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

[[FBC] ESAM]

d-throw utilt works, but you have to turn around u-tilt.

 

[PKChrisChan]

Hi I'm a beginner Pikachu and i was wondering what the best way to dealing with characters with reflectors/turn arounds.

I have trouble fighting Pit/Mario because of their turn around abilities.

and sometimes zelda/falcos because of the reflectors + their constant trip capabilities.
As far as Zelda's and Falcos i trip alot when i get close cuz of her dtilts and his reflector spam

 

[Ussi]

Don't spam and rely on jolt so much is my advice

 

[PKChrisChan]

Don't spam and rely on jolt so much is my advice

i try not to depend on tjolt in this matchup but when i get close to those characters. its feels like they have MUCH more of an advantage.
i can sometimes duck below falco's reflector and sneak in a d-tilt/ftilt combo. but his jab attacks/fsmash seems to punish me right after

EDIT: On and Zelda's fsmash eats right through my shield which also punishes me.

 

[Ussi]

Falco's jab is real good so its a pain but vs Falco you just grab him and dthrow him nonstop till 100% or something.

Zelda's smashes you can SDI out of and is a bit harder to play the MU correctly at the lower levels of play..

 

[Roller]

The Falco dthrow chaingrab starts at 19%. So you can either grab them at 0 and fthrow cg twice->dthrow to ~100->nair/(often can get away with usmash, then possibly follow up with thunder if you read their DI/airdodge correctly)

A while back, ESAM posted to crouch on the edge of the stage vs Falco until they have to approach. I have done this ever since and it has worked amazingly well.

 

[PKChrisChan]

Falco's jab is real good so its a pain but vs Falco you just grab him and dthrow him nonstop till 100% or something.

Zelda's smashes you can SDI out of and is a bit harder to play the MU correctly at the lower levels of play..

as far as Zelda which direction do you smash DI out of her fsmash, and you can DI down out of her up smash right?

 

[Stealth Raptor]

you sdi up out of her fsmash, and for her usmash its down and away that gives me the best luck

 

[ElNoNombreHombre]

you sdi up out of her fsmash, and for her usmash its down and away that gives me the best luck

This CAN work for her usmash, but I find it only does if you're only barely in it to start with and you were quick at the beginning AND mashing that SDI hard. The better thing is to not get hit with the upsmash at all in the first place.

 

[KayLo!]

This CAN work for her usmash, but I find it only does if you're only barely in it to start with and you were quick at the beginning AND mashing that SDI hard. The better thing is to not get hit with the upsmash at all in the first place.

^

If you get caught from the top/deep in the middle, there's really nothing you can do.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

yeah you need some extreme SDI to get out of it LOL

 

[Ussi]

What's Pikachu lag after whiffing all 3 types of grabs?

 

[Pikabunz]

Standing Grab
Hitbox Active: 6-7
FAF: 30

Dash Grab
Hitbox Active: 9-10
FAF: 39

Pivot Grab
Hitbox Active: 10-11
FAF: 36


Zelda's usmash is pretty much inescapable no matter how good your SDI is. Whether you escape or not is purely luck based.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

For pikachu maybe, lucario iand samus I can consistently sdi up and out

 

[KayLo!]

I mean, Samus (and Pit, dunno about Lucario) practically pops out on her own. =X

 

[~automatic]

Samus gets out of almost everything in a flash since she's so floaty.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

i haved played a zelda in forever, im curious now that ive adapted to hc/qcdi in certian circumstances how well i would do vs her usmash with pika

really against zelda just dont get hit by it

 

[Nicholas1024]

Alright, a few questions regarding spacing and punishes. Basically, what's the best way to punish

Rob's N-air (when shielded/avoided)

Marth's F-air/D-tilt/dancing blade (ditto)

Also, does Pika have anything that's safe when shielded for approaching? (Aside from U-air through a platform) Or do I have to mix it up with short hop air dodge and such?

 

[PZ]

Well you dtilt is safe on block also if anyone of those moves are spaced then it could be tough but depending on the stiuation it would either be up angled ftilt or dtilt or a attack for trips if possible. If not spaced jump cancelled usmash or grab would work. On the back of your shield thats easy uair or utilt. If you don't know what to do then a retreating jump b would be good too unless you are read so dont do it too often.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

There is nothing 100% safe on shield. The safest thing would probably be a Sh fair not landed that goes behind them, and then you could mix-up that with either DJ nair, landing, or QA away/through or something.

 

[Jimmyfosho]

fully charged shieldbreaker

 

[Ghostbone]

fully charged shieldbreaker

Wrong.....

 

[Strong Badam]

Is there like a list of characters Pikachu can CG effectively?

 

[Roller]

There's a thread somewhere. Check the pikachu forum directory to find it.

 

[ensane]

Hmm, been playing Pika for years now, and I just realized I need a secondary to deal with certain characters. My worst ones are (in order):

Marth
Diddy
Peach
Wario
ROB
Luigi
Olimar

My best non-Pika characters are (not in order): Snake, Diddy, ICs (kind of), ZSS, Olimar

I've been leaning towards Snake and Diddy mostly. I'm good with Oli, but I don't play him fluidly. Can I get some of your opinions on this? Also, I know Marth would be good, but unfortunately I'm a really bad Marth player.

 

[~automatic]

Snake, DK, ZSS, Marth and Meta Knight are good complimentary secondaries for Pikachu's bad matchups imo.

I play Lucario or Peach against uncomfortable MUs and that feels good to me even if the MU ratio is in my disadvantage (E.g. Peach vs Marth). Whatever character feels good should be a secondary above how the character does in a matchup ratio.

 

[Roller]

Personally, after the MK ban I believe diddy will be the best character. So he'd be a good choice, imo. Especially since his weakest high tier mu will probably be Falco, who we ****.

That being said. I think ICs+Pika is a really good combo. I use it, ESAM uses it, Anther uses it (to an extent). However ICs wont make ROB or Peach any easier. I have a **** ton of problems vs Peach and I know ESAM does as well. ROB I'd suggest just practicing playing more against as pika. It's not bad.

But the other problem MUs for you...

ICs vs Marth= even
ICs vs Diddy= even
ICs vs Wario= ICs favor
ICs vs Luigi= ICs favor
ICs vs Olimar= ICs favor

If you learn the ROB matchup with pika that leaves you with only one bad matchup. And most 2 character combos not including mk have at least 2-3.

 

[ensane]

Anther still plays? I can do Diddy better than ICs, but I'll try both. And no Snake love?

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Snake loses to Marth and Olimar.

 

[ensane]

Ah, I thought Snake v Marth was even. Diddy and/or ICs it is then. Thanks for the help.

 

[Ussi]

Use ZSS!... She's the most fun from the whole list you gave and all...

 

[Phoenix Lord']

If you learn the ROB matchup with pika that leaves you with only one bad matchup. And most 2 character combos not including mk have at least 2-3.

Oh my god, I lose to thosae two all the time. Chibo and Dar kPeaxch always beat me, bu t I guess I just have tyo get better. What's the poijnt in picking up a secondary if my primary isn't even that good. I nheed practice and stuff, and training I guess/

 

[Captain L]

Pikachu's matchups vs all the characters you listed (except maaaaaybe olimar in my opinion) are definitely doable. If you've invested a lot of time into Pikachu, it might be more worth your time to work at those matchups than it would be to pick up a secondary. They're not too bad of a disadvantage, and the experience you gain from plugging away at them will probably improve your Pikachu's game vs the rest of the cast as well. This would be more benefit in the long run anyways since you'd have a really strong pikachu, as opposed to a decent pikachu with some seconds to cover your bad matchups.


this is all my opinion though, having multiple viable characters can't possibly be a bad thing if you put time into them, just don't neglect pika!

 

[Stealth Raptor]

Oh my god, I lose to thosae two all the time. Chibo and Dar kPeaxch always beat me, bu t I guess I just have tyo get better. What's the poijnt in picking up a secondary if my primary isn't even that good. I nheed practice and stuff, and training I guess/

a lot of people miss this point, and its why i have kinda been on and off about using secondaries for matchups i hate. really need to master pika more before i secondary it up

 

[Phoenix Lord']

I feel the same way, Stealth. I guess I 'm just a secret genius about this kind of stuff, lol. I haven;t used a secondary in months, I wanna make sure my Pikas is good first. even though I will never beat Roller with him, ever.

 

[KayLo!]

Chibo and Dar kPeaxch always beat me, bu t I guess I just have tyo get better.

Losing to Chibo? That's pretty terrible.

 

[Phoenix Lord']

Yeah, that just about sums me up.

 

[PMC66]

hi whats the best method of chain grabbing bowser? can he be 0-100ed like some characters or can we just chain grab him for a bit then it fails? i need to know I hate bowser.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

Dthrow doesn't work too well on him, can fthrow to 60 into a usmash

 

[CT Chia]

Losing to Chibo? That's pretty terrible.

I feel like I want to report this post =_=

Get out of here nobody