Niche Applications of Clone

These situational tactics are meant for players who are already proficient at using Forsburn’s clone, so if you have not already learned to regularly implement cloning for recovery, stalling in the air, and as an edgeguarding tool, then I would recommend that you master those techniques before learning these. With that being said, let’s begin!

Clone > Up Strong Copied to clipboard

Up Strong 2 is Forsburn’s strongest grounded move, but landing it for a kill can be inconsistent at times. Loathe though I am to admit it, there is some truth to the common Forsburn joke “Upcape is RNG” since in most cases the opponent can easily fall out of the first hit of Up Strong by DIing in front of Forsburn (away from the dagger). However, this Clone > Up Strong setup is fairly effective at mixing up the opponent’s DI to make the second hit of Up Strong connect. Here is the setup in action:

The key to this setup is allowing the clone to move to the other side of your opponent and then popping the opponent towards yourself. Usually when I execute this setup, it’s after I have hit the opponent to the edge and they’re coming back onstage. When the clone hits them, they’re almost always holding in to some degree because they want to get onstage/closer to center stage — if you are facing your opponent with Up Strong then this means they will conveniently be DIing towards the dagger as shown from the DI lines here:

This DI mixup is most effective near the edge when the opponent wants to get back onstage. However, even in the middle of the stage this setup is still difficult to DI correctly since the opponent often isn’t prepared to correctly DI both the clone and the Up Strong. Additionally, the first/back hitbox of Upcape is a true link into the dagger hit so if you’re fortunate enough for the clone pop to send the opponent into that hitbox then you’ve got an easy confirm.

This is one of my favorite kill setups and I use it quite a bit due to all the reasons listed above. It takes some experimentation to get under your belt, but is fairly easy to execute once learned and is very rewarding at low risk of overextending. Upcape may be RNG (personally I still don’t buy it), but this setup definitely helps to load it in your favor.

Clone Walling Copied to clipboard

I’m sure that most Forsburns do this inadvertently at times, but clone walling is something that I have implemented in my play against certain characters that like to mindlessly throw out or approach with projectiles. Clone walling is simply cloning away from your opponent (so the clone is closer to your opponent) and then running in behind it with a move. If you know that the opponent likes to throw out projectiles willy nilly, this is a great way to approach them with relative safety and catch them by surprise or catch them in their endlag.

In this clip, Ranno began the game by charging needles and fired them when he saw me approaching. With clone walling, however, I was able to catch him by surprise and approach unhindered by the projectiles.

This tech won’t do your taxes for you, and it’s not going to work consistently once your opponent figures out what you’re doing, but in a game where each neutral win can lead to a precious combo or stock, this is a great mixup from simply parrying the projectile that can get you that extra neutral win. Below is a particularly deceptive example of this tech — this one worked well because the clone spawned behind my smoke, so I had an additional element of surprise when clone walling in this situation, and it got me the stock.

Projectiles this works against:

• Zetterburn’s fireball
• Absa’s Ftilt2
• Elliana’s missiles
• Ori’s light orb
• Ranno’s needles
• Pomme’s notes
• Olympia’s gem
• Hodan’s spirits/whirls

Clone walling can also be used defensively against Shovel Knight’s SideB and Wrastor’s DownB since they have hit detection and stop as soon as they hit something. In both of these cases, it’s fairly difficult to convert the clone wall into a neutral win, but it at least prevents you from getting hit.

Kragg’s rock is not on the list above because it stays active until it touches the ground after hitting the clone. Clone walling can stop the rock from hitting you on the initial throw, but be careful about running in directly behind the clone lest you get hit while the rock is still falling. Mollo’s bombs are a similar story.

Clone Tech Chasing Copied to clipboard

If you’re like me and have an average (at best) reaction time and consistently tech chasing is difficult, then this technique is for you. Forsburn has a lot of bread and butter combos to get the opponent from low to mid percents, but the opponent will typically start getting more chances to DI out and tech to escape your combos as they get to mid percents. Since the clone’s AI is programmed to always follow the opponent (unless you’re a maniac and press the Special button again), it has an essentially perfect reaction time and can do the tech chasing for you:

In this case the clone didn’t have to move since the opponent rolled in, but it’s pretty easy to see that the clone would’ve been able to chase on any DI and tech option for a reliable follow-up.

Sometimes the opponent will be able to DI hard out and escape the combo if they have enough room on the stage, but the clone charging at them will still help you press your advantage state despite not having a guaranteed follow-up.

Note: This technique should only be used at mid percents. At low percents, you should be going for different combo options and likely won’t have time to get the clone out mid-combo. At high percents, the opponent will be sent offstage or too far away for the clone to be meaningful.

Boosted Clone Copied to clipboard

As we all know, ledgeboosting is an essential movement option for Forsburn. The extra speed gained from ledgeboosting as opposed to simply running or wavedashing is very significant. Giving this boost to your clones by spawning them right next to the edge of a platform so that they boost off is a nice way to give a slight mixup to what is ordinarily a rather straightforward AI.

Many platforms have a short enough width that your clones will ledgeboost automatically, but learning to space your clones when on platforms so that they ledgeboost is a good habit to get into to give your opponents as little time to react as possible.

Additionally, if the opponent is detected to be higher on the stage than the clone, it will perform a ledgeboosted jump.

Making your clone extra speedy in this way will help keep your opponent on their toes because it looks more life-like and it gives them less time to react than a regular clone running along the ground. See non-boosted clone for comparison:

In my opinion, clone is very underutilized by a lot of players so hopefully these four clone tricks will help you up your clone game or even come up with your own applications for Forsburn’s trickiest move!