Practicing not helping

[Strider755]

I've been practicing for 2 hours/day every day since launch, but I'm still not any better than the rest of the players in my league. Why am I not getting better? Practicing is supposed to make me better.

How do I learn from defeats when I'm too upset about it to think straight? How do I know what counters what? How can I get good enough to make some extra money?

 

[Smashtistics]

I wouldn't be in smash for money for starters. Getting better is about many things...learning match ups, practicing combos, eliminating bad habits, watching your matches and others matches to see what works.

My first question would be to ask if you're trying new ways to improve or just doing same thing and expecting results?

Also, don't be mad about a loss, it means you're playing someone who is better than you and take that as a chance to learn. Losing helps you win in the long run.

 

[Strider755]

First of all, I lost my job becasue my boss was an unprofessional prick, so it'll take me 4-6 months to find another one, and I need the money.

To answer your first question, yes, I'm trying to develop new tricks.

Finally, I take losses as well as a Wookiee - not at all. When I'm dealing with pressure or an opponent who won't let me space him out, I panic, and this creates a vicious feedback loop.

 

[Smashtistics]

I've dealt with being unemployed it's tough. Sorry to hear.

I think you need to change your mentality and appreciate a loss as a learning experience.

 

[vegeta18]

You can play against pros when they are doing viewer matches and they will usually give you some advice about what you're doing wrong. Go on anthers ladder and play against people there in ranked battles and see where you rank then work to improve that rank. if you have good people you can play locally then do that a crap ton and always pay attention to what punishes you and if you have bad Internet then get a lan adapter.watch your own replays and analyze them , watch pros play, read everything you can about smash and fighting games watch a ton of tutorials, and completely master your main character who should be top tier and know every single matchup well.

If you get angry when you lose, then use that anger, think about the person who beat you for days, replay the match a million times in your head and figure out exactly what you will have to do to beat that strategy so that you never lose to that again.

Money in smash is really crappy, like really bad so your gonna have to get extremely good if you want to make decent money from it, 2 hours a day isn't gonna cut it most likely , many people practice 2 hours a day casually even while employed and have other hobbies. You will have to put countless hours in to the game if you wanna get good fast and make the cash you want which probably isn't as good money as you would get from just searching for a steady job in the meantime.

 

[Nah]

The best thing to do would be to get a hold of yourself and try to remain calm in battle and afterwards. Losing doesn't help you if you don't get anything out of it, and your emotional state upon losing is probably interfering with your ability to do that. Though that's easier said than done really (and tbh I will panic too in battle if being pressured). But until you can get to that point, try asking the one who beat you for advice or to point out what you did wrong in the match, save the replay if that's an option and post it so others can point things out to you. Sometimes it's difficult to see what went wrong during a match yourself but is easier for others to see it.

If there are specific things that you can think of that are giving you issues, asking how to deal with them will also be helpful. Asking in the Charizard boards in particular would be the best, since they can give you Charizard-specific advice. Reading up on **** may have its uses too.

Also maybe get in an extra hour of practice.

 

[NeonShadowz]

Just from what I see on your profile, you might be losing because you main charizard. Pros might be able to do well with him, but you need to main other characters and build fundamentals before using someone like him. If you play Falcon, you can learn how to get the most out of a grab. If you play rosalina, you'll get better at sharking etc.

 

[Strider755]

I play Charizard (Mainly bcause he's my favorite), Mario, and Ness.

Anyway, I have a bit of trouble paying attention to both the moment and the moment before that moment. I always try to focus on the present. Anyway, I need to figure out how to deal with an opponent who's always all up in my face - I can usually space my opponent out.

 

[Baby_Sneak]

You're playing for money? Pick a top tier. Seriously, if you're really playing for it, then pick a top tier. Next topic,

Look up 'fighting game footsies' (or go here if you just want a guide) and look at most of the results shown (click on them). Read up, comprehend, see its application (I.E., watch this), and apply it to your smash game. Next topic,

Need help to stay calm during battles? Take deep breaths and clear your mind. Focus only on the opponent and beating him, don't think about the money, or it'll stress you. Screw attack had put out a basic, but fundamental guide on staying calm. You should read it.

 

[NeonShadowz]

My best friend/training partner is a falcon main, and he is so aggressive so I have a lot of training with someone being in my face. All you can really do is think about what their strengths are to play against them, as well as pick up on some of their habbits. If they like to do a bunch of empty hops or approach with an arial, read a shorthop by doing a fair. Since heavies have a lot of end lag on their moves, it can be difficult to space. you can probably learn a lot from watching Ryo play. I think he's the world's best Ike. Ike is so incredibly slow but he still finds ways to beat people who will rush him down.

 

[WD40]

Sounds like you are putting too much pressure on yourself with the money thing. I would say try to get any kind of job you can to get some stable income coming in. That will help your mental psyche which in turn will help your smash game, I believe. I think you should play competitive smash for the glory, not the money.

Relying on smash for money will wear you down mentally and isn't sustainable. Unless you're a complete natural, it probably isn't going to happen. You've gotta place in the money at majors throughout the year, have a sponsor, and do streaming to be able to live off just smash. You're gonna need more than 2 hrs a day to achieve that. I've heard Zero say he'll practice as much as 6 hours a day. Not to mention the top players have the benefit of being able to practice against other top players and have very regimented training routines.

Just try and learn at least one thing from every match, win or lose. There is always something you can improve on, whether its choosing a better offensive option in a certain situation, reacting to a specific characters whiff, better spacing in a certain situation, etc.

Playing Charizard is definitely a tall task in tournament play. It's not impossible, but you've gotta play pretty perfectly to maintain success while other characters won't have to work nearly as hard. If you really really want to start placing higher and making money, you should consider switching to Mario/Ness full time or start looking for a new character. Perhaps the next run of DLC will have a character that really clicks with you. Just keep practicing, going to tournaments and talking to people at tournaments. You can't let yourself get discouraged by defeat, only motivated.

 

[krosswerks]

my 2cents, my opinion overlaps with most of the above posters but it's important enough advice that I think it bears repeating.

First of all, damn dude if you need money then don't hold out for sm4sh. Even for the top 1% of players, the payouts for this game are barely a living. You want to make a subsistence salary going around to locals? With Charizard? Yes yes believe in yourself and follow your dreams and all that, but remember that a dream, by definition, is something that exists only in your head.

Take care of yourself before you focus on Sm4sh. It's impossible to enter a state of mind conducive to flow and creativity when your well-being is threatened. Don't practice frequently, time does not equal gains in skill, not on it's own. Practice well. Mew2King is one of the best in the world, and he has stated regularly that he barely practices -- only before major events. But when he DOES practice, it's in order to gain an understanding of specific situations that he anticipates encountering against real players. Keep the replays from matches that you've lost, and recreate (in Training Mode) the situations that gave you the most difficulty; then, think your way out of those boxes using the vocabulary of moves available to your character.

Your brain is an incredible instrument, and it is better at this game than you think it is. But you keep getting in your brain's way. Being insecure about your skill level, your livelihood, etc, all these things are examples of you getting in your brain's way while you play smash. When you walk to your front door, you don't think about every single step, do you? No, you possess a vague desire to move to the door, and your brain does all the hard work getting you there. It can be the same with smash, but making it automatic is a skill that requires smart practice just like anything else.

 

[NotAnAdmin]

Sorry to hear that money is tight, but... Smash isn't very lucrative. Top players usually have a stream meaning openings for donations/are signed to a sponsored on top of winning prize money for tournaments. Many also even give services to other smashers to "mentor" them.

I agree with krosswerks and W WD40 , if I were you I'd try to focus on getting to a comfortable position money-wise and clear my head a bit. It is putting on more pressure than you probably realize.
If that's not an option, I'd say first thing to do to increase your chance of actually getting some cash would be switching your main. Charizard just isn't that good, the work required compared to a stronger character to win a match is just so much more. Mario or Ness are both pretty good, so if you're already comfortable with them you can choose from those two, or take a while to find another main. I'm just gonna go ahead and say consider Shiek, ZSS, Fox, Rosalina or PIkachu. All of them are strong and have different strengths that put them over the top.

Second, ramp up your training, learn each and every option your characters have. That means the good, the bad, and even the useless ones. Watch gameplay of top players very often, and play against strong players in your area. Analyze and compare your gameplay , make note of both good and bad things you did. When you see something you did wrong, like rolling too often or choosing to do a bad option in a certain situation, think about that in your next games and cut it out.

When you lose ask for some pointers, and go back to the drawing board. If you lose and get a little ticked off, just take a second and calm down. Use your money situation as motivation, don't channel it as anger.

 

[AnchorTea]

2 hours a day? That's not shabby at all. But seeing a rise in skill isn't something that can happen withing days, or even weeks. It's something that takes months. The level up in your skill is more subtle because humans have evolved in a way where some of our limits are subconscious. Focusing on that level up constantly won't help you mentally, you'll start obsessing over it and you'll end up hating yourself or getting very salty over minute issues.

I know that months seem very long, but it is worth it. You will get to a point where you will be smarter and more adaptable at Competitive Smash. Specifically, you will eventually mentally build combos in a split second during battle, combos that you never thought of before, you will brainstorm much more about your main on any subject, etc etc and etc. Improving just requires consistent practice, mental focus on your Smash hobby, learning to have good sportsmanship, and a LOT of patience.

 

[Strider755]

I try playing top-tiers like Sheik and ZSS and Fox, but they don't work for me because I can't control them. I thought that playing Ness and Mario could cover Charizard's bad matchups.

I really care more about getting better because of personal pride. I don't take well to losing - especially losing badly and in front of everyone - because I don't want to look like a complete scrub. That pride is more important than any money I could possibly win, so when I put in a ton of effort and don't get anything out of it, I take it as a hit to my pride.

 

[AnchorTea]

You can be 10x better than @ChileZeRo , but there always will be times where you will embarress yourself in a tourney, fest, etc. It's a normal thing, you can make the embarressing moments less worse by having good sportsmanship, but they will always happen.

 

[GhettoNinja]

All the practice in the world won't make up for lacking fundamentals and gaps in your game. I learned this the hard way and as fellow mid tier main I hope you take that to heart. If you want to go to the distance, you'll need to master all the Charizard tech, know all MU in and out, have extremely good fundamentals. As for the pressure thing, I get that. I once had 12+ people rooting against me in a Losers match I should of won. My suggestions are Music and experience. The best way to get good at dealing with pressure is dealing with the situation a lot. Also whenever you feel pressure in a match you need to follow a simple rule. When you lose a stock, don't immediately get off the platform, breath in and out and focus on what you need to do. Also the music coupled with this should work nicely. Finally, if you want to be a "professional" you'll probably need to put 3-4 hours in a day. Idk how many I put in but its basically all I do. Now each day you need to at least practice tech for 30-40 minutes. Stuff like Shield drops and ledge trumps are stuff you can never be dropping. Finally, decide when you're playing to win vs playing for you. For example, if you're 2-2 GF set 2 against a Mega Man, and you've been going zard the entire time but you just lost two games in a row. If you want to go all in with zard and win. Thats playing for you. You want to see zard win and you want to be the zard that does it. But if you're playing to win you switch to Mario and wrap things up. Neither one is wrong and its up to you what you want.

 

[EpicSonicLatios]

I think the biggest thing to know is what things you should actually be practicing. You need to master charizard's BnB combos, his AC aerials, all the ranges on his attacks, and the specific nuances of every MU. After this, you need to follow up by constantly drilling yourself on these techniques. Perform 100 auto cancelled nairs in a row, make it so you can't miss. Set a cpu to walk towards you and perfectly space all of your attacks, etc.

Raw tech skill can only get you so far, but the same can be said for intelligence with inconsistent inputs in crucial situations. Nonetheless, learning how to deal with losses is very important, but is also very hard. I know pride is important to you, but consider this: by taking losses more effectively, you will improve, and thus win more matches. This in turn will make your pride higher in the long run, and the only way to get there is to commit time, and not get frustrated with losses.

I like to record every match I play into my replays. That way I can look back at WHY I'm losing. Am I missing inputs? Am I being too predictable? Am I approaching too hastily? Learning why you lose can help you know what to practice, and help tighten up your game.

Lastly, I think you may be suffering a dilemma that I had encountered as well when I was newer to smash 4. Sometimes in the past when I lost, I couldn't believe that it was because I was worse than them. I got mad at little things that wouldn't have stopped me from winning if I had relaxed and put in the practice time to get better. You have to understand that your current skill level is your current skill level. The only way to improve is to find what is holding you back. Having experts review your matches and give you advice is a great way to do this, as you can learn from those who have already overcome adversity to get where they are, and understand some mistakes that players make while playing.

Keep a cool mind, stay focused on your goals, and don't let the pressure get to you, and you should improve in due time. That's all I've got. I wish you luck!

 

[LightLV]

I try playing top-tiers like Sheik and ZSS and Fox, but they don't work for me because I can't control them. I thought that playing Ness and Mario could cover Charizard's bad matchups.

I really care more about getting better because of personal pride. I don't take well to losing - especially losing badly and in front of everyone - because I don't want to look like a complete scrub. That pride is more important than any money I could possibly win, so when I put in a ton of effort and don't get anything out of it, I take it as a hit to my pride.

Few points, since you sound like people i know:

1) Not wanting to lose is fine, but i'm letting you know right now, too much pride is a base recipe for a very early ceiling of skill acquisition. The best way to learn is to take information from every loss, and you can't do that when your pride is dictating where and whom you can take a lesson from, instead of your logical brain. I know many people like this, they're very easy to catch up to and defeat, because their growth is so linear.

2) If you're playing primarily to win, or get money especially, i'd go main a character who's a well-accepted good character. I don't think Charizard is one of them. You can get places with him, but there are better choices. Also, if you want money, go play a Capcom fighter.

 

[EleH]

I typed up a lot more stuff originally, but my browser crashed. So I apologize if this seems rushed.

Here, I play a bit a Charizard. Lemme help you with some pressuring advice and moves you can try.

1. works better on the ground than in the air. Mostly because his ground options are ether faster or just work better.

2. I recommend using Out of Shield options like usmash and fair to counter over head approaches, and using the likes of Flamethrower and jab to cover the more grounded options.

3. Remember to watch DI on throws. When using dthrow, fair if they move to the side and uair if it's towards the blast line. You can also get a free 23% on bthrow to fair at very low %'s. It's dependent on whether your opponent moves towards the middle of the stage, but it's worth trying. Uthrow kills in case you didn't know.

4. Rock Smash is really only good when under heavy attack pressure. You can cancel it OoS, but you must be really quick so you don't jump while doing it.

5. Usmash, utilt, and uair work well for anti-air options.

6. Abuse ground mobility and your multiple jumps to get you out of undesirable situations. It won't always work, but just remember it's another option to try.

7. Hit-and-run works well for Charizard.

8. Don't use dash attack unless you know it'll hit or you're covering a landing, it's too slow and risky otherwise.

9. Fly can catch people during air dodges if you're willing to take the risk.

10. And for Pete's sake, don't hit yourself too hard over a loss. The sooner you build your pride is the sooner you'll end up shooting it down. I understand it's important, but don't get worked up over it. Even if you do get beat, it's apart of learning and growing character. If it doesn't kill you, it'll only make you stronger I always says. Well, starting now that is

 

[Strider755]

I usually use Flare Blitz when covering an opponent's landing, but dash works too.

 

[Honorius]

The only way to get better at this game is to lose to better players.... Repeatedly. I used to think I was good because I was taking small local events with Little Mac. Like you, ego was a BIG hurdle I had to overcome. I advise finding local players and possibly joining a crew. Ideally, you want to have at least 3 consistent training partners. And, though this might suck, you really want to pick three people who are better than you. Just a few days ago, I was playing a really polished Sheik who was beating me 4 out of 5 games. I played the Yoshi v Sheik match up against him like a hundred times. I wanted to learn the MU and that's not something you get by playing bad Sheiks.

P.s. Don't play online. It builds bad habits. Practicing 2 hours a day is a good start but you gotta play against people you can learn from. Play person to person and talk before, during, and after games. Ask them what bad habits they were exploiting etc

 

[Strider755]

No crew would want me - you have to be able to win to join, do you not?

 

[Honorius]

Not at all. Most people just want numbers. Interest is normally all you need. If you're interested in getting better, there's probably a crew that'd be happy to help.

 

[Strider755]

I mean, there is a league in town (hasl.tv), and I practice with a lot of people from that league, but they're not always around, and I don't know if they have an actual crew.

 

[LightLV]

"Dont play online" isn't good advice.

"Recgonize that online isn't offline" is better advice. A few frames of delay in this game is especially bad because it limits your ability to react, in a game where punish windows are exceptionally small because of how high they buffed defense. Doesn't help that Smash's netcode isn't very good.

Even in hardcore fighters, this is important to recognize because it does build bad habits that you think are viable only because their flaws are masked by input delay.

Many good "netplay fighters" learn to work around this by basing their playstyle on hard reads. Which certainly works offline too. But it has the same flaws, being that it's still mostly reliant on netplay mentality, which again lets you get away with very unsafe things.

 

[Baby_Sneak]

Sheik, fox, and ZSS are not the only top tiers.
Just pick someone good that matches your play style

 

[Snackss]

Save some replays and try to figure out why you're losing is one thing to do.