Godot Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 I said I was going to do this and I procrastinated WAY HARDER then I wanted to... so doing this a lot simpler than I originally intended to... so Prepare yourselves for my Ike tutorial. General Despite being a bit on the low tier side, a good Ike player can wreck a lot of people. However, proper use of his fast jab, strong tilts, and aerials can make him a worthy foe to anyone. If you spam his smash attacks, you will get no sympathy from higher skilled opponents. Normally you want to play Ike defensively, but if you are fighting a character who enjoys running away and spamming projectiles, like Villager or Megaman, you then want to play a bit more aggressively. Here are some tips... Early Game When I play Ike I like to imagine an imaginary bubble around him. This bubble represents where his attacks can land if someone were to infiltrate my bubble. I also like to move my bubble around making specific areas on the stage mine and mine only. In the beginning portion of the game or when your opponent is at low percentage, you want to play things safe with some basic tilts or jabs. Short Hopping Nair is also a good option for playing it safe. Remember that short hopping is done by lightly pressing the jump button. Despite being a heavyweight and being able to take a hit, you DO NOT want your opponent to assert control early game. Ike is at his strongest when his opponents are afraid of approaching him. - Ike's Jab has a unique property called Jab canceling. The animation goes Punch, Kick, Slash, but Chop Chop Master Onion's strategy gets you way more damage! random but fitting Parappa the Rapper reference So Punch! Kick! Block! Style! Getting a bit off topic, but the point I am getting to is this combo.... Jab-Jab-Pause-Grab-- Next tip... - When at Low percentages Ike's down throw can be followed up with his Aether attack, or Up B. His back throw can also sometimes be followed up with a dash attack. - You can combo into Ike's jab by short hopping Ike's nair. - Side Tilt and Down Tilt are preferred for applying pressure on your opponent. Don't get too brave and charge in on your opponents. Your opponents should fear your presence, not your force. - Up Tilt is great for people trying to jump in on you, but blocking their attack and following it up with a side tilt or jab combo after they hit the ground can get you more damage, as well as put you in a better position. - Up Smash and Down smash can be used early game to get easy damage in, as well as punish rolls and people trying to get behind you. - Try to use the counter only when the opponent is trying to take control of the match. If you are not in control, sometimes the counter will put you in control. Mid Game If your opponent his certain percents ~50 or 60, Its normally a good idea to start changing up your tactic a bit. Instead of trying to combo your opponent, you should rely more on pokes and tilts. At this point as well you will be wanting to try asserting dominance and knocking people towards the end of the stage. You are not trying to kill at this point. Also, try not to use your smash attacks as much here, because soon you will be wanting to kill your opponent. If you use a kill move too soon, the attack stales and loses it's oomph. - If you land the Jab-Jab-Grab combo, you may want to consider a forward throw this time instead of a down throw. This allows you to put your opponents in awkward situation that you can punish as soon as they react. - If you do decide to go with the higher damage route of the down throw into aether combo, try jumping to get Ike a bit more height before attempting it. This also applies when your damage is high itself. Remember that your knockback is increased when your percentage is high, or "when Ike is Enraged" - At this point, Ike's aerials are a bit more useful. Using Fair and Bair to push people around is pretty key to Ike's game plan. Taking a Stock Ike doesn't really struggle a whole lot with killing. Once the opponent is ~100% they are ready to be KO'd. Especially when the Rage mechanic exists. Rage is a mechanic new to smash 4 where the more damage you have, the more knockback you have. Though this does make killing easier, this also makes doing combos harder. Fortunately Ike doesn't rely on combos nearly as much as other characters do. Despite Ike having a ton of kill power, the biggest problem is actually landing a hit. So here are some tips. - Tilts are really strong for Ike. His side Tilt can kill if the situation is right. - Side smash may hit like a truck, but it is unreliable and when Ike performs it, he takes way too long to pick up Ragnell and get back into a ready pose. So if you miss, it can completely ruin your flow and even cause you to lose your momentum and even give your opponent the upper hand. So don't throw out this attack unless you believe it will hit. - Up smash is beast and can sometimes be one of Ike's better killing option for Novice players. - Catching someone off stage with a Fair will often get you a kill, though sometimes risky. - Knowing how to running reverse back air is useful... Essentially start your run, turn around before jumping (this puts your back to your opponent) then jump and perform your back air. Ike's bair is pretty awesome and can net some pretty early kills if you can land it. This technique can be a bit tricky, but it is useful for a majority of the cast, this of course includes Ike. - learn mind games... actually let's do this right... Offstage Game Ike is pretty strong when his opponent is off of the stage and trying to get back on. Always remember that your opponent has 6 options of getting back on stage... here is some of Ike's Replies. - If the opponent lands on the stage, try to read the landing and Up smash or forward tilt the opponent while they are in landing lag. Landing Lag happens when a character hits the stage, they then need a second before performing their next action, take advantage of it. - If an opponent is wide open and vulnerable while jumping back on, Charging an Up Smash or performing a running reverse back air to punish the opponent can net you a kill. - Teleports: Zelda, Palutena, Shiek, and Mewtwo can teleport back on the stage to recover. Reading the teleport and punishing it can sometimes make them easier to kill. Most times people will try grabbing the ledge rather than jumping straight back to the stage. Here is some ideas as to how to respond to that. 1. Casually getting back on. - If an opponent gets back on normally, they are vulnerable shortly after the invulnerable frames. Side tilt or a well placed smash can knock them back off the stage. 2. Attacking - positioning yourself within side tilt range is usually a good idea when you think the opponent is doing this. - If you wanna go gutsy, charge a smash attack within perfect range or start charging Ike's neutral B, eruption on the edge. Eruption is somewhat invulnerable after being released. Ike can soak up the attack the opponent will perform with the armor and hit the opponent most likely killing them. 3. Rolling. - A lot of people like to roll back on to the stage. This is easy to punish with a well placed side tilt or up smash. If you read an opponent just right you can even get the kill. - punishing a roll with a grab and throwing the opponent back off stage is always an option. When people roll, they are often on the defensive and will probably follow up with a defensive action, such as blocking. 4. Jumping - Some people will try to jump over you to get back on stage. If you think you can catch them, Up air, forward Air, or Back Air can punish this option. You can also sometimes get someone with Aether. - some people will try to mix you up and jump not to get away from you, but get behind you. Shielding and throwing them back off stage or up tilt is normally a strong option to deal with this. Up smash if they are being too predictable and get yourself the kill. 5. Waiting - sometimes your opponent will just wait on the edge and see what you do. If you rush them, they can still surprise you with the previously mentioned options -Counteract their tactic and surprise them with a well charge Eruption or try doing a down smash or down tilt. -If you really want to surprise them and you are fighting on Battlefield, Final Destination, or Lylat Cruise, short hop into down air. this will cause the opponent to get spiked off of the edge and potentially even take their stock. 6. Improvising Some people depending on their character will try something weird to get back on. Here are some examples. - Teleports, but we mentioned them earlier. - Ike doesn't have any easy tactic to projectiles or gimmick recoveries, but going back to basics and using tilts and not trying too hard for the kill is probably the best Tactic. - dropping and re-grabbing the edge is a scrubby melee tactic and is easy to punish since the opponent loses invincibility when they do it. At the Disadvantage I constantly mentioned what to do to get the advantage, but what happens when you aren't? Here is some advice. - Ike isn't that strong against projectile users, so try to not let them get distance. Stay close and use short hop into nairs (or the sometime risky Fair) to get close. Once the opponent has distance, they are in the advantage. - Instead of charging in recklessly, stop shield and think for a second. What kind of attack patterns are the opponents using? Try and find a path around the projectile spam. No character's projectile spam is un-maneuverable. - If a close range focused character is your opponent, and they are in the advantage. Try to break their flow. A well placed counter or a simple nair can throw them off of their game. - Don't counter unless you think it is necessary, remember that people will acknowledge it and fish for it. The counter is easy to punish when used incorrectly. - Remember the bubble strategy, try to form your bubble and do not let anyone get inside it. Form your bubble with the range of your tilts and aerials. - If you are offstage remember that Ike has a cool stage recovery gimmick with his Aether. When Ike throws his sword up, it will actually go through the stage, this allows Ike to throw people off and screw up their positioning. - The Aether stage recovery gimmick is also useful against R.O.B. and Duck Hunt Dog, since Ike can knock away the Gyro or Gas Canister away from the edge. -The Trick doesn't work on some Omega stages since their edges are walls going straight down and have no area Ike can get underneath and throw his sword through. That is everything I have time for right now, so If you guys have any questions or have anything to add, hit me up in this thread. Depending on the question, I may show some sympathy for you... unless you draw your sword to me, then you will get none at all. Edit! : HOLY SHIT EDIT! Ike got massively buffed during the e3 2015 patch. He was lifting really hard core! His landing Lag was seriously reduced, so use any of his aerial attacks and press down immediately to "fast fall them." Master this and you will quickly see for yourself that Ike is no longer nearly as defensive as he used to be! All 5 of his aerials are insanely good for any moment of the game. Early, late, or going for the kill! Nair is good for covering the battlefield, as well as a "I don't really know what else to do" move. The attack covers a huge surface around Ike and can even catch rolls. Fair and Bair can kill and are fast and reliable enough to keep pressure on your opponent. Dair spikes, and Up air covers the area above Ike. It was also recently noted that his Dash Attack was buffed to be a reliable kill move that is perfect to punish a foe's mistakes.... Have fun peoples! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Tack Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 what are some stages where Ike is at a disadvantage? Advantageous stages? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godot Posted June 25, 2015 Author Share Posted June 25, 2015 I would say large stages that characters have a lot of space to run away to, Stages with the straight down slope that disallows him from using the recovery gimmick that was mentioned. All in all it also kinda depends on the match up. Keep away characters would benefit from Battlefield, Final Destination, Omega Stages, and Duck Hunt. So taking them to a place like Smashville, Town and City, or Dreamland 64 might help you out a bit. I would say Lylat cruise since the tilting messes with projectiles, but Ike may have some annoyances with recovery. There is also Delfino Plaze, and that stage is a completely different beast of it's own. I have seen a lot of heavies really benefit from that stage because there is a lot of footing making it harder for you to get KO'd. The travel portion has an open flooring which allows you to use your size in some unique ways. The Travel part is also kinda small for 1v1, and that allows Ike to keep himself close to the opponents and not give them a whole lot of space to run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Tack Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 (edited) How about 3ds stages? and good customs? Edited June 25, 2015 by blasterman4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godot Posted June 25, 2015 Author Share Posted June 25, 2015 The equivalent to Delfino Plaza is Prism Tower, and Yoshi's Island, which is the other competitive stage has edges that Ike can't really take advantage of. However, Yoshi's Island is a smaller stage and Ike can take advantage of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godot Posted July 28, 2015 Author Share Posted July 28, 2015 Bumping because I edited this with more recent information. The Bowser Turtorial should be out soon as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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