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Marth Mastery: Stage 5

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  • Movement

    Pivots

    Pivots are incredibly powerful with Marth if used properly. There are a few different ways to do pivots and we'll briefly cover some of the strengths and weaknesses of each. Firstly, there is a single frame during your dash dance each time you change directions during which you are standing upright. If you input an attack on exactly this frame, you will halt your dash and execute the attack. This type of pivot is consistant with any controller, but is in my opinion significantly harder than other pivot methods. I call these Perfect Pivots

    Another method of pivoting goes by a few different names: Flicker Pivot, Perfect Pivot, Empty Pivot etc.. Regardless of name, it is performed by dashing in one direction and smashing the analog stick to the opposite direction and immediately releasing the stick to allow it to reset to its neutral position. Your goal is to be as fast as possible with inputting the dash and releasing the stick. If done properly you will halt your dash and be standing upright instantly. A large disadvantage of this method is that it's consistancy is dependant on how much the analog stick of your controller "snaps back" when released. However, this method is much easier than regular pivots (assuming you're using a good controller), and that since you can input an attack on any frame after halting your dash you have much more room for error.

    The last method of doing pivots that we'll cover is called a Quarter-Circle Pivot. While dashing - very quickly roll your analog stick from hard left/right to down in a quarter circle motion. This has to be done immediately after changing directions, and has to be done extremely fast. Depending on the person, these can range from being too difficult to be more practical than other methods, all the way to being a clear winner for consistancy. Generally speaking it's all down to your speed.

  • Movement Challenge

  • Offense

    Reaction Tech-Chasing

    Reaction tech-chasing using throws with Marth requires high reaction speed and lots of practice, especially against certain characters. Firstly, we'll go over some facts and rules that you need to know. On flat ground you can fully cover all options off of Forward Throw and Down Throw until roughly 40-50% on Fox, Falco, Captain Falcon, and Sheik. Back throw is not recommended due to having more frames after throwing your opponent before you're actionable. A good rule is to use Forward Throw always unless it wont knock your opponent down, and in this case use Down Throw. A concise summary to learn from and expand on: Down Throw from 0% to ~10%, Forward throw to ~40-50%, then end the tech chase with a punish.

    Chaingrab Infinites

    Marth's Uthrow chaingrab on Final Destination vs. Fox and Falco is a large part of his devastating punish game on the stage. If done perfectly, you can net a kill off of a single grab, even from 0%. When you grab a spacie and Uthrow them, there are three types of DI for you to react to: neutral DI, slight behind DI, and full away DI. If your opponent DI's fully away in either direction, your followups are the exact same. The only difference being that you may have to turn around, or do a backdash instead of a forward dash.

    The chaingrab is different for Fox and Falco up until ~45%:

    Up to 45% Vs. Fox

    • 0%-16%: If he DI's away you re-grab in place. Neutral-DI and Slight-DI can both be covered with pivot grabs
    • 17%-30%: If he DI's away you have to dash before re-grabbing. Neutral DI and Slight DI can still both be covered with pivot grabs
    • 30%-~44%: Away DI in front of you, as well as Slight DI behind can be covered by a standing Utilt. Away DI behind you and Neutral DI are covered by a turnaround Utilt
    • ~45%+: If the opponent DI's full away, just keep dashing and re-grabbing. Away DI behind you and Neutral DI are covered by a Utilts and and short hop instant Uairs primarily.

    Up to 45% Vs. Falco

    • 0% only: Re-grab in place unless he DI's behind you, in which case you cannot regrab him
    • 1%-13%: If he DI's away you regrab in place. Neutral DI and Slight DI can both be covered with pivot grabs
    • 14%-30%: If he DI's away you have to dash before grabbing to reach him. Neutral DI and Slight DI can still both be covered with pivot grabs
    • 30%-~44%: Away DI in front of you, as well as Slight DI behind can be covered by a standing Utilt. Away DI behind you and Neutral DI are covered by a turnaround Utilt
    • ~45%+: If the opponent DI's full away, just keep dashing and re-grabbing. Away DI behind you and Neutral DI are covered by a Utilts and short hop instant Uairs primarily.

    Tips and Helpful Information

    • Tip: At 0%the re-grab can be extremely difficult. An option to avoid this is to quickly Fthrow and dash re-grab before starting your Uthrows
    • Tip: Generally speaking at ~45% and higher you want to be pushing your opponent towards the edge of the stage to set up an easier kill. Weak Fairs are good for this, because tipper Fsmash will often send them too high for a direct followup if they are at higher percents
    • Tip: All of your dash-grabs should be JC-Grabs, which gives you more leniency on your reaction speed
    • Tip: If you manage to catch your opponents double jump, then you can chain Uairs alone up to ~100%
    • Tip: At around 55% a tipper Fsmash can cover every possible option. Standing Fsmash in either direction will hit any away DI, and walking slightly in one direction and using Fsmash in the opposite direction will cover Neutral DI
    • Tip: At higher percents you can end the combo early in many different ways. Here are some examples:
      • Weak Uair into Fsmash
      • Nair to send the opponent offstage, running attack sometimes will combo into this or a regrab
      • Tipper fair -> Fast Fall -> Fsmash will sometimes connect
      • Weak Uair -> Utilt can set up a Dair Spike
      • It is sometimes better to end your combos with reverse Upb when offstage

    There are far too many of setups and mixups to memorize. Experimentation and practice are the best way to get a feel for what's best to use in a given situation. As a final note, chaingrabs aren't only useful on Final Destination. You can often get quite a lot of damage off of recognizing when regrabs are possible on any stage, especially when you get a grab without a platform above you, or when on a platform itself.

  • Practicing Chaingrab/Reaction Tech-Chasing

    If you have the 20XX training pack, then a good way to practice these techniques is to set the CPU to random DI and random Tech options. From there it's a matter of getting a feel for what followups to use when chaingrabbing, and practicing reacting to tech rolls and punishing in time.

    You should start learning chaingrabbing on fox before moving to falco, falco takes slightly faster reaction speed to chaingrab. Captain Falcon is a good starting point for practicing reaction tech chasing .

  • End of Stage

    Congratulations! You've reached the end of Stage 5. At this point you know a lot about Marth, and can perform a wide variety of techniques. How you use and incorporate these skills into your gameplay is completely up to you. Every player has their own style, and expressing yourself through your playstyle is one of the most rewarding aspects of playing Melee.

    If you'd like, you can test your mechanics by attempting the Tech-Skill Trials.