Understanding Marth as a scrub

[jihaeng29]

So I'm a very very scrubby Marth and I just wanted to run by what I understand about the basics about playing Marth as being correct.

In the neutral, the safe options are to dash dance then:
JC Grab
run canceled dtilt
retreating fair
There are probably situational mixups (WD jab?) but I understand these to be your main 3 choices for the neutral with grabs having the most amount of combo potential

Punish game obviously depends even more on the match up and DI but generally
fast fallers: up throws -> u tilts -> uairs -> edge guard
floaties: down/back throw tech chases into fmash or uptilt
fair -> fair -> fair -> fair... ad nauseum into ken combo/edge guard
meaning that punish game generally comes from the grab and hits from neutral are often chained into grabs for the set up into punish (d-tilt -> grab or fair -> grab).

For the edgeguard options there are lots obviously
d-tilt, jab, ftilt, sh-fair/bair/dair, counter, fmash mixed together by WD and ledge options.
For grabbing the edge though, full hop bair vs sh bair vs DD into WD back, what are the situational differences between them?

For OoS options I understand there are:
Shield grab
WD
sh dair
sh bair
reverse dolphin
but what is the follow up to dair and bair? Do you just reset to neutral?

Is my understanding correct?

 

[FE_Hector]

- WD dtilt is generally something you'll see more often because you can't run cancel out of a dash
- Bairing to turn yourself around to grab the ledge faster is really just a situational thing. It's really useful when you just run across - the whole stage and risking flubbing something like run cancel -> pivot -> WD back isn't something you wanna risk. If you're right near the ledge, though, WD back is your best option.
- Followups to dair and bair are really situational. For example, you can start stringing uairs onto a dair against floaties (I love this against Samus), but you probably won't get too much off of it against a Falcon that's at 30%.
- Overall, though, you seem to have a fairly good understanding of the Marth basics. Only thing I want to add is that retreating SH double fair is a better idea than a single fair.

 

[Azureflames]

• In OOS options you forgot to include SH/FH Fair (assuming they aren't behind you of course, though sometimes you'll get them even then).
• SH retreating double Fair is really good
• In neutral don't forget to consider the viable option of baiting them into throwing a defensive aerial by just running into them and shielding, followed by a grab after their aerial ends. Using shields outside of a panic button is a pretty big thing to get a handle on imo.

• When it comes to SH dair/bair OOS, you'll either get a tech chase or you'll get zoning potential and stage control.

 

[A_Reverie]

It's going to take a long time to get a feel for how each of Marth's moves can be applied. There's a ton of possibilities so it's worth focusing on for at least a few months.

There's a lot more to neutral than safe moves, however. Luckily, Marth has the ability to play neutral in several different ways. While you learn the intricacies of the moveset, I encourage you to think on how your playstyle and the way you play neutral will compliment each other. Center your decision making around watching your opponent. Figure out when they like to jump, shield, dash dance, spot dodge, approach, etc. Marth has an answer to all of these.

 

[jihaeng29]

Thanks for everyone's responses.

 

[AudioSilver]

Dash Dance into Neutral Air can be a very strong punish in the neutral, if your opponent is approaching.