unfounded revenge - A Lucas Guide/Matchup Thread

[Kagamine]

I know videos aren't working right now; I'll edit them in later. Have to go to class now.


I posted this on another site, so I figured I would also post it here, and add some stuff because it's not finished.

And that's how this guide came to be.

Btw it's a WORK IN PROGRESS! Meaning, I've just started and will update with not only pics and tl;dr texts, but video clips as well. I'm hoping to make something like the Art of Link. Originally there was a "ZAP CANNON" Lucas tutorial video going around YouTube, but that's long since been deleted mysteriously. I'm hoping to bring back the (PK) love that is Lucas.

Another Note! This isn't just for me to rant. If you have other opinions/techniques you'd like to share, please do so and I'll post it in the guide (if it's legit of course).

Last Note!
Please don’t get offended if it seems certain characters are being insulted, it's all a joke.

==INTRODUCTION==
Both Ness and Lucas come from the Mother/Earthbound series, but both are very different. Lucas, who comes from the last installment entitled Mother 3, is a timid little boy who is easily scared (as one could tell from SSE). However, with the help of his friends, he gains the courage to save(?) the world.

Okay, so another cliché Nintendo character? Why should I main him?


==THE PROS AND CONS==
Here is a list of pros and cons of Lucas that I’ve cooked up:

Pros
-Relatively fast (although outbeaten by MK, Pikachu, etc)
-Has amazing recovery, both horizontally and vertically
-Has one of the most powerful smashes in the game
-Has many other powerful smashes
-Short
-Midweight character (sorta) despite how short he is
-Various attacks have disjointed hitboxes
-Has projectiles
-Good grapple range
-Has very long tether recovery
-is a little boy
-See above

-Because of how uncommon he’s seen at competitive tournaments, opponents may not know the Lucas matchup well!

Cons
-Victim of many chaingrabs/locks. Apparently even Ness can escape Yoshi’s chaingrab, yet Lucas can’t.
-Grapple is very laggy, leaving easy room for opponents to punish. Also sucks compared to Ness’ back throw
-Low tier character
-Has a lot of bad matchups (half of the roster)
-Short close-range attacks
-Has very few combo setups
-PK Thunder recovery can be bad on various stages
-PK Thunder can be very odd due to Brawl’s physics
-Unlike Ness, Lucas has extreme difficulty approaching certain characters. This leaves him a VERY hard character to use competitively.
-Will get ABSOLUTELY RAPED against most high tiered characters. Namely MK, Snake, G&W, Marth, etc.

In case that was tl;dr for you
He's not MK, so don't expect to be jamming the B button and magically winning. It's going to be a tough road son. But aside from all of Lucas' flaws, he has some pretty amazing s***.

==TIPS AND TRICKS==

Spacing
If you're planning on playing Lucas competitively, you have to know what the real world of Brawl is like. It's not flowery nice like Hanenbow, and it's definitely not an items on, friendlies match. It's NO ITEMS.
[s]FOX ONLY.[/s] METAKNIGHT ONLY.
FINAL DESTINATION.



Shortly after Brawl was released, Lucas was labeled as high tier. Why is he in D Tier now?

One of the main reasons is the fact that he can get chaingrabbed easily. And in the competitive side of Brawl, people WILL chaingrab you.



Here are characters that you need to look out for:
-Marth (labeled the infinite deathgrab)
-Donkey Kong
-Charizard
-Falco
-Ice Climbers
-Peach
-Yoshi

I'm probably forgetting something but it's late and I can't think D:


So how can you stop this? Technically, you can't. You might be able to DI with the C-stick, but that's assuming you didn't sacrifice it for B-sticking. Instead, you just have to make sure you can avoid it.

Chaingrabbing works differently for each character. Falco can only chaingrab at low percents, so once you hit around 40%, you're pretty much safe. Ice Climbers however, are dangerous in general, especially during the higher percentages. Meanwhile, with characters like Yoshi and Marth,... You have no hope if you get caught in it.

The key to avoiding such chaingrabs is none other than spacing. Here are some tips:

-Use smart PK fire spacing. Against characters like Marth, don't be afraid to spam.

-Most chaingrabbers love to shield grab. Try to get behind them when making an attack (example, nairing behind them)

-Analyze the character to prevent chaingrabs. For Falco, be the most careful until you're around 40%. Seperate the ICs with a nair or something and then destroy Nana, leaving Popo less intimidating.

Don't Be So Hasty!
I've played against a lot of Lucas users, and one thing I noticed was that many who recently pick up Lucas rely on PK Love (upsmash). While that is an amazing attack (one of the strongest smashes in the game), it has an enormous amount of lag. And that is why I would not recommend using it much unless your opponent is too predictable/nubbish. A Game & Watch or Toon Link that spams dair might be a good excuse to use it.

In fact, smashes themselves are risky. I have a bad habit of using fsmash a lot, when I really shouldn't be. A good thing to do, especially when fighting against good brawlers, is to pull out your fastest attacks. Ftilt, nair, fair, and uair are much preferred because they have relatively good disjointed hitboxes (except nair) and they're fast. Right when your opponent gets into the higher percentages, then SMAAAASH!! them :'D


The Art of Lucas <Advanced Techniques>


PK Wavebounce
What is it?
Lucas jumps and PK fires, being forced in a certain direction by the trajectory of the PK fire.
Process (for B-stickers, C-sticking tutorial comes later): Jump forward and then B-stick in the opposite direction.
What is B-sticking?: Setting the C-stick to Specials (a.k.a. the B button)
Uses:
-Spacing
-Unpredictability

Magnet Pull
What is it?
Lucas PK full hop PK wavebounces and then uses PSI magnet to glide through the air

Process and Usage:




Zap Jump
What is it?
Lucas jumps and PK fires during his second jump, which causes him to shoot up high on stage. (Think of it like a super jump)
Process: Jump and then when you initiate your second jump, immediately (like, pretty much a single frame afterward), PK Fire.

Uses:
-Extremely good and relatively ungimpable vertical recovery that can be followed up by a PK Thunder for additional recovery
-Can be used offensively for opponents above you
-Can stall matches up combined with spamming PSI magnet to float down slower, forcing the opponent to approach you


Thundersliding
What is it?
Lucas runs off the ledge and PK thunders. The force from the running pushes him into his PK Thunder immediately after the attack is initiated.
Process: Run off ledge > PK Thunder immediately after Lucas runs off
For platform stages like Yoshi's Island and Battlefield, Lucas can initiate a fast and unexpected PK thunder called the "thunderslide".

Uses:
-Unpredictable and fast attack

Lucascide
This really has no official name, but I call it the Lucascide. Why? Because this is a thunderslide, except a suicidal version of it. Instead of thundersliding off a platform to the ground floor, lucasciding is thundersliding off the edge of the ground floor to the bottom out-of-bounds area. This is more of a for show type of thing because it's a very risky move. Depending on where your opponent is, and what percentage he's at, that could mean he wins, you win, or a No Contest.

Starting from 00:24


Lagless Tether Recovery
-TBA-


16-hit combo HOORAY! <Combo Setups>

Lucas has one of the best, most reliable jab locks in the game. And this is where it gets fun.

Combo 1:
Rising dair > Fast fall > Down jab lock > Smash

When an opponent is around 70% or higher (depending on character weights), rising dair so that the last hit touches him. This will cause him to trip temporarily. Fastfall and then down jab him, which will make him flop like a helpless fish. You can down jab them as many times as you want, although I'd suggest three to be safe. Then SMAAAASH!! Be fast though, or you'll miss your chance.

Just to give you an idea of what percentage each character needs to be in order for this to work:

Lucas - 71%
Yoshi - 77%
Link - 75%?


Combo 2:
Dair > Dair > Dair

Easier said than done, right? Right. it takes precise timing to squeeze three full dairs into two hops. Here's a video:

[to be continued]

Combo 3:
Grapple > Pummel > Dtilt > Fsmash

[to be continued]

[Kagamine]

==STAGE TIPS AND STRATEGIES==
(WORK IN PROGRESS)

Final Destination



The most generic stage there is! The great part about this stage is that you’ll be able to space easily against characters like Marth and MK because of FD’s size. Additionally, Lucas' magnet pulls are so much easier to pull off here, when there aren't any random platforms getting in your way at the last minute (hi Smashville).

Notes:
-The distance Lucas will go when he PK Thunders himself across the stage horizontally is a little more than half of FD. Pay attention to the design of FD, because the dark diamond design in the middle tells a lot. If you hold the control stick back when PK Thundering, you can PK Thunder Lucas from ¾ of that central diamond, if you know what I mean.

-You can go under FD and recover on the other side like MK and Pit. You’ll have to use PK Wavebounce and more though.

-Unless you have a chaingrabbing fetish, do not pick this stage against CGing characters like Falco.


Battlefield



All right, personally I don't know sh*t about Battlefield so I'll quote Galeon on some of this stuff because he's 2 gud. First of all, the main part about this neutral stage is the fact that it has platforms. In other words, characters with long-ranged aerials like Marth will be able to godmode this place. MKs can maneuver around the stage quite easily. But that doesn't mean Battlefield can't be your bee-yotch too.

One aspect of Battlefield that Lucas does not have on Final Destination is the thunderslide. Because it's such a fast attack, people who don't fight Lucases often will be caught in this attack, and it'll rack up large amounts of damage. Be sure to use it carefully though.

Another tactic (provided by Galeon) is rising dairing (essentially dragging your finger from the jump button to the A button, with the control stick down of course) from the ground floor to one of the side platforms. If you dair like that and hit your opponent, they'll be sent up with you to the side platform. From there, you can probably dsmash them. And what's great about this is that if you miss your opponent, you can't get punished easily.

Notes:
-if you fight marth on this stage u die olololol


Character Matchups
(WORK IN PROGRESS)

Meta F***king Knight



Metaknight is fast and has a longer range than you when it comes to close-range attacks like his dair. Although the matchup is bad, Lucas does overpower him in some aspects. One important thing to know: PK Fire outprioritizes MK Tornado. Spacing with PK Fire is your primary strategy here considering MKs can’t projectile spam. Who cares if you spam? Your opponent’s using a top tier spam character.

Another thing to note: Good MKs will spam dair in order to space and rack up damage. Quite simply, this can be as annoying as Mr. Game & Watch's bair. Your fair, nair, and uair will be overpowered by this attack, and your bair probably isn't a safe choice either (Haven't tested it out though). You should try to stop it by PK fire, but even that can result in consequences seeing as MK can maneuver in the air very easily. FOW (famous Ness user) says that waiting for MK to use his jumps and land would be the best choice; from there you can punish him easily.

In some cases, Lucas’ dsmash can be very good if used correctly. Because it’s slow and multi-hit, many MKs that dash in for an attack or spot dodge will get punished by it. It’s especially good on platforms because the hit boxes extend under the platform as well.

I’ve found that PK Thunder works well to juggle around MK in the air. Just make sure you can’t get punished by it.

DO NOT GET OFF EDGE. Fighting against some really good MKs, I’ve learned that they destroy your recovery. A guy named M2K that I fought pretty much said “I don’t even gimp people, except for Ness and Lucas. Because they yell out ‘HIT ME’ for a whole second when they’re off-stage”. You’re about as powerless as an Olimar off stage. You WILL get gi,ped.

Watch out for:
-dsmash
-Up-special
-Dair


SNAAAAAAAKE



This matchup is pretty difficult. You’ll need a lot of practice against Snakes to learn all of their tricks and setups. For basic strategy, remember that PK fire will stop a Snake from mortar sliding/DACUSing and will explode grenades that come in contact with the PK fire. Use this to your advantage. Also if possible, try to go on stages where Snake has to move a lot (see good and bad stages).

Snake is not only a heavy character, but his tilts are pretty fast too. That means that he's hard to KO, especially if your opponent has DI. And he'll punish. Try not to use smashes that much because most of the game, you're going to be racking damage with your jab AAA combo and/or F-tilt. Grabbing is a necessity! Take advantage of the Pivot grab and throw Snake off the stage.

But really I can’t help out with the matchup. IMO Snake is a much harder opponent than G&W for Lucas.

PROTIP FOR AN EASY KILL: If Snake is recovering (using his up+B cypher) off stage and near the ledge, GRAB HIM. DO NOT pummel him, DO NOT throw him, just grab him until Lucas lets go. Why? Because then Snake cannot use his up+B anymore. The only way he can escape from falling to the bottom and losing a stock is if he explodes himself with a C4. In laggy matches, it’s much harder to do. Either way, exploding himself = more damage for him, and at high percentages, it will kill him. Is this cheap? Of course. Should you use it? Hell yes.

Warning: Remember, you have to grab Snake when he's on his cypher. If you grab him when he just jumps from off stage, he'll still have his recovery. That doesn't mean you can't pummel him and forward throw him off stage so he has to use the cypher though.

Good stages:
-Norfair (Actually this can be both good and bad. Some Snakes hate it though)
-Brinstar (This is probably my favorite CP against Snake. His grenade camp is completely destroyed here, the lava forces him to move around constantly, and the stage is so small, you and him can KO at lower percentages)
-Distant Planet
-Pirate Ship
-Jungle Japes (Maybe that's just my preference, but it's a VERY large stage vertically, which makes it harder for Snake to KO you)

Bad stages:
-Final Destination (Snake is god tier on this stage)
-Lylat Cruise (the three platforms make it easy for Snake to set bombs up and throw you into them)
-Pokemon Stadium (Melee)?
-Smashville (This is okay, not really bad. But most Snakes will plant down a C4 mine on the moving platform for a surprise attack)

Watch out for:
-Bomb/Grenade setups
-utilt (Has a ridiculously long range)
-ftilt
-fair spike
-uair (if you’re recovering from the air)
-nair (remember that each of these kicks do MASSIVE DAMAGE)


Game & Watch



G&W is Lucas’ WORST matchup (25-75 in G&W’s favor). Smashboards pretty much said that G&W is the main reason why Lucas mains should get a secondary. Yes. G&W is that terrifyingly BAWWWWWWW.

Although it really depends on how the G&W you’re fighting plays, usually some general strategies work for me. G&W is overpowered, especially his smashes. However, most of his attacks have a little lag before the attack actually starts killing. In other words, pull out Lucas’ fastest attacks, making sure that you won’t be punished in the process. Ftilt and nair usually work well. You make one mistake though, and you'll get a giant 2-D pixelated torch up your ass. So know your spacing!

Try not to touch any of Lucas’ smashes unless you KNOW for sure that they’re going to hit, at least until G&W is at a high enough percentage to be KOed at. I really only would recommend Lucas’ fsmash, along with upsmash if your G&W opponent is dair spamming.

One thing to note is that not only is that G&W’s bucket WILL kill you if you're not careful. When recovering, try at all cost to find other ways to recover without PK Thunder, because if G&W buckets the PK Thunder orb, you can’t recover. Likewise, the tail of PK Thunder can instantly fill his bucket from empty to full. PK Wavebouncing back on stage is the recommended tactic here, and if you can, Zap Jump. Of course, if you absolutely have to PK Thunder, try to move as far away from the stage and G&W as you can (Meaning, you know you can recover from there).

Btw, if you didn't notice. G&W's Bair is a bee-yotch. NOTHING (unless I'm mistaken) can really be used to outprioritize that bair. If the G&W spams that like a Jiggly and her aerials, then I give you these options:

1. Space properly to avoid getting hit, and then Dsmash it when the G&W's bair ends
2. Block all of the bair (Remember, G&W's bair hits several times) and then pull out a fast attack like ftilt
3. Let it hit you for a free uair (I have no idea what this means)
4. Travel to the G&W's house and slap him repeatedly
5. Quit Brawl

A G&W user said that shield grabbing would work too, but imagine if you missed the grab!


Watch out for:
-ajsdhkhsk BAIR
-Bucket
-fsmash
-Grapple juggling/teching. A G&W will most likely grapple down > dtilt, grapple down > dsmash, grapple down > jab > grapple down etc, grapple down > chase you > grapple down etc, grapple down > chase you > usmash.
-usmash
-dsmash

[isaac]

Wow, you just got here and are already contributing. to ya buddy.

[Arturia]

Isaac... remember that ike guide Thee made? I did do some of that<_<

[Kagamine]

Thanks! And if you have any questions about Lucas, I can probably address them in this matchup thread (*･∀･)／♡＼(･∀･*)