Marth killer
The Marth killer is an advanced technique in Super Smash Bros. Melee used for edgehogging (as well as edgeguarding) certain characters with linear recoveries during their edge sweet spot, most notably Marth (hence its name). It is typically performed by rolling once to the very edge of the stage, lightshielding, and angling the shield down and away from the stage. Upon the shield being hit by the recovering character's up special (or recovery move), the shielding character may then quickly slide off the stage and instantly grab the edge before the recovering character can, resulting in an instant, successful edgehog.
The reason the Marth killer works is that players can ASDI during shieldstun.[1] Therefore, contrarily to popular belief, it doesn't matter which part of one's shield Marth's sword hits, as the shielding player will perform a Marth killer nonetheless. It is especially effective on Marth, given the lack of multi-hits on his Dolphin Slash, as well as the hitbox placements; when the same technique is attempted on characters who do have multi-hit properties on their up specials, or particularly powerful up special attacks, the character who is performing the Marth killer may be hit, instead of snapping to the ledge.
The common counter-strategy to a Marth killer is for the victim to recover higher than the ledge, instead of aiming for the sweetspot, while also narrowly avoiding attacking the opponents lightshield. If close enough to the ledge, a potential victim may also be able to air dodge to recover, avoiding the technique. While it can be easy to punish Marth, or the other potential victims of this technique during the ending lag after their recovery move, it is generally a bad idea to let them touch the ground, since this gives them a chance to recover again. Opponents who recover can then also potentially ASDI down, which reduces the player's odds of getting a follow-up KO (such as in an "Amsah tech"). Thus, while doing a Marth killer every time can set up for a free follow-up hit, this would still be less rewarding than choosing a somewhat riskier option that can more reliably guarantee KOing Marth, such as an aerial edgeguard, or a shine spike.
Here is a list of some of the characters against whom one can potentially utilize a "Marth killer":
- Marth (Dolphin Slash)
- Link (Spin Attack)
- Young Link (Spin Attack)
- Roy (Blazer)
- Peach (Peach Parasol)
- Luigi (Super Jump Punch) (Luigi Cyclone) (Fireball)
