Zelda and Din's Fire Spam...argh!

[ilnadmy]

One of my friends mains Zelda, and his tactic is to Din's Fire spam at a distance, and once I close he gets me with Zelda's smashes, which have priority against Snake's attacks. I try tossing grenades to dislodge him from his position and then close the distance, but once I get in close I have a really hard time hitting him since his smashes linger around for a while and have priority over my ftilt/nair/A combo. I can't use my nikita from a distance since that leaves me really open to his Din's Fire, and if I manage to plant a mine on the edge of a stage to prevent him from camping there, he just blows it up with his Din's Fire.

So I'm wondering what are some good strategies against Zelda? Seems like she's one of the few characters that can out-projectile Snake at a distance, as well as one of the few characters whose attacks have priority over Snake's attacks when in close.

A few notes:
- Snake's dash attack cancels out Din's Fire. As in, if I dash attack when the Din's Fire is heading towards me, the dash attack animation is cancelled as soon as the Din's Fire explodes and the Din's Fire doesn't go off. Essentially I immediately come out of the dash animation and back into the standing position. I don't know if I can somehow use this to my advantage?
- I just mastered how to mortar slide without having to connect with the enemy first. So I was thinking about tossing a grenade to get him to move, then mortar sliding to close the distance fast. Yay or nay?

 

[CaNuk]

Well she can't blow up C4 with din's fire, so use that rather than a mine to prevent camping. I find that snake's dash attack is an excellent approach because it will bring you past the enemy if they shield and you can combine that with an instant mortar slide so w00t. I'd probably throw two nades and just dash in there...while doing that you're probably going to have to avoid some of that fire but personally the first thing in brawl I mastered was airdodging and spotdodging..so get that down and you'll be fine, you can also easily perfect shield din's fire.

Another approach would be to Up B overtop of her and drop a C4 down then DI back and detonate. The Up B moves fast enough that din's fire isn't going to be able to reach you, and then you'll be above her so no way to curve it there either.

After the approach you're gonna want to stick close to prevent that camping you were talking about. Now you said that zelda's smashes last a while which is true, but this means they are easily punishable if you simply roll past them (don't spot dodge for the same reason). Another tact could be pulling out a nade while you are falling from that first Up B >> Airdodge their inevitable Usmash/tilt/aerial (nade will drop below you) >> Keep the shield button held so that when you land it pops up >> explosion ownage if she tries to attack again instead of shielding.

Idk there's a ton of other stuff you can do to stop opponents with projectiles that get past nikita, really you just need to re-evaluate your playstyle and bring the fight to them. I find that different characters make me use snake in totally different ways. I also don't really find I ever have any priority issues (cept vs someone like Ike) so maybe your opponent is just getting his smashes off before you do...although really you should always be dodging/punishing a smash rather than hitting into it. But Idk, maybe I'm a n00b

 

[CaptainPlatypus]

Well she can't blow up C4 with din's fire, so use that rather than a mine to prevent camping. I find that snake's dash attack is an excellent approach because it will bring you past the enemy if they shield and you can combine that with an instant mortar slide so w00t. I'd probably throw two nades and just dash in there...while doing that you're probably going to have to avoid some of that fire but personally the first thing in brawl I mastered was airdodging and spotdodging..so get that down and you'll be fine, you can also easily perfect shield din's fire.

Another approach would be to Up B overtop of her and drop a C4 down then DI back and detonate. The Up B moves fast enough that din's fire isn't going to be able to reach you, and then you'll be above her so no way to curve it there either.

After the approach you're gonna want to stick close to prevent that camping you were talking about. Now you said that zelda's smashes last a while which is true, but this means they are easily punishable if you simply roll past them (don't spot dodge for the same reason). Another tact could be pulling out a nade while you are falling from that first Up B >> Airdodge their inevitable Usmash/tilt/aerial (nade will drop below you) >> Keep the shield button held so that when you land it pops up >> explosion ownage if she tries to attack again instead of shielding.

Idk there's a ton of other stuff you can do to stop opponents with projectiles that get past nikita, really you just need to re-evaluate your playstyle and bring the fight to them. I find that different characters make me use snake in totally different ways. I also don't really find I ever have any priority issues (cept vs someone like Ike) so maybe your opponent is just getting his smashes off before you do...although really you should always be dodging/punishing a smash rather than hitting into it. But Idk, maybe I'm a n00b

QFTW!

Also use Jab when you get close enough. Get to know her up close and personal.

Edit: Does Nikita travel through Din's Fire or does the missile explode when they collide? Because if it goes through it, you could try you using the Nikita approach. Remember that you can cancel it by hitting R or Z.

 

[ilnadmy]

Nikita and Din's Fire travel through each other. His Din's Fire doesn't explode until he releases the B button, meaning he chooses when to detonate it. Until then, it doesn't collide with anything.

Good stuff CaNuk, I'll try some of that stuff out. My problem is I can't adjust mid-fight and change my play style; I go into the game with a strategy, and if that doesn't work I'll try some new things here and there, but not enough to completely change my strategy. Guess I just need to work on learning all of Snake's tricks and finding innovative ways to use them.

I was watching some PsychoMidget vs Doppleganger matches, and I realized that Psycho shields. A lot. I tend to roll away from Zelda if I think she's going to attack. I guess I should be using my shield more often and sticking in close where I can jab/ftilt with impunity.

 

[Depressed Man]

Don't forget dodging and air dodging. I think I've also read that a short hop air dodge, followed up by the forward/backwards tilt works well (apparantly no lag from the landing).

 

[rigapeen]

hmm RAR->airdodge->bair might be a good approach.

you will not be using any grenades vs a good zelda unless you started using them first and are good at doing the dropping double nade thing. its definately not a good matchup for snake. however i only play on the simplest stages so if you pick well you might find a good stage advantage.

 

[missedwithtruestrike]

my friend mains zelda too and does the same thing but also throws that reflector out alot,it stops snakes dash too. i started just laying back and dodgeing until hed charge me and than, well im snake AAA FTILT it doesnt matter

 

[ilnadmy]

Hmm, just sit back, toss grenades, and shield the Din's Fire? Why did I never think of that? I'll try that next time I play him. I just need to start landing more hits in CQC since his smashes really piss me off as most of the time they out-prioritize my tilts/AAA/Nair.