Killing with Palutena

[rabbit.soaring]

I've been maining Palutena for a few days, and I'm pretty happy with my progress, but I'm having a lot of trouble killing with her. I rely almost completely on Uair to KO and deal damage in general, and once that gets stale, I'm kind of screwed. I try to incorporate her smashes, but her side smash's strange hitbox is constantly messing me up. Up smash is cool, but I very rarely hit with it, and oftentimes people will just double jump over and Bair me(ZSS). Does anyone know of good ways to set up smashes/ killy combos? Any feedback is appreciated.

EDIT: As long as I'm here, how do people usually punish landing lag with Palu? I was playing a ZSS that kept trying to Dthrow me into her Up Special, and I'd teleport below her, but usually just dash attack or roll away on instinct.

 

[Maraphy]

Her smashes are her strongest killing moves, and then U-Air and B-Air, and then N-air, and then Dash attack I think? D-air is also very strong of course, but you have to spike with it.

 

[Hong]

Running usmash.
Usmash to punish ledge options.
Jab to fsmash.
Ledge drop bair.
SH out of shield to bair.
Air-to-air bair.

 

[Sudai]

Explosive Flame

Usmash

Jab > Fmash

UAir

all pretty solid KO options. If you find UAir staling, try using NAirs instead of UAirs to rack dmg up. She's really one of the easier characters to ko with in this game imo.

 

[Kutios]

When punishing landing lag, I usually punish it with, grab or jab>f-smash, or for a mix up. Jab > d-tilt.

I try to mostly frame trap landing with d-tilt mostly.

 

[rabbit.soaring]

I didn't even know running Usmashes were a thing . Thanks for sharing. I'll be sure to practice Jab > Fsmash. @ Kutios , what's a frame trap, and why would I want to try to frame trap with Dtilt?

 

[Kutios]

I didn't even know running Usmashes were a thing . Thanks for sharing. I'll be sure to practice Jab > Fsmash. @ Kutios , what's a frame trap, and why would I want to try to frame trap with Dtilt?

What I mean by frame trap is, like covering his options even if he would airdodge, for example. after the d-throw, you would do N-air, and if you angel it right, if he happens to airdodge the first part, when the airdodge animation is done and you're still following him with N-air, it would still hit. at least on the ending frames of the move.

And I mention frame trapping with d-tilt for options like, reading he is going to airdodge to the floor, so you d-tilts and because it lasts for awhile, it's a guaranteed hit.

Hope I explained what I meant well.

 

[AozoraX]

If you see an opponent at a high percent (like 90-100 and above) and you have a platform or you charged an Usmash, the chances are if you get a nice usmash they're definitely going to die. Always catches floaties when you make them challenge you.

All of Palutena's smashes take precision and I can't stress that enough. Palutena hits like a truck but if you're even ONE frame off you won't get a hit...
Offstage bair is also quite a sweet move to use as well - and if you can nail her dair in the air it'll spike - but think of it as hitting with Roy's dair in Melee

 

[Kuraudo]

UTilt is a kill move too.

 

[rabbit.soaring]

What I mean by frame trap is, like covering his options even if he would airdodge, for example. after the d-throw, you would do N-air, and if you angel it right, if he happens to airdodge the first part, when the airdodge animation is done and you're still following him with N-air, it would still hit. at least on the ending frames of the move.

And I mention frame trapping with d-tilt for options like, reading he is going to airdodge to the floor, so you d-tilts and because it lasts for awhile, it's a guaranteed hit.

Hope I explained what I meant well.

Thanks, I think I understand, but for most characters, if they airdodge into the floor, wouldn't it be better to wait for the landing lag and punish with Jab > Fsmash, since it hits harder and I think does more damage?

Offstage bair is also quite a sweet move to use as well - and if you can nail her dair in the air it'll spike - but think of it as hitting with Roy's dair in Melee

I didn't actually play Melee. Is there a good way to practice hitting her Dair? The only time I ever seem to manage it is when my opponent is above the stage. Also, could counter potentially be used to intercept people's recoveries offstage? I'm thinking grab onto ledge, when opponent goes for recovery(one that deals damage) drop down and counter, then recover. This is assuming Palu's counter ends the attack prematurely, though.

EDIT: Also, is Jab > Fsmash a true combo at higher percents, or can it be airdodged/countered?

 

[Kalamander]

Yeah, I wanna try most of these kill combos. I've been winning a lot of my Palutena games because of that OP Grab > DThrow > Uair combo. That combo kills near 120% BTW ^^'. And how does Jab > FSmash work? Do you hold the Jab and then FSmash? Or just Jab once and then FSmash? and is it reliable? Haha, sorry for all these questions ^^; I just wanna be better with Palutena~

 

[-Jax]

Thanks, I think I understand, but for most characters, if they airdodge into the floor, wouldn't it be better to wait for the landing lag and punish with Jab > Fsmash, since it hits harder and I think does more damage?

The thing with most frametraps is that you try to force an airdodge by doing the move, unless they have insane reflexes, they'll see a move coming out and want to airdodge in case it's something that will hit them while falling, after which you punish the airdodge with the move.

..Or something like that. This is a weird example for me.

 

[AozoraX]

I know I sound like a broken record about Ness but
its the worst feeling when you try to frame trap but you get hit by an aerial anyway
like Ness's fair
what the hell man

 

[Kutios]

Thanks, I think I understand, but for most characters, if they airdodge into the floor, wouldn't it be better to wait for the landing lag and punish with Jab > Fsmash, since it hits harder and I think does more damage?

EDIT: Also, is Jab > Fsmash a true combo at higher percents, or can it be airdodged/countered?

It would be better yes, but it really depends on percent then, I use d-tilt to rack up damage and for better stage positioning.
If if they have high percent, I would go for the jab>f-smash for the high possible kill. Mostly because I don't want to stale my f-smash so soon.

 

[IrohDW]

Palutena actually has good kill power, the problem is that her most powerful kill moves are difficult to hit with. In addition to what everyone else has recomended, I would add the following:

Dthrow - leads into upSmash, and aerials. it doesn't necessarily combo at kill %, but it puts opponents in a good position to be hit by something that can kill
Bthrow - it usually won't kill on its own, but it puts the opponent in a position to be edgeguarded
Uthrow - kills at high %
Autoreticle - if you use it at the right time, it will interrupt the opponents double jump. Generally speaking it is good for harassing someone while they are recovering.
Reflect Barrier - use it to push the opponent away when they are trying to grab the ledge
Counter - Can be used to intercept some character's recoveries. It is especially useful on bigger, slower characters

 

[chipndip]

Seems like everyone covered this topic already, but yea...mainly her smash attacks, b-air, and u-air. Air KO moves are safer, but smashes are stronger options. Main thing with Palutena is aim.