Shield Grabbing: A shield grab is the act of grabbing while shielding.
Generally it is used to punish
attacks when they are blocked - in most cases the attacker will be caught in the lag of their attack, which means the defender's grab can often connect with little trouble. Using a shield grab allows a character to circumvent the slight delay that usually occurs after dropping the shield, so unless the character has a good out of shield option a shield grab is usually the best response. L-Cancelling: L-canceling (an abbreviation of lag canceling or L button canceling, written on the official Super Smash Bros. website as smooth landing) is a technique that allows characters to act faster than usual when landing in the middle of an aerial attack. L-cancelling is done by pressing a shield button 11 frames before landing during an aerial attack in Smash 64 (the grab button also works because of its unique properties), or by pressing the shield button 1 to 7 frames before landing in Melee and Project M. Short Hopping: A short hop, officially a small jump is the act of pressing the jump button and letting go before the character leaves the ground. This will result in a jump that is lower than a normal jump. This technique can be performed in all three Super Smash Bros. games. Fast Falling: Fast falling is the act of falling quicker than usual in mid-air. It is performed by tapping down on the control stick while falling. The character will continue to fast fall until landing on the platform or taking a hit. Gravity is ignored once a fast fall is begun; the character's downward velocity is simply set to their fast falling speed without accelerating. Fast falling is a technique commonly used to speed up a character's game, especially after a short hop. It is a part of SHFFL'ing and is considered an advanced technique. Teching: A tech, officially referred to as a breakfall, is an action performed when the character hits the ground, a wall, or a ceiling while tumbling or in hitstun. To tech, the user must press the shield button 20 frames or fewer before hitting the surface; after that, a player won't be able to tech for 40 frames. Additional button or control stick input can cause different types of techs. Standard tech A standing tech is a neutral, ground-based tech performed by pressing a shield button when a tumbling character comes in contact with the floor. The character will experience a brief period of invincibility, and will quickly bounce from the ground into a standing animation. The player will grab any items that he or she comes in contact with. This is the easiest tech to do, and is commonly done, even by casual players. Rolling tech A rolling tech (or PassiveStandF and PassiveStandB, depending on the direction chosen), also called atechroll, is a ground-based tech performed by tilting the control stick left or right when teching. The character will bounce from the ground into a roll-like animation during which the character moves left or right while invincible. This can allow characters to roll away from their impact point to complicate tech chasing, but rolling against an edge will halt the roll's sideways movement. Wall tech A wall tech (or PassiveWall) is a tech against a wall. To wall tech, the player must press a shield button 20frames or fewer before hitting the wall while tumbling, reeling, or in hitstun. 20 frames after each press is a 40 frame downtime window where a wall tech cannot be done, so button mashing reduces the player's likelihood of teching. As with normal techs, the wall teching character experiences a few invincibility frames, and the tech absorbs the player's momentum. Ledge tech A recovering character can use a form of wall tech to survive an edge-guarder. If the recovering character is hit with an attack very near to the ledge, he or she can smash DI towards the ledge and wall tech to absorb all the knockback of the enemy's attack. This is usually performed by pressing the shield button to wall techbefore pressing the control stick to DI, because of the 20 frame window in which the player can input the tech before hitting the wall. Wall tech jump/Wall jump tech If a jump input is active when a wall tech is performed (such as holding Up or pressing a jump button), then the teching character will wall jump. This is known as a wall tech jump. Though only certain characters can wall jump normally, every character can wall tech jump. A skilled player can survive a meteor smash (such as the Ice Climbers' forward aerial that often ends their chaingrabs) by wall tech jumping. Ceiling tech A ceiling tech (or PassiveCeil) is a tech against a ceiling. To ceiling tech, the player must press the shield button 20 frames or fewer before hitting the ceiling, while in hitstun. 20 frames after each press is a 40 frame downtime window where a ceiling tech cannot be done, so mashing buttons reduces the player's likelihood of teching. As with normal techs, the ceiling teching character experiences a few invincibility frames, and the tech absorbs most of the momentum. It is shown on the Super Smash Bros. Brawl tutorial video on the Nintendo Channel that it can even save a character at 999%. There are few situations where there is a ceiling for a player to tech off of, but it can happen quite frequently in the caves of life in some stages. Edge Sweet Spot: The edge sweet spot of a ledge is the furthest point from the edge of a platform at which a character can still grab the edge. This is normally in reference to a recovery move such as an up special move. This distance varies for different characters, with some characters - such as Captain Falcon and Ganondorf in Super Smash Bros. Melee - being unable to edge sweetspot. Other characters, such as Dr. Mario, can edge sweetspot from far away. Tech Chasing: Tech-chasing is the act of following or predicting an opponent's tech or floor recovery in order to attack them before they can respond. Because a character's tech animations have small windows of vulnerability before ending and allowing action, it is possible to read the direction of a player's tech and punish them. Jab Reset: Jab resets is a technique in the Super Smash Bros. series that is performed by jabbing an opponent while they are knocked down. The jab will force the opponent to getup, where the opponent can then hit them with almost any move they desire, which is usually utilised to land a KO move. This only works with extremely weak set knockback attacks, or attacks with extremely low base knockback at very low percentages, such as the first hit in most jabs. Edgehogging: Edge-hogging is the act of holding onto a ledge so that a recovering opponent cannot grab it. It is a form of edge-guarding. Casual players tend to say the idea is cheap but professionals agree that it is a critical part of recovery disruption. In Super Smash Bros can use the turn-around animation out of a dash to move off the ledge and turn-around quickly to prepare an edge-hog. The most common form of advanced Edgehogging is a wavedash backwards, facing away from the edge of the map, which should result with the characters sliding off of the stage, falling a short distance, and then quickly grabbing the edge Ledge Cancelling: In Super Smash Bros. Melee and Project M, a ledge-cancel is a complex command that exploits the physics of momentum, traction and state change, allowing a character to cancel the lag after an aerial attack (and some special moves), ending in either the "falling" or "ledge" state. A character ledge-cancels an attack in three steps. 1. From an aerial attack state, the character cancels the aerial attack (in the form of a land cancel) by landing that attack on the ground or ledge, entering that attack's "landing" state. 2. The character slides on the ground or ledge in "landing" state, with a vector determined by their: a) vector upon landing in relation to the angle of the ground or ledge; b) directional input; and: c) traction. 3. The character cancels the landing animation in one of two ways, either a) by sliding off a ledge, entering the "falling" state; or b) if they are facing the ledge, sliding to the ledge (without DIing off of the ledge), entering their "ledge" animation, a true ledge-cancel. Dash Dancing: Dash-dancing is performed by tapping the analog stick left and right rapidly while on the ground, effectively dashing to the left and to the right alternately. Characters can turn around while avoiding the dash's turnaround animation at the beginning of their dash. The maximum time a character can dash in one direction and still change direction by dash dancing is the same as the number of frames in his/her initial dash animation - after this animation is over, the character will enter a turnaround animation in which no attacks can be performed. Moonwalking: In Super Smash Bros. Melee, the moonwalk is a backwards sliding motion that can occur in the initial dash animation. It was discovered by the smasher Mr.C, and named after Michael Jackson's signature dance move in which it is one of the most famous dance moves in the world. This technique was also restored in Project M. Moonwalking is achieved by tilting the control stick backwards while dashing, but without passing through the neutral position. The only way to do this is to rotate the Stick below the neutral position (as going above results in a jump), but just barely below to get the most out of it (thus, a very tight angle, as opposed to rotating the stick completely downward in a circle). This should result in the user doing a sort of backwards slide, but in a state more similar to dashing than to wavedashing. Wavedashing/Wavelanding: A wavedash is a technique in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Project M, that is performed by air dodging diagonally into the ground, causing the character to slide a short distance. While it is uncommon in casual play, the Melee community sees wavedashing as an advanced technique superior to dashing because it allows players to perform any ground action while moving horizontally on the ground. When air dodging diagonally to the ground, all of the momentum of the airdodge is transferred into horizontal (ground) movement, since the character can no longer fall. Additionally, performing a wavedash causes the game to recognize the character as landing from the helpless state due to air dodges causing the state. The sliding effect is due to the "slipperiness" inherent in the game's engine. Masahiro Sakurai has admitted in an interview with Nintendo Power that wavedashing was noticed during development, but decided on not removing it from gameplay. Jump cancel Grab: A jump-canceled grab (or JC'd grab) is a technique where a character interrupts a dash or run with a jump, which itself is then jump-canceled with a grab during the pre-jump squat. This results in the character using their standing grab while maintaining some of their running momentum, the amount of which is based on their current speed and traction. Pivot: Pivoting, or DA Dashing, is the use of the frame at which a character turns during a dash-dance, in which any normal ground options are available as if the character were standing still smashes, grabs and tilts can occur here without the lag that usually comes from using these attacks after adash. Up-B and Smash out of Shield: This is a special combination of performing an Up-B while coming out of a shield. To perform this move, release the shield button and immediately press Up+A or Up+B. Crouch Cancel: A crouch cancel (or CC) is a technique in the Smash Bros. series used to reduce the effect of an attack on the user. By crouching before getting hit by an attack, some aspect of the attack will be weakened. B Reversal: Due to many characters being unable to perform these actions, here is a list of characters that do and do not for each of their Special moves. (http://smashboards.com/threads/b-reversal- reverse-special-list.166774/[1] ) Chain Grab: A chain grab, also referred to as a chain throw, refers to a series of grabs and throws that the victim cannot escape. Generally, a player throwsthe opponent a specific direction (most commonly down or forward), chases the opponent's directional influence, and grabs the opponent while they are still in midair and before they can tech. Sheik and the Ice Climbers are examples of characters who rely heavily on chain grabs. The usefulness of chain grabbing in Super Smash Bros. Brawl has been reduced with the addition of tripping. Generally, fastfallers, heavyweights, and large characters tend to be more vulnerable to chain grabs than floaty characters, lightweights, and smaller characters. Some circumstances can enable a chain grab to be a zero-to-death combo. The Ice Climbers are particularly potent at this. Directional Influence: Directional influence, abbreviated DI, is the control the receiver of an attack has over his or her trajectory. Each attack sends its target in a particular direction, depending on the attack itself and on the target's weight and falling speed; DI can be used to alter, but not completely negate, this trajectory. This change, however, can be vital to surviving high-power attacks such as Fox's up smash, and for escaping combos such as Jigglypuff's space animal slayer, among many others. DI is most useful to make the character move into a trajectory being as far to the blast line as possible. "Good DI" is when a character is sent in a trajectory that creates the greatest distance between the character and the blast line. In most situations, angling towards the upper-left or upper-right corners provides the best DI near the center of the stage, but the ideal angle of DI varies depending on the character's position on the screen.
DACUS: The dash attack canceled up smash (abbreviated to DACUS, also referred to as Boost Smashing) is an advanced technique in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It is similar to the slide smash, but more difficult to pull off and has the potential to be much longer. As its name implies, it is performed by initiating a dash attack with the C-Stick (or D-Pad if the player is using the Nunchuk, this is much easier when the C- Stick or D-Pad is angled downwards) and immediately afterward canceling the dash attack with an up- smash command. Any character can do it, but only certain characters gain a noteworthy addition to their attack strategies because of it. The furthest DACUS requires precise timing and is timed differently for each character. Also, an up smash can be replaced with a grab to perform a Boost Grab. RAR: A reverse aerial rush, abbreviated as RAR, is a backwards jumping technique in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The RAR can be done with standard controls or with a GameCube controller using B-Sticking. Either method is best used with characters who have fast or otherwise usefulback aerials. Glide Toss: Glide tossing refers to the Super Smash Bros. Brawl technique that allows a character to throw an itemwhile sliding forward. This is one of the most simple techniques that involves a dash and then a throw. B-Sticking: B-sticking refers to changing the control setup to use the C-Stick for special moves in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. B-Sticking provides a simpler way to perform a Recoil Special, a technique that allows a player to jump forward and start a special move while bouncing backwards. However, this technique can be done similarly with standard controls. Performing Recoil Specials is also sometimes referred to as "Wavebouncing". Perfect Shield: In Melee, anytime during the first 2 frames of activation, powershielding will reflect any projectile, even ones that have already been powershielded. Perfect shielding is the official term for a technique where one activates a full shield such that it overlaps with an incoming attack would have hit the receiving character. In order for the technique to be executed, one must rely on timing and skill. When the opponent is ready to strike, the player must quickly use the shield. If done correctly, the character takes no shield damage or shield stun and may immediately perform a counterattack while the attacker is stuck in hitlag. Reverse Special: A reverse neutral special move allows a character in mid-air to use a neutral special in the opposite direction that they're facing. This requires a different method than simply holding backward and pressing 'B', as this would activate the side special move. Instead, one must tap the control stick in that direction and allow it to return to its neutral position before pressing 'B'. Dash Cancelling: Dash-canceling is a technique that cancels a character's dashing animation. There are several ways to do this. Jumping: The simplest way to dash cancel is to jump. Characters who have good aerial attacks, such as Meta Knight and Jigglypuff, are able to benefit the most from this. Some of the momentum from the dash is carried into the character's jump, so those with fast running speed, like Fox and Sonic also benefit. It is also possible to jump cancel into a grab, or, if the player taps up to jump, an up smash or up special. Crouching: Crouching is available in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Canceling with a crouch causes the character to slide a little bit, almost like Wavedashing. If the crouch is released while the character slides, he/she is still considered to be standing, so basic, non-dashing A button-attacks are able to be performed while sliding (with the exception of the side smash, which negates momentum unless the C- stick is used). It can also be used to simply exit the dash for those with slow running speed, since the distance of the slide is dependent on speed, not traction. Shielding: Putting up a shield allows the character to do any defensive techniques involving the shield while the game considers one to be standing. This not only allows the character to do a roll or sidestep, but also a grab without the normal lag of a dashing grab. Respectively, in Super Smash Bros., a shield grab can also be used for dash-cancelling when A and Z are pressed simultaneously while dashing. Smashing: The small delay provided by an initial jump makes it possible to execute an up smash while running. The result is the character sliding a little while performing their up smash. This is usually a good alternative to using the character's dash attack, which often has more lag than the up smash. Within the first few frames of a crouch, it is possible to press the attack button to interrupt and perform a down smash, which allows the player to slide while using the down smash if a dash is used first. This is still considered hyphen smashing as the character will slide for a short distance if charged. Down smashes are also useful approach tactics when used in this manner because they tend to sweep the ground. Unlike using the up smash though, the down smash will not cause all of the characters to slide, as some down smashes negate momentum like Link's. This technique is not available in Super "Smash 64" and Brawl because it is not possible to cancel the dash with a crouch in these games. Boost Grab: Boost grabbing is a technique in which the momentum from a character's dash attack is transferred into a dash grab. The result is a longer ranged dash grab. Discovered in Super Smash Bros. Melee, the boost grab is a very quick and useful form of dash attack canceling. By completely canceling the dash attack, the user suffers far less lag. This move is more useful than a dash attack if the player wants to prevent themself from getting hit. Although this attack looks useless, leading the player to think that they can just press Z to save time, the Boost Grab is a very good Mindgame. The grab can be replaced with an up-smash to perform a dash attack canceled up smash (DACUS). Meteor Cancel: Meteor cancelling is the act of instantly negating the downwards knockback of a meteor smash by jumping or using an up special after being hit. A meteor cancel can be done 8 frames after the hitlag ends, producing a distinctive wind-cutting sound and a sparkle (the character will also briefly glow white); in Brawl, meteor cancels are unindicated and can only be done after 25 frames (depending on the character, see below), and attempting to jump to meteor cancel before this will result in a 40 frame penalty before the window opens (this penalty does not apply if attempting to use an up special to meteor cancel without making a jump input). Characters can meteor cancel even if they were hit while grounded, though they must have bounced off a ceiling and still be taking the now-downwards knockback to do so. Wave Shielding: Beginning wavedashers often shield right after wavedashing because they do not quickly remove their finger from the L or R button; this idea can be used to a player's advantage as a defensive technique known as waveshielding, the act of shielding right after wavedashing. It's a safe way to travel because the shield blocks most enemy threats. A player can jump-cancel from their shield into another wavedash, allowing them to move with their shield long distances. In a more offensive sense, waveshielding is also an excellent way to set a shffl'ing adversary up to be shield-grabbed. Out of Shield: Out of shield, abbreviated as OoS, refers to any reliable move or technique that can be used while shielding. These moves tend to be extremely quick and are an effective way to hit someone who is pressuring the player's shield. The slower a character's moveset, the less viable his or her OoS game is. Most moves that come out in 7 frames or less are technically OoS moves. The more shield stun a game has, the more difficult it is to OoS. Moves that have high ending lag or very little range are easy to punish with OoS. Here are the following moves that can be done out of shield. Wavedashing Dashing Jumping Rolling Jump Cancelling Up-Smash Quick Shield Drops Power Shield Cancelling Wall Jump: The wall jump is a technique some characters may use in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl in which one momentarily clings to the wall, turns away, and then jumps back. It is performed by touching a wall and then pressing the control stick or d-pad in the direction opposite the wall. In Brawl, it can also performed by pressing jump when touching a wall. A wall jumping character experiences a short period of invincibility at the moment he or she kicks off the wall. One cannot wall jump forever, as the height one gains from each successive wall jump decreases until they actually lose height. Shield Platform Drop: As the sidestep is introduced in Melee, pressing the control stick too far and too fast results in a sidestep. Since this makes it hard to platform drop while shielding, the player must either be very precise with his inputs or press the stick down during a different action than shielding (such as a dash or shield stun) with close enough timing that the sidestep window is closed but the drop window is still open. Footstool: Use a taunt in midair when your character is directly above the opponent. You will bounce off of the character's head. When used on a grounded opponent, it briefly freezes the opponent while they are in an animation of the player bouncing off their head. When used on an opponent in midair, it causes the opponent to tumble a set distance. Platform Cancel: Platform canceling is a technique that allows the player to instantly land on a moving platform after jumping up through it. This allows players to quickly make any move by canceling the time otherwise spent falling and landing on the platform. Platform canceling is performed by jumping through a moving platform and then inputting down on the control stick or the C-Stick along with any other action. If the player inputs a shield or a dodge before pressing down, then the player's character will land on the platform and immediately drop through it. Taunt Cancel: Run towards a ledge and activate your taunt. The taunt animation will be cancelled, but the taunt sound will continue.