The Guide to Defeating Tabuu...
Here’s a guide on beating this fucker ;D More accurately, avoiding his goddamn attacks. I’ve beaten him too many times to count, so trust my information o3o
SHARK BLADE: Tabuu will turn into a blade and fly horizontally. Simply short hop and air dodge if he is at the same level as you are. If he aims incorrectly, good job. If your character can duck low enough (definitely not Meta Knight) then you can try ducking, too. A well-timed sidestep or roll would work, too.
DIVING SLASH: Tabuu will appear at the side of the stage and dive in a U-shaped slash. Jump out of the way. Or, you can try grabbing the ledge to avoid it.
GOLDEN BRACKET: Tabuu will turn into a pair of brackets. Short hop and air dodge, or simply sidestep. I don’t recommend rolling. Be really careful, because you cannot determine where the brackets fly, and at intense level it is a OHKO.
CHAIN OF LIGHT: Tabuu will try to catch you with a chain of light. Sidestep or air dodge the chain. You can also run out of the way if your character has a dash or move fast enough to do this. I highly recommend the dodging options, though.
ELECTRICAL SHIELD: Tabuu will appear next to you and emit electricity, so you can simply stay away from him to avoid the attack. He’s also left open for projectiles.
RAPID CHOP: Tabuu will slash the area in front of him. If you don’t get caught in it, you can just attack him from behind. If you do, you can use a very fast attack/one with invincibility frames (Dolphin Splash, in my case) or simply DI out of it. There’s a low chance that you’ll be in it for the entire duration, anyways.
PINPOINT EXPLOSION: Tabuu will point in front of him, then five locations will flash and explode. This is easy to dodge; sidestep constantly. If Tabuu sucks at aiming, jump over it if it’s low, and duck if it’s high. Moves with launch resistance frames (ex: aether, pikmin order) will work, but the attack deals heavy damage and knockback (if you miss the lucky frames), so I don’t suggest that.
GHOST PROJECTION: Tabuu will shoot ghostly projections of himself out. The projections explode after a certain distance, when touching the ground, or if destroyed. Make sure you dodge them, or just stay as far away as you can. You can also try destroying the projections with a projectile.
DRAGON LASER: Tabuu fires his laser by pulling out a dragon-shaped cannon and firing a powerful beam. It only goes horizontally on the bottom of the stage and takes some time to warm up, so just jumping over it will do fine. Even Ganondorf can do it easily!
BULLET RAIN: Tabuu will appear somewhere and fire a ton of little bullets, to start off the attack. You’ll just have to DI out or wait until you can escape. If you put a flinch resistance sticker with high enough effect, you won’t flinch from the bullets! The attack is finished with a huge sphere, which is rather easy to avoid as long as you’re out of the bullets. Tabuu’s also left open from behind, so take the chance if you weren’t harmed!
SHURIKEN BOOMERANG: Tabuu will appear on one side of the stage, throw the shuriken horizontally, and then it will return to him like a boomerang. This is pretty easy to dodge, since it covers mainly the bottom of the stage. Simply jump over it; air dodging is not recommended.
OFF WAVES: Tabuu’s most feared move. Tabuu appears in the background and unfolds his butterfly wings, then releases three shock waves that span the entire stage. The best way to avoid this is to roll or sidestep with good timing. Make a mistake, and it’s a one-hit KO. Power-shielding and super armor works too, but the timing is nearly impossible. A floaty can try air dodging. Sidesteps, rolls, and air dodges are your only hope for this move,
EYE LASERS: Tabuu grows very big and shoots two lasers similar to Master and Crazy Hand’s. This is super easy to dodge. Just run to where Tabuu appears, and start bashing away at his chin. You can also try his forehead, if you can jump high enough. Just avoid the lasers!
TELEPORT: No damage. Just wait for him to make his final teleport (the sound effect for the last teleport is distinct from the others).
EXPLOSIVE TELEPORT: Tabuu teleports, leaving explosions where he once was. This can catch kill you if you’re busy attacking an idle Tabuu, so be careful! Don’t attack Tabuu while he’s doing this, just stay away and avoid the explosion until he makes his final teleport.
OTHER INFORMATION: Characters such as Marth and Ike with short ranges and low to average recovery are not recommended! I guess Ike is okay, since he hits like a truck, but I highly recommend characters like Ness and Lucas, who have ranged attacks that can do a lot of damage, and Zelda and C. Falcon, since the sweetspotted F-air is powerful and easy to do on bosses.
If you really read this for the reason I wrote it for–good luck!
