Simon Matchup (Chrom)

Matchup Summary (Win Condition and Game Plan)

Simon is very good at fixing your approach lanes with whip tipper pressure plus Cross, Holy Water, and Axe, so if Chrom tries to jump or dash straight through every setup, he gets pushed to the ledge and his weak recovery becomes the real matchup problem.
Repeatedly taking forward tilt, fair, bair, and Holy Water on the same rhythm is especially bad because Simon gets to build damage before Chrom even reaches close range, then immediately turn that lead into ledge pressure.
The good news is that Simon’s close-range scramble speed and landing are not strong. As the table shows, Jab 1, Jab 2, Rapid Jab Finisher, up tilt, down tilt (1)(2), dash attack, every smash attack, neutral air, down air, and Side B are all punishable by OOS Uair (8f), OOS Nair (9f), grab (10f), and Up B (10f). Once Chrom gets inside the whip, he should not stop at one hit. Keep chasing the landing with up tilt, nair, and uair until Simon is forced to the ledge.
On the other hand, tipper forward tilt, fair, bair, uair, and Neutral B are mostly not real shield-punish spots. Swinging immediately there only resets the matchup back to Simon’s long-range structure. In those cases, step back, read the retreat, landing, or next setup point, and win on the second beat instead.
The win condition is to avoid chasing directly through the projectile lane, break in once with guarded movement and low jumps, and then refuse to give back the landing trap or ledge trap. Deep edgeguards are not worth much here because Chrom’s own recovery is the bigger risk, so the cleaner kills come from ledge bair, up smash, fair, and Up B punishes onstage.

Full Move Frame Quick Reference

Win Condition Checklist

• Do not try to clear every projectile lane with a big preemptive swing. Use dash shield and low jumps to enter while forcing Simon to choose between whip coverage and projectile coverage.
• Punish Jab 1, Jab 2, Rapid Jab Finisher, up tilt, down tilt (1)(2), dash attack, every smash attack, neutral air, down air, and Side B with OOS Uair (8f), OOS Nair (9f), grab (10f), and Up B (10f) whenever they are blocked.
• Treat tipper forward tilt, fair, bair, uair, and Neutral B as second-beat situations. Step back and cover the retreat, landing, or next setup point instead of forcing a bad immediate punish.
• Once you get inside, keep the close-range pressure running with nair, up tilt, and uair until Simon is trapped at the ledge.
• Prefer onstage ledge traps and punish kills over deep offstage chases so Chrom’s own recovery does not become the losing factor.

Actions to Avoid

• Trying to bulldoze through projectile lanes with the first big swing and getting tagged in sequence by Cross, Holy Water, and whip.
• Swinging after every blocked tipper forward tilt or fair and handing the neutral right back to Simon’s long-range structure.
• Backing away after finally entering close range and giving up Simon’s weakest phase, his landing and close-range defense.
• Chasing too deep offstage and making Chrom’s own narrow recovery route the real risk.
• Rushing the ledge trap and running into Holy Water or Up B reversals head-on.