One of C.Vipers most desirable aspects is her ability to do inescapable unblockables. I’m trying to pick her up, but I’m at a loss to which assists give her set ups, most importantly those on incoming. I feel this needs it’s own thread outside of teams since this is not easily referenced for new players. So post set ups in block strings, resets, or incomings.
Obvious ones: Skrull (Tenderizer), Ammy (Cold Star), Dante (Jam Session).
Strider (Vajra), Iron Man (Repulsor)
There’s a good vid on youtube showing some Repulsor uses - who did that, FlyingVe or someone?
…here are a couple more assists that have potential to do some work with full charge focus: Doom rocks, Chun kicks.
Doom rocks are a bit situational, but if you get someone to freeze up a bit and have doom close by, he comes out pretty fast and that lock down is just enough when timed right. Chun’s kicks are absolutely amazing for full charge focus – she comes out hella fast and kicks lasts forever. Of course, all assists have different durations, so you’ll have to practice the call timings for each one. The last few Mahvel sessions I’ve partaken in, I’ve been running Viper/Chun/Dante with good results and it’s really obnoxious for the opponent how good kicks are for focus (either full charge or call assist+focus bait into EX), kicks are even decent as a gtfo assist.
A good simple reset using the chun kicks, for example, would be (in corner) qcb+L~S, j.L, j.H, cr.M, H xx qcf+L~S, cr.M, H xx qcf+L~S, st.L+chun assist (opponent resets after linking the st.L), full charge into combo of choice. This’ll kill pretty much the entire cast for one bar – DHC for the heavy lifers. You can actually do this setup with a bunch of assists, really.
While ending a combo in a knockdown (fly state j.S) or intentionally resetting a combo, a typical thing to do is simply call your lockdown assist and start charging. When you charge, say you use S+L, press S+L but then release the S and keep holding the L for the full charge (or vice versa). What this does is give you options for whatever your opponent may do. If they just recover or stand up into blocking your lockdown assist, good – just keep charging for the unblockable. If they tech or roll or air recover forward or backward, since you are just holding down the L button, you can easily adjust by dashing either forward/backward with M+H (plink dash afterwards if needed) or if your opponent called an assist and/or is attacking right away you can S seismo dat ass (or thunder knuckle H cancel).
For incoming – I really like jam session (but vajra and cold star are just as strong, cold star possibly being the very best assist for Viper incoming), just call and charge and keep the same focus charge options open as described above to follow up accordingly. For jam session, I like to wait just a little bit before the opponent comes in (especially if they have limited air movement options) then call the assist and then charge immediately after. This lets the opponent fall just a little bit, making them fall to the correct height to get hit by the full charge focus. If the opponent is hip to that and has aerial movement, then the mixup becomes calling a meaty jam session and/or going for an air grab – both of which lead to respectable damage (or a kill depending on team build and/or your willingness to pop xfc). If you call a meaty jam session and they try moving they’ll get hit, attempt to do the full charge focus like you always would but watch to confirm the assist hit then dash cancel out of focus into super jump staircase loop (or activate x factor and do the same or similar combo to kill).
…and actually, raw Viper can be pretty scary for incoming characters. Just start charging right before they come in and either; 1) hold your charge until it releases for an unblockable (try to time so they are still in the air when it hits), 2) quick dash cancel into air grab or 3) just do an EX seismo into a combo or pressure. Those three options alone should make the opponent very nervous, let alone mixing in various assists with it as desired.
Sidenote – watch Full Schedule (< especially this guy) and MarlinPie vids for Ammy assisted incoming setups, they are the best imo.