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The WBR presents: "Can't let you do that Starfox!" - A new Wolf guide

TheWolfBackRoom

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jan 13, 2009
Messages
13
This Wolf guide is an ongoing project by the Wolf Back Room. Any member of the WBR can and will update this guide as he/she sees fit. Feel free to criticize the guide in any way, and the WBR will address your suggestions.


The Wolf Back Room Presents:
“Can’t let you do that Starfox!”





Table of Content:
1.) Intro
2.) Why Wolf? Pros and Cons
3.) Moveset Discussion
4.) Useful Advanced Tactics
5.) Credits



1.) Intro

The time is right for a new, complete guide my fellow Wolf players. This guide will provide all the info you need on Wolf as a SSBB Character. That's right; Wolf O'Donnell - the rival of Fox McCloud from the Star Fox games - finally did us the favor to join the battles in SSBB. He's not only cool and ****** but also a good character, which is fun to play as. If you decided to play Wolf as your main character, rest assured: You picked up the right character!

2.) Why Wolf? Pros and Cons

Don't let the new tier list fool you - Wolf is clearly a high tier character with few weaknesses overall, primarily getting ***** by Brawl as a whole. That said there are only few outstanding things about him either - he is a well balanced character and certainly not among the best fighters in Brawl. That's no reason not to use him of course, he's still good enough to be used in tournaments so don't be shy about using him. If you know what to do and how to play him he'll serve you well.

Pros:

- His speed, range, weight and ability to deal damage are all over-average
- He can punish mistakes very well
- His moveset is very good and well balanced
- He has overall good match-up's (Uhm, no he doesn't? All of his matchups suck X_X Especially against high tier, verify please)
- He has great air speed and mobility
- He has a chain, and overall is just a ******.


Cons:

- He is easily comboed/Chain grabbed due to his high fall speed
- His recovery requires patience and smart use
- He has a hard time KOing opponents

Out of all these weaknesses, recovery is the easiest to overcome. If you are smart, know how to DI and und use Wolfs tools (blaster, shine, Bair) you won't get gimped. Unfortunately there's nothing you can do about the combo/CG issue but it's rarely match-up breaking. Just watch out and be prepared for some damage. Unlike the other Space animals Wolf can take it

His lack of good KO move is an issue - the Dsmash is his only good finisher. However if you use it for damaging purposes, you will have to refresh it when you need to land a killing blow. If you don't use it, then you are taking a great move out of your damaging repertoire. The best strategy would probably be to use sparingly, and to refresh it with jabs or pummels when the opponent reaches higher percents. Bair, Fair, Utilt, Fsmash, and Usmash are the other moves Wolf would KO with.

3.) Moveset Discussion


Neutral AAA- The Triple Claw Swipe



1st hit
Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-3
Hitbox lasts between frames: 4-8
Cooldown lasts between frames: 9-11

2nd hit
Start-up lag lasts between frames: 12-14
Hitbox lasts between frames: 15-19
Cooldown lasts between frames: 20-22

3rd hit
Start-up lag lasts between frames: 23-24
Hitbox lasts between frames: 25-29
Cooldown lasts between frames: 30-60

Damage: 3,2,4

Notes: Thankfully, the jab combo is guaranteed after the first hit. It's a great quick gtfo move, and one of your safer moves. Jab cancelling is very good, you can cancel it into a variety of things, but dsmash and grab are the most notable. There are other things you can use after a jab though, such as the second jab, or a retreating Fair, or even shine if you're predicting something else. It's your fastest move on the ground. Also at lower percents it puts them in a position where they have limited options: Above you at an angle, you can easily follow up or camp their landing for a grab. Also, just holding A will keep the jab going, which punishes non-DDD/Falco spotdodges. The more you play, the more you'll realize how truly great this move is. It is indeed a great move, however this move is easily grabbable on shield against an opponent with a decent grab range, so keep that in mind when you're going around jabbing shields.

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Forward Tilt- The Extending Claw Swipe



Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-6
1st hitbox lasts between frames: 7-22
2nd hitbox lasts between frames: 23-27
Cooldown lasts between frames: 28-44

Damage: 5, 6

Notes: A decent move and probably Wolfs best tilt. It consists of two attacks actually, the second being disjointed. It's possible to only hit with one of the two hitboxes. The first hit has Wolf swinging his arms towards his opponent. This attack has little startup lag and very good range. Wolf seems to enter a weird "freezing" animation for a few frames in which he is unable to move. The second hit is - as mentioned - disjointed: only his claws hit the opponent. If the opponent drops his shield during the stun of the first hit the second hit can connect. If the move misses completely the entire animation will be canceled and has very little lag.

It can be easily punished or very safe depending on the way you use it. If you make use of its full range - which is more than it looks like - it's a very good poking move that barely gets punished. It is one of the longest reaching Ftilts in the game and can therefore be used from a safe distance with relatively little risk. It's not spammable though and a good opponent can predict it very well.

A random note is that there's at least 10+ frames in between hits, this gives opponents a TON of time to punish you if they shield the first hit. Not to be used on shields, a good opponent will figure this out and punish you. Another thing is that if it clashes you are left with a ton of that freezing animation while they are free to do whatever they want. Lose-lose.

Overall the F-tilt is a bit underrated and one of Wolfs more underused moves.

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Forward Smash: The Lunge



Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-5
1st hitbox lasts between frames: 6-14
2nd hitbox lasts between frames: 15-22
Cooldown lasts between frames: 23-45

Damage: 5, 10

Notes: Fsmash can be SDI'd out of during the middle hit, but it's still one of, if not the best punisher in the game. It's VERY susceptible to being punished itself though, so make sure it hits when you use it. SHFF Bair to fsmash is good, but don't do it automatically. Fsmash (preferably tipper) can also serve as a KO move when fresh, but that's only if dsmash isn't working out for some reason. Fsmash’s main use is punishing, but its speed and range also make it useful after baiting someone to run straight into it.
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Down Tilt: The Low Kick



Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-4
Hitbox lasts between frames: 5-10
Cooldown lasts between frames: 11-28

Damage: 6

Notes: A well spaced Dtilt is one of your safer moves, albeit fairly laggy, but Dtilt in general is average. It can lock opponents against walls until about 50%, and it can trip opponents at lower %s which can be followed with a grab or boost/fsmash. It’s one of your better options after a Dthrow at relatively close range, and it can also serve as a poking move. It’s far from useless, but not something you’ll be using too often.
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Down Smash: The Claw Sweep



Front hit:
Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-6
Hitbox lasts between frames: 7-14
Cooldown lasts between frames: 15-36

Back hit:
Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-12
Hitbox lasts between frames: 13-20
Cooldown lasts between frames: 21-37

Damage: 14 front, 13 back

Notes: Your one real kill move. That being said, try to keep it fresh once your opponent reaches something like 60%. It's a useful gtfo move when you need it though, and don't be afraid to use it when you really need to, even if it will stale when you'll need it for the kill soon (keeping it fresh is highly recommended though). Some effective ways of using dsmash are out of a jab cancel, after airdodging behind your opponents, and (if you're fortunate enough to get a hit with hitstun right before you land) out of nair. If your opponent shields your dsmash, it will push them away making you harder to punish, but this move is still punishable on block.

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Up Tilt: The Sky Kick



Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-5
Hitbox lasts between frames: 6-14
Cooldown lasts between frames: 15-35

Damage: 8-10 depending where you hit

Notes: Utilt has a great hitbox, but it’s not something you’ll use too often. It can work well as a KO move on levels with low ceilings (such as halberd), and it comes out quick enough to combo out of things such as FF uair. Also functions as a decent anti-air move, you might think of it as a worse version of Snake's utilt. It’s not bad for killing people above you on platforms, since the vertical part comes out faster than that of usmash. There is a sweetspot for this move at the tip of his boot. That's why platforms are good to use this on because it's like an auto-sweetspot.

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Up Smash: The Scissor Kick



Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-10
1st hitbox lasts between frames: 11-22
2nd hitbox lasts between frames: 23-33
Cooldown lasts between frames: 34-49

Damage: 6, 12

Notes: The Usmash is good for punishing people when they're close enough, and it sets them up to be juggled. It can also stagespike people who are hanging onto the ledge, on occasion. The large hitbox that covers both your front and your back also make usmash useful OoS. Boost smashing is another great use for usmash, check it out in the AT section. Good opponents will be able to SDI out of this though, just like they should be able to do for fsmash after a certain %, so if you break a shield or something you might want to consider using another attack. The only thing bad about this move is that it takes 11 frames for this to start up. That is more than the lag of decent aerials, and pretty much won't out-speed any decent attack on the ground.

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Dash Attack: The Flip Kick



Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-8
Hitbox lasts between frames: 9-18
Cooldown lasts between frames: 19-37

Damage: 9

Notes: This attack is sub-par in almost every way. At lower %s it sets up okay, and it's decent for hitting opponents in a SH or slightly above you, but that's about it. Sometimes an opponent's shieldgrab will miss you because of the weird animation, but you have better options anyways.

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Ledge Attack



Less than 100%
Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-20
Hitbox lasts between frames: 21-28
Cooldown lasts between frames: 29-51



More than 100%
Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-50
Hitbox lasts between frames: 51-57
Cooldown lasts between frames: 58-67

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Neutral Air: Somersaults



Strong hit
Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-3
Hitbox lasts between frames: 4-12
Cooldown lasts between frames: 13-25

Weak hits
Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-3
1st Hitbox lasts between frames: 4-11
2nd Hitbox lasts between frames: 12-15
3rd Hitbox lasts between frames: 16-23
Cooldown lasts between frames: 24-32

Damage: 8 on first hit, followed by some weak hits (about 1 each) with occasional 3% hits with some hitstun.

Notes: Nair has strangely good priority, the weak hits have lock capability, the strong hit can be used offstage for edgeguarding (even the weak hits can do this because you can drag the opponent with you a bit), and hits with hitstun can combo into dsmash if they come out right before landing. However, the damage is crap for this move overall. Against people who don’t know how to counter it, nair can get annoying. You'll probably want to use this mainly to hit opponents in front of you in situations where fair would result in bad landing lag, or if you just need a quick aerial gtfo move right before you land. It also goes through airdodges, but you're better off baiting an airdodge with uair and punishing with something else as they come out. Nair is probably most useful for hitting shyguys on YI to refresh moves though, once your opponent realizes that it's really not a good move at all.

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Forward Air: The Aerial Swipe



Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-5
Hitbox lasts between frames: 6-13
Cooldown lasts between frames: 14-33 (cancelled fair)
Cooldown lasts between frames: 14-55 (uncancelled fair)

Base Damage: 11
Damage Deterioration: 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 7, 6, 5, 5

Notes:

Killing power
From the ground (Fresh)>>>
>Lighter characters; 127%-132%
>>Average Weight Characters; 135%-143%
>>>Heavy Characters; 156%-166%

Spacing
The way I look at it, there are 3 forms of spacing with the f-air.

Advancing F-air - Simply put, you move forward through the air without hesitation, your gonna wanna use this mostly when your opponent is right in front of you, thus you f-air right through them, if you connect with the lagless advancing f-air at low %'s it sets up for a free no strings attached b-air or if they block it you have quite a few options f-tilt, shine, grab, it all depends on your opponents habbits.

In place F-airing - This is a useful one, basically you lagless f-air DI toward the target while in the air and as soon as the attack frames have started quickly DI back so you land in the same spot as you started, this type f-air spacing is great for controlling the satge, if they are edge camping or their back is to the edge of the stage lt limits your opponents options drastically, much like WoW, except should your opponent choose to roll past the IPF-airing it will more than likely hit them.

Retreating F-air - Yes, the retreating f-air, most exp'd wolf players are well acquainted with this, IMO the most useful of the three. It's a bit tricky to pull off at first, but once you get it down, it's second nature. You simply run/walk in the direction you wish to f-air, quickly start a jump and as soon as humanly possible DI straight back while f-airing at the same time. A great spacing tool if there ever was one, it cut's through most projectiles like sapling tree's and this type of f-air also perfectly spaces an f-smash, most ppl block the f-air and run right into the f-smash, I've hit azen and m2k with this almost every time I tried it xD. If they choose to camp it, just RF>Laser, it's quite hard to get around.

One thing I'd like to throw out there is that Fair's hitbox is HUGE. It clashes with Marth's Fair just to give you an idea.

All testing was done on FD, killing %'s may change considering DI and stages.

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Back Air: The Back Kick



Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-4
Hitbox lasts between frames: 5-13
Cooldown lasts between frames: 14-21 (ground cancelled)
Cooldown lasts between frames: 14-31 (uncancelled)

Base Damage: 13
Damage Deterioration: 13, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 7, 6

Notes: Easily Wolf's best approaching move. The priority of this move is considerably more than what it seems to have. This is more than likely due to the fact that 1 frame before the hitbox comes out, the leg is not extended AT ALL. If spaced right this move is nearly unpunishable on block or spotdodge, hence why it's Wolf's best approaching move.

A little thing that helps with the unpunishability of Bair: If it's fresh, it pushes them back farther, thus making it harder to punish. If it is stale, it does not push the opponent back as far and so a little bit more punishable. So be sure to keep your Bair fresh by mixing it up, and getting off the 3 hit jab combo =D (Which counts for 3 separate moves). There are two ways this move is commonly used: Fast falled and rising. If you do it rising, you can actually double jump before you hit the ground and move away, making it that much safer. You also do rising Bairs Out of Shield for a quick punish. Then there's fastfalled, it is HIGHLY recommended you use this with C-stick forward (Whatever direction you want to Bair in) and then use your control stick to fast fall, this makes Fast Falling Bairs much better. One advantage of this is that you hit the ground faster and then you're able to do a move faster.

This move has VERY little lag, this makes it an excellent move for zoning, because you can quickly execute another option after you Bair. And zoning is absolute key to spacing.

Overall just an amazing move. It has more priority than expected, it has clashed with MK's Fair, and it beats out a LOT of moves, so use this one wisely.

Also, it starts in 6 frames, the same as MK's Fair, so yeah, it's freakin' fast. Another useful little tidbit of info: If you are able to start a Bair the first frame possible after you leave the ground (From shorthopping) you can double jump before you hit the ground, surprising your opponents, or whatever else you can apply it to ^_^

One last piece of advice: Don't always advance it, I see a lot of people just RAR and have their control stick pointed directly at the opponent. Don't do that, it is horrible for spacing, you have to really control where Wolf is going due to his really good aerial mobility. Even I advance Bairs sometimes, and it's a bad habit that needs to go. So before you start getting into that habit, don't get into it. Only advance if you have the room, if you don't, then stay where you are or retreat it. Spacing spacing spacing.

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Up Air: The Sky Swipe



Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-5
Hitbox lasts between frames: 6-15
Cooldown lasts between frames: 16-23 (ground cancelled)

Cooldown lasts between frames: 16-35 (uncancelled)

Damage: 12

Notes: Uair is a good move. It autocancels, and it’s fast enough that you can whip out another attack if someone dodges the first one. Platform drop uair is useful and FF uair can combo, but its main use will be juggling, especially against characters with bad dairs. It’s somewhat useful for ledgehopping, but fair is generally better, except for YI maybe (the slope screws with fair). There are usually better options though, fair and bair will still be the dominant aerials for everything besides juggling.

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Down Air: The Spike



Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-13
Hitbox lasts between frames: 14-20
Cooldown lasts between frames: 21-44 (ground cancelled)
Cooldown lasts between frames: 21-47 (uncancelled)

Damage: 15

Notes: Dair is a decent spike, but not too good for much else. FH dair can hit some taller characters, and the attack has decent shieldstun which makes autocancelled dairs (slightly delayed SHFF dair) particularly attractive OoS and from the ledge. If your opponent is dumb enough to hold onto the ledge past their invincibility frames, you can usually spike them through the lip with dair. Overall, this is a move you won’t use often at a higher level of play, even though it can be incorporated into your game successfully.

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Neutral B: The Blaster



Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-9
MeleeHitbox lasts between frames: 10-17
Laser animation lasts between frames: 18-26
Cooldown lasts between frames: 27-43

Damage: 4 from bayonet, 6 from close shot, 5 from distanced shot

Notes: The blaster is great. If you use it to camp (only projectile that outcamps olimar btw), be sure to use it near its maximum range, you don't want to get punished during the long cooldown. Ledgehopped blaster is pretty good, try it out. Blaster is also useful for recovery because of the additional boost in aerial momentum it gives you, and you can reverse it to bair away edgeguarders if you want. With mastery of using blaster for recovery, getting back on stage should be a bit easier. Look at the blaster in the ATs section for some more information on reverse blaster.

This move is amazing because it forces a reaction, many people start to try to predict when your next blaster is going to come, and that's when you have them. This move also has amazing priority, the projectile also moves slow as crap, giving your opponent a lot of annoyances. Blaster can be used to edgeguard (Free damage AND maybe take away their second jump), it's been used to bait kill moves (IE, Full hop blaster to force the airdodge and then FF to a Dsmash to punish the airdodge). Yeah, pretty much. It's amazing, abuse it, just don't be predictable. And being campy is not its best use in Arc's opinion.

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Down B: The Shine




Invincibility frames: 1-6
Hitbox lasts between frames: 7-14
Cooldown lasts between frames: 15-28

Damage: 3

Notes: Who doesn't love the reflector. It works as a counter move with its invincibility, but beware of the cooldown. If someone shields it, you're getting punished. And, of course, it reflects. At close range it can combo into jabs.. You can shine in between diddy's usmash and snake's nair, just to give you an idea of how useful this thing is for combo breaking. It's good, but just don't get predictable with it. On a side note, after hitting the opponent with a reflector, you have a 4 frame advantage over the opponent. On average, that is. Abuse the invincibility frames.

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Up B: Fire Wolf



Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-20
Flies up between frames: 21-45
Cooldown lasts between frames: 46-69
Begins to fall on frame: 70

Damage: 11 total, 3 on final kick

Notes: There really isn't much to say about fire wolf. Only use it when you really need to for recovery, most times wolf flash is a better option. It's other uses are VERY situational and unreliable, such as dragging the opponent down with you for a suicide kill. Trying to use this move as an attack would usually not give you any kind of an advantage. People like marth can upB halfway through it, so... yeah.

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Side B: Wolf Flash




Start-up lag lasts between frames: 1-12
Flies forward between frames: 13

Damage: 10-15

Notes: Wolf flash has quite a few tricks, check the ATs for that. It's very unsafe though, if it gets shielded or anything, expect to get punished. It's situational overall, you can hit people on platforms and people trying to jump over blaster shots, but the 'surprise' factor will be the main reason you’d use it over another attack (bair, anyone?). Wolf flash is your better recovery move, you can cancel it when recovering from above if you need to and, well, let’s face it, fire wolf sucks.

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Wolf’s Grab


Standing grab
Start-up lag is between frames: 1-5
Cooldown lag if you miss: 12 frames

Dash grab
Start-up lag is between frames: 1-9
Cooldown lag if you miss: 33 frames

Wolf’s pummel is very fast, does 1% per hit when fresh, but only the first one in each grab refreshes your moves. Get a few in for each grab, but don’t push it too much. Out of ground releases, you don’t have any great options, but jab or dsmash might work. On some characters (most notably marth and MK) you can wolf flash them on an air release, and on wario you have a guaranteed fair (I believe, not 100% on that part).
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Up throw
Damage: 7
This is your worst throw. I can't think of ANY situation where you'd want to use this.

Back throw
Damage: 7
Not a very useful throw. It can work to get people on platforms, and at low %s it can be followed up pretty well. You can use this against bigger characters that have slow aerials. It puts them in a vulnerable position where you can easily punish them.

Forward throw
Damage: 7
I personally don't find this throw too useful, but it can be good for setting up a spike. On more floaty characters you can try to chain fthrows as well.

Down throw
Damage: 12
Your best throw, by a long shot. It puts your opponent in a bad position no matter what, so you can follow it up with just about anything. You can use it to get people offstage and then attempt to spike, but that's mostly for snake, otherwise fthrow is better. Beware of people who like to tech it right next to you though, it can get troublesome. If they do this too much though, you can get a free dsmash on them. You can also use dthrow as a techchase, but wolf's slow running speed usually gives them plenty of time to react before you get in position at higher %s.

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4.) Useful Advanced Tactics for Wolf Users


After you learn the basics such as short hopping and fast falling, in order to take your technical game to the next level, you need to learn advanced techniques. In this section, I will describe to you what the advanced technique is, how to perform it, and how to utilize it. I have left some advanced techniques out, such as reverse boost-grabbing, because I haven’t found a use for it yet. However, I greatly encourage you to not limit yourself to what I say. If you find more uses for the listed or unlisted advanced techniques, please share your knowledge with the Wolf Community.

Boost-Smashing


Description:
This advanced technique results in the character sliding on the ground while performing a charged or uncharged u-smash. The distance of the slide is character dependent, and luckily, Wolf is one of the few characters who have a long and useful boost-smash. Demonstration of the boost-smash can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLyyK4M8YQQ

How to Perform:
In order to do this technique, you have to initiate a dash-attack with Wolf and immediately cancel the dash-attack animation by instigating an up-smash. The best way to do this is to slam the joystick in the direction you want to go while pressing down on the c-stick (this will initiate the dash attack). Immediately afterwards, press up on the joystick and Z at the same time (this will cancel the dash attack animation and instigate the sliding up smash). If you hold up+Z, you will charge the u-smash.

Application:
Currently, there are two uses for this advanced technique:

1) The boost-smash is very useful as a punisher. Not only does this outrange Wolf’s f-smash, it also does an additional 3%. You are probably thinking that 3% isn’t worth the effort to learn this technique. However, you need to take into account that the boost-smash sends the opponent upwards which will lead to additional damage due to Wolf’s juggling game (AKA forcing the opponent to air dodge a rising u-air and then hitting them with a b-air after the air dodge ends). Thus instead of an additional 3%, the boost-smash can potentially deal an additional 15+% more damage to an opponent compared to Wolf’s f-smash. Another advantage the boost-smash has over an f-smash is the fact that you cannot punish your opponent with f-smash if Wolf is in his running animation. For instance, if DK uses his up+B to go over your edgehog, you can quickly get up from the ledge, run forward, and boost-smash to the area he will land. You wouldn’t be able to punish the DK with an f-smash. Also, by substituting f-smash with boost-smashing during times when f-smash’s speed isn’t necessary, you not only deal additional damage, but you also keep your f-smash fresher.
2) The boost-smash is also great at chasing techs and rolls.

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Item-Boosting

Description:
Although Wolf has one of the worst glide-tosses in this game, does not mean he will be completely ***** by Diddy’s bananas. To make up for the lack of a good glide-toss, Wolf instead has a very fast, very far item-boost which acts the same as a glide toss. This advanced technique results in the character quickly sliding on the ground while throwing an item forward, backwards, or upwards, depending on how you do it. Like the boost-smash, the distance of the slide is character dependent, and once again, Wolf luckily has a very long item-boost. Demonstration of the item-boost can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XQcLDmsZlw

How to perform:
Al though Item-Boosting can replace the glide-toss, it is much more difficult to execute. In order to do this technique, you need to be holding an item such as banana peels, peanuts, grenades, bombs, turnips, Mr. Saturns, or gyros. Similarly to the boost-smash, you need to initiate a dash-attack and then immediately cancel the dash-attack animation by rotating the joystick towards the direction you want to throw the item and pressing Z at the same time.

Application:

This technique is extremely useful whenever you are matched up against a character that has item based projectiles such as Diddy Kong, ROB, or Peach because it essentially gives you an amazing approaching option.

Against characters such as Diddy Kong, Peach, and Rob, by item boosting their items forward, you can pretty much follow it up with almost anything. If the banana, turnip, or gyro hits the opponent, he will trip or be stunned and pretty much be at your mercy for d-smash, grab, f-smash, or AAA combo. If the opponent shields the item you should follow it up with either a grab or a d-smash. Often times when the item hits their shield, the opponents lift their shields right after which will allow you hit the opponent with a d-smash. If the opponent doesn’t lift his shield, the d-smash will be safe on shield anyways.
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Speed Hugging
Description:
Some characters, such as Metaknight can just run off the edge and press the other direction to quickly grab/hog the edge. Wolf however, due to his character properties such as fall and air speed, is unable to do this using the same method as Metaknight. However, Wolf can still quickly grab the edge through the use of speed hugging. A demonstration of speed hugging can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z32hjrBgjyY

How to Perform:
In order to execute this tactic, all you have to do is press diagonally down away from the stage once you reach the edge. You will have to practice the timing a little bit to get it down, but eventually, it will become second nature.

Application:
Speed Hugging is the primary technique used in Wolf’s edge guarding game. Besides the obvious gimps you can perform on Falco, Mario, Marth, and Ike using this technique, you can combine this with edge shine gimps on Diddy and other characters that have bad recoveries. In case the characters do happen to get back onto the stage, you can scar them as well or do a ledge-hopped blaster to do additional damage.
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Reverse Blaster

Description:
Basically, if Wolf is facing one direction, whether he is in the air or on the ground, he can perform a turn-around blaster that will change the direction Wolf is facing as well as the direction he will fire his blaster. A demonstration of the reverse blaster can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k96F0vaGH1U

How to Perform:
The way this technique works is that there are some frames in the beginning of the blaster that allows you to change the direction you face. During these start-up frames of gently tap the joystick in the other direction and Wolf will fire the blaster in the other direction.

Applications:

The Application for this technique is pretty obvious. If your opponent is behind you and out of range of any of your attacks, doing a reverse blaster usually catches them off guard. You can also make your opponent think you are approaching with a back air and then surprise them with a turnaround blaster.
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Pivot Smash

Description:
This technique is a lot like the reverse blaster in the sense that it allows you to change the direction of an attack. However, instead of your projectile, you can change the direction of Wolf’s d-smash. You can see a demonstration of this here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVCW8ChsGaw

How to Perform:
In order to perform this technique, you have to tap the joystick in the direction you want the d-smash to attack first. During the turn-around animation, quickly perform a d-smash by pressing down on the c-stick. If done correctly, the first hit of your d-smash will hit behind you while also making you face the other direction.

Application:
The Application to this is pretty obvious as well. Basically, if you want to land a kill move and your opponent is/will be right behind you, perform this technique and your opponent will be sent flying.
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Flash Cancelling

Difficulty: Medium

Description & Application: Flash cancelling was always a heated discussion in the wolf boards regarding its usefulness in the wolf metagame. At first it seemd pretty useless since many players where unable to perform and perfect the point of cancellation in which they wanted. A demonstration of this can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgee5jP2mPQ

Towards the Short Cancel , (the earliest point in the frames of the flash in which makes wolf dash a slight distance forward), my research concludes that it's relatively difficult in timing regarding the flashes frame data which is in the beginning stages. The short Cancel we'll give you the largest vertical distance in air, as well as retain 3% of damage of used close to an opponent. In my opinion, if it could be chained repeatedly while ground, it could be used as a peusdo combo starter since its relatively quick, and can be chained with other moves because of the short lag. Recommened for an alternative to recovery.

In regards to the Long Cancel, I would more then gladly recommend this more of a chaser once youve knocked the opponent a good distance away. It's also much easier to produce then the short cancel, as well as accomplish around the same results ( faster distance while grounded, slightly smaller vertical aerial distance, anad retains 3% damage when used in close proximity of an opponent).
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Illusion Tricks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuUlJSSnfI0

Scarring / Semi-Scarring


Difficulty: Hardly any difficulty when producing these techniques

Description and Application: Scarring and Semi-scarring have been around since the earliest of wolf play, and was one of the first few things discovered, making wolf a starting contender for high tier play. Scarring is easily executiable, as with semi-scarring being relatively beyond easy to accomplish (holding down when flashing, being able to scar any stage).

List of scar-able stages, and semi-scar-able stages(neutral color for scar-able and semi-scar-able):

-Battlefield
-Final destination
-Castle Siege
-Distant Planet
-Frigate Orpheon
-Green Hill Zone
-Luigi's Mansion
-Lylat Cruise
-Norfair
-Picto-Chat
-Pirate Ship
-Pokemon Stadium 2
-Skyworld
-Smashville
-WarioWare
-Yoshi's Island
-Brinstar
-Corneria
-Jungle Japes
-Pokemon Stadium
-Rainbow Cruise
-Yoshi's Island(SSBB)

As you can see, most stages are green meaning, that pretty much every stage can be semi-scarred, and every stage that is scarable is also semi-scarable. Highly recommened for any player.
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Light-Stepping

difficulty- Medium

Lightstepping is the term used for the glitch where Wolf hits the ledge with his sideB and instead of grabbing the ledge, appears offstage right above the level of the ledge. This glitch is also possible with numerous other characters (Fox, Falco, Marth, Squirtle, Kirby etc), but it is easiest to do this with Wolf. There are two different forms of lightstepping, just like there are two different forms of Flash Cancelling: short, and long.

Research and opinion: Light-stepping was actually a forgotten technique of wolf's after scarring came in to play, so there was not much research in it's fesibility and was never looked into as being useful, but more of an outcome from a misplaced scar. well after researching it's capablities a bit more, I myself have began implementin gthis technique into my wolf style.

For one thing, most of my light-stepping research came from jungle japes, where I found the proper distance for light-stepping as well as the ability to chain multiple light-steps for edgeguarding, stalling, and mindgame purposes. It appears that the distance between the two upper platforms (length wise), and the main platform are the proper alignments for you to be able to properly Light-step.

Variants

-Infinite Light-Stepping- Used as a means of edgegaurding, and mindgame oriented play. In order to properly infinite light-step, the player must first be able to learn the distance and timing to jump during light steps. In order to make the desired results, the player must first light-step, immediately buffering(not really required to buffer) a jump, enabling them to either re-chain a light-step, or follow up with an edgegaurd.

-Light-Walling- Executing an infinite light-step while adding in aerials after the jumps. Can be a bit more technical, but still useful if done correctly, giving Bair a whole new definition of "walling".
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Tele-Stepping

Difficulty- Medium-Hard

Telestepping was one of wolf's other outcomes if you missed a proper scar. It works just like a telestep (and also has two versions, short and long), but leaves Wolf above the stage instead, giving him ONE frame to input an action (since you cannot buffer moves out of a telestep) before landing with RCO lag. However, telestepping isn't all bad. During that one frame, you can input a jump to reposition yourself or use a special to delay the RCO lag. All other actions will result in significant landing lag from RCO lag, and you will probably get punished. This technique still has its uses though; it's not very expected and less well-known than the lightstep so you can sometimes get back on stage with this when your opponent is expecting a semiscar instead. The easiest way to produce telestepping, is to be as close to the edge as possible with wolf, and immediately flashing, placing you on the direct edge of the platform. Every edge is telesteppable.
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5.) Credits


- Comrade Castorpollux for doing a crapload of work: Videos, gifs, part of the AT section, and putting the whole thing together
- Supreme Communist Overlord Ishieymoro for writing most of the move Descriptions and helping
- Comrade Captain SA10 for the AT section
- Comrade Gheb for not being sexy and for the Intro and Pros & Cons section
- Comrade ArcPoint for helping a lot on the whole guide
- Comrade Mitsurugi for helping, especially on fair
- Comrade Jimbo Cav for frame data
 

Absoltrainer

Smash Rookie
Joined
Nov 29, 2008
Messages
14
Location
Texas
besides the fact that there are vids, how is this different or any better then the current Stickied guide?
 

castorpollux

Smash Champion
Joined
Dec 19, 2007
Messages
2,502
besides the fact that there are vids, how is this different or any better then the current Stickied guide?
It is always being updated by the WBR instead of sitting there for months. It's kind of like wikipedia, where everyone is free to edit/add/delete things. That way, everything is always up to date. Also, everything in Koskinator's guide is his input. If someone in the WBR sees something on this guide that they disagree on, they will edit it and therefore this guide would reflect more fact than opinions. It also has advanced techniques koskinator didn't even know about.

This guide is still young and it WILL be changing constantly.
 

Vista

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
218
Location
WA
besides the fact that there are vids, how is this different or any better then the current Stickied guide?
I'm going to be giving my input on this guide.

That alone makes this guide better than Kosk's LOL
 

rvkevin

Smash Lord
Joined
Apr 7, 2008
Messages
1,193
JJ, I'm surprised you left Glide Tossing out of the Advanced Tactics. Wolf's GT=Too Good...On second thought, leave it out, I don't want other Wolfs to know how to combo into their kill moves at %100 FTW.

Btw, nice job on the guide, much more informational than the last one, especially with the frame rate data. Probably needs more on zoning/approaching advice. Also, every Wolf should have good DI, Wolf is a tank, he really shouldn't die much before 200% unless he's facing another tank...WoW tactics should be included in case somebody faces a good DK as WoW destroys all DKs.
 

castorpollux

Smash Champion
Joined
Dec 19, 2007
Messages
2,502
When I wrote the ATs I thought Wolf's glide toss was garbage since it didn't move him anywhere. But yeah, it is too good against diddy kongs. I'll update it later.
 

Koskinator

Smash Lord
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It is always being updated by the WBR instead of sitting there for months. It's kind of like wikipedia, where everyone is free to edit/add/delete things. That way, everything is always up to date. Also, everything in Koskinator's guide is his input. If someone in the WBR sees something on this guide that they disagree on, they will edit it and therefore this guide would reflect more fact than opinions. It also has advanced techniques koskinator didn't even know about.

This guide is still young and it WILL be changing constantly.

Just because I didn't post an AT doesnt mean I didnt know about it. Lightstepping is completely useless, so I left it out.
 

~ Gheb ~

Life is just a party
Joined
Jun 27, 2008
Messages
16,917
Location
Europe
Yea, you shouldn't discredit Kosks guide like that. I mean his guide is nothing special but it will still take quite a while until our guide will be as complete and perect as we planned. Kosk wrote the guide all by himself after all and it's not like it's terrible ... it's just that Kosk isn't realiable at all and nobody knows when he'll update his guide etc (if he updates it at all) so I think making a new guide is justified.

:059:
 

castorpollux

Smash Champion
Joined
Dec 19, 2007
Messages
2,502
Just because I didn't post an AT doesnt mean I didnt know about it. Lightstepping is completely useless, so I left it out.
I was referring more to item boosting, pivot smashing, reverse blaster, and speed hugging. All of them are extremely useful.

Oh and lightstepping is more useful than telestepping (which you did include in your guide)
 

Xiahou Dun

Smash Ace
Joined
Nov 24, 2008
Messages
524
Location
England
Nice work on mentioning Scarring and what stages you can do it on. But not enough mention of what it actually does. I can make a pretty good guess easy enough but some people would have to look elsewhere to find out what it is. Which isn't good. So I obviously suggest you explain what scarring is and does and why you would want to use it. Youtube is nice but remember it's unavailable in some countries. A mini description is all you'll need.
 

Koskinator

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Boost smashing is only good on a few characters. Speed hugging is universal. It would be like putting SHADing in the AT list.
 

castorpollux

Smash Champion
Joined
Dec 19, 2007
Messages
2,502
Speed hugging is more useful to wolf than other characters, since it's impossible to normally hug the edge with wolf.
 

Blad01

Smash Lord
Joined
Mar 2, 2008
Messages
1,476
Location
Paris, France
Nice Guide :) (Not complete apparently but still a great project)

I don't like all that Koskinator hate though. :/
 

Ishiey

Mother Wolf
BRoomer
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Messages
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It's not that anyone is hatin on Kosk, but he tends to leave the wolf boards for indefinite periods of time, and it leads to some things being outdated. That, and I'm sure everyone agrees that having a guide worked on by multiple people would be more objective.

Hopefully this will get stickied before too long, and maybe a few other things can be combined in here too, like matchup summaries and whatnot.

:059:
 

ElPadrino

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
Messages
166
LolSess

On Topic:
The guide is pretty good, I do NOT see how Pivot Smashing is useful though, at least not with D-Smash.
Great Job on Item Boosting though, I had no idea Wolf could do it and it'll certainly give me an easier time with some characters.

About turnaround blaster, after some research I made wave bouncing the Blaster towards the ledge gives you and incredible ammount of momentum, It makes my recovering so much easier.

I'm not sure if that should go on the Guide, but you can try it out for youselves and you'll see it's dead usefull.

Definitly should be stickied, and I agree with the idea of putting the Character Matchups and Stage Counterpicks here too.
 

Ishiey

Mother Wolf
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7,292
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Land's End (NorCal)
To me, pivot smashing is useful because the first hit of dsmash is stronger than the second and also comes out before it. When you really need the speed and strength for a kill, pivot smashing can pull through.

:059:
 

Chileno4Live

Smash Ace
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Amazing guide, i like it alot. Those pictures are kinda bd quality but who cares you can see which attack Wolf does. I like your AT explainations, they helped me out alot :)
 

Vista

Smash Journeyman
Joined
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Messages
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Location
WA
It's not that anyone is hatin on Kosk, but he tends to leave the wolf boards for indefinite periods of time, and it leads to some things being outdated. That, and I'm sure everyone agrees that having a guide worked on by multiple people would be more objective.

Hopefully this will get stickied before too long, and maybe a few other things can be combined in here too, like matchup summaries and whatnot.

:059:
I'm hating on Kosk LOL
 

Semifer

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Oct 25, 2008
Messages
212
Location
Germany
I forgot to say: Good guide, exspecially speed hugging is very usefull for me^^
But I think there should be some more pieces of information about Bair.

And I have got two questions:
Which situation is good to use the reverse blaster recovery? It gives you only momentum, if you turn around with it, so you have to face to the end of the map to get momentom to the stage, but most of the time you look to the stage, so blaster recovery is useless. You only face out of the map, if you jump away from the stage, but it's still easy to recover by SideB then.
And I don't really understand, why this blaster recovery should work efficient against edge guarders, could anyone describe me a situation, where it's usefull and why?

And another short question:
Is it random, if a weak hit of Nair has hitstun, or is there any order, e.g. every second hit?
 

ArcPoint

Smash Lord
Joined
Mar 22, 2008
Messages
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Location
NorCal, California.
None of the hits after the first hit (Save for the last one) has hitstun.

And I just noticed all of the attack GIFs are against Metaknight lol.
 

castorpollux

Smash Champion
Joined
Dec 19, 2007
Messages
2,502
I forgot to say: Good guide, exspecially speed hugging is very usefull for me^^
But I think there should be some more pieces of information about Bair.

And I have got two questions:
Which situation is good to use the reverse blaster recovery? It gives you only momentum, if you turn around with it, so you have to face to the end of the map to get momentom to the stage, but most of the time you look to the stage, so blaster recovery is useless. You only face out of the map, if you jump away from the stage, but it's still easy to recover by SideB then.
And I don't really understand, why this blaster recovery should work efficient against edge guarders, could anyone describe me a situation, where it's usefull and why?

And another short question:
Is it random, if a weak hit of Nair has hitstun, or is there any order, e.g. every second hit?
Reverse blaster recovery I feel isn't useful but not every member in the WBR has tested it out yet. We'll edit it or take it out when we know more about it.
 

Scar

#HarveyDent
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Hi my name is Scar and I invented Stage Scarring with Wolf for Super Smash Brothers: Barwl for the Nintendo Wii.
 

NintenJoe

Smash Ace
Joined
Mar 12, 2008
Messages
893
Location
Chicago, Illinois
the phrase "pro's and con's" has uneeded apostrophes. It should be "pros and cons". Apostrophes followed by the letter s is used to show ownership for an object to another object or thing. In this case, the "pros" and "cons" are not showing ownership to anything, and therefore don't need apostrophes.
 

TheWolfBackRoom

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jan 13, 2009
Messages
13
the phrase "pro's and con's" has uneeded apostrophes. It should be "pros and cons". Apostrophes followed by the letter s is used to show ownership for an object to another object or thing. In this case, the "pros" and "cons" are not showing ownership to anything, and therefore don't need apostrophes.
Lol fixed.
 

AssaultX

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Oct 31, 2008
Messages
156
Location
Washington
Lol probably not. I wouldn't be too surprised if it was true haha.

The guide has good stuff, by the way. I think it would be nice if you added a section to describe Wolf's best playstyles, so that the new users could get a good idea of Wolf a bit more easier than reading about an entire moveset.
 

Dv8tor

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Dec 23, 2008
Messages
226
It might be a good idea to explain exactly how to perform the Wall of Wolf and using bair to the best effect, I've been searching and I can't seem to find out if I'm doing it right, or if there's some confusion to the WoW. I've watched videos of players doing a double jump right before they hit the ground and doing a bair really quick. Is that a double jump, or just jumping really fast? If it's a double then do you need tap jump on to do that by pressing c stick and jump on the stick or what?

Maybe this should be posted on general questions but I thought it might help new Wolf players by explaining in a tactics or playstyles section like AssaultX suggested.
 

ArcPoint

Smash Lord
Joined
Mar 22, 2008
Messages
1,183
Location
NorCal, California.
. I think it would be nice if you added a section to describe Wolf's best playstyles, so that the new users could get a good idea of Wolf a bit more easier than reading about an entire moveset.
The entire point of this guide is to give people just picking up Wolf information about the moveset, not give them some sort of style that none of us have gone pro with. Except for maybe Castorpollux, however his "style" is to be smart and read people correctly.

Meh, the entire concept of the Bair Wall (to me) is full hop Bair and then a mixup. Among an abused mixup is just FF Bair after that. It may be something different to other people, and this is simply a game mechanic, it's like airdodging. I don't want to explain tactics with airdodging involved and every other game mechanic there is, except the ones Wolf users might not know at first - such as the ATs.
 
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