Sixell
Smash Cadet
- Joined
- May 4, 2015
- Messages
- 47
This will go over character-specific strategies by move (if they pose problems for GW or if they have major weaknesses) and how to counter each one. Note that these tips will not definitely make you win against these characters as it only highlights some hypothetical strategies that they may possibly use. I'm mostly drawing from my own experience and tests. I'm going to need other input as well so that this can be a better guide.
If anything, you can either choose to incorporate these tips into your own play style or simply have a new awareness as to what GW's options are.
The move-by-move analysis isn't complete for each character but:
*Will soon be updated with MU numbers (the average numbers from both character boards or whatever info is present). It's a ratio of (our character - their character).
*Added characters who can break out of D-throw followups at low percents (based on this frame data)
*Blue = has an aerial faster than your fastest (6 frame U-air)
*Added moves that GW can crouch under for every character. Crouching is actually a viable mixup in some MUs.
In the character guides:
*Green = attack always misses
*Yellow = requires greater precision/short hopping
Orange = *only at the lowest point of the crouch
*Red = close range only
*Character names with a green asterisk display who crouching may be MOST viable against.
*Character names with a yellow asterisk display who crouching may be LESS viable against.
*Character names with a red asterisk display who crouching is NOT viable against.
*Read the crouch guide for more info and you should actually do it before checking out the character guides anyway.
**Also note that some attacks aren't in the crouchable list because they don't even connect while standing.
General Tips
Best Characters to Crouch Against
D-throw Combo Breakers
Characters with Catchable Items OoS
(Banana)
(Bomb)
(Bomb)
(All bonus fruits except Galaga Ship, Bell, and Key)
Crouch Guide
Mario** (60-40)
Luigi**
Peach*
Bowser*
Yoshi**
Rosalina and Luma** (35-65)
Bowser Jr.*
Wario*
Donkey Kong*
Diddy Kong*
Mr. Game and Watch* (50-50)
Little Mac**
Link*
Zelda* (55-45)
Sheik**
Gannondorf* (45-55)
Toon Link* (50-50)
Samus*
Zero Suit Samus*
Pit**
Palutena*
Marth*
Ike*
Robin*
Duck Hunt*
Kirby*
King Dedede*
Meta Knight**
Fox**
Falco**
Pikachu**
Charizard*
Lucario**
Jigglypuff*
Greninja*
R.O.B.*
Ness**
Captain Falcon*
Villager** (45-55)
Olimar*
Wii Fit Trainer*
Shulk*
Dr. Mario**
Dark Pit**
Lucina*
Pac-Man**
Mega Man**
Sonic*
Mewtwo*
Roy*
Ryu**
If anything, you can either choose to incorporate these tips into your own play style or simply have a new awareness as to what GW's options are.
The move-by-move analysis isn't complete for each character but:
*Will soon be updated with MU numbers (the average numbers from both character boards or whatever info is present). It's a ratio of (our character - their character).
*Added characters who can break out of D-throw followups at low percents (based on this frame data)
*Blue = has an aerial faster than your fastest (6 frame U-air)
*Added moves that GW can crouch under for every character. Crouching is actually a viable mixup in some MUs.
In the character guides:
*Green = attack always misses
*Yellow = requires greater precision/short hopping
Orange = *only at the lowest point of the crouch
*Red = close range only
*Character names with a green asterisk display who crouching may be MOST viable against.
*Character names with a yellow asterisk display who crouching may be LESS viable against.
*Character names with a red asterisk display who crouching is NOT viable against.
*Read the crouch guide for more info and you should actually do it before checking out the character guides anyway.
**Also note that some attacks aren't in the crouchable list because they don't even connect while standing.
General Tips
I did this section because there are so many moves with similar properties that it gets annoying to cover every variation of a lingering N-air for instance.
- Use your judgment (pun sorta intended) while bucketing projectiles and think about the risks that come with it.
- Attempt to use Fire to break out of some combos or certain jabs. The windbox is activated at the start of the move so it can shorten combos or mess them up. But be careful as it can also help some characters that are good with U-air chains or have mutli-hit U-airs. This can actually get you killed earlier if you use this move against the wrong character.
- Some jabs when unfinished will actually make you suffer landing lag and can set up for a devastating punish, so try whatever you can to escape or avoid getting jabbed in the first place. For instance, Luigi and Captain Falcon can do this after jab 2.
- Certain characters have strong B-airs and like to recover over you and hit you with it. Either read the jump or read the B-air with a shield-grab or U-smash.
- Either shield-grab lingering N-airs when they end or U-smash obvious ones. Some N-airs can stop D-throw followups. Yours is frame 7. Many characters have N-airs or other aerials that are quicker. If this is the case, simply bait the N-air with a U-smash.
- You can try vectoring upwards after grabs to increase knockback and make followups relatively harder.
- Jab and D-tilt are your fastest moves since they start at frame 4. F-tilt is a close second at 6 frames. They're your most optimal punishes OoS. Sometimes, you might want to D-smash OoS, but instead, use one of these three OoS if you're not in grab range. Some moves have enough lag for smashes, some only for tilts, and others will have so little that you cannot react with anything but a hard read on shielding or rolling. The most optimal defensive options are the same as the offensive options, but include shield.
- Learn to use a dashing powershield against zoning projectiles. They stop becoming a threat once you're good at doing that. For Glory Link mains cease to be a problem with this.
- When you are high in the air, never fall towards the opponent. It's asking for a beating. Just land away from the opponent and reset to neutral rather than trying to attack and get punished.
- Practice spacing. Foxtrots and pivot attacks are your best friend. It's also good to sometimes purposely whiff an attack with low endlag and then bait the punish from the opponent and use a quick move like jab, F-tilt, or D-tilt. This of course is highly dependent on character and spacing. Probably best against close-quarters-combat characters with little to no disjointed attacks.
- Counter spinning recoveries with Fire from below (DK, Link, Toon Link, Wii Fit Trainer, Ryu).
- Game and Watch seems to have a great amount of rebound while clanking with other attacks. There is nothing that can be done offensively since the opponent tends to have the frame advantage, so always retreat or at least shield when attacks clank. The reason this happens is because stronger attacks suffer more rebound.
- When characters try to rush at you to grab, you can use your jab and it will counter grab attempts, so grab combos are not as likely to happen against a skilled GW unless you whiff an attack with too much endlag. If this happens enough, you can make opponent switch up the approach.
- GW has horrible options while being juggled vertically, so your only option is to mix up your landings rather than relying on D-air. You can use some confusing aerial movement, aim for the ledge, bucket hop, or use Fire to confuse your opponent and try one of the previous options. Still, don't count D-air out completely. There are some instances in which D-air is useful (like catching a whiffed/preemptive attack).
- Use your judgment (pun sorta intended) while bucketing projectiles and think about the risks that come with it.
- Attempt to use Fire to break out of some combos or certain jabs. The windbox is activated at the start of the move so it can shorten combos or mess them up. But be careful as it can also help some characters that are good with U-air chains or have mutli-hit U-airs. This can actually get you killed earlier if you use this move against the wrong character.
- Some jabs when unfinished will actually make you suffer landing lag and can set up for a devastating punish, so try whatever you can to escape or avoid getting jabbed in the first place. For instance, Luigi and Captain Falcon can do this after jab 2.
- Certain characters have strong B-airs and like to recover over you and hit you with it. Either read the jump or read the B-air with a shield-grab or U-smash.
- Either shield-grab lingering N-airs when they end or U-smash obvious ones. Some N-airs can stop D-throw followups. Yours is frame 7. Many characters have N-airs or other aerials that are quicker. If this is the case, simply bait the N-air with a U-smash.
- You can try vectoring upwards after grabs to increase knockback and make followups relatively harder.
- Jab and D-tilt are your fastest moves since they start at frame 4. F-tilt is a close second at 6 frames. They're your most optimal punishes OoS. Sometimes, you might want to D-smash OoS, but instead, use one of these three OoS if you're not in grab range. Some moves have enough lag for smashes, some only for tilts, and others will have so little that you cannot react with anything but a hard read on shielding or rolling. The most optimal defensive options are the same as the offensive options, but include shield.
- Learn to use a dashing powershield against zoning projectiles. They stop becoming a threat once you're good at doing that. For Glory Link mains cease to be a problem with this.
- When you are high in the air, never fall towards the opponent. It's asking for a beating. Just land away from the opponent and reset to neutral rather than trying to attack and get punished.
- Practice spacing. Foxtrots and pivot attacks are your best friend. It's also good to sometimes purposely whiff an attack with low endlag and then bait the punish from the opponent and use a quick move like jab, F-tilt, or D-tilt. This of course is highly dependent on character and spacing. Probably best against close-quarters-combat characters with little to no disjointed attacks.
- Counter spinning recoveries with Fire from below (DK, Link, Toon Link, Wii Fit Trainer, Ryu).
- Game and Watch seems to have a great amount of rebound while clanking with other attacks. There is nothing that can be done offensively since the opponent tends to have the frame advantage, so always retreat or at least shield when attacks clank. The reason this happens is because stronger attacks suffer more rebound.
- When characters try to rush at you to grab, you can use your jab and it will counter grab attempts, so grab combos are not as likely to happen against a skilled GW unless you whiff an attack with too much endlag. If this happens enough, you can make opponent switch up the approach.
- GW has horrible options while being juggled vertically, so your only option is to mix up your landings rather than relying on D-air. You can use some confusing aerial movement, aim for the ledge, bucket hop, or use Fire to confuse your opponent and try one of the previous options. Still, don't count D-air out completely. There are some instances in which D-air is useful (like catching a whiffed/preemptive attack).
D-throw Combo Breakers
Characters with Catchable Items OoS
(Banana) (Bomb) (Bomb)(All bonus fruits except Galaga Ship, Bell, and Key)Crouch Guide
Options out of crouch:
- All tilts (F-tilt is difficult to do without setting the C-stick to attack.) (U-tilt requires C-stick set to attack)
- All smash attacks (With C-stick set to smash)
- All special attacks (Up Special aka Fire requires C-stick set to special)
- Jump
- Shield
- Foxtrot/Dash (only forward)
- Pivot (slower than standing pivot and not really worth it)
- Grab*
Crouching to shield allows options out of shield. And those options can even cancel the shield animation if performed quickly enough.
*A crouch-to-grab can be done by pressing the shield button avoid the laggy shieldless get-up animation and then you can cancel the shield animation by immediately pressing the A button for a grab. You can also probably crouch to a roll-canceled grab (RCG), but I haven't successfully done it yet. The RCG will basically give you a greater grab distance without dashing.
You can also crouch-to-shield-to-jump almost instantly to jump away and be protected against many attacks. Crouch-to-smash-attack is also good depending on the situation (best with U-smash). Against some aerial-loving characters, it may be best to crouch > grab or crouch > shield > grab.
Sometimes some attacks will hit and sometimes they'll miss. It's due to the way GW bobs up and down slightly when he crouches. Actually, Game and Watch is the only character in the game whose height fluctuates while staying still (unless shielding). For instance, Robin's U-tilt will sometimes miss.The hitbox of the move will get GW when he's standing or crouching at his highest. Unfortunately, GW's crouch starts at the highest point and takes about half of a second to get to the lowest point. This is why some moves are in orange text.
When some moves nearly hit, a tiny orange spark appears, indicating that you were extremely close to the attack, but didn't get hit. This particularly happens with Link's boomerang and may be when the attack "connects" with the highest part of the crouch. When GW is hit by the boomerang, the same orange spark appears along with other special effects that clearly indicate that you were hit.
Note that you shouldn't crouch at the edge to avoid an aerial from a character that ledge dropped. Some attacks that don't hit that low actually can from the ledge. Plus, some attacks can go through the ledge. So this only applies to onstage attacks.
- All tilts (F-tilt is difficult to do without setting the C-stick to attack.) (U-tilt requires C-stick set to attack)
- All smash attacks (With C-stick set to smash)
- All special attacks (Up Special aka Fire requires C-stick set to special)
- Jump
- Shield
- Foxtrot/Dash (only forward)
- Pivot (slower than standing pivot and not really worth it)
- Grab*
Crouching to shield allows options out of shield. And those options can even cancel the shield animation if performed quickly enough.
*A crouch-to-grab can be done by pressing the shield button avoid the laggy shieldless get-up animation and then you can cancel the shield animation by immediately pressing the A button for a grab. You can also probably crouch to a roll-canceled grab (RCG), but I haven't successfully done it yet. The RCG will basically give you a greater grab distance without dashing.
You can also crouch-to-shield-to-jump almost instantly to jump away and be protected against many attacks. Crouch-to-smash-attack is also good depending on the situation (best with U-smash). Against some aerial-loving characters, it may be best to crouch > grab or crouch > shield > grab.
Sometimes some attacks will hit and sometimes they'll miss. It's due to the way GW bobs up and down slightly when he crouches. Actually, Game and Watch is the only character in the game whose height fluctuates while staying still (unless shielding). For instance, Robin's U-tilt will sometimes miss.The hitbox of the move will get GW when he's standing or crouching at his highest. Unfortunately, GW's crouch starts at the highest point and takes about half of a second to get to the lowest point. This is why some moves are in orange text.
When some moves nearly hit, a tiny orange spark appears, indicating that you were extremely close to the attack, but didn't get hit. This particularly happens with Link's boomerang and may be when the attack "connects" with the highest part of the crouch. When GW is hit by the boomerang, the same orange spark appears along with other special effects that clearly indicate that you were hit.
Note that you shouldn't crouch at the edge to avoid an aerial from a character that ledge dropped. Some attacks that don't hit that low actually can from the ledge. Plus, some attacks can go through the ledge. So this only applies to onstage attacks.
Mario** (60-40)Crouchable Moves - Neutral Special (precise spacing), frontal U-smash, U-air
General - D-air against Mario is generally bad since he will be looking for the opportunity to grab or U-smash. Can be extremely grab-happy, so watch out for that.
Neutral Special - Marios tend to throw out fireballs and bait you into bucketing or shielding so that he can land a grab (although a grab could be landed if you got hit too). Do not do these things unless Mario is sufficiently far enough. This will lead you into jumping in order to avoid the fireballs. Jumping is fine, but be wary of GW's landing lag on aerials. The safest bet would be to poke with an B-air or retreating F-airs, bait a shield grab and dash grab Mario's missed grab. Also, crouching reduces knockback and hitstun so taking a fireball hit and retaliating with D-tilt may not be such a bad idea against the standard fireball-to-grab kind of player.
Side Special - Fortunately, this poses virtually no real threat, but its uses are still worth mentioning. There are only two ways in which this can (somewhat) bother GW. One is reflecting Chef, but it only reflects one piece of bacon at a time. If you know the hitstun for chef, you should be wary of what possible followups Mario may have for it. The other way in which Mario's cape can bother GW is when GW is edgeguarding. The cape can reverse edgeguarding F-airs, (and the first hit of B-air), but typically, well-spaced B-airs and D-airs definitely work against the cape.
Up Special - When Mario is offstage near the ledge, be wary of this move as it can attack through it. You may want to shield and then try to punish the next action from the ledge. Also, this move is the most efficient D-throw followup as it is true (regardless of DI) until certain percents. Increasing knockback from vectoring may help you escape the combo from earlier percents than normal.
Down Special - This has never really been a threat, so the only thing to do is to avoid recovering at stage-hieght if possible. Even if Mario jumps, a jumping down special from Mario is less dangerous than a standing one since maybe only one burst of water will hit. You can either recover very high or very low.
Dash Attack - Shield-grab it or rapid-jab with it to clank against it. After clanking, Mario may go in for the grab, so simply restart the rapid-jab to stop him.
F-smash - Look at Mario while he's charging it (if this situation applies to you). Imagine a little more than double the distance of where he is standing and charging. That is where the hitbox will be. Do not rush him.
U-smash - Like GW's U-smash, this is an anti-air. It has invulnerability frames. Generally, do not attack Mario from above. Ever. If you happen to be above Mario, move in such a way that you end up being on Mario's sides if possible. If not, attempt to escape the position with Fire and relocate. Attacking from behind is kinda bad too though. The U-smash is strongest from behind.
D-smash - This is the typical roll-bait move. In most cases, if you get hit by this, you're rolling too much. I suggest pivoting and foxtrotting in order to move to safety. However another way that you can get hit is attacking on shield since Mario can do this extremely quickly out of shield due to our attack endlag. Make sure to fake or poke against a shielding Mario so that the D-smash is baited.
N-air - Shield-grab it when possible or U-smash. Be mindful of spacing. It can also stop Down Throw combos.
F-air - On the stage, shield-grab it as it doesn't push you back much while shielding. When off the stage and recovering low, Fire has invulnerability frames, so in most cases, a well-timed fire will trump Mario's meteor smash. If you plan on recovering high, Mario may anticipate that, bait an air-dodge and meteor smash you. The best advice would be to always attempt to recover low as it may bait Mario into committing into a low F-air and then it can be punished with a possible stage spike from Fire. Also, F-air can sometimes spike from above. Even if you attempt to D-air spike from above, this move can still spike you down before yours even connects.
B-air - The weakness to B-air is that it has low range. It is also somewhat predictable. If he approaches with his back turned to you, the only options are B-air, D-air, and N-air. However, B-air's advantage is that a short-hopped one can combo into a U-tilt at low percentages. Be extremely wary of this approach. Use the usual anti-air tactics.
D-air - Marios tend to use this to beat any move that you throw out and have a safe landing. A short-hopped one can also combo into a grab (at any percent), so attempt to shield through the entire thing (and grab) this if you can predict it. This can even be used as a way (although not such a good one) for Mario to safely recover from the edge. However, anticipation and spacing is key in that particular situation. U-smashing this move is difficult due to it being multi-hit.
U-air - It's actually a better followup from Down Grab than U-tilt at mid percents in that it's harder to escape a chain of these. All you can do here is vector away and jump. Fire won't do any good here.
F-tilt - F-tilt is just a tool to give Mario space. Watch out for when a Mario runs away. It may turn into a pivot F-tilt or F-smash.
U-tilt - This is usually a follow-up from a D-throw, but creative Marios will find other ways to land this. Attempt to jump out of it and use Fire to escape the combo. Using Fire immediately only lets Mario land one hit.
General - D-air against Mario is generally bad since he will be looking for the opportunity to grab or U-smash. Can be extremely grab-happy, so watch out for that.
Neutral Special - Marios tend to throw out fireballs and bait you into bucketing or shielding so that he can land a grab (although a grab could be landed if you got hit too). Do not do these things unless Mario is sufficiently far enough. This will lead you into jumping in order to avoid the fireballs. Jumping is fine, but be wary of GW's landing lag on aerials. The safest bet would be to poke with an B-air or retreating F-airs, bait a shield grab and dash grab Mario's missed grab. Also, crouching reduces knockback and hitstun so taking a fireball hit and retaliating with D-tilt may not be such a bad idea against the standard fireball-to-grab kind of player.
Side Special - Fortunately, this poses virtually no real threat, but its uses are still worth mentioning. There are only two ways in which this can (somewhat) bother GW. One is reflecting Chef, but it only reflects one piece of bacon at a time. If you know the hitstun for chef, you should be wary of what possible followups Mario may have for it. The other way in which Mario's cape can bother GW is when GW is edgeguarding. The cape can reverse edgeguarding F-airs, (and the first hit of B-air), but typically, well-spaced B-airs and D-airs definitely work against the cape.
Up Special - When Mario is offstage near the ledge, be wary of this move as it can attack through it. You may want to shield and then try to punish the next action from the ledge. Also, this move is the most efficient D-throw followup as it is true (regardless of DI) until certain percents. Increasing knockback from vectoring may help you escape the combo from earlier percents than normal.
Down Special - This has never really been a threat, so the only thing to do is to avoid recovering at stage-hieght if possible. Even if Mario jumps, a jumping down special from Mario is less dangerous than a standing one since maybe only one burst of water will hit. You can either recover very high or very low.
Dash Attack - Shield-grab it or rapid-jab with it to clank against it. After clanking, Mario may go in for the grab, so simply restart the rapid-jab to stop him.
F-smash - Look at Mario while he's charging it (if this situation applies to you). Imagine a little more than double the distance of where he is standing and charging. That is where the hitbox will be. Do not rush him.
U-smash - Like GW's U-smash, this is an anti-air. It has invulnerability frames. Generally, do not attack Mario from above. Ever. If you happen to be above Mario, move in such a way that you end up being on Mario's sides if possible. If not, attempt to escape the position with Fire and relocate. Attacking from behind is kinda bad too though. The U-smash is strongest from behind.
D-smash - This is the typical roll-bait move. In most cases, if you get hit by this, you're rolling too much. I suggest pivoting and foxtrotting in order to move to safety. However another way that you can get hit is attacking on shield since Mario can do this extremely quickly out of shield due to our attack endlag. Make sure to fake or poke against a shielding Mario so that the D-smash is baited.
N-air - Shield-grab it when possible or U-smash. Be mindful of spacing. It can also stop Down Throw combos.
F-air - On the stage, shield-grab it as it doesn't push you back much while shielding. When off the stage and recovering low, Fire has invulnerability frames, so in most cases, a well-timed fire will trump Mario's meteor smash. If you plan on recovering high, Mario may anticipate that, bait an air-dodge and meteor smash you. The best advice would be to always attempt to recover low as it may bait Mario into committing into a low F-air and then it can be punished with a possible stage spike from Fire. Also, F-air can sometimes spike from above. Even if you attempt to D-air spike from above, this move can still spike you down before yours even connects.
B-air - The weakness to B-air is that it has low range. It is also somewhat predictable. If he approaches with his back turned to you, the only options are B-air, D-air, and N-air. However, B-air's advantage is that a short-hopped one can combo into a U-tilt at low percentages. Be extremely wary of this approach. Use the usual anti-air tactics.
D-air - Marios tend to use this to beat any move that you throw out and have a safe landing. A short-hopped one can also combo into a grab (at any percent), so attempt to shield through the entire thing (and grab) this if you can predict it. This can even be used as a way (although not such a good one) for Mario to safely recover from the edge. However, anticipation and spacing is key in that particular situation. U-smashing this move is difficult due to it being multi-hit.
U-air - It's actually a better followup from Down Grab than U-tilt at mid percents in that it's harder to escape a chain of these. All you can do here is vector away and jump. Fire won't do any good here.
F-tilt - F-tilt is just a tool to give Mario space. Watch out for when a Mario runs away. It may turn into a pivot F-tilt or F-smash.
U-tilt - This is usually a follow-up from a D-throw, but creative Marios will find other ways to land this. Attempt to jump out of it and use Fire to escape the combo. Using Fire immediately only lets Mario land one hit.
Luigi**Crouchable Moves - Frontal U-smash, U-air
General - Luigi is very floaty, so try to keep him in the air as much as possible. If a Luigi jumps around too much, use your anti-air attacks to force him to approach differently. He cannot foxtrot, so most of his confusing movements come from aerials and fireball/dash grab tactics.
Neutral Special - Luigi, like Mario, uses this to open an opportunity for a grab. The range on these fireballs are shorter, so do not attempt to bucket as it has too much end lag and will result in you being caught in a devastating chain grab combo. You have two options: 1.You can powershield through these and try to counter. 2.Try an aerial approach. (However, since the fireballs go straight, Luigi may anticipate an aerial approach so he will alternate between short-hopping and throwing one fireball in the air and then throwing one on the ground). Fire is also a decent mixup option if you're good with landing safely and poking. Luigi can also use the fireball to edge-guard, so it may be best to recover either very low or very high against him. Also, crouching reduces knockback and hitstun so taking a fireball hit and retaliating with D-tilt may not be such a bad idea against the standard fireball-to-grab kind of player.
Side Special - This is how a Luigi will mainly recover to the stage. All aerials are fair game against this given the correct timing and positioning. However, another way (maybe not the best way) to take advantage of Luigi in this state would be to use Chef. The pan will semi-spike Luigi and the bacon can stop Luigi in his tracks and gimp him since his up special has no horizontal movement. Note that the bacon can easily be avoided, but if not, there may be an opportunity to land a second hit with Fire. Generally, use the move that you're most comfortable with. We have a ton of gimping tools against him.
Up Special - This is nearly useless in the air, but on the ground, it functions like Jigglypuff's rest. Avoid using too many moves with high start or end lag if possible. This move can only be effectively used as a hard-read so be careful. If the read fails, punish appropriately.
Down Special - Luigis tend to use this to out-prioritize any move that you throw out and have a safe landing. The big weakness to this is that Luigi cannot act out of this long enough to be harshly punished if it happens to miss or if it is shielded. He can also chase you midair with it and launch you up for a KO. GW has only one option to cover from below, which is D-air, but even that's a huge risk.
F-smash - It is a relatively slow smash and has some fairly punishable end lag. A dash attack would be the best option depending on proximity.
U-smash - Like GW's U-smash, this is an anti-air. It has invulnerability frames. Do not attack Luigi from above. Ever. If you happen to be above Luigi, move in such a way that you end up being on his sides if possible. If not, attempt to escape the position with Fire and relocate.
D-smash - This is the typical roll-bait move. In most cases, if you get hit by this, you're rolling too much. I suggest pivoting and foxtrotting in order to move to safety. However, Luigi can do this extremely quickly out of shield. Make sure to fake or poke against a shielding Luigi so that the D-smash is baited.
N-air - Use your regular anti-air options.
F-air - This is how Luigi pulls off his chain grab combos at low percents. Try to avoid being grabbed.
D-air - Despite how it looks, it's just a single-hit move. When off the stage and recovering low, Fire has invulnerability frames, so in most cases, a well-timed fire will trump Luigi's meteor smash. If you plan on recovering high, Luigi may anticipate that, bait an air-dodge and meteor smash you. The best advice would be to always attempt to recover low as it may bait Luigi into committing into a low F-air and then it can be punished with a possible stage spike from Fire.
U-tilt - It has combo potential, but significantly less than Mario's. Fortunately, his grabs don't combo into U-tilts.
D-tilt - At high damage, it will pop you up and set up for some air combos. Luigi can do this quickly out shield, so try to get your spacing right.
Dash Attack - It has so much punishable lag and vulnerability if it misses, so you may want to dash attack back or use an aerial from above or behind.
General - Luigi is very floaty, so try to keep him in the air as much as possible. If a Luigi jumps around too much, use your anti-air attacks to force him to approach differently. He cannot foxtrot, so most of his confusing movements come from aerials and fireball/dash grab tactics.
Neutral Special - Luigi, like Mario, uses this to open an opportunity for a grab. The range on these fireballs are shorter, so do not attempt to bucket as it has too much end lag and will result in you being caught in a devastating chain grab combo. You have two options: 1.You can powershield through these and try to counter. 2.Try an aerial approach. (However, since the fireballs go straight, Luigi may anticipate an aerial approach so he will alternate between short-hopping and throwing one fireball in the air and then throwing one on the ground). Fire is also a decent mixup option if you're good with landing safely and poking. Luigi can also use the fireball to edge-guard, so it may be best to recover either very low or very high against him. Also, crouching reduces knockback and hitstun so taking a fireball hit and retaliating with D-tilt may not be such a bad idea against the standard fireball-to-grab kind of player.
Side Special - This is how a Luigi will mainly recover to the stage. All aerials are fair game against this given the correct timing and positioning. However, another way (maybe not the best way) to take advantage of Luigi in this state would be to use Chef. The pan will semi-spike Luigi and the bacon can stop Luigi in his tracks and gimp him since his up special has no horizontal movement. Note that the bacon can easily be avoided, but if not, there may be an opportunity to land a second hit with Fire. Generally, use the move that you're most comfortable with. We have a ton of gimping tools against him.
Up Special - This is nearly useless in the air, but on the ground, it functions like Jigglypuff's rest. Avoid using too many moves with high start or end lag if possible. This move can only be effectively used as a hard-read so be careful. If the read fails, punish appropriately.
Down Special - Luigis tend to use this to out-prioritize any move that you throw out and have a safe landing. The big weakness to this is that Luigi cannot act out of this long enough to be harshly punished if it happens to miss or if it is shielded. He can also chase you midair with it and launch you up for a KO. GW has only one option to cover from below, which is D-air, but even that's a huge risk.
F-smash - It is a relatively slow smash and has some fairly punishable end lag. A dash attack would be the best option depending on proximity.
U-smash - Like GW's U-smash, this is an anti-air. It has invulnerability frames. Do not attack Luigi from above. Ever. If you happen to be above Luigi, move in such a way that you end up being on his sides if possible. If not, attempt to escape the position with Fire and relocate.
D-smash - This is the typical roll-bait move. In most cases, if you get hit by this, you're rolling too much. I suggest pivoting and foxtrotting in order to move to safety. However, Luigi can do this extremely quickly out of shield. Make sure to fake or poke against a shielding Luigi so that the D-smash is baited.
N-air - Use your regular anti-air options.
F-air - This is how Luigi pulls off his chain grab combos at low percents. Try to avoid being grabbed.
D-air - Despite how it looks, it's just a single-hit move. When off the stage and recovering low, Fire has invulnerability frames, so in most cases, a well-timed fire will trump Luigi's meteor smash. If you plan on recovering high, Luigi may anticipate that, bait an air-dodge and meteor smash you. The best advice would be to always attempt to recover low as it may bait Luigi into committing into a low F-air and then it can be punished with a possible stage spike from Fire.
U-tilt - It has combo potential, but significantly less than Mario's. Fortunately, his grabs don't combo into U-tilts.
D-tilt - At high damage, it will pop you up and set up for some air combos. Luigi can do this quickly out shield, so try to get your spacing right.
Dash Attack - It has so much punishable lag and vulnerability if it misses, so you may want to dash attack back or use an aerial from above or behind.
Peach*Crouchable Moves - Jab, U-tilt, Turnip, Side Special, B-air (ground floating only), Grab, Dash Grab
General - Peach is a character that focuses on aerial attacks, so there are two ways to beat this. If timed correctly, your D-tilt can beat Peach's low float aerials by popping her up with the windbox and thus making her whiff. If she gets hit by this enough times, she may be more careful with her approach. If she floats slightly higher and is still in front of you, use your Chef to trap her in the spot and possibly go for a U-smash. If she's directly above you, just use Fire. However, it's difficult to edgeguard a Peach due to her strong aerial game, so it may be easiest to try to read how she returns to the stage. But if you can manage edgeguarding, then by all means, go for it. Aerial Chef onstage may be the safest way to edgeguard Peach (especially if they tend to float back).
Side Special - It can be a pretty unexpected attack if Peach doesn't spam it. If she doesn't, this can either be D-tilted or shielded. If it's shielded, she will bounce off of it and is actually able to float from that bounce, so the best thing to do may be either prepare to anticipate the aerial (with a shield-grab, or U-smash) or just retreat.
Up Special - Upon activation, this beats attacks from below, which makes edge-guarding with your D-air a very dangerous thing to do.
Down Special - Unfortunately, you can't down tilt these projectiles, and you can't catch them OoS either since they disappear upon impact. You should just powershield them unless it's a Mr. Saturn. But if a Peach gets a bomb, you can bucket it and punish her hard when you get the chance.
F-smash - It has three types which come out in this exact order: tennis racket, golf club, and frying pan. It may be best to keep track of which Peach is on. The frying pan has the shortest range, the tennis racket has the longest range, which is about 1.5x Peach's length. The tennis racket launches farthest, the golf club has the best reach, and the frying pan does the most damage. Basically, make sure that if you're going to do some close ground combat with Peach, make sure that your attacks or grabs are going to land.
F-air - This is one of Peach's strongest and fastest moves. The only thing you can do is to always mind your spacing.
D-air - Peach players usually love to rack up damage with this move. Depending on her height and distance from you, your some options are D-tilt, Fire, U-smash, U-air, or Chef.
D-tilt - You can tech out of this with good timing so that you don't get bounced up, but the move is so fast that it's extremely difficult to get right.
Dash Attack - It's a kill move when you're around 120%. It's also multihit and is good for punishing whiffed attacks or rolls.
General - Peach is a character that focuses on aerial attacks, so there are two ways to beat this. If timed correctly, your D-tilt can beat Peach's low float aerials by popping her up with the windbox and thus making her whiff. If she gets hit by this enough times, she may be more careful with her approach. If she floats slightly higher and is still in front of you, use your Chef to trap her in the spot and possibly go for a U-smash. If she's directly above you, just use Fire. However, it's difficult to edgeguard a Peach due to her strong aerial game, so it may be easiest to try to read how she returns to the stage. But if you can manage edgeguarding, then by all means, go for it. Aerial Chef onstage may be the safest way to edgeguard Peach (especially if they tend to float back).
Side Special - It can be a pretty unexpected attack if Peach doesn't spam it. If she doesn't, this can either be D-tilted or shielded. If it's shielded, she will bounce off of it and is actually able to float from that bounce, so the best thing to do may be either prepare to anticipate the aerial (with a shield-grab, or U-smash) or just retreat.
Up Special - Upon activation, this beats attacks from below, which makes edge-guarding with your D-air a very dangerous thing to do.
Down Special - Unfortunately, you can't down tilt these projectiles, and you can't catch them OoS either since they disappear upon impact. You should just powershield them unless it's a Mr. Saturn. But if a Peach gets a bomb, you can bucket it and punish her hard when you get the chance.
F-smash - It has three types which come out in this exact order: tennis racket, golf club, and frying pan. It may be best to keep track of which Peach is on. The frying pan has the shortest range, the tennis racket has the longest range, which is about 1.5x Peach's length. The tennis racket launches farthest, the golf club has the best reach, and the frying pan does the most damage. Basically, make sure that if you're going to do some close ground combat with Peach, make sure that your attacks or grabs are going to land.
F-air - This is one of Peach's strongest and fastest moves. The only thing you can do is to always mind your spacing.
D-air - Peach players usually love to rack up damage with this move. Depending on her height and distance from you, your some options are D-tilt, Fire, U-smash, U-air, or Chef.
D-tilt - You can tech out of this with good timing so that you don't get bounced up, but the move is so fast that it's extremely difficult to get right.
Dash Attack - It's a kill move when you're around 120%. It's also multihit and is good for punishing whiffed attacks or rolls.
Bowser*Crouchable Moves - U-air
General - For Glory Bowsers tend to jump (and position themselves) over you after being hit so that they can either use their Down Special or their D-air. Try to bait that and punish it (running under him and quickly running out can be a good bait tactic). If a Bowser tries to approach with a jump, a good option (depending on the height and position) would be to use Chef on him. Also, your U-air may be good against many other characters, but Bowser is not one of them. Down Special and D-air will be slowed down slightly, but he will ultimately come crashing down too fast for you to act out of U-air. You do not want to hit shield because of his Up Special and you don't want to whiff anything because his punishes are strong.
Neutral Special - It actually has enough endlag to be fully bucketed if you can manage it. Bowser can't quickly act out of the attack -- even when he initially stops breathing fire.
Side Special - Some Bowsers like to Bowsercide, so be careful when you're near the edge. The only things you can really do against this are to be aware of the possibility and to use your judgment based on the opponent's habits with using this attack.
Up Special - This is a crazy good OoS option for Bowser besides his grab. It even works as a kill move. Hitting on shield is especially dangerous against him.
Down Special - If you find yourself under Bowser and can't escape, don't shield because it will break and don't use U-air against this. Instead, use Fire or if you're confident with your timing, U-smash. Fire has more priority at any moment of this attack's use.
F-smash - This can kill GW super quickly and Bowsers who edgeguard with this aren't the brightest. If this is the kind of Bowser that you fight, then simply recover high until that recovery becomes predictable.
U-smash - Like GW, this attack has invincibility frames, so avoid attacking directly from above if possible.
D-air - This can also be countered with U-smash or Fire. If Bowser just misses, it has less lag than his Down Special, but still enough to punish the move. The issues with this move is that it has the same type of ground hitbox as GW's D-air and that it can spike if you happen to miss a ledge snap when recovering.
F-tilt - It has quite a bit of range and can be angled. Just mind your distance from him.
U-tilt - It can be comboed three times from 0% to inflict an easy 30% on you. You can use Fire to escape these hits though. GW is short enough to not be hit by this from the front.
General - For Glory Bowsers tend to jump (and position themselves) over you after being hit so that they can either use their Down Special or their D-air. Try to bait that and punish it (running under him and quickly running out can be a good bait tactic). If a Bowser tries to approach with a jump, a good option (depending on the height and position) would be to use Chef on him. Also, your U-air may be good against many other characters, but Bowser is not one of them. Down Special and D-air will be slowed down slightly, but he will ultimately come crashing down too fast for you to act out of U-air. You do not want to hit shield because of his Up Special and you don't want to whiff anything because his punishes are strong.
Neutral Special - It actually has enough endlag to be fully bucketed if you can manage it. Bowser can't quickly act out of the attack -- even when he initially stops breathing fire.
Side Special - Some Bowsers like to Bowsercide, so be careful when you're near the edge. The only things you can really do against this are to be aware of the possibility and to use your judgment based on the opponent's habits with using this attack.
Up Special - This is a crazy good OoS option for Bowser besides his grab. It even works as a kill move. Hitting on shield is especially dangerous against him.
Down Special - If you find yourself under Bowser and can't escape, don't shield because it will break and don't use U-air against this. Instead, use Fire or if you're confident with your timing, U-smash. Fire has more priority at any moment of this attack's use.
F-smash - This can kill GW super quickly and Bowsers who edgeguard with this aren't the brightest. If this is the kind of Bowser that you fight, then simply recover high until that recovery becomes predictable.
U-smash - Like GW, this attack has invincibility frames, so avoid attacking directly from above if possible.
D-air - This can also be countered with U-smash or Fire. If Bowser just misses, it has less lag than his Down Special, but still enough to punish the move. The issues with this move is that it has the same type of ground hitbox as GW's D-air and that it can spike if you happen to miss a ledge snap when recovering.
F-tilt - It has quite a bit of range and can be angled. Just mind your distance from him.
U-tilt - It can be comboed three times from 0% to inflict an easy 30% on you. You can use Fire to escape these hits though. GW is short enough to not be hit by this from the front.
Yoshi**Crouchable Moves - U-tilt, U-air
General - Yoshi is extremely fast and his aerials tend to beat GW's in range and speed, so try to avoid an aerial battle. Yoshi is also difficult to edgeguard since his second jump has super armor. As bad as it is for GW, you may actually have to land onstage kill moves on Yoshi rather than going for the offstage kill or the gimp. Try to predict where and how he will recover and punish accordingly. If a Yoshi is approaching with short-hopped aerials, you can use your anti-air tactics to beat him. Hitting him on shield is actually not a horrible as it could be for other characters because he has the worst shield grab in the game. However, he still has JCUS as an option (and a very good one).
Neutral Special - If you get hit by this, you can DI pretty far away as long as the egg is in the air. That can help avoid attacks as you mash buttons to escape. Yoshi can also try to gimp with this if you're at a high percent. The more damage you have, the harder it is to break free from the egg.
Side Special - It can easily be beaten with any attack, but one of the easiest is to hit with a B-air.
Up Special - The eggs can be tricky to handle at times and can be used for combos as well as edgeguarding. If it hits while he's edgeguarding you, the hitstun is long enough for Yoshi to follow up with a spike. If this is used on the stage, try powershielding. You can't D-tilt these eggs. In the air, try to make your movements unpredictable so that the eggs will miss more often. While Yoshi is offstage, he can use this for an extra vertical boost and to keep you away from the edge since a popped egg does a bit of splash damage. If a Yoshi ever needs to use this to get back up, you could try stage spiking with a B-air or just go for a D-air spike before the egg is thrown. The timing is pretty hard to get down though.
Down Special - Fire will beat this move, but U-smash can be a good option too. Don't bother absorbing the stars that come out though. Yoshi can punish the endlag on the bucket extremely hard.
F-smash - This has an insane amount of range. It's about 3.5 times the length of Yoshi.
U-smash - This is his fastest smash and it has great range and priority. The hitbox surrounds Yoshi and it reaches almost double Yoshi's standing height. Avoid directly attacking from above and try not to be too predictable with aerials.
N-air - Use your regular anti-air options.
F-air - Be careful since it can even hit from above and will eat through the bacon from Chef. And F-air to F-air is a combo on the stage.
D-air - It can be countered by both U-smash and Fire.
Dash Attack/Grab - Dash attack has deceptively good range and is fast. Dash grab is a good mixup for him since he'd probably condition you to shield incoming approaches.
Jab - Yoshi can jab out of nearly anything, so keep in mind that his end lag on attacks never lasts very long. You'll most likely have a very small window of time to counter Yoshi's attacks. The best way to counter Yoshi's speed is to play a bait-and-punish game against him before he can jab.
Roll - It is especially easy to tell when Yoshi's roll ends. When you no longer see the egg and you see Yoshi tucking himself in, that is when you can prepare an attack.
General - Yoshi is extremely fast and his aerials tend to beat GW's in range and speed, so try to avoid an aerial battle. Yoshi is also difficult to edgeguard since his second jump has super armor. As bad as it is for GW, you may actually have to land onstage kill moves on Yoshi rather than going for the offstage kill or the gimp. Try to predict where and how he will recover and punish accordingly. If a Yoshi is approaching with short-hopped aerials, you can use your anti-air tactics to beat him. Hitting him on shield is actually not a horrible as it could be for other characters because he has the worst shield grab in the game. However, he still has JCUS as an option (and a very good one).
Neutral Special - If you get hit by this, you can DI pretty far away as long as the egg is in the air. That can help avoid attacks as you mash buttons to escape. Yoshi can also try to gimp with this if you're at a high percent. The more damage you have, the harder it is to break free from the egg.
Side Special - It can easily be beaten with any attack, but one of the easiest is to hit with a B-air.
Up Special - The eggs can be tricky to handle at times and can be used for combos as well as edgeguarding. If it hits while he's edgeguarding you, the hitstun is long enough for Yoshi to follow up with a spike. If this is used on the stage, try powershielding. You can't D-tilt these eggs. In the air, try to make your movements unpredictable so that the eggs will miss more often. While Yoshi is offstage, he can use this for an extra vertical boost and to keep you away from the edge since a popped egg does a bit of splash damage. If a Yoshi ever needs to use this to get back up, you could try stage spiking with a B-air or just go for a D-air spike before the egg is thrown. The timing is pretty hard to get down though.
Down Special - Fire will beat this move, but U-smash can be a good option too. Don't bother absorbing the stars that come out though. Yoshi can punish the endlag on the bucket extremely hard.
F-smash - This has an insane amount of range. It's about 3.5 times the length of Yoshi.
U-smash - This is his fastest smash and it has great range and priority. The hitbox surrounds Yoshi and it reaches almost double Yoshi's standing height. Avoid directly attacking from above and try not to be too predictable with aerials.
N-air - Use your regular anti-air options.
F-air - Be careful since it can even hit from above and will eat through the bacon from Chef. And F-air to F-air is a combo on the stage.
D-air - It can be countered by both U-smash and Fire.
Dash Attack/Grab - Dash attack has deceptively good range and is fast. Dash grab is a good mixup for him since he'd probably condition you to shield incoming approaches.
Jab - Yoshi can jab out of nearly anything, so keep in mind that his end lag on attacks never lasts very long. You'll most likely have a very small window of time to counter Yoshi's attacks. The best way to counter Yoshi's speed is to play a bait-and-punish game against him before he can jab.
Roll - It is especially easy to tell when Yoshi's roll ends. When you no longer see the egg and you see Yoshi tucking himself in, that is when you can prepare an attack.
Rosalina and Luma** (35-65)Crouchable Moves - Jab, U-tilt, U-smash (w/o Luma), Neutral Special, backwards-facing Nair, (w/o Luma), F-air (w/o Luma), Dash Grab
General - Rosalina is hard to approach with GW due to Luma being a good offensive and defensive tool (which can remove your grab options), Rosalina's transcendent attack priority (which is caused by anything that has that blue vortex-looking effect), and her insane roll distance. This is one of many characters who will try to force an approach. It is probably better to approach Rosalina than to actually have her approach due to Luma pressure. What you can do is attack Luma with a well-spaced RAR B-air and that will disable Luma since it cannot shield (this is the safest and most effective option). Your aerials and dash attack can generally leave Luma tumbling, so you can use those as further opportunities to combo and KO her (Fire is also a good aerial option as is a forward-angled Fire out of dash [which is easiest to do with a b-sticked setup]). Once Luma happens to be gone, just go in on Rosalina. If Rosalina and Luma are separated, always aim to KO Luma. Good Rosalinas and Lumas can attack and cancel landing lag on aerials with an AT called Lunar Landing (which that leads to crazy combos).
Neutral Special - This is what many players can be unnecessarily afraid of. If Rosalina decides to charge this, then it poses a risk to both Rosalina and Luma. Rosalina is at risk while charging it. Luma is at risk after being launched. A short-hopped B-air in the right place (once Luma stops) will send Luma flying away. Depending on the distance of Rosalina during this attack, use your judgment to prioritize attacking either Rosalina or Luma. This is also an edgeguarding tool, but recovering low and using Fire on Luma can KO her offstage. This move is mostly used in casual play though. Good Rosalina mains know not to put Luma at risk like that.
Up Special - A big weakness for Rosalina is that her recovery move has no hitbox. You can try to intercept with any aerial if she recovers over the edge (or use U-air if you aren't confident about hitting Rosalina). If she recovers low and is aiming for the edge, you can also go for any aerial, but the two best options may be a D-air spike or a B-air aimed at the ledge.
U-air - It has priority over your D-air and can chain into other U-airs. This can even kill at low percents probably as low as 40-50%. So generally, try not to be above her. If you air dodge and end up under her, she might switch to using D-air.
Dash Attack - Your average For-Glory Rosalinas tend to roll away and then do a dash attack. Try to read the rolls or punish the dash attack. Spacing and timing are super important if you want to punish this.
General - Rosalina is hard to approach with GW due to Luma being a good offensive and defensive tool (which can remove your grab options), Rosalina's transcendent attack priority (which is caused by anything that has that blue vortex-looking effect), and her insane roll distance. This is one of many characters who will try to force an approach. It is probably better to approach Rosalina than to actually have her approach due to Luma pressure. What you can do is attack Luma with a well-spaced RAR B-air and that will disable Luma since it cannot shield (this is the safest and most effective option). Your aerials and dash attack can generally leave Luma tumbling, so you can use those as further opportunities to combo and KO her (Fire is also a good aerial option as is a forward-angled Fire out of dash [which is easiest to do with a b-sticked setup]). Once Luma happens to be gone, just go in on Rosalina. If Rosalina and Luma are separated, always aim to KO Luma. Good Rosalinas and Lumas can attack and cancel landing lag on aerials with an AT called Lunar Landing (which that leads to crazy combos).
Neutral Special - This is what many players can be unnecessarily afraid of. If Rosalina decides to charge this, then it poses a risk to both Rosalina and Luma. Rosalina is at risk while charging it. Luma is at risk after being launched. A short-hopped B-air in the right place (once Luma stops) will send Luma flying away. Depending on the distance of Rosalina during this attack, use your judgment to prioritize attacking either Rosalina or Luma. This is also an edgeguarding tool, but recovering low and using Fire on Luma can KO her offstage. This move is mostly used in casual play though. Good Rosalina mains know not to put Luma at risk like that.
Up Special - A big weakness for Rosalina is that her recovery move has no hitbox. You can try to intercept with any aerial if she recovers over the edge (or use U-air if you aren't confident about hitting Rosalina). If she recovers low and is aiming for the edge, you can also go for any aerial, but the two best options may be a D-air spike or a B-air aimed at the ledge.
U-air - It has priority over your D-air and can chain into other U-airs. This can even kill at low percents probably as low as 40-50%. So generally, try not to be above her. If you air dodge and end up under her, she might switch to using D-air.
Dash Attack - Your average For-Glory Rosalinas tend to roll away and then do a dash attack. Try to read the rolls or punish the dash attack. Spacing and timing are super important if you want to punish this.
Bowser Jr.*Crouchable Moves - U-tilt, F-air, N-air, B-air (yellow moves ranking from easiest to hardest to hit with)
Neutral Special - This is only really a threat if an approach is baited, you're caught in landing lag, or an airdodge is baited. The startup is pretty slow and punishable and the cannonball hitbox disappears after the first bounce (assuming that it's uncharged).
Side Special - A good Bowser Jr., being wary of his Up Special's weaknesses would use this as his main recovery move. The bottom half of the cart has super armor. It can also easily transition into several other moves. Sometimes, Chef can stop the cart movement if he is in the air, but a better option would be to counter with your N-air. Just don't be predictable with this, because Bowser Jr. can easily read it and then use his Up Special. Countering the cart on the ground, along with several other moves that charge into you can be done with a B-air. Generally just be conscious of the approach and the options he has out of it. Another interesting thing that Bowser Jr. may do is carry the mechakoopa, use the cart and charge at you knowing that the super armor will protect him but the explosion will hit you. He may also jump, bait some sort of action, and throw the mechakoopa at you.
Up Special - Unfortunately, despite the attack being explosive, you can't bucket it and it's not affected by windboxes. This move can be comboed after his Side Special, but using Fire, jumping, or DI can get you out of it easily. Bowser Jr. will usually use this when above you, so you can either try and avoid it or bait it out and counter the hammer aerial with a U-smash. This can also be used as an edgeguarding move by aiming the bomb at the edge, but you could always switch up your recovery in response. Like GW, Bowser Jr. can actually go deep offstage for edgeguarding.However, this move has a major weakness and it's that after being used and he's still in the air, it can't be used again for a very long time and that makes him easy to gimp. Capitalize by going extra hard with your edgeguard game if he must recover low. A b-air below the edge would be a good choice.
Down Special - This is probably one of his best special moves and it also can't be bucketed. There are so many options that Bowser Jr. has once this is out. It can bait a shield so that he can go for a grab, surprise you when you forget about it and it's offscreen, can be grabbed and thrown very fast. You have some options against it though. A dash attack puts it over your head and blows it up. Another thing that you can do is to short hop and try to press whatever buttons you use to grab to grab the bomb and use it against Bowser Jr.
F-air - This attack is very annoying because it can be used as a wall. Think of the way that a good Marth or Lucina will try to wall you out with their F-airs and still be safe on shield. Bowser Jr. is a greater threat in this aspect because the hitbox lingers and there isn't much endlag to it. Even the ground canceled F-air has a hitbox at certain SH heights. Shield-grabbing it would be difficult due to that lingering hitbox. U-smash might be the best response to this.
D-air - It makes for some good combos depending on the number of hits that land. Unless canceled, and especially if whiffed on the ground, it has enough endlag to be grabbed.
Neutral Special - This is only really a threat if an approach is baited, you're caught in landing lag, or an airdodge is baited. The startup is pretty slow and punishable and the cannonball hitbox disappears after the first bounce (assuming that it's uncharged).
Side Special - A good Bowser Jr., being wary of his Up Special's weaknesses would use this as his main recovery move. The bottom half of the cart has super armor. It can also easily transition into several other moves. Sometimes, Chef can stop the cart movement if he is in the air, but a better option would be to counter with your N-air. Just don't be predictable with this, because Bowser Jr. can easily read it and then use his Up Special. Countering the cart on the ground, along with several other moves that charge into you can be done with a B-air. Generally just be conscious of the approach and the options he has out of it. Another interesting thing that Bowser Jr. may do is carry the mechakoopa, use the cart and charge at you knowing that the super armor will protect him but the explosion will hit you. He may also jump, bait some sort of action, and throw the mechakoopa at you.
Up Special - Unfortunately, despite the attack being explosive, you can't bucket it and it's not affected by windboxes. This move can be comboed after his Side Special, but using Fire, jumping, or DI can get you out of it easily. Bowser Jr. will usually use this when above you, so you can either try and avoid it or bait it out and counter the hammer aerial with a U-smash. This can also be used as an edgeguarding move by aiming the bomb at the edge, but you could always switch up your recovery in response. Like GW, Bowser Jr. can actually go deep offstage for edgeguarding.However, this move has a major weakness and it's that after being used and he's still in the air, it can't be used again for a very long time and that makes him easy to gimp. Capitalize by going extra hard with your edgeguard game if he must recover low. A b-air below the edge would be a good choice.
Down Special - This is probably one of his best special moves and it also can't be bucketed. There are so many options that Bowser Jr. has once this is out. It can bait a shield so that he can go for a grab, surprise you when you forget about it and it's offscreen, can be grabbed and thrown very fast. You have some options against it though. A dash attack puts it over your head and blows it up. Another thing that you can do is to short hop and try to press whatever buttons you use to grab to grab the bomb and use it against Bowser Jr.
F-air - This attack is very annoying because it can be used as a wall. Think of the way that a good Marth or Lucina will try to wall you out with their F-airs and still be safe on shield. Bowser Jr. is a greater threat in this aspect because the hitbox lingers and there isn't much endlag to it. Even the ground canceled F-air has a hitbox at certain SH heights. Shield-grabbing it would be difficult due to that lingering hitbox. U-smash might be the best response to this.
D-air - It makes for some good combos depending on the number of hits that land. Unless canceled, and especially if whiffed on the ground, it has enough endlag to be grabbed.
Wario*Crouchable Moves - U-smash, U-air
General - He has two attacks that can almost consistently trip you and it's honestly the worst. Rant aside, he also has the most ways to recover. For instance, (although not very practical unless recovering under the stage) he can Double Jump > Side Special > Down Special > Up Special. Most importantly, if the bike is on the stage, don't destroy it. Just separate him from it and limit his attack options.
Neutral Special - This can be used in so many ways. He can heal by eating an item. And he can increase the damage that his Down Special does by eating his bike. This move has priority over any move with a hit box that isn't too far from your body. Shields can't stop it and it can be intimidating when used as an aerial approach. It can also be used to suicide if he baits and air dodge while you're recovering. If he does try to suicide and you're caught in the attack, then try using Fire so that he falls first. If you have high damage, Wario can get more bites in before releasing.
Side Special - The bike is insane in that it can respawn right after being eaten, destroyed, or if it simply falls off the map. Whenever the bike is in motion, it's a hitbox (unless abandoned in the air). If the bike is grounded and abandoned, it will continue to move and be a hitbox and allow Wario to follow up with other attacks. When this move is used in the air, it does a small hop. It can be used to continue an air combo, but if you're below the bike, that hop becomes a weakness. It allows more room to use Fire and counter the bike. This is especially good for edgeguarding Wario as this move is the preferred recovery move. And windboxes don't affect the bike or Wario while on the bike. Some people also forget that the bike can do a wheelie stomp which has crazy knockback. The bike can also be thrown for combo opportunities and edgeguarding. There are other bike techniques, but I'll leave a video at the end.
Down Special - Just remember that it can be used on the ground as well. Think of it as Jigglypuff's rest but with far more range. The duration can also be extended it it hits the bike.
N-air - This isn't so good when short-hopped but if it lands at a low percentage, it can combo into a bike hop.
F-air - It has low knockback, but can be short-hopped and comboed into itself and N-air repeatedly (It's something like Sheik's F-air if the height and timing of each attack is correct).
U-air - It has good range and kill power, but suffers tremendous endlag if whiffed. At best, GW's D-air can trade blows with this move.
D-air - It can multihit can lead to combos if Wario ground cancels it on a certain hit.
D-tilt - It trips and can be used in rapid succession. Like DK, Wario can follow up with a whole range of moves, but it combos best with a fully charged Waft, so be very careful when that's charged.
Dash Attack - The sourspot will trip and always put you behind Wario. Take note of that and try teching, attacking, or rolling away. The only move that can be done out of the trip is an F-tilt, but he can always try to tech chase as well.
Bike Tech Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faMvl0XYXAc
General - He has two attacks that can almost consistently trip you and it's honestly the worst. Rant aside, he also has the most ways to recover. For instance, (although not very practical unless recovering under the stage) he can Double Jump > Side Special > Down Special > Up Special. Most importantly, if the bike is on the stage, don't destroy it. Just separate him from it and limit his attack options.
Neutral Special - This can be used in so many ways. He can heal by eating an item. And he can increase the damage that his Down Special does by eating his bike. This move has priority over any move with a hit box that isn't too far from your body. Shields can't stop it and it can be intimidating when used as an aerial approach. It can also be used to suicide if he baits and air dodge while you're recovering. If he does try to suicide and you're caught in the attack, then try using Fire so that he falls first. If you have high damage, Wario can get more bites in before releasing.
Side Special - The bike is insane in that it can respawn right after being eaten, destroyed, or if it simply falls off the map. Whenever the bike is in motion, it's a hitbox (unless abandoned in the air). If the bike is grounded and abandoned, it will continue to move and be a hitbox and allow Wario to follow up with other attacks. When this move is used in the air, it does a small hop. It can be used to continue an air combo, but if you're below the bike, that hop becomes a weakness. It allows more room to use Fire and counter the bike. This is especially good for edgeguarding Wario as this move is the preferred recovery move. And windboxes don't affect the bike or Wario while on the bike. Some people also forget that the bike can do a wheelie stomp which has crazy knockback. The bike can also be thrown for combo opportunities and edgeguarding. There are other bike techniques, but I'll leave a video at the end.
Down Special - Just remember that it can be used on the ground as well. Think of it as Jigglypuff's rest but with far more range. The duration can also be extended it it hits the bike.
N-air - This isn't so good when short-hopped but if it lands at a low percentage, it can combo into a bike hop.
F-air - It has low knockback, but can be short-hopped and comboed into itself and N-air repeatedly (It's something like Sheik's F-air if the height and timing of each attack is correct).
U-air - It has good range and kill power, but suffers tremendous endlag if whiffed. At best, GW's D-air can trade blows with this move.
D-air - It can multihit can lead to combos if Wario ground cancels it on a certain hit.
D-tilt - It trips and can be used in rapid succession. Like DK, Wario can follow up with a whole range of moves, but it combos best with a fully charged Waft, so be very careful when that's charged.
Dash Attack - The sourspot will trip and always put you behind Wario. Take note of that and try teching, attacking, or rolling away. The only move that can be done out of the trip is an F-tilt, but he can always try to tech chase as well.
Bike Tech Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faMvl0XYXAc
Donkey Kong*Crouchable Moves - Jab (first hit), frontal U-tilt, N-air, F-air, B-air, U-air
General - DK relies on spacing. Those big hands are good for attacking while staying in a safe position. Forward smash and his Giant Punch have good enough range to punish a badly spaced attack from you. And if you happen to be high in the air, that's very bad. DK will be able to destroy you with aerials and like just about any other character, chase you to your landing point and punish.
Neutral Special - It takes a pretty long time to charge completely, so try and stop him from getting the full charge by pressuring DK. I don't mean to rush in recklessly. As for uses of the move, aerial B-reversing works well for mindgames and can catch you off guard if you're not careful.
Up Special - It's just difficult to edgeguard against DK because of this move. It hits on both sides meaning that the only vulnerable places to attack are from above and below. The best option is to drop down and use Fire from below and you can keep repeating it until you get the kill. You cannot gimp DK, so you have to aim to kill. Also, make sure to watch for possible air dodges after the first use of Fire. The second best option is to D-air from above (given that you have good aim).
Down Special - On the ground, it is very vulnerable since one press of it does two slaps and has some endlag. In the air, it can spike, so be careful about how you recover. This spike doesn't take as much commitment as his F-air or D-air as it can be short hopped and done without leaving the stage at all. It even has a longer duration than those two aerials so it can punish bad air dodges easily.
F-air - It's difficult to short hop it like Yoshi can, but it can still be used as an approach option, but just a bad one that can be shield-grabbed. Offstage, it's his least effective spiking tool of the three if you can recover either very high or low and use Fire to beat the attack. But just know that the timing of your Fire recovery is important because DK's attack can still land before or after the invulnerability kicks in. It can also hit from above, so be careful if that situation ever arises.
D-air - Onstage, and depending on percentage, the bounce can combo into other things including another D-air, so try to use Fire to escape being comboed or increase KB with vectoring. As a spike, it's better than F-air because it's faster, can be short hopped lower than F-air, and requires less offstage commitment.
U-air - It's really fast and is a great KO move. Get as far away as possible while you're in the air. It even beats your D-air so that's not a good option.
U-tilt - It has really high knockback and will set up for a U-air or some other move.
D-tilt - It can combo into itself multiple times and trip. The tripping sets up for KO moves like F-smash.
Dash Attack - It has the potential to combo into itself multiple times like GW's. It can also combo into U-smash so just use Fire or jump after you get hit by this.
General - DK relies on spacing. Those big hands are good for attacking while staying in a safe position. Forward smash and his Giant Punch have good enough range to punish a badly spaced attack from you. And if you happen to be high in the air, that's very bad. DK will be able to destroy you with aerials and like just about any other character, chase you to your landing point and punish.
Neutral Special - It takes a pretty long time to charge completely, so try and stop him from getting the full charge by pressuring DK. I don't mean to rush in recklessly. As for uses of the move, aerial B-reversing works well for mindgames and can catch you off guard if you're not careful.
Up Special - It's just difficult to edgeguard against DK because of this move. It hits on both sides meaning that the only vulnerable places to attack are from above and below. The best option is to drop down and use Fire from below and you can keep repeating it until you get the kill. You cannot gimp DK, so you have to aim to kill. Also, make sure to watch for possible air dodges after the first use of Fire. The second best option is to D-air from above (given that you have good aim).
Down Special - On the ground, it is very vulnerable since one press of it does two slaps and has some endlag. In the air, it can spike, so be careful about how you recover. This spike doesn't take as much commitment as his F-air or D-air as it can be short hopped and done without leaving the stage at all. It even has a longer duration than those two aerials so it can punish bad air dodges easily.
F-air - It's difficult to short hop it like Yoshi can, but it can still be used as an approach option, but just a bad one that can be shield-grabbed. Offstage, it's his least effective spiking tool of the three if you can recover either very high or low and use Fire to beat the attack. But just know that the timing of your Fire recovery is important because DK's attack can still land before or after the invulnerability kicks in. It can also hit from above, so be careful if that situation ever arises.
D-air - Onstage, and depending on percentage, the bounce can combo into other things including another D-air, so try to use Fire to escape being comboed or increase KB with vectoring. As a spike, it's better than F-air because it's faster, can be short hopped lower than F-air, and requires less offstage commitment.
U-air - It's really fast and is a great KO move. Get as far away as possible while you're in the air. It even beats your D-air so that's not a good option.
U-tilt - It has really high knockback and will set up for a U-air or some other move.
D-tilt - It can combo into itself multiple times and trip. The tripping sets up for KO moves like F-smash.
Dash Attack - It has the potential to combo into itself multiple times like GW's. It can also combo into U-smash so just use Fire or jump after you get hit by this.
Diddy Kong*Crouchable Moves - Neutral Special (fully charged), Neutral Special (uncharged), Side Special, B-air, U-tilt
General - Diddy loves that grab. Dash grabs, pivot grabs, etc. Remember, you can jab the grab and force him to use other approach options. Despite Diddy being a bad MU for us, GW can actually limit many of Diddy's options.
Neutral Special - It's no threat. It can be crouched, destroyed with D-tilt or any other attack (if fully charged, then only D-tilt), and it can also be grabbed in the air with good timing (even when fully charged).
Side Special - D-tilt can mess up the trajectory of the move, but won't allow for a punish because it just pushes Diddy too far. All D-tilt will do is just reset to neutral. A well-timed U-smash would be a good option since once the flip activates, the only thing that can be done is a kick in that direction until the duration of the move ends. This is also the recovery move of choice so U-smash would also be good as long as Diddy isn't recovering high. Diddy can counter this by simply using this as a command grab to counter shielding or U-smash before the hitbox activates.
Up Special - Diddy is vulnerable while charging, but Diddy still travels pretty fast upon release. Some good ways to gimp him would be offstage B-air to the ledge (if you believe that's what he's going for), a low N-air to cover both sides, or some sort of utilization of Chef to have hitboxes out that will destroy the jetpack. Just watch out for the possible stage spike. This is also a good move to use OoS, so be wary of that.
Down Special - You can D-tilt, but it's not viable since Diddy will punish your lag. Plus, this banana is your friend. All items that bounce on shield are your friend. If the banana is thrown and you can shield it, do that and then immediately jump and grab out of shield to catch the banana. If the banana is on the ground, then you can jump and press the grab button before landing to pick it up. Knowing these things reduces the effectiveness of this move. But if both players know of this, it may become a race to see who can catch off of your shield first, so be quick with it. Also, Diddy can use this to ledge trap. Basically, if the banana is on the ledge, then your getup options are limited to jumping or else you'll trip. And since Diddy knows that jumping is one of the best options, he will try to read the jump. When it comes to ledge traps, you have the option of recovering high or dropping from the ledge and using N-air to destroy the banana. If you do a drop-down N-air, then you are vulnerable the next time that you grab the ledge, so you might want to skip that part and go for Fire to get onto the stage.
F-air - It has good range and oddly enough, a disjointed hitbox. Diddy can easily and safely wall you out with a bunch of F-airs if he wants to.
U-air - Thanks to the nerf, this move can be escaped much more easily. Try vectoring and increasing KB so that other U-air followups are harder.
D-tilt - It hits in rapid succession and trips.
General - Diddy loves that grab. Dash grabs, pivot grabs, etc. Remember, you can jab the grab and force him to use other approach options. Despite Diddy being a bad MU for us, GW can actually limit many of Diddy's options.
Neutral Special - It's no threat. It can be crouched, destroyed with D-tilt or any other attack (if fully charged, then only D-tilt), and it can also be grabbed in the air with good timing (even when fully charged).
Side Special - D-tilt can mess up the trajectory of the move, but won't allow for a punish because it just pushes Diddy too far. All D-tilt will do is just reset to neutral. A well-timed U-smash would be a good option since once the flip activates, the only thing that can be done is a kick in that direction until the duration of the move ends. This is also the recovery move of choice so U-smash would also be good as long as Diddy isn't recovering high. Diddy can counter this by simply using this as a command grab to counter shielding or U-smash before the hitbox activates.
Up Special - Diddy is vulnerable while charging, but Diddy still travels pretty fast upon release. Some good ways to gimp him would be offstage B-air to the ledge (if you believe that's what he's going for), a low N-air to cover both sides, or some sort of utilization of Chef to have hitboxes out that will destroy the jetpack. Just watch out for the possible stage spike. This is also a good move to use OoS, so be wary of that.
Down Special - You can D-tilt, but it's not viable since Diddy will punish your lag. Plus, this banana is your friend. All items that bounce on shield are your friend. If the banana is thrown and you can shield it, do that and then immediately jump and grab out of shield to catch the banana. If the banana is on the ground, then you can jump and press the grab button before landing to pick it up. Knowing these things reduces the effectiveness of this move. But if both players know of this, it may become a race to see who can catch off of your shield first, so be quick with it. Also, Diddy can use this to ledge trap. Basically, if the banana is on the ledge, then your getup options are limited to jumping or else you'll trip. And since Diddy knows that jumping is one of the best options, he will try to read the jump. When it comes to ledge traps, you have the option of recovering high or dropping from the ledge and using N-air to destroy the banana. If you do a drop-down N-air, then you are vulnerable the next time that you grab the ledge, so you might want to skip that part and go for Fire to get onto the stage.
F-air - It has good range and oddly enough, a disjointed hitbox. Diddy can easily and safely wall you out with a bunch of F-airs if he wants to.
U-air - Thanks to the nerf, this move can be escaped much more easily. Try vectoring and increasing KB so that other U-air followups are harder.
D-tilt - It hits in rapid succession and trips.
Mr. Game and Watch* (50-50)Crouchable Moves - backwards-facing U-smash, frontal U-smash, N-air
General - This matchup is really annoying and also really useful because it's mostly about spacing. The one whose spacing is better will most likely win. It'll teach you how to play better so this is actually one of my favorite matchups (even some of those times when For Glory noobs try to win with your main in your color just to troll you.) But either way, since it's GW vs. GW, that means GW has a 100% chance of winning! His weaknesses are all around this board so I'm not going to go into that.
General - This matchup is really annoying and also really useful because it's mostly about spacing. The one whose spacing is better will most likely win. It'll teach you how to play better so this is actually one of my favorite matchups (even some of those times when For Glory noobs try to win with your main in your color just to troll you.) But either way, since it's GW vs. GW, that means GW has a 100% chance of winning! His weaknesses are all around this board so I'm not going to go into that.
Little Mac**Crouchable Moves - Jab (first hit only), Neutral Special (fully charged), Side Special, F-smash, F-air, B-air, F-tilt, frontal U-tilt, Grab, Dash Grab
General - He's fast and will weave in and out to bait attacks or simply attack when you least expect it. His foxtrot is amazing due to its long distance/speed and on top of that, he slides. Some people like to spam his smashes for the super armor. Since Little Mac has amazing frame data, the window for punishing his moves is small, making a good Little Mac a difficult opponent. However, crouching against a Little Mac may limit his options and make him rethink his approaches. LM can also easily chase you to anticipate your landing, so you must really try to mix your landings up. He even has a big advantage if you block his attacks because most, if not all, push you back on shield making him safe and making you too far to attack safely. This is why crouching is important in this MU. If you are good at crouching and instantly punishing, then most of LM's usual approaches have already been beaten. He's also pretty easy to gimp though. Even with that huge weakness, don't count him out because some of his combos are devastating.
Neutral Special - The only threatening thing about this move is that it is charging and can be released at any time. Either choice is okay for countering: Jump and attack from behind or run away and bait the fully charged one or simply run to reset to neutral. The KO punch is the real threat and you need to be extra cautious with that. Don't rush in. Simply bait and punish. He has a few setups for it though. One is a simple D-tilt > KO punch. Another is an empty N-air to KO punch. After using an aerial, if a KO punch is used before landing, then it converts into a grounded KO punch with some sliding momentum. Another is a ledge-canceled rapid jab into KO punch. If he rapid jabs you while facing away from the ledge, the pushback will bring him off the ledge and then allow him to cancel the jab combo into a KO punch. We can use this tech for rapid jab > Oil Panic and it's easier to use (is also a true combo).
Side Special - You can D-tilt it if you expect it or you can U-smash or shield-grab. It's a fast move and can catch you off-guard at close range. It's generally a good mixup when used correctly.
Down Special - The counter is mostly used while being juggled, while recovering, or when anticipating an obvious attack. When Little Mac is juggled, he has very few options for defense, so this may be the only thing. U-air can bait the counter and you can keep juggling with U-air or wait for him to land and then grab/pivot grab or U-smash if he tries to attack before landing. If it's used before recovering, you can bait it and follow up with an easy D-air spike. If you can read the counter, you can footstool > D-air since footstools don't activate the counter. However, footstools also don't put countering people in tumble. It's like footstooling shield in that you get the jump, but there are no negative effects on the shielding character. Another option is a D-tilt (since he can't counter windboxes and won't take damage from them while in his pose) with the manhole offstage so that a counter can be lifted and a Side Special can be avoided. Note that if the manhole touches him at all, even while airborne, that's when he can counter. You can also try to anticipate the counter, jump behind him, and use Fire so that he goes the opposite way and gimps himself.
F-smash - Crouch under it and then grab if possible. Blocking the F-smash is horrible as it pushes you too far back to reach with any viable attack.
U-smash - It doesn't have a hitbox from behind unless you're airborne. And if you are, he's fast enough to chase your landing and use this move, so it may be best just to mix up how you land to confuse him.
D-smash - It's pretty laggy and easy to counter unless it has been blocked.
N-air - This is one of LM's only gimping tools and is really effective given that he gets an offstage air dodge read. If he does and uses N-air repeatedly, it can drag you down to the bottom blast zone and KO you both (with you dying first). It isn't anything huge to worry about since most LMs would refuse to take offstage risks or lose stage control.
F-tilt - It's very powerful, but it can be crouched and then punished.
D-tilt - It combos into itself at low percentages and is good for other setups, but the main threat is the D-tilt followed up with a KO punch as a true combo.
General - He's fast and will weave in and out to bait attacks or simply attack when you least expect it. His foxtrot is amazing due to its long distance/speed and on top of that, he slides. Some people like to spam his smashes for the super armor. Since Little Mac has amazing frame data, the window for punishing his moves is small, making a good Little Mac a difficult opponent. However, crouching against a Little Mac may limit his options and make him rethink his approaches. LM can also easily chase you to anticipate your landing, so you must really try to mix your landings up. He even has a big advantage if you block his attacks because most, if not all, push you back on shield making him safe and making you too far to attack safely. This is why crouching is important in this MU. If you are good at crouching and instantly punishing, then most of LM's usual approaches have already been beaten. He's also pretty easy to gimp though. Even with that huge weakness, don't count him out because some of his combos are devastating.
Neutral Special - The only threatening thing about this move is that it is charging and can be released at any time. Either choice is okay for countering: Jump and attack from behind or run away and bait the fully charged one or simply run to reset to neutral. The KO punch is the real threat and you need to be extra cautious with that. Don't rush in. Simply bait and punish. He has a few setups for it though. One is a simple D-tilt > KO punch. Another is an empty N-air to KO punch. After using an aerial, if a KO punch is used before landing, then it converts into a grounded KO punch with some sliding momentum. Another is a ledge-canceled rapid jab into KO punch. If he rapid jabs you while facing away from the ledge, the pushback will bring him off the ledge and then allow him to cancel the jab combo into a KO punch. We can use this tech for rapid jab > Oil Panic and it's easier to use (is also a true combo).
Side Special - You can D-tilt it if you expect it or you can U-smash or shield-grab. It's a fast move and can catch you off-guard at close range. It's generally a good mixup when used correctly.
Down Special - The counter is mostly used while being juggled, while recovering, or when anticipating an obvious attack. When Little Mac is juggled, he has very few options for defense, so this may be the only thing. U-air can bait the counter and you can keep juggling with U-air or wait for him to land and then grab/pivot grab or U-smash if he tries to attack before landing. If it's used before recovering, you can bait it and follow up with an easy D-air spike. If you can read the counter, you can footstool > D-air since footstools don't activate the counter. However, footstools also don't put countering people in tumble. It's like footstooling shield in that you get the jump, but there are no negative effects on the shielding character. Another option is a D-tilt (since he can't counter windboxes and won't take damage from them while in his pose) with the manhole offstage so that a counter can be lifted and a Side Special can be avoided. Note that if the manhole touches him at all, even while airborne, that's when he can counter. You can also try to anticipate the counter, jump behind him, and use Fire so that he goes the opposite way and gimps himself.
F-smash - Crouch under it and then grab if possible. Blocking the F-smash is horrible as it pushes you too far back to reach with any viable attack.
U-smash - It doesn't have a hitbox from behind unless you're airborne. And if you are, he's fast enough to chase your landing and use this move, so it may be best just to mix up how you land to confuse him.
D-smash - It's pretty laggy and easy to counter unless it has been blocked.
N-air - This is one of LM's only gimping tools and is really effective given that he gets an offstage air dodge read. If he does and uses N-air repeatedly, it can drag you down to the bottom blast zone and KO you both (with you dying first). It isn't anything huge to worry about since most LMs would refuse to take offstage risks or lose stage control.
F-tilt - It's very powerful, but it can be crouched and then punished.
D-tilt - It combos into itself at low percentages and is good for other setups, but the main threat is the D-tilt followed up with a KO punch as a true combo.
Link*Crouchable Moves - Neutral Special (fully charged), Neutral Special (uncharged), Side Special (unless close range), backwards-facing Up Special (grounded), F-smash (second hit), backwards-facing U-smash (first and third hits), N-air, F-air, B-air (first hit), B-air (second hit), Z-air (requires extreme precision) Grab (only decreases its range)
General - Link has tons of zoning tools and very little endlag on most attacks, making him a good character in the right hands. You can powershield through his projectiles to approach, so he's not as hard to approach as some might think. Crouching destroys his aerial game though.
Neutral Special - This can be crouched under to teach Link that he must actually aim his arrows. The best way to beat the arrow spam would be to do some running powershields (regular shields are okay, but it may wear out quickly). Crouch-to-shield is also okay. The arrows are also really good for edgeguarding from afar.
Side Special - The boomerang hitbox starts out being the size of the tornado even before the tornado is made. Once the tornado is formed, the hitbox becomes smaller. Still, throughout the whole move, the hitbox is actually much bigger than the boomerang and covers almost the entirety of the tornado. Crouching also makes Link try to aim the tornado or simply revert to arrows. Be wary that as the boomerang returns, you need to shield or the windbox will carry you to Link even as you're crouching. You could use this to your advantage though. Your choice. This is also a decent edgeguarding tool since it has a large hitbox.
Up Special - Link is tough to edgeguard properly because the you can only really hit from above or below. Either use D-air (which requires precision) or Fire from below. Link will almost always recover mid-height with Z-air or low with his Up Special, so dropping down and using Fire is a good choice in both situations. Even if Fire doesn't hit, the windbox pushes Link up high for an easy punish.
Down Special - They're actually surprisingly good for combos. And as you know, you can bucket the bombs. If it's thrown on shield, you can catch it and either let it explode in your hands with the bucket activated or Z-drop it and quickly bucket the bomb upon landing. You can also simply throw it back. It's sometimes used offstage to gain an extra jump for recovery. It may be a good idea to chase Link offstage and anticipate the moment that the bomb puts him in hitstun so that you can punish. You could also anticipate the explosion and bucket it offstage for style points.
F-smash - There's a good amount of endlag if the second hit misses. You can also shield-grab on any hit. since they don't push far at all.
U-smash - Even more endlag if it misses and it can be shield-grabbed on the first and second hits. The third pushes back. If you're airborne, it wouldn't be a good idea to D-air, but it's actually possible to land it without trading blows. It's just not a good option though.
N-air - It's not as fast as some others, but it still has the potential to interrupt D-Throw combos. It's also an approach option for the lingering hitbox, but it can be shield-grabbed. A good combo starter at low percents when short-hopped.
F-air - Better approach option since it has range to it.
U-air - It has a lingering hitbox for as long as the sword is visibly upright and catches air dodges easily so try not to air dodge near him.
D-air - Just remember that bounces on shield. And it has some punishable lag upon landing. You could also simply U-smash the first hit (which results in a bounce) or the second (which will result in an actual hit) it since he can't cancel the move. Unlike our D-air, it can be slow-falled and fast-falled.
F-tilt - It looks like it has a hitbox from above, but it doesn't. It's all frontal. Still, it has really good knockback.
Jab - Link can jab out of nearly any action and can even do two jabs to follow up with other attacks such as another set of jabs or even smash attacks. Depending on the timing and the choice of followup move, they can be true combos.
Z-air - The hookshot can be used in the air and combo into a grab when grounded. Basically, don't air dodge too much and definitely don't whiff aerials.
General - Link has tons of zoning tools and very little endlag on most attacks, making him a good character in the right hands. You can powershield through his projectiles to approach, so he's not as hard to approach as some might think. Crouching destroys his aerial game though.
Neutral Special - This can be crouched under to teach Link that he must actually aim his arrows. The best way to beat the arrow spam would be to do some running powershields (regular shields are okay, but it may wear out quickly). Crouch-to-shield is also okay. The arrows are also really good for edgeguarding from afar.
Side Special - The boomerang hitbox starts out being the size of the tornado even before the tornado is made. Once the tornado is formed, the hitbox becomes smaller. Still, throughout the whole move, the hitbox is actually much bigger than the boomerang and covers almost the entirety of the tornado. Crouching also makes Link try to aim the tornado or simply revert to arrows. Be wary that as the boomerang returns, you need to shield or the windbox will carry you to Link even as you're crouching. You could use this to your advantage though. Your choice. This is also a decent edgeguarding tool since it has a large hitbox.
Up Special - Link is tough to edgeguard properly because the you can only really hit from above or below. Either use D-air (which requires precision) or Fire from below. Link will almost always recover mid-height with Z-air or low with his Up Special, so dropping down and using Fire is a good choice in both situations. Even if Fire doesn't hit, the windbox pushes Link up high for an easy punish.
Down Special - They're actually surprisingly good for combos. And as you know, you can bucket the bombs. If it's thrown on shield, you can catch it and either let it explode in your hands with the bucket activated or Z-drop it and quickly bucket the bomb upon landing. You can also simply throw it back. It's sometimes used offstage to gain an extra jump for recovery. It may be a good idea to chase Link offstage and anticipate the moment that the bomb puts him in hitstun so that you can punish. You could also anticipate the explosion and bucket it offstage for style points.
F-smash - There's a good amount of endlag if the second hit misses. You can also shield-grab on any hit. since they don't push far at all.
U-smash - Even more endlag if it misses and it can be shield-grabbed on the first and second hits. The third pushes back. If you're airborne, it wouldn't be a good idea to D-air, but it's actually possible to land it without trading blows. It's just not a good option though.
N-air - It's not as fast as some others, but it still has the potential to interrupt D-Throw combos. It's also an approach option for the lingering hitbox, but it can be shield-grabbed. A good combo starter at low percents when short-hopped.
F-air - Better approach option since it has range to it.
U-air - It has a lingering hitbox for as long as the sword is visibly upright and catches air dodges easily so try not to air dodge near him.
D-air - Just remember that bounces on shield. And it has some punishable lag upon landing. You could also simply U-smash the first hit (which results in a bounce) or the second (which will result in an actual hit) it since he can't cancel the move. Unlike our D-air, it can be slow-falled and fast-falled.
F-tilt - It looks like it has a hitbox from above, but it doesn't. It's all frontal. Still, it has really good knockback.
Jab - Link can jab out of nearly any action and can even do two jabs to follow up with other attacks such as another set of jabs or even smash attacks. Depending on the timing and the choice of followup move, they can be true combos.
Z-air - The hookshot can be used in the air and combo into a grab when grounded. Basically, don't air dodge too much and definitely don't whiff aerials.
Zelda* (55-45)Crouchable Moves - Jab, Dash Attack, F-tilt, U-tilt, F-smash (all but the final hit), U-smash, N-air, Grab, Dash Grab
General - I haven't played an absolutely amazing Zelda player, but most people are probably reluctant about playing her because she suffers the most from landing lag on aerials.
Neutral Special - This may be a little annoying as it can push you back or stop approaches, but this actually has some weaknesses. You can hit her right when it starts and right when it ends. The move starts with the giant crystal-like shield, but the actual hitboxes appear when the smaller crystals appear and encircle Zelda. The crystals soon fade out with Zelda still in the spin animation, which makes her vulnerable. The final part of the move has a big shine that appears for a very small window of time and after that, she can move again. As for its reflective properties, the only thing to worry about is reflecting Chef.
Side Special - It's too easy to bucket Din's Fire. It's so slow. Just bucket it and make sure that Zelda doesn't use it again.
Up Special - It's a KO move and can sometimes come at you unexpectedly. She can do it out of shield, ledge cancel it, and even combo it into itself vertically (which is called the "ladder"). Try to stay away from edges unless the Zelda is the average Zelda who can't ledge cancel or unless you're just edgeguarding.
Down Special - It has a ton of tactical uses despite what some may think. It can be used as a shield, it can conceal the next attack that Zelda will use, and when fully charged, the second hit can knock you off the ledge if you're hanging there. Generally, Zelda can actually edgeguard and block some recoveries (especially horizontal ones) with this thing. However, if you destroy it, then there's a cooldown time for it to be used again.
Nair - Definitely one of her most reliable aerials. If you happen to be particularly slow with your D-Throw followups then it may stop you. But generally, it activates too slowly for that.
F-air/B-air/D-air - They have more of a chance of being regular low knockback hits than the magical high knockback hits. The risk is often greater than the reward because the endlag on all of them are horrible. Punish aerials like crazy.
Tilts - They all have pretty high knockback except for D-tilt. It's good for followups like F-air at certain percentages, but you may be able to avoid the F-air hit with Fire.
Here's some of what Zelda is capable of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo_ZkdDoWU8
General - I haven't played an absolutely amazing Zelda player, but most people are probably reluctant about playing her because she suffers the most from landing lag on aerials.
Neutral Special - This may be a little annoying as it can push you back or stop approaches, but this actually has some weaknesses. You can hit her right when it starts and right when it ends. The move starts with the giant crystal-like shield, but the actual hitboxes appear when the smaller crystals appear and encircle Zelda. The crystals soon fade out with Zelda still in the spin animation, which makes her vulnerable. The final part of the move has a big shine that appears for a very small window of time and after that, she can move again. As for its reflective properties, the only thing to worry about is reflecting Chef.
Side Special - It's too easy to bucket Din's Fire. It's so slow. Just bucket it and make sure that Zelda doesn't use it again.
Up Special - It's a KO move and can sometimes come at you unexpectedly. She can do it out of shield, ledge cancel it, and even combo it into itself vertically (which is called the "ladder"). Try to stay away from edges unless the Zelda is the average Zelda who can't ledge cancel or unless you're just edgeguarding.
Down Special - It has a ton of tactical uses despite what some may think. It can be used as a shield, it can conceal the next attack that Zelda will use, and when fully charged, the second hit can knock you off the ledge if you're hanging there. Generally, Zelda can actually edgeguard and block some recoveries (especially horizontal ones) with this thing. However, if you destroy it, then there's a cooldown time for it to be used again.
Nair - Definitely one of her most reliable aerials. If you happen to be particularly slow with your D-Throw followups then it may stop you. But generally, it activates too slowly for that.
F-air/B-air/D-air - They have more of a chance of being regular low knockback hits than the magical high knockback hits. The risk is often greater than the reward because the endlag on all of them are horrible. Punish aerials like crazy.
Tilts - They all have pretty high knockback except for D-tilt. It's good for followups like F-air at certain percentages, but you may be able to avoid the F-air hit with Fire.
Here's some of what Zelda is capable of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo_ZkdDoWU8
Sheik**Crouchable Moves - Jab (first hit only), Neutral Special, F-smash, N-air, B-air
General - Sheik is very fast and amazing with combos, but GW does have some tricks to limit her options or make her rethink her approach. For instance, D-tilt to U-smash on aerial approaches will mess up her air game and then ideally get you a free attack, but the endlag on D-tilt may not allow time for a U-smash, so you may need to tilt. Although a better option on her aerials may just be a plain U-smash. Either way, it'll make her rethink her approach.
Neutral Special - Most For Glory Sheiks start out with an uncharged one (usually to try and force an approach), which is why it's always a good idea to crouch at the start of the match just in case. It's less expected as an aerial attack or in close combat. It can be used for edgeguarding, but it won't do much else besides adding damage, making it a bad option anyway.
Forward Special - You can bucket it, and it fills two units up, but you can be punished for it. Use your judgment.
Up Special - It can be used to counter obvious approaches or in a U-Throw combo (but it's not a true combo and can be easily bucketed if you see it coming). And you can only bucket the first explosion, not the last.
Down Special - Is used to KO and is good a good follow up after F-air combos and a few other combos. Sometimes, it's even used to recover, but a U-smash may do the trick in that case. It's also very annoying that it's safe on shield.
F-air - Sheik can use this to combo into a long string of other F-airs so it may be best to jump, Fire, or DI away from an F-air combo.
U-air - it can be used to do a chain grab at low percents. Just try to jab the grab.
F-tilt - It combos into itself multiple times, so try to use Fire to escape.
Here's a some videos on what Sheik can do:
ATs - https://youtu.be/WP_LEx9vKek?t=75
General - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPdFtiTGJ5c
General - Sheik is very fast and amazing with combos, but GW does have some tricks to limit her options or make her rethink her approach. For instance, D-tilt to U-smash on aerial approaches will mess up her air game and then ideally get you a free attack, but the endlag on D-tilt may not allow time for a U-smash, so you may need to tilt. Although a better option on her aerials may just be a plain U-smash. Either way, it'll make her rethink her approach.
Neutral Special - Most For Glory Sheiks start out with an uncharged one (usually to try and force an approach), which is why it's always a good idea to crouch at the start of the match just in case. It's less expected as an aerial attack or in close combat. It can be used for edgeguarding, but it won't do much else besides adding damage, making it a bad option anyway.
Forward Special - You can bucket it, and it fills two units up, but you can be punished for it. Use your judgment.
Up Special - It can be used to counter obvious approaches or in a U-Throw combo (but it's not a true combo and can be easily bucketed if you see it coming). And you can only bucket the first explosion, not the last.
Down Special - Is used to KO and is good a good follow up after F-air combos and a few other combos. Sometimes, it's even used to recover, but a U-smash may do the trick in that case. It's also very annoying that it's safe on shield.
F-air - Sheik can use this to combo into a long string of other F-airs so it may be best to jump, Fire, or DI away from an F-air combo.
U-air - it can be used to do a chain grab at low percents. Just try to jab the grab.
F-tilt - It combos into itself multiple times, so try to use Fire to escape.
Here's a some videos on what Sheik can do:
ATs - https://youtu.be/WP_LEx9vKek?t=75
General - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPdFtiTGJ5c
Gannondorf* (45-55)Crouchable Moves - Jab, Neutral Special, Down Special, F-smash (unless down-angled), D-smash, N-air, F-air, B-air, D-air, Grab, Dash Grab.
Toon Link* (50-50)Crouchable Moves - Neutral Special (fully charged), Neutral Special (uncharged), N-air, U-air, B-air
Samus*Crouchable Moves - Jab (first hit only), Dash Attack, Neutral Special (until it's a certain size), Side Special (Super Missile), Side Special (Homing Missile), N-air, F-air (all hits except a specific frame of the fifth hit.), B-air, Z-air, F-tilt (except when extremely close)
Zero Suit Samus*Crouchable Moves - Jab, Neutral Special, Side Special (except for the end of the whip), F-smash, N-air, F-air, B-air, U-air, Z-air, F-tilt, U-tilt, Grab, Dash Grab
Pit**Crouchable Moves - Neutral Special (unless trajectory is changed), U-smash, F-tilt (super close range), Grab, Dash Grab
Palutena*Crouchable Moves - Side Special (the close range shield hitbox, but is still pushed by the barrier), Dash Attack, F-smash, (must be closer than the wing tips are), N-air, Dash Grab
Marth*Crouchable Moves - Jab (first hit only), Neutral Special, N-air, U-tilt
Ike*Crouchable Moves - Jab (first hit only), F-tilt, B-air, Grab, Dash Grab
Robin*Crouchable Moves - Jab (third explosive hit and green magic jabs except the finisher), Neutral Special, Forward Special, N-air (except when backward-facing), F-air, B-air, U-air (despite the initial downward hitbox) F-tilt, U-tilt
Duck Hunt*Crouchable Moves - Forward Special (at most ranges), Down Special (all except the fire gunman), U-smash, F-air, B-air, U-tilt
Kirby*Crouchable Moves - frontal U-tilt
King Dedede*Crouchable Moves - frontal U-smash
Meta Knight**Crouchable Moves - Neutral Special (except very close range), U-smash, U-tilt, Dash Grab
Fox**Crouchable Moves - Jab (first hit only) Neutral Special, F-air, B-air, U-air, F-tilt, frontal U-tilt
Falco**Crouchable Moves - Neutral Special, Down Special, U-air, F-tilt, backwards-facing U-tilt, Dash Grab
Pikachu**Crouchable Moves - Neutral Special (with super precise placement), Side Special (not close range), backwards-facing U-smash, U-air
Charizard*Crouchable Moves - backwards-facing U-smash, U-air, U-tilt
Lucario**Crouchable Moves - Jab (second hit only), horizontal Up Special, N-air, B-air, U-air, Dash Grab
Jigglypuff*Crouchable Moves - backwards-facing U-smash, Rest (can only be landed from above)
Greninja*Crouchable Moves - U-tilt, F-air, D-Taunt, Grab (only delays the grab for an extremely small window of time because the grab lingers a little), Dash Grab
R.O.B.*Crouchable Moves - Neutral Special, Side Special (it must be really close range and will be hit by the final hit if it's frontal), Down Special (only when picked up and thrown), F-smash, F-air, U-air, Grab, Dash Grab
Ness**Crouchable Moves - U-tilt
Captain Falcon*Crouchable Moves - Jab, Dash Attack, Neutral Special, Up Special, F-smash, D-smash (except when backwards-facing), Grab, Dash Grab
Villager** (45-55)Crouchable Moves - U-tilt, Dash Attack (extremely close range), F-air, B-air
Olimar*Crouchable Moves - U-tilt
Wii Fit Trainer*Crouchable Moves - Jab (first two hits), Neutral Special, Side Special (mid-range), F-smash, U-smash, N-air, F-air (unless backwards-facing) F-tilt, U-tilt, Grab, Dash Grab
Shulk*Crouchable Moves - Jab (first two hits), Dash Attack, Side Special, Grab, Dash Grab
Dr. Mario**Crouchable Moves - Neutral Special (sort-of precise placement), frontal U-smash, U-air
Dark Pit**Crouchable Moves - Neutral Special (unless trajectory is changed), U-smash, F-tilt (super close range), Grab, Dash Grab
Lucina*Crouchable Moves - Jab (first hit only), Neutral Special, N-air, U-tilt
Pac-Man**Crouchable Moves - Apple (super precise placement), Melon (mid-range), Up-special (the trampoline is ineffective until you get up) U-tilt
Mega Man**Crouchable Moves - Jab (when very close to the blaster), Jab (in any other situation) Side Special, B-air, U-air
Sonic*Crouchable Moves - U-air
Mewtwo*Crouchable Moves - Dash Attack Neutral Special, Down Special, F-smash, U-smash, F-air, backwards-facing U-tilt, Grab, Dash Grab
Roy*Crouchable Moves - U-smash, N-air, F-air, U-air, U-tilt (except when backwards-facing)
Ryu**Crouchable Moves - Jab, Dash Attack, Neutral Special, Forward Special, Down Special (uncharged), Down Special (fully charged), Up Special, F-tilt (weak), U-tilt, Grab, Dash Grab
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