Smash 3DS Lucario, Lucina, Robin

[YT_PyroNinja]

The title of this thread is a very common phrase for me. Lucario, Lucian, Robin. Whenever someone asks who I main in sm4sh this is always my reply. For some reason however, people don't get that you can have more then one main. What are your thoughts? Can someone have *just one* main or can someone have more then one primary mains.

 

[FamilyTeam]

Here's the thing
Depending on your meaning of main (i.e mine), no, you cannot have more than one. It's called "main" for a reason.
If you told me to come up with a definition of main on the spot, I'd say something like "1. The one character you will always fall back on when you most need them, 2. Your undoubtedly best character, 3. The character you dedicated the most time towards and/or know the most about."
Like Omni roughly put it, if you were playing a set of Smash and your life was on the line, who would you pick to give you the best chances at winning.
It's the character you focus and specialise on. Whenever somebody says they specialise in more than one, more often than not they don't really specialise in any of them.
True dual mains are rare. Most people tend to focus on one character and then have a couple to cover their weaknesses in matchups or if the player prefers to play a particular matchup with someone else. You are very hardly going to have 2 or more characters being equally as good as each other, and even if it is possible, it'll very likely require a very massive amount of effort to not make either character crippled. You can see this as quality over quantity.

 

[#HBC | Red Ryu]

Main usually denotes you play primarily that character. There is a concept known as dual maining but even then there is going to be favoritism for one character.

 

[1FC0]

Lucina is for Marth players who are bad at spacing.

 

[FamilyTeam]

Lucina is for Marth players who are bad at spacing.

That's very rude and horribly misinformed.


Now back to OP's subject
Well since I already had to use this post, this is a completely unrealistic example but I think it might illustrate my point a bit.
Say that you have 100 hours to practice Smash 4 for a tournament, and imagine that it's true that the person with the most hours put into the game always wins.
Imagine that the average player that will attend this tournament has 55 hours of experience, with rare extremes of 120 and 20.

If you were a solo main, you would have 100 hours into your character and likely win against most people.

If you were a main with a secondary, let's say you have 65 hours into your main and 35 hours into your secondary. You might lose a bit more than the solo main but you at least have kind of an option to fall back to if you need it.

If you tried maining two characters, you'd have 50 hours into one main and 50 into the other, and now you're actually below average. You'd progress a few matches but you'd have trouble even with your average joe there,

and if you tried maining three characters, you'd have 33 hours put into each, and now you're so below average it hardly matters you can play 3 characters. You'd probably hardly win anything.

Of course none of this works like exactly like that and this example is not perfect, but trying to give two characters or more similar amounts of attention is going to ultimately result in something not too dissimilar from that.

Truly maining more than one character is reserved for people who have played the game for a long time. For most people, going this route means having a bunch of sub-par characters that might not be enough to really deal with anybody rather than one great character or one good character with backup(s).

 

[A Scrub]

You really only have one main, as said before it's the character you rely on first, are most comfortable playing, and is your "go to" character.

You can have other characters that you are proficient in, and maybe you switched mains and you keep your old main as a secondary. But to split your time up between characters means you probably are worse off than equally skilled opponents who specialize in one main.

The only plus side is if you have a secondary you might be able to surprise your opponent with an unfamiliar matchup, or if your main has a truly hard counter and you'd do better with your secondary than your main.

 

[Applebutter61]

In casual play, I would say that being proficient is great. It's really what the game is all about. But, to kick butt, you have to focus on a certain character because every character has different play style, AT's, strategies, abilities, and so on.

 

[YT_PyroNinja]

Here's the thing
Depending on your meaning of main (i.e mine), no, you cannot have more than one. It's called "main" for a reason.
If you told me to come up with a definition of main on the spot, I'd say something like "1. The one character you will always fall back on when you most need them, 2. Your undoubtedly best character, 3. The character you dedicated the most time towards and/or know the most about."
Like Omni roughly put it, if you were playing a set of Smash and your life was on the line, who would you pick to give you the best chances at winning.
It's the character you focus and specialise on. Whenever somebody says they specialise in more than one, more often than not they don't really specialise in any of them.
True dual mains are rare. Most people tend to focus on one character and then have a couple to cover their weaknesses in matchups or if the player prefers to play a particular matchup with someone else. You are very hardly going to have 2 or more characters being equally as good as each other, and even if it is possible, it'll very likely require a very massive amount of effort to not make either character crippled. You can see this as quality over quantity.

In casual play, I would say that being proficient is great. It's really what the game is all about. But, to kick butt, you have to focus on a certain character because every character has different play style, AT's, strategies, abilities, and so on.

Thanks so much. I have been struggling with this for a while.

 

[Eekum_bokum]

Could we say that MKleo does it?

I mean I don't think it's a good idea tbh. Just stick with one character and get really good with that character. Learn bad MU's. That way you'll feel confident and comfortable with that character where you won't even think about switching. I mess around with characters like Cloud, Lucina, Diddy Kong and Charizard in casual play/FG but I would NEVER use them in bracket.

 

[FamilyTeam]

Could we say that MKleo does it?

Anti and MKLeo are the closest players in this entire community to have more than one main.
...Assuming we're talking about 2016. Back then you could call MKLeo a Cloud/Marth dual main and it'd be quite accurate. Nowadays, MKLeo clearly has a massive preference towards Cloud because Marth's prime time is long gone.
Anti has a bunch of great characters but I still think he ends up finding more success using Mario first and then covering him with other characters such as Cloud, Charizard etc. as he sees fit depending on the situation.

 

[Eekum_bokum]

Anti and MKLeo are the closest players in this entire community to have more than one main.
...Assuming we're talking about 2016. Back then you could call MKLeo a Cloud/Marth dual main and it'd be quite accurate. Nowadays, MKLeo clearly has a massive preference towards Cloud because Marth's prime time is long gone.
Anti has a bunch of great characters but I still think he ends up finding more success using Mario first and then covering him with other characters such as Cloud, Charizard etc. as he sees fit depending on the situation.

Yeah, counterpicking just isn't a good strategy. Unless your main REALLY struggles in a certain matchup (e.g. you're a Ness main and you're playing Rosalina), you're better off just learning the MU than switching. Counterpicking seems good in theory but most top players prove that it's not the way to go.

 

[FamilyTeam]

I believe Counterpicking can be good, but maybe not for everybody. However, most of the successful Smash 4 players tend to be solo mains or have only occasional secondaries.

ZeRo is solo Diddy and his attempts at playing Lucina and Cloud didn't last
Salem is solo Bayo afaik, or at the very least uses her most of the time
Ally is solo Mario.
Mr. R is pretty much solo Sheik aside from picking Bayo very occasionally. Void as well.
Larry Lurr is solo Fox.
Leo uses Cloud like 90% of his matches.
Dabuz uses Rosa almost exclusively.

and the list goes on.
just like my love, everlasting.

 

[1FC0]

That's very rude and horribly misinformed.

While Lucina’s abilities are identical to Marth’s, as it must be in her DNA, Sakurai explains that Marth’s power is concentrated at the tip of his sword, while Lucina’s attack strength is balanced throughout her weapon, making her easier to control.

 

[FamilyTeam]

1FC0
That's some marketing blurb more than actual evidence. Focusing on how the characters work in game that's still misinformed.

 

[1FC0]

1FC0
That's some marketing blurb more than actual evidence. Focusing on how the characters work in game that's still misinformed.

That may be. I know from experience that Sakurai is often wrong. But I still do not think he was being rude at all. And I still do not see why you would pick Lucina if you are good at spacing.

 

[FamilyTeam]

That may be. I know from experience that Sakurai is often wrong. But I still do not think he was being rude at all. And I still do not see why you would pick Lucina if you are good at spacing.

Because that's not how the game works. If it were as black and white a situation as that maybe that'd be a valid point, but in reality tipper hits are never a guarantee no matter how excellent you are at spacing (because your enemy is also spacing themselves to not get hit, who would've though). Of course you're gonna KO earlier if you hit a tipper, but people also forget that of course you're gonna kill way later if you don't. Lucina offers all of the advantages Marth offers except she trades some of the potential to blow up people super early (which doesn't even happen that often) for a consistent sword that has a good reward no matter if you miss the tip or not.
Missing the tip doesn't necessarily mean you mispaced so much you literally hit the person with the hilt when you were aiming for tipper. You'd be surprised how finnicky it can be to actually get a tipper sometimes, since it's not that uncommon for you to score a sour when you thought you certainly were going to tipper.
Lucina is not for people who are bad at spacing. If you space poorly with Lucina you're not gonna do any better. She's not any safer on badly spaced moves much like Marth is not any safer on perfectly spaced ones. Truly the only real difference that matters is the Tipper vs. Consistency. Some people really, really value this consistency over a potential that may or may not be there when you need it. See: ZeRo, Mr. E in Top Tier matchups.

 

[Applebutter61]

LOL. Getting that tip of the sword hit in with Marth is so satisfying

 

[1FC0]

but in reality tipper hits are never a guarantee no matter how excellent you are at spacing (because your enemy is also spacing themselves to not get hit, who would've though).

Indeed, Marth is especially hard to space properly with against good opponents.

You'd be surprised how finnicky it can be to actually get a tipper sometimes, since it's not that uncommon for you to score a sour when you thought you certainly were going to tipper.

With Marth you need to learn the hitboxes of the sweetspots which is extra work and makes him harder to pick up. Luckily Sakurai included Easy Marth which is like Marth but looks manlier and does not require people to get accustomed to sweetspotting thus making her easier to pick up than Marth.

Both need good spacing but Marth needs it more and profits from it more. That makes him the hard mode of the Waifu duo.

 

[FamilyTeam]

I'd argue neither character needs good spacing "more than the other". Without spacing you're not getting anywhere with the characters in the first place.
Lucina is also not going to be particularly easy to pick up, frankly. Maybe easier to pick up, but I don't think she counts as a easy character, much less as "Easy Mode".

This thread isn't about this subject so I don't want it to get derailed.

 

[1FC0]

I'd argue neither character needs good spacing "more than the other". Without spacing you're not getting anywhere with the characters in the first place.

It is not this black and white. Quality of spacing is not binary. Spacing can be good, bad, and anything in between. With Marth the slightest error in spacing gets you a weak sourspot, with Lucina you still get the full reward. Marth's spacing is thus stricter than Lucina's. Both need good spacing, but for Marth that good lies a little further up in the spectrum towards the "good end" than with Lucina.

This thread isn't about this subject so I don't want it to get derailed.

The title says Lucario, Lucina, Robin. I am talking about Lucina. So that seems pretty ontopic. Unless the author choose a crappy title.