Not sure if people know this, but

I’m going to post it anyway just for the people who don’t know. Obviously, everyone uses dashes to cover ground quicker to get to the other guy. But if you use your dash attack many times it’ll get stuffed b/c most characters just use their fastest attacks to knock them out of it.

A neat trick i like to do is run towards them, and in anticipation of a counter attack i roll through them or back. this may not seem like much or it may seem pretty obvious. But i noticed you can cancel your run straight into a roll.

Has this already been mentioned? Anyway just in case it hasn’t been or people are confused on what i’m saying, i’ll explain exactly how i do it.

During a run, you tap the block button, and tap left or right to roll back or through someone. What happens is you cancel your run into a block, but before your shield ever comes out you just end up doing your roll.it ends up looking pretty ambiguous to the other person because they never see the shield, and you just end up rolling. it ends up being a safe way to close the gap between you and your opponent.

another thing you can do is cancel your run in the same way (by timing the press of your block button), and instead of rolling, do one of your smash attacks (instead of your dash attack coming out).

yeah so i just wanted to share this with people. sorry if this is common knowledge or has already been posted.

edit: changed dash to run

You cannot block during the initial part of the dash. I think the game leaves a little leeway at the very instant but once you dash you cannot block until the character has gone into a run state.

oh shit you’re right i’m an idiot. i was talking about running. i’ll fix that

I think he meant block cancel during dash animation not dash attack animation.

fuck i’m confused now. anyway, do people already know this, that you can roll from a running state? because i don’t really see people use it

Some characters tend to use it more than others. As a Sheik player in melee, I did use it a lot. And I do use it now as ZSS. Projectile characters tend not to use it because they can usually just spam some projectiles instead of rushing.

Its a good thing to use when rushing. It mixes the game up. I am sure some people new to smash will find it useful.

Just to clarify for future readers. When you tap to a side you initiate a Dash. The dash has two states: the initial dash where you cannot block whatsover and the run state where you are allowed to block. However I think the game has a small window of ambigiousness at the very first frames of the dash where the game will allow a roll or dodge(but no shield).

This is why dashing to a projectile spammer is a bad idea and also why foxtrotting and dash dancing have lost tactical worth in brawl.

I already knew this…or figured it out as a sonic player…it helps but for my char it sometimes doesn’t work as well as it should especially is the person has a fast ass down smash…I.E. Metaknight

for a projectile spammer, I find it useful to sometimes dash, down dodge, and then roll dodge. You’ll usually end up near him to do something to him.