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What mains and secondaries compliment each other best?

Blarg I'm Dead

Blarg I'm Dead

Smash Apprentice
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Sep 1, 2005
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105
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Colorado State University
This sparked my interest as I'm a Marth main. My Fox, Falco, Captain Falcon, and Sheik are also pretty solid, but Marth isn't as strong as he used to be in today's metagame, much like Sheik from back in the early 2000's.

It seems that Fox/Falco/Jiggs/Sheik are a good bit better than Marth, Peach, Falcon, Samus, Ganon, etc. To the point where using any character besides the first 4 makes some fights uphill.

So what are the best main/secondary combinations? I'm not looking for "Space animal/Sheik lol" responses, but rather an intelligent discussion on which characters can cover each other's weaknesses.
 
Krynxe

Krynxe

I can't pronounce it either
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As a puff main, I find learning the matchups and stop being a ****** who uses secondaries as a good alternative.

In all seriousness though, only lower tiered mains need secondaries
 
twizzlerj

twizzlerj

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jul 30, 2011
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Freehold NJ
I am trying to make fox my main but sheik and marth seem to be easier for me but yea should probably practice one preferably a top tier character and stick with them.
 
Kal

Kal

Smash Champion
Joined
Dec 21, 2004
Messages
2,973
Ideally, you want a secondary who does the following:

1) Compliments your main's matchups by addressing his weaknesses
2) Has matchup weaknesses addressed by your main
3) Covers the stages on which your main is weak

The first two criteria can be summarized as "combined, your mains cover all of the matchups." The third criterion is the least important and, given the tendency to scrubbily ban all of the non-starter stages anyway, is becoming even less important as time progresses. The idea, anyway, is to ensure that you will never be completely screwed by any stage choice.

Marth/Fox is a classic, though an easy methodology for choosing a secondary is to observe your main's bad matchups and simply choose a secondary who covers the most of those. The only issue with this is when your secondary actually does better on every (or nearly every) matchup, which is the case if you do something like Link/Fox.
 
Zodiac

Zodiac

Smash Master
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Aug 10, 2005
Messages
3,557
you main marth? you dont need a secondary, sheik can give you some problems but you just have work a little harder on that match up, but the ideal secondary for marth is fox, in fact fox is the ideal secondary for any main.
 
Divinokage

Divinokage

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It's easier to be technically consistent with Falco than Fox so I disagree with you Zodiac. Also, Falco barely has bad match-ups.
 
Strong Badam

Strong Badam

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Marth: Loses to Sheik, arguably has tough match-ups against ICs, Puff, Falco, and Falcon (all of those can easily be argued as even too)
Fox sounds like a decent char to choose in any of those match-ups, though I'd rather be Marth against Falco.
 
Jonas

Jonas

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Aug 21, 2008
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Aarhus, Denmark, Europe
Sheik and Marth compliment each other well.

Sheik: "What a lovely tiara you have, Marth. How nicely it suits you!"
Marth: "Why thank you, Sheik! Tell me, have you recently been at the hairdresser? I absolutely love your haircut!"
 
mesa23

mesa23

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Joined
Mar 19, 2011
Messages
248
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Miami, FL
Jonas said:
Sheik and Marth compliment each other well.

Sheik: "What a lovely tiara you have, Marth. How nicely it suits you!"
Marth: "Why thank you, Sheik! Tell me, have you recently been at the hairdresser? I absolutely love your haircut!"
Click to expand...
LOOOOOL well played
 
ERayz

ERayz

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Lachute, QC
Jonas said:
Sheik and Marth compliment each other well.

Sheik: "What a lovely tiara you have, Marth. How nicely it suits you!"
Marth: "Why thank you, Sheik! Tell me, have you recently been at the hairdresser? I absolutely love your haircut!"
Click to expand...
LOL one of the best posts I've read, ever

(of course, it's not as good as that post in the John thread)
 
Blistering Speed

Blistering Speed

Smash Champion
Joined
Mar 18, 2008
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Dot Dot Dash Dot
Fox/Falco can stand on their own, w/ less technically demanding secondary if necessary.
Puff can stand on her own barring maybe Fox, go with Falco/Marth as your preference. Pick any other top tier if you really want to destroy slightly problematic lower tier matchups.
Sheik has issue with Puff and IC's, therefore Fox.
Marth has issue with Puff, Sheik and maybe Falcon. Fox/Falco/Puff as your preference.

The rest have too many character issues with the above to effectively describe a secondary, without recommending you replace the primary.
 
KirbyKaze

KirbyKaze

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To be honest, you don't really need a secondary if you're playing one of the top 8 or so characters (except maybe if you're Ice Climbers and want something easier vs Peach, in which case I recommend Sheik). But if insist on character combinations, it's a cliche answer but Marth & Fox is still a classic and really strong. Fox & Sheik is really strong too. Sheik & Peach is pretty effective in my experience. Falco & Fox is also pretty classic and strong.

Honestly, most top characters have one, maybe two matchups that are vaguely uncomfortable. Marth's MU with Sheik, for instance (significantly worse than the rest of his MUs vs the other characters, so it is tempting to switch for her). So as long as your secondary counters that (or those, I guess) MU then it's a fairly strong combination.

I don't know anything about mid tiers or low tiers to comment on them critically.
 
Divinokage

Divinokage

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Wait, what? Torture? I never viewed playing either of those as torture, it's freaking fun owning people with these guys. I wouldn't have it any other way.
 
Tee ay eye

Tee ay eye

Smash Hero
Joined
Jun 1, 2008
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Location
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Peach and Sheik

If your main fails to make everyone hate this game
Your secondary will
 
GhllieShdeKnife

GhllieShdeKnife

Smash Ace
Joined
Jan 21, 2010
Messages
687
puff>peach for making your opponents h8 this game
and sorry about different topic
i think shiek and Ic's is a good complement of matchups but shiek is too boring
pocket marth, pocket puff
 
Rickety

Rickety

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San Diego Love! ♥
It's already been mentioned a lot, but it's true: Marth and Fox is a classic example of complimentary characters.

Marth and Sheik were, at least back when Marth was widely considered to be a solid (if not hard) counter to Fox and Falco, a very solid combination for tournaments.

Sheik and Dr. Mario have always proven to be a popular choice in Japan, although I'm not sure how much, if any, of the difference in our meta-games should be attributed to Dr. Mario's much higher use over there.

I'm embarrassingly behind the times and not at all up to date with today's playing field, but one thing that I think I can safely assume is that today's gameplay much more technical than it was in the past, and that has helped to even out and sometimes outright reverse many of the match-ups. Match-ups that used to be considered incredibly difficult (like Marth versus Sheik) or even near impossible (Falcon versus Ice Climbers) have come a very long way from where they used to be.

Although it can be frustrating at times trying to keep up with the new speed of tournament play (my rustiness surely doesn't help, either), it has been immensely satisfying for me to be able to look at the results at national tournaments over the last year or two and see so much character diversity at the top level. This game seems to only get better with age! <3
 
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