What's wrong with maining 2 characters?

[tbird99]

I main marth but I practice fox sometimes. I like marth better but there are some match ups like jigglypuff that I'm bad at. Even though I don't practice nearly as much with fox im better in some of those MUs. I've heard that you should have 2 mains, but can use techniques with fox and not mess up my marth and do combos with both, so why shouldn't i main both of them?

 

[-ACE-]

Anyone who tells you single maining is better than dual maining (or the other way around) is wrong. Everyone is different. Some people do better with one approach and not the other. You have to feel it out over time while playing good players to see what's best for you.

 

[gmBottles]

It isn't necessarily that there's anything wrong with maining 2 characters, it's that you can focus all of your energy into mastering 1 character faster if you are primarily working on them. I recommend for newer players to pick one character and get really good at them first, and learn the basics of Smash, and then pick up and learn any other characters later, after you have a better grasp of the game.
Of course, like Ace said, some people will do better with more characters, and some will not, so it's really up to you to decide what is best for you.

 

[20YY SS | Saiblade]

It's not necessarily bad, it works better for some than others. Though optimally you should be focusing on one character.

 

[MEnKIRBZ]

It's not necessarily bad, it works better for some than others. Though optimally you should be focusing on one character.

This. It is better to have a good handle on 1 character first before you decide to dual main.

 

[AirFair]

Learn the game with one. Whether you dual main or not is up to you. In the long run, mastering one seems to be a good idea, since a lot of the top players did not start dual maining until they were at pro level.

 

[zero sum]

dual-maining isn't necessarily bad -- i just don't think it's very good before a certain point. you're essentially learning how to play two different games at the same time, and that's (generally!) going to impede the development of nuance in your play. however, even though i don't think it's ever the right answer until you can start winning stuff, it's not always the wrong answer for everyone. it also depends on what your ambitions are. few top players get to the top maining more than one character, but if you just want to win a few locals you can probably dual main.

i generally advocate just playing through rougher matchups until you learn them. as someone who spent a lot of time in the early days of my (still very brief) melee career playing samus/dr mario, i realized how important it was to grind through matchups that you either don't know or have a disadvantage in. however, marth/puff is astonishingly underdeveloped and poorly documented (possibly the most underdeveloped one between two top-tiers) and if, through watching videos and grinding it out, you really just can't do the matchup, try playing fox. but definitely put in the effort to learn the mu before thinking about picking up a secondary.

feel free to ignore me though if you want, i'm just some internet scrub lol

 

[Shadow Light Master]

I don't think there's anything wrong with dual maining in the long run, but I think it's a bad idea to begin with, unless you're really talented. As someone pointed out, it's like learning two different games.

You'll have to condition yourself to learn two different short hops, make use of two different wavedash lengths, know two different out of shield options, etc. Since a lot of Melee is based off muscle memory, it can really **** you up.

As someone else pointed out, some pros do dual main, but they start off maining one character first. If you have all the time in the world to spare, go ahead and start maining two right off the bat. But I suggest learning the game with one character first. Once you've mastered your fundamentals, then look at other options.

I'm just a n00b though, so feel free to ignore me. Just know that dual maining from the beginning is going to steepen your learning curve considerably, and you might lose a lot more for a lot longer before you see results.

 

[tbird99]

I don't think there's anything wrong with dual maining in the long run, but I think it's a bad idea to begin with, unless you're really talented. As someone pointed out, it's like learning two different games.

You'll have to condition yourself to learn two different short hops, make use of two different wavedash lengths, know two different out of shield options, etc. Since a lot of Melee is based off muscle memory, it can really **** you up.

As someone else pointed out, some pros do dual main, but they start off maining one character first. If you have all the time in the world to spare, go ahead and start maining two right off the bat. But I suggest learning the game with one character first. Once you've mastered your fundamentals, then look at other options.

I'm just a n00b though, so feel free to ignore me. Just know that dual maining from the beginning is going to steepen your learning curve considerably, and you might lose a lot more for a lot longer before you see results.

Adjusting to the different wave dash can be difficult but short hopping usually isn't a problem because I've been using both of them since I started playing and I learned how to short hop with fox early on. At my level the only problems I have are wavedashing and neutral game because I approach with marth using a rising fair but I use a normal shffl with fox. I don't think that using fox will impact my edgeguarding with marth because they're so different that I can't mix them up. But I also am not that good with marth and even worse with fox so I'll probably still have some problems later on.

 

[TheBeggies]

Hey man i feel you my main is Marth, Sheik and Fox are my secondaries, i wanted to dual main marth and fox too but i'm not a pro player so i think it's better if i stay with marth as my only main aha maybe you should improve your marth first and then try to main fox? That's what i'm doing right now and i think it's the best way to go

 

[tbird99]

Hey man i feel you my main is Marth, Sheik and Fox are my secondaries, i wanted to dual main marth and fox too but i'm not a pro player so i think it's better if i stay with marth as my only main aha maybe you should improve your marth first and then try to main fox? That's what i'm doing right now and i think it's the best way to go

I've been using marth since I was a casual and all of the time I've played competitive (like 4 months) so I'm pretty good with marth and I can do pretty much every marth technique and the only things I really need to work on are things I can't really practice without playing people. I mainly practice with fox now because I don't have that much I can improve with marth by practicing on my own.

 

[EPsilon933]

If you're going to practice technique on your own, you're going to improve fastest with technical characters. With non technical ones, there's simply less abilities you can practice (or depend on, in other words)

 

[TheBeggies]

I've been using marth since I was a casual and all of the time I've played competitive (like 4 months) so I'm pretty good with marth and I can do pretty much every marth technique and the only things I really need to work on are things I can't really practice without playing people. I mainly practice with fox now because I don't have that much I can improve with marth by practicing on my own.

Okok if you're practicing on your own, i guess practicing another main is good and just wondering, since you use marth and fox as i do, have you ever used sheik??

 

[tbird99]

Okok if you're practicing on your own, i guess practicing another main is good and just wondering, since you use marth and fox as i do, have you ever used sheik??

I have not used sheik before, only marth, fox, and Kirby

 

[eviljoeybonkers]

There's nothing wrong with dual maining, but I suggest starting to dual main once you mastered your first main.

 

[Twinkles]

Dual maining can be a trap to newer players. You learn very specific tools to win MUs you like with your characters and then falter when you play someone who can play around your limited toolkit. Learning how to play a matchup you are initially uncomfortable with is a excellent way to get more insight into the game.