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Newer player trying to get better

Nivmizet

Smash Rookie
Joined
May 20, 2019
Messages
4
Me and 5 friends play smash ultimate frequently and it feels like I am hitting a wall of sorts. My mains are Pichu and Young Link also considering another character for 3rd but have my hands full as is. Any advice on overcoming the wall I have hit for advancing play or any other advice would be very much appreciated.
 
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Predatoria

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jan 30, 2019
Messages
361
Location
Raleigh, North Carolina
Switch FC
SW-5219-6817-7975
What kind of wall are you hitting? Are you starting to lose more and more frequently to your friend group?

I'm not really sure I quite understand the troubles you are having.
 

Nivmizet

Smash Rookie
Joined
May 20, 2019
Messages
4
Sorry didnt want a bloated first message.
Right now it seems I cant improve beyond what I have achieved so far. For 1 I can never seem to best the best person in our group i am always 1 or 2. I feel that I have a decent grasp of combos and have been working on my punish game but I keep hitting a point where I can't improve I am not sure if it's just playing the same people repeatedly or if it's my personally. I do pay attention to the tournament scene a bit and try to learn where I can but my area doesn't have a good tournament scene sadly.
 

Xelrog

Smash Lord
Joined
Feb 24, 2019
Messages
1,136
Location
Battle Ground, WA
Switch FC
SW 2367 4933 3404
Record your replays, watch them back, and look for patterns in your behavior. If you get hit, take note of how it happened and watch for if the same sequence of events happens again. If you see it happening all throughout the match, that's what you need to address.
 

Predatoria

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jan 30, 2019
Messages
361
Location
Raleigh, North Carolina
Switch FC
SW-5219-6817-7975
What it sounds like is going on here is you have entered an isolated experience with your play, where you aren't able to continuously improve and learn from other people.

Find the best players of the character you're most interested in. Watch their sets. Observe what moves they choose to use, when, and why. Observe what they do in certain situations that give you trouble. What do they do out of shield? How do they edge guard? How do they follow up after certain attacks? What do they punish with, when, and why? Try to learn from the best players that play a character you want to get better with.

Join the Discord for your character and read the relevant channels that discuss frame data, theorycrafting, combos, or general play with the character. You can learn a lot of tips and tricks and techniques just by watching these channels. I can pretty much guarantee the Pichu Discord is active, given how highly-represented that character is in the meta.

Watch YouTube guides for your character. You will learn things you don't know. I just learned yesterday, for example, I can save 7 frames off my sh neutral air follow-ups just by delaying my fast fall until after the animation has finished playing to avoid the longer landing lag. I would never, ever have found this if I just played with friends, kept to my style, and wasn't open to watching other sources of information.

Try to employ things you pick up on, hear about, or learn from other sources in training mode. Try to do these things first against a stationary computer, secondly against a computer that fights back, and, finally, against a real opponent. When you are able to find a friend to play with for hours of matches, make a very deliberate effort to employ techniques you're trying to master or add to your play, even if it hinders your performance or makes you lose. This is super important, as this is the only way you'll enrich your playstyle with improvements. I have entire play sessions where all I do is try to alter and improve my playstyle by breaking bad habits, adding new, good habits I'm uncomfortable with, trying new moves, trying to practice new techs, or just try other new things that typically end up making me mess up, die, lose, or do worse than normal because I'm not used to it.

An example of this is, I have a friend that plays King Krool a lot. I've been, lately, practicing approaching projectile-heavy, campy characters when I play him. I'll practice parrying his crown, his cannon balls, walking up to him through it with shield parries, and often I mess up and get continuously hit doing it. I choose this option over my comfortable option of jumping over everything, just for the sole purpose of practicing this kind of movement.
 
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Nivmizet

Smash Rookie
Joined
May 20, 2019
Messages
4
I will take everything you said into consideration it's a lot of really good advice
 

Mogisthelioma

Smash Master
Joined
Aug 24, 2018
Messages
3,596
Location
Ravnica
If you main Pichu and Young Link, they have a lot of tournament data, so consider observing competitive tournaments and taking on the methods and tech that they use.

One of the most important things you can do is study your opponent's playstyle as well. Who do your friends main? Studying how your opponents play can be just as useful as learning your own character.
 

Nivmizet

Smash Rookie
Joined
May 20, 2019
Messages
4
For smash ultimate what level of CPU is best to play against for practice. In melee it was best to practice against lower level computers and that's the game I am used too.
 

Predatoria

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jan 30, 2019
Messages
361
Location
Raleigh, North Carolina
Switch FC
SW-5219-6817-7975
I’ve heard people say 7. The objective isn’t often to beat the computer, but moreso to build up muscle memory on something you’re practicing.
 

Gobthor

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jul 7, 2017
Messages
24
Location
Far Rockaway, New York
Switch FC
SW-3201-4105-0939
This mostly isn't related to improving but it is important to watch patch notes as new patches come out, especially since you're on characters considered very high tier and could be hit with the Nintendo Nerf Hammer™ any day now... just like me.


R.I.P O.P. SHORYUKEN COMBOS
 

Saikyoshi

Smash Master
Joined
Jun 26, 2014
Messages
3,921
Location
Being petty
NNID
KarmaPilcrow
3DS FC
0344-9771-0514
This is my advice whenever someone wants to know how to improve at a fighting game:



The learning curve for the fighting genre is insane. You will lose most of the time. The only way to get out of the skill basement and onto the skill floor is to steadily climb, without stepping back down.
Do not lose confidence because of a loss record. A loss record is normal. It does not mean you are doomed to suck. That is the single most important thing to remember.
Look things up, see how to improve mechanically, but accept that you haven't improved yet, and don't see a loss as it all having been for nothing because it's really just another step forward. And while you're at it, think about what you were doing at the times things went south in a match. Do you do what you were doing at the time a lot, for instance? You may begin to notice a pattern with how you play, and you can only change a pattern if you know what it is first.
 
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