We played a few games today, and came to the conclusion that the up B is far from safe. In fact, I would almost never use this move, other than for recovery. (this is all me, perhaps Iwan still sees something in this move I'm missing)
-The up b isn't fast. There's startup lag, not to mention the **** thing leaves you vulnerable for an heck of a long time if you miss. And, in all likeliness, you
will miss.
- There are 4 versions of this up b (I don't think I'm missing anything, if I am please post)
a) you start it on the ground, with your opponent on the ground as well. I find this nearly useless, as you
should not be able to land it. It telegraphs itself horridly, and is easy to spot dodge. There are better alternatives: grabbing, jabs, maybe even utilt to variate timing. At low percents, even if the dive lands, your opponent can aerial you back, due to the terrible lag afterwards (you won't be able to attack until rebound to your max height, do a little flip, then fall; too much lag). Utilt comes out about the same speed as the dive, has more knockback, and almost no lag afterwards. Grabbing, pummeling, dthrow followed by (maybe) uair/ nair/grab are all better alternatives IMO.
This is assuming the dive lands, of course. I know you all know what happens if the dive misses, which again is more than likely. There is a split frame for your opponent to get caught in the dive; once they dodge that, falcon will pass his opponent and continue on his merry way into the sky, and leave himself to god-knows-what. Rolling and spot-dodging both work, and the timing doesn't have to be precise to dodge it, either. As for the DI after the move, I haven't noticed any increased DI from a regular jump.
b) your opponent is in the air, and you dive up the meet them. Again, I would advise against this move. I find the uair to work far better than anything else; far less lag, both startup and ending, and if it is spaced properly, can send opponents flying off and a completely horizontal trajectory. The dive sends opponents forward and upwards, which isn't the best place to send them if it's a KO you want. It's also rather difficult to aim. The dive will kill an Ike standing on the middle platform of battlefield @ 167%; the uair will kill at 155%. Uair also has more range. I suppose the dive may be used to punish a sloppy airdodge when the % isn't quite enough to KO, but again, this seems hihgly situational. Lag is what kill this move; you are utterly vulnerable if you miss, and are liable to eat just about anything your opponent cares to punish you with.
c) you are beneath your opponent on a platform. This will depend on the platform height. On battlefield, using the dive on the 2 side platforms is silly. Utilt will hit, usmash will hit, uair will hit, nairs will hit, heck even knees can land here. All of these alternatives will leave falcon beneath your opponent, which is the best place for him. However, for platforms similar in height to the middle platform, perhaps the dive is a possible alternative. The lag afterwards will be significantly shortened, since you will land immediately after you peak (you CANNOT fall back through if you miss; falling through requires you to be completely prone in the air, which will not happen if you are looking to gain the advantage of decreased lag). Perhaps this might be an alternative to uair, if your opponent consistently shield camps the platform. I personally would still stray away from it, because it still isn't very safe. You can be hit.
d) ledgehopping. I don't see much potential in this variation. The only thing it does better than a ledgehopped knee is range, and a ledgehopped uair will have about the same range, and better knockback. The only thing I can see this being useful for is punishing an opponent who has been trained to shield your advance onto the stage, perhaps to shield grab. Lag afterwards is still terrible.
Someone (I think it was NESSBOUNDER) posted not too long ago 2 ways to COMBO into this move. I still haven't had the time to test it out properly, but from what Key tells me, the soft knee version of the combo may actually work well. If this dive could be COMBOED into, we'd have something going. Key n I will have to get back to you guys on this.
I see only one advantage to using the dive, and that is 4% more damage. Uair is a far better alternative in just about every situation. More knockback, lagless, better range, much faster.
I realize I sound negative in this post. I really wish falcon had
something going for him with this move, but as I see it, there really aren't any advantages to it. I don't want people to automatically start spamming up bs and expect it to win matches for them. I think that if this move can consistently land damage for you and you aren't being punished severely when you miss, your opponents are making big blunders.
Lol @Tenki, how crazazy do you have to be to quote yourself. Props lol, I laughed
This is plain impossible. Show me a video where a falcon can chain 3 or 4 dives together, and I'll show you an opponent with the attributes of a sandbag.
