Because Marvel.
yeah I meant worthwhile dhc ender my bad and lol jayto av change. I’m uploading some of my current bnbs, should have them up soon.
sorry for the double post, but just a quick combo vid check it out if you want. I think Imma stop doing feint combos in matches, jump loops are easier (and build more meter).
Yeah, I usually do jump loops off of assists and stray hits, and feints when I get a clean hit.
As for the avatar: I would have been fine with the default, until it turned into a random smiley, lol
I don’t like that first combo. 
Extend with Dark hole first then do the Log Trap > s.SxxTK CS HxxTA L > OGT > Super ender. You can also get 2 more hits on the jump loop with MF H j.MMH j.MMHS j.MdHxxTA L and the sj.dH, also. You’re leaving a lot of meter on the table by leaving out the last CS H. The only trick to hitting it is making sure you let them fall far enough and you have to do the CS H slightly off the ground to connect the TA L. Plus leaving that in the corner gives you the RT > Stalking flare > Meteor followup.
Is the OP or the Penultimate thread up to date on X23’s optimal solo Bnbs ?
Basically im looking for what I should be doing ideally from a hit confirm and as a punish. I already know her Xfac loop. Thanks everyone <3
Edit: I know shes got some loop thats like…stuff > st.H xx H Mirage Feint > Air Crescent Scythe xx Talon Attack L xN … or something. Im just not sure of the exact combo. Im fairly sure this is her highest damage solo combo (non xfac), but im not sure of the exact inputs. Halp?
So off of a normal jump height conversion I got 745K solo with 1 meter, ~550K no meter. Is this ideal / close to her cap for an a2s normal jump conversion?
If anyone is curious, here are the notations:
j.H > j.S xx Crescent Scythe L xx L Talon Attack > s.MH xx H Mirage Feint > j.MH xxCrescent Scythe L xx L Talon Attack > s.MHS > MMH xx Falling Claw xx Crescent Scythe H xx L Talon Attack > OTG Ankle Slicer xx Rage Trigger
Also, are there any SJ height conversions I should know about?
Edit: Off an instant overhead the most damage I was able to get was 690.8K (1 bar, solo). Idk if this is optimal, but if it isnt, couldnt someone enlighten me?
Heres the notation:
j.M xx Falling Claw xx L Talon Attack > s.MH xx H Mirage Feint > j.MH xx Crescent Scythe M xx L Talon Attack > s.MHS > j.MMH xx Falling Claw xx Crescent Scythe H xx L Talon Attack > OTG Ankle Slicer xx Rage Trigger
Those are pretty good combos - for finicky heights, or more meter build, you can do jump loops: basically just j.MMHS, or j.LMHS, up to 3 times, end with L-talon to launch.
Continuing the discussion of raw dirt naps: I’ve been playing with it more, and it seems like to me that the dirtbag hitbox might be bigger than j.L after all?
I’ve been practicing hitting with a meaty H-feint to S activation - tested against Doom, can’t dash out, can’t throw her, can’t foot dive. Since there’s no setup attack, it can’t be xfc, thrown. Try it!
I practiced the meaty raw dirt nap activation some more today, and I got to wondering, why the heck wasn’t this our number #1 option for activating dirt nap? Seriously, the minute we found out you could be XFC-thrown out of other meaties, raw meaty activation should have been the most obvious thing to practice.
For that matter, why the heck does no one consider the dash up - st.L link the dirt nap BnB? It’s not that hard!
I’m convinced now that we’re either all online warriors, or just plain lazy.
I go for the grounded dirt nap followup whenever I can. It’s a huge damage boost and pretty brainless/easy.
Raw meaty j.S will probably be worth having for clutch situations, but I don’t trust my nerves when it comes to crappy variable timing 3 frame setups.
The hard part about hitting the raw S is timing the jump or H-feint. If you jump at the right time, you can hit S on reaction to the lifebars switching.
Yeah, but you still have to jump without having much of a visual timing cue.
it’s like, 4 seconds after the death freeze, every time - that’s what the practice is for.
It’d be different if the timing weren’t so consistent, but it is, so frankly, none of us have an excuse. I expect everyone to be doing raw dirt naps by the end of the month >:(
Here’s how I’m practicing: set any character first, Doom second. Set Health recovery off, and health to like, 50%.
Record the dummy on repeat, mashing S (with turbo, or just mash it.) Practice various combos on the first char, try to raw dirt nap on Doom. If you mess up, you’ll get footdive - repeat until consistent.
I don’t think that 4 seconds includes situations where you kill mid-super and doesn’t account for the time freeze for the dirt nap super flash. I’m not saying it’s not possible/viable just finicky and, for me, not super reliable under pressure.
Also, I think it would be more realistic to have people air dashing up out of the attempt since that’s typically faster and what usually escapes my occasional naked dirt nap attempts.
The 4 seconds does include mid-super time, unless you kill them too early in the super (in which case you don’t have time to activate dirt nap anyways). Dirt nap activation is also a consistent addition to the time.
Airdashing up doesn’t work if you time the meaty correctly - I just practice with Doom footdiving because it’s easier to record the dummy doing it, lol.
Like I was saying, this is totally practical with practice, it opens up X-23’s optimal team configurations dramatically, and strengthens her potential on the off chance she’s the last character standing.
Why wouldn’t you practice it?
Lol, who said I didn’t practice it? The only thing I’m saying is that I don’t trust MY tourney nerves to not fuck it up if I’m trying to do it consistently in a tournament setting. I still try to have it in my back pocket just in case I get snapped out of order or some weird nonsense but I spent a really long time trying to run teams without a dirt nap guarantee and I don’t think it’s a good idea, personally.
I think working on her guard break OS > grounded dirt nap setups would be a better use of lab time, personally. Being able to hit a meaty S doesn’t really help her on anchor unless you still have XF on deck anyways.
I’ve been looking for the info compilation I did a while back, and I finally found it. Keep in mind it’s very sloppy and I definitely need to fix a few things (such as the not being able to follow up on air back throws, you can do this in the corner and with X-Factor I think?
This’ll be pretty wordy and convoluted at first, sorry. I’ll hopefully clean things up. Also, I won’t be doing a MU section, simply because there are a lot of MUs and they all change depending on the assists used, their team order/set-up and so on, but we can definitely discuss MUs within the thread.
Not all sections have been completed, again sorry.
*Notes
-X-23 has 830,000 health.
-X-23 can walljump(press up-forward near wall in the air(cannot be done off a super jump.)
-Cannot double jump or airdash.
Assists
Neck Slice
Ankle Slice
Crescent Scythe H(when used as a crossover assist, gains invincibility, more on this later.
The following changes to X-23 in Ultimate are as follows:
-Can now special cancel Mirage Feint(all versions) into Talon Attack.
-Can now special cancel Crescent Scythe(light, medium and heavy) into Talon Attack. Air Crescent Scythes cancel faster…or she can’t cancel ground Crescent Scythes?(without TKs of course.)
-Rage Trigger carries the opponent further on hit than before and can be mashed for more damage.
-cr.L’s start-up increased from 4 frames to 5 frames.
-Talon Attack has less hitstun.
For extra info, here’s a vid from Deviljin01 going through all of X-23’s changes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXSr4vI33Y8
Pros
-Extremely fast ground mobility.
-Short stature makes certain attacks whiff on her.
-Her special cancellabe buffs to Crescent Scythe and Mirage Feint have significantly increased her damage output.
-Very strong mix-ups which become very good when combined with assists.
-Can build meter well, especially with her advanced combos, which also carry the opponent into the corner from anywhere.
-Powerful pressure game, very good at punishing Advancing Guard attempts and making your opponent afraid to do so if done right.
-Silent Kill is one of the best Level 3s in the game, if not the best.
Cons
-Low life.
-Very dependent on assists to cover her specials/offence and augment her offence/combos, and her left-right mix-ups are unsafe in general unless backed up with assists.
-Gets hit hard by hitstun decay so you have to keep track of how much hitstun decay you’re racking up.
-Very weak against zoning unless backed up with assists.
-Has a medium-high learning curve.
-Hitbox on her normals aren’t as hot as others, doesn’t have great air normals.
-Can’t follow up her ground throw or her air back throw.
-Has difficulty converting full combos/bringing people down from super-jump height and is mostly a ground-based offensive char, naturally making her weak against chars with strong air mobility and/or chars with strong normals.
X-23’s normals
Standing
st.L: X-23 performs a fast quick swipe. Hasn’t got a lot of reach or priority compared to other st.Ls, but is fast and tick throws well. Can be rapid-fired for nice pressure. Is X-23’s quickest normal at 4 frames.
st.M: X-23 performs a large swipe with her claws. Very good priority and range, very good for countering tri-jump attacks due to its horizontal range and pretty quick to boot(5 frame start-up.) Definitely a good poke and also hits twice, which is useful for countering armored attacks.
st.H: X-23 performs a roundhouse with the blade on her foot. Starts up slow, but it’s her furthest reaching normal and launches the opponent in the air. Decent at countering tri-jumps from a distance. Laggy on whiff and susceptible to low attacks because of its high arc, so poke with caution.
S(or launcher): X-23 performs a circular flip kick. Not much to say, it’s got a decent hitbox, can be used as an AA versus predictable jump-ins, punishable on block.
Crouching
cr.L: X-23 performs a small stab. Like st.L, her cr.L hasn’t got a lot of reach or priority compared to others, but it’s useful for ticks, can be rapid fired and it is X-23’s quickest low.
cr.M: X-23 performs a large ground swipe. Similar to st.M, but slightly slower at 6 frames, it has very good range, and hits twice. Because it shrinks X-23’s hitbox slightly, it’s also a decent AA.
cr.H: X-23 performs a sweep kick with the blade on her foot. X-23’s slowest ground normal. Launches the the opponent slightly, which can be followed up with S under normal circumstances. Has a decent amount of range and makes X-23’s hitbox really low, so you can use it to avoid projectiles and even raw teleport+projectile assist call tactics. Laggy on whiff.
Air
j.L: X-23 performs a small aerial stab. Quickest air normal.
j.M: X-23 performs a flykick in the air. IMO, this is probably her best air normal since it has good reach, is fairly quick at 6 frames and is the easiest air normal to use for anti-air combos.
j.H: X-23 performs a double slash in the air. Decent horizontal range, but pretty slow.
j.S: X-23 performs a double in the air at a downwards angle. Smashes down after a launcher into an air series.
Command normal moves list
Falling Claw(air only): down+H. X-23 comes hurtling down with a double stab. This move can be done close to the ground. This move is very good for avoid lows and punishing them. Beware, the opponent can stuff it out or space themselves to punish it on whiff. The move also becomes more punishable the higher it is blocked. Because Falling Claw can go over crouching normals, this makes it useful against unassisted empty tri-jumps into lows. Talon Dive can also be cancelled into the Talon Attack and Crescent Scythe special. Cancellable into Aerial Exchange.
Special Moves List
Neck Slice: qcf+L. X-23 charges forward with a large slash. Can be charged and the longer you charge it, the further it travels and the more advantage you gain on hit and block. Fully charged Neck Slice staggers on hit for a free follow-up. Causes a spinning knockdown if the move hits an aerial opponent.
Ankle Slice: qcf+M. X-23 slides along the ground with a slash. Like Neck Slicer, can be charged to increase the distance it travels as well increase the advantage on hit or block(but unlike Neck Slice, the move’s unsafe even if charged.) Fully charged Ankle Slice also staggers on hit. Hits low and OTGs.
Decapitating Slice: qcf+H. X-23 leaps at the opponent and launches them into the air for a free follow-up. Is a command grab. Can also be charged to increase the distance it travels.
Talon Attack(air only): qcf+L/M/H. X-23 hurtles towards the opponent with a kick. There are three different versions. You can’t block during these specials.
L version: Similar to a traditional divekick special, X-23 attacks at a downwards angle. Also smashes down to create an unrecoverable knockdown after a launcher into an aerial combo.
M Version: This versions makes X-23 travel horizontally.
H Version: Reverse of the L version, this sends X-23 up at an upwards angle.
All versions of Talon Attack can be tiger knee’d.
Crescent Scythe: f,d,df+L/M/H. X-23 performs a flip kick. Though it appears to be a dragon punch-like special, it lacks invincibility. Usually used as a combo ender, but can be a decent AA, especially now that you can cancel it into Talon Attack for safety unlike in Vanilla. Can be done in the air and thus can be tiger knee’d.
Mirage Feint: qcf+/L/M/H. X-23 performs a shadowy hop. There are three different versions.
L version: X-23 performs a small hop.
M version: X-23 performs a long hop that can warp behind the opponent.
H version: X-23 performs a short hop that sends her into the air.
All versions of Mirage Feint can be held and released, but their properties remain the same. X-23 will crouch very low when Mirage Feints are held. Mirage Feint can be cancelled with S when held. This is known as Mirage Feint Cancelling. Mirage Feint can now be special cancelled into Talon Attack.
Hypers
Rage Trigger(costs 1 bar): qcf+any two attack buttons. X-23 performs multiple cartwheel slashes before ending with a Crescent Scythe. Invulnerable for several frames on start-up, can now be mashed for more damage.
Weapon X Prime(costs 1 bar): f,d,df+any two attack buttons. X-23 runs at the opponent, and if she hits them, starts an autocombo that ends with an X-shaped slash. Completely invincible during the run. Travels full-screen, but starts up slower than Rage Trigger. Normally, you can’t use Weapon X Prime in combos, but with the help of assists, you can.
Silent Kill(a.k.a Dirtnap): qcb+any two attack buttons. X-23 turns invisible for 5 seconds and becomes visible again after 5 seconds(timer bar shows up above the meter gauage.) During this period, X-23’s S becomes an unblockable attack. Since it’s not considered a grab, the unblockable attack ignores blockstun. Upon activation, you can perform the unblockable attack from any special too(example, Talon Attack~S= unblockable.)
Strategy and overview
X-23 is an extremely offensive character that’s highly dependant on assists since she doesn’t have much effective ways of approaching assistless and her moves are unsafe without assist cover. Without assists, she loses out on a lot of offensive options and it becomes difficult to effectively open people up with her without risk. Against opposing teams, it’s also important that you have the right assists to not only cover your approach, but to counter their assists as well(for example, having a beam assist allows to take care of assists like Drones.)
Once X-23 gets in, X-23’s offence consists of using specials like Mirage Feint to create left-right mix-ups and also, using Mirage Feint to push against Advancing Guard, so she can keep herself in. Another big part of X-23’s offence is punishing Advancing Guard attempts through heavy frame-advantage blockstring pressure, frametraps, delayed strings, ect in order to condition the opponent into not pressing buttons so she can set up more elaborate mix-ups. When X-23’s offence is combined with assists effectively, even more offensive options become available to you. Multi-hitting assists are very good for X-23 because they help pin down the opponent, allowing X-23 to set-up for mix-ups and her Level 3, Silent Kill, which is really important.
X-23 has low health, so trying to force your way in all the time can get you killed, but being inactive can also get you killed too if the opponent decides to start attacking, so try to stay evasive and space/poke the opponent. X-23’s effective on point with two assists covering her weaknesses. Her most favoured position now is 2nd, due to her XF infinites in Level 2 XF which allow her to simultaneously kill characters and build meter for Silent Kill to kill the next character. X-23 can be a semi-decent 3rd character due to XF3+Silent Kill, but I’d advise against it because she has no assists backing her up.
X-23 was reliant on the DHC glitch before in Vanilla, now it’s gone, so Weapon X Prime has lost most of its usefulness in combos. And due to assists being more subject to hitstun deterioration, it’s more difficult to combo into the hyper with most assists now. Thus, Rage Trigger has become the go-to hyper in combo situations, especially since it now does more damage than Weapon X Prime due to it being masheable. Silent Kill has become much more prominent and X-23 play has started to revolve around accessing it quickly.
Next up, I’ll go indepth into X-23’s overall strategy and techniques, separated into sections.
Mobility options
Dashing: X-23 has a very quick ground dash that also lowers her hitbox, allowing her to dash under high projectiles like Wesker’s Samurai Edge. If you can wavedash, that’s even better, because now you have more control over your dashes, can halt and block when you need to, and are able to get across the ground more rapidly. Forwards wavedashing with X-23 is really handy, in fact, wavedashing is really handy in general, so if you don’t use it/don’t know how to wavedash, definitely get it down. Combining your wavedashes with assist calls is a strong tactic to get in on your opponent and half-way through your dashes, you can Mirage Feint as your assist comes out for a ground cross-up. Backwards wavedashing is great to quickly gain some breathing room. Weave in and out of the opponent’s range using a combination of back and forth wavedashing and call assists whenever appropriate.
Neck Slice: Neck Slice is good because it moves X-23 forward and has a large attack hitbox, so it’s decent as a midrange tool as well. If you throw out a non-charged Neck Slice that’s spaced incorrectly, X-23 can be punished on the ground with a throw and if the opponent air blocks an incorrectly spaced non-charged Neck Slice, they can punish with a full combo. If the opponent spaces themselves outside of Neck Slice range, they can punish it on whiff. Also, Neck Slice doesn’t have any invincibility, so she can’t use it to blow through attacks or projectiles. However, Neck Slice makes X-23 step backwards before charging forward, which can make the opponent’s attacks whiff so it’s possible to use it as a sort of counter poke.
X-23 can charge it up for more advantage and distance, but this leaves you open. So, the best way to make this move safe would be to cover it with an assist. Neck Slice is best combined with assists anyway. Normally, you wouldn’t get much reward for landing a non-charged Neck Slice since you can’t combo off it on hit, and on block, it’s -1, but with an assist hitting simultaneously, like, say Akuma’s Tatsu, you can combo off the hitstun from the assist and Neck Slice combined into a full combo, and on block, you’re at the advantage due to the assist locking them down.
Talon Attack: Talon Attack pretty much turns X-23 into a flying attack box and not much is gonna stuff her out. They also give you various angles to attack from aerially and leave X-23 at a high advantage when blocked and if they connect, you get a free combo.
Talon Attack Light can be used like a traditional divekick to help yourself get in. Talon Attack Medium makes you fly across the air horizontally, which is great for getting in and can be used to escape the corner at times. And Talon H sends you upwards at a 45 degree angle, which is useful for getting at people in the air, as well as escaping corners in some situations, as well as running away. Like said before, all versions can be tiger knee’d, so they can be done close to the ground.
Talon Attacks also don’t have invincibility, despite their active hitboxes, and also, you can’t block whilst performing them, leaving you vulnerable to projectiles and other stuff. Again, best to cover with assists, if possible, especially M Talon.
Mirage Feint Medium: Mirage M makes X-23 hop a large distance. Mirage Feint M also warps behind people for a left-right mix-up. Really important you use assists for Mirage Feint M because it’s very unsafe up without assists. Mirage Feint M doesn’t have invincilibity either, so no passing through attacks and projectiles but you can hold Mirage Feint to make X-23 hitbox very low and you can completely duck under some projectiles that way(like Magneto’s L and M Disruptor.)
Walljump: Walljump is great for escaping corners as well as chasing after people who air tech forwards to try and leave the corner and air grabbing them. As long as there’s a wall, X-23 can perform a walljump, the wall doesn’t have to be specifically in the corner, it can be anywhere on the screen. A handy mobility tool for avoiding things on the ground as well.
Pokes and attacking from mid-range.
X-23’s main pokes are st/cr.M, due to their range and speed. Though slow and risky versus chars with strong normals, at range, st.H is also a good poke. The key to using these pokes is to cancel them into either Mirage Feint Cancel them, or buffer them into Mirage Feint L.
Mirage Feint Cancelling allows X-23 to brake/cancel her normals, shortening the recovery of X-23’s normals greatly on hit, block or whiff. You can use Feint Cancelling as easy mode hitconfirms; if they hit, go into a combo, if they get blocked, keep feint cancelling, you’re 9-11+ on block, and if it whiffs, you’re safe.
Mirage Feint L can be a decent substitute for Feint Cancelling, leaves you positive on block(not as much as Feint Cancelling does) and makes X-23 advance forward slightly, pushing against advancing guard. You can hitconfirm off pokes buffered into Feint L in a similar fashion, but it’s not as easy to do.
Talon Attack L is a divekick with a strong hitbox, so you can also use it to attack from mid-range. Since it’s a jumping attack, it can also leap over normals that are low to the ground. It’s a good idea to practise doing divekicks from lower heights/tiger-kneeing them, so they come out faster, are less obvious to avoid and you’ll get the proper frame advantage on block from doing them low(jumping attacks’ frame data changes depending on how high you connect with them due to landing frames and whatnot.)
Non-charged Neck Slice, like mentioned before, can be a decent poke and covers a good amount of ground, helping X-23 get in. Has a decent horizontal hitbox, best combined with assists for safety.
Falling Claw(D+H), not so much as a poke, but as a general neutral counter to things like unassisted tri-jump empty lows and people dashing in with crouching normals to start a combo. You can perform Falling Claw by doing DF+H or DB+H, which doubles up as an air throw option select.
Offensive Pressure
Mashing on a light attack: X-23 can rapid fire both her standing and crouching L. They’re her fastest normals and if you score a hit, you can easily hitconfirm into a larger combo. Throwing(especially tick-throwing) is also a very solid option to help get past blocking, due to X-23’s heavy blockstring game and after a throw, you can mount an offence on the opponent’s wake-up.
Mirage Feint L: cancelling your strings with Mirage Feint L leaves you at plus advantage(something like 7-8+, basically, you’re not gonna get beat out by a jab or anything) if cancelled from a normal. An example would be LMH>Mirage Feint L. This also serves as a frametrap if they decide to try and attack and you score a counter hit if they do.
Falling Claw(down+H): This move is great for going over crouching normals your opponent might be mashing during strings, if any and get a combo off it. Really good when done close to the ground, can be used as a pressure tool during strings.
If your opponent tries to jump away, or is somehow air throwing you out of this, you can option select Talon Dive by doing df+H. This way, if they try to jump/airthrow, you’ll either air throw them, or tech their air throw. Be wary of chars with high reaching crouching normals however, because they can tag X-23 out of Falling Claw and be wary of players mashing a fast standing jab, because that might tag you too.
Mirage Feint Cancelling(MFC for short): This is one of X-23’s powerful offensive tools. Like mentioned above, X-23 can cancel Mirage Feints with S when they’re held. But, you can apply MFC to X-23’s normals and special cancel them with it. By doing this, you shorten the recovery of your normals greatly, on block, hit or whiff and return yourself to a neutral position.
So, for example, let’s take X-23’s standing H and apply MFCing to it. You can essentially rapid fire it and do it over and over again if it gets blocked. Due to the shortened recovery, the lag on the move on whiff is removed because you recover instantly, so it can’t be whiff-punished. On hit, it launches, but since you’ve cancelled the recovery, you can easily hitconfirm off it with more follow-ups than you’d normally be able to without the MFC. On block, due to the shortened recovery, the move leaves you at 9/11+ on block. So, you now have a poke you can throw out there that’s safe and if it connects, you can easily hitconfirm off it into a combo.
If you’re fast enough, it’s also possible to Mirage Feint Cancel st.H before it even hits the opponent. This is more useful in strings than from neutral.
When using MFC, L Mirage Feint is the safest to use if you screw up the cancel. So best to cancel with that.
Here are the core MFC strings.
-
st.H>qcb+L~S. See the MFC example.
-
M(hit), H>qcb+L~S. This blockstring is completely tight. If guarded, the opponent must Advancing Guard, otherwise they’ll be locked in blockstun forever. X-23’s best string up-close. You also have the option of cancelling st.H before it hits the opponent.
-
L,M>qcb+L~S. Leaves you at +6 on block. If it connects, you can combo off it.
Mix-ups
Mirage Feint M cross-up: You can go for a mix-up with an assist backing up Mirage Feint M for an easy cross-up. Very effective since the cross-up’s quick and hard to react to, especially at closer ranges and with fast activating assists.)
One of X-23’s new buffs is the ability to cancel Talon Attack from Mirage Feint. This gives her an assistless(but risky) cross-up. Safer to use when the opponent’s recovering from blockstun. Example: after a Mirage Feint M+assist cross-up gets blocked, Mirage Feint M+Talon Attack for another cross-up
Falling Claw(D+H) cross-up on crouching opponents: You can also create an extremely ambiguous crossup on crouching opponents; if you dash then use Talon Dive on top of them, you’ll cross them up, but you’ll stay in front as if you never crossed them up at all. It’s impossible to see, your opponent has to be aware of the set-up beforehand. This compensates for a lack of a quick overhead, because once your opponent becomes aware of this, they’ll most likely start high blocking, but that leaves them open to lows.
“Fuzzy” overhead with Mirage Feint H(sorry for the term fuzzy):
As quoted by Traumatisch "Turns out, X-23 has instant overheads on a lot of members of the cast by making use of fuzzy guard.
For people who don’t know what fuzzy guard is, it’s a hitbox issue where characters that go from standing block to crouching block often still have a standing hitbox for a number of frames (the duration of blockstun imparted by the high/overhead move), even though the game recognizes the character in “crouching” status.
Now what this does is essentialy give a lot of character a Sentinel sized hitbox in this situation.
The easiest way to do it is using qcb + H and then use her j.B as late as possible to get as much blockstun as possible. Then do an instant jump forward B cancelled into Talon dive (j.d+H) and then cancelled into L Talon dive. When performed correctly, the fuzzy guard will make the jump forward B connect as an overhead, which lets you combo into the Talon attacks for a 3 hit combo, and any desired B&B aftwards.
This tech only works on characters with average or above average height, and then there are a couple exceptions (plus I havent tested on everyone)
Notable characters that it works on are ; Dante, Wesker, Dormammu, Trish, Magneto, Dr Doom, She Hulk, Phoenix, Thor, Viper, Hulk, Haggar, Taskmaster, Spencer, Akuma (not sure about the last two)
Notable characters that it (obviously) doesn’t work on ; Ammy, V. Joe, Wolverine, Felicia, Morrigan."
Best used when the opponent’s locked down by an assist. After the jump-in, you can go low instead of doing the instant overhead. The opponent can nullify the mix-up by advancing guarding the jump-in. So to keep them on their toes, do an empty Mirage Feint H into a low attack sometimes.
Another way of setting it up is calling a projectile assist, then perform a Talon M at the opponent. If the opponent blocks the Talon M on the ground with the assist locking him down, you can attack with j.S, and set up the “fuzzy overhead.”
Dash cross-up(on opponent’s forward tech roll only)
X-23 can dash through an opponent on wake-up after a knockdown, or even after an Ankle Slice OTG by quickly wave/plinkdashing(after an Ankle Slice, you only need to dash 3 times.) This only works if they tech-roll forwards and if they tech backwards, puts them in/pushes them closer to the corner. Dashing slightly slower results in a non-cross-up, make sure to keep the speed of the slower dashes similar to the speed of the quicker ones so your opponent can’t easily tell when you’ll cross-up or not.
The opponent can mash an attack/throw/neutral get-up/reversal to neutralise this mix-up. You can counter this by using assists to hit them meaty just after they get up or roll so they can’t mash. Dash through 3 times to cross them up, then attack. So far, the best assist I’ve found for this is calling Drones during an Ankle Slice OTG, so it hits them as they’re getting up. So far, the only invincible reversal to seems to work is Bionic Arm, but the timing’s extremely tight(I’ve only managed to successfully reversal twice out of many attempts.)
This mix-up is best used in the corner, where rolling backwards or neutral get-up leaves the opponent in the corner and rolling forwards means they have to deal with guessing between a cross-up or a non-cross-up.
Decapitating Slice command grab: You can use it during strings or whatever, but again, have an assist covering you, ESPECIALLY for this, otherwise if you miss and you haven’t got cover, X-23’s probably gonna bite the dust. The move is horrendously punishable if it misses. If it connects, it’s all good and you get a free combo. Keep in mind that you can’t get long combos after the grab, because hitstun decay kicks in fiercely.
Getting around Advancing Guard.
L and M Mirage Feint are all good for getting back in your opponent’s face. L’s completely safe assistless, but doesn’t cover as much distance, whilst Mirage Feint covers more distance, but is completely unsafe without assists. You can also decide to (wave)dash right back in there.
Neck Slice can be used to get back in someone’s face after being pushed back as well.
Talon Dive(down+H) is great up close because if Advancing Guarded, the pushback is very minimal, so you still remain close to your opponent.
Decapitating Slice(command grab) also gets you back in there and can grab the opponent as they recover from their Advancing Guard animation. This is most effective in the corner. Again, cover it with an assist.
Punishing Advancing Guard attempts.
Like mentioned before, X-23 can make great use of blockstrings with high advantage and delayed strings to score counterhits off Advancing Guard attempts. Remember that a failed Advancing Guard comes out as either an M or a H, depending on the buttons used for it so you’re basically trying to force the opponent to get a failed Advancing Guard scenario and punish them for it(for SF4 players, think of it like trying to punish crouch teching.)
If an opponent is crouching and trying to advancing guard, Falling Claw is great to use because Talon Dive will leap over their failed Advancing Guard attempt during a string and punish it, leaving them open to a combo. If they Advancing Guard it high, they could get a backdash due to them pressing two attack buttons and back, which you can also punish. You could also do the same with a tiger knee’d Talon Attack L.
The best way is to probably stagger your strings to throw off their advancing guard timing. Something like a simple staggered cr.L mash string, or st.L(very slight pause)>H>Mirage Feint Cancel(MFC.)
A very risky way to force failed advancing guard scenarios is to use MFCing to cancel H before it hits the opponent during a string.M(hit)H>MFC is great for this. For starters, not many people will Advancing Guard the first hit of a string. They’ll do it on the second hit usually. So, they block the M, that’s one hit, and they’ll go to advancing guard the second hit. But nothing happens because you cancelled H before it even connected, so they couldn’t advancing guard it. If they did try to, they’d get an (cr.)M/H because it failed. Most people crouch block versus X-23 because she has no instant overheads. If you managed to force a failed advancing guard attempt, it’s best to use D+H immediately after the cancelled string to leap over their crouching normal.
The downside to using MFC for that purpose is that it isn’t tight, so the opponent could interrupt you with L if they’re mashing with a quick normal. Another downside is that if they’re advancing guarding with a normal that reaches high enough, they’ll hit X-23.
Assist Chaining and Continuous Offence
X-23’s 3 forms of attack: pressure, mix-ups and anti-advancing guard options, can all transition to and from each other. Swap back and forth between the 3 forms to create a seamless and continuous offence up-close. Combining this with assists strengthens the potency and safety of your offence. General rule of thumb:
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Whenever you have no assists, use safe blockstring pressure(MFCs) and/or cancel your normals into Mirage Feint L to counter advancing guard. Stagger your strings and vary between single hitting and multi-hitting strings to throw off your opponent’s advancing guard, and reversal/interruption attempts. Make use of D+H(option select by performing DF+H) during your assistless offence so if the opponent manages to get in the air, it’ll double up as an air-throw attempt, and if they crouch block, there’s a chance of them getting hit by ambiguous D+H cross-ups.
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Whenever you have an assist available, start incorporating left-right mix-ups and “fuzzy overheads”(more effective in the corner) into your blockstrings and pressure. Keep track of your assists’ availability and cool-down so when you’ve used an assist, you can switch back to safe pressure and then use your 2nd assist and transition to assisted pressure, like a seamless cycle. Obviously, left-rights/cross-ups are better against airblockers compared to high-lows because unlike high-lows being neutralised by airblocking, the opponent still has to guess between left or right.
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If you score a hit, hit confirm into a full combo if you can.
This is the key to X-23’s true offence. Adding layers upon layers of offence, mix-ups and conditioning, forcing your opponent to guess between several options. If blocked, X-23 remains safe and at an advantage frame-wise, allowing her to continue her offence until the opponent either gets hit or successfully escapes.
Here’s a visual video of this by Deviljin to give you a better idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOjpNho0p7A&list=PLF4EC683603EA59B0&index=22&feature=plpp_video
Silent Kill
Silent Kill is one of the most powerful Level 3s in the game, if not the most powerful due to it being a damaging unblockable-strike hyper. It’s easy to make Silent Kill unavoidable for the opponent, especially on incoming chars, and if done correctly, it’s guaranteed damage or even death, allowing you to take out incoming chars before they even get to play. Silent Kill can be used to cripple teams and under certain conditions, Silent Kill can even be a guaranteed win.
Gaining the meter for X-23 quickly so she can use it is something you ideally should be aiming for.
Methods of quickly gaining the meter for Silent Kill
A) Kill the opposing char meterless using resets and/or mix-ups.
B) Kill the opposing char meterless using XF.
C) Kill the opposing char meterless using a TAC infinite.
If you can’t use the TAC infinite, or can’t/don’t want to use your XF, use Option A.
If you want a guaranteed but expensive way of gaining 3 bars, use Option B. You have to be aware of the opposing char’s health value in order to maximise your meter gain when using it in XF1; the lower your opponent’s health is, the more XF you’ll be left with because your combo will be shorter, allowing you to keep the damage boost, but it’s harder to maximise meter gain on lower health chars due to them dying faster.
The higher your opponent’s health is, the less XF you’ll be left with because your combo will be longer, but it’s easier to maximise meter gain on higher health chars because they die slower.
If you want higher meter gain, use Option C. You can gain 5 bars out of a successful TAC infinite. You’ll be giving the opponent a fair amount of meter and they can escape the TAC, but the reward is huge and you could possibly have enough meter to sweep their entire team.
After you gain the meter Silent Kill through whatever means, depending on your resources, you can kill the 2nd char and then automatically win the match on the 3rd char with Silent Kill. On a less ambitious scale, it’s possible to ensure that you kill off two chars with Silent Kill, guaranteed.
Setting up Silent Kill on incoming chars(assisted.)
The best way to set the move up with an assist is to do it on someone’s entry either after a snapback, or if you’ve killed a character and their next one’s coming in. You can make this inescapable on almost everybody by using a multi-hitting lockdown assist like Dante’s Jam Session, then doing Silent Kill.
Setting Silent Kill(assistless.)
Option A: jump up and press an attack into S on an incoming char.
Option B: use a meaty TK’d Talon H on the incoming character and press S.
Option C: Crescent Scythe on the incoming character and press S.
If done correctly, the opponent can’t double jump to avoid getting hit. I think Option B and C might be inescapable unless the opponent has an invincible air hyper.
Counters to Silent Kill on incoming chars
The opponent can try the following to escape Silent Kill
Option A: mash on an air attack/throw to hit X-23 before she reaches them. Can work if the X-23 player mistimes their assistless set-up, but against assisted set-ups(like Jam Session), this won’t work.
Option B: XF cancel and try to throw X-23 out of her assistless incoming mix-up. Similar to Option A.
Option C: Double jump if the X-23 player really mistimes their set up.
Option D: Use an invincible air special/hyper to escape assisted/assistless Silent Kill set-ups. Phoenix and Sentinel both have invincible air hypers(Phoenix Rage and Hard Drive respectively.) However, it might be possible to make Silent Kill inescapable if X-23 uses a meaty Jam Session on their entry.
In Phoenix’s case, she has to make a big commitment in order to escape(use meter and risk getting punished and dying, or use meter+XF to make it safe, either option prevents her from reaching her Dark form immediately.)
In Sentinel’s case, it’s possible for X-23 to backwards wavedash and punish Sentinel with Silent Kill on landing anyway.
Combos
(by no means an exhaustive list)
Beginner solo combos(midscreen)
These combos are meant to tide you over until you can execute stronger and more difficult combos.
- LMHS, super jump, j.MMH>D+H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land, (full charge)Ankle Slice M>Rage Trigger or use assists to extend. Basic combo.
*Notes: you can add down+H to j.MMH for extra damage. After an assist extender, you can do S into j.MMH>qcf+L again or combo into Weapon X Prime.
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(cr)LMH>Mirage Feint H, j.MH>Talon Attack L, land, MHS, super jump, j.MMH>D+H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land, (full charge) Ankle Slice M>Rage Trigger or assist extender. “Basic” Mirage Feint Loop.
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(cr)LMH>Mirage Feint L, LMHS, super jump, j.MMH>D+H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack, land, (full charge)Ankle Slice M>Rage Trigger or assist extender. Basic hitconfirm off Mirage Feint L. Connecting LMHS off the Mirage Feint L has to be done a bit quickly.
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(cr)LMH>Mirage Feint H, j.MMH, land, j.MMHS>Talon Attack L, MHS, super jump, j.MMH>D+H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land, (full charge) Ankle Slice M>Rage Trigger or assist extender.
*Notes
-X-23’s Medium attacks hits twice. You can get extra damage before the MHS part in all of her combos(from beginner to advanced) by making it only hit once. The easiest way to make M only hit once is to slide from M>H quickly.
Advanced solo combos(midscreen.)
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(cr)LMH>Mirage Feint H, j.MH>Talon Attack L, land, MH>Mirage Feint H, jMH>Talon Attack L, land, MHS, super jump, j.MMH>D+H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land, (full charge) Ankle Slice M>Rage Trigger or assist extender.
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(cr)LMH>Mirage Feint H, j.MH>Talon Attack L, land, MH>Mirage Feint H, jMH>TK Crescent Scythe*>Talon Attack L, land, MHS, super jump, j.MMH>D+H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land, (full charge) Ankle Slice M>Rage Trigger or assist extender.
*Notes
-For some reason, you have to tiger-knee the air Crescent Scythe to get the cancel into Talon L reliably. I assume it’s because even though X-23’s technically airborne, the game doesn’t class her being in the air until after a while, and air Scythes cancel faster than grounded ones. An unnecessary execution requirement IMO, the game should just allow you to cancel normally.
-This combo(and variants of it) is X-23’s 2nd strongest loop. A good combo to learn.
- (cr)LMH>Mirage Feint H, TK Crescent Scythe>Talon Attack L, land, MH>Mirage Feint H>TK Crescent Scythe*>Talon Attack L, land, MHS, super jump, j.MMH>D+H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land, (full charge) Ankle Slice M>Rage Trigger or assist extender.
*Notes
-This(and variants of it) is X-23’s strongest loop, but not easy. Definitely practical with practise, but don’t worry about this combo too much until you’re comfortable with the rest of her combos.
Corner combos
(X-23’s corner combos are advanced)
- air D+H>Talon Attack L, land, TK Crescent Scythe>Talon Attack L, landx3, M(1hit)HS> j.MMH>D+H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land, (full charge) Ankle Slice M>Rage Trigger or assist extender.
*Notes
-You have to time your tiger-knee’d Crescents>Talons so that they don’t get launched too high/your Crescents whiff.
-If they’re too high up for X-23 to connect her air series when you launch the opponent into the air with MHS, do a simple j.H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L.
MFC combos(coming soon!)
(almost all of them are pretty much advanced variations of the combos above. The idea is, you’re supposed to hitconfirm with the MFC parts and if they get blocked, they double up as high advantage blockstrings.)
Yeah, I’ve been without a CPU or internet for a while.
X-23 X-Factor combos(with assists.)
These all use Mirage Feint Cancelling(H>qcb+L~S) to hitconfirm. Trying to remember the max meter gaining ones for 800K+, 900K+ and 950K characters.
X-23 X-Factor combos(with assists.)
These all use Mirage Feint Cancelling(H>qcb+L~S) to hitconfirm. Trying to remember the max meter gaining ones for 800K+, 900K+ and 950K characters.
M(hit), H>qcb+L~S, H>qcb+L~S, H>qcb+H, j.MMH, j.MMHS>Talon Attack L, M(1hit)HS> j.MMH>D+H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land, (full charge) Ankle Slice M>X-Factor Cancel, S, j.H>Crescent Scythe H>Talong L, land, call Jam Session, (full charge) Ankle Slice>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack H
850,000K, 3 bars. Hitstun decay kicks in during the XFC, S launch part, making this combo harder than it should be. Be sure to do this part (>XFC, S>j.H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land, call Jam Session, (full charge)Ankle Slice>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack H) as quickly as possible.
M(hit), H>qcb+L~S, H>qcb+L~S, H>qcb+H, j.MMH, j.MMHS>Talon Attack L, M(1hit)H>X-Factor Cancel, S> j.MMH>D+H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land, call Jam Session (full charge) Ankle Slice M> S>j.H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land,(full charge)Ankle Slice M>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack H.
1.mil, 3 bars.
M(hit), H>qcb+L~S, H>qcb+L~S>X-Factor Cancel, j.MMH, j.MMHS>j.MH>Talon Attack L, MHS> j.MMH>D+H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land, call Jam Session (full charge) Ankle Slice M> S>j.H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land,(full charge)Ankle Slice M>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack H.
1.1mil+, 3 bars. Finicky to do.
M(hit), H>qcb+L~S, H>qcb+L~S, H>qcb+H, j.MMH, j.MMHS>Talon Attack L, M(1hit)HS> j.MMH>D+H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land, (full charge) Ankle Slice M
850,000K, 3 bars. Hitstun decay kicks in during the XFC, S launch part, making this combo harder than it should be.
M(hit), H>qcb+L~S, H>qcb+L~S, H>qcb+H, j.MMH, j.MMHS>Talon Attack L, M(1hit)H>X-Factor Cancel, S> j.MMH>D+H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land, call Jam Session (full charge) Ankle Slice M> S>j.H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land,(full charge)Ankle Slice M>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack H.
1.mil, 3 bars.
M(hit), H>qcb+L~S, H>qcb+L~S>X-Factor Cancel, j.MMH, j.MMHS>j.MH>Talon Attack L, MHS> j.MMH>D+H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land, call Jam Session (full charge) Ankle Slice M> S>j.H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land,(full charge)Ankle Slice, S, j.H>Crescent Scythe H>Talon Attack L, land, Ankle Slice, Crescent Scythe>Talon Attack H
1.05mil, 3 bars.
1.1mil+, 3 bars. Finicky to do.
1.05mil, 3 bars
Assists and team building/positions: Coming soon!
X-23’s frame data
I don’t have access to X-23’s UMVC3 frame data, so I can’t include it, apologies. I’m assuming it’s similar to her Vanilla frame data, with the exception of cr.L having some changes, but I can’t verify that. If I get it, I’ll update this section.
X-23 Videos and Tutorials
Deviljin01’s X-23 tutorial playlist: http://www.youtube.com/user/DevilJin01#p/c/F4EC683603EA59B0
An X-23 tutorial.Though it’s from Vanilla, it’s still helpful even in Ultimate.
(video/tutorial section still a work in progress)
Yo Ryuga, want me to put all that stuff in the first post?
idk if they fixed the character limit on posts yet but if it is fixed I can put all that in the first post with sections and whatnot so its easier to find.
Then again there’s the penultimate thread but it doesnt seem like people want to post there for some reason lol.
If you could, that’d be awesome haha, thank you very much! There’s only one thing, please omit the X-Factor combos, they’re full of errors. I’ll have to fix up the combo section later on.