Olimar Strategies!

[Indexxical!]

Hey sKam, your post inspired me to finally make that thread idea I've had for a while. This thread is for anyone who may want to share some strats or cool approaches to playing our homie, the Olimar. No novellas please, try to make your tips short and sweet, but if you do have an essay in mind, we could use more guides...

Only natural that I start off:

White pikmin are the plague. Take advantage of this.
When people have whites stuck to them, this is your time to shine and start slapping fools silly with aerials, dash attacks and grabs. Most people don't know how to handle your most powerful pikmin latched onto them whilst a speedy ****** is trying to hit them with vegetables. Jokes aside though, this has proven tried and true. When you latch a white onto an opponent, you have the wheel now; steer them off of a cliff.



Now this is just a theory of mine, but I have reason to believe latched pikmin have stopping power. Whenever a latched pikmin does a tick of damage, I notice the characters maneuver a little slower. Take what you want from this information, but I have reason to believe that whites have the strongest -latched- stopping power of all pikmin.

 

[Blue Banana]

Well, I posted this informal list of things I should be doing in the Q&A thread to see if I should change or add anything.

start of battle/neutral

• throw pikmin
• stuff projectiles w/ pikmin, (power)shield otherwise
• watch for defensive reactions w/ latched pikmin, punish if possible
• watch for approaches (jumping? dashing? irregular movement?)
• throw less once opponent reaches mid-range (due to dash attacks)
• cycle out for certain colors if necessary/preferred
• take control of center stage asap; avoid ledges

midrange

• fsmash or purple sideB often if no threat of reflector; use wisely otherwise
• watch for dash grabs or dash attacks (luigi, falcon, etc...)
• retreating pivot grabs (not w/ purples)
• reset to neutral if space is made
• watch for short hops/full hops
• be wary of dashing tether grabs; punish if possible
• catch approaching rolls with dsmash or pivots

close range

• create space as quickly as possible; reset to midrange/neutral
• opponent's options
  • fast, lagless reflector? -- play safe w/ jabs and tilts
  • fast frame data? -- play defensively and observe opponent's behavior (roll after every attack? spot dodge? continuous attacking?)
    • powershield is important
  • short hop aerials/tomahawks? -- ???
  • punish-based characters? -- play cautiously and wait for unsafe moves
• go for grabs if safe; highly punishable if whiffed
  • make sure to give a bit of space; grabs can whiff up-close

dthrow combos/strings

• what is opponent's percentage/weight/size/fall speed?
• in general:
  • dthrow -> fair @ low percents w/ all colors, mid percents w/ all non-blues, high-mid w/ reds
  • dthrow -> uair w/ same percents as fair, use if opponent DI's upward
    • can catch a second uair if opponent is fast faller or tries to throw out a slow aerial
  • dthrow w/ non-blue @ high-mid percents -> purple uair can potentially KO if opponent airdodges and doesn't DI too far away
  • dthrow -> usmash @ low percents w/ non-reds, dependent on fall speed, size, and combo-breaking nairs, a bit unreliable
  • dthrow -> fsmash @ low percents on fastfallers
    • dthrow -> dtilt -> jab1, jab2 -> grab works on specific fastfallers @ specific percents
  • watch for combo-breaking nairs
    • dthrow -> dash under opponent, if opponent nairs down, jab -> grab -> same situation

opponent lies on ground

• is opponent near the ledge? -- rolling away becomes a weaker option
• observe opponent's action and position on stage
  • roll away? -- catch w/ white sideB or grab if safe and close enough, or reset to neutral
  • getup attack? -- (power)shield and grab/jab
  • roll forward? -- stay put or pivot and smash/jab -> grab/etc.
  • stand up? -- if dashing in, shield or spotdodge; otherwise reset to midrange

edgeguarding

• opponent's recovery is linear (i.e. ganondorf, falcon) -- gimp if possible w/ purple sideB
• yellow dsmash/dair if opponent is recovering below
• opponent grabs ledge:
  • stand a little short distance away from ledge (close enough to get hit by getup attack)
  • standard getup -- fsmash
  • roll in -- dsmash or pivot attack
  • getup attack -- powershield and attack
  • drop off, double jump aerial -- (power)shield, dsmash if opponent grabs ledge again, apply close range/midrange if opponent onstage
  • jump -- (purple) uair

juggled in the air

• don't try to throw out aerials if unsafe
• use upB wisely
  • practice auto-cancelling nair
• watch the opponent
• opponent is below you:
  • multihit aerials (3 or more hits)? -- don't use whistle in general
  • uair? -- whistle or airdodge
  • usmash -- upB or whistle
• no action by opponent, midrange? -- watch for dash grabs/dash attacks, apply midrange combat

offstage

• throw pikmin
  • opponent shields sideB -- ???
• what are the opponent's edgeguarding options?
• how many pikmin in line?
  • >=2, purple in line: conserve purple if possible, throw pikmin on stage
  • 1, upB from very low becomes option
• upB below stage
  • ride the stage underside if possible, tech any stage spike attempts
  • watch for opponent dairs
• upB above stage
  • practice auto-cancel nair
  • don't use if opponent can cover above well
• upB at stage level: don't.

pikmin

• learn to have at least one pikmin in line
• avoid ledges: messes up AI
• >3 pikmin: pluck when safe
• pluck has generous IASA frames, make use of it
• colors:
  • red:
    • keep them around for stuffing fireballs/explosive projectiles
    • all rounder: dthrow combo starter all the way up to mid-high percents, good damage for fsmash at midrange, serves as KO option for fsmash/usmash w/ no range problem unlike purples
  • yellow:
    • keep them around for thunder jolts/blue robot fsmashes/charge shots
    • easier to combo off of dthrow @ mid percents, larger hitboxes allow more leniency for dsmash edgeguarding/dair spikes
  • blue:
    • immunity to water-based attacks/drowning can help with water shuriken/delfino but isn't too helpful otherwise
    • usually can take one more hit than reds/yellows
    • bthrow for 14% fresh once opponent's at mid-low percentages, conserve uthrow until opponent hits ~150% (lowers w/ more rage)
  • white:
    • dies usually in one hit; make sure the opponent is in a position to be forced to take sideB damage
    • larger grab range can allow for potential jab -> grab combos or grabbing hanging opponent from ledge more safely
  • purple:
    • GET ONE ASAP
    • stuffs most weak projectiles w/ sideB while keeping hitbox intact
    • use sideB a lot at midrange if 2 purples in line
    • sideB on lying opponents can force another "opponent lying on ground" situation or catch tech rolls
    • try to identify the opponent's defensive behavior first before going for smashes
    • 2 purples is very useful, but 3 is dependent on whether knockback is worth over range and potential damage from whites

stages

• battlefield: ok, avoid if opponent benefits from platforms a lot
• final destination: ok, prepare for a long fight if opponent is also defensive
• smashville: ok, but might want to strike if best neutral for opponent (also played waaaaaayyy too much)

• delfino: no, walkoffs, water, and irregular layouts mess me up too much
• lylat: no, too small, tilting and natural layout of stage messes up sideB
• town and city: ok, long main platforms and not too obtrusive platforms unlike battlefield; be wary of stage transitions and retreating platforms
• duck hunt: probably ok, depends if trees benefit opponent, dog platform can mess up neutral/midrange, otherwise same as fd, ducks can extend purple sideB hitlag
• castle siege: leaning towards no, 1st stage has qualities of lylat, 2nd w/ delfino walkoffs, 3rd is basically tilting fd; be wary of walkoff KOs during stage transitions
• halberd: no, too small in terms of stage and blast zones, though deck is somewhat better for neutral

• dream land 64: probably ok, though may need to get used to wind first
• kongo jungle 64: ???, top platforms might encourage opponents to run away if they get the stock lead
• skyloft: ???, no experience yet

• omega lost world: no, people have ruined "Escape from the City" for me

 

[Seleir]

Blue banana your explanation is so good but you must regard your stage experience beacuse some stage are so cool with olimar. Also regard the jab movement because it start on frame 4 and it's a combo starter and a defensive option for close range.

 

[Indexxical!]

Blue banana your explanation is so good but you must regard your stage experience beacuse some stage are so cool with olimar. Also regard the jab movement because it start on frame 4 and it's a combo starter and a defensive option for close range.

Yeah, be very careful when you're going under the stage on Dreamland 64, the stage's shape makes it trickier than any other stage like it.

 

[Swop]

I usually throw a grab if an opponent dashes towards me, works about 80% of the time.

oh! speaking of grabs, what I like to do is grab, D-Throw, Pikmin toss with a purple, then Finish with an F-air. your able to get an extra hit if you hit them with a purple in mid-air, its quite nice.

and Just a tip: pikmin fling faster/farther if you turn your back to the opponent then VERY quickly turn back and toss them. theres probably a better way to explain that but eh. (dash turn? (shrug)

 

[Indexxical!]

what I like to do is grab, D-Throw, Pikmin toss with a purple, then Finish with an F-air. your able to get an extra hit if you hit them with a purple in mid-air, its quite nice.

That's interesting! Is this more of a low percentage combo or can you mix it up with this as a string?

and Just a tip: pikmin fling faster/farther if you turn your back to the opponent then VERY quickly turn back and toss them. theres probably a better way to explain that but eh. (dash turn? (shrug)

I think the word you're looking for is "pivot". Do you know of jump-cancellation? I wonder if that works for our side-b..

 

[Seleir]

i think one thing that i will do is b reverse.... like gyro cancelling. i will do a video of that

 

[Swop]

That's interesting! Is this more of a low percentage combo or can you mix it up with this as a string?

Its more of a low-percent thing, but if you are fighting a heavier character, it'll usually work at higher percents.