Some people say their problem is "being predictable", so hopefully this guide will give ideas on alternative options. This will be talking mainly from the standpoint of Smash 4, but it should apply to every game.
Even if you aren't predictable, this guide might help anyway by showing bad habits of others, which you can punish.
tl;dr's (i.e. summaries) will be added for every (labeled) section in case you don't feel like going through everything. You should read the whole intro first, though!
Knowing the basics first is important, so go over to my other guide if you don't know what the Neutral is.
------------------------------------------------------------
Mixups are pretty self-explanatory; it's when you mix something up. If you want a more technical definition, Wiktionary defines it as "a strategy or technique of making one's attacks more difficult to predict."
It usually refers to attacks, but I'm pretty sure it applies to several other things, too.
Here's a sorta-table-of-contents of the "other things" that I'm referring to:
- Floored (or missed tech) / Tripped
- Tech
- Shielding
- Ledge
- Recovering
- Landing
- Escaping Combos
- Attacking
I'll give you all of the options, and it's your job to mix it up between them.
Let's get right into it.
Floored/Tripped
--------------------------------
This is when your character is either laying on the floor, or having just tripped. The options you have when in the middle of either is:
- Get-up attack (by pressing attack)
- Stand up (by pressing up)
- Roll right (by pressing right)
- Roll left (by pressing left)
Note that any of these options are worse than the others only when you do it too many times.
For example, if you have a habit of doing a get-up attack, the opponent might catch on. They'll be able to block your attack, then grab you once the animation ends.
Keep in mind that the get-up attack isn't the only punishable one; all of them are, really.
Try recording your matches (press "save replay" after a match) to see if you have a bad habit of doing any of these. This applies to all of these sections.
tl;dr
When you're either lying on the floor or you've tripped, here's your options:
- Get-up attack (attack)
- Stand up (up)
- Roll right (right)
- Roll left (left)
Mix these up! Using the same option repeatedly will let your opponent catch on.
Recording your matches (via replays) can let you see your mistakes (this applies to all of the following sections, too).
tl;dr
Tech
----------
A tech is when you press the shield button once you hit the ground while in tumble or hitstun animation.
If you have no idea what that means, it looks like this:
(image from smashwiki page)
You can tech when hitting a wall or the floor, but in this case I'm only referring to the floor.
When you tech an attack, you can either:
- Tech in place (by pressing shield) [shown in GIF]
- Techroll right (by pressing shield and right)
- Techroll left (by pressing shield and left)
There's also A-landing, using auto canceling moves to land without lag.
Since teching is on reaction, it might be a bit harder to mix up, but making it extremely predictable is still a pretty important habit to break.
tl;dr
After teching an attack on the ground, here's your options:
- Tech in place (shield) [shown in GIF]
- Techroll right (shield and right)
- Techroll left (shield and left)
- A-landing (using auto canceling moves to land without lag)
May be harder to mix up (since it's on reaction) but nevertheless important.
tl;dr
Shielding
------------------
While shielding, most people just go for a roll, but there's more options than that.
- Drop shield (by letting go of the shield button)
- Spotdodge (by pressing down) [Not in Smash 64]
- Roll (by pressing left/right)
- Jump (by pressing jump) [Yoshi can't do this in Melee or Brawl]
- Grab (by pressing grab or attack)
Jumping out of shield can be helpful since you can do aerials out of it, and it's faster than dropping your shield before doing tilts and other attacks. Jump-cancelled Up Smash and other attacks can be done, too.
All of these are called Out of Shield (or OoS) options.
tl;dr
While shielding:
- Drop shield (letting go of shield)
- Spotdodge (down) [Not in Smash 64]
- Roll (left/right)
- Jump (jump) [Yoshi can't do this in Melee or Brawl]
- Grab (grab or attack)
Jumping can lead to aerials or jump-cancelled attacks. Try it out!
All of these are called Out of Shield (or OoS) options.
tl;dr
The Ledge
---------------------
I hope you don't need an explanation for what the ledge is, but here's the SmashWiki article for it if you need it.
There's way more options on the ledge than the previous sections:
- Normal get-up (by pressing forward/towards the stage)
- Ledge get-up attack (by pressing attack)
- Ledge roll (by pressing shield)
- Jumping (by pressing jump) [apparently isn't in Smash 64]
- Ledge drop (by pressing down or backwards/away from the stage)
(Ledge drop usually leads into an aerial)
- Lagless get-up
Normal get-up and the roll give a considerable amount of invincibility, while the jump and attack give a little bit.
You can always choose an option based on where the opponent is (e.g. if the opponent is charging a smash attack at roll-distance, don't roll!), but remember that they can always be baiting you!
Ledge trumps can be counter-trumped with either jump, roll, or attack. You should mix these up, too, if your opponent is trumping you a lot.
tl;dr
After grabbing the ledge, here's your options:
- Normal get-up (forward/towards the stage) [lotsa invincibility]
- Ledge get-up attack (attack) [little invincibility]
- Ledge roll (shield) [lotsa invincibility]
- Jumping (jump) [little invincibility] [isn't in Smash 64]
- Ledge drop (down or away from the stage) [no invincibility]
(Ledge drop usually leads into an aerial)
- Lagless get-up
Ledge trumps can be counter-trumped with either jump, roll, or attack. Remember to mix it up between these if your opponent is trying to trump you a lot!
tl;dr
Recovering
-----------------------
Recovering is when you're offstage and are trying to get back to the stage. There's a few options, depending on your character:
- Recovering high (staying up high, then getting onto the stage/ledge)
- Recovering sideways (like some side specials, but I doubt there's an actual term for this lol)
- Recovering low (going below the ledge, then getting onto the stage/ledge)
Mix up between these three depending on how the opponent tries to keep you offstage, and also mix up between getting onto the ledge or just onto the stage.
Usually the ledge is a safer option, but it's still an option that's just fine depending on the character.
tl;dr
Options for getting back to the stage from an offstage position:
- Recovering high (staying up high, then getting onto the stage/ledge)
- Recovering sideways (some side specials)
- Recovering low (going below the ledge, then getting onto the stage/ledge)
It's probably best to choose the option based on how the opponent edgeguards.
The ledge is usually safer than going directly onto the stage, but it's still pretty good for some characters.
tl;dr
Landing
----------------
Refers to when you're above the stage and are trying to get back down. This relies a lot on mixups, and can go hand in hand with escaping combos (the next section). Options include:
- Fastfalling directly onto the stage or the ledge
- B-reversing and other similar things
- DI
- Air Dodge
- Other character-specific things (e.g. air stalling moves)
Air dodges can help dodge the opponent's attacks if they're pressuring you with U-airs, and can be pretty helpful with fastfalling. Just be careful with air dodge's landing lag if you hit the stage with it.
Experiment with your character for moves that can help with this!
tl;dr
Options for getting back to the stage from above the stage:
- Fastfalling directly onto the stage or the ledge
- B-reversing and other similar things
- DI
- Air Dodge
- Other character-specific things (e.g. air stalling moves)
Use air dodges to dodge the opponent's attacks, try combining with fastfalling. Watch for air dodge landing lag, though.
Explore your character for helpful moves!
tl;dr
Escaping Combos
-------------------------------------
It's sorta painful looking at people continually countering when being combo'd.
Being predictable is NOT how to get out of a combo.
There's several ways to get out of a combo:
- Jump
- Air dodge
- Counter
- Attacks
- DI / SDI
- Super/Heavy Armor moves
- Other character-specific moves
Make sure you mix these up. Combining these can be even better. This is one of the more problematic things with new players.
Keep in mind that there's some inescapable, true combos.
tl;dr
Ways to get out of a combo:
- Jump
- Air dodge
- Counter
- Attacks
- DI / SDI
- Super/Heavy Armor moves
- Other character-specific moves
Mix these up! Combining these can be helpful, too.
Some combos are inescapable, however.
tl;dr
Attacking
-------------------
Sometimes, just attacking isn't good enough. Gotta keep mixing it up!
There isn't really a way to list off the options in this case, though. Generally, you can jump in front of the opponent and mix it up by doing either an aerial or tomahawk grab after fastfalling to the ground. Command grabs are especially helpful in cases like these.
This image should explain what I mean:
Try to do this in a safe way, though; I don't want all of you getting up smashed!
There still are other things to look out for. When dashing towards your opponent, try mixing up between several options. Try dash attack, dash grab, pivot grab, and dashing into shield. Those are the main options, but there's also jumping, extended dash dancing the other way, and running past the opponent, if you really want to. Just keep in mind that pretty much all of these are punishable... like usual.
A lot of these options should really only be used if you're expecting a certain response (e.g. pivot grab will work if the opponent spotdodges), and it'll be mroe effective if you condition the opponent, which I'll get into more in my next guide.
Setups should get a mention, too. I see a lot of people in For Glory who have setups that should only be used as mixups, but are being used as normal combos.
For example, look at Little Mac's D-tilt to F-Smash. It's not guaranteed (at least at higher percentages), but it works on a lot of people because they either do nothing or air dodge. However, opponents who block or jump out can punish the endlag (hypothetically, at least).
The best way to find out if you have bad attack habits is by getting advice from your opponent. Otherwise (i.e. if you have no friends), try looking at your replays. It might be a bit harder than getting it from another person, but it should work.
(that's a lot of text just read the tl;dr lol)
tl;dr
Mixing up attacks and grabs can be good, especially combining aerials with command grabs (shown in the picture above).
Dashing towards your opponent can also lead to several options, like:
- dash attack
- dash grab
- pivot grab
- dash shield
- jump
- extended dash dance the opposite way
- etc.
Make sure you don't use setups predictably (e.g. don't overuse Roll > D-Smash) since they can be baited and punished. Find out if you do by either your opponents (if you're able to talk to them; For Glory won't work here) or your replays.
Try exploring character-specific mixups in your forum!
tl;dr
Conclusion
----------------------
tl;dr
Mix.
Up.
EVERYTHING.
When floored, tripped, teching, on the ledge, recovering, landing, combo'd, and attacking. Mix it all up, don't be predictable, keep your opponent on their toes!
Oh wait, disclaimer.
There's another very important thing about mixups, and it's being efficient and safe (not referring to cars). If you have a guaranteed combo (e.g. Mario D-throw) then don't mix it up with a followup that's useless.
The mixup options that are less safe should only be used if you're really getting predictable.
Also, if your opponent isn't even reading you, then there's not really a point in mixing it up.
Still, most of the mixup options listed here are pretty safe, and when you're the one at a disadvantage, the most unsafe option is the most predictable one.
tl;dr
And that's it! I don't mind criticism as long as it's constructive, and if you have suggestions or noticed any small errors, post it over in the discussion.
Thanks for reading!
Feedback is appreciated ~
Even if you aren't predictable, this guide might help anyway by showing bad habits of others, which you can punish.
tl;dr's (i.e. summaries) will be added for every (labeled) section in case you don't feel like going through everything. You should read the whole intro first, though!
Knowing the basics first is important, so go over to my other guide if you don't know what the Neutral is.
------------------------------------------------------------
Mixups are pretty self-explanatory; it's when you mix something up. If you want a more technical definition, Wiktionary defines it as "a strategy or technique of making one's attacks more difficult to predict."
It usually refers to attacks, but I'm pretty sure it applies to several other things, too.
Here's a sorta-table-of-contents of the "other things" that I'm referring to:
- Floored (or missed tech) / Tripped
- Tech
- Shielding
- Ledge
- Recovering
- Landing
- Escaping Combos
- Attacking
I'll give you all of the options, and it's your job to mix it up between them.
Let's get right into it.
Floored/Tripped
--------------------------------
This is when your character is either laying on the floor, or having just tripped. The options you have when in the middle of either is:
- Get-up attack (by pressing attack)
- Stand up (by pressing up)
- Roll right (by pressing right)
- Roll left (by pressing left)
Note that any of these options are worse than the others only when you do it too many times.
For example, if you have a habit of doing a get-up attack, the opponent might catch on. They'll be able to block your attack, then grab you once the animation ends.
Keep in mind that the get-up attack isn't the only punishable one; all of them are, really.
Try recording your matches (press "save replay" after a match) to see if you have a bad habit of doing any of these. This applies to all of these sections.
tl;dr
When you're either lying on the floor or you've tripped, here's your options:
- Get-up attack (attack)
- Stand up (up)
- Roll right (right)
- Roll left (left)
Mix these up! Using the same option repeatedly will let your opponent catch on.
Recording your matches (via replays) can let you see your mistakes (this applies to all of the following sections, too).
tl;dr
Tech
----------
A tech is when you press the shield button once you hit the ground while in tumble or hitstun animation.
If you have no idea what that means, it looks like this:
(image from smashwiki page)
You can tech when hitting a wall or the floor, but in this case I'm only referring to the floor.
When you tech an attack, you can either:
- Tech in place (by pressing shield) [shown in GIF]
- Techroll right (by pressing shield and right)
- Techroll left (by pressing shield and left)
There's also A-landing, using auto canceling moves to land without lag.
Since teching is on reaction, it might be a bit harder to mix up, but making it extremely predictable is still a pretty important habit to break.
tl;dr
After teching an attack on the ground, here's your options:
- Tech in place (shield) [shown in GIF]
- Techroll right (shield and right)
- Techroll left (shield and left)
- A-landing (using auto canceling moves to land without lag)
May be harder to mix up (since it's on reaction) but nevertheless important.
tl;dr
Shielding
------------------
While shielding, most people just go for a roll, but there's more options than that.
- Drop shield (by letting go of the shield button)
- Spotdodge (by pressing down) [Not in Smash 64]
- Roll (by pressing left/right)
- Jump (by pressing jump) [Yoshi can't do this in Melee or Brawl]
- Grab (by pressing grab or attack)
Jumping out of shield can be helpful since you can do aerials out of it, and it's faster than dropping your shield before doing tilts and other attacks. Jump-cancelled Up Smash and other attacks can be done, too.
All of these are called Out of Shield (or OoS) options.
tl;dr
While shielding:
- Drop shield (letting go of shield)
- Spotdodge (down) [Not in Smash 64]
- Roll (left/right)
- Jump (jump) [Yoshi can't do this in Melee or Brawl]
- Grab (grab or attack)
Jumping can lead to aerials or jump-cancelled attacks. Try it out!
All of these are called Out of Shield (or OoS) options.
tl;dr
The Ledge
---------------------
I hope you don't need an explanation for what the ledge is, but here's the SmashWiki article for it if you need it.
There's way more options on the ledge than the previous sections:
- Normal get-up (by pressing forward/towards the stage)
- Ledge get-up attack (by pressing attack)
- Ledge roll (by pressing shield)
- Jumping (by pressing jump) [apparently isn't in Smash 64]
- Ledge drop (by pressing down or backwards/away from the stage)
(Ledge drop usually leads into an aerial)
- Lagless get-up
Normal get-up and the roll give a considerable amount of invincibility, while the jump and attack give a little bit.
You can always choose an option based on where the opponent is (e.g. if the opponent is charging a smash attack at roll-distance, don't roll!), but remember that they can always be baiting you!
Ledge trumps can be counter-trumped with either jump, roll, or attack. You should mix these up, too, if your opponent is trumping you a lot.
tl;dr
After grabbing the ledge, here's your options:
- Normal get-up (forward/towards the stage) [lotsa invincibility]
- Ledge get-up attack (attack) [little invincibility]
- Ledge roll (shield) [lotsa invincibility]
- Jumping (jump) [little invincibility] [isn't in Smash 64]
- Ledge drop (down or away from the stage) [no invincibility]
(Ledge drop usually leads into an aerial)
- Lagless get-up
Ledge trumps can be counter-trumped with either jump, roll, or attack. Remember to mix it up between these if your opponent is trying to trump you a lot!
tl;dr
Recovering
-----------------------
Recovering is when you're offstage and are trying to get back to the stage. There's a few options, depending on your character:
- Recovering high (staying up high, then getting onto the stage/ledge)
- Recovering sideways (like some side specials, but I doubt there's an actual term for this lol)
- Recovering low (going below the ledge, then getting onto the stage/ledge)
Mix up between these three depending on how the opponent tries to keep you offstage, and also mix up between getting onto the ledge or just onto the stage.
Usually the ledge is a safer option, but it's still an option that's just fine depending on the character.
tl;dr
Options for getting back to the stage from an offstage position:
- Recovering high (staying up high, then getting onto the stage/ledge)
- Recovering sideways (some side specials)
- Recovering low (going below the ledge, then getting onto the stage/ledge)
It's probably best to choose the option based on how the opponent edgeguards.
The ledge is usually safer than going directly onto the stage, but it's still pretty good for some characters.
tl;dr
Landing
----------------
Refers to when you're above the stage and are trying to get back down. This relies a lot on mixups, and can go hand in hand with escaping combos (the next section). Options include:
- Fastfalling directly onto the stage or the ledge
- B-reversing and other similar things
- DI
- Air Dodge
- Other character-specific things (e.g. air stalling moves)
Air dodges can help dodge the opponent's attacks if they're pressuring you with U-airs, and can be pretty helpful with fastfalling. Just be careful with air dodge's landing lag if you hit the stage with it.
Experiment with your character for moves that can help with this!
tl;dr
Options for getting back to the stage from above the stage:
- Fastfalling directly onto the stage or the ledge
- B-reversing and other similar things
- DI
- Air Dodge
- Other character-specific things (e.g. air stalling moves)
Use air dodges to dodge the opponent's attacks, try combining with fastfalling. Watch for air dodge landing lag, though.
Explore your character for helpful moves!
tl;dr
Escaping Combos
-------------------------------------
It's sorta painful looking at people continually countering when being combo'd.
Being predictable is NOT how to get out of a combo.
There's several ways to get out of a combo:
- Jump
- Air dodge
- Counter
- Attacks
- DI / SDI
- Super/Heavy Armor moves
- Other character-specific moves
Make sure you mix these up. Combining these can be even better. This is one of the more problematic things with new players.
Keep in mind that there's some inescapable, true combos.
tl;dr
Ways to get out of a combo:
- Jump
- Air dodge
- Counter
- Attacks
- DI / SDI
- Super/Heavy Armor moves
- Other character-specific moves
Mix these up! Combining these can be helpful, too.
Some combos are inescapable, however.
tl;dr
Attacking
-------------------
Sometimes, just attacking isn't good enough. Gotta keep mixing it up!
There isn't really a way to list off the options in this case, though. Generally, you can jump in front of the opponent and mix it up by doing either an aerial or tomahawk grab after fastfalling to the ground. Command grabs are especially helpful in cases like these.
This image should explain what I mean:
Try to do this in a safe way, though; I don't want all of you getting up smashed!
There still are other things to look out for. When dashing towards your opponent, try mixing up between several options. Try dash attack, dash grab, pivot grab, and dashing into shield. Those are the main options, but there's also jumping, extended dash dancing the other way, and running past the opponent, if you really want to. Just keep in mind that pretty much all of these are punishable... like usual.
A lot of these options should really only be used if you're expecting a certain response (e.g. pivot grab will work if the opponent spotdodges), and it'll be mroe effective if you condition the opponent, which I'll get into more in my next guide.
Setups should get a mention, too. I see a lot of people in For Glory who have setups that should only be used as mixups, but are being used as normal combos.
For example, look at Little Mac's D-tilt to F-Smash. It's not guaranteed (at least at higher percentages), but it works on a lot of people because they either do nothing or air dodge. However, opponents who block or jump out can punish the endlag (hypothetically, at least).
The best way to find out if you have bad attack habits is by getting advice from your opponent. Otherwise (i.e. if you have no friends), try looking at your replays. It might be a bit harder than getting it from another person, but it should work.
(that's a lot of text just read the tl;dr lol)
tl;dr
Mixing up attacks and grabs can be good, especially combining aerials with command grabs (shown in the picture above).
Dashing towards your opponent can also lead to several options, like:
- dash attack
- dash grab
- pivot grab
- dash shield
- jump
- extended dash dance the opposite way
- etc.
Make sure you don't use setups predictably (e.g. don't overuse Roll > D-Smash) since they can be baited and punished. Find out if you do by either your opponents (if you're able to talk to them; For Glory won't work here) or your replays.
Try exploring character-specific mixups in your forum!
tl;dr
Conclusion
----------------------
tl;dr
Mix.
Up.
EVERYTHING.
When floored, tripped, teching, on the ledge, recovering, landing, combo'd, and attacking. Mix it all up, don't be predictable, keep your opponent on their toes!
Oh wait, disclaimer.
There's another very important thing about mixups, and it's being efficient and safe (not referring to cars). If you have a guaranteed combo (e.g. Mario D-throw) then don't mix it up with a followup that's useless.
The mixup options that are less safe should only be used if you're really getting predictable.
Also, if your opponent isn't even reading you, then there's not really a point in mixing it up.
Still, most of the mixup options listed here are pretty safe, and when you're the one at a disadvantage, the most unsafe option is the most predictable one.
tl;dr
And that's it! I don't mind criticism as long as it's constructive, and if you have suggestions or noticed any small errors, post it over in the discussion.
Thanks for reading!
Feedback is appreciated ~
- Applicable Games
- Smash 64, Melee, Brawl, Project M, Smash 3DS, Smash Wii U
