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Q&A U WOT M8 - Shulk Q&A (READ THIS MESSAGE: PLEASE READ BEFORE MAKING A THREAD)

Masonomace

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I'm also a bit confused on how their counters scale with damage.

Roy's counter apparently doesn't do anything against weak attacks (e.g. small projectiles, jabs, etc). Shulk's grounded forward vision kills ridiculously early if you counter a jab. I remember killing a falcon near the ledge by countering his Jab at around 60%.

I just tried Roy's counter with a jab, and it did nothing. In fact the knockbakc was so little I don't think it would have killed until like 400%. This was very surprising. What's up with that?
Shulk's Vision counter is that much better than Roy's counter bottom line. See the link info below:
http://smashboards.com/threads/this-is-the-monados-power-metagame-discussion.369285/#post-17625423

As to why Vision hits hard even from a measely jab, I couldn't tell ya atm.
 

Codaption

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Shulk's counter window on his also shortens based on how much he uses it, eventually going so far as to require almost frame perfect precision if you abuse the thing. Roy, on the other hand, doesn't have to worry about letting his recharge over time.

Really, it depends on how much you use the move. If you're not all that counter-heavy, I'd say Shulk's fits your needs better with its range and power. If you get a lot of mileage off of counters, though, then Roy just might be your boy.
 
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dhblademaster

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Hello everybody. So, I was playing with a buddy of mine today, and after a few matches, I realized that I really struggled with approaching and I kept getting grabbed when I tried to approach. So, my question is: What are some of the best ways for Shulk to approach?
 
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Avoid getting up close. Actually, just avoid approaching in general. Approaching is not viable in this game unless your name is Sheik but even then, there's a risk to approaching with her. Just play it out at mid-range, don't let anyone get close to you, don't try to get up to opponent's faces unless you have them in some sort combo. BUT if you really want to approach, then abuse your safe attacks like n-air (tipped or cross-up) or d-tilt. Block safety varies but it's most notable with buster art. Mix it up with grabs too. Grabs are really important for bypassing shields. Use speed art to "approach" into mid-range position and just harass them from there. Rush in with n-air in jump art when the opponent commits or makes a single mistake or whiff..... actually, that isn't even approaching. You're just waiting for a punishing opportunity so.... yeah. Don't approach. Just stay in your sweetspot (mid-range)
 
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dhblademaster

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Ok, that makes sense. Does the same apply if your opponent is projectile happy?
 

Locke 06

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Double posting on purpose since I'm asking a much desired question wanting to be answered:

Q: How long is the invincibility duration in a Monado art activation?
A: ?? TBA (To Be Answered)

My supposed answer: Frame 1 - 13 when standing & not acting with any movement option that would otherwise interrupt Shulk's unique pose he makes with the art activation.

When you act quickly out of your art activation whether you put up shield, start to run away, crouch, begin a jumpsquat, put up shield, ANYTHING, your invincibility window heavily decreases by so much that even another Shulk's Frame 5 - 6 Jab1 hitbox hits Shulk if he interrupts the pose. I feel the Frame window when interrupting the pose is 1 - 4

Disclaimer: I do not have a capture card device to convince what I'm saying is right. I could definitely be wrong about the frames.

What I did: I used Training Mode's 1/4x (Hold L) speed & very lightly tapped L repeatedly until I saw a slight movement Shulk starts to do even before the Monado art by Shulk's character portrait strongly flashes once to indicate the art activating. Once I saw that slight movement he makes, I would have Little Mac hold the a button to perform his Jab1 which is Frame 1. I feel confident that the invincibility window is similar to 1 - 13 also because I did multiple attempts to get that very slight movement Shulk starts doing & had the other Shulk already preparing a crouch & performed a Forward Tilt which lasts from Frame 12 - 13. When you do this process precisely, Shulk's Monado art activation evades F-tilt's hitbox window.

Trying to figure out the interrupted invincibility window of the Monado art activation, I used Diddy Kong's Frame 3 - 4 window for his Jab1 hitbox & had the Shulk crouch, shield, run away, jump, anything, & he was able to crouch not getting hit, shield came up immediately after his arm swing finishes, basically Shulk wasn't harmed. So to make sure it wasn't Frame 1 - 5, I had Wii Fit Trainer looking away & tried precisely timing the art activation while holding a to make WFT Jab1 from behind which is Frame 5 & lasts for only Frame 5. So when I had Shulk perform any action to interrupt the pose, Shulk would get hit but when I hold shield, Shulk perfect shields.

Again. . .I can't stress that this could be incorrect, but I do know for a fact that interrupting the pose does reduce the amount of invincibility. So from now on, if you want to utilize the invincibility, then let the pose do its thing. This is undeniably true.
I have access to a capture card. Will probably test in about a month and come back with results.

How many frames (long) does it take to activate a MA from when you select it?
 

Zatchiel

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Hello everybody. So, I was playing with a buddy of mine today, and after a few matches, I realized that I really struggled with approaching and I kept getting grabbed when I tried to approach. So, my question is: What are some of the best ways for Shulk to approach?
Figure out the situations he likes to grab you in. It normally becomes apparent after getting grabbed the first time, but in the heat of battle lots of players overlook the opportunity to download.

After that, aim to either avoid it or use it to your advantage. If your focus on those two options you'll get grabbed a lot less often. You'll still slip up here and there of course. We are only human.


A few other suggestions for getting better in neutral:

-Walk, don't run, unless you're in Speed art.

-Try to keep your feet on the ground; going into the air is one of the biggest commitments Shulk can make. It leaves him prone to landing traps/shields/grabs or superior frame data. Jumping is one of his best options, but it is indeed high risk high reward.
 

Masonomace

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I have access to a capture card. Will probably test in about a month and come back with results.

How many frames (long) does it take to activate a MA from when you select it?
Atm I recall that it's 6 frames cycling to a Monado art but itself activating is. . .45 or 46 frames. I think @ erico9001 erico9001 knows this.
 
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erico9001

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Source

Monado Arts
Takes 6 frames to cycle past an art. When you stop on an art, it will activate 46 frames later. Each art lasts for 960 frames.
Decisive Monado Arts
Takes 6 frames to cycle past an art. When you stop on an art, it will activate 90 frames later. Each art lasts for 1200 frames.
Hyper Monado Arts
Takes 6 frames to cycle past an art. When you stop on an art, it will activate 46 frames later. Each art lasts for 360 frames.
 

Locke 06

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So, which of the following is correct?

If I press B from a neutral state, I'll get jump mode active on f52 (46+6). Similarly, if I press B after I've been cycling (say jump is hovering), it will also be f52 from pressing B. Or
If I press B from a neutral state, I'll get jump mode active on f47 (1 to stop on jump and 46 to activate). If I've already been cycling (say jump is hovering) and I press B, I'll get speed on f52.

Tyvm. Love you Shulk boards. Never change.
 

Blargg888

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So um...
I've been having some weird experiences with the Monado Arts recently.
Basically, when not pressing any buttons/joysticks while activating a Monado Art, Shulk will do a pose and say the art that he has switched to.
And the same applies while in midair.


And when doing that in the air, I've had times where Shulk executed his pose in midair at the exact same time that I pressed the opposite direction that I was going (Left while moving right, and Vice Versa) and Shulk just immediately started moving in the opposite direction. Like a b-reverse. I've never seen anyone else ever mention something like this happening to them, aI looked, but no. I didn't find anything.

So my question(s) is/are:
Can Shulk's Monado Arts really be B-reversed through the pose in the air, or am I just delusional?
And if they can be b-reversed, is it useful in any way, at all?
And how hard is it to do? (Because every time I've ever done it, it has been accidentally.)
 
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So my question(s) is/are:
Can Shulk's Monado Arts really be B-reversed through the pose in the air, or am I just delusional?
And if they can be b-reversed, is it useful in any way, at all?
And how hard is it to do? (Because every time I've ever done it, it has been accidentally.)
He can b-reverse with the Monado arts
It's kinda situational. It's pretty good for edgeguarding and it's also decent for offensive mix-ups
It's hard to execute in a match
 

Blargg888

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He can b-reverse with the Monado arts
It's kinda situational. It's pretty good for edgeguarding and it's also decent for offensive mix-ups
It's hard to execute in a match
I see.

Every time it has happened to me (except once) it was immediately preceded by lag, so I wasn't sure if I was just seeing things.
It's only because I pulled it off in a match without lag that I finally decided to ask.
 

Masonomace

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So my question(s) is/are:
Can Shulk's Monado Arts really be B-reversed through the pose in the air, or am I just delusional?
And if they can be b-reversed, is it useful in any way, at all?
And how hard is it to do? (Because every time I've ever done it, it has been accidentally.)
A: Yes you can B Reverse a Monado art activation airborne and grounded. You're not delusional.

A: It has fake-out mix-up potential specifically because this kind of B Reverse is delayed and you can act immediately out of the tech with anymovement option or attack unlike most B Reverses requiring to shield cancel their NeutralB with L /R or Z button. This makes Shulk's B Reverse very unique in comparison.

A: The difficulty of this tech is dependent on timing, kinda like timing a MALLC in that you want to land on the ground from the air as the art activates. For B Reverse though, you want to time it as soon as you see the kanji art brightly flashing beside Shulk's character portrait by the damage meter. Somewhere around that moment is a good indicator, and if ya mess up then it's either a turnaround or a WaveBounce.
 
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Rango the Mercenary

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What are Shulk's true combos? I know DThrow into Fair seems to work sometimes with Speed and Buster, but it feels character dependent, as well as more of a frame advantage than a true combo. I played a Shulk online who could use FThrow/DThrow (I think the latter) into repeated off-stage Fairs ala Sonic.
 

Masonomace

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What are Shulk's true combos? I know DThrow into Fair seems to work sometimes with Speed and Buster, but it feels character dependent, as well as more of a frame advantage than a true combo. I played a Shulk online who could use FThrow/DThrow (I think the latter) into repeated off-stage Fairs ala Sonic.
True combos usually include Monado Art Landing Lag Canceling, aka MALLC. When you MALLC an aerial like F-air & say you cycled to Speed art, your running speed transitioning to a Short or Full Hop aerial tends to become true at low to mid-high percentages. If you use an aerial with a higher knockback angle like say, the first hit or both the first & second hits of U-air, MALLCing U-air into U-tilt at low percents, U-air at higher percents, or if you cycled to Jump art, a rising Jump art Air Slash can reach high enough to combo at a wide percentage range.

Basically, successive & well-used MALLCs create a lot of true combos. Recently, Shulkboards discovering the applications of MABD aka Monado Art Buffered Deactivation can work really well with Jump art jumping higher or running / walking with Speed art's movement speed while possessing Vanilla damage & knockback extends combos even further.

But if you want some good ole' fashion combos via throws, then experiment with Buster Dthrow > D-tilt / F-tilt at very low percentages. Buster Fthrow > D-tilt can also work too. And when the opponent doesn't DI Buster Dthrow properly, you can get a Buster Dthrow > Instant Dash Attack out of standing position at the mid percentages.
 
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BSP

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How do you guys feel about Shulk in teams? Do you think he becomes a stronger character? In singles he feels a bit meh in general, but his quirks have their moments in teams. You have a partner to help you combo into MSmash smashes, air slash, and back slash. You've got MSpeed and MJump to play support. You've got MBuster for painful team combos.

Can anyone share their experiences with Shulk in teams? He seems great on paper.
 

Codaption

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That sounds really awesome at first, but a little less so when you consider him trying to change Arts in the middle of that kind of chaos.

He can get away with it in 1v1 if he stays on his feet, though, so I guess it's possible. Besides, I don't even play Shulk, so what do I know?
 

Masonomace

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How do you guys feel about Shulk in teams? Do you think he becomes a stronger character? In singles he feels a bit meh in general, but his quirks have their moments in teams. You have a partner to help you combo into MSmash smashes, air slash, and back slash. You've got MSpeed and MJump to play support. You've got MBuster for painful team combos.

Can anyone share their experiences with Shulk in teams? He seems great on paper.
It's great. I go to a local tournament that hosts Singles & Doubles with & without Customs Specials. I can assure that Shulk's custom arts makes playing him a lot more fun & viable due to that Decisive arts are ideal for Doubles while Hyper arts can also be ideal in that you want large moments to capitalize on with HBuster & HSmash. And with Decisive arts, you can use DSpeed, DShield, & DBuster to stick around the Decisive art for 20 strong seconds whether you're stock tanking to the max, or you're controlling the pace of the match.

So back to the question. How do I feel about Shulk in teams? I feel he's mighty decent. For Singles, Shulk has less to worry about sure, but for Doubles Shulk can fill in the role of what is needed or what you feel you could be more of in place of something the team may momentarily lack. Shulk can fill many roles for being just one character.
 

Zatchiel

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How do you guys feel about Shulk in teams? Do you think he becomes a stronger character? In singles he feels a bit meh in general, but his quirks have their moments in teams. You have a partner to help you combo into MSmash smashes, air slash, and back slash. You've got MSpeed and MJump to play support. You've got MBuster for painful team combos.

Can anyone share their experiences with Shulk in teams? He seems great on paper.
Bee ess peee. Long time no see. <3

Shulk is great in teams, since he's so volatile. He can play stock tank, damage dealer, stock finisher, or follow-up. That's Shield, Buster, Smash, and Jump/Speed respectively. Vanilla optional.

However, even in teams, his glaring issue is frame data. In most cases he won't be best in front, breaking neutral. If his partner can do that where need be, then they have a very formidable ally.
 

MaxRevenge

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Wow! I just read about the shield stun changes (it has been increased).

Does this mean Shulk's Fast-fall nair approach will be so much more safer??
 

Masonomace

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Wow! I just read about the shield stun changes (it has been increased).

Does this mean Shulk's Fast-fall nair approach will be so much more safer??
I wouldn't say that it's going to be much safer, but basically yeah it's at least slightly safer. I won't say it's that much of a difference but yeah.
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
New self-answered Q & A's:

Q: What are Shulk's victory poses & how do you do them?
A: Every character can choose from more than several poses by pressing directions on the :GCDpad:. Pressing up on the D-pad either results with "The future is ours to decide!", or "I've got a good rhythm going!". Pressing left on the D-pad either results with "I got through that pretty good!", or "This is a good result!". And pressing right on the D-pad either results with "I can feel the power!", or "I can change the future.".

My Question to you Monado heirs. I'll say my own answer too.

Q: What is your favorite victory pose for Shulk? And does it depend on what character you're fighting?

My A: My favorite pose depends on how I do in the match. If I used a lot of Speed & Shield, I use "I got through that pretty good!". If I use a lot of art synergizing & outplay my opponent, I use the "I've got a good rhythm going!" pose. Now if I fight a character like Lucina, I use the "The future is ours to decide!" or the "I can change the future." pose.:shades:
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Another self-answered Q & A:

Q: Which of Shulk's taunts have the least & most endlag?
A: "Now it's Shulk time!" being the Up taunt has the most endlag & cues the voiced line the latest. "I'm really feeling it!" being the Side taunt has the least endlag & cues the voiced line in between Up & Down taunt. And finally, "This is the Monado's power!" being the Down taunt has an endlag in between Up & Side taunt but it's just a bit later than Up taunt not to mention that the voiced line ques the quickest.
 
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Skyfox2000

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Hello Everyone. I am a former Shulk main. I mained him when the game first came out! I rarely knew anything about Super Smash Bros like Hitboxes, Techs, Spikes, edge guarding, ect.. However I thought I was fairly good with Shulk. I've always been thinking about picking him back up! I know what each Monado Art does I know the advantages but can someone tell me the disadvantages of each Monado art? Thanks it would be deeply appreciated :4shulk:
 

Masonomace

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Hello Everyone. I am a former Shulk main. I mained him when the game first came out! I rarely knew anything about Super Smash Bros like Hitboxes, Techs, Spikes, edge guarding, ect.. However I thought I was fairly good with Shulk. I've always been thinking about picking him back up! I know what each Monado Art does I know the advantages but can someone tell me the disadvantages of each Monado art? Thanks it would be deeply appreciated :4shulk:
Monado Art | Increased stats | Decreased stats Jump | Jump height, Air speed, Fall speed, Air Slash height | Defense Speed | Ground speed, Air speed, Traction | Damage dealt, Jump height Shield | Defense, Knockback resistance, Shield health & regeneration | Damage dealt, Jump height, Ground speed, Air speed Buster | Damage dealt on-hit & on-shield, Shield Push dealt | Defense, Knockback dealt Smash | Knockback dealt | Damage dealt on-hit & on-shield, Shield Push dealt, Knockback resistance
Defense = Damage taken (if this is under decreased stats, it means you take more damage. If under increased, it means you take less damage)
Traction = the sideways force taken place (Example: Taking shield knockback & you slide across the floor)
Jump height = the height your short hop, full hop, doublejump & ledgejump ascend
Fall speed = the rate at which you travel going downwards mid-air
Air Slash height = the height you travel with both hits of Air Slash
 
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BoxedOccaBerrys

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Does anyone have any tips on the Duck Hunt match-up? i have trouble against his projectiles, namely the clay pigeon, not so much the Hogan's Alley can... and his combos i have trouble getting out of, although i attempt to Vision... yet i **** it up? anyone got a solution to deal with **** C*nt
 

Zatchiel

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Does anyone have any tips on the Duck Hunt match-up? i have trouble against his projectiles, namely the clay pigeon, not so much the Hogan's Alley can... and his combos i have trouble getting out of, although i attempt to Vision... yet i **** it up? anyone got a solution to deal with **** C*nt
Destroy clay pigeon before it reaches you with Shulk's aerials. The lateral aerials will do (n-air, f-air, and b-air), but I think b-air works best if you're precise. If DH "activates" the pigeon the shots won't reach you if you cover the entire area with b-air.

Abuse the hell out of your movement arts. Jump and Speed will help you catch Duck Hunt, or just close the gap and download his CQC habits.

You won't be getting out of any true combos with Shulk against Duck Hunt (or any character for that matter), so you will have to roll with the punches plenty of times. Be patient to avoid getting baited. For one suggestion, you could use Shield art at rather low percents to be able to Vision out of stuff, which you seem to be trying to do.
 
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Masonomace

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Q: How long is the intangibility window for a Monado art activation?
A: ?? TBA (To Be Answered)

My supposed answer: Frame 1 - 13 when standing & not acting with any movement option that would otherwise interrupt Shulk's unique pose he makes with the art activation.

When you act quickly out of your art activation whether you put up shield, start to run away, crouch, begin a jumpsquat, put up shield, ANYTHING, your invincibility window heavily decreases by so much that even another Shulk's Frame 5 - 6 Jab1 hitbox hits Shulk if he interrupts the pose. I feel the Frame window when interrupting the pose is 1 - 4

Disclaimer: I do not have a capture card device to convince what I'm saying is right. I could definitely be wrong about the frames.

What I did: I used Training Mode's 1/4x (Hold L) speed & very lightly tapped L repeatedly until I saw a slight movement Shulk starts to do even before the Monado art by Shulk's character portrait strongly flashes once to indicate the art activating. Once I saw that slight movement he makes, I would have Little Mac hold the a button to perform his Jab1 which is Frame 1. I feel confident that the invincibility window is similar to 1 - 13 also because I did multiple attempts to get that very slight movement Shulk starts doing & had the other Shulk already preparing a crouch & performed a Forward Tilt which lasts from Frame 12 - 13. When you do this process precisely, Shulk's Monado art activation evades F-tilt's hitbox window.

Trying to figure out the interrupted invincibility window of the Monado art activation, I used Diddy Kong's Frame 3 - 4 window for his Jab1 hitbox & had the Shulk crouch, shield, run away, jump, anything, & he was able to crouch not getting hit, shield came up immediately after his arm swing finishes, basically Shulk wasn't harmed. So to make sure it wasn't Frame 1 - 5, I had Wii Fit Trainer looking away & tried precisely timing the art activation while holding a to make WFT Jab1 from behind which is Frame 5 & lasts for only Frame 5. So when I had Shulk perform any action to interrupt the pose, Shulk would get hit but when I hold shield, Shulk perfect shields.

Again. . .I can't stress that this could be incorrect, but I do know for a fact that interrupting the pose does reduce the amount of invincibility. So from now on, if you want to utilize the invincibility, then let the pose do its thing. This is undeniably true.
This quoted post is being bumped because Kuroganehammer has provided the frame data for the Monado art's intangibility. So now, back to the question at hand:

Q: How long is the intangibility window for the Monado art activation?
A: 1 - 14. FAF of 6

Things to note:
  • You don't get any intangibility when tumbling, or during an action where you're unable to perform the pose (e.g. dash turn, skidding, any ground & aerial move). You only get intangibility frames if Shulk is performing the pose.
  • You do not get intangibility frames when flinching by single or multi-hitting moves.
  • To ensure Shulk will perform his pose in the air, you must get rid of the tumble state by either doublejumping, or using an aerial or airdodge first before then cycling to a desired art.
  • FAF being 6 means that if you wanted to act out of the art activation early, you'd try interrupting the unique pose by jabbing, shielding, dashing, jumping, etc..
 
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TheJerm

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Where's the shulk jerm? 50$ mm at genesis? Loser has to change his name. Ima mess ya boy up
 

Masonomace

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does anyone have any tips for shulk vs diddy?
Just in case the question in one's head might be, "what arts should I use versus X character", my opinion of the Diddy MU goes like this:
  • A lot of Speed & Shield in Neutral. Rely on using his Banana once you've taken it from him & use your superior movement throw options with the item so that you can get grab followups with or without it. A decent time to take his Banana away is when he throws it at your shield since you'll jump out of shield & z-catch it while drifting away & fast fall to the floor if needed. This can be done moderately fast with Full Hop in Speed, or Short or Full Hop in Jump.
  • Speed is also helpful utility-wise because running over a peel on the floor under Diddy's possession causes you to slide a great amount of distance.
  • Once you get the pivot grab while in Monado Speed, go for the edgeguard patiently watching for the Monkey Flip recovery. They normally won't press A to attack because they sacrifice their Up special RocketBarrel Boost, unless they Monkey Flip towards the ledge to snap to it. You can edgeguard that particular option choice with a scooping Air Slash, clip with the ending of Forward air, linger Neutral air in front of you, or something else you'd like. Focus on forcing Diddy to recover low & then just drift away & Forward air toward the stage for a stage spike opportunity.
  • Use the different knockback multipliers from Shield & Smash to mess with their Uthrow BnB combos. Smash art with Diddy having a good amount of Rage forces him to commit harder for the followup, which is when you can answer with a surprise of your choice when he extends too far whiffing his move. And even if you get grabbed & Uthrown with Monado Shield active, don't sweat it too much because damage reduction.:shades:
  • General tips are to keep in mind of his Banana game-play. If he holds a banana & shields, then he's waiting for you to hit his bubble shield so that he gets a free punish with forced tripping. Avoid giving him this by jumping around using disjointed aerials poking from afar if drifting behind his shield with Monado Jump, or crossing up with Monado Speed running or Short Hop mixups. Diddy likes to kill confirm with Dtilt to running Up smash at later percents, but at early percents Diddy may use repeated Dtilts into a dash grab. Watch out for that by throwing out held Jab1 or jump away & re-position with an art activation for landing cover.
EDIT: There's a thread about this MU yo.
 
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Masonomace

Yeah Shulk, get stuck in!
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I felt like wanting to suggest some slight edits to these FAQs:
Q: Does vision countering get harder each time you use it
A: The counter window becomes shorter
Q:Does Vision countering get harder each time you use it?
A: The counter frame window shortens after each successive use. Otherwise, your Vision refreshes after dying.
Q: How do you deactivate Arts?
A: 3 consecutive B button presses or hold the B button for 1 second
Q: How do you deactivate an art?
A: Press the special button 3 consecutive times or hold the special button for 1 second. However, deactivating the art by holding it means you must only hold that button & perform nothing else. This makes you very limited & so it's best to just press 3 times.

New FAQ (Surprised this isn't a FAQ yet):
Q: How do you perform the stronger variation of Vision counter?
A: Hold your direction towards the direction Shulk is facing during the counter window.

New FAQ:

Q: What are some good moves to use for starting the buffered art's deactivation?
A: Generally you cannot deactivate an art during a lot of things seen here, but good moves include:
  • Dtilt
  • Throw preferably Dthrow
  • Ledgejump
  • shield drop
 
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BoxedOccaBerrys

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I have a couple questions...

What is the best thing to do to cancel an Art... or which is faster? Holding the B Button, or Mashing B? Which is Recommended?

how do you do the M.A.L.L.C.

Does his U-air have any use?

What should you do while under buster monado art, or shield monado art?

What are his best edge guard options?
 

Masonomace

Yeah Shulk, get stuck in!
Joined
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Messages
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Location
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how do you do the M.A.L.L.C.
M onado
A rt
L anding
L ag
C ancel

This means that you cycle to an art whether you were grounded or already airborne cycling arts & then stop the cycle to perform an aerial or airdodge. Your timing is the key to successfully doing the technique correctly, since you have to suffer landing lag from said aerial or airdodge in order for it to be canceled by the art's activation.
Does his U-air have any use?
Shulk's Uair definitely has the most poor range from beside Shulk, but the vertical range it possesses is fantastic albeit is quite a precise narrow hitbox. Here's a summary about the move found in the Art Management thread:
U-air : Gale slash
Well, if there was a good way to summarize how the move functions, it's sort of basically (not really) a vertical f-smash that's done in mid-air. Comes out at frame 14, deals 15% damage if sweetspotted and it has surprisingly insane amount of knockback if you land it. The landing lag of u-air lasts for 17 frames which is bad. This move also lacks a horizontal range or at least, its horizontal range is severely lacking, but it's vertical range is NUTS. It even outranges u-tilt's vertical range

U-air's main saving grace is the reward for landing it because holy crap it deals a lot of damage and it kills at surprisingly fraudulent percentages even without smash art. Its range is also deceivingly amazing vertically. You can contest any aerial with u-air because of this. Anyway, the first hit of u-air has fixed knockback so if you manage to land this (somehow) without landing the second hit, you can combo off from the first hit. With MALLC, you can obviously combo off from u-air even if you connect both hits. U-air is a capable juggle tool but it requires muuuch more precision than u-tilt.

The issue with u-air though is that its frame speed is absolute garbage and it's hard to land unless you're in jump or speed art since you have the air speed to somehow land this but even then, it's still quite hard to land. Horizontal range is lacking, comes out too late (frame 14), and basically, it's horrible if you whiff it. Even worse than f-air since you have to be close to the opponent to land this or below the opponent but even if you whiff it below the opponent, they can FF and punish Shulk easily

With jump art, u-air becomes scary because with your jump height and air speed, you can throw and possibly land u-air out of no where and kill them from high up the stage boundary. You can also set up into u-air from jump art u-throw. Speed art, u-air is easier to land against grounded opponents thanks to the increased air mobility and shortened jump height. Shulk also has slightly better (but still bad) air acceleration which also helps, so yeah. Shield art, basically it's a worse vanilla u-air but whatever. Buster art u-air is basically vanilla too but it's a direct upgrade since well, sure, it doesn't kill but that damage is INSANE. Shield pushback and shield damage of u-air is also nuts, and that's what makes buster u-air actually not that horrible. Smash art u-air is disgusting. Hard to land, akin to buster and vanilla u-air, but the reward is arguably more insane since you can end stocks easily at really low percentages

Basically, u-air is a situational aerial. You won't find yourself using this as much as b-air, n-air, f-air, d-tilt, etc. It's pretty good for juggling, and that's one of its solid uses. You can combo with u-air but it's quite difficult to pull off a combo from u-air since you need to either MALLC or strictly land the 1st hit only. Hard to land, good reward, but you won't use it a lot, unless maybe if you're in jump art

:4shulk::4shulk:1/2
:4shulk::4shulk::4shulk::4shulk:
疾撃:4shulk::4shulk::4shulk:1/2
:4shulk::4shulk:
:4shulk::4shulk::4shulk:
What should you do while under buster monado art, or shield monado art?
The freedom of choice to use the Buster & Shield monado arts are entirely up to you. That's the beauty of different players despite that they play the same character.

In short, Monado Enchant Buster is used to apply continuous pressure to your opponent by keeping them close by whenever you string successful hits. You already want them in your range but not too close. Buster's knockback decrease allows true combos but also sacrifices on-hit safety in case you aren't spacing very well. In the Advantage, this is art is a godsend as long as you make good reads & call out their options by answering with your own options. If you really want a full answer, go here to see the Buster guide.

In short for Monado Armour Shield, it's a filler art that is great to use for accumulating Rage effect, living, playing defensively safe at center stage, & changes the pace of the match's moment. Since many players run away from the art or combo you, you either deactivate it & cycle to another art to take advantage of the positioning, or, take hits & get combo'd with little care since the damage dealt to you is laughable. Your bubble shield is also strengthened so much so, that your shield will usually never break. See the quoted info below for a better summary:
:4shulk::4shulk::4shulk::4shulk:

Shield art is quite a unique art for Shulk. It comes with a LOT of defensive buffs. Your shield health is significantly increased and the same applies for his shield regeneration too. His weight is greatly increased, to the point that he becomes the heaviest character in the game. Shulk also takes 33% less damage so he won't take that much damage from getting combo'd, even if the combo is ridiculously long. Despite all these buffs, Shulk receives 2 really fatal debuffs. One of which is a decrease in damage output by a staggering 30%. This means that most, if not all, of Shulk's attacks are rendered unsafe on shield. The other debuff is that his mobility is gutted really hard. Shulk's offensive potential in shield art is basically non-existent.

There are ways you can smartly utilize shield art. The natural tendency for opponents against shield art is to either combo the living hell out of you or to camp you out/run away from you. You can actually benefit from all the mentioned situations, despite it sounding like crap. The thing with shield art is that with the increased weight, the amount of hitsun you receive from taking damage is significantly reduced. You can actually punish opponents for hitting you or throwing you (example: mario and luigi's down throw combos). This tactic works really well at low to mid-low percentages (~0-50%) but it becomes somewhat useless later on (especially if the opponent has rage). Camping is also a way on how to counter shield art but this can be taken advantage of. You can use shield art to simply tell the opponent to **** off and give you some space to reset the neutral for a while or you can use this to buy time to wait for an art to go off cooldown.

Let's not forget the ONE notable use of shield art that I almost forgot to add. It's known for its sheer survivability. You won't be dying for a long time if you use shield right and you might even find it normal to see yourself in 150%+ most of the time. Shield art allows you to survive some of the hardest hitting attacks and throws in the game like Ness' b-throw, Bowser's b-air, Captain Falcon's f-air/b-air, and Fox's u-smash. Only issue is that although this has absolutely nothing to do with shield art, there are still some of those attacks in the game that are still ridiculously so strong that you can still die fairly early even if you're in shield art (Falcon's f-smash, Mac's KO punch)
What are his best edge guard options?
From standing on-stage, you have Fsmash angled down hitting with the sourspot which is capable of hitting opponents hanging on the ledge. Nair Fair & Dair can hit underneath near the ledge enough to stage spike them or set up for your edgeguard position off-stage. Usmash's 1st hit has a good amount of hitbox activity to punish ledge-climb's invincibility window, as well as punish ledge-roll, ledge-jump, & ledge-attack. Most of the time if you go offstage to edge-guard, you're going to deal with the opponent airdodging a lot. So find ways of baiting the airdodge with either a well-placed Dair to meteor them, Fair clip them for a gimp, or Nair to outlast their airdodge but only if you reserved your doublejump. Nair offstage is not such a good idea if you're not careful with it.

EDIT: Oh & use Air Slash too. Air Slash is freakin' amazing to use for edgeguarding.
 
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