Marths walk in neutral

[CypherZel]

pretty advance stuff since walking or running in neutral when you aren't sheik isn't really a thing unless it's top level play ( for instance fox and Falco can run or walk in neutral)

I would like to discuss how effective is this sub-neutral tool and things you have been able to do with it. I've found success using it when I have cornered my opponent, being able to gain stage advantage while also being able to react to the opponent

If you don't know how this works for other characters or you haven't played different fighting games where this is common, to put this into perspective, when a Falco runs at you he is applying pressure on you due to his presence whilst being able to react to what you are about to do, which forces you to act, essentially a mind game tool.

 

[FE_Hector]

I think you get a few advantages out of walking, though they are a bit niche.

1.) A lot of the time, it scares people. NOBODY walks in neutral unless they're really confident, so you might get them nervous.
2.) You can dtilt instantly instead of having to WD out of a dash.
3.) Ftilt or fsmash can be thrown out if you're a bit BM.

 

[Signia]

An issue with Marth's walk is that once it gets to a certain speed, dashing back in the other direction suffers from the forward momentum from the walking, making your strongest defensive option weaker. You can reset the momentum by dashing forward briefly before dashing back or by shield-WDing back, though. The plus side of this is that it allows you moonwalk!

 

[1000g2g3g4g800999]

Walking in neutral is incredibly underutilized as most characters. It allows you to respond quicker with just about anything than if you were dashing in. You're be surprised how easy it is to time a quick smash attack to beat out another move or movement option by walking if you haven't tried it yourself (this isn't as much a Marth thing but the slower the character the opponent is playing as is, the more effective this is). But Marth has an even more low commitment, while still incredibly useful tool out of walk in dtilt.

Also, if you're in a tight space and trying to approach with shield to get a grab vs a wall of some kind, you need a lot of room to do so with a run or wavedash, while you need virtually none with walking.

Dash dancing and Fox trotting essentiall have set ranges where you can input another movement option, and Cactuar dashing has a bit of delay before you can run again. You basically pause briefly, or pivot or dash back in once you've reached the back end of a dash, all of which, save pivot, are fairly exploitable. You can jump at any time, sure, but jump and wavedash have notable startup lag, so you need decent distance to do those towards the opponent, and you can only go back so many times.

Walking? You can move forward continuously with basically no limitations and few possible hiccups. The only real downsides are you have to cancel into another movement option to stop on a dime (not much of one, since you can do this immediately), once you're walking a certain speed (or really holding far enough forward) dashing forward has a slight delay since you can't flick the stick into a position it's already in, and dashing the other way can be slowed down (same issue with wavedashing or Cactuar dashing then running the other way).

Walking is actually an amazing way to corner attempts to dash back on an approach. You automatically have a bigger window and set of tools to react to them coming in by walking instead of running (outside of dash back being nerfed a bit, but wavedash back still works fine), and better and more controlled approach capabilities. You're almost necessarily going to gain ground by doing this.

Getting to max speed with walking to maximize using its momentum takes a bit of time, but at least you're never vulnerable while doing this unlike a wavedash forward, and you can defend yourself easier, and do it at shorter ranges than going into run and cancelling with crouch (and have more options at any given moment).