Hippieslayer
Smash Ace
Hail Custodians of light, never use auto-reticle if customs are allowed.
Here is sort of an explosive flame guide, but mostly some tips on how to master this which is the only RANGED COMMAND GRAB in the game.
Explosive flame is underrated; it adds a lot of threat in a form which she simply doesn't have otherwise. It's extremely underused because of how punishable it is if it misses owing to its monstrous endlag. Moreover the startup is such that it isn't easy to land either.
However, auto reticle also suffers from start and end lag to a lesser degree. But unlike EF its unpredictable, not rewarding, never changes a matchup, and doesn't add the constant threat of a ranged command grab.
Explosive Flame has a ton of boons to make up for these weaknesses unlike auto reticle:
- allows Palutena to maintain threat at midrange, making matchups against characters which keep just far enough away to react to super speed while they pressure Palutena with ranged attacks or scout for a chance to get in close and wreak havoc (such as Diddy, Sheik and Fox) a bit more doable.
-has several niche areas of usage in which it is REALLY good
-edgeguarding: linear horizontal recoveries get outright destroyed, allows Palutena to punish a lot of attempts to get back on stage from up in the corner even without lightweight in ways she can't else wise, covers a ****ton of ledge option with its long lasting hitbox, the same long lasting hit box pwns anything which doesn't sweet spot the ledge, it can catch people lingering while simultaneously removing most of their ledge options, and finally specific recoveries are not good against it (tethers, aethers among others).
-great at punishing landings, this cannot be stressed enough
-palutena has grabs and attacks which put people in perfect positions for hitting them with EF (f-throw, fair, bair, nair etc, I like nair>second jump>EF), this becomes a big deal if you know how to use relevants at's cpmbining these with lightweight and super speed, more on this later
-adds lots of new options making Palutena less predictable increasing the effectiveness of her other moves
-if you hit someone with it while you have lightweight on (easier than you think because people don't expect it) it puts the opponent into a godawful position which can be converted into a kill
-the moves kills at reasonable percents if landed on an opponent who is far enough above the stage
-eats air dodges and spot dodges for breakfast
-final hit box which can't be blocked is of decent size, but the rest of the attack is huge
-combination of huge hitbox, multiple hits, long duration and unblockable final hit means explosive flame will beat all panic buttons except roll, even attempts to short hop past it are likely to fail because of its size
The problem is it takes a lot of practice to use EF to its fullest. When used at its fullest it's waaaaay more effective than if not.
There is tons which needs to be learned. First of all, all the reverse AT's including wavebouncing need to be mastered, secondly doing these out of super speed and out of quick jumps, dashes, and dashes to jumps of all kinds while in lightweight without losing accuracy is also crucial.
When you have that down the effective range of EF doubles, it's reward doubles, the number of situations in which it can be effectively used doubles which in turn makes it easier to not use it predictably and risk a punish.
In my opinion a true Palutena main needs EF, I don't know what the hell Aerolink is doing, either he just doesn't get just how badass the move becomes when combined with AT's and super speed+lightweight or he's just lazy.
Seriously quickly dashing and rar double jumping while in lightweight into a wavebounced EF to kill an opponent who was far away up in the air at a seemingly safe distance and whose air dodge failed to save him or her, that's satisfying as hell.
EF is the real deal if mastered, it adds to the already absurd range at which she can dangerous with her customs, it makes her a lot more volatile, and auto reticle sucks.
Palutena mains stop using AR and get to work. I realize it's not fun learning to consistently wave bounce and b-reverse, I see many players learning the turnaround and leaving it at that. Trust me, it's worth it, explosive flame goes from good to superb and you will be able to rock with plenty of other characters as well.
Another example of how you can wreck with Explosive flame by using turnaround is when recovering. Use super speed and then jump in order to fly back across the stage, then do a b-reversed explosive flame to catch your opponent of guard. You can adjust the distance in order to hit irregardless if your opponent is chasing you quickly or slowly or if he or she doesn't give chase at all. If the opponent chases you wait a bit longer before b-reversing into explosive flame letting the super speeded jump put the appropriate distance between you before you strike, if the opponent is quick to react and plays a fast character you can do a regular turnaround into explosive flame instead. If the opponent doesn't chase you do the turnaround earlier thereby you can hit them even if they are still by the ledge. The beauty of this is that it's very hard to respond appropriately too, one moment Palutena is soaring through the air then the next her momentum has instantly reversed and she pulls out a large unblockable hit box. This practically never fails if you judge the distance correctly.
Lastly here's a general rule of thumb, it's a lot better if you miss by landing explosive flame in front of your opponent than doing so behind them, as the former puts a ball of flame between you and the opponent, which tends to let you get away with it unpunished, people who dislike explosive flame tend to fail at keeping this in mind.
(on a side note if you know of any recoveries which get ruined by explosive flame please post these in the thread, I would like to compile a list of all of them, I know a few already but not enough to make a good list)
Here is sort of an explosive flame guide, but mostly some tips on how to master this which is the only RANGED COMMAND GRAB in the game.
Explosive flame is underrated; it adds a lot of threat in a form which she simply doesn't have otherwise. It's extremely underused because of how punishable it is if it misses owing to its monstrous endlag. Moreover the startup is such that it isn't easy to land either.
However, auto reticle also suffers from start and end lag to a lesser degree. But unlike EF its unpredictable, not rewarding, never changes a matchup, and doesn't add the constant threat of a ranged command grab.
Explosive Flame has a ton of boons to make up for these weaknesses unlike auto reticle:
- allows Palutena to maintain threat at midrange, making matchups against characters which keep just far enough away to react to super speed while they pressure Palutena with ranged attacks or scout for a chance to get in close and wreak havoc (such as Diddy, Sheik and Fox) a bit more doable.
-has several niche areas of usage in which it is REALLY good
-edgeguarding: linear horizontal recoveries get outright destroyed, allows Palutena to punish a lot of attempts to get back on stage from up in the corner even without lightweight in ways she can't else wise, covers a ****ton of ledge option with its long lasting hitbox, the same long lasting hit box pwns anything which doesn't sweet spot the ledge, it can catch people lingering while simultaneously removing most of their ledge options, and finally specific recoveries are not good against it (tethers, aethers among others).
-great at punishing landings, this cannot be stressed enough
-palutena has grabs and attacks which put people in perfect positions for hitting them with EF (f-throw, fair, bair, nair etc, I like nair>second jump>EF), this becomes a big deal if you know how to use relevants at's cpmbining these with lightweight and super speed, more on this later
-adds lots of new options making Palutena less predictable increasing the effectiveness of her other moves
-if you hit someone with it while you have lightweight on (easier than you think because people don't expect it) it puts the opponent into a godawful position which can be converted into a kill
-the moves kills at reasonable percents if landed on an opponent who is far enough above the stage
-eats air dodges and spot dodges for breakfast
-final hit box which can't be blocked is of decent size, but the rest of the attack is huge
-combination of huge hitbox, multiple hits, long duration and unblockable final hit means explosive flame will beat all panic buttons except roll, even attempts to short hop past it are likely to fail because of its size
The problem is it takes a lot of practice to use EF to its fullest. When used at its fullest it's waaaaay more effective than if not.
There is tons which needs to be learned. First of all, all the reverse AT's including wavebouncing need to be mastered, secondly doing these out of super speed and out of quick jumps, dashes, and dashes to jumps of all kinds while in lightweight without losing accuracy is also crucial.
When you have that down the effective range of EF doubles, it's reward doubles, the number of situations in which it can be effectively used doubles which in turn makes it easier to not use it predictably and risk a punish.
In my opinion a true Palutena main needs EF, I don't know what the hell Aerolink is doing, either he just doesn't get just how badass the move becomes when combined with AT's and super speed+lightweight or he's just lazy.
Seriously quickly dashing and rar double jumping while in lightweight into a wavebounced EF to kill an opponent who was far away up in the air at a seemingly safe distance and whose air dodge failed to save him or her, that's satisfying as hell.
EF is the real deal if mastered, it adds to the already absurd range at which she can dangerous with her customs, it makes her a lot more volatile, and auto reticle sucks.
Palutena mains stop using AR and get to work. I realize it's not fun learning to consistently wave bounce and b-reverse, I see many players learning the turnaround and leaving it at that. Trust me, it's worth it, explosive flame goes from good to superb and you will be able to rock with plenty of other characters as well.
Another example of how you can wreck with Explosive flame by using turnaround is when recovering. Use super speed and then jump in order to fly back across the stage, then do a b-reversed explosive flame to catch your opponent of guard. You can adjust the distance in order to hit irregardless if your opponent is chasing you quickly or slowly or if he or she doesn't give chase at all. If the opponent chases you wait a bit longer before b-reversing into explosive flame letting the super speeded jump put the appropriate distance between you before you strike, if the opponent is quick to react and plays a fast character you can do a regular turnaround into explosive flame instead. If the opponent doesn't chase you do the turnaround earlier thereby you can hit them even if they are still by the ledge. The beauty of this is that it's very hard to respond appropriately too, one moment Palutena is soaring through the air then the next her momentum has instantly reversed and she pulls out a large unblockable hit box. This practically never fails if you judge the distance correctly.
Lastly here's a general rule of thumb, it's a lot better if you miss by landing explosive flame in front of your opponent than doing so behind them, as the former puts a ball of flame between you and the opponent, which tends to let you get away with it unpunished, people who dislike explosive flame tend to fail at keeping this in mind.
(on a side note if you know of any recoveries which get ruined by explosive flame please post these in the thread, I would like to compile a list of all of them, I know a few already but not enough to make a good list)
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