Maharba the Mystic
Smash Master
This thread is dedicated to showing pits how to properly use arrow loop to set up for kills, combos, gimps, and other stage specific uses. However at no point will i ever say looping is better than just spamming arrows. keep in mind that if the opponent is away from you and you can spam arrows, don't be dumb. spam arrows
Ways to Hide Your Loop
one of the things you have gotta learn is how to not move (or at least significantly enough to mess up spacing) while looping arrows.
strafe shooting is done by holding shield while looping causes you roll or sidestep based on which angle you are going for. a full circle on the stick brings back to where you were with another roll.
pocket sniping- shoot an arrow up. now start charging another arrow. now loop the first arrow while charging the second. fire the second whereever you want.
plank looping is drop off the edge and shoot an arrow up. jump and grab ledge. then loop it as you are grabbing the edge again. (suggested by Luckay)
loop 'n' smash is when you shoot an arrow. then start charging a smash with the cstick and the attack button. then loop your arrow whereever you want.
loop stalling is the act of hiding your arrow off the screen while continuously looping it until you need it. this usually makes opponents think that you have lost your arrow as opposed to it still being a threat. the only thing that is hard about this is managing to hide it for a long period of time.
Delayed Looping
now with ways to not move while shooting/cover up the more advanced ATs out of the way, let me tell you guys about an AT i call delayed looping. delayed looping is the easiest way for you to get your loops to start setting up for you if you know where they are going to be. let me tell you the ways i do this as i consider these particular set ups as part of the root of my pit style.
a) really get the feel for how fast your arrows are first otherwise you will fail at this miserably. when you really start to feel the arrow (im being serious and idc if it sounds lame) then you can start to do Vertical delayed looping (VDL). all you are doing with this is firing the arrow up while being sure not to move. watch your opponent until they start to move. then shoot a distraction arrow and loop the other while you're in the shooting animation. they never see u move during the loop so thus they can't predict where or from what angle its coming from. you can also use any of the above hiding methods combined with loop stalling and that is also VDL.
b) once you have down the speed of the arrow, you must practice and master all of the results of pit's different loop curves and angles. which is why this AT this is a little more difficult to perform because you are firing this arrow hoping to miss the first time. let me explain how Horizantal delayed looping works. what you are doing is baiting a dodge, sidestep, airdodge, any thing that makes you miss with a straight arrow. then once your arrow is out of the focus of the camera but still active loop it up above the screen and bring it back down on them. now this doesn't sound difficult but here are a couple things to add to your current thought process about it. this AT is 100% dependent on your stage posistion. if you are facing the edge of map and you're firing that way the arrow will disapear. however you can't let your opponent see what you are doing so that means you can't see it either. you have to feel the loop while making sure your arrow stays in the horizantal boundaries without seeing it or looping it right off the bat like normal. hell i still am working on this one yet i still think the next one is harder.
c) when you truly are at one with your arrow, this AT becomes possible. this is by far the hardest of the delayed loops because this you must learn to do on reaction or it probably won't work. this is the Power Shield Deflect delayed loop (lets call it PSDDL). wat you are doing on this one is recognizing that one of you power shielded arrows was deflected in a direction and then looping that deflected arrow to come back and hit the opponent. when you power shield a projectile it does not become yours it just deflecting as opposed to reflecting. thus you can bring those arrows back around after they get deflected to come back and try again almost 100% guarenteed to take anyone by suprise.
Other Arrow Techniques (contributors listed)
Katana's Fade- Spam a bit. Then about then time they get mid range, shoot one in the opposite direction looped perfectly. After you shoot, you can just press "A". You will usually end up doing a F-tilt, and they will run into it. I some times do a d-smash. If not, the arrow comes from behind as insurance and safety, which will lead to your kill or combo set up. (katana koden)
Under Looping- this is really important as this works at 2/3 of pits best stages (imo) Halberd and Delphino Plaza. on these stages you can shoot an upward arrow and loop it away and down and then continue to bring it up from the under side of the stage and then continues through under sides of platform. when the arrow comes up through the it pops up right in front of you allowing for some interesting set ups. plus you can just keep looping it as it keeps coming up in front of you acting as a semi wall.
i am going to add more to this as i work on other aspects of arrow combat as well. suggestions are always welcome also. And for other Advanced Stuff here is my Pit Advanced Play tutorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx6zz4Wda-M
Ways to Hide Your Loop
one of the things you have gotta learn is how to not move (or at least significantly enough to mess up spacing) while looping arrows.
strafe shooting is done by holding shield while looping causes you roll or sidestep based on which angle you are going for. a full circle on the stick brings back to where you were with another roll.
pocket sniping- shoot an arrow up. now start charging another arrow. now loop the first arrow while charging the second. fire the second whereever you want.
plank looping is drop off the edge and shoot an arrow up. jump and grab ledge. then loop it as you are grabbing the edge again. (suggested by Luckay)
loop 'n' smash is when you shoot an arrow. then start charging a smash with the cstick and the attack button. then loop your arrow whereever you want.
loop stalling is the act of hiding your arrow off the screen while continuously looping it until you need it. this usually makes opponents think that you have lost your arrow as opposed to it still being a threat. the only thing that is hard about this is managing to hide it for a long period of time.
Delayed Looping
now with ways to not move while shooting/cover up the more advanced ATs out of the way, let me tell you guys about an AT i call delayed looping. delayed looping is the easiest way for you to get your loops to start setting up for you if you know where they are going to be. let me tell you the ways i do this as i consider these particular set ups as part of the root of my pit style.
a) really get the feel for how fast your arrows are first otherwise you will fail at this miserably. when you really start to feel the arrow (im being serious and idc if it sounds lame) then you can start to do Vertical delayed looping (VDL). all you are doing with this is firing the arrow up while being sure not to move. watch your opponent until they start to move. then shoot a distraction arrow and loop the other while you're in the shooting animation. they never see u move during the loop so thus they can't predict where or from what angle its coming from. you can also use any of the above hiding methods combined with loop stalling and that is also VDL.
b) once you have down the speed of the arrow, you must practice and master all of the results of pit's different loop curves and angles. which is why this AT this is a little more difficult to perform because you are firing this arrow hoping to miss the first time. let me explain how Horizantal delayed looping works. what you are doing is baiting a dodge, sidestep, airdodge, any thing that makes you miss with a straight arrow. then once your arrow is out of the focus of the camera but still active loop it up above the screen and bring it back down on them. now this doesn't sound difficult but here are a couple things to add to your current thought process about it. this AT is 100% dependent on your stage posistion. if you are facing the edge of map and you're firing that way the arrow will disapear. however you can't let your opponent see what you are doing so that means you can't see it either. you have to feel the loop while making sure your arrow stays in the horizantal boundaries without seeing it or looping it right off the bat like normal. hell i still am working on this one yet i still think the next one is harder.
c) when you truly are at one with your arrow, this AT becomes possible. this is by far the hardest of the delayed loops because this you must learn to do on reaction or it probably won't work. this is the Power Shield Deflect delayed loop (lets call it PSDDL). wat you are doing on this one is recognizing that one of you power shielded arrows was deflected in a direction and then looping that deflected arrow to come back and hit the opponent. when you power shield a projectile it does not become yours it just deflecting as opposed to reflecting. thus you can bring those arrows back around after they get deflected to come back and try again almost 100% guarenteed to take anyone by suprise.
Other Arrow Techniques (contributors listed)
Katana's Fade- Spam a bit. Then about then time they get mid range, shoot one in the opposite direction looped perfectly. After you shoot, you can just press "A". You will usually end up doing a F-tilt, and they will run into it. I some times do a d-smash. If not, the arrow comes from behind as insurance and safety, which will lead to your kill or combo set up. (katana koden)
Under Looping- this is really important as this works at 2/3 of pits best stages (imo) Halberd and Delphino Plaza. on these stages you can shoot an upward arrow and loop it away and down and then continue to bring it up from the under side of the stage and then continues through under sides of platform. when the arrow comes up through the it pops up right in front of you allowing for some interesting set ups. plus you can just keep looping it as it keeps coming up in front of you acting as a semi wall.
i am going to add more to this as i work on other aspects of arrow combat as well. suggestions are always welcome also. And for other Advanced Stuff here is my Pit Advanced Play tutorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx6zz4Wda-M
