HeroMystic
Legacy of the Mario
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- Aug 3, 2008
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- San Antonio, Texas
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- HeroineYaoki
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- 2191-8960-7738
Super Mario Sunshine: The Guide to Using FLUDD
To all those who don’t know, FLUDD came from Super Mario Sunshine as an effort to help Mario clean up the city of Isle Delfino. Despite this, FLUDD is the reason how Mario was able to defeat Shadow Mario, Petrey Piranha, and Bowser.
Backstory out of the way, let’s move on to Brawl. FLUDD here works very differently in this game. For one thing, FLUDD only has one mode (Standard), and instead of cleaning dirty enemies, it’s used to push enemies away from Mario. This lead to numerous of topics on how the crap you can use FLUDD on a competitive scene. Rest assured, FLUDD is one of the most awkward (yet original) abilities ever made in the Smash series, but it’s far from useless, and I’m here to show you how to utilize it to it’s fullest.
Main Use: Edgeguarding
FLUDD in Brawl is not meant to be an ability you use thwart your enemy. Instead, it’s used to seal the deal for gimp KO’s. This ability is generally meant to be used to help your edgeguard game (although it can be used for more than just that. More on that later.)
FLUDD Example (From MikeHawkSNES)
As the video has shown, when one is being pushed back from the stage, especially when using Up-B, it can decrease their chances on getting back onto the stage. Combined with other abilities (mainly the cape), this can lead to what we call, gimp kills, which are Kos that come from practically forcing your opponent to their doom at low hit percentage.
Difficulty levels per Character
Easy (Use it and abuse it)
Captain Falcon
Falco
Fox
Ganondorf
Ike
Link
Lucas
Luigi
Mario
Ness
Wolf
Medium (Takes more work, but still useful)
Bowser
Charizard
Donkey Kong
Diddy Kong
Marth
Olimar
Shiek
Squirtle
Toon Link
Wario
Zelda
Hard (Possible, but not likely)
King DeDeDe
Kirby
Lucario
Peach
Pikachu
Pit
Ice Climbers
Ivysaur
Samus
Snake
Yoshi
Zero Suit Samus
Intense (Once in a Blue Moon)
Game & Watch
Jigglypuff
MetaKnight
R.O.B.
Sonic
As what the heading says, this should be the main use of FLUDD, but do not limit yourself to just that. FLUDD can be used for a lot more than just edgeguarding.
Other Uses
Approach-Killing
Approach-Killing
Approach-Killing is simply stopping an opponent’s initial attack, which often leads to them shifting the momentum in their favor. How nice it would be to be able outright stop the shift, and keep the match’s favor on your side? Luckily, Mario and FLUDD can do that.
It’s actually quite simple to do this. When the opponent is closing in on you in preparation of an attack, just simply douse him/her with FLUDD. This would lead them falling short on the attack, which often leads Mario to counter with a D-Smash or F-Smash (If you’re lucky, a sweetspotted one).
It’s difficult for ground-based attacks as it’s easier for the opponent to react to it, but it works like a charm on aerial-based approaches. Use this for enemies who rely on aerial based approaches.
FLUDD Recovery
FLUDD Recovery is basically when you use FLUDD to help you get back onto the stage when you’re knocked off.
There’s actually two ways this can help Mario. First and foremost however, you have to make sure FLUDD is fully charged. If it isn’t, then it’s use is quite limited.
The first way is what I like to call the FLUDD Boost. When you’re knocked off the stage, you can turn around and use FLUDD. If it is fully-charged, it gives Mario a noticeable boost in momentum towards the stage, if you tilt the control stick towards the stage, then the momentum stays until FLUDD is out of water. Useful if you’re knocked upwards and you want to avoid your opponent… but not so much if you have to head to the ledge and the opponent is ready to edgeguard. Using FLUDD Boost leaves Mario quite open for attacks.
Which leads to the second method, which is more or less a variation of Approach-Killing. Now, instead of shooting away from the stage, you shoot towards it, specifically, towards your opponent. This causes your opponent to be pushed away from you, which allows Mario to have a few options open if he was suffering from a Wall of Pain (Metaknight and Marth comes to mind on this). Mainly, Mario can do an Up-B to his opponent if the opponent is close enough (likely if FLUDD was uncharged) or Mario can do a quick U-air to knock the opponent away so he can safely get back onto the ledge, or if you’re really lucky, you can do a F-air to go for a Spike kill.
Just make sure you still have your second jump if you try to follow up on the second method. Otherwise it’s in your best intentions to just get back to the stage.
FLUDD KO
FLUDD KO’s are when you KO an opponent by pushing them off the stage whenever they’re charging up an attack, or using a special attack on the ground. In the cases of special attacks, if they happen to be using it on the ground, then when they’re pushed off the stage, it’ll seem as if they used it in the air, and they will either lose all their jumps, making them fall to their doom, or their special attack is so laggy that they can't make it back to the stage.
Characters affected by FLUDD KO’s
Donkey Kong (Neutral B)
Ganondorf (Warlock Punch)
Ike (Eruption/Quick Draw)
Link (Up-B)
Lucas (PK Thunder, PK Freeze)
Mario (Down-B)
Marth (Shield Breaker)
Ness (PK Thunder, PK Flash)
Snake (Nikita)
Toon Link (Up-B)
Zelda (Din's Fire)
To be honest, this shouldn’t be happening a lot, but always keep FLUDD charged for this. If the opportunity arises, use it, because this is an excellent way to get Gimp KO’s. (Especially if it’s a 0-to-death )
Techniques
Now that you know about the uses of FLUDD, it’s now time to get down to the specific techniques of FLUDD that involves specific input for it to work.
Superman Combo
I think every competitive Mario main does this without knowing it, but this technique was dubbed, “Superman Combo”. It’s when you use the Cape and FLUDD together in order to get a gimp kill. There are many variations to this, but there is one specifically that should be noted since this is a topic about FLUDD.
First, you need to know about the Cape Glide. The Cape Glide is when you use the cape while running towards the edge of the stage. This will cause Mario to “levitate” while doing the Cape animation. The distance varies with how soon you use the Cape while while running.
Now that you know about the Cape Glide, you need a fully charged FLUDD. Lastly, you need an unfortunate opponent that’s knocked away from the stage and is trying to recover.
First, Cape Glide. This will cause Mario to glide towards the recovering opponent. Secondly, FLUDD. Remember, the closer you are, the farther FLUDD pushes the opponent away. If you’re “In your face” close, this will cause almost an immediate momentum shift. Lastly, watch your opponent fail.
Additionally, you can use the cape once more to shift momentum if the opponent still has a decent chance of recovering, but if the opponent’s vertical recovery is poor, then you shouldn’t have to.
FLUDD Break
Hate those opponents that abuse Shield? Well, perhaps this can make them gain some sense.
- Again, make sure FLUDD is fully charged for this.
- Next, make sure your opponent is too shield-happy, otherwise don’t bother attempting this.
- Lastly, have a fresh F-Smash.
Now, during the battle, if your opponent is abusing shield, that should mean that it’s use should almost always be low. When it’s about 1/4th up (It should only be covering the middle of the character at that point), use an F-smash. This should outright break the shield and cause the opponent to be flung up in the air.
When this happens, IMMEDIATELY use FLUDD. The opponent is extremely light whenever the shield breaks, and this will cause a big push.
If this is successful, then FLUDD should’ve pushed the opponent off the ledge, causing them to fumble right to the bottom of the stage. Hurray for another gimp kill!
FIHL
FIHL (FLUDD Induced Hit Lag) is an AT recently discovered by the Mario boards.
Matador said:Not sure about this, but I've noticed that when Fludding characters like G&W during Bair or DK during upB, they eat through the water BUT it lengthens how long the attack is out; sort of like the statues on the second phase of castle siege. I've also noticed that I gain more time to react after this is over to come in for an Usmash or Cape or w/e. Judge Judy has been noticing this too vs G&W.
In short, when FLUDD's water is out-prioritized by an attack, the opponent becomes stuck on a frame and actually lags. Since Mario is able to move before the FLUDD gushing ends, this actually gives him a chance to approach and attack, and quite possibly go in for the kill.Yes, it does prolong the animation of a move that out prioritizes FLUDD. How exactly? Well, first of all, when FLUDD is done shooting water, the water animation is still in effect, and it acts as a constant hitbox. Since it's being out-prioritized, the animation of the opponent's attack is constantly forced to cancel it out, making it stuck on a single frame (Kinda like how two jabs cancel each other out, there's about a split second of lag). This gives Mario about a half-second to run over and attack, because the animation practically holds them in place.
General Example of how FIHL makes a move laggy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POlStY8fysI (Kudos to Matt07 for this)
There are plenty of characters that outprioritize FLUDD, but due to how new this is, it'll take some time before a full list is up. For now:
Characters extremely affected by FIHL
Donkey Kong (Up-B)
Game and Watch (Practically everything)
Luigi (N-air and F-air)
Marth (Aerials, mainly F-air)
Metaknight (Drill Rush and Glide Attack)
Snake (All abilities except for F-air and specials)
Sonic (N-air and D-air)
Use this FLUDD tech! I'd say causing an opponent to lag in real life is not something to take for granted! (They can't use Lag Johns there!)
Misc.
*FLUDD, when charging up, increases Mario's Fall Speed.
*However, FLUDD does NOT increase Mario's weight.
*FLUDD is able to cut through projectiles. It can be found here under the Mario Moveset section
*FLUDD can be super useful in team battles. Proof:
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And that’s it for now. You have obtained the knowledge of how to use FLUDD in combat. Use it, abuse it, and love it.
And remember, FLUDD doesn’t suck, it blows, hard.