Okies, I've found some new techniques for Ike, so here's the second version of my guide on using him in Brawl. With pictures this time! While he's not the greatest character out there and is rather slow, Ike comes with a lot of cool tactics and combos packed in him. Let's begin with his moveset, as always.
First is the moveset review, as usual.
Standard A: Punch left, kick right, swing Ragnell (Ike's awesome golden sword)
Up A: Ike swings Ragnell in an arch over his head
Side A: Ike swings Ragnell vertically in front of him
Down A: Ike swings Ragnell from side to side at the level of his feet
Standard Aerial: Ike swings Ragnell vertically with one hand
Forward Aerial: Ike swings Ragnell vertically with two hands
Up Aerial: Ike swings Ragnell in a circle over his head
Down Aerial: Ike swings Ragnell down between his legs
Back Aerial: Ike swiftly swings Ragnell horizontally behind him
Up Tilt: Ike holds Ragnell in a horizontal position above his head and strikes upward
Side Tilt: Ike swings Ragnell horizontally in front of him
Down Tilt: Similar to side tilt except Ike is kneeling
A Dash: Ike runs and swings Ragnell into his opponent
Grab: Headbutt (took me awhile to figure out what he did here, lol)
Up Throw: Ike throws his fists into his victim's gut and tosses them upward
Forward Throw: Ike kicks the opponent away from him
Back Throw: Ike kicks the opponent away behind him
Down Throw: Ike shoves his victim to the ground and jumps on them
Standard B: Eruption
Side B: Quick Draw
Up B: Aether (most epic move ever in FE, btw)
Down B: Counter
Final Smash: Great Aether
Now, as I stated at the top of the thread, Ike is not an easy character to use. He's difficult mainly due to his slow speed and the lag of some of his moves. The key to him is timing. TIMING. Remember that word when you play Ike. Timing his moves isn't like timing Luigi's Green Missile either. It's more difficult to do with Ike's A smashes, which are essential to being good with him.
People say you should use less A smashes with Ike, but this is not true. Ike's A smashes are among his most powerful moves, his side smash being the strongest of all his smashes. You'll want to learn to time it right because it's capable of KOing many opponents when they're below 60%. You'll best time it when you charge it and stop someone from recovering. I've actually done this to other Ikes as well as different characters too, come to think of it.
Charging it might seem like it'll make things worse, but when you look at it the right way, it actually helps when trying to land Ike's side smash, be it for stopping a recovery or something else. You'll have the best chance of this against characters without projectiles, but for characters that do have them, you'll want to stick with down A and up A for the majority of the time.
And speaking of those two, they're a pretty good team. Do one down A and then combo it with up A, Aether, and Eruption if you can. Some characters might get out of it, so be careful. It really depends on who you're facing. Another thing, charging helps time these moves as well, but it isn't always necessary, so don't make yourself vulnerable. And it's easy to make Ike vulnerable because of...yep, you guessed it. Laggy and slow moves.
Now I'll move on to Ike's aerials. He's better in the air than he is on the ground, I'll tell you that right now. The Back Aerial is VERY fast and you should practice with it. Up aerial is the strongest of Ike's aerials and is good for KOs. It also has a huge amount of range which makes it even better. Ike's down aerial is a very good meteor smash and is capable of dealing with even the heavy characters. Use it as a meteor smash with caution, however. If you miss, it will more than likely not be easy to recover back to the stage.
Ike's down tilt is also a meteor smash and I would say is a better choice than down aerial, but because it's harder to pull off, they're equal. Speaking of tilts, like Ike's up aerial, his up tilt is very good for KOs and has a great range. You can combo some A smashes with it as well. Ike's side tilt is also a good KOer and his A moves can be comboed with it.
Now we come to the B moves. Ike has awesome B moves, especially Aether. Aether and Quick Draw are obviously recovery moves, but Quick Draw is gimped easily by someone running into it and letting Ike fall to his doom. To prevent that, Counter the person's move and then use Quick Draw or Aether, whichever is best for the situation. I call this technique Counter Recovery. Don't forget this!
Aether is also a good edge guarder and in addition gives Ike super armor. That means he does not flinch if hit while using the move. Really helpful for evading some moves and even Final Smashes, like Marth's Critical Hit. Aether can also be comboed with Eruption, as I said before. Eruption is Ike's most powerful move, btw. I'll cover it next.
Eruption is important. Like stated, it's easily Ike's most powerful move. It is very devastating fully charged up. It's hard to pull it off that way, as even I have rarely landed charged Eruptions. To land charged hits, though, it can be done by edge guarding sometimes. Uncharged hits can be used in a number of combos, like the Aether + Eruption one, which also works in reverse sometimes.
Counter is also very important. It helps Ike deal with some projectiles and also some moves that are more ranged than his, such as Zamus's plasma laserbeam thing and Luigi's Green Missile. Quick Draw, like Ike's A moves, can be used well by timing the charges right. It's among the most laggy of Ike's moves, though, so you're gonna be in a mess if it misses. Be careful.
Last but not least, Ike's awesome
FS, Great Aether. It's a bit similar to Link's Triforce Slash, but the main difference is that Great Aether is firey and it can get more than one target. Great Aether's first hit range is quite large as well, so getting three people shouldn't be too difficult, depending on the stage. People can dodge it, though, so time your B button press right.
Combos and Techniques for Ike
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Counter Recovery: While away from the stage, if your opponent jumps to try to stop your Quick Draw before you start using it, use Counter instead to counter their attack and then recover with Quick Draw or Aether depending on which is best suited for the situation.
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Up Throw B Combo: Up throw + Aether + Eruption
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Quick Draw Cancel: Use Quick Draw and stop right in front of your opponent then use standard A moves.
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Quick Draw Cancel Counter: This technique is a special form of the Quick Draw Cancel that is best used against moves like Luigi's Green Missile and Pikachu's Skull Bash. After you use Quick Draw to get near your opponent, follow up with Counter to counter your opponent's attempt to punish Ike for the bad ending lag that Quick Draw normally has. I've tested this and it worked the first time.
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Jab Cancel: Hit A twice, crouch, repeat. Must be done quickly. Ike has one of the best Jab Cancels.
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Down n' Up Combo: Down aerial near the ground + up A. You can add Aether and Eruption on the end too, actually.
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Meteor Tilting: Position Ike at the edge of the stage and have him crouch while someone is below the edge. As they come up, use down tilt. It'll meteor them.
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Chain Tilting: Repeatedly use forward tilt on your opponent against a wall. All characters should be able to do this depending on how you use it.
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Counter Guard: Thanks to Kitsune, I just discovered Counter is a pretty good edge-guarder. Keep Ike at the edge of the stage and Counter your foe's recovery attack.
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Chaingrabbing: Ah, lots of people should know about this one. The character grabs and throws repeatedly. And yes, Ike can do it, but it's harder to do it with him than some characters. You have to be really fast with Ike and it's fortunate that his grabs have good range and are really quick. I assure you he can do it, as I have been practicing it. Ike does it best with his fthrow against Bowser and an infinite grab against Wario.
That's all for now. Time for Ike's difficult character match ups.
Falco: This guy is fast and can be a pain, especially with chaingrabs and stuff, so listen up. Keep your distance from this guy so you can land Ike's well ranged moves before Falco hits you. Counter the blue deflector things when Falco uses them. Block against those fast A moves and since repeatedly pressing A as Falco makes him lag a bit, you can now easily land a side smash after dodging. As for that chaingrabbing, I'd say your best bet is Aethering your way out or just completely dodging the first grab all together. 'The best thing Ike can do about the laser is just to block as many blasts as you can.
Luigi: Yup, just as Ike can be difficult for Luigi, Luigi can be difficult for Ike. Missing Ike's A moves and such can make him open to Luigi's Fire Jump Punching. Timing is very essential here. Don't use Quick Draw from afar, or Luigi can stop you with fireballs. Use it up close instead. Counter is good for Green Missile. Luigi is also pretty vulnerable to the Eruption + Aether combo, so use that too. Just keep him on the ground as much as possible because he's even more deadly in the air.
Meta Knight: Anybody will have trouble with this guy, believe me (I still do, in fact, but I know a few things). It's no wonder he's banned in Italy. Anyway, in this match up, Counter is your friend. It fares well against MK's tornado move and pretty much all the B moves. MK is too fast for Ike to dodge, so blocking is your answer to his A moves. Also, like Falco, this guy is a chaingrab whore, so dodge the first grab or Aether your way out. I'll be editing this section.
Snake: Projectile whore alert! Snake has more projectiles than any other character. And that means big trouble for poor Ike. However, if you alternate dodging and blocking correctly, he'll be just fine. Counter will work for some of the projectiles too, but not all. Watch out for Snake's mine trick too, because that gets really annoying. You have to keep your eye on him because of this. Another thing, since Snake's A moves aren't all that fast, dodge those and counterattack with A moves of your own. Keep him in the air as much as possible, because he'll be firing projectiles like crazy on the ground, even shooting them straight up.
Pikachu: Who'd think a puny electric mouse would give someone like Ike trouble? Ike has a pretty good advantage over Pikachu when it comes to Counter, though. He can easily gimp a lot of Pikachu's attacks with it, especially Thunder. Pikachu players are likely to use that one while Ike is high in the air so Counter is your answer. Counter fares well against Quick Attack as well. Pikachu's A moves are quite fast, block for these. His smash attacks can be a problem, so your best bet is to keep out of their range, especially considering that Ike's range prevails here as well. You won't have to worry much about Pikachu's Thunder Jolt while far away because it sucks in range, but up close he'll more than likely use it to get around Ike's range, so just dodge or block it. Watch out for Pikachu's Quick Attack cancel as well, as good Pikachu players will use it as a hit and run to cause Counter to miss. Blocking it is Ike's best bet in this situation.
There you have it. If anyone wants me to add anything, just say so. :]
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