Who are your secondaries for Pika's bad matchups?

[Uncle Honey]

More of a subcategory to this thread, I am more interested in whom everyone here is actually playing as their secondary versus what counter character choices would be ideal.

Did you choose the correct answer and play Villager for Luigi or are you trying to make something else work because Villager's playstyle is does not cater to you? Are you playing a character you personally like who just happens to go even or better against Pika's matchups? As it stands now, the most questionable matchups in no particular order (to avoid matchup discussions) are as follows: Luigi, Sheik, Ness, Fox, Yoshi, Mario. Some of these characters you might not agree Pikachu has trouble with, but they have been discussed enough for me to add them. Try not to turn this into a character specific matchup discussion.

 

[The_Devious]

i secondaryto cover and

 

[Jmacz]

for
for
for
for

Luigi is obviously the toughest MU, I picked up Roy because I beat my friends Luigi first game I tried Roy so I've been learning him ever since. Still not very good with him in any other MU. I was okay with the Mario MU for a while but recently starting struggling, I tried Charizard on a whim after having him as a secondary forever and had a lot of success. I'm actually starting to really enjoy Charizard now. And the only reason Kirby is here is because I enjoy playing him so much, I'm not to great with him without customs but I still like the Shiek MU slightly better with him than Pika. As for Villager and Shulk, it's not that I don't like those MU's (though good Shulks can be tricky) it's just way to much fun to play those MU's as Kirby. Being able to Pocket Villagers stuff and use Monado Kirby is so much fun. Greninja is really only for annoying FG Little Macs. I mained him on 3DS so I got really good at back-throw->back-air->Hydro Pump to gimp Macs at like 0%.

 

[atv1992]

Just Ness for Rosalina, jk Ness gets destroyed.

But I do have a Ness for Luigi, Ness (debatable since Pikachu vs Ness is kinda even but stressful for both the Ness and Pikachu player) and maybe Fox. I think Pikachu has the lead or even matchups against most of the cast including Sheik, that's why I love him so much c:

 

[Ritronaut]

ZSS, beats luigi and heavyweights (personal struggle, I do awful vs. heavyweights for some reason)

 

[smokebomb12]

This is going to sound stupid, but I use Link if I can't win with Pikachu (you'd be surprised). But I also use ZSS.

 

[NachoThePikachu]

^ Similarly, I use Toon Link for matchups I tend to struggle with (Not necessarily for MUs Pikachu struggles with, just I myself as a pikachu player struggles with.) :3

 

[Angiance]

Pikachu actually does not have bad MUs

 

[Uncle Honey]

Pikachu actually does not have bad MUs

He just has harder than average matchups.

In any case, it seems like none of you main a secondary purposefully to counter other characters--only to cover characters you personally are not good at fighting with pikachu. Interesting.

 

[M15t3R E]

I use ZSS. She covers unfavorable MUs like Luigi, Mario and Rosalina (she may not be a bad MU but I hate fighting her with Pikachu).

 

[homiedixon]

Usually when I struggle, its against charcters you wouldnt expect. In general my Luigi and Ness matches are prett even, but when it comes to characters like Zelda I cant approach. I play way too aggressively, mostly because I play games to have fun and not run away to plant a tree or something.

and (not so much due to his lackluster sword range) I'll use or , even now I cant decide which I prefer.

and just get stomped by (if for some reason couldnt get it done), althogh Lucas is a bit tougher because he has the tether grab to get the ledge.

Against any other character (excluding ), I use

Against I just give up, I hate it so much haha

 

[FUEGO!]

Until the hammer comes down, Sheik is the answer, IMO. I'd rather just solo main Pikachu though because he actually seems viable that way more so that many other characters because of his match-up spread.

 

[Uncle Honey]

Until the hammer comes down, Sheik is the answer, IMO. I'd rather just solo main Pikachu though because he actually seems viable that way more so that many other characters because of his match-up spread.

I picked up this tidbit of advice from the Charizard secondary thread. They said it is dangerous to second a character who is better than the main because eventually, the player will become attracted to the matchup advantages. "We have lost a few zard mains that way." It was pretty funny, though the difference in matchups between zard/sheik and pika/sheik are not quite as large.

 

[Emuchu]

I always struggle in those match-ups where Pikachu can get boxed-out due to his range, so for the Mario Bros. and against the Swordies, I gravitate towards Roy, since he has a similar rush-down / feint-and-punish mentality. I was big on : Ike before, but playing a heavy is a struggle in many match-ups, and I want a pair of characters who can each hold their own against anyone.

 

[FUEGO!]

I picked up this tidbit of advice from the Charizard secondary thread. They said it is dangerous to second a character who is better than the main because eventually, the player will become attracted to the matchup advantages. "We have lost a few zard mains that way." It was pretty funny, though the difference in matchups between zard/sheik and pika/sheik are not quite as large.

haha, i suppose that advice was before I realized that Pika is played better as a solo main. I orignally had a Sheik JUST for the ditto when i played Luigi, and then ended up just playing Sheik, which made me feel cheap ( I just can't play her with a good Conscious). This led me to think about Pika, because he was my secondary to Luigi back on 3ds.

 

[Tyranitarphantom]

Pika only has a few bad matchups, those being the few characters who can out-frame data him. That only leaves Sheik, Luigi, Mario, and possibly Ness (I think Pika-Ness is even, but it could sway slightly in either's favor). Pika has one of the best Sheik matchups in the game, so you can't really have a secondary to cover Sheik. Mario is a pretty bad matchup, but no worse than 60-40 Mario's favor. If you're looking for a counterpick for Mario, Zero Suit Samus is probably your best bet. Like Pika, Mario doesn't have many bad matchups, but ZSS is said to be one of his hardest (probably akin to how Luigi is Pika's worst matchup, but not unwinnable). ZSS also beats Luigi, which is good, because sometimes I feel like Pika-Luigi is so hard that Pika players need a secondary for Luigi. Sheik also beats Luigi, but if you're playing Sheik, you may as well main her. Rosalina also beats Luigi, and I like playing her more than ZSS or Sheik, so I use her for the Luigi matchup. Rosa is also known for being one big reason why Ness isn't viable as a solo main at top levels, so I could use her for Ness too, if I felt like it.

 

[Charmander]

I find playing as is a fun option. Makes life against and a little easier.
was never an issue for me as to be honest, I sorta enjoy the matchup. is a bigger issue for me..

 

[Gibbs]

My secondary is . Even though I think he doesn't cover any better than pika, I think he provides something more important than match-up coverage to pika mains. He is a high tier who allows for a different tempo of play when my is playing poorly. The solid kill options, and great survivability makes yoshi a character with more tolerance for mistake than pika. You can get hit or grabbed and not die super early. Really helpful to me as a psychological crutch, knowing I can bust out the yoshi if I get sloppy with pika.

 

[iVoltage]

since she's broken and fun. Plus she helps with since luma breaks out of grabs and fireballs are useless.

 

[RunawayPanda]

I mainly only struggle in the Luigi MU, so I use Rosaluma to cover that

 

[Underhill]

: I would switch to Luigi if its a must since I have trouble with that MU as Pikachu.
: , , or for me since I do better with that MU than my , , and.
: I'll go for (mostly) or .

 

[Uncle Honey]

It seems like the average consensus between those of you who choose a secondary competitively is Rosaluma to cover the matchups I listed in OP. Granted Rosaluma likely covers them better sauf Sheik, why not play ZSS?

 

[Principe Momopato]

i use her because luigi can`t combo her and i use because he can do good things against sheik

 

[Dokokashira]

I use Yoshi for the lag MU. Pikachu's worst matchup is lag... seriously, he gets BODIED by lag!

On a serious note, I more play Pikachu to cover the bad (or at least difficult for me) matchups of my main, Dr. Mario, rather than the other way around. Some of the matchups I often use Pikachu over Dr. Mario in are Sonic, Meta Knight, Pit, Peach, and Greninja. If the matchup is generally even between all of my characters, I'll switch between Dr. Mario, Pikachu, and my other secondary, Mii Gunner, based on how confident I am with each of them and my opponent's playstyle. Most of the time, though, I'll default to Dr. Mario.

There are a few matchups where I would never or rarely use Pikachu, though, like the aforementioned Luigi, Ness, and Fox, as well as power characters like Bowser, Donkey Kong, Little Mac, and Captain Falcon. Even though in theory I should do well against heavyweights, most of the time I don't since they have huge range in comparison to me, and securing the KO is a weakness of both myself and Pikachu. This leads to my opponent living upwards of 150%, and me dying at 70%... which isn't very good!

 

[Armistice]

Surprised no one has said Wario yet. I don't secondary him personally, but I think he does well against Luigi and Rosa, and is even against the Onett Boys

 

[G. Stache]

This is only speculation (as I'm still on the fence about using pikachu). But, in theory, a core of ,/ and could work. Roy and Yoshi are both mainly there for rosa (I always have an easy time with her when I'm either these two characters) but I prefer yoshi as I feel as if he does decently against the Onett men, Pika takes care of sheik and has an okay time against ZSS, and Luigi takes care of everything else since he's my personal main (in theory, pika and Luigi can swap roles since pika doesn't have any really bad threats and Luigi could be used just for anyone that pika/yoshi/Roy(didn't forget about him, did we?) don't enjoy fighting. Again, this is mostly speculation, but I find that cores like this make it so you don't have to spend time perfecting 5 characters, but you still have good MUs across the board with your chosen core. Feel free to correct my thinking, as I only know the statistics, and haven't really gotten out to testing pika too drastically

 

[Spiralviper]

and are both mains of mine. I pocket , , and I'm looking into .

This set covers most character types. Gren and Pika cover most match-ups as well. (except for and)

 

[hotdogtaco4321]

I use because I like how he plays and he doesn't do too bad against most characters. I also use him when I have to play defensive because I can't play defensively