Question! When I was teaching myself how to play Smash as a kid, I never used tilt attacks, down smashes, or down throws... basically anything less intuitive than "the opponent is over there, so I should use my attack that goes in that direction." So how do you learn which situations the less intuitive attacks are good for? I haven't really looked into it, but just playing casually, it's hard for me to tell what exactly the differences are between, say, Lucina's neutral, side tilt, and down tilt. They're different animations, but what good are they?

Another thing I NEVER do: attack opponents while I'm holding them. Is there any reason not to do this? I assume it's easier for them to break free when they're at lower percentages?

I've starting teching, though! It actually feels pretty natural when you get used to it. Of course doing an air dodge right before you hit the ground cushions your landing! Why didn't I think of that before?

@Secret_Tunnel

I don't play Lucina, but generally speaking, down throws are great for starting combos. Try down throwing then following up their bouncing body immediately with a low aerial attack. Down smashes are generally good for catching opponents who tend to roll around a lot. Down tilts I find are slightly less handy but depending on the character can be good, semi-quick "poke" moves.

Get into the habit of pummeling (hitting while holding) opponents, though--every little bit of extra damage counts! Keep in mind though that the lower their percentage, the earlier they can break free, so if they're at 0%, you may want to bypass the pummel entirely, sneak in 2 or 3 at 30% or so, and you can really wail on them past 100%. Get a feel for how many you can reasonably get away with before finishing up with the throw.

@Secret_Tunnel

Lucina's down tilt is interesting to use as a kind of safe poking move and if your target has enough damage it'll fall on the ground; depending on how the other player gets up you can get a good hit out of the situation. Down tilt is also neat to use at the ledge against certain recoveries like Captain Falcon, Ganondorf or Cloud, characters that go a little over the ledge when recovering with a special move. Heck, you can even hit people trying to snap the ledge with a doublejump or a directional air dodge. And if you hit it, 95% of the time they'll have to use up special and get super vulnerable to an easy hit offstage or sometimes even a forward smash if they panic and miss the ledge after mashing up B. Down tilt can put your opponent in bad spots if used like this and it's not a risky move to throw out here and there.

Up Tilt is a good anti-aerial move because of the big hitbox it puts out over Lucina. Because it's a sword (disjointed hitbox) and aerial moves never really clank with anything except items, Lucina's up tilt will go through and beat most moves that get thrown at her by someone above (unless it's literally one of the most disjointed moves in the game like Shulk's or Cloud's Down Air or something with armor, in that case it's a trade and both players get hit). Up Tilt also links with Up Air and the other aerials and the move kills at 150% by itself. Try using short hop Up Airs followed with an Up Tilt to catch other player's landings. It's pretty useful!

All right, F Tilt doesn't do much because it leaves Lucina vulnerable when she uses it but it can catch some people off-guard when they try to hop back on the stage with an aerial or something. I think it kills at 120% at the ledge, maybe less. It reaches a little farther than Down Tilt at the expense of more ending lag. Generally not safe to throw around but you can get good hits if you space it right.

HOW DID I NOT HAVE THIS GAME SPOILED FOR ME!? Holy cow there's some cool stuff in adventure mode, that ending sequence was intense!

@TriforceBun
@HammerLord

Thanks guys! I'll try to use a wider variety of moves. This video series has been really helpful too:

Dammit I wanna finish Story Mode! I wanna see whatever the ending is.

I've heard a few times it's got some crazy in it!

I just always end up wanting to play online 1v1 though :(

Character balance patch!

Buffs:
Captain Falcon
Diddy Kong
Lucario
Rosalina and Luma
Little Mac
Bowser Jr.
Ryu/Ken(?)
Bayonetta

Nerfs:
Peach/Daisy
Pichu
Wolf

Nothing that seems like major changes, but we'll see. Captain Falcon in particular seems poised to benefit from his changes.

Also, VR!



Looks like a neat little extra to play with a few times if you have the VR kit.

Buff Bayonetta are you fucking serious?

All she needs to do is get you in the air and the round is over.

Smash VR is surprisingly cool! The usual Labo VR caveats apply, and the mode has limited options, but it exceeded my expectations! Especially in spectator mode, where you can freely control the camera. You can view the action from above or below or off to the side, and you can zoom in far enough to make the action super-dynamic and hard to follow. Head-tracking is decent, also. Cool!

Well, Sakurai just confirmed that we'll learn more about the next DLC character during the E3 Direct. Not a huge surprise, but nice to get confirmation.

Who's it gonna be? Place your bets! As for me, I'm thinking...





Oddjob throws his hat in the ring!

Can we get some Dragon Quest down here already!?

@nate38

My heart says Banjo. My head says some Dragon Quest anime boy with a sword.

It's obviously Andy from Advance Wars.

I mean like, they'd be stupid to NOT do it at this point amirite.

Doom Slayer! Available right after the stream. If I just believe hard enough, it will come true.

That tournament was hype! At least the 1v1 stuff... The format was really fun! Except for the 2v2 stuff...

I love Squad Strike. I hope Sakurai adds even more options to it. Maybe even tagging? By the way, Sakurai's troll was immaculate. What a mad genius of trolling!

I like Squad Strike but man, those 6 minute Time Battles or whatever really dragged IMO. Time suuuucks.

@TriforceBun I think Timed makes some sense when items are on, because it (theoretically) makes overpowered one-hit KO items seem less important when it only makes for a two point swing in a fairly long bout instead of wiping out a precious stock.

But yes, I wish Squad Strike was more of a focus in this game. Let us play it online, damn it!

I think item matches are way more fun to watch. That said, they probably should've removed some of them.

@Anand I think they did? I didn't watch the whole thing, but I don't remember seeing any Assist Trophies. And maybe no Pokeballs, either? Can't remember...

@nate38
I mean, some MORE of them. I'm not sure how balanced the Final Smashes are. (Looks like Peach and Daisy put you to sleep at the side of the stage now, instead of instakilling you, though.)

And then there's curry...