YoshiYoshi
Smash Apprentice
This isn't necessarily a competitive topic or one that is intended to start a heated debate or to address the long standing bias the player-base at large has held against Yoshi or anything, but for the sake of proper analysis of my favorite character, the question deserves exploration.
It has come to my attention that a large amount of players and even top pros seem to think that Yoshi is really good in lag. From my experience of almost over 9000 For Glory matches, I couldn't disagree with that statement more. At least, it depends on what type of lag you are experiencing. I personally pay top dollar for the best internet service in my town, and I never enjoy playing a match in slime.
A lot of what I'm hearing is that Yoshi's moves are so fast, they are hard to punish in lag. That might be true, but every character is harder to punish in lag,. Other's have significantly deadlier moves in lag, or can more easily punish poor maneuverability - this more makes up for the loss of the ability to punish a quick attack off a defensive option.
For matches with slowdown and random skipping, by far the most common types of lag, I feel that Yoshi is at a disadvantage to the vast majority of the cast.
I think a lot of people who say Yoshi is good in lag are misunderstanding the situation. It sucks for both players involved to be playing in lag, but Yoshi is actually one of the worst characters in lag. Sure, it might be hard to shield grab Yoshi's jab or n-air in lag, but Yoshi gets annihilated on the defensive and requires hard punishes to secure KOs.
Agree? Disagree? For or against? I don't intend to challenge anyone's opinion viscerally, I'm looking for rational, non-biased, and educated opinions.
It has come to my attention that a large amount of players and even top pros seem to think that Yoshi is really good in lag. From my experience of almost over 9000 For Glory matches, I couldn't disagree with that statement more. At least, it depends on what type of lag you are experiencing. I personally pay top dollar for the best internet service in my town, and I never enjoy playing a match in slime.
A lot of what I'm hearing is that Yoshi's moves are so fast, they are hard to punish in lag. That might be true, but every character is harder to punish in lag,. Other's have significantly deadlier moves in lag, or can more easily punish poor maneuverability - this more makes up for the loss of the ability to punish a quick attack off a defensive option.
For matches with slowdown and random skipping, by far the most common types of lag, I feel that Yoshi is at a disadvantage to the vast majority of the cast.
- Yoshi's offensive capabilities depend heavily on challenging your opponents reaction time. Standard approaches on the ground involve a risky game of dash or grab where the opponent has a brief moment to choose a defensive option. Any longer they have to think about your choice, the more likely they will pick the right defensive option. Approaches in the air are made more difficult, since every move is telegraphed; very bad for Yoshi. All of Yoshi's technical offensive options are completely negated. One 'easy' way to KO in lag is pulling of a dash KO at 200%.
- Yoshi lacks the range, power, or multi hit moves needed to create a wall of offense/defense when maneuverability is poor. On the defensive, Yoshi can't as easily luck his way into a punishes as other characters can. They are also much softer punishes; Yoshi can't KO with tilts bellow the mid-200%s. Up-airs are harder to connect with than they are to dodge. Also, Yoshi's already clumsy shield becomes clumsier.
- Egg Toss is ruined by lag, and their trajectory is not good in lag. It's hard to complete the arc properly in bullet time or when the game munches frames. Horizontal projectiles such as Falco's lasers, PK Fire, KO balls, etc. are all significantly more advantageous in lag. Characters with good horizontal projectiles are the best characters to use in lag. Every character falls behind them on the tier list of lag.
- In turn, Yoshi's recovery is bad in lag. He will quite often plummet to his death during frame munching lag, when an attempted Egg Toss results in a Egg Roll. It's harder to break out of Egg Roll in lag. It's harder to land on the stage without perfect placement while avoiding of wide-arced moves which Yoshi generally lacks.
- The only move that is both hard to punish and can threaten KO in lag, is down old fashioned B spam. It will be pretty obvious when you see this and it's usually a sign of bad Yoshi play. It's harder to punish un-safe down-Bs in lag, but it should be obvious that you're playing against an opponent who is taking stupid risks that are made better by lag. If someone is beating you that way, know that you're getting beat by a lag specific strategy, but I don't think it helps Yoshi all that much strategically. The move can still be hard punished and isn't very strong while stale. Other characters have lamer KO spam than ground pound spam (including characters with even lamer ground-pound spam strategies).
- Yoshi relies on laggy B-reversals more often than most characters. This might be referring more to someone trying to play Yoshi at a high level on For Glory than what a typical player would care about. It's really hard to pull off aerial Egg Lays and grounded-down-B reversals during bad internet connection. Lag takes away a lot of Yoshi's technical options.
I think a lot of people who say Yoshi is good in lag are misunderstanding the situation. It sucks for both players involved to be playing in lag, but Yoshi is actually one of the worst characters in lag. Sure, it might be hard to shield grab Yoshi's jab or n-air in lag, but Yoshi gets annihilated on the defensive and requires hard punishes to secure KOs.
Agree? Disagree? For or against? I don't intend to challenge anyone's opinion viscerally, I'm looking for rational, non-biased, and educated opinions.
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