HR and JOE! present: Drugs and other assorted bad things
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Salamence, the Dragon Pokémon. Salamence is the final evolution of Bagon. It is able to exhale powerful blasts of fire while flying. He enjoys a very nice amount of popularity with both casual and competitive Pokemon fans, thanks to his cool design and extreme usefulness in the metagame, to the point where there has a been recent movement to ban him in a similar vein as Meta Knight. Will Salamence be forced into ubers to compete with monsters such as Mewtwo and Wobbefett?.
On land, Salamence isn't quite in his element. He walks about as fast as
DK, and has a dash similar to
Game & Watch (middle compared to the cast). Each has him trotting along on all fours.
SIZE: He is quite comparable to
Ganondorf here, being as weighty and as big (only horizontal instead of vertical). His head makes him about as tall as
Shiek however.
AIR: Where he truly shines is in the air! He has an aerial Di comparable to
Wario, and a fallspeed similar to
Yoshi, making him naturally much more speedy than on land. On top of this, Salamence sports an impressive
5 jumps. The 1st being like
Ivysaur's mediocre jump, but the remaining 4 mid-air jumps are like
Shiek's second jump! Combined with a
Glide as fast as Pit's, and you have a formidable recovery.
WEAKNESS: Ice based attacks do
10% more Kb to Salamence, much like Fire does to Ivy, water to Zard and Grass to Squirtle.
So over-all Salamence is rather mediocre on the ground, along with having standard heavyweight syndrome with his size and such. Once airborne however Salamence can move like no other! Having 4 incredible mid-air jumps, great speed and fall rate and a very fast glide for his size makes him a dominating force in the skies!
Ah, the attack that makes Salamence the utter bad-*** that he is! I mean, who can take a STAB Outrage from the dragon with the highest ATTK to abuse it with?
Sadly, this isn’t that attack…
However, Outrage here refers to Salamence’s knack for becoming uncontrollably enraged in battle, and how powerful he becomes!
To activate outrage, you need to hold B down for an entire 5 seconds, which are entirely interruptible, causing you to have to start over if someone hits you. After the 5 seconds of him snarling angrily have passed, Salamence roars toward the sky as a vortex of orange and purple flame surrounds him! This vortex is about as wide as Link’s Spin-Attack, and covers his body up to his head, doing a decent 2% per second to anyone coming in contact, but no actual KB. This lasts for 10 seconds, but charging it up again can prolong the timer at the expense of being immobile.
Now you may be thinking, “A damage aura is nice, but why such the extreme charge up?” This is for two reasons:
1) While Outraged, Salamence’s move-set changes, unlocking his Dragon-Type attacks, which will be described on the moves affected.
2) Aside from changing his move-set and providing a free aura of damage, Salamence has two methods of reducing the charge time, either by taking 50% damage (reduces the time to activate by 1 second for every 50% taken in the same stock), or by using his down smash, Focus Energy, beforehand (reduces timer by 2 seconds, fully charged).
When Outrage expires, Salamence expieriences 1 second of tiring (end lag). If Salamence is using an attack he will not tire until he reaches the end lag of the attack, with the attack's end lag counting towards that 1 second. Make that last attack while Outraged count!
SIDE SPECIAL: TWISTER / DRAGON RAGE
Salamence rears back, becoming a tad taller than Ganon now as he flaps his wings twice in front of him. As he does so, as you’ve probably guessed from the name, a vortex of air is formed that is about the size of Justice Man in front of him, and lasts for about 3 seconds. If you happen to catch a foe in your twister, they are trapped in a spinning animation for the entire 3 seconds, taking rapid hits for up to 15% (unless they DI out/get knocked out). Unfortunately for Salamence, 1.5 of those seconds are used up during the animation and end lag of the summon!
Now, that may sound like a long time, but keep in mind the foe had nearly 2x as long to either get out of the thing or avoid it in the first place. However Salamence, being the epic Flying-Type that he is, has a few tricks up his sleeve to make good use of the Twister in the remaining time it is out. Via methods to be explained below, Salamence can use his mastery of the air to extend the duration, move about, and even create a turret out of his little vortex of pain!
To note, whilst airborne the twister will slowly drop down to earth at about Jigg’s fall speed. It will then have the 1 second timer it would normally have once it hits a surface. (yet only 1 twister may be on the field at a time)
While Outraged, Salamence’s Twister becomes Dragon Rage! Dragon rage differs from the Twister in that it is a swirling mass of Dragon Fire instead of air, thus doing 3x the damage when a foe is trapped inside (45% max!). However, it is much slower when Salamence tries to affect it with his wind abilities…
UP SPECIAL: AERIAL ACE
Speaking of wind abilities, few are as deadly as Aerial Ace. With it’s guaranteed accuracy in the form of transcendent priority (think Ness’s Fair…it ignores other attacks) and a hit box the size of Ike’s Fair, there are few who wouldn’t be fearful …
Salamence goes through a brief animation of him flashing white and Shaking his neck and tail slightly, taking about as long as Olimar’s Whistle (with a few frames of super armor as well!) The hitbox comes out 2.5-5 seconds afterwords! Meaning that Salamence is free to do whatever he pleases once the summoning animation is complete. When the hit box finally comes out, it is a wind-effect in the form of a diagonally slash, covering the distance of Ike’s Fair (as mentioned earlier) and doing a decent 13% with KB that shoots diagonally upwards to kill around 160%
While this is all well and gimmicky, keep in mind what this does for our dragon:
1) First and most importantly, it makes foes afraid to approach him. This buys him time to potentially get a Twister going, charge Focus Energy, or more importantly Outrage.
2) It gives his big frame a defensive maneuver. Not only does it alleviate his lack of an Up B (although he has multiple jumps) recovery via a small window of Super Armor, but nothing can interrupt the timer! Picture poor Salamence being combed/CG’ed by a Penguin or Warlordian move set, only to have his attacker be sliced by a torrent of wind.
For added shenanigans, initiating the move again resets the timer…
DOWN SPECIAL: INTIMIDATE
An ability as a special input? What is this I don’t even…
Well, it actually makes sense, as Salamence has to actually you know, Intimidate his foe. Anywho, after moderate startup lag Salamence glows faintly red as he growls his name, taking about the same time as his Aerial Ace, while taking an …intimidating pose. When he does this, any character within a stage builder block facing him becomes Intimidated (they glow feint blue for a moment) and are frozen with fear until Salamence’s animation ends, leaving both parties in a neutral state.
Beyond the obvious move-interrupting properties it gives to Salamence, as in the games, Intimidated foes suffer a halving of their Attk, or having all their moves staled halfway when it comes to Smash. This effect lasts for 5 seconds, and cannot be stacked on the same target while they are already intimidated.
There are plenty of uses for this, such as the obligatory “use at high % to lol at kill moves”, but other applications could actually be for use on a team mate. As with their moves staled, somebody like Shiek could combo endlessly, racking up absurd damage within 5 seconds. Or, one could use it passive-aggressively, keeping yourself close to the foe for Aerial Ace, luring them in with their newfound ability to combo your big frame only to get wailed by it. Perhaps the best use is to not use it at all however. Any player who knows about Salamence will be…intimidated to be within a SBB of him knowing he can intimidate them, thus continuing the mind game Salamence starts with Aerial Ace, giving him opportune time to build up his rage.
JAB: BITE
Salamence whips his head forward in a small arc, and takes a nip at anyone within reach (about the same as Zard’s dtilt in lag/range). Getting bitten does about 6% and knockback that won’t kill till like past 200%.
…what are you looking at me like that for? Is this MYM4? He can have a decent jab that’s not lol-creative if he wants!
UP TILT: STEEL WING
Finally, that one attack that’s been said over and over! Salamence bends his head down momentarily, and raises his wings to an upward position, flashing for a brief moment when they are fully erect!
…lolwut
Ok, sounds stupidly simple, essentially taking a short moment of lag just to raise his wings. But the catch here is that his wings become a constant hitbox for 10% damage to anyone who gets sliced by them, until he does Utilt again/other move that de-toggles it! The KB from hitting the wings is set, similar to the 1st hit of Falcon’s Nair (not much), and will send the opponent at an opposite angle from where they hit them.
This has a multitude of uses, as seen below, but the most blatant is that you now have a permanent hitbox above you, covering an area the size of Link’s Usmash! The wings have no hurtbox, and don’t stale, making aerial approaches to you essentially useless. The downside to this move though? You are limited to your crappy grounded jump, locking you from your aerial game! So be wise about how you use this, as against some foes being grounded outweighs the benefit of a bladed umbrella above you.
FORWARD TILT: FIRE FANG
Stepping forward slightly, Salamence strikes forward with his head, mouth open and full of flames! This has about the same lag as DK’s Ftilt, but with slightly more range as Salamence steps forward. Hitting with his head does 5%, but hitting with the flaming mouth will do 8%, as well as burn the foe! Being burned causes the foe to take 3% per second in rapid hits as they are on fire, and lasts for 2 seconds. While sweet-spotting fire fang does excellent damage (over time), it only does slightly more knockback than your Jab. While outraged, your sweet-spot grows into a small burst of fire inside your mouth, similar to Mario’s Fsmash.
Interestingly, if you manage to nail a twister with the sweetspot, the twister will carry the flames and shoot them out! This causes the twister to now become a miniature turret of sorts, shooting out a cloud of small embers for 1% damage on either side. These embers shoot out at the rate of fox’s laser, and cover an area the size of the twister on either side, but don’t cause flinching. Combined with outrage it is very easy to create a terrifying vortex of fire!
DOWN TILT: GUST / DRAGON PULSE / WHIRLWIND
With barely any lag, Salamence flaps his wings downward, being able to do so at a rate of about 3 flaps per second. What this incredibly simple move does however is create a wind-effect around himself each time he flaps his wings, pushing everything within ½ a SBB away from him!
With outrage, he creates a small ring of fire around himself on the ground, instead of a wave. This Dragon Pulse hits below shields, and knocks opponents skyward for 4%, similar to DK’s ground pound. Even better, with Steel Wing you get an extra-powerful gust, making a wind effect of 1.5 SBBs around you (although it de-toggles Steel Wing)! Combine both outrage and steel wing, and you can create a huge burst of fire around yourself, sure to clear the area!
If a twister is nearby, the wind from gust can actually re-fuel it’s supply of air! A single flap of your wings will replenish .5 seconds to its duration, and a Steel-Wing’ed flap will do 3 times as much. This is tremendously useful considering how you want to keep your little vortex of death out to apply your own attacks to.
DASH ATTACK: RAZOR WING / DRAGON RUSH
As Salamence dashes, pressing A will cause him to suddenly turn, slicing one of his axe-like wings forward in a arc about the size of Ike’s Ftilt, and do 10% with negligible knockback by itself. While he stops his momentum however, his wings moving like that create a strong wind effect forward, pushing items/foes/etc away about a stage builder block. This wind can also cause a “flare” of fire with the wind if he is in outrage, doing an extra 5% and flinching, making it now a SBB-sized hitbox. This move also causes him to turn around, so use stuff like DTilt to clear some space afterwords. This has below average startup and end lag.
If Salamence has Steel Wing up, he can’t exactly use them to do a sweeping attack now can he? Instead, he will lower his head, exposing his 6 horns to the foe and charging forwards even faster! Getting nailed by the horns do 6 hits for 2% each (12% total) and launch foes diagonally upwards, killing at about 160%. Great for approaching as even aerial enemies, or those on platforms aren't safe. Low startup lag, moderate end lag.
FORWARD SMASH: DOUBLE EDGE
Salamence spins around with his wings out-stretched horizontally. This moves him forwards 2 character lengths and his wings are a hitbox that deals 13-25% with knockback that KOs at 140-105%. Below average startup lag, moderate end lag. With Steel Wing active, Salamence's wings remain in their upwards position, making the hitbox vertically focused instead of the almost purely horizontal hitbox normally. Like the in-game move, Salamence takes some recoil damage, but it' always a static 8% regardless of how much he charges it. This is a nicely damaging move, though the fact that Salamence takes nearly as much damage as he deals isn't very appealing...
DOWN SMASH: FOCUS ENERGY/ OUTRAGE
Salamence growls as he charges up the smash, and when you release...nothing happens except you incur moderate end lag. For anything to happen, you MUST charge the move completely. Salamence will have an orange tint to his scales upon a successful charge. The next smash attack Salamence performs will automatically be at full charge with Focus Energy active, but it only has one use per charge. Definitely find the time to use this when you can.
If you have Outrage going, your down smash becomes, OUTRAGE! Yes, here he finally actually uses outrage, shouting his name as his cloud expands around himself almost like an explosion of dragon-power! This smash cannot be charged, but it does KB that is just below the power of the falcon punch, in a hitbox comparable to Ike's usmash all at once. On the damage side, this does the normal damage of outrage, plus a burn effect like Fire Fang and Dragon Breath. While quick to come out, Salamence suffers hefty end-lag and loses his rage.
UP SMASH: WING ATTACK/ WING SLASH
Salamence jumps upwards one Bowser height and flaps his wings, creating a small gust of wind along the ground that travels 1/6 of battlefield. His wings are also hitboxes, and they deals 10-20% with horizontal knockback that KOs at 140-125%. Moderate startup lag, below average end lag. Salamence ends the move in the air.
With Steel Wing active, Salamence delivers a stronger flap, causing the wind to travel twice as far and the damage increases to 13-24% with KO potential at 130-115%. Salamence falls back the ground after using the move in this case, with Steel Wing disabled.
GLIDE ATTACK: DRAGON BREATH
Without losing control of his glide, Salamence opens his mouth and breaths a torrent of fire down in front of him! This reaches about half the distance of Bowser’s fire breath, but doesn’t shrink the longer he holds it. Getting hit by this fire is the same as getting hit by any fire-breath type move, except you also have a burn inflicted upon you like with Fire Fang (6% over 2 sec).
Foes are not the only thing that can be burned though, flying over the stage or a platform while using Dragon Breath lets you set the ground ablaze! These trails of fire are about as tall as Jigglypuff, and have no definite range. However, they only last for about 4 seconds, but in that time they do the 3% per second of your burn effect.
Furthermore, your wind abilities have a few ways of manipulating these fires. As seen in Razor Wing, attacks like Dtilt and Usmash create wind boxes, which will “fan the flames”, so to speak, making big hitboxes of fire around themselves where the wind effect usually is. The Twister can suck up flames like with Ftilt, but then spread them elsewhere on the stage, refreshing the fire’s hitbox, but in random patches that are only as big as the fire’s left by Mario Finale. Might as well mention this here, but water from any source will put out the flames, as well as douse a burning character.
It is important to note that Dragon Breath simply replaces his Neutral Air while gliding, as all his other aerials can be done as he glides!
NEUTRAL AIR: FIRE BALL / DRACO METEOR
Simply enough, Salamence shoots 4 small fireballs in rapid succession at a 30 degree downwards angle. They travel very quickly and deal 3% a pop with flinching knockback. No knockback on the final one though. Low startup lag, moderate end lag. This move is modeled after Shiek's needles, one of the most broken smash bros characters of all time...
Oh wait, Salamence is even more broken than Shiek, hence him using his own falling projectile when outraged. Now Salamence roars as his outrage aura forms into a meteor-like object and slowly falls at the same trajectory as the fireballs. This meteor is half the size of Bowser and deals 13% with knockback that KOs at 130%. Sadly, this version has moderate startup lag on both ends, but that's when you use Aerial Ace to really make your opponent experience the raw terror of Draco Meteor!
BACK AIR: TAIL LASH
Using that rather long tail he has, Salamence whips it up and down once, taking about half the time of Yoshi’s Bair, with over twice the range. This has multiple hitboxes, one on the downswing, one on the up and two when between. Each hit doing about 8% and KB in the direction the tail is going, that won’t kill past 200% (the knockback is too much for the next hit to occur for ridiculous damage). The main use of this is to either get people airborne and/or to punish shields, as when you swoop down, most foes will expect a direct attack, and drop the shield when your main body has passed.
DOWN AIR: SWOOP
Speaking of swooping down, Dair has you fall faster momentarily with a screech, as you extend your claws and bring your tail down like a certain space-piratey dragon. This lasts for about half a second, but can be canceled early by pressing A or Jump into his neutral fly state (this requires available midair jumps). While the hitbox his active, hitting the claws do multiple hits of 2% per claw hit, with damage usually doing around 8% but with potential to do more, and flinching damage. Being hit by the tail does 4%, and knocks foes diagonally upwards, into your claws. Great for wreaking havoc onto ground-bound foes, as the claws can scrape away at a shield enough for the tail to hit, and scoop the victim into your talons. This has below average startup lag, moderate end lag and landing lag.
FORWARD AIR: DRAGON CLAW
Doing a loop mid-air, Salamence rakes the sky in front of him with his talons! Doing 12% and KB similar to Ganon’s Uair, this move is all the more scary in that it has the hitbox of both Ganon’s Uair, and Bowser’s Fair as if they were plopped together in one continuous loop! However, it takes as long as both of them combined to pull off as well. Like a certain other infamous loop move, this ends with Salamence in his glide state, and from there he could do it again. Great for juggles/punishing or offstage KO’s, you’ll be sure to use Dragon Claw in any of your aerial battles.
UP AIR: GALE FORCE / RAIN OF FIRE
Slowing down, Salamence will raise his wings upward ala Steel Wing (and do like 5% and negligible Kb if he hits a guy with this part), then powerfully slam them down to his sides; recovering from the distance he fell while doing this. When he slams his wings down, a HUGE windbox is created below him, the size of 3+ Bowsers! (if you had them in a triangle that is). This has the same lag times as Ganon's Fair, but without the randomly extra-long end lag Ganon's Fair has to deal with (meaning, the end lag doesn't CONTINUE PAST THE ANIMATION FOR THE MOVE)
As with all his wind moves, this will push foes downward, or away if he does this close to the stage, making the wind blow across it for about ½ FD. This move takes a hotter turn with outrage on however, as you then rain burning embers down upon the stage! Along with a slightly weaker push effect, the huge hitbox now has flames attached, doing 2 hits for 5% to anyone who is caught by it.
Truly an awe-inspiring move to those who cannot compete with Salamence’s aerial dominance, use this fro gimping, stage control, trap-destruction, crowd control in teams, you name it! Also, with all that air slamming down, one would think a certain vortex could be affected? When done to a Twister, it makes the twister even wider momentarily! For the next 2 seconds the twister will grow to 2x its width, granted you are able to keep it up after you spawned it, then get to the air to do this.
Salamence grabs you with his mouth. Good range, ok speed. Hold on, this looks exactly the same as his jab....
lolmindgaems
Under normal circumstances, this is your average pummel. Salamence bites the victim, dealing 2% a pop.
While outraged, Salamence delivers a more brutal move, pushing his enemy with a billow of flames. It deals 3 hits of 3% each, with the enemy left 3 character lengths away from Salamence. This ends the grab, but Salamence is completely invincible while he does this, so you can use it in a team setting in case your enemy's teammate tries to interrupt the grab.
SIDE THROW: TAIL WIND/EMBERS
Salamence tosses his opponent forward as far as 1/2 of battlefield, dealing 9% in the process. After throwing, he growls, causing a wind current to start flowing past the screen in the direction he threw the enemy. These last for 8 seconds, during which time the enemy is given a moderate pushing effect like most wind moves, and Salamence moves 25% faster as long as he is moving in the direction of the wind (otherwise unaffected). Using the throw in the opposite direction of the currently active wind current will override the active one.
With outrage activated, you will send embers from yourself along the wind! This is essentially the same as the ember effect from Ftilt-> Twister, only coming from you in the direction the wind blows. Speaking of Twister, Tailwinds move the twister along the ground! While the wind is blowing, your twister floats around at about the speed of DDD's Dash. Now we all know how epic the little death tornado is by itself, imagine it moving around the field!
This wind can also affect your fires from dragon breath, causing them to slowly grow in the direction the wind is flowing, spreading just faster than the rate at which they disappear at. A good strategy is to either create a small patch of fire, then land and grab a foe facing the way you spread the fire to create a growing line of fire, or to create a very long patch and go the opposite way, as the long patch will then "refresh" itself.
UP THROW: FLY
Salamence hops up and takes off into the air while moving the enemy to his talons. Salamence can freely move around with the control stick until the enemy escapes his clutches, though the timer ticks down 20% slower than a normal grab. Before that happens, press the Attack Button for Salamence to flip while tossing the enemy upwards as high as Bowser, dealing 9% in the process. You can fly underneath the stage and use this throw for an epic stage spike, but remember that Salamence will have to then make it back to solid ground with his regular aerial mobility options. The upwards knockback of the throw prevents you from casually flying over the edge and tossing your opponent off-screen, though they'll still have to recover with Salamence close by.
DOWN THROW: INCINERATE
Salamence charges up a blast of fire in his mouth with his enemy still locked in his jaws! The resulting plume of searing flame delivers 10% and knockback that KOs at 135%. And it looks ******, which is the best part.
Now, if you have Tail Wind and Steel Wing activated, and use this throw while facing the direction of the wind, Salamence will use his wings as a sail of sorts and move along the ground as he charges the attack (which takes about .6 seconds). He can cover up to 1/3 of battlefield with this, and he reaches the edge he stops. This is great for getting your opponent closer to the edge of the stage for gimping attempts.
Salamence grabbed the Smash Ball! Upon activation, the screen zooms in on Salamence as he seemingly goes into Outrage automatically, only with a bright red fire instead of his usual Dragon-element variety, and lights the area around himself on fire in the radius of DK's Down B!
This new "infernal" outrage surrounds Salamence for the next 10 seconds, and behaves just like his standard version...except for a few key differences. For starters, he's invincible
. Second, the damage from his outrage attacks are doubled, including the damage aura! This makes it juts painful to be near him, let alone attacked by Salamence while he does this. Finally,
anything he touches with the aura is set on fire, doing double the normal damage! Including the stage, it should be no problem for Salamence to light the field ablaze with his new red fires, which also reach up twice as high as normal.
Once the Inferno ceases, Salamence suffers end lag comparable to when Outrage finishes, but with a cinematic view as to be un-punished. However, any of those epic fires you left on the stage / victims will remain!
Alright, so Salamence is infamous for being by far the best offensive Pokemon in the metagame. He can go physical, he can go special, he is matter, he is anti-matter, he can see your past, he can see your future, he consumes time, and he'll consume you! Of course, pokemon is all about setting up those offensive powerhouses...which is why in Brawl Salamence can do the set-up and the powerhousing by himself. (smirk2)
Ok, so as you've probably gathered by now, Salamence's ultimate goal is to activate his OUTRAGE and just **** the opponent. That is very true, but that 5 second charge time is going to cause some issues. While a fully charged DSmash knocks off 2 from the stat, that's still 3 seconds that you don't have time spare with an opponent coming after you. Every 50% takes off another second, but Salamence isn't Scarmiglione, he doesn't have self-damaging moves! This is where the "set-up" phase of Salamence comes into play, by playing carefully, and dare I say it, somewhat defensivley.
Yeah, Salamence doesn't have true setting up to do so much as he has to focus on a different strategy until it's time to unleash his full draconan might. Salamence has 2 traps in the form of Twister and his Glide Attack, along with a bunch of wind moves for keeping the enemy at bay and enhacning the effectiveness of BOTH of his traps (specifically, Dtilt, Dash Attack, Usmash, and Uair). Combined with his fantastic air control, he can effectively fly out of reach while damaging you from any point on the stage! Retreating Nairs are good camping fun. With Steel Wing he can hold a constant anti-air defense while using his FTilt, Jab, and Grab to attack offenders on the ground. Not but not least is Aerial Ace, which effectively makes opponents afraid to go near you lest they can't retreat in time to avoid the slash.
Of course, Salamence does have some offensive options during this time, specifically in his great aerial game. He's got a nice "cross-up" of sorts with his DAir/FAir and BAir. He can attack the opponent head-on, or soar past them and strike with his tail after his body is out of harm's way. A frontal attack has the advantage of keeping him facing his opponent for continued pressure; a BAir allows Salamence to hit-and-run for a more defensive follow-up. Speaking of offensive aerial games, Salamence's low jumps give him a great air-to-ground game since he's pretty much naturally SHFF(LC)ing them in addition to what I just mentioned. When you factor in that his Uair is even built for attacking opponents beneath Salamence, it becomes clear that he'd rather keep his opponent pinned down on the ground than engage them in a dogfight. Aerial Ace can be used offensively as a very nice pressure tool; good luck punishing laggy attacks when another hitbox comes out before you can retaliate. You could even use it for some light combos.
Ok, enough playing with your food, it's time to unleash the full power of Salamence! Ideally you'll find time to use this in the 100-150% range, where a fully charged DSmash will allow you to complete the activation of Outrage in 1 second. If Captain Falcon can find time to spam Falcon Punches that take 1 second to complete you can definitley find time to do it with a superior moveset (here's a hint: Aerial Ace!). Once Outrage is activated, you'll want to go full throttle on your opponent to make the most of the 10 seconds you have. FTilt becomes a very nice, spammy option when you have a massive sweet-spot to inflict burn damage. Salamence's wind-based moves go from GTFO moves to pure annoyance factor as you push your opponent just out of reach while inflicting a bit of damage at the same time. Just generally staying in close-range combat deals passive damage from Salamence's aura! By the time you unleash Salamence's wrath, your opponent should have at least 80%, and the might of Outrage should be enough to put them into prime KO range for many of Salamence's attacks. Assuming you can't KO them outright, Salamence has more than enough options to attempt a gimp, from his various wind attacks to UThrow. Salamence has no shortage of ways to finish off an opponent, but if you don't defeat them by the time Outrage expires, you can say goodbye to a stock yourself!
Playing Salamence is like using one of his Choice-item movesets in a real game of Pokemon. You have to play conservatively at first so you can get him into attacking position safely, but when you do he really tears it up. However, when he goes into offensive mode he has to commit to it, and awakening his power at an inopportune time could cost you the game.
Salamence is like Meta Knight when it comes to matchups. He usually has the overall advantage, but it's never something that can't be overcome with skill.
VS DARK BOWSER: 40 / 60 Slight-Moderate Disadvantage
When it comes to shutting down a character, few do it as good as Dark Bowser. Even the mighty Dragon Pokemon is not immune to his cage, as his great width makes him a relatively easier target for it, and it's "drop-down" nature can screw up Salamence's air game. However, clever use of jumps and glides can out-maneuver the cage, and punish DB for trying it.
If...lets face it, when Salamence gets nabbed by that cage, it could actually be a good thing! Being stuck in a cage gives you ample time to build up your Outrage, as DB then has to send things at you, which you can mostly deal with by a simple Dtilt blowing them away (in fact, most of DB's uses of Minions or Clouds are rendered null if Salamence gets a tailwind or other wind effect going). That said, if you are actively defending yourself with such moves, you aren't taking advantage of trying to Outrage. Even worse, is that Steel Wing is such a great means of getting out of the cage (short hop 5 times and it shatters), yet is constantly detoggled by defending yourself or leaving you prone. In short: Salamence is lucky compared to most characters while caged, but as always thats right where Dark Bowser wants him.
If DB decides to try and get up close and personal, whether it be in the cage or just approach (lol), the ball goes to Salamence's court. Salamence has a much faster grab for it's range, better melee attacks as he has the burn element in Ftilt, which will still hit on clash as the fiery tip is transcendent, Double Edge, the always scary Aerial Ace, and of course given the chance, Outrage. This isn't to say DB isn't formidable in a scrap himself, just that move per move Salamence should usually come on top in these situations. When the fight goes airborne, it is somewhat even, but of course most of the time it will go to the guy with the wings. Salamence's style of swooping down for punishers or Dragon Breath is perfect vs Dark bowser's game, as he can avoid his aerials and swiftly capitalize with moves such as swoop, and his nair is enough to pester DB out of all his own aerial attacks. Dragon Breath's fire will be a great asset here as well, seeing as you can hide in it and make DB think twice about approaching to get in range to grab you in the cage. unfortunately the same cannot be said of Twister and Intimidate, both leave you more prone than anything to getting caged than not, as twister roots you and intimidate makes you get flung shorter distances away.
All in all, that dang cage and clouds are what win it for Dark Bowser. Being able to pressure Salamence into dong one thing or the other is invaluable as it then keeps him from gaining his scary momentum, which will pretty much make DB's life a living hell. Playing smart and using counter-pick stages will be ideal here, but over-all DB will eventually get that grab in as he pressures or punishes you into acting a certain way, and then it's just pure frustration trying to take back the lead.
VS JACK SPICER: 60 / 40 Slight-Moderate Advantage
While most set-up characters would give Salamence time to charge a DSmash (and perhaps even an early Outrage!), Jack does part of his set-up by attacking. How crazy is that? Sadly, until he fully sets up, unoutraged Salamence > Jack without Jackbots. Salamnece has the ability to play defensively or offensively, and defensive tactics like Twister are going to make life hell for Jack until he gets some parts. Jack's best bet to get some parts is to punish a wiffed attack with Sphere of Yun to get in a few free hits, but with Twister in the way he may not get to Salamence in time...but then again, landing a Sphere of Yun gives Jack access to Twister, so he can camp right back momentarily. Salamence can get a high lead in damage and gimp Jack's amazing second jump with a wind attack or fly.
If Jack gets 3 parts to make so much as 1 Jackbot, he can quickly shift momentum in his favor. Jack now has a massive extended hitbox on most of his attacks, and since the Jackbots have super-armor they can easily cut through Salamence's attacks and give their leader even more parts for more mayhem! Goiing offensive against a Jack with bodyguards is a scary thought when he can use his DSmash to take you out. Salamence will be hard-pressed to activate Outrage when Jack's army is going after him, and even if he does complete it, Jack's range with his minions allows him to survive long enough for Salamence to tire and become vulnerable to an FSmash.
Basically, if Salamence can play patiently he wins. However, if Jack does find a few holes in Salamence's deffense he can probably make an epic comeback. Salamence still has the advantage because of his sheer variety of options, but Jack's Jackbots can brute-force their way through even the most diverse of strategies.
VS WEEZING: 90 / 10 Wombo-Combo levels of ****
So yeah, as seen with Dark Bowser, Salamence's wind abilities essentially flip a big fat bird to Gas Abilities. As it turns out, a certain poison type RELIES on them to work. Hell, simply hopping around with the occasional Gale Force is enough to essentially screw over his entire game, as he cant get you and you blow away his gasses.
With this in mind, a few Steel-winged Dtilts should keep you safe enough to focus energy from time to time, then play keep-away for a bit in order to get some outrage going...then just whup some toxic-***. Seriously, even without Outrage 1 tailwind is enough to ruin Weezing, as it will provide a constant wind effect to the poor guy. From there, just stand facing him the way the wind is blowing and you are immune to his offense, and free to go to town on him. hell, just walking around with Steel Wing up in general is great as he conveniently levitates for you!
The only redeeming factor for the big floating fat monster is if Salamence somehow just utterly fails at playing Salamence, and takes 0 advantage of the fact he can essentially say "lolno" to Weezing's toxins. Otherwise, this is just another case of a wall falling to the ultimate sweeper.
VS AXEL GEAR: 50/ 50 Even
Salamence finds himself in a bit of a dillema when he tries to defend himself from the onslaught known as an approaching Axel Gear. Twister can be bypassed thanks to the super-armor of Axel's BUrst Dash, and both of Salamence's traps are ground-based, so Axel can charge an USmash and use his Burst Dash and Toxic to bypass both of them (that's the power of
pinsolmovement attacks!) Axel's infamous Lightning Barrier is activated too quickly for Salamence to reliably charge a DSmash during Axel's preparation phase.
Well, ok, Salamence does have one trick up his sleeve; Steel Wing! Suddenly all that aerial prowess to get around Slamence's stage-control isn't looking as appealing to the Black Knight (MYM6 Black Knight: *warp powders*). When Axel approaches from the ground, Salamence can use a Grab and Tailwind to make subsequent approaches more dificult. What stops this from being some monstrous defensive option is that Salamence can't readily access his stage-control moves with Steel Wing up, and without acess to all his midair jumps he's gonna have some trouble evading the projectiles that frequently accompany Axel's offense. Use Steel Wing, but use it responsibly.
Salamence isn't in much better shape than Axel when it comes to KOing through that Lightning Barrier. Outraged Salamence doesn't acquire any new vertical KO options, and all the wind attacks in the world won't get Axel through the electrical cage. If Salamence waits for the barrier to end before unleashing Outrage, Axel can use the startup time to start up a new barrier, wait out Outrage, then punish Salamence's tiring stage with a charged up UThrow into the barrier to a KO. Then again, Salamence DOES have his own Uthrow that can KO Axel in a very similar manner without the fuel cost.
Overall, both combatants have a lot of stuff to abuse each other with, so it comes down to who can abuse their options better.
VS FORRETRESS: 60 / 40 Moderate Advantage
Forretress really falls apart when it comes to fighting aerial opponents, and who does the whole "abuse of ground characters" thing better than Salamence?
Using his aerials, Salamence can really just bully Forretress as long as he wants, granted he watches out for Bide, and given the nature of Forretress' game, they both would like some time to set-up. This can backfire for both of them ironically, as even though Salamence can get going on a Twister or Outrage, Forretress can easily interrupt him after getting at least 10 spikes on the field, and launching them at him with Rapid Spin. Intimidate wont do much here either, as Forretress really doesn't have many moves that stale in the classic sense, or simply use salamence's moves against him. Even your fires wont do too much as Bide's jets of air will have a similar effect as your Tailwind, blowing them away from Forretress!
Stage pick is the biggest factor to this MU however, as it would be an all too easy win on FD for the Dragon pokemon, but at the same time be quite the ordeal on Battlefield, where Salamence will be forced to wade through 3 tiers of spikes, and be on the ground alot due to Forretress hiding under platforms.
Over-all however, regardless of stage pick, Salamence should come up on top over the bagworm simply due to how difficult it would be for Forretress to kill Salamence given his tremendously good air-game, and how Twister and outrage would simply screw with many of Forretress' counter-moves, returning the hitstun of either one while Salamence could be freely wailing on him with Double-edge or the like. Just be careful of his own aerials when aproaching, getting spikes launched at you can be quite annoying.
I think I've read this moveset before, back when it was called Pheonix Wright (or back when Spadefox made 
