Samus: Touhou shooter.

[NESSBOUNDER]

Silly thread name aside, being a new Samus player I want to discuss the many projectile combinations that she has in hope of finding the best lockd
own.

What I find so amazing about Samus is how she has so many options when it comes to controlling the stage. There's so much that I often find myself forgetting that she has certain moves because I'm concentrating on one element of her gameplay. Samus is really about multi-tasking.

So as far as projectiles go, we have missiles, super missiles and charge shot. Missiles and Smissiles can be jabbed easily, but the charge shot can't. Charge shot also takes a huge chunk out of shields. We also have Zair which can't be reflected or jabbed.

I've been doing MC Smissile to shorthop Zair. If you time it correctly, Zair will prevent the opponent from jabbing or reflecting the missile. It auto cancels so if they roll or spot dodge you can punish them. The best they can do is jump or block.

What are the favouite combinations for experienced Samus players?

 

[kongfucius]

Sometimes when you're hard pressed it helps to retreat with Z-airs only, but you can also run away from them and then short hop a homing missile at them by turning around. When your advancing from far away, double homing missiles or even a super missile might help. When your at mid ranges Z-air exclusively but switch it up with a homer once in a while and go for a grab(dashing of course) when they don't expect it. Never projectile at close range...stay at mid-range so that you can move from long-range and close range easily.

The chargeshots are to slow someone's advance when Z-air is too risky to use and homing missiles are too slow. I don't use uncharged shots much because I want to save the fully charged ones for the kill. 30% of my kills come from chargeshots for god's sakes...

 

[Subach]

Close range Z-air to nearly fully charged beam.

Simple but deadly: The z-air stuns 'em, the semi-charged beam kills 'em.

It's like going through every phaser setting in a second.

If spaming homing missiles can be considered a "combo", I like that too. Short-hop hm to standing hm and repeat is my preferred method.

 

[NESSBOUNDER]

Close range Z-air to nearly fully charged beam.

Simple but deadly: The z-air stuns 'em, the semi-charged beam kills 'em.

It's like going through every phaser setting in a second.

If spaming homing missiles can be considered a "combo", I like that too. Short-hop hm to standing hm and repeat is my preferred method.

Sadly, the opponent can smash DI the Zair upwards and double-jump to avoid the charge shot.

Lately I've been using MC missile to uncharged shot. Rolling around this series ALWAYS leaves the opponent open. Due to the small amount of lag after uncharged shot, you can run in and try to punish jabbers or shielders.

 

[GotACoolName]

I pretty much just do whatever feels natural, but it depends on the character I'm facing. If it's someone huge like Ganondorf, Bowser, etc., then I'll use Super Missiles occasionally, but otherwise the homing ones are better. If I'm in a plain, flat stage like FD, Smashville, or Pictochat, I'll often approach with full hop double homing missile barrages and throw in a short hop zair when I'm in range. When it's a stage like Battlefield, I'll tend to do more short hop homing missiles and grapples. I also tend to use plain ground Super Missiles when I'm trying to keep away rather than approach.

 

[Greenstreet]

gotacoolname has got a smart approach here/.

 

[Rohins]

I just try to mess up my opponent's rhythm. If I'm in control of the match I like to keep my spam varied so they can't adapt to it easily. If I'm not in control I try to work projectiles to sway things in my direction maybe slow them down if they're moving too quick.

I like using homing -> uncharged to see how well the opponent handles the projectiles. It's like a little test. Depending on how they act you can then adjust and punish. There are too many things to list, just keep in mind your options.

 

[DeliciousCake]

Eh, I dunno. Samus lacks the insanity of Touhou's bullet hell patterns.

 

[NESSBOUNDER]

It's still the closest thing we'll get to curtain fire in Brawl, lol.

But anyway, I don't see why everyone dislikes super missiles. They seem to have less firing lag on the ground than the homing missiles, and if they hit, they set up for a Zair.

 

[Gum]

I love super missiles. My favorite thing about them is that they have serious stopping power. A shielded opponent gets pushed back when hit by one, which gives you space.

 

[0RLY]

Missile cancel. Walk. Punish.

Assuming you had good spacing after you missile canceled, if they...

jump:
--Being above your foe is generally not a good position. Screw Attack or use aerials.

shield:
--Grab.

roll towards:
--Any attack.

roll away:
--The missile should hit them unless the missile slows down too much and explodes on it's own. Missile cancel again.

side step:
-- A dash attack should be fast enough to hit them.

destroy the missile with a jab or something:
--Missile cancel again, followed by charge shot. Charge shots generally cannot be jabbed through.

reflect it:
-- Missile cancel again, followed by zair. Zair cannot be reflected.

SHAD:
-- Missile cancel again.

SHAD towards:
-- Attack as they come out.

====================================
I'm sleepy, don't bother me. D: /*snooze*

 

[Phazonin]

Zair followed by a charged shot. It works most of the time around 100 damage. It's usually from the opponent not expecting the shot. Most will think you'll keep using the zair.

 

[NESSBOUNDER]

Zair charged shot only works if the opponent doesn't DI the Zair and jump.

 

[ph00tbag]

Tudor does this amazing homing missile -> super missile combo (maybe it's the other way around?) that really works at screwing with his opponent. I've tried making that work occasionally, but it's got some interesting timing.

 

[Phazonin]

Zair charged shot only works if the opponent doesn't DI the Zair and jump.

That's why I said it's from the opponent not expecting it. A lot of the time, they won't.

 

[Crystanium]

Tudor does this amazing homing missile -> super missile combo (maybe it's the other way around?) that really works at screwing with his opponent. I've tried making that work occasionally, but it's got some interesting timing.

Those are easier to perform than the SHSMC. I did a SHSMCCS against my opponent recently in Basic Brawl. I can't tell if he shieled the SM, since he put up his shield. However, he looked so overwhelmed by the fact that the CS was right next to the SM. It hit him and killed him. Epic.

 

[NESSBOUNDER]

I love SHSMCCH...if it hits their shield, it reduces it to the size of a pea.

Sadly, many opponents can side dodge, causing both projectiles to pass through. But that's why you follow up with a running attack.

 

[paul1290]

full hop > homing missile > super missile > charged shot

Since your going through Samus's projectiles from slowest to fastest in one jump, they're much closer together by the time they arrive and can work as a "projectile combo" of sorts. You'll need some room to work with it, but it can be useful if SH zair > chargeshot and SH super missile > charged shot get too predictable.


If you think you can really get the timing right then you could probably do full hop > homing missile > double jump > homing missile > super missile > charged shot, but I think that's probably stretching it a bit too much to be practical.


Full hop > homing missile > zair gets both the homing missile and zair to hit at exactly the same time, which is kind of interesting even if I don't know what it might be useful for. Maybe someone else could tinker with it for a bit and see if it's good for anything.

 

[NESSBOUNDER]

Recently I've been doing MCMissile followed by shorthop Zair. It works similar to Marth's Dair trap except with more range and you can't start it as fast. I have yet to work out how to properly punish the opponent's evasive actions, but since Samus has zero lag on landing, I'm sure it won't be hard.