General gameplan and tips

Do not jump in neutral vs. Palutena unless it's being used to punish her movement.

In neutral, try running underneath her jumps and hold shield. This is an attempt to make her mis-space aerials, so we can use up b.

If they space it well, our up b won't connect. However, many Palutena players will dash back (or jump back) after. This means we can either chase them with a grab, or a nair.

When they are at kill %, instead of grab or nair, we can dash -> ftilt for the kill.

Crouching in neutral can be really powerful, as it can make her fair, bair, grab, and dash attack all miss. Grab and dash attack hitting our crouch is inconsistent (depends on our animation hurtbox shifting).

Shield camping in neutral can work very well vs. many Palutena players. Run up -> shield all game.

If she uses down tilt on your shield point blank, you can drop shield -> dash attack or down tilt.

Situations to look out for

• When you're at kill % at a distance, often when in the air, Palutena will try using explosive flame (side b) for an early kill. They will try to use this to catch you using dair off stage, landing on stage with an aerial, etc.
• They will try to 2 frame you with down tilt at ledge into bair. Down tilt is active for 14 frames, so it's INCREDIBLY easy to 2 frame us. The downside of the move, is that it starts on frame 14, so they can't react to our up b. To avoid this situation, wait until you see down tilt start, then use up b. Be prepared to go super low, and air dodge to ledge if needed.
• If you preemptively up b past her down tilt, we can punish it with dair. Her down tilt is laggy.
• If we get hit by down tilt or down throw, DI AWAY so the back air won't connect. DI up and away might be better, untested.

Edge guarding / Ledge trapping

Typically, you'll want to throw bacon at her when she's off stage. Be careful of her using side b to hit you using chef, this can kill you.

When she's at kill %, you can start baiting her to teleport from a poor position by throwing only 1 bacon, then chasing her off stage with bair. The startup animation of her teleport has 15 frames where you can still hit her (1/4th of a second, or 250 milliseconds).

Disadvantage

• Make use of fast-fall neutral air dodge to avoid her up air trains.
• Don't burn your double jump when getting juggled!

Stage bans

• Town and City
• Kalos