Tips for fighting Kirby?

Bent 00

Longtime Limit Breaker
After playing the Kirbys of Glyph and Darxmarx, I realize I don't know much about how to fight the little puffball. No one I play frequently uses him, so I have minimal experience against Kirby.

Anyone have any advice for me? What are Kirby's weaknesses? What setups should I watch out for?

Kirby's a lot tougher than he looks.

My mains are...
Captain Falcon, Ganondorf, Zelda, Snake, Link, Ike, Yoshi, Pikachu, Mario

Thanks for any advice.
 

Doqtor Kirby

Resident Design Nitpicker
Minus Backroom
Watch for inhale grabs, cutter cancels, and dthrow.
Use much surprise punch. That's all I know, I play Marth against Kirby most times.
 

NEWB

Well-Known Member
If you can get him offstage, keep him offstage. Once his jumps are gone, his recovery is super predictable. You can smack him right out of the apex of his upb for certain death.

As for setups, beware of his sliding dtilt. Though not commonly used, it's great for tech chases. Watch for sliding dsmash and his fair can drag you to the ground leading to a grab.

Fthrow and fair can chai grab you at low percent if you do not DI out of it.

Kirby has a bit of variety in his playstyles I believe. Your gonna have to face you foe a few times to start learning how he plays. Once you can read Kirby, his moves become much less affective, especially his smashes.
 

Glyph

Moderator
Use your limbs to hit him since his little baby arms don't go very far

which means space the hell out of him. he's gotta be on top of you to make things happen except for cutter and inhale so just be aware of those and you'll do fine. Also, if kirby is in the air moving towards you, don't sit in shield. He's gunna drop in with an inhale and its gunna get nasty after that.
 

Darxmarx

The Learning Star Warrior
Be aware of Kirby's priority. Your mains shouldn't worry about that too much, but it's better to know anyway.

Kirby's nair functions like Dr. Mario's sex kick in Melee. If a small distance away, watch out for that lasting hitbox.

As Glyph said, spacing Kirby also helps a lot. I find that Zelda does an excellent job for this, but then again, I don't fight Zeldas too often.

For fthrow -> fair, I've seen quite a few of my foes shielding fair and then either counter-attacking or rolling away. If you can learn the timing for this, you can avoid the combo that would normally proceed. Dthrow has basically guaranteed combos though. Don't get caught in that.

I find that Mario's Fireball spam can stop, at least my own, Kirby approach. It parries Kirby's Burning attack IIRC, and it just shuts down any other grounded approach Kirby wants.

Link's arrows almost always go over Kirby's head when both players are on the same grounded level. Be aware of this.

When trying to approach Kirby when you are thrown offstage, use Falcon's, Ganon's, and Pikachu's sideB with care. When at the correct height, Kirby can inhale these guys' sideB, which leads into a dthrow for combos or an uthrow if you are at a high enough percent.

As NEWB said, once you learn the player's Kirby, he becomes much easier to handle. #predictability

This is the ashamed Star Warrior, signing off.

 
Last edited by a moderator:

Darxmarx

The Learning Star Warrior
I actually feel that my playstyle, which revolves around grabbing really, is kinda cheap. I've had this mentality since Smash 64. It honestly shouldn't bug me, but it does.

I also used to do a small amount of roleplaying
 

Bent 00

Longtime Limit Breaker
I actually feel that my playstyle, which revolves around grabbing really, is kinda cheap. I've had this mentality since Smash 64. It honestly shouldn't bug me, but it does.
Read this: http://www.sirlin.net/articles/playing-to-win-part-1.html

Using your character's moves in the way they are intended to be used is not shameful.

Hopefully, things that are truly cheap or broken get addressed by the devs.

I don't see anything cheap or broken about Kirby right now. :)
 

Bent 00

Longtime Limit Breaker
Didn't you suggest that article to Baby Sneak in that thread he made? also lol those pictures in the article
Yeah, I did.

If you play a good Kirby, you should be a "Proud Star Warrior". Just my 2 cents. :)

The only things in Minus 3.Q that I would call "cheap" (that I can think of right now) are getting laser-locked by Falco, and getting F-Air chained to the side blast zone by R.O.B.; certain characters have a hard time dealing with those. But that's a different topic...
 

Thor

Well-Known Member
I do well against Darx with Ganondorf despite not really playing much Ganondorf... dunno why. I think Ike could also work very well for this MU, but that's a guess. So Bent, if I were you, I'd try using those characters with the advice Darx gave.

Also, if they don't DI it/DI it wrong, Falco can do fair -> fair -> fair to zero-death a lot of characters. But it's hard to start that and most don't fall for it.

You can SDI away from Falco like crazy to move farther with each laser bounce toward an edge and the end of the lock. It can reduce the number of lasers he gets to fire by a considerable amount.
 

Baby_Sneak

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I did.

If you play a good Kirby, you should be a "Proud Star Warrior". Just my 2 cents. :)

The only things in Minus 3.Q that I would call "cheap" (that I can think of right now) are getting laser-locked by Falco, and getting F-Air chained to the side blast zone by R.O.B.; certain characters have a hard time dealing with those. But that's a different topic...
Tech it and it's no problem
 

Darxmarx

The Learning Star Warrior
Referring back to the original topic...

Snake Kirby can really screw up the playing field which I love to do btw. Since he pulls Motion Sensor Bombs a hell of a lot faster than Snake, he can litter the stage with them if he has time. If he manages to do so, just knock/throw him into his own bombs if you can. Alternatively, you can just throw grenades or use the angled fsmash to dispose of them.

I feel like I'm the only forum Kirby main who does this, but I'm probably wrong. It's better to know about this now anyway.
 

The Concept

Philosopher & Assassin
Though my mains don't apply, this is helpful. I lost to Pin's Kirby once, and Darx is the one who took me out of tournament.
I need more Kirbys to fight.
 

Glyph

Moderator
My personal favorite copy ability is for sure Marth's. The extra aerial mobility is just crazy useful
 

Thanatoast

Grim Reaper in Training
My mains are...
Captain Falcon, Ganondorf, Zelda, Snake, Link, Ike, Yoshi, Pikachu, Mario

Kirby's big keypoints from what I can see are his modal dashes, grabs, and standard aerial attacks (of course, the veterans here might disagree. Trust them more than this one if that is the case). If you can avoid those, you're halfway there.

Captain Falcon: Your Down-B on the ground makes for a decent approach, as does his dash. Watch out for the Cutter's Wave, though. Side-B can potentially get around that, but it's a toughie. U-air makes for good juggling and punishment follow-up if you can connect with that Side-B on the ground, but don't give 'em enough time to drop a Down-B on you, lest you wish to become Space Falcon.

Ganondorf: Side-B snatches Kirby out of the air, and is especially traumatizing as a short-hop attack. Getting Kirby over the edge and dropping a Wizard's Foot on his head works wonders.

Zelda: Nayru's Love in the air gives wonderful forward momentum, reflects his Cutter's Wave, has enough range to stop most of Kirby's attacks (sans the rarely-seen Hammer), and has low enough cooldown to follow up into other attacks such as her Lightning Kicks. F-tilts destroy a lot of Kirby's approach game. I usually try to knock him into range of Zelda's extended smash hitboxes.

Snake: I see little-to-no Snake play, but I would say setting up mines with the D-smashes and down-B. It's a gamble, but it forces Kirby to be more aerial, and his aerial approach is a bit predictable. Of course, his Cutter Wave might be able to get rid of your smash mines... I'm not sure, I'd have to check.

Link: Boomerangs. Boomerangs for days. That and Arrows. Lock 'em with a boomerang, then blast 'em away with a well-placed arrow or charged Spin Attack.

Ike: Ike has enough armor during his Aether attack that if you can land near Kirby and have your No Sympathy mode built up, a well-placed Eruption blows him up and away. Use Aerial side-B to approach (or as I call it, the Poor-Man's Sonic)

Yoshi: Eggs? I don't know. Our Yoshi main kind of left.

Pikachu: B-Air makes for lovely approaches, as does Skull Bash and Quick Attack. Thunder CAN shut Kirby down on the edges, but given his control in the air, it's not as worth it as a well-placed Thunder Jolt or n-Air. Lock Kirby in the air with f-airs and b-airs, finish with n-air, or lock as much as you can with Thunder Jolt.

Mario: His Cape and FLUUD are going to be your best friends. Side-B turns his Dash completely around, and with its cooldown you can follow up easily with your own dash attacks or Firebrand. If you're edge-guarding, Kirby's Up-B is predictable enough that you can turn him around, making him miss the ledge completely and plummet to his doom (of course, from what I remember, 4.0 is gonna let Kirby grab the ledge from behind, so make use quickly). The Cape also reflects that cutter wave. As for the FLUUD, use that near the edge, then connect with spikes/meteor smashes, or let Kirby kill himself with his Stone attack. Alternatively, FLUUD brings Kirby to you to grab and back-throw, or just to wail on him.
 

Thor

Well-Known Member
You should check post dates, and then only necro-bump things with good reason.
 
Top