What are some good combos that Kirby can do? Good set-ups, etc?
In general, at low percents Kirby's combos are short and to-the-point but they put your opponent into a position that you can pressure and keep the offense going. In other words you'll get more hits in the better you can predict your opponent and make the right choices. At higher damage levels the combo game tapers off with the exception of D-air and possible D-tilt trip combos.
Does D-Air always combo into D-Smash at high percents?
Technically speaking, I don't think D-air combos into D-smash as far as frame data and hitstun are concerned. In practical application it's effectively a combo. I've even combo'd (pseudo-combo'd?) D-air into U-smash. As of right now, you can reliably get KO's off this combo with the exception of characters that have a way of doing a "Combo Breaker" (Mega Man). (and even then the player has to know the match-up in order to counter the combo).
What are some of Kirby's worst match-ups?
Right now his difficulties come from:
'Disjointed' Hitboxes
Fast Speed
Powerful KO's
Good Stage Recovery (Distance Covered & Speed Traveled)
My list will likely change when I start playing people who become really good with their respective characters (I have somewhat of an advantage that Kirby is very familiar to me), but right now I'd say some tough match-ups would be:
Yoshi
Zero Suit Samus
Lucario
Greninja
R.O.B.
Mii (Brawler)
Tough match-ups that I haven't played but I'd consider watching out for would be:
Rosalina
Diddy
Sheik
Toon Link
Pit/Pitoo
Lucina
Those aren't listed by difficutly, just going from top-left to bottom-right on the character select screen.
WOW 5th place is still REALLY awesome! GREAT JOB! :D Thanks for taking Kirby so far!
There was a tournament at the University on Monday and I took what I learned from the first tournament going into my games. I finished at 2nd place, and t0mmy was 1st. In Finals (Kirby vs. Greninja) I won the first 2 game, but - since it was Best of 5 - t0mmy caught on to the new Kirby tricks and ended up winning a clean 3 consecutive games after that.
In Grand Finals I tried out my possible counter-characters, since there was little more I could do with Kirby at that point. The games were definitely closer, but I could only score 1 win with Dedede and 1 win with Sheik, which wasn't even enough to go to 2nd Set. I like to think it's because t0mmy's Greninja is just really good, which helps motivate me to improve in return. (btw, at the tournament I ranked 5th, t0mmy took 2nd).
This has me thinking. What secondaries are good for Kirby? I think projectile users, decent ranged melee users who can snag them before they can escape, or Captain Falcon sound like good ideas.
On an unrelated note, the hammer's recoil disappears starting at 100%.
Right now I'd say:
Identify.
Experiment.
Practice.
Identify your (personal) bad match-ups. Play-style and skill levels mean much more at this juncture in the game. If a specific character is giving you trouble, find out what it is that the character is doing that is working against you.
Experiment with different characters to see if they have something that helps counter the problem match-up. Learning to play different characters will also help you fight against those characters, strategically speaking.
Practice specific situations and techniques in Training Mode with your plausible new secondary before you ever human opponents. You have to invest time to improve your Secondary to a competent level before you can benefit from actual player-vs-player experience.
Thanks for the note on the Hammer's recoil damage. I'll check that out and fix the guide with the info.
i've been hearing a lot about kirby being buffed, but he feels so nerfed to me. no throw combos, his range has been reduced, i don't get it! smash 4 mechanics really don't do him any justice, and he still has the problem of approaching characters with long range attacks or swords. i don't know, is it just me or am i missing something here with my main?
Kirby's buffs come into play due to the increase in HitStun as well as slight tweaks to some moves. He is better at his juggling game with U-tilt and U-air which lead into his buffed B-air (1% increase in damage). His D-air is his new bread-and-butter lead, which now combos even at higher damage.
While Kirby's 'grab game' might seem weaker, it really wasn't that good in Brawl anyway. Brawl Kirby's F-throw -> U-air only did about 18% damage and allowed the opponent to SDI out of any possible follow-ups. Technically Smash4 Kirby's 'grab game' is stronger with the fact that F-throw actually throws the opponent forward and B-throw actually throws the opponent backward (great for getting opponents off-stage). Additionally, B-throw can KO at higher damage putting in par on with Kirby's U-throw KO percentages in Brawl (and doesn't require overhead platforms).
I'm not sure about his range being reduced (unless you mean his Final Cutter which was never good as a ranged attack anyway). Kirby seems larger (relatively speaking) which adds to his range, additionally characters with exceptionally good range are more balanced in that department (Marth, Meta Knight, and three is no Snake). Kirby has always had problems with range and projectiles, so I guess that's suppose to be part of his strength/weakness balance.
