Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Newcomer’s Team Assessment Questionnaire
Had to edit into a spoiler because my post was an eye-sore.
[details=Spoiler] 1. Who characters and teams will you use (in order of selection)?
A: I used Iron Fist on Point (Dragon Fang Y)/ Hawkeye as Second (Triple Shot A/Scatter Shot Y)/ Nova is on point (Centurion Arts B)
- What type of game-play strategy are you pursuing with this team? (Explain)
A: An evolution of a few teams, I combined Nova into my New Avengers team and I really liked the result. Fond of the play-style of all three characters, with Hawkeye able to pin down runaways with either of the two assists and Nova’s CA able to extend Iron Fist’s combos and create a solid mix-up and even time to cover Iron Fist after a third rekka option to dash back in and try for another mix-up if the first isn’t successful. Iron Fist also builds hella meter, and can do so much damage without the use of a bar, allowing you to stock up for Nova and especially for Hawkeye who’s such a credit to the line-up.
Hawkeye himself is a great character all around, and while on point has an advantage in the simple game plan of pressuring the opponent with his arrows and his forward M until they slip up in slid range and get punished by a BnB. He also can take advantage of the Centurion Art and Dragon Fang assist, both of which can cause bounces and, in and of themselves, can be alternated to give your opponent even more angles to worry about when blocking.
Finally Nova himself is great on point or as anchor, but I prefer to have him as the latter simply because Iron Fist is a weaker choice for last slot. Nova can use meter better, he can have a full Grav Pulse stock, and I don’t have to worry about accidentally losing half of my red-life because of bad habits. He’s also got a mean Lvl 3 X-Factor with a simple air-combo into Nova Force and then Nova Force again can end a good amount of characters. Of course, like all characters, he takes advantage from his two assists. Dragon Fang makes for ground bounces after his forward H and then into Nova Force/Blaster, and Hawkeye’s Scattershot assist can pin down characters so you can zone with Javelin and Grav.
- What advantages does your point (first selected) character have?
A: As I said, IF can do huge amount of damage for little to no meter and has a solid 1 Mil Health that can soak up a good deal. He’s great at building meter, can finish enemies with relative ease and his two assists aid in allowing him to not only get in, but stay in.
What disadvantages does your point character have?
A: Iron Fist on his own can have a good amount of trouble against a large number of the cast, and without assists he falls apart and can get zoned fairly easily (especially with teleporters). Besides that, sometimes his moves can be a little on the unsafe side, but nothing that’s too much of a problem. With Iron Fist, you have to be ready to play footsies and stop getting in their faces in exchange for not getting blown up on the approach. I find that playing IF counter-intuitive to his usual point style when he’s against bad match-ups can actually aid his game a great deal, staying patient with good blocking and your Defensive Chi to survive enough to punish the eventual mistakes everyone makes.
What maneuverability options does your point character have?
A: A GREAT wave dash. Seriously, the thing is amazing. Other than that, his forward H is jump cancel-able for some instant overhead opportunities, and his ability to Kara Cancel M and H help increase his range. Unfortunately other than that, he’s got very little in how he can move.
- What advantages does your secondary character have?
A: A great slide, an amazing keep away pressure, and the ability to make use of the meter built by Iron Fist have convinced me that Hawkeye is worthy of the pressure of a secondary character. He can attack from so many angles of direction, and the assists of both Nova and Iron Fist allow you to cover the awkward diagonal angles you might not be able to get to all at once. People usually sleep on Hawkeye’s ability to relaunch, and get decent damage once in side, as you pressure them into foolishly getting close to stop you from zoning only to hit them with Vanilla She-Hulk speed lows. Net Arrow, Piercing Arrow and Exploding Arrow are all amazing zoning tools, and they shut down flight modes, projectiles and mean sweep distant characters like Hulk, Sent and Nem. Also, his forward M is fantastic for screwing up anyone trying to get in on you from the air.
What disadvantages does your secondary character have?
A: Some of the worst recovery on low normals that I have ever seen in a character. Hawkeye needs to take advantage of either his slide or his jumping H/S in order to properly do damage at close range, because the rest of his normals are terribad. Other than that, as long as you have meter, you can protect yourself in most cases but by the same coin, without meter, Hawkeye has that much more work to put in. His ground mobility is also lacking as his wave dash is pretty weak.
What maneuverability options does your secondary character have?
A: Hawkeye’s wave dash, as I’ve said before, isn’t very strong and neither is his walk speed. He can cover his jumps just fine, and the trick shots help him cover ground, but don’t expect him to take advantage of any kind of rush down (not that you would). Obviously neither of my first two characters can hold a candle to our anchor…
- What advantages does your last character have?
A: Nova’s a great achor because he’s got so many tools, and a great deal of maneuverability with his amazingly fast flight mode. He can deal with most situations, and the EJ and GP allow him to zone if need be even if all he can truly do is perform set ups for getting in. His crouching M is great, but mostly you’ll be coming in from the air with Hawkeye assist keeping them grounding if IF’s hasn’t already put them in wall bounce. His normals have some STUPID range, with crouching H and launcher covering hella range. Nova’s specials are also all very helpful, with GP, Centurion Arts A and C taking top spots. GP is self explanatory as it works like an even bigger flame carpet, and just controls a good chunk of area. Meanwhile Cen Art A is a great OTG that leads into big damage from just about anything, while Cen Art C is good for punishing single projectiles or even slow normals as it’s 1 point of armor lets Nova get in for a launcher. Nova’s air grab and grab in general and the opportunity for Wesker-like resets are also great, and lead into full combos without using any meter (something I dig).
Nova has solid enough health, a multitude of tools, and some very, very, very damaging combos. Also, once you get used to the start up on Human Rocket, you can punish a number of moves (projectile or otherwise) with that hyper.
What disadvantages does your last character have?
A: Two Words: Red. Health. Red health and how easy it is to become brainless and waste half of the life you could have recovered either by DHCing out or by X-Factor by doing a stupid GP or Hyper at the wrong time is just debilitating. Nova’s normals are pretty unsafe, and for that matter so are his special moves. You’ll be using his human rocket moves rarely outside of combos unless they’re full screen or you’re punishing a fuck up, because they can all be punished by most of the cast. His centurion arts are also easily punishable and the little pause he does just screams, “Please Feed me your Beam Hypers”.
What maneuverability options does your last character have?
A: Jesus, where do I start? A nice walk speed, a great air dash, and a fantastic flight activation time allow him to be everywhere. Even Nova’s Air S can be a huge surprise for people when they’re not looking for it, and it hits fast enough across the screen to be relatively viable at mid screen or farther (if you’re gutsy enough). He’s probably the fastest character in the air on my team… Scratch that, he’s head over heels the best thing in the air my team has. On the ground Iron Fist beats him out, but Nova’s no slouch and an unexpected CA can close a gap your opponent was feeling mighty comfy in.
- What kind of Delayed Hyper Combo opportunities do you think your team will have?
A: DHC combos are what my team is all about. Both of Iron Fists hypers are easy to DHC out of (especially considering Hawk is the second and is equipped with his 0-Frame hyper), and DHCing into them is even easier than that. Nova is even easier than that, with both Nova Force and Nova Blaster making for easy DHCs both in the corner and out of it. One of my favorite DHC’s right now is flight combo BnB into relaunch xx Nova Force and then tagging into Hawkeye’s Rain of Arrow’s hyper, which can hit for almost 40% on She-Hulk if not more and leave them floating for super jump air-grab funnies with Nova. Ironically, while Hawkeye is great to DHC into, none of his hypers besides the Gimlet are that great, with the exception of an in the corner Rain of Arrows which can do a single hit but relaunches the opponent to eat a full Hyper from either Iron Fist or Nova (Preferably Nova Force for the latter).
- What type of impact will your Team Hyper Combo have on your opponent (Explain)?
A: THC combos aren’t exactly tough to combo into with my team, with the exception of Nova himself who has to X-Factor to get one in sans a crumple opportunity. Iron Fist is probably the next character in terms of effectiveness as his rekka into crumple state can allow for an easy THC opportunity. The great thing about this team is that the THC hypers are all straight, which means that Nova and Hawkeye’s projectiles keep the opponent(s) steady as Iron Fists FoF hyper digs in for a deeper damage pool. Speaking of Hawkeye, he’s probably the best in terms of THC combo potential as not only does his instant-super tag anyone, but with his Ice Arrow relaunch, he can easily turn a slide or air-grab into a full THC punish.
- What are some of the weaknesses of your team?
A: The team can cover each other’s weaknesses pretty well, but Iron Fist suffers pretty badly against characters like Morrigan and Zero who can jab him out of his rekka set-ups. Nova has a similar flaw although his mobility and grav pulse help greatly, but even then both characters need Hawkeye to support them either as an assist or as a sweeper for those pesky rushdown characters.
- After filling out this questionnaire, are you still comfortable with your team?
A: I’m not going to be changing anytime soon, I keep getting new tech, and this is still early on. I think this was a team designed for my playstyle and I’m glad I stumbled upon it. [/details]
