henrytran
Smash Apprentice
I recall mention of these uses somewhere in this forum, but I haven't been able to locate it since. I have been watching a few videos of various Pit players on this forum, but I have almost never seen non-reflecting uses for the shield. I'm going to describe my ideas of uses of the shield, and I'd like to hear what you think about it in real application.
So the mirror shield is Pit's down-b; it can be whipped out almost immediately, and it has some super armor frames attached to it, though the super armor is not part of this analysis. When the shield is out, it reflects pretty much every projectile, and physical projectiles (bombs, gyros, turnips) will bounce off of it and can still hit the opponent. The reflected gyro in fact becomes yours, and it will stay spinning on the floor to hit the ROB back. The shield is often seen at the beginning of matches versus laser shooting characters, such as Pit, Falco, Fox, ROB.
As many Link players wish the Hylian shield would do, but doesn't, the mirror shield also acts as a physical barrier, being able to block/parry most short range attacks. Some melee attacks sweep over the shield, or somehow are so long that it will "pierce" the shield and still hit Pit behind it. In addition, a dash attack will sometimes be reversed by the mirror shield if spaced properly, causing the dash-attacker to turn around and continue the attack animation, and (unconfirmed) lag a tiny bit more. It can be possible to edgeguard fox/falco recoveries by reflecting it in the opposite direction, as well as any other forward moving recovery.
Okay, so the above has been pretty obvious, and useful here and there. Here are applications of the mirror shield that I have been experimenting with and have found useful in mindgame applications.
1) When Pit is falling from above, there are some characters with very good aerials that can abuse Pit's lack of priority in the air while falling down. Unless from an arc of 90 degrees below Pit, the mirror shield can actually cover and repel some of the attacks. Notable attacks that can be deflected would be G&W's bair turtle, TL's bair, ROBs Nair, and other powerful aerials.
2) Pit can wiggle pretty interestingly while falling from above while in mirror shield mode. I don't have any data on whether his DI is better while shielding (sometimes feels like it), but he can wiggle left and right pretty well. Interestingly, even after he lands, he can still slide a teeny bit. If he's near the edge of a stage, he can simply slip off and try to grab the ledge again. That sounds like its useless, but in fact, some players won't expect it and I have actually had people chase after me while I quickly grabbed the ledge. I scored a couple of lucky bairs that then knocked them off from the screen.
3) Running, charging, or jumping at someone as if to do an attack, and then shielding right in front of them. Many melee-range encounters include both players trying to hit each other first, whether by priority or better timing. By timing the shield well, it throws off the opponents attack timing and rhythm.
4) Samuses and Lucarios like to blast off their big beams when someone is dashing at them (and often rightly so), but an intended mirror shield can punish them well.
5) Running mirror shields sometimes draw laggy tilts/smashes from the opponents that will be ineffective. If timed well, Pit can run in and dash-attack, tilt, or smash in his own right.
6) Dash dancing into "random" mirror shield is an interesting application. Dash dancing seems to encourage some opponents to just throw lasers and projectiles at you. Successfully reflecting them will partially discourage your opponent from abusing their projectile game at you.
That's it for now. I think many of these ideas probably crossed the minds of many Pit players, but I've had some varying degrees of success with these uses. I especially feel that good application of the physical mirror shield is very useful vs. Pit's harder matchups (G&W, MK, etc.) because Pit's lower priority means that he needs to out-think and "bluff"/feint his opponent.
So the mirror shield is Pit's down-b; it can be whipped out almost immediately, and it has some super armor frames attached to it, though the super armor is not part of this analysis. When the shield is out, it reflects pretty much every projectile, and physical projectiles (bombs, gyros, turnips) will bounce off of it and can still hit the opponent. The reflected gyro in fact becomes yours, and it will stay spinning on the floor to hit the ROB back. The shield is often seen at the beginning of matches versus laser shooting characters, such as Pit, Falco, Fox, ROB.
As many Link players wish the Hylian shield would do, but doesn't, the mirror shield also acts as a physical barrier, being able to block/parry most short range attacks. Some melee attacks sweep over the shield, or somehow are so long that it will "pierce" the shield and still hit Pit behind it. In addition, a dash attack will sometimes be reversed by the mirror shield if spaced properly, causing the dash-attacker to turn around and continue the attack animation, and (unconfirmed) lag a tiny bit more. It can be possible to edgeguard fox/falco recoveries by reflecting it in the opposite direction, as well as any other forward moving recovery.
Okay, so the above has been pretty obvious, and useful here and there. Here are applications of the mirror shield that I have been experimenting with and have found useful in mindgame applications.
1) When Pit is falling from above, there are some characters with very good aerials that can abuse Pit's lack of priority in the air while falling down. Unless from an arc of 90 degrees below Pit, the mirror shield can actually cover and repel some of the attacks. Notable attacks that can be deflected would be G&W's bair turtle, TL's bair, ROBs Nair, and other powerful aerials.
2) Pit can wiggle pretty interestingly while falling from above while in mirror shield mode. I don't have any data on whether his DI is better while shielding (sometimes feels like it), but he can wiggle left and right pretty well. Interestingly, even after he lands, he can still slide a teeny bit. If he's near the edge of a stage, he can simply slip off and try to grab the ledge again. That sounds like its useless, but in fact, some players won't expect it and I have actually had people chase after me while I quickly grabbed the ledge. I scored a couple of lucky bairs that then knocked them off from the screen.
3) Running, charging, or jumping at someone as if to do an attack, and then shielding right in front of them. Many melee-range encounters include both players trying to hit each other first, whether by priority or better timing. By timing the shield well, it throws off the opponents attack timing and rhythm.
4) Samuses and Lucarios like to blast off their big beams when someone is dashing at them (and often rightly so), but an intended mirror shield can punish them well.
5) Running mirror shields sometimes draw laggy tilts/smashes from the opponents that will be ineffective. If timed well, Pit can run in and dash-attack, tilt, or smash in his own right.
6) Dash dancing into "random" mirror shield is an interesting application. Dash dancing seems to encourage some opponents to just throw lasers and projectiles at you. Successfully reflecting them will partially discourage your opponent from abusing their projectile game at you.
That's it for now. I think many of these ideas probably crossed the minds of many Pit players, but I've had some varying degrees of success with these uses. I especially feel that good application of the physical mirror shield is very useful vs. Pit's harder matchups (G&W, MK, etc.) because Pit's lower priority means that he needs to out-think and "bluff"/feint his opponent.
