Pivoting?

[Nightblade]

From what I understand, during a dash-dance, you can tap the c-stick in a direction to immediately smash attack in a certain direction while it looks like Marth is standing straight up. I can't get the timing though. This isn't a crouch-cancel to c-stick as far as I know, but that's the only way I can pull it off at the moment.

 

[Schweppes]

You have to hit the C-Stick RIGHT as Marth turns from left to right(or vice versa) during a dash-dance. However, pivoting like this requires you to time your attack on ONE frame (1/60th of a second), so it's not hugely reliable.

CC -> Attack is called dash-cancelling, but that's quite a bit slower as you have to wait for Marth's initial dash animation to finish before you can crouch (of course that doesn't make it useless).

It's tough.

 

[Nightblade]

Is it worth it to practice to the point of using it on command though?

 

[Eggz]

Yeah. I got pivoting down perfectly recently.

An alternative is to dash, and bring the control stick just to the right of the neutral posistion. This will make you dash, and turn around and be in a standing posistion. From here you can do any technique.

 

[Pye]

The usefulness of pivotting is argued. Some people will tell you it's not worth doing, others will tell you it's good to know if you can do everything else, and others will tell you it's important. I highly recommend you learn to pivot, personally, especially for Marth. If you learn to pivot on command, you'll wonder how to ever lived without it.

Is that Falco comming down on your head with a dair again? Dashdance out and pivot into a tippered fsmash. He'll think twice next time he's above you.

Also, the alternative Eggz mentioned is worth trying out. It's a technique that some people find much easier then pivotting, while others find it absurdly hard to do. I personaly can't use Eggz's pivot, but I can do regular pivots just fine. Many people on this forum will tell you the opposite about themselves though.

EDIT: Don't get discouraged with all this "one frame window" talk. Pivotting, like waveshining (and just about every other technique in Smash) is all about practice. It sounds really hard to do at first, but it's all in the timing. Once you know the timing for it, it's a cakewalk to use. The great thing also is that pivotting follows Marth's natural rythim almost perfectly, so you kind of "flow" into them in games. It's hard to describe >_>

 

[Lightshade]

I highly recommend you learn to pivot, especially for Marth. If you learn to pivot on command, you'll wonder how to ever lived without it.

Agreed, very important when using Marth.

 

[Cactuar]

This is a lot easier if you just use A for the attack command. Unless you are really going for pivot dsmash or usmash?

The timing for it is actually really easy. Just think of it as doing a normal control stick + A charge smash. It's pretty much the same thing, you are just doubling the distance the control stick needs to go, so it feels different. Just try and hit A at the same time as the control stick hits the edge of the octagon and makes that click sound.

 

[shadydentist]

cactaur is right. Don't use the C-stick. During a dash dance, if you're going right, just do a regular smash attack left (and vice versa). Its not too hard with a little practice... eventually it will feel natural.

 

[Eggz]

I dont see the point of not using the Cstick.

 

[shadydentist]

Well... for me its just easier to use a normal smash attack timing, instead of having to hit two sticks. I guess I'm just used to doing it that way.

 

[AverageScalp]

Is pivoting typically done after a single dash movement, (as in, attack on the first turn) or after a few or several dashes? Though I'm willing to guess that the answer will be that it depends on the situation, I'm still curious.

 

[technomancer]

Average, Pivotting more depends if you can hit your opponent; if you can, then now is a good time to pivot. Though pivotting is a pretty easy tech, the timing can be weird so from what I can tell most people tend to follow up tech-chases with Pivot smashes to space them more correctly and get there quicker than wavedashing.

DD Pivot is good if your opponent likes to jump on you while you dashdance, but most opponent's don't, because that's dumb. Dash away, Pivot Fsmash is also good after you whiff an aerial.

 

[Magus420]

You can also just flick the control stick in the opposite direction and let go. As long as your thumb is somewhat quick you don't even have to worry about timing it exactly on the turn around frame. You'll cancel the dash regardless and turn around. Makes it really easy to pivot jabs and such, or hit whatever smash you want on the c-stick. You can also just use it without doing any attack at all to instantly cancel a dash.