Under-utilized moves

[Vyrnx]

Just list a move that you think is underappreciated / not commonly used that you think Samus mains should use more.

There are a LOT of different ways to play Samus. She may have the most variety in gameplay of any single character because she has so many different tools to work with. I'm posting this to see how different people play this character, what moves they use the most and how, what strategies they use, etc.

I would say nair. I use this move a lot, and in some matchups I outright spam it. It's an amazing move. A lot of characters don't have a threatening, fast, forward hitting aerial that kills, but Samus does. At high percents, the opponent cannot just blindly approach with short hops because this move will either kill or put them in a situation where there is no excuse for Samus to not gimp them (unless they're Pikachu or something...). Nair is IMO easily one of the best edge guarding moves in the game as well. It's lingering hitbox semispikes the opponent away from the ledge even though it hits backwards, and the forward hit pretty much means death at most percents.

 

[FlAlex]

WELP. No one is here so i guess I aughta contribute with my two scrubby-cents.

Missiles. I use missiles... WAIT-WAIT-WAIT!! Just give me a second to explain.

When you space with zair, I often find, my opponent either tries to jump above it or shield it (or just run underneath it for some smaller characters). If the spacing is right, a super missile can be a good mix up from the usual SH>Zair routine. If input correctly, a missile can come out just as you land, and for a shielding opponent that can be trouble. IF left shielding on a SMissile, just break the opponent's shield with CS, or read the jump. If you worry about roles, use homing missiles. They move slow enough to catch the role, and if they didn't, they normally either jump to avoid the missile or continue shielding, thus leading to several punish opportunities.
I admit that this requires good reading, conditioning, and spacing, but I still find this method applicable rarely ( cough, cough...on FG).

Also, homing missiles move so slowly, that they can be useful when the opponent is getting up from the ledge. I usually just stand back and make sure I have two missiles moving towards the target right before they get up from the ledge.

Also, I spamz them cuz I scruby playr nd gota git gud.

(third "Also": happy Thanksgiving, Americans! And to everyone else, have a good...thuuursday? I got nothin)

 

[FlAlex]

Just list a move that you think is underappreciated / not commonly used that you think Samus mains should use more.

There are a LOT of different ways to play Samus. She may have the most variety in gameplay of any single character because she has so many different tools to work with. I'm posting this to see how different people play this character, what moves they use the most and how, what strategies they use, etc.

I would say nair. I use this move a lot, and in some matchups I outright spam it. It's an amazing move. A lot of characters don't have a threatening, fast, forward hitting aerial that kills, but Samus does. At high percents, the opponent cannot just blindly approach with short hops because this move will either kill or put them in a situation where there is no excuse for Samus to not gimp them (unless they're Pikachu or something...). Nair is IMO easily one of the best edge guarding moves in the game as well. It's lingering hitbox semispikes the opponent away from the ledge even though it hits backwards, and the forward hit pretty much means death at most percents.

Normally, what I do with nair is either use it to beat out other people's aerials that I read (since Samus' nair comes out pretty fast) OR I use it to land, since I normally face towards the enemy, and the KB Angle is useful on grounded opponents. Plus, Up-air's reach horizontally sucks, so I normally land with Nair for that reason too.

I don't use Nair for kills. Not strong enough for me, and I like Fair's multi-hit properties as it makes landing a blow easier.

 

[Hark17ball]

Normally, what I do with nair is either use it to beat out other people's aerials that I read (since Samus' nair comes out pretty fast) OR I use it to land, since I normally face towards the enemy, and the KB Angle is useful on grounded opponents. Plus, Up-air's reach horizontally sucks, so I normally land with Nair for that reason too.

I don't use Nair for kills. Not strong enough for me, and I like Fair's multi-hit properties as it makes landing a blow easier.

I like to use Nair for offstage, and approach/retreats. Near the ledge ive used a SHAD NAir and caught a lot of people then follow off stage to try and kill.

https://youtu.be/B7Ned0AoSJ8?t=1m38s i use a SHAD Nair to kill

https://youtu.be/Ag9DIb-B26s?t=55s Nair>CS

 

[Nayol]

Bomb's are very under utilized in my opinion. They help with retreating, coming back to the stage, edge guarding, breaking shields, etc.

The major turn-off is that the bombs don't explode when an opponent is in contact with them, which in my opinion makes it more deadly; a well placed bomb can force an opponent to do certain approaches, (i.e. recovering from the stage from a certain angle), which can be devastating for some characters. Plus, most options from the opponent can lead to certain punishes. if they roll, use a missile of DA, if they shield, use a CS to break it.

Plus, the dirty bomb is just beautiful in so many ways.

 

[Vyrnx]

Bomb's are very under utilized in my opinion. They help with retreating, coming back to the stage, edge guarding, breaking shields, etc.

The major turn-off is that the bombs don't explode when an opponent is in contact with them, which in my opinion makes it more deadly; a well placed bomb can force an opponent to do certain approaches, (i.e. recovering from the stage from a certain angle), which can be devastating for some characters. Plus, most options from the opponent can lead to certain punishes. if they roll, use a missile of DA, if they shield, use a CS to break it.

Plus, the dirty bomb is just beautiful in so many ways.

I really want to use bombs more but I feel like they're match up specific, and in the matchups where they work well in neutral I'd be better off zairing. I definitely use them for recovering though. I've heard that it's a good retreat when a SHAD mixup doesn't work out.

What did you mean about using bombs to force recoveries from the stage from a certain angle?

 

[Nayol]

I really want to use bombs more but I feel like they're match up specific, and in the matchups where they work well in neutral I'd be better off zairing. I definitely use them for recovering though. I've heard that it's a good retreat when a SHAD mixup doesn't work out.

What did you mean about using bombs to force recoveries from the stage from a certain angle?

What i mean by that is placing a bomb near the ledge so that it falls down the stage. It usually explodes where most people recover from in this game. TBH, it's only a good edge guarding technique against character with poor recoveries, but it's pressure regardless.

 

[Ferox]

I use bombs alot, when it comes to edge-guarding they can be used in several different ways.
The first way is as Nayol describes just dropping it off stage, either through a short hop or squeezing it out at det edge. This will cause problems for opponents with short reaching up-B recoveries at high percents, this is especially noticeable online with input delays (). A different version of this would be to jump a little further out from the stage, just enough so that it hits the opponent as he tries to recover from behind, what happens is that the character gets turned around due to the explosion, meaning if they panic up-B they recover away from the stage (eat **** Mario).
Another option is just to leave a bomb or two at the edge and go for that disrespect Dair.

Forgot to mention that bombs also lifts opponents up from the ground into the air (more accurately keeps them up in the air/pushes em off the edge), meaning up-tilt annihilates them, same if they don't snap to ledge due to bombs.

 

[Vyrnx]

Does anyone use dair in the neutral? I've been trying but I don't see much potential there because it doesn't reach characters out of a SH. I've heard people say to use it in neutral, though, and I don't know what they mean.

 

[KayJay]

SH D-Air is a good option in the neutral against a dashgrab-happy C. Falcon. It's a good option against tall characters in general as long as you don't become predictable.

 

[White_Pointer]

I use missiles a fair amount actually, and utilise bombs in neutral.

I actually rarely see Samus players use down or up tilt, which is a pity because they are both great moves.

 

[FlAlex]

SH D-Air is a good option in the neutral against a dashgrab-happy C. Falcon. It's a good option against tall characters in general as long as you don't become predictable.

I mainly use it for mix-ups, roll-reads (into me), and grabs. So, what KayJay said.

 

[Tonetta]

Does anyone use dair in the neutral? I've been trying but I don't see much potential there because it doesn't reach characters out of a SH. I've heard people say to use it in neutral, though, and I don't know what they mean.

I use it all the time. Specifically on battlefield, if they're on a plaform and im not directly inder them, I sh bair, second jump bair, then ff bair on their sheild and if spaced well they cannot punish.

I know this isn't quite the thread for it but I have a slew of new tech to use that i'll share over time, most of which deals with jab locking, prattacking, or slip edges.

This one is for those pesky characters with a bthrow for a kill move, and they roll behind you at the ledge. Looking at you ness. Facing the stage, jab 1 to hit them at the end of their roll. You will get the backwards hitbox, they will slip edge, and here is your tree.

Sub 20% and on fd or bd type ledge, your best bet is to pp dtilt, which can be followed up with fair, ftilt, or utilt. Utilt will true combo around 15% on most the cast. If you're lucky, dtilt caught their second jump and you just need to finish them off at this point. If not on a stage like that, you can run off and footstool if you are really accurate. If they are quick to jump and you wait, you can do all sorts of mean ****, ill explain later.

>20% you can just run off and ff uair, if they air dodge, you will probably be able to hit them with the return uair before their faf. A well placed ff uair can stage spike, which if unteched you can follow up with a free footstool which sends them too low to recover for almost the entire cast, and the rest are easily picked off from here. If teched, you can upb them for unpunished damage, totaling to 20-25% depending on how well you connected.

So when a character takes damage, they have to wait to grab the edge for 50 frames. If someone is in a rush and you read them, you can pp sh ff zair them to eat their second jump as theyre returning. If you do that and follow it up with a cs, you kill captain falcon as early as 28% on starter. At any percent this will set up for an easy dair finisher, or whatever you want. If you don't have cs, j1 into pp utilt does relatively the same thing as above, but you do less damage which makes the kill percents on It about 15-20% higher. Still really good.

Pp sour spot ftilt can replace jab 1 for the follow ups that aren't you running off the edge.