Opinions on Ike Competitively?

[dy831532sssfjhhggb2224523]

Ban Halberd, stay mid range punish gyros and lazers by not getting hit by them

What are the three best CPs (in your opinion) against R.O.B? One of CO's best mains him.

 

[Planet God Venus]

What are the three best CPs (in your opinion) against R.O.B? One of CO's best mains him.

Just go stages that won't get you wrecked.

 

[Planet God Venus]

Sheik vs Ike Aether Exploitation, request a character and I'll show you guys how to punish it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VV_3B3YsCQ&feature=youtu.be

 

[Ussi]

Well, seems like Ike should be using aether lower so that the apex of the sword hits the shield.

 

[EvilShadow777]

The matchups I'm most scared of as Ike are Diddy and Samus (not zero suit). He's countered really hard by the campy, gimpy style that Samus has as well as Diddy crazy combo game. Those I'd say are 65-35 their favor. Everyone else is close to 50-50. I'm confident Ike is middle or upper midtier. He's great at turning matches around too

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

I have problems with a number of characters on the roster. This could all just be MU experience for me, though. There's many characters, so I don't get set practice with any particular ones, save for obvious ones like Diddy. I find matchups like Bowser, Duck Hunt, Donkey Kong, Mario, Captain Falcon, Palutena, Luigi, Ganondorf, Samus, Zero Suit Samus, Yoshi, Rosalina, Link and Mega Man to be manageable. Meanwhile, I find Meta Knight, Fox, Falco, Pikachu, Sheik, King Dedede, Toon Link, Lucario to be bad, and worst of all, Olimar.

Maybe I'm missing a number of approach and gimp options, or stage control, or maybe I'm not using enough Counter and Quick Draw. But they really give me a hard time. I've even had problems with Kirby and Peach at some point.

 

[Deleted member]

What are the three best CPs (in your opinion) against R.O.B? One of CO's best mains him.

Keep pressure on a ROB so he can't charge gyros, watch his head light to see when it blinks. Most players choose the normal laser for its speed and unpredictability, but know you should be even more cautious once it maxes out. Watch out for his aerials, especially his Dair and Bair. Both are a bad time. Also, a good ROB knows how to use his Side B (Arm Rotor) to reflect projectiles, so be cautious when using moves such as Thoron, Charge Shot, or Aura Sphere that can be read/predicted.

 

[A2ZOMG]

I have problems with a number of characters on the roster. This could all just be MU experience for me, though. There's many characters, so I don't get set practice with any particular ones, save for obvious ones like Diddy. I find matchups like Bowser, Duck Hunt, Donkey Kong, Mario, Captain Falcon, Palutena, Luigi, Ganondorf, Samus, Zero Suit Samus, Yoshi, Rosalina, Link and Mega Man to be manageable. Meanwhile, I find Meta Knight, Fox, Falco, Pikachu, Sheik, King Dedede, Toon Link, Lucario to be bad, and worst of all, Olimar.

Maybe I'm missing a number of approach and gimp options, or stage control, or maybe I'm not using enough Counter and Quick Draw. But they really give me a hard time. I've even had problems with Kirby and Peach at some point.

Lucario is just plain unfun to play against as Ike, because without Close Combat you basically are forced to guess your way around Aura Sphere and him spamming roll. It's literally that dumb, and I'd honestly pick another character for that matchup.

Olimar is pretty difficult, but I think it's doable. Empty jump grabs are extremely important in this matchup given you can outmaneuver him and this can throw him off for trying to camp against you. All you need to do in this matchup is avoid taking unnecessary damage before you find the spacing to get in, and then edgeguard him to death. His recovery is one of the easier ones to pressure and punish with Eruption.

I think Ike does fine against DDD. You have no trouble hitting the Gordo safely with your aerials, and DDD doesn't have a strong blitz approach to get in on Ike, not to mention his F-tilt is very whiff punishable. Just remember to throw in grabs with your spacing game to keep him off balance and focus on consistent punishes. Quick Draw is also great in this matchup both for reaction punishing commitments from DDD, and getting out of trouble given DDD doesn't run very fast.

Can't say much about the other matchups atm.

 

[JancroFin]

Ike is a monster. Definitely a low A/High B Tier. He's kind of like Marth in Melee, in that he rewards you for knowing the basics of the game (spacing in Marth's case, Reading in Ike's).

Good range, great punish game, Rage mechanic makes him a right terror.

Also nonsense like this

 

[Caryslan]

As an Ike player, I say he's upper mid tier. He does well against most of the cast, his attacks are quicker this time around, the reach of his sword is the best in the game outside of Shulk, which means he can safely punish many characters that get into melee range and outrange most of the other sword users, he is quicker on his feet in terms of movement speed, and he has some combos this time.

About the only matchups that I have problems with are against characters like Shiek and Zero Suit Samus who are fast enough to easily punish Ike's attacks or have an easier time with stage control.

But overall, Ike is very good in this game.

 

[Trunks159]

Ill give my 2c. Ike is pretty good in this game, but I find myself saying that about a lot of characters. I think hes better than:
BJ
Bowser
Wii Fit
Palutena
Dr Mario
Marth
Lucina
Falco
Charizard
probably a few more

hes around the same level as:

Greninja
Megaman
and all those mid tiers

However, like someone earlier said, ike rewards the player for having good fundamental s (reads, spacing), so his efficiency is only as good as the player. Someone like Rob, or Link, or Toon Link, or Duck Hunt, Megaman, Villager rely on your proficiency with THAT CHARACTER.

Ike has no trouble beating people like them, who test your fundamentals to the max.

Ike has trouble with Shiek and Diddy, or Pikachu (not Sonic though imo).

 

[dy831532sssfjhhggb2224523]

Ill give my 2c. Ike is pretty good in this game, but I find myself saying that about a lot of characters. I think hes better than:
BJ
Bowser
Wii Fit
Palutena
Dr Mario
Marth
Lucina
Falco
Charizard
probably a few more

hes around the same level as:

Greninja
Megaman
and all those mid tiers

However, like someone earlier said, ike rewards the player for having good fundamental s (reads, spacing), so his efficiency is only as good as the player. Someone like Rob, or Link, or Toon Link, or Duck Hunt, Megaman, Villager rely on your proficiency with THAT CHARACTER.

Ike has no trouble beating people like them, who test your fundamentals to the max.

Ike has trouble with Shiek and Diddy, or Pikachu (not Sonic though imo).

I can definitely agree on Ike being in Mega and Greninja's area. Sonic and Greninja I feel are still healthy MUs for Ike even though they are similar to other fast fighters. I feel like Diddy isn't too hard for Ike but still meh for him, I just use Marth for Diddy now. I can agree on those characters being focused on character-specific improvement, but I still feel like smart mains of them (keyword: smart) are going to hit the lab on fundamentals while mastering the character-specific stuff so quickly that the time spent on it is negligable and won't hold them back, rather than spending 90% of their time on some extremely situational options like a few of my Skype friends who are probably never going to grow past the scrub phase >_> it's part of why I'm glad I mained almost nothing besides swordsmen during my scrub phase and now can utilize them much better.

 

[Xuan Wu]

There was some discussion taking place over at the competitive section earlier regarding Ike's current status in the meta and that he may be SSB4's best sword character, even without customs enabled.

What are your thoughts on this, fellow Ikes? Do you find this statement exaggerated at all? While this sounds nice, I do find it to be a bit of a stretch, personally, for I think Shulk, Robin, and the Links rival him for that title.

Also, are there any good gameplay videos of Custom Ike in action? He is supposedly a top tier threat, from what I heard. Does he really benefit from them that much, or is this purely speculative? How good are they actually in practice? Sorry if I sound like a downer, I just don't want him to end up like SSBB Pit, where his high tier placement at one point was due to "unrealized potential".

Obviously, as Ike mains, we want our character to do well. ^-^

 

[dy831532sssfjhhggb2224523]

There was some discussion taking place over at the competitive section earlier regarding Ike's current status in the meta and that he may be SSB4's best sword character, even without customs enabled.

What are your thoughts on this, fellow Ikes? Do you find this statement exaggerated at all? While this sounds nice, I do find it to be a bit of a stretch, personally, for I think Shulk, Robin, and the Links rival him for that title.

Also, are there any good gameplay videos of Custom Ike in action? He is supposedly a top tier threat, from what I heard. Does he really benefit from them that much, or is this purely speculative? How good are they actually in practice? Sorry if I sound like a downer, I just don't want him to end up like SSBB Pit, where his high tier placement at one point was due to "unrealized potential".

Obviously, as Ike mains, we want our character to do well. ^-^

Shulk > Toon Link > Ike = Robin > Link imo.

I feel like with customs, it's Shulk = Ike > Toon Link > Robin > Link imo. Both Ike and Shulk have godly customs, but there's more tradeoffs on Shulk's customs than Ike's. Toon Link and Robin are meh on customs from what I've experimented with. This order takes into mind both their customs plus how good they are otherwise.

I like Ike's customs. I prefer defaults besides his more harmful Eruption since I like dthrow/uthrow->Aether and just reading them for Aether when they're trying to land, as well as Quick Draw punishes/reads since the body blow one has mediocre damage output despite being safe as hell, and I love Smash Counter despite it being slightly less reliable than the other ones. I would use his body blow version of Quick Draw if there wasn't that godsend of a change where Ike exits freefall when hitting with regular Quick Draw. I just go default Aether and Quick Draw with his explosive Eruption and Smash Counter, it's pretty scary. I have a huge bias for damage and kill power which is obvious. Customs make Ike's rage even more terrifying.

I'll see if I can get custom replays this weekend. I'm TO'ing. I don't enter stuff I TO, but I can get customs friendlies in easily.

Pit remained really, really good in Japan through all of Brawl's lifespan, I can see Ike in a similar position. Not quite as high as Japan Pit, but equal to or higher than U.S Pit.

 

[Arrei]

Hmm, well, I'm of the mind he's better than Marth this time, at least. I don't know what it is about Marth but his Falchion just isn't cutting it for his old spacing tricks, seems like.

I think I'd put Ike on pretty equal footing with Shulk. Shulk has his Monado Arts going for him, but it feels to me like Shulk's attacks are even more punishable than Ike's, and it isn't too hard to simply outlast Shulk's Buster and Smash arts by just evading him for the duration if you really have to. And Shield just turns Shulk into outright D-throw combo fodder.

For customs, wouldn't Close Combat plowing through your opponent negate the need for Quick Draw's lack of freefall on hit? Since generally speaking, a Quick Draw charged enough to send you close to the edge on hit would also send you back on stage if your path is clear.

 

[dy831532sssfjhhggb2224523]

Hmm, well, I'm of the mind he's better than Marth this time, at least. I don't know what it is about Marth but his Falchion just isn't cutting it for his old spacing tricks, seems like.

I think I'd put Ike on pretty equal footing with Shulk. Shulk has his Monado Arts going for him, but it feels to me like Shulk's attacks are even more punishable than Ike's, and it isn't too hard to simply outlast Shulk's Buster and Smash arts by just evading him for the duration if you really have to. And Shield just turns Shulk into outright D-throw combo fodder.

For customs, wouldn't Close Combat plowing through your opponent negate the need for Quick Draw's lack of freefall on hit? Since generally speaking, a Quick Draw charged enough to send you close to the edge on hit would also send you back on stage if your path is clear.

I think Marth is still good and Lucina is good. You just have to be really on-point, never let up, and captialize on offstage game and early kills via gimps, Marth's tippers, and Lucina's fsmash to get the most mileage out of them. I feel like I'll see Ike more on even terms with Shulk once I learn the Shulk MU more.

While Close Combat would negate that need, it's a need that's still there and really helps Ike. I very rarely die from Quick Draw hitting compared to Brawl, so it's more-or-less personal preference and just not seeing a need for Close Combat when I put customs on Ike. Close Combat is better for recovery, but I see it as a negligable difference.

 

[Arrei]

I think the biggest difference is that Close Combat is able to clank with projectiles and doesn't have the long endlag on dodge, making it safer to use as a long range tech-chase or punish against characters with projectiles, in exchange for a bit of punch. I don't have much experience using it, though.

 

[Trunks159]

There was some discussion taking place over at the competitive section earlier regarding Ike's current status in the meta and that he may be SSB4's best sword character, even without customs enabled.

What are your thoughts on this, fellow Ikes? Do you find this statement exaggerated at all? While this sounds nice, I do find it to be a bit of a stretch, personally, for I think Shulk, Robin, and the Links rival him for that title.

Also, are there any good gameplay videos of Custom Ike in action? He is supposedly a top tier threat, from what I heard. Does he really benefit from them that much, or is this purely speculative? How good are they actually in practice? Sorry if I sound like a downer, I just don't want him to end up like SSBB Pit, where his high tier placement at one point was due to "unrealized potential".

Obviously, as Ike mains, we want our character to do well. ^-^

Sword Character Tier List:
1. Metaknight
2-3: Shulk and Ike
4: Link
5. Robin
6. Toon Link
7. Marth ):

Those last four can be switched around. I think Shulk may be slightly better than Ike but idk.
Metaknight is the best imo, though he doesnt play like a sword character too much.

 

[Xuan Wu]

Shulk > Toon Link > Ike = Robin > Link imo.

I feel like with customs, it's Shulk = Ike > Toon Link > Robin > Link imo. Both Ike and Shulk have godly customs, but there's more tradeoffs on Shulk's customs than Ike's. Toon Link and Robin are meh on customs from what I've experimented with. This order takes into mind both their customs plus how good they are otherwise.

I like Ike's customs. I prefer defaults besides his more harmful Eruption since I like dthrow/uthrow->Aether and just reading them for Aether when they're trying to land, as well as Quick Draw punishes/reads since the body blow one has mediocre damage output despite being safe as hell, and I love Smash Counter despite it being slightly less reliable than the other ones. I would use his body blow version of Quick Draw if there wasn't that godsend of a change where Ike exits freefall when hitting with regular Quick Draw. I just go default Aether and Quick Draw with his explosive Eruption and Smash Counter, it's pretty scary. I have a huge bias for damage and kill power which is obvious. Customs make Ike's rage even more terrifying.

I'll see if I can get custom replays this weekend. I'm TO'ing. I don't enter stuff I TO, but I can get customs friendlies in easily.

Pit remained really, really good in Japan through all of Brawl's lifespan, I can see Ike in a similar position. Not quite as high as Japan Pit, but equal to or higher than U.S Pit.

Good to see I'm not the only one that still sees Toon Link as a competitive threat. Can't wait for the customs footage. Also, what is your opinion on Tempest and Aether Wave? ^-^

Sword Character Tier List:
1. Metaknight
2-3: Shulk and Ike
4: Link
5. Robin
6. Toon Link
7. Marth ):

Those last four can be switched around. I think Shulk may be slightly better than Ike but idk.
Metaknight is the best imo, though he doesnt play like a sword character too much.

Nice ranking. The one that stands out the most to me in your list is Meta Knight, given his new reputation in SSB4. Mind if I ask why you believe he's the best? ^-^

Anyway, most seem to be in agreement Shulk and Ike rank pretty high in this category. GameFAQs community, on the hand, thinks Shulk is the best but do not think as highly of Ike. I created the following thread there earlier today concerning the same subject. Yes, I'm aware it's not the best source to draw data from. Making comparisons are fun, though.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u/71253587?results=1#1

Sorry if this is deviating from the main purpose of this thread but do you guys consider the Pits "sword characters"? ^-^

 

[Arrei]

Of course. The vast majority of their attacks involve swinging their blades at opponents. That their blade happens to be the two halves of a bow doesn't change that they swing swords.

I don't know if I'd place Meta Knight as the best sword character, but he certainly plays like none of the others.

 

[Trunks159]

Good to see I'm not the only one that still sees Toon Link as a competitive threat. Can't wait for the customs footage. Also, what is your opinion on Tempest and Aether Wave? ^-^



Nice ranking. The one that stands out the most to me in your list is Meta Knight, given his new reputation in SSB4. Mind if I ask why you believe he's the best? ^-^

Anyway, most seem to be in agreement Shulk and Ike rank pretty high in this category. GameFAQs community, on the hand, thinks Shulk is the best but do not think as highly of Ike. I created the following thread there earlier today concerning the same subject. Yes, I'm aware it's not the best source to draw data from. Making comparisons are fun, though.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u/71253587?results=1#1

Sorry if this is deviating from the main purpose of this thread but do you guys consider the Pits "sword characters"? ^-^

Well when you go from a God to a human, you'll likely loose some worshippers.

Metaknight doesn't have his spammable air game, nor his crazy priority anymore. Metaknight approaches through the ground and imo has one of the top 5 ground games in the game. His dtilt is great for pokes and combo setups. Dtilt > Dgrab > Up air 1-3 times > Up is a true combo (with exceptions). Dtilt trips frequently. His ground speed is good, grab range and combos are good, roll is great, has his tornado for spot and air dodges, can go into dair camping mode, and kills CONSISTENTLY with : d throw > up b, dimensional cape, fsmash, upsmash, up b reads, and still gimps. His recovery is great, and hes extremely hard to juggle. He resets to neutral easily, his dash attack sets up to up b all the time. His only cons would be lack of a good jab, somewhat poor range (if you use hime like a sword character), and hes pretty light.

I faced a great Shulk (probably the best player period ive played online) and used Ike mainly. He flawlessly used his manados, speed and jump being the most annoying. His gimps were insane, and his pivot grabs were annoying. Nair basically can't be punished. Shulk is annoying.

Marth...i cant really figure out a great system for him. He punishes ok, but has no combos. Marth requires an extremely good player imo, who requires great fundamentals, but doesn't get too much pay off. I think Ike is better.

It seems to me that no one know how to use Link. His bombs are huge threat as is his zair. Link is solid.

Tlink can kill, but his damage output is too low.

I think Pit can be considered a sword character, though barely. Swordsmen usually fight with arcs, attacks that cover a lot of area and a hot of reach. Pit has the reach part right but no arcs. Still sword material i guess. Not sure where to put him.

 

[dy831532sssfjhhggb2224523]

I think the biggest difference is that Close Combat is able to clank with projectiles and doesn't have the long endlag on dodge, making it safer to use as a long range tech-chase or punish against characters with projectiles, in exchange for a bit of punch. I don't have much experience using it, though.

I tech chase with Quick Draw, but I see its shortcomings there when I don't time it right. Close Combat would be much better for tech chases and be much safer in neutral, it's just that damage output is keeping me from really liking it. If I see enough efficient Close Combat use from other Ikes, I'll try it more, but from what I've seen and played against with other Ikes, it just wasn't for me.

Sword Character Tier List:
1. Metaknight
2-3: Shulk and Ike
4: Link
5. Robin
6. Toon Link
7. Marth ):

Those last four can be switched around. I think Shulk may be slightly better than Ike but idk.
Metaknight is the best imo, though he doesnt play like a sword character too much.

I can't see Meta being better than Shulk and Ike, but I see potential in him, and maybe at their level with a player with good reaction and proper use of his new tools.

I can use Kirby well, my childhood main was Pikachu & Pichu, I've been programmed to use sword users well for years, but I just can't put them together to use MK in this game. I've seen some really efficient Japanese play, which is where my opinion on him is mainly based. I think everyone is sleeping on Marth (and Lucina) tbh. Anyone willing to use Marth/Lucina to take them to the top will develop incredibly solid fundamentals and become great players from what I feel. I don't see them being truly disadvantaged against the best when they're on-point and doing everything right. Losing patience or becoming antsy will hit them harder than anyone else.

Good to see I'm not the only one that still sees Toon Link as a competitive threat. Can't wait for the customs footage. Also, what is your opinion on Tempest and Aether Wave? ^-^



Nice ranking. The one that stands out the most to me in your list is Meta Knight, given his new reputation in SSB4. Mind if I ask why you believe he's the best? ^-^

Anyway, most seem to be in agreement Shulk and Ike rank pretty high in this category. GameFAQs community, on the hand, thinks Shulk is the best but do not think as highly of Ike. I created the following thread there earlier today concerning the same subject. Yes, I'm aware it's not the best source to draw data from. Making comparisons are fun, though.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u/71253587?results=1#1

Sorry if this is deviating from the main purpose of this thread but do you guys consider the Pits "sword characters"? ^-^

Oh god, GameFAQs. I remember my years on the forums. I kind of don't want to remember. They were really scrubby in Brawl days, and the FE threads were filled with the scrubbiest of scroobs. I think they're still bandwagoning the 08 train of Ike being a "noob character."

I consider the Pits sword characters. People debate it way too much when it's not a big deal >__> but I think they're some of the best of the sword characters and really reward both low-level and high-level play.

Also, on the topic of Marth/Lucina and Pit/Dark Pit: I see so much debate on which one is superior out of each, but it seems so negligable that I've never brought myself to really care. Even if I largely prefer Marth and regular Pit, I feel like it's both a player thing and a small difference with originals versus clones here.

 

[Arrei]

From what I've seen of the GFAQs boards, Ike is in this really weird spot where everybody loves him but no one uses him.

It's the manly biceps, I bet.

 

[Deleted member 269706]

Yeah I've been maining Ike since the 3DS version came out (actually since Brawl...), and I honestly think he is a mid/upper-mid tier character overall. His weight can be a bit of a hindrance at low percentages, but when things start heating up, it helps him more than it hurts him. I think the only thing that holds him back is the start-up on his attacks. As several others have mentioned, Ike is a very hard character to use because you have to be able to efficiently read your opponent, but when used properly, he really does have a lot of potential. We've seen Ryo, Moon Monkey, Ryuga, and several others pull off some amazing victories with Ike. I've seen talk about him being on the same level as Greninja, and I think that's pretty fair to say. Maybe slightly lower due to speed, but that's a maybe. As far as that MU goes, I think it's extremely even. The only characters I've really struggled against are Diddy, Sheik, Pika, Fox (not so much anymore), and surprisingly Samus. He's a solid character, we just need to invest a little more time with him, and get him to place high in a tourney.