So I didn't see anyone mention this, and I could have posted this long ago, but I am always have a stack of Smash work I am trying to get done so things have to go on back burner sometimes.
I was hoping to showcase this off in Finals at the Northwest Regionals this past December 20th, but the Smash 4 event turned out to be what people called a "debacle": I got Disqualified for playing Mii!
Want to hear the ridiculous story to that?
Ok, here:
Without any further ado, the F-Air pillaring technique.
This technique is a way to "pillar" combo characters similar to that of Falco in Melee (in that game Falco can pop opponents up into the air with launching attacks such as U-Tilt, Shine, U-Air, or U-Smash and send them crashing back down with D-Air to repeat an rise/fall motion nicknamed "pillaring").
The way the Mii Brawler does this is with different moves (involving mostly the Forward Air Attack) a little more limited, but a lot of fun and opens up a new style of play.
Mechanics
The Forward Air Attack (F-Air) has two distinct hits. The first hit has a hitbox property that sends opponents downward in order to link into the second hit which knocks the opponent away. But with some tricky setups and execution you can actually cancel out the second hit with a landing-cancel (stops the animation and thus hitbox of an attack due to the character landing on a floor like the Stage or a Platform) and therefore retain just the property of the downward trajectory found with just the first hitbox.
Setups
The best way I found to set up this technique is out of a Grab. When an opponent is at low damage a Down Throw Attack (D-Throw) will put them just within range that a Low Jump will put you into position for a first-hit F-Air at the top of your jump where you can Fast-fall into a landing cancel.
This will put you and your opponent back onto the ground with you having a nice frame advantage due to their hitstun if you do this properly.
The Pillar
Since you and your opponent have now reached the floor again, you are once again in prime position to grab them and set it up all over again. Go for it. Grab, D-Throw, first-hit F-Air, Fast-fall. You are now Pillaring.
Limitations
This technique works much better on fatties who tend to fall quickly. Characters like King Dedede, Ganondorf, and Bowser will hate you for this. But lighter and "floatier" characters will not care so much, for them just go ahead and get one or two pillar combos off and send them off with another F-air double-hit or string some U-airs on them into a finisher.
Also you will notice that anything past mid % damage and even the heavy fast-fallers will be going a little too high to follow up properly.
Additionally, 50% and beyond the opponent will have a "hard knockdown" where they will have an opportunity to "tech" (or pop themselves up off the floor when they hit with an optional roll away). So limiting this pillaring to about 40-ish % damage is about where you're going to go with this.
But fear not about these limitations because when they crop up most of the time they will give you plenty of opportunity to move in with D-tilts, U-tilts, U-Airs and further followups where you can finish off an opponent in a satisfying way (I personally rock the Piston Punch). Additionally, even if your opponent escapes there are good opportunities to get some reads in and continue putting some pain on your opponent who is most likely in a tizzy over your Pro Skillz.
I was hoping to showcase this off in Finals at the Northwest Regionals this past December 20th, but the Smash 4 event turned out to be what people called a "debacle": I got Disqualified for playing Mii!
Want to hear the ridiculous story to that?
Ok, here:
The rules did not say Mii was banned (and still do not), but sometime the night before the tournament one of the organizers decided to make a last-minute rule (which coincidentally happened after I confirmed to attend). When I was there I chose my character and the TO stomps up to me and yells at me very unprofessionally, so I go talk to the director of the tournament who seemed way too busy to care about anything and doesn't make any decisions. To make a rule that basically prevents me (and others) from playing the game in such a last-minute fashion was beyond unprofessional and I asked why they did this but no reason followed (I was given some excuses like Apex banned Mii, which was untrue); I demonstrated that they had no reason to ban the character (no attendee wanted such a thing and it was unwarranted) they offered me my money back but I refused and went and played my character and allowed the TO to make the decision to DQ me or not for playing a game that cost almost $50 to enter and traveled about 400 miles to play.
The TO DQ'd me.
The TO DQ'd me.
Without any further ado, the F-Air pillaring technique.
This technique is a way to "pillar" combo characters similar to that of Falco in Melee (in that game Falco can pop opponents up into the air with launching attacks such as U-Tilt, Shine, U-Air, or U-Smash and send them crashing back down with D-Air to repeat an rise/fall motion nicknamed "pillaring").
The way the Mii Brawler does this is with different moves (involving mostly the Forward Air Attack) a little more limited, but a lot of fun and opens up a new style of play.
Mechanics
The Forward Air Attack (F-Air) has two distinct hits. The first hit has a hitbox property that sends opponents downward in order to link into the second hit which knocks the opponent away. But with some tricky setups and execution you can actually cancel out the second hit with a landing-cancel (stops the animation and thus hitbox of an attack due to the character landing on a floor like the Stage or a Platform) and therefore retain just the property of the downward trajectory found with just the first hitbox.
Setups
The best way I found to set up this technique is out of a Grab. When an opponent is at low damage a Down Throw Attack (D-Throw) will put them just within range that a Low Jump will put you into position for a first-hit F-Air at the top of your jump where you can Fast-fall into a landing cancel.
This will put you and your opponent back onto the ground with you having a nice frame advantage due to their hitstun if you do this properly.
The Pillar
Since you and your opponent have now reached the floor again, you are once again in prime position to grab them and set it up all over again. Go for it. Grab, D-Throw, first-hit F-Air, Fast-fall. You are now Pillaring.
Limitations
This technique works much better on fatties who tend to fall quickly. Characters like King Dedede, Ganondorf, and Bowser will hate you for this. But lighter and "floatier" characters will not care so much, for them just go ahead and get one or two pillar combos off and send them off with another F-air double-hit or string some U-airs on them into a finisher.
Also you will notice that anything past mid % damage and even the heavy fast-fallers will be going a little too high to follow up properly.
Additionally, 50% and beyond the opponent will have a "hard knockdown" where they will have an opportunity to "tech" (or pop themselves up off the floor when they hit with an optional roll away). So limiting this pillaring to about 40-ish % damage is about where you're going to go with this.
But fear not about these limitations because when they crop up most of the time they will give you plenty of opportunity to move in with D-tilts, U-tilts, U-Airs and further followups where you can finish off an opponent in a satisfying way (I personally rock the Piston Punch). Additionally, even if your opponent escapes there are good opportunities to get some reads in and continue putting some pain on your opponent who is most likely in a tizzy over your Pro Skillz.
