Gem you need to teach me how to Palu in a PM. I still don't know how that character should work (or maybe I'm just too used to characters I can go in with while Palu demands that you control the entire field and go in on very specific situations).
Well, I like to give tips in the forums because it means we can all share (and if someone is aware I'm incorrect on something then they can also help me out XD )
My general playstyle with her is as follows:
a) if they give you any distance and they're not super fast, auto-reticule them to make them regret it. Until you've got their patterns down you want them to approach you, rather than the other way around. If they start jumping, let them and just fire the auto-reticule later so they land on it. It's all free percentages and it'll piss them off, hopefully increasing the chances of them being brash and making mistakes when they do come at you :3 Don't worry if they have a reflector: auto-reticule is so terrible it doesn't even reflect back at a decent angle, so it won't hit you unless you're point-blank XD
b) if they have a ranged attack spam reflect to make them come closer or, if they're really silly, hurt themselves with their own projectiles. Mix it up from time to time with the occasional auto-reticule so they know they can't just sit there too. If they're too close for you to confidentally use your reflect, a well spaced running attack can eat projectiles: you don't even have to hit your opponent with the attack, just make sure you hit the projectile
c) when people do try to get in, you can answer pretty much anything they'll do depending on what they try. If they attempt a running attack your jab can surprisingly beat a good few of them (though not all), your own running attack pulled off quickly will beat almost literally anything or, if your spacing/timing are good and your opponent doesn't dodge or shield much, you can actually smack them with your forward or up smashes. If they jump at you, then you've got a whole bunch of toys. You can jump up and aerial them yourself or you can use up tilt or up smash depending on their approach angle and your confidence with said moves :3
If you think they'll fake you out by rolling past you then just down smash, it's not too hard to time it so it'll whack them just as the invincibility frames wear out. Or you can roll back too and jab them
d) Unless your opponent is shield/dodge happy you can predict and punish just about anything they do with your running attack. If I had a % on where most of my damage and KOs come from, it'd probably be this attack. As I mentioned earlier, it beats everything else in the game clean out with only some incredibly specific and rare exceptions. My second most used attack is her back-air which has pretty much all the same qualities as her running attack but is safer
For fun, if you have someone who shields and grabs whenever you do your running attack, you can really mess with them by switching to using the reflect at point blank range. The shield on her arm has a hitbox on it, putting them in hitstun and then the reflect field will push them back before they can recover. I've not actually seen this technique used by anyone else yet but I've had great fun using this where applicable.This obviously doesn't work on people with tether throws though
e) When you want to be aggressive yourself your repertoire is relatively slim but effective. Again, your running attack will leave you open if dodged/shielded so don't go crazy with it, but if your opponent is like a lot of people who try to hit you when you approach then you'll just plough straight through their attack and smack them skywards. A slightly safer approach is well spaced forward airs (hold back after the forward air comes out to pull yourself out of grab/jab retaliation range when you land) and if you know they're just going to shield you can obviously just grab them. Grabbing with Palutena is generally a good idea as down throws can lead to a bunch of options that we've mentioned in the thread before (dash after them and jump/short-hop into an aerial. Up air kills at about 120% unless they're super heavy, while forward air should reach most people if they pull away, neutral air racks up a whole bunch of percent if they get caught in it :3 )
On the rare occasion you have someone who predictably spot-dodges all your approaches, your tilts stay out for a long time so they can help punish those, but they'll leave you wide open if your opponent chooses to dodge roll instead.
f) edgeguarding with Palu basically boils down to getting spikes off her down-air if the opportunity presents itself, aerials, up-smash or up-tilt if they try to recover from above, or, if they go for the ledge and you're sharp enough, you can edge-steal and then back air fthem when they get popped off for a KO if their % is high enough.
Another possibility is windbox shenanigans
I've been using the reflector and her forward-smash's windboxes to catch some people off-guard as they come for the edge, blowing/pushing them away from the latch-on hotspot and causing them to fall to their doom or use up more of their recovery options to get back again (windboxes don't count as a hit so they don't get their jumps/up-b usage reset :3 )
g) If your opponent is standing at the edge and isn't on the ball you can sometimes even get a KO on them just by running up and reflecting them in the face. I've caught some people so off-guard with this that they've failed to react in time to recover. Don't expect it to work TOO often though, but it'll scare the heck out of a lot of the people it doesn't kill. Keep in mind that shielding doesn't stop windboxes so they'll have to dodge or hit you first with something better to avoid being shoved off the edge
Also, if someone gets hit by auto-reticule at the edge it'll often shove them off too, inducing some minor panic (though I've never been lucky enough for anyone not to recover from this in time XD )
That's some general pointers though. It's a bit scatter-brained but lemme know if any of that helps or if you feel like there's specific aspects of Palutena I might be able to advise on that you're unsure on :3