Ledgewhipping is used when your opponent has or is about to recover to the ledge rather than onto the stage. This will obviously occur much more often against some characters than others because of the way their recoveries work. Ledgewhipping is situationally a zero risk form of edgeguarding against this. I've been doing a lot of testing and experimenting with it in order to perfect it and this is what I've come up with.
Perfect Ledgewhipping On Solid Stages
As you notice your opponent recovering to the ledge, run to the very edge until you go into your teetering animation. This is easily done by dashing and letting go shortly before you reach the edge. Make sure your skidding animation has stopped before you begin PK Thunder or you may slide off the edge. If timed correctly, you should begin your PK Thunder just as the opponent has grabbed the ledge. Send PK Thunder down along the ledge of the stage so that it goes through the opponent during their invincibility frames. When the thunder goes through the bottom of the opponent, loop it back up around in order to hit yourself.
Perfect ledgewhipping on solid stages only works on certain characters at certain percentages. As you know, there are several ways to get up from the edge. You can do your standard stand up animation by pushing toward the stage, this varies with percentage. You can drop and then jump. You can jump from the edge. You can attack from the edge which varies with percentage. Or you may roll onto the stage from the edge. The beauty of perfect ledgewhipping is that it negates every one of these options in certain situations and punishes them. If the opponent stands up, they are hit by PKT2. If the opponent drops to jump, they are hit by PKT1 and most often stage spiked. If the opponent jumps, they are hit by PKT2 (you have to aim it up this time which is why you were standing on the very edge.) If the opponent rolls onto the stage they are hit by PKT2. Some character's attack animations will not hit you if you are standing at the teetering point for ledgewhipping causing them to miss completely and leading into a PKT2.
Perfect ledgewhipping will work everytime against the following characters.
Snake - Under 100%
Samus - Anytime
Marth - Under 100%
Diddy - Under 100%
Sheik - Over 100%
Charizard - Over 100%
Ike - Over 100%
King Dedede - Over 100%
Wolf - Over 100%
Lucario - Under 100%
Toon Link - Over 100%
Captain Falcon - Over 100%
Zero Suit Samus - Over 100%
Perfect ledgewhipping will work against other characters sometimes but it will depend entirely upon when they decide to use their attack which makes it well...not perfect. Since PKT1 outprioritizes every ledge attack, if the thunder is still in the way it will stop them. But if it is already below the stage when they do a ledge attack, they will hit you.
Perfect Ledgewhipping on Fallthrough Stages
Stages like Delfino Plaza are ideal for ledgewhipping. However it's done in a slightly different way. This time when you see the opponent headed for the edge, stop just short of where their ledge attack will hit you. This may take some time to get used to but even if you misspace it a little bit, most often it will still work. This time send your PK Thunder past the stage, down, and loop it up through the bottom of the stage in front of you to make a small circle. Again you have completely eliminated all of their options. Any ledge attack they do will be outprioritized by your thunder and you may repeat the process. If they jump from the ledge, send your thunder through the bottom and hit yourself upward with PKT2 into them. This works perfectly against any character.
Imperfect Ledgewhipping
Sometimes the ideal situation just isn't there when you need it. Against characters not listed above or at the wrong percentage, you're going to want to be out of the ledge attack range on solid stages. You follow the same process as perfect ledgewhipping on a solid stage except that you start further inside the stage in order to be outside of range. This will eliminate all options for the opponent except for jumping from the ledge quickly after they grab on. If they do this, you will have to hit yourself across the stage away from them with PKT2 in order to ensure your safety. Many opponents don't realize that this is the way they can escape so it's quite possible you can get away with it atleast for a while. Either way as long as you hit yourself away at the end there should be no risk to you and it can stop ledge camping.
Why is it important to know ledgewhipping?
1. Because no one will understand what's going on. People freak out the first time you ledgewhip them. Something about having the thunder inside their bodies during invincibility frames completely messes with their heads. The first few times they might even drop immediately trying to avoid it leading to an easy stagespike. Once they figure out what you're doing you'll have to try a bit harder but trust me, it works.
2. Absolute **** on tether recoveries. Anyone who abuses their tether will get annhialated by this. All you have to do is have the between them and the stage and they'll pull themselves right into it for stagespikes or knockback. Imperfect or perfect will always destroy them. Samus takes it especially hard.
Perfect Ledgewhipping On Solid Stages
As you notice your opponent recovering to the ledge, run to the very edge until you go into your teetering animation. This is easily done by dashing and letting go shortly before you reach the edge. Make sure your skidding animation has stopped before you begin PK Thunder or you may slide off the edge. If timed correctly, you should begin your PK Thunder just as the opponent has grabbed the ledge. Send PK Thunder down along the ledge of the stage so that it goes through the opponent during their invincibility frames. When the thunder goes through the bottom of the opponent, loop it back up around in order to hit yourself.
Perfect ledgewhipping on solid stages only works on certain characters at certain percentages. As you know, there are several ways to get up from the edge. You can do your standard stand up animation by pushing toward the stage, this varies with percentage. You can drop and then jump. You can jump from the edge. You can attack from the edge which varies with percentage. Or you may roll onto the stage from the edge. The beauty of perfect ledgewhipping is that it negates every one of these options in certain situations and punishes them. If the opponent stands up, they are hit by PKT2. If the opponent drops to jump, they are hit by PKT1 and most often stage spiked. If the opponent jumps, they are hit by PKT2 (you have to aim it up this time which is why you were standing on the very edge.) If the opponent rolls onto the stage they are hit by PKT2. Some character's attack animations will not hit you if you are standing at the teetering point for ledgewhipping causing them to miss completely and leading into a PKT2.
Perfect ledgewhipping will work everytime against the following characters.
Snake - Under 100%
Samus - Anytime
Marth - Under 100%
Diddy - Under 100%
Sheik - Over 100%
Charizard - Over 100%
Ike - Over 100%
King Dedede - Over 100%
Wolf - Over 100%
Lucario - Under 100%
Toon Link - Over 100%
Captain Falcon - Over 100%
Zero Suit Samus - Over 100%
Perfect ledgewhipping will work against other characters sometimes but it will depend entirely upon when they decide to use their attack which makes it well...not perfect. Since PKT1 outprioritizes every ledge attack, if the thunder is still in the way it will stop them. But if it is already below the stage when they do a ledge attack, they will hit you.
Perfect Ledgewhipping on Fallthrough Stages
Stages like Delfino Plaza are ideal for ledgewhipping. However it's done in a slightly different way. This time when you see the opponent headed for the edge, stop just short of where their ledge attack will hit you. This may take some time to get used to but even if you misspace it a little bit, most often it will still work. This time send your PK Thunder past the stage, down, and loop it up through the bottom of the stage in front of you to make a small circle. Again you have completely eliminated all of their options. Any ledge attack they do will be outprioritized by your thunder and you may repeat the process. If they jump from the ledge, send your thunder through the bottom and hit yourself upward with PKT2 into them. This works perfectly against any character.
Imperfect Ledgewhipping
Sometimes the ideal situation just isn't there when you need it. Against characters not listed above or at the wrong percentage, you're going to want to be out of the ledge attack range on solid stages. You follow the same process as perfect ledgewhipping on a solid stage except that you start further inside the stage in order to be outside of range. This will eliminate all options for the opponent except for jumping from the ledge quickly after they grab on. If they do this, you will have to hit yourself across the stage away from them with PKT2 in order to ensure your safety. Many opponents don't realize that this is the way they can escape so it's quite possible you can get away with it atleast for a while. Either way as long as you hit yourself away at the end there should be no risk to you and it can stop ledge camping.
Why is it important to know ledgewhipping?
1. Because no one will understand what's going on. People freak out the first time you ledgewhip them. Something about having the thunder inside their bodies during invincibility frames completely messes with their heads. The first few times they might even drop immediately trying to avoid it leading to an easy stagespike. Once they figure out what you're doing you'll have to try a bit harder but trust me, it works.
2. Absolute **** on tether recoveries. Anyone who abuses their tether will get annhialated by this. All you have to do is have the between them and the stage and they'll pull themselves right into it for stagespikes or knockback. Imperfect or perfect will always destroy them. Samus takes it especially hard.
