Practicing alone?

[TheRealSkid]

are there any non-deteriorating ways to do this that don't involve learning bad habits from CPUs?

 

[Kanunuu]

I don't think practicing against cpus is a bad idea. It teaches you what combos work and which don't. For me specifically it helps me practice my frame trapping when they airdodge. Otherwise you can go to training mode and practice all of his combos. Practice perfect pivots in particular, as they are a huge part of his game.

 

[EpicSonicLatios]

Some of the CPUs are stupid because they literally sit there and spam unsafe projectiles. The only CPU's I usually practice against are characters that don't spam burst movement options (falcon pick, PK Thunder, etc.), and don't spam projectiles. The projectile characters can be used for powershielding. The CPU's I've found to be the best practice are marth and Lucina, as they constantly jump trying to space aerials, and they use side B to space a lot, so it's really good for practicing the neutral. If you don't like CPU's, I just do input training drills to make sure that I can perform inputs like autocancelled aerials and movement options as fast as possible, while moving, and without error. Also make sure you practice platform movement and teching. As for practicing reads/mental game, just go on FG honestly. The players there might be bad, but it exposes you to every playstyle, from a spammy ness to a marth with perfect spacing, if you play long enough. Remember to watch your matches to see any problems you have with your play, and analyze how the opponent played so that you can see if you were really reading your opponent enough based on their habits.

Try these things out. If you can't play on FG because of bad wifi, just practice everything I mentioned, and then whenever you do play just make sure you don't autopilot.

 

[boneflesh]

I feel like being evasive is very important in fox's game, as he is most effective as a bait and punish character. I like to practice avoiding attacks from Lv. 8/9 CPUs (without attacking to make this last for as long as possible) to be really comfortable with my movement. Of course, find good CPUs that don't blatantly spam laggy moves. Some good CPUs off the top of my head are Marth, and some bad ones are Sheik (spams burst grenade o.o) and Captain Falcon. I also like to throw in lasers in this exercise, to know when to stop shooting them, or when not to shoot them. While this doesn't emulate the potency of a human attacker, it gives you a sense of how to play your footsies to be in a safe range. Once you've mastered this, it should be a bit easier avoiding attacks and landing your punishes in an actual match. The next logical thing to do is to practice your punish game. Fox has a sick combo game which can be optimized. Practice things such as jab locks, footstool combos, dair combos and strings.

And yeah, like SonicLatios said, play on FG if you're desperate.

 

[NoSharp]

Does anyone have a stage I could download to practice teching? I feel like it's something crucial for Fox players since it's the easiest way to gimp him, all top Fox players tech like every single attempt it's crazy

 

[EpicSonicLatios]

Literally just make a box with lava on the walls, that's what I did. Make sure the bottom part of the box is not lava covered so that you can actually time your techs when you want them, instead of endlessly being thrown around. It would take you longer to find a good stage then it would for you to make one yourself.

 

[EnhaloTricks]

I have a couple things I do when training alone:
- I lab out combos and make sure my footstool and jab lock combos are working fine.
- Work on RAR Bairs and AC uairs on Battlefield to make sure I can shark decently.
- - Practice my uair juggling
- Play against Mario/Luigi and sit at fireball distance and practice Shine Cancelling into jump.
- Play against a CPU at lvl 8/9 and work on frame traps and getting my combos in actual play. This helps them become muscle memor.

I never do FG. Lag messes with my play too much.

 

[Kanunuu]

A cpu that is genuinely effective to play against, (and hard) is lv9 rosaluma. She will constantly try to read your approach. She at least feels semi sentient.

 

[Omega_Knight]

You cannot bait a CPU. You can practice combos and movement but when you start watching them and try to improve your neutral it could be more harmful than helpful.