Samus' D-air spike - effective?

[camzaman]

Since spikes and gimps seem like they will be even more important in Smash 4, how does Samus Dair compare to previous games? Any vids or reactions so far?

 

[Joanny]

Well, I tried her few minutes on my friend's japanese version and it seems that D-Air is quite similar to Brawl's one, maybe a bit faster. This D-air is still a very nice weapon.

Now Samus is different than before, you must change your gameplay if you want to be as efficient on this game with her.

(And nice Avatar btw, Samus has now a color like that on SSB4 <3 )


EDIT : Well, after tried on Brawl, it seems that now in SSB4 d-air or F-air have more landing time that in Brawl. You can't harass the opponent with d-air on the plateform as easily than before.
The Zair seems less strong too, still useful, but less.
But some attack are a way more strong, all the fire hits connect easily (up smash, F-air), same for Up-B. All of these attacks have more knocback too !

What I can say to conclude it's that Samus gots nerfs on her range stuffs (Zair, missile,...) but up on her close range (jab, up smash, dash attack, up B ...).

I can't wait to try it more !

 

[GdspdUblkprzdnt]

From what I can tell through trying it out is that it's nowhere near as easy to land as in Brawl. There seems to be a sweet spot now to the attack that contains the spike, otherwise it just knocks the enemy in a different direction. I played it on a friends Japanese 3ds during lunch so I didn't really have much time to experiment with it.

 

[TeaTwoTime]

From what I can tell through trying it out is that it's nowhere near as easy to land as in Brawl. There seems to be a sweet spot now to the attack that contains the spike, otherwise it just knocks the enemy in a different direction. I played it on a friends Japanese 3ds during lunch so I didn't really have much time to experiment with it.

Her D-air in Brawl also had a sweetspot that spiked and another hitbox that didn't. I always found it hard to land in general because of how floaty she was and how safe air-dodging tended to be. Very satisfying when it connected, though.

 

[GdspdUblkprzdnt]

Her D-air in Brawl also had a sweetspot that spiked and another hitbox that didn't. I always found it hard to land in general because of how floaty she was and how safe air-dodging tended to be. Very satisfying when it connected, though.

Have we been playing two different games? It seemed to me that any frame on her d-air was an assured spike past a certain percentage (above 40-ish?) I doubt I just have exceptional aim. I'm also in total agreement that landing that D-air is the super satisfying and dare I say the most satisfying way to land a KO with Samus :3

 

[Hapajin]

Yeah I don't recall a Dair sourspot in any of the previous games.

I haven't tested Samus yet in the 3DS but it looks like there's a lot less startup time in the attack, similar to the Smash64 version. Of course, my eyes could be deceiving me, I'm basing this assumption purely on gameplay footage.

 

[IsmaR]

As a 64-Samus buff, I can attest that it's most like that version of D-air. Quick, potent but won't do you much good if for follow-ups without proper zoning.

From what I played in the (Best Buy) demo, it's changed dramatically. If you don't properly time it similarly to Mario's F-air (meaning if you don't hit with the "tip" of the arm cannon at just the right moment, just below you), you just smack them slightly sideways/up. The D-air spike itself is powerful enough to make enemies bounce off the floor, however. My Brawl habits took over at the time, so I was focused on SH/trying to auto-cancel it, plus I played on FE Arena (walk-off) so no-go on spiking.

All in all the changes make me think off-stage play is going to rely more heavily on Z-air (again) and Charge Shot/N-air.

 

[Thor]

That means I actually have to space dair when I want to disrespect someone?

...

Nuts.

Also as someone who routinely dorks around with Samus in Brawl, I can safely say that I never EVER recall landing a sourspot on dair (and by dorks around, it's the character I use in FFAs when being pseudo-serious, and I (used to) play a fair number of FFAs because there were too many of us for 1v1s, and I was also better than the rest by a significant gap) [and being partially sandbagging, I go for offstage dair A LOT].

Or in Brawl is it a sourspot in the way that Melee Roy's dair has a sourspot that meteors

 

[TeaTwoTime]

Have we been playing two different games? It seemed to me that any frame on her d-air was an assured spike past a certain percentage (above 40-ish?) I doubt I just have exceptional aim. I'm also in total agreement that landing that D-air is the super satisfying and dare I say the most satisfying way to land a KO with Samus :3

I could've sworn there was a hitbox late in the animation that sent them up and to the side... Three people saying otherwise is probably a good sign that I'm mistaken, though. So much for Samus being one of my mains in Brawl.

 

[GdspdUblkprzdnt]

That means I actually have to space dair when I want to disrespect someone?

...

Nuts.

Also as someone who routinely dorks around with Samus in Brawl, I can safely say that I never EVER recall landing a sourspot on dair (and by dorks around, it's the character I use in FFAs when being pseudo-serious, and I (used to) play a fair number of FFAs because there were too many of us for 1v1s, and I was also better than the rest by a significant gap) [and being partially sandbagging, I go for offstage dair A LOT].

Or in Brawl is it a sourspot in the way that Melee Roy's dair has a sourspot that meteors

Yeah man, I feel like brawl pampered me too much, the thought of having to AIM my d-air scares me so much. Like IsmaR said, I think her spiffy new neutral air might be her bread and butter offstage this time around.

 

[Thor]

Yeah man, I feel like brawl pampered me too much, the thought of having to AIM my d-air scares me so much. Like IsmaR said, I think her spiffy new neutral air might be her bread and butter offstage this time around.

It's not scary, just means a bit of learning (since dair seems so rewarding without meteor cancels).

I mean, Marth mains can do it, and I even knew a Roy main who could do it in Melee (admittedly he was pretty predictable, but I was really bad at the time too [slow adapting] and he sucked me up into combos that ended in sweetspot dairs like 5 times). And something tells me this hitbox is at least somewhat generous - it very well may be as strict as a meteor on the front side of dair in Brawl, but I would hope not (and if it is but shares Marth dair properties, just making sure to RAR offstage would do the trick).

Admittedly, having a dair that ALWAYS meteors (or at least a dair where I can't hit the sourspot at all, if it does exist...) is much nicer than having a dair where one actually has to space the dair, but it's certainly not something to stop using dair offstage (especially when you're down by a fair bit and nair/bair probably won't get it done).

 

[GdspdUblkprzdnt]

Has anyone who got the game today experimented with her Dair significantly? I've been too busy messing around with other characters to do so yet. I really want to find out what frame houses that delicious meteor.

 

[IsmaR]

I actually just got a D-air "non-sweetspot/spike" kill. Hit them upwards at a higher percent. I'll try to find a way to simulate/record the reply I have.

 

[Silver Forte]

yeah down air doesnt seem to spike as easily. It still knocks them pretty far away from the stage even if it doesnt spike though.

 

[Hapajin]

http://kotaku.com/president-obama-s..._source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow

Here is a video of Samus' non-sweetspotted Dair KO'ing at 108% at 2:50ish. Although the guy in the beginning says something about boosting her defense and offense at the expense of some speed, so that might be one reason why it was that strong.

 

[IsmaR]

Mine was at 132% vs Sheik, slightly above the top platform on Battlefield. Felt like it would have killed a lot earlier either way.

 

[XalchemistX]

I've spiked many times with d air. Still works

 

[Manic Glint]

After some practice it doesn't seem much harder than it was in brawl, maybe even a little easier. The 'sourspot' sometimes sends them flying sideways and ends up killing them anyway. I'm happy with it.

 

[XalchemistX]

After some practice it doesn't seem much harder than it was in brawl, maybe even a little easier. The 'sourspot' sometimes sends them flying sideways and ends up killing them anyway. I'm happy with it.

welcome to smashboards

 

[pinkdeaf1]

I feels as if dairing doesn't put you into fast fall if you simply run off and dair. Anyone else get this same response.

 

[-Jax]

I don't like the dair anymore when comparing it to the Brawl dair, mostly because the window you have to hit the move is a lot shorter than in Brawl, as well as it having a sourspot now. In addition to this, meteors are techable now, meaning on-stage dair into up-b isn't very viable anymore, especially considering how much harder her dair seems to hit properly from a short-hop now.

I just don't like the move anymore, but to be fair it would be ridiculous in this game if it was the same as in Brawl due to the overall changes to Samus. Maybe I'm just a spoiled brat.

 

[Los4Muros]

Does her D-Air have good priority? I use it every now and then. But sometimes in a close match against a Marth or a Mario who still have their Air Smash, I stay back. But if it's villager or Megaman, I figure there's no risk to it. Does the spike have a high priority?