You know, I wish Capcom wasn’t so damn discrete about what changes the characters are getting, especially since we can’t play test Shuma at any events.
yeah, I wish they were more like the AE 2012 team in that regard. just post huge blogs detailing EVERYTHING.
When he’s standing he’s full height and when he moves he would go into spider mode. Or perhaps spider mode could be an actual input. The reason I feel that this would be best is because Shuma should be the “rushdown” rep of the Strange series. We already have Dormammu which is a keepaway pro and Strange which is a rushdown keepaway hybrid.
Shuma should have X-23’s speed for having such a low damage output.
Yeah, he should totally get a huge mobility boost. Just for fun, here are my ideas about the buffs that I think he should get (which wouldn’t even require for him to have new moves or animations):
- Nemesis-level HP. Heck, it would even make sense for Shuma-Gorath to have large amounts of HP. Not only because of the whole being an omnipotent god and everything, but because Shuma-Gorath simply has an elastic and flexible shape-shifting body. Realistically, it would be next to impossible to harm him by hitting him.
- Hyper Mystic Ray should work like Cyclops’ Super Optic Blast i.e. you should be able to aim the laser wherever you want. That way, you could combo into the super reliably from anywhere in the screen, plus it would make it more versatile overall.
- Devitalization should absorb beams and as many projectiles as are fired at Shuma-Gorath during the move’s animation; and it should also be safe. That way, the parry properties of the move would be useful. Also, every hit that Devitalization absorbs gives Shuma-Gorath large amounts of hyper meter, while draining that meter off the opponent. This would be the ONLY way in which this movement would be remotely useful, and it would make Shuma-Gorath more interesting gamestyle-wise. He would become the first “drain-based” character in fighting games.
- Mystic Ray should become a Dragon Punch motion.
- He should be unable to be thrown out of Mystic Smash, and Mystic Smash itself should have three times as much priority as it has now. Seriously, as it is right now, this movement is basically a command normal.
- Here is a cool idea to make Mystic Stare useful that I’ve seen circulating around:
First off, all versions of Mystic Stare travel full screen, and at the same speed. Second, the different versions of the move have different “curse” effects while the eyes are latched on to the enemy.
L version drains meter while the eyes are latched on. And I mean drain FAST. Fast enough that your enemy would want to go offensive and try to land a hit as fast as possible after getting hit by a Mystic Stare.
M version drains HP. The drain capabilities on this one should be more tame. BUT the HP you drain can also heal yellow life.
H version is the exploding eyes that we have now, but with one significant change: the eyes don’t disappear even if you get hit. That way, H Mystic Stare could work as a “combo breaker,” kinda like Dr. Doom’s Hidden Missiles. It would force the opponent to drop their combos when the eyes are about to explode. You can block the explosion, though.
- Make his air dash be lots faster, and travel a much longer distance. Kinda like Zero’s air dash. Also, make his forward ground dash be a run dash, kinda like Thanos’ in MVC2. That would help his approach significantly.
Other cool options would be a slight damage increase and a teleport move, but I think that if he got the stuff I’ve listed above, he would already be set as a reasonable threat. His playstyle would be centered around cursing the enemy and raping his meter bar, which would be fitting fighting style for a demon from another dimension, wouldn’t you think?
Not to mention that he would be the ultimate anti-Phoenix character.
I like those ideas! But the mystic stare is a bit out of sync. He’s supposed to be an oddball rushdown character. How about Strange Gaze (The B command move) drains a portion of meter on each hit. So if you create a combo that uses Strange Gaze alot then you can rape the opponent’s meter.
Also Shuma needs to have a smaller default hitbox. I say make his spider form the default pose or give us an input that allows us to transform into it. Imagine his potential if he were Joe or Ammy sized yet kept the range of his normals that he has now.
If air s could cause a ground bounce we would need no damage buff.
Allow Mystic Smash to lead into Shuma’s health/meter draining grab with a command input.
Strange Gaze, huh? I hadn’t thought about that move.
Hmm, you know, I still prefer my Mystic Stare idea. Those properties would give Mystic Stare a reason for existing - a GOOD reason for existing, at that. The ridiculous amounts of draining you could do with Mystic Stare combined with Devitalization would wreck havoc upon the opponent’s meter bar. And so would the possibility of draining HP.
How about this idea for Strange Gaze:
The move causes 0 damage, but in turn, it damages the opponent’s red health stock. As in, if you hit the opponent with Strange Gaze, his yellow life doesn’t go down one bit, but you take a generous jab at his red life, which would have delicious strategic potential.
I think this fighting style would fit Shuma-Gorath. He’s awkward to play and has a low damage output, but in turn he can cause all sorts of crazy effects with strategic value.
Yeah, I really like the idea of bringing more focus onto Shuma’s draining abilities. He’d be a unique oddball rushdown/zoning leech.
Plus, it fits in with his character. He does feed on the mystical energies of others, after all.
I like those ideas of yours, they really try to get to the heart of how shuma works. Unfortunately, a lot of it is too extreme for capcommto even consider, but damnit, they’re awesome anyway!!
I would say, rather than devitalization taking meter from the projectile AND the opponent, it only gains frommthe projectile. Both seems a tad excessive when combined with your other ideas.
However, a real reason to use strange gaze would be lovely.
bare minimum of what would be needed in order for me to play shuma in ultimate (and remember, zoning [which shuma loses for free to already] is going to be more powerful in ultimate):
-Hyper Mystic Ray damage boost, less start-up
-Chaos Dimension damage boost
-Mystic smash more priority, unthrowable
-One additional movement option (ie double jump, better airdash, etc)
also keep in mind shuma is probably certain to get nerfed from the outset in the sense that they will fix his weird properties make him escape from certain bnb combos (dormammu etc)
Tbh I don’t think they are really going to change anything about shuma. They really don’t seem interested in the DLC characters imo. I don’t think will be any reason to play shuma in umvc3 at this rate, i mean why use mystic ray when you can use hidden missles with a top tier dr. doom. Or use dr. stranges auto homing assist with what looks to be a top tier character. Given the ‘minor’ tweaks they gave most characters, I don’t see how similar minor tweaks could make shuma good. Also most people think shuma is good from my experience, I have had numerous people in tournies and online express they think shuma is really good just cause I can beat them with shuma, honestly if I put the same amount of time into dante or wesker it would turn out better than my shuma. The byproduct of this is nerfs for shuma, I fully expect his decent combos to be gone and be forced to resort back the c.H loops that do 300k damage.
Thought this would bring you guys some laughs. Back in the day, Shuma-Gorath was sort of a running joke on a forum I go to, and what follows is pages of humorous Shuma photoshops. Take a look see.
Ho-Lee Jesus. I just fought perhaps the best Shuma-Gorath player I’ve found on XBL. Somebody by the name of peace sheeper.
I wish I could record matches. Replay mode, please, Capcom? Please? I’d like that.
He has some rly cool stuff with the akuma assist.
Jk… feeling myself there like a douche. GG’s mr fretless. Good to see another shuma. If you ever have any questions or want to run another set, feel free to message or inv me. I’m on quite a lot.
Thanks! I know Capcom would never buff him so much. Like I said, it’s all just happy daydreaming.
You know, I would still go ahead and make Devitalization drain from the opponent. Among other things, it would make the move’s name make sense. Plus, if you think “excessive,” just take a look at the other characters in the roster. Lots of them have gratuitously good stuff up their sleeves. Dante, Vergil, Dr. Strange, Akuma, Wolverine, Dr. Doom… they all have either gratuitously good offensive power or gratuitously good strategic power. I’d say, Shuma-Gorath deserves to be at least gratuitously good in one department. The buffs I mentioned wouldn’t even make him broken. All of the characters I mentioned have ridiculously good stuff, but yet they are still beatable. Shuma-Gorath just needs to have something genuinely good about him, goddamnit.
I just hope Capcom don’t go ahead and NERF him… -.-
Considering the state we Tron fans are in right now, I’m not getting my hopes up 
Also, yeah, I see where you’re coming from. Hadn’t thought of it that way.
pft really? tron doesnt deserve to be good in the first place and she will probably still be just fine in ultimate.
why doesn’t she “deserve” to be good? elaborate, cuz I dont understand.
and I dunno, she got some heavy nerfs. j.H is no longer the awesome combo starter it used to be (useless outside of corner now), s.M is harder to use in juggles, we all know about her big ass assist nerf, and she can no longer combo into her capture gun (as of now, even if it combos, the opponent takes the hit, but instantly recovers, effectively annihilating any and all combos that use that move).
It’s now very impractical to combo into King Servbot without an obscenely long lasting assist, and her combos have been both shortened AND made more difficult to start, and what combos she does have are either very short, braindead combos, or will be severely limited by the higher hitstun deterioration in UMVC3.
The only buffs she got was that servbot launcher can now rapid fire up to 3 servbots (oh boy, cuz that will totally make that move useful for zoning [sarcasm]) and f.H is special cancelable now (which WOULD have been a great buff, were it not paired with the earlier mentioned nerfs to her combo possibilities).
in short, SHE GOT NERFED
sorry for the rant, I’ll get back to shuma.
Jumping heavy was not a good move from tron anyways. Tron’s jumping S was far more effective. Its really not a big nerf against good players. Also her combos didn’t need to last for a year that was unrealistic anyways. Also fH being special cancelable is a big deal because you can zone/combo easier with it. Yes tron got nerfed, but she was already to good at what she does to begin with. Hopefully people will learn how to play her isntead of jsut jumping h which is generally easy to counter. Also any character with large amounts of health aren’t suppose to be great because they have such a massive health lead. She still has good assist just not godlike, tron will be just fine.
Eh, ok. Sorry for the rant, kinda stressed today, and I guess I let that leak onto the intertubes <:D
I still think the nerfs are unwarranted, but I understand what you mean.
However, I must disagree with your statement regarding “characters with large amounts of health aren’t supposed to be great”. I honestly see that as no excuse for glaring holes in a characters gameplan, and besides, this game’s damage is high enough that high health really doesn’t mean what used to mean.
Ok, I’m done with Tron talk for reals this time, imma stop derailing the thread.
SO HOWS ABOUT THAT SHUMA!? TALK ABOUT GREEN!
I wonder what new colors he’s getting. Probably more “we thought it looked cool” for the reasons.
But I really wonder what Shuma’s alternate costumes is.