When to use Spot Dodges? Can it become a bad habit?

[Weeman]

So i've noticed that a lot of players that give me the most trouble online are the ones who s spot dodge after every action they do making it harder for me to punish a lot of the attacks they throw.
However i've seen that these players can also be work around by reading their spot dodges and using tilts or jabs to punish instead, but spot dodging as a whole is something that still gives me trouble a lot of the time against more experienced players, who use it less often but more effectively, and can basically play "matador" with me, baiting me by doing something that seems punishable and then just spot dodging afterwards.

Spot dodging as a whole it's something that has always persuade me in previous smashes, i almost never use it, so my questions are as follows:

-In wich situations should i think of spot dodging?
-Should i do it often?
-How to practice it so that it can become something natural?

 

[chainmaillekid]

I don't think spot dodging is really something you need to practice.

Once you spot, the fun don't stop.
or something...

Just do a couple matches where you say "Ok, before I shield anything, I'm going to try to spot dodge first."

After like 20 seconds, you'll be all "Holy cow, this is effective as crap!"

And then you'll start doing it all the time.

Then you'll realize that you have a problem.

 

[Raijinken]

It's rather like every other kind of dodging. Certain attacks will punish it better than others (for instance, every sort of multi-hit move will destroy a spot dodge upon its end). It's a matter of anticipating it or having options that cover it. As for it becoming natural, that comes with time (especially if you like to play relatively risky and use a shorter-duration spot dodge to get around that Falcon Punch). It's a rather aggressive dodge, typically meant for a followup rather than a reset to neutral.

Just remember that anything done too often becomes predictable. I've been spot-dodging since it existed, and it's started biting me as players recognize my tendency and just delay their punish for a moment.

 

[YELLO]

spot dodging is fail against multi-hit moves, like megaman's top spin or zelda's up smash