Post by StarrkJow on Feb 17, 2011 4:18:51 GMT -5
So I've played a few hours into the game and had my share of experimenting with almost all of the characters. Here are my thoughts as well as possible tips and punishers for them.
Captain America: His shield boomerang rocks, allowing you to set up so many more combo options. His backflip is a great mobility tool that also has a bit of invulnerability as well. A good technique that I've found with this is to summon your assist before you backflip and try to force your opponent to guard so that you can backflip behind them for a nice crossup. His shield dash also has much higher priority giving him the ability to rush through projectiles. Final Justice is an awesome punisher if you're given the chance and can spare the 3 HC bars.
Iron Man: Iron Man feels a lot smoother in this outing. He combos well but has some great projectiles. His unibeam has slower start up but takes up more screen space and his repulsor blast has deceptive range. A new trick he has is his down-forward heavy. This fires a missile diagonally at the ground and is an effective tool against high blockers and works as a decent otg.
Thor: I like me some brawlers but Thor hasn't quite resonated with me quite yet. His normals leave a lot to be desired in my opinion. He may be powerful, but his normals have surpirsingly small hitboxes, even for his heavy attacks, making it difficult to combo into his better moves. He does have good air mobility as well as a ranged arsenal and his hurricane hyper combo is a great anti-air punisher as well a great air combo ender.
His mighty strike is an awesome assist, however. It has slow startup but hits both anti-air as well as otg and is powerful to boot. I need to spend more time with him to really be able to evaluate him, but so far I'm not a fan of him on point and he's soley a dedicated assist on any team I include him on.
Spiderman: Spiderman is pretty much same old Spiderman. He's got very quick, yet standard normals with a couple tricky projectiles. His air dash is incredibly fast (too fast in my opinion, but i mained him in MvC2 so I'm not used to it yet) and his eight way web zip is great for getting out of hot spots. On the plus side, his Maximum Spider is now unavoidable once the first hit connects (In MvC2 you could get lucky and fall out of the attack or have a moment to guard the rest of it).
Wolverine: Berserker Slash has easily become his greatest asset. Not only does it allow hit to safely get in close against zoners and projectiles with it's invulnerable movement frames, but also can turn around and slash behind the enemy. And when he's in close, he's got some of the greatest close range combos that are incredibly easy to pull off. A favorite punisher of mine is definitely when ending an air raid with Wolvie and whipping out Fatal Claw, a very damaging lv1 HC
Storm: I was never a storm player in MvC2 and so I really can't vouch for any changes in MvC3. That said, she's as powerful as ever. She does have slower startup on her specials, but she has strong chip damage. Especially for her hailstorm HC which remains one of the best HC's in the game.
Magneto: Definitely the most nerfed player in the game, he makes up for it with an insanely fast full screen projectile and Gravity Squeeze, a full screen lv3 HC that can hit otg. He's got great air combos and air mobility but I found his ground combos to be lacking. Aside from his infamous down-forward heavy, the rest of his attacks are lackluster and his launcher has a much smaller range than it appears to have.
Deadpool: He's got some nice, quick close range combos and a sweet low hitting special in vein of X-23's ankle slicer, but he also has a great keep away game with his air grenades and gunplay. He lacks a solid defense, however, and can't contend with solid offensive pressure. His trigger happy HC is a great, safe HC from both air and ground.
Sentinel: Sentinel has the most health in the game as well as a high damage output, and a full moveset that takes up large chunks of the screen. He has decent close to mid range combo game and is annoyingly good at keep away tactics. I mean, this is Sentinel we're talking about, what do you expect?! As far as assists go, both of his Sentinel Force assists are great multi-hit projectiles and a good at causing general chaos onscreen.
X-23: A palette swap she be not. I have yet to spend a lot of time with the misses claws. From my experience, she has some great, easy to perform combos backed up by some highly technical and tricky specials and HC's to add to the mix. I didn't think much of her until I was opened up and absolutely torn apart with her combos by someone online. I will proceed to experiment with her further. UPDATE: X-23 seems to be becoming a more and more popular character to choose as I keep playing. She's fast, has a ton of movement options and some great, easy combos. She lacks an air dash but has an air dash special similar to Zero's which helps her air mobility a lot. Her specials also are great at hitting otg (for L and M), but her H command throw, while cool, isn't nearly as effective. Overall, she's great at opening opponents up and getting them into long combos as well as performing cross-ups with her quarter-backward special. She's really lacking in the health department, however.
Hulk: Hulk strong. Hulk much faster and have much faster startup time for specials than Hulk did in MvC2. That being said, I'm really not sure why they decided to switch the input motions for his Gamma Wave and Gamma Dash, but I guess it works. I was always more prone to dash then to wave anyways. His wave now is an automatic full screen projectile (ground based) and his dash has special secondary properties depending on which button is pressed. I haven't tested it, but it appears that both L and M give you the option to choose directions for both dashes, but H simply dashes you forward and then back. The H dash is a great hit and run tactic in case your opponent decides to guard. His anti-air HC is as deadly as ever and is one of my favorite punishers. As an assist Hulk's dashes (ground or anti-air) and great in pretty much any situation and for any team.
She Hulk: Killian was most definitely correct when comparing the emerald lawyer with El Fuerte from SFIV because she plays very similar. Once you get used to how her runner's start operates and how long it takes to cancel and such in and out of it (overuse will simply open you up especially at close range), you'll be able to take full control of the stage, with a brawler no less. She-Hulk's wall bounce attacks are very effective and can be very tricky for your opponent to read. She has some great H normals and an awesome Guile-esque backflip. On the flipside, her quarter-forward HC, while powerful, has terribly short range and I haven't quite figured out her lv3 HC. I remember her smashing the car and throwing it at the opponent in the trailer, but in my experience the car just zooms forward into the opponent. UPDATE: Screw running start. In the heat of battle, that tactic is pretty much rendered useless. However, she does have a way to initiate running start without actually using running start. Her forward H command will reset her back into a position so that a simple tap of forward or backward will automatically set her running or bouncing off the walls, making setting up sweet combos much much easier. Oh, and she does a funny infinite: forward H, forward (runners start sprint), H, forward, H, forward, H, repeat. Hitting H while in her runners start sprint also resets her to a position to instantly use runners start again so you can do this infinitely. I doubt it's very practical, but I can be fun to mess with your opponent this way and see how they react to it.
Taskmaster: At first glance, Taskmaster appears to be a good close range fighter. He's got good combo potential and some fantastic command normals (more on those in a bit), but he is really meant as a defensive long range fighter. His arrows are where his true strength lies. They're quick and can hit at any range on ground or in air and his arrow HC's work the same way. He can also disable projectile users with a shield special that reflects most projectiles and his backward H, the charging star, which has surprisingly high priority for a normal and can rush through projectiles. When up close, however, his spidey swing sets up for some nice combo situations (and is a great mobility alternative to his lack of an air dash) and he has some great M and H normals to combo out of.
M.O.D.O.K.: I've never been a fan of Modok. Not since his announcement, and not now either. Given his uniqueness I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and try him out. Yeah, my opinion remains. He's a zoning king, but he's just so awkward to play as and it's not just because he's a flying chair, though that has a lot to with it. He's got some tricky projectile game but he absolutely fails in the normals department or even the entire combo department. His only redeeming qualities in this area are that his H normal can wall bounce and he has some good commend normals. Specifically his backward H, which sets up an electric shield in a very convenient location. Other than that it's pretty much just sit back in a corner, make sure you put a shield up, and then just balloon bomb, slime slick, and psionic blast the crap out of your opponent and hope they don't get in too close. I really don't see the full benefit of his analyze cubes, but at this point I don't really care, cause it probably won't change how I play him, IF I ever play him again.
Super Skrull: My personal fave. Super Skrull is a pretty well rounded character with a really fleshed out moveset but a select few moves are really the most practical. I won't be the first and I won't be the last to say this, but his command grab, the elastic slam, is boss. It may be the best command grab in the game. If anything, it's the reason you'll probably play as him and you'll probably build your whole strategy around setting up for a successful elastic slam. Cause face it, It's got range (specifically the H version), it's very damaging, it's kinda-sorta invisible so that it can go through some projectiles, and it can set up for some sweet otg combos in conjuction with his L tenderizer. His tenderizer is a great tool, but it can be a little too easy to pull off and leaves you wide open if it doesn't connect. Especially with my twitchy fingers during tense situations. He's got some good charged command normals that can otg and Orbital Grudge is a good, berserker barrage type attack that is pretty safe and practical in most situations. Meteor smash is a great tactical maneuver as well as a nice rush down or zoning escape and can lead to, you guessed it, more otg combos. Gotta love it.
Dormammu: A zoning king with a surprising amount of variety. His liberation isn't nearly as effective as it looks but his dark hole is a lot more effective than it looks, suspending enemies wherever it's summoned and dealing multiple hits. He also has a command telport in lieu of Spiral or Dhalsim and all of his specials appear at various ranges according to the button pressed. His real depth, however, lies in his creator and destructor attacks. power up either, or both, up to three times and quarter-backwards heavy to see the results. There are some obviously awesome ones, specifically a fully powered up power of destruction attack, but overall these abilities give Dormammu a lot of tools to surprise the opponent with.
Dr. Doom: They may have nerfed my favorite things about Doom, but he's still quite a powerhouse. His beam has great start up time and his air normals are very versatile but they really reduced the hitbox on his launcher and his photon array special and HC aren't nearly as effective as a whole. His launcher can hit otg and i think it's actually the only one that can do that. He also has a new move, hidden missles, which is performed with backward H, has surprisingly fast startup, and can be quite a nuisance for the opponent both at point and as an assist.
Phoenix: Phoenix should never be your point character. She has the lowest health in the game and one good combo has the possibility of rendering her null for the match. She does, however, have the biggest comeback possibilities in the form of her Dark Phoenix HC. The only lv5 in the game, this HC activates automatically when certain conditions are met: you have five HC bars, phoenix is the last remaining character on your team, and it'll activate once phoenix is KO'd. This regenerates her health, increases her speed, and gives her a massive boost in strength. Combine this with X-Factor and you can take out an entire team in the blink of an eye. A good way to prep for Dark Phoenix is to have a point character like Magneto or Dormammu, who are built for building meter, have either Amaterasu's Bloom or Morrigan's Dark Harmonizer assist, which simply summons either of them to give you 30% of one HC bar, and reserve Phoenix for the finale.
Ryu: Pulled straight out of TvC, this is a fairly strong version of Ryu. In capable hands he can be as strong as ever, but in general he can't quite go toe to toe with the rest of the roster like he could in TvC. His biggest draw is his multi directional Gou Hadouken. When on ground you can fire in any direction as long as it isn't behind you, and in air pretty much any direction is acceptable. It's a really nice change that is great for ending pretty much any combo and I personally use Ryu just so I can abuse this trait. However, unless you are a die hard Ryu player, this is really the only stand out skill he has in his arsenal. Everything else can simply be done better by a lot of characters and many are simply done better by Akuma.
Chun Li: This is probably my favorite version of lightning legs since SFIII. She's easily the fastest character in the game, has her standard triple jump, and can now combo out of and cancel out of her lightning legs special. This special is also a fantastic assist; lacking in range, but suspending your opponent in place for further follow up and causing decent chip damage if blocked. Her air dash is angled, which is something I'm still getting used to and her moveset seems very small (not that you really need much outside of her lightning legs) compared to past iterations.
C. Viper: C. Viper is, well, C. Viper. She's pretty much a carbon copy of her SFIV self just with upped speed and enhanced mobility options. No change really isn't much of a bad thing on her part, however, because she really seems to fit in well with the rest of the cast. Many complain about her appearance in this game and how she's the least deserving of a spot in MvC3, but you'd gotta figure they'd include one of their new characters from their latest Street Fight and Viper is really the only one (outside Juri) who would be able to really compete with the rest of the cast. As a fighter, she's really all about offensive pressure. Give her a good projectile assist for cover and a good combo extender like Chun Li or Haggar and just do your best to back them into a corner and open them up for a good combo.
Akuma: Man is this guy powerful. He may not have considerably high damage output statistically, but when you play Akuma how you always play Akuma, he seems like a powerhouse. His whirlwind kick is as fantastic as it's ever been, whether at point or as an assist, and it's oh so easy to spam it without worrying to much. His air HC also has a unique trait in that it has deceptive width; as the fireballs flare out sporadically. His diving air kick that was so potent in MvC2 is harder to pull off, but that's probably for the best considering how much that was abused in the previous game. So, if you've ever played Akuma you'll probably be very pleased with this iteration of the raging demon.
Chris Redfield: Chris surprised me. He's actually a very bombastic fighter to play with. He has plenty of specials varying from button to button and his specials do a crazy amount of damage for lv1's, especially for chip damage. That said, he's really not that much of a melee type. It's really best to either sit back and do chip damage with his uzi, wall bounce 'em with your pistol, or simply give 'em a shotgun to the face (the latter is very powerful and very very satisfying). His mines are also a lot more helpful than they may appear to be at first. Favorite punisher for him is an easy one: after a solid HC like Dante's or Deadpool's gunfire HC, DHC to Chris and unload your grenade launcher HC and watch the screen fill up with explosions.
Wesker: I have yet to really sit down and work through all of Wesker's moveset, but I can give a general overview of his skills and tactics. In short Wesker is all about the teleporting. Especially considering that have his moveset involves teleporting of some sort or another and he's the only character that can teleport out of a normal. He has the ability to really move anywhere along the screen instantly but this makes his standard combos a lot tricker than most people's. If you haven't gone through his mission set you'll most likely be drawn to his easiest command teleport, forward H, H, where he shoots you in the foot and teleports behind your head. Aside from that he has some great counters in the form of his Tiger Uppercut special series where each button can counter different things. His HC counter is also a great counter, but his standard HC nicknamed "Ultimate Wesker" is by far his easiest damage tactic. Unlike Spidey's that has to start from either side of the screen and fires off in a preset direction, Wesker's can initiate anywhere and will aim for you no matter where you are. It's pretty frightening, but a solid defense will shut it down pretty easily. Overall, Wesker has a very technical offense heavy strategy that can get around defenses but can't contend with a solid defense as a whole.
Dante: Oh Dante. He is without a doubt the most used character online, but it's definitely not just because he's a good looking guy. Sure, he has an obscene amount of moves, but that's really not the important part. The important thing is that he feels incredibly accessible to start out with. He's easy to use, has solid specials, and an especially solid lv1 HC and in general you can pretty much mess around with him and you're guaranteed to see some cool ***** go down. On the flipside, with all of his "style cancels", otg's, and extended combo opportunities he is quite possibly the easiest character to use and the most complex character to use. His moveset is incredibly fleshed out, he's fun to play as, he has one of if not the best anti-air assist, and you can't help but want to play as him even if you don't like being part of the crowd. His downfall however comes in his jack of all trades style. He has a lot of options, but as a whole he is a mid range fighter who has a hard time dealing with really strong offenses or defenses. His down down special teleport is great for instantaneous cross ups, but he doesn't have anything to get around good defense any other way. He lacks any sort of counters so if a player is too focused on just whipping out all of his moves, they really set themselves up for a disasterous offensive opportunity from the opponent. So, as the saying goes, he's a jack of all trades but a master of none.
Trish: Trish really surprised me. She's a great keep away character that also has some great close range skills as well. As far as keep away goes her standard projectiles are quick and have great hitstun, she has nice traps to lay out that are seemingly invisible if the opponent forgets about them, and her quarter backwards special and HC can be deadly options as well. The HC version especailly has terrifying tracking and allows for her to unleash her other lv1 HC if there's meter available. Close range she doesn't have too much but her H normals are fantastic and her combos are easy to pull off allowing her to quickly combo and get away again. She does have considerably low stamina, however, so it's hard to recommend her as a point character but she does work well as a secondary; not a dedicated point but not a dedicated assist either.
Zero: Zero is has some fantastic combos and is great at putting on offensive pressure. If you played him in TvC then you'll really like him in this game. He's got some nice tweaks and some cool new moves. His best tweak hands down is that he can now combo into his quarter forward lv1 HC. Other than that he has a cool new DP air attack and a new lv3 HC that skips the cool cutscenes of other characters for instantaneous massive damage. A drawback of this iteration from TvC, however, is that in TvC Zero really benefited from the cramped screen space. With more stage and screen space in MvC3, Zero has a harder time getting in close and his combos can't quite cover as much ground. He does have an air dash in addition to his quarter backward dash series so he makes up for it in that respect.
Tron Bonne: I loved Tron in MvC2 but they've made some tweaks to her for better or worse that have made her better, yet harder to play. Tron has a bit more speed this time around and doesn't feel as clunky as before but her best and most important move however is now harder to pull off. To use the Bonne Strike, you now have to input backwards DP (a motion I have particular trouble with) but the move now has way more range than it ever did, especially with it's H version. Other than that she's got a sweet command throw as well as a command throw lv3 HC and her giant servbot HC will now come out even if you're hit after startup. Overall, even if you don't like how they've arranged her specials, Tron's damaging normals more than make up for it and for a heavyweight she has a lot of mobility to boot.
Morrigan: Morrigan seems to have a different moveset in every game she's in. This version draws heavily from her TvC outing. She has the standard Missles out of her ass HC (which has much faster start up and can now be comboed into) and her servant uppercut HC, but they've now added a new, rather clever clever and creative HC. I forget the name, but in this HC she summons a clone behind your opponent as a sort of mirror image that will do whatever you do. This can really trip up an opponent who really doesn't know how to defend against it providing for some crazy offensive possibilities. As a whole, however, Morrigan is largely unchanged. She has great air normals and is queen at spending meter with her variety of HC. She's a pretty balanced fighter, but aside from her cool new tricks there's nothing really standout about her. (aside from the obvious)
Felicia: If you're a Felicia player you know what to expect. If you're not a Felicia player than you can expect a very fast, up close character with a crap ton of special attacks and some of the best combo opportunities in the game. If you haven't seen them, look up Felicia combos in either MvC2 or MvC3 (yes they've already found them in MvC3) and check 'em out. She does have a cool new HC in vein of Morrigan's mirror clone. Here she summons a seemingly chibi version of herself that has a will of its own and is seemingly invulnerable. It'll attack whenever you attack wherever it is. It's a great tool for confusing and mixing up your opponents guard as well as for a good laugh.
Hsien Ko: Here I was hoping for Lord Raptor, or Sasquatch, or Jedah, but nope, we've got three female Darkstalkers characters. Hsien Ko is easily the most...weird to play as, but once you get used to her she has some sweet moves in her arsenal. Her combos are easy to pull off and her air pendulum swing is a great multi-hit air special. She has a weird projectile special that really acts more like a trap than a legit projectile and she has the weirdest and most awkward to use air dash in the game. She is pretty fun to play as given her eccentricities but other than her uniqueness she really isn't a standout character. No crazy HC's, standard health and damage output; she may be weird but she's also pretty standard.
Arthur: Keep away character to the core. In vein of the series he hails from, you'll spend most of your time firing off a variety of projectiles to keep your opponent at bay. He does have some decent combos, but his small size equals small hitboxes equals you really shouldn't use combos with Arthur as anything but to get your opponent off your back. He's no Viewtiful Joe when it comes to close range combos. His quarter backward HC is a great tool and it makes him an avid meter user since you'll want to use it so often. The HC powers you up for some time and when it's done it'll put you in your underpants so you'll have to use it again to just get back to your normal armor. As an assist, his blue fire torch assist can trip people up, but he's best served using his javelin assist as a good multi hit projectile for backup melee fighters he need to get in close.
Spencer: Spencer really doesn't have all that going for him. He's got some damaging, easy combos, but his whole draw is his grappling hook, but it's so small and easy to dodge or block that it kind of renders his whole strategy null. If you use him stick to his quarter forward S to wall bounce before using his grapple hook and if you're in an air combo his grapple hook can also serve as a great air follow up attack. Other than that it's not really a practical tool. Oh, and use his quarter backwards HC as much as possible. It's safe, has great ground range, and does A LOT of damage.
Viewtiful Joe: Muuuuuuch better than his TvC incarnation, Joe packs a punch in an annoyingly small size. Up close joe is all about the air combos. A great strategy is to use his quarter back HC to slow them down and then launch them up for some of Joe's crazy air combos. Far away is where Joe can be a real nuisance as he has quite the keep away game. Throw some bombs out to keep the enemy from getting too close and have a good projectile assist to cover you. Amidst all this charge up some boomerangs and let them terrorize your opponent with their seemingly arbitrary movement patterns. Also of note, his quarter forward lv1 HC is now comboable and is quite powerful.
Amaterasu: My favorite fan service, Ammy has an incredible moveset that really does her heritage justice. As a fighter, Ammy can really handle any situation. Fast quick combos with her solar flare disc, powerful air combos with her glaive, or projectile game with her beads. Her lv1 HC also fills the entire screen and can be very hard to avoid, however, it may be one of the least damaging lv1's in the game so that's the trade off. Her air dash can pretty much go full screen and as an assist she can fill meter with Bloom or play keep away with Cold Star. Her best use is to get in close. She can really open up guards with her various low hitting combos so try and corner your opponent and get them up into the air.
Captain America: His shield boomerang rocks, allowing you to set up so many more combo options. His backflip is a great mobility tool that also has a bit of invulnerability as well. A good technique that I've found with this is to summon your assist before you backflip and try to force your opponent to guard so that you can backflip behind them for a nice crossup. His shield dash also has much higher priority giving him the ability to rush through projectiles. Final Justice is an awesome punisher if you're given the chance and can spare the 3 HC bars.
Iron Man: Iron Man feels a lot smoother in this outing. He combos well but has some great projectiles. His unibeam has slower start up but takes up more screen space and his repulsor blast has deceptive range. A new trick he has is his down-forward heavy. This fires a missile diagonally at the ground and is an effective tool against high blockers and works as a decent otg.
Thor: I like me some brawlers but Thor hasn't quite resonated with me quite yet. His normals leave a lot to be desired in my opinion. He may be powerful, but his normals have surpirsingly small hitboxes, even for his heavy attacks, making it difficult to combo into his better moves. He does have good air mobility as well as a ranged arsenal and his hurricane hyper combo is a great anti-air punisher as well a great air combo ender.
His mighty strike is an awesome assist, however. It has slow startup but hits both anti-air as well as otg and is powerful to boot. I need to spend more time with him to really be able to evaluate him, but so far I'm not a fan of him on point and he's soley a dedicated assist on any team I include him on.
Spiderman: Spiderman is pretty much same old Spiderman. He's got very quick, yet standard normals with a couple tricky projectiles. His air dash is incredibly fast (too fast in my opinion, but i mained him in MvC2 so I'm not used to it yet) and his eight way web zip is great for getting out of hot spots. On the plus side, his Maximum Spider is now unavoidable once the first hit connects (In MvC2 you could get lucky and fall out of the attack or have a moment to guard the rest of it).
Wolverine: Berserker Slash has easily become his greatest asset. Not only does it allow hit to safely get in close against zoners and projectiles with it's invulnerable movement frames, but also can turn around and slash behind the enemy. And when he's in close, he's got some of the greatest close range combos that are incredibly easy to pull off. A favorite punisher of mine is definitely when ending an air raid with Wolvie and whipping out Fatal Claw, a very damaging lv1 HC
Storm: I was never a storm player in MvC2 and so I really can't vouch for any changes in MvC3. That said, she's as powerful as ever. She does have slower startup on her specials, but she has strong chip damage. Especially for her hailstorm HC which remains one of the best HC's in the game.
Magneto: Definitely the most nerfed player in the game, he makes up for it with an insanely fast full screen projectile and Gravity Squeeze, a full screen lv3 HC that can hit otg. He's got great air combos and air mobility but I found his ground combos to be lacking. Aside from his infamous down-forward heavy, the rest of his attacks are lackluster and his launcher has a much smaller range than it appears to have.
Deadpool: He's got some nice, quick close range combos and a sweet low hitting special in vein of X-23's ankle slicer, but he also has a great keep away game with his air grenades and gunplay. He lacks a solid defense, however, and can't contend with solid offensive pressure. His trigger happy HC is a great, safe HC from both air and ground.
Sentinel: Sentinel has the most health in the game as well as a high damage output, and a full moveset that takes up large chunks of the screen. He has decent close to mid range combo game and is annoyingly good at keep away tactics. I mean, this is Sentinel we're talking about, what do you expect?! As far as assists go, both of his Sentinel Force assists are great multi-hit projectiles and a good at causing general chaos onscreen.
X-23: A palette swap she be not. I have yet to spend a lot of time with the misses claws. From my experience, she has some great, easy to perform combos backed up by some highly technical and tricky specials and HC's to add to the mix. I didn't think much of her until I was opened up and absolutely torn apart with her combos by someone online. I will proceed to experiment with her further. UPDATE: X-23 seems to be becoming a more and more popular character to choose as I keep playing. She's fast, has a ton of movement options and some great, easy combos. She lacks an air dash but has an air dash special similar to Zero's which helps her air mobility a lot. Her specials also are great at hitting otg (for L and M), but her H command throw, while cool, isn't nearly as effective. Overall, she's great at opening opponents up and getting them into long combos as well as performing cross-ups with her quarter-backward special. She's really lacking in the health department, however.
Hulk: Hulk strong. Hulk much faster and have much faster startup time for specials than Hulk did in MvC2. That being said, I'm really not sure why they decided to switch the input motions for his Gamma Wave and Gamma Dash, but I guess it works. I was always more prone to dash then to wave anyways. His wave now is an automatic full screen projectile (ground based) and his dash has special secondary properties depending on which button is pressed. I haven't tested it, but it appears that both L and M give you the option to choose directions for both dashes, but H simply dashes you forward and then back. The H dash is a great hit and run tactic in case your opponent decides to guard. His anti-air HC is as deadly as ever and is one of my favorite punishers. As an assist Hulk's dashes (ground or anti-air) and great in pretty much any situation and for any team.
She Hulk: Killian was most definitely correct when comparing the emerald lawyer with El Fuerte from SFIV because she plays very similar. Once you get used to how her runner's start operates and how long it takes to cancel and such in and out of it (overuse will simply open you up especially at close range), you'll be able to take full control of the stage, with a brawler no less. She-Hulk's wall bounce attacks are very effective and can be very tricky for your opponent to read. She has some great H normals and an awesome Guile-esque backflip. On the flipside, her quarter-forward HC, while powerful, has terribly short range and I haven't quite figured out her lv3 HC. I remember her smashing the car and throwing it at the opponent in the trailer, but in my experience the car just zooms forward into the opponent. UPDATE: Screw running start. In the heat of battle, that tactic is pretty much rendered useless. However, she does have a way to initiate running start without actually using running start. Her forward H command will reset her back into a position so that a simple tap of forward or backward will automatically set her running or bouncing off the walls, making setting up sweet combos much much easier. Oh, and she does a funny infinite: forward H, forward (runners start sprint), H, forward, H, forward, H, repeat. Hitting H while in her runners start sprint also resets her to a position to instantly use runners start again so you can do this infinitely. I doubt it's very practical, but I can be fun to mess with your opponent this way and see how they react to it.
Taskmaster: At first glance, Taskmaster appears to be a good close range fighter. He's got good combo potential and some fantastic command normals (more on those in a bit), but he is really meant as a defensive long range fighter. His arrows are where his true strength lies. They're quick and can hit at any range on ground or in air and his arrow HC's work the same way. He can also disable projectile users with a shield special that reflects most projectiles and his backward H, the charging star, which has surprisingly high priority for a normal and can rush through projectiles. When up close, however, his spidey swing sets up for some nice combo situations (and is a great mobility alternative to his lack of an air dash) and he has some great M and H normals to combo out of.
M.O.D.O.K.: I've never been a fan of Modok. Not since his announcement, and not now either. Given his uniqueness I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and try him out. Yeah, my opinion remains. He's a zoning king, but he's just so awkward to play as and it's not just because he's a flying chair, though that has a lot to with it. He's got some tricky projectile game but he absolutely fails in the normals department or even the entire combo department. His only redeeming qualities in this area are that his H normal can wall bounce and he has some good commend normals. Specifically his backward H, which sets up an electric shield in a very convenient location. Other than that it's pretty much just sit back in a corner, make sure you put a shield up, and then just balloon bomb, slime slick, and psionic blast the crap out of your opponent and hope they don't get in too close. I really don't see the full benefit of his analyze cubes, but at this point I don't really care, cause it probably won't change how I play him, IF I ever play him again.
Super Skrull: My personal fave. Super Skrull is a pretty well rounded character with a really fleshed out moveset but a select few moves are really the most practical. I won't be the first and I won't be the last to say this, but his command grab, the elastic slam, is boss. It may be the best command grab in the game. If anything, it's the reason you'll probably play as him and you'll probably build your whole strategy around setting up for a successful elastic slam. Cause face it, It's got range (specifically the H version), it's very damaging, it's kinda-sorta invisible so that it can go through some projectiles, and it can set up for some sweet otg combos in conjuction with his L tenderizer. His tenderizer is a great tool, but it can be a little too easy to pull off and leaves you wide open if it doesn't connect. Especially with my twitchy fingers during tense situations. He's got some good charged command normals that can otg and Orbital Grudge is a good, berserker barrage type attack that is pretty safe and practical in most situations. Meteor smash is a great tactical maneuver as well as a nice rush down or zoning escape and can lead to, you guessed it, more otg combos. Gotta love it.
Dormammu: A zoning king with a surprising amount of variety. His liberation isn't nearly as effective as it looks but his dark hole is a lot more effective than it looks, suspending enemies wherever it's summoned and dealing multiple hits. He also has a command telport in lieu of Spiral or Dhalsim and all of his specials appear at various ranges according to the button pressed. His real depth, however, lies in his creator and destructor attacks. power up either, or both, up to three times and quarter-backwards heavy to see the results. There are some obviously awesome ones, specifically a fully powered up power of destruction attack, but overall these abilities give Dormammu a lot of tools to surprise the opponent with.
Dr. Doom: They may have nerfed my favorite things about Doom, but he's still quite a powerhouse. His beam has great start up time and his air normals are very versatile but they really reduced the hitbox on his launcher and his photon array special and HC aren't nearly as effective as a whole. His launcher can hit otg and i think it's actually the only one that can do that. He also has a new move, hidden missles, which is performed with backward H, has surprisingly fast startup, and can be quite a nuisance for the opponent both at point and as an assist.
Phoenix: Phoenix should never be your point character. She has the lowest health in the game and one good combo has the possibility of rendering her null for the match. She does, however, have the biggest comeback possibilities in the form of her Dark Phoenix HC. The only lv5 in the game, this HC activates automatically when certain conditions are met: you have five HC bars, phoenix is the last remaining character on your team, and it'll activate once phoenix is KO'd. This regenerates her health, increases her speed, and gives her a massive boost in strength. Combine this with X-Factor and you can take out an entire team in the blink of an eye. A good way to prep for Dark Phoenix is to have a point character like Magneto or Dormammu, who are built for building meter, have either Amaterasu's Bloom or Morrigan's Dark Harmonizer assist, which simply summons either of them to give you 30% of one HC bar, and reserve Phoenix for the finale.
Ryu: Pulled straight out of TvC, this is a fairly strong version of Ryu. In capable hands he can be as strong as ever, but in general he can't quite go toe to toe with the rest of the roster like he could in TvC. His biggest draw is his multi directional Gou Hadouken. When on ground you can fire in any direction as long as it isn't behind you, and in air pretty much any direction is acceptable. It's a really nice change that is great for ending pretty much any combo and I personally use Ryu just so I can abuse this trait. However, unless you are a die hard Ryu player, this is really the only stand out skill he has in his arsenal. Everything else can simply be done better by a lot of characters and many are simply done better by Akuma.
Chun Li: This is probably my favorite version of lightning legs since SFIII. She's easily the fastest character in the game, has her standard triple jump, and can now combo out of and cancel out of her lightning legs special. This special is also a fantastic assist; lacking in range, but suspending your opponent in place for further follow up and causing decent chip damage if blocked. Her air dash is angled, which is something I'm still getting used to and her moveset seems very small (not that you really need much outside of her lightning legs) compared to past iterations.
C. Viper: C. Viper is, well, C. Viper. She's pretty much a carbon copy of her SFIV self just with upped speed and enhanced mobility options. No change really isn't much of a bad thing on her part, however, because she really seems to fit in well with the rest of the cast. Many complain about her appearance in this game and how she's the least deserving of a spot in MvC3, but you'd gotta figure they'd include one of their new characters from their latest Street Fight and Viper is really the only one (outside Juri) who would be able to really compete with the rest of the cast. As a fighter, she's really all about offensive pressure. Give her a good projectile assist for cover and a good combo extender like Chun Li or Haggar and just do your best to back them into a corner and open them up for a good combo.
Akuma: Man is this guy powerful. He may not have considerably high damage output statistically, but when you play Akuma how you always play Akuma, he seems like a powerhouse. His whirlwind kick is as fantastic as it's ever been, whether at point or as an assist, and it's oh so easy to spam it without worrying to much. His air HC also has a unique trait in that it has deceptive width; as the fireballs flare out sporadically. His diving air kick that was so potent in MvC2 is harder to pull off, but that's probably for the best considering how much that was abused in the previous game. So, if you've ever played Akuma you'll probably be very pleased with this iteration of the raging demon.
Chris Redfield: Chris surprised me. He's actually a very bombastic fighter to play with. He has plenty of specials varying from button to button and his specials do a crazy amount of damage for lv1's, especially for chip damage. That said, he's really not that much of a melee type. It's really best to either sit back and do chip damage with his uzi, wall bounce 'em with your pistol, or simply give 'em a shotgun to the face (the latter is very powerful and very very satisfying). His mines are also a lot more helpful than they may appear to be at first. Favorite punisher for him is an easy one: after a solid HC like Dante's or Deadpool's gunfire HC, DHC to Chris and unload your grenade launcher HC and watch the screen fill up with explosions.
Wesker: I have yet to really sit down and work through all of Wesker's moveset, but I can give a general overview of his skills and tactics. In short Wesker is all about the teleporting. Especially considering that have his moveset involves teleporting of some sort or another and he's the only character that can teleport out of a normal. He has the ability to really move anywhere along the screen instantly but this makes his standard combos a lot tricker than most people's. If you haven't gone through his mission set you'll most likely be drawn to his easiest command teleport, forward H, H, where he shoots you in the foot and teleports behind your head. Aside from that he has some great counters in the form of his Tiger Uppercut special series where each button can counter different things. His HC counter is also a great counter, but his standard HC nicknamed "Ultimate Wesker" is by far his easiest damage tactic. Unlike Spidey's that has to start from either side of the screen and fires off in a preset direction, Wesker's can initiate anywhere and will aim for you no matter where you are. It's pretty frightening, but a solid defense will shut it down pretty easily. Overall, Wesker has a very technical offense heavy strategy that can get around defenses but can't contend with a solid defense as a whole.
Dante: Oh Dante. He is without a doubt the most used character online, but it's definitely not just because he's a good looking guy. Sure, he has an obscene amount of moves, but that's really not the important part. The important thing is that he feels incredibly accessible to start out with. He's easy to use, has solid specials, and an especially solid lv1 HC and in general you can pretty much mess around with him and you're guaranteed to see some cool ***** go down. On the flipside, with all of his "style cancels", otg's, and extended combo opportunities he is quite possibly the easiest character to use and the most complex character to use. His moveset is incredibly fleshed out, he's fun to play as, he has one of if not the best anti-air assist, and you can't help but want to play as him even if you don't like being part of the crowd. His downfall however comes in his jack of all trades style. He has a lot of options, but as a whole he is a mid range fighter who has a hard time dealing with really strong offenses or defenses. His down down special teleport is great for instantaneous cross ups, but he doesn't have anything to get around good defense any other way. He lacks any sort of counters so if a player is too focused on just whipping out all of his moves, they really set themselves up for a disasterous offensive opportunity from the opponent. So, as the saying goes, he's a jack of all trades but a master of none.
Trish: Trish really surprised me. She's a great keep away character that also has some great close range skills as well. As far as keep away goes her standard projectiles are quick and have great hitstun, she has nice traps to lay out that are seemingly invisible if the opponent forgets about them, and her quarter backwards special and HC can be deadly options as well. The HC version especailly has terrifying tracking and allows for her to unleash her other lv1 HC if there's meter available. Close range she doesn't have too much but her H normals are fantastic and her combos are easy to pull off allowing her to quickly combo and get away again. She does have considerably low stamina, however, so it's hard to recommend her as a point character but she does work well as a secondary; not a dedicated point but not a dedicated assist either.
Zero: Zero is has some fantastic combos and is great at putting on offensive pressure. If you played him in TvC then you'll really like him in this game. He's got some nice tweaks and some cool new moves. His best tweak hands down is that he can now combo into his quarter forward lv1 HC. Other than that he has a cool new DP air attack and a new lv3 HC that skips the cool cutscenes of other characters for instantaneous massive damage. A drawback of this iteration from TvC, however, is that in TvC Zero really benefited from the cramped screen space. With more stage and screen space in MvC3, Zero has a harder time getting in close and his combos can't quite cover as much ground. He does have an air dash in addition to his quarter backward dash series so he makes up for it in that respect.
Tron Bonne: I loved Tron in MvC2 but they've made some tweaks to her for better or worse that have made her better, yet harder to play. Tron has a bit more speed this time around and doesn't feel as clunky as before but her best and most important move however is now harder to pull off. To use the Bonne Strike, you now have to input backwards DP (a motion I have particular trouble with) but the move now has way more range than it ever did, especially with it's H version. Other than that she's got a sweet command throw as well as a command throw lv3 HC and her giant servbot HC will now come out even if you're hit after startup. Overall, even if you don't like how they've arranged her specials, Tron's damaging normals more than make up for it and for a heavyweight she has a lot of mobility to boot.
Morrigan: Morrigan seems to have a different moveset in every game she's in. This version draws heavily from her TvC outing. She has the standard Missles out of her ass HC (which has much faster start up and can now be comboed into) and her servant uppercut HC, but they've now added a new, rather clever clever and creative HC. I forget the name, but in this HC she summons a clone behind your opponent as a sort of mirror image that will do whatever you do. This can really trip up an opponent who really doesn't know how to defend against it providing for some crazy offensive possibilities. As a whole, however, Morrigan is largely unchanged. She has great air normals and is queen at spending meter with her variety of HC. She's a pretty balanced fighter, but aside from her cool new tricks there's nothing really standout about her. (aside from the obvious)
Felicia: If you're a Felicia player you know what to expect. If you're not a Felicia player than you can expect a very fast, up close character with a crap ton of special attacks and some of the best combo opportunities in the game. If you haven't seen them, look up Felicia combos in either MvC2 or MvC3 (yes they've already found them in MvC3) and check 'em out. She does have a cool new HC in vein of Morrigan's mirror clone. Here she summons a seemingly chibi version of herself that has a will of its own and is seemingly invulnerable. It'll attack whenever you attack wherever it is. It's a great tool for confusing and mixing up your opponents guard as well as for a good laugh.
Hsien Ko: Here I was hoping for Lord Raptor, or Sasquatch, or Jedah, but nope, we've got three female Darkstalkers characters. Hsien Ko is easily the most...weird to play as, but once you get used to her she has some sweet moves in her arsenal. Her combos are easy to pull off and her air pendulum swing is a great multi-hit air special. She has a weird projectile special that really acts more like a trap than a legit projectile and she has the weirdest and most awkward to use air dash in the game. She is pretty fun to play as given her eccentricities but other than her uniqueness she really isn't a standout character. No crazy HC's, standard health and damage output; she may be weird but she's also pretty standard.
Arthur: Keep away character to the core. In vein of the series he hails from, you'll spend most of your time firing off a variety of projectiles to keep your opponent at bay. He does have some decent combos, but his small size equals small hitboxes equals you really shouldn't use combos with Arthur as anything but to get your opponent off your back. He's no Viewtiful Joe when it comes to close range combos. His quarter backward HC is a great tool and it makes him an avid meter user since you'll want to use it so often. The HC powers you up for some time and when it's done it'll put you in your underpants so you'll have to use it again to just get back to your normal armor. As an assist, his blue fire torch assist can trip people up, but he's best served using his javelin assist as a good multi hit projectile for backup melee fighters he need to get in close.
Spencer: Spencer really doesn't have all that going for him. He's got some damaging, easy combos, but his whole draw is his grappling hook, but it's so small and easy to dodge or block that it kind of renders his whole strategy null. If you use him stick to his quarter forward S to wall bounce before using his grapple hook and if you're in an air combo his grapple hook can also serve as a great air follow up attack. Other than that it's not really a practical tool. Oh, and use his quarter backwards HC as much as possible. It's safe, has great ground range, and does A LOT of damage.
Viewtiful Joe: Muuuuuuch better than his TvC incarnation, Joe packs a punch in an annoyingly small size. Up close joe is all about the air combos. A great strategy is to use his quarter back HC to slow them down and then launch them up for some of Joe's crazy air combos. Far away is where Joe can be a real nuisance as he has quite the keep away game. Throw some bombs out to keep the enemy from getting too close and have a good projectile assist to cover you. Amidst all this charge up some boomerangs and let them terrorize your opponent with their seemingly arbitrary movement patterns. Also of note, his quarter forward lv1 HC is now comboable and is quite powerful.
Amaterasu: My favorite fan service, Ammy has an incredible moveset that really does her heritage justice. As a fighter, Ammy can really handle any situation. Fast quick combos with her solar flare disc, powerful air combos with her glaive, or projectile game with her beads. Her lv1 HC also fills the entire screen and can be very hard to avoid, however, it may be one of the least damaging lv1's in the game so that's the trade off. Her air dash can pretty much go full screen and as an assist she can fill meter with Bloom or play keep away with Cold Star. Her best use is to get in close. She can really open up guards with her various low hitting combos so try and corner your opponent and get them up into the air.
