Pluck Canceling- a warning, I suppose

[DanGR]

First off, it's been a while since I've made a new thread here. I'm happy to say that I think the Olimar community has grown into one of the more knowledgeable character boards on SWF. Most of y'all understand much more than the average SWF member, and I'm proud of you guys. <3

Anyways, I remember a thread back in the Sheik boards where, in a nutshell, Gimpyfish warned everyone that using too many ATs when people haven't mastered the basics yet... is a bad idea. People were getting excited about her great boost smash and began ignoring the basics... As you all know, Olimar is a fairly simply character when it comes to his basic strategy (camp a lot, space well, camp more), but is much more deep when you look at the specific pikmin colors and how how to use them in the correct situations, understanding how to get past his nearly nonexistent priority and his pretty bad recovery, etc.

So why do I bring this up?

Pluck Canceling.

I think we need to discuss its uses, what works, and what doesn't/shouldn't. I fear we've veered too far off the path. We need to get back to the basics... its basics.

Since I made this thread, I'll start off. Specifically, I'd like to discuss the way Gonta pluck cancels. Am I the only person that sees the major problems with it? (all due respect)

There are several other much safer areas where he can pluck cancel that not only would increase the speed of his game from where he is now, but would also help limit those situations where he's knocked offstage without enough pikmin to recover when he normally would be able to had he been plucking more often, and whenever possible.

There are also the obvious distractions that using his pluck canceling techniques can present to an Olimar player. We've already got to focus on the myriad of pikmin specific attributes and Olimar's unique spacing game, among other things. Our use of pluck canceling, at least in my mind, should be meant to save time and thus speed up our game. Whenever we have to worry about what pikmin may come up next in a smash attack, or whether our pluck canceling "mind games" will actually work on our opponent, that's not doing us any favors.

I think we should be focusing much more on the specific pikmin, our opponent, our bad priority, our spacing game, and staying fast and unpredictable than how we can "mindgame" people into running into our smash attacks. It may just be me, but I find it very difficult to do all of that at once- the latter of which seems irrelevant when in comparison to the rest.

Even as flashy as it looks (I agree it does look pretty cool), the Marth player in that one Gonta video came within one stock and some percent of Gonta even when he clearly didn't know the matchup. I can guarantee you that many, many other Olimar players in the U.S. would beat the living daylight out of that Marth by using a stronger, smarter, safer but.... less flashy approach to playing Olimar.

Against, maybe it's just me, but that's the way I feel about it.

 

[Yoshi-Kirby]

=/
The only time I Pluck Cancel is when I come back from a death, and the opponent is right up in my face thinking I can't attack until I pluck Pikmin.

Whenever this happens, I just Pluck Cancel a Smash Attack and nail them. No one really knows about it other than Oli mains.

 

[Sudai]

No one really knows about it other than Oli mains.

Or non-Oli mains that troll mod the Oli boards. Bwahahahaha

DanGR, you're right though. Thinking too much about advanced tactics has been a downfall for many players in many fighting games. You should save advanced techs for when you have a solid grasp on the fundamentals (unless it's a completely game altering AT).

Shut up, I know what I said was said already...I just like reminding you guys that I'm here every now and then. XD

 

[DtJ Hilt]

wait, are we talking about pluck cancels (as in pluck canceled dashes) or smash canceled plucks (using a smash immediately after plucking a pikmin, canceling the animation of the pikmin moving through the air). I'm testing the frame data on both actually, so i'll see if i can figure out whether or not there's any benefit.

So far, for pluck canceled dashes, well say you're wanting to turn around. The animation of olimar turning around while running lasts 19 frames. Plucking a pikmin lasts 9 frames, and you can turn around without entering the dash animation.

So that's ten frames you save. But it's ONLY ten frames. And it's ONLY when you're turning around. This is all i've tested/compared, other than how long you have after a pikmin is plucked you're able to smash with it.

For smash/latch canceled plucks, when i respawn i usually pluck a pikmin, throw it towards my opponent with latch and immediately continue plucking my other five. If it hits them, cool. If it doesnt, owell.

 

[Fino]

I use pluck cancelling mainly to speed up my game, and **** does it speed it up.
Rarely do I pluck cancel smashes or moves... but rather cut corners on with timing. If I'm being predictable with smashes... and my opponent is spot dodging them, plucking a pikmin and then smashes helps me keep focus rather than charging a smash. Adding that extra 9-11 frames makes a different in that situation.
Pluck cancelling is just a fun AT, I use it to keep my game moving as well as for mind games. The main move pluck cancelling is good for is grabbing. Dask towards your opponent, pluck, dash opposite direction, pivot grab... or something similar to this. It's good... it works. Inb4itonlyworksonscubs. Last weekend, pluck cancelling mind games worked consistently on anther, lain, judge, domo, affinity, razor... and just about ever other person I played at kahoka. It's VERY hard to predict a small fast ****** with retardedly good range.

You can't be stupid with it though... like expecting people to fall into your smashes because you pluck cancelled them is plain dumb. I agree with the most part with DanGR though.... people playing olimar should focus on the crap load of other "basics" like spacing, pikmin attributes/control... ect before pluck canceling like gonta or I do.

As for the recovering thing... stop freaking doing it when your at like 100'ish range (depends on char). lol.

idk what to say, I would love some healthy debate on it though, cause it's use can be kinda tricky

I posted new vids of me using pluck cancelling like dangr is warning about. If anyone is interested they're in the video compendium


~Fino

 

[DanGR]

wait, are we talking about pluck cancels (as in pluck canceled dashes) or smash canceled plucks (using a smash immediately after plucking a pikmin, canceling the animation of the pikmin moving through the air). I'm testing the frame data on both actually, so i'll see if i can figure out whether or not there's any benefit.
[interesting frame data]

I'm talking about any form of pluck canceling that is unessecary and/or ineficient- not the kind of stuff you've mentioned in this above post. I am interested in the frame data of a lot of this stuff so we could see how much time we can save by using it. The problem is that there are several instances where pluck canceling is a bad idea. It should be used in other situations.

.
As for the recovering thing... stop freaking doing it when your at like 100'ish range (depends on char). lol.

This is one of the more important places where I disagree with yah. I feel that even if you're not past 50%, you should still be trying to have as many pikmin with you as possible... at all times. I don't know about y'all, but most of time when I'm gimped... it's because I was hit a low percent and then hit out of my second jump for whatever reason. When you're at a higher percent, it's fairly easy to DI up, and use a combination of whistling and jumping to get over the stage without having to use the tether very often. I feel that having a lot of pikmin with you at low percents (where you're more likely to be gimped. think about it) is just as important as having them at high percent.

So in the end, I feel that saving plucking for pluck canceling isn't a very good idea.

 

[DKKountry]

Personally, I've been using pluck cancelled smashes for a little over half the time that Brawl's been out (as a rule, I refuse to create "OMG I just found a new AT!" threads) and to be honest, if it's something you have to think about, then you shouldn't be using it yet (at tourneys anyway). Saying that pluck-cancel is too much to think about mid-battle would have been like saying wavedashing was too much to think about. Like I said, PlCl has been a part of my Oli-game for so long that I don't even think about doing it.

Also, I totally agree that using it as a high-risk mindgame is definitely a bad idea. It may work once per opponent, but once they know you can do it, it's old news. The way I prefer to use it best is to keep pressure on the opponent. Some people who are familiar with Oli at the tourneys I go to will use attacks that clash with Oli's smashes and literally try to run your Pikmin dry while they close in on you. Using the PlCl is a way to keep your wall of Fsmashes and Pikmin throws constant, therefore forcing the opponent to either (try to) camp against you (you win), or try to dance through your wall of Pikmin to get to you (once again, you win).

Another great use is edgeguarding; I like to use the PlCl to keep a waterfall of Fsmash Pikmin flowing off the side of the stage while my opponent tries to recover, without worrying about my Pikmin numbers. It's not generally meant to gimp an opponent or anything, it just makes their recovery much more painful and damaging than it would be otherwise.

In short, don't use the pluck cancel to as a flashy AT to spam or as a high-risk mindgame, and don't use it in serious matches until it's a completely natural motion. Use it as a pressure tool, and as a way to allow yourself more options without the stress of "I"m running out of Pikmin".

As for the recovering thing... stop freaking doing it when your at like 100'ish range (depends on char). lol.

QFT, once you're well within your own killing range, you shouldn't be worrying about pressure as much as about playing a bit more defensively and making the rest of your stock count. Good s**t Fino

 

[Cracker1204]

I think this move surely has great uses but should be used only when the time comes. Gonta uses it a bit too much but it didn't mind cause the opponent wasn't very good.

I think this should be mainly used at low to mid percentages and only once in a while. The reason I think this way is because at high percentages you will need all your pikmin ofcourse (atleast most of the time) and It wont be usefull if your not plucking your pikmin just to use this move...you'll maybe end up dead because you missed an inch on your recovery...although Dangr made a good point too, should reconsider this.

the reason you should not do this too often is the surprise factor. If you use this constantly the opponent might get used to it a bit too much. If you throw this move out a few times per stock I think it will be way more effective.

I also agree with DKkountry, you should never use AT's in tournys if you're not confortable with them or have to think about it. practice it with friendlies, maybe against worse opponents first.

I would like to discuss this more cause this move is one of my favourite.

 

[Fino]

This is one of the more important places where I disagree with yah. I feel that even if you're not past 50%, you should still be trying to have as many pikmin with you as possible... at all times. I don't know about y'all, but most of time when I'm gimped... it's because I was hit a low percent and then hit out of my second jump for whatever reason. When you're at a higher percent, it's fairly easy to DI up, and use a combination of whistling and jumping to get over the stage without having to use the tether very often. I feel that having a lot of pikmin with you at low percents (where you're more likely to be gimped. think about it) is just as important as having them at high percent.

So in the end, I feel that saving plucking for pluck canceling isn't a very good idea.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on how many pikmin you should have.... we've discussed this since almost day one on whether it's better to have 4-5 pikmin or all six all the time.

Also.... why are you still getting gimped? Is it consistent, because the only time I get gimped is when I miss a whistle or decide to do something stupid.... in other words, not very often. Even when I do get gimped a longer pikmin chain wouldn't have helped. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDmdm2nFnM8 5:52.... I think was the only time out of the entire tournament I got gimped at a low percent. I had 5 pikmin out, and shine desynced one of them.... and having that one extra pikmin wouldn't have gotten then edge.

I agree with you on knowing the basics on another point though too. I have having meta trouble, and I got one tip from affinity... and all of a sudden I started winning again. Stay in the middle; "could it be that easy?" i thought to myself. It really is. Keep yourself and the stage in control, and be in the middle... and it makes it harder for mk to gimp you. Keeping stage control in the middle of the stage is important in many match-ups. If you notice... when you get gimped at a low percent.... where did you get hit from? I bet 99 times out of 100 it was because you were camping the edge, got tapped off the edge, tapped off the stage, and they grabbed the ledge.

Just saying what helped me a lot, since we were talking about going back to the basics ^^;


~Fino

 

[Dyyne]

As for the recovering thing... stop freaking doing it when your at like 100'ish range (depends on char). lol.
~Fino

You never should have 3 or less pikmin, even if you are pluck canceling. 4 or 5 is a completely comfortable number though. Like you said, if you get gimped, chances are the issue is that they are holding the edge, not that you are short one pikmin. I feel that it is best used when camping, whenever a pikmin dies, which can happen very often, and pivoting. I personally don't really consider it a mindgame, just a method to increase the pace that you can pressure your opponent. Sure, you can have some crazy pivot mindgames sometimes, but I don't think that that is its primary purpose.
Also, just saying that, like you said, pluck canceled smashes are hardly at all what pluck canceling is used for. That's not even a mindgame, that's just a way to get extra pikmin in a tight situation.

 

[Fino]

You never should have 3 or less pikmin, even if you are pluck canceling. 4 or 5 is a completely comfortable number though. Like you said, if you get gimped, chances are the issue is that they are holding the edge, not that you are short one pikmin. I feel that it is best used when camping, whenever a pikmin dies, which can happen very often, and pivoting. I personally don't really consider it a mindgame, just a method to increase the pace that you can pressure your opponent. Sure, you can have some crazy pivot mindgames sometimes, but I don't think that that is its primary purpose.
Also, just saying that, like you said, pluck canceled smashes are hardly at all what pluck canceling is used for. That's not even a mindgame, that's just a way to get extra pikmin in a tight situation.

Sparknotes couldn't have summarized this better. I agree 100% XD
It really isn't a mindgame other than you're able to move so fast sometimes that your opponent can't keep up with you. Combine that with superior camp and ******** hitboxes, your opponent won't quite understand wtf is going on. lol.


~Fino

 

[RichBrown]

I absolutely love Gonta's use of pluck canceling. That being said, I think it could be done in a more effective manner. It's not something you should really look to set up. It just kinda has to happen. Ya know? Just gotta feel the flow of the match, and if you are in a situation where you are running away, and you notice you have less than 6 pikmin, then maybe you can catch em off guard. But don't look to set it up. It's a spur of the moment type thing.

 

[Pyronic_Star]

where's the vid of gonta located?
because i seldomly find a use of pluck canceling and wanted to see when he used it

 

[Sudai]

He just used it as a way to cancel his dashes like most people use shield, basically.

 

[RichBrown]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsUPhs9KygQ&feature=channel_page

 

[IcyLight]

nc-echo enlightened me to canceling my dash animation with a pluck cancel and it has helped me a lot so far, like in the situation where fino dashes towards then plucks runs backwards and pivot grabs, it's mega amazing vs. snake. he sees you running at him, he might try to grab you or ftilt, and you stop and get in range for a grab and run out of his range of attacks.

another technique i think that should be used more often is silent plucking when running off a ledge. Not like the edge of a stage, but let's say a platform in smashville or battlefield. How often do you feel yourself being pummeled when someone knocks you up as you try to get into the ground and have your pikmin randomly dying like the idiots they sometimes are. just try to silent pluck as you run off a platform, every pikmin helps. especially when they are being overly aggressive when you are trying to recover to a safe position.

 

[Dyyne]

Admittedly, Gonta does use pluck canceling a lot for pure flashiness, but there are still a lot of great examples of pluck canceling used efficiently.

another technique i think that should be used more often is silent plucking when running off a ledge. Not like the edge of a stage, but let's say a platform in smashville or battlefield. How often do you feel yourself being pummeled when someone knocks you up as you try to get into the ground and have your pikmin randomly dying like the idiots they sometimes are. just try to silent pluck as you run off a platform, every pikmin helps. especially when they are being overly aggressive when you are trying to recover to a safe position.

These are alright, but I think they are more along the lines of pluck canceled smashes in that they are just a bit nifty in a pinch. I spose that they may occasionally be really helpful in those situations.

 

[TheDuplexDuo]

another technique i think that should be used more often is silent plucking when running off a ledge. Not like the edge of a stage, but let's say a platform in smashville or battlefield. How often do you feel yourself being pummeled when someone knocks you up as you try to get into the ground and have your pikmin randomly dying like the idiots they sometimes are. just try to silent pluck as you run off a platform, every pikmin helps. especially when they are being overly aggressive when you are trying to recover to a safe position.

While very fancy it is a bit of a risk due to it being quite tricky to do. But then again I gotta say I love both these techniques and use them shamelessly. Then again, I only use one Pikmin which fits hand and hand with my style.

Nothin' like silent plucking a Yellow Pikmin on the edge of FD for a sneaky spike. Or even more classy (but will lose your stock in almost all cases) is to pluck six pikmin faceing towards the stage while at the edge. As they tumble down rush of the stage to spike with them. Hopefully in some cases you will knocked back to saftey (snake's recovery).

 

[IcyLight]

i've recently started to use pluck canceling in a way different than before. you know how you pikmin spam or soemthing, or your pikmin are sometimes all over the place and you don't whistle cause no time and the enemy approaches? because they are all de-synched you can pluck cancel and still ahve 5 pikmin on teh field. this might not throw off your opponent, but lets you have a chance to smash.

also...edge guarding with pluck canceling, i accidently pluck canceled my sideb and it was a purple and knocked him away. what if you knock him away, have no pikmin, and keep pluck smashing your side b in hopes of a purple while he's off and recovering? this could actually get a free edge guard for you (situational as in you dsmash a marth and he can recover, but you want to play it safe) you have that chance of pikmin pluck canceled sideb's in hopes of ap urple to knock him back just that much farther

 

[Llumys]

I haven't visited the boards in a while, and pluck cancelling looks interesting. I'm aware that you can pluck cancel smashes, but dashes and stuff? I saw Gonta play, and I'd like someone to explain it to me.

I'm too lazy to find a thread about it.

 

[IcyLight]

you basically run, and during your stopping animation (oli slides to a stop) you can pluck reverse smash and cancel your completely dash-ending animation. sort of like running into shield, but its a pluck smash. very unexpected and quick, a good way to bait peach if she tries to fair but won't land to get pivot grabbed, because most of the time they are floating close enough to ground to get fsmashed

food for thought: if you have no pikmin and you want to be mind-gamessssssiess try nair into pluck smash, it works.

 

[Llumys]

Sounds simple. I'll put in Brawl sometime...

 

[clowsui]

oh you guys, looking at old videos of gonta

for all you guys know he may have stopped pluck cancelling like this. look for more recent vids (they're available iirc) =P

 

[TheDuplexDuo]

food for thought: if you have no pikmin and you want to be mind-gamessssssiess try nair into pluck smash, it works.

Olimar's Nair is a God and I am his Jesus... ​

(unintelligible paradigms aside) Oli's nair is beyond amazing. It even has psuedo spike properties, hard to explain but providing you do not hit with the last stage of the attack with the knockback you can easily drag the opponent to the stage. (Not sure if there is yet a smash term for this, someone needs to make a Brawl Glossary of sorts) A nice combo is to do exactly that via short hop Nair and whip out a Up-smash.


Also @ Icylight I gotta try that more often, it is a good tatic I must say, I always go in for the spike. This would work really well against a couple of characters so I thank you.

 

[oiMrXio]

I think pluck cancelling is pretty useful, it doesn't seem to have any real downsides.

I liked that Gonta video but he missed a few chances to grab the ledge on Marth while he was running around the stage trying to pluck-cancel f-smash him. Sometimes simpler is better imo when it comes to ledgeguarding, just grab it! LoL

I loved his short-hop-whistle-nair-up/downsmash, that was a great counter to Marth's f-air spam, i'm gonna try to work that into my game.

 

[Dyyne]

Agreed MrX, the whistle approach was real cool. I hadn't seen that before. I tried doing it a bit, but it was against diddy, so it didn't work too well. Definitely something to be used against only some characters.

 

[chubb-o-wub]

I'm not sure if this is really do-able, but at low percents, you could pillar someone while pluck canceling so you can't really get punished. Something like this...

Nair -> PC'd (Pluck Canceled) Usmash -> Full Hop Dair-> repeat process.

I But, I think that is flashy, and it would be better to simply hit your opponent hard and normally pluck.

 

[Dyyne]

(Pillaring is not the shine, full jump, dair combo, pillaring is shine, shffl dair for shield pressuring, just so you know)

The problem with this is that to get the dair, you have to jump through them in order to do that, so you will be hit. Not to mention that oli's jump is so slow and floaty, that you wouldn't be able to fast fall a nair in time anyway. And the pluck cancel just diminishes its chance of working further

 

[Llumys]

Pillaring is SHFFL dair shine JC repeat for shield pressure and "pillaring", is the SHFFL dair waveshine combo.



I don't think pluck cancelling is a problem, I don't even think about it. I actually do it subconciously now, and it's all about the flow. It's not something you should set up. There's nothing to worry about...

 

[Plasma Pikmin]

If you pluck cancel too much, and you end up getting knocked offstage, you won't have any Pikmin to help you with your recovery. Also, if you use it too much, the opponent is going to catch on eventually.

 

[Paranormalsin]

If you pluck cancel too much, and you end up getting knocked offstage, you won't have any Pikmin to help you with your recovery. Also, if you use it too much, the opponent is going to catch on eventually.

this is very true. altho, i think my all time favorite way to start a match off on battlefield is to pluck cancel as soon as the game starts, drop through the plat form, pluck cancel again and im on my way to doing whatever depending on what they started like.

although, favorite use of pluck cancelling involves olimars dacus :D

 

[BOB SAGET!]

I say pluck canceling is usefull in some situations. It is a "flashy" technique. However you should not spam it and it should not replace normal plucking at all situations. I usually only pluck cancel at the begining of the match. If you abuse it, you will become preictable and you will forget about more important aspects to win a match.

 

[Llumys]

If you pluck cancel too much, and you end up getting knocked offstage, you won't have any Pikmin to help you with your recovery. Also, if you use it too much, the opponent is going to catch on eventually.

False.

Pluck cancelling has multiple uses, so it's impossible for your opponent to predict you each time if you're smart. Secondly, just because someone pluck cancels, doesn't mean they purposely run out of Pikmin. I only pluck cancel when I lose a Pikmin, so I'm almost always at 6.

Pluck cancelling doesn't mean "have less Pikmin so you can do constant flashy pluck tricks", it means "cancelling your run animation with a pluck".

 

[Plasma Pikmin]

I didn't say that people purposely run out of Pikmin, and that's not what I meant. I meant that whenever people pluck cancel, and they don't have decent amount of Pikmin with them, and they get knocked off the stage, then the Pikmin that they pluck canceled won't be able to help Olimar with his recovery, and Olimar will have even more of a difficult time recovering than normal.

In short, it can be helpful, but at the same time, it can be harmful.

 

[Noa.]

this is very true. altho, i think my all time favorite way to start a match off on battlefield is to pluck cancel as soon as the game starts, drop through the plat form, pluck cancel again and im on my way to doing whatever depending on what they started like.

although, favorite use of pluck cancelling involves olimars dacus :D

What is this dacus that I read of?

 

[Dyyne]

Pluck cancelling doesn't mean "have less Pikmin so you can do constant flashy pluck tricks", it means "cancelling your run animation with a pluck".

It actually means both, except not worded stupidly in the first definition.

 

[professor mgw]

First off, it's been a while since I've made a new thread here. I'm happy to say that I think the Olimar community has grown into one of the more knowledgeable character boards on SWF. Most of y'all understand much more than the average SWF member, and I'm proud of you guys. <3

Anyways, I remember a thread back in the Sheik boards where, in a nutshell, Gimpyfish warned everyone that using too many ATs when people haven't mastered the basics yet... is a bad idea. People were getting excited about her great boost smash and began ignoring the basics... As you all know, Olimar is a fairly simply character when it comes to his basic strategy (camp a lot, space well, camp more), but is much more deep when you look at the specific pikmin colors and how how to use them in the correct situations, understanding how to get past his nearly nonexistent priority and his pretty bad recovery, etc.

So why do I bring this up?

Pluck Canceling.

I think we need to discuss its uses, what works, and what doesn't/shouldn't. I fear we've veered too far off the path. We need to get back to the basics... its basics.

Since I made this thread, I'll start off. Specifically, I'd like to discuss the way Gonta pluck cancels. Am I the only person that sees the major problems with it? (all due respect)

There are several other much safer areas where he can pluck cancel that not only would increase the speed of his game from where he is now, but would also help limit those situations where he's knocked offstage without enough pikmin to recover when he normally would be able to had he been plucking more often, and whenever possible.

There are also the obvious distractions that using his pluck canceling techniques can present to an Olimar player. We've already got to focus on the myriad of pikmin specific attributes and Olimar's unique spacing game, among other things. Our use of pluck canceling, at least in my mind, should be meant to save time and thus speed up our game. Whenever we have to worry about what pikmin may come up next in a smash attack, or whether our pluck canceling "mind games" will actually work on our opponent, that's not doing us any favors.

I think we should be focusing much more on the specific pikmin, our opponent, our bad priority, our spacing game, and staying fast and unpredictable than how we can "mindgame" people into running into our smash attacks. It may just be me, but I find it very difficult to do all of that at once- the latter of which seems irrelevant when in comparison to the rest.

Even as flashy as it looks (I agree it does look pretty cool), the Marth player in that one Gonta video came within one stock and some percent of Gonta even when he clearly didn't know the matchup. I can guarantee you that many, many other Olimar players in the U.S. would beat the living daylight out of that Marth by using a stronger, smarter, safer but.... less flashy approach to playing Olimar.

Against, maybe it's just me, but that's the way I feel about it.

So true, flashy isn't olimars thing to be honest. But assortment of colored pikmin affecting to much of your gameplay is not wise. Brawl is too fast paced for that.

 

[DanGR]

So true, flashy isn't olimars thing to be honest. But assortment of colored pikmin affecting to much of your gameplay is not wise. Brawl is too fast paced for that.

I don't really care about how flashy you guys are. Flashy is fine. This thread was just a warning to not focus on being flashy and instead focus on your game. If flashy is the best way to go, then do it! But if pluck canceling gets to the point where you intentionally don't pluck because you want to save them up so you can do something "cool looking", that's not very smart.

 

[Plasma Pikmin]

What is this dacus that I read of?

Olimar does have a Dacus like Wario and Jigglypuff and other characters. It's not very useful though, it doesn't go that far. It goes just as far as his regular hyphen, so nothing to impressive.

 

[Fino]

Saying olimar shouldn't pluck cancel is like saying snake shouldn't mortar slide or pit shouldn't wing dash. Sure, it looks cool, and if you spam it (like most things) your opponent will find a way around it and punish you. Like wingdashing and mortar sliding, pluck canceling gives you added mobility and maneuverability, which helps with mind-games in general.

Yes, the drawback is you have to have less than 6 pikmin to use it, but here's is my input on effective pluck cancel usage. You're throwing pikmin, and you latch two on your opponent. He either has to kill them or let them fall off. The former option being the better choice he has now killed 2 of your pikmin.

At this point (assuming you had all 6 before) you are now 2 pikmin short of your full line, and can use those to pluck-cancel and do what ever you please. It's not that I purposely not pluck, its that I save it for an opportunity in which I would have to pluck anyways.


~Fino