Needle Boosting

With the worst airspeed in the game, Ranno can struggle to close gaps in the air. However, we can remedy this with a technique called needle boosting. If timed correctly, inputting needles right as Ranno moves off a ledge will shoot you flying forwards with a burst of speed.

How it Works Copied to clipboard

What you’re doing with this tech is using needles to translate your grounded momentum into aerial momentum. As such, the rule of thumb is: the closer you input needles to the point where you leave the edge, the more momentum you will conserve, resulting in a needle boost that travels farther and faster. Of course, the inverse will also affect how your needle boost will look. You can still get a needle boost if the needle input itself is slightly off; it just won’t go as far nor will it travel as quickly. Likewise, if you aren’t moving off of an edge with much momentum, there won’t be much momentum to translate into air speed even if the needle input was timed well.

Needle boosting works best when it’s done within 3 frames of leaving the edge. That may sound like a tight window to hit consistently, but it’s easier to implement than you may think since all you’re doing is adding one special input to the end of common movement options.

The method of moving off of the edge doesn’t matter, you can dash, wavedash, moonwalk, etc. If you were on the ground before leaving via an edge, you can needle boost off of it. However, it’s often most prominent with Ranno’s extremely quick initial dash.

Practice Copied to clipboard

The easiest setup you can use to start learning how to needle boost is to first roll to an edge, leaving you in the same spot for a consistent practice timing. From here, quickly tap your stick to move off the edge then immediately input needles.

Troubleshooting Copied to clipboard

• If you are still standing at the edge and just charging needles in place, you input needles too early.
• If you fall off the edge and go straight down while charging needles, you input needles too late.
• If you are getting a needle boost but it’s not going very far, that’s also due to a late button press.
• If you get Side Special / tongue at any point, you didn’t return your stick to neutral fast enough.

Missing a needle boost in a real match doesn’t have to be the end of the world. If you’re too early with your needle input, the worst that will happen is that you will be in a little bit of lag from canceling needle charge/throw and you’ll reset neutral. Either way, you’re still not in a terrible position as you can still threaten jump needles or any of Ranno’s excellent platdrop options.

Next Steps Copied to clipboard

Once you’re comfortable with doing the roll method, you can try to get needle boosts that start from different distances from the edge or try buffering it out of other actions like hitting an attack. Sweetspot Bair, Nair, and non-spike Fair are common moves to needle boost after.

You can also start adding variations to the needle boost itself. You can needle boost backwards by using backwards wavedashes, moonwalks, or by using needle turnarounds mid boost.

The goal is to develop an intuition on when to press needles no matter how far from an edge you are. This intuition will help when implementing the tech with other movement options as well as finding new opportunities to needle boost, such as being able to immediately needle boost after wavelanding on platforms above you.

Application Copied to clipboard

Most of the time, you’ll probably be needle boosting as a part of a read and/or as a part of a combo ender, whether that’s calling out someone’s DI or recovery route in an edgeguard or making a callout on their position or movement on stage.

You can present a lot of different options out of your needle boost. It’s up to you to decide which aerials you want to do out of it, whether you want to throw the needles or cancel the charge, or even use tongue, Down Special floats, or wavelands to end your boost early in order to create baits and keep your movement unpredictable.

As an edgeguarding tool, offstage needle boost can force 50/50s between calling out an immediate recovery with a hitbox vs. burning a resource like double jump or airdodge immediately. The more resources the opponent lacks offstage, the harder it’ll be to dodge or challenge an incoming needleboost.

It also compliments Ranno’s platform tech chasing extremely well since you can use a needle boost to quickly go from platform to platform.

Or overshoot from a platform to catch dashbacks and other defensive movement.

Note: While needle boosting is a strong option, it can be a high risk, high reward one. For example, whiffing a needle boost offstage edgeguard can force you to burn resources doing a low recovery; the safer option is to stay on stage and charge needles. It’s up to the Ranno player to be decisive and gauge the risk/reward when it comes to implementing needle boosts into their gameplan.

Bonus: Rock Skipping Copied to clipboard

You can also needle boost off of another needle boost. This is called rock skipping and is only applicable on certain stages like tower of heaven and aethereal gates where you are able to line up a well timed needle boost off of a higher plat onto a lower one or the stage’s ledge.

And that’s needle boosting, get in the lab and get zoomin