Shield pressure vs. grabbing

[Jam_Jam]

I've always wondered why people start spamming attacks on shields rather than just grabbing the person. One question i have is when should you shield pressure or just grab? Thanks for help

 

[Phaiyte]

You use shield pressure to either whittle down the shield so hard you get to poke it or force them to jump out of it and get hit for it

 

[shairn]

Well spaced aerials can force an opponent to whiff a shield grab, jump out of their shield or get shield poked, like Phaiyte pointed out. Moreover, sometimes the followups you get from hitting them with certain moves (Like shine) are better than the followups you would have gotten from a grab.

 

[Blank Mauser]

Learn to footstool and your opponent will never want to shield again.

 

[Fortress]

Learn to footstool and your opponent will never want to shield again.

This man has obviously read the good word.

 

[Hzashimi]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[xXSciophobiaXx]

Learn to footstool and your opponent will never want to shield again.

Ok, Im curious. Preach me the good word, which characters benefit from footstooling a shielded opponent, what follow ups do you get, and are there any examples of this at high level play?

 

[Blank Mauser]

Ok, Im curious. Preach me the good word, which characters benefit from footstooling a shielded opponent, what follow ups do you get, and are there any examples of this at high level play?

Look up Reflex's footstool combos videos on 2.6. A lot of them still apply (Mostly on Wario because of his weird footstool animation) but he also has a post which lists more detailed universal setups. Any character with djc or down-ward momentum aerials benefit greatly, but you can also waveland into various things on shorter characters.

And no there aren't many examples of this in high level play.

Which is why this will work.

100% of the time.

P.S. Look for it during full hop aerial strings, or when your opponent is afraid you'll poke them from above/below platforms. Watch your opponents shield habits and you're sure to find opportunities. It will take a while but you'll start to see them naturally to the point you might consider it over grab (Specially with tether grab characters). The great thing about them is that they require less risk since if you mess up nothing happens. (Watch out for Usmash OOS tho)