Taskmaster Exodus?/Where he stands right now

Classic Fighting Games Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3
1

Hey, I’m not sure if everyone’s been seeing what I have. I may be way off base, but I don’t think I am. At least in the US, Taskmaster’s kinda falling out of favor. Rayzyrbyrn dropped him, Moonz dropped him (now there’s a big one, I love MODOK, but C’mon), and a lot of commentators are saying that he just doesn’t have what it takes to compete. The next Wesker, who never got his time in the spotlight, unlike his sunglass-sporting counterpart.

I don’t think that’s true at all, by the way. He has a lot of strong matchups, and even the bad matchups are extremely manageable with the right assists, which should be on a decent Taskmaster team anyway (vertical coverage, stuff to make shield skills safe/pressurey, so on). He’s also my current favorite character, as a fictional Marvel character and as a fighting game character, so I’m a bit biased.

I still see him on PSN a ton, but only because he, like Wesker, has a few tools that are pretty safe-ish in lag (jumpback M arrows), and large normals to throw out willy-nilly, but not enough people I run into really appreciate his amazing space control, pressure, and ways to open someone up. He is the answer to random play. But it seems like the people who are jumping onto the Tasky train, as far as random online people, are playing him for the simple stuff, not the fun, interesting stuff he’s capable of.

As Tasky players, where do you all think he stands, with whatever assists he wants, by himself, whatever? Is he underrated, overrated, top 10, top 15, top 20, viable at all? I want to see what other people think, maybe spark some discussion. Not just a tier discussion, per say, but talking about how the general community is/might be changing its views towards Tasky, and maybe what that means for us.

2

Well… In my opinion taskmaster is percieved as a simple character, with bad match ups, no mix ups and not random enough to be able to carry the weight of a team as an anchor.

For me thats great because people dont expect him to have all this solid pressure options.

I dont want him to become the next wesker.

2 days ago i saw marlin pie use him but i saw nothing swaggy enough to justify a sudden change of heart in the community.

This EVO my mission as a point Taskmaster user is to represent him and to finally let people know that he exists and that if you work hard towards developing him, he can be effective.

3

My point echoes Hecrob’s. The reason Task is falling off in popularity is because they’re all using him primarily as an assist and other assists are more dominating. Nobody is developing a whole team around point Task, where he really shines. Task with tatsu to keep his shield skills safe is ridiculous, and a ToD character like Spencer second like on my team means every touch or throw converts to death pretty much. Task is super oppressive when he can throw out shield skills willy nilly and equally convert if it option selects to a throw. I’m having a lot of success with my team because it is built specifically to abuse shield skills and swing mixups and throw mixups. Nobody really understands how scary a reckless Task can be lol… I don’t mind being underestimated. I dominate every character at the start of the round pretty much and can keep the momentum on them easily. Good luck at EVO, go nuts!

4

Hey Riot! We have played on xbox live before, we share the same Task + Tatsu mentallity.
I use Task, Dorm, Akuma. We ran some sets a couple of months ago.

5

I completely agree with you guys. I’m sooo tired of seeing Task anchors or even seeing him second, his best position and optimal position on a team is on point IMO. I think he is a top 20 character, and a top 10-15 point character( not #10 though) .I think with a team built around him, his shield kills pressure can be oppressive. I also feel that players don’t play him to the best of his abilities(I don’t either, yet). To me he is the kind of character that doesn’t overly excel at keepaway/zoning and rushdown so as a player you have to be able to use that as an advantage and go from rushdown to keepaway on the fly to keep our opponent off balanced. I don’t think we’ll see a point Task win a major because players are fousing on the cheap stuff(as the probably should), and if anything we may see a Taskmaster in top 8 but prob just as an assist character. However though, If a player fully utilized his reversal moves, abused shield skills, abuse his swing pressure and tightened up their zoning with Task, with a proper team built around him(IMO assists that can help him zone, get in, and lock down), it is def possible for a Taskmaster to win. We just need someone to take him there :).

6

I think Task is top 12-15. I used him on point basically since week 1 in Vanilla and as of the last 6-7 months been playing him 2nd. His assist is really good and having him second allows me to have a safe DHC option out. I still play him on point though in must-win tourney matches. And honestly, I can’t think of a single bad match-up honestly. My worst matchups as point Spencer are (no order): Joe, Morrigan, X23, Wolverine, C. Viper, & Haggar and I feel Task can fight all those characters no problem. Honestly I feel like his worst matchups would be 4-6 or 4.5-5.5. His only flaw is even in the matchups he wins, they aren’t really dominant. Like you guys say, he doesn’t excel at keepaway/zoning or rushdown but paired with the right assists, you can at least take his ability to another level. And anyone that says he doesn’t have cheap stuff doesn’t abuse his OS enough or his cross up shield skills. That will infuriate any opponent.

7

So, I saw on the SRK page that you were on stream at EVO in pools and lost to FlashMetroid. No foul in that, Modok is terrifying, and that’s I think his best team played by someone really competent. I just haven’t had time to check the pools.

Any other matches of your Task you/a stream managed to record?

8

Task is a top 15 and very solid point character with good matchups across the board. He is very mediocre as an anchor and meh in 2nd spot with slightly above average support capabilities and a decent DHC.

The main reason he isn’t viable imo is that he loses really badly to both Vergil and Morrigan, and the matchups are 8-2 if those 2 are stocked with meter. And in the current metagame that isn’t good enough. Not to mention that the top players that used him like you guys said never used him on point which is his optimal position.

9

The positioning of a character doesnt show how good or bad they are, task has other things that make him where he stands which is mid b teir. He doesnt have the tools to be broken or cheap, which what all the good characters are in this game. But he is fair though, probably the fairest character in the game and thats his weakness(when comparing him to other characters) imo. Until he wins a major or some new ground breaking tech comes out, task wont be up with the S class characters, sad but true

10

Just to chime in I think Taskmaster is in one of the weirdest positions in the current state of the game of any character. What I mean by that is that he’s hands down one of the best point characters in the game, beats or goes even with essentially all of the common top tier points, is easy to use, but isn’t popular. That really doesn’t add up; but I think a lot of it has to do with the majority of Task players using him downright wrong. I mean 90 percent of the Task players I see use him second or anchor–I’m sorry but that’s borderline pointless. If you’re not using him on point you might as well pick someone else. I can’t think of a role that his arrows assists play that another character’s assist doesn’t do just as well or better. Making matters worse, he has no TAC infinite and his DHCs basically suck. Further, he’s way too assist reliant to be used as an anchor. It just doesn’t make sense to run him 2nd or anchor if you’re trying to beat top tier teams/players consistently.

Now if you just like him for some reason but like someone else better for your point and want to keep him-fine–but you can’t then start saying “Task is meh or too fair”. To be honest Task really isn’t fair at all if your name isn’t Morrigan or Vergil (and in the case of the latter he isn’t fair if you’re facing anchor Vergil on incoming with Task and Jam Session). Magneto is, frankly, more fair than Task although he has more tools and better movement and thus when played correctly is the better character but he’s way less derp.

I feel like the reason people think Task is so “fair” is because most people don’t play him point with the right assists (No kidding he isn’t beating the top tiers with nothing but the Nova overhead assist or cold star) and because they try to play him like he’s Magneto or something. Waiting for an opponent to block an assist and then going in and trying some mix ups isn’t the way to play this character. You know who Task is actually similar to in terms of the mindset you should have a lot of the time? Wolverine. What I mean by that is that at the start of every match you should be going in like a full retard and not letting up. Another thing he has going for him is that like Vergil, Zero, and to a lesser extent Dante, he can mash his way out of a lot of trouble with his normals. That’s a huge deal in this game. Not having to wait it out and think when you are under pressure (lol) really helps out in Marvel.

Task is a full derp character and the reality is that this game is designed so that some characters just play best that way. Task has absurd priority sword normals (some of which are SAFE on block), one of the absolute highest priority normal moves in the entire game (shield skills) that NEGATES projectiles, option selects with a throw that he can combo off of with the right assists, (there goes that picking the right assists thing again) and is safe with the **right assists (**broken record here). Capcom also decided to give him one of the 3 derpiest air throws in the game (along with Nova and Chris). This guy’s air throw range and priority is straight stupid. It’s just like Nova’s in that I’ve thrown (and seen other people) other people in the air when they were no where near me and I’ve seen it pull people out of supers no problem. The only reason it isn’t to the level of Nova’s derp is that he doesn’t get easy full length combos or raw tags from it.

But the main thing is that NO ONE except Vergil is consistently beating out close range derp with this guy. Mashing your normals and SS with an assist is going to blow up whatever buttons your opponent presses as long as it isn’t Vergil. You know what I take that back–Jill can stop them-but yeah you aren’t exactly going to run into many Jills. When you start smothering your opponent with derp normals, option select throws into full combos, projectile negating normals, fuzzies and overheads, you really screw with their mind and they can’t get you off. Even if they do you can pester them with arrows and just move in again. I haven’t even mentioned the cross ups you can do with Spidey Swing to screw with them even more or his unblockables (people need to stop complaining about a lack of mixups; that’s why he has unblockables and OS’s with derp normals).

I’m going on too long (lol) but the last, and probably most significant thing about him are his match ups against the top tier points (seeing as he is a point character his strength should mainly be measured by how he matches up against them). This guy is just a beast against the common top tier points. Let’s look at the match ups, starting with the 2 worst.

  1. Morrigan–yeah she owns him I know. But guess what? MorriDoom owns almost everyone and luckily for Task he teams up well with some of the best anti MorriDoom characters (Dante and to a lesser extent Strange). Counter pick, sometimes that’s what it takes.

  2. Zero–The second “worst” of his top tier match ups. I put worst in quotes because quite frankly, it’s about an even match up. Ask people who play other point characters if Zero is an “even” match up. You are one of the only characters that can somewhat control the pace of Zero’s derp/pressure. Shield skills with assist calms him down and makes him have to play more honest. A lot of Zeros don’t know what the hell to do when they have to play honest instead of bustering and raikousining their ass off until they land a combo.

  3. Wolverine–with the proper team/assists and just as important–mentality–you kick his ass. He cannot do a damn thing about shield skills + assists, huge sword normals, and high damage projectiles. Because he’s so fast he might hit you at some point, but because of your huge health he isn’t killing you in one combo without x factor. He has good resets but you can actually shield skills your way out of them if they aren’t meaty and probably get a happy birthday since many of them use assists. Bottom line stay on him like he stays on most of the rest of the cast, and you eat his ass alive. This really throws a lot of Logan players off because it’s a serious role reversal and it really highlights the fact that his defensive options are really quite ass.

  4. Spencer–LOL do whatever you want. Seriously he’s screwed. He loses to you at every range and you take away his best tool. Only thing he has going for him against you is that he won’t die in one combo but really he might since you can shoot ground arrows at him all day before you land a clean hit and he really can’t do a damn thing about it.

  5. Nova-Nova is probably along with Zero in that it’s about even simply because he can somewhat compete with your priority and his rush down is good. But if you are a bit more careful about your pressure than usual he isn’t a bad match up.

  6. Viper–S Skills is a nightmare for her plain and simple.

  7. Dante–basically an even match but if you pressure him he has a hard time getting out. His projectiles are useless against you. In DT though he’s a problem–just kill him before that point.

  8. Magneto–stay on him. If you do he simply cannot get out of your derp pressure. SS blows up tri dash pressure. His movement can be a problem for you.

  9. Doom–I don’t consider him a top tier point in any fashion. But because some people do I’m listing him. All I can say is lol. He’s basically free if you have assists (especially jam session).

  10. Firebrand–tricky but he isn’t killing you in a combo, your neutral beats his, and your normals beat his.

Task’s ability to counter or go even with the common points is a HUGE deal that not enough people are taking into account when using him. Chimera is the only tourney player I’ve ever seen build a team around him and derp it out. More people need to start doing that. By putting Task in the point position with good assists you don’t have to worry about your opponent’s point unless it’s MorriDoom or Vergil (who usually isn’t used as point). That’s awesome.

11

I think all of us are playing Task point on this subforum. Sometimes I forget he can even go in other spots on the team, honestly. Since he has a few less mixups and braindead setups than, say, Zero or Magneto, we need to really abuse the matchup.

His “fairness” comes from not having exceptional skill at opening good defense up, HOWEVER, and this is how I get about 99% of my hits, he beats every button. Ever. I get so many confirms by just cr.M st.H fH into one diagonal arrow cr.L, and when they start respecting that I’m basically guaranteed a throw. Eventually they get wise and pushblock the normal before the swing, and try to punish with a slide or something, problem is if you cancel the fH into charged arrows and land, shield skills + conversion assist beats normals long enough to get to you, and faster normals commonly don’t have the reach, I think Vergil and Felicia st.L are exceptions. I feel that “shield skills assists” on point Task are a good step, but using shield+assist as a way to punish people trying to escape from your own solo strings, instead of just as an initiating tool, is hugely important, and should not be overlooked. He can throw out shield+assist as more than just derp, that should be remembered.

Also, the assists Tasky uses completely changes how he plays matchups. Pardon me if some of this is obvious, preaching to the choir a bit here.

I mean, Jam is obvious for its ability to keep Doom and Firebrand at bay, as well as other characters who can try to go in from above on Tasky, like Trish, seeing as above Task’s head in the air is where he’s least equipped (throw and j.H included, Tasky still doesn’t control the air like he does the ground). Jam is THE assist for that, and takes the spot near the top for Tasky’s assists because it is the only shield skills assist that also provides that level of air coverage. I like a horizontal assist on Task/Dante, though.

Tatsu is also awesome because it eats projectiles and confirms very easily, as well as scales much less than Jam. It’s most likely a bit better for people who want to control the ground backed by beams. Spencer and Nova teams suffer heavily from this assist, as they usually fill their gaps in pressure with beams, meaning they have to play different or get hit, both good for you. Task/Literally anyone who works with Tatsu/Tatsu sounds good.

Disruptor is also a good option against Wesker and Wolvy. Wolvy commonly doesn’t run disruptor, I see him often with plasma, shuma, stuff that’s slower than disruptor and will be occasionally sniped. Always a fun thing. Disruptor/Wolvy also gives Task a quick burst of durabilty he can start from fullscreen. Not a bad way to clear the air and start going in on your terms. I feel Task/Mag needs a shield skills assist to be really something fearsome, though, I feel Task/Mag/Dante, Task/Dante/Mag, Task/Dorm/Mag, and Task/Mag/Akuma all work really well.

There are some others, Dark Hole, Cold Star, but I just wanna say some non-obvious assists now that do have their own niches.

Quick Work: If you press quick work and shield skills at the same time, it is excellent pressure. Not as flashy as Tatsu or Jam, but it doesn’t scale much either. The extension with that assist is easy, and the DHC is damaging, should you need to use it. Confirming with a hit shield+quick work is different, try it in training mode, due to spacing or something, cr.M shield+deadpool doesn’t work, raw shield + deadpool doesn’t work, st.H or cr.H into shield skills+ quick work works. This is because right up close on a grounded opponent, the shield doesn’t juggle them long enough. BUT, in a match, it’ll basically always work, because at least when I confirm from a shield skills and an assist, it’s at the edge of the shield’s range, a counterhit, or against someone slightly airborne. The difference here is that Deadpool low assist gives Taskmaster another possibility of unblockables, especially useful when predicting wakeup rolls.

Frank Cart: Picks up for combos well, extends well, starts up really fast and is easy to protect, and in the corner, shield skills+Frank assist into DP+M is a guaranteed unblockable in the corner. Problem is for Frank’s levelup, Task doesn’t have much, so you’d either need to make the main plan of the team TACs (not completely terrible, Task has decent TAC baits), or you put someone in the middle who can reliably DHC in and level Frank. Task/Trish/Frank, Task/Dante/Frank and Task/Vergil/Frank are all I can think of. Taskmaster has hiw own tech for levelling Frank, which I actually came up with I think (sharp sting immediate vertical arrows DHC partway into whiffed tools super, pickup with camera into assist), but it requires you to have another assist to give Frank two pictures. So, Task/Frank/Dante or Task/Frank/Spencer is pretty much it, the second of which I don’t like too much. I think it could be viable if explored, the team setup is the only problem, but the assist is really, really solid.

Bolts: I am surprised I am like the only Taskmaster/Bolts player I see. There’s a few Task/Dorm/Stranges in Cali, but that team just doesn’t do it for me. But the assist itself, bolts, is stellar. Unlike any other assist, if you can get a fH+assist and one horizontal arrow fullscreen, you se tthe pace of the match for a little while. You get free time to do a vertical arrows, which keeps people still for a charged horizontal arrows, or dashing in, or fH L arrow a few times. You can’t be completely braindead because beam supers, but it’s the best assist I’ve seen for fullscreen pressure on Taskmaster. Also fH+assist into arrow works great midscreen while jumping, may confirm a crossup vertical arrow or just get you close to pressure. Also j.H protects it midscreen quite well, same with diagonal air arrows super to stop people from touching the assist. If you have a quick, close-up shield skills assist, this can fill in all the gaps where you wouldn’t want to use it. Also, having Strange DHC available for Tasky is pretty cool because DHCing from the physical counter into the projectile counter gives you a 2-meter counter everything button, which is cool. counter into Pillar and XFC is fun too. Bolts can work as a less-effective shield skills assist when you need it to, as well. shield skills+bolts, sharp sting, you can pick up on hit by dashing right away and doing another shield skills, still scales, but not as much as jam.

Oh, and because we all agree that Tasky’s best on point in most cases, I’m going to be devil’s advocate and explain why he’s better elsewhere for certain points. Once again, if it’s obvious, my bad.

Deadpool’s a character that actually can totally benefit from Tasky second. Deadpool rocks with Vertical arrows, or horizontal arrows, and can actually rawtag in Taskmaster on many, many occasions to up his damage from scaled confirms. Tasky works well with Deadpool assist close up, and honestly either can work on point to cover more matchups. The best to back them up would definitely Doom on either missiles (Task with horz arrows) or Plasma (Task with vert arrows). I used the pair with bolts for a little while, they’re good.

Vergil can work with Task behind him. Whiteblack tech, since Task arrows push on hit or block, get doublecrossups on incoming and occasionally in neutral. Huoshen tech, rapid slash with Task horz arrows gets meterless conversions. The crossups aren’t as fast as triple arrow or disruptor, but they can be just as sneaky if not moreso. And Task isn’t bad with Rapid Slash either, but I think Vergil with Task arrows is much better. Problem is the anchor needs to help both Vergil and Tasky, thinking Dante for Task pressure/throw confirms, vertical coverage, and high time pickup.

Nova works with Task behind him really very well. Off certain air throws, you can Tag in Task and pick up with the Non-Nova assist. You can also, on Nova/Spencer/Task or Nova/Task/Spencer, crumple them with the restand assist, tag in Task and get monstrous damage. Though Spencer also works with Task arrows, I don’t like it because it means Task doesn’t get good assists, but I realize that’s because I’m a Task man and not a Nova/Spencer man. Still, Nova/Task/good neutral assist for Task can still work excellently. Nova gets amazing use out of Task arrows in that he can both cent rush L or cr.M with arrows and followup into pressure, silimar to shield skills plus assist, but Nova gets instant overheads in addition to followup pressure.

Tasky can still play as a point character when in second position with the right team, but yeah, for the most part point Task is way cooler.

And yet I still can’t think of a good Task team setup to counter Vergil point. TL;DR, sorry for that. Bill started talking Taskmaster, and I got excited and just had to textwall, kappa.

12

To be honest @Bill, the fact that Taskmaster is only ridiculous on point is the exact reason why he is fair lol. In the most respectful way possible, I think you’re too optimistic about it. That’s good though because that’s what helps improve players and what will allow new stuff to be discovered.

I play Taskmaster 2nd on my teams, and to go with what Duke said, Taskmaster’s DHC and assist are ridiculous. Taskmaster assist is definitely a powerful horizontal assist and if I’m right, his DHC is one of the most damaging after a long combo (could be wrong about that though). ON TOP OF THAT, I don’t think any character in the game CAN’T DHC into him…he can super in three directions…that he can choose. The thing about Taskmaster is he becomes less powerful as he moves farther back on a team.

Although I will say, I don’t necessarily disagree with you. Taskmaster has RIDICULOUS normals and tools. AND I definitely agree with the fact that he has the ability to make matches even because of how many tools and possibilities he has. The thing is EXACTLY what you said…the right ASSISTS make him OD.

If you really think about it, damn near any character can fly up 1 or 2 tiers simply with the right assists. Look at Firebrand. Solo he isn’t too much of a threat…poor damage…trouble getting in. Give him a horizontal assist, his neutral becomes stronger. Give him a lockdown assist, he comes near impossible to block. Give him both and he can literally be the reason a whole team dies after the first touch. Put him anywhere that isn’t on point and he loses utility. Other characters that come to mind: Spider-Man, x-23, Dorm.

If you look at characters that straight up all kinds of retarded, they work with a relatively wide selection of characters and are effective in no less than 2 spots. Off the top of my head, Vergil and Zero (a LITTLE more on this in a bit). Vergil can do insane damage on point, is a ridiculous DHC and can clean up with lvl 2 xfactor…and Dark Vergil. Vergil can be seen on damn near any team and be just as useful on everyone.

Zero is undeniably one of the best point characters. Can run clean through teams and there are teams that can work with him 2nd ESPECIALLY if you can DHC into LL. Compared to Firebrand who can also run clean through teams, Zero can do so with just one assist (lock down or horizontal).

What makes those 2 characters BROKEN and Taskmaster, fair? Vergil can set up left right mixups (which I would argue are A LITTLE stronger than hi lo) in like 4 different ways…SOLO. Taskmaster can only consistently do hi lo and his overhead options are pretty limited/arent as strong as his low options…however, his jumping normals are really good elsewhere (balance). Vergil can keep you in block stun AND mix you up while doing it, SOLO. Taskmaster can make you block but then he has to make himself safe and start the offense back up again (balance). Taskmaster can cross you up suuupperr ambiguously but that’s granted he can get in the air against you.

Zero’s mobility is superior and he can cancel pretty much everything into buster and make himself safe. Zero can set up left right AND hi lo. Zero can mix you up on incoming so idiotically, even that player doesn’t even know which side they’re going.

An honorable mention; Spencer. He has hi lo, cross ups, almost all his normal grabs can be followed up solo, he has command grabs, ANDDDDDD his damage is ridiculous. And that’s just talking solo. Adding assists make him another end game character. Put him 2nd and his DHC is comparable to Vergil AND he can be a threat with just 1 assist (possibly only losing out on damage with a 2nd assist).

All in all, what I was getting at with that is Taskmaster is FAIR because he is balanced. The options that make him retarded, have slight downsides/things that balance them out. Even xfactor which is basically suppose to break characters, is relatively fair on Taskmaster.

To kind of start closing this up I’ll just respond to 3 things you said:
-Taskmaster’s throws are ridiculous. Yes. But what makes him FAIR is that 3/4 of his grabs you can do super (not counting back throw because the full super doesnt connect) BUT from 2 of those 3, super is his only option and you can’t combo off of them consistently/for free even with xfactor (solo). In exchange however, you get ridiculous damage for spending a meter.

-What makes Magneto “less fair” than Taskmaster his how he can be utilized in any position on a team (The summarized version. There’s a little more but I’ll just keep it short) Point: relentless rushdown with threats of nearly impossible to see hi lo and viable left right. Second: Disrupter assist, TAC infinites, xfactor boost. Anchor: Ridiculous xf boost, TAC infinites, Disrupter assist). Not to mention the ability to combo off of all grabs solo, an omnidirectional mashable level 3, and he’s one of the most mobile characters.

-People consider Doom top tier not necessarily as a character himself. They consider him top tier because of the level of utility he has. He is hands down S+ tier in utility/what he can provide a team. Assists that have place on any and every team, TAC infinites, and isnt as useless on point (solo) as other characters that provide similar things (Sentinel and Iron Man). He’s a special kind of top tier because what he lacks as a point character, he undeniably makes up for and dominates as a support character.

Summary: I am not disagreeing with you saying Taskmaster is really good. I agree and I also think that his abilities are over looked. However the same way you were highlighting the fact that the right assists make him really good, what I’m highlighting is the fact that Taskmaster IS FAIR because he needs the right assists and the fact that all the things that make him really good have a trade off/are less powerful when he is alone. What makes certain characters broken is the extent of their utility and that there are less trades for/downsides to their powerful options.

13

I just read the last few responses and just a few things I’d like to add/mention

  1. Task is BEST played on point but him 2nd is no slouch either. You gain access to his assists, very good damage on DHCs, and a physical counter DHC
  2. I ran Task/Frank/Spencer the first 6 months or so of Ultimate. It’s okay but as a tournament team it kinda sucks because there aren’t as many opportunities to level up Frank. I think Spencer/Frank/Task is stronger cause it allows for ToD’s and 2-button tech between Frank/Task off grabs. But the Spencer/Frank shell is much stronger with other characters, Dante, Vergil, etc.
  3. Task has mixups, his opponents just underestimate his toolset because they are still getting hit by shield skills.
14

I feel like whats keeping task from being a top teir character is that its hard for him to get TOD combos

15

It’s not though… maybe solo ToD, but put a popular character like Vergil or Spencer or something second and anything is a ToD. That’s why I play my team… Task + Tatsu assist blows people up, any hit can DHC into Spencer for a kill.

16

He isn’t blatantly cheap. People don’t look at him and see the things that make him good off the bat because he is a relatively technical character (AKA you can’t be stupid and play him) so he gets written off. Also it’s because he is typically an assist and most characters need to be on point for them to shine for everything they are. If you play a team like Task, Spencer/Vergil, Assist people will see how ridiculous Task is. I plan on slowly transitioning from my Nova Task Spencer team to Nova Spencer Doom (more so for certain match ups) and playing Task Spencer Doom.

IMO the overall problem is Taskmaster has REALLY GOOD tools…that are really balanced lol. Amazing normals and meter gain…relatively weak combos. Unblockables/Counters…hard follow ups. He just has problems when faced with kind of meta game Marvel has evolved into. Give him an assist to allow him to shut down the retarded neutral game of certain characters and a good DHC and there goes a cheap Taskmaster.

17

Its funny that you use task/spencer/vergil as a example because thats the team i have been using in tourney. I always get the you gotta drop task for hawkeye and go full yipes.

18

My bad what I meant was Taskmaster first, Spencer OR Vergil 2nd, and an assist last. I personally don’t like that for a point Task team just because the horizontal assist is on point. Spencer Vergil Task on the other hand is a better look and from there I can see why people would say drop Task but IMO, people overlook Task WAYYYY too much just because he isn’t Vergil stupid, Doom simple, or Zero cheap.

19

Task doesn’t really have damage output issues really and doesn’t need Vergil/Spencer to ToD off most hits. The majority of point Task teams will do 1 mil off two bars off a clean grounded confirm, and will do 750kish off a throw + 2 bars(I’m speaking from my experience with Jam/Disruptor, and I know things like Plasma Beam/Bolts do even more damage)… Task’s damage output is not the issue and he kills the metagame relevant characters easily with np, and vs higher health characters he can get a bit of chip or stray hits in neutral before actually getting the hit.

The main issue with Task is that his arrows(+ arrows assist) can be easily avoided by the top tiers who have superior mobility and simply can get out of the way(the assist is still useful as a shield for characters with good low/throw/air throw games though). His mobility is not as good as the top tiers and his zoning has many holes that require assists for coverage. I think matchup wise point Task on optimized teams generally goes even or beats most of the cast except Zero/Morrigan/Vergil, which hurts him in the metagame.

Defensively Task is a fantastic character, and I liken him to what Doom does in the air with air M footsies and Footdives and annoying(but avoidable) zoning, Task does on the ground with Dash crL,stM and Shield Skills and arrows, the only characters that come close to Task’s ground game with assists are Vergil/Wesker/Wolverine, and Task gives them trouble on the ground too. The biggest issue I feel with the character is outside of incoming I find it very difficult to apply mixups to open people up besides getting people to block an assist and force them into a low/throw mixup, the top tier characters have an easier time evading assists and getting out of that mixup.

I feel that Task as an assist character is irrelevant to the metagame unless you play Felicia/Nova/Spencer/Wesker/Vergil(but isn’t really optimal for those characters hence the irrelevance) , but Task as a point is still very viable with optimized shells for him(Jam Session, Beams, Missiles, Dorm, Log Trap etc).

20

Yeah, the recovery of the arrows is what get my task killed sometimes. I still havent got the double arrow super consistently