Are there any other characters besides Doom, Dante, and Vergil that fit the Nova/X/Strider shell well? I figure any character that would go into that slot have to both be able to abuse Vajra as well as provide some kind of horizontal/lockdown coverage for Nova. The only characters I can think of are those three, though, and maybe Super Skrull, but I don’t know too much about him.
I been thinking Nova with Drones and Stryder would be pretty good. Made some combos with them too.
Viper. I agree that Nova/Viper is a potentially great shell if only because Nova’s air grabs turn into TOD’s by hard tagging in Viper, so throw in one of their best assists and you have a potentially solid team.
There’s probably a ton of characters that work well with Vajra that just haven’t been explored yet. I’m specifically thinking Hawkeye and Chris…
Eh…for that team you will need horizontal coverage as usual. I think Doom, Hawkeye, Taskmaster, Strange, etc would suit Nova/Viper better…however, I dont think Nova and Viper should be on the same team…it seems redundant. I think it should be one of the other and if someone absolutely HAS to have them, It should be Viper/Nova since Viper could abuse M Rush and the DHC is better
Will update and reply to some stuff after Christmas, Happy Holidays 
I am talking about top tier nova teams not top tier nova shells.
Magneto is the one of the best characters in the game. Having him on your team already makes your team better than most of the teams you can make.
My criteria for the best team for a character:
1.) Point character has TWO assists that are useful in neutral (not just one for neutral and one mainly for combo extensions)
2.) Character in first two spots are top tier point characters.
3.) Characters in the last two spots have to be a good enough duo to make a comeback if point character dies.
4.) Point character has the ability to ToD off of any hit
5.) Second character has the ability to ToD off of any hit
6.) A decent anchor in 3rd position
7.) Second character has a safe way to DHC in
8.) Second character is likely to survive incoming mix up
The only teams that fulfill these criteria are
Nova/Doom/X
Nova/Magneto/X
Nova/Dante/X
Nova/Spencer/X and Nova/Vergil/X teams are great in that it gives you easy ToD off of any stray hit and also to the fact that Spencer and Vergil are really good point characters. However, both the teams have some problems.
Slant shot and rapid slash don’t really help Nova that much in neutral and are mainly used for combo extensions and incoming mix-ups. Spencer has no way to DHC in safely. Spencer’s DHC doesn’t connect off an aerial Super Nova. Vergil has problems surviving incoming mix-ups.
Nova/Frank/X and Nova/Task/X are good teams in that they provide Nova with two good neutral assists but problem is Frank and Taskmaster are just not top tier point characters. Not to sound like a tier whore, but yeah there are much better character that you can put in the second position than those two.
Nova/Dorm/X and Nova/Skrull/X are good teams in that they both have two good point characters however both Dorm’s and Skrull’s assist are lacking in neutral. Also Dorm and Skrull have good DHC’s but not on the DHC glitch level like Spencer and Vergil. This is the main reason why they are not on the same level as Nova/Spencer/X and Nova/Vergil/X teams.
Oh and when I say X I mean a decent anchor with a good assist. (Strider, Ammy, Doom, Sentinel, Taskmaster, Strange, Iron man, etc.) (which one depends on the synergy with your first two characters and who you feel most comfortable with playing as anchor)
Not to be a jerk or anything, but that makes no sense lol. Well everything makes sense but when it comes to Nova/Magneto it’s one or the other…you wouldn’t put them both together. As characters on paper, they are great…together, you’re wasting a slot. Just because Magneto is good doesn’t make any team with Magneto good. Nova to Magneto is a bad DHC so there goes Nova’s ability to ToD off any hit. Magneto’s disrupter is too fast for Nova to make any use of it for entry. I would quicker say Nova/Dorm/x Nova/Doom/x Nova/Strange/x and Nova/Dante/x are tier 1 than Nova/Magneto. Like Marvelo said, the two have no synergy.
This are good criterion to be keeping in mind and looking for when creating any team, much less a nova team. However, team building isn’t simply a matter of “I fit all my criterion, so I’m good to go;” weights have to be placed higher on certain components rather than others, and in most instances something has to be weakened/traded for others. Not only that, but while synergy is difficult to quanitfy, it’s a necessary component and can easily be lost in the quest for checking off a to-do list.
Nova/Frank is a good example of this for several reasons. For one, their synergy is fantastic. Shopping cart is a quick, long lasting lockdown that helps hit confirm longer reaching pokes, allows a mixup game anywhere on the screen, and helps cover the ground game. Nova has a small handful of leveling techniques, but they’re all extremely effective and match practical. When frank’s on point, Nova is Frank’s best combo extender period. While Frank does ample damage as-is, centurion rush ensures he’s squeezing out the most damage on any hitconfirm and allows extensions/setups in situations he normally cannot (like FFC follow up combos for looping it into itself). It’s a hands wash hands kind of synergy that you honestly don’t see too often (Wolverine/Akuma for example was cited as one of the greatest duos in Vanilla, but Wolverine did next to nothing for Akuma. Akuma just amplified Wolverine, and was strong enough to go solo).
I currently run Nova/Frank/Raccoon. My team, by most people’s standards, breaks rules 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. By your standards it also breaks 2 and possibly 3. I’d still take it over most teams that fit them all. Why? because one I level Frank, I typically win, and Nova’s neutral when backed by those assists is strong enough that I usually get first touch, and thus level Frank. Having good frameworks for team templates are important, but you also have to know when to bend or break them. Frameworks bind and constrain (with good intentions), but as a result neglect an aspect of wholism that really comes through in team games. If you overlook that aspect there’s going to be a lot missed.
Beyond that, I wholeheartedly disagree that Frank’s a bad point character. Yes, he needs to be leveled. Yes that makes him risky/a liability. I offer a simple counter; if he started the match in level 4-5, his popularity would absolutely skyrocket. Period. So it’s about putting him on a team where that happens.
I completely agree about the horizontal coverage, but if you are a “goddamn throw surgeon” like yours truly (not my words), it could turn into some really stupid TOD’s on a frequent basis. Also c.M plus Burn Kick assist? Easy unblockable. Anyway it’s just an idea, hardly an optimal team for either character.
These are only ideal standards. I am talking about a fully optimized nova team.
Just because they don’t meet these criteria doesn’t mean the team sucks. It only means that the team is not fully optimized and has flaws to it. Again, it doesn’t mean that the team sucks.
In fact, all the teams that I listed are good nova teams.
I didn’t say your team sucked. Your team is actually pretty good. I would put it up there as one of the best Nova/Frank/X teams possible. However, can you say that your team is the best Nova team that can be possibly made?
Your team has flaws to it. It requires Nova to get a hit. If Nova doesn’t get a hit, then it requires Frank to survive an incoming mix up AND get a hit. If he doesn’t get a hit then it requires you to make a come back with Rocket Raccoon who is only a mediocre anchor.
The team has flaws and is the not perfect ideal nova team. When I talking about the best of the best Nova team, I am talking about one with very minimal flaws.
I might be wrong about Nova/Magneto/X but I still think it is up there as one of the best.
If Frank had no level gimmicks and started straight at level 4-5 he would be a completely broken character, probably top 3. Honestly I prefer him this way. He’s still very much playable and this way he’s not played 7 matches out of 10 like vergil is.
Your 8 criteria are pretty good, but you’re failing to note a few things about Nova.
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A full optimized Nova team needs to either have Spencer for rawtag setups or a character that can OTG unscaled after airthrows. Both of these allow him to kill very easily off of throws. Nova is the throw king. Being able to kill off of them is borderline broken. Even Moonz’s team would be more optimized if he dropped Taskmaster for Doom. Magneto provides neither of these. You gotta look at what exactly Nova needs during his neutral.
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Nova benefits a lot from projectile assists. Nova can confirm very easily off of his Cent Rushes… because of that he needs a proper assist that allows him to confirm off that and enables him to establish mixup. Disruptor doesn’t let you confirm off a cent rush and it doesn’t pin them long enough to establish a safe mixup like Greyhound does. Taskmaster arrows, Bolts, Drones, Vajra, Weasel Shot, and Plasma Beam are essentially his best assists IMO.
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Proper DHC’s. Nova can’t really confirm properly with Magneto’s hypers unless you manage to wallbounce into Nova Force and DHC into Shockwave. You can’t really do that with every assist and it will get them out the corner for the incoming. Which isn’t that great.
That being said, Nova/Magneto/Sentinel can probably work as a fine team, but it wouldn’t be GREAT or even optimized. Magneto is slightly better than Nova for different reasons IMO, but him and Nova probably shouldn’t be in the same team together if you’re going for fully optimized. Your 8 criteria are pretty good indicators for a great team however! It’s kinda how I decided on my team. Nova/Dante/Strider. Not only does it give Nova everything he needs, but you get a good anchor, TOD’s, double jumps during incoming, and all the assists Nova needs. Also, Dante/Strider are bffls. Nova/Doom/Ammy IMO is the strongest possible Nova team however IMO.
Hi, i dont log in on the forums much, but i would like to contribute to the Nova/Mags/xx shell.
Ive been fiddling with nova/mags/doom(missiles) for quite some time bc ive been desperately trying to find synergy with these three. Although i do agree that disruptor is too quick for nova, i can still call it and inch my way in behind it. Because it’s so fast, using disruptor while you’re box dashing over the opponent can make the beam crossup or not, which i cant even tell myself most of the time, if timed correctly. I cant however, use it to make my moves safe, for instance centurion rush L, human rocket punch etc. Taskmaster horizontal arrows are perfect for that however.
As far as DHC from nova to magneto, if i have doom available, my bnb would be something like,
call disruptor, air dash j.H, MHS, j. MMH, fly, LMHS, call doom missiles, f.H, S, j.MMH, human rocket punch M
what will happen is the doom missiles hit midair, just long enough for me to connect the human rocket pocket M. this will wallbounce the opponent, right out of the corner, next to nova. Then cancel into Super Nova. Since this combo ALWAYS carries to the corner, DHC into Magnetic shockwave will carry the opponent all the way across the opposite end of the screen for maximum hits.
This does about 907,900 for me. And builds a bar and a half. (850,000ish if starting with cr. L)
If im forced do the Supernova midair while the opponent is still cornered, i usually dhc early for the hard knockdown for them to fall right into tempest. but the damage varies if not timed properly. Still, it doesnt feel like im getting the most out of the DHC.
If it’s Doom after Nova, instead of the human rocket punch M, you can go right into S to bring them back to the ground (for the second time) and centurion L, Super Nova, Sphere flame.
My only concern with this team is, of course, disruptor being too fast, and not having a horizontal assist for Nova if i lose magneto. For some reason i still dont feel i can be reckless with only hidden missiles.
On the plus side, Magneto+attraction/repulsion w/centurian rush assist on incoming characters can be dirty if done right.
I was having a chat with Marvelo a day or two ago and he was remarking on how having good assists to help leverage using Centurion rushes as pokes from 3/4ths was a big thing about being able to get better utility out of Nova. I agree with him that it’s a great tool to have, but seeing him say that made me realize something that I was originally going to just respond with to him. Instead, I think it’s better to remind everybody of this when discussing Nova teams: Nova is a versatile, many-tooled character and as such making a team that fully utilizes every aspect of the character is very, very difficult.
I for example always find myself watching even the more talented Novas out there and thinking to myself “Where’s the Grav H’s for space control?”. Moons is one of the few Novas you see on stream who really does much with Red Health Grav pulses L/M (something I’m personally trying -very- hard to incorporate given that a lot of Nova’s less-than-stellar matchups benefit a ton from it). Some Novas can ADD L alright, others do it so well I think to myself “I see that coming/know what to expect and don’t think I’d have blocked it”. His mobility/plink dashing are absurdly good (And if you haven’t started practicing/learning how to move with Nova, DO IT NOW. I started practicing plink dashing a week and a half ago and feel waaaaaaaaaay behind), He can play 3/4ths to full screen footsies with the right spacing or assists, a well placed Cent H can blow up a lot of stuff, javelin with pulses can make a strong runaway, good old Speed tackle…Nova may not be busted, but he’s got a decent tool for just about everything. As such while many players are successful with him, it’s very hard to squeeze everything out of the character. Likewise, it’s hard to pair him with teammates that can let him do everything he wants (especially factoring in he’s a bit picky on DHCs for fully mashed nova forces).
Long and short of it, while I think people know a lot of the good things Nova wants, “optimal” Nova team may take some time before it’s found. Especially given that something can look great on paper and not be effective in practice. Remember, your team can work great together but that doesn’t matter if it can’t beat your opponent’s team (Yay Vergil! -_-).
I know you weren’t saying any of the team sucks, you were just trying to put down framework for the best Nova can be. I like the notion, but I think it may be a bit more difficult than that list. And you’re absolutely right about the flaws of my team, you pointed out all the big ones. I just used it as an example of something that can be effective even if it’s breaking the mold a bit. Not to mention, when it’s all said and done it’s a Frank team, not a Nova team. BUT, even though it’s a Frank team I made sure to give Nova what he needed to get the job done as much as possible.
In slight defense of the whole Nova/Magneto thing, the team would be good if it was was Magneto/Nova/Sentinel. Magneto could OD with M rush and drones as an assist and if he dies, Nova drones is OK. I still stand by my statement that they shouldn’t be together though.
But anyway, I honestly don’t think I can (or want to) see myself playing anything other than Nova/Task/Spencer though lmao. I just love the combination…idk…just felt like sharing that XD
Yeah, I mentioned that that’s how he’d probably DHC. I think it would be a decent team, but it wouldn’t be an optimized team. IMO. Which is what the argument essentially is.
I agree. Grav Pulse H is pretty amazing and should be used during his neutral game especially since if they run into it, you can confirm from it pretty easily.
As far as his Cent Rushes are concerned, I disagree with you. You will NOT get the most mileage out of Nova if you can’t take advantage out of Cent Rushes. It’s what lets him stay in. Marvel is a game about forcing your opponent to block so they get tagged by your assists, therefore letting you mixup your opponent. Cent Rushes FORCE your opponent to block. It’s exactly why I don’t think missiles are that great unless you already have something like Taskmaster arrows. Cent Rush M is a flying divekick that’s essentially safe and +6 from Max Range…Cent Rush L is a slide that has massive range and catches people up-backing + giving you another mixup. Not having assists that let you take advantage of this means that you’re canceling all your block strings into cr.H, which if pushblocked properly is unsafe. Sure you can cancel that into flight, but even then that puts you on the defensive and if you’re fighting characters like Vergil who can punish it, it’s not the best option. Cent Rushes force your opponent to block and let you establish mixup much easier when used properly. It FORCES you in.
Is that completely necessary for Nova? Not exactly. You can play him without it. But is it completely optimized? Yes, and you’ll be doing yourself a disservice with the character if you’re not using them.
You mention using his other tools as well like having access to javelin+pulses for runaway, speed tackle, cent rush H etc. Nova has assists that compliment all of those. Taskmaster arrows, Plasma Beam, Bolts, Vajra, etc all compliment those as welll. Well, not Cent Rush H. Only drones, cold star, and rapid slash let you take advantage of that I think. Then again it’s not really necessary to his overall gameplay since you can just cancel that into Human Rocket to make it safe.
Also, I don’t think Vergil is THAT bad once you learn the matchup properly. Sure, I still think he has the advantage especially if he’s using Strider, but you can fight him if you abuse Cent Rushes and punish his blockstrings by pushblocking his st.M. Once you pushblock his st.M, most Vergil’s cancel this into st.H which in turn makes him whiff st.H and gives you free punish with your cr.M. Yay for Slides. That shits on Vergil pretty bad. He still has the advantage (6-4 imo), but you just gotta block and whiff punish him. Nova can fight everyone which is what makes him so great.
how do you guys feel about Nova/Task/Doom or Nova/Doom/Task?
Also, could Nova TOD without having spencer or Vergil in the team? To be more specific, Kill a character on first touch at the beginning of the match, outside of TAC and xfactor.
Go with Nova/Task/Doom with horizontal arrows and plasma beam. From the beginning of the match, you won’t TOD everyone but from the beginning it is possible to get a TOD on the 900k characters. With 3, you can kill the those in the 1.05 range I believe. But yeah this team is good…Dragongod from NYC rocks it.
Cent rushes with an assist fulfill the purpose of getting in and applying pressure. That’s a key element of Nova’s game, definitely. That said, one problem is the startup: at 20+ frames before the active they can be reacted to and attempted to dodge (not free, but doable). There’s other methods of letting an assist cover you to apply pressure (box jump H isn’t nearly as good for sure, but dash + slide + assist? faster than Cents, and the dash keeps its momentum into the c M). I’d say pressure is definitely a part of Nova’s game and that Cent’s + assists are the best way to apply it. The only way? No. A big detriment if you can’t do it? Yes.
As for Vergil, everything changes when you play a patient one that is reactive to what you’re doing instead of proactive. Pretty much everything Nova does can be punished out of startup or reacted to to punish if they’re focusing on looking for it, and plenty of assists don’t cut it for coverage (especially since Vergil cuts projectiles). If he’s aggressive and you can push to punish then yeah manageable. But if he’s forcing you to make the first move? Oh boy do you need patience. Lots of it.
I’m a fan of resets so I can’t help you on the TOD’s, but I think having Task/Doom is one of the few times it’s okay to have Hidden Missiles backing Nova, as long as you’re using the horizontal arrows. Marv may back me up on this.