Knepsis footsies guide

 so footsies
footsies isn't something you generally have more tools or lesss tools than other characters
it's more about how good your tools are
and how well you can capitalize
footsies is the act of moving in and out of your opponent's threat ranges to try to force a whiffed option
in general it jusst refers to movement to try to force an option
you don't necesarily ned to be out of range of all of your opponent's threats
you want to know which ones you're in range of though
aditionally it's about moving so that your opponent moves in and out of your threat areas
so it basically comes down to precise movement
to get a whiff or over extension from your oponent
once you get that whiff, it's also important what you do with it
ideally you want to go for a combo starter
but that's not always an option
since chaarcters will have diferring amounts of lag and you'll be further away against some characters due to their bigger thrat ranges
so tools that you want to use in footsies in order of how good they are:
1: walking
2: perfect pivots
2.5: safe  pokes
3:  edd
4: (actual ones, not edd)dash dances
4.5: dashing
options from here on are significantly worse, and will usually be due to a read
5: hurtbox shifting attacks
6: jumping
7: spot dodges
8: shield
9: roll(edited)
1: walking: walking is king for micro spacing, it is unquestionably the ebst tools in footsies, as it allows for very precise movement and keeps every option open ally's insane micro spacing comes to mind(edited)
2: perfect pivots: perfect pivots are almost as good as walking, they cover more ground in a shorter amount of time, however they have a bit of start up and have 1 of 3 set distances, making their micro spacing potential slightly worse, they are however a fantastic option and have a very important place in footsies leo's perfect pivots are a great example(edited)
2.5 safe pokes: this is something that could or could not be counted in footsies, safe pokes in general are a great way to force options, so i'm including them here, however if you're poking you've probably already won neutral and they're in shield or got hit, m2 dtilt comes to mind when it comes to aplications
3: extended dash dancing: now this option is ok, it does however have the disadvantage of haveing a much longer range that it needs to operate, it is good beacause you're moving in andout of your opponene't range, however you'll be moving a lot and be in a vulnerable state without most of your options, which can be exploited by your opponent, it's usefulee, but is should not be the entirety of your footsies game, fatality usually uses them very well (but too much ) but seeing how melee players use  dash dancing is probably better (keeping in ming teir's is betrter as they have more options out of it and less lag)(edited)
4: actual dash dances: this is where you move your stick back and forth, it's basically the same as edd, however it has the benefit of having a much tighter range, these would be beter than edd if they had a slightly bigge range, hwoever they are too tight and predictable, their best use is when they are suplemented with edd, or as a big play in footsies, where you walk into a big (combo starter, kill move...) attack't range, instantly dash back and back in to punish the move coming out people don't use this much afaik, however i've seen esam and captain L do it in some games(edited)
4.5: dashing: dashing can be an useful option, since you keep some options open, and you move fairly fast, it is again most useful when combined with walking  and edd as it allows for you to quickly get out of hitbox ranges, never dash in outside of reads
5: hurtbox shifting: this is where attacks move your hurtbox out of the way, it's pretty useful with a read, outside of that, it loses usefulness, falcon fsmash and our side b are pretty good for this
6: jumping: this is, as most of the lower options of htis list, reserved for reads, jumping predictably in neutralis bad, it opens you up to getting antiaired, and limits your options, hoever with a read, or a reaction to something that will whiff on a jump it can be amazing (as a side note this option is much stronger in other  fighting games where you cannot be grabbed in the air)
7: spot dodges: they keep you in place and make you intangible, it's ok, however be careful as low commital options will beat it and if they read it it's got plenty of lag to punish, it is again saved for reads
8: shielding: the purpose of footsies, in general is to avoid this, shield has it's place, but when you hit it, you've generally lost the footsies game
9: rolling: similar to spot dodge, however it moves you out of the way, has it's uses, however it is laggier and does push you very far out, letting your oponent position themselves however they want
if you look carefully these are almost ordered by how much of a commitment they are
the good options pretty much are at least
so you want to use your options to move in and out of threat bubbles with different timings to try to force a whiff
then punish said whiff
all of out tools are decent
outside of us not having a godlike poke
you you won't be poking most likely
outside of maybe dsmash, it is however slow(edited)
playing footsies requires for you to know exactly what both caharcters can do
the nice thing about pit is if the character has short range you can keep them at dash attack range and move a bit, and you'll have the upper hand in footsies
dash attack having amazing range makes pit's footsies really powerful, as it allows for him to whiff punish at most ranges, and stay far otu of most opponent's big threatening options
footsies is really something you need to get a feel for
but if you watch ally compilations, or just seem him make someone look dumb
or attacks miss him by a pixel
that is a prime example of how powerful footsies is
knepsis - Yesterday at 1:00 PM
i do think that ally has the best footsies in smash 4
great player to watch if you like footsies
a decent way to learn how footsies work is playing sf
since the game is all about footsies
hope that clears up somethings