Wavedashing Consistently and How to use it in battle

[moyshe]

Would love if anyone could give some tips. I've been playing melee for a while. Im a serious brawl player but I was never to competitive in melee. But I've never been able to wavedash consistently and I still dont know how to use it correctly in a fight.

 

[ETWIST51294]

The only way is to watch matches. I'm serious.

 

[Nø Ca$h]

just practice.

 

[INSANE CARZY GUY]

after enough time you don't even think about it it just happens I let my wds and dd flow with my marth to the point he looks like he is moonwalking or something. If you play as G&W you should be able to master it faster than others G&W normally just wds the whole time.

It will become muscle memory like most of the tech skill.

 

[a nub]

yup, watch matches to get a sense of how you should use it. Then just practice and start incorporating it in actual matches, eventually it'll just start to flow.

If a nub like me can do it, anyone can lol

 

[Pi]

1) Out of shield.
-Either to get a grab; Marth Fsmashes your shield, wavedash out grab.
-To put yourself in a better position, like behind the player
-Or if you see them approaching, but have enough time to wavedash out of shield instead of shielding the hit; I see a fox approaching high, I assume he's going to aerial, I'm in my shield currently, I wavedash back -> Dtilt where he lands.

2) On/off platforms.
-Allows for full range of aerials in both directions
-Also implement wavelanding, it's a different way to approach, keep your opponent guessing; instead of always jumping -> aerial/running at them -> attack, you waveland, basically gives you a different height for your aerials.

3) To approach.
-If your character has good tilts that you cannot perform out of a run, wavedashing will allow you to approach quicker than walking into it.
-You also have full range of motion for any of your attacks, as opposed to having to wait to crouch cancel -> smash/dtilt.

4) To retreat/avoid attacks.
-If you know, or even think, your opponent is approaching in a certain way, wavedash back -> anything

5) To grab the ledge.
-Very simple, yet very effective, I can't tell you how many ledgehogs I've gotten due to this. If you want to take it 1 step further (and you should) quickly, VERY quickly, tap down (and let go quickly) as soon as you're off of the stage and you'll grab onto the ledge extremely fast, this closes the window for you to be hit by a recovery.


I would stress that the most important use for wavedashing is out of shield.
If you ever no longer need to shield, and need to move forward or backwards, wavedash out instead of letting go of shield, then running to where you need to be.
It's extremely effective.

Also some advice, don't get discouraged if you get punished for missing wavedashes, you can't get better at them if you don't practice. Spam them in friendlies till you are 100% consistent with them then you can focus more on 'playing smart'. There are steps that you need to take to get better, some times these steps lead down, but it's all toward a higher goal.

How often you wavedash/waveland is going to depend on your character, and the playstyle you want to have. Characters like jiggs/peach/DK/bowser really don't wavedash much (but out of shield is used by everyone), and significantly less than characters like luigi/samus/falco/fox (shinedash)

Some things to remember:
There is a time during the wavedash in which you cannot do anything, so in a tight spot if you can walk instead, go for it.
Wavedashing will not automatically win you matches, most likely people you use to do better against you will start to do worse with because you're attention will be focused more on wavedashing, this is common and a necessary direction for you to head in, and after you're comfortable with wavedashing you'll have a lot more options to play around with than if you didn't. Don't get discouraged.
Wavedash OUT OF SHIELD. <<<<<<<<<<<
Since you play falco (below) learn to wavedash out of your shine, allows you to cover more options than if you always jump out of it.

 

[moyshe]

after enough time you don't even think about it it just happens I let my wds and dd flow with my marth to the point he looks like he is moonwalking or something. If you play as G&W you should be able to master it faster than others G&W normally just wds the whole time.

It will become muscle memory like most of the tech skill.

I play falco and roy in melee I play G&W in brawl. But thanks :D

 

[INSANE CARZY GUY]

roy wds a lot I think they have the same timing also. But yeah that's mt advice I can wd good with everyone but the marios I can wd with just I don't wd wisely

 

[Hax]

as a roy player, think of WD as running while able to use tilts. dtilt is your best move; it's a good idea to WD towards the opponent while crouchcancelling, and use dtilt to punish his moves and start a combo.

that's a roy-specific technique of course; knihT explained the general uses pretty nicely

 

[X1-12]

agree with pretty much what knihT sayus but also you gotta remember what i like to call the "Wheyyyvedash" run towards someone, into thier range and WD back, they'll do an attack and you can punish it pretty easy, also its good if as you do this technique you shout "wheyyy" or "wheyyvedave" to annoy/psyche out/mind**** your opponant

 

[TK1991]

agree with pretty much what knihT sayus but also you gotta remember what i like to call the "Wheyyyvedash" run towards someone, into thier range and WD back, they'll do an attack and you can punish it pretty easy, also its good if as you do this technique you shout "wheyyy" or "wheyyvedave" to annoy/psyche out/mind**** your opponant

Seriously, i will definitely try this one with yelling

 

[Proverbs]

I'd say watch matches for the most part to figure out how. And eventually you just figure out how you want to use wavedashing. You don't have to wavedash to win. It just opens up your options. Keep that in mind. With Falco you'll be doing a lot of wavedashing out of shine, and you'll be wavedashing a lot more than you'll be running. But soon enough you'll just get the feel for it. You also need to play better people to see how they wavedash in a match and how you can incorporate it. But remember you're never obligated to wavedash. It's just another option and a lot of the time ends up being one of your better options. But it's never your only option.

 

[S l o X]

The only way is to watch matches. I'm serious.

What? Watching videos =/= being able to consistently wavedash. Maybe watching videos might help with the second part but just watching matches won't really do much.
-
Practice wavedashing. If you KNOW how to do it, get used to the timing for your character. You can't expect to learn how to wavedash and then do it consistently. After that practice what knihT posted & wavelanding, oos(out of shield) wavedash

 

[Jun.]

dash to wavedash back. That's just the single greatest step i've taken in advanced melee. Just keep spamming it both directions to the point where you can just juke on command. Then after that you'll slowly find more and more uses. Its endless really.

 

[Phoenix~Lament]

Basically, you wavedash/waveland to gain an advantage in:

Spacing - retreating, approaching, spacing moves correctly, overall just moving your character to where you want it to be. Of course, spacing with wavedashing/landing isn't always better than running. Running is faster (for most characters) on flat ground, but when you need to get on a platform, attack quickly, etc, wavedash/waveland.

Frames - Running, stopping, and then attacking costs more frames than wavedashing into an attack. In the same way, being able to wavedash out of a shine/shield (especially important for spacies) will speed up your game immensely.

Mindgames - Wavedashing/landing lets you control your character's movement in amazing ways, and it opens up movement possibilities that simply can't be done without wavedashing/landing. If you're approaching, you want to keep your opponent guessing, and wavedashing/landing lets you do that.

Watch videos of your favorite characters to see how other people use wavedashing/landing to gain advantages, and incorporate that into your play.

 

[Doc71890]

its all about spacing, whether you want to wavedash away from someone whose attacking to get a better vantage point, or wavedashing OoS towards them to grab punish

 

[Flics]

1) Out of shield.
-Either to get a grab; Marth Fsmashes your shield, wavedash out grab.
-To put yourself in a better position, like behind the player
-Or if you see them approaching, but have enough time to wavedash out of shield instead of shielding the hit; I see a fox approaching high, I assume he's going to aerial, I'm in my shield currently, I wavedash back -> Dtilt where he lands.

2) On/off platforms.
-Allows for full range of aerials in both directions
-Also implement wavelanding, it's a different way to approach, keep your opponent guessing; instead of always jumping -> aerial/running at them -> attack, you waveland, basically gives you a different height for your aerials.

3) To approach.
-If your character has good tilts that you cannot perform out of a run, wavedashing will allow you to approach quicker than walking into it.
-You also have full range of motion for any of your attacks, as opposed to having to wait to crouch cancel -> smash/dtilt.

4) To retreat/avoid attacks.
-If you know, or even think, your opponent is approaching in a certain way, wavedash back -> anything

5) To grab the ledge.
-Very simple, yet very effective, I can't tell you how many ledgehogs I've gotten due to this. If you want to take it 1 step further (and you should) quickly, VERY quickly, tap down (and let go quickly) as soon as you're off of the stage and you'll grab onto the ledge extremely fast, this closes the window for you to be hit by a recovery.


I would stress that the most important use for wavedashing is out of shield.
If you ever no longer need to shield, and need to move forward or backwards, wavedash out instead of letting go of shield, then running to where you need to be.
It's extremely effective.

Also some advice, don't get discouraged if you get punished for missing wavedashes, you can't get better at them if you don't practice. Spam them in friendlies till you are 100% consistent with them then you can focus more on 'playing smart'. There are steps that you need to take to get better, some times these steps lead down, but it's all toward a higher goal.

How often you wavedash/waveland is going to depend on your character, and the playstyle you want to have. Characters like jiggs/peach/DK/bowser really don't wavedash much (but out of shield is used by everyone), and significantly less than characters like luigi/samus/falco/fox (shinedash)

Some things to remember:
There is a time during the wavedash in which you cannot do anything, so in a tight spot if you can walk instead, go for it.
Wavedashing will not automatically win you matches, most likely people you use to do better against you will start to do worse with because you're attention will be focused more on wavedashing, this is common and a necessary direction for you to head in, and after you're comfortable with wavedashing you'll have a lot more options to play around with than if you didn't. Don't get discouraged.
Wavedash OUT OF SHIELD. <<<<<<<<<<<
Since you play falco (below) learn to wavedash out of your shine, allows you to cover more options than if you always jump out of it.

This is golden! it took me about a 6 months to figure out when to wavedash. Before then, I would use it for literally anything. I pretty much substituted it for dash/run so much so the point where it looked silly and i would be constantly punished for it. The input is second nature now though.

 

[iAmMatt]

I think one of the most important ways to use wavedashing is spacing. Wavedash back is useful for spacing yourself from your opponent and your approaches.