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

[Stealth Raptor]

name searching pika? sorta like pikapik@?

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

I don't play me pika with unpredictability. Not really at least. That's why I'm so good :D

 

[Stealth Raptor]

so.... you are a very good pika because you play predictably? O.o

 

[gamesuxcard]

The biggest mindgame ever.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

>_> Everybody has the same amount of unpredictability unless you suck. I mean I don't go out of my way to be unpredictable, like I randomly won't thunder when somebody is shielding right next to me because "They will never expect it." What is predictable? What is unpredictable?

 

[gamesuxcard]

Being predictable is doing moves in a repeated fashion where if read correctly you can be punished.
or: capable of being foretold.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

>_> Everybody has the same amount of unpredictability unless you suck. I mean I don't go out of my way to be unpredictable, like I randomly won't thunder when somebody is shielding right next to me because "They will never expect it." What is predictable? What is unpredictable?

i actually would use thunder on a shield like that, except i would jump first so the thunder would land right on top of the shield, and i wouldnt do it vs characters that can punish it

 

[KayLo!]

>_> Everybody has the same amount of unpredictability unless you suck.

That's not true. In terms of Pika players, I'd say Anther is by far more unpredictable than most Pikas, even other top-level ones. He does a lot of things that "shouldn't" work and often punishes in unconventional ways -- at least compared to other Pikas, who usually go for the safe, guaranteed punish.

Someone brought this up in the VTV thread as well when comparing Anther's vids to Yone's. Yone plays more technical and safe whereas Anther plays smarter and more creatively. Both are effective, but there's definitely a difference in unpredictability.

 

[vVv Rapture]

Question:

-Does anyone use QAC into Dair a lot? I've been using it frequently, but I dunno if anyone else does, lol.

also:

-Is there a way to cancel the ending lag of Skull Bash?

 

[KayLo!]

-Does anyone use QAC into Dair a lot? I've been using it frequently, but I dunno if anyone else does, lol.

I don't QAC at all except for recovery/escape, but if it's working for you, keep using it. QAC gets less and less effective against better opponents, though...... they learn to shield before the aerial comes out.

-Is there a way to cancel the ending lag of Skull Bash?

Nope.

 

[vVv Rapture]

Yeah, I can understand the QAC thing, but that sucks that SB can't be cancelled. Oh well.

 

[M15t3R E]

I don't QAC at all except for recovery/escape, but if it's working for you, keep using it. QAC gets less and less effective against better opponents, though...... they learn to shield before the aerial comes out.

Are you telling me you never QAC across the stage into a thunder? Shoot, I've gotten plenty of star KO's that way that left my opponents speechless. I even once did it against ChuDat back in VA and he told me "Good sh**".

 

[Syko_Lemming]

Question:

-Does anyone use QAC into Dair a lot? I've been using it frequently, but I dunno if anyone else does, lol.

also:

-Is there a way to cancel the ending lag of Skull Bash?

You can skull bash from the stage and slide off the ledge, to grab it. It can work as a bit of a surprise if you hit someone off the other side, they really don't expect you to charge up a skull bash. When you start it, they think you're going to try and hit them, but misstimed horribly.

It'll take people by surprise the first time. But once they realize you can't go far enough to hit them they'll probably try to get to the edge first, to let you fly off.



I use QAC to upair or nair.

 

[gamesuxcard]

i qac to every aerial pretty regularly, but i'm feeling pretty weird for doing so now.

 

[KayLo!]

Are you telling me you never QAC across the stage into a thunder? Shoot, I've gotten plenty of star KO's that way that left my opponents speechless. I even once did it against ChuDat back in VA and he told me "Good sh**".

That's what I'm telling you.

Normally if they're that far away, they have time to airdodge before thunder comes out..... unless they're at high damage, in which case they might be stuck in hitstun. I mean, if they see you QAC'ing over and they're that far up in the air, it's pretty obvious what you're about to do, lol.

There are plenty of QAC mindgames you can do with and without thunder..... it's just not my thing. Tbh, I haven't seen any Pika use QAC in a way that makes me go, "wow, I should really use it more" except for the occasional QAC edgehog.

 

[gamesuxcard]

I think every pikachu including myself needs to qac edge cancel more.

 

[vVv Rapture]

Question, I've been playing against Allied's snake...which, well, is so far above my level it's ridiculous (though I can do pretty well against his mk and some of his other peeps), so my question is, how do I deal with Snake?

I can never seem to approach him at all and killing him is a huge problem because he just. doesn't. die. ever.

Any tips?

 

[Syko_Lemming]

Question, I've been playing against Allied's snake...which, well, is so far above my level it's ridiculous (though I can do pretty well against his mk and some of his other peeps), so my question is, how do I deal with Snake?

I can never seem to approach him at all and killing him is a huge problem because he just. doesn't. die. ever.

Any tips?

Getting him in the air and off the stage is the big thing.

If he's in the air, use thunder. Snake has a lot of trouble with that cause of his horrible airspeed. If he tries to land and he's at high % you can go try going underneith him and thundering so that it hits him as he lands. If you plan on doing that make sure you position yourself so that if he changes momentum direction with a grenade pull or C4 that he can only do it into you.

When he's offstage you should be able to rack up a lot of damage with nairs and whatnot. If he recovers low, I prefer to use dairs. They hit him and the cypher hits you and stops you from killing yourself. Sometimes you get a nice ledgespike too. If they try to recover high, thunder. Snakes' safest place to recover is just at the height of, or slightly higher than pika's second jump. There, it's harder to hit him with thunder, cause he can react to it, and he also has enough time to see you trying to jump up. - At that point I like to jump up and wait for him to airdodge, then punish with something that knocks him back up or off stage.

As for on the ground, you can out camp snakes grenades if you time his grenade pulls. Full and double jump over when he should throw the grenades and t-jolt so that he can either throw the grenade and risk getting hit by t-jolt(or both t-jolt and his own grenade), or he can sheild both the grenade and t-jolt.
-Remember that if he drops his grenade and approaches while you're in the air, you have the nice little option to QA away. But use it sparingly, most snakes don't like to approach very hard.

On the ground when he's not pulling grenades, or intends to drop them and hit you: do short little dashes around, and once you're in range, sheild his Ftilts. If you do a lot of dashing around, Snake is less inclined to ftilt while you're at the perfect range for fear that you'll just dash back out of his range, leaving him a little open. Therefor, you should be able to dash in far enough that you can sheild both hits and grab, or just dash in and grab if you're feeling risky.

Short answer: Thunder scores kills quicker than it would on most other characters, and much quicker than snake is used to dying at. And keep him off the stage. And don't try to trade hits. He racks up serious damage that way, and doesn't die as easy as you.

Random thing, if you're a stock up, and snake is recovering medium high, and is obviously going to land on a platform, full hop bairs, even if he starts to pull nades, trading hits is better for you (being a stock up.)


Edit: I find that reverse pivot fsmashes are good for spacing. Even if just the tip hits, it puts snake in the air, and snake doesn't like air.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

A big part of the match-up is CGs. Hopefully you know it (Buffer D-throw at the edge start before 30% or just F-throw). They make a big difference.

If you try to outcamp a snake you will lose. If you try to out-muscle a snake you will lose. You really have to be patient and make sure you space your moves correctly so you don't get hit by grenades he will (Most likely) have in his hands. If you do that, you are golden.

 

[KayLo!]

I played Allied in tourney recently. He ftilts a lot (I mean, they all do, but more than the average Snake, lol)..... you can bait them by staying just outside its range or fake him out with an empty jump, then DJ out of the way + punish.

 

[Legendary Pikachu]

Quick question, anyone knows the EXACT % where falco can no longer chaingrab pika if his throw is fresh? What about the % where the fresh throw can't chain to u-smash/DaC usmash?

After getting my *** handed to me by kismet's falco at herb 3 (those vids are defninitely going up), I realized that "most" of the falco's in NC suck real bad. My pika gained 9,001 exp points from those matches against him alone, and I figured these percentages could help me in the long run.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

the percent where you cant get a regrab is somwhere around 50. as it gets lower you can go farther and farther, and i think around 30 it goes all the way (not so sure on the 30)

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Stealth, you are saying the wrong %s. He means falco CGing pika, not pika CGing falco.

His D-throw will have too much knockback ~35% fresh.

 

[Legendary Pikachu]

Stealth, you are saying the wrong %s. He means falco CGing pika, not pika CGing falco.

His D-throw will have too much knockback ~35% fresh.

Thanks for that tidbit.

Should it combo to u-smash at that point? I was wondering if I could take non-grab damage up until the point that I can't be grabbed again, or smacked by u-smash/d-air.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

ohhhhhh whoops. fresh i think its a little bit lower then 35, cause its about 35 that we get out from zero. i dont know though, either i dont get grabbed or i get grabbed <10

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Thanks for that tidbit.

Should it combo to u-smash at that point? I was wondering if I could take non-grab damage up until the point that I can't be grabbed again, or smacked by u-smash/d-air.

I think you should be able to buffer an airdodge to get away from a buffer DACUS, or just DI up and you shouldn't get hit by it. I mean, you might get hit by the back end, but then you are at like 60%, and then you just wait patiently for your grab. I hope you weren't rushing in too much...that's a no-no in this Matchup.

 

[Legendary Pikachu]

I think you should be able to buffer an airdodge to get away from a buffer DACUS, or just DI up and you shouldn't get hit by it. I mean, you might get hit by the back end, but then you are at like 60%, and then you just wait patiently for your grab. I hope you weren't rushing in too much...that's a no-no in this Matchup.

I was "somewhat rushing in past 30%, but then, he still "sorta-chained" me into smashes and stuff. Kismet, he spams lasers sparingly and approaches pretty smart, mixed with insta-illusions and all that crap.

I've faced the "BEST" or close enough of the other high-ish tiers (M2K, DSF, sebrik (friendly), Dr PP/kadaj (back in the day), Boss), so those matchups I am good with... but of all people... falco is still the only one I've never faced out-of-state-wise--which sucked when facing Kismet's falco.

I just got paired with a newish matchup against one of the better players in it O_O.

But i've learned much. Last time that is happenin'. Sharingan... calibrated... ^_^

 

[altairian]

Sharingan... calibrated... ^_^

That's probably the most awesome use of a Naruto reference I've ever seen, since it fits you so perfectly :D

Hope you beat Kismet up next time you face him!

 

[global-wolf]

After playing a couple people online today I noticed that I never spotdodge. Honestly when I'm playing I forget that it even exists -_- This is kind of a general question but should I spotdodge? When should I spotdodge? What do I do after it?

 

[altairian]

Spotdodging is a very useful ability. For the most part it's safer than rolling against good players, and it's by far the best way to avoid grabs other than staying out of range. Don't spam it, but definitely work it in to your game, it helps a lot when you use it at the right times.

 

[KayLo!]

Spotdodging is just another way to dodge (obviously, but that's really how simple it is, hehe)..... use it mainly to avoid grabs or moves with short-lasting hitboxes, but definitely don't abuse it. Good players will start to read your spotdodges, and once you start it, you're committed to it. It has startup and cooldown lag just like any other move.

After a spotdodge, I usually utilt, dsmash, grab, or dtilt depending on how my opponent reacts. There're plenty of other options, of course..... the main thing is to not be predictable.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Spotdodging is good for grabs and attack that have one hitbox and have a lot of cooldown. If you over-use it, pros will start to **** you for it. Trust me...it happens to me a lot lol.

 

[gamesuxcard]

Yeah. If you're ever in a spot dodge war next to an opponent charge a smash or just wait for them to come out of their spotdodge, spot dodging again yourself just leads to you getting punished.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

yeah if you see them spot dodging while you approach, just charge a hyphen smash and punish the spot dodge.

 

[gamesuxcard]

ftilt is awesome for punishing spotdodges up close, too.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

only if its your only option really. try to go for a stronger one if possible, but if all you can do is ftilt ANGLE IT UP lol

 

[global-wolf]

Woah, thanks so much! I didn't expect this many good replies. I'm gonna go practice spotdodging :D

 

[KayLo!]

use it mainly to avoid grabs or moves with short-lasting hitboxes,

Spotdodging is good for grabs and attack that have one hitbox

but definitely don't abuse it. Good players will start to read your spotdodges,

If you over-use it, pros will start to **** you for it.

Couldn't help myself, LOL. This happens a lot...... maybe I subconsciously control ESAM's mind.

 

[gamesuxcard]

only if its your only option really. try to go for a stronger one if possible, but if all you can do is ftilt ANGLE IT UP lol

i dunno, i like ftilt in those type of situations. maybe another tilt. something that gets decent percent and i don't have to worry about it taking so long it can be powershielded and it can be sdi'd out of.

i guess it would be easier to say if you can READ the spotdodge go for a smash, but if it's happening right in front of you (depending on the character cause they have different lengths for spotdodges) I would f tilt.

 

[KayLo!]

How're they gonna pshield if they're in spotdodge's cooldown?

I think Stealth is saying that when you predict a spotdodge during a spotdodge war, charge usmash (or even fsmash if you want) so that it'll catch them during cooldown.