What are some of Villager's traps/mindgames?

[circuspig]

I just recently decided to main Villager and I'm just getting to the point where I'm comfortable with his moveset and I'm now doing 'villager things' instead of figuring out what does what. I've found through my own play that a good 'trap' for overeager players is shorthop > loid > fall with nair, which will catch players trying to run under me after seeing my loid placement clearly being 'incorrect'. What are some other things like this for Villager? I've heard that this is what the character is all about, and I love it. After becoming more acquainted with 'unspoken' games in fighters such as spacing, zoning and footsies/baiting, I've now realized that Villager's moveset is clearly designed around these aspects and I've also noticed these traits in other characters (ROB, Megaman come to mind..), and I've found new love for Smash.


Thanks

 

[circuspig]

Are Villagers not active anymore or what? Villager's great!

 

[trevskeet]

Lloid-wise, I like to throw one out in the midst of an opponent's combo to break it (situational whether to launch it away from the foe or towards, depending where your knockback will lead them); also, practice using the lloid as a counter, especially against swordies. When chasing someone offstage, you can either go for the aggressive combo of launching a lloid towards the blast zone and then either fairing or nairing or axing the foe into it, or, depending their recovery, I like to jump offstage towards them for some pressure and then launch a lloid back towards the ledge so that it might catch them and get a stage spike. Works as a ledge trump, too, to launch a lloid into the stage and they'll pop off into the explosion. Aaaaaand, I haven't much practical use of it myself, opting for more aggressive tactics, but as a ledge trap you can ride a lloid from center stage while pulling on the brakes, hop off at the ledge, and the lloid will continue to slowly drift down below the lip of the stage--you can toss down a bowling ball right after, if you'd like.

Other than that, put in some work with the watering can to gimp recoveries and push foes into growing saplings (especially bouncing Sheiks, you can lock them in their hit frames and push them in. Link's bombs are fun to water as well). You can also use it as a neutral approach for-funsies: the watering can is pretty safe against most attacks, pushing them back and blocking the hit, and you might even time it to land in punish before their attack finishes. (I've not much experience in woodchip combos, but those could definitely come in handy if you wanna study up)

Recovery wise, play around with the balloons--they've got great maneuverability, and offer some protection before and after detaching. Learn to hover, if/when to eject, how to land gracefully, quick turns, and fakeouts with which direction you're facing vs flying. And every now and then, feel free to ride a lloid into the stage and use that boost to grab the ledge--mix up your speed to throw off your ledgeguarding-opponent and you might get a hit in as well. And always know you can fly under stages to the other side!

That's all I've got for now, hope it helps~

 

[circuspig]

Thank you so much! This is what I'm looking for on the Villager boards, big old walls of text. Quick question, would you happen to know any of the resources you learned these things from, and where I could find them? I'm mostly interested in recovery, as that's a bit of a weak point in my Villager.

 

[trevskeet]

No resources, bud, that's all the wisdom I've gained from my own experience playing with Villy. You can either do it in training mode, or hop on FG and mess around. Go in with the mindset of practicing one technique and see how it goes; for example, try one match just using Pocket: learn how to evade your opponent's attacks, explore how B-reversing switches it up, learn which of your foes' moves you can Pocket-dodge and still get a punish after, etc. Next match, try popping your balloons everytime you go for a recovery, just to see how that little boost Villy gets can help you evade a ledgeguard or trump. Keep doing stuff like this and you'll start learning and growing and discovering new tactics to explore.

Then share it with us

 

[Moosseff]

When you shoot a loid, your opponent has 3 general options. Which are sheild it, jump over it, or roll behind it. Depending on the character youre vsing they can jump and throw an aerial that will completely negate an aerial punish, however you can punish on the ground. You just have to know how to punish the options your opponent takes, because every option they take, can be punished.

 

[MagnumMuskox]

Water your sprout only a little bit (by jumping away or running past it what watering it). Then the next time you water it, it will grow instantly. You can plant it near the edge when your opponent is off stage, then they will avoid it like the plague when coming back on. You can drop a bowling ball on them when they roll up, or Fair them when they jump over the sapling (depending on what you've seen them do previously).

 

[circuspig]

Water your sprout only a little bit (by jumping away or running past it what watering it). Then the next time you water it, it will grow instantly. You can plant it near the edge when your opponent is off stage, then they will avoid it like the plague when coming back on. You can drop a bowling ball on them when they roll up, or Fair them when they jump over the sapling (depending on what you've seen them do previously).

Thank you! I was the one that commented on your blog btw. About stage control

 

[MagnumMuskox]

Thank you! I was the one that commented on your blog btw. About stage control

Thanks! That was really encouraging. It's hard to bring up my theories in the forums without them sounding like advertising for my blog, so I tend to just avoid mentioning them. So it's nice to see that it's reaching someone, haha.