Snapping to the ledge with Air Slash?

[Tremendo Dude]

I've noticed that although Air Slash is designed not to snap to the ledge, there is a window at the start of the move that allows Shulk to use Air Slash and almost immediately grab the ledge on the upswing, cancelling the Air Slash. The hitbox still comes out, though it rarely connects with opponents.

This seems to be little more than a flashy way to mix up recovery, since the hitbox it puts out requires your opponent to be completely standing on the edge or off of it. Maybe the hitbox can potentially stage spike? It does seem to make for a nice juke when used below the ledge though, as your opponent standing on the ledge might react to the Air Slash only for you to grab the edge instead.

Thoughts? Possible applications? I'll try to mix this into my gameplay now that I know it exists, though I don't think it will blow anyone away. Might make me look a little flashier at the ledge, at least.

EDIT: Here's a video. Also changed "sweetspot" to "ledge snap" to avoid confusion.

 

[Zatchiel]

Recognizing the distance below the ledge where I can use air slash to sweetspot the ledge has become pretty much second nature to me. Even if I come up short on the first swing the second slash is just enough to get me to the ledge. I never have to generally if I equip jump after being sent far offstage though.

 

[Tremendo Dude]

Recognizing the distance below the ledge where I can use air slash to sweetspot the ledge has become pretty much second nature to me. Even if I come up short on the first swing the second slash is just enough to get me to the ledge. I never have to generally if I equip jump after being sent far offstage though.

What you're thinking of (normal sweetspotting of the edge by using the move as far below the edge as possible while still being able to grab the ledge) is entirely different from what I just described (sweetspotting the edge by using the move near the edge and cancelling the rising slash with the ledge snap).

 

[Zatchiel]

What you're thinking of (normal sweetspotting of the edge by using the move as far below the edge as possible while still being able to grab the ledge) is entirely different from what I just described (sweetspotting the edge by using the move near the edge and cancelling the rising slash with the ledge snap).

No, it isn't. I know exactly what you're talking about and I make use of it pretty often; what I meant by the rest of my post is that . I'm aware of when I can sweetspot the ledge with the initial air slash swing, and I'm sure many others are as well.

 

[Tremendo Dude]

No, it isn't. I know exactly what you're talking about and I make use of it pretty often; what I meant by the rest of my post is that . I'm aware of when I can sweetspot the ledge with the initial air slash swing, and I'm sure many others are as well.

If you say so. That's pretty impressive then, if you consistently cancel your Air Slash on the first few frames on the ledge. I'm more surprised that this is common knowledge. I still think this might be a miscommunication.

Then again, maybe I shouldn't have used the word sweetspot, since that already has a common connotation. Maybe I should have referred to it as "snapping to the ledge" on the first few frames of the rising air slash.

I'll try to record and upload a video to demonstrate what I'm referring to, though a phone camera's potato quality will have to suffice.

EDIT: Video has been posted.

 

[Fernosaur]

This could be of relative use against the Villager if you're somehow knocked off the stage and can't get Jump or Speed in time!

 

[Masonomace]

I enjoy how the start-up of regular AS can sweetspot the ledge in that manner. I remember this being in Brawl as a useful extra push of assured recovery in case your DoubleJump didn't reach, so that's always good. I gotta try this with AAS & MAS & see if I have any extra reason to utilize them over the regular AS.

 

[imnotdannyboy]

The early cancel sweetspot isn't really relevant. It make a few plays, but I doubt it's gonna be big. The important thing is the end-of-AS sweetspot. Learning that distance is vital.

 

[erico9001]

Hmm, did not know about it so thanks. However, it seems really hard to pull off and circumstantial, so I'm not going to worry about it.

 

[Masonomace]

The early cancel sweetspot isn't really relevant. It make a few plays, but I doubt it's gonna be big. The important thing is the end-of-AS sweetspot. Learning that distance is vital.

The video I watched below is in the Shulk Video Thread kudos to @Jigglymaster for putting it in there & @berserker01 for having it in the OP if you wanna check that out. Anyways I stumbled upon this moment exactly @10:09 when Puffster's Jump mode Shulk sweetspots the ledge with the early start-up portion of his 2nd slash instead of his first, so it's something instead of the 1st Air Slash's ending sweetspot area.

Here's this if no one wants to press the green time-stamp:

 

[Zatchiel]

So... something interesting I've learned about this is that the initial hit of Air Slash can still hit people close enough at the ledge just before it cancels.

The hitbox seems to extend above the ledge just a bit.

I've been using this ledge-cancel technique a bunch lately during my recoveries. It's really useful when your opponent approaches the ledge and throws up a shield expecting you to overshoot with Air Slash, giving them less time to think about what you're going to do from there.

For anyone concerned about the execution, I don't think it's hard to do at all consistently once you practice it for a few minutes. There's a special ledge proximity for it that I feel is pretty easy to get accustomed to.

 

[Tremendo Dude]

Most of my troubles pulling it off consistently probably stemmed from using a 3ds with the circle pad torn off. It's a positioning thing, in any case.

Seeing how often people roll onto the edge when you're flying there in the hopes of punishing your getup, maybe the hitbox is good for something. At least it catches people offguard.

 

[Masonomace]

What if we used our Reversed Air Slash to catch opponents while recovering from low? I don't have video footage, but we're able to FF from standing near the ledge & Reverse Air Slashing them with the 1st hit's start-up, sweetspotting the ledge. Practicing this would also be good in case you wanna ledge-trump this way & use Reverse Air Slash to scoop their trump distance, potentially sealing a stock.