1.0 Introduction
This is a walkthrough of the vast tech abilities and trick available to Ike in project M 3.6. I am going to explain this on a gamecube controller layout, so if you are using a different controller you will have to translate to the proper inputs. Prepare yourself!
1.1 Table of contents
1.0 introduction
1.1- table of contents
1.2-vocabulary
2.0- stage presence
2.1 movement
2.11 platform basics
2.12 W.T.L
2.13 other tips
2.2 spacing
2.3 B-reversal and pivot special
2.31 B-reversals
2.32 pivot specials
2.4 D.C.U.S.
3.0 edge guarding and ledge game
3.1 edge guarding
3.2 ledge game
3.21 general options
3.22 aerials
3.23 specials
4.0 quick draw
4.1 basics
4.2 aerials
4.3 wall jumping
5.0 closing/random tips
5.1 vocabulary list
5.11 basic skill
5.12 intermediate skill
5.13 advanced skill
1.2 vocabulary
At the very bottom of the manual is a list of Vocabulary. Whenever a vocabulary word is used in this manual it will be in Bold Italics. If you see a word like this in the manual and don't quite understand it, check the vocabulary list for more details.
2.0 stage presence
2.1 Movement
Ike is one of the slower characters on the project M roster. On paper this seems to be easily covered by his long range and heavy hits. However this does not work if your opponent can out pace you and get past your defenses. Ike is a larger character and is mid weight, which makes him easy to combo. Movement is critical because you need to set the pace of a match and wall out your opponent. One of the easiest ways to manage your spacing is with wave dashes. Ike has a pretty good wave dash which helps with micro-adjusting you spacing. A good goal for Ike is to try and stay out of their range, but keep them within Ike's range.
2.11 platform basics
A good way to speed up your movements is to utilize various forms of wave dashing. In project M you can wave dash off of a ledge or platform both backwards or forward. this is helpful for getting off of platforms, or to trick your opponent by jumping to a platform and wave dashing right off. You can also spot dodge straight down to do a wave land which will help you get to the platform or ground faster and reduce landing lag.
2.12 W.T.L.
If you wave dash off the ledge of the stage facing away from it, you will snap to the ledge. For this manual we are going to call this tech W.T.L (wave dash to ledge) note this does not work if you are facing towards the ledge and you will keep falling. This is useful for performing edge hogs, as well as getting to the ledge for a variety of other reasons. W.T.L is executable by simply being close to the ledge facing backwards, or by running past Ike's dash dance, turning once you get close to the ledge, and wave dashing towards the ledge during the turn around animation.
2.13 other tips
a dash dance is a good way to play mind games with your opponent, and hopefully bait them into making a mistake by pretending to approach, then punishing them harshly.
Another good way to speed up your movement around the level is to utilize various quick draw tech. See section "4.0 quick draw" for more details.
As a mind game you can run towards your opponent, then wave dash backwards. Be careful though if your opponent runs to meet your challenge, your spacing must be perfect to do this.
2.2 spacing
As stated before, Ike is a big, tall character of about middle weight. Opponents will punish you severely if you let them. That being said with no projectiles Ike has no long range game and therefore must approach. A good idea of spacing is to keep your opponent right at the tip of your sword at all times. Any closer and faster characters will rip you apart. Any farther and you will be camped and spammed. If you do end up on the second remember that Ike has a disjoint hit box that you can use to block most projectiles as you approach. Try using short hop Nairs and bairs to approach a spammy opponent, mixed in with dodging and shielding. It is certainly an uphill fight to approach spammers from across the stage so be patient and practice this a lot. An easy way to remember this is to say "Mario fire can't melt steel Nairs" approach with this in mind. When facing faster characters, it is important to control the pace of the game. Use Ike's ranged attacks to wall out attackers. If they do get in don't panic, just get out with proper D.I. mix ups and slow the game pace back down. Don't freak out if you have more damage than a fast character. Remember sheik's F-smash kills Ike at 170%, Ike's kills Shiek at 60%. Damage doesn't matter, stocks do.
2.21 Fairs, Nairs, Dairs and Bairs
Ike's aerials are probably the best moves in his arsenal. They can be used for approach, wall out, space, or defend.
Fair
Fair is Ike's longest ranged aerial, and as such is great for out spacing you opponent. It has great range vertically and horizontally, and it is a kill move. It's good to jump off the level and hit your opponents while they are trying to recover. It's also good on stage. If you hit with the tip you are far enough away to be out of range of most shield grabs so it is really hard to punish. It can be a little tricky to S.H.F.F.L Fair with Ike so practice it a lot.
Nair
Nair is the jack of all trades. S.H.F.F.L. Nair is one of Ike's key combo starters, can be used to extend combos, and wall out opponents. Nair can also be used as an edge guard tool if Fair won't come out fast enough. Nair swings hit boxes starting at the back of Ike's head forward and down to the heels of his feet. The only place it doesn't hit around Ike is his back, making a virtual wall of hit boxes around Ike. As stated earlier Nair can also get rid of projectiles so it's a shield to. Remember it this way "when you've got bad air, it's got to be Nair"
Dair
Dair is more of a situational move, but the situations comes up enough to talk about it. Ike plunges his sword downward, creating a spike at the tip with the initial attack. The fact that this is a long disjointed hit box pointing straight down makes it useful when you are coming down. Instead of having to create a tech chase by using D.I. while falling back from the top of the level, you can fall right on your opponent and with a well spaced Dair turn the tide. Since the spike on the ground will send the opponent upwards this is a great setup for combos. You can also use it to spike you opponents while they are recovering.
Bair- Ike's best kill move. fast, strong, and well spaced, this move can be used just about anywhere, on stage or off stage. S.H.F.F.L. Bair is great to get opponents who are behind you. It also has a reverse hit box about where Ike's nose is which can continue combos or get kills (it's also super stylish).
2.3 B reversal and pivot specials
Thanks to project M using the brawl game engine we still have access to one of the few good things to come from brawl (besides our boy in blue) B-reversal. B-reversal is performed by inputting a special (B) then taping the opposite direction during the start up of the attack (reversal) A true B-reversal is done in the air, however something similar can be done on the ground within your dash dance. simply dash, then as you dash back input the special as you are pivoting, we will call this a pivot special. Note that you cannot do a pivot special if you run past your dash dance range.
2.31 B-reversals
quick draw
The most useful B-reversal in my opinion is quick draw. This is also the easiest to do. Simply jump and perform the input for quick draw in the opposite direction ( if you were heading towards the right you would hit B+left on the joystick) if you tap B, you will simply dash in the to the left, if you hold down the B button you can charge your quick draw facing towards the left. This is useful to punish your opponent when they make a mistake while you are in the air. You can also use this to do a wall jump or to get to the ledge, but there are better ways to do this so I would not recommend making a habit of it.
Eruption
This is probably the only other B-reversal worth using regularly. This one is a bit trickier to do because it requires precise timing to perform, otherwise you will perform a B-reversal quick draw. Also note that this one will change your momentum. In lay man's terms that means if you are jumping to the right and do a B-reversal eruption you will go to the left while you are performing the attack.This is done by jumping, pressing and releasing B then hitting the opposite direction on the joy stick right after. If you hit the joy stick too soon, you will do a B-reversal quick draw, if you hit the joy stick too late, you will not turn around or change momentum. This is great because the momentum change allows you to turn running away into an approach, and the heavy armor the attack has means there is little to worry about if done right. Remember though that eruption only has heavy armor while Ike is plunging the sword down, so I would not recommend charging it at all while doing a B-reversal.
Ether
This one is not very useful, but does have some applications. Much like eruption, jump, hit up+B and then hit the opposite direction, or to make it simple, run in a direction, jump still holding that direction and rotate the joystick up and to the other side while pressing B. This is a really niche tech with few follow up options and very easily punished if missed, but can be used if you were going for a B-reversal quick draw or eruption and the opponent moved above you.
Counter
Since Ike's counter changes direction to face wherever the attack came from for you, this has absolutely no combat value at all, however I want to point out that countering of any kind while jumping will stop all upward momentum. It does look pretty stylish though so if you want to learn how to do it just for fun simply use the same inputs as for Ether, except rotate the joystick downward instead of upward. Like Eruption this one can also change your momentum, however unlike eruption, you have to jump before the end of your dash dance range, otherwise you will simply pivot and continue the way you were going.
2.32 pivot specials
quick draw
Really the only useful pivot special. Simply dash, then dash back and press B while holding the direction you just dashed. you can hold down B to charge your quick draw. This is great to use with your dash dances when you are ready to stop dancing and start attacking.
Eruption
Not very useful. To do this dash, dash back, THEN press B. the heavy armor does give some options but this is really hard to space and is easily punishable. use pivot quick draw.
Ether
This is the only other useable one, and it's very hard to set up, However it is easy to do. With this one you do not have to dash dance. simply rotate the joystick from one side to the other upwards like you did for B-reversal Ether, hitting B when the joystick is pointing up. the only difference is you are on the ground. The only use I have found for this so far is if you are facing away from an opponent that is right behind you.
Counter
This is completely worthless, does nothing a regular counter doesn't do, and can lead to SD's if you mess up and do a pivot quick draw. Don't waste your time learning this unless you just want to know everything that Ike can physically do. Just counter or shield. To do this do the same thing for pivot Ether only rotate downward. I can't stress enough that this is useless in battle, don't use it. I just wanted to put it here so I covered every option.
2.4 D.C.U.S
Dash-cancel up smash, or D.C.U.S for short is a great tool for ending combos or getting kills. This is a tech that almost all the characters on the Project M roster can use, but few characters have a better use for it than Ike. A D.C.U.S. on screen is literally a sliding up smash, giving extra range to Ike's already enormous and deadly up smash attack. This however requires almost frame perfect timing. The first step is to run in a direction. Unlike other tech this one can be perform either within or outside the dash dance range. while running hit down on the c-stick (controls must have c-stick set to "smash" or "attack") to do a dash attack. During the starting lag frames before the hit box is active (which is a very short time) you must rotate the joystick up (the jump cancel) and press Z. If done correctly you will slide the distance of your dash and performing an up smash. If you press Z too slowly you will perform a dash attack. If you press Z too early you will do a grab. Unfortunately it can go either way if you miss the jump cancel so you will have to watch your hands closely. If you have trouble doing a D.C.U.S. with Ike, try it with Roy first. His dash attack has more starting lag and gives you more room for error. Learn it with Roy before moving on to Ike. Since you are performing a ground based attack, you cannot slide off platforms or ledges. If your D.C.U.S slide reaches the edge of a platform or stage before ending it will stop at the ledge. Remember that even though your up smash now moves, it still has a ton of starting and ending lag. This is a punish tool not a rush down tool. If you miss with this tech prepare for the worst. The best places to use this tech are for edge guards when your opponent will recover straight to the level, when your opponent is on a platform and you are on the ground, or to slide behind your opponent to hit them with the end of the up smash.
3.0 Edge guarding and ledge game
3.1 edge guarding
Ike has several different edge guarding options, but they all can be divided into three categories in regards to where Ike is: On the stage, Off the stage, and On the ledge.
3.11 On the stage
Ike can use his arsenal of long range attacks to prevent people from recovering. His on stage edge guards are the safest but easiest to avoid.
Forward smash
Forward smash is the best in terms of kill power. It covers a lot of range and will kill at most percents. This works best when opponents are about level with the ledge or are coming up with an easily punished recovery. (Ex. Captain falcon, ganondorf) the problem is it has a ton of startup lag so it is easily read. Opponents will spot dodge through it or sweet spot the ledge to avoid it. Characters with long hit boxes on their recoveries like Roy or squirtle usually beat out the forward smash. On the whole this is a pretty safe option
Up smash
Up smash is very good for killing, but not as strong as forward smash. What the up smash loses in raw power it gains in versatility. Up smash reaches higher than forward smash and covers the front, top, and back. Coupled with the D.C.U.S. tech mentioned above makes this easier and faster to set up. opponents can still spot dodge this back on to the stage, but your ending lag will end in time to avoid being punished
Dash attack
Dash attack sends your opponent at a shallow angle making it good to gimp recoveries, however it is only useable if you opponent is slightly above ledge in height. If they are lower they will grab the ledge and hit you with a get up attack, too high and you will miss. Hit it right and it is very hard for opponents to recover from.
Down tilt
Down tilt has a spike if you hit the opponent with the blade with the right timing. Down tilt is useful also because it sticks out over the ledge, so you can hit farther out with it and hits lower than other attacks, which makes it useful against enemies recovering below the stage. You have to swing just right or they will grab the ledge. Shield to avoid a get up attack.
S.H.F.F.L
S.H.F.F.L. aerials also make good edge guards, especially Fair and Nair. Fair has the biggest range of all on stage recoveries and can even hit slightly below the stage if done right. Nair also covers a wide range, but will send your opponent at a higher angle, which be easier recover from. Nair should be used when Fair will not come out fast enough to hit the opponent. Uair works wonders as a kill move if they recover onto the level above you.
W.T.L.
Once you confirm that your opponent is going for a ledge grab, do a W.T.L. right before they grab it. your ledge invincibility will protect you from any recoveries and your edge hog will take the stock. If you get to the ledge too early and need to dodge a recovery (up+b), press L or R to do a roll-on, this takes the maximum amount of time controlling the ledge while avoiding the attack, allowing you to get the edge hog.
Lastly if you want to really style. wave dash off the stage facing the ledge when your opponents are recovering onto the stage. jump back onto the stage while doing a Bair.
3.12 Off the stage
Ike's off stage options are pretty limited, but quality makes up for quantity in this case.
Fair
jumping off the stage to meet your opponent for a Fair will get you the kill almost anytime it connects. Be careful though the lag of this attack means you have to be careful for your recovery and time it correctly.
Nair
use when fair will miss or to set up a kill move.
Dair
use it as a spike. Be careful not to SD in the process.
3.13 on the ledge
Other than hog the ledge there are a few options Ike has as far as guarding the ledge while on it. You can perform a ledge hop (press the jump button and down on the joystick at the same time). This opens you to be able to do all of your aerial attacks next to the ledge. Be aware that this does use your aerial (second) jump so your only recovery option is to use your own recovery (up+B) after doing your attack. You can however with certain attacks, such as bair, ledge hop and press the joystick towards the stage to make it back on the stage. I recommend using the C-stick to do the attack so that you can just hold forward with the joystick, but it is doable by pressing Back+A then hitting forward. I find bair to be the most useful in this situation, however dair can be used with a Ledge Hop for spiking.
Ledge hop bair is really useful against characters with tether recoveries such as ivysaur and zero suit samus. When a character uses a tether while another character is already on the ledge, when the tether tries to snap them to the ledge it will force the tethered character to do a laggy jump on to the stage. This is your chance to punish using the reverse hit box of a Ledge hop bair.
3.2 Edge game
Eventually you will end up in a situation where you are on the ledge and your opponent is on the stage. Believe it or not this is a great situation for Ike to be in. Ike has so many good ledge options, sometimes when I get backed against a ledge I W.T.L. to make the situation better for me. I am going to break it down into general options, aerials, and specials.
3.21 general options
Neutral get up-by simply pressing the joystick towards the center of the stage, you can perform a neutral get up. Ike's is slow so I feel there are better options, but your opponents probably will not see this coming so it might work once or twice.
get up attack-by simply pressing A or B while on the ledge, you can perform a get up attack. Ike's get up attack is fast but mid ranged. It's great when your opponent is trying to rush to the ledge, but if its read it can be shield grabbed. Best if used while opponent is close to the ledge.
ledge jump- not to be confused with a ledge hop which is different. ledge jump is done by simply taping up on the joystick or pressing the jump button. This will cause you to jump onto the level and into the air. This is great to start Nair or Dair combos. best if used while opponent is not near the ledge.
regrab-you can always push down on the joystick to release the ledge and jump up to grab it again, resetting your ledge invincibility. Ultimately does not help you get back onto the stage but does buy you more time. Note after 5 ledge grabs in a row, invincibility will not reset and you will be vulnerable.
Wave land (ledge)-When you perform a ledge jump, spot dodge down and towards the stage while Ike is pulling up to wave land onto the stage. This is also doable with a ledge Hop however using ledge jump is safer. It is a faster option to neutral get up. Best used when opponents are waiting mid ranged
Hax Dash- Melee fans will remember this tech made famous by our captain falcon hero turned traitor. To perform this tech do a ledge hop press the joystick forward so that you are over the edge of the stage, then perform a W.T.L. using your ledge hop as the jump for your wave dash. If done correctly you should end up back onto the ledge. This is great bait to get opponents who are waiting away from the ledge so you can set up Ike's attack options. One of the more stylish of techs, this skill leads into itself and can be done several times in a row. Best used when opponents are mid ranged or far away from the ledge.
3.22 aerials
all of Ike's aerials are able to be done from the ledge using a ledge hop. Each move has a specific use. To Make life easier get in the habit of doing all your ledge hop aerials with the C-stick.
Nair
If you set your C-stick to "attack" instead of "smash" in the controller settings you can perform nair's by pressing the C-stick in diagonal directions. (down-left, down-right, up-left and up-right)Which means you can use the joystick to move on to the stage and the C-stick to perform the Nair. Doing it this way makes it much more viable. This one has to be the hardest to do without changing your C-stick. Because you cannot use the C-stick With the "smash" setting the joystick must be in the center position when you hit the A button, but you must press forward to get on to the stage and follow up. I feel that it is unsafe and that other moves are better because of the difficultly to pull off without the C-stick, however if done successfully it is a good way to start combos.
Fair
this move is great for spacing out opponents and giving yourself some stage presence, but due to the long start up lag, you have to get the maximum height on your ledge hop and start the attack as quickly as possible. The nice thing about using a Fair is that you can press forward+A to perform the attack and get back on the stage. Also because of the large landing lag, it is even more important to L-cancel this aerial than any other. This requires fast fingers, but the practice it takes pays off.
Dair
This can be used to get back on to the stage, but the range is very small. Instead use this when you are edge hogging as a spike. don't forget you need to use your up+B to recover.
Bair
as explained earlier this can be used to edge guard. You can also use the reverse hit box to come up from the ledge if your opponent is close enough. Being such a fast move makes it one of the best options for this situation.
Uair
like Dair, this is not good for getting back on to the stage, but to hit an opponent by the ledge. Do NOT do a pure ledge hop, it is very punishable and the hit box is in the wrong place. Instead Drop down THEN tap the jump button and do the Uair. if done correctly your sword should swing just above the ledge with you safely underneath. Then you must recover with an up+B. This is useful when opponents are at high percents because uair is a very strong kill move.
3.23 specials
Specials can be executed with a ledge hop just like an aerial can be. However most of them are useless or even harmful. Two of them I use regularly, Quick draw and Ether.
Quick draw
quick draw is done with a ledge hop into Side+B. you can hold forward to set yourself on the stage and charge, or just do an air dash straight off the ledge hop. this is useful when opponents are trying to wait you out from a distance.
Ether
Ether is a great way to rack up damage, make your way on to the stage, and discourage your opponent from edge guarding you. Much like the Uair do not ledge hop because it is punishable. instead simply drop down and then up+B. Ike will through his sword up hitting your opponent so you are safe to come up. On levels like final destination and castle siege you can throw the sword through the level and slide to the ledge when you come up. Be careful not to get caught under the level on stages like Pokémon stadium or Smashville. This is very punishable by shield grabs though, so if you see your opponent shielding while you are coming up, drift back on your way down so that you can grab the ledge again and avoid being punished, thus resetting all your edge game options.
4.0 quick drawing
Ike's side special, called quick draw is a very fast combo tool, and thanks to the project M dev. team it has a whole variety of options, but first we need to explain some fundamentals.
4.1 basics
In brawl when you used Ike's quick draw it attacked once an enemy was in range. This is no longer the case with Project M, you must manually trigger the attack by pressing the A or B button. This makes the attack less predictable, but there are other features they added which gives quick draw all its versatility such as jump cancel. Perform a quick draw and jump during the dash (either by pressing the jump button or by taping up on the joystick) you will jump and cancel the quick draw. This is the basis for all of the following techniques. The last included mechanic of the quick draw is pivoting. perform a quick draw then quickly press and release the joystick in the opposite direction before jump canceling. If done correctly Ike should do a back flip facing the opposite direction while still moving forward. This is useful for attacking and for getting to the ledge quickly from long distance. Also as a last non-attack option you can use the jump in the jump cancel as the jump for a wave dash to end your quick draw quick and short.
4.2 Aerials
Ike can use his jump cancel quick draw cover large distances and perform all his aerials. Assuming that you know how to do all of Ike's aerials I'll skip the explanation of all of them. The quick draw jump cancel extends the range and thus the effect of all the aerials as I have explained above. I do want to talk about one in particular. Bair
Quick draw pivot jump cancel Bair, but we are going to call it pivot bair for short. Just as the long names spells out, perform a quick draw, pivot by taping the joystick the opposite direction, press the jump button, then perform a Bair. This is a great way to make use of an amazing move. This move gets kills, plain and simple. You can change the height of the attack by either short hopping or full hoping. Use it when your opponent is on the stage, off the stage, or above you on a platform. This can even be done standing on the ground if your opponent is tall enough. This technique is one every Ike player should know.
all of Ike's specials are able to be done in the air once you jump cancel. You can also perform B-reversals by following the steps above once you are airborne.
4.3 wall jumping
Ike is able to wall jump once by quick drawing towards a wall, then pressing the joystick away from the wall once you reach it. This makes recovering much more doable since Ike's up+B does not have much horizontal range. This is also useful if you opponent is trying to edge hog you. Simply wall jump and recover straight to the stage. This is the main use for wall jumping but it also has some really stylish offensive options. Here are a couple of advanced wall jump techniques.
Wall jump fair
either jump off the level and do a b-reversal quick draw or do a quick draw pivot off the stage and quick draw toward the wall of the stage. wall jump and perform a Fair quickly. Then recover back to the stage, if done correctly you should still have your aerial (second) jump. this is useful for when your opponent is too low for a S.H.F.F.L. Fair from the stage or a regular jump from the stage. Nair can also be used for timing purposes.
Wall jump Dair
either jump off the level and do a b-reversal quick draw or do a quick draw pivot off the stage and quick draw toward the wall of the stage. Wall jump then immediately aerial jump again (I recommend using the joystick for the wall jump, and a jump button for the aerial jump) toward the stage so that you are just to the side of the stage and perform a Dair. Then recover, if done right you should NOT have your aerial jump after the Dair and will have to recover with your Up+B. This is the most stylish of spikes and is useful when your opponent is trying to recover low.
5.0 closing/random tips
Since Ike's moves all have a lot of lag it is important to L-cancel all of your aerials
S.H.F.F.L. Nair can lead into a grab on almost every character at low percents
Ike can jab then grab most characters at low and mid percents. This is called a jab-grab. You can also do it with after the second jab, but the third.
Switching your C-stick from "smash" to "Attack" allows you to get f-tilts out more consistently, preventing accidental f-smashes. Does not work with u-tilts or D-tilts, you will still have to input those with the A button. All aerials are the same, and this does not affect the D.C.U.S. tech at all. (highly recommended)
switching the C-stick to "special" is an easy way to perform B-reversals, but at the cost of C-stick options for A-aerial attacks (not recommended)
I hope this guide has helped you to learn a little bit more about Ike. Good luck and I hope to see you on the battle field.
5.1 vocabulary list
this section s is a list of basic terminology I used in this manual with a brief explanation.
5.11 Basic skill
Short hop- taping the jump button and releasing it before the end of your jump to perform the lowest jump possible for a character.
Fast fall- pressing down on the joystick at the top of a jump to fall to the ground as quickly as possible
L-cancel- pressing any shield button (l, R, or Z) within 7 frames of hitting the ground while engaged in an aerial attack to cut landing lag in half.
S.H.F.F.L. (short hop fast fall L-cancel)- perform a short hop, then an aerial, fast fall at the height of your jump then perform an L-cancel. Doing so will allow you to do an aerial attack as quickly as possible.
Wave dashing-jumping, then air dodging into the ground at an angle to scoot across the ground.
Wave landing- air dodging straight down into the ground or platform to increase movement speed and reduce landing lag
dash dancing- dashing back and forth within a characters dash range.
Nair- neutral A aerial attack
Fair- forward A aerial attack
Bair- back A aerial attack
Dair- down A aerial attack
Uair- up A aerial attack
5.12 intermediate skill
W.T.L. (wave dash to ledge)- wave dashing backwards off the ledge of a stage to snap to a ledge grab
B-reversal- using a special then taping the opposite direction in order to perform the special in the other direction.
pivot special- perform a dash dance, then while on the pivot perform a special with precise timing
Ledge hop-while on the ledge, press the jump button and down on the joystick to let go of the ledge and jump. This does use up your second (aerial) jump
Wave land (ledge)-When you perform a ledge jump, spot dodge down and towards the stage while Ike is pulling up to wave land onto the stage.
Pivot (quick draw)- perform a quick draw then quickly press and release the joystick in the opposite direction before jump canceling.
5.13 advanced skill
D.C.U.S.- dash-cancel up smash
Hax Dash- do a ledge hop press the joystick forward so that you are over the edge of the stage, then perform a W.T.L. using your ledge hop as the jump for your wave dash.
Pivot Bair-perform a quick draw, pivot by taping the joystick the opposite direction, press the jump button, then perform a Bair.
Wall jump Fair-either jump off the level and do a b-reversal quick draw or do a quick draw pivot off the stage and quick draw toward the wall of the stage. wall jump and perform a Fair quickly
Wall jump Dair- either jump off the level and do a b-reversal quick draw or do a quick draw pivot off the stage and quick draw toward the wall of the stage. Wall jump then immediately aerial jump again toward the stage so that you are just to the side of the stage and perform a Dair.
This is a walkthrough of the vast tech abilities and trick available to Ike in project M 3.6. I am going to explain this on a gamecube controller layout, so if you are using a different controller you will have to translate to the proper inputs. Prepare yourself!
1.1 Table of contents
1.0 introduction
1.1- table of contents
1.2-vocabulary
2.0- stage presence
2.1 movement
2.11 platform basics
2.12 W.T.L
2.13 other tips
2.2 spacing
2.3 B-reversal and pivot special
2.31 B-reversals
2.32 pivot specials
2.4 D.C.U.S.
3.0 edge guarding and ledge game
3.1 edge guarding
3.2 ledge game
3.21 general options
3.22 aerials
3.23 specials
4.0 quick draw
4.1 basics
4.2 aerials
4.3 wall jumping
5.0 closing/random tips
5.1 vocabulary list
5.11 basic skill
5.12 intermediate skill
5.13 advanced skill
1.2 vocabulary
At the very bottom of the manual is a list of Vocabulary. Whenever a vocabulary word is used in this manual it will be in Bold Italics. If you see a word like this in the manual and don't quite understand it, check the vocabulary list for more details.
2.0 stage presence
2.1 Movement
Ike is one of the slower characters on the project M roster. On paper this seems to be easily covered by his long range and heavy hits. However this does not work if your opponent can out pace you and get past your defenses. Ike is a larger character and is mid weight, which makes him easy to combo. Movement is critical because you need to set the pace of a match and wall out your opponent. One of the easiest ways to manage your spacing is with wave dashes. Ike has a pretty good wave dash which helps with micro-adjusting you spacing. A good goal for Ike is to try and stay out of their range, but keep them within Ike's range.
2.11 platform basics
A good way to speed up your movements is to utilize various forms of wave dashing. In project M you can wave dash off of a ledge or platform both backwards or forward. this is helpful for getting off of platforms, or to trick your opponent by jumping to a platform and wave dashing right off. You can also spot dodge straight down to do a wave land which will help you get to the platform or ground faster and reduce landing lag.
2.12 W.T.L.
If you wave dash off the ledge of the stage facing away from it, you will snap to the ledge. For this manual we are going to call this tech W.T.L (wave dash to ledge) note this does not work if you are facing towards the ledge and you will keep falling. This is useful for performing edge hogs, as well as getting to the ledge for a variety of other reasons. W.T.L is executable by simply being close to the ledge facing backwards, or by running past Ike's dash dance, turning once you get close to the ledge, and wave dashing towards the ledge during the turn around animation.
2.13 other tips
a dash dance is a good way to play mind games with your opponent, and hopefully bait them into making a mistake by pretending to approach, then punishing them harshly.
Another good way to speed up your movement around the level is to utilize various quick draw tech. See section "4.0 quick draw" for more details.
As a mind game you can run towards your opponent, then wave dash backwards. Be careful though if your opponent runs to meet your challenge, your spacing must be perfect to do this.
2.2 spacing
As stated before, Ike is a big, tall character of about middle weight. Opponents will punish you severely if you let them. That being said with no projectiles Ike has no long range game and therefore must approach. A good idea of spacing is to keep your opponent right at the tip of your sword at all times. Any closer and faster characters will rip you apart. Any farther and you will be camped and spammed. If you do end up on the second remember that Ike has a disjoint hit box that you can use to block most projectiles as you approach. Try using short hop Nairs and bairs to approach a spammy opponent, mixed in with dodging and shielding. It is certainly an uphill fight to approach spammers from across the stage so be patient and practice this a lot. An easy way to remember this is to say "Mario fire can't melt steel Nairs" approach with this in mind. When facing faster characters, it is important to control the pace of the game. Use Ike's ranged attacks to wall out attackers. If they do get in don't panic, just get out with proper D.I. mix ups and slow the game pace back down. Don't freak out if you have more damage than a fast character. Remember sheik's F-smash kills Ike at 170%, Ike's kills Shiek at 60%. Damage doesn't matter, stocks do.
2.21 Fairs, Nairs, Dairs and Bairs
Ike's aerials are probably the best moves in his arsenal. They can be used for approach, wall out, space, or defend.
Fair
Fair is Ike's longest ranged aerial, and as such is great for out spacing you opponent. It has great range vertically and horizontally, and it is a kill move. It's good to jump off the level and hit your opponents while they are trying to recover. It's also good on stage. If you hit with the tip you are far enough away to be out of range of most shield grabs so it is really hard to punish. It can be a little tricky to S.H.F.F.L Fair with Ike so practice it a lot.
Nair
Nair is the jack of all trades. S.H.F.F.L. Nair is one of Ike's key combo starters, can be used to extend combos, and wall out opponents. Nair can also be used as an edge guard tool if Fair won't come out fast enough. Nair swings hit boxes starting at the back of Ike's head forward and down to the heels of his feet. The only place it doesn't hit around Ike is his back, making a virtual wall of hit boxes around Ike. As stated earlier Nair can also get rid of projectiles so it's a shield to. Remember it this way "when you've got bad air, it's got to be Nair"
Dair
Dair is more of a situational move, but the situations comes up enough to talk about it. Ike plunges his sword downward, creating a spike at the tip with the initial attack. The fact that this is a long disjointed hit box pointing straight down makes it useful when you are coming down. Instead of having to create a tech chase by using D.I. while falling back from the top of the level, you can fall right on your opponent and with a well spaced Dair turn the tide. Since the spike on the ground will send the opponent upwards this is a great setup for combos. You can also use it to spike you opponents while they are recovering.
Bair- Ike's best kill move. fast, strong, and well spaced, this move can be used just about anywhere, on stage or off stage. S.H.F.F.L. Bair is great to get opponents who are behind you. It also has a reverse hit box about where Ike's nose is which can continue combos or get kills (it's also super stylish).
2.3 B reversal and pivot specials
Thanks to project M using the brawl game engine we still have access to one of the few good things to come from brawl (besides our boy in blue) B-reversal. B-reversal is performed by inputting a special (B) then taping the opposite direction during the start up of the attack (reversal) A true B-reversal is done in the air, however something similar can be done on the ground within your dash dance. simply dash, then as you dash back input the special as you are pivoting, we will call this a pivot special. Note that you cannot do a pivot special if you run past your dash dance range.
2.31 B-reversals
quick draw
The most useful B-reversal in my opinion is quick draw. This is also the easiest to do. Simply jump and perform the input for quick draw in the opposite direction ( if you were heading towards the right you would hit B+left on the joystick) if you tap B, you will simply dash in the to the left, if you hold down the B button you can charge your quick draw facing towards the left. This is useful to punish your opponent when they make a mistake while you are in the air. You can also use this to do a wall jump or to get to the ledge, but there are better ways to do this so I would not recommend making a habit of it.
Eruption
This is probably the only other B-reversal worth using regularly. This one is a bit trickier to do because it requires precise timing to perform, otherwise you will perform a B-reversal quick draw. Also note that this one will change your momentum. In lay man's terms that means if you are jumping to the right and do a B-reversal eruption you will go to the left while you are performing the attack.This is done by jumping, pressing and releasing B then hitting the opposite direction on the joy stick right after. If you hit the joy stick too soon, you will do a B-reversal quick draw, if you hit the joy stick too late, you will not turn around or change momentum. This is great because the momentum change allows you to turn running away into an approach, and the heavy armor the attack has means there is little to worry about if done right. Remember though that eruption only has heavy armor while Ike is plunging the sword down, so I would not recommend charging it at all while doing a B-reversal.
Ether
This one is not very useful, but does have some applications. Much like eruption, jump, hit up+B and then hit the opposite direction, or to make it simple, run in a direction, jump still holding that direction and rotate the joystick up and to the other side while pressing B. This is a really niche tech with few follow up options and very easily punished if missed, but can be used if you were going for a B-reversal quick draw or eruption and the opponent moved above you.
Counter
Since Ike's counter changes direction to face wherever the attack came from for you, this has absolutely no combat value at all, however I want to point out that countering of any kind while jumping will stop all upward momentum. It does look pretty stylish though so if you want to learn how to do it just for fun simply use the same inputs as for Ether, except rotate the joystick downward instead of upward. Like Eruption this one can also change your momentum, however unlike eruption, you have to jump before the end of your dash dance range, otherwise you will simply pivot and continue the way you were going.
2.32 pivot specials
quick draw
Really the only useful pivot special. Simply dash, then dash back and press B while holding the direction you just dashed. you can hold down B to charge your quick draw. This is great to use with your dash dances when you are ready to stop dancing and start attacking.
Eruption
Not very useful. To do this dash, dash back, THEN press B. the heavy armor does give some options but this is really hard to space and is easily punishable. use pivot quick draw.
Ether
This is the only other useable one, and it's very hard to set up, However it is easy to do. With this one you do not have to dash dance. simply rotate the joystick from one side to the other upwards like you did for B-reversal Ether, hitting B when the joystick is pointing up. the only difference is you are on the ground. The only use I have found for this so far is if you are facing away from an opponent that is right behind you.
Counter
This is completely worthless, does nothing a regular counter doesn't do, and can lead to SD's if you mess up and do a pivot quick draw. Don't waste your time learning this unless you just want to know everything that Ike can physically do. Just counter or shield. To do this do the same thing for pivot Ether only rotate downward. I can't stress enough that this is useless in battle, don't use it. I just wanted to put it here so I covered every option.
2.4 D.C.U.S
Dash-cancel up smash, or D.C.U.S for short is a great tool for ending combos or getting kills. This is a tech that almost all the characters on the Project M roster can use, but few characters have a better use for it than Ike. A D.C.U.S. on screen is literally a sliding up smash, giving extra range to Ike's already enormous and deadly up smash attack. This however requires almost frame perfect timing. The first step is to run in a direction. Unlike other tech this one can be perform either within or outside the dash dance range. while running hit down on the c-stick (controls must have c-stick set to "smash" or "attack") to do a dash attack. During the starting lag frames before the hit box is active (which is a very short time) you must rotate the joystick up (the jump cancel) and press Z. If done correctly you will slide the distance of your dash and performing an up smash. If you press Z too slowly you will perform a dash attack. If you press Z too early you will do a grab. Unfortunately it can go either way if you miss the jump cancel so you will have to watch your hands closely. If you have trouble doing a D.C.U.S. with Ike, try it with Roy first. His dash attack has more starting lag and gives you more room for error. Learn it with Roy before moving on to Ike. Since you are performing a ground based attack, you cannot slide off platforms or ledges. If your D.C.U.S slide reaches the edge of a platform or stage before ending it will stop at the ledge. Remember that even though your up smash now moves, it still has a ton of starting and ending lag. This is a punish tool not a rush down tool. If you miss with this tech prepare for the worst. The best places to use this tech are for edge guards when your opponent will recover straight to the level, when your opponent is on a platform and you are on the ground, or to slide behind your opponent to hit them with the end of the up smash.
3.0 Edge guarding and ledge game
3.1 edge guarding
Ike has several different edge guarding options, but they all can be divided into three categories in regards to where Ike is: On the stage, Off the stage, and On the ledge.
3.11 On the stage
Ike can use his arsenal of long range attacks to prevent people from recovering. His on stage edge guards are the safest but easiest to avoid.
Forward smash
Forward smash is the best in terms of kill power. It covers a lot of range and will kill at most percents. This works best when opponents are about level with the ledge or are coming up with an easily punished recovery. (Ex. Captain falcon, ganondorf) the problem is it has a ton of startup lag so it is easily read. Opponents will spot dodge through it or sweet spot the ledge to avoid it. Characters with long hit boxes on their recoveries like Roy or squirtle usually beat out the forward smash. On the whole this is a pretty safe option
Up smash
Up smash is very good for killing, but not as strong as forward smash. What the up smash loses in raw power it gains in versatility. Up smash reaches higher than forward smash and covers the front, top, and back. Coupled with the D.C.U.S. tech mentioned above makes this easier and faster to set up. opponents can still spot dodge this back on to the stage, but your ending lag will end in time to avoid being punished
Dash attack
Dash attack sends your opponent at a shallow angle making it good to gimp recoveries, however it is only useable if you opponent is slightly above ledge in height. If they are lower they will grab the ledge and hit you with a get up attack, too high and you will miss. Hit it right and it is very hard for opponents to recover from.
Down tilt
Down tilt has a spike if you hit the opponent with the blade with the right timing. Down tilt is useful also because it sticks out over the ledge, so you can hit farther out with it and hits lower than other attacks, which makes it useful against enemies recovering below the stage. You have to swing just right or they will grab the ledge. Shield to avoid a get up attack.
S.H.F.F.L
S.H.F.F.L. aerials also make good edge guards, especially Fair and Nair. Fair has the biggest range of all on stage recoveries and can even hit slightly below the stage if done right. Nair also covers a wide range, but will send your opponent at a higher angle, which be easier recover from. Nair should be used when Fair will not come out fast enough to hit the opponent. Uair works wonders as a kill move if they recover onto the level above you.
W.T.L.
Once you confirm that your opponent is going for a ledge grab, do a W.T.L. right before they grab it. your ledge invincibility will protect you from any recoveries and your edge hog will take the stock. If you get to the ledge too early and need to dodge a recovery (up+b), press L or R to do a roll-on, this takes the maximum amount of time controlling the ledge while avoiding the attack, allowing you to get the edge hog.
Lastly if you want to really style. wave dash off the stage facing the ledge when your opponents are recovering onto the stage. jump back onto the stage while doing a Bair.
3.12 Off the stage
Ike's off stage options are pretty limited, but quality makes up for quantity in this case.
Fair
jumping off the stage to meet your opponent for a Fair will get you the kill almost anytime it connects. Be careful though the lag of this attack means you have to be careful for your recovery and time it correctly.
Nair
use when fair will miss or to set up a kill move.
Dair
use it as a spike. Be careful not to SD in the process.
3.13 on the ledge
Other than hog the ledge there are a few options Ike has as far as guarding the ledge while on it. You can perform a ledge hop (press the jump button and down on the joystick at the same time). This opens you to be able to do all of your aerial attacks next to the ledge. Be aware that this does use your aerial (second) jump so your only recovery option is to use your own recovery (up+B) after doing your attack. You can however with certain attacks, such as bair, ledge hop and press the joystick towards the stage to make it back on the stage. I recommend using the C-stick to do the attack so that you can just hold forward with the joystick, but it is doable by pressing Back+A then hitting forward. I find bair to be the most useful in this situation, however dair can be used with a Ledge Hop for spiking.
Ledge hop bair is really useful against characters with tether recoveries such as ivysaur and zero suit samus. When a character uses a tether while another character is already on the ledge, when the tether tries to snap them to the ledge it will force the tethered character to do a laggy jump on to the stage. This is your chance to punish using the reverse hit box of a Ledge hop bair.
3.2 Edge game
Eventually you will end up in a situation where you are on the ledge and your opponent is on the stage. Believe it or not this is a great situation for Ike to be in. Ike has so many good ledge options, sometimes when I get backed against a ledge I W.T.L. to make the situation better for me. I am going to break it down into general options, aerials, and specials.
3.21 general options
Neutral get up-by simply pressing the joystick towards the center of the stage, you can perform a neutral get up. Ike's is slow so I feel there are better options, but your opponents probably will not see this coming so it might work once or twice.
get up attack-by simply pressing A or B while on the ledge, you can perform a get up attack. Ike's get up attack is fast but mid ranged. It's great when your opponent is trying to rush to the ledge, but if its read it can be shield grabbed. Best if used while opponent is close to the ledge.
ledge jump- not to be confused with a ledge hop which is different. ledge jump is done by simply taping up on the joystick or pressing the jump button. This will cause you to jump onto the level and into the air. This is great to start Nair or Dair combos. best if used while opponent is not near the ledge.
regrab-you can always push down on the joystick to release the ledge and jump up to grab it again, resetting your ledge invincibility. Ultimately does not help you get back onto the stage but does buy you more time. Note after 5 ledge grabs in a row, invincibility will not reset and you will be vulnerable.
Wave land (ledge)-When you perform a ledge jump, spot dodge down and towards the stage while Ike is pulling up to wave land onto the stage. This is also doable with a ledge Hop however using ledge jump is safer. It is a faster option to neutral get up. Best used when opponents are waiting mid ranged
Hax Dash- Melee fans will remember this tech made famous by our captain falcon hero turned traitor. To perform this tech do a ledge hop press the joystick forward so that you are over the edge of the stage, then perform a W.T.L. using your ledge hop as the jump for your wave dash. If done correctly you should end up back onto the ledge. This is great bait to get opponents who are waiting away from the ledge so you can set up Ike's attack options. One of the more stylish of techs, this skill leads into itself and can be done several times in a row. Best used when opponents are mid ranged or far away from the ledge.
3.22 aerials
all of Ike's aerials are able to be done from the ledge using a ledge hop. Each move has a specific use. To Make life easier get in the habit of doing all your ledge hop aerials with the C-stick.
Nair
If you set your C-stick to "attack" instead of "smash" in the controller settings you can perform nair's by pressing the C-stick in diagonal directions. (down-left, down-right, up-left and up-right)Which means you can use the joystick to move on to the stage and the C-stick to perform the Nair. Doing it this way makes it much more viable. This one has to be the hardest to do without changing your C-stick. Because you cannot use the C-stick With the "smash" setting the joystick must be in the center position when you hit the A button, but you must press forward to get on to the stage and follow up. I feel that it is unsafe and that other moves are better because of the difficultly to pull off without the C-stick, however if done successfully it is a good way to start combos.
Fair
this move is great for spacing out opponents and giving yourself some stage presence, but due to the long start up lag, you have to get the maximum height on your ledge hop and start the attack as quickly as possible. The nice thing about using a Fair is that you can press forward+A to perform the attack and get back on the stage. Also because of the large landing lag, it is even more important to L-cancel this aerial than any other. This requires fast fingers, but the practice it takes pays off.
Dair
This can be used to get back on to the stage, but the range is very small. Instead use this when you are edge hogging as a spike. don't forget you need to use your up+B to recover.
Bair
as explained earlier this can be used to edge guard. You can also use the reverse hit box to come up from the ledge if your opponent is close enough. Being such a fast move makes it one of the best options for this situation.
Uair
like Dair, this is not good for getting back on to the stage, but to hit an opponent by the ledge. Do NOT do a pure ledge hop, it is very punishable and the hit box is in the wrong place. Instead Drop down THEN tap the jump button and do the Uair. if done correctly your sword should swing just above the ledge with you safely underneath. Then you must recover with an up+B. This is useful when opponents are at high percents because uair is a very strong kill move.
3.23 specials
Specials can be executed with a ledge hop just like an aerial can be. However most of them are useless or even harmful. Two of them I use regularly, Quick draw and Ether.
Quick draw
quick draw is done with a ledge hop into Side+B. you can hold forward to set yourself on the stage and charge, or just do an air dash straight off the ledge hop. this is useful when opponents are trying to wait you out from a distance.
Ether
Ether is a great way to rack up damage, make your way on to the stage, and discourage your opponent from edge guarding you. Much like the Uair do not ledge hop because it is punishable. instead simply drop down and then up+B. Ike will through his sword up hitting your opponent so you are safe to come up. On levels like final destination and castle siege you can throw the sword through the level and slide to the ledge when you come up. Be careful not to get caught under the level on stages like Pokémon stadium or Smashville. This is very punishable by shield grabs though, so if you see your opponent shielding while you are coming up, drift back on your way down so that you can grab the ledge again and avoid being punished, thus resetting all your edge game options.
4.0 quick drawing
Ike's side special, called quick draw is a very fast combo tool, and thanks to the project M dev. team it has a whole variety of options, but first we need to explain some fundamentals.
4.1 basics
In brawl when you used Ike's quick draw it attacked once an enemy was in range. This is no longer the case with Project M, you must manually trigger the attack by pressing the A or B button. This makes the attack less predictable, but there are other features they added which gives quick draw all its versatility such as jump cancel. Perform a quick draw and jump during the dash (either by pressing the jump button or by taping up on the joystick) you will jump and cancel the quick draw. This is the basis for all of the following techniques. The last included mechanic of the quick draw is pivoting. perform a quick draw then quickly press and release the joystick in the opposite direction before jump canceling. If done correctly Ike should do a back flip facing the opposite direction while still moving forward. This is useful for attacking and for getting to the ledge quickly from long distance. Also as a last non-attack option you can use the jump in the jump cancel as the jump for a wave dash to end your quick draw quick and short.
4.2 Aerials
Ike can use his jump cancel quick draw cover large distances and perform all his aerials. Assuming that you know how to do all of Ike's aerials I'll skip the explanation of all of them. The quick draw jump cancel extends the range and thus the effect of all the aerials as I have explained above. I do want to talk about one in particular. Bair
Quick draw pivot jump cancel Bair, but we are going to call it pivot bair for short. Just as the long names spells out, perform a quick draw, pivot by taping the joystick the opposite direction, press the jump button, then perform a Bair. This is a great way to make use of an amazing move. This move gets kills, plain and simple. You can change the height of the attack by either short hopping or full hoping. Use it when your opponent is on the stage, off the stage, or above you on a platform. This can even be done standing on the ground if your opponent is tall enough. This technique is one every Ike player should know.
all of Ike's specials are able to be done in the air once you jump cancel. You can also perform B-reversals by following the steps above once you are airborne.
4.3 wall jumping
Ike is able to wall jump once by quick drawing towards a wall, then pressing the joystick away from the wall once you reach it. This makes recovering much more doable since Ike's up+B does not have much horizontal range. This is also useful if you opponent is trying to edge hog you. Simply wall jump and recover straight to the stage. This is the main use for wall jumping but it also has some really stylish offensive options. Here are a couple of advanced wall jump techniques.
Wall jump fair
either jump off the level and do a b-reversal quick draw or do a quick draw pivot off the stage and quick draw toward the wall of the stage. wall jump and perform a Fair quickly. Then recover back to the stage, if done correctly you should still have your aerial (second) jump. this is useful for when your opponent is too low for a S.H.F.F.L. Fair from the stage or a regular jump from the stage. Nair can also be used for timing purposes.
Wall jump Dair
either jump off the level and do a b-reversal quick draw or do a quick draw pivot off the stage and quick draw toward the wall of the stage. Wall jump then immediately aerial jump again (I recommend using the joystick for the wall jump, and a jump button for the aerial jump) toward the stage so that you are just to the side of the stage and perform a Dair. Then recover, if done right you should NOT have your aerial jump after the Dair and will have to recover with your Up+B. This is the most stylish of spikes and is useful when your opponent is trying to recover low.
5.0 closing/random tips
Since Ike's moves all have a lot of lag it is important to L-cancel all of your aerials
S.H.F.F.L. Nair can lead into a grab on almost every character at low percents
Ike can jab then grab most characters at low and mid percents. This is called a jab-grab. You can also do it with after the second jab, but the third.
Switching your C-stick from "smash" to "Attack" allows you to get f-tilts out more consistently, preventing accidental f-smashes. Does not work with u-tilts or D-tilts, you will still have to input those with the A button. All aerials are the same, and this does not affect the D.C.U.S. tech at all. (highly recommended)
switching the C-stick to "special" is an easy way to perform B-reversals, but at the cost of C-stick options for A-aerial attacks (not recommended)
I hope this guide has helped you to learn a little bit more about Ike. Good luck and I hope to see you on the battle field.
5.1 vocabulary list
this section s is a list of basic terminology I used in this manual with a brief explanation.
5.11 Basic skill
Short hop- taping the jump button and releasing it before the end of your jump to perform the lowest jump possible for a character.
Fast fall- pressing down on the joystick at the top of a jump to fall to the ground as quickly as possible
L-cancel- pressing any shield button (l, R, or Z) within 7 frames of hitting the ground while engaged in an aerial attack to cut landing lag in half.
S.H.F.F.L. (short hop fast fall L-cancel)- perform a short hop, then an aerial, fast fall at the height of your jump then perform an L-cancel. Doing so will allow you to do an aerial attack as quickly as possible.
Wave dashing-jumping, then air dodging into the ground at an angle to scoot across the ground.
Wave landing- air dodging straight down into the ground or platform to increase movement speed and reduce landing lag
dash dancing- dashing back and forth within a characters dash range.
Nair- neutral A aerial attack
Fair- forward A aerial attack
Bair- back A aerial attack
Dair- down A aerial attack
Uair- up A aerial attack
5.12 intermediate skill
W.T.L. (wave dash to ledge)- wave dashing backwards off the ledge of a stage to snap to a ledge grab
B-reversal- using a special then taping the opposite direction in order to perform the special in the other direction.
pivot special- perform a dash dance, then while on the pivot perform a special with precise timing
Ledge hop-while on the ledge, press the jump button and down on the joystick to let go of the ledge and jump. This does use up your second (aerial) jump
Wave land (ledge)-When you perform a ledge jump, spot dodge down and towards the stage while Ike is pulling up to wave land onto the stage.
Pivot (quick draw)- perform a quick draw then quickly press and release the joystick in the opposite direction before jump canceling.
5.13 advanced skill
D.C.U.S.- dash-cancel up smash
Hax Dash- do a ledge hop press the joystick forward so that you are over the edge of the stage, then perform a W.T.L. using your ledge hop as the jump for your wave dash.
Pivot Bair-perform a quick draw, pivot by taping the joystick the opposite direction, press the jump button, then perform a Bair.
Wall jump Fair-either jump off the level and do a b-reversal quick draw or do a quick draw pivot off the stage and quick draw toward the wall of the stage. wall jump and perform a Fair quickly
Wall jump Dair- either jump off the level and do a b-reversal quick draw or do a quick draw pivot off the stage and quick draw toward the wall of the stage. Wall jump then immediately aerial jump again toward the stage so that you are just to the side of the stage and perform a Dair.
