Social Radiant Hero of Legend: Ike Thread

[Royta]

Used Ike as a main in Brawl in minor tournaments (still snagged top 5 consistently). But he feels really weird here, I skipped Smash4 though so that might be part of the problem. His jab is a lot harder to cancel into a grab, his Fair isn't nearly as long-reaching. Really feels like he requires a different playstyle. No reverse-Aether to spike enemies of the ledge (you can't reverse grab the ledge). He's still great don't get me wrong, but plays very differently. His Utilt no longer hitting behind him as much as it used to is putting me off a lot too.

His new UAir is absolutely insane though. Really fun move, a lot better than the roflcopter.

What's this talk of a shortcut for SHNair?

 

[Idon]

Used Ike as a main in Brawl in minor tournaments (still snagged top 5 consistently). But he feels really weird here, I skipped Smash4 though so that might be part of the problem. His jab is a lot harder to cancel into a grab, his Fair isn't nearly as long-reaching. Really feels like he requires a different playstyle. No reverse-Aether to spike enemies of the ledge (you can't reverse grab the ledge). He's still great don't get me wrong, but plays very differently. His Utilt no longer hitting behind him as much as it used to is putting me off a lot too.

His new UAir is absolutely insane though. Really fun move, a lot better than the roflcopter.

What's this talk of a shortcut for SHNair?

Oh nothing, really. Nair's just got really overhauled and is way better I think.
Issue is my execution has gotten so used to Smash 4 Ike with his 7 frame jumpsquat that this 3 frame jumpsquat is really hard to shorthop with.

 

[Arrei]

Jab cancelling is dead for the whole cast, last I knew. Most jabs now have that property of not really sending the opponent anywhere until the finishing hit regardless of percent, making stopping in the middle unsafe. They are, for the most part, just meant to be your quickest, safest option to rack up a little damage and maybe gain advantage state, I think, though you do have Ryu and Ken who are able to combo out of jabs.

Does it seem kind of like they focused on all of Ike's buffs on his aerial play but neglected his ground game, though? His aerials are nice and girthy now but I'm feeling like Ftilt is the only ground attack long enough for me to space with, since Jab1 is short, Jab2 has no disjoint, Utilt has a hurtbox on the arm, and Dtilt is rather short compared to longer tilts held by faster characters and easily loses to approaching aerials. Add in the fact that we still have that incredibly slow Fsmash and I feel like we're awfully vulnerable in this faster-paced engine.

 

[Royta]

Shame about the jabs, but understandable. I like his new Uair as mentioned before, but his Fair I just can't get over. It is more the high damage high knockback move now, no longer a solid spacer that made him a fun fighter to me. Also surprised by his ground game as you mentioned. F-tilt is decent enough, D-tilt is fast but not very far reaching. U-tilt is nerfed thanks to no longer hitting around him fully. Fsmash is still pretty solid if you roll predict and his Neutral B now has some range to it when fully charged which is nice. But other than his jab I feel very unsafe on the ground.

Nair is solid though btw, recovers fast too and no longer has that huge air recovery as in in Brawl.

 

[Arrei]

I'm just a bit perplexed that they'd give Ike so much care and attention in aesthetics, overhauling so many of his animations and giving him two different models, but then they've left him without many ground options and kept his rubbish Dair spike hitbox and incredibly long aerial FAFs, as if they started buffing him but then forgot to finish. If everyone else is gonna get better at pressure, he needs more than just one really good Nair combo to keep up, no? I guess it's now super scary to be above him but I'm really afraid that he'll stagnate and stop developing very fast if he doesn't get more tricks up his sleeve.

The man didn't get the run speed buff most other characters got, and they didn't give him the tools to be a defensive ground-dweller befitting that kind of turtle-like speed. That kinda stirs my salsa, I tell you what.

I would be remiss if I didn't admit that Aethercide being a legitimate thing really tickles me pink, though. Never did I expect them to make Aether end the foe first but I am definitely milking that for all it's worth.

 

[san.]

I can't say I fully agree with Ike's ground game being overlooked. Dtilt was already good and didn't need any changes. Utilt, while weaker, was given a sizable hitbox buff. It's now a solid option against foes above Ike, especially in a juggle situation. Ftilt's damage and range buff is very welcomed. It now hits like a slightly weaker smash attack with better frame data.

The only negatives are that Ike's jab is mediocre in this game, and his standing grab has very low range for his size. His up smash, utilt, uair, and fair all have below average damage compared to their power.

I feel that they really buffed his sideB to a state where it's even usable in neutral. Counter, while seemingly nerfed in frame data, remains good when it can be used. Aether, while slightly worse overall recovery-wise, was given much better offensive tools, and even usability onstage with frame 5 super armor.

I feel like the FAFs on his aerials make sense except for bair which should be much lower, and fair, which should've stayed at smash 4 level. The FAFs on his smash attacks remain way too high by 5-10 frames at the very least, but at least they have uses for air dodge punishes.

 

[Idon]

Boy does it feel good to hit an fsmash on a guy who thinks he's safe on one of BF's triplats.
Boy does it feel bad when you fsmash when you wanted to ftilt.

 

[Arrei]

Perhaps Ike's ground moves aren't weak moves necessarily, but they've been giving neat tools to many other characters that just seem to highlight how his existing moves didn't really help him fill his supposed role as a swordie. Other swordies are more oppressive than ever with their disjoints while also being able to space more effectively, characters like Wolf and Mewtwo have faster tilts, some with combo utility, that also sport some of the highest reach in the game on top of the characters themselves being more mobile. Trying to space with Dtilt with Ike's mobility against a lot of those moves seems remarkably unsafe.

Meanwhile, what he did receive:
- Ftilt has decent speed and good reach for a move that packs a punch like an unchargeable side smash, which puts it on the good list
- Utilt lost power in exchange for shaving off a bit of cooldown that didn't give the move combo ability or much more safety (and I'd still like to know whether or not it always had a hurtbox on Ike's arm because I've wound up trading with it several times already)
- A longer, stronger Dsmash that now could have use for chasing airdodges to punish after threatening with aerials, but is as laggy as ever
- Slightly faster, but weaker Aether
- Less lag on Quick Draw, but the move remains unsafe and weak
- An Eruption change that didn't really improve it because you have to stand in place and charge for two seconds to get even the second flame

...ends up leaving most of his ground kit the same high-commitment stuff as before in a faster game, which is where my fear comes from. This was also one reason I was really hoping they'd scrap his weird fist-pump Utilt entirely before his reveal, because boy, it sure would be nice if we stole Cloud's Utilt. (Meanwhile Ganondorf's over there stealing our smash attacks, but making his stronger and bigger than ours and getting a better Dsmash.)

Ike used to want to play very defensively, and this game was designed to weaken shield play and reward offense, but he doesn't seem to have been given any new tools to either deal with the new speed of offense or go on the offensive himself except for his new game plan of trying to get his foe above him to swat them with Uair, is the gist of my worries here. On the contrary, he lost power on Fair which he could have used to pressure shields, he got a shorter window on his throw combo game, and his Bair was shifted upwards so it's not as good as an OoS option. His awful aerial FAFs also give him a harder time edgeguarding in this new game environment that encourages it more... And they made Fair laggier on top of that even.

Apologies if I sound like I'm just slinging salt, but it really feels like the strengths he gained were dampened by undeserved nerfs and his existing weaknesses from the last game didn't really get addressed. He feels nicer to play because just about every character feels nicer to play, but most of the others got nicer to play by a greater margin, and without losing their existing strengths in most cases. I hold hope they'll address his shortcomings in patches since I'd prefer the devs buff stragglers than they nerf others, though. Maybe they'll make Bair a rapidly spammable aerial pressure and kill tool like its similar cousins on other characters. Maybe Dtilt will get a range buff. Maybe they'll tack on extra damage and shield damage to the attacks that can't really convert into combos. I just know he needs something to make him more than "the guy that jumps in place spamming Nair".

 

[Zatchiel]

Ike does feel kind of awkward in this iteration. I don't know why they dialed back utilt's KO potential, it seemed to be in a perfectly fine spot before; decent risk with decent reward. Killed at reasonable percents with good utility before even then. Tweaking the kill potential with nothing in return doesn't add up, given the moves inoffensive history compared to other veteran characters.

Jab feels like it has about as much range as grab now. Which is a whole lotta weird getting used to. For the nerf in range I kind of wish jab 3 was actionable sooner. Probably won't see anything like that but a man can dream.

I don't know what was wrong with f-air. If they thought throw into f-air was too strong they could've left us with d-throw > f-air instead of u-throw's higher percent kill confirm. Other than that I can't imagine what it solves.

Sullenly put, I don't know what they were going for. Ike is still fun to play but it feels like there's more to be desired than ever before.

 

[Idon]

Alright, I get that they didn't want Ike to become "grappler swordman" but... jeez is it just me or is his grab range a lot smaller than I remember?

 

[Royta]

His grab got nerfed a lot, but that seems to be a common trend. Forward-throw mind-games are a thing of the past it seems. That said, I haven't toyed with grab-release resets yet. Did some testing and seems that Nair and Fair have the exact same range, which just blows my mind. Fair is basically just useful for killing now, not for spacing.

Can't say enough how insanely good his new Uair is though, dear god. Makes him a beast on smaller stages with platforms.

 

[WeretigerX]

Used Ike as a main in Brawl in minor tournaments (still snagged top 5 consistently). But he feels really weird here, I skipped Smash4 though so that might be part of the problem. His jab is a lot harder to cancel into a grab, his Fair isn't nearly as long-reaching. Really feels like he requires a different playstyle. No reverse-Aether to spike enemies of the ledge (you can't reverse grab the ledge). He's still great don't get me wrong, but plays very differently. His Utilt no longer hitting behind him as much as it used to is putting me off a lot too.

His new UAir is absolutely insane though. Really fun move, a lot better than the roflcopter.

What's this talk of a shortcut for SHNair?

I'm literally the same. I did pretty well in Brawl with Ike as my main in tournaments. That muscle memory seems to be messing with me here in Ultimate. I never had Wii-U because it was awful, so I also skipped Smash 4. I'll say though his Fair seems to come out quicker now and so a short hop Fair can definitely work where it couldn't in Brawl.

 

[Royta]

I'm literally the same. I did pretty well in Brawl with Ike as my main in tournaments. That muscle memory seems to be messing with me here in Ultimate. I never had Wii-U because it was awful, so I also skipped Smash 4. I'll say though his Fair seems to come out quicker now and so a short hop Fair can definitely work where it couldn't in Brawl.

After a bit more toying around I've found that you have to adapt to using even more Nairs this time around. I did have a WiiU though, just skipped Smash4 for whatever reason. Some of the muscle memory has to be deleted asap like reliance on u-tilt. But serious man, his U-air, you're going to love it. Delightfully spammable. His sideB is pretty good now too, a lot faster.

 

[DrKatz]

Apologies if I sound like I'm just slinging salt, but it really feels like the strengths he gained were dampened by undeserved nerfs and his existing weaknesses from the last game didn't really get addressed. He feels nicer to play because just about every character feels nicer to play, but most of the others got nicer to play by a greater margin, and without losing their existing strengths in most cases. I hold hope they'll address his shortcomings in patches since I'd prefer the devs buff stragglers than they nerf others, though. Maybe they'll make Bair a rapidly spammable aerial pressure and kill tool like its similar cousins on other characters. Maybe Dtilt will get a range buff. Maybe they'll tack on extra damage and shield damage to the attacks that can't really convert into combos. I just know he needs something to make him more than "the guy that jumps in place spamming Nair".

I think you’re highly underrating Ike in this game. I say that, not with contempt or disdain, but that it takes time to adapt. I’ve played Ike in Smash 4 and Project M, and to me he feels like a completely different character in this game. Instead of thinking “Ike was buffed.” Consider, “Ike was reworked.”

His ground game is largely the same minus some tweaks to ftilt and uptilt. A lot of people are commenting on Ike’s uptilt being weaker and the hurtbox on the back of it, but the move has less endlag and feels quicker. It’s actually a more consistent anti-air than before and even can be used as a combo starter at low percents. It’s better in some ways, worse in others.

On the other hand, Ike has become an aerial king at the cost of some of his power. This is my preferred way to play Ike since I love the disjointed range and power of his aerial game, but not everyone will feel the same. If you miss the read based, slow, methodical style, I might suggest picking up Ganondorf or Ridley, but Ike has a larger emphasis on aerial combat.

Izaw did a fantastic video on shield properties in this game, and believe it or not - it takes more frames to grab than it does to jump out of shield. As a result, sometimes the optimal punish is SH Nair after shielding an attack instead of shieldgrab. Once I incorporated that into my game, I improved tremendously.

TLDR - Ike has been reworked to emphasize aerials combat, but he still has a solid ground game. Some people will like that, some won’t. But overall he’s DEFINITELY a better character in this game, even compared to the rest of the cast. I suggest watching Ryuga’s stream since he’s adapted well to Ike’s new playstyle.

Edit: Completely forgot to mention how much better Quickdraw is in this game. The endlag reduction is nice, but it’s still punishable on shield. However, he travels WAY faster now. It’s harder to react to and feels like a somewhat legit option to tech chase or punish bad rolls.

 

[Banjobeast158]

I'm really liking Ike in this game! I honestly miss the Brawl play style of slow, powerful attacks, but I think this is his best iteration. His moves, especially Nair to Bair, flow well and many of his attacks are decently fast. You can utilize sliding tilts to get that little extra range with Dtilt and Uptilt as well. His edge guarding is pretty strong with Fair. Eruption can edge guard a whole lot of the cast, including K. Rool's recovery.

Only problems I'm having so far are the Dtilt range and his smashes. I could swear Dtilt has less range, it is hard to pressure shield with it now. His smashes feel kind of out of place; his ground game ,mostly, and air game are pretty fast paced, but his smashes are slow. It is nice to have powerful read/punishes though!

Over all, I think he will fair the best in this game, but it is hard to tell at this point. There are a LOT of good characters this go around.

 

[Arrei]

Sorry about all the text dumps, y'all. I just can't help but feel that either I'm not seeing how Ike's strengths can hold him up in this meta, or others aren't seeing how many great tools the rest of the cast have gotten in able hands.

I think you’re highly underrating Ike in this game. I say that, not with contempt or disdain, but that it takes time to adapt. I’ve played Ike in Smash 4 and Project M, and to me he feels like a completely different character in this game. Instead of thinking “Ike was buffed.” Consider, “Ike was reworked.”

Weaknesses:

The reason I disagree with saying Ike simply plays different is that he's too much of a one trick pony like that, and it's not even a good enough trick. Let us not forget that Ike needed a lot of work to elevate him from his placement in Smash 4. He still has his old Smash 4 issues of his aerials being slower and starting above him, Bair is no longer as large, his aerial cooldowns are awful and really hamper his edgeguarding, and his air acceleration is low, making him far from an "aerial king". He can't even do a move as basic as runoff Fair anymore without sending himself to the limits of how far Aether can recover.

His ground game being the same compounds the problem, because rather than helping him cover the holes in his air game, its existing weaknesses are only exacerbated in this game. I've already been watching players like Ryuga and Ryo playing to compare the differences between my play and higher levels, and it seems to me like him getting manhandled on the ground is a common theme. His run speed and initial dash are both terrible. He's more easily spaced out by longer, safer attacks that are faster than Ftilt and too long to stick Jab or Dtilt out. He already couldn't deal with enemy projectiles too well before and now they're safer than before. He's more vulnerable to shield pressure, especially crossups, since his OoS options are slower in Nair's case, less safe in Fair's case, harder to land in Bair's case, and shield drop and shield grab are both nerfed. He himself can't pressure shields since his moves don't do much damage, other characters have quicker options and Ike has nothing like shield damage, command grabs, or kill throws to dissuade opponents from holding shield.

Other Characters:

I know Ike can do stuff like aerials out of shield and dash cancels and whatnot... but so can most everyone else. It's not that Ike does not have tools at all, but they're inferior tools. How do Ike's tools compare against Simon having longer, safer pokes, quick get-off-me options, crossup options, deadly projectiles, and an extra landing option in one package? Against Wolf having a transcendent projectile to force opponents to approach, but once they get close he has a long fast Ftilt, safe Fsmash, and fast aerials to fight with? Against Ganondorf, of all characters, having superior aerial frame data, powerful long tilts, crossup options, greater reward off of grabs, a command grab mixup on top of a fast horizontal hitbox move, and faster, stronger, bigger, less laggy versions of our Fsmash and Usmash (what the fug), without losing any of his existing power or reach? Adding insult to injury is that Bowser, whose Fair we amusingly observed nearly mirrored our own prized autocancel Fair back in 4, now has more power and less lag than ours on top of maintaining its autocancel abilities that we lost. If he can't pressure as safely, can't space as safely, can't edgeguard as safely, can't land as safely, can't secure kills as safely as other characters on the roster... then what's his specialty supposed to be? It isn't power. It isn't speed. It isn't safety. It isn't finesse.

I don't feel it's prudent to adopt a "This is fine." mindset in regards to his abilities. In Smash 4, opinions of Ike only fell as time went on and his weaknesses became apparent, and if those same weaknesses are still here, then that doesn't bode well. I don't know the rest of the roster well enough to say anyone's overpowered, but I strongly feel Ike is definitely underpowered compared to them.

 

[DrKatz]

I respect your opinion, I really do, but the game has been out for six days. It seems awfully hasty to assume Ike can’t keep up with the rest of the cast already. It may indeed end up that way, but making judgments this early seems rash. But the same could be said about assuming he’s good. Regardless, we’ll keep theorizing.

I agree with a lot of what you say. Bair has a smaller hitbox, his ground game leaves a bit to be desired, and it feels like the range and d-tilt gets slightly worse every game. But run off Fair is a thing, I’ve done it hundreds of times already and never had any problem recovering with Aether. I’ve even been able to delay the fair a bit, and I can still get back, so I’d have to refute that point.

Compared to the rest of the cast: I can agree with this sentiment. If anyone here has played Project M (Assuming most people haven’t since they came from Smash 4/Brawl), every character feels way too good. I played Ike for a while and actually thought he might be a little overpowered... until I realized everyone was overpowered. I’ve been playing more Mewtwo, and he feels super strong in this game, even stronger than smash 4. Comparatively Ike may indeed be weaker than the rest of the cast, you’re onto something there.

However, there’s a sliding scale when it comes to being overpowered. Let me explain. Even if Ike is mid-tier in this game (I predict upper mid tier), he has enough “overpoweredness” to compete with better characters. The reason for this is because “overpoweredness” is a sort of plateau (as long as we don’t have characters like Brawl MK). As long as Ike has kill confirms and aerials that can challenge the rest of the cast, he’ll still be good, even if he’s not as good as other characters.

I think we should give the game time to develop and grow. To me, Ike feels like a “fair” character in a game with super powerful characters, but that doesn’t mean he’s bad. It seems like unlike Smash 4, if you actually outplay your opponent and space effectively, you have a real chance of winning.

 

[Semako]

Aethercide seems to be really dangerous. If you're somewhat close to the ledge, you can also start an Aether onstage, and if you connect, you can steer offstage to get the suicide kill, if you don't connect, you just land onstage again.

 

[Arrei]

Well, that's fine. I think I've said my piece at this point, and my goal isn't to convince everyone that Ike is rubbish, but to plant the idea there for people to think about. Despite the game being in its infancy, I think we can still assess his position well enough to gauge how much he actually improved from Smash 4 to here.

But run off Fair is a thing, I’ve done it hundreds of times already and never had any problem recovering with Aether. I’ve even been able to delay the fair a bit, and I can still get back, so I’d have to refute that point.

On this point though, I wasn't trying to say Ike could not runoff Fair without dying, I was referring to the fact that a technique as rudimentary as this puts him in an extremely vulnerable state trying to get back to the stage, where he spends way too long swinging and Aether is only just enough to get him back. (And my repeated harping about his aerial FAFs means his other options are little better but Fair is the big one, having received extra endlag on top of it) This makes him exceedingly predictable and makes it so characters that are ostensibly balanced by having a bad recovery no longer have that weakness against him. Characters with spikes will know exactly where he'll be forced to spin (and he no longer has the transcendent projectile to cover him), and some like Belmonts, for example, are able to get back to stage and Fsmash Ike as he spins with impunity because he takes an eternity to try and get back. Players have been saying edgeguarding is of greater importance in this game, but if Ike puts himself at such massive risk every time he goes off stage to the point he wants to stay on stage all the time, then that's a critical weakness on top of the pile.

 

[Idon]

I just wish I had at least one special I could use in the neutral. They’re all either meant to be used to push your advantage or to get out of a disadvantaged situation

 

[Banjobeast158]

I just wish I had at least one special I could use in the neutral. They’re all either meant to be used to push your advantage or to get out of a disadvantaged situation

"cough" need Aether projectile please...

 

[Idon]

I will say though, having the increased consistency on the aether is fanTASTic.
They still pop out sometimes, but it's so much better than Brawl/Wii U and I can even reliably get Aethercides if I read the airdodge.

 

[san.]

Quick draw is occasionally useful as a burst option alternative to dash attack. It's better since the hitbox triggers automatically as it moves and can be used out of a jump.

I think you're (Arrei) overrating other characters' tools while discounting their weaknesses as well. I can see what you're getting at with tempering expectations, but the ones overrating him to the extremes aren't that common.

Ike's fair should be used in situations where it can force an air dodge offstage. If you perform a neutral air dodge, you can't immediately grab the ledge and lasts around 50 frames. That's enough for Ike to recover safely with a chance for an aether spike, let alone directional air dodges. Aether is much better offensively, keeping the opponent in, at the cost of making it vulnerable in more situations. Even so, it's offset by the buffs to quick draw and ~15% faster startup.

While Ike doesn't have many guaranteed punishes out of shield, even something as simple as short hop nair out of shield better positions himself to mount his own offensive since his nair is safe on shield when spaced beyond grab and short hop nair range.

Simon has a decent frame 8 nair as a get off me tool, but it has high landing lag in this game at 14 frames. All of his other aerials have high startup at 14 frames. Ftilt is his only move with absurd frame data for the reach, mixed with his projectiles.

Both Simon and Ganondorf have worse recoveries than Ike, so it makes sense to at least have some advantages. Ike's tilts are still competitive with Ganon's and may actually be preferred over his. Ike's smashes aren't good, but they can still be used to punish air dodges all the same.

The only move that doesn't make sense concerning his aerial FAF is bair. Fair probably shouldn't have been touched, but it's fair given the changes to many other characters' best moves. Ike's always going to have high FAF on his aerials. It's something that can be played around, just like Simon's high startup on many moves.

While projectiles are tougher to shield (for now), they are much easier to avoid and punish the projectile user. Everyone being faster with a 3 frame jumpsquat means that many projectile characters can be punished from longer distances as long as the frame data wasn't improved.

While unfortunate, only Ike's run speed was nerfed. This is most noticeable when chasing someone in the air from the ground. However, all of his other movement specs have been buffed to the same level as everyone else. His run can be replaced by his initial dash. The game has also been balanced where initial dashes are much faster, especially compared to run speeds. This means that at mid distances, Ike can still compete somewhat movement wise as someone runs at him. If the opponent also fox trots, that leaves them open to some of Ike's longer ranged moves since they cannot shield during this.

It is true that many of Ike's tilts can be whiff punished, but that's also true for the majority of the cast. Ike's tilts and range are good compared to the rest of the cast, but like them, Ike needs to mix between grounded and aerial moves. His grounded attacks are still safe on shield when spaced.

 

[Semako]

Does anyone have tips for the DK matchup? DK is so much faster in this game than in Smash 4 and does crazy damage, he can just throw in his bairs against my sideBs to recover, and for some reason, I just can't get the punish, a grab or jab, when I shielded a dash attack from DK, he always manage to move first and either dodge or attack me.
The only thing I can get consistently against DK is the tech when he tries to stagespike me with his cargo throw.

 

[Idon]

Ouch, got thoroughly destroyed by an inkling.

Any tips on the MU? nothing I throw seems to be fast enough to hit or safe enough to recover from its dash into... everything.

 

[Banjobeast158]

So the new animation for Eruption makes it look like the hitbox extends further down. Does it actually?

 

[DrKatz]

So the more I get used to this Ike, the better he feels. I believe I’ve found some kill confirms around 70-95%. Nair seems to combo into bair or up-air depending on opponwnt’s DI very consistently around mid-high percents.

On top of that, when you start mixing up Ike’s ground game (ftilt, dtilt, uptilt, etc) he starts to feel really good in neutral. I’ve even found some interesting punishes off of parry. Aether seems to be a viable punish option from the ground off of a good parry. Learned this from watching some Chrom footage, but the startup is faster now and I don’t think they air dodge out anymore due to the fact that it actually traps you.

I’ve also incorporated dash dance QuickDraw into my game for occasional tech chases. It’s risky, but effective with proper timing. It just feels like all of Ike’s tools are viable this time around, so he has a lot more flexibility in the neutral game.

 

[AdventCross]

Hey, just wanted to take the time to re-introduce myself after my hiatus since Brawl in 2009 (or was it 2010).

I'm Cross, it's definitely been a long while, I'm looking forward to playing and working along side you all moving forward. I'm looking forward to investing more energy into the game now that I graduated and am back in the city.

+P.S.
I'm completely locked out of my old account hence why I had to resort to making this new one.

 

[san.]

I remember you, glad to see you back.

 

[AdventCross]

It feels good to be back. Here's to big moves in 2019!

 

[Banjobeast158]

So I encountered a glitch where Ike's sword was constantly on fire (I guess from eruption) until my friend hit me and it went away. No idea how it happened, I don't think I even pressed the b button. Happen to anyone else? It looked pretty sweet..

 

[Nidtendofreak]

If the Ike Discord is still a thing, the link in the original post for the topic has expired. Got a tournament this Saturday and I wouldn't mind trying to pick up a few things before then.

 

[san.]

The current Ike discord is located at https://discord.gg/ZrxCcf. The other thread was closed, so I'll need to ask about that concerning what's allowed.

 

[Arrei]

Hmm, I had not realized the C-stick could do a turn-around Utilt or Dtilt with a rather specific diagonal input. I had been inputting an awful lot of Utilts in the wrong direction when I was sure I wasn't touching the left stick, but this must have been the cause. Seems like it might be a bit unreliable to actually use in a match since I never used C-stick Nair back in Smash 4.

On the topic of Utilt though, they really need to patch in some arm intangibility for that thing. I'm trading practically every time I use the move for its intended anti-air purpose and I can't fathom how they thought it was fine with that when they give intangibility to things like Cloud's knee during his Dtilt.

 

[Idon]

Oh Lord, the tilts.
What have they DONE to them?

ftilt's still good, but sluggish, but utilt and dtilt just seem... flat out worse.

 

[Zatchiel]

On the concern of u-tilt being a little weaker but having less cool down, has anyone gotten any utility with that? I've been getting u-air or f-air off of the last several weaker frames of u-tilt pretty reliably. Not sure if it's a true combo but it feels pretty tight, especially against heavies.

I was honestly very taken aback when its kill potential got a tuning but it might not be so bad at face value.

 

[Arrei]

Oh Lord, the tilts.
What have they DONE to them?

ftilt's still good, but sluggish, but utilt and dtilt just seem... flat out worse.

I remain of the mind that Dtilt is simply too short to use as a spacing tool for a character with mobility as poor as Ike's. If it were longer he might be able to punish with it and if he could move faster he could pressure with it, but as it stands it's a bit lacking.

Ftilt is everything I could have ever wanted it to be though. It kept the sourspot removal it got in 4 and became faster to boot, but got back its gnarly knockback it kind of lost when they reduced its power in the previous game.

 

[Deathcarter]

Here's a good set between Ryuga and Zinoto, really good showcase of Ike going up against a speed character in Ultimate. Hopefully the second set gets uploaded.

 

[Zatchiel]

Bring back bi-weeklies?

 

[Idon]

Alright, can I just vent about how I hate this clanking system?

Like no Smash, I didn't mean to clank with the hitbox in front of the enemy as I'M BEHIND HIM and noooooo, I don't think I wanted to clank with a guy's dash attack when I CLEARLY WANTED TO SMACK HIM WHILE HE POORLY SPACED HIS DASH ATTACK.