Charizard primer

Smash 4 3DS Charizard Primer
-Erix




[ Contents ]
1)      Overview
2)      Pros
3)      Cons
4)      Moveset Descriptions
7)      Tips and Tricks

Overview
==========

This is a guide to Charizard, probably the most well known pokemon behind pikachu. Let me clarify I am not some fanatic
of this character, I just like how he plays. Charizard is a heavy who is blessed with good run speed, a high triple jump,
and great recovery, as his flare blitz doesn't put him in free fall and makes him hard to safely gimp. Also note, when I say
laggy, I mean ending lag. Anything slow to activate I refer to as startup.
Charizard is about controlling space and denying entry. Then punishing mistakes that come from these attempts.
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Pros
==========
-Heavy
-Suprisingly fast
-Great recovery with 2 mini jumps, flare blitz, and fly
-Tons of KO potential
-Controls his own space very well
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Cons
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-Doesn't have a lot of priority on some of his key attacks
-Large body gives him a big hitbox
-Laggy everything. All of his air attacks aside from Nair have signifigant landing lag and are just laggy in general.
-Easy to push aggression on, he has a lot of trouble regaining lost control.

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Moveset Descriptions
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------Ground attacks
---Normal
------Neutral attack - Jab combo, 3%, 4%, 5%. Unfortunately it's one of the slower jab animations, so it tends to get beat
out by others. Last hit is also pretty laggy for a jab. However this move has a good safety net if you find yourself hitting
a shield, you can jab, jab, Nspecial and fire breath them away to avoid being punished.
------Dash attack - With his great speed comes a great dash attack. 11% damage, tons of active frames for a single hit move
and carries him forward pretty far, making it good for hitting roll aways. It's laggy though, so use it reactively, don't pursue
with it.
------Forward tilt - One of his quicker moves, 7% sour spot, 10% sweet spot (tip of the tail). Ultimately speaking though,
it's pretty inferior to his Dtilt. Almost any situation this could be used, Dtilt is a better option
------Up tilt - His best ground move. 8%, fast, great disjointed hitbox. This thing contests any Dair that isn't coming in from a
45 degree angle with active frames like crazy (Looking at you Yoshi) This is your main move for controlling the space directly above you. Use this to deny entry from above, it does so very well. KOs mario at 120%

------Down tilt - 10%, very little lag, good priority and good reach. This move is really your bread and butter ground attack.
The only downside this move has to Ftilt is the lack of a disjointed hitbox. In a situation where you need that safety, Ftilt instead.

---Smash attacks
------Forward smash - 17-23% KO's mario full charged at 50%, 70% uncharged. Little slow to start and finish, but great reach
great priority, its your KO smash. It's long arc and disjointed hitbox lets it contest anything, and generally beat out anything.
Sonics spindash is just a baseball to this move. Also, this move has an insane ability to hit people hanging on edges. Try it out.
------Up smash - Bread and butter smash. 16%-22%. Not so strong in the KO department, but this thing is oozing priority, has a giant
hitbox that surrounds charizard, and is just all around safe without much lag behind it. Use it often.
------Down smash - 16%-22% really this should only be used to punish rollers. Its super laggy, not great KO potential, not many active frames. It's just all around not great.


---Aerial attacks
------Neutral aerial - As with any tail attacks, tip is the sweet spot at 10%. This move has a very poor attack box to hurt box ratio.
However, it's also the only move of Charizard that doesn't suffer terrible landing lag. Use it to space people, but remember it requires good timing to beat other attacks.
------Forward aerial - Man this thing is beastly. Fast, big hitbox, disjointed as hell. 12% with a ton of knockback. But don't let this fool you. It should never be used to approach, or even be aggro with. It's laggy, and not just landing lag. You whif this and you are getting punished. I usually keep this fresh and use it as a KO option.
------Back aerial - 13%, this is a damn aerial smash attack. Huge range, dijointed (man charizard has a lot of areas of his body
that are immune to damage) and KO's very early, with mario at 100% on the edge. Best part is that it's not only fast, but has a good amount of active frames on it, making it ideal for gimping or simply for contesting people in the air. Be warned though, laggy at the end.
------Up aerial - 13% and once again KO's pretty effectively. However I have to warn everyone that despite the animation, this does not hit in front of him. However it's still a really effective move. Has all of Charizard's trademarks. disjoints and such. A solid move, but not his best.
------Down aerial - If I had to say my favorite thing bout charizard, it's this move. 14% BUT WHO CARES. This is by far the most
forgiving meteor smash I've experienced. My god the whole hitbox meteors, and the hitbox is huge. Coupled with his triple jump, this thing is terrifying offstage. Good priority on it too, usually hits even if an enemy move hits you. However, I must advise against using this on stage ever.
To much landing lag, its super unsafe on block, or to just miss.

---Grabs and throws
----Pummel - Bites em, 2% a hit. its ok
-----Forward throw - 10%, up and away arc. Charizard really doesn't set up comboes so this is more of a keep away tool.
-----Back throw - 10%, same arc at Fthrow. Same reason to use it, just gives you an option of where you want them up and
away.
-----Up throw - 8%. seismic toss. Cool looking. At up to 10% it combos into Fair reliably, and at 80%-100% it combos into
flare blitz as a KO move. Save this though, once your enemy knows about it, it can be air dodged (but that requires good timing
as flare blitz is pretty unforgiving to air dodges.)
-----Down throw - 6%, its pretty weak, but KO's mario at 125% fresh. The best part of this throw besides that is at early percents it can be comboed into flare blitz on most characters. Faster fallers can tech and shield it though. Also watch for double jumps.
---Special Moves:
----Neutral special - Flame breath 2% 3 tics then 1% after. This is Charizards spacing tool. Use this to control the area in front of you all the time. Force the enemy to be above you, force them to jump in. Abuse this move all the time, it's core. Also, faster fallers like captain falcon this move and really fudge up their recovery.
----Side special - 19% (plus 8% for you)Flare blitz. The move that everyone hates. I don't know why, its telegraphed to hell and has so much landing lag it could be measured on a calendar. (not really landing lag, but when you hit, you get knocked down too) This move is a punish. Punish rolls, but more importantly punish air dodges and whiffed aerials. This is the move that you use to respond to people who jumped in but decided to make it shallow. Who jumped in but tried to Dair you and missed. Use only when you see an opening. Using it to initiate will get you punished.
----Up special - 17% Fly. Not much to be said. Charizards slow fall speed makes this dangerous as an attack. But at the same time, if you don't whif, it's great. Generally you control the space above you with Utilt, Usmash, and Uair. But this gives you a much longer reaching attack with KO potential. Just don't abuse it.
It's to punishing to whif, and to easy to whif.
My favorite application of this move is guarding edge recoveries. It covers 3 of the 4 options they have, and if they roll you can flare blitz it.
----Down special -Rock smash 23% or 3% for the shards. This is my favorite move of Charizards. This is on demand super armor that cancels into itself from the air.
Ok, put down your erections. The primary application of this move is to push people off you. Get some breathing room from aggro.
However, I use this often to tank and trade people. at 23% this move generally is worth the trade, plus only they will get knocked back, giving you tempo.
The rock shards make it safe on spot dodges, and it can be used easily to break combos off you.
It's just a great move. Everyone wishes they had on demand super armor.


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Tips and Tricks
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I have one tip. Don't be aggressive. Play this game focusing on not taking hits and use your spacing tools, and high
priority Up moves to do so. If you want to play aggro, don't play charizard.


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Match-ups
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I don't feel like describing match ups atm wil be fruitful. With so many people still learning the game, telling you
to expect of watch out for something may do more harm then good.
I'll leave it at this, if they get underneath you, you are in trouble. Below you is your most vulnerable area, and once you get
caught, you will have trouble getting out.