I’ve actually seen FFC trade with GR’s j.S so I’ve tried to not rely on that move all that much. I swear that thing is ass for actual anti-airing, only use it for resets. Oh and I caught someone chicken blocking in the corner with it. What I DO do is barrel roll into Survival Techniques but sometimes even when I’m sure I’ll catch him, he recovers in time. Just have to play more patient I guess.
FFC isn’t invincible during all its active frames, that’s why. It’s invincible during the startup from frame 1, and 2 of the 5 active frames. So it’ll get stuffed if you’re too far away when trying to AA and they’re doing something, but as long as you space/time it properly it’s viable. I mean yeah, overall it’s a somewhat lackluster AA, but as long as you have a good sense of what they’re doing/what their options are, there are situations where you can viably use it as an anti air. Best part is once you know when those situations are, the payoff is fantastic.
How does Frank do against Vergil? I’ve noticed I have a far easier time online (If that means much…) against him than Zero, Morrigan, Magneto, Viper, and Dante. Am I just fighting sucky Vergils or does Frank really have a chance against him?
I just laugh when they drop a TOD directly below Frank when I have two bars.
In my experience, Vergil should walk all over level 1-2 Frank and have no real problem fighting level 3 frank. You can’t really lame him with zombies because lol teleports, not to mention his normals far outrange anything Frank has. Frank’s air normals might actually stand a chance versus Vergil but call me scrubby there’s always a chance you’ll get clipped out by a Helmet Breaker 
at level 4-5 it becomes a completely different case. Frank’s normals are more than good enough to completely destroy Vergil and if you get any kind of hit (doesn’t even need to be clean), Vergil should be dead. Anyone wanna add anything? This wasn’t really all that thorough or even properly analysed
What about Frank against zoning characters. That seems to be his weakness to me. Gets frustrating lol
I definitely haven’t had enough experience with this kind of fight, but I love taking advantage of the outrageous light Giant Swing projectile that goes through damn near everything. If I manage to get one out, it’s a simpler matter to spam more light Giant Swings and/or varying Hammer Throws to get the bad guy to give up or try something new. My dagger assist also helps in that endeavor.
Against predictable and laggy projectiles, you could also try the shopping cart super which beats every non-hyper projectile.
After seeing Justin Wong’s level 1 Frank comebacks against Fanatiq, I have a question: Does level 1 Frank have enough damage and range to make comebacks?
I know a lot of people say Frank has very little at level 1, but he still has a slide and j.M. Sometimes, that’s all you need. At level 1, Frank still has one of the smallest crouching hitboxes in the game, good normals, and average damage. Compare that to Spencer, who can move around a lot, but you could just block a lot of his stuff because his high/low pressure sucks. With Frank, you have to block low at half screen and block high when he’s right above you, and could beat out some characters’ normals with j.M. You have to watch everything you do against Frank, because any combo will result in giving him his roll and roundhouse kick, and another combo will result in him getting great normals, better damage, and an anti-air super. All you need is two combos (one, if you’re a boss) and you have a competent character who can obliterate you in X-Factor. And god help you if you have XF3 Frank with chainsaws…
Meh, his damage is ok but not that great in 1. His buttons aren’t that bad, but he has no reversal, pie’s only 3 durability, and he really can’t do anything about runaway. There are ways to maximize a level 1 by using his tools that never change (giant swing, hammer toss, etc), but there are very few neutral games at level 1 that I’d say are in Frank’s favor.
Like what was stated above, Frank has some problems with runaway and zoning characters to an extent. Frank solo has no answers to chasing down characters in the air, other than j.
and FFC, putting lvl1 or 2 Frank at a bad situation. Spencer is way better than Frank imo because he doesn’t need to level up. His damage is much better than Frank’s even at lvl 5 and he has a command throw. Frank at lvl 5 puts up a good fight though because of his roll and the inv. in his supers.
On a side note, a thing I found really useful lately is using an instant overhead j.:l: into a j.:d::h: (really useful for lower levels). It combos and works on most characters. If you do a giant swing and they don’t push block it sets up for a good 50/50 cause the zombies hides Frank and you can go for this or the low.
Ok, legitimate question which I hope won’t come across as completely moronic. What the hell can Frank do against Haggar’s hooligan reset in the corner? I tried teching every way but to no avail. Is it inescapable for characters with no air mobility?
Yup. It’s the original FFC reset. Best bet is to neutral tech and mash on L.
Goodness gracious -.- my entire team is screwed against that. Well Nova can ADU and maybe even random super nova and I guess hawkeye can gimlet but jesus christ.
Any character with Air dash or Double jump can escape. Gimlet might work raw, or worse case if you can get it started you can DHC to somebody grounded. I don’t know how big the window is for the reset, that’s what’d determine if gimlet or nova force would work. I haven’t tinkered to deeply with it with Frank but unless neutral tech + hitting Haggar out of it Frank’s boned.
I suppose in level 4-5, j.M will get you out of it? Those hitboxes
It’s not about hitboxes, it’s about frame data. There’s a buffer window after recovering from hit stun/blockstun/teching of (if memory serves) 5 frames where you can’t be hit by throws. If it didn’t exist characters would have infinite resets . So what options you have depends on how tight the window Haggar can make. If the setup is done properly, Frank shouldn’t be able to get a chainsaw out in time, which is why a light would be your best bet.Not to mention a chainsaw has to sweep to get to where it’d hit him, so it’s the startup + some of the active, whereas Frank’s l is right where Haggar’s approaching.
Also depends on the hitbox for the throw, which I can’t say anything about since I’ve never seen it.
Like what Zanzam said, your best shot is neutral tech + mash L.
If anything, you get a 50/50 to get hit by it or not, but at least it’s better than nothing.
The key to stopping the reset is to hit Haggar with something as he comes up to grab you. What will happen if successfull is that you’ll end up trading hits, but you’ll be safe from further pressure. This does take practice, and if the player alternates their timing it becomes more difficult.
I dont know if anyone else found this glitch but I discovered this glitch when playing someone who used Phoenix Wright and i was lvl 5 Frank West and this happened.
[media=youtube]01NsbpQLnKU[/media]
It’s 'cause of maya + invincibility. X-23 and Frank have hefty invincible frames during those hypers, so they’re still moving forward while Maya’s active. Since Maya still goes (and for some reason due to the invincibility she didn’t get whiped from the screen once the cinematic kicked in) she’s still pushing Frank/X-23 while the hyper animation is going, which is why they’re no longer hitting Phoenix properly.
I’m working some new setups for getting Frank off the bench mid combo to allow him to gain more meter/damage (both leveled and non leveled) than the point character would. I still have to do some tinkering/figure out a few other setups but it’s holding promise. Currently only doing so with my team (Nova/Frank/Rocket), but the principles should hold true to other teams as well. I’ll see what I can do about getting some footage compiled.
All Frank players must know this:
[media=youtube]GO_FoduKvJs[/media] Frank West Infinite.
We heard him say/Credit: Ullikummi
(Didn’t make this, reposted from the infinite floodgates thread)