Type of skill

[Zodiac]

Over my years of smash I have found there are two types of characters, the types being defined by what kinds of skill they take. You may be thinking "Kinds of skill? lol..." But its more like a sub category of raw skill, see diagram below.

............Skill
.........../.....\
........../.......\
........./.........\
......../...........\
......./.............\
....../...............\
Mind Games | Tech Skill


That is basic as all hell keep in mind, but since its all we need for this discussion I wont go into further detail and what defines each sub category of skill. But the heart of this thread is what characters support these kinds of skill. But before we get into it I want to express my opinion that it takes an equal amount of dedication and practice to be proficient in either sub category.

Supports Tech skill over mind games
Fox
Falco


Supports Mind games over tech skill
Sheik
Marth
Puff

Can go either way
Falcon
Peach


Going either way, I also believe all the characters can be played with either sub category emphasized through the player, its simply that the character wont benefit as much from one play style as the other. Discuss what characters you think emphasize which sub category's of skill. Also I refer to it as a subcategory because a skilled player uses both of these things well.

 

[Life]

............Skill
.........../.....\
........../.......\
........./.........\
......../...........\
......./.............\
....../...............\
Mind Games | Tech Skill

Fixed the tree for you.

I agree with this thread.

 

[CloneHat]

Mindgames come into play when your character can't abuse some techy thing.

 

[LLDL]

Falco and fox would go into supports mind games over tech skill. There aren't any good, stupid spacie players. In fact, I think they use the most mind games, and are smartest players overall.

Now, if you want to put them into the category most success by using only tech skill, you could go there.

 

[Zodiac]

This thread is made assuming all players use both, but favor one over the other. I see where fox is more lenient towards mind games but not falco, he is definitely (imo) in favor of tech skill, even though he can benefit from mind games pretty well.

 

[~Tac~]

Lmfao, as soon as I entered this thread, the first thing I thought to myself was "I bet Falcon can be both."

 

[Divinokage]

Umm supporting one or the other? Hmm.. I don't think I'm going to agree that it's good to seperate mindgames and techskill for each character because each it's own have a level of understanding of how to apply these things. Mindgames is simply making the opponent do things you want him to do before he realizes that he's going to get punished for it. Applying techskill doesnt seem to be a clear definition still for everyone.. to me it's just the ability to perform the best options when you punish and not failing them... which means you follow up and finish a combo with the best options before you will not be able to touch the opponent anymore.

So one must understand their character first and then understand how many options they have in a given situation. So to me mindgames and techskill come together as a whole, it cannot be separated. Your decision making is your own responsibility, so if you fail at that.. then you will fail something along the lines of mindgames and techskill lol. So ya, a character to me is simply the choice someone made and wtv decision comes after.. then Idk it depends on the player.

I hope I made my point clear here lol.

 

[Eggm]

Theres more stats than just tech skill and mind games and you can divide tech skill and mindgames into sub categories too and theres characters that would be a "best fit" based on players stats. It'd be cool to make a thread and analyze that eventually. "stats" could be stuff like... "Baiting" "Combos" "Spacing" "Execution (tech skill)" "DI/SmashDI" "movement" "Recovery" "Edge guarding" "Camping" "Agrro" "zoning" "knowledge of the game (matchup or otherwise)"Taaaake mango for example all his stats are at 10 so he can play whoever the hell he wants. But like some one like... say me I suck at spacing and baiting but am good at camping execution and movement so fox suits me very good but ganondorf does not. Would be a cool thread but i'm lazy some one else do it i wanna see my stats!!

Edit : you need sub categories cause both marth/jiggs need really good spacing to be played well, but if some one has good spacing and ALSO really really good baiting and bad combos then jiggs would fit better cause a jiggs that is great at baiting something she is expecting is almost an auto kill while marth would need to have very good combos to kill off a baited punish.

 

[Divinokage]

Theres more stats than just tech skill and mind games and you can divide tech skill and mindgames into sub categories too and theres characters that would be a "best fit" based on players stats. It'd be cool to make a thread and analyze that eventually. "stats" could be stuff like... "Baiting" "Combos" "Spacing" "Execution (tech skill)" "DI/SmashDI" "movement" "Recovery" "Edge guarding" "Camping" "Agrro" "zoning" Taaaake mango for example all his stats are at 10 so he can play whoever the hell he wants. But like some one like... say me I suck at spacing and baiting but am good at camping execution and movement so fox suits me very good but ganondorf does not. Would be a cool thread but i'm lazy some one else do it i wanna see my stats!!

Heh that would be pretty cool actually. =P

Also inb4 fanboys over-statting their favorite players lol.

 

[Zodiac]

lol, well it seems my post has been misunderstood, All character can be used both ways, some simply benefit more from one or the other. And plus, I would be writing this article into next week if I included all the sub category's

 

[Divinokage]

That's like saying: a Fox that spams moves is better than Ganon that spams moves. I'm not sure what to take of it honestly.

 

[Retroking2000]

i think it goes hand in hand with each other

the more technical you can become means the more moves you can bait them with

and i would say skill would be a player who just takes radically less pratice than the average player to get better.

 

[Zodiac]

That's like saying: a Fox that spams moves is better than Ganon that spams moves. I'm not sure what to take of it honestly.

technical skill is not spamming a move, also were not talking about raw skill here. but I think no one is getting the topic post so the discussion is more or less lost. If you see fit to lock this please do so mods.

 

[choknater]

im pretty sure people understand what youre trying to say. theyre saying that skill is really an application of both, and theyre mostly disagreeing with your idea of certain characters being benefitted more by a particular aspect. it's always gonna be an equal application of both