V 1.03
Hello, my name is Spencer. I live in Evansville, Indiana. I main MK and MK only. Im fxed if he gets banned, but for now I'm good. I dont know why I signed up here as Rich Wheeler, but I am, in fact, PEEF!
This is the most recently updated MK guide out. Feel free to comment and ask questions my smash brothers.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
-Pros and Cons
-Ground Attacks
-Aerial Attacks
-Grabs
-B-Moves (Specials)
-Techniques
-Offense
-Killing
-Edgehogging
-Gimping and the Wall of Pain
-Defense
-Recovery
-Combos
-Situation Station!
-Matchups
-Stage Choice
-Pro Vids
-Shoutouts/Thank You’s
Pros and Cons:
Pros:
-Top-tier character
-Great recovery
-Fast ground movement
-Very little lag of any kind
-Multiple approaches
-Many useful AT’s
-No unwinnable matchups
-Gimps the majority of the cast
-Controls the stage nicely
-All B moves can be used as
recoveries
-Little need to spotdodge
-Very small target
-Quickly racks damage
-Punishes easily
Cons:
-Lightweight
-Few kill moves
-Slow air movement
-No projectile
-Per attack, deals very little damage
-Crouch is next to worthless
-All B moves put him in freefall. Get used to it.
DI WITH MK!
NEW HELLACRAZY IMPORTANT INFORMATION: HOW TO LIVE TO UNBELIEVABLE PERCENTS
The single most important thing that I have learned since writing this guide is how to properly DI Attacks. MK has the ability to live far longer than a character of equal weight, such as Kirby. Im so excited about this whole thing I can barely contain myself. My MK lives to an average of 150%. I am known for my unbelieveably long lives. You can find me screaming "LOOK AT THAT KEN DI!" as my opponent taunts at what looked like a sure KO, but I didn't die. I outlive snakes, and make people feel like crap because they just can't kill me. Here's how I do it.
Learning to DI is more or less a "learned instinct." You have to do it without thinking, but nobody is born with it. Basically you have a tiny split second of time during "hitlag" to imput a direction to influence your flight. Hitlag is evident on powerful attacks such as falcon punch, but all moves have hitlag. The key to survival is DI-ing perpendicular to the direction the attack would send you. If you are being hit directly to the right, DI straight up in order to send your body to the corner of the screen where you can live. If you get hit straight up, DI directly left or right to avoid the short vertical blastzone, and direct your flight in a more favorable direction. This takes time to learn, but once you master it, you will find that it benefits you more than any other single button imput.
It was discovered some time ago that some characters can use aerials to help them stop hitstun and therefore live longer. This was most notably used by Marth and his Fair. By using his Fair instead of an airdodge as soon as he could after being hit, he was able to escape hitstun and jump quite a bit earlier.
This same thing applies to Metaknight, only it is even more effective. In fact, no character benefits more from this than Metaknight because he has the fastest aerial in the game, the lagless Uair.
Surviving Horizontally:
When you get hit and hopefully DI perpendicular during hitlag, Uair immediately instead of airdodging during hitstun. As soon as you get your Uair out, you will still be moving away from the stage, but you can jump into the safezone corner of the screen (sometimes 2 or 3jumps are nessecary) and DI directly back to the stage. It isn't easy, but plan on surviving to 140 and above quite often.
Surviving Vertically:
After getting hit and DI'ing perpendicularly, Uair as soon as possible and hold directly down. What this will do is put you into immediate fastfall as soon as the Uair comes out. This allows you to live 10-20% longer off the top.
Affinity brought to my attention a method that may be more effective. After you throw out an uair to cancel momentum, start slamming down on the cstick to perform a dair to put you into fastfall. He says this works better, so if it works better for you, use it. Without video evidence to prove which is more effective, use what works best until proof is provided.
Breaking the Habit:
Learning to Uair on insticnt instead of airdodging is a real bear. I nearly gave up, because my mind had been hardwired to airdodge as soon as possible. My best advice is to have someone smash you constantly and practicing DI and whipping out that Uair instead, and eventually you will do it automatically. And when you do, prepare to find yourself living longer, frustrating your opponent, and getting a huge mental boost every time Snake's Ftilt fails to kill you at 160%.
DI IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SKILL TO LEARN IN BRAWL. Don't forget that.
Character Guide:
I’m not going over character colors, taunts or history. That doesn’t help your game. But in case you were wondering, I play Pink MK, and I down taunt facing left =]
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MOVESET:
Ground Attacks:
Meta Knight as a set of low-lag, damage building attacks, with a couple powerful kill moves.
Ledge Attack: 8%
MK has so many fantastic ledge advances. This is not one of them. The move is very laggy for MK, and doesn’t deal much damage or knockback.
I will go over many better ledge advances later in the guide.
Dash Attack: 8%
frame breakdown:
1-4 startup
5-11 hitbox out
12-31 cooldown
frame summary:
Hits on frame: 5
IASA frame: 32
Cooldown: 20
Just a good, solid, sliding kick.
Launches enemies up. Nothing too special. At low percents, this can combo into U-smash, U-tilt, D-smash, or Shuttle Loop fairly easily. The move can be shield-grabbed, so don’t try to spam it. It will cancel with most smash attacks and tilts.
Jab: 2%,1%,……..
Meta Knights Jab is very unique. It is a ferocious looking 9 slash attack, with 3 of those being behind him. However, this move is NOT useful in regular combat. If you connect with the final jab hit and D-smash immediately, you can catch most opponents. This move will leave you vulnerable most of the time. Use F-tilt instead.
Against-the-wall-Infinites are escapeable with smash DI.
F-Tilt: 4%, 3%, 5%
frame breakdown:
1-2 startup
3-4 1st hit hitbox out
5-11
12-13 2nd hit hitbox out
13-20
21-22 3rd hit hitbox out
23-52 cooldown
frame summary:
duration: 52
1st hit on: 3
2nd hit on: 12
3rd hit on: 21
1st hit cooldown: 19
2nd hit cooldown: 30
3rd hit cooldown: 30
Shield hitlag differential: 0
Shield stun: 1 for all hits
1st hit advantage:
Shield advantage: -19
Shield drop advantage: -11
2nd and 3rd hit advantage:
Shield advantage: -30
Shield drop advantage: -23
Hitstun first hit: 16 base of blade (-4 advantage), variable at tip*
Hitstun second hit: variable*
*what happens here is that the attack pops the character up a bit, and when they land they have 4 frames of landing lag. The advantage mk has here is dependent on how long they are in the air... which is determined by their current %, weight, and fall speed. This is really a project in and of itself, but from what I looked at the first hit of his ftilt can actually yield a + advantage when your oppenent is in mid-high %.
Beautiful. Simply beautiful. This move has fantastic range and speed. MK’s F-tilt acts very similar to many character’s three hit jab. The first hit is a super-quick horizontal slash that can trip. The second is more or less the same thing, minus a tiny bit of range. The third hit is a fast upward swipe with almost no warm-up lag to speak of, but enough ending lag for your opponent to punish. No worries though, just don’t use the final hit if the first two miss. If the first two hit, the final upward swipe is almost a guaranteed hit. The upward swipe combos well into an F-air, D-air, or MT (Mach Tornado). This move is GREAT for recharging your worn out smashes, Shuttle Loop, or even getting your F-air dealing 10% again. The stale move bank is only 9 moves deep, so 3 F-tilt combos recharges all of your other moves to full damage and knockback.
***If this move is used directly after a D-Tilt, the time in-between strikes will be reduced, and the move will finish visibly faster. If timed properly, you can get the three strikes to hit almost simultaneously. Although not particularly useful now, this could become a more often applied AT in the future.
D-Tilt: 4-7%
frame breakdown:
1-2 startup
3-4 hitbox out
5-15 cooldown
frame summary:
Hits on frame: 3
IASA frame: 16
Cooldown: 11
Shield hitlag differential: 0
Shield stun: 1
Shield advantage: -11
Shield drop advantage: -4
Can someone explain to me why both of the MK guides I have read list this move as 8%? I tried for half an hour to get this move to swing for 8%, and couldn’t do it. So for all practical purposes, I am calling it 7%, and even that is difficult to get.
This is a quick stab across the ground. The closer you are to your opponent, the more damage this move will do. Generally, this move will be 4 or 5 percent. This move is very similar to F-tilt. The range is almost identical. Hit with one D-Tilt, and you can normally hit a couple more. MK moves slightly forward with each. It trips about every other time.
This move can be quite useful for against-the-wall semi-infinates. You can catch opponents with constant dtilts up to 50 or so? If you go much past that, depending on the character, you may have to wait a tad between dtilts. Whatever the case, this is the move to do when you have your opponent against the wall.
U-Tilt: 7-8%
frame breakdown:
1-7 startup
8-18 hitbox out
19-35 cooldown
frame summary:
Hits on frame: 8
IASA frame: 36
cooldown: 17
shield hitlag differential: 0
shield stun: 2
shield advantage: -25
shield drop advantage: -18
A quick upward poke. I call this move “Pokie”. I will even call it early during matches when I remember I have it. I do not use this move often. However, U-tilt is a very viable kill move at high percents. It is most powerful at the tip. The hitbox is tinythin, and the move is not extremely useful. I almost always SH U-air instead if U-tilt.
F-Smash: 14%
frame breakdown:
1-23 startup
24-25 hitbox out
26-41 cooldown
frame summary:
Hits on frame 24
IASA frame: 42
Cooldown: 17
Shield hitlag differential: 0
Shield stun: 5
Shield advantage: -12
Shield drop advantage: -5
This is a full blown forward chop. Similar in motion to a Frisbee throw =]. This is MK’s most knockback-potent move. It also is VERY laggy compared to most of MK’s attacks, and everyone receives an audible “Hmpf” to signify that it is coming. I can jump three times, spin on my head, and grow a small beard imbetween hearing that sound and putting up my shield. The usefulness of this move is debated. Some very successful players use this move often, and others, like I, almost never use it. However, there are several uses for F-Smash…
If you break an opponents shield, or they use Pokemon Change or some kind of transform directly in front of you, yes, F-Smash is your best option. This move also punishes spotdodgers expecting a D-Smash. Some even charge it and use it as their primary kill move. Whatever floats your boat. This move is not for everyone, and is easily replaced by D-Smash.
It seems that the Fsmash has become a more viable move. It outranges almost everything, and has almost zero endlag. If you walk away and Fsmash you can destroy alot of traditional approaches, such as Gdubs turtle. There is no reason not to throw it out as long as your startup lag won't get punished. If it hits, you rock. If it misses, you can generally shield or dodge or run before punishment can occur. Try it out.
D-Smash: 11% Front,
13% Rear
frame breakdown:
1-4 startup
5-6 hitbox out
7-9
10-11 hitbox out
12-34 cooldown
frame summary:
hits on frame 5 front and frame 10 back
IASA frame: 35
Cooldown front: 28
Cooldown back: 23
Shield hitlag differential: 0
Shield stun front: 4
Shield stun back: 4
Shield advantage front: -25
Shield drop advantage front: -18
Shield advantage back: -20
Shield drop advantage back: -13
Ah, the wondrous D-Smash. Probably my favorite ground attack, and likely MK’s best killing tool. This move comes out in just 5 frames, making it one of the fastest D-Smashes in Brawl. It has great range in front of and behind MK. If you’re lucky, you can hit with both sides when they are on top of you. This move makes F-Smash un-needed because D-Smash has good knockback, similar range, and hits both sides. If you powershield your opponents ground move, D-Smash immediately. You will almost certainly hit. It happens so fast your opponent will certainly be surprised and put on the defensive. If someone spot-dodges this move, D-Smash again. If they dodge again, D-Smash again, only a fraction of a second later. You will win this game.
Simply put, D-Smash is a very good, very spammable move that will kill, set up gimps, and can completely turn the tide of battle with little consequence for missing.
U-Smash: 3%, 2%, 4%
frame breakdown:
1-7 startup
8-9 hitbox out
10-11
12-13 hitbox out
14-16
17-18 hitbox out
19-49 cooldown
frame summary:
1st hit on: 8
2nd hit on: 12
3rd hit on: 17
IASA frame: 50
Shield hitlag differential: 0
All hits shield stun: 1
Cooldown: 31
Sheild advantage: -31
Shield drop advantage: -24
MK slashes three times above his head, similar in motion to Link’s, but much much faster. You will rarely kill with this move; it is much more useful as a combo starter or ender. Dash attack to U-Smash does work well. Hyphen-smashing this move is nice, and often will catch people offguard. The move has acceptable range on each side of Meta.
The third hit can be DI’ed out of if the opponent was not close to MK’s body when the attack began. This applies particularly to opponents approaching from above.
Aerial Attacks:
Meta Knight has a set of quick, versatile, damage racking aerials. These moves give him the ability to gimp, approach, and combo.
Glide Attack: 12%
hits on frame: 5
landing lag: standard landing lag; either 2 or 4 frames
shield hitlag differential: -2
shield stun: 3
optimal shield advantage: -3 hard landing | -1 soft landing
optimal shield drop advantage: +4 hard landing | +6 soft landing
Once you start a glide, you can cancel the glide either by pulling up, or pressing a for a glide attack. MK’s glide attack is one of his fastest AND strongest AND most lag-free moves. Unfortunately, it is difficult to set up, and usually you will only hit with it when an opponent foolishly charges you while you are gliding.
N-Air: 7%, 12-13%, or
19-20%
frame breakdown:
1-2 startup
3-4 strong hitbox out
5-25 weak hitbox out
26-31 aerial cooldown
frame summary:
Hits on frame: 3
IASA frame: 32
Aerial cooldown: 6
Landing lag: 15
Autocancels on: 25
Shield hitlag differential strong hit: 0
Shield hitlag differential weak hit: -1
Shield stun strong hit: 4
Shield stun weak hit: 1
Optimal shield advantage strong hit: -11
Optimal shield drop advantage strong hit: -4
Optimal shield advantage weak hit: -15
Optimal shield advantage weak hit: -8
*Optimal shield advantage weak hit autocanceled: -2
*Optimal shield shield drop advantage weak hit autocanceled: +5
* Note that doing this is unrealistic because of how the nair works. It would be very difficult to hit a shield with the weak hitbox and then immediately land into the ac point. You would most all the time be hitting the top area of the shield and then falling until you land.
A short range, power aerial. MK places his sword on top of his head, like a Mohawk, and spins around twice. The first time around, the attack will hit for 13%. The hitlag is substantial, usually enough for MK to come around a second time, and deliver 7% more damage before the opponent is sent flying. This is MK’s most damaging move (excluding a rare D-Smash double hit), and has the best knockback of any of his aerials. Missing with the first spin and hitting with the second will cause 7% and minimal knockback. This move can follow a SH D-air, or be Short-hopped itself. However, the best use for this move is as an off-the-side edgeguard. If the opponent is expecting a Shuttle Loop, he will airdodge, and fall right into an N-air. Great mindgame.
F-Air: 3%, 3%, 4%
frame breakdown:
1-5 startup
6-7 hitbox out
8-9
10-11 hitbox out
12
13-14 hitbox out
15-39 aerial cooldown
frame summary:
1st hit on: 6
2nd hit on: 10
3rd hit on: 13
IASA frame: 40
Aerial cooldown: 25
Landing lag: 15
Autocancels on: 21
Shield hitlag differential: 0
Shield stun: 1
Optimal shield advantage: -8
Optimal shield drop advantage: -1
MK slashes in front of him three times. The first two have minimal knockback, and the third hits up and away. This is such a versatile move. It can be used as an approach, a defense, a combo starter, a combo ender, a projectile canceller, an off the side edgeguard, a combobreaker, a ledge advance, and so on. You just can’t go wrong. Meta Knight can simply hide behind this attack. Constant SH F-Airs put a wall of hitbox in front of MK that is tough to penetrate. Being so far detached, this attack carries quite a bit of implied priority. This will likely be your most often used move, and for good reason.
B-Air: 3%, 3%, 4%
frame breakdown:
1-6 startup
7-8 hitbox out
9-12
13-14 hitbox out
15-19
20-21 hitbox out
22-45 aerial cooldown
frame summary:
1st hit on: 7
2nd hit on: 13
3rd hit on: 20
IASA frame: 46
Aerial cooldown: 24
Landing lag: 12
Autocancel on: 23
Shield hitlag differential: 0
Shield stun: 1
Optimal shield advantage: -3
Optimal shield drop advantage: +4
A slower, longer range, higher knockback F-air. This attack is quite a bit slower than its F-air counterpart. This slower speed means that it will miss the third hit more often, and is not a great option out of a shorthop. It can be used to edgeguard, but D-air covers your back more efficiently and more reliably. Although this move isn’t terrible, I try to avoid it.
D-Air: 7% or 9%
frame breakdown:
1-3 startup
4-5 hitbox out
6-25 aerial cooldown
frame summary:
hits on frame: 4
IASA frame: 26
Aerial cooldown: 20
Landing lag: 15
Autocancels on: 24
Shield hitlag differential: 0
Shield stun: 2
Optimal shield advantage: -13
Optimal shield drop advantage: -6
Shield advantage without landing: -18
Shield drop advantage without landing: -11
A downward cut with strong horizontal knockback. The 9% sweetspot is located at the opening and closing frames. Hitting this sweetspot is almost completely insignificant, as the difference in knockback is nearly un-noticeable. This is probably my favorite MK move. D-air gets me more kills than any other attack. Shorthopping this move as an approach is great, as it has nearly as much forward range as F-air. One SH D-air can combo into another SH D-air quite easily. This move will also work well for attacking grounded opponents from above. It is a powerful stage-spike as well.
The most important use for D-air is gimping. This move can be used to set up a devastating WoP (Wall of Pain), and just one or two D-airs offstage mean certain death for most of the cast, and it is completely safe to use.
Awesome move.
U-Air: 6%
frame breakdown:
1 startup
2-3 hitbox out
4-13 aerial cooldown
frame summary:
Hits on: 2
IASA frame: 14
Aerial cooldown: 10
Landing lag: 12
Autocancels on: 21
Shield hitlag differential: 0
Shield stun: 2
Optimal shield advantage: -10
Optimal shield drop advantage: -3
A quick chop facing up with weak vertical knockback. This is probably the most lag-free airmove in Brawl. It comes out in just 2 frames, and you can throw out 3 of them in a single shorthop! I have even been able to execute 22 of them by using my 5 jumps without touching the ground. Using this move with the control stick pointed up will cause you to rise as you chop, and will combo many characters into 5 or more U-airs at low to moderate percents. After a U-air string, you have several options. If your intent is to rack damage, follow it with a F-air or B-air, depending on DI. If you are close to the top of the stage, scoop them up with a Neutral B and carry them off the top. Do not try to kill off the top with Shuttle Loop, that is suicide.
This move is also my choice against falling opponents. More on that later.
Grabs:
Meta Knight has a terrific grab game for Brawl. His throws have high-damage, and low lag that can do anything from combo to kill.
Standing Grab
frame breakdown:
1-5 startup
6-7 grab hitbox out
8-29 cooldown
frame summary:
Hits on frame: 6
IASA frame: 30
Cooldown: 22
Dash Grab
frame breakdown:
1-7 startup
8-9 hitbox out
10-39 cooldown
frame summary:
Hits on frame: 8
IASA frame: 40
Cooldown: 30
Pivot Grab
frame breakdown:
1-7 startup
8-9 hitbox out
10-34 cooldown
frame summary:
hits on frame: 8
IASA frame: 35
cooldown: 24
Grab Attack: 3%
Meta Knight stabs his opponent with his wing. Learning to tap a once before choosing your throw is a great habit. Your opponent will not break away in time, and it makes your grab game that much more dangerous.
F-Throw: 9%
MK releases his opponent, and does a backwards flip-kick to get him up and away. This throw is “lolwutjusthappened” fast. An opponent expecting downthrow will be caught completely offguard, and at low %, this move can combo into F-air, Shuttle Loop, or MT.
B-Throw: 10-11%
Sometimes you get 10, sometimes you get 11. I have not been able to find a rhyme or reason. Why do all other guides all list this as 7%. I still don’t know! MK releases his opponent, teleports to the opposite side, and slashes his opponent, giving much more horizontal knockback than F-Throw. This move is best used to set up an edgeguard. You should not be using this throw much, as it does significantly less damage than the rest, and does not combo well.
D-Throw: 11-12%
Again, sometimes 11, sometimes 12. Meta places his enemy on the ground, and stomps on their face. Very impressive, very demeaning, very useful. I spam this throw religiously. The opponent will pop out forward after the throw is over, right in front of you for a F-air. This can be followed up with a MT, or an off-the-edge Shuttle Loop kill if they DI high. If they DI down, D-air has you covered.
U-Throw: 12-13%
Maybe 12, maybe 13! Isn’t that great? I <3 YOU SAKURAI!
Meta Knight takes his opponent sky high, and slams them on the ground. This throw has no combo potential, but can be used as a kill move at very high percents, 150+. In regular combat, replace with D-Throw.
**This throw has very unique properties. Use this throw on a moving platform, and he will slam into thin air at the same level that the platform was at when the throw began. This was programmed in to prevent suicides. A very recent discovery by God-is-my-Rock, M2k, Velocity, and Aposl was accidentally made at Critical Hit 3. By using either Up-B, or U-Air, Game and Watch can cause MK’s up-throw to execute halfway up the screen. From my tests, I found lightweights could be killed at 10% off the top of Corneria using this technique. It has yet to be used on purpose in tournament play.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uqnyewTmmk
[All credit for this technique goes to the forementioned
players.]
B-Moves (Specials):
Meta Knight as 4 movement-based special attacks. Every one of them can be used as a recovery. These specials will be a very important part of your “Meta-game”.
Neutral B: 1% x 19,
3%
minimum time frame breakdown:
1-11 startup
12-58 hitbox out
59-87 cooldown (this is a grounded nado)
maximum time frame breakdown
1-11 startup
12-104 hitbox out
Cooldown: this is interesting. Cooldown will ALWAYS be 29 frames. Landing lag adjusts to this. So if your nado ends in midair and you free fall for 10 frames your landing lag will be 19 frames. The botched up landing is 30 frames.
The infamous Mach Tornado, or MT. MK lifts off the ground, starts a spin, and in a flash a huge orange tornado is
spinning about him. This move is so spammable, and so effective, it is considered one of the most broken moves in the game. Some characters do not have a hard time dealing with it (Jiggs), and some characters can get stuck in
tornado spam for ages, and there isn’t much they can do. (DeDeDe)
This move stops your opponent’s momentum in its tracks. It hits for a long time, and racks up damage like nothing else. Although it is very difficult to get the possible 22% damage out of this move, you should be able to get about 10% every time you press B. If your opponent catches on and starts hitting you out, use it a bit less.
This move is rarely punished. Opponents can shield most of the hits, but most cannot shield the entire thing. Their shield will not break, but they will get shieldpoked and hit with the 3% hit. If you bring the tornado across the map to them, they can shield the majority of it, and if they do, be sure to retreat to avoid punishment.
This move is a fantastic horizontal recovery. If you want to move quickly back on stage, this is your move. You can press B every half second to keep it going for the full animation without gaining height. This move has a disappointing vertical recovery, and accidentally pressing B under the edge is certain death. MT will NOT autograb ledges. In fact, it will bounce you right off. If you do press B when you are too far below a ledge, press B as fast as you possibly can, while screaming “I MUST RECOVERRR!!” Done properly, you can gain a marginal amount of height, and make it back on stage. If you didn’t make it, your opponent will certainly be mindgam3d.
It has been discovered that this move gains priority the more you press B. Its true, Ive tested. Some moves will still hit him of course, but some lose that ability towards the end. Well then why not press B like a wildman every time? The more you press B, the higher you will fly, leaving you very vulnerable once you are in Fall-Special.
Using this move to carry enemies off of the top is very viable. Use after an U-air string, or any other time they happen to be sky high, and if you connect with the last hit, they will be star KO’ed, and you will drop safely back to earth.
Hitting MK out of MT is quite the challenge for most characters. Tornado has very high priority, and can be used as a reliable approach through many projectiles.
Projectiles that are outprioritized by MT:
Mario & Luigi’s fireballs
Mario’s FLUDD
Link/Toon Link’s arrows
Link/Toon Link’s boomerang
Link/Toon Link’s bombs (unless they hit the very bottom)
Samus’ uncharged blaster
Pikachu’s Thundershock (sometimes)
Diddy Kong’s peanuts
Pit’s Uncharged Arrows
Ivysaur’s Razor Leaf
Charizard/Bowser’s Fire Breath
Squirtle’s Water Gun, Snake’s Nikita (if he doesn’t cancel)
Peach’s turnips
Ice Climbers’ Ice Blocks
Dedede’s Waddle Dees and Waddle Doos
Lucario’s uncharged Aura Spheres
Ness/Lucas’ PK Thunder
Wario’s bike parts (even the bike while being ridden)
Olimar’s Pikmin
ROB's completely uncharged, or thrown Gyro.
[^^Thanks to “Player Five” for compiling the majority of this list.]
Side-B: 1% x 7, 3%
The “Drill Rush”. The name says it all really. MK drills himself through the air for exactly half the distance of Final Destination, and performs a small reverse hop before going into Fallspecial. The move has almost no combo potential, and should not be used often in regular combat. Most opponents will only eat about half of the attack (if any) and you will be punished badly for missing. MT is almost always a more effective alternative. If you do use this move (most likely by accident) be sure to drill down into the ground. This will cancel the hop, and most of the lag. This is also your best vertical recovery move, but you will not use it as a recovery often.
Drill Rush Advanced Ledge Techniques:
Looking for a good use for my least favorite MK move, I tookDrill Rush into training mode for a few hours. I discovered several new, useful, and largely unknown ledge techniques.
Here is the video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=1zjP1cF-ZZ4
I also explain the other well-known Ledge Techs in it…
Down-B: 14%
This move is not a combat move. Aside from mindgame ledge techs, and super-cool sudden death finishes, this move should not be a part of your regular arsenal. The lag is terribad, worse than F-Smash. This special is best used as an edgehog. By pressing Down-B, waiting a tad, then holding up, you will teleport back up to the edge and regrab, being vulnerable for only a few frames. This is the closest thing Brawl has to a true edgehog. (I go over this move in the video above. Playing the edgehog game is very risky, and if your opponent grabs the ledge while you are teleporting, you are fairly screwed. If you see it coming early enough, try to DI up and towards the stage, and you might just save yourself. If not, you are down a stock.
Up-B: 9% or 6%
Grounded Shuttle Loop:
frame breakdown:
1-7 startup
5-8 invincibility frames
8-13 strong hitbox out
14-21
22-31 weak hitbox out
frame summary:
Hits on frame: 8
IASA frame: 32
Midair Shuttle Loop
frame summary:
hits on frame: 8
IASA frame: 38
THE BEST MOVE IN THE GAME OF SUPER SMASH BROTHERS BRAWL.
Yeah, I said it. This is the best move in the game. This move destroys every approach. From the beautiful Marth Fairs to the infallable "turtle" to MK's own Dair. All you have to do is stand there, and Up-B straight into it. You will win. If you miss, you are not vulnerable, you are perfectly safe on shield, and you can kill with it.
The Shuttle Loop. I couldn’t think of a better name for this move. MK spins in a tall arc, swoops back around like a Hot-Wheels racing car, and is automatically put in a glide.
This move is beast, and has as many uses as a Swiss army knife. Where do I begin…
Used in the air, attacking in front:
This move has a massive sweetspot. The entire upwards slash sweetspots with very quick, strong knockback. What this means is that MK can kill with this move at a 70% when edgeguarding, but cannot kill Mario at 200% from the opposite side of FD. Therefore, you should only try to kill with this move when you are near the edge, or preferably off of it. You can use it quite a bit off of the stage and still recover. The best method for recovery is to pull up on your glide immediately, and DI back on stage. Learning how far you can go just takes practice.
Used in the air, attacking behind (Reverse Up-B):
This is another brilliant use of Shuttle Loop. A reverse Up-B is most easily preformed by pointing the control stick in the opposite right-hand corner, and immediately pressing B. Practice makes perfect, and it doesn’t take much. What you are looking for is the reverse sweetspot. If the opponent is in the rear-portion of the hitbox, they will be hit backwards with the same force as a forward Up-B. This means you can kill at literally 40-50% far offstage, and glide back to the stage without going into Fallspecial, or using another jump. You can use this attack as far off the edge as you want, because gliding back is cake. I find two areas are easiest to hit the reverse Up-B. The first is directly on top of, and slightly behind MK. The second is at the point that MK begins to make his turn at the top of the arc. Both of these spots will hit the opponent directly backwards, and almost certainly to theirdeath.
Used on the ground, attempting to kill:
A decent kill move. Used out of a shield, this move will kill in the 140-150% range. You can use this move to quickly initiate a glide, and use your glide attack, but again, that is not a safe or reliable approach. Use this from the ground when attempting to stuff approaches. It is not the best kill move from the ground.
Used as a recovery:
This is MK’s most reliable recovery. It is not gimped by stage lips, and seems to always find a way to sweetspot the ledge. This special also has its own ledge techs, as outlined in my video.
Used as a stage-spike:
A very useful AT is stage-spiking with MK’s aerials, including Up-B. If the opponent is hanging on the edge with no invincibility, (I have no idea why they would do this, but they do) your Shuttle Loop will stage spike them straight down, and they will die. They will back off when you are recovering from there on out.
Approach Stuffing:
Another great discovery. MK's Up-B gives him temporary invincibility when the gust of air in front of him first appears. This gust beats out all other attacks, meaning you can slam head on into Ike Fsmashes if you so desire. More importantly though, you can Up-B straight into any oncoming approach. Fairs, Turtles, snakedashes, whatever. Try it, smile, win.
Approach stuffing in competition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVEmekWZxb0
It is a great ledge advance as well...
Final Smash: 40% Closeby, 18% Everyone else.
I am not going over this. No.
Rolls and Dodges:
Spot Dodge Lasts 25 Frames
Invincible Frames 2 – 20
Roll Backward Lasts 33 Frames
Invincible Frames 4 – 12
Roll Forward Lasts 23 Frames
Invincible Frames 5 – 12
Air Dodge Lasts 39 Frames
Invincible Frames 3 – 28
Techniques:
Few characters have the sheer number of simple and advanced techniques that Meta Knight does.
General:
Meta Knight is a very fast character. Keep him moving, keep the attacks coming. Your rolls should be limited, and shield only when necessary. Most of these actions can be replaced by uber-fast attacks. Meta Knight can win with lots of agression, making him very unique in a game dominated by campers. Learning to be aggressive, but still defensive enough to punish your enemies lag is the key to playing a successful MK.
Offense:
Attack, a lot. Lacking a projectile, MK will likely have to be doing the approaching. MK’s nearly lagless moves give him the luxury of being able to swing, and swing often while remaining untouchable. It is very important to keep your attacks diverse, because people will catch on if you do not switch up your style every now and then.
Approaching:
MK has as diverse of an approach game as anyone. I will go over them in increasing difficulty.
Dash Attack:
MK has a solid dash attack. You can mix up your better approaches with this one, as it surprises most enemies.
Tornado Approach:
This is a no-brainer. Press B, and point towards enemy. This is surprisingly effective, but only when used sparingly. This should not be your principle approach, as you will eventually be punished, but it is certainly a useful way to get in close.
Probing F-Tilts and D-Tilts:
This approach is particularly effective when facing characters without a projectile. Just enter a fast walk, and whenever an opponent is near, tilt ‘em. Easy, fun, safe. This is notably less effective vs enemies with projectiles, because MK’s tilts are hella useless when it comes to cancelling projectiles.
SH F-air:
This, my friends, is your tried and true, bread and butter approach. Simply dash in, shorthop, and point the C-Stick at the bad guy. You can fastfall this move as well to get it off a little bit quicker, but it won’t matter much. Learn the range of F-air. Space these well, and you are already in control of the match.
SH D-air:
Another very effective, very reliable approach. This simple approach is sometimes preferred over SH F-air. The forward reach of D-air is just a hair shorter than F-air, but what it lacks forward, it makes up for in front of and in the rear. (Did I just say “in the rear”?). Switching between this and F-air will keep your F-air racking damage, and your D-air fresh for gimping. Also, you can get the opening animation of N-air after the D-air if you are quick enough.
RAR B-air:
If your F-air is working great, but it is the only thing working, you might want to learn how to RAR your B-air. Your F-air can be worn down to only 4% for all three hits. This really slows down the speed at which you rack damage.
RAR stands for Reverse Aerial Rush. (Gay name, good tech.) Here is how it is preformed: Dash forward, snap the control stick back (only enough to turn around, you don’t want to go backwards), tap the jump button, C-Stick forward, and point the control stick whatever direction you would like to DI.
Learing how to RAR is tough. It took me several hours of practice. Even if it is not completely nessacary for Meta, it is an important smash AT that you should learn.
RAR D-air:
This is a mindgame approach. When they see the RAR, they will be expecting a B-air. Attack with the much quicker D-air to catch them off guard. Not your bread and butter, but something to try.
Killing:
Meta Knight must rely on speed, gimping, and a few select moves to finish off his opponents.
D-Smash:
The easiest way to kill, as long as it is not completely decayed. I have gone over the move already. C-Stick down if you want the bad guy dead.
Shuttle Loop:
Kills Marth and other mid/lightweights off the side at +- 70% during an edgeguard. Learn the hitbox of Shuttle Loop, and you learn the quickest way to kill your enemies.
N-Air:
Meta Knights Neutral Aerial is a powerful off-the-edge tool. You will find yourself killing at 100% with this move. That is early for MK. I would not suggest using this when you yourself are at a high percentage, as you have to get really close to hit, and a counterattack will often be fatal.
F-air and B-air:
At high percents, these moves will kill off the side. That was easy.
F-Smash:
Ew. OK, yes, it is a kill move obviously. Slow but powerful, catching your opponent with this move means they are in trouble. Catching them with it is the problem, and I would suggest using one of MK’s other lag-free kill moves instead.
Stage Spiking:
MK can get kills quite often with his stage spikes. The two primary moves used to do this are Shuttle Loop, and D-air. When your opponent is recovering low, you can reverse Up-B them into the side of the stage, and they will be sent to their doom. D-air also works well here, and although not as strong, is equally useful.
Edgehogging:
I don’t know where this belongs really, so I am putting it here. Edgehogging is the act of holding on to the ledge in order to prevent your opponent from recovering. I have discussed this some already, and here are the videos you will need to learn how.
Tried and True: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4a-vqKEY68Y (By thetimmy)
Exotic and New: http://youtube.com/watch?v=1zjP1cF-ZZ4 (By me, aka PEEF)
Gimping and the Wall of Pain:
Gimping is extremely important to Meta Knight. Gimping is the action of disrupting your opponents attempt to recover, causing him or her to be killed at a relatively low %. Meta Knights primary gimping tool is D-air. If you hit your enemy low and off the side with a D-smash, but they don’t die (this happens all the time), follow them off, and tag them with a D-air, and go hog the ledge. This can KO them off the side, or more likely will prevent them from recovering.
The Wall of Pain is a style of gimping, but a bit more of a technique than a single move. Lets say the match starts. You F-air > D-smash Ike off the side. He is now at 21%, and you chase him off. When he jumps, slash him with a D-air. The horizontal knockback will push him back to where he was when he first jumped. You just hover in place. He will get nervous and immediately jump again. D-air the apex of his jump again. At this point, he will no longer be able to recover. He is down a stock just 15 seconds into the match.
WoPing, as it’s called, is so immensely useful as to be broken. Even when facing characters like Kirby that are very difficult to gimp, you can rack up major damage by forcing them to make recovery their top priority, not attacking. Characters with Tether recoveries such as Ivysaur and Olimar are virtually dead as soon as you take them off the stage. By forcing them to waste their first two jumps on recovering from your D-air, they are forced to use their Up Special. By then, you have already hogged the edge. Even if they hit you with their tether recovery, they can’t grab on. You live they die.
Learning to gimp and set up Walls of Pain is an absolute must when maining Meta Knight. Plus it’s super fun. =]
Defense:
Meta Knight...Defense...What is wrong with this picture?
Meta Knight can be played defensively, especially against characters with no projectile. But if you are looking for a defensive character, this is not the character for you. If you read the entire first half of this expecting a defensive character, I am sorry. Too late now. We are almost finished.
Anyway, Meta Knight can not unlock his full potential when played defensively. However, he cannot go full throttle 100% aggression either. Sometimes it is best to take a chill moment, and punish some of your opponents dirty, filthy lag that you really don’t have to worry about.
If you want to play more defense, don’t think defense, think punishment. Poking in a F-tilt combo after you shield an attack is a great idea. Punishing with MT is also useful and annoys the crap out of your opponent, giving you the upper hand right away. Some think that dodging will help them defeat Meta. Punish the dodges with F-tilts and D-smashes. Sprinkling in some punishment game will help you complete your character.
Oh yeah, and stuff every approach with Up-B.
Recovery:
Meta Knight has one of the best recoveries in the game. Learning how to use it will help your survivability.
Jumps:
You have 5. They are good. End of story.
Gliding:
Gliding is fantastic. To initiate a glide, jump, and hold down the jump button. For every unit of distance you glide down, you get 1.25-1.5 that distance to glide up. So if you glide down under the stage, you can safely glide back up, or even glide past the edge if needed. You can end your glide by pulling up, or using your glide attack by pressing A or C-Sticking. By using your Up-B. When in glide, move in a wavelike pattern up and down for best results. If you press directly up when gliding underneath to the opposite ledge, you will autograb the ledge. Gliding under the map is a great way to slow the momentum of an opponent who just smashed you far off the side.
Specials:
Each special has its recovery use. I have been over the moves already, so here is the quick and dirty list…
Neutral B- Long horizontal distance.
Side B- Recovering from way below the stage, or long vertical distances.
Down B- Mindgame recovery. Moderate distance in any direction.
Up B- Your standard, all purpose recovery special.
Combos:
We all know that there are very few actual inescapable “combos” in brawl. There are about as many as there are in a snack sized package of those scrumptiously delicious snacks by the same name. So since we are limited on combos, any moves that can be strung together reasonably well will be called a combo here for all practical purposes. I have talked about most of these at some point throughout this guide, but here they are compiled.
D-throw > Grab Attack > F-air > Up-B:
Works very well. 33% damage.
D-throw > Grab Attack > Neutral B:
I normally get this to swing for +- 22%
D-throw > Grab Attack > D-air:
They DI down, you’ve got ‘em. 20-22%
F-throw > Up-B:
I would leave the grab attack out of this one, because a surprised opponent will react more slowly to this “combo”. This works well at high percentages. I'm talking 90-100, and will kill for you. Oh yeah. 18%
D-tilt > Dash Attack:
You’ll trip with D-tilt every other time. Follow up with a dash attack. +- 13%
D-tilt > D-smash:
More or less the same thing as above. More power. +-15%
F-tilt (first two hits) > D-tilt > Dash Attack:
A bit more fancy, and works surprisingly well.
Dash Attack > U-smash:
Works best at low percents. 17%
Dash Attack > U-tilt:
Same as above. 16%
Jab > D-smash:
Better get that D-smash out quick. 15% if you’re lucky.
U-air > U-air > U-air:
16% and very low-risk.
U-air > F-air or B-air:
16%, but it can be extended to 30% if you got a few U-airs in before the finishing attack.
U-air string > Neutral B:
Beautiful combo that works quite often. I normally net about 30% out of this, and it kills if the MT was started high enough off the ground.
F-air > F-tilt or D-smash:
This works marginally well. The opponent has to DI right back to you. If they do that consistently, GG.
SH D-air > SH D-air:
This is a very effective “combo” and will push your opponent across most of the stage, possibly setting up an edgeguard.
Situation Station!
Yayyy! This is an idea I came up with that will teach what you should do in a certain situation, and how to apply it appropriately!
Situation 1:
Instructor: You are hanging on to the ledge. Your opponent is posted up right beside the ledge, waiting for you to choose your advance so he can attack.
Student: LOLWUT DO I DO??
Answer: Using your ledge attack would be the worst thing to do. He would shield the attack and punish. Ledge Jump is just what he is hoping you do. He will be able to intercept you and attack. Ledge Roll will put you in prime time position to get hit as well.
Your best option here is a Shuttle Loop Ledge Advance. A Shuttle Loop Ledge advance is preformed by tapping down while holding the edge, then quickly tapping up, then using your Up-Special. This performs your Shuttle Loop right at the edge, clearing away the pesky edge-guarder. If he shields this, have no fear. You will swoop around and be in perfect position to use your glide attack. Glide attack has no landing lag, so use it. Even if you hit your opponent with the Shuttle Loop, you should use the glide attack as well. It cancels the glide landing lag, and lets you start your pursuit immediately.
This is honestly my favorite ledge advance for most any situation.
Situation 2:
Instructor: You just D-smashed your enemy Pit off the side. You are now hanging on the ledge. Invincibility frames are over. He has two jumps left, and is approaching you from behind…
Student: ZOMG IDUNNO!
Answer: This is a great position to be in. If you are hanging on the ledge and your opponent is approaching from offstage, tap down on the control stick, immediately jump, and c-stick down. You will execute a quick D-air, knocking your opponent away, and you will auto-ledgegrab with no DI required. Awesome technique.
Situation 3:
Instructor: You just finished situation 2. Pit uses his final jump, and uses his Up-Special.
Student: GAWSH UMM…
Answer: You need to hit that little beggar. Any of your attacks will send him into free-fall, but which to use? D-air, F-air, and Shuttle Loop. Hopefully, you can hit him with another D-air, or tag him with at least one of your F-air strikes. If that fails, Shuttle Loop back to the stage. Quite often, your Shuttle Loop will stage spike him as he flees towards land. Make sure you don’t go too wild and kill yourself trying to hit him.
Situation 4:
Instructor: The match has begun. The enemy is D3.
Student: WOAH…IS THIS SUMKINDA TRIK QUESTION?
Answer: Meta Knight has many different ways he can start off the match. One of them is a dash into Tornado. For the first several frames of the match, the entire screen is covered with the word GO. Take advantage of that! Dash, and then quickly start your MT, and fly it directly at your enemy. This almost always catches D3’s, and many other opponents offguard. Starting with a 15% lead is very helpful.
Situation 5:
Instructor:Your opponent Mario is high in the sky, and is returning down
Student:O.O UPSMASH DUH! BCUZ ITS LIKE...THE BIGGEST ONE!!11!!1!!!!
Answer: Some characters can use their U-Smashes to attack enemies falling from above. MK’s U-Smash does not do so well for this, as the third hit can be DI’ed of easy, leaving you with no follow up, and having done only 5 percent. U-tilt has a tiny hitbox and probably will miss. What I would do here is a SH U-air. Jumping to intercept your enemy will be something they were probably not expecting. Use the 2 frame goodness of this move to slash your opponent, and start an Up-air string. If your opponent airdodges, you would normally be punished when using U-smash or U-tilt. However, your missed U-air can be followed by a jump and a D-air. W1N!
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Matchups:
Several MK matchups are quite debatable. Here is my opinion on some of his easiest, and some of his hardest opponents. There are no characters that completely destroy MK, so many people disagree about his disadvantages.
Easy:
D3-King DeDeDe is very suseptable to Tornado Spam. He will get sucked in, and likely take most of the hits. He is a huge target for your F-air and gets comboed well. His Waddle Dees and Doos will bounce right off of tornado, or almost any attack for that matter. This is an easy matchup for you.
Olimar- Olimar has a terrific ground game, so if you stay away from his massive C-Stick and Grab spam, you will be just fine. Get him off the edge, D-air, Edgehog. Pikmin throw could be renamed "Pikmin Worthless Sacrifice" because MT and Jab tear Pikmin apart.
Ivysaur- Same as Olimar. Great ground game. Never get above him/her/it, (bullet seed, U-Smash, U-Tilt...). As soon as you get Ivy off the side, edgehog and profit.
ZSS- Again, a gimpable tether recovery. ZSS will be sucked in to your tornado and spun around for days. This is another easy match.
Ganondorf- I have played the best Ganon's that the United States has to offer, Jekyll and Sliq in particular. They are ferocious, and although I am listing this in the easy category, I lost the first few friendlies I played with Jekyll. It took me awhile to adapt to the crazy flying Ganon that was somehow hitting me with his slow moves. They will **** your attempts at ground spacing with Dtilt. They will clobber your approaches with Uair. Unfortunately for Ganon, there is one super nasty trick you can use on him. If he Up-B's you, learn to hit a N-air as soon as he lets you go. Because his Up-B has literally ZERO hitstun, you can N-air him as you come out, and send him flying offstage pitifully to his death. Many Ganon's don't know this, so practice this trick when playing computers. Ganon is a beast, and dont underestimate him. In fact Ganon is becoming my second main.
C. Falcon- The captain is at a major disadvantage here. He has very punishable lag, and has no reliable approaches vs. Meta Knight. Gimp his recovery, and spam tornado.
Wolf- Wolf is another gimpable character. Jump over or powershield his laser, and you shouldnt have many problems. He plays a similar spacing game to MK, but it is much inferior, leaving him with a strong disadvantage.
Jiggs- Jiggly plays a very similar overall game as Meta, but her game is consistently inferior in almost every way. Outrange her in the air, and be too quick for her on the ground.
Peach- Meta Knight has a far superior air and ground game. Peach's float ability will be worthless to her, and she has no strong approach options.
Sonic, Link, Yoshi and Samus- Nearly everything is an MK advantage.
Difficult:
Snake- I have great experience with this matchup. This is no question MK's hardest. Here are the basics to winning it. BE CAMPY. Fools rush in. If you approach predictably and constantly you will be cutting your little dagger into so many grenades you will want to quit. Hang back, don't worry. Think "My time will come young grasshopper." And come it will. If he is going to throw grenades at you, jump around... Jump up, Jump up, and get down. Do whatever you have to to evade them, then fly in and chop him to pieces. I personally love Dtilt in this match. It outranges all of his tilts, is safe on shield, combos into more dtilts and grabs and specials and more tilts and aerials and anything else you can think of. You need to be able to DI attacks and use Uair for survival if you plan on winning. Snakes Tilts send you at terrible angles if you dont DI them. Utilt will kill you before 100 if you don't DI. With DI you can live to 120-130.
If you play a snake that likes to approach, just Up-B whatever he does.
TAKE HIM TO BRINSTAR. He won't like it.
Basically you will need to float around, and once you get in, tear him apart.
OMNIGAY! I've done it once. Don't try to make it your main gameplan unless they are holding grenades like nobody's business.
If you have more specific questions ask them please.
DK- Donkey Kong is an often used MK counterpick. His superior range and
power give him all the tools nessacary to beat MK. Tornado Spam will be
sucessful, however, because DK is such a large target. Try to Reverse
Shuttle Loop him from underneath when he tries to use his Up-B to
recover. Other than that, punish lag and combo like you do best.
ROB- Great range, D-smash is super-fast, and N-air outprioritizes every
one of MK’s moves. ROB can camp you as well as most anyone can camp MK,
and his projectiles all beat tornado. Edgeguarding him can be difficult
because he has a wonderful recovery. Don't plan on gimping him too
often, and watch out for his own stage spikes. (Some say this match is
easy for MK, some don’t. I personally do not do well against him.)
Marth- This was a 50-50. Now due to approach stuffing, Marth has zero options. Of course there are tippers to deal with, but you want to be in close, not trying to use your range. If he tries to come at you with Fairs, let him, then Shuttle Loop right through it. Make him hurt offstage. If he tries to hit you with fairs as you go out to edgeguard, fly from above and wait for the attack. Tornado works OK here as long as he doesnt have enough time to Up-B. This is a very skillful matchup, but one we are winning more often than not. PS: Take him to FD. He thinks he will do fine, but he won't. Platforms are more beneficial to him than you. Ftilt outranges everything of his, so use it often.
Gay Men Watch- Gdubs used to be a 50-50. Now due to Approach Stuffing, we can ram our Up-B directly into the face of the turtle. This is still a difficult matchup because G&W has tons of different options and he is played in many successful styles, but he cannot approach, and if he does, he will lose. Stuff the turtle a couple times, and he will feel like garbo. Without his best move to count on, he is at a serious disadvantage.
Here Overswarm shows us how its done:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVEmekWZxb0
[Thanks to SCOTU and James for giving their input on many of these matchups.]
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Stage Choice:
MK does well on almost every stage. This is a list of my favorites, and why.
BRINSTAR!
My new fortress. This stage makes almost every character uncomfortable if not down right helpless. Snake has no grenade game here and feels totally awkward, Falco has no grab game, and his lasers are innefective, ROB feels clumsy in a small, difficult to maneuver stage, and Marth is forced to approach you or get torn up from underneath. This is my best stage. By learning the stage's quirks, you should have an automatic win here. You should not go 0-2 with this stage on counterpick.
Lylat:
This used to be my favorite MK counterpick, and it’s a neutral. Awesome. The sides gimp almost every other character’s recovery except Meta’s. MK does well with platforms, and Lylat has that covered. In general, most mains hate playing on Lylat. Use that to your advantage.
Delfino:
Against the wall infinites are at every corner, literally. MK can go into shark mode and attack from underneath the neutral portion of the level with Shuttle Loops and U-airs. If you put an opponent in the water, you can constantly D-air them and rack up huge damage, or kill them if they have higher percents. Overall, a great choice for MK.
Battlefield:
I love the happiness and brightness of this level. The platforms help, but the edges are recovery-friendly. You don’t want that. This is a pretty good MK level. Never chose against a Snake.
Smashville:
This is another map that works well for MK’s style of play. Smashville is the smallest stage available. He can control the field of play very easily here. Campers to notably worse here as well, remember that. Again, never chose this map vs. a Snake.
Final Destination:
Never pick this map vs. a camper, but against everyone else this map does just fine. The lips gimp several recoveries, and not yours of course.
Corneria:
I actually like this map for Meta Knight. It isn’t too difficult to set someone up for a Jab infinite against the back wing. You can fly under the entire ship, which is O.O impressive, just watch out for the lasers. Not the best, not the worst.
Pokemon Stadium 1:
This, again, is a fantastic map for Meta. Infinites are everywhere, and the lips gimp several characters very badly. The little stages that pop up lend themselves very nicely to constant tornado spam if you so desire.
Pro Vids:
Watching Pros play will help improve your game.
M2K (MK) vs Azen (Toon Link)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4UOfWAVKu7k
t1mmy (MK) vs. t0mmy (ROB)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=z6cPRW6oMEU
Vidjo (MK) vs. NoJ (G&W)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PmBsHpc71c8
Vidjo (MK) vs. Bowyer (Jiggs)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IruEWy5TOjc
FAQ: WHERE CAN I PWN YOU SPENCER AKA PEEF!?!?
I am avaliable for pwnage at midwest smash events around the...midwest.
My AIM is : OMG Its 5p3nc3r
HUGE THANKS TO HOTGARBAGE FOR THE FRAME DATA! <3
Shoutouts/Thank Yous:
--Ambo for getting me into this game.
--James Weekley aka Xion of Reno Smash Crew (referenced several times throughout this guide). I want to thank him for getting me into MK (even though he doesn’t play him anymore), and putting up with me asking thousands of questions about Smash daily. He also proofread this piece.
--SCOTU for his many strong *cough* opinions. =]
--My computer for not crashing during this guide.
Most importantly, I want to thank you for reading these 8000+ words that supposedly could have been summed up in just over 8 pictures =] I hope I did not build a Wall of Pain with this Wall of Text, and that you got some enjoyment out of the deal..
Thanks,
PEEF
