Cassio
Smash Master
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2011
- Messages
- 3,185
This is just some stuff Ive found out or think is underused. This mainly comes from my own experience and things I think are useful. Feel free to comment or add things too.
MK's Dair: I think most people are bad at dealing with this, even with the MK is camping with Dairs. It's actually not that hard to beat especially if you see it coming, his dair has a blind spot on the horizontal that can be beaten with Fair.
Remember as well pikas fair has a disjoint, and spaced correctly you can maneuver to cover an fair mix up as well. This works better than uair and bair since pika attacks from a directly horizintal position where his hurtbox is safer.
Olimar Priority: Doing well in the olimar MU will mean knowing how to abuse his priority. Just as example, any multihit move like fair will beat upsmash, and the hitbox from QA will generally save pika from pikmin related attacks.
Pikas QA: Most players use this very incorrectly and like to predictably QA into the opponent. This is bad for two reasons, the first being that its predictable and the second being that it leaves pika near his opponent during its most vulnerable phase.
(1)To elaborate on pikas hitbox/hurtbox during QuickAttack, the Q's represent the startup, intermission, and end. The q's represent movement.
QqqqqqqqqQqqqqqqqqQ
During phase q pika moves quickly (the entire length is less than 5 frames), he has a a hitbox with decent priority, and his hurtbox is small. During phase Q he sits in one place for awhile (14-30 frames), has no hitbox, and his hurtbox extends. When possible always avoid being near the opponent during phase Q unless its unexpected, it is possible to see QA startup and react to a phase Q movement.
(2)This moves into the other point of being less predictable. An opponent should be able to react to a known Q position, however there is no obligation to be near your opponent at a Q point unless you are hard read. If there is a particular point you want to be, mix up the path and bait-punish attempts to hit you from QA. Here are some examples.
This kind of gives a basic idea. Purple is pika and red is the opponent. In the top image the green line is the path most would take. Orange is a path that youll still see as a mix-up. Blue is one of my favorites and one I use whenever I can. Orange and especially blue are meant to bait an opponent to react to the QA and then punish the reaction. Theres obviously a lot more than this, but this is to give you an idea. The bottom one shows how alternate paths might be used with a platform.
(3)In general, misdirecting with QA when opportunities arise, even in place, or quick attacking through them (with one or both portions of phase q) will leave your opponent guessing for when you actually do choose to directly QAC at them.
(4)Quick attacking from the ground and out of shield is harder to react to. (It doesnt stall you in the air which is a massive tell sign, and the waves below pika are less visible)
(4)Quick Attacks hitbox usually turns the opponent in the opposite direction of where pika will be, which can be handy.
Pikas Uair: Pikas uair, like in melee has 4 hitboxes with different properties
Hitbox 1: The most commonly used that will knock the opponent up and into pika. Not much to say
Hitbox 2: This knocks the opponent down and away from pika. Its one of the more difficult ones to use but can be extremely helpful with edgeguarding since pika can hit opponents offstage downwards from ledgedrops and facing towards the stage in general.
Hitbox 3: Hits the opponent into pika for a follow up, an underused disjoint thats very useful against those with no disjoint of their own. For instance, you can use this to clip wario from most any attack, or a DDD/DK/etc trying to attack or space with bair can be clipped and then punished.
Hitbox 4: The tailspike, hard to hit with but useful since it knocks opponents away and down.
Whiff punishes: I frequently see pikas trying to punish opponents mistakes with dash into grabs or attacks that will miss. If you can land the punish great, but if theres a strong chance they can spot dodge or toss out a speedy attack like a jab consider using spaced fsmash as an additional option/mix-up (think of moves like ikes jab, or DDD's spot dodge, etc).
Umm, more later maybe. Kinda messy but oh well Ill clean it up later.
MK's Dair: I think most people are bad at dealing with this, even with the MK is camping with Dairs. It's actually not that hard to beat especially if you see it coming, his dair has a blind spot on the horizontal that can be beaten with Fair.
Remember as well pikas fair has a disjoint, and spaced correctly you can maneuver to cover an fair mix up as well. This works better than uair and bair since pika attacks from a directly horizintal position where his hurtbox is safer.
Olimar Priority: Doing well in the olimar MU will mean knowing how to abuse his priority. Just as example, any multihit move like fair will beat upsmash, and the hitbox from QA will generally save pika from pikmin related attacks.
Pikas QA: Most players use this very incorrectly and like to predictably QA into the opponent. This is bad for two reasons, the first being that its predictable and the second being that it leaves pika near his opponent during its most vulnerable phase.
(1)To elaborate on pikas hitbox/hurtbox during QuickAttack, the Q's represent the startup, intermission, and end. The q's represent movement.
QqqqqqqqqQqqqqqqqqQ
During phase q pika moves quickly (the entire length is less than 5 frames), he has a a hitbox with decent priority, and his hurtbox is small. During phase Q he sits in one place for awhile (14-30 frames), has no hitbox, and his hurtbox extends. When possible always avoid being near the opponent during phase Q unless its unexpected, it is possible to see QA startup and react to a phase Q movement.
(2)This moves into the other point of being less predictable. An opponent should be able to react to a known Q position, however there is no obligation to be near your opponent at a Q point unless you are hard read. If there is a particular point you want to be, mix up the path and bait-punish attempts to hit you from QA. Here are some examples.
This kind of gives a basic idea. Purple is pika and red is the opponent. In the top image the green line is the path most would take. Orange is a path that youll still see as a mix-up. Blue is one of my favorites and one I use whenever I can. Orange and especially blue are meant to bait an opponent to react to the QA and then punish the reaction. Theres obviously a lot more than this, but this is to give you an idea. The bottom one shows how alternate paths might be used with a platform.
(3)In general, misdirecting with QA when opportunities arise, even in place, or quick attacking through them (with one or both portions of phase q) will leave your opponent guessing for when you actually do choose to directly QAC at them.
(4)Quick attacking from the ground and out of shield is harder to react to. (It doesnt stall you in the air which is a massive tell sign, and the waves below pika are less visible)
(4)Quick Attacks hitbox usually turns the opponent in the opposite direction of where pika will be, which can be handy.
Pikas Uair: Pikas uair, like in melee has 4 hitboxes with different properties
Hitbox 1: The most commonly used that will knock the opponent up and into pika. Not much to say
Hitbox 2: This knocks the opponent down and away from pika. Its one of the more difficult ones to use but can be extremely helpful with edgeguarding since pika can hit opponents offstage downwards from ledgedrops and facing towards the stage in general.
Hitbox 3: Hits the opponent into pika for a follow up, an underused disjoint thats very useful against those with no disjoint of their own. For instance, you can use this to clip wario from most any attack, or a DDD/DK/etc trying to attack or space with bair can be clipped and then punished.
Hitbox 4: The tailspike, hard to hit with but useful since it knocks opponents away and down.
Whiff punishes: I frequently see pikas trying to punish opponents mistakes with dash into grabs or attacks that will miss. If you can land the punish great, but if theres a strong chance they can spot dodge or toss out a speedy attack like a jab consider using spaced fsmash as an additional option/mix-up (think of moves like ikes jab, or DDD's spot dodge, etc).
Umm, more later maybe. Kinda messy but oh well Ill clean it up later.
