LDSenpai
Self loathing ICs Player
As the title says, I am just picking up Doc; what should I be practicing, maybe even like a solo practice routine?
Last edited:
-
Welcome to Smashboards, the world's largest Super Smash Brothers community! Over 250,000 Smash Bros. fans from around the world have come to discuss these great games in over 19 million posts!
You are currently viewing our boards as a visitor. Click here to sign up right now and start on your path in the Smash community!
New to Doc, what should I practice?
- Thread starter LDSenpai
- Start date
Superw0rri0
Smash Ace
How long have you been playing and who did you play before?
To start with in general I would say his movement. His movement is different from the other characters. Medium/slow speed but a little slippier (no where near to luigi though).
Get familiar with the hitboxes... and I mean veeery familiar with them. Spacing is huge on Doc and his hitboxes are deceptive at first look. Dair and Super Sheet (cape) have hitboxes that are way bigger than they look. Bair and Fair go out further than you would think. Bonus Tip: Figure out doc's reverse hits e.g. reverse dair, fair, nair
Don't worry about advanced tech like perfect tornado, up-b cancel, aerial interupt, lemon drop, and others just now... learn those once you feel comfortable with Doc.
Tech that you should learn off the bat is SHUFFLE, SHBAWD, Placebo, and auto-cancel dairs. Bonus tip: bair and uair auto-cancel so you don't have to l-cancel them unless you bring them out late.
Doc's wavedash is really good and try to utilize it whenever you can.
Doc's offstage game is really good but there are a lot of quirks to it so mess around and figure out your limitations.
Figure out his chain grabs as it's his best punish on fast fallers.
Figure out his jab game.
Figure out his pill game.
Go into training mode (or whatever you prefer) and mess around with combos. A lot of Doc's combos aren't guaranteed and recognizing when to follow up with which move is the hardest thing about Doc in my opinion.
LEARN HOW TO RECOVER!!! Most important thing. Doc's recovery sucks but if you know your limitations and how to optimize it then it's not that bad. Bonus tip: Air dodge is really good and can sometimes be better than up-b. Also try to use your down-b before you use your double jump. Don't use down-b near ledge as you will be a sitting duck to a knee/backair/fair/everything.
Learn how to use-b to intercept midair opponents both as recovery and on stage. Although this has it's limitations.
Biggest things to watch out for:
Although cape is one of Doc's best tools, don't rely on it too much.
Use dash attack sparingly. It's a good move, it can surprise your opponent, and it can combo into other normals, but don't use it too much. This is the biggest noob trap. I can't tell you how many times I see a Doc use dash attack as if it's a shine and they always get punished for it.
Welcome to 20Rx, and most importantly: Have fun!!!
To start with in general I would say his movement. His movement is different from the other characters. Medium/slow speed but a little slippier (no where near to luigi though).
Get familiar with the hitboxes... and I mean veeery familiar with them. Spacing is huge on Doc and his hitboxes are deceptive at first look. Dair and Super Sheet (cape) have hitboxes that are way bigger than they look. Bair and Fair go out further than you would think. Bonus Tip: Figure out doc's reverse hits e.g. reverse dair, fair, nair
Don't worry about advanced tech like perfect tornado, up-b cancel, aerial interupt, lemon drop, and others just now... learn those once you feel comfortable with Doc.
Tech that you should learn off the bat is SHUFFLE, SHBAWD, Placebo, and auto-cancel dairs. Bonus tip: bair and uair auto-cancel so you don't have to l-cancel them unless you bring them out late.
Doc's wavedash is really good and try to utilize it whenever you can.
Doc's offstage game is really good but there are a lot of quirks to it so mess around and figure out your limitations.
Figure out his chain grabs as it's his best punish on fast fallers.
Figure out his jab game.
Figure out his pill game.
Go into training mode (or whatever you prefer) and mess around with combos. A lot of Doc's combos aren't guaranteed and recognizing when to follow up with which move is the hardest thing about Doc in my opinion.
LEARN HOW TO RECOVER!!! Most important thing. Doc's recovery sucks but if you know your limitations and how to optimize it then it's not that bad. Bonus tip: Air dodge is really good and can sometimes be better than up-b. Also try to use your down-b before you use your double jump. Don't use down-b near ledge as you will be a sitting duck to a knee/backair/fair/everything.
Learn how to use-b to intercept midair opponents both as recovery and on stage. Although this has it's limitations.
Biggest things to watch out for:
Although cape is one of Doc's best tools, don't rely on it too much.
Use dash attack sparingly. It's a good move, it can surprise your opponent, and it can combo into other normals, but don't use it too much. This is the biggest noob trap. I can't tell you how many times I see a Doc use dash attack as if it's a shine and they always get punished for it.
Welcome to 20Rx, and most importantly: Have fun!!!
Last edited:
One more thing. Learn all of your recovery options. Pills to cover getting back, doc tornado (don't worry about getting it perfectly just yet), and cape. Obviously docs cape isn't as good as Mario's, but it does slightly stall you in the air so use it wisely. Learn to sweet spot. It take work to get but its easier than you think. Up-b has some pretty decent priority as well, so mix up sweet spots and just up-b to stage. Once you've got movement and recovery down, then you can start working on the tech.
(Sorry for the multiple responses lol)
If you want a routine for solo practice, the most I could say is movement practice. Ledge dashes, platform movement, wavedash dsmash, fsmash, etc. SHFFL'd aerials, wavedash OOS.
I would also practice a little bit against computers. (From what I understand lvl 7 has the best DI but lvl 8 works as well)
Some people will say that you shouldn't, since they're a bad substitute for actual people, but I personally find that it helps me get used to certain characters weights. Which, in turn, gives me ideas for combos/follow ups. It's up to you though. Computers can get very boring to play, as can movement practice. At the end of the day, though, the best advice I can give is to just play as many actual people as possible.
Last edited: