I need some help at gimping Ike. The match-up is tough for me in the first place, but I feel this could make it easier. I've tried so many different options. Tips?
"Push him offstage as soon as you have the chance, then jump after him and keep hitting him with attacks until he's too far to come back", that's the general gimping strategy against Ike for us. Lets see if I can explain it in some other, less vague way...
Okay, so when you knock Ike offstage, your goal is to keep him offstage. He can either recover from below stage level near the ledge with his upB (extremely vertical), or from above stage level from far away with his sideB (extreme horizontal), and this isn't counting recoveries from high up (If he's getting knocked high up, it generally means you're using attacks that are too strong, or he's no longer gimpable and now you have to kill him... Remember, gimps are low % kills). That's pretty much it, 2 forms of recoveries he can do with his own attacks. I'll cover the recovering-from-high after the ones with attacks.
*UpB: The strategy here is quite easy, actually... Usually when you see someone below stage level, your first reaction is to go there and dair them. That's good, and definitely works on Ike. But if you miss, you're committed to that attack and can't do anything until it finishes, and that includes
grab the ledge before Ike does so. So, that's a great option, but the
optimal option would be to jump down backwards and start bairing him. It's a faster attack and will keep pushing Ike away from the stage and he'll remain below stage level, and since it ends fast, you can keep following him and bairing him. He's not gonna attack you because his attacks are quite laggy and if he does, his stock is gone,
period... So, once you bair him and he's too far to recover, just jump back and grab the ledge with your remaining jumps. He might try and take you with him with his upB, so be careful about how you go back t the stage! You could drop way below stage level and wait out the attack until he starts going downwards, then jump and airdodge at the same time to evade that downwards swing and recover safely.
*SideB: This one's really easy. As soon as you see an Ike charging his sideB, take notice of how high he is. If he's at a height where you can jump and follow him offstage, then get hit with his attack before he releases it, then by all means do so! If you get hit with his attack, you stop his advance and he falls to his doom in freefall... But if he's too high, just sit around and wait for him to sideB. Once he does, trace where he's gonna land, then try and hit him before he touches the floor or grabs a ledge so he doesn't recover his jumps. If you knock him back offstage, it's all a matter of jumping out and bairing him once or twice before his stock is done for, then you recover with your remaining jumps.
*He's coming from too high: He probably has too much % to get gimped, so your best bet is to just take his stock with a smash attack. Assuming he'll always DI properly, you'll find it much better to just forget all about gimping him and just racking up damage for the kill. BUT! If by any chance you hit him/throw him and he goes offstage, don't think twice and immediately jump facing away from him. Bairs are your best bet for gimping him since his horizontal air speed won't get him to the stage fast enough for him to save himself, and his upB is a vertical recovery move, so dairing him and sending him down (vertical) is not as effective as bairing him and sending him away (horizontal).
Dair is still a good option for gimping Ike, but only if you
know you're gonna hit with it. If you're not sure, start bairing away and watch him not be able to cover enough horizontal distance in time and die. If you can, try and hit him with weak bairs instead of the strong hits so his DI doesn't help him recover. Still, you don't need to worry much about one of your bairs saving him, since his horizontal air speed is THAT slow, and knocking him away a good enough distance will gimp him anyway.
