creative uses of bucket braking

[Dylacmac]

Hey guys,

I'm new to the boards here, and started reading up on some new techniques since my group of friends started getting more serious about brawl, moving on from free for alls with items on and the like. I'd always enjoyed game and watch and he quickly became my main for one on ones.

Coming to these boards and picking up some tips has improved my game tremendously, but no technique has won me as many matches as bucket braking. I swear there is nothing sweeter than surviving a high percentage smash on your third life, only to come back and win the match.

Now to the point of my thread. When I first started practicing the timing for bucket braking, I used it at non lethal percentages. In training matches, I used it on practically every hit I took until I got the feel down. During this practice, I realized that the momentum canceling can be used to great effect for mind games, as almost a mid air stall.

Example: and friend of mine mains falco, and I got a little predictable with my down airs. I know key spamming is terribly lame, but I was desperate and out of good ideas. Now pretty quick he started rolling and punishing me pretty badly. Then I started using the bucket to stall over him for a second. The delay was just enough to bait a roll and fsmash which I was then free to punish. Since that match I have been trying to incorporate that slight stall into my game more. It allows you to be much less predictable in your landing, and change directions in the air, making for some great setups for bair.

I was wondering if anybody else had tried anything like this, or if I'm just crazy. The only problem I see would the considerable lag, but that only really becomes a problem if you abuse it.

Thanks,
Dylacmac

 

[K 2]

The problem is, you'll become more predictable/obvious with bucket stalling, which is liable to get you punished. It is very useful in times, but it should be used rarely, since it has a butt-load of lag on it. One useful application of bucket stalling is when you go offstage to edgeguard. If your opponent tries to out wait your edgeguarding attempt, you can pull out the bucket and wait for them to run out of jumps/options. However, this is still situational and its highly likely to get you stage spiked/regular spiked if you become predictable with it.

 

[Dylacmac]

Yeah I realized pretty early on that abusing this will get you killed quickly because of the lag involved. But throwing it in a few times in a match to mix up your in air approaches and keep your opponent guessing where you're gonna fall opens up some options. I figure anything that keeps you less predictable can be useful.

My biggest problem by far with brawl so far is overusing/abusing certain moves, so anything that can help me mix up my approaches is a godsend for me. I actually play a decent game and watch when I can get away from all the spam. And thanks for the tip about edgeguarding, I hadn't been so ballsy as to use the bucket off stage except for avoiding certain death, but that sounds dead useful.

 

[cutter]

I have a clip saved on my laptop where I survive a fully charged tipper Shieldbreaker at 60% when my shield broke on Final D.

LMAO.

 

[Voxx]

Whats bucket breaking?

 

[Nicole]

here you go voxx:
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=207111

 

[Voxx]

Hey thanks man, i will use this in friendlys this afternoon.

 

[AzNfinesse]

It is an extremely useful mindgame strategy. I use it myself. But the biggest advice I can give you when you hit the tournament scene is not to abuse it. The lag is horrible, and a semi-decent player will know how to punish you after seeing it once or twice. Use it early on in games hopefully for an early stock. If it backfires, you've got 2 stocks left to make up some ground.

Another thing is it's pretty situational. You won't really be able to use it on fast characters unless they're about to use an attack that could leave them open for a combo. Extremely useful against characters like bowser and DDD cuz of their extremely long delays between attacks, but like i said, use with extreme caution and extreme discretion.

Happy Bairing =)