Pika Q&A/FAQ Thread: Ask a Quick Question, Get a Quick Answer!

[[FBC] ESAM]

More important than QAC is chaingrabbing in my opinion. You can go through a match while only QACing like 3 times, but CGing is vital against the characters you can.

 

[KayLo!]

More important than QAC is chaingrabbing in my opinion. You can go through a match while only QACing like 3 times, but CGing is vital against the characters you can.

Indeed. I think this goes for a lot of things. A majority of new Pikas tend to focus on QAC because it looks flashy and ZOMGATSKILLZ, but as nice as it is.... developing the other aspects of your Pika's game should come first.

Imho, learn how to approach safely, punish effectively, and set up kills with Pikachu before you focus on things like QAC. Every player should learn it eventually, but it's not what I would call a fundamental Pika skill.

 

[Ussi]

So what characters can you CG on the ledge? Cause apparently heavies and fast fallers can be CG'd to 60% on the ledge.

 

[LordoftheMorning]

Wow, I just have to say that QAC is super fun. I managed to actually apply it in some real matches today on wifi.

I've been watching some vids of Anther and Stealth Raptor. Neither of them use QAC very often. They'll use it every now and then, at least +10 times a match, but they don't use it as much as I would expect. I realize that QAC isn't the fundamental behavior of pika, but why is this?

 

[Stealth Raptor]

at the lower levels of play qac is fun and flashy, at the higher levels of play you are asking to be punished. the qac has a weird pseudo priority, but in reality it doesnt have much, and any disjointed hitbox will eat it up. qac is best used for short quick bursts of speed. find the vds of anther vs samurai panda (olimar and DK) to see anther use qac in a flashy way. panda just didnt know how to punish it then. qac isnt necessary to being a good pika, but it helps.

 

[LordoftheMorning]

Does this make Delfino a good pika stage? I've often seen an up-then-down > QAC technique used through the floor.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

the stage is imo a very good overall stage for pika. the layout allows for larger qacing areas (slightly less punishable), walkoffs, close walls/ceilings, and the floor you can qa through, which allows greater mobility.

 

[Anther]

QACing actually limits and changes yours options a bit. I prefer not being forced to land and not having the option of instantly grabbing or dsmashing after QAC'ing (Since you can't land without the extra landing lag). But at the same time, a lot of people spot dodge or shield when you land next to them, so it can work to your benefit because you'll pause and catch them with whatever and the lag will have worked to your favor... lol.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

So basically with QAC, learn when you should use it. If you go to a tournament, don't expect to use it offensively if your opponent is any good.

 

[KayLo!]

I was bored so I decided to research which recovery moves have RCO lag. This basically means that after grabbing the edge with this recovery move (or going into freefall and grabbing it) you will suffer many frames of lag in which you cannot perform an action next time you land on the ground. I did it for my own personal benefit as I saw no topics on it and I'm just sharing it with you guys. This was tested by first double jumping, airdodging and holding R. When the character landed I used that as the control for how long they have till they hold their shield up. Then I used a recovery move and did the same thing by ledgehopping. If there was any noticeable lag, I put it down as yes. If I saw no difference, I put a no. It's really rather obvious if there was any RCO lag, by the way.

Without further ado, the list:
RCO lag:

....

Pikachu:
Skull Bash: No
Quick Attack: Yes (Only if the max distance of the first QA is used or if the second QA is used at all).
Lag time: 24 frames

....

This is from Tactical (I think, too lazy to go back and check). Edited out other characters' data.

So, obviously this is why Pikachu has lag the next time he lands after using QAC, but my question is this: If you do short QACs using less than the full length of the first part of QA, do you not get the 24-frame lag?

It wouldn't be extremely useful to purposely do short QACs for that reason, but I'm curious.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

no you get the lag regardless.

 

[KayLo!]

Well isn't that some BS. Boo Brawl mechanics.

 

[1nconspikuous]

k so i asked this question in stealth's recent vid posting but noone answered there so i'll ask here. =)

i recently started 2 use GaW's bucket braking and it's awesome.
@ 1:00 into stealth's 2nd vid he uairs>overb and it seems to kill any momentum, even helping him back to the stage. does it work similar to the bucket braking? cuz that would be pretty huge, as bucket braking is huge for GaW.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

im sorry i must have missed it. i dont check my youtube messages that often. it is similar in that it stops the horizontal momentum, but there is a vertical penalty. once the skull bash has gone off though it has never killed me.

 

[1nconspikuous]

oh really? that seems like it should be a big thing... especially since pika can still jump and qa to get back (horizontally or vertically) after the animation is over.

then again, it'd probably make it easier to get a wop/spike in the face. still, since pika's lightweight it should be pretty useful.

(oh and the response was in your pika swf thread, not on youtube, but it's okay. i don't have an avatar/sig so my posts are easy to miss.)

 

[Veng]

QAC isnt neccesarily strictly defensive.

Situations where you dont want to land, just QAC towards a ledge or something far away and re approach. But if you got a decent lead and you know if they get lucky and hit you out of your QAC go for a qac shot hop nair kill, always fun.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Keyword is lucky. If the opponent knows what they are doing they should get hit by anything out of QAC 1 out of 50 times, and its not worth getting punished that many times for one "lucky" hit.

 

[Veng]

You can do it to surprise though with QAC to nair which if you know how to do it correctly works effectively.

 

[3xSwords]

How many directions can you do QA? And is it possible to do both parts of the QA in the same direction or do you have to do both in slightly diagonal variations from each other?

 

[Ussi]

only in Smash 64 can you go in the same direction...with a glitch...

The angle MUST be at least 38 degrees I believe. (Going either direction) The highest you can go is going diagonal 38 degrees then the perpendicular angle upwards.

then you do w/e you want for mindgames.

 

[M15t3R E]

How many directions can you do QA? And is it possible to do both parts of the QA in the same direction or do you have to do both in slightly diagonal variations from each other?

Good question. Pikachu can QA at virtually any angle, and the 2nd QA must be 38 degrees in a different direction from the first or else it won't work.

Due to the 38 degree rule you cannot do QA in the same direction twice. However, there's a trick that we Pikachus like to do near the ground. From the ground, QA left or right, then the same direction again but holding the down diagonal direction.
For example- QA forward then forward-down and you'll move forward twice with QA.

 

[RyanPF]

Can you sum up quickly how and why Pikachu is so good against Fox? I know about the chaingrab, but I've been wondering what else makes this matchup so favorable.

 

[Veng]

Pikachus D tilt is actually really effective on fox and spaces really well, I don't know why but it is. Yea, the chaingrab till about 78% is only a +.

I don't think the matchup is soley in Pikachus favor if you take out the chaingrab though, Pikachus pretty light and fox's up smash and air destroy him, other then that I couldn't really comment.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

imo that is about pikas only plus. without it fox counters pika.

 

[KayLo!]

Yeah, I've fought plenty of Foxes without the CG before, and it's a ***** of a matchup. Dair, utilt, and usmash are all annoying as hell, and his air game in general beats ours. Plus his reflector is, imo, more useful against us than Falco's.

The only glaring cons he really has in the matchup are being light and having a semi-shizzy recovery, but as every good Pika knows (since Pika's no heavyweight himself), that doesn't necessarily mean he'll be dying early.

 

[Ussi]

Eh I never see Fox as a problem even without the CG. Is it me?

 

[KayLo!]

Eh I never see Fox as a problem even without the CG. Is it me?

It's either you or the balls-level Foxes you've been playing.

 

[Van Jones]

It's either you or the balls-level Foxes you've been playing.

Hahahahah. Nice.

 

[Veng]

At one of my tournaments I was told fox was a counter minus the chaingrab.


yea play Samboner

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

But the CG is key...its almost a kill if you get it.

 

[GreenAce]

What's a good stage to cp mk if there is one.

 

[Ussi]

Final Destination... then Smash ville... Space = good... platforms = bad

 

[GreenAce]

Duh that was obvious I can't believe I asked that question, I appreciate the help anyway.

 

[M15t3R E]

Final Destination... then Smash ville... Space = good... platforms = bad

True. M2k ALWAYS bans FD. When he let me play him on FD during friendlies, I actually managed to take 1 and a half stocks off him

 

[Ussi]

platforms are just bad when dealing with range.

HOWEVER I am starting to love platforms with Pikachu. Its Uair **** zone. Uair > FF onto platform > jump uair again :D (living the melee lol) Just Marth and MK are just horrible with platforms since they have both speed and swords...

Ike ends get getting more from platforms than Pikachu too, with that massive range. Other swordsmen don't bother me much (Pit, Link, and TL) Since they don't really have a way to cover the entire platform with a move.

 

[Veng]

Platforms like BF allow for some good QAC/uair stuff.

I personally hate platforms and Smashville is my favorite stage... I usually CP it too

 

[gallax]

platforms are like the sweet and sour of pikas game. they are awesome for qac tricks and mindgames, but they suck for thunder abusers. Unless you dont want to get hit by your thunder which is another good thing....

 

[3xSwords]

I have had this occur before and it wasn't listed in your 90 tricks thread (or something like that). Basically I was able to QA into a wall jump. Now, this occurred on final destination both times that I pulled it off, I know I'm not hallucionating because I wasn't under the influence of anything (lol ) and this occurred at two seperate dates (the latter occurrence confirming the former's happening). I also know it was the first part of the QA into a wall jump and it occurred at the ledge of FD. (Also just something else I noticed but it seems Pikachu can also instant wall jump from hanging on the ledge.) But when I went to Yoshi's I couldn't pull it off again, granted I only tried 10 times before I got pissed off and posted here. So has this already been discovered and if so how do I pull it off consistently? If not, then I'm pretty sure it could help Pika's recovery game just a bit, and something you guys could think about.

 

[Masky]

I've QA'd to wall jump on FD before also under the stage on the lip, it actually saved my life lol

 

[KayLo!]

I think someone posted about this a while ago -- something similar, at least.

You can't QA (or QAC) into a wall jump as far as we know, but sometimes on FD, QA will end and randomly not leave you in the vulnerable freefall, allowing you to wall jump or QA again when normally you should fall to your death.

It's happened to me a few times (it's pretty awesome when it does), but every time I've tried to recreate it, I haven't been able to. And it only ever happens on Final Destination. I think it's some random, uncontrollable glitch.