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Exdeath

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http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=285592

Saw this thread and thought "Hmm, this doesn't seem limited to ZSS". Sure, our options tend to be really good, but still...
The idea of that thread is a large part of being a high-level player and is one of the biggest reasons that Meta Knight is as good as he is; because there are so many options that it can be difficult to gauge the opponent (although it can be said that the reverse is true, it practically isn't thanks to the abundance of Cookie-Cutter Knights).
 

Staco

Smash Champion
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Sometimes dash attack to air up B works for me against Snake/Wolf etc. (at higher percentages)
I always ask my opponents, if they could do sth. against it like air dodging, but they often say, they couldnt dodge.

Does a late dash attack to air up B really combo?
Does any1 know about this?

Because this would make dash attack a much better option than grab sometimes.
 

Dr. Tuen

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I find that dash attack sometimes leads to utilt. This is somewhat DI dependant, though if you watch their DI after the dash attack and after subsequent utilts, a grounded shuttle loop can follow.
 

Iota

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you can also do usmash from the utilt where it can lead to some airials if you read what there di is going to be
 

RMelee

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Yeah never use USmash. It stales itself and is weaker than Utilt even unstaled. Perhaps it could be used on stage parts to unstale your other moves?
 

lilseph

Smash Ace
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Im pretty sure that USmash has a great ability for juggling characters like Wolf.
Not really, my teammate is a wolf main and USmash really doesn't do me much good in that MU i find.
 

Exdeath

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Don't use Usmash.
Don't dismiss a move just because it has limited use. I killed Afro Thundah in tournament with Usmash at ~130% with it when he was shielding above me on a platform (Battlefield). I ran under him, charged it a slight amount (~4-6 frames), and shield poked him.

Depending on how you space it, is almost as good as B at shield poking on a platform. It hits so low so that it is virtually guaranteed to poke at the bottom of the shield when it isn't tilted downward -- and many players also tilt their shield upward in anticipation of generic "tilt up for tornado" and DI (especially so if Up-B is stale at kill percents, because the opponent is more likely to only think of horizontal kill moves). It's a multi-hit attack, so it does some damage that drains the shield, the shield drains for the several frames between hits, and, when spaced properly, its shield push moves the opponent so that they can be shield poked from the side.

In addition to this, hyphen-Usmashing someone on a platform isn't very punishable for most of the cast. Usmash has decent shield push (which will often be away from you), if you are using proper timing, then you will be dashing away from them with horizontal movement, and Usmash's post-lag is often overstated; it's ~3-4 frames more than B. Most players (as far as I've seen) don't fall through shield, so that takes an additional 7 frames. Usmash also has decent follow-ups.

The additional movement and variance allows B to remain better, but as far as adding a rarely used move to the stale moves queue, free damage, and surprise kill moves go, Usmash has its uses.
 

Kaffei

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Did you guys read Iota's post at all? Why would you use a Usmash after a utilt. I'm not ****ing talking about platform pressure.
 

Exdeath

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Did you guys read Iota's post at all? Why would you use a Usmash after a utilt. I'm not ****ing talking about platform pressure.
You didn't say "Don't use Usmash after Utilt;" you said "Don't use Usmash."
 
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if it stales itself, it also means it unstales other moves by quite alot, thats not too bad
Stop saying this guys; moves do not stale themselves if they are multihits.
ARRGGHHHH

A move does not take up more than one space in the staling list just because it's a multihit. Usmash does not put 3x usmash in the staling list. Tornado does not put 20x tornado in there. Fix plz.

Really?

lol I think it's his worst move.
Jab. Usmash is a really good move that is outshone by his better options.
 

etecoon

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an attack staling itself is not necessarily a bad thing, taking 3 stale moves off the list for one hit is GOOD, you don't need usmash to be fresh anyway, it has limited application

edit: BPC have you tested it? I've seen it said before so I'm curious, I'm too lazy rofl
 

Exdeath

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Really?

lol I think it's his worst move.
As if that means anything. :laugh:

As NEO said, "Not even his ****ty jab is useless."

It kills about as well as Meta Knight's grounded Up-B, it breaks through Meta Knight's B, it has laser priority (related to the previous), it does a fair amount of damage, it shield pokes well, it is situationally safe, it can be used while moving (related to the previous), it out-ranges most moves above it, it is fast out of shield (for Meta Knight, the only faster out of shield options are spot dodge, forward roll, back roll, grab, and Uair), and it can be charged.

If you hard read a roll, Usmash is generally your strongest kill option (charge it a bit and it's stronger than Up-B IIRC). Uair>charge Usmash kills are easy to bait and easy to time; you can start it during their air dodge and there is only a 1 and 2 frame window of opportunity before the second and third hit, respectively, and it isn't possible to air dodge past it if the opponent fast-falls. It out-ranges and beats virtually every character's Dair.

Also, Usmash doesn't stale itself from hit to hit. Neither does B, Fair, Bair, etc. Think of it as only staling for each accepted input that hits a staling hurt box (a character, the orbs on Brinstar, etc.).
 

theunabletable

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If you hard read a roll, Usmash is generally your strongest kill option (charge it a bit and it's stronger than Up-B IIRC)
It's not reliable due to it being SDIable, though, imo...

Jab. Usmash is a really good move that is outshone by his better options.
Jab when they miss a tech is a better punish than Dtilt. Does more damage, and jab lock with your actual jab instead of Dtilt is usually your best option in that scenario.
 

Kaffei

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lilseph

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It's not reliable due to it being SDIable, though, imo...

Jab when they miss a tech is a better punish than Dtilt. Does more damage, and jab lock with your actual jab instead of Dtilt is usually your best option in that scenario.
I was about to say this. USmash is his worst move.
 

theunabletable

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@Kaffei: Probably because if you do 3, you'll end up too far away from the ledge to DC back onto the stage if someone grabs the ledge, so getting into the habit of DCing from where you'll get past the ledge and onto the stage if someone tries to edgehog you would be better than getting into a habit where you space the DC at a spot where you'll just get edge hogged if someone grabs the ledge and die. (what a long run-on sentence >_>)

Just a guess, though...

I was about to say this. USmash is his worst move.
Seriously.

I mean it's not a bad move. Looking at the move itself, I'd say it's actually better than jab. But considering that MK has better and more reliable things than Usmash in every situation where Usmash would be useful, and the one or two situations where Jab is actually useful it's far-and-away the best option, makes Usmash, imo, the worst move for HIM.

But the move itself wouldn't be so terrible on a lot of other characters.
 

Exdeath

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It's not reliable due to it being SDIable, though, imo...

Jab when they miss a tech is a better punish than Dtilt. Does more damage, and jab lock with your actual jab instead of Dtilt is usually your best option in that scenario.
Ftilt is not reliable due to it being SDIable, either. It's possible to SDI behind MK and hit him with various strong kill moves. It also doesn't kill. Usmash has more more damage potential, more killing power, is safer on block, and is faster OoS than Ftilt. Usmash has more damage potential than, pokes better than, similar in strength to, and has similar frame data to Up-B.

Dtilt has more range than jab, and it's easier to start a jab lock. Jab shouldn't be used until the end of the jab lock, when Dtilt would be stale anyway. Usmash is less situational than jab.
 

lilseph

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The thing is though whenever USmash has a situation that it would be a good attack to use, MK has a better one in his arsenal. USmash is really out classes by the amazing move step by MK.
 

Exdeath

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The thing is though whenever USmash has a situation that it would be a good attack to use, MK has a better one in his arsenal. USmash is really out classes by the amazing move step by MK.
Not always, especially not when stale moves negotiation is taken into account.
 

Player-4

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Usmash is a good surprise, and you can perform it while running so you have a sliding smash that occasionally kills and is a decent mind game
 

theunabletable

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Not always, especially not when stale moves negotiation is taken into account.
Up smash unstales moves just as much as every other move does... It doesn't stale itself 3 times in a row due to three hits, if all three hits hit, it still only stales just once.

Jab is occasionally good as a gimp mixup. Such as at low percents, if you hit with the right hitbox of dash attack near the ledge, they'll be offstage, and in front of you, and you can jab them, and it can deal a lot of damage + put them in a terrible position.
 

Kaffei

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Ftilt is not reliable due to it being SDIable, either. It's possible to SDI behind MK and hit him with various strong kill moves. It also doesn't kill. Usmash has more more damage potential, more killing power, is safer on block, and is faster OoS than Ftilt. Usmash has more damage potential than, pokes better than, similar in strength to, and has similar frame data to Up-B.
How often do you see people SDIing out of Ftilt. It's incredibly fast, and people pop out of Usmash a lot especially if they are light weight. Ftilt is not a kill move.

I don't think it matters if Usmash has more % potential, it does 9% when it's not charged and really how often are you going to charge this move to deal more than 12%. I don't know what you mean by faster OoS. Ftilt comes out on frame 3, usmash comes out on frame 8.

I don't think usmash is bad at all, but it just seems to me like you are overrating it
 

lilseph

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**** i could have helped you there orion but the program is on my old computer and i just got a new one a few weeks ago for starcraft2. I just googled it, you need two programs, thats all i remember.
 

Exdeath

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Up smash unstales moves just as much as every other move does... It doesn't stale itself 3 times in a row due to three hits, if all three hits hit, it still only stales just once.

Jab is occasionally good as a gimp mixup. Such as at low percents, if you hit with the right hitbox of dash attack near the ledge, they'll be offstage, and in front of you, and you can jab them, and it can deal a lot of damage + put them in a terrible position.
I wasn't saying that Usmash stales differently from other multi-hit moveso and I've said multiple times that it doesn't. I was essentially saying that Usmash can be Meta Knight's best mobile kill move when Up-B and Nair are stale.

How often do you see people SDIing out of Ftilt. It's incredibly fast, and people pop out of Usmash a lot especially if they are light weight. Ftilt is not a kill move.

I don't think it matters if Usmash has more % potential, it does 9% when it's not charged and really how often are you going to charge this move to deal more than 12%. I don't know what you mean by faster OoS. Ftilt comes out on frame 3, usmash comes out on frame 8.

I don't think usmash is bad at all, but it just seems to me like you are overrating it
I SDI Ftilt behind MK and grab him in the ditto.

I was listing the benefits and comparisons of the move(s) overal. For example, the fact that Dsmash kills is a large part of why it is better than Ftilt overall. Dsmash wouldn't be nearly as good of a move if it had Ftilt's knockback. Also, Ftilt comes out either frame 10 or frame 11 OoS. Usmash comes out on frame 8.

I'm trying to persuade the players on the MK board(s) into critically thinking about MK's move set, but that appears to be a lost cause. :ohwell:
 
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