Are Pit and Pittoo viable, or are they really the Pits?
By Spike, Regular Contributor
Hey, welcome to the first of Spike’s Chalk Talks, a series where I’ll be looking at whether an amiibo is viable or not and how to train them, and simply writing out my thought process onto an article! This week, the Pits are the subject, but I’ll definitely go over a variety of characters, and maybe talk about some other amiibo-type stuff, so kick back, relax, and enjoy the show.
This Talk, I’ll be looking at the Pits. They have a very good forward smash, but they truly shine in the air. The issue? Amiibo don’t generally go in the air!
First, looking at why the Pits are considered to be fairly high tier. In a list that starts with S tier (not counting the banned amiibo), the Pits are generally considered to be A or A+. Their forward smash is fast and hits hard, and on top of that, it’s multi hit. Their down air offstage can seal stocks as early as 30-40%, and their forward and neutral aerials are enough to prevent opponents with subpar recoveries (Little Mac, I’m looking at you!) from returning to the stage even earlier. In fact, if an amiibo falls off the stage and a Pit forward airs them, they can die at 0%, which is kind of crazy.
The Pits can keep the opponent in the air with up and neutral air, send them flying offstage with forward air, do a few small combos (up tilt to up air, for instance), and easily kill with forward smash or an offstage down air. Ironically for a character with such an amazing air game, their up smash is an incredible ant-air move that kills pretty well at higher percentages. Down tilt works okay as an edgeguard, although down air offstage is better, but all in all the Pits don’t have many weaknesses.
On the flip side of the coin, the Pits don’t use their special moves well; they self destruct with Electroshock Arm (side special), they don’t use Guardian Orbitars (down special) correctly and seem to think that they shield landings, and they go to the extreme with their Arrows, either spamming them onstage or not using them at all. Down air also has a sourspot that send the opponent up instead of down, leading to your kill turning into a lifeline for the opponent.
Perhaps worse, the Pits want to fight in the air. Amiibo with strong up smash attacks (Link, Ness, King Dedede), strong up aerials (Zelda, King K Rool, Ridley), or strong homing projectiles (Ness, Lucas, Snake) all turn the Pits into fried chicken. (Are the Pits edible? Anyone who’s tried one, please let me know, and bring the seasoning.)
All in all, the Pits are fairly strong, but their weaknesses hold them back from being outstanding.
As for how to train the Pits, it’s tricky. I’m not notable with them, but trainer Moxievegas has accrued a few wins, and he wrote a guide, found in our Master List of Training guides over in the sidebar.
In essence, the Pits revolve around getting the opponent into the air and keeping them there. The differences between them are negligible, since the differing moves aren’t actually that good, but Dark Pit is slightly stronger than Pit, just because if he tosses out an Electroshock Arm randomly, it’s going to launch at a better angle.
While on the ground, the Pits should simply be using raw forward smash. A little up smash to catch landing opponents, maybe a little up tilt into up air if you’re feeling spicy, but mainly forward smash, since it’s just plain good.
Once the opponent is in the air, the objective is to send them either into the upper blast zone with up air or offstage with forward air. It’s really up to you which route you go, but I personally prefer the up air strategy, because forward smash will toss the opponent offstage anyway. I also support using up air on a lot of characters, just because amiibo are bad at avoiding up airs in general.
If the opponent is offstage, chase them down (Pits have a good recovery, so no worries there), and use down, neutral, or forward air. Really, just mix them up!
Well, that’s that. Never Stop Training seemed like a pretty bad catchphrase, and I need a new one for Chalk Talks anyway, so I really don’t know. Keep Smashing seems like a bad one as well, for multiple reasons. I’ll come up with one at some point, but for now, good-bye, don’t forget to check the site for the upcoming articles and Chalk Talks, and remember:
Amiibo Are Idiots (Yes? No? Too on point?)
-Spike
Amiibo Doctor 