My Air Game Sucks...Help?

[Deleted member 269706]

Alright, so I've been trying to get better with Ike (my secondary/ex-main) lately. I've noticed with a lot of other Ike players, it's all about the air battling. Admittedly, I'm awful in the air, my accuracy sucks and can't seem to figure out when to use fair vs nair. After studying a lot of playback footage from Ike players, I've been improving, but not by a lot. I could really use some help right now, even if it is more of a general tip than a Ike exclusive trick. Any and all help is welcome! Thanks in advance!

 

[san.]

If you aren't too comfortable in the air, staying mostly grounded isn't so bad with dash+shield, dtilt, jab, grabs, and the occasional short hopped aerial. Ike benefits from being able to move fluidly in the air and on the ground as long as you autocancel most of your aerials and keep in mind how most people will try to intercept or punish your attacks.

As far as aerials are concerned, nair and bair are probably your best bet until you're comfortable with using fair. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJv_9hWwCJY The second match shows a good use of aerials while the third match shows how to play conservatively close to the ground.

 

[Deleted member 269706]

Hey San, I appreciate the answer! In all honesty it was the first video that you posted yesterday in the thread "Can the Ragnell hit below the Ledge with Eruption?" that got me thinking about this. (Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebkGDy4w6q0). Anyways, I appreciate the footage and advice you gave me. But I do have one question, can you explain what you mean by "autocancel most of your aerials"?

Also wanted to ask if I should be using the circle pad to jump or the X/Y buttons?

 

[san.]

There's a period of time where you can't perform another aerial, but if you land, you'll receive no lag anyways. That's when the aerial autocancels. You can full hop+all aerials except for nair and short hop bair to autocancel them. Pretty much just learn the timing when to fast fall your aerials so you don't lag when you land.

Tap jump is up to your preference. I recommend trying them both out.

 

[JJpalmer]

how do u know win u sucessfully auto cancel the aerials out of curiosity

 

[CommanderVimes]

how do u know win u sucessfully auto cancel the aerials out of curiosity

I'm still learning auto-cancel myself (it's called auto because you don't have to push any buttons to do it, right? You just need to time your airs and it does it for you?) so this could be wrong, but do you see around 4:10 in San's first posted video how Ike does a short hop Nair and goes IMMEDIATELY into shield? There's still some noticeable ending lag on the jump but this might be auto-canceled, can a better player confirm it? Even if not, if your shield does not come up as fast as that, I assume the timing is off.

 

[san.]

I'm still learning auto-cancel myself (it's called auto because you don't have to push any buttons to do it, right? You just need to time your airs and it does it for you?) so this could be wrong, but do you see around 4:10 in San's first posted video how Ike does a short hop Nair and goes IMMEDIATELY into shield? There's still some noticeable ending lag on the jump but this might be auto-canceled, can a better player confirm it? Even if not, if your shield does not come up as fast as that, I assume the timing is off.

Nope, it's just low lag, not autocancelled.

 

[CommanderVimes]

I started to expect that myself as I was writing the post, but I had to rush to school. Sorry if it confused anyone.

Is there an example of an auto canceled air in the videos here to serve as a specific reference? I guess if we can get our shield up long before it was in that example, it's likely an auto cancel.