New Shulk Main Introduction

[Masonry the Brick Lord]

Hey guys, I picked up Shulk recently because I find him a lot of fun. I've used him in two wifi tournaments so far and placed well in both. I picked him up because he reminds me of Project M Roy, and the Monado Arts add a lot of spice to the game which I really enjoy now that monotony has kicked in and it seems like a permanent remedy. I have a feeling that he's going to stay my main for a while or for the duration of however long I play this game. Going to let you know how it goes after Colorado's next monthly, I'll be entering for the 3DS.

I have a few questions on Shulk:
-Is racking up damage with Buster, using Speed to fish for grabs, and Smash for kills even when I'm at dangerous % myself a good way to play him (between 80-90, rage threshold, or both), or should I change any of that? I use Jump and Shield in other situations.
-What are the most useful Shulk fundamentals?

 

[Nammy12]

Personally for me I try to end it quickly with smash but I like to put on shield against heavyweights. You'll probably still be safe putting smash on at around 90%. Speed mode is godlike with pivot grabs and sh-nairs. Tilts are probably the most important moves Shulk (besides nair) has since his smashes are really laggy. F-tilt is actually a really good kill move with smash on. D-tilt is a good spacing tool and u-tilt is an amazing anti-air. Also, nairs for days. Back slash is only for punishes.

 

[Masonry the Brick Lord]

For heavyweights, is it because of the movement speed loss not being a big deal as it evens it out with theirs, or because of how their moves function? Is it at a certain % because of their early KO potential?

I love speed mode with grabs. Jump is fun for short hop aerials and on Battlefield. Also, how good would you say forward airs are compared to neutral airs? I've found some use for Back Slash other than punishes, but it's situational.

 

[Nammy12]

I mainly use shield against heavyweights when we're both at high % (>100) just because smash seems a bit risky. However, switching out is a good idea if you're knocked off stage. Nair is amazing for its wide and long hitbox and REALLY low landing lag. You can combo pretty easily from nairs into jabs or tilts. Fair has more knockback and is faster but a bit more landing lag than nair (although its faster than 1.03). In 1.04 fairs seem to be a lot more useful because you can combo with it a bit easier. When you're offstage use fair and bair for edgeguarding. D-air is kind of hard to hit with and requires kind of strict spacing. Not sure about back slash but it is kind of useful against some projectiles.

 

[Jade_Rock55]

For killing I like to do smash tilts,speed dashing up smash and using jump to edgegaurd.Or fair the ledge while they're recovering because its immense downward range it may hit before they grab the ledge.

 

[DavemanCozy]

Jump is really, really useful for chasing off-stage as well, intercepting high recoveries, getting past campers, chasing after Up-throw, and for boosting your recovery. I personally think Jump is the most useful out of the Monado Arts.
Just be careful of intercepting recoveries from some of the cast: some fighters have really good recoveries that can hit you back and even punish anyone trying to intercept them.

Characters like:
: Beware of the Elwind knockback and the Levin aerials. Robin's actually got quite a good way to make it back onstage, and has the tools to ensure anyone who chases them won't have an easy time gimping them.
and all his Koopaling siblings have a recovery attack that's quite strong. The explosion from the cart is also powerful, if you find yourself below them in the air. I recommend baiting the recovery
: Armor in double jump makes him hard to intercept, as he can shrug off your hits. His aerial attacks are also really fast, so watch out for that.
I actually want to see if hitting with the stronger blade hitbox instead of the beam hitbox will knock Yoshi out of his double jump armor. I'll be back after testing this.
Zelda's recovery is just absolutely amazing this time around. She has two hitboxes in Farore's Wind: the first one where she disappears, which does moderate damage and knocks you up a little bit, and the second one where she re-appears, which is a deadly KO hit. Be really, really careful of trying to gimp her: personally, I don't even go for it, I just stay on-stage and try to punish her re-appearing or her come-back from the ledge (depending on what she chooses to do).

Among others.