Melee's Layered Defensive Mechanics

[@LiquidTurtle1]

I was on the fence about starting to grind uncle punch and actually improve at the game, but this video convinced me to do it.

[@Calicrab]

I love to hear that

[@themetapod]

Uncle punch won't teach you anything except how to be a nerd that nobody likes to play against. Oh great, you can practice this tech that you'll use in 1/1000 matches. It's actually bad for you because it conditions you to play against computers

[@Sidekick777]

@@themetapod you sound like you graduated from the local gas station 💀

[@Rael0505]

@@themetapod you don’t know how to actually use uncle punch to learn lol. You seem to think the exercises are all it does

[@Rael0505]

@@themetapod it doesn’t condition you to play against computers at all

[@eddiestilll]

"offence is what wins games, but defence is what wins championships."

[@DrunkenHotei]

This expression really is wonderful. I constantly have to remind myself of that when I have a lead, because the number of times I've wound up losing matches despite being up by two or three stocks due to getting cocky with my attacks is way too high.

[@graxjpg]

defense

[@dantx2594]

@@graxjpg Defence and defense are two spellings of the same noun. The spelling depends on the type of English. In American English, “defense” is most common, so self-defense is correct. In British English, “defence” is standard, so self-defence is correct.

[@graxjpg]

@@dantx2594 defense

[@PreacherJenkins]

Never would have imagined a mere crab would have this kind of understanding of melee

[@paulcochran7007]

Great video!!! I had never heard of the "wiggling out of tumble" mechanic

[@nickq8093]

One you missed: jumping into spikes or semi-spikes at low% to land cancel the hitstun.

[@Rom0.5]

Also Z cancelling

[@mlalbaitero]

@@Rom0.5 if by that u mean analog press l cancelling, I wouldn't consider that a defensive tech because that's just a better way to play the game. Itd be like saying using the x or y button instead of tap jump is a technique. in the same way that there are times for tap jump over button jump, there are times when using a hard press might be better due to it "buffering" ur tech input. but this is more just hopefulness and u could probably react to hit with with analog press anyways

[@Rom0.5]

@@mlalbaitero sorry, meant V-canceling my bad

[@Calicrab]

​@@Rom0.5 some techniques that are very obscure I was going to put in layer 5, such as v-cancel, z power shield, heart shielding, atd shield, and maybe others. Thinking about making those into its own video

[@joeykeilholz925]

This game needs a fucking Bible

[@meleefromscratch]

Great video! It’s awesome to have all the defensive mechanics laid out in one place. Would you mind if I reference your video in one of my future guides?

[@Calicrab]

Please do

[@austini0n177]

this is a really well made and well put together video that a lot of newer players would benefit a lot from, these are things i wish i knew when i started. i feel like not including meteor cancel (and jigglypuff/kirby's automatic meteor cancels) was a bit of a missed opportunity on a low hanging fruit though

[@Scutl108]

I've been playing for 10 years and I never knew about wiggle out of tumble. The more you know

[@qwertyugzb]

wiggling out doesn't actually require moving the stick from left to right, it's just neutral->dash length after hitstun

[@Calicrab]

Yea look like you're right, most 'wiggle' out I think to get it on the earliest frame after hitstun

[@thegoodgeneral]

Excellently presented and argued. Melee is a rare and beautiful game.

[@Therefour]

such a high quality video. u got my sub, but DON'T THINK I DIDN'T NOTICE THE SLIGHT WHITE OUTLINE SHOWING UP WHENEVER THE CRAB SQUISHMELLOW MOVED ITS MOUTH

[@crisXD2010]

well done! learned a lot new things!

[@twelvevoltage]

As a Samus I also love defense options not just cc but powershielding with her glitched shield

[@Calicrab]

Don't know what you mean by glitched shield but go off!

[@twelvevoltage]

@@Calicrab basically just the same as Marth where when he crouches you powershield easier

[@griffin8762]

it's crazy how balanced crouch cancel is among the top tiers, and how awful it is for most of the rest of the characters lol

[@debbit]

Yeah it’s fun getting cced at 100 by another random spacie player

[@smoceany9478]

G&W is good against it tbh

[@Frank-bn9us]

I appreciate the talking crab 🦀

[@DrewOPowell]

Dope video

[@joeykeilholz925]

Nice perspective.

[@Calicrab]

5:23 for the Discussion skip, forgot to edit in the timestamp and YT killed annotations

[@ROFLOLGAMER]

Normally, FG defense mechanics are tied to some meter. A stamina meter could balance Smash's out, and also be leveraged to tame other degenerate stuff like ledge stalling and circle camping. Regarding "hDoL dOwN": CC and SDI into ground could use more stamina, but for the sake of reducing binary decision making, some moves at certain percents could also bounce characters who hold down ala Ultimate.

[@Calicrab]

While most of these mechanics are not directly tied to a resource meter like burst or supers, many of them like ASDI and CC require getting hit, so in order to use it proactively you essentially take damage to gain an advantage. This is just a different type of resource that's not technically limited but does get far weaker as percent rises. Now as far as camping and ledge stalling those are legitimate issues that we have rules in place to limit how problematic they can be but I would be interested in direct mechanic intervention. However melee has been the same for so long that directly changing things like that would be too drastic for the community to ever adopt. Fun for discussion and thought experiment though.

[@WanderFilledWorldofMelee]

Education melee nice

[@mlalbaitero]

Crouch cancel is too good. Why are jabs completely nullified by cc even at hundreds of percent

[@josephhelder4084]

Great video

[@Z-I-P]

Good content.

[@RTU130]

What do you mean by "right-facing" in regards to the DI chart? Isn't it the other way around?

[@Calicrab]

I mean the move that is hit in this scenario causes rightward knock back (and slightly up by the optimal di's) I had a move like falcon up air in mind

[@LilskeevsGaming]

Great video!

[@mrt8bit692]

yo what's the song at the start of the video? I wanna learn it on piano

[@Calicrab]

Cocktail hour - Aaron Kenny

[@mrt8bit692]

@@Calicrab thanks homie

[@DontLikeTryHards]

What about layer 5...how has no one mentioned that this scary void is still unexplored...

[@StagRed]

Awesome video!

[@WASD_ii]

Good video, thx :))

[@simanolastname2399]

DI isn't after hitlag, it's during.

[@Calicrab]

DI is read on the last frame of hitlag

[@racerking5901]

I hate how information about so many really interesting advanced tactics is nearly impossible to come across. Like when you showed that long twitter thread. It actually made me cringe. Only a small fraction of people interested in the game will ever see that. Or when I'm watching a youtube video about melee and there's a comment which explains a really interesting game mechanic which some random person happened to write which I would have never known about otherwise. It honestly makes me really sad. I wish there was a comprehensive wiki where people dumped all of their knowledge of the game. I think that would help advance the game even further. And it would also help people be more interested in the game.

[@correadoggsten]

This is part of the beauty of melee

[@Vuden13]

Ultimate version now

[@Calicrab]

To be completely honest I have neither the means to record Ultimate, or the interest to make that at the moment.

[@sjokryddsmuseet9999]

Ultimate just has less defensive options

[@arnox4554]

Sure! Here's the Ultimate version. Ultimate Best Mechanics: Turn off your Switch and play Project M/Plus instead.

[@tomazrodrigues7006]

Imagine not even talking about v canceling

[@Calicrab]

It is in the obscure tier that I may cover in a future video along with other ridiculously niche melee things such as heart shielding, z power shield, and TDI floorhugs

[@Griffindore619]

What a trash game "just hold down LOL"

[@00ooo000o]

playing against someone with outstanding defense makes the game feel almost unplayable

[@Calicrab]

its all fun and games until a Peach downsmash does 64%