Training Methods

[gunnac]

OK I know there must be a thread somewhere on smashboards but really the search sucks (no offense mods).

Anyway i want to know what you guys do to train. I mean is it more worth while to just play with others to get experience or training mode. Supposing there is always someone to play with should i always try to play people or will training help more? Any ideas like what to focus on to get better would be appreciated. I ask only because ive hit the wall in terms of progress and cant seem to find motivation. Im at an upper level (can WD, SH, L-cancel) but cant seem to get better, anything you pros do to get sharper?

 

[Zankoku]

Training mode/CPUs are only useful for practicing tech skill so that you don't SD doing an airdodge off the stage or a ledge-dropped reverse Chain when it really counts.

As for getting better, it's good to play games against ANY human opponents. If you lose a stock, think about why you lost it, where you took the most damage, how you were getting beaten around like that, etc. You'll figure out what you need to work on from there. Try to win by reading your opponent and stopping him instead of just spamming your character and hoping to get a faster attack in.

 

[Nick Nasty]

Ankoku pretty much said it. Just keep playing people who know what they're doing. While your playing just focus on getting better on things that you need improvement on. One major thing to learn is how to read someone's DI. CPUs don't change the way they DI often, so the more humans you face, the more you adjust and that means lots of combos!

 

[Paradigm]

If/when you can't find someone else to play with, there's still quite a bit of tech skill to work on. See if you can get used too, say, ledge teching or anything else along those lines. Most things are character specific - learn to waveshine or SHFFMC, etc.

Tech skill only gets you so far, though. Gotta find solid people to play with. See if you can figure out why you only did as well as you did versus-so-and-so, and fix any holes you your game you find as you play. For example, I used to have a bad habit of sidesteping immediately after missing an attack, which became predictable. If I didn't have someone to punish me, I never would have found this flaw and worked to fix it.