Zee725 said:
WAR, even. For real though; Against Olimar and Diddy, what approach options have you guys found to be most effective?
I understand it's generally a bad idea to just approach, BUT i'm just curious if there is something that's consistently better than another option.
Olimar's annoying to approach because his grab range is better than ours (unless he's only got purples but that's a MUCH bigger problem), but not approaching means you're stuck t-jolting or trying to bait while he can just side+b you to slow death. It really depends on the Olimar - I haven't seen high-level Olimar footage but the only Olimar I play (made his own style and pretty bad but w/e) uses a lot of dsmash and grabs (I have been shielding more and trying shield grabs which even then hadn't worked well...), so if the Olimar does that, approach with fair and maybe some dair, but then usmash could **** you up good... I don't know how usmash interacts with dair (maybe they clank which would be awesome!) but if the Olimar is smart you just have to be pretty clever - run up and spot-doge is not a very good idea in this MU (usmash and dsmash are SO fast), run-up and shield can get you grabbed (which is usually only a problem for blue pikmin though)... aerials I already explained it's begging for a usmash, but... mix it up? Definitely t-jolt a lot against campy Olimars - if they are determined not to approach t-jolt still outranges them on bigger stages (or hits Pikmin so you could look to lower their Pikmin count by 1 or 2 and try to juggle off-stage and gimp since they can't tether as easily...), and if they're aggro, w/e. I do not know if f-smash outranges grab, but I'm 99% sure a properly timed d-smash stops all non-yellow grabs (someone fact check me here). If they camp on Smashville platform, approach from directly below him with uair - should be safe unless he drops through but you still likely connect and you can get nair or fair too then.
Follow what ESAM said for Diddy... if you can get a banana Pikachu can glide-toss which helps some (glide-tossing while aggressing moves us more, but it moves us less than it moves Diddy Kong). Catching stuff then makes this MU more manageable for approaching independently of being able to not have to dodge stuff (also catch peanuts).
MrHakuchu said:
Hey Smashboard. I´m Haku a Pikachu Mainer from Germany.
I need help at DIing with Pikachu. Are there any tricks to survive? Or just basic DI? I thought that I could use a SideB after the Momentum Cancel. Is that a good idea or should I forget this idea? I hope you help me and I´m looking forward to some answers. Now I´m outta here^^
Bye
Haku
When you are sent flying at percent that would be lethal, do DI (toward the upper corners of the blast-zone |- or -|) because that will take you more distance to die. So, for horizontal blows, DI up (or up but slightly diagonally to avoid going too far up if it hits you at like a 35 degree angle when you have no DI), use up-air to end hitstun early (you *can* practice with airdodging but every frame counts when momentum cancelling - note that only Snake and Ike benefit from using an air dodge over a specific aerial) and use skull bash IMMEDIATELY after using up-air (as fast as possible) and DO NOT charge the skull bash - the moment the skull bash fires off (the moment you release the charge), all horizontal knockback is cancelled - this will give you maximum horizontal survivability (charging can result in crossing a blast-line before the momentum is cancelled, which is bad). When you are launched vertically (ex: Fox upsmash), DI straight right or left (there might be specific times to do each but that would be too many examples to list), then you want to use any aerial and fast-fall during the aerial - I slap the c-stick down repeatedly because using the c-stick for a down aerial automatically fast-falls you, and I hit it more than once because I want to buffer it/get the fast-fall started as soon as possible. For very strong blows, it is advisable to use an up-air and try to fast-fall the up-air, and immediately skull-bash.
For non-lethal blows that knock you offstage (say Meta Knight down-smash at 80% from the middle of FD), it's still advisable to DI (un-DI'd, Meta Knight down smash is sometimes deadly at 80% near the edges) and use up-air or air dodge to end hitstun, but you may not wish to skull bash because the lag might put you in a dangerous spot - in this case it's sometimes a good idea to jump - this will still reduce knockback momentum, but not as much as skull bash does (and it leaves you jumpless). For every purpose, immediately skull-bashing is better than jumping or jump-skull-bash, but jumping is better than doing nothing for cancelling horizontal knockback.
Also note if you play other characters that many of them don't have specific options to momentum cancel, so they will use an aerial and then jump (ex: Falco Phantasm is not a momentum cancel for Falco, so for him to MC he must jump. I think green missile is also not a momentum cancel (it might be if it misfires?) for Luigi, but I am not sure). Slapping the c-stick down doesn't work for characters with down aerials that travel downward rapidly [stall-then-fall down airs] - examples are Zero Suit Samus, Toon Link, and Ice Climbers.
Hope this was helpful.