What do you guys think of Firebrand - y/Doom - b/Strider -y? I mean in theory this team should work pretty damn well together; upon snapback with Firebrand, carefully time and call out Strider forcing the opponent to block coming in, which sets them up for that unblockable. While Doom’s Molecular Shield serves to act as a pseudo form of Sent Drones which helps cover Firebrand’s ground approach while Vajra can also be used to help Firebrand further control the air.
And even if Firebrand falls, Doom and Strider is still a great pair in general. Only thing that bugs me is if Firebrand can confirm off of Vajra. (Will his 236H be fast enough to pick the opponent up and lead into a combo?) This is all theory and I can’t really test atm as I have to head to work but please let me know what you guys think.
I don’t think Liberation is the best assist for Dormammu, unless you’re gonna combo video everyone in your matches.
Firebrands assists are all sort of useful, none of them are anywhere close to top tier. I’ve only experimented with spitfire + Dormammu, and it lets you get a pretty easy relaunch in the corner. I know Zak Bennett uses medium demon missile, and I’ve seen plenty of people use H missile as well. It’s really up to what you want Firebrand assist to do for you. In reality, if he’s your point character you probably won’t be using it much.
That team seems nice in theory, but I don’t think either of the assists set you up for the unblockable. It takes a dang long time to charge that thing up, Vajra definitely won’t be enough time, and I’m pretty sure molecular shield doesn’t last long enough. I have used Strider with Firebrand, and he’s pretty nice. He really helps Firebrand control the air, no one will challenge you with Vajra, and you can own the skies. You should have enough time to combo off of 236H, but most of the time Vajra won’t hit air knockdown the opponent when they are right next to you. If you are farther than one dash away from a Vajra knockdown, you pretty much don’t have a shot to pick them up. As for Doom, I’m actually a big fan of molecular shield, all three of Doom’s assists are really good for Firebrand, so it’s all up to you really. I think shield is fine with that team.
I was hoping Psionic Blaster would (could?) be a fast beam assist at the very least, and if someone tries to crouch under it, I can always try to land a jL or something…? But I definitely see what you mean with the assist and the TAC combo.
MODOK was definitely designed to be a point character, but I’m not sure who would complement a Firebrand/Amaterasu team well besides him.
I don’t really know how to quote stuff so uh, yeah. What if you did something like snapback > THC? Would Legion and Photon Array be able to hold the opponent in place long enough for his 623H to charge up? Or possibly running Strider -y/Firebrand -y/Doom -b, snapping the character in with Strider, do Legion hyper and DHC into Firebrand’s Luminous Body hyper and go for the unblockable setup? In theory, Legion should be able to force the opponent to block long enough for Firebrand to do the unblockable, seeing how Firebrand is sped up during his install hyper.
But I’m going to run tests and see if I can hopefully find something that works. After playing with Zak Bennett’s team, I just don’t feel like it’s the most optimized team for Firebrand. It feels more like 2 point characters that have great DHC options backed by Ammy assist/anchor.
Firebrand/Dorm have incredible synergy. One of the things that I think Zak Bennett does wrong is that he tries zoning with Dorm when his team is built for that character to rush down. Ammy can lock down people long enough for him to get whatever spell he wants charged up, and there are a ton of japanese players that use Firebrand’s missile assist as a ghetto beam for teleport mixups, especially b/c its hard to punish with how far firebrand goes.
And obviously only having to spend 1 bar on what is basically a full screen lockdown assist (Dorm’s tracking ball) is amazing for his incoming mixups, especially when he kills the previous character with it.
I remember watching a Japanese FB/Ammy/Vergil player use demon missile, but his team ordering meant that Vergil didn’t see much use for it in crossups. I’ve been toying with the idea of using his β-assist for that purpose, though. However, I don’t recall the hitbox being that impressive, and it doesn’t seem to inflict much hitstun at all. Does it tend to lose out to other stuff (projectiles, high-priority attacks, etc.) an opponent might use to fill the screen? I just can’t bring myself to call it often, since the 'brand is so integral to my team…
You know, when I was using this team I thought of this too. On paper it seems like the proper way to punish a ducked beam, in practice however it’s not very effective. MODOK has to be reasonably far away before you call him or he’s going to get destroyed, then you have to dash in and instant overhead. By then hitstun is almost over, so it mandates that you have luminous body to make anything out of the j.L. Now that I think about it though, you can probably try the following, since I haven’t tried it myself:
Call MODOK > wave dash > Tiger knee hell dive M to cover remaining distance > instant overhead d.H > Hell dive L > whatever you want.
As for who would compliment the Firebrand/Ammy shell well, Zak Bennett’s addition of Dormammu makes it one of the scariest Firebrand teams in play right now. Perhaps you could try him. If a beam is what you want, you could try Doom (a la MarlinPie Doom/Ammy synergy) or Iron Man (My personal favorite in the second slot, however I no longer use Ammaterasu).
So after, some testing last night, I think I’m going to use Firebrand/Strider/Ammy. Reason being, was that although Doom and Dorm provide a great assist and utility hyper for Firebrand and can abuse Ammy’s assist for mixups, they “lack” in the other area the former excels in. (Doom doesn’t have a utility hyper while Dorm doesn’t have that great of an assist). Meanwhile, Strider seems to be a nice balance of the two with Vajra allowing Firebrand to rule the sky while having Legion to DHC Firebrand in and out safely.
That and playing Firebrand/Strider/Ammy on a team makes it seem like Firebrand and Ammy are the non-robotic versions of the animals that Strider calls out. >_>
I asked Chrisis which characters he felt best used and abused Tatsu assist, as Im looking for diff points for a xxx/Doom/Akuma. I was very surprised when after his list, he added “Firebrand is best.” But he’s not in a position to elaborate, could anyone here possibly explain not only why Firebrand not only likes a Tatsu, but in the opinion of one expert, wants it more than anyone else wants it?
I know FB’s mixups are insane and all that, what has me confused is what Firebrand wants to do on either a landed Tatsu, or a blocked Tatsu that becomes landed due to a successful mixup. Is it, perhaps, that the mixups 'Brand wants to do in this context are left rights more than high lows, so they don’t get knocked away? Sorry, Im talking to myself trying to work it out lol Any insight?
I really didn’t expect to be putting together a Firebrand team, but if Tatsu FireBrand is somehow uber-cheap, I am very VERY intrigued. Thanks!
It lets him combo off of his air throw in the corner. Normally the fireball goes off-screen and the hitstun doesn’t last long enough, but with H Fireball + Tatsu assist (I use Ryu for this, but presumably Akuma would work as well) you can do it, and not just do it but also do more damage. You can call a Tatsu assist after a blocked slide before you go into qcb+L/M to cover yourself so you don’t get air grabbed for your effort, and then you can try another mix-up as they block the assist. You can do cr.LMH+Call Tatsu assist xx QCF+L/M in the corner for some great damage, and you can do this mid-screen too but you either need to wavedash and slide (which can be really hard, but possible), use Demon Missile M (nearly impossible outside of Luminous Body, but very easy while in it), or ground Bon Voyage.
So I’ve been wanting to make a team based around Firebrand unblockables for a while now and think I have a team I would want to play: Trish/FB/Skrull
Unblockable setups with round harvest and tenderizer obviously. I also think they all DHC nicely into each other. Not sure on Trish/FBs assists, would appreciate some input on that. I would think most obvious choices would be Peek-a-boo and Fireball, but maybe there’s something I’m missing.
If my unblockable setups end up failing I think I have a decent enough contingency in Trish keepaway and Skrull XF nonsense.
I’ve been working on my main team for the time being so for now this is all barely above theory-fighting. So far I haven’t been able to think of that many glaring flaws, except maybe ability to get in. I’m not that attached to Trish I just think she’s cool in this game. It would be great if I could do the swag Trish BnB combo that people like RDK and Jago do with Wesker assist, but with Firebrand otg instead. I think it might be too slow, however.
I do want to keep Skrull anchor though. He loves me.
I suppose you could run Low Voltage if you’re worried about getting in, but that assist is kind of ass anyway and Firebrand is actually decent at covering his own approaches. Peek-a-boo is probably really nasty with Skrull’s grabs, but what does Trish get from Skrull assist? Overall that still sounds like a really good team.
I figure you’ve already seen this FB/Trish swag combo, but here it is anyway
[media=youtube]UB9G49JLMBg[/media]
Wow thanks for that, looks like a fun way to use 3-4 meters . I probably have seen it before since I usually catch all of Caj814s vids, but I didn’t remember it at all.
I messed around in training mode for the first time today with the team. Still getting used to how Firebrand works, he seems like a lot of fun once you get the hang of 'im.
Haven’t checked anything as specific as what Tenderizer offers Trish but I assume it can’t be much. From using it in the past I do know its situationally useful to just keep people in place for a bit while you set something up, and as an ok answer to very predictable tri-dashers. Once they get caught in the blockstun its pretty annoying to get out of, just can’t miss because damn that thing stays out there forever.
I bet Dante could really compliment a Firebrand/Trish duo as well. Trish loves Jam Session, and Firebrand can still use it to set up 1 rep of the snapback loop. Dante would also give you another character with which to set up Round Harvest unblockables in case Firebrand goes down early. Of course, Skrull is still a good 3rd (and I know you have your heart set on him), but I figured I’d bring it up anyway for people who care about optimizing both Firebrand and Trish.
Currently running firebrand / sent / dormammu. Team is working out pretty well for the most part, I just started using this team though so I need to get the feel of it. Drones obviously help with unblockable, as does stalking flare dhc luminous body. I feel that this is a pretty strong team, but I would like to switch sent out at some point. Yeah drones are good, but sent isn’t anymore. Too much tech against him and he can’t open anyone up if he needs to. I know the obvious replacements are doom or Ammy, but I don’t really want to play them either if I can help it. I really want to find another character that can help me get in with firebrand because frankly, I’m scared to go in with him if I’m not covered by An assist or unless I’m punishing something stupid, which doesn’t happen at high level play. No one throws a launcher without being backed first. I was also toying with the idea of Trish on point and firebrand in the second slot, as this would provide my firebrand a free way in + mixup / unblockable, but then again trishs assists aren’t that great on their own, and that would mean I would have 2 character on my team with less than 900k health. One could argue " everyone dies in one touch in this game anyways lol ! ", and yes, while that can be true, it doesn’t change the fact that 850k health has some definite drawbacks…Ike being chipped much harder than a character with 1mil. I just need to find MY perfect team, but either way, I want firebrand to be on it. He’s a very fun, original, unique, versatile character, and he’s honestly a breath of fresh air for me. The only things I could possible want for him would be a trijump via 8 way airdash, but I feel that would 1) shoot him way up in the tier list, and 2) make him a much much more popular character, which I don’t particularly want. I like this little gem of a character, and I honestly kinda hope he stays under the radar. Sorry for the wall of text, it’s 3am and I’m just giving my 2 cents.
Your last character depends on what you want from it. If you want to be able to do to the unblockable, then you’ll need someone like ammy/skrull etc. If you’re not so concerned with doing the unblockable and just want something to protect you, then you have many more options.
I’ve been moving away from abusing the unblockable lately to focus on getting my combos to do as much damage as they can with a single DHC. I can’t stand playing Ammy/Doom either, and the other assists that lead to the unblockable I don’t feel give a whole ton of utility if you aren’t doing the unblockable many times a match.
Lately I’ve found Taskmaster to be an ideal partner for Firebrand, as using his arrows early in a combo really help up the damage. Plus the assist/DHC’s are just really solid in general. I think he would fit well 3rd on the team, but he has about the same amount of issues Sent has with opening people up. At least in taskmasters case he’s not super slow, and has options when he is far away from the opponent.
Also I don’t think we’ll be seeing an influx of firebrand players anytime soon, at least until someone is doing consistently well at majors with him. His damage/health/interesting movement scare off a lot of people. Right now he’s in the same territory Viper was in in vanilla (probably still is in Ultimate as well) Lots of people see their stuff and think they are really good, but the amount of people putting up good results with the character are still very few. In the case of Firebrand pretty much just Zak Bennett and Tokiko.
Im running Firebrand/Sentinel/Akuma right now.
Geez it’s awesome. Tatsu/Drones really help firebrand and Sentinel can use Tatsu to do rushdown.
And we all know what kind of anchor level 3 x-factor akuma is.