Month: August 2016

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Axl Low: Land a Hit and Make It Count with Optimized Punishes for Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-

Axl Low has extremely long range, and somewhat low damage on ground combos. His normals can be used for keepaway or zoning, but it usually winds up being high risk/low reward. When you do connect, you need to make it count. The following is a collection of videos from Japanese player Shimonkin, showcasing how to get the opponent airborne (crucial for higher damage combos).

Backdashing out of range of Faust’s 6H overhead (forward Heavy Slash):

Again with Faust’s 6H, this time if Axl manages to preemptively avoid it with a jump, or superjump respectively in these next two clips:

While it’s not that practical to jump out of the way of this move during pressure, this concept could be used for punishing a lot of whiffed moves while you’re airborne. Great meterless damage, especially compared to a ground combo.

Another Faust punish, this time 5s (far Slash). One of Faust’s main pokes–insane range, cancelable, all that good stuff. Avoid it altogether with a brave read, an instant air dash, and half his life bar:

Same concept but against Sol’s 6H instead:

And again, but Sin 6P (forward Punch). This astoundingly invincible anti-air option from Sin is hellish to deal with, so whiff punish when you get the opportunity:

Punishing Venom’s 2S into QV (crouch Slash xx charged ball set). Venom’s 2S is a very frequently used normal, it’s got great range and can be cancelled into ball set. Venom players will abuse cancels such as these if you don’t punish them. Using Axl’s Shark Strike super lets him get good damage off of a normally dead-end poke:

Potemkin has an obnoxious match-up against Axl, and here’s another option to keep Pot out–rising jump kick. It’s Axl’s best air-to-air counterpoke, and here we see the large untechable window on counter-hit when he catches him using Megafist. On whiff, you’ll recover in time for an airdash or jump to reposition; on a proper read you’ll get a big combo:

Axl’s 3P (down-forward Punch) is a great normal and on counter-hit you get a launch. Here’s how to convert when you tag Elphelt in her max range for 5s (far Slash):

…and Elphelt’s 2HS (crouch Heavy Slash):

More 3P counter-hit combos, this time on Millia:

And once more, against Ramlethal:

Punishing Ramlethal’s 2S > 2H string:

A clever side-switch using counter-hit 2S:

It’s unclear whether it’s intentional, but it seems that Jam’s charged up Ryuujin kick is completely invincible to strikes while in the air. She can, however, be airthrown:

Dizzy’s mirror super appears to be vulnerable to throws:

…or if you’re not feeling that brave, block and punish:

Here we see a tricky Jam string: 2H, parry, YRC, throw. The throw is option selected with 5S to cover airborne escape attempts. Shown here are how most of Axl’s options fare against this, with his DP being the most effective:

Bonus! An insane combo on Potemkin using this same relaunch combo concept, using 50% meter:

Source: Shimonkin

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Beware of These Devious Situations as the Beefy Smash Doods Run Down Their Top Five Ledge Traps in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Being on the ledge in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U can be a dangerous thing. While you may be invincible for a short time when grabbing onto it, lingering on it for too long allows your opponent to set up a vicious trap which can end up with you losing your stock. As sticking on the ledge can be hazardous to your health, the Beefy Smash Doods have made a handy list of their top five ledge traps in Smash 4 to act as both guide and warning to anyone who is prone to clinging on the ledge for too long.

First off, let’s define exactly what a ledge trap is: a ledge trap is a situation where a player can punish the opponent returning to stage by either guaranteeing a combo or outright killing someone that chooses the wrong get-up option. This is different to an edgeguard, which is where a player stops the opponent from grabbing the ledge all together. As the first example in the video, cFive of the Beefy Smash Doods shows how King Dedede’s Gordos can force the opponent to get hit and possibly stage spiked by a Gordo if they stay on the ledge, while rolling onto the ledge makes them an easy target for a down-smash. While there are ways to avoid the trap all together by simply dropping down and regrabbing the ledge, doing so removes your ledge invincibility and sets you up to get dunked into the abyss by Dedede’s down-air.

The video lists another four of these devious traps, showing how a player can force an opponent to the ledge in order to set up the trap, as well as ways to either mitigate damage or avoid the trap completely. With ledge and edge play being so crucial in Smash 4, this video is a must watch for players who often end up hanging on for dear life.

Source: Beefy Smash Doods