by: RAPJM
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Howdy, I’m RAPJM and today I’ll be talking about the Ice Climbers amiibo. I’ve been labbing desync Ice Climbers for a while. I have trained about 25 bins and have learned a lot about them. I have earned good results and have one of the best Ice Climbers amiibo on Amiibots.
AI Issues
It’s well known that the Ice Climbers aren’t the smartest amiibo. They’re known to SD pretty often.
They don’t always recover correctly. For example, they’ll recover high with Side Special and not recover when they could have recovered by simply aerial drifting or using Up Special.
Side Special can make them SD by beginning the move onstage, which carries them offstage. After they cross the ledge and the move duration ends, they become helpless and fall off the stage.
The AI doesn’t always see Nana (the CPU-controlled Climber) and that can also cause them to SD on accident.
Overall Playstyle
The Ice Climbers amiibo should stay grounded as much as possible, but should be ready to Up Air juggle the opponent if the opponent is airborne.
They should Dash attack to approach the opponent on stage, Down Tilt/Forward Smash when up close, and Grab the opponent at point-blank range. Up Tilt and Up Smash are your anti air options when on the stage.
How to Train the Ice Climbers Amiibo in Smash Ultimate
I mainly used Grab, Forward Smash, Down Tilt. I used a lot of Grab but no Dash grab. They’ll try to grab, but will whiff it.
When I used grab, I made sure to keep Popo as the player character and Nana as the CPU. I chose this setup because it allowed me to train the following combos:
Combos
At low percents, I used Down Throw > Nana’s Side Special > Popo’s Grab > Nana’s Side Special > Popo’s Grab (Please reference The Ice Climbers Desync Combo Guide for further information.).
At high percents, I used Down Throw > Up Air.
Here’s some other combos that the Ice Climbers amiibo can do:
- Down Throw > Nana’s Side Special > Popo’s Neutral Air > Grab
which can lead to the same combo.
- Down Throw > Nana’s Side B > Popo’s Neutral Air > Forward Smash
- Up Throw > Nana’s charged Up Smash > Popo’s Forward Smash
- Back/Forward Throw > Ice Block
This is nothing crazy I’ve discovered but you can teach them Cheer Cancel. I’ve tried to teach them Cheer Cancel > Forward Smash but nothing yet. The most I’ve seen is Cheer Cancel > Down Special.
Down Tilt sends at a nasty angle and is fast. The move can be followed up to a Dash attack, Ice Block, or Grab (rarely works).
I also recommend Down Special which does a lot of damage and can stop projectiles. It’s a multi-hit that sets up for anti air. It has follow-ups to Down Tilt (occasionally works), Forward Smash, Aerial Down Special, or Dash grab.
Use a lot of Dash attack as well because it sets up for more Up Airs/anti airs. It’s a kill confirm and an approach option.
I used some Neutral Special at a distance. It makes the opponent jump, and at higher percentages, freeze.
In order of importance, focus on:
- Up Air juggles – they’re actually insane! It kills and combos into itself.
- Up Smash – it’s good, even on the ground. React to rolls with that.
- Up Tilt – it can chain into Up Air and on occasion desync Up Smash. Use desync Up Tilt to Up Smash.
- Down Smash – it’s optional but kind of gets out-classed by other moves. However, I do recommend throwing it in some of the time.
Also, Parry a lot; this helps them in several match ups, and is generally the most consistent defensive option.
Why It Works
Ice Climbers together have a lot of multi-hits that are able to deal with Parry, which is the most common defensive measure in amiibo training. Moves like Down Tilt can gimp some recoveries and Forward Smash can kill. Grab goes through Shield and can do some sick combos that create a lot of headway on the opponent. Dash attack and Up Tilt set up for some devastating juggling that can kill insanely early.
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