Thanks guys, I’d run Hawkeye as my anchor for Nova/Vergil, but of course my Hawkeye is ass and I’m trying to focus on getting better with what few characters I do know how to play, except for Ammy, I picked her up just for a lockdown assist for Nova.
arent horizontal assists neutral game assists?
Yes, and lockdown isnt neutral, but I arranged it that way based on Nova’s needs since horizontal coverage is so big with him and there are so many different options I felt it warranted its own section, whereas Ammy was the only one used solely for lockdown which is why I grouped her together with purely neutral assists. Honesly grouping Ammy as neutral bothers me much more than grouping all horizontal assists separate from other neutral assists. -_-;
Just a few changes I’d make:
First, list the optimal assists, put Plasma Beam next to Doom and Weasel Shot next to Dante, etc.
[quote=“Ewig, post:540, topic:156533”]
Arguable, but I think this is a pro. If it was a true blockstring you wouldn’t get the same number of mixups due to autoguard. This is also why daggers not being a true blockstring is good.
Might want to put “half the cast can crouch under it and some characters can straight up walk/dash under it” under cons.
Add to pros: safe DHC on block.
Both true.
I think general opinion towards this is changing now that people have optimal XF3 combos figured out for Dante. As long as you get that one touch he can be really effective.
Add to pros: safe DHC to install super.
lol well said. I’d add that Nova’s assist provides Vergil with some very cheap unblockable setups.
Yeah, but it seems like they’re kind of impractical at this juncture. Also I think his power as an anchor is debatable.
Add to pros: TAC infinites
Why is he on this list? I don’t see nearly enough synergy between either character.
Yeah I’d just change neutral to “miscellaneous” or “lockdown”
Frank needs to be on this list. MODOK is a debatable addition. Rocket Raccoon also deserves mentioning but I can’t say much aside from Spitfire being really good for Nova.
MODOK and RR are worthy additions
They’re like lesser versions of Doom
MODOK
-TAC infinites
-OK DHC, Head Charge could be safe by moving away. (Never played MODOK though). Killer Illumination is always a good counter DHC
-air throw raw tag combo
-poor damage both with beam scaling and poor DHC damage
RR
-Excellent DHC. Rock n Roll does a lot of damage for DHC
-Spitfire or Pendulum are both good for Nova
-Unblockable setups for Nova
-No TACs
-Low health
Ewig: its because of the type of controller, won’t work. My old config was tailor made for task, but the way I improved my nova to the point I could dedicate to him was to change my L+H button to an L for trijumps. And of the 3 task super directions, L+H is the one I can’t do manually. Its all good tho, I’ve come to grips with it (pun intended after I realized it was one)
Dominous: I chose hawk for the assist. Then went doom for the raw tag. Now back on hawk realizing my normal bnb only does 100k less than the doom tag. Moral is: play the assist you like, you might find you really like hawk and have some skills with em after some practice. Worst case, it never happens, switch to doom lol
Those edits for the list are pretty much exactly what I was gonna say, so yeah, use those.
However, for Modok’s addition, his DHC damage isn’t actually that bad. You can DHC into Beam, which by itself is crap, then cr.M+Call Centurion Psionic Blaster L, fH, DP+L fH Psionic Blaster H into super, at least, I’m not very proficient at Modok combos. And there’s more when certain second assists are available (missiles, vajra, that kinda thing), and then the damage gets really nice.
Yeah, I realized as soon as I read Xr0s-up’s post that Id forgotten about RR, couldnt think of his pros and cons to add them at the time though, still really cant to be honest, so Ill just copy/past his suggestions, if he doesnt mind.
Other characters I realized I was missing were Modok, and Shuma, but again woefully ignorant on them altogether.
The reason I didnt add Frank was mostly twofold, he was already covered as a shell on the OP, and I didnt think he was that important as either dhc, not for damage anyways, and his assist didnt feel as relevant as the beams/projectiles or the other neutral assists, If you guys really feel he should be added Ill put him up though
I actually thought of making the neutral section miscellaneous too, but since I was mostly thinking of new users who came around looking for a third character to complement their shells I felt miscellaneous would be too ambiguous, and if I named it lockdown then it woudl be strider who’d be out of place. -_-; Lockdown is one of the main things nova needs though, so I guess Ill rename it to lockdown though. Il get started on them edits now, thanks guys.
ps. Oh and Zero, I actually wasnt gonna add him at first, since he really has next to no synergy whatsoever with Nova, decided to include him solely on the merit of his LL dhc as it does effectively allow Nova to kill off any hit, while I consider him far from optimal as a Nova partner that section was focused on the best kill dhcs and he does provide that, while being, well Zero, so I figured if someone was just looking for a character to crank up Nova’s damage it was worth mentioning him as an option.
Edit: Done with the first wave of edits 
ps2. Sorry to hear @ThisGuileKillYa but at least youre comfortable with it I guess, took me a while to find a button configuration I was comfortable with myself, still not sure its the best even.
ps3. @DukeofFortuneMan Love the Dormy pic ^^
What do you guys think of Nova/Trish/Strider? Trish offers him a kill dhc and a horizontal assist, admittedly subpar, but Strider is there to help with neutral , plus theres also tac infinite with Trish, and Strider anchor which is always good.
Mostly Im iffy about the Trish/Strider pairing, Trish lacks a good otg to capitalize off vajra hard knockdown, best she could do is air super, or air super xfactor, and Strider likes that xfactor better.
I suppose Strider can help with Trish’s zoning, but her damage output is on the low side without assists to help her extend her combos so while the team might be pretty good for Nova Im worried about how well the team can stand up on its own when he dies.
Ewig: yeah, I basically traded taskmaster for Nova’s and Mag’s plinked tri-jumps. I love Tasky, but def feel like I negotiated a coup on that one lol
Are you just a big Trish fan? Seems like this could work if you really want to play Trish. But on a theoretical level, seems not quite optimal. Just depends what your goal is.
Edit: that said, maybe some kind of round harvest unblockables idea could work? But in that case the anchor would have to be the tag-in character (since nova is the assist), and strider’d likely suck for that. maybe something like nova trish task or mag or someone with a quick nice ranged low to go w/ the nova overhead. Could be sweet if it works. I’ve played a bunch of trish doom wesker stuff, never thought to try it with an overhead assist lol
Maybe Nova/Trish/Ammy, Trish/Ammy is surprisingly solid. Scythe, tag Nova, get close, call Ammy, free mixups. And Scythe resets into a free Ammy combo for the kill.
Sounds good in theory. I bet you can make it work with Strider too, but Ammy sounds built for it.
You go to set up a mixup, but why not just an unblockable? Taskmaster gives nova an ideal assist, and has a perfect cM to nova assist with.
I’m tellin’ you guys. Nova/Trish/Doom is the truth. All the infinites, all the unblockable setups, all the not letting your opponent play.
Yeah, Nova/Trish/Ammy has it too. Nova/Trish is sick, I think. Just needs the right anchor. Strider is amazing, but probably fits better with another Nova pairing. Task, Doom, or Ammy are all pretty great in that spot, though. Probably more, but I can’t think of them. Maybe Shuma.
Hahah, didnt really think of myself as a big Trish fan really, but yeah, I like her, and I really liked the original DMC trilogy, have been meaning to find her a place on one of my teams since vanilla, but never really felt quite comfortable with the mobility/combos, and she is not the kind of character you can just slap onto any team.
Marvelo really got me interested in trying out the Nova/Strider shell recently though, and while looking at the options for a middle character Trish was the only one that had both an horizontal assist and a dhc that can get the kill on most of the cast. As for the unblockable setups, I think vajra hits high too, so RH>raw tag>vajra+slide should work, I think anyways.
Despite that the fact remains that the team would be missing raw tags from Nova throws, Trish would be missing an otg assist for her combo extensions and low voltage seems like ok at best. I remember someone on the early pages said LV was even better than tasky’s arrows, but I really dont see that to be honest.
But speaking of tasky, yeah, I like him too and all, but Id say you traded up with Nova and Mags.
Edit:And I only just realized I missed all the other replies when I posted cause I didnt notice we moved on to the next page already, duh. ><
Im actually a little surprise at all the different opinions on Nova/Trish, kinda sad every single one was with someone other than Strider. --; I guess Ill go back to the drawing board, Im really liking Nova/Strider. then again I was also liking Nova/Trish before that, not perfect but still nice, hmm decision, decisions.
Nova morridoom. Discuss.
Nova wants beam, Morigan wants missiles, soul fist assist doesnt hold down nearly enough, dhc is not that strong, and while you can arguably juggle with soul fists after dhcing into astral vision to continue applying pressure and missiles can help extend Nova’s combos, youll still be missing a good anchor and Nova’s assist doesnt really do much for Morrigan to keep the opponent away or get them off her
I think it’d be really cool to try if people committed to a lamer Nova focusing on space control/building meter via dark harmonizer. Lockdown + forcing standing with astral vision + centurion assist would be interesting too. I don’t see somebody taking that approach though.
I agree that lame Nova is pretty good, and in many matchups it’s a necessary approach. It’s just way too boring to build a whole team around. And even then there are characters who run away and spam dark harmonizer better and more safely than Nova like VJ, Magneto, Trish, Zero, Dante, etc.