Super Smash Bros. Brawl: Learn how and when to use your main ground based A-moves.

Smash School 101: Jabs, Tilts, and Smashes

Skill Level: You are anywhere from a total beginner to just beating stronger computer players.

First, let’s take a look at how to do each type of move.

I’ll use these same terms in my other guides.

Jabs
These moves are performed by tapping A without holding any direction on the analog stick. If you tap A a couple times in a row, most characters do a short combination of 3 moves, such as punch, punch, kick.

Tilt moves
Tilt the analog stick in any direction and tap A to do a tilt move. All characters have a side tilt move, an up tilt move, and a down tilt move.

Smash moves
Tap the analog stick quickly in one direction and press A at the same time to charge a smash attack. Release A to perform the smash attack. All characters have side smash attacks, up smash attacks, and down smash attacks. Uncharged smash moves can be performed easily using the C-stick (on a CG controller; it’s different in other control schemes).

Dash attacks
While you are running (tap forward and hold it), press A to do your dash attack.

Every character has a different set of jabs, tilts, and smashes, but as you practice each character, you will probably find that you can use the same type of move in the same situations, regardless of what character you are using (with many exceptions, of course, as you learn the nuances of each character). This next section is about when to use each type of move in general. My courses for specific characters (coming soon, check back often) will look at the individual moves of each character.

Tap A (Jab)

This is typically your character’s fastest move (or moves, in the case of a combination). They are usually really weak, have a short reach, and only do a small amount of damage. Pointless, right? Nah, they’ve got a useful place. You’ll usually want to use these moves when the enemy is really close—like, so close that your characters are almost touching, because most of them don’t have much more reach then that. At this range, you need to use the fastest moves possible to get your enemy out of your face.

If they start a smash move or a tilt move, your tap move will almost always hit first, and you’ll gain the upper hand. After a couple of hits, your tap move will push them out of reach, which is a good time to switch to a tilt or smash. In fact, the last hit in the jab combination that most characters do is more powerful then the first hits, so you may want to avoid attacking so fast that it goes into the final hit of the combination so that it is easier to juggle your opponent. Playing with it to get the timing down is key.

If they are this close and you have more time (maybe they just missed with a move or you just knocked them off their feet), it’s probably a better idea to use a stronger move rather than a tap. However, some characters have surprisingly strong jabs, and you can use these for more then just pushing your opponent away. Take Snake: although his 3-hit combination is relatively slow for a jab, the third hit in the combination is strong enough to get KOs when your opponent has some good damage.

A slightly more advanced technique is to only use the first couple hits of a combination jab to disrupt your opponent and make it hard for them to time their shield release or stronger moves. As long as you don’t do the last hit of a jab, and just wait a fraction of a second before doing the last hit, you can quickly transition into doing the first hits again.

Tilt left or right + A (sideways tilt)

Most of these moves have a better reach than your jab. They are also more powerful, and still pretty fast. A lot of people overlook these moves once they learn how to do smash attacks consistently. Bad idea. Most sideways tilts are faster than sideways smashes, and have comparable reach—just less power.

These are for when you are getting close to your opponent. If you think they are just about at the edge of your reach, a tilt attack is perfect to test the waters. A smash might be too slow; if you are out of reach and you miss with a sideways smash attack, or if your opponent is expecting it and rolls under you, they may have enough time to counter attack before you recover. The side tilt is a good balance here because you can get off a strong move at with a decent reach quickly, without having to commit to a smash. For most sideways tilts, the collision box also stays out there a while, so your timing doesn’t have to be as good as with a smash.

Tilt down + A (down tilt)

Down tilt moves tend to have a little less reach then your side tilt, but most are a bit faster. The main use for these is to knock your opponent off of their feet. A lot of down tilts will trip your opponent even at low damage. This throws them off guard and buys you enough time to start a smash attack, or continue with a few more tilts or jabs and juggle them.

Sometimes if your opponent is at low damage you can use the down tilt several times in a row to juggle them without any effort (this only works with tilts that hit them directly upward). A few down tilts hit your opponent sideways rather then straight up, like Pikachu’s tail. These don’t really work for juggling but will get them away from you fast. Down tilts are also really good at juggling huge characters (grown by mushrooms or in Classic mode). A few characters have down tilts that are powerful enough to KO, like Samus.

Tilt up + A (up tilt)

These moves are mostly short reach and hit right above your head. Like the down tilts, these are usually great for juggling. When a character is coming at you from directly above, up smashes are usually a better choice because they tend to have more power and a longer reach. Up tilts are sometimes better than down tilts for juggling heavier characters who aren’t affected much by your down tilt. Some characters have really strong up tilts, like Zelda. Hers is powerful enough to KO, but is a little too slow and powerful to use as a juggle.

Tap left or right + A–Forward Smash

For most characters, this is your main KO move. It’s usually your most powerful move (especially fully charged), has a long reach, and hits them sideways. The downside is that it’s almost always slower than your tilt moves and takes good timing to pull off. If you use them too much, your opponents are probably going to start using tilts and jabs to hit you first, roll under and attack from behind, or use projectile attacks to disrupt your smashes. Newer players see that their forward smash is their most powerful move and tend to overuse it, making them easy to beat.
Here are the best times to use a forward smash against your foe:

• You just knocked them off guard with a tilt or dash attack and have an extra split second to do a more powerful move. The C-stick comes in handy here.
• They started rolling toward you, and you know that they aren’t going to go far enough to make it to your other side. (If you know they are going to be really close at the end of the roll and they have low damage, you might want to use an up or a down smash instead because they usually make for easier juggles. See the next two sections).
• Your opponents are closing slowly and are getting near, but are still out of reach. Start charging and release when they get just close enough to hit, or use the C-stick if you don’t think you have time to charge at all.
• They are recovering. Again, you’ve got time to charge it up, and don’t have to worry as much about them disrupting it with a faster move.
• They are falling from above slowly, at a low angle, a little ways in front of you. Ideally, you are out of reach of their aerials while you charge it. When they get in reach, your smash will usually beat their forward aerial if you timed it right.

Here are some common situations that I’ve seen forward smashes used when it wasn’t the best choice:

• When your opponents are really close. Tilts or taps can beat you to the punch.
• When your opponent is running at you. Most smash moves will overpower dash attacks, but the timing is hard because you don’t know when they are going to use the attack. If they start the dash attack when they are still out of your reach, they will probably disrupt your charge before you can pull it off. The faster the character, the harder it is to time your smash.
• When your opponent is approaching quickly at a steep angle from the air (for example, they dashed towards you then did a short hop into an aerial). Some forward smashes hit in a nice arc (like Marth’s) and will do great in these cases, but most just hit directly forward and you will attack under them. It also has the same timing difficulties as the dash attack. This might seem like the same case as the last bullet on the list for a good time to use a forward smash, but the differences are important. A fast approach here (from a dash rather than a walk or a fall) makes timing much harder, and a higher angle means that your attack probably won’t connect even if your timing is good.

Tap Up + A–Up Smash

If you’ve got an up smash with a decent reach, then it’s probably your best bet against characters approaching from directly above. Most are also powerful enough to get KOs. Up smashes usually have a better reach than down aerials, so it’s just a matter of timing it right so that they don’t hit you before you release it. If you aren’t quite comfortable with the timing of your up smash and it looks like your opponent is going to do a down aerial, it’s probably safer to roll away and start charging a forward smash.

A classic example is Lucas. His up smash is very powerful and has a long reach, but is also really slow. If you can time it right so that it hits near its maximum reach, you’ve got little to worry about from your opponent and probably just picked up an easy KO. But the timing is not easy. You can also use these at low damages when your opponents are really close and on the ground. Maybe you saw them start rolling toward you, and you decided to start charging up a smash. You unleash the smash when the roll ends as they run into you. Now they are a short distance in the air, perfect for a juggle, and with a good amount of damage.

Tap Down + A–Down Smash

Most down smashes hit low on both sides of you, with a reach comparable to your down tilt. Their main use is to catch an opponent who decided to roll under you. As they roll around, you can just keep doing the down smash. Your chances are good that it’s going to hit them in that short time that they are standing between rolls (and some down smashes can even pull them out of a roll).

Most down smashes hit them directly sideways or directly up, making them good for KOs just like up smashes. Not every character has a down smash that can kill though, and some are pretty weak. Just try it a couple times in training and in games and you’ll get a feel for how reliable and how powerful it is. One character with a nice down smash is Bowser. Its long duration makes it easy to hit rolling characters, it does good damage, and hits them directly upward with a strong force at the end.

If I have enough time to use a smash and my opponent is close enough to use either one, I often pick up or down smashes when they have low damage because it’s so much easier to juggle them afterwards than it is with a side smash. Another great use of a down smash is in larger games (free for alls or team games), when you have opponents on both sides of you. The down smashes that can hit both sides of you at once will keep you a lot safer than using a forward smash and then getting smacked from behind.

Dash Attack

In general, dash attacks have a decent reach, low power, and hit your opponent upward, putting them in a good place for you to follow up with an up tilt, jab, or up smash. Fast characters can execute their dashes from further away and approach quicker, making it harder for your opponent to counter or dodge the attack. The danger with dash attacks is that if they are blocking when you attack, they may grab you right after the attack finishes, or hit you with another quick move. If you know your character’s fastest moves that can follow a dash attack, use these right after so that you won’t get hit. Otherwise, try to use the attack at its maximum reach so that they are less likely to be in reach for a counter attack.

Practice and Improve

Take your favorite characters into training mode and try out each of their tap moves, tilts, and smashes. Get a sense of which moves can KO, how to time each move, which moves are good for juggling, how good their reach is, etc. It’s also good to keep in mind which moves are underpowered and not worth relying on, and which moves the timing is too difficult to use in normal situations.
One of the most important things you can do is to vary your moves. If you always do a jab when your opponents are close, next time try a down tilt just to throw them off. It may turn out that you find good uses for moves that you used to dislike just by trying them in new situations (happens to me all the time). And by changing up your game, your opponent will have a harder time predicting you and countering your attacks.

If you can’t get enough smash, check out this site too: http://smashboards.com/