Super Smash Bros. Melee/Luigi

From StrategyWiki, the video game walkthrough and strategy guide wiki
SSBM Portrait Luigi.png

Move List[edit]

Standard Attacks[edit]

Button(s) Description/notes
A button A button A button Jab, Punch, Butt Slam. A fast but weak attack. Due to lag, many choose to omit the third strike. With L-canceling, he can repeat the first strike.
Forward + A button Luigi does a straight kick. Pushes the enemy back. Medium power, often used simply for spacing. Can be angled.
Dash + A button Luigi runs and punches like a maniac. It deals moderate damage, but it isn't very useful, as the last hit leaves him wide open for a smash attack, grab, or other finishing move.
Down control + A button Luigi makes a low kick. Usually used to attack sweet-spotting enemies, but little use other than that. It is fairly laggy and has low power.
Up control + A button Luigi uppercuts the opponent. Hits primarily above him. Due to it's vertical tragectory, it's very good for juggling, and it's especially good on fast-fallers.
Smash Forward + A button A powerful attack that looks similar to a martial arts knife hand strike. It has the higest knockback scaling out of any attack in the game (135). Due to this radical knockback scaling, it is quite strong, able to kill under 130%.
Smash Down control + A button Swings his legs forward and back. More range and faster than his forward smash. Completely vertical knockback, making it an all purpose attack, useful for juggling, comboing, and KOing at high percentages.
Smash Up control + A button Swings his head forward, hitting enemies primarily above him. Low range, but powerful. Like Mario and Dr. Mario, it has an up and behind tragectory, perfect for aerial comboes. It is possible to buffer it in at the end of a wavedash, providing an alternate vertical launcher to Luigi's common wavedash to down smash approach.
Up dpad Luigi's is the only taunt in the game that can do damage. His taunt won't always hurt enemies, but the few times it does, it deals an incredible 1% of damage, with almost no knockback to speak of. Strangely, it is also a useful spike if your opponent is grabbing the edge. The easiest way to hit with this attack is to do it while running. It's very rarely seen in competiteve play, due to it being slow and very weak.

Aerial Attacks[edit]

Button(s) Description/notes
A button Luigi sticks his leg out in front of him. Like his down smash, it does completely vertical knockback, making it a very flexible attack for KOing and comboing. It is the most powerful sex kick in the game, and is the third most powerful neutral aerial overall.
Forward + A button Luigi makes a chop hit. Sends enemies forward; it's a good finishing move with high knockback, one of his primary kill moves in the air. It's also a good attack for wavelanding, due to it's high base knockback.
Backwards + A button He swings his feet behind him. Somewhat fast, okay range, sends enemies sideways. Like Dr. Mario, Luigi's b-air has very high base knockback, making it a good edgeguarder, and okay for damage racking.
Down control + A button Luigi spins around. If the enemy is placed around Luigi's limbs, it can work as a Meteor Smash. If it connects anywhere but his limbs, it has high horizontal knockback like his f-air, making it a very flexible move, especially for edgguarding.
Up control + A button Luigi does a backflip, swinging his leg primarily in front of and above him. Sends enemies up and forward some. Fast, low knockback. Isn't quite as good at juggling as Mario's, but it's very good against foes on platforms above Luigi, or it can be used as a vertical launcher to set up a finisher.

Special Attacks[edit]

Button(s) Attack Description/notes
B button Fireball Luigi throws a fireball out in front of him. The fireball only goes straight forward, unlike Mario's fireballs. It isn't very fast and doesn't do much damage.
Up control + B button Super/Fire Jump Punch Luigi uppercuts an enemy, and if an enemy is very close to Luigi, he'll do a fiery uppercut with 25% damage that can KO even heavyweights like Bowser under 75%. If not, the enemy only gets 1%. Unlike Mario's/Doc's Up control + B button, this move only goes straight up.
Down control + B button Luigi Cyclone Luigi spins around rapidly, sending enemies every which way. This attack can be used for recovery if the player is tapping the B button very, very fast, but it requires a "charge" on the ground before it can be used in recovery.
Left control (Right control) + B button Green Missile Luigi flies forward, similar to Pikachu/Pichu's Skull Bash. This move can be charged to go farther and hit harder. There is a 12.5% (one in eight) chance of the Green Missile spontaneously misfiring. The misfire makes Luigi go even farther than usual, deal a lot more damage, and knock back a lot further. It's a much better recovery than his Super/Fire Jump Punch.

Throws[edit]

Button(s) Description/notes
Down control He throws the opponent on the ground, who then bounces up, and a bit to the side, depending on the opponent's DI. Despite it's low power, the opponent isn't stunned long enough to combo or chaingrab.
Forward Luigi swings around once and throws the enemy forward. While relativley weak, it's good for setting up edgeguards.
Up control Luigi simply throws the enemy up. At low damage, it can chain fast fallers like Fox. If the oponent DIs, it's possible for Luigi to follow them up with a wavedash.
Back Luigi swings around several times, throwing the enemy behind him. A powerful kill move, and while weaker than Mario's and Dr. Mario's, it is still good at KOing foes early.

Advanced Techniques[edit]

Luigi Ladder[edit]

This trick requires two Luigis standing within range of their up-B button attacks, but so that their up-B button does not connect with its fiery sweet-spot. At this point, both Luigis can alternate using their up-B button attack, climbing higher and higher into the air; they will accumulate damage but never die. This tactic can be used as a stall in team tournaments and is usually banned.