Zero Suit Samus Questions & Answers

[Dakpo]

Spamming N special is an easy way to apply pressure without over committing. if it connects, you can dash attack them of the side and rinse and repeat. If they land and shield (which is really hard to do) then you have someone stuck in shield in front of you.

 

[Spaghetti]

Is there any video online of someone showing how to do the dash attack lock with the right timings/with hands shown? I'm having a lot of difficulty pulling it off consistently TT

maybe some tips? approximately when should you be buffering in the next dash attack safsdfshdfkj

 

[Donyoku]

Thanks Dakpo I will try that as well. Should I mix up charged with uncharged? I dont like doing charged often because I end up getting punished because of the lag and is it good to use N special in the air? I have been trying to find mixups besides using aerials since they are my main killing options. And I have been practicing with the DAL and what is a good way to see if I'm doing it correctly in training? Like what can I set the computer to (ie: Walk, jump, etc.) or must I really do it on a person to truly tell? Thanks in advance.

 

[infiniteV115]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pItF4Sa5NHY

It would be best to test on a person if possible. If not, and you have an extra controller, try maybe using your feet on the other controller to hold shield.

 

[Dakpo]

I usually thrown in a charged shot on rare occasion, but they are mostly uncharged

 

[DoubleAgentXies616]

Hello, a question.
What are the best stage counterpicks, that favor ZSS against top tiers:
Marth
MK
Snake
Wario?

And just stages that benefit her?
Thank you.

 

[Dakpo]

I find FD is the best to combat all the above besides wario and snake.
In a nut shell, FD gives us THE BEST armor situation. This gives us a great chance to get ahead vs high tier characters.
MK and Marth thrive on platforms. Wario does as well, but I'll get to the problem vs them in a second.
Snake and wario live very very long, so I personally like to take them to smaller stages.

 

[Donyoku]

What would be the worst stage for ZZS? In my experiences so far it is Lylat, are there any other stages I should watch out for?

 

[PEACE7]

I honestly do feel like Lylat might be her worst stage because of how much easier you can lose her suit pieces which give her a huge advantage at the beginning and are a big part of her game and I also find the edges quite dangerous the other day I was playing my brother there, and i walked up to the piece which was laying right below the platform on the far right and when i hit the A button to pick it up the stage moved a bit and she just slid offstage and i died doing a dair I must of hit down right after i picked it up lol just be careful , people always counterpick me to Frigate assuming its bad for her thinking it will be easier to gimp her but she has all of the necessary tools to get around and recover safely as long as you know your stuff and the chances of you getting killed by the stage decrease if you make sure to position yourself at the correct spot when the stage is about to flip I mean nobody plays perfect so every once in a while you could die to it but knowing about the stage and how to recover properly will truly help and give you sort of an advantage.

 

[infiniteV115]

Depends on the MU. Overall I'd say Lylat is probably our worst stage, because the slopes hinder our suitpiece game and, to a lesser extent, hinder our lasers and sideB. In certain MUs, such as against characters that can edgeguard us well (eg MK, Pikachu) perhaps Frigate is our worst stage because of the missing ledge on the right side (I know NR disagrees and thinks our worst stage against MK is Battlefield though).

It's fairly MU dependent, because in some MUs our worst stage is simply the opponent's best stage. Against ICs, our worst stage is probably FD. Against Olimar, our worst stage is probably Halberd (maaaaybe Castle Siege). etc etc

Hello, a question.
What are the best stage counterpicks, that favor ZSS against top tiers:
Marth
MK
Snake
Wario?

And just stages that benefit her?
Thank you.

As for this, uh, these are weird.

Like I mentioned earlier, I think Frigate is probably our worst stage against MK and Nick Riddle thinks it's Battlefield.
Nick Riddle thinks we do very well against MK on Delfino, with which I agree. On Delfino it's much harder to gimp ZSS because her tether is so dumb we can actually recover to the other side rather comfortably if we're smart with our second jump and downB. On top of that, our air-release chaingrab and dash attack lock allow us to take advantage of the walkoffs, meaning we can kill MK at pretty much any % if we choose the right option.
However, Delfino provides a lot of room for running around, which is good for both ZSS and MK. Water gimps can happen from either side (more likely to happen TO ZSS I'd say) and of course Delfino allows MK to shark (attack from under the stage) so this one's kinda iffy. I don't CP here but I don't ban it either.
FD and PS1 are also solid picks against MK I'd say.

Marth? Uh....ok I really don't know what to say about this lol. Marth and ZSS are both good with platforms and really they're pretty much good at the same things, with just a few differences. This really comes down to playstyle. I prefer FD and hate BF against Marth, but Quiksilver prefers BF and hates FD against Marth.
Salem just goes wherever really...PS1 is pretty much always his go-to CP.
You're probably best off banning Frigate in this MU because of edgeguarding again, and he doesn't really have anything abuseable on any other stage.

Against Snake, BF and Delfino are probably your best options. Ban FD. Smashville is also good for Snake.

Wario? Uh...FD and PS1 probably. Platforms hinder us against Wario because they mitigate our air-release followups. Ban...Frigate? idk, probably Frigate lol.

In general, ZSS is good on BF, Delfino and PS1.

 

[Supermodel From Paris]

I think two stages are ugly for ZSS: Lylat and Frigate. Frigate is bad because the second transformation is awkward against characters with high mobility and lots of disjoints. It's very hard to get your footing there because of the platform/ground configuration. I don't like it, don't have enough room, platform makes it easy to chase you down. Lylat has been touched on plenty here. I find that Frigate usually works out because people take you there for the wrong reason (tether recovery = gimp) and don't know how to take advantage of the second transformation.

I also am not a big fan of Yoshi's but it isn't horrible, just gotta be careful with some match-ups there.

Fortunately Frigate's gonna be going away soon and you can ban Lylat, so huzzah!

 

[Tesh]

frigate going away soon you say?

 

[Supermodel From Paris]

Last I heard, NY/NJ collectively decided Delfino and Frigate were dumb and they'll probably start banning them, meaning they'll be banned at Apex, meaning everyone else will ban them.

 

[Tesh]

bah, i love delfino. I agree frigate is stupid though, too much random stuff

ny/nj is just doing that MK stuff as always though. they probably didnt ban it for random junk, just to tighten MK's leash.

this game is so dumb

 

[Spaghetti]

bleh... even with the video i'm having trouble doing the buffered dash attack locks. i pull them off once in a while but never consistently.

does the left analog have to be in totally neutral when you press the c-stick down for it to work? how fast do they have to be in succession? when do you start the buffering (is there a visual cue?)

 

[infiniteV115]

The left analog doesn't have to be in neutral when you press the C-stick down, but you have to let the analog return to neutral before the end of the buffer window or else you'll walk.
They can really be any length apart from each other as long as they're both in the buffer window. I don't know of any visual cues.

 

[SoulJoker]

I am just a player that has just started going to tournaments. One thing that I have had trouble with is just using the f-air in a way that you hit with both kicks as you rise or fall. Is there a certain point where you can get the second hit in instead of missing or only getting the first kick and missing.

 

[Supermodel From Paris]

It's %-based and height based. If they're too healthy or too close to dead it won't really work, as the first kick doesn't have enough KB early on and has too much later on. You want to aim so that the second kick would connect at the apex of the jump.

 

[infiniteV115]

Generally you do a rising fair, jumping into the opponent for both hits to connect. Falling fairs almost never work.
At...say, below 80ish or so depending on the opponent's weight, do sh fairs. Above that, do FH fairs. Regardless, always rising and moving into the opponent.

 

[1PokeMastr]

Generally you do a rising fair, jumping into the opponent for both hits to connect. Falling fairs almost never work.
At...say, below 80ish or so depending on the opponent's weight, do sh fairs. Above that, do FH fairs. Regardless, always rising and moving into the opponent.

Falling Fairs are hax.

 

[Heero Yuy]

I say I'm already decent at juggling armor pieces. However, I'm still constantly tormented by the lag of her aerials when I try to grab them off a platform or dash into it w/ a kick. I've seen V do it a lot in his videos, but how do you jump into a platform and grab an armor piece and throw it instantly?

 

[NickRiddle]

If you go over an item and press Z, you will pick up the item without having to do an aerial. If you run over an item, you should press down and A. It'll make ZSS skid and pick up an item.

Instant-tossing is called airdodge-cancelled-item-throw. (ADCIT) You airdodge to pick up an item, and immediately hit the C-stick in the direction you want to throw the item.

 

[Spaghetti]

does anyone know if salem b-sticks?

 

[JakeOfAllTrades]

does anyone know if salem b-sticks?

No he doesn't, he instead manually inputs Turnaround B's, B-reversals, and wavebounces (Turnaround B-Reverses).
V115 created a thread explaining the differences and controller inputs: http://smashboards.com/threads/turnaround-bs-b-reverses-and-wavebounces-know-the-difference.334389/

 

[Supermodel From Paris]

I can not for the life of me understand how Salem manually inputs wave-bounce side-bs while retaining momentum. I just set special to a shoulder button and use special+c-stick. I sent him a message asking what he does to achieve a full-momentum wavebounce side-b but he wasn't interested in answering. lol

ZSS has two "versions" of the wave-bounce side-b (the retreating one): one that maintains your backwards momentum (the one Salem does to punish baited approaches) and one that halts it (the one I do all the time by accident ).

 

[infiniteV115]

That just depends on your initial speed and the timing of your inputs.
Wavebounced sideBs aren't THAT hard. I'm beginning to find them useful as an approach against Marth when he's high in the air. You jump at him and do it, baiting a fair in the process and the sideB2 hits him

 

[Heero Yuy]

Salem doesn't B-stick? Does that mean you guys do?

Also, what does wavebounce mean?

 

[Donyoku]

Salem doesn't B-stick? Does that mean you guys do?

Also, what does wavebounce mean?

I cant really go into detail about what a wave bounce is (Since I really dont know how to describe it so well) but there is a link in the ZZS forms to really explain it and a video showing how it looks. It is a good way to change momentum in the air while doing a b move. (Any of ZZS's B moves)

On a side note I have a question, what is a good way to approach with ZZS? I find my self becoming repetitive with retreating side b's and neutral b's that lead to me being punished and gaining no ground. Also, since d-smashes are suppose to be punished based yet they lead to a good bit of ZZS's combos what are other ways to get damage on my opponent?


Edit: I just remembered another question I had, where is the guide that explains the lock that we have on Diddy Kong with the banana? I cant seem to find it and also I remember reading a tread about the d-smash to footstool then edgehog when your opponent is off the stage. I just want to know where these treads are if anyone knows. Thank you.

 

[infiniteV115]

Wavebounces and stuff here
Dsmash footstool edgehog here

Space properly with dsmash, lasers and sideB to approach until you can create an opening. Dash attack and dash grab can also be used as approaches but they're risky for obvious reasons.
Bair is good when spaced cause it's safe on shield. Outside of that, you have to rely on ZSS' mobility to confuse and cross-up your opponent and screw up their spacing until you find an opportunity to hit them.

You also get damage with sideB, juggles, dash attack strings (including the dash attack lock) and tilt strings.

 

[Dakpo]

lol Wavebounce is like the big question on this thread

 

[Spaghetti]

oh man i just spent hours today practicing b reversals and stuff - rar into b-reverse is my favorite little trick to play on my local friends because they dont know if i'm going into bair or neutral b...

also finally figured out how to do a b-reversed side b (slowed down mode on training is so helpful for getting the concept down before doing it at higher speed)

 

[Heero Yuy]

What's a good secondary for ZSS, seeing as though Link isn't gonna get me anywhere? Before I go on, my hardest MU's in my few months of experience are: Toon Link (Idk why this is so difficult for me), Snake, and Wario. I'm considering between Ice Climbers (a personal favorite of mine) and Falco (whom I'm better with). I still plan on using ZSS in my bad MU's, it's more of a funzies thing nevertheless.

P.S. Herp derp. I've been doing Turnaround B's and B-reversals all my life and I didn't even know I was doing so.

 

[infiniteV115]

Trouble with TL, Snake and Wario?
Pikachu, Marth and DDD sound like good options.

 

[Dekillsage]

What's a good secondary for ZSS, seeing as though Link isn't gonna get me anywhere? Before I go on, my hardest MU's in my few months of experience are: Toon Link (Idk why this is so difficult for me), Snake, and Wario. I'm considering between Ice Climbers (a personal favorite of mine) and Falco (whom I'm better with). I still plan on using ZSS in my bad MU's, it's more of a funzies thing nevertheless.

P.S. Herp derp. I've been doing Turnaround B's and B-reversals all my life and I didn't even know I was doing so.

Use falco and win all your bad match ups with jab

 

[pichuthedk]

Hey Quiksilver i was wondering something, I watched your set vs a metaknight today http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrEkTfEItRw

and saw that during the first game about 3 minutes in you killed him for the second time then did Downb kick towards him while he was invincible and then did a footstool(normal one) off of him,
The timing kinda looked like you were able to do it while still kicking.
Or should i just assume you footstooled as soon as the animation was ending.

Just found it kind of interesting so i was wondering if you or anyone could shed some light on that :D thanks in advanced

 

[Tesh]

He kicked-landed on the platform-slid off the platform-performed a regular footstool.

 

[Maestro_]

Hey, is there any general consensus about tap jump for ZSS? I know Salem has it off. Is there any particular advantage either way (besides obviously easier tilt with off) or just preference?

 

[Spaghetti]

grounded up b which i throw out ever so often, also i like to b-reverse my up bs just to be flashy and sometimes i really dont want to expend my double jump when recovering and just want to poke up with the up b

although not sure if this is the norm, but i definitely prefer tap jump off

 

[NickRiddle]

Does any ZSS actually keep it on?

 

[infiniteV115]

Uh yeah I don't play with it on either. I don't think anyone does. Utilt OoS is a really good option and it requires quick fingers for you to be able to do it quickly (no kidding?) so it's probably a good idea to turn it off.

Also using your 2nd jump carelessly offstage with ZSS is like the instructional manual for getting gimped.