Wait, Ike can do that? - a Comprehensive Guide to Ike (A Work in Progress)

[EmperorB-rad2kj]

He has 2 spikes, 1 semi-spike and 1 terribad downward attack that can't really be considered a spike. Respectively (and in order of how often they should be used) they are Dair, Dtilt, Aether, and Eruption. Never try to get an Eruption spike... it's stupid, weak and not worth it. Aether spikes can be escaped with SDI, and there aren't many times when you should be specifically trying for one. Dtilt is very limited and predictable, it will only work on recovery methods that don't snap to the ledge.

Dair is your best bet for spiking, and it can be used in many different ways. You can walk-off Dair either manually or with the attack stick, you can obviously just jump and Dair which will work sometimes if your opponent isn't expecting it, and you can full-hop off stage to meet your opponent, faking an Fair so that they air dodge and then using the attack stick to Dair them after said air dodge.

Also, what was that first move you mentioned? Dsmash or something? Never heard of it, can't be any good.

yea meant Dair don't know what i was thinking at that moment. well if i do a walk off Dair would i plummet staright to my death or would changing the controls prevent that? Aether spike only works on ground if i remeber correctly and Dtilt hurts snakes, firefox maybe but its so situational not necessarily useless. Dsmash can bait rolls

Dear god i even forgot what SDI was i really gotta get back to brawl, I guess reding through the forums here to refresh my memory is my only option

 

[Nysyarc]

well if i do a walk off Dair would i plummet staright to my death or would changing the controls prevent that?

You can prevent it in two ways. You'll have to ask someone who's a pro with the Smash stick to tell you how to do it manually, but by changing your C-stick control to 'Attack', you can walk off and use the C-stick to input the Dair, and you won't fast-fall.

Aether spike only works on ground if i remeber correctly

You remembered oppositely. If you land on the ground, that last landing hitbox of Aether will pop your opponent up in the air, which allows some characters to punish you even at relatively high percents. If you grab the ledge however, that landing hitbox won't appear, so the last hitbox to affect them is the spiking one. Aetherspikes are very situational, I only really get them by luck when I need to recover anyways.

Dtilt hurts snakes, firefox maybe but its so situational not necessarily useless.

Firefox can snap to the ledge, and Snake is able to cancel his upB, grabbing the ledge before he is in range of Dtilt's hitbox and hitting you with his helicopter thing (I forget what it's called, it's on the tip of my tongue). You're better off using a walk-off Dair while he's still below the stage.

The only recoveries it would work on that come to mind are Luigi's sideB and downB, Pikachu's sideB, Captain Falcon and Ganondorf's sideB if used too high, and Ike's Quickdraw and Aether situationally... Dtilt should not be attempted on an Aether recovery regularly, there are plenty of better options.

Dsmash can bait rolls

No. It can't. But Usmash can, and it will also do a better job of punishing them. Usmash has more range, does more damage, has stronger knock back, and takes less time to end. Thus Dsmash doesn't exist.

 

[metroid1117]

yea meant Dair don't know what i was thinking at that moment. well if i do a walk off Dair would i plummet staright to my death or would changing the controls prevent that? Aether spike only works on ground if i remeber correctly and Dtilt hurts snakes, firefox maybe but its so situational not necessarily useless. Dsmash can bait rolls

Dear god i even forgot what SDI was i really gotta get back to brawl, I guess reding through the forums here to refresh my memory is my only option

As Nysyarc said, changing your C-stick to "Attack" will allow you to do walk-off DAirs. In addition to walk-off DAirs, you'll also be able to use DAir without fastfalling any time after the peak of your jump. If you want to keep your C-stick to "Smash" (which some people like Mr. Doom do to retain the ability to DI with the C-stick) and be able to do walk-off DAirs, you'll have to run off the stage and gently tilt the control stick diagonally down and then C-stick the DAir. I personally just use "Attack" C-stick, since you're more likely to screw it up with the Smash stick than doing a walk-off NAir with the Attack stick (which happens if you hit diagonal on the C-stick instead of a cardinal direction).

The easiest characters to Aether spike are DK, Bowser, and Ness. The best way to do it is to grab the edge, then Aether away from the stage and hold back so you grab the edge with your back. To adjust for the height that your opponent comes in at, you can fastfall down a bit before Aethering so you can cover the edge more accurately.

DTilt is not that good of a spike, the only practical setup for it that Ike has is jab -> DTilt at the edge, but people are pretty wary of that and will airdodge or attack you before the DTilt can hit them (if they airdodge though, you can probably nail them with a walk-off DAir if you read it). The only other characters that it will be likely to hit, in addition to the ones that Nysyarc listed, are Sonic (but he usually airdodges on the way up) and Wario (in the very rare case that he does up+B, which doesn't auto-sweetspot); the other characters will auto-sweetspot before you can get them.

 

[EmperorB-rad2kj]

You can prevent it in two ways. You'll have to ask someone who's a pro with the Smash stick to tell you how to do it manually, but by changing your C-stick control to 'Attack', you can walk off and use the C-stick to input the Dair, and you won't fast-fall.



You remembered oppositely. If you land on the ground, that last landing hitbox of Aether will pop your opponent up in the air, which allows some characters to punish you even at relatively high percents. If you grab the ledge however, that landing hitbox won't appear, so the last hitbox to affect them is the spiking one. Aetherspikes are very situational, I only really get them by luck when I need to recover anyways.



Firefox can snap to the ledge, and Snake is able to cancel his upB, grabbing the ledge before he is in range of Dtilt's hitbox and hitting you with his helicopter thing (I forget what it's called, it's on the tip of my tongue). You're better off using a walk-off Dair while he's still below the stage.

The only recoveries it would work on that come to mind are Luigi's sideB and downB, Pikachu's sideB, Captain Falcon and Ganondorf's sideB if used too high, and Ike's Quickdraw and Aether situationally... Dtilt should not be attempted on an Aether recovery regularly, there are plenty of better options.



No. It can't. But Usmash can, and it will also do a better job of punishing them. Usmash has more range, does more damage, has stronger knock back, and takes less time to end. Thus Dsmash doesn't exist.

Ah thanks for pointing things out, Im saying something when i mean something else dont know why thats happening today. i meant to say eruption spike only works on ground, aether spikes i know how to do those. I believe snakes UpB is cypher btw.

 

[EmperorB-rad2kj]

As Nysyarc said, changing your C-stick to "Attack" will allow you to do walk-off DAirs. In addition to walk-off DAirs, you'll also be able to use DAir without fastfalling any time after the peak of your jump. If you want to keep your C-stick to "Smash" (which some people like Mr. Doom do to retain the ability to DI with the C-stick) and be able to do walk-off DAirs, you'll have to run off the stage and gently tilt the control stick diagonally down and then C-stick the DAir. I personally just use "Attack" C-stick, since you're more likely to screw it up with the Smash stick than doing a walk-off NAir with the Attack stick (which happens if you hit diagonal on the C-stick instead of a cardinal direction).

The easiest characters to Aether spike are DK, Bowser, and Ness. The best way to do it is to grab the edge, then Aether away from the stage and hold back so you grab the edge with your back. To adjust for the height that your opponent comes in at, you can fastfall down a bit before Aethering so you can cover the edge more accurately.

DTilt is not that good of a spike, the only practical setup for it that Ike has is jab -> DTilt at the edge, but people are pretty wary of that and will airdodge or attack you before the DTilt can hit them (if they airdodge though, you can probably nail them with a walk-off DAir if you read it). The only other characters that it will be likely to hit, in addition to the ones that Nysyarc listed, are Sonic (but he usually airdodges on the way up) and Wario (in the very rare case that he does up+B, which doesn't auto-sweetspot); the other characters will auto-sweetspot before you can get them.

Ok thnxs but im was sure the space animals upB had a sweetspot as well to snap to the ledge which if missed can be hit by Dtilt from what ive seen

 

[jamlosingthegame]

Wait. So if you Dair with smash stick on you fast fall? Man I need to make up for lost time on these things.

 

[metroid1117]

Wait. So if you Dair with smash stick on you fast fall? Man I need to make up for lost time on these things.

The "Smash" stick works by essentially smashing in the direction you tell it to while automatically inputting your regular attack. On the ground, this allows you to perform a Smash attack in any direction. The same works in the air, except if you try doing a DAir, it will cause you to fastfall after the peak of your jump (since you're technically smashing in the downward direction). Because of this, walk-off DAirs without the "Attack" stick setting is fairly risky, since to get around this you have to gently tilt down on the control stick so you don't fastfall when you DAir. I'm actually not sure if you can even DAir with the C-stick without fastfalling when doing this, you might have to DAir with A instead. The main point, however, is that if you have your C-stick set to "Smash" and DAir with the C-stick any time after the peak of your jump, you will automatically fastfall.

 

[Palpi]

You can dash on a diagonal then slightly slide your control stick down and then dair. Takes a bit of practice, but it isn't too hard. Once your control stick inputs the down..you won't fast fall from the dair.

 

[Iofsauron]

yea meant Dair don't know what i was thinking at that moment. well if i do a walk off Dair would i plummet staright to my death or would changing the controls prevent that? Aether spike only works on ground if i remeber correctly and Dtilt hurts snakes, firefox maybe

ive found the dtilt spike to be useful against falco, wold or falco when the use their side-b dash to recover from knock back

 

[Iofsauron]

yea meant Dair don't know what i was thinking at that moment. well if i do a walk off Dair would i plummet staright to my death or would changing the controls prevent that? Aether spike only works on ground if i remeber correctly and Dtilt hurts snakes, firefox maybe but its so situational not necessarily useless. Dsmash can bait rolls

Dear god i even forgot what SDI was i really gotta get back to brawl, I guess reding through the forums here to refresh my memory is my only option

i can see where you go with the eruption spike, but in some courses like smashville, there is a lip on the stage that the sword goes through the stage, spiking the enemy, and also sometimes on battlefield

 

[jamlosingthegame]

So according to Palpi and Metroid, C-stick Dtilt with smash on fast falls, but not when you tilt the C-stick diagonally, right?

 

[metroid1117]

So according to Palpi and Metroid, C-stick Dtilt with smash on fast falls, but not when you tilt the C-stick diagonally, right?

No, you have to tilt the control stick diagonally down, not the C-stick. To be honest, I'm not sure what happens when you input a diagonal on the C-stick when it's set to Smash.

You can dash on a diagonal then slightly slide your control stick down and then dair. Takes a bit of practice, but it isn't too hard. Once your control stick inputs the down..you won't fast fall from the dair.

How do you input the DAir? By pressing A or C-sticking down?

 

[jamlosingthegame]

Oh I see. I better try this whenever I get the chance so I could also try Mr. Doom's "sucky" DI.

 

[san.]

No, you have to tilt the control stick

How do you input the DAir? By pressing A or C-sticking down?

A. Cstick down would always input a smash DI input downwards, which would make you fast fall.

 

[Mr. Doom]

No, you have to tilt the control stick diagonally down, not the C-stick. To be honest, I'm not sure what happens when you input a diagonal on the C-stick when it's set to Smash.

It'll do a nair if you push the c-stick at the correct angle. I've tried to do bairs, but sometimes I hit that angle just right for me to fall off the stage and nair. to my sd.

 

[san.]

I didn't know it was possible to pull off an nair with cstick set to smash.

 

[Mr. Doom]

Oh yeah, it's possible. I've died every time because of that.

 

[Nysyarc]

I didn't know it was possible to pull off an nair with cstick set to smash.

I'm pretty darn sure it isn't possible... when I first found out about attack stick I tested the ability to Nair with it and then tested the same thing with smash stick and it always did either a Bair or Dair (I use the bottom left corner for my Nairs... always have).

Maybe it's only a certain corner or it has to be exactly in the center between two cardinal directions? I'll have to try that now.

 

[-Smash King-93]

I'm pretty darn sure it isn't possible... when I first found out about attack stick I tested the ability to Nair with it and then tested the same thing with smash stick and it always did either a Bair or Dair (I use the bottom left corner for my Nairs... always have).

Maybe it's only a certain corner or it has to be exactly in the center between two cardinal directions? I'll have to try that now.

its these kinds of control sets that i cant do or seem to understand.

i mean sure to some ike mains this easy and simple as hell but..idk :/

im just guessing that this involves proper finger and angle coordination

 

[Iofsauron]

Oh yeah, it's possible. I've died every time because of that.

heh same thing lol

 

[EmperorB-rad2kj]

Oh yeah, it's possible. I've died every time because of that.

Well with the C-stick only being able to move in 4 main directions hows it possible to trigger a neutral attack???

 

[Teh Brettster]

It isn't possible with smash stick at all.... But with C-stick set to attack, you just angle it to a corner and it'll do a neutral attack for you.

I always use the top right corner.

 

[Mr. Doom]

Brett, using neutral air with smash stick is possible. I've done it several times now, and each time I sd'd because of it.

 

[Teh Brettster]

That's weird. I've tried time and again to make it work and couldn't.

 

[Iofsauron]

Yeah its possible ive done the same like Mr. doom

 

[GCommander]

Pretty good guide.

 

[WB40]

I agree with GCommander, a good guide. I think you should start researching strategy for Ike's advanced techniques, though.

 

[Teh Brettster]

I love how almost every first post on almost every first account cares so much about ATs.

 

[WB40]

I love how almost every first post on almost every first account cares so much about ATs.

Heh.

10char

 

[Iofsauron]

I love how almost every first post on almost every first account cares so much about ATs.

And also considering the guide isnt even 20% through

 

[Nysyarc]

I love how almost every first post on almost every first account cares so much about ATs.

My first post on my first only account was to john about WiFi. But you're right, everyone seems really interested in ATs until they figure out that there are like 2. And that Ike has none.

 

[AzureAura]

Jab Lock is it can someone explain?

 

[Nysyarc]

Jab Lock is it can someone explain?

A Jab lock is just when you trap someone in the position of just hitting the ground after falling by continuously jabbing them at set intervals; it requires that they don't tech the first time they land. It's similar to, but harder to perform than Falco's laser lock. Ike has one of the best Jab attacks and arguably the best Jab cancel game of any character, but he cannot do a Jab lock. A short video on Jab locks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIP7QY0anuw

 

[Dark 3nergy]

Actually, I've been playing Brawl for only about a week and I PWN as Ike. Srsly, I bet I could kill a lot of you as him. He has a freaking good Smash. Plus he's sexy. And Ragnell rules.

lol hope you ikes have fun with this

A Jab lock is just when you trap someone in the position of just hitting the ground after falling by continuously jabbing them at set intervals; it requires that they don't tech the first time they land. It's similar to, but harder to perform than Falco's laser lock. Ike has one of the best Jab attacks and arguably the best Jab cancel game of any character, but he cannot do a Jab lock. A short video on Jab locks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIP7QY0anuw

that is pretty dumb he cant jab lock =\

heres something else to, non ike yet cool, look at too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXy8Ol-5hyw

though ike would be better of fthrowing on a wall though

 

[AzureAura]

A Jab lock is just when you trap someone in the position of just hitting the ground after falling by continuously jabbing them at set intervals; it requires that they don't tech the first time they land. It's similar to, but harder to perform than Falco's laser lock. Ike has one of the best Jab attacks and arguably the best Jab cancel game of any character, but he cannot do a Jab lock. A short video on Jab locks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIP7QY0anuw

Thanks

lol hope you ikes have fun with this

lold

 

[Nysyarc]

lol hope you ikes have fun with this

Yah we get that kind of crap a lot. Way more than any other character I'm willing to bet. I'm also willing to bet that 90% of the people who do that are regulars with alt accounts. We get trolled so often it's become very easy to spot the trolls, even if they're subtle... which this guy wasn't by any means.

 

[Iofsauron]

Yah we get that kind of crap a lot. Way more than any other character I'm willing to bet. I'm also willing to bet that 90% of the people who do that are regulars with alt accounts. We get trolled so often it's become very easy to spot the trolls, even if they're subtle... which this guy wasn't by any means.

which guy was it?

 

[AN(M)ist]

say, is kimchi even bothered about this guide anymore? its like stuck on ike's approach techniques. haven't seen kimchi post in a while too.

So about the jab lock, if the opponent falls and doesn't tech, does ike's jab bounce them again on the ground or does it put them back on their feet (provided we time the jab precisely after they hit the ground)? 'cause if its the former, we could prolly jab lock by repeating ike's jab 1 and (delayed) jab 2 .

 

[Mr. Doom]

Ike doesn't have a jab-lock.

 

[Nysyarc]

^^^ What he said. Jabbing them when they hit the floor makes them stand up again, but not in a jab-reset kind of way either, just in an instantly-on-their-feet-and-ready-to-go kind of way.