Nintendogs
Smash Journeyman
The Ultimate Ice Climbers Guide: Created by Nintendogs
Table of Contents:
1. Ice Climbers Introduction/guide
2. IC matchups
3. IC Chaingrabs
4. IC De-syncs
5. What to do if...
6. IC videos
7. Combos that would work if you were fighting a complete n00b
8. AI info/oddities
9. The stupidity of Nana
10. Q&A
11. Special thanks
The Ice Climbers Introduction
Credit: Delphiki
IC Introduction, An Introduction to Competitive Brawl Ice Climbers, by Delphiki
http://www.allisbrawl.com/forum/topic.aspx?id=6868
Hello everyone, and welcome to my Brawl ICs guide.
Before I begin with the real substance, there are a couple of points I would like to make. The first, and most important, being that this is not intended as an end-all resource. I am arrogant enough for the modesty to say that there are things I do now know about this game, and I do not pretend to know everything. I will put down here everything that I know, focusing mostly on aggressive strategies and the uses of the Ice Climbers moveset. Second, I would like to say that although I don't know everything, the purpose of this guide is to guide players to use the most powerful techniques available. While we don't know all that the Ice Climbers are capable of, and without a full understanding of their faults, we can still use what we know to achieve the best results.
The goal is not to be fancy, flashy, or unique. The goal is effectiveness.
Finally, this guide is not intended to teach you how to control the Ice Climbers. It is only intended to teach you an effective style of IC play. This guide is my Ice Climbers technique, my school. Whether or not you can succesfully apply the techniques herein is dependent upon the level of dedication you have to learning to master the Ice Climbers. Once you can fight with them habitually (that is, when you do not always need to second-guess their capabilities and your own), you can learn how to apply my technique on your enemies.
Section 1 - Moveset
We'll start with a quick coverage of each move. Uses will be covered more thoroughly later on.
The Ice Climbers have a very diverse moveset, though unfortunately there are a few moves which are very not very useful, or simply not worth the effort required to use them.
Jab - 5%, 6% (2 hits) / 3%, 4%
The basic 'A' attack. Although it deals a decent amount of damage, it is not at all useful for comboing or approaching. Although it may be possible to trap someone against a wall, if you got the timing of the jabs seperated a certain way. Though that is incredibly unlikely.
F-tilt - 17% / 10%
Decent in both damage and spacing. It is good if you don't have time for a F-smash or Bair. Great for a quick desynch starter.
D-tilt - 11% / 6%
This move can be used for semi-spiking if you get your opponent near the edge at a good percent. Against anyone with bad recovery, it is preferable to a Smash attack which would send the enemy at a high trajectory.
U-tilt - 18% / 12%
The ICs most damaging tilt. It is both easy to hit with, and can be followed with an aerial pretty much every time. It comes out a lot faster than U-smash, but it is also a lot laggier. Don't spam this, but it is great for building up damage. Also, it has really good priority if you are being approached from above.
F-smash - 18% / 13%
Although this attack is strong in both damage and knockback, it has a lot of flaws. Not too fast or laggy, but it lacks range and is easily punishable since the hitbox doesn't last very long. Best used for KOs - don't use it too often for mere damage, because you don't want the move to get too stale.
D-smash - 39% / 10%
The 40-damage down smash. ^_^ I'm not sure on the exact percents, but fully charged this attack does around 49-54% ( 53%, corrected by Nintendogs) , and uncharged it does as much as 39%. On top of that, it comes out quickly and can kill (though not as well as the other smashes). It is obviously great for racking up damage, even when it is stale. Not so good with a single Climber, but with both this is one of their best attacks. The 10% with one Climber is because Popo does not get the hitlag necessary for the return hit.
U-smash - 21% / 12%
One of your best moves for killing off the top. Average damage (which for ICs is around 20, I think o_0) and has decent range both above and in front. However this move is quite hard to pull off. It is not easy to combo into it, and it has no range in the back, unless you are facing a really big enemy. It is easy to hit with while techchasing, meaning you may be able to do things like D-tilt, techchase, U-smash. This attack will pretty much always kill by 140%, and sometimes as early as 90.
Neutral B - 6% / 3%
Ice Blocks. These are quite the pest. Great for annoying your opponent and forcing him to approach. In combination with Blizzards and Squalls, this trifecta from hell can create a great and unpredictable strategy of spam, spacing, and approaches. Unfortunately each block does very little in terms of damage (next to nothing), and they are quite laggy. However the startup is good, and between the seperation of the blocks and shorthopping into them, you will rarely be punished for them.
Another great use of Ice Blocks is edgeguarding after a F-throw. P-F-throw, N-Ice Block, P-Ice Block...etc... can steal a character's jumps (no matter how many they have) and force them to Up+B. Think Pit ^_^. This also works great against anyone with a strictly vertical recovery, such as Luigi and Kirby - steal their jumps, then edgehog. Game!
Forward B - 31% / 18%
Squall. One of the Climbers best approaches when together, but useless Solo (it can be shieldgrabbed when alone). Does decent damage, and ***** shields. Even if your opponent blocks, there is a chance they will be dumb about it and drop early, and if not they will be slow on the reaction of the move ending, and thereby open for punishment - out of your attack! This is a keystone in my ICs game. However one has to learn to fight without it. For all her valor, Nana usually dies first.
Down B - 34% / 16%
Blizzard. Again, this attack is great for pressuring, vs. shields, spacing, and approaching. Also, like Ice Blocks, it can be used well on defense. Not many attacks get through the Blizzard, and it does above 20 damage if you hit with it at close range with both ICs. Also, it is like the Squall where your enemy may not react quickly to the attack ending, and you can get away with something like dash attack -> Uair. A desynched Blizzard is great for getting grabs - it has long range and pins your opponent.
Up B - 17%
Belay. Your third jump. It is a tether recovery if the ledge is above you and available. If not, Nana is thrown up into the air and pulls Popo behind her. Popo gets much more height than Nana when this happens. While usually quite basic, there are a couple of advanced techniques you can do with Belay. Most of these are as of yet, completely unknown - thus they will often catch your opponent completely offguard. First off, as with all tether recoveries, it counts as edgehogging as soon as Nana grabs the ledge. Second, Nana is an amazing hitbox if you do not tether. She does only 12 or so damage, but it is more powerful in knockback your U-air. What that means is that it can be comboed into out of Uair, getting kills as early as 70-110%, depending on weight.
F-air - 22% (24%, corrected by Nintendogs) / 12%
A good ranged, high priority, aerial. Doesn't combo at all, but can follow U-air, resulting in a total of 35+ damage and either edgeguarding, or 'floorguarding' - preventing your opponent from touching ground. Also, the end of Nana's F-air is a Meteor. The best uses of it in that aspect are grabbing near the edge (with Popo), followed by P-F-throw or P-D-throw + N-Fair. This can be Meteor-cancelled of course, but that rarely happens, and either way your opponent is offstage with a pair of Climbers waiting patiently for blood.
B-air - 19% / 11 %
A very fast aerial which does light damage. However, this attack auto-cancels for most of it's duration (after the hitbox). This means it can be easily followed by lots of attacks, provided you can get to your opponent fast enough. This attack can also kill quite well if it has not already grown stale. Usually, this is your best aerial option for killing, with the exception of U-air -> Belay.
D-air - 13% / 8%
Ugh. I seriously do not like the way this attack works. The D-air is good for breaking out of combos, and also for quickly changing your speed while falling, due to it's auto fast-fall property. Unfortunately this attack does not auto-cancel, and is very laggy. So even if you do use it to break out of a combo (dealing a good 12-18 or so damage in the process), there is still a chance you will be punished. I only use this attack when someone is attempting to keep me in the air. It has decent priority, so you will usually hit with at least one Climber. Also, it may pop your opponent up above you, giving a quick turn of the table. Overall, very situational.
N-air- 12% / 8%
This attack is great for comboing with one Climber. Down throw combos into it, and after the Nair you can sometimes get another grab, or a F-smash. On faster-falling characters, you can probably get a D-tilt. This is great for characters who don't have good recovery, or who are edgeguarded easily (especially tether recoveries).
U-air - 18% / 9%
One of the ICs best aerials. Although it can't kill, the U-air combos out of many attacks (including itself!) and combos into F-air, B-air, and Up+B. It also has very good priority, and comes out quickly with very little aerial lag. But be careful when SHing it - the landing lag is quite bad if not auto-canceled.
Throws -
F-throw - 8
D-throw - 6
B-throw - 6.5
U-throw - 6
**Okay, all of these damage percentages are fresh (first time used in a match), against a human DeDeDe, standing still, with the exception of U-tilt, where DeDeDe jumped up and fell, then I used U-tilt so that the hammers started near the middle of him for max damage. Also, Blizzard was short hopped, so that both Climbers would hit.
Section 2 - Approaching & Positioning
This section focuses on the most important element of IC play. Fortunately, it is also very dynamic in most circumstances and matchups, allowing the skilled player a number of possibilities in any situation.
The Ice Climbers have a very unique style when it comes to approaching. This is because all of their approaches are stoppable. If you know they are grabbing, spotdodge and punish, and everything else can be shielded. All but two attacks can be easily beaten by spacing, but even those two - Squall and Blizzard, can be defeated by an opponent who knows what they are doing. For example, Marth can easily beat them both with F-smash.
The key to approaching is spacing, unpredictability, and position. By 'spacing' I mean left-to-right spacing - you have to stay just out of range of the opponent. This usually means a good amount out of your own range. Positioning means being aware of the stage and where your opponent will be moving next.
There are three moves that create a wonderful amount of pressure on your enemy. This is the 'trifecta from hell' I mentioned earlier. Squall, Blizzard, and Ice Blocks. Not only are they pesky and unsettling, but they help create movement locks - your opponent is forced to move into a different position. Not only will this eventually force him to the edge of the stage (if he plays defensively), but the same attacks can be used to retreat as quickly as you decide to do so.
To begin such a painful pressure game, it is best to desynch. The obvious easiest way to do this is to begin the game desynched, with either an N-Ice Block, or if an Ice Block would be useless, N-Blizzard. The Blizzard lasts longer, so it is a bit better because it gives Popo time to close the gap between you and the enemy before going into his first attack.
After desynching, it is good to alternate Blizzards, F-airs, and blocks to create a moving barrier which forces your opponent to give up his positioning or get too close and leave himself open for a Squall. The critical aspect of all this is the small boost of speed at the beginning of the Squall. This allows you to close gaps and begin hitting the opponent while the other Climber is finishing up their latest pressuring attack. As soon as they finish, you can run in and begin to capitalize with grabs or other combos.
A quick note - whereas the Squall is a physical attack, the Blizzard is a projectile attack. This means that their usefulness is sometimes subjective to the enemy character. Lots of characters have some ability to repel projectiles. In this situation, it is good to short hop, begin to fall (do not fast fall), and just before you land in front of the enemy, use either a Blizzard or Squall. Be very careful to not follow any patterns with which attack you use. This is the only way to keep up maximum unpredictability and usefulness of these attacks. Blizzard is punishable from behind, and Squall can be outspaced, so if your opponent knows which attack will be used, you will be punished for it. Therefore you cannot let an opponent's absorption or reflection technique scare you away from Blizzard. Even if once or twice in a 3-stock match they use your Blizzard against you, that is much better than limiting your character just because of their mere threat.
Section 3 - Combos, Chaingrabbing, and Grab Combos
Whenever an opportunity presents itself, you must capitalize completely and unrelentlessly. As I stated in the introduction, there is no room for fanciness when you are facing a good opponent, and as such you have to do away with any habits of using less effective, but flashy or 'neat' combos.
Unfortunately, the most effective Ice Climber combos are also the hardest - they are their basic grab infinites: P-grab, C-smash, N-regrab, P-regrab, C-smash etc.....until you can kill them with a smash. This is almost always the most effective combo. The only other combo you would wish to use is alternating regrabs to the edge of the stage, and Meteoring with N-F-air.
The largest difficulties here are the difficulties of landing a grab, and the technical ability necessary to get the chaingrabs correct consistently. If you are unsure that you will be able to land a difficult CG or grab combo, then it is probably a good idea to go for something easier. Basically, the goal is to do the maximum amount of damage that you can, even that means you have to do a bit less than is possible. But that doesn't mean neglect training ^_^. However in a tournament setting, when every hit matters, getting a decent amount of damage is a lot better than messing up while trying to get a lot.
When it comes to non-grab combos, the ICs don't have much. But these are the combos that a Solo Climber relies on the most. Your basic combo attacks all combo in the same direction - up. Dash attack, D-throw (sometimes B-throw), U-air, Things like F-tilt and D-tilt don't exactly combo (your enemy will recover as quickly as you do), so it comes down to what their reaction is, how you exploit it, and your foreknowledge of it. B-throw also acts like this - if you know they will either DI in, or that they will jump afterwards, you can stop them from hitting ground. Also, if you throw them off the stage, you will get an easy edgeguard if they DI backwards (from the direction you grabbed in).
Another easy approach/combo is Squall. The last hit of a Double Squall pops your enemy into the air similar to a dash attack. This, and any dash attack, d-throw, or U-air can be followed with F-air or Up+B (sometimes B-air works as well, but rarely does that situation come up - you would have to be comboing with your back to the opponent, or be very close to them). Use these for damage and maybe a kill if their percent is just right to be both comboed and killed. Remember though - Solo Squall can be shieldgrabbed.
Finally, a quick combo with a Solo Climber - D-throw, Nair, D-throw, Nair... this can happen a couple times in a row. I think it is escapable (things like Metaknight's Nair can probably break out), but you'll at least want to try it until they start getting out. Remember - if it's working well, spam it until it doesn't. Also, Nair can be replaced with Fair to end the combo, and the grabs can be replaced with a lot of different attacks - F-smash for example, or if they don't jump you may be able to get that elusive D-tilt.
Section 4 - Defense or 'Camping'
As you may have noticed, the Ice Climbers' aggressive game revolves around a few tactics. If, for whatever reason, these fail to work, the best option is to resort to making them come to you. I put camping in the title of the section to help people get over the stigma of it. Yes, some people hate camping. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it (see my blog for my whole idea on that). If your approaches aren't working, it's time to test out theirs.
Camping is best done while desynched. How you desynch is up to you. Some of the quickest and easiest are pivots, dash dances, and Squall desynchs. Also, there is always the starting or spawn desynch. Once desynched, you want to create a pressure wall, pretty much the same as an offensive one. The key difference, though, is that you want to coax your opponent to advance, setting himself up (why do the hard stuff when your enemy does it for you? ^_^). To do that, you want to leave temporary holes. So start using smaller attacks, like suddenly doing P-F-tilt, N-Ice Block (short hopped), P-Nair....etc.. It's best not to use constant Blizzards, because that will make your enemy much more cautious. What you want to do is use these weak, short ranged attacks to create false openings. A constantly shifting wall of hammers and ice can be very confusing to anyone who doesn't play ICs, or doesn't know them well. As anyone who uses pistoning knows (pistoning is constantly using alternating F-smashes) - one Climber attacking does not equal lag.
I have not yet found a very reliable way to camp with one IC. Although one thing is already covered, in that the opponent will almost always play aggressively. It seems they just can't resist attacking a defenseless baby. You can use this to your advantage, but Popo does not have much when it comes to spacing ability. Blizzard and Ice Blocks are still effective, but not so much. And by taking away Squall approaches, it becomes very difficult to close in to do any damage. Overall you have to be very careful about your attack choice, as it becomes very difficult to both control space and keep yourself out of punishable lag, all while attempting to force an opening. If you can succesfully deal 50+ damage, you are in a huge advantage. Even if you can't nail a KO move, you are a lot closer to taking that stock, and odds are that you will land one shortly after respawning.
Section 5 - Desynching
When it comes to desynching, the most important questions are "How do I desynch?" and "What do I do once desynched?" The second question is basically whatever you would normally be doing, simply faster, and with less lag. Desynching sacrifices mobility for speed and fluidity. It allows you to reduce the lag after every attack down to nothing, and allows you to choose to start a new attack (or motion) before the first is done!
There are many different ways to desynch, to start continuous desynchs. There are so many different ways to desynch that many of them are either very situational or obselete. Mastery of desynching means knowing what desynchs you can start at any given time, and also the ability to recognize when it would be beneficial. Remember desynching is not necessary - there are skilled players who only desynch to do grab combos.
Currently, the most common desynchs are the spawn desynch and grabs. Grabs are by far the Ice Climbers' most powerful combos. So, the goal of a desynch should be, if not a grab, some combo/strategy that gains kills from a single opportunity or severely limits your opponent's ability. Either complete safety or a sure kill.
Common desynch tactics include:
* Using one Climber to advance and space attacks, and another to cover the first Climber. This is a common doubles tactics, using one player to poke and prod, while the other covers openings and punishes the enemy's action. The biggest difficulty in this, to me, is controlling space well enough to quickly cover the enemies' options with a not-very-mobile Climber.
* Defensive pressure. As described earlier, use of Blizzards, Squalls, and Ice Blocks to advance can quickly pin your opponent and lead to a grab. This is very hard to defeat by many characters, although the Climbers leave holes in the top, meaning any character with a fast, high jump may be able to sneak past them easily. Also, many projectiles can defeat this, notably Snake's grenades, and thrown bombs.
* Offensive pressure. By using both Climbers to attack alternately, with either the same or different attacks. This is not as safe as defensive pressuring, but doesn't fall victim to the same counters. Common attacks to use for this include dash attacks, Nairs, Uairs, and tilts for cover. In addition, dash attacking into certain projectiles can desynch the climbers can lead to huge opportunities.
There are many possible situational desynchs. These include pivots, Squalls, dashes, and landing desynchs. Between the four of these, a player can desynch during most motions. Recently, Foxy K discovered that you can in fact desynch from nearly every one of the Ice Climbers' attacks (you can find that thread and video here). The only known exceptions are Ice Blocks, Blizzards, and (probably) jabs. This means that we can desynch from dashing, standing, attacking, squall (approaching!), and landing. The only thing that leaves is jumping! Keep in mind that you are quite vulnerable if you full hop anywhere near your opponent. If you do, and find the opportunity you jumped for disappearing, it is probably a good idea to cover your front with Fairs. Just make sure to autocancel them.
Section 6 - General Dangers and Advice
(I will take submissions for this section! If you have something you would like added, let me know! ^_^)
* First of all, be sure to switch up your Squalls and Blizzards. Not only against projectile-defeating characters, either. There are several other differences, such as the usefulness of rolls, and the effectiveness of being attacked from above. The different ranges of the attacks can also be used to your advantage.
* Remember that you can desynch out of Squalls! I'm not sure, but I think it can also be done even if you are hitting their shield. So you can do things like N-doublejab, P-grab. Just in case they try to drop their shield or roll away while Popo is going for the grab.
* Using autocancelled B-airs is useful, but only against characters that don't have huge disjointed hitboxes, and characters without projectiles. That is a small group of the cast, unfortunately. Wario comes to mind. Also, if you desynch them you might be able to connect with consecutive Bairs at low percents.
* Whenever you use D-smash, both during chaingrabs and otherwise, be sure to space it correctly to get maximum damage.
Afterword
I.. think....I should apologize. I know that was a gigantic wall of text. Normally I wouldn't care, but I know that it's no fun sitting through a guide and wanting to get up and play halfway through. So, a thank you goes out to everyone who stuck it through ^_^. I commend your patience *tips hat*. Throughout all of my playing Melee I never read a single guide. I also watched very few videos - nearly all of my experience came from live tournament play.
Now, if any of you have something to add, please free to suggest. If it's something I didn't cover, I may update this, and if I am flat-out wrong about something, I would be more than happy to know. If so, I will add whatever you have to say and credit you for it. Thank you all for your support, and I hope you find this guide useful!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Updates -
4/21/08 - Added info on Nair, Blizzard, Ice Block, F-tilt. Added Foxy K's desynch stuffs. See Foxy's Fantastique Ice Climbers Discovery. Also added the Desynch section. Added fresh damage percentages.
4/14/08 - Wrote the guide, and posted.[/quote]
Table of Contents:
1. Ice Climbers Introduction/guide
2. IC matchups
3. IC Chaingrabs
4. IC De-syncs
5. What to do if...
6. IC videos
7. Combos that would work if you were fighting a complete n00b
8. AI info/oddities
9. The stupidity of Nana
10. Q&A
11. Special thanks
The Ice Climbers Introduction
Credit: Delphiki
IC Introduction, An Introduction to Competitive Brawl Ice Climbers, by Delphiki
http://www.allisbrawl.com/forum/topic.aspx?id=6868
Hello everyone, and welcome to my Brawl ICs guide.
Before I begin with the real substance, there are a couple of points I would like to make. The first, and most important, being that this is not intended as an end-all resource. I am arrogant enough for the modesty to say that there are things I do now know about this game, and I do not pretend to know everything. I will put down here everything that I know, focusing mostly on aggressive strategies and the uses of the Ice Climbers moveset. Second, I would like to say that although I don't know everything, the purpose of this guide is to guide players to use the most powerful techniques available. While we don't know all that the Ice Climbers are capable of, and without a full understanding of their faults, we can still use what we know to achieve the best results.
The goal is not to be fancy, flashy, or unique. The goal is effectiveness.
Finally, this guide is not intended to teach you how to control the Ice Climbers. It is only intended to teach you an effective style of IC play. This guide is my Ice Climbers technique, my school. Whether or not you can succesfully apply the techniques herein is dependent upon the level of dedication you have to learning to master the Ice Climbers. Once you can fight with them habitually (that is, when you do not always need to second-guess their capabilities and your own), you can learn how to apply my technique on your enemies.
Section 1 - Moveset
We'll start with a quick coverage of each move. Uses will be covered more thoroughly later on.
The Ice Climbers have a very diverse moveset, though unfortunately there are a few moves which are very not very useful, or simply not worth the effort required to use them.
Jab - 5%, 6% (2 hits) / 3%, 4%
The basic 'A' attack. Although it deals a decent amount of damage, it is not at all useful for comboing or approaching. Although it may be possible to trap someone against a wall, if you got the timing of the jabs seperated a certain way. Though that is incredibly unlikely.
F-tilt - 17% / 10%
Decent in both damage and spacing. It is good if you don't have time for a F-smash or Bair. Great for a quick desynch starter.
D-tilt - 11% / 6%
This move can be used for semi-spiking if you get your opponent near the edge at a good percent. Against anyone with bad recovery, it is preferable to a Smash attack which would send the enemy at a high trajectory.
U-tilt - 18% / 12%
The ICs most damaging tilt. It is both easy to hit with, and can be followed with an aerial pretty much every time. It comes out a lot faster than U-smash, but it is also a lot laggier. Don't spam this, but it is great for building up damage. Also, it has really good priority if you are being approached from above.
F-smash - 18% / 13%
Although this attack is strong in both damage and knockback, it has a lot of flaws. Not too fast or laggy, but it lacks range and is easily punishable since the hitbox doesn't last very long. Best used for KOs - don't use it too often for mere damage, because you don't want the move to get too stale.
D-smash - 39% / 10%
The 40-damage down smash. ^_^ I'm not sure on the exact percents, but fully charged this attack does around 49-54% ( 53%, corrected by Nintendogs) , and uncharged it does as much as 39%. On top of that, it comes out quickly and can kill (though not as well as the other smashes). It is obviously great for racking up damage, even when it is stale. Not so good with a single Climber, but with both this is one of their best attacks. The 10% with one Climber is because Popo does not get the hitlag necessary for the return hit.
U-smash - 21% / 12%
One of your best moves for killing off the top. Average damage (which for ICs is around 20, I think o_0) and has decent range both above and in front. However this move is quite hard to pull off. It is not easy to combo into it, and it has no range in the back, unless you are facing a really big enemy. It is easy to hit with while techchasing, meaning you may be able to do things like D-tilt, techchase, U-smash. This attack will pretty much always kill by 140%, and sometimes as early as 90.
Neutral B - 6% / 3%
Ice Blocks. These are quite the pest. Great for annoying your opponent and forcing him to approach. In combination with Blizzards and Squalls, this trifecta from hell can create a great and unpredictable strategy of spam, spacing, and approaches. Unfortunately each block does very little in terms of damage (next to nothing), and they are quite laggy. However the startup is good, and between the seperation of the blocks and shorthopping into them, you will rarely be punished for them.
Another great use of Ice Blocks is edgeguarding after a F-throw. P-F-throw, N-Ice Block, P-Ice Block...etc... can steal a character's jumps (no matter how many they have) and force them to Up+B. Think Pit ^_^. This also works great against anyone with a strictly vertical recovery, such as Luigi and Kirby - steal their jumps, then edgehog. Game!
Forward B - 31% / 18%
Squall. One of the Climbers best approaches when together, but useless Solo (it can be shieldgrabbed when alone). Does decent damage, and ***** shields. Even if your opponent blocks, there is a chance they will be dumb about it and drop early, and if not they will be slow on the reaction of the move ending, and thereby open for punishment - out of your attack! This is a keystone in my ICs game. However one has to learn to fight without it. For all her valor, Nana usually dies first.
Down B - 34% / 16%
Blizzard. Again, this attack is great for pressuring, vs. shields, spacing, and approaching. Also, like Ice Blocks, it can be used well on defense. Not many attacks get through the Blizzard, and it does above 20 damage if you hit with it at close range with both ICs. Also, it is like the Squall where your enemy may not react quickly to the attack ending, and you can get away with something like dash attack -> Uair. A desynched Blizzard is great for getting grabs - it has long range and pins your opponent.
Up B - 17%
Belay. Your third jump. It is a tether recovery if the ledge is above you and available. If not, Nana is thrown up into the air and pulls Popo behind her. Popo gets much more height than Nana when this happens. While usually quite basic, there are a couple of advanced techniques you can do with Belay. Most of these are as of yet, completely unknown - thus they will often catch your opponent completely offguard. First off, as with all tether recoveries, it counts as edgehogging as soon as Nana grabs the ledge. Second, Nana is an amazing hitbox if you do not tether. She does only 12 or so damage, but it is more powerful in knockback your U-air. What that means is that it can be comboed into out of Uair, getting kills as early as 70-110%, depending on weight.
F-air - 22% (24%, corrected by Nintendogs) / 12%
A good ranged, high priority, aerial. Doesn't combo at all, but can follow U-air, resulting in a total of 35+ damage and either edgeguarding, or 'floorguarding' - preventing your opponent from touching ground. Also, the end of Nana's F-air is a Meteor. The best uses of it in that aspect are grabbing near the edge (with Popo), followed by P-F-throw or P-D-throw + N-Fair. This can be Meteor-cancelled of course, but that rarely happens, and either way your opponent is offstage with a pair of Climbers waiting patiently for blood.
B-air - 19% / 11 %
A very fast aerial which does light damage. However, this attack auto-cancels for most of it's duration (after the hitbox). This means it can be easily followed by lots of attacks, provided you can get to your opponent fast enough. This attack can also kill quite well if it has not already grown stale. Usually, this is your best aerial option for killing, with the exception of U-air -> Belay.
D-air - 13% / 8%
Ugh. I seriously do not like the way this attack works. The D-air is good for breaking out of combos, and also for quickly changing your speed while falling, due to it's auto fast-fall property. Unfortunately this attack does not auto-cancel, and is very laggy. So even if you do use it to break out of a combo (dealing a good 12-18 or so damage in the process), there is still a chance you will be punished. I only use this attack when someone is attempting to keep me in the air. It has decent priority, so you will usually hit with at least one Climber. Also, it may pop your opponent up above you, giving a quick turn of the table. Overall, very situational.
N-air- 12% / 8%
This attack is great for comboing with one Climber. Down throw combos into it, and after the Nair you can sometimes get another grab, or a F-smash. On faster-falling characters, you can probably get a D-tilt. This is great for characters who don't have good recovery, or who are edgeguarded easily (especially tether recoveries).
U-air - 18% / 9%
One of the ICs best aerials. Although it can't kill, the U-air combos out of many attacks (including itself!) and combos into F-air, B-air, and Up+B. It also has very good priority, and comes out quickly with very little aerial lag. But be careful when SHing it - the landing lag is quite bad if not auto-canceled.
Throws -
F-throw - 8
D-throw - 6
B-throw - 6.5
U-throw - 6
**Okay, all of these damage percentages are fresh (first time used in a match), against a human DeDeDe, standing still, with the exception of U-tilt, where DeDeDe jumped up and fell, then I used U-tilt so that the hammers started near the middle of him for max damage. Also, Blizzard was short hopped, so that both Climbers would hit.
Section 2 - Approaching & Positioning
This section focuses on the most important element of IC play. Fortunately, it is also very dynamic in most circumstances and matchups, allowing the skilled player a number of possibilities in any situation.
The Ice Climbers have a very unique style when it comes to approaching. This is because all of their approaches are stoppable. If you know they are grabbing, spotdodge and punish, and everything else can be shielded. All but two attacks can be easily beaten by spacing, but even those two - Squall and Blizzard, can be defeated by an opponent who knows what they are doing. For example, Marth can easily beat them both with F-smash.
The key to approaching is spacing, unpredictability, and position. By 'spacing' I mean left-to-right spacing - you have to stay just out of range of the opponent. This usually means a good amount out of your own range. Positioning means being aware of the stage and where your opponent will be moving next.
There are three moves that create a wonderful amount of pressure on your enemy. This is the 'trifecta from hell' I mentioned earlier. Squall, Blizzard, and Ice Blocks. Not only are they pesky and unsettling, but they help create movement locks - your opponent is forced to move into a different position. Not only will this eventually force him to the edge of the stage (if he plays defensively), but the same attacks can be used to retreat as quickly as you decide to do so.
To begin such a painful pressure game, it is best to desynch. The obvious easiest way to do this is to begin the game desynched, with either an N-Ice Block, or if an Ice Block would be useless, N-Blizzard. The Blizzard lasts longer, so it is a bit better because it gives Popo time to close the gap between you and the enemy before going into his first attack.
After desynching, it is good to alternate Blizzards, F-airs, and blocks to create a moving barrier which forces your opponent to give up his positioning or get too close and leave himself open for a Squall. The critical aspect of all this is the small boost of speed at the beginning of the Squall. This allows you to close gaps and begin hitting the opponent while the other Climber is finishing up their latest pressuring attack. As soon as they finish, you can run in and begin to capitalize with grabs or other combos.
A quick note - whereas the Squall is a physical attack, the Blizzard is a projectile attack. This means that their usefulness is sometimes subjective to the enemy character. Lots of characters have some ability to repel projectiles. In this situation, it is good to short hop, begin to fall (do not fast fall), and just before you land in front of the enemy, use either a Blizzard or Squall. Be very careful to not follow any patterns with which attack you use. This is the only way to keep up maximum unpredictability and usefulness of these attacks. Blizzard is punishable from behind, and Squall can be outspaced, so if your opponent knows which attack will be used, you will be punished for it. Therefore you cannot let an opponent's absorption or reflection technique scare you away from Blizzard. Even if once or twice in a 3-stock match they use your Blizzard against you, that is much better than limiting your character just because of their mere threat.
Section 3 - Combos, Chaingrabbing, and Grab Combos
Whenever an opportunity presents itself, you must capitalize completely and unrelentlessly. As I stated in the introduction, there is no room for fanciness when you are facing a good opponent, and as such you have to do away with any habits of using less effective, but flashy or 'neat' combos.
Unfortunately, the most effective Ice Climber combos are also the hardest - they are their basic grab infinites: P-grab, C-smash, N-regrab, P-regrab, C-smash etc.....until you can kill them with a smash. This is almost always the most effective combo. The only other combo you would wish to use is alternating regrabs to the edge of the stage, and Meteoring with N-F-air.
The largest difficulties here are the difficulties of landing a grab, and the technical ability necessary to get the chaingrabs correct consistently. If you are unsure that you will be able to land a difficult CG or grab combo, then it is probably a good idea to go for something easier. Basically, the goal is to do the maximum amount of damage that you can, even that means you have to do a bit less than is possible. But that doesn't mean neglect training ^_^. However in a tournament setting, when every hit matters, getting a decent amount of damage is a lot better than messing up while trying to get a lot.
When it comes to non-grab combos, the ICs don't have much. But these are the combos that a Solo Climber relies on the most. Your basic combo attacks all combo in the same direction - up. Dash attack, D-throw (sometimes B-throw), U-air, Things like F-tilt and D-tilt don't exactly combo (your enemy will recover as quickly as you do), so it comes down to what their reaction is, how you exploit it, and your foreknowledge of it. B-throw also acts like this - if you know they will either DI in, or that they will jump afterwards, you can stop them from hitting ground. Also, if you throw them off the stage, you will get an easy edgeguard if they DI backwards (from the direction you grabbed in).
Another easy approach/combo is Squall. The last hit of a Double Squall pops your enemy into the air similar to a dash attack. This, and any dash attack, d-throw, or U-air can be followed with F-air or Up+B (sometimes B-air works as well, but rarely does that situation come up - you would have to be comboing with your back to the opponent, or be very close to them). Use these for damage and maybe a kill if their percent is just right to be both comboed and killed. Remember though - Solo Squall can be shieldgrabbed.
Finally, a quick combo with a Solo Climber - D-throw, Nair, D-throw, Nair... this can happen a couple times in a row. I think it is escapable (things like Metaknight's Nair can probably break out), but you'll at least want to try it until they start getting out. Remember - if it's working well, spam it until it doesn't. Also, Nair can be replaced with Fair to end the combo, and the grabs can be replaced with a lot of different attacks - F-smash for example, or if they don't jump you may be able to get that elusive D-tilt.
Section 4 - Defense or 'Camping'
As you may have noticed, the Ice Climbers' aggressive game revolves around a few tactics. If, for whatever reason, these fail to work, the best option is to resort to making them come to you. I put camping in the title of the section to help people get over the stigma of it. Yes, some people hate camping. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it (see my blog for my whole idea on that). If your approaches aren't working, it's time to test out theirs.
Camping is best done while desynched. How you desynch is up to you. Some of the quickest and easiest are pivots, dash dances, and Squall desynchs. Also, there is always the starting or spawn desynch. Once desynched, you want to create a pressure wall, pretty much the same as an offensive one. The key difference, though, is that you want to coax your opponent to advance, setting himself up (why do the hard stuff when your enemy does it for you? ^_^). To do that, you want to leave temporary holes. So start using smaller attacks, like suddenly doing P-F-tilt, N-Ice Block (short hopped), P-Nair....etc.. It's best not to use constant Blizzards, because that will make your enemy much more cautious. What you want to do is use these weak, short ranged attacks to create false openings. A constantly shifting wall of hammers and ice can be very confusing to anyone who doesn't play ICs, or doesn't know them well. As anyone who uses pistoning knows (pistoning is constantly using alternating F-smashes) - one Climber attacking does not equal lag.
I have not yet found a very reliable way to camp with one IC. Although one thing is already covered, in that the opponent will almost always play aggressively. It seems they just can't resist attacking a defenseless baby. You can use this to your advantage, but Popo does not have much when it comes to spacing ability. Blizzard and Ice Blocks are still effective, but not so much. And by taking away Squall approaches, it becomes very difficult to close in to do any damage. Overall you have to be very careful about your attack choice, as it becomes very difficult to both control space and keep yourself out of punishable lag, all while attempting to force an opening. If you can succesfully deal 50+ damage, you are in a huge advantage. Even if you can't nail a KO move, you are a lot closer to taking that stock, and odds are that you will land one shortly after respawning.
Section 5 - Desynching
When it comes to desynching, the most important questions are "How do I desynch?" and "What do I do once desynched?" The second question is basically whatever you would normally be doing, simply faster, and with less lag. Desynching sacrifices mobility for speed and fluidity. It allows you to reduce the lag after every attack down to nothing, and allows you to choose to start a new attack (or motion) before the first is done!
There are many different ways to desynch, to start continuous desynchs. There are so many different ways to desynch that many of them are either very situational or obselete. Mastery of desynching means knowing what desynchs you can start at any given time, and also the ability to recognize when it would be beneficial. Remember desynching is not necessary - there are skilled players who only desynch to do grab combos.
Currently, the most common desynchs are the spawn desynch and grabs. Grabs are by far the Ice Climbers' most powerful combos. So, the goal of a desynch should be, if not a grab, some combo/strategy that gains kills from a single opportunity or severely limits your opponent's ability. Either complete safety or a sure kill.
Common desynch tactics include:
* Using one Climber to advance and space attacks, and another to cover the first Climber. This is a common doubles tactics, using one player to poke and prod, while the other covers openings and punishes the enemy's action. The biggest difficulty in this, to me, is controlling space well enough to quickly cover the enemies' options with a not-very-mobile Climber.
* Defensive pressure. As described earlier, use of Blizzards, Squalls, and Ice Blocks to advance can quickly pin your opponent and lead to a grab. This is very hard to defeat by many characters, although the Climbers leave holes in the top, meaning any character with a fast, high jump may be able to sneak past them easily. Also, many projectiles can defeat this, notably Snake's grenades, and thrown bombs.
* Offensive pressure. By using both Climbers to attack alternately, with either the same or different attacks. This is not as safe as defensive pressuring, but doesn't fall victim to the same counters. Common attacks to use for this include dash attacks, Nairs, Uairs, and tilts for cover. In addition, dash attacking into certain projectiles can desynch the climbers can lead to huge opportunities.
There are many possible situational desynchs. These include pivots, Squalls, dashes, and landing desynchs. Between the four of these, a player can desynch during most motions. Recently, Foxy K discovered that you can in fact desynch from nearly every one of the Ice Climbers' attacks (you can find that thread and video here). The only known exceptions are Ice Blocks, Blizzards, and (probably) jabs. This means that we can desynch from dashing, standing, attacking, squall (approaching!), and landing. The only thing that leaves is jumping! Keep in mind that you are quite vulnerable if you full hop anywhere near your opponent. If you do, and find the opportunity you jumped for disappearing, it is probably a good idea to cover your front with Fairs. Just make sure to autocancel them.
Section 6 - General Dangers and Advice
(I will take submissions for this section! If you have something you would like added, let me know! ^_^)
* First of all, be sure to switch up your Squalls and Blizzards. Not only against projectile-defeating characters, either. There are several other differences, such as the usefulness of rolls, and the effectiveness of being attacked from above. The different ranges of the attacks can also be used to your advantage.
* Remember that you can desynch out of Squalls! I'm not sure, but I think it can also be done even if you are hitting their shield. So you can do things like N-doublejab, P-grab. Just in case they try to drop their shield or roll away while Popo is going for the grab.
* Using autocancelled B-airs is useful, but only against characters that don't have huge disjointed hitboxes, and characters without projectiles. That is a small group of the cast, unfortunately. Wario comes to mind. Also, if you desynch them you might be able to connect with consecutive Bairs at low percents.
* Whenever you use D-smash, both during chaingrabs and otherwise, be sure to space it correctly to get maximum damage.
Afterword
I.. think....I should apologize. I know that was a gigantic wall of text. Normally I wouldn't care, but I know that it's no fun sitting through a guide and wanting to get up and play halfway through. So, a thank you goes out to everyone who stuck it through ^_^. I commend your patience *tips hat*. Throughout all of my playing Melee I never read a single guide. I also watched very few videos - nearly all of my experience came from live tournament play.
Now, if any of you have something to add, please free to suggest. If it's something I didn't cover, I may update this, and if I am flat-out wrong about something, I would be more than happy to know. If so, I will add whatever you have to say and credit you for it. Thank you all for your support, and I hope you find this guide useful!
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Updates -
4/21/08 - Added info on Nair, Blizzard, Ice Block, F-tilt. Added Foxy K's desynch stuffs. See Foxy's Fantastique Ice Climbers Discovery. Also added the Desynch section. Added fresh damage percentages.
4/14/08 - Wrote the guide, and posted.[/quote]
