I've been playing Fox for a while now and I've learned the majority of the techniques and can do most of them consistently. The only ones I don't really use are shine bairs and SHDL because it hurts my hand and it's easier for me to avoid punishment with full hop triple lasers and SHLs. My question is, what makes the difference between a good Fox player and just a mediocre Fox player who can use all his techs? Obviously spacing and DI play a large role along with other factors but what other things can I learn to get the competitive edge over my opponent? How can I make my Fox the best that he can be?
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What makes a Fox player good?
- Thread starter Tyr_03
- Start date
This is my opinion.
I'm not a fox player, and it will take alot of playing before i ever commit to being a fox player; becaues being a good fox player isnt really about what YOU do, but what you avoid.
Unlike alot of games (read, a majority of the competitive fighting games), the reason why fox is top tier is because of what he himself does to other characters, not what other characters cant do to him.
Without all the wraparound wording, what im basically saying is; being a good fox means you can avoid getting *****.
Why do i say that? Because every fox "main" under the sun can do most of the techs they need to do, SHDL, waveshine, drillshine, etc etc. Hell, even the garbage people who couldnt beat their mom with fox (read: me) can do that stuff. But the reason why people wind up being mediocre with fox is because they dont know how to not get grabbed, and how to not get comboed; which is what it takes to be good.
Somewhere around half the cast can chaingrab fox from 0-death. 90% of the cast can COMBO fox for 0-death (although you have to look at ridiculously good people to find it in lower tiers, it IS possible). What that means is, it doesnt matter how man JC shines you can do on somebody's shields, you have to know when and where to do it so you dont get grabbed.
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Basically it amounts to this; 90% of the people you play in this game are mediocre fox players. Heck, im a mediocre fox player. Bare minimum, all you need tech wise is some form of lasers, grab, and upsmash; everything else is icing on the cake. What makes you a good fox player is when you know how to do all the stuff and not rocked, because EVERYBODY knows how to fight a fox, and everybody has things they can do against fox, usually resulting in fox getting gimped or something of that effect.
I'm not a fox player, and it will take alot of playing before i ever commit to being a fox player; becaues being a good fox player isnt really about what YOU do, but what you avoid.
Unlike alot of games (read, a majority of the competitive fighting games), the reason why fox is top tier is because of what he himself does to other characters, not what other characters cant do to him.
Without all the wraparound wording, what im basically saying is; being a good fox means you can avoid getting *****.
Why do i say that? Because every fox "main" under the sun can do most of the techs they need to do, SHDL, waveshine, drillshine, etc etc. Hell, even the garbage people who couldnt beat their mom with fox (read: me) can do that stuff. But the reason why people wind up being mediocre with fox is because they dont know how to not get grabbed, and how to not get comboed; which is what it takes to be good.
Somewhere around half the cast can chaingrab fox from 0-death. 90% of the cast can COMBO fox for 0-death (although you have to look at ridiculously good people to find it in lower tiers, it IS possible). What that means is, it doesnt matter how man JC shines you can do on somebody's shields, you have to know when and where to do it so you dont get grabbed.
__
Basically it amounts to this; 90% of the people you play in this game are mediocre fox players. Heck, im a mediocre fox player. Bare minimum, all you need tech wise is some form of lasers, grab, and upsmash; everything else is icing on the cake. What makes you a good fox player is when you know how to do all the stuff and not rocked, because EVERYBODY knows how to fight a fox, and everybody has things they can do against fox, usually resulting in fox getting gimped or something of that effect.
MarsFool!
Smash Lord
Shut up dogy >_>;
<3 jk
A good fox player is one that wins. Nuf said.
<3 jk
A good fox player is one that wins. Nuf said.
GOTM
Smash Champion
just play a lot of people, attend a lot of tournaments, try as many new things as possible and see what works.
good play in this game starts with smarts. tech skill adds more options, but if your smart, you can beat anyone
good play in this game starts with smarts. tech skill adds more options, but if your smart, you can beat anyone
Shai Hulud
Smash Lord
I think as far as techs being able to shffle nairs really well and never missing l-cancels are the most important things. A perfectly shffled nair is not really punishable by anybody. But if you are sloppy and don't fast fall it you can get CCd by characters like Peach, or if you miss the L-cancel you'll get dsmashed for massive damage. You also need to be able to recover quickly from the edge and you need to be able to do large amounts of damage once you get a hit in. When you get a grab on lots of characters, if you miss the uthrow uair you are forfeiting large amounts of damage and a positional advantage. Technical things like SHDL and drillshines aren't so important, because you can do almost as well without them by SHL, and as far as drillshines go you really just need to be able to wavedash into a grab or something.
I started out playing Fox how a lot of people do, just trying to do difficult stuff all the time and playing like an idiot. Since then I've toned my game down to the essentials and I've gotten a lot better. I still do technical things, but only when they actually help. For instance thunder's combo is very useful and I don't find it difficult anymore. It's just become part of my game. But drillshine infinites on the other hand I don't even bother attempting, because any good player will smash DI one of the drill hits by the second or third drillshine ending your "infinite" for less damage than you would have gotten by a simple drillshine to grab to uthrow uair.
Basically, try to play like PC Chris, not Silent Wolf (no offense to Silent Wolf, it's just most people trying to play like him will do awful in tournaments).
I started out playing Fox how a lot of people do, just trying to do difficult stuff all the time and playing like an idiot. Since then I've toned my game down to the essentials and I've gotten a lot better. I still do technical things, but only when they actually help. For instance thunder's combo is very useful and I don't find it difficult anymore. It's just become part of my game. But drillshine infinites on the other hand I don't even bother attempting, because any good player will smash DI one of the drill hits by the second or third drillshine ending your "infinite" for less damage than you would have gotten by a simple drillshine to grab to uthrow uair.
Basically, try to play like PC Chris, not Silent Wolf (no offense to Silent Wolf, it's just most people trying to play like him will do awful in tournaments).
Shai Hulud
Smash Lord
I didn't say that he isn't smart, just that most people who try to play like him are not, and that trying to play that technical in match is probably not a good idea unless you're actually SW.
Yeah I get your point Shai Hulud. I tend to do a lot better if I use SHDLs and the like sparingly (and mostly to taunt my opponent) and do easier tricks like simply running behind them and doing a foward smash more often. I'm definetly not even close to Silent Wolf for technical skill. Thanks for the help.
RaynEX
Colonel RTSD
Tech skill isn't fundamental in advanced fox play. All you need to know is how to waveshine, d.i. combos, and shinespike - and chances are you'll be fine.
The key factor, imo, that seperates pros Foxes from the rest, is their ability to think.
Being a technical Fox is hard enough to do. Using your brain to aid in your combos and spacing with Fox is a HUGE plus. Azen beat me in Fox dittos simply by mind-****** me. He isn't by any means a technical Fox. But its literally as if he knows where you're going before you move. That kind of thinking in-game is really really ****ing hard to develop.
The key factor, imo, that seperates pros Foxes from the rest, is their ability to think.
Being a technical Fox is hard enough to do. Using your brain to aid in your combos and spacing with Fox is a HUGE plus. Azen beat me in Fox dittos simply by mind-****** me. He isn't by any means a technical Fox. But its literally as if he knows where you're going before you move. That kind of thinking in-game is really really ****ing hard to develop.