So far for Chris, we know of the changes:
- All of Chris’ pistol shots are special cancelable. The pistol shots are: f+M, cr. H, and j.d +H.
- Chris has a proper wave dash.
- H grenade seems to last longer.
? It seems that the Magnum (H gun fire) has faster start up.
? H grenade pops enemies higher.
? Faster specials.
The major change would be the ability to now cancel the pistol shots into something other than Team Hyper Combo. I imagine this could evolve into some interesting block/chip strings for Chis to establish a stronger keep-away game. Let me theory-talk for a bit and point out some possibilities.
Combo possibility 1 - Gunshot H -> Dash -> Forward M + Sentinel Drones -> Gunshot H (cancel forward M into another magnum) -> Grenade Launcher Super -> Gunshot H.
This is just a hypothetical combo, but you can get creative. Foward M didn’t have many uses, since many other OTG option outclasses it, but this could a possibility off of a simple fullscreen standing magnum. This is assuming the Sentinel Drones help keep the full screen Grenade Launcher super going (which obviously might not work).
Combo possibility 2 - Throw (any) -> Crouching H -> Special of choice.
Chris can now more reliably combo off of a throw due to being able to cancel crouching H into a special, which can potentially be huge. Rather than relying on assists or tight links, he can simply OTG gunshot and go into H boulder punch, then magnum. That’s merely one example.
Thanks to Cambosam for pointing this out.
Pressure possilibility 1 - Jumping down H -> Shotgun.
Originally when approaching as Chris with jumping guns, you had a few options, but could obviously only choose one. Jumping shotgun was probably the most perferred due to it’s hit confirmation ease, chip damage, and frame advantage on hit or block. Jumping down H or TK machine gun was preferred to establish pressure from further distances where jumping shotgun or magnum would miss otherwise. The ability to cancel a jumping down H shot grants Chris access to the best of both worlds.
Pressure possibility 2 - Super jump -> Jumping down H -> Gunshot L/M/H -> Jumping down H.
Originally Chris’ can super jump jump and quickly begin with a Gunshot of his choice and right before landing, he can sneak in a jumping down H pistol shot. Now he can fire a pistol shot, cancel that quickly into a preferred gunshot, and come down with another pistol fire. More lead = better.
Mix-up possibility 1 - (insert combo here with hard knockdown) -> c. H -> Grenade Toss L/M/H.
After a combo, you might be planning what to do after a crouching H OTG. Perhaps you can reset your opponent with a air grab, but I find this mix-up to be effective in Vanilla, since people are so eager to throw out moves after being OTG’d. You put a landmine or fire grenade out after the OTG, but sometimes if you go against certain characters, their aerial hitboxes are good enough to avoid the landmine, and the nature of the fire grenade does not easily allow follow ups if mistimed. The ability to cancel the OTG gunshot into a move of your choice means that you might even be able to block in time when your opponent recovers.
Overall, the ability to cancel the gunshot into a prefered special seems miniscule at first, but I can see how it drastically improve the character overall.
As for some of the other changes:
-
Ability to wavedash properly
Any movement buff to Chris is highly welcomed, but this also helps defensively in some scenarios where if the opponent throws out an attack while you are dashing, you can immediately cancel it to a low block. -
H grenade fire puddle lasts longer
This is one of the changes I began to notice while playing UMvC3 at Evo. It’s also one of my favorite changes as it essentially means you can have more “flame carpet”-esque traps set up around the stage now. A highly welcomed change and is going to be highly essential with so many of the new characters relying on having full stage control (Firebrand and Strider comes to mind).
So overall, as lackluster as Chris felt in Vanilla MvC3, he was not a bad character at all. Of course he had a lot of difficulty and crappy match-ups, but I feel some minor tweaks will make him much better in this installment. Feel free to share what you think.