As everyone knows, GSP (Global Smash Power) is the definitive ranking system in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. If you want to improve your game, you need to improve your GSP so you can consistently play against better players. It is no coincidence that the winners of supermajor tournaments are in Elite Smash with most of the cast.
Today, we’re not just talking about how to get into Elite Smash--we’re talking about 10 proven tips to launch your GSP past the blastzone!
1. First, prepare your environment
Your playing environment is critical to your online success. Prepare snacks and keep drinking water within easy reach. Wear comfortable clothing. Make sure you’re well rested and nourished. Insulate your room to avoid noise distractions and adjust your thermostat. Studies show that cognitive ability improves when you’re comfortably cool and the humidity is low--but make sure your hands stay warm! You may want to invest in fingerless gloves and possibly a humidifier. You should also silence your cell phone and place it out of eyesight.
2. Equip for Success
Of course you’ll need a controller: I recommend the pro controller, but the classic gamecube controller works as well. If you’re feeling fancy or you want to save some money, you might want to try something from our list of 3rd party controllers. Make sure you have a TV or monitor with minimal input lag, and prepare a calming soundtrack. I recommend static background noise (especially pink!) or classical music.
You’ll also need a good Ethernet package. On that note…
2a. Buy a LAN adapter and Ethernet cord
Yep, this is so important that it deserves its own subsection. A fast, reliable internet connection will allow you to play to your full potential. A LAN adapter and Ethernet cord will allow you to connect your Switch to the Ethernet, rather than Wifi. Make sure your cord is long enough to reach the Ethernet port. You should also change your Switch’s settings to disconnect from Wifi to ensure you’re using the fast Ethernet connection.
3. Tilt your opponent
No, I don’t mean to use tilt attacks (although that can definitely work with the right character). Your goal is to frustrate your opponent and ensure they are thinking with their emotions rather than their brain. When your opponent gets tilted, they will usually become very predictable. This makes it super easy to get reads, which will likely make them even more tilted.
Play annoyingly. Run away. If something works and it shouldn’t, keep going for it. Don’t go for set-ups that can lead into flashy combos, go for random smash attacks. Use spammy, braindead moves or attacks that feel really bad to get hit by. Do everything you can to convince your opponent that they are better than you but getting unlucky.
Miss tech. If you’re not in a position to be punished, “show off” by failing some wavedashes or dashdances. One of my favorite tricks is to fail a dash dance while my opponent is respawning--often, my opponent will show off their own impeccable dash dance and run right into my smash attack.
Disrespect your opponent. Go for some reverse warlock punches. T-bag when your opponent SDs. T-bag when you get a read. T-bag if you land a counter. T-bag instead of edgeguarding. Just T-bag as much as possible.
You can also tilt your opponent in a few more creative ways, such as . . .
4. Play as Ness
See above.
5. Use Unusual Rules
Illegal stages? Overpowered items? Final Smashes? Weird time limits or stock counts?
Don’t enable all of them at once (or you’ll run into casual players), but you should definitely play with a few unusual rules. It doesn’t matter if your character actually benefits from these rules--the important thing is to confuse your opponent.
Your opponent doesn’t care that they were only winning because of a lucky Pokeball earlier in the game. All they notice is that you got “lucky” with your weird ruleset. And they get salty.
Because your opponent can blame the rules or stage (instead of giving you credit for your skill or assessing their own weaknesses), your opponent won’t adapt or improve. As long as you can keep them focused on the factors out of his control, you can keep landing hard reads. And they’ll keep blaming the weird rules.
And the most powerful ruleset leads to . . .
6. Sudden Death Abuse
Tournaments never have Sudden Death, so tournament players aren’t equipped to deal with Sudden Death. Tournament-goers (i.e. the only competent players who might beat you) rarely check the timer, so if you choose a ruleset with high stocks and a low time limit, you have a very good chance of stalling your opponent without them realizing it.
If they’re not tilted by now, they will certainly be upset that you “tricked” them into a Sudden Death. Prepare for your opponent’s poor choices.
If you followed tip 4 and you’re playing Ness, PK thunder is surprisingly effective. It’s also virtually risk-free. If your opponent does have the presence of mind to shield, Ness has a great grab (Forward-air can offer shield pressure as well). If your opponent attacks your shield, short hop nair will seal the game.
If you want to emphasize tip 6 (Sudden Death abuse) over tip 3 (a generally annoying playstyle), you can also play Young Link or Snake. These characters can stall the game and have super safe projectiles to win the Sudden Death.
7. Leave at the Right Time
To truly maximize your GSP earnings, you need to quit against your opponent at the right time. If your opponent is better than you--just admit it and quit. You have nothing to prove and you don’t need to learn: it’s all about maximizing that sweet, sweet GSP.
If you got lucky against an opponent, you might want to stick around. There’s a chance you’ve got this guy tilted, and then you can win a whole series of games with little effort.
If you’re playing a worse opponent, be careful how many games you play. If your opponent acknowledges that you’re better, they won’t be salty. Instead they’ll be carefully analyzing how to beat you. Eventually they’ll get a win and your GSP will plummet. This is especially bad because you started with a higher GSP than them, so a single loss may lose more GSP than your first several wins.
8. Practice against CPUs
Remember--because of the way GSP is calculated, it’s more important to avoid a loss than to secure a win. As such, you should avoid playing whenever possible. Instead of practicing against real opponents where your GSP is vulnerable, play against CPUs! Once you’re good enough that you won’t lose against real people, then enter online play.
CPUs are especially useful for practicing Tip 5. Make sure you know the best ways to cheese the rules!
9. Build a Lag Switch
Go to the store and pick up some scissors or a box cutter, a lightswitch, wire strippers, and a wire cutter.
Connect the LAN adapter and ethernet cord so you know everything fits. Now, you want to unplug the cables and cut your ethernet cord somewhere you can reach with your foot. It’s a good idea to strip the insulation off of the wire using a box cutter. Then you can use wire cutters or heavy-duty scissors to actually cut the wire. Make sure that everything is unplugged when you cut!
Now wrap the ends of your ethernet wires around the lightswitch, screw them into place, and you’ve made yourself a lag switch! If you want a step-by-step guide to building a lag switch, you can check out this video.
A lag switch is the most important tool for getting a high GSP. It basically functions like a pause button. Is your opponent trying to execute a precise combo? Tap the lag switch for half a second and mess up his timing! Flipping it at the right time may even make your opponent self-destruct!
Not only do you gain reaction-time advantages by using a lag switch, but the fact that lag exists in general will often tilt your opponent more than anything else.
10. Feed Yourself
To really boost your GSP, you need to “feed” yourself. No, not like real food--you’ve been doing that since tip 1.
You need to feed yourself GSP. Buy another Switch. Buy another copy of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Buy another TV (this one isn’t necessary but we appreciate the affiliate commissions). Create another account. Choose a weird ruleset that no one else would use and enter the queue with both accounts simultaneously. If you’re using a specific ruleset, you’ll probably find yourself quickly.
(One note: you probably want to enable Wifi with a VPN on one switch and ethernet on the other. That way you’ll evade Nintendo’s anti-cheat system).
Once you find yourself, lose to your main account. You can keep matchmaking indefinitely and feed yourself an almost limitless amount of GSP. Soon, you’ll have the highest GSP in the world!
Author’s Note: Remember: GSP isn’t everything. While I guarantee* this guide will help you improve your GSP, it’s better to focus on improving your overall play rather than simply improving a number. So if you want to focus on just one tip, I recommend tip number 8.
*not an actual guarantee
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