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Shaggy is a Bruiser character who focuses on Horizontal and Vertical attacks. He has very good mobility, and can either string combos together, or can finish enemies by powering up his moves for easier kills. He has very good finishing options, but must stay stationary to be able to use them, which can prove hard to pull off against fast, in your face opponents.
Shaggy Match-up Chart
Shaggy struggles a lot against characters that can combo off of their projectiles, for example:
These moves can punish Shaggy as he doesn’t have many options to outrange them, or the enemy can fire a lot at you at once. If the opponent can initiate combos from afar, then Shaggy has a hard time getting in to do his combos. Rage boosted moves can beat out these options, but usually are used to kill, so it isn’t good to waste those on beating out projectiles. The exception being if you can destroy it, and hit the enemy with a rage boosted special (most likely Side Special). Shaggy has to really get in to start his combo strings, so any characters that can interrupt it with a projectile is hard for shaggy. Lebron is an exception, as with your speed, you can maneuver around his ball, and punish him easily when he doesn’t have it. Jake is also a tough matchup, due to how far his long range fist move (Aerial Side Attack) can easily hit you while you are approaching. Morty can be a problem, he has many tools to zone you out, and has very good survivability. If he can predict how and where you are going to go, he will stomp you. Really try to mix up your approach and try to use sandwich more to make openings. If he is far away, you can try to charge, but be careful as his grenades have more reach then you might think. You have to be able to play patiently and look for an opening, and make the most of it.
Garnet and Superman can seem hard to fight as shaggy, but both have start up to their attacks, or they are locked into an option for a while after they use it. Garnet’s Jab Combo (Grounded Side Attack) can seem hard to interrupt, but with Shaggy’s mobility, can be attacked from above. Superman can be fought in the same way, try to wait and punish the telegraphed attacks he has, such as Ten-Ton Tackle (Aerial Side Special). Shaggy is good against those who focus on armored attacks, as he can interrupt with either his sandwich (Grounded Down Special) or by using Flurrious Feet (Neutral Air Attack). You can combo Iron Giant pretty easy with your fast attacks and movement, but be careful of his set-up for early kills. Don't just recover up against the wall, as he can easily hit you if you are predictable like that with his Cannonball slam. Steven can be hard to catch, as he has multiple abilities to block you from reaching him quickly. Use your speed to maneuver around the obstacles he places. Toon Elasticity can be useful for this match-up.
Best Perks for Shaggy
For Attack Perks, Snowball Effect is pretty useful since being stronger while losing is always a benefit. Shaggy can dish out attack that can do a lot of damage and knockback at once, which is great combined with this if you aren’t in the lead. Wildcat Brawler and Lumpy Space Punch provide bonus damage on the ground or in the air, which fit Shaggy’s playstyle very well as he fights with a combination of aerial and grounded attacks.
For Defense Perks, School Me Once… can be great against projectiles, to ensure you don’t get hit by too many at once, which can be very good against someone like Bugs. Toon Elasticity is useful on most characters, characters like Bugs, Tom and Jerry, and Jake like to hit you against the stage, so reducing the effectiveness of that helps. Then, Clear the Air helps getting closer against projectile pressure.
For Utility Perks, Speed Force Assist increases your speed which helps get follow ups for combos, or get away and dodge through projectiles. Triple Jump is good as Shaggy’s Aerial Up Normal can be used higher up, which can either kill at higher percent, or can juggle opponents for longer. Tasmanian Trigonometry is good on most characters, as having higher influence on your KI (Knockback Influence) can help you not get knocked out, and can prevent some deaths from happening at earlier percents.
One Last Zoinks gives you rage immediately at 100%, which is very helpful in surprising your opponent. Shaggy’s rage boosted moves are very strong, so being able to use one instantly once at possible kill percent is really good. Hangry Man reduces charge time of rage by about 2 seconds, which isn’t bad, but requires a sandwich. It can be hard to find time to get the sandwich, and then also charge rage, as you most likely would want to use the sandwich as a projectile instead.
Placement in the Tier List
Shaggy is a great character with his real weakness being how close he has to get to his opponent. His combos are very good, has some armored moves, and the ability to cause devastating hits. His rage mechanic is a powerful tool, and if used right, can finish enemies early or make them get to a higher percent faster. He’s fast, has good combo tools, and can help teammates with his enrage buff. Shaggy can combo very well, has good armor breaking moves, and kills with more moves then others, he is a very solid pick, but has pretty known combo routes, so opponents might already know what you can do, and play against that accordingly.