So I’ve given some thought about what a combo would look like from firebrand and I’ve come up with an interesting idea based upon what I know about firebrand.
The combo start with some variation of Magic series -> launcher -> air magic series. Now if you can fit in smoe kind of extra loop off jump cancel or using flgiht cool all the better.
After you land you go for firebrand’s otg fireball cancelled into Illum. body super. That way he can dash in and h->launcher or just launcher. I’m assuming this super gives him a damage boost, and if not at least it makes him faster and easier to link rest of the combo.
After launching them you will prolly go for a few different combos based upon your assists but here are a few ideas:
air magic series -> land call assist + otg fireball(or just otg assist) -> launch heavy ->ground bounce kick -> ground drag wall bounce special -> otg fireball ->flame breath super.
heavy -> ground carry special -> short hop heavy into dive kick -> assist (cancel flight)-> dash fireball-> flamebreath super. (This works because the dive kick be so low to the ground you can land and dash to continue combo.
heavy-> divekick->wall carry-> shorthop(or standing) assist, h, s ->move into range otg fireball -> flamebreath super.
The key to getting past hit stun decay is to relay on only h’s/s’s/wall/groundbounce/otg’s once you hit about 20 hits in a combo. This also uses 2 meters but allows you to DHC at end if you have the meter meaning you can prolly get a ToD combo on lower health characters if starting with somewhere around 1.3 meters or so. I think using illum. body to continue combos will be important since his floatyness will make coming up with low to the ground loops difficult and fact he typcailly can’t follow up dive kick ground bounce expect with his wall bounce move.
I have been thinking something similar, but I don’t see the need for Luminous Body in all that. Another thought of mine is that Firebrand’s swooping attack seems to cause a ton of hitstun; we may be able to extend combos via his swoop into dive kick at high levels of hitstun degeneration.
So my idea is something like this:
c.LMHS, sj.MMH, Bon Voyage, s.S, sj.HS, OTG Fire (assuming it OTGs), drop and swoop, Dive Kick, call assist, and then at this point maybe swoop again or just go into a hyper.
If his fireball can OTG, I add that in there as a sort of Phoenix or Skrull-esque technique. Basically, after you launch someone, you spike them very early, and this lets you recover while still being in the air so you can perform a move. Skrull players will air dash into OTG and loop this, while Phoenix players will use the advantage of being off-screen to throw a fireball for a really smooth mixup. Firebrand might be able to OTG in some sort of combined Phoenix/Skrull strategy.
That’s why I specifically mentioned just doing sj.HS, which allows Firebrand to recover at a very good height for using his fireball; the fireball carries a long way, so as long as it connects I think it should work. I don’t see why you would think he couldn’t combo off the OTG fireball, since he does it all the time in gameplay in non-OTG states.
Luminous Body is basically a Berserker Charge that can be done in the air, that Firebrand can gain meter during, and that also buffs his special attacks. It may also give him new moves, but no one has found those yet.
They will probably take out the ability to build meter in luminous body prior to release if the it actually is a berserker charge that can be activated in the air and gives him access to a new move(moves?).
I don’t think that’s necessarily true. Self-buffs that don’t allow meter building generally are the way they are because the open up new combo opportunities, like Dante setting up self cross-ups or Wolverine comboing from Berserker Slash solo. Firebrand has nothing to suggest he can do something on par with these setups.
Alternatively, self-buffs that allow a character to take 100% control of the fight for a period of time, like Rimoukon, Sougenmu, Vale of Mist, and Ouroboros, also do not allow meter building, since if you could find a way to keep these up permanently, your opponent would be absolutely fucked with no recourse.
Self-buffs that provide a good bonus that is difficult to make use of allow meter building, like Kitty Helper, Astral Vision, and Healing Field.
Luminous Body is probably somewhere between the two, but I would put it more toward the Kitty Helper side of things with how it functions for him. Nothing suggests that Firebrand building meter during Luminous Body is merely a “beta” aspect, since Vergil can’t build meter in Devil Trigger. Also, consider that Firebrand’s level 3 is also a self-buff hyper. There is some truth in that if Firebrand were to use Luminous Body like Berserker Charge, and he couldn’t build meter from it, his level 3 would never get used at all, because he would always be in need of more meter.
I’ve been thinking about his combo potential myself my thought process has been as such:
Magic series> launch> air magic series > Dive kick for ground bounce obviously based on the assumption this is even possible > ground series > relaunch> air series > Demon Missile/Bon Voyage/whichever move it is that will make firebrand ride you like a surfboard down to the ground for a wall-bounce > ground series > Relaunch > Air series > OTG super finisher
I do realise that hitstun decay is most likely going to run out before you get all that done, but the ground bounce and wall bounce parts feel modular and could be done either way and to be honest the wall bounce move seems like you’d use it as early as possible in the combo if you intend to OTG. It does push your opponent to the corner and wall bounce, but firebrand seems like he is always left in the corner which means OTG super probably won’t get max damage.
I think whether you can actually corner someone post wall bounce will be something that should be explored in depth. If you can then great, wall bounce, cross-under/whatever, relaunch into OTG fire super on a cornered opponent for optimum damage, and if not then at least ways to corner them and setup a reset situation or somesuch.
Having seen what firebrand is like I imagine he’ll have some interesting low air combo options anyway, and like someone mentioned the swoop move could be incredibly useful since it seems to be able to cause a stagger on grounded opponents which could be a great source of damage/pressure/mixups.
Liking the look of Firebrand a lot. I doubt he’ll be a wolverine clone. He looks tricky to use. Characters like Vergil and Nemesis are going to be the popular choices amongst all the pubbies looking for easy wins…at least until someone wins something big with firebrand and then you get the tier bandwagon like what happened with Wong’s early days teams and Combofiend’s Spencer
^ Knew he would :D. I understand your need for visual proof but downward fireball OTGing would only be logical. As I theorized, Air throw > Downward fire > Bon Voyage > Launch > Air combo > Dark Fire sounds like it’d work. (possibly even expanded upon considering his full combo potential hasn’t been explored)
Since he has enough time to combo after an air throw, it looks like his anchor viability just increased by like a ton
He definitely seems like he has the tools to hold his own against anyone, especially since he is one of the few characters who can build meter while in an install mode. He does look like he might be very reset heavy though since he doesn’t seem to do a lot of damage(at least comparatively), although he could end up like zero who doesn’t do a lot of individual damage but is capable of comboing you for so long he can hit you up for a million easy.
i could’ve sworn i saw firebrands slide OTG after an airthrow. anyway, i think firebrands lvl3 will be interesting in the sense that he’ll be able to start humongous combos with it.