SSBU/Ridley/Matchups

Ridley

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Quick MU Navigation

Banjo & Kazooie

Banjo & Kazooie
Losing

Wonderwing can be grabbed if timed right like OoS, but also watch how he uses it to recover or as a combo breaker. If shielding, can also do a turnaround punish like some other enemy burst options; turnaround f-smash, skewer if lucky (shorthop turnaround skewer OoS for better frame advantage & positioning), and u-tilt works too with how unsafe it is on shield. Overall, watch out for him using Wonderwing when he’s in any form of disadvantage, a neutral mixup, and even advantage like when he puts you in a tech chase or if you miss tech.

Banjo d-throw buries like K Rool's, but for not as long, so can escape quick. Banjo knows this though, so he may position to attack in the air, or u-smash if you wait too long. Mix up your timing, tho mashing fast followed by airdodge can work sometimes, especially if at high %.

While Banjo can edgeguard with fair (which is surprisingly safe on shield compared to his other aerials), he gets more out of ledgetrapping with his projectiles which can also gimp. With a lingering grenade, time your ledge getup; not too early or too late. If he does a fullhop grenade, can getup and shield it, then attack from below if quick enough. If you're both on stage and he does a fullhop grenade, can fullhop nair/fair or shorthop uair his blindspot.

When Kazooie uses eggs to camp you out, make a plan of approach if Banjo's in the lead, whether in the air or from the ground. Eggs don't do much damage on their own, so remain calm while shielding or timing your approach, but still space well with your attacks. Flickshot Plasma may work to counter-camp if you have enough space, but remember he has Wonderwing to get through your wall. If you're aligned with Banjo while he's in Breegull Blaster mode, it can be possible to skewer him.

While is likely to beat our dair, Banjo’s uair is the weakest of his aerials, making it easier to land from above, especially on platform stages. If you have the opportunity to recover this way, do so to avoid his ledgetrapping. Banjo’s dair hits us under a platform that he lands on with it, so be ready to shield underneath.

Exploit his recovery. His up B is like a mix of Charizard and Sonic's; can triple jump, use a spring, and uses side B to recover. Going off the edge may be risky if he recovers high with side B, so can wait to Plasma camp him or catch his landing, and if he’s at a lower altitude when using side B to recover, can catch him with SPR if timed right. If he uses up B on stage, try to anti-air him up high or wait to catch his landing. When he recovers low, he's more vulnerable to aerials, spikes, or gimps.

Other things: When Banjo uses the breegull blaster, hold shield. You'll eventually notice they either shoot which you can punish, or they'll start to run to you to do something else.

From further away it doesn't send you locked in a long hitstun, so some distances make them think they can get in for free, but you’re actually ready to punish. Stay actionable if you can, to not get hit by Wonderwing.

If they do nair combos, if you can SDI behind. If on platform, try to SDI to fall off plat. If they bury you, sometimes not mashing will help you not get hit by u-tilt.

Neutral: Nairs and other aerials beat eggs in the air, while extending the frames it’s active, but also makes it more punishable. You want to slowly get in, while making them afraid of your burst range, so be sure they will probably start with grenading you.

p.s. At 70+%, Banjo can do grenade > wonderwing as a kill confirm, so be more wary of grenades at that point.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Banjo up smash is whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Banjo rapid jab finisher is f-smash punishable. His other normals besides u-tilt is punished by at least nair OoS (some others by our other OoS aerials and shield grab), his gentleman jab & rapid jab finisher/d-tilt/smashes/landing dair/ledge getup attack when shielded is punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %, and his 8 hit u-smash when shielded is punished by our f/d-smash or shorthop skewer OoS.

Besides fair which was mentioned as a safe on shield aerial, all his other landing aerials we can punish with our OoS aerials/shield grab for the most part (his nair is 8 hits), including u-smash OoS if he's still above you. Banjo's neutral B is negative enough on shield for you to forward nair OoS as an approach if that's what it takes to get to him. His grenades are even less safe on shield.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (90-93%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (94-104%)

Overall, shield plenty in this matchup, walk and dash shielding included.

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Bayonetta

Bayonetta Drag her into her own twisted hell.
Losing

Gameplan

While in the air, Bayonetta can:

• Do two Witch Twist
  • Can jump after each Witch Twist unless a double jump is used prior.
  • Can jump cancel Witch Twist to increase distance and keep the double jump (and then use it after the last Witch Twist).
• Do one After Burner Kick
  • Can do another After Burner Kick for a limited time after landing the first one.
  • Cannot do another After Burner Kick after hitting your shield.

If Bayonetta is hit while in the air, she regains one After Burner Kick and one Witch Twist. If Bayonetta activates bats within from an attack, it doesn't count as her being hit. Meaning that she cannot regain resources already used.

During Heel Slide, Bayonetta has to hold down the special button to get the second hit. If Bayonetta holds down an attack she will use her guns to attack. This will happen before Heel Slide's second hit. Use this to your advantage and either respect or punish the attack. Though do be wary the Bayonetta can still hold down the special button to get guns then release before the second hit comes out.

• Shielding the attack during the slide will make it impossible for the Bayonetta to get the second hit.

Ridley can crouch to avoid attacks from Bayonetta or abuse crouch canceling to escape combos with SDI. If Ridley crouches around ledge roll distance, and if a Bayonetta does ledge drop into After Burner Kick, the attack will whiff. Ridley then can react and punish with an up tilt combo or an up smash kill. Ridley can also use crouching to dodge her back aerial completely or her Bullet Climax from afar.

Up Tilt is a two-parter move, meaning even if the first hit attacks shield, the second hit can still connect. If the first hit connects on its first active frame it is -19 on shield with 3 frames of shieldstun. The second hit is on frame 13, meaning that there is 3 frames that you can act. Find out how Ridley can punish Bayonetta up tilt on shield.

From a rising short hop all of Bayonetta's aerials, besides down air, forward air 2 (unless forward air 1 hits shield) and forward air 3, will be over before she lands and will autocancel. Because of this, she can do either a Witch Twist or a After Burner Kick before landing. Unless the Bayonetta uses bullet arts after the aerials, then she will always suffer recovery frames instead.

SDI down and away against most Bayo combos, or up and in if you're diagonally above her. If they start adapting, then randomize your SDI. Can even SDI out out against a Bayo who has you near the blast zone, because she expects you to SDI in. Also, ABK doesn't kill at high % with DI away if you get there.

After you successfully SDI out, you fastfall, and if you see the opportunity to reversal, you take it; punish her recovery frames, but watch out for any sudden ABK downwards, dair, or Witch Time.

Otherwise anticipate Witch Time & Bat Within like usual, just as you would with Mythra Foresight. Like Mythra dash attack, always jump away from or shield & OoS punish Bayo's heel slide, stopping one of her main combo starters in its tracks, though remember it has a 2nd kick at the end.

Her guns you mainly need to watch out for when off stage so you don't get sniped. Either fastfall, recover high if she's charging neutral B, or airdodge.

Her smashes are slow, but watch out for d-smash as a potential 2 frame/spike, it being able to hit us under platforms, and its shield damage.

Her recovery's a bit tricky to take advantage of due to how she often bypasses the ledge, rarely ever ledge grabbing, and can get reversed if too aggressive against her off stage. Better to ledgetrap while hanging back an extra bit so you don't get hit by any of her above-ledge attacks like aerial side B, and punish with a powerful move.

Bayo's back roll low profiles as she does the knee slide, so keep in mind when going for u-tilt; she'll also stay crouched a bit if she does a linger Bullet Arts after her dair, so wait for that to finish before attempting a u-tilt for the u-tilt > uair kill confirm, or sneak in a skewer. Another thing, she leans forward a bit with the rapid jab finisher, so may need to shorthop back a bit with the skewer.

Other than that, Bayo isn't your usual SDI character where there is always “a correct SDI". If they are a good Bayo, you need to be more active and mix things up and try to have an idea of what she wants and deny it, be ready to airdodge if she tries to do incomplete f-air strings (dash walk SDI inputs helps against the complete f-air and some ABK stuff though), and sometimes even purposefully sneak behind her where you can get a reverse edgeguard. There’s also SDI’ing her u-tilt hits which can mess up some of her followups like fair or up B, and if they try to up B you twice, can either SDI up & in and then down & away, or wait till she does double up B on you as you SDI up & in.

Aside from shielding at ledge against Bayo’s that bypass ledge with ABK, there’s crouching > punishing her landing, though keep in mind she can still bair you. Also when edgeguarding, plasma beats ABK, but her up B goes through every fireball.

If you’re at high %, respect ABK more because of kill confirm setups (shield or crouch under it, gun, and fair), and keep Witch Time in mind too.

Advantage

At zero down throw into forward air isn't true. But down throw into up angle f-tilt will always be. If down throw is unstale, pummeling before throwing, will make the fair true. With max staling, down throw will always combo into fair if the Bayonetta is at 7% minimum.

Disadvantage

Bayonetta can two frame Ridley with:

• Down smash (only Madama's attack)
• A few move's bullet art attacks
  • Note that bullet art hitboxes can NOT go through collisions like walls or floors.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Bayo's Heel Slide, ABK, and Witch Twist require about 2 SDI inputs. Heel Slide has 8 to 10 hitlag frames, ABK has 12 to 13 hitlag frames, and Witch Twist has 3 to 5 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Bayo's f-tilt and f-air have up to three hits like Sora's.

Our jab 1 starts faster than hers, allowing us to get out of scramble situations better.

Rapid jab skewer punish applies to her also (also shield drop d-smash after her rapid jab finisher), while her jab 3 on shield is f-smash punishable. Her dash attack crosses you up on shield, so turnaround and punish accordingly. Her other normals (besides final part of her 3 hit u-tilt) and most specials are also punishable by our OoS aerials and shield grab (point-blank neutral B even being f-smash punishable when shielded, along with her f/u-smash which are also mostly d-smash, shorthop skewer, or wing blitz forward punishable with shield pushback), but remember to shield all three hits of her f-tilt. Her landing aerials besides dair are too safe on shield though, so reset; that said, can catch her landing from up B usage if you act quick enough.

The 3rd & last hit of her nair can actually be OoS punished (is -16). Her neutral B (charged or not) is minus enough on shield to be punished by dash grab, dash attack, jump OoS into SPR, or even f-smash if nearby. Same with extended dash cancel u-tilt if she's at kill confirm %. The landing hitbox of her ABK is also pretty minus on shield (-33).

Gentlemen jab/rapid jab finisher, f-tilt 2/3, smashes, dair, point-blank neutral B, heel slide (first part), and ledge getup attack are u-tilt shield punished should she be at kill confirm %. If she whiffs a down B counter nearby, skewer punish.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (78-84%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (85-90%)

Major credit to smub, Sapphire, and Zant on the SDI details and some of the neutral stuff.

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Bowser

Bowser
Winning

Our running speed's a bit faster than Bowser's. Best to try to understand how he tries to use his speed against you.

Don't shield fire breath but punish from the air (even SPR works), or shorthop back plasma if you have space. Watch if he B-reverses, and don't ledge getup attack if he uses it to ledgetrap from mid range.

His fair in general and sliding up B OoS speak for themselves. Watch out for the shockwave of his dair though, and aside from what's obvious about down B, watch out for it on the ground, as he can headbutt you into it and slam you.

DI down & away from his side B grab, and remember it when he lands diagonally rather than sit in shield.

Aside from fair, his nair is the other main aerial to watch out for in neutral. Doing a fullhop landing with nair leads into combos & confirms (is -12 on shield). He also has a strong grab game like u-throw > nair (at mid/high %, our u-throw is also good due to his lack of reliable landing options), and f/b-throw that kill. Respect his grab range too.

Aside from fair edgeguarding, his down angle f-tilt can hit our ledge hang but doesn't 2 frame. We 2 frame him & ledgetrap him well though, but respect his ledge getup attack range.

With his tough guy, avoid using rapid jab on him when he's grounded like with Kazuya. Then there's the damage based armor of his tilts & smashes, the intangibility of his jab 1/2, tilts, uair, dair, and i-frames of his f-smash & u-smash.

Our tipper f-tilt and such can still beat out the damage based armor of his f-smash and so on, but have to be properly spaced.

Miscellaneous and frame data

His dair and down B hits us under plats, so still shield or avoid there.

His d-tilt & u/d-smash are 2 hits. Nair is 3-4 hits, grounded up B is 8 hits, u-throw is 9 hits.

His dash attack, f-smash, d-smash, side B, and grounded up B are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 1 > f-smash, for covering delayed getup.

Our jab 1 starts faster than his, allowing us to get out of scramble situations better.

His normals besides jab 2 are punished by our OoS aerials, etc. Only his landing fair is too safe out of aerials. His u-tilt, d-tilt, DA (-33), f-smash (-32), d-smash 2 (-34), dair (-30), up B (-36), and ledge getup attack are u-tilt shield punished.

Shorthop skewer OoS can work against Bowser f-smash despite it only being -32 due to the amount of end lag. Also, shield drop > d-smash works against his up B.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (111-114%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (115-123%)

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Bowser Jr.

Bowser Jr.
Losing

Disadvantage

The tools Ridley often uses to get out of disadvantage are airdodge, fastfall nair, fastfall alone, or using handy double jumps. Some others are fastfall bair and fair, but bair is not recommended due to Jr's disjointed aerials.

Dair can maybe work to get down to ledge but only as a mixup. Jr's Mario esque uair but disjointed is a really oppressive tool that will safely get us to 60% if not higher, so in this matchup getting juggled is the worst, while off stage disadvantage is a bit more bearable.

For off stage, would suggest either recovering low or high if there's enough space between Ridley and Jr. Otherwise he can just bop us with bair, fair, cannonball, or mechakoopa. Recovering straight is pretty iffy considering mechakoopa can stop SPR or WB forward, and of course cannon to deal with. Ridley can use fair and nair to try to protect his recovery attempts, uair for sharking and protecting himself low.

SPR for getting to ledge faster and may cheese a stock, but Jr shouldn't be close to ledge because of mechakoopa as a ledgeguard, and his fair and bair. We can also hold down while using WB up to poke through the stage.

Now to ledge, Ridley's main tool is just waiting for an option from the opponent since our ledge hang is pretty nice. Other options involve ledge drop nair, fair, and SPR or maybe Skewer if you're spicy enough, and ledge jump nair. Those are Ridley specific and our shark with uair and WB up but sharking is pretty niche especially considering mechakoopa.

The other options are what you expect but Ridley's ledge roll is quite bad, so be wary. Another note is be sure to tech Jr's fair, bair, and abandon ship when recovering low and watch out for when they up B (using the hammer after abandon ship) as a ledgetrap, and watch out for mechakoopa.

Advantage

Will mostly use d-tilt and then read what Jr does after, or just fair or nair after the d-tilt. We can also somewhat start advantage by d-throw which leads to many things; fair, f-tilt, dash cancel u-tilt, and bair. I wouldn't try to go for d-throw nair regrabs in this matchup personally, but at mid %, d-throw nair still works.

Jr will mix up their disadvantage with mechakoopa, kart dash, or some aerials. Mechakoopa is like a moving Snake grenade, and Jr can break our advantage by holding it and get us hit and then get something off of that, so be wary with it. Mechakoopa also breaks the SPR drag if it is out.

We also still have good anti-airs, like u-tilt which catches some jump-ins and aggressive out of juggle options like Jr dair or nair. With d-tilt we can also still read Jr or follow him from the one u-tilt into maybe another u-tilt at low %, or uair, nair, or fair depending on position.

We can also go somewhat air-to-air with fair, but it's laggy, so watch out. Of course we can get into advantage with nair mainly off of tech chases at mid % or reverse nair into dash attack, f-tilt, or bair.

The main option to get into advantage is pushing Jr off stage with plasma. Would preferably stay at plasma distance so that you can SPR getup attack or neutral getup. Catch a run in with u-smash, bair, or fair. U-tilt for ledge jump, angled f-tilt for Jr's hanging, and u-smash OoS for roll. Shielding is pretty good too if you fear post-up B hammer or kart dash, but these are nifty to punish, so just stay at plasma range.

If you try to edgeguard Jr off stage, gotta be ready to tech; mainly because of kart dash and Jr up B. We can yoink Jr out of kart dash with SPR and get a punish off of jump release, namely with fair, nair, and dair for position coverage.

Our nair has good coverage off stage that can force techs but doesn't have the best kill power. Fair has more power and range forward, but recovering low seems good for Jr, especially with side B & the up B explosion. Our bair is even more powerful and has great range but lacks any disjoints fair has but also forces techs (same as fair btw if Jr gets cought out of his up B by Ridley).

Fullhop dair can get low recovery attempts, but be wary of Jr up B explosion and side B hitbox. Timing is everything and keep teching in mind for both sides. Can spike Jr out of his getup attack with down angle WB and a well timed dair.

Don't forget if Jr has mechakoopa, he can threaten our advantage from a safe distance. It explodes later if Jr has it than if we have it, making somewhat hazardous interactions or combo potential if you know how to abuse it.

Jr can use fully charged cannon to combat us using plasma to ledgeguard, but it's quite slow and the timing is specific on stages and normal cannonball gets beaten by plasma.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Clown Kart Dash has around 9% worth of armor when moving, until Jr jumps. Our main moves that beat it are f-tilt (sour or tipper), tipper nair (i.e. retreating nair), bair, and of course Wing Blitz to kill with if he's at high %. Can dash shield against it as a mixup.

If you find yourself getting hit by the exploding kart of Jr up B a lot on stage, then you're dropping shield too soon to try punishing his landing. Need to hold shield until it explodes or move away before it does (even if under a platform), and then watch out for his powerful hammer after. Sometimes he uses the hammer to catch you sleeping at ledge as he recovers, so be ready to shield or avoid it. If you’re nearby off stage and he uses up B near the ledge, don’t try and catch his landing with a landing aerial and instead go back to ledge or back away enough from the explosion.

In neutral, you can stop mechakoopa in its tracks by hitting with a ranged attack (i.e. retreating nair) or shielding, the latter of which allows you to pick it up and throw at Jr. Don't be too obvious with shielding though or he'll grab you.

Aside from being able to angle it, Jr's f-smash is hard to punish OoS, so may be best to back up instead, unless spaced enough where you can do a d-tilt. Same goes for his dair, so if you shield, make sure you wait till the end of the move.

Jr has weak OoS options, nair being probably his best. Jr's throws have been buffed to kill around 150% at ledge, but his grab is exceptionally slow (tho good range), making it not a good OoS option. Do tech his drill d-throw though.

Jr multihits- d-tilt (3 hits), DA (6 hits), f-smash & u-smash (6 hits), dair (8 hits)

His d-smash is whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

If anyone doesn't know this by now, if you hit Jr's body he will take extra damage and if you hit the kart he will take reduced damage, so spacing and knowing your kills should get you far ahead. Up angle f-tilt will allow you to hit the body part of Jr more easily, along with positioning your aerials on him accordingly.

A simple attack off ledge can stop Jr up B recovery since it doesn't have a hitbox at first, and if you hit him after he abandons ship, he can use his up B again only for a few seconds, so he's vulnerable to getting gimped.

Jr's d-tilt is a good shield poker like ours and a good get-off-me, so respect it. Is punished by our nair OoS like his other normals though. Also, his jab 2/rapid jab finisher, u-tilt, u-smash (-26), d-smash (-32), and ledge GUA are punished by our own u-tilt when shielded should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Jr rapid jab finisher is f-smash punishable. Besides maybe nair OoS on his fair and dair, his other landing aerials are too safe on shield, so reset. Jr neutral B is OoS aerial/grab punishable when shielded up close, and kart dash spinout is very minus on shield which can be punished with f-smash, etc.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (89-94%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (95-104%)

p.s. Partial credit goes to the Ridcord JMU section for some of this info.

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Byleth

Byleth
Even

If Byleth misses with their down B, we pretty much get a free skewer. There's also grab and distanced plasma. Aymr has 30% worth of armor, but a sweetspoted skewer will still get them before it comes out. Also note Aymr hits us under platforms, so still avoid if under Byleth.

Other than that, respect Byleth's reach. Their f-smash can be angled up or down too and has a most deadly sweetspot. The range also applies to their side B (can be spot dodge punished, though also respect it in the air), fair, and bair. With their slow mobility, they play a defensive playstyle like us with trying to bait you in and punishing. Simply have to outplay them in that regard. That said, when you're up close when the sour spot of their attacks hit instead of the tipper, they do a lot less damage and knockback.

For short range moves, quickly count to five when shielding Byleth's nair to be sure you shielded the entire move, as the move itself is like five hits. Everyone talks about Byleth's noob killer down B which can turn around, but also respect their d-smash's shield damage and it being able to hit us under a platform if we have a hurtbox out. Their up tilt leads into combos as well as their uair juggling. Don't challenge their uair, try to airdodge it or go far around them as you fastfall, or go to ledge if necessary.

Byleth can also use their up B as you're up high. Try to airdodge or DI away after the initial hit to avoid a followup. Their neutral B arrow is good at sniping off stage but thankfully, it only shoots at two different points of the animation when it glows yellow or blue, but still something to watch out for, though think we can use plasma against them more easily than they can spam that.

Can also use plasma to gimp them off stage before they get their tether recovery out, try an off stage or CLS (crouch ledge slip) aerial before they pull up (though don't get up B grabbed), or if they're slightly above ledge when they begin to tether to it off stage, can do a quick SPR and drag them all the way down, followed by a jump release. They have a tough time landing against us too like we do against them. Other than that, focus more on corner pressure than trying to ledgetrap them. The risk/reward isn't there to engage with their side B and other ledge stalls like fair.

When being edgeguarded, their dair can dunk us, so delay a bit when recovering low. When recovering mid, watch out for their fair & bair tipper, nair potentially gimping, and of course their up B if you try to recover high. Mix it up. When on ledge, some moves like their f-smash can't hit us, but their d-smash can (just getup attack versus that), so keep in mind when planking. Is still risky to plank against non-shoto characters though, so just use the fact that Byleth's gotta space their moves more precisely to hit you, so that you can get off ledge.

If you do an SPR release for an aerial followup, beware of their side B as a get-off-me move, and up B grapple which will spike you. If you catch them with an SPR during a tech chase or something, may be better to just let it drag them off.

Another thing about their nair, if you get shield poked during the beginning of the move, would recommend tilting shield upward and if they try to poke shield with the landing hitbox, angling it down should work.

While shielding is generally good against Byleth up close, remember their d-smash and dair. Has 19/29 and 22 frame startups and are f43 and f35 in end lag, so jump OoS (followed by a landing aerial or special whiff punish) or roll away if expecting them.

If Byleth goes for an up throw to start juggling you, double jump the other way to shift your hurtbox and get out. You jump higher as Ridley if you double jump the opposing way.

Likewise, when grabbed by their up B while in the air, remember to tech right as it slams you to the ground so you don't get knocked back upward.

Other than that, is usually better to not approach because of their range. If they want to camp you, just use plasma. If they try to bow you, unless they do it way earlier than you, 2 fireballs beats it unless you get bad RNG. One trades and the other gets through.

And if they want approach you while you plasma, they will have to jump. They are very slow, so you put them in a pretty bad position as I’ve learned, making your anti-airs more dangerous.

You can deny Byleth so bad if you wall them well with plasma, tilts, and aerials, and then edgeguard their tether (can also plasma if you jump and shoot it so they have to deal with it outside of tether range). D-tilt is also just longer than all their aerials, so if they get in close and commit to jumping you can also just d-tilt if they try to space bair or fair, or just hit them in the air since they're stuck there. Dash and turnaround d-tilt also applies.

And again, plasma’s also really good to edgeguard Byleth because of their bad air speed. It just kind of creates a wall that they can't get through; if you hit them far enough of course.

To avoid getting grabbed by Byleth up B when edgeguarding off stage, remember they have to be outside the range of the ledge if they’re trying to do it. If they’re in range of the ledge, they can’t grab you with it, so if they have no jump left for instance, can bait out their up B by pretending you’ll drop, and then jump back. You can also still go for off stage deep edgeguards against them, but be horizontal to Byleth instead of above.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Their f-smash, d-smash, dair, side B, and down B are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

One other weakness of theirs is poor grab reach, and like us, no kill throws. Rapid jab skewer punish also applies, shorthop skewer OoS being more consistent (shield drop > d-smash also works). Their normals are punishable by our OoS aerials and shield grab. Their f-smash is also shield punished by our own if poorly spaced or SH SPR OoS, and their side B is most punishable on shield, including u-smash OoS if they're in the air. Besides their nair which can be nair OoS punished (unless spaced) and the laggy dair, their landing aerials are too safe on shield, so reset.

Their gentleman jab/rapid jab finisher, dash attack, smashes, and ledge getup attack are u-tilt punishable if shielded should they be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (86-89%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (90-101%)

Major credit to Zant on the advantage tips and some of the parts on neutral.

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Captain Falcon

Captain Falcon

In neutral, Falcon will either dash attack (-13 on shield) or dash grab (33f of end lag) to approach. He may jab after you shield an aerial, so wait for that and punish.

His side B has 10% worth of armor, but can either lift him off the ground with d-tilt before it comes out, or time a tipper nair (i.e. retreating nair) or f-tilt on it. It’ll armor through the sour versions though. Otherwise just shield the move. Far as what to do after shielding it, either an OoS option (including shield drop u-tilt to catch his landing if he does the aerial version, tho be forward and quick with said option since the move bounces off of shield but has enough end lag), anti-air like up angle f-tilt if they do the aerial version, or step/fullhop back and see if they panic spot dodge or roll back, then see what you can do. If you're at somewhere high % when hit by it and launched higher, can also nair as a get-off-me before he manages to do an aerial followup.

Be careful not to swing too much against Falcons that know our character since his movement can be tricky. You need to find a sweetspot of waiting and putting out hitboxes to control space. He usually needs resets or certain platform positioning to get his busted combos out, so keep that in mind so you're not too linear in disadvantage.

With shielding Falcon Kick, just be aware of its ability to crossup your shield and do a turnaround attack as a punish during its end lag. Also keep the aerial version of the move in mind if they stall above you or do a ledge jump, but can counter with the intangibility of our u-tilt and u-smash if timed right.

For Falcon's risk/reward, don't forget that as soon as you get to around 30%, getting grabbed is better than getting hit by an aerial landing. Mid range at mid %, d-tilts are a bad idea because it lets him jump above you. If you're not sure of an interaction, shield (except at very high % of course). Can fullhop nair to counteract his attempted landing aerials, especially when Ridley's cornered near ledge which can be more reliable than f-tilt or d-tilt when cornered.

When recovering off stage, even from a dash attack that sends you off at bit at low %, don't airdodge or swing with nair too early or he'll get you with something like dair.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Falcon’s u-tilt and u-smash have intangibility on the legs.

Air Falcon Kick can hit us under platforms too, so still shield it there.

Falcon's nair hits require about 2 SDI inputs, both of which have 7 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

His f-smash, neutral B, and down B (grounded) are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Rapid jab skewer punish applies to him, with shorthop skewer OoS usually being more consistent (shield drop > d-smash also works). His normals besides u-smash and maybe d-smash are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab. His landing aerials besides fair are too safe on shield though, so go for a neutral reset there. His grounded side B is punished by nair OoS and shield grab, while Falcon Kick (grounded) is shield punishable with f/d-smash even on crossup, and shorthop turnaround skewer OoS if properly spaced. Gotta be frame perfect though due to its 35 frames of end lag, and if Falcon Kick doesn't crossup, just f/d-smash. Also, his f-smash & aerial falcon kick are punished by shorthop SPR OoS.

His gentleman jab/rapid jab finisher, f-smash, Falcon Kick (both aerial and grounded), and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (91-95%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (96-106%)

Credit to Mezcaul on dealing with neutral when at % mid range, and what to do when cornered and recovering. Also, external link on how to DI Falcon's combos: https://x.com/goatsposts/status/1467211350371880965

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Chrom

Chrom
Slightly Winning

Like Lucina, Chrom doesn't care as much about spacing as Roy or Marth. Chrom also has Ike's up B, but something Chrom has in common with Roy as an echo fighter is tending to rushdown his opponents more than Marth/Lucina, so we have to wall them out even more.

Roy/Chrom's 4 hit side B near ledge causes some of the earliest KO's, so watch out there the most. Avoid or shield, don't spot dodge. If they stop at a hit before 4, do a quick OoS attack or move away. Also watch how they use side B from ledge or landing.

Roy/Chrom have one of the best jabs, due to being a great combo starter in part. Jab > d-tilt and so on, so keep your distance. Another reason to do so is their up B being a good OoS option.

Watch how they charge their neutral B when edgeguarding and delay your recovery accordingly, or do a beefy up B. Watch for their counters too, and tech & hold down when hit by one.

Aside from walling them out with tilts and such, plasma can also be a good mixup for it.

When edgeguarding, Chrom's up B has no horizontal movement, so can easily hit him from above when he's at the highest point of his move, or 2-frame.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Dash attack will beat Chrom's shorthop if spaced.

When watching how he uses side B in neutral or disadvantage, stay spaced whether shielding or not. Unless confident you'll land a shorthop back skewer, going in too soon for a whiff punish before he does all 4 hits will get you punished instead, and if he whiffs the first two hits at mid range, shield the next hits since he slowly inches forward.

Roy/Chrom both have u-smash intangibility and super armor on their up B.

U-smash is 5/6 hits, nair is 2.

The 4th hit of Chrom's side B requires about 2 SDI inputs, which has 2 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

Their dair hits Ridley under plats, as does Chrom up B, so still shield or avoid.

Chrom up B (-29) has no hitbox when rising, but when descending with it to ledge, will go through any fireballs and punish any f/d-tilt attempt, so be wary.

His smashes, dair, and side B are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Our jab 1 starts faster than theirs, allowing us to get out of scramble situations better.

Their normals besides d-tilt and Chrom jab are punished by our OoS aerials and such; smashes are f-smash punished OoS, while Chrom f-smash is punished by shorthop SPR OoS. Landing aerials are too safe though, so reset. Charged neutral B is a shield breaker, but the side B hits are pretty unsafe on shield; even d-smash works also from skewer (after the last hit). If he misses a counter nearby, whiff punish.

Their u-tilt, dash attack, smashes, any side B hits, and ledge getup attack attack (-22) are u-tilt punished OoS should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt -> fullhop uair (87-90%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (91-100%)

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Cloud

Cloud

With Cloud's super safe aerials on shield, wait to try and punish what he does after rather than retaliate with an OoS attack, except for nair OoS against his fair if he mistimes it. His dash attack and crossup d-tilt we also punish OoS, and his unrewarding grab game balances out the cheesiness of his safe aerials on shield. Plasma works for counter-zoning his blade beam or to beat him stalling off stage with it as long as you keep your distance, but his blue blade beam goes through plasma. That said, if they have Limit off stage, stuff out their double jump and airdodge so they're forced to use Limit up B, or Limit neutral B to cover themselves if they're already up high.

Remember to not give up too much stage control when Cloud's charging Limit and instead approach with spaced moves (d-tilt being the main one that reliably outranges him) or plasma to force an option out of him. On that same token, d-tilt and plasma can keep Cloud jumping for whiff punishes on his fair/bair, though just be aware of his great air speed since he'll jump and hit you with those aerials if you plasma too close. Safe as his aerials otherwise are, they still have some startup; 11 frames for bair and 18 for fair respectively, followed by 30 frames of end lag for bair and 28 for fair.

• Our fair stuffs his bair

Whiff punishing his aerials as mentioned will condition him to use more empty jumps as a bait for you to whiff, by double jumping before he reaches the ground or drifting back so he can get some setup situations if you get hasty. This is when you can start to call out jumps with nair, fair, or even u-tilt if they are fullhopping. Cloud can beat it with rising aerials, but these are much riskier, like his nair which is smaller now.

Also keep in mind that full Limit lasts only 15 seconds, so you can mix it up between playing defensively (shield plenty & all the way through Limit specials, don't use laggy moves but air-to-airs) or aggressively to stall him out (use your running and jumps to keep him chasing you and waste Limit time), but remember the speed increase he gets from Limit, and watch out for favorites of theirs like bair > blue cross slash; can also break shield if not careful, but when you begin shielding blue cross slash, can spot-dodge to get out of it.

Cloud has an aerial blind spot in his diagonals, allowing us to counter with nair & fair when trying to land, but if still getting uair juggled, hold on to your jumps and don't airdodge directly onto him, especially with his u-smash or if he still has Limit.

When juggling him, his dair & up B mixup is the main thing to watch out for. Challenge with u-tilt, u-smash, or from the side. Even retreating pivot grab works, but watch out for dair when under plats and still shield/avoid.

• Cloud's up B can be DI'd out of; if you hold out, the downward hitbox will send you out instead of down.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Respect his ledge getup attack range.

His side B is generally 5 hits, with or without limit.

His f-smash and finishing touch are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

His normals, regular three-hit cross slash, and regular blade beam up close are pretty punishable by our OoS aerials and shield grab. Jab 1/2/3, crossup d-tilt, dash attack, smashes, regular neutral B up close, 3rd hit of regular side B, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %. His jab 3, crossup d-tilt, dash attack, and ledge getup attack are punished by shorthop SPR OoS, while his f-smash (3 hits) is punished by our own when shielded. Safe as most of his landing aerials are, his dair is minus enough on shield to be punished by nair and maybe u-smash OoS.

If you shield his up B, just remember to do so all the way through till he's high in the air and the lands, or spot-dodge it in between.

Other than that, finishing touch is his most negative on shield move of all with how powerful it is, so can punish with whatever, even d-smash.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (89-92%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (93-104%)

Huge credit to the Ridcord JMU doc for much of this info. Also, external link on how to DI Cloud's dash attack- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNO4mPQLsBg

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Corrin

Corrin
Slightly Losing

First off, respect Corrin's juggling. Their aerials (especially uair and bair which they may telegraph) are fast, long, and disjointed, making it hard to move around them in the air. Either time an airdodge, or play it safe and fastfall off to the side toward the ledge. They may have a jump based neutral to take advantage of their juggling, which you can punish by staying grounded and anti-air or catch their landings. Also crouching + retreating turnaround d-tilt if needed.

Corrin's f-smash is one of the longest in the game, just behind Min-Min and the Belmonts. They can angle it up and down too, though they have to be precisely spaced to hit us on ledge with it. What makes their f-smash unique is they can damage you while charging it, so if you're not careful, can trap you into getting hard smashed off the stage. That said, you can SDI up out of it and airdodge behind them. Also, don't attack them when charging it unless with a long disjointed move or plasma.

With their neutral B, just remember it's a chargeable shot that stuns when it hits, and has those jaws waiting to chomp on you if you jump over the projectile. So if you jump over the shot, either stay away from Corrin or jump high. It doesn't do much shield damage though, and the shot can be clanked out by our moves even when fully charged.

The side B dragon lunge can be mixed up in plenty ways. Can 2 frame off the ledge with the initial spike (delay your jump/recovery accordingly), can spike into the ground and either kick forward, back, cancel pin and land on the ground, or jump from the pin (invulnerable on frames 2-7). Can shield punish the kicks easily, but if they see what you're doing, they may cancel the move and run up and grab you, so be ready to use an OoS option or move away. Jump is another option.

Also remember they have a counter because Fire Emblem. It sends vertically instead of horizontally, so DI left/right; can anticipate them to use it to stop you from juggling. Same with their dair. Pause your combo, wait for them to do either move, and punish. If you go off to edgeguard them, be ready to tech.

For weaknesses, low mobility. Also a poor disadvantage & exploitable recovery like us, weak grab game, and struggles against projectiles, so plasma can be good against them if used right.

If you’re in the air, you have to accept getting hit a couple of times if needed because losing your jumps and being stuck without them while they’re under you = gimped.

Try to make your ledge grabs as ambiguous as possible (aka mixup recovering low and horizontal to ledge, mixup which move you use) to try and avoid getting hit with pin. Respect pin on stage as well.

Gameplan is to try and bait them into whiffing and then getting stray punishes. If they aren’t approaching you, you can incentivize them with a couple of plasma but don’t get reckless and charge it while they’re too close.

You can outspace their nair/fair with f-tilt, so definitely stay grounded, but you have to be ready for pin.

Also while at ledge, Corrin's f-smash does not hit Ridley's ledge hang from ledge roll distance; allow the positioning of the Corrin to dictate your action off ledge. On the flipside, is easier to ledgetrap Corrin than edgeguard them.

Disadvantage

• Ridley can use a beefy up special to clank with Dragon Lunge's pinned attack two frames and grab ledge unharmed.

• While at ledge, Corrin's forward smash does not hit Ridley's ledge hang from ledge roll distance, allow the positioning of the Corrin to dictate your action off ledge.

Corrin pin

To sum it up, the Corrin pin tech chase setup is fake. The pin does put you into tumble, but you're actionable before landing, so you get two strong options with little risk that punishes them for being greedy for not taking the kick followup.

You can hold buffer an aerial that autocancels or has low end lag (our nair) that gives frame advantage and punishes on the pin drop release as well as their pin jump cancel.

With holding buffered aerials, during any action, you can hold buffer an input basically indefinitely. Pressing and holding A during Corrin's pin will automatically aerial as soon as you are actionable. Thus, you can press and hold A with the stick in neutral to buffer a nair, then have free control of the stick later while still guaranteeing a buffered nair.

This option select covers pin release while giving you the ability to use the left stick to survival DI the kick. This hold buffer trick also works with buffering specials, but that'll be a rare mixup in our case.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Their up B is invulnerable on frames 7-17, stopping just before the move becomes active on frame 18. Once they start moving, you can hit them with anything including dair.

Their dash attack can crossup our shield, though not by much, but be ready to do a turnaround punish just in case.

Their dair hits us under platforms, so still shield or avoid there. Same goes for their side B pin when under a plat.

Corrin side B is mashable; cancels the pin and causes you to be knocked down instead.

Corrin f-smash (charged) requires about 2 SDI inputs, which has 5 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

Their smashes are mostly whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Our jab 1 starts faster than theirs, allowing us to get out of scramble situations better.

Their rapid jab finisher is shield punished with f-smash. Their normals are punished by our OoS aerials & shield grab, while their gentleman jab/rapid jab finisher, u-tilt, dash attack, smashes, landing dair, neutral B, and ledge getup attack are shield punished by our own u-tilt should they be at u-tilt > uair kill %. If they whiff a counter surge nearby, skewer punish. Also, their u-smash, d-smash, and ledge getup attack (-27) are shield punished by shorthop SPR OoS.

Their landing aerials besides dair are too safe on shield though, so reset there. The 2nd part of their neutral B is fairly shield punishable (-31 to -19), and the dragon lunch pin kick is -35 on shield, while the back kick is -48, making it plenty punishable with whatever. Remember though they may cancel the pin and go for a grab if they see you shielding early, so use an OoS attack early if they cancel and approach, or move away.

• Corrin's neutral air hits from the side then going into an arc counterclockwise, covering all directions. Do not challenge this move directly, instead use disjointed tail attacks.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (88-91%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (92-100%)

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Diddy Kong

Diddy Kong

Occasionally Z-catch the banana peel when you can (or sometimes when you tilt/aerial or airdodge), though if you're not confident in using it against him, can always throw it off stage or perhaps better yet, throw it to the far side of the stage, keeping it out of play which makes it longer before he can spawn a new one. We have some Skewer setups with it too, that said.

Jumping over is otherwise the best option like when waiting for him to throw it, which you can mix up your jump patterns with your multi jumps to make him guess far as your landing; jumping at the last moment, attacking (landing aerial may also counter a side B attempt), or airdodging on reaction. Usually Diddy's will try to throw the banana as you land, OoS, or to punish a whiff or bad roll.

• Ledgehop (or ledge drop double jump) f-air can be good for grabbing a banana at ledge in the process, but is a mixup only since Diddy can punish on reaction

Likewise jump over his peanut projectile most often, including ledge jump if he tries using it to ledgetrap. When he's landing, watch out for him using peanut as a B-reverse to try and make you whiff. Peanut's also catchable like banana, but there's little point with how weak it is. If you get in the habit of shielding it and likewise with banana, he'll punish with Monkey Flip, so don't let him condition you (dash shielding helps though). Respect and anticipate side B, including when he’s off stage near or at ledge & you’re on stage, as you don’t want to get reversaled. Also anticipate it if he recovers high with a fullhop aerial.

Like us, Diddy can also use his side B to help with his off-stage recovery, and with how much speed and distance it covers, you likely won't get a chance to gimp him with an aerial if he uses that to recover instead of up B. It can catch you quick too when you're on the receiving end trying to recover, and peanut can potentially gimp when used to edgeguard, so recover low when possible in most cases to avoid both of those.

Speaking of up B, you do want to shield Rocket Barrel (which he'll most often use horizontally) even under platforms, if you're not ready to counterattack him. Diddy up B explosions are also punishable with Rid d-smash if he lands close or dash attack if he lands far. Be ready for that if he uses it as a wildcard on stage or from somewhere off stage to land. If you hit him out of his rocket barrels (on or off stage), he can still control it and circle it back to blast into you. Is unlikely but possible, so respect it.

Monkey Flip is mashable, but you’re very rarely gonna outrun it, so most of its punishing happens during the move with some kind of anti-air like retreating nair, u-tilt, up angle f-tilt, or even u-smash at kill %. It may be a good idea to spend less time shielding against Diddy and more time moving around him, with how quick his side B is which’ll punish you if you’re as comfy in your shield as some matchups. When caught by side B, jump release results in a footstool; also be ready to tech it at ~10%.

Another thing about monkey flip, despite how fast it may feel or seem, it still has plenty startup; 18 frames which is only 4 frames less than that of our command grab, so if you can mess up their close range you can just straight up beat the move. Monkey flip is preferred at mid range which is where Ridley typically wants to be at which it makes it hard to play his usual game, so you may have to bait him close range or play lame at far range.

Also focus on gaining space and stage control when he brings out the banana. When Diddy pulls the banana out (and only when he’s actively pulling it out), focus on where the banana is going instead of Diddy, as he’s going to jump to catch it. If you are close enough you can punish it, such as with nair, or try to estimate where he’ll go right after he picks it up.

Watch out for his d-tilt hand clap which is one of his main combo starters like with us, except he can followup with smashes (unless you're at too high % for his u-smash to connect) and has a 20% chance of causing tripping. Otherwise with his aerials that lead into combos, remember to DI away. His f-throw and b-throw can kill around 150% range at the ledge, and his u-throw can combo too. DI for Ridley is not as effective against his Hoo Ha kill confirm (d-throw > bair) though.

Is a niche option, but when Diddy's either holding the banana or has already thrown it, can sometimes use Plasma to trade with him as a situational check. Plasma like other projectiles can stop the thrown banana in its place if timed right, and forces an option out of him even if it doesn't hit him like when the banana's already on the ground, and simply hopping over the peel to reach him will often greet you with his f-air or something.

Platform stages are recommended against Diddy since landing against him can be difficult for the reasons established.

For more specific things on the matchup...

General gameplan

• Stop the Diddy from getting the banana in neutral. Diddy will catch approaches with fair, d-tilt, and side B to limit our approaches and pull the banana easily. Is important to spot the pattern of Diddy pulling the banana to punish him.

• Shield plenty at high %, angle your shield upwards, and then cancel with fullhops to bait a monkey flip.

• Diddy fair is laggy enough to punish with nair or shield grab.

Lose conditions

• Nair > devastating dair at mid %. At the corner, avoid f-tilt or d-tilt to concentrate on the aerial. If touched, DI in the dair.

• If they never do a rising aerial against our shield at high % for an easy up smash punish.

• Try to spotdodge or roll out our side B. Jumping or rolling in is the solution.

• Try to punish his dash attack or side B kick on shield. Take into account the RPS situations.

Facing the banana

• If Diddy banana is in front of us, it's a huge commitment; running in and d-tilt/f-tilt or dash attack to pick it up. Intercepting the banana in the air is not recommended because of our weak air game. Pick up the banana with f-tilt or dash attack, as both have good reach.

• Learn to ledge jump z-catch the banana placed in the corner. If Diddy has banana and shields at the corner while we are off stage, do not ledge jump. If we have no choice, move away from the wall to limit our chances of getting hit by the banana.

• Once the banana is in your hands, either ledgetrap with it, send it to Diddy, or place it on a platform if you can. Unfortunately, keeping it is not good, as we can no longer f-tilt or d-tilt.

• If Diddy has the banana, absolutely space the f-tilt or d-tilt. After these, shield as the first intention. Jumping a lot after is helpful.

Miscellaneous and frame data

His f-smash is 2 hits and u-smash is 3 hits.

Diddy up tilt requires about 2 SDI inputs, which has 8 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

His d-smash is whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

His normals are pretty punishable by our OoS options and shield grab; d-tilt being the main exception, but d-smash is punished by shorthop SPR OoS and his u-smash is shield punished by our f-smash. While his dash attack does technically crossup shield, doesn't do so by much with it being 3 hits, so watch him closely if you shield it and punish (is -14). His landing aerials besides fair and dair are pretty safe on shield, so go for a reset there.

Jab 3, smashes, and ledge getup attack are shield punished by u-tilt too should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

If he charges his neutral B up close, it’s shield punishable with OoS aerials/grab, while the overcharge is very minus on shield. Horizontal rocket barrel's plenty punishable on shield too, even with d-smash.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (82-86%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (87-95%)

Major credit to Mezcaul on the general gameplan, lose conditions, and specifics in facing the banana.

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Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong

Neutral: DK's approaches are a 50/50 between dash attack (-13 on shield and only 10 frames of end lag) & dash grab (33 frames of end lag), along with his bair walling which you want to anti-air.

Disadvantage: Watch out for aerial hand slap hitting ledge hang. Also use ground tech from 2nd hit of that move to avoid a u-smash kill.

Advantage: Watch out for him using fully charged neutral B from ledge. Also, even if they’re facing toward you, good DK players will B-reverse their neutral B charge to let themselves double jump bair through your fireballs. Semi charging at most is good in this instance so you can try and aerial them after, while saving full charge plasma for when they’re recovering from further away.

With DK’s spike options, pay attention to how he moves off stage to determine how you recover, sometimes attacking him in the process. Try to mash out of his cargo throw, but especially watch out for his up throw setups. If you do get carried by his cargo throw off stage, watch out for f-throw where he dunks you with f-air after. To avoid that, delay your jump and recover low. Also watch out for off stage b-throw where he tries to stage spike you, but try to tech that (shield + up). Same if he does bair or nair in this instance.

Other than that, respect the super armor of his neutral B, up B (7 hits on the ground but in the air is inconsistent), and side B, as well as the intangibility of his three tilts, smashes, and uair. Avoid the side B rather than shield it with how much shield damage it does, and watch out for it when juggling him. Wall him out with our neutral tools and combo him when possible. DK knows his recovery is bad, so he’ll often use it early to avoid being spiked. Back up and punish when you anticipate it. A mixup DK may do is ledge drop double jump dair.

Miscellaneous and frame data

While his side B has super armor, it's not there while he's headbutting; only the startup frames before it, which makes either challenging or punishing it that much more possible. Won't be buried if hit by the air version, but still tech it if on stage.

For his down B, aside from it spiking off stage, it can hit is under platforms, so still shield it there. Same with his d-tilt and dair.

His u-smash, d-smash, dair, side B, and up B (grounded) are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Respect his grab range and ledge getup attack range.

Our jab 1 starts faster than his, allowing us to get out of scramble situations better.

DK's normals are pretty punishable OoS for us with our aerials, grab, u-smash, and such. His d-smash can also be shield punished by f-smash, and his jab 2, f-tilt, u-tilt, u-smash, d-smash, up B, and ledge getup attack are shield punished by our u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %. His landing aerials are too safe on shield though besides fair, so go for a reset there.

His side B does a lot of shield damage as mentioned, but if you shield it at full health, can punish with most options since it's -32. His grounded down B and especially up B (-37) are punishable OoS too; skewer, d-smash, etc for the latter.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (104-108%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (109-117%)

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Dr. Mario

Dr. Mario

• Doc Tornado is 7 hits and -30 on shield, so can be punished by Ridley f-smash OoS. Be aware though it has 10% damage worth of armor. When it by it, have to do about 2 SDI inputs, each hit of which has 2 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

Up smash has head intangibility on frames 9 to 13.

Skewer > jab 1 > f-smash, for covering delayed getup.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (88-91%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (92-98%)

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Duck Hunt

Duck Hunt

To get in, first and foremost:

Figure out what moves will safely hit the can and then hit the can; our spaced tilts & aerials generally, and maybe plasma depending on distance. The can bounces 9 times before it starts smoking. This forces DH to hit the can again themselves to regain control of it. Be fairly sure that they WILL try to hit the can in this case, as most of their neutral revolves around it being available. Once can is inactive, they only have the linear pressure of clay pigeon and gunman, so you can approach more safely with aerials or chance a grounded approach, being ready to shield, preferably dash shield.

If you go in from the air (after can has been neutralized), be wary of

• uair, as it hits three times with a hitbox as wide as DH's body
• u-smash's first and third hitbox, which hit up-and-in-front and then directly above
• fade back into up angled f-tilt (not disjointed) or up angled f-smash (very disjointed)

Going in from the ground is usually just them spamming the same options they would normally have in neutral. Nothing special since they won't want to do anything too bold like jump into you with an aerial.

Additional stuff:

Keep in mind that clay pigeon has both the object's hitbox plus the shots after; said shots happen in an overlapping pattern that is larger than DH themselves. It's better to shield tilt it than try to play tightly around it as the hitstun is generous and they can somewhat spam it at close ranges. DH grabs don't lead into much besides can setups & no kill throws, so this isn't the worst thing to do dependent on the situation.

One other big piece of advice is don't push your advantage when you're both grounded because they can hit you with a clay pigeon out of hitstun and suddenly your combo is theirs. Same thing with covering landings; don't try to time a tilt because you might get hit by a clay pigeon. Charge plasma from away or let them land. Either way it's not worth the risk of getting hit by clay pigeon.

Gunman has a longer cooldown (I think maybe two extra seconds) if you hit them, so take the odd safe chance to do that if the opponent uses them a lot. They take hitlag the same as any other character or object so be aware that DH can do funky stuff like a retreating jump to drop a gunman which eats the attack while they use the extra frames to act. The fastest gunman is the one in red.

When being ledgetrapped by Duck Hunt, don’t hit the can with ledge getup attack, as he can f-smash it back.

Miscellaneous and frame data

You can’t SDI clay pigeon. Hold shield, DI, and try jumping.

Watch out for dair under plats and shield or avoid.

Use retreating nair to hit clay shooter & gunman while remaining mobile.

His f-smash is whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Rapid jab skewer punish applies, shorthop skewer OoS in this case (shield drop > d-smash also works). His normals are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab.

His gentleman jab/rapid jab finisher, dash attack, smashes, and ledge getup attack (-28) are u-tilt punishable should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %, and his f-smash you can punish with our own if shielded. His landing aerials besides dair are too safe on shield to punish though, so go for a neutral reset.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (82-85%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (86-95%)

Major credit to Rex's pinned post on the Ridcord metagame channel.

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Falco

Falco

Falco can be the most challenging out of the spacie trio since he's mainly in the air while Fox and Wolf are more grounded. Thus, you'll be using less grounded moves like d-tilt and more often air to air'ing. Having one of the highest jumps in the game too, Falco can sometimes reach you faster than you have time to react and continue the combos. Mixing up your DI/SDI away helps though.

For the infamous u-tilt, if you shield it, try to roll away before approaching him again. That said, watch out for his throws if you shield the u-tilt too often, with back throw killing at high % at ledge and the other three leading into combos. You can DI away from the laser from his up, down, and back throws at least. Once you get to mid percent, his throws do nothing as long as you DI up throw.

U-tilt is -12 on shield, so you should be able to just nair, grab, or u-smash (from behind) Falco. U-tilt is a main combo starter, but so is d-tilt. He will use pivot tilts or aerials for approaches, the latter being mostly unpunishable OoS.

Just look out on how he wants to start the combo. If you know he's going to do a tilt, just shield. He does have a frame 6 grab though, so be wary on waiting on shield too long.

Falco’s lasers in neutral don’t do much on their own. They don’t combo into anything; it’s mainly to get you to jump unsafely over them so he can get you in position for u-tilt combos, so be mindful of how you jump over or otherwise avoid the lasers.

For his reflector that's also kind of a projectile, you either need to attack from above or shield quickly as you approach. It's pretty punishable on shield up close to where you can f-smash him after, or shorthop skewer OoS if lucky.

Falco isn't that fast overall which makes neutral doable, apart from what's been said about his jump height which makes our approach game being either grounded or at fullhop height. Due to u-tilt being Falco's bnb as mentioned, being grounded at mid range is most favorable.

In between his u-tilt 1 and 2, you can u-smash OoS as a punish. Like u-tilt, his side B is a potential combo starter and kill confirm, so respect it too; like Fox's, it loses to shield.

U-throw is his main combo throw, but d-throw also combos. U-throw's also a kill confirm if you don't DI left/right (b-throw you DI away or down). D-throw combos can be avoided with DI away.

His fair is great at shield pressure due to a couple mixups; the mixups are to change the timing of the landing hitbox (after the 6 hits) or to fade away to avoid shield grabs.

When at kill %, also look out for his d-tilt and bair. What else makes him different from the other spacies is how easy he edgeguards.

Otherwise edgeguard him the way you would Fox between the up B and side B. Due to Falco's weight and fall speed, kill confirms like d-throw > bair become even better.

Miscellaneous and frame data

His d-smash is whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

His u-smash and d-smash have some intangibility on the legs, and his d-tilt.

You can still fight him patiently while grounded, but have to time it between him having the longest jump height in the game (won't keep you waiting as long as a floaty though) & all his landing aerials being too safe on shield, so you contest them instead with your anti-airs or d-tilt.

Falco multihits- u-tilt (2 hits), u-smash (2 hits), nair (4 hits), fair (6 hits)

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Falco rapid jab finisher is f-smash punishable. Besides d-tilt, his other normals as well as side B, down B, and point-blank laser can at least be punished by nair OoS. His landing aerials are too safe on shield though, so reset. His u-smash, d-smash, and ledge getup attack (-26) are punished by SH SPR OoS.

His jab 2/rapid jab finisher, DA, smashes, and ledge getup attack are u-tilt punishable should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Rid kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (79-82%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (83-91%)

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Fox

Fox

You need to keep up with his pace or he'll run right over you. To match his playstyle, keep moving, don't sit in shield too often, and save your slower attacks; hitting him with tilts, quick jabs, and aerials most of the time. Fox's dash attack is a great whiff punish that leads into more combos. Generally want to DI away from his combos though. Sometimes may need to airdodge to escape, but don't use it carelessly because Fox often anticipates it. Against a good Fox, need to mix up your DI so he doesn't catch on to your habits.

Almost all his combos lead to his most reliable KO move, his up smash. Since he'll mostly use it as a combo ender or a hard read, need to make sure you're not playing too predictably which'll keep him from making said reads.

Respect his aerials. Nair is a fast kick that protects his landing, poke around your shield, ledgetrap, and lead into combos. Your best bet is to shield and move, preferably with a shorthop away when he does it. Also keep an eye on his 5-hit fair which also has a landing hitbox. His bair is fast and deadly, so watch out. His dair doesn't spike but is 7 hit, so need to hold all the way through when shielding. His uair juggles really well and can KO, so if you're above Fox, try to get around him when getting back to the stage, time a nair, or get to ledge if nothing else.

Also remember his jab, which he'll commonly do out of nair. If you shield rapid jab to the end, can do a dash grab, dash attack, or long reach move.

His blaster he'll mainly use to bait you in. While it has no knockback, it does more damage each hit, so be methodical with your approach.

Aside from its main purpose, his reflector he can also use to break combos or mix up his fall speed. Aside from recovering horizontally, he'll sometimes use his side B on stage as a mixup, leading into u-smash or combos, as it hits you upward which allows for a juggle. If you shield it, he will not go through you.

For all his strengths, remember he's still one of the lightest characters in the game, and taller than most characters that light. Because Fox relies on his usual combo setups and hard reads, he can be predictable, often going for the same ones. Catch on to his habits as much as he does yours.

While his grab is fast, his throws are a bit weak. None of them KO early, and if you DI right, none of them lead into true combos.

His recovery is arguably is even more linear than ours between the side B and up B. While we don't have as many up B angles, Fox normally uses his up B the same way. Both recoveries can be punished hard with a read, whether you shield side B on stage or hit it off stage, and up B we often beat with down angle Wing Blitz if timed right.

Fox knows his recovery's predictable, so he'll do his best to mix it up, using side B and up B at different times to throw you off. You can beat that by playing the same game; go off the ledge and come back which will bait him to side B, and then you attack.

Miscellaneous and frame data

His d-smash has leg intangibility during frames 6-7.

Fox fair hits require about 2 SDI inputs, which have 3 to 4 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

His u-smash, d-smash, and bair are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > whatever, for delayed getup.

Rapid jab finisher you can also shield punish with f-smash. His normals besides f-tilt we can at least punish with nair OoS (some with our other OoS aerials and shield grab). His rapid jab finisher, smashes, & ledge getup attack (-27) are u-tilt punishable should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %, while his u-smash & d-smash we can also shield punish with f/d-smash/SH skewer. His fair & dair we punish with our OoS aerials and maybe u-smash, but his other landing aerials are too safe, so reset.

His point-blank laser and side B we can punish with our OoS aerials and such, and maybe f-smash if side B is spaced and you react quick enough with it. His down B and up B on shield are also pretty unsafe which can be punished with f-smash, etc.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop u-air (76-79%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (80-87%)

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Ganondorf

Ganondorf

Neutral

This is one of the few matchups where you can play primarily as a zoner. Wall Ganon out with a mix of tail disjoints and plasma to keep him from getting in his mid-range where he excels. He's much slower on the ground and in the air than Ridley, so you can really run away from him if needed. Plasma tends to be hard for Ganon to get around if used properly. Wizard’s Foot or Wizkick can randomly beat plasma but isn't consistent enough to be a true counter, especially when staled.

Ganon will have to use clever movement and jump mixups to bait you into either a whiff or catch you shielding/dashing. Any move Ganon has will give him advantage if it lands, so you have to play outside his bubble at all times. For such a heavy hitter, Ganon’s moves are safer on shield than you’d expect; landing nair, fair, and bair are basically completely safe and you shouldn’t be attempting to directly punish them. Watch what they do after. Late hit dash attack and spaced d-tilt are also safe.

It’s important to keep in mind where you are on stage. The last thing you want is for Ganon to corner you. When shielding, watch out for dash attack crossups, and of course flame choke or dark dive setups, the latter of which is a go-to if you're cornered.

Disadvantage

You can tech grounded flame choke, but air choke is untechable, so it’s important that you slightly delay your getup option around 8 frames, as it'll make Ganon’s followup the hardest to perform. When flame choked on the ground, have to be aware of what options you’re choosing and mix them up. Below are the possible followups.

Grounded-

• Missed tech: Jab, f-tilt, instant dash attack, d-tilt
• Getup attack: Pivot f-smash
• Roll away: F-smash (slight charge)
• Tech in place: Jab, f-tilt, d-tilt, instant dash attack
• Tech inward: Dash attack, f-tilt, d-smash
• Tech away: Instant dash attack, Wizkick

Air choke:

• Getup attack: Shorthop dair
• Roll away: Dash attack, Wizkick, u-smash, d-smash
• Roll in: U-smash, d-smash
• Standard getup: U-smash, d-smash

His dash attack and d-throw are both combo starters, leading into nair and uair at low percents. D-throw > bair can kill very early on DI in only.

Ganon can’t hit you on the ledge without taking risks which you can abuse. His nair is big and fast enough to allow great option coverage and reacting to ledge options you do in reaction to his nair. Play patient, watch his spacing and, stay safe. Drop down aerials are not super effective due to Ganon’s large hitboxes and doriyah f-smash (Ganon can only hit Ridley on the ledge with tipper f-smash on the right side of the stage). Getup attack can be a valued asset to your getups though; if they get too predictable with aerials or charge a smash too close, don’t hold back.

For off stage, Ganon covers large space with his aerials but he has to commit which gives us options to mix up. Our mixup options in general are pretty good but getting back on stage horizontally and/or from above will prove to be a challenge at times.

The biggest threats are drop zone aerials to hit you trying to SPR or jump to ledge, his dair can sometimes trade with up B if they time and space it really well, so keep that in mind. Always do a beefy up B when recovering to swat away Ganon and possibly allow you to get up from ledge. He can also edgeguard with dark dive but it's risky since they can sometimes still get tech checked.

Ganon doesn't juggle so much as he catches landings if you find yourself above him. He's not fast on the ground, but he doesn’t need to be for this. Dash attack, flame choke, and Wizkick can catch landings, and his aerials are big, powerful, and fast for keeping you in the air. Don't try to challenge him with dair, just go to ledge or land away from Ganon. You also have your jumps you can time to try and make him whiff or mix up your landings along with fastfalls to get around him.

Advantage

Ganon’s ledge hang is somewhere as good as ours, so you’ll have to space plasma further back to hit him, but other than that, down angle f-tilt and d-smash can hit him with only mild spacing. Watch out for ledge drop side B. Air flame choke is stupid fast and you want to avoid getting hit by it. Besides that, Ganon doesn’t really have ledge drop options. He gets ledgetrapped like most big bodies, so just stay right outside of getup attack range and read or react accordingly.

When he's off stage, just plasma mainly. You can also run off aerial on occasion when Ganon is maneuvering plasma or beating it out with a well timed nair, or you can use aerials when he’s recovering high. Combining plasma and aerials is very deadly. If you get him to use up his jump to avoid plasma or it gets clipped but not enough to kill him, a falling nair or fair is very tough to get around. Don't forget to try and tech check him if he catches you with dark dive.

Ganon's landing in disadvantage is pretty rough, with how slow he is in the air along with being big. Safe landing aerials help, but he has to space and time them correctly to be safe. It’s more rewarding and less risky to focus on catching his landings like he does with us trying to land. You don’t want to get hit by a dair or air Wizkick for trying to nair or uair him. D-tilt will catch Ganon if you go under his landing aerials and hit him; abuse this if they’re landing with fairs or nairs. Plasma if he’s trying to stay away from you, and pressure him to go to ledge.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Respect his ledge getup attack range.

His dair if timed right along with air Wizkick can hit us under a platform, so still shield or avoid there.

His u-tilt, f-smash, u-smash, and neutral B are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Our jab comes out well before his, so always use in up close scramble situations. His jab on shield is normally too safe for us to punish though, so reset. All his other normals you can at least nair OoS and such though.

His up smash is shield punished by shorthop SPR OoS. Wizkick is shield punished by Ridley f-smash, and air Wizkick (-34) is even more unsafe, but does much shield damage, so don't shield if it's not at full health. His f-smash, u-smash, d-smash 1, and Wizkick are shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (97-101%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (102-112%)

Major credit to the Ridcord JMU doc for much of this info.

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Greninja

Greninja

Respect the dash attack, being its main combo starter which comes out fast and ends quickly. Watch their patterns to anticipate when they'll use it and shield etc if expecting it (is -13 on shield, so punish OoS). Try to DI away if hit. Can airdodge a followup in time after when hit by DA at high %.

Also respect its tilts. D-tilt and u-tilt leads into combos. While shielding is a good option here too, often your best option is to throw out a quick attack (jab, nair) before it hits you.

Greninja's air speed and jump height make it hard to follow, so patiently play mostly grounded, anti-airing and catching landings when possible. That said, nair protects its landing, fair & 3-hit bair are good combo finishers, and uair juggles and can drag down into jablock combos, so don't miss tech. Watch their dair patterns in order to punish it if they get spammy.

If you're diagonally above Greninja when it tries to uair, can nair its blindspot.

Much as shielding helps, also respect Greninja's grab, being one of the longest non-tether grabs; a few places above ours. Its d-throw and u-throw lead into combos, and f-throw leads into a tech chase, so watch out for grab if you get too shield happy.

With water shuriken, aside from charging, be aware of how they use it to mix up their landing (be it a small one or landing with a fully charged one), and how they use it to condition you; if you shield it, they may run up and grab, and if you jump, they may expect it and do an aerial on you. Is a 50/50, so mix it up to keep em guessing what you're gonna do. Also be aware of how they use it to try and catch your landing (if you jump, don't land near em), and if they use it to try and gimp, can nair or fair it.

With shadow sneak, you can see the shadow beforehand even if they use it in the air, but can be harder to see on dark stages, so try not to choose those. They may use the move to protect its landing or punish yours, but in neutral or advantage, anticipate and be ready to shield it.

Remember Greninja has the double team counter. Occasionally bait them to use it and punish.

For weaknesses, it lacks an effective OoS option. Will often run away after shielding as a result, which you can catch on to, but remember its mixup with counter. They also lack combo breakers, with its nair & fair having slow startup and the other three aerials not having very big hitboxes; so like after shielding, its best option in the air is to jump away which you can also anticipate.

Like us, it has no kill throws, so at higher % you're safer from grabs, but DI away from d-throw.

While it doesn't often work, watch out for them using hydro pump (up B) as an edgeguarding mixup, and don't let it gimp you. That said, Greninja's recovery is exploitable when edgeguarding or ledgetrapping them; using shadow sneak from the ledge which you can whiff or shield punish, or their up B having no hitbox which you can take advantage of.

When edgeguarding Greninja, there are times when f-tilt is the safest thing to do. Committing to plasma breath at the wrong time gets you reversaled hard by full charged shuriken and shadow sneak. Also doesn’t help against them recovering high.

One option is to do a ledge grab setup and use the I-frames to just ignore shadow sneak altogether, and when they try to hydro pump you just ledgehop nair back to stage. They’re easier to land than f-tilt, but very rarely get a similar reward.

Once you’ve forced them to up B from far enough away, you can set up with a double jump bair to close out the stock. The fact that they have so many angle mixups makes it less straightforward, but if you’re aware of how to limit the number of mixups he can pull out, it makes damage buildup easier.

One other thing, Greninja has d-tilt > up smash as a kill confirm on us starting around 90%. Our u-tilt > uair confirm kills him a little earlier though.

Miscellaneous and frame data

SPR Greninja on plats if worried about him substitute countering our attacks from underneath (i.e. u-tilt).

Greninja d-tilt requires about 2 SDI inputs, which has 6 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

His f-smash, d-smash, fair, and Shadow Sneak are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Rapid jab skewer punish also applies, with shorthop skewer OoS being more consistent (Greninja leans forward a bit with the finisher, so may need to shorthop back a bit with the skewer. Shield drop > d-smash also works). Its normals are mostly punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab, but its landing aerials besides uair and dair are too safe on shield, so reset there. Water shuriken up close is similarly shield punished, and especially shadow sneak which is -29. Jab 3 & f-smash are punished by shorthop SPR OoS.

Its d-smash is also -29 and thus can be shield punished by our f-smash, while gentleman jab/rapid jab finisher, all three smashes, side B, and ledge getup attack (-24) are shield punished by u-tilt should they be at u-tilt > uair kill %. If they whiff a substitute counter nearby, skewer punish.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (82-86%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (87-96%)

Credit to smub on some of the edgeguarding/ledgetrapping tips.

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Hero

Hero

Go here for a detailed list of his command selection spells- https://www.ssbwiki.com/Command_Selection

Here for seeing Zoom landing points- https://x.com/rightasreine/status/1346613582147035136

And here for seeing how he mixes up his up B off stage- https://x.com/aperfectcreatio/status/1336886748132073474

Respect Hero's side B. It has 15% damage worth of armor, but in most cases avoid it at all costs, or shielding it all the way through, even under a plat. His f-tilt 1 has invincibility on the left arm and leg during frames 9-11, and his f-air is a good way of approach which you can shield and punish too. His neutral B is a chargeable fireball similar to other big projectile moves and can clank similarly. With how slow his attacks are in general, shield or bait & punish. He recovers from low which you can go off stage to edgeguard, but if caught in the tornado, be ready to tech.

Disadvantage

For being juggled, Hero doesn't make it easy to land like with fair, bair, nair, and his big up tilt which makes positioning iffy. So keep your airdoge in mind, when to use it and if you should use directional airdodge, but keep some jumps handy for later, for who knows when you'll need them. A popular Ridley tool is also fastfall nair since out of hitstun you can't immediately fastfall. It's the fastest aerial of ours and has some okay disjoint but can be contested and be shielded. Our fastfall speed is decent, giving us a good window of time to come back down.

Other tools that can be used are bair, fair, and maybe dair when close to ledge to get down quicker. If done right dair can auto-cancel if high enough and be mixed up with other options and moves but it's a straight line and no disjoint, so Hero's up tilt and aerials should cover it.

Off stage, SPR is a nice tool to get to ledge quickly but easy to outrange with Hero nair, fair and, bair. The Wing Blitz directions, I would say recovering either straight or low is pretty nice, but straight is contested with Hero neutral B and side B. Airdodge can help save some jumps but laggy when used directionally, and can be able to snap to ledge without up B. Low recovery is probably best due to up B's ability to poke through stage when holding down on WB up. Uair can protect us too but Hero has them aerials, and generally off-stage gets worse versus accel Hero.

From ledge Ridley has some tools, like ledge drop side B, fair, and nair, but be wary, for Hero side B outranges them easily. Ledge jump nair is also nice, but Hero u-tilt gets that outranged and punished. Hero shielding us at ledge is fairly safe because his OoS good, but usually they are out of range for Rid side B or fair because of their amazing spells. LSK (ledgeslip kaswoosh) is to be dealt with in low recovery & teching or high recovery but that is usually more punished by Hero's aerials and u-tilt. His dair you also want to try teching.

Now the biggest offender of the topic, accel Hero. He goes zooming constantly. Off-stage is a scary situation because SPR and WB are too slow to get away safely without getting punished. Would suggest try recovering low and keeping airdoge ready & your jumps saved, but be wary of just buffering airdoge and such or he will catch us.

Neutral

Plasma is usually a nice combo starter & kill confirm but is pretty difficult to use on Hero due to his shield, Bounce spell, and quick projectiles.

As Ridley we need to be wary of Hero up B, as that is a pretty fast combo breaker that can more often than not put Ridley in a bad spot. It's very important to note that trying to keep Accelerate Hero in disadvantage is next to impossible due to his ridiculous jump height, speed, and aerial drift, so Ridley should be content with whatever stray hits he gets. When in accel, Heroes will be looking for neutral B, landing nair, grabs, and shorthop up B. Normal Hero uses a lot of neutral B to condition shields for grabs and side B.

Ridley likes a closer approach to this matchup considering Hero's neutral B and side B play the longer game better than plasma can. We have the tilt advantage in terms of range, which is to mean dealing with Hero in either d-tilt or f-tilt range is great. Catch jump-in's with u-tilt or nair as always, preferably u-tilt here since it's not so committal and Hero's a bit floaty.

Hero has the range advantage in the aerial department. We generally have the movement advantage, even in the air without Hero having accel. Also to consider the usage and handling of plasma. Again, plasma 2-3 it optimal and not too committal but with Hero having Bounce, you just want plasma 2, so that the reflected fireballs cancel each other out. A Hero with Bounce should just run it because there's nothing to fear. If you want to contest Hero's aerial range wisely, go for fair, but it's laggy, so not great; just catch his landing with d-tilt or maybe up angle f-tilt.

Now in the consideration of defensive options, Hero can just whack our shield with no issue, seeing as how our nair OoS is frame 11, while Hero's OoS is a quick frame 7, meaning no shield poking for us outside of f-tilt or d-tilt, but if you play the longer game with Hero neutral B and side B, you shouldn't find yourself in that situation.

The most confusing part is the surprise factor Hero can pull up with the down B menu and a lot of it plays the long game well or just buffs Hero, making him quicker and stronger with the right menu pulls. There's no true counter if Ridley is not in the optimal range since Hero can cancel menu with shield or jump, though disturbing him with plasma can work, but you should be generally taking advantage that if you get in that, Hero would have to panic pick a menu option.

Advantage

Off-stage is where it gets pretty fun, as Ridley has fantastic edgeguarding. Ridley must know what options Hero has off-stage, as they can either die pretty easily or have an uncontestable recovery. If Hero has Zoom primed or under the effects of Accelerate, don't bother trying as these will give Hero stage control for free.

Without those, Hero has things like neutral B and side B in order to cover himself alongside having timing mixups with up B. Our usual edgeguarding will work on normal Hero, especially plasma. Is a nice way to get Hero to recover a certain way and can snipe the Heroes who are slower on the draw with their menu. Heroes should not try to recover onto stage without Zoom/Accelerate, as Ridley can easily cover those other options.

We juggle Hero pretty well like he does to us, but they can land with side B if we're not directly below them, or their nair in the event that we shield since we don't have a fast enough OoS option to punish. Also watch out for Hero’s up B OoS (especially with its ability to confirm into up smash like with platform assistance), but if you space your attacks right, it’s not a true OoS punish, and then punish his landing hard with an anti-air like up smash.

Also remember that with some exceptions, all of Hero’s menu spells are beaten by shield or jump. Remember to shield tilt at times though so you don’t get shield poked by his spells, side B, or even neutral B. Also waiting as long as possible to respawn when he has buffs active.

Only spells that beat shield is Hatchet Man, Kamikaze, and if he has both buffs; Psyche Up and Oomph. You can shield an aerial at least when he has Psyche Up, but not when he’s on the ground or has both buffs. Both Flame and Kacrackle (Ice) Slash also breaks shield if it's low and/or he has buffs, but is otherwise punished by nair OoS. The most explosive spells like Kaboom is free against shield itself, so better to jump over them. Magic Burst can be shielded though, since there is little room to avoid it.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Hero dair hits us under plats, so still shield or avoid.

His f-tilt 2, smashes, dair, and Hatchet Man are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Our jab 1 starts faster than his, giving us the advantage in close range.

His normals are pretty punishable by our OoS aerials and shield grab. Jab 3 and f-smash are at least -25 and thus shorthop SPR punished OoS. F-tilt 2 can even by shield punished by f-smash, while his jab 3, u-tilt, d-tilt, smashes, and ledge getup attack are shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %. His landing aerials besides dair are too safe on shield to punish though, so reset there. Hero side B you also want to punish OoS when close.

For Hero's menu spells, while kaboom is plus on shield as mentioned, its weaker counterpart bang is -16. Likewise, sizz is -26 and sizzle is -30, whack is -29 and thwack is -28, magic burst is -36 to -24, flame slash is -13 and kacrackle slash is -12, and metal slash is -26. If you happen to shield any of these up close, can punish with certain OoS options accordingly, but remember to not shield against kamikazee and hatchet man, and be more wary of shielding when he has oomph and psych up buffs active.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (90-93%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (94-102%)

Major credit to the Ridcord Hero JMU section for much of this info.

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Ice Climbers

Ice Climbers

To be able to tell which one is Popo (the player) and not Nana (the AI), look at the player number (P1, P2, etc) over their head. Since it's one against two, don't throw out laggy moves or go for grabs; unless you manage to separate them which should be your goal in the match. Take out Nana first when possible so the other will be alone for the remainder of their stock (she has her own separate % from Popo that's not seen). Otherwise play a ranged game with our tilts and aerials. If hit by their desync combos, be ready to tech or DI away.

Also respect IC's grab game in how deadly it is, though helps that they have the shortest grab range. Use plasma against squal hammer (their side B) or attack from above. Watch how they may use side B in disadvantage as well, be it recovering high when possible, or to cover their landing. Either shield/avoid and punish, or space a d-tilt.

Timely mash out of being frozen by blizzard; if they use it at ledge, do a getup attack, and if they do it from afar, can jump over it. Watch out for ice shot as a means of gimping and save your jumps when possible (freezes at high % but can hit the move back at them for some damage). Aside from being a good vertical recovery, their up B can also kill well offensively, so watch out when above them.

They rely heavily on shielding. Climbers will keep their back turned from you, typically for bair pressure. When they mix that in with shielding, it's a bait to get you to try and grab them, or they'll desync and wall you out. This will be done mostly through their specials.

There's many setups to desyncing, so is up to you to understand how they desync; a common one being SH uair, apart from side B (squal hammer's also used to reconnect them during disadvantage). They also want to desync into a grab, which is dangerous as explained earlier, as is being above them.

Their multi-hit u-tilt is also something to watch out for, due to its combos and confirms.

D-throw doesn't hit Nana, making you vulnerable to getting smash attacked. Use f-throw (past ~15%), b-throw, or u-throw to separate them instead, making them the go-to for the MU rather than d-throw. Mix everything together and chase down Nana for a kill.

Aside from bair pressure, another reason they like to have their backs turned is so you grab the AI Climber instead of the player, letting the latter smash attack you, and they can shield you pummeling the AI, though it stops them from hitting you as aforementioned.

More miscellaneous and frame data

The CPU can charge a smash attack while the main Climber can move freely, so don't roll or stand and shield.

The CPU gets stuck on platforms on stages like T&C and Kalos when the Climbers get separated, making them good stages against the duo.

After their 4 alt, their lineup gets reversed; meaning that instead of Popo in the front, Nana will be in front and Popo will be the CPU. You can tell by the hairstyle when it changes, but the same rules otherwise apply when it comes to fighting them.

While grabbing against the Climbers is discouraged as aforementioned, interesting to note that when you grab them from behind, you will always grab the CPU. Also if you grab the AI this way, pummeling is effective, as it limits the main Climber from following up an attack, though don't count on it too much. Also remember to time your throw to take advantage of your invincibility frames during whichever throw animation like you would against a boomerang type projectile. That said, SPR can be as good if not better at separating since you move past the other climber when you grab one.

Also when against Icies, landing a skewer is easier since even if you hit one target with the sourspot, as long as you hit the sweet spot on something you'll get the full damage (however skewering the AI won't activate the zoom-in, but it will still do the full damage). While you shouldn't fish for it, skewer is a lot easier to use against the Climbers, plus having them at radical % difference really helps at separating the two. Skewer at max range can work when they use blizzard as well; at low % so you don't freeze.

If you condition them to not side B out of disadvantage, their other landing options are subpar, so maybe go for a quick uair which beats out their puny range before they start mashing B again.

IC multihits- u-tilt (7 hits), side B (8 hits with both & 11 hits solo), down B (9 hits)

IC's Squall Hammer hits require about 2 SDI inputs, each of which have 3, 4, or 5 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

D-tilt is their only normal that hits our ledge hang.

They're pretty floaty and as such, their dair can be punished by u-smash OoS. Also, when both of them are together, the AI's attacks land 7 frames later. They share frame data on attacks but if only one hits something, the other will delay their attack, essentially sharing the hitlag in order to stay at a comparable level of desync.

Their side B is -21 to -24 and can crossup shield. While AI will have invincibility frames at the start of their up B, the main Climber will not, so you can attack since the main one alone will be vulnerable. Their recovery can also be body blocked.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (86-91%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (92-100%)

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Ike

Ike

Ike is more shorthop aerial happy, and we can barely punish his nair with f/d-tilt if spaced just outside its range; aside from walk/dash shielding, use said tilts while doing retreat turnarounds as such when he’s swinging. Our fair is faster than his, so use it + retreating nair to air-to-air. Like down angle Wing Blitz, his up B spikes while snapping to ledge.

Ike is vulnerable offstage, with plasma being useful as an edgeguarding tool which can easily KO if Ike doesn’t have his double jump.

Otherwise, with neutral, play defensively. Aside from what was already covered on that, there's also trying to grab or dash attack a whiffed aerial, along with plasma to force Ike to approach or jump. Remember too his f-tilt is around the same range as ours.

Avoid getting hit by Ike nair perhaps most of all. Parry & punish, or dash in, shield, and grab immediately when Ike lands or when in range. Ike will always do a falling nair, so if it becomes predictable, Ridley can do a rising aerial to stuff him out before he nairs

When Ike's above you, can hit him out of Eruption (neutral B) with uair. When recovering from ledge, can avoid getting nair'd with normal getup > shield or reading Ike’s jump > fair from ledge. SPR can be useful in recovery since Ike cannot counter it, unlike up B.

May want to focus on edgeguarding for kills, while using plasma, nair, or f-tilt at ledge. Can also use plasma to edgeguard Ike which again is useful if Ike has no 2nd jump off stage. Using it may force Ike to recover high early with side B, in which you can do one fireball to bait him or be used to 2 frame depending on timing. Can catch catch Quickdraw (Ike side B) with fair, bair, and plasma. F-smash if Ike is just above ledge level.

Can edgeguard Ike’s Aether up B by run off > nair before Ike throws his sword. Can plasma if Ike’s not directly beneath the stage, or f-tilt/f-smash if Ike goes slightly above stage level.

Like with Chrom up B, Ike's has no hitbox when rising, but when descending with it to ledge, will go through any fireballs and punish any f/d-tilt attempt, so be careful. Still, these up B's have no horizontal movement, so can easily hit Ike from above when he's at the highest point of his move, or 2-frame.

Miscellaneous and frame data

His dair if timed right along with neutral B and up B hit us under platforms, so still shield or avoid there.

Eruption (neutral B) has super armor on medium and full charge, frames 6 to 10.

His smashes and aerials are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

His jab 3 is punished by Ridley f-smash OoS.

All his normals are punished by our OoS aerials and such, while his smashes are mostly punished by whatever. His landing aerials are usually too safe though unless you can specifically punish nair in the way that was mentioned earlier. Quickdraw can be from -28 to -22 on shield, and his up B is -29 like the jab 3. If he whiffs a counter nearby, skewer punish.

His jab 2/3, smashes, neutral B, side B, up B, and ledge getup attack (-26) are shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (93-96%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (97-108%)

Major credit to the Ridcord JMU doc for much of this info.

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Incineroar

Incineroar

Neutral

Be aware that Alolan Whip has armor after the initial frames. You'll need to use moves that deal at least 12% damage or more to break through it. Rid d-tilt may not be sufficient for that, but can still lift him off the ground if you hit him with it during AW’s initial frames. Only the tipper of Ridley f-tilt and nair (i.e. retreating nair) can beat out side B, while subtle moves like Rid jab or u-tilt will be no good against it. Don't try to spot-dodge it either.

Whenever you get caught in Alolan Whip, have to DI by pressing the left stick in the opposite direction of his initial lunge; if you aim the stick the wrong way, will get hit farther than normal. If you're initially facing left before the move, hold left, and likewise if you were facing the right, then hold right.

Like Alolan Whip, his up B Cross Chop has some armor; the same amount after the initial frames, so if he ever uses it as an offensive mixup on stage, try to dodge it more often than challenging it, although Ridley uair and u-smash can still beat it out if timed right. Shielding it is not advised due to the final hit that can poke.

Same goes for his neutral B Darkest Lariat. Aside from the kill power it's a good get-off-me tool on its own but like other moves of its kind, can be whiff punished with Skewer or whatnot. Don't try to challenge Lariat when it's initially active though, as it's invincible. Also be careful of Incineroar's who mash this after whiffs, as it's great for catching slow punishes. Lariat may also be used as a landing mixup.

Other than that, spend less time shielding against Incineroar and more time moving around him. As long as you properly respect Alolan Whip and by extension his fair & grab game, can still outspace and wall him out as effectively as any other brawler type character, especially with how slow he is. If you Plasma him on stage though, beware that he might Revenge it. That said, he can only absorb 2 of our Plasma shots without getting hit, so 3 or more will always hit him. His best counterplay is to jump over and Revenge the last one or two fireballs.

Disadvantage

Be aware that Alolan Whip can catch neutral getup, so be wary of using that getup at high %. Lariat is good for catching delayed/baited neutral getups, so don't mash. A timed getup attack or ledge drop SPR will beat his neutral B. Also be aware of his nair which they'll use to bait getups that they'll Lariat. Be careful about drop down aerials; they're good at swatting away Incineroar but lose badly to trades or Alolan Whip. Beware of using an up B poke since he can Revenge counter that at ledge.

When off stage, don't be predictable with SPR out of hitstun, lest you get punished by his aerials. Counter is the biggest threat off stage. It has fixed knockback though, so you've just gotta be ready to tech and to avoid Incin with almost full Revenge.

Far as juggling, Incineroar's uair is really nasty. Combos into itself and is fast and wide. Would be frustrating to get around if Incineroar himself was fast. As it stands, is something you'll have to look out for when trying to jump over or land near him. Land away from him and be aware of Alolan Whip and dash attack to catch landings. Be extra careful with landing aerials and using shield because of this.

Advantage

When you're in advantage and he's at ledge, main thing to watch out for is ledge drop Alolan Whip. Be cautious about using shield to trap and bait. Otherwise, Plasma away. Rely on ledge trapping at lower % to get a hang of their preferred options.

Similar to Ridley, can punish Incineroar side B out of hitstun off stage with aerials if he gets predictable with it. When juggling him, mainly watch out for Revenge, and once Incin starts spamming Revenge when being juggled, that's an easy empty hop > up smash punish due to conditioning.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Incineroar’s intangibility-

• D-tilt on the legs during frames 8-11.
• U-tilt on the head during frames 6-11.
• U-smash and up B on the arms during frames 13-18 and 13-26 respectively.

Incin neutral B is 6 hits.

SPR Incin on plats if worried about him revenge countering our attacks from underneath (i.e. u-tilt).

Against Incin as well as some other brawlers and floaties, we have a bit more leeway to dash dance as a bait, with how slower they usually are.

Incin side B is mashable, before he releases you toward the ropes.

When he’s not trying to get you with side B or fair which are easily whiff punished, the moves he’ll want to use most at low % are d-tilt, uair, and grabs.

His up throw can kill.

His dash attack goes further than you’d think. Has a pretty good burst range, so be aware when landing and trying to space around him.

His d-smash and up B are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Our jab 1 starts faster than theirs, allowing us to get out of scramble situations better.

Incineroar's normals are at least punished by nair OoS, and jab 3 & d-smash are punished by SH SPR OoS. His dash attack will cross you up when shielded, so quickly turn around and punish accordingly. His jab 2/3, u-tilt, dash attack, smashes, and ledge getup attack are also u-tilt punishable on shield should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

His landing aerials besides dair are too safe on shield though, so go for a reset there. Darkest Lariat and Cross Chop are shield punishable with f/d-smash, etc, but the latter is better whiff punished.

You want to be otherwise cautious with shielding against Incin anyway due to side B as mentioned, and his d-smash shield damage similar to K Rool's. Speaking of side B, if you space yourself right when Incin goes for that burst option (whether on ground or in the air), can punish with Skewer, and likewise as a whiff punish for Revenge.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (98-101%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (102-110%)

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Inkling

Inkling

Neutral

Perhaps the most important thing to remember with the Inkling matchup, is don't get roller'd. Always be aware of the possibility of roller, be it when Inkling takes horizontal knockback, as a landing option, from ledge, or after a bait. Because of this, you need to be careful of where & when you dash since it removes your ability to shield instantly, apart from dash shielding. D/u-tilt & u-smash OoS are true punishes if you react quick enough, aside from nair & grab. Also keep in mind Inkling has many moves that will put you in a tech situation which they can chase with roller and will catch most if not all tech options depending on position. It can actually be optimal to occasionally miss a tech so the roller won’t bury you.

While Inkling can act 5 frames earlier after refilling ink thanks to a final patch buff, the ink refill itself is still punishable. It has about as much lag as landing up B, so if they use it too close you can punish with dash attack, SPR, ect. Keep an eye on their ink tank. Recharging it is still laggy and without it they lose some of their best options (jab, splat bomb, roller, weaker smashes).

For neutral, plasma isn’t very good, and up angle f-tilt can be frustrating to anti-air with because of Inkling’s gun disjoint with bair and such. Inkling builds damage in specific ways with jab (rapid jab skewer punish applies), grab, and bair. Your goal should be to avoid these moves and space around them with your range. Jab and grab are pretty self explanatory, just use range and speed to stay out of their bubble.

Bair is much more difficult to play around because of its speed, safety, and weird attack angle. F-tilt when spaced well can beat bair, but it’s easy to get your arm clipped when trying to rely on angled f-tilt. Inkling bair is a move you’ll have to predict and read to play around. Remember your fair if they’re abusing landing bair on you and force them to use less safe rising bair's.

Inkling nair and bair have to be greatly respected on shield. Our OoS is too slow to reliably punish them, so focus on getting out of the situation with shield jump or something rather than punishing it directly.

Inkling’s dash in general is really good, can be hard to predict, and can low profile some moves. Ridley doesn’t have many moves Inkling can low profile, but it can make spacing aerials harder. You can attempt to clip dashes with tilts if they are abusing it. Also differentiate between their dash and rolls (in animation and sound cues), as they look similar.

Also with neutral, jump often. Plenty empty hops too, throwing hitboxes around here and there; mostly fair & retreating nair for pressure, and rely on falling nair if you see an approach coming. If they shield it and it's decently spaced, you're still safe since their OoS is slow. If they then try to punish your jumps and jumping around a lot more in general, you go back to whiff punishing from the ground.

You want the her to jump around because that's when neutral is in our favor, whiff punishing them is way easier than guessing when they'll dash in, grab, roller, etc. You can still play grounded at early %, but at least in more dodgy %'s like when Booyah is possible, use jump. You can shield some, but still have to watch out for grab u-throw combos, which is why it's better to jump against to account for both grab and roller.

Inkling neutral B has a windbox; you need to pay attention if Inkling is angling it up or down. If it's being kept down or you know they'll aim it down, jump-in's work. If they keep it up to try and cover jumps, walk and d-tilt at max range to avoid the windbox from pushing you out.

The bomb when they throw it above doesn't immediately explode on contact. Also, sometimes it won't hit Ridley on ledge unless it'll explode as it's close to the ground.

Bair combos aren't true, Inkling doesn't get a true followup most of the time out of a bair at many percentages and sometimes you can even hit them when they try to hit you again.

Disadvantage

Don’t DI Inkling’s mid % combos out, as you’ll find yourself dying to a strong fair at 70 if you do. DI the low % combos out, then swap to DI in so you don’t die to fair; can also take stage position into account.

For ledgetrapping, Inkling’s will use uncharged splat bomb similarly to Dedede’s up gordos. Its purpose is to cover jump, neutral getup, and waiting. It doesn’t bounce however which opens up ledge jump sooner than gordos. Getup attack can power through splat bomb if it makes contact with the hitbox before our intangibility expires. You can use this to swat away Inkling's who are abusing splat bomb to trap you. Ledge jump nair is also pretty good for dealing with splat bomb, but just be mindful of Inkling bair and don’t spam it.

Off stage, when trying to recover low with up B and they bair you, always be ready to tech it from the side of stage. Will keep you alive for awhile. Splat bomb can kinda beat Wing Blitz, as it’ll slow down when it hits the top of WB but will still hit Ridley when it makes contact with his hurtbox. Because of this, should be careful with holding down to peak up B’s hitbox when they use splat bomb, as it can make hitting Ridley’s hurtbox much more possible.

For juggling, Inkling uair is slow. They'll focus more on catching landings and attempts to land with attacks. Their dash will make timing landing aerials harder and tracking their movement will take more focus. Our dair can punish overzealous use of uair.

Advantage

Remember that Inkling up B has a hitbox when landing with it on stage. Also them being able to use splat bomb from ledge or as a landing/B-reverse mixup.

Inkling is fairly floaty, so they have a relatively high FAF (first actionable frame) on their directional airdodge. This opens them up to easier frame traps.

One other thing that people tend to forget, try to avoid any ink on the ground which slows you down. Jump over if necessary until it goes away. Also, tipper d-tilt reflects splat bomb.

When they use roller off stage, can watch for the animation to end where they jump after and go off to punish that jump with a nair/fair. When trying to 2 frame her like with f-tilt, wait for the sound of their up B.

Inkling is a very difficult character to edgeguard if they're below the ledge because they can stall a lot with side B jumps. It's not worth to go for unless Inkling still hasn't reached the bottom blastzone.

Up B can wall Inkling very well from recovering too if they side B early because they can't stop their momentum out of the small jump they do out of side B while being safe and letting you ledgetrap if they go low.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Inkling dair & roller hits us under plats, so still shield or avoid there.

Her f-smash, u-smash, and dair are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 1 > f-smash, for covering delayed getup.

Her d-tilt & uair are 2 hits.

Aside from rapid jab skewer or d-smash punish (shorthop skewer OoS being more consistent), her normals and roller are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab, and her up smash is punished by Rid f-smash when shielded. Her dash attack can crossup your shield a bit, so react and punish accordingly. Her landing aerials are too safe on shield though as mentioned, so go for a reset there.

Her gentleman jab/rapid jab finisher, smashes, roller, and ledge getup attack (-28) are also shield punished by u-tilt should she be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (85-88%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (89-97%)

Major credit to the Ridcord JMU doc for much of this info, and also some credit to Zant for the neutral and edgeguarding tips.

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Isabelle

Isabelle

With slingshot fair/bair, have to observe their patterns with it, find an opening, and adapt. Aside from walking and crouching methodically, don't forget you have dash shield and jump OoS. Once you close in, can do a double jump if necessary to get over the slingshot, and do a landing aerial while they're in end lag or cross them up.

Try and defend yourself with an aerial if they attempt to slingshot you off stage.

You can shield the fishing rod, and stay low when recovering to avoid it off stage, or if she's at ledge, do a beefy up B. Also remember she can tether grab with the fish hook when she's off stage.

Either use a solid aerial (or f-tilt if you're at ledge) to hit the balloons on their up B or go around them and hit the character themselves while they're recovering.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Her dair hits us under plats, so still shield or avoid it.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Isabelle's normals are punished by nair OoS. Her landing aerials are too safe on shield though, so reset there. Her f-tilt, dash attack, f-smash. and d-smash are shield punished by u-tilt should she be at u-tilt > uair kill %. Her d-smash & ledge getup attack (-25) are also punished by shorthop SPR OoS.

Ridley kill confirm-

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (83-87%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (88-97%)

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Jigglypuff

Jigglypuff
Slightly Winning

Respect her aerials and ability to dominate the air with her air stats. This is balanced by her ground stats being one of the slowest however which is why you rarely fight her on the ground between that and her 5 jumps. She can crouch to low profile some moves though.

She'll wait for you to whiff and fly in & punish (her wall of pain speaks for itself), so time your anti-airs (i. e. u-tilt). Also understand how she chooses to approach from the air in neutral.

Her 9-hit dair is a good combo starter, and confirms into Rest (is invulnerable on f1-27). Also respect her bair as a potential kill move.

Far as her Pound side B, respect its shield damage and as a neutral tool with a lingering hitbox that combos (she'll DJ out of it or land with an aerial). Shielding when not cornered is a solid option, but Pound keeps you on your toes.

When she uses Sing, shield and angle it if you have to, or otherwise roll/jump away after shielding. Sing has 34 frames of end lag, so take advantage of your range. Also hold shield if she uses Sing at ledge. Don't shield Rollout though; treat it the same as you would Yoshi's Egg Roll by jumping over.

If you break her shield, get gets KO'd automatically, tho this is rare. Her nair OoS is good at tech chases, so don't miss tech, and punish OoS rising aerials as always.

Her throws are weak and don't lead into true combos, so don't worry much about getting grabbed. When she recovers, can try to footstool.

In disadvantage, her d-smash hits ledge hang, and likes to ledgetrap with nair which covers most options. They can mix it up with a fullhop nair too so they can DJ out of it, but watch if they over-commit. We can use dair as a mixup against her landing uair, if she's expecting an airdodge to reset her combo.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Dash attack will beat Jigglypuff's shorthop if spaced.

Her d-smash, dair, and Sing can hit us under plats, so still shield or avoid there.

Puff has a total of 6 jumps, with 5 midair jumps.

Her Sing and Rest are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Against a Puff with good execution, most of the match is either shielding/crouching while doing either d-tilt or retreating nairs (to neutralize more of their specials) and f-tilts. If your shield is too low you’ll get poked by rising dair and Pound, and that’s where the “cutscene” starts.

Our jab 1 starts faster than hers, allowing us to get out of scramble situations better.

Her normals besides DA and smashes are too safe, so reset. Same with landing aerials besides dair. Puff d-smash & ledge getup attack (-26) are punished by SH SPR OoS. Her dash attack, f/d-smash, Rest, and ledge getup attack are u-tilt shield punished.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (70-75%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (76-83%)

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Joker

Joker Thieves of hearts... and of parents
Even

Gameplan

• Joker has a mediocre shield game similar to Ridley. His fastest OoS option is up air at frame 8, which only hits directly above Joker. Then his next fastest OoS options are at frame 10, being fair, bair, and u-smash. Abuse disjoints and big hitboxes to avoid getting punished out of shield by Joker. Spacing can really disrupt Joker's gameplan. All tilt's sweetspots, drift back nair, landing nair, drift back landing fair, and spaced landing bair are safe on Joker's shield.
• Can frame trap Joker dash attack out of shield with SPR if the first active frame of the second hit lands on shield. Will most likely happen if the first hit lands shield.
• Joker gets full charge of rebels gauge after only absorbing a stream of 3 fireballs with his down B.

Joker charges his meter gauge either with down B when hit (observe when he uses it and wait it out before attacking) or to a lesser degree over time and by taking damage. Wait as long as possible to respawn when he has arsene active, and make arsene go away as fast with good neutral. Many Jokers tend to be aggressive whenever they have arsene, unsafely spamming smash attacks, which you can easily shield or avoid and then punish.

We can edgeguard him fairly well too, especially when he has arsene. Edgeguard or ledgetrap before he can activate it again. If he does have it again though and if you're good at your plasma edgeguarding, you can loop arsene recovery until it's gone again, though the initial period of arsene up B invulnerability may allow him to get through some plasma. Arsene up B is also vulnerable to f-smash 2 framing, down angle f-tilt, etc. If he tether grabs to ledge where you can’t plasma due to ledge intangibility, wait and try a d-smash instead when he runs out or otherwise CLS (crouch ledge slip) nair/fair him before he fully pulls himself up or SPR/jump plasma if he tethers high, depending.

Also respect his counter when he has arsene active and his side B which you can shield (watch out for at ledge too when he uses it off stage), though may be better to just avoid it since he may want you to shield it so he can grab, and he gets plenty damage off of grabs. His other moves like 2 hit f-tilt, crossup d-tilt (when shielding it, remember to do a quick turnaround attack or grab like when punishing other sliding d-tilts), nair, bair, and gun he may also use to condition a shield for grabs. Observe how they play there.

Can also clank with side B, and if Joker uses it a lot, can shorthop SPR him from the ground to counteract it, or d-smash if close/WB if far at high %. Speaking of grabs, if you grab him with arsene out, do u-throw, as its high damage output takes away a good chunk of meter.

When recovering, get a feel of their off stage edgeguarding, and mix it up to avoid the downward aerial version of his gun and getting potentially gimped. With Joker combos, DI away from plats, jump to avoid diagonal grapple, SDI up and left/right if he does uairs (or nair if diagonally above), and stay out of his dash attack range when you get out of said combos. Despite acting as a tether grab, grapple hook can be shielded like Isabelle's fishing rod.

Basically in this matchup, you have to emphasize not getting opened up and edgeguarding Joker, so have good shield discipline all around and especially respect arsene Joker's landings. Don't try to challenge him because you'll explode if he hits you with landing fair or dair.

Pay attention to how your opponent recovers and how they deal with plasma. Do they like going low? Do they immediately jump out of hitstun? Do they stall with guns? Gather as much info to net those edgeguards. Also, against arsene if they hug the stage to recover you can do SPR to ledge holding down (thus bypassing it) to catch them and then stage spike them. If you mistime, you can get a ledge trump.

Try not to recover low against arsene because of the counter, but sometimes the Joker players forget about it.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Multi-hits: His fair, f-tilt, dash attack, and d-smash are 2 hits, while his u-tilt is 5 hits.

Joker uair requires about 2 SDI inputs, which has 3 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

His u-smash and d-smash are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

SPR Joker on plats if worried about him tetrakarn countering our attacks from underneath (i.e. u-tilt).

Joker's intangibility-

• Gun dash forward, frames 4-13. Gun dash back, frames 5-14. Gun jump from ground, frames 1-6.
• Arsene up B, frames 3-25.

Other notes on Joker’s gun: Hide under plats when they descend with gun or off to the side if no plats. Watch out for that option when juggling him and attack from the side. If recovering, try to do so under the lip of the stage to avoid the gun edgeguarding; avoid Kalos and Yoshi’s against Joker due to the walls but save your jumps when possible and be ready to tech regardless. Be slow to challenge if at all since he’s intangible on frames 1-6 with gun jump from ground as mentioned.

Gun dashing and whatnot can be tricky but you can still close some space since it doesn't cause flinch until up close. Gun range is effectively reduced at lower percent because the farther hitbox doesn't make people flinch. If he uses gun from ledge drop, can punish a ledge regrab like with smashes at high %, or up smash or grab OoS if he does gun dash from ledge.

At around mid percent, the purple (middle hitbox) makes people flinch, but before that only the red hitbox up close does anything. If you’re within the purple, you’re already in your desired f-tilt/d-tilt/skewer and burst range anyway. A spaced d-smash can also punish gun spammers given that you’re not flinching, as well as a little plasma to fire back and force an option out of them. See the gun hitboxes on UFD for reference.

His jab 3 & u-tilt are punished by shorthop SPR OoS. His normals and point-blank side B are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab, while his up smash when shielded is punished by our f-smash. His landing aerials are too safe on shield though, so reset.

His side B's also minus enough on shield to be punished by dash grab, dash attack, or jump OoS into SPR if he's nearby. Same with extended dash cancel u-tilt if he's at kill confirm %.

His jab 3, u-tilt, crossup d-tilt, dash attack, smashes, point-blank side B, and ledge getup attack are also punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %. If he has arsene and whiffs a counter nearby, skewer punish.

On a side note, bair on Joker’s shield if spaced makes him whiff bair OoS due to hurtbox shift.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (84-87%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (88-96%)

Credit to Paco on some of the nuances of neutral against arsene Joker as well as pushing your advantage.

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Kazuya

Kazuya Demon vs. Death
Even

Gameplan

Shield State Against Kazuya and Neutral
All of Kazuya's aerials are safe on shield while landing besides dair. He can EWGF after a safe landing aerial to go through all of our aggressive OoS. We can spotdodge or roll away. Be careful of spotdodging if the Kazuya decides to wait or delay the landing of an aerial to be active as spotdodge is over. Probably better to not instantly spotdodge and to time the spotdodge for a reversal. Or want to be safe, a full hop away should allow a reset in neutral, or maybe a reversal.

If recovering high from off stage, watch out for his neutral B which can snipe you diagonally when he’s standing near ledge. For Kazuya laser stalling from off stage, can airdodge through it and then aerial him, aside from shielding before going in like with ROB. Also expect a laser whenever he does up throw and DI away from it.

Aside from d-tilt, crouching down-forward tilt (tombstone crusher), command input 1 (EWGF), command input 2 (Dragon Uppercut), and command input 3 (Spinning Demon to Left Hook) which gives full body intangibility, and up-back tilt (jump side kick) that gives intangibility on both legs, you want to anti-air with our up angle f-tilt when he uses up-forward tilt (roundhouse to triple spin kicks) or dash attack; since those two would go over our d-tilt.

Also remember the damage-based armor he has with his smashes & Heaven's Door (down B) and use something like tipper f-tilt if anything. Kaz uair has leg intangibility too, so don't challenge with a move if he juggles with it so much maneuvering around him; same for when he juggles from the ground, so avoid landing on him. Otherwise, remember that his crouch dash only has leg intangibility during the 1st half, so can still d-tilt him during the 2nd half of it.

• Aside from Gates of Hell, can also tech from his d-tilt, up angle back tilt, crouching forward & back attacks, both dash attacks, nair, dair, smashes, f-throw, neutral B, command input 3 (Spinning Demon to Left Hook), and side taunt. His f-tilt, back tilt, fair, bair, and air side B you tech at later % as well. Kazuya's like doing side B as a ledge drop option and maybe a landing mixup, so shield that if you expect it, but if charging plasma and his side B causes plasma discharge, both will have similar amount of endlag.

Getting tripped by Kazuya's down angle back tilt or any character move that trips for that matter, puts you in something akin to a tech chase situation, where you can either neutral getup while moving a bit left or right depending on the control stick, or getup attack (usually too slow to counteract a Kazuya follwup), both both options offer some intangibility like with ledge. Back to Gates of Hell, also note that it throws you backwards. If you know you'll be knocked off stage by it, don't try to tech then as it results in an airdodge instead. DI up in that case.

• During hitstun when being combo'd by Kazuya (from his command input 1, double hit u-tilt, d-throw, or jab), also remember there's a blue line to look at which indicates where you DI. Mix up DI in and out to throw them off, or DI one direction and switch to the other (left or right) at the last second as aforementioned. DI'ing in and then out at the last second seems to work well particularly in avoiding a kill % combo, but mix it up if they catch on. These methods of DI even work when you're in crumple state from moves like his grounded side B and uncrouching attack.

Command input 1 or Electric Wind God Fist (EWGF) can also push you back if you’re shielding, making it safe on hit, and if shielding at ledge you’ll be pushed off, allowing for a Kazuya edgeguard. That said, after shielding it, we can buffer a d-tilt and only get hit by command input 3, sour f-smash, up-forward tilt, or dash attack. As a heavy we may trip from shielding EWGF too, but crouching from behind or a timely d-tilt can make it whiff, though is niche.

Advantage

• Can only do two aerials from ledge jump except for bair and dair (being only one). Can act out of rising bair before landing from ledge jump. Can autocancel nair, fair, and uair from ledge jump on SBF. Can cancel ledge jump with double jump to gain more control of aerial drift (Ridley can do this too!).

If Kazuya's at 100% where his rage drive activates, get him off stage if you're in advantage and plasma loop him until he gets to around 140% where his ability wears off. He loses it earlier if he whiffs grabs. That said, if he's at 100% and you're in neutral, then play very defensively; don't use any laggy moves, and don't get baited into doing something risky, lest you get caught in the rage command grab. Also remember it has super armor when he uses it unlike the regular version of his down B which is only 10% damage worth of armor, so if he uses rage drive when you use like a tilt, it'll out-prioritize your move and grab you. Space well and don't mistime an attack. Far as keeping him at bay with projectiles, some flickshot plasma (namely fullhop half-charge at least with the flickshot) on stage may work if you have room to retreat with it.

If juggling him and he lands with rage drive still active, don’t overextend. Move away and go back to neutral or he’ll likely grab you. A timed spot-dodge is the main way to avoid the grab if he’s still close to you after landing. Also, Kazuya can't use rage drive in the air; only part of rage he can use in the air is the damage buff. If you're getting hit by rage drive, then he is landing first. Nothing about juggling Kazuya changes once he turns red.

His regular down B in the air only does an increased 2% or so with rage. A little bit of damage + Kazuya in rage means you can't be hit by a random touch of death, because EWGF will send too high, and Kazuya down B has a mediocre hitbox, so at that range you're asking for worse.

With ledgetrapping Kazuya, gotta be real safe against because the risk of eating a side B is absolutely destructive. Wouldn’t ledgetrap him the traditional way, but rather corner pressure him, if you know he gets to ledge without getting 2 framed or edgeguarded. Stand at max range of side B (about half a stage which is also outside of the range of his rage drive command grab) and stuff out his approaches. If he tries to recover high on stage, can get an early kill by landing an SPR into jump release nair.

Disadvantage

One other thing about Kazuya rage drive, when caught by it, DI ↙️ or ↘️ to survive up to around 75-85% range; similar to how you DI Bowser's command grab.

With Kazuya down B, aside from DI'ing it from on stage like other command grabs, Kazuya dies first at the bottom blast zone and you can recover if you react quick enough.

Aside from Kazuya d-smash being able to break shield, also be aware that it can spike if used at ledge, so be aware of it when timing your recovery. His nair when used off stage can also spike, but can be difficult for him to space.

Miscellaneous and frame data

While you can obviously SDI out of Kazuya's 10 hit jab, it's easier said than done, as they can require 3, 4, or 5 SDI inputs, each hit of which only has 2 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's. That said, Kazuya's other moves you can do a minimum of at least one SDI input to try and get out of his usual combos, aside from the standard DI method with Kazuya as explained earlier. SDI's appear to work even better than the regular DI, for that matter. Dash walk SDI particularly is said to work well against the usual Kazuya stuff involving EWGF, in which it's best to shield right after you escape the EWGF followup (i.e. crouch jab or nair), but can try flick SDI too if that's what you're more comfortable with.

Skewer can beat out Rage Drive if timed and positioned right. Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

His side taunt, crouching down-forward tilt (Tombstone Crusher), and f-smash are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Our jab 1 starts faster than his, allowing us to get out of scramble situations better.

Aside from the back-tilt kick, crouching back-tilt spin kick, and double dash attack (also acts as a reflector), Kazuya's normals are mostly punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab. His landing aerials besides dair (-30 like Bowser) are expectedly too safe, so reset there.

His down-forward tilt known as tsunami kick (first hit is -19 but watch out for 2nd hit which isn't & can break shield, so parry if possible), up-forward tilt known as roundhouse to triple spin kicks (does plenty shield damage, so don't stay in shield if low or it'll break & parry if possible), side taunt, crouching down-forward tilt known as tombstone crusher, regular dash attack, up-smash, command input 3 (spinning demon to left hook which also does plenty shield damage for a 2-hit move & parry if possible), landing dair, point-blank neutral B, side B, and ledge getup attack are shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

• While command input 2 (dragon uppercut) is -22 on shield, he'll use rage drive with the input instead while in rage mode. You'll have to watch out for rage drive regardless during the u-tilt > uair kill % windows; that said, can easily whiff punish a EWGF or something with u-tilt also.

Point-blank neutral B, side B, and landing dair you can shield punish with f-smash as well. If you happen to shield his similarly unsafe up B when nearby, can try to catch his landing, though remember he's not helpless; can still laser or aerial after, though he can't use his side B. Likewise if he uses side B to recover horizontally, he can't up B after.

• While Kazuya side B looks similar to his f-smash in animation (the latter of which armors through u-tilt), remember they like to side B as a landing mixup or from ledge or off stage depending, so if you shield in either situation, you can u-tilt or f-smash. The latter 2-frames a Kazuya side B as well.

On a somewhat related side note, Kazuya can use his double jump after up B (typically used in the form of aerials), but he can’t use his DJ again until after landing.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (100-106%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (101-115%)

Major credit goes to the collective Ridcord for a good chunk of the information that was gathered here.

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Ken

Ken

To start off with their differences from Ryu, Ken's f-smash is shorter and his up B has fire. Also Ryu's hits have more knockback, making Ken's combo game more consistent by comparison. Ken's ground movement is slightly faster too, and while Ryu is a shield breaker, Ken is more of a shield poker.

While they have a lot of combo starters, they generally like to start with an aerial as they jump toward you, so shield, dodge, or anti-air their approach. DI/SDI away when you start getting combo'd, but mix it up so they don't catch on. There's also brief windows of opportunity to escape from a combo in the middle of or right after a transition like when they switch from jab to a special, or sometimes right after the special finishes.

With their powerful shield breaks and pokes, they'll generally go for those instead of grabs since their throws aren't that strong, except in doubles where their d-throw can shield break if shielding when they use it on a teammate nearby (same applies to FFA). While you can shield to bait them and react after, retreating nair will otherwise mostly be your new shield in this matchup.

Also respect their corner pressure, as they never face away from you when moving back and forth due to being shotos, allowing them to react to your attempts to escape the corner. If you jump over them, be ready to dodge or attack due to their uair and up B. There's also boxing them out with certain moves depending on the space between you and them. The more experienced you are at playing in the corner though, the more adept you become at being in that position, like using different ledge options, or jump in place to bait them and punish.

Their tatsu side B is one thing you can reliably shield, being anywhere from -25 to -36. Can also hit them out of it, but be careful since they can attack shortly after finishing the move, leading into more combos. They don't get as much out of hadouken, but still watch how they use it. Do shield or avoid the Ryu fireball though since it's a multi-hit.

• Can also shield their dash attack & smashes that are in the -20 range, though watch out for d-smash as something that can be combo’d into a special.

If they notice you DI'ing up like at high %, they may just up B kill you. DI away from it and airdodge at the right moment.

For their down B focus attack, watch out for them using it while landing to block aerials and change their movement direction, but can beat it by either grabbing (SPR included), whiff punishing (though they may cancel it and move left or right), and using a multi-hit move like jab, fair, or plasma.

For weaknesses, they struggle to land and are easy to juggle, with focus attack being their only mixup which you can punish as aforementioned. We camp them well too with our ranged moves & plasma. Their edgeguarding is poor too, though their dair can spike but is hard to land. They'll more likely go for a ledge trump which you can avoid by delaying your recovery or jumping over the ledge. Lastly, their poor recovery.

For f-tilt (down angle) 2 framing, remember that you’re aiming for the end of their up B, not the time where most characters snap to ledge. Shotos will float for just a second before grabbing ledge and that’s where you aim for; being slightly late or early there is of little consequence.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Ryu/Ken normals that can combo into specials- Neutral attack 1 and 2 (tapped) Neutral attack (close, held) F-tilt (close, tapped) U-tilt (held or tapped) D-tilt (held or tapped) D-smash Nair Fair Uair Bair Dair

Up tilt (light) requires about 3 SDI inputs, which has 9 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

The tatsu side B has leg intangibility, so don't try to hit it with d-tilt when active. Is thusly recommended to use up angle f-tilt if you challenge with it at all. Can also get an easy 2-frame on them when they use tatsu and get a free edgeguard because of how much end lag tatsu has.

SDI in on tatsu which can create fallouts and can usually mash an option because they're negative afterwards. If they up tilt, then you can SDI up & away because proximity jab doesn't work as well if you do that, and if the Ken/Ryu doesn't know how to deal with it, just mash jump + nair out of the early % combos.

The versions of their up B also have different invulnerability frames, as do some of their normals.

Skewer can break focus attack even if they charge it to stage 3, if you find an opportunity to use it there.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (92-95%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (96-108%)

Credit to rydra on the specifics about tatsumaki (Ken's side B).

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King Dedede

King Dedede

Gameplan

The general plan is to camp Dedede out and keep gordos at bay. Play lame, as there's rarely any reason you should engage him. His approach is worse than ours which we must abuse.

Dedede’s f-tilt slightly outreaches us on the ground, so stay out of his range and wait for him to push a button; he's very susceptible to being whiff punished. F-tilt and d-tilt are especially unsafe on whiff if you stay outside his range. That said, still have to watch for gordo. React to it and hit it back, there isn’t much reason to shield it when you’re close enough for a true reflect punish.

Dedede is one of the most lacking characters in shield safety, with only three important moves being safe enough on block. Bair is his safest and most useful move to space which when landed with, is normally unpunishable. F-tilt isn’t as safe as you’d think, being punishable by our d-tilt OoS at most ranges. The only time you can’t punish is when it’s been max spaced (right out of d-tilt's reach). Gordo toss + hammer hit is safe on our shield; it’s -11 and pushes us too far back to punish with nair OoS. Everything else you can punish though.

Dedede is slow on the ground and even slower in the air. Use your speed advantage to stay out of his range and force him to come to you. Plasma is good at keeping gordo back and forcing Dedede to jump which allows you to chase his landing with more plasma or with anti-airs.

When Dedede is airborne, you don’t just run right in. You wait and see what he does and get a feel for his preferred mixups. Dedede's will use their jumps to bait out aggressive options, mixing in fastfalls to trick you into thinking they will land (you would think he's a floaty but he's not). Your options for this is either stay away and push them towards the corner, stay just out of bair range and whiff punish a landing aerial, or close the gap and make them mis-space an aerial. Dedede's will either be landing with bair or nair; nair has combos and bair kills.

Watch for landing Inhale, as they can B-reverse it to mix you up.

Disadvantage

Watch out for gordos coming at you at ledge. Take your time and don’t rush. Dedede thrives off making you panic and choose unwise options, so assess the situation, check his gordo spacing (learn the spacings that smash and tilted u-gordo will fall on ledge), watch what he’s doing once gordo is out, and plan accordingly.

Abuse ledge invulnerability to give you time to choose and see what they’re going for. The only time you should be using options quickly is when Dedede uses gordo after you’ve grabbed ledge and is in getup attack range. Ledge drop aerials can be good at swatting gordos back, but have to watch for f-tilts or slamming dash attacks. We can also ledge drop nair and soft land onto stage, allowing us to shield if they catch the gordo and throw it back with side B. The timing is tight, but another thing to possibly put in your arsenal. That aside, his dash attack can hit us on ledge and is active for 13 frames or so. This will eat ledge stalling, ledge jumps, and ledge drops. React with getup attack if possible. His f-tilt will cover most if not all ledge options but its reward is small, so don’t get frustrated from being looped by f-tilt ledge traps and don’t get predictable.

Jet Hammer is fear inducing and covers a lot of area. Full charge will break shields and it can hit Ridley’s ledge hang, along with having super armor frame 1 of release until the hitbox comes out. Ledge jump is generally what you’d want to do to avoid Jet Hammer, but gordo can complicate things. Ledge getup attack is nice but Dedede can react and armor it. Neutral getup is only good if it’s not fully charged and they mistime it. Ledge roll is reactable and a bad ledge option of ours anyway. The occasional ledge drop is also good. Can ledge drop SPR if feeling lucky or they whiff it.

Off stage against Dedede is not the worst, but there's still a threat of him intercepting you if you get careless. Dedede’s aerials are disjointed enough to at least trade with forward Wing Blitz and he’s generally pretty good at catching horizontal recoveries. He’ll use gordo to force you into a situation where you have to jump or fall below it so he can follow and hit a fair to send you too far out to recover, if you're not dead already.

Dedede’s dair can beat our up B, but is so slow it should never be a problem unless he hits you during startup. Use Wing Blitz under the lip of the stage to protect yourself from falling u-gordos. Gordo has a 50% chance to stick, but if this happens your options are limited. If you have both your jumps, you can attempt to wait it out, as ledge stick lasts about 3 seconds. If not, all you can do is recover super wide and hit the gordo as far from ledge as possible, which makes the followup slightly harder for Dedede. Jet Hammer can actually 2-frame us if you do a beefy up B, so be careful when he has it out.

With how lacking Dedede's run and air speed is compared to us, his juggles are lacking. That said, his 8-hit uair is real vertically disjointed but lacks horizontal reach, so don’t be directly above Dedede. His u-tilt headbutt is fast, intangible, and kills at decent percents, don’t land on platforms above Dedede. Up smash is big and kills early as you'd expect. Don’t land on top of him period. He can also circumvent his subpar juggles with gordos which he'll use to wall off areas of stage and make you want to land where he wants you. Don’t move towards Dedede if it can be avoided, try and land further into gordo's path and shield or reflect it. Gong to ledge is also viable, as he will not have time to setup a gordo ledgetrap from this.

Advantage

Our d-tilt can catch everything of his from ledge except jump. Spam plasma for both edgeguarding & ledgetrapping and loop it for as much damage as you can. Dedede has a harder time than most in getting around it and doesn’t have a real counter to it besides making you mistime it. When percents are higher, you can start hitting them past ledge invulnerability with the last few fireballs so it rules out their ledge stalling. Similar to us, Dedede can shark the ledge pretty well. Uair is super active and fair hits forward. They can even ledge drop gordo toss and roll it across the stage and regrab ledge. He has 4 midair jumps, so wait him out and punish his regrab. Just be aware of up B over the stage.

Besides plasma, it's hard to challenge Dedede's recovery off stage. Dedede has a bad 2-frame animation, so it’s super easy to clip him with plasma. After a plasma hits, you’re put in a small mixup situation where you have to guess if the Dedede will delay his recovery, recover quickly, or if they’ll recover over the ledge and decide if or when to press B and inhale. You can also just 2-frame Dedede with mostly whatever; f-smash, f-tilt, d-tilt, and d-smash all work great. If Dedede is using gordos while falling to get you away from ledge, go out there and hit him. Move lasts for almost a full second so there’s definitely time to punish him.

Dedede falls fast (with one of the highest fall speeds in the game to boot) and has jumps but he can't move much horizontally with his air speed. Watch for his landing aerials and neutral B and keep him in the air. If you hit Dedede from diagonals, it’s hard for him to put a meaningful hitbox out there quickly, especially from behind. Bair is slow, so it’s possible to nair him before it comes out to send him towards ledge. Our u-tilt and u-smash are great at keeping up the pressure along with their own intangibility, but be careful, Dedede’s are bred to bait such options with their jumps and whiff punish with a landing aerial. Stay patient and count his jumps.

Miscellaneous and frame data

His dair and up B can hit us under platforms, so still shield or avoid there.

Respect his grab range.

SPR beats out his inhale if timed or spaced right like if you dash back or otherwise move away first. SPR also beats holding inhale as long as it starts outside the windbox.

Dedede has a total of 5 jumps, with 4 midair jumps. With how slow his airspeed is, one might think he would have slow fall speed too, but he actually has one of the fastest falling speeds in the game, so keep in mind.

Inhale is mashable, grounded Jet Hammer has 14% worth of armor on release. Something like our bair may beat the latter, but f-tilt even with sweetspot will not.

His u-smash and Jet Hammer (full charge) are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Dedede multihits- F-tilt (4 hits), uair (8 hits)

Our jab 1 comes out before his, and his rapid jab finisher is skewer punishable. His smashes are super unsafe like the u-smash being -39, and all his grounded normals are shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (104-107%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (108-116%)

Major credit to the Ridcord JMU doc for much of this info.

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King K. Rool

King K. Rool Reptilian Rampage
Slightly Winning

Gameplan

Belly Armor and it's Properties
Belly Armor is a special hurtbox that spawns during specific attacks that are available to King. K Rool. When it spawns, it will overtake any hitbox that overlaps it. However, it will only tank an attack if he is facing the opponent or a hitbox connects to the hurtbox. The armor will not tank unblockables, grabs, or hitgrabs. The armor has a 18.01 HP threshold, allowing K. Rool to take up to 36.02% damage. The damage of an attack is split in half between K. Rool and the armor's HP. Damage multipliers like the 1v1 multiplier and the freshness bonus or staleness penalty are calculated before the split. The armor regenerates 0.08 HP every 16 frames, or around 0.3 HP per second. If the HP was theoretically at 0, then it would take roughly around 60 seconds to regain belly armor.

• If belly armor is broken, he will be stunned, having the same effect as a shield break. But unlike shield breaks, King K. Rool will regain full shield and belly armor.
• Belly armor has a fixed 16 frames of hitlag if attacked. During hitlag King K. Rool can buffer an option (such as fast fall).

Attacks that have Belly Armor:

• Forward Tilt (frames 5-11)
• Dash Attack (frames 7-28)
• Up Smash (frames 6-19)
• Down Smash (frames 8-21)
• Neutral Air (frames 6-30)
• Up Air (frames 6-20)
• Down Air (frames 14-25)
• Side Taunt (frames 9-20)

Jack of Only Trades
King K. Rool is very reliant on belly armor to functionally work as a character. Without any armor his ability to get in becomes really difficult. Belly armor gives his mobility a threat it otherwise wouldn't. Creating a lot of respect that many players will have to come to terms with.

Most importantly, all of his aerial autocancel windows are way past their active frames. They cannot be autocanceled from short hop. Only NAir, FAir, and DAir can autocancel from a full hop. Also, besides NAir, his aerial's landing lag are in the double digits. However, landing with his aerials are safe against Ridley. For the most part, K. Rool is committed to his aerials especially if he wants to get something out of them.

With how safe his aerials can be, shielding isn't generally a good option. Since he can attack with a grounded attack, which can also have armor, to avoid reversals out of shield. Typically forcing a wait until he does something else on shield. This risks a grab, which will do more damage or net a kill than doing a raw attack. The best way to attack K. Rool and avoid getting a reversal by belly armor is to wait until he is about to land and then catch his landing. Or if he commits to a laggy option on the ground like a special or a dash attack.

Counterplay: Against Crownarang
King K. Rool's side special, Crownarang, is a very unique move. Having damage-based armor from frames 6 to 63 with the crown's hitbox being active from frame 27 until it reaches King K. Rool, lands on the ground, or disappears offstage. However, the damage-based armor is unique as its cumulative. Meaning even though the threshold is 12.0% base damage, each attack done against the armor reaches to it's threshold. The equation is as followed: (Base Damage of prior hits) * 1.2 + (Base Damage of the last hit) > 12%.

• Then what attacks will break the armor threshold?
  • Sweetspot forward tilt (must be fresh)
  • Side Smash
  • Up Smash
  • Down Smash
  • Sweetspot neutral air (cannot use short hop macro, must be fresh)
  • Backward air (can use short hop macro twice)
  • Forward air with at least one sweetspot hit (can use short hop macro once)
  • Sourspot up air (cannot use short hop macro, must be fresh)
  • Sweetspot up air (can use short hop macro once)
  • Sourspot down air (cannot use short hop macro, must be fresh)
  • Sweetspot down air (can use short hop macro twice)
  • Plasma Breath (with 3 or more plasma balls)
  • Wing Blitz (all directions)
  • Skewer

You can grab K Rool if you timely jump over the krown toss and he’s in end lag; you still have to worry about the returning krown, so timely use the invincibility frames on your d-throw animation to get past it, and pummel while waiting for krown to return before the d-throw. Alternatively, you can do a landing SPR if spaced right.

K Rool enters end lag if he grabs the krown back, and to avoid this he has to commit to a punishable option like an aerial, grab, spotdodge, sheild, etc; so you can wait and try to meet their pace. Roll is something he’ll commonly do to pick up the krown.

Unless K Rool is forced to land on stage with his up B, he has strong landing options due to little landing lag & his aerials with belly armor, plus side B & down B mixups; you don't want to force too many air-to-air interactions against him due to all this. With maybe the exception of using up smash, don’t try to punish those armored moves while he lands, but rather what he’ll do after. His shorthops you can still punish with Rid up angle f-tilt though.

Ridley gets more use out of plasma in this matchup than one would think. It outzones blunderbuss and can otherwise wall K Rool out, though krown toss mostly goes through plasma when active (3 fireballs on him preemptively will cancel the krown before it fully comes out though), so as usual, treat it as a neutral reset.

Advantage

Ridley can two frame King K. Rool with:

• Sourspot forward tilt
• Sweetspot forward tilt
• side smash
• down smash
• Sweetspot neutral air
• Sourspot down air
• Sweetspot down air

When he’s off stage, you have to properly wait out krown before you can throw out plasma. One thing K Rool’s do is recover close to ledge but throw krown last second and immediately use up B. In that case it’s best to just shield the krown toss completely and not try to commit to anything until after they’ve used it, just like how it leads to either a grab punish or neutral reset depending on the position he uses it. Basically, shielding it at max or mid distance means that it’s better to just reset, because their end lag will be done by the time you’re ready to run at them.

Ledgehop (or ledge drop double jump) krown toss is another thing they use to disrupt your ledge pressure. Waiting is good because the K Rool has to commit to an option to avoid krown catching lag, so they will always do something you can counter.

You can also get on ledge for invincibility frames against his anti-edgeguards such as krown toss, or punish his ledge re-grab since he has to do it after krown. Also watch out for ledge jump counter though during plasma charges. Our f/d-tilt & d-smash hit his ledge hang.

When edgeguarding, propeller moves him pretty fast, but slows down near the end.

For juggling, aside from what was mentioned on how to handle his landing armored moves (nair, etc), he’s still not too fast in the air, so abuse Ridley’s ground speed and u-tilt or nair to catch other landing attempts. Respect his dair though which also has belly armor and can lead into u-smash as a kill confirm. Dair is slow though, so either react or whiff punish the startup (14 frames).

Disadvantage

King K. Rool can two frame Ridley with:

• Down tilt - used to extend combos and gain percent. At high percents can be used for juggles to get a kill, will probably see forward tilt instead since it's quicker and stronger.
• Sweetspot forward tilt - a reliable kill option for King K. Rool. Somewhat quick, so waiting at ledge for too long can prompt this move to come out.
• Sweetspot backward air - stronger than down air, but less reliable and harder to set up.
• Down air - very easy to two frame. Is very active and can spike out of short hop. Watch out recoverying with up special as down air can go through it.

The suction ledgetrapping is mostly fake, in that if he holds neutral B right at ledge, can ledge getup attack, and if he does suction just beyond ledge getup attack range, can ledge jump wisely.

Same for when he does krown to ledgetrap, in which you ledge jump to get behind him. Otherwise wait out the krown or d-smash at ledge since if you shield krown on the way back, he can grab you. When being edgeguarded, try to tech his nair with the bad angle it sends you, and otherwise mixup or delay your recovery timings.

With landing against K Rool, while he doesn’t really juggle, he can catch landings & send you back off stage, abuse uair, or try to make you mis-space a landing aerial so he can get a grab. Suffice to say, avoid landing on top of him, and abuse jumps & spaced bair to properly land, hopefully not getting hit by his fair. Sometimes going to ledge is necessary though to avoid a worse case scenario attempt at landing (getting hit by his f-tilt or dash attack that have belly armor, etc).

Miscellaneous and frame data

Dash attack will beat King K. Rool's shorthop if spaced.

K Rool has intangibility with u-tilt like Ridley (in Rool’s case on the arm), and on the head during u-smash and uair, so don’t try landing on him at all. Also, his d-tilt can hit us when we’re under platforms, so still shield or avoid there.

With krown as an item, Ridley can forward toss it, fair, and catch the krown while shield poking. If K Rool uses krown toss nearby in neutral, retreating nair (sweetspot) should be able to break the armor since it's 12%.

SDI against his up B when he uses propeller against you offensively to KO you into the upper blast zone (specifically, it requires about 2 SDI inputs, which has 6 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's). Likewise, when K Rool does an up throw after blunderbuss suction, expect a possible up B and SDI to avoid getting pushed into the upper blast zone.

His dash attack, smashes, fair, uair, and dair are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

K Rool's normals can be punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab, and like Bowser or Wario, his dash attack and smashes are unsafe on shield enough to be punished by Rid f-smash (turnaround f-smash or shorthop skewer OoS if his dash attack crosses up) and u-smash OoS. Watch out for the shield damage that his d-smash causes though, and his landing aerials are too safe on shield, so reset there.

Jab 2/3, crossup dash attack, u-tilt, smashes, & ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt. His up smash is even shield punished by skewer with how minus it is and amount of end lag it has, and if he whiffs a gut check counter nearby, whiff punishing with skewer becomes easier the more you do it.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (107-112%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (113-127%)

Credit to the old Ridley JMU doc for a certain chunk of this info, and credit to smub on some of the details on neutral and advantage state.

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Kirby

Kirby
Even

A good player will mainly only use Stone to edgeguard off stage with, as it has armor now. He can also do so with his multi-jumps and fair's etc, but aside from the usual recovery tactics, can DI away when combo'd off stage.

The neutral consists of bait & punish + combos. Since he struggles to approach, he'll float near or crouch next to you to bait a whiff. His ground and air speed are opposite of Jigglypuff (and much worse jump height), so he has to rely more on his patience and size; playing more grounded to use your size against you. As a floaty you have to circle around him more quickly than Puff.

Respect his tilts, particularly with how fast and safe they are at shield pressure and setting up into combos. His fiery dash attack's also quick and powerful, so watch out when landing.

He has a good grab game. His f-throw leads into combos, b-throw can kill at ledge, and u-throw can kill a little later.

If he gets you with inhale copy, just have to use your neutral B knowledge to out-plasma him. Also don't let him gimp you with an off stage inhale.

His up B he'll use on stage to cut off your approach from the air like if you jump predictably, and then projectile during landing. If you bait it out, dodge and punish in between.

Miscellaneous and frame data

His u-tilt, u-smash, and d-smash have feet intangibility.

His d-smash, dair, and Stone hit us under plats, so still shield or avoid.

Has a 3 hit fair and 6 hit dair.

Kirby dair requires about 2 SDI inputs, which has 4 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's. What's more, Kirby up B hits require about 2 SDI inputs, each of which have 8 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

Use retreating nair for neutralizing more of their specials.

Kirby has a total of 6 jumps, with 5 midair jumps.

The Hammer Flip side B has super armor on the ground when fully charged.

Skewer bypasses Stone armor. Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Kirby’s and by extension Dedede’s inhale is mashable. Drift back fair after mashing out of Kirby’s since he can confirm footstool on neutral or DI in & can punish mash out jump nair with his fair for some reason.

His rapid jab finisher is f-smash punishable; as is dash attack, but it crosses up shield, so be ready to turnaround f-smash. His d-smash is shorthop skewer OoS punishable. Normals are too safe besides those and smashes, and landing aerials too safe besides dair. Side B is -26 to -18, and up B is -21. Although Stone is very minus (even punished by shield drop > d-smash), Stone does too much shield damage to usually be worth it.

His rapid jab finisher, dash attack, smashes, up B, and ledge getup attack (-26) are u-tilt shield punished.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (76-79%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (80-91%)

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Link

Link Destroy the courage of a hero
Even

Gameplan

All of Link's projectile attacks: Bow and Arrows, Boomerang, and Remote Bomb start with an animation of Link sheathing his sword pulling out a projectile. Besides up taunt, these are the only times he puts his sword away. Use this to your advantage as a way to visually expect an incoming projectile.

• If you see Link put away his sword typically always expect Boomerang at middle to close range. Visually the boomerang on side special comes out frame 5, but is hidden from view if Link is facing to the right side, get familiar with Link's startup pose to punish the move even quicker on reaction, as it has 27 frames of start up and loses to disjoints. If you are unsure that you can punish Boomerang get into a position to parry it as it'll give you a frame advantage over Link and will send the boomerang back to Link.
• Bomb pull from down special takes 39 frames to finish, so if you are trying to play at mid range do not expect a Link player to use this move. The arrow of neutral special comes out frame 16, but is negative on hit with no charge, so do not expect a Link player to use this one either.

Link's three main moves to watch out for in neutral are nair, boomerang, and remote bomb. Nair has a big hitbox, active for 24 frames, 7 frames of cooldown, and is -2 on shield. The first goal is understanding how the Link uses nair, not just in neutral but during his advantage time as well. Up angle f-tilt, dash back f-tilt, and u-tilt are some ways of beating his nair, but mainly for rising shorthop ones. Against nair's above us, ours should beat it out if timed well.

Link's ledgetrapping revolves around nair, but also a combination of bombs and f-tilt. F-tilt covers something like ledge roll, while the bomb bouncing covers everything else. There's always ledge jump and Z-catching the bomb though.

When you're in advantage, Link's bomb leads into jablocks on missed techs. Experiment with it and see what you can do. Also of note, when edgeguarding, Ridley f-smash makes the bomb detonate prematurely which can be used against a recovering Link. Speaking of, Link's recovery is solid due to bomb mixups, so you can either respect it or vs him head-on before he techs the stage. If you get him to use up his 2nd jump due to plasma or something, always expect him to bomb himself back toward stage.

If Link doesn't have a bomb in his hands, you can most likely bait up B OoS; mind your spacing. Dealing with his projectiles otherwise is all about patience, timing, and lots of nairs. Familiarize yourself with the Link's habits and timing so you can accurately anticipate when they'll throw out their arrows and boomerangs. When our nair first comes out (at a 45 angle degree downward), it's where you'll want to position yourself to intercept Link's projectiles where Ridley nair is first active.

Plasma also helps in detonating a remote bomb prematurely, though don't be afraid to hold it because he can't set it off when it's in your possession, and when you get accustomed to Z-dropping it, can confirm into a number of our attacks. Our best moves for catching items like bombs are nair (retreating and OoS nair included), f-tilt (can pivot cancel too and still catch an item), and dash attack.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Respect his ledge getup attack range.

His f-smash 2 and up B (grounded) are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Our jab 1 comes out faster than his, so always use when in close range. His grounded normals are punished by our nair OoS at least. His landing aerials besides dair are too safe though, so reset there. His arrow can be from -21 to -15, making it punishable on shield at point-blank like with Young Link but even more so here. The boomerang is stuff safe though but his grounded up B (not a multi-hit) is -56.

His jab 3, dash attack, f-smash 1/2, u-smash, d-smash 2, up B, remote bomb if it detonates when he's nearby, and ledge getup attack (-26) are shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (91-94%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (95-105%)

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Little Mac

Little Mac

Gameplan

Mac plays a slow neutral, and so must you. You generally only have to win neutral once to convert into a stock though because of how abusable Mac's recovery is, so there’s no hurry in winning the exchange. Abuse your range advantage, but keep button count low. Mac’s high priority moves love people who push lots of buttons.

Mac is Dedede levels when it comes to lack of shield safety if not worse, so you can let OoS punishing be a big part of your neutral if anything. Aside from walling Mac out during the moments you know you can, resort to OoS punishing even if you have to walk or dash shield; not only because of his lack of shield safety, but to decrease instances where he wins clank interactions due to the damage based armor of his neutral B or the super armor of his smashes. The exception of course is when he has KO Punch but we usually have an easier time preventing it from hitting unless we get careless.

Plasma is good, but Mac is fast and his low run can make plasma go right over him, so be careful and mostly use at longer ranges when Mac is refusing to move in.

Mac has very limited options to deal with platform camping, as you only have to really watch out for shorthop side B and up smash on lower plats, and Sometimes up B or fullhop side B on higher ones. Counter can go through plasma if you’re doing it too close or too often, so keep in mind.

Disadvantage

Ledge is probably the scariest position to be in. Mac has very good moves to hit Ridley on ledge such as d-smash and d-tilt, and they only require very basic spacing. Armor on smash attacks means you can’t use getup attack to stop charging most of the time (unless the Mac has bad reactions), but this does open up drop down SPR's utility. Just be mindful of getting smacked before it connects. Ledge jump is a pretty good option here, since Mac lacks good aerials but u-smash and up B can catch you if you’re getting predictable.

Off stage is only a problem in two scenarios, getting countered or getting side B'd. Mac should basically never attempt to jump off and aerial you; if he does he’s either flexing or taking the one in a million chance. His counter is a little slow on the attack part, so grabbing ledge before you get hit is a bit more forgiving. Counter can be avoided like most others, either through up B wall bounce, or tricky spacing.

Remember that since Mac’s recovery is bad, he’s pretty restricted when it comes to using his counter; if he uses it too low he’ll just die, or if he gets sent under the stage he may just die. Side B should only be a problem in last stock situations or if you are using SPR to grab ledge too often.

Like Ganondorf and such, Mac doesn't juggle so much as he catches landings. Watch what the Mac likes to do when you’re trying to land; if they favor up smashes or tilts, abuse jumps and trick them into a whiff that you punish with SPR or an aerial. If they run and shield to catch your landings, mix up spaced bairs and tomahawk grabs (sometimes even SPR). Mac is fast and has pretty low FAF's (first actionable frames), so airdodges are only sometimes useful; don’t abuse them and use carefully. If platforms are available they can be a safe spot to land, but be mindful if Mac can reach them or not.

When getting hit in general, jumping away can be a consistently good means of escaping further disadvantage with how poorly designed Mac's jump and aerials are. Not to say jumping out of disadvantage should be a general habit, just that you can get away with it more in this matchup.

Advantage

Mac on ledge has two unique options to look out for; ledge jump instant counter which puts him on the stage, and ledge drop side B. Counter is dealt with as you’d except, with grabs or waiting it out. They’ll usually do this if you’re attempting to read their getup timings and are pushing buttons too often. Ledge drop side B would be used as a punish to whiffed attempts at catching their getup or as a quick surprise option, either out-space with a tilt or shield and punish. Other then that, it’s just like a regular character except you may have to worry about ledge jump a little less. Just focus on getting Mac back off the stage, that’s all you need.

Off stage is Mac's worst form of disadvantage, but don't get too cocky. Good Macs won't just give it to you. Mac doesn’t get to use side B again even if you hit him. Plasma is often the only answer you need, but Mac’s can recover high or use up B's hitboxes to beat it. They can even counter the plasma if they get close enough. This is perhaps the scariest option as it makes you lose the ledge and puts them in advantage. If Mac chooses to recover low and you didn’t plasma, you can intercept with fastfall nair quite reliably, or even fullhop dair if you’re on the right stage (Smashville, Town & City, Yoshi's Story, Lylat, and Kalos you have to double jump to make it back). If they recover high, you wait for their side B or airdodge, and then punish with something that sends them back off the stage (any of our main aerials).

Trying to land is also pretty rough for Mac. He has virtually no landing aerials and was designed to have the worst airdodge in the game. Watch for counter though, but charged up smash and SPR do a good enough job of dealing with it. Mac's Neutral B can be a decent mixup for landing because of the armor (9.6% threshold without being charged), but this will only really affect up tilt, as everything else does too much damage. Up tilt is otherwise good when it comes to keeping Mac airborne, as he doesn’t have much in terms of challenging it and counter will likely miss you if he uses it. SPR can prove to be good for catching his landings too, as it beats counter and airdodge or shields, and if you land it, that’s a free edgeguard state. Just don't use it carelessly.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Mac nair requires 2 SDI inputs, which has 6 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

His KO Punch is whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward or anything in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

While not particularly strong, his dair can hit us under plats, so still shield or avoid there.

Aside from super armor on his smashes & KO Uppercut and intangibility on his grounded side B, Mac's neutral B has 8% worth of armor when charging, and 14% worth of armor on release. Something like our bair may beat the latter, but f-tilt even with sweetspot will not.

His rapid jab finisher is punished by shorthop SPR OoS, while his grounded normals are punished by our OoS aerials and such. His landing aerials besides bair and dair are too safe on shield though, so reset there. His specials are especially unsafe, with full charged neutral B being -82 and side B being -39 to -36. If he whiffs a slip counter nearby, skewer punish.

His jab 3, rapid jab finisher, u-smash, neutral B (regardless of charge), and side B are shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (82-85%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (86-95%)

Major credit to the Ridcord JMU doc for a good chunk of this info.

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Lucario

Lucario

Will usually want to KO him asap because of aura. He has good juggling, especially without much aura where uair combos into itself a number of times. Either airdodge through or DI/SDI upward. May be able to nair diagonally above them too.

Respect the force palm side B, the only special in the game that functions as both a projectile and a command grab. If you're far away, then shielding is good, but if you're up close, then shielding is bad for more than one reason, especially if they have high aura. Also don't hold shield when at ledge, lest he lands on you from off stage with side B.

Aura Sphere can hit at ledge, so don't sit there too long, especially as it gets bigger with aura + charge. Also remember his double team counter which also works on projectiles like plasma, especially at high aura. Watch how they use it in disadvantage.

Their recovery has more distance the more aura they have, but it goes so fast and can be tricky to control, that it becomes more inconsistent with more aura. So when they're at high %, they'll rarely grab onto the ledge, and instead land on stage, or use extreme speed against you offensively when possible. Shield if you anticipate the latter and punish. Their up B also goes through platforms, so respect it on plat stages all the same.

On the flipside, aura makes Lucario's combos inconsistent. Their specials and frame data also lack consistency, making them drop combos and miss killing attacks.

Miscellaneous and frame data

SPR Lucario on plats if worried about him double team countering our attacks from underneath (i.e. u-tilt).

Lucario force palm (grab version) is mashable.

When Lucario lands on stage with up B, they have little lag, so if not on stage yet, don't be baited into attacking them from ledge.

Lucario multihits- f-tilt (2 hits), nair (2 hits), dair (2 hits)

His u-smash, d-smash, bair, and Force Palm are mostly whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Our jab 1 starts faster than theirs, allowing us to get out of scramble situations better.

The shield safety of their moves depends on their aura (see UFD for more), but their d-tilt and landing aerials will always be too safe, so reset there. Also his dash attack will likely crossup on shield, so be ready for a turnaround punish. His u-smash can be shield punished by f-smash regardless of aura.

Their jab 3, dash attack, smashes, up B, and ledge getup attack (-28) are shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %. If he whiffs a double team counter nearby, skewer punish.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (85-88%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (89-100%)

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Lucas

Lucas
Slightly Losing

The main differences Lucas has from Ness are PK freeze (respect it when recovering, pay attention to how he uses it, and mixup your timing and recovery paths/tactics), his PK thunder being a multi-hit with intangible properties but is slower than Ness’s (avoid it when possible and try to tech when hit by it), and his PK fire being knockback-based rather than something to DI/SDI out of as well as the aerial version shooting straight across instead of diagonally down, which sends Lucas back a little as he uses it, making it pretty safe. Also his bair being a spike move (tech it on stage), and both his back and up throws being good kill throws. Aside from his f-smash reflecting like Ness's, also respect the strength and invincibility of his u-smash.

One thing Ridley players don't like is to approach by air, but against Lucas that's a good way to pressure him. Our uair combos into itself, but doesn't have good horizontal range and doesn't kill when staled as such.

He has a lot of Ness weaknesses to be aware of, like how hard it is for him to land against disjointed range. He’s better at covering himself off stage than Ness, but is still very exploitable.

Most Lucas players will opt for stalling with their double jump for a bit before tethering to the ledge. Once you have them out there with no jump, you can chase them as far as you want as they try to position for up B.

The rest of the neutral’s just playing the slow wall out game while respecting his projectiles/zair.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Dash attack will beat Lucas' shorthop if spaced.

Lucas d-smash and dair hit us under platforms, so still shield or avoid there.

Lucas multihits- d-smash (3 hits), nair (4 hits)

Lucas nair requires 2 SDI inputs, which has 3 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's. PK thunder requires about 3 SDI inputs, which has 4 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

His normals besides d-tilt and f-tilt are mostly punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab, while his u-smash when shielded is punished by whatever (is -54 on shield and whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward, etc). His landing aerials besides the 4-hit dair (can punish with u-smash) are too safe on shield though, so reset there. PK freeze is mostly safe on shield, as is magnet, but PK fire and thunder up close are about as unsafe on shield as Ness's.

PK Fire and Thunder are also minus on shield enough for you to dash grab or dash attack if he's nearby (same with extended dash cancel u-tilt if he's at kill confirm %). Just don't shield too much or obviously against them to where he can grab you.

Speaking of, his tether grab is 12 frames in startup and 29 in end lag. While a bit faster in startup than some other tethers, it's the shortest in range and can still be whiff punished with SPR and the like. Zair's 30 frames of end lag allows you to SPR after if you were stuffed out by it before. Mainly zair from a fullhop, as shorthop zair would cancel the end lag when they go to ground. Also, mix in shield jumping, particularly Double Shield Cancel fullhop, to whiff punish such a grab.

His jab 3, f-smash, u-smash, PK fire, PK thunder, and ledge getup attack are also shield punishable with u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (86-89%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (90-100%)

Credit to smub for some of the tips on neutral.

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Lucina

Lucina

Gameplan

Ridley's f-tilt is a very good tool in neutral, as it out-spaces mostly everything Lucina has. Should be abusing this tool most. Up angle f-tilt is good for punishing shorthop which swordies loves doing. Your goal should be getting her off stage and recovering low. She'll be looking for whiff punishes in this, so be careful about your button presses. Run or pivot cancel f-tilt reaches far and fast, so they have a good whiff punish range. Abuse dance dancing and walking to bait shorthops or dash-in's. Keep their shorthop approaches locked down with up angle f-tilt and force them to use fullhops or play grounded.

You can deal with fullhops by using u-tilt or dash back turnaround d-tilt to whiff punish their aerial or by air-to-airing them with nair and fair. Lucina can jump before landing with fair and bair, so be careful when trying to punish them on whiff or block. If they're being stubborn and refusing to move in, plasma is a decent option to get them moving. They have good hitboxes to hit you if they jump over it but they aren’t quite fast enough to punish spaced plasma well. Charge to two or three fireballs as usual.

It can also be good to fullhop yourself in this matchup, as the angle you approach with nair and such can counter her hitboxes if she shorthops much.

Disadvantage

They don't have anything good to hit Ridley on ledge with, only having d-smash's 2nd hit and an f-smash that only hits on the right ledge, both of which have to be spaced for tipper (even for Lucina, not just Marth), and since their ledge option coverage is really good, will need to just hang out to avoid their ledgetraps. Watch for openings in their coverage; nair doesn’t autocancel, so a getup attack can relieve pressure if they’re spamming within its range. Ledge drop options are fine, but be cautious of f-smash hitting you in startup and side B. Ledge drop fair will be your best bet since it’s the most disjointed. Stay calm and wait them out. Remember that f-smash has a lot of end lag, so if they aren’t aware and try to hit you with it, that’s an easy punish.

When trying to recover from off stage, recovering low with up B is generally the last thing you want to do. Counter will eat you alive since Wing Blitz startup is slow enough, and they can react to the standard Ridley low recovery with counter real easily, so you have to rely on other methods. Use jumps wisely, and remember the distance our airdodge covers too, being one of the better airdodges to ledge in the game. SPR doesn’t have a hitbox to trigger counter and is harder to react to while also being able to grab ledge (or set up airdodge). On walled stages, there's still Wing Blitz forward to make you wall bounce and gain a good chunk of height without a hitbox. Back angle Wing Blitz can occasionally be a mixup since it has a weird angle and could go above them. Mix up jumps, airdodges, SPR and Wing Blitz wall bounce or back angle WB to keep them guessing. Mask what options you actually want to go for by feinting others; use fastfalls and jumps to fake positioning for other options. Airdodge and WB bounce mixup for each other nicely. Same with SPR and back angle WB. Live up to Ridley's title of cunning god of death and pull out all the mixups.

• Another way to deal with counters when recovering is holding down which will let you tech it a good bit longer. Holding down can also let you survive untechables which are the red shockwaves when you get knocked against a stage wall, by holding down to reduce your launch speed and then tech as usual, aside from hugging the stage under making it harder for them to off stage counter. Likewise if the opponent's standing at ledge to counter while you're recovering low, try to be as far away from ledge as possible at first when drifting toward it after you up B, allowing you to avoid an obvious counter. They can adapt to this by going slightly off stage to counter, but you can mix them up by using your jumps and airdodge to get to ledge instead. Lastly, if they stale their counter earlier on, it'll still kill much later like with any powerful move.

Lucina uair is big, so you’re not really gonna be able to challenge them with dair or anything. Standard landing methods, where you save and mix up jumps with fastfalls and airdodges. Go to the ledge if you can but don't fall past ledge for an up B.

Advantage

Their ledge hang is worse than you’d expect, as we can hit with a good amount of moves; f-tilt (all angles), d-tilt, f-smash (needs to be spaced), dash attack (also needs spacing). That said, they have decent ledge drop options and ledge options. Be careful when jumping around or starting attacks. Their ledge drop fair covers a lot of space and is faster than you’d expect. Remember you can hit them when invincibility runs out and be patient. Bait mistakes with position rather than repeatedly pressing buttons.

Down angle Wing Blitz is a guaranteed trade spike with their up B. Plasma and occasional down angle WB should be used against them off stage. Their up B is too big and fast to reliably challenge otherwise. Still, plasma is really good here. Can easily set up down angle WB or spacings they simply can’t recover from. Abuse it as much as possible. Their high recovery isn’t nearly as safe, so scare them to avoiding ledge.

Other than Counter and dair, they don't have much to deal with juggles. Dair is slow and counter is obviously punishable, so just stay grounded and wait them out. Instead they will be using their high air mobility to get away and land with safe fairs/bairs. Moves like u-smash and u-tilt are great for dealing with them above you, and f-tilt and d-tilt are great for catching whiffed landing aerials. Keep in mind that they can counter at any point and know what your combos are.

Miscellaneous and frame data

The main difference from Marth is not having to worry as much about spacing, while Marth has to rely on tippers. They're both floatier than Roy and Chrom though, and will use side B more-so to stall their landing and throw you off, in addition to their neutral B being a more reliable quick shield breaker that lives up to its name, as any hit + neutral B with no charge will break a full shield. If you see it coming, always take the hit instead of shielding it. Also watch for their neutral B as a landing mixup or an option from ledge as a surprise attack.

Her f-smash, u-smash, uair, dair, and side B are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Our jab 1 comes out before hers, so always use when up close.

Besides her safe d-tilt, her normals are at least punished by our OoS aerials and such. Her landing aerials are too safe though, so reset there. Aside from her neutral B that you shouldn't shield against, her side B hits are various levels of unsafe like with Roy/Chrom. If she whiffs a counter nearby, skewer punish.

Her jab 2, u-tilt, dash attack, smashes, and side B hits are shield punished by u-tilt should she be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (84-87%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (88-98%)

Major credit to the Ridcord JMU doc for a good chunk of this info.

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Luigi

Luigi

With Luigi, will usually try to DI/SDI away from his combos, but up or in also works as as a mixup. SDI up and away works for some Luigi nair stuff as well. It’s also possible for Luigi to slightly whiff their up B due to human error, allowing you to shield or punish after. With Luigi it helps to be at mid % or higher so you can reliably escape his infamous grab death combo.

Safely wall out the green plumber the same way you do Kazuya and he’ll have trouble getting in, though do watch out for the plunger z-air aside from the grab. Air-to-air it with fair or delayed nair. Don’t clank it with tilts because the end lag will allow him to go for a grab. Keep in mind too the plunger doesn’t have as much end lag as other tether grabs, so if he whiffs, punish fast or go back to neutral when in doubt. His grab can anti-air too if you're not careful with the landing/spacing.

Also respect Luigi’s up B; aside from killing as a combo ender, it can also kill well on its own at mid % and a little earlier, and be used as an OoS option. Basically, never attack his shield from above. Up B has intangibility too along with Luigi u-smash.

If a Luigi camps you by spamming fireball from a corner, don’t fall for the bait and be overeager to approach, because he wants you to do that so he can get a grab or up B punish. Approach at mid range with pivot f-tilt or sliding d-tilt. Flickshot plasma can work too to counter-camp. Otherwise wait for him to approach and out-patient him.

In the air, watch out for Luigi’s down B which is a good combo breaker and decent KO option when high up with its knockback. He’s invincible during the first few frames of the move, so wait it out if need be and then tilt poke him. Aside from a get-off-me, he may also use it when falling toward you. Shield it in that case but if hit by it, can escape with SDI up. His dash attack you similarly want to shield with how long lasting it is.

• Up throw > uair works on Luigi's who mash down B. In other words, the invincibility of his down B wears off by the time we get our uair out.

When recovering, watch out for his d-tilt and plunger as an edgeguard and time yourself accordingly. Don’t forget his down taunt kick too. When edgeguarding him, exploit his horizontal recovery, especially if he gets stuck in a wall from his side B. Otherwise attack from above with like nair or plasma.

For edgeguarding, plasma him off stage (from ledge) at first to force a jump/green missile, and go off and nair/fair him when he has less resources.

In neutral, he’ll try to zone you out with a rising shorthop aerial > fireball/zair, so remember up angle f-tilt unless it’s zair (air-to-air instead). If he conditions you to burst option, will get pivot grabbed, and if you shield, will get dash grabbed.

In disadvantage, Luigi will hit at ledge with zair to ledgetrap or d-tilt spam to condition timing or a bad ledge getup attack which he can shield punish with up B. Do a beefy up B instead.

Like some other characters, Luigi’s like to shorthop fireball to cover jump-in’s, and Ridley can crouch under that.

SDI in puts you way behind Luigi after their first dair.

If you ever get hit by Luigi fireball from the ground, never hold shield. Just buffer a jump, spotdodge, or f-tilt because you're just making yourself a sitting duck and defining the purpose of Luigi's fireball; opening you up for a grab.

Jump nair sometimes allows you to jump over the grab and even reversal. It's typically better to jump nair than to jump sometimes because on regular jump animation, Ridley's feet hangs low so you are more susceptible to grabs, while nair gives you a hurtbox shift to hopefully make you not get grabbed.

Also if you're quick, once you see the plunger on the ground and think yourself to be in a position to not get grabbed, you can SPR on reaction which will typically grab him before he can act.

Miscellaneous and frame data

His dash attack and down B are 5 hits.

His up B and down B are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 1 > f-smash, for covering delayed getup.

Besides d-tilt, Luigi's normals are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab; his jab 3, u-smash, d-smash, horizontal cyclone, up B, and ledge getup attack (-26) are also shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %, but reset when it comes to his landing aerials with how safe they are.

His dash attack may crossup your shield depending on how late he inputs it, so react and punish accordingly. His down B cyclone is also unsafe on shield enough to be f/d-smash punished or can u-smash OoS if he's still above you, and his up B is even more unsafe on shield which you can punish with whatever when catching his landing. Beware the sweetspot shield damage of up B though.

Remember to not shield much at low % though to avoid the 0 to death grab combos; his grab is 14 frames in startup and 27 frames of end lag, so can whiff punish with SPR and such at least if nearby. Mix in shield jumping, particularly Double Shield Cancel fullhop, to whiff punish such a grab.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (87-90%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (91-97%)

Credit to smub for the edgeguarding tips. Also, this video here shows how you can contest zair with d-tilt- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2geCFdDa0Y

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Mario

Mario

Neutral

This matchup will test your spacing. Mario's combo game is extremely powerful at low to mid %, and less dangerous at high %. Mario's many combo starting moves are fast and have low lag, so good spacing is a necessity.

In neutral, Mario will try to land aerials out of a shorthop and fastfalling. They generally approach with SH bair which is relatively safe on shield, can crossup, or lead to a potential 0-death combo. He will also use uair at low % to start a long, potentially deadly chain. Some Mario's will simply spam this move, hoping one lands. It doesn't have much range, so our nair, fair, u-tilt, and f-tilt should beat it. Mario can also use nair to start combos.

Similar to Link's nairs and such, Mario's has little lag, is safe on shield, combos into his best moves, and lingers for a good while. The best option to Mario approaching is to back up and use a tilt (i.e. up angle f-tilt) to deny them an advantage. Mario will also use fireball to make you shield, allowing him to grab you and perform a true death combo consisting of d-throw > uair > nair > uair > fastfall uair > fair at very low %. He can also simply combo out of the fireballs themselves with uair.

One counterplay is to have fireballs of your own constantly on the ground to prevent this. Don't charge predictably, as Mario can easily jump over and punish you if you sit still for too long. Another method is baiting out fireballs and punishing with nair/fair or just beating out the fireballs and Mario with your disjoints. Mario is an aggressive character, so a Ridley with a defensive bait and punish style should perform well when they know what aerials to expect and when.

When Ridley is at mid-high %, 70 and above, Mario's combo moves become more "get off me" in nature, as they can no longer rely on kill combos to work.

Disadvantage

This is the hard part. Mario's already insane combo game is accented on Ridley's large frame. Getting hit by uair at low % will lead to a 40-50% combo that is virtually inescapable, and the rare times you can airdodge out can be read and punished even harder.

Platforms on Battlefield allow Mario to ladder Ridley up to the top blastzone and get a free stock, so definitely avoid this stage. DI down and away to avoid dying to up B near the top and to maneuver away from Mario's combo. DI upwards to increase the knockback and give yourself more of a chance.

Avoid being unsafe on Mario's shield at death % (100 and above), especially from behind since Mario's up smash is his go-to kill move. His head is intangible during the move as well, similar to Ridley up smash.

The best way to reset neutral is to retreat to ledge. Ridley's aerials are too slow to stop any of Mario's combos, so only use them if the Mario overextends for a fair or dair to kill.

Getting off ledge as Ridley is difficult against Mario's many non-committal options. Avoid rolling in or neutral getup at kill % because up smash can cover both of these and he can roll behind and kill you with back throw at around 120-140% with good DI (which is up and towards the stage). Jumping can be punished with uair which won't kill until 170% or so, or bair if he reads your jump, which can kill earlier with the sweetspot at around 120%. Unless you've been jumping the entire match, it's better than the grounded options.

Mario can't combo very hard with only one jump, only 2 uairs and an up B or nair; not doing much damage but still keeping you in disadvantage. Drop down SPR will work if he's close and shielding or waiting for you to roll or neutral getup, though its end lag can be easily punished. Another option is a ledge jump nair to beat out Mario's aerials, which is likely the most optimal choice, but only a few times before Mario catches on.

Advantage

Mario is at a great danger when above Ridley, as his short range cannot help him against Ridley's disjointed u-tilt and u-smash, or nair, fair, and uair. They will usually do an airdodge to return to the ground and reset, which can be easily punished like with an f-smash.

Mario's recovery is only decent, and Ridley nair and fair should be enough to gimp him at 70% and above. His up B is also pretty easy to time with your down angle WB or down angle f-tilt. Be aware that they can use cape to stall their recovery and cause you to mistime your attacks.

Mario won't stay at the ledge for long and when stuck, will usually jump with a fireball to cover themselves or jump to a platform. Our nair can beat both of these options. Some will drop down and jump up with an aerial, usually uair to start a combo or put you in disadvantage. Either shield and reset or use f/d-tilt to outspace Mario. Ridley's f-smash can be used to whiff punish Mario's bair and uair, since Ridley backs up a bit during the move.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Mario's best OoS options- Up B (frame 3), nair (frame 6), uair (frame 7), u-smash (frame 9).

Like us, Mario's will use turnaround up smash to take stocks. It can be shielded easily but is only punishable with our bair OoS. Use d/f-tilt, fair, and nair to stop Mario from approaching with this option.

Mario can B-reverse his cape to ledge trump easily, and can combo it into bair as a kill. Avoid staying on ledge at kill %.

Mario's up B tends to miss ledge when aimed poorly. Make note of this when ledgetrapping.

Mario cannot cape more than one fireball, so if you shoot 2 or more and think the Mario will cape or shield, punish accordingly.

Some Mario's will ladder you up to the platforms and wait there to punish your reaction. There isn't much you can do, but attacking with fair/nair and fastfalling through the platform is the least punishable option.

Mario's uair > fastfall uair > fair is a common kill confirm at ledge. Don't use unsafe moves on Mario's shield when you're near ledge because this combo works OoS as well at low to mid % (50ish). Also tech his fair when on stage.

Can try to escape his ladder combos into up B or dair with SDI down & away.

Skewer > jab 1 > f-smash, for covering delayed getup.

Mario's jab 3 on shield is shorthop SPR OoS punishable, so go for when he's at high %. His other normals, side B cape, and point-blank fireball are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab (can u-smash OoS if he's using cape in the air), but his landing aerials besides fair and 6-hit dair are too safe on shield, so reset there.

Close fireball, jab 3, smashes, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (88-91%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (92-98%)

Major credit goes to Acroraptor for much of this info.

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Marth

Marth

• Placeholder

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Mega Man

Mega Man
Hard Losing

Mega Man has the most projectiles out of all the zoners, a grand total of seven. Only three of them have real KO potential though; f-smash, u-air, and d-air, the last of which you have to mix up your recovery to avoid.

For the Mega Buster or jab/f-tilt/nair, keep in mind he can only shoot three pellets at a time, so block or avoid them and go in, usually from above to avoid.

When hit by the u-air, don't freak out and jump or you might die early due to how high up it sends you. Otherwise try to airdodge or move around it, holding left stick down and watching out for a followup.

Respect the Metal Blade by shielding or avoiding the z-drops and such, and if you grab it, you can throw it back at him for some damage.

For his side B the Crash Bomber, best option is to shield it before it sticks on you, cancelling it out. Can either stick it back on him by running up close to him, or shield when the time is right and block the blast. He'll likely anticipate this and try to apply shield pressure with f-smash, so try to distance yourself before shielding so he can't pressure in time. If he's right on you, then just take the hit from the sticky explosion and move away, which is preferable to being hit by some of his other attacks like the f-smash. The best thing to do generally when Crash Bomb is on you is to go aggro, rather than shield and allow him to apply more pressure. Also watch out for him possibly trying to use it from off stage when you’re at ledge.

For Leaf Shield, either pull up your own shield like when he’s landing with it (be sure you don't drop it too early and hold all the way to the end of the move), or jump over it when he throws it. If he jumps up and throws the leaves, then can run underneath and punish him. In our case there's also trying to jump and Plasma which if nothing else can bait him to throw it before you land, but stay in the air long enough with your jumps either way. Our dair can surprisingly hit him through the Leaf Shield too.

Also, Leaf Shield is not safe on shield; the window when Mega Man starts to throw it and when he can act again is 55 frames. Start by tilting your shield forward and up to prevent poking, wait for the throw, and punish. A good Mega Man will dash away and throw it from a distance to prevent OoS punishes, but you can counter that by fullhopping during his retreat to avoid the throw and punish with a landing aerial. Now if they expect this, they can jump and toss the LF to stuff out your fullhop, but your answer to that as mentioned is dash in under and anti-air him. When stuck on the ledge, LF loses to getup attack.

You also need to respect his up tilt for the power it has. It has a lot of end lag though, so take advantage and punish if you shield or avoid and it whiffs. Don't let him place his Rush Coil below you when you respawn. Use the few seconds of your respawn invincibility to pressure him when possible. Also remember his d-tilt slide & spinning DA and shield them, and remember both can crossup shield which you can punish with a quick turnaround attack. Don't play on auto pilot here.

Once you get in through his wall of projectiles, or if you cross him up and land behind him, he struggles, so attack/combo and keep up the pressure. His f-smash, while powerful, lacks knockback and is laggy and reactable, and if he ledge traps you with it, just do a ledge jump over it and attack. Gimp him depending on his recovery pattern.

Like other zoners, Battlefield is preferable to fight Mega Man on, though, beware of his up air especially on the top platform.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Mega Man up tilt has intangibility on frames 5-7 (at the beginning of the move before he ascends as well as some moves confirming into it if timed right) and d-tilt has intangibility on the leg during frames 3-12. You’ll want to shield the latter anyway though as mentioned, punishing if it crosses you up. Said d-tilt has a 40% chance of tripping on hit as well.

Also, MM’s uair we can get through with Ridley dair if timed right, though with the end lag, MM will most likely be able to punish after, but can consider doing it as a mixup.

One other thing about Leaf Shield, he can cancel it by picking up items such as his Metal Blade. The leaves still make him mostly invulnerable when picking up an item though, so respect it.

Some other things for Mega Man: Hold center and be very disciplined in shield. Recognize situations where he has to expose himself with up B off stage.

Respect not only side B but Metal Blade as an anti-edgeguard as well. Although his projectiles lose to plasma outside of f-smash, he doesn't give you a lot of opportunities to charge it, and doesn’t stay in its threat range very long. He has that same Kazuya problem of having to recover high and airdodge into the ledge in a lot of situations, and that's where you can get your earliest kills.

If MM players overshoot with Crash Bomb, you can tipper f-tilt to detonate it and make your own ledgetrap out of it when he tries to recover. That happens when he attaches it to the ledge but not directly underneath it. The more you play against MM, the more you realize how often he has to do what Snake and ROB do where they give up and go high instead of playing the ledge game, except unlike Snake, MM has actual good landing mixups that aren't immediately easy to contest.

Something to note on Mega Man's up B, it only goes one direction and becomes a moving target as soon as the invincibility (on frames 7-10) runs out, so he takes damage fast in that situation. It's a similar deal to Sonic's up B, except MM travels slower with his and is easier to react to. He also requires more time to act out of it. Our dair can work on it as a mixup.

Mega Man from a distance you can use plasma pretty well against on stage; if you get the ability to charge it, he'll just have to jump or shield because it eats all of his projectiles and won’t get the chance to use f-smash, giving you a good window. MM may seem like a zoner but he's arguably more of a wall that tries to stay close to you, making plasma good when he wants to be campy where he poses less of a threat.

You only have to be careful about jump metal blade, but a platform or just being too far away will solve this. Leaf shield is the only counter, but it's punishable; just release plasma early and punish when he has to release it. Either get a hit if you time it well and don't let yourself get hit by it, or you take his stage which is amazing against MM.

Fire sword f-air is the safe aerial, so reset when shielding it. Can mostly punish the 3 hit bair however where he briefly turns around for the attack. Also when shielding his dair, reset with how safe it is. Ridley nair/fair clanks well with lemons. They're -25 > -23 > -20, but can still shield drop d-tilt as a true punish. MM can grab while Leaf Shield is active.

Mega Man multihits- Crossup dash attack (8 hits), u-smash (7 hits), uair under a plat (7 hits)

His u-tilt, u-smash, and d-smash are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Also, remember to walk. Walk & shield is crucial in this MU, till you get in range for d-tilt or f-tilt, or till they run out of space, and when you get them off stage, you need to put pressure and try to kill him.

It's really tough, and you gotta SDI out when he has you in metal blade stuff and general combos because while it still leads to combos, it might just save your life, especially if you can get things like the u-tilt to miss in certain combos.

To clarify on plasma, only use if he's far, or you'll get lemon'd. He prefers to lemon at mid range which is where you'll want to f/d-tilt him.

Don't panic when he lemons successfully; he'll look for the panic options when you get out of hitstun. Also whenever you get killed and drop the platform, don't let yourself get hit by side B. Same for when he puts you in a tech chase, so don't techroll toward him if further away.

Be patient in neutral, find your window, and if you get it, never let him do anything, try to make sure he never resets neutral and dies. Be careful with his dair that gives him some stall in his air to protect his landing as well as mix up his landing time, etc.

Mega Man's jab/f-tilt/nair is punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab if shielded up close, and our jab 1 comes out before his. His u-tilt and d-tilt have enough end lag to be punished by f-smash when shielded (or u-smash OoS for the u-tilt before he lands), tho have to turnaround f-smash (or shorthop turnaround skewer OoS) for d-tilt due to its ability to crossup. His u-smash and d-smash when shielded can also be punished by Rid f-smash, while dash attack is punished by our OoS aerials or Rid u-smash due to it being able to crossup too. MM d-smash is even skewer/d-smash punishable with shield pushback.

His jab/f-tilt/nair, crossup d-tilt, u-tilt, u-smash, d-smash, and ledge getup attack are also u-tilt punishable on shield should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Besides nair & bair which can be aerial and u-smash OoS punished, his landing aerials are too safe on shield, so reset there. Metal blade is punished by our OoS aerials/shield grab when shielded up close or u-smash if he's still in the air.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (91-95%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (96-105%)

Major credit to smub for the edgeguarding tips, and Zant for the neutral tips along with the use of plasma.

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Meta Knight

Meta Knight
Even

Watch out for his ladder combos. To prevent being put in that situation, avoid his dash attack (is -18 on shield but crosses up on it) and dash grab (32 frames of end lag), two main ways to start it (can directional airdodge through them as a landing mixup) which he may bait & punish with. If you do get caught in it, hold your stick toward MK and DI upward or SDI those directions, helping you escape. Another potential option is pick a stage with a larger blast zone so you don't die as early. Regardless, once you’re at higher %, those touch of death combos no longer apply, but mix up your SDI when it does like with Bayonetta.

• You basically see whether the MK is drifting forward a lot or barely drifting at all, and if they’re drifting forward you SDI in to try to get hit by the back hit of uair, and if they’re not drifting much at all, you SDI down and away to fall out of the combo.

• With dash walk SDI, against an MK with good ladders, using and timing it with each hit of uair or dair, you won’t get sent as far with each aerial, so they end up going too far and whiffing an aerial.

Also respect his dash attack at high % since it converts into up B as a kill confirm (can also be started with a d-tilt). He may go for this when his opponent's past the % for ladder kill combos. Another kill confirm of his is bair 2 (fastfalling to skip bair 3) into d-smash.

His dair is a big threat at mid % for combos and edgeguarding. As such, rising dair is his most common option after getting hit. Dair in general is only active for 1 frame, but it has disjoint mixed in with multiple jumps, making juggling him more difficult.

Meta Knight's love to down B (dimensional cape) out of the corner or from ledge due to his ledge roll being bad, so can exploit that.

Since MK approaches from the ground for his combo starters, any jump (shorthop/fullhop) + nair is a good counter.

Also respect the versatility of his recovery. Between five jumps and decent air speed, his other specials can help him recover too, with up B hitting you at ledge if you're standing too close without shielding. If not confident on edgeguarding him, then wait to ledgetrap instead.

Since he has great recovery, he has expectedly great edgeguarding, going off stage with drill rush, etc. Mix it up to get back.

Respect MK's rushdown playstyle. He's the only multi-jump character who also has good mobility, making him great at approaching from the ground and the air. If he's in the air, he'll often wait for you to whiff an attack and move in, so don't fall for it. Also remember his multi-hits when shielding; rapid jab, 3 hit f-tilt, spinning u-tilt, 3 hit u-smash, 3 hit fair & bair, 10 hit d-throw, and specials such as drill rush that's 12 hits.

• If drill rush whiffs on the ground, it bounces him which you can punish another way by using aerials.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Dash attack will beat Meta Knight's shorthop if spaced.

MK has a total of 6 jumps, with 5 midair jumps.

MK uair requires about 2 SDI inputs, which has 7 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

His neutral B and down B are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

His rapid jab finisher is shield punishable with dash attack or dash grab, while his normals are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab, except for his d-tilt and f-smash; after shielding his f-smash, he may go for a d-smash or something after that you can punish. MK u-smash and maybe side B is punished by shorthop SPR OoS.

His dash attack may crossup on shield, so be ready to do a turnaround punish. All his landing aerials are too safe on shield, so reset there. His specials however are all pretty minus on shield (neutral B mach tornado being -81, side B being -24, and down B dimensional cape being -44, the first and last of which can be shield punished by d-smash, etc), along with putting him in freefall after if used unsafely, which is most of the time except when recovering.

His rapid jab finisher, f-tilt 2 or 3, u-tilt, u-smash, d-smash, specials, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (77-80%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (81-91%)

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Mewtwo

Mewtwo

Respect Mewtwo's kill power. Has the KO power of a heavyweight, but a combo game and maneuverability of a lightweight; a true glass cannon.

Its f-smash can angle now, allowing it to catch landings and 2-frame like with d-smash. U-smash lasts longer now too. For aerials, f-air is fast and deadly as ever, uair juggles well and can KO earlier than you might think, bair can be a wall of pain, and dair can spike. B-throw and u-throw can still kill well too. D-tilt tail sweep combos like our own, but f-tilt and u-tilt can potentially kill well also.

Its dash attack can be a strong whiff punisher. For neutral, Mewtwo's also like to aerial/shield > d-tilt to shield check.

Its nair, while not as potent now, can still shield poke like Pikachu's and is one of its best OoS options. If spaced well, can be hard to punish, but a disjoint can still beat it.

Shadow Ball's wavy movement can make it hard to dodge, and fully charge usually hits you at ledge, so don't hang there too long. Don't forget the movement mixups and B-reverses too. Even uncharged shots can lead to combos, so be ready to shield, jump, or dodge; jumping usually being the best option.

Be careful of plasma with its side B reflector in mind, which can also aid its recovery. Is also a command grab; when you get flipped by it, can attack, airdodge/tech, or jump. Is an RPS situation to try and get away from what you think Mewtwo will do. Airdodge through if it fair's. If it holds still to punish airdodge, then attack instead, and if it spaces back to avoid your attack and punish, then better off jumping away and getting back to neutral. You're typically not gonna be able to react to all this though, so catch on to Mewtwo's habits.

Keep Disable in mind and don't be too predictable near Mewtwo. If used in the air, it knocks you back without stunning, and now has intangibility on frames 10-16, so can be used to beat out attacks if timed right. Also watch out if Mewtwo does a tech followed by down B, so you don't get reversaled during a tech chase (is a 16 frame startup).

Mewtwo is faster than us on the ground, with its dash and run speed being equally quick. Due to that and its strong projectile, is best to walk when at a distance and slowly close the gap.

Shadow Ball is its go-to move since it's powerful, controls neutral, and combos. Apart from what was already said on Disable, it also counters our burst options.

Mewtwo can shorthop fair/bair/uair and double jump out of it. Use nair when it focuses on aerial approaches, or otherwise anti-air. Like any floaty, it has a tough time being above us, so u-throw and such when possible, though remember it can stall with Confusion.

If Mewtwo does side B off stage to turn itself around (with its back facing you), it means they'll do a rising bair to get on stage with.

Confusion also combos after ~90%. DI out to avoid a Mewtwo d-throw followup. A lot of its other combos start with an upward attack and continues on with a rising double jump aerial.

D-smash, aside from its shield safety, also has relatively low end lag, meaning it can be used as a bait. Mewtwo loves to use Teleport to escape the corner of a stage, so keep in mind.

Mewtwo can be hard to edgeguard, but ledge trumping's a solid option due to Mewtwo not landing on stage and no hitbox on its up B. 2 framing also works.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Its d-smash and dair can hit us under plats, so still shield or avoid there.

Mewtwo multihits: nair (6 hits), u-smash (4 hits)

Respect its ledge getup attack range.

Their u-smash is whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 1 > f-smash, for covering delayed geutp.

Our jab 1 starts faster than theirs, allowing us to get out of scramble situations better.

Its rapid jab finisher is f-smash punished. Its normals besides d-smash are punished by OoS aerials and such; u-smash is -39. Its landing aerials are too safe on shield, so reset, though if it does them from a fullhop, anti-air the fullhop with how floaty it is. Neutral B is also mostly too safe, but Disable is -30.

Its rapid jab finisher, u-smash, down B, and ledge getup attack (-25) are u-tilt shield punished.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (76-80%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (81-88%)

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Mii Brawler

Mii Brawler Face of many, tricks of many
Even

• Suplex
  • If Mii Brawler does a suicide Suplex, when he dies, the opponent will be popped up from the bottom blastzone. Because of this, Ridley can recover back safely unless the Suplex was near the very side blastzone (very unlikely though).

• Thrust Uppercut
  • This move is mainly is used to be a kill confirm off of down throw. If Brawler has no rage, it'll stop comboing at 115%. If Brawler has 90% it'll stop combing at 105%. If Brawler has max rage it'll stop comboing at 85%.
  • Up air into Thrust Uppercut can be used as a kill confirm until Ridley is at max rage, which then Brawler cannot get anything off of up air. When Brawler is at max rage it will stop comboing around 130% on Ridley, which even then a raw (or even slightly staled) Thrust Uppercut will straight up kill him. Though the percentage to avoid this combo is to be around 140%, or to be safe, past 150% (at max rage).
  • SDI down to survive this move at high %.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Brawler is the lightest of the Mii's and we easily outrange it, though note the intangibility on its u-smash.

Its fair is 2 hits.

Soaring axe kick (rising) requires about 2 SDI inputs, which has 7 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

Their smashes, Flashing Mach Punch, Onslaught, and Burning Dropdick are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Brawler Suplex has 12% damage based armor like Alolan Whip, so watch out and do retreaing nair's, etc. If your shield health is low, don't shield Burning Dropkick, Feint Jump input kick, or Shot Put.

Although feint jump kick doesn’t bury like ZSS flip jump kick, still gotta tech when hit by it.

Rapid jab skewer punish also applies, shorthop skewer OoS in this case. Brawler's normals are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab, while its f-smash and u-smash when shielded is punished by our f-smash. Its f-smash may also be skewer/d-smash punishable with shield pushback, and its d-smash & feint jump kick are punished by shorthop SPR OoS. Its rapid jab finisher, smashes, and ledge getup attack are u-tilt punishable should it be at u-tilt > uair kill %. Its landing aerials besides dair are too safe on shield, so reset there. Said dair can be u-smash OoS punished if they're still in the air. If they whiff a counter throw nearby, skewer punish.

Brawler specials: Shot Put is -19 on shield up close. Flashing Mach Punch (~20 hits) is -30 on shield, so can f-smash in response. The rarely seen Burning Drop Kick is -30 on shield, while the common Cloud up B esque Soaring Axe Kick is -23 on shield (watch out for at ledge). Feint Jump is like ZSS Flip Jump, with the kick at the end being -27 on shield, so can punish if you react quick enough.

Every other special is too safe on shield mostly, so reset when it comes to them; also respect Exploding Side Kick (dodge it like you would Falcon Punch), Onslaught (dodge it too preferably, though can still shield it but reset after), Helicopter Kick & its leg intangibility (may be used as horizontal recovery), Suplex command grab (watch out for at ledge), Head-On Assault that's like Yoshi & Bowser down B which you want to dodge, and Counter Throw if they have those.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (85-88%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (89-97%)

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Mii Gunner

Mii Gunner
Slight Losing

• Up air sends the opponent the direction they are facing away from Gunner.
• Grenade Launch's projectile can be deleted by an aerial before it explodes. Use this as a way to recover to ledge or get off ledge safely.

Respect their long range multi-hit f-smash by keeping your distance and whiff punishing it. Similarly, you don't want to land on Gunner because of its uair, so go around it when falling or DI when grabbed (also DI to avoid the shots during their up and back throws). If they have Flame Pillar as a side B, remember to SDI out of it like with holy water or PK fire, or DI up when launched like you would with Arcfire. For weaknesses, low mobility, weak aerials aside from uair (making Gunner prone to getting juggled), and weak recovery, though note 2 out of 3 of its up B's can hit you from below.

Can attack through grenade launch, as it has negative priority, though better to jump over it still. If Gunner uses grenade launch to cover themselves off stage, can just run off and hit through with fair. That said, we can’t hit through Gunner fair which is like Wolf laser, and it pushes them back some when used like with Lucas PK fire.

In neutral, Gunners may use bomb drop to control space, shorthop with it as an approach, and get a shield grab or combo. A retreating nair may be better in those cases if you have the space. Watch out for them dropping it on plats too like with Samus bombs.

Don’t be afraid to hold ledge against Gunner stuff. There’s a timing where you can jump between grenade launches. The bomb drop isn’t scary, it’s just conditioning unless the Gunner is higher level and timing combos off of it. The only thing that really hits us at ledge is d-tilt. When doing a beefy up B to hit the bomb drop, just be aware it leaves you vulnerable to Gunner d-smash.

Another way to recover versus Gunner is using 2 or 3 fireballs from offstage when you get hit by one of those projectiles and sent high up, you can have one of them eat the next grenade for a quick opening to get out of there.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Gunner multihits- jab 3 (2 hits), f-smash (7 hits), uair (7 hits)

Gunner up smash hits require about 2 SDI inputs, which have 6 to 9 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

Their f-smash and bair are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Our jab 1 comes out before theirs, so always use in close range.

Gunner's normals are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab, and f-smash if you happen to shield up close is punished by our own. Its jab 3, u-tilt, d-tilt, dash attack, smashes, and ledge getup attack (-26) are shield punished by u-tilt should it be at u-tilt > uair kill %. Its landing aerials besides dair are too safe on shield though, so reset there. Said dair can be u-smash OoS punished if they're still in the air, especially since Gunner's a floaty.

Gunner specials: The Falco esque Laser Blaze is -24 on shield up close. Unlike Arcfire which is positive on shield, Flame Pillar is -37, pretty much cancelling it out. Stealth Burst is -22/-17 up close. Gunner Missile homing and super is -10 and -12 on shield respectively, but unless you shield them up close, treat them like you would Samus's Missiles and weave around them or d-tilt before super missile comes out.

Every other special is safe on shield mostly, so reset when it comes to them. While Charge Blast is a bit minus on shield, you won't get a punish unless shielded up close, so treat it otherwise like you would Samus's Charge Shot, like d-tilt before it comes out. Grenade Launch is positive on shield, so better to avoid entirely with its slow startup. Also respect Cannon Jump Kick (invincible on frames 5-7), Echo Reflector (-32 on shield up close which can be f-smash punished), the Samus esque Bomb Drop (-14 on shield up close but unlike Samus's bombs, Mii Gunner's bombs can now be knocked back towards their point of origin by any attack such as d-tilt, potentially harming Gunner), and the Ness esque Absorbing Vortex (-12 on shield up close) if they have those.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (90-93%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (94-103%)

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Mii Swordfighter

Mii Swordfighter

We're faster than them generally, though contest their disjointed aerials with your own, or otherwise shield/avoid, but watch out for dair's shield pressure and hold it past the shockwave; same with the Stone Scabbard up B. Swordfighter lacks effective OoS options except for Hero's Spin up B (like Link's up B spin but stronger in the air which you want to airdodge through), and has mostly laggy moves. Also no kill throw, so keep your shield up at high % unless they have Blurring Blade.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Their smashes, Blurring Blade, Airborne Assault, Skyward Slash Dash, and Hero's Spin (grounded) are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Swordfighter multihits- u-smash (2 hits), fair (3 hits), dair (4 hits), Blurring Blade (6 hits), Skyward Slash Dash (~6 hits)

Chakram (weak hit) requires about 2 SDI inputs, which has 7 frames of hitlag for you to perform said SDI's.

Our jab 1 comes out before theirs, so always use in close range.

Swordfighter's normals besides d-tilt are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab, while f-smash and u-smash when shielded is punished by our f-smash. Its f-smash may also be skewer punishable (shorthop skewer OoS specifically) with shield pushback. Its jab 3 & d-smash are punished by SH SPR OoS. Its jab 3, smashes, and ledge GUA are u-tilt punishable should it be at u-tilt > uair kill %. Its landing aerials besides dair are too safe on shield, so reset there. If they whiff a blade counter nearby, skewer punish.

Swordfigher specials: Gale Strike is -33 on shield up close, so can be f-smash punished. Shuriken of Light is -18 on shield. The Charizard side B esque Airborne Assault is -41 on shield, so can punish with whatever. Gale Stab is like Ike side B and -24/-16 on shield. Chakram is -27/-20 on shield up close. Stone Scabbard (invincible on frames 5-12) and Skyward Slash Dash (a weaker Octoslash) are -37 and -38 on shield respectively, while Hero's Spin is -57/-53. Power Thrust is -33 on shield. The lot of these are pretty punishable.

Every other special is too safe on shield mostly, so reset when it comes to them. Despite how minus Blurring Blade is on shield too, it does a lot of shield damage, so better to just dodge when you see the charging fire sword. Also respect Blade Counter (note that it sends you vertically instead of horizontally like most counters, so DI left or right) and Reversal Slash reflector (-13 on shield) if they have those.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (88-91%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (92-100%)

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Min Min

Min Min

Ramram is her fastest arm and circles upward. Is great at stopping projectiles too, so shouldn't count on plasma much. It has no hitbox on return though, so if she uses it too soon, you'll have time to attack from above. It can't be angled when used in the air, so you have time to dodge under it.

Megawatt is the most devastating, but comes with being slow. The option here is to jump over or wait for her to whiff and attack. Respect this arm as though you're fighting a high damage heavyweight. In the air it covers a lot of space, so don't let your jumps becomes too easy to read. This arm goes through most projectiles too and still hit you. Shield her nair especially when she has this arm out. If you read and dodge Megawatt attacks, you can punish with slower attacks, but don't let her whiff punish you.

Dragon is the standard that covers both arms, which has the longest reach, can be angled up or down, and has the lasers at the end. To avoid being edgeguarded, want to get under the stage and return quick. On stage, either shield or jump over the dragons and attack. Otherwise jump and land behind her; if she shields, tomahawk jump toward her and grab.

Her three right arm types aside, her left arm will show fire after grabbing you and be powered up for 20 seconds unless crumpled or grabbed like with Incineroar's Revenge, or if she misses a tech.

Keep in mind she can move some left & right and jump while using her f-tilt, which may be used to space you away from your approach, but jump a little higher as you come in, and space out your landing if she shields, or a timed landing aerial if she attacks to clank with her arms' hitbox. She can launch her arms consecutively in two different directions, which she'll do if you land behind her too often. Shield her d-tilt slide & dash attack kick which she can use to move out of the way of your approach or crossup shield, and punish accordingly. Watch out for her up B jump if being juggled.

Up smash is her best OoS option, which can reflect projectiles and covers a large area, but has poor reach. You can do the fall toward her to bait her into using it, and then fall back or jump again and drop in to punish; or land behind her and shield if you think she's going to use it, and then followup with an attack or grab.

Know her grab range, so you won't get grabbed & killed off stage at early or late % with her long reach attacks. While having longest grab besides Samus, is also the slowest, so have that to work with. A simple jump OoS or spot dodge is all it takes to avoid it.

She can't overcommit too much in neutral because any smash attack is punishable by our dash attack, side B, or f-smash after shielding. Her 2 frame on us is inconsistent with how it beats WB and in general Ridley can end her stock consistently with a neutral win or two.

Other than that, just mix up your approaches so she'll whiff her smash attacks and you can punish often. Her disadvantage is bad like our own and she has slow fall speed, making her prone to getting juggled (tho remember her dair), so combo as much as you can once you start to get an opening. She has a tether recovery and as such will mainly try to recover vertically, but with her slow air speed, she's easy to gimp in addition to being vulnerable to CLS nair/fair before she pulls herself in with her tether, or if she tethers a little high, can jump plasma/SPR & drag down followed by jump release. Her ledge jump leaves her vulnerable too. On stages with platforms which you'll want to play her on when you get the chance, you can plasma her at times before she's in position to attack with arms.

Can also dash shield & shield jump/Double Shield Cancel fullhop to close the gap. If she does a tilt/smash while you're shielding, can jump OoS toward her before the 2nd hit comes out and punish. Dash shielding also makes her moves unsafely spaced.

Despite some of the above advice, it can be good to try your best to stay on the ground with Min-Min. Jumping above her can backfire if you do so too obviously and she nairs or starts up smashing you, so try to force her in the air by shielding her arms. You can catch on to the player's timing and patterns to know when you can drop shield and such (don't shield too much as you start inching closer to her or you'll get grabbed), and if she's uncomfortable on the ground, she'll struggle due to being pretty floaty. As she jumps, run in and get right under her or at least corner her as she jumps away to try finding some kind of punish.

Know the %'s where she can get big damage off of Ramram (her 1st arm) confirms. She has death combo and setups from Ramram nair ~50-70% on Mario for instance, and at close range, Ramram f-tilt combos into f-smash at a large % window for kills.

Watch out for Megawatt (her 2nd arm) at 0%. If you get hit by Megawatt f-tilt or nair below 20%, will take lots of damage, so if you see her using Megawatt at low %, you know what they're going for. This is the time to approach her from the air. Don't rush in from the ground because they'll jump over and hit with a Megawatt landing nair combo.

Immediately jumping out of disadvantage is always bad, but especially so against Min-Min which leads to stronger hits or kill confirms for her. When off stage, timely airdodge to go low and recover, like when you're at mid %.

DI up from her f-throw to avoid a tech chase starting around 20%, and always punish a Min-Min that uses a smash arm first. She's locked in place and has end lag even if she chooses an f-tilt for her 2nd arm attack.

Be aware of what arm she's using when doing an off stage edgeguard on her. Going above or below Ramram to edgeguard works and being observant in general to her disadvantage and pushing in instead of retreating & giving her more room to breathe. Don't get greedy though if she still has plenty resources to recover with. If you can't reliably edgeguard her yet, just stay on stage for a ledgetrap and do your best to not get grabbed (her b-throw kill & b-throw > dragon smash and all). Also watch out for ledge drop f-smash where she either goes from ledge to stage or regrabs ledge, and shield that.

Miscellaneous and frame data

For stages, avoid Final Destination and Town & City against her when you can. Platforms are your friend in allowing you to get in on her blind spot.

Remember she can still do up angle f-tilt like us, aside from jumping and moving left/right with it. Same with Dragon or grounded Ramram f-smash.

Her dash attack hits our ledge hang.

Can get on ledge for i-frames against anti-edgeguards from her arms.

Her intangibility-

• D-tilt on the legs during f10-14. Will want to shield it anyway as mentioned and punish if it crosses you up.
• U-smash and d-smash on the legs during f7-15 and 6-8 respectively.
• The attacking arm during nair.
• At various frames during her neutral & up B.

Her f-tilt (minus ramram), megawatt f-smash, u-smash, d-smash, and up B (grounded) are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Our jab 1 comes out before hers. The rapid jab finisher is shield punishable with dash attack or dash grab, and shorthop OoS into SPR. Her u-tilt, u-smash, and d-smash are punished by Rid f-smash when shielded up close (the latter two also by shorthop skewer OoS with shield pushback), as are her f-tilt and f-smash variants. Her u-smash may even be skewer punishable with shield pushback. Her landing aerials besides dair are too safe on shield though, so reset there.

Her gentleman jab/rapid jab finisher, crossup dash attack, u-tilt, f-tilt variants, f-smash variants, u-smash, d-smash, landing dair, ledge getup attack, and such are also u-tilt punishable should she be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Note her grab is 18 frames in startup & 32 in end lag. May be better to whiff punish it with extended dash cancel u-tilt, and also use during shield pushback. Since her shield grab would be 22 frames, could dash attack her shield up close and still spot-dodge it or jump, but only do it if you expect a grab since you could get u-smash punished.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (94-102%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (95-116%)

Credit to smub for the edgeguarding tips.

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Mr. Game & Watch

Mr. Game & Watch
Losing

Neutral

Game & Watch matchup is another test of patience for Ridley. G&W has amazing defensive options with an amazing advantage state and pretty decent tools to get out of disadvantage. Neutral is a game of footsies/outspacing with moves such as f-tilt/d-tilt/nair. Keep your calm, play campy, and you should be fine.

While G&W has amazing defensive options such as up B OoS, his approach options are a lot easier to deal with. His main approaching tool is nair which if maxed spaced with perfect landing is -5/-4 on shield, and can crossup shield otherwise. G&W's combo starters are u-tilt, u-smash, nair, fair, chef, up B, d-throw, and u-throw.

G&W also likes to wall out with fair. The best way to deal with this is to throw out a nair due to bomb losing to every hitbox and nair’s low end/landing lag will allow Ridley to chase if G&W drifts away.

G&W also loves to bait people with smash attacks. D-smash has relatively low start/end lag while also being a bit disjointed and burying you which will lead to early kills, making this move extremely dangerous to contest (Ridley’s hurtbox loves to get clipped by the bury hitbox). U-smash has high startup lag but also has invincibility, deceptive range, little to no end lag, and is -6 on shield which will allow G&W to followup easily with any move if you’re not careful. It’s best to respect these options and only challenge them if you’re super confident.

Use Plasma with extreme caution in this MU. Ridley can bait out bucket and abuse its high end lag (high end lag only occurs if G&W doesn't absorb a projectile) with his high ground speed but this should only be used as a mixup. If you like living on the edge you can fill up his bucket and then spam plasma due to no longer having the option to absorb, but this is not recommended.

His main neutral tool at low % is nair; has a lot of disjoint, lingers, combos, and can be used while rising. Getting hit by him is bad due to the advantage state he gets off of nair, such as leading to his uair juggling. From a fullhop uair/nair/bair, he can land with a uair.

Watch out for bair when off stage or cornered. Bair combos into itself, has a grounded hitbox, lingers, and has much disjoint.

G&W can do three fair's with the use of fullhop and double jump. The bomb doesn't activate when it touches you, only in a set time or when it touches the ground, and always loses to hitboxes.

Overall, G&W has the best smashes out of anyone. They have power, low lag, and disjoint. The sweetspot of d-smash is what burries and leads to f-smash as the most common kill confirm, while sourspot d-smash sends at a bad angle like how it can launch diagonally down off stage which leads to easy edgeguards at mid %.

U-smash's strengths were already mentioned, and again, recovering low is the best option due to upward WB beating out dair and G&W not being able to easily get in position to up B, while making sure to swat him away with nair/fair if he tries to bair you, being ready to tech if they try to bair our low recovery.

G&W neutral B starts seeing lag with every 5 chef's. He can also angle chef. If they ledgetrap with it outside of ledge getup attack range, time your other ledge options.

D-throw is his combo throw that leads to nair's and uair's. Aside from up B being his main OoS, it combos into nair/uair if hit by it, but shouldn't happen if you properly space your tilts on his shield. The weakness with up B is that he can't double jump afterward which is why they dair often which you can anticipate & exploit.

G&W has a low shorthop, making it extra important to anti-air or d-tilt if timed well. Challenging his nair otherwise is ill advised though.

Disadvantage

The most dangerous part of the matchup by far. G&W excels in comboing/juggling/edgeguarding/ledgetrapping which is something Ridley struggles against. You will be eating a lot of damage but as long as you keep calm, you should find ways to get out of disadvantage.

G&W has a super strong combo game, being able to do 40% off of his combo starters at low % (0-10) which only gets better with platforms. Note that these combos will usually launch you vertically, so DI left/right.

The easiest scenario to get out of is juggling. G&W deals a lot of damage through juggling but will rarely kill you due to his upward kill power being pretty weak (only strong move is u-smash which is highly telegraphed). Do not land directly on G&W, as he can either punish you with an invincible up B or u-smash. Standard defensive options apply here (using extra jump to bait out uairs, fastfall airdodge, etc).

G&W is quite good at edgeguarding our recovery due to bair/dair being strong disjointed moves and up B being a fast burst option that can hit us from below. Recovering low is the best option due to upward WB beating out dair and G&W not being able to easily get in position to up B. Make sure to swat him away with nair/fair if he tries to bair you. Be ready to tech if they try to bair our low recovery. Mix up your recovery depending on how the G&W likes to edgeguard.

The worst part of the MU is easily being ledgetrapped. We have very little options to deal with chef ledgetrapping due to our size and mediocre neutral ledge getup/ledge roll. Again to note is that there’s a decent amount of lag for every 5 uses of chef that G&W uses. During that you can try to nair or jump past chef. Be very patient at ledge due to G&W being able to confirm a f-tilt off of chef. Our ledge hang avoids everything but chef. G&W d-smash/u-smash covers both neutral getup and ledge roll. Our get up attack is big enough to beat those two options out.

Despite G&W's ability to deal tons of damage during our disadvantage, he does have issues with consistently killing due to his lack of any consistent setup. If you play super careful you should be able to avoid a lot of his finishers. If he puts you in a tech situation, just be mindful of your tech option which he may cover with d-smash for a bury.

Advantage

Due to G&W’s floaty nature and frame 3 up B OoS that’s invincible, keeping him in a combo string is difficult, but Ridley does have ways to exploit his disadvantage.

Our advantage state here will mostly take place at ledge due to G&W’s poor ledge options. His usual ledge options are neutral getup, get up Up B, ledge jump nair/fair/up B, and drop down nair/uair/up B. Take note that G&W can up B past ledge which leads into the next part, of him being one of the easiest characters to 2-frame and due to his awful ledge grab as well.

Ridley is also good at punishing G&W’s landings due to his amazing ground speed and big anti-airs. G&W’s landing options consist of dair, drifting away with fair/bair (bair has a landing hitbox), or just drifting away due to his great aerial drift. Shielding dair is recommended due to being -17 on block (remember that it has a landing hitbox that will hit you if you do not hold shield or if you parry the first hit). If G&W chooses to drift away, then Ridley should be able to keep up with him and try to anti-air him with u-tilt, u-smash, or uair.

Do not try to edgeguard G&W off stage unless they get super lazy. If so, just throw out some nairs at the ledge. His main recovery tools are up B, dair to force a low recovery, and bucket to stall.

Miscellaneous and frame data

G&W fair and dair can hit us under platforms, so still shield or avoid them there.

Kill confirms to look out for are chef > f-tilt, drag down nair > f-tilt/d-tilt.

Bucket confirms to look out for are nair/jab 1/up B/fair/u-tilt/d-throw.

G&W can cheese out stocks with d-throw/nair/fair/uair > judge.

Do not shield fair, as it’s super safe on block. Instead throw out a hitbox.

U-smash has full body invincibility on frames 21-25. Up B is invincible on frames 5-13.

Dash attack will beat Mr. Game & Watch's shorthop if spaced.

G&W’s d-tilt only hits grounded opponents.

G&W lacks a reliable kill throw, so shield is good at higher %.

SDI your heart out against G&W nair. You can SDI out and low and then DI the last hit in to be sent behind him as a mixup for example.

G&W multihits- u-tilt (2 hits), nair (4 hits), bair (3-4 hits)

Judge requires 2 SDI inputs, which has 29 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

His d-tilt is whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 1 > f-smash, for covering delayed getup.

You can partially fill bucket to make G&W unable to tank a full stream. This can give you a free punish, like dash attack.

Ridley can Wing Blitz forward through chef, but is not recommended due to the amount of hitlag it causes, making it easy for G&W to punish. Chef also has a 10% chance of tripping.

G&W's rapid jab finisher is shield punishable with dash attack or dash grab, and shorthop OoS into SPR. His normals besides u-smash are punishable by our OoS aerials and shield grab, as well as his point-blank neutral B. Same for his landing aerials besides nair, but reset when it comes to that. His d-tilt is punished by SH SPR OoS. His dash attack may cross you up just a bit, so turnaround and punish accordingly if so. His rapid jab finisher, d-tilt, dash attack, point-blank chef, and ledge getup attack are also u-tilt punishable on shield should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (73-77%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (78-88%)

Major credit to the Ridcord JMU doc for a good chunk of this info.

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Ness

Ness

Neutral

Ness is the quintessential Ridley matchup. It tests your patience, spacing, timing, and baits. Ness will be focusing on movement tricks and baits to cause whiffs and false openings.

Ness aerials have surprisingly low end lag and landing lag. Nair can be done twice in a shorthop or after a shorthop bair, so know your punish windows and abuse range to whiff punish or challenge accordingly.

Ness will use his magnet to stall or change his aerial momentum for baits. Keep in mind what he can do from this and watch for habits.

Double jumping is slow, but moves Ness really far out for whiffs. Dair has a generous autocancel window that can give false data on openings. He can use a huge airdodge to move to platforms, aerials like fair and bair to stop run ins, or PK fire to hit from further out. These can be combined with double jumps to keep you guessing.

Grounded PK fire is d-tilt punishable OoS as long as it's in range. If the Ness is side B happy, stay at the happy d-tilt range and punish.

Aerial PK fire is much trickier. It has low landing lag and travels at a diagonal angle. He can use it during the initial frames of his double jump and B-reverses to move around quite well. When spaced really close to the ground or on platforms, aerial PK fire can be completely safe. This is mainly used to attack over attempts to box Ness out. Be very careful. He'll also use aerial PK fires to condition blocks for tomahawk grabs.

Ridley will want to stay grounded and abuse his range and ground speed to space around Ness. D-tilt is great here. Stay right at the tip of d-tilts' reach and wait for whiffs. Dash back if Ness is going to try and land on you into reverse d/f-tilts. Wait out Magnets and watch what they do. Save the data for punishes later and stay out of his burst reach.

Our f-tilt is also good; does a decent job at beating Ness’ smaller disjointed aerials and up angle stops shorthops like usual.

While staying grounded is generally better, you can still get some use from Ridley’s aerials. Nair is nair and works mostly the same, Ness’ fair will generally beat it head-on sadly and can be whiff punished with PK fires or dash attacks. Our fair is huge and will beat any attack Ness uses; just lacks auto cancel so if it doesn’t hit, you're committing to the full landing lag unless you fullhop it.

Most of Ness’ landing aerials are safe when spaced correctly. Fair being the exception, technically -10, but very hard to space due to his animation. So you can almost always nair OoS. Grab should also be a true punish.

Ness’ rising aerials are less safe. Nair is unsafe and nair/fair are punishable depending on if they pull back. Bair is punishable with fair unless spaced well. Retreating fair is also fair punishable.

Plasma should be used very carefully if at all. Magnet heals big time off it, so you can’t throw it out without a plan for punishing him on absorb or in situations where he can’t. One plasma is decent here, doesn’t heal him a bunch and can act as a discount Mario fireball; this will be the plasma you use in neutral. Ness can instantly cancel magnet after it has absorbed something, make sure you are there right when he gets it for a punish (or read what he does). D-tilt is really good for this.

Disadvantage

Ness combos can lead to tricky situations for Ridley to escape from. Ness fair combos into itself like 6 times. Magnet > dair is not a true combo, so you can always nair or airdodge out. Magnet is a true combo into other aerials however, like bair, fair and nair.

Ness’ dragdown uair is safe on block and puts you in a mixup situation. They can use this to get grabs or punishes on your defensive habits, so mix it up. It will also true combo into a grab on hit, avoid this move. Landing fair will start to combo into grab at high % for easy back throw kills.

Watch out for PK fires from ledge and other moves that hit our ledge hang; mixup your options. He has to space to hit us on ledge with PK fire though, so is reactable. Also, use either getup attack or a beefy up B to beat out yoyo.

When off stage, use nair or fair as a get-off-me against PK thunder, but be ready to tech if it hits you.

Also nair as a get-off-me against PK thunder when trying to land, but dair can be used if Ness is exposed and below Ridley; it can hit the ball and punish Ness with a decently strong hitbox. Fastfall nairdodge also has merits since it can put you below the bolt and lets you touch the ground and maybe even punish Ness. Don’t try and land on Ness though, as his OoS is good enough to punish our landing aerials unless spaced really well. Retreating to ledge or landing away from Ness is usually preferred.

Advantage

Our advantage against Ness is pretty good. He just kinda explodes and is vulnerable to edgeguards. Using bair from d-throw instead of fair has some merit in this MU when near ledge since it sends further. Ness has a fast (frame 5) full body nair, so keep this in mind when going for strings and stay out of its reach.

For off stage edgeguarding, you will be looking for and trying to cover his airdodge the most; put Ridley’s body between Ness and the stage and make him choose to airdodge through you or recover with up B or jump, and punish accordingly. You can punish his airdodge directly to ledge with d/f-tilt in the vulnerable frames before he grabs ledge (d/f-smash even works).

• Ness up B has invincibility if he PK thunders himself back, so try to stop him before then like going off and hitting him with aerials (don't fastfall past him), or hitting the bolt itself to cancel his recovery. If Ridley's body or some plasma is in the way of Ness recovering when he hits himself with PK thunder, it cuts his recovery distance in half, so take advantage of that too.

Ness will use aerials and occasionally his jump to mixup his airdodge. Typically fair will be the aerial they choose since it’s fast and active. Use our disjoints to swat away this. Jump can be covered by keeping position or hitting them as they jump. His double jump is unique in that he doesn’t rise immediately, so hitting him in “startup” is easier. Ness will do all in his power to save his jump, so get out there and force it. Ness without jump = death

Ness can stall with magnet and PK flash to slow his fall and give him time for mixups. Both can be challenged with fair if abused, so keep an eye for their habits. Magnet is much harder to punish since it’s faster and can be cancelled sooner, so you’ll likely have to punish what he does after. Flash is pretty reactable; be aware of the giant killing hitbox and go below and hit with fair.

2-framing his recovery is also viable. Just be aware that the first 10 frames of his active up B are invincible and if he holds down for a second, he can grab ledge during these invulnerability frames and bypass his 2-frame (similar to Ridley, expect completely invincible).

For juggling, Ness is a slowfaller, so by design his landing is harder than most. Double jump is slow but goes really high, be aware that Ness can moon jump away/over you if you let him. Since his airdodge goes super far, it can be hard to chase at times. He can fake going to a lower platform, then airdodge to top platform.

Ness lacks great aerials to land with. Dair is slow and not great and fair is unsafe. Bair is his best for landing, safe but slowish in startup. Ness can also use PK Fire to land. Keep this in mind, especially near platforms where it can be landed with and be safe.

Up tilt, up smash, and nair are all good at keeping Ness in the air. Use nickel and dime strats and keep Ness in the air as long as possible, watch for airdodges and magnet stalls. Punish airdodges on landing and wait out magnet to see where he will land.

Ness can also use PK thunder as a niche landing tool. It stalls him in the air, so he can use the tail to get Ridley to block or move away. It puts him in freefall though, so be aware.

Another thing about using a fireball to bait Ness to absorb and punish after, that also applies to when they're off stage. So you fireball, they absorb, and you go off and aerial or something to force them to dodge, resulting in a potential gimp.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Ness dair hits us under platforms, so still shield or avoid there.

We avoid his fair from ledge by crouching.

SDI is still the best way of getting out of PK Fire fast, with either mash or flick SDI being sufficient, but dash walk SDI can also work.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Ness multihits- Dash attack (3 hits), fair (4 hits), uair (5 hits, hold DI to the left and then right & vice-versa to survive longer)

Ness's normals besides d-tilt and dash attack are at least punished by nair OoS, while his u-smash when shielded up close is punished by Rid f-smash or shorthop skewer OoS. His dash attack will cross you up a bit when shielded, so quickly turn around and punish accordingly. His landing aerials besides maybe fair are too safe on shield though, so reset there. PK Flash is also safe on shield, while his other three specials are at least punished by nair OoS when shielded up close.

PK Fire's also minus on shield enough for you to dash grab, dash attack, or jump OoS into SPR if he's nearby. Same with extended dash cancel u-tilt if he's at kill confirm %.

His f-smash, u-smash, and point-blank PK fire, thunder, and ledge getup attack are also shield punishable with u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (86-89%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (90-100%)

Major credit to the Ridcord JMU doc for much of this info.

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Olimar

Olimar Boarding the Hocotate Shipment
Even

Gameplan

• The pikmin will extend hitboxes during hitlag. This can be use to keep active hitboxes in front of Olimar. Be careful though, if the attack is too laggy, it might be punished.

Remember the effects of his Pikmin.

• Red- Deals more damage for attacks, but less for throws.
• Yellow- Has larger hitboxes.
• Blue- Has more damaging throws.
• White- Are very weak in attacks, but have significantly longer grab and toss range and deal more latch damage.
• Purple- Are very strong in damage and knockback, but have very poor range and can't latch.
• Pink- Will fly which helps with recovery, but not as high when used frequently. Watch the up B patterns before attacking, and then keep him on the ledge or gimp.

That said, don't over-respect the Pikmin. More often than not, should ignore them when they latch on since if you take the time to smack, Olimar will take the opportunity to move in and punish severely. Approach him even if you got a white Pikmin latched onto you. Is how you catch him off guard against his zoning and rush him down. Sometimes he'll knock the Pikmin off you in the process. Purple Pikmin is the exception to the rule, so do not disrespect it.

Will need to mixup your approach too. Can occasionally plasma to block the thrown Pikmin, or use a long range tilt/aerial to smack them and Olimar at the same time.

Respect Olimar's Pikmin Whistle, as it has super armor, making it a good combo breaker. Anticipate when he does it and wait to punish after (is 7 frames).

Olimar's grab is fast, and its length depends on which Pikmin is used, white being the longest. If he grabs with blue, his up throw can KO.

When he's without Pikmin, he needs space to summon some, so don't give him the chance and lay on the pressure. He can still use jab, tilts, and nair without them, but no grabs.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Olimar multihits- u-tilt (6 hits), dash attack (2 hits), nair (5 hits)

His fair, bair, and dair are mostly whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

His u-tilt, d-tilt, dash attack, and some Pikmin smashes (see UFD for which) are punished by our OoS aerials & shield grab, but his other normals are too safe. His landing fair & bair are also too safe shield, so reset. His landing nair we punish with our own OoS though, while his dair we can u-smash since he's floaty. His DA is shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %, while his ledge getup attack (-27) is punished by shorthop SPR OoS.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (78-81%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (82-90%)

Also see this clip on how you can extend our hitboxes against Pikmin- https://x.com/hellspike311/status/1539644074906374144

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Pac-Man

Pac-Man

Never stay below Pac because of hydrant spawning, whilst watching how he descends (if he places it at ledge while recovering, can do a beefy up B poke to swat it away and if you're below him while trying to recover off stage, but be ready to stage tech from getting hit by hydrant and other off stage options like Pac dair, or use uair to hit hydrant away before it drops on you if timed right or go a bit further under the stage to avoid hydrant dropping altogether). Of course, he'll try to hide behind it while charging for the fruit he wants or wait to punish if you get too aggressive on it, but fight with the hydrant water when it flows, not against it. Also if you shield it, the water won't push you.

• DI down & away when hit by hydrant

With Power Pellet, note you can attack the pellets (with a projectile/tilt/aerial) before he eats them at the beginning and cancelling out the move entirely, but if he eats them he has momentary armor, so keep it mind if he uses it from off stage or as a landing mixup. If you see him going for pellet when off stage, go off quickly and nair/fair him if at all, or wait when in doubt because of armor, but a trade can be worth it like if you're at low % and he's at high %. Pellet can also break the hydrant if he has it out and make it hit you.

You can hit the trampoline that his up B spawns too to make it disappear. Watch out for bouncing on it more than twice, as the 3rd time will put you into freefall. I guess a way to disrespect Pac-Man is jump on the trampoline once when he's using it himself to recover. Also on platform stages, if he places the trampoline around ledge where you're trying to recover, he can sit there on a plat and hit you from where you're bouncing, but to avoid this, airdodge after landing on the trampoline.

• If you expect Pac to recover past ledge with up B, can catching his landing with f-smash, etc. Can still spike him with down angle WB ledge-snap if he uses side B too.

Respect Pac's grab range (tied with Toon Link), though don’t try to spot dodge it; jump OoS/Double Shield Cancel fullhop if shielding at a reactable range. His d-throw where he chomps down on you leads into tech chase a bit past 20% (so don't miss tech), and his b-throw kills around the ledge at a certain point.

Plasma may help when it comes to attacking either Pac when he's charging his neutral B, Power Pellet, or for attacking the hydrant. His aerials you want to stuff out with our anti-airs like up angle f-tilt (and remember to time them since Pac's a floaty) while still watching out for hydrant if he ends up being juggled above you, although his 4 hit dair you'll want to shield first.

For our moves that destroy hydrant-

• gentleman jab x2
• 1 dash attack
• f-tilt (x1 for sweetspot and x2 for sour, will stale it earlier on anyway)
• d-tilt x3
• u-tilt x2
• 1 f-smash
• 1 d-smash
• 1 u-smash (with your back turned against it)
• nair x2
• fair x2
• 1 landing bair
• 1 uair (with it above you)
• dair (x1 for sweetspot and x2 for sour)
• Plasma Breath, half charged
• 1 forward or down angle Wing Blitz

Also be aware of what angle the moves send the hydrant since Pac has punish options when his opponent destroys it. Try to send it at an angle that hits him in the process.

Hydrant

Aside from what was already covered on hydrant above,

• Angles closer to 90° = Hydrant moves less horizontally and bounces up and down, controls space and forces Pac Man to act
• Angles closer to 180° = Hydrant moves more horizontally, ideal for hitting offstage or on platforms

The stronger the move hit with, the faster hydrant flies.

However, you do not always want to hit hydrant with strong committal moves as it can leave you wide open to be punished, especially if Pac Man is close. Safer moves that are disjointed like d-tilts can launch hydrant closer to the 90° angle, letting you control space and cover your approach.

Hydrant has a total of 15.6% health in 1v1.

Ledgetrapping & edgeguarding

Though he has stubby aerials, Pac Man can do fair from ledge and can combo with this, or can usually cover his getup with throwing Galaxian (leads to a huge damage combo) or Bell (which goes through stage from below).

Pac Man getup options are also universally faster frame wise compared to most of the cast, so if you're trying to grab a neutral getup you need to act slightly earlier than normal.

Dashing back then doing a fullhop bair may work against aggressive ledge jump options. Pac Man can easily swing twice due to fast frame data, so you may be able to guarantee a trade if he presses a button a 2nd time.

Pac-Man is difficult to edgeguard due to the variety of resources they have, though if you can force them in a situation where they are forced to up B, descend on the trampoline by the end of the first rebound, but make sure to not get hit directly by Pac Man bouncing up. There's the standard setup of airdodging and jumping on the trampoline once and then there's the advanced version in which you airdodge down after jumping once to jump on it again.

While you can hit Pac Man during the startup of side B before he consumes the pellets, he can mixup by simply not holding the charge long. Weigh your risk-reward ratio and act accordingly.

2-framing Pac Man is possible, but he has stalling with hydrant which can make it difficult.

Fruits

Aside from what was already covered on fruits, you cannot recatch one that has already been thrown once. There are different ways to catch the different fruits.

Fruit gets thrown > hits your shield > OoS aerial, or you can do a jump neutral airdodge.

It's safer to respect Galaxian, as it's one of the harder and unreliable ones to catch. You may potentially take 60% for missing it.

Pac Man cannot generate another fruit if you're holding on to it.

Neutral

Hit hydrant with low committal hits that don't send it flying far, as this controls space. Most hits challenging hydrant from above will invalidate its hitbox as it falls.

Be ready for hydrant when juggling Pac Man; you could either drift away or delay a uair.

With how safe his dash attack is on shield (-3), don't try to punish it directly but instead the option after. You can parry the last hit and punish with a grab or maybe rising aerial.

Do not spotdodge since his f-smash and grab easily cover this; jump away or do any other mixup instead.

If hydrant is already active, Pac Man has poor landing options besides airdodge, as his aerials are stubby along with him being floaty.

Fadeback tilts or rising aerials may work for catching an approaching Pac Man, especially if disjointed.

Try not to give Pac Man too much space where he can do setups. Play around our mid range where he is uncomfortable enough to not setup and in a position where he feels like he needs to act. Move grounded more in general and not jump over hydrant, and instead just hit it. Jumping over it easily gets you anti-aired, as he has fast buttons.

His rising fair is not safe and with quick reaction can be up smashed, though be aware he can do a nair or double jump hydrant as a timing mixup. Can either hold shield and react to him not doing the nair and get out, or you could shield the nair since he'll be doing it high, making it similarly unsafe to rising fair.

Pac Man has a lot of quick mash buttons that are safe and lead to one another. The best neutral you can do is to not interact directly but instead playing around our mid range and calling out options which is easier with disjoints.

Playing around our mid range where you can threaten him with an attack and cancelling his fruit charge/setups can allow you to bait & punish. The more ambiguous you can be with your movement and approaches, the better as you can keep them guessing. Use the knowledge you gather out of the player habits and use it against them.

Camp under platforms if he has Bell. For that matter, always go to a stage with platforms since standing under one messes up some of his bnb combos and Bell confirms. If he has Bell, he'll have to throw it right next to you for it to hit. If he has Galaxian, it will hit the platform when doing the circle and stop any combo extensions. Plus, platforms protect you from hydrant. On that note, you can deal with Pac Man's who in the air like to do Hydrant > dair by shielding the hydrant under platform and then doing up smash OoS. It will hit the hydrant and also Pac Man.

Setups and gimmicks

Fruit gun: A setup where Pac Man throws fruit at hydrant at a specific timing and sends the fruit flying towards you at a very high speed. Watch the hydrant timings and be prepared.

Hydrant shoots water twice every 2 seconds and windbox is active for 1 second. The upwards one is only active if someone stands on it.

Hydrant enhanced roll: If Pac Man runs into the hydrant and rolls back he can roll a huge distance, about half the stage distance.

Trampoline at ledge: Pac Man sets up a trampoline at the ledge, leaving it on red. If you touch this, you go into freefall and die. Ideally, you could drop down and do an aerial or stall, but each comes with its own risks. Jumping, neutral getup, and getup attack will send you into freefall. Roll sends you into freefall as well, so shouldn't be relied on either. Pac Man can also set the trampoline up and stand on the side platform above and charge f-smash, so when you do an option, the trampoline sends you up and they kill you. If they put a trampoline at the ledge while you're grabbing it, don't do anything; wait for the trampoline to disappear.

Trampoline in disadvantage: Trampoline spawns frame 1 and is intractable at frame 10 (Pac Man's up B startup is frame 4). This can mess up your advantage state, so try not to overextend on combos and if you're aware of your own combos, you could bait this out.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Pac has intangibility on u-tilt.

Skewer > jab 1 > f-smash, for covering delayed getup.

Use retreating nair to get away from Pac grabs and catching fruits more like OoS.

Pac's normals besides u-tilt & 4-hit dash attack are punished by our OoS aerials & shield grab, while d-smash when shielded close is punished by Rid f-smash. Pac f-smash & ledge getup attack (-26) are punished by shorthop SPR OoS. Its landing aerials are too safe on shield though, so reset. Side B is punished on shield by f/d-smash. His jab 3, smashes, side B, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

His grab is 12 frames in startup & 25 in end lag, and range is tied with Tink as mentioned; whiff punish with SPR, etc.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (85-90%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (91-98%)

• Don't wait to u-tilt when he's anywhere above you because of hydrant, though if you expect it, can dodge and whiff punish Pac with u-tilt.

Pac-Man item labbing with Ridley- https://x.com/Nagare_K1/status/1227470728615931905

Major credit to Hyuchurn on additional info for hydrant and fruits, as well as the specifics on ledgetrapping & edgeguarding, neutral, and Pac Man's gimmick setups. Also credit to Paco on stage platform specifics against Pac Man and additional info on the trampoline at ledge setup & how you can use trampoline against Pac Man when edgeguarding.

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Palutena

Palutena
Slightly Losing

Remember to always delay your jump off stage in anticipation of her explosive flame, keeping a finger on a shield button in case you need to airdodge. She may try to run off and nair though after conditioning you to recover low, so watch out for that. Recovering high like with Wing Blitz down to ledge is to be used especially as a mixup due to how much more counterplay she has to that. From ledge, ledge drop aerials and ledge jump nair are your best options, but mix it up, as she has some form of counterplay to all our ledge/disadvantage options. Some occasional planking may work too.

Watch out too for her forward throw > explosive flame confirm (her back throw also kills around early or mid 100% range from ledge), as well as mixing up your recovery in the case of auto-reticle and more importantly her counter. Obviously don’t land near her because up smash and uair. Escape her juggling by any means necessary, including ledge.

On the ground you get most reward from making her tilts whiff. Her ground game’s not that good otherwise aside from dash attack and grab (though watch out for her DA which is a good whiff punishing tool and something that can go through our hitboxes), and so she’ll mostly aerial as a result (fair and bair being her primary neutral tools and don't try to punish them on shield but rather what she does after), so anti-air when you can, or back angle Wing Blitz as a mixup read when she's at high %. Remember, she's fairly floaty.

• Her dash attack and bair have invincibility on the left arm due to that being where the shield on her body is. Said invincibility lasts from frames 5-16 (towards the end of DA) and 7-10 respectively, so not the whole duration. With that said, our spaced fair can beat out her bair due to being a multi-hit, and it clanks with her auto-reticle entirely if timed right.

In most matchups, Palu nair is primarily used for calling out jumps, but she'll get much more use out of it against Ridley since he's so tall. The most significant difference with this matchup is that it becomes a very good OoS option, when it is usually quite bad in other matchups. The best counterplay for nair is literally just to shield it. Make sure you shield all the multihits like with Byleth's. If she lands in front of you, should usually be able to punish with our own nair or shield grab. Up smash and nair should also cover if she crosses up on you, so it's probably wisest to just stick to nair OoS. If you do get hit by her nair, just do your best to SDI out of it. Is hard, but doable.

Otherwise bait and punish; catch landings (keep in mind she may do things like auto-reticle or counter as a landing mixup), whiff punish her laggy moves, etc. Ledgetrap her (particularly with nair & f-tilt, and to a lesser extent plasma, up smash, and d-smash) rather than edgeguard, unless confident you can 2 frame her teleport recovery or something. Keep in mind that depending where she’s at off stage, she may be able to explosive flame you if you’re near the ledge, but if you manage to get her in a plasma loop, it shouldn’t happen.

In neutral, if you plasma, don't charge up to anymore than 2 fireballs since her auto-reticle can aimbot us. Plus, two fireballs will cancel each other out if reflected with her down B. It's riskier for her to use her explosive flame against us due to how easily we can close the distance between us and her with our ground speed as she uses it. Shielding it will give her more advantage with positioning though, as it's only -2 on shield. Better to whiff punish its 14 frames of end lag, particularly if already between her and the move while landing.

Far as her tilts, laggy as they are, her d-tilt is safe on shield if spaced like ours, so keep that in mind. Also note her f-tilt has intangibility on the arm during frames 14-35.

It takes extra awareness and precision for the one playing her to not get bodied in the corner. They need to make an exact warp timing to make themselves impossible to 2 frame and exact mixups on the distance of high warp recoveries, because you can chase after a crossup with her DA but she never has to do that. Still, she suffers in the corner since the grab range nerf.

The fact she relies on bair a lot for consistently walling out in neutral (which our fair beats if timed and spaced as pointed out) makes her positioning predictable. The fact she isn't really good at landing after being sent up if you juggle is another thing.

• Speaking of her bair, DI down and away from her d-throw > bair confirm. Can also hold DI away during ledge grab animation which will make her d-tilt > bair untrue. DI in during ledge grab animation in the event of expecting a ledge trump.

Our d-tilt outranges her bair which you can occasionally use to catch her landing. Her range disadvantage against us and difficulty landing becomes an issue for her despite all her strengths. That and teleport recoveries come with their own issues.

• However, the window to punish her landing aerials (bair or fair) is pretty small despite the 39 or 33 frames of end lag and requires perfect spacing with d-tilt (plus she can mix up with neutral B and side B from above), so is often easier to let them whiff and then pay attention to what they do after so you can set up a good situation afterward (shield pressure, positioning, etc).

Her dair can hit us under a platform, so still shield it there. Said dair is only active a couple frames though.

Aside from calling out certain things with f-air (like her neutral B as pointed out), don’t jump is pretty emphasized in this matchup, with how well she stuffs them with her side B and such. Take advantage of your ground speed.

Another thing about getting out of Palu nair, if on a platform, the last hit of said nair may not connect as she’s falling, which just leaves you hovering in the air. So you could SDI above platforms to escape stuff potentially if they don't follow. SDI up and away allows you to escape more easily than you might think, but she can mix up with a reverse nair if she reads the SDI to make you take more nairs, so mix up your SDI too.

One other thing about her nair, when dealing with it in neutral (not disadvantage), the answer is spacing at max range. We have the range to beat her nair straight up (i.e. whiff punishing it with f-tilt, d-tilt, a preemptive nair of our own, or a retreating fair), but sometimes that does involve running back so that we don’t get hit first. Crouching also allows us to avoid her rising nair. She'll typically use rising nair on us more, making it more punishable if shielded, while her fair and bair is done landing, so watch out for those if she jumps and hasn't nair'd, which you deal with using the methods mentioned earlier.

For more on neutral, can spam d-tilt to scare them from bursting in with dash attack or setting up bairs can be useful (can also catch her nair landings). It's fast enough that you can shield any zoning attempts and they can't just shorthop in for free.

They may adapt to it by trying to play just outside your burst range and bait an option, but you can start taking advantage of it by pushing them to the corner.

If you start to see her teleport from ledge, can dash attack the other way on reaction and hit her. It’s the same concept as catching landings with dash attack, or if you dash back and the opponent jumps in or something. It's not always about punishing what they’re doing but also punishing on what they didn't do.

At mid stage if she does a shorthop over your dash attack and tries to do one of her own, can shield and up smash OoS from behind.

You want to play very grounded when she goes aerial, and go aerial when she's very grounded.

If they kill you first, you can try to get back at them with backdash f-smash since they’ll be throwing out nair's.

In neutral, dash shield is not recommended with how good her main aerials are. F-tilt and nair should be your main go to's. You can nair autocancel from a distance that equals about two rolls in distance, so not with the goal of hitting her. The goal is to make her come closer to you, and then punish. Doing a lot of nair will, in the mind of the Palutena player, prevent her from jumping.

As far as disadvantage, getting off ledge is the worst spot to be in against Palutena. Being juggled sucks too since you can die early from uair, but you can make them commit by recover high and you still have a different timing or drift mixup. Do what you're comfortable with.

If you're getting edgeguarded, try your best to not recover horizontally, make good use of airdodge at different timings to avoid d-tilt. If you have to up B, aim for the wall and be ready to tech while DI down the counter to die later as usual.

Don't drop ledge too much against Palutena while at high %. Just because she jumps a lot in ledgetrap mode (fishing for her fair or bair) doesn't mean you can beat her with your ledge drop aerials; mostly when you're lucky. Is advised to ledge jump the moment you see her start to land. You can also neutral getup, but be careful since from 90 to 150%, her d-throw bair kill confirm tends to be true regardless of your DI. It's important not to drop ledge against Palutena if you're at high %.

Also don't forget about her d-tilt in ledgetrap mode. If you think she'll do a d-tilt, do a ledge getup attack. Reminder that right after grabbing the ledge, turn the stick in the opposite direction in order to DI out her d-tilt.

Do not push hard your advantage. Overextending really sucks against her since she'll hit you harder and can reverse you easily. Fact is that (with perhaps the exception of corner situations) you'll kill her more by winning neutral than pushing your advantage.

When she's in disadvantage, be ready to cover platform cancel since this is her most rewarding option (don't try anything if your placement isn't correct, too risky). Otherwise, try f-tilt 2 frames or fireballs to deal some damage. Once you hit one or two 2-frames, they will start teleport on stage and can be easily punish if you're ready for it.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Ban FD against her, as it allows her to chain aerial combos across the stage without a platform to interrupt.

Palu multihits- f-tilt (2 hits), u-tilt (6 hits), nair (7 hits), uair (6 hits, DI one way and then the other), side B (7 hits)

Her f-smash, d-smash, fair, bair, and dair are mostly whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Our jab 1 comes out before hers, so remember if up close.

Her rapid jab finisher is f-smash punishable, but may be pushed too far for it to connect, so shorthop SPR OoS instead. Her normals and point-blank neutral B are punished by our OoS aerials, shield grab, and u-smash OoS, while her smashes when shielded up close are punished by Rid f/d-smash and minus enough to be shorthop skewer punishable when shield pushback is a factor. Her f-tilt & u-tilt are punished by SH SPR OoS, but her landing aerials are too safe, so reset.

Her neutral B's minus enough on shield to be punished by dash grab or DA if she's nearby. Same with extended dash cancel u-tilt if she's at kill confirm %.

Her rapid jab finisher, f-tilt, u-tilt, dash attack, smashes, point-blank neutral B, and ledge getup attack are also u-tilt punished should she be at u-tilt > uair kill %. If she whiffs a counter nearby, skewer punish.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (83-88%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (89-95%)

Major credit to smub and the collective Ridcord for the tips on neutral. Also credit to Human for the more specific parts about managing advantage and disadvantage, and credit to Mezcaul for more on neutral and disadvantage.

Example of how we can body block Palu on platforms when she's teleport cancelling- https://x.com/zurassb/status/1823833598597767237?s=46&t=NvvvokY_NM2udMgu8BGKVQ

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Peach

Peach

Respect the float ability; can hover for ~2.5 seconds, allowing them to throw out aerials near the ground. Can also cancel a jump with float, cancel float as soon as it starts, and do aerials without throwing a turnip. The SH aerial multiplier doesn't apply to float since it counts as a fullhop.

Don't sit in shield since they can wait to shield poke, nor jump nearby which can be stuffed out. Do spaced anti-airs but don't mistime, or either move away & plasma some or nair OoS (tho watch out for her shield pressure options like retreating dair from a float). There's also tapping shield to keep her guessing.

Watch out for turnips like when recovering. Either take the hit or nair them, rather than airdodge. If you see a Mr Saturn, do not shield. Bomb speaks for itself. Stitch faced turnips are stronger than normal ones, and on the ground she doesn't throw them that far like midair.

Do shield her Bomber side B though (is -13 but little end lag and can fade back), unless you have low shield health. Also watch how she uses side B as a burst option mixup when you approach, and if she does a panic side B or during disadvantage and fade back & punish.

Her d-throw combos well and her b-throw can kill, but by DI'ing the way she's facing during d-throw can mix up her followups.

Also watch out for f-air as a potential kill move, and her 4-hit dair leads into confirms, tho can DI away to avoid those.

Her combo starters in general are dair, safe d-tilt, turnips, and d-throw.

With her recovery, umbrella will only be used when below ledge, which will hit you there unless shielding. With how strong umbrella is, is best to edgeguard them before they recover from that low.

When she's edgeguarding or ledgetrapping us, watch out for float and time your approaches. A beefy up B from low beats turnips.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Her u-smash has intangibility. Her dash attack is 2 hits, while d-smash is 7 hits.

Although all her landing aerials are too safe on shield, her dair will trade at best and lose the % war.

Her fair and bair are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

If she misses a Toad counter nearby, whiff punish. Her jab 2, f-tilt, u/d-smash, and ledge getup attack (-28) are shield punished by u-tilt should she be at kill confirm %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (83-86%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (87-95%)

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Pichu

Pichu

Neutral

Shorthop bair hits a standing Pichu but whiffs on a running one. Have to play around Pichu’s zone, staying out of it and punishing overextensions accordingly.

T-jolt can be annoying. If Pichu runs with it, blocking will almost certainly get you punished. Have to either avoid or beat it out with an attack that will also block Pichu’s current approach. Nair, fair, bair, and f-tilt are our best options for this. Only block if Pichu isn’t attempting to run with it. Plasma can also beat out jolt, but isn’t quite fast enough to use against Pichu’s jump jolt approaches, tho can prove useful if they get careless/predictable.

Shorthop fair & bair do not autocancel and can be punished, but be wary, they pancake on landing, so some options will whiff on them (fair 1, bair, u-tilt). Should attempt to stay more grounded, and only use aerials if Pichu commits to a jump in. D-tilt & f-tilt are your friend. Pichu literally doesn’t have the range to challenge any move you throw out. Is getting whiff punished that’s the problem, with their boost grab & dash attack.

SPR can technically punish Pichu shorthop fair & bair if whiffed, though don't spam the move and keep in mind, as the damage reward is huge and you get a free neutral win. It also kills Pichu stupid early.

Be ready to tech. Pichu nair sends low fast and jab > f-smash is easy.

Pichu d-tilt combos into mostly everything and is unpunishable on block, so watch out and mix up your options. Its f-tilt is guaranteed to cause tripping. Other than that, is about maintaining stage control, and if Pichu gets middle stage, can kill you with up throw > Thunder. Mixup your DI there.

Note that Pichu's FAF (first actionable frame) on t-jolt is higher than the amount of frames on their fullhop, so if they fullhop, then you know they can't act until after they're grounded already.

Disadvantage

When being juggled, our dair can beat out Pichu's uair. Still have to watch out for Thunders in the air though with how strong it is, and the intangible u-smash. Pichu will be focusing more on catching landings, so have to be careful when and how you land. Use jumps wisely and try not to land right on top Pichu often. Landing bair is pretty safe if spaced.

In Pichu combos, DI/SDI out is generally good. Just pay attention if you're near ledge to not DI bair out and die at 70%. Also remember its f-throw at ledge can kill around the 150% range if not a little higher. For off stage, use every mixup possible to stay alive. Hang back and wait until Thunder passes before recovering, be ready to tech off stage aerials when trying to up B to ledge, etc.

Advantage

Pichu on ledge is when plasma beats jolt, if they use it from there. Also any attack that catches their ledge regrab. D-smash hops over jolt as well, but not too consistent. Also keep an eye out for up B unto stage. The move is fast and can be hard to punish, but remember it doesn’t have a hitbox like Pikachu up B, so you can just directly challenge it.

Don’t stress too much over off-staging Pichu. Their recovery is so good that you’d need a good read to actually gimp them. Focus more on plasma, especially if they have to use side B; if it runs into plasma it’ll stop em dead. While you shouldn’t be going for it often, nair can still be a good edgeguard tool, as Pichu’s hurtbox expands during up B. There's also 2 framing him.

For juggling, dair is the main thing to watch out for with ear intangibility, but gets beaten by most of our hitboxes. You want to bait Pichu into using up B in a bad spot where you can predict their landing and punish with a strong move.

Miscellaneous and frame data

T-jolt causes tumble at 92%.

Multihits: f-smash (6 hits), d-smash (5 hits), fair (4 hits), bair (6 hits), dair (2 hits), f-throw (5 hits)

Pichu's jab requires about 2 SDI inputs, which has 5 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

Dair & t-jolt hits us under plats, so still shield or avoid there.

His side B is whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 1 > f-smash, for covering delayed getup.

Pichu's normals besides u-tilt & d-tilt are at least punished by nair OoS. Its landing aerials besides bair & dair are too safe on shield though, so reset. Point-blank T-jolt is pretty OoS punishable (-29/30), as is Thunder (-27).

Dash attack, u/d-smash, t-jolt, down B, and ledge getup attack (-25) are shield punished by u-tilt.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (65-70%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (71-80%)

Major credit to the Ridcord JMU doc for much of this info, and to Hyrchurn on pointing out the frames with t-jolt and Pichu's fullhop.

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Pikachu

Pikachu

DI/SDI away from Pika's combos. With his nair loops, can also SDI up & in to get behind him. Same with bair loops (i.e. the bair train off stage), and then SDI away. If he grabs you by the ledge at mid %, always DI in or he will spike you with dair.

Respect his shield pressure, with multi-hits like bair, d-smash, or up B. Don't shield too obviously against t-jolt or you'll get grabbed, and his u-throw can kill (only shield if he isn't approaching with the jolt). Attack jolt and him at the same time with aerials + up angle f-tilt like when he jumps with it, or do empty hops over them first, conditioning him to shorthop aerial which you can counter with your own. His neutral otherwise consists of rising fair/bair. Also watch out for f-smash if cornered when jumping over jolt.

Mix up recovering low and slow or fast against his edgeguarding, between the aerials, thunder, and t-jolt gimping. If he approaches with jolt off stage, wait to jump over it and him. Also watch his positioning for approaching with thunder off stage, and be ready to tech off stage aerials or thunder when trying to up B to ledge. The smart ones will adapt and fake out going for an off-stage thunder, and then they'll fair you while you're fastfalling.

He's fairly floaty and has short attack reach, so stick to your mid range game. If he uses t-jolt from disadvantage to try and land, wait it out and then fullhop aerial him, or hit both simultaneously if you preemptively jump. Also remember his up B.

Exploit his recovery; if he recovers low, then go where you expect him to up B and knock him back, or just plasma to be safe which also stops his side B. Be careful about standing near ledge against him due to thundering below you or using fair from ledge (plasma beats jolt here though).

Likewise, watch out for his f-smash & shorthop fair ledgetrapping. Pika's get a lot of kills out of this due to their oppressive ledgetrapping with t-jolt forcing you to pick an option from ledge. The counterplay is don’t do anything until you get a feel for what your opponent is looking for and you see a way out. You can get hit by the t-jolt, it doesn't matter. It does like 2% which is nothing compared to losing your stock to f-smash. Just be patient, regrab ledge, look at your opponent and wait for your opportunity. If they land too close you can time a getup attack or if they go for a fair, you can time a roll to sneak away or sneak an SPR if they shield expecting a getup attack.

If he’s spamming T-jolt in the air when edgeguarding while camping at ledge, back angle Wing Blitz can counter this and hit him.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Misc: T-jolt doesn't really cause tumble at high % like Pichu's does.

Pika is invulnerable during frames 34-43 of thunder if it hits you.

Dair and t-jolt hit us under plats, so still shield or avoid there.

DI Pika's dash attack the same way you would Cloud's and such; down & in near ledge, DI down at center stage, and down & away from far side.

For grab > thunder, Pikachu has two routes in which he can kill you based off your DI. With DI in, he can kill you off up throw > thunder from rought 90% to 140%. With no DI or DI out, he can kill you off d-throw > thunder, which takes some execution from roughly 90% to 120%. Thus, the counterplay is to DI out and jump away when the d-throw combo doesn't connect and DI in when d-throw does combo because they’ll always go for that. Eventually, it becomes a 50/50 of guessing which DI you’ll do.

Our d-smash is good for hopping over and punishing overly aggressive attacks from Pika.

D-smash and bair are 6 hits, so shield as long accordingly before potentially punishing. His nair is 4 hits & fair is 6 hits, while dair is 2 hits; f-throw is 5 hits.

Pikachu's jab requires about 2 SDI inputs, which has 5 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's. Same with Pika's fair, except it has 4 hitlag frames for you to perform them.

His d-smash, side B, and down B are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Pikachu's normals besides d-tilt are at least punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab (dash attack is -11 though). His f-smash is shield punished by our own, and the d-smash is punished by shorthop skewer OoS or shield drop d-smash. His landing nair & fair are too safe though, so reset there, but can shield punish the other aerials.

T-jolt up close is -20, side B is too safe (so retreating nair it instead), up B is -33 (so shield punish with f-smash or whatever), and down B is -26 (so can shorthop SPR OoS).

His smashes, point-blank neutral B, up B, down B, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (77-80%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (81-92%)

Try to wait for him to land first since his landing animations can make him pancake under a usual timed u-tilt.

Major credit to Paco on the grab > thunder routes and how to DI them, and the specifics on getting around Pika's f-smash ledgetrapping.

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Piranha Plant

Piranha Plant The bloom of death
Even

• Up air is their safest move, while the only move able to challenge Ridley in neutral and setting up a bunch of combo starts. Do not engage with this move, it is best to rest neutral.
• As a rule of thumb, do not challenge down B as it has armor and intangibility while having a search box to have an easier time connecting to the opponent. Either dodge the move or challenge after the apex of the move.

Neutral

Plant lacks any real approach tools. Abuse this. You want to play the zoner game, abuse plasma and range on tilts.

Your goal is to avoid Ptooie and gain advantage. Ptooie possess a large blind spot in front of Plant; you can abuse Ridley’s amazing ground speed to make it into this zone and get a hard punish if they’re getting predictable.

Plant’s will try and use Ptooie to counter plasma. This can be effective if you get predictable or are too close. When the spike ball lands on the ground it can absorb most if not all the plasma balls so it can nullify it, but usually you can just plasma again unless they're close.

Jump Ptooie is a threat. If they’re trying to read plasma, run towards and gain space or get a punish. If they’re reacting to plasma charge, release early.

All of Plant's rising aerials are laggy, so abuse by whiff punishing them. You can even directly challenge all of them besides bair if spaced.

If Plant’s find that Ptooie isn’t working because of plasma camping, they will eventually attempt to down B through it. Just make sure you space yourself well enough to release on reaction. The move has a good chunk of end lag (when grounded), so punishing it is very possible.

Dash attack is the only footsie range burst option you really have to look out for. It can catch jumps fairly well and is pretty fast and active. Just shield it and don’t get baited with dash dances.

Disadvantage

Poison will hit you on ledge and deal ludicrous damage, but don’t let it force you into doing something stupid. Sometimes taking the hit is necessary. Also remember that since it doesn’t deal any knockback, you can power through it with an attack. The move’s total time is 49 frames, so if you react quickly you may be able to swat Plant away. Just keep careful note of their spacing.

If Plant spaces Ptooie at max reach where it’ll slide and hit you on the ledge, you can’t roll past it, but this also opens up ledge jump’s viability, so it’s a trade-off. Plant quite literally has no real options besides Ptooie and poison to hit you on ledge. He can hit you with some landing aerials as well, but this is predictable.

Plant’s d-smash can nicely cover both roll and neutral getup. Pay close attention to spacing getup attack which can work as a counter, but you have to be sure it will hit. If there’s no cloud, wait the d-smash out, if there is a cloud ledge jump is preferred. Ledge drop SPR is ineffective due to the likelihood of Plant using Ptooie.

When off stage, avoid Ptooie at all costs. It will get hit by up B and lose, but will keep falling and can hit Ridley again. Recovering with forward/backward Wing Blitz isn’t very good since Ptooie will likely beat it, so use for rare mixups. The same can apply to SPR unto the ledge.

The only real move besides Ptooie Plant has to challenge Wing Blitz is bair from the side. This is laggy however and can cause him to SD on higher blast zone stages, but tech as usual if you get hit by it. Be careful with SPR's out of hitstun, as Plant's will typically be using Ptooie and can hit you if you do it at the wrong time.

If Ptooie is spaced perfectly, it will hit the ledge and slip off and will have a hitbox the entire time it falls. This can be very troublesome to avoid. You either want to recover wide enough so that you use the drift after up B to grab the ledge, or recover so close that you hug the stage and the lip helps protect you. Just keep in mind that you will get hit eventually, so you have to mix up timings with jumps and spacings to keep Plant guessing.

Attempting to recovering high can be risky. Ptooie and Plant’s aerials can catch pretty well. Just be careful and use it sparingly. Down angle WB is also ineffective for this reason.

When getting juggled, uair is beatable but Ptooie isn’t.

If Plant's try Ptooie when above them, either have to try and land out of its range, or get into its blind spot. Plant can reactively punish directional airdodges to the left and right. They can help get you into the blind spots though.

U-smash is invincible and low profiles, so do not attempt to land on top of Plant. U-tilt is also invincible, plus it's fast and can hit on platforms. It’s not the biggest worry, but leads to some decent combos, so want to avoid it. Still just don’t land on Plant. There's also that auto-attack when you footstool it.

Advantage

Plant gets edgeguarded pretty averagely; nothing super exploitable.

Ledge drop Ptooie is the most important option to look out for. Is hard to punish on reaction, as Plant is usually too low to get hit (can test with d-smash). Wait it and out attempt to catch the regrab. Plant’s ledge hang is pretty high, you can hit him with a good number of moves.

For off stage, Plant’s recovery is good but vulnerable. Think of it as a backwards K Rool where his hurtbox gets extended super high. The side hitboxes should rarely come into play. Plant’s up B is momentum based; the faster he’s moving in a direction the harder it is for him to turn.

Fullhop/double jump dair can prove useful if Plant's are recovering from low and away as they’ll be forced to pass through our dair zone. Just remember that the risk in missing is disadvantage vs Plant.

Plant’s will often Ptooie to try and hit you on stage. Just attack from diagonally below Plant and you can punish this. Treat it like Dedede’s gordo off the stage. Just remember it stalls him in the air.

Plasma can prove very useful. While you won’t often kill Plant with it, you can tack on good damage and force them to possibly recover from a less favorable angle. Fair and kind of nair are the only aerials Plant has to challenge you off the level, but these are beaten easily.

Plant's will attempt to down B and snipe you on the ledge. You either attempt to shield it and punish after, or beat out the armor. Bair will beat the armor, while fair is the best option for punishing it when shielded. Just pay attention to the position of Plant, as you may have to use nair or nothing at all. Down B can also cause some trouble if you’re mindlessly spamming plasma, so just keep in mind and don’t get predictable.

When juggling, Plant’s landing aerials are pretty lacking. Bair is good and safe but that’s about it. This would be very abusable on a regular character, but in typical Plant fashion, Ptooie makes things difficult.

If you hit Plant anytime after frame 8 of Ptooie, it’ll fall and hit anything below him. This is important to note as the trade often isn’t in your favor due to Plant’s superior weight. Attack from slighting in front or behind him from below, or just directly in front of him. It can get tricky if Plant doesn’t hold Ptooie but just taps it since it’s hard to react to.

Because of that, you want to catch landings instead. Plant has very subpar landing aerials. Abuse this and use movement to force a whiff/misspace and punish with a tilt, grab, ect.

The only time you should challenge Plant’s Ptooie from directly below him is if you will kill him for it. Up smash is the best for this with its intangibility.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Plant dair hits us under plats, so shield or avoid there.

Ptooie has 10% armor; damage based armor but on a projectile.

Plant up B hits require 3 or more SDI inputs, each of which have 3 or so hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

Respect Plant's ledge getup attack range.

His dash attack, f-smash, u-smash, fair, and bair are mostly whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Plant f-tilt 1, u-tilt, u-smash, f-smash, uair, and footstooled attack have head intangibility, as well as Long-Stem Strike after it comes out (15% armor before it comes out and 12% after it comes out).

Ridley’s moves that beat Plant down B armor, assumed fresh: Smashes (f-smash particularly is good if close), bair, grab, SPR, Wing Blitz, Skewer.

Its gentleman jab is only -13, but rapid jab finisher is f-smash punishable. Its dash attack will cross you up when shielded, so quickly turn around and punish accordingly. Its other normals besides d-tilt are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab. Its dash attack & u-smash are punished by shorthop SPR OoS.

Fair is its main landing aerial that's safe on shield, while the others (i.e. 5-hit nair) can be punished by nair OoS. Ptooie is too safe on shield, while stem strike is punished by f-smash after shielding, but watch your shield health when it comes to that so it doesn't get broken.

Its f-tilt 2, dash attack, smashes, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should it be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (97-99%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (100-105%)

Major credit to the Ridcord JMU doc for much of this info.

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Pit

Pit

The main differences with Pit and Dark Pit:

1. Pit can curve his arrows more, while Dark Pit's deal more damage. Some believe Pit is better because his curving arrow is better at gimping. Nair or fair them when possible to save a jump.
2. Their side B. Dark Pit's hits harder and launches at a more horizontal angle.

That aside, try to DI/SDI away from their combos. Respect their disjointed aerials. Better to mostly stay grounded and anti-air or catch landings, especially with how floaty they are, making them prone to getting juggled. Don't whiff an attack by swinging too early though.

Also watch out for their grab game. F-throw can lead into combos at early %, and kill at late % near ledge. Their side B can KO around 125% give or take, reflect projectiles when used, and has super armor, but comes with being very unsafe on shield as a tradeoff where they bounce off it and land (the aerial version of side B at least), though dodge instead if you don't have a healthy shield. Watch if they use side B from ledge and hold shield before attacking.

Their down B orbitars also reflect projectiles, as well as blocking physical attacks and pushing you away slightly, but they're vulnerable from above and below. Also the orbitars can only take 15%, after which it breaks and takes 10 seconds to recharge which you can then maybe plasma them.

Against landing down B, aggressive landing punishes won't work too well while it's active, so you can mix up with grabs/SPR if you expect them to commit to holding it. It's easy for them to cancel though, so pay attention to their down B habits.

If them using arrows or down B off stage gets in the way of using plasma on them, wait to ledgetrap them with it or some other move instead. That said, the Pit's can be easy to edgeguard in the sense that their up B doesn't have a hitbox, making 2 framing more possible as well.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Pit multihits- u-tilt (2 hits), f-smash (2 hits), u-smash (3 hits), nair (8 hits), fair (3 hits), uair (5 hits, hold DI to the left and then right & vice-versa to survive longer)

Pit has a total of 4 jumps, with 3 midair jumps.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Rapid jab skewer punish applies to them also, with shorthop skewer OoS being more consistent (shield drop > d-smash also works). Their normals are mostly punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab. Their f-smash & u-smash are punished by shorthop SPR OoS. Their landing aerials besides nair and uair are too safe on shield though, so reset there.

Their gentleman jab/rapid jab finisher, f-tilt, smashes, arrow up close, and ledge getup attack are shield punished by u-tilt should they be at u-tilt > uair kill %. Their side B is mostly punishable with whatever (try shorthop skewer OoS or shield drop > d-smash to catch their landing in that instance), being -36 to -40 on shield.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (86-91%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (92-99%)

Major credit to smub for tips during advantage.

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Dark Pit

• Placeholder

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Pokemon Trainer

Pokemon Trainer

All three Pokemon are floaties, and all their recoveries suffer against plasma hard. When they're above you, they're way too dependent on Pokemon switching to mix you up, and there's situations where you just frame trap them anyway if they go for it.

Credit to smub on that.

Squirtle

Squirtle f-tilt has intangibility on the tail along with invincibility during its side B. Can also angle its f-smash.

With Squirtle, only its neutral B does no damage, but all its other water attacks have a hitbox, including up B as opposed to Greninja's.

Knockback will alter Squirtle side B’s trajectory which sets up for a punish, can footstool it if timed right which does the same, or use our disjointed moves to turn them around while they’re spinning which forces an even worse corner scenario.

With what they can transition into out of their side B spin, if you read a fair, you can f-smash, but waterfall (up B) is big enough to scoop you, so in some instances it’s better to stay defensive.

That said, the most important thing is to tech when they start f-tilting at higher percent, as jablock > f-smash is their earliest form of killing. Also try to DI away when being combo'd at low % and hold on to your jumps. Once he gets you off stage is when they switch to Ivysaur and will either try to edgeguard you with an aerial like dair, or ledgetrap with f-smash.

His u-smash is whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Squirtle multihits- bair & dair (6 hits), up B (8 hits)

Squirtle's normals besides f-tilt and u-tilt are punished by at least nair OoS, while u-smash when shielded up close is punished by Rid f/d-smash and shorthop skewer OoS with shield pushback. Jab 3, f-smash, and u-smash are also shield punished by u-tilt should it be at u-tilt > uair kill %. Its dash attack will cross you up when shielded, so quickly turn around and punish accordingly. Its landing aerials besides bair and dair are too safe on shield though, so reset there. Its side B is also -18 on shield, but wouldn't try to hard punish it OoS because after the bounce he can cancel into anything.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (74-76%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (77-86%)

Ivysaur

Ivysaur u-smash and uair have intangibility on the flower part of its body. Can angle its f-smash.

Ivysaur likes to use vinewhip to attack when they're at ledge since it hits through the stage. Make sure you hold shield or try and bait them to do it so you can f-tilt them when they regrab the ledge and that most likely leads into a kill. Can also fade back and dash attack their ledge hang on the regrab.

Respect Ivy's grab range.

Ivy multihits- f-tilt (~5 hits), nair (8 hits), bair (2 hits), neutral B (~5 hits but does twice as much when B is held longer)

Ivy nair hits require about 2 SDI inputs, each of which have 3 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

His f-smash, uair, and dair are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Aside from our jab 1 starting faster than Ivysaur's, their rapid jab finisher is f-smash punishable. Its other normals are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab, while f-smash when shielded up close is punished by our own as well as shorthop skewer OoS. Ivy's DA, d-smash, and ledge GUA (-25) are punished by SH SPR OoS. Its landing aerials besides nair are too safe on shield though, so reset there, and watch out for dair which destroys us offstage and uair which covers most landing options. Its point-blank neutral B is shield punishable with f-smash & shorthop skewer OoS, and point-blank razor leaf is OoS aerial/grab punished. Its jab 2/rapid jab finisher, f-tilt, d-tilt, dash attack, smashes, point-blank neutral B & up B, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should it be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (87-90%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (91-104%)

Charizard

Flare Blitz has 15% damage worth of armor, but it's no problem for Wing Blitz with how much damage it typically deals. Watch how he may use Flare Blitz in disadvantage and dash shield when approaching in which case.

Zard’s f-smash and uair have intangibility on the head, and his one-way up B has super armor during the first few frames, so if you're gonna spike him, wait to do so after.

His f-smash, d-smash, fair, and Flare Blitz are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Respect Zard's grab range and ledge getup attack range.

When shielding Zard side B, only move/shorthop slightly forward and wait till he's closer to falling on ground for a skewer punish. Shielding said side B may push him on a platform on plat stages; can also Wing Blitz forward after shielding it, but avoid challenging it with plasma. Also, his u-smash is 2 hits.

Charizard's normals are punished by at least nair OoS (some by our other OoS aerials and shield grab), while f-smash and d-smash when shielded up close is punished by Rid f/d-smash (or u-smash OoS) and maybe shortop skewer OoS punishable as well depending on shield pushback. Its jab 3, smashes, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should it be at u-tilt > uair kill %. Its fair, bair, and dair are punished by our aerials, grab, and u-smash OoS, but Zard's landing nair and uair are too safe on shield, so reset there. Flamethrower I would go for a neutral reset on when shielding, but Flare Blitz is punishable on shield with whatever (given that your shield won't break) when they're on stage and they flop to the ground, but when they’re falling back off you don’t really have time to chase them low. They shouldn't be trying to hit you with it otherwise outside of tech chases.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (99-103%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (104-115%)

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Aegis (Pyra/Mythra)

Pyra & Mythra
Slightly Winning

Overall

Someone playing the Aegis will tend to use Mythra more to get quick damage on you, and switch back to Pyra at some point to finish off your stock. Adjust accordingly.

They may also start the match with Mythra instead of Pyra by default if they press Y at the character select screen, so don’t always expect Pyra at the start; except Mythra more at the start if anything, while Pyra for the most part is saved for when you’re at high % as usual.

Some color alts may make it difficult to tell whether you’re fighting Pyra or Mythra, so look for important signs such as their names changing, hair length, or the color of their blades.

One of the main weaknesses they both share (aside from bad disadvantage/recovery) is zoning, so plasma that is used wisely can give them a hard time. Can be used in response to both their side B’s for instance depending on spacing, and be used to punish their up B landings.

Pyra

Flame Nova During Pyra's Flame Nova level 3, Ridley can instantly spotdodge the third hit and will be able to punish the move's endlag if the move hits shield. For the 1st and 2nd levels, the attack has fewer hits so you have to buffer spotdodge after the second hit instead of the third to punish. However, Ridley can always forward or backward roll every level of Flame Nova after the second hit, allow Ridley to reset the situation.

• Be careful when shielding this move as if Pyra does it up close, the back hit can hit Ridley's shield too messing up spotdodge and roll timing.
• If a Pyra charges it while you are holding ledge never roll in as it will always catch the roll.

Prominence Revolt up B's also pretty whiff punishable (even with Skewer) as well as unsafe on shield. Just remember she has it when above you and aside from recovering, can use it as an OoS or ledge getup option, as a ledgetrap move, and hits us under platforms, so shield it there too.

Her neutral B Flame Nova is also slow enough that you can parry and punish with Skewer, though would not try to shield it entirely with how much shield damage it does. When you shield the first hit, you can just jump OoS and punish with whatever. Can also shield three of the hits and spotdodge if you’re not too close. She may try to use her neutral B as an off-stage edgeguard as well, so pay attention if she goes off as you’re recovering and hit her first like with a nair or uair. She may also use neutral B as a landing mixup or from a ledgehop, so get away from her if you detect it there.

Pyra's throw out their side B a lot in neutral to stuff out your approaches, then footstool you (can be teched), jablock, and do it again, or if you’re at high enough %, they footstool and finish off with jab 1 > f-smash, so remember to tech that footstool no matter what and usually techroll away. Expect Blazing End and be ready to jump over it, or run from it if you have stage space; covers up to mid range. Watch out too if she does like a shorthop side B to stuff out your jump, and instead crouch under it even if approaching her, or maybe sliding d-tilt if you’re lucky. The hitbox on the wheel portion is deceptively small.

While she can't do another attack during the duration of Blazing End, she can shield, so when you jump over it, can grab or SPR if positioned right since her side B doesn't have a hitbox on the way back like a boomerang does. Shielding the Blazing End yourself is not a good option, though if your shield is caught in it, after a few or couple hits, roll away or toward her when possible, or if you shield it at point-blank, wait for it to crossup and then punish. Fortunately, she can't do anything while shielding even if she gets close, and she'll have end lag when catching her sword back.

If you patiently stay back out of Blazing End’s range and Plasma (flickshot Plasma is especially good here), it can go through the move while hitting her. She may use side B while recovering horizontally to keep you from edgeguarding her (throwing it where you’re at on stage to stall you), though she can't use her up B during it, so jump over the spinning blade and hit her while she's vulnerable or wait it out. Likewise though, Blazing End’s a good edgeguarding/ledgetrapping tool when she’s on stage and you’re recovering, so be ready to up B again if it gets you (can also 2 frame), and if she uses it while you’re trying to getup from ledge, time your neutral getup so you have intangibility through it all, or just timely ledge roll.

While you can play more aggressively against Pyra once you know how to get around her, be sure to shield Pyra's nair which can kill at high %, as well as avoiding her other aerials like uair and Flame Nova & Prominence Revolt mixups at all costs when trying to land, whether by airdodging or going to ledge (treat Mythra's juggling the same way). If Pyra uses Blazing End when you’re trying to land, have enough air time to outlast it if you save and time your jumps. Also be aware her dair can combo into other aerials and such for kills at certain %, but can sometimes jump or airdodge out of it if you react quick enough. Shield her tilts when near ledge too at high %. Her d-tilt leads into combos & kills like ours.

Both Aegis have an f-throw that leads into tech chase, so don't miss tech. Same for their dash attack, and DI away from their d-throw aerials or sometimes jump to avoid their followup. Like us too, they have no kill throws.

If you platform pressure Pyra with u-tilt, she may parry with a Prominence Revolt. Shield it there too instead of throwing out another hitbox or you’ll be hit. That said, DI down and away really reduces the knockback of her up B.

Also, we can dodge Blazing End with u-smash and d-smash if timed right. The latter helps like if she does side B after a ledgehop, allowing you to avoid it and hit her in the process.

• Another thing about her side B, be wary about approaching her with a burst option like sliding d-tilt unless it’s to maybe get under a shorthop side B, since her grounded side B will still stuff out any overzealous attempts to approach period. Likewise if she gets you in a tech chase, be wary about doing a techroll toward her if further away since that's another easy side B for her.

• Mainly DI down when hit by her side B. It doesn’t actually kill until late % regardless.

DI out when hit by her bair rather than in. DI in makes it kill earlier, but there’s also holding down or down and in depending on where you are.

Watch out for her f-tilt ledgetrapping. She can play the same game we can with our f-tilt there, except it typically KO’s characters earlier.

Other Pyra multihits- u-smash (2 hits), neutral B (3-5 hits)

We can punish Pyra f-tilt with d-tilt OoS after they f-tilt your shield 2 times.

Only her dair and blazing end can hit us at ledge, the former of which can be teched.

Pyra has worse fastest OoS options than us (in frames).

Her dash attack, f-smash, u-smash, nair, fair, uair, and dair are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Pyra's rapid jab finisher is shield punishable with dash attack or dash grab, and shorthop OoS into SPR. Her normals besides f-tilt & spaced d-tilt are punished by at least nair OoS. Her f-smash and u-smash when shielded are punished by Rid f-smash. Her nair is at least punished by our own nair OoS, but her other landing aerials are too safe on shield, so reset there.

Her gentleman jab/rapid jab finisher, u-tilt, smashes, up B, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by our own u-tilt should she be at u-tilt > uair kill %. Prominence Revolt’s also shield punishable with whatever (shield drop d-smash, etc).

• If you’re not close enough to punish with f-smash or u-tilt after shielding her f-smash due to the shield pushback, do either a extended dash cancel u-tilt, dash attack, shorthop OoS into SPR, dash grab, d-tilt, f-tilt, shorthop Skewer OoS, or forward drift nair on her instead depending on %. Her u-smash may also be skewer (shield drop or shorthop OoS) punishable with shield pushback.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (91-97%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (92-109%)

Major credit to Sapphire on how we can punish Pyra's f-tilt, and finding out that we can tech her dair at ledge.

Mythra

If Mythra recovers horizontally with side B or out of a chase, can parry the last hit which is 5th and f-smash. Timing isn't too hard since it's a multi-hit. Wing Blitz forward & down with ledge snap also trades with/beats Photon Edge, and some plasma may be an option as well if spaced enough, so if you put em in a situation where they have to recover horizontal to ledge you can bash them in. She goes in freefall after side B if not close enough to ledge, but if she does get to ledge, she can also do a ledgehop (or ledgedrop double jump) side B to get back on stage. When she's the one in advantage, just remember she may use her side B to ledge trap, tech chase, or catch landings, so watch your timing accordingly.

Her neutral B Lightning Buster is 4 or 5 fits, though has less end lag to punish but still shield it. It has intangibility on release, so she may use it as a landing mixup or worse a potential edgeguard. We can dash attack it on whiff though thankfully.

Throwing out a well timed and placed SPR or grab seems to be Ridley’s answer to Mythra’s Foresight ability. If she dodges the first hit of our f-air, the 2nd or 3rd can still hit her even during Foresight. Likewise, if she dodges one fireball, the other fireballs after will still hit her if you charged any plasma at all. Be careful of Foresight regardless though, lest you get punished easily. Try to shield or jab if caught. Foresight also makes it harder to apply platform pressure to her when she can roll/spot dodge to avoid a move while on plat or airdodge a uair, aside from how quick she can move or jump off it with her speed. Platform juggling her is not impossible though still.

Other than that, if you go off stage to edgeguard her like with an aerial, just be ready to tech from the side of stage when she does the 2nd part of her up B, so you don't get gimped or stage spiked. If she uses her up B to edgeguard you, try to recover high occasionally. If you avoid her up B on stage, punish her landing.

For neutral, play more defensively against Mythra, as you can afford to shield her attacks more than Pyra's, though remember Mythra's nair lasts a bit longer and can crossup. Is a good idea regardless to dash shield against both Aegis on occasion to see what they do (especially if expecting Photon Edge), possibly baiting them out. Watch out for Mythra using her quick smashes to catch your rolls and landings. As quick as her tilts are, you can still shield grab in response assuming she's up close like the typical mashy online Mythra. A lot of them will mash at least two buttons on your shield, so you can use the first one to sort of confirm the timing of the second and then punish from there. Her moves have similar timing because of how fast they all are.

A better Mythra will space their moves though and play a reactive whiff punish game, with d-tilt being a primary combo starter like ours. What kind of defensive game you play against her depends on the kind of Mythra you fight. Also instead of an OoS move punish, you can pick a defensive option like jump OoS and get back to neutral. There is no answer to her unreactable stuff up close, it's pretty much a 50/50.

Another reason it's advised to block more against Mythra than usual is because getting hit by her dash attack at most percents is worse than getting grabbed. A well timed spotdodge beats both but will lose to her tilts. Unless you have a read, would treat any landing aerials the same way, except nair; so defensive option after blocking nair (mainly jump OoS) and if it's any other aerial, just delay the defensive option until after her next move. You pretty much want her to use grab more since you can actually abuse that with spotdodge and stuff or DI/jump away if grabbed. Obviously none of this is ideal, but is just what we have to work with.

Other Mythra multihits- u-smash (5 hits), side B (6 hits)

Her dair can hit us under platforms, so still shield or avoid it.

Her side B is whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Mythra's rapid jab finisher is shield punishable with dash attack or dash grab, and shorthop OoS into SPR. Her normals besides spaced d-tilt, spaced f-tilt, and the furthest spaced u-tilt are at least punished by nair OoS, and f-smash is punished by shorthop SPR OoS. Her landing aerials are too safe on shield though, so reset there.

Her gentleman jab/rapid jab finisher, dash attack, smashes, side B, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should she be at u-tilt > uair kill %. Otherwise just remember Photon Edge is shield punishable with whatever after she crosses up your shield or has to land in freefall (even our d-smash but may have to dash back first), and catching her up B landing is similarly punishable with whatever if her attack misses or is shielded.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (87-93%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (88-103%)

• Watch out for Mythra using Foresight upon your uair if you mess up the timing.

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Ridley

Ridley Your worst match-up is... yourself.
Mirror

A most cursed ditto matchup where you want to nair the most, cunningly out-plasma the other Ridley, fullhop dair them recovering low, 2 frame with down angle f-tilt etc if they recover horizontally, avoid landing around them because of u-tilt & u-smash intangibility, always f-tilt out of SPR mash release unless they also f-tilt (then you d-tilt), etc.

1. If backing up and trying to catch an opponent Ridley’s landing with d-tilt like with other long range characters, just watch out for their plasma (any charge), SPR, and skewer as landing mixups.
2. You can tech a Ridley d-smash at ledge, and true punish with tech jump SPR.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Respect a fellow Ridley’s ledge getup attack range.

F-tilt 2-framing to cover the side B recovery timing of the other Ridley is definitely possible. If they do up B, you can still setup a ledgetrap. If you force them to recover low that way, then you cook them coming up with fair.

On walled stages like Kalos, dair can only be teched if the other Ridley is facing the stage.

His side B (grounded) and Skewer are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 1 > f-smash, for covering delayed getup.

Rapid jab skewer punish (and d-smash punish) also applies to the ditto, shorthop skewer OoS being more consistent. Likewise, gentleman jab, dair, and Wing Blitz can be shorthop SPR OoS punished. Other than that, his normals can typically be punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab, except for retreating nair which is safe and the few other safely spaced moves as you know from our neutral. Can also shield punish a skewer with f-smash.

His gentleman jab & rapid jab finisher, smashes, landing dair, point-blank fireball, wing blitz (expect WB forward to crossup), skewer, and ledge getup attack can also be shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %. Just be aware of your shielding habits because of SPR, like with other characters that have a side B command grab.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (92-99%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (100-107%)

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R.O.B.

R.O.B.

Gameplan

His single best move is the infamous d-tilt. It leads into combos and is safe to spam and on shield, so be careful when you get close to him. Your three options are shorthop over it, move away, or shield and roll away. If you land near him, try crossing him up so he'll have to turn around before using d-tilt.

Also respect his aerials, all of which are good, but the best one is nair. Has a big hitbox, lasts for awhile, is difficult to punish OoS, and has little landing lag, so he can attack quickly after landing. If you see him spamming nair as he's landing, back away and move in to lay on the pressure. His fair is good and straightforward but probably the least impressive of his aerials. Bair is powerful but its most unique feature is that it pushes him in the opposite direction, making it safe to use in neutral and difficult to punish, but not impossible. His uair is a multi-hit that easily KO's around 120%, so you don't want to be falling on top of him, and his dair is a typical spike move. Fortunately his bair and dair come out slow, so gives you some time to react.

Neutral B, Robo Beam: While it's a wimpy laser most of the time, it becomes really powerful after about 15 seconds. He can mix up the angle of it by shooting at the ground and it will bounce up into the air, covering a large area. He'll use the move as a defensive option most of the time; the moment you knock him back or off the ledge as a get-off-me, similar to how Kazuya uses his laser off stage, though you may be able to jump over it and beat him to the punch, but most of the time, will need to stop your chase, shield it, and then move in. Also, the light on ROB's head will indicate if the laser is charged or not.

Down B, Gyro: If it hits you or misses, it'll continue to spin on stage. The longer the charge, longer the spin. If Gyro is between you and him, he can use his Robo Beam, making it hard to approach, and if Gyro is behind you, he can knock you into it, leading into combos or forcing you to shield. A couple good options to handle Gyro is shield it when it first comes out (the benefit here is it'll disappear if it initially hits your shield), and grab it when given the chance. Everyone including Ridley has some combo setups with Gyro if the player is somewhere competent in their item gameplay. Keep in mind when you pick it up, it won't spin anymore, and picking up a spinning Gyro takes practice. If your spacing is off, you'll end up getting hit by it. In the air, there's Z-catching it. Also remember his ability to ledgetrap with Gyro, which you can swat away with an up B poke or ledge getup attack.

Side B, Arm Rotor: Aside from another get-off-me, is effective on shield. If you shield, make sure you hold it all the way to the end, and he may crossup & move himself far enough away to make it difficult to punish. It also reflects projectiles, so keep in mind when it comes to Plasma. It's worst when used off stage where it can kill really early, so do your best to recover above or below if you see him coming at you like that. That all said, if you space yourself well, Arm Rotor is quite whiff punishable, even with Skewer.

Also respect his throws. His up throw can kill around 160% and combo, and his d-throw buries like K Rool's and Banjo's. Mix up your mashing + airdodge as usual, but definitely don't let him get a u-smash kill or something.

Onto weaknesses, for one thing he struggles to KO. You'd think that wouldn't be the case, but his powerful moves come out slow and are easy to react to, so you can shield or dodge and punish often. This is why he'll often look for d-tilt up close, to get you in a KO position. He's also easy to combo due to his size like us, and doesn't have reliable combo breakers. His recovery is slow & linear, but can attack in between using it. Watch out for his uair from under the stage, and don't stay at the edge without shielding.

Another thing with ROB's uair, when hit by it, can DI one way and then the opposite way on the 5th and last hit to live longer.

Also, when a ROB uses laser off stage to delay or avoid being edgeguarded, watch out for it if you do so with plasma breath, as the laser will transcend and punish you for using plasma at that moment.

Some small things to recognize is that our nair comes out faster than ROB's, making some air-to-air situations work in out favor, especially with good spacing. All his burner moves have the slow startup problem, which is why he folds when pressured from behind. While his nair starts from below, he still has to preemptively swing, which stops working when a character is fast enough to zonebreak it.

Also, the higher up you parry his landing nair, the more time you have to react with something, so what helps is to condition an early nair in the air to get more out of parries. Also just because his disjoint is bigger doesn't mean he can't be traded with. U-tilt and uair do that a lot, and similar to Diddy's banana, you don't always want to rush to pick up gyro. Dash attack safely picks it up whether it's spinning or not, but that's usually what ROB's will react to out of shield.

If timed and positioned right above a platform, ROB nair, bair, and dair can hit us when we’re under it, so shield them still.

Gyro

• If you catch gyro, it can also be good to throw it up which lets it stay in the air for a bit and ROB can't spawn another. It'll fall down eventually but it takes a while, so could be useful to eliminate gyro pressure. And don't just toss it up, but smash toss it up which sends farther (a smash input or A+B when tossing in a direction).

• If you have enough ledge intangibility, you can just wait the gyro out and then get off the ledge since it hits most ledge hangs; otherwise prepare to tech against the stage when you get hit by gyro. Also if gyro isn’t directly on the ledge (i.e. slightly further away but still threatens neutral getup), you can ledge jump and Z-catch the gyro (same input and timing as catching Diddy’s banana from ledge).

• The most consistent way to catch gyro is dash attack or pivot f-tilt but the best way is to run up jump + grab to shorthop Z-catch since you can act immediately after catching the gyro. Most normal characters can loop ROB once they hold gyro with something like gyro toss > nair/fair/uair > gyro toss again.

• ROB can crouch under gyro if you try to throw it at them around medium range but we can also do the same. This won't work if they are spinning gyro and then fire, it's only for when they are holding it and throw it as an item.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Its d-smash is 3 hits, while side B is ~6 hits without mashing & ~11 hits with mashing.

When grabbing ROB near ledge at high %, can do a u-throw mixup so he’ll suffer more from landing than usual recovering. Also during advantage, watch out for ROB reverse side B at ledge, as it can scoop and kill at higher %. Shield if you anticipate it.

If buried by his d-throw at lower %, be ready to DI his uair when mashing out of bury, or buffer a dair as a mixup.

ROB bair might be able to hit ledge hang from on stage, so ledge getup attack when reacting to it.

If ROB does rising fair and you're shielding, you can up smash it.

If you parry one d-tilt and they do another (mashing d-tilt on your shield), you can punish with jab. The other moves are too slow in this instance.

His f-smash, dair, and side B are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 1 > f-smash, for covering delayed getup.

When ROB does a TOD combo, SDI up & away can sometimes get out of it.

Crouch more to avoid its large quick aerials, though still be ready to shield laser or gyro. Crouching can let you avoid a gyro toss though.

ROB jab 2 is punished by nair OoS, while its normals besides d-tilt are also punished by our other OoS aerials and shield grab. Its u-smash, d-smash, and ledge getup attack (-26) are punished by shorthop SPR OoS. Its f-smash is mostly shield punished by our own, and while its side B can crossup on shield, the hits are minus enough to be punished by f/d-smash, shorthop skewer OoS, etc. Its landing aerials besides dair are too safe on shield though, so reset there. Said dair you may be able to u-smash OoS too.

Its smashes, point-blank gyro, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should it be at u-tilt > uair kill %. Extended dash cancel u-tilt if shielding gyro from a little distance.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (94-98%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (99-108%)

Major credit to smub for the neutral tips against ROB's nair and such, and major credit to Hyrchurn on the more specific things about gyro and whatnot.

Go here to see how you can pick up Gyro with simply initial dash and jab. Unlike most if not all the other ways, it gives you enough time to shield ROB laser after picking up Gyro. https://x.com/johnnumbers/status/1840130937696465107?s=46&t=NvvvokY_NM2udMgu8BGKVQ https://x.com/johnnumbers/status/1840130940405985575?s=46&t=NvvvokY_NM2udMgu8BGKVQ https://x.com/johnnumbers/status/1840130942998065390?s=46&t=NvvvokY_NM2udMgu8BGKVQ https://x.com/johnnumbers/status/1840130945741185185?s=46&t=NvvvokY_NM2udMgu8BGKVQ

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Robin

Robin Fell Dragon's dwelling
Even

Gameplan

Keep an eye on when their bronze sword evolves to a levin sword. Watch out for their landing fair with how well it scoops up from the ground. If they fall toward you, don't rely on our anti-air tilts to always work. Shield or move away from it. Their d-smash is deceptively strong because it looks like they're only attacking in front, but there's electricity going on behind them too when levin is active, so don't move behind them when they do it. Beware of uair with levin sword and avoid at all costs when descending, mixing up your landings. WB Up may trade with levin dair, but only do if you have to. Also note that dair hits us under a platform, so shield it. When levin sword and magical tomes lose durability after enough use, can pick it up to throw or z-drop at them, potentially leading to some combos. The dropped weapon can also hit you in the middle of a combo or something though but either way, gives some breathing room, especially if they lose it during a clutch moment in a match.

• It’s kinda rare, but also watch out for Robin using littered items of theirs for item combos, setting up into Thoron and such.

Their fully charged neutral B as well as side B can hit us at ledge, so don't camp there much. Both moves are better dodged on stage than shielding, Arcfire which you can dash under if quick enough or use Plasma to cancel out Arcthunder. Arcfire has enough end lag for you to punish Robin if close, and if used to ledgetrap, can attack getup from ledge near the end of the move to escape it. You also don't want to shield too much because of their down special command grab that absorbs some health from you and will want to mash out of (has intangibility on frames 15-18), as well as their respectable throws that combo and back throw that kills. Their jab is one of the moves you want to shield though, particularly the gentleman jab that ends with a fireball. Rapid jab skewer punish applies to them also.

Fortunately for us, Robin has one of the slowest ground/running speeds in the game, coupled with a low range dash attack. Their air speed is decent however, so can expect to see them in the air more often, for us to anti-air when possible. They're fairly floaty, so catch on to how they move in the air, how they approach and escape, and exploit their habits. Back angle Wing Blitz can be a good mixup read on Robin with how often they're in the air. Be careful of how you edgeguard them though, as their up B hits from above.

Also with Arcfire, you can roll out if it hits shield. It's not as safe shield pressure as it looks except when shielding it at ledge when you’re in a corner, and if Robin is doing an Arcfire ladder combo, you'll want to DI up. Down and away is what makes it kill. We can also nair through Arcfire if you read it and can get a punish. The likes of jab, d-tilt, f-tilt, and u-tilt can clank with it as well if timed right. U-tilt is especially useful with the wing hitbox reliably beating out Arcfire at the angle it travels.

Disadvantage

Counterplay: How to Get Out of Arcfire
Robin's Arcfire, has a spark hit which combos into a burst of flames. Allowing to hit up to nine times doing at max nineteen percent in 1v1s (including freshness bonus). The burst will come out after (sometimes even a frame after) it lands on the opponent, their shield, or the ground then expands up the longer it is out. Since projectiles do not suffer hitlag, the spark to the final multihit true combo to themselves. However, the final hit can sometimes be true or be a frame trap. This is because the burst hitbox is a rehit. So depending on when the burst hits, it'll hit a total of eight times instead of nine. Giving you exactly 1 frame before the final hit comes out. This will be important.

The burst hitbox expands a total of three times. The rehits before the final expansion send at 85 degree angle, so up and slightly to Robin. Though, the final expansion of the rehit before the final hit has a 110 degree angle which sends the opponent slightly away from Robin. Making it slightly easier to SDI away at the move's final moments. So, the best way to SDI Arcfire still depends on where you get hit by the projectile, but using what learned about the attack, this can be used as a rule of thumb:

• If you get hit on the side of the projectile it's best to hold jump on reaction then SDI away, and SDI up with tilt stick.
• If you get hit by the projectile from above it's best to hold jump on reaction and SDI up and away.
• If you get hit by the projectile from below it's best to focus on SDI away.
• Otherwise the best thing to do is to mix between SDI up and SDI away while you pray you fall out of a combo.

As known, Ridley disadvantage otherwise is quite bad, but not to say we don't have some tools here and there. In a juggling situation, keep in mind your handling of DJ and airdodge because challenging levin is not very possible. Our fair or nair can bring you safely if timed, and bair can also be used but is not disjointed. Dair can get Ridley from high to low if done right but also punishable correctly too. WB down can also be used to get to ledge but can be challenged by levin.

Off-stage is another thing. Robin's neutral B 1 to 3 prevents any fast attempt to get back with WB forward, and SPR is slow, so just recover low. As always keep your jumps and airdodge handy for any projectiles and such. Levin can definitely challenge SPR without much risk but a SPR release can be nasty and cost them a stock if they aren't careful. Ridley can keep his recovery kinda safe with nair and uair when trying to or bair for reverse egdeguards, but otherwise attacking in disadvantage generally means more disadvantage.

Ridley's ledge options are quite fast; drop off nair, fair, SPR, some skewer stuff with B-reversing, or trying to shark with uair or up B poke, though I wouldn't recommend that because of Arcfire. Ridley's ledge hang helps a bit but getting up from ledge is important. We have ledge jump nair too, the rest is the usual. Plasma in other senses can help trying to snipe Robin on stage when off stage but this could lead to a discharge or just dying from the end lag, so be wary.

Generally, just keep your DJ handy and don't try to challenge levin and keep in mind what spells Robin has left to punish you with. Wing Blitz up can beat Elwind (Robin up B), but Elwind can snipe a low recovery or sharking, so be wary. Also be ready to tech from side of stage when hit by Elwind.

Advantage

Our aerials aren't too slow, so we're able to use whichever ones fit the situation basically on reaction to Robin's disadvantage options. We're not that fast in the air, but we don't need to be to make things happen against Robin.

In a juggle situation, Robin can mixup their landings with B-reverse thunder charge and neutral airdodge, but it's still a tough situation, especially if Ridley is patient, and some of Robin's less reliable disadvantage choices like dair, fastfall nair/uair and even Elwind can technically all lose to Ridley's uair or nair if they have good timing.

On the ground, Robin has more options, but Ridley's corner presence is really strong with basically all of his grounded normals + nair.

That said, Ridley's size can allow some aggressive Robin disadvantage options to trade, especially since Ridley's aerial options against their own usually trade in their favor, aside from Ridley bair and on a rare case, tipper uair trading.

Back on the ground or off-stage, there's some flexibility in their choices, namely Thunder (neutral B 1) and Arcthunder (neutral B charge 3), and off-stage pathing can vary enough to make it hard to be caught if they still have their jump and avoid our plasma. Ridley f-tilt can 2 frame them, and d-tilt can catch a poor Elwind angle.

Other than that, it's mostly about just knowing what Robin's spells do and what they have left to do when one or more run out. When thunder spells run out, their immediate threat range isn't as big and it can be harder to stop grounded approaches safely. When fire is empty, their pressure and confirms are more direct, meaning we can try to bait less ideal movements from them.

If the levin sword is broken, their most reliable kill power is reduced pretty significantly for a few seconds, meaning it may be worth taking a trade with their weakened aerials and smashes to get things started. It doesn't take long to come back though, and if they keep the broken sword around as an item, it can be just as threatening while they wait for the cooldown to recharge.

Neutral

Ridley's main thing he wants to be doing in the Robin matchup is either jumping in with nair/fair or calling out Robin's jumps, depending on what the Robin is doing. Arcfire is super laggy and you can jump over it and nair or fastfall landing fair into stuff basically whenever. If Robin is trying to stuff Ridley's jumps, you can run in on them and dash attack or u-tilt (u-smash appropriately at kill %). As Ridley you want to play this matchup mostly grounded.

Thunders are really annoying to get around as Ridley, so you need to use a lot of patience to get past them. You don't want to be trying to out-projectile Robin much with Plasma. It's laggy on startup and you will likely get hit in the charging animation and be super open to a punish, though if you do manage to pull it off (like a couple fireballs to half charged), Plasma transcends everything that isn’t Thoron.

You do want to mix in at least a little bit of Ridley's aerial game though. Ridley's multiple jumps help to make it ambiguous as to when he will land, and they help to bait Robin into committing to an anti-air. For shield pressure in neutral, d-tilt and f-tilt are nice safe options that Robin does not have a good response to, so if you can get into that range, you force Robin to do something about it which you can capitalize on.

Again, one thing you have to be very careful about as Ridley is Arcfire. Normally it's not amazing in neutral but Ridley is a big target and gets trapped easily in it which will lead to a massive combo for Robin, though we do have some clanking options against it as aforementioned, as well as being able to SPR over it in the air as a landing mixup. Projectiles that arc down like Arcfire are easiest to whiff punish with SPR this way, grabbing the opponent in the process. Also beware of shield poke setups in Arcfire > d-smash, Arcfire > levin aerials, Arcthunder > d-smash, or Arcthunder > levin aerials.

Speaking of which, avoid shielding Arcthunder (neutral B charge 3) if Robin is close, as you'll be in shield stun. Jumping over it is the much better option, or spot-dodging if you really have the timing down. Ridley has a niche option for breaking through thunder zoning with Wing Blitz in neutral, which will almost always trade well for us, but Arcfire will stop this, so don't use Wing Blitz for that.

Miscellaneous and frame data

If you buffer shield tilt forward when you shield, it'll allow you to jump out of arcfire without getting hit during shieldstun.

Their nair is 2 hits.

Thunder, elthunder, and arcthunder all get cancelled out by a single fireball. When arcfire is airborne, it also loses to plasma aside from the other clanks.

Their dair is whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Aside from rapid jab skewer punish (shorthop skewer OoS being more consistent, tho shield drop > d-smash also works) and the safe d-tilt, Robin's normals are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab, while f-smash and u-smash when shielded is punished by Rid f-smash. Their landing aerials besides dair are too safe on shield, so reset there. Said dair you may be able to u-smash OoS too. Their point-blank neutral B is OoS aerial/grab punished.

Their jab 3/rapid jab finisher, dash attack, u-tilt, smashes, point-blank Thoron, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should they be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (87-92%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (93-102%)

Credit to the Ridcord JMU section for a good chunk of this info.

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Rosalina & Luma

Rosalina & Luma

Luma has 40 HP and takes 10 seconds to respawn.

When shielding a charged neutral B (Luma Shot), how you respond to it after depends on where it is, be it in front or behind you depending on how long it was charged. Jumping over the neutral B is a good option too.

When they're separated, watch out for Luma's edgeguarding & ledgetrapping as much as Rosa's if not more, with it often being the front row opponent. Get-off-me aerials before recovering can also help against it. That said, Rosa punishes a high recovery on stage, and while recovering low is better, she can gimp like with dair, so watch your timing. If Luma's attacking up close near ledge, getup attack is best, but if Luma's close and not attacking, don't ledge getup attack because it's a bait; Rosa will come punishing after you hit Luma. It's better to ledge jump in that situation.

When you grab Rosa, Luma can attack, so be as cautious in grabbing her as with Ice Climbers. Unlike IC's though, better off not pummeling and just throwing, preferably one that moves her away from Luma, and right after the throw, pull up shield so Luma doesn't hit you. If you throw Rosa far, can use that time to attack Luma and knock it off the stage.

When Rosa's landing like with up B on stage and you move in position to attack when she's vulnerable, Luma can still move to stop you in your tracks. Do a spaced d-tilt in that scenario.

When they're separated, is usually good to attack Luma, but make sure Rosa's not close enough to punish you.

Without Luma, still have to respect Rosa's aerials; nair leads into combos and has little landing lag, f-air has a big hitbox & is hard to avoid (and beats out a lot of attacks and pushes you a long way), her bair is a good edgeguarding move, and uair and dair speak for themselves.

Her dash attack is fast, multi-hits, and leads into combos. If shielding it, it won't pass through, so punish quickly.

Be careful with Plasma due to Gravitational Pull; use further away if at all.

If she recovers high from off stage but is still below stage before the up B, can punish with a strong attack due to up B's lack of hitbox.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Her f-smash, fair, and bair are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Rosa u-tilt and u-smash have head intangibility.

Aside from dash attack, her nair is 2 hits, fair is 5 hits, and side B is 3 hits.

Her dair can hit us under plats but is not that strong.

We can crouch under her fair while using d-tilt to stay under and hit a Luma that’s in front.

Our jab 1 starts faster than hers, allowing us to get out of scramble situations better.

Rosa and Luma's frame data is basically the same far as what you can punish OoS. Their rapid jab finisher is shield punished by f-smash. Their normals are punished by our OoS aerials and such, while her f-smash is shield punished by our own and her u-smash can be punished by shorthop Skewer OoS. Rosa jab 3, f-tilt, and ledge getup attack (-27) are punished by shorthop SPR OoS. Rosa's aerials besides fair are too safe on shield though, so reset. Luma Shot is -15 to -9, while side B (Star Bits) is -22; so shield drop tipper f-tilt can be a good punish, even if you have to do it up angled.

Her jab 3/rapid jab finisher, tilts, dash attack, smashes, side B, and ledge getup attack are shield punished by u-tilt.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (79-82%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (83-90%)

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Roy

Roy
Even

• Dash attack will beat Roy's short hop if spaced.

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Ryu

Ryu Dragon's fist meets the Dragon's wrath
Winning

• Placeholder

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Samus

Samus
Losing

Gameplan

Counterplay: The unique attack Jab 1
Samus Jab 1 is a very quick move at frame 3. Though Samus's jab 1 and 2 have an unique property: they do not connect into each other. Because of this, if they Jab 1 your shield, they will try to condition a punish from the out of shield option you do. They will typically pressure a spotdodge or a wait in shield then punish it with slow move like a timed jab 2, dash back pivot grab, or a slow normal like up tilt.

The best way to understand how to beat this move is to think of Jab 1 as a completely separate attack from Jab 2. Since when Jab 1 is almost over that's when the Samus is able to use Jab 2. So they are more likely to do another option out of Jab 1 especially since Jab 2 isn't rewarding for them besides being a get off me. The best way to punish Jab 1 out of shield is to do either a grab or nair on reaction, as Samus cannot prepare a bait into time to punish your option nor have Jab 2 come out in time. Jab 1 will also not connect into Jab 2 until you are both at high percents typically when both players have max rage. This will allow you to shield Jab 2 if you get hit by Jab 1.

Advantage

Ledgetrapping
Ridley can two frame with:

• Sourspot and sweetspot forward tilt
• Sourspot and sweetspot down tilt
• Dash attack
• Side smash
• Down smash
• Sweetspot neutral air
• Down air
• Plasma Breath
• Wing Blitz

Counterplay: Bomb Stall
If Samus is offstage, a thing they will typically do is bomb stall. Bomb stalling is a horizontal stall, that allows Samus to time grabbing a ledge and evade edge guards. Down Special allows Samus to fall a little slower and weave back and forth quickly. Keep in mind if Samus bounces off a bomb, she cannot act. Making her susceptible to attacks. The only thing Samus can do is move back and forth, so its best to force Samus to go low to make her use a double jump. This is effective as bomb stalling isn't really good at stalling vertically as Samus falls way faster than her bombs do. Once you take Samus's jump she is forced to stay around the height of ledge as if she bomb stalls a little too much, then she will not be able to recover. So she will only be allowed to roughly do 2-4 bombs before having to go to ledge. Note that she can only bring out two bombs and cannot bounce again without the bounce animation finishing. You should be intercepting her trying to get to ledge not the position where she is at. Also, do not be afraid of the bomb, as Ridley's aerials will beat it out and hit Samus. Using the bombs as a form of hitbox extension can be quite helpful for edge guards.

• While we can destroy bombs before they go off with spaced d-tilt & f-tilt, smashes, nair, bair, and maybe fair, watch the Samus so you don’t get punished by CS or grab while doing it.

Disadvantage

At Ledge
Samus AND Dark Samus can two frame with:

• Up tilt
• Down tilt
• Down smash
• Down air
• Light side special (very specific positioning though)
• Up special
• Down special

Miscellaneous and frame data

Aside from grab, d-tilt and f-smash are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 1 > f-smash, for covering a delayed getup option.

F-air train works well beating her off stage at early % due to being floaty.

As she starts up a CS or super missile, d-tilt can hit both it and her before it comes out. When CS isn’t charged halfway or higher, d-tilt clanks with it which means if you run, tipper d-tilt will hit Samus; you will clank with her CS, so no big followups, but she’s a floaty and displacing her is the first step to killing her.

Aside from jab 2 (-15), her normals can be punished by nair/u-smash/grab OoS, while her d-tilt (-26), crossup dash attack, smashes, and ledge getup attack are shield punished by u-tilt should she be at u-tilt > uair kill %. Her landing aerials besides fair & uair are usually too safe on shield for us to punish normally, so reset there.

Since normal CS's can be safe on shield, they’re still a threat up close, so better off doing pivot f-tilt or dash attack instead of shielding in her face, while mixing up your shield against full CS (is -12), though some good Samus’s never fully charge it. Her missiles are pretty minus on shield too, but wouldn't expect an OoS punish up close after since she'll then go for a grab.

• Being in the air during SPR allows Ridley to stall and avoid (during startup) small projectiles like baby CS from a shorthop. If her neutral B is charged any though, better to do a fullhop, which SPR can still whiff punish if timed & positioned right, but only do if not expecting her to jump and shoot it, a missile, or fair/zair. Unstaled SPR kills her ~140% if not a little earlier from what's been tested, though how much DI affects it remains to be seen, but Ridley being at somewhere high % with rage can help it kill even earlier depending.

Her grab is 15 frames in startup & 37 in end lag, so you can whiff punish with even something like Wing Blitz forward. Her shield grab is frame 19, so you can dash attack her shield and jump or spotdodge and you'll still avoid a shield grab in time. Zair's 40 frames of end lag can allow you to SPR after if you were stuffed out by it before. Mainly zair from a fullhop that is, as shorthop zair would cancel the end lag when they go to ground.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (94-100%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (101-108%)

There's also this Ridley-Samus matchup doc that was made; contains some of what was mentioned here, but also a lot that wasn't, and linking it here is more convenient than extracting everything from it.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_MBDK79m22WquExKpv69txqKSirsx6rT1nYVDKGVbU0/edit

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Dark Samus
Losing

No differences recorded so far.

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Sephiroth

Sephiroth

First off, you don't want to land near him with anti-airs he has like u-tilt (has intangibility on the upper body during frames 13-15), uair, and u-smash, so time your airdodge right, move off stage and recover to ledge, or while falling bait him to use one of the moves and jump so it whiffs, and punish after. With his neutral B edgeguarding, you'll want to specifically time your recovery to avoid the explosion, whether it's stalling off stage to wait it out before using up B to get to ledge (may also avoid a dair he tries after if lucky) or a timely ledge getup if you have intangibility, but then you have to anticipate what Sephiroth will do after. Don't want to get shield happy around the ledge when he can destroy it with his d-smash, and his up smash can catch you trying to ledge jump over. Need to either airdodge, spotdodge, or attack when you first get the chance. Can also check his positioning with ledge jump > dropdown double jump > fair.

Will want to shield Seph's up B whenever possible with it being similar to our own. Like with Mega Man's side B, Sephiroth's, also known as Shadow Flare, you need to not get too defensive with when it's on you and keep fighting, and don't run at Seph when he's charging it in the opposite direction, because he can make his side B do a turnaround at the end of it. It lasts for about 6 seconds when on you, but if you manage to knock Sephiroth away you can safely shield it but if not, just take the hit which is preferable to letting him grab or break your shield. Ledge intangibility can save you from being hit by Shadow Flare at the end of the move too, or avoid by rolling or airdodging at the last second. Also watch out for him throwing out the move when off stage as you're edgeguarding, and shield it when you expect it like with his fair and up B. He may use side B as a landing mixup as well if spaced, so watch out.

• When at ledge, also watch for his charged up B if he’s at center stage.

Skewer breaks his counter, and if the moves are done at the same time, Skewer will hit him before the attack comes out, but when he uses it to edgeguard, mixup how you recover. He may use counter as a landing mixup too. Also, if a Sephiroth is bold enough to use a Mega/Gigaflare on stage, you can Plasma Breath it as it’s coming your way and it’ll just explode before it gets to you. Seph’s will mainly just use their neutral B for edgeguarding, but good to know just in case. Spaced f-tilt, nair, and fair beats normal Flare too.

Although he outranges us, Ridley still has a lot of range, so he doesn’t need to approach nearly as much as other characters to get into his effective space. Our ledgetrapping and corner pressure against Seph is pretty good too if you don’t run into a ledgehop fair or his up B or side B. Other things to note-

• In OWA form, his smashes have up to 20% worth of armor. Any slightly charged f-smash of ours can beat it out.
• Can tech his counter at lower %. Plasma goes through it too, but not his side B. Normals clank with it though.
• Seph's combos aren't as strong as like a spacie's, so we can get out of disadvantage a bit easier.
• Seph has worse OoS than us in speed. Abuse this with landing nair (spaced).
• Ridley thanks to his very fast run speed & multi-jumps makes getting in not too difficult. Aerial approaches can work, as Seph's longer aerials (especially up air) are more committal than his grounded options.
• Seph is easy for Ridley to parry and anti-air. The only thing Seph really has is side B and f-air poking which can be effective sometimes but not enough to beat a grounded Ridley consistently while in the air.
• You’re way faster than Sephiroth on the ground, so you can dash shield and as you slide, and become close enough to where his bair or something no longer becomes completely spaced, which you can take advantage of. This loses to other stuff he can do like d-smash or grab and he’s still controlling the pace, but can be somewhere to start. Plus his bad grab range.

Like other sliding d-tilts, remember Seph's can crossup shield which you can punish with a quick turnaround grab or attack, like when shielding Octoslash.

• Speaking of Octoslash, if you fully shield it, can turnaround f-smash him. When it comes to him using it for off-stage recovery, plasma still beats it if quick enough, though don't want to depend on it too much since Seph fair, side B, and down B still beats it. If anything else, try to stay around the spot where our d-tilt hits him, so that if he does a ledge drop f-air, he has to get on the stage.

• That said, if they’re at max distance off stage, you’re not beating out Octoslash with anything other than Plasma. If they overshoot that’s when you can dash attack, but most of the time they won’t be overshooting.

In neutral if you jump over a projectile and expect Scintilla, do a landing SPR instead of an aerial. In the context of Seph's side B, mainly works when you jump over it and he's on the ground and tries to do down B after, but if he's doing a landing side B that's charged, still have to watch out for that.

When he’s charging his neutral B at ledge, can sometimes do an up B poke and either hit him or get back to stage past the ledge before he gets his slow projectile out. He may use shield to cancel the move though, in which case it's a neutral reset.

His side B takes 6 seconds to detonate, but visually, the orbs have to cycle around you twice. Is easier to keep track of when it’s only one or two orbs going around slower, but with three or more orbs moving faster, will have to just slowly count to 6 before dodging or shielding; while also keeping an eye on Seph himself of course. He’ll be looking for an opening while you’re partially focused on avoiding the Shadow Flare, but some retreating flickshot Plasma or something may hold him off while you do what you need to do to successfully avoid the orbs. Only good thing when having orbs on you is Seph can’t really punish a lot of poorly spaced attacks, so is not like you’ll eat an OoS punish + orb damage for being too aggro, unless the orbs go off during end lag.

Or shield, and right when he’s about to shield pressure or close in for a grab, jump away OoS and airdodge elsewhere for a reset, hopefully avoiding his attack and the orbs going in the process. Best with plats.

For Sephiroth and few others with better range than Ridley, you have to make the most of your up close options. It's one of those rare instances where your up close buttons are better because they're faster than the opponent's in this case. Seph in general for instance has the control in the long range swinging game, so you have to alternate between shielding and waiting just outside his range.

With Seph particularly, neutral is not what we're weak at. You just have to be patient when getting close to his range and find your window to punish his options, which includes trying to catch his landing bair or fair and their 30 or 23 frames of end lag with d-tilt just outside their range (he can mix up with side B & up B from above but is more reactable from that range for you to shield). You can also just turnaround d-tilt to counter his walling unless he goes grounded. If he goes aerial, you go grounded. If he's on the ground you go aerial. Shielding/parrying helps a lot against him too, especially his bair. When at the ledge, try to stay around the spot where our d-tilt hits him, so that if he does a ledge drop f-air, he has to get on the stage.

• While he can angle his f-tilt upward like ours, stuffing out shorthops and higher landings at ledge, should be able to fullhop to get around it, making it a 50/50 between that and his u-tilt. The u-tilt only hits directly above him, so can get in on his blind spot and attack from diagonally above with an aerial, tho have to time it due to the intangibility his u-tilt has on frames 13-15, so you can hit during end lag. He has u-smash to cover all around him above, but it's much more committal and reactable. Same with his uair which takes a bit of time to come out, and so you can bait him to use it by either slowing your landing, jump when he's about to use it, or airdodge through, as it has a bit more end lag than his fair & bair.

• If he gets you in a tech chase, don't techroll toward him if far away or he'll get you with side B. If close to him though, can techroll through him, possibly causing him to whiff a d-smash or something which you can then punish. If he gets you with orbs, another possible way to avoid them going off aside from the earlier mentioned methods, is try to grab him and pummel, and if you happen to time your throw to take advantage of the invincibility frames, the orbs shouldn't hurt you when they detonate; or at the very least reduce the damage depending on how many you had spinning around you.

• For a bit more clarification, Sephiroth can have a bad disadvantage at times. He just has a lot of mixups, but not really when he doesn't have Wing. He's really easy to ledgetrap, edgeguard, and it's even better that he dies so early because of his weight if you play your cards right. Again, what really helps him is Wing. Without it he's really easy to edgeguard.

Octoslash is easy to ledge trump (shorthop > airdodge down into ledge or fullhop while facing ledge > down angle Wing Blitz to snap to it) and punish. Off stage nair as well as a timely down angle f-tilt beats out every Blade Dash (up B 1) recovery to ledge. When you see a Seph up B, count to 2, and if it's still charging, then it's Octoslash. Bair may not always be a true ledge trump punish, but trumping will still make him have to regrab ledge which opens up all sorts of punishes with less to no ledge intangibility.

Blade Dash is 25 frames of startup, while Octoslash is 36 frames.

SPR is better at whiff punishing those with longer range than us (Seph, Belmont, etc) than in other matchups, since SPR has more range than Ridley's tilts/aerials, in addition to those characters having more end lag in their attacks.

Even with Octoslash, you can be above Sephiroth off stage, burn one jump to get to him (positioning yourself to be above and in front of him), and nair. If he tries to go through you from below, fastfall nair or something similar works.

If he tries to hit you anyway with up B as a last ditch effort to at least get your stock, you are in front of him anyways, so he can only send you towards the stage. That's why it's important to make sure that even if you are above him or near him, you are still in front of him. If he knocks you sideways toward or under the stage with up B, just be ready to tech; same if he uses off-stage Scintilla as a mixup, but can usually see when he's going for it and not attack.

Another reason to be above & in front of him is for when he uses the multi-jumps he gets from OWA (usually putting him above ledge) to get to ledge or stage. Nair him similarly to deny him this, and don't try to hit him from ledge since he can airdodge from above to avoid a 2 frame or grounded anti-air. After you nair him this way, aside from trying another similar nair above & in front, can either fall to ledge and try to quickly ledge-drop bair his up B, or quickly get in plasma edgeguard position (can ledge roll and turn around) to fireball him after. Half charge at most with how quickly he gets back still.

• Unless the stage has plats, angled Octoslash can hit you through the stage in plasma range at times when you’re covering ledge, so just be aware.

• If they try to get cheeky with using up B to quickly grab ledge after you barely knock them off stage, you can also kinda ruin their day with run a off f-air; usually when they're at lower altitude, whereas if they're still aligned with the stage when knocked off, they can stuff you out with their own f-air before you get yours out as you run off. If successful, he may either be gimped afterward, or will need to be knocked back again with bair or something, depending.

• If positioned well diagonally above him, can also get an SPR on him before his up B comes out followed by a jump release, usually gimping him after (assuming he already used jumps), and if you don't go too far down with the SPR, can still make it back with your jumps + up B. This doesn't work though if he recovers high with his wing jumps since even if you try to double jump and SPR, he'll airdodge to ledge before it comes out.

• If you knock him off stage around mid % and he comes back from a nair edgeguard as described earlier, he'll usually be around u-tilt > uair kill % at that point, so can go for it then.

Otherwise just remember you want to rely more on corner pressuring him than ledgetrapping to maintain advantage. If he’s nearing or at ledge, can either let him get past ledge to the corner and d-tilt him or something (and when juggling, just remember to shield the landing side B or down B mixups and shield punish his dair), or fullhop to punish ledge drop fair and such. Jumping above him when covering roll distance can also be good at covering his ledge drop and ledge jump options. D-smash is good at covering ledge drop habits, particularly laggy ones like up B. Otherwise, f-tilt or shield up close to cover ledge drops and mess up his spacing.

Suffice to say, edgeguarding Sephiroth off stage is a mixup.

• In neutral, Ridley can plasma Seph from afar like with Mega Man & Min-Min, and can crouch to avoid rising shorthop aerials nearby and whiff punish.

• In disadvantage, if Sephiroth is initiating an up-smash when Ridley’s trying to land, don't land right behind him but further away due to the move's horizontal range.

• SPR Seph on plats if worried about him scintilla countering our attacks from underneath (i.e. u-tilt), or shield scintilla while under plat and then juggle. Likewise, still shield his dair when under a platform.

Apart from everything else said on Sephiroth, despite what all he does better than us, his light weight and inability to scrap up close gives him more room for error than you might think. In a lot of ways it’s similar to fighting Game & Watch, except instead of having to stay at a set distance, Seph forces you to apply better up close pressure; jab, retreating nair, and such.

• Although you want to be in his face scrapping, Seph’s superior range means he’ll destroy you if you try and force your way in aggressively and ignorantly. Take neutral slow, staying just outside his range, observing his habits and tendencies, and then running in when an opening appears.

• If using plasma from afar to force an option/approach, want to mix in fullhop plasma to account for Seph side B mostly transcending it.

Seph u-tilt hits top Battlefield plat, so watch out.

Remaining miscellaneous and frame data

Ridley 2-frames:

• F-tilt
• D-smash
• Nair (sweetspot only)
• Dair
• Plasma Breath
• Wing Blitz (forward/down angle)

Sephiroth 2-frames:

• D-smash (ground variant only)
• Nair
• Dair
• Megaflare/Gigaflare
• Octaslash

His f-smash, u-smash, Scintilla, and Octoslash are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

His normals are punished by at least nair OoS, while u-smash up close is punished by Rid f-smash, or u-smash OoS. His d-tilt, f-smash, and blade dash up B are punished by shorthop SPR OoS. His landing aerials besides dair are too safe though, so reset there unless they're poorly spaced (said dair is u-smash punishable). If you happen to shield side B, neutral B, or missed counter up close, it's punished by our aerials/grab and u-smash OoS. Can f/d-smash for Octoslash crossup as mentioned above, or turnaround Skewer or Wing Blitz Forward with how punishable it is.

Jab 1/2/3, most of u-tilt, crossup d-tilt, dash attack, smashes, landing dair, point-blank flare, up B (both versions), missed counter (4 hits & -25), and ledge getup attack are shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Shield and OoS attack plenty in this matchup, while avoiding smashes unless shield punishing with your own f-smash.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (79-86%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (80-95%)

Watch out for him having OWA at these % ranges, allowing his smashes to armor through your u-tilt. To avoid this, whiff punish and u-tilt him, or setup a tech chase prior to the % ranges and if he ends up off stage, ledgetrap with u-tilt.

Major credit to smub, Zant, and the collective Ridcord for a good chunk of this information. Also credit to Kyoki on the 2-frame info as well as the parts on how to properly ledgetrap Sephiroth.

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Sheik

Sheik

Neutral

Sheik will run all over you if given the chance. Whiffs can lead to a world of hurt, so have to be very careful about hitbox placements, and since Sheik’s moves have little end lag, whiff punish can be difficult (especially her landing aerials), so you’ll have to use a combination of reads & conditioning to keep your wall up.

Plasma charge gets destroyed by needles, but plasma itself isn’t useless because there’s a few gimmicks to the move. If using in the air, it'll travel diagonally downward and instead of interacting with projectiles they'll pass through them. You can abuse small plasma charges from jumps or platforms to trade damage with her needles, and if she finds herself in the air you can also pressure her landing with plasma, as she won't be able to effectively use needles. Just be cautious of bouncing fish (down B).

She has lots of moves that are safe on block. You’ll have to be very careful about what you punish. You will basically have to respect all her landing aerials. To avoid that, you can out-space her moves with tilts, but just be aware of how much stage you are giving up and don’t back yourself into a corner.

Because of how low Ridley crouches during d-tilt, Sheik’s fair which should easily punish it will whiff if buffered OoS. This means you can use it much closer than before and it’s much safer.

Sheik also has the best dash shield in the game, so be careful in where/when you attack. Her biggest weakness is her hitboxes, so control the mid range with your bigger hitboxes.

When getting combo'd, get used to being sent across the stage and possibly edgeguarded, particularly from her f-air strings. DI away still helps get out of this along with the use of airdodging. Still, she can react and punish, so try not to panic when getting combo'd and understand her advantage state.

Another thing about her uair, aside from dragdown combos, it can lead into a kill confirm if she f-smashes you at the end of said combo, so get out of it beforehand or nair at a diagonal angle. Her uair combo's into up smash on plats, so watch out there too.

Needles cover a little more than half the stage. Aside from what was already said on how it advances her movement, try to understand how she uses it to her advantage for your window to counter with falling plasma.

Even if you nairdodge past her down B off stage, it's a frametrap into an aerial. Her most reliable kill confirm on stage though is f-tilt > uair at real high %.

Another thing about her down B, she can only use it once while airborne. Like ZSS Flip Jump, can also be used to get out of disadvantage but is more reactable, whether she uses it when cornered or at the ledge.

She can use all her aerials as a get-off-me, so watch her habits there during your advantage state. Also remember we can't grab her during crawl.

Like Zelda, can 2-frame her up B with off-stage nair at ledge. Aside from ledgetrap punishing her down B or using a nair/fair against it off stage, can ledge drop bair against down B if she uses it to recover that way.

Disadvantage

Always DI f-throw out. DI in will allow it to combo into down B at kill %, but with DI out it will never kill you. Just DI everything out in general, messes with lots of Sheik combos.

When trying to get up from ledge, watch out for nair > bouncing fish at 100-120% and mix up your timings; use SPR from ledge if she favors nair OoS. Ledge is also the best place for Sheik to attempt reads and use her smashes to kill at more reasonable %, so you have to be cautious of your option choices and not get predictable; you don’t want to eat an f-smash and die at 100%. Eat grabs if you have to which is usually not the worst thing in the world. Use your survivability to watch for patterns. Sheik’s will use burst grenade (side B) to catch ledge drops, waiting, or neutral/attack getups, so be aware of how much ledge invincibility you have left and react accordingly.

For off stage recovering, aerial needles travel at a diagonal angle which Sheik can use as a wall between you and the stage. Their low knockback can really put you in a bad spot if you’ve used your jumps and get hit off stage. Grounded or aerial can be used to catch SPR being used to recover, both of which can combo into down B for a kill if close enough. Vanish can also kill stupid early and will beat Wing Blitz forward or SPR to ledge, so be careful.

Important thing to note about needles, since they’re transcendent, they will pass right through Wing Blitz, so Sheik can use them towards the stage to hit you and combo into down B for a stage spike. Be ready to tech and mix up Wing Blitz timings, and save jumps.

Juggling is the least oppressive form of disadvantage for us against her because the threat of you dying is lower. She can’t directly challenge you in the air, but she sure can catch you whiffing or landing. Good management of jumps and airdodge is key here. You’ll have to rely on movement and position more than aerials, unless of course the Sheik is being over-aggressive. In that case, nair away. Sheik can put a uair into the sky surprisingly fast; this is her most threatening option, as it’s the only one that will directly kill you. This is what you’ll want to use aerials to swat, like nair'ing her uair blindspot.

Her u-smash has arm intangibility during frames 8-15, so another reason not to land near her aside from uair unless in a position where you can challenge the latter.

Advantage

Watch out for her ledge options like ledge drop up B, bouncing fish, and burst grenade. The grenade you only have to worry about if standing too close, and bouncing fish can punish plasma charge and whiffed moves. Bait bouncing fish off stage ideally. Treat the up B like Zelda's. Also watch out for ledge drop aerials, but stay at d-tilt range and charged plasma spacing.

For off stage, bouncing fish is something you can punish; you can go off and nair/fair it if they’re predictable with the timing, or if they’re going to try and hit you on ledge, a simple run back f-smash will make short work of their stock. While bouncing fish is punishable on stage if it misses or is shielded, still have to act quick before she gets away like with ZSS flip jump, or it's a neutral reset.

For juggling, Sheik has many potential landing mixups that you have to be ready to deal with. These include double jumps, bouncing fish, up B, landing aerials, dair, airdodge, and fastfall.

Her landing aerials will be very safe if you block them (unless they space poorly), so you should try and whiff punish or challenge them directly. U-tilt, nair, and uair can do pretty well.

Her dair is surprisingly fast and when combined with bouncing fish and jumps, can be tricky to follow. They’ll normally use this after baiting you to whiff so it will hit you and relieve pressure. Pace yourself and don’t let them trick you.

Bouncing fish can completely swap their air momentum, like an airdodge they can quickly act from. Abuse Ridley’s amazing ground speed and reactively chase. Just be mindful that they can airdodge after it still.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Be quick to punish her u-tilt. Is 2 hits, 9 frames of end lag, and -11 on shield.

Sheik's up smash requires about 2 SDI inputs, which has 19 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's. Same for her uair hits except they have 3 hitlag frames for you to perform them.

Her u-smash and up B are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Sheik's rapid jab finisher is shield punishable with dash attack or dash grab, and shorthop OoS into SPR. Her normals are punished by at least nair OoS (some punished by our other OoS aerials and shield grab), while u-smash when shielded up close is punished by Rid f-smash. Her d-smash & ledge getup attack (-25) are punished by shorthop SPR OoS. Her landing aerials besides dair are too safe on shield though as mentioned, so either challenge them directly or reset if shielded. Same with burst grenade. Vanish you punish like you would Zelda's up B, point-blank needles are OoS aerial/grab punished, and bouncing fish as mentioned is punishable with whatever on shield if you react quick enough and catch her landing; even if she airdodges. Can try shorthop skewer OoS or Wing Blitz forward to catch her landing in that instance.

Rapid jab finisher, dash attack, u-smash, d-smash, down B, up B, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should she be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (75-80%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (81-89%)

Major credit to the Ridcord JMU doc for a good chunk of this info.

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Shulk

Shulk No Matter the Future, it's Death
Even

Gameplan

Even without monado, have to respect Shulk's edgeguarding. His u-tilt has great range when trying to recover from above, his f-tilt is quick and deadly, and his d-smash is the worst case of avoiding a spinning sword move you'll have to deal with.

His up B is a decent OoS option, has 2 hits, and can punish if you're standing at the ledge during his recovery; would plasma from mid range like usual or 2-frame. He's also a slow faller when in disadvantage from above, and his side B can be predictable when trying to land. He can also be vulnerable to zoning like other swordies but plasma should be used sparingly, since Shulk fair/side B can just cut through it from high and jump art just lets him skip that whole process.

As the name implies, his side B does more damage if it hits you in the back. Also respect the shield damage of side B regardless of the monado art active. His f-smash is long & powerful and can be angled.

Jump Art (green): jump +, defense -

• Will use this to recover, to go off stage and edgeguard you, or to counter your grounded plasma. As soon as he gets back to stage, he'll generally try to switch to a different art due to its drawback.

Speed Art (blue): speed +, damage dealt & jump height -

• Think of this as Mythra but deadlier. Watch out for low % combos and be on your toes. May want to be in the air when he slashes along the ground, since his jump is subpar. That also allows him to be gimped easier when off stage. There's also getting on a platform and camping him until his monado time runs out.

Shield Art (yellow): Reduced knockback/damage taken & more shield health, lower jump height & speed and less damage & knockback dealt

• While he's a tank here with more defense and shield health, can either go for grabbing more with how he'll rely more on shield, or rapid jab and plasma him since he'll be pretty slow. Lower level Shulk's will use this art when they're at high % and scared of getting KO'd, but higher level Shulk's know it's ineffective since all you have to do is throw projectiles he can't dodge, rack up combos he can't avoid, or gimp him off stage. Those players will use it to break out of combos or protect their landing.

Buster Art (purple): More damage dealt, more damage taken

• Shulk may also use at the beginning of a match to perform high damage combos that he couldn't do otherwise. Watch out for grab & d-throw which hurts with this on. Also be careful with your shield here, as this art can break it faster like with his tilts and especially d-smash. He becomes a glass cannon on the flipside, so camp and plasma, etc when possible.

Smash Art (red): More knockback dealt, more knockback taken

• While this art makes his shield damage low, relying on shield is risky due to grab, with his throws alone killing around ledge at high %. Can wait out this art which lasts 8 seconds (such as camping at the ledge but watch out for his f-air), or use increased knockback against him like with SPR which kills him earlier than it otherwise would (~100%). All other moves kill ~40% earlier.

Is also important to know what they want to do during art cooldown.

• With the exception of jab, u-smash, throws, and getup attacks, all of his moves that use the monado have a sweetspot on the blade itself and a sourspot on the beam, like Roy's reverse tipper mechanic.

Miscellaneous and frame data

@ 8:19, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qGghg1CJhg

@ 8:38, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5PwC_0KboA

F-smash and u-smash are 2 hits, d-smash is 5 hits. Uair and dair are 2 hits.

Dair hits us under plats, so still shield or avoid.

Respect his ledge getup attack range.

His jab 3, smashes, dair, and side B are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Our jab 1 comes out faster than his and his ground game is worse, so while it's not recommended to be close to him, if you end up being there, worse for him.

His jab 3 is f-smash punished. His normals are all punished by our OoS aerials and such, and his f-smash is -35/-36. His u-smash & side B are punished by SH SPR OoS. Wouldn't try to shield punish d-smash though due to its multi-hits, and his landing aerials are too safe, so reset. Side B can be f-smash shield punished from in front, and slightly less punishable when shielded from behind.

His jab 2/3, f-tilt, u-tilt, smashes, side B, and ledge GUA are u-tilt shield punished.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (87-90%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (91-102%)

U-tilt knocks too high during the red Smash art. His up B landing low profiles.

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Simon & Richter

Simon

The Belmonts might be more manageable on a Battlefield stage where you have plats to avoid their projectiles more easily as well as doing plat setups of your own. Regardless, axe throw shouldn't be hitting you when you can either cancel it out with nair, timingly advance towards Belmont and it misses, or double jump over if feeling bold. Holy cross you can react to by buffering nair similarly or either shield or jump over as you slowly approach (or react with plasma/jumping plasma so they have a projectile to watch out for), though like with Link boomerangs, watch out for it on the way back (if you grab and d-throw them at the right time, the invincibility frames of d-throw will protect you from the returning projectile, and can pummel while waiting). Holy water just try to shield as much as you can and SDI out of it when hit. The holy water ledge trap of theirs can easily be avoided by just ledge jumping over them, and the water itself doesn't do much damage when you're at ledge.

For their whip itself, mainly remember they can angle their f-smash up and down, so don’t be too obvious with shorthop approaches and ledge stalling. Their fair and bair they can angle as well, which is sort of a problem when trying to catch their landing with a spaced d-tilt since they may still be able to hit you even when crouched (along with maybe dropping an axe or holy water as mixups from above). Their u-tilt doesn't have a diagonal blind spot for you to get in on, but their u-smash and uair does, though still have to watch out for axe and uppercut mixups when getting in on them that way.

For some more on holy water, he can't B-reverse it. You can pummel to disable holy water and get a normal d-throw punish by doing so; just have to buffer 2 pummels like you normally would with later % grabs. If you buffer even one pummel it gives you a good time to react to the positioning of holy water, deciding whether you want to pummel again to disable the projectile or d-throw to get a combo going. If you aren't confident you can grab though, a drift in and out nair will work as a punish since it's disjointed enough to escape from holy water. Also, if holy water hits your shield point blank, you can grab Belmonts before they can act.

Otherwise, remember the spacings and openings + maneuverabilities in which you can plasma in neutral (while he's camping with his own projectiles) that makes it easier to approach him. Mainly do said approaches with pivot f-tilt and extended dash cancel d-tilt; while I mentioned the ways in which you can do so from the air, that's mainly if you're forced to like when you've been launched.

That aside, they're easy to gimp with their poor recovery. A tough matchup for sure with their range, but still more forgivable than other zoners.

We can punish Belmont's f-tilt with d-tilt OoS after they f-tilt your shield 3 times. On the 3rd if you shield you can d-tilt immediately but if you get hit with the sweetspot of f-tilt (the ball at the end) you can only punish after 4 f-tilts.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Holy water requires about 2 SDI inputs, which has 5 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

His smashes are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Our jab 1 starts faster than theirs, allowing us to get out of scramble situations better.

Rapid jab skewer punish also applies, shorthop skewer OoS in this case. His dash attack (6 hits and -26 on shield) crosses you up when shielded, so turn around quick and punish accordingly. Simon's other normals besides f-tilt are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab up close. His jab 2/rapid jab finisher, dash attack, smashes, and ledge getup attack (-25) are also shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %. D-tilt 1 and 2 is even punished by Rid f-smash when shielded, and his f-smash is shield punished by most of our burst options. His landing aerials besides nair (7 hits) and dair are too safe on shield though, so reset there. Axe is safe on shield which you'll mostly want to be avoiding anyway (swat it away with an aerial if expecting it when you're doing a jump-in), partly because of its shield damage.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (93-99%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (100-107%)

Major credit to Sapphire on how we can punish Belmont f-tilt, and to Kyoki on the specific info for holy water.

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Snake

Snake !
Even

Gameplan

Grenade State

• Snake can pull the grenade in the ground and in the air. To hold the grenade, he will have to hold down special.
• Takes 21 frames to pull grenade before he can act.
• The grenade comes out frame 1 of pull.
• Which ever way Snake pulls it he is stuck in that direction. Though he can b-reverse to change his direction.
• Snake can walk, dash, jump, shield, grab, and throw grenade while in his grenade pull state. Snake cannot airdodge.
• Snake will not be locked in shield if he presses it when he is holding the special button after being in grenade state.
• When Snake shields, the grenade will drop behind him. He can still pick up the item in that position when letting go of shield. Snake will have to suffer shield drop frames (11 frames) to grab grenade as an item.
• Snake can throw the toss the grenade forward in three ways:
  • A normal toss by pressing neutral, up, or down directions. Throws on frame 8. Takes 27 total frames.
  • A smash toss by pressing forward. Throws on frame 10. Takes 31 total frames.
  • A slow toss by pressing back. Throws on frame 9. Takes 25 total frames.
• Each toss will do around 2.0% to 3.7% damage depending on the speed and the toss in 1v1s.
• Explosion will do around 10.0% to 11.5% damage depending on the speed of the toss in 1v1s.
• Grenade takes 2.5 seconds before it explodes on it's own.
• Can only have two grenades out at once.

Grenade Item

• Follows rules as an item and isn't locked to the rules of grenade state.
• Item tosses do not suffer the 11 frames of shield drop. This goes for when Snake picks up grenade too.
• Holds items on his right hand. The same hand he pulls grenade out.
• Will hold grenade over head when he shields. Use low sweeps!

Notes

• Snake loses his double jump if he uses up special, however he can cancel cypher by pressing down then can use an aerial, a special, or an airdodge.
• Dash attack will beat Snake's short hop if spaced.
• Cannot autocancel nair or fair from short hop or full hop.
• Can autocancel up air and down air from short hop and full hop.
• Can only autocancel bair from full hop.
• Can double jump out of a full hop bair or dair.

Neutral

Ridley's goal is to get Snake either above him or off stage, as always nair is a great tool for the job. However, the most important tool will be plasma and d-tilt. Plasma makes dealing grenades leagues easier and can help prevent slithery Snake's from making us play their game because plasma makes grenades bounce off them, helping Ridley avoid the spam of nades coming down range. It should also be noted that Snake's grenade is 21 frames long; frame 1 pulls the pin while the next 20 are spent in end lag.

Keeping Snake in d-tilt range is probably the best place for Ridley to chill because d-tilt sends snake in a nasty angle for Ridley to abuse however he pleases, especially if both grenades are somewhere else in the field (Snake's grenades last 2.5 seconds after the pin has been pulled), leaving Snake with no option but to enjoy the hellhole in punishment he will endure from Ridley. For once up throw can be seen as a viable throw in this situation due to how much Snake hates being above people and Ridley's love of having foes above him.

Snake's dash attack may seem terrifying at first but with only the first half of the roll having a hitbox, shielding it should leave you with plenty of time to punish it. Also note the arm intangibility on frames 5-12.

Disadvantage

The first thing to do in disadvantage is to get to ledge asap before Snake pulls out the beep machine. If you know you won't be able to make it, see if you're able to go low as the hitbox for up B will prevent nikita from blowing up if they hit head-on. Other than that, use airdodges and all your knowledge on recovering vs counter characters to get back to the ledge as fast as you possibly can. Nairing the nikita is honestly a way to prevent it from going boom on you. Other than that, be ready to tech if expected to be hit by it.

You made it to ledge, but now it gets hard. Snake will probably have himself set up a nice volley of hell for you to handle, however it can be done. Typically Snake will be mashing up smash for the life of him, but good timing will allow you to getup attack and stop him from doing it, along with the i-frames preventing the mortar from skadooshing you. Ledge jump fair beats a lot of attempts and keeps you safe from mortar boom. Sharking can work but you have to care about any grenades near him.

Another option is attacking the mortar with ledge drop nair. Then there's jump while drifting away. Typically this will work in most situations unless Snake is literally hugging the ledge (SPR would make quick work of this position). Rolling is a good option if you can get your timing down as to avoid the up smash hitbox. However, the danger of this option is increased if there is a C4 behind Snake.

The best way to react to C4 in general is wait until you hear Snake say "There!" before picking your defensive option. Also remember Snake's deadly up tilt when trying to land.

Advantage

For going off stage and hitting him, bair is our best option but fair gives us the dumbest 50/50 in the game on Snake. Hit him with all 3 hits and force him to tech the stage spike or deliberately miss the 3rd hit and watch him airdodge to his death.

Aside from that, Ridley's advantage vs Snake consists of trying to get rid of that obnoxious sypher up B (has 8% armor) and juggling the hell out of Snake while he's above us.

Snake trying to recover low to ledge with cypher is easy bait for f-tilt and d-smash due to cypher extending the hitbox of these moves and making 2-framing a total breeze. Drop down bair is also viable due to bair's damage being able to obliterate through Snake's cypher armor (fair can do this as well but requires all 3 sweet spots). It should be noted that Snake can airdodge up before grabbing ledge to help avoid 2-framing. This also lets cypher go up, possibly hitting Ridley during d-smash.

Going high as Snake also isn't the best thing to do with Ridley having great tools for this. Ridley’s triple jumps allow us to quickly gain height and potentially meet up with Snake in the air for a tasty bair. Wing Blitz is also viable in this situation which can let you in for some cheeky and easy kills vs Snake. However, it must be noted that a good read is needed to pull this off.

Snake has a few options he can go for while being high on Ridley, but all of them can be handled. B-reversing grenade allows Snake to quickly change momentum while falling but Ridley's zoom speed can let him quickly catch up to Snake. Snake can drop C4 and double jump explode with it to surprise Ridley, but this can be dealt with by using your eyes. B-reversing C4 is another option which should be considered.

Another option of Snake is to go for dair which is frame 3, but this can be beaten with options such as u-tilt, u-smash and shielding which leaves Snake open for a huge punish. Finally, Snake can go for neutral airdodge before landing which Ridley could just predict for a hard punish.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Snake multihits- nair & dair (4 hits)

His jab 3, fair, and dair are mostly whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Snake's jab 3 is punished by our f-smash when shielded, so keep in mind when he's at high %. His dash attack will cross you up when shielded, so quickly turn around and punish accordingly. His DA is punished by shorthop SPR OoS, while his jab 3, f-tilt 2, crossup dash attack, and ledge getup attack are shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

His other normals are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab, as are his landing aerials surprisingly; can u-smash OoS for the latter. His C4 is + on shield though, but still preferable to getting hit by it.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (93-97%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (98-108%)

Credit to the Ridcord JMU section for a certain chunk of this info.

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Sonic

Sonic Space Pirate meets the blue blur
Slightly Losing

Differences Between Spin Attacks

To visually tell the difference between Sonic's side special (Spin Dash) and down special (Spin Charge), look at the attack's effects upon being charged. Side special will have a spark effect surrounding Sonic while down special will have a ripple effect surrounding Sonic. Neutral Special Homing Attack will have a whirlpool effect. Here are the differences of side special and down specials as attacks:

• Spin Dash (Side Special)
  • If not charged (where it glows gold), it will do a hop at the start.
  • Can be charged for 6 seconds.
  • A single hit attack.
  • Most of the time will stop in front of a shield unless its fully charged.
  • Sonic will jump upward once pressing jump.
  • Grounded release has 6 frames of invulnerability.
• Spin Charge (Down Special)
  • Will not hop after any charge.
  • Can be charged for 11 seconds.
  • A multihit attack.
  • Will always cross up shield.
  • Sonic will jump at an arc once pressing jump.
  • TEST if this move transcends plasma breath
  • Aerial variant will lose its hitbox if Sonic is not going fast enough.

Gameplan

Notes:

• Ridley's down tilt is 1 frame away from being a true punish out of shield; So if you think the Sonic is going to try a movement option (like jump or dash) instead of shielding, then down tilt should be able to punish them. At close and medium range, back air and full momentum neutral air should be able to punish sonic Forward Smash.

Sonic may also charge his homing attack (neutral B). It charges longer, deals more damage, and is effective against projectiles & shield depending on how much health it has. When bracing yourself for it, don't roll or spot-dodge too soon, as he'll punish on reaction. If your shield's still big, then can hold it to block, but if it's small, then you're likely to get poked, in which case it's best to dodge the homing special right when Sonic attacks. Requires some timing and practice, but if you get it, he has lots of lag when he hits the ground and can do a good punish on him. If he uses neutral B to ledgetrap, airdodge on stage.

Ridley's punish options for homing attack on shield:

• Up Smash (front)- True if Sonic is positioned correctly. Works better when he hits your shield from above.
• Fair/bair- True for most if not all homing attack spacings.
• Uair- If he's literally right above you.

For Sonic's grab game, up throw leads to combos at early and mid %, d-throw where he quickly flips and does a spin slam on you leads into a tech chase (don't techroll back towards him), and b-throw kills around ledge at high %. Sonic can also start a combo with landing nair and d-tilt like us.

His f-tilt is fast, reaches farther than you may expect, and does plenty knockback (angles up too). Can bait this if he uses it often. His up B is also a good combo breaker on stage, so be prepared to end combos a little early just in case.

He can airdodge and attack after his up B, but is possible to edgeguard him, like when hitting at the end of his spring jump.

Disadvantage

Sonic can two frame Ridley or pressure his ledge hang with these attacks:

• Down Tilt - This attack will allow for a decent window to get follow ups that can make it harder for Ridley to get back to stage.
• Forward Smash - This attack can kill Ridley around 100% and anything later. Sonic's might use this as a way to finish the stock. If it fails then they might still be able to ledgetrap.
• Down Smash - Another smash attack that can kill Ridley, but is way more committal than forward smash. The opponent most likely will not use this move.
• Back Air - As it's technically possible to two frame Ridley with this move, Sonic will still have to time the hitbox perfectly. The attack would have to come out as he lands, position it into the inner hitbox, and wait until Ridley's animation to pull a little higher. Almost impossible to two frame with.
• Down Air - Able to two frame while on stage, its way less practical than just using a grounded option to challenge Ridley.
• Spring Jump - The easiest option to cover space around ledge, though unless Sonic can catch the start up of Ridley's recovery, it will only stall Ridley grabbing ledge.

Most of these two frame options can be beaten out by doing a beefy up special (especially Sonic's spring).

Also respect his edgeguarding, between fair, bair, dair spike (tech it), uair, homing attack, and spring (up B) which may gimp if not careful like after an airdodge. His recovery's good, so can go deeper than you'd might expect. Watch as he comes out, don't do anything predictable like an immediate jump, and mix up your recovery.

Advantage

When Sonic's off stage, mostly try to stick to ledgetrapping. Don't just spam f-tilt or nair and hope it works; be patient and react accordingly to Sonic.

You can attempt to edgeguard, as he can't contest us with any attacks, but if you mess up, expect to die since he can reverse it easily.

Sonic can airdodge our combos at 0%, though will usually opt not to but is a option to keep in mind. He has plenty options to mixup what he can do, his light weight and small hurtbox makes most combos not go up to very high %; d-throw > u-tilt at 25-50% will trap him into a grab or hit him with u-tilt.

Attempting to juggle him is mostly pointless unless he has already used his jump or up B (can't use specials or jump after using up B).

For Sonic's options in disadvantage, he has a frame 2 airdodge, frame 4 spring (many Sonic's like to up B past the ledge and surprise the opponent with a bair which you can space around and punish), dair mixup, and all his specials will mixup his movement with homing attack stalling him in the air, spin dash doing a small hop with invulnerability and then charging right forward, with him being able to cancel spin dash/spin charge with a jump to move around.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Can exploit grabbing ledge when they’re off stage so that when they commit to Homing Attack, they just shoot straight into the lower blast zone.

If they like to do an uncharged Homing Attack at first, just spot dodge. Whiff punishing through that will force them to start charging it and mix up their timings.

Shorthop SPR beats Spin Dash from the corner.

One thing that lets you know easier when Sonic is using spindash instead of spincharge is that as he is spindashing, he moves a little backwards, while in spincharge, he stays in place.

Sonic's dash attack as expected crosses up on shield, but is pretty punishable.

When he has to recover from high, he’s stuck in a momentum since his air acceleration is bad; just have to watch out for his aerials if you go out to attack him.

If he doesn't charge his homing attack for long and goes straight at you, can punish with f-smash but mainly as a read. Likewise, if he misses a homing attack and slams against the floor, is good to know to skewer punish it.

Wait until hearing the sound effect of their up B and then f-tilt soon after; not immediately but a bit after. That's how you 2 frame him.

His u-smash is invulnerable on frames 14-18, side B on frames 17-22 during chargeup, and up B on frames 5-7.

Sonic multihits- u-tilt (2 hits), u-smash (~6 hits), fair (~5 hits)

His d-smash is whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

His normals are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab. His jab 3 is -26 & can be shorthop SPR OoS punished, while dash attack is -38 on shield and so can be punished with shorthop turnaround skewer OoS, etc. Likewise his u-smash is -29 which is f-smash punishable, and d-smash is -34 which is skewer punishable with some shield pushback (shorthop skewer OoS may be better). His landing aerials besides fair and dair are too safe on shield though, so reset there. Same goes for spin dash (side B) which is + on everything, but shielding’s still better than being hit by it. Homing attack however can be from -22 to -16 on shield, and spin charge (down B) is -33 unless it’s the jump aerial version which is -1.

His jab 3, f-tilt, u-tilt, dash attack, smashes, possibly homing attack (but have to move in with how it bounces off shield a little), grounded spin charge, and ledge getup attack (-27) are also shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (81-84%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (85-92%)

Credit to the Ridcord JMU section for a certain chunk of this info.

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Sora

Sora

Skewer comes out before Sora's counter, but can still counter it if timed right. Like K Rool, his only works in front, not from behind. Projectiles get reflected behind him, not back at you. If he counters horizontal Wing Blitz, can airdodge through the counter and continue to ledge as normal, though may not always work. He may use counter as a landing mixup.

When he spams with Firaga by mashing B, our rapid jab & d-tilt are good consistent clank options, and full charged plasma can get through to him, although barely. Another way is to shield & jump in (OoS) occasionally, and shield again when you think they’ll stop fireballing and use Thundaga and punish with an OoS option. He may also go for a dash grab after Firaga if close enough.

As far as such projectile spam goes, just ask yourself what are they accomplishing by doing that. Keeping you away, but should they want to do that? No, they want to be able to press buttons in your face, so just don't be bothered by it. It'll interrupt your flow only as much as you let it.

A lot of zoning boils down to unnerving the opponent. If you're not unnerved then they accomplish nothing.

Always be aware against zoners or players that are using non-zoners as zoners that their job is not to keep you out but to let you in in a way they can punish. If you don't fall for the pitfall traps they lay out then their leverage against you becomes nothing.

That all said, when shielding Thundaga, be aware that he can run up and grab during the last hit, so evade accordingly. Delay your recovery to ledge if he has Thundaga active.

If Blizzaga is active, be more wary about throwing out long range hitboxes (d-tilt, etc) than you otherwise would in neutral since even the tip of those moves can allow him to freeze you if he's close enough. That said, if you use a spaced d-tilt and it's not close enough to hit him, it may bait Sora to throw out Blizzaga, making it whiff. When frozen by it, mix up your mashing speed. At high %, may want to mash out slower so that you don't pop out right when Sora uses his up B to KO you and instead break free after that move is done. After the ice though, some Sora's also go for a landing uair since even if you mash out slower, they can still punish, so gotta mix up the timing.

His f-tilt, nair, fair, and side B can hit up to three times which you can wait out or punish, though remember to tilt your shield when it isn’t at full health or you’ll get shield poked by those multi-hit moves. Keep in mind too when shielding side B, a good Sora will move away, making it harder to punish, but if you catch on to the pattern, can still predict and punish. Otherwise when shielding, be sure to shield all the way through long lasting hitboxes such as his 6-hit u-tilt.

Ridley down angle f-tilt at ledge works surprisingly well when Sora uses side B off stage in an attempt to recover, and a burst option of ours can even punish a side B that's waited out on stage. If near him and expecting him to do a side B, can do a retreating autocancel nair when in range to hit him, followed by a flickshot option like plasma.

When being juggled or just anytime he launches you above him, be ready to airdodge or get to ledge at the right time to avoid his up B finisher or his juggle game altogether, but mixup the timing of how you do it so as to not become predictable or just simply when you anticipate his up B as he gets in position for it. Should be noted too that even if you airdodge his up B whether from the air or ground, he can still use his side B after up to three times like usual, so be ready to shield it right after the up B. Also if you airdodge land near him, keep an eye on which of the three spells he has active and react accordingly. Can try to DI/SDI away from Sora's air combos starting from 55% or so.

Other things:

• Sora’s side B 1 > up smash on platforms for stages that have them. Is a common tech chase option they go for.
• When recovering to ledge, his f-tilt 1 can 2 frame.
• Beware of his d-smash shield damage. A landing aerial can bait out the move. Has intangibility too, and hits under plats.
• Dash attack has intangibility on foot during frames 7-18.

Otherwise, just anti-air Sora whenever you can, being a floaty who will spend most of his time in the air. Even just up tilt can keep him juggled for awhile if you play it patiently with him. Sora has one of the worst grab ranges too. His key blade itself also isn't as long as that of other swordies. For ledgetrapping with Rid d-smash, do so mid range with how quick his ledge roll is.

While it may not seem like it at first, Sora is gimpable. You just have to anticipate and stuff his side B off stage, which is either after he does his up B if he's below (watch out for up B pokes past ledge too), or after using neutral B to stall and alter his aerial momentum. Don't try to aerial him during this unless it's just Firaga, although with Thunder you can airdodge through it and aerial him off stage after.

The 1st hit of side B is always horizontal, so be in position when possible and either nair/fair it if next to him, or try to 2-frame him when he uses side B near the ledge (note that side B normally bypasses ledge, so always be ready to shield or attack if near as it's going). The 2nd hit of side B is usually diagonally up (or diagonally down if he’s above you on stage), and 3rd hit can be either type of direction or a mix of them.

When Sora mashes side B near ledge without yet grabbing it, we can 2 frame him with f-smash and such.

Miscellaneous and frame data

For SDI on Sora, wait until the last hit of multi-hits like f-tilt, u-tilt, nair, fair, and up B, because those give you considerably more hitlag frames to perform needed SDI inputs, while the first couple hits only give you 1 hitlag frame to do so. That said, the single hit version of f-tilt and all three hits of sonic blade are more generous with their hitlag frames for you to SDI.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup

Our jab 1 starts faster than his, allowing us to get out of scramble situations better.

His normals (even the three-hit jab and f-tilt that you wait through) are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab. His dash attack will crossup your shield a bit, so react and punish accordingly. His d-smash you should be able to punish with u-smash OoS since Sora floats up for a moment after doing it. His u-smash, d-smash, and ledge getup attack (-26) are punished by shorthop SPR OoS.

His landing aerials are too safe though aside from fair 3 that can be punished by nair OoS along with his dair, so reset there when necessary. Point-blank Firaga is OoS aerial/grab punished, and his side B 2 and 3 are punished by Rid f/d-smash when shielded and maybe shorthop turnaround skewer OoS.

His jab 1/2/3, f-tilt 3, dash attack, u-smash, d-smash, any hit of side B, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %. If he whiffs a counter nearby, skewer punish.

• You can up smash OoS if they nair/fair your shield at all, as the time between the hits is not safe on shield.

• Sora can also fastfall in between his nair and fair multi-hits to throw you off and pancake some OoS options, so just be aware. Like other rising aerials, his nair and fair are punishable when used while rising; shield safety mainly refers to landing aerials but either way, still have to keep the fastfall option in mind when shielding his two mentioned aerials, as well as his side B. If he stops after side B 1, can punish after up close if you react quick enough, but if he stops after side B 2, he may float away in the air which is unpunishable.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (82-89%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (83-94%)

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Steve

Steve
Slightly Losing

Gameplan

Notes

• Take to big stages like PS2 and Town.
• Dash attack will beat Steve's short hop if spaced.
• Anvil has a life of 2 seconds
• You can footstool Steve from anvil
• If Steve is still on anvil and hits your shield with it you can footstool OoS him after the landing attack
• Crafting diamond takes 10 extra frames
• Because of diamond taking almost a full second to craft (56 frames), once he respawns from angel plat on a stage with no plat in the middle and crafts diamonds his invulnerability ends as he gains diamond.
• Steve is committed to bair until he lands from even a full hop though is autocancellable a few frames after its active frames. If bair is unspaced its a guaranteed footstool
• Takes almost half a second (20 frames) after a crafting table spawns to use it
• Steve can d-tilt TNT on ground level and spotdodge to avoid the attack (why)

The Steve matchup is but a bunch of poking with d-tilt & f-tilt. Not much you can do to stop them from mining per se; both tilts go through blocks and sometimes plasma does too. If you're good at spacing f-tilt it shouldn't be the hardest thing to do. To start with minecart, jumping OoS works best to avoid that move on shield, although you can also nair it away if given the chance.

Off stage we basically lose if we're on the returning side. Not much to do on ledge besides be patient and Steve has a bunch of things to punish patience with.

You can get by if you play a more methodical and spaced advantage game, not letting them set up. You do have the ground speed to keep up with them, after all. Can try to hold center stage versus Steve and see how it works out, but you also have to realize as long as Steve has a wall between you and him he’s more likely than not the one in control of the situation, especially if the wall is in front of a platform so that you’re forced to either land on it or behind the platform; both are extremely obvious and easy to catch.

Remember the crafting table spawns about every 4 seconds, and can break it again in between your advantage time, not just in between taking his stocks. While he doesn't lose any resources the moment it's broken, he has to use them to make another table, more-so if it spawns again after falling off stage.

While you can use your fast moves to break the table, stop doing so the moment Steve becomes mobile on stage again, to avoid getting punished.

Still, advantage state breaks when people don't break it enough. If you happen to hit Steve far away from his table enough and you can't catch up to him in time to get a followup punish, then get at least one hit on the table and keep pushing advantage from there. It doesn't need to be broken every single time, but at the very least damaged enough for it to be broken next time. Doing this through the match will make him play disadvantage much more often.

There will be some times when you hit Steve in one direction, but the table's on the other side and can't be broken. It's more situational whether you break the table here, so if nothing else, continue edgeguarding him.

Breaking the table to this extent will also make Steve's planking unviable, as he has to use more other materials like iron to make anything at that point. That said, if he's planking and the table's on the other side of the stage, will need to go back and break it, albeit at the cost of stage control, but it also forces him to get back on stage which is ironically easier to fight than him mining on blocks off stage.

There's also some extra advantages of Steve being without resources, like extra hitstun; throw out an attack near the table, and it's out for a few extra frames, the usual. Hitting the table and him in the process also makes moves safer on shield.

Our moves vs craft table health-

• Rapid jab x2
• Dash attack x3
• D-tilt x4 or 5
• F-tilt x3 or 4
• U-tilt x5
• F-smash x2
• D-smash x2
• U-smash x2
• Nair x3
• Fair x3 or 4
• Bair x2 or 3
• Uair x3
• Dair x3
• Skewer x1
• Wing Blitz x2

Rapid jab, d-tilt, u-tilt, nair, fair, and skewer would be least consequential to stale here. Apparently the table doesn't stale moves though surprisingly.

Standing on blocks appears to cancel the end lag of skewer, after the animation at least which you can use against him like when he's on a platform.

Then there's using SPR to slam him against block walls or the side of stage depending on where he places his blocks, and while situational, it can be good if it catches him off guard. Another use is Steve going to ledge and mining with a wall which is a matchup check where if you jump over and use your multi-jumps to safely go over Steve if they try to up smash like they would for other characters who attempt, jump all the way over then side B them into their own wall, at ledge this will kill at 60% which also takes advantage of Steve's often shielding when someone tries to jump over said wall.

Plasma gets nullified if it hits the corner of a block, so just be aware. Other than that, it is recommended to pick stages with platforms (Battlefield and such) when possible, which makes it easier to avoid Steve's minecart, and don't try to shield it; just dodge it, though don't roll. Found that if you get caught in the cart even at high % and sent off stage with it, can roll your left stick quickly to mash out of it, and when you pop out of the cart, you still have your jumps that you can use to recover. If you hit Steve with a powerful attack first, it can destroy the minecart. D-tilt is good at covering it at a reactable burst range.

• If you see a Steve minecarting between two blocks, going back and forth against them, wait for them to break, unless at a range where you think you can punish beforehand, but is risky.

Otherwise, just disrupt him from mining as much as possible. Even if he shields, dodges, or jumps over your attacks or plasma breath, it still interrupts his mining process. That said, a grab/tomahawk grab is likely a safer option when close up. There's a lot of lag for them to switch out of mining, so your chances of landing an attack or grab are usually good, and if they jump, they don't go very high. When crafting, Steve can shield or jump before finishing, so a grab or SPR is a safer option.

• Skewering a Steve hitting the crafting table is relevant sometimes. Not needing to stale any other move helps. Only go for it though when you know he has a lot of mixups and won't react in time. Tilts also work if you need to quickly remove the table and reset (safely break the table with them though, don't constantly give up positioning but breaking it with your pressure), but the skewer one hit is nice.

Depending on the timing, you might be able to ledge jump over a ledge placed TNT explosion, and then do a landing aerial to continue disrupting his mining. Apparently doing a ledge getup attack cancels the TNT ignition too, while plasma ignites it. Also too, a beefy Wing Blitz up will displace a TNT at ledge and push it a little further back, making it go off. Just keep the pressure up which is his main weakness.

For more on counterplay to blocks in addition to above, you can walk or dash/run through ones that are one block above the ground; works for all block types (iron, stone).

• Steve standing real close to his blocks almost always means he's looking to punish your move.
• If they're a step or so away from their block wall, their ability to punish your moves varies by situation.
• If they're a good couple steps away from their wall (basically a burst range length), it's usually always safe to break the blocks unless you used a laggy move, so feel free to break the blocks.
• While your tilts can hit him past blocks as mentioned earlier, in which he can't punish if you happen to hit him, if he's shielding, you're better off spacing tipper to just break a block and get out of there.
• Also remember it takes 9 frames for Steve to get out of his mining materials animation. Take that bit of time to push against the blocks since his ability to punish you will be slower.

SDI up & away from Steve jab/f-tilt or d-tilt to avoid being sent off stage for a f-air spike (SDI fair on stage) or d-smash edgeguard. DI & SDI up versus up tilt ladders in the air (especially said ladder/NIL combo they do with blocks from 50% that leads to KO) while rolling away if on the ground (you can try making it harder for Steve by DI'ing to the side, but if they can react to that DI, then it'd be much harder or impossible to get out as they place a block left or right), and for his general combos including d-throw ones, mix up between SDI in and out.

When at high %, watch out for fair into up smash. Can tech the fair at that point, but tech away instead of neutral tech.

If you're both off stage but closer to the stage than Steve (like when occasionally going off for an edgeguard that isn't plasma), can also tech from his fair if still close enough to stage, preventing a spike.

When hit by the following Steve moves:

• bair and f-smash- DI up & in
• anvil dair- DI down & away
• u-smash- DI away

Can also just not SDI at times and go to ledge instead since ledge is your friend in disadvantage when it comes to getting away from certain combos like the Steve ones.

Speaking of d-throw, respect Steve’s grab range. Is a tether-like grab using a fishing rod, but unlike Isabelle's, it functions as an actual tether grab despite the lack of a grab aerial and tether recovery. Like some others of its kind, the grab itself starts up relatively fast but has high end lag (13 frames in startup and 29 in end lag), and despite the hook being able to visibly drop past ledges like Isabelle's, it will not grab opponents if it does so. The move does not use up durability points. The anvil from his d-throw does, though.

• Steve's shorthop fair and bair are different from the regular ones where he uses a sword, and the fair doesn't spike.

While Steve blocks delay his fall, making it hard to punish his landing and keeping him afloat from off stage, he can't mine like normal while he's on them. That said, watch out for his anvil dair which is a powerful KO tool; like Pac-Man Hydrant but stronger. Does a lot of shield damage, so don't use it if it's low, but if you do, aerial OoS; jump OoS after shielding first hit and nair. For a hard read, Wing Blitz will go through anvil in a juggle situation, and is a good callout when they’re at high %. Uair also works against anvil like with Pac hydrant.

For weaknesses, aside from low jump height without blocks, he has low mobility in both the air and on the ground (a floaty), along with his attacks not having much range, where we easily outrange him. He also lacks a good OoS option, at least from behind. His up smash is decent from up front, but the range is poor, so if you tilt Steve's shield from behind, you're usually safe. Also, if you destroy the crafting table when he's off stage, he can't plank endlessly.

Because of Steve’s low jumps and bad air speed & air acceleration, he also struggles against fullhop aerial mixups as he can’t really chase people in the air, nor does he do well against characters with decent options to minecart and can consistently harass Steve out of his range with mid range. Can also grab/SPR Steve out of shorthop minecart if timed right like Banjo Wonderwing.

• When Steve’s still inside the cart, it can be shielded as it has a normal hitbox when occupied and punishable with anything up to 16 frames OoS, though will have to get a read on when Steve might jump out of the cart in which it becomes a command grab.

If there’s a block 1 block in the air, can walk under it and destroy it, then jump through the rest of the blocks above it, which breaks down a ton of crazy builds. Just gotta be careful since most Steve’s will panic minecart or anvil in disadvantage. Minecart is invincible for the first 17 frames (hence why you can do well against it from a distance after it starts moving), but not Steve himself when it comes to close range.

Steve gets different tools/materials to mine for based on the stage. Smashville and Town & City is good because they'll mostly mine wood there. His blocks will be weaker as a result and be destroyed much faster; wood being weaker than stone, and a wooden sword breaks more easily too. If you make them craft better materials, that's less times they can use gold/normal minecart.

For PS2, Kalos, and Hollow Bastion, stone is the common material, so avoid these stages when possible. Plus, the latter two stages have a certain spot that mines material greater than iron; the two ends for Kalos and the center & platform for HB. That said, stages where you only get iron are bad for Steve like Lylat. PS2 is a lesser evil to Kalos and HB because it's harder to edgeguard you with the block; a hole between the block and the ledge even if they place it next to wall; same with Smashville. Could consider Kalos though to time out Steve. You can grab ledge through the side of blocks, so if your recovery gets stopped by them, it might still be possible to make it back; wood blocks being the easiest of course.

• Lylat is Steve's worst stage, so always pick if possible. While him only getting iron on this stage sounds terrifying on paper, he mines it extremely slowly, so you can casually break his walls faster than he can mine the iron to replace it. Also messes up his ledgetraps hard due to the slants.

Regardless, you want to break the crafting table more on PS2/Kalos/HB, because they have to use more stones for it, while they have to use less wood on SV/T&C. Wait until they have more stone though since they still start out with mud and wood at the start of the match. If they're sent off stage early, they may use TNT to get rid of their mud/wood, and try to use stones to create walls right after, or use their TNT as an alternate method of recovery to either delay having to use their minecart or be within a better range of using it. By breaking the table too early though, they don't have to do that, so wait till they have more material. Depending on the player however, some may just start neutral without getting rid of their weaker stuff, and for those Steve's is more beneficial to break the table early.

On BF/SBF, Steve can mine mud, wood, and stone, making him more OP. Also has a couple tactics exclusive to those stages; placing TNT on platforms & explode them with u-tilt (or u-smash on other plat stages), and mining off stage. TNT on plat also covers neutral getup, ledge roll, getup attack, but not waiting on ledge, so camp there. Can plasma them if they mine off stage along with breaking the table.

FD has the same material and mining order as BF/SBF, but the tools they use for mining is a shovel, whereas the former uses pickaxe to mine, and SV/T&C uses axe to mine. Shovel is a tool that's never used in neutral, so even if they use it to mine, it won't deplete the number that they can use in neutral, making it easier for them to mine. Even if it breaks, they'll have other tools to use in neutral on FD. Avoid this stage too when possible. That said, shovel breaking matters, as they get resorces slower when mining with their fists.

Platform stages are better in general since it allows you to run away from Steve more like when landing, whereas FD takes away from not only that but allows him to use anvil more freely. However, plat stages can help Steve with his u-tilt ladders. Regardless of stage, treat Steve's first stock as though it was his last, to minimize dealing with diamond Steve during any of your stocks.

Onto mobility, Steve can abuse A-landings, even with fair & bair. Don't try to punish that, you'll get reversed as they spot-dodge. If they use their aerials from a short height and land close to you, can grab OoS and maybe up smash, but good Steve's won't use those moves from the height they get the landing lag. Get away from their A-landing with a roll or jump, as shielding will only allow them to pressure.

For the 3 block wall, first counterplay is to challenge them when they're building the blocks. If you see them start to build a wall, just attack near the top of where the 3rd block would be (full momentum fullhop nair being good for this), hitting Steve in the process. With successful punishes, they'll run away after placing one block, minecart, or try to punish your move by placing one block and going for an aerial. Be ready to deal with them one by one and do mixups; go for whiff punish or corner them to the ledge with confidence. If they do manage to build a wall, is important to mix up the timing of going in, and the timing of destroying the wall. If you try to break it right away, they'll time their f-smash or minecart to punish you, so try not to get your timings read. Also watch if he does other setups like two blocks walls, or the staircase.

For more on minecart, attack from above or run away with jumping back; don't roll, because they normally minecart from double jump height, and then drop an anvil to hit where you're rolling. If you attack, be sure to check if they have gold or not. If they have gold minecart, multi-hit moves like our fair will be ineffective and they'll armor through. Some timely fullhop flickshot plasma may work as a mixup, as plasma destroys minecart with enough charge. A minecart that Steve is riding can be shielded, as it has a normal hitbox when occupied. The minecart has 8.4 HP and Steve himself has 60 knockback armor, though the minecart health can't drop to 0 during the first 17 frames before it starts moving. In terms of Plasma, a few or couple fireballs should do it in, and nair or bair if timed & positioned right. That includes sour nair, though a staled nair won't beat cart, so just be aware.

If you get caught in a minecart (a slow one), can delay mashing until near the blast zone to avoid Steve's fair spike, but even if you avoid it, he has blocks and anvil to edgeguard then, so usually if you're caught in minecart, you just get KO'd or combo'd with up tilt.

To account for PMLG or hitstun cancel, these are when Ridley's moves send Steve into tumble-

• Rapid jab: 0%
• Gentleman jab: 2%
• Dash attack: 0%
• Down throw: 19%
• Forward throw: 14%
• Up and back throw: 0%
• D-tilt: 0%
• F-tilt: 3% for tipper, 18% for sour
• U-tilt: 25%
• All three smashes: 0% (of course really)
• Nair: 12% for tipper, 21% for sour
• Fair: 18% for tipper, 24% for sour

Assuming all three hits connect for both versions of fair

• Bair: 15%
• Uair: 0%
• Dair: 0% for sweetspot, 7% for sour

For more on PMLG counterplay:

• Steve cannot PMLG out of true combos.
• For single hit moves, will usually want to weave away from Steve with your airdrift so anvil can’t hit and minecart can’t reliably reach, letting you do a potential punish. If he does a PMLG and minecarts from ledge jump though, can spot-dodge through it.
• Each different multi-hit aerial that they can PMLG out of (our f-air for instance) has to be frame perfect, and each different such move for the most part requires them to act out of a specific frame, not making it very realistic for them to do in practice, and even if they airdodge out of our f-air for example, they're frametrapped for us to punish.
• smoke = tumble = no PMLG
• The more range you have, the less effective PMLG will be, and we have plenty range.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Him getting diamond isn't that big a deal if you're at 20% and he's at 75% for instance, if it comes down to something like that. He still has to get through our nair and tilts.

People are way too afraid of diamond and over-respecting it. It's a dumb part of his kit, sure, but people go gorilla mode and think they have to just be in his face constantly when in reality a slow but consistent mid-range pressure like Ridley's usual gameplan is more effective. Get too close and you have to deal with Steve up tilt or whatnot.

• One interesting kill mixup is if Steve has a block above him but is below it and he’s at high %, can grab & d-throw him so he slams in to said block, and then finish off with a smash attack.

• If you see him approaching with a block, get out of there and don’t shield because he can melt it with d-tilt & minecart for pressure.

• Use a ceiling/wall tech when it comes to blocks. Unlike wall techs however, ceiling techs leave you unactionable until 25+ frames, leaving you free for a big punish. That said, when the Steve places a block diagonally above you like when you're cornered, expect him to try and grab, avoid it, and whiff punish him to knock toward the block instead; whiff punishing with fullhop nair followed by f-smash is good for instance. Even if they don't outright die from it, you're in a good position afterward.

• If you see Steve anvil dair and place a block next to himself, watch out since him attacking it gives him a big aerial boost which he can set up a combo off of.

If shielding an unsafe move, roll away/jump OoS, making his tether grab whiff.

Steve multihits- d-tilt (5 hits), u-smash (9 hits), d-smash (3 hits)

A good chunk of Steve's moves (jab/f-tilt, u-tilt, fair, bair, uair) require either about or at least 2 SDI inputs, but they have plenty frames of hitlag (varies) for you to perform said SDI's.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup

Steve's normals are mostly too safe on shield. His dash attack is punishable with nair and grab OoS though, except when he has gold and diamond. F-smash and d-smash are at least punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab too, while his up smash is -11, so can only nair OoS against it.

Landing aerials are all too safe on shield as you would expect, except anvil dair which is -14, but the main way you punish that as mentioned is jump OoS after shielding it, and then aerial. His up B has a hitbox, so shield that if he glides into you; same with point-blank minecart which is -16 on shield and thus can punish with OoS aerials, shield grab, and up smash.

Reminder that his ranged grab is 13 frames in startup and 29 in end lag, so can at least whiff punish with SPR and such. Mix in shield jumping, particularly Double Shield Cancel fullhop, to whiff punish such a grab. There's also moving away after shielding a safe move of his (d-tilt and such) which he may then go for a grab for you to whiff punish.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (87-95%)
• u-tilt double jump uair (88-103%)

Don't wait to u-tilt when he's slightly or anywhere above you because of anvil and maybe minecart depending on his resources, though if you expect them, can dodge and whiff punish Steve with u-tilt.

Major credit to smub and the collective Ridcord for a decent chunk of this info.

Opponent's Overview | Advanced Stats | Inverse Matchup Return to the top

Terry

Terry Lone Wolf meets Space Pirate High Command
Winning

Gameplan

Terry cannot special cancel attacks that are any smash attacks, jab 3, dash attack, forward air, backward air, or the specials themselves.

Respect Terry's jab with it being a primary way to pull you into combos (is 4 hits when shielding even though it looks like it's 3), or any normal that can be cancelled into his special/GO moves; d-tilt (roll/jump away when shielding it rather than challenge with an OoS move, wait for an opening if he spams it at ledge), f-tilt (it + Burning Knuckle trades with any OoS move), u-tilt (connects reliably with Power Geyser but has more end lag), nair, dair, and uair.

His spot dodge results in a dodge attack; modified version of his u-tilt with more speed and knockback, but less shieldstun. Can combo into his up B.

For his side B, aside from Burning Knuckle (a burst option that he'll likely use when backing away from him), he has Crack Shoot as a back B where he flips toward & kicks you and can avoid your Plasma, so don't get careless or predictable with it. Both versions of side B he may use as a mixup from ledge, closely off stage, or as a landing mixup, so don’t give him the chance. Same with his down B. Speaking of, sometimes with Power Dunk if you press the left stick toward him and angle it down during his rising motion, you'll DI out of it. Also watch out for it & fair as edgeguards, but if you're at ledge, he has to properly space it.

You can nair OoS against unspaced Burning Knuckle and Power Dunk (dash shielding can help here), but spaced PD on shield becomes a true block string, so you don’t wanna shield it, but you can parry it and run away. Shorthop PD is + on shield; even with parry you can't get much, so use it to get some positioning since it's a pretty easy parry. Otherwise, u-tilt PD with wing intangibility, or u-smash when at kill %. Crack Shoot crossup is similarly impossible to get a true punish against, so just reset. Other than that, you want to stay outside of Terry’s burst range and be prepared to react with an attack.

His neutral B Power Wave forces you to approach him from the air which often works in his favor since he can shield your aerial and jab you, but doesn't mean you shouldn't jump over it. Do so, but be tricky with your approach. Can mix it up with tomahawk grab too.

If Power Wave is used in the air or at the ledge, it becomes Airborne Wave which unlike the grounded version, emits a burst of energy that covers a small distance in front of Terry. This version does more damage and knockback in exchange for range. It also has transcendent priority akin to Wolf's Blaster, allowing it to bypass projectiles like our Plasma if timed right. It sends at a horizontal angle, gimping you if not careful. Due to its range and disjoint, and its ability to stall Terry in the air, this makes it a safe edgeguarding option.

When Terry's at 100%, he has two command input moves. Buster Wolf with 8% and Power Geyser with 5% worth of armor respectively. Unlike Kazuya's rage ability, Terry maintains the ability to use GO moves until his stock ends. Power Geyser can KO anyone before 100% vertically and does high shield damage, but has more startup and ending lag than Buster Wolf, making it punishable especially if parried. Buster Wolf is a burst option that KO's anyone before 120%, but can be shielded if timed right. Also of note, Terry cannot use his GO moves while in the air, which you can use to your advantage. Also him looking for an opening to use his GO moves when he's over 100%, but don't give it to him. Be aggressive in finishing him off, within reason.

Like other fighting game characters, has low speed & poor recovery. Also a poor grab game.

Terry intangibility-

• Spot-dodge attack on frames 1-9.
• F-tilt on the leg during frames 8-13.
• U-tilt on the arm during frames 7-11.
• Side B input, up B, and down B (on the way up like ZSS Flip Jump) during different frame instances.
• Buster Wolf on the arm during startup, frames 10-23.

Disadvantage

Terry can 2-frame Ridley with:

• Forward Air

When it comes to escaping jab > jab > power dunk or jab > jab > up B, we don't SDI the power dunk rising hit to escape since you can't unless you're at super high % but even then it's inconsistent. All you have to do is be quick enough to mash the stick away from the opponent during jab > jab and the rising part of power dunk whiffs and so will jab > jab > up B.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Power Geyser is whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Can OoS attack and anti-air plenty in this matchup, as he's a floaty.

His normals besides f-tilt and d-tilt are punished by at least nair OoS (some by our other OoS aerials and shield grab). His tackle dash attack can crossup your shield a bit, so react and punish accordingly. His landing aerials are too safe on shield though, so reset there.

Point-blank Power Wave is OoS aerial/grab punished. Burning Knuckle is pretty unsafe on shield when mis-spaced as mentioned below along with Power Dunk, the latter of which you can u-smash OoS during the end lag if he's still in the air. Crack Shoot can at least be nair OoS and shield grab punished though if you act quick enough. The two GO moves are super punishable on shield with Rid f-smash, etc.

His jab 3, f-smash, u-smash, d-smash, point-blank Power Wave, Burning Knuckle, Power Dunk, the two GO moves, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Also remember retreating nair to neutralize some of his specials while remaining mobile.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (97-107%)
• u-tilt double jump uair (98-113%)

Opponent's Overview | Advanced Stats | Inverse Matchup Return to the top

Toon Link

Toon Link

Neutral

Ridley wants to play slow and methodically, as Tink should be abusing projectiles + movement to keep Ridley at bay. Rushing in without a plan will only get you nicked by one of his projectiles which Tink can then easily followup on. Ridley also wants to be a bit weary around Tink's shield, as his up B is frame 6, seems to have the ability to suck Ridley right in, and can either kill or send Ridley into a terrible position.

Ridley wants to walk as his primary form of movement due to it giving immediate access to his shield + tilts. Although Ridley will still want to dash whenever possible as Ridley has top tier ground speed which allows him to easily catch Tink running away, jumping is also a viable strategy but Ridley must exercise caution, as he can easily be anti-aired by things such as boomerang. Ridley should only really be jumping when he is sure he won't get hit by a projectile, as Ridley's decent fall speed and multiple jumps allow him to mix up approaches from the air.

Ridley's goal seems to be get into mid range of Tink since it seems like Tink has very limited tools to deal with Ridley at this range. Only consistent tool seems to be zair. Being mid range of Tink allows Ridley to outrange his normals and cause it to be too risky to use projectiles, giving him the only option of trying to retreat which will give up more stage control to Ridley.

Toon Link's bombs seem to be the most threatening out of all the Link's, whether it's due to the explosion blocking the visuals or the way they interact with things along with the long fuse time.

Main things on fighting bomb is since it bounces off of shield, many Tink's will throw the bomb then jump and fair to grab it while attacking your shield. If they keep drifting in after the fair and you're are quick enough, you should have time to up smash OoS immediately which can help as they go for this even when they are at a high %.

You can also shield and try shorthop fair OoS to catch the bomb yourself after it bounces off your shield, but you would need to be quicker than the Tink running to grab the bomb themselves while also needing to be aware of if they see you do it they might just wait outside our fair range and punish hard.

Disadvantage

For Toon Link, the main thing is bomb for edgeguards and uair for juggles.

On ledge, Tink's bomb puts us on a timer for how long we can hang due to it hitting us if out of intangibility. Most standard getup options (roll, jump, neutral getup) are invalidated by Tink spinning his sword around. Our sharking with uair and getup attack beats this but he's got ways to avoid it. By standing far back and playing Belmont's range with the B button, Tink can keep at at ledge while at the same time keeping us on the timer with bomb. Just stay still and wait for boomerang to get in a position for you to actually jump off ledge, but if Tink's got good timing, he can meet us up top with a dirty fair to send us back off stage, going right through nair.

For edgeguards, our up B is really good and known for being hard to contest, but they can just assault us with bombs from a safe distance which can easily rack up damage if done right at low % or easily lead into an early bomb > fair or bomb > up B combo. As a mixup, can try recovering high so you can airdodge to ledge or something.

While recovering low is the most reliable way to go for us, Tink can drop bombs straight down with good timing and rack up some pretty quick damage, but ultimately we should be able to grab ledge. Just be careful of a drop down bair and tech it.

For juggles, Tink uair beats mostly everything we can do from the air, so your best option would be to airdodge through or drift to ledge. If you're going to airdodge, remember to fastfall because uair lingers for so long it can catch the end of the airdodge. Tink also has up smash and dash attack to catch landings, so even once you get away from the uair, you still have to be careful of these. For both you may be able to do something like baiting it out with one of your jumps and then punishing (nair and such). Aside from dair as a landing mixup, we can do raining plasma while falling to get Tink to leave us alone till we grab ledge.

Most of Tink's stuff you just want to DI out. It won't necessarily make it untrue all the time but it makes it harder to get the confirm or followup.

Projectiles DI out, and DI in on fair/whatever aerial they throw out unless it's bair. Bair always DI out because they can only get a true confirm off it from no DI/DI in, except maybe single bair > ASA (air spin attack). GSA (ground spin attack) and b-throw DI in, unless it's from across the stage then hold out or you will die off the top.

If they ever use d-throw, just hold out. They only get bair off it and that's if you hold in or don't DI. Most of the time they will u-throw > uair and this is kind of a mixup game on whether we airdodge or DJ, although at specific percents it's supposed to be true.

Is recommended to DI to the left or right on either option you choose because if you nairdodge or jump in place, it's easy for them to do a fullhop uair to get the jump and they can fastfall back down if you nairdodge.

Also important if you're trying to DI their projectiles, you have to DI before you get hit by it if you want to guarantee them to miss a confirm. Otherwise you're better off just DI'ing to survive.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Tink dair can hit us under platforms, so still shield or avoid there. When hit by Tink dair, can SDI a bit so as to only get hit by the landing hitbox, though be ready to tech.

While the other two Link's are fastfallers in comparison, Toon Link is pretty floaty, so will need to anti-air him more and time your moves more carefully.

Tink's f-smash, u-smash, fair, and bair are only one hit instead of multi-hits like the other Link's.

Tink has faster dash speed than Yink, making dash attack a deadlier burst option and combo starter (-13 on shield).

Tink's nair is a basic two-sided slash instead of a lingering kick and not as fast. Tink's arrows are also the slowest.

Tink’s bair has a wall of pain combo like we do with fair.

Respect Tink zair which does more than Yink’s.

Tink's bombs explode on impact instead of lingering like the other Link's, and his grounded spin attack (10 hits) is the fastest and deals the most knockback, but is -25 on shield.

Remember too if you grab him when a boomerang is still going, timely use d-throw to take advantage of the invincibility frames so it doesn't hit you on the way back. Can pummel while waiting.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup

Our jab 1 starts faster than his, allowing us to get out of scramble situations better.

Tink's normals besides d-tilt can be punished by at least nair OoS (some by our other OoS aerials and shield grab). His landing aerials besides dair are too safe on shield though, so reset there. Said dair you may be able to u-smash OoS depending on altitude, but otherwise nair OoS it. His jab 3, up B (grounded), and ledge getup attack (-25) are punished by shorthop SPR OoS.

Note his grab is 12 frames in startup and 34 frames of end lag, so can potentially whiff punish with Skewer, Wing Blitz forward, and such. Also, zair's 53 frames of end lag allows you to SPR after if you were stuffed out by it before. Mainly zair from a fullhop, as shorthop zair would cancel the end lag when they go to ground.

His jab 3, smashes, grounded up B, and ledge getup attack are shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %. Remember not to shield too obviously though because of the tether grab (expect an up throw and immediately maneuver/jump the other way to avoid u-smash/uair/up B & pick your landing) which you may be better off whiff punishing than trying to shield punish the other mentioned moves.

Don't be conditioned to shield too much against arrows, boomerangs, and bombs too which is another way they tether grab you. Mix in shield jumping, particularly Double Shield Cancel fullhop, to whiff punish such a grab.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (84-87%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (88-96%)

Major credit to the Ridcord JMU section for much of this info, and to Sapphire on how we can potentially OoS punish Toon Link's that are harassing our shield with bombs + aerials.

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Villager

Villager
Slightly Winning

For Forward Smash, Bowling Ball, watch out when the ball first spawns. As its first few active frames (also being the weak variant of the attack) is twice the size of the ball which will always hit above and front of Villager. That also means that it will catch Ridley's jumps, most notably his ledge jump. If you were to punish it from above make sure you are high enough to clank with it just in case. All of Ridley's aerials and his up special will clank with Bowling Ball allowing easy punishes and recovery.

For down special, Timber Plant, once Villager waters the sprout it's best to not challenge them directly. As the tree sprouting has a long animation with a long active hitbox. It'll probably be best to go around the tree and not commit to anything. If you cannot get behind down tilt can definitely counterattack the move, but you might not be able to get much.

For lloid rocket, you can easily destroy Isabelle's mine before it comes out like with neutral moves, but with Villager's rocket that goes horizontal and can ride on as a recovery mixup, is more tricky.

Options for it are jump (most common one which Villager expects and counters with slingshot, so be ready to double jump or aerial/airdodge through it), shield (a decent option, but watch out for Villager trying to grab if you do and spot-dodge the grab), roll (the rocket is slow enough to avoid with it, but Villager could easily attack you if you roll, so wouldn't do it), and attack (aside from beating rocket with a couple fireballs, can also attack both it and Villager which makes the rocket explode, but have to make sure your timing is right or you'll get hit instead).

Also, lloid rocket doesn’t become an active hitbox as soon as it spawns, so you actually have more room to hold forward. When he uses rocket in the air, he pauses for a second. When he does it on stage, it's usually to bait you to attack him and his landing, but he usually hits you instead, so stand your ground.

Keep your distance when Villager waters the plant which grows into a tree. Not just for its damage but its shield damage as well, and of course the axe swing. If tree's at ledge, can try and ledge jump before it falls on your ledge hang, but be quick. If it's already falling, then do a neutral getup if you still have intangibility. Also remember on stage, you can hit the tree with plasma or any attack to make it go away sooner, like a couple tipper f-tilts (you'll stale the move earlier on anyway).

If he's camping at you with rockets and slingshots behind a tree, stay patient and watch for his patterns. Remember, the tree's only on the field for 14 seconds, so don't let him goad you into doing something stupid for him to punish. That said, if they mostly do fullhop slingshot, is possible to double jump over it and the tree and land an attack, but only go for if you see an opening.

When recovering against Villager, watch out for his bowling ball f-smash that can drop off ledge and 2 frame. Mix up your recovery timing, recover around it, or do a beefy up B if given the chance.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Their dair hits us under plats, so still shield or avoid it.

Villager d-smash can bury, so watch out.

Timber axe is whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Villager rapid jab finisher is punished by dash attack, dash grab, and shorthop OoS into SPR. His normals are punished by more of our OoS aerials & shield grab, except his smashes. His landing aerials are also too safe. Axe is unsafe enough for us to f/d-smash punish, but it does much shield damage.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (85-90%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (91-98%)

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Wario

Wario

Neutral

The main plan here is control center stage and get Wario off stage without his bike for early kills. Easier said than done, but is possible.

The neutral is playing non-committal and abusing range with f-tilt, d-tilt, and nair. Wario has really good air mobility and will use it to bait you into whiffing, while you need to force him to whiff and punish with range. Ridley is much faster on the ground, so it’s like a ground to air footsies game between the two. Stay grounded mostly, as jumping usually won’t result in much against Wario since he can outmaneuver you in the air so much. Fair can have occasional use because of its range but that’s it.

Wario will be fishing for landing uairs, nairs, fairs, or an up tilt. Fair is unsafe on hit at low percent but has combos at mid percents. What all these moves have in common is short range; Wario has to use his air mobility to extend his effective reach which you can punish with run back tilts or up angle f-tilt. Force them to think about forward momentum shorthop nair which you can stuff out.

Disadvantage

Wario has reliable moves to hit Ridley on ledge with, the most important ones being down angle f-tilt, waft, bike throw, and dair. F-tilt requires almost no spacing with how big it is, so you have to be aware of it. Ledge drop options are particularly good against Wario, as fair can out reach his f-tilt attempt unless he’s close to the ledge, and of course can mixup with SPR. Chomp or bite is real annoying and can catch jump and neutral getup. Getup attack will beat it if they’re holding it on the ground and maybe ledge drop aerials, so don’t let them get away with it. Bike ledgetraps are the biggest problem, as they can use it to cover jump and stalling in addition to extending their hitboxes. Be patient and aware of how much Waft they have over time.

Off stage against Wario isn't the worst. Our recovery is well protected against him but do watch out for deep edgeguard attempts with moves like bair and fair. Wario really can’t beat our up B with anything; even Wing Blitz forward can be a struggle for him to beat. The best he can do is hit you during start up with a dair or something.

Wario has bad ground speed, but can work around this with his airspeed to juggle effectively. U-tilt and uair are something you don't want to be hit by, as they’ll lead into combos and confirms. It's possible to outmaneuver Wario’s juggles with multi-jumps since he’s slow on the ground, but you’ll generally want to retreat to ledge, as it’s much safer and less likely to get you Waft’d. Wario’s dash attack is pretty good at catching landings and can kill if they get the early hit.

Advantage

Ridley can hit Wario on ledge with basically anything he wants. Wario’s ledge drop aerials aren’t that good either. Fair is fast but is stubby and you’ll be ledgetrapping from further ranges anyway. This means Wario is pretty standard on the ledge. He’s gotta mixup the default options to find his openings. Abuse plasma and tilts to condition and trap him.

If Wario has bike off stage, he can easily get back to stage for free by going high. Ridley has a hard time intercepting this form of recovery. Wario off stage without his bike though is food for us due to not being able to contest nair, fair, or bair off stage, along with his linear recovery without bike.

Wario moves too fast in the air for us to effectively juggle. You’ll have to focus on catching his landings with our intangible u-tilt and u-smash. That said, watch out for bite B-reverses, as he can condition for shields and use it as a landing mixup. Bike can offer him good mobility and get him out of situations which is basically a get to ledge free card.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Keep in mind he can do uair > waft as a shield break if your shield’s not at full health. Also, fully charged waft on its own that passively charges over time has super armor.

Bite is mashable.

His up smash has head intangibility on frames 8-14.

Dair is 7 hits, so remember when shielding with it being unsafe. It also hits us easily under platforms.

His f-smash, u-smash, bair, uair, and Waft are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Our jab 1 comes out well before his, so always use up close.

His normals besides the safe d-tilt are punished by our OoS aerials and such. His dash attack and smashes particularly are superheavy levels of unsafe. His landing aerials besides bair and dair are too safe on shield though, so reset there.

His jab 2, dash attack, smashes, waft, and ledge getup attack (-27) are shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (92-95%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (96-106%)

Major credit to the Ridcord JMU doc for a good chunk of this info.

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Wii Fit Trainer

Wii Fit Trainer

First off, respect deep breathing, though remember it lasts a few seconds less when stale. Unlike Cloud limit and Joker arsene which charge as time goes on, Wii Fit has to perform the move flawlessly which takes a few seconds. So your goal is to lay on the pressure so they can't perform it. That said, they can do it at moments like when they respawn with invincibility, so your 2nd goal when they have it is to camp. They become aggressive because they want to make the most of their buff time, so you can anticipate that and play defensively till it's gone.

Watch out for the ball and hit it back when you can like with gordos and also watch if they hit it back. They can also use ball to bait you into attacking and punish from the air, so don't fall for it. Ball also spikes you if you're too close to them off stage.

Their sun salutation is a standard chargeable projectile, aside from it healing them a couple %. A counterplay to them planking with the ball or sun beam is get to the ledge as if you were doing a ledge trump, but use your ledge invincibility frames to armor through the ball and punish them with reverse nair or bair. There's also timely jumping off the stage and edgeguarding them or attack them as they get up from ledge (can OoS to be safe). If expecting them to throw the ball at you from off stage to where you're standing at ledge, can wait to f-tilt it back to them.

Also remember their jab 3 which buries, but comes with being fairly unsafe on shield.

Their nair is probably their best combo starter. It deals plenty damage (especially with deep breathing), and is decent at shield poking, so angle your shield if needed. Also remember their other weird hitboxes, as their initial jab, u-tilt, f-tilt, and f-smash can hit from behind too. Their fair can hit normally in the front, but spike in the back.

They're floaty, so don't have the best approach.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Their u-tilt has arm intangibility on frames 3-12, while their u-smash has invulnerability on frames 9-12, so don't try to land on top of Wii Fit Trainer.

The ball is still an active hitbox even after shielding or parrying it, so watch your space.

Their jab 3, f-smash, u-smash, and bair are mostly whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Their jab 3, f-smash, and u-smash is shield punishable by our own f-smash. Their other normals and two projectile specials are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab. Their d-smash & ledge getup attack (-27) are punished by shorthop SPR OoS.

Likewise their jab 3, dash attack, smashes, and ledge getup attack are shield punished by u-tilt should they be at u-tilt > uair kill %. Also note the whistle sound when they're about to do a smash move and try to shield or avoid in time. Their landing aerials (i.e. 2-hit nair) are too safe on shield however, so reset there.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (86-91%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (92-98%)

Credit to smub on the edgeguarding tips and info about the ball.

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Wolf

Wolf

Wolf's blaster is one of the best projectiles in the game. It does more knockback and hitstun than most, while going through other ones like our plasma (though if you're methodical in your plasma charges while moving, can projectile trade with two or more fireballs), and top of that, does extra damage if you're close to him. Wolf can be as much of a zoner as an aggressive in-your-face character, so respect his blaster as you approach, either by jumping over the blaster or dash shielding. That said, if he conditions you to shield, he may go for a tomahawk grab, but jump counters that.

You can also abuse his laser habit depending on how they use it, like if they give up some ground to continue shooting. A Wolf that mashy may also jump in disadvantage after getting hit (sometimes mixing up with airdodge) or constantly use nair to ledgetrap followed by a dash away f-tilt/f-smash, so stay patient and watch for habits to abuse.

Wolf's aerials are also worthy of respect, especially since they're what he'll use to stop your jump-in attempts after he lasers. His nair is a standard kick which is useful like Fox's, his fair is a fast slash that leads into combos, and his bair is strong and can kill in the early 130% range from center stage. His uair is good at juggling too like Fox's, while his dair is a more committal spike.

Basically if you plan to approach Wolf from the air, make sure you come prepared to face his aerials. Use your most solid aerials that can beat his out depending on timing and position.

While Wolf is generally a slow character, his tilts come out fast. His f-tilt slash is a large hitbox to keep you from rushing in (can angle upward too), his u-tilt kick is strong and kills around the same % range as ours. Don't be too hasty to punish Wolf. Give him a little more space if he whiffs an f-smash (18 frames of end lag), only approach if certain you can get to him before he can react.

Wolf u-smash has a larger hitbox than you'd expect, being one of his most reliable punishing tools and OoS options. Can’t mix him up with dair if he’s u-smash happy.

His edgeguards and ledgetraps are unique and vicious. Since his recovery's poor, he typically won't go off stage but d-smash at ledge, hoping to 2 frame you with it. A beefy up B can beat this, but once you grab the ledge, Wolf has an arsenal of tools to keep you from getting up. Will need to watch his habits and predict which ledge getup option he'll try to cover, and then go for the other.

Also respect his grabs. His d-throw leads into combos at early %, but you'll want to DI up and away, and techroll away during a tech chase in order to avoid his dash attack followup. His back throw is his deadliest one, killing us around 150% near ledge.

His side B also deserves respect. Although risky, he'll use it on you if you play too predictably, just as you begin to jump, charge plasma stall in the air, are diagonally above him on a platform, or after you bounce on the ground. Just don't forget he has this unique anti-air up his sleeve and grow careless. If you shield it or he whiffs, will be able to punish.

While he has slow mobility, he's still a fastfaller like the other two spacies. The slowness he has otherwise though still makes him quite vulnerable to combos, so once you successfully get in, do as much damage as possible and get him off stage.

While many of his moves are deadly, they're also risky (like our u-smash against many on the ground), so if he whiffs, then punish quickly.

His greatest weakness is still his recovery though. His vertical recovery's terrible, so he'll avoid going under the stage when possible, using side B to get back to the ledge. You can anticipate this and dunk or maybe 2 frame him just before he grabs the ledge (even with dair), but be careful, for he may see you coming off stage and change his directory, sending you downward to a stock loss. With that in mind and some practice, you should be able to beat him off stage consistently.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Wolf dair requires about 2 SDI inputs, which has 14 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI.

Skewer > jab 2 > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

His normals are punishable by our OoS aerials and shield grab. His jab 3 is -25 and thus shorthop SPR OoS punished. His u-smash you might be able to shield punish with f-smash, but his own f-smash is safe on shield, so reset there. Same with his landing aerials besides dair, which can be punished by our OoS aerials and maybe u-smash.

Blaster is -24 on shield which you can OoS punish if close to him. His reflector and up B aren't as punishable on shield as with the other spacies, but can still OoS aerial and shield grab when possible.

His jab 3, f-tilt, u-smash, specials, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (84-88%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (89-97%)

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Yoshi

Yoshi

Gameplan

Bait & punish 101. Yoshi almost always has to approach from the air due to having one of the lowest shorthops in the game, and Ridley has a good enough dash speed to avoid it. Dash back, f-tilt (up angle included), d-tilt, nair, f-smash, etc. Yoshi's love flying in with dair's and fair's to try to get a ton of damage on you. Angle your shield accordingly to avoid getting poked by the multi-hits.

Hold shield at ledge when they're trying to recover. Lots of Yoshi's try to throw eggs and then jump over you. That’s a free up smash out of shield. Slightly past mid %, a bair can hit Yoshi's egg throw and hit Yoshi himself through his double jump armor, making d-throw/d-tilt > bair much effective. If a Yoshi uses an aerial during or after their DJ, their DJ armor is cancelled and you're free to challenge him with an edgeguard aerial of your own. They may do it as a get-off-me when feeling pressured. If a Yoshi uses down B to grab ledge, can react with an aerial beforehand.

For a defensive Yoshi that shields plenty, aside from our tipper f-tilt and such, can mix it up by either doing an jump and tomahawk grab, or landing with a nair followed by our jab which can pressure Yoshi enough to hit him before his own nair OoS happens. If you get nair'd like that though, be ready to tech if you're at mid %. Also tech his d-tilt at high %. If they DJ out of a combo, just wait it out and maintain stage control.

For stages, ban PS2 or any stage with plats when possible. His down B goes through them too.

Neutral

While the tongue grabs (grab and neutral B) are mixups to punish shielding, also watch out for B-reverse neutral B that he may use to fade in with from the air.

With platform pressuring in neutral, also remain aware of Egg Lay as a mixup which mostly punishes spamming moves in place due to its tongue disjoint. Likewise, if you're sitting on a platform, two unique options Yoshi has are using egg throw upward through the plat for a disjointed hitbox that provides generous hitstun, and then jumping into an Egg Lay to punish shielding.

Advantage

Juggles and ledgetrapping are easier than off-stage edgeguarding due to DJ armor.

While juggling, Yoshi can down B to break through it, though this is very punishable if you are grounded and wait out the stars to run in with a tilt, dash attack, or SPR (window is about 30 frames once the stars go away). Yoshi’s best landing move is dair, but the lagginess of it means that it's rarely preferable. Just otherwise watch out for whiff punishes from him when in this situation.

When edgeguarding Yoshi, you'll have to account for his three recovery resources: double jump, first egg throw tossed since last touching the ground, and airdodge. Egg throw stalls Yoshi’s fall and allows normal drift, with the first throw giving a slight boost in height, the second keeping him level, and the third onward providing no benefit. Yoshi’s airdodge is decent and best used neutrally to carry momentum forward through attacks. Its upward range is about that of egg throw boost, so expect it will fail if the Yoshi uses it about 1.5 Yoshi-heights below ledge.

When going off stage to hit him, just make sure you don't drift into a fair (thus getting spiked) or bair, and stay patient so as to avoid whiffs which Yoshi can easily convert from. A simple trick if you want to apply pressure is to nair during an extra jump and quickly fastfall if it whiffs to retreat out of their threat zone (just make sure you’re not SDing in the process). Can use off-stage SPR if you’re feeling it, as Yoshi can’t repeat his recovery options a 2nd time, but keep in mind this may be the worst character in the game to whiff such a move against, and since edgeguarding is otherwise much riskier than ledgetrapping, it should be reserved more for high recoveries where you aren’t as likely to be spiked on stage or get the chance to ledgetrap.

Ledgetrapping Yoshi is the most profitable advantage state with that said. He has few tools for beating out plasma, and his slow fall speed means that you can follow the arc of a ledge jump to convert into a juggle fairly easily. Generally, just space your plasma over the ledge, two or three at a time, and wait to see what they do. If they drop into a fade-in egg throw, shield and punish the end lag. Be ready for roll-in with big or highly-active hitboxes. If they hang out too long and lose invincibility, space a d-smash to cover every option except ledge jump (which you may still get).

Don’t spam f-tilt except to bait an option, as you will be within Yoshi’s getup attack range. If your plasma connects and sends them below ledge, keep doing small bursts to shorten the window Yoshi can climb through, and start doing full charge once they’re far down. Yoshi has no quick burst movement off-stage besides double-jump, so you are basically guaranteed the kill.

Disadvantage

This is the easiest state to understand because the logic is consistent throughout: Wait to see what Yoshi does, never mash a panic option, and save your jumps to recover low. You still have to deal with egg throw which can complicate mostly any situation while you’re in the air. Its hitstun is generous and will stall you or pop you up to allow him to move in or reset position, though the endlag is enough to mean that maneuvering around/nair-ing it can put you in almost-neutral frames. Its confirms are endless; fear the egg.

Unlike Ridley in this matchup, edgeguarding and aerial engagements in general are where Yoshi will be at his strongest. While disadvantaged in the air, fade back from Yoshi as soon as possible to force him to read your movement, airdodging through his attacks when he chases with a hitbox. If he doesn’t immediately chase, find the clearest way back to stage and ready a nair to box him out.

Yoshi’s air acceleration is better than ours of course, so you’ll have to time these options carefully to ensure they don’t subtly weave into position to catch you. Lingering off-stage or moving predictably is asking to be fair spiked. The spacing is somewhat difficult on Yoshi’s part though, but landing it nearly guarantees a kill after 25%. However you choose to act, don’t try to do anything cute while using up your recovery resources.

When recovering low against Yoshi, the only realistic option he has to beat Wing Blitz is to fade-in bair. It’s exceedingly dangerous for him to use the other small hitboxes available to him, and even the threat of a fair spike is minimized because of Wing Blitz's disjoint. Be ready to tech this option and if you can react quickly enough, throw out a nair to potentially gimp him in return. You should still be able to Wing Blitz back up with plenty of space if you do it near immediately. An interesting note about WB in this scenario is that egg lay has a grab disjoint twice the length of Yoshi’s bair which can safely snatch you out of it, so look out for that.

When being juggled, much of our survival is dependent on making ourselves harder to follow. It’s sometimes better to try and drift away gradually and force Yoshi to execute with greater difficulty than to always airdodge through him. This is especially true if Yoshi has platforms to reset his strings. Airdodging away from Yoshi, instead of through, can sometimes be beneficial to creating a gap they can’t effectively close.

If there is adequate space to land on the main stage and not a platform, you can make an attempt to nair your way through (for less end lag and a hitbox) or skirt their approach with dair (for faster movement to stage). If you don’t have much room to land, or there are platforms in the way, retreating to ledge is always a good option.

Aside from reading your ledge option, getting off ledge versus Yoshi is fairly simple. Spaced egg throw can cover getup options but it’s not fast enough to work on reaction, so make sure you’re not buffering an option that sends you straight into it. Reserve things like ledge drop SPR or forward Wing Blitz as a once per game mixup, as Yoshi is well equipped to catch repeat attempts. Neutral getup can be dangerous if Yoshi is about one Ridley-sized dash attack from ledge as he can run up into a fade back nair to catch you with no risk. Hanging on ledge is fine, as Yoshi has no options but egg throw to hit Ridley’s good ledge hang.

Last but not least, for times when Yoshi successfully lands Egg Lay and you need to mash out, make sure you're only rotating the left stick and not performing button inputs. Because the mash required is generally not very demanding until well past 100%, focusing entirely on the stick is all you should need.

On mashing out, you receive 7 frames of intangibility and a slight vertical boost, so buffering an input isn't necessary or wise. Keep in mind that the first button input you do during this state, or during any bury for that matter, will be what your character does when they regain control. If you input neutral attack first, then Ridley will start a nair as he pops out of the egg. That said, if you think you can manage it, try inputting a simultaneous jump + aerial to boost Ridley before landing cancels the attack. Airdodging away can also be decent, but it's difficult to ensure you have the right direction before starting stick rotations.

There's not much definitive counterplay on Yoshi's part as the invincibility frames prevent attacks from immediately connecting unless they read the pop-out and delay their assault. Because of this, they will mostly likely attempt a fullhop aerial or 2nd aerial Egg Lay. Ridley's only option that outright loses in most cases is buffering a jump with no aerial as Yoshi is going to be in the process of throwing the egg for damage and may clip you, or they will be up in the air prepared to catch you.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Yoshi’s intangibility-

• F-smash on head during frames 12-16 and and u-smash on foot during frames 11-13.
• During neutral B.

Other notes-

• Yoshi's double jump armor is from frame 1 - 44, ending at the apex of the jump.
• Ridley's non-jab grounded attacks all break it past 86% with no rage.
• Ridley's aerial attacks all break it past 105% with no rage.
• While on a platform, skewer can catch Yoshi double jumping onto it while ignoring the DJ armor.
• F-tilt and nair beat every hitbox Yoshi has except tongue grabs.
• All of Yoshi's aerials can cross up shield when at full airspeed.
• Save jumps for a fastfall starter for recovery or timing mixups.
• Yoshi's on stage fair into uair/u-smash - 116%, 92%. Tech the fair.
• Yoshi's d-tilt into d/f-smash - 114% (109% with jab lock), 78% (73% with jab lock). D-tilt or jab 1 > jab 2 at ledge into run-off fair spike - 55% (all stages).
• Yoshi neutral B is mashable.
• Yoshi multihits- bair (3 hits), dair (~13 hits)
• Yoshi dair hits require about 2 SDI inputs, each of which have 3 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.
• Yoshi’s grounded down B starts killing at 125%
• Respect his grab range.
• His f-smash and bair are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.
• Skewer > jab 1 > f-smash, for covering delayed getup.

Yoshi jab 2 is punished by nair OoS, while his other normals besides d-tilt are punished by our other OoS aerials and shield grab. His f-smash, u-smash, and ledge getup attack (-26) are punished by shorthop SPR OoS. His landing aerials besides dair (which you have to hold all the way and shield tilt if necessary) are too safe on shield though, so reset there. Said dair you may be able to u-smash OoS, but otherwise quickly nair out if at all.

Yoshi side B is pretty OoS punishable (though you'll rarely see them use the move to begin with), and point-blank Egg Throw is shield punishable with f-smash; so is Yoshi Bomb, but would whiff punish it instead with how much shield damage it does.

His dash attack, smashes, side B, point-blank up B, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (91-96%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (97-103%)

Major credit to Ridcord for much of this info, and especially to Rex for the particular things on neutral, advantage, and disadvantage.

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Young Link

Young Link

Neutral

His landing nair, bair, and fair are all safe mixups on block. Yink’s normals are a bit slow though, so nair OoS beats them if they’re mashing d-tilt and maybe jab (rapid jab skewer punish applies also) depending on what move/where they use it. You have to mixup options though, for if the Yink is competent, they won’t be letting you nair them for mashing d-tilt every time.

Yink d-tilt is fairly safe. You can technically punish it when super close but this will almost never happen. They will typically be shooting for you to grab OoS so they can get a large whiff punish on you, so you will want to avoid this in almost all circumstances.

Rising bair is unpunishable (-8). They will be mashing something after this (like nair) which will also be safe. Hold the hell out of shield or use a defensive option like jump OoS to reposition (though watch out for boomerang when he starts one which can stuff out jumps if angled up). Even the most badly spaced and timed landing nair is safe on block, so whiff punish, read their option afterward, or beat it out.

Point blank boomerang is unpunishable, being -4 at best. Zair is also safe, though Yink’s will generally not be using it since its reward isn’t as high as his other moves and its reach is short.

Point blank arrows are punishable with nair OoS at least. Yink rising nair and fair are also punishable with nair OoS.

Ridley’s speed is a valuable tool. Yink's weakest range is right outside of his normal range but just close enough that projectiles are too risky to use; right about Ridley’s d-tilt range, maybe just outside of it. Boomerang is reactable, so it becomes a much weaker option (d-tilt is great for stuffing this along with nair) and his faster arrows are punishable on block.

You will need to stay patient and not get flustered by the wall of B moves and safe buttons. Yink gets blown up in disadvantage, so you only need to get in 2-3 times, and Ridley isn’t powerless here. Walking and block are great as usual, and Ridley’s great run allows him to close distance.

Our d-tilt is a really good button here; safe at the right ranges and is good for stuffing projectiles and hitting him behind it. Plasma is useful, but not as good as in other zoner matchups. Fire arrows are fast and can clip you easily if you space it even a little off. Definitely keep it in lower charges. Combining it with shorthops or fullhops is decent for creating openings, running with it can let you reach the dead zone and actually start to pressure or get a dash attack or grab follow up.

You will generally want to stay grounded, but there are times when you’ll want to jump. Up boomerang is the best anti-air Yink has, so if you can jump around it, he will be open for a landing nair/fair/tomahawk grab. You can use extra jumps to bait poor projectile use and land inside its arc or beat it with a landing aerial or retreat with a plasma charge.

If Yink is getting jump happy, plasma does become much better. It’s much harder for him to out-spam plasma in the air, so you can use it for catching his landing.

It's best to walk when facing Yink at a distance. While walking is already emphasized in general fundamentals, doing so here allows you to make his projectiles easier to react to and shield on frame 1 if needed. While he has the frame data to play defensive or aggressive, he'll keep his distance in most cases, though our burst options do help to close the gap.

Disadvantage

Young Link everything combos, so all his moves are dangerous. Generally DI out from combos. During multi-hits of GSA (ground spin attack), react to what side you are on before the final hit and DI that direction away from Yink. DI in against u-smash.

At ledge, bombs are the biggest threat to hanging in most circumstances, since they can be thrown from far away and will either hit you on ledge or pressure you into predictable getup timings due to their timer. Remember that bombs are laggy (and reactable) to pull, so don’t let them do it within getup attack range. Ledge drop fair could also be used to catch the bomb and put out a hitbox. Ledge jump can be good against Yink’s abusing bombs too much. Yink can cover neutral getup pretty well, so will have to rely on jump/roll/drop down mostly.

Expect Yink f-throw to kill around 140% at ledge, so respect it. Off stage, he can only really pressure our recovery in a few specific ways.

They can use Z drop/down thrown bombs to intercept Wing Blitz and loop for loads of damage; this is especially scary if you’ve used both jumps, as you will eventually die due to the bomb's 3rd hitbox or to a missed tech. This is more dangerous on stages with walls since there’s no hope of hiding under the stage’s lip. If caught in this, will need to make Yink miss a bomb. This can be done with jumps, drifting before up B, or jump techs.

If you get predictable with your SPRs, Yink can go out and hit you. His nair is randomly powerful, so this can be dangerous. Just pay attention to when you use SPR to recover.

Yink's dair doesn’t beat WB at all, and his other hitboxes aren’t that good for it either. Generally you will be recovering low against him. If you recover high too often, you could find yourself getting YOLO ASA’d (air spin attack), so be careful.

Yink doesn’t juggle with moves so much as he does with projectiles. Uair is active for awhile and will beat basically anything directly though. Use jumps to reposition and land away from him. If he’s getting B button happy, landing on top of him can be an option, but just be sure you either jump around his projectile or space to beat it with something like bair.

Advantage

Young Link lacks super fast ledge drop options and his standard options are just average. Plasma and f-tilt trapping will do wonders against him. Ledge drop fair is safe, but slow in startup and loses to f-tilt or plasma.

On stages with walls, he can instant wall jump > B reverse boomerang or arrow. This is mostly to catch you off guard, as it's fairly slow.

He may ledge jump nair since it's fast, powerful, and bigger than you’d expect. Our u-smash can beat this. Very important that you keep center from this. Yink has a really bad time with Ridley in this position, so don’t go for random reads and lose your position.

For off stage, plasma is great. Yink's recovery is pretty vulnerable to it, especially up B.

Zair is the trickiest thing. Plasma can take care of it depending on spacing/timing but it’s generally his best tool for getting around it. Doing drop down aerials can be great for covering it if you expect it. Generally though, you will want to try for plasma and just loop edgetraps.

ASA is hard to challenge from the side, making our nair less viable for beating it, though nair can hit it from above if timed/spaced properly. Our fair can beat it if he recovers high enough, and fullhop dair can beat it from above on the right stage. You will want to condition with plasma to setup either a fair or a fullhop dair (if applicable).

ASA up B is pretty easy to 2 frame with plasma. Trying to 2 frame with f-tilt can be risky however. Yink can up B through the stage and clip Ridley’s hand when the latter hits.

Don't forget Yink's tether too. If he uses this to recover instead of up B, will ledgetrap more than edgeguard.

Yink can use bombs to increase his recovery distance. Don’t underestimate this, especially if the stage has walls for wall jumps. Remember that bomb pull’s FAF (first actionable frame) is 40, so don’t be afraid to punish it.

When juggling, remember that most of Yink's landing aerials are safe, so space around them. Notable exception is dair, which you can nair/up smash OoS before its 2nd hit.

Yink may want to use bombs, arrows, or boomerangs to help cover his landing. Abuse run speed or plasma to beat or go under these. Remember that bomb FAF is 40.

Since you can’t really block Yink’s landings, you will want to beat them. U-tilt and u-smash's intangibility and nair will do nicely for keeping Yink in the air. Plasma's pretty nice in general for catching landings, especially since Yink’s air mobility is fairly low and most of his buttons are safe.

Yink falls pretty fast, so you gotta stay on your toes. Dair is really strong on hit and kills off the top, so be careful when trying to intercept him high in the air, especially since he falls fast. It's disjointed enough to make directly challenging it tricky with things that aren’t up smash. Challenge from the side or OoS it as mentioned. Be aware if Yink is high enough to autocancel dair on landing.

When you get Yink above you, the most common option is they pull out a bomb, DJ, and cover their landing with dair; aside from being a potential kill move, it bounces off and can lead into combos. Also remember his uair is very active, meaning airdodging through it usually doesn't work.

His biggest weakness otherwise is his ledge options, like the shortest getup attack range, neutral getup positioning is bad, and one of the shortest ledge rolls. This all makes positioning against his ledge options more lenient.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Yink's grounded up B (11 hits) is -17 on block.

Yink has some potential kill confirms like GSA > bair > ASA, and fair > u-smash.

Yink’s rolls don't go far, move pretty slowly, and runs out of intangibility fast.

Be quicker to whiff punish his u-smash than other moves.

Yink's arrows require about 2 SDI inputs, which have 3 hitlag frames for you to perform said SDI's.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Remember if you grab him when a boomerang is still going, timely use d-throw to take advantage of the invincibility frames so it doesn't hit you on the way back. Can pummel while waiting.

Besides rapid jab skewer punish (with shorthop skewer OoS being more consistent, though shield drop > d-smash also works), Yink's normals apart from d-tilt are punished by at least nair OoS (some by our other OoS aerials and shield grab), while his f-smash 2 is punished by Rid f-smash when shielded. His jab 3 & ledge getup attack (-25) are punished by shorthop SPR OoS. His landing aerials besides dair are insanely safe though as previously mentioned (as well as rising bair), so reset there.

Already covered his specials on shield, though note his grab is 12 frames in startup and 33 frames of end lag, so can potentially whiff punish with Skewer, Wing Blitz forward, and such (same with f-smash 2). Also, zair's 55 frames of end lag allows you to SPR after if you were stuffed out by it before. Mainly zair from a fullhop, as shorthop zair would cancel the end lag when they go to ground.

His gentleman jab/rapid jab finisher, smashes, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should he be at u-tilt > uair kill %. Remember not to shield too obviously though because of the tether grab (expect an up throw and immediately jump/maneuver the other way to avoid u-smash/uair/up B & pick your landing) which you may be better off whiff punishing than trying to shield punish the other mentioned moves.

Don't be conditioned to shield too much against arrows, boomerangs, and bombs too which is another way they tether grab you (arrows are better shielded at point-blank for nair OoS anyway as pointed out). Mix in shield jumping, particularly Double Shield Cancel fullhop, to whiff punish such a grab. Also air SPR to whiff punish arrows and such due to the aerial stall.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (82-87%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (88-95%)

Major credit to the Ridcord JMU doc for much of this info.

Opponent's Overview | Advanced Stats | Inverse Matchup Return to the top

Zelda

Zelda
Slightly Losing

Gameplan

Zelda uses a set-up archetype, which forces Ridley to fight her patiently. Screw up her spacing by approaching slowly or force her to to commit to an approach. Since Zelda has the lack of approach options, more often than not you will have to rely on spacing in neutral to counter her. Zelda relies on covering a certain part of each stage to get her set-ups going. The main goal is to understand the positions she uses her specials and respect her options that cover grounded and aerial approaches.

Platforms will give you more wiggle room to work around her set-ups. Allowing access to more movement options and positioning. Note that, you do not want to rely on being on the platform but rather use them as a tool to bait Zelda. Having to shield on platforms gives Zelda an opportunity for stronger positioning making it harder to pressure her. Using a mixture of dashes on and off platforms, full and short hops, and shields on stage and on platforms. Creating a dynamic of pushing stage control on the ground or creating pressure from above.

Farore's Wind is her fastest option out of shield, at frame 6. So be ready for it when you are trying to pressure her shield at close range. It is also a kill move and movement option that is unreactable. It can be used to snipe us from far range as a whiff punish or a way to retreat. Use movement to bait her into using Farore's wind depending on the position she is trying to be in. Which can be for a kill out of shield or from a set-up. It can also be from a platform, from an offstage recovery, or from a juggle. Note that the final hit is safer in the air than it is when done on the ground.

Dealing With Phantom Slash
Phantom Slash has 5 stages of charge. All having different hitboxes, ranges, and additional properties gained.

Stage 1 - A low kick.

• 15-19 Charge Frames
• HP

Stage 2 - A high punich. Has a windbox.

• 20-27 Charge Frames
• HP

Stage 3 - An outward sword slash. Has a windbox.

• 28-37 Charge Frames
• HP

Stage 4 - A downward sword swing. Has a windbox.

• 38-44 Charge Frames
• HP

Stage 5- A downward sword slash with shield. Has a windbox. Can reflect projectiles.

• 45-49 Charge Frames
• HP

Stage 6 - An upward sword slash with shield. Has a windbox. Can reflect projectiles.

• 50-120 Charge Frames
• HP

The 4th stage with overhead slash when the shoulder pads appear can also catch a jump or ledge jump and if summoned off stage, it can hit you from underneath. The 5th stage when the helmet appears can also hit ledge and 2 frame (though only hits ledge hang if summoned closer than center stage and you can ledge drop on reaction to avoid being hit), and once the phantom is fully assembled at its 6th stage, Zelda can move and attack freely, while the knight momentarily remains still until attacking with a dashing upward slash.

During the phantom knight's charging state, as soon as the helmet is conjured (semi-final stage), Zelda can't release it early or mix up her timing; only before the helmet appears.

Aside from interrupting Zelda's charge, the knight can also be destroyed by dealing enough damage with like projectiles such as our plasma breath, a fully charge plasma which can destroy a full charged knight if you think you can risk it depending on the timing and distance, but dodging it will be a better option when in doubt. Also too, she may try to counter with an up B before the full charged plasma comes out, but if you're positioned well enough to destroy the knight with it, can try it and see what she does.

Be careful about simply jumping over the knight though, as she will expect that and meet you with an aerial kick. Sometimes it can be good to just do a ledge jump/fullhop or double jump plasma on her while avoiding the knight, as she may fade back and neutral B during an aerial approach which'll stop you in your tracks and launch you into the swing of the knight, and even if she does reflect the plasma, it won't matter while you're in the air.

If there's a pause in between her summoning a knight again, can try and approach and see what she does, and even if she begins summoning one as you do so, she won't have time to charge it to a stronger form, resulting in either interrupting her with an attack or allowing for an attack trade between you and her at worst with you getting hit by a weaker knight as you hit her. A timed single or half charge plasma breath can occasionally interrupt her phantom charge too, but do so sparingly to avoid it being reflected back at you with Nayru's Love (though an even number of fireballs of 2 or 4 will cancel each other out which can allow you to punish with a burst option like SPR at max range) or her countering with an up B. Also if she's a bit far and begins a knight summon, can dash in and out to gather info on when she likes to unleash it.

If she's nearby charging a knight and you're shielding, can spot dodge if you time it right, roll behind her before she finishes getting her knight out, or perhaps better yet, fullhop or double jump OoS and do a fastfall landing aerial on her from above; namely with nair, uair, dair, skewer fastfall if lucky, bair if facing backwards, some falling plasma, or fullhop into a fastall empty landing for a tomahawk grab. F-air may also be possible, but might be harder to time in this instance as a multi-hit move.

• Still pay attention as to what charge state her knight is in when you decide to jump or otherwise evade it, because if she charges it to one of the higher states when you decide to wait and jump, it'll be a lot harder to dodge the strike due to the knight having more reach in its attack the more it's charged up. This mainly applies if you’re a bit further away from her and not close up. See the knight’s hitboxes here to get an idea, where you normally have to do at least a double jump (not so much IDJ) to get over the fully charged strike.

https://x.com/plugandbug/status/1327722692489908225?s=46

Like you normally would in neutral for spacing your moves, stay within mid range or burst range where she can't reliably charge the knight and more often interrupt her. She can of course shorthop back and begin summoning it, but if you catch on, that won't always work either. With patience too you can close the gap between you and her when her knight is in end lag. Her neutral without knight is more limited. Limit your interactions with Zelda and her knight by retreating in general (dash shield if you're expecting an up B), going to the ledge, or going to a platform if on a stage with one, allowing you to choose your options more wisely while being harder to hit.

In neutral, being out of knight's range will usually be better than shielding (not only do you want to conserve shield health but she can punish shield with grab during the final charge phase where she gets to move around unless you're much further away from her) or jumping over (which she can punish with an aerial or anti-air). Even if further away, while the knight's in end lag, this is your opportunity to close the gap since her neutral becomes a lot worse without it. Once you understand how she uses knight, her best move by far is u-tilt which combos into itself and aerials.

Advantage

With how her recovery works as a trap character (and keeping you from going off stage against her with her knight and Nayru's Love), ledge trapping is preferable to edgeguarding her, though keep in mind she can do a ledgehop (ledge drop double jump) aerial such as nair, side B from off stage, and plank with her uair or up B poke like us to keep you on your toes while attempting to ledgetrap, so don't let those catch you off guard; her up B poke also leaves herself more exposed to a strong attack like when we do ours, so punish when possible. It's also good to face away from ledge while shielding her up B, and then up smash OoS, f-tilt/f-air to cover ledge roll, etc, although if she does an up B poke around ledge, a spaced 2-frame can punish it.

Din's Fire she'll mainly use to edgeguard but if she uses it on stage or from ledge jump, take the opportunity to close in on her with a burst option with how laggy it is (clanking with it while approaching if she uses it from further away) or even skewer if you time and space it right while closing in on her, but watch out if she switches back to Phantom Knight after the Din's Fire.

When you've got her in a combo or tech chase, she may do a panic neutral B as a get-off-me tool, so be sure you space your moves as well as possible in those instances (tilts, aerials, etc) to mitigate being punished by it, or just delay your followup move altogether if you’re sure she’ll neutral B, and then continue your attack string. She may also neutral B as an OoS mixup where she does a jump OoS followed by pressing B, but her up B OoS is much more threatening. More on that later.

During advantage, watch how she uses knight to cover herself while landing, even if she's off stage. She's a sitting duck while charging it during disadvantage though, so can either punish her during it or patiently wait it out. Nayru's Love is another landing option she uses during disadvantage of course, so stay mid ranged.

Her floatiness also makes it easier to catch her landings with an attack, whether it's timing our anti-airs or just doing dash attack or one of our smashes when she lands next to you from ledge or something. If she ledge jumps though, shield if you expect a quick knight summon, anti-air if you expect an aerial, or if she drifts toward you, expect a Nayru’s Love which you can punish with f-smash if quick enough or otherwise just shield and then punish. 2 framing her tends to work best by doing off stage attacks around the ledge; doing said attacks after falling next to the ledge, or ledge drop double jump> aerial/special. Basically, her disadvantage is pretty bad with how slow she falls as a floaty. She may try to circumvent this with fastfall + neutral airdodge, so pay attention to her habits, and while there is the get-off-me options of her Nayru's Love and lightning kicks, it'll still be something that'll get her punished if she over-relies on them and you read her.

p.s. You don’t really get to turn your brain off with plasma against her when she’s at ledge in any situation, as you’re always at risk of getting reversaled by an aggressive up B which forces you to play reactionary at all times. Even in advantage, neutral B her only as a mixup.

Disadvantage

Ledgetrapping is when she's at her strongest. Phase 4 and 5 of the knight can hit ledge hang. To avoid ledgetraps, regrab the ledge; Zelda doesn't cover the regrab due to the knight forcing a timed ledge option. Can also time a getup attack to get through the knight's attack with intangibility. Her f-smash is another ledgetrap move to watch out for, as it covers everything but ledge hanging and ledge jump, tho knight covers those options.

Keep in mind that her up angle f-tilt along with u-tilt are potent anti-airs similar to our own, and with how her u-tilt lingers, can sometimes even catch you while neutral airdodging down. You don't want to be right above her anyway when trying to recover on stage from up high because of her uair, so retreat to ledge when needed if nothing else or if you're not in a position for another vertical burst option like dair. Speaking of her uair, up tilt combos into it if she hits you with the back side of up tilt, and can also combo into her bair, but like with our up tilt > uair, its timing is tight and is % dependent. At mid % where uair won't kill, she may go for an up B instead, so try and airdodge that if possible. Be wary of directional airdodging her uair left or right when landing, because she can punish you after with her up B. When dealing with her uair onslaught from up high, keep an eye out on a possible up B finisher which you should try to airdodge.

Her dair, aside from spiking off stage (watch out if she's up high and has summoned a knight to strike from ledge that'll put you into her path to spike, though this is harder for her to do at higher %), can send into jablock at lower %. Around 70% or so, her dair can combo into bair or up B, and around 90% and above, her dair combos into uair which will kill us. Don't jump too much to avoid pressure where she can get a free dair on us on stage and sometimes send us into a knight's path. Like our uair, hers can hit someone on a top platform from a shorthop, and be used to hit multiple times with a lower plat. It can combo out of her up throw too, but is very weight and % dependent. Needless to say, her uair can combo off a phantom strike too with her being below you, but usually bair is a more desirable followup from phantom.

Likewise, she can do d-tilt > fair at various percents, so be ready to DI. Thankfully, her d-tilt doesn't hit our ledge hang for her to sweetspot fair us after except during ledge hang hurtbox shifting (and perhaps on stages with slanted edges like Lylat or Yoshi's Story), though the d-tilt may 2 frame. On platform stages, she can summon a knight on a plat, and d-tilt you up to the other plat for you to get hit by it, so keep in mind. Her dash attack is one of the fastest in the game, so just remember she may use it to close the distance and quickly react with your d-tilt/f-tilt, nair/fair, jab, or shield. She can also dash attack with a fully charged phantom that will shield break along with f-smash, fair, or dair, so don't sit in your shield during this to avoid getting punished in the worst way. Even sitting in shield against her during the few seconds of respawn invincibility isn't a good idea, especially if she immediately starts charging a knight during her fresh stock. Move around during that time.

Her nair is a multi-purpose combo tool much like our own and thus her most damaging out of shield option, and is similarly weaker on the back hit. It can be a potent edgeguarding option due to being longlasting (can even trap you long enough for a prior fully charged knight to connect its attack), but again, try to act with a nair of your own if it comes to that. With good drift, her nair can combo into a lightning kick, but as a caveat, her nair can knock you backward instead of forward if she drifts too heavily, resulting in you avoiding a combo, and if she drifts too little, a nair followup will not be possible. Likewise, if they initially nair far away enough from you or if she moves by you too fast, it's possible that you can fall out of her nair altogether.

For other aerials, her lightning kicks on their own can combo into her up B for powerful shield pressure. Even the sour hit of those aerials you should tech so you don't get jablocked after and hit by a lightning kick which is easier for her against big bodies such as us. Her fair and bair sweetspots only last 1 frame and the hitboxes aren't very big, so a Zelda that don't have mastery over their moves will land the sour hit more often. Her fair/bair when used as a landing aerial can sometimes low profile a grab, so wouldn't try to shield grab after shielding those moves. When shielding her fair/bair, watch if she crosses up your shield with it and punish her end lag.

Her f-smash is a multi-hit that you don't want to try and spot dodge, or neutral getup from ledge or ledge jump like if she's charging it. It's similar to our f-smash in having relatively low end lag, so respect it. If she prepares an f-smash along with a phantom strike when edgeguarding, stay below for awhile, and plank her with uair underneath if possible. Her up smash may be the least used. It doesn't even hit platforms until the very last hit and one of her laggiest moves. Still, you don't want to challenge it with something like our dair, and it comes out of shield as fast as her lightning kicks, so you'll want to space your tilts on her shield as usual. Her down smash is fast however, and a fast edgeguard option when standing at the ledge, so recover low if you expect it, or up B poke if feeling lucky. Her d-smash has a good launch angle but not very much knockback, so is possible to survive it, but watch out for when she uses it on stage which can lead to tech situations, and mixup your tech movement. D-smash is also the fastest way for her to launch you off stage into the swing of phantom.

For her grab game, respect her pivot grab and don't make committal approaches too often like if she's backed into a corner or you face a Zelda that's competent at grabs. If you wait to shield a fully charged phantom, her grabbing will guarantee that you get hit by it. Her grab itself is slow though. Her f-throw can combo off a fully charged phantom, her d-throw is her bnb combo like most characters which you can DI but mix it up (such as DI'ing in instead of away to make her fair/bair hit on sour instead of sweetspot, and also keep in mind her d-throw gives you little time to react to tech when it launches you on a lower platform), her up throw can combo into fullhop nair and situationally uair as mentioned as well as a setup for potential kills at top platforms like with our up throw, and her up and back throws are kill throws at high %. Up throw killing though depends on weight, stage blast zone ceiling height, and DI, but if she uses up throw earlier to combo, it'll stale it. Her back throw kills earlier with that said, so remember if you're at high % and she's cornered which may be intentional for her to grab and b-throw you, though if she uses b-throw earlier for an attempted gimp, kill, or sending into a knight's path, it'll stale.

If she has a knight ready and you're off stage, fastfall or airdodge while drifting forward to recover low and avoid the strike. Don’t always recover low though like in the case of her going off stage to dair spike; you'll have to delay your up B in which case.

If she's traveling through the air (like off stage) while charging the knight, it will catch onto ledges behind her, even if she doesn't land on the floor herself. She typically uses it to cover two bases when edgeguarding; the knight to cover ledge, while going low herself to catch a low recovery, but when recovering, you can defend yourself with attacks such as nair or uair (try to do so before she does something like neutral B that'll knock you back or worse send you into the path of the phantom strike) before using your up B to get back to the ledge, or if you use Wing Blitz early enough, will stop her in her tracks. Also watch out for nair or Nayru's Love possibly launching you to the side of the stage, and be ready to tech so you don't get stage spiked. All and all, mix up how you deal with the knight and recovering against her; it's a mind game battle more than anything.

Like with neutral B, if her up B hits you off stage when low, it can send you upward into the path of a phantom strike. She can also use up B to snipe after knocking you off stage with a phantom strike in order to finish you, though since she can't recover herself afterward, she'll only go for it when significantly behind in % or during a last stock end of game situation. She can ledge cancel with her up B as well, typically to position herself for a quick edgeguard, so be ready.

Lastly, with Din's Fire, remember that it has a big delay from the spark and from the burst. Simply reacting with a jump, fastfall, or airdodge will do the trick. Zelda will try to play mind games by pretending to hit you directly but then cover low's or high's depending on if they think you are going to jump or fall, but Din's Fire is such a committal move, it's hard for them to use it optimally unless you're easy to read.

Miscellaneous and frame data

Zelda multihits- f-smash (5 hits), u-smash (7 hits), nair (5 hits), neutral B (4 hits), d-throw (5 hits)

Nair through Din's Fire.

The first hit of Farore's Wind can be DI'd down and away/in to escape the second hit. This will force her to read your DI in a 33/33/33 whether you move right, left or stay stationary.

If you connect an SPR on her at all, don't do the jump release in hope for an aerial setup (unless you’re at higher % than her where she can mash out), as she can counter most attempts with her aerials & specials.

Her fair, bair, uair, and up B are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

Her rapid jab finisher is punished by f-smash OoS, and all of her normals besides d-tilt are punishable by at least nair OoS, though her landing aerials are too safe on shield, so neutral reset there. Her neutral B's similarly punishable if shielded up close, but gotta hold till the end of the move on the 4th hit, and since it's -25, you can shorthop SPR OoS as a response; same goes for her up smash and ledge getup attack which are -25. Her up B on the ground is -29, making it punishable by f-smash OoS. In the air however it's only -19, and can be even safer if she spaces it.

Her rapid jab finisher, up smash, point-blank neutral B, up B, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should she be at u-tilt > uair kill %.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (80-85%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (86-91%)

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Zero Suit Samus

Zero Suit Samus

With ZSS, she'll spend most of her time in the air, so camp her from the ground with your anti-airs rather than chase her and avoid her nair and zair combo starters, having your up tilt, up angle f-tilt, up smash, nair, and such ready, along with d-tilt to cover her overextensions; otherwise just knowing how to react to Flip Jump/Kick with practice or reading it when she’s in disadvantage, along with her dair to some extent.

Flip Jump has intangibility on frames 3 through 12. Visually, it ends when she reaches the apex of her flip, is on her way down, and around when you start seeing the blue afterimages (aka when she can kick), so don’t attack when her flip is on the way up. Timely abuse Ridley up smash and uair against it; if you're not early enough, then patiently wait till near the end of it and punish. Remember too that ZSS loses Flip Jump after using it until she touches the ground, which can be useful in off stage situations where she may be gimped, though edgeguard her quickly since she has two tethers to work with. If she tethers, can try and do an off-stage or Crouch Ledge Slip nair/fair on her, or SPR/jump plasma if she tethers high, depending. She can easily jump over charged Plasma with Flip Jump, so be careful with it, using one or two fireballs as bait, or Flickshot Plasma when retreating if you have room. Can shield Flip Kick, but with how safe it is on shield, she'll be away before you can punish as she bounces off with it. Reading/evading is the better option with how much end lag it has. In other words, pay attention to her panic options. If it's not Flip Jump, it may be dair, but that at least is more reactable, and easily punished when dodged. Dair is arguably easier to bait out too, though note it can hit you under a platform, so still shield it there. Surprisingly, she can’t airdodge fastfall too well, making her disadvantage pretty linear when she doesn’t have Flip Jump available, and is otherwise forced to dair or something.

Other things to note about Flip Jump/Kick:

• Normally if she’s facing your way, she flips forward, and if she’s facing backward, she flips away. If the player taps backward at the beginning of the move however, she'll flip backward. The same thing happens with the kick, as the player can choose if she kicks forward or backward. This is effective for mind games, but don't let it get in your head much. Simply anticipate Flip Jump when she's in disadvantage regardless of the direction it may travel. Also note if you're in contact with her at the end of the move's arc, will be hit automatically without the player's input (buried if you're grounded), so never act slowly around it.

• Can combo into a spike out of her nair, killing and comboing at about 35-75% on most stages.
• If you're buried by the move, it can lead into a Boost Kick at higher percents for early kills.
• With good mashing, you can mash out of Flip Jump’s bury until around 110%.
• Aside from Flip Jump's uses during advantage and trying to get out of disadvantage, she may use it as an approach in neutral. The player can run towards you and when they are a short distance away, use Flip Jump and attack from behind, so don't be caught off guard. They can hold back some after the initial flip to slow down their momentum too and affect where they land.
• In some instances when she uses Flip Jump to get out of disadvantage like when being combo'd or tech chased, it'll be harder to react and punish compared to when you can anticipate her doing it from ledge (above ledge as a high recovery or below ledge as a low recovery + burying you). In this situation, it can be easier to just let the Flip Jump go and try to intercept the landing instead. Same with when she uses it high in the air and you’re not nearby to punish it (be realistic on when you can chase her in the air with your average air speed and jump height). Frame trapping 101.

After punishing a Flip Jump, it’s time to take advantage. ZSS players usually like to drift away with their incredible airspeed and space you out with a zair. Be sure to read for jumps too; jumps are one of their most valuable tools while landing along with the stall and fall dair when you get too close. It's relatively quick and has low landing lag, so read and intercept it with an up smash or up tilt. SPR is also a good option, albeit slower than a lot of other options available in the scenario. It’s good for closing stocks and dragging ZSS to ledge, but you are giving them their jump and Flip back when doing this, so use at your own risk.

At any rate, it's optimal to get ZSS off stage after intercepting Flip Jump; fullhop nair when they use it to recover high for instance. Because of her exploitable recovery and lack of Flip Jump, our nair is an amazing tool for further edgeguarding them, and Plasma. These should be your main two options when dealing with edgeguarding ZSS. You should still remember that she has 2 tethers and a wall jump though, so be sure to plan what you’re going to do first. When in a situation where you can ledgetrap her, it’s pretty important to remember all her drop from ledge options, especially ledge drop > jump > zair, and Flip Kick as they are among her safest and hardest to beat ledge options due to their speed and overall safety.

It’s usually a good idea to use a lot of active, large, or disjointed moves to snuff out her safer options like ledgedrop zair. ZSS has some pretty quick regular getup options, but they can be read and punished with a large or active move. Overall, advantage is about squeezing everything you can out of a small punish and hopefully get an early kill.

Aside from her nair and zair, watch out for her Blaster combo starters. Her d-smash/Blaster > up B Boost Kick kills us around 90%. If you see her charging her Blaster, can shield it if you do a dash shield, then punish with an OoS option. If they wall you out with zair's, something like a Wing Blitz forward from mid stage can be a decent mixup option to catch their landing. It can also go through Blaster, though wouldn’t rely too much on the timing. Our tilts, nair, bair, and even a single plasma beats out her Blaster too.

She has hard to punish shield pressure (even with her rising aerial, but parries help to deal with that) but little shield damage and poke (aside from her fair which can poke due to being a 2-hit move and may need to shield tilt that), so can shield well against ZSS aside from Blaster and tether grab which is more reactable than regular Samus's; move around though. Most of what ZSS can do on shield is still relatively safe, especially zair and nair. If she tries to go for an aerial, you can react with an up smash or nair OoS as a get-off-me for rising aerials (her fair and bair). Do not try to up smash ZSS’s nair OoS however, especially a landing nair. It's hugely disjointed and safe. Also watch for her jabbing on your shield, as it's difficult to punish and spammable after a landing aerial due to it being a frame 1 move, though her jab 3 you can punish well. Regardless, if she bounces off your shield with Flip Jump, you can follow her aerial movement with an OoS aerial if quick enough.

• Also watch out for Boost Kick OoS, and to DI the move, mostly DI down and in during the multi-hits, but the higher up you are when hit by her up B, the further out you must DI. DI out on the first hit may help you fall out of it.

As hyped as her combo game is, she doesn't really have that much true combos. Her best way of combo'ing like with us is off of tech chases. Techroll away leaves her with the least options to potentially punish with if you have space, but mix it up. Also mixup your landing with her juggling game. Watch out for her d-smash at ledge, or if you’re under a platform that she’s on and shield it there.

Plasma Whip can hit you away or hit you over her head for juggling if she holds it. Depending on how you evade her grab, she may side B to mix it up; best to jump over both, but shield both air side B and zair.

If she’s a stock ahead or you’re on your last stock, try to avoid recovering low or be wary about it since she can beat or trade with our up B via Flip Kick, dair, and such. Certain stages will make it harder to land a spike during our vertical up B though.

Last but not least, the player will undoubtedly adapt to your punishes and mixups. For example, if a smart ZSS starts noticing that you're countering Flip Jump as a recovery move, they may recover with it later to mix you up, or simply recover low with a tether or Boost Kick. There are more ways that ZSS can mix up her options, as she has a well versatile kit that can cover her weak points decently. The way a ZSS reacts to you abusing her habits varies player to player, so it’s important to never stop paying attention to what she does or what options or habits the ZSS shows. Be sure to predict a change in habits, like in the example with the ZSS changing their Flip Jump habits. Be cautious when you know or think that the ZSS will change their habits after you capitalize on them. Just be sure to remember, that before you run in, a lot of her moves can substitute for each other in some scenarios, a good example being how zair can substitute for Blaster as a shield pressure/poking/combo/ledgetrap tool.

Overall, disadvantage against ZSS is rough and hard to break out of. Breaking out of combos is tough, considering the fast moves, movement speed, and large disjointed hitboxes that she has, as well as things like her jab forcing a tech for d-smash tech chases. We don’t have any fast combo breakers that can really get us out of her combos, so it’s usually optimal to try and break out of combos with DI and SDI mixups. Landing is usually difficult, but there are options. They are relatively unsafe and slow through, like going to ledge or covering your landing with a disjointed aerial while drifting back. Recovering is not very difficult though, with recovering low being optimal since ZSS can’t really go deep and edgeguard, but you should be wary that if you do, she can use her spiking dair as mentioned.

While she can rack up damage on us pretty easily, she struggles to kill without a stun to a smash attack or Boost Kick, so at high percent, keep your head and stay focused.

ZSS prefers to set up ledgetraps as opposed to edgeguards. None of her moves can hit you on ledge, but getting up is a different story. Her quick, low lag, big hitboxes make it hard to get back on stage. The biggest moves to watch out for are her grab, side B, and Blaster. They can all lead to another ledgetrap situation or even a kill in side B and Blaster's case. The short range of her aerials (barring nair) makes our ledge jump to nair a decently safe option, because it can snuff out some aerial options and provides decent protection, but it's important to watch for her up smash, nair, and other active aerials like fair. It’s important to mix up your ledge game too, with ledge drop > jump > fair, and whatnot. It just depends on the player and their habits, so be sure to pay attention, and above all, stay calm.

Miscellaneous and frame data

ZSS multihits- f-smash (2 hits), u-smash (~6 hits), fair (2 hits), side B (5 hits)

Aside from maybe grab, her u-tilt, f-smash, nair, and Flip Kick are whiff punished by Wing Blitz forward in terms of end lag.

Skewer > d-tilt > insert followup here, for covering delayed getup.

With ZSS, can also move a lot and challenge her in the air, especially when she goes for flip kick (given that you're not off stage) because if you try challenging it from the ground, miss, and get hit you're buried but if you're in the air you won't be buried. Still tech it though.

ZSS's normals and side B are punished by our OoS aerials and shield grab, as is point-blank neutral B. Her jab 3 is punished by shorthop SPR OoS, and her dash attack (-36) will cross you up when shielded, so quickly turn around and punish accordingly with f-smash or maybe Skewer (shorthop turnaround Skewer OoS for better frame advantage & positioning). U-tilt, dash attack, f-smash, and ledge getup attack can even be punished by our f-smash when shielded (turnaround f-smash in dash attack's case).

Her landing aerials besides dair are too safe on shield to punish though, so go for a neutral reset there. The Flip Jump if she does the kick is punishable on shield with whatever, but have to react quick and catch her landing. It's a matter of knowing or reacting to the direction she drifts after hitting your shield with it.

Her dash attack (dash back first if she crosses you up) & flip kick (dash whatever direction she's drifting) are also shield punishable by d-smash. Her jab 1/2/3, u-tilt, dash attack, f-smash, Flip Kick, and ledge getup attack are also shield punished by u-tilt should she be at u-tilt > uair kill %. Her ledge getup attack is also punished by f-smash OoS.

Her grab is 15 frames in startup and 33 frames in end lag, allowing a potential whiff punish with Skewer, Wing Blitz forward, and such, and since her shield grab would be frame 19, could dash attack her shield and still spot-dodge it or jump, or mix in shield jumping or Double Shield Cancel fullhop to bait a whiff. Like regular Samus though, watch out for up B as her fastest possible OoS option, and only dash attack her shield if you expect her to go for a grab.

Also, zair's 30 frames of end lag allows you to SPR after if you were stuffed out by it before. Mainly zair from a fullhop, as shorthop zair would cancel the end lag when they go to ground.

Ridley kill confirm:

• u-tilt > fullhop uair (78-82%)
• u-tilt > double jump uair (83-86%)

Major credit to Ridcord for much of this info.

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