SSBU/Simon/Setplay

Simon

Overview

Combos

Setplay

Tech

Strategy/Counterstrategy

Matchups

Resources

The below sections may require notation information, as it makes reading the setups easier.

Notation

> - True Followup, or go directly into next move
>> - False Followup (has gaps)
>* - True Followup, but very tight
delay - Delay the next move
FW - Forward (Toward opponent)
BW - Backward (Away from opponent)
Land - Must land before performing the next action
Walk(X) - Walk in X direction
Dash(X) - Dash in X direction
SH(X) - Shorthop in X direction
SH(X-Air) - Do a shorthop aerial X-Air
FH(X) - Fullhop in X direction
DJ(X) - Double Jump in X direction
FF - Fastfall
[X] - Charge X move.
RAR/IRAR - Must (Instant) Reverse Aerial Rush
B-Reverse - Must perform a B-reverse
Wavebounce - Must perform a Wavebounce
NIL - Must perform a No-Impact Land (Simon-specific, check the Tech section)
Opponent(X) - Opponent performs X option
U-Tilt* - Must hit the arm hitbox of U-Tilt
DF-Smash - Downward-angled F-Smash
UF-Smash - Upward-angled F-Smash
DD N-Air - Dragdown with N-Air. Avoid landing the final hit.
DF-Air - Downward-angled F-Air
UF-Air - Upward-angled F-Air
DB-Air - Downward-angled B-Air
UB-Air - Upward-angled B-Air
F-Air* - Must hit the arm hitbox of F-Air
B-Air* - Must hit the arm hitbox of B-Air
U-Air* - Must hit the arm hitbox of U-Air
D-Air(X) - Must bounce in X direction after hitting D-Air
C-Axe - Must hold backward when throwing Axe to perform close Axe
F-Axe - Must hold forward when throwing Axe to perform far Axe
S-Cross - Must do a tilt input when throwing Cross to perform short Cross
L-Cross - Must do a smash input when throwing Cross to perform long Cross
R-Cross - Specifies the return hit of Cross
HW - Abbreviated Holy Water
HW* - Specifies that the opponent is now trapped in Holy Water's flame pillar
Primed Holy Water/PHW - Specifies a Holy Water bottle with 3 HP or less

Edgeguard

Simon prefers to ledgetrap instead of edgeguard the majority of the time. This is not only due to Simon's ledgetrapping being amazing to begin with, but also because Simon's thin, not very active hitboxes are not ideal for creating obstacles between the opponent and the ledge. As a result, edgeguarding is a gamble, as Simon committing to an edgeguard usually means that he will be unable to get stage control back in time and set up his ledgetrapping. In addition, the one move that Simon has that has the hitbox of an edgeguarding move, N-Air, doesn't kill until absurd percents.

However, there are a couple of situations where Simon does prefer to edgeguard. First, if an opponent makes a committal move offstage, such as a directional airdodge, Simon can very easily swat them away with a F-Air/B-Air or throw a L-Cross/F-Axe offstage. In particular, runoff F-Air can quickly cover a specific area below and in front of the ledge.

Simon can also use his tether to hang from ledge, tether-cancel, double jump, and B-Air the recovering opponent. This is useful for characters with worse recoveries--particularly in the ditto--and as a way to condition higher recoveries.

Lastly, Simon can position himself on ledge and throw Holy Water such that it falls off ledge. This can disrupt recoveries and cause the opponent to panic, but, unless the opponent isn't ready, generally doesn't lead into a stock loss. If this happens repeatedly, however, Simon can D-AirSPIKE the opponent, killing at very early percents. Note that if the D-AirSPIKE misses, Simon will instead lose his stock.

Ledgetrap

A lot of Simon's arsenal is very good for this purpose in particular. Simon's average range being about a roll distance away means that even Bowser will rarely be able to land a ledge attack on a Simon player ledgetrapping them. Simon has quite a few ways to ledgetrap to threaten every option.

The first thing to do is, before the opponent gets to stage, have Holy Water be placed right at the ledge. The fire will threaten neutral getup, jump, ledge attack, and, if the invincibility wears off, ledgehang. From here, a lot of things can be done. The most common thing to do after this is a S-Cross to continue covering every option besides roll, ledgehang, and sometimes jump. Then, Simon can work to cover the options that aren't already covered, particularly roll. This is best done with a turnaround grab or, at higher percents, a D-AirSPIKE, but this is something that must be practiced. Jump is best covered with a SH(UF-Air/UB-Air) or a FH version against characters with higher jump heights/better mobility. Lastly, ledgehang can be covered, for most characters, by a well-spaced DF-Air/DB-Air right above the ground or by resetting Holy Water on ledge.

A low-execution setup that works well on opponents with worse ledgehangs is Holy Water on ledge > charge D-Smash. The Holy Water will cover everything except roll, and if the opponent rolls past, the D-Smash will cover that. Additionally, if spaced, the D-Smash will also hit opponents trapped in the Holy Water from any other option. This is not a cover-all setup, as opponents with plenty of invincibility can stay at ledge until after the fire fizzles out, and some opponents will simply not get hit by the D-Smash simply because they do not rise in the Holy Water's fire, but it can still be very reliable.

A higher execution setup is the standard Holy Water on ledge > S-Cross > any angled aerial to catch either ledgejump or ledgehang > Land > assess if opponent has rolled or not. If they have, grab them. If they haven't, do another aerial. Remember, except in a few matchups, you're not losing anything by forcing your opponent to stay hanging, even if you can't hit them (i.e. Ganondorf), so if you are forced to not cover any option, ledgehang is the best one to neglect. Don't be tempted to runoff and D-AirSPIKE only to see that they finally committed to a ledge option and you just SDed. The only exception to this rule is if you get the opponent trapped in a descending Holy Water, in which case you should finish the job with D-AirSPIKE or at least a DF-Air/DB-Air.

Other ledgetrapping tools exist as well. Sometimes simply using F-Tilt at ledge can be a way to condition your opponent into panicking. All things considered, it's one of Simon's faster moves with still solid range, so this is justified. Simon's other tilts have purpose as well: D-Tilt1 can hit higher ledgehangs and put an opponent just slightly offstange; a perfect position for them to panic, get to stage quickly, and have very limited I-frames, and U-Tilt's late fist hitbox can true combo into U-Smash at mid percents. If an opponent is being way too passive at ledge and using up their ledge invincibility, a DF-Smash can be used as a hard read to punish this and kill quite early. DF-Smash can also be used to catch opponents caught in Holy Water, but this is less of an option select than D-Smash and more of a hard punish that is worse at catching ledgeroll, so only use if you're certain it's hitting. Lastly, Uppercut can be used as a way to quickly catch an opponent who's moved past your other traps, especially one at a little above jump height.

Axe is a weird case. It has distinct counterplay at the ledge; if it's thrown out by the time the opponent is already at ledge, it's often too late, and Simon has a better option in Holy Water anyways. The main reason it's still used is its reward on opponents picking options covered by Axe--everything except roll and well-timed neutral getup/jump--but if an opponent picks an option not covered by Axe, it's likely that Simon can get punished right then and there. Axe is okay to use at ledge every once in a while, especially to threaten ledgehang or break unsuspecting opponents' shields, but don't use it too much.

Juggling

Tech Chasing

Common Set-ups

R-Cross into Holy Water on a PlatformYou should master this.

(2) Easy

Cross delay FH > HW R-Cross HW*

OR

Cross delay FH R-Cross > HW HW*

Setup involves throwing a Holy Water bottle onto a platform as a Cross is returning, hitting the opponent into the fire and trapping them there. A lot of Simon's setups on platforms may use this as a fundamental bridge, so getting good at this one is important.