Why does The Moon use N-air so much?

[Blu19]

I constantly hear that using N-air as Marth in neutral is a bad idea in most situations. Yet, whenever I watch The Moon I see him throw it out quite often. A criticism of The Moon I've heard is that his neutral isn't the best, so is this just an extension of that? It just seems strange because he's one of the best Marths in the business and gets good results. Is there something he does with N-air that makes it better to throw out in neutral or is this just a bad habit on The Moon's part?

 

[Wafflesaurus]

I think most of the time he uses nair as a "get off of me" move or to catch people jumping. He also uses it to approach sometimes and that's when he gets punished for doing it.
Right now I'm kinda busy but you should check out some of his games and see when he uses it and why.

 

[20YY SS | Saiblade]

It's not a bad move, people just don't apply it well all too often. There are tons of uses, and what @waffle said is definitely one of them.

 

[FE_Hector]

Nair isn't a bad move, but it's pretty obvious when somebody is coming in with a nair on an approach, which is why you hear people saying not to use it too much. It's an excellent move (largely due to its KB) for catching people in the air or on platforms, so you could easily use it for either of those purposes. The "NEVER NAIR ON APPROACH" mindset isn't the best one to have imo. Even though it's obvious (due to jump distance) when you're using nair as an approach, not everybody knows or will expect it, so it can be extremely useful. PPMD uses it a fair bit, too.

 

[KevJames]

I notice a lot that when the Moon whiffs a spaced d-tilt, he uses nair to stuff any approaches that are meant to punish him. I can see why he does it because it covers different levels within different timeframes. The first hit of nair can cover a short hop approach, while the second hit of nair can cover a ground approach. But I feel like fair could work just as well, if not better.

 

[FE_Hector]

I notice a lot that when the Moon whiffs a spaced d-tilt, he uses nair to stuff any approaches that are meant to punish him. I can see why he does it because it covers different levels within different timeframes. The first hit of nair can cover a short hop approach, while the second hit of nair can cover a ground approach. But I feel like fair could work just as well, if not better.

It may be that he knows the nair better than he knows fair. A lot of people don't fully understand nair, but they get fair. Even if you try to set up a wall with your SHFFL fading/in place fairs, it has gaps. Also, nair can AC and it has the exact same landlag (L-Canceled) as fair does if it doesn't AC. This is all speculation, of course. I don't speak for The Moon, but those are my guesses.

 

[Blu19]

Thanks for the responses, everyone! I understand Nair a bit more now. I'll probably start using it to cover myself more often. I really need to get used to ACing it though. I just dislike Nair as an approach because it has openings between the swings unlike the constant hitbox of Fox's Nair for example which is a great approach tool. I love using Nair to knock people off stage and set up edgegaurds. Hopefully I can start applying it as a "get off me" move for certain situations as well.

 

[-ACE-]

Biggest and simplest issue imo is that nair typically requires a read whereas you can react with fair. I agree nair has great uses but fair is far superior.

 

[AquaTech]

Notice PPMD uses it a lot as well. It has it's uses in nuetral. If the opponent is advancing on you, do a retreating or stable Nair, which is what you'll see PPMD do. Using it repeatedly as an advancing move in neutral is easily punishable.

 

[APESAUCE]

shield stop nair learn it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKsEobD1pew