Icarus Fights Medusa Angels
So I finally got to play some brawl this past week at Dragonite’s place and found him really fun to play. Take this guide with a grain of salt because I’m not a very good Smash player (I never really got into it competitively). Also a some of this re-iterates what’s already been said in this thread or is pretty obvious, but hopefully we can get some more discussion going and flesh out more strats with Pit. Most of the following are observations made from playing with Pit and some stuff I dug up from the internet. Beware WALL OF TEXT ahead.
Pit Basic Info (from the SSBB Famitsu write-up, percents refer to Mario from middle of Final Destination in Training Mode)
[LIST]
[]Number of jumps: 4
[]Wall Hop: No
[]Wall Cling: No
[]Gliding: Yes
[]Crawling: No
[]Weight: Normal
[]Speed: Normal
[/LIST]
Best 3
[LIST=1]
[]Aerial Back A: 100%
[]Side Smash A: 121%
[]Down Smash A: 133%
[/LIST]
KO Attacks
Back Air
Smash Attacks
Glide Attack
Forward Air
Down Air
Dash Attack
Forward Tilt
Down Tilt
Up Throw
Dash Attack
Pit’s Dash Attack cannot be canceled (cannot be “DLX Canceled”).
Meteor Attacks and Spikes
AFAIK Pit has no natural meteors or spikes, but if the opponent hangs off the ledge after invincibility wears off or if the opponent is near the ledge but not hanging off of it, you can Back Air the opponent into the side/underside of the stage which will usually spike them down/KO (unless they tech recover off the stage but usually this happens so fast or unexpectedly they react too late and die anyway). Supposedly Pit can meteor on certain characters (thread here) with Down Tilt on an opponent hanging off a ledge if Pit’s legs/sprite touches the opponent, but I couldn’t get it work so if someone can confirm this or get video proof it’d be much appreciated.
Strengths
Easily lends himself to a rushdown playstyle
Multiple jumps, Gliding, and Wings of Icarus allow for good mobility and great recovery
Can rack up damage quickly on opponents
Weaknesses
Poor options for KO attacks
Up B can be easily interrupted causing you to enter a falling state/lose most of your movement and attack abilities
Can be smashed out fairly easily
Limited attack range (other than his Neutral B special)
Has trouble with fast characters (Pikachu especially)
Slow start-up on some attacks
Special Move Properties (all of Pit’s special moves can be done from the ground or in the air)
B - Palutena’s Arrow - As many others have said this can be spammed from long ranges to help accumlate damage on an opponent. Learn how to control your arrows–Guide to Pit’s Arrows from Smashboards. You can also use his arrows at close to mid-range to interrupt an opponent’s attack, for example your opponent is a few character lengths away from you charging up a Forward Smash, you can fire an arrow to hit him and cancel his attack. Other uses include following up throws for extra damage, interrupting an opponent’s recovery, using arrows to chase and space following smash attacks, or using arrows while Pit is recovering to disrupt enemy attacks.
Side B - Angel Ring - Reflects projectiles, tapping B after starting the move up will continue the attack animation for a limited time, and can be used to edge guard to a certain extent. Best used to rack up damage and depending on how an opponent DIs during the attack you can possibly combo or follow-up this attack with Pit’s AAA combo or a dash attack.
Up B - Wings of Icarus - Pit’s last resort recovery move. Once activated, Pit’s Wings of Icarus allow you to perform any standard air attack (Neutral, Back, Forward, Down, or Up Air). Getting hit out of it puts you into a free-falling state (i.e. your character will blink yellow, you cannot attack, and you can only move left or right or fast fall down). Supposedly, if you are hit out of this move before Pit flaps his wings the third time you can Up B again, but I haven’t had a chance to test this. Using Up B from the ground or during any of Pit’s first three jumps gives you the ability to complete any remaining jumps you have once the move is canceled.
Down B - Mirror Shield - I don’t use this move much because it is difficult to time but it does have some uses (though very situational uses). When done on the ground it has super-armor (thread here and [media=youtube]ITCM_wwimLc"[/media]). Note that in the video at about 2:20 the super armor allows Pit to eat a hit while his back is turned toward the opponent. If the opponent hits the shield while it shimmers it will cause the opponent to turn around. The shield can be held out for a few moments by holding the B button and it can be tilted slightly by pushing Up or Down on the control stick.
Gliding and Glide Attack
Gliding cannot be done from your first grounded jump (i.e. you must hold the jump button from your second, third, or fourth jump to initiate the glide). If you’re knocked up into the air you can glide from your first jump. If you start gliding from your fourth jump, once your glide ends or you press A for your glide attack you will be put into a free-falling state. You can only glide once per set of jumps. That means you cannot Jump, hold Jump to activate Glide, stop Gliding, then hold Jump again to Glide again. Pit’s Glide is momentum based and moves in a wave formation; gliding downwards (by holding Down or Forward on the Control Stick) speeds you up, while gliding up (by holding Up or Back on the Control Stick) will slow you down; you cannot glide higher than the initial height from where you start your glide–basically think of a rollercoaster and how the starting drop point is the highest point the rollercoaster will go.
The Glide Attack has no lag when you land with it allowing it to be easily followed up with Up Tilt or Up Smash. If you Glide then land on the stage or a platform you will perform a very laggy skid animation, so use your Glide Attack when landing to cover yourself and cancel that lag or end your Glide at a safe area early with a Glide Attack and fastfall.
Glideshifting (thread here and [media=youtube]McvPXPF0P60"[/media])
Basically, you fast-fall while you hold the jump button, which will activate your glide lower down the screen. You can use this to mix it up and try to catch your opponent offguard for a glide attack; when knocked up into the air you can also use this for recovery to end up closer to the stage.
Short Hop/Small Jump Approaches
Neutral Air - Multi-hit so it pushes the opponent back if they block, can hit the opponent if they stop blocking too early to try to grab or counterattack, and if the opponent shields too often to the point where their shield no longer covers up enough of their sprite it can hit the vulnerable parts of the opponent. If it hits you usually can follow up with an Up Tilt to combo or go for an Up Smash; if the Up Tilt hits you can usually chase and Up Air, Up Smash knocks the opponent far away usually but allows you to position yourself to damage them further, smash them out, or set up “mind games.” If the Neutral Air whiffs (due to dodge or roll) or is blocked, you can recover fast enough to jump again as soon as you land. An important thing to remember: If the attack animation is canceled too early by Pit hitting the ground and landing, you will have extra lag because Pit will do an extended landing animation that (I think) puts you in a forced crouch state. So, if you small jump Neutral Air, do it as early as possible and do not fast fall otherwise you will leave yourself wide open.
Reverse Back Air - To perform this, dash at the opponent, quickly tap the Control Stick in the opposite direction to pivot, hold the initial direction you were dashing in, hit jump, then press the attack button. (Smash and Hold F, B, Hold F, Jump, Attack.) Don’t spam this move at low percents, since knockback decay/stale moves will lessen its KO potential.
Forward Air - Has a bit of start-up lag and is best used when only Pit’s swords will hit the opponent or shield to prevent yourself from getting shield grabbed. It will whiff on some of the smaller characters or certain characters who are crouching/crawling.
Down Air - Much like the Forward Air speed wise but covers the spaces in front and below Pit to hit smaller characters.
Side B - Best when used on an opponent with his shield already up to eat away at the shield. Can also be used if the opponent starts dodging. If the opponent tries to anti-air you with tilts or smashes or uppercut-type Up B moves, you can use this move from a normal jump or from farther away since Angel Ring moves you forward and the disjointed hitboxes can hit them before they can hit you.
Chasing/Air attacks
Palutena’s Arrow
Up Air when opponent is above you
Down Air when opponent is below you
Forward Air when opponent is in front of you
Back Air when opponent is in back of you
Air-to-ground/Landing approaches
If the opponent is directly under you and you’re landing on top of him, Down Air is usually too laggy to properly stop their Up Smashes/Tilts/B moves especially since many characters have disjointed hitboxes on their Up moves. Air dodge, glide away, or maneuver yourself to either side of them and use either Back Air or Forward Air depending on where you are in relation to them. If the opponent is far from you horizontally, gliding in with a glide attack is quick and if it lands leads to easy damage or a KO at higher percents.
Anti-dash attacks
Side B
Forward Smash
Forward Tilt
Down Tilt
AAAA Combo
Palutena’s Arrow
Mirror Shield
Anti-roll/anti-ground crossup
AAA combo (hitbox on third hit extends ever-so-slightly behind Pit)
Down Smash (covers the ground on both sides of Pit)
Up Smash (three hits which cover mainly the front of Pit but can extend behind him… I think)
Opponent on ledge above you
Up Smash
Up Tilt
Up Air
Edgeguard
AAAA Combo
Side B (don’t fall off the stage with this)
Down Tilt which if it doesn’t meteor smash them can be followed up by a Reverse Back Air or a Forward Air
Up Air (if opponent jumps from the ledge onto the stage)
Mirror Shield (if the opponent drops off the ledge and jump onto the stage or does a “wake-up” A attack from the ledge onto the stage)
Back Air or Forward Air (if the opponent tries to return the stage once you knocked him off)
Edgehog/Recovering from edge
Press back or down to let go of the ledge then jump back onto the stage with Neutral Air, Down Air, Forward Air, or Side B
Press down, jump and glide to the ledge on the opposite side of the the stage (if it’s a flat floating stage like Battlefield or Final Destination)
Press down, Up B and fly to the opposite side of the stage (see note above)
Stages With Floors and No Walls
Most of Pit’s KOs come from attacks that usually send the opponent sideways or upwards so you pretty much play the same as a floating stage. Don’t forget that you can forward or back throw someone off the side of the stage.
Stages With Walls
Getting a KO on stages like these is very tough. (Stupid Shadow Moses Island!) Basically I just try to rack up as much damage as possible and go for an Up Smash, Down Smash, or Glide Attack. If that doesn’t work I try to rack up even more damage and land Forward Air, Back Air, or Forward Tilt and hope they don’t wall tech or that they just bounce off the walls and get KOed. On Shadow Moses sometimes I’ll try to knock down the walls and KO through the sides.
Stages With Ceilings
Multiple Up Tilts and Up Smashes can usually combo the opponent to help rack up damage. A few Up Tilts followed by a Side Smash usually works pretty well to knock them off the stage. I like to do this on Luigi’s Mansion or Skyworld.
Useful Links (from Smashboards)
Pit Video Thread
Pit Strat Guide by Rhyfelwyr
Pit Demo Vid by UndrDog