Samus' Ledge Getup Options

[Xygonn]

So, ledge hang is generally considered a bit of a disadvantaged state for most characters. However, I have put a ton of work into my ledge game to improve the position for Samus. Her ledge hang is one of the lowest (tied 2nd behind Dorf) making her hard to hit. She has lots of options from ledge, and I thought I would go over ALL of them. Roll and Attack are extremely situational. Attack only if there is a specific opening for it, you can actually get tech chases off getup attack to charge shot at interesting percentages (around 80). Roll only to avoid certain setups like gyro spikes where gyro is placed right on the ledge and ROB is already committed to a jump. Jump is a good mixup to use occasionally, but the objective is to get good enough on the ledge that your opponent is pushed way back from the ledge and you can just normal getup.


I never have gotten specific enough aside from saying "she has tons of stuff". For the sake of simplicity we will use "release" to mean either away from the ledge or down from the ledge. Whenever I mention a vulnerable regrab option that means you can just straight regrab, screw attack or tether back to ledge without ledge invuln. The tether has the smallest punish window on the ledge. You can buffer a jump from tether which is nice. When taking a vulnerable regrab, it’s best to be reading your opponent, what are they trying to do, can you catch them with hitboxes of screw attack to prevent them from punishing your vulnerability window? Are they hanging back. Are the gonna time a bair so you should wait in tether? You are definitely at a disadvantage but you have 3 options to help make your opponent guess. When you take a vulnerable regrab, hit shield to tech when your opponent is most likely to hit you. There isn’t really any penalty for messing this up. Teching from the ledge is very important in making the ledge a viable place to play.


Back to the main point what does “tons of stuff” look like, starting from ledge grab:


Ledge grab -> release -> upb

This works best on a dumb opponent that doesn’t know the MU that is just shielding over the ledge. You can break the shield or net an easy shield poke with this. Your only option is to take the vulnerable regrab if you whiff. Landing on stage will probably get you punished harder.


Ledge grab -> release -> dj -> uair

This option covers opponents that wait for you very close to the ledge. I recommend a downward release so you can land right after the last hit and go right into an upb to punish the majority of OoS options and straight back into the ledge grab (with restored invuln). This option does work well if you opponent is hanging back just a bit. Alternatively you can drop further so you have no chance to land. This is safe on shield with just the tip of uair, but you'll have to do a vulnerable regrab.


Ledge grab -> release -> dj -> fair.

You can use this in a variety of ways. It works for opponents right on the ledge and a little deeper than opponents outside of uair range.

1) You can release downward fair and regrab.

2) You can do the autocancel version. If you release backwards and do this the hurtbox adjustment will put you outside of the threat zone of many dsmashes and dtilts. You can choose to land on stage or regrab. I recommend landing on stage unless all hits are shielded, then you may want to fade back and take a vulnerable regrab option. Maybe even repeat.


Ledge grab -> release -> dj -> CS

This is a good option because CS does a ton of damage, but since you are hitting them toward the far end of the stage, it won’t kill except at very high percents. This one is a bit slow, so it is more read dependent than uair, fair, and zair. If you land all the hits of a fair, you can actually break a shield with CS. You have to regrab very soon after the CS with screw attack or zair.


Ledge grab -> release -> dj -> zair

This is one of the best and most flexible options. You can go pretty deep on stage with this, reaching even farther than fair. You can also go deep by clipping through the bottom of most stages if you release down and push into stage before your DJ. If you fade back after a downward release, be careful not to get zair canceled by the stage’s wall. You can also do a straight back release and keep fading back and cover a close opponent with zair, but that requires a vulnerable regrab. It’s only got 8 frames of landing lag so you have lots of options when you land. Inlcuding upb if you want it, or whatever sort of zair strings you like.


Ledge grab -> release -> dj -> nair

This is a mixup more than anything. You can easily land both hits of nair, and if land crossed up, it’s not horribly unsafe if you used a downward release. A backward release is not recommended if you are going to nair right away because it opens up your vulnerability window


Ledge grab -> release -> dj -> dair

This autocancels easily and is better on a downward release unless you are trying to catch an opponent that is at medium range. It’s definitely a mixup because it’s so slow, but if your opponent has been waiting and punishing uairs or air dodges you can catch them offguard. Follow up immediately with a bair or your favorite dair combo depending on percent. If they are good at teching follow up with turnaround dtilt.


Ledge grab -> release -> dj -> air dodge

You can use this to catch all ranges of opponents. You can zair during this option but you’ll be stuck with long landing lag. I find it’s best to uair, nair, or bair out of this option, though upb is also available. Use this when your opponent starts to catch your fast options like uair or fair. Bair especially might net you a kill. Just AD as deep as you can into the stage and bair.

If you want to be very risk against some opponents that go off stage to challenge you on ledge you can do this and immediately dair to try to catch their return to stage.


Ledge grab -> ILWJ -> bair

This works best on duckhunt (same with all ILWJ options unless omega is legal in which case pick a stage with flat walls) against a close opponent, it saves your jump. You can even ILWJ, bair, dj, RCS to try to get a shield break against a shield happy opponent, though plain old upb is probably better. It’s nice to be able to throw out a bair right away.


Ledge grab -> ILWJ -> uair

This is a fun option but hard to pull off as a landing option because the timing is quite tight. It has the advantages of release -> uair.


Ledge grab -> ILWJ -> CS

This is my favorite way to CS from ledge because it doesn’t use your jump and force you into a fast regrab situation. You can cover the ledge as you return with fair, nair, and uair. Overall, just a really neat option, though it is pretty slow and might just get shielded.


Ledge grab -> jump -> bomb -> regrab

Also sometimes called a bomb dash. This is a way to restore ledge invuln while covering the ledge in front of you from pursuit. Kinda a fun way to ledge stall once you have frustrated your opponent with your other options especially uair, fair, and zair so they are pushed back.


Ledge grab -> release -> dj -> missile

This is dumb, please don’t do this, also please don’t do missile from ILWJ. Just don’t missiles are bad mkay?

 

[Afro Smash]

I call release DJ 'drop hop'

 

[samosa]

Nice guide!

You might wanna add that for "Ledge grab -> release -> dj -> CS" it is best to release with down instead of away from ledge so you don't get a reversed charge shot.

Also 1 other option I thought of is when you tether grab you can hang first and then release tether into up-b right away, it is useful sometimes when you regrab the ledge and the opponent comes rushing in to do something.

 

[Xygonn]

Nice guide!

You might wanna add that for "Ledge grab -> release -> dj -> CS" it is best to release with down instead of away from ledge so you don't get a reversed charge shot.

Also 1 other option I thought of is when you tether grab you can hang first and then release tether into up-b right away, it is useful sometimes when you regrab the ledge and the opponent comes rushing in to do something.

Both good points. I haven't really done the screw attack out of tether release much. Nice.

 

[Shuckle_SSB]

If you land the drop hop > Uair from a ledge grab, you can always at lower percents get two more uairs to an Up B.

 

[DungeonMaster]

If you land the drop hop > Uair from a ledge grab, you can always at lower percents get two more uairs to an Up B.

It gets much better than that once you know the combo chains. Soon!

 

[JAZZ_]

I find the CS option to be a great mixup in times of desperation. Ive fought countless opponents that will body me all over the place but they soon lose their cool when i pop them in the face with this. Lately ive been using my cs less and less and getting kills off of stuff like this because the forget about it.

 

[Rawberry]

This is excellent, thanks very much for this! This is exactly the area I'm trying to improve on at the moment (as you saw in the match up thread )

 

[Shuckle_SSB]

You mean like doing a drop hop > Uair > SH Uair > FF > FH Uair > DJ Uair > Up B?

 

[Shuckle_SSB]

Works like at 0% on fast fallers to my knowledge. Maybe 0-10%. Idk all the deets. You're the master DungeonMaster

 

[Shuckle_SSB]

Also quick tidbit, to any of you who may not know. With strict timing, if you input a bomb as soon as you initiate a ledge jump, the bomb will stop your vertical momentum and you can lay a bomb on-stage near the ledge while retreating back to grab the ledge. This could potentially lead into a shield break if they run into the places bomb and shield it, because you can follow-up with a drop hop CS.

 

[Xygonn]

Also quick tidbit, to any of you who may not know. With strict timing, if you input a bomb as soon as you initiate a ledge jump, the bomb will stop your vertical momentum and you can lay a bomb on-stage near the ledge while retreating back to grab the ledge. This could potentially lead into a shield break if they run into the places bomb and shield it, because you can follow-up with a drop hop CS.

I covered that in the first post. The bomb dash option.

 

[Shuckle_SSB]

I covered that in the first post. The bomb dash option.

Sorry, I didn't know it was the same thing.

 

[Xygonn]

I have a new getup option. It's pretty bad and not very useful, but if you sh bomb, then ledge grab, you can release into the bomb explosion, when it makes you bomb jump you can get on stage. This lets you on stage without using a jump but it's less safe than a normal getup, so not super useful.

 

[Shuckle_SSB]

Any option is a possible good mix-up if your opponent isn't aware of it, and can't react quick enough to punish it.

 

[samosa]

I have 2 more options:
Ledge grab->ILWJ->bomb drop
and
Ledge grab->ILWJ->air dodge->back air starting frames autocancel

You have to be almost frame perfect for the air dodge option, but if done right you land without lag.
It might also be posible to drift back to the ledge to edge cancel the air dodge, it seems like you just can't get enough momentum to get an edge cancel

 

[Mr. Sparkle035]

Ok, I am pretty new to smash in general, but I'm best with Samus. I've been learning a lot of do's, and a ton of don't's. One thing that I've been having trouble with though, is the ledge options when you're hanging and fighting Villager and he keeps dropping cannonballs. Also, when Ness or Robin spam their fire to explode right when I'm hanging. Is there an easy option to escape these scenarios and turn then into an advantage for Samus? Release>dj>fair seems to work if I can do it right away, but if I get hit far off stage against Villager, I always have trouble recovering especially if I need to up b back to the stage. I'll get headbutted by a cannonball every time :/

Thanks.

 

[Xygonn]

Ok, I am pretty new to smash in general, but I'm best with Samus. I've been learning a lot of do's, and a ton of don't's. One thing that I've been having trouble with though, is the ledge options when you're hanging and fighting Villager and he keeps dropping cannonballs. Also, when Ness or Robin spam their fire to explode right when I'm hanging. Is there an easy option to escape these scenarios and turn then into an advantage for Samus? Release>dj>fair seems to work if I can do it right away, but if I get hit far off stage against Villager, I always have trouble recovering especially if I need to up b back to the stage. I'll get headbutted by a cannonball every time :/

Thanks.

For ness and Robin you can drop dj air dodge nair or zair.

For villager recover higher than normal. Stall long enough and tether recover right after he drops one. If you upb at max range for ledge snap the bowling ball won't hit you during upb, but they can still catch your ledge snap vulnerability.

 

[Mr. Sparkle035]

Thanks! I'll be sure to try out both of these today at the tourney I'm going to.

 

[S.P.A.D.]

I can say my ledge recovery absolutely is terrible, this will definitely help a ton. Thanks!