jab is rendered useless against marth, samus and bowser due to being able to up B out of it.
I always thought this was nonsense and still do. I've asked a friend to literally mash up and B as I jab combo'd him and it didn't come out once. Not once. I've tried it myself with Bowser and Samus. Samus' one came out sometimes, but never actually hit Ike. If Samus players wanna up B to get out of it only to land into a forward or up smash I say bring it on
Seriously though, someone needs to come up in here with video or consistent personal experience before I label jab worthless vs Marth,Samus and Bowser.
Move of the day is throw.
All of Ike's throws are decent in my opinion.
First, his grab range is pure crap, so try to slide shield throw as much as you can(though this won't happen much). Shield grabbing I find to be fairly pointless most of the time because of Jab or down smash for a quick punish when something is shielded that recovers semi quick, so I realy only throw to break down defense.
Forward throw is decent. If the opponent does not sidestep or roll you can grab them again into another forward throw or whichever throw you like. Doing this opens up more options since if they anticipate this they may jump, roll behind you, roll away from you or sidestep. If you anticipate jump you can dash into a SH uair,fair,nair or RAR bair. If you anticipate them rolling behind you can short hop nair to catch them. If you anticipate them rolling away a dash attack will catch them. Nair should catch a spot dodger as they exit out of their sidestep animation unless they sidestep again, which jabs should beat.
I rarely back throw. Obviously it's the best option if your back is facing close to the ledge, setting up edge guard. Other than that the other 3 are always better options I feel.
Down throw I tend to save up in case I need it(to avoid the move staling). Reason being if for some reasons my opponent lives to be 160% or higher it will kill a good amount of the cast then. Having it at full power makes sure that grabbing my opponent can potentially kill them, so I avoid it. At low percentages, down throw into aether is solid if the opponent can't DI for ****e.
Up throw is probably my most used. I use this to pop up instead of down throw since it really can't kill at all. Follow ups after this is just a matter of reading the opponent in the air. Don't always jump and follow them. Ground-stalk them. Follow their movement. Up tilt and up smash work very well. Up tilt because it has such high priority, and up smash to beat out a mistimed airdodge. Uair works similarly in that its active frames allow it to beat out air dodge even when the opponent air dodges as you are doing it. If the opponent goes for a laggy aerial and misses, positioning yourself next to them so they land into a forward smash or fair can work at times, but that's pure situational. One option Ike's forget about is simply letting your opponent be thrown up, watch as they air doge upon landing, grab them, and toss their *** back up in the air. This alone opens up a lot of options for you since they now have something else to worry about upon landing besides just attacks. Eruption works too because of the timing being deceptive to air dodgers, but you have to ground stalk them well and be right underneath them, or jump(don't recommend this) Fair works well if they DI in front of where Ike is facing. Short hopped fair is dope with this since if they anticipate you doing that you can short hop in their face empty as they land and grab them. Nair works because it's nair: covers both sides well, has a big hit box and good priority. Bair works out of up throw because of it's sick speed. Jumping up, doing nothing as they air dodge franticly, and Bairing right after they exit air dodge animation is sexy. Lastly, jab works well if they air dodge right before landing. If you see this coming, go near them and hold A.
So yah, contribute yall!
