All About Shields - Super Smash Bros. Melee

Shielding is a huge part of competitive play. Although using your shield properly seems like a simple concept, there are many intricate details about shielding that you should know! In this tutorial, CDK goes in great depth to tell you almost everything there is to know about shields in Melee!
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[@ChannelOscarC]

Heard ya quit Melee. We still love ya Kira. :)

[@Cunt143]

Kira isn't even in this vid :/

[@angelobongiorno8515]

Why did he quit? What happened? :(

[@Cunt143]

Angelo Bongiorno look up his twitter. He has a twitlonger explaining everything

[@stuna210]

Hreesto tell us the tldr version

[@Cunt143]

Hand problems, other life stuff, things like that. Mostly hand problems though, he can't use his left thumb for Melee anymore

[@bgboof7482]

Hello Kira I have heard that you have quit melee and have left this channel all I have to say is thank you without you I wouldn't be winning all my locals without your tips and advice I am a fairly new melee player started in mid 2015 right when this channel was born. All I really have to say is thank you. You were a real big help to new melee and smash players in general you have made a huge impact on the smash community and I wish you a good life.

[@eraser3490]

I love you Kira and I hope your Journey all goes well :). Also you too CDK you're amazing.

[@Connor_1989]

Switch

[@DeadstormX27]

its not

[@eraser3490]

*jebaited*

[@DeadstormX27]

did he delete the comment lol

[@eraser3490]

When you're not the "real" switch FeelsBadMan

[@kawaiipurin1025]

4:23 If you're standing on a platform and a scary Marth is below you Does the make any one else laugh

[@RaFaReAcH]

DJ Puff yes puffy

[@MrVideo-lt5qy]

DJ Puff I mean look at that sword he is scary

[@Gomesmesgo]

ive been playing melee for over 4 years but this vid BLEW MY MIND! thanks for this !!

[@siLveRscOpe13x]

Shield Pressure, Westballz. Out of shield, idk. Most top players are really good out of shield. Lol.

[@purepoetry4042]

siLveRscOpe13x leffen I think has the best shine out of shields. At least for fox players.

[@markmalkowski3695]

I know this is 4 years old but I couldn’t agree more. Never was so hype seeing fox play as when Leffen pulled a shine OOS into wavedash upsmash; literally crazy amount of tech skill

[@eraser3490]

Shield Pressure would be WestBallz Best OOs movement depends on character. Example is peach has shit OOs options, But I think if its just spacies I would say Leff.

[@YokoMary]

I was about to comment exactly the same. Good shit.

[@TheBlake378]

I've seen a few sheiks have really good OOS play, but i agree that leffen is probably the best at it

[@zackhaffner6480]

I ageree with leffen, but i think mango has the best pressure. Westballz has extremely explosive and flashy pressure but he gets punished mid-pressure for overextending more than you'd think. Mango's IMO is a little safer and more threatening.

[@eraser3490]

Mango shield pressure consist of baiting a shield grab, roll, spot dodge, unsafe aerial etc. While I do agree his shield pressure is good, its for different reasons. Westballz wants to break your fucking shield. Mango just wants you to do something unsafe so he can punish. So in terms of pure shield pressure I think Westballz. But it's biased on your opinion ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@jesuisjoshbonjour]

I'll be shinin' till you're cryin' --Westballz

[@viniciusairton5731]

This vídeo hurt my feelings. (Yoshi player) =(

[@ceboll0]

And no shield pokes.

[@canyounotsee]

and parry

[@gatorssbm]

No shame getting a secondary.

[@viniciusairton5731]

I play Samus too

[@coral250]

Just shield drop double jump wave land on a platform 4Head

[@t1glistenerelf]

inb4 Disregard half of this video if you are playing Yoshi (e.g. getting shield poked, jumping OoS, etc.)

[@SufferDYT]

Just an observation, shield pokes happen when a hitbox touches a hurtbox but NOT that character's shield on the same frame. So, if you want to try to shield poke someone on purpose, you need to throw out a move that will touch ONLY their hurtbox and not their shield. If the move touches both, it will be considered shielded. The upair on MacD's head, for example, worked because the fox jumped in such a way that the upair's hitbox touched ONLY her head and not her shield. You can get often get easy shield pokes by doing rising late aerials at your opponent's feet when their on a platform, or falling late aerials at your opponents head, especially tall characters like marth. Also, if I'm not mistaken, there exists both ASDI and SDI versions of shield DI just like normal sdi, the latter being harder/riskier but can yield more distance and is thus more impactful on single hit moves.

[@uchihamadara6024]

clovehitch Goddamn, now there's SSDI and SASDI? Melee is great

[@thequray]

kira i wish you the best. Your story on twitter made me tear up.

[@brofenix]

Very interesting! I didn't know about buffering roll/jump and shield poking.

[@tupi9999]

Axe has some insane shielddrops. He even popularised the method of tilting and then going thru the side of the stick to shield drop. Also he has very good up air oos since it is a 6 total frame move with pikachu.

[@SimnaibnSind]

Special note: The recoil on a projectile powershield is 0 but the recoil on a non-projectile powershield is the same as that of a lightshield. Bonus note: If you shield a projectile within the powershield window of a normal attack, but miss the powershield window of a projectile and then hold that shield up...the next non-projectile attack to hit you will be powershielded automatically. Also: Lightshields lose significantly less health over time.

[@BoneMarrowBro]

This was good, my friend and I got confused a lot, but now we know what a shield poke is :)

[@halveiz]

That "light shield gives more shield stun" probably explains some of my failed OOS options against falco. Ty for the info

[@LookatthatSH1T]

diggin' the chill ass music this time

[@Grovfu]

Westballz for shield pressure, Leffen for OOS

[@lolXDimcool]

honestly dude Oscar has some of the best shield pressure I've ever seen

[@stuna210]

great video in a while

[@pablopa_SSBM]

Nice video!

[@nosummernocry]

That slowed-down shine sound is aesthetic af.

[@62chipo]

link has best out shield cause he has zero lag from shielding, can use anything in his arsenal during that time... oh wait the thing in his hand doesnt count for this discussion???

[@dddmemaybe]

On a random note about Link, I find a nice held bomb throw out of shield to be very satisfying. muehehehe

[@kk-yt7nv]

Anyway to buffer the biggest lightshield with Z without grabbing or doing an aerial?

[@jrnproductions8939]

thanks, this was very helpful

[@SSBMArte]

2:14 You don't have less shieldstun after a powershield ; your state of dropping shield becomes cancellable by any grounded action, therefore allowing things such as tilts to start frame 2 post shieldstun, but the "shieldstun" isn't reduced. From the wiki : (www.ssbwiki.com/Powershield#Chronological_frame_data) """1.2.3 As soon as GuardDamage [shieldstun] is over, the character will enter his indefinite Guard animation if he still holds down a shoulder button. If he doesn't keep L, R or Z pressed, he will enter the GuardOff animation. 1.2.3.1 If the character immediately transitioned from GuardDamage to GuardOff or didn't spend more than 3 frames in the Guard animation before dropping his shield, the possibility to cancel GuardOff will still be available. GuardOff has a total animation length of 15 frames and can be interrupted by any action that can be triggered with the buttons A, B, X, Y and Z as well as with the C-stick. Additionally, grabbing with (L∨R)∧A, jumping with ↑ and spot dodging with ↓ on the control stick are possible. Up tilt and down tilt are only possible by keeping them pressed from at least 4 frames before the start of the GuardOff animation - otherwise, the input will still count as a smash input and trigger jump or spot dodge.""" This aside, great video.

[@xaqshana]

tl;dr: you can cancel the dropping shield animation with A moves (jabs tilts smashes) after powershielding a move (not projectiles)

[@alexanderlane7863]

I'm glad someone else picked up on that

[@LolzSquid]

Artemis Fowl well you get no shield stun vs projectiles. But attacks do have the same shield stun.

[@trance1215]

Yeah this is a really common misconception and it's a bit disappointing to see it make it into this video.

[@SufferDYT]

Yet another advantage that smashbox-like controllers have over GC controllers. Timing powershield > instant shield release is pretty difficult without a digital button.

[@Syntherios]

Westballz has the best shield pressure, no question. It's fucking terrifying seeing that guy hammering someone's shield.

[@gamarad]

Is there a difference between shield grabbing with A and with Z?

[@TheItVirusGaming]

I think Mango has some of the best non-conventional shield pressure like AC-bair fade back into f-smash. But multishine shield pressure definitely goes to Westballz. Plup has some of the most insane OOS options just in the way he utilizes Shield drops on platforms.

[@sionesausau]

Anyone know the name of the bgm for the video?

[@DrewManDrop]

How you get to use the yellow or green shields without having more then 2 players playing? I never understood this. I can't figure it out in Ultimate either but you always see pro players do it in tournaments

[@johnnycrash4892]

How do i lightshield but like actually use it in play and how do i know when to lightshield vs hard shield?? Hmm??

[@devongrey1237]

RIP Kira I will miss u man :(

[@thesinisterphoenix410]

How do you tilt your shield?

[@travis7843]

Only thing that I would like to add here is that you can only achieve a powershield with a Digital Press/Input of L or R. You cannot powershield anything with an analog press unless you're using that Z-Powershielding technique which has yet to be explored by most/all players. Missing Kira. Also CDK, when do you plan on doing your How to Practice Fox Tech Skill Pt.2? I very much enjoyed Part 1 and have been anticipating Part 2 a lot.

[@ciho69]

Yo cdk what kind of mic do you use

[@realityofimagination]

If I want to shield a Peach down smash, I wanna angle it down and towards her to make sure I don't get shield poked but I also want to shield di away so that all of her down smash hits won't hit me. Which one should I do? Is there a way to do both?

[@piguy9369]

Read this - smashboards.com/threads/royal-academy-finishing-school-peach-frame-data-application-thread.431376/page-2#post-21574647 Basically after the first hit your shield will reset to center and since peach's d smash keeps you in shield hitstun for its entire duration, you can really only angle your shield for the first hit. So you need to shield DI away from peach, and you won't get shield poked because of doing that.

[@appleormac]

really good

[@juandemirez5666]

can you do a thing on spot dodges in the future video cdk talks about because I always get punished for my spot dodges even if I dodged a move

[@paul_particularlyunhappynut]

Can a light shield, shield you and your partner in teams?

[@MilesAway]

goodbye, Kira. we'll miss you.

[@yerocx]

Is spot dodging really that bad? I've won a few matches with it

[@Zadamanim]

no explanation on yoshi's shield? it has a lot of unique properties

[@xkaosG]

wes and sfat have great sheild pressure, OoS options would probably go to leffen or plup.

[@Emma-dt6my]

Best ofs has to be Leffen so clean

[@Dracula_sb]

Utilizing shield di and light shielding in neutral I clutched out a 3 stock comeback again a local ICs player. Was super proud of that lol.

[@DP3mo24hofosho]

What frame does shield come out on and actually shield? I keep hearing it comes out frame 1 but it doesn't become big enough to protect you from anything until later

[@SSBMTutorials]

frame 1 dawg

[@QtipYT]

>ft. CDK PogChamp i love this man

[@CanadianBaconPwnage]

How does shielding out of a dash work? As a Smash 4 player, Melee's mechanics for shielding out of a dash seem a little strange to me, since I don't seem to come to a complete stop out of a dash once I press the shield button, or I simply end up rolling. Am I supposed to cancel my dash with a crouch first?

[@kifkif7117]

CanadianBaconPwnage no you can shield at any given point in your dash animation, it's called a shield stop, however if you're in the run animation the shield doesn't come out as fast and you slide a bit

[@CanadianBaconPwnage]

Ah, that explains it, thanks! So I assume that means I should be able to shield consistently out of a dash dance, correct?

[@ItsGMan97]

I thought Mr. Game & Watch's poverty shield would have been brought up but I guess it's just more of an interesting note than an point worth making

[@DMX-PAT]

I've been wondering this for a long time, back when smash bros melee was still only on gamecube was there any patches realized for it, did they ever change the way any of the players or moves in the game were executed and if so how do you get said patch?

[@vertexed5540]

The PAL version of the game (the version sold in Europe and Australia) has some big differences in characters, but it's such an old game it can't really be patched, nor could it have been

[@jazaniac]

Shield pressure? Westballz probably, but imo samus players like duck and hugs honestly do an amazing job with the tools they have, considering how much people shield vs. samus. Although duck goes for a lot safer stuff whereas HugS will usually grab you after you've been thoroughly C O N D I T I O N E D Best oos options are probably plup and hax$

[@chanitalaposolera]

Is there any way to buffer a shield drop? I've seen many players do this, not as a shield slide off, they truly perform a shield drop after they get hit, idk if it's just practice, or they buffer the shield drop. Amsa does it very often.

[@SSBMTutorials]

by simply having the control stick at the right angle, a shield drop will happen automatically after shield stun ends

[@chanitalaposolera]

SSBM Tutorials thanks, it will be very useful :D

[@cammyjammy]

Quick question, how many frames is it before you can act after releasing shield?

[@piguy9369]

From this post - smashboards.com/threads/ssbm-statistics-list.30064/ Group A ---14 frames recovery time ---3 characters: Jigglypuff / Peach / Zelda Group B ---15 frames recovery time ---14 characters: DK / Dr. Mario / Falco / Fox / Ice Climbers / Kirby / Link / Luigi / Mario / Ness / Pichu / Pikachu / Sheik / Young Link Group C ---16 frames recovery time ---8 characters: Bowser / Captain Falcon / Ganondorf / Marth / Mewtwo / Mr. Game & Watch / Roy / Samus Group D ---17 frames recovery time ---1 character: Yoshi

[@chatters7715]

Axe and M2K. Their shield pressure is incredible.

[@HyperSonic707]

Could you please make a video on shield-drops? I see this technique being used more and more, but I can't seem to use it successfully in the situations where my shield is being hit. Thanks!

[@SSBMTutorials]

we have one already

[@bostonnewenglandsportsfan5402]

I need a little help on the power shield

[@FloppyDisk893]

I had no idea light shields and moving your shield existed, I've never seen Anyone do these moves

[@aitorcazalis2307]

dont light shield take the same amount of time to die since they are bigger even though they take more shield damage? is it proportional

[@SSBMTutorials]

try doing marth's shield breaker on a lightshield, it dies faster

[@ToastMaster623]

What about all of the special properties of Yoshi's shield? (or if you REALLY want to get in-depth, heart shielding)

[@llamaryder1]

Dumb question, but i see your shield gets smaller, but does it regenerate? Or only on your next stock?

[@MrMichaelsux]

Andrew Miller it regenerates when youre not using it

[@sparkmelee]

Lightshielding has more stun then regular shielding? I thought it was just pushback. So if I hold the trigger all the way down but stopping before the click, would I experience slightly more shieldstun than if I had held it down all the way?

[@SSBMTutorials]

yes sir

[@sparkmelee]

apparently there's a kinda wide range until full click that has the same shieldstun: twitter.com/sponge12349/status/870004081032663040

[@sebastiantorres76]

bawz has amazing pressure period

[@Applesgosh]

good shit

[@appleormac]

Mango best pressure, Plup best Oos movement!

[@Gary_Sherman]

great video, however I think you should have put in a note about yoshi's weird lightsheild mechanics

[@luigit0ilet]

is CDK taking over this channel?

[@Blakeison2112]

Westballz has the best shield pressure and KJH has the best out of shield movement for top players however there's a guy in my local scene called Snivy102 who can perfectly shine oos as fox everytime lol

[@SSS7527]

I believe you are incorrect when saying you have less shield stun when powershielding. As far as I know, powershielding doesn't reduce shieldstun, it only allows you to act immediately; meaning, if you powershield and then jump out of shield, it's the same as if you normal shielded, other than the lack of shield reduction.

[@trance1215]

SoySauS (not the Link player) you're right, powershielding does NOT reduce shield stun.

[@hash4badi]

Isn't that the same as less shield stun

[@gold3263301]

Powershielding does not actually decrease shield stun. It simply allows you to skip the animation of dropping shield. Powershielding only decreases shieldstun in Smash 4.

[@kuhyugaa]

good video

[@Devhawk124]

What frame do Shields come out?

[@SSBMTutorials]

frame 1!

[@taylorbee4010]

Okay that's a weird sound effect to play when you perfect shield? I've had this happen a couple times

[@yano4473]

Westballz has the best shield pressure, but Plup has the best shield movement because of his ability to shield drop like a god.

[@jeofickles2771]

I'd give pressure to West cuz blipping is good But I'd give the second question to Plup. He makes sure to always be on a platform, and he always shield drops attacks. Since he utilizes his out of shield game the most out of any player, I'd have to give it to him. He builds his playstyle around that shit. It's incredible.

[@oscillate9594]

what about if they grab??

[@matt4392_]

I think leffen has great pressure out of powershielding, especially vs falco lasers

[@junkerrat8520]

poor Kira rest in peace

[@R3l3ntl3sss]

no shield drop?

[@maliknorwood8090]

For Oos options: Plup For shield pressure: Westballz

[@crisrey0799]

To me, shielding in Melee seems risky, make a single mistake and you're already combo food or easy multishine target, so is it worth trying the risk instead on focusing more on the offense?

[@pouncebaratheon4178]

You need to learn how to shield. Not many people can multishine and and most low level competitive players aren't truly that great at shield pressure. You can use the shield less if it starts getting small, but you're not likely to run into anyone who can eat through an entire shield in a single combo. Like the OP said, shield breaks are very rare.

[@Cunt143]

Shielding is actually really good. You get many OOS options, you can bait out grabs and on platforms you can shield drop which is actually faster than the normal drop.

[@crisrey0799]

Pounce Baratheon​ Thanks for the advice guys, I mostly use shield when I face characters with projectiles such as Samus, Falco, Fox,etc. However my main problem is that i'm not good at shielding in close distance since I can't react to a grab or shield pressure in time which I panic somewhat, but I guess I need to practice to overcome it.

[@SSBMTutorials]

You're right, being in your shield generally is a bad position and can limit your options. However, it is a 1-frame jump-cancellable move. Sometimes you'll have to use your shield when you're already in a bad spot. Not only that, but if you shield offensively, aka purposely block an attack so that you can punish OOS, then it's much more powerful.

[@luiegiii]

Run-up shield is underrated because it can easily put you in a position to shield grab or quick OoS option. Obviously you shouldn’t do it all the time but it can be a great aggressive “defensive” option to take space. If you do it fast enough you could even get a powershield out of it.

[@eliotf204]

shield pressure would be leffen ice or sfat... maybe armada, westballz is ok too plup and leffen are great out of shield aswell

[@abrahamcrawford1594]

Plup for best OOS options as he is the undisputed master of shield drops and nair/spot dodge OOS

[@125conman]

@HyperSonic707 if you go back in their older stuff they do a short video on it

[@mahirismail7427]

west or mango for shield pressure. west deletes shields, but he needs a good position to do so. mango's shield pressure game is often unsafe, but also incredibly mix up heavy, making it impossible to ever really hit him oos, as you never know when to. for movement, I would say plup/axe. both of their shield drop games are great, and both move nicely out of shield. Pikachu generally has better oos options than shiek, and axes use of them is phenomenal, so I would honestly give it to axe. plus axe's shield Di and angling is absolutely insane, especially with pikachu, whose shield sucks.

[@rumfordc]

what about links shield?!

[@amirking6514]

I think Duck has some insane shield pressure. Sure westballz multi shines are cool, but eh.

[@SaiyanX5]

buffering tutorial?

[@bradwurst8141]

Westballz or Armada for best shield pressure. Leffen or Druggedfox for best movement OOS

[@MrCurtStoppable]

Smash is SO awesome! Best fighter EVER!

[@SAM13771]

Could you guys do a short guide on acting out of powershield?

[@SSBMTutorials]

Basically jumping or grabbing isnt actually faster out of powershield at all. Only grounded moves, like jabs/tilts/smash attacks

[@TheSoapBar23]

Thought at the end there you were about to go into detail about shield drops. Oh well.

[@SSBMTutorials]

We do have a shield drop video!

[@125conman]

Can you do a video talking about the future of your channel with Kira leaving?

[@jukejuk]

can you buffer a short hop oos?

[@SSBMTutorials]

yes you can! if you flick the c stick up barely

[@SufferDYT]

To elaborate, there's no difference between buffering short hop or full hop oos. Both are technically identical, but it will shorthop if you aren't holding jump still after the jumpsquat, like a normal jump.

[@xavierjay1]

Westballz for both. Next best out of shield is leffen tho

[@FoxMcCloud3173]

I didn’t know you could parry in this game as well

[@Mikimaki7267]

Then there is the game and watch shield!

[@Jabin04]

Why is this game so complicated? Still my favorite game.

[@captainwedgie1783]

man you are a leggend

[@adrianthesnowkoopatroopa4810]

Ah Jigglypuff, always killing yourself as your shield breaks. O3O