Q&A Palutena Q&A Thread

[MzNetta]

She definitely does say something occasionally. My best guess is "Goddess wings"?

She says "Gusts"

 

[lRasha]

I recently decided to skim through IceNinja's old guide again. For Palutena's F-Tilt, he displayed a gif that showed it's shield damage when it was 3 hits back then. Is the shield damage still the same now that it is two hits? Or no?

http://gfycat.com/BestUnfoldedFoal

 

[PHP]

I recently decided to skim through IceNinja's old guide again. For Palutena's F-Tilt, he displayed a gif that showed it's shield damage when it was 3 hits back then. Is the shield damage still the same now that it is two hits? Or no?

http://gfycat.com/BestUnfoldedFoal

It's nowhere close to this anymore, I hope they charge it back it was great (and pretty much her only form) of shield pressure

 

[Death Arcana]

having trouble getting the nair to auto cancel from a ledge drop jump
am i just doing it too slow or is there something else to it?

 

[RosalinA]

So I just have to know, is Palutena worse than Ganondorf, or better? I just wanted to here your opinions.

 

[Dinoman96]

So I just have to know, is Palutena the worst character in the game? I'm debating between her and Ganondorf and I'm asking both sides but I just want to here what you guys have to say.

Neither Dorf or Palu are the worst. That would go to either Jigglypuff or Zelda.

 

[Maraphy]

So I just have to know, is Palutena the worst character in the game? I'm debating between her and Ganondorf and I'm asking both sides but I just want to here what you guys have to say.

Palu is definitely not the worst... I don't even think she's low man but hey what do i know

 

[RosalinA]

It's not Zelda any more with her new combos (Kills people at 60%).

 

[PHP]

having trouble getting the nair to auto cancel from a ledge drop jump
am i just doing it too slow or is there something else to it?

You are probably doing it to slow, but it helps if you drop off of the ledge by holding away from the stage instead of down, you'll lose less hight this way and it becomes much easier to execute.

 

[Death Arcana]

You are probably doing it to slow, but it helps if you drop off of the ledge by holding away from the stage instead of down, you'll lose less hight this way and it becomes much easier to execute.

thank you for the advice!
and that might be it
ive learned to always press down to let go of edge
comes from ledge dashing with fox and falcon in melee
time to grind this into my muscle memory for pally

 

[Smasher89]

Palutena is definitly not close to the worst character, she has a fast "safe" fair, an insane upsmash, can KO from grabs, and has a fast runspeed. I need to play here more in teams but she has good potencial with the upsmash there to get easier kills then some characters!

 

[Lakuto]

Is Palutena's fox trotting faster than her running speed?

Is there any OoS option with Palutena outside of her grab?

 

[mrpocari21]

Is Palutena's fox trotting faster than her running speed?

Is there any OoS option with Palutena outside of her grab?

I'm pretty sure her running speed is faster.
And unfortunately grab is pretty much her only fast OoS option. Against taller characters you might be able to get a fair or bair out of shield. Other than that there's drop shield and jab which is a total of 15 frames not including the shield stun. Fair would come out frame 14 and bair would come out frame 13 because of the jumpsquat frames. That's pretty much it, at least as far as I know :/

 

[weare6789]

Dair is probably her best OoS aerial. It is only one frame slower than her fair, but hits the entire cast consistently. Also, if you short hop fast fall it, it can lead to a grab at lower percents or bair at mid percents. It's really good, especially for covering your back.

Nair OoS is also good on Dedede, bowser and DK, or to punish airborne fighters.

 

[Drop Kick]

Is the infinite Lightweight feature still unpatched? I'm still trying to get it down but I'm not sure if it's just me doing it wrong or it removed.

 

[mrpocari21]

Is the infinite Lightweight feature still unpatched? I'm still trying to get it down but I'm not sure if it's just me doing it wrong or it removed.

That got patched out back in 1.1.1 sadly. Makes sense though since it was a glitch

 

[Ark of Silence101]

So I co-main Palutena with Lucina and Roy, I mostly use Palutena when I am facing against projectile happy or campy characters, could you guys give some tips on how to deal with characters such as Olimar, Villager and Duxk Hunt?

 

[Lakuto]

So I co-main Palutena with Lucina and Roy, I mostly use Palutena when I am facing against projectile happy or campy characters, could you guys give some tips on how to deal with characters such as Olimar, Villager and Duxk Hunt?

Make smart usage of your reflect, dash attack and Bair.
Against Olimar, use reflect to counter smashes and Pikmin throw in general. Use Nair to get rid of the Pikmins when they are on you.
Against Villager, don't use reflect against the tree. You should only use reflect to punish his side b if he is trying to follow up with a grab or if he uses Fair to recover from the ledge. Most of the time, using Dash Attack and Bair is really good against Villager.
For DH, I don't really have MU knowledge.

 

[Claxus]

It's kind of silly how you can shut down Olimar's options by using Reflect, but that's how it is... for what it's worth, remember you can use Counter on Pikmin's leech-hits when they're on you.

F-Tilt is pretty good against Villagers trying to run in with Gyroids, but you'll have to mix it up of course. I personally don't like to reflect anything in this matchup... he can punish you for it, or just get an even stronger projectile. On the other hand, go ham with Autoreticle. Villager can only pocket one shot, and it will, more than anything, just be dead weight in their pocket... It destroys Gyroids (it locks on to them actually, can be really useful destroying them at any angle), and it can disrupt... any of their camping options, really. I love Autoreticle in this matchup.

Duck Hunt is also highly messed up with Autoreticle. It locks on to their exploding can, which needless to say is really useful, since it messes with their main tool. AR also has a tendency to hit them during their startup animations, so it can stuff their setups a lot. Palutena's tilts are good at deflecting the can, not to mention Reflect walling out most of their ranged options (throw out some jump-Reflects too since they can just lob the can high). Ideally, you want to force them off the ground, or slowly pressure them to try and bait-punish rolls. Duck Hunts tend to go for grabs a lot when they're cornered in my experience, too, so you can try to avoid that and punish easily. If they're really comfortable in their zone, you can power in with a Dash attack.

Basically, don't get restless in the matchups. Palutena is excellent at fighting characters who attempt to zone you out, it just takes patience. If you can declare some authority in the zoning game, you should have the advantage when it comes to melee. Conversely, if you get too impatient and let them play their game, Palutena will have a very rough time trying to catch them with her lack of approaches.

 

[Ark of Silence101]

Thanks Lakuto , Claxus , could you give me some advice against Robin, Tink(Toon Link) and Link? Especially Link since I fight a lot who LOVE to land with fair and nair and since can land for free with those moves...

 

[Claxus]

Palutena can beat F-Air and N-Air with U-Tilt pretty easily, it can beat most air approaches in general. It's a little risky, but if they're dropping down on you a lot, it's a pretty good option. Just know you don't always have to respect their aerials, beating out attacks rather than shielding can go a long way against overconfident players. Dash attack is also amazing at catching them trying to land with aerials, but that's a bit more situational. Don't be afraid to B-Air, either. Otherwise, don't feel like you have to punish everything either. Let them land for free, they'll probably try to roll away or sidestep after that, then you can punish that instead. Or they may try to jab out of it, so you can wait for that instead, etc.. Palutena players have to figure out how a player acts after something, rather than focus on punishing, because she has trouble punishing even many Smash attacks.

I don't think you should have too much trouble with their projectiles. But again, Autoreticle can hit them out of all their projectile animations, or pierce through, and I don't have to mention Reflect. Try to avoid engaging them on the ground much. Palutena has better pokes (F-Air, D-Tilt, etc.), so keep pushing them safely until they open up, and I don't think it should be too hard once you break their pace, especially since Link's melee is very linear and can be beat out by a lot of Palutena's attacks.

Robin is another matchup I don't Reflect too much. I mean... Robin players tend to play pretty smart, they don't just throw stuff out against characters with a reflector. Arcfire reflected also won't help. I'll throw one or two Reflects out to let them know the danger of it. They try to find the most unexpected times to go for Arcthunders and Thorons, so... weird as it may sound, try Reflecting when you don't think they'll go for it. It's an instinct that works well against similar attacks, like Samus' Charge Shot. But that may just be me, since I do some weird stuff, and I'm ranting...

Anyway, it's a bit of a rough matchup. They're pretty well-rounded and read-centric like Palutena, their aerials are slower, but can beat out Palutena (besides B-Air and U-Air) and hit harder... I suppose Palutena actually has the advantage on the ground, if just a little. Running grab and D-Tilt should be a lot of use, compared to Robin who has laughable run speed and very bad Tilt range, and I don't think they can really punish a well-spaced F-Air or B-Air on the ground. You'll really have to respect their own aerial and spacing game, though. Run off stage into N-Air gets them pretty good and easily, however, their recovery is pretty easy to beat, so that's a big plus. But honestly, I feel like this is a pretty fair and even fight for both, so you may really need to make some reads, that's how both characters play their game, so ultimately it comes down to who's outwitted or pushed more.

 

[Green Zelda]

When, if ever, should I use palutena's neutral b?

 

[luke_atyeo]

hey dudes, I'm trying to collect a bunch of quick easy info graphics on essential character knowledge to make a quick reference guide for commentators (we all hate it when a commentator says something that is wrong)
This shulk thing here is an example of the kinda stuff I am looking for

I'm going around to all the character boards and it'll be a little messy for me to try and check them all, so if you have any cool things like that, or just some useful info that I could turn into a similar picture, please send me a message. Cheers lads.

 

[sjb.dario]

When, if ever, should I use palutena's neutral b?

It's admittedly not the best kind of projectile, but it's definitely not complete trash. The best and ideal situation is to use it from about half a stage away when the opponent is kind of camping. Like any projectile, autoreticle can be used to pressure any defensive players who aren't coming in at all.

Or, you can be gutsy and use it at point blank. The risk is obvious, but if you do manage to land it, you can connect it with a jab, which then could connect with a lot of things. I'm sure you know what jab can connect to already.

 

[CURRY]

How do you dthrow -> bair as fast as possible? Do you have to do a little initial dash? Do you buffer a turnaround?

I'm assuming not the latter.
Is it just practice? I guess I'm just bad at RARing.

 

[sjb.dario]

How do you dthrow -> bair as fast as possible? Do you have to do a little initial dash? Do you buffer a turnaround?

I'm assuming not the latter.
Is it just practice? I guess I'm just bad at RARing.

I remember having this problem the first few times I tried this, as well.

To RAR b-air, you'll have to make a small dash first and then perform the RAR. This option only works if the opponent DI's away, I think.

If the opponent DI's towards you or doesn't DI at all after the d-throw, you'll have to Perfet Pivot b-air instead, since you won't have the space and time to dash first and then perform the RAR.

Just remember that to RAR b-air, you have to make a small dash forward before smashing your control stick the other way and immediately jumping. Without that dash, RAR won't work.

Don't worry about not being able to perform this right away. Practice makes perfect, and it definitely took me a while to even get the whole concept of this. If you still don't get what RAR is, feel free to tell me and I'll explain it in more detail.

 

[Lakuto]

If the opponent DI towards you or doesn't DI at all, you don't have to perfect pivot. If you input "back" within 10 frame before the grab ends, you will perform a turn around at the very first frame you get out of the Dthrow. Thus, you will do a perfect turn around jump if you hit "back" then "jump" just before the Dthrow ends, getting you the Bair follow up.

Tl;dr buffer turn around-jump outta Dthrow

 

[sjb.dario]

If the opponent DI towards you or doesn't DI at all, you don't have to perfect pivot. If you input "back" within 10 frame before the grab ends, you will perform a turn around at the very first frame you get out of the Dthrow. Thus, you will do a perfect turn around jump if you hit "back" then "jump" just before the Dthrow ends, getting you the Bair follow up.

Tl;dr buffer turn around-jump outta Dthrow

Really? Never thought about that before.

I'm guessing it's best to tilt the control stick back rather than hold it down back hard, since that would cause Palu to run to the other side.

 

[Lakuto]

Really? Never thought about that before.

I'm guessing it's best to tilt the control stick back rather than hold it down back hard, since that would cause Palu to run to the other side.

Not really, you don't have to worry about just tilting it. I find it easier to tap it all the way back (easier flicking the stick once in 10 frame window rather than tilting it). You just have to make sure you have your stick back to neutral position as the Dthrow resumes.

But yeah, I began using this after seeing this video:

Hope it helped.

 

[sjb.dario]

Not really, you don't have to worry about just tilting it. I find it easier to tap it all the way back (easier flicking the stick once in 10 frame window rather than tilting it). You just have to make sure you have your stick back to neutral position as the Dthrow resumes.

But yeah, I began using this after seeing this video:

Hope it helped.

I see. I never knew about this.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Shack]

What makes her so low on the tier list? Is it recovery lag on tilts and smashes?

 

[sjb.dario]

What makes her so low on the tier list? Is it recovery lag on tilts and smashes?

I actually talked about the issue of Palu's placement on the tier list before, but I'll give you a tl;dr of that.

1. Lack of good, high-damaging combos.
2. Lack of hit confirms
3. Lack of reliable kill options
4. Lack of zoning options

These four reasons factor into Palu's low placement on the tier list. Having at least one of these problems addressed (whether by updates or good players finding ways to solve these problems) would bump up her tiers significantly.

You can read my post here:
https://smashboards.com/threads/the...-issues-we-must-address-to-improve-it.443465/

Another reason why she's so low on the tier list, however, is because of lack of reps. If more people showed her strengths in tourneys and such, she definitely would've placed a lot higher than rn. But, due to lack of Palu players in known scenes and nationals, most do not know how good Palu can be.