LanceStern
Smash Lord
Kinda as a sequel to my last topic "What I've been doing to advance Samus' metagame" I just wanted to let the Samus board know of some more things I have been testing/attempting/finding out ways to make Samus more of a threat. I really want to see her move up on the tier list, and the only way to do that is to keep fighting and experimenting with her to light breaks through. So here's some of the stuff I've been up to:
1. Check out this topic on Brawl Tactical Discussion: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=187873
- Test out each advance tech and see what Samus can do with it. Seriously guys I think this is key. If we can find someway to help her out with these techs that have been known forever, then I'm all for it. Really I think this is KEY, we have to tell each other what we find with these techniques. Try them everywhere and see if Samus benefits from them.
Already I've found she does great with the Reverse-Jump cancelled Upsmash. check it out and then try it.
2. Start tilting your fsmashes UP , tilt them down on small chracters- Seriously. After we got data for Samus' KO percentages, it was found that fsmash tilted up does more damage and has significantly higher knockback than just a regular fsmash or it tilted down. This move will kill characters early.
- On a sidenote, start doing slightly-boosted fsmashes (I forget the technical name). By that I mean push the analog stick forward a little then execute a forward smash. Samus will slide a little with the fsmash. You can also do it backwards for spacing.
- Another sidenote (thanks to n00b). As tempting as it is to get that knockback, it's very hard to hit small characters (Kriby, MK, Olimar, Ness) with a fsmash tilted up. Instead tilt it down to give them some lower, horizontal knockback. It won't kill early at all, but might set up gimps and you won't wiff over them.
3. Start using up-smash and u-tilt more.- Up smash doesn't kill very well, but it can do a lot of damage and most opponents aren't going to expect it enough to SDI. You can punish those coming back on the ledge with it, and it juggles heavy characters pretty nicely, not to mention Upsmash fresh w/all hits is a good 18%.
- When on the ledge, recover with an Uair -> hyphen smash/reverse jump-cancelled upsmash. The uair should stun them long enough for you to get at least 3-4 hits off with the usmash. It's VERY good
- U-tilt is a great killing move on airborne opponents and I don't think we use it enough - we just have to be smart. I really think it's key to helping our matchups against the aerial foes we have trouble against (MK, Ness, Kirby). I found a great setup: smash missile -> utilt. It covers all bases. the utilt is kind of hard to predict when the hurtbox hurts too.
I'm also using MBB on the edge -> utilt to edge guard. It's really good. After the opponent starts predicting it switch it up into plasma shots.
4. More air release -> plasma shot
- Samus has trouble killing, but most opponents won't expect a air release -> plasma shot. At high percentages it works on a lot more characters than we think, and even if they could escape it they won't see it coming without a free KO. On Wario start mixing in air release -> utilt. They will DI wrong and die expecting a plasma shot
5. USE Ftilt to punish!- It's faster and has better range than her smashes, it has good knockback at decent percentages. It can be aimed.
6. We need to GIMP more. Samus has enough trouble killing because she's not too good close combat. She doesn't have the moves necessary to kill, and if she does they are not fast enough or disjointed enough to do the job. We gotta follow our opponents off with zair or plasmas or missiles or tether gimps.
7. Found a way to do a few sliding smashes.- Like I said the topic on Brawl Tactical Discussion "Comprehensive guide to AT" is really good. So I started playing around a little with pivots and found this:
a. Run a direction
b. Turn around so that Samus skids
c. Tap the analog stick A LITTLE bit in the direction shes about to start running (opposite to step A). You will see Samus start a half step and slide in that direction
d. Input a command (smashes or dtilts)
RESULT: Samus slides a nice distance (think a hyphen smash) and does an attack.
*If you tap the analog stick too much in part C she will dash. We don't want that. To eliminate the chance of dashing, instead of just tapping the stick in the opposite direction (part C), tap the stick and press A at the same time so that she slides then input a command in part D
Now it's one of the techniques listed in the topic, but I found the most significant boost comes with down tilt. She slides a nice distance and it could catch opponents chasing you by surprise. Any character can do this, but it seems samus gets a really great slide out of it with the dtilt.
You can also use parts a) and b) for tricky ledge guarding:
a) Run to a ledge
b) Hit the analog stick in the opposite direction so samus skids at the edge of the ledge
c) Jump and hit Z for the zair
RESULT: Samus teleports from the stage to the ledge with a tether grab. Awesome.
Go crazy and see if you can find any uses for it. As well as the jump-cancelled reverse upsmash, I love that thing.
1. Check out this topic on Brawl Tactical Discussion: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=187873
- Test out each advance tech and see what Samus can do with it. Seriously guys I think this is key. If we can find someway to help her out with these techs that have been known forever, then I'm all for it. Really I think this is KEY, we have to tell each other what we find with these techniques. Try them everywhere and see if Samus benefits from them.
Already I've found she does great with the Reverse-Jump cancelled Upsmash. check it out and then try it.
2. Start tilting your fsmashes UP , tilt them down on small chracters- Seriously. After we got data for Samus' KO percentages, it was found that fsmash tilted up does more damage and has significantly higher knockback than just a regular fsmash or it tilted down. This move will kill characters early.
- On a sidenote, start doing slightly-boosted fsmashes (I forget the technical name). By that I mean push the analog stick forward a little then execute a forward smash. Samus will slide a little with the fsmash. You can also do it backwards for spacing.
- Another sidenote (thanks to n00b). As tempting as it is to get that knockback, it's very hard to hit small characters (Kriby, MK, Olimar, Ness) with a fsmash tilted up. Instead tilt it down to give them some lower, horizontal knockback. It won't kill early at all, but might set up gimps and you won't wiff over them.
3. Start using up-smash and u-tilt more.- Up smash doesn't kill very well, but it can do a lot of damage and most opponents aren't going to expect it enough to SDI. You can punish those coming back on the ledge with it, and it juggles heavy characters pretty nicely, not to mention Upsmash fresh w/all hits is a good 18%.
- When on the ledge, recover with an Uair -> hyphen smash/reverse jump-cancelled upsmash. The uair should stun them long enough for you to get at least 3-4 hits off with the usmash. It's VERY good
- U-tilt is a great killing move on airborne opponents and I don't think we use it enough - we just have to be smart. I really think it's key to helping our matchups against the aerial foes we have trouble against (MK, Ness, Kirby). I found a great setup: smash missile -> utilt. It covers all bases. the utilt is kind of hard to predict when the hurtbox hurts too.
I'm also using MBB on the edge -> utilt to edge guard. It's really good. After the opponent starts predicting it switch it up into plasma shots.
4. More air release -> plasma shot
- Samus has trouble killing, but most opponents won't expect a air release -> plasma shot. At high percentages it works on a lot more characters than we think, and even if they could escape it they won't see it coming without a free KO. On Wario start mixing in air release -> utilt. They will DI wrong and die expecting a plasma shot
5. USE Ftilt to punish!- It's faster and has better range than her smashes, it has good knockback at decent percentages. It can be aimed.
6. We need to GIMP more. Samus has enough trouble killing because she's not too good close combat. She doesn't have the moves necessary to kill, and if she does they are not fast enough or disjointed enough to do the job. We gotta follow our opponents off with zair or plasmas or missiles or tether gimps.
7. Found a way to do a few sliding smashes.- Like I said the topic on Brawl Tactical Discussion "Comprehensive guide to AT" is really good. So I started playing around a little with pivots and found this:
a. Run a direction
b. Turn around so that Samus skids
c. Tap the analog stick A LITTLE bit in the direction shes about to start running (opposite to step A). You will see Samus start a half step and slide in that direction
d. Input a command (smashes or dtilts)
RESULT: Samus slides a nice distance (think a hyphen smash) and does an attack.
*If you tap the analog stick too much in part C she will dash. We don't want that. To eliminate the chance of dashing, instead of just tapping the stick in the opposite direction (part C), tap the stick and press A at the same time so that she slides then input a command in part D
Now it's one of the techniques listed in the topic, but I found the most significant boost comes with down tilt. She slides a nice distance and it could catch opponents chasing you by surprise. Any character can do this, but it seems samus gets a really great slide out of it with the dtilt.
You can also use parts a) and b) for tricky ledge guarding:
a) Run to a ledge
b) Hit the analog stick in the opposite direction so samus skids at the edge of the ledge
c) Jump and hit Z for the zair
RESULT: Samus teleports from the stage to the ledge with a tether grab. Awesome.
Go crazy and see if you can find any uses for it. As well as the jump-cancelled reverse upsmash, I love that thing.