almost got burried.

Edit: Also, covering when not to jab may be a good idea; too much is probably worse than too little.

 

[Xandercosm]

This is awesome. Jab is basically Bowser's only useful move in the neutral, in my opinion, so this is a post I'll remember to re-read whenever I need to brush up on my jab skills. Nice work!

 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

This may need a sticky, it almost got burried.

Edit: Also, covering when not to jab may be a good idea; too much is probably worse than too little.

Updating this thread and adding more content has been on my long to do list since the patch. Especially since we've received so many bright players that want to step up their game past dash grab > Uthrow > Uair. I don't mind this thread being temporarily buried now because we really do need a lot of input to figure out this new throw. Speaking of, I have just retooled some of my articles in the OP to reflect 1.13 changes. Dash Grab is now a fantastic choice as a jab followup, better than my old favorite - Side B. It won't whiff, Uthrow is a move we want to stale, unlike Side B, and between the damage wracking combos of Uthrow and it's Uair kill followup, there's a lot more versatility here than we ever had from grabbing the opponent. Jab 2 also got a significant buff in my eyes. It's primary niche was being a true combo and putting the opponent offstage. And Bowser's new ability to ledgesnap from behind during Fortress significantly improves the safety of offstage edgeguarding, particularly runoff Fair, which carried significant risk when the opponent air dodged past it. Not anymore. Jab 2 is especially viable for setting up edgeguards against those bad recoveries utilized by Falcon, Luigi, Ike, Cloud, etc.

I was hoping to have more data on rage at this point, as that was next on my list. Bowser's heavy weight lets us stay alive at much higher percents than anybody else, so knowing just how much better jab becomes in terms of frames with rage is pretty integral information.

Covering when not to jab is a tricky idea for a topic. I touch on this a bit on the "when and how to use jab", and I think that's all we need. Jab is our least commital move. It's the most difficult to punish, it's fast, has decent range. Yes overuse is bad like any move, but all I would ever think to talk about is how and when to use other moves, and at that point it's a straight up Bowser Guide.

 

[BarSoapSoup]

I try to mix up Jab's purposes in my gameplay. At one point in a match, I'll use it to space an opponent out when I think they're a little close for comfort. Other times, I'll use it to go into a D-tilt kill. It's silly, but remembering the fight with Giga Bowser in Melee made me make a lot of use of jab when I started out.

A little note, not sure if this is incredibly helpful or not, but often when an opponent fails to perfect shield my jab 1, I finish the jab combo, then jab again. I guess some people expect a bigger move to come out of it, but there are plenty of times where I've been able to catch people with a second jab combo.

 

[pitfall356]

Many times, I can hit a shield with jab 2 and then start jabbing again because the opponent expects me to do something else.

 

[Jerodak]

Just showing up to bump this for easy access.