He’s been a mediocre anchor for a while now. Only thing he has going for him was random j.S or c.B into easy ToD, because it’s almost impossible for him to get a hit by himself solo. However, plenty of other anchors (Dorm, Wesker, Doom) can do that too, and they have actual options on point.
Sent is best at 2nd now. Still has great DHCs, and the assist is still one of the best in the game. Then he can try to zone with spit and faster rocket punches. Even fish for a random hit every now and even.
As far as Strange goes as anchor, wouldn’t he work better in the other two slots (not like you can’t put him last, of course)? Seems like he really appreciates assists to back him up.
Fucking hate XF3 Firebrand, gotta luck him out and if his helper is out it just shorten your survivability even more. Dorm w/out meter is managable, Dr. Strange is crazy filling the screen with all that shit and teleports.
I like Rocket as much as the next Coon player but honestly, I see his reach as THE obstacle for him. Wesker can just push buttons and beat everything he can dish out mixup wise.
Easier to block against than against Sentinel, nearly useless against some character in the cast, and if your opponent still has their XF then he is even more useless. I am all for running him in the 3rd slot if you choose to use him, but I don’t really think he is a reliable anchor. Teams shouldn’t be built on reliable anchors always though. Assist etc. play a bigger role.
Ghost Rider is a surprising effective character than he is given credit. Blaze can do combos from half a screen, he has high/lows from a screen away, some of his long range moves actually safe on block, hits hard, anti-air beats a lot of jump in normals(heartless spire). Another awesome thing about Ghost Rider’s chain normals is that he can blow up any assist he wants. Scorpion can blow up bad shopping cart calls if you don’t pay attention to what Scorpion is doing. Hell Johnny has some “on-entry” meaty setups where if you press any button that isn’t invincible, you will get exposed for it.
Strange doesn’t benefit from being an anchor at all. He can kill you in XF1 just as easily as XF3. The reason I have him anchor, and it’s a problem I can’t find a workaround to, is Bolts of Balthakk assist is so good! It’s like, oh, I’ll make a team with Strange on point! No problem! Love Nemmy, so he’s there. Wait a minute though, Nemmy loves Bolts assist. Strange second. Let’s see, who else do I like that’s a good anchor… DORMAMMU! But wait! Dormammu is even better with Bolts assist! But now what? Sigh, another team anchored by Strange. He’s not even a good anchor. Wherever you put him, if you don’t mess up, he’s guaranteed to kill one character because SoV XFC Kill combo. However, after this, he stinks solo. He needs assists to cover him while he does his thing. Hmm…
We needed more slots for teams. Take my Experimental team. I want a team with Strange and Sent, but Rocky is a meh anchor. Really good, but impossible to control. So, Rocky can’t be anchor. Sentinel has to be on the team, and Sentinel has to come after Strange. That means Sentinel has to anchor. Maybe I should just… YEAH, I’ll just drop the team and figure something out. Rocky/Strange/Anchor. But who? Meh, I’ll try maybe Frank. Frank benefits from Strange because Strange gets like 30 hit combos, TAC’s into Frank, and Frank gets levels. I should try that. Updating sig and off to sleep.
I actually am running him 3rd, which is why I asked. I actually think he’s not bad as an anchor. The only thing he really lacks is an overhead. It’s a big plus for me that he can combo off of his throws most of the time.
Yeah, this is what I’ve been thinking about Strange anchor. He just seems like a very risky character in general if you flub/get pressured. 'Course, you don’t want that to happen in the first place, but that’s what assists are for.
It’d possible to come back with any character, especially good characters. Hawkeye is a good character, but we were talking about the better anchors of the game. I don’t think Hawkeye can possibly be ranked anywhere near Wesker, Vergil, Doom, etc.
Hawkeyes jump ins aren’t scary at all. The character just doesn’t frighten me at all when it comes to opening me up. He scares me because he can control the pace of the match with zoning and then combo off his throws.
The team im running right now is Shuma/Frank/Wesker.
Shuma is definitely B-Tier this time around, his J.S instant overhead is amazing and now that he can kara-cancel his dash he can follow up for a 50/50 after a launcher (his launcher sends the opponent to Shuma’s favorite position, the corner). The damage buff on his hypers make him scary but with Shuma the goal is to build insane meter through multi-hitting combos and resets. Now since its harder to get meter in Ultimate he’s a solid battery that fuels Level 3+ Frank (and his invincible hypers).
What do people think about Dante anchor? Weasel shot and Jam session are very solid assists. He’s super versatile, can create his own teleport mix up with missles or air play, damage output is solid, and can definitely use DT to put meter to work.
Also, what’s up with Akuma’s tatsu and his ability to anchor? The changelog says “decreased priority” but that’s really vague. How much is he actually getting blown up when he gets called?