Q&A Pikachu Q&A Thread (Ask a Quick Question, Get a Quick Answer)

[Thor]

I think Nair is optimal in the ledge scenario. Nair is active from frame 3-20, where as bair hits frame 4 and has non active frame and doesn't auto-cancel from a SH. But who knows, could a FH rising bair lift the opponent then send them offstange? It'd be more % than a weak hit of Nair, but not sure if possible.

Dair is active frames 14-26, I prefer SH AC dair for attempting to cover neutral getups because it should cover it if I react quickly and hits for big percent (12% fresh) while knocking them back offstage [can kill by the ledge, unlike late nair].

 

[Scarlet Spyder]

How should I be using Heavy Skull Bash? I've seen ESAM play customs and he seems to use it pretty liberally, throwing it out whenever he gets the chance and it's relatively safe. Any combos, set-ups, etc. that I should be aware of? (Also, first post!)

 

[Pikabunz]

How should I be using Heavy Skull Bash? I've seen ESAM play customs and he seems to use it pretty liberally, throwing it out whenever he gets the chance and it's relatively safe. Any combos, set-ups, etc. that I should be aware of? (Also, first post!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNt3sP9jM1I

 

[migul]

Why isn't crossup landing B-Air considered a "safe" shield poke? To me it seems like the combination of the crossup and the shorter hitbox would make it relatively safe.

 

[Arkleus]

How do you bring the cloud this low without dying? :0

 

[migul]

How do you bring the cloud this low without dying? :0

Double jump then use thunder. The cloud will appear closer to you.

 

[M15t3R E]

Why isn't crossup landing B-Air considered a "safe" shield poke? To me it seems like the combination of the crossup and the shorter hitbox would make it relatively safe.

It can be a good choice when you expect that your opponent won't be able to react to it but bair also has landing lag if used this way. Try using it OoS when your back is turned to them every now and then.

 

[Scarlet Spyder]

How do I perform an auto-cancelled down air? I've noticed this move is pretty good and I want to practice it more.

 

[Gibbs]

Either have tap jump on, or use the a button. Input dair as soon as you possibly can.

 

[Kasai]

How do I perform an auto-cancelled down air? I've noticed this move is pretty good and I want to practice it more.

If you basically slide your thumb from x > a while inputting down on the control stick it will work consistently.

 

[Gibbs]

Why isn't crossup landing B-Air considered a "safe" shield poke? To me it seems like the combination of the crossup and the shorter hitbox would make it relatively safe.

It will be safe on some of the cast, but in order for it to auto cancel you need to do it from full jump height. This means there is plenty of time for the opponent to react and plan his OOS option. If you don't auto cancel, then you have 30 frames of ending lag. More than enough time to drop shield turn around dtilt or dsmash OOS for the majority of the cast.

On the other hand, FH rising bair is probably safe to use as a cross up, as long as you DJ at the end.

 

[ZeroSnipist]

Hey Pika players! We from the Ryu boards are making a doubles thread. The purpose of the thread is to find the best partner for Ryu. I'm going to invite as many people I can at once and get discussions going on all at once. We invite you to our dojo and hope you could help us discuss Pikachu and Ryu in doubles. Thank you in advance!

 

[Dumpabump]

New(ish) to Pika

How do you b-reverse Thunder? I get the idea of b-reversing (I do it all the time with t-jolt to catch my opponents by surprise). But I can't figure out how to b-reverse a down special.

What's the best way to approach? And how can I use QA more effectively to extend combos or start combos by getting in?

 

[Thor]

I was discussing the walk-off bair trick at some point previously, maybe in this thread, maybe elsewhere. @ Emuchu I believe was asking for video reference, and at 5:20 or so [after the whiffed fsmash, before the fsmash that kills], ESAM does it [Denti isn't on the ledge, but you ESAM instantly enter the bair landing animation]. This is what it looks like, and if done correctly, it'll stage spike someone hanging on the ledge without invincibility: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxSHzKip7m0

 

[Emuchu]

New(ish) to Pika
How do you b-reverse Thunder? I get the idea of b-reversing (I do it all the time with t-jolt to catch my opponents by surprise). But I can't figure out how to b-reverse a down special.
What's the best way to approach? And how can I use QA more effectively to extend combos or start combos by getting in?

Some people find B-Reverse Thunder tricky because it has a fairly fast input. It's [d+special~db] i.e. "press down+B for the Thunder and immediately roll the control stick backwards like you were inputting Ryu's True Tatsumaki." Here's the My Smash Corner video link to doing them, so you can see / hear the input. Keep in mind that this video discusses Wave-Bouncing, too, which is a different and more complex thing.

Pika's best use for B-Reverse Thunder is to jump off the stage and B-Reverse back to wait for the recovery option. You can also do it in the neutral, I suppose, but you can probably still be punished for it. There's also that Crazy Sling Shot recovery option if you want to style on someone, but with Quick Attack available, it's mostly showboating.

As for "the best way to approach," there's one golden rule for Pikachu: Mix it up. The reason Pikachu's neutral is considered so strong is that he has tons of approach options, most of which a) don't require him to commit on, and b) require strong reads or random preemptive guessing in order to stop. As long as you have a large toolkit of approach options, you can generally keep pressure in a safe way. That being said, feel free to try any and all of the following:

• Jump around firing TJolts for a while, then Full-Hop one from long-range and chase it to your opponent for a grab or SH Fair.
• SH a Fair from mid-range, moving backwards to land out of grab range and retaliating with Ftilt or Dtilt.
• SH AC a Dair(1) and land on their other side.
• YOLO FF Fair when you have a punish, wherein you can combo into grab or Dsmash. Don't do this often, though, 'cause it's SUPER punishable.
• Quick Attack shenanigans! At any point, Pika can QA right into his opponent and around all their projectiles for a launch (with QA(2), not QA(1), the first hit doesn't have much launching power). Once they catch on to this, Pika can QA near them to fish for their preemptive anti-air attempts, because they have to guess and throw out stuff early to stop a Quick Attack.

EDIT: Read this: ESAM's Pikachu Primer, Part 1

 

[HudnofskiBlue]

What situations should I use Nair? And how do I use QA optimally? I can't figure out when to use it.

 

[Emuchu]

What situations should I use Nair? And how do I use QA optimally? I can't figure out when to use it.

Nair is Pika's fastest button in the air. This makes it good as an out-of-shield (OOS) attack, or to interrupt a string in the air, or when your opponent air-dodges your Uair and ends up on top of your body. I also like to use it immediately after a jump to hit grounded opponents as I rise into the air. It's also a good gimping tool when Fair and Bair would come out too slowly, or when you're just pressing something YOLO and you're not sure what direction your opponent will be relative to Pika.

As for QA, the most optimal way to use it is to be unpredictable.
On recovery:

• Snap right to the ledge
• Land right on the corner
• Soar over their head and land in the middle of the stage
• Pretend to soar over their head with QA(1) and then zip backwards to the corner with QA(2)

On the neutral:

• QA around projectiles and smack your opponent in the face
• QA around projectiles with bad timing, but land a character length in front of them to punish them for trying to punish your bad timing
• SH QA as a general approach option, mixing up between an attacking with it and landing neaby
• QA(1), as if you were going to move again with QA(2), except you don't
• Just QA in place for the lulz
• QA back and forth through them
• QA away whenever your opponent is too close for comfort

The point of all these shenanigans is that Quick Attack is too fast to reasonably react to and hit, so your opponent has to predict your path and landing position and preemptively throw something out to hit it. i.e., they have to guess, so you'll get the most mileage out of Quick Attack by mixing it up and making sure they keep guessing so that you can move in with The Punishment.

 

[HudnofskiBlue]

Thank you for the info.

 

[Funkermonster]

Does anyone have a quick guide on how to play the basics with this character? What's the first thing to work with when starting Pikachu? I literally have almost no idea what I'm doing this character and mostly took what I experienced from ther people who played him against me, and lost to quite a few low level players on For Glory today and it felt embarassing ( I could tell by fundamentals and the way they were playing that they were bad, not to say that I think of myself as good tho). I wanna make myself some replays to post in the video thread for help and critiques, but I think I should get insight of what I should learn first before I do that.

 

[Gibbs]

Other Pika mains may disagree, but I actually would recommend not playing Pika on WiFi unless you have the Ethernet adapter. The lag changes QA timings just enough to be dangerous once you go back to playing people locally. If that's your only option than go for it, but I think that I get a lot more mileage out of practicing on CPUs.

As for starter pika guides, for the most basic stuff check out Jtails and Nakats pika guides on youtube. For more in depth stuff start at the index thread on this board and keep reading and asking questions.

 

[1MeLODuDE]

Hello everybody I'm not new to smash but I haven't played Pikachu and I've recently decided I want to have more characters under my belt for different situations. I've looked up videos and "how to's" on quick attack canceling or quick attack ledge canceling and I see people doing it on YouTube but I'm not really getting a thorough explanation on how it's done precisely. I've attempted it myself and I know it probably can be pretty tricky but are there any inputs to this technique anybody can post so maybe I could find out what I'm doing wrong. (I.E. Jump afterward, do an attack, etc) I'm not certain if you do this by just quick attacking close to the edge of the platform and its automatic, or if there's another button I'm suppose to press afterward, I think doing the ledge cancel is a bit easier as I've done that a few times but I still am a new player when it comes to Pikachu, so any input information would help I'd really appreciate it guys, and thanks!

 

[Gibbs]

QALC got way harder to do in 1.0.8, so a lot of the information on youtube is outdated. Check out the Pika index thread to get started, there is a ton of info there. After that check out the Q&A thread and the matchups thread. Its a lot of study material but pika is a dense character to learn. Also post in the meet and greet and general discussion threads to get in touch with your fellow pika mains (In fact this thread will probably get merged into one of those threads once Pikabunz spots it, don't worry it happens to most people's first thread).

 

[1MeLODuDE]

Thanks I'll check it out, I appreciate you leading me in the right direction!

 

[Pikabunz]

Anyone else think that ESAM would've lost to that random G&W at EVO if he didn't have customs?

 

[Soul.]

Maybe. I'm not sure how G&W fares against Pika myself; there's not a lot of footage in customs off. I guess it's a 50/50, if that makes sense.

Anyways uh, what are good ways to frame trap an opponent again?

 

[Alberto Ramos]

¿Good mu's and bad mu's for pikachu?

 

[captain clutch]

I like to run back, then B reverse Thunder Jolt and run alongside it, forcing a reaction from your opponent. Similar to a Villager and his Lloid, but faster. This mixed with QA and all its properties makes Pikachu a character with a lot of options.

 

[homiedixon]

So whats the deal with Pika's up-throw? When they trail off to the side rather than go straight up, is it because Im messing up the throw, or is it something to do with their inputs?

 

[isaiah :)]

I LOVE QA

and i think G&W is 50/50 with pikachu mostly because he has the bucket, however i think at that point, projectile spam can be a mind game with pikachu

So whats the deal with Pika's up-throw? When they trail off to the side rather than go straight up, is it because Im messing up the throw, or is it something to do with their inputs?

no they just DI'ed fasted then you could throw them up, however, if you are frame perfect, you still can catch them by dashing over to where they DI'ed (if they fly high enough to where you need to jump to thunder) and jump thunder them sometimes it can catch by surprise :3

 

[micahclay]

How do you use Pikachu's quick attack? I'm sure it's the easiest thing in the world, but I haven't grasped it yet. Are there any general tips/suggestions/advice I could use? I've been trying to figure out how it functions/how I can use it better, but I'm not having much luck.

 

[isaiah :)]

okay i was going to answer that question, but didn't know how to approach it before, so you will need to practice it a ton if you wanna use QA to the best of your abilities, you should practice, QAC on platforms and stages that allow & QA above and below the ledge recovery, you can use QA for many things, to be offensive, if your opponent is spamming projectiles, try jumping and QA through him, if you are being rushed down and need some air, just QA to the nearest platform and try to aim for a cancel so you can react faster. be Unpredictable. you can run through your opponent, then use it to run away and throw out Tjolt, sometimes force an approach and dnt get touched, make your opponent work to try getting you then run right in to them and combo them, use QA like a mind game, repeat certain patterns and make sure your opponent notices, if they start catching on to them, time to be defensive or offensive(which ever you weren't at the moment) you can dash at your opponent and QA back to original position, think of it as "dash dancing" you are use it trying to remain unpredictable, or you can use in to condition your opponent in to doing certain moves and expecting it.

 

[Gibbs]

Does anyone else feel that after 1.0.8 QALC risk/reward ratio has shifted drastically? I almost never go for them in tourney anymore. The margins are so much less forgiving and if you miss that's pretty much the stock.

 

[Thor]

Does anyone else feel that after 1.0.8 QALC risk/reward ratio has shifted drastically? I almost never go for them in tourney anymore. The margins are so much less forgiving and if you miss that's pretty much the stock.

Ledge cancel only platforms for now then. I still go for them, but much less frequently, and I accept that since I don't practice it enough, I'll risk SDs on the actual ledge. But if you mess it up on a platform, you probably get punished, but it shouldn't be a stock [unless you're fighting someone with the speed to get over and punish, ex: Fox/Captain Falcon/Sheik (at high enough percents Sheik could just dash usmash or bouncing fish)].

¿Good mu's and bad mu's for pikachu?

The Mario Bros. seem to give people here trouble [mainly Luigi]. I believe ESAM stated Luigi Yoshi Mii Brawler with customs and Sheik are Pikachu's hardest MUs [and he'll bring out Samus for Luigi just because he thinks Samus beats Luigi cleanly]. I don't think Pikachu really loses any of them, but they are harder.

Pikachu can really do well against people where his ducking is useful. Although it's not a bloodbath, Captain Falcon struggles quite a bit, and I think ZSS can have problems as well. From what I remember earlier, ESAM thinks Pikachu beats Duck Hunt Dog very cleanly.

Maybe. I'm not sure how G&W fares against Pika myself; there's not a lot of footage in customs off. I guess it's a 50/50, if that makes sense.

Anyways uh, what are good ways to frame trap an opponent again?

Uair is the only one I really know of that's easy. I'm not very good at frame-trapping but that's the obvious one [since uair has FAF on frame 27, you should be able to uair nair someone to punish airdodge unless they airdodged the uair super early, at which point you're supposed to use one of Pikachu's more lingering aerials to cover it]. I'm not sure if I'm answering this correctly either, but uair's the only one I can really think of off the top of my head.

 

[Soul.]

Ledge cancel only platforms for now then. I still go for them, but much less frequently, and I accept that since I don't practice it enough, I'll risk SDs on the actual ledge. But if you mess it up on a platform, you probably get punished, but it shouldn't be a stock [unless you're fighting someone with the speed to get over and punish, ex: Fox/Captain Falcon/Sheik (at high enough percents Sheik could just dash usmash or bouncing fish)].



The Mario Bros. seem to give people here trouble [mainly Luigi]. I believe ESAM stated Luigi Yoshi Mii Brawler with customs and Sheik are Pikachu's hardest MUs [and he'll bring out Samus for Luigi just because he thinks Samus beats Luigi cleanly]. I don't think Pikachu really loses any of them, but they are harder.

Pikachu can really do well against people where his ducking is useful. Although it's not a bloodbath, Captain Falcon struggles quite a bit, and I think ZSS can have problems as well. From what I remember earlier, ESAM thinks Pikachu beats Duck Hunt Dog very cleanly.



Uair is the only one I really know of that's easy. I'm not very good at frame-trapping but that's the obvious one [since uair has FAF on frame 27, you should be able to uair nair someone to punish airdodge unless they airdodged the uair super early, at which point you're supposed to use one of Pikachu's more lingering aerials to cover it]. I'm not sure if I'm answering this correctly either, but uair's the only one I can really think of off the top of my head.

I was thinking UAir too for some reason. DAir and NAir are lingering hitboxes, right? They should hit them if they dodge early unless I'm missing something. Then again, DAir has 48 FAF, which is slow compared to UAir's 27. NAir's is 39 but I'm still not sure. I'm not good at frame trapping, either, so that's fine.

 

[Thor]

I was thinking UAir too for some reason. DAir and NAir are lingering hitboxes, right? They should hit them if they dodge early unless I'm missing something. Then again, DAir has 48 FAF, which is slow compared to UAir's 27. NAir's is 39 but I'm still not sure. I'm not good at frame trapping, either, so that's fine.

By a frame trap I assumed you mean that you can completely cut off options. Uair does that when they are directly above you.

If in uair range and you uair:
- They get hit
- They double jump [may get them out of range but you still have positional advantage and could uair again] or up+b/side+b
- They use an aerial to combat it [likely dair but also many down+b]
- They airdodge

If they pick the 4th option, they've been frame-trapped because airdodge FAF is usually 31 but Uair's is 27, so a buffered nair will hit them as long as we are in-range - thus, they have been frame-trapped because the defensive option and doing nothing both get them punished. That's my understanding of a frame-trap anyway [the second and third option have obvious issues, the third being many dairs aren't good enough to beat uair for being too slow, and the second merely resets the situation if you manage to stay under them].

Dair is also good for covering airdodges if they go early [and it eats spotdodges for breakfast], but my understanding of a frame trap is where they MUST get hit [or attempt a counterattack] because you pick an option where if they airdodge, you punish the airdodge, and if they don't, they get hit. The easiest example is Brawl MK uair - with IASA [FAF] on frame 14, you could do uair shuttle loop, and they would either eat the uair or airdodge and eat the shuttle loop [or a nair or whatever]. In this sense, dair and nair aren't great tools for starting a frame trap, but they punish airdodges well, and nair is a good tool to convert a started frame trap into damage.

I'd assume Kprime or someone else might be able to tell if I'm just spewing garbage or actually correctly discussing frame traps.

EDIT: Apparently I'm thinking of one specific type of frame trap or something, but not quite in general: http://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/2opbhs/can_someone_explain_what_a_frame_trap_is/

Pika's frame traps would then also seem to include spaced dtilt -> ftilt/jab/dtilt on shield, because dtilt's FAF is so good and the range big enough that they'd have to drop shield dash grab, and so the second option would stuff that reaction [if I am reading the reddit post correctly].

 

[WalrusBiscuit]

Im thinking of picking up Pikachu. Is he a good character? Is his combo game strong? Can an aggressive to patient style Yoshi player switch to Pikachu?

 

[Funkermonster]

Just curious but at least in an offline setting, how hard would you say it is to play the character and become at least an intermediate Pikachu? Been hearing some stuff about his learning curve.

 

[isaiah :)]

okay, so let's take a quick run down of pikachu.
*he is a pressure & run/ rush down character
pro:
- great frame data
- QA is amazing
- small hurtbox's
- great combing (but heavily based on read's)
cons:
-short range
-light weight(Earlier death)
-high learning curve.

overall, pikachu has an even or close to even match up across the board, so he is a great character to pick up, but be warned, he is a character that requires a lot of time in training, and being a little technical as well.

now he is said to have a high learning curve because well, he has a high learning curve, you must get familiar with all of pikachu's tools and learn to condition you opponent to get any reward out of playing this character. however, pikachu can have extremely rewarding plays as a character because of early gimping and combo set ups.
*if you'd like to learn to be more technical with this character, learn his percent set up's and percent gimps. be a smart rat, not a lost rat

 

[Dee-SmashinBoss]

okay, so let's take a quick run down of pikachu.
*he is a pressure & run/ rush down character
pro:
- great frame data
- QA is amazing
- small hurtbox's
- great combing (but heavily based on read's)
cons:
-short range
-light weight(Earlier death)
-high learning curve.

overall, pikachu has an even or close to even match up across the board, so he is a great character to pick up, but be warned, he is a character that requires a lot of time in training, and being a little technical as well.

now he is said to have a high learning curve because well, he has a high learning curve, you must get familiar with all of pikachu's tools and learn to condition you opponent to get any reward out of playing this character. however, pikachu can have extremely rewarding plays as a character because of early gimping and combo set ups.
*if you'd like to learn to be more technical with this character, learn his percent set up's and percent gimps. be a smart rat, not a lost rat

You also forget be has a tough time killing(generally)

 

[isaiah :)]

well yeah, but generally you what i said still goes, yeah pikachu has a hard time killing, but that really depends on your skill level no offense, see a good smasher can condition well with pikachu and get early kills, but generally yes, pikachu does have a hard time getting those basic smash attack kills.