BUTTER YOUR BREAD



Definitions

BnB

50/50

Frame Trap

Option Selects

Introduction

Now with the definitions out of the way, hey guys my name is Smash Entity| BAM. You may know me if you live in the So Cal area, or perhaps if you've been a competitive Sonic main for sometime. I've been starting a series which will come out on the Smash Entity Youtube Channel soon in regards to these topics but I wanted to make a thread about them as well to keep up with Q or request from board members.



So everyone wants to combo; it gets people hyped. Unlike footsies, ( which is probably the ultimate display of skill) combos dont lose their glamour when they hit the mid level players and below. However, as much as people love them, many people dont know how to do so properly. This spans across all Smashs, people are entranced by true combos yet dont have them down, or they continue to believe that true combos are always the de facto best option. The thing is, to "combo" in Smash, you need to know far more than true combos. Just like other fighters, you need to recognize what situations tech chase aka okizeme, what situations are 50/50s and more. They just happen more quickly at times in smash or look differently. However, once you can master these situations, your rewards from playing great neutral will be rewarded even more so. Its not just about throwing out moves and hoping itll land; its not about just getting the most hits, its about optimizing your damage and understand the situation you have placed your opponent in.



So lets start with the basics....

EARLY % 0-20(avg)

As most smashers have probably figured out by now via online play, Mario can dthrow you at zero and chain into utilts. Sounds remarkably dangerous as utilt does combo in to uair strings which combos in to bair, dair, or up B. You cant even air dodge the utilts! Is it really at that much frame advantage? No its not. You see at early percents, characters when hit by a normal will not enter tumble ( tumble is when your character is flailing after being hit). In this game, entering tumble allows you to air dodge, however without tumble it takes time before you can airdodge. This is why Mario can be interrupted by characters nairs and what not if he extends past 2 utilts ( Note: Rage also plays a factor in this due to the knockback increase). However, Mario does have time to shield. This is pretty much the standard Mario setup if, they didnt go for dthrow>usmash/jab combo. If they do an aerial, great, free shield grab which at percent will open up my combo game exponentially due to the increase of hitstun via percent. However, there is also an alternative to this option as well. Super Jump Punch or his DP ( dragon punch aka anti air moves that tend to have some invincibility) will beat out any aerial and will punish a defensive double jump.



So which option is best? It depends on you and your opponent. However, recognizing WHAT offensive options cover defensive ones and WHY they do so, is important in bettering your own combo game and learning how to tailor it to a particular player and/or situation.



This example may be for Mario but the lesson applies to ALL characters in this game. Learn how your normals and specials operate. Figure out how to setup situations similar to these, and learn how to optimize your base damage, recognize where you get the greatest mix up , and determine what percentage requirements you have to open up the greater combo, 50/50 game, and tech chase scenarios.

EARLY MID % 20 and beyond

These tend to be the percents where the magic happens, why? Well for starters your opponent start to tumble. This means legit hitstun is occurring and often nets you frame advantage. Notice I didnt say nets you true combos. This is one of the greatest percents, but many dont know how to utilize it effectively. Some think to themselves, "oh my character X doesnt have any combos, this is lame." or they feel they do have combos but they dont given HOW they are going about it or even inferring that this true combo is always the best option rather than doing proper experimentation on the options available.



So lets tackle these issues on hand and see what we can learn:



1) " Character X doesnt have true combos, this is lame" Not every character has true combos at these percents. However, you must look at frame advantage moreso than anything. For example, Fox can chain a few utilts at this percent but doesnt true combo from utilts into anything except itself a couple times, jab and perhaps ftilt. However the frame advantage he gets is large. This frame advantage allows him to perform a staple 50/50 in his game. Instead of being a traditional high and low mixup like other fighters, it comes down to airdodge or attack. Now, if Fox buffers a jump ( to buffer a jump you can actually just hold the jump button 10 frames before your previous action ends) from utilt and nairs as he reaches the opponent ( as oppose to immediate rising nair). Due to his frame advantage and the fact he is underneath the opponent most characters will simply get out framed if they attack aka fox's move comes out earlier and he got a chance to start his move earlier. But what about airdodge? this is where the timing on nair is important. Not only will you get more damage by delaying the nair until you are close to the opponent due to the strong hit, but you will have more usable active frames. Basically, you want to nair to last throughout the airdodge, so that the opponent gets hit upon return vunerable again.



Now this isnt only good due to almost covering the majority of options, but the meaty hit of nair ( aka the soft hit aka the later frames of an active hitbox) may give MORE frame advantage because from the time it hit to my cooldown is shorter than if it hit earlier in my active frames because it would be a longer duration until I could perform an action and outside of the strong hit, the histun would be the same. meaty nair also combos into utilt, which places the opponent back to this same situation. This is called a vortex, and is the hallmark of Fox in this game. Now certain characters can indeed beat out fox's nair ( in which his hurtbox and hitbox are the same area). In these scenarios Fox can go for sh autocancel uair which is disjointed. this also can lead into a vortex but the airdodge coverage is harder due to the difficulty of consistently sh autocancelling uair and the requirement for extra inputs whereas nair auto hits airdodges if done properly.

Vortex :

Now this is traditional fighting game terminology. In smash, however, I do think knockdowns are more comparable to our juggling game. While we do have traditional FG Vortexes, we dont really have a particular name aside from extended tech chases. So for this series I will refer to such things are ground vortexes, and the one's similar to Fox as air vortexes.



- Back to discussion



Now certain characters can indeed beat out fox's nair ( in which his hurtbox and hitbox are the same area). In these scenarios Fox can go for sh autocancel uair which is disjointed. this also can lead into a vortex but the airdodge coverage is harder due to the difficulty of consistently sh autocancelling uair and the requirement for extra inputs whereas nair auto hits airdodges if done properly. This 50/50s is very strong and starts up Fox's vortex. This is one way a frame advantage can be used without the use of true combos.



2.) " I have true combos but they arent working" aka Lrn2Buffer



BUFFERING

Buffering is an important aspect in fighters that can utilize it because it allows as the definition states, frame perfect inputs. Buffering is also one of the many aspects that allow option selects to exist. needless to say it is something you must definitely learn defensively and offensively. We will only be referencing buffering in an offensive scope for this thread however.



So in Smash 4 buffering, multiple actions is not possible so many times you have to buffer the precursor action then input the alternative actions. This makes buffering aid us less but it is important to know nonetheless. Now buffering is something that has to be practiced. Placing your inputs at the last 10 frames of an action means understanding timings will change depending on if you hit something or not. To help yourself in that regard, look for visual cues to determine when it is time to place an input in the buffer window. An easy way to find that visual cue is to simply go into training mode, perform an action, and near the end hold jump. If you end up jump that means the jump was placed in the buffer window; if you dont then it wasnt. Pretty self explanatory. Also take note of that buffer window is a 1/6 of a second; knowing that may help you find that window more easily. All I can say is practice practice practice! it may seem boring but knowing how to buffer is the difference between success and failure in the follow up world.





Leave no frame behind.

THE SHIELD AND YOUR BREAD



Seems most people are still kind of confused about the shield. Although this is an old thread, the majority of people still have the notion that shield is impervious to pokes while thats not exactly the case. There are some moves that are safe on shield. These moves primarily garner safety by being out of range of shields quickest punishment options. For example, although you can punish attacks with aerials OoS, jump squats themselves take particular amount of frames ( minimum being 5 I believe) to occur. From there an aerial can be activated. this is important because the fastest aerials clock in at frame 3, meaning that you must use an attack that leaves you - 8 on block to be hit. Now here is where the beauty lies; (its something done in traditional fighters, however our movement control allows for far more control) there are always 2 factors present in a proper punish:



1) sufficient frame advantage



2) the capacity to reach the opponents hurtbox



Now the last one is especially important, because although characters may potentially have a frame 3 aerial most frame 3 aerials DONT fulfill the range requirement to become an active punish. This means at particular spacings, they might as well not exist. This changes a ton of things, some characters have 5 frame fairs and some have closer to 10 frame fairs. What does this mean? it means a character has to be -10 or - 15 or more to be hit. HOWEVER thats only accounting horizontal range( thats assuming all fairs would reach, which is clearly not the case; vertical range is obviously important as well. Certain pokes ( yes they exist) also lower a character vertical hurtbox exponentially removing the usage of other punishes as well. See the trend? You cant just look at frame data in itself; you have to apply to actual situations as there are a myriad of other factors that determine what is punishable or not. Case and point, Sheik's fair. People always get annoyed on how that move is safe on block and its not fair ( pun oh so intended). However, any quick testing would tell you otherwise; it is capable of being shield grabbed. So what gives? its because there are ways of minimizing frame disadvantage and avoid punishments through different spacings. If a sheik does fair as shes about to land she will experience the same lag as always, if your shield gets hit you will still suffer the same lag as always. But the shorter the gap between her landing, and her making contact with your shield the smaller the frame disadvantage is. Now fair may be true punished by grab, but if she is outside of grab range yet still making contact with your shield then all of a sudden you are forced (more often than not) to move to your next tier of punishes. Most of those moves will not punish shiek's fair, in fact performing most of those "punishes" would actually put shiek at a frame advantage. This is why you will see people try something OoS vs a competent sheik and just get jabbed> stuff. These are what we call frame traps.



So we dont have true block strings in this game as far as I am aware of ( most smash characters in the entire series excluding 64 cant do so). However a ton of shield pressure in Smash has come from frame traps. Ironically as frame traps became more important in the series ( Brawl and Smash 4), people forgot about them even moreso. These are key for dealing with safe defensive options in any fighter ( frame traps vs throw tech OS anyone?). This game doesnt need any more shield stun imo, as many characters would get access to a ton of silly shield pressure options. Currently shield pressure exist; just hasnt be explored nearly enough. Which is probably going to be Ep1 of my Butter Your Bread series that I am working on.











Hmmmm now that I think about it.................I should probably post this in there LOLOLOLOL



VIDEOS

TEASER VIDS/COMBOS

Butter Your Bread Ep. 1 Frame Traps

Coming June 2015

Coming in May 2015

Bread and butter. (n)Often used in terms of fighting games to describe a standard combo that is efficient in terms of damage and difficulty to perform.A kind of mixup, that gives a player effectively 2 offensive options, which can't be defended against both at the same time, thus giving the player a 50% chance of successful hit in case of proper execution. the advantage is always in the assailants as oppose to what some smashers will incorrectly call a 50/50 when they mean a coin flip situation that is 50/50 for each player.A tactic in which you use a move that seems to be punishable but is actually advantageous on block or vs an airdodge, baiting the opponent into being punished when they attempt to retaliate. An example of this would be a Falcon meaty Uair to another uair. This would be an aerial frame trap. Typical frame trap on shield would be sheiks retreating sh fair ff to jab.I will also be covering these at a later time so ill put this definition here as well.A particular series of inputs that perform different options based on the opposition. Usually this results in a favorable outcome for the one utilizing it. Standard OS in Smash 4 would be, Marth's in shield Roll_DS. In this case, if Marth was rolling he would simply do that and the DS input would be lost in the Roll frames. However, if during the time he is inputting these things an opponent hits his shield, the roll command would be negated due to shield stun and the second part of the command ( DS aka Dolphin Slash) would be read by the game and he would do it OoS, more likely than not punishing the opponent with his frame 1 invincible move.a series of okime mixups that have a very high chance of knocking them down and then keeping them knocked downTheis a mechanic inand, which allows players to successfully input actions up to 10 frames before they can actually be executed. Whenever a move is used in, a window of 10 frames is created at the end of every move and animation, in comparison to's 3 frames. During this time, any input will be carried out the first frame possible as soon at the move or animation is finished. This is beneficial, as it allows the player to perform a move the instant another move or animation is finished, allowing them to respond as soon as possible with greater input accuracy; a feat which would otherwise require frame precision. Buffering is required in many damage-racking combos to minimize the opportunity for the opponent to escape.However, there are also negative effects to buffering a move. Buffering may lead to unintentional inputs that carry out (e.g. attempting to buffer a jab nearby the ledge while shielding , which would result in using a neutral aerial off the stage). This kind of situation can be deadly to characters with laggy neutral aerials, such as Ike , whose recoveries do not provide enough vertical distance to recover after the attack ends.- Smash Wiki3) "true combo 4 lyfe" No not really.......People are obsessed with true combos, and with good reason; its real guaranteed damage. Once you land that hitconfirm you should have a sigh of relief cuz everything from here on out is free. A dtilt goes from a measly 4% to being a terror of 18% everytime it is thrown out. It changes a ton of things.The problem is sometimes people get tunnel vision and they dont look anywhere else. The trick to comboing in all Smash games is really this; going from true combo, mixup and back to true combo. Heck you could argue that for any fighter, thats how you get a solid consistent follow up game. Its how people go from 0% to a 100% or from even to 4 stock.The major aspects of a follow up game asides from true combos is:50/50stech-chasingedgeguardingjugglingin order of importance imo. Juggling is indeed a major part of Smash 4, however it has more gaps that the other above it for escapes and reversals. Edgeguarding is also filled with gaps at times, but can be more clear cut due to the nature of smash ( got to get back to the stage) and the potential reward meaning a stock. Tech-chasing is low risk, mid to high reward. It is quite overlooked in Smash 4 yet its applications are too numerous to ignore.These aspects are gonna be major in the video entries of " Smash Entity Presents: Butter Your Bread" The 1st video will be dropping soon covering some of the basics here and showcasing important follow up knowledge by character. Let me know what characters you want to see and I will do my best to butter that breadEPISODE 1 WILL BE COVERING SHIELDS IN SMASH 4just some information regards to the upcoming episodeNote: All combos have been done and tested with human opponents with proper DI. Testing done includes Vs. mode testing to account for stale moves and rage. Combos are done in training mode for aesthetic and filming purposes only!Fox Dair Strings ( plus platform guaranteed nair lock setup)Sheik - Variants on Void Combos ( A shout out to the best combo sheik in the US, everyone go check this Hawaiian player out)Lil Mac - Muhammad Ali ( dtilt>fair strings, a staple in my mac since 3ds)ZSS - Optimized Boost Kick Combo + Movement ExhibitionMewtwo - Basic Shadow Claw CombosFalcon - Knee Combos, Setups and MoreGreninja - Basic BnBsSmash Entity Presents: The Formula Ep:0