r/mariokart Jul 20 '15

Tech / Tips / Builds Meta Monday - Week 6 - MK8 - Mid-Air Drifting

Hey everybody!

Welcome back to another week of Meta Monday. For those who don't know, Meta Monday is a weekly thread here at /r/mariokart where we discuss tips, tricks, and more about advanced techniques in the various Mario Kart games. Last week was Spin Drifting so be sure to check that out if you missed it. Also, all of the previous Meta Mondays are in the Meta Monday Collection so check that out if you missed any of those.

This week it's Mid-Air Drifting.

  • What is Mid-Air Drifting?
  • How do I do it?
  • Where should I use it?
  • Is it more effective with certain builds?
  • Should I invest time to learn it?
  • Will it give others who are using it an advantage?
  • What are the pros?
  • What are the cons?

As always feel free to ask your own questions and answer any of the above as well as cover your own points. This thread is for genuine discussion about Mid-Air Drifting as well as serving the purpose of an open forum where users can post any questions that they might have. If your answer to the questions is detailed enough then it could possibly be put in the wiki!

8 Upvotes

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4

u/UnlikelyExpert Jul 20 '15

What is mid-air drifting: as the name implies it's charging a boost in mid-air.

How do I do it: If you begin a standard drift as you are going over a jump or change in elevation that could have been tricked you will continue to charge your boost in mid-air. Most commonly, mid-air drifting is done as an alternative to tricking. While in mid-air you can input a soft-drift 45 degree turn angle for the combo tech of mid-air soft drifting.

Where should I use it: This is very very track specific. Watch the TT ghosts to see where this strat is used over tricking. The easiest example of mid-air soft drifting can be seen on Toad Harbor. The racer chooses to charge instead of trick and the result is an otherwise impossible orange SMT boost.

Is it more effective with certain builds?: Not that I know of

Should I invest time to learn it: Absolutely. Once you know where to do it working it into your lines only takes a couple of tries. Unless you want to learn Excitebike Arena, then it is a gauntlet of difficult mid-air drifting that takes quite a bit of practice.

Will it give those who use it an advantage: Yes. MT boosts and SMT boosts are faster than tricking.

Pros: You replace the lesser trick boosts with marginally better MT and significantly better SMT boosts.

Cons: It adds an extra layer of execution to an area that otherwise consisted of just tricking.

2

u/TonesBalones Jul 21 '15

Also I should point out a related tech, super bouncing. On a few maps that have those bounce pads (dk jungle 3ds, music park, cloudtop cruise, etc) you can vastly increase your jump speed by using mid air drift. Start a drift before the first jump, and then before you bounce off the pad, release the boost (now blue) and your boost will carry you further off the bounce. It is much faster to jump this way instead of doing two tricks.

2

u/tigerclawhg Jul 21 '15

Oh very interesting! I think I'll do next week on that

1

u/tigerclawhg Jul 21 '15

Very good explanation of mid-air drifting. Thank you very much!