The Current State of the Art: MVC3 Chun-li Bible

Classic Fighting Games Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3
1

The time is almost here. It’s taken me much longer than it should have. As my last act before moving on to greener pastures and other forums, I’d like to make good on my promise and share everything I’ve learned and found about Chun-li in the last 8 months of playing this wonderful game. Here, in both written and video form will be the definitive MVC3 Chun-li Bible. It’ll have everything about her in one central place, with a table of contents and everything, and every tactic and technique will have an accompanying video showing the concept in detail.

This thread will, for now, serve as a sort of place to gather my thoughts into words before putting them into action and video. I’ll be working on this for a bit everyday until it is done. And when it is done, I will be too.

Please feel free to comment or ask questions of me in the meantime.

Remember this is still a work in progress, so be a little patient!

2

Reserved 1.

Character Overview

Spoiler 
            Chun-li is a fast, but weak character who is suited to rushdown and mixup playstyles. She has low health and her minimum damage is very low (10% of her strongest is about 7,000), but her combos are very long which allows her to build a lot of meter from any attack string. Her bnb combos are, however, more difficult to do than the average character’s, but not as difficult as Dante’s. She has a reversal super with start-up invulnerability and a projectile super that completely covers her, which protects her from some threats and attacks at the same time. The projectile super does not project, however. Her level 3 is awkward to hit, but does the standard damage of 410k. Her x-factor grants her less of a damage bonus than other characters (10%/30%/50%) but it also boosts her speed to make her one of the fastest in the game.

She is able to dash, wave dash, dash attack cancel, triple jump and air dash twice, however she cannot do more than two aerial movements. She has a fireball that is extremely slow, but does not travel the full screen distance. None of her attacks cause wall bounces, ground bounces, OTG, soft knock down or hard knock down. However, one of her attacks does cause a crumple, and that attack can be combo’d into. Also, two of her normal attacks and all of her air normals (except air s) can be jump cancelled, which leads to a variety of mix-ups. One of her abilities is an infinite that can only be done when Chun-li is tagged in as an Aerial Combo Exchange, which can be a touch of death if successfully done.

Chun-li has many pressure techniques that cannot be successfully advancing guarded. This has certain implications, and I’m currently searching for a way to capitalize off of them.

Chun-li’s mix-ups are where she shines, because she is able to do true coin toss mix-ups where the opponent can only guess what is going to happen next; reacting to a 3 frame difference in her animations is impossible. Chun-li’s resets are varied and can leave her and the opponent in a variety of positions at a variety of speeds, which allows Chun-li to reset on her terms in any position that she wants her enemy in. Her combos leave her with a large amount of meter to spend and her lightning legs attack is an effective anti-rushdown technique.

Otherwise, she is without many of the utilities that make the top-tier characters top-tier. Her ranging ability is low against other zoning characters, and she is susceptible to keep-away tactics. Most noticably absent is a way for Chun-li to OTG. Her lack of an OTG lowers her offensive capabilities dramatically since without an OTG, she cannot combo from throws, air throws, or from launch hard knockdowns. The right team, however, can mend this weakness.

Character Team Building

Spoiler

Chun-li’s offense is very much affected by her choice of team members. If you are building a team based around a Chun-li point, then a ranged assist or a way to OTG are among the most essential tools for her. However, strategies for effective use of Chun-li can be developed for any team, depending on the dynamics of that team. A team with an assist that attacks for a long period of time can boost the time Chun-li has for mix-ups or extend her ground combos. A long range assist can help her advance upon her opponent. Combos can be developed that use assists to score damage in lieu of air combos that require an OTG. A team doesn’t necessarily have to be built around Chun-li; Chun-li’s offense can be built around the team.

The most beneficial contribution to Chun-li’s damage dealing is a way to OTG. This allows Chun-li to do damage from air grabs and to do more damage after launch combos. One character in particular, Crimson Viper (b/Seismic Hammer) gives Chun-li a way to follow-up from hard knockdowns, throws and air throws. Although Crimson Viper covers many bases, she isn’t the only choice available as a partner to Chun-li, as Wesker has an excellent OTG assist and the combination of Chun-li and Storm makes for powerful THC combos in the corner.

If the player opts for a team without OTG capabilities, then Chun-li will have a lower damage ceiling and be more reliant upon resets and early combo meter usage to do damage. Without a way to OTG, Chun-li has no damage potential off of ground throws or air thows and can only combo from throws if certain assists are called before the throw is initiated. When she has an OTG assist, then air throws become a part of her offense. The right team formation can give Chun-li the utilities she needs to maximize her damage and offense.

If Chun-li has an assist with ranged projectile abilities, this gives her a safer way to advance, as she can summon a projectile assist and move with some semblance of cover. Some projectile assists can multi-task when used in different situations, such as with Taskmaster’s arrow assist which can be used to attack from a distance when far away, extend her ground combos while adding a great amount of damage to them, or reset the enemy from a combo into an unavoidable lockdown situation.

A low hitting assist can allow Chun-li to execute unblockables, which when combined with her natural pressure game and the right opening attack, creates an un-advancing guardable unblockable. This is by far her most powerful offensive technique, although with most teams this would cause the player to sacrifice their means of OTG’ing, resulting in a loss of total damage.

If Chun-li has a defensive assist like Tron or Haggar, or some of the lesser known defensive assists like Jill(Somersault) or She-Hulk(Somersault), then Chun-li’s close range pressure becomes more difficult and dangerous for the opponent to counter.

If Chun-li is used second, the point character can use an Aerial Exchange to put the enemy into Chun-li’s infinite, which is a very powerful technique that can result in an enemy’s death and the gaining of a large amount of meter.

I personally don’t prefer a Chun-li anchor, since characters without OTG abilities are quite easy to run from, but if you find yourself in such a position against a fleeing opponent, one bet is to attempt left-right mix-ups or to throw them and attempt a wake-up mix-up. Otherwise…god help you.

3

Reserved 2

Character Attacks and Abilites

Spoiler

Movement Abilites:

Triple Jump
Wall Jump
Dash
Wave Dash
Air Dash
Rapid Air Dash –
Chun-li’s Air Dash can be done twice in rapid succession just like a tri-dash character’s aerial wave dash. This maneuver is done by dashing normally in mid-air, then pressing :s: + two attack buttons while in mid-air. The result is two air dashes done much faster than normal. The same result can be gained by plinking the second dash.
High Jump Dash –
Dashing immediately after a high jump makes the dash occur much sooner, making it faster.

Normals:

Standing Light – Standard jab. Can be crouched under by most characters.
Crouching Light – Very fast start-up. Useful in frame traps.
Standing Medium – Can be crouched under by most characters. Used to connect ground combos to aerial opponents during combos. It is not a useful anti-air.
Crouching Medium –
The go-to attack for low mix-ups. This low attack has plenty of range and is integral to Chun-li’s ground offense.
Standing Fierce –
Chun-li’s standing fierce has a surprising amount of range, but also a higher start-up than other normals. When used during a dash, it makes for a great poke. It is unique in the way that it moves Chun-li’s center forward, and then moves her back. This causes the attack to push Chun-li very far back on block. This attack can be jump cancelled on hit or block.
Crouching Fierce -
Chun-li’s crouching fierce is her sweep from SF4. Its range is great and it is a bit faster than standing fierce. It has it’s uses in block strings, frame traps, and defeating advancing guard.
Standing S -
The standard launch. Mildly useful as an anti-air, but as unsafe on block as you imagine.
Neck Breaker –
A slow overhead command normal. This attack can be jump cancelled on hit or block. If jump cancelled, the player will still have 2 aerial movements left.
Stomp Kick –
An instant overhead air nomal. This attack can be jump cancelled on hit only. An integral piece of Chun-li’s mix-up game.

Aerial Light – Attack enemies that are in front, above, or below. Can cross up.
Aerial Medium – Attack enemies that are in front or below. Can cross up if delayed. Extends Chun-li’s hurtbox. Gets stuffed easily.
Aerial Fierce – Attack enemies that are below. Stuffs most anti-airs. Very useful in resets.
Aerial S – Attack enemies that are above. Long active hit-box, very fast startup. Great meaty or air-to-air. Useful in aerial resets. Cannot be jump canceled.

Specials:

Kikouken Light –
A ranged projectile that travels about 75% of the zoomed screen. At close range, this attack is unsafe on block. Moves very slowly. Useful for lockdown resets.
Kikouken Medium –
A ranged attack that travels even less of the screen than the light. Also unsafe on block at close range. Doesn’t have any obvious use.
Kikouken Fierce –
A non-ranged attack that hits about one body length in front of Chun-li. This attack is slightly plus on block. A part of Chun-li’s advanced mix-up and frame trap game.

Kikouanken –
The melee version of Kikouken. This non-ranged attack causes a crumple on hit and is an integral part of Chun-li’s combos and frame-traps.
Spinning Bird Kick –
A down charge move that moves Chun-li across the ground while attacking on both sides of her. The grounded version is unsafe on block, but the Tiger Knee’d aerial version is safe. A part of Chun-li’s advanced combos.
Tenshoukyaku –
An anti-air series of kicks that has no invulnerability on start up. The grounded version leaves you able to act in mid-air, while the aerial version leaves you unable to act in mid-air. This serves as the ender to Chun-li’s simpler combos, but it is important to note that this attack does not cause a lot of minimum hit-stun, and thus will whiff on hit in long combos, leaving Chun-li vulnerable to a counter-attack. For an ender , it deals good damage otherwise.

Lightning Legs –
A series of rapid kicks. This attack is very all-purpose. It is very powerful as a wake-up reversal.

Hypers:

Kikoushou –
A massive ball projectile that covers Chun-li while attacking the enemy. This attack can be used defensively, but has an unusually long recovery time and thus is very unsafe on block, and sometimes during certain THC’s, it can even be unsafe on hit.

  • As Punishment- Kikoushou can be used to attack at times that are usually unsafe, such as when Hidden Missiles or Chris’s Grenades are coming. It’s circular shape also reaches very high, and can hit characters who move offensively like X-23 in Talon Dive or Wolverine in Dive Kick. Kikoushou
  • As THC - Kikoushou adds a lot of damage to neutral THC’s or THC’s done in the corner.

Hoyoukesen -
-As Punishment - Chun-li’s Hoyoukusen has a lot of invul frames on start-up, but not throughout the entirety of the hyper. Knowing when to use Hoyoukusen or Kikoushou is important.
-As THC - Due to the rigidly forward moving nature of this Hyper, using it in a THC can be dangerous outside of the corner. The right partners can counteract this, but there is always the chance that Chun-li might jump ahead of the person she’s attacking. Consider yourself warned.
-Kikoushou Followup - Hoyoukusen can be jump-cancelled into a Kikoushou, but the timing and specific set-up required usually makes it not worth it.
-Jump Cancelled Assist - Hoyoukusen can also be jump-cancelled into an assist call to add some extra versatility to the mix. This can be done by negative edging the assist call during the kick flurry, jump-cancelling, then releasing the assist call before the jump is executed. The timing is very difficult, but harmless if failed.

Shichisei Renka

Chun-li’s Level 3 is the only one in the game that is capable of whiffing on hit, and in return for that danger you only get 410k unscaled damage. Regardless, her level 3 is still a viable attack that simply needs to be used in the right places.

Altered Techniques:

Dash Kara - Dash + Kara = Dash Kara. Simple 'nuff. Some of the more difficult links require you to dash before an attack.

Fierce-Kara - Chun-li’s standing :h: moves her a great distance forward, then pulls her back. This can be cancelled into a special move before she is pulled back, keeping the forward movement without the backwards movement. Now if only she had a command grab…

Fierce-Warp - Chun-li’s standing :h: can also move her behind the opponent if he/she is off the ground at almost any elevation, making for a sort of “teleport”. It’s not a teleport, but it can be used as a cross up.

Tiger Knee’d Spinning Bird Kick - Chun-li’s spinning bird kick has a terrible recovery time when executed from the ground, but when done in the air, it’s recovery time is almost eliminated. Thus, it is much more useful and safer when done slightly off the ground.

Dash Partitioned SBK - Chun-li’s SBK can be dash-partitioned, meaning that while it is charging, Chun-li can dash and then execute the spinning bird kick.

Instant Overhead Stomp Kick - It’s her stomp kick. It’s an over head. Do it instantly, then air jump and air dash into a full combo. The opponent’s height is an important factor in whether or not to use the instant overhead or the much slower neckbreaker.

Character Combos

Spoiler

Bnb
Magic Series - Chun-li’s magic series is Standing :l: Crouching :l: Standing :m:, Crouching :m:, Standing :h:, Crouching :h:, Neckbreaker ( :f:+:h:), :s:
Buktooth - Crouching :h:, Jump cancel, Air :l:, Air :m:, Air :m:, Air :h:, Air :s:, Standing :l:, etc,
Stomp Loop - Crouching :h:, jump cancel, Stomp Kick, air dash, air :h:, Standing :m:, etc

Extended Ground Combos -
All characters corner, Medium and Tall characters midscreen:

St :l:, st :m:, st :h:, jump, air dash (*NOT instant), j :l:, j :s:, land, st :l:, st :m:, st :h:, Kikoanken
A cool looking, but unimpressive combo. This is the only special combo that works on small characters, since Chun-li simply blows right over their heads otherwise. Jump backwards before air dashing to hit small characters. The only small character that can be hit by this at midscreen is Zero.

Medium and Large size, Midscreen:
St :l:, st :m:, st :h:, *jump, instant j :m:, *jump, instant air dash, j :h:, j :s:, st :m:, st :h:, Kikoanken

A slightly harder combo. Nets you an extra 100k damage. Works midscreen on characters as tall as or taller than Wolverine.

*The greatest danger in this combo is shooting right over your opponents head and landing on their other side. Surprisingly, this works well as a cross-up reset, so stay on your toes just in case your opponent isn’t blocking! In order to make sure the combo hits, you might have to adjust the direction that you jump depending on the opponents size and position.

Medium size, corner:
St :l:, st :m:, st :h:, *jump, instant j :h:, *jump, instant air dash, j :h:, j :s:, st :m:, st :h:, Kikoanken
The exact same as the previous combo, except that the last combo’s j :m: was replaced with a j :h:.

Sentinel, Hulk midscreen, corner:
St :l:, st :m:, st :h:, jump, j :m:, j :h:, jump, instant air dash, j :h:, j :s:, st :m:, st :h:, Kikoanken

IA Spinning Bird Kick Loop - Down Charge, Crouching :h:, Tiger Knee’d :h: SBK, Down Charge, Crouching :h:, Tiger Knee’d :h: SBK, etc

Backwards Dash Loop - Crouching :h:, Jump Cancel, Stomp Kick, Air dash, Air :h:, Backwards dash + :h:, crouching :h:, Jump Cancel, Stomp Kick, Air dash, Air :h:, Backwards dash + :h:, crouching :h:, :s:

Air Combos and Confirms
Magic Series - Jump Cancel, Air :l:, Air :l:, Air :m:, Air :h:, Jump Cancel, Air :s:
(Note: The rather cryptic looking placement of the jump cancel;s in the series above simply means that you can jump cancel any of Chun-li’s air normals except her air :s:. Also remember that you only have 2 air movements and that air dashing and jump canceling/double jumping counts as an air movement. Wall jumps do not count as air movements.)

Dash Stomp - From Midscreen: :s:, jump, Stomp Kick, Stomp Kick, Air :m:, Air :h:, Hyakuretsu :h:, Air Dash, Stomp Kick, Air :h:, Hyakuretsu :h:, Air Jump, Air :m:, Air :m:, Air :h:, Air :s:
Drag Legs - Needs No Air Movements - Air :s:, Hyakuretsu :h:, Air :s:, Down Charge, Hyakuretsu :h:, SBK :h:, if you’re close enough to the ground, you can relaunch here with :s: or Standing :m:, :s:.
Dash Drag - Needs Two Air Movements - Air :m:, Air :h:, Jump Cancel, Air Dash, Air :m:, Air :s:, Standing :m:, Crouching :h:, :s:
Air Buktooth - Air :m:, Air :h:, Jump Cancel, Air :l:, Air :m:, Air :m:, Air :h:, Air :s:, Standing :s:, etc
Stomp/Legs Loop - With Opponent in corner - Standing :s:, Jump, Air :m:, Air :h:, Jump Cancel, Air :m:, Air :h:, Jump Cancel, Air :m:, Air :h:, Hyakuretsu :h:, Stomp Kick, Stomp Kick, Hyakuretsu :h:, Stomp Kick, Stomp Kick, Hyakuretsu :h:, Air :s:.

(Note that due to differences in character sizes, some characters will require less than two stomp kicks. You’ll really have to learn how to just feel out how many stomp kicks are needed. I’ll include a guide about it later, but it’s not high on my priority list.)

Combo Enders
Tenshou - Remember what I said about the Tenshoukyaku being terrible to use as an ender due to it whiffing on hit in longer combos? Yeah, I don’t suggest doing it unless it’s in a shorter combo. However, it does add the most damage out of her meter-less enders.

Air Legs - If the opponent is in the corner, then using Chun-li’s Air Hyakuretsu is a great way to add a lot of damage to a combo regardless of how much hit stun is left in the combo itself. The air version hits more times than the grounded version, although the grounded version can be chained into itself a few times or canceled into a hyper.

Air Spinning Bird Kick - Chun-li’s air spinning bird kick adds a bit of damage to the end of the combo in a way that lets her continue to put on pressure better than the Air Hyakuretsu.

OTG assist/Hyper/THC - The Kikoushou adds more damage than the Hoyoukusen, but the Hoyoukusen gives Chun-li a better positioning for applying wake-up pressure. Also, the high aerial position that the Hoyoukusen leaves the opponent in can be used for advanced set-ups in some teams.

Character Offense - Coming Soon!

Spoiler

Pokes
Crouching Light - Chun-li’s crouching light is more reliable than her standing light because her standing light can whiff against crouching characters even at extremely close quarters. Unless you know that the enemy character can’t crouch under a standing light, then using the crouching light is safer. The crouching light does not hit low, however, so it is better to use the crouching medium to start offense.

Crouching Medium - The crouching medium is a long range low poke that makes up the backbone of her footsies.

Standing Fierce - The standing fierce is a long range poke that has a slow start-up, but also moves her forward quite a bit, then brings her back. It is also jump cancelable. This attack makes for a good rushdown weapon from mid to long range, and at close range marks the beginning of Chun-li’s 33/33/33 mix-up.

Crouching Fierce - The crouching fierce is also a good poke that has slightly shorter range than the crouching medium, but with a bigger vertical hit-box that lends it some anti-tridash properties.

Hyakuretsu - The hyakuretsu is also a poke, and can also be used to make whiffed pokes a bit safer, especially for whiffed fierces. The Hyakuretsu is hugely plus on block, and you can easily confirm a blocked hyakuretsu into a low medium or an instant overhead. It also has good anti-tridash properties, but they are not absolute. For example, Magneto’s Tridash xx Air :l: often trades with a Hyakuretsu.

Block Strings
Lightning Legs ~ Crouching :m:-
Lightning Legs ~ Instant Stomp Kick or Jump :m:
Hard Kikouken ~ Crouching :l:
Crouching Fierce xx Back Jump xx Dash ~ Air :m:
Standing Fierce ~ Jump :m:

Mix-ups

Resets
Frame Traps
Defeating Advancing Guard

Advanced Strategies
Lockdown Resets
Advanced Mix-up/Frame Trap Game
Crumple/Hard Tag Combos
Manipulating Opponent’s Fuzzy Guard
Fuzzy Guard Resets
Aerial Counter Mix-up
Aerial Exchange Infinite(s)
Footsies

4

Reserved 3(I’ll need a lot of reserves for this, lol)

Team Strategies - Coming Soon!

Spoiler

Team Strategies

                            Mix-up
                            Unblockable
                            Lockdown
                            Rushdown
                            Ranged
                            High Damage
                            Synergy
5

Went to my city’s ranbats a few days ago. Got kicked around really bad by a Hulk player. Currently researching armor breaking technology.

6

The best I’ve come up with is timing your attack with an assist. Doesn’t always work, and will become almost useless when moves start getting three hits of armor in ultimate, so I guess just put yourself into the corner and punish?

7

Went to the ranbats again yesterday. Fought the Hulk player, but he was using Magneto instead that day, so I wasn’t able to test out my armor breaking strategy, which was to start offense with Standing :l: ~ Crouching :l:. Note of interest: Lighting legs stuffs most of Magneto’s tri jump shenanigans, but not always. It often trades with his aerial :l:, which has a surprising range.

8

9/28 Now working on the friggin combos. So tedious.

9

for hulk armor breaking, throw a kikoken at him before attacking him.