A Competitive Guide to Charizard

How to approach zoning with Charizard (how to corner your opponent): So, in order to get to that space of mid-range, you need a way to approach (unless they are a rushdown character). So there are the non-character specific ways such as running shield, etc, etc. But this if for Charizard. One way to approach is by jumping over whatever zoning tools they are using and using Charizard's fire breath. This allows you to get in without putting yourself in danger, and will space you out, if you hold it, to about where you want to be. If you want to look awesome you can predict a projectile by throwing out flare blitz before the opponent's projectile and punish them hard. Of course, as I said, you can just run and flash your shield until you get about mid-range. You can also just empty jump (in other words jump and do nothing) or jump and look out for them to drop their shield and try and stop you, if this happens use neutral air/forward air. I recommend the fire approach though. This does not include what to do after you run in and shield/dodge that is included in the next section.

What to do once you get there: Now you want to wall them out and force them off the edge, simple enough right? Get about max ftilt range and stay there. From there you have a number of options: Press ftilt whenever they approach or just to make sure they stay there, throw out down tilt, dash up and grab/shield grab them (charizard's grab range can be deceptive). If they go to the air either short hop auto-cancel neutral air/forward air (you do this by pressing forward/neutral air immediately) or jump fire breath. You can even do auto-cancel forward/neutral air to force offense because even if they block or spot/air dodge your forward/neutral air you can throw out a jab or grab almost immediately after if auto-canceled correctly. (Note: auto cancel neutral air in place is also a good defensive tool, it beats out a lot of approaches and you can also jab/shield/dodge if they try to come in afterward) Look out for times to bait with rock-smash/b-reverse rock-smash (because it has lots of armor) or for a smash attack if at kill percents. Rock-smash will sometimes not get punished because a pebble or two will hit your opponent, but of course you can get punished for it, risk/reward. If they try to roll or are past the tip of your ftilt use dtilt to poke at them and if you get a good read use a smash attack. If they are in a pattern of rushing in and rolling out throw out a flare blitz and make them pay!​

^ Skip the approach step and follow this if your opponent can't zone from long range.​

Also if they're really in your face, Charizard's jab is pretty good with decent knockback and he has plenty of "get off me" moves (rock smash, short hop neutral air, smash attacks, flare blitz).​

Juggling- Charizard's up air, up smash, and up tilt are very good for juggling an opponent. You can use the non-hittable head & wings of Charizard in these moves to your advantage. Neutral air and forward air are good in general and back air is a good kill move. When the opponent is above you, stagger charizard's jumps and bait an air dodge, then punish with an up-air or chase on the ground and use the utilt's deceptive range to poke them back up in the air or running upsmash's double hits to trap the person in the air. The safest option, though, might be to use neutral air underneath them. At mid-high percents you can up b them to kill them off the top for an early death! This works extremely well because up b has some armor and, since Charizard has multiple jumps, he can hang around high in the air for a while waiting for the right moment! Finally, if the person is one who will try and sneak in a hit on the way down, bait with rock-smash and punish!​

Off the edge - Charizard has some great edgeguarding tools. First there is his down air which is a meteor spike. One of the best in the game. Charizard's recovery is pretty good so you can chase your opponent out rather far. His forward air is a good option for a quick knockout and back air is if you have a good read or want to knock them out for sure or run off and back air for a stage spike (although I hardly use this). An even more reserved approach is not getting off the edge at all and using fire breath so it covers the ledge. This will mess with opponents recoveries sometimes making them SD and if not you at least got a bit of free damage.​

DO NOT roll with charizard! If at all possible don't do it! It is slow and you want to hold your ground with your spacing moves and your shield, spot dodge, armor, etc. For defense you would just play as normal with Charizard when not against a zoner. (See above). Charizard works best on defense. I covered most of what you need already but I really wanted to cover two things, when you are being juggled and when you are trying to recover.​

When you are trying to recover - Take care of your multi-jumps, don't use them all at once if you're feeling pressured. Charizard can recover either horizontally, with jumps, flare blitz, or vertically with jumps and up b. He is a big target so be careful. Set the tone early that you are not afraid to use flare blitz to recover then most opponents will be scared and will stay on the stage baiting it. You can flare blitz to the ledgee but beware you will be knocked a short distance back if you hit the side, so be sure you hit it just right and make it snap. Also you can flare blitz high and try and go over your opponent to recover which is usually pretty safe if they are not expecting it. And of course you can recover low and use up b to recover which is good because it has some armor.​

When you are being juggled - Try and use your momentum and fast fall to the ground without air dodging if possible, this is what you want to do a lot of times with most characters but Charizard gets juggled particularly badly. You can use neutral air if you see the opponent trying to attack you on your way down and want to get some space. You can also, if you're awesome and you have a good read, use rock smash on an opponent's juggle attempt to safely land and armor through their attack while punishing them for a possible kill at high percents! Of course take care of your multi-jumps and don't use them both if you don't have to. You can use them in tandem with your rock smash for example by jumping away and baiting the opponent into coming in to challenge then b-reversing rock smash as you land to punish them!​

Miscellaneous: Most of the time you want to save up throw until they're at high percent in order to keep it fresh for a kill.. You can use forward/backward throw for positioning/momentum.Down throw should be used frequently at the beginning for down throw into fair combos. If you read an air dodge you can just dash forward and usmash instead of fair after down throw. Also, a good kill option other than throw is to jab twice and then press up b. This will usually combo into a kill at high percents on most characters, but it can miss on occasion. You can also use your up b to punish some attacks right after they hit your shield and you might even land a kill! Don't be afraid to walk back and dtilt, pivot ftilt/pivot grab or just walk back to bait things, or even walk forward to make them scared! These options are better than roll. Charizard is all about the baits and mind games! The more you are able to stand your ground the better. Use flare blitz sparingly, unless they're playing dumb, but that does not mean to forget about it entirely. It's good and you want to remind them that it's there! Make them forget about it and then use it again! Also if you mash a for a quick get up attack after a shielded flare blitz you may just get it in time to beat out their punish!​