DI is confusing.

[Mazaloth]

Ok, I have been practicing new techniques, and I was looking at some of them such as the 'Scrapping'.
It says to 'DI' out of the animation.....
But DI is when you get hit.
The people were doing 'DI without being hit?
What's going on here, I thought you can only DI if you are hit.

 

[Dionysus]

you can DI at all times, doing a RAR is an example of using momentum and DI to continue on a forward path while backwards

 

[J18]

you just have to be in the air to DI, you don't necessarily have to have gotten hit.

 

[Pye]

The definition of DI is "tilting the analog stick to alter your trajectory in that direction". While the term "DI" is often associated with "DIing a hit" (because it's simultaniously the most useful and the most obscure use of it), you can "DI back during an aerial" for example.

Say you shffl a dair with Falco (in Melee, of course). It gets shielded, so you shine to avoid a shieldgrab, but that gets shielded too. One of Falco's tricks at this point is to short hop a dair and tilt the control stick away from your opponent during it, but don't fastfall it. This will make you drift far enough away from your opponent that an attempt at a shieldgrab will whiff, and you can punish (often with an fsmash). Forward does something like this at 0:55 in this video, if you're interested in the actual technique. My point is though, that dair can be explained as "DI away during the second dair", just to describe where your analog stick should be pointing.

A second quick example is floating away from your opponent while using a fair with Peach. That can be described as "fair while DIing away from your opponent"

See how it works?

 

[Doval]

Moving in the air isn't DI. People call it that out of convenience.

 

[rabbt]

DI isn't confusing at all. You push the direction you want to go and you go that direction.

 

[Dark Sonic]

People use the term DI instead of aerial control in the same way that we say "combo" instead of "string." It technically has a different meaning, but one word is either more recognizable or easier to say than the other, so the difference is overlooked.

 

[Mazaloth]

So wait DI.

Basically if you WERE hit.
let's say the pojectory of that specific hit sent you completly sideways.
DI would be jamming on the analog stick Downwards, and your flight direction will alter downwards?

 

[Azuriken]

So wait DI.

Basically if you WERE hit.
let's say the pojectory of that specific hit sent you completly sideways.
DI would be jamming on the analog stick Downwards, and your flight direction will alter downwards?

DI = Directional Influence
Any time you would influence the direction you naturally travel in the air, you are performing DI. Here's some instances of DI:

1) Jumping and DI-ing backward while performing a fair by using the c-stick to perform your attack.
2) Jamming the control stick to the left immediately after getting hit to the right for fear of getting KO-ed. This slows down your momentum to the right that was caused by the attack. (airdodging helps as well, as opposed to melee).
3) Moving back and forth in the air as a form of mind game before landing an attack. Most noticeable with Jigglypuff and Wario, as they are characters with incredible air DI-movement.

Moving in the air isn't DI. People call it that out of convenience.

Moving in the air isn't DI. However altering the direction you would naturally move by tilting the control stick is DI. And I think that's what you meant when you said it wasn't DI; therefor, you are dumbah.

 

[Doval]

Yes. That would be the "normal" DI, also referred to as Automatic DI. There's a second form of DI called Smash DI, where you smash the joystick in a direction during an attack's hit lag (the moments your character freezes from getting hit) and your character moves slightly in that direction. You do Smash DI during hit lag, Automatic DI happens on its own after hit lag, when your character gets launched (assuming you were holding a direction.)

You can read a more thorough explanation in this thread.

 

[Azuriken]

dbl post...

 

[Doval]

1) Jumping and DI-ing backward while performing a fair by using the c-stick to perform your attack.

Again, changing directions during a state of freefall is not DI. It's often called DI out of convenience, but it is NOT DI. DI either Smash DI or changing the trajectory of the knockback you take (Automatic DI.)

2) Jamming the control stick to the left immediately after getting hit to the right for fear of getting KO-ed. This slows down your momentum to the right that was caused by the attack. (airdodging helps as well, as opposed to melee).

Holding the opposite direction has no effect until the attack's knockback ends, and at that point you're technically just freefalling. Also, air dodging does NOT slow you down.

therefor, you are dumbah.

Insults don't make for better arguments.

 

[Azuriken]

Again, changing directions during a state of freefall is not DI. It's often called DI out of convenience, but it is NOT DI.

Wrong. My guess is you are taking the DI definition in that guy's strat. guide as the verbatim definition of DI and that's wrong; he is simply explaining the uses of DI in situation where you are getting attacked. It absolutely is DI when you are controlling your movement in the air under any circumstance. That's why DI has always been synonymous with Jigglypuff. Not to mention it just makes sense based on what DI stands for.

Also, air dodging does NOT slow you down.

Air dodging does help slow you down. After getting hit and you are stunned you cannot make an action, including airdodging. Once your character recovers from the hitstun you are able to do a variety of things to slow down, stop, alter the direction in which you are flying. It is very common for characters to die following hitstun because they maintain their momentum because of Brawl's awesome physics. Airdodging slows this down, as do certain moves that push you in a direction (FLUDD, TL's boomerang, Kirby's hammer/rock)

 

[ph00tbag]

Again, changing directions during a state of freefall is not DI. It's often called DI out of convenience, but it is NOT DI. DI either Smash DI or changing the trajectory of the knockback you take (Automatic DI.)

If this is the case, then everyone who has ever talked about Smash in a competitive setting uses DI wrong as a matter of course. Since DI is a smash specific term, its use in the smash community creates its definition. Stop telling everybody ever that their wrong. Prescriptivism is stupid, anyway.

Air dodging does help slow you down.

No it doesn't. The only things that slow you down are moves with inherent momentum, and aerials using the Cstick.

 

[Azuriken]

No it doesn't. The only things that slow you down are moves with inherent momentum, and aerials using the Cstick.

I can't accept that without a link to some proof. I've seen my friend airdodge with Snake a million times and it seems visibly obvious that it helps. In addition to that, the 20+ regulars who show up to local weeklies here basically all use airdodging as a method of slowing down.

 

[Doval]

If this is the case, then everyone who has ever talked about Smash in a competitive setting uses DI wrong as a matter of course. Since DI is a smash specific term, its use in the smash community creates its definition. Stop telling everybody ever that their wrong. Prescriptivism is stupid, anyway.

We say things that aren't accurate all the time. And it really shouldn't come as such a shock to the system. Many people say "oh, this and this is a combo" when it's really not (because there the opponent could've acted in between.) But it's easier to call it a combo. We often use terms like "priority" interchangeably with "range." There are lots of cases where we don't use the terms we really should be using; that doesn't mean it's suddenly correct. I'm not telling anyone to STFU, or to stop using it the way they are, I'm just saying that's not what DI really means.

By the way, aerials won't slow you down if you're still caught in the attack's knockback. The best speed reduction option is almost always your mid-air jump if you need immediate results.

EDIT:

I can't accept that without a link to some proof. I've seen my friend airdodge with Snake a million times and it seems visibly obvious that it helps. In addition to that, the 20+ regulars who show up to local weeklies here basically all use airdodging as a method of slowing down.

Then the 20+ regulars'd be wrong. Air dodging/aerials only help you indirectly - when sent long distances, if you air dodge as soon as possible you'll become able to act sooner than you're supposed to, which in turn lets you jump earlier, and the jump does help. See this thread. Or it should be visibly obvious just by going to Training Mode, finding the % at which an attack will kill X character, and then having that character air dodge.

 

[Azuriken]

So youre going on about how DI doesn't include INFLUENCING the DIRECTION you move while in midair free-fall, yet you haven't given me a term to describe what that actually is. That is DI no matter what you claim. It has always been refered to as DI by everyone and there is no reason it shouldn't be. There is NO reason.

 

[Doval]

So youre going on about how DI doesn't include INFLUENCING the DIRECTION you move while in midair free-fall, yet you haven't given me a term to describe what that actually is.

How about "movement?" It's a basic feature of almost any game that includes jumping, except for sucky games like (the first) Castlevanias and Ghouls and Goblins/Ghouls and Ghosts. We don't need a fancy term to describe something that almost any decent game should have, even if it defies logic and physics. If you insist...NONE of the formal definitions of DI have EVER mentioned changing your free-fall direction.

From Melee's "Wavedashing, L-cancelling, All The Terms! Read First!" thread:

Directional Influence (DI): Will alter your trajectory to help you survive better. Easiest way to do it is to just DI everything that sends you in a somewhat horizontal direction upwards and DI upwards-sending attacks in the same direction as the opponent is facing (or the opposite if they hit you with the back of the attack). Also, DI can be combined with CC to help you survive upwards attacks better. CC the attack and immediately DI once you're hit. The window of frames depends on the attack. At lower percentages, it is usually best to DI away from the opponent, at higher percentages, it is usually best to DI toward the opponent and up, attempting to aim a hit toward the top corners of the kill zones.

From Melee's "A Guide to DI, Smash DI, C-stick DI, Teching and Crouch Cancelling"

Introduction :

The most important part of this guide is explaining in details how Directionnal Influence (DI) precisely works, how it is done and how it works with Teching.

DIing is basically anything you can do when you are taking a hit to affect your trajectory. (I'm not talking about Aerial Control, which has nothing to do with being hit)
DI can be divided in 3 parts : Smash DI (SDI), Automatic Smash DI (ASDI), and Regular DI (I'll keep it at DI)

Good DI will allow you to change your trajectory at high % so that you don't die, tech or wall-tech a lot of things if you're hit near a wall, and gives you means to escape from almost any sort of combo.

And don't tell me it's not valid because they're from Melee, because there's practically no change to the DI system between Melee and Brawl, or the way we use the terms.

Finally, from "The Physics of Attacks (DI included)", which was made more recently, for Brawl.

Directional Influence
Directional Influence (abbrv. DI) is one of the most important techniques to master.

Normal DI
Normal DI is a method of altering your trajectory after being hit using input from the control stick. Note: Normal DI DOES NOT affect how fast/ how much knockback you recive, it merely changes the direction you are sent. The goal of this DI is to change the direction an attack sends you to make it less leathal. Because you are only changing the direction you are sent, DI makes the most impact when done perpendicular to the base knockback of an attack. For instance, if you would be hit by an attack that sends straight upwards, the most pronounced DI would be straight to the side. Note that in that situation, you're decreasing your chance of dying off the top by bending your trajectory away from the upward death zone. For attacks that would send you off the stage in a manner to kill you, try DIing upward so you are sent less to the side, and more upward.
DI also helps to prevent combos. If you DI away from your opponent's weak attacks, they'll have a harder time following their attacks up.
DI is a difficult aspect of the game to master. It can keep you alive longer, it can keep you from getting comboed, and moreover, good DI makes you significantly better overall.

Smash DI
Smash DI (aka SDI) is something significantly different from normal DI. During hitlag (if you're being hit), if you input one of the 8 most cardinal directions on the control stick, you will get an instantaneous change in position in the direction you input. This is good for escaping multiple hit attacks such as MK's neutral/ Side B attacks, fox's uair, many of Lucas' attacks, etc... Note: SDI can only be performed with the control stick, not with the C-Stick.

Note: You cannot SDI in any downward direction if you were hit while you were in the ground, even if you SDIed Upward first.

Automatic Smash DI
Automatic Smash DI, many Melee players would be familiar with, is NOT IN THIS GAME.

Absolutely no mention of free-falling, or any implications that the term applies to ANYTHING you can do to alter your direction in mid-air, including basic movement.

As I said, I don't really care that the term is used incorrectly. We do it all the time, it gets the point across. It works, so it's all good. But it has a formal definition that's remained the same for years.

 

[Finch]

It's kind of funny how wrong Azuriken is.