Any YouTube video I can watch to improve my technique in playing the game in general or for shulk/pit?
I just use Smashboards. 30 minutes of causal browsing got me hella good with Shulk. Here's a few Shulk tips -
- get used to switching arts on demand at a moments notice
- my go-to approach is to jump into a Neutral air. It will often go right over dash and non-U Smash attacks. At low percentages I can often pull a down smash upon landing, and also if I miss my Nair the down smash will catch people running to punish.
- Backslash is awfully situational, don't overuse it. It's great against low projectiles, though. It's unbelievable against Duck Hunt, for example. You can jump right over the frisbee a lot of the time, and can also knock back the gas cans at a low enough angle but also shitloads of distance (further influenced by which direction you're holding) that you can hit Duck Hunt with it, or just knock it away and off the stage.
- against fast offensive characters like Little Mac I like to start the game by throwing an F-smash as soon as they start running toward you. Catches them damn near every time.
- Shulk's counter is amazing but the timing window lowers everytime you successfully use it. It's a great way to punish a person trying to punish you, though. If a character hits you with a dash attack that you know will put them safely away from your counter strike, or if they're at high percentage,
hold forward on the control pad and you'll do a stronger variant with lower range that triggers almost instantly, knocking away your opponent or putting some instant distance between you and them.
- Jump is good against easily launched characters and against characters with easily gimped recoveries, as well as confusing and/or stalling characters with good ground game while you wait for another Art to charge. I often switch to Jump when the opponent is at a high percentage and the battle is leaning toward off-stage. Short hops into neutral A are great against tall characters on the ground and a quick short hop with Jump can extend the range of your Backslash considerably for occasional surprise attacks. I love jumping as though I'm going to land in front of someone, and then using Jump's rediculous air control to land just far enough to them to tip an f-Smash as they rush to move toward me and punish my landing. Get used to Jump enough and you can follow anyone all the way off-stage, gimp 'em, and then jump right back - without even using your recovery.
- Speed is great in general. Great for comboing, stalling, awful for ledge gaming but great for hitting someone near or off the ledge while they're returning and they don't expect you to cross the entire stage at a moment's notice. It also helps Shulk keep up with fast characters and confound slow ones. The unpredictable landing into f-smash works well here because of the lack of momentum conversion - run fast and people will often assume you're gonna jump far too
- Shield is god tier but doesn't require many tips because it's hella intuitive. Besides remain as close to the center of the map as you can while you're in Shield because you're hella gimped offstage with it. I switch to it any time I'm at a high percentage that is higher than my opponents, when I'm in danger of being attacked.
- In Buster mode you take a lot more damage, but you give out a lot more too. I'll often switch to it for risky plays on my second stock (when I need to play catchup), when someone is cheesing, or when I'm safely ahead with an extra stock and my M-Shield has run out. Combos can happen surprisingly intuitively in Buster mode because knockback is reduced.
- Smash is also intuitive. You take more knockback and your attacks do less damage but your knockback is boosted. Use it every time you're not in danger of being killed but your opponent is 80+.
