Having control of and getting the most out of your movement is key to Smash Bros. and the techniques we'll be going over in this post are pivotal to extending your punish game and expanding your neutral.

All of the examples are in gif format and you can slow down the videos to get an even better idea of what the inputs are. Here is the Default layout we're using:

Reverse Aerial Rush (RAR)

The basics of this technique are fairly straight forward. In your run animation you can press back to start a turnaround, and during this turn you can press Jump to have your back going in the direction of your momentum.

 

Run Forward > Press and Hold Back then Press Jump right after > Release Back and Hold Forward to maintain your momentum.

 

Instant Reverse Aerial Rush (iRAR)

Same idea as RAR, with slight differences. iRAR is meant to be done during the Dash animation (hence the "instant" name), and you have to press back and jump at the same time.

Dash Forward > Press Back and Jump at the same time > Release Back and Hold Forward to maintain your momentum. 

Pivot Cancel

Pivot Cancel works under the same idea as RAR, using the turnaround animation during a Run. When you do a Tilt attack (or even some item throws) right after you start the turnaround animation you get a burst of momentum in the direction you started running.

Note: This technique is sometimes referred as Reverse Ground Rush (RGR) 

Here we're showcasing the basics of it with Tilt Stick:
Run Forward > Press Back > C-Stick Forward

Pivot Cancel with Tilt 1

You can also use Tilt modifiers instead of Tilt Stick to get the same momentum. In fact we recommend using Tilt modifiers because it makes it much easier to activate angled Forward Tilts.

Pivot Cancel F-Tilt examples in gif above:
Down-angled: Run Forward > Press Back > Tilt 1 + Down-Forward + A
Regular: Run Forward > Press Back > Tilt 1 + Forward + A
Up-angled: Run Forward > Press Back > Tilt 1 + Up-Forward + A 

Note: You can do F-Tilt backward as well, just hold Back + Tilt 1 + A. This works for the angled versions too. 

Pivot Cancel with Tilt 2

With Tilt 2, instead of getting angled F-Tilts with ordinal inputs you will get turnaround Up and Down Tilts. This allows you to consistently do something that is very difficult to do on stock controllers: forward facing Pivot Canceled Up and Down Tilts.

Tilt 2 Pivot Cancel examples in gif above:
Forward Facing D-Tilt: Run Forward > Press Back > Tilt 2 + Down-Forward + A
F-Tilt: Run Forward > Press Back > Tilt 2 + Forward + A
Forward Facing U-Tilt: Run Forward > Press Back > Tilt 2 + Up-Forward + A
Backward U-Tilt: Run Forward > Press and Hold Back > Tilt 2 + Up + A
Backward D-Tilt: Run Forward > Press and Hold Back > Tilt 2 + Down + A

For most characters, these techniques are very useful. Remember, practice makes perfect, and, if you have any questions, be sure to stop by the #smash-ultimate channel in our Discord.