Consistency with Zero Suit Samus

[Nerotic]

Bat signal for Zero Suit Mains.

I've been maining ZSS since last February and I'm actually becoming pretty decent with her for our local scene. I do fairly well in neutral and my punish game is pretty decent but I can only seem to get really janky kills to finish out stocks. Down B Kills (non-spikes) back airs to cover landings and usually up airs at 140 - 160%+.

It seems like I don't get kills before 120-140% and I have to really work for those kills. Usually landing 7-8 grabs a stock.

I think all ZSS mains are kinda looking for that same feel, consistency in kill options. I see these awesome up air to up b strings and I'm just not consistent at them. I'll train it like crazy and I just can't count for all the factors of DI, Airdodges and the up b issues. In fact I typically do worse against bad players who do inconsistent and bad options than I do against decent players because I can't seem to figure out aerial combat in the game.

I haven't been able to find anything on the forums about this particular issue that plagues my scrubby play. How do you get consistent kills with up B? I am pretty good at landing grab setups but just can't follow through.

How do you find consistency? And what are your training methods?

 

[Kurri ★]

Considering I have the same problem as you, I doubt I'd be much help, but I feel asking in the ZSS Boards will lead to better answers.

 

[Dilan Omer]

Well what I do usually is stun then roll to confuse them

Grab them throw them up bait them into doding and doing a forward smash or if they dont air dodge to air combos then up B to finish them off..

A lot of people I fight dont counter Zero Suits Up B for some reason and I am able to hit it easily thus getting kills on like 60-70% easily

 

[Satonakas]

Now at normal percents (60-90) I would usually try to predict the air dodge, especially if you recognized that you opponent does it frequently, This would be better for normal or smaller characters since it would probably be easier for them to DI or for the final hit not to connect (This has happened to me so many times). Now for bigger characters going for up b wont be so bad since you have a bigger target so it does really depend on the player...

Now here's a video made by XYZ showing different kills using the paralyzer (down smash)

But I would mostly continue to do the combo in multiple situations, like from pivot grabs or reading someones jump in practice mode.

I know it wasn't too much but I hoped I helped

 

[Zethoro]

If you can read your opponent, getting a kill should come naturally. Instead of going for a grab at higher percents, why not try a DSmash or a grounded UpB? Up B kills pretty soon and reliably when used on the ground to read/punish.
But what do I know? I'm just a Bowser main.

 

[BiggieLong]

when I practice my ZSS I can do the Nair to down b spike and the down smash to down b spike along with the 2 up airs to up b but when I'm in an actual match with another player I can't seem to get them with my down b spikes

 

[Honor]

when I practice my ZSS I can do the Nair to down b spike and the down smash to down b spike along with the 2 up airs to up b but when I'm in an actual match with another player I can't seem to get them with my down b spikes

I had trouble with this at first too. Just go into practice mode and do it until you have the muscle memory down. I get a serious percent of my kill off of these now.

 

[Zethoro]

when I practice my ZSS I can do the Nair to down b spike and the down smash to down b spike along with the 2 up airs to up b but when I'm in an actual match with another player I can't seem to get them with my down b spikes

There's several reasons for this. For starters, DI becomes an issue against a real player and ZSS's Down B spike has a pretty small sweetspot. Second, there's also the pressure and other factors taking place in a real match. That's why in more traditional fighters like Street Fighter people can do certain combos without any trouble, but the moment they get into a real match they choke.
Just keep trying in regular matches, and keep perfecting it in practice.

 

[Nerotic]

Lots of good thoughts here. Also I'm sorry if I posted in a wrong thread. I'm new to Smashboards and forums in general. Grounded up B is an excellent punish especially OOS but man is it instant death in a high damage situation if you fire it off at the wrong time. I guess my problem is that I miss my window a lot and end up misreading my opponents aerial options.

Generally I almost never kill with the combo and I can't factor in everything. Any tips on grinding out that practice while alone? I can consistently hit the combo on a computer. I've tried almost every weight and played around with the physics each character type presents and where the combos work.
But alas the di and air dodging eludes me. I don't know when after an air dodge to execute a move and ive played against FG people who Airdodge all the way to the ground and I can't time out hits... Does anybody know the frame window on the lag after an air dodge? I know it's character specific but I can't seem to feel that out