I’m working on a Firebrand / Hsien-ko (sempu bu) / Dormammu (black hole) team. It gets ridiculous once Firebrand get the hitconfirm.
that’s so weird i’m trying to find a char to fit in the middle of my firebrand/?/ammy team you haven’t been able to get anything off of the bon voyage hard tag with hsien ko have you?
Okay so here’s what I’ve been working on:
Ko needs to lead and be able to gain enough meter to set up golden armor and DHC out. My anchor needs to be a good assist to help that meter out and be able to hold up on their own as a good anchor should. My second character needs to be something that the Ko assist is gonna help tremendously. I’m thinking a rushdown character preferably with an air-dash. Maybe Dante? Nova? Right now it’s looking like Ko/?/Doom. Need help on that second slot.
Alright here’s where I disagree (not tosay you’re wrong)
if you have Dante or nova why would you want them second? Don’t they both build more bar, have an easier time getting that first hit?
I know with Dante second you get that install hyper to bring him in rather safely but other then that I don’t see the advantage of putting her before them.
and I say this being a person who has been using her first just for different reasonings
I’ve been recently experimenting with a team consisted of Firebrand/Hsien-Ko, too.
As always, though, I’m having some trouble to fit a third guy. In my last experiment I used Taskmaster with Aim Master Horizontal as assist.
What i have found so far is, after of a full combo into hard knockdown (j.S or bon voyage), you can dash backward, call Hsien-ko and charge Firebrand unblockable (Demon missile H) the moment the character is going to wake up, because Sempu covers a lot of space and will make the other character block regardless of the ground recovery direction. If done and timed correctly it leads to an unblockable if the other player doesn’t tag out. And if the player tag out, Hsien-ko will catch the incoming character.
on incoming characters after a kill, Tenrai Ha into Firebrand Luminous Body DHC + call sempu, is an unavoidable unblockable (because of Demon missile H)
And the THC after of a bon voyage that Firebrand, Hsien-ko and Dormammu do (from corner to midscreen, firebrand must dash to the corner after the bon Voyage) is just amazing. I have to go to the lab and practice more though, my pad is malfunctioning at the moment u.u
From what i have seen so far, it seems like Hsien-ko might be Firebrand bf, people just ignore her and consider Super-Skrull, Amaterasu and Dormammu as Firebrand bfs because they are better characters. Now, on to those TAC Hsien-ko combos…
Just started messing around with a Spencer/Hsien/Sentinel team. First impressions is this is probably the most powerful team I’ve toyed with involving Hsien-ko. Good synergy between the three, hell their THC does 675K damage by it’s self, if started with Spencer. On top of that Spencer will finish Bionic arm before the opponent gets done bouncing on top of chireitou, letting you combo off the blades.
Senpu bu lets you do some pretty dirty mixups with Spencer, and drones work great with both Hsien-ko and Spencer. Spencer’s slant grapple assist also makes sure people that want to stay in the air against Ko, keep their ass on the ground.
I’m probably switching this to my main team, since I feel like it has so much potential. Can’t wait to actually get these Spencer bnb’s down.
I’ve messed a bit with these two before; they are really good support for point leilei. Slant shot assist should hand you resets on a silver platter due to how the trajectory f+h lets you set up, and most like you are starting that reset with a non-multihitting normal. So that’s maximizing your damage there. Drones is amazing as always and should help you get in some midscreen mix-ups through blocked normal(f+m)+drones>L senpu.
Besides that, Spencer can really capitalize off chireitou>raw tag with wire grapple or maneuvers .
Other supporting characters that I find also good:
Ammy - Cold star
Strange - Bolts
Doom - Missiles
Dorm - Dark Hole
So it seems that the best assists Hsien-Ko can have are lockdown assists? However, is there an assist that can be used as a lockdown assist but also used to get in? I am saying that because originally I thought Arthur’s Daggers assist did both, but I realized that it does not cause enough lockdown for Hsien-Ko to attempt a mix up outside of the corner and the assist pushes them too far for Hsien-Ko to just teleport dash and attempt a cross up. So in other words, it helps my point character which is the mayor but not Hsien-Ko. I am looking for an assist that can both help Haggar get in and help Hsien-Ko do her pendulum mix ups. Two potential characters that I thought were Doom and Shuma. Though, I am still skeptical on both. I can use Doom’s missiles but I am not sure if Haggar gets any good usage from that since it’s not the traditional horizontal projectile/beam every Haggar uses, or use Shuma with his mystic ray assist but while that assist will be good against anyone who hangs around the air, I’m not sure if it’s any good on anyone who’s grounded instead and plus it’s Shuma, so I have no idea if he’s a solid character.
If nothing works out, I might pull Hsien-Ko out and make a team based on her. The Spencer/Hsien-Ko/Sentinel team looks very solid but I’m not a big fan of Sent, so I might replace the robot with someone like Doom or Dormammu if it works out.
That sounds a good strategy. Thanks for sharing.
This morning I tried more characters to fit with Firebrand/Hsien-Ko. I used Morrigan and Hawkeye, and both of them turned out to be decent. Still need to train with Morrigan a bit more though, as I’m a mess with shotos.
Most assists can benefit her approach/mix-up if near a corner or possibly on incoming foes. For midscreen though, I think she needs long active assists to compensate for her speed and not necessarily lockdown, but there’s also assists that give leilei reset potential, which is one of her strongest points. Though I’ve only messed around in finding good assists for approach, I haven’t fully explored reset potential. Here’s just a short explanation to my above list.
Strange’s bolts are not a true block string, but they really help leilei advance and the reset potential is amazing due to the stagger it causes.
Spencer’s slant shot I already said gives amazing reset potential, but doesn’t really help you get in.
Dorm’s black hole has little to no pushback on block, even on advancing guard which really helps her get in, but has short range and knocks down which negates the reset potential.
Doom’s missiles help her get in, but missiles has impractical applications and take too long to set up any reset game. Though I feel like I could be wrong about this.
Ammy and Sent assists offer in both departments very well.
Ah, I see. I’ve tried half of these assists but they don’t really work for Haggar. I haven’t tried Strange’s and Ammy’s yet so I’ll give them a try. They also look like they could be the best assist options for my time. Strange’s sounds like an ideal assist for Haggar and Ammy’s sounds like Haggar could still have problems getting in, but at the very least I have a very solid anchor and I can just switch to her to fix horrible match ups.
If you were to run Strange and Rei Rei on the same team, he’d probably have to be point. Unless you don’t mind running Ko on point and him second.
EvuL and I were talking about this the other day and I was wondering if Deadpool’s Happy Trigger would work. I’m not too familiar with the assist, but it’s fairly fast and stays out for a bit.
Just watched Marvisto doing the bon voyage > j.S into Demon Missile H unblockable on wake ups like 3 times a match, backed up with Taskmaster up arrows (Big Two). Sempu bu make the unblockable even more dirty. I see potential in those two.
Alright, so for a while I’ve had the hunch that the reason a lot of characters are “low tier” is because they perform best with other “low tier” characters that no one wants to pick. Everyone wants to pick a trenchcoat, so when they see a character doesn’t work well with the trenchcoat that character becomes “low tier”. Players like Kusoru (sp?) and Dieminion have shown that there’s something to this hypothesis.
Since I first saw Dr. Strange’s trailer, I’ve felt that Dr. Strange and Hsien-ko are BFFs. Dr. Strange needs something to give him space, and he can protect Senpu Bu with Seven Rings of Raggador, removing its greatest weakness. Hsien-ko needs an assist with a lot of screen presence, and I think Bolts of Balthakk is a strong choice for her. They also have good DHC synergy.
I’m usually too bogged down by trying to work out the kinks in my own main team (Firebrand/Dormammu/Amaterasu), but I’m thinking about taking up this hypothesis to prove a point, even if it’s just online casuals, to show that there’s something to the idea. I’m also working on a Ghost Rider team, because I think he has more going for him than people think.
So, my question to all of you is: what do you think my third for the Dr. Strange/Hsien-ko team should be?
Thoughts I’ve had:
Doom (Hidden Missiles) - works well, but it’s kind of overplayed and I’d like to avoid it
Amaterasu (Cold Stars) - great for Dr. Strange and Hsien-ko mix-ups, makes good use of both assists
Shuma-Gorath (Mystic Ray) - great for full-screen approaches with Dr. Strange, helps Hsien-ko control the vertical, and he loves the assists of both characters
Just don’t try and talk me out of Hsien-ko/Strange. 
I’m not set on a team order. If I had Shuma-Gorath, I would probably go Shuma/Hsien-ko/Strange. If I had Amaterasu, probably Hsien-ko/Strange/Amaterasu. If I had Doom, probably Doom/Hsien-ko/Strange, and I’d just play it safe until I get 2 bars, then do Doom->Hsien-ko, and raw tag Strange in for Strange/Doom/Hsien-ko.
I played a 25 match set with Shuma-Gorath (Mystic Ray) / Hsien-ko (Senpu Bu) / Dr. Strange (Bolts of Balthakk) last night.
Team Virtues:
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If I get Dr. Strange up there backed by Shuma-Gorath and Hsien-ko, I feel borderline invincible. The combination is just as strong as I thought it was.
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Able to deal with a huge variety of playstyles.
Team Weaknesses:
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If Shuma-Gorath dies, Hsien-ko has to survive incoming mix-ups and take chip - gah.
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The biggest problem - when Dr. Strange dies, Shuma-Gorath backed by Hsien-ko isn’t actually that good. He’s too slow for it to work well. Hsien-ko backed by Shuma-Gorath isn’t too bad, but it’s not good either.
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The idea behind the team is Dr. Strange using Hsien-ko while being able to protect her. Unfortunately, with Shuma-Gorath on point it takes 2 bars to get Hsien-ko armored, and then I’m without meter for protecting her. It’s not reasonable for me to try and wait for 3 bars most of the time, either.
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Two low damage characters. Dr. Strange does good damage, but Hsien-ko and Shuma-Gorath don’t, even in their full combos (which I admittedly can’t do).
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No good use for X-Factor outside of Dr. Strange, so if he dies there’s almost no chance of making a comeback.
All of this leads me to what should be an obvious conclusion: Hsien-ko/Dr. Strange rocks, but Shuma-Gorath needs to be replaced. I don’t think Amaterasu is a contender because she would have problems similar to Shuma-Gorath in getting zoned (my opponent was using Morrigan/Hidden Missiles). Right now, the team weighs too much on Dr. Strange, so I think I need another character that can really abuse Senpu Bu and Bolts of Balthakk. Doom is definitely a candidate for this, since he is good at getting in without using specials so he can call Senpu Bu at any time. The character also has to be good on point, because I don’t want Hsien-ko or Dr. Strange taking damage so I can preserve the former for her assist and the latter as my true point character once I get him in. I also felt like my meter was completely wasted in going from Shuma-Gorath to Hsien-ko, because Hsien-ko just tagged out. I’d like a setup where Hsien-ko can follow up after the DHC to try and TAC glitch the opponent (since she’s not susceptible to TAC counters while armored, though the TAC itself can still be countered).
Current thoughts:
Doom (still)
Skrull - gets full combos from Bolts of Balthakk, high damage and health, good DHC to
Hsien-ko through Skrull Torch (I assume), Senpu Bu gives him nasty command grab setups, excellent user of X-Factor
Spencer - gets in for free, loves Senpu Bu for mix-ups, Bionic Arm to Rimoukon is a good combination, big damage, good X-Factor user, and slant shot is a good assist for Impact Palm into big damage
I think I’ll give Spencer a try, but I’m open to other suggestions, as always. I’m also considering Morrigan.
Team update:
I played 120 matches with Spencer/Hsien-ko/Dr. Strange today, and 50 matches of Doom/Hsien-ko/Dr. Strange. I don’t feel as though either is a clear winner. The Spencer team has better DHCs to Hsien-ko’s Rimoukon through Bionic Maneuvers and Bionic Lancer, but Spencer’s assists, while good for a lot of teams, don’t feel very helpful for Dr. Strange or Hsien-ko. Spencer backed by both assists is really monstrous though, and once he dies Dr. Strange backed by Hsien-ko is also very hard to deal with. However, I felt as though Spencer was pulling the main weight of the team. I’ll add that Spencer might be the easiest character I’ve tried to play in the game. I’ve never gotten over a dozen OCVs with a new character before. I also got a compliment on my Spencer play and on my Dr. Strange play, which is flattering since I don’t feel as though I’m good with either. The biggest problem with this team was small characters like Amaterasu, who can pretty much ignore Bolts of Balthakk. It turns into a neutral game between Spencer and Amaterasu, because your opponent won’t be able to get assists out thanks to Strange.
Doom/Hsien-ko/Dr. Strange builds better meter than the Spencer team, but Doom didn’t feel as strong on point as Spencer did. That might just be me, though. He was a lot more versatile than Spencer, since Bolts of Balthakk combined with Doom’s projectile repertoire allowed me to outzone a lot of teams. People pretty much always had to come to me if I wanted them to. This team was definitely stronger for Dr. Strange, especially if I kept this lesson in mind: if my opponent jumps, I teleport. It’s a pretty long fight though, as Dr. Strange doesn’t have any great ways to destroy characters that are superjumping around the screen. It’s definitely a team you need patience for. My hunch is that this team is slightly superior to the Spencer team, but both felt strong despite me not being great with any of the characters.
I beat a surprising number of people with Hsien-ko, once even reverse OCVing someone. I’m not going to pretend she’s secretly some great character, but I felt she was very playable when backed by Dr. Strange, and faired well when backed by Strange and Doom. You have to play very patiently, but that’s Hsien-ko’s nature.
I also had someone ragequit against the Spencer team, which was the highlight of my night, even above reverse OCVing with Hsien-ko and beating several XF3 characters with her (people just don’t seem to know what she can do).
Strange anchor is questionable because he tends to be assist-reliant. It’d probably be best to put another beam/projectile assist attached to a better anchor like Doom or Mags (neither of which I would want to play, but hey, if it works…). Though shorter range, maybe Cold Star? Or perhaps even Drones for more Spencer Stupidity? Though those Bolts are good lockdown. And you’re the one who actually played the team, so you know better than I do!
As LL.ND and others mentioned earlier, Spencer’s Slant Shot offers a lot of reset opportunities for Hsien-Ko, which can help remedy some of her mediocre damage.
Oh, I don’t keep Strange as the anchor. I might play Hsien-ko backed by Bolts of Balthakk for a bit, but as soon as my opponent does something unsafe I Rimoukon -> Spell of Vishanti, XFC for the character kill. I think part of playing a Hsien-ko team is making the bet that her assist + XF2 > XF3.
I’m thinking of trying out this team which is Hsien-Ko, Arthur, and Doom. I don’t have an official order yet but I’m planning to make this a zoning team if it works out. Anyways, the theory I have with this team is that I want to get Hsien-Ko armored up and I’ll use Doom’s missiles or maybe his beam on certain match ups to get a lot of projectiles on the screen. Once I do, I’ll switch to Arthur, hard tag or or do a DHC, then go nuts with missiles/beam and the hyper armor pendulum. My only concerns that I have with this team is which order to use, and Arthur and Hsien-Ko might have trouble protecting Doom if I have missiles. Arthur has his projectiles on screen and he has a shield move that can deflect/nullify projectiles, and Hsien-Ko can do similar stuffs with Anki Hou and the Gong, but they will not protect Doom from full screen hypers.