I have no defensive game

[nbrkn]

I'm a noob by all accounts. I've never played in SSB64 tournaments, played Melee once or twice, and now have Brawl. I main Kirby. I'd never heard of the Melee advanced techniques until I found this place after I got Brawl. And most grievous of all: I never used my shield, nor did I grab, until last week.

I have no defensive game.

I'm wrecking lvl8 CPUs (1v1, no items, neutral stages) and I pwn the random online FFA at a rate that is greater than 50%, so my offensive game is reasonably developed. But when I watch my replays I can clearly see opportunities for shielding and grabbing. I simply don't recognize these defensive openings in the thick of the match the way I can identify offensive openings.

Do any of you have specific advice for developing defensive skills? In the meantime I'll just keep watching my replays to identify defensive opportunities.

Thanks for your time.

---

One thing that has helped my Kirby game immensely was trying to play MetaKnight. The glide mechanic and his neutral-b forced me to learn to neutral the control stick in between actions. I know to everyone else this is like "DUH!" but for me it was an earthshaking improvement on bad habits developed over years of casual Kirby SSB64.

Are there any characters you can recommend to me whose playstyles lend themselves toward developing stronger defensive play?

 

[Sikarios]

Any big, slow character requires air tight defense, especially when facing Pit's, Toon Links, and so forth.

Play DeDeDe: not only is he really good, his speed will require you to rethink your game.

One thing to practice is this: hold your shield button and move the stick left and right to do rolls. Time your inputs so he goes from one roll to the next w/ very little delay. Left, Right, Left, Right, Right, Left, Left, or whatever.

 

[Dnato]

also since your holding shield while rolling you can grab straight out of shield by pressing A

 

[Hose A]

Once you get shielding and rolling down, start trying to spot dodge and air dodge. Spot dodging is when you're holding your shield on the ground, and you press down, making you dodge but stay in the same place. Air dodging is hitting the shield button in mid air, causing you to avoid attacks that way.

 

[Negative Zero]

The way I shield is pretty simple. They want to win as much as you do, so they'll attack when they get the chance. So, any time you whiff an attack, any time they get behind you, any time you can't comfortably attack them where they are (for instance, right above and in front of you), shield. They'll probably attack, which means a free shield grab, which could mean a combo if you are good with your character.

 

[Professor Smash Attack]

I would suggest playing much slower. Kirby and other light characters move quickly and/or have nice jumps. It's simply EASIER to avoid things by jumping or running out of the way, but then you don't improve.

I played Ike for a bit, and I was impressed by his powerful attacks. But he moves very slowly, so I had to REALLY get the hang of dodges for the first time. The fact of the matter is that now my Pit and Sonic games have drastically improved thanks to my time with Ike.

 

[Enzario]

Here's what you do: go into training mode, or a time brawl set on infinite, vs. a level nine mario (we won't use anything crazy yet, average will do just fine). Now, don't attack, don't even think about doing anything offensive. See how long you can go without being hit. Rinse, repeat. It's what I did, and all of a sudden I can beat any of my friends with hardly any effort.

 

[Mechageo]

Once you get blocking down, try to go for perfect shielding.
It's what happens when you block and your shield makes the "Chink!" sound and flashes.

After you perfect block, you can usually do an attack out of it before your opponent can react.

 

[nbrkn]

Wow, thank you all for such concrete advice! I hadn't expected to get so many immediately practical training techniques and quality suggestions so soon in response to my "I'm yet another noob asking for help" thread!

I look forward to trying everything in this thread, and to the rapid improvement in my defensive game that is sure to follow. Thanks again!

 

[Rapid_Assassin]

To develop a defensive game, play any of these characters: Zelda, Dedede, Bowser, Ganondorf, Donkey Kong

Learn to watch your opponent for patterns. Eventually you might pick up on times when he'll shield and you can grab him, or times when he attacks with something other than a grab (a good time to practice shielding).

Try playing anyone slow (such as those listed above) vs. anyone fast who is reasonably good offensively. Also, there's nothing wrong with learning to defend by running or jumping out of the way, or out prioritizing their attacks. But you will need to use your shield from time to time, and don't be afraid to do so.

 

[theONEjanitor]

play people that are better than you.
you'll learn to be defensive by force.

 

[undeinpirat]

nbrkn, don't feel alone, I barely have any defensive game, however, thanks to the kind people in this thread I hope both you and I can get better defensively! Thanks again!

 

[mark.]

please shield for your defense. it can defend and provide defense.

 

[calicocal]

I play Zelda so I have to be defensive. The way I play is that I use my defense to set up dsmashes. Its amazing how well it works. They charge you, roll behind, and down smash. The dsmash hits behind you so even if they roll behind you it still hits them.

Another advantage of this is that by playing defensively and counter attacking you will make your opponent play outside of his/her game.

My motto: Spam Din's fire :D And play very defensively.

 

[Yakt-NJ]

play people that are better than you.
you'll learn to be defensive by force.

My name is Yakt, and I support this message. My friend is incredible now just because he spent the first three months of his smash career getting destroyed by two more experienced players. You'll learn how to defend yourself and get out of the way when you need to. A big problem new players have is playing recklessly in the face of danger without the ability to back it up. You'll get over this if you play with more experienced players, even people who only have melee experience.

To develop a defensive game, play any of these characters: Zelda, Dedede, Bowser, Ganondorf, Donkey Kong

Learn to watch your opponent for patterns. Eventually you might pick up on times when he'll shield and you can grab him, or times when he attacks with something other than a grab (a good time to practice shielding).

Try playing anyone slow (such as those listed above) vs. anyone fast who is reasonably good offensively. Also, there's nothing wrong with learning to defend by running or jumping out of the way, or out prioritizing their attacks. But you will need to use your shield from time to time, and don't be afraid to do so.

This is really good. I second this absolutely. Zelda has a pretty sick quick ranged game in brawl through Din's fire and her smashes are pretty quick compared to these other examples but as far as movement is conserned she's a great character to work on evasive tactics with because if you get caught in a series of attacks and aren't experienced enough to use your directional influence to get out of it it's going to be pretty harsh.

Summary: Use the experience of others to your advantage and play some slow characters who have a hard time defending themselves in the first place, and you should notice positive changes.

 

[OoNoiRoO]

Learn Bowser. He's fun to use as well.

Some things to keep in mind.

- You can end your running animation with shield. This follows up to running up to the opponent and shielding.
- Shield grabbing.
- Knowing and using your range to it's fullest.
- Spacing depending on the opponent.

As simple as these things sound, most of it come with general knowledge of the game mechanics and the characters. Playing more and seeing how other people play will highly improve your game.

 

[CodeytheRhino]

Rolling and sidestepping are really important and easy to use. You can roll behind and throw/grab easily. Also, perfect shielding is important.

 

[thewiredknight]

Yeah I vote for trying slower characters too. Save for shielding I didn't have a lot of defense before but when I started maining Ike I really had to get used to it. Slow characters are about finding openigns and making them. So you have to get used to anticipating attacks so you can dodge them since spamming dodges will get you killed.

 

[Frey]

well since your a kirby user, Dedede works best since he plays like kirby. Hes basically an obese version of kirby without copying skills.