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Smash Champion
So you know how to L-cancel, wavedash, shield-grab, and waveshine someone across FD, well good job noob, but you still suck. Contrary to popular belief, knowing advanced tactics does not make you good. Sure, you can beat all the kids and get first place at your local game store tournaments, but can you even take a game from a pro player at an MLG? Didn't think so.
Well fear no more losers, I'm here to help. I'm going to give (yes, give, lucky you you didn't have to go out and learn these yourself) you some the tricks, will they make you pros? No. Will they give you an edge on beating your friends and put you one step closer to beating someone good? Yes.
C-stick rolling. How many of you know you can roll with the C stick?.... Hmm, okay, good. Now, how many of you actually do?..... I thought so. Believe it or not there is a difference and benefit in using the c-stick to roll. The difference is it doesn't move your sheild. Now, you may ask, why is this important? Well let me ask you, how many times has your sheild been up, and you roll right as your opponent smashes you, and you get sent flying back? "WTF I ROLLED!" you scream out. Sorry to burst your buble, but you actually moved your sheild right as the attack came down just enough for it to hit you, GG. Another use for it is to escape rapid a attacks. Ever trying to roll away from sheik's rapid a after blocking it, only to get hit by it? Same thing, use the stick to roll away with out getting hit.
Another use for rolling with the stick is using it to buffer. Hold the sheild and hold the c stick left, and you'll keep rolling left, with no pause in between. Use this to escape those pseudo-chain grabs that use jabs in between, such as Sheik and Falcons up throw-jab-grab series. Before you get hit with the jab, hold L or R and either left or right on the c-stick, and you'll roll before they have a chance to grab you. You can also use this technique after teching. If you are having a hard time rolling or dodging as soon you get up from the ground, just buffer it, and bam! You have your roll or dodge.
Listen for it. If you've ever been in a room with a lot of people playing smash then you know that controllers make a lot of noise. For about 3 years now I have been capitalizing on the noise. When someone is hanging from the ledge, if I hear a click, I know they are going to roll on, and I punish accordingly. Even with people knowing about my strategy they still don't do anything about it. People are just so used to smacking the R button to roll on they don't bother to think twice about it.
Jab Cancels. Now this trick, I must admit I am quite proud of. I've done it for about 2 years at least now, and I still have not seen anyone doing this. After the first jab of an A A A series, you can tap down, release to neutral, and jab again to do the first jab of the A A A series. Doing this you can do the first jab repeatedly, faster than waiting for it to end, and it's almost as fast as doing the first two jabs of the series. You can also tap down and release after the second jab of the series, although this isn't as likely to fool people since there is a delay for the rapid A's after the second hit anyways. Needless to say, this works much better for some characters than others. Sheik, Falco, Fox, Mario, Doc, Luigi, Link, and Falcon can all make good use of this tactic. Feel free though to test it out with others, see what you can do with it.
There it is folks, tricks for you kids. Just remember next time you own someone with these, that you didn't come up with them yourself, and be thankful someone was kind enough to let you in on these "little secrets."
MORE TRICKS!!!
Instant Double Jump. Ok now, I'm sure a lot of you are aware of this, and probably do it, but just in case, here it is. Jump, and then use your double jump as soon as you leave the ground. Doing this you get a jump that is higher than your short hop, but slightly lower than your full jump. Another use of this is to stop your momentum of running forward and jump. If you want to run in, and jump straight up, this is the way to do it. I don't ever see people discussing this or giving it a term so that's why I put this in here. It's especially useful for Falco, Link, Ganon, etc.
Platform Attacks. This trick is here for the same reason the IDJ is, a lack of discussion about it. From a platform, you fall through or run off and attack immediatly. Doing this you can attack people next to you on a platform with an aerial attack, and keep yourself safe from a sheild grab. It's a very common tactic among pros and works great for almost every character.
Isai Drop. When you land on the ground with out an attack your character will go through a standing animation. During this animation, your character can attack or move regulary, except you cannot fall through a platform if you had landed on one. To cancel this out, do a tilt rotation from forward to down and you will fall through immediatly.
WD back fast fall ledgeguard. An addition to the commonly used tactic of WDing back to grab a ledge. Once you are off the stage fast fall to the ledge, while the time it cuts off is minimal, it can mean the difference between hogging the ledge from a recovering opponent and not.
FoD lowered platform attacks. Another personnal trick from the book of Forward. It is possible the side platforms of FoD are low enough that you can't short hop underneath them without landing on them. From the ground you would short hop to the platform and attack. From the platform you would either fall through or run off and attack. You can alternate between the two throwing in whatever attacks you'd like. I first began just doing this with Falco and using repeated d airs. I've found it also works well with Sheik using n airs and f airs, and as well with Link, using n airs and b airs. I'm sure it could work well with any character so long as you find the right attacks to use.
Well fear no more losers, I'm here to help. I'm going to give (yes, give, lucky you you didn't have to go out and learn these yourself) you some the tricks, will they make you pros? No. Will they give you an edge on beating your friends and put you one step closer to beating someone good? Yes.
C-stick rolling. How many of you know you can roll with the C stick?.... Hmm, okay, good. Now, how many of you actually do?..... I thought so. Believe it or not there is a difference and benefit in using the c-stick to roll. The difference is it doesn't move your sheild. Now, you may ask, why is this important? Well let me ask you, how many times has your sheild been up, and you roll right as your opponent smashes you, and you get sent flying back? "WTF I ROLLED!" you scream out. Sorry to burst your buble, but you actually moved your sheild right as the attack came down just enough for it to hit you, GG. Another use for it is to escape rapid a attacks. Ever trying to roll away from sheik's rapid a after blocking it, only to get hit by it? Same thing, use the stick to roll away with out getting hit.
Another use for rolling with the stick is using it to buffer. Hold the sheild and hold the c stick left, and you'll keep rolling left, with no pause in between. Use this to escape those pseudo-chain grabs that use jabs in between, such as Sheik and Falcons up throw-jab-grab series. Before you get hit with the jab, hold L or R and either left or right on the c-stick, and you'll roll before they have a chance to grab you. You can also use this technique after teching. If you are having a hard time rolling or dodging as soon you get up from the ground, just buffer it, and bam! You have your roll or dodge.
Listen for it. If you've ever been in a room with a lot of people playing smash then you know that controllers make a lot of noise. For about 3 years now I have been capitalizing on the noise. When someone is hanging from the ledge, if I hear a click, I know they are going to roll on, and I punish accordingly. Even with people knowing about my strategy they still don't do anything about it. People are just so used to smacking the R button to roll on they don't bother to think twice about it.
Jab Cancels. Now this trick, I must admit I am quite proud of. I've done it for about 2 years at least now, and I still have not seen anyone doing this. After the first jab of an A A A series, you can tap down, release to neutral, and jab again to do the first jab of the A A A series. Doing this you can do the first jab repeatedly, faster than waiting for it to end, and it's almost as fast as doing the first two jabs of the series. You can also tap down and release after the second jab of the series, although this isn't as likely to fool people since there is a delay for the rapid A's after the second hit anyways. Needless to say, this works much better for some characters than others. Sheik, Falco, Fox, Mario, Doc, Luigi, Link, and Falcon can all make good use of this tactic. Feel free though to test it out with others, see what you can do with it.
There it is folks, tricks for you kids. Just remember next time you own someone with these, that you didn't come up with them yourself, and be thankful someone was kind enough to let you in on these "little secrets."
MORE TRICKS!!!
Instant Double Jump. Ok now, I'm sure a lot of you are aware of this, and probably do it, but just in case, here it is. Jump, and then use your double jump as soon as you leave the ground. Doing this you get a jump that is higher than your short hop, but slightly lower than your full jump. Another use of this is to stop your momentum of running forward and jump. If you want to run in, and jump straight up, this is the way to do it. I don't ever see people discussing this or giving it a term so that's why I put this in here. It's especially useful for Falco, Link, Ganon, etc.
Platform Attacks. This trick is here for the same reason the IDJ is, a lack of discussion about it. From a platform, you fall through or run off and attack immediatly. Doing this you can attack people next to you on a platform with an aerial attack, and keep yourself safe from a sheild grab. It's a very common tactic among pros and works great for almost every character.
Isai Drop. When you land on the ground with out an attack your character will go through a standing animation. During this animation, your character can attack or move regulary, except you cannot fall through a platform if you had landed on one. To cancel this out, do a tilt rotation from forward to down and you will fall through immediatly.
WD back fast fall ledgeguard. An addition to the commonly used tactic of WDing back to grab a ledge. Once you are off the stage fast fall to the ledge, while the time it cuts off is minimal, it can mean the difference between hogging the ledge from a recovering opponent and not.
FoD lowered platform attacks. Another personnal trick from the book of Forward. It is possible the side platforms of FoD are low enough that you can't short hop underneath them without landing on them. From the ground you would short hop to the platform and attack. From the platform you would either fall through or run off and attack. You can alternate between the two throwing in whatever attacks you'd like. I first began just doing this with Falco and using repeated d airs. I've found it also works well with Sheik using n airs and f airs, and as well with Link, using n airs and b airs. I'm sure it could work well with any character so long as you find the right attacks to use.
