Buttons and Terminology
| Buttons | |
|---|---|
| A/ L | Light Attack |
| B/ M | Medium Attack |
| C/ H | Heavy Attack |
| E/ S | Exchange |
| A1 | Assist 1 |
| A2 | Assist 2 |
| Terminology | |
|---|---|
| SJ (C) | Super Jump (Cancel) |
| KFC | X-Factor Cancel |
| DHC | Delayed Hyper Combo |
| THC | Team Hyper Combo |
| XX | Cancel Into |
| OTG | On The Ground |
Movement
DashingCommon to most fighting games. Performed by pressing forward/backward twice on the stick, or A+B and a direction.
Dash Cancelling
Dashes can be cancelled into other dashes (press A+B repeatedly) to cover ground quickly. This is called wavedashing. Dashes can also be cancelled by ducking (down on the stick.) This ends the dash early, and is good for making safe approaches/baiting the opponent.
Air Dashing
Some characters have a two way (forward and back) or eight way air dash.
Triangle Jumping
Almost all normal attacks performed in the air act as overheads. By jumping, and then air dashing forward or down forward followed by a normal you get an almost instant overhead, which potentially leads into a high damage combo.
Super Jumping
A faster, higher version of the standard jump. Great tool escaping, and unlike air dashes everyone has one. Performed by pressing down to up. After launching an opponent hold up to super jump and continue the combo in the air.
Other
There are many character specific ways of making your way around the screen. Some characters like Iron Man and Storm can fly, others can teleport, while Spiderman can swing and zip around using his webs.
Advancing Guard/ Push Blocking
Pressing any two attack buttons at the exact moment you block an attack will push the opponent back. Good for relieving pressure, but if overused the opponent can adapt, predict and punish accordingly.
The Magic Series
A>B>C>E. That's the magic series, the basic combination all combos are based on, essentially, normals can only be cancelled into stronger normals. These are only general rules, please note that not every character can do A>B>C>E.Take viewtiful Joe for example, if you attempt A>B>C>E the E will always whiff as the range on it is short. Thor is another example, he has to do A>B>E or B>C>E. Not everyone can do A>B>C>E, but knowing the magic series will allow you to create combos with consummate ease. Try A>B>C>E, if that doesn't work try dropping a button, etc. Normals can also be cancelled into Special Moves and even Hyper Combos. A very basic example of this is A>B>Hadouken with Ryu.
Exchange
The Magic series ends with E, the exchange button. This launches the opponent into the air. You can then Super Jump to pursue them into the air and continue the combo. The Magic Series and your ground combos still work up here. The basic idea is, you want to hit them with a few A, B, C's, followed by a launch, jump up there, continue the combo with a few more A, B, C's, then finish with a hyper.
Rather than finishing with a hyper combo, you could hit the Exchange button again. In the air, it has a very different purpose, E+back/forward will tag in a new character mid-combo. The character who initiated the combo will leave, your new guy will jump in with a kick continuing the combo and from there you can do whatever you like. Neutral E in the air slams your opponent down towards the ground. Both extend the combo.
Assists and Tagging
Assisting is the act of calling one of the two characters you don't have 'on point' in for a single attack or move. Each character has 3 assists you can choose from, α, β, and γ, and utilizing them correctly is vital to success.Tagging is the act of swapping out your character for one of your assists, performed by holding one of the assist buttons. This is known as naked tagging, and can be very unsafe, so generally speaking you will only want to tag using DHC and Aerial Exchanges (See Later.)
Meter and Uses
Hyper MeterYour meter is an important part of your management and strategy, being used to power the most useful moves and techniques in the game; Hyper Combos. In general you gain meter by interacting with your opponent, and you can store up to 5 'stocks' or levels of your meter. The following lists the four ways to build meter: Hitting with any move including hyper combos, having attacks blocked (note that this gives far less meter than hitting), being hit by an opponents attacks, and blocking opponents attacks (which again gives far less.)
Hyper Combos
The most damaging and visually striking moves in the game, there are two levels of hyper combos. The majoriy are Level One, meaning they use one stock. (See above) Some characters also have Level Three Hyper Combos, which require three stocks, but tend to have a much higher damage output.
Delayed Hyper Combos (DHC)
A simple technique in which you interrupt one characters Hyper Combo to tag out and perform the next characters hyper. To do so, input the second hyper command during the first Hyper Combo's animation. This requires two stocks, and the second Hyper is not guaranteed to hit. DHC are a safe way of tagging, and offers huge damage opportunities.
Team Hyper Combos
By pressing both assist buttons at the same time you can perform a Team Hyper Combo. All of your characters will come out and perform their Hyper Combos simultaneously (provided you have the meter.)
Variable Counters
While blocking input forward + A1/A2 for a variable counter, which quickly swaps out your point character for one of your assists while executing an attack. This change happens so quickly that most opponents can't react to it to punish you even if the variable counter is blocked. A variable counter does consume one hyper meter.
X-Factor
By hitting all four attack buttons (A+B+C+E) at the same time you activate X-Factor. This can only be done once per match so should be used strategically. Once activated, your character will rapidly recover red life, as well as recieving boosts to speed and damage output. There are three levels of X-Factor, the potency depends on the number of characters you have left.| Characters Remaining | Length | Boosts |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 10 Seconds | Minor buffs to speed and damage |
| 2 | 20 Seconds | - |
| 1 | 30 Seconds | Greatest buffs to speed and damage |
X-Factor Cancelling (KFC)
Activating X-Factor resets your character to a neutral state cancelling the remainder of any animations they were in. This presents unique combo opportunities. You can activate X-Factor during the end/recovery of your hyper combo, reset, and combo straight into another hyper. The second hyper will do huge damage as you recieve the damage boost, and X-Factor resets damage scaling.
There's a lot of strategy involved with X-Factor and no right answer when to use it, if your opponents gameplan relies on Dante and you hit him a hyper 10 seconds into the match it might be a good idea to use it then, KFC into another hyper and kill off his pointman. You might want to save it for a miracle comeback when you're down to your last character. Like I said no right answer, take it on a game to game basis.
Log in to comment