fox is almost all about experience. If you know how to fight the character this matchup will generally be significantly easier on you, however, if you've never fought fox, expect to get *****.
lucas shuts down fox's main far range option, being to laser. if you're far from fox, it's generally safe to magnet, forcing fox to approach. However, conversely, fox could be purported to shut down lucas' far range options as well with his reflector. You NEED To mix up your pk fires in this matchup, if you get predictable in this matchup with your specials, expect to have a bit of difficulty dealing damage.
however, lucas and fox at close range really seems to be a matter of: who makes the first mistake, in which, whoever gets to punish first gets the chance to stack on anywhere from 10-40% damage on his opponent. dont haphazardly nair or dair into fox in this matchup, as fox is one of the few characters who has options for when people land behind him as well as when you land in front of him. Whoever approaches first in this matchup is definitely at a disadvantage unless the opponent does not take advantage of the situation.
Fox has several approaches, however, his most damaging by far is his dair to utilt
If fox decides to dair next to you and you shield, your reaction should be different depending on where he lands, and where he's facing when he lands.
If fox lands in front of you, facing you: jab, ftilt, dtilt, all really fair game. I generally go for the jab. keep in mind that he can still jab you back so be quick.
If fox lands in front of you, but facing away from you: jab, ftilt, however, if you mess up your window of opportunity, expect to get utilted, as the hitbox behind fox in utilt is the first part to come out.
If fox lands behind you, facing towards you: expect a jab, ftilt, or nair, utilt is not really a good option here. if he's inside of lucas, you can try to jab, the reverse hitbox will likely catch fox, or if you're daring, try to ftilt.
If fox lands behind you, facing away from you: expect an utilt. just shield this, you can try to spotdodge or roll away, but there's not really much of a way you can deal damage to fox in this situation.
Fox's other approaches include: SH bair (a good way to punish errant approaches, as well as a magnificent spacing tool.) and... that's really all I remember... I know there's more but i just woke up like half an hour ago lol.
expect to die to fox around 90% if you get hit by an errant usmash, however, you can survive significantly longer if you're smart. just watch how he approaches and dont get caught by his tricks.
you can kill fox as early as 90% with a well placed fsmash, so try not to decay it if you can help it.
dont know what to else to say about this matchup. i've fought like 4 foxes but most of the time it comes down to who spaces better. habits are a really bad thing in this matchup, and what i said should only be taken as a guideline moreso then the rule.
50-50, they knock each other's long range options out, however, with smart play you can still use your long range attacks on each other. in close range it's usually a matter of who messes up first, and that person will be punished for a rather large amount of damage.
stages: BAN HALBERD. fox has a pretty good stage selection, and few stages mess him up... Other then lylat. expect him to ban lylat. japes is a good fox CP, however, one really underhanded tactic is one used against most low tier mains:
Simply pick random, then pick pikachu, sheik, or pit. pikachu and sheik can 0 to death fox, but don't use them if you have no experience, you WILL get wrecked.
pit shuts down fox's long range options, and if you manage to get fox off the stage, a flurry of arrows will most certainly keep him off.
fox is a solid character, and he'd be top tier if it wasnt for how he has several god awful matchups, most attributed solely to his incredible fall speed. the only other character that shares his plight as a low weight fast faller is sheik
NOW I SHALL MAKE FOOD AND GO OUT INTO THE BLIZZARD.
