Tips on when to Force Palm?

[TheBardlyBard]

i have been having trouble getting a good use out of force palm, i usually just end up getting punished or sheilded, is their any timeframe or situation where i can guarantee a force palm grab?

 

[Pitbuller26]

The best time to go for a Force Palm grab is when your foe does an extremely laggy move and you happen to be close enough to land the grab. Perfect shielding can net you FP grabs more consistently. However, due to the grab box being smaller, the chances of whiffing or the opponent punishing you for going for it is higher.

 

[Pentao]

When you're at a lower percent, it's typically better to only use Force Palm for the command grab's damage, but even then you may want to use a normal grab into up throw or something instead. The main thing about Force Palm is that if you go for a command grab, your opponent should either get grabbed, or they try to spot dodge/roll backward, and end up eating a flame instead.

Once the flame is large enough you can just use it for a spacing tool. Against faster characters you can get punished for doing this poorly, so watch yourself. Retreating Force Palm blast, or just using the FP Blast as a follow up to mix up your game are both situations where it's harder to punish. The Force Palm blast is also just annoying to deal with when foes are trying to recover, and it can even help your own recovery by shooting it onto the stage, kinda like how Samus can use her z-air while climbing up from the ledge.

Laggy attacks, liked a shielded Samus f-smash are also ripe opportunities to get that grab in.

 

[Kami~]

Another way to land it and mix people up is empty jump behind or in front of them and just do it point blank. Catches people way off guard since they'll be expecting an aerial attack. It has limited uses though because people will eventually catch on.

 

[Steam]

I use it exclusively as a kill move, at low% just use uthrow because it has followups.

 

[Jay-kun]

it is a good move to predict a roll

 

[TheBardlyBard]

Thanks for your help guys Its helping me a lot, im bringing my lucario to apex so im hoping to get much better before then, the tips really help

 

[chaos_Leader]

Another useful tip to keep in mind: the aerial landing mechanics of FP.

Unlike aerial A moves, which undergo landing lag if you land during the attack, landing with Force Palm transitions the move completely seamlessly from the aerial version to the grounded version. So it can be useful to use when landing, especially for spacing at higher aura buildup.

Seems like obvious old news to most of us I'm sure, but I did notice something else earlier during some practice matches, and decided to test it out:

If Luicario starts a Force Palm in the air, hits the ground before the command-grab frame, and the opponent is within the move's grab range at the time, it will become a command-grab. Force Palm is that seamless in its aerial-grounded transition.

It's not much, but when in the air against a shielding opponent, they are quite often deliberately baiting an aerial move that they plan to punish with an out-of-shield option or grab. Landing FP grab gives Lucario a way in: a way, if timed well and the opponent isn't expecting it, to land practically on top of a shielding opponent and punish with FP grab.

Also at higher percentages, when FP flames become great spacing tools, I've had some success using it in the air vs. very air-happy opponents.

 

[Nominate10]

I mostly use it to catch spotdodges, laggy moves, or excessive shielding.
Works great as a kill move in that way because many people will be too focused on trying to not get hit by lucario when he's at high percent.

 

[Nysyr]

Treat it like a rest, and try to not use the projectile unless its for something dire, since its basically our only reliable kill move.

 

[|RK|]

I could be very mistaken in doing so (so someone let me know), but at high percents I use it like a zair on the ledge: clear the ledge for a safe landing.

As for the grab itself... I use it to punish laggy moves. Like a Villager falling off of Lloid Rocket onto the stage, or a dair that hits my shield. Alternatively, if I can get off the dair to fpg at high percents, I do that.