i probably sound noobish for this but what does planking mean?
There's nothing n00bish at all about this question, because it's a "smashboards meme/term" rather than an actual gameplay mechanic. (insert rant about smashboards vs. the actual full Brawl community, lol)
Planking is "aggressive ledgecamping", made famous by a guy named Plank (I think it's actually plairnkk or smthg liek that!?).... as MK, he'll get ahead in % and then just hang out on the ledge, falling off, jumping back on, mixing in aerials every now and then.... it's a very advantageous position for MK in some matchups. If the opponent jumps off the edge to try and attack, the MK can see them coming and has enough options to deal with it, either by attempting to gimp them, or just getting onto the stage and hopping on another ledge.
It doesn't need to be with just MK. Some ppl find this tactic extremely annoying, some think it's
broken (ban-worthy; will degenerate high-level play to this "optimal" strategy) and impose limitations on how how it's allowed to happen in tournament matches, etc.
*shrug* HTH
and I i don't have wifi so the hardest opponents are lvl 9s but I find them very difficult compared to real people because of the amount of dodging. If I dodge, they will probably dodge the exact same time. Then if I dodge closer to grab (Dedede), they always hit me right after the dodge and before the shield. How do I stop this?
In general.... don't dodge unless they've started an attack.
But then you'll notice that certain dodges are slower to realize their invincibility frames than the opponent's attack's hitbox comes out. In this case, you shouldn't be putting yourself in that situation to begin with; if you can't safely dodge in time to avoid their attack, whenever they attack, then you've already granted them a free hit..... unless they make a mistake. But
never count on them making a mistake.
Part of the issue is that level 9s don't often attack unless they know you're already in lag. They've just been baiting your dodges all along. The worst thing you can do near a CPU is commit to something and hope they mess up.
If you're playing CPUs, just stay away. Give them their space. Learn to get around them. This is how you'll learn the spacings of all their attacks; where their blindspots are, how to stay at maximal range so any attack will just whiff you.
Then you won't have to dodge preemptively, but can punish if/when they do something dumb.
The other thing to watch out for, is that CPUs lag in different ways than people. afaict, CPUs don't often take advantage of IASA frames. So when you learn the timing/spacing to their moves (ie. they're a Lucario and they Fsmash, then you run in and punish)...... watch out: Lucario's Fsmash can rarely be punished, because there's very little lag afterwards, even though it normally
looks like he's in lag. The CPU will get hit, but a real opponent will shield or dodge or grab or attack as you (predictably) run in to punish.
Mebbe you knew all that but w/e
HTH!
