Using Lucas

[Sean²]

I've been using lucas a whole lot lately, he seems like a fun character to play and his attacks are pretty good. I haven't used any references to help my game, but i seem to find myself using a lot of PK fires, Bairs, and short hop Fairs, with the occasional nair and PK thunder (mostly to juggle). is there anything else good to use in a more up-close battle?

 

[TechnoMonster]

Jab Combo is buff and if you don't hit with all of your n-air it usually combos into ??? tilt, AAA or grab.

U-air is a beast.

 

[Fhed]

use pk fire often, nairs if u wanna pull of his up smash i suggest running upsmash

 

[Shibby]

Find a use for PK Freeze and get back to me.

 

[SkYHiGh]

Find a use for PK Freeze and get back to me.

PK Freeze is great to use for distance when your opponent tries to keep away from you. I don't really use it online because whenever I play there's lag (I can't even PK Thunder right half the time online), and I've been trying to use a GC Controller (was using the Wiimote+Chuck combo) and it feels harder for some reason.

Honestly I've been using more PK Fire recently and I just use Nair's. You just have to time jumps right that's all.

 

[Tyr_03]

The most important part of playing Lucas is mastering PK Thunder. Everything else is secondary.

 

[Levitas]

The most important part of playing Lucas is mastering PK Thunder. Everything else is secondary.

Lies and blasphemy. PKT is for when there's no ground under the opponent (and platform shennanigans, I guess).

[massive epic exaggeration]
PK Fire is the most important.

PK Thunder is secondary

Everything else is tertiary.
[/massive epic exaggeration]

 

[Dark Crimson]

Lucas's bair is a spike if you hit well enough.

 

[zamz]

I use f-tilt a lot and I find d-tilt has its uses. Pretty much every move of Lucas is necessary. It's pulling all these attacks together and knowing when to use them that make a good Lucas.

 

[Shibby]

Lucas's bair is a spike if you hit well enough.

Its a good feeling when it works.

 

[JVMetaknight]

No one mentioned f-smash? Really? It's so quick and strong that I usually reserve it for my killshot.

 

[Tyr_03]

Levitas: atleast 70% of my kills with Lucas come from proper edgeguarding with PK Thunder. And safe recovery is almost completely dependent on it. Plus it takes all of about 5 minutes to "master" PK Fire whereas PK Thunder needs some understanding to use it right. When I say that all other moves are secondary to PK Thunder I mean that as far as learning to play Lucas. You should spend more time learning PK Thunder because it takes more time where all his other moves are obvious and easily utilized.

 

[Crooked Crow]

n-air is great =/
it's works as an offensive and defensive move...
n-air is easy to follow up with cuz it leads to almost everthing.
and if you're getting pressured, n-air will get most characters off of you if they're too close.

pk thunder isn't really hard to get to know..
pk fire isn't either <_< just know that you gotta spam it against most people

 

[SkYHiGh]

No one mentioned f-smash? Really? It's so quick and strong that I usually reserve it for my killshot.

It's actually kinda weak and slow, especially compared to his dsmash and usmash. I'd much rather use either of those first before his fsmash.

 

[zamz]

It's actually kinda weak and slow, especially compared to his dsmash and usmash. I'd much rather use either of those first before his fsmash.

Well, I'd prefer using f-smash to knock someone off the screen. U-smash is too unreliable because it is so slow. Missing is almost as bad as suiciding...and unless I know for a fact I'll hit, I try to use it as little as possible.

D-smash is decent, but I find it doesn't work nearly as well considering it's a 3-part attack as opposed to his f-smash's single attack. Besides, both smashes knock out an opponet at the same damage %--give or take 2 %...and considering speed is hardly an issue, choosing one over the other is probably preference.

I'm just convinced F-smash is more reliable than his other smashes. And reliability is key...

 

[Tyr_03]

No offense aAndy but if you think that PK Thunder isn't hard to get to know then you probably don't know it very well. If you can perfectly time thunderslides to get the outcome you want everytime then you've atleast scratched the surface of its possibilities. Add onto that sweetspotting recoveries from any angle on any stage, ledgebending, reverse edgeguards, most effective edgeguarding techniques for certain characters and countless other details and you'll reach a whole new level of understanding on how useful it can be.

 

[pirkid]

Well, I'd prefer using f-smash to knock someone off the screen. U-smash is too unreliable because it is so slow. Missing is almost as bad as suiciding...and unless I know for a fact I'll hit, I try to use it as little as possible.

D-smash is decent, but I find it doesn't work nearly as well considering it's a 3-part attack as opposed to his f-smash's single attack. Besides, both smashes knock out an opponet at the same damage %--give or take 2 %...and considering speed is hardly an issue, choosing one over the other is probably preference.

I'm just convinced F-smash is more reliable than his other smashes. And reliability is key...

I swear F-Smash comes out a lot quicker then D-Smash.

 

[zamz]

I swear F-Smash comes out a lot quicker then D-Smash.

That too, F-smash is Lucas's quickest smash. I'm not sure why that didn't come to mind when I made my previous post XD

 

[PK Starstorm]

Lucas is amazing. Today i completely ***** all of my friends with him and ness. i completely screw up falco and diddy.

 

[Levitas]

@ Tyr: I got to know PKT pretty well during melee. Although the context has changed, the move really hasn't.

Whenever you're in control of the game or control is being contested, 70% of lucas's game is knowing your safest options in any given circumstance and playing rock paper scissors with said options. 30% of the game is you using unpunishable pk fires or edgeguarding. The cool part is that you can switch from rock paper scissors to pk fire whenever you want.

 

[MASTER719]

me too. plus i play mindgames outside of matches

 

[Tyr_03]

Levitas: I'd have to argue with you on the differences between Melee Ness's PK Thunder and Lucas's PK Thunder. They're pretty hugely different. Edgeguarding, recovery and even simple things such as spacing and lag time are quite different. I can see how you would draw a comparison with Ness from Brawl to Melee but there's a big difference with Lucas.

That said I don't contest the importance and use of PK Fire I'm just saying that it doesn't take much work to learn how to do. It's basic spacing and as you say, pretty much unpunishable. It seems to make more sense to me to tell newer players to work on PK Thunder which actually takes some practice rather than saying the obvious "use PK Fire more. It's good." I would think that fact would be obvious by now.

 

[Levitas]

Fair enough. Although controlling PK Thunder hasn't changed, I get what you mean.

I'd honestly advise people to work on aerials and aerial control before getting the pk thunder, but both are really important.

 

[zamz]

Fair enough. Although controlling PK Thunder hasn't changed, I get what you mean.

I'd honestly advise people to work on aerials and aerial control before getting the pk thunder, but both are really important.

If anything, I think learning to short hop is the most important thing a good Lucas needs to learn. If Lucas can only double jump to get somewhere...he's going to get dominated. And I'd say that's probably the biggest mistake I've seen from a beginning Lucas. Quick double jumps that render him helpless in the air.

I think PK Thunder is the move you need to learn after you feel somewhat competent in brawl. It's the "next level" of Lucas. You become a somewhat decent player, then you learn to use PK Thunder to accent and improve your game.

Sorry Tyr_03, but I really think learning PK Thunder first is a horrible strategy...mainly because beginning players find the trick 'novel' and begin to build a reliance to it. Imagine the beginning player who uses PKT whenever the enemy is at a distance, and Up Smash whenever the enemy is next to them. He'll get dominated...

I think using PKT too much (without experience) affects gameplay negatively. It's better to make sure the player can handle themselves without using PKT at all. Only when they're a good Lucas without the move, will they become even more threatening when they use it =)

 

[Tyr_03]

zamz, the disgustingly noobish ways I've seen people use PK Thunder is exactly why I believe people should be working on it more and earlier. If they don't know how to short hop, use tilts etc. obviously those come first. I was running under the assumption that basic techniques such as those would be understood.

 

[Shibby]

Levitas, you might as well be walking on the sun.

 

[SkYHiGh]

Fair enough. Although controlling PK Thunder hasn't changed, I get what you mean.

I'd honestly advise people to work on aerials and aerial control before getting the pk thunder, but both are really important.

Shouldn't someone practice recovery before attempting to do aerials since a lot of Lucas' strengths rely on getting enemies off to the side, and since it's an aerial you want to be sure you can be safe too. I mean you have the snake grab but if you're facing the opposite direction it's pretty useless. PKT is something that needs to be learned first. It's a foundation technique for any Lucas user.