My Fox vs ZeRo's Shulk

[Element_Demon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW8cgFvhbAo Hey guys I got the chance to play ZeRo online last night. Here's the first match against him. I got two other rounds with him that will be uploaded eventually. Not going to lie...I was pretty hyped and nervous at the time same facing him haha.

 

[NoahDaniel]

Wow, those were the 5 minutes of the stream that I was watching before going to bed. What a coincidence

 

[I.S FoxMkloud]

You did fine it looks like, despite being nervous. I would have gotten JV 3 stock'd completely. Also, wifi environment is kind of showing with sluggishness.

 

[Element_Demon]

You did fine it looks like, despite being nervous. I would have gotten JV 3 stock'd completely. Also, wifi environment is kind of showing with sluggishness.

Yeah I agree. I live on the east coast to, so the lag was obvious. :/

 

[jr22]

You did very good, despite the lag and being nervous. Thanks for sharing the video, you're quite the lucky person to actual play the Zero online.

 

[DavemanCozy]

You played the MU very well for that being your first time with it, I really enjoyed watching your Fox. IMO, Fox is Shulk's worst matchup in Smash Wii U, an opinion I share with other Shulk mains in the boards.

Shulk is my secondary in this game, I know some things about him. I know it was wi-fi, but some of my notes regardless:

- When he was in Shield, just run away and shoot lasers. Shulk is slower than Ganondorf in this monado. Watch out for Dash attacks though, since that still lunges him forward even in Shield. Stop shooting if he cancels out of it.

- Always throw Shulk offstage when he's in Smash monado. The increased knockback that he deals on Fox is not good for us, he also escapes follow ups far easier at low percents. Putting him offstage will discourage him from using it, since he suffers more knockback and his recovery is bad without Jump.

- Shulks tilts are his best spacing moves. Landing on him is a bad idea because U-tilt covers both sides above him and has absurdly long reach (the cooldown is moot because of the reach). I saw you respecting the D-tilt, which I liked since that's his fast anti-ground approach move.

- Offstage... this is the only time where Shulk wins the MU, imo. He has a lot of traps when he sends you offstage. You may have noticed: Speed lets him go far offstage (even though ZeRo SD'd, L A G J O H N S), Air Slash has scary range to cover the ledge, F-air is stupid good for gimping (I felt the feels when I saw the Fire Fox start up while he was in Smash), etc.
If you get sent offstage, be sure to mix up ways you recover. Do your best not to end up below the stage using Fire Fox: it won't matter how far you space the recovery, you'll never be safe because Shulk has ridiculous range.

- When you sent him offstage with Illusion without his double jump, I thought for sure you had won the match. Shulk's recovery when in non-Jump is bad, really linear with no horizontal options. If you get a Shulk in that position, just go offstage with a F-air (practice the spike) or N-air. He won't survive unless you let him Air Slash back.

 

[Foster J.]

I agree with most of those comments, Shulks tend to overestimate the damage they can take while in Smash mode, when they are light enough for a Fthrow to put them in a bad edge guard situation, as it sets up for a ledge trump to Dsmash, or Bair if you're Larry Lurr good.

But laggy moves, but, his zoning potential in the air is to be respected, can't just go Nair him, best is to wait for him to land, or grab him out of it, then again, Usmash can do the trick if you powershield the hit or react fast enough

But Fox being Shulk's worst? ZSS has to be worse than Fox in this MU, with Buster a good string will but Fox in KO dangerzone quickly.

 

[DavemanCozy]

But Fox being Shulk's worst? ZSS has to be worse than Fox in this MU, with Buster a good string will but Fox in KO dangerzone quickly.

Thing is Fox has the jab lock on Shulk that essentially guarantees his doom. Shulk loses because Fox can basically wobble him, and unlike IC's you can't just separate "him" from his fists (and Fox is also quicker than IC's). Jab lock is very big bs and Shulk lacks a quick get-off-me move faster than his jab / grab.

 

[Postknowledge]

You could have KO'd him when you were doing those fake short hops to lead into that b-Air when he was coming back from the legend near the end. That is, if you didn't keep short hopping over and over, because when you do that people can time when or when not to come up from the ledge.