How to deal with zoning characters?

[Knox556]

I'm having a lot of trouble with zoning characters, namely link, toon link, and megaman. I feel like I can't approach unless I powershield perfectly. Even an approach with whirling fortress gets beat by the clash + disjointed hitboxes that they have.

Is Bowser just at a loss when vsing these characters? I feel like I'm losing to the most basic of strategies.

 

[Hitman JT]

Powershielding skillz + lots of patience. You literally are a damn turtle, after all. Wait for openings, get yourself within a range that's just outside of their melee reach where you can either punish them for throwing more projectiles while you're close or breathe supa hot fiyah to bully them into rolling or jumping. React accordingly and keep up the pressure; make them scared to throw more s*** at you. Do mind your positioning against the dair-happy Links though, the hitbox is deceptive but your upsmash beats it if you're feeling yourself

 

[Knox556]

Powershielding skillz + lots of patience. You literally are a damn turtle, after all. Wait for openings, get yourself within a range that's just outside of their melee reach where you can either punish them for throwing more projectiles while you're close or breathe supa hot fiyah to bully them into rolling or jumping. React accordingly and keep up the pressure; make them scared to throw more s*** at you. Do mind your positioning against the dair-happy Links though, the hitbox is deceptive but your upsmash beats it if you're feeling yourself

That's great. Thanks. I probably don't use my fire enough in those scenarios, and I do get panicky against projectile spammers and tend to try and stop them from doing it ASAP. I'll try incorporating a more turtley playstyle with zoners and see how that works.

Just reminded me though, how do you deal with links bombs? I feel like powershielding them doesn't really help the situation as they just bounce off the shield. Suggestions?

 

[Hitman JT]

After they bounce off your shield you can just grab them and toss them back if it's safe to do so. Or you can snatch them right out of the air with godlike timing. If you're not in a position to grab the bomb without potentially getting punished then don't risk it.

 

[Big Sean]

lately what's been working for me is if your dashing and predict a projectile, short hop air dodge into some b move. The up b comes out really fast and usually punishes. If you're afraid of a shield, the side b works. And if you see a really slow projectile like from robin, you might even be able to down b.

 

[Big-Cat]

Patience is a virtue. They will struggle once you get in.

 

[N0PE]

Can we tack Rosaluma to this list of zoners? I struggle in that MU.

Do I treat it like fighting IC's in melee where I focus the AI (Nana/Luma) first and then go for the KO? Or do I focus the actual player (Popo/Rosalina) and dodge the AI? Or is the strategy not that binary?

 

[G-Guy]

My best buddy is a Link main, so the pain was real when I picked the King of awesome against him.





Then I learned how frickin useful Bowser's flames were! Short hop towards Lonk and breathe fire!
Boomerang vanishes
Arrows vanish
even Bombs get stopped

Plus, you force Lonk to retreat that way. If he wants to come from above with down air or a bomb throw, upsmash is your friend. that sweet invincibility.

I actually countered Link's projectiles with my flames so hard that my friend actually felt more pressed by me :D

 

[N0PE]

My best buddy is a Link main, so the pain was real when I picked the King of awesome against him.





Then I learned how frickin useful Bowser's flames were! Short hop towards Lonk and breathe fire!
Boomerang vanishes
Arrows vanish
even Bombs get stopped

Plus, you force Lonk to retreat that way. If he wants to come from above with down air or a bomb throw, upsmash is your friend. that sweet invincibility.

I actually countered Link's projectiles with my flames so hard that my friend actually felt more pressed by me :D

I wasn't aware the flames worked against bombs, that's fantastic! How does your friend's Link attempt to counter your fire and upsmash counters now that you use them? Or have they not adapted to that yet?

 

[G-Guy]

I wasn't aware the flames worked against bombs, that's fantastic! How does your friend's Link attempt to counter your fire and upsmash counters now that you use them? Or have they not adapted to that yet?

for the fire, he mainly shields it and back rolls once it died out, so that's a bummer. There were some hilarious instances were the Gale boomerang actually pushed me towards the shielding Link on its way back, so I almost completely ate his shield with my flames. Hilarious! After the backroll he usually tries to go into sword fighting mode, which is OK for Bowser.
Side tilt and jabs have ridiculous range and Upsmash protects nicely from aerial approaches. It's still important to shield his attacks perfectly, though

 

[N0PE]

for the fire, he mainly shields it and back rolls once it died out, so that's a bummer. There were some hilarious instances were the Gale boomerang actually pushed me towards the shielding Link on its way back, so I almost completely ate his shield with my flames. Hilarious! After the backroll he usually tries to go into sword fighting mode, which is OK for Bowser.
Side tilt and jabs have ridiculous range and Upsmash protects nicely from aerial approaches. It's still important to shield his attacks perfectly, though

Okay, good to know! Thanks :D

Haven't had the "pleasure" of fighting a Link yet (aside from CPUs) but I'll keep this in mind.

 

[Big-Cat]

Can we tack Rosaluma to this list of zoners? I struggle in that MU.

Do I treat it like fighting IC's in melee where I focus the AI (Nana/Luma) first and then go for the KO? Or do I focus the actual player (Popo/Rosalina) and dodge the AI? Or is the strategy not that binary?

It's usually not that binary. With Bowser, you can't afford to be above her. What may be a primary strategy is just hit the Luma in front of her first then go after her. If you're going with an aerial, make sure it hits Rosalina but you don't get hit by Luma.

 

[HeavyLobster]

After a long series of matches against Mii Gunner with customs, I have to say Dash Slash helps immensely against projectile spam. It's not a cure-all by any means, but being able to cover that much ground that quickly can force people to play you more honestly and opens up a lot in terms of your ability to work your way in. You do still have to be patient and can't just throw it out recklessly, but just having the option to threaten it does help give you breathing room to close space gradually and safely. These MUs are still difficult and frustrating for Bowser, but he now has the tools to make sure they're not unwinnable.

 

[bskhacker]

It is also worth pointing out that you can stop most projectiles with jab or f-tilt.

 

[Corgian]

Actually Bowser has a pretty good matchup against Megaman. Pellets aren't a problem, at all. You don't receive any hitstun from them, so you can just approach without fear. The saw is dealt with with good shielding, or any of bower's neutral game pretty much. As long as you don't let Megaman get his distance against you, you'll do fine. You'll see Oco Le Troof and CalmAnimal are very good at just staying a relatively close distance to Megaman which makes the matchup way easier.

That being said, I am not insinuating that Megaman become free against Bowser. That's silly. But Megaman does become one of the easier characters to fight.