Practice tips for Zamus?

[Vincredible]

Hey everyone. I'm new here, though not new to the smash series. I mostly play with my friends and brother, all of whom are better than me, but I have managed to hold my own and actually beat them quite often with a few characters.

I really like ZSS. I tried her out and loved her style and attacks. Only problem is, I've been practicing and practicing with her, and I can't seem to make her viable. Maybe I'm just awful, but I could use some tips to help my game. I typically play and do well with Ganon and Kirby. Ganon, obviously, has no trouble KO'ing, and honestly, neither does Kirby. However, I just can't seem to get KOs efficiently with ZSS. I can execute a few nice combos, and am getting better at using the stun gun, but for the most part, I wind up losing most of my matches with her, or winning on a stroke of luck but only ending with 1-2 KOs.

Is this the way the character is intended to be played? I feel she is a lot better in 1v1 situations, but it takes time to KO my opponent. In free for alls, like I said, she seems to be lacking.

I do love my Kirby, but I really want to main ZSS if I can get up to par with her. If anybody has some amateur-intermediate tips or advice I would appreciate it. For now, back to practicing.

 

[Hailzeon0079]

I'd say your main go to kill moves are:
1. SideB, great move, use it a lot
2. DownB, great kill potential, sometimes spikes
3. Bair, good aerial

I tend to get a lot of my kills from edgeguarding with my fair, bair, or sideB

Also, its tough to get on a smart opponent, but a good string of moves is
Dashattack-Uptilt-UpB(ground)-Dsmash-Fsmash

 

[emo_prinny]

You can ko with up air as well

 

[fkacyan]

I like dthrow, uair, upB, fair myself. That's if the upB spikes properly, of course.

 

[Kawaii]

Side B while wavebouncing is amazing. She gets a small bounce, and if you mix that in with regular side B aerials, works in your mindgames, since they will always have to be on their toes on how much space they need. Paralyzer sets the pace of the match. Use it for surprises. Don't be afraid of edge guarding with tether recovery. You can still hug it, like normal, but I've always found the tether to be a lot better, atleast for now while people are still getting used to it. Obvious thing to do after getting a fully charged paralyzer to hit, is to grab, but after a while it will be obvious it is coming so mix up your game later and dare to just open with the grab. That's just my insight from hours of friendlies earlier today; I used another character in our serious play =(

Edit-
In case you haven't seen it, here is the demonstration posted in tactical forum of wave bouncing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kox5-m5JM3w
ZSS starts at 3:25

 

[DeliciousCake]

Basically:

Space with >B.
Pillar the **** out of your opponent.
KO with >B or aerials.

Watch some videos of ZSS players and you'll see how the combo's flow naturally with her moves.

 

[K Balls]

i tend to use a lot of spacing of the forward b move, its really good. i also try to dsmash to up b alot i think its good.

 

[BadGuy]

Try not to use her fsmash too much, it's slow and laggy. Use her tilts.

 

[Samigi]

I love doing this with her....As my opponent tries to recover, I do a dsmash so that it paralyzes them right there, then I follow up with either a fsmash or a side b. At really high percentages, it will kill them though the side b is more powerful than her fsmash. Note the character has to be close enough to the edge for this to work...

 

[FoolyCoolyGamer]

Wow, you all have great strategies. I have a few, though they aren't that great. With ZSS, I try to keep the opponent guessing. Speed is a good part of what makes her great, so after dodging, I down a Dsmash, and either Downgrab, run and UpB or Uair, use the 2nd jump to Bair. Or I'll try to land a hit with her Downsmash, UTilt, UpB,UpsmashA, UairA then Bair to finish them off.

 

[.kR0]

It would be great if you posted some matches if you have the equipment.

But overall, the things these guys here said pretty much covers it. ZSS is amazing at lacking up dmg, its just landing her K.O. moves that seems to be the slight issue.

Try
-Dsmashing when you see an obvious roll for stun ->dthrow->bair/upair (bair works perfectly when you see that the opponent just airdodged immediately after the throw)
-Dsmash->Fsmash->edgeguard with bair/fair
-Forward Bing a lot
-Jumping at the opponent and not do anything (empty jump). Bait them to jump and proceed to do a bair. ZSS bair has amazing range and good priority.