L Cancel timing?

[Plethorix]

I've heard plenty of people say things like "Just press l before you hit the ground, it's easy". I even had a friend tell me that he completely mastered it in 30 minutes. I don't see how. I've been trying to consistently l-cancel for a good time now, and it is, at best, 50% of the time that I'm actually able to cut my lag.

This with me, fox, spamming various aerials FF'd, attempting to LC and spamming shine afterward to see if it worked. No beans. My LC as of now is nowhere near consistent enough to consider using it in competetive play.

Any tips?

 

[mastermoo420]

Make sure you know how to L-cancel, first. Try the Link d-air and L-canceling that to make sure you know what you're doing. Secondly, don't try to learn how to L-cancel the drill. That's another subject on its own. Also, don't L-cancel on timing. Watch yourself hit the ground and make sure you press L 10 frames before or something like that.

You can also practice wavelanding. It's the same timing.

 

[Da Shuffla]

Yeah, start off with watching your feet when practicing(Fox's feet, not yours). When you can see what you are looking for, continue practicing that until it gets natural. Or, you could just drill shine, let's say a Peach, in Practice mode. If you L-cancel correctly, it will combo. Even if you use the C-stick for your aerials, you can still use another method in Practice Mode just to see that it combos. I started off using Z for my aerials, so that worked for me when learning. After that, I switched over at some point, but I could still L-cancel correctly.

 

[booshk]

keep practising, lol. make sure you can do it in the air, and when you hit someone.

 

[FoxLisk]

a lot of aerials have the timing where if you press L at just about the same time you fast fall (from a short hop) it L cancels. try using that as a benchmark and figuring it out from there.

 

[mastermoo420]

Watching the feet is the best, though. I have a horrible habit of doing jump > aerial > FF > L-cancel. I never vary the timing of my aerials which is pretty crucial sometimes for good shield-pressure or shine follow-ups.

 

[cjugs]

I personally like to play as a different character to learn l cancel timing like not so technical char like mario link ylink or other chars like that then tackle fox i'm still working on fox and lcanceling with him was no problem i don't think i even practiced.

 

[4 Aces]

^I kinda hve to agree with him. Maining Link helped me learn to shffl (except that was when I only played as Link lol). It's kinda like wavedashing: once you learn how to wavedash/shffl with one or two characters, you'll be able to do it with everyone.

I guess since you're still starting out, it's...sorta okay....to learn shffl's by timing. Once you are 99% consistent, instead of l-canceling via timing, l-cancel by looking at your character and noting when he hits the ground. The reason for this is that there is a slightly different timing when you hit someone. Same goes for when you hit a shield too. Or say that you do a full hop nair onto a platform above you. That'd be a different timing as well. Or if you decide to not fast fall your aerial -- that's a different timing as well.

^So...in short, it's better to look at your character, but since you're starting out, guess you could get away with learning via timing. But do ween away from it once you get it down.

 

[Da Shuffla]

I know the timings for empty shffls and when I hit other characters.

I'm still working on shffling against shields.

The timing is just even slower.

 

[Strong Badam]

L-Cancel window is 6 frames (.1 seconds) before you hit the ground. To put it into perspective, Nana lags behind Popo's attacks by 6 frames.
Hitlag can affect this window, however it doesn't increase or decrease the window itself.

 

[cjugs]

^I kinda hve to agree with him. Maining Link helped me learn to shffl (except that was when I only played as Link lol). It's kinda like wavedashing: once you learn how to wavedash/shffl with one or two characters, you'll be able to do it with everyone.

I guess since you're still starting out, it's...sorta okay....to learn shffl's by timing. Once you are 99% consistent, instead of l-canceling via timing, l-cancel by looking at your character and noting when he hits the ground. The reason for this is that there is a slightly different timing when you hit someone. Same goes for when you hit a shield too. Or say that you do a full hop nair onto a platform above you. That'd be a different timing as well. Or if you decide to not fast fall your aerial -- that's a different timing as well.

^So...in short, it's better to look at your character, but since you're starting out, guess you could get away with learning via timing. But do ween away from it once you get it down.

Lol true i mained link with no intention of playing any other character and learned to lcancel with not alot of practice so i lucked out there. Idk playing as fox he is just so hard to control harder than falcon i think my advice play as ganon marth peach sheik someone who is not techy at all so you can warm up to fox.

 

[DippnDots]

Honestly the l-cancel timing is never different, it's always right before you hit the ground. People will say depending on how the aerial hits(someones shield, ice climbers, etc) or whiffs the timing changes but this is wrong. The window for the l cancel doesn't change, and the point at which you need to hit l is always the same in a positioning context. What do you need to be aware of though is that depending on which aerial you use and what situation you're in, you're going to be in the air longer or shorter before needing to press L.

Personally, if I know I'm going to hit someone, I don't worry about l-canceling, it's so natural for me. Only when I'm hitting someone's shield do I take the time to look at my own character instead of my opponent. If you know your shield pressure well enough, you don't need to keep a heavy eye on your opponent because your goal is to keep him in his shield, you can take that time to look for the minute timings that'll make your shield pressure that much stronger. Not trying to say you need to turn a blind eye to whoever you're playing during this time, but peripherals and a knowledge of his options should be enough to react to whatever he tries.

tl;dr

Don't focus on the timing, but the positioning aspect, as that'll help you execute the proper timing through reflex instead of calculation.

 

[Strong Badam]

^wrong. positioning has nothing to do with it. it's a 6-frame window, regardless of positioning. this window extends into hitlag and doesn't increase when hitlag occurs, however, which is why many people think the timing changes. it's /still/ 1-6 frames before you land.
for example, Jigglypuff or Samus needs to be closer to the ground to L-cancel than Fox, Falcon, or Falco because those three characters fall quicker, thus they could be a decent height off the ground 6 frames before they land.

 

[FoxLisk]

i disagree with everyone who says you should watch your character. that's dumb. you should be watchign your opponents character and know your character's timing.

 

[mastermoo420]

You know, if you're attacking them, if you're looking at your character, you'll be looking at your opponent's character, too.

 

[Strong Badam]

thank you, captain obvious

 

[Zatchiel]

I normally just hit the Shield button the instant before my attack hits down. Works all the time.
Other people have different ways of timing it, like my friend, he FF the aerial so that he knows exactly when to hit Shield.

 

[FoxLisk]

no, you'll be seeing their character. you need to be focused on what they're doing, because you already know waht you're doing. seeing it peripherally doesn't cut it.

 

[mastermoo420]

I don't know about you, but I can see my character and my opponent's character just fine when they're right next to each other. And, Strong_Bad, stop hating. Seriously. If I was being obvious, then it should have been obvious to FoxLisk. But he obviously didn't get it. HURRR DURRRR

 

[4 Aces]

I don't know about you, but I can see my character and my opponent's character just fine when they're right next to each other. And, Strong_Bad, stop hating. Seriously. If I was being obvious, then it should have been obvious to FoxLisk. But he obviously didn't get it. HURRR DURRRR

^This bolded part. Most TV screens aren't THAT big. -_-

 

[FoxLisk]

I don't know about you, but I can see my character and my opponent's character just fine when they're right next to each other. And, Strong_Bad, stop hating. Seriously. If I was being obvious, then it should have been obvious to FoxLisk. But he obviously didn't get it. HURRR DURRRR

whatever. i'm trying to give people advice, im a lot better than you, i dont really care who they listen to. watch whatever you like.

edit: this was sort of douchey of me... sorry. i was in a really bad mood this morning.

 

[pockeystick]

I dont know how this will help but whenever I L-Cancel with fox or any other character I fast fall and hit the z button at the same time.

 

[Bets]

l cancling is different when you're hitting an opponent, hitting an opponent when he's shielding, and when you're not hitting an opponent. you gotta get used to it.

 

[Rooktionary]

There are different timings to your l-canceling depending on how you hit the other character or if they're sheilding or not. A good way to practice is to plug in a second controller, put it as bowser, give it a handicap of 9, set the damage down to .5% and just start throwin out aerials so that you can get used to l-canceling them. Then, turn on stars and let the bowser get it so that it's invincible. Try shffling against that, because it emulates how attacking a shielded person would be. You also need to get the timing for shffling against nothing as well. Good luck :D

 

[Wenbobular]

Hitting a character and hitting a shield are two different timings ...

 

[Republican0fHeaven]

Hitting a character and hitting a shield are two different timings ...

The shffled nair shows 6 frames of lag against both shield and connected hit. Don't know about other aerials