Link to original post: [drupal=822]Shield Poking: a brawl mini lesson[/drupal]
Alright I lied. None of my insights on potential mains today instead a "brawl mini lesson" on shield poking.
Like in melee Brawl allows you to shield poke your enemies. For those who don't know this means if there is a part of their body not covered by their shield that is hit by an attack the attack will connect regardless of the shield.
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So let me sum up the requirements for a shield poke.
- 1. Your attack can not hit the opponents shield.
- 2. Your attack must connect with an exposed portion of your opponent.
Pretty simple, and that is per frame.
At high levels of play, at least in my mind this becomes very important, properly placed attacks can effectively nullify a defense; shut down attempted shield grabs and even "beat out" perfect shielding which is awesome.
I'd like to introduce a few concepts. The first is square characters versus rectangular characters.
Square characters are the ones like bowser and DK whose body shape more closely resemble a... yep you guess it, square. with these type of characters who bodies are nice a wide you'll notice that is both takes much much shorter for their tops and bottom to become exposed and that the smaller their shield it the easier it is to poke through.
Conversely rectangular characters take much much more effort to poke through. In fact with characters like zelda and zsam by the time you can poke you may be better off going for a shield break instead
Oh, and then there's Yoshi the only character who can not be shield poked.
I don't know how hard that is to picture (maybe next time I'll make pictures) and there is more I want to add but I need to sleep...
Alright I lied. None of my insights on potential mains today instead a "brawl mini lesson" on shield poking.
Like in melee Brawl allows you to shield poke your enemies. For those who don't know this means if there is a part of their body not covered by their shield that is hit by an attack the attack will connect regardless of the shield.
<!--break-->
So let me sum up the requirements for a shield poke.
- 1. Your attack can not hit the opponents shield.
- 2. Your attack must connect with an exposed portion of your opponent.
Pretty simple, and that is per frame.
At high levels of play, at least in my mind this becomes very important, properly placed attacks can effectively nullify a defense; shut down attempted shield grabs and even "beat out" perfect shielding which is awesome.
I'd like to introduce a few concepts. The first is square characters versus rectangular characters.
Square characters are the ones like bowser and DK whose body shape more closely resemble a... yep you guess it, square. with these type of characters who bodies are nice a wide you'll notice that is both takes much much shorter for their tops and bottom to become exposed and that the smaller their shield it the easier it is to poke through.
Conversely rectangular characters take much much more effort to poke through. In fact with characters like zelda and zsam by the time you can poke you may be better off going for a shield break instead
Oh, and then there's Yoshi the only character who can not be shield poked.
I don't know how hard that is to picture (maybe next time I'll make pictures) and there is more I want to add but I need to sleep...
