Amaterasu Defensive Technique

Classic Fighting Games Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3
1

We’re coming into the home stretch before Ultimate, and I discovered my MvC3 love affair with Magneto just in time. So in trying to find one sick team to personify until November, I’ve tried several configurations, each attempting to involve Magnus and his DHC glitchery. Of all the teams I’ve narrowed it down to, the one I’m liking most, as if by poetry, has on point my first MvC3 crush, Amaterasu. (Ammy Mag Sent, for reference, though it’s not critical for the point of this thread)

The only downside to this Ammy team, or any Ammy team, really, is her “squishiness,” as they say. Though in a game of TODs and XFs, it’s not really her life total that worries me, but the sheer amount of button pressing involved in having a sick attacking threatening Ammy. All the threads in this forum are about Ammy’s offense: combos, strategies, tactics, setups, assists, mixups, etc etc

But what I wanted to ask the stronger Ammy’s about, and start a discussion about, is having a solid defensive mindset with the bitch. Even in a world where offense might be the best defense, we all know the pain of going on a crazy good attack, only to have a mashed Dorm S or scrubby ass Dante teleport jS nick our paw… and that’s a dead Ammy. How do you guys approach keeping your dog alive while also ravaging the opponent? When are you pausing the rush to bait ‘n’ block? On what are you basing the decision to try to open them up or let them open themselves up? When do you like to air dash with an attack versus air dash empty and land? Do you spend more time crouched underneath stuff, or soaring around in the air over stuff? Do you tend to block or counterhit? Etc etc etc etc etc.

In a nutshell, how do you guys approach Ammy’s defense? How can we go nuts scraping faces while not taking hits in the process? I feel like I have a very strong offense with Ammy, but that it’s a bit too reckless, and prone to getting hit. How does one strike the balance and make her an efficient, not dead, killing machine?

Discuss…

2

Damn I guess no ones interested in defense. I actually like this topic because its something I relate to as well, I fear for my ammy because she dies on one combo. Im not really the best so the few things I can add are:

  1. Use and abuse that paper, it sucks that it disappears after she gets hit but if it didn’t it would be broken. It really helps me make my opponent afraid to press buttons which in turns makes it difficult for ammy to die.

  2. Depending on your stance, don’t be afraid to use the tools she has, if your in disc I would suggest throwing out the counters here and there to let your opponent know not to be hitting buttons for free on you. Particularly when they super jump and come down with an attack, you’ll be surprised how frequently competent players do this. Of course know your match-ups, don’t do this against a super jump floating storm or you’ll eat an invicible assist to the face. Don’t hold it out to long against anyone who can teleport down and surprise you with a low or something. If your using the sword then don’t be afraid to space your opponent out with those normals, ammy has dante like normals in sword stance but without the shitty recovery since you can cancel almost everything into a paper slash. Finally in whip stance know your spacing, don’t fire of coldshots from a distance where your opponent can just berserker slash through/box jump over and hit for 800k, the close they get the more I rely on her whip normals, paper slashes and assists.

  3. Finally the most important aspect to playing ammy imo is learning not to press random buttons. She has god normals, but she isn’t zero/dante/trish she has a hurtbox on her normals and she can’t take a lot of hits so don’t be hitting buttons unless you have a good reason to.

Thats what I do, but Im not very good at all.

3

I wanted to respond to this but there’s nothing that I can say that doesn’t equate to “learn how to block”. This is the most important thing really.

The non-obvious stuff is as follows (for me anyway):

  1. If you get blocked, throw out a paper or flicker a counter. Change it up.
  2. If your opponent ever tries to attack blindly through the air and they don’t have a projectile, show them the high/mid Fireworks.
  3. Learn the match-up and download your opponent. Ammy is pretty much the only character with defensive options. If Wesker is trying to run away and shoot guns, show him Solar Flare and hit him with his own pea shooter. If Zero is mashing H (and doesn’t try to make you guess with buster), show him the high/mid Fireworks. If they want to play keepaway, play Pong with their own projectiles. Hyper-aggression that’s one-dimensional? Use the correct Fireworks.
  4. Again, learn the match-up. When you get in, figure out how good their normals are. Throw multiple papers if they have no good options to hit you and run in with M to catch them off-guard. If they have good anti-air as you come in, don’t swing. If both of you are in a staring contest, know if that character’s normal will beat yours and respond accordingly (swing if they don’t, block or use Fireworks if they do).
  5. Use sword normals or flicker counters to discourage your opponent from attacking.
  6. If you choose to zone someone out with Cold Star, make sure you have a good assist covering you. If they get within half-screen to you, change weapons and get in there as they’re usually block on their way in.

I’ve had moments where Ammy comes in with 40%-70% health left to my opponents 2-3 characters with X-Factor spent and confidence on max and made a full comeback. Assists (and bad decisions) are pretty much the only thing stopping Ammy from mauling the other character. Common non-Phoenix anchors are dog-meat against her. Ammy anchor has been coming up often in tournaments and players like LL.ND, MarlinPie, Choisauce and occasionally Clockw0rk are beating me over the head with the notion of anchoring Ammy and telling X-Factor to fuck off.

4

Imo the biggest defensive technique for an ammy player after blocking/advance guarding, is good paper placement. Good paper placement forces your opponent to have to move around it before they can attack you. Effectively slowing the game down. M paper shuts down footdive/air dashes. H paper shuts down teleporters from coming in high. The projectile is very fast so you can use it reactionary.

5

IMO most people don’t zone enough with power slash. that shit has a fatass hitbox and some durability. plus C power slash stops people like Dante/Dorm/Phoenix (and soon to be Vergil/Strange/Strider) from teleporting behind and above them. It’s also nice when you put a A or B power slash down and the opponent gets around it and you go for a pushblock. Either they’re getting tagged by the slash or pushed back further due to blocking the power slash. (generally leaving you at some space and advantage.) There’s also counter for moves you either see or know are coming. Projectile reflector does wonders for people who want to play lame and soon get the idea it won’t work or they have to mix it up. (helps it also reflects sent drones.)

Otherwise, Ammy’s best defense is just being a small ass hitbox. Most combos don’t work on her or have to be adjusted or some characters (Dante for instance) can’t do teleport crossups or mixups due to her height. Beads are a nice defensive tool when the time counts or simply staying in the air with her A and B head charges. With air wepon switch back in the current build, i’m sure she’ll be a bit more like Volnutt in being able to camp in the air a bit easier.

6

I don’t see why you would weapon switch instead of Head Charge L if you just want to sit around in the air because the weapon change lasts a much shorter length of time and you’re not propelling yourself higher like you do with Head Charge L.

superjump, airdash up, Head Charge L x3 is some pretty troll like stuff. Hulks always want to Gamma Crush me when I’m doing it but it actually goes too high for Hulk to reach, lol.

7

But yea to re-iterate please don’t forget about ammys power slash, you’ll be surprised how effective it is particularly against characters without projectiles or berserker slashes.