In all honesty, I think Firebrand is a very complete character who can stand on his own against most of the cast. He has a lot of tools that people simply aren’t using. People are just playing Magneto instead of him because they are misinformed about Firebrand’s abilities, or respect Magneto’s legacy in Marvel (I’ll concede that Magneto has way more options as part of a team though). I don’t think Firebrand deserves any buffs, and I would expect nerfs to his Bon Voyage move and Luminous Body instead.
A couple of things though:
Spitfire H covers an amazing angle and I understand why Capcom left it the way it is. You can still cancel to Luminous Body and continue movement anyway though. It would be nice if the fire stayed out if he’s hit though.
Firebrand does not need more air mobility, he’s already one of the most mobile characters in the game. I also don’t like the suggestion of auto flight after Hell Dive because if I’m at super jump height I would need to input Hell Dive L twice in order to return to the ground, which puts a strain on me, but also on accounting for the amount of air actions I should use before dropping down.
Dark Fire can DHC to Chaotic Flame, but the better DHC is to Stalking Flare anyway. I would only use Chaotic Flame in a THC to kill a character to keep Firebrand on point.
Chaos Tide’s L and M functions are neat for zoning, chip, and setting up self unblockables (you can spam M and L while you charge Demon Swoop H and Chaos Tide also cannot be pushblocked).
I’d maybe like a bit more time in Luminous Body but the speed changes make him enough of a threat already, I don’t see this changing.
Having an unblockable as an assist would be ridiculously good, but I would like his assists to be a little better to up his utility a bit.
I think faster startup on his dive kick would be nice though, and I hate that if you cross up with it, you can cross yourself up when you go for a followup and ruin your conversion.
I already find Firebrand to be one of the funnest characters in the game (unless I’m against Vergil) and I think he’s pretty much near broken now anyway so asking for more seems a bit cheeky. The only thing that really frustrates me about him is fighting teleport characters and getting crossed up and committing to something unsafe because of that, of and how inconsistent converting off Demon Swoop H can be when you hit airborne opponents.
I think Firebrand is a very completely character as well. The only thing that I would change is that if you hit someone with Hell Spitfire H in the air, the fireball would drag them to the ground with it so you can combo off of it, instead of it just hitting them and then you falling helplessly after they recover.
Btw, people underrate wall clinged fireballs. Jumping off the wall into a M fireball is a really good way to cover your approach.
What characters would you guys say give Firebrand the most trouble? I wouldn’t say he has that many bad match-ups, honestly.
I’d like a douchey command grab as well. Just to incite some rage.
New move: Prankster
*By pressing Button + S, Firebrand performs a command grab where he takes the opponent and throws them high into the air (they fly off-screen). Firebrand then takes a single step backwards and the opponent falls face first into the ground (and left in a hard knockdown state). *
Really, nerfs to Bon Voyage and Luminous Body? How? This character has almost no tournament representation, so I don’t see how you can be justified in thinking he needs any nerfs.
Firebrand is the only aerial character in the game without an upward air dash. That needs to be fixed. One of the most mobile characters in the game? You need to compare him within his health tier. He’s an aerial-based character with some horrible restrictions on his aerial movement. Hell Dive L could just always return him to the ground - easy fix. It’s not like Hell Dive L into j.L is great for mix-ups.
Dark Fire to Chaotic Flame loses damage. You have to DHC early. Yes, it’s better to DHC to Stalking Flare. I was just using it as an example of how little hitstun Dark Fire causes - you can’t even DHC into a beam hyper and get all the damage!
Your comments about Chaos Tide make me think that you just don’t know what you’re talking about. The helper’s M attacks can simply be ducked under. They’re completely useless compared to the H input. Zoning and chip? The H input is superior for both when you take hitboxes into account. I have never, ever seen Chaos Tide set up a solo unblockable in a tournament environment, and I doubt I ever will. The L input has a horribly small hitbox, doesn’t auto-correct its direction much of the time, and doesn’t maintain blockstun for the unblockable anyway. I really just have to ask you what the hell you are talking about here. Chaos Tide is one of the worst level 3 hypers in this game. It’s almost never useful to spend 3 bars on this instead of just keeping Luminous Body up for a long time. Many characters can simply superjump and just wait out a lot of the hyper, since it has no presence at all above normal jump level.
Faster start up on the dive kick just seems necessary to me. I don’t even like using it at normal jump level because it feels so slow. I like the move in principle, but it needs some work to really be strong. There’s just nothing good to do with it after you get blocked except for go into another dive kick.
The wall cling fireballs feel really unsafe to me because he’s prone on the wall and during his descent. If he maintained control after dismounting, then I’d feel more comfortable using it.
The characters that give me the most trouble are undoubtedly those with high priority normals. Hulk backed by drones, Taskmaster, Haggar (I don’t know why), Dante, and Vergil. And of course Vajra assist just wrecks me. I tend to have problems against dedicated zoning teams, but I’d like to think that’s more about me needing more patience. I tend to be overly aggressive in my play.
I agree he doesn’t have a lot of bad matchups, but the characters that he does have them against (IMO) tend to be really popular.
I’d rather they give Demon Missile L and M purpose. Especially Demon Missile L…
Yeah L is useless. But you use Demon Missile M as a surprise alternative to constantly approaching with DMH.
Also I think 'brand should have some sort of command grab or aerial command grab just as an alternative to high/lows in the corner.
I wouldn’t mind seeing faster start-up on Devil Claw as well.
i thought about it, and i think firebrand is pretty complete also, i just feel like he needs one buff… all specials, should be cancellable into hell dive or hell elevator, and they should be cancellable into specials. at least put this buff in luminous body mode… firebrand needs to be more fluid. everything is soo choppy while playing with him. would that make him broken?
but some other things that would be great…
-in luminous body all attacks are sped up, including demon missile H.- this is retarded, why does it take just as long outside of luminous body.
-faster startup on flight/ more speed through the air. - best mobility/ worst flight and no air dashes???
-air Bon voyage is an overhead- okay maybe not… but still pretty hot
-hell elevator/hell dive startup and recover faster - essential, i dont think they should be as slow
-demon missile H uncharged hits high/ assist too. - okay he needs a high hitting assist. uncharged move is booty, you can be hit out of it, airthrown too
-Dark Fire causes spinning knockdown- makes it better, while not making it broken
-wall cling is faster and easier input- sometimes i don’t cling…
-faster dive kick- why does wolverine beat firebrand…
yeah and take out vergil… stupid cheap broken character… lol
Can’t agree that Assisted Uncharged Missile H is crap. That shit is active for 30 frames. It knocks everyone out of pre-frame animation. Overall there’s only one problem with Firebrand, he uses a lot of meter (due to Luminous) but he doesn’t build meter well.
All Firebrand needs is to have Luminous Body last 16 seconds instead of 10.
But it would be awesome if Flight/Devil Claw had faster start-up.
The assist is not crap. That’s the only reason I still have firebrand on my team. It’s a combo extender and it can fill holes in your block string. For my team the assist lets me loop Iron Man replusor and get two plasma storms off a rocket punch.
the more you play with firebrand you begin to see the glaring flaws he has… he is such a gimmick character, easy to figure out too. forward tech kills his setups… lol
i can build about two bars in luminous, it would be much better if it hit high tho. the fact that luminous builds meter, i am fine with. most people don’t know this tho.
Hitting High as an assist would be fine. I’m pretty sure hitting high on point would be broken. The mix-ups would be TOO easy lol. If flight had faster start-up and was faster then I think that buff would solve most of FB’s problems.
Yep also being able to cancel his specials into his dives/ elevators, then he would be complete. He feels clunky at times in his current state. It’s funny how no one said anything about a damage buff.
I find approaching with Demon Missile H really unsafe. I don’t think he needs a command grab, but it would be nice if j.L always linked into Bon Voyage so he has that option. Wolverine does, so why not Firebrand?
And what do they know?
I completely agree on the fluidity. Firebrand should be more like Akuma with his fireballs, where he keeps his momentum when using them. He doesn’t transition between zoning and rushdown well unless you burn meter, which doesn’t seem like a good tradeoff.
I don’t follow your complaint about Luminous Body affecting Demon Missile H, though.
Yeah, it’s wild that he has some of the worst air mobility in the game of all the aerial mobility characters. No upward dash action, and a 30 frame flight (Magneto’s is 15, I think?).
I feel you on the Wolverine point, too. I get scared when we’re both in the air together, and I really shouldn’t be. He outprioritizes me…why?
We’re both talking about the assist, right? Or are you not responding to me?
Combo extension is pretty much the definition of a bad assist if that’s all you can use them for. Every assist provides these things in some way, but most have other uses as well. And fills holes in your blockstring? I’m glad you found Firebrand to do that, because I can’t think of any other assist in the game that provides that rare and valuable function…
I’m fine with him having low damage, since he has really strong resets and unblockables. High damage plus unblockables would probably lead to some absurd exploits.
i agree. low damage should equate to high priority tho… obviously not in this game. Also, bon voyage should start up faster on the ground… or maybe i need to work on tking it. lol
edit: demon missile H in luminous body still takes the same amount of time to charge, while out of luminous body.
Just because no one plays him doesn’t mean he’s untouchable. Jill got nerfs from Vanilla to Ultimate after all. Everyone I play complains about Bon Voyage and how unfair it is because of the frame advantage and priority it seems to have. People also frequently whine about the meter gain you get in Luminous Body. I do not personally think either of these things are problems but I’ll take what I can get.
Provided you have lockdown, Hell Dive L into j.L isn’t too bad when mixed in with empty jump Hell Dive Ls, especially if you’re crossing them up. Besides, if you could go higher and considering the amount of air actions you can do with Luminous Body and flight, you could potentially reach MODOK heights, and he’s a character who shuts down a portion of the cast with that ability alone.
Alright buddy, no need to call me out, I’m just saying there are some uses for it, not that it’s particularly great or anything. Of course, you’ve never seen it done in a tournament environment because barely anyone plays him, and most play him on point so he’s burning the meter to kill characters or using snapbacks. A solo unblockable on an incoming character at the cost of 3 meters seems fair to me, it’s a hyper that needs more experimentation but it’s definitely situational. There are also some characters that when locked down by it, cannot do anything about it at all and just have to take chip damage. I’ll admit the auto correct on the A input is annoying though.
Considering the amount of great tools Firebrand has already, I personally can’t see how he deserves buffs at all. Your point about the DHC doesn’t matter to me because I DHC to Sphere Flame, Stalking Flare (which has the meteors followup) or Plasma Storm (which can link into itself as Dark Fire puts them at the perfect height). There are plenty of great DHC options for him, just because he doesn’t get full damage from Chaotic Flame (which does retarded damage in the first place) should be a non-issue.
Please don’t take this the wrong way but considering the changes you’ve suggested, I guess I just like the character the way he is and you don’t. Pick someone else?
I know I am just saying. Firebrand is high tier but he is def not top tier.
The assist does more then just combo extension I was just talking about what I used it for. Firebrand is mainly a point character so your not suppose to rely on his assist.
All in all, Firebrand is a good character and doesn’t really need any buffs. But I fucking hate being crossed-up on bon voyage and getting flight instead.
If you’re getting figured out as Firebrand, you’re playing wrong. Simply having his QCB+H makes him way harder to figure out. And forward techs don’t destroy his stuff. You just need to be creative and READ your opponent.
Umm sir… Forward techs ruin unblockable setups off of hard knockdowns… Or bon voyage. No assist can stop forward techs… It all depends on spacing. Extended hard knockdowns make it easier to catch but you still need to be at the right spacing … And QCB+H gets crapped on by beams. And hypers. So what were you saying? Easy to figure out…
