over the past ohh...lets say 6 months, i've been in a sort of slump and wasn't sure how I could improve no matter what I did, and i've been through everything I can for snake to see what I can do to be better at this point
Along the way I figured out quite a few things that are so subtle but game changing that alot of you might not really understand in your own game and that if you can pin point them and drop it how much you can improve. You might say you realize this or that,and know about that, but knowing doesn't mean you APPLY alot of the time. I just feel like with snake its MUCH MUCH MUCH more important than any other character to have none of these habits or little things because I feel that when snake gets punished...he gets punished hard :l
for instance, here were alot of my problems
1. PATIENCE-I always thought I was a patient snake, I never approach and I'm always camping and trying to avoid combat (lol) but what I didn't realize is how when it came to the up close game I was WAY too impatient. What I mean by this is not thinking things out when you go to attack someone close range, is it a situation thats dangerous for you? risky? Dont bother, sit back and try to wait for your opening. Utilize walking and your shield properly and try to bait attacks before you blindly throw out a tilt or try grabbing someone or whatever else you're attempting to do. Snake is scary on the ground, but its easy to snuff his options when you aren't being careful. People need to think twice before coming in on a snake who isn't patterned but is more random and can play to react on YOUR moves. EVEN IF YOURE LOSING TRY TO BE PATIENT, RUSHING AT SOMEONE ISNT GOING TO FIX THINGS
2.IMPROPER NADE USAGE-I know you're probably thinking, wtf...are you crazy? we should be using nades non stop, its snakes best move! Or maybe you just read that last sentence and thought I was stupid...anyways, nades CAN work against you if you dont use themproperly, mainly if you aren't using them correctly at closer range, I never realized how often I'd be getting dash grabbed for pulling a nade when an mk wasn't too far or getting the edge of my shield nado'd while a nade is sitting near me and i'm basically trapped, this sort of goes hand in hand with patience, you need to think twice before pulling your nades at a closer range depending on what a character can do and how you need to send them back. Dont get me wrong, having a nade around you can be a good thing as well if you're zoning properly, but when it comes to a closer range fight you need to be patient and use the right move at the right time, nades dont always have to be out. This just adds to your mixup game and improves your close combat significantly if you have been making mistakes like these
3.MORTAR SLIDING-Maybe its just me, but I've always had a mortar sliding habit. Its not that I really used it that often, I barely did. But the problem is that I was using it badly, trying to almost semi approach with it and get closer at the wrong times. Watching a few vids I saw how I was geting punished simply on reaction and ***** for it, I got hit with the back hitbox of the dsmash from an mk who saw it coming near the edge of the stage and what happened after that? I got nair'd a few times and SL'd or w/e and by the time I was back on stage I had taken around 80% just because of a mortar slide. These things can really add up without you realizing it. This also applies to patience, I guess. People shouldn't really mortar slide...period. Unless its to get away or you cancel it right away if you dash attack someones shield, its just a little trick you need to keep away for the right time
4.IMPROPER AERIAL USAGE- I know we've all seen the vids where someone got that fair spike to win a match or take a stock between good players, or where you randomly dair'd in midair and some guy jumped into the last hit not knowing that the foot hitbox is kinda big actually, I know I've actually had a good amount of times where its happened, hell, up at the top right corner of halberd once I was pretty much about to die to an uair but the last hit of my dair came off around the top of the screen (lol) and killed the mk at like 60%. But honestly, the risk vs. reward is not worth it most of the time when you use aerials in ways like that. Nair isn't a very good move if someone can SDI, and its only usable in a few matchups where you can space well and keep some characters outside of you by baiting a punish and auto canceling it, where you have a frame 3 jab or a frame 4 ftilt...or w/e. Its just more gimmicks and risks you dont need to be taking, no more than once..maybe twice a game unless you KNOW you can make it work vs. the player. uair/bair are typically less risky, but I see alot of snakes who decide to bair too much as they fall...its another thing where you need to be patient and only use it at the right time, if you haven't managed to do it for a whole stock and someone expects you to just come down again and they expect to land a kill move somehow, THIS is where you patience and keeping it hidden come into handy as you dropkick the ****er in the face. Dont jump straight into people generally with bair/uair...you can generally jump once and see what they do then DJ uair/bair and beat stuff/read airdodges (lol) but you cant be too hasty about how you're using these moves. tl;dr dont fair/nair and be careful with your bair/uair
5.RISK VS. REWARD-These all basically fall into this...once again along with patience because the thing about snake is that if you hit someone, you're hitting em hard. But if you GET hit, chances are you're gonna take a decent amount of damage, something alot of snakes dont even notice! Its important to try and watch your vids if you can and see where you become impatient or are doing any little thing that leads to alot of damage, seeing where you get punished and why, was it for a bad reason? I know people get hit back and forth...its part of the game. But alot of these situations can just be stopped by not taking the risk and sticking to what works...
6.PROPER PUNISHING-Another little thing alot of people dont realize is that when someone is left open to be hit...you aren't using the best option you could. I never realized how many times I had my mind set on ftilt out of shield to punish things without realizing something was in killing percentages and I could've utilted. It cost me the last match of a set I played not too long ago, I had a decent lead by about 40% when this guys mk was at 120%, and instaed of utilting him out of shield I just ftilted. He lived, and managed to get me in the air where basically the rest of my stock ended up disappearing and I lost :l Dont stale or abuse ftilt....try to grab when you can and dthrow alot, or even edge guard some characters/juggle kinda by throwing them into certain parts of a stage or off it depending on character. Try to pummel when you grab seeing how it helps refresh your stale moves, but not too much if someone has crazy mashing, all those times that your move ALMOST killed that person, might've been prevented had you just thrown in a few pummels to your last throw, or didn't abuse the move you were looking to kill with. Always watch out for these things and pay attention to someones percent at ALL TIMES considering people will play more afraid generally vs. snake at higher percents anyways and change what they do..
These are alot of the things i've put in the past lately that helped me improve dramatically, and I just thought I'd share it with other snakes who might be struggling in the same way I am to keep up these days. If you have anything you feel you could contribute feel free to drop a comment, Rans improvement thread is also good, its just another list of shorter things, but I felt like I had to point out some larger issues that are more subtle to say and break it down...stay strong my fellow snakes!
Along the way I figured out quite a few things that are so subtle but game changing that alot of you might not really understand in your own game and that if you can pin point them and drop it how much you can improve. You might say you realize this or that,and know about that, but knowing doesn't mean you APPLY alot of the time. I just feel like with snake its MUCH MUCH MUCH more important than any other character to have none of these habits or little things because I feel that when snake gets punished...he gets punished hard :l
for instance, here were alot of my problems
1. PATIENCE-I always thought I was a patient snake, I never approach and I'm always camping and trying to avoid combat (lol) but what I didn't realize is how when it came to the up close game I was WAY too impatient. What I mean by this is not thinking things out when you go to attack someone close range, is it a situation thats dangerous for you? risky? Dont bother, sit back and try to wait for your opening. Utilize walking and your shield properly and try to bait attacks before you blindly throw out a tilt or try grabbing someone or whatever else you're attempting to do. Snake is scary on the ground, but its easy to snuff his options when you aren't being careful. People need to think twice before coming in on a snake who isn't patterned but is more random and can play to react on YOUR moves. EVEN IF YOURE LOSING TRY TO BE PATIENT, RUSHING AT SOMEONE ISNT GOING TO FIX THINGS
2.IMPROPER NADE USAGE-I know you're probably thinking, wtf...are you crazy? we should be using nades non stop, its snakes best move! Or maybe you just read that last sentence and thought I was stupid...anyways, nades CAN work against you if you dont use themproperly, mainly if you aren't using them correctly at closer range, I never realized how often I'd be getting dash grabbed for pulling a nade when an mk wasn't too far or getting the edge of my shield nado'd while a nade is sitting near me and i'm basically trapped, this sort of goes hand in hand with patience, you need to think twice before pulling your nades at a closer range depending on what a character can do and how you need to send them back. Dont get me wrong, having a nade around you can be a good thing as well if you're zoning properly, but when it comes to a closer range fight you need to be patient and use the right move at the right time, nades dont always have to be out. This just adds to your mixup game and improves your close combat significantly if you have been making mistakes like these
3.MORTAR SLIDING-Maybe its just me, but I've always had a mortar sliding habit. Its not that I really used it that often, I barely did. But the problem is that I was using it badly, trying to almost semi approach with it and get closer at the wrong times. Watching a few vids I saw how I was geting punished simply on reaction and ***** for it, I got hit with the back hitbox of the dsmash from an mk who saw it coming near the edge of the stage and what happened after that? I got nair'd a few times and SL'd or w/e and by the time I was back on stage I had taken around 80% just because of a mortar slide. These things can really add up without you realizing it. This also applies to patience, I guess. People shouldn't really mortar slide...period. Unless its to get away or you cancel it right away if you dash attack someones shield, its just a little trick you need to keep away for the right time
4.IMPROPER AERIAL USAGE- I know we've all seen the vids where someone got that fair spike to win a match or take a stock between good players, or where you randomly dair'd in midair and some guy jumped into the last hit not knowing that the foot hitbox is kinda big actually, I know I've actually had a good amount of times where its happened, hell, up at the top right corner of halberd once I was pretty much about to die to an uair but the last hit of my dair came off around the top of the screen (lol) and killed the mk at like 60%. But honestly, the risk vs. reward is not worth it most of the time when you use aerials in ways like that. Nair isn't a very good move if someone can SDI, and its only usable in a few matchups where you can space well and keep some characters outside of you by baiting a punish and auto canceling it, where you have a frame 3 jab or a frame 4 ftilt...or w/e. Its just more gimmicks and risks you dont need to be taking, no more than once..maybe twice a game unless you KNOW you can make it work vs. the player. uair/bair are typically less risky, but I see alot of snakes who decide to bair too much as they fall...its another thing where you need to be patient and only use it at the right time, if you haven't managed to do it for a whole stock and someone expects you to just come down again and they expect to land a kill move somehow, THIS is where you patience and keeping it hidden come into handy as you dropkick the ****er in the face. Dont jump straight into people generally with bair/uair...you can generally jump once and see what they do then DJ uair/bair and beat stuff/read airdodges (lol) but you cant be too hasty about how you're using these moves. tl;dr dont fair/nair and be careful with your bair/uair
5.RISK VS. REWARD-These all basically fall into this...once again along with patience because the thing about snake is that if you hit someone, you're hitting em hard. But if you GET hit, chances are you're gonna take a decent amount of damage, something alot of snakes dont even notice! Its important to try and watch your vids if you can and see where you become impatient or are doing any little thing that leads to alot of damage, seeing where you get punished and why, was it for a bad reason? I know people get hit back and forth...its part of the game. But alot of these situations can just be stopped by not taking the risk and sticking to what works...
6.PROPER PUNISHING-Another little thing alot of people dont realize is that when someone is left open to be hit...you aren't using the best option you could. I never realized how many times I had my mind set on ftilt out of shield to punish things without realizing something was in killing percentages and I could've utilted. It cost me the last match of a set I played not too long ago, I had a decent lead by about 40% when this guys mk was at 120%, and instaed of utilting him out of shield I just ftilted. He lived, and managed to get me in the air where basically the rest of my stock ended up disappearing and I lost :l Dont stale or abuse ftilt....try to grab when you can and dthrow alot, or even edge guard some characters/juggle kinda by throwing them into certain parts of a stage or off it depending on character. Try to pummel when you grab seeing how it helps refresh your stale moves, but not too much if someone has crazy mashing, all those times that your move ALMOST killed that person, might've been prevented had you just thrown in a few pummels to your last throw, or didn't abuse the move you were looking to kill with. Always watch out for these things and pay attention to someones percent at ALL TIMES considering people will play more afraid generally vs. snake at higher percents anyways and change what they do..
These are alot of the things i've put in the past lately that helped me improve dramatically, and I just thought I'd share it with other snakes who might be struggling in the same way I am to keep up these days. If you have anything you feel you could contribute feel free to drop a comment, Rans improvement thread is also good, its just another list of shorter things, but I felt like I had to point out some larger issues that are more subtle to say and break it down...stay strong my fellow snakes!
