Luma sometimes immune to knockback?

[Menk]

I'm a diddy main and recently played against Rosalina in a tournament. Several times I hit luma but it didn't take any knockback, and I haven't been able to figure out why. Sadly I don't have a video of this to show.

My strategy was to try to kill luma as soon as it spawned every time, so most of the time I was attacking luma a couple seconds after it spawned. I recall the last hit of dash attack, as well as fair and fsmash landing on luma but not knocking her back at various points during the match. Dash attack was the biggest culprit, several times I hit both rosalina and luma and luma clearly was hit but didn't get knocked back. This also happened when luma wasn't connected to rosalina a few times.

Am I missing something? Has anyone else noticed this? I asked my opponent and they didn't know what to tell me.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

Luma has some knockback resistance against the weaker attacks. In order to really send it packing, you basically need to deliver a strong blow to it.

 

[mario123007]

I'm a diddy main and recently played against Rosalina in a tournament. Several times I hit luma but it didn't take any knockback, and I haven't been able to figure out why. Sadly I don't have a video of this to show.

My strategy was to try to kill luma as soon as it spawned every time, so most of the time I was attacking luma a couple seconds after it spawned. I recall the last hit of dash attack, as well as fair and fsmash landing on luma but not knocking her back at various points during the match. Dash attack was the biggest culprit, several times I hit both rosalina and luma and luma clearly was hit but didn't get knocked back. This also happened when luma wasn't connected to rosalina a few times.

Am I missing something? Has anyone else noticed this? I asked my opponent and they didn't know what to tell me.

Lumas can actually flinch, and if you hit enough damage, it will disappear. Or you can just send Luma off screen or off stage.

 

[Parcheesy]

I'm afraid the science of it hasn't been done yet, but when Luma is at a lower percent, it's generally more resistant to being sent into tumble. As for big single hit moves, Luma's attacks tend to be a bit faster than Rosa's, so sometimes Luma's attack will parry yours, but it will still continue to hit Rosalina, leaving the Luma unharmed.

If you want to get good at the matchup, I'd recommend going into training mode and finding a bread and butter Luma killing combo. For instance, Rosalina has a very simple Dash attack > Forward Air that's guaranteed to work, and will almost always send the Luma over the ledge from just about anywhere.

Edit:
I know from experience that the Monkey Flip Kick tends to be a particularly potent Luma killer. If you're looking to make Rosalinas sad, you can always spawn kill it with that.

 

[Indigo Jeans]

The knockback Luma receives scales normally behind the scenes, but it needs to pass a certain threshold for it to manifest and actually launch Luma.

Unfortunately I have no idea what that threshold is...

 

[Menk]

Edit:
I know from experience that the Monkey Flip Kick tends to be a particularly potent Luma killer. If you're looking to make Rosalinas sad, you can always spawn kill it with that.

That's what I forgot, a couple of times that didn't work either. Which sucks because that was my go-to Luma killer.

Lumas can actually flinch, and if you hit enough damage, it will disappear. Or you can just send Luma off screen or off stage.

What actually is that damage? It feels like luma heals over time or something, one match I think I did at least 50% to luma over the course of a couple minutes and it just wouldn't poof away.

 

[Indigo Jeans]

I had it in my notepad document which I lost, but I'm pretty sure Luma has just over 50% HP. I think it's like 51% or so? Because two Bowser FSmashes are not enough to KO it, and neither are two falling Trees.

 

[Parcheesy]

That's what I forgot, a couple of times that didn't work either. Which sucks because that was my go-to Luma killer.


What actually is that damage? It feels like luma heals over time or something, one match I think I did at least 50% to luma over the course of a couple minutes and it just wouldn't poof away.

I know this is a terrible answer, but you should almost never aim to kill Luma through damage. I can't recall the healthpool off the top of my head, but putting 30-50% on Luma every time it respawns is time spent not hitting Rosalina, that will usually cost you the match. Again, just find a move that will send Luma into tumble at 0%, then follow it up with anything that knocks it a good distance away on the first hit ( so down smash might be a better option than forward ). I'd really only recommend the damage option for characters with safe-ish projectiles or disjoints they can use to poke Luma when given the opportunity, and even then it's always going to be the slower option.

For what it's worth, I think the magic threshold to send Luma into tumble might be lower when it's untethered ( deployed with neutral b ). I haven't done any testing, but I faintly recall some moves sending it into tumble that otherwise wouldn't had it been by Rosa's side.

 

[Menk]

just find a move that will send Luma into tumble at 0%, then follow it up with anything that knocks it a good distance away on the first hit ( so down smash might be a better option than forward ).

That's the reason I was worried about not knowing when luma would get knocked back, because getting it to fall off stage seems like a much better strategy than damaging it. I'll try down smash, I'm afraid it's easier to punish oos for rosalina but without luma her punish isn't too bad. Thanks!

 

[mario123007]

What actually is that damage? It feels like luma heals over time or something, one match I think I did at least 50% to luma over the course of a couple minutes and it just wouldn't poof away.

Just like what @ Mario & Sonic Guy had said, Lumas can take weak attacks at first, and you need powerful attacks like Smash attack to launch Luma away. Go to training mode and give it a try.

 

[ParanoidDrone]

For the record, Luma has 52 HP last I checked.

 

[Indigo Jeans]

Lowering its HP probably would have been a more meaningful nerf than increasing its respawn time, but that's beside the point...

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

Lowering its HP probably would have been a more meaningful nerf than increasing its respawn time, but that's beside the point...

Then you can't really utilize Luma as a sponge if its HP takes a drop.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

It has come to my attention that questions like this are better off being asked at the Q&A thread. Please use that thread if the question isn't important enough for its own thread.