Hulk 101 (Comprehensive Guide of Strengths/Weaknesses)

Classic Fighting Games Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3
1

http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af206/k0rr1/hulk-1.png

Strengths:
+ Has high health. (1,200,000)
+ Hulk’s normals have great range.
+ Hulk provides great assists. Each type can be very beneficial; it just depends on your team composition.
+ Good character to DHC in and out of. His supers are extremely damaging.
+ Capitalizes on people who love to press buttons, are impatient, or are overly/mindlessly aggressive.
+ Hulk’s strongest asset is the super armor on some of his normals and moves, particularly Stand H. It has a huge hit box, it’s easy to hit-confirm, it sometimes hits from behind, and it can be canceled into a special (Gamma Charge, Command throw, Gamma Wave) and/or super.
+ His forward M (Incredible Punch) is another super armored normal and it is best used to extend combos. You are able to cancel this into a command grab, gamma charge, or charge it for a wall bounce. It also does chip damage.
+ His combos are extremely damaging. He can do 800-900+k damage (that is practical) without an assist and up to a million with an assist off of only 1 meter without using X-Factor. Combos with an assist are relatively easy to perform.
+ Although his mix-up game isn’t particularly scary, the fact that they can be converted into a kill off of a single hit especially on the corner makes them intimidating.
+ Has a good pressure game, especially in the corner. If he has a lockdown assist like Sentinel, this effectiveness is enhanced tremendously.
+ Gamma Crush has a lot of invincibility so it can be used to punish many things on reaction.
+ Gamma Quake in some situations is extremely good for applying pressure or chipping. Gives you frame advantage on block.
**+ **His Air S. has really nice range, it can sometimes cross up, and it causes a ground bounce that can be easily converted into a combo.
**+ **Hulk’s Air. H has pretty good range and it causes a lot of hitstun/blockstun. He is also able to prolong his time in the air with it (can be used up to two times when super jumping). It is also frequently used to start/create double overheads.
+ His Air. M has a great deal of frame advantage on block and it can be very effective when chained in the air to apply pressure with or without an assist due to lack of pushback when advance guarded.
+ His Air. L can be used for instant overheads against bigger characters. This move comes out faster and is a lot safer than the other two listed. Another upside to this move is the frame advantage it gives you on block so it is extremely useful in applying pressure given the lack of pushback it has if advance guarded.
+ Crouch L. This move is extremely underrated. Although it isn’t particularly impressive by itself it is extremely useful in Hulk’s case because opponents are usually looking to block high against him. Empty jump low with Hulk is the last thing many players expect.
+ Stand L is another extremely underrated poke and it is commonly overshadowed by Stand H. It is fast, has decent range, and looks similar to Zangief’s Stand M. It can be used to play footsies, create additional damage at the start of combos, or convert whiffed animations from your opponent into combos.
+ You can combo off his Stand L, M & H command grabs (Gamma Tornado) if you have an OTG assist for major damage or just use Gamma Tsunami.
+ Can OTG without an assist using Gamma Wave, Gamma Quake, or a Gamma Tsunami. If you have X-F and you’re near the corner you can cancel the wave/tsunami and perform a re-launch.
+ Gamma Wave has decent durability and can be used for semi-decent keep away. It can also be used for relaunches (with or without assist) or to repeatedly OTG an assist from full screen.
+ Air throws can pretty much be converted into damaging combos on the corners through Hulk’s own OTGs then X-F’d into re-launch or through the use of an OTG assist.
+ Gamma Charge has a great hit box, H version traverses a long distance (used for getting in), is easy to hit confirm, does a decent amount of chip, and is an excellent pressure tool. The L follow up is usually used to maintain pressure, close the distance, or continue a combo through hit confirming. The H follow up is mostly used as a retreat option. Another way it can be used is if you want to change the area you want to cover or hit.
**+ **When at a corner you can cancel Gamma Charge with X-Factor and easily convert it into a combo that may or may not kill.
+ All versions of Gamma Charge Anti-Air are extremely useful in different situations. The preferred follow up is H because it causes a ground bounce, is unsafe but hard to punish, and can be spammed repeatedly (good for chipping) if not punished accordingly or push blocked. The M follow up is used for extending combos and it causes a wall bounce. The L follow up can be used as an extremely unsafe anti-air. All in all, they all can be used as anti-airs but only a few are viable.
+ Specials can be cancelled into Supers for unsafe pressure or the continuation of combos.
+ His dash (more like hops and rolls) is jump cancellable.
+ Although unsafe, Hulk has plenty of good reset setups.

[LEFT]Weaknesses:[/LEFT]
- Has VERY obvious mix-ups that you can react to the more familiar you get with the matchup.
- Judge the distance between yourself and Hulk, because chances are all you have to do is block overheads. Just press up back or block while you’re standing. Don’t press buttons, don’t mash, just block and wait for your opportunity.
- Although Hulk has pretty intimidating blockstrings if you’re patient enough you can punish anything he throws. If he cancels his Stand H and follows up with a Gamma Charge and has meter to cancel it what you should be doing is blocking, but if he doesn’t, punish him when the animation finishes. (Preferably with a fast projectile or super if he ends it by dashing back or a full combo if he ends it by dashing in front of you) Oh yeah, don’t push block the gamma charge (if he’s meterless) if you plan on punishing it because you’ll be too far if you do.
- Keepaway characters obliterate Hulk. If you use characters like Morrigan, Trish, Deadpool, Hawkeye, Taskmaster, Arthur, etc. chances are you’ll shit on Hulk for free if you know the matchup, especially if you’re doing it in conjunction with a lock down assist and know your character. (Those matchups are literally 7-3 to 8-2 imo) If you get beat by Hulk using those characters, you might 1. Suck, 2. Have gotten unlucky 3. Have been pressing buttons 4. Suck. So keep training.
- Don’t do random full screen supers. If you use one make sure it’s a bait and DHC into a counter for example (Task or Wesker) or have x-factor to cancel it because it could end up being a fatal mistake assuming he has an OTG assist and X-Factor cancels the Gamma Crush. There are some situations where just taking the damage and saving your X-Factor/Meter is a good option too though. This is usually a good option if simply don’t care that characters dies or your opponent is devoid of X-Factor or meter (mostly X-F).
- He is a big character so he is prone to instant overheads.
- Has SO MANY bad matchups. The only way around this for Hulk players is to train their defense, learn match ups, and keep applying pressure to the opponent. For example, my main goal to stop you from gaining momentum is by applying pressure and getting in your face all the time. I want to be in close proximity. But if the opponent doesn’t succumb to the pressure, has good defense, knows the matchup as well and uses characters like Vergil, Zero, Dante, Wesker, etc. for example, I should have no chance of winning if you play solid unless I get lucky. Characters with great air mobility and multi-hitting/super armor breaking moves like Morrigan are especially troublesome against Hulk.
- I’d also like to note that all his supers are extremely punishable. Gamma Tsunami is often used to “somewhat” make his Gamma Charges safe. Thing is, if you don’t push block the super and Hulk is too close to you, you can punish it. Another thing Hulk players use which is incredibly unsafe is Gamma Quake usually at the end of a Gamma Charge. You can punish this in a multitude of ways: Walk/Dash up grab (Don’t try this if you’re too far and your character is slow), teleport out, air combo out and away from the super (is not viable for some characters), use a projectile counter super (Doc Strange), invincible supers, animation supers (like Deadpool’s cutting time, or most lvl 3s), moves that move your character out fast enough (Berserker Slash, Gamma Charge), or you can just block. If you’re unsure of your timing or the opponent has an additional meter to DHC out then your best bet is to just take the chip damage unless you’re down to your last character with a pixel of health. If that is the case, just use X-F to negate the chip damage if you are unable to do any of the things I’ve listed.
- His aerial attacks are easily punishable with a variety of things (E.g. Anti airs, etc.). Make a Hulk that abuses Air. H/S too much rethink his way of approaching you.

Other interesting tidbits:
- Back/forward dashes are extremely punishable if not jump canceled.
+ Despite being the only big character to not have a wavedash, he is still quite mobile.
- Hulk’s Air S covers several of your opponents options if they’re incoming and if you’re facing the corner.


- He recently had an infinite removed.
(Only 2 reps of different Gamma Charge Anti-Airs can be performed now and then it resets. Use only 2 gamma waves so it doesn’t reset.)
- Him and Thor are the only two characters that don’t get a speed boost in x-factor.
+ His DP (Anti Air) crossover counter can interrupt supers.
**- **Despite the range, a large percentage of the cast can easily duck under his Stand M.
+ He has a 1 frame snapback.
+ He can perform relaunches without the need of an assist or X-F on bigger characters via corner.
+ You can extend his command throw range by cancelling his normals.

[LEFT]Team Placement:[/LEFT]
[LEFT]+ The position he’s most effective in is point. (E.g. Hulk / ? / ? )[/LEFT]
[LEFT]- The position he’s least effective in is anchor. (E.g. ? / ? / Hulk)[/LEFT]
[LEFT]+ The position he’s somewhat effective in is secondary. (E.g. ? / Hulk / ? )[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]

[LEFT]Basic Assist Functions:[/LEFT]
[LEFT]**α | **Gamma Wave[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Primary Function: OTG/Combo Extender[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Secondary: Combo Initiator[/LEFT]

[LEFT]β | ****Gamma Charge Anti-Air ****[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Primary Function: Anti-Air/Get off me[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Secondary: Combo Initiator/Extender[/LEFT]

[LEFT]**γ |******Gamma Charge ****[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Primary Function: Get off me/Combo Initiator/Extender[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]

[LEFT]Types of assists he benefits from the most: OTG & Lockdown assists. (Characters that extend his combos after a gamma wave are also good.)[/LEFT]

[LEFT]List of characters that give Hulk trouble when played correctly and paired with the right assist:[/LEFT]
[LEFT] Zero, Dante, Wesker, Vergil, Trish, Morrigan, Captain America, Magneto, Phoenix, Wolverine, Arthur, Spencer, Chris Redfield, Dormammu, Modok, X-23, Taskmaster, Spiderman, Deadpool, Doctor Doom, Ghost Rider, Rocket Raccoon, Strider, Nova, Viewtiful Joe, Firebrand[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]

[LEFT]Combos:[/LEFT]

[LEFT]

[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]

[quote]

2

Great information. Few tweaks though.

Hulk can still be very viable as the second/middle character on a team. The Japanese player that uses Spencer/Hulk/Doom has shown it to be effective.

Also, Hulk can still in fact use otg assists to combo after the M command throw. It’s easiest with Wesker’s otg shot, and more difficult with other ones.

3

I thought that was nerfed? I remember trying to follow up the M command throw with Deadpool’s OTG and it didn’t work. And you’re talking about Kuuroin right? :open_mouth: (or something like that) And I know he’s still viable as secondary, he’s just not at his prime effectiveness. The only situation I’d switch Hulk to the middle is if my opponent’s point character is a terrible match up for Hulk.

Edit: I made the changes, you’re right. The timing is just WAY different. Small adjustment though.

4

Hmm, I’ve never had a problem against Dante. Gamma wave beats out those missiles and I usually can get in with a Gamma Charge into Gamma Crush if they start jumping up and spamming QCF :l:

Oh, and you can combo off the :l: command throw too. It’s pretty much the same distance as the :m: version.

5

Yeah I don’t think you’ve had enough experience against good Dantes. His mix-up game is what gives Hulk trouble. The ability to keep him away is also a plus when used methodically or with good lock down assists. Dante also has a good Anti-Air (Jam Session) which blows up Hulk in the air if he tries to get close. This versatility allows high level Dantes, to totally blow up Hulk.

6

Yeah, Dante is a tough matchup due to teleports and long-range normals. With assists, Dante is really annoying.

With that said, different players have “personal bad/good matchups.” For example, I don’t find Wolverine, Arthur, or Nova too difficult. Many Wolverine players call an assist and move in. Gamma Wave then anti-air Wolverine. Arthur has no fast way of getting out once we get in. Nova has a decent lockdown projectile, but other than that, it’s not too bad.

7

This is true. Personally I’ve probably fought only 2 or 3 Wolverines in my entire career that gave me trouble because I think, they played the match up perfectly offensively and defensively. I believe the match up is entirely in his favor if you play it right vs Hulk. It’s especially bad if either of the chars are in x factor because Hulk being the big character that he is, is easy to open up. With Nova it’s pretty much the same thing, on paper, if you play the match up right, he should beat Hulk. Again, I’ve fought hundreds of Novas but only a couple were able to shut me down and make me play defensively. Assists and team composition plays a huge role in this too I guess. With Arthur, it’s more a position thing. An Arthur as anchor with lvl 3 x-factor is like 8-2 Arthur. On point though, I think it’s 6-4 Arthur or nearly even.

8

So you touched briefly on assists, but nothing too specific. What two specific teammates and assists do you think allow a player to get the absolute most out of Hulk? I ran through the cast for a few weeks and finally decided on Haggar lariat and Sentinel drones; I don’t plan on changing that because I’m having tons of fun, but I’m curious what your thoughts are.

9

Yeah, the reason I didn’t get too specific is because I want the player to find what assists he’s most comfortable with on their own (but narrow it down for them by telling them what’s most effective for the character) without making them choose based on my opinion. Another reason is that I haven’t experimented with every type of lockdown and/or OTG assist to see what suits him best. To me, although an OTG isn’t absolutely necessary, a character’s assist should have these two qualities if you want to utilize Hulk’s potential. Another thing you should look for is if that character can hold it’s own or he just going to be an assist.

Lockdown wise, I believe Sent is a given assist wise despite being bad individually. They work well together whether it be through DHCs or helping each other through assists. But again, alone he’s bad, he’s a huge piece of metal with nothing inside. So when you’re down to just Sentinel it’s going to be difficult depending on the match up especially if you no longer have X-F, the player knows the match up, has good defense, and just isn’t pringles. So essentially what I’m trying to get at is the team that provides the absolute best assists for Hulk may not be the quintessential Hulk team, it’ll be good, but not the best. Because you basically just have Hulk and two assists. Look for assists that benefit Hulk but also stand up on their own two feet as well. I can answer your question, but I’d just be giving you a great Hulk team, instead of a great TEAM. Want my opinion anyways?

10

Well said. I’ve thought about this in team building and came up with the same conclusion. A great Hulk team isn’t necessarily a great team as a whole. For example, Hulk/Dorm/Wesker is possibly one of the best Hulk teams, but it’s a bit weaker once Hulk dies. Dormammu thrives on long-range assists for easy teleport mixups, of which Wesker does not provide. Likewise, a smart player may snap-in Wesker, leaving Hulk as an anchor. The team also has no real way of helping Hulk get in on opponents, relying on lockdown instead.

I think it also depends on the current metagame. Hulk/Haggar/Wesker or Hulk/Dante/Haggar could potentially be strong to stop Dante and Vergil rushing, but would fall prey to some zoning.

11

Some things I’d like to add about some of Hulks normals. If remember right in the strategy guide j.S and j.M are both +16 on block. Thats a lot of frame adv for such a big character. If not advance guarded these moves give opportunites to keep pressure with s.L, c.L, or dp gamma charge. And if j.S and j.M are advance guarded the pushback isnt far at all which still keeps Hulk near the opponent.

I’d to also mention that c.L is a good way to catch people after ground tech. If u anticipate where they are going to roll, if they do anything else except block low they will get caught. It even catches people trying to jump after ground tech. The whole cast can do this as well however Hulks c.L has very good range.

12

You know, I never knew they were that advantageous on block. I’d occasionally use j. l, m, m as pressure strings in conjunction with drones and gamma charges to apply pressure but now it makes sense as to why it’s so effective. I’ll definitely put that up, thanks.

As far as the c. L usage goes, this is something I was going to put along with many other things, but decided against it because it falls under strategies rather than strengths and/or weaknesses.

13

The c.L setup does fall under strats, but I just wanted to put that out there anyway. I’m thinkin about making a Hulk strategy and mixups guide. Hulk has a lot of options that most people are not aware of. The hulk players in this Hulk thread have been very informative and I’d like to compile the different strategies and some things that I’d to talk about more as well.

14

that would probably be a pain in the ass to make, but awesome to have.

15

Thanks for the great Hulk info. I have a couple of questions.

  1. The Brady guide has Combo I using a second L after the ground bounce. Does that still work or is that patched out? I cannot connect M if I use the second L. Also, I cancel the AA Gamma Charge right away into the 2nd for the wall bounce, wait a second and then catch the opponent on the way back. Does riding AA Gamma Charge all the way up then jump canceling a dash work better?

  2. Can I relaunch my corner combo with an assist that isn’t OTG? My team is Zero/Hulk/Akuma. Gamma Wave into Akuma Tatsu has long recovery for Hulk and Tatsu carries the opponent pretty high in the air.

Thanks for any help you can give.

16

I gotta disagree on Cap, Logan, Laura & Spidey giving Hulk trouble
[LEFT].[/LEFT]

[LEFT]Captain America: Gamma Charge w/assists ruins Cap’s strategy. Stay close and don’t let him breath, and he’s no problem[/LEFT]
[LEFT].[/LEFT]

[LEFT]Logan: The armor on standing H SHOULD make them afraid to try any Dive Kick, and Gamma Charge blows through his other attacks. He’s only tough when he has the right assist covering him[/LEFT]
[LEFT].[/LEFT]

[LEFT]X-23: She’s quicker and tough, but tends to go in the air to start her huge combos. A surprise hand clap (air H) sets up up for big combos. And with her low health, she’s not that much of a threat.[/LEFT]
[LEFT] [/LEFT]
[LEFT]Spider-Man: Web Ball and Web Throw CAN stop Hulk’s Gamma Charge, but Spidey tends to start his big combos in the air, where his specials are slow and telegraphed. Just having patience and waiting for that opening can help you squash that bug.[/LEFT]

17

Cap with a beam assist beats up hulk and that double jump can bait out some st.H if timed correctly

Wolverine should not be doing dive kicks against hulk unless he has an assist to cover it, even then swiss cheese and j.L with most assist stop hulk. Most wolverine players HAVE the right assist.

X-23 is tricky since a lot of her moves give her frame advantage and she can hit fast enough to stop armor moves, she is a threat.

Spidey can pretty much run around hulk and shoot web shots at him to chip at him, forcing hulk to chase after him. Once a player realizes that they just need to play safe against hulk it becomes extremely difficult for hulk.

18

  1. The LAST thing you should do is Standing :h: against anything outside of diving attacks & a whiffed Haggar Lariat. And the double-jump still leaves him in range for an air :h:. Just stay close and use the AA Gamma Charge, since it’s armor can help catch an assist character recklessly thrown out.

  2. You’d be surprised the amount of Dive Kicks I’ve seen thrown out without assists. Still, Hulk’s Gamma Charge is fast enough to catch Logan, even if he’s hit with a beam. As for Swiss Cheese…Gamma Tsunami.

  3. Laura is tricky, but if you pushblock her attacks on the ground, you can force her in the air, where you got a better chance.

  4. With Banner’s health and Spidey’s damage output, chipping plays perfectly into Hulk’s gameplan. Just call an assist to open him up or lock him down, letting you get closer. One Gamma Tornado later, he’ll be desperate to tag out.

19

I disagree, with his position on the team, hes most effective in the middle, where you can dhc into gamma crush (most damaging lvl1 hyper in the game), and where your point can benefit from his assist (i personally use anti-air gamma charge, very useful)

20

2nd is best.

hulk like hug.