Ness landings and air trades

[spray_tan]

Posted this on the competitive board and they recommended I come here for help.
Could someone give me some strategy or fundamental do's and don'ts for fighting while airborn? That is, both characters being airborn or just one attempting to land/recover/counter an edgegaurd.
I feel like getting juggled is a problem in my game as oftentimes my opponent either prioritizes out my move, out times me while I'm falling, or reads my fall and punishes. In other words, trades are not happening as I expect them.
I main Ness and I feel like against decent players I'm in the air 75% of time trying to land or at least get back to the ledge. Any help is appreciated, thank you.

 

[spray_tan]

To expand: I just fought a really good Lucina player. Again, felt like I was fighting her more in the air than on the ground. Whenever I was launched, she could outreach my f air or d air. If I tried pkt, she would simply dodge and punish when I landed. Had a similar problem with Link and his up air and sword combo (up smash maybe? not sure which it was) when trying to land.

I feel like when I'm on the ground, I can control the tempo and the outcome of the exchanges more successfully. Short hops with f air or b air, pkf to d throw and f air combo etc. It's when things get vertical I just don't have an answer for things like Lucina and her reach. Please help. This is a hole in my game that I really need to fix. Thanks.

 

[thesage]

First of all, as Ness, never try to use your dair as a beginner. It's very unsafe and you can get punished after you hit somebody with it.

For strategies getting out of a juggle you have a couple of options:

1. Use the pkt technique called "Descent from heaven" which is described in simna's melee ness pkt guide. Basically you use pkt (the projectile) as a shield while you fall gracefully back to the stage.
2. Fast fall.
3. Pk fire if they are at that angle from you (situational).
4. Nair if they don't have a lot of ranged attacks.
5. Use a well timed airdodge, make sure you don't get baited.

Against certain character (i.e. Lucina) you probably don't want to get into the air in the first place and instead of trying to get out of juggles, you try to prevent them from happening in the first place. In other words try as hard as possible to not get grabbed (don't use laggy moves that leave you open unless you KNOW they will hit). How exactly are these juggles being started on you?

 

[Antexerxes]

Let me help a fellow Ness player. When youre dealing with characters that outrange you with swords and the battle goes aerial, there's not much you can do as they have that advantage. It's not much of a hole in your game, that's just a part of the game all Ness players must contend with. Keep the match grounded, never air chase unless it is the dthrow-fair combo. If they are quite a distance from you in the air heckle them with PkT for approach control/damage.

Hope this helps!

Edit: thesage has some good points too. Keep at it spray_tan

 

[JML]

Also, sometimes grabbing the ledge is viable. Ledge-grab + wait for them to be near the edge. Release ledge fall just very slightly and then jump + fair. Usually they aren't expecting it.

 

[spray_tan]

Thanks everyone for the awesome tips and encouragement. I can see improvements in my game already just by using n-air more and mixing up my fall speed. n-air is phenomenal btw and it surprises me sometimes how well it prioritizes.

Having a bit of trouble with pkt while playing online. Might be because of the lag/stutter I'm seeing. I can fire them off consistently in training and vs cpu smash but the online freezing has resulted in at least a couple failed recoveries and mis-angled rolls. Going to a local tourney/3ds gathering this weekend so I'll see how more effective I can use it there.

Thanks again for all the tips friends!

 

[Meccs]

tl;dr for Ness' airgame atm: Do not use Dair.