Little things to mix up your Lucas play

[A Polar Bear]

...Meh, I don't know how to really explain it much more than the title. This'll just be an idea dump thread of some little things I found working decently well as a break from the usual Lucas bread and butter gameplay.

Sheikify him: D-throw, wait for air-dodge, then u-air or whatever-air. Sometimes even works with PK Freeze at lower percents.

Actually face forward when jumping off the stage to try and gimp your opponent: So many online Lucases are methodically turning around at the edge then jumping backwards at me to try for the b-air that I swear I'm watching the Olympic competition for diving. There's more to life than b-airs, other tools can be just as effective. Try PK Fire if they're coming down predictably or have a narrow recovery window. Try n-air to create a longer lasting hitbox to disrupt ****ty non hitbox recoveries. Try z-air for unexpected pokes.

Similarly: Don't fear commitment off stage. If you got a beat on your opponent, then chase him to the depths of Hell to make sure they don't come back. Trust your PKT2 to bring you back, that **** has more range than a B777.

D-throw follows up into everything: Including d-air, which is the most efficient way to rack up damage at low percents, way more efficient than n-airs and grounds them again for possible followups.

Literally everything: I've tried PKT after d-throw at low % a few times, for hilariously inefficient but flashy results. Sometimes even leads into a PKT2 if they're trapped at the right location, for a kill that should never-ever-work ever-again-but-isn't-going-to-stop-you-from-trying-again.

Magnet stall more: Seriously. Give yourself a bit more time to think, and disrupt the flow of the match, especially if it seems like your opponent is going HAM on you. Especially important offstage.

B-air has a weird hitbox: It begins almost directly above Lucas, making for some of the most awkward looking spikes when the strong hit is landed. Use it to your advantage, face forward, look them dead in the eye as you float toward them, and just when they think b-air is not in your plan, get under them and plant your toe into their nose.

I'm looking into methods to frame trap with Lucas too, but he's proving a bit too slow for that most of the time. Oh well.

Hey, you. Tell me what you're doing to freshify your Lucas down below. I wanna see.

 

[Kodystri]

Sheikify him: D-throw, wait for air-dodge, then u-air or whatever-air. Sometimes even works with PK Freeze at lower percents.

Why wait for airdodge when its already guaranteed?

 

[JohnnyB]

Sheikify him: D-throw, wait for air-dodge, then u-air or whatever-air. Sometimes even works with PK Freeze at lower percents.

Why wait for airdodge when its already guaranteed?

You can sometimes get better stuff if they airdodge out if panic (such as usmash), but sometimes they just jump out of hitstun and escape.

 

[knu_OOKA]

If I want to stay on the stage while edgeguarding I'll zone with PK Freeze and immediately cover another option. Most of the time PK Freeze is really a fake out just to get my opponent to drop to the ledge so I can catch them sleeping with a dsmash, since PK Freeze has almost no no end lag.

 

[Leololer]

About frametraps, something I like to do is: When my opponent doesn't have a jump and is in the air, near the ground, about to land onstage near my, I use PK Freeze to bait an airdodge to the ground and then punish with a dash attack or Fsmash if they're close. I think is a good conditioning tool, because they either airdodge to the ground and give me a free dash attack or they eat the PK Freeze which is free damage

 

[FUEGO!]

I enjoy Down throw to SH Pk Freeze at 100% and up, because usually if you save you second jump, you can hit them with a PKT2 while in mid air freeze and get the most stylish of kills.

 

[A Polar Bear]

Throwing a few things to add to here:

Experimenting with ways to follow footstool locks: if you're good enough to get a d-throw footstool, try landing u-air as they get up, following up with n-air, and then another u-air or fair or a bit more percent than u-smash follow up and possibility of putting opponent at an uncomfortable position.

Why do all of Lucas' sh*t have to be based on grabs: f-air's recent hitbox buff makes it viable as a DI cover for d-throw; jump slightly forward after the throw, and depending on their DI, f-air or u-air. Works best near edge or when they're around 90-110%, because f-air is actually pretty damn strong.

Praise Star, the Japanese Lucas who is RED's best friend: who taught me z-air approach when opponent at low percents, which if it connects cleanly, can apparently net a grab most of the time. Tried it, works like a dream especially on tall characters. Hot tamale.

Jump back f-air: It's instinctive to f-air while moving forward or up, but retreating f-air, whether it be on the ground or even offstage, works quite well to both cover yourself and to better land the sweetspot, which has deceptive range in front of Lucas. Just be careful to not land with it, because autocancels died with Brawl. Occasionally works as an OOS option, which usually do not exist with Lucas.

F-tilt more: Seriously. Spam that sh*t. Plenty of range, fast, deters reckless approaches by literally b*tch slapping them back.

The thunder wall: chasing with PKT is usually an effort in futility that even if it hits, doesn't really land you much. Instead take advantage of PKT's infinite priority tail. Circle PKT around and create a wall of hitboxes that landing or recovering opponents have to traverse. Works well with Cancerlina, Killager, and 20XX, and even Sheik, because one frame is all that's needed to get hit with PKT if you circle it around the edge.

Praise be the Rope Snake: go out there with him. When an opponent is offstage and falling down to use their recovery move, chase them with z-air. Fall with them spaced at a distance they won't perceive as threatening, and therefore won't deviate from their path or throw out a move, then poke them once or twice with z-air to put them in a much more uncomfortable place to have to recover from.

I've been looking into why this thread has a boner for PK Freeze, and have been trying to catch them while landing or when approaching edge like suggested, and it has worked well enough for me to seriously consider the option in games. It seems to work best when they're trying to fall to an edgegrab, after which if they airdodge, I can follow up with fall off b-air or d-smash. Thanks for the tips peeps.

 

[The 0ne]

When edguarding with fairs, use the leg once or twice before hitting them with the hexagon. In a few cases, sour fair to sweet fair can be a true combo, and even if it's not, airdodge reads are always present. You'll soon find this feels more natural, satisfying, and it's actually a net increase of both distance and damage.

Also most of Lucas's PSI moves are transcendent where the hexagons are completely disjointed from a Lucas appendage. Use them to beat other moves. The hexagons in ftilt, fair, dsmash, and I think nair are all transcendent, so they'll beat anything your opponents have, but they won't stop projectiles for that reason. Not upsmash oddly, even at the highest hitbox. Be careful and use zair, bair, the sourspots of ftilt and fair, or of course the classic fsmash for that. Fsmash and PK Freeze are also transcendent.

Also for this reason, be careful using nair to beat out other moves, ex. when Pikachu is Quick Attacking all across the stage and you're fed up with his ****. From experience, you will ALWAYS lose. I reccomend using the stuff I mentioned above for that.

I tested transcendence by making CPU Samus shoot things at me and seeing which moves didn't block the charge shot.


Additionally, try using PSI Magnet to interrupt attacks. When held past its minimum duration, it comes out frame 1 when released. I'm fairly sure it's also transcendent but it's hard to test since it only lasts one frame.

Hope these help!

Oh I almost forgot! Lucas can lock with weak fair, weak ftilt, the tip of dtilt, and I just discovered the first three hits of nair!

 

[BasedGamerAce]

I guess I'll add some stuff I like to do with Lucas too.

PIVOTS ARE YOUR FRIEND!!!! I feel that pivot ftilt, fsmash, and grab are tools that help Lucas with his zoning and getting kills. I'd also like to mention that pivot grabbing and fsmash can beat spot-dodge.

Zair from ledge is a good tool that I don't see used often. At higher percents (about +100% with rage), Zair from ledge can lead into a fsmash or dsmash. If they miss the tech, it is basically guaranteed. If they tech in place, you can hit the dsmash (most likely the 2nd and 3rd hit) or hit an fsmash by reading the tech. A dash attack can be used to read the forward tech roll. And...I'm not sure about the back tech roll. Maybe you can get a pkf off, or a grab if you read it. Overall, a solid tool for kills at high percents.

Nair shenanigans are cool. If you don't already know, Nair (usually fast-fall Nair) leads into utilt. This is basically the bread and butter for Lucas. I think everyone who takes a slight glance at Lucas knows this. So...why don't we use this to our advantage? If you notice opponents start shielding this, why don't we do Nair (or fast-fall Nair) to grab? This can lead to dthrow stuff or an ko with all his other throws.

One more thing. Conditioning your opponent is an important aspect of Lucas play. Knowing when you can go from pkf/zair zoning to aerial and tilt strings is important to Lucas (in my opinion). Conditioning helps open the holes in your opponents play that allow you to switch. For example, I'll play neutral with a ton off pkf and zair to annoy opponents. Then (after taking about 20-30%) opponents realize that shielding pkf and zair is a good idea. In reality it isn't. While pkf and zair are annoying, they don't add up much in the end (well...pkf does good damage, but you're not getting anything off it). But once you get a grab...opponents really feel the pain. Now you have them at about +60% off of grab combos/strings by the time they knock you back out. Now that you're back out, you can go back to the pkf/zair zoning, or just rush back in because your opponents were conditioned to expect pkf and zair until you get in. Then eventually, you get the kill. It's things like this which makes me feel that Lucas is a solid character, and grow as the meta continues to evolve (and also why I main Lucas).

Well...this was a write up. I hope this helps out someone...somewhere...sometime...

 

[skeletonboxers]

Was gonna talk about PK Freeze in this, but people have al
ready mentioned its frametrapping potential (no one mentioned you can condition your opponent to air dodge then follow up with a up smash)

Recently I've been mixing up Dtilt into my play.
A few dtilts to jab is a great way to rack up damage
Dtilt to grab also works
Dtilt also follows up with fmash which is a fun, surprising way to KO someone. Ftilt works too to send them back. PSI Mag is even quick enough most of the time to send them flying (especially at the ends of stages)
I don't use this much but dtilt can even ledgeguard, but Lucas has better options here.

B Reversed psi mag is a great way to mix up landing or retreating if you need to
B reversed pk fire is also good at mixing up how you space (time the inputs differently and youll get a retreating pkf, however)
havent found much use out of b reversed pk freeze though