Super Smash Bros. Brawl/Character strategies

Hi, this is the Page for ADVANCED STRATEGIES ON ALL THE CHARACTERS, this is where you can find out which character best suits you, and how to use them in the best possible way to make you own every one you verse.

Characters are supposed to fight the way they were meant to. Meaning that light characters aren't supposed to use the tactics of a heavy character. There is no ultimate strategy for all characters, or that any type of character is any better than any other. The strategies of characters are completely dependent on the weight class of the character. And that all characters are to be treated not only evenly, but differently, they all have different characteristics and fighting styles.

This page unfolds each and every character; their ideal strategy, their fighting style, and other things that are helpful for those of you who are unsure about their playing style and which character they should use.

Strategies for Specific Classes
This is to help you find the perfect strategy for your character...

Light
Light characters are all about Speed and Combos. These two aspects of a characters attacks are vital and are your biggest asset when fighting. Even more are combos you design yourself, such as throwing someone up and hitting them whilst in the air, jumping up again and hitting them higher, and higher, and higher! This is known as juggling. But as I was saying, Combos are important to light characters but speed is also important. In terms of light characters: the faster, the better.

Because light characters are light; they generally go flying further than heavy characters when hit. So they tend to have very good recovery moves. For example: Mr. game & watch is one of, (If not the lightest) characters in the game. So he obviously goes flying the furthest, but he also has a terrific recovery move! Not only does it send him flying high up into the sky; but he can glide back down slowly afterwards, and not only that; but it's one of the few recovery moves in the game that doesn't leave him vulnerable after use.

Anyway; Speed and Combos: very helpful.

OH!! ONE LAST THING!! A lot of light characters go flying far when hit. So shielding is another useful strategy you can't live without: Get into the hang of sheilding, then rolling or dodging, and repeating the process. This is a good strategy for most characters but Light ones more than others.

Medium
Obviously Medium weighted characters are in the middle, they can have powerful attacks that take a while to charge and then leave them slightly vulnerable, but they often have fast combos that build up damage slowly, so the question people ask a lot is; "When I use a Medium character, should I use a strong attack, or a fast one?" And this really depends on not only YOUR playing style, but the weight of your character. All medium characters are about the same in terms of weight; but there are also sub classes: Very Light, Medium-light, Medium-Heavy, and very Heavy. So if your MEDIUM character is more of a light character than they are a heavy character; treat them like a light character; with fast combos and other speedy attacks. And vice versa: If your medium character is heavier than usual, treat them like a heavy character. Remember, treat your character at the absolute extreme!

But for a character like Mario or Luigi Who are almost EXACTLY in the Middle, what do you do? Well Luigi DOES have a combo. (Down Special) But he has no extremely strong attacks that follow the characteristics of a heavy character so the point is:

If you can't decide judging on the weight of the characters, look at their moves. Which brings up the next point: Samus Aran... (With Power Suit) Ok, her Standard Special move is a strong attack, and her Up special move is a fast combo... Wrong!! Don't assume her standard Special move is a strong one. Just because it's strong when you charge it up, doesn't mean it's strong when you don't. Donkey Kong on the other hand, his Standard Special Move is also a chargeable one, but when you don't charge it up a lot, it still deals a lot of damage, and It's slow as well. DING-DING-DING! Heavy move alert! So the final thing to remember is... When you're deciding if your character is best as a light or a Heavy; don't think too much about the actual damage of the attacks, think of the speed they execute at, Donkey Kong's punch takes a long time to execute but Samus' power shot is very fast to execute for such a powerful move.

Heavy
There is a very popular strategy for heavy characters; and most people rely on it every time they use a heavy character: The three Ps:


 * Patience
 * Precision
 * Power

Patience is all about waiting for the right moment to strike; many heavy character moves leave the character vulnerable for some time, so don't go attacking all the time, wait for the time to strike.

Precision is the next most important thing to be careful of. When you DO get a chance to attack, (Which isn't all that often) make sure you ACTUALLY HIT YOUR OPPONENT! Too many times people wait for ages to get the right chance to strike, and then they completely miss their opponent which is very sad because they immediately lose the game, they needed to attack so badly but they wasted it when they got the chance.

And finally: Power: As said before, you don't get that many chances to strike, so if you get a perfect opportunity; don't waste it by using a weak attack, You're a heavy character, you're renowned for having the strongest attacks in the game!! If you're going to attack, do it properly! And unleash your most powerful asset!!!

Summary

 * Light - Speed and combos (Don't forget to shield every now and then)
 * Medium - Follow the sub weight class of your character, and if not, Look at your moves and the speed they execute at.
 * Heavy - Patience, Precision, Power. (In order of importance)

Strategies for Specific Characters
This is where the characters are really unfolded into extreme detail so you can see all the perfect strategies for every one:

Bowser
Bowser's throws are where his most successful techniques lie. For such a slow moving character, having such quick throws is a blessing, so abuse the power of the BOWSER THROW!!! That is all.

Oh, by the way, his throws have limited range, which shouldn't be a problem because all his attacks are Melee (If you don't know what melee attacks are, go look it up.) so, you should be able to grab and throw almost all the time. So, yeah, just stay close and abuse your throws.

But do remember that combos are also a necessity, because heavy characters are slow they don't often get to land a good combo so use on at every chance you get. (But don't forget the Thee Ps. (Patience, Precision, and Power)

Captain Falcon
When the Raptor Boost is used in the air it immediately sends opponents flying to the ground. The trick is using this to your advantage, it works especially well to edge-guard, as it's very hard to recover from a fall if your being sent to the ground, especially if you have very high damage, and even more so against characters who's recovery move has limited vertical range.

He also excels with his throw combos, which makes it easy to set up combos. Every now and then set up a good 4 or 5 downward throws at once without letting your opponent recover from them too much.

The last thing is falcon punch is good when you have the chance: don't go throwing out falcon punch every second move, wait 'til you get the chance, freeze them, stun them, hit 'em with a pit fall, JUST DO WHATEVER IT TAKES! to get them in a position where you can land a good falcon punch without having to think twice.

Diddy Kong
The experts have designed a strategy for Diddy Kong many call; the Banana Nut Combo!! =)

Diddy Kong's Advanced strategies are a more focused version of his more simple strategies. They revolve mostly around Banana Peel and Peanut Popgun combos. Diddy Kong is not the strongest Melee fighter so try to keep away from your opponents. A real annoyance to characters with no projectiles is to throw two banana peels behind you before shooting your opponent with your peanut popgun, and immediately tossing both your banana peels at your opponent to give yourself enough time to fully charge another peanut popgun, then repeat the process. And then Monkey Flip your way to the opposite side if they try to get a bit too close.

But just because Diddy owns when far away with His "Banana Nut Combo", doesn't mean he can't excel in Melee fights, he's just not as dangerous.

Donkey Kong
There isn't much to talk about here, except when your opponent has been KOd, begin to charge your Punch, by the time they Respawn, you should of finished charging.

Another thing that is extremely helpful is head butting them into the ground and following with a smash attack, you can try to use your punch but it doesn't always execute fast enough.

And the last thing to remember is that DKs throw range is slightly larger that usual, so it's easier to use than others.

Ike
Many of Ike's strategies revolve around Quick Draw. Try to stay away from your opponents but close enough that you can unleash Quick Draw at any time. This is where the fun begins... Instead of Attacking with quick draw, every now and then; cancel the attack and use a Smash attack or something, Because canceled Quick Draw has very little recovery time, you can throw in any type of attack, and this confuses your opponents as to whether you're going to use Quick draw or cancel it. But that's not all... If your charging Quick Draw, you're opponent may try to attack, so cancel it and use Counter instead!! For a character with Medium-Slow attacks; You can get the advantage in almost all your situations, and this makes you rule the field in a 1-on-1, during a free for all it's not quite so simple, but it still works.

Because of this strategy, Ike can out-do almost all his opponents if they're heavier than him, and it woks against many medium characters too. On smaller, faster characters however, it's not quite the same.

Lucario
Lucario is a solid fighter with almost all of his attacks in the exact middle of the weight classes. And many of his best Techniques lie around Double team, it is best against Melee fighters who have to projectiles, one thing you can do is get away from them, and as they come over to attack, use Double team, this is incredibly risky because it leaves Lucario so vulnerable afterwards. Charging Aura sphere is very good at luring opponents in.

If there is a huge crowd of people in a free for all, one way to attack all of them at once is to jump right in and charge Aura sphere. This will attack all the opponents immediately behind you and you can also shoot it at any opponents in front of you.

Luigi
Luigi's Green Missile and Super Jump Punch are keys to most of Luigi's advanced tactics. After his downward throw and the Luigi Cyclone, he can follow up with with aerial attacks that can lead to Green Missile and Super Jump Punch. Make sure your opponent thinks you're always going for an aerial attack, and they'll do anything to avoid it. This is where you catch them with a Green Missile or a Super Jump Punch immediately after they evade.

It only takes three perfect Super Jump Punches to KO most characters, less in some cases. And it is significantly more powerful than any of his Smash attacks. As soon as you see a character with 75% damage or more, try your hardest to hit them with it. And if they're in a huge mob of people, jump into the battle and shield, dodge, or roll until you see a chance where you can KO them before your opponents do. The Super Jump Punch is very fast at executing and will execute faster than any other attack that powerful in the entire game. Making it one of, (If not the most dangerous.) Moves in the game.

Meta Knight
Meta Knight is best in a 1-on-1. If you find yourself in a huge mob of people, its best to get out of there. In a 1-on-1; Meta Knight rules the stage, his Dimensional Cape leaves his opponents guessing, and can be used to dis-orientate them. But in a huge mob of people, Mach Tornado is also a good way to get out, as you can control it whilst you attack.

Meta Knight is not about raw power OR speed, more agility and deceptiveness. The trick to mastering Meta Knight is learning how to master Shuttle Loop and Dimensional cape. Until then, work on fast damage with combos such as Mach Tornado and Drill Rush. Shuttle Loop is mostly about recovering, but for such a fast attack, it has very high damage. Especially as it's not mainly used to attack. But in times of need; It can be handy to edge guard as well as score quick KOs.

Another thing to remember is Meta Knight has no projectile attacks, so on Heavy-class/Slow characters such as Bowser, Ike, King Dedede, Marth, and a few others who are weak to projectiles due to they're lack of speed; combos are the way to go, also, with many Heavy-weight characters; many of their attacks leave them vulnerable to smash attacks, so slowly build up damage on them and unleash your final blow when they've left themselves open.

As for faster characters; such as Pikachu, Sonic, and Kirby. Meta Knight is left very little options, so the best thing to do is focus on throws and combos such as throwing your opponent into the air and following up with a Aerial assault. These characters can almost always out run Meta Knight; which is frustrating as Meta Knight is usually the faster character is Brawls. And being a Light-weight class; his attacks are not that strong, so being faced with a character who has faster attacks makes him the heavy character in the brawl, which makes things difficult as Meta Knight does not have the offensive onslaughts of a Heavy character. But the best thing to do is play like a heavy character: play with patience and precision. Meaning you slowly build up damage as safely as you can, and destroy them as soon as you get the chance.

Last but not least; Keep your damage low. Once again; Met Knight is referred to a as one of the lighter characters in the game, so he flies very far if hit hard, so don't let that happen, if your damage is getting to high, (about 50-70% is getting dangerous) try not to let it get any higher, so stop using smash attacks and go back to combos and Mach Tornado. If you in the zone where you can easily be KOed in one hit, (90%+) be incredibly careful and try to stay out of the air, Mach Tornado will not fall at all in the air, and all of his Special attacks leave him very vulnerable so try to stay on the ground.

Mr. Game & Watch
Mr. Game and watches recovery move one of the few recovery moves that doesn't make you vulnerable. He can cancel the attack into any smash attack or even quickly fall to the ground. This opens up many options.

Another good tactic is his downward throw combo. You can use many atacks after his downward throw, including Judge. His other throws can also lead into aerial attacks.

If your fighting a 1-on-1 with a projectile user who's projectiles can be absorbed by Oil Panic: at the start of the match; back away slightly and your opponents first instinct is to open fire, absorb as many attacks as you can before they realize that their tactic wont work against you.

One more thing, Mr. Game and Watch is 2D. That obviously make him one of (If not the lightest) characters in the game. So during a battle where they have little time to KO people, in a free for all, generally you will be picked on so your opponents can get quick and easy KOs because you go flying so far. So just be careful of that.

Olimar
The best Olimar users know which Pikimin do what, and what they're best used for. They use Pikimin order to arrange their Pikimin the way they want them, and if they don't have time to, they suit their attacks to the Pikimin being used. There is a list of all of them below.

Red Pikmin

 * High attack power
 * Attacks imbued with incendiary properties
 * Immune to fire

Obviously used for Pikimin throw.

Yellow Pikmin

 * Range of attack slightly larger than usual; easy to hit enemies with
 * Travel in slight arcs when thrown
 * Attacks imbued with electrical properties

Flies further than the others so used to hit opponents very far away.

Blue Pikmin

 * Strong when thrown
 * Slightly more durable than average

Defiantly used for Pikimin throw, not just because it's strong when thrown, but because it's more durable so it can withstand more that's thrown at it.

Purple Pikmin

 * Doesn’t fly far when thrown
 * Slow
 * High attack power
 * Slams into enemies instead of latching on when thrown

Not used for Pikimin throw as much, best for Smash attacks and throws.

White Pikmin

 * Quick and light
 * When latched onto opponent, poison does additional damage.

Very very good for Pikimin throw, but slightly rarer than the others. Poison is good to start off a match, it can do a lot of damage without you having to think twice.

Peach
Advanced Peach tactics are about controlling Peach's ability to float. Floating allows many different possibilities, including aerial battles. There are two ways to initiate the float:


 * During a jump; hold down the jump button and Peach will automatically begin floating at the Jump's apex.
 * At any point during a jump; you can also press down whilst holding down the jump button.

The second possibility allows Peach to float at any time during the jump, and not just the apex.

The other thing is that Peach's Vegetables are excellent to be used as her primary attack. They are perfect to break your opponents rhythm. Also, there's a 38-1 chance of a Much more powerful vegetable popping up, this can deal around 30% damage. There's also a more common one that isn't quite as powerful. The other helpful aspect of vegetable is that on rare occasions she can pull up a bomb-omb, a Beam sword, and other various items.

The other important this is that when your opponent comes to engage you in a melee battle, you have two options:


 * 1) Peach bomber
 * 2) Toad

They're both very good but Bomber is better if your damage is low and you can afford the risk of the character dodging and then counterattacking. But if you think you can't take that risk. (Especially if they are very good at that type of thing.) Toad is the way to go, you hit them back to where they came from and start throwing even more Veggies.

And the last thing that many people don't do is throw the items they pick up, people usually run in to attack if they pick up a beam sword or another melee items. Obviously you'd throw the item if it was a bomb. But throwing the item you get will allow you to stay at a distance.

Pokémon Trainer
The trick to mastering the Pokémon Trainer is knowing when to switch pokémon. When you are desperate for a KO, or your chance of being KOd is a little close for comfort, change to Charizard for an Offensive AND defensive boost. You lose speed when you do but you get a triple jump as oppose to a double because Squirtle and Ivysaur's Third jumps aren't all that reliable to escape from a dangerous situation.

When your opponents damage is low, switch to Squirtle to slowly build up damage. When their damage is getting higher, switch to Ivysaur for a slight damage boost and to relieve Squirtle's exhaustion. When their damage is soaring; switch to Charizard to finish them off. Then repeat the process.

Finally, if time is running low and you think you can just squeeze in one last KO, switch to Charizard to try and land a good smash attack.

But Ivysaur's Up Smash attack will finish almost any character off, but it takes a while to execute. (See Ivysaur)

Squirtle
Being light, Squirtle is fast, and light. So having 0% at the start of the match means you don't have to worry about being KOd due to his lack of weight. He can also attack from a reasonable distance. His ranged attacks make his combos very easy to execute and if you get the timing right you can deal huge amounts of damage very quickly.

Ivysaur
Ivysaur is a Solid, all-rounder who has moderately fast combos and can also land a few heavy blows when needed.

He is also fast enough to make a quick getaway if things aren't going your way. And bullet Seed is extremely helpful in many occasions.

One combo that really out does all other combos is Getting your opponent with bullet seed and keeping them in the air for a few seconds, then as they're coming back down to Earth you finish them off with your upward smash! Ivysaur's Up Smash attack is a guaranteed one-hit-KO against medium and weak characters. Against heavy characters however; it's not as helpful.

Charizard
Charizard is a slow, heavy character with very strong attacks so use him to quickly polish off the perfect attack strategy.

Samus
Both Samus' are good at both close and long range. But apart from that they are completely opposite! Power Suit Samus is a lot stronger at a distance, where as Zero Suit Samus is a lot stronger close up! They appeal to completely different players styles!

They're not designed to be completely defensive, so they have small jumps that limit their ability to recover from huge attacks. This is more of Power Suit Samus' problem more than Zero Suit Samus'.

Power Suit Samus
Long range attacks are Power suit Samus' spe-cial-ity, and they can be used in conjunction to create devastating combos even at a distance. Which makes for great ways to initiate the battle, especially considering they are very good to set up smash attacks immediately afterwards. But don't let that keep you right out of the way, both of her other attacks are designed for close range so she's more of an all-rounder.

Zero Suit Samus
Zero Suit Samus has a far more advanced game then Power suit Samus so the experts say. She is very good in close range battles but also has one or two long/short ranged attacks.

Also, her smash attacks are good for combos against slower moving characters.

Zelda/Sheik
For many of the advanced strategies regarding Zelda/Sheik, many players turn to Sheik but that doesn't mean Zelda isn't a good fighter too; they are different and attract different types of people with different playing styles.

Zelda
Zelda has more strong attacks than she has fast ones, so she is treated like a heavy character, one thing to remember is that she really only has two special attacks, because transform does no damage, and Fayore's wind is hard to attack with. So the bast thing to do is use her standard attack and Nayru's love. Din's fire is really only used to finish off opponents when they've left themselves vulnerable.

Sheik
When using sheik, try to store as many needles as possible, they usually aren't used to actually attack, more like defend, they can distract people, destroy projectiles that are about to hit you... the list goes on.

FAQs
Q. I can't get the hang of throwing! I've never thrown at all in the old days but I tried your tactic and I always forget, but I still manage to get past the game anyway.

A. Keep working on it, and just remember, If you can get past the game on Extreme, or defeat a level 9 Computer (Fairly) You're throwing enough. (You don't necessarily have to throw all the time) But it's also easy to set up combos. (Especially in team battles!) Also; it may be your character, some characters aren't best with throwing, so experiment with a few more characters and see if it's easier to get used to with others.

Q. I can't get past any bosses easily, It always take me about 4-5 tries, and It took me 15 mins to get past the final boss! What am I doing wrong?

A. This happens to a lot of people. Either you don't know how to use the character you're using, or your character isn't designed to defeat that certain boss. Each boss has their own strengths and weaknesses. So experiment.

Q. I can't beat my brother! I've used all your strategies and tactics but he owns me every time! I try using all the characters but nothing works! What do I do!!

A. He's just naturally better at the game. (Most likely) nothing can help you. And it's not your character, but If he's using a light character, try using Sonic, that gets everyone using a light character. OR use the same character as him, that way you're completely even.

Another thing you can try is just setting the Handicap to auto, that way the more times he beats you, the bigger advantage you get.

Q. Who is the best character.

A. No character is any better than any other