~~ Into the Fray: A Snake Survival Guide ~~

This guide is sponsored by clan Les Enfantes Terribles - Snakes for Hire​

Table of Contents:
~Introduction
~Part 1: Close Quarter Combat
...............I. Jab & Forward Tilt
...............II. Up Tilt
...............III. Prone & Down Tilt
...............IV. Dash Attack
...............V. Forward Smash
...............VI. Forward Air
...............VII. Back Air
...............VIII. Neutral Air
...............IX. Down Air
...............X. Up Air
...............XI. Throws
~Part 2: Ranged/Indirect Combat
...............I. Grenades
...............II. Mortar
...............III. Nikita
...............IV. Proximity Mine & C4
~Part 3: Conclusion/Acknowledgements



OK, let's get something straight here before I say anything else. I'm assuming you've already got the gist of playing Snake. You've tried him out, gotten the feel of everything, and know how to perform his moves in general. However, I'm not going to cover all the basics, but be sure to check out the following links for other aspects of Snake's gameplay:

~If you want the essentials, such as move descriptions and damage percents, pros & cons of Snake, etc., kindly visit Smo's Big Snake Guide, via link:
http://allisbrawl.com/forum/topic.aspx?id=4001

~If you'd like a deeper analysis on Snake's gameplay, including stage control and pressure strategies, look no further than T*H*O*R's guide right here:
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=163063

~If you need help on character matchups, check out SirPsychoMantis's snake match-ups thread:
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=158037.
...and a more current, developing match-ups thread can be found here: http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=175515

~If you would like to read up on lesser known useful Snake techniques, T*H*O*R has a nice little compendium right here:
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=164426

The purpose of this guide is to show practical and effective, and several "advanced" methods of using the entire arsenal that Snake has to offer. Nintendo's cast this time around is wild and wacky, so every Snake player should be prepared for the worst when entering the fray. Knowing how to use Snake's moves effectively will drastically increase your chances of survival in the hectic battle that is Brawl...that knowledge (or lack of) will escalate you to the highest of champions...or brutally crush you towards an early demise. Brutally. On that light note, let's get started!

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You must be able to defend yourself in any situation, in any place, against any person, and against any weapon. Quick and decisive action is necessary for effective self defense and survival. In this section, we'll focus on Snake's close range attacks and how to best use them to your advantage.

I. Jab & Forward Tilt
Overpowered much?
The Jab comes out fast and has superb priority. You couldn't ask for a better neutral A combo. This is great as a clearing move when your opponent is right in your face, as the final kick in the combo sends them flying. Jabbing can also help you escape from certain moves because of it's high priority, such as D3's chain grab, and essentially stop the flow of whatever your opponent is trying to do. You can KO with this but at the rate you use it the damage depreciation is going to make it weak unless they're at high percents. One thing you shouldn't do, don't try to clash this with disjointed hitboxes, such as swords,bats or psi-induced physical attacks from the earthbound boys, Olimar's pikmin, pika's fsmash...you get the idea. However, the final kick does have a deceptive range, where you can stand and miss both initial jabs but hit with the kick. This sometimes proves handy as a surprise to an eager opponent. Be warned that the initial jabs can miss on the shorter characters.


Well, they did a **** good job then, and Snake users aren't complaining. Ftilt is incredible. It's got the knockback of a smash and the speed of a tilt move. This isn't bad for a clearing move either, but it's much more suitable for a KO move. Catch an opponent with this at 100%+, undepreciated, near the edges of the stage, and you're likely to get a kill. It's got a nice little property in the initial knee attack that can trip your opponent. You can either follow up with jab or do another ftilt, or attempt more knees to lock them in place (the latter is a bit unreliable because they can DI out). Sometimes you can even pull out an fsmash if they aren't expecting the trip. I've done it just once. Overall it's an amazing move and will be one of your best KO assets.

Oh and I didn't even mention the broken range on the second hit...



II. Up Tilt
The Almighty Vertical Split Kick


The following link is streaming gameplay footage of a horrifying triple homicide as a result of Snake's menacing up-tilt. Those with weak constitutions and are predisposed to liking Jigglypuff may want to avert your eyes.
--->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDWKpP1U1ok

Up tilt is a godsend, yet few Snakes starting off rarely use it. Well, use it. It's got deceptively ridiculous range, strong vertical knockback, and once more high priority. Use it to punish, use it to clash with non-disjointed aerials, use it to hit through platforms, this move is just too good. Undepreciated, It's especially useful to kill lighter characters at give or take 100% damage. I've KO'd falcos in the 90's with this, surprisingly. It can also juggle the heavier characters at low percents, since it has decent vertical range too.

Thanks to Kinlap for contributing up tilt killing percent data on all the characters. Just goes to show furthermore that it is definitely worth saving this move for a kill. Please keep in mind that these tests were done in training mode, where damage depreciation is negated and thus the knockback percentages may be a little on the low side compared to true data. I'll update this with accurate non-training mode data once Kinlap kindly presents it. Otherwise, you've got a rough percentage to work with, more or less. Try to get them a little higher than the percents listed here before trying to KO.

Kinlap said:

I was doing some tests today with my new finisher with Snake, U-tilt. I couldn't find a list of this on SWF, so here's a list of what percent every character would get star KOed on FD without stale move negation or DI. FD was chosen because it's a very common neutral stage on, and it has a relatively above average ceiling. This test was also performed on Training Mode, which has different percentages for attacks, but should still have the same knock back (without stale, of course).

Jigglypuff / 82
Squirtle / 86
G&W / 88
Kirby / 90
Fox / 90
Metaknight / 91
Sheik / 92
Zelda / 93
ZSS / 93
Olimar / 94
Peach / 94
Pikachu / 94
Falco / 96
IC / 97
Lucas / 99
Toon Link / 99
Diddy / 100
Marth / 100
Ness / 100
Luigi / 101
Mario / 102
Pit / 102
Sonic / 102
Lucario / 103
Ivysaur / 105
ROB / 106
Samus / 106
Yoshi / 107
Wario / 108
Wolf / 108
Charizard / 109
Link / 110
Ganondorf / 112
Ike / 112
Bowser / 113
CF / 114
DK / 118
Snake / 119
Dedede / 123

Click to expand...

III. Prone & Down Tilt
Can't touch this, sorta...

These moves are convenient tools in Snake's moveset. An obvious use for prone is to approach under projectile spam, and hit them with a dtilt when in range. You can also go prone if you're trying to close the distance between you and a projectile user that you've knocked away and are trying to edgeguard. Be warned that certain projectiles can still hit you, such as pit's curved arrows, ROB's angled laser, and Wolf's blaster. You can sorta get around the first two but Wolf is just a pain.
Nonetheless, a lesser known use for prone+dtilt is to avoid an aerial and counter immediately. When Snake goes prone, it places him so low to the ground that it's possible to avoid an aerial from an opponent who misjudges the range and spacing, and you can immediately follow up with a dtilt to punish. Pretty handy.

Farago said:

I composed this list a while ago, and I'm gonna post it here for people.
The most common stage I play online is Final Destination, and I created a list that shows the kill percentage of each character when Snake uses his Up tilt and Down tilt. Keep in mind that I made this in training mode with the opponent standing, so it can at times be off a few percent. But this list has come very handy to me when playing competitively.

Down tilt KO %'s
Bowser 142
Cpt Falc 147
Charizard 142
DK 153
Diddy 131
Falco 126
Fox 119
Ganandorf 146
G&W 116
Ice climber 126
Ike 145
Ivysaur 137
Jiggly P. 108
King DDD 156
Kirby 119
Link 143
Lucas 130
Luigi 132
Lucario 134
Mario 133
Marth 132
Metaknight 120
Ness 131
Olimar 123
Peach 124
Pikachu 122
Pit 133
Rob 138
Samus 138
Squirtle 112
Shiek 121
Snake 156
Sonic 132
Toon Link 129
Wario 141
Wolf 141
Yoshi 140
Zelda 121
ZS Samus 123

Click to expand...

IV. Dash Attack
Comin' through!

Snake has an above average dash attack. It executes quickly and launches them high. The nice part is that it's difficult to punish, since Snake rolls behind the opponent, eliminating any chance of being shield grabbed. Great clearing move, and works well at racking up damage if you're using hit and run tactics. You can also grab an item as you perform the dash, and you can do a few tricks with grenades using that effect. Of course this move is integral to the mortar slide, more on that and nades later.


V. Forward Smash
"Holy $*#@!" ~ someone who just got hit by this.

This move is devastating. However, the power comes with a price. This move is has a slow startup and a lot of lag afterwards. In otherwords, very punishable. It's highly recommended not to use this liberally. Your best bet of landing this is predicting an opponent's roll. However, there are ways to influence your opponent into rolling where you want. For example, if you're facing an edge and your opponent is in front of you, chances are they are going to want to get away from that edge. If you anticipate their roll behind you and fsmash that direction ahead of time, you can land it. Your mines and c4 can influence the direction your opponent rolls as well, normally it would be away from them. On stages with walk-off sides, if you can manage to throw towards the side in an attempt at a low % throw kill, and your opponent lands, it's likely they'll roll like mad towards you to avoid being offscreen and near death. Predict this and fsmash away! Otherwise, as I said, use it sparingly.

VI. Forward Air
The Flying Axe Kick. Sounds painful.

This move is actually more useful that it seems. Sure it's got a lot of lag and slow startup, but executed correctly can yeild deadly results for your opponent. The sweetspot of this move, located at the heel of snake's foot, is a meteor spike. Otherwise, hitting them anywhere else will send them straight up at a steep angle. You can score some pretty nice vertical KO's this way as well.
If you're feeling daring, you can jump out and do a fair spike edgeguard. A useful trick is doing a reverse fair spike on an opponent trying to come from below the ledge. Let's say, on FD, a ROB is trying to recover going up the side under the ledge. Turn around with your back to the ledge, jump backwards, and fastfall a fair right smack onto the ROB. If it sweetspots, then all the better, if it doesn't, it will most likely still stage spike him for the kill. You can also use this to gain some air/defend yourself as you recover, but it's not recommended against opponents with aerials that outprioritize yours unless you've got impeccable timing.


VII. Back Air
The pseudo-sex kick.

The bair has a long duration and excellent knockback, and strangely the hitbox extends to Snake's head. However, it does have some lag as Snake falls on his belly, so use this move carefully. You can actually remain out of shield grab range if you hit with the tips of his feet, but this move does more knockback and damage the closer the contact point is to the center of Snake's body. You can do a bair immediately out of a short hop, and it comes out quick enough to catch your opponent off guard. You can also do full-hopped double bairs as both an offensive and defensive tactic.


VIII. Neutral Air
Chuck Norris would be jealous.

This is definitely one of Snake's best aerials. Each kick that lands on your opponent is like a kick in the gut. It just looks so **** destructive. The proper way to execute a nair is to full hop. You just hit jump and immediately hit A while holding jump, and you should do all four kicks of the nair as you rise and fall. You can DI yourself forward or backwards, depending on whether you want to attack or retreat. You can also catch opponents in midair with this, the kicks are sort of like a vaccum. You can hit an opponent standing on a platform above you with this as well, while you lie safely in between and away from any shield grab. Finally, this can serve as a decent edgeguard on a ledge hanging opponent. Just nair as they get up/jump up, or they may roll and you'd have to predict that, and you'll send them flying off once again.


IX. Down Air
It's time to stomp the yard.

Landing all four stomps does incredible damage, it's got great knockback on the final kick, and has good shield pressure, but it's not one of his best attacks.The hitbox is on the small side, and it's hard to connect with all four kicks unless your opponent is just standing there. You can do a short hop dair and DI towards your opponent, but it's slow and can be intercepted. It's possible to do a ledgehopped dair, but risky. Better off getting yourself on stage.

There actually is a practical use for it, which is a short hop dair out of shield. Thanks to Tyson651 for this additional input:

Tyson651 said:

i just want to mention that dair actually has really good practical use when ur in ur shield.

all u do is short hop out of ur shield when the enemy is nearby and u dair and keep ur DI onto him, ull land all the kicks if hes standing on the ground when u started ur dair, and it has really good knockback, and i think the trajectory is really good too, or maybe my friends dont DI very well haha. it sends them about 30 degrees to the side.

u can do it when ur enemy is behind u, when shield grabbing wont work, but dair will get them.

Click to expand...

Another use! Down Throw -> Dair contributed by M2K.

Mew2King said:

ya if you expect them to either get up attack or normal get up (or if you guess the roll away instead of F tilting) you can down throw them and short hop Dair, and it the whole tech chase does 42%. Also Dair is Snake's 3rd hardest hitting move he has just behind C4 (on par with up tilt but many ppl DI the Dair badly cuz they don't know about it, and the damage is 29-30%).

Click to expand...

X. Up Air
Reach for the sky!

You've got to be precise with it, but it's got great vertical range and knockback. Oftentimes you can finish off opponents in the 100's if you catch them with this move high enough. You can also perform up airs as you are falling, or even short hop straight into them-lag cancelling it-which can chain into an up tilt at low percents. This will likely be one of your main killing moves. Nothing much else to say, overall, up air is an excellent aerial and a superb finisher.


XI. Throws
"Where'd my knife go?..oh..**** you Sam Fisher!"

Snake's throws aren't meant to KO. They're meant to give him space. However, down throw is quite noteworthy. Why, you ask? For the perfect tech chasing it allows! Snake forces the opponent to lay down, leaving them with 3 choices. Roll behind you, roll away, or get up in spot (usually accompanied with a get-up attack). It's up to you to predict their choice and re-grab, and continue the cycle as long as you can/want to. Now, it may seem like you're banking on luck, but as I mentioned before, there are ways to predict where they will go. Oftentimes they will roll away from danger, so away from the edge of a stage. If you've got mines/c4 planted one direction, chances are they will get up in place or roll away from them. My point is that it's not always going to be a random guess, just think and anticipate. A nice little tid bit is that it's vastly easier to down-throw-tech-chase them on a platform, especially battlefield's, since their movement is pretty limited.

Down Throw Chain Grab
Using down throw right at an edge facing in that same direction, whether its the side of the stage or the side of a platform, Snake can chain down throws on an opponent. Many thanks to Cecilanius for this discovery and sharing it. For full details and a video, see the original thread here:
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=163447

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You must be able to use your arsenal of weapons and explosives to effectively defend yourself at a distance, control the field, and ultimately shift the tide of battle to give you the upper hand. In this section, we'll focus on Snake's special moves and indirect attacks and the most effective ways to use them.

I. Grenades
Fire in the hole!

Grenades are possibly Snake's most used special, and for good reason. They have nice explosive damage and knockback, along with a surprisingly large blast radius and a lot of versatility in usage. Using the different angles of throwing (you also get a more horizontal angle and faster throwing speed if you shield drop your grenade and throw it like an item), you can usually contend well against other projectile users.

Shield-dropping
If you shield while you're holding a grenade, you will drop the grenade on the floor as Snake shields. You can proceed to roll away and let it sit there, or immediately pick it up to give it throwing properties similar to any item. Picking up a shield-dropped nade allows for more versatility, being able to throw it up, down, backwards, or forward, and at a greater distance. You are also not restricted to the standard grenade stance, giving you more mobility. In addtion, by shield dropping grenades, you can put up a formidable defense for yourself. This technique can aid in controlling the stage by providing temporary grenade barriers between you and your opponent, or placing quick grenade edgeguards on the ledge. It's also a cruicial technique to set up for Grenade Cooking, Grenade Stripping, and Grenade Countering. More on that in a bit.

Grenade Cooking
A very important skill to learn is "cooking" grenades, basically holding back a throw long enough so that the nade explodes near or upon impact once you do throw it. Experiment on your own to figure out your own method of cooking. There's the simple method where you just pull a grenade out, shield drop and pick it up again if you want for a quicker throw, and then just stand and wait until your desired time and chuck it(that's me ). Some people go so far as to air dodge/drop & re-catch with an aerial. In my opinion, it's your preference really. Varying your cooking times helps to prevent the opponent from avoiding the blast or throwing it back.

For a wide variety of Grenade Cooking techniques, checking out gammonwalker's guide is a must:
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=165922

For more info on aerial cooking and some other neat stuff, check out Psychomidget's Snake "tricksies" thread & vid:
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=157093

Grenade Stripping
Another useful trick is grenade stripping. After throwing a nade, you can time a shield drop of the second nade so that when you do so, it stops the first nade's travel in midair. I don't know how the heck this works, but it's pretty **** cool and very useful at preventing your nades from being thrown back. Watch the suprise on your opponent when they pick up a nade and you time the grenade strip just right so that the instant they throw it, it hasn't moved an inch. By then, it blows up in their face.

Lots of kudos to Thechene and WarriorJ for this discovery and sharing it, original thread here:
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=157592

Grenade Countering
Simply put, if you're holding a grenade and the opponent hits you, in turn hitting the grenade, the nade will explode and hurt both you and your opponent. If you're shielding, the blast only hurts the opponent after and you come out unscathed, so essentially you can dub it a grenade counter. This nade trick is invaluable. It can help get you out of tight situations when you're being overwhelmed, and can cause hesitation in your opponent, making them think twice about attacking when you've got a nade on hand. This hesitation can either give you a breather or give you an opening to start being aggressive. There's a few variations of grenade countering. If you see your opponent approaching with an attack, pull out out a nade and roll out of the way at the last moment. They'll get hurt by the nade, and you're free from shield stun to follow up with an attack. As an approach, you can also pick up the grenade through a dash attack at your opponent, then immediately shield at the end as the nade explodes.

More misc. grenade tricks, contributed by Ruuku:

Ruuku said:

Hey abit_rusty, here's some of my grenade strats if you happen to be interested. These mostly are about edge guarding.

- you can drop a grenade by the edge, roll back and drop a second. Watch what your opponent does and hit him with an aerial, u.smash, or u.tilt if he jumps.

- from a safe distance, "cook" a grenade then throw at your recovering opponent. Use grenade stripping to make it drop with more accuracy.

- drop a grenade, catch it, then edgehog. The invincibility frames you get from grabbing the edge protect you from the explosion. I call it explosive edge hog, hahaha.

- drop a grenade by the edge, catch it, then throw it down. Roll back and drop another. Rinse and repeat while mixing it with tilts and u.smashes in between.

Did I mention the fact that I love grenades??

Click to expand...

II. Mortar
Incoming!

The mortar, bane of aerial attackers or the surprise from above for ground brawlers. Using it, you can create a defensive wall for yourself, which can also be a barrier for your opponent as well. Barriers for your opponent can cause hesitation, which in turn can lead to mistakes.

Mortar Slide
There's 2 variations to this, with contact and without contact. Contact being hitting with the dash attack. The mortar slide with contact is very easy to do, simply up smash the instant your dash attack hits the opponent. This is easiest using the c-stick on the gamecube controller. The non-contact one is a lot trickier, but once you get the timing right, it's relatively easy. Take note that it helps a tremendous amount if you turn off tap jump in your controller preferences. Not sure why, but it does. Now, there are a variety of ways that people perform the non-contact mortar slide. I don't exactly wish to look all of them up, but I've seen some range from as easy as using up on the analog and A, to down cstick then up cstick, and even dash attack with A then Z+up on analog. Whatever works best for you, just remember the key is turning tap jump off and timing it quickly. It does help to practice in training mode at a slower speed to get the frame right.

For more info check out these threads:
-Extremely detailed analysis on the mortar slide's characteristcs and method of execution by T*H*O*R
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=162058
-mortar slide demonstrational vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvbNohOQ3p8&NR=1

The mortar slide is basically a buffed dash attack. You're essentially a traveling mortar, increasing the range of the move. If your dash attack sends them at an angle in front of you, at low to mid percents often the mortar will hit them. If it sends them behind you, the mortar provides a bit of protection from a rear assault. You can also charge the mortar during the slide for more power/height, and due to the nice sliding distance, you can mortar slide to intercept a falling opponent. Overall a very useful move and very worthwhile to master.

Mortar Edgeguard
Just spam mortars on the edge as your opponent is trying to recover. Vary the charging on the mortars to have them come down at different times and increase the chances of you hitting your opponent. This usually doesn't KO but it racks up a great deal of damage, and once again causes hesitation in your opponent's recovering that can allow you a better window for a bair or fair edeguard. Sometimes, if you hit your opponent when they're recovering from below, they can get stage spiked and KO'd that way.

Mortar Grab/Throw
You can execute this two ways. One is to charge your opponent and grab them while they hesisate as you spam mortars. The other method is shield grabbing them if they try to attack you while you're firing a mortar. Sometimes, you'll get the chance while you're doing some mortar edeguarding and they try to aerial when they get an opening. If you can manage to shield grab them, you can tack on some extra damage by grab attacking them (the neck snapping) to hold them in as the mortar lands on them. Then you can proceed to follow up with your desired throw. Sometimes the mortar's trajectory goes a bit in front or behind you. If your timing is good enough, you can forward or back throw them into the mortar just as it falls instead. Sort of like adding salt to the wound, not to mention it's flashy as hell. It works best with charged mortars to give you enough time for the grab and hold.

Useful info on the timing of Mortar launching, contributed by Mista Sinista:

Mista Sinista said:

I was testing some stuff with Snake and you might want to add this to your Mortar section of your guide.

I'm sure you guys have seen people like PsychoMidget charging the usmash then releasing a second having both explosions go off at the same time.

To time this, when you charge a smash your character flashes. Release the attack after Snake flashes 4 times and immediately release a second, they'll land at the exact same time.

Click to expand...

III. Nikita
WARNING: Missile Approaching!

One word. Edgeguard. And what better to edgeguard with than a remote controlled missile? You don't risk getting your recovery gimped and you blow your opponent up in the process. Seriously though, that's the best use for the Nikita. If you don't feel like an aerial offstage, the Nikita is your next best option. Heck it could be the first best option to some. The more you use it, the better you will get at predicting your opponent's path, if you can tell where they'll go, let it pick up speed and hopefully the missile will intercept their path. You can vary the speed/stall with it by pressing back and forth the perpendicular directions with respect to where the missile is headed. For example, hit up and down on the control stick if the missile is heading directly left or right. Take note that the Nikita does more damage if you hit them from afar.

If you miss the Nikita edgeguard, don't bother chasing unless you're absolutely sure you can catch them (hardly happens). Just drop the missile to come out of your vulnerable state. Speaking of that, dropping the missile has its uses as well. You can fly a missile high over your foe and drop it early, and you've got a chance to land it on your opponent as they approach. You can also stage spike with it if you drop it on an opponent hugging below the stage as they recover. Works great against people with tether recoveries, but then again you could just edgehog .

Projectile Deflection
The Nikita can deflect many if not all projectiles or at least trade hits and nullify the projectile.

Examples:
-ROB's gyro or one laser from ROB per nikita.
-Toon & Adult Link's arrows
-Pit's arrows
-Pika's thunderbolts
-Space Animals' blasters
-Ness's/Lucas's PKT and PK Fire
-Zamus's armor pieces (You know how Zamus's often like to throw their armor straight at you at the start of a match? Fire a Nikita and watch every single armor piece fall in its path, and still be able to fly and hit Zamus.)

I believe the general trend of deflection is that the Nikita will explode upon contact with a strong/concentrated projectile, whereas weaker/short burst projectiles will simply deflect it but not destroy it. There may be a few exceptions however, I have not tested it in-depth. Remember to maintain DI directing your Nikita against short burst projectiles so that it wont stray too far from the path of the projectiles that follow.


IV. Proximity Mine & C4
"Mine-games anyone?"

These two devices basically go hand in hand. There's a few characteristics unique to each one, however they share one main purpose. To control the field of battle. Essentially, you can control the stage very effectively as long you've got mines/c4 planted in strategic spots.

Very useful KO %'s found by Havokk, thank you:

Havokk said:

All data is now finished, I would like to thank (in no specific order):

• Tub - All Charged Mine Data
• Shadow Of Link - Uncharged Mine Data
• cycon365 - C4 Data
  &
• Hinoarashi - Uncharged Mine Data

Note:
During testing I realized Stickied and Unstickied C4 (unless airborne opponent) does not change the grounded KO %.

Important Note:
These %'s are based off perfect conditions. Those conditions are:

• Your C4/Mine is not STALE AT ALL
• Your Opponent has horrid DI (or doesn't DI at all)
• Your playing on Final Destination
• You and your Opponent are Grounded (on the ground)

With that in mind, please note these will not always be exact for you. To get a better estimate, add roughly 20% to each of these %'s.

Click to expand...

More In-Depth Timing found also by Havokk, thank you again:

Havokk said:

I tested it out of 3 drops and got the same exact times (rounded to nearest second because of human error)

Drop - Exploded - Time Taken


C4 Testing

Take 1
Drop:98:53
Exploded: 98:27
Time Taken: 26 Seconds (but I dropped it at like 98:54 if I round up; therefore 27 seconds)

Drop: 98:15
Exploded: 97:48
Time Taken: 27 seconds

Drop: 97:23
Exploded: 96:56
Time Taken: 27 Seconds

Take 2
Drop: 98:54
Exploded: 98:27
Time Taken: 27 seconds

Drop: 97:27
Exploded: 97:00
Time Taken: 27 Seconds

Drop: 96:00
Exploded: 95:33
Time Taken: 27 Seconds

"But 6 isn't enough"
It is when you're testing with a dumb SD'ing CPU.... and considering they were all 27 seconds (except the first that was a bit off...) it is safe to assume:

Our C4 lasts 27 seconds before exploding.

I'll get more drops up soon if you don't trust my data + hunches.

Mine Testing

Drop: 93:21
Dissapeared: 92:56
Time Taken: 25 Seconds

Drop: 92:44
Dissapeared: 92:19
Time Taken: 25 Seconds

Drop: 91:55
Dissapeared: 91:30
Time Taken: 25 Seconds

Our mines dissapear in 25 seconds! (Drop is considered when I can freely move)

These are UNCHARGED^^^

Charged Mine Testing:

Drop: 90:32
Dissapeared: 90:07
Time Taken: 25 Seconds


Safe to assume, charging your mine makes no difference.

Click to expand...

Platform Planting
If you plant a c4 on a platform, and detonate it, it creates a hitbox right under the platform and will blow up whatever's touching that hitbox. Let's explore some possibilities here...


The moving platform in Smashville is a perfect hotspot. Mobile C4 allows for more chances to hit your opponent.


The see-saw platform on Yoshi's Island is great for C4 too, since a C4 on either side of the platform rises and lowers, allowing for more mobility.


The platforms on Lylat Cruise are excellent places to plant C4/mines as well. It's a bit difficult for your opponent to see them, especially mines which end up being completely hidden between the layers (see 4th image).


Combining the C4 + Mine and Platform Planting creates a larger blast radius and as a result a nice little wall of explosive defense.

Your opponent doesn't have to step on the mine to be hurt by it, it has a slight hitbox that extends to the sides, so you can try C4+mine planting horizontally.​

Just experiment and be creative, there's a ton of other possibilities that the C4 and mine can work in conjunction, but remember that your goal is to influence your opponent's behavior and attempt to control the field. Also...don't run into your own c4/mines! >.>

C4 Sticking

You can attach a C4 onto anyone. That includes your teammate with or without friendly fire. Simply be within touching distance and hit down B to attach, and you can proceed to detonate whenever you want. It's best to detonate in the air, where they can't shield the explosion. You can C4-stick someone using a few methods. One is immediately C4-ing after a powershield. Another is tricking someone into shielding, and C4-ing them in their shield. Also, you can predict a roll and C4 them as they come out of that roll. Finally, you can even C4-stick someone in the air, or when they're on the platform above you. Take note that the C4 can fall off on it's own and it has gooey-bomb properties in that it transfers to the next thing it touches (meaning you can have your teammate run up and transfer the C4 from himself to the opponent). Also take note that blowing someone up with C4 in midair and scoring a KO out of it is extremely satisfying, and you can star KO someone with an up-tilt -> stuck C4 detonation at less than 90-100% damage depending on their weight.

Explosive Edgeguarding
If it's not obvious to you by now, C4 and mines are a pretty nice touch to edgeguarding. The key is how you do it. Personally, I prefer the traditional "Mine near the edge with C4 behind it" method, it works quite well. It does take time to set up, so keep that in mind. (Again a personal preference of mine is to set up a C4+mine combo either after killing an opponent or knocking them considerably far away. Then I usually use a Nikita to force them to grab the ledge). There's a right way and a wrong way to do this, and it involves where you plant the proximity mine.

Why? The invincibility frames of a character as he/she gets up from the ledge will trip the mine and leave the character unharmed.

Why? By planting the mine at just the right distance, it will explode the instant your opponent's invincibility frames end, even if they do a get-up attack. This does take practice to get the spot correctly, but this the optimal way to do so.

After correct mine-placement, just plant a C4 about a dash's distance from the ledge and detonate it as you see your opponent coming up. If they roll, they'll get blown by your C4. If they don't, the mine will hit them.
Sometimes they won't get up or roll, instead jump, but you can anticipate this and predict with a well angled Nikita to blow them out of the sky. Or an aerial, preferably something quick like nair or bair.

Offensive C4
Thanks to UltimaXtreme for this contribution.

Method 1​

Method 2​

UltimaXtreme said:

-Offensive C4-​

Short hop -> C4 -> Second jump -> Detonate.

A very fast detonation technique. You can plant the C4 and detonate it all in about two seconds.

-You can shorthop backwards -> C4 -> Backwards second jump -> Immediately detonate for a more defensive detonation.

-You can shorthop frontwards -> C4 -> Second jump backwards -> Immediately detonate as a mindgame for your opponent to run towards you; running into the C4 for detonation.

-And lastly, it is possible to just do all of this with just one shorthop, but it might take a little practice to do it without blowing yourself up in the process. (You would be standing just pixels away from the blast radius).

Click to expand...

Defensive C4
As you're falling from cypher at a great height, drop a C4 and DI away from its path of fall, so that it lies between you and your opponent. You can then detonate it as it falls, as a defensive measure, in front/near your opponent as he attempts to approach you

C4 Bomb Jump
Here's a demonstrational vid:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=miR0FsDAJGg

This is invaluable when you're recovering. Just remember that you have to do this before your cypher ends, so practicing the timing to get the maximum height before you need to bomb jump is essential. This is to avoid fast falling. It also helps if you just hold down on the analog and spam B. Or you can switch your controller preferences to b-stick. By damaging yourself, you regain your cypher, and thus increase your survivability.

You can also use this to recover from underneath a stage, for example the edges of Lylat Cruise or underneath melee Poke'stadium, and even that little alcove where you can get caught under in FD. The catch is you have to tech the explosion off the stage, which can be tricky without practice. I believe the timing for a tech in brawl is more precise, rather than a split second beforehand like in melee, I think it's the instant you hit it. Just practice this on a flat ceiling custom stage.

When this will kill you:
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=172417

These are the only other ways to get more then 1 Cypher:
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=205560

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*​

Well, there you have it, the guide to surviving with Snake on the Brawl battlefield. Remember, the critical component to Snake's game is strategy. You don't have to bind yourself to the methods in this guide, they are just here to point you in the right direction. How you combine these methods and incoporate them into your own strategy will be your true key to survival and getting that win. Hopefully this guide can help significantly improve your playstyle, and then it's up to you to take that improvement and build on it.


-I'd like to give thanks to all the Snake players on this board for their help back when I was a newb, and this is my way of giving back to the community
-Thanks to the pros for generously bestowing their Snake styles for me to build on, and for inspiring me to take up Snake in the first place.
-Thanks to Hideo Kojima for creating such a badass character.
-Thank you Nintendo for making a great game and designing a great fighter, if a little broken
-Finally, thanks for reading, commenting, and contributing!


Copyright (c) 2008 by RJE - This guide was made solely for Smash World Forums. Please inform/message me if you would like to use it somewhere else, I'd gladly allow you as long as I have knowledge of it. Thanks.

So, I finally got around to finishing this after working on it very slowly, haha. I prefer to take my time and do it right. Please feel free to comment and/or make suggestions to the guide, even ask questions, they are always welcome

I'll reserve this post for updates in the future.

4/12/08
- Initial guide completed!
- Added Offensive/Defensive C4 techniques

4/13/08
- Added C4 Bomb Jumping
- Added Up Tilt killing percents table
- Added Short Hop Dair out of shield method

4/14/08
- Added images for Offensive/Defensive C4
- Centered all images for aesthetic purposes (a.k.a. it looks better)
- Confirmed and edited info on the "sweet spot" of bair
- Fixed Misc. typos
- Added Nikita Projectile Deflection tactic

4/15/08
- Added reference link to T*H*O*R's Snake strategies guide - read it, it rocks
- Added dthrow to dair method

4/16/08
- Added dthrow chain grab
- Replaced broken C4 bomb jump video link with working one

4/21/08
- Expanded Grenade section
- Added a reference link to lesser known techniques in intro

4/26/08
- Link to clan Les Enfantes Terribles - join and have some gg's w/ your fellow Snakes!
- Expanded Grenade section w/ shield dropping (elementary, yes, but crucial).

12/1/08
- Dtilt KO percentages added
- C4 KO percentages added
- Mine (Uncharged/Charged) KO percentages added
- Cypher "Double Recovery" thread link added
- When C4 Jumping for recovery will KO you, thread link added

Great guide! I was working on one for Snake, similar to my Falcon one in Melee. But everyone is making such great vids/guides for him, it's not that necessary!

Also, I agree: Utilt is amazing. Especially when someone is running at you, and before they get into grab range, hitting them with it and juggling them with it. That always gets a big "WTF OMG!" :D:D:D

Something I posted a while back, it would be a nice addition to the guide. You have my permission to add it to your guide if you like.





Short hop -> C4 -> Second jump -> Detonate.

A very fast detonation technique. You can plant the C4 and detonate it all in about two seconds.

-You can shorthop backwards -> C4 -> Backwards second jump -> Immediately detonate for a more defensive detonation.

-You can shorthop frontwards -> C4 -> Second jump backwards -> Immediately detonate as a mindgame for your opponent to run towards you; running into the C4 for detonation.

-And lastly, it is possible to just do all of this with just one shorthop, but it might take a little practice to do it without blowing yourself up in the process. (You would be standing just pixels away from the blast radius).



Very nice guide btw.

Thanks for the compliments

Also, I added your tactic of Offensive C4-ing Ultima, which reminded me of the defensive C4-ing to protect you as you fall. Added that too.

UltimataXtreme >8^(

UltimaXtreme said:

UltimataXtreme >8^(

Click to expand...

lol woops. Fixed.

Just Epic.

Great guide. I like how you went in-depth on Snake's C4 and mines.

A guide with images :D

I likes it

Btw, you should include that Snake's taunt can be used as an edgeguard (a very good one too!)

I used it against an Ike as he was performing his Aether attack, the box completely IGNORED Ike's sword and went straight for Ike's head causing him to fall further below and lose a stock :D

Can also spike enemies that are hanging on edges :O

Great guide =]

abit_rusty said:

the mortar provides a bit of protection from a rear assault

Click to expand...

im sorry but i found that hilarious

You've also neglected to mention another extremely useful application for C4: regaining your recovery.

If your Cypher runs out and it's looking like you won't make it back to the stage, drop a C4 brick in midair, fall into it, and detonate it. Bam! You can recover again. Cooking a grenade could have the same effect, too. And obviously, this is only advisable at relatively low percentages, unless you'd rather SD than give an opponent a kill.

NinjaQuail said:

You've also neglected to mention another extremely useful application for C4: regaining your recovery.

If your Cypher runs out and it's looking like you won't make it back to the stage, drop a C4 brick in midair, fall into it, and detonate it. Bam! You can recover again. Cooking a grenade could have the same effect, too. And obviously, this is only advisable at relatively low percentages, unless you'd rather SD than give an opponent a kill.

Click to expand...

*smacks self on head* Fixed that too.

nice guide, should help a lot. thanks!

Awesome guide . Props to you man.

Good guide.

I was doing some tests today with my new finisher with Snake, U-tilt. I couldn't find a list of this on SWF, so here's a list of what percent every character would get star KOed on FD without stale move negation or DI. FD was chosen because it's a very common neutral stage on, and it has a relatively above average ceiling. This test was also performed on Training Mode, which has different percentages for attacks, but should still have the same knock back (without stale, of course).

Jigglypuff / 82
Squirtle / 86
G&W / 88
Kirby / 90
Fox / 90
Metaknight / 91
Sheik / 92
Zelda / 93
ZSS / 93
Olimar / 94
Peach / 94
Pikachu / 94
Falco / 96
IC / 97
Lucas / 99
Toon Link / 99
Diddy / 100
Marth / 100
Ness / 100
Luigi / 101
Mario / 102
Pit / 102
Sonic / 102
Lucario / 103
Ivysaur / 105
ROB / 106
Samus / 106
Yoshi / 107
Wario / 108
Wolf / 108
Charizard / 109
Link / 110
Ganondorf / 112
Ike / 112
Bowser / 113
CF / 114
DK / 118
Snake / 119
Dedede / 123

I don't know how useful this will be for you, abit_rusty, but it's a great example of how good U-tilt is, and that it should be abused to it's maximum.

Awesome guide, I learned some stuff from it. That's a first on these boards, lol.

Great guide, really really informational on some things. Definitely gets my vote for a sticky. I'm trying to put Snake up as a main of mine, especially since I love the Solid series. Thanks!

saud said:

Btw, you should include that Snake's taunt can be used as an edgeguard (a very good one too!)

I used it against an Ike as he was performing his Aether attack, the box completely IGNORED Ike's sword and went straight for Ike's head causing him to fall further below and lose a stock :D

Can also spike enemies that are hanging on edges :O

Click to expand...

Yea I was considering putting in taunt and cypher, but I couldn't find a place for them in the guide's layout. A miscellaneous section could work, but I didn't feel that those two moves were significant enough. (Ironic since cypher is basically what lets you survive ._.). I'll think about it, unless you have any suggestions.

Kinlap said:

Good guide.

I was doing some tests today with my new finisher with Snake, U-tilt. I couldn't find a list of this on SWF, so here's a list of what percent every character would get star KOed on FD without stale move negation or DI. FD was chosen because it's a very common neutral stage on, and it has a relatively above average ceiling. This test was also performed on Training Mode, which has different percentages for attacks, but should still have the same knock back (without stale, of course).

Jigglypuff / 82
Squirtle / 86
G&W / 88
Kirby / 90
Fox / 90
Metaknight / 91
Sheik / 92
Zelda / 93
ZSS / 93
Olimar / 94
Peach / 94
Pikachu / 94
Falco / 96
IC / 97
Lucas / 99
Toon Link / 99
Diddy / 100
Marth / 100
Ness / 100
Luigi / 101
Mario / 102
Pit / 102
Sonic / 102
Lucario / 103
Ivysaur / 105
ROB / 106
Samus / 106
Yoshi / 107
Wario / 108
Wolf / 108
Charizard / 109
Link / 110
Ganondorf / 112
Ike / 112
Bowser / 113
CF / 114
DK / 118
Snake / 119
Dedede / 123

I don't know how useful this will be for you, abit_rusty, but it's a great example of how good U-tilt is, and that it should be abused to it's maximum.

Click to expand...

Wow, thanks for actually putting in the time to find this data. I don't want to let your efforts go to waste so I hope you don't mind if I included this table in my guide, with credit to you of course.

To everyone else, thanks for the positive feedback :D

i just want to mention that dair actually has really good practical use when ur in ur shield.

all u do is short hop out of ur shield when the enemy is nearby and u dair and keep ur DI onto him, ull land all the kicks if hes standing on the ground when u started ur dair, and it has really good knockback, and i think the trajectory is really good too, or maybe my friends dont DI very well haha. it sends them about 30 degrees to the side.

u can do it when ur enemy is behind u, when shield grabbing wont work, but dair will get them.

Tyson651 said:

i just want to mention that dair actually has really good practical use when ur in ur shield.

all u do is short hop out of ur shield when the enemy is nearby and u dair and keep ur DI onto him, ull land all the kicks if hes standing on the ground when u started ur dair, and it has really good knockback, and i think the trajectory is really good too, or maybe my friends dont DI very well haha. it sends them about 30 degrees to the side.

u can do it when ur enemy is behind u, when shield grabbing wont work, but dair will get them.

Click to expand...

Hm, good to know, thanks. I'll be sure to credit you when I add your input.

Great job. The guide goes very in depth, with visuals to accompany some of the more complex concepts (mine and c4 spacing, mortar variations, etc.) WOULD READ AGAIN A+++++++++ lol

EDIT: I feel like I should contribute something, it doesn't feel right to receive without giving.

Uhm.. some things you can include (apologies if I just missed them)
Fake grenade throw: same input as no-contact mortarslide after recatching a shielddropped nade
One tip to do this I find useful is instead of c-stick down to initiate the running throw, I use c-stick forward to avoid snake from throwing downward.

Usmash variations to utilt instead of grab sometimes works because of the extra range of the utilt

And my preferred method of cooking nades: B -> Hold Shield -> Pick Up -> Short hop down throw -> Air dodge after the bounce to recatch -> DI backwards/forwards -> Land -> Have ~ 3 seconds to do things. One thing I like to do is run at them and just short hop airdodge through them as the grenade explodes.

I think you should mention "double grenade throwing". Pulling a grenade and shield dropping it. Picking it up and pulling out a second one which drops the one in your hand. Throw the new one and by that time your first nade is cooked and ready to be thrown. It will most likely explode near the first one that you threw hitting your opponent with the blast from both nades. Doing as easy 24% damage.

Just my input.

Oh wow incredible guide.

Superb guide

another thing i just remembered thats really good for snake to put pressure on opponents above him such as in the air, or platform, would be doing a short hop uair, and if u timed it correctly, ur uair landing will have absolutely no lag, and utilt after DI'ing underneath him. its really quick, and both attacks are great for damage and knockback. it is much more versatile than an usmash or an utilt by its self, and is really quick.

Are you sure that you can jab combo out of Dedede's chain grab? I know you can drop a grenade in the middle of the chain grab if you DI properly and mash the b button.

Nice guide. im surprised at the amount of things i picked up by myself without reading the guides.

I'd like to say i find a good amount of use in the short-hop > C4 > detonate. It's second nature to me now. it is dangerous due to the fact your feet probably are touching the explosion but its very unexpected due to the fact it looks like your about to blow yourself up, only to find out that instead of watching a poor snake flying to his doom you see yourself flying away while snake walks unharmed out of the edge of the explosion. I've caught quite a few people with that trick.

also im still waiting on a snake v snake match rusty

i love pictures

Uhhh... apparently, attacks in training mode don't just do more damage but also slightly more knock back. I read that one of M2K's test results. I'll re-do the u-tilt results in Brawl mode a few days later. Make sure you edit it in the guide, so it's says "not 100% accurate since it's from training mode, but still... u-tilt is too good."

Thanks a lot for this godly guide. That's exactly what I was looking for! Perfect to build some Snake tactics/strategies.

And by the way, do you guys know why the c4 sometimes explode without detonating it wih a down-b? I still haven't figured it out. It looks like its from hitting it with something (mortar or things like that maybe) or maybe i'm just always wrong place wrong moment.

Why The f*ck Is This Not Stickied

LukewarmHoliday said:

Nice guide. im surprised at the amount of things i picked up by myself without reading the guides.

I'd like to say i find a good amount of use in the short-hop > C4 > detonate. It's second nature to me now. it is dangerous due to the fact your feet probably are touching the explosion but its very unexpected due to the fact it looks like your about to blow yourself up, only to find out that instead of watching a poor snake flying to his doom you see yourself flying away while snake walks unharmed out of the edge of the explosion. I've caught quite a few people with that trick.

also im still waiting on a snake v snake match rusty

Click to expand...

i should have probably kept that to myself >8^()


oops, sorry for double post >8^( merge those two posts if someone can

_Tediz_ said:

Thanks a lot for this godly guide. That's exactly what I was looking for! Perfect to build some Snake tactics/strategies.

And by the way, do you guys know why the c4 sometimes explode without detonating it wih a down-b? I still haven't figured it out. It looks like its from hitting it with something (mortar or things like that maybe) or maybe i'm just always wrong place wrong moment.

Click to expand...

It detonates on its own after a while. You can sort of use this to your advantage if you can lure your opponent near it when you feel it's unstable and about to explode for the element of surprise.

Edit: I updated the guide with pics on offensive/defensive C4 and centered overall image layout. Looks more organized that way.

UltimaXtreme said:

Why The f*ck Is This Not Stickied

Click to expand...

yea...sticky ftw.

Thank you for all the data!

Yes. The back air does inflict a bit more damage in the center of Snake's body rather than his feet.

fack what a great guide. pictures and all for those of us who hate reading an endless mountain of text

.D0c. said:

Are you sure that you can jab combo out of Dedede's chain grab? I know you can drop a grenade in the middle of the chain grab if you DI properly and mash the b button.

Click to expand...

Yep.

Eternal Yoshi said:

Yes. The back air does inflict a bit more damage in the center of Snake's body rather than his feet.

Click to expand...

Ah thanks for that confirmation, it did seem like the move had more knockback at the center of his body. I'll update that part in the guide.

Cho? said:

fack what a great guide. pictures and all for those of us who hate reading an endless mountain of text

Click to expand...

Haha, yea, I know I'm guilty of writing mountains of text myself. I figured the pics would break the monotony and make it easier on the eye. Plus it helps make certain things clearer.