Protecting Luma/Perfect Shielding.

[Neku ネク]

I recently fought some matches in a weekly tournament and it made me wonder how I should learn to cover Luma. A good Rosie player always needs to protect Luma, so I was wondering what the safest way to do this was.

I've heard of players turning around when an opponent attacks them so that they shield and put Luma further away from harm (and either down smash or pivot grab).

Or, should I learn to perfect shield properly and then react out of that? Perfect Shielding would keep the shield at maximum coverage and keep Luma protected enough on the ground.

What's the best idea for this? I need to learn which is the best option and how to approach keeping Luma safe.

 

[MezzoMe]

Some attacks still hit Luma when you powershield them, such as TL's arrow, so either you pivot and shield the attack, make Luma dodge the attack by crouching/attacking, or punish their attack well enough that repeatedly hitting Luma is unconvenient.

 

[Planty]

A very important thing with Rosalina is to always have stage control. While stage control is nice with any character, it's essential with Rosalina as it keeps Luma safe. Luckily Rosalina has quite a few tools to gain stage control, such as jabbing to advance Luma and force your opponent to retreat, allowing you to advance to center stage or past center stage and continue the jab pressure (Or do something else). Another reason to keep stage control is that opponents have very few options at the ledge against Rosalina if you could space Luma well.

Other than stage control to protect Luma, there's not too many options. Turning away and shielding tends to not be too amazing for quite a few obvious reasons, though it can be used against Dark Pit's side-b, among other very laggy moves that usually kill Luma. I've heard that angling your shield can help protect Luma, but I haven't tested that.

One very interesting thing to note however, when Luma has taken little damage, weaker attacks won't send him flying. This means that a healthy Luma won't be knocked away by something like a Kirby F-tilt, but a Ganon F-smash will send him flying away. As Luma takes more damage, a Kirby F-tilt will start knocking him away. The exact numbers for this health threshold are unknown, as it would require testing on, quite literally, every single attack in the game.

 

[Neku ネク]

Shield angling is somewhat difficult to do unless you have reflexes of steel and absolute control over your motions. I've done is randomly but doing that during a battle would be nearly impossible, considering there's several other things to keep mental track of.

I assumed turning and shielding would be the best option then following up with a side tilt in the opposite direction (or a f smash if possible). Otherwise it would be a pivot grab or something else.

 

[iiGGYxD]

You can use luma's attacks to work as a psuedo parry as well. It will clash with whatever hitbox it interacts with and luma won't be hit. There are some exceptions to this with some projectiles like bombs, but it's something to keep in mind with characters that like to throw aerials around like fox or falcon.

 

[Neku ネク]

Yeah. Luma's jab cancels out some projectiles like Luigi's fireballs, making his approach options much worse.

 

[Planty]

@ Neku ネク I won't stary to ofar off topic, but against Luigi, the best option is just to Luma jab his fireballs, like that he cant upsmash your landing. A jab is also quicker.

Now that I brought it up though, what moves does Luma jab beat? And does Luma take the damage of the attack when he cancels it out?

 

[Neku ネク]

All I can think of is Luigi's fireballs. I don't think the same works for Mario.

 

[icraq]

Now that I brought it up though, what moves does Luma jab beat? And does Luma take the damage of the attack when he cancels it out?

quite simply, with the correct spacing, luma can cancel out every single hit (and non-trample and transcendent) move in the game.

even ganon's fsmash. and many other things.

luma don't give AF about priority.

 

[DisidisiD]

quite simply, with the correct spacing, luma can cancel out every single hit (and non-trample and transcendent) move in the game.

even ganon's fsmash. and many other things.

luma don't give AF about priority.

Yay luma spin jab desync.

 

[Planty]

quite simply, with the correct spacing, luma can cancel out every single hit (and non-trample and transcendent) move in the game.

even ganon's fsmash. and many other things.

luma don't give AF about priority.

What exactly is non-trample? And do you mean that he cancels out non-trample and transcendent moves? that would make no sense. Transcendent oves don't ever interact with other hitboxes in any way. It's like trying to cancel out Bowser's fire breath.

Also Ganon's F-smash is disjointed. Does it work consistently on disjoints? Usually if I try to jab ganon F-smash, Rosalina will be put into this freezing sort of state. Can that be avoided?

Finally, when a move is canceled out, does Luma take the damage and does jab stale out?

 

[Neku ネク]

No idea what non-trample is. Transcendent I believe is some move like Luma's Star Bits: I've heard them referred to as this word mostly because they're projectiles that can't be reflected or absorbed. I guess it's something that can only be shielded to be blocked.

As for disjoints, no idea. Ganon's Fsmash and a jab would put Rosie in the clash state which makes both characters recoil a little bit. You'd need to react fast before he does to get the upper hand.

Luma doesn't take damage. The Jab clanks with the move as well, although Luma doesn't follow the recoil thing, I believe.

 

[Planty]

@ Neku ネク Transcendence is something like Bowser's fire breath, Falco's laser or nearly all of Brawl MK's moveset. The hitboxes don't interact with other hitboxes. They just pass right through other attacks. They never, EVER clank.

 

[Neku ネク]

Okay I was wrong lol. I got the wrong information on what that word refers to.

 

[icraq]

cancels out all moves that are not trample and not transcendent, sorry poor choice of words.

the moves don't fully cancel, they can still hit through Luma and hit Rosa.

disid mentioned spin, I suggest playing around with that first to understand. utilt, too.