What are the best ways to approach with Kirby?

[RedfishX]

YES. I have searched the forum. NO. I did not find anything very useful. (only thing in the stickied guide was fair was an "Okay approach")

I have thought of these, and I want to know which is the best.

Fairs
Bairs
Short-hopped Dairs
Short-hopped Hammers
Shield & Grab
Final Cutter Spam


What is the best way to approach with Kirby? I've experimented, and I can't find one that's perfect for me.

 

[giuocob]

I used the airdodge-buffered grab a lot. Works well because the opponent usually expects a Dair or Fair when you SH, and instead he gets grabbed.

Kirby also has a pretty good dash attack. Can't forget that one.

 

[TwilightKirby]

Retreating Bairs are probably the best for both offense and defense.

Throwing in a dash attack every now and then works really well since people tend to spotdodge or only shield for a few hits not realizing how many hits it has. (mindgames )

SH inhale actually is useful to mix in as well as if the opponent expects an aerial he will shield and if you are close enough he will go into your mouth and you get a free 10% from starshot.

Fair is ok but I think bair is generally better, though fair I like when my opponent is in the middle of an airdodge or spot dodge since it has multiple hits.

Again, dair is probably only useful to do every once in awhile to catch an opponent off guard.

Grab would probably be about as useful as the retreating bairs, especially at the early percents as it is highly rewarding damage wise.

I prefer to approach by mixing all of the possible ways I can approach together in order to be unpredictable. Retreating bairs and grabs/ shield grabs are probably the two I prefer to use the most. But I always mix in all of kirby's other moves every now and then as well.

Of course you can just try to see what works for you and do that. Really the best approach depends on the character and the persons playstyle, there isn't really one approach that always works. Just know all of the options available to you and see what works in general and what is especially effective on the specific person you are playing as well.

 

[SpikeSpiegel19]

It depends on ur opponent and their playing style, u can use a lot of things but generically Bair is best

 

[TwilightKirby]

It depends on ur opponent and their playing style, u can use a lot of things but generically Bair is best

Summary of my wall of text

 

[SpikeSpiegel19]

lol i was like did he right how to approach against every character??? JK

 

[TuigiX]

Cutter wont help you approach (it's mainly used for the opposite effect) and SH hammer has too much recovery and should practically never be used.
go with your SH Fair and SH Bair

 

[Krii]

what's a buffer? T.T
Is it when you input a command for something while another action is happening?

 

[Tomato Kirby]

Krii, you are right; there IS a buffering system in this game (which I forgot about). It comes after an air dodge.


Moving on, I approach with a short-hopped b-air, dashing shield (to grab, u-tilt, or jumo), a short-hopped air dodge, and an occassional short-hopped f-air. I would dare to say these are the better approaches.

 

[ES Lite]

mind game them, if they expect you to do a SH dair or something, SH, and jump again, try to space out with fair and bair. Hammer is too loaggy imo, dair is expected a lot, so most of the time, i use about 3 or 4 jumps just to get a fair or dair on my foe.

 

[GhettoSheep]

Dont use a final cutter, you're just going to get punished and it won't be pretty. I really like repeated bairs. But kirby's grab range is ridiculous and running shield grabs are always a great and fast approach that can lead into a ton of damage. Somebody already touched on the dash attack that people always get hit by when they think its over. But nobody touched on retreating fairs. Say if you know your opponent is going to SH an aerial at you, try a retreating fair once in a while. It has decent range, a lot of hits, and can often stuff an attack if you time it right.

EDIT: The best solution is just mindgames. Keep mixing it up, Kirby has a lot of options

 

[B.A.M.]

what would you guys do to approach say a rob for instance? my friend always just spot dodges + down smashes everytime i attempt to approach in that manner.

 

[TwilightKirby]

If you know he is going to spotdodge then just predict the timing of the spotdodge to punish or use something like kirbys jab or inhale so that he gets effected as soon as the spotdodge ends.

 

[SkaManifesto]

what would you guys do to approach say a rob for instance? my friend always just spot dodges + down smashes everytime i attempt to approach in that manner.

With characters liek rob who have punishing down smashes, DO NOT approach with dash->smash, you will get down smashed fo sho. Also you do not want to do the good ole dair->f-smash because if they sheild you will again be down smashed. What you want to do is to approach with full dashes, do not start too soon or you will be down smashed. Also aerials like SH bair are possible, just make sure that you DI away from his d-smash when your landing. But the thing i found to most effective towrads characters like this is to really work the hell outta kirby's tilts, which if blocked, give you time to shield before the dsmash. Try to use ftilt instead of fsmash, and up tilt for attacking behidn you instead of using a backwards f smash. Also if you do you kirbycombos, be aware that they will not work as well on rob beause of his semi-floaty nature. A good combo to do opposed to the grab-fthrow, uair, grab f throw (this will not work for the second time your try to grab with charracters liek rob.) Instead, you want to do grab-> f-throw -> uair -> pivot when you land and do a utilt. Then, if possible, do a bair, you might have to SH. Thats basically what i can tell you about ROB.

 

[jiovanni007]

Bast approach byfar is the SHbair. Very high priority, decent knockback, good range, no momentum shift (meaning you can easily approach and retreat to avoid shield grabs), can be somewhat chained into each other at low %, and low start-up, cooldown, and landing lag.

SH nair is also pretty decent as well, but not as good as the bair at time. It doesn't have as much range, but it does have a hitbox that lingers for a deceptively long time and almost no landing lag. I prefer to chain them into dtilts with the hopes of a sweep (not as reliable as Zelda, but still a decent chance) that can give me a free fsmash.

Dair is good when you know your opponent is going to get hit, or if their shield is not at full capacity. If you catch someone off guard with an autocanceled dair, its easy to follow up with a ftilt or grab to keep the damage going up. The downside is that afresh shield will oftentimes "lock" you in place and allow for the opponent to shield grab you. The upside of this is that if the shield is not very fresh, the last hit has a large chance of shield stabbing them and knocking them back which still gives you a chance to grab them. Another downside is that because his feet are pointed downwards, if the opponent is also in the air they will more than likely hit you.

 

[whut?]

what everyone else said is pretty HXC, but theyre forgetting about double jumped dAir to sideB combo, its pretty hard to get off but is impossible to escape.
look at 0:39 of this match, i got it off for the first KO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzuNtljnzB8