Pikachu kill options and setups

[jmjb]

something I see a lot of Pikachu struggle with, myself included, is getting the kill when your opponent takes the first stock.

explanation: when both people are over 100% both players are going in trying to finish, but then your opponent kills you first and he's left there at 140%. then he's able to out space Pikachu and rack up chip damage pretty high, while you don't have a good way to finish him off.

Pikachu kill options are:
up throw thunder (difficult at higher %)
Fsmash (very punishable)
offstage gimp (at high % opponents get blasted too far to comfortably follow up)
dash (usually how I get the kill but risky move)
up smash (possibly best , tho I haven't been able to introduce it into my play yet)
once my opponent is this high they usually get 80% on me while I struggle to get a smash.

do any other Pikachu struggle with this? what are your kill setups like?

 

[Emuchu]

something I see a lot of Pikachu struggle with, myself included, is getting the kill when your opponent takes the first stock.

explanation: when both people are over 100% both players are going in trying to finish, but then your opponent kills you first and he's left there at 140%. then he's able to out space Pikachu and rack up chip damage pretty high, while you don't have a good way to finish him off.

Pikachu kill options are:
up throw thunder (difficult at higher %)
Fsmash (very punishable)
offstage gimp (at high % opponents get blasted too far to comfortably follow up)
dash (usually how I get the kill but risky move)
up smash (possibly best , tho I haven't been able to introduce it into my play yet)
once my opponent is this high they usually get 80% on me while I struggle to get a smash.

do any other Pikachu struggle with this? what are your kill setups like?

Every Pikachu player struggles with this to some extent. Pikachu's problems with killing stem from the fact that none of his Tilts and Aerials can kill on-stage until 180% or so, and he has no kill throws. His Smashes are only useful as punishes, but a careful opponent can usually avoid Fsmash, Dsmash doesn't kill until 180% or so, and Usmash, our fastest and most reliable kill smash, is kinda small and doesn't reach behind Pika, meaning you can't capitalize on a shielded cross-up with the stock the way Mario Usmash or Fox Dsmash would in the same situation.

So what should Pika do? The answer, unfortunately, is complicated. Pika has a myriad of ways to close a stock, but every one of them is either situational or is merely a setup to a potential kill. Pikachu has a lot of potential, but it's very "swingy": sometimes you'll kill a Falcon at 30% off of a Bair stage spike, and sometimes you'll wind up chasing Shiek into the 200's as she peppers you with needles up to 50%.

Here are the various options I have to rely on to try and close out those stocks:

• Off of Throw:
  • Uthrow > Thunder: Up Throw into Thunder (at 100%) or FH Thunder (at 130%) is a great way to close out a stock, but the problem is that everyone in the Smash community knows about this setup, and they'll reflexively DI away from Pika, even the 3DS For Glory warriors. There's some discussion going on where you may be able to chase the DI and still get a true combo, but I'm not sure if there's any consensus over whether this is true, and you still need to either guess their DI or react to it in time to buffer a dash. It's worth noting that you shouldn't pummel when you go for this--people don't fall for this as it is, so if you're gonna land it at all, it'll be because it was a surprise.
  • Pummel > Fthrow > Off-stage gimp : If your opponent isn't falling for your Uthrow shenanigans, then it's likely a lost cause, and you should simply rack up that Pummel damage (1 pummel per 25% is what I usually go for, but there are some fast mashers out there...) and chuck them off of the stage. People don't like fighting Pika off the stage, and ZeRo said that even Shiek can get gimped by our little rodent. See the gimp section below.
• On Shield:
  • OoS Usmash: If you haven't worked in Usmash into your game, I have to wonder if you may not be familiar with the mechanics of "Out of Shield," so I'll drop a description here:
    • Out of Shield Options: If you're in shield, and you want to do something that isn't being in shield, you have to first drop your shield (which I believe takes 7f or so), and only then you can press buttons. So, block something, drop your shield, and then Usmash... and your opponent will shield or spot dodge you into Mario Usmash. Ouch! If only dropping our shield didn't take so long! Now, there are a few things you can do without dropping your shield, namely, you can Grab and Jump. Try it! Pika just does it without the shield-drop animation. Now, see how Pika kinda squishes into the floor before he jumps? As a result of Jump and Up Smash both using an up-tap, Sakurai allows you to cancel the "jump squat" animation into either Usmash or UpB moves to avoid accidental jumps. This means that you can punish an attack into your shield by cancelling your shield with a jump, and then cancelling your jump with an Usmash to close the stock. It sounds complicated, but in practice, it just means you hit (while shielding) Utap + A or (while shielding) Jump + Utap + A if you're using Tap-Jump Off. When you see people talk about OoS options, they're talking about these.
  • Utilt: If they land behind you, though, you'll have to go for OoS Nair to knock them away, or if you have more time for it, perhaps try to Utilt them and go for a Thunder chase.
• Footsies:
  • Pivot Fsmash: After a Fair or Dtilt, more aggressive opponents may go in for a dash attack or grab punish, so after these moves I often pivot backwards into Fsmash to catch them moving into my space. This is particularly strong when you're also at a high percentage and your opponent is hungry to close the stock.
  • Dash Attack: This is liable to get you killed as often as it takes the stock, but you can punish sloppy landings with this, and catch people who aren't expecting you to go in. Just don't use this very often, as it's only really useful when your opponent forgets about it.
  • Fair FF: At high percentages, Fair FF sometimes combos right into Usmash. It's magical!
• Gimps:
  • Gimping is schmaltzy overall, but the thing about Pika is that he can recover from almost anywhere on the screen, so he's usually not scared to go out there and throw out some moves. Worst case scenario is that they just go around you, but best case? You land a Fair off-stage at 130% and call it a day, or you get one of those delicious Thundercloud spikes that miss Pika completely and dunk your opponent into the abyss. Basically, just go out there, guess at where they're going, and press buttons. Try it! I'm serious, it's one of the most important things I learned as Pika. You're not gonna land this very often, but you'll notice that most characters won't challenge you deep off-stage, because they need their jumps to recover. You, however, can eat your second jump and still Skull Bash and Quick Attack from anywhere except the deepest depths of the bottom of the screen. It's basically a free attempt.
• Jab Locks:
  • ESAM has a video on these, I think. Look it up on YouTube if you're not familiar with jab locks. At mid-high percentages, setup into three jabs into a charged Usmash can take people out as early as 60% in some cases. If I recall, you get ground-techable recoveries off of Fthrow at 30%, Nair at 50%, Dair at 60%, and Dtilt at 90%, but I'm approximating off of memory. Ftilt gets a tech at some point, but it's too slow to recover to reach them in time for a lock.

Aaand... that's all I can remember right now. I guess I should go back to work, haha.

 

[jmjb]

man you absolutely killed it lmao. if there's ever a guide this needs to go in it.
I'm also really glad to hear someone reassure me that it IS hard to finish off stocks with Pika and its not just me. and you explained it convincingly.
I guess you just need to be super comfortable with Pikachu to the point where you can feel the kill situations lining up.

I'll add a few niche kill options I've resorted to.
on a grab, I go into pummeling because my opponent goes straight into 'panic DI Mode' instead of mash, giving me some good pummel, upthrow for a kill off the top (180%ish)
another that kills around 150% is forward tilt near edges of the stage.
NAir kills around 160% near stage edges.

 

[Emuchu]

man you absolutely killed it lmao. if there's ever a guide this needs to go in it.
I'm also really glad to hear someone reassure me that it IS hard to finish off stocks with Pika and its not just me. and you explained it convincingly.
I guess you just need to be super comfortable with Pikachu to the point where you can feel the kill situations lining up.

I'll add a few niche kill options I've resorted to.
on a grab, I go into pummeling because my opponent goes straight into 'panic DI Mode' instead of mash, giving me some good pummel, upthrow for a kill off the top (180%ish)
another that kills around 150% is forward tilt near edges of the stage.
NAir kills around 160% near stage edges.

If you want to talk about the gimmick kills, you can sometimes catch someone with Fsmash after a Grab>Release. Players panic after a grab, since they expect Uthrow>Thunder, so you can catch people sleeping if you release them, since it drops them right into the ball of Fsmash. If you get a grab at the ledge, you can Grab > Release them off the stage and either do a run-off Bair for the stage spike, or run off the stage and do FF Hop>Thunder if they immediately jump back on stage. It's silly and won't work twice, but it lets your opponent know that you're willing to pull and are totally versed in shenanigans, which is just more stuff for your opponent to worry about.

 

[Megamang]

Also note that angling ftilt upwards makes it kill earlier, since it does more damage.

 

[EhMon]

Something worth noting...dthrow to thunder works if they DI into pika. This works as a nice mixup near the ledge, since a lot of people DI towards the stage when being thrown . Here I would actually recommend throwing in a few pummels to give them time to DI.

What was explained above with OoS usmash and uspecial isn't just important with pika, but with every character. Definitely worth learning. Roll your thumb from jump to your attack button, at the same time pressing up.

Pivot Fsmash is incredible. Use it and abuse it. Running offstage into a bair is also crucial, being able to fast fall it and recover is worth practicing as well.

Jab lock percents...all are +- given character fall speed and rage:

fthrow works best at around 15%. If it's a floaty, won't really work. You want enough % to knock them down, and make them think they can jump out of it, and thus they are more likely to miss a tech.

AC Dair works best at 45%. Most people don't expect this one to knock them down, and the usmash after the lock can even true combo into thunder at VERY specific %'s and characters. I wouldn't count on it, but if it looks like it'll hit...go for it

QA2 into thunder can work if you angle 45 degrees into the ground and pop them up at high 140% or so...again, very situational, but can work.

Some recoveries get absolutely destroyed by tjolt, along with normal edgeguard shenanigans.

 

[Emuchu]

Something worth noting...dthrow to thunder works if they DI into pika. This works as a nice mixup near the ledge, since a lot of people DI towards the stage when being thrown . Here I would actually recommend throwing in a few pummels to give them time to DI.

I'm gonna try this! I usually go for Fthrow > Fair or Release > Bair attempts when I get a Grab by the ledge.

Some recoveries get absolutely destroyed by tjolt, along with normal edgeguard shenanigans.

Oh gosh, snagging Captain Falcon's Falcon Dive with 8 Tjolts and running off for the Bair stage spike on For Glory gets so many players to quit on me. Recoveries that are vertically slow, lack horizontal travel, and/or lack an upwards hitbox are especially vulnerable to these shenanigans. Off the top of my head, I can name Captain Falcon, Robin, Wii Fit Trainer, and Rosalina as characters to try this on. I wouldn't normally count the Space Animals, but you occasionally get a Fox or Falco who will recover low and forget that their UpB loses to both Tjolt and Bair, so you just have to read your opponent and figure out which recoveries you can challenge by plowing the back of their head with Bair. You can even snag Marcina's Dolphin Slash with the right approach angle, especially if you get them mashing UpB with your Tjolts. Experiment!

 

[Uncle Honey]

not this thread again