Nah, I'm not that dumb, I just use him like a rushdown character, forget to grab, don't use my neutral air, fast-fall forward air too much and use up-B as an approach tool.
@@DrEisenhower uh, oof. that's a lot of things that are totally wrong about ike. glad to hear you are learning how to use him properly though! obviously he is a very rewarding character once you get his combos and spacing down.
These videos are the reason why I don't like "how to play x" guides from other pro smash players like ZeRo or Fatality. They aren't bad, but look like a joke compared to the works of art (pun totally intended) you produce. In depth guide to play as and against the character, clean voiceovers and excellent editing in combination with great use of the in game camera.
The thing I like most is that this is the only guide I've found to include player weaknesses as well as strengths. All other guides are "This is how you attack with this character," forgetting the defense is almost as important as offense
This is one of the most incredible guides for any fighting game I've seen dude. The way you go over the stages of the game and the strengths of different moves. You really are the best informative channel on the platform bro.
MockRock- Dang, hope that gets better, but I’m glad to hear the next one is on the way! I love your videos; everyone does. Don’t push yourself too hard and burn yourself out. Good luck with college my dude
As a fellow Ike main, and hater of homework/school load, I can sympathize with you! Especially since almost no one in my area plays video games, and those that do almost never take them as seriously as I do. Since I consider video games a big part of my life, that means I can barely ever connect with anyone regarding it and have to rely on the less fun sides of myself. I went to a community college though, and you're at a University, so I hope you're having more luck than I did! (I'm not saying everything else I like is boring, I'm just saying video games are king, at least in my opinion.)
As someone who’s been watching since the Art of Ike in Smash 4, it’s amazing to see how much both Ike and your videos have changed with the games. Not only have you streamlined Ike’s playstyle into a super simple style, your sections on counterplay are great whether you’re watching to learn Ike or watching to learn to beat Ike. Keep up the good work!! :D
Man....starting with the art of ike feels more like to teach you how you play the game rather than playing an specific character with an specific playstyle I cannot thank enough the amount of effort you're doing with this series I'll be waiting for every single art of!
I will do my best to make a guide about characters in this comment section. It will essentially be a non-video guide going over character strengths & weaknesses in the 'Art of' video above. My goal is to provide info this in a more timely manner in case viewers don't have time to watch the video, they need only read the text below. *Strengths* - At his core, *Ike* is a powerful (knockback) fundamental-based *spacing* character that wants to stay in ranges where he can threaten grounded opponents' shield with *spaced* fast-fall (abbreviated as FF) nairs (neutral air) or shield cross-up nairs. Delayed short-hopped (known SH) or buffered back airs (bair.) Spaced down tilts (d-tilt.) Run in dash grab to bypass shield (successful grabs should be up-throw for uair juggles or nair juggles.) Turn around grab (opponents will respect bair, so turn around grab is a great option.) SH Cross-up Uairs. And lastly, empty SH mix-ups against heavily conditioned opponents. With properly *spaced* and variable space control, Ike can lay on great percentages of damage because his main tool (nair) floats opponents upward and allows for bair, additional nairs, a fair, or uair to connect. This leads to his ultra-damaging juggle state where opponents have to air dodge, jump away, or challenge with their range (or faster frame data), all of which can be beaten by understanding player habits, pacing, sensing frustration, preying on fear, and lastly, having a optimized punish. Ike also has great ledgetrapping with space d-tilts (2-frames, beats normal getup), nairs (eats jump, eats normal getup, can beat getup attacks with bleh range, and can catch roll when retreating), & uair (destroys jump). With Eruption & dair being a powerful 2-framing option and his crouch having an identical animation with d-tilt, he can easily switch the pacing of ledgeplay to cause fear. This fear makes hasty responses that result in easy punishes or it results in opponents giving too much momentary respect, which leads to free shield pressure (and with Ike having stage control, he can actually afford to lose this advantage state because he has the rest of the stage to work with.) Ike only needs a handful of reads to close out stocks, so getting beaten in neutral is a huge deal as the opponent. *Weaknesses* - Because he's a spacing character, he heavily relies on positioning attacks at the *tip* of his sword so he can maximize his value off of them while being very risky to punish. He *needs* to mix-up his positioning so he can prevent opponents from catching on to his simplistic spacing and achieving a perfect parry, which will allow them to capitalize & get in. His biggest weakness is his slower startup on his moves. This leads to him getting out framed when opponents are past his preferred range, him getting whiffed punished by very mobile characters who can weave in & out of said range to bait responses, or being challenged by faster, similar disjointed attacks. While his weight does give him good endurance, this makes him combo-food when opponents get in on him & his slower startup on his attacks makes him very vulnerable when cornered. His recovery has decent mix-ups, but are very linear, making them prone to being blown up and called out for heavy punishment. Grounded Attacks *Jab1, 2, 3* - useful when opponents use unsafe attacks on hit to interrupt them or useful for a quick 'get-off option'. *F-tilt* - a good option to use after a retreating dash dance to stop approaching. Angled downward eats ledgestall, angled upward is a rather decent anti-air. Does great shield damage and is useful for mix-up pressure after nair, d-tilt, and bair for stuffing approaches. *D-tilt* - a very useful grounded pressure tool with good spacing and it eats ledgestall (as well as controlling the pacing on ledgetrapping.) Props opponents straight up with no SDI, making it a great combo starter. *U-tilt* - a good option to use against overzealous opponents who want to hit you with an aerial after a d-tilt, nair, or uair at low %s. *Up Smash* - a committal hard punish on aggressive aerials. Very laggy, so use with caution. *Forward Smash* - a hard read punisher on overzealous opponents on the ledge or after a FF nair connecting. Can kill so early. Is a surprisingly scary ledge option because it covers many options, but use sparingly because of end lag. *Down Smash* - A good perfect parry option. Outclassed in all other aspects unfortunately. *Aerials* *Nair* - Ike's main tool in neutral. Utility is very high. Stuff approaches, crosses-up shields, starts combos, welcomes the juggle state, can 2-frame, spaces character out, useful for approaching and retreating, Low end lag makes it very powerful. Can be prone to perfect parry, so don't abuse it. Arcs around his body. *Fair* - Useful air-to-air or off-stage tool. Can kill & has a wide arcing hitbox in front of Ike. *Dair* - Useful 2-framing option/ledgestall punish. Hard punisher on rolls. *Bair* - fastest aerial with great horizontal reach. Has issues hitting small characters (can only SHFF them, making parrying easier.) Has great kill power & shield damage. A fantastic air-to-air for challenging and does a great job at instilling fear with back turned. Can cross-up shields. *Uair* - An amazing juggle tool/platform pressuring tool. Has a huge arc above Ike's head that knocks upward and combos into itself, forces air dodges & jumps. Beats out aggressive options clean (unless they're long-reach disjoints). Can even cross-up shields. *Specials* *Neutral-B* - A scary 2-framing option that gains an additional hitbox when fully charged & has huge range with some charge. Can reach below the ledge. Kills early. *Side-B* - Useful as a recovery move. The longer the charge, the more horizontal distance traveled. Ike can act out of it quickly before the free-fall animation happens with jump or Up-B. Cancels landing lag from certain heights above ground. Can hit opponents, snap to ledge, or go above them, or on platforms. *Down-B* - A generic counter. Beats overly- aggressive opponents who like tossing moves out preemptively. Useful for stopping some projectiles from connecting, like Samus' Charged shot. *Up-B) - The vertical recovery option. Has super armor starting (not through the whole duration) out below he lunges upward to grab the sword (loses armor here.) Has a powerful meteor effect that kills at mostly any %. Ikeside is possible. No hitbox behind Ike when spinning with sword and can be challenged from above.
This is just my opinion so don't get cocky :'( To the people that says Ike's just a n-air spammer: You're kind of right since Ike has not a lot of options, but that's the case since smash 4, practically if you want to learn how to play, learn al the neutral, spacing, punishing options, frame traps; you have to start with Ike and apply all you've learned with the other characters if you want to. If you say that Ike's exclusively a N-air spammer then you still have to learn a lot of things of how to Main him.
THIS IS HOW YOU DO A CHARACTER GUIDE You’ve definitely set a new standard. The research and effort you put into this shows, I’m looking forward to anymore of these you put out
All of the details and information in these videos is what sets apart this series from other “How To’s” you go very in depth and show much more that the average TH-camr.
Ignoring all of the comments about Ike's Nair - this was a great, thorough video. I appreciate that you not only looked at the best ways to play him, but ways to beat him as well. Very well rounded and well explained.
"when playing against ike, you need to understand that he can kill you at any time" that's it, that's the guide. just kidding, i love your art of series! very informative :)
5:43 Down air is also excellent as an anti-condition tool. If you face a short-range character such as Pikachu, Mario, Yoshi, etc. then you can condition them to punish landings with uptilt or upsmash by either getting hit a few times or just not punishing them if they go for that option. When they're at around 80-90%, down air will outrange uptilt and upsmash and usually lead into an upair (occasionally another punish option if they jump or airdodge out of it)
Fantastic video, extremely helpful, especially the last section. Very clear and easy to understand information, have been eagerly anticipating your first character art of since day one! Can't wait till your next art of, I know you don't take comment requests, but if it's Falcon, Falco, Fox, Jigglypuff or Marth (especially falcon) I will be EXTREMELY happy that day! Keep up the great content dude, your videos help me improve so much. Thank you.
At first I thought: "20 mins video for a character? This guy must be another time bloater.". Oh boy how wrong I was. Thank you so much for this! This is THE VERY BEST video tutorial of how to play a Smash character. So clear, concise and just perfect. I love Ike since Brawl, it was love at first play, I just "connected" the very first time I played him, but lately I have been struggling with how Ultimate works and I want to get to Elite Smash with him. I will re watch this video until I achieve Elite Smash! Just one question: how the hell does people do those short hops so quickly? Im not talking about the Buttons combination, is there something to it like holding the stick down or whatever? Hopefully someone will answer to me! EDIT: I LOVE the F.E. jazz music!
The guys that short hop so fast are short hop fast falling. You want to flick the left stick down at the very top of your jumps. I'm sure there are more detailed tutorials if you just search "how to short hop fast fall"
Light tap your jump button, then fast fall as soon as you do your move (flick joystick down) and yes Izaw’s characters guides are not bs guides. He puts a lot of research into them
I'd like to add that dash attack is pretty good to catch people double jumping back into the stage (when they're slightly below it), especially when their guard is off because you're seemingly quite far from the ledge. It is (like most dash attacks?) a very good kill option near ledges.
Dude this video is AMAZING! don't think I've ever seen a more clear, well planned, scripted, and executed Ike tutorial, or even Smash tutorial at all. Well done, and thank you.
Thoses guides you made helped me A LOT, and like many said, i didn't found guides better than yours because how much you explain deep aspect and concept with clean editing and presentation. I watched many many times your art video because how much it helped me to understand the game overall and some deep aspect, and no one explain it better than you for now.
Wrong, he sought to make this video on how to play Smash for us. So first, he *prepared himself* Then, he *fought for his friends* And finally, he brought us all knowledge of how to beat our opponents to a pulp so we could tell them " *You'll get no sympathy from me!* " It just so happened that the character he was playing at the time was Nair the character...oops, I mean Ike.
Thank you for this. I've been playing Ike since Brawl and I'm thinking of finally picking him up seriously in this game along with Young Link since I secondaried Toon Link in Smash 4. Also I loved the background songs. Keep up the good work! :)
*Ahhhhhhhhh. This is your first character analysis in your "Art of" series. Thank you for this!* I'm surprised your first analysis isn't Link because I assume he is your main and your favorite character. But you may be saving him up for a huge video or he just wasn't your character pick. And that is ok. You do you. :) I really like your videos because I'm really excited to watch and learn about my favorite character. Ike isn't my favorite character but the video will still be a good watch. Again, thank you for this and for your hard work. I will recommend this video to 1 friend since he is an Ike main. And, I will like your video to show you my support. I don't usually like these kind of videos but I wanna support you. I haven't seen this video yet but I soon will. :) I hope you make more. I know you made some training videos which I have yet to see. Keep making these great videos. :)
I felt like this game was practically dedicated to me. Pretty much every character I like is notably good or at least doesn't completely suck ass anymore. Ike, Palutena, Pit, and King Dedede were my top 4 from Smash 4.
Dude I'd like to thank you for the work you put into these guides. I tried Ike for a little and found him decent but I couldn't really pick him up lol. I'm definitely looking forwards to a possible falco guide? I think the character (kinda like Ike) has a lot of potential and in my area he's becoming increasingly more popular. Keep up the amazing content, your vids are the reason I'm in elite smash!
This was a pretty great video. While I already knew that Ike was pretty simple, you pretty much broke it down in a way I couldn't explain. Good work Izaw! Hopefully, Greninja or Wolf would be next on your list!
Definitely need more of these man! Sick in-depth analysis about pro's and con's. So no matter if you're looking to play with or against him this video gives great tips! Here is a character list I would LOVE to see (which is totally not based off of my character list) - Fox - Falco - Roy/Lucina - Luigi
This is the first ever SSBU video I watched, and this was so well made, that it helped me a lot with Ike, and with the game in general, and also other characters. Thanks so much!
Monado Buster Honestly I don’t even give damn at this point. People will be retarded regardless. They’ll joke about him having to only use nair but when they try to use him they get washed.
These are easily some of the best commentary videos Smash Ultimate has to-date on this channel. Thanks for these videos, your input on the game is so valuable and the production is very high. You're a beast Izaw, thanks for these!
I always have to concentrate so hard when watching these or any smash bros related guides but when I focus and am able to fully understand what's being said, I can use that knowledge to expand my fundamentals. It helped mainly in the mario video but I love this as well. Also it helps studying up on matchups without delving too deeply into the character themselves which also helps a lot. I've been trying to get into playing smash more competitively but because of life stuff I can't dedicate much time at all to practice, and can't play against any human opponents so yeah. But you better not believe that'll keep me from trying to improve my basic understandings of the game. Thank you for making these videos.
I honestly enjoyed this video a lot; when I first started playing SSBU in mid-December, I was going to main Ike (I only had played Brawl at the most casual level before then when I was 10), but found that his play style just didn’t work with me for whatever reason. When I searched for guides, it was almost word for word “nair to nair or fair, dtilt is good use it.” So I knew what was good, but not how to use the good moves well. So I got bodied for a while then picked Bowser late January and haven’t looked back. But now that I know what I do after watching this, I think I’m going to have to bring my Ike back out and give him a solid retry, so thank you, keep doing what you do. ...Aaaand, if you’re not bored of covering Ike after a twenty-minute long video of him, I’d like to see what you’re game plan is when you see each character. Like you said, Ganon is vulnerable to cross-ups so how hard do you chase the cross-up, and who else also is cross-up vulnerable? How do you deal with vastly faster swordies like Roy? It probably sounds like a lot of work, but I think it’d be a great further in-depth sequel to this video. Anyways, I appreciate your to the point yet in depth analysis, and I eagerly await your new stuff. Keep up the awesome work!
great guide. As an Ike Main I would like to add that there is another option when u shield, while ur opponent is at the ledge. people dont like disadvantage and some players develop habits to get out of it quickly. if u see a pattern where they come to stage and then try to roll behind u, go for upsmash out of shield. it covers a lot of ground, kills super early, can also be an anti air if they let go from ledge and jump on or simply jump on. its just one more option as a mix up and ike does not have so many. also I dont recommend pressuring with N-air and the ledge but with F-air, as u can get someone offstage and also stealing sometimes the double jump, which leads into even greater advantage. down tilt however is a must. and faking a run away only to great an coming opponent with a b-air is also neat but probably not a optimal choice to put pressure, but certainly its a threat which sometimes people dont respect and catching them offguard with b-air is very rewarding.
I love that you really put effort and knowledge into this. Contrary to most pros and streamers who just produce clickbait vidos or reuploads of a twicth stream. Your "Art of" Series is also an "Art of youtube" and an "Art of Izaw" alltogether. Thanks for this beautifull content!
I think this is not just art of Ike, but the art of general ultimate gameplay. Many general techniques for all characters are introduced in this video, which introduced the beauty of smash ultimate. I really liked this video, it's way beyond what you can ask for a character guide. The true art of smash ultimate!
This was an amazing video on teaching fundamentals! Even better than the old art of Ike guide on teaching how to play the game. If you’re new to the game this will teach you a lot about the subtleties of this game Izaw if you’re reading this my favorite part of the video was on pacing. Slowing down the game randomly to break the rhythm is something I’ve done when I’m really on point but the way you’ve detailed it helps me make it more concrete. However really good players play too fast, not enough experience with that and Ike is sometimes too simple
I absolutely love your content Izaw. You are leveling up the community and allowing new players a way in. I credit your old sm4sh videos to my current progress in ultimate today (I am currently a PR’d player). Please keep making these :)
Thanks for this video and the Art of series. Been maining Mac since Smash 4 is out and Ult sort of forced me to try another character and really learn how the rest of the game works. Ike is the only other character I enjoyed playing in Smash 4 but never really learned, so this particular video is just what I need!
no rambling straight to point and good ways of countering plays. You are my favorite smash youtuber out there. always great to watch your videos would love to see you play for real.
Izaw! You are my go to for Smash tutorials. Such in-depth and well explained content. You have brought up aspects of the game I didn't even know existed! You're a talent and natural teacher. The deadly production values are just a cherry on top my man. Thanks so much and looking forward to watching many more of your vids:)!!
Just getting into Smash and first time hearing you.. dude you could totally do voice overs or audio books with that voice of yours. Thanks for the awesome content!
As an Ike main, this covers pretty much everything. Slight info was left out but if someone plays Ike enough they can probably learn it on their own in time. ((like how smash attacks, specifically up smash, can't be used as much as you might like because it is definitely punishable- *especially* if they see it coming.)) Great video.
Ike's Neutral B is a solid edge guarding tool. The buffs it got in Ultimate make it decent(due to having to charge it for max effect)for blocking all 3 normal ways of recovering from ledge: roll, stand, and jump. It has a hitbox right behind Ike too.
Wow you must have put a ton of effort to put this video together just so that you can teach other people how to become better at smash. You're incredibly hard working! Thank you so much! 💖💖💖
I just started raining Ike and was so sad when I didn't see a video from you about him, this came just in time! Thanks for being the best smash TH-camr!!
It's funny that people are talking about Ike's Nair, but my friend group hates it when I play Ike because I constantly use up special against them because it is so easy to predict them into an easy Ike Spike.
"Oh, nice! I'm an Ike main, this should be great!"
*watches video*
"I am doing EVERYTHING WRONG."
R.I.P.
Please tell me you haven't been spamming smash attacks, side B, neutral B, and counter.
Nah, I'm not that dumb, I just use him like a rushdown character, forget to grab, don't use my neutral air, fast-fall forward air too much and use up-B as an approach tool.
@@DrEisenhower uh, oof. that's a lot of things that are totally wrong about ike. glad to hear you are learning how to use him properly though! obviously he is a very rewarding character once you get his combos and spacing down.
@@J-DawgTBH This is me
These videos are the reason why I don't like "how to play x" guides from other pro smash players like ZeRo or Fatality. They aren't bad, but look like a joke compared to the works of art (pun totally intended) you produce. In depth guide to play as and against the character, clean voiceovers and excellent editing in combination with great use of the in game camera.
Agreed, if you're going to do something, do it right... He does it right.
The thing I like most is that this is the only guide I've found to include player weaknesses as well as strengths. All other guides are "This is how you attack with this character," forgetting the defense is almost as important as offense
And its not them talking for ever
Oh yeah I definitely prefer the insight of youtubers over top players with results.
💯
Smash Ultimate: The Art of Fighting For Your Friends
against*
Yes
You gon write on my map or wat
Simplicity, a very literal double-edged sword.
This is one of the most incredible guides for any fighting game I've seen dude. The way you go over the stages of the game and the strengths of different moves. You really are the best informative channel on the platform bro.
-Checks sub box
-Drools
Are you still making videos
@@holdenarledge9672 Yep! University's a bitch but already have the next voiceover recorded.
MockRock- Dang, hope that gets better, but I’m glad to hear the next one is on the way! I love your videos; everyone does. Don’t push yourself too hard and burn yourself out. Good luck with college my dude
As a fellow Ike main, and hater of homework/school load, I can sympathize with you! Especially since almost no one in my area plays video games, and those that do almost never take them as seriously as I do. Since I consider video games a big part of my life, that means I can barely ever connect with anyone regarding it and have to rely on the less fun sides of myself. I went to a community college though, and you're at a University, so I hope you're having more luck than I did!
(I'm not saying everything else I like is boring, I'm just saying video games are king, at least in my opinion.)
actually the best character to kick this series off with, definitely one of my favourite characters
Agreed
Also not too hard. He literally could've gotten away with saying "Nair, but sometimes down tilt or tomahawk" and would've gotten away with it.
As someone who’s been watching since the Art of Ike in Smash 4, it’s amazing to see how much both Ike and your videos have changed with the games. Not only have you streamlined Ike’s playstyle into a super simple style, your sections on counterplay are great whether you’re watching to learn Ike or watching to learn to beat Ike. Keep up the good work!! :D
99% of comments: lol art of nair
1% of comments: inb4 all comments are about nair
0.2% are you and me
I'm that 1 percent lol
99% of comments: Lol art of nair
0.9% of comments: inb4 all comments about nair
0.1% of comments: Describes ratio of both
N-nain?! How could you read my next move?!
So pretty much 100% of comments are just retarded as fuck.
Man....starting with the art of ike feels more like to teach you how you play the game rather than playing an specific character with an specific playstyle
I cannot thank enough the amount of effort you're doing with this series
I'll be waiting for every single art of!
You'll get no sympathy from his neutral air that's for sure
Ike mains... RISE UP
U mean nair right?
WE LIKE IKE
命Restful Aether!
YES I AMMM!!!!
I honestly just like his sexy face
I will do my best to make a guide about characters in this comment section. It will essentially be a non-video guide going over character strengths & weaknesses in the 'Art of' video above. My goal is to provide info this in a more timely manner in case viewers don't have time to watch the video, they need only read the text below.
*Strengths* - At his core, *Ike* is a powerful (knockback) fundamental-based *spacing* character that wants to stay in ranges where he can threaten grounded opponents' shield with *spaced* fast-fall (abbreviated as FF) nairs (neutral air) or shield cross-up nairs. Delayed short-hopped (known SH) or buffered back airs (bair.) Spaced down tilts (d-tilt.) Run in dash grab to bypass shield (successful grabs should be up-throw for uair juggles or nair juggles.) Turn around grab (opponents will respect bair, so turn around grab is a great option.) SH Cross-up Uairs. And lastly, empty SH mix-ups against heavily conditioned opponents. With properly *spaced* and variable space control, Ike can lay on great percentages of damage because his main tool (nair) floats opponents upward and allows for bair, additional nairs, a fair, or uair to connect. This leads to his ultra-damaging juggle state where opponents have to air dodge, jump away, or challenge with their range (or faster frame data), all of which can be beaten by understanding player habits, pacing, sensing frustration, preying on fear, and lastly, having a optimized punish. Ike also has great ledgetrapping with space d-tilts (2-frames, beats normal getup), nairs (eats jump, eats normal getup, can beat getup attacks with bleh range, and can catch roll when retreating), & uair (destroys jump). With Eruption & dair being a powerful 2-framing option and his crouch having an identical animation with d-tilt, he can easily switch the pacing of ledgeplay to cause fear. This fear makes hasty responses that result in easy punishes or it results in opponents giving too much momentary respect, which leads to free shield pressure (and with Ike having stage control, he can actually afford to lose this advantage state because he has the rest of the stage to work with.) Ike only needs a handful of reads to close out stocks, so getting beaten in neutral is a huge deal as the opponent.
*Weaknesses* - Because he's a spacing character, he heavily relies on positioning attacks at the *tip* of his sword so he can maximize his value off of them while being very risky to punish. He *needs* to mix-up his positioning so he can prevent opponents from catching on to his simplistic spacing and achieving a perfect parry, which will allow them to capitalize & get in. His biggest weakness is his slower startup on his moves. This leads to him getting out framed when opponents are past his preferred range, him getting whiffed punished by very mobile characters who can weave in & out of said range to bait responses, or being challenged by faster, similar disjointed attacks. While his weight does give him good endurance, this makes him combo-food when opponents get in on him & his slower startup on his attacks makes him very vulnerable when cornered. His recovery has decent mix-ups, but are very linear, making them prone to being blown up and called out for heavy punishment.
Grounded Attacks
*Jab1, 2, 3* - useful when opponents use unsafe attacks on hit to interrupt them or useful for a quick 'get-off option'.
*F-tilt* - a good option to use after a retreating dash dance to stop approaching. Angled downward eats ledgestall, angled upward is a rather decent anti-air. Does great shield damage and is useful for mix-up pressure after nair, d-tilt, and bair for stuffing approaches.
*D-tilt* - a very useful grounded pressure tool with good spacing and it eats ledgestall (as well as controlling the pacing on ledgetrapping.) Props opponents straight up with no SDI, making it a great combo starter.
*U-tilt* - a good option to use against overzealous opponents who want to hit you with an aerial after a d-tilt, nair, or uair at low %s.
*Up Smash* - a committal hard punish on aggressive aerials. Very laggy, so use with caution.
*Forward Smash* - a hard read punisher on overzealous opponents on the ledge or after a FF nair connecting. Can kill so early. Is a surprisingly scary ledge option because it covers many options, but use sparingly because of end lag.
*Down Smash* - A good perfect parry option. Outclassed in all other aspects unfortunately.
*Aerials*
*Nair* - Ike's main tool in neutral. Utility is very high. Stuff approaches, crosses-up shields, starts combos, welcomes the juggle state, can 2-frame, spaces character out, useful for approaching and retreating, Low end lag makes it very powerful. Can be prone to perfect parry, so don't abuse it. Arcs around his body.
*Fair* - Useful air-to-air or off-stage tool. Can kill & has a wide arcing hitbox in front of Ike.
*Dair* - Useful 2-framing option/ledgestall punish. Hard punisher on rolls.
*Bair* - fastest aerial with great horizontal reach. Has issues hitting small characters (can only SHFF them, making parrying easier.) Has great kill power & shield damage. A fantastic air-to-air for challenging and does a great job at instilling fear with back turned. Can cross-up shields.
*Uair* - An amazing juggle tool/platform pressuring tool. Has a huge arc above Ike's head that knocks upward and combos into itself, forces air dodges & jumps. Beats out aggressive options clean (unless they're long-reach disjoints). Can even cross-up shields.
*Specials*
*Neutral-B* - A scary 2-framing option that gains an additional hitbox when fully charged & has huge range with some charge. Can reach below the ledge. Kills early.
*Side-B* - Useful as a recovery move. The longer the charge, the more horizontal distance traveled. Ike can act out of it quickly before the free-fall animation happens with jump or Up-B. Cancels landing lag from certain heights above ground. Can hit opponents, snap to ledge, or go above them, or on platforms.
*Down-B* - A generic counter. Beats overly- aggressive opponents who like tossing moves out preemptively. Useful for stopping some projectiles from connecting, like Samus' Charged shot.
*Up-B) - The vertical recovery option. Has super armor starting (not through the whole duration) out below he lunges upward to grab the sword (loses armor here.) Has a powerful meteor effect that kills at mostly any %. Ikeside is possible. No hitbox behind Ike when spinning with sword and can be challenged from above.
Dude that’s awesome!
Dude why didn't you make a video already ? This is gold xD
No lie you made a transcript for a good ike video
.
This is just my opinion so don't get cocky :'(
To the people that says Ike's just a n-air spammer:
You're kind of right since Ike has not a lot of options, but that's the case since smash 4, practically if you want to learn how to play, learn al the neutral, spacing, punishing options, frame traps; you have to start with Ike and apply all you've learned with the other characters if you want to.
If you say that Ike's exclusively a N-air spammer then you still have to learn a lot of things of how to Main him.
THIS IS HOW YOU DO A CHARACTER GUIDE
You’ve definitely set a new standard. The research and effort you put into this shows, I’m looking forward to anymore of these you put out
The fundamentals/pressure explanation helped, made me realize how much I lack when it comes to pressuring and capitalizing on my oppenent
All of the details and information in these videos is what sets apart this series from other “How To’s” you go very in depth and show much more that the average TH-camr.
Ignoring all of the comments about Ike's Nair - this was a great, thorough video. I appreciate that you not only looked at the best ways to play him, but ways to beat him as well. Very well rounded and well explained.
5:45 I would like to mention that DAir through a platform combos into EVERY MOVE Ike has. Including Eruption.
These combos can be kill combos
"when playing against ike, you need to understand that he can kill you at any time" that's it, that's the guide.
just kidding, i love your art of series! very informative :)
You misspelled ganon
Nothing is more funny to me than pulling an ether off ledge and taking my opponent into the void with me.
Want a session? Go here: metafy.gg/@izaw/schedule with the code Pokemon15 to get 10% off
Join my discord and DM discord.gg/wrQbmMf
Are you changing mains?
I.e Ike instead of Link?
@@cristianalvarez3811 these videos are just to cover different characters, rather than him saying he's switching mains
And the long journey of character arts begins...
@@forevorseal And Ike is simpler than Link so it's faster to cover everything
Can we see cloud.
5:43 Down air is also excellent as an anti-condition tool. If you face a short-range character such as Pikachu, Mario, Yoshi, etc. then you can condition them to punish landings with uptilt or upsmash by either getting hit a few times or just not punishing them if they go for that option. When they're at around 80-90%, down air will outrange uptilt and upsmash and usually lead into an upair (occasionally another punish option if they jump or airdodge out of it)
Timestamps (since I didn't see any in top comments)
0:00 - Introduction
0:28 - Simplicity
1:16 - Spacing
9:45 - Specials
12:03 - Fundamentals
12:56 - Pressure
14:43 - Positioning
15:39 - Mid stage control
16:38 - Edgeguarding
17:13 - Ledge Trapping
19:13 - Pacing
20:37 - Outro
Best smash youtuber period. Your videos are so in-depth and helpful and I absolutely love your content. Keep up the great work!
Art of Ike showed up. As an Ike main, I dropped everything to give it a listen.
Got my pen and pad out, ready to take notes and everything lol
Loved that absolutely any player can learn from this, Ike main or not. Love the depth!
Fantastic video, extremely helpful, especially the last section.
Very clear and easy to understand information, have been eagerly anticipating your first character art of since day one!
Can't wait till your next art of, I know you don't take comment requests, but if it's Falcon, Falco, Fox, Jigglypuff or Marth (especially falcon) I will be EXTREMELY happy that day!
Keep up the great content dude, your videos help me improve so much. Thank you.
Except for the comments section ...
@@icicleditor What do you mean?
They just comment about nair.
Jack Ennis yo good news
At first I thought: "20 mins video for a character? This guy must be another time bloater.". Oh boy how wrong I was. Thank you so much for this! This is THE VERY BEST video tutorial of how to play a Smash character. So clear, concise and just perfect. I love Ike since Brawl, it was love at first play, I just "connected" the very first time I played him, but lately I have been struggling with how Ultimate works and I want to get to Elite Smash with him. I will re watch this video until I achieve Elite Smash! Just one question: how the hell does people do those short hops so quickly? Im not talking about the Buttons combination, is there something to it like holding the stick down or whatever? Hopefully someone will answer to me!
EDIT: I LOVE the F.E. jazz music!
The guys that short hop so fast are short hop fast falling. You want to flick the left stick down at the very top of your jumps. I'm sure there are more detailed tutorials if you just search "how to short hop fast fall"
Light tap your jump button, then fast fall as soon as you do your move (flick joystick down) and yes Izaw’s characters guides are not bs guides. He puts a lot of research into them
@@LunaRiddle77 Thank you so much for taking your time and reply to my comment! I will practice that from now on.
Hey man if u liked this guide u should check out his general art of smash ultimate guides, very useful
@@bluemarb1e787 I'll absolutely do that! I need to study the game as a while, thanks for the recommendation!
God this is so well-made and smooth to watch and listen to.
Wow guys keep up the nair jokes they're hilarious!
u mean “Nair hilarious”
"jokes"
@@theimprovedbore550 hiNairious
Nairlarious
The jokes are fucking retarded and annoying as shit.
Not only a great Ike guide, but also an excellent guide for people that want to learn the game in general. You’re awesome man!
Hands down the best Smash guide I've seen. This is unbelievably eye-opening and I can't wait to put these techniques into practice!
Thank you IzAw for making these beautifully made and edited videos. You deserve more subscribers.
I'd like to add that dash attack is pretty good to catch people double jumping back into the stage (when they're slightly below it), especially when their guard is off because you're seemingly quite far from the ledge.
It is (like most dash attacks?) a very good kill option near ledges.
Great guide! One thing I like about Ike is that if you lose with him, you know that your fundamentals were the problem.
Dude this video is AMAZING! don't think I've ever seen a more clear, well planned, scripted, and executed Ike tutorial, or even Smash tutorial at all. Well done, and thank you.
AMAZING video as always! This has always been the most high quality guide series on TH-cam. Please keep doing what you do. You do it very well.
Thoses guides you made helped me A LOT, and like many said, i didn't found guides better than yours because how much you explain deep aspect and concept with clean editing and presentation.
I watched many many times your art video because how much it helped me to understand the game overall and some deep aspect, and no one explain it better than you for now.
Woah izaw you made a 20 minute video dedicated to nairing??? That’s dedication
Don't forget the occasional up air
And forward air
LOL
Down tilt to fair?
Wrong, he sought to make this video on how to play Smash for us.
So first, he *prepared himself*
Then, he *fought for his friends*
And finally, he brought us all knowledge of how to beat our opponents to a pulp so we could tell them " *You'll get no sympathy from me!* "
It just so happened that the character he was playing at the time was Nair the character...oops, I mean Ike.
I highly suggest this video to anyone wanting to learn Ike. Very informative and easy to follow, really helped improve mine. Thanks Izaw
Thank you for this. I've been playing Ike since Brawl and I'm thinking of finally picking him up seriously in this game along with Young Link since I secondaried Toon Link in Smash 4. Also I loved the background songs. Keep up the good work! :)
*Ahhhhhhhhh. This is your first character analysis in your "Art of" series. Thank you for this!*
I'm surprised your first analysis isn't Link because I assume he is your main and your favorite character. But you may be saving him up for a huge video or he just wasn't your character pick. And that is ok. You do you. :)
I really like your videos because I'm really excited to watch and learn about my favorite character. Ike isn't my favorite character but the video will still be a good watch.
Again, thank you for this and for your hard work. I will recommend this video to 1 friend since he is an Ike main. And, I will like your video to show you my support. I don't usually like these kind of videos but I wanna support you.
I haven't seen this video yet but I soon will. :) I hope you make more. I know you made some training videos which I have yet to see. Keep making these great videos. :)
Crazy how Ike and Link, both of Izaw's character from Smash 4, got buffed.
I felt like this game was practically dedicated to me. Pretty much every character I like is notably good or at least doesn't completely suck ass anymore. Ike, Palutena, Pit, and King Dedede were my top 4 from Smash 4.
Coming back to this video a year later and it is still perfection. A must watch for anyone interested in Ike. This is great to start learning.
Dude I'd like to thank you for the work you put into these guides. I tried Ike for a little and found him decent but I couldn't really pick him up lol. I'm definitely looking forwards to a possible falco guide? I think the character (kinda like Ike) has a lot of potential and in my area he's becoming increasingly more popular.
Keep up the amazing content, your vids are the reason I'm in elite smash!
the smash4 version of Art of Ike was the video that got me into playing Ike and just playing competitively in general, amazing work! keep it up!
Wow. What a perfect video. Thanks izaw!
Whenever I lose a streak of games, I always come back to this video and the patch 8.0.0 video. They're very informative
This was a pretty great video. While I already knew that Ike was pretty simple, you pretty much broke it down in a way I couldn't explain. Good work Izaw! Hopefully, Greninja or Wolf would be next on your list!
I like those characters
Definitely need more of these man! Sick in-depth analysis about pro's and con's. So no matter if you're looking to play with or against him this video gives great tips!
Here is a character list I would LOVE to see (which is totally not based off of my character list)
- Fox
- Falco
- Roy/Lucina
- Luigi
Best smash creator on the platform. So grateful to you for all these helpful videos
This is the first ever SSBU video I watched, and this was so well made, that it helped me a lot with Ike, and with the game in general, and also other characters. Thanks so much!
Ike mains coming from ssb4 aliance!
I was waiting for this for a long time 💛
Ike main from brawl, he is now a secondary tho. It sucks that I can't use him without someone making a nair joke
Monado Buster Honestly I don’t even give damn at this point. People will be retarded regardless. They’ll joke about him having to only use nair but when they try to use him they get washed.
coming from PM, I'm used to nairing for days lol
its so true. Trying to only use hair will get you ruined i every way possible. @@ItsCrashh
I liked the one in 4 as well cause the same mindset and fundamentals apply here
These are easily some of the best commentary videos Smash Ultimate has to-date on this channel. Thanks for these videos, your input on the game is so valuable and the production is very high. You're a beast Izaw, thanks for these!
So soooo happy to see this series back! Loved your Samus one from Smash 4. Hope that is next!!
I always have to concentrate so hard when watching these or any smash bros related guides but when I focus and am able to fully understand what's being said, I can use that knowledge to expand my fundamentals. It helped mainly in the mario video but I love this as well. Also it helps studying up on matchups without delving too deeply into the character themselves which also helps a lot. I've been trying to get into playing smash more competitively but because of life stuff I can't dedicate much time at all to practice, and can't play against any human opponents so yeah. But you better not believe that'll keep me from trying to improve my basic understandings of the game. Thank you for making these videos.
While the comments section talks about NAIR, I’m gonna watch the video 🙂.
good for you!
Me too.
And reading said comments, just to comment about them, essentially feeding into the frenzy.
@@joshuamartinez3275 It barely feeds into the frenzy given how fucking stupid the frenzy is to begin with.
I honestly enjoyed this video a lot; when I first started playing SSBU in mid-December, I was going to main Ike (I only had played Brawl at the most casual level before then when I was 10), but found that his play style just didn’t work with me for whatever reason. When I searched for guides, it was almost word for word “nair to nair or fair, dtilt is good use it.” So I knew what was good, but not how to use the good moves well. So I got bodied for a while then picked Bowser late January and haven’t looked back. But now that I know what I do after watching this, I think I’m going to have to bring my Ike back out and give him a solid retry, so thank you, keep doing what you do.
...Aaaand, if you’re not bored of covering Ike after a twenty-minute long video of him, I’d like to see what you’re game plan is when you see each character. Like you said, Ganon is vulnerable to cross-ups so how hard do you chase the cross-up, and who else also is cross-up vulnerable? How do you deal with vastly faster swordies like Roy? It probably sounds like a lot of work, but I think it’d be a great further in-depth sequel to this video. Anyways, I appreciate your to the point yet in depth analysis, and I eagerly await your new stuff. Keep up the awesome work!
Thank you for giving Ike counterplay tips!
great guide. As an Ike Main I would like to add that there is another option when u shield, while ur opponent is at the ledge. people dont like disadvantage and some players develop habits to get out of it quickly. if u see a pattern where they come to stage and then try to roll behind u, go for upsmash out of shield. it covers a lot of ground, kills super early, can also be an anti air if they let go from ledge and jump on or simply jump on. its just one more option as a mix up and ike does not have so many. also I dont recommend pressuring with N-air and the ledge but with F-air, as u can get someone offstage and also stealing sometimes the double jump, which leads into even greater advantage. down tilt however is a must. and faking a run away only to great an coming opponent with a b-air is also neat but probably not a optimal choice to put pressure, but certainly its a threat which sometimes people dont respect and catching them offguard with b-air is very rewarding.
Yo. 10/10 quality guide + insight. Subbed
This is really good cuz this one not only teaches you how to effectively begin playing Ike but also how to start to understand the game itself
Best smash TH-camr at the moment !
I love that you really put effort and knowledge into this. Contrary to most pros and streamers who just produce clickbait vidos or reuploads of a twicth stream. Your "Art of" Series is also an "Art of youtube" and an "Art of Izaw" alltogether. Thanks for this beautifull content!
Its officially my favorite video of yours
Keep up the good work
I think this is not just art of Ike, but the art of general ultimate gameplay. Many general techniques for all characters are introduced in this video, which introduced the beauty of smash ultimate. I really liked this video, it's way beyond what you can ask for a character guide. The true art of smash ultimate!
As a samus lucario main, I get constantly abused by swords and early deaths. This video should really help me out with that. Thanks Izaw.
That was just beautiful. Not just what Ike does, and how he works, but also what Smash is as a game.
ayy the insaneintherain music! Doesn't get as much love as he deserves
This was an amazing video on teaching fundamentals! Even better than the old art of Ike guide on teaching how to play the game. If you’re new to the game this will teach you a lot about the subtleties of this game
Izaw if you’re reading this my favorite part of the video was on pacing. Slowing down the game randomly to break the rhythm is something I’ve done when I’m really on point but the way you’ve detailed it helps me make it more concrete. However really good players play too fast, not enough experience with that and Ike is sometimes too simple
I absolutely love your content Izaw. You are leveling up the community and allowing new players a way in. I credit your old sm4sh videos to my current progress in ultimate today (I am currently a PR’d player). Please keep making these :)
Thanks for this video and the Art of series. Been maining Mac since Smash 4 is out and Ult sort of forced me to try another character and really learn how the rest of the game works. Ike is the only other character I enjoyed playing in Smash 4 but never really learned, so this particular video is just what I need!
all of quickplay is just gonna be ike now
More like all of Elite Smash
It already is. I get Ikes in Elite evey 3 or so matches.
YAH HEY HOOO HAAAA hooo YAAH
no rambling straight to point and good ways of countering plays. You are my favorite smash youtuber out there. always great to watch your videos would love to see you play for real.
This is aweosme! I'm an Ike main and this is still useful.
Izaw! You are my go to for Smash tutorials. Such in-depth and well explained content. You have brought up aspects of the game I didn't even know existed! You're a talent and natural teacher. The deadly production values are just a cherry on top my man. Thanks so much and looking forward to watching many more of your vids:)!!
It is going to be fun seeing online with 80% bad ike players who spam nair and dont know spacing
Just getting into Smash and first time hearing you.. dude you could totally do voice overs or audio books with that voice of yours. Thanks for the awesome content!
I have loved your videos for years and still love your videos today, keep it up Izaw
Orchestral fire emblem music plays in background: "This is very nice"
Transitions into spicy jazz suddenly: "Hold up"
Inb4 all the comments about only using nair
Dammit
EDIT: doesn't matter NAIR NAIR NAIR NAIR, occasional throw, NAIR NAIR NAIR, fair fair, NAIR, up air
Bro you must be some kind of super genius, how did you know??? Why can’t people like you get a Nobel Prize 😔😔
I came here to do this exact comment 25 minutes too late
inb4's only really work when they're actually inb4
@@SlayedOutBack I like how I saw OP's comment was 1 minute after upload but this is still true
As an Ike main, this covers pretty much everything. Slight info was left out but if someone plays Ike enough they can probably learn it on their own in time. ((like how smash attacks, specifically up smash, can't be used as much as you might like because it is definitely punishable- *especially* if they see it coming.)) Great video.
This will be good for all those who have been struggling against him.
Although this character is very simple, this is the best Smash guide I have ever seen. Top work, keep em' coming.
Hopefully the people making the nair comments actually learn something from this vid.
Ike is a good boy, be nice.
He ain't no boy lol he's a man. Only a man could swing a two-handed blade like Ragnell with such ease like Ike.
Ike's Neutral B is a solid edge guarding tool. The buffs it got in Ultimate make it decent(due to having to charge it for max effect)for blocking all 3 normal ways of recovering from ledge: roll, stand, and jump. It has a hitbox right behind Ike too.
Izaw you probably won’t see this video but thank you so much for your content. Please do other characters in this format!!!! It is so informative
Wow you must have put a ton of effort to put this video together just so that you can teach other people how to become better at smash. You're incredibly hard working! Thank you so much! 💖💖💖
You’re the GOAT with these vids Izaw
Legendary Ike: "I'll strike you down with one blow!"
AYYYYY
FINALLY THE ART OF CHARACTERS
This is the best guide I've ever watched in my life. Good job.
izaw a da best at this lool
I remember Smash 4 nair when no one complained about it
Same
Back when Ike was considered an honest character.
Back when it didn't combo into everything and had horrible frame data
@@georgeliquor1236 Considered honest because he sucked and got annihilated by all the top tiers.
@@gallo123 you could still do landing nair, it didn't have that much endlag.
This video was one of the main reasons I mained Ike. Every time I see this I learn and work on something I didnt catch last time.
The art of nair and some other moves
The comment section of stupid nair jokes and some other comments
I just started raining Ike and was so sad when I didn't see a video from you about him, this came just in time! Thanks for being the best smash TH-camr!!
I’ve missed these so much!
Some of the solidest smash theory I've seen in any smash content. Nice work.
It's funny that people are talking about Ike's Nair, but my friend group hates it when I play Ike because I constantly use up special against them because it is so easy to predict them into an easy Ike Spike.
Nick Hohl do any of your friends play with characters with counters? I love when Ike or Chrom up specials cause the counter is so easy to tome
@@wh3elson a couple play exclusively characters with counters, but they just spam it so I grab and chuck them.
Yes! Ike is one of my mains, I'm so glad that you began the Ultimate edition of "Art Of" with him!