Batter the Beast

Turn on your favorite Megaman song, cause it's the Blue Bomber's time to shine! Megaman is a nonstandard defensive character, based around walling the opponent out with a bunch of projectiles, some of which can fire at unusual angles. His up close options aren't great, especially since he lacks a standard jab or sex kick nair, but his midrange pressure is stellar, giving him one of the best neutrals in the game, if not the best in the game. He's also pretty technical, with a footstool jablock that is guaranteed by using a footstool and a z dropped item, a sequence that is an unblockable kill confirm on the entire cast. Without an early KO from uptilt, however, Megaman will have a hard time finding the opportunity to get a KO, meaning that he might get KOd from a stray smash while the opponent is sitting at 170% or more. Megaman has been underrated since his release despite his popularity nobias, but Kamemushi, a Japanese Megaman/Yoshi player who has done really well in Japanese nationals recently and got 2nd place at EVO, is bringing the Blue Bomber back into the spotlight and is making people reconsider their Megaman placement on their tier lists. GET EQUIPPED WITH WALL OF TEXT [spoiler=Properties] Weight: 102 (15th-16th heaviest) Run speed: 1.456 (46th fastest) Walk speed: 1.078 (38th fastest) Air speed: 1.1 (14th-19th fastest) Fall speed: 1.8 (5th-8th fastest) Fastfall speed: 2.88 (7th-9th fastest) Max jumps: 2 Walljump: Yes Jumpsquat: 4 frames Megaman is a heavyweight, so he's difficult to KO despite his small size. He's pretty easy to combo though, since he's a fastfaller on top of being heavy. Megaman is slow on the ground, but has good aerial maneuverability. His jump is among the fastest in the game, so he has no problems getting into the air. [spoiler=Mega Buster/Pellets/Lemons/Pew Pew] This move deserves its own section as it is that core to Megaman's gameplay. Megaman's jab, ftilt, and nair are all the same move technically. This move throws out up to 3 weak, short range projectiles that have no knockback, but make the opponent flinch unless they are Bowser. The player can control how many projectiles are thrown out. These projectiles will clank with most weak projectiles, such as Mario's fireballs. Megaman's arm is a hitbox when the projectiles come out, which is a hitbox that doesnt do a lot of %, but has decent knockback, allowing Megaman to hit some people up close while firing out projectiles. Megaman can walk foward, jump, double jump, and move in any direction in the air while the Buster is being inputted. The only restriction is that Megaman can't walk backwards while firing, as he will turn around instead while firing.These projectiles come out quick, giving Megaman a lot of mid range pressure while Megaman has a hitbox right on top of him, making it difficult for the opponent to approach. The usual option against this is to shield the pellets while moving forward. This means that the opponent can easily get grabbed while they are trying to shield the expected Buster shots. Learn how to maneuver around with this move, as it is essential to Megaman play. Just, don't spam it constantly. That will get you punished. Oh yeah the buster shots are also used to jablock into uptilt, which is a kill confirm at about 70-80%. When on the ledge, falling off and immediately double jump nairing back onstage is a very safe option as Megaman is covered by one of the buster shots as he's getting back onstage. It's an option to consider when getting pressured on the ledge. [spoiler=Ground Normals] Dash Attack (Top Spin)- Comes out fast, but is really unsafe on shield. Never used for the most part Utilt (Mega Upper) - SHOOOORYUKEN. Megaman's main early KO tool. This move will KO most of the cast at around 80% when the initial hitbox connects. The rest of the hitbox is pretty weak. Intangible on frames 5-7 and comes out frame 6, so some jab spammers can be read with this, but don't try it too often as there is a lot of lag if it whiffs. Megaman can go offstage with this and grab the ledge when he comes down. Interestingly, on Lylat, if the stage tilts so he can land on a platform while he's in the air, he will have no lag upon landing. Dtilt (Slide) - Quick slide that has leg intangiblity for almost the whole duration, meaning that it has good priority. Can go under some projectiles. Still, this is a move to throw out sparingly as it's unsafe on shield. Can easily punish the 2 frames of ledge vulnerability on most of the cast. Fsmash (Charged Mega Buster) - The projectile gets larger and travels further as it's charged. Used sometimes as an edgeguard tool to force the opponent to think quickly, as one can airdodge read with this move if the opponent is expecting an early fsmash. Sometimes, the hitbox is so big that it hits them anyway when they try to evade it with a roll or sidestep. Be wary of reflecting or energy absorbing characters when using this. At long enough distances, uncharged fsmash won't hit Megaman when reflected. Unsafe if used in the neutral. Upsmash (Spark Shock) - Generally used to punish bad landings and Megaman's safest smash. Still isn't that safe though. Comes out fast at frame 8. Trading with this is bad as only the last hit does significant damage. KOs pretty late as far as most smash attacks go. Dsmash (Flame Blast) - The hard read smash. Generally used for hard reads, shield break punishes, hard punishes, what have you. If charged, this can KO as early as 60% with the early hitbox, and Megaman can definitely pressure shielded opponents quite well so you may see a shield break once in a full moon. Late hitbox is very weak. Not very good for reading rolls as the strong hitbox lasts only one frame. Extremely unsafe with a whopping FAF of 79. [spoiler=Air Normals] Fair (Flame Sword) - Swift disjoint. Generally safe to throw out in the air, somewhat safe on shield if spaced. Generally inferior to Bair, but is sometimes more convenient to use Bair (Slash Claw) - Holy moly, this move. Disjoint, comes out frame 4, KOs decently early for an aerial, combos after dthrow in most situations, comboes after metal blade item toss, is safe on shield if spaced well, the only major flaw about this move is that it's unreliable in some cases as it's a multihit. In all other situations, it's Megaman's goto aerial. If the landing lag wasn't so meh, I would call this the best Bair in this game. Seriously, learn how to RAR Bair if you want to play Megaman. It's that essential. Megaman's main KO option at higher %s Upair (Air Shooter) - Juggle tool, and deceptively large upwards projectile. Does an impressive amount of damage, and can KO at high %s due to its windbox properties. Learn how to do quick short hop upairs, as it makes it difficult for the opponent to land, especially if Megaman is waiting for them to airdodge the upair below. Does a lot of shield damage, so this can pressure opponents who are shielding on BF/DL64 platforms Dair (Hard Knuckle) - Downwards projectile. Meteors at the low hitbox, decent KO power at the hitbox located right below Megaman. Generally just used to meteor, but can be used onstage safely if it is used at the start of a double jump, even if the double jump is inputted immediately after the first jump. This gives it absolutely no landing lag. Megaman's position can also be changed during the animation, giving him a little bit of a mixup option during it. [spoiler=Grabs and Throws] Standing Grab (Super Arm) - Standard grab. Good Range. Megaman gets a lot of grabs since he forces his opponent to shield often. Dash Grab - Same range, comes out 2 frames slower, 7 more frames of endlag Pivot Grab - More range, comes out 3 frames slower, 5 more frames of endlag Pummel - Does about 2-3% and is somewhat slow. Use them at later %s to help rack up damage. Fthrow - Generally used for getting opponents offstage and not much else Bthrow - Kill throw at very high %s. Also used to create space if the player needs to get a metal blade in their hand Uthrow - Kill throw at very high %s. Used if bthrow won't KO Dthrow - Combo throw. Followup with RAR bairs Megaman wants to get dthrows early on to combo into bair for damage, and have the positional advantage as he can land after the bair while the opponent is still flying. Once that stops comboing, throws are used to get the opponent offstage, or to create distance so Megaman can set up a metal blade. Even though he wants early grabs, he shouldn't fish for them, since his up close and approach options are basically nonexistant. [spoiler=Neutral B (Metal Blade)] What do ya know, the infamously broken (at least in casual runs) Megaman weapon is so good in this game that it deserves its own section, though for different reasons. After pressing B, the player can input any of the 8 directions (up/down/left/right/diagonals) to throw a multihitting projectile in that direction. This is a weak projectile, and can hit anywhere from 2-3 times depending on the character, with each hit doing 5 damage. Megaman can pressure the opponent from any angle with creative usage from this move, and it can easily be B reversed for even more mixups. But that's not all. When thrown on the ground, any player can pick it up and throw it, with the toss having the same properties as Neutral B minus the diagonal throwing direction. Megaman can simultaneously use an aerial and pick up the blade. So, Megaman can fire his buster while picking up the blade, which is a safe option in many scenarios. Note that the projectile won't arc when thrown to the side nor will it come back down when thrown upwards like most item tosses. This can be used while landing to combo into side B, as item toss metal blade into side B is a true combo on a significant portion of the cast at kill %s. The blade can also be Z-dropped, giving Megaman a frame 1 pressure option with almost no endlag. Oh, and it also hits multiple times like Neutral B. The z-drop will also always hit after a footstool, giving Megaman the guaranteed opportunity to footstool then jablock with buster shots, which confirms into utilt for a KO at about 70-80%. [spoiler=Specials] Side B (Crash Bomber) - Fires a bomb that sticks to the opponent if not blocked. Can stick onto invincible opponents, like say when they come back after losing a stock. Can transfer to other players via contact, including Megaman. Counts as a weak projectile. The explosion can be reflected by Fox's reflector and can be absorbed by the psychic kids and G&W. The projectile does almost no shield damage if blocked. Used to force the opponent to take a defensive position, as they must block or dodge the bomb. Or, they could run at Megaman to stick the bomb onto him, which can be difficult if he's being defensive. The explosion can KO if Megaman upthrows the opponent beforehand. Up B - (Rush Coil) - Quick Recovery, comes out frame 1 and is intangible from frames 6 to 9. Opponents can also fly upwards using Rush. Doesn't make Megaman helpless, and he can double jump afterwards to boot. Has some endlag upon landing, unless Megaman inputs another move during the landing lag, such as nair, neutral B, down B, what have you. Using nair to cancel the landing lag of this move is a common tactic as Megaman can generally freely move while firing the buster, meaning that this move becomes hard to punish. When used onstage, any player can hop on Rush to bounce upwards, and Megaman can land on rush after using Up B to bounce up again. This will reset his double jump and Up B, meaning he can do it again. It's an amusing option against FG links who are charging their bow. This is Megaman's best combo escape tool as it comes out frame 1. Down B (Leaf Shield) - An interesting move. On first use, it surrounds Megaman with four leaves, each of which have about the same properties as a buster shot, but with about 1% more damage. Each leaf is a weak projectile, and only flinches the opponent. Used as a "get off me" option against opponents who are about to get in, and is a good option to use while landing, especially against shorter ranged characters like Mario. On second use, Megaman throws the circling leaves foward, which does okay damage, has slight knockback, and goes through every projectile. This will also erase every weak projectile, making it an option in certain projectile wars, but won't erase strong projectiles, like charged Mewtwo Neutral Bs. [spoiler=General MUs] Megaman has a good matchup spread, and in my opinion, only struggles against Mario and Sheik, and even then it's not that bad. Mario gives Megaman trouble as his up close options far outclass Megamans and he can get KOs earlier since he can use smashes with nigh impunity vs Megaman. Add in the reflector and decent edgeguard and you spell trouble for Megaman. On the flipside, it's hard for Mario to get in in the first place since Megaman is a wall of projectiles, and Mario's own projectile and reflector don't help as much as one would think, given how fast Megaman can just throw out 3 projectiles. Megaman also has disjoints, and Mario doesn't have a real answer to challenge bair in the air except to do his first. It might be even, but I say that it's slightly in Mario's favor. Sheik is also difficult for Megaman, as she has no problems getting in where Megaman isn't comfortable fighting and comboing him for days. On the other hand, Megaman's weight makes him hard to KO, and with rage, all it will take is one kill confirm for Megaman to gain the lead, especially in a 2 stock format. Sheik overall still wins the Matchup, but overall it's not as bad as one would think. For other top tiers, Rosaluma is interesting as Megaman can detonate bombs on Rosa's shield, and has no problems playing Rosa's patience game. Rosa has generally better normals than Megaman, but Megaman's projectile game can keep Rosa at bay and force her to approach, which is something she may not want to do. Sonic is interesting as it's infuriating for him to approach Megaman as almost every projectile cancels the spindash. However, when Sonic gets in, it's hard to get him out, and it's hard for Megaman to regain a lead that Sonic gains. Megaman actually beats Diddy as it's hard for Diddy to get bananas on the field when Megaman can just throw out projectiles that get rid of it willy nilly, and Diddy has to try to trade with Megaman's bair to get up close. Megaman also beats Ryu, since his bad neutral is made even worse vs Megaman's amazing neutral, and Megaman can Up B out of a lot of Ryu setups unless the Ryu is consistently frame perfect. Megaman has to play super safe in this MU, but if he does, Ryu doesn't have a lot of options. Megaman loses to Fox onstage due to Fox's speed and good normals, but can abuse Fox offstage with bair and dair. He can also juggle Fox easily since Fox is a fastfaller and has bad air speed. Cloud is interesting, and some players say Megaman beats Cloud since he can easily dair the recovery or abuse Cloud offstage with bair. Cloud has a hard time getting his limit in this MU due to the Megaman pressure, but Megaman doesn't have an answer to a lot of Cloud's normals as they outrange a lot of his moves. Megaman beats or is neutral against most of the lower tier characters since they have a hard time getting through the projectile wall. DK, Bowser and Dorf have an especially hard time getting through the wall, and can't KO Megaman as early as they want since Megaman is a heavyweight. [spoiler=Stages] FD - Good, lets Megaman abuse his projectile game against opponents who can't handle it Battlefield/Dream land 64 - Good, Megaman can pressure platform landings with upair and bair Smashville - Good, Megaman can easily pressure with projectiles as well as pressuring the platform with bairs Town & City - Decent, can KO really early here but Megaman doesn't get other significant advantages Duck Hunt - Decent, but the ducks can get in the way of the projectiles. Megaman can't get tree camped due to upair Lylat - Bad, the tilt can screw up Megaman's projectile game. Only pick if it screws over the opponent harder Megaman's stellar neutral and early KO confirms earns him a spot in higher mid, at the lowest. I think he's high tier, but that might be me being optimistic. Time will tell to see if Megaman will go higher or lower, especially with how technical Megaman is. Many top players will be on the lookout for Megaman due to Kamemushi's performance at EVO, and will most likely rate him higher due to Kamemushi's performance alone.

Just finished the set against Right_Here

UPSMASH INTO UPSMASH TRUE COMBOS The Doc is in! He’s here to give you your daily dose of pain, which he does with his hard hitting attacks and godly frame data. Now, he and Mario have a lot of subtle differences that change how they want to approach the game. Mario loves his combos, and so does Doc, but Mario has longer combos while Doc has to settle for short, sweet, and damaging combos. Any general statement you can make about Mario, you can say about Doc as well. Such as having difficulties vs disjoints, beating a lot of rushdowns, having a bunch of neutral or favorable MUs, etc. Let’s start off with a comparison with Mario since most people know Mario stuff. Overall, we can assume that Doc’s moves are stonger, so I will just list other important comparisons here. Some of the stuff is technical so don't worry about reading all of it if you're not into that. [spoiler=Doc vs Mario] Jab 1: FAF of 23 vs Mario’s 20 Jab 2: FAF of 25 vs Mario’s 22 Jab 3: FAF of 36 vs Mario’s 34 – Only slightly laggier, still a very good jab. Also does more overall damage. Fsmash: Less range Upsmash: Head intangibility from frames 9-13 compared to Mario’s 9-12. BKB of 0 vs Mario’s 32. KBG of 117 vs Mario’s 94. - Sends opponent at an angle behind Doc compared to Mario’s straight up angle. Can be a better kill move in certain scenarios and is ever so slightly more difficult to challenge Backthrow: KBG of 60 vs Mario’s 66 - KOs about the same time Dthrow: BKB of 75 vs Mario’s 40. KBG of vs 45 Mario’s 90 - Still combos well, but not as well as Mario's Nair: Early hitbox active for frames 3-7 compared to Mario’s 3-5. Sourspot deals 5.6% vs Mario’s 8% Late hitbox active for frames 8-27 vs Mario’s 6-29. Sweetspot deals 8.96% vs Mario’s 5% Landing lag of 12 vs Mario's 10 - Worse combo breaker in terms of damage, better approach option. Landing lag difference is hard to notice, especially with the greater shield damage on the late hitbox Fair: Active from frames 16-19 vs Mario’s 16-20. Sends opponent at upwards angle vs Mario’s meteor on early hit. Landing lag of 28 vs Mario’s 26 - Generally worse than Mario’s Bair: Active from frames 6-13 vs Mario’s 8-10. Landing lag of 16 vs Mario’s 12. BKB of 10 on early hit vs Mario’s 12. KBG of 90 on early hit vs Mario’s 106 – Every aspect is better for Doc except the landing lag, which is still small. Upair: Active from frames 4-12 vs Mario’s 4-8. Landing lag of 14 vs Mario’s 12. BKB of 9 vs Mario’s 10. KBG of 100 vs Mario’s 135. Sends opponent at more of an angle – Worse combo move Dair: Completely different move, less safe on shield but more difficult to challenge Neutral B: Projectile bounces higher. Generally about the same quality as Mario’s but can’t be absorbed Side B: Reflects on frames 6-22 vs Mario’s 6-20. Doesn’t lift him up in the air. Up B: Single hit vs Mario’s multihit. No intangibility. Doesn’t go as high. Worse recovery but a damn good kill option Down B: Completely different. Aids recovery and can punish some defensive options but is overall unsafe vs FLUDD’s utility Overall Attributes: Runspeed: 1.312 (rank 52) vs 1.6 (rank 28-30) Max Air Speed: .943 (rank 43) vs 1.15 (rank 9-11) Short Hop: 35 frames of air time vs Mario's 40 For every move, Doc does more damage per hit and KOs earlier in general Every other difference not mentioned is not noteworthy tl;dr Doc does overall damage and some of his moves are slightly laggier, or have the same exact frame data. We all know how good Mario’s frame data is, so Doc’s must also be good, if only ever so slightly worse. Mario has faster movespeed, which is always a good quality, and his moves generally knock opponents in less favorable angles in terms of combos. Doc is more of a heavy character in playstyle, meaning that each hit he lands is more impactful than each hit Mario lands due to his higher damage output per hit. Doc relies more on mindgames and reading than Mario, who can be more aggressive with his higher movement speed. [spoiler=Ground Normals] Jab 1 - Sick 2 frame jab Jab 2 - Decent followup jab which isn't amazing for mixups Jab 3 - Jab Finisher. Somewhat laggy and easy to punish on whiff/shield Dash Attack - High priority and comes out fast, but is really unsafe on shield. Use sparingly Ftilt - Swift 5 frame poke. Decent to just randomly throw out vs non-swordies as it's safe on shield. Generally outspaced by swords. Can be angled, but angling only changes the... angle Utilt - Combo starter that comes out frame 5. Decent OOS tool. Followup with upair Dtilt - Another combo starter that comes out frame 5. Followup with upair Fsmash - Kills absurdly early, Can be angled, angling only changes the... angle. Safe on shield on slower characters. Throw out every now and then, but not often Upsmash - Stupidly safe and hard to challenge due to head intangibility. Doc's best smash attack. KO's at average %s, sends opponents behind Doc. Use to catch landings or to punish. Can combo start at very low %s. Can combo into itself vs heavies at 0%. Safe on shield. Dsmash - Decent for catching rolls. First hit comes out frame 5 (!), 2nd comes out frame 14. Doc's fastest smash attack. Safe on shield. [spoiler=Air Normals] Nair - Standard sex kick and combo breaker. The only sex kick to do more damage as it lingers. Use to get out of many combos and not much else. Safe on shield on late hitbox. Fair - Decent KO move, autocancels when used during fullhop. Can hit after down throw at very specific %s. Throw out every now and then as a surprise move. Don't land with this. Bair - The best bair in the game, or damn close to it. This move comes out fast, has decent range, can KO. Use a LOT in neutral. Safe on shield if spaced. Upair - Combo extender. Sends opponents at a forward angle. Can generally fit only 1 into a combo. Can either straight up combo afterwards with up B or land to mixup. Generally safe on shield. Dair - Landing tool. Generally not used, but can be used to surprise opponents by landing on them with it. Not safe on shield on landing. [spoiler=Grabs and Throws] Standing Grab - Standard grab Dash Grab - Same range, comes out 1 frame slower, 6 more frames of endlag Pivot Grab - More range, comes out 3 frames slower, about the same endlag Fthrow - Generally used for getting opponents offstage and not much else Bthrow - Kill throw at high %s Uthrow - Rarely used. Dthrow does everything this throw can but better Dthrow - Combo throw. Followup with upair. [spoiler=Specials] Neutral B - PILLS HERE. Bouncing projectile, bounces higher the higher Doc is when he throws it. Can't be absorbed. Can throw out randomly if far away or high up offstage Side B - Reflector, turns opponents around if hit. Use only to reflect in most cases. Hinders recovery Up B - SHOOOORYUKEN. Standard recovery tool, doesn't have a lot of distance and has no intangibility. Can be used OOS or to end combos. Hits at frame 3, which is stupidly quick. Can KO at high %s with the early hitbox. Can reverse it on hit by moving the joystick backwards immediately after the initial hit, even on shield. Decent to throw out in neutral on BF as Doc can just land on the platforms. Down B - Mash to aid recovery. Can catch bad spot dodges and rolls, but is really unsafe to randomly use. Really laggy, so don't use it while recovering if the opponent is closing in, as they can easily punish. [spoiler=General MUs] Doc's MU spread is similar to Mario's due to their similar qualities. However, Doc loses hard to Shiek and Rosa as they can abuse his bad recovery. Doc also does arguably worse vs Cloud and Marth as he lacks the movespeed to punish their spacing. He also doesn't have FLUDD to help him vs Cloud/MK/Corrin. He generally beats anyone else that Mario will beat, such as Yoshi, Megaman, and Falcon. Doc actually has a slightly advantageous MU against Mario. This is because Doc does more damage on hit to Mario while his moves come out at about the same time. He also KOs Mario earlier than Mario KOs him in most cases. Mario can't abuse Doc's recovery that well, so that helps him in the MU. [spoiler=Stages] Battlefield/Dream land 64 - Good, platforms can help with combos a lot Town & City - Good, Doc can KO really early here Duck Hunt - Decent, pills aren't disrupted by ducks most of the time FD - Decent, Doc can punish landings hard here Lylat - Decent, can kill stupidly early here but tilting can screw up his recovery Smashville - Decent, this stage doesn't really have anything particularly bad for Doc In all honesty, there is no reason to pick Doc over Mario unless you like the character or if his slightly better bair is worth the worse recovery. He can be a situational Mario counterpick since he slightly beats Mario while still being relatively easy to use. Still, even though Mario is better, Doc is still good. High tier good. The main thing holding him back is his bad recovery, since some of the top tiers can exploit it. Every other flaw is really only apparent when you compare Doc and Mario under a magnifying glass.

Monster Hunter Generations just released today in the US and EU! Here's a friendly reminder that there are a bunch of discords open for this game here. Hope to hunt with you all soon!

PEPSI FOR SMASH BROTHERS NNID: lolinternets

Fair spacing. Lucas doesn't have a good answer except going in, which isn't that great of an option since Ike can just jab Lucas or grab him, or run & gun, which is what Lucas will probably do anyway. Don't be too predictable with fair though since Lucas can punish a fair if hes right outside the hitbox with grab, which is the one thing you don't want Lucas to get. Also, abuse the fact that Lucas has trouble KOing since his only real options are killthrows, a random fsmash, or HOO HAH if the DI is poor or he reads the airdodge. Make note that you can easily down B his PKT2 recovery to make him think twice about using it.

PK FIRE Woo Lucas, hailing from the greatest game ever made, Mother 3 I'd complain about the lack of it in the US but the fanslation is so good that I don't actually mind it too much. In smash, he's a weird combination of zoning and combos, leading to a character that can keep many others at bay, while punishing with long, highly damaging combos if he hits the right moves. He has a bunch of flaws, however, like difficulty landing, short range on normals, and somewhat low speed that hinders him, but I think he's underused and there's some Japanese player, don't know the name, that does pretty well as Lucas. [spoiler=Ground Normals] Jab 1 - Sick 2 frame jab, good get out of jail free option and good to mixup with since it has a low FAF of 20 Jab 2 - Followup that will almost always hit also good to mixup with since it has a low FAF of 20 Jab 3 - Slightly laggy jab finisher. Unsafe on shield Dash attack - Pretty laggy dash attack that comes out slow with ok range and sends at a decent angle. Generally not worth using Ftilt - Quick poke to throw out in neutral. Good w/ pivot as a "get off me" option Utilt - Decent OOS option that covers all around lucas and sends upwards at a combo angle at low%. Sometimes used to extend combos on platforms or if they DI low. Unsafe on shield. Comes out at a swift frame 4. Dtilt - Basically used in the same way as a jab mixup, but sacrifices 1 frame of startup (starts on frame 3) for a nasty FAF of 16. Can jablock. Fsmash - Comes out REALLY fast at frame 14, reflects on frame 10. Not a move to throw out often but is very good as a surprise KO option as it's very hard to react to Usmash - Super slow, super laggy, but KOs super early. Only use on hard reads, it's really unsafe to try using it (FAF of 99, Yikes!). Has a bunch of random intangibility for some reason Dsmash - Good at covering ledge grabs due to the huge hitbox. Unsafe on shield for the first and 2nd hit, somewhat safe on 3rd if it's not a powershield. Generally only used to cover the ledge, it's unsafe to throw out randomly. [spoiler=Air Normals] Nair - Combo bread and butter, very damaging and sends opponent at a weak upwards angle for more hurt. Can be SDI'd out of if the Lucas doesn't stick to the opponent. Safe on mixup against certain characters. Fair - Spacing tool, can KO in certain situations if sweetspotted. OK to approach with if spaced properly, otherwise the shieldstun is too small Bair - Good spike, good to mixup high % combos, can combo into upair if opponent doesnt tech and DI's poorly. Uair - Decent, fast KO move. Worse hitbox than Ness'. Combo finisher. Can be used after dthrow at high %s for a KO. ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ HOO HAH ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ Dair - Good spike, hits several times so it's easier to 2 frame with than many other aerials, combo mixup option, mixup option on shield. Zair - Fast poke. Unsafe if opponent is close. Crucial move in neutral. Tether has a very long distance. [spoiler="Grabs & Throws] Standing Grab - "Tether" grab with less range and lower FAF than others. Lowest FAF of any Lucas grab Dash Grab - Same range, 10 more frames of endlag. Generally, try to avoid using this except on punish Pivot Grab - Disgusting range, 10 more frames of endlag. Good option to throw out sometimes to punish a bad landing Fthrow - Generally used for getting opponents offstage and not much else Bthrow - Kill throw at high %s Uthrow - More reliable kill throw at high %s Dthrow - Combo throw [spoiler=Specials] Neutral Special - PK FREEZE. Surprisingly safe and can cover a large range. Use against really long range opponents. Memorize freeze timings to start pressuring opponents out of a freeze. Side B - PK FIRE. Fast projectile that generates a larger hitbox on projectile clank, making it win many projectile wars. Stupid good with wavebounce as it pushes Lucas back really far for more spacing. Pushes Lucas backwards slightly if not wavebounced. Up B - PK THUNDER. Very laggy compared to Ness'. Can be used to pressure opponents offstage, but will end up helping more often than hurting. Up B (PKT2) - Absurd range. Doesn't KO that early and can be contested quite easily. Still, can recover from the corner. Down B - Recovers a LOT of % and has a decent hitbox that sends opponent at a low angle. Good spacing tool with wavebounce [spoiler=General MUs] Lucas doesn't like fighting swordies as they can outspace him. Cloud vs Lucas is interesting as Lucas can abuse him offstage in theory and get him into bad angles with PSI magnet, as well as forcing him to approach with long range pressure on top of absorbing blade beams, so Cloud needs to approach, something he doesn't like doing w/o limit. Projectile users are Lucas's favorite MU as he can either outprojectile them with PK Freeze and Fire, or nullify the other dude's projectile game with his quick Fsmash and energy absorption. Sheik is one of the few characters that can outprojectile Lucas cause needles are broken. Vs rushdown, Lucas suffers up close but is annoying to close the distance against. Lucas can't afford to be predictable here, but can get sick combos off punishes more often. Shoutouts to Rosaluma since zair and side B can just poke Luma and don't have to be as close as Ness when he's recovering and have a tether option. IDK if the MU is good or bad but it's interesting [spoiler=Stages] FD - Best, Lucas loves zoning and punishing landings Duck Hunt - Good, Lucas can zone well here and the ducks generally won't screw up his zoning Smashville - Good, basically FD with a moving platform Town & City - Ok, becomes FD sometimes, low ceiling for early upthrow KOs Battlefield/Dream land 64 - Ok, good for extended combos but hard to space on Lylat - Bad, tilting screws up side B and zair spacing and can ruin recovery Lucas is a pretty tech-heavy character who doesn't reward that tech a lot. He's mid tier or high mid tier, and IMO can only go up since he's very underplayed and that one Japanese player is probably going to push his meta.

Gonna give this poll another day or two

Yo I want in on this NNID: lolinternets

Mac is a defensive behemoth who is terrifying to fight against due to his sheer KO power and his super armor on several of his KO moves. To help his defensive game further, he has IMO the best jab in the entire game (fitting, since he's a boxer), and his uptilt, which comes out fast and covers quite a bit of ground around him. He's also very fast, being the 3rd fastest character in the whole game, as well as not having the absolute worst maximum air speed, though his air acceleration is the 2nd worst in the game, which is something that hinders his recovery more than anything. Mac is surprisngly safe on shield with his fsmash and dtilt being nearly impossible to punish on shield for most characters. Speaking of dtilt, good lord is this move good. It's extremely quick at frame 3 and can combo into a lot of things at low%s, like itself, smashes, and KO punch for starters. Now people generally call Mac's aerials worthless but they actually have a bit of utility. Nair is frame 2, so it can be a combo escape tool, especially vs ground combos since Mac can convert nairs into his jab. Dair can jablock and is a weak spike, but it should generally be used for jablocks since a jablock at like 60 or 70% is a guaranteed stock due to how stronk mac's forward smash is. They are more situationally useful than his ground moves, but they still exist. None of his specials are really that great, except for Up B and KO punch. Up B is his best anti-air as it has pretty good priority and can KO at high %s. KO punch is unblockable, KOs at like 40% on most of the cast, but can get interrupted since it doesn't have as much super armor as his other moves. Mac's biggest flaw is something that everyone is aware of, and that's his awful recovery and inability to play the platform game properly. Little Mac does have options to mix up his recovery, but if he's hit with a move that sends him low or gets his recovery read once, he's as good as dead. His incredible defensive and ground game does make up for this huge flaw a little bit, but several of the top tiers have methods to take his stocks early, so he will likely be held back from being high tier as long as he maintains his terrible recovery.

Generally speaking, I don't want to drag people who only want to talk about Monster Hunter into a general gaming or smash discord group, especially if they might have some problem with users in either available chat for whatever reason. I might just be overthinking it so I suppose I'll just make another poll seeing how other people would like to handle it since I'm probably considering a problem that might not even exist.

With Monster Hunter Generations on the horizon, I was thinking that a chat channel should be created for SF Monster Hunter so it would be easy to set up halls with fellow SF peeps or have voice chat in the middle of hunts. So, for those interested, would Skype or Discord work better for this? We could do both I suppose but I'm lazy and would rather just do one or the other. EDIT: Looks like Discord wins and I made a new server for this. If someone could post to draw attention to this so I don't make a double post, that would be fantastic

Link's bombs are neat but he sadly lives in the shadow of Toon Link since Toon Link does everything Llink does, but better. I guess Link has a longer sword and a better nair to compensate.

LORDS OF SHADOW OR BUST

I can expand on these [spoiler=Ike vs Mewtwo]Ike wants to keep Mewtwo out so he doesn't have to deal with dtilt, nair, and fair, all of which come out quick and are good combo starters. Unfortunately, Mewtwo is just fine with being at long range since Ike can't really respond to his neutral B all that well, especially if the Mewtwo player mixes up his timing and charges. Mewtwo also has no problem going deep to intercept Ike's side B recovery, and bair is a pretty safe move to beat it. Ike's up B is a little harder for Mewtwo to interrupt, but a charged shadow ball will ruin Ike's day if he tries it. Ike's saving graces in this MU are a frame 4 jab, which is faster than any of Mewtwo's moves, and the fact that Mewtwo is the 2nd lightest character so a reckless Mewtwo player will get KOd pretty early if they try to approach too often. [spoiler=Ike vs Megaman]Ouch. This is really frustrating for Ike, since he hates projectiles and Megaman is all projectile. Ike is practically forced to go in, which is exactly what Megaman wants because of his strong punish game. Ike will also have a hard time with jump ins because not only can Megaman punish the bad landings that he can force, but he also has a frame 4 bair, which is 3 frames quicker than Ike's fastest aerial. In terms of interrupting Ike's recovery, Megaman is one of the easiest at doing that. Ike's side B can be interrupted with a bair, or an fsmash if the Ike is in the right spot. Ike's up B is even easier to interrupt, as Megaman can just jump above the sword and time his dair properly, or just fsmash Ike. Ike's saving grace in this MU is that Megaman will sometimes have difficulty KOing, so he can try to abuse rage and get a somewhat early stock off Megaman. [spoiler=Ike vs Metaknight]This one is even I'd say. Ike is combo food for MK but MK no longer can chain up airs into up B for the stock. Ike is generally difficult and frustrating to approach, and MK is a character dependent on his approach game. A patient Ike player can really keep an MK out, but a crafty MK player can bait out Ike's somewhat endlag heavy moves and run in for the punish, as his dash game is stellar. Ike doesn't have a hard time KOing MK since MK is so light, while MK will likely have to go deep offstage to KO Ike or get a read with up B. MK doesn't really have a way to intercept Ike's up B, so that's generally the safest bet for the Ike player.

a red robin round robin sounds fun

Dark Mage -> Sorcerer DOGA

Voted for LoS and I'm probably going to be the only one to vote for it at all :P EDIT: I stand corrected

Greninja has a lot of setups to fair, like charged shuriken and nair. He also has some crazy footstool combos that no one has really pulled out in a major tourney yet so everyone thinks Greninja is like mid tier, including myself, which will most likely change if some super technical player pulls off crazy stuff in a major.

Just finished my matches vs Jedi

Every final boss battle in existence pales in comparison to Raven vs Necron

[spoiler="Kirby: Planet Robobot Spoilers] IMO the best Kirby final boss fight, even better than Magolor

Fox's moves are good yeah but he also has jank, which makes him even better. Like up B KOing and covering some airdodge options, up B shieldbreaking, and fastfall fair into footstool. Fox in the corner is one of the scariest things because uptilt and bair just cover so much and are so fast that choosing any option feels wrong. This, combined with his overall KO potential means that he's very good offensively. His recovery has some counterplay, though it is hard to catch side B when it snaps to the ledge. Overall, probably a top 10 character due to his sheer offensive pressure. I think his flaws prevent him from being the best of the best, but he's pretty darn close, especially if the other top tiers get nerfed.