I have played fighting games for many years, but I have only ever dabbled in team-based games. MvC3 really grabbed me, however, so I have been playing it more seriously.
There is a lot of discussion around on which are the best' assists in the game, and which combinations arebest friends’, but little about what the gaps are in individual characters’ games that require assists to fill in. For example, I constantly read that Zero requires assists to be good, but I have never once seen WHY he needs assists or WHAT the gaps in his game are that he needs filled.
In some cases it is obvious enough that I have seen it myself. Tron’s Servbot attacks are pretty lame, so she really needs an assist to help her close in on zoning characters. Arthur covers almost every angle with his attacks, but needs someone to protect him from attacks over his head. Some character do not seem to need any assists (eg Morrigan’s biggest weakness is her low health, so no assist can cover this). There are then obviously good assists that pretty well anyone can use (eg Haggar’s lariat for GTFO), but these are a little different.
Could someone please help me to understand which characters require assists, and what the specific gaps they have that need to be filled?
That’s a hell of a question, because no character is perfect & they all benefit from assists. That’s really something you should play with & experiment with yourself, discovering new things is half the fun.
It kinda does depend on which character you’re talking about.
The grapplers generally need help getting in.
The zoners need help keeping people away.
Meter-Hungry characters can probably benefit from meter-charge assists if you don’t like building meter from another character’s combos.
Haggar’s Lariat and Tron’s Fire are pretty good at stopping other people’s offense due to their invincibility.
Pretty much everyone can benefit from OTG or Wall-Bounce assists (though it can be counter-productive with characters like She-Hulk)
The “hold-in-place” assists like Chun legs, Skrull tenderizer, or Unibeam are also pretty universal in their usefulness.
Things like this are things you learn when you actually start learning the character.
For instance you mentioned Zero. Zero needs assists for closing distance, safe mixups, and combo extension. The main reason is because Hienkyaku(command dash) has lag on the end, and has no invulnerability. You need an assist(generally projectile/beam assist) to provide something for Zero to hide behind during Hienkyaku. Due to Hienkyaku’s lag, if the enemy isn’t already in blockstun, then Hienkyaku becomes punishable. Combo extension is pretty obvious, milking more damage and meter out of your combos.
Really, things like this come from knowing the characters you’re going to be playing. You gain an understanding of what your characters need, and understand how to cover those weaknesses with assists.
Thanks for the pointers. I think I have been coming at it from the wrong angle. I quickly found Morrigan to be my favourite character, but I run her as anchor. As such, the majority of my focus has been on the one character who does not use assists. I guess I need to focus on finding a point character I like running and work out how to work Morrigan into their play.