Professional Skill?

[Elyssa Xey Hexen]

We know characters like DDD, MK and Snake are tournament viable. They just have all the tools and traits to make it up there. But, what about those other characters that are not tournament viable like wolf or CF. Certainly there have been tournaments where this is not true. These unviable characters have won tournaments placing fairly high. So what is it that makes them viable or not?

The main difference in determining a characters worth in a tournament is tech skill and just skill overall in the game. There are underlying conditions that are expected when you discuss "professional" levels. But, what are this known things we take for granted everytime we discussion 'at professional level'?

That is what I would like to discuss. What sort of skills does a player actually need to compete at the professional level?

First off, from my experience and time here the most basic skills involve reaction time, ability to consistently preform any 'tech' in the game, and the ability to read your opponent seem to be the major factors to look at.

Reactions. What defines a reaction time. Many players find they have problems reacting to certain things like falco's gameplay style. At a professional level though falco's lasers and phantasm are getting powershielded all the time. Rolling and spamming for example are things that a professional are able to counter by simply reacting and dealing punishment.

Tech Skill. It is assumed that if you are a professional, you can perform any tech the game has to offer for your character. This includes things like perfect DI to survive many moves and smash DI to get out of moves that without it seem overpowered. Wolf's fsmash or TL's fsmash are good damage killers, but with Smash DI they can be avoided and therefore rendered obsolete as a viable kill move.

Reading your opponent. Many tactics used by players are often times useless when you look at a professional level. Some players spam rolls a lot of the time. Bad idea. A professional would read your tendancy to roll a lot and punish you accordingly. Spamming is another such thing of the same kind. Spamming wolf's fsmah all the time after a Bair? You'll get punished a lot for using predictable tactics.

These are but a few examples I have listed here and many good players already do these things. But yet, what else should a professional be able to pull off that many of us think wouldn't be possible?

 

[Frown]

I think it's mostly experience. When you have faced professional top tier players a hundred times, you start to notice patterns in their playstyles and learn how to counter them as efficiently as possible.

 

[llamapaste]

What Frown said.

 

[Crizthakidd]

how did those players get to that level though. who did they play? well the melee ppl carreid over the smash tactics, they played each other, tought some new kids the game, became pros and had some natural talent, good reading skills and reaction time i guess

 

[GeneralWoodman]

how did those players get to that level though. who did they play? well the melee ppl carreid over the smash tactics, they played each other, tought some new kids the game, became pros and had some natural talent, good reading skills and reaction time i guess

play random ppl on gfaqs. until you start ****** these ppl, you can't consider yourself good and must keep practicing. once your "good", go to local tournaments or become a wifi *** until you can.

 

[Laem]

But, what about those other characters that are not tournament viable like wolf or CF. Certainly there have been tournaments where this is not true. These unviable characters have won tournaments placing fairly high. So what is it that makes them viable or not?

viability is an average. wolf's could win tourneys if no mk's or dededes show up. This usually wont be the case however. btw, realistically, dedede is not viable.

this entire thread suits melee more imo, espc the reaction time and tech skill part. In brawl, there's a huge emphasis on spacing.

To get good, play on a regular basis with a competitive mindset. it really is as easy as that. learn new stuff(from people better than you or smashboards), apply, your opponent must now adapt and have the knowledge to do so. In return, you adapt right back at him. Rinse and repeat. It's how ken&isai did it and became amazing. its how i do it even. I guess there's also talented and a little less talented people.

 

[Kitamerby]

Realistically, Dedede's not viable.

Unfortunately, nobody told the Dedede mains that.

10secondaries

 

[Dragoomba]

Learning the match-ups against top tiers I believe is the most important part in competitive play.

 

[TheReflexWonder]

There's a lot of Squirtle stuff I can't do on command, but a fair amount of people still say I'm pro-status.

 

[Saltix]

Why do you guys say DDD is not viable?
Same with what Reflex said, but I'm no pro lmao

 

[CaliburChamp]

Practice a lot. Get some rivals. Play offline only. Make up your own strats. Go to tournaments often. Abuse your character's best moves masterfully. Play characters that are high tier - top tier. Adderall.

 

[TheBlossomingLily]

Well...before using up all your money in tourneys, it wouldn't be a bad idea to go to a Smashfest or two, right?

 

[TheReflexWonder]

Well...before using up all your money in tourneys, it wouldn't be a bad idea to go to a Smashfest or two, right?

Well, you'll pretty much have to get used to spending money if you want to become good at it. There's no better way to gain experience than entering tournaments.

You always want to make sure you play friendlies with the people there, too.

 

[Limeee]

IMO professional skill is the ability to assess options and read your opponents. Tech skill is not absolutely necessary in brawl, but it does help.

 

[Iliad]

IMO professional skill is the ability to assess options and read your opponents. Tech skill is not absolutely necessary in brawl, but it does help.

A wise man.

This is it exactly. Brawl is not a fast paced game by any stretch of the imagination. Without the ability to link unpunishable attacks consistently before hitstun fades(combos lol), the game becomes chess. You can get by some people just by spamming moves, and doing things they may not be familiar with but at the higher echelon the only way to place or come near to placing is reading/mindgames. No two ways about it.

Play against the same people you've played / still are playing and keep an eye on what they do. Watch for little repetitive quirks that you can take advantage. Even if you see him do it once, or it only ever occurs in a specific time and place followed by a specific attack, remember that. Because the difference between the set could end up being your hit / missed punish on that same mistake your opponent makes later on in the set.

Also, do -not- be alarmed if you find yourself not winning as handily as you may have in the past. At higher levels, even at pro-am, 3-stocking and even 2-stocking isn't as common place as you'd think. Just like how at higher levels of play you don't see people checkmating their opponent in 3-6 moves.

But you will learn, and you will win more consistently.

 

[sandwhale]

I disagree about brawl's speed being of no importance. The tech skill necessary isn't as important as other fighting games but is still very present and needs a certain amount of experience and training to obtain. But most of all there's reaction time, as a player with mediocre reaction time who often plays against a person with good reaction time i can tell you it clearly affects the balance. Which means you have to predict and limit options in situations where your opponent will just punish on reaction.

 

[hichez50]

A wise man.

This is it exactly. Brawl is not a fast paced game by any stretch of the imagination. Without the ability to link unpunishable attacks consistently before hitstun fades(combos lol), the game becomes chess. You can get by some people just by spamming moves, and doing things they may not be familiar with but at the higher echelon the only way to place or come near to placing is reading/mindgames. No two ways about it.

In some way playing brawl like chess is probally better for both players. Becuase brawl requires a different lvl of strategy than other games it possible to make comeback by simply punishing your opponent mistakes. Whether that is best for the community growth is another question.

 

[Dark.Pch]

I'll say this. For this game, those that played melee already aquired the skills to get good cause brawl is not as hard a s melee to get good at.

But in general (ignoring characters cause lets face it some people are not to bright and get away with stuff cause of thier character, like meta. There is many things that lead to being high skilled.

Switching up:

I'll say this first. If you are doing one thing and your opponent keeps getting beat up for it, don't stop. This may seem stupid but it is true. You are putting more work and risking screwing up if you just change your game plan. it is working so why stop? Now outside of this, it is best to know when to switch up. If you are getting abused for one thing, change it. if your opponent is catching on do something else. or keep doing what you are doing and mix it up in between. Stratigic play is important. its never about going in and swinging attacks hoping to get a hit.

Observation:
A play has to pay attention to what the enemy is doing. Even people like M2K have habits. He is not that much of a god as people think. EVERYONE has a habit. Wether big or smash. So it's best to see what your opponent is doing. Don't just go and and do something to try and hit them. Abuse what your oponnent is doing. This helps you land a hit better. Cause there is a pattern within their play style. And this can tell you many things:

- How to hit them
- When to hit them
- When he will strike
- Where he will go
- What he will and will not do
- What can you do and not do

Just some examples. Those that play RPG games, you can kinda refer it to this. You know those pain in the *** bosses. You can't just go in tapping a button or use any type of magic to deal damage. You will get ***** for it. Bosses have diffeent straits, pattenrs and even thier own strats. So you have to see how they are and then from what you gather, you can know what works and does not work.


Strats:
People like to go into thier enemy and dish out an attack. And never plan how they gonna do it to begin with. A skilled player wont do that. The will first observe thier enemy. Next on the info that they gathered, they will figure out a way to land hits based on thier habits and patterns. Example, I am fighting a lucario, and he loves to roll to no end. So it be pretty stupid to rush in throwing attacks when the fool is just gonna roll away and I am open for a hit. So I know he rolls alot. Now That I figured out this habit, I can think of a way to counter that. And I do. I go near the fool, and do nothing. I Fsmash the other way, and he rolls into it. Mission complete. Now if he is gonna keep rolling cause he obviously has no better option or has no clue what to do better, I keep doing things like that.

Obvsere, plan, execute.

Control:
Control the match is also very important. When you have the lead, keep it. When one has the lead, the enemy has to do more work than you to catch up. They are in risk of losing. Not you. So Learn how to keep the lead and at the same time, not take too many hits while fighting to lose it. if can do this, you are controling the match. You are beating your enemy and not allowing him to bring it back. Even if you are at high % and in risk of getting K.O.

Taking control:

No one is perfect. So there will be times when you lose it. Smart players know how to take control of a match if they are losing. Thus to take a lead in it. And no, it is not bum rushing your opponent to K.O him and catch up. That is not taking control. Cause this could have lead to you losing to begin with. Reckless manners don't get you the lead against one that is in control. he is in control for a reason. You have to figure out a way to gain that control without taking to many hits and risky death. cause remember, he is in the safe zone right now. You are not. And while this may seem bad for you, it can also be bad for the emeny. Cause he can't just chill. He has to keep in control of the match.And the way you plan your strat to get at them can make the enemy lose it.

Learn your character:

I dont care if you are Ganon. Learning your character and how they work is key to being skilled. Playing a character and knowining 50% about them is not good. Go for 100%. Knwoing all your options helps you give a better view of what you can and cant do. That way you wont try anything stupid, die and then sit there thinking "the hell, how that happen" You mean you did not know how or why it happen? Thats not good. You should never have to question yourself with the character you are controlling.

Learn the enemy:

Knowing the enemy is very important. Not just your character alone. It's like you have a beast as water pokemon. But you gonna send them to fight a thunder one. And your reason for that was cause you did not know that Thunder recks water. M2K is like this. He knows all his options with Meta. But he did not know the simple things. and does not know how to fight diddy. Thus he loses to them. So knowing only your character is half the job done. The enemy is important as well. Like snake. He is nearly a sitting duck in the air. Snake does not wanna be in the air alot. Now that you know this, you check with all the options you know your character has. Then you can figure out how to get snake in the air and how to abuse him while he is up there.

Knowing how the game works:
Learning the laws of the game give you a better universal idea of options you can do in the game. frame data helps with this for one thing. You know what you can do on the shield and what you can/cant get punished with. You know how long you can stay on the edge without getting hit. Thus you can time when to get off the ledge and do a perfect edgehog. Cause you might of gotten up too early when you still have some invic frames left to stay on, and your enemy falls to his death. This also applies to stages. learn how they work. If you can control a stage you are much better off then you think. Abuse stages and turn them into you playground. Thats what I did with Battle field. And meta knights hate fight me there. As well as a few othet characters. A basic stage that I turned into a true counterpick for me. To a point people ban it against me.

Pressure/focus:

Skilled players dont crack under pressure too much. I mean it is bound to happen. We are all human. But if you can keep the focus up when if your enemy has three stocks and you have one, then you are good and can still bring it back. How you ask? If you are asking me this, then you have not been pay attention to what I beem saying up till this point. Don't play with fear. At like the match just started.

Tech skills:
They do play a role in this game. How big the role is depends on your character. If you can pull off all the hard tech skills and good timing, then you are good to go. And will do more damage than usual. Some characters are basic and dont have anything. others have a fe and others have alot. Best to get them all down if you really wanna beast.

Reaction time:

Now I am not saying you need to have godly reaction time. Just not a crappy one. Like I had a Match and I was combing someone with Peach into a dsmash. The Dsmash sent them behind me. I did not turn the other way yet. When they landed behind me,the opponent tech rolled infromt of me. Once he did I instaly grabbed him on point. I had no clue he was gonna roll towards me at all. I just saw it happen and instantly knew to just grab him. So good reaction speed like that helps alot.

I think that is all that I got as of now. Hope this helps.

 

[Mackorony101]

I agree with Iliad 100% Brawl is not the game that you rack up combos leaving your opponent helpless and that's mostly what everybody wants (especially melee fans) and getting combos only shows how high your technical skill is, not your thinking skill. I believe that Brawl is more of a game where you have to mentally get into it instead of using combos every other second of the match. Technical skill does play a part but it isnt THAT big of a part. You still need to be able to time moves right, press the right buttons at the right time, and have fast reactions. I'm not trying to put down melee or anything, its just that melee doesn't require as much reading and predicting as brawl, but it also plays a part in melee. Brawl is more mental and Melee is more technical in my opinion.

Hopefully I don't get attacked for this post but to succeed in brawl you have to be smart. People need to stop saying that brawl is not competitive, it is just the way you play the game.

 

[Starwarrior27]

For a post with a lot of great information, refer to Dark.Pch's post, but there are some other skill that should be stated as essential for professional players:

Spacing:
This goes along with knowing your character, but this is also an important concept in itself. In order to properly space yourself, you must know the properties of both your and your opponent's characters. You would want to space differently if you were facing a ROB than if you were facing a Metaknight. Additionally, this goes along with knowing the exact hitboxes of your mains as some characters (such as DDD) have huge disjointed hitboxes while others (such as Metaknight) have hitboxes quite close to them. A professional player would take into account both his and his opponent's character in order to space properly.

Opponent Reading:
Though this has already been cited, it should be reiterated as this one skill can win or lose a match. Don't believe me, just watch Ally's match against MK:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RB76nEQqt8

From this match, it is quite apparent that there was a difference in skill level between Ally and SilverDoc. This is due primarily to Ally's ability to "read" his opponents, a skill that makes it possible for a Captain Falcon to beat a Metaknight.

Mindgames:
It's quite surprising to read that no one posted this possibility as, though it is overemphasized, it does have its purposes. This is primarily based off the ability to "read" your opponent, once again, and punish their habits through the use of a feint attack, or it is based off creating fake habits to intice your opponent to attack, allowing for them to be punished. These are the two possibilities of mindgames and professional players would most definitely know how to use these tactics, in moderation.

All three of these points, however, are based off the ability to "read" your opponent, a skill that really allows for all of the other professional skills to be possible. Nevertheless, there are probably multiple other skills that professional players have, but a vast majority of them will deal with know your character, knowing the limits of the game, or being able to "read" your opponent.

And as for Brawl being more strategic than Melee, it seems to be the difference between a battle in war and a war advancement, where Brawl is the battle and Melee is the war advancement. Essentially, Melee was based of long algorithms of inescapable combos that would result in the loss of an opponent's life. A military advancement is the same, it can result in a victory and is commonly based of a long string of thinking that is put into action. Brawl on the other hand deals more with learning about your opponent, discovering his or her weaknesses, and attacking when the time is right. That last step, "attacking when the time is right," is the equivalent of a military advancement (though it may not be as inescapable as Melee). Brawl encompasses more elements and is therefore more strategic.

In short, Brawl is more strategic than Melee.

Gravity