Ness MU?

[Crimson Ace]

Alright so this is the first forum post I'm ever doing so I'm new to this stuff, but onto the question at hand. I'm having some trouble facing Ness players, even if they aren't that good. I don't know why I have trouble with them when I easily beat other people on FG, but yeah I struggle a little when it comes to Ness. Any tips on fighting Ness? What can I do to counter moves such as fair, d throw, etc? Thanks.

 

[Swagmaster]

Well personally I like to switch to Lucas when fighting Ness, but with Falcon 1 great trick I found is that if you are caught in PK Fire, falcon's jab is so fast that if you mash it it will punch between the hits of the fire. You take the fire damage, but Ness takes every punch you throw out when he goes for the PK Fire grab combo and then when the fire is gone, takes a standard jab combo along with it. This doesn't work however if your opponent combos PK Fire with more PK Fire, but at least you can punish the spamming. Other than that, try immediate DI down or towards ness after a down throw with an immediate air-dodge to maybe avoid the fair, don't challenge the nair. I know it always gets me. I can typically only hit Ness in the air with Falcon's up and back air due to their speed. Hope this helps and yes Ness is pretty hard to fight with all his variety and buffs.

 

[Crimson Ace]

Well personally I like to switch to Lucas when fighting Ness, but with Falcon 1 great trick I found is that if you are caught in PK Fire, falcon's jab is so fast that if you mash it it will punch between the hits of the fire. You take the fire damage, but Ness takes every punch you throw out when he goes for the PK Fire grab combo and then when the fire is gone, takes a standard jab combo along with it. This doesn't work however if your opponent combos PK Fire with more PK Fire, but at least you can punish the spamming. Other than that, try immediate DI down or towards ness after a down throw with an immediate air-dodge to maybe avoid the fair, don't challenge the nair. I know it always gets me. I can typically only hit Ness in the air with Falcon's up and back air due to their speed. Hope this helps and yes Ness is pretty hard to fight with all his variety and buffs.

Awesome, thanks! This helped a lot and I'll definitely keep this in mind when fighting Ness players

 

[TheSausXL]

You can easily kill a mess at around 60% with Dthrow -> Knee. It is guarenteed regardless of DI but you will have to do it from a dash grab and do it quickly. I know Trifroze has a video on Falcon combos if your not sure what in talking about. But anyway, if it's a PK Fire spammer, jump over it and back air. And when they are recovering it would be a good idea to jump in front of the PK Thunder to cut his recovery off.

 

[Swagmaster]

Awesome, thanks! This helped a lot and I'll definitely keep this in mind when fighting Ness players

Glad I could help!

 

[HFlash]

He is also surprisingly easy to spike. If you react quick enough, you can spike him before he gets PKT2 out. That or, use Falcon's long legs to spike him as he is coming up. You have to get the spacing perfectly and at worst, if you tech, you should be able to survive the PKT2 hit.

 

[Lloyyd]

My best friend mains Ness so I have pretty much experience against Ness. I main ZSS and Falcon and I have to say Ness is the s***. His aerial attacks easily play out Falcons nair or bair. So you have to read the pkfire, jump or roll through it and try to game him with grab combos - but watch out in the air. If he gives you a uair or backair, damn you're done.

If you stay in the pkfire you will surely get 30-40% dmg - if that is worth for some jabs for you then stay in it. I just roll back and counter on his approach with a downtilt. The downtilts knocks him very far away so I have some time to think about what to do next.

Indeed he is easy to stomp with dair, try to get used to their airdodges and learn to punish them. I'm not very good in that yet, but if you hit a punish with Falcon, he can be killed easy.

Also, what I trained vs CPUs is the downair vs his pk thunder recovery. I have arond 70-80% hitchance with a dair. Unfortunately Ness's second jump is as good that he barely has to use it.

I think backair is the key to kill him. It's fast and the hitbox is very big, if you land some of them you can kill him good and save.

Try to stay out of pkfire, and learn to avoid the pkthunder while he chases you with it.

By the way, I am so waiting for bthrow nerf. This throw is the most ridiculous thing in smash since ever. Kills at 80% with rage. Yes I'm salty. I always say that I don't respect it if he kills me with that. That makes him salty too.
To be honest it doesn't take that much skill to just go for the grab if the opponent reaches 80% upwards.

 

[Douglas Jay Ganon]

I wouldn't like to desmoralize you, but I'd recommend you to switch to another character you also feel comfy.

I was in a (I must say) big local tournament and I got third because a Ness completely destroyed my Falcon. He outranges your nair and bair, and being heavy won't help you against that pk fire. He's also small, so hitting the bair or trying to start a combo with the uair while he's on the ground becomes much much difficult. Of course, this isn't by any means compared like the matchup of Melee Fox vs Bowser, but it's still quite hard.

Try to bait that fire and the roll, but it won't be easy if the Ness good. And remember to exploit that recovery. If he misses the ledge snap with his second jump, u tilt. His up b is perfect for a dunk.