Jump to content

Knife

Member
  • Posts

    5,163
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Knife

  1. Teams? What?

    I've hosted a 2 vs 2 tourney on here back in the Brawl days, it was the most frustrating shit to push and finish. I'd try to dig my old topic up, but the search function is kinda bad (How do I find all threads that I've created in this subforum?). That said, Wii U wifi is much better than Brawl's so the matches should be fun.

    Swiss with like 5 rounds is better than bracket IMO for online stuff than double elimination bracket. People can keep playing (or drop out if they're doing bad and don't feel like playing anymore).

  2. What do you think of Smash 4's balance?

    How bad is the Rosa/Cloud matchup?

    What matchups does Bowser have trouble with?

    What stages does Bowser prefer? What stages does he not like?

    Q. What do you think of Smash 4's balance?

    A. As of 1.16, the game is pretty balanced at top level with no clear "best" character (Diddy would be the best candidate, though Cloud could be if he didn't have such a bad MU with top level Sheik). You can at least win at the local level with most characters if you're good enough (unless you live in Tri-State or Socal). Trela bodying all of Houston with Mii Swordfighter and pre-patch Mewtwo strikes me as a personal example. Most characters in Smash 4 are easy enough to play with a solid understanding of fundamentals.

    As you get higher up competitive play, lower tier characters won't cut it anymore and mid tier characters struggle with common matchups. As balanced as Smash 4 is, there definitely is a tier list. This is evident in what characters tend to perform better (and while some characters are unexplored, for the most part good characters are common because they're good).

    You might think that you can succeed by solo maining a top tier character based on how balanced most top tier MUs are (I don't think anyone in top 9 has more a +1 advantage on each other) but even then it's tricky. Anti's recent victory at CEO shows how important counterpick characters are in the meta. He used primarily Mario, but he needed his pocket Cloud, ZSS, and Metaknight to advance at times. Given how large the roster is, don't underestimate the value of counterpicking and MU inexperience which can get you pretty far even if you main a low tier (though if you do, you should still pocket a top/high tier).

    TLDR; Smash 4 is so balanced and characters are so easy to play that actually having more than 1 character can be extremely useful at times. Disclaimer though, don't try to pocket characters if you don't play at a high level, stick to one until you do (I don't even consider myself good enough to attempt pocketing multiple characters). Read my previous post on what characters make good CPs.

    Q. How bad is the Rosa/Cloud matchup?

    A. Theory (Cloud has big disjoints with safe aerials, should be able kill Luma easily and pressure Rosalina with good mobility/offense) and early results (such as Tweek beating Dabuz convincingly at Shots Fired) gave the impression that Cloud won this MU hard. Recent results however have shown its not that bad, with Dabuz and Falln beating Tweek very recently. Rosalina has some of the best edgeguarding in the game and Cloud can die very early with a good sweetspot Bair/Dair from Rosalina. Rosalina Uair also beats Cloud's Dair, so he is prone to juggling (which he normally has no issue with because his Dair is so good). Still in Clouds's favor, but not by much. MUs can change over time, this is a good example of one.

    Q. What matchups does Bowser have trouble with?

    A. I'm not sure about the mid tier/low tier MUs, but I imagine he does pretty well against most people around or below his level. When we start getting into the top tier MUs, he loses badly to Zero Suit Samus and Sonic, with disadvantage to Ryu, Cloud, Diddy, and Rosalina. He can actually do fairly well against Mario, Fox, and Sheik based on results. I definitely think you need a secondary to be able to beat ZSS and Sonic.

    Q. What stages does Bowser prefer? What stages does he not like?

    A. Bowser should prefer to go these stages (as in I'd ban these against him): Town & City (low ceiling for his Uthrow>Uair to kill earilier)

    Bowser doesn't like these stages (I'd counterpick him here): Battlefield (live longer against his vertical kill moves, avoid grabs easier with platforms, juggling him is easier, circle camping is easier since he has to commit a lot when he jumps after you), Duck Hunt (you can camp him easily in the tree, though be careful of his command grab if he is in range), and Dreamland (circle camping potential, avoids grabs, makes juggles easier, though you may want to avoid getting caught in his Side B as you could die pretty early if he lands on a platform).

  3. If you played as your favorite CHARACTER (forget movesets), who would it be?

    Q. If you played as your favorite character, who would it be?

    A. Link of course. The whole solitary warrior that has nothing but his courage to fight evil (starting out) trope appeals to me so much.

    Palutena's ground game is sad ;_;.

    I say this as a part-time Palutena player.

    Please give me tilts instead of misinputs. Though utilt can be useful.

    Having one faster-ish smash wouldn't hurt either, such as if dmsmash was faster other than just being a weaker fsmash, or something.

    Uthrow killing 5-10% earlier would be a huge help, actually. (currently around 150 with rage on mid-heavy chars)

    A very, very slight disjoint increase on fair would be very good as well.

    ... I just listed things I've pondered about in the past but I think these would be appropriate buffs to Palutena.

    She definitely needs frame data fixes on her moves. It's pretty bad when her tilts have worse FAF than most smash attack (though the active frames are nice, they should make dtilt hit better below the ledge for 2 frames). The rest seem like quality of life fixes and won't address her main issues. Also, her Usmash is amazing, one of the best Smashes in the game IMO after what TLTC did me when I played him (it is so good for catching ledge getups).

    How do you fight against Sonic? What match-ups does he have trouble with?

    Q. How do you fight against Sonic? What match-ups does he have trouble with?

    A. In general, you find ways to shut down his approaches (lingering aerials to stop spindash helps so much, especially if you have confirms off them) and abuse his poor landing options since he has pretty much no autocancels or low lag aerials and is floaty. Kinda of a broad answer I know, you're gonna have to tell me a matchup if you want more than that.

    Sonic is commonly cited to have trouble against Rosalina, Cloud, Fox, Sheik (might be even after the patch), Zero Suit Samus, and Mega Man. Otherwise he's generally strong against most of the cast, though there are some debatable evens like Mario, Diddy, Villager, Pikachu, and Ike. He's also one of the best counterpick characters to the viable heavy crew (DK and Bowser) and pretty much destroys them.

    Are you going to Genesis 4? :v

    70% sure I'll be going, last year was a blast.

  4. kurugane lists jumpsquat as the total frames of the animation + the first airborne frame btw. a lot of sources do that and it's rather irritating.

    tell me about the sheik vs greninja MU?

    Sheik vs Greninja is in Sheik's favor, mostly because Sheik can outneutral Greninja very hard and combo him to oblivion. It's not so bad after the nerf, Greninja evades a lot of her kill confirms. 55:45 IMO.

    I mean yeah, being real it's Link that's the reason Link players switch from Link.

    Also WOW thanks for the infodump. What are the good kill confirms you spoke of? I'm curious.

    He has utilt>uair, dtilt>usmash> dthrow>fair (50/50 at certain percents), soft nair>usmash, and dair>fair. Some more extended kill combos could be made like uair spike>utilt/dtilt>uair/usmash and footstool>dair lock>charged fsmash. If they live past when your kill confirms work, you can just upthrow them as a kill throw.

  5. What does Palutena need to be viable?

    Would switching Custom specials with her defaults be enough?

    Q. What does Palutena need to viable?

    A. Not much honestly. Get her some better startup (you know its bad when her fastest grounded attack is her frame 6 Dash attack) and reduce endlag (having tilts with more than 1 second of endlag is bad). She is definitely viable from that point IMO, she has great aerials, decent throw confirms, and good mobility.

    Q. Would switching Custom specials with her defaults be enough?

    A. Yes, because it allows her to rely on her aerial game even more, with the ability to play a very hit and run style which is better than a walling style default Palutena plays. So it allows her to sort of ignore her poor grounded frame data (though it's still there). I think custom Palutena is top 15 assuming it was only her that was allowed customs, I've seen enough Aerolink to know this.

  6. idk man but he did it to knife and almost did it to scizor[/scizor]

    Loyality is nice and all, but I'm trying to win and Nintendo designed Link bad in competitive Smash unfortunately. Maybe Smash 5 is his time?

    Greninja.png

    (Image from Kurogane)

    Frame Data and such

    Greninja, the Frog Ninja Pokemon, made quite a splash in the scene, and has been throughout the run of Smash 4, despite nerfs at first, he has gotten fairly good buffs, he's tricky, he can apply tons of pressure, he has really good aerial stuff going for him, his neutral game is fairly good, his grab game is pretty legit, he has all the makings of a great character in the scene, however I know very little of him myself, so I'm not really knowledgeable about his strengths and weaknesses, I'll leave that to Knife to go over.

    Take the floor! Also the rest of you, what are your opinions on the frog wonder?

    I already detailed some stuff about Greninja's MU spread from my AMA thread. Here it is:

    A. I'm pretty active among the Greninja community and most agree he has a ton of even MUs and slightly loses to Sheik, Sonic, Fox, and Diddy. He doesn't outright demolish a lot of the lower tiers like a top tier would either. Losing MUs against common top tiers (albeit slight disadvantages) and not that many heavily winning MUs (his winning MUs are probably only slightly in his favor, unless it's like Ganondorf or Jigglypuff) put him in upper mid tier, somewhere around 15th to 25th place. Basically a pretty balanced spread, kinda like Pit.

    So I talked about who he loses to. I haven't really touched on who he does well against, but according to me and a lot of the Greninja community, we have slight to medium advantages over the following relevant/semi-relevant characters:

    -ZSS (We make it really hard for her to grab us, Shadow Sneak escapes lots of kill confirms like Boost Kick, Paralyzer, and Fsmash. Being short also makes it hard to hit us with Bair or Nair.)

    -Luigi (We destroy almost all of his approach options and force him to approach. Probably one of his worst MUs.)

    -Marth (Force approaches well, and Greninja is one of the few characters that can edgeguard Marth consistently.)

    -Yoshi (Gets caught very easily by Usmash and footstool combos. Can wall out with Fairs and shurikens.)

    -Bayonetta (Escape Witch Twist and Jab with Shadow Sneak, dash grab is really good at punishing everything.)

    -Metaknight (Escape his Shuttle Loop kill with good DI and Shadow Sneak, and in general outneutral him really hard.)

    -Donkey Kong (Most comboable character for Greninja, easy to footstool and outneutral. Just don't let him grab you, though Greninja is hard to grab if you know what you're doing.)

    He's otherwise pretty evenish with the rest. Be sure to look at his mobility and frame data stats from the link Jedi put up. Moving onto theory and his strengths/weaknesses:

    +Very good run speed (6th best) and excellent walk speed (4th best) give him pretty potent burst and punish options.

    +Air speed is very good (8th best) and his jump height is second highest in the game (only behind Falco) making him able to exert good aerial pressure. This is also a notable difference between him and Fox considering their similar Fall speeds.

    +Jumpsquat is frame 4, meaning he'll be able to get in the air faster than a lot of the cast.

    +3rd best dash grab overall, only behind Captain Falcon and Sonic meaning he can punish shields from further away.

    +Jab 1 is active for 4 frames (3, 4, 5, and 6) which is actually a bigger deal than you might think seeing as its great for clanking with projectiles and tilts that do 10% or less (look up Priority if you don't understand what I mean). If you ever thought Greninja's Jab was dumb, this is why.

    +Shuriken is a very good projectile, probably top 5 in the game due to its speed, low endlag, and range (even without charging though uncharged shurikens are generally better).

    +Very high damaging true combos, though the execution barrier is kind of rough. Many good kill confirms.

    =Very good recovery length when factoring in Shadow Sneak and Hydro Pump, though both can be readable.

    =Fast fall speed can be both good (for tomahawking and resetting pressure) and bad (for offstage edgeguarding and being comboed).

    -Poor startup on his aerials except for Bair and Uair.

    -Slow standing grab (Frame 11) makes beating up close shielding difficult.

    -Poor OoS options with a slow grab. Fastest option is shield drop Jab which comes out on frame 10.

    -Substitute is a really bad counter, probably one of the worst since it has no invincibility frames on appearance (so you can jab a Substitute even if you whiff a low lag move) and can be shielded. Still has situational uses.

    Results wise, he's slightly above average. He's ranked 21st in patch 1.16 so far (Source) which is pretty good considering his learning curve. His results have definitely improved over time from their low in the beginning of the Wii U release. Despite how uncommon he might seem, he is actually more prominent in Europe and Japan where he gets a lot of his results. I think results will only get better with strong contenders like Istudying, Elexiao, Shiki, Some, and Venia.

    I covered MU spread, theory, and results. Any more questions?

  7. Since you're using Greninja, can you say anything about the Greninja vs Dedede MU?

    Q. Greninja vs. Dedede?

    A. I'll write this from a Dedede perspective, since I'm guessing that's what you want.

    Neutral: Greninja is really fast and it can be tough to catch him, especially campy ones. Dedede will pretty much have to approach most of the time, which can be tough with Greninja shuriken and Fairing you. Learn to powershield his stuff as best you can to get in close, though you will probably still eat hits. Dedede is just the kinda character with very little dodging ability but the ability to live absurdly long to kinda make up for it. At a certain point, Greninja will try to kill you (unless they camp a percent lead and go for timeout in which case GGs). You can start to get a lot of hits in neutral when Greninja approaches for the kill. Bair is a decent approach tool when spaced. Dedede's ledge pressure is actually really good, use a combination of grabs, Gordos, and attack to keep Greninja offstage.

    Killing: Powershield Dsmash is a really good kill option. You can try for a Fsmash to ledgetrap kill, but you will almost always eat a punish it you miss. Usmash and uair are good anti airs if the Greninja likes to jump above you.

    Offstage: You can toss Gordos offstage and they work pretty well since Hydropump has no hitbox. Dair can be good if the Greninja is being really predictable, but inconsistent. Otherwise I think Dedede is better of ledgetrapping and not giving up stage control.

    Disadvantage: Greninja has a lot of true combos on you, unfortunately you have to eat the hits most of the time. Rage Dedede is pretty scary though and if you can avoid Greninja's horizontal kill moves (Fair, Fsmash, Dsmash) you can live a very long time. Just remember that if the Greninja is absolutely tourney serious, he will just go for the timeout instead of risking his life trying to kill a rage Dedede (aka you have to approach). Getting back on stage isn't too difficult given Super Jump's superframes, but a good Greninja will ledgetrap you hard. Mix up ledge getup options.

    Do you benefit from crowd energy or do you prefer the spectators to be relatively quiet?

    Q. Do you benefit from crowd energy or do you prefer the spectators to be relatively quiet?

    A. I don't wear headphones, but I still filter out background noise well since I'm really into the game and focusing on game audio. You'd have to tap my shoulder to get my attention when I'm playing. Therefore, it doesn't matter to me what the audience is doing, but I do prefer a loud and active scene (whether its for or against me, hype is hype).

    Why do you say Town & City is more neutral than Smashville? Is it the most neutral stage?

    How do you think Sonic should be played?

    Q. Why do you say Town & City is more neutral than Smashville? Is it the most neutral stage?

    A. It's not as matchup polarizing as Smashville because of the horizontal drifting platform. Characters with Fair chains (Sheik, Ness, Diddy, Mewtwo, etc.) and character with high base knockback forward throws (Ness, Diddy, Mario, Rosalina, etc.) can kill at really low % with the assistance of the Smashville platform. You may say it doesn't happen very often, but I've seen it happen at all levels of play and regardless the possibility is there. Town & City is pretty fair since it rotates between a platform and flat layout. There is some jank that can happen like dying due to a missed tech on a blastzone bound platform or a Uair chaining character getting extended combos, but its not as bad. I think FD is actually the most neutral stage, despite it helping zoners a lot. Zoning in this game is not as prominent as it was in Brawl because shielding and mobility is better. I can't think of a single character that gets a super huge benefit from FD.

    Q. How do you think Sonic should be played?

    A. Optimally he, should be played very hit and run and campy, with lots of circle camping. This is kinda accentuated by his design since he has really average frame data for a fast character, bad landing options, and bad kill power. Therefore, a Fox can be pretty aggressive since he has the kill power and frame data to complement his speed, while Sonic doesn't. It might be lame, but that's just how the character is best played.

    Whats so bad about Wii Fit for you in terms of a match up?

    Q. Whats so bad about Wii Fit for you in terms of a match up?

    I just dislike ledge camping characters (Villager's bad too but is a bit better for me IMO), especially ones that can heal for free (so you can never truly maintain a lead on them and force approaches unless you are up a stock) and kill you for making a mistake approaching. I generally have to play on top of them all the time to win, and its annoying.

  8. What does pineappled mean?

    Q. What does pineappled mean?

    A. What Horace said.

    What stages do you prefer to play on?

    Q. What stages do you prefer to play on?

    A. I generally like:

    -Town & City (good neutral, more than Smashville IMO. Great for Greninja because he can manuever well.)

    -Final Destination (good old stage that I'm really familiar with, makes shuriken camping with Greninja easier.)

    I dislike:

    -Battlefield (people live too long, Greninja's usmash doesn't connect on platforms)

    -Duck Hunt (this is actually a good Greninja stage because of circle camp potential, I just personally dislike how the duck and dog interrupt attacks)

    What technique would you like to be able to do IRL?

    Q. What technique would you like to be able to do IRL?

    A. Rolling. Definitely rolling. More specifically Smash 4 rolling with lots of invincibility frames and low endlag.

    -Need to get through a crowd of people? Just roll through them!

    -Hostile individual starts fighting you? Keep rolling back and forth until he gets tired/dizzy!

    -Girlfriend says "we need to talk"? Roll away!

    What are your favorite matchups to play?

    Q. What are your favorite matchups to play?

    A. I love Greninja vs. Luigi since he literally can't do anything about spaced fairs and it pushes him away. Greninja vs. Falcon for the high combo/edgeuard potential plus Falcon players are usually fun to play especially the ones that rely on hard reads (I never get mad when a Falcon spikes me). I kinda enjoy Link vs. Toon Link, feels like I'm beating my younger self. I love playing against Pacman with anyone, just really fun to see them with their traps and get through (plus I can shield shamelessly when I'm feeling threatened). Greninja vs Mewtwo is fun too, fast characters that are both Pokemon, fighting for viability. I could go on, but here's a general tier list based on who I enjoy/dislike fighting (with any character):

    7A4oSR0.png

    EDIT: Zera, I'll get to your last question later. MU stuff takes a while to write and I don't like half-assing answers.

  9. Do you prefer 2 stocks or 3 stocks?

    Q. Do you prefer 2 stocks or 3 stocks?

    A. I had to think about this for a bit. I hate to take neutral stances on stuff because I hate indecisiveness, but I think I'll make this one of my very few exceptions. There are merits to both sides and ultimately neither side is strong enough to take over the other. Let's look at some pros of each (I'll assume Bo3 for both):

    3 stock

    -Mitigates the influence of rage and related effects like Aura, Waft, Limit, etc..

    -The better player wins more often, simply because sample size is bigger and there is more adapting.

    -50% more value for the player (going 0-2 in bracket with no games won means you got to play with 12 stocks as opposed to 8 stocks in a 2 stock format).

    2 stock

    -Faster to run, which leads into quicker tournament times making things like multiple events, Bo5s, and streaming all upper bracket matches possible.

    -This might be subjective, but generally people agree that 2 stock is better for viewership than 3 stock. I personally think this is heavily dependent on the stage of a tournament, for example watching 3 stock pool matches are generally going to be even more dragged out, but watching a top 8 of a tourney with stacked talent in 3 stock is better than 2 stock (assuming both are either Bo3 or Bo5). But since pools make up a large part of streams and usually Bo5s are not possible with 3 stock, 2 stock is better for streaming/viewership.

    So what it really comes down to is whether players or the other parties (TOs, sponsors, viewers) are more important. I personally think they are equal in importance which is why I can't choose. You can't have a scene without player, but you also can't grow a scene without TO and viewer support. Lots of people will argue that "we did 3 stocks in Brawl, why can't we do it in this game?" You really can't compare Brawl to Smash 4, considering the scene in this game is much much much bigger. Not to understate this, but Brawl Nationals (biggest was Apex 2012 with 400 entrants) are on par with Smash 4 regionals, and even then were run to the limit. What worked in Brawl doesn't necessarily work in Smash 4 just because Smash 4 is so much bigger.

    I think it's very likely Smash 4 will continue to nationally run 2 stock since it's already in place and TOs in general don't see a good reason to add that third stock. I do like that Bo5s are really common now and usually extend to top 32, which is especially great in Smash 4 given its counterpick meta potential. If there was a choice between 2 stock Bo5 and 3 stock Bo3, I'd definitely go with 2 stock Bo5.

    what do you think of pink falcon?

    Q. What do you think of pink falcon?

    A. I think Falcon is weird in general, despite color choices. He carries a gun he doesn't use and his racing uniform has a golden nipple plate (why?). Other than that, I guess it's great that he supports Breast Cancer research.

    Do you think Yoshi is being slept on in terms of how good he is, or are people just saying that to sound important?

    Q. Do you think Yoshi is being slept on in terms of how good he is, or are people just saying that to sound important?

    A. I think Yoshi is a very solid character, but has some really bad MU/fundamental weaknesses. MU wise, he loses to Cloud and Diddy, two of the most common characters in the game and as a result is gatekeepered pretty easily. He can do pretty well against a lot of the other top tiers though, but he still has to make it past the Cloud/Diddy wall.

    Fundamentally, he loses to shield and that's never a good thing in this game. His regular grab is bad and has low reward. He does have a command grab (the neutral B) that can lead into some pretty decent damage, but it has even worse startup than his regular grab. His Down B break shields, but is react able just like his grabs. He does have some stuff that can pressure shield like spaced Fair and autocanceled Dair (which can break shields), but those aerials still have bad startup. A frame 6 jumpsquat weighs down the startup on these aerials even more. He does have some the best disadvantage breaking tools with the best horizontal aerial mobility and a frame 3 nair, but its not enough to make up for his shield flaw.

    I see Yoshi somewhere around where Pikachu/Megaman/Greninja are, in the 15th to 25th range. I live in the same city as The Wall (best Yoshi according to Zero), but I think he could go even further if Wall gets better or a top player picks him up. I think he has potential, he's not trash like he was in past Smash games for sure.

    What stages are good for Peach, Palutena, and Rosalina? What stages should I try to avoid?

    Q. What stages are good for Peach, Palutena, and Rosalina? What stages should I try to avoid?

    A. I am really badly informed on Peach as I've mentioned before, so I'll have to exclude her. Here's what I see as good stages (one's I'd ban) and bad stages (one's I'd counterpick them to) for Palutena and Rosalina, assuming the common 7 stage ruleset. Keep in mind this is also heavily depend on what character your opponent is playing.

    Palutena

    -Good on Battlefield (for ledgecancelling shenanigans and Usmash works under platforms as a second safe juggle option), Town & City (more ledgecancelling, plus one of Palutena's best kill moves Upair kills well with the assistance of platforms)

    -Bad on Dreamland (she get pineappled really easily since warp doesn't stop horizontal momentum during activation) and Lylat (same thing)

    Rosalina

    -Good on Battlefield (for platform assisted juggles, living longer, and recovering is easy), Duck Hunt (you can camp in the tree when you lose Luma or even go for a timeout, opponent can't easily do the same since your Uair/Luma is disjointed and safe pressure on a tree camping opponent).

    -Bad on Dreamland (despite being able to kill with Uair earlier, the ability to get pineappled is really scary), and Lylat (ledge tilting may cause you to miss the sweetspot and SD or recover high and get punished)

    Stage bans are generally really player preference, so you might have a good time on Dreamland despite getting pineappled if you're really confident in your recovery ability. In the 7 stage list, stage counterpicks are not really that polarizing either way, not to the level of Melee Marth on Final Destination or Brawl MK on Brinstar is for example.

  10. Luigi has an advantage against Mario? What is the matchup like?

    Q. What is Luigi vs. Mario like?

    A. I don't play these characters, but I can share what I've heard from Mario players and some observations, I can see it being slightly in Luigi's favor as of current patch (before it was a pretty good advantage). Players like Ally and Zenyou dislike the MU a lot, Concon has beaten both before. I can see it happening in theory, Luigi has better fireballs, better grab confirms (even post patch), more damage per move, a slightly easier time killing, but has a gimpable recovery and poor aerial mobility to approach/escape juggles. Basically:

    +Luigi outdamages and out trades Mario

    +Luigi's grab confirms are better, and has jab into grab setups

    +Luigi has an easier time killing (bthrow and usmash are stronger)

    +Luigi's projectile is better

    =Both can nair out of each other's stuff

    -Luigi's recovery is worse, though Luigi can edgeguard Mario back pretty hard with cyclone gimps.

    -Luigi has issues landing and getting around Mario's Usmash

    -Luigi has more trouble approaching if he doesn't have the lead, with worse overall mobility

    Compare frame data if you want:

    http://kuroganehammer.com/Smash4/Mario

    http://kuroganehammer.com/Smash4/Luigi

    Smashboards MU discussion (a bit outdated):

    http://smashboards.com/threads/world-8-1-mario-vs-luigi-match-up-thread.387200/

  11. Ok piggybacking off my last question, what kind of buffs does Roy need to become viable?

    Q. What kind of buffs does Roy need to become viable?

    A. Pretty much anything to improve the stuff I mentioned he was lacking. A safe on shield aerial is a must. A better recovery or double jump would help his edgeguarding game a lot. To deal with shield and help kill better, a throw kill confirm, even a 50/50 would be nice as cliched as it is.

    How many secondaries do you recommend having?

    Q. How many secondaries do you recommend having?

    A. I personally believe that players can only have one main, one secondary, and pockets. Let me define these first and just remember this is defined in a competitive environment. Your main is your character you feel most comfortable using, play the best with consistently, and would use in a blind pick situation. Everyone has a main whether you admit it or not, everyone just has that one character they're much better with over other characters. A secondary is literally your second best character and a failsafe for your main in case you are playing sloppy with them, the opponent knows the MU too well, or it does better in a MU than your main does. Pockets are basically tertiary best and so on (usually really easy to pick up characters), and typically used to to counterpick bad MUs. Not everyone uses pockets, but they can be extremely useful. Let's look at Larry Lurr for a second.

    He mains Fox, secondaries DK, and pockets Mario. Obviously we see Larry use his Fox the most, but you might ask "Fox is a top tier and a great character, why use others?". Well he picked up DK for a few bad MUs like Sheik (especially Void's Sheik who can pretty much beat any Fox) and floaty characters that die easily to ding dong. He also has a pocket Mario (he's also had a Sheik and Luigi at some point pre-nerfs) for bad/sketchy MUs for both, we see him go Mario against Nairo's ZSS and Mikekirby's Kirby for example because he believes neither Fox or DK would do well against them.

    Good pocket characters:

    Mario - Good ol' Mario, has an answer to almost any MU and really easy to use.

    Rosalina - Counters Ness/some zoners.

    Cloud - Good ol' Cloud, has an answer to almost any MU and really easy to use. Advantage on Rosalina and Sonic.

    Metaknight - Counters Rosalina.

    Ness - Really easy to use, counters shield heavy playstyles.

    Sonic/ROB/Diddy Kong - Easy to use and counters characters with bad approach(forcing) options.

    DK/Bowser - Advantage on characters with weak kill potential, counters shield heavy playstyles.

    Luigi - Really easy to use, advantage on Diddy, Fox, and Mario.

    But to answer the question, it depends on who you main. If you play a top tier, you require less secondaries to cover bad MUs. It also depends on how good your fundamentals are, without them you won't really find success in picking up new characters. For example, Anti is able to play a lot of the top tier cast at a high level on fundamentals alone. For newer/mid-level players, I honestly recommend maining a decently good character and start getting results before you even consider picking up more characters competitively. Developing too many characters at one time slows your growth with one.

    What do you think of ROB as a character?

    Q. What do you think of ROB as a character?

    A. I think ROB is upper mid tier. He has really good kill potential, shield threatening ability, and weight for a Zoner character. Gyro is fast, does a lot of damage, and sets up kills. He would honestly be top tier if it was for some pretty critical flaws: Slow, big hurtbox, bad landing options, bad/subpar recovery, easily pressures, and combo food. I think he's actually pretty balanced, despite how jank it may seem getting killed at 80% with rage dthrow uair. I think he'll only go down in the future, people will figure out how to DI Uair to live better and there isn't much else to do with him other than more Gyro tricks.

    Building on this, how should Link deal best with CANCER BOT? Also, who are your top five funny bad characters and why?

    Q. Link vs. ROB?

    Honestly, this MU is pretty bad for Link. Any zoner that forces Link to approach is bad news, but on top of that he has good killing potential. Link doesn't really have the ability to chase landings hard, or combo hard, or rushdown well either.

    Neutral: You have to go to ROB most of the time. Gyro and laser will outrange and outdamage anything you can throw back. You may want to use a combination of Hylian Shield and walk Shield to approach. Zair can be a good poking tool on account of his big frame. Use utilt to set up juggles and don't let him come down. Challenge his Nair with your Uair, you should beat it. Bombs are generally a bad idea because he capitalizes on pull lag, unless you know you have time to pull them (but you might as well be approaching).

    Killing: Fair pokes to kill are good, usmashing his landings also work. Dthrow uair works well.

    Offstage: His recovery distance is good, but you should still not let him come back to stage for free. Dairing him offstage might be nice, but go for a more consistent option like Nair.

    Disadvantage: ROB's edgeguarding isn't too lethal, but be aware of his Dair. His ledgetrapping is much more potent, he can cover every getup option if he get's a Gyro on the ledge. Don't get off the ledge predictably, stall a bit and throw off his timing. He doesn't have too many combos, but getting down can be a nightmare with his Uair (Dair does not beat it). Learn how to DI Uair to live (its really weird, look at Beefysmashdoods video to find out).

    Q. Who are your top five funny bad characters and why?

    A. I don't understand this question, there is nothing funny about being bad.

    ok I see this all the time

    What does "fiend" mean in the context of smash? I see it used in like ten different smash contexts, always by Brawl-era players.

    Q. What does "fiend" mean in the context of smash?

    A. It's just Smash slang for someone who plays a lot of Smash or goes to a lot of tournies, often neglecting real life responsibilities to do so. Used jokingly most of the time.

    Thoughts on Bidou technique?

    Q. Thoughts on the Bidou Technique?

    A. It would definitely improve the metagame if (good) players put more effort into it, but most Smashers are lazy and arguably the amount of effort needed to consistently use Bidou could be spent improving fundamentals. I think Smash 5 will come out before people really get the hang of it lol.

  12. Does Roy have any chance in this meta in your opinion?

    Q. Does Roy have any chance in this meta in your opinion?

    A. No. His neutral is really dysfunctional and that means he lacks the most important trait. Almost nothing he does is safe on shield and that's a big deal. All of his moves are committal and have decently startup (frame 5 inferior Marth jab is his best CQC tool lol). He has nice throw combos, but nothing really at higher percents and in competitive play he is ironically one of the hardest characters to get a kill with. Rewarding him for getting in close with his attacks is nice in theory, but it's still not safe (I really think he should have been designed to be safe on shield with sweetspot). He can't really edgeguard well on recovery on account of his fall speed + bad vertical recovery. He's combo food on account of having no quick start aerial, fast fall speed, and decently sized hurtbox. So basically he fails at neutral, killing, offstage, and disadvantage. The only thing really stopping him from being Ganondorf/Jigglypuff level bad is his great mobility. However, mobility can't completely make up for flaws.

    I think he's designed to be more of a casual character, given his raw killing ability and speed. Definitely fun to play. Severely outclassed by the other FE characters though.

    Knife, write a wall of text explaining how Alph is best waifu~<3

    Cringe

    What is your opinion on custom moves?

    Q. What is your opinion on custom moves?

    A. I'm glad we got to try them out, but honestly I don't think they are good for the competitive scene. It seems obvious that little effort is put into balancing them (there was that one patch that came with the shield stun increase, but it didn't address some of the more polarizing customs). Imagine DK with ding dong and Cyclone Up B. 7 characters don't have any custom moves, it would also be pretty unfair to them (also DLC not getting customs shows how little Nintendo cares about balancing/adding customs). This is on top of the logistical issues they cause (having to unlock all of them, make sets, counterpicking certain sets, and needing to display/look up customs).

    Casually I think its ok, but honestly casuals forget customs exist most of the time. Not to mention you have to spend a lot of time unlocking them, and the unlock process is so frustrating since you can get duplicates for days. Nintendo dropped the ball on something that could potentially be really awesome. Hopefully it's implemented better in Smash 5.

  13. How should I be playing against Marth/Lucina?

    How often do you practice?

    Q. How should I be playing against Marth/Lucina?

    A. Playing against Marthcina is very MU dependent, though here are some general tips. I'll refer to Marth in the next paragraph, since Lucina's not as relevant (can still apply Marth stuff).

    Neutral: Marth relies a lot on spacing and being safe on shield. Marth has amazing footsies, but he does have landing issues which you can exploit. Shorthop Nair/Fair heavy Marths can be beaten with dashshield since those moves are unsafe if you disrupt spacing. If you play a character with a good zoning game, you can keep him out and force approaches. Don't spotdodge too much, good Marth's will punish with run up Fsmash or Dancing Blade).

    Killing: If they jump a lot, you can run under and Usmash or pivot Fsmash. Can't really say much without the MU.

    Offstage: Only was to really edgeguard him is to hit him before he is in Dolphin Slash range of the ledge. Dolphin Slash is really good at protecting Marth and you may get stagespiked if you aren't ready to tech. May want to focus on ledgetrapping.

    Disadvantage: There is a percent range where Marth gets nothing off grabs (like 60% to 130%), you can play shield heavy since his throws do a paltry 4% (though losing positional advantage is still bad). Marth is very good at edgeguarding, don't have predictable airdodge habits when recovering. Watch out for Dolphin Slash when he recovers, it can stage spike you very quickly and is sometimes untechable. Depending on if your character is a fast faller or floaty, you should either fastfall shield or double jump out of his Jab 1 followup. Don't Nair or airdodge after Jab 1, lots of less experienced players fall for this and get Fsmashed. Watch out for falling Nair/Dancing Blade, can set up for a tipper.

    Q. How often do you practice?

    A. Usually one smashfest a week, one tourney a week (sometimes two if a big tourney is happening), maybe some online or labbing in between. It honestly depends on how much time I have for it. One week I did nothing but fiend 5 days straight because a big tourney was coming up and out of state players were in town. Another week I played no smash at all because school/work johns.

  14. Does Cloud have any bad matchups?

    What matchups does Meta Knight have trouble with?

    Q. Does Cloud have any bad matchups?

    A. Sheik and Bayonetta. Sheik has been nerfed, even still she has amazing frame data, ability to carry Cloud offstage, and edgeguard well. Neutral game is even though Cloud still has to approach since Sheik has needles. Cloud can Dair and Nair all he wants, but in the end he has to approach since he'll just keep getting needled.

    Bayonetta can be a tough one, though Cloud outneutrals her very hard. Things that make this MU bad for Cloud is Bayo's Witchtime which can halt a lot of Cloud's momentum and catch his lingering hitboxes. She also has what I consider, the second best edgeguarding in the game after Sheik. Bullet Climax forces airdodge and low recovery, and Bayo can either hold Nair offstage or drift under Cloud and Witch Twist (which sends at a very horizontal angle). I think you can also Bat Within Cloud's Limit Cross Slash with proper SDI.

    Otherwise Cloud's MUs are really debatable among the top tiers (lots of people think Fox/Diddy/Mario lose, while others believe they win for example), only clear winning MUs are Rosalina and Sonic. He also has lots of evenish MUs against high-mid tiers on account of his fundamental weakness (bad recovery in a game where most recoveries are great).

    Q. What matchups does MK have trouble against?

    A. Pretty much anyone who can outneutral him hard and has a decent recovery. Personally, I think he has spots of bad MUs even among mid/low tiers, but I'll focus on top tiers.

    Diddy - Lose

    Rosalina - Win

    ZSS - Lose (though Leo did beat Nairo, I still need to watch that set)

    Cloud - Lose

    Sonic - Lose

    Sheik - Lose

    Fox - Lose/Even

    Mario - Lose

    Ryu - Lose

    He's not doing that well after the nerf TBH. He's a pretty good CP character against floaty large characters like Rosalina, Yoshi, Samus, maybe Peach since the Uair ladder still kinda works on them.

    Who do you think Marth overall does best against?

    Q. Who do you think Marth overall does best against?

    A. In what context? If you're talking about top tiers, I think he goes even (which is good for a mid tier) with Rosalina, Cloud, and Mario but loses to the rest. Among all characters, I can see Jigglypuff having a nearly impossible time against him having to deal with a pretty good recovery, neutral, and disjoints.

  15. How do you think ZSS does against the other top tiers?

    Q. How do you think ZSS does against the other top tiers?

    A.

    Diddy - Lose

    Rosalina - Win/Even

    Cloud - Even

    Sonic - Win

    Sheik - Even

    Fox - Win

    Mario - Win/Even

    Ryu - I barely see this MU at top level so IDK

    ZSS has some challenging MUs against a few High/Mid tiers like Villager and Greninja.

  16. Holy shit these are in-depth answers. Thanks!

    I'm still using 90% Link, although recently I've had success vs Fox and Mario using Marth.

    Q. Link vs. Fox/Cloud/Mario?

    Link vs. Fox is very tough for Link, but he does have a chance since this is Smash 4.

    Neutral: Use lots of pivot Ftilt and Jabs, in general try to outrange Fox whenever possible. Don't fish for grabs around kill percent, Fox can pretty much always kill you for it.

    Offstage: Arrow snipes are probably the quickest way to beat Illusion, but run off Nair is good too. Don't get too greedy and try to Dair Illusion, but it can work if you have enough to time to set it up. If Fox is forced to Firefox, he should pretty much never make it back, you have Nair, Fair, and Dair to beat it.

    Killing: Fox is pretty evasive so you need to rely on outspacing to kill him too. Utilt/Ftilt/Pivot Grab work well on Foxes that like to hop a lot. You can get Dthrow>Uair on him pretty easily if you can buffer it well. You might catch jab/utilt heavy Foxes with a spaced Fsmash.

    Disadvantage: You can actually punish a lot of his moves with Up B out of shield, including his back hit utilt, jab 1-2, down air, and dash attack. When he's juggling you, pray for the best. If you are at autocancel height, you can try Dair but he can space a Bair to hit you out of it. Don't try to punish his Bair at any spacing, it is incredibly safe.

    Link vs. Cloud is actually not too bad.

    Neutral: Wall him out as much as you can. Yes he's fast, but he's still a pretty big target so he'll still eat Boomerangs, Bombs, and Zairs. If he tries to limit camp you, let him. He's going to get it anyway and its not particularly threatening at low percents anyway. He may Limit Blade Beam through your projectiles, but you can react since it's slow. Don't play too aggressive, make it hell for him to get to you.

    Offstage: Run off nair or arrow gimps work well. You can also try to time a Dsmash 2 on the ledge which will kill him pretty much any percent. Don't be afraid to challenge Limit Climhazzard either, it still doesn't cover Cloud completely and it doesn't hurt you that much if you miss. If he recovers high or level with the stage, you can try an airdodge read Nair or a grab release to his death.

    Killing: With good timing you can pivot Ftilt Cloud out of his Dair, even if he's at autocancel height. Usmash can catch a Nair spamming Cloud. You can also beat his Dair with your Uair, something most characters can't do.

    Disadvantage: Don't try to punish Limit Cross Slash, Link is too slow. If he autocancel Dair/Nair/Bair your shield, don't punish, roll away. He can edgeguard you pretty hard too, Nair sends you at a nasty angle. Try using more airdodge tethers to make it back. Dair trades with his Uair, and you usually win the trade damagewise.

    Link vs. Mario is slightly in Mario's favor.

    Neutral: Wall him out as much as you can. He does have a cape, but he can't reflect everything and he has pretty average mobility. Trusty old pivot Ftilt and Jabs work well here too. Try not to fight him upclose, he will always outframe you.

    Offstage: Honestly, not much you can do offstage. You're too slow to chase him before he's within range to use his Up B, but you may get an arrow gimp. Focus on ledge trapping.

    Killing: He's a bit floaty and can have trouble landing, so Utilt and Usmash work well. If he's grab happy, pivot Ftilt beats it pretty easily and he'll die for it. Jab (Slow)Jab Up B might work.

    Disadvantage: A lot of his stuff is safe on shield including back hit Usmash. Study what you can and can't punish. Try not to land onstage too much, he's fast enough to follow your landing and Usmash. Ledge retreating might be better. Watch for cape offstage, but you shouldn't have too much trouble coming back. At low percents, fastfall and shield if he starts a Dthrow Utilt combo, you might even hit him with Up B OoS. Uair Up B ladders are pretty much inescapable, just eat that damage but don't lose your cool.

    What is your opinion of Kamui?

    Do you think she would be a good secondary for a Peach/Rosalina main?

    Q. What do you think of Kamui?

    A. I think top players tend to overrate them a bit, we have yet to see an amazing result from them at a larger scale. I definitely don't agree with Zero putting them at #10, they just have too many mobility and recovery issues to keep up with most of the top tiers. They do have tools better than a lot of the cast such as great disjoints and dragon lunge. I'd put them somewhere in the 15th to 20th range.

    Q. Do you think she would be a good secondary for a Peach/Rosalina main?

    A. Whenever I look at MU coverage, I generally look at my perceived top 9 and how well your mains can cover them: Diddy, Rosalina, Cloud, ZSS, Sonic, Sheik, Fox, Mario, and Ryu. Chances are if you have good/even MUs with these characters, you will probably do well against the rest of the cast. TBH, I don't know much about Peach's MU spread and I don't think she does any better than Rosalina in anything anyway, so I'll consider you a Rosalina main. As a Rosalina, you absolutely need a secondary to cover your Cloud and MK matchups. I'm not completely sure about this, but I hear Cloud slightly beats Corrin and Corrin is either even or beat MK. ZSS could give Rosalina some trouble too, but I'm not really sure how Corrin does but if I had to guess, ZSS beats Corrin.

    TLDR: If you think Corrin can help you more against Cloud, MK, and ZSS, use her. Otherwise Rosa can handle most MUs by herself.

    What's the best way to handle projectiles with a slower character? I know it's inherently a weakness of said characters, but is the real only option walking and (power)shielding? Also, what's the best way to approach a projectile user hiding under something like a battlefield platform? I've had issues with getting lamed out by characters just hiding and throwing needles/metal blades/arrows and what not there a lot.

    For characters that struggle to land, is going to ledge a valid landing option?

    Q. What's the best way to handle projectiles with a slower character?

    A. If your character has a slow enough fall speed, you can try to Shorthop Airdodge (SHAD) past the wall of projectiles. Some slower characters like Ganondorf and DK have Dash Attacks that trample projectiles and at midrange you may even get a punish. Platforms are actually your friend when if comes to approaching projectile heavy characters. You don't have to commit to landing in front of the opponent's line of fire (though if they have good platfrom pressure, that might hurt). If you get on a platform on top of them or near, you can time a drop down aerial to beat their spam.

    Q. For characters that struggle to land, is going to ledge a valid landing option?

    A. Depends on the MU. For example, DK has a terrible time getting off the ledge with really slow getup frames. When you play a heavy character or a character with landing troubles, there's not much you can do other can try to stall a landing to throw off timing or weave in and out. If you have a character with a safe on shield aerial, it helps tremendously.

    Dedede vs. Samus?

    Q. Dedede vs. Samus?

    A. This sounds pretty terrible for Dedede. I can't give you as much detailed MU advice since I don't play either character (maybe someone reading this can?). I'd imagine it would involve a lot of Dedede trying to approach a walling Samus. I think Bair is really his only viable approach aerial, but even then it can be punished. You can mixup a lot of falling Neutral B (the Dedede suck) to beat opponents shielding expecting an aerial. Just eat a lot of damage and hope you get a hard read that kills early I guess.

  17. - When are they putting you on Houston PR? Are you truly, as your member title states, "the best"?

    - How do you get in regular practice? Do you meet up with people randomly, are there regular events, do you just do online?

    - how2beat fox wtf

    - - Cloud too, I guess

    - - edit: also mario

    Q. You're the best. When are you making the Houston PR?

    A. Thank you, I am the best. I am currently pretty inactive locally, which has a lot to do with extra work over the summer and need to lab things before I'm ready. I think I can make it pretty high up there.

    Q. How do you get regular practice?

    A. I'm part of a group of 4-5 friends and we regularly practice together, mostly close in skill. There's also a big smashfest every two weeks that we go to and some pretty good players come out. I also play online when I'm bored and have extra time. I try to practice at tourneys, but I usually end up spectating matches or chilling so I don't really get much practice other than the main bracket, where I learn a lot.

    If you can, try to find a group of people around your skill level and propose practice sessions. People also join crews or WiFi clans for the same reason.

    Q. How do I beat Fox, Cloud, and Mario?

    A. This is pretty broad since I don't know what character your using against them, but nonetheless I'll give you some general tips that can apply to every character.

    Fox can be difficult to deal with with his amazing speed and frame data, but you must exploit his weaknesses offensively and defensively. You should definitely lab how to stuff Fox's Illusion since 99% of the time he'll be relying on that to make it back onstage. It's pretty character specific but most characters have a lingering aerial (Nair) that can catch it and you can pretty much run offstage, double jump backwards and drift back on stage with a Nair, timing it to catch Illusion. If you have a character with a projectile, you might be able to knock him out of it with good timing, but you have to practice it. Quick Dtilts with decent disjoints are also really good if you can time 2 frames, you've probably seen Void consistently Dtilt Foxes out of their Illusion. Once you've caused the Fox to waste all his double jump and they are below the stage, they have to Firefox, in case you can (stage)spike or use a stronger aerial to finish them. Be brave when challenging Firefox since it will knock you upwards if you miss anyway (you can trade a Sheik Dair with the Firefox and live), don't wait for them to get close to the ledge since they can "cheat death" with the 2 frame ledgesnap. Offensively, Fox can have trouble killing if you make it hard for him. He relies a lot on Nair/Dair setups into Usmash to kill, but it is actually pretty easy to avoid these if you are completely aware. You'll probably notice at the higher levels, players don't fall to this as much, Larry gets most of his kills from raw Bairs and Uairs. If you have the stock lead, you are pretty much safe in shield since he has no way to kill you though it (unless he shield pokes with Dair), focus on surviving and maintaining a lead at this point.

    Cloud can be difficult to deal with for good reason. Most players have a lot of trouble contesting his aerials. His Dair and Nair spam may seem really safe, but you can still exploit this even without relying on powershielding. You may notice a tendency for Clouds to rely on Dairs to land, but with good spacing not even that is safe. You can pretty much beat it with a horizontally spaced aerial since his air speed will be low right after he comes out of hitstun. Lots of characters also have pivot grabs/tilts that beat the landing. SH Nair spam can be beaten by reading his jump timings and pretty much running under and Usmashing. Like Fox, you should also lab ways to gimp him. Remember he doesn't ledgesnap unless Climhazzard is spaced perfectly, so this makes his recovery pattern more predictable. You can abuse the lack of ledge snap with a Dtilt/Dsmash. If they recover high, you can jump next to the cloud, drift with him at 45 degree angle in front/under him until he does an option (usually either airdodge or nair, but you can beat both with a fast enough aerial and good reaction). You can also grab him drifting on stage if he's about level with it and grab release him to his death if he lost his double jump.

    Dealing with Mario can be extremely MU dependent but basically: If you're a spacer/disjoint character, abuse Mario's lack of range and always stay out of grab range. If you're a zoner, keep zoning. I feel like people respect cape too much, but you can still bait it and Mario isn't exactly the fastest character so you can decently camp him. If you're Brawler like him, it can be pretty even. Also, don't full hop a lot against Marios, Usmash is a really good anti-air. Stay away from the ledge at kill percents and avoid Bthrow. Mario's combos do a lot of damage but remember to keep your cool and focus on survival, make them lose their cool when you live till 160%.

    How do you feel Ike will pan out in the future in tournament play?

    Follow-up question: why do we use tiers in this day and age? Is it just an aggregation of tournament results or is there something else? I was thinking about this and ultimately it seems like they are pointless in their design because matchup lists are far more useful, since tiers don't seem to provide any actually meaningful information, but I'm wondering what other thoughts on this is.

    EDIT: I have a tough time full hopping consistently. How do you recommend I improve this? I tend to get a short hop half the time I think I got a full hop it ends up being a short hop.

    Q. Where will Ike go in future tournament play?

    A. At the very top level, I think he will only go down. He's pretty outclassed by Cloud, only thing he has over him is throw combos and slightly better (but still not great) recovery. Ryo, Ike's current best representative isn't doing that well at the bigger events. He's just got too many frame data and disadvantage issues that top tiers love to abuse.

    Q. Why do we use tier lists?

    A. TBH, tier lists make for some really good discussion fodder. Nothing riles smashers more than when their main is perceived to be bad or good. Tier lists can have a bunch of criteria in it, from Matchup spreads, results, and overall theory of a character. Matchup spreads alone are pretty good, but doesn't really paint the full picture. For example, Pikachu is theorized to go even or beat the majority of the cast, does that mean he's the best? Far from it since he gets really mediocre results and has killing issues for a supposed top tier. Whether it contains useful information or not depends on who's looking at it. For casual players it means nothing since they could be beating their other casual friends with Ganondorf. For competitive players, its serves a bigger function, something like a "who should I practice for the most" list or a "who should I play" list.

    Q. How to full-hop consistently?

    A. Press the jump button a bit longer.

    - What characters do you believe can handle Rosalina the best, even outside the top tiers, because I've heard some debate on disjointed characters having an advantage overall etc.

    - Who do you personally think is #1 after the Bayo nerfs?

    Q. What characters can handle Rosalina the best?

    A. Rosalina has two losing MUs, against Cloud and Metaknight. Cloud has the disjoint and frame data to get rid of Luma safely and juggle really well with great kill power. Metaknight can actually hard counter her. He can still get Uair ladders on her post patch because she is big and floaty, dying to it at absurdly low percents due to her low weight. His dash attack clears Luma for free and he can also edgeguard really well. Other disjointed character can do well, but only in the context of the general cast. Pretty much every other sword character has frame data issues or not enough of a disjoint to do what Cloud can do to her, though Marth comes close. She probably goes even or slightly beats all other disjoint characters. Other than that, she beats/goes even with a ton of top tiers and doesn't really lose to anyone (maybe ZSS, but Dabuz has beaten Nairo many times recently). She's top tier for a reason.

    Q. Who is currently #1?

    A. Diddy Kong. He was getting really good results last patch and he continues to get them this patch. His neutral is way too good (Frame 4 ranged Dtilt to everything), even without a banana and while he's not usually killing you until at least 120%. His MU spread among top tiers is also really good, beating or even with everyone else, though he may possibly lose to Rosalina and few random mid tiers like Luigi and Olimar. Why is he better than Rosalina then? Because Rosalina is hard countered by Metaknight whereas Diddy has no such hard counter. Rosalina also loses to Cloud, a really common character.

    Why do you main bad characters?

    What's Trela like?

    When's the next tournament being held north of Houston (Woodlands-area)? I can probably make it if it's there. I can't make it to central and Katy and the like.

    Q. Why do you main bad characters?

    A. Greninja isn't bad and can keep up in the metagame. And I dropped Link.

    Q. What's Trela like?

    A. He's a super intelligent guy and cares a lot about improving in Smash 4. He's pretty much the prince of Houston Smash 4 and a lot of people respect him as he is the state's only nationally viable player. He's a bit too hard on himself when he loses, though he's gotten much better about it recently. If you ever see him, say hi, he's really friendly.

    Q.When's the next tournament being held north of Houston (Woodlands-area)?

    A. Go to this link, Clutch City Clash (corny name I know) happens Aug. 6-7th.

    https://smash.gg/tournament/su-presents-clutch-city-clash

    Any advice in the Sheik ditto?

    Favorite Roy palette?

    Q. Any advice in the Sheik ditto?

    A. You both have trouble killing, but no problem dealing damage and comboing each other. This match will come down to who can close out kills better. If you have a read you can save, don't use it until its time to kill (like a Usmash airdodge read, Ftilt 50/50 Uair read, or a ledge trump Bair for example). Needling is bad, Bouncing Fish beats it pretty easily. Focus on ledgetrapping since edgeguarding Sheik is hard even with Sheik and you don't really have a strong enough aerial to kill other than maybe needles to Bouncing Fish.

    Q. Favorite Roy palette?

    A. Dark purple. Since he gets all the girls.

    Why don't you main Dedede? Show them you are the King!

    Q. Why don't you main Dedede?

    A. The world is not ready for my Dedede. Someday I will though.

    Where would you put Peach and Palutena on a tier list?

    Q. Where would you put Peach and Palutena on a tier list?

    A. Peach would probably fit somewhere around where Greninja is, in the 15th to 25th range. High damage, good movement options, good kill power, but a bit susceptible to anti-airing and getting camped. Palutena would be a tier below below that, in the 26th to 40th range. I don't believe Palutena is garbage, she has a few really good tools that prevent her from being lumped in with the Jigglypuff and Ganondorf tier, like Bair and Bair.

    Why did you choose to main Greninja? Nothing against the character him(it?)self, just seems like a weird choice if you were actively trying to pick a more tournament viable character than Link.

    Q. Why did you choose to main Greninja?

    A. I just really enjoy playing as him and he's the best character that I also enjoy playing. I considered ZSS for a while, but ultimately liked Greninja lot more. I think he has potential and I'm sticking with him for now.

  18. - Why did you completely drop Link (if you did)?

    - How is Greninja's matchup spread (what does he do well, where does he struggle)?

    - Are you working on any secondaries? If so, which character(s), and why?

    Q. Why did you drop Link?

    A. I still play Link casually, I find him really fun to play. I'll also use him in early bracket/pools since I can actually close out matches really quick with him. Competitively, he's really lacking and that's just function of his design. He's just super average at everything among the swordies and most of the time it is best to specialize in something. Why play him for zoning when you can go with Robin or even Toon Link and do it better? Why play him for spacing when Marth and Cloud can do it better? Why play him for his throw game when other swordies like Ike and Robin (barring bad grab range) can do it better? Not to mention he really bad fundamental flaws in a really bad jumpsquat, disadvantage state, and grab (which I cannot understate how bad this flaw is especially in Smash 4 where shield is king). Most of the people in my area have figured out the MU, its time to play a better character as sad as it is to say.

    Q. How is Greninja's MU spread?

    A. I'm pretty active among the Greninja community and most agree he has a ton of even MUs and slightly loses to Sheik, Sonic, Fox, and Diddy. He doesn't outright demolish a lot of the lower tiers like a top tier would either. Losing MUs against common top tiers (albeit slight disadvantages) and not that many heavily winning MUs (his winning MUs are probably only slightly in his favor, unless it's like Ganondorf or Jigglypuff) put him in upper mid tier, somewhere around 15th to 25th place. Basically a pretty balanced spread, kinda like Pit.

    Q. Are you working on any secondaries?

    A. Right now, I'm focusing on solo Greninja, but maybe I'll need a secondary at some point to deal with his tougher top tier MUs. Or I'll just suck it up and play out his bad MUs, nothing probably as bad as Link-Sheik or Link-Fox. For now, I'm trying to get his tech/footstool game down.

    I'll answer more questions a bit later. I'm getting late for work. More tonight.

×
×
  • Create New...