User blog:Plasmaster/Smash Study Hall: Ike

Hey Smashers! Welcome to the sixth installment of the Smash Bros. strategy guide blog series, Smash Study Hall! Plasmaster here.

Prepare yourself Smashers! Today's guide is on Ike; once you read this, you'll be fighting for your friends like its nothing!

Before we begin, I want to bring up a point about Ike and Fire Emblem and how these things relate to Smash. Ike is from Fire Emblem; he is the lord in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. In all Fire Emblem games, if the lord dies, it is game over. To prevent this from happening, you need to take control of the battlefield you are on and use it to your advantage. The same goes for Ike in Smash Bros. Think of him as the lord in Fire Emblem; don't let him die, or it is game over. In order for you to win, you must take command of the battlefield; this is your stage, don't let anyone try to take over it.

Now Ike has some great combo options, some great killing attacks, and a surprisingly good recovery.

I want to talk about his special moves first so I can get recovery out of the way.

His neutral special eruption can be very powerful once fully charged up, but in one-on-one your opponent will most often not let that happen. I have found that Ike's neutral special can be useful for combos and can kill opponents (with little charge) at around 130%. The combos come from the fact that the move knocks opponents upwards. Eruption has a decent amount of ending lag on it, but once that is over you can jump into the air and hit the airborne opponent with a forward or up air. It could be used for edge-guarding too, sending the opponent above the edge and then hitting them away with a forward air.

Ike's side special Quick Draw has very little offensive use. If your opponent isn't watching out for it and is at close range to Ike, you could get off a partly-charged Quick Draw. Most of the time your opponent will be smart enough to jump over Ike as he uses the move or simply move out of range of the attack. The attack will probably cover between one-half and two-thirds of Final Destination if Ike starts at the edge of the stage. Not all that impressive all things considered. It should also NEVER be used offensively in the air. The move leaves Ike helpless and he will SD off the stage if this is used in the air. Only use it in the air for horizontal recovery. Speaking of which, the move will have great horizontal movement in the air even when not fully charged. Charge it up as much as you can before Ike falls too far down and then release it to send him towards the stage. If Ike falls too low, you'll just go under or hit the bottom of the stage. Only use this move if you are above the ledge when recovering. Sometimes you might even hit an edge-guarding opponent with the attack as you snag the ledge. Even if the attack doesn't make it to the edge, the momentum from the move will often move Ike to the edge.

Ike's up special has limited vertical range; it has more than it looks, though. When you are recovering low, go towards the edge to position yourself right under it, then use Aether. If the sword is just at the edge when Ike throws it skywards, then Ike will grab the edge (only if you are facing towards the edge when you do it though). Aether also has some offensive uses to it. Ike can edge-guard with the move pretty effectively. The sword can hit opponents trying to recover high and then starting hit boxes and attack on the way back down will hit opponents recovering low or parallel to the stage. Don't use this method of edge-guarding too often or your opponent will roll past you and catch you on the ending lag of the attack. A good combo with Aether is down throw to up special (the opponent must be at very low percents for it to work).

Ike's Counter is a great move for interrupting enemy combos and will be a devastating attack if the opponent hits you with a killing blow. The Counter is also useful for edge-attacks; if you are edge-guarding and an opponent constantly goes for an edge-attack, Counter and they will be launched back off the stage.

Ike's standard attacks are all useful for one of two things: combos, or killing.

Ike's jab is great for combos and the third hit of the jab has impressive launch power for a jab.

Ike's forward tilt is a powerful attack that is great for launching opponents off-stage but will often not kill. A good combo including the forward tilt is down air, (jump) forward air, down tilt (upon the opponent hitting the ground), forward tilt. Ike's down tilt is good for combos, by the way. His up tilt has good launch power and is a kill move at just above 100%.

Ike's smash attacks are devastating and his best kill moves. Though slow, his forward smash packs lots of power and will kill most characters between 70 and 80%. His up smash is similar, killing within the same percent range. His up smash covers a wide area and hits on both sides of him, so roll-happy opponents and edge-rollers will answer to this destructive attack. Ike's down smash is the fastest of his smash attacks, and though not great for killing, it is good for edge-guarding and dealing with roll-happy foes.

Ike's neutral air is good for racking on damage but of all his moves is the least impressive one. Ike's forward air is great for combos, keeping opponents off the edge, and can kill opponents just off the edge of the stage at about 85%. His up air is a wild swing that can be hard for opponents to air-dodge; it is great for killing and juggling opponents. Ike's back air is good for combos and has good launch power as well. Ike's down air is an incredible attack, bearing lots of meteor power, is good for combos, killing, and keeping enemies off the ledge.

Ike's up throw is good for damage but not so much combos. His down throw is good for starting aerial combos, his forward throw and back throw are good for getting opponents off stage, and his pummel is good for racking on damage because of its speed.

Now for my final point. As I said before, you need to take control of the battlefield; however, there is something else that I realized just while writing this. Ike is a powerhouse, with lots of kill options and good combos. He has a more wild fighting style when compared to that of the graceful Marth. Ike has some start-up lag and ending lag on many of his attacks as a result. Ike is about taking risks. With Ike, sometimes you need to risk getting punished on the ending lag in order to put on more damage onto your opponent. His side special leaves him helpless and his up special will suicide if not used right; Ike is a risk-taker; all you need to do when playing as Ike is to make sure your risks are well-placed and don't result in Ike getting killed. Make sure that if Ike is punished that your opponent has already been given a good whalloping. Make them question what you will do next; make your risks unpredictable.

I hope you enjoyed my guide on Ike! I also hope that this guide helped improve your Ike game!

If you have any questions, please let me know down in the comments section. Smash Study Hall will be going on a *short* hiatus; however, once I get back to the series I will be releasing a guide on how to troll your opponents! The Duck Hunt guide is next. While you're in the comments, let me know what other characters you'd like to see.

Until next time keep on smashing and leave it to Heropon!