Nice you got the sticky going
This thread is a good example of why the Nova boards are beast
I’m not good at playing Nova but I play against him so I wanna bitch offer a few things from Dorm’s perspective
I know most of you already know this because it’s a simple matchup but idk Marvelo might need stuff to add so he doesn’t have to write everything
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Dorm is usually placed second and Nova is usually on point so the most typical Nova vs Dorm scenario is when Nova kills the opponent’s point character. Their usual point of first encounter is the incoming mixup.
Dorm has air mobility so Nova will want to run a mixup that tries to cover the possibility of air dashing out, most especially air dash up forward because Dorm’s ADUF is faster than his ADU and gets him out of more shit. The Nova I play regularly uses Drones assist so his incoming mixup usually looks like Nova fucking around at SJ height while Drones rise to Dorm’s height. Ambiguous setups like these are good against Dorm because what Nova does up there to cross up/not cross up (like L Human Rocket, ADF xx fly with various timings) can usually catch Dorm’s ADUF so Dorm has no choice but to try to block Drones.
If Dorm does get to block Drones, the next layer is usually bringing Dorm to the ground and run a split second high-low-throw mixup at the instant Dorm touches the ground. This can layer off into other mixups in conjunction with Nova’s other assist.
What you want to be looking out for in this situation is pushblock in the air and s. L on the ground. Basically, in the air, Dorm has just about the same number of options as a regular air dash character because teleports have too much startup, so just deal with him accordingly. If Dorm manages to get a teleport out though, it’s likely going to be M teleport because it sets him farthest from Nova. Dorm has good enough recovery on his teleports that I don’t think you can grab him out of M teleport on reaction, but if you intentionally bait it out Nova can just back dash + jump into throw before Dorm materializes from the teleport’s spark.
On the ground, Dorm’s going to be looking for spots to do s. L because it’s his fastest normal at 4 or 5 frames IIRC (also fast thing to watch out for: snapback). When Dorm does this, he’s usually looking to cancel into Flame Carpet so he can call his assist + teleport to try to turn things back in his favor. Basically Dorm is just your average character in this situation (fastest moves are L and snapback, no invincible moves); his best options are universal options so the counters are basic: frame trap either with normals or with assists, and tick throw.
An important thing to watch out for though is the occasional c. M. In the midst of tight blockstrings it’s usually a bad idea, but if Dorm catches Nova during an air attack and he’s not in assist blockstun, c. M is going to be Dorm’s trump button. It may even meaty some assists on startup and cost you two characters. Of course its weakness is its startup; like I said tight blockstrings will keep Dorm from trying to throw it out. Even dirtier is when you late-call a beam assist that comes out behind Nova (like a far placed Doom beam maybe) while you attempt to do box dash H, because you’re teasing the Dorm into throwing out a c. M which WILL beat out your air attack, but leaves Dorm open to the beam. Nova can usually convert off this and win the trade.
Another important thing which is even more situational than c. M is level 3. It’s Dorm’s only fully-invincible-startup move. When Dorm is sitting on 3 bars and is trying to get out of the corner incoming situation, a level 3 reversal isn’t enough of a bad idea to ignore. It’s 0-frame after the flash so Nova can’t XF-cancel to block. It’s also a cinematic super so if Nova gets hit, there’s no stopping the follow-up (no Missiles or Drones combo-breaking or whatever). If level 3 hits it’s pretty easy to TOD with 0 or 1 bar if you XF-cancel an OTG Flame Carpet, which gets Dorm back on his feet and gives him control of the situation. If the level 3 whiffs or gets blocked, Dorm has to XF to save himself so there’s usually an understandable hesitation to do it, but you also have to acknowledge that in Dorm teams, the decision to blow XF2 on Dorm + assist is usually better than saving XF3 for the last character. The point is that while this option drains a lot of resources, don’t expect that it’s never going to be used.
If Dorm gets out of the corner situation, Nova can essentially just put up a Pulse and start spamming Energy Javelin + Doom beam or some other assist if he’s sitting on at least one bar. This is pretty smothering for Dorm; if he tries to counter-zone with anything (Dark Matter, Purification, Dark Hole) Nova can Speed Tackle on reaction. Dorm’s only options there are cancel into Chaotic Flame then immediately DHC out, X-Factor cancel, or get hit. Which is pretty depressing because Nova still stays safe after Speed Tackle so you just basically made him waste resources. Movement and assist calling also become an issue because of the constant barrage of hitboxes, unless Dorm gets to maximum fullscreen range and stays off the ground. This basically means a shutdown of Dorm’s options at the range of 1/4 screen to almost full screen.
Dorm has difficulty dealing with this, but he still has options.
Dorm/Missiles is going to be very, very, VERY lame about this. FChamp back when he was at the peak of his Dorm usage is a very good example of this. He’s not gonna call Doom right away, he’s not gonna try and Dark Matter, no pillars or Flares, nothing. Dorm’s just gonna run like the little bitch that he is (to clarify, he is Nova’s little bitch). Think of the screen as divided into four quadrants: upper left, lower right, etc. Dorm’s gonna want to stay in the opposite corner where Nova is in (Nova is in lower left, Dorm goes to upper right, etc). Teleports and fly plinks are gonna make this doable, but it’s going to be really tight because the Nova player can do tricky shit like faking movement or assist traps and if Dorm guesses wrong he gets the short end of the stick. Basically it’s going to be one huge mind game. Dorm’s gonna threaten while running away by charging a hand every now and then. You usually only get a split second to charge a hand, but if you do you’re one step closer to making this VERY BAD matchup into just a BAD matchup.
Dorm/Missiles isn’t even gonna try to zone you even if he gets a full 3 hands. The game plan is to run, so you try to lure Nova into overextending himself, then Liberation xx Chaotic Flame into XF-cancel or dash down fish hooks for a huge punish. When he runs, he WANTS you to run after him. If you try to act reserved he might get the chance to launch Missiles, which is even stronger bait to get Nova to move where he doesn’t want to. I’ve already mentioned the counter to this strategy, tricky stuff like fakes and jukes. It’s not a deterministic counterstrategy because the nature of the situation is that it’s a mind game, but know that it’s still tilted against Dorm’s favor because not only does he have to continuously make correct decisions at multiple points in time, he also needs to execute the decision correctly and there is little room for error.
Dorm/Jam I feel has a better grasp on this matchup. Basically what I want to do with Dorm/Jam is lock you down in the corner with Dark Hole, Flame Carpet, Jam, and teleports into fish hooks. Do not underestimate this; if Dorm/Jam gets you in this situation you stop being Nova, you’re just a regular blocking character and Dorm/Jam may actually take the advantage. If the stars align in Dorm’s favor he can even get a few reps of Liberation trap going, which is going to be difficult to get out of because Dorm/Jam Liberation trap is near-complete blockstun in the corner. I don’t think you can Speed Tackle out of it.
From my experience, Nova’s best options when he’s being locked down in the corner (outside of Liberation trap) is to:
-try to find a spot to anti-air s. L
-try to pushblock to buy a few moments of time then superjump then pushblock like crazy up there cause Dorm usually can’t bring you down without 2C1D or 1C1D
-CC into something (Shopping Cart for example) if there aren’t any stray hitboxes in the way like Carpet or lingering Dark Hole, or better yet use invincible CCs
If Dorm gets a chance to go into Liberation trap, the best attempt at getting out is pushblocking the Meteors release AFTER Dorm does H teleport so there’s a chance he’ll be too far for a Jam call to catch you (Liberation trap with Dorm/Jam requires Dorm to H teleport right before Meteors blockstun ends so he gets into the proper range to call Dante and lock you down with Jam). If you try to mash pushblock, you’re being obvious so Dorm is gonna have time to react by doing M teleport instead, which will take you out of the corner but will still keep you in Liberation trap (requires a Flare activation at a certain point in the trap sequence though). This leads into another Liberation trap rep that pushes Nova back into the corner, leaving you right back where you started so yeah it’s better if you pushblock AFTER the teleport instead of mashing pushblock all throughout the trap sequence and just waiting for Dorm to run out of meter for Flare.
Of course, an easier way of getting out of it would be CC, but try to make sure you have a good CC behind you because the only time in the trap sequence that Dorm is close enough to get hit by CCs is when he’s about to be covered by Jam, so invincible or high-priority CCs are required.
Overall, yes, Dorm has a very bad matchup against Nova. His regular gameplan of Liberation zoning and trapping is going to be ineffective most of the time because of Speed Tackle, so he has to resort to either runaway or corner lockdown, both of which have no room for error and are pretty hard to set up in the first place.[/details]
EDIT: I went back and reworded some stuff
Also talked about level 3 reversal as an option
Keep in mind I’m not a Nova player, so don’t add this to the OP, I’m just saying what Dorm can do in the MU and what I’ve seen Nova can do against it, so the Nova board regulars should discuss this first
An example of what I’m saying is Marvelo’s Speed Tackle + Vajra tech, I’ve never run into that so I don’t know the full impact of that on the matchup, it would seem like a powerful tool against Dorm/Missiles runaway but like I said I haven’t run into that so I don’t know the nuances
EDIT 2: I added a little bit on trying to get out of Dorm/Jam corner Liberation trap