Shulk tips and strategies?

[T-Donor66]

So I picked up a copy of Smash 3ds today, and my first character was Shulk. I'm enjoying him so far, but I'm still not that good. Are there any tips or strategies I should use to get better as him? Thank you!

 

[Berserker.]

First and only tip from me since I'm still busy playing: Don't even attempt using back slash to recover. Ever

 

[Jgod]

i will say whats working for me so far. Since yesterday I have played a ton of Shulk. On For Glory there is a great lack of him as....Im the only Shulk Ive seen in over 150 probably 200 games now.

Anyways Shulk has some amazing reach. I have used Back slash to offensively recover, it wasnt an issue, mind your spacing or you will get yourself killed. Vision Counter has a fantastic slide to it, which means often enough if they try to edge guard you, you can even use it as a recover as your counter brings you back on stage. IMO get a lot of use out of it, its good.

Buster is good in that you only need a few hits in it. The trade off is knockback which is more then fine.
My least used stance is Speed, not because it isnt useful but so far its more situational, Buster is equally so.
Monado Shield is by far my favourite, due to rage mechanics, this easily becomes a high priority choice at around 80% in some heavy hitting match ups. Incredibly strong for comebacks.

Im trying to incorporate aerials more into my play as I am a little to grounded in my opinion but again the monado has a ton of reach. D-Smash is a triple hit with huge range, and can take them out of shield on subsequent hits because of its low angle,
U-smash does hit beside you, but its kind of weird if you Dash-Smash, N-air has little lag, so you can N-air to f-tilt. I believe in Monado Speed this works out best, and might possibly lead to an f-air follow up I think.

At the moment im 70% WLR over the last 50 games. Again there are no Shulks Q_Q.
Robin is a legit pain in the ass to fight, remember vision counter works on projectiles and has a wicked slide so sometimes i just use that to approach because the spam is ridiculous (duck hunt)

 

[toadster101]

My only suggestion is to switch to Defense as soon as you reach 80-100%. I don't find Speed or Jump particularly useful either.

 

[Berserker.]

My only suggestion is to switch to Defense as soon as you reach 80-100%. I don't find Speed or Jump particularly useful either.

You're missing out buddy

 

[Jade_Rock55]

Question can you switch while moving like I was thinking. Hit them away-(Speed) to chase-While chasing(smash) for a ko.

 

[Masonomace]

Question can you switch while moving like I was thinking. Hit them away-(Speed) to chase-While chasing(smash) for a ko.

Yes you can indeed. You can switch Arts on the fly. You can time it exactly that cycling through Arts, have the one you selected (let's say you wanted Smash) & when you have the Art hovering over your head, you can wait for the Art to activate then proceed to do a throw like Fthrow or Bthrow.

 

[Chaos Archangel]

Question can you switch while moving like I was thinking. Hit them away-(Speed) to chase-While chasing(smash) for a ko.

You may accidentally BackSlash in the process, but you can power walk and switch.

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Also, for me personally I use each art differently (It's worth noting that you have to press B three times in order to cancel an art, but you can hit B twice to store the "cancel" and cancel out with only one press. This is good for situations like if you're in Shield, get knocked away, and want to switch quickly into Jump before you fall to a pitiful death)

Jump: My personal favorite. I use jump for recovery when damage is high and Shield is on cooldown, but more importantly for me is to use it to score KOs. You can easily jump from midstage to offscreen, attack, and double jump right back to stage, people rarely expect it. When Smash seems too risky (both have high damage) try using Jump instead.

Speed: Mostly for closing the distance on projectile users but I also use speed for mind games. People have a hard time adjusting to a suddenly rapid moving Shulk.

Shield: Makes you the heaviest character in the game instantly. I use it to save my ass at high damage but it also makes it harder to recover, so I try to prepare Jump behind this.

Buster: I usually use this early on, but it's my least used art.

Smash: I tend to use Smash when there's a large (40% or more) damage difference between my opponent and I and they're over 70%. Usually after I get KO'd or if I started with a really good lead.



Also... Nair is the pickles and the sauce. Landing lag is practically nonexistent and it hits in a massive arc!

 

[TechieWidget]

Learn to short hop with Shulk and how to use his aerial attacks. Shulk's aerial attacks has excellent reach and does decent damage, especially his N-air, B-air, and F-air. His grabs are pretty good, as well as his F-throw and B-throw.

Shulk's tilts are very useful and have a lot of reach. I have seen a Shulk player who can juggle his opponents with his Up-tilt. Up-tilt is also a great anti-air strategy.

Shulk is great at gimping characters like Ike with F-air. Shulk is good at jumping and his Air Slash brings him high enough to get him back on the stage after performing a second jump.

For Monado Arts, I like to use Smash when I try to gimp my opponents who are at 100%+. I use Shield when I reach 120%+ damage and play defensive by dodging and grabbing my opponents. I use Speed to shorthop towards my opponents with my aerials and jabs. I use Jump for recovery, and use Buster to try rack up damage early in the match.

 

[Stormfury12]

It really depends on the situation when it comes to the arts. If im facing a fast character I use speed, if i need to recover I try to use jump. I mainly swap between Smash and Damage though. I use damage to wrack up percentage on my foes before switching over to Smash to finish them off. I find that all around f-tilt is amazing and you should use it a ton. D-Smash is really good as well and has great reach and multi hit properties kind of like Peach's D-smash. As others have said never ever ever use F-special to recover.

 

[InfinityZERO]

What should I be doing to train on approaching? My Nairs usually get snuffed out with a throw.

 

[TechieWidget]

What should I be doing to train on approaching? My Nairs usually get snuffed out with a throw.

When approaching, use F-air, D-air or B-air not just N-air. Mix them around when approaching to make yourself be unpredictable. F-air is a good aerial attack for approaching, because of its excellent reach and it keeps you distanced enough from the other player to not be grabbed. Practice short hopping and hitting your opponent with F-air, or jumping behind your opponent and using B-air. N-air is still great to use, but don't rely on one aerial too much or the other player would be able to predict your attack patterns.

 

[Winter W. Winter]

What should I be doing to train on approaching? My Nairs usually get snuffed out with a throw.

This usually throws people off for me, approach with a F-air, upon landing I follow up with a down tilt.