How to play Hero king 101

Back in the Melee days, Marth was known as a top tier character, and was almost always present at the tournament scene. Though he has been Nerfed over the years, Marth is still the same man we know and love, though his play style has changed a bit due to said Nerfs.

KEY:
=Category separation
= Section separation
= Doesn't mean anything. Just here for completeness


Frame Data:

http://kuroganehammer.com/Smash4/marth
This is for if you want to be really precise about stuff.

Move set:

Jab:
4% un-tipped and 6% tipped.
Use this as a "stop touching me" move, as it keeps their pesky hands from grabbing your important parts. Not only that, but because of update 1.0.8, it can follow up into anything but D-special (counter), and can also be used as a starter to some true combos.

F-Tilt:
9% un-tipped and 12% tipped
Very strong move. Use it for spacing, or in the middle of a combo. Can kill at 130% if tipped.

D-Tilt
7% un-tipped and 10% tipped
Has same function as Jab, but has a lower hit-box (of course)

U-Tilt
6% un-tipped and 9% tipped
Very good u-tilt as it's hit-box goes all the way around Marth, and sends opponents in the air, making it easy to juggle and combo set-up. It's very laggy though, so don't use it too much.

Dash Attack
10 % un-tipped 12% tipped
Very long start up time, and slightly less long cool-down. Use only if you're SURE that you're gonna get the hit. (Also makes stylish combo finishers)

All of Marth's smashes have slightly long cool-downs, due to their high kill
potential

F-Smash
13% un-tipped and 18% tipped (un-charged)
Strong Smash that comes out quick, but has long cooldown. Can kill at 60% if tipped and 117% if un-tipped. Main kill move

D-Smash
1st hit 8% un-tipped 12% tipped 2nd hit 12% un-tipped 17% tipped (uncharged)
Situational. Use if you can predict a roll or something. Can also be used to keep people from getting on the stage from the ledge.

U-Smash
3% from feet 16% from bottom of blade 13% from middle of blade and 18% tipped.
Kills at 119% un-tipped and probably kills earlier if tipped. Disjointed hit-boxes, so easy to land un-tipped. Really good kill move, as it doesn't have to be tipped to kill at the low 100 percentages

N-air
1st hit 3% un-tipped 4% tipped 2nd hit 7% un-tipped 9% tipped.
Despite what the animation looks like, you can only ever land a hit on the front, as the back part is very awkward to land. You will usually only land one of of the two hits, but when you land both, it feels SOOOOOOO GOOD. Good for combo starters if used in conjunction with Short-hop Air-dodge

F-air
7% un-tipped 10% tipped
Marth's best move. can be used to combo, space, and set up walls. A tipped version of this is also easier to land than a lot of his attacks (given practice of course).

B-air
9% un-tipped, 12% tipped
Pretty much the same thing as F-air, but does more damage, and can kill at 125(ish) % at the edge of the stage. Very useful for edge guarding.

U-air
same dmg as B-air
Useful for juggling and making combos. If you read the Frame data, you'd know that U-air comes our on frame 5, which can be really useful for combo breaking, and things of the sort.

D-air
11% un-tipped 13% tipped 14%-spike tip
VERY SITUATIONAL. Has the potential to rack up super early kills, but takes the precision of a pro Surgeon. Do not try to get the spike if not needed, as a missed spike could cost you the game. Has very bad ending lag



Grab
no dmg
Grabs the opponent... what did you think?

Throws
4%-5%
Throws opponent in the desired direction.... what did you think?
(BTW D-throw and U-throw are very good combo starters, so use them a lot during the early game)

SPECIAL MOVES (FINALLY)

N-Special (Shield Breaker)
8% un-tipped 9% tipped (uncharged) 22% un-tipped 24% tipped (fully charged)
This move is very situational. Use it to punish people who shield too much, or people who decide to roll into your attacks (though F-Smash would be a better option for that) Also, use this to DESTROY ALL THE JIGGLYPUFFS.

S-Special (Dancing Blade)
This attack is very diverse, so i'm just gonna tell you that each hit does about 5 dmg
Also situational. Hits 4 times, and has different attacks based on which way you point the control stick while using it. Don't stale it, as it can be an easy kill move at 120% (with the Up variation at floaty characters and Side variation with anything else)

U-Special (Dolphin Slash)
11% at bottom of hit-box, 7% on anything else.
Use to recover. Marth's fastest move. Can kill at 150% Also a good option out of shield, a good combo finisher, and can stage spike if sweet-spotted.

D-Special (Counter)
8% or more (deals dmg based on how much dmg is dealt to you.)
Very situational (duh) Use this to save yourself if you can predict an attack coming. Also, can be used to destroy people's recovery. All Ness players everywhere cry when their comrade's recovery is countered.


General Play Style
Marth is a character that rewards players who are able to play safely, while at the same time, being super aggressive when given the chance. With Marth, spacing is key due to his tipper mechanic. You should be able to play a variety of play styles. A slow, safe play style, and a fast high dmg output play style, as not all characters can be beat with the same play style. Generally, you should keep spacing until you see your opponent make a big mistake, then go in and don't ever let them recover. Keep a good eye out to catch all of their recovery options and keep a combo going.
Remember that short hops are your best friend

Easy Combos & Setups
Marth does not have many set combos in Smash 4, as the hit-stun on many of his bread and butter moves have been nerfed. As a result, many of his moves don't flow into each other as well as they did in Brawl of Melee. Though this is the case, there are still a few combos that Marth can make use of. Here are a few.

Grab>>D-Throw>>Tip U-Air/B-Air (True Combo)
This works at lower percentages (up to 50%), and is easy to help you rack up damage at the start of the game (the heavier the opponent, the better). This can also be a setup for juggling or more combos. This combo can be semi difficult to pull off because you have to hit your opponent before they're able to air-dodge, which is probably a quarter second after you throw them.

F-air>>F-tilt or D-tilt>>Dash attack
This works at the middle percentages, between 50% and 100~ish%. It only works if your opponent misses the tech after you F-air. If your opponent doesn't tech, there are a few hurt-boxes in the few frames before they get up. If you miss this moment, this won't work. This can be used to apply extra dmg after your normal spacing, so you don't have to go too far out of your way to apply this string.
Please note that the no-tech punish can also be used as a setup for an easy S-special (Dancing Blades)

Jab>>U-smash
Though this looks really simple, it is actually EXTREMELY useful late game. Remember how I said U-smash kills are really easy to land? Well by using this, you pretty much land yourself an almost guaranteed kill.

Short-hop Air-dodge (SHAD) >> any aerial
This works. It's super safe due to the high amt of I frames. (thanks to Cobbs Gaming for showing me this trick in his own Marth Guide)

SHAD>>1st hit of N-air>>Jab>> any jab follow up (usually grab)
This is really good for racking up damage in the early game, due to the fact that it can deal 20% do an opponent at any time. It can also kill if the jab is followed by a F-smash or something.

That is the extent to the combos and strings that I could find for Marth. Most of these can follow into each other, but everything else should be improvised, as it depends on where your opponent D.I's or how heavy their character is.

Juggling
During early to mid game, juggling is very important for Marth, as it is his main source of damage outside of improv combo~ing. Marth's main tools for juggling are U-tilt, U-air, U-smash and his D/U-Throws. Tippered moves are preferable. Juggling can also lead into more improv combos, as most of Marth's combo material are aerials.
(improv-combos is the name i give to strings made on the spot to fit a certain situation)

Edge-Guarding
Edge-Guarding is VERY important for Marth, as it's how he gets most of his early kills. His kills moves like his F-smash are really hard to tip, so guarding the edge is the easier alternative. To edge-guard as Marth, knock your opponent off the stage, and jump off with them and get a few F-airs or B-airs on them to lengthen the distance. It doesn't matter if your attack is air-dodged, or if it succeeds. Just grab or steal the ledge, and just B-air whenever they get close. If they happen to get to the ledge before you do, just steal the ledge with Dolphin Slash (U-special) Note that your Dolphin Slash can also be a stage spike tool, use when applicable. Counter (D-special) can also be used to catch predictable recovery tools, like Ness', Fox's, or Lil' Mac's U-special

Spacing
Spacing is also VERY important for Marth, as you need it in order to manage your tippered attacks. The main attacks that Marth uses for spacing are his F-air, B-air, D-tilt, F-tilt., and jab. To space with the Aerial moves, just short-hop into an aerial. It is almost never a bad time to space, so when you think your opponent is too close, just throw out one of the moves listed above.
The few moments where spacing is a bad idea, is when your opponent is a Link who spams N-special. (In this situation, SHAD>> aerial would be a good solution)

When going in for the clutch side smashes for the kill, if you want to land the tipper, learn how to perfect-pivot. If you can't do that, just do what I do. Input a certain direction, and depending on whether you have a C-Stick or not, different things can be done.

Assuming u want to hit to the right of you
WITH C-STICK
>INSTANTLY>

WITHOUT C-STICK
>INSTANTLY>>INSTANTLY>

By doing this, you move Marth slightly in the direction of your choice, putting your opponent in the tipper zone, and avoiding the need to pivot.



Fancy Tricks
These are just some fancy moves that can be used if you wanna play some mind games, or want to look stylish. (BTW I named all of these myself, because there's no official names for these techniques.)

Dashing Shield Breaker:
To preform this, first double jump. Make sure to get the most height out of each jump. Right after the second jump, charge a Shield Breaker (N-Special). When I say right after, I mean RIGHT AFTER. if you don't do this right, Marth will just do a normal Shield Breaker when he lands. After that, just let it charge all the way and release by itself.
What should happen is that Marth releases his Shield Breaker right before he hits the ground, so he'll dash forward with the distance of 5 of his own body widths.

(sorry, my thumb got in the camera)
This would be useful to punish opponents who like to roll around the stage. If you are standing in front of them (like in the GIF), your opponent would try to roll back. What they would not be expecting, is for your to catch up to their roll. (BTW, the hit-box for Shield Breaker doesn't last for the whole dash, so don't expect it to hit them if they're too far away.

Anti-Onstage Edgeguard
Though Marth lives and breathes edge guard, it doesn't mean that other people can't edge guard him. Luckily for Marth, he has a lot of options for dealing with edge guarders. Though the common solution is to get up attack, or to simply jump over the enemy, there is an easier, more offensive way. To do this, while hanging on the ledge, move your circle-pad away for the ledge. RIGHT AFTER THAT, click the jump button and roll your thumb to the attack button. You should do an in place N-air

(sorry, it's a little shaky)
Remember, that you have to be very fast, each input being right after each other. This doesn't have to be with a N-air, and can be done with any other aerial attack (save for b-air). (This is not exclusive to Marth, but I just wanted to mention it, since no one ever seems to do it.)



WAIT UP, MORE COMING SOON
(pls tell me if you see any typos)