SHFF Aerials

[Tito Maas]

I don't know what it is, but for whatever reason I have a trouble doing SHFF with ZSS. I don't know what it is, but I'm a lot worse at it with her than I am with my other characters (Dark Pit and Lucas).

I know, for example, that her NAir doesn't last as long as those other characters but it seems like I have to jump, use the attack, and then fast fall in order to do it, but with her jump heights, the NAir usually goes above the opponent's head and rarely makes contact with the enemy, even with fast fall.

A lot of the time I'm unable to be as precise with it and DAir or FAir... like I said, I've never had this problem with anyone else. Frankly, I'm astounded that Nairo and those guys can do it so well and consistently.

Am I... doing it incorrectly? I'm sure I am, but how do I perform SHFF aerials correctly? This is Day 3 of picking up ZSS, and my options are very limited without this being in my arsenal.

 

[Tito Maas]

Matter of fact, I really just don't know how to move with her in general. I know she's floaty, but so is Lucas but her physicals seem so light. It's like I have to press the jump button way lighter than I have to for Dark Pit and Lucas just to short hop. Is it really just me? I want to get good with ZSS but my movement with her is so trash that I'm not even having fun playing as her.

 

[David Viran]

First off zss is no where near floaty. Her fall speed is slightly slower than Sheik's. Second off it sounds like you are nairing too early. You should be nairing at around the apex of her SH and then FF. Nair is a little weird to get used to especially with the stupid dead zone right in the middle of the active frames but you just have to practice.

 

[Peahnuts]

The reason it feels like you have to tap the jump button lightly is because her jump squat timing is shorter than most characters. It's like melee fox where it's kind of hard to get used to, but is much more nimble and quick than those with 5~ frame jump squats. The shorter the character you're vsing the stricter your nair timing has to be. Eg. Against falcon I can kind of nair whenever but against ness I'd have to nair later.

Also she isn't anywhere near floaty but might feel like it because of how high all her jumps are. With great movement speed comes great responsibility

 

[pichuthedk]

Matter of fact, I really just don't know how to move with her in general. I know she's floaty, but so is Lucas but her physicals seem so light. It's like I have to press the jump button way lighter than I have to for Dark Pit and Lucas just to short hop. Is it really just me? I want to get good with ZSS but my movement with her is so trash that I'm not even having fun playing as her.

It's most likely not necessarily that she's floaty, not sure if you seen the **** storm that was the reddit patch notes thread but there were references to the whole dbz thing where wearing weighted clothes make you lighter and faster...

In terms of using her nair and getting better with it here's an important question how many times have you used her nair? A follow up how many times have you hit and missed with it?

The only thing you can really do at this point in time is hammer out the inconsistencies present which is You missing them.

Here is an exercise I purposed in one of the other threads during the 3ds days.

Go into multi-man melee and do the 100 or endless mode, use nothing but nair.
By nair I mean be it FF nair, jump through the platform nair, back hit of nair whatever the hell you want just remember nair is the law for a the entire exercise.

While your doing this make sure you watch her and I mean really watch her so that you can discern how she throws the whip out , that you missed this time because you used it to late and you just FF into the ground without even throwing it out.

This will help you be aware and acknowledge the situations that nair will work or won't , how to space it , how to pretend your spraying a can of lysol with it ect ect.

The MIIs are kind of short not ness or pika short but they should help to some degree.

After you've used nair about 1000 times try to hit with it 1000 times even if it hits shields, after that move on to hitting with it and doing dmg every time.

^just a guideline 1000/1000 would have me banging my head on the wall eventually.

 

[Tito Maas]

It's most likely not necessarily that she's floaty, not sure if you seen the **** storm that was the reddit patch notes thread but there were references to the whole dbz thing where wearing weighted clothes make you lighter and faster...

In terms of using her nair and getting better with it here's an important question how many times have you used her nair? A follow up how many times have you hit and missed with it?

The only thing you can really do at this point in time is hammer out the inconsistencies present which is You missing them.

Here is an exercise I purposed in one of the other threads during the 3ds days.

Go into multi-man melee and do the 100 or endless mode, use nothing but nair.
By nair I mean be it FF nair, jump through the platform nair, back hit of nair whatever the hell you want just remember nair is the law for a the entire exercise.

While your doing this make sure you watch her and I mean really watch her so that you can discern how she throws the whip out , that you missed this time because you used it to late and you just FF into the ground without even throwing it out.

This will help you be aware and acknowledge the situations that nair will work or won't , how to space it , how to pretend your spraying a can of lysol with it ect ect.

The MIIs are kind of short not ness or pika short but they should help to some degree.

After you've used nair about 1000 times try to hit with it 1000 times even if it hits shields, after that move on to hitting with it and doing dmg every time.

^just a guideline 1000/1000 would have me banging my head on the wall eventually.

This is a solid idea. I'm going to go try it now.

 

[tonyz723]

Matter of fact, I really just don't know how to move with her in general. I know she's floaty, but so is Lucas but her physicals seem so light. It's like I have to press the jump button way lighter than I have to for Dark Pit and Lucas just to short hop. Is it really just me? I want to get good with ZSS but my movement with her is so trash that I'm not even having fun playing as her.

No, it's not just you. This is stuff that takes time and practice to get used to. You have to conscious of how fast you're pressing the jump button, or you will full hop by accident. It did take me a bit to get an idea of how to move around with her, but you'll get it. Get a training dummy, stand right next to it, press jump quickly, press neutral A, and then press down (I'm sure you already know the input, but just trying to be clear). You'll miss multiple times, but just keep doing it until you land it. I think more than anything, the timing is deceiving, and I feel like just spending 10 minutes in training mode will take you a long way. Nair becomes very easy to use with practice. Start off with a tall character since they're the easiest to hit, and then work your way down to someone short, just working on timing it. Getting "good" at timing it will take a long time, and is only something you'll get by using it against other people, don't spend too much time in the lab! Once you can time it reliably, you can start worrying about how to use it as an approach/punish tool, and how to space it so it's safe on block, but these things come later. ZSS isn't an easy character to master, getting Nairo combos will take a LONG time, and having issues at day 3 sounds about right. Just practice and you'll be fine!