Social Shulk Social : Starting to feel it!

[Sha-Shulk]

Thanks for the advice. Ironically, I just decided to wing it at level 75 and went for Melia, Riki, Sharla, and did just fine. Surprisingly, I didn't have any Ether pool shenanigans. My Melia didn't die once under my control, but Sharla took a couple spills. It was very close.

I love that song "To the Last Battle"...

I used Shulk, Reyn, and Dunban religiously in xenoblade. I took a few spills, but I somehow made it all work for the plot-bosses. The optional bosses are different though, imo.

Against Lorithia, the hardest part was Reyn tanking himself into the ether pools and getting knocked out. But I just Monado Armour'd my way through the battle.

 

[ExcaliburGuy]

What's yall's opinion on Speed RAR nair? Been using it a little and it's an interesting trade-off. Similar to Speed pivot grab, it's rather telegraphed and has a lot less range than normal nair, but you hit with the hitbox behind Shulk (right when the move starts - a bit like the back hitbox at the start of Cloud's nair - I'm sure you know what I'm talking about), so you can FF it earlier, making it a much better combo tool since you land quicker and end up closer to them than a regular nair. I've gotten ftilt off of it on multiple occasions, pretty nice in Buster.

Oh and I started MALLCing today, it's a pretty cool tech, but it doesn't seem all that it's cracked up to be. It's soooooooo telegraphed - but it's free shield damage/positional advantage if they see it coming, and a nifty way to switch Arts I guess

Using run-up Speed RAR in neutral is basically like asking to get punished, I can tell you that much. Most for the reasons you already stated. However, I too think RAR nair has some combo potential when you have the advantage. Perhaps it could be used after fthrow, but I haven't tested anything yet. Fair is almost always a better option after dthrow, though. I am almost certain that run-up rising nair -> immediate FF -> RAR/Perfect Pivot backwards nair true combos in Speed mode, and you may be able to follow up after this.

As for MALLC, its best use is for throwing out a safe back air. If you space and time your Art correctly, it's well-nigh unpunishable.

 

[-m0]

Using run-up Speed RAR in neutral is basically like asking to get punished, I can tell you that much. Most for the reasons you already stated. However, I too think RAR nair has some combo potential when you have the advantage. Perhaps it could be used after fthrow, but I haven't tested anything yet. Fair is almost always a better option after dthrow, though. I am almost certain that run-up rising nair -> immediate FF -> RAR/Perfect Pivot backwards nair true combos in Speed mode, and you may be able to follow up after this.

As for MALLC, its best use is for throwing out a safe back air. If you space and time your Art correctly, it's well-nigh unpunishable.

I'm aware of this, and that's pretty much what I've been using MALLC for. Doesn't change the fact that it's telegraphed as hell - however, like I said, you still get in a good position if they shield it/roll away from it

 

[E.Lopez]

Xenoblade Chronicles X: I finally decided to look up online how to get level 5 field skills (mechanical, biological, and archaeological), and now I'm like how would anyone have been able to figure that out??

 

[Sha-Shulk]

Xenoblade Chronicles X: I finally decided to look up online how to get level 5 field skills (mechanical, biological, and archaeological), and now I'm like how would anyone have been able to figure that out??

Doesn't Xenoblade X have, like, NO tutorial?

 

[E.Lopez]

Sha-Shulk , well, I wouldn't say 'no' tutorial. I remember early on in the game going through a number of mini tutorials that did explain a lot (well, some were actually to explain new concepts that opened up in the game), though they don't cover everything.

 

[mario123007]

Sha-Shulk , well, I wouldn't say 'no' tutorial. I remember early on in the game going through a number of mini tutorials that did explain a lot (well, some were actually to explain new concepts that opened up in the game), though they don't cover everything.

I think Xenoblade Chronicles has the best tutorial explanation in my opinion.

So here are some problems with my Smash plays with Shulk recently:

I often found myself get grabbed like very easily when doing his neutral air for approach. What are some things I need to be look out for when doing Shulk's air attack? I know he has a long attack joint, but there are many times I found myself either too far or just too close.

I also found I got trouble dealing with Robin the most, I don't really need to mention about his/her's annoying projectile, but his/her air attack has very weird knock back. Yeah, no kidding, I often found myself can't out beat Robin's air attack.

 

[Sha-Shulk]

I think Xenoblade Chronicles has the best tutorial explanation in my opinion.

So here are some problems with my Smash plays with Shulk recently:

I often found myself get grabbed like very easily when doing his neutral air for approach. What are some things I need to be look out for when doing Shulk's air attack? I know he has a long attack joint, but there are many times I found myself either too far or just too close.

I also found I got trouble dealing with Robin the most, I don't really need to mention about his/her's annoying projectile, but his/her air attack has very weird knock back. Yeah, no kidding, I often found myself can't out beat Robin's air attack.

Are you switching to Buster to approach? The extra shieldstun should help with the safety, imo.

Speed is the most common art to use for approaches, but the reduced damage means less shieldstun.

You have trouble with Robin the most? Do you not play against any good Fox mains? Lol.
But if you have trouble with Robin in the air, try baiting out his aerials and punish with utilt. Try a grounded approach. Abuse Speed and Jump arts to give yourself huge mobility advantage. FF's in Jump, crazy disjointed retreats with Speed.

 

[ExcaliburGuy]

Approaching with nair is generally not a very good idea... especially if you do it frequently. Even if you do space the crap out of nair, you'll end up within your opponents grab range because of Speed's air mobility. With that said, fear not: this does NOT mean you have to play lame and never be aggressive. You just have to be smart. Even Melee Marth gets shield grabbed if he runs in and fast fall nairs right in front of the opponent. So, much like a Melee Marth player, you as a Shulk player have to use the immense range of your sword to threaten the opponent and force him or her into a bad position. When you see an opening, THIS is where you short hop nair or pivot grab.

 

[mario123007]

Are you switching to Buster to approach? The extra shieldstun should help with the safety, imo.

Speed is the most common art to use for approaches, but the reduced damage means less shieldstun.

I often use Speed right at the beginning of the match, I might get some combo if Im lucky. But I usually found myself get grabbed whenever I tried to approach.
And I found myself miss a lot when I used buster, it just I some how got bad luck when I use buster.

You have trouble with Robin the most? Do you not play against any good Fox mains? Lol

Hey, at least Fox's projectiles don't stun. Robin's projectiles are really annoying.

 

[Sha-Shulk]

Hey, at least Fox's projectiles don't stun. Robin's projectiles are really annoying.

Sorry bud, but Fox absolutely wrecks Shulk. Better frame data, better mobility, combos, camping, and the like.

But, maybe you should mix up with Jump art against Robin and in general.

 

[-m0]

We really shouldn't be having trouble against those puny little aerials. The whole point of Shulk is to keep them at a range where our horrid frame data is at least manageable. I play a really good Robin occaisonally, and getting in is hard, but we have access to Speed and Jump to get in through Arcfire. Once we're in their zone, Robin has a hard time returning to neutral with her slow speed, especially if we're in Speed. While her aerials may be shorter than ours, their risk/reward ratio is highly skewed compared to ours. We can't really let her get in our zone or we'll get Levin faired and she'll reset to neutral. So we want to keep her in between Arcfire and Levin range. mario123007 Well spaced bair appears to be pretty safe based on the games I've watched. A wild card you can try is crossup RAR bair/nair - especially in Buster - it may make them mess up their shieldgrab. I'd probably start with Buster here because Robin's combo throw (if you ever **** up and get grabbed) doesn't really lead into anything at really low percents. Just try to not get jabbed, cause wind jab will hurt if you're in Buster. SHAD catches the books if you can react quickly enough. Utilt is a really good anti-air as well, use that if you read a jump.

 

[Berserker.]

Pretty sure (correct me if I'm wrong) that Robin's d-throw can link into his jab or u-tilt at low percentages.

Robin's not going to get in our zone and that's not her main objective anyway in the match-up. All she needs to do is to keep Shulk away with her projectiles and her disjoints, and it's really difficult to get into position against Robin. She beats us out at long-range and even if we're suppose to get in, she still beats Shulk at close range since her moves come out faster. Your best bet against Robin is to go at mid-range against her. From a certain distance where your aerials' hitboxes will probably reach Robin (whether she's shielding or not), that's exactly where you should be. From that distance, you can decide whether to play it safe and space from that distance, or commit to an approach option (N-air/cross-up n-air or RAR b-air), or go for a quick dash grab (stay in speed art if you're planning to do this).

You're gonna be in speed art for a lot of the match-up. I'd love to say that jump art is useful but its falling speed and horrendous defense nerf makes it a risk to use, even if the concept of jumping over projectiles seems cool but by the way, that really comes off as predictable to be honest. You might eat a u-air on the way down if you're too antsy with your jump art approaches. Speaking of jump art approaches, Shulk's approaches (in general actually) are rather predictable since it all comes down to (assuming you're approaching from mid-air since this is jump art we're talking about) n-air or FF > grab or jab. Also, jump art turns you into much more of a combo bait than usual and Robin hits hella hard. Buster art only comes out when you feel like you have the upper hand in the neutral but you're probably going to get timed out once the Robin player manages to return to the neutral. Same can be said for Smash art. Shield art is situational as always. Its uses at low percentages against Robin, I'm not really sure if it helps with escaping her early % combos (probably does) but it doesn't matter anyway since most competent Robin mains will probably just run away/camp if you active shield art. Basically, shield/buster/smash are susceptible to being timed out because Shulk's mobility without jump or speed art is mediocre.

Another thing to note is to never stay above Robin. It sucks to be juggled by Robin's ridiculous u-air. You can't contest that **** with any of your aerials. Like, you can suggest d-air but it comes out waaay too late for it to contest u-air so it's probably not going to work most of the time. Jump art is a viable option though for escaping Robin's juggles. Also, if there's anything you want to exploit in this match-up, it's Robin's horrendous recovery. It sucks. Go ham with jump art off-stage and edgeguard Robin

 

[AlvisCPU]

I haven't played against a good Robin in forever but the whole idea of Robin running away to time out Arts? With that run speed, it doesn't make sense to me I'll take your word for it though.
Even still, he can just pelt you with projectiles to get the same effect.

 

[mario123007]

The whole point of Shulk is to keep them at a range where our horrid frame data is at least manageable. I play a really good Robin occaisonally, and getting in is hard, but we have access to Speed and Jump to get in through Arcfire.

That's right, but I also aware I shouldn't use the same move to much.
And don't get me started on Arcfire, in my opinion it's worse than Ness' PK fire. I just somehow easily got caught in Arcfire...

Even still, he can just pelt you with projectiles to get the same effect.

This is the main reason why I really hate fighting against Robin.

 

[Berserker.]

Running away doesn't literally mean "running away," all the time. It can also refer to camping which also refers to zoning out your opponent. But anyway, speaking of Robin, if you guys are interested in understanding the character (knowledge is power anyway), check this link out. Great thread that's definitely worth your time

 

[-m0]

I just played a pretty good Robin on FG, it's definitely really hard to get in. All her moves have really forgiving hitboxes. For example, Arcfire compared to PK Fire? Arcfire's hitboxes are so much bigger and have more hitlag, giving Robin's slow ass time to get in for a combo. The last couple hits of Arcthunder can shieldpoke a nearly full shield, and the extra hitlag gives her time to dash grab if you shield and don't jump out immediately.

Berserker. Yeah dthrow links into wind jab (which does like 22% on its own X.X), utilt after that, nair after that, and then uair at kill percents.

 

[WindHero]

My favorite combo while playing Robin is a situational string that doesn't work on everyone, but can get a heavy opening if the opponent doesn't anticipate it:
Arcfire > grab > D-Throw > Arcthunder > grab > D-Throw > Jab/UTilt (depending on weight and fall speed)
Can get a fairly good percent off that (30-40), but the foe has to have virtually no damage... And Arcfire is hard to land in the neutral.
I know that Robin players fear Jump the most when being edge guarded, but Speed is sort of 50-50. You can get to Robin fast, but if they are quick on the Elthunder or Arcfire, you can get in some trouble.

 

[-m0]

Why do you fear Jump? I've found it really hard to edgegaurd Robins that recover low

 

[mario123007]

Why do you fear Jump? I've found it really hard to edgegaurd Robins that recover low

Also don't get me started on Robin's recovery, try to go off stage and slash Robin is a stupid thing to do. You will get spiked by his/her's recovery.

 

[AlvisCPU]

Also don't get me started on Robin's recovery, try to go off stage and slash Robin is a stupid thing to do. You will get spiked by his/her's recovery.

Just don't jump into the start of that first hit space it out.

 

[-m0]

Well what do I go for if they recover low? Bair can be teched and punished with up b, turnaround fair is slow an telegraphed as hell, nair kills you, dair is just lol

Air Slash? Tbh I've been using ledge drop -> reverse Air Slash as an edgeguard a lot. It's safer than ledge drop bair at least.

 

[mario123007]

Well what do I go for if they recover low? Bair can be teched and punished with up b, turnaround fair is slow an telegraphed as hell, nair kills you, dair is just lol

At least B air is still a safe movesafe when they tech, I guess. On stage, forward Smash abd down tilt are the only option. D air you need a good timing.
I rarely try air slash off stage, maybe I just never find the chance.

 

[-m0]

At least B air is still a safe movesafe when they tech, I guess. On stage, forward Smash abd down tilt are the only option. D air you need a good timing.
I rarely try air slash off stage, maybe I just never find the chance.

No not really, if they tech/walljump tech they can just up b and hit you during bair's endlag. The endlag also puts you pretty far down and you're forced to recover straight vertically. Being forced into any one option is really bad

 

[mario123007]

No not really, if they tech/walljump tech they can just up b and hit you during bair's endlag. The endlag also puts you pretty far down and you're forced to recover straight vertically. Being forced into any one option is really bad

Shulk's recovery can be pretty safe,but it still needs a bit luck..

 

[-m0]

Shulk's recovery can be pretty safe,but it still needs a bit luck..

It's flexible, but if the opponent reads how you'll recover it's pretty damn vulnerable

 

[WindHero]

It's flexible, but if the opponent reads how you'll recover it's pretty damn vulnerable

The proof is in how my Luigi amiibo gets over half his kills when I'm recovering...

 

[mario123007]

It's flexible, but if the opponent reads how you'll recover it's pretty damn vulnerable

You can decide to do the second slash or not.
And welp, there goes my premium, not sure how can I get it back. I may try to buy it again, but not now for a while.

 

[-m0]

Yeah, I know that...? Spacing with air slash at ledge is one of my favorite things to do

 

[Berserker.]

Read the OP again. This is an important announcement. Ty

Also, like this post if you want me to post a wall of text on how to beat Bayo with Shulk

 

[Aunt Jemima]

Rather than waiting for Berserker to post a wall of text, I'll just sum it in in a TL;DR right here:

How to beat Bayonetta as Shulk

1.) When the match starts, switch to the Jump Art.
2.) Jump off the stage
3.) Die

 

[Berserker.]

alright, gonna admit, your tips were way better than mine

cuz literally, i was just gonna post "BANNED" or some ****. u suck tho. get outta here ;^)

inb4someonetakesthisseriously

 

[dhblademaster]

Rather than waiting for Berserker to post a wall of text, I'll just sum it in in a TL;DR right here:

How to beat Bayonetta as Shulk

1.) When the match starts, switch to the Jump Art.
2.) Jump off the stage
3.) Die

If you want to really beat Bayonetta as Shulk, you could add a back slash after step 2.

 

[BJN39]

Wouldn't speed stance be more effective for this technique? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can run faster in speed than you can move in the air with jump, can you not?

Also then when you get off the edge you can immediately FF. Think of the optimization!

Edit: Next stock make sure to MALLC that landing off the respawn platform so you can execute yourself this technique with some style!

 

[FOcast]

Wouldn't speed stance be more effective for this technique? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can run faster in speed than you can move in the air with jump, can you not?

Also then when you get off the edge you can immediately FF. Think of the optimization!

Edit: Next stock make sure to MALLC that landing off the respawn platform so you can execute yourself this technique with some style!

Jump mode increases your falling speed, though! When you first spawn in a match, you will be close to an edge, and the time it takes to activate any art will just about get you there. For your second stock, starting from the respawn platform, there is more of a question, but I believe that the difference in fall speed should more than make up for the run/drift speed difference. More testing is required to fully optimize Shulk's suicide game.

 

[-m0]

Pretty sure the optimal option is to backslash off the stage

 

[Berserker.]

this should be the standard for bayo mu discussions imo

 

[WindHero]

I dunno, I must be an idiot, because I hate to play the defeatist meta. I just go ham on the Jump and Speed, hope to get them to red percents before I get there, and then go all or nothing with Smash. Recovering with Vision actually works sometimes.

And when I just don't give a yam, I start trying for DAir spikes.

 

[Berserker.]

just spreading the love here

ofc, this is the genuinely genius and creative work of art of @KuroganeHammer

 

[KingofPhantoms]

Shulk's in the process of becoming one of my better characters.

....it's a slow process, but I'm very glad I chose him as my secondary.

I don't really find myself using the Monado Arts that much though. Like I'll use one of them maybe twice in one match, but that's about it. I can play Shulk pretty well with or without them. So that leads me to a question I have for all of you: How often do you folks use any of the Monado Arts?