The true purpose of Mega Man's leaf shield

[errcs]

Does this really work?

This and Leaf-Grabbing give the move meaning. That video unveiled a very useful function to me, thank you.

 

[warionumbah2]

Does this really work?

yes it does and easy to pull off.

 

[Blue Warrior]

My feelings on leaf shield have taken a 180. First off, that leaf footstool? Fantastic edgeguard tool, I've already gimped several people with it.

Second, I'm starting to find leaf shield to be a much greater initiation tool than I had thought earlier. Even if it's unsafe to get a grab on somebody while in the shield, you can still dodge dance around them to chip at their health and screw with them. 95% of the people I played online had a lot of trouble dealing with this, and I was able to get most of my damage just out of leaves and grabs against several opponents.

 

[BluePikmin11]

This is to raise damage on Megaman or lose opponent's defense when hit?

 

[ChopperDave]

Holy crap, if you think Leaf Shield is a good edgeguard tool, try Plant Barrier, because that move is a great edgeguarding tool.

Four reasons:

1) Plant Barrier has an undulating "in and out" motion, making it much safer to stuff and footstool.

2) Plant Barrier hits seem to have longer hitstun than Leaf Shield hits (needs confirmation but this seems to be the case against the AIs), making it harder for opponents to attack or recover after you hit (and footstool) them.

3) When thrown, Plant Barrier travels slower and sort of lingers in front if you, allowing you to place a big ol' hit box in front of the ledge.

4) Plant Barrier fades quicker than Leaf Shield, so if you mess up you can still easily recover to ledge. It also lets you do fun things like use Plant Barrier to knock an opponent off the ledge, them slam them with a fsmash or dsmash when they regrab without any invincibility frames.

 

[Sleek Media]

I use it as a recovery mixup. When you find yourself above an opponent trying to chase you down and punish your landing, you can activate it to make airdodging into the ground a bit safer. Alternatively you can count on the flinch and fast fall a fair.

 

[1FC0]

Leaf Shield is pretty good in 1v1 For Glory because you can only use your taunts a few times, so when your taunts are up you can use Leaf Shield instead.
This move is a good combination with teabagging, because you can use teabagging when you have little time, for example right before you start edgeguarding and use the Leaf Shield when you have more time, for example when the opponent dies.

Also having an extra method to taunt makes your taunt game less predictable since the limit on taunts tends to make taunting more predictable.

 

[Zori]

Leaf Shield is pretty good in 1v1 For Glory because you can only use your taunts a few times, so when your taunts are up you can use Leaf Shield instead.
This move is a good combination with teabagging, because you can use teabagging when you have little time, for example right before you start edgeguarding and use the Leaf Shield when you have more time, for example when the opponent dies.

Also having an extra method to taunt makes your taunt game less predictable since the limit on taunts tends to make taunting more predictable.

 

[Fenrir VII]

one other thing that's relevant. a MB throw downward can lead to a really good footstool opportunity. I have a video of it that I'll share whenever I get it recorded.

 

[ChopperDave]

So, uh, Leaf Shield kind of eats Ness's lunch. It's super easy to gimp him with it when he tries to go for the ledge. Also, the leaves block PK Lighting, making it difficult for him to juggle you with it.

I took a video of one of the matches I had tonight against a Japanese Ness player before he rage quit:

 

[Kiyosuki]

Oh wow. I wonder how much that could affect the Ness matchup.

 

[ChopperDave]

Oh wow. I wonder how much that could affect the Nesmatchup.

I think it might hard counter him, honestly. All you need to so is get him off stage with a throw, nair, or fsmash and and he becomes shockingly easy to edgeguard and gimp with Leaf Shield.

If he tries to recover high to stage, your Leaf Shield will almost always stuff his aerials and give you a free grab, letting you toss him back off stage again. In one of my other matches against another Ness I did that 10+ times in a row before I finally mercy killed him.

If he tries to jump to ledge, just walk up and your leaves will hitstun him long enough for him to miss the ledge grab. (Either his jump doesn't snap to ledge or the timing is very tight). You can then footstool him if you're feeling particularly mean.

If he tries to PK Thunder 2 anywhere, just jump toward him and let your leaves eat the lightning and/or hitstun him out of the attack. Again, footstool if you want to add insult to injury. I think this works even if he takes Lucas's PK Thunder because it doesn't have transcendent priority.

It's kind of hilarious, because on paper Ness would be a pretty bad MU for MegaMan if not for this one move.

 

[Conda]

yes it does and easy to pull off.

So clever. Can't believe I didn't see this use.

Does the skull-shield variant still offer some of this functionality (I haven't tested with it at all yet - but I remember that it has a push(aka 'wind')-effect. I was ready to accept that Skull Barrier or whatever it's called is 100% superior to the other shield options, because at least it reflects. But maybe leaf shield is worthy to keep around.

Referring to the edgeguarding capabilities, it DOES seem like it'd be risky because you can't upb after heading down. You'll have to hope you don't get hit and need to doublejump+upB to recover.