The Lone Hunter

The cosmos... in the vast universe, the history of humanity is but a flash light from a lone star. The life of a single person should be lost in space and time. But among the stars there is one light that burns brighter than all others - the ligth of Samus Aran.

~ Metroid Prime Intro ~

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Welcome to the Samus Aran character guide!

Introduction
Samus has been my main character in Smash all the way back since the N64. She is probably the character which received the most drastic changes over time from all of the original cast. There is little doubt that she has been at her peak performance in Melee, before being nerfed to being almost unplayable in Brawl. But with SSB4, Samus is finally being a worthy competitor once more. And I am going to show you how to make the most of her.

What can you expect from this guide? I am not going to talk about percentages here, as other guides do. If you want that, check one of them, that stuff has already been covered over and over. What I am going to tell you is how to actually play Samus, and how to make the most of her moves and combos, focusing on her strengths and weaknesses alike.

Samus Aran - A general overview
I feel that Samus is a very underrated character in SSB4. She is hardly ever seen in online duels. The reason for this is most likely that she's an actually balanced character. If you want to win by playing back the same combination of moves over and over again, look for a different character (*cough* Ness *cough*). If you want to play Samus, and want to play her right, then you will have to work your way to victory. What you get in return is a very flexible character that can adapt to almost any opponent and playstyle.

Keeping the distance One of the key aspects to mastering Samus is to control the space between you and your opponent. Samus has an arsenal of moves that allows her to hit an opponent at almost any given distance - which is something that your opponent likely won't have. So, characters with limited ranged options, such as Ganondorf or Falcon, are likely to charge right up to you and seek close combat, while others, such as the Villager, are more likely to bombard you from the distance. And here's where Samus shines: if your opponent wants to keep it close and personal, keep your distance and get your projectiles ready. If they shoot constantly at you, charge in on them and hit them where it hurts. When playing Samus, it is vital to choose the right distance in battle that makes your opponent feel least comfortable.

You won't get me down Samus is a character that overall is very hard to kill. You will find that in most matches, you usually won't die before receiving at least 120% damage, unless you are hit by something exceptionally heavy (such as Ness' Up-B aimed at himself). You have decent jump abilities, your Up-B can catapult yourself fairly high, and you also have your grapple beam at your disposal to bridge longer distances towards a platform edge. The message here is: don't let your opponent put too much pressure on you. In terms of damage percentage, they are very likely to be defeated at far lower damage ratios than you are, especially given your moveset.

Be unpredictable The last, perhaps most important general piece of advise for playing Samus successfully is to remain unpredictable over the course of a fight. If you shoot your projectiles constantly in the same order, you will get punished for it. If you try to start the same combo all the time, you will be the first to inspect the blast zones of the stage from close-up. Samus does have some combos of her own, but unpredictably mixing up her moves will be your best choice most of the time.


Ground Game
Samus is definitly a character that has her best moves when airborne. However, her moveset when grounded is not too bad either, if you know how to use it. Let's look at the individual moves.

Standing A: Jab combo
The jab combo consists of a quick jab, followed by a vertical sweep with the arm cannon. While the combo as a whole is not overly impressive, especially the first jab attack is extremely quick. If you need to interrupt and overly self-confident opponent who just keeps rushing up on you, this one is a good choice. I find myself performing only the first part of the combo more often than not - the arm cannon strike has a good amount of delay both before and after the strike, so it's usually not worth it. Instead, after doing the jab, do a Side-A (sweep kick) instead for more power and knockback, combined with similar speed.

Side A: Standing Sweep Kick
This is a horizontal spin-kick like move. It has some charge-up time, so if you use it too often, your opponent will likely be able to read your move and spot-block or spot-dodge it. However, it's a perfect example of a move that you can use to mix up and vary your attacks. The kick doesn't do too much damage, but it has enough knockback on it to create a good amount of distance between you and your opponent, especially at higher percentages. This move is best used as a "Get off my back" move and gives you some time to charge up your beam, or to ready a super missile. Other than that, this move is rather underwhelming when it comes to damage - there are better moves for that.

Up A: Scissor kick
Samus brings up her leg behind her, crashing it downwards on the opponent. This is perhaps the slowest of all her non-smash attacks. Its main advantage is its rather large hitbox (due to Samus' long legs) and the fact that it can hit opponents that are above you. If an opponent such as Falcon is trying to attack you from mid-air, this move can be used to punish them. However, as with the Side-A, do not use it too often as it can be read and countered easily. Again, just as Side-A, the damage of this move isn't too impressive, but the knockback is decent.

Down A: Fire Blast
Allright, now we are talking! This is one of the best moves in your ground arsenal. It has very high priority (i.e. when colliding with most other moves, you will win), decent damage and very strong knockback. While crouching, Samus uses her cannon to cause an explosion-like fire blast at the ground in front of her. The hitbox actually reaches a bit below the ground level, so this move can be used for edge-guarding as well. This move is going to be one of your main combo starters. As it knocks your opponent into the air, you can follow up with Up-Air, Forward-Air or any other mid-air trickery. The fact that this move is rather fast makes it even better - just be aware of the ending lag which will leave you open for a split-second. Other than that, I can't recommend this move enough.

Forward Smash: Arm Cannon Blast
Samus smashes her right arm-cannon forward, causing a small fire blast at its tip. This is a great smash for two reasons. First, it has very little charge time, the hit box comes out very fast and the move has decent knockback, damage and even kill potential. The fire blast serves as an additional sweet-spot with even higher damage and knockback. The second reason why this move is great because it is very different from most other moves at your disposal. While most moves fit the indirect "artillery"-style damage-dealing, this move is an outright punch-style attack, which can really hit your opponent off-guard. I've found this move to be particularly helpful in close combat, after rolling or spot-dodging. Also, using this move twice in a row can devastate careless opponents (remember: be unpredictable!). Note that the diagonal versions of this move don't have a sweet-spot, so go for the straight version if possible.

Down Smash: Leg Sweep
A leg sweep along the ground, hitting in front and in the back of Samus. There is not too much to say for this one, as it is similar to most down-smashes. It hits both directions, is quite fast, and has decent knockback. Don't expect to kill anything with this move, though. Also, the damage isn't too great. In all of Samus' smash moves, this one deals the smallest amount of damage. Regardless, use this move against opponents that like to roll around a lot, or to get some room to breathe (and shoot) against opponents that stick too closely on your armored body.

Up Smash: Cover Fire
Samus points her arm cannon upwards, creating an arc of explosions above her head. This is about the only move in her arsenal where her physical size is a disadvantage for her. Being a tall character, the explosions will likely not hit any character standing in front or behind you. After starting this move, you have to bring it to an end - you can't cancel it in any way. If your first explosion doesn't hit your opponent, very likely you will get punished. Use this move against tall and heavy opponents (Ganondorf, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Chirazard) for heavy damage, or against opponents that like to attack your grounded Samus from mid-air. Avoid using this move against small targets (Ness, Kirby, Pikachu and the like), as the only player who will get hit is likely going to be you. However, if you DO manage to hit a target properly with this move, it deals very decent damage and can potentially kill at rather low percentages.

Dash Attack
Your dash attack is a shoulder block that is reinforced by the boosters at the back of your Chozo Suit. This move may look impressive and has quite some range, however note that you will NOT be able to hit opponents during the first few frames of the move - you will simply dash through them without doing any damage (you will in fact not even interrupt whatever they are doing). So, compared to other characters, you need to initialize this move about half a second earlier than you would with other characters to make it work. The strength of this move is highest shortly after the hitbox comes up, and decreases as your speed decreases. Sweetspotting this move will knock your opponent a good distance into the air, allowing you to follow up with F-Air, Up-B or other mid-air combos. This move can be tricky to use effectively. When running towards your opponent, you need to be able to read if they are going to block or try to counter-attack. If they block, this move is going to be useless - you will most likely not be fast enough to dash through the shielded opponent, so you will end up in front of him during the ending lag of this move, unable to do anything. If your opponent blocks, use a running grapple instead. Also, simply stopping in front of them and using Down-A can catch careless opponents off-guard. However, if they try to counter-attack, by all means, use the dash attack and send them flying, starting your combos.


Grab Game

Grapple & Pummel
Samus' grab attack is executed using her grapple beam, just as in previous Smash entries. This has the same advantages and disadvantages as grapples from other characters (Link, Zero-Suit Samus): you have a larger grappling distance, but suffer from the ending lag. The move can be executed while running, but in my experience the running grab is by far not as effective as for other characters such as Zero-Suit Samus. I recommend using the standing grapple instead. Samus' Pummel (grabbing and pressing A) is the second-fastest in the game (inferior only to Lucario's), so you better make good use of it! After grabbing your opponent, you can usually hit them at least once or twice with the pummel move before actually throwing them, without risking them breaking out of your grab hold. This way, you can increase the damage of your throw maneuver by another 4-5% for free.

Forward & Backward Throw
Samus swings her grapple beam, releasing the opponent and throwing them. I've found these two throws to be useful only to move the opponent into the desired direction (that is: off-stage!). They won't cause much damage, they have little to no kill potential, and are hard to follow-up with anything except missiles or the charge beam (which usually won't work as the opponent expects this). Therefore, usually it's better to stick with the other throws.

Up-Throw
Samus charges the grapple beam with energy, lifting the opponent into the air and causing damage multiple times. The overall damage caused by this move is not too high, but it does put the opponent into a bad position - right above your head. If they come down after you, seeking revenge, now would be the time to use Up-A or Up-Smash. If they stay mid-air, follow up with your standard air moves (Up-Air, F-Air, Up-B) for additional damage. Unlike other characters, this move has almost no kill potential, and rather serves as a combo starter.

Down-Throw
The down-throw is probably the best way to end a grab move with Samus. She swings her grapple beam downwards in an arc, knocking the opponent into the ground and causing him to bounce into the air. In Melee, this move could be seamlessly followed up with a fully-charged charge beam, but unfortunately the knockback of the move was increased, so this no longer works (sadly...). However, after this move, your opponent will be in mid-air, roughly 45° in front of you. This can be followed up by jumping and using F-Air. If the opponent is careless, you can do a double jump and yet another F-Air. So the combo is: grab->pummel->pummel->down throw->jump->F-Air->jump->F-Air. However, you need to be unpredictable to avoid being air-dodged and punished. You can vary the combo by jumping and firing your charge beam, using Up-B or even D-Air, depending on your opponent's location.


Special Attacks (B-Moves)

B: Charge Beam
The charge beam is a terrifying weapon. Fully charged, this energy blast can deal up to 25% damage, and has a good amount of knockback. This is going to be one of your main finishing moves, with the potential to kill opponents at around 80%. It is worth noting that firing a fully-charged beam will cause some knockback on Samus herself as well, so if you are standing with your back to the edge and fire a fully-charged beam, expect to find yourself falling off the edge afterwards. This self-knockback is even stronger when firing the beam mid-air, so be prepared for that. The beam can be fired in three stages of charging. While it certainly isn't a fast-firing weapon such as Fox's laser, even the smallest stage of the beam is enough to interrupt and harass your opponent. If you are charging up your beam, and the opponent wants to take advantage of it by running up to you and hit you, don't hesitate to fire the beam, even if it isn't fully charged. In the worst scenario, you will have enough time to avoid getting hit by your opponent, in the best scenario they get hit by a half-charged beam, knocking them back far enough to give you time to charge your beam again.
I think at this point it should be pointed out that even if this is your strongest weapon, you need to use it with care, as it can be countered easily. Fox and Falco (and the Mii Gunner) can use their reflector shields to knock it back to you, Mario can use his cape to do the same, and Ness can absorb the beam in his energy shield, regaining health. However, the raw power of this weapon will cause your opponent to change their behaviour. Don't fire your beam right away after fully charging it - your opponent will expect this. Instead, keep it charged and use the rest of your arsenal. Your opponent will be distracted by your charged up beam, they fear the impact - make use of that! Make them believe that you are going to fire any second, but use a missile instead. Used right, the charge beam can be the source of brutal mind games.
The charge beam can of course also be used in tandem with missiles and super-missiles. I've seen more than one opponent fall to the old trick - fire a missile or two, and follow it up with the fully-charged beam. If they shield the missile and go for the counter attack, they will eat the beam right-on. If they try and shield both... I've seen more than one shield break due to the impact of a fully-charged charge beam.
This move can also be used when you are knocked in the air and off-stage: shoot at your edge-guarding opponent and make a safe return while they have to deal with the projectile, potentially even scoring a kill in the process if you hit them properly. Also, if you managed to knock your opponent off-stage, firing a fully-charged beam and hitting them mid-air usually means "good game" as well. Just be wary of the usual reflection techniques - eating your own charge beam can really ruin your day properly.

Side-B: (Super) Missile
The side-b comes in two variants. Slowly pressing the control stick to either side and pressing B will fire an auto-aiming missile that (slowly) tracks its target. Executing this move in a smash-fashion (pressing side and B at the same time) will fire a super missile - a faster and stronger, yet non-tracking projectile. Note that while you can have two normal missiles in the air at the same time, you can only have one super-missile out at any time. Attempting to fire a second super-missile in quick succession while the first one is still in the air will not produce any projectile, so be wary.
Personally, I've found the normal tracking missiles to be rather lack-luster. The only real use they have is to punish Jigglypuffs and Kirbys who think that it's fun to avoid your missiles by crouching (as the tracking missile will hit them), or when edge-guarding. Note that the range of the tracking missile is about 3/4 of the super missile. So in 90% of all cases, go for the super missile.
The super missile has decent damage and medium knockback. It is hard to follow-up with anything, but it can be very handy to stop opponents in their tracks that aim for a dash attack. Also, mixing super missiles with normal missiles and the charge beam can lead to devastating barrages of projectiles. Use this move. Love it. Abuse it.

Up-B: Screw Attack
The screw attack has been boosted since the last entries of the Super Smash Brothers series. It has higher jump potential, and a lot more knockback on the last hit than it used to have. Executing this move will cause Samus to jump upwards, spinning very quickly around her own axis and causing damage repeatedly to every opponent she touches. Opponents that get hit by this move will likely be drawn into it, unable to escape further hits. The last hit will knock them up in the air.
Hitting opponents with this move in the top third of the stage (mid-air of course) will likely send them through the upper blast zone, securing the kill for you. This move is especially nasty after using Up-Air. A nice combo is: dash attack->jump->Up-Air->Up-B. This combo can do 45% damage and more on it's own, depending on how many hits you can get in there. Up-B can also be used to punish opponents that try to catch you mid-air with a D-Air or similar moves. However, note that the ending lag of this move is pretty bad. Being a rescue jump, this move also has severe landing lag. Use it, but with care and only if you are certain that you are going to hit something.

Down-B: Bomb
Of all B moves, this one is likely the worst. The bomb detonates after a set amount of time (about 2-3 seconds), it will NOT detonate when the opponent touches it. The explosion is rather small, with close to no knock-back and very little damage. However, even this move has its uses. In mid-air, Samus gains a lot of mobility when using the bomb. Pressing down-B followed by holding left or right can catapult you pretty far (and pretty quickly) into that direction when used mid-air. Also, if your opponent is waiting on the ground to hit you with an up-smash, you can wreck their careful timing by using a bomb, delaying your fall, and seeking your revenge with a D-Air. Also note that, just like projectiles, using this move will draw a part of your opponent's attention away from Samus and towards the bomb, so use this as your psychological advantage.


Mid-Air Game

Neutral Air: Double Kick
This is a quick kick move, hitting opponents which are on about the same hight as you. I can't see anything particularly useful about this move, other than the fact that it's a quick, short-range move. You have better options at your disposal, especially in mid-air.

Forward Air: Mid-air fire blast
The Forward Air makes use of the arm cannon again. Samus bends forward and stretches out her arm cannon for a series of small fire blasts. Each blast will stagger opponents, and very likely will set him up for the next hit. Especially in comparison to previous Smash entries, this time your opponents have a much harder time escaping this move once they are caught in it. The last blast will send your opponent flying.
This move has two major drawbacks. The first one is that if you attempt to attack a grounded opponent with this move, the ending lag will be horrible, unless the attack animation finishes before you hit the ground. If you need to attack a grounded opponent from mid-air, use Down Air instead, as the ending lag is much shorter. The second drawback of Forward Air is its low attack priority. It has a comparably long animation time, and when colliding with an opponent's attack, you are likely to come up short in the clash and get hit.
On the bright side, this move is great for dealing with large targets, such as Bowser or Chirazard, as their size pretty much guarantees further hits. Also, you can use this move against an opponent in the air to catapult him closer to the left and right blast zones of the stage. If you follow up this move with a jump and another Forward Air, you will definitily bring your opponent off-stage, perhaps even far enough to kill him. You on the other hand can make use of your grapple beam or Up-B to get back to the stage.
Knowing when to use this move (and when not to) is a vital part of Samus' air game. As a rule of thumb, use it against close-up airborne opponents, but do not use it on grounded opponents or far-away targets, as both of these actions will leave you vulnerable for counter attacks.

Back Air: Spinning reverse kick
This is one of the nastiest moves at your disposal. Samus spins around mid-air, kicking an opponent behind her. Hard. The damage might not be great, but the knockback and kill potential are amazing. One of the easiest ways to make use of this attack is to jump at your opponent and perform Back Air shortly before hitting the ground. This way, the kick will hit even grounded opponents (who likely charge in to attack you from behind). Of course, this move can also be used against airborne opponents, but the timing is much harder to get right. Again, the larger the opponent is, the easier it is to sweet-spot this move and secure the kill. However, do note that the hitbox for this move is rather small, and you need to be quite close to your opponent to make this move work, so watch out for attacks that can out-range you, as (with most of Samus' moves) the attack priority of this move is not very high.

Down Air: Meteor Smash
Over the years, this has become one of Samus' signature moves. She spins around her own axis, hitting opponents below her with a swing of her arm cannon. This move has very strong knockback and almost no ending lag, but there is a considerable charge-up time. This (together with bombs) is perhaps your best option if you are being knocked into the air while your opponent is waiting for you at the ground with an up-smash. If you hit a grounded opponent with this move, the knockback will throw him to the ground, bouncing him off into the air. If that isn't already enough to win you the game, you can use the recovery time of your opponent to land, jump and follow up with Forward Air or Up Air. Of course, there is always the most obvious usage: hit an opponent with this move when they are off-stage, and they are almost certain to meet the lower blast zone of the stage.
The key to using this move right is to know when to start it, due to its charge-up time. Compared to other characters Down Air, such as Ganondorfs, you have to start the move a tad earlier to make it work.

Up Air: Drill kick
Samus turns around, pointing her feet upwards and spinning very fast around her own axis. This move is great for combos, as it produces high damage over a short amount of time. The last hit has considerable knockback as well. If both you and your opponent are high up in the air, hitting them with this move will probably be enough to hit them into the upper blast zone.
The drawbacks of this move are similar to the Forward Air. A long animation time, paired with low attack priority, make this move easy to punish. In particular, you will most likely lose to any Down-Air attack. The best way to use this move is against opponents who are either staggered due to one of your attacks (e.g. dash attack, down-throw, down-a), or have used their Up-B moves and therefore can't react.
This move is going to be one of your main sources of damage. It's fast, has multiple hits and most importantly is hard to predict if you mix it up with the rest of your air game moves. Also note that on lower percentages, you can follow up this move with a (pretty much safe) Up-B for even more damage. On high percentages, the knockback of the last hit will be too big and your Up-B won't hit the opponent.


Other details

Roll! Roll! Roll!!! Samus has a very special roll animation. She turns into her morph-ball form, rolling in the desired direction. Note that in addition to the usual invincibility frames, this also considerably reduces the size of your own hitbox. Therefore, even outside of your invincibility frames, your opponents will have a much harder time hitting you, in particular with projectiles or attacks aimed at your upper body, such as most of Marth's sword strikes.

Grapple beam trickery Just like other characters equipped with grapple weapons, such as Link and Zero-Suit Samus, Samus can use her grapple beam mid-air not just to reach for the edge of the platform, but also to damage your opponent. Consider the following situation: you used your grapple beam to grab the edge of the stage, and are hanging on the edge, while your opponent is standing on the platform, waiting for you to get up to finish you off. Normally you would have four options: attack, roll, normal get-up or jump. With your grapple beam, you have a fifth option at your disposal. Jump low, away from the edge, facing your opponent, and use the grapple beam. This will stagger (and damage) your opponent, as very few people expect this move. This will give you time to grab the edge again and get up, or even land directly on the platform unharmed if you time it well.


Conclusion

That's all for this guide, guys. I hope you like it. Samus is a really awesome character, and I would be happy to see more Samus players online - she deserves it. If you know some tricks that I don't, please add them to the discussion page of this guide, and I'll add them to this guide and give credits.