I’ve been running Firebrand/Dormammu/Akuma for a while now.
I’m going to write up some thoughts on the Firebrand/Dormammu pairing that I’ve noticed in this time.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the Firebrand/Dormammu pair isn’t as strong as it seems, except for very specific anchors.
The problem that Firebrand and Dormammu have lackluster assists means that your third needs to be someone who has a powerful assist for both of them. The following characters are characters with assists that are good for this team (In no order): Akuma, Doom, Dante, Magneto, Taskmaster, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Rocket Raccoon, Dr. Strange, Amaterasu, Strider, Sentinel
Akuma: Akuma brings to the table a good DHC from Dorm into Akuma and allows for a good THC if Firebrand is alive. The assist is pretty good for both characters, but this combination runs into a few problem match-ups (Characters with better normals than Firebrand/Akuma, people with much better zoning/full screen game than Firebrand). Along with that, if Dormammu dies, the synergy of this team drops a lot. Tatsu doesn’t go full screen and can be almost useless in certain match-ups (Vergil, MorriDoom, etc). This team also NEEDS meter, badly. The ability for this team to punish assists is powerful but it is hard to always have meter in reserve when Firebrand needs it to kill and Dormammu needs it to keep people out.
Dr. Doom: Obviously a good choice. You still get a good THC if using Plasma Beam or Missiles, so that’s good for Firebrand. He gives either character TAC options and the DHC between Firebrand and Doom isn’t too bad. One of the best parts is the hard tag combos. Off of any Bon Voyage starting from just past midscreen or at the opposite corner, you can hard tag into Doom for an easy combo that does better damage and meter build than Firebrand. And off of throws, as long as you don’t throw them into the corner, you can get a hard tag combo off (Throw, get in front of them, QCF+H, SJ xx QCB+M xx j.M xx QCF+S into hard tag. This makes you cross to the other side. If you are already over half screen from the corner, then just go straight into AIR Bon Voyage and then hard tag. I can make a video if needed.). The main problem I see is that your assist choice will cater to one character. Plasma Beam is better for Firebrand but Missiles is better for Dormammu. Along with this, the Dormammu/Doom shell tends to share some of the same bad match-ups (Wesker, Vergil, Spencer, etc). Firebrand with Missiles doesn’t seem bad though and Dormammu with Plasma Beam isn’t bad either. Notice that the top 3 characters/teams on my list are characters that give you two assists options (Missles or Plasma Beam, Jam Session or Weasel Shot, Unibeam or Repulsor Blast). Watch FChamp to see what Missiles do for Dorm and watch Zak Bennett’s new team to see Plasma Beam in action for Firebrand. If you put Rocks on your team, you get unblockable set-ups (They aren’t guaranteed though) and Rocks isn’t a bad assist. However, you get Sphere Flame as your THC. This is the team I will probably be switching to once I learn Doom.
Dante: I’ve been theory fighting with this one a lot. Jam Session is great for both of these characters. It’s main drawback for this team is the main drawback for Jam Session: Scaling. This team shares the problem of the Akuma team in that your only assist is mid ranged. But this gives you a lot more control over the vertical plane and you get Dante (Who is pretty good and a better anchor than people give credit for). With FB/Dorm/Dante, Dorm can DHC from Stalking Flare into either LB or DT, as long as at least one teammate is alive. THC doesn’t work that well with Dante alive, however. Unless in corner, Firebrand and Dante have poor DHC synergy (Especially from FB to Dante). This might be the team I end up switching to after my Dante is good enough (Which will be a long time). One last little thing: Jam Session allows for the snapback loop. But if they take the hit from Jam Session right on incoming, it can be harder to confirm and I can’t find a way to make it meter positive without assists. If I don’t like Doom enough, this is the team I will be running once I learn Dante.
Magneto: I feel adding Magneto caters more to the Dormammu part of the team. I’m sure that Disruptor is great for Firebrand, but with it’s single hit and speed, it will mainly be used for zoning/approaching with Firebrand, instead of opening someone up. Magneto gives Firebrand more TAC options as well (And an easier infinite than Dormammu). The Dormammu portion gets obvious benefits from Disruptor. Everyone knows about Dorm/Mag synergy already so I’ll leave it at this.
Taskmaster: Eh. He’s an okay anchor and he comes with both horizontal arrows and vertical arrows(VERY UNDERATED). The arrows are slow to start up though. THCs are good for thsi team and DHCs are pretty good too. I’m not convinced that Taskmaster’s assist is enough for these two characters though. Taskmaster will give your team the most vitality out of the characters I chose, though
Iron Man: First off, Iron Man is bad. But, Unibeam is stupid good for both of them and Repulsor Blast is amazing for Firebrand (Incoming Unblockable+scary ground mix-ups). You get TAC options from Iron Man for both characters (Into infinites), and Proton Cannon is a good DHC for both characters and a good THC if Firebrand is still alive (FB is the one who OTGs). The only flow with this team is that it comes with Anchor Man. I like this team a lot but Idk if I’d ever be willing to learn Iron Man.
Hawkeye: Eh. I tried learning this team for a little while. I convinced myself that having a full screen projectile would be better than Tatsu. I was less than impressed with this team than I expected. Greyhound is an average assist for both characters IMO and the DHC synergy into Hawkeye is poor, since his hyper scaling is so bad. No TAC options and Hawkeye is kind of reliant on meter if he doesn’t have assists. Dorm/Hawkeye share some of the same problem match-ups. DHCing from Hawkeye into Dorm is good (Gimlet into Chaotic Flame or Stalking Flare), but for the most part, Hawkeye sticks to anchor.
Rocket Raccoon: I’ve never played Rocket Raccoon so my write-up on this is pure theory. His hyper seems like it would be good for both DHCs and THCs for the team, but I’m not 100% sure Chaotic Flame -> Rock ‘n’ Roll connects. Log Trap is a good assist but it uses a wallbounce, which both characters use (And Dormammu is somewhat reliant on it for good solo combos). Rocket Raccoon drops the vitality of this team to it’s minimum (Excluding Phoenix), as well. Lastly, I’m not personally sold on XF Rocket Raccoon.
Amaterasu: Zak Bennett’s old team. (And IMO, he made the right choice dropping Dormammu for Doom.) Cold Star is top 3 assist for Firebrand. If you blcok Cold Star, Firebrand BETTER open you up. Amaterasu brings a lot of things to the table. Cold Star is the main one, but she has a few little other things. With Firebrand on point, you get THCs that allow you to do another hype rwith Firebrand after Okami Shuffle finishes. If you are running Liberation as your assist, you can get Doom/Ammy style bombs with Stalking Flare/Okami Shuffle, though not as easy to confirm. Cold Star allows for dirty mix-ups and unblockables and takes away almost all of the opponents options on incoming. This all seems great, but the Dormammu/Amaterasu pairing isn’t as strong as it could be. Cold Star starts up slow and Dormammu can have a hard time making the opponent block it. As I said before, Zak Bennett doesn’t run this team anymore. If you’re bent on having Cold Star for Firebrand, FB/Doom/Ammy is a much stronger team than FB/Dorm/Ammy
Strider: I almost didn’t include Strider on this list but I decided Vajra, while not super good for Firebrand or Dormammu, is still a game changing assist that I should acknowledge. Both characters have a hard time converting off Vajra. However, Vajra on this team is more for the Vergil/Vajra style of play. You’re trying to make your opponent block it, not get hit by it. Because without XF, Dormammu can’t confirm off of the hard knockdown except into super and Firebrand has to be ready and waiting to be able to confirm with Hell Spitfire H (Even then, it will be scaled). Strider brings no good DHC capabilities to this team and the THC isn’t anything special. TAC stuff from Strider is poor and you’re playing the two lowest damage characters on the same team. This is all bad stuff but you still get Vajra (Which is amazing in a lot of match-ups) and you can always derp is out with XF3 Strider, who is the best anchor on this list. This is another team where Doom is the better choice over Dormammu (Firebrand/Doom/Strider, ala Shady K)
Sentinel: I also tried this team for a while. Drones was great for both characters. I could teleport everywhere with Dormammu and Firebrand can wreck havoc while drones are out. Good resets and all that jazz. Since you’ll be using Drones, the THC with all three is bad. However, if Firebrand is dead, Chaotic Flame + Hyper Sentinel Force is a good punish or assist killer. HSF into Luminous Body or Stalking Flare is good too. Sentinel brings another (Easier) TAC infinite to the team. Main problems with the team: Anchor Sentinel (Who is being less valuable now that assist like Missiles and Bolts of Balthakk are becoming popular), Dorm/Sentinel have the same match-up problems, only good DHC synergy into Sentinel while in corner, and while the DHC into Sentinel from FB is strong, it’s still just a normal DHC (Unlike the FB into Dorm one)
Dr. Strange: This man brings to the team possible hard tag combos into FoF loops, along with two good assists (Bolts is better for this team). Bolts is good for Firebrand because people forced to duck it have to deal with mix-ups, especially if in Luminous Body. Bolts is good for Dorm too, as it is a full screen projectile. The problems I see here are the similar match-up problems with Strange/Dorm and the meter reliance on the team. I haven’t explored too much into this one though, so I might be wrong
I’ll rank these teams in three categories (Best, middle, worst), but there is no order inside the categories
Best
Firebrand/Dormammu/Dante
Firebrand/Dormammu/Iron Man
Firebrand/Dormammu/Dr. Doom
Middle
Firebrand/Dormammu/Akuma
Firebrand/Dormammu/Amaterasu
Firebrand/Dormammu/Strider
Firebrand/Dormammu/Rocket Raccoon
Firebrand/Dormammu/Dr. Strange
Firebrand/Dormammu/Magneto
Firebrand/Dormammu/Sentinel
Worst
Firebrand/Dormammu/Taskmaster
Firebrand/Dormammu/Hawkeye
Feel free to let me know your opinions.
Also, this isn’t a “What is the best overall Firebrand team” post. This is a “What character provides the BEST support to the Firebrand/Dormammu combination”. So please don’t reply to me saying things like “YOU SHOULD HAVE FB/DORM/VERGIL ON YOUR LIST BECAUSE ANCHOR VERGIL IS TOO STRONG”, because the only synergy they have is DHC synergy and the prayer that you get XF3 Vergil.
Now just give me two weeks so all of my opinions can change again
<br><br>I think the most slept on FB team is FB/Modok (Shield)/Doom or FB/Modok (Shield)/Sentinel. If only I could play Modok.<br><br>