Tips for new user?

[SilverWolfLaguz]

Hey, I've decided to pick up Pikachu as a secondary (well one of em) to my main Pit/Dark Pit. I figured that against speedy characters (Sheik, ZSS, Sonic, etc), it might be easier to say "No, f*ck that" and fight with a speedy character of my own.

To any veteran Pikachu players, what are some tips you would give a newbie Pika? Thanks in advance!

 

[atv1992]

Hello and welcome c: !

I'd recommend you go to training mode and figure out how his aerials, tilts, grabs, smash attacks and specials work because everything in Pikachu's arsenal is useful.

His best approach options are fair, dair, RAR uair, grab, quick attack and maybe nair, so Pikachu has plenty of options to approach. Never ever use dash attack as an approach option because if you miss you'll be punished hard.

Pikachu's grab range isn't that great so you have to get used to it as well, I know Pit/Dark Pit have an INCREDIBLE grab range, while Pikachu's is kinda limited. Each throw has it's purpose and you need to decide which throw to use depending on % and stage positioning.

Something that's troublesome for newer Pikachu mains is getting the kill so you gotta learn how to kill with him, his main kill moves are his smash attacks, especially up smash and side smash and thunder. Pikachu has some setups for that for example fffair into up smash and up throw to thunder.

Pikachu also has an INSANE offstage game and ledge guard game which can help you get some early kills so try being confident offstage as Pikachu, his recovery is too good so you can always come back from the depths of hell.

Also it's very important that you master his quick attack angles so you can recover and use it offensively.

 

[Emuchu]

Okay, so I'm going to do this as train-of-thought, so excuse the disorganization.

• Pika has a notable range problem. Although his mobility is incredible, you don't want to go around dog-fighting with people. Pikachu gets around this by only approaching on his terms. You can camp with full-hop retreating and approaching Thunder Jolts (TJolts), and Pikachu typically doesn't care about rival projectiles or even reflectors. You can approach behind a TJolt, or by using Quick Attack's second hit [QA(2)]. The most overlooked aspect of Pika neutral game is that he actually has a good ground game when you factor in Pivot Ftilt, Dtilt, and Pivot Fsmash. The point being, don't be that guy who gets frustrated and aggressive with Pika and winds up eating all of Link's bombs and an USmash because you let Link do his Impregnable Fortress thing (that goes double for Rosalina). Not every button you press needs to hit something.
• Pikachu's other problem is killing stuff. His kill setups are all wonky and unreliable, which is problematic, and none of his aerials will kill onstage at any reasonable percentage... which is also problematic. You can't play Pika like the other high tiers because he has no way to guarantee a kill. However, he has piles of way to threaten a kill, and constantly sets them up. Pikachu is gifted at getting people offstage with things like Dtilt into Dash Attack, Out of Shield (OoS) Nair, or Fthrow into Fair into Fair into Fair into Fair (lol), and by that point you're playing the off-stage game, where Pika truly shines. ESAM drives this point: once your opponent is off the stage, Pika follows! You can go out all the way into the blast zones, throw Fairs, Uairs, Bairs, and Nairs, use up your second jump, and still get back with Skull Bash and Quick Attack, so you shouldn't be afraid to put yourself out there. Best case, you tag them and get free damage, a gimp, or a straight up kill. Worst case, they have to maneuver around you, and you can still threaten to ledge trump with QA. Onstage, your options are far more limited, mostly limited to a hard read / punish Fsmash or Usmash, Fair FF into Usmash at 120%+, or attempting Uthrow into FH Thunder Cloud-Spike-Boom-Dead (keep in mind that this is super-easy to DI, so if you're going to try it, do it seldomly, and don't pummel or you'll give them time to react!). Or you can just knock them off-stage and go for the gimps, which is what you'll be doing since everyone by default will try to avoid Usmash, Fsmash, and Uthrow > Thunder.

That's all for now. TL;DR: Mix up approaches, only approach on your own terms, take them off-stage, go for the gimps.

 

[Emuchu]

*accidental quote*

 

[OPT!XX]

Spend some time labbing your Quick Attack Recoveries and Directional Changes