Character Twelve - Pit
Character Strengths: Fast and flexible projectile, multi-hit moves, good recovery.
Character Weaknesses: Has trouble killing, on the light side, recovery has some issues.
Recommended Counterpick: Yoshi’s Island / Pirate Ship
Eons ago, in a very dark time, there were once two wise men, chatting amongst themselves, in secret. One said to another, “Good sir, what defines Pit?” with Pit being a word that suddenly popped into his mind. The other wise man pondered, deep in thought. He then uttered out two words “Fluffy puppies.” and the kingdom was saved from the evil forces of whatever.
Random quips about him aside, it must be noted that on a whole Pit has several good traits, and he has the capabilities to use them well. For starters, he has his Palutena’s Arrow to help rack up very nice damage. This arrow is probably one of the game’s best projectiles, if not the best. It’s fast, it can be charged, it does significant damage. Yet all of these take a backseat to what is the most important property of the arrow: It is remote controllable. What this means is that, similar to Snake’s Nikita Missile, the arrow can be moved after firing it, only it moves much faster than the missile does. Not only that, but Pit can move after launching the arrow himself, and he can have 4 controlled on the screen at once. In addition, the arrow not being visible doesn’t mean it fades; they still exist. Pit would be a pretty easy match were this projectile not in place, but with it the situation isn’t as friendly. The arrow can follow you, chase you, and control where you go. If you’re knocked off the stage and the Pit is halfway competent, then he is going to curve arrows to try his best to send you far away. If he’s actually good and you’ve been knocked far enough away, you’re probably not making it back. This arrow forces you to approach and never bee too far away from Pit, you should be fairly close to him.
Pit isn’t just about the arrows, but they are an important part of his damage racking and gimping game. He has his Angel Ring, which is infamous for having a very annoying sound attached to it. This technique will make him lunge forward, blade spinning. Getting caught in the means a fair bit of damage, so you’re going to have to DI out. Thankfully, this move has considerable lag, so punish the puppy! Pit can also rack up good damage by doing simple strings such as “Down Throw to Up Air”. Both his throws and aerials, while not spectacular, do a very nice job of safely racking up damage. The neutral and up airs, in particular, do fine damage.
Pit’s killing potential, as a whole, is rather low. He only has a few reliable ways of killing you. The first is to try and gimp you with arrows, or a well placed Fair. Due to Ike’s recovery, being diagonally downward from the edge at a considerable distance is instant death. If he is about to Fair you off for the kill, and you’re not making it back anyways, don’t be afraid to either maneuver around him and Back Air if he’s damaged enough (Considering you’re right next to the blast zone, it shouldn’t take much) or you can try to spike him, then get him as he meteor cancels, or Aethercide or whatnot. This is a less popular occurrence than simple Arrow gimps, dodge them, get under the stage and Aether. Don’t be too predictable with those Aethers, however. Pit can make you reverse the Aether by using his Mirror Shield (Pit is stealing moves and stuff from Link left and right!). You can avoid this by either good for a low Aether or by doing a reverse Aether straight off the bat, though this could get you edgehogged, so mix it up.
He shouldn’t be able to get you off the map that easily, however. Since Ike is fairly heavy (Remember, he’s not a tank!) and Pit has trouble killing, it’s a fun combination! If Pit is trying to kill you by just sending you off the blastzone, he’s going to attempt this horizontally. His trouble killing isn’t at Sheik’s or Sonic’s level, it’s more like Toon Link’s. His Forward Smash is a two hit combo that is fairly powerful, and his Forward tilt is a single, long ranged poke that is also fairly strong. Pit’s main killer, however, is his Back Air. If you see him approaching you with his back turned to you, you know what’s coming! The range on it is pretty good, so watch out. His Forward Air also has killing potential, and his Dtilt is similar to yours in that it has spike capabilities. If you can avoid these, you should be living to high percents quite easily. Oh, if he’s gliding at you, he may try his Glide attack
This is similar to the Link battle. You’ve got the close quarters advantage, the problem is getting there and staying there. Thankfully, you only have to deal with one projectile and no Zair on top of that. On the other hand, you have to deal with a character who doesn’t fall to the ground like Link does. Once you’re up close, you should space yourself properly, using Nairs to jabs, and try to get him into the air. For a flying angel, he doesn’t have a fantastic aerial game, and you outrange him there as well. If he tries to pull funky stuff on you by going high, you should try Aethering to teach him a lesson. Your counter should go off at opportune times, when you see him going near you.
To kill him either meeting him in the air with a Back Aerial works, or just use any of your standard tactics for blastzone kills. If you can intercept his Up B with Aether, go for it. If he’s recovering for the edge, spike him. You should have little trouble killing, as he is a light-middleweight, around where Ness and Lucas are.
Stagewise, Yoshi’s Island is a good idea as it’s compact and you prevent him from gliding under it. Counterpickwise, Pirate Ship seems the stage of choice. It stops gimp kills, favors Ike’s fighting style, and protects you from projectiles. Corneria and Green Greens work as well, though you must watch for arrows at times.
Similar to the Link match, you’re going to have to get near. This varies from that match because Pit has a much better offstage game, at the cost of some power and range. Play it the same way.
