Ridley advanced guides

[Ridley_Prime]

Starting with this video... It covers things like dash dancing, short and fullhop fastfalling, pivot and reverse attacks out of run, n-airs around the ledge to keep opponent from recovering and thus gimping them, landing u-airs and combos with them (i.e. landing u-air > shorthop double jump u-air), fullhop d-air off stage and recover, B-reverse plasma breath and skewer (aerial and grounded versions), ledge release and ledgehop & ledge jump n-airs for getting back on stage, using walking to space f-tilt and d-tilt more precisely or parry projectiles while approaching, etc.

Had posted this one in the social thread, but feel it's still worth bringing up here too, for showing how to practice phasing through Wolf's lasers and such when approaching, followed by a punish as you see fit. When jumping backwards (as in toward the opponent), Ridley can also shorthop over such projectiles he otherwise would not have been able to with shorthop since his foot moves into the foreground. Some opponents you can thusly punish with a delayed back hit nair or bair after shorthopping over said projectile, depending on the distance between you and them.

Will also use this thread for posting any future noteworhy advanced or tech related Ridley guides. On that note, go to this thread for the 2 button short hop combo guide; major shoutout to SSB ProTips for discovering those d-throw > fastfall f-air/shorthop delayed f-air regrab combos. Somewhat less related, go to this post for fair 1 and fair 3 setups, and that post for ledge trumping and some detail of bait and punish concepts for Ridley.

Not really covered in any video, but a list of fastest out of shield options (in order) for Ridley-

. Nair; of course really. Includes front & back hit, and forward & backward momentum. Fastfall when applicable. When facing someone at ledge while shielding, can Nair in reaction if they ledge roll behind you and the back side will hit them, which you can followup with attacks like Bair or turnaround Forward Tilt. Even with Nair being our fastest option however, landing moves with long range that are well spaced, have a lot of shield stun, or minimal landing lag cannot be punished by it OoS, so is good to know what moves apply to this.
. Grab; can also release Shield > dash grab as a mixup, after opponent tries to attack in front or behind from a little distance, or if they do a fairly unsafe move that causes shield pushback. Don’t try to shield grab in response to well spaced moves.
. Up Smash; front and back, but back hit is better on account of hitbox coming out earlier, avoiding whiffs. As such, is better used OoS to try and hit someone behind you, as a quicker alternative to Bair when they’re at high % or after shielding a rapid jab from behind that doesn't push you far back. Up Smash stops any attacks from crossing up with your shield as well like certain burst options due to the intangibility. Also, while you're in shield, if you hit up and Grab at the same time, you'll do an instant Up Smash. Since you input a Grab, the game does not charge the move at all.
* The back hit of Up Smash is safe from most grabs OoS too due to intangibility, so even if the Up Smash doesn’t hit, you can punish with a Forward Smash after when they whiff. Example here. At ledge when facing away, you can do an Up Smash OoS as a ledge trap, or release Shield and then Forward Tilt to cover ledge rolls, but the former is otherwise better. Release Shield then Down Smash can pop you up enough to avoid attacks while the long startup delays past the ledge invincibility (if they grab ledge a 2nd time) and startup of nearly all getup options. Same applies if you’re on a platform and you drop Shield and use the move to punish juggle options underneath.
. Fair; some backwards momentum if you hold back during the animation. Can confirm into tipper Forward Tilt that way when you fadeback + fastfall from a shorthop.
* There's also doing shield drop followed by full momentum nair or fair, as you can cancel the 11 frames of shield drop with jumpsquat at any time. The only thing you can't cancel shield drop with what you can do normally OoS is grab.
. Bair; can also release Shield followed by IRAR Bair, typically using it to punish whiffs and catch poorly spaced landings or approaches, or during a tech chase as they roll toward you and you do said Bair. Pivot Bair can be used similarly while fading back. Either way, will want to fastfall with it for best frame advantage. Shorthop Bair can also catch someone standing on a platform, IRAR included.
. Release Shield then Jab.
. Release Shield then Up Tilt; includes EDC Up Tilt. Can also use tilt stick to input a turnaround Up Tilt after the EDC, allowing you to combo into reverse nair and/or bair. Reverse Nair > turnaround Up Tilt works too as long as you have decent momentum on the nair.
. Release Shield then Down Tilt; includes EDC Down Tilt.
. Not included among these in the same vein, but after shielding a close attack, you can Forward Tilt (regular or up angle, typically with the sour hit which leads into tech chases), Dash Attack, or Forward or Down Smash for the most minus on shield moves. A quick mixup is Dair OoS (short or fullhop) for when Nair might be too slow, and alternatively can shorthop forward OoS, footstool, and Dair. Dair can be a surprising OoS mixup at kill % for the sour hit, including when you shorthop OoS at ledge to punish ledge hangers, but at low to mid % with the sweetspot, you can followup with a Forward Smash. At higher %, Up Smash may hit them when they’re launched higher from the sweetspot Dair. Example here. For other mixups you can shorthop forward or backward OoS while doing a single Plasma or Skewer (or a wavebounce in the case of Skewer), and jump or shorthop forward OoS and either Uair (for baiting an airdodge, punishing a whiff, or catching a jump as you jump or Slingshot forward) or Space Pirate Rush. For one other mixup, you can do Wing Blitz forward OoS when you're shield pressured in a corner, as the startup of WB can allow you to avoid some low profile attacks like with the startup of Down Smash. Example of it here. Can also catch those that like to do a safe aerial followed by spotdodge.

Alternatively for the shield release ones, you can do them out of spot dodge. Remember too you can shield while approaching, like out of an EDC (extended dash cancel) or better yet dash shielding by holding forward and press shield without letting go of the left stick which makes the shield come out instantly, and you won't do an accidental forward roll with the way the timing for it works. Can do a dash shield boost grab this way too, and same concept applies to crouch shielding which is crouching first and then pressing shield which will prevent a spot dodge. Also remember shield tilting by holding shield + B; can release B after you tilted, unless tilting upwards to prevent jumping out of shield.

There's also doing an up close attack on an opponent's shield followed by shield tilting away from them, and you can make a followup attack of theirs whiff. As a big body though, may be less likely to work.


Then there's double shield cancel- Inputs in my case are L & Y/B, and R/X/tap for jump.

You hold double shield, jump, let go of one shield input, and gives a fullhop with full drift; can hold left, right, or diagonally up first before the jump since you won't be rolling. Can do FH or IDJ aerials out of this which I would mostly do over our laggy specials.

To shorthop out of double shield, hold DS, tap jump, and let go of one shield input. Same deal with full drift shorthop back or forward.

Now, you can hold forward while DSing against an attack on your shield, and buffer footstool OoS. During DS, tap jump when they hit your shield and let go of one shield input, drift forward and jump again for the footstool. Can mash jump too and/or use two jump inputs to guarantee a shorthop.

* I noticed for shorthop out of double shield, you can also let go of jump input and then one shield input. So what helps for me, is hold L shield the whole time, then Y and R, and let go of R and then Y quickly; instead of it always having to be releasing Y and then R.

In Ridley's case, the idea of being able to do a full retreating nair OoS against stubby characters can be real helpful. There's also the theory of using footstool dair below plats to force tech chase situations and get an up smash.

Then there's holding DS, tappping jump, and then A, which can be seen as the DS version of the shorthop aerial macro (these inputs help with instant item throwing OoS as well). Also, within four frames of hitting the A button and you slide your thumb from A to jump, the game will read SH aerial macro into jump which is the inputs needed to buffer an IDJ aerial.

An earlier list of the characters we can footstool nair which is also shown in this video. For anyone else, footstool dair.

Yoshi, Pikachu, Luigi, Bowser, both Icies, Dr Mario (Only when facing away from you), Pichu, Falco, Young Link (only when facing away from you), Ganondorf, Mewtwo, Wario, Ike, Squirtle, Ivysaur, Sonic, Toon Link, Mega-Man, Little Mac, Greninja, Palutena, Shulk, Bowser Jr, Duck Hunt, Ryu, Ken, Inkling, Ridley, King K Rool, Isabelle (Only when facing away from you), Piranha Plant, Steve, Mii Brawler.

Even for those you can FS nair, FS dair can be easier at first; space it for a sour dair to get effective knockback, since sweetspot dair is only good for spiking off stage; either way, wait till they're at least at mid %. With FS nair, have to be ready to press A during the 2nd jump input for the footstool, or you'll be too late and just get a regular footstool.

The good thing about double shield cancel (DSC) is that you get a full momentum jump which allows for more reach with the footstool OoS. The only problem is Ridley's footstool is kinda weird (he can push the opponent away with his legs during jumping), so you have to delay it a bit.

Our airspeed & acceleration still probably won't allow us to punish well spaced options, but normally safe on shield aerials with low end lag we can kinda punish now. Of course, we can make it easier with dash shielding to make them mis-space.

For better practice without a training mod pack, go to training, pick Min-Min as opponent, set CPU behavior to side smash, dodge the attack & hit her before the arms retract (u-throw being best with Ridley here), and she'll do a nair out of hitstun, allowing you to practice footstools out of shield and parries more consistently against said nair which is normally too safe on shield for us. To time it best, can wait till just before she's about to nair while landing to start shielding, and do the following inputs after she's landed.

While you can also practice shorthopping out of double shield to avoid her set f-smash and then footstool her, you won't see a footstool animation for it since she'll be charging f-smash again, but you'll see yourself bounce off her as you normally would when you footstool, so can dair her after.

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One other thing that isn't particularly covered anywhere else, is Ridley's 2 frame punish options as part of his edgeguard game-

. Down angle Forward Tilt (can crouch)
. Down Tilt; leads into Forward Air or Flickshot/RAR Back Air after. Fastfall if they neutral airdodge and aerial again.
. Dash Attack (very spaced)
. Forward Smash
. Down Smash; facing either way. Charging it can make it easier to time like with Forward Smash.
. Down Air (sweetspot); fullhop at ledge or for off stage use, and ledge jump Down Air to punish ledge regrab and horizontal recoveries just above ledge. Can also shorthop OoS Dair at ledge to punish ledge hangers with no intangibility.
. Plasma Breath; while single fireball doesn't go out as far as fully charged Plasma, you can go like a step closer to the ledge with it where it'll 2 frame, putting you in a better position to walk up and do any of the other 2 frames at ledge. Fullhop Plasma (single or any variation of charge) helps with the timing too. Sometimes if you send them away far enough and you put out the fullhop single fireball, it can discourage jumps, allowing you to follow them low with an nair or fair after a crouch ledge slip. Can also full charge Plasma at the ledge, and as they jump over it and airdodge towards ledge, Wing Blitz down to spike them while snapping to it.
. Wing Blitz; any angle, like WB forward from a distance (around mid stage) or up and back angle from an appropriate position off stage, though WB down after a forward short/fullhop/Akuma Jump + ledge snap is most reliable, and you can double or triple jump if you need to reposition yourself, time it right, or be off stage while facing the ledge. While there's not much of a gap for it, the shockwave of WB down can still spike someone too if close enough to the ledge while they're hanging on it with no intangibility; just basically one little smitch behind from where you would be in position to snap to ledge from a WB down while standing. Can also WB down on the ground near ledge as a bait to get them to think you're trying to spike them, which may get them to pick a hasty ledge option (roll, etc) that you can punish.
* If you hold forward during pretty much any of the 2 frames except Wing Blitz (still being a roll distance away for plasma for positioning and so you can do the run skid method of trumping after), you can walk off and ledge trump as a mixup. Even if you don't get a followup attack from the trump in time like a reverse nair at mid % (mainly on big bodies), uair to catch a jump or movement above after, or bair at high %, the opponent will have less to no intangibility when they regrab the ledge which you can punish with something else powerful like an f-smash, down angle f-tilt, and such.

The timing and spacing for everything takes practice, and of course is opponent recovery dependent, but listening to their sound cues can help. While Down Smash can 2 frame as shown, it's arguably better for punishing ledge regrabs and covering most ledge getup & jablock tech chase or post-skewer options (and punishing rolls and spot dodges when otherwise on stage which can be spammed on overly aggressive opponents that don’t respect it) with how difficult its 2 frame timing is compared to the other moves, but definitely satisfying when you pull it off. You can still use Forward Smash, Wing Blitz down, Down Air, or Down Tilt > Forward Air or Flickshot/RAR Back Air to punish ledge regrab too though, as most kill a little earlier, but Down Smash has more range. Ridley can also ledgehop fair, nair, uair, and bair to get from ledge to stage with them, or ledgehop followed by any special while landing, and use said aerials or specials off stage at ledge (typically nair or a timed Wing Blitz) to 2 frame teleport recoveries. Bair becomes untechable from the side of stage starting around 147% without rage and 125% with max rage, whether from ledge hang or when 2 framing them with it.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

The first of a series of guides by Vreyvus, this one giving a broader perspective of Ridley's neutral game. Some of the defensive tips gave me an important lesson to keep in mind, not to mention the fastfall nair option for extra frame advantage as well as our neutral being all about changing pace throughout the match.

After rewatching this some years later, would say one of the best things to keep in mind are the safe on shield options (or somewhat safe) like tipper f-tilt, tipper d-tilt, f-smash (especially if they don’t have a good up B OoS, though max spaced is preferred), max spaced d-smash, retreating sweetspot autocancel nair (sourspot autocancel nair may be safe against slow characters), landing tipper f-air (can fadeback), and landing (can fastfall) or pivot b-air; the last two can be from a landing short or fullhop. Can do a retreating fullhop, dash back, or better yet Slingshot options and variants after either safely pressuring said shield to avoid any opponent OoS options & reduce getting stuck in shield yourself, or Slingshot as a neutral or bait & punish mixup when you're already facing them. Can also combine some of those safe on shield moves to punish mashy players that mash an aerial OoS in response to every move, like tipper f-tilt on shield into f-smash punishing, or fadeback tipper f-air on shield into u-tilt punishing.

* Another way of doing good shield pressure, at least with plats, is if they're on a plat shielding, you uair their shield with the sweetspot as close to the ground as possible, and fastfall. Is only -9 and does very good shield damage, but on the landing, you more or less have to confirm for a grab.

This all tends to work best in those situations where you send them on a plat and don't have enough time to up smash, or if they successfully land there. They tend to hold shield there, and you can fullhop to catch their jumps with uair; so you just shorthop and falling uair, fastfall, and then you can fullhop and hit their jump if they feel safe enough to hop away. You can then go for an up smash as a shield break if they're pressured and are still stationary enough.

There's also spaced d-tilt > f-tilt on shield as a combo if they hold shield. It loses to jump-in's like a falling aerial (though if you d-tilt again you'll typically avoid a rising aerial OoS) as well as fullhop, but if you think they'll hold shield, the f-tilt followup forces them to do something, and then you play an RPS situation.


Plasma can help for getting a headstart on pressure if you go for it and they happen to shield, but don’t try to get a side B or grab for a followup because you sacrifice stage control in doing so and will be punished for it easily. Instead try to poke with tipper d-tilt or f-tilt. They’ll get shield poked at the very least, having a low health shield afterward while still being cornered. They’ll thusly try to avoid Plasma in the future by jumping over it, which you can catch with fullhop nair or fair/rar bair and maybe our on ground anti-airs, or they might move back to avoid the Plasma which will give you stage control.

Also from the video guide, remember to use your 3rd jump when midair to bait out moves so you can land safely (sometimes allowing you to punish but mix up when/where/how you use your jumps to land as per the bait & punish playstyle), make an approach safer by jumping away from opponent instead of landing near them, or delay your recovery timing when off stage. Any of the three jumps we can use to turnaround when midair which not only gives more landing flexibility but is useful for allowing you to choose between fair or bair and changing your angle of recovery.


From around 15 to 25% is when the sweetspot and sourspot nair starts to send the opponent into tumble, sometimes earlier or later depending on weight, and then around 45% for the back hit. Fastfall when applicable, and can also do a retreating autocancel nair to set up a Slingshot option. It's good to know so you can know when to start setting up tech chases with the move, unless they're a floaty, in which case they're vulnerable to another aerial. If nair’s used properly, you can learn the opponent’s favorite options and use it against them to get a big lead; catch on to how they respond to tech situations and punish accordingly either with a burst option (i.e. EDC d-tilt, pivot f-tilt, dash attack, side B which you can also shorthop back first before the SPR if they're near ledge or dash/shorthop forward first if they're further away, or for a rare burst mixup, Wing Blitz forward to cover tech and landing options when they're at kill %) to cover techroll away or something like d-smash & dash back or Slingshot into f-smash to cover techroll in. If they're at lower % where those smashes won't kill yet, can jab, f-tilt, u-tilt, nair, or fair a techroll in to setup another tech chase, or d-tilt it or grab > d-throw to setup a combo. Some of the mentioned burst options may also be possible for covering techroll in if you react fast enough, but is riskier. At higher %, can also try an IRAR bair to catch a techroll in or landing, as it kills around 90% at ledge. Thus, when they're around 75%, knocking them away with f-tilt, nair, and such can set them up for said bair kill at ledge.

* Keep move staleness in mind. If you use SPR seldomly and other moves like dash attack and pivot f-tilt more with tech chasing for instance, SPR will be more likely to kill when you do finally use it to catch a tech away or landing, especially if it ends up dragging less since more drag = more damage while less drag = more knockback. Of course, you also got the SPR jump release setups to consider for killing if used at earlier %.

* U-tilt you can actually go for during a tech chase at whatever %, though don't try to EDC u-tilt much due to the move's limited range (unless it's as a whiff punish or after shielding an unsafe move with pushback), but rather run up and u-tilt to cover neutral tech or techroll away, while standing to catch techroll in as aforementioned. While u-tilt can combo into itself at low % and juggle into fullhop aerials well at mid %, doing a tech chase to get them into the % ranges for u-tilt into uair kill confirm is where it'll be most notable. Just be aware of how much damage gentleman jab, f-tilt, nair, and fair (plus the sour and sweetspot of most of these moves) do when using them to setup the tech chase for u-tilt into uair kills, and if they end up off stage, can ledgetrap them with u-tilt (cover ledge roll from mid range or after shielding ledge getup attack). Can also use these move damage calculations for when you run up and d-throw/d-tilt into fullhop flickshot bair, plasma into dash attack/running shorthop flickshot bair or pivot f-tilt/u-smash, or when doing a landing or shorthop forward uair into a fullhop/double jump uair; if they're at death % for any of those kill confirms.

If they miss their tech and you’re not near them to do any of the jab 1 or 2 options or d-smash/f-smash, can run towards them to provoke a getup attack, dash the other way while they miss, and side B them. Shield grab works too as well as shield punishing moves -19 or more with u-tilt if they're at u-tilt > uair kill confirm %, and can also punish a missed tech with moves like dash attack, Wing Blitz forward, EDC d-tilt to setup a combo, or pivot f-tilt. If they neutral tech they may shield when feeling pressured, which you can then grab when nearby or side B when a bit further away.

* A couple more miscellaneous options to catch them during a tech chase is with uair and dair. With uair it would typically be when they're at high %, and you would move and try to catch their tech option with a landing or shorthop forward uair, followed by a fullhop or double jump uair to hopefully KO them. Dair is just for a disrespect way of catching their tech roll or sometimes if they miss tech, followed by an anti-air or aerial option. Slingshot might help with getting such a dair during those tech chases, but there's still the risk of missing with dair due to all that end lag.

If they jump away and land to avoid the tech chase or better yet you pressure them to exhaust their resources such as airdodge and frametrap them after they jump, most of the mentioned moves can also be used to catch said landing with proper timing and spacing, including the burst options. A single plasma can also be good for seeing how they react to a tech situation and use that information for a hard punish later, as well as testing them with charged plasma for setting up yet another chase which can cover not only techroll away but neutral tech and even techroll in to some extent with the low end lag that plasma has when you charge it (can shorthop back while starting the plasma charge if you want to be extra safe with the tech option coverage). Also allows for plasma conversion into moves at kill % when they're at high %, and covers their landing if they jump or airdodge to avoid the tech chase, but have to time it depending on their jump height and be in a position where they can't easily land an aerial on you. Don't forget about fullhop plasma from center stage too for platform and floor coverage (two or three fireballs) during a tech chase on plat stages. If a nair doesn't set up for a tech chase, aside from the opponent jumping, they might respond with an attack of their own which you can anticipate and punish by either shielding the move or keep out of range and whiff punish.

After 15% is when bair will have sufficient hitstun and f-throw (can be hard for opponent to react to if used seldomly with how quick it is) will set up for a tech chase, so is recommended to not use at least until then where it can also send into tumble or better yet off stage, and fastfall bair when applicable. If done from a fullhop, can also do a turnaround SPR as a mixup or a Slingshot option if they shield the bair. Likewise, rapid jab & dash attack (the former sends the opponent launching for you to catch a landing and the latter is mainly as a whiff punish) can set up tech chases from 0% (as well as b-throw) and gentlemen jab & tipper f-tilt at early % slightly past 0 (so around 5% but can also do fair 1 > gentleman jab > tech chase/EDC d-tilt at 0% and fair 1 > grab from the closest hitbox of fair 1), sweetspot dair from 0% & sour dair from 10%, and sour f-tilt & tipper f-air (can Flickshot or Holdshot to set up the f-air) works within the 20% range (32% for sour f-air); also applies to up angle f-tilt for the matchups that demand use of it along with pivot cancel f-tilt if needed to close the distance, and both can be combined together. If they shield the f-tilt, try and go for a Slingshot option if you have space. Same if you do a landing tipper f-air on shield. For f-air into tech chasing, can help to use something to launch the opponent first like d-tilt to set up the f-air, in which case it sends into tumble earlier around the % that sweetspot nair does so. Likewise, from 0%, can do sweetspot nair > grab & d-throw > f-air > tech chase. Don't fish for those combos though; only go for if you know you'll safely land the d-tilt or nair to begin with. Even if they shield the d-tilt, can go for a Slingshot option after.

* Our f-throw is actually good at throwing opponents perfectly on plats across a decent range of percents (pivot grab helps set this up if you're near a corner and want to catch their approach and then f-throw them to the plat on the other side of stage). For instance, with Mario on regular Battlefield at ~86%, f-throwing him on a plat puts him at kill % for up smash, covering all tech options along with DI out (on Small Battlefield, this works ~6% sooner). Arguably f-throw's best use overall, and up to around 40%, the f-throw can send from center stage to slightly across the other plat. For the heaviest character (Bowser), up smash kills him on plats starting at 118%, so can f-throw him when he's at 108%. B-throw sends a bit further along with doing slightly more damage than f-throw, making it not as useful for this setup but still possible.

If you SPR someone and they get out of it due to you being hit by a lingering projectile of theirs (Samus's bombs, Snake's grenade, etc), it can setup a tech situation at any % as long as they begin being dragged on the ground when the SPR gets cancelled out. If they don't know this, they'll miss a tech and get jablocked.

While using a burst option to cover tech away is a good guess due to away being the safest and most evasive tech option for the opponent in most cases, is still a good idea to see how the opponent techs first after one neutral win, and then cover that option the next time you initiate a tech chase. Or you can go for the burst option and see how the tech chase works out, but either way, you want to use the first chase to gather information and establish one of their habits, and then cover that option in a next chase. Tech options are habitual and exploitable, but they may mix it up which you have to catch on to and adapt. If they miss their tech, expect a getup attack most of the time which you can punish with some of the aforementioned moves that covers it.

Reading like this goes beyond tech chasing too. Also take note of their options in other tricky situations such as landing from above, their ledge options, or how they recover, thereby maximizing your advantage. Do they like to jump to avoid a tech situation or mash jump out of hitstun which you can pressure them into a frame trap? Do they like to use their jumps or a certain airdodge when trying to land from above? Do they like to ledge jump or do ledge drop attacks? Do they like to recover low or higher off stage? Their OoS options? Pay attention to those things.


Using Ridley’s range to stay right outside the opponent's reach is key. Your main tools for applying ranged pressure are Plasma Breath (combos into dash attack, dash/boost grab, and tilts when it hits depending on the situation, but mix up how you use it in neutral between single fireball & half charged, shorthop & fullhop/multi-jump movement, B-reversing, Flickshot or Holdshot, etc, and even if it doesn't hit, it can be used to create openings when they either shield or jump, both of which can be punished with a proper read or reaction such as wait for them to land and grab if they jump, while shielding any landing aerials coming your way or moving under opponent to make them whiff), d-tilt (also use dash away > regular/turnaround d-tilt to catch a bad landing, particularly at ledge, turnaround d-tilt to get someone behind you which Slingshot makes it more easily consistent to input, d-tilt in general to punish grounded approaches and dash backs if the opponent pressures your shield, or an EDC d-tilt to close the gap but only if you know they’re gonna commit to being on the ground), f-tilt (all angles and pivot cancel included), f-air (fadeback included), nair (can eat up airdodges depending on the timing), and bair (pivot included); can shorthop IRAR and fullhop RAR for the last two aerials, or Slingshot variants like Flickshot and Holdshot.

A good way to reduce whiffing your moves is remember that if an opponent's near you but not quite close enough to f-tilt (regular or up angle), d-tilt instead and then combo. If you f-tilt and whiff and they don't move any closer, don't try it again. Just either d-tilt or go for a Slingshot option. Same concept applies to using fair or bair when not in nair's range other than Slingshot, as you don't want to get whiff punished for carelessly spamming nair. If a dash attack or f-smash whiffs but not by much, you can sometimes followup with f-tilt. If a d-smash whiffs like when going for it at kill % as a ledge coverage option and you mistime it as they roll in or something, can shield or roll behind the opponent if you predict they’ll go for a grab. This may not seem practical, but it works depending on the matchup and how laggy certain opponents’ moves are. Likewise, if they ledge roll right behind you at the end of a d-smash animation and it barely misses, can quickly do an up smash.

If the opponent is constantly retreating by dashing back to avoid your mid range attacks and make you whiff, what you need to do is deprive them of the space to retreat. Every time they try to bait out your mid range options, you take the opportunity to close in and maintain that mid range homeostasis. They'll have to break out of the corner somehow, and if the opponent has a bad landing, bad roll, or something, that's where you get your mileage.

If the opponent gets into your space, jab and nair are good as get-off-me options which you can then tech chase with; nair has more range but jab comes out quicker and can beat out spotdodges with the lingering hitbox, so is good to know when to use which. Gentleman jab is preferred in more cases than rapid jab due to the better knockback at high % and being safer on shield which it can sometimes catch panic options like grab or jumping out of shield. Delaying the 3rd hit can catch them off guard sometimes too when they drop their shield after jab 2. Using rapid jab at lower % near ledge where it's harder to escape can be good for getting good extra damage though.

With that which has been said, the goal is still to stay in between tipper f-tilt and d-tilt’s ranges, not being much closer unless you plan to go for a dash attack or grab; walking can help with this precision (especially when you want to calculate your approach on platform stages where there’s less space and calculating your pressure under the plats) in addition to dash or run since Ridley's walk speed is pretty good, and can give you faster access to shielding and tilts/aerials as well. Same goes for EDC and/or converting it into a dash walk, as well as dash shielding. There's also dash shield boost grab, on that note.

Shield tilting’s important too, especially for a big body. It prevents not only shield poking by tilting where they attack it (most useful for multi-hits or rapid jabs when your shield isn’t at full health which’ll allow you to still skewer punish, tilting shield downward when on a platform right above someone followed by d-smash to punish juggle attempts, and tilting it upward for safe landing aerials that can be followed by rising aerials), but can make some grabs whiff by tilting away.

Your parry box is always slightly bigger than your shield box, even when your shield shrinks as it loses health; this allows you to parry moves that otherwise would never have hit you or your shield. That's where parry shifting comes in, where if you tilt your shield, it doesn't move your parry box. You can even tilt your shield away from the opponent, making it easier to force a whiff parry; an opponent's dash attack for example, but using parry shifting to punish aerials is the strongest use of the technique. There's also this aspect of parrying- Release shield and input your fastest attack on the side your opponent lands on. Can also be used at ledge to cover ledge options.

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Prioritizing these movements, defensive options, and spacing is good for evading pressure, which in neutral you’ll want to do over just relying on our OoS options since frame wise they’re not the best but can be good occasionally to check your opponent, along with any kind of jump OoS to reposition yourself or a do landing aerial (without buffering it as a rising move to save on end lag or make it safer on shield) if nothing else. With OoS the idea is to make yourself space when escaping pressure instead of trying to fight back, more often than not. Make purposeful movements and try to create scenarios where the opponent will swing at the wrong time, and then punish.

While our rolls aren't much good as a big body where we can still get hit, if shielding near someone and they're about to do a slow committal move (including some characters' tether grabs if you know the range), can roll behind them while still evading it, but know which moves you can avoid like that instead of guessing. If shielding while they're behind you and not confident you'll get an OoS move out, there's always spot dodging. It's been given a bad name due to how it became used on wifi, but there are proper times to use a spot dodge, such as avoiding a projectile when you may not have much time to otherwise, timely avoiding a grab when you're shielding (for those with a tether grab, know the extent of their range as aforementioned and their slower startup, some of which allows you to dash attack their shield and still spot dodge them), or occasionally dodging a long range move but don't overuse in that regard. Some matchups will allow you to get away with OoS attack options more too, depending on the character and their frame data. Generally, plenty of their normals you'll be able to at least punish OoS (with the exception of a safely fast d-tilt for some), while a lot of their landing aerials and some of their specials will be too safe on shield, so you'll have to either neutral reset or crouch under their shorthop rising aerials and then punish.


Spacing forward or fadeback shorthop f-air and retreating autocancel nair are good for covering aerial approaches while remaining mobile, as well as pivot bair to some extent (flick the stick behind you, shorthop, and then immediately flick the C-stick in opposite direction). Retreating autocancel nair won’t be safe against the few that have a good quick dash attack option out of shield release though, but that’s where Flickshot nair comes in. Ridley also excels at catching jumps with his aerials; at low to mid %, you can catch them midair with nair which can lead into another aerial by reading and punishing their 2nd jump, or if they've already jumped, anticipate and catch their 2nd jump. For those with linear or weak recoveries, this can lead into early kills via gimping with our edgeguarding, especially if they're already off stage where a nair will set up a string of attacks that will leave them with no way to recover. If they airdodge after you catch their 1st jump with nair, you can still punish with a delayed aerial read, or be patient and wait to catch their landing with an attack from the ground.

Another way to catch jumps with our aerials is when someone’s shielding, bait them to jump OoS through empty landings, and then do like a rising shorthop or fullhop nair or fair, bair if facing away first, or use a ground anti-air (up tilt, up smash, up angle f-tilt) after the empty landing to catch their jump, and maybe uair if they double jump. There's Slingshot options to also consider doing. Well spaced aerials/tilts on shield may bait a whiffed shield grab that can be punished by long range moves (remember too when nearby, you can grab when the opponent's grabbing in order to clank). Can also do those empty jumps near ledge when they’re off stage to possibly influence how they recover, run towards ledge to pressure them to pick a ledge option and then back up, jump off stage just above their altitude to get them to recover and jump back to ledge and attack, or go barely off stage with a fullhop or double jump nair to provoke an option from them, followed by an edgeguard or ledgetrap with said aerials or otherwise.

To cover the rest of the basic bait & punish concepts, the general idea is run/jump in and out (or dash shield) to fake out approaches at about a roll distance, and with any luck getting the opponent to whiff a move and punish it. The standard B&P is as the opponent approaches, dash further back to outspace their attack and punish them. Our strongest ground whiff punish moves range between dash attack, f-smash (mainly using this with either dash back/Slingshot to punish bad approaches/landings or pivot f-smash to catch neutral tech or techroll in/away if you need to get closer first), d-smash, Flickshot/IRAR or pivot bair, SPR or boost grab, Skewer, and Wing Blitz forward, but depends on the distance between you and the opponent when they whiff, and how much end lag their move had. The jumping B&P is to use grounded movement toward or away from opponent and jump as they use a ground option to attack (grounded projectiles included), hitting with an aerial from above; any aerial depending on the position with you and the opponent. Use the standard B&P more against characters with good juggling or anti-air tools, and use the jump B&P more against characters with good ground and grab tools. Can also fake an air approach by jumping in and then spacing or jumping back which can bait an option from them (aerial or grounded) and punish. Lastly, there’s reverse B&P, by playing defensive and then moving forward to attack as the opponent approaches like with our ranged tilts. Can mix it up to throw them off.


Kill % ranges for each move:

. Gentleman jab: Kills at 160%, but closer to 130% at ledge. Good after shielding a close move, f-air 1 fastfall, and SPR mashout if they're close enough.
. Dash attack: Around 118%, but kills closer to 95% at ledge. The reverse nair and plasma setups into dash attack start prior to 95%, together making it easy to remember. Can also setup a jablock around that % and DA for the kill. Dash forward and then same direction on C-stick makes DA instant as needed, unreactable at mid range.
. F-tilt for sweetspot kills around 133% and 110% at ledge, while for the sourspot, kills a little past 180% and closer to 150% at ledge; all angles included when it comes to ledge. Fadeback f-air + fastfall can also setup into sweetspot f-tilt as mentioned, and can do plasma into pivot f-tilt tipper at kill % as a safer mixup from dash attack, even if the plasma pushes them slightly off stage where you can get the f-tilt before they drift too far away.
. D-tilt for sweetspot kills around 180%, around 170% on a lower platform, and at 153% on the top platform, but is more of a combo move with the sourspot. As mixups, can do d-tilt into dash up smash just past 80%, d-tilt into Flickshot/RAR bair around 90% at ledge which works on DI in or fastfall into another bair if they neutral airdodge, and d-tilt into fullhop uair past 100%. If they jump/airdodge, fastfall or stay under them and wait to catch their landing.
. U-tilt sweetspot kills at 160%, the sourspot at 163%, and a little earlier under a lower platform at 157% and 144% on the top platform. Do after shielding a close move that's -19 or more, from an EDC if they’re not too far away like as a whiff punish or after shielding a move with pushback like rapid jab, catching ledge options like ledge roll or shielding ledge getup attack, or when opponent's right above you, approaches from high in the air, or after crouching under a shorthop rising aerial where they end up above you. The intangibility of u-tilt makes it pretty hard to challenge from above, even when juggling with it at low %, or mid % after d-throw/d-tilt (regrab or tilt again on reaction if they airdodge, u-smash if they land at kill %).
. F-smash in general kills around 65% and around 50% at ledge, catching badly spaced landings or approaches (including jumping in with something aggressive from ledge), acting as a roll and spot dodge punisher, punishing moves that are -29 on shield or higher, and can punish an opponent's neutral getup from ledge if you're patient enough to use it after intangibility ends or as a read on how they get up from ledge; even better, ledge trump > double jump back to stage > f-smash on their ledge regrab also works. Dash back, walk back, or Slingshot first if needed either when you sense an approach or during one if you need to properly space f-smash, or can use pivot f-smash to try and catch neutral tech or techroll in/away, though if waiting for them to land before choosing a tech option, remember to time that wait if they're a slowfaller.
. D-smash kills at 100%, around 90% on a lower platform, and at 82% on a top platform. Can also be used as a get-off-me tool on a plat when being pressured by someone under you. Note that max spaced d-smash is just slightly shorter than max spaced tipper f-tilt & slightly longer than max spaced f-smash, while still good to use at that range to mitigate being punished for d-smash usage & still being able to whiff punish attacks at that range with d-smash hopping over attacks and hitting opponent. Ledge trump > ledge roll > d-smash can be good for timely covering them landing past ledge.
. U-smash kills at 101%, at 96% on a lower platform, and 86% on the top platform. It has intangibility on the attacking leg, and the flickshot way of doing a turnaround u-smash is a good way of using it as a mixup at kill % (or as a true followup from plasma if you do it fast enough), using out of crouch when avoiding a rising aerial, or setting up a tech chase prior to when the move is at kill %. Also, if you do a tilt (say a dash or EDC into a point-black d-tilt) on shield, u-smash will shield poke right after, though your tilts will not be safely spaced on shield, so only do this as a mixup.
. Nair sweetspot kills around 183% from fullhop and 185% from shorthop, closer to 150% near ledge, and of course earlier off stage. A run up nair can be hard to react to at mid range.
. F-air tipper along with our four throws kill around 200%, so we don't really have kill throws (although on a lower platform d-throw kills at 174% with no DI and u-throw kills at 181%, while on top plat d-throw kills at 159% and u- throw at 157%). Speaking of the throws, keep in mind that run up or dash grab can be harder to react to as a mid range burst option. Like the mentioned throws, f-air is more of a combo damage move, but off stage it can kill fairly early at higher % with its knockback, sometimes more-so than nair.
. B-air fullhop kills at 105% (Flickshot included) and the shorthop kills at 108% (IRAR and pivot b-air included for the latter in the case of whiff punishing or catching bad landings/approaches or rolls during a tech chase), while at ledge the move kills around 90%. This makes it one of our best moves for getting an early kill with via ledgetrapping, where you face backwards near ledge, and as you anticipate a ledge getup of some kind, fade further back while doing a bair. If it just barely misses, can followup with a tipper f-tilt. Can go for IRAR bair during a ledgetrap too but like with any move, have to properly space it, and fastfall after. Bair becomes untechable from ledge hang starting at 147% without rage, and at 125% with max rage.
. U-air tipper kills at 142% from ground level, and if they’re on the top platform, shorthop uair from the ground kills at 122%. Can also hit under stage floors with it, land with it as a whiff punish, or catching either a tech roll/option or a jump while doing a Slingshot or jump/shorthop forward (and into another Uair if not yet at kill % with it), or run off stage and use if they're recovering high.
. D-air sourspot on stage kills at 132% from fullhop and 134% from shorthop if it hits, making it a decent OoS mixup at the right %, or a mixup for catching tech rolls/options with if you're near and above them. At ledge it kills around 110% or earlier off stage and if sweetspot is used after a ledge jump to punish ledge re-grabs, airdodging to ledge, or horizontal recoveries just above ledge, it'll kill at whatever %. Can also shorthop OoS dair at ledge to punish ledge hangers. The sweetspot on stage though just launches them some vertically, but can try and followup with an anti-air if it comes to that.
. Space Pirate Rush kills around same % range as tipper f-tilt with DI considered, and even earlier without proper DI, as well as with certain platform setups like on Town and City. Kills earlier near ledge without dragging regardless of DI, and when not staled earlier on and/or with sufficient rage built up. While SPR in general is to be used after you've either conditioned opponent to shield, whiff punished them, use jump OoS into SPR as a response to rapid jab finishers that aren't negative enough on shield to punish with Skewer or f-smash (though can also dash attack or dash grab against them in response), or use to tech chase with or catch their landing, it can also catch ledge jumps surprisingly if positioned right, and of course rolls. Said whiff punishing also includes projectiles if the opponent's zoning is predictable or you read them, but have to use landing SPR from the air, at an angle where you'll avoid the projectile and grab them (depends on the trajectory of the projectile in question too, but ones that arc down are easiest, though you can SPR above horizontal ones if they aren't too high or too big).
. Wing Blitz forward kills around 100%, and closer to 75% around ledge if used from mid stage as a 2 frame, ledge regrab punish, catch any recovery (up B, side B, etc) that slightly bypasses ledge if used from mid stage, catch an on-stage landing after you knocked them away (can also walk off plat into WB forward or do so from under that platform position with a shorthop to try and hit them at the position where you can fall and hold in toward ledge after to grab it which also works if they're on the other plat), 2 frame or ledge trump if used from off stage, or just as an offense mixup when they miss a tech or are at high % and you’re not. While the move is not entirely safe on shield, it can crossup with shields depending on the spacing in which it was used, making it harder to punish than other unsafe moves. If lucky, you can do something like an f-smash or turnaround f-smash before they can punish you, or if you feel you don't have sufficient time for that, can quickly go off stage (as you'll usually be in a corner after crossing up with their shield) and do an SPR or some aerial to attack them from there as they chase you. Wing Blitz forward can shield poke as well when their shield's not at full health, though they may shield tilt if the player knows to do so.
. Back angle Wing Blitz kills at 123%; can catch someone airborne from on stage as a jump read mixup (particularly those with a good jump height who spend most of their time in the air or as a read after doing multiple uair's on them, and can even catch a shorthop if timed right but mainly floaties who are in the air longer than usual) or as a mixup after u-throw if timed right and hit someone on a lower platform when used from the ground or from off stage to a certain extent which kills a little earlier at 116%, and at 102% if they’re on the top plat and using the move from a lower plat. If appropriately positioned off stage, can 2 frame recoveries with it (most notably teleport ones) or ledge trump; can use back angle Wing Blitz from center stage too and grab a ledge after which can possibly ledge trump then.
* Despite what the numbers say, back angle is more reliable for killing than forward angle since it launches them vertically to the blast zone when it hits, and both the horizontal angles you'll mostly be using as a recovery when you have to, with the back angle also putting you at a better position to challenge someone edgeguarding.
. Up angle Wing Blitz kills around 150%; i.e. when you up B poke with it from ledge, and at 124% when they’re on the top plat and used from the ground. When recovering to the ledge with it while intercepting someone above that's off stage, it can also kill earlier as well as 2 frame or ledge trump, though if it doesn’t, hang at ledge and wait to intercept them with a ledge jump aerial. Up angle can also be a mixup to catch someone high in the air like if they do a certain jump or laggy airdodge before landing or after multiple uair's, but only go for if you know for sure it'll hit.
. Down angle Wing Blitz on stage kills around 140% near center stage and within the early 100% range when closer to ledge as a landing mixup or niche roll punish from shorthop, but you'll be spiking with it off stage (can also punish laggy airdodges to ledge with ledge snap), 2 framing or ledge trumping with a ledge snap, or using the shockwave if close enough to ledge while opponent's regrabbing or hanging with no intangibility at any % much more often, and is not the safest angle to use on stage except to recover to ledge from up high, unless you’ve damaged their shield some where it can at least shield poke. Can also hit opponents under platforms on stage as a mixup due to its ability to go through plats, which is mainly where its on stage kill % will be important.
* At ledge and ~0%, d-throw > nair/fair > turnaround jump > down angle WB while facing ledge can be a good mixup.

** These are all midweight Mario percents at default standing position, aside from the ones at ledge as specified. Against a heavy, these moves would kill 5 to 10% or so higher than the numbers listed and around as higher if they're a super heavy (U-Smash on Bowser without rage at 125% from ground & 118% from lower side plat for instance and slightly lower for other super heavies), and of course equally lower than what's listed if they're lightweight. Stages have some kill % differences as well due to different lengths in the blast zone ceilings/floors or walls, but these percents were all on Final Destination, aside from the platform % examples which were on Battlefield. With that said too, you may end up KOing Mario a little earlier than what's listed with rage accounted for; the increased knockback gained starting when you're at 35% and the multiplier ending when you’re at 150% (also applies to kill confirms, not just the individual moves themselves), but will still have the gained knockback increase for the rest of your stock. Everything listed was tested without rage.

In neutral though, don't always go for the same move when the opponent's at a certain %, especially if it doesn't work the first time. Against a good opponent, fishing for a certain move to kill will give you less success than it may have before, so keep in mind what other moves may kill later.


Trying to save up throw for last out of the four throws is good too as mentioned due to its damage potential, the main exception being when you'll use it to throw the opponent to a top platform for a skewer setup; doing up throw at center stage is best because the opponent can't escape towards ledge without using their double jump. At higher %, you can chase by doing up throw (tomahawk jump forward and fastfall into grab if you conditioned them to shield after a previous landing aerial) or up tilt and then a tomahawk jump up (baiting to do an aerial essentially) and fastfall, and if they exhaust their jumps or airdodge in reaction, then catch their landing with an attack accordingly like dash attack or one of the smashes for the kill if they land next to you or near ledge; can skewer or shorthop SPR as a mixup if they land in your mid range. Alternatively if they airdodge, you can do a delayed aerial after the up throw & fullhop as you land, or doing a 2nd or 3rd jump to connect with it if you need to. Overall though, mainly use the up throw frame trap for those that have difficulty landing to begin with, or a character that can't safely make it to ledge after jumping away.

It doesn’t have to be just uair that you juggle with too unless on certain platform stages (plus uair is more of a read based move with how slow and committal it is, like using it after conditioning someone to jump as a result of platform pressure, catching a jump otherwise while doing a Slingshot or jump/shorthop forward, bait an airdodge, or punishing a ground or aerial whiff where you land it accordingly). It can be nair, fair, or bair if you’re close enough under or next to them to hit, and using Ridley's ground speed to catch landings, u-tilt, f-tilt, and d-tilt will also work. D-tilt particularly rewards patience in waiting to use at the ledge on a landing opponent, which you can then f-air string or Flickshot/RAR bair depending, though fastfall and aerial again if they neutral airdodge.

For on ground anti-airing, use up angle f-tilt after using nair (front or back hit, and can down angle f-tilt instead if they're near ledge and knocked off by the nair) from 0% or at the end of a low % nair combo, d-throw/d-tilt setting into tech chases early as 0% (best on non-floaties), and to catch and punish shorthops or opponents recovering near ledge from above, while using up tilt (or uair or up smash if being more committal) as an anti-air for when they’re right above you from a fullhop or landing. All angle f-tilts can also be done out of pivot cancel or crouch. Fullhop nair can stuff out shorthop approaches too aside from up angle f-tilt.


For characters that outzone you and keep you at bay, you'll want to pick a Battlefield stage variant, and for rushdown characters that quickly invade your space, you'll want to pick a version of Final Destination. *Smashville or Hollow Bastion, *Town and City, and Small Battlefield are decent starter stages for Ridley too for plenty of matchups. Counterpicks in his favor depending on the matchup include Pokemon Stadium 2, *Yoshi's Story, *Lylat Cruise, Unova, and *Kalos or Northern Cave. You can tell when the platforms come back on T&C by how the background stops moving, and on SBF with how low the platforms are, you can back throw someone onto them around 60 to 70%. Although listed, stages that do not work entirely in Ridley’s favor are the Pokemon Stadiums partly due to the blast zone walls being further out, making it take more for his horizontal knockback moves to kill, and Yoshi’s Story can feel cramped for Ridley due to the smaller distance between stage and the blast zones, but if he’s in advantage he can get kills early on that stage, so a double edged sword. Go here for more on stage blast zone comparisons. On some stages like Smashville and Pokemon Stadium 2, depending on the opponent's height, you can ledgetrap by going on the left or right platform, use side B when on the far end of it, and if the opponent neutral getups and then shields, the SPR will grab them and they'll be sent back off stage. If the opponent has a bad recovery, then they'll be gimped by it.

* Stages marked with this you have to double jump before doing off stage dair, as you won’t come back from a fullhop unless standing on any of those stage’s upper platforms.

* For particular platform stages (BF, maybe Kalos & Unova, Northern Cave, SBF, Yoshi's Story), also have to take into account how close the plats are to ledge, because when someone's camping on the far left or right side of a plat, right above ledge when you're waiting or trying get off of ledge, moves of theirs like smashes can cover ledge options like our neutral getup. To avoid that kind of situation, either do a ledge jump while fading back, or wait on ledge to see what they do.

On any stage with platforms, nair and d-tilt/d-throw are potent tools to juggle the opponent onto said platforms where you can convert into various combos. Side B at that point can be used to cover getup options (but don’t act too early before the getup where they can techroll behind you), Skewer if feeling lucky, and of course up smash kills only get better with the aid of platforms. Multiple up tilts or shorthop nairs under platforms will pressure them to jump or otherwise move somehow which you can punish with a fullhop aerial (also up tilt > uair when they're on a plat at mid % followed by more uairs as they try to land which can take an early stock if timed and positioned right), or if they shield, go for an SPR. For additional pressure on someone on a lower platform, a buffered fullhop aerial followed by a 2nd or 3rd aerial with your other jumps as you land will go a long way, or fastfall after one or two and up smash from underneath. Can do an IDJ aerial to timely cover jump OoS and then a landing aerial with 3rd jump for extra pressure. A Slingshot tomahawk jump on platforms can allow for well spaced aerials & specials.

Can also fastfall through platforms by pressing down twice, which'll quickly get you back to the floor even from a top middle plat. Likewise you can cancel hitstun with platforms by drifting toward the edge of them when hit and you'll end up ledge cancelling your hitstun which lets you act immediately after and surprise your opponents, as shown here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2KWgtRG_Fo

A good way to practice the hitstun cancel on training mode is pick BF or SBF, have your % somewhere from 42-44, and have Mario set to f-smash with him positioned at the very edge of stage, as you DI left or right to drift when getting hit. FD works too if you want to just practice sliding off the ledge when hit without grabbing ledge, thereby reducing your knockback for off stage.

On an important side note, running off the side plats into an instant aerial (i.e. nair, or fair with convenient spacing) allows for perfect timed landings, which leads into combos (i.e. d-tilt). For Mario it can start at 0%, but for heavies at early %; just pay attention to their % when you d-tilt them to determine your plat skewer timing. Run off plat nair also allows Rid to hit someone hanging on ledge with no intangibility.


As far as using Ridley in doubles, remember to stay at least a roll distance away from partner for any team coordinated attacks while avoiding friendly fire. That's the general rule of thumb for doubles, but applies more to Ridley than most with how big or wide his attacks are. Likewise, keep the opponents separate as much as possible to limit them being able to do team combos themselves like with Ice Climbers.

Any of like Ridley’s throws not normally used too much (basically any of them that isn’t d-throw) would also be more relevant in doubles in the case of throwing an opponent toward a teammate for them to combo. Then there’s just grabbing without throwing or while pummeling so your teammate can run up with a strong move; usually at kill %, but if your teammate's distracted, then just throw your victim off stage to help the teammate out.

That all said, is also good to know the invincibility frames of your teammate’s throws to get an idea of when they begin and end so as to avoid friendly fire there too when you're the one attacking a hapless opponent that's grabbed. Likewise, wait to punish an opponent's grab before or after your teammate is tossed so you don't accidentally do extra damage to them and pointlessly try to attack during the enemy throw's invincibility frames.

We can occasionally use plasma on teammate characters that have a healing move like the PSI magnet kids, but only if both opponents are off stage or something. As far as SPR being a friendly fire liability in doubles, just do the jump release version instead of the drag if you’re worried about hitting your teammate during it. SPR jump release may allow said teammate to followup with an aerial or something too.

Otherwise SPR can give you or your partner a free edgeguard, and swell placed plasma can set up combos or deal massive damage to a distracted opponent. Shorthop flickshot/IRAR bair can be a good surprise mixup on a similarly distracted opponent if they're at kill %.

Platform stages are better for doubles than FD since two opponents + a teammate can make it harder to land on a non-plat stage than it otherwise might be. Plus, plats make it easier to camp against more than one opponent, whereas FD will always be all over the place between you and them.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

Oh, gotta try this sometime.

Would also recommend checking this out. Almost forgot, a separate thread was made on the contents here.

From that guide, some most important things to keep in mind, starting with neutral play, are bait falling bair > turnaround SPR or B-reverse plasma. Can do a turnaround landing skewer if you’ve conditioned opponent with landing SPR (on any stage, like when you set up landing bair after falling through a platform, and there’s also landing bair which can be fastfalled > up smash as a corner frame trap as well as landing bair > Slingshot option), and shorthop (forward, backward, or in place) single or B-reverse single fireball > dash attack/dash or boost grab/tilts; fullhop single plasma to counter-zone. Not mentioned in the vid, but can do a Flickshot or Holdshot shorthop for a single fireball and fullhop or IDJ for charged plasma. Even if they shield the plasma, can continue to pressure with your ranged tilts which will condition them to jump over instead instead of shield next time use plasma which you can punish with an anti-air. Fullhop/multi jump front or B-reverse/Flickshot half-charge plasma breath works too in neutral. Any plasma can also setup into dash attack and pivot f-tilt tipper as a kill at high %.

For side B, if you grab someone on a plat at the lowest angle possible like shorthop side B while still under them, you'll successfully grab and drag them across the bottom floor of the stage instead of the plat they were just on. It gets the command grab out while low and it's less obvious, and if you nair or u-tilt within that range and position beforehand, you'll condition them. Shorthop side B is also good for catching someone in a corner, especially if they're a tall character.

Lower platforms make the u-air > u-air combo more viable to do. Then there's down tilt > u-air > u-air with lower plats. As a Battlefield mixup, there's d-throw > nair > d-tilt > landing u-air, and better yet d-throw > fair them onto plat > up smash under them (charge if you want to wait for them to tech or getup). For platform pressure, there's also shorthop nair or u-tilt, and should they decide to jump after to reposition which they likely will, you can catch them with u-air. A lot of these setups with u-air will shale the move though, so keep in mind if you actually want to kill with it later.

One important tip mentioned at the beginning of a match on Battlefield, is to drop under and charge plasma breath (or B-reverse charge while landing), followed by dash attack, grab, or tilts, which'll catch those whose first thought is to descend under the platform they started at. Can also skewer at the start of a match to see who just holds forward. If they don’t, they probably don't have time to punish, but if they do hold forward, free damage. Plasma will more likely get them with that said. Alternatively, can followup with skewer depending on how they react to the initial plasma stream, which’ll punish if they spotdodge it.


For ledge trapping, when knocking someone off stage, is good to immediately dash to a roll distance away from the ledge and start charging plasma when they're recovering. Can do a shorthop nair, fair, u-tilt, or up smash from that position if they try to get over the plasma with ledge jump or if they try to ledge roll in, react with standing grab or d-tilt/f-tilt; can use f-tilt to cover neutral getup too, and if they shield after said getup, you can just exert corner pressure. If they eventually get back to stage after you plasma them awhile, followup with a quick option like gentleman jab or some other ledgetrap positioned move which will kill at that point to avoid getting reversaled, but you needn’t plasma spam them when they’re over 200%, as you can already kill with most moves by then.

Remember too you don't always have to constantly do full charge plasma when edgeguarding; when it's clear that just one stream will force them to have to burn a jump like if they use a side B option to help recover first and get pushed back, you can easily run off and jump with nair or fair to intercept their jump, thus gimping them (if they ever grab ledge in between plasma loops though, they’ll get their jump back, so cover it with an anti-air, and if they use it up their position becomes even worse). One other plasma thing you can do is full charge it at the ledge, and as they jump over it and airdodge towards ledge, Wing Blitz down to spike them while snapping to it.

There’s also using half charged plasma while at the edge of stage to cover one of their jumps when they’re at high %, and if they try to recover with their up B next, 2 frame f-smash or d-smash them depending on their recovery angle before they can grab the ledge, or 2 frame them with down angle f-tilt and such. While single fireball doesn't go out as far as fully charged plasma, you can go like a step closer to the ledge with it where it'll 2 frame, putting you in a better position to walk up and do any of the other 2 frames at ledge (fullhop plasma whether single or full charged also helps with the timing). If they drop down and regrab the ledge though, you won't necessarily have to 2 frame, as f-tilt, f-smash, d-smash, and such become a free punish.

Another thing you can do is fullhop falling nair next to the ledge which covers everything except ledge hang, but can use d-tilt to cover that. There’s also conditioning with it like jumping to act like you’re gonna cover ledge jump before fastfalling and punishing on reaction with nair. If expecting a ledgehop attack, can hover in their range for a moment before fading back with another jump and punishing their whiff. Likewise, drifting towards the ledge can make them think it’s safe to go for a ledge roll, which you can then double jump back and nair them for.

For a mixup, do a ledge trump nair > bair, particularly on the big bodies. For those that have a linear recovery, you can get on ledge, and drop and bair which is free against them, then up B back to stage. Another thing you can do, is face away from ledge and hold shield in the opponent's getup attack range and up smash out of shield. Up smash on its own in this instance can cover ledgehop, ledge jump, normal getup, and getup attack.


You can recover low enough with forward wing blitz, to where you don't get attacked by most edgeguarding tactics (except counter and disjointed dair’s but there's up B wall bouncing for that) and while still snapping to ledge. You can be horizontally alongside the stage or slightly lower and you'll still snap with it.

Ridley's ledge jump to nair has a lot of range. Can followup with a landing nair at low % and at higher % can set up tech chases (landing f-air after said nair followed by EDC d-tilt, or ledge jump nair followed by chasing them into a dash attack cancel grab if they DI and airdodge back, and so on). Another quick recovering mixup is to just getup from ledge (without attacking), and either jab, or spot dodge and then jab.

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With the ledge trump option select, remember about reverse nair catching jumps which also applies to using it from ledge after the trump or otherwise getting to ledge before they do. If they get hit by or airdodge the late nair (or they airdodge bair), do a quick down angle f-tilt to catch the ledge regrab or 2-frame. F-smash still works too after ledge trumping, but do a ledge drop double jump (tomahawk or nair) to stage instead of ledge roll to get in position. There's also ledge trump > ledge roll > d-smash to catch them timely landing past ledge.

Preferably, this is all done prior to or when tipper f-tilt can kill at ledge; past when reverse nair reliably connects into bair but even if f-tilt doesn't kill yet, can gimp bad recoveries or if they're without resources. After getting into position, wait and react to their up B as opposed to swinging early.

For fastfallers that don’t have much distance on their directional airdodge like Fox, they’re much more likely to mash double jump, and can whiff punish your nair with a falling aerial of their own.

Otherwise, use i-frames from ledge getup options to avoid reversals, ledgehop nair to stage and up smash to catch a high option like ZSS flip jump, or time a ledge jump dair. If they make it to stage, ledgehop nair sends them onto plats around the same % u-smash kills at (if they're another big body, they may fall below the plat, but can still run and up smash them no problem). Ledgehop nair also beats most landing options via disjoints, and ledge trumping can also be used to avoid certain options like Sonic homing attack out of disadvantage and punish the end lag. If someone ledge rolls after the trump option select, can SPR them.

There's also ledgetrump > ledge drop + double jump to stage & falling bair; this is a mixup to punish characters whose directional airdodge gets them over the ledge like Ness.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

An individual spreadsheet of the u-tilt > u-air kill confirm % ranges on everyone that's a little easier on the eyes, than scrolling through the combo doc to find them. It takes practice to pull off consistently in any case since you got only one or two shots per stock at most to do it before their damage % is already too high, and even being a little off with the jumps and timing can allow the opponent to jump or airdodge before your u-air connects, so keep in mind. What helps for me with double jump is tap jump on left stick, followed by R for my other jump button and up on c-stick for the uair. Of course even if your execution happens to be off because we're only human and they jump or airdodge, can catch their landing with an attack of choice including burst options, still making it worth going for and putting them in a bad spot. Also as a general rule of thumb, if they're past the kill confirm % ranges, they're at kill % for up or down smash at that point, which you can catch their landing and kill with either.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ODetoypSxKqHFZefXnlGI6FWNUJuaMLjIeEnZCPoPXY/edit#gid=0

As mentioned there, the percents were determined for Final Destination and Pokemon Stadium 2 due to sharing the same distance between the stage and the top blastzone with FD. For like Battlefield, Town & City, and Kalos, u-tilt > u-air will start to kill the opponent +4-6% later than the listed percents due to those stages having a slightly higher ceiling than FD. While u-tilt hits opponents on platforms, Ridley can't kill confirm off of said u-tilt as there is not enough frame advantage to do so, but if the opponent is slow to act and gets hit by it, you can still attempt a u-air for a kill afterward.

One other thing, with platform assistance when they're on said plat, can also just do u-tilt > uair at earlier mid %, and then sometimes get a kill after with a 2nd uair; fastfall when landing on the plat in between the uair's if needed. I expect they can jump or airdodge the 2nd uair if they act quick enough, but if you get a uair kill that way, more power to ya. What you can also do to kill with a 2nd uair or so is do empty hops, make them waste disadvantage resources like jumps/airdodge and then punish their worse landing. Then, when they stop biting the bait, you just go for the uair and take an early stock. Tipper uair's not to be underestimated. There's also doing back angle Wing Blitz as a read way of overshooting where you feel they'll move after being uair'd multiple times, though watch if they’re still in hitstun while falling since it usually means they’re gonna tech on a plat as they land. Back angle WB them there too early, and the intangibility from their techroll will save them, so time it and be in position. Same goes for catching them with SPR on plats.

For characters not covered in the doc-

Terry: u-tilt > fullhop uair (97-107%)
u-tilt double jump uair (98-113%)

Min-Min: u-tilt > fullhop uair (94-102%)
u-tilt > double jump uair (95-116%)

Steve: u-tilt > fullhop uair (87-95%)
u-tilt double jump uair (88-103%)
* Don't wait to u-tilt when he's slightly or anywhere above you because of anvil and maybe minecart depending on his resources, though if you expect them, can dodge and whiff punish Steve with u-tilt

Sephiroth: u-tilt > fullhop uair (79-86%)
u-tilt > double jump uair (80-95%)

Pyra: u-tilt > fullhop uair (91-97%)
u-tilt > double jump uair (92-109%)

Mythra: u-tilt > fullhop uair (87-93%)
u-tilt > double jump uair (88-103%)

Kazuya: u-tilt > fullhop uair (100-106%)
u-tilt > double jump uair (101-115%)

Sora: u-tilt > fullhop uair (82-89%)
u-tilt > double jump uair (83-94%)

Kazuya has rage drive during those % ranges, so there's a risk for going for it; at least in neutral if you fish for it. Same with Terry at 100% and over with his GO moves, Sephiroth having OWA and thus armored smashes at those % ranges unless he's in disadvantage or you whiff punish him like you normally should in the matchup, and Mythra using foresight & Bayonetta using bat within upon your uair if you mess up the timing.


What else to share in light of the 4.0 buffs... The new and improved Up Smash can now hit everyone from in front except for the following shorties:

-Kirby
-Jigglypuff
-Ice Climbers
-Mr Game & Watch
-Pikachu
-Pichu
-Diddy Kong
-Meta Knight
-Olimar
-Squirtle
-Duck Hunt Dog
-Greninja

More importantly, Up Smash became much more reliable for his ledgetrap game with the extra frames it was given, covering both ledge roll and getup attacks.

Happy labbing & matchup experimenting.


To simplify the u-tilt > u-air, starts to kill around 80 to 90%; a bit lower for lightweights and a bit higher for heavies. Stops working consistently around 110 to 120%. Up tilt > Flickshot Uair can crossup DI and kill even earlier. Mainly go for if opponent likes to be in the air above you or likes to approach from high in the air, after crouching under a shorthop rising aerial that goes above you, after shielding a close move that's -19 or more, EDC u-tilt like after whiff punishing or shielding a move with pushback like rapid jab, if you plasma them a bit first at a similar prior % for you to run up and u-tilt them, or after initiating a tech chase. There's also shield poking with u-tilt if you do a tipper f-tilt/d-tilt and they hold shield.

* For reference, one fireball does 4-5% damage, two fireballs does 9-11%, three fireballs does 15-17%, four fireballs does 21-23%, and five fireballs does 29-30%; RNG dependent of course. When going for plasma to get them closer to kill confirm % range, you don't necessarily have to use plasma in neutral; it can be plasma during a tech chase and other instances during advantage state, followed by run and u-tilt. Can also use these plasma number % calculations for when you run up and d-throw/d-tilt into fullhop flickshot bair, confirm into pivot f-tilt/dash attack, or when doing a landing or shorthop forward uair into a fullhop/double jump uair; if they're at death % for any of those kill confirms.

For one fireball and maybe a half charge of two or three, can throw it out in neutral if you do so cleverly with your movement options and depending on opponent's position, but anymore from four to the full charge of five should only be done during your advantage state.

That said too, pay attention to the % they're at before initiating something like a tech chase. For instance, if they're somewhere slightly below 50% and you start a tech chase with like nair or f-tilt, a fully charged plasma will likely put them in one of the kill confirm % ranges where you can then run up and u-tilt. Likewise (for anyone around light or midweight), if they're somewhere around 60% and you initiate a tech chase, three or four fireballs will put them at kill confirm range, and if they're already closer to 70%, would only need to tech chase followed by one or two fireballs.

Whether you begin with a tech chase or try throwing some plasma in neutral, the % they're at beforehand should be partly proportional to the amount of plasma you charge up. For a real heavyweight, they'd need to be somewhere around 70% before you tech chase and fully charge plasma for them to be at kill confirm % with how higher their % ranges are, and likewise already be around 80% or 90% for tech chase followed by four or fewer fireballs.

With how plasma works in the way it was balanced, the less you charge it up, the more end lag there will be, but the more you charge it up, the less end lag there is. That said, depending on the matchup, you may have a better time doing a tech chase followed by fewer plasma when they're at higher %, because with a full charge, there's a higher chance of some of the fireballs missing during their tech option or if they jump. If the opponent character is bigger or slower though, you may have an easier time doing a tech chase into full charged plasma.

Knowing what plasma chase options to best go for depending on the matchup simply comes with experience. There is always going to be some inconsistency though due to plasma RNG, so it's not something to memorize per matchup or something. There's also using plasma to catch one's landing like if you're too far away to juggle them, and during a tech chase, can also use a movement option like shorthop back during plasma charge to create more space during their tech option, or landing if they choose to jump to escape the tech situation; not to mention center stage fullhop with at least two fireballs for plat and ground coverage.

** To elaborate on the tech chase bit, u-tilt you can go for during one at mostly whatever %. With the move's limited range though, mainly want to use your ground speed to run up and u-tilt them to cover neutral tech and techroll away, while standing to catch techroll in. U-tilt can combo into itself at low % and juggle into fullhop aerials well at mid %, but doing a tech chase to get them into the % ranges for the u-tilt > uair kill confirm is what we're aiming to go for here, and if they end up off stage, can ledgetrap with u-tilt; cover ledge roll from mid range or after shielding ledge getup attack.

You can use these following moves for setting up your tech chase into u-tilt > uair kills, which do the amount of damage listed with the 1v1 multiplier on, and a few % less with it off when fighting more than one opponent. Same goes for the above listed plasma percents which was tested in 1v1. Also as mentioned in the plasma section, you can use these move damage % calculations for when you run up and d-throw/d-tilt into fullhop flickshot bair, plasma into dash attack/running shorthop flickshot bair or pivot f-tilt/u-smash, or when doing a landing or shorthop forward uair into a fullhop/double jump uair; if they're at death % for any of those kill confirms.

Gentleman jab: ~10%

Sour f-tilt: 12%
Tipper f-tilt: ~15%

Sour nair: ~9%
Tipper nair: ~12%
Reverse or late hit nair: ~5%

Sour fair: ~13 to 15%
Tipper fair: ~17%

Forward throw: ~10% with no pummels, ~14% with pummel x2
Back throw: ~13% with no pummels, ~17% with pummel x2
Also just doing a pummel or two alone for 2% each followed by grab release if they're already too close to u-tilt > uair kill %.


For other kill confirms (which may kill earlier than what's listed with rage accounted for), there is:

. D-throw > fullhop Flickshot b-air at ledge from 60/70/80 to 100%. Not entirely true but a good mixup, and can fastfall with another bair off stage if they neutral airdodge the first one, or if there's a misinput fair, either use your remaining jumps off-stage to setup a kill or gimp, or don't go off-stage and fastfall land followed by ledgetrapping. Can also setup bair into a potential gimp if it doesn't kill yet, though a quick pummel or two before d-throw for extra damage still helps regardless. Past 100%, d-tilt > fullhop uair (can Flickshot the uair, and if they jump/airdodge, fastfall and wait to catch their landing). There's also d-throw > Flickshot/RAR nair at high % which you can do with the same inputs by dash forward and turn around just before jumping and finish with b-air (again, can fastfall into another bair if they neutral airdodge the first one). There’s d-throw/d-tilt > dash up smash too around 80% (if they jump/airdodge, stay under them and wait for them to descend and then up smash). By extension, you can d-tilt on someone hanging at ledge if they’ve lost intangibility and then do said b-air around 90%, and same followup rule if they nairdodge it. As one other alternative, you can do up tilt (sweetspot) > fullhop Flickshot/RAR b-air if sweetspot up tilt sends too far for uair to connect, which starts killing around 80%. For taller characters that reverse up tilt doesn't whiff on, is easier to just do reverse u-tilt > fullhop bair, as you don't have to deal with the turnaround stuff. There's also front up tilt > fullhop Flickshot/RAR nair > bair.
* D-throw > forward > back diagonal down > f-tilt input + IDJ = IDJ bair; to be done at slightly later % when fullhop flickshot bair doesn't reach.
. Reverse or late hit nair into dash attack works around 85 to 115% near the edge of stage. Sourspot nair in front also applies somewhat. If at later %, reverse nair will have to hit around mid stage. One alternative is after the back hit nair, timely do a buffered bair on them while your back is still turned instead of a turnaround dash attack.
. Plasma Breath (single or half charged) > dash attack which similarly kills around 90% at ledge. Another way to do it is either fullhop away and B-reverse plasma, plasma them during a tech chase, or Flickshot/Holdshot plasma, and dash attack after you land. Alternatively, can do a running shorthop flickshot bair instead of DA which should kill at somewhere earlier % after plasma, or reverse u-smash out of a run with the same turnaround inputs (minus jumping of course). At a bit past 100%, instead of ending with DA, can also do pivot cancel f-tilt (tipper) which is preferable in some matchups even after plasma. If the plasma pushes them slightly off stage, you can get a pivot tipper f-tilt (regular or down angle) before they drift too far away. Even if they're not quite at kill % yet for the f-tilt, it could potentially gimp them.
. Beginning around 50% but can work at a little higher % too and much higher % on big bodies, is sweetspot dair into up smash; with or without platforms but they will help. Best if you know for sure the dair will hit when they're in the middle of an animation or catching their tech roll/option with dair, and you can charge the up smash to wait and bait out a neutral airdodge. Note that some characters may fall too fast for the up smash to connect depending on their air/fall speed. At the 70% range, can do sweetspot dair into up tilt and up air (double jump) as a kill. Remember you can do Flickshot up air to crossup DI and possibly kill earlier.
. Around 90 to 120% or earlier, can do landing uair (can use Flickshot and maybe Holdshot uair to assist if already on the ground) > shorthop/fullhop double jump uair. Mainly go for this when punishing a widely whiffed move, catching a tech roll/option with landing/shorthop forward uair, landing on taller characters, as it's hard to land to begin with due to uair's lack of horizontal reach, or if on a platform stage where you can either drop through a platform and buffer jump + uair > fullhop uair or landing uair on a lower plat into a fullhop uair to kill in a similar fashion. When ledgetrapping, can also do landing uair to catch a ledge getup option followed by another uair. Like with one other kill confirm, if your execution is off in getting the 2nd uair out and they happen to jump or airdodge, remember you can still catch their landing with an attack of choice if patient, still putting them in a bad or potential KO spot.
. Around 100%, can do sweetspot dair > shorthop uair, also putting them and yourself in just the right position to kill with the tipper of the wings. Past that % mark, you can do fullhop for the uair instead, and around 130% or so, double jump or IDJ for the uair. No variation of this combo is true since they can airdodge before you get the uair out, but a good mixup if you get the chance to land a dair as such, and can catch their landing with an attack of choice if nothing else should they airdodge or jump in time. With platform assistance, this can be set up a little earlier than 100% and be harder to escape.
. At mid to early seventy %, up tilt > quick dash up smash can kill floaties on Small Battlefield platforms; 4% higher for regular Battlefield.

* For the back hit nair > dash attack kill, aside from starting with irar nair or running rar nair, you can also get momentum by just dashing toward the opponent, turning around, and nair while moving forward to land the back hit. There's also dash forward, turn around and shorthop while drifting forward, and then press A as a fakeout for early momentum (be sure to let go of left stick before pressing A so you don't accidentally input a b-air), or do fullhop landing back hit nair before you do the dash attack. You can even do it as an out of shield option by facing away from opponent, holding shield, and nair while drifting toward them. Better yet, there's Flickshot nair, giving you plenty momentum with back hit nair. Any way you do it, you'll want to fastfall during the reverse nair and dash forward and then same direction on C-stick after to make the following dash attack come out instant as needed.

Since the hixbox of reverse nair comes from above and goes down it, it catches jumps pretty easy. Same with dash in’s depending. Another situation where it connects is when somebody's landing with an airdodge, and the delayed hitbox works to your advantage. With ledgetrapping, you can also react to a ledge roll and shorthop nair while drifting back (with back turned to ledge) so you can convert the back hit into a tech chase/true dash attack.

Some platforms like on Town and City may also make sour/reverse nair > dash attack kills more practical to do, if you timely land on said platform with the nair. In the T&C example, they can be at mid % and still die.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

Wasn't expecting to post here again so soon a day later, but it seems Vreyvus just did another guide, this time on adapting to Ridley's disadvantage state; such a guide was a long time coming, and with the buffs that help with his recovery, the timing couldn't be better. Already learned some good things from this for mixup options.

Rewatching this some years later also, would say one key thing to remember from this guide is using the mini-map as a reference for seeing when Wing Blitz will get you back to the ledge. For using WB Down to get to ledge if recovering from above, hold down to get through platforms if need be (Battlefield, Kalos, Town and City, Northern Cave, etc), which can also be a nasty surprise for overly aggressive opponents like if they end up below ledge, platforms or not (be more wary of using it up high against those more familiar with the matchup though, as it's pretty obvious when initiated at a certain height above ledge and they can just wait around ledge to punish it on reaction, so mainly use the Blitz stalling slightly above ledge like to wait out projectiles and such, especially if they're at high % where they dare not risk challenging you there). For recovering with d-air to get to the ledge or stage as a vertical burst option, it will cancel well in time when used outside of the camera zone, which can allow the use of another jump + aerial or airdodge before you finish landing.

Aside from using WB Up to shark past the ledge and poke an opponent standing nearby when holding down (listen to WB sound cue to do it most consistently, killing around 150% but don’t challenge a disjointed dair or counter with it or up B poke when opponent is any further away from ledge which will leave you open to attack), you can also use it to get rid of character item placed ledge traps (R.O.B. gyro, Link bombs, Dedede gordo, Pac-Man hydrant, Steve TNT, etc), or just doing it to avoid being punished when you have no more ledge intangibility. Even without it though, Ridley has one of the best ledge hangs in the game, with the number of attacks that are unable to hit his hand, except when he shifts his hurtbox during the ledge hang animation. Back to the character item examples, can also grab some of them being thrown your way by pressing Z after a ledge jump, but not too late or for too long where it results in an airdodge.

Wing Blitz aside, when launched either slightly or very far to the side of a stage, use side B to recover early out of hitstun (move is less laggy in the air), before the opponent can edgeguard you and putting you in a better position to recover low even if you're out of jumps. Mix up the timing of when you use it to help your recovery so as to not get predictable though, and be careful of using SPR when next to a blast zone and DI away from it first. An opponent who doesn't respect side B may also be grabbed when they're standing at the ledge as you use it to recover when not far away, but it can be beaten by long range attacks and active hitboxes, so in those cases a horizontal WB will do the trick.

Hold on to your jumps as long as possible to maneuver around their edgeguards & juggling and avoid losing stocks early. Patience (patient, deceitful, and perceptive like the Cunning God of Death himself) along with making most use of your air time to exhaust the opponent's aggression is key, which can sometimes even get them to overextend. You can also mix up how you use Wing Blitz to recover if you save your jumps. For example, feint a horizontal recovery by drifting slightly below ground level, jump, delay fastfall and drift forward, then jump again and WB Up to ledge. They will think you're going low at first, then see the 2nd jump and assume horizontal WB. Blitz Stalling is another example (go 7 posts down for more on it).

There's Wing Blitz wall bouncing too to get around those that edgeguard with a counter or disjointed dair, but that's covered more in another guide. For those with a counter, should try to recover high as possible and use the well covered distance of our directional airdodge to get back to ledge, vertically or horizontally. At the same time, don’t panic airdodge like when being combo’d (unless it's a certain ladder combo where you need to DI/SDI or airdodge inward to avoid) or just to get back on stage which gets you put back in disadvantage. There are times to airdodge when you need to like with the ledge example, but be aware of your habits with it and not every time you’re pressured, just like how you wouldn’t panic jump in order to conserve your jumps when you need them most. It's better to just accept being juggled at times than eating an f-smash for doing a predictable airdodge.

Likewise, it’s better to take punishment than to try anything rash like mashing an aerial during disadvantage, which they can easily reset into another combo if they see you mashing an option out of hitstun. Nair on its own can be a great get-off-me tool, but not when you can't get it out quick enough as you're being combo'd. If you're at somewhat high % though and launched somewhat high, then you can likely do a get-off-me nair before the opponent manages to do some fullhop followup, or nair to get yourself out of tumble before landing (followed by a fastfall or A-landing preferably) if you think you're far enough from opponent to get away with it. Can also nair when diagonally above them if they have any aerial blindspots.


If you know you'll be knocked off stage and survive, use airdodge DI up to get at a more comfortable angle when recovering to ledge, and if up high, can use dair to quickly dive down and up B get to the ledge or get back to neutral. If you've already used your airdodge to survive an attack, nair is also good for protection against some projectiles and an opponent intercepting, which can sometimes turn the tide. If you have a spare jump, can also do a timed f-air to counteract their interception when recovering, and when recovering low, may sometimes need to do a uair before you get the chance to Wing Blitz up to the ledge, or just delay your recovery to make them mistime their dair or whatever attack.

When the victim of a combo, don’t always rely on jumps to escape. Ridley’s jump height is short, and our large size makes us an easy target to hit. Can challenge with dair as a mixup, or with an airdodge (neutral/DI down). While using jumps though, mix up your pattern with them to land safely (turnaround jumps included), or combine them with the use of a landing aerial such as spaced bair (can fastfall first) or even nair (spaced/retreating) which can catch a jumping opponent below or spaced/fadeback fair at times (can fastfall too to time the hits on shorter characters) or if you’re in the air long enough for them to whiff by conserving jumps and using them wisely, landing uair followed by another uair. There’s landing with some of our specials too like some fireballs as a mixup (can B-reverse too), or side B if you’re confident you’ll land it in the moment or as a mixup after feinting a landing bair. Can do a Slingshot option after landing bair too if they shield it.

* One of the biggest uses of our dair that was right in my face but never really thought of at first: Ridley tucks his feet in. That means horizontal attacks that would usually hit Ridley's feet don't get hit, and instead get hit. This is something to think on, especially against overeager opponents edgeguarding, because jump dair could actually prove useful in some situations.

Alternatively you can try and fastfall tomahawk land to get a grab or get back to neutral (despite Ridley’s average airspeed, he’s a pretty fast faller when you input fastfall which at times may be safer than going for a landing aerial that you have to position to make safe), or do a landing pivot by turning the opposite direction as you’re about to land, allowing you to avoid some moves and punish with back hit up smash. If you jump to avoid a move and your back is facing the opponent, can also do a landing pivot to face back towards them and get a tomahawk grab that way. Last but not least, there’s Tumble Escape Option Select in addition to near lagless landings known as A-landings (using like our nair, uair, or fair right before touching the ground, but see the bottom of this post for more details).

Bottom line, mix it up when you've either used an option to get out of disadvantage before or it doesn't work again (if you have to recover high or low off stage twice in a row, mix up the timing of how you do so). That goes for how you DI/SDI out of combos and get up from ledge too. Lastly, if needed, you can airdodge away to safety at the ledge to avoid being combo'd on stage or being further juggled when trying to land. For some matchups though, it may be preferable to take your chances with getting juggled and trying to land over retreating to ledge depending on how oppressive their ledge trapping game is in comparison. Still, retreating to ledge to avoid those with disjointed juggling will be the standard in most cases. With that said too, sometimes it's better to try and drift away gradually and force the opponent to execute their juggling with greater difficulty than it is to always airdodge through them. This is especially true if they have platforms to reset their strings depending on the stage.

* If certain characters go for an up throw to start juggling you, double jump the other way to shift your hurtbox and get out. You jump higher as Ridley if you double jump the opposing way.


If you have time to breathe before getting back to ledge or stage, there's doing an understage up air, followed by recovering. The most common attacks from ledge are releasing and jumping with an nair or fair, a 2nd fair of which can sometimes shield poke. Ridley's ledge getup attack has good range too, and normal getup has intangibility if you haven't been on the ledge that long which you can followup with jab. Ledge jump nair isn’t a bad option either with the range and speed the move has, being able to hit standing tall characters. Our ledge roll distance isn’t good even for a big body, but if someone blindly swings while you’re hanging at ledge, you can use it (input shield) when they’re in the middle of an animation to get behind them successfully. Ledge roll can also be used to quickly get in position to ledge trap someone if they're behind you off stage.

If you've gotten the opponent to respect you and conditioned them to shield, you can catch them with a side B, or a ledge drop + jump side B. The same concept applies to using side B on stage (and by extension grab for d-throw combos) as well like as a landing mixup if you've conditioned them to shield after enough attacks. Aside from using as part of a tech chase or catching a landing after frametrapping when you get out of disadvantage, side B can whiff punish a surprising amount of moves too (also do so by jumping away if you're already in the air to make them whiff and side B them as you land, or if they try to hit your ledge hang and fail, punish that whiff with a side B), but so can grab depending on how you set it up. Said whiff punishing with SPR also includes projectiles if the opponent's zoning is predictable or you read them, but have to use landing SPR from the air, at an angle where you'll avoid the projectile and grab them (depends on the trajectory of the projectile in question too, but ones that arc down are easiest, though you can SPR above horizontal ones if they aren't too high or too big). A neutral mixup on stage is jump twice, side B (as it’s less laggy in the air as mentioned before), and bair with your 3rd jump while landing which may throw off an approaching opponent and hit them. That aside, also recognize when the opponent starts to respect our side B from ledge; ledge can become free as a result of them backing off every time you drop ledge, allowing you to freely getup after.

For similar relevant things not covered in the above guide, there's ledgehop fair, nair, uair, and bair, allowing you to get from ledge to stage with those moves via quick inputs. It is otherwise known as edge hopping. Can also use ledgehop followed by any special while landing, but whether it's an aerial or special, try to ledgehop back on stage with safe spacing relative to where the opponent is to minimize risk. If they're still at low % after say hitting them with a ledgehop nair, still followup with jab before resorting to d-tilt or something.

Then there’s wavebounce skewer from ledge (drop ledge + jump away and then do the wavebounce skewer inputs), and can attack with bair itself from ledge to stage, though is harder to time; drop away + buffer jump (R for jump in my case as a shoulder button to make it quicker) + drift back toward stage + aim with C-stick, and you'll bair from ledge hang as shown here. Is pretty much instantaneous and done in quick succession like with the others.

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If there's a delay between any of the first three inputs, you'll land back at ledge instead, but can still do the bair in the process. Same rules go for doing reverse nair from ledge, but bair is a more reliable mixup, especially when the opponent's at a pretty high percent. Kills around 150%. Another way to do bair from ledge is DI into the stage and tech (hold left if you're on the right ledge and shield) after getting hit by certain moves, then immediately jump and bair. Might have to delay the input at higher % though since you’re in a lot of hitstun and you might whiff the input, but is a true punish when it works.

* For another important but isolated way of dealing with ledge pressure, DI away during the ledge grab animation frames (the ledge grab frames eat up your control stick input so you don’t accidentally buffer a getup option) in the event of getting hit by unreactable combo starters or stalling callouts hitting you at ledge, thereby making those ledge kill confirms less true. Likewise, DI in during ledge grab animation in the event of expecting a ledge trump by the opponent.


Then there's using full momentum neutral airdodge when recovering high. Set to tilt stick, pressing right or left on the C-stick makes it work too, but I guess C-up is easier depending on the control setup or situation, and I just have my R button set to jump, so works as well as the control example there.

But yeah, is good for Ridley. Not nearly as much end lag as a directional airdodge too. The timing may take a little getting used to at first, but it’s doable from what I tried. When practicing, first just do the regular neutral airdodge after jumping forward or straight up, then try the full momentum inputs and you'll notice the speed difference. The C-stick aside, you can even cancel your 2nd or 3rd jump by inputting jump and shield at the same time after your first jump. This appears faster than directional airdodge down.

Can be done from ledge too for max speed/distance with neutral airdodge. i.e. let go of ledge, double jump forward into full momentum airdodge (shielding during the last jump input) for a safe ledge option. Or at least safer than a directional airdodge from ledge on account of less end lag. Of course there’s also doing waveland (pressing “grab” instead of “shield”) from ledge as another mixup.


Lastly, there’s these other options for tech wall jumps & teching stage spikes and doing lagless landings out of hitstun. Aside from inputting your A-landing with A & hold it and then shield (tech), the general idea of Tumble Escape Option Select is to tech (press shield) if you're knocked not far above the ground or horizontally which you can also convert into a roll left or right (can input shield first before left or right to be safe so as to reduce chance of missing your tech or avoid doing a directional airdodge before landing, though if you time it right, airdodge can lead into a buffered tech if it’s performed slightly above ground). If you preemptively hold shield while getting hit, you’ll tech right after too in most of the mentioned situations, but if knocked higher above ground, will just result in an airdodge, so do an A-landing in those cases. It works with our nair, uair, and fair as mentioned. You can also time it easier by dropping through a platform, but on plat stages, if you're not nearly as high up as a lower plat when knocked horizontally across the stage, just tech. Same for when you're knocked above slightly onto a plat but not above it enough to likely A-land on it.

* If you're rusty at doing tech rolls and find Ridley's difficult to time, on training mode, can just have CPU behavior set to side smash, and then go to other settings and practice at different speeds until you get used to it. Can also change your P1 damage % back to 0 after getting hit so you don't have to reset each time. While you can hold shield down the entire time after taking an f-smash at 0% and still tech after, what helps is to practice teching during the last possible moments, and then press left or right immediately so you'll do a tech roll (also remember to hold forward when waiting to get hit by the f-smash so you’ll DI it). Visually for Ridley, you want to press shield a frame or two right when his tail touches the ground as he's falling; the first part of him that reaches ground. If you do left stick + shield anytime before that, you'll do a directional airdodge instead. That said, your thumb should be at least touching the left stick the whole time, so that you can press left or right in time right after you tech. If you're a moment too late in pressing left or right for tech roll, you'll just do a neutral tech instead. If you change your P1 damage to 20% or so, after taking an f-smash, you can practice doing a neutral airdodge not too far above ground (two white squares above the ground for a training room reference of measurement) which can convert into a neutral tech before the airdodge finishes, and there do a tech roll left or right which is easier to time. This also applies to off-stage teching when near a wall, where if you get knocked close to a side of stage but not close enough to tech directly from it, can do an airdodge up toward the stage wall which converts into a tech wall jump as long as you hold up.

A-landing can be practiced the same way as tech rolling explained above.

* If you're knocked far enough away from opponent to not get likely punished for it, can do a nair simply to get yourself out of tumble, followed by a fastfall or A-landing if you're still descending or something instead of always having to tech. Still tech at low % though when you're knocked lower above ground.

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SSBU Tech:
Tumble Escape Option Selects pic.twitter.com/Y6l6y4Rd3a

— miclwave (@Radio_SSB) January 1, 2022

For something not mentioned previously when dealing with platform pressure, jump OoS (out of shield) can be a good safety net for getting out of those situations; you can shield first, and if they're about to do a shield threatening move or a command grab, can jump OoS to avoid it.

And for something not previously mentioned on Ridley dair, an overlooked aspect of it is that he tucks his feet in, which means that horizontal attacks that would usually hit Ridley's feet don't get hit, and instead hits them, which helps against overeager opponents edgeguarding. Ridley dair also starts a good bit faster than the other stall and fall type dair’s, with not that much end lag either (not to be confused with the landing lag which is much worse but when you're actionable after the move while still in the air). That said, his dair comes out before some uair’s like Ike, Inkling, Mii Gunner, Ivysaur, Charizard, Pyra, Sephiorth, Shulk, Simon/Richter, and Zelda, allowing Ridley to punish overzealous use of them.

Obviously a trade won’t be in his favor in most cases, but if you see those characters getting into position to uair, it’s possible to hit them with dair first according to the frame data. You gotta go for it fast though, and have to use dair only in those situations where you know you'll be fast or if you predict the person beneath you will do nothing like an empty hop baiting an airdodge. When you're in advantage though like using dair as a disrespect to certain up B recoveries, it spikes better when they're rising upward into the small sweetspot hitbox, which is how we take advantage of its surprisingly long active frames.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

Maneuvering around platforms and getting through projectiles with it aside, wavedash > f-smash does have some nice niche uses for dodging and punishing as Rids; squandering an attempt to get an airdodge punish, punishing a roll without needing to roll yourself (though that can also be done with d-smash), bait out landing dair's, ledge getup attacks (though you can also punish those with skewer if spaced right), Ike/Chrom’s up B, Bayo's ledge drop + side B, ZSS's flip jump or Sheik’s side B from off stage, and so on. If you're near the ledge to bait out those latter moves, can be good to roll or shorthop back before doing wavedash > f-smash to be in a better position to dodge and punish with it. As a mixup, can do wavedash > up smash, particularly with the back hit by facing away while doing the wavedash, which can punish landings and similar things to f-smash, but universally, up smash with this will work better on other big bodies. Could also do something like move toward the opponent, wavedash back to get them to whiff, and dash attack.

Wavedashing’s also lenient with grabbing character items and a good way to grab them approaching or retreating, though will usually still have to press A while doing so.

Input wise, is better to use "grab" for the wavedash/waveland instead of "shield". To wavedash most consistently on any platform, press jump and then immediately grab (almost at the same time) out of a jump squat, and on the control stick aim diagonally down left or right depending on the direction you want to go. Decent option after shield release.

Then there’s the Akuma Jump tech (run off platform + fastfall with tap or hold + jump) as a movement tool like from plat to plat and as an edgeguard mixup. Nair, fair, and uair can be used effectively as such, bair if you do a turnaround jump after running off, and Wing Blitz down if you fadeback to ledge after the Akuma Jump. It can also be used in conjunction with ledge trumping and other specials, so keep in mind.

And Crouch Ledge Slip for a quick nair and fair (or bair if you do a turnaround jump but is riskier) on low recoveries such as edgeguarding Min-Min, Byleth, Joker without arsene, Ivysaur, Lucas, Isabelle, the Samus's, the kid Link's, and Belmonts before they fully pull themselves in to the ledge with their tether, as well as quickly moving off plats which is good for practice. Sometimes if you put out a single fireball somewhere off stage to try and make them delay their recovery, can then go for the ledge slip into nair or fair.

* If you happen to fastfall offstage and do an aerial, return your L-stick to neutral during the aerial until you're able to act again; that way you´re not fastfalling anymore after the aerial.

** Can also plasma if you jump and shoot it so they have to deal with it outside of tether range. Keep in mind that tether recoveries have less ledge invincibility, so at higher %, spamming plasma forces them to either commit to a ledge option immediately or take extra damage just hanging there. Can also ledge drop nair for tethers that stall.

*** If a character is slightly above ledge when they begin to tether to it off stage, can do a quick SPR and drag them all the way down, followed by a jump release.

Just remember to tech (shield) to survive a trade that may lead to a stage spike in these situations. What's helped me do this more consistently is just making a habit to briefly tap or hold the shield button during the animation of your aerial (like how you would do so after an up B for Stage Spike Option Select), and if you trade a hit with someone or they just manage to attack you instead, hold that shield button until you hit the side of stage, and then release it so you don't do an airdodge, followed by up B to get back to stage. Alternatively, can hold up on left stick during the shield input so that you'll do a wall jump during the tech and be higher up, and can then do nair, fair, or uair as an immediate followup. The nair and fair won't kill that early though, so will usually have to up B to ledge right after, then drop ledge and bair or turnaround fair to finish them off.

Crouch Ledge Slip Guide
Dashing into the ledge and buffering crouch by holding diagonally down and forwards lets you ledge slip with no momentum easily.
This method is faster and more flexible than other setups and can be used to improve your edgeguards. pic.twitter.com/AcMJswJZXD

— BFG | J (@JforJonas) December 16, 2020

An easier way to bair low recoveries without using a jump to turnaround can be seen below.

Basically another couple things you can do with SPR; with Phantom Land Refresh, aside from platforms, can do it with the ledges of any stage. SPR’s not really fast enough for Land Refresh usage to be practical, so seems it will mostly be used for when you go under the stage with a timed side B. Being able to turnaround off stage after a shorthop delayed side B has more interesting potential use though, in the case of being able to edgeguard low recoveries with bair easier, or if you caught someone’s ledge jump with the SPR and want to continue the pressure.

⚠BEHOLD, A NEW RIDLEY TECH DISCOVERED⚠
⚠リドリーの新テクニック見つけたぞ⚠

It's probably not gonna be game-changing but has some potential #SSBU_Ridley pic.twitter.com/BHXsi2acvT

— Hellspike (@hellspike311) March 16, 2022

Another more useful alternate way of using SPR, if you hold down during it, will bypass grabbing the ledge, which can allow for some easy edgeguards on an opponent recovering low, namely with bair or doing a turnaround jump for a fair, as well as catch someone with ledge cancel SPR (holding down) if they’re recovering to ledge around the same time. Just be ready to tech in the case of a possible trade situation. If you get hit during an SPR (typically when going for an SPR ledge cancel) and do a tech wall-jump from the side of stage, Ridley will have all his jumps again, allowing you to do multiple nair’s or fair’s to KO opponent, followed by back angle Wing Blitz to recover.

Also the SPR won't grab if they still have intangibility while at ledge. The quickest way to do it is just run off ledge and SPR towards it while holding down, though can do a jump off first to mix up the timing, including a run of reverse nair. Depending on the matchup you may have to, like if the opponent has a kind of up B that grabs you. Otherwise, hold down during SPR to catch directional airdodges and up B’s with no hitboxes around ledge, essentially 2 framing them. Even if you don't get the grab by not holding down long enough, you'll likely get an immediate ledge trump which is also great for us with the bair followup.

* For reference, characters whose up B either have no hitbox or generally can’t attack when using are Ice Climbers, Pichu, Mewtwo, the Pit’s, Snake (under cypher), Sonic, Olimar, Villager, Mega Man, Rosalina, Greninja, Palutena, Pac-Man, Inkling, Isabelle, arsene Joker, Mii Brawler’s up B 1 (Soaring Axe Kick) & up B 3 (Thrust Uppercut), and Mii Gunner’s up B 1 (Lunar Launch) & up B 3 (Arm Rocket). For lightweights, knocking them off stage when they're somewhere at mid % is the earliest reasonable time to go for a ledge cancel SPR against them, and proportionally higher for any of the middle or heavyweights.

There’s also using SPR ledge cancel to bait a low horizontal recovery, and then punish with down angle WB.

(1/4) SPR stalling #SSBU_Ridley

When using SPR to go to ledge you can hold down to miss ledge, allowing Ridley to position himself under the stage for an edgeguard

Niche but can catch normally hard to challenge low recoveries like K Rool when they start directly under stage pic.twitter.com/IExthX0Si8

— Zeta5 (@5atez) September 13, 2022

Going into some important item counterplay, for the few characters that spawn items...

To start with, you can pick up items with moves like dash attack and any tilt or aerial (preferably f-tilt and nair which includes nair OoS) if timed right, after an initial dash + jab input (may have to be spaced a bit first but gives you enough time to shield ROB laser after unlike most if not all other methods of picking up gyro), and even after an airdodge. If you auto-cancel an aerial like nair, it can still catch an item too but with less lag. A dash attack cancelled nair can still grab items as well (if you shield after, can cancel the auto-toss into inputting a Z-drop), and with practice can make it easier to catch R.O.B.'s Gyro even when it's still spinning. As mentioned earlier, wavedashing’s also good with grabbing such items and a nice way to grab them approaching or retreating, though will usually still have to press A while doing so.

In the air you can Z-drop, do a nair, and if timed right, that aerial will catch the item. Likewise, you can do an empty hop while still holding the item as part of a mind game before you end up dropping it (called a Z-drop landing) and then grab or attack instead. While characters like R.O.B. can Z-drop an item in front of them, Ridley will Z-drop an item right behind him, so just be aware; in our case if you want to catch a Z-dropped item with nair, have to DI a bit behind you before pressing A. That aside, we can also do aerial forward toss into falling uair, which even loops into itself.

For Z-catching, when doing like a ledge jump or jump OoS, press Z to catch the item being thrown at you, but not too late or for too long in which it results in an airdodge. Can also be practiced by throwing an item upward, and then Z to catch the item when it's on its way down, and if you mistime it you'll do an airdodge instead. You can dribble an item by doing Z-drops in combination with Z-catches. Z-catching also enables what's known as Instatossing, basically where you Z-catch an item and then toss it instantly, making it look like one fluid motion that's hard to react to; throw forward > z-catch > throw it again.

p.s. If you use C-stick for the item toss, be aware that it always smash tosses in the air even if you have tilt stick, so press A if you want to throw the item slower.

With Snake's grenades, they don't deal knockback until they explode, so another thing you can do is shield near Snake while holding the caught grenade, and if he’s at the 100-130% range when it goes off, can immediately jump and KO with uair or bair depending on position.

Aside from that, there’s Banjo’s grenades, Link’s bombs, and Belmont’s holy water that you can largely do the same with far as Z-catching, among a couple other projectiles or so.

Moving on, like how you can do pivot cancel f-tilt with Ridley, there's pivot cancel item tosses with the same input, making it easier to throw an item as you're closing in on the opponent (dash pivot f-tilt is also good at grabbing items thrown at you). Reminder too that inputting an f-smash will make an item throw do more damage, or if you dash or run forward, press A for the item toss and then B (only works if you have the A+B input for f-smash enabled).

One other cool thing to know, the damage of most thrown items is affected by the weight of the character throwing it, and since Ridley's technically a heavy, he does decent damage with item throws.

p.s. Ridley clip shown at 4:12 in the video, where he does a holy water setup on Belmont, followed by an f-smash.


Now this was pretty meta changing...

For the basic inputs, dash forward and then down+back. 11:00 to 11:18 for the Flickshot input, 13:27 for the Holdshot input, and 14:10 to 14:30 for the Fullshot input.

The d-throw > up smash for Ridley in the video was just an example of how Flickshot looks out of d-throw, rather than being for utility. D-throw > up tilt with Flickshot could have wider uses however, such as a holdshot f-air followup. Ridley doesn't get as much use out if Slingshot overall as other characters, but still benefits quite a bit. There's a lot to say about it but for the short version-

. Flickshot or Holdshot while facing opponent like as a neutral or bait & punish mixup- B-reverse Plasma, SPR, reverse nair, bair (IRAR still feels easier as a shorthop bair input for me though), tomahawk grab, B-reverse Skewer (shorthop or fullhop fastfall), uair (fullhop works better for this).
. Flickshot or Holdshot starting while facing away from opponent like after pressuring their shield- Plasma, nair, fair, SPR, tomahawk grab, Skewer (shorthop or fullhop fastfall), uair (fullhop works better for this).

• Shorthop for single fireball and fullhop or IDJ for charged Plasma. For the former, something arguably easier than doing the shorthop macro is after a Flickshot input, hit jump + grab, and then special. For those that have a trigger button set to jump like me (R in my case), you slide your finger off the trigger for a shorthop, and then of course you hold it for a fullhop.
• Even with Slingshot aerials, still fastfall when possible for best frame advantage.

. Flickshot or Holdshot without jumping and while facing opponent like as a neutral or bait & punish mixup- f-tilt (up angle included), B-reverse Plasma, dash attack (delayed), SPR, f-smash, u-smash (A+B makes the u-smash easier if you're a tap jump user), d-smash, pivot grab, u-tilt, B-reverse Skewer.
. Flickshot or Holdshot without jumping and starting while facing away from opponent like after pressuring their shield- f-tilt (up angle included), d-tilt, u-tilt, Plasma, jab, dash attack, SPR, f-smash, d-smash, pivot grab, Skewer.
. Flickshot or Holdshot pivot grab by inputting grab instead of jump, which makes it easier than any regular pivot grab. Can press same direction on C-stick if you want to be certain about avoiding an f-smash, and if you begin the inputs while facing away from opponent, hold down the direction on the left stick to avoid doing a dash grab.
. Slingshot makes it easier to buffer a turnaround d-tilt and u-tilt out of dash.
. Slingshot tomahawk jump on platforms followed by well spaced aerials & specials.
. U-tilt > Flickshot Uair to crossup DI and kill earlier.
. D-throw/d-tilt/u-tilt > Flickshot bair (fullhop). D-throw > bair particularly confirms at earlier % now with Flickshot (8-10% by my estimations), gives bair more lenient timing to do, and is far less punishable. If their % is too low to kill with bair though, can do Flickshot reverse nair > bair instead.

• D-throw > fullhop Flickshot bair can still setup into a potential gimp at least even if it doesn't kill yet. A quick pummel or two before d-throw for extra damage still helps regardless, with grab being harder to mash out of by that %. For those that d-throw > fullhop bair may still not be true on depending on air/fall speed, can fastfall and do another bair.
• If there's a misinput during the flickshot where Ridley doesn't turn around and does a d-throw > fullhop fair instead, still have a couple jumps to use off-stage for edgeguarding or setting up a potential gimp. Be slow to use those jumps if necessary, or don't go off-stage and fastfall land, followed by ledgetrapping.
• Another thing about flickshot to remember, if you're not flying back, then your left stick was not in neutral position during the first airborne frame; it was being pressed in a direction, but to remedy that, all you have to do is flick it a little bit faster and delay the jump a little; as soon as the green shockwave appears from a d-throw.
• There's also d-throw > flickshot > fullhop into double jump bair, past the range that fullhop alone does the job. We have ways of covering their dodge options as a frame trap as well-
  
  AD = airdodge
  AD in, AD up in, and AD down in = drift in bair or free SPR
  AD down, neutral AD, AD down away = fastfall bair
  AD up, jump = 2nd bair in place
  AD away, AD up away = can get trapped by the first bair otherwise to a fastfall into double jump bair

. Flickshot and maybe Holdshot Uair to make landing with Uair easier, from shorthop or fullhop.
. Tipper f-tilt/d-tilt/retreating autocancel nair on shield > flickshot fair, while holdshot fair could catch a jump in. Tipper f-tilt/d-tilt/retreating autocancel nair > flickshot SPR may be good, spacing us away from OoS attempts and giving us a punish.
. Flickshot or Holdshot bair (shorthop or fastfall landing from fullhop) > up smash for potentially powerful shield pressure. Could also do a Slingshot option after a spaced landing bair on shield.
. Landing sour nair > flickshot/irar bair (shorthop) is strong. Only escape is DI up and away but otherwise you get kill confirm at ledge.
. Slingshot may make fair 1 > up smash easier to do now, by doing a Slingshot (without jumping) into up smash after the fair 1.

There may be some other things missing that I'll add in later. Slingshot gives nicer spacing and movement in Neutral, but we can't go ham on shields like other characters, so we still have to do the usual safe spacing on shield like landing spaced aerials (retreating autocancel nair, landing tipper f-air, landing bair), tipper f-tilt or d-tilt, and spaced f-smash followed by whatever Slingshot option; still allows us to better escape opponent's OoS options though, and our Slingshot attacks can be instant or delayed. The biggest takeaway for Slingshot with Ridley overall it seems is extending kill confirm windows. The combos are not that huge, but gives more room in % which is nice.


It could also be possible to do a ledge getup option like normal getup and then a slingshot aerial or special as a counter to those who hold shield when trying to ledge trap. Slingshot may potentially help our disadvantage.

The only issue is Ridley still has one of the biggest hurtboxs in the game, so if the opponent throws out a move on reaction it’ll probably still hit us. Could probably be useful occasionally though, especially a fullhop slingshot. Do so out of a corner (while facing it) and falling with fair or bair to gain center stage unopposed. Flickshot or Holdshot fair in general seems pretty nifty for stuffing out approaches.

Besides that though, we always have SPR if they've been conditioned to shield around ledge.

For advantage state, when you're the one ledge trapping, could do a Flickshot or Holdshot attack as a movement mixup option to throw them off. Pivot grab via slingshot input also makes it easier to get grabs when ledgetrapping aside from the usual whiff punish way of doing it, and since techs & techrolls (not counting neutral tech) make opponents mostly intangible and being intangible removes body blocking, pivot grabs can be used for tech chasing after running through them. Is harder to timely catch tech away though.

Somewhat similar to slingshot, if you dash or run forward, stop for a second, and then jump backwards, you'll have better retreating airspeed than you otherwise would which helps with bait & punish.


Also pretty meta changing...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dgbGOIouR4KTc87VeKcYukb2gRlUH6TNfToz70ao1W8/htmlview

Rewatch the parts around 3:10 and 4:40 if necessary for a reminder of the possible directional inputs. Also at lower %, even with successful SDI, you still have to either tech or jump, so don't miss tech.

The white flashes indicate inputs of SDI. If you're airborne when hit, can SDI in any direction, but if grounded when hit, can only SDI left or right (with some exceptions like Pika f-smash which puts you in the air a bit). The goal is to get as many inputs in the direction you want to go before hit lag ends. The more frames of hit lag a move has, the more opportunity there is to SDI it. Two rules for SDI-

1. If holding the control stick in a direction before hit lag starts (regular DI in other words), you won't get a SDI input in that direction.
2. You can't SDI in the same direction two frames in a row.

The basic up/down/left/right inputs do not count as the same direction as the diagonal and half-diagonal inputs; so going from right to the diagonal down directions will count as an SDI input. That said, half diagonals and full diagonals do count as the same direction as each other. While mash SDI can be good, is also tiring on your hands and the controller. With flick SDI and dash walk SDI, you get two SDI inputs and one quick smooth motion, and if you master those inputs, you get the SDI's out in a 4 to 6 frame window, and even counterattack in certain situations. With flick SDI, basically anticipate when you're gonna get hit and when in hit lag, flick the control stick from a basic direction (up/down/left/right) to a neighboring diagonal real quickly. If you become efficient with flick SDI, you should get two SDI inputs in 2 to 5 frames.


Dash walk SDI is simply dashing forward, keeping the control stick held, and within 4 frames, flicking up or down on the C-stick (assuming it's set to tilt stick). This makes it so you stay in your dash animation and don't transition to your full run. Normally, a dash walk can be two dash inputs in a row, while the C-stick input is somehow another dash input even though you're not letting go of the control stick.

This works with SDI accordingly, so to dash walk SDI, anticipate when you're gonna get hit and while in hit lag, hit the control stick the direction you want to SDI, then flick the C-stick up/down, and while the C-stick is being held you'll technically be in a neutral stick position, and when C-stick flicks back to neutral, you'll get another input of SDI in the direction the control stick is being pushed. Also, you can't flick the C-stick in the same direction that you're SDI'ing which is why it's suggested to go up or down on said stick. If you become efficient with dash walk SDI, you should get two SDI inputs in 3 to 5 frames.


Whether you tend to flick SDI or dash walk SDI comes down to preference, but they're slightly different. If you're in a checkmate situation, can flick SDI to move yourself away from the blast zone a little bit, and have the control stick land on the proper survival DI at the end of hit lag. You can live against ROB uair 4-5% longer just with flick SDI, for instance.

With dash walk SDI, there's an option select. If you hit with an unsafe on shield move and you know they're gonna punish with an OoS move, you can dash walk back so if the move hits, you get two inputs of SDI, but if they choose a slower option and whiff, you'll just dash walk backwards. Is good risk-reward, but only works if your move is barely unsafe on shield, so don't be getting too bold. A good example of this is when G&W punishes with an up B OoS (or Steve jab OoS), and you dash walk SDI to avoid a nair followup and get a counterattack aerial if you're lucky.


Last but not least, if you combine flick SDI and dash walk SDI, you get triple SDI. To do it, start with a flick SDI but hold the diagonal, and then flick the C-stick. You can also start with a dash walk SDI into a flick SDI by reversing the order of the inputs, and both versions are harder to time than flick SDI and dash walk SDI by themselves, so only go for when hit by a move with a significant amount of hit lag (at least 14 frames or more like Steve fair & bair and in general most character's smashes + certain strong jabs/DA's/tilts/aerials & specials, but just do individual flick or dash walk SDI for moves less than 10 frames).

Steve jab/f-tilt has only 7 frames of hit lag, so it can only be SDI'd twice. Dash walk SDI might be an easier means of escaping it. Once you react to the situation, just start timing it in rhythm with the jabs. For floaties/fastfallers at low to mid %, this creates a good option select; choose what direction you want to go with the control stick (diagonals included), and what aerial you want with the C-stick, so if the jab hits, you get the SDI, and if the jab whiffs, the dash walk SDI will cause the aerial to come out.

SDI'ing out of Steve's NIL combos will remain harder once they're set up, but his up tilt has like 10 frames of hit lag, so dash walk SDI should be strong still; i.e. SDI up and away from the axe, and the 2nd or 3rd u-tilt axe you might be able to escape in time to not get up smashed.

A good way to practice SDI (all versions) is go to training mode and start with Fox (and then can switch to Ridley when you get it down enough or just start with Ridley), have DK as the opponent, turn stale moves on, and have CPU behavior set to f-smash. Reset and press B to fire Fox's laser to make sure you don't accidentally dash before getting hit. DK's f-smash has about a half a second of hit lag, so a good way to start practicing. Just don't input before DK hits you, and don't accidentally input crouch during hit lag. The goal is to SDI to the left, and after getting hit, crouch to see where your foot lines up.

———
Some further proof of concept on Ridley's up B for spiking/trading with others' recoveries, which surprisingly includes Samus’s Screw Attack.

———

On a side note, since I saw another smashcord doing it earlier with their character, just for fun, I tested what moves can combo into our final smash.

At 0 or early %: Pretty much any move, except SPR. Skewer > pressing B for FS is a thing though. lol

At 100%, when Ridley FS always kills: D-throw/d-tilt > jump and press B, sour f-tilt > neutral B (tipper f-tilt sends too far to connect the FS), nair/fair > neutral B

I guess there's similar combos into FS somewhere prior to 100%, because as long as they get to 100% even during the FS cutscene, their stock is gone immediately after. Don't forget too you can B-reverse it. With smash meter on, I suppose plasma > FS is kind of a thing too.

Kinda wish even more now that there was hitboxes for the final smashes on Ultimate Frame Data or something. Although FS's are just for fun/casual play, they're still part of a character's moveset.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

So much to learn with Skewer setups from this guide that I had to rewatch a number of times to digest it all.

Also of note from the video description and within the vid, are charts of the rapid jab skewer punish and jab 1 > f-smash (after skewer), showing who it does and doesn't work on; without having to move in the latter where they're in perfect range for jab 1 to land after the skewer. Thumbnails below.

Ivysaur represents Pokemon Trainer for rapid jab. Also if you're facing away from opponent while shielding the rapid jab, you can do a turnaround Skewer (better yet shorthop turnaround Skewer OoS instead of shield drop), or up smash if they don't push you too far back for it.




If you happen to land a sourspot Skewer on someone that isn’t shielded, you can followup with d-tilt or f-tilt if you and the opponent are still within mid range; can do an EDC d-tilt or pivot f-tilt if they’re a bit further away, but otherwise it’s back to neutral, as the tail poke from sour Skewer doesn’t send very far, or it may cause them to trip (usually from misspacing), allowing you to skewer again from the frame advantage or giving you a moment to breathe. Proof of concept-

x.com

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Edit: After going back to this, out of curiosity I decided to test rapid jab Skewer punish in training on all the ones marked red there, and I was actually able to successfully Skewer everyone except Pit/Dark Pit after shielding at point blank. Some of them you may not look like you're in Skewer range after shielding the rapid jab, but you really are. Was able to do it successfully with Pyra/Mythra as well. Not listed but Villager and Min-Min have a rapid jab too, but can’t skewer punish those from what I tested due to theirs being able to shield poke, so they’re the only real exception besides the Pit’s.

Correction: The Pit's and Villager & Min-Min you can Skewer too. Just can't shield at point blank like with most of the above, as the Pit’s rapid jab doesn't push you far enough from the closest range for it to work, and likewise for Villager and Min-Min you won’t get shield poked if you begin a little further away. That said, you can also f-smash or side B (can shorthop) after shielding if the opponent either doesn’t push you far enough or too far for Skewer, or Wing Blitz forward as a mixup. Plus as mentioned it depends on where you're standing when you block the first jab.


Update for the list:

True punish with Skewer
Falcon -39
Young Link -37
Pit/Dark Pit -40
Dedede -41
Greninja -39
Robin -39
Duck Hunt -36
Inkling -38
Ridley -38
Simon -37
Bayonetta -45
Byleth -40
Mii Brawler -33

Fake Skewer punish
Kirby -32
Fox -32
Sheik -27
Falco - 31
Zelda -32
Game & Watch -28
Mewtwo -30
Meta Knight -24
Ivysaur -32
Rosalina -30
Little Mac -25
Villager -28
Palutena -32
Bowser Jr -32
Corrin -32
Piranha Plant -29
Banjo -31
Min Min -28
Pyra -25
Mythra -27

Any rapid jab finishers -29 on shield and above are at least f-smash punishable, but all should be punishable with jump OoS into SPR (depending on the distance, Mac or Meta Knight may have time for spotdodge to activate). Alternatively, shield drop into dash attack, dash grab, maybe d-tilt, or EDC u-tilt should they be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

* If the opponent doesn't immediately do a rapid jab finisher when pushed back enough and keeps on mashing, can try a Skewer or some long range move anyway to punish their overzealous use of rapid jab. For the rapid jab finishers in the -40 range, you can do shield drop skewer, but frame-wise it's usually better regardless to do shorthop skewer OoS since shield jump is only 3 frames instead of 11, and it makes skewer a more true punish for the ones in the -33 range. Likewise, can do d-smash OoS for any ones -35 or higher if they're at kill % for it.


Another edit: An updated chart for skewer jablock that someone did, Pyra standing in for both her and Mythra. For jab 1 there's the frame tight f-smash you can do after, but for the jab 2 characters such as them, can either set up another skewer, move back and SPR/Dash Attack/Wing Blitz forward, dash back and f-smash, or charge a down or forward smash for delayed getup, depending. To be more safe, if they try to time their neutral getup to avoid the d-smash, can just wait and react to it. Also if you happen to skewer someone that’s near ledge, roll out will not save them from the d-smash like when on platforms.



On a side note, if you fullhop over an opponent’s attack and fastfall skewer, can get some easy whiff punishes depending on the frame data of their move. Same if you shorthop over or spotdodge a move within mid range that isn't as big but has plenty end lag and then down B. Skewer also surprisingly works as a reaction punish to whiffed counters due to their end lag if nearby, assuming you don’t have to reposition yourself for the spacing.

Also unrelated to the above, but Holdshot > Skewer should have some interesting setups. Still fastfall skewer if you happen to do a fullhop during the Holdshot.

Something else you can do is skewer if someone is mashing in place and shorthop back skewer to catch jump-in aerials. There's also holding forward right before doing a shorthop forward so you get full momentum when doing a SH forward skewer.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

Keep in mind that these examples may be influenced by character weight, DI, and whether you have rage or how much, which affects knockback. For the platform tech chases, fastfall the aerials and then dash before doing a fullhop forward skewer to cover techroll away, fullhop right next to plat to cover a mid platform landing or neutral tech, and fullhop just a mid-range away from plat (at Battlefield center stage for example) to cover techroll in.

For that last bit, if you’re at ledge and opponent’s on the closest side of the platform just above you, can ledge jump skewer while drifting back.

* While all this involves doing a fullhop first and then timing & positioning a skewer, if they're already on a plat, fullhop rising skewer can work as a mixup if they're already committed to something.

* If a skewer is mis-spaced on a platform tech chase and they fall off without teching, can go for a jab 1 > f-smash. If they're not at kill % for that, do a jab 2 or d-tilt followed by whatever.

* U-tilt > skewer starts working for plat tech chases past the % that d-tilt starts sending them up too high up. U-tilt chains can also just be good to do at lower % when you're not in range for d-tilting them on plat.

* One other mixup is to do a platform drop skewer. The execution of it can be mixed up too like going off the far edge of the plat and/or B-reverse skewer to reposition yourself (have to do both of these to catch ledge roll). It can be a ledgetrap mixup if you think they'll do something other than ledge jump while you're on a plat, if you knocked them away somewhere when you happen to be on or are getting on the plat (basically another tech chase situation except they're below you), if they're committed to charging or attempting an attack from the ground or try to hit you on the plat and mis-space (run off plat and turnaround skewer perfectly punishes telegraphed up smashes), if they do a landing aerial as an incorrect read of you getting off the plat, and as a guess or read that's time & position dependent between you and the opponent. A good skewer mixup if not too obvious in the attempt.


Nair (forward & retreating nair included) > jab 1 & 2 > skewer. Works from 15 to 30%. There's dash in and turnaround skewer too to punish techroll behind after jablock, and shorthop forward skewer to punish techroll away. You can avoid getup attacks before the skewer by sidestepping or a fullhop to be certain (this also includes on plats or avoiding any moves from them if they stay on plat).

Sourspot f-tilt (regular/up angled and/or pivot cancel included) > jab 1 & 2 > skewer. Works from 20 to 50%. Tipper f-tilt sends into tumble around 5%. The above setups for techroll punishing still apply.

Nair (forward & retreating nair included) or f-tilt (regular/up angled and/or pivot cancel included) > tech chases > skewer (turnaround skewer if needed), for when the opponent techs. The above setups for punishing mostly applies, but dash forward skewer to punish teching away, and if they tech in after getting knocked by the nair/f-tilt, a standing skewer will punish if timed right. Same with neutral tech.

D-tilt > skewer, if they tech. The down B you’ll want to input right before they’re about to land. From 0 to 20%.

D-throw > skewer can still work like normal in some situations like if they airdodge away after the throw and you dash forward and skewer them, do a shorthop forward skewer, or if you d-throw them to a top platform at 70 to 80% where the skewer will still work after.

Reverse nair late hit (OoS and catching air approaches included) > turnaround skewer; 45 to 60%.

Bair > turnaround d-tilt > skewer (platform). Around 5 to 10%.

D-throw > d-tilt > skewer (platform). Around 5 to 20%.

Up tilt > d-tilt > skewer (platform). Around 5 to 20%.

Up tilt > nair > skewer (platform). From 25 to 45%.

D-tilt/d-throw > nair > skewer (platform). From 25 to 45%.

D-tilt/d-throw > f-air > skewer. This was already labbed some on my own, and can work surprisingly well for platforms too, if you want to push them to land at the platform on the opposite side while leading up to your tech chase. From 25 to 45% for this one.

Nair (forward & retreating nair included) or f-tilt (regular/up angled and/or pivot cancelled) > jab 1 & 2 > d-tilt > skewer (platforms). Starts working somewhere past 15-25% depending on the opponent's weight and whether you get the sweetspot or sourspot with nair or f-tilt, combining jablock with platform tech chasing.

Charged plasma breath > skewer. This is more of a trap setup. If they shield, they might spotdodge to avoid a grab, which you can punish with skewer.

D-tilt > skewer for platforms is from 10-15 to 35% depending on weight or around 0% if you get a tipper d-tilt, while the up throw on top mid platform to double jump or IDJ up there and skewer is from 0 to 20%. At high % (approx 70-80%), d-tilt can actually send the opponent to the top platform, which you can double jump or IDJ to reach to and skewer similarly.

* U-throw > skewer can be a thing without the top platform too like if they fastfall or airdodge down in front of you, and if you use these throws in a position that doesn't send them off stage, b-throw > skewer can work from 0% and f-throw > skewer around the 15% range, since that's when they can begin tech chasing.

For wavebounce skewer, it can also be used to punish the opponent's ledge getup attack, and as a way to punish when landing yourself, even off-stage on a recovering opponent. Forward throw can put them into position for you to wavebounce skewer as well. Same with back throw if you condition them, although platforms will make both throw setups easier.

For a quick post-skewer punish while on platform, jab 1 and 2 (optional), drop down under and up smash. Can charge it too if you want to wait until after the opponent's roll or getup. For top platforms post-skewer, a descending uair or shorthop uair from underneath can work as well.

For a maximum punish on big bodies, at 0%, u-tilt > d-throw > nair > regrab & d-throw > irar nair > turnaround d-tilt > skewer.


These aren't included in the video, but some other things to note are,

Rapid jab gives a guaranteed tech chase from 0% and gentleman jab at early %, which means you can get a skewer setup off of jab.

Spaced f-air 1 or fadeback f-air 2 > skewer. Just shorthop, fair, then immediately fastfall, whether you fadeback or not; can even do this as a fakeout when 1st or 2nd hit of fair isn't close enough to land and followup with skewer as a punish mixup.

When you’ve conditioned with landing SPR, can do turnaround skewer as a reverse landing mixup.

After throwing out a single fireball off stage to force a low recovery, instead of crouch ledge slipping/fastfalling to nair or fair them, can try to skewer as a mixup.

* Normally, while whiffing a skewer can get you hard punished or worse make you lose a stock sometimes, it's relatively safe when used in tech chases; arguably even more so when platforms are involved, but should not risk giving up your advantage state unless super confident you can land the skewer.


And I guess to repost this Ridley d-tilt > skewer (no tech) matchup doc I made here which was updated again with some of the above info...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1szuvO5KYYrXjwnHdf4oLqO0hgzauaKR9dD2GQbaEeVs/edit#gid=0

One point saw brought up before that I didn't realize prior, d-tilt can possibly frame trap into skewer too, because if they do a neutral airdodge after the d-tilt, you can still skewer them. Also too, can do an EDC down tilt to d-tilt them from a distance if need be. All that and more added to the doc under the description part. To simplify the percents, lightweights start below 25%, most of the cast is within the 25-35% range, and heavies up above 30-40%.

Just another reminder of all the setups we have besides the old d-throw standing skewer method that was nerfed. Happy skewering.

 

[RomanceDawn]

Also, some further proof of concept on Ridley's up B for spiking/trading with others' recoveries. Finally something more to have against Samus.

Yesterday I posted about Ridley's instant up B ledge spike - ledgesnap.

I wanted to share some "proof of concept".

I mentioned how even if your opponent goes high to avoid the spike, Ridley can get off the ledge instantly, and followup with a side B or bigger punish. pic.twitter.com/0Nt9x2evQG

— Ultimate ProTips (@SsbProTips) September 27, 2019

Alright guys, ONE LAST video on the up B ledge tech.

I wanted to show how it affects high priority recoveries that most people have trouble beating out or covering due to their low angle.

Ridley actually trades with a lot of these recoveries and can survive consistently. pic.twitter.com/Q7MoQzp3lb

— Ultimate ProTips (@SsbProTips) September 27, 2019

Wait, is the idea that for those low recovery characters Ridley should do the up-B but just continue past the stage to trade? Like don't hold up to grab the ledge because the trade will save us anyway?

 

[Ridley_Prime]

Wait, is the idea that for those low recovery characters Ridley should do the up-B but just continue past the stage to trade? Like don't hold up to grab the ledge because the trade will save us anyway?

Basically, yeah. Don’t hold down during the wing blitz and you’ll grab the ledge afterward.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

One of the main things I learned and acquired from this was getting back on stage with skewer thanks to wavebounce. Couldn't really do it with plasma breath but it’s something, though trickier to pull off.

Of course, helps to have a shoulder button set to special for this to work most consistently, if you don't mind having it as an alternate control setting. I prefer my shoulder R button for jump though to make stuff like Flickshot/IRAR nair and bair easier for Rid, but can work with this as a secondary control setup for those wavebounces.

Aside from the usual input method (facing right as an example) of jump forward > doing a turnaround jump left > pressing B and immediately turning right

, an an easier alternative I found with tilt stick is jump forward > do a turnaround jump left > press right on C-stick and B at the same time.

Other ways to wavebounce or B-reverse plasma include:
Jump and turn left at the same time, press right on C-stick and B simultaneously.
Turn around on the ground just before jumping and B-reverse.
While facing away, run, jump, simultaneously press B and C-stick in the opposite direction.
Shorthop forward or backward and B-reverse.

For down special wavebouncing in the case of Skewer, again facing right in this example:
Jump forward (short or fullhop), roll the left stick counter-clockwise to diagonal down-left, and hit right on C-stick and B at the same time.

Can also shorthop forward or backward and turnaround Skewer.


The tilt C-stick and B button macro (for both B-reverse plasma and wavebounce skewer) helps to avoid doing those accidental side B misinputs that’ll commonly happen in practice due to the strict timing.


Go to this video here for Slingshot applications with wavebouncing.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

Blitz stalling definitely seems worth adding to your arsenal for the bait & punish game, though just as with any of Ridley's options from ledge, don't want to become too predictable with it, leading to you getting punished instead, so use this tech as a mixup to maintain an element of surprise. Would say side B is the best punish followup once you have them conditioned, especially if you get them off stage with it, but if they’re at high enough % for side B to reliably kill after the drag, that’s good too. Back angle Wing Blitz is also good if they're close enough to ledge at kill %, as well as forward angle if they’re camping back far enough around mid stage. Blitz stalling can also lead into ledge trumping when done while an opponent's recovering, followed by bair as shown.


This was also made because not enough Ridley’s do this surprisingly. Some like me practiced the longest combo options, but this one here is the bare minimum of which any Ridley should know how to do. The matchup combo doc in the video description gives a good idea of who it’s true on, or rather which version of the nair regrab or nair combo starter (see further below for more on this) is true or best on which character.

Reminder that overhead denotes usage of fullhop nair as a d-throw followup (begins around 20%), mid for shorthop nair (if opponent can airdodge after nair, a properly timed roll/DA cancel grab can catch them as a frame trap, and if a 0% regrab combo fails by getting sweetspot nair, can do f-tilt instead for a tech chase situation), low for shorthop f-air (typically with the mentioned boost grabs as a followup), and 1 Nair indicating that only one nair will keep opponent out of tumble. For any floaties you may find too difficult to time any of the nair > turnaround u-tilt > bair combos on, can just do nair > regular u-tilt or two > fair (fullhop) instead as needed for around the same damage. For shorties you may also find hard to consistently time regular u-tilt on, can go for a regrab instead after the nair. For either u-tilt though, will be easier to time from a nair combo starter since they already took some damage from the initial nair and will be launched higher after the 2nd for the u-tilt to more easily connect. Anywho-

D-throw > microdash forward (1 frame) > nair forward momentum and fastfall > regrab. If you see the initial dash particle after d-throw, it means you did it wrong and dashed for too long by not buffering nair soon enough; can help to quickly flick the stick before the nair input. The 2nd grab can miss if you don’t hold forward quick enough after nair or while fastfalling. Have to time the fastfall during the last few frames of the animation so that nair autocancels.

After the regrab, can do d-throw followed by another nair into regular or up angle f-tilt (matchup dependent but for a rule of thumb, end with regular angle f-tilt on Captain Falcon, Mega Man, Ryu/Ken, Incineroar, and Banjo, while ending with up angle f-tilt on everyone else that a version of this combo applies to) or just fair and then can either try and tech chase with a burst option and most specials to punish teching away or d-smash and a number of moves to punish teching in. This all applies even if you miss a regrab, making optimal use of your one throw. D-throw > up angle f-tilt can be used alternatively for the purpose of tech chasing early as 0% (particularly on non-floaty characters), and for racking up damage with just one throw, d-throw > nair > d-tilt/u-tilt > fair > tech chase, or for something more consistent, d-throw > nair > rapid jab (at 0% or ledge). Can also d-throw > flickshot/irar nair > turnaround d-tilt > f-air near ledge.

Nair regrab caps out at about 11% (before the d-throw), and so you'll need to delay the nair at later percents; as in dash for longer before buffering the shorthop nair, which frame-wise is more lenient. On other big bodies though, it'll be longer before you get to this point. Likewise, nair into grab connects more reliably around the 10% range, since you get more frame advantage on hit from nair at that point.

* Pivoting out of an autocancel move like nair gives a bit of an evasive boost which you can do as a retreating mixup. Same with landing aerials you can autocancel from a fullhop like our fair and bair.

* If getting pummels before d-throw is an issue, you can buffer pummels by simply double or triple tapping grab (Z) for pummel x1 or x2 and then just quickly press down to d-throw as usual; that way you won't have to stop and think about anything in between. A pummel gives you one more frame to connect into your 2nd grab too. If they're at 0 or early % though, have to be quick with the pummel and d-throw before they mash out. After that it becomes harder to do so, and likewise past mid % for 2 pummels.

For nair combo starters which can also be done OoS, input a buffered rising nair (sweetspot) and drift forward and fastfall into a grab just as you would with a nair regrab combo. i.e. Rising nair > grab & d-throw > nair > regrab & d-throw > dash/EDC u-tilt > f-air fullhop. A simpler example across the board is rising sweetspot nair > grab & d-throw > delayed f-air > tech chase; alternatively, rising sour nair > grab & d-throw > nair > regular or up angle f-tilt (again matchup dependent, but as a rule of thumb here, end with regular angle f-tilt on Pikachu, Wolf, and Ryu/Ken, while ending with up angle f-tilt on everyone else that a version of this combo applies to) > tech chase, and starting around 5%, nair > d-tilt (can EDC) > f-air > tech chase. When d-throw is at tumble point, EDC/dash walk u-tilt followed by whatever fullhop or double jump/IDJ aerial + fastfall from 20-52% range, or 50-72% range for super heavies (can also start with d-tilt). Regrab or tilt again on reaction if they airdodge, u-smash if they land at kill %. Also when sour nair is at tumble %, f-air for floaties as a followup and f-tilt (regular/up angle) on everyone else.

There’s also doing a nair (either side) > up angle f-tilt from 0% and by extension, d-throw/d-tilt > forward autocancel nair > up angle f-tilt, tipper d-tilt > forward sweetspot fastfall nair > tipper f-tilt > tech chase (can down angle f-tilt instead if they're near ledge and knocked off by the nair), or at the end of combos, forward nair > jab; like as a mixup from d-throw + nair, can followup with d-tilt. Rising forward fastfall nair > d-tilt combos around 5-30% depending on how light/floaty the opponent is, and from there can followup with fullhop aerials. If they airdodge a fullhop bair, you can hit them with a falling one right afterward. Speaking of fullhop aerials, rising forward nair can also combo into overhead (fullhop nair) as a mixup from 0%, instead of having to wait till around 20% to do an overhead from d-throw. Can sweetspot both nair's for extra damage.


Less related to the above, but similarly around 0%, if you start with a landing nair (from short or fullhop), can followup with dash grab. A good combo example is landing nair > dash grab > nair > up angle f-tilt. Landing sour nair > flickshot/irar bair (shorthop) is strong too; only escape is DI up and away but otherwise you get kill confirm at ledge. Landing nair > Holdshot Skewer or Flickshot Plasma may work as well.

Landing nair isn’t safe on shield though, so only go for this as a mixup. If they shield it, you can retaliate with f-tilt to beat out their grab (can up angle f-tilt too to cover that and jump) or shield yourself or do some Slingshot option if you think they’ll go for another OoS option. Another less safe option is low (forward shorthop f-air) as a combo starter instead of from d-throw. If the initial f-air hits, can do a dash or boost grab as a followup, so f-air > grab & d-throw > f-air becomes possible. Lastly, back hit nair also combos into dash grab at early %, and then dash attack at mid % and above.

* For a general rule of thumb with landing nair, you have to throw out the nair right before you land and get the tipper spacing at the same time, in order to make most grabs whiff. For another f-tilt punish, land with nair like so, then dash back and instant turnaround up angle f-tilt.



What else... Ridley's charged f-smash can ledge cancel which can be followed up with side B. ICU (intangibility crossup) can also be used to set this up or SPR moments. Our nair can ledge cancel as well.

Ridleys Forward Smash can also ledge cancel:@adom15510 pic.twitter.com/5GYLxtLnVT

— MGK (@MGK_Ganondorf) January 18, 2020

You can also cancel hitstun with platforms by drifting toward the edge of them when hit and you'll end up ledge cancelling your hitstun which lets you act immediately after and surprise your opponents.

Moving on, there's this too.

This video made me realize how much I've slept on SPR jump release options, and as pointed out makes dair more intimidating since off stage they can't shield and have to contest it, letting you use its surprisingly decent power on the sourspot. With how fast it is too, the opponent will often have difficulty reacting to it in time if at all. From most to least effective, the setups I picked up on from the guide are dair (jumping once to go further out before doing it), fair (either used when getting out of fastfall lockout and hitting someone coming your way at high % or jump and fair to catch opponent’s jump at lower %), nair (after a dair to get in position to block a low recovery), jump back and B-reverse plasma or normal/wavebounce skewer (landing on stage near ledge), jump and WB Up/Down, and another SPR (this can be easiest to time when you use the first SPR to catch their 2nd jump).

* When going for a dair in this instance, don't delay the input after jumping forward or you might not make it back, even with your 3rd jump and up B. If at worst you're not in a position where you're above the opponent to land a dair on them after you SPR release, accept that it might miss instead of risking an SD, and if they're still in the air off stage, you may hit them on your way back up when recovering with Wing Blitz. Also too, when you realize you may not land your planned dair depending on opponent's position, you may be in a position to f-air them instead when jumping forward, so keep that in mind instead of always committing to the dair. I suppose another and more simple way to put it, if they jump or something after the SPR release to recover high, go for f-air or any similar option as you get closer to them, and if they save their air resources to recover low, dair them. Keep in mind though of a get-off-me aerial or special they may have depending on the matchup, although some dair can trade with and still hit them. Going for any followup aerial can be committal and risk a reversal, especially in those matchups, but nothing wrong with jump releasing and seeing how they react at first for information gathering.

* Even if they're not quite at kill % for the dair (sour dair, while the dair spike kills off stage at whatever %), it can still gimp them. If they're at somewhere lower % when recovering low, you may not even need to do a single jump forward after the SPR release and just dair them immediately, leaving you with two jumps to use after instead of one when recovering back to ledge. My first instinct or habit though is to use at least one jump before the dair, but keep an eye on where the opponent is after the SPR release and you may see that you won't need to use a resource to be in dair position depending on the situation.

* Also, after an SPR release, instead of always chasing with an aerial after, can wait for them to jump back and do a bair as you jump & drift back to ledge.

** Depending on opponent’s %, like say mid % or 75% (100% for the heaviest), it may be easier to get a 2nd SPR without jump releasing. When at ledge after the 1st one drags them off stage (or using another horizontal knockback move like dash attack or bair that puts them in that position), either wait until they’re slightly above Ridley’s altitude off stage + in your horizontal mid-range and input it, dash off stage to close the distance and SPR if they're still within said altitude, or depending on how high their jump height is, can jump first and SPR them, followed by an early release before you drag them too far down and either nair them or fair them at higher % towards the wall blastzone which'll either kill or gimp.

Can fastfall if they delay their jump, but either aerial, particular f-air, should be active long enough to connect regardless, or catch their jump with uair. After the early release of the SPR, can also do a turnaround jump back to stage and bair them as they come your way, or do a jump backward when they jump which can foostool if timed right (they can phantom footstool you in this situation though, so beware). Can also dair if they're right below you after SPR release, but works easier on other big bodies. Don’t go for off-stage SPR if they recover low unless you know their 2nd jump can be caught by it.


Not saying much but these setups also seem more reliable than trying to rely on SPR itself to kill from mid to high %, though note that it kills earlier when you use it at the edge than when you drag with it for damage, and when not staled and/or when you have sufficient rage built up. The Town and City stage particularly is a goldmine for SPR release setups, sometimes allowing you to followup with another SPR due to the number of platforms. For other stages though, keep in mind when you get somewhere past early 100% range, the SPR jump release will send too far to get a reliable followup, in which case you can just start relying on regular SPR to kill, or if it won't kill quite yet but want to set up a ledge trap that you think will take them out. Another exception to this is if they recover high and jump after that early 100% range from the SPR release, they may end up positioning themselves above you, in which case you can just finish them off with a uair.

After catching someone with SPR, simply hold B or jump to buffer instant jump release. Even if you’re not initially planning to SPR release for a followup, do so if you think or know the opponent’s mashout attempt won’t be in your favor depending on the % difference. This is even better with the 13.0 buff to the move, making it harder to escape for any mashers, but if they do ever still mash out, followup with jab, f-tilt, or grab depending. Whether they're close enough for you to jab/grab or far enough to safely f-tilt after they mash out of SPR is both character and drag distance dependent. What characters get pushed back further seems to be arbitrary but the longer drag distance would always push them back further, in which case you f-tilt if they mash out.

* When doing SPR jump release, holding forward or backward on L-stick while doing so gives more acceleration.

** As far as when to use SPR jump release more, it can be against characters like Game & Watch and maybe even Sephiroth who are much more screwed if we chase after them when they're far from the stage, as well as other characters that have a harder time recovering from the angle of the manual release, such as those with horizontal recoveries. Don't use it against someone like Bayonetta though.

It can also be optimized with a flowchart; it just requires us to develop different fundies to our usual edgeguarding scenarios. Can also experiment more by mixing up the timing of your followup aerials, waiting to see what the opponent does first, seeing if they like to aggressively jump at you while waiting, and next time when in the position can jump dair or something as a counter.

The reason you don't see SPR jump release in higher level play is that it comes with exceptionally high risk since you give up stage if you miss, but can be worth it sometimes. Whether to go for it to begin with also depends on what the opponent does, like if their go-to option is jump, there's no reason to not jump early from a side B unless they're already at kill % for it.


Another thing to mention is if their jab is faster than frame 4 like our jab, then it forces you into a tough spot where you're taking the mixup instead of them (shield is also a frame 1 option for them if they mash out, so grab if you expect it or see them shield for more than a moment, or do a shorthop back/retreating nair or something to get back in mid range). In this case you should always try to jump release out of SPR earlier if you know they will mash out since the situation will be better for you in that case. That said, f-tilt's leanback can help you dodge those faster moves.

One other good thing about using SPR jump release instead of the regular drag is it avoids SPR being a friendly fire liability in doubles. It may allow said teammate to followup with an aerial or something also.



And then there's this, as not enough Ridley's have been making optimal use of plasma at the right times, except for edgeguarding or ledgetrapping.

Key things to note are baiting jumps (from on or off stage) or high/early recoveries, briefly using it while landing, baiting approaches (which you can typically punish with an f-smash or something if they jump/airdodge over), using the bounce effect when starting plasma around mid-stage, catch opponent's landings (including stall & fall dair reads), shield pressure, occasional cheesy getup option (ledge jump to charge plasma which can stall you while avoiding shorthop attacks), halting opponents from closing in on you like when they're in advantage, and delay recoveries which you can then crouch ledge slip to go low and aerial them.

For the ledgetrapping bit, note the extra space that lower platforms provide when on those certain stages.

One important thing not shown in the video, is covering platforms from center stage after knocking an opponent on one or when they’re about to land on one; can use a single fireball to do so or a half charge of 2 or 3 which can cover the plat and the ground below it. Another thing not addressed in the vid is using plasma to bait reflectors, as an even number of fireballs like 2 or 4 will cancel each other out which allows for a followup punish such as a burst option. Likewise, using plasma to bait an absorb type move can allow you to followup with a burst option like SPR as a punish, or can just use SPR if they’re in range for one where you don't have to dash and know they’re going to shield. Then there's Flickshot or Holdshot shorthop for a single fireball and fullhop or IDJ for charged plasma as another movement option (allows for followup attacks to be more consistent), as well as using plasma during a tech chase; can shorthop back + plasma to create more space during their tech option.

Also, if you do a little plasma (a fireball or two) on an opponent when they're doing a techroll like on a plat, it'll send them into jablock. Take advantage of that.

Plasma armor can help against recovery hitboxes by charging neutral B off stage, and then you can freely dunk them. They have to be sent far out and their jump generally has to be used up first though.

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For more on fireball bouncing off ledge, there's this.

High/Low Ledge Fireball trap
Pretty sure this is known by some Ridleys but I think it's pretty underrated. If you stand at the correct position you can get half bounce/half low fireballs BUT if you double jump or triple jump you can gurantee at least 3 fireballs high+low. pic.twitter.com/IK7paKBSJO

— CF YBG TSM - The Feature (@The5thFlavorIRL) April 27, 2023

There's also fully charged plasma breath off stage, where you fullhop or double jump off the stage while fully charging it, and by the time you're done you use your last jump or two to make it back and recover.

For characters that have an explosive to self-damage as a recovery mixup + airdodging when they have no jump, or up B while they're close to the blast zone so that the explosive blows up while they're super low.

The full plasma breath wall makes it so that there's no blind spot for them to stall under, and you just shut down their mixup potential altogether. Sometimes too characters drop items when they get hit (any Link with bombs, etc), but even if they don't drop their item, the explosive will blow up much further away from stage, and limit what they can mix up to make it back with.

The full off stage charge is to create a larger horizontal firewall that you could not do by just plasma charging at ledge, and so that no drift option is correct on the opponent's part. A half charged plasma off stage may be enough to cover a single drift option, that said.

Can also use plasma to stall when jumping off stage in better timing a fair/bair edgeguard.


With plasma edgeguarding, remember at higher percents, the full charges on plasma aren’t always intended to actually hit, but are instead meant to either force the opponent to stall to the absolute max to avoid them, leaving them open to a possible ledgetrump, or conditioning them to stay at ledge for the entirety of their ledge invincibility; that way the option they pick next will be very rushed.

Getting consistent plasma breath 2 frames is primarily based on the speed of the opponent’s recovery and where you’re standing when you throw them out, and even in situations where they have the time to ledge jump over it, if you’ve backed away enough you’re less likely to be reversaled and you’ve made them fully commit to landing on stage against a potential, f-tilt, d-tilt, dash attack, or even a defensive parry against whatever they decide to aggro with.


With plasma you can also take a lot of stage control when further away depending on the matchup, and if you start to play against players that mixup well, you can even do baits. You can throw 1 or 2 fireballs mostly, and then they will shield, and you can just hold and charge on their shield. Or you can charge more at first (B-reverse/wavebounce/flickshot, etc), and then suddenly throw 1 and punish their approach.

Also, by going towards the edge of a Battlefield plat where Ridley's in a teeter animation, the flow of full charged plasma will split between the other plat and the ground below it. Can be used when you've knocked an opponent across the map but won't make it across to edgeguard in time, and if you're aware they aren't going to be on the plat, you can just lower your stream to 1-4 shots since it'll miss the plat.

On Smashville/HB, be on the far left end of the center plat and charge 3-4. All this gets even stronger when combined with jumps, since you can have the plasma split while repositioning. For ledgetrapping, it covers everything except ledge hang.


For more on plasma splittling with plats, it can be strong after landing a beefy up B hit followed by ledge jump plasma, as it covers jump and converts into lower plasma. On stages with plats on the far side like Kalos and such, covers multiple ledge options including ledge roll which converts into jab. If you lose a stock and are on the respawn platform, you get free coverage by holding B while spawning (unless it has a top platform like regular battlefield), and as usual plasma will trip opponents off of the edges of platforms.

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Aside from the ledge jump plasma mixup like after an up B poke, can also charge some plasma after a successful ledge getup attack which can beat out some neutral approaching options.

After a successful charged plasma on someone at close range (on hit or shield), f-smash can whiff punish regular or OoS options like grab due to the leanback. Max spaced f-smash can also work to punish some aggressive approaches after they've been plasma'd or if they jump/airdodge over plasma and you react in time.

* Aside from some plasma at close range being possible when catching most ledge options, can simply do any horizontal knockback move, advance toward them and charge a little plasma, and then f-smash if a window is found; or knock them away, do some flickshot plasma, and do a spaced f-smash on their approach. It's a bonus if they trip from plasma RNG which makes whatever you need to do next even easier.

When doing movement mixups with plasma, position yourself to be under a platform or diagonally behind it to make it harder for them to jump and punish. Being under a platform while shooting plasma also makes it harder to approach.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

I first posted these earlier in the social thread, but felt they were important enough to repost here, with this thread serving as an archive reference to any such guides or advanced tips for Ridley.

This taught me some alternate ways to recover with the wall bouncing, particularly when using back angle WB with the distance it covers and when bouncing with WB forward high enough against the wall of a stage such as Kalos or Northern Cave, reaching a platform above. Unova and Yoshi’s Story you can’t really do the same with, but their walls below still help with WB bouncing and teching from the side of stage.

The technique in general is mostly to be used for getting past characters that edgeguard with a counter or disjointed dair that consistently beats out vertical WB (they try to counter you recovering from below? Up B wall bounce to ascend instead), or to reduce the risk for re-grabbing ledges in general, which also adds another layer for planking for the certain matchups that demand it. Better yet, if your WB wall bounce coincides with a whiffed counter, you can footstool them on your way up. WB wall bouncing can also let you avoid a reversal after you start edgeguaring someone, depending on the kind of reversal option they try to go for.

An actual clip example here gives a good idea on how to use it in a real match. Stage dependent of course, but still.

Another thing that can help with counters, at least when you get hit by one, is holding down will let you tech it a good bit longer (holding down can also let you survive untechables which are the red shockwaves when you get knocked against a stage wall, by holding down to reduce your launch speed and then tech as usual), aside from hugging the stage under making it harder for them to off stage counter. Likewise if the opponent's standing at ledge to counter while you're recovering low, try to be as far away from ledge as possible at first when drifting toward it after you up B, allowing you to avoid an obvious counter. They can adapt to this by going slightly off stage to counter, but you can mix them up by using your jumps and airdodge to get to ledge instead. Lastly, if they stale their counter earlier on, it'll still kill much later like with any powerful move.


This is also something not used that much. Fullhop nair setups with platforms helps his plat game tremendously, especially if you're facing the edge, putting them off stage.

This begins being possible from 0 to 20% depending on weight (generally, 0% for lights, 10% for mids, and 20% for heavies), or around 0% if you land a tipper d-tilt. Instead of starting it off with d-throw or d-tilt, you can do so with u-tilt as well, even if they're already on the platform (i.e. u-tilt > fullhop/IDJ rising nair onto platform). You can also run off and f-air if they DI away or if you want to setup a chase to the other platform but aside from doing that move (short or fullhop), you can end the combo with b-air (flickshot/rar fullhop or irar shorthop) or flickshot/irar nair > b-air after the d-tilt on platform as well. Also, after landing on the platform, instead of d-tilt, you can either do gentleman jab for another tech chase or just do jablock as a mixup (jab 1), and then drop down and up smash.

Now a real major alternative to this whole setup, is d-tilt and landing sweetspot nair onto platform, though takes some precision as to properly space it. Examples of it here and there.

There’s also d-tilt > shorthop nair without landing on plat, followed by another nair as shown here. You can also use the setup to lead into reverse nair, fair and, and bair (from like 20% to 60%), and can do the double nair into any angle f-tilt as an early edgeguard. It forces the opponent to commit to high or low while being far out. Regular f-tilt catches the jump, and d-tilt can also work if they manage to get too far away from f-tilt. Floaties will just drift away from the f-tilt though, but nair > d-throw > flickshot/irar nair > bair/up angle f-tilt or double nair > d-throw > irar bair at similar early % works as a substitute for them. More on it here.

A mix of some of the above setups can be seen in a clip here. Lastly, I updated all the previous posts here with a bunch of important info and inputs to keep in mind. Check em out.