I think I'm going to play devil's advocate here for a little bit to try to kick up some discussion instead of everyone agreeing with each other and to try to get more information about footstool's uses here. I personally find Footstools to be somewhat useful for some characters, but I'm a bit curious on everyone else's thoughts.
The only safe way to use Toon Link's Dair.
Whoever thinks footstool jumps are dumb izzzz dumb =/
However, to do the Dair-footstool, isn't the timing window so small that you basically have to already know that the footstool will hit before you Dair, meaning that if you miss, you die anyways? Also, since everyone knows that Toon Link's Dair spikes at the startup, why would an opponent let you get that close above him while you're Toon Link? Isn't that a death sentence even if they don't use the footstool and go directly for the Dair, like most people do? What makes the footstool Dair better than a regular Dair, since both have the same risk/reward, except one requires slightly more setup apparently?
I destroy yoshis with this.
Good Yoshis know how good their Uair and Egg Toss is. Getting above a Yoshi without an attack with more range than Lucario's Dair is generally a bad idea. <<
I footstool all the time, even in competative play. It's an AWESOME tool, and it's very important. Learning and knowing ALL your options is imperative to competing at the highest level. Footstooling is one of those important ones.
...Shouldn't your opponent be Uairing? Don't most of the characters in top/high tier have generally good Upwards-hitting aerials with more range than a footstool, which generally has none? Also, footstooling does not cancel any animation other than a neutral state, which means if they attack, airdodge or do anything other than just sit there like an idjit, then they're pretty much safe, and you're pretty screwed? How do you condition your foes to allow you to pull off footstools?
Always go for footstools vs characters with laggy up-airs and bad recoveries that normally fall and die if they attack. by not attacking them, you can try to punish their airdodge without suffering the lag from an attempted aerial off-stage.
idk. I do actively try to footstool characters like DK and ike whenever they are below stage level.
Interesting point. I think I'll add that to the first post.
Footstooling is also one of the LEAST telegraphed 'attacks' in the game, AND it helps recovery and to escape bad situations. It's both good on offense and defense.
It may be the least telegraphed attack in the game, but it's also the absolute easiest to punish/avoid move in the game because of this property, since characters coming into you from offstage usually are attempting to attack, and since the character being edgeguarded generally does not approve of this, they usually try to ward off the attack with either an attack of their own, or by airdodging. Sadly, both of these negate the footstool, as even if they miss their attack attempt, footstooling does not go through attack animations.
This is a powerful weapon. No where near useless.
I'm sure you've seen God-is-my-Rock's footstool combo video. And those have been discovered recently.
Like Pierce said nobody ever sees it coming. If I have an opponent running at me the last thing I'm gonna try and do is avoid his footstool.
It adds luck to the game too, like when you and your opponent are both under the level, and you keep mashing that jump button until something happens. Ah I love that xD
The problem with grounded footstool combos for most characters is the sad fact that many characters with options out of a footstool are sadly unable to create an opening to use it. Toon Link, DK, Pikachu, etc. can somewhat utilize a grounded footstool due to their ability to force trips, which can be footstooled, but most characters cannot force trips to utilize their grounded footstool, like DDD, Peach, Ganondorf, Lucario, etc. Also, many footstool combos aren't as useful as other potential followups. For example, Pikachu may be able to both get in a trip and footstool his opponent, which allows a free QAC to Nair, but he also has many other options rather than going for a footstool, like a running Usmash for an early KO, or Fsmash. Many characters have footstool combos, but the problem is that unless they can force a trip, the only way they can pull it off is by having their opponent horribly mess up their spacing, or that they're stupidly standing right next to them without doing
anything, as even a shield will negate the footstool's lag.
If an opponent is running at you, chances are they're going to attack. What're the best ways to avoid attacks? Attacking with your own attack, and avoiding the attack by shielding, spotdodging, SHADing, or just getting out of the way. Footstooling cannot counter any of these options, sadly, which means that even though it's extremely unpredictable, it doesn't mean that you'll be able to pull it off any more than a more predictable move.
