KO's with Samus

[DerpaDoo]

Samus has great killing potential with her great array of moves, yet oftentimes really hard to land the killing blow. What are your ways of KOing opponents??

Bair Gimping is the best way to get KO's 70% and below. Most opponents can be combo'd with bair -> bair below 100%. For noobs it's easy to read a quick doublejump after being thrown off stage and follow up to a second bair. If coming from below stage, dropdown bair from ledge can be pretty effective.

Juggle Counter -> If you are being juggled, fast fall to airdodge to drop below the opponent and as soon as the airdodge ends use an up-air; up-b

Rolling Abuse to gain an upperhand and wait until the opponent waits makes a mistake is also a way to land a KO except on any competitively competent players, but this rolling a lot against even good players seems to be pretty onesided as long as you don't land in front, don't roll against effective projectiles, and don't roll behind the opponent.

 

[GdspdUblkprzdnt]

I've been killing sucesfully with all the arials, fair, nair, and bair being offstage kills. Charge shot and forward smash are my bread and butter and the up b works if people aren't expecting it or I've conditioned them to think it's not coming.

 

[Jones534]

When it comes to KOs for me...I mostly rely on my charge shot. Her fsmash is what I get a majority of my kills with though but for some reason that fsmash has this werid hitbox to me.... I can be right in front of someone and whiff.

 

[DerpaDoo]

The hitbox seems to be only her gun and the sweetspot (Flame). I have issues with this and don't like to use it too much as a reliable finisher, especially against faster characters/characters with a good shield grab.

 

[Jones534]

I'm not a fan of her dsmash but it gets the job done.

 

[DerpaDoo]

It's ok for punishing rolls. At around 70-80% I have been able to follow up dsmash with an edgeguard (ff dair, ff, bair, fair, utilt) depending on the opponent. It seems like it depends mostly on the other player not being predictable, but meh. There hasn't been easy edgeguarding and gimps since melee.

 

[Uffe]

Her uair has KO potential like Sheik's. I'm so glad they've put that in, because the opponent gets hit by her drilling kick and then flings upward afterwards. Her up tilt is pretty good, too. It has kill power and I think it may even have the ability to bounce people into another. That, or these players were falling back into it without DI or whatever. Either way, I think she has better killing power in this game around, just as she should.

 

[DerpaDoo]

At low % You can get 2-3 utilts. 4 if they're super heavy. Usually I use fair because it racks up more damage, but utilt to uair fair at low percentages racks up 40-50%. She has monster combos, put after about 120% nothing really combos well and setting up a bair, utilt, fsmash can be really hard. Dsmash, tdtilt, utilt, and nair doesn't kill until about 180% give or take and with rolling, quick recovery dash attacks, and samus's slow shield grab it's hard to get the opponent off stage even.

 

[Jones534]

@ DerpaDoo

I'd like to know how you feel about her ledge game? I feel that it's good but not great and excels on the stages that have walls. Her zair is great if timed right along with homing missiles. Utilt of courses is her best option for when they are on the ledge. Have you found a move that can reach an opponent before they can sweetspot the ledge? Also I feel her customs make her ledge game really good.

 

[pinkdeaf1]

Dsmash, tdtilt, utilt, and nair doesn't kill until about 180% give or take and with rolling, quick recovery dash attacks, and samus's slow shield grab it's hard to get the opponent off stage even.

You shouldn't even be shield grabbing too often with samus. She has a rather long pivot grab which you can do instead of going for shield grabs. Also, don't count out her missiles. They prove useful in a good amount of situations.

 

[Cecil_harvey93]

Charged Shot is a great KO move, shooting it before they land or when they have you off stage are very unexpected and have very high chance of hitting. Just remember to conserve your jump and watch your height of course.
Fsmash is easily blocked or dodged, unless you dodge into it or damage boost into it at low%
One nice KO move I've been learning to utilize is Dair. Shoulder charging them off the edge, throwing them off the edge, or any other form of knocking them to the left or right puts them at a high risk of a quick kill down to even 30-40% if hit properly. My method of setup is to walk off the edge and jump with Dair input. This gives you far more control over aiming this attack than trying to get them underneath you, and can definitely catch them off guard as they are trying to recover.
One way I've found to best utilize Bair kill potential is to force them off the ledge by grabbing it yourself and quickly drop off, jump and Bair. After you can either grapple the ledge or screw attack recover if needed.

 

[Doeboy]

I've had some trouble getting kills with her as well... I often find that I can rack up damage well between her missiles and fairs and uairs, but I notice that my opponents get really high damage often.

 

[leiraD]

charge shot or fsmash on ground, fair and upb in the air. If I'm playing against someone who is defending and turtling hard, upb on ground often catches people off guard.

 

[Doeboy]

On average, what percent damage can I expect an up B to kill? Let's assume I'm starting the attack on the ground.

EDIT: If there's a database or thread somewhere floating around that someone knows of, I'd really appreciate a link. Thanks!

 

[leiraD]

In the air can be pretty low, like 115, but on the ground is more like 150, depending on the level. Some levels have higher and lower ceilings.

 

[DerpaDoo]

I have had really good success with her ledge games. She gimps with Dair when the opponent spams second jump out of a throw off of stage.

Fastfall -> bair = easy gimp/deaths.
Fair/ Fastfall Fair has great priority and an extended hitbox when you're moving forward with the attack. I can usually catch people in the attack and if the last hit doesn't connect they usually double jump to get on stage. This can lead to a utilt if done right because the opponent jumps too high to sweetspot the ledge.
Dair = Hard to connect with to spike unless it's as a punishment for opponents that spam second jump. It is good to mix things up by throwing it out there.
Fastfalling nairs have a nice extended hit box which can lead to a KO yet I feel that nair's range, priority, and strange hitbox make this move fairly ineffective at edgeguarding.


Granted these are the tactics I use vs online where it's laggy and there aren't that many skilled players. Against a high skilled player I don't see her edgeguarding tactics being very useful.

@ DerpaDoo

I'd like to know how you feel about her ledge game? I feel that it's good but not great and excels on the stages that have walls. Her zair is great if timed right along with homing missiles. Utilt of courses is her best option for when they are on the ledge. Have you found a move that can reach an opponent before they can sweetspot the ledge? Also I feel her customs make her ledge game really good.

 

[Doeboy]

I've learned a lot in the past week or so...

Do not underestimate the nair! It has decent KO power offstage and comes out fast enough. It's also great for down throw combos when your opponent has high damage and you can't do multiple uairs in succession. An offstage fair KOs well too.

An upwards tilted, sweet-spotted Fsmash has some serious beef to it. Doing this to a lighter character near a ledge with 75% can kill. It's just tough to hit with the upwards angle being above most standing opponents, so it works better when someone is trying to get back on stage (or against the tall, ****** Rosalina).

 

[Los4Muros]

Thanks to the landing lag in this game, Charge shots can be times and used for a smooth nice KO. FSmash is nice since it's pretty fast (although punishable) and gets the job done. Those are the best options. FSmash is a great finisher off edges since even with they airdodge it, the attack lasts so long, it'll grab them even after the airdodge finishes. And on heights a Up B usually gets the job done. I know U Air should be a an equal option, but I haven't clicked with that move yet.

 

[leiraD]

Around 120-130% (more for heavier characters), I start trying to set up an up-b to kill. Probably my favorite way is to hit someone off the stage and then stand right on the edge if they try to recovery from the edge. If they do an attack recovery, then I shield the attack and go right into the up-b. If they go for a jump recovery, then I just wait until they're right above me and go for the up-b. This doesn't work if they do a roll recovery because they end up behind you, but otherwise, its worked for me both in tournament matches and for-glory games.

 

[GdspdUblkprzdnt]

Short hop nairs, bairs, and dairs have become very powerful options for me. I they're impossible to land unless you know the MU inside and out though

 

[Doeboy]

Awesome technique... with a full charge, bait out a dash attack, etc., and have your opponent hit a bomb. Usually they fall over, and it's insanely easy to unload all over their face with the charge shot. DEAD

 

[GdspdUblkprzdnt]

Around 120-130% (more for heavier characters), I start trying to set up an up-b to kill. Probably my favorite way is to hit someone off the stage and then stand right on the edge if they try to recovery from the edge. If they do an attack recovery, then I shield the attack and go right into the up-b. If they go for a jump recovery, then I just wait until they're right above me and go for the up-b. This doesn't work if they do a roll recovery because they end up behind you, but otherwise, its worked for me both in tournament matches and for-glory games.

A great compliment to that with a full CS would be to face away and cover their roll option.

 

[leiraD]

A great compliment to that with a full CS would be to face away and cover their roll option.

Great idea. Or even a forward tilt or grab might work.

 

[BlackCephie]

Ive been playing with kills using power missile hits. The interesting thing is that enemy reactions to getting blasted by a pm is generally going to be fairly predictable. The best thing is that it puts them in the air. If you are fully charged, you can jump and land the cshot even at big percents. You can punish the air dodge. If your height measuring is on point its reliable. Double jump can still be punished, and when they land is almost always gauranteed.