Safely Falling/Landing

[Clavaat]

Hi everyone,

There is a situation I've been in with Samus many times, but haven't been able to master: getting knocked up into the air, falling and ultimately, landing. That's not to say there are no options, but I'm really having a hard time figuring out the best approach here.

Options I've tried:

-Dair - Fairly short range and priority, usually gets beat out by opposing Uair
-Bombs - Decent at getting to a better position, away from opponent, but will usually lose out to anything if used offensively
-Bair - Probably the strongest aerial, but the hitbox seems to be strictly to the back, as opposed to below, like some other characters
-Fair - Eh, if the direction is right and it's started early, it's ok at best. But those are some pretty bad conditions for coverage. Very unreliable, imo.
-Nair - Solid, but doesn't cover below it seems.
-Air dodge - Nothing fancy here, just air dodging seems to be the most effective means of avoiding the inevitable Uair or Utilt from the opponent. However, if anticipated, heavily punished by a Bair/Fair/Uair. Tricky to get timing down.
-Fall to the edge - Probably the safest, most defensive option. I go for this more often than any of the other options. It isn't always an option if we're playing middle-stage, though.

If I'm off-base anywhere here, please let me know. How do you normally recover from above? Thanks!

 

[Afro Smash]

Fastfall Uair is another good option, lots of hits minimal endlag.

I generally just rely on airdodging, however against fast characters like fox and little mac, I basically always retreat to the ledge, since even with bomb mix up theyre fast enough to cover your landing with a dash attack.

Id also advise against using bombs when youre high in the air, as this gives fastfallers multiple chances to poke at you before you land, and obviously you're incapable of airdodging until the animation ends.

Fastfall nair/Bair/zair are also good options against taller characters, and sometimes smaller ones if you're confident in your timing

 

[Clavaat]

Thanks for the tips!

For FFUair, how wide is the hitbox? Does it actually reach underneath a bit, or are you saying to fall to the opponent's side as you land? I guess that same question applies to nair/bair/zair. Try to treat them as I would a regular jump-in approach?

Sorry if I'm making it confusing haha

 

[RoachCake]

Depends mostly on the MU.
I like to use Bombs against any of the non rushdown characters. (unless it's a mixup)
Using FF U-airs to intercept certain characters juggles.
CS/Z-air/N-air for random mixups.
Falling offstage to bait a gimp, and punishing it with D-air or B-air.
Or just going for the ledge to avoid unnecessary %.

 

[Mad Zephyr XXVII]

Whenever you're on the ledge and you want your opponent to back off, short jump and use F-air.

If you hit, then you can safely get back on the stage so the landing lag won't matter due to your opponent being knocked back.

If your opponent blocks, deviate back onto the ledge just to be safe. If you don't you'll most likely get grabbed out of shield or even worse.

 

[GdspdUblkprzdnt]

Uair is your best friend. Use it often and air dodge smartly to support its use. To answer your question, Samus' entire body is the hitbox for the duration of the animation

 

[Clavaat]

Uair is your best friend. Use it often and air dodge smartly to support its use. To answer your question, Samus' entire body is the hitbox for the duration of the animation

Awesome, I wasn't aware of that. I thought it was just the legs.

 

[GdspdUblkprzdnt]

Awesome, I wasn't aware of that. I thought it was just the legs.

It used to be in Brawl but the fact that it's her whole body makes it infinitely better now.