1

I’m looking to make a thread in the general mvc3 forum that helps explain how the assists work and how assists work for each specific character. Basically I’d just like a quick rundown of 3 things.

  1. A generic description of each of the character’s 3 specific assists and their uses in battle for offense/defense/adding hits to combos etc.

  2. A general rundown of which assists work well for their rushdown/defense/lockdown etc. Something like this…

DOCTOR DOOM

Spoiler

Reliance on assists on point without XF = Reliant
Reliance on assists with XF2 = Moderate
XF3/Anchor abilities = Solid

Strong assists for lockdown/pressure: Haggar lariat (stops opponent from attacking, hard knockdown for s.H OTG on hit) Ammy Cold Star (long mix up lockdown), Arthur Daggers (fast start up, long mix up lockdown) Sent drones (long mix up lockdown), Chun Li legs (long mix up lockdown, fast activating), Dante Jam Session (long mix up lockdown, keeps aerial characters grounded), Dorm Dark Hole (long mix up lockdown) Akuma tatsu (aerial lockdown, passes through projectiles during active frames), Iron Man repulsor blast (long lockdown, keeps opponent from jumping/flying), Iron Man Unibeam (standard beam lockdown), Tron Fire(standard lockdown, protects your block strings), any other long active multi hitting assist not mentioned.

Strong assists for projectile and assist clearance or unblockable set up: Iron Man Unibeam (projectile/assist clearance, decent active frames for mix up), Shuma Mystic Ray(projectile/assist clearance, keeps opponents from jumping/flying), Arthur Daggers(projectile/assist clearance/fast start up), Wesker gun shot (unblockable set up),Akuma tatsu(absorbs standard beam projectiles during active frames, loses to large hit box projectiles like Dante’s Crystal or Hulk’s Gamma Wave), Storm Whirlwind (projectile/assist clearance), Deadpool Quick Work (unblockable set up), Magneto Disruptah (projectile/assist clearance),Felicia Rolling Buckler (unblockable set up, high priority against other attacks once active),She Hulk Torpedo (unblockable set up)

General assist strategy is to have an assist that locks people down or keeps them down to set up high low mix ups and air M box jumps (aka air dash M cross up). The reason why Doom is more reliant on an assist to lock people down even though he can move around and fly like Mags and Storm is that he doesn’t have a dash that cancels with normals. Whenever you dash with Dr.Doom you get the ability to cancel it into a jump instead. This is technically a nerf since it makes your wave dash reliant on forcing you to jump first. Making you susceptible to air throws even though you’re basically on the ground.

To offset this though once you get an assist that locks down once you get in you can create really long block strings with very minimal gaps since Doom has the ability to cancel his normals into dashes. This means you can lock someone down with say Ammy’s cold star and go for a mix up. If somehow you don’t land anything they still can’t push guard you because of the assist. Once the assist is gone you can start throwing out c.L’s and follow them up with c.H which does a lot of block stun and can be OS’d by doing c.L~c.H so it comes out on a hit or block but not on whiff. If the opponent push guards the c.H you can confirm with the plink that they blocked and advance guarded and then just continue dashing through the advance guard with jump cancelling your dash into an ADDF once or twice to stay right in their face. By that time Ammy Cold Star should be available to lock them down again and if they advance guard too much they push themselves into the corner and lose.

Doom on point isn’t very reliant on DHC synergy because all he wants to do is have his assists plus his normal dash cancels through advance guards help him push people towards the corner. If they’re close enough to the corner Doom has TOD’s that can do up to 1.15 to 1.2 million damage without DHC glitch. 1.15. to 1.2 is easier to achieve with an assist but you can still get 1.05 to 1.1 easy without assist once you build the 2 plus meters at the end of the combo.

Doom also goes well on point with any assist that helps clear up point or assist based projectiles or attacks.

  1. How good the character is as an anchor.

Thx in advance.

2

Zero’s Assists

α - Ryuenjin assist is good for preemptive anti airs and specialized combos that require extra height (Tron boulder into C beacon for example.) It has a respectable hit box and plenty of active frames. It’s unique to many assists in the game because it is an invincible cross over counter, which helps other teammates tag out safely when under pressure they can’t handle. Many characters also have ways of comboing off a successful Ryuenjin assist hit. During Sougenmu, the number of active frames increase, making it an even stronger anti air. And because the shadow can keep attacking for a short while after Zero is hit, the assist can sometimes protect itself if it is beaten.

β - Hadangeki assist is a generic projectile assist that leaves the opponent standing on hit. It doesn’t have anything extraordinary about it until you power up Zero with Sougenmu. Then the assist becomes much stronger and more versatile. It adds a lot to any zoning team, or to characters that need cover to safely approach an opponent. Its use in combos is limited, because the hitstun is nothing too significant.

γ - Shippuga assist is a simple pinning/combo extender assist. There’s enough hitstun on this move to completely knockdown on hit, and can be used to cover up gaps between blockstrings to maintain pressure. During Sougenmu, the assist only becomes more potent, pinning longer, extending combos further, and closing bigger gaps. Because of Sougenmu, even if the opponent hits Zero out of the assist during the active frames, the shadow may still hit the opponent out of the punish.

Assists for Zero

Dante-α - Jam Session is one of the most versatile assists in the game, and Zero is able to take full advantage of the assist and Dante himself in several different ways.
[LIST]
[]Jam Session has many active frames and hits 10 times, making a perfect pinning/lockdown assist, giving Zero enough time to set up a 50/50 mixup.
[]Is perfect for cross up tricks using Zero’s command dash while calling the assist.
[]One of the best combo extenders for Zero, giving Zero the ability to combo after air throws, full combos, and his even his Ryuenjin uppercut.
[]Keeps opponents out of super jump height, and can be transitioned into a full combo on hit at any height
[]Sougenmu DHC to Devil Trigger gives Zero a quick, easy, and safe way to tag out with no risks.
[]Dante is a strong TAC partner, able to build plenty of meter off of [S]Zero’s uncounterable TAC.[/S] No longer Uncounterable in UMvC3
[*][S]Dante is Zero’s best DHC option. Rekkoha DHC to Devil Trigger will almost always ensure the death of a character.[/S] No longer true for UMvC3
[/LIST]
Akuma-β - Tatsu assist can serve many of the same functions Dante-α can. Because it only hits 3 times, the damage scaling is mostly unaffected. It’s one of the best assists to cross up with using Zero’s command dash, and it can extend combos significantly the same way Dante’s assist can.

Amaterasu-β - Cold Star is one of the longest active assists in the game, and is perfect for pinning down an opponent and mixing them up. Like the previous two assists, Cold Star can be used for cross ups and combo extensions almost exactly the same way.

Sentinel-α - Sentinel Force is another versatile assist. Its main use to Zero is to create a safe opportunity to approach the opponent and start an offense. When the opponent is “caught in the drones,” they are susceptible to many of Zero’s mixups, be it high/low or left/right. The Drones also boost Zero’s zoning game. Filling the ground with drones, hadangekis and charge shots adds up to a lot of chip damage. The Drones can be used in clever ways to extend combos as well. The Drones also provide one unique function to Zero: setups. Through the use of option selects and the Sentinel Force assist, Zero can create situations where the opponent has no option other than blocking during ground recovery or as an incoming character. The drones shoot Zero’s okizeme abilities through the roof.

Doctor Doom-α - Plasma Beam is an all around good assist that’s very helpful to Zero. Useful for cross ups, combo extensions, and zoning. It can make Zero just as annoying as he is up close at full screen, and gives him an fast an easy way to transition from full screen zoning to up close rushdown. Doctor Doom is also one of the few characters with a vertical hyper combo, making it perfect to DHC after Rekkoha, and vice versa.

(Useless in UMvC3) Tron-β - Useful for many characters, Zero is also great at utilizing Tron assist. He can quickly combo after a successful hit without much damage scaling, and can be used for many other functions such as cross up tricks and combo extensions.

Hsien-Ko-α - When Hsien-Ko has the Gold Armor active, she becomes what could be the best assist in the game. Zero is very good at using this assist for pinning and rushdown tricks, while also serving as a strong defensive assist. Zero becomes almost untouchable with Gold Senpu Bu assist.

As an anchor

Zero, simply put, is not the strongest anchor in the game. Many of his mixups, high damage combos, and air throw combos rely on assists. However, with the help of Level 3 X-Factor, he has a few tricks up his sleeve.
[LIST]
[]Comboing off a cross up Raikousen solo becomes much easier with the speed buff of Level 3 X-Factor.
[]The speed boosts make his command dash mixups even harder to see.
[]The Hyper Zero Blaster charges much faster, allowing for combos and loops not possible before, and gives him more access to his best poking projectile.
[]X-Factor Canceling an OTG dive lets Zero combo after it by himself, without an assist.
[*]Repeated Hadangekis become very difficult to deal with. With Sougenmu, it becomes a full screen blockstring that can chip opponents to death.
[/LIST]
The main issue with having Zero as an anchor is dealing with players content on running away from Zero until X-Factor has run out. At that point, Zero’s comeback factor is basically reduced to none. Zero normally relies on assists to catch an opponent and lock them down. Without an assist, this can be very difficult against defensive players.

Yeah, tell me if that’s suitable. If you need any more details I can write more.

3

Thanks a lot. A quick question about the assists though. His assists power up if you go into sogenmu. Do you feel the powering up of his assists makes it worth it possibly play him on point and charge them up to make use for another character or is it not worth it? Are they solid enough as in to not have to worry about it?

I remember someone in the tier thread being adamant about how Zero is strong with XF3 and sogenmu but I also thought in general it was still easy to run away from without an assist. I personally think it is assists that make Zero his scariest as well.

4

It depends on the team really. Some characters can use his assists better than others. And honestly it’s not a strategy that’s been used enough for people to know about. Most people play Zero on point or at least second. I know that Sentinel greatly benefits from a powered up Zero Hadangeki assist. You can beam, call Zero, fly cancel, and fly forward and get a full combo. I also remember some Taskmaster player who used a powered up Hadangeki to increase his zoning/chipping. Taking 6 arrows + 2 hadangeki’s is a lot of chip.

And for Zero to work as an anchor, he needs both X-Factor and Sougenmu, which is not always available. Take a character like Wesker who can do fine with one or the other, or some cases neither. Now that’s an anchor.

5

Here’s my opinion on powering up Zero’s assists. He has a couple ways to tag out safely (super canceling out of projectiles and hard tagging behind them, and his uncounterable TAC), so if you want to get a doubled Zero assist it’s certainly feasible. He’s strong enough on point that even without assists specifically geared to him that you should be able to find an opportunity to switch him out. Nobody’s really considered playing Zero specifically for his powered up assist, but I’ve dabbled a little in it and find it to be pretty effective. He’s no gold armor Hsien-Ko, but each of his powered up assists are almost as good as the popular assists (Drones/ColdStar/ect.), and he’s arguably better on point than those characters.

Recently I’ve been getting Zero powered up early to bolster X-23 and letting her ride her course (neither Dante nor Zero need X23’s assist that bad, but she sure does need them) and my team has been more successful. It’s obviously still not that great of a team composition, but doubled Zero fills the gap in what would otherwise be a “two point characters and an assist” team.