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

[AfroPingas]

I gotz a question.
Is there any situations where Bair is helpful? Except OoS punishment. Because I started maining Pika like two days ago I don't really know stuff like this XP

 

[Ussi]

Platform abuse is all I ever use it for. Great for wrecking shields so yea.

 

[KayLo!]

Like Ussi said, it's good for shield-eating when people are up on platforms. Once it hits, you can also use it to literally drag people off the platform.

Other than that, bair is sort of situational.... you can substitute it in pretty much anywhere you'd use nair or uair, but some of the added benefits it has are:

Better priority
Better horizontal range
Longer-lasting hitbox (good for hitting people if they decide to airdodge)
Weird momentum you can use to follow people's DI and/or drag them in a certain direction
More damage if all the hits connect

Of course, that comes at the cost of super lag if you miss, but it's a fun move. And a little unexpected.

You can also full hop it to approach if you think your opponent might try to jump/aerial at you, and if they're low to the stage off the edge, you can use it to pull people down to where they can't recover (but Pika can because QA is beastly).

I dunno. It's sort of a spontaneous move, but it's useful.

 

[Legendary Pikachu]

In double's play, full-hopped b-air can sometimes be killer air coverage if you have a projectile-based teammate (lucario/falco).

 

[gallax]

i also like bair because it does have a hitstun at the end that always screws the opponent.

 

[smasher01]

hey when you CG with f-throw can you dash grab to re grab or do you have to do some special type of grab
like boost grab or something like that so they cant get out of the CG ?

 

[lmntolp]

just dash grab with a buffered dash

 

[AfroPingas]

Thank guize.
I liek your boards :3

 

[gallax]

i try to boost grab(sometimes) when they are at high percents and i want to get them to the edge. one throw max.

 

[V]

When during Pika's Fthrow do you buffer his run into another grab?

When do you buffer another grab during Dthrow? My timing on his CGs is just off.

 

[The_Bear735]

Well, I've been having some trouble learning QAC on my own. I've seen a few videos explaining it on YT, but I still can't get the hang of it. Since most of you are probably well aware of how to do it, I was wondering if someone could give me some advice on how to perform it well. Also, any tips on Pikachu in general?



Sorry if this a spam thread or w/e. I didn't immediately see any topics on it, so sorry if there was a topic for this or anything like. Also, I'm not asking for a "OMG TEACH ME PIKA" thing either, so don't call me a nub lol.

 

[Stealth Raptor]

Well, I've been having some trouble learning QAC on my own. I've seen a few videos explaining it on YT, but I still can't get the hang of it. Since most of you are probably well aware of how to do it, I was wondering if someone could give me some advice on how to perform it well. Also, any tips on Pikachu in general?



Sorry if this a spam thread or w/e. I didn't immediately see any topics on it, so sorry if there was a topic for this or anything like. Also, I'm not asking for a "OMG TEACH ME PIKA" thing either, so don't call me a nub lol.

nub gtfo of my boards

 

[The_Bear735]

nub gtfo of my boards

Inappropriate.

 

[IxxI]

LMAO @Stealth.

I got an infraction because I forgot to edit this.
Oh wellllll-

Anyway, when you do a SHFF FAir >DSmash.
Is there enough shield stun from the FAir and quickness of DSmash to prevent from getting shield grabbed?
It seems that I never get shield grabbed when I follow it up with a DSmash.

 

[SuSa]

How good is Pikachu's glide toss? Is it supposed to be really short and bad?

Because I've gotten him to go 1/2 of FD, and it seems the control stick needs to be "near" neutral for him to go this far... otherwise its a pathetic distance.

 

[KayLo!]

How good is Pikachu's glide toss? Is it supposed to be really short and bad?

Because I've gotten him to go 1/2 of FD, and it seems the control stick needs to be "near" neutral for him to go this far... otherwise its a pathetic distance.

Far. You got the good one.

If you hit the c-stick on the first frame of his roll, he goes a ridiculously long distance..... hold on, I'll edit this with the exact info in two seconds.

EDIT:

Ok, so I tested this at 1/4 speed again. I suspected it before but Im pretty certain that its true now, Pikachus glide toss sweet spot is done at the initial frame of the roll. I've tested this with other characters so far and havent found any so far to have an initial frame sweet spot

....

Pikachus
(sweetspot)(shortest)(normal)(long)(second longest)

....

Having the initial frame sweet spot is pretty cool for a few reasons. One it makes it relatively easy to do (not much harder then an IC chainthrow). Secondly, it completely seperates pikachus longest and second longest glide toss. Although the more i test it the more I realize pikachus second longest glide toss is very poor in comparison.

 

[PsychoNess]

I never really noticed this or tried but I do over use pivot grabs then I look and Discover I slide much more backward when I pivot grab. How do you do this exactly with buttons? I could really use this for makeing combos.

 

[lmntolp]

pivot boost grabbing is explained here: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=225527

basically while running, do a dash attack and pivot grab at the same time. There's a couple button combinations for this, like a+grab+control stick backwards, dsmash+grab+control stick backwards, etc.

 

[IxxI]

When I approach in with a FAir and my opponent shields, I know not to fast fall to prevent from getting shield grabbed.

So I'm asking, what is your best option when your opponent shield the FAir?
I usually just keep the FAir out and not fast fall it, in hopes of a shield poke.
Is there better options?

 

[bigman40]

When I approach in with a FAir and my opponent shields, I know not to fast fall to prevent from getting shield grabbed.

So I'm asking, what is your best option when your opponent shield the FAir?
I usually just keep the FAir out and not fast fall it, in hopes of a shield poke.
Is there better options?

You can space it to where you get out of their range when your move is ending, or you can land behind them to force them to accommodate you being in maybe a more advantageous spot than in front of them. Really, what are you looking for? Being able to keep the opponent guessing? Or the safest options to just abuse?

......Zuzuzu.......

 

[IxxI]

I've tried spacing, most of the people I play regularly play people use characters that have large grab range.

How could I land behind them? You can do that from a short hop? I've been landing behind from a FHFF FAir.

Also, how long is the range on Pika's FAir?
Is it his entire body?

 

[bigman40]

I've tried spacing, most of the people I play regularly play people use characters that have large grab range.

How could I land behind them? You can do that from a short hop? I've been landing behind from a FHFF FAir.

Also, how long is the range on Pika's FAir?
Is it his entire body?

Well, if they have a large grab range, then it's best to stay out of the range unless you know that they will attempt to get off balance from what you do. Like, even if you do Fair them, if you have enough time to spotdodge then it'll help in making them guess. After all, you're playing a more aggressive option in a defensive game lol. Attacking in this game is about how much you can make them guess to avoid getting hurt.

Pika's Fair normally covers his whole body. If I'm wrong, then I'll stand corrected.

.....Zuzuzu..........

 

[KayLo!]

Yeah, it covers his whole body, including the back. I don't think it spans the entire length of his tail, though. It's slightly disjointed in front of him, but not by much -- not enough to matter, anyway.

Fair has 15 frames of landing lag (iirc), so if you land with it in front of a shielding opponent, you're going to get grabbed. You can try to spotdodge and hope that they're slow on reacting, but there's nothing you can do if they shielded you and you're within their grab range.

The lesson is: don't fair a shielding opponent. Even crossover fairs can be dangerous because they can buffer a turnaround grab, but you have more of a chance of catching them with a utilt during their grab's startup lag.

Pika's approach options are limited, so you need to bait before you attempt an fair -- that, or use it to punish a mistake/lag on their part. If they're predicting it and shielding, you need to set it up better.

 

[IxxI]

I will approach with the occasional side-step then.

 

[KayLo!]

I will approach with the occasional side-step then.

Oh, I meant you can try to spotdodge after you land the fair on their shield if you accidentally do so.... if they're slow with the grab, you can spotdodge > dsmash/utilt/whatever.

Straight-up approaching with a spotdodge isn't good. XD Sorry if I was confusing.

 

[IxxI]

No, I know what you meant.

How could I bait opponents and punish? I think that's the last thing I'm missing to finally becoming a solid Pikachu. I broke my side-step habit too. ;DDD

 

[bigman40]

Mixups are where this applies. Making yourself unpredictable while predicting your opponent. It's a hard task that takes time to work on. You have to understand how they will react to general options that you throw out, and then you have you guess when it'll work or not (it gets into more specifics, but I'm not gonna talk about it). So basically, when you choose to get in close, you play the percentage (guessing) game.

 

[IxxI]

I'm just talking about baiting. ;O

 

[KayLo!]

Tjolt, retreating fairs, and autocanceled dairs are all excellent baiting tools. QAC is another good option.

All four tend to make most players jumpy and overreactive to fake-out attacks, at which point you can punish their cooldown lag or accidental shielding/spotdodging.

 

[IxxI]

I guess I was already doing that, without realizing it. ;OO

I'll have to work on mixing it up then. I haven't even practiced QAC. xD

 

[Legendary Pikachu]

I have a tip for training QAC (at the very least... it worked for me a LOT in my training). Go to Yoshi's Island and constantly QaC > thunder and QaC > n-air/u-air. Since the stage has slopes and the center platform simulates both slopes AND straightway when its tilting, it'll crazy-mix up your QaC landing timings so you can practice reading/feeling when you should buffer and aerial or something. It'll be crazy useful when you face real people and zap through them with QaC (lagged landing)--you'll be able to pull off the QaC > KO a lot easier with or without going through the opponent. I find that practicing on a dummy CPU did not help me as much because all I did was get used to the rhythm at the time, NOT used to actual placement and lag (when you don't expect it while starting QaC). The occasoinal shy guys adds some freshness to your training cuz you can actually hit something randomly placed (IN THE AIR) every now and then.

 

[BLI7ZARD]

question...
what is the difference between a buffered and a normal grab?
How do you do a buffered grab?
(i hear its important for those chain grabs against ex fox,falco makes it inescapable)
????

 

[Legendary Pikachu]

The difference is that you press the grab button (VERY LIGHTLY-like umbelievably fast; if you see your shield anytime during from d-throw > grab, then you're pressing the button too long) before the grab is actually finished. Its somewhere between pika rolling into a ball after the d-throw "bodyslam" and him standing (the window for pressing the grab button is indeed large).

 

[KayLo!]

The difference is that you press the grab button (VERY LIGHTLY-like umbelievably fast; if you see your shield anytime during from d-throw > grab, then you're pressing the button too long) before the previous throw is actually finished. Its somewhere between pika rolling into a ball after the d-throw "bodyslam" and him standing (the window for pressing the grab button is indeed large).

Fixed for accuracy.

Buffering a move -- any move -- is simply inputting the command before the previous move is finished. Your window of opportunity is the last ~10 or so frames of the move before the one you're trying to buffer. The result is that the buffered move is done on the first available frame, eliminating "human lag."

So to buffer grabs for the dthrow CGs, you simply input the grab command during the last frames of the previous dthrow. Like LDPK said, simply TAP the Z button (or whatever button you're using to grab); if you hold it for even slightly too long, you'll buffer a shield instead and mess up the CG.

 

[PUNK9]

question...
what is the difference between a buffered and a normal grab?
How do you do a buffered grab?
(i hear its important for those chain grabs against ex fox,falco makes it inescapable)
????

With the Pika VS. Snake match-up, you need to know how to bufferchain grab,

To buffer, you input the commend you want done about 10 frame before the last move is finsihed,
with the dthrow, the exact moment pika lands on the ground with his feet, is the time you need to just barly tap the grab button. Like KayLo said if pressed to long it will cause pika to sheild instead of grab.

 

[hdrevolution123]

I'm maining Pikachu

Having taking a poll which decided who I should main, Pikachu fell into my results. Now I have to main Pika and I think I'm gonna enjoy playing him =). However I know that his learning curve is quite a big one and that it takes time, patience and tournament wins (xD) to improve my Pika.

I'm not new to brawl so I have visited Pika's ATs and the general brawl ATs more than once but I need a big refreshing on Pika to continue on as a Pika mainer. I've watched 5ive's vid guide and saw a few things I didn't know how to do before. One thing which I have great difficulty doing is controlling Pika's QA. I don't know where the QA can do in its double string so sometimes I don't even know how to recover (even though Pika's recovery is almost flawless!). First thing I wanna do if find the right info about Pika, the right person to talk to about Pika, the right people to play and the confidence to play him. Does someone wanna guide me without pointing me back to the Pika list of ATs or Pika guide?

I also understand that I should learn the matchups. I guess I'll read the matchup discussion in these boards and learn something about them from there. But from there I must play some fairly good players from those matchups and then build up.

Since I'm new to Pika (but not new to brawl) can someone guide me?

Thanks

 

[gallax]

i can help a bit

-the double qac into the ground is simple. you qa parallel to the ground then angle it it into the ground for your second qa.

- to momentum cancel use your uair>FF>skullbash(if necessary when hit horizontally)

-recovery is easy. we have many different directions to qac to the ledge. we can also skullbash to get closer(horizontally) although it can be punished fairly easily.


Important: talk to me, stealth, kalyo, prime, or k-9 if you want to get pika questions answered. there are others of course but we are always around.

i am the owner of this thread and the character matchup thread so if you ever need anything just feel free tp PM me or post it anywhere.

 

[Legendary Pikachu]

i'll be willing to help with matchup practice over wifi (lag is there but you'll find out the general approaches and weaknesses). My secondary is the random button so unless you play GOOD main in the other character's i'll give you a run for your money... lol.

 

[KayLo!]

I won't be around much until next week, but once I'm back, I'd be more than happy to help you out and play you over wifi. (Playing against my Zelda will improve your spacing, guaranteed!) I'll leave a reminder for myself to PM you when I get back from Virginia.

In the meantime, Gallax's list of people to talk to is pretty solid. ESAM is another good Pika to get help from.

The Generating A Win guide is somewhat outdated now (it's first on my to-do list when I get back), but not too much has changed since it was last updated besides some new situational combos: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=225527

Also, don't forget to look at the Volt Tackle Videos thread: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=196002

There aren't a ton of videos there, but several of our better Pika players have some good vids up nonetheless.

A tip on Quick Attack: the second part of QA can go in any angle as long as it's at least 38 degrees apart from the first part..... so as you can see, the distances/angles you can travel are pretty diverse. To get the hang of it, just spend a lot of time in Training Mode QA/QAC'ing back and forth on different stages until you can do it without really thinking about it. It should become second nature for you after a while.

 

[Indigo Jeans]

o hai

I second Pika, and I was wondering if there was a known CG with DThrow. Reason I'm asking is because I did some friendlies the other day, and CGed my friend's D3 up to around 65%, then he FSed me, but then I started it again to 83%, and this "break free then CG" process led to around 201% on him. I didn't attack in between CG sets, and finished with USmash.

Known?