Q&A The 'Mains' Advice Thread

[DJBor]

Don't feel as if is limiting you, as a community we now have discovered that Palutena is a capable fighter. If you really need a replacement, has the same effect and a similar moveset, but is harder to control due to high speed movement and lightweight physics.

(and as a secondary is great for either of them, good choice)

 

[Rene2is]

Don't feel as if is limiting you, as a community we now have discovered that Palutena is a capable fighter. If you really need a replacement, has the same effect and a similar moveset, but is harder to control due to high speed movement and lightweight physics.

(and as a secondary is great for either of them, good choice)

I don't really need a replacement for Palu. I am good with her but I get that feeling Idk mew2 is a good choice but I'm not good with him because of the problems you stated.

As for marth I use him if palu isn't working and he has been my main for a long time.

 

[GoodGuy]

I finally found the type of person I'm looking for. I'm looking for someone with
-at least one projectile
-not too light
-balanced play style
-good grab game
I'm alright with it being any tier except for the lowest of tiers. Any help is appreciated

 

[Ecchin]

If you don't have a main that's fine, at the end of the day you just gotta have fun and play whoever. Finding mains can be both easy and difficult. Some players just know that certain characters will be there mains due to personal connections whilst others aim for play style which is a little harder and requires a lot of time. Obviously if your not enjoying the game then don't feel the need to carry on but since your asking here I expect there isn't any characters that you really like outside of smash so I will be assuming your trying to find a main via play style. Don't feel the pressure to find a main, it will just come to you over time and whether that character is high tier, low tier, tech based, fundamental based or what not, once you find your character you should just feel natural with them.

Unless your aiming to win 100% ie big tournaments etc, try not to take much notice of tier lists, use it as a slight guide of course but don't take it as a certain. You just have to take your time, try out all of the characters and then narrow it down from what you like.

Something I did was made a tier list of characters that I play well with, characters I love, characters I have fun with and characters that I know are not for me. You can use the Smash 4 Tier list creator (this can be found by a quick google search) really quickly and easily and it really helps narrow the choices down and gives a visual picture of what you like/don't like. You can also spot similarity's in your likes/dislikes in terms of character play style.

Just remember, when choosing your main its gotta be someone you love playing, someone when all the odd's are stacked against you, you can pull them out and still have a good time playing.



::Edit:: Just realised Krysco (Above your comment) is going something very similar to what I suggested. Its a very effective method in my opinion.

Thanks for the advice i'll make soon a tier list like that n post it

Edit: here's the tier, i used to play Ike, Lucas n Ness in Brawl

 

[Lunanix]

Thanks for the advice i'll make soon a tier list like that n post it

Edit: here's the tier, i used to play Ike, Lucas n Ness in Brawl

Ok that's good man, although a little broader than I was talking. Here, take a look at mine.

*Notice how I removed anything that I don't want to play, this really helps you focus on just the stuff you enjoy playing rather than everything.

Now the naming is a little weird since I only actually main Sheik and Secondary Lucina. But for sake of example this is what it should look like. Every character that I have played and have some knowledge about in in the tier list and I picked out my favourite characters. Which are the top two rows, I then listed the rest of the characters I play for fun or have some knowledge about.

What I got from doing this was a list of characters that I would definitely play, basically anything in the top two rows was a contender. I then ordered from best to worse at my current skill level. I then looked at who I enjoy putting my time into which left me with Sheik who I play almost exclusively in tournaments and for actually practice etc as I found her fun and the most rewarding to learn, and then Lucina who I really love playing and love as a character who helps me practice my fundamentals etc.

Since I actually did this I updated this and almost exclusively play the characters in the top row unless I am really feeling mad adventurous. Which is fine, but you do want to limit down to a few characters, or at least a few characters that play similar (ie Marth is quite high for me but mostly due to being almost the same as Lucina). Of course this really only applies if your really looking to push yourself and attend tournaments.

The main thing you have to remember when picking a main its all about who you play when you need to be your best, don't worry if you have a bunch of different characters you like playing when messing around in friendlies but you have to be sure that you put the time into your main the most and don't switch off your main in tournament unnecessarily.

Also added note, some characters have weaknesses and strengths. It is hard but try not to look into covering your characters issues until you are fluent with your main. It tends to make people flick between characters because they get extremely caught up in the counter picking. Practice makes perfect and most characters can still put up a hell of a fight even in disadvantages situations because remember your fighting another player not there character.

Your on the right lines though, I'd recommend Ike since he has strong fundamentals and is a fairly strong pick anyway

 

[Justinian]

What is up guys I need some help with my mains

I have been using lately but I feel like I am limiting myself, Is there any other characters with the same play style?
By the way my secondary main is

At her core, Palutena is a straightforward character. She walls out the opponent with her safe-on-block bair, conditioning them to shield and allowing you to use her strong throw combos or mixup with a dash attack. She relies heavily on fundamentals, both spatial and mental.

Two characters that have similar overall gameplans and kits are and to a lesser extent , along with their clones. They have decent aerials in neutral (Mario/Doc bair and nair and D/Pit bair and fair) along with good ground normals, an area in which Palutena slightly lacks, as well as decent movement specs, good edgeguarding kits and awesome grab games. Mario and Doc in particular have strong ledgetrapping as well and form a good duo with Marth for MU coverage. Try 'em out and see what you think.

 

[MetalFan13]

Your main should be the character that you play when you need to win at all costs. Your main should be a few things:
1: A top/high tier. Don't give me any crap about this. If you want to win, play a top 20-ish character. That's the nature of the beast. Sorry.
2: A natural character for you. You will never be good with a character that you don't love almost every aspect of. For example, Pikachu is a really fun character to me, but I would never main him, because his moveset just doesn't feel very natural (then there's the unfortunate reality that training with Ryu has made me bad with a lot of other fighters) to me.
3: A character that you can win with. If you just got into the Smash scene a month ago, DO NOT main a complex character like Ryu, Sheik, Pilachu, Mega Man, or Peach. Just don't kid yourself. Play a character that matches your skill level (so, at that point, probably Cloud or Mario).
4: Someone that you can stick with. Don't pick up a character, put a bunch of time into training with said character, then switch mains. I made this mistake early on, probably changing my main every other week on average. Think about it this way. If you're doing a test that you have an hour to complete, then spend 30 minutes doing a hard word problem, and then you just don't mark an answer and move on. You will be worse off.

 

[Ecchin]

Ok that's good man, although a little broader than I was talking. Here, take a look at mine.

*Notice how I removed anything that I don't want to play, this really helps you focus on just the stuff you enjoy playing rather than everything.

Now the naming is a little weird since I only actually main Sheik and Secondary Lucina. But for sake of example this is what it should look like. Every character that I have played and have some knowledge about in in the tier list and I picked out my favourite characters. Which are the top two rows, I then listed the rest of the characters I play for fun or have some knowledge about.

What I got from doing this was a list of characters that I would definitely play, basically anything in the top two rows was a contender. I then ordered from best to worse at my current skill level. I then looked at who I enjoy putting my time into which left me with Sheik who I play almost exclusively in tournaments and for actually practice etc as I found her fun and the most rewarding to learn, and then Lucina who I really love playing and love as a character who helps me practice my fundamentals etc.

Since I actually did this I updated this and almost exclusively play the characters in the top row unless I am really feeling mad adventurous. Which is fine, but you do want to limit down to a few characters, or at least a few characters that play similar (ie Marth is quite high for me but mostly due to being almost the same as Lucina). Of course this really only applies if your really looking to push yourself and attend tournaments.

The main thing you have to remember when picking a main its all about who you play when you need to be your best, don't worry if you have a bunch of different characters you like playing when messing around in friendlies but you have to be sure that you put the time into your main the most and don't switch off your main in tournament unnecessarily.

Also added note, some characters have weaknesses and strengths. It is hard but try not to look into covering your characters issues until you are fluent with your main. It tends to make people flick between characters because they get extremely caught up in the counter picking. Practice makes perfect and most characters can still put up a hell of a fight even in disadvantages situations because remember your fighting another player not there character.

Your on the right lines though, I'd recommend Ike since he has strong fundamentals and is a fairly strong pick anyway

Finally i'm gonna pick again Ike, i loved his playstyle in Brawl and also in FE PoR, also i've used him at the beginning of sm4sh haha

From now i'll keep as a solo main and find weaknesses in my game and some MUs, thanks for al those advices man!

 

[MetalFan13]

Let's get a few things straight before I give advice on this one.
1) Everything I say is my opinion based upon what I currently know, subject to change
2) F*** the Meta, Smash 4 is so well done that honestly every character is a threat and you don't have to limit yourself to a hard and fast set of characters in order to win.
3) Despite the above statement I do acknowledge that character matchups do exist and you have to make the choice of dealing with them using one character or branching out. That is up to you.

That said lets get on the meat of this post.
If you only care about who beats who, Mario is your best bet, since Smash 4 is a game where your character weaknesses will factor in more than strengths Mario having no weaknesses and an answer for everything in his toolset means he can take on any character with at least a decent chance of victory. That said Mario depends highly on player skill as he does not carry the player in any way, unlike Cloud who is the easy bake top tier.

If you care about who is easy to drop in go Cloud as like I said, he's the easy bake top tier, literally everyone has the ability to pocket Cloud and win.

If you are of the mindset of doing your research and labbing out your matchups then I suggest you go through character by character and determine of those you enjoy playing which ones do you have an easier time working around the matchups.

Using myself as an example I dual main Link and Greninja, and I pocket officially Sheik and sometimes Ike. Link covers most of the cast, in fact he covers all of them, but against certain players, not characters, I will switch out to Greninja who has a wildly different approach to the game. If I feel neither Link of Greninja is a good option I can swap out even farther to my pockets or sometimes I'll just pull a character from out of nowhere and see what works. IN my case it's based upon the player against player matchup not necessarily characters, as I have said I am currently 2-0-0 over every Cloud I have fought and I did it all with Link.

Tl,Dr
If you don't feel like throwing in a lot of lab time Mario or Cloud as options, if you do feel like Lab time and you get a kick out of trying things out, dude pick what you want, there is no wrong answer in the context of smash 4.

No disrespect, but I highly disagree that Link covers the entire cast. He loses to characters that he can't out-camp, such as Villager, and he can't deal very well with in-your-face rushdown characters with good approach options like Sheik, Zamus, and Fox.

 

[Rene2is]

At her core, Palutena is a straightforward character. She walls out the opponent with her safe-on-block bair, conditioning them to shield and allowing you to use her strong throw combos or mixup with a dash attack. She relies heavily on fundamentals, both spatial and mental.

Two characters that have similar overall gameplans and kits are and to a lesser extent , along with their clones. They have decent aerials in neutral (Mario/Doc bair and nair and D/Pit bair and fair) along with good ground normals, an area in which Palutena slightly lacks, as well as decent movement specs, good edgeguarding kits and awesome grab games. Mario and Doc in particular have strong ledgetrapping as well and form a good duo with Marth for MU coverage. Try 'em out and see what you think.

Well guys I have taken your guys advise and this is what I got.
Has been working out, I am just using the play style I use for and works. *shrugs*

He is now a pocket main and working fine

He is literally air same with there working.
Well thanks for the help guys! Much appreciated

 

[Ryuphoton]

I play a few characters, and I would say i'm pretty good with them, but i'm torn on if i should stick with Cloud or Miis. I would say Cloud is my overall best character but I get harassed by my local smash scene for using him, so I went to Miis (customs and any size are allowed where I play), and I have fun using them and I do win, but that goes with Cloud, too. So yeah, i'm in a bit of a pickle...

 

[Rene2is]

I play a few characters, and I would say i'm pretty good with them, but i'm torn on if i should stick with Cloud or Miis. I would say Cloud is my overall best character but I get harassed by my local smash scene for using him, so I went to Miis (customs and any size are allowed where I play), and I have fun using them and I do win, but that goes with Cloud, too. So yeah, i'm in a bit of a pickle...

Well could you use or but those are my choices, to my knowledge have a few bad MUs. Try that out.

 

[Krysco]

Since my last time posting here, my cousin came over and I tried out some characters I hadn't used in a while and holy cow, are Marth and Corrin ever fun. I quickly noticed a trend I've had with this installment that I never had with any of the previous ones and that's that I really like the sword archetype and disjoints in general in this game (first characters I wanted to main were when the game came out). Marth and Corrin being sword users, viable and now fun peaks my interest. A bit iffy on Marth since it's a pain once the opponent gets past tipper range (compared to Roy who doesn't care where the enemy is so long as they don't out range him and as long as they're within sword range). Lucina is a nice sidegrade of Marth and Ike would be up there for me but I find he gets boring to play pretty quick, same with the Pits.

That all being said, having numerous sword characters isn't exactly a great thing since they all have similar weaknesses such as meh frame data and a poor disadvantage state.

I also refined that tier list maker thing I did and also wrote a quick summary for each character on a wordpad document just to visualize my thoughts. Biggest thing I got from it is that I'd consider the Miis if they were allowed full customization, Sonic would be considered if spin dash wasn't so vital to his game plan. Problem with it being how annoying it is to hear especially since it's used quite often. Also, character loyalty is a *****. Looking at my past favourites is boring since his gameplan is the same and is now incredibly effective, and are awful competitively, is just a bit bad but mostly having to learn jumpless tornado turns me away but the big one is . He's not bad and he's not boring but he's such a shadow of his former self. It's depressing seeing a character so close to an obvious main choice or at least secondary but held back by knowledge of what he used to have. If only this was my first Smash game ;-; Would be quite fitting too if I could get him to be a secondary since that's what he is for me in both Melee and Brawl.

TL;DR and might be my go to mains if turns out to be utter trash and character loyalty sucks because .

 

[Ryuphoton]

Well could you use or but those are my choices, to my knowledge have a few bad MUs. Try that out.

Swordfighter is who I use most often generally, but small mii brawler with a 2222 set is really good too.

 

[DJBor]

Your main should be the character that you play when you need to win at all costs. Your main should be a few things:
1: A top/high tier. Don't give me any crap about this. If you want to win, play a top 20-ish character. That's the nature of the beast. Sorry.
2: A natural character for you. You will never be good with a character that you don't love almost every aspect of. For example, Pikachu is a really fun character to me, but I would never main him, because his moveset just doesn't feel very natural (then there's the unfortunate reality that training with Ryu has made me bad with a lot of other fighters) to me.
3: A character that you can win with. If you just got into the Smash scene a month ago, DO NOT main a complex character like Ryu, Sheik, Pikachu, Mega Man, or Peach. Just don't kid yourself. Play a character that matches your skill level (so, at that point, probably Cloud or Mario).
4: Someone that you can stick with. Don't pick up a character, put a bunch of time into training with said character, then switch mains. I made this mistake early on, probably changing my main every other week on average. Think about it this way. If you're doing a test that you have an hour to complete, then spend 30 minutes doing a hard word problem, and then you just don't mark an answer and move on. You will be worse off.

I see what you're getting at, but there are absolutely exceptions to these rules.
1. It's Smash 4, and at least half of the cast is viable, so saying you "have to pick a top tier" is like saying "you have to agree with the general consensus of the community on what characters are best". And I know that's likely not your intent, but it comes off as that. I mean, if you want an easy win, go ahead and follow in the path of other players.
2. This is good, but keep in mind it takes a really long time to find the most natural character. And sometimes, the most natural character is one you disagree with playing simply because you don't like the character's origin or representation in Smash Bros.
3. Play a character that matches your skill level? Cloud and Mario aren't the end-all-be-all, you know. There's always Ness, Toon Link, and Lucina, who are easy and strong. And in the off chance that none of the above are your style, then it's no issue to play a character above your skill level, and adapt their moveset to your experience.
4. As much as it may seem sub-optimal, in the long run changing your long-time main can sometimes be a good thing. It's very risky, but if you know you'll do better with another character, don't be afraid to go for it. Just don't hop to a new main every month, that's a little out there.

Also, to the guy who gets harassed for Cloud? If your local scene allows Guest XXXX, then it's perfectly fine to play , they're balanced/viable and a total sleeper pick.

 

[Nice_FZPSC.42]

So I'm going with and I've decided to use in friendlies and not really tournament since I'm playing to win. So now secondary wise for Diddy I've got . Who does good for Diddy? Who's a bad choice? I don't care about who's best just yet I just wanna hear who's good and why.

 

[Justinian]

So I'm going with and I've decided to use in friendlies and not really tournament since I'm playing to win. So now secondary wise for Diddy I've got . Who does good for Diddy? Who's a bad choice? I don't care about who's best just yet I just wanna hear who's good and why.

Diddy player here. The main thing he struggles against is camping. He kinda has a problem with disjoints, but not that bad. The two MUs that are the hardest for him are Megaman and Olimar since they completely shut down his neutral. Roy can actually help out with them if you want to use him. Otherwise, Mario makes a pretty good secondary as long as you don't struggle with swords as a player (if you do, Mario would compound that weakness). Of course there's always Sheik, who forms one of the best duos in the game with Diddy, covering basically anything you could want her to from both a MU and playstyle standpoint.

 

[Nice_FZPSC.42]

Can I here insight for all characters? I wanna know how each one could help me.

 

[DJBor]

doesn't need a secondary. Your secondary is now . Done.
(I mean, if you can plow through 455 high-caliber players using only one character, like ZeRo just did last night, that character probably doesn't need a secondary. But your Diddy is new, so you should keep using Roy when necessary.)

 

[GoodGuy]

So I've found out a group of smash characters (,,,,,,,,,,,,) that I enjoy playing and I was wondering which of these characters have good grab combos while at the same time able to get an even defensive game. Basically I'm looking for a character who has a balanced playstyle out of the characters that I said above. Also, I'm looking for someone who isn't extremely easy to pick up like a but at the same time won't take lots of time of practice and is hard to pick up like a .

 

[ScolioReset]

I'm trying to find a proper main yet I've a hard time getting into the game because I've no resource and I wish I could get good and get a better understanding of the terminology. I honestly don't know which character I should play because I suck at the moment. I need help pretty bad... And since For Fun and For Glory (the online in fact) is downright broken (unplayable without being able to report players for not playing) with trolls and toxic players, I've lost faith.

 

[Nice_FZPSC.42]

So I've found out a group of smash characters (,,,,,,,,,,,,) that I enjoy playing and I was wondering which of these characters have good grab combos while at the same time able to get an even defensive game. Basically I'm looking for a character who has a balanced playstyle out of the characters that I said above. Also, I'm looking for someone who isn't extremely easy to pick up like a but at the same time won't take lots of time of practice and is hard to pick up like a .

. Enough said

 

[DJBor]

Or at least narrow it down to

As for ScolioReset I don't know what to say man, you don't even know your own playstyle yet. Try playing CPU Doubles with team attack on, the CPUs are much better players in doubles, then you'll not only find your playstyle more easily, but also get some doubles training.

 

[ScolioReset]

DJBor One thing I know is that I never play Doubles as I play my FGs 1-on-1. And against those broken CPU who are perfect on everything? No thanks. The only characters I took some times as were but I'm not even sure of what I should do now. (I'm at the point where I believe the game deserves a system change).

 

[KniteBlargh]

ScolioReset For Glory isn't exactly a stellar place to get better, honestly; input lag and the unsafe playing habits of most of the players you'll encounter don't build a good foundation (I feel CPUs are better for this if you can't find dedicated training partners locally).

What level CPUs are we talking about here? If you're choosing level 9s, I wouldn't advise doing so if you're just getting into the game trying to find what suits you. In my opinion, level 9s aren't very good practice anyway since they react too quickly to every input, making them both predictable and unrealistic in comparison to playing against other people. I personally find 7 better, but even Zero has recommended playing against like, level 1-3s (see his video here) when you're just trying to get a feel for a character to see whether you like them or not and improve your precision, so don't feel you have to pump up the difficulty to learn. Zero and Beefy Smash Doods are decent sources for general (and advanced) guides on Youtube. Character-specific guides are plentiful, but Izaw and My Smash Corner have some of the best (in my opinion).

As far as terminology goes, this Sm4sh dictionary shows up pretty high on a simple Google search.

Don't be afraid to play random; you may wind up liking someone you'd never consider otherwise. Also, if you look a little higher up on this page, you'll find some methods others have been using recently to narrow down who they like, don't like, and so on.

Bottom line, though, don't burn yourself out over trying to find a main... It may not come as quickly as you'd like, but just study up on some of the stuff I've listed, play around with different characters trying to utilize what you're learning, and have fun with it. Take a break if you need one, man.

 

[ScolioReset]

KniteBlargh I'm sorry but when I look at the game, it's too complex, out of reach and incredibly unfriendly to newcomers. I just don't see how I can get good with the things that are NOT in the game. I know there's no shortcut but... That's me though. I stopped playing Brawl (and Melee) for the same reasons I gave you. What's NOT in the game or specified by the game, I don't use it.

 

[KniteBlargh]

(Ignore this post. Edited everything out since it was kind of personal to me and not as motivational as I had hoped it would be.)

 

[ScolioReset]

KniteBlargh I just wish I knew if I'm playing the fundamentals right so I can expand on something. There's also which I was hyped for when it came out until I realize that he was terrible (still terrible imo) so I only play CPUs as him and was the only character I really enjoyed. I do like the way he pokes but his combos and frame data? No idea... I've yet to find uses for his tools yet.

 

[DJBor]

Now there's something I can work with.

is one of the best characters right now... huge combos, effective neutral, super saiyan speed, pretty good disjoints, and a massive recovery distance. Learn the combos, watch some guides and pro gameplay, and you might be on to something there.

Looking for a more fundamental character, I like to recommend but there are many more out there.

 

[Lunanix]

Finally i'm gonna pick again Ike, i loved his playstyle in Brawl and also in FE PoR, also i've used him at the beginning of sm4sh haha

From now i'll keep as a solo main and find weaknesses in my game and some MUs, thanks for al those advices man!

Good to here it man! Good luck with him

 

[Lunanix]

I play a few characters, and I would say i'm pretty good with them, but i'm torn on if i should stick with Cloud or Miis. I would say Cloud is my overall best character but I get harassed by my local smash scene for using him, so I went to Miis (customs and any size are allowed where I play), and I have fun using them and I do win, but that goes with Cloud, too. So yeah, i'm in a bit of a pickle...

I personally would say stick with , the more you play and practice with him people will eventually get over the fact you play him. Issue with MiiFighters is if you go outside of your scene you might not be able to play him due to didn't rulesets.

Just remember if your winning people will always get mad if they think your character is easy but you just have to shrug it off and keep on practising. Think of the salt as proof that your doing your job right

So I've found out a group of smash characters (,,,,,,,,,,,,) that I enjoy playing and I was wondering which of these characters have good grab combos while at the same time able to get an even defensive game. Basically I'm looking for a character who has a balanced playstyle out of the characters that I said above. Also, I'm looking for someone who isn't extremely easy to pick up like a but at the same time won't take lots of time of practice and is hard to pick up like a .

Someone else mentioned , from what you described Mario seems like the perfect pick. His grab game is insane and he is both a strong pick and is fairly simple to understand but really good to master. also has an excellent grab game but is a bit heavy and slower compared to the rest of the cast which could set you back. also has a pretty good grab game and projectile game but lacks in recovery, if you can get over this then you can definitely wall out opponents into grab combos. Also his back throw is GodTier! I don't really know what his grab game is like but is pretty good, if you like Ness but need a bit more recovery, he can also wall out very well like Ness.

Out of all of them I would probably say and are the most likely your style from what you have described.

Finally i'm gonna pick again Ike, i loved his playstyle in Brawl and also in FE PoR, also i've used him at the beginning of sm4sh haha

From now i'll keep as a solo main and find weaknesses in my game and some MUs, thanks for al those advices man!

Good to here it man! Good luck with him

 

[Nice_FZPSC.42]

so the ones I'm considering now are as a possible secondary for . Again I just wanna hear the good and bad of each character for being a secondary to Diddy kong not which one is the best choice. and im not gonna use as my secondary in tournament because i am playing to win so i need the better characters over the worse.

 

[Lunanix]

so the ones I'm considering now are as a possible secondary for . Again I just wanna hear the good and bad of each character for being a secondary to Diddy kong not which one is the best choice. and im not gonna use as my secondary in tournament because i am playing to win so i need the better characters over the worse.

Since your picking a secondary for Diddy honestly I wouldn't go with Sheik for a secondary, shes a hard character to play let alone master and you really if looking to play her would require you to main her and put all your time into her. ZSS is probably very similar but to a far lesser extent. I know you said not to but I really feel Mario or Marth is your best choice.

When choosing a secondary you have to ask yourself why your playing them, some people like to play a secondary for matchup coverage others for fundamentals.

In your case you are playing Diddy, a technical but impressive character who has almost all good match ups along the board so you aren't really looking for matchup coverage since you have that on your main. Mario and Marth are both extremely good characters that have great fundamental based kit allowing you to focus on improving your fundamentals of the game whilst also maintaining a strong character. Both are fairly easy to learn having very simple kits but are both extremely strong choices in terms of there own match ups and potential if developed enough.

Mario has an insanely good grab game as well as combo game which can help get your fingers moving and get your muscle memory to a good state for this since Diddy has a good grab game as well. Marth doesn't have as much of a grab game but has extremely strong spacing game and punish game.

Since they are easy to pick up and play alongside other characters and are very easily translatable between the characters (ie basic movement improvements will easily translate over between characters) this will help you not only improve but will allow you to pick them up as a secondary and play them at a respectable level a lot faster and easier than Sheik or ZSS who both take time and dedication to get to a respectable level.

The only downside to having Marth of Mario as a secondary would be solely the fact that you are not using Diddy, as mentioned before Diddy has a strong match-up against almost all the cast so you really shouldn't have all that much trouble. But of course if you feel you have personal weaknesses (ie maybe you have an issue with swordies but you could do well with Marth/Mario respectively then you should use them)

Really its down to your personal play style preference and how much time you really want to put into your secondary compared to your mains.

 

[Nice_FZPSC.42]

Since your picking a secondary for Diddy honestly I wouldn't go with Sheik for a secondary, shes a hard character to play let alone master and you really if looking to play her would require you to main her and put all your time into her. ZSS is probably very similar but to a far lesser extent. I know you said not to but I really feel Mario or Marth is your best choice.

When choosing a secondary you have to ask yourself why your playing them, some people like to play a secondary for matchup coverage others for fundamentals.

In your case you are playing Diddy, a technical but impressive character who has almost all good match ups along the board so you aren't really looking for matchup coverage since you have that on your main. Mario and Marth are both extremely good characters that have great fundamental based kit allowing you to focus on improving your fundamentals of the game whilst also maintaining a strong character. Both are fairly easy to learn having very simple kits but are both extremely strong choices in terms of there own match ups and potential if developed enough.

Mario has an insanely good grab game as well as combo game which can help get your fingers moving and get your muscle memory to a good state for this since Diddy has a good grab game as well. Marth doesn't have as much of a grab game but has extremely strong spacing game and punish game.

Since they are easy to pick up and play alongside other characters and are very easily translatable between the characters (ie basic movement improvements will easily translate over between characters) this will help you not only improve but will allow you to pick them up as a secondary and play them at a respectable level a lot faster and easier than Sheik or ZSS who both take time and dedication to get to a respectable level.

The only downside to having Marth of Mario as a secondary would be solely the fact that you are not using Diddy, as mentioned before Diddy has a strong match-up against almost all the cast so you really shouldn't have all that much trouble. But of course if you feel you have personal weaknesses (ie maybe you have an issue with swordies but you could do well with Marth/Mario respectively then you should use them)

Really its down to your personal play style preference and how much time you really want to put into your secondary compared to your mains.

Thanks so much this actually helped a lot. Now I can narrow down to the two. I'll try them in tournament and see what happens.

 

[E.Lopez]

I've been a Samus main for a long time during Smash 4's lifetime, but what I simply cannot figure out is who is or who I want to be my secondary or my 'second main.' (Not sure which I'm looking for).

For quite some time I had picked as my secondary. I just couldn't get good enough at learning his advanced tech like MALLC and other Monado Arts stuff, and I felt like even though I spent a lot of time with him, I wasn't getting a lot better. Also, the feedback I kept hearing was that to get good with Shulk, he really has to be your main (which is why i don't use him much anymore).

might be a good choice. I love the character from the Pokemon games, and he has so many options. He's a pretty strong contender to be my secondary, I think. I was a fan even before he got the buffs that led to his rise on the tier list.

I also like , , . The hard part with Luigi is mashing for the cyclone, and controlling him well due to his slippery traction. But I like the character a lot, and his combo game is pretty cool.

I would like to be good with , maybe . Peach is a bit daunting because she requires mastery of her float mechanics. Mega Man requires some skill with using his pellets effectively while short hopping. And his metal blade tricks are challenging.

, , , , , , are other characters I have a lot of fun with, but again, I just can't decide who I want to seriously spend time with in order to improve.

 

[DJBor]

... Sounds like ESAM minus Pikachu. You'd have a good time with that combo. I never understood Samus, so I don't know what's best for you. But it seems like Samus' mega-kicks, floatiness and range are a lot like Mewtwo. The difference is that Mewtwo is much lighter and faster.

 

[Lunanix]

Thanks so much this actually helped a lot. Now I can narrow down to the two. I'll try them in tournament and see what happens.

Glad to be able to help man, maybe try them both out either on LAN and FG rather than tournaments. Don't forget you wanna 90% of the time be playing your main at tournaments and really you wanna practice and decide your secondary before then and only once you feel 100% comfortable should you take them to a tournament. Either way good luck.
I can't help much with Mario so much but for Marth definitely check out Izaws video Art of Marth, I personally studied it as well since I secondary Lucina and it is a really well build guide which will cover almost everything you need to know for Marth as a secondary until you want to push him further.

I've been a Samus main for a long time during Smash 4's lifetime, but what I simply cannot figure out is who is or who I want to be my secondary or my 'second main.' (Not sure which I'm looking for).

For quite some time I had picked as my secondary. I just couldn't get good enough at learning his advanced tech like MALLC and other Monado Arts stuff, and I felt like even though I spent a lot of time with him, I wasn't getting a lot better. Also, the feedback I kept hearing was that to get good with Shulk, he really has to be your main (which is why i don't use him much anymore).

might be a good choice. I love the character from the Pokemon games, and he has so many options. He's a pretty strong contender to be my secondary, I think. I was a fan even before he got the buffs that led to his rise on the tier list.

I also like , , . The hard part with Luigi is mashing for the cyclone, and controlling him well due to his slippery traction. But I like the character a lot, and his combo game is pretty cool.

I would like to be good with , maybe . Peach is a bit daunting because she requires mastery of her float mechanics. Mega Man requires some skill with using his pellets effectively while short hopping. And his metal blade tricks are challenging.

, , , , , , are other characters I have a lot of fun with, but again, I just can't decide who I want to seriously spend time with in order to improve.

So firstly I would say take a look at one of my previous posts. I speak about building a tier list of characters that you find fun and or play which will shorten your choices down to your current best characters.

Secondly since you are playing Samus as a main you are looking to cover your weakness, unfortunately I know next to nothing about Samus nore know her match ups so you'll have to do a little digging but like what I've said previously since its a secondary you don't want anything to taxing for you. Mewtwo is a great character but does require quite a bit of time and effort and is likely going to need to have at least 50% of your time, this will likely be the same with both Megaman and Peach as they are both extremely technical characters. Of course if this is the route you want to take by all means but it does make it far easier. Luigi and Ike are both quite good choices, although Luigi is a bit technical he does possess good fundamentals for the game which can both improve him as a secondary as well as your game play for your main. Cycloning comes with practice, if you can get it down Luigi becomes a massive threat and a really strong character if not it can weaken his game quite dramatically. Otherwise he can teach you a lot whilst also allowing you to keep your focus on Samus. Ike is also a very good choice, good fundamentals, strong kit and definitely something you could pick up well enough for a secondary. If you like Luigi as a character you might be worth looking into Mario, they play very simular but Mario has good traction and also doesn't require you to learn to mash, has a strong kit, insanely good fundamentals and is a really fun character to play. He is also a much higher tier and has a really good match up spread.

Just something to consider. For now though try and narrow down your choices with a tier list of sorts.

Hope this helps

 

[Nice_FZPSC.42]

Update on me;
I'm going with still and have as my secondary. I will still do work on my as well as since he's super good and super fun.

 

[Lunanix]

Update on me;
I'm going with still and have as my secondary. I will still do work on my as well as since he's super good and super fun.

Nice one buddy! Make sure to focus on your main since that is of course your main character but otherwise I hope it goes well for you. Glad you managed to come to a conclusion!

 

[Nice_FZPSC.42]

Haha jk. When it came down to it was again the character who just felt comfortable and who's got me the wins no one else could. So I'm just gonna solo main him and power through my tough matchups. And when I become notable enough and the time is right to grab a secondary then my will rise up and become my secondary's.

Now I was given some advice by the top players in my region. If you really wanna play a top/ high tier but haven't used them yet, then pick them up and practice them and let yourself get bodied. My friend Plat decided to use and the first 2 tournaments he attended while solo maining him he went 0-2. Then he went 1-2. Now he's one of the best Tinks in the state.

Also there is no unwinnable matchup. So to start off you should always solo main. Get good fundamentals, good knowledge, and get really good with that character. Then once you have all of that then you can move on to grab a second character if need be.

When picking a main you pick the character that feels natural and clicks for you. The one you feel comfortable using. It doesn't matter what tier they are. In my region both and are #3 and #7 in the PR. Yoshi is a high-mid tier and Greninja is a low-high tier. And on the national PR you see Fatality doing amazing with who is a mid tier. You see Ryo dominate with a mid or maybe low tier character, Earth doing great with a mid tier, Purple guy placing top 8 in Florida often with a bottom tier. They use who they feel comfortable with and they're some of the best in the world. If it's a top tier then lucky you, if it's a bottom tier then destroy people with a bottom tier. Ignore tiers and just pick the character best for you. You'll know them when you play them.