Pika Q&A/FAQ Thread: Ask a Quick Question, Get a Quick Answer!

[gallax]

if you want to fair without being grabbed you must hit with three or more hits or the fair. if its shielded you are owned. falco can jab out of it though. try to learn to ff fair behind them. doesnt work on marth or snake though.

 

[delicious!]

if you want to fair without being grabbed you must hit with three or more hits or the fair. if its shielded you are owned. falco can jab out of it though. try to learn to ff fair behind them. doesnt work on marth or snake though.

so im assuming land behind them with the ff fair and utilt? i think ive tried it a few times and he is able to power shield it...or if i hit him he throws out a dair and his dair > utilt/uair

and i am also having trouble grabbing him from his stupid lasers...any (almost) foolproof strategies for that?

 

[Kirin]

Thanks for posting the vids Bear, but the second one does not seem to work (for me at least). From watching the crew vid, my friend plays a lot more spammy than Keef. Whenever you were on the edge Keef was basically just standing there waiting for you to get up, my friend would have been spamming PK Thunders straight at me. Keef also did not use PK Fire much. How do I get around spam like that?

 

[Van Jones]

Spam is the easiest to deal with IMO. If they are constantly spamming PK Fire, that means that they will not be able to do anything else. First, learn the timing for PK Fire (how fast it starts and ends). Once you are able to get the timing down, you can then figure out when you should attempt to jump in and punish the move.

 

[Kirin]

What about a wall of PK Thunders? My friend is very good at directing projectiles (he mains Pit after all) so even if I drop/jump and dodge the Thunder the first time around he always brings it back around and hits me in the back.

 

[gallax]

so im assuming land behind them with the ff fair and utilt? i think ive tried it a few times and he is able to power shield it...or if i hit him he throws out a dair and his dair > utilt/uair

and i am also having trouble grabbing him from his stupid lasers...any (almost) foolproof strategies for that?

falco is one of those chars where you have to be patient when playing against. the first thing i want to talk about that needs more explaining is the fair. when playing falco i use it to shieldpoke if you will. i fair at them and pull away if i know its not going to work. when i know its going to work i let the whole thing hit falco and knock him back. ff fair behind them is really effective if you spam utilt like 3-4 times and connect with it and mabye follow it up with a bair(my favorite although many do not) if he jumps oos(out of shield) and dairs you your utilt should beat it. why? jsut realize it takes less frames to pull off an utilt compared to a jump>dair. if you feel though that he is beating you, then shield yourself when you land behind and counter with an oos nair after he has daired you. being able to read your opponent is most important in this MU.

another thing that is super effective is the sh dair by pika(you can land on the ground without landing on your head. called a pikastorm. sh then immediately use your dair and it should end before you touch the ground, giving you a lagless attack where you can shield or spotdodge or anything you want) as we all know falcos love their grab. well, when they are near you and you do not know waht to do or know they are going to try and grab you somehow, pikastorm them. the dair is gonna wreck their worlds. its so effective at any percent you are at. falcos will try to grab you at any percent thats not above 150%.

as a side note i love the pikastorm as it aggravated the h3ll out of my opponents sometimes. its just a good move all around.

now for lasers. it all really depends on who has the lead. if you do then just crouch and do nothing. stay far enough away so that the falco doesnt illusion through you. let them get to you and go on the offensive. i agree that it will get super gay, but who cares. they will lose if they keep l;asering and you just stay there crouching.

but, if you are losing, then there is something yuo can do. remember that we have a tjolt. be willing to sacrifice getting hit by a laser in order to jump over the lasers and send out a tjolt. this will make them stop everytime guaranteed for at least a second or two. guaranteed. this gives you plenty of time to get closer. beware, if you arent wary they will illusion to the other side and start all over again. actually, expect it. it will happen. just tjolt them on the other side and approach them. but be smart about it. jump above the lasers and airdodge as necessary. if all else fails yuo can shield and spotdodge lasers.

 

[delicious!]

falco is one of those chars where you have to be patient when playing against. the first thing i want to talk about that needs more explaining is the fair. when playing falco i use it to shieldpoke if you will. i fair at them and pull away if i know its not going to work. when i know its going to work i let the whole thing hit falco and knock him back. ff fair behind them is really effective if you spam utilt like 3-4 times and connect with it and mabye follow it up with a bair(my favorite although many do not) if he jumps oos(out of shield) and dairs you your utilt should beat it. why? jsut realize it takes less frames to pull off an utilt compared to a jump>dair. if you feel though that he is beating you, then shield yourself when you land behind and counter with an oos nair after he has daired you. being able to read your opponent is most important in this MU.

another thing that is super effective is the sh dair by pika(you can land on the ground without landing on your head. called a pikastorm. sh then immediately use your dair and it should end before you touch the ground, giving you a lagless attack where you can shield or spotdodge or anything you want) as we all know falcos love their grab. well, when they are near you and you do not know waht to do or know they are going to try and grab you somehow, pikastorm them. the dair is gonna wreck their worlds. its so effective at any percent you are at. falcos will try to grab you at any percent thats not above 150%.

as a side note i love the pikastorm as it aggravated the h3ll out of my opponents sometimes. its just a good move all around.

now for lasers. it all really depends on who has the lead. if you do then just crouch and do nothing. stay far enough away so that the falco doesnt illusion through you. let them get to you and go on the offensive. i agree that it will get super gay, but who cares. they will lose if they keep l;asering and you just stay there crouching.

but, if you are losing, then there is something yuo can do. remember that we have a tjolt. be willing to sacrifice getting hit by a laser in order to jump over the lasers and send out a tjolt. this will make them stop everytime guaranteed for at least a second or two. guaranteed. this gives you plenty of time to get closer. beware, if you arent wary they will illusion to the other side and start all over again. actually, expect it. it will happen. just tjolt them on the other side and approach them. but be smart about it. jump above the lasers and airdodge as necessary. if all else fails yuo can shield and spotdodge lasers.

wow thank you so much that helped alot! but how do you know if your fair is going to work or not?

 

[Kirkon]

Hey, I need help beating a friend's Pikachu with Kirby. Yes, hes lots better than me. I thought since you guys are Pikachu users, you could help. here are my problems:

- Quick Attack is a nuisance, he QUACKs through all of my attacks, especially nB. I know I can punish it with any of his Aerials, but he keeps dodging them. QA to Nair is annoying, especially when used consistently.

- Thunder, I can dodge it and wait it out offstage, but he punishes it(I sometimes recover under the stage, due to his hax edgeguarding skills).

- Pikachu...its almost as if he's a heavyweight sometimes, he JUST WON'T DIE.

- When I break through/dodge through his nBs, he punishes whatever I did.

- Down Smash is annoying as heck. By the time I SDI'd out of it, he already punished it(although this could be just because my DI isnt all that great).

- Did I mention Quick Attack Cancel?

- I cannot land a Single Smash, Special, or Grab on him, he just dodges/shields/QUACKS to safety.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

learn what attacks break QAC, im sure you have ones that do it easily

 

[Kirkon]

learn what attacks break QAC, im sure you have ones that do it easily

yes i do(especially Bair), but he dodges it(no pun intended) before i can break it

 

[delicious!]

haha i wanna see your friends pikachu play....he sounds pretty good...

 

[Kirin]

How effective of a strategy is QAC into the ground > Dair. Such as while on the ground QA up, then immediately down, so that you don't move up but it counts as a QAC and you can immediately Dair out of it. Seems like a nice mix-up but I'm not sure. I also like, when playing on Battlefield, QACing up, then down onto the top platform when enemies respawn, and Dair'ing immediately. That is, if their invincibility frames are gone.

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

It could be mostly used when you haven't used it in a tournament or something and catch your opponent offguard instead of uairing-nair or something. Somewhat practical, but make sure you DON'T overuse it.

 

[Kirin]

Yeah for sure. Can't use anything too much, I don't want to get predictable!

 

[Sukai]

Fox + Pikachu = "oh God no..."

How well does Fox work with Pikachu (and vise versa naturally) in doubles?

Please post your answer/description/summary, here and accompany it with a ranking from 1 to 10, 10 being the highest.
Thanks a bunch, mains of our arch nemesis.
^^

 

[Terios the Hedgehog]

If you know the Fox is going for an Usmash you can be ready with a QAC Thunder to help finish them off. Past that it's kind of weird. Pikachu love wide open spaces to QAC around and generally mess with their opponents. Fox sort of limits that as he goes in for a more.....bait and punish type of play that requires a lot of field control. I do like that Tjolt spammed can help Foxes predictable recovery by distracting people while still fighting their own threat. This is all theory craft however.

 

[Masky]

..........

 

[NARUTOG]

can someone plz tell me how to do a reverse Tjolt from a QAC

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Naruto, its the same thing as jumping and shooting a T-jolt the other way, but out of a QAC.

 

[NARUTOG]

oh but when i do it on the ground i keep doing skullbash instead

 

[Stealth Raptor]

you aret moving your hands fast enough, just quickly tap the other direction then hit b when the control stick is in a neutral position.

 

[NARUTOG]

OHHH ok and one more question when you QAC into someone they turn around right?

 

[KayLo!]

OHHH ok and one more question when you QAC into someone they turn around right?

Whenever a character is hit, they automatically face in the direction of their opponent (more specifically, the direction that the hit came from)..... so if you QAC through someone's back, they'll turn around and face whichever direction you started the hit from.

 

[RjPunch]

okay it's been a while since I posted but have noticed that when you use dsmash on an opponent trying to recover, if timed right, you can send them under the stage?

 

[[FBC] ESAM]

Yes, if they are on the ledge and get caught with the D-smash they will get stage spiked. Also, on levels like delfino, it can just pull them under the lip. Or hell, even when they are actually recovering on the ledge you can D-smash and send them back off (especially opponents who like to airdodge)

 

[TLMSheikant]

Ok...so I am able to chain grab snake falco DDD etc already with the buffered grabs...but when i face an mk main here. I start dthrow at 10-13% and he just footstools me everytime...is my timing against mk wrong? or is it possible to escape?

 

[KayLo!]

Ok...so I am able to chain grab snake falco DDD etc already with the buffered grabs...but when i face an mk main here. I start dthrow at 10-13% and he just footstools me everytime...is my timing against mk wrong? or is it possible to escape?

I think Prime said it's possible for him to buffer jumps and escape. But I'd also double-check your timing if you have that person or another MK friend to practice with.

 

[Wiscus]

Hello awesome Pikachus!

I've been having problems lately, I love pikachu and his playstyle, he's a very fun character to use but I'm having trouble incorporating higher levels of skill/technique into my gameplay. It's hard to love a character but not use that character to their full potential...I've tried different ways of mixing up my gameplay (playing agianst cpu's withput using B moves, not using certian moves, etc)
I may be a little impatient but it's been a few months and my improvement seems to be very slow. Did any of you have this problem? How did you help overcome it? I was thinking about dropping Pika for a while and playing as my secondaries a bit and then returning to Pika later. Do you think this will help or hurt me?
...
I apologize for the long read, and I just wanted to say the pika boards are awesome, I lurk here all the time

 

[KayLo!]

Hello awesome Pikachus!

I've been having problems lately, I love pikachu and his playstyle, he's a very fun character to use but I'm having trouble incorporating higher levels of skill/technique into my gameplay. It's hard to love a character but not use that character to their full potential...I've tried different ways of mixing up my gameplay (playing agianst cpu's withput using B moves, not using certian moves, etc)
I may be a little impatient but it's been a few months and my improvement seems to be very slow. Did any of you have this problem? How did you help overcome it? I was thinking about dropping Pika for a while and playing as my secondaries a bit and then returning to Pika later. Do you think this will help or hurt me?
...
I apologize for the long read, and I just wanted to say the pika boards are awesome, I lurk here all the time

I wouldn't call it dropping him (sounds so harsh!), but if you think taking a break from Pika will help you in the long-run, go for it. Switching to another character for a while can definitely be beneficial..... when you come back to Pikachu, you may find that you've gotten over bad character-specific habits you have with him or that you're using parts of his moveset in ways you hadn't thought of before.

Nearly everyone gets to a point where they hit a wall, especially with a character as complicated as Pika, so don't worry about it. Reading guides and whatnot is all good, but actually incorporating what you learn will only come with enough experience. By playing against good opponents, you'll learn which tactics work against which characters at which time..... that's something you can't really fully grasp by just reading it.

Good luck! As long as you return to Pika eventually, we won't have to hurt you for abandoning him.

 

[Wiscus]

I wouldn't call it dropping him (sounds so harsh!), but if you think taking a break from Pika will help you in the long-run, go for it. Switching to another character for a while can definitely be beneficial..... when you come back to Pikachu, you may find that you've gotten over bad character-specific habits you have with him or that you're using parts of his moveset in ways you hadn't thought of before.

Nearly everyone gets to a point where they hit a wall, especially with a character as complicated as Pika, so don't worry about it. Reading guides and whatnot is all good, but actually incorporating what you learn will only come with enough experience. By playing against good opponents, you'll learn which tactics work against which characters at which time..... that's something you can't really fully grasp by just reading it.

Good luck! As long as you return to Pika eventually, we won't have to hurt you for abandoning him.

Thank you very much Kaylo. It's so hard to leave him (even for a little while). Also I wanted to thank you for your excellent guide (which I saved to my comp quite awhile before I joined the site)

 

[KayLo!]

Thank you very much Kaylo. It's so hard to leave him (even for a little while). Also I wanted to thank you for your excellent guide (which I saved to my comp quite awhile before I joined the site)

No problem. It definitely is hard to leave Pika.... that cute face just begs you not to go.... ;-;!!

As for the guide, thank the whole PBR! We all worked together on it. Glad you enjoyed it, hehe.

 

[Gerbality]

I have a couple quick questions,
The landing lag of pikas dair has a hitbox, is this even useful? Should I autocancel his dair?
Is dair out of QAC useful? I mean, it seems to have high lag, so should I bother with it?
Is it faster waiting for pikas nair to autocancel or to fastfall it?

 

[Piman34]

its situational, because one, it has pretty bad lag, and two it has a pretty limited hitbox. however, it can be used pretty well if you're coming down on top of someone and hit them, then the ground, they will usually go back far enough to not be punished for it. also, the instant dair out of QAC is a good mindgame, but by no means should it be used regularly. it is useful, like a quick attack that they don't see coming. but yeah most of the time you want to autocancel the dair, if you watch videos of say anther, he does this thing where he shorthops the dair to autocancel it, but he still has time to pull out the beginning frames of a nair, which is a great move for people who think they will grab you out of it . just something you can play around with, but yeah by far autocancelling is what you should do, IMO.

regarding the nair, if you want to be able to react w/o lag or chain into another attack quickly, dont fastfall it, but if you wouldn't hit with it, because the attack would end before you come into contact with their hurtbox then you might want to fast fall it, the lag might be worth it in that situation.

hope i helped (if not dont yell at me i dont usually provide helpful info x.x)

 

[Semmick]

Hey other Pikas!
I'm teaming with a Marth at an upcoming tournament, do you guys have any suggestions on strategies to use, counterpicks, etc.? Thanks!

 

[Pika_Cam]

If I could bring up the sheik matchup for just a second. I played a really good sheik at a tournament yesterday, and he was able to cancel out my fast fall fair to grab combo by jabbing me before I could grab. Are there any other good setups for grabbing Sheik that can't be cancelled by a jab? I can't get the buffered cg off if I can't grab her.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

utilt to grab at low percents

 

[SilverSpark]

I'll ask once again. Could you guys help me with some good CP stages against Olimar, GW, ROB, and Marth?

 

[Pika_Cam]

Olimar: Rainbow Cruise, Frigate Orpheon, Jungle Japes
G&W: Lylat Cruise (imo)
ROB: ???
Marth: Rainbow Cruise or Jungle Japes

 

[SilverSpark]

Could you explain Lylat Cruise for GW as a CP?

 

[King~]

GnW: halberd, castle seige, and frigate to an extent
Olimar: delfino
Marth: smashville, Fd