The Science of Positioning

[fruityman]

1) Positioning
Positioning is the act of placing yourself in a particular position on the stage in order to do one of two things:
- Maximise the distance between yourself and the KO boundary, or
- Minimising the distance between your opponent and the KO boundary

Naturally, the further you have to fly, the harder it is to get KOed, right?

You: High %
Opponent: Low %
Try and maximise the distance between you and the KO boundary. If you get into the bad position (see diagram), try roll/air dodging out of it and back into either the middle or the good position.

Predict when your opponent is going to use their KO moves. For example, say you're versing Wario. His best KO move is his Fsmash, so he'll likely use that a lot in this situation (I'm no Wario player; he's probably got more ways to KO people than Fsmash).

Watch out for characters that can star KO you, such as Fox (Usmash) or characters that can KO you by throwing you backwards (Ness, Lucas, Olimar). Try to predict when they'll most likely do it and punish them.

On that note, if you're on a stage with platforms (such as battlefield), stay on the ground floor so that it's harder to get star KOed.

You: Low %
Opponent: High %

Try and push them off the stage. This gives you an advantage, because the opponent has less of a distance to travel to get KOed. If you're in the good position, go on the offensive to try and take advantage of it. Use plenty of attacks that hit behind you (Dsmash usually does it) to stop the opponent from getting behind you and putting you in a bad position. If they manage to get past you, get them back off and try again. Grabs are useful in this situation, because you can do more pummel damage on them and direct them off the stage. If your opponent hangs around the middle of the stage, you can star KO them.

Note: Stage Ceiling
When considering how to position yourself on stage, consider how high or low the roof KO boundary is. For example, if the roof is very high (I think Smashville has a high roof, but I'm not sure), hang around the middle when you have a high percentage. Because it's harder to get star KOed, it's safer to hang around the middle.

Diagram​

[ ____________________Opponent___You_ ----->]

Bad Position - opponent can KO you easily, hard to KO opponent

[ ____Opponent__You ------------------------------------->]

Good Position - harder to KO you, easy to KO opponent

Use this to your advantage. It can allow you to KO the opponent quicker and it can keep you alive longer than usual.

 

[Variable]

Hmmm,

I have mixed feelings on this..

I'd like to say positioning and spacing is important, but if you want to go into futher detail the things you mentioned are pretty... basic. While nothings wrong with that, it's not too advanced so it won't help out too much. You have the right idea, but it's not always that easy.

Also when you have high percents, and are worrying about not getting Star KO'd or w/e, that's you're first mistake. At whichever point in the game, losing, winning, neutral, etc. You should be trying to win. Play the match likes it's the beginning no matter the stakes. So if you are down and your percent is high, that doesn't mean you need to stay back or watch for Usmash's, 1 hits, etc. In fact you can even still be on the offensive side, but just be smart while doing it. Just remember to keep playing smart and not be too repetitive with your spacing / positioning.

 

[Itakio]

Also when you have high percents, and are worrying about not getting Star KO'd or w/e, that's you're first mistake. At whichever point in the game, losing, winning, neutral, etc. You should be trying to win. Play the match likes it's the beginning no matter the stakes. So if you are down and your percent is high, that doesn't mean you need to stay back or watch for Usmash's, 1 hits, etc.

It might sound like a good idea to always play the same on paper, but in this case, it isn't, and here is why.

At low percents, I would like my opponent playing Fox to run around spamming upsmashes, because it is a bad move outside of killing or punishing (when it's guaranteed). I know that my opponent knows this, and therefore I will play to attempt to counter his better options, especially since the same things that cover many of his good options also cover an upsmash.

At high percents, his other options become less good, and usmash starts to become better because it can kill me. I know that at about 90%, his upsmash is the only move that can kill me, so I will be sure to cover his upsmash with whatever I'm doing at all times.

The value of moves changes as percents change. For a more simple example, consider Falco's dthrow. at 0%, it will probably do more than 30% if you're playing a light character, and more than 50% if you're playing a heavy, so you'd better avoid it until about 30 or 45%. Then, playing "normally" becomes good again.


@OP - I'm pretty sure most people realize this when they're actually playing a match, and tbh I don't think this thread is very useful, lol.

 

[mdmfromdaridge]

This post doesn't have nearly enough depth as it needs, deserves, and can have.

Although you have addressed the 'survivability' aspect of it, there is still defense and offense to adress.

First of all, there is a Y AXIS. Positioning and spacing don't only have to do with horizontal positioning. For example, being above marth is a TERRIBLE idea. Positioning yourself on a higher platform anywhere in front of olimar effectively eliminates most of his ability to camp.

Second, attack spacing.
Positioning yourself closer to the edge just because you can knock your opponent off is not the end of it. A marth player is going to stay next to you in order to take advantage of his sword spacing without actually getting hit by your return attacks. A diddy is going to be within glide toss range when he wants to get that grab or smash attack off, or he's going to be far away so he can camp with his peanuts and bananas.

Lastly, defensive spacing.

If a player is, for example, playing as samus, then that player may decide to start a brickwall/camping spree with their projectiles. That being said, you aren't just going to stand there while the opponent runs you down. You have to keep your spacing. In order to camp them you will need to do a bit of evading to ensure you have appropriate spacing so that they can't punish your lag, but will still get hit by your projectiles.

Obviously I've only scratched the surface of spacing and positioning, but you get my idea. This post isn't nearly deep enough to address even half of the complexities of spacing. If you want to make this a bit more useful, really get into the knitty gritty of spacing on a general level, but diversely.