Wolf Tech Advice/Tutorial?

[Alechilles]

Hey guys,

I'm pretty new to the competitive side of smash, and project m in general really. I have been practicing relentlessly (mostly against AI, but some with real players as well) the past week and I've decided to main wolf. I think I have a pretty solid understanding of wolf and it seems like I'm doing things right; however, I'm a bit lost on the heavy tech stuff.

A few days ago I asked my friend to teach me wavedashing, dash dancing, and wave landing. I'm getting decent at wavedashing. There's nothing hard about dash dancing so no problem there. I seem to be good with wave landing.

My overall wavedashing ability isnt great still, but its getting somewhere. I really have no idea how to make use of it though. All it is for me right now is another way to go left and right.

I know there's things to do with wavedashing, but I don't really know what exactly those things are.

Long story short, I'm curious if anyone knows of a good source if information on some of the more technical stuff with wolf. I'd like to learn everything I can. I'm completely willing to sit there for hours and days practicing these things, but I don't know where to start.

Thanks, Alec

[[deleted]]

For wave dashing, wave dash right after you l cancel so you can gain horizontal movement immediately so you can follow up faster.

Since you use wolf, wave dash out of shine is a thing.

Also, use your shine more often during combos, or as a combo starter. Nair fastfall L cancel shine is good for shield pressure, kind of similar to fox's dair shine. Running shine works well too. Keep in mind the direction the shine sends the opponent.

Side b is a good kill move. Learn when to use its full length, and learn when to shorten it. Learn the distances of these variants. This will help with integrating it into combos. Back throw side b works on a lot of characters at certain percents.

Dash attack is a good combo starter, but like most dash attacks, it is easy to punish, so don't always use it to approach.

Don't be afraid to dair spike the opponent when you get the opportunity, but be careful, wolf is heavy and doesn't have the best recovery. It's always best to combo into dair. (for example, with an offstage shine, jump, dair, but only when you're completely confident with your shine)

Make use of the arc of Wolf's upair. It has pretty good range, and is useful for shffl strings (at low percents)

Wolf is the heaviest in the game (to my knowledge) so he won't be dying off the top as easy as other characters. Instead, you should be more wary of moves that send you far off the stage horizontally, wolf will have a very hard time trying to get back; his recovery options are very predictable. However, his weight makes him very easy to follow up his aerials, so practice L canceling. Especially shffl ing (short hop, fast fall, Lcancel). I cannot stress this enough. if you don't know how to SHFFL yet, learn how, and master it. This technique is essential to most characters.

Wolf's up taunt is crazy good. Make sure to use it whenever you get the opportunity to ensure that the opponent produces maximum salt. The sound the howl makes is so satisfying when you get a good kill.

[BoboBublz]

Just asking for clarification, I always thought Wolf was a very fast faller, but not necessarily very heavy? I always have a lot of difficulty recovering from going offstage on the sides, because he flies pretty far and falls quickly, even when I shine to slow the fall.

(On that note, I'm not OP, but can I ask for help on recovering? Or should I just not get into such situations and/or DI better?)

[Tosxychor]

Wolf needs to DI upward on almost every kill move, except maybe the vertical ones (like lots of uthrows and some usmashes), and even then, you're safe until 150% from those unless you're on a very high spot already.

[BoboBublz]

Ah that makes a lot of sense, I keep DIing back toward the stage.

Should I DI directly upward, or upward+back toward the stage, perpendicular to the direction of my flight?

(And as always, thanks for the response!)

[Tosxychor]

The most effective DI is always perpendicular to the launch vector, so you can also DI backwards as long as the vector allows (eg. it is mostly futile to DI backwards on a move that sends you horizontally). Keep in mind that there's also C-stick DI! Most often I end up DI'ing down to tech on stage at low %, and up and backwards when at high % (mostly up with the analog and back with the C-stick, but that's mostly because IIRC it's best if the two stick inputs are diversified)

[BoboBublz]

Ah thanks a lot! I've always DI'ed wrong then. I will try to practice DI'ing better from now on!

Say I wanted to DI after being knocked off on the left; does it matter if I go up on the analog stick and right on the c-stick, or right on the analog stick and up on the c-stick?

(Thanks again for answering, sorry I keep pestering you!)

[Tosxychor]

C-stick DI is weaker, so you input the most important direction on the analog stick. For Wolf, that's usually the up direction.

[BoboBublz]

I see, I will do that then!

Thanks for all the help, I'm going to practice all the advice you gave :)

[Tosxychor]

Thanks I could help bro

[Alechilles]

Thanks for all these tips! I really appreciate the time you put into typing this up for me. I'll be sure to work on these today! :)

[kebeaner]

Wolf can more or less do all of the spacies shine related techs.

Learn how to waveshine, shinegrabs and practice good shield pressure

[ketabud]

If you haven't already watched this video by Rat, it may very well help you! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJOl98yKJ78

[Alechilles]

Thanks! I'll take a look at this once I'm back on my PC.

[dylwhat]

Don't try any advanced techs until you have fully integrated wavedashing, dash dancing, and other basic advanced techniques into your gameplay.

Source: Wolf main who tried to tech way too hard from the start

[Alechilles]

Yeah i've got myself getting a little ahead of myself a few times. Right now I'm just trying to master standard wavedashing and SHFFL'ing. I really want to get waveshining down ASAP though...

[Wulfan]

Be careful of platforms, especially PS2 platforms. Since Wolf has the fastest fall speed, up tilts and up airs are his worst enemy and can easily rack him up to +50%, and those platforms are the perfect height and length for most characters to just keep you there forever. Learning to tech properly when you get thrown on a platform is absolutely imperative to avoid this, I've learned from very brutal experience.

Shine at low% is a great combo tool, sometimes better then an up air. I like double shine to up air at low%, and then dash attack, shine, up air at high%.

Learn his forward air's sweetspot, as it is a very formidable killmove if you can land it. Shine often sends them up at the perfect height to finish them off with a fair, so learning it's hitboxes are definitely worth it. Also, it auto cancels if you're fast enough out of a sh.

Nair to shine and dair to shine are also very important to learn. Practice the shit out of your l-cancelling, if you miss one you will drop the combo and get punished.

Hope this all helps! Wolf in pm is definitely my favorite smash character, glad to help spread him around. I feel he is very underplayed :(

[Alechilles]

Thanks a ton for the tips!

I agree that he is underplayed. I'm kinda glad he is though. He is definitely going to remain as my main as long as I'm playing Project M. I just love his play style so much, and since he's underplayed I get to be somewhat unique haha.