My experience playing Marth.
The opponent.
Marths rely on zoning opponents and keeping them at optimal ranges. These ranges include Tipper, FAir and Grab.
Tipper ranges are usually used at higher percents and edge guard. Typically the Marths I have played make use of grabs to lead into aerial combos and end with a FSmash, Tipper or not.
For Lucario this ends with either being offstage or being in the air. If you are still in range then that just means more volleyball for Marth and another easy kill.
Off stage is terrible. You have to sweetspot everytime and even then Marth can wavedash back and FSmash, Dtilt or DAir depending on your edge choice. I find that wall jump --> UpB is often effective as a recovery mixup and gives you the option of Aura also.
Aerial combos are silly. Most you can DI out of, but alot are very easy for even a mid level Marth to pull off.
Keep off platforms. Marth owns the plaforms, UpTilt, UpAir, FAir, UpSmash(rare) and FSmash all reach most platforms. Be aware of the threats you face.
You have two options IMO
1. All out aggression.
You keep in their face the whole game. I mean every second. IPK takes this approach in this set (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIqWjiJW89A). I personally find this really hard to do against a Upper Midlevel/Semi Experienced Marths and above. They know their options and they know their spacing. If they adapt with shield grabs and smart baiting then you are gonna get diced and sliced.
To do this approach effectively you need:
- Good to Insane Reaction speeds.
You need to tech 90% of the time where and when you want, you need to be able to L-Cancel everything and keep up the pressure, you need to react to changed quickly enough to not get punished because letting Marth breath and get space means death.
- High Level Tech Skill.
You need to know when and where to tech, short hop, wall jump, L-Cancel, ASC and B-Reverse. You need to pull off every tech you want to, when you want to. You need to shield a fraction of a second before that FSmash hits you and then react solidly.
- The ability to Play Smart.
This usually means experience but not always. You need to know your options and your opponents. You need to gauge when they will do something why. You need to know if they will DI left or right, up or down. You need to be able to play the smarter game and know exactly where your opponent is going to go, what they will do and how you can use that to your advantage.
2. Hyper Defensive.
IMO this is much easier that option one. You play the punish game for every cent you have. You never commit to something that is unsafe and if you get a hit then you make that hit count. 30% minimum. This style is fairly easy to do against anyone if you are so inclined to learning how to bait an opponent.
To do this approach effectively you need:
- Good Reaction Speed.
You need to shield every attack you can, get every hit or grab you can and follow it up. You need to be able to react to the situations you find your self in. The bonus is if you play right then most of those situations are one you have set up.
- Movement Skill.
You need to be able to WaveDash, WaveLand, DashDance, Dash, DI, WallJump and shothop consistently and well. You need to be able to skate around the stage and weave between any hitboxes Marth throws at you until you get an opening, then close distance and punish without exposing yourself.
- Punish Game Strong
You need to have a honed sense of when to strike. You need to be able to bait out an unsafe/laggy attack and then immediately capitalise on that opening. You need to know your combo strings and you need to be able to land them every time. DA --> UpTilt will not cut it the same way that work against Fox.
Sit back, run around, throw out some safely spaced FAirs and Aura Spheres. Do Not Approach unless you know your going to get a hit. One hit should get you a good lump of damage. Then you can go for NAir setups and edge guard.
Final Advice
When edge guarding don't go for flashy stuff. Marth can catch you alot of the time when you go for AerialSideB or NAir to UpB. I have lost stocks to suicide DAirs as well so just play it safe.
When you are being combo'ed in the air SDI. Its insanely useful and can get you out of alot of tricky places.
Learn to SDI Tech FSmash. This is where you SDI into the ground and buffer a Tech during hitstun. You can survive even Tipper at crazy percents.
Learn to Dual Stick DI. I am not sure if Lucario benifits from this more that the rest of the cast or if its just because he is my main but I have survived a FSmash at 135% from the side of FD. That **** is amazing.
UpTilt to UpSmash is good because due to Marths weight you can setup combos pretty easily. Be aware that Marth can DI out fairly easily and you may have to due a turnaround.
Learn to spotdodge effectively. This is key to punishing FSmash and even mis spaced FAirs. Powershielding works to but is harder to pull off.
Thats about all I have. I am only MidLevel in terms of skill but one of my main training buddies is a Marth and option 2 has been working ok for me. I personally struggle with tech though but I guess thats just lab time that needs to be grinded.
Please let me know if anything I have said is wrong or incorrect as all this is personal opinion/experience and I would love to learn more. Cheers
