By far the hardest part about Nigel is learning how to start a combo chain, not because its mechanically intensive... more so as his lack of approaching tools and shield pressure make him vulnerable to punishes when trying to do so, plus his light-weightiness leaves no room for mistakes. This factor means good neutral skills are required to perform on Nigel. Some tips to overcome this weakness are the following:
* PLACEHOLDER
* PLACEHOLDER
'''* USE NIGEL'S MULTI-JUMPS:''' A common tactic used in neutral is to not immediately approach an opponent when going into them, normally done by jumping. This acts as a bait to make the opponent whiff a punish move, which gives you a window to punish/start a combo. Nigel can do 5 jumps before having to touch the ground, giving him an edge with the mind games.
'''* USE NIGEL'S MOBILITY TOOLS:''' These moves can catch opponents off-guard when mixed in with your approaches, just be careful not to spam them or you'll become predictable.
'''* HIDE NIGEL'S GRAB:''' Some moves like Back Air can have their end-lag cancelled just by touching the ground, this is helpful against opponents who like to spam shield as you could use those moves to pretend you'll hit the opponent when shielding, but instead, you land on the ground just barely not touching the shield and run for a grab. This is not only a quick setup, but also can confuse the enemy into keeping their shield on.
'''* USE NAIR/GRAB OOS (Out of Shield):''' Nigel's Nair and grab are very quick and can defeat a lot of move's. Ideally you would just grab after your shield gets touched but in the case of them not being in grab range, you can short-hop Nair for the punish (and Nair is a very good tool to start combo's with Nigel as well).
'''* SPACE YOUR OPPONENTS:''' Even though this is a universal thing within NASB 2, its pretty mandatory on Nigel. The good news is that he also has en edge with his good air mobility, allowing you to dodge moves easily on the air and not being reliant only on wave-dashing/running behind.
A smashing nature narrator with an appetite for adventure!
Playstyle
Due to his lightweight yet high damage potential, Nigel falls under the glass cannon archetype (particularly in bursting). He excels at hitting opponents in the air while at the same time being good at moving in it.
Nigel also has a lot of moves that can either be spammed (Nair, Bair, etc.) or kill opponents early with the proper setups (Supair, Down special, etc).
Nigel throws an uppercut, which sends opponents upwards.
Single hit type of jab.
What's over there? Forward+Light
"Hello!"
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
8%
7
8-13
33
-0
Nigel looks at you closely with his binoculars, hitting opponents away from him.
Fly Clap Up+Light
"Got it"
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
7%
7
8-11
31
-0
Nigel claps his hands in an attempt to kill a mosquito, any accidental casualties are sent upwards
Scorpion Sting Down+Light
"Thrash!"
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
8%
8
9-16
38
-0
Nigel takes the stance of the scorpion to sting any opponents approaching him.
On Frame 10-12, the sweet spot appears a little behind Nigel's stinging foot. Landing it will instead cause the opponent to take to 10% damage and obtain a poison effect that deals 10% damage overtime
Crocodile Wrangling Light (Running)
"Make way!"
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
11%
10
11-26
49
-0
Nigel summons a crocodile and runs over opponents by riding it.
On Frame 11-13, a sweet spot is active on the crocodile's head that can hit below the stage and deals 14% damage
Air Light Attacks
Flying Squirrel Slam Light (Airborne)
"Haiyah!"
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
7%
5
6-30
42
-0
Nigel slams his body against enemies with the flying squirrel stance.
On Frame 6-7, a sweet spot covers most of Nigel's body and deals 11% damage instead
The sour spot follows Nigel's body till frame 30.
Woodpecker Rage Forward+Light (Airborne)
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
2%
6
7-24, 28-29
41
-0
Nigel takes the stance of the woodpecker and pecks opponents with his pointy nose.
Nigel attacks 4 times during the active frames that have very little knock-back
On Frame 28-29, a sweet spot activates that deals 4% damage with decent knock-back. Land all the multi hit attacks to deal a total of 12%
Frog Back Kick Back+Light (Airborne)
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
13%
8
9-13
41
-0
Nigel stretches his legs with the power of a frog, kicking any opponents away from him.
On frame 12-13, the hitbox is replaced with a sour spot that deals 8% damage and has its knock-back greatly reduced
This makes Nigel face the other way when used.
You can cancel the end-lag of this move by landing on the ground without hitting any opponents
Elephant Trunk Up+Light (Airborne)
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
9%
6
7-18
40
-0
Nigel imitates an elephant trunk swing with his arms
The position of the swinging arm will affect knock back direction
If you input this move while jumping on the air at the same time, Nigel will gain more air height compared to a normal jump.
Wolf Claw Down+Light (Airborne)
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
7%
11
12-14, 17-18
45
-0
Nigel claws enemies below him with the technique of the wolf.
On the second set of active frames, A sweet spot activates on Nigel's second hand that he swings, dealing 9% Damage and spikes opponents
The arm Nigel swings first depends on the direction he is facing (If he is facing West, he'll swing his left arm first , if he faces east then he'll swing his right arm first)
This move can hit twice if you position yourself correctly
Ground Strong Attacks
Kangaroo One Two Strong
"One, two!"
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
16%
11
12-14,19-21
45
-0
Nigel punches enemies away with the strength of a kangaroo, represented by the boxing gloves
First active hitbox deals 4% while the second one deals 12% with great knock-back
If you land the first hitbox too close to you, the second one will miss.
Tea time! Up+Strong
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
15%
11
12-16
46
-0
Nigel Uppercuts any opponents interrupting his teatime, using his tea cup.
Ostrich Bury Down+Strong
"Hmph!"
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
14%
7
8-10
48
-0
Nigel smashes his head through the ground so hard; it damages enemies, just like an ostrich.
The sweet spot is located in Nigel's head, it spikes opponents and can go through the stage
Each side next to Nigel's head there is one small sour spot that if landed, deals 12% and knocks enemies away
Air Strong Attacks
Snake bite Strong (Airborne)
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
10%
10
11-12
42
-0
Nigel turns his arm into a poisonous snake, which attempts to bite opponents.
Theres a sweet spot located on top of Nigel's hand, if landed it will apply a poison effect to the opponent that deals 10 damage overtime and greatly increases the knock-back of the move
Giraffe Neck Up+Strong (Airborne)
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
14%
9
10-11,18-20
46
-0
Nigel stretches his neck like a giraffe and then swings it around.
Nigel stalls in the air while he is swinging his head.
The first hitbox sends opponents upwards but with a weak knock-back, the second has great knock-back but send opponents horizontally in the direction Nigel is facing
If you position yourself correctly, you can hit both hitboxes to double the damage and increase the knock-back.
Falcon Dive Down+Strong (Airborne)
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
12%
13
14-36
60
-0
Nigel glides through the air using the falcon’s dive stance.
After frame 19 of this move, the hitbox turns sour and deals 9% damage instead.
Nigel stalls in the air while charging this move.
If Nigel touches the ground while this move is active, he will cancel it and get 26 frames of end-lag while moving fowards due to the momentum.
Special Attacks
Bull Stampede Special
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
12%-26% (depending on charge)
20
21-45
76
-0
Nigel charges forwards with the strength of a bull, knocking back anyone who gets in his way.
Charge this move to make it stronger and faster.
Takes about 3 seconds to fully charge the move.
Nigel can begin charging the move in the air.
Nigel can move while charging if he is in the air.
Nigel obtains armor when the charge is released.
If there's a wall in Nigel's path, his momentum will be reversed gradually when he collides with it (like the ledge for example)
You can cancel the move early by inputting special again after releasing the charge
This move will go through shields if the lower half of Nigel's body touches it
EX VERSION
Time to fully charge the move gets halved
Damage is capped at 12%
Any opponents hit will float in front of Nigel briefly instead of being sent flying away
Gorilla Double Punch Forward+Special
"Oog, Oog!"
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
8%
14
15-30
46
-0
Nigel punches forwards like a mighty gorilla!
If you land the first hit and Nigel is on the ground, press Special Forward again for an uppercut.
Second uppercut deals 7% damage and stalls Nigel on the air briefly
Can only be used once in the air until Nigel touches the ground.
EX VERSION
Knock-back and distance is increased
Second uppercut can be inputted regardless of you hitting an opponent or not (but Nigel still needs to be on the ground)
Smashing! Down+Special
"That was smashing!"
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
20%
2
3-4
124
-0
Nigel snaps his fingers and laughs. Land the snap on an opponent for a marvelous attack.
The hitbox is not really on Nigel's fingers, but more right above his chest, making this move most likely to connect on a juggled opponent. Since it's also tiny, this makes the ground version dangerously easy to low profile.
While Nigel is laughing, you cannot control him.
If you land the move, you can cancel the endlag (Nigel's Laugh) (you can also cancel the laugh by getting hit by an opponent)
EX VERSION
Hitbox becomes massive, covering Nigel's body and more
Damage reduced to 16%
Knock-back greatly reduced
Nigel's laugh can be cancelled regardless of you hitting this move or not
Whale Crash Up+Special
"Look, Mumsy, I'm a whale."
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
7%
40
Depends on airtime, 1-6 (when landing)
On average 84
-0
Nigel launches himself up into the air and then crashes down with the weight of a whale.
A hitbox appears on Nigel's body when he crashes down that lasts until he lands on the ground.
Nigel cannot slime cancel the move once the hitbox is created (but regains the ability to do so once he lands on the ground).
EX VERSION
Nigel gains more height but comes down crashing faster
On frames 31-40, a sweet spot appears that when landed, spikes enemies and deals 8% damage
Super
The Great Giant Elephant Slime+Light
"Marvelous... The great giant elephant!"
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
40%
23
24-25
124
-0
Nigel observes the great giant elephant squishing the opponents.
The end-lag stalls Nigel in the air.
Taunts
Nigel's thing with his hands Taunt
"I'll do this with my hands!"
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
-
-
-
64
-0
Nigel does his thing with his hands.
Nigel's Laugh Down+Taunt
"Buahaha!"
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
-
-
-
98
-0
Nigel laughs at the opponent.
Defense stance. Up+Taunt
Damage
Startup
Active Frames
Total Frames
Safety
-
-
-
54
-0
Nigel strikes his menacing pose.
Strategy
By far the hardest part about Nigel is learning how to start a combo chain, not because its mechanically intensive... more so as his lack of approaching tools and shield pressure make him vulnerable to punishes when trying to do so, plus his light-weightiness leaves no room for mistakes. This factor means good neutral skills are required to perform on Nigel. Some tips to overcome this weakness are the following:
* USE NIGEL'S MULTI-JUMPS: A common tactic used in neutral is to not immediately approach an opponent when going into them, normally done by jumping. This acts as a bait to make the opponent whiff a punish move, which gives you a window to punish/start a combo. Nigel can do 5 jumps before having to touch the ground, giving him an edge with the mind games.
* USE NIGEL'S MOBILITY TOOLS: These moves can catch opponents off-guard when mixed in with your approaches, just be careful not to spam them or you'll become predictable.
* HIDE NIGEL'S GRAB: Some moves like Back Air can have their end-lag cancelled just by touching the ground, this is helpful against opponents who like to spam shield as you could use those moves to pretend you'll hit the opponent when shielding, but instead, you land on the ground just barely not touching the shield and run for a grab. This is not only a quick setup, but also can confuse the enemy into keeping their shield on.
* USE NAIR/GRAB OOS (Out of Shield): Nigel's Nair and grab are very quick and can defeat a lot of move's. Ideally you would just grab after your shield gets touched but in the case of them not being in grab range, you can short-hop Nair for the punish (and Nair is a very good tool to start combo's with Nigel as well).
* SPACE YOUR OPPONENTS: Even though this is a universal thing within NASB 2, its pretty mandatory on Nigel. The good news is that he also has en edge with his good air mobility, allowing you to dodge moves easily on the air and not being reliant only on wave-dashing/running behind.