-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=====================================
(INCREDIBLY LONG) CVS2 MORRIGAN GUIDE
=====================================
(intended for the arcade, Dreamcast and PS2 versions)
v0.8 (the Pre-Evolution edition!)
Makin people holla as of 7/16/03
By Buktooth88
>:B
This guide is meant to be viewed in Notepad. It's readable in other programs
but the lines and charts will look all funky.
Unpublished work Copyright 2003 Campbell Tran
This document is protected by US Copyright Law, and the Berne Copyright
Convention of 1976. It is for private and personal use only--it cannot
be reprinted in part or in whole, or reproduced in any way or in any
form (written or otherwise). It is a free document that cannot be used
in any sort of commercial transaction, including selling it or giving
it away as a gift. This FAQ cannot be referenced, altered, or used by
anybody (including webmasters, publishers, and magazine staff) without
my express written permission. This FAQ was created and is owned by
me, Campbell Tran. It can be found exclusively at (www.GameFAQs.com).
All copyrights and trademarks are acknowledged and respected that are not
specifically mentioned herein.
Plagiarism is a crime and is punishable by law. I'll git you sucka!
The CvS series and all of its characters are (c) Capcom of Japan and
(c) SNK/Playmore of Japan.
-----
NOTE:
-----
This guide is intended for advanced level play. If anything here is unclear
because of my terminology or notation, ask somebody on the forums at
www.shoryuken.com. It's country's largest Street Fighter site; somebody can
help you there. Do NOT e-mail with inane questions!!
Anyway, on with the guide!
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===========
FAQ HISTORY
===========
-7/18/03, v0.6: Finally, the Morrigan guide. Something I've been planning to do
and putting off for about a year and a half now, I finally got the ball rolling
and finished the bulk of the guide. Writing a Morrigan guide is kinda weird,
since she plays a WAY different than any other traditional 2D character... but
also something that people have been demanding out of me for what seems like
forever. STOP BOTHERING ME ALREADY! >:B
with this year's Evolution tournament less than a month away,
I'm going to intentionally (and temporarily) leave out some major pieces of
information that can potentially come back to haunt me at the big event. I get
counter-charactered probably more than anybody else in America, so I think
people can excuse me on this one. :P
A full character match up section and a COMPLETED strategy section will be
in the v1.0, which will come out some time after Evolution.
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=================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
=================
1. WHY PICK MORRIGAN?
-strengths
-weaknesses
-stats
-objective
-recommended grooves
-recommended ratio/placement
2. MOVELIST
-how to read Buktooth's movelists
-normal moves
-command normals
-normal throws
-groove specific options
-special moves
-supers
-quick reference frame data list
3. FLYING!
4. COMBOS YOU SHOULD KNOW
-distance 1
-distance 2
-distance 3
-tips for comboing into Darkness Illusion
-Darkness Illusion combos
5. MIX UPS AND CROSS UP SET UPS
-generic mix ups
-set-up specific mix ups
6. STRATEGY
-full screen - 3/4ths range
-half screen range
-point blank range
-opponent in corner
-things to keep in mind
7. KEY MATCH-UPS
-Morrigan Vs C-Sagat
-Morrigan Vs C-Cammy
-Morrigan Vs A-Bison
-Morrigan Vs C-Guile
-Morrigan Vs C-Chun
-Morrigan Vs Any Groove Blanka
-Morrigan Vs A-Sakura
-Morrigan Vs Any Groove Vega
-Morrigan Vs C/A-Rolento
8. CREDITS
=====================
1. WHY PICK MORRIGAN?
=====================
Morrigan is the closest thing in CvS2 (well, any non Marvel game, really), to
Magneto. Her run (from here on called "fly") is basically an automatic triangle
jump, which lends itself to several high/low and cross up/not cross up mind
games. A successful mix up leads to a decent amount of damage and another knock
down, which in turn leads into another mix up. This gives her a big scare
factor as one knockdown can lead to a LOT of damage.
Her ability to be difficult to block comes in handy, as you don't have to worry
about guard breaking opponents to attack. While she CAN effectively guard crush
a cornered opponent, it's not a necessary element of her game plan.
Her level 3-only Darkness Illusion super is one of the most versatile supers to
combo into in the game, and also does a hefty amount of damage. If you have a
level 3 ready, a single successful mix up gets you over 8000 damage... an
obscene amount for an overhead/cross up-type thing.
Aside from being difficult to block, her flying ability also gives Morrigan a
high degree of air-to-air superiority. Her flying fierce alone shuts down
certain characters' entire game.
The ability to fly also gives her a great ability to bait supers and Custom
Combos, making her one of the very few characters who has an advantage against
A-Groove. Seeing as how A-Groove is the best groove in the game, that's a
fairly hefty benefit right there.
Of all the characters in the game, Morrigan benefits the most from the
weird character/unorthodox style factor; She does really well against people
who have never fought against a good Morrigan before. When I went to Japan,
Morrigan almost always did well, while Hibiki (who used to be a very popular
character over there) always got her ass handed to her. Morrigan's style of
play also makes her the #1 scrub killer in the game. However, this doesn't mean
she's just a parlor trick character. I've been using her for more than two
years and playing against mostly the same people and she STILL does well a good
majority of the time.
In addition to her flying ability, Morrigan also has a surprisingly strong
ground game. She has a handful of good ground moves like standing strong and
standing/crouching roundhouse, and a decent fireball and uppercut. This gives
her something to fall back on if the flying games aren't working.
Morrigan is the one of the only characters in the game that has chain combos.
She IS the only character in the game that can chain any move on the ground as
long as it follows the basic chain combo formula (cannot chain backwards, kicks
are "stronger" than punches) if this were the Darkstalkers series.
This leads to easy, practical combos and more importantly, combos into a sweep
to knock the opponent down.
A crouching morrigan is also difficult to cross up. You can get a lot of free
knockdowns (and Darkness Illusion combos) from an opponent who jumps over you
and disables his trip-guard by doing a cross-up move and whiffing it.
-----------
WEAKNESSES?
-----------
Unfortunately, there's plenty of these also. First and foremost, Morrigan
has bad match ups with some of the top tier. Who? I'm not saying until after
this year's Evolution! Mwa ha ha ha....
Morrigan has some of the lowest stamina in the game at 13200. That's just one
step from the bottom (which is Akuma). This doesn't jive very well with her
attacking nature, as Morrigan tends to fly into a few fists before she
successfully gets in.
Morrigan is also very meter dependant. Without a level 3 ready to go she's only
about 1/10th as threatening since it would take about 8 non-super mix ups in a
row to kill somebody. Those aren't good odds. The fact that she's meter
dependant AND has low stamina basically means that you HAVE to make her ratio 1
and you HAVE to put her second in the order (that's the character that usually
has the most meter).
As with just about any mix-up character, Morrigan can be very inconsistent.
Some times people just block everything I do... even the really fancy stuff!
While she does have a decent ground game to fall back on if her mix ups aren't
working, that's not where her true strength lies.
Since Morrigan has chains, each of her individual ground attacks do very little
damage. Her standing fierce only does 900 damage! That's 200 less than Sagat's
standing STRONG! While her chains still do decent damage, when fighting on the
ground Morrigan can't really expect to win on pokes alone. The ground moves
only serve to make the opponent annoyed enough to make mistakes, which then net
you a knockdown so that you can fly all over them.
Morrigan also has a very high learning curve. It takes a good deal of practice
and experience to know how to get around all those flailing Sagat fists and
Cammy legs and get in without taking too much damage in the process. You also
have to be immaculate with comboing into Darkness Illusion, for Morrigan is
pretty worthless without it. Some people can do it easily, many can't do it at
all.
-------------------
RECOMMENDED GROOVES
-------------------
N Groove is by far Morrigan's best groove for two reasons:
1) Of all the grooves with a run, N-Groove gives Morrigan the most control over
when she gets her level 3. Morrigan NEEDS that level 3 to win.
2) N-Groove is the only run-groove with a roll, meaning it's the only one that
has the ability to roll cancel. RC command grab is huge asset to Morrigan,
and to a much lesser extent, RC fireball as well. RC uppercut doesn't hurt
either.
I've been using N-Morrigan for about 2 years, so this guide will apply mostly
to that. Strats will still mostly work for K/S Morrigan, with the exception
of the RC command grab usage/set ups. RC grab is a HUGE part of my game,
though.
K-Morrigan comes in second, as Just Defend helps out quite a bit on the ground
against characters like Cammy and Sagat. The problem with K Morrigan is that
you don't get the level 3 until you're halfway dead, and due to Morrigan's low
stamina, sometimes that one is the only one you'll get.
S-Morrigan comes in third simply because it's the only remaining groove that
has the ability to run. Morrigan is chump without the ability to fly. S-Morri
isn't all that great because her dodge moves suck and she has to be practically
dead to use a level 3.
As for the CAP grooves, I dunno. I never use Morrigan in these grooves so don't
expect any strats outta me. Off to www.shoryuken.com you go.
---------------------------
RECOMMENDED RATIO/PLACEMENT
---------------------------
This has already been covered in the 'weaknesses' section, but due to
Morrigan's low stamina and dependance on meter, ratio 1 and second place in the
order is pretty much the only way to go. S/K Morrigans have funky meters that
don't carry over from the previous character, so ratio 1 and placed first or
second is recommended there.
The only time I would ever make Morrigan ratio 2 is for a counter match, and
that would most likely be if your opponent has ratio 2 C-Chun Li or (if any are
still around) ratio 2 Rolento.
-----------------------------------------
MORRIGAN'S STATS (made up by yours truly)
-----------------------------------------
On a scale of 10, 5 being average:
Offense Rating: 9.5
Defense Rating: 6.5
Practical Damage: 4.5
Potential Damage: 8.5
Speed: 6
Jump: 5
Roll: 3.5
Normal Moves: 7
Special Moves: 6
Supers: 7
Overall: 7
--------------------
MORRIGAN'S OBJECTIVE
--------------------
Morrigan's what? Since people play better and more focused when they have a set
goal in mind rather than "uh...imma just hit guy and win! And do combos!", it's
good to know what your character's main objective is before playing. A kind of
a fighting game thesis, if you will.
Morrigan's Objective is to knock the opponent down.
Why?
Because from there Morrigan can most easily take advantage of her biggest
strength: her flying cross ups. Aside from making your opponent choose which of
the four fighting game directions to block in, you also have RC command grab
for a fifth mix-up.
Once Morrigan does a successful mix-up, it leads to another knock down, which
in turn leads to another mix up (into knockdown).
How is this objective accomplished?
In order of best method to worst method:
1) Playing a strong ground game, making your opponent whiff something so you
can low roundhouse them or making them jump so you can uppercut them.
2) Flying over a low move.
3) Flying after/during an opponent whiffed move and mixing up.
4) Randomly flying/jumping in.
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=========
MOVE LIST
=========
---------------------------------
HOW TO READ BUKTOOTH'S MOVE LISTS
---------------------------------
(all frame data is taken from Famitsu's Capcom Vs SNK 2 Millionaire Fighting
2001 Official Guidebook. Ebay it! It's a must have!)
As far as I know, I'm the only person that includes a frame data listing in a
2D fighting game faq, so that means I had to come up with a format myself.
I've been trying different formats since my first N-Groove Iori faq, and this
is my latest version. My apologies if it's unclear or difficult to read...
hopefully it will be cleaned up with a better format in a newer revision. For
now, it's not very intuitive so please read all the junk below explaining all
the notation before reading on.
Format for the move list is as follows:
(1) (2) (3)/(4) (5)/(6)/(7) [(8)/(9)/(10)], Invul [(11)]
(1) Name of the move
(2) Damage it inflicts on opponent
(3) Frame advantage (disadvantage) if move hit. DOWN or DN means the move
the opponent down
(4) Frame advantage (disadvantage) if move is blocked
(5) If move is chainable into itself or not. o=yes, x=no
(6) x or o referring to whether move is bufferable into special moves
(7) x or o referring to whether move is bufferable into supers
(8) number of frames it takes the move to hit (how fast the move is)
(9) number of frames the move has an active hit box (how meaty the move is)
(10) number of frames of recovery the move has
(11) If a move has an 'invul' with a box, that means that the move has a
certain number of invincible frames. However, it doesn't necessarily mean your
ENTIRE body is invincible. So, each reading refers to the number of frames
that contain invincibility, and immediately after it will show WHERE you are
invulnerable.
For example, Invul [10 full/8 lower]
In the above example, the first 10 frames of the move have full-body
invincibility, then the next 8 frames after that are only invincible from the
waist down (lower body).
Muiti hitting moves are encased in {} brackets. Morrigan's low jab is
[3{3/3}6]. The move has a 3 frame start up, then the first hit is active for
3 frames. The second hit is active for 3 frames after that, then there's a 6
frame recovery period.
Fireball moves will have | between two numbers. The first number is how long it
takes the fireball to come out and the second number is how long the recovery
is.
For example, Morrigan's fireball is [18|38]. The fireball takes 18 frames to
materialize, and Morrigan is prone afterwards for 38 frames.
All supers have a small invincible start up before the "super flash". This is
why sometimes an opponent's limb is fully in your body when the super flash
occurs. The start up time for before the super flash is represented by a
number, then a : (is that a colon or a semi-colon? I forget). The number after
the : represents how long it takes for the super to hit AFTER the super flash.
For example, Morrigan's Darkness Illusion super is [5:4/44/13].
5 frame (invincible) start up before the super flash, flash happens, then a 4
frame delay before super has an active hitbox on it (which lasts for 44
frames).
Certain moves have 2 readings in certain places. This means that move has two
separate points with different properties. The first number always refers to
the part of the move that comes first. For example:
Close Standing Fierce 800,800 +2/+2 x/x/o,x/x/x [5/6/22]
---------------------
The first part refers to when Morrigan's hand is about at her waist level. The
move does 800 damage, has a +2 advantage, and is only bufferable into supers.
The second part of the move (when Morrigan's arm is fully extended upwards) has
for the most part all the same stats, except it is NOT bufferable into supers.
Unfortunately, for two-part moves frame data is unavailable for the second
parts.
Lastly, GROUND means whatever it is, it lasts until the character reaches the
ground. There's often recovery once the character reaches the ground also,
which is represented by a number immediately following GROUND. This applies to
moves that you can do in mid-air, since you can do them at any point in the air
there's no way to accurately determine how long it takes the character to reach
the ground.
For example, Morrigan's shell kick is [7/GROUND/7]. It has 7 frames start up,
then has an active hitbox all the way until Morrigan reaches the ground, and
from there it has a 7 frame recovery time.
------------
NORMAL MOVES
------------
Close Standing Jab 300 +5/+5 o/o/o [2/3/7]
------------------
At 2 frames, this is Morrigan's fastest move. However, I don't really use this
much because it's crouchable by most of the characters in the game. The speed
of the move definitely has it's uses, though, such as in those ambiguous
priority battles that come after blocking a Sagat lv2 hotfoot super or Guile
lv2 rush super.
The characters than cannot crouch the close jab are:
Raiden
Geese
Chang
Zangief
Sagat
Eagle
Rugal
Yamazaki
Benimaru
Far Standing Jab 200 +5/+5 o/o/o [3/3/7]
----------------
No real reason to use this move, really, as it shares the exact same traits as
Morrigan's low short. Not only can this move be blocked high, it can also be
crouched by smaller characters. The characters that cannot crouch this move are
all the characters in the above list, and also:
Honda
Dhalsim
Terry
Kyo
Joe
Guile
Balrog
Blanka
Bison
Kyosuke
Todo
Close Standing Strong 600 -6/-6 x/o/o [4/12/14]
---------------------
The only use of this move I can think of is to combo into an uppercut or
uppercut super, neither of which I ever do. Comboing into fierce uppercut sets
up a really nice cross up, though, so it might be worthwhile every now and
then. If this move is not cancelled into anything there's a hideous lag on it
(-6) which gives your opponent a free hit. Bad. As far as chains go, there's
no reason to use this move over low strong since they both do the same damage
and this one requires an extra joystick motion (standing up).
Far Standing Strong 600 +3/+3 x/o/o [4/10/10]
-------------------
Morrigan's best ground move, and one of the best overall pokes in the game.
This move has great range... slightly less than half screen. For all the range
it has, it also has an unbelievable 4 frame speed to go with it. Half screen!
4 frames! In addition to that, it's also bufferable! Want more? How about a
+3 advantage also? Swell!
As far as usage goes, you can hit standing strong pretty liberally against just
about any opponent except Cammy, whose standing roundhouse outranges you.
Morrigan's standing strong has really good recovery, easily fast enough to
punish somebody trying to roll through it or jump over it. Also fast enough to
make it REALLY hard for your opponents to punish it if you whiff it. Don't push
your luck, though. If you give your opponent enough tries to punish it he'll
get it eventually.
Priority-wise, this move is pretty average. You're not going to be going
toe-to-toe with Sagat low fierces or anything with this. However, the quick 4
frame speed does insure that you're going to beat Sagat (or whoever) to the
punch quite often, giving the illusion that your move is beating theirs.
Max-range standing strong into jab fireball is for the most part safe against
rolls. A couple rolls (ahem... Iori) can get through and punish you in time
and fast low jumps can get a quick free hit in (but usually not a combo),
so you can try baiting those by doing standing strong and buffering it into a
whiffed comand grab.
Of course, Blanka slide and RC moves counter standing strong into fireball
absolutely for free.
Standing strong into jab fireball becomes a total beast when your opponent is
in the corner. You get an absolutely free flying attack afterwards if your
opponent blocks the fireball; it's a combo. From there you can use the frame
advantage gained by your flying attack for a mix up or simply land and do
another standing strong into fireball. I wouldn't advise repeating that over
over, though, since Morrigan doesn't really need to guard crush the opponent
to do damage.
Close Standing Fierce 800,800 +2/+2 x/x/o,x/x/x [5/6/22]
---------------------
One of the many moves on the long list of "moves I wish didn't exist", this
move just totally sucks. Its range is really crappy, and while you would think
that shouldn't be an issue with close moves, sometimes you'll want to do a low
short into low fierce chain (into Darkness Illusion), and accidentally get the
close fierce instead of the low fierce. While a lot of times that still works
out fine, more often than not the close fierce WHIFFS, and due to the Darkness
Illusion being a button command, the super still comes out anyway. The result
is a wasted super/combo opportunity AND a dead Morrigan.
The second part of the move (with the arm fully extended upwards) LOOKS like it
would be a good cross up counter, but it's WAY too slow for it to work that
way (reminder: frame available for two-part moves is unavailable for the
second parts). Not only that, but if you try to throw with punch and your
opponent jumps straight up over it (and they can because it's so slow) they can
punish you with a full combo on the way down since the close fierce whiff is
really laggy.
If you ever try to get a punch throw on your opponent and get this move
instead, you can try chaining it late into a sweep to catch an opponent trying
something after the fierce. Works quite a bit, especially against people
unfamiliar with Morrigan and her chains.
Far standing Fierce 900 -6/-6 x/x/x [8/4/26]
-------------------
Don't really use this move much... it has a good deal of recovery and also has
less reach than the standing strong. Priority is actually pretty good, but at
the distance you're likely to use it it's too far to chain into a sweep.
Standing Short 300 +5/+5 o/o/o [4/3/7]
--------------
Not much reason to use this when you have the faster low short. I noticed some
Japanese players doing walking shorts to the opponent, but you can do the exact
same thing with low short, only better. Besides, that's not a good way to play
Morrigan anyway.
Standing Forward 700 +4/+4 x/x/o [6/11/8]
----------------
The main use for this move is to add damage to your chains as it does 200 more
damage than the low forward. The problem with doing so is the sweeps tends not
to reach the opponent when substituting the low forward for a standing forward.
The sweep is by far the most important part of the combo, so I just don't risk
it and do low forward instead.
As a poke it's decent... range is lacking though. Actually, the only time I get
this move is when I try to do a flying forward and accidentally get this
instead. However, the +4 frame advantage is nice as I can LINK a low short
afterwards (which has a high success rate of catching the opponent... the move
LOOKS really laggy). As with a lot of Morrigan's moves, this move is also
really meaty so you can implement it that way if you want to supplement the +4
advantage.
The 11 frame active hitbox makes the move a good (if weird looking) meaty move.
You can link pretty much anything off of it if done meaty, and it also lends
itself to good mind games afterwards.
Close Standing Roundhouse 1300 -6/-6 x/x/x [7{3/3/3/3}27]
-------------------------
This is a four hit move, so each hit does 400, 400, 300, and 200 damage,
respectively.
Beginning Morrigan players generally use this to combo into Darkness Illusion,
as it gives you WAY more time than you really need. I don't do this for a few
reasons:
1)It's not necessary
2)You have to think about distances more than I would like
3)Standing roundhouse doesn't combo from max range low short
Low short, low fierce into DI is the only super combo you'll ever need, for any
occasion.
Aside from being an easier way to combo into Darkness Illusion, the only other
use for this move is as a really unorthodox cross up counter. It doesn't do
much damage (400! woo!), but it's better than taking the cross up. To be used
as an anti-cross up the move has to be done slightly early. Works really well
against Sagat, Cammy and Guile's cross ups, works moderately well against
Blanka's, doesn't work at all against Chun Li's. :/
Far Standing Roundhouse 1100,700 +2/+2 x/x/x [10/9/22]
-----------------------
A great defensive move, this move has high priority and covers a huge area.
It can be used as a far-away anti air and straight up jump anti air if pressed
early, but getting into position to use it as a straight up jump anti air can
be tricky.
The main problem with the move is that its range is deceptively short. That
whole arcing blade thingie that shows up on the screen doesn't even have a
hitbox on it. In fact, the range of the standing roundhouse is exactly the same
as that of the standing forward.
So to use it as a straight up jump anti air you usually have to walk well
within the range of your opponent's dominant pokes. It's difficult to walk up
to a straight up jump and kick it on reaction because you have to hit the kick
so early. If you try to do it from farther out you'll usually trade, and the
trade defeinitely isn't in your favor.
Another negative about using standing roundhouse as anti air is that the fully
extended part only does a measly 700 damage. With a counter hit it's 840 but
it still isn't much for your opponent to fret about.
This move is great on the ground as a defensive move, though. Throw it out
randomly or when you see your opponent running at you; It'll stop most
anything, including random jumps and low jumps. The move is far too slow to
anti-air low jumps on reaction, though.
Crouching Jab 200+100 +6/+6 x/x/o [3{3/3}6]
-------------
Besides the fact that its +6 frame advantage is the highest out of all of
Morrigan's moves, don't use this move. Ever. You have low short instead. Also,
the two hits of the move only push you farther away so that you can't add
another more damaging move instead.
Crouching Strong 600 +2/+2 x/o/o [4/15/6]
----------------
Severely toned down from CvS1, this move is no longer the priority monster it
once was. Priority is still decent, though, and it has the added bonus of being
Morrigan's meatiest move by FAR. 15 frame active hitbox! If you time it
perfectly so that you hit with the very last frame as your opponent's getting
up, that's a +16 advantage! That's plenty of time to walk all the way up to the
opponent and do a throw/low short mix up.
Interestingly enough, even if you hit with this move as meaty as possible, you
can STILL chain it into other moves (same with Morrigan's other moves). You can
do a meaty low strong and chain it into low fierce, low roundhouse for good
damage.
Crouching Fierce 800 -3/-3 x/x/x [8/3/24]
----------------
Morrigan's longest ranged ground move, it's also got good priority and speed to
go with it. As with all of Morrigan's ground moves, damage on this one isn't
too hot, but if you're quick enough a Darkness Illusion will combo off of this
move from even max distance. Takes quite a bit of practice to get consistently,
though, as you have to buffer the DI off of the move as fast as possible or
else it won't combo. Be careful of hitting extended limbs, though, as trying
to combo a DI off that will be FARTHER than the max range of her low fierce,
and that's pretty much humanly impossible. A useful footsie tool if mastered,
though, as it strengthens Morrigan's ground game considerably.
Outside of footsies, this move is mostly used for guaranteed combos into DI.
The low short, low fierce chain into DI offers the best blend of practicality
and damage that I could find. You don't have to ever worry about distances; if
the low short hits, the low fierce will hit. If the low fierce hit, you're
generally within range to combo into DI easily enough. The absolute max range
of the low fierce can be tricky to combo off of, but that rarely occurs.
Crouching Short 200 +5/+5 x/o/o [3/3/7]
---------------
A pretty generic low short. Speed and range are pretty average, and the +5
advantage isn't enough to rock your world or anything, but still an essential
piece of Morrigan's game. Aside from the obvious fact that it hits low, the
low short's +5 advantage is enough for the move to link into itself fairly
easily. Why would you want to link shorts when you have chains, you ask?
Because Morrigan has to work really hard to get in, and generally takes some
damage in the process. When she does get in, you don't want to push yourself
out again by doing a block low short, low roundhouse/fierce chain, you want to
give yourself time to see whether or not the low short is hitting before you
actually finish the combo. Two low shorts is generally ample time for your mind
to confirm whether you're hitting or not. If you do two blocked low shorts, you
can still salvage the situation with another mix up. You do a blocked low short
into low fierce/roundhouse chain, you're back out again.
The +5 advantage is also enough for you to do a low short, walk up low
short/throw mix up. Also, since the opponent is usually looking for a you to
fly so they can block/hit it, most of the time you can walk forward a lot more
than the +5 would suggest.
Crouching Forward 500 +4/+4 x/o/o [4/11/8]
-----------------
Don't really use this much. The numbers are good, the priority is good, but the
range is pretty laughable. It has the same range as the low short.
However, this another good meaty move also. In some ways, it's better than the
low strong for that purpose since this move hits low. YOu can catch a lot of
fidgety people with meaty low forward, link low short, low fierce into DI.
Crouching Roundhouse 900 DN/-5 x/x/o [7/4/25]
--------------------
This is the game-winner right here. Not because it's a totally dominant move or
anything, but because Morrigan NEEDS to knock the opponent down to be really
effective.
As a sweep, it's above average. Range is pretty good (slightly less reach than
the standing strong) speed and priority are good. How do you use it? Well,
pretty much like any other sweep. If your opponent whiffs something laggy
enough, sweep it. If you're not absolutely sure you can punish it in time, do
standing strong instead since an opponent who rolls through your sweep will
really put the hurt on Morrigan.
If you're quick you can punish an opponent tech rolling your sweep with a
flying roundhouse into another sweep.
Jumping Jab 500 -/- -/o/o [4/22]
-----------
Not a bad air-to-air, but you have other better options. I only use this to
combo into a mid-air Darkness Illusion against people who keep jumping up and
down or jumping back against me. Be aware though, that for the combo to work
the jumping jab has to hit the opponent below you or at least at the same level
as you. If the opponent is higher than you in the air the jab will pop them
over the DI.
Jumping Strong 700 -/- -/x/o [5/10]
--------------
Not a bad jumping/flying move, but you have better options.
Jumping Fierce 1200 -/- -/x/x [10/10]
--------------
This move is a killer. Tons of priority, good damage (for Morrigan anyway) and
covers a HUGE amount of space in the air, this is the button to press when
flying from far away. There's also the benefit of getting accidental air throws
(because that's pretty much the only way you'll land them) as well. Against
certain characters, random flying fierces (and then back-dashing to get to a
safe flying fierce distance again) is really hard to beat.
Also, if your opponent blocks a flying fierce on the ground, the frame
advantage is high enough for you to get another flying forward basically for
free if you time it right. If your opponent tries to hit you out of the air
with anything besides an uppercut your flying forward will win every time. If
your opponent knows this and doesn't try to hit you after flying fierces any
more, you can mix it up with... another flying fierce! This keeps the frame
advantage on so that you can keep mixing it up while killing your opponent's
guard bar.
As far as air to air goes, this move is great. It even beats moves such as
Blanka's straight up jump fierce if you're positioned right. The problem is,
the move is kinda slow at 10 frames. If you're going to air to air somebody on
reaction (like when somebody is trying to cross you up) hit roundhouse instead.
Jumping Short 500 -/- -/o/o [2/22]
-------------
Morrigan's fastest move in the air. Priority's good, but I never really use
this move since I have all these other good options.
Jumping Forward 700 -/- -/x/o [5/9]
---------------
Arguably Morrigan's most improved move since CvS1, this move now crosses up!
This is the move to press whenever you're trying to make your opponent guess
which way to block. Since the move crosses up you don't run the risk of flying
over your opponent and whiffing an attack. As a cross up it's merely average...
priority isn't all that hot, and the cross up box isn't that big either. It
will randomly whiff the cross up every now and then (especially on Kyo). It
gets the job done well enough though, as it comes out pretty fast and is easy
to combo off of. When trying to pressure the opponent as opposed to trying to
do a mix up, it's better to stick flying forward or fierce, though.
Jumping Roundhouse 1100 -/- -/x/o [6/7]
------------------
Yet another good jumping move, this is Morrigan's longest ranged air attack.
I mostly use it to punish tech rolls and for quick to air to air, like a jump
back roundhouse against an opponent trying to cross me up. If I'm just
normally I use flying fierce instead.
Another benefit to this move is that it kinda looks like Morrigan's jumping
forward, but doesn't cross up. You can use this to your advantage by jumping
or flying over your opponent, hitting roundhouse to fake the cross up, then
landing and going low or throwing. If you want to be REALLY tricky you can
immediately fly again and hit forward for a fat cross up combo.
-------------
NORMAL THROWS
-------------
Moon Tracer (punch throw)
-----------
Damage - 1700
Range - 52 pixels
[3/1/13]
Pretty standard throw, tech rolling opponents are pretty much impossible to
punish afterwards unless you threw them into the corner. Against a non-tech
roll groove it sets up a pretty good cross up. Throw, then immediately fly
until you're directly over your opponent's waist, then drop down and hit
forward. Very ambiguous which way to block AND which side you'll land on. I
usually don't know myself.
Breast Anguish (kick throw)
--------------
Damage - 1900
Range - 52 pixels
[5/1/13]
Aside from the fact that it does more damage and is harder to break than the
punch throw, I almost never use this throw since it has so much recovery and
puts your opponent so far across the screen that it effectively resets the
match. You don't want to waste all that work it took to get with just a little
roundhouse throw, throw with punch instead.
Sexual Embrace (!) (air throw)
--------------
Damage - 2000
Range - 24 pixels vertical, 24~32 horizontal
[1]
All air throws are one frame and do not have whiff animations.
By far the worst air throw in the game (not counting Maki's manual air throw),
the range this throw is just pitiful. The opponent has to be quite a bit below
Morrigan for her to grab him, so getting an air throw on purpose generally
never happens. If you randomly get it when flying around and pressing fierce,
great, but don't count on it. The only time I get air throws is when fighting
Rolento and Chun Li, but that's just because they're always jumping around when
they're fighting Morrigan.
Blanka and Bison have easy counters to Morrigan's flying with Blanka Ball and
Psycho Crusher, respectively. However, sometimes when flying in, they'll try to
counter me on reaction and I'll accidentally grab them right out of the move.
This would be great if I could do it consistently but it doesn't really work
out that way.
Vector Drain (aka command grab, grab)
------------
hcb+punch
Damage - 2000
Range - 42 pixels
[6/1/23]
Listed here for ease of comparison to the other throws, the specifics of this
move are in the 'Special Moves' Section.
-----------------------
GROOVE-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
-----------------------
S-Groove Dodge Punch
--------------------
800,800 -1/-1 x/o/o,x/o/o [5/6/22]
Morrigan's bufferable move out of a dodge, it's a modified version of her close
fierce. Unlike the normal fierce, this is not only bufferable into special
moves, the second, fully extended part is bufferable also. On the flip side,
the +2 advantage from the normal close fierce has been downgraded to a -2. Also
loses the ability to chain into a roundhouse.
As far as dodge moves go, this move really sucks. Range is crap, and Morrigan
doesn't have anything good to buffer it into anyway.
S-Groove Dodge Kick
-------------------
1100,700 DOWN/+2 x/x/x,x/x/x [10/9/22]
Morrigan's knockdown move out of a dodge. Pretty much the exact same thing as
Morrigan's regular standing roundhouse except that it knocks down.
Another crappy dodge move, it's too slow and the range is too small for it to
be an effective move to punish dodged moves with.
Counter Attack (aka alpha counter)
--------------
600 DOWN/-38 [4/21/32] invul: [4 full/6 lower body]
A less invincible version of Morrigan's strong uppercut, use this as you would
any other alpha counter: to get out of the corner or to avoid guard break.
Do NOT alpha counter jump ins or shorts and jabs! Your opponent will be able to
block the uppercut and have fun with you when you land.
Set ups after a connected alpha counter vary depending on the distance you
alpha countered the opponent at, but a point blank alpha counter results in a
really weird situation where your uppercut crosses up the opponent in the air
and you land right next to them. The best option from there is to do a simple
RC grab/low short mix up from there.
---------------
COMMAND NORMALS
---------------
Shell Kick (aka drill kick, drill)
----------
in air, D+roundhouse
300x3 +7/+16 -/x/x [7/GROUND/7]
A useful move against opponents who try to stick out moves to snuff Morrigan's
flying, this move will counter their counters pretty much every time. Against
those people who try to jab Morrigan out of the air (and people inexperienced
against Morrigan always do) drilling them works wonders. Comboing off of the
drill on the ground is kinda random, but still possible nonetheless. Even
better, buffering into Darkness Illusion is not only possible, but really easy
to do on reaction since the move is three hits.
This move also alters the trajectory of Morrigan's jump. If done while jumping
straight up, Morrigan will always start to drop as soon as she does the move
and will add like -5 mph to her momentum. For example, if Morrigan does this
move while jumping straight up she'll start moving backwards. If she does it
while jumping forward she'll drop down pretty sharply (is that a word?). This
can be used to your advantage. For instance, a very common set up with Morrigan
is to knock the opponent down, fly, land, and fly again to cross them up so
that they have to block the other way. After playing against the same people
for a while they'll get used to it and start blocking it, so you can mix it up
with fly, land, then jump and drill which will look similar but will stay in
front of the opponent. If they blocked the other way like usual the drill will
hit them (and you combo into DI).
A funky quirk about this move is that it can be blocked low, so mainly use it
to counter moves or for the set up above. In non-run grooves you can use the
move as a pseudo low jump but you shouldn't be using Morrigan in a non low jump
move anyway.
-------------
SPECIAL MOVES
-------------
Soul Fist (aka fireball)
---------
qcf+punch
700,800,900 -4/-5 [18|38]
The damage readings are for the jab, strong, and fierce versions,
respectively.
The start up time for the fireball is hideously slow at 18 frames... good luck
trying to combo into it. However, that can work FOR you sometimes, as an
opponent who jumped right when you threw the fireball will often land right on
it since it took so long to come out.
The recovery time on the fireball is quite a bit faster than average, though,
and that's definitely a good thing. In fact, full screen jab fireballs are
pretty much totally safe except against really big jumps like Bison's; if they
try to RC something through it or even level 3 through the fireball from full
screen, 99% of the time you'll be fully recovered in time to block it (or even
better, uppercut it). If the move was done earlier so that it would hit your
recovery, their invincibility will run out right when they're on the fireball
every time. Free knock down! Her full screen jab fireball is so good it's often
a good idea to back dash to achieve that distance and start throwing fireballs
to build meter.
Unfortunately, Morrigan has one of those dissipating fireballs. Jab fireball
goes about 80% of the way across the screen, but that's still the one that
you should do from full screen since it's 99% safe. The strong and fierce ones
can be punished with supers. The purpose of the full screen fireball is to
build meter, stall, and to entice your opponent into making a mistake.
As a footsie tool, the fireball is just way too slow to work. Against
characters who hopelessly outmatch you on the ground like Cammy, though, RC
fireball is sometimes your only option to push her out and get some breathing
room.
Mid-Air Soul Fist (aka air fireball)
-----------------
in air, qcf+punch
700,800,900 -10/-10 [18|GROUND/4]
The damage readings are for the jab, strong, and fierce versions,
respectively.
Don't ever, ever, EVEREVEREVEREVER (it's hard to type Smokey impressions) use
this move. Unless your opponent is a total moron they'll roll through it on
reaction and punish you every time. The move is so bad people actually laugh
whenever I use it (and I only use when I'm messing around anyway).
Shadow Blade (aka uppercut)
------------
dp+punch
jab: 1500,800 DOWN/-29 [4/16/28] invul: [4 full/3 feet]
strong: 1600,800 DOWN/-38 [4/21/32] invul: [7 full/3 feet]
fierce: 1700,800 DOWN/-45 [4/24/36] invul: [7 full/3 feet]
First damage reading is for a "deep" uppercut. Second damage
reading refers to the air-borne portion of the uppercut.
While the invul frame data suggests otherwise, this uppercut is notorious for
having low priority. The frame data is actually correct, it's just that the
hitbox at the beginning of the move is REALLY low to the ground. If you need
a visual just do the uppercut to a grounded opponent and see where Morrigan's
wing is. So to get the uppercut to work properly and not trade hits (AND get
the full damage out of it) you have to do it really deep, preferably from a
crouch. Think ST's O.Sagat.
There's actually one reason to get your uppercut to trade hits on purpose. You
can juggle a mid-air Darkness Illusion from it! Kinda like how Kyo can juggle
an Orochinagi super off of his traded uppercut. Although the combo is really
damaging (and a guaranteed crowd pleaser), I just do a super uppercut instead
since that's a whole lot easier to do. Juggling the mid-air DI after a traded
uppercut is pretty tough to do consistently.
Similar to Ken's fierce uppercut, Morrigan's fierce uppercut has a HUGE arc to
it, enough so that it will cross up your opponent if blocked at point blank
range. This means charge characters can't do anything really threatening if
they block it other than maybe a low forward into upward ball. Also, people
inexperienced against Morrigan tend to mess up punishing the fierce uppercut
for some reason, as I land another fierce uppercut after I land a lot more
often than I really should. If your opponent happened to roll when you did your
fierce uppercut (it does happen sometimes) or jumped over you, the uppercut
takes you so far that most of time you're totally safe. However, not only will
the uppercut not opponents jumping directly on top of your head (think Bison's
jumping roundhouse when you're in the corner), you'll actually take the hit
ON THE GROUND so that they'll be able to be a full jump in combo. That's a dead
Morrigan. When in doubt, just roll instead.
If an opponent tech rolls your fierce uppercut, just walk up and sweep (or if
you're REALLY good, low fierce into DI). Against a non-tech roll groove, you
have a really good cross up off of it: fly for a split second until you reach
your opponent's feet, then tap up for a split second and let go. Hit forward
on the way down. It's another one of those random ambiguous cross ups that
neither player knows which way to block.
Vector Drain (aka command grab, grab)
------------
hcb+punch
Damage - 2000
Range - 42 pixels
[6/1/23]
A HUGE addition to Morrigan's game, this move solves many problems that you
might have. Let me rephrase that. A ROLL CANCELLED grab solves many problems
that you might have, and adds a very powerful mix up to your arsenal on a
grounded opponent.
Knock down your opponent, then get right over them and do an RC grab as they're
getting up. If your opponent is hitting buttons, wakes up with an uppercut OR
most level 3 supers, or just sits there and blocks you get free damage or get
your opponent to waste his level 3 super. Only stationary level 3's like Ryu's
hurricane kick super or Blanka's ground shaving super will hit an RC grab. If
your opponent wakes up and activates CC, their first move will go right through
you while you're still invincible, and you'll recover and be able to uppercut
them for free.
There's only three (non-super) ways to escape an RC grab:
1) Throw it
2) Jump
3) Dash/back dash
If an opponent jumps straight up out of your grab, you have plenty of time to
uppercut him on his way down. Same with if he's going to jump forward (and
nobody does that anyway). Jumping back is safe, but in the corner he can't do
that either. Dashing over the grab is relatively safe (all dashes are airborne
so you can't punish them with anything really damaging except single hit moves
and supers) and also gives the opportunity to actually punish the whiffed grab,
but getting a reversal wake up dash is really hard and 99% of players can't do
it consistently. More often than not they'll take a hit while standing (or just
get grabbed) while trying. The most consistent counter to RC grab is throwing
it, and attempts to throw an RC grab can easily be countered with low short
(into combo). In fact low short counters ANYTHING your opponent tries to
avoid the grab, and RC grab will counter everything else. A near perfect 50/50
mix up.
The other main way to land the grab on an opponent is after a flying move or a
low short. The frame advantage on either is usually enough so that you can walk
up to your opponent and do the exact same mix up as if they were getting up.
Unfortunately, a successful command grab doesn't guarantee any mix ups unless
your opponent was in or near the corner. You land all the way across the screen
from your opponent, so just throw jab fireballs from there and build meter. If
you grabbed your opponent in the corner you get a great opportunity.
Immediately throw a meaty jab fireball upon landing, then immediately fly and
do a free attack which block-combos off of the fireball. Mix up from there, or
do standing strong into another fireball and follow up on that to work the
guard bar.
Outside of mix ups and baiting supers/CCs, RC grab can be used as a
pseudo-dodge move. Even if RCed, the move still has a vulnerable point at the
end of it so use in moderation.
By itself, Morrigan's command grab has even less range than a normal throw.
Roll cancelling it, however, gives it quite a bit more range. Still pretty
short-ranged, though. A RC grab has just enough range to snag an opponent who
just blocked a point blank low short.
Waking up with RC grab is also very effective, as it's just as effective and
much safer than waking up with an uppercut. However, your opponent has several
more (and easier) options to counter wake-up RC grab then when they're the ones
on the ground:
1) Throw it (nobody tries this because it's risky)
2) Walk back just out of range, bait a whiffed grab, punish
3) Dash over it, punish
4) Jump straight up slightly early, come down with a full combo.
Options 3 and 4 can be punished easily if you simply get up normally. Option 2
is the safest one for your opponent, and if you get up with nothing then you
safely got up without have to go through any of your opponents wake-up games.
Just the threat of being able to wake up with RC grab is a big benefit.
Lastly, if you're knocked down and your opponent crosses you up, try to do an
RC grab. If done successfully, one of two things will happen:
1) You will get a reversal RC grab, causing your opponent's cross up to whiff.
An immediate RC grab AGAIN after the whiffed grab animation has a great
rate here.
2) You will get a backwards jab uppercut. Oddly enough, the jab uppercut beats
most cross ups clean. For those who don't know, the best way to uppercut
cross ups is: f,db,d,db+p. It overlaps with the RC command grab input.
-----------
SUPER MOVES
-----------
Soul Phoenix (aka super fireball)
------------
qcfx2+punch
lv1: 2100 DOWN/-2 [4:6|41] invul: [7 full]
lv2: 3200 DOWN/+1 [4:6|41] invul: [12 full]
lv3: 4700 DOWN/+4 [4:6|41] invul: [19 full]
Speed and damage are pretty crappy, but the +4 advantage on the level 3 makes
it a safe move to wake up with. Other than that I don't really use this much,
but you combo deficient people can combo a super fireball off of a point blank
low foward.
Mid-Air Soul Phoenix (aka super air fireball)
--------------------
in air, qcfx2+punch
lv1: 1900 DOWN/-11 [4:14|GROUND/7] invul: [7 full]
lv2: 2900 DOWN/-8 [4:14|GROUND/7] invul: [12 full]
lv3: 4400 DOWN/-5 [4:14|GROUND/7] invul: [19 full]
This is even worse than the regular air fireball. Don't use this move. The ONE
use for this move is to jump at your opponent to bait an uppercut or super and
super fireball it. For that purpose, you'll have a much higher success rate
AND get a lot more damage if you use the mid-air Darkness Illusion super
instead. It's a lot safer too.
Cardinal Blade (aka uppercut super)
--------------
qcfx2+kick
lv1: 3000 DOWN/-37 [4:4{3/3/2/4/4/4/4/4}32] invul: [8 full]
lv2: 4500 DOWN/-37 [4:4{3/3/2/4/4/4/4/4}32] invul: [14 full]
lv3: 5900 DOWN/-37 [4:4{3/3/2/4/4/4/4/4}32] invul: [22 full]
Fairly standard anti-air super. Does pretty good damage if you get all the
hits, but like Morrigan's regular uppercut, you have to do it super deep to get
the best results. If you don't get the full 8 hits you'll only net yourself
4800 damage... which is pretty crappy.
On the plus side, the first part of the super seems to have a HUGE hit box.
It will catch opponent's directly over your head when it totally looks like
it's gonna miss.
Since it's a super, opponents can't tech roll after getting hit by it so it's
a free cross up. Wait about half a second after landing, then fly until you
reach your opponent's feet. Immediately hold up until Morrigan drops down on
her own, then hit forward on the way down.
Valkyrie Turn (aka teleport)
-------------
(also in air) HCB+kick, press kick again to attack
Take off: [4:79] invul: [83]
Hold down: [12/4] invul: [12]
Neutral: [51/4] invul: [51]
Hold up: [66/4] invul: [66]
Attack: 200 each hit, +11/+11 [16/GROUND/3]
The level of the super determines how rapid the hits are.
Again, the best way to think of this move is as a teleport that costs a meter.
Morrigan is fully invicible on the way out AND all the way back until she
touches the ground. From there, she has a small 4 frame vulnerablity window
that hardly anybody ever punishes.
Holding down on the stick as Morrigan comes back causes her to quickly land
right next to the side of the screen she flew out of. This is usually the best
and safest option.
Leaving the stick in a neutral position causes her glide in fairly high and
land in the middle of the screen. Still somewhat safe.
Holding up on the stick causes Morrigan to fly in REALLY high, and SLOWLY land
at the opposite end of the screen. Don't ever use his one because it's really
easy to punish.
Hitting the kick button on the way back negates the invincibility, but will
usually counter an opponent's attempt to sit there and hit you when you land.
If you get your opponent to block the drill, not only is the move safe, you get
a +11 advantage to work with. Getting your opponent to block a level 1 drill
will get you about 8% chip damage and 30% guard bar. A level 3 drill (which you
should NEVER use) gets upwards of 20% chip and 60% guard bar. Hitting your
opponent with the drill will probably never happen except in a few very rare
situations (like teleporting away from a Dhalsim flame super) so don't worry
about those specifics. It's really easy to combo off of though.
The two best uses for the teleport are:
1) to get out of the corner, and:
2) to bait supers and CCs
Usage 1) is self explanatory. Usage 2) is pretty simple too. Fly at your
in an obvious manner when he has a level 3 ready and teleport right before the
point where he would super you. Not a very recommended option, but it's still
there nonetheless.
Even if you didn't plan on doing so, when flying at your opponent and you see
a super flash signaling that you're going to get smacked in the face, try to
teleport out of there even if you have a move out. Sometimes you'll be able
to pull it off and save your ass. Besides, it doesn't hurt to try. You're gonna
get rocked anyway.
Unfortunately, I accidentally get this move a lot more often than I would like
when I try to get an RC grab. To help prevent this, try holding down jab and
short when inputting the RC grab command to eliminate the chance of negative
edge'ing it.
Darkness Illusion (aka Raging Demon, DI)
-----------------
(level 3 only) jab,jab,F,short,fierce
6000 DOWN/-27 [5:4/44/13]
Invul information for this move is currently unknown. There's
a good amount of it, though.
This move is the clincher. Morrigan has tons of set ups to land this (see mix
up section), and if she does combo into it successfully the combo can do
upwards of 75% damage to her opponent. Nice!
As a result, when you are powered up and ready to go your opponents will
usually go into a really defensive mode. Many try to run away. This is the real
test of a Morrigan player's skills. Do you successfully find a way to get in
before your meter runs out? Or do you kill yourself in the process by
overzealously flying into waiting fists?
Outside of combos the move has a few uses as well. Aside from its clunky input
command, it's a pretty decent all-purpose super; it goes through fireballs,
hits outstretched pokes, and it anti-airs well also.
For anti-air it works especially well against P-Groove. If they parry the first
hit, they HAVE to parry the whole entire thing unless they can do a perfectly
timed air-teleport or mid-air super to get out of there. Only a handful of
characters can do that (none of which you are likely to fight against...
especially using P-Groove), and NOBODY can parry the entire super consistently.
Hell, most people don't even get the first set of hits!
Unfortunately, the same thing doesn't apply to K-Groove. They only need one
Just Defend and they're done.
As with all "Raging Demon" type commands, Morrigan's Darkness Illusion can
be used to cancel ANY ground normal move, at any time. You can use this to your
advantage by doing goofy tricks like intentionally whiffing a low roundhouse,
then cancelling into DI as your opponent tries to punish your whiff.
Lastly, the move works well as an anti-air to straight up jumps. People tend to
that a lot against Morrigan, especially Blanka and Bison. Kill it!
Mid-Air Darkness Illusion (aka air Raging Demon, air DI)
-------------------------
(level 3 only) in air, jab,jab,F,short,fierce
5600 DOWN/-29 [5:48/GROUND/4]
Again, invul information is currently unknown for this move. It seems to have
even more than the grounded version.
As with all other specials/supers, Morrigan cannot perform this move during a
low jump.
Aside from a few quirky combos (see combo section), the only use I have for
this super is against people who jump around to avoid Morrigan. Super jump at
your opponent and start inputting the DI command. If they happen to be in the
air also, finish the command and watch the fireworks fly.
Haphazardly super jumping at your opponent while inputting the DI command
obviously isn't the safest thing to do, but for some reason I hardly ever get
punished for it even if my opponent didn't even jump. Shrug.
-------------------------------
QUICK REFERENCE FRAME DATA LIST
-------------------------------
Close Standing Jab 300 +5/+5 o/o/o [2/3/7]
Far Standing Jab 200 +5/+5 o/o/o [3/3/7]
Close Standing Strong 600 -6/-6 x/o/o [4/12/14]
Far Standing Strong 600 +3/+3 x/o/o [4/10/10]
Close Standing Fierce 800 +2/+2 x/x/x [5/6/22]
Far standing Fierce 900 -6/-6 x/x/x [8/4/26]
Standing Short 300 +5/+5 o/o/o [4/3/7]
Standing Forward 700 +4/+4 x/x/o [6/11/8]
Close Standing Roundhouse 1300 -6/-6 x/x/x [7{3/3/3/3}27]
Far Standing Roundhouse 1100 +2/+2 x/x/x [10/9/22]
Crouching Jab 300 +6/+6 x/x/o [3{3/3}6]
Crouching Strong 600 +2/+2 x/o/o [4/15/6]
Crouching Fierce 800 -3/-3 x/x/x [8/3/24]
Crouching Short 200 +5/+5 x/o/o [3/3/7]
Crouching Forward 500 +4/+4 x/o/o [4/11/8]
Crouching Roundhouse 900 DN/-5 x/x/o [7/4/25]
Jumping Jab 500 -/- -/o/o [4/22]
Jumping Strong 700 -/- -/x/o [5/10]
Jumping Fierce 1200 -/- -/x/x [10/10]
Jumping Short 500 -/- -/o/o [2/22]
Jumping Forward 700 -/- -/x/o [5/9]
Jumping Roundhouse 1100 -/- -/x/o [6/7]
Shell Kick 300x3 +7/+16 -/x/x [7/GROUND/7]
Punch Throw 1700 - 52 pixel range [3/1/13]
Kick Throw 1900 - 52 pixel range [5/1/13]
Air Throw 2000 - 24 vert, 24~32 horizontal [1]
Vector Drain 2000 - 42 pixel range [6/1/23]
Soul Fist 700,800,900 -4/-5 [18|38]
Mid-Air Soul Fist 700,800,900 -10/-10 [18|GROUND/4]
Vector Drain 2000 - 42 pixel range [6/1/23]
Shadow Blade
jab: 1500,800 DOWN/-29 [4/16/28] invul: [4 full/3 feet]
strong: 1600,800 DOWN/-38 [4/21/32] invul: [7 full/3 feet]
fierce: 1700,800 DOWN/-45 [4/24/36] invul: [7 full/3 feet]
Soul Phoenix
lv1: 2100 DOWN/-2 [4:6|41] invul: [7 full]
lv2: 3200 DOWN/+1 [4:6|41] invul: [12 full]
lv3: 4700 DOWN/+4 [4:6|41] invul: [19 full]
Mid-Air Soul Phoenix
lv1: 1900 DOWN/-11 [4:14|GROUND/7] invul: [7 full]
lv2: 2900 DOWN/-8 [4:14|GROUND/7] invul: [12 full]
lv3: 4400 DOWN/-5 [4:14|GROUND/7] invul: [19 full]
Cardinal Blade
lv1: 3000 DOWN/-37 [4:4{3/3/2/4/4/4/4/4}32] invul [8 full]
lv2: 4500 DOWN/-37 [4:4{3/3/2/4/4/4/4/4}32] invul [14 full]
lv3: 5900 DOWN/-37 [4:4{3/3/2/4/4/4/4/4}32] invul [22 full]
Darkness Illusion 6000 DOWN/-27 [5:4/44/13]
Air Darkness Illusion 5600 DOWN/-29 [5:0/48/GROUND/4]
Valkyrie Turn
Take off: [4:79] invul: [83]
Hold down: [12/4] invul: [12]
Neutral: [51/4] invul: [51]
Hold up: [66/4] invul: [66]
Attack: 200 each hit, +11/+11 [16/GROUND/3]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
==========
3. FLYING!
==========
It's the reason we all pick Morrigan! Anyway, here's some things you should
know about Morrigan's flying abilities beforehand.
- Flying is accomplished by hitting f,f on the stick and holding it. DUH!
- A quick tap on f,f is what people other than myself refer to as Morrigan's
"triangle jump". I just call it flying. Shrug. I'll be referring to this a
lot though, so to make this guide a lot easier to write I'll be referring to
those quick little flight bursts as "dashes". Anyway, dashes are good for
quick overheads on opponents and crossing them up. A dash will fly over any
opponent under the height of 77 (<shameless plug>see my systems guide for a
complete height chart. </shameless plug>). In English, that means you can't
quickly cross up a crouching Sagat... you either have to do a normal/low jump
or fly forward a bit longer.
- If you do a quick dash, you'll notice that Morrigan will fly forward for a
short pre-determined distance before she drops. During that little upwards
burst NO inputs are valid. From here on, that initial period in Morrigan's
flight where no inputs are valid will be referred to as umm... the "burst".
Heh. I was never noted for my creativity.
- Morrigan flies at an angle of approximately 30 degrees. She can change her
angle to a much steeper upwards angle of about 75 degrees at any point in her
flight after the burst. Since Morrigan cannot fly at the steeper angle until
after the burst, you can't really use it up close to avoid things. Use a
normal jumping shell kick for that purpose instead.
- Once Morrigan reaches the top of the screen she'll automatically drop down.
Morrigan drops down at an angle of about -75 degrees.
- Morrigan can cancel her flight at any time after the burst by letting go of
the stick and/or sticking out an attack. Attacking automatically causes
Morrigan to drop down.
- If Morrigan sticks out an attack after flying over her opponent, she will
automatically turn around in the air and attack in correct direction. ANY
move can used as a cross up in this fashion. However, there is a small "gray
area" directly above the opponent's head in which Morrigan may or may not
attack in the right direction. In this case I would always advise for you to
use Morrigan's jumping forward kick since it's a natural cross up on its own.
It will always hit in the right direction no matter what. This is also very
difficult for your opponent to block since even YOu don't know which
direction Morrigan is going to kick in. If Morrigan doesn't switch directions
in the air, the opponent generally just has to block high normally (but
sometimes not if you cross up a downed opponent really deep!), if Morrigan
turns around in the air the opponent will always have to block it in the
opposite direction.
- From here on in the guide, crossing up with forward kick WITHOUT switching
directions in the air will be referred to as a "natural cross up". Cross ups
which involve a directional change in the air will simply be referred to as
"cross ups" or "turn-around cross ups".
- Morrigan always has a 2 frame recovery period upon landing from a flight,
whether she stuck out a move or not. This is almost never capitalized on by
the opponent except sometimes by Custom Combos which start with a low
forward. Even those miss 99% of the time, though. One result of the 2 frame
recovery that DOES suck is that it makes it harder to do an empty dash and
land with an immediate low short. If you do it too early nothing comes out
at all, and if you hit your 2 hit chains really quickly like me you'll land
with a low fierce instead of a low short.
- Morrigan has access to anything during a flight that she would normally be
able to do during a regular jump; special moves, her command normal (shell
kick), mid-air supers, etc. The only exception to this rule is K-Groove
Morrigan cannot Just Defend while flying.
- As far as ground games go, the dash is obviously really useful for going over
low moves like ground fireballs, slides and Cammy's Cannon Drill. However, it
has another oft-ignored function in being a great way to close in your
opponent after he whiffs a move. A person's instinctive reaction after
whiffing a move is to try to block low so that if the opponent is slow to
punish their whiff with a sweep then they're still ok. You can use that
brief moment of uncertainty to get a quick dash in on your opponent without
having to worry about flying into a random fist. One of the better ways to
get in. Some people experienced with fighting against Morrigan will try to
immediately stick something else out after whiffing a move to stop your dash.
In this case just wait for it and punish the whiffed move with a low
roundhouse.
- Morrigan's flying ability makes opponent's really fidgety: they whiff tons of
standing moves hoping Morrigan will fly into them, they do tons of random
uppercuts and waste lots of level 3 supers. Always keep this in mind when
flying around opponents. You will usually have to repeatedly RC grab your
opponents until they get the idea to stop uppercutting and wasting their
meter.
- Conversely, when Morrigan is close to the opponent and has the initiative
most people will not press on anything and instead concentrate on trying to
block whatever Morrigan does next. Use this to your advantage by getting lots
of walk up low short/throw mix ups and NORMAL jump cross ups. Why normal jump
cross ups? Not only because they're safer and set up tons of stuff, but
because people tend to block Morrigan's normal jump cross up in the wrong
direction. Don't ask me. Maybe the think she's gonna turn around and kick in
the air or something.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================
4. COMBOS YOU SHOULD KNOW
=========================
NOTE: I'm not going to go and list every single Morrigan combo here. I'm just
going to list the practical ones you should use in certain situations to help
you win some games. Again, I only use Morrigan in run-grooves. No custom combos
here.
DISTANCE 1
----------
Distance 1 is point blank range. The only way to get Distance 1 combos with any
sort of jump in is to get a natural cross up with jumping forward kick. If you
omit the jump-in, these are the combos to do if you get a big opening like a
whiffed uppercut.
-Natural cross up forward, low short, low strong, low forward, low roundhouse
(2900)
From here on, that 4 specific hit chain will simply be referred to as... a 4
hit chain! Not Earth-shattering damage or anything but it gets the job done as
well as knock down the opponent for a pretty good set up. Also builds a lot of
meter; just a little less than half a bar.
-Natural cross up forward, close standing strong, fierce uppercut (3000)
This does 100 more damage, offers a WAY better set up afterwards, does a TON
more stun damage (30 points), and also puts you in a way better position to
punish tech-rollers. So why would you do the 4 hit chain instead? Simple. The
4-hit chain combo gives you plenty of time for your mind to see whether the
combo is hitting the opponent or not and lets you change your gameplan
accordingly. This combo... if your opponent blocks the natural cross up forward
and you stop at the close strong, Morrigan is left at a pretty hefty -6
disadvantage. That's a free combo. Now, you COULD substitute the close strong
for a much safer low strong but I'm too scrubby and I'll always get a low
strong into low fierce chain instead of a strong into uppercut. Do as you see
fit.
-Natural cross up forward, standing short, standing strong, standing forward,
low roundhouse (3200)
A lot of people will see this standing 4 hit chain combo does more damage than
the standard crouching 4 hit chain and wonder why I don't do this instead. The
main source of the extra damage in the standing chain is the standing forward,
which does an extra 200 points. The problem is, whenever I use standing forward
in chains instead of the low forward once in a while I'll get pushed out of
range of the low roundhouse... the most important part of the chain. I'm
guessing this happens because the standing forward is a little slower than the
low forward. Anyway, getting a knockdown 100% of the time on my combos is a lot
more important to me than getting 300 more damage. Use this combo on fatter
characters if you want, I generally don't like to have to think about that sort
of thing.
DISTANCE 2
----------
This is the distance you land at whenever you do a normal jump-in on the
opponent. In Morrigan's case, you generally get this distance when you dash at
them from up close and DON'T cross them up.
-Jumping fierce/roundhouse/forward, low short, low strong, low roundhouse
(2900/2800/2400 damage, respectively)
From here on that specific 3 hit chain will be referred to as "3 hit chain".
Yes, I know. Originality comes flying out my ears.
At this distance I would recommend always flying in with forward instead of
fierce or roundhouse: You eliminate the chance of flying over your opponent
without a natural cross up AND because you need to stick out a fast move to
help reduce the chance of you getting knocked out of the air. For a normal jump
in (which does come in handy some times) I would use jumping fierce.
-Jumping fierce/roundhouse/forward, standing short, standing forward, low
roundhouse (3100/3000/2600 respectively)
More damage than the previous combo, but same story as the above standing chain
combo.
DISTANCE 3
----------
You generally get this distance when you cross up your opponent by flying over
them (as opposed to natural cross ups) or by hitting with a flying move near
its max range. If you DID hit at its max range, just do follow with an
immediate low roundhouse.
-Jumping fierce/roundhouse/forward, low short, low roundhouse
(2300/2200/1800 respectively)
From here on, low short into low roundhouse will be referred to as "2 hit
chain".
Damage isn't too hot, but you can't beat this combo in terms of reliability.
-Jumping fierce/roundhouse/forward, standing forward, low roundhouse
(2800/2700/2300 respectively)
This combo is actually really reliable if you cross your opponent up. If
hitting from the front I'd play it safe with the above 2 hit chain instead.
TIPS FOR COMBOING INTO DARKNESS ILLUSION
----------------------------------------
Kinda like a preface to the DI combo section, if you can't do DI combos, you
really shouldn't be using Morrigan. She's exponentially less threatening
without the ability of overhead/cross up into DI.
-Normal moves (and chains!) can be cancelled into DI-type command moves at ANY
TIME. Even before and after the normal buffering window of the move. If the DI
isn't coming out at all in your combo, that just means you didn't input the
DI command correctly.
-If you access to the home version (and I'm pretty sure 99.9% of people reading
this guide do) turn on the key display in training mode. The most common errors
in the DI input occur at the point between the jabs and the short; the part
where you hit towards on the stick. People usually hit short BEFORE they hit
towards on the stick, or they hit towards and short at the same time. That
doesn't work. You have to hit towards on the stick (after the jab jab) THEN hit
the short button.
-If you find yourself creeping back to the bad habit of hitting towards on the
stick at the wrong time, try hitting towards a lot harder than you normally
would. It sounds kinda dumb, but it does work for a lot of people.
-The second most common error is that people don't press jab twice like they
should. It doesn't sound like a likely error to make, but people trying to get
the DI out as fast as they can sometimes don't let the button go up completely
before pressing the second jab. The result is they press jab again when the
button is still down, giving you one jab instead of two. If you're doing this
(check the key display!) try hitting the individual jabs harder. Heh. Force
solves everything.
-If you're STILL having problems getting the DI to come out at all during a
combo, you might be trying to do it too fast. Try slowing it down a bit (or
even a lot) and see if you have any success.
-If you are successfully getting the DI to come out, but can't consistently do
it fast enough to be a combo you should definitely stick to 2 hit chains. 2 hit
chains give you a lot more time to input the motion and leave your opponent
closer to you so that the DI reaches them faster.
How do 2 hit chains give you more time to buffer? You can input a 2 hit chain
as fast as you can and the second hit will always come out, giving you a good
amount of time to free up your hand for the DI command.
-Hit jabs with your index finger, short with your thumb, and fierce with your
ring finger. People who try to do the whole thing with their index finger
almost never get it fast enough.
-Cliched as it might sound, practice! It took me a few training mode sessions
to iron out all my bad habits and get a success rate of better than 9/10. The
good thing is, once you can do it consistently you generally don't forget how.
I haven't really had to maintain my combo ability with further training
sessions that much.
DARKNESS ILLUSION COMBOS
------------------------
Self explanatory, I hope. Jump ins will be omitted from this section. All
combo damage was found for N-Groove (the groove I use). All the different run
grooves have different damage bonuses, so your results may differ.
Those 2/3/4 hit chains I mentioned above? When I use them here substitute low
roundhouse for low fierce. Hehe.
-2 hit chain, DI (7200)
By far the most dependable DI combo I can find, this combo gives you plenty of
time to buffer the DI and also works from any distance. If the low short hits,
the DI WILL hit if you're fast enough. This single combo accounts for 99.99%
of my DI combos. The only hiccup in this combo method is if you accidentally
get standing fierce, occasionally you'll get a close fierce which sometimes
whiffs. That really really really REALLY sucks, so just practice it enough and
you should be really consistent with this method.
With a flying forward kick added, this combo does a hefty 8120 damage, about
75% of a ratio 1 character.
-low short, standing close/far roundhouse, DI (7800/7560 respectively)
Beginning Morrigan players generally work with this method for a while since
the close roundhouse gives you all the time you could possibly need to buffer
into DI. Does more damage too. The reason I don't use this? At the distance
the above combo gets the whiffed standing fierce, this combo gets a 2 hit
close roundhouse which gives you VERY little time to buffer into DI. Doing the
above combo I can usually see that my close fierce whiffed and stop the combo.
The 2 hit roundhouse doesn't give me that luxury, and will most likely result
in a blocked DI. Bad.
Also, if you're actually USING the extra time the close roundhouse gives you
to buffer into DI, chances are you'll miss your combo at any other range. On
something as important as landing a DI, I don't like to think about ranges so
I use my all-purpose combo above. Lastly, standing roundhouse has less range
than low fierce so you'll whiff the roundhouse after a max range low short on
occasion.
-3 hit chain, DI (7920)
A "distance 2" combo, this gives you a LOT more ways to mess up than the 2 hit
chain. If the extra damage is worth it to you and you can do this consistently,
go right ahead and do this combo.
-4 hit chain, DI (8520)
A distance 1 combo.
-4 hit STANDING chain, DI (9000)
Another distance 1 combo, you have to be pretty quick with your DIs to pull
this off. That's some hefty damage though. 9840 if you add a jumping forward
cross up! Who knew Morrigan could hit so hard?
-Jumping jab, mid-air DI (6200)
This gives you instant guaranteed crowd appeal!
A handy combo to use against who keep jumping up and down against Morrigan,
particularly C-Groove players. The one hit juggle potential of the mid-air DI
lets hit it off of a jumping jab, but there's a catch: the opponent cannot be
higher than you in the air. If that happens, the jumping jab pops your opponent
even higher and your DI will harmlessly sail right under them. Also, the closer
you are to your opponent in the air the better. Max range jumping jabs don't
tend to combo into DI well.
Against C-Groove, an air-blocked jumping jab will pretty much ALWAYS
successfully lead to a connected mid-air DI. If they air block it above
Morrigan they'll fall into the DI, and if they're below her for some reason it
still seems to hit almost every time. It also looks pretty funny. It kinda
looks like a guard break in MvC2.
-Shell Kick, mid-air DI (7080)
The Shell Kick has many uses listed in the move lists section, and has the
added benefit of snagging C-Groove opponents who jump back from Morrigan a lot.
They'll air-block the shell kick, but you can easily see that and buffer into
mid-air DI on reaction. Shell Kick into mid-air DI is one of the easiest ways
to combo into DI from a technical point of view. The three hits of the kick
give you plenty of time both to input the command and lets you see whether the
move is being hit or blocked before you make your decision.
-Trade anti-air fierce uppercut, mid-air DI (7328)
Has to be a mid-air DI since that's the only move Morrigan has with juggle
potential on the first hit.
This was gonna be my super secret "Save It For Super Battle Opera" trick, but
I couldn't get it consistently enough so I dropped it from my game plan.
Morrigan's uppercut is notorious for trading with any high priority jump in
(coughcoughBison'sjumpingroundhousecoughcough), and I have a bad habit of doing
her super uppercut too early to get all the hits... this seemed like an ideal
solution. Plus it looks so KERAZY! B)
Anyway, to pull this off I'd advise hitting the jabs a lot later than you think
you have to. Not late enough so that you'll actually throw out a jab after you
leave hit stun, but only slightly earlier than that. Once you leave hit stun,
HOLD uf (so you don't get a low jump, which you cannot DI out of), hit short
then fierce and your mid-air DI should come out and juggle your bewildered
opponent. Make sure to do some kinda victory dance or pose if you do get it
(and make sure people are watching!) and claim one of the now-adoring females
out of the crowd.
-Anti air jab uppercut (REALLY early), mid-air DI (6560)
This is a lot easier to perform technically, but way harder to set up. Not half
as cool-looking, either. -_- Might be useful vs K groove to throw off
Just Defend timing though. Against P groove just do a DI by itself and laugh as
they try to parry it.
-Flying roundhouse, mid-air DI (6920)
A good way to punish tech rolls, since most of the time you can only get a max
range flying move into low roundhouse. To do this, hit roundhouse+jab together
twice (the first one acts as your kick, the second to complete your 2 jab
requirement), then towards, short, fierce.
-Low fierce, DI (6960)
Difficult to master (do it the same way as the above combo but substitute
fierce for roundhouse), but an incredibly powerful footsie tool for Morrigan if
you do learn it. This effectively patches up a big gap in Morrigan's ground
game: her inability to punish whiffs with anything damaging. It's not that hard
to do if you're well within range of the fierce, but once you approach its max
range things start to get difficult. Hitting out-stretched limbs and comboing
into DI isn't advised; it's not even possible usually.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
===============================
5. MIX UPS AND CROSS UP SET UPS
===============================
The heart of Morrigan's game! I try to free-style it as much as possible to
keep my opponents guessing... and Morrigan's repertoire of moves and funky
flying ability offers a lot room for creativity. Sometimes I'll bust out
something REALLY fancy for the kick of it... but it's hardly ever necessary.
Redundant, even. Fancier mix ups are generally harder to block, but are also
more likely to be interrupted by some random button press your opponent does.
I'll list the generic mix ups first, then the ones that you can only get after
specific set ups after.
GENERIC MIX UPS
---------------
What you'll be using most of the time. Knock down the opponent, get next to
them, pick a mix up and go with it.
1) Fly over opponent, cross up/natural cross up forward
2) RC grab
3) Walk up, low short
4) Fly over opponent, land low short/throw
5) Fly over opponent, land, dash forward kick
Option #1 is a mix up in itself. As I said before, there's a small "gray area"
directly over your opponent's head where you might either get a turn-around
cross up forward or a natural cross up forward. The opponent has to block the
natural cross up forward high, and they have to block the turn-around cross up
high in the OPPOSITE direction. Try to get a feel for where the "gray area" is
and exploit it as much as you can.
People experienced with fighting against Morrigan (there aren't many) will
eventually start to block your cross ups every now and then, which will force
you to add a second mix up: the RC grab.
The RC grab serves two major purposes:
1) It discourages your opponent from ever waking up with uppercuts/supers
2) It grabs people concentrating on blocking the cross up mix ups
This is a really powerful tool and can only really be countered by wake up
throws and certain stationary level 3 supers like Blanka's ground shave super.
The main drawback to using RC grab is that if done midscreen it doesn't set up
another mix up; the match is resetted and you have to work your way back in. If
done in the corner you get a great set up though, so I try to abuse it as much
as I can when I get into that position.
option #3 main function is to counter attempts to counter the RC grab. It
obviously doesn't beat level 3 supers, but if your opponent tries to throw you
out of your RC grab then you'll get a free combo starting with low short. It
also catches people who try to jump out when they get up... which can also be
quite an annoyance to Morrigan if you happen to be trying to dash at them.
Almost any attempt to jump straight up can be countered with a deep uppercut,
no matter what you happened to be doing at the time. Also, some people just
make a habit of blocking high against Morrigan as soon as they get up like
they're fighting Magneto or something. Low shorts will obviously snag that too.
Options #4 and #5 should be used mid-screen when your opponent is blocking your
cross ups and you don't want to give away your momentum with an RC grab. A
simple whiff jumping roundhouse into punch throw when you land works really
well and will usually dump your opponent right into the corner. You can have a
feast from there.
If you have a level 3 ready I'd advise to go for the whiff jumping roundhouse
into either a low short or immediate dashing forward kick. Way bigger payoff,
and you also have a time limit to land the super... meaning you'll have to make
your mix ups count.
SET-UP SPECIFIC MIX UPS
-----------------------
-After max range sweep:
1) Super jump natural cross up forward
2) Super jump whiff roundhouse, land low short/throw
3) Fly forward to opponent's feet, tap up for a split second, come down with
forward kick
Max range sweeps usually connect during footsies, but also after 4 hit chains.
Option #1 works much better on fatter characters like Sagat or Blanka since you
can hit the forward kick much later and force your opponent to block in the
opposite direction. Hit the button earlier and they have to block it normally,
resulting in an easy 50/50 mix up. Against skinny characters you HAVE to hit
the kick button early enough so that it doesn't whiff, and that will be a
generic easy to block cross up. Still not a bad idea to use against 99.99% of
America, though, since only like 3 people know how to consistently uppercut
cross ups. Once you get them to block the natural cross up you have a huge
frame advantage in your favor allowing you to do another mix up upon landing.
The last one is difficult to master but that can work in your favor, making the
resulting cross up even more difficult to predict and block on reaction.
Morrigan either comes down with a SUPER deep cross up forward or the kick is
done too early and she completely whiffs and she lands on either side of the
opponent. Since she seems to land directly in the middle of the rising opponent
neither person knows which side she's going to end up on. Woo! Scrubby mix ups
are the best!
-After NEAR max range sweep:
Usually the distance you're at after a connected cross up forward into 2 hit
chain.
1) Dash, dash cross up/natural cross up forward
2) Dash, jumping Shell Kick, DI
3) Dash, land, RC grab
4) Dash, empty dash low short/throw
5) Dash, empty dash, land, dash over opponent again
6) Fly, hold up all the way to the top of the screen, Generic Mix Ups
The nice thing about this range is that a simple dash will put you in the
perfect position to have several different mix ups at your disposal. The double
dashing also looks kinda cool. B)
Option #1 will get you a lot of mileage. Dash, dash and hit forward kick and
you'll generally fly over the opponent and cross them up so that they'll have
to block in the opposite direction. Do a two hit chain and it sets up the
exact same situation again.
It'll actually take quite a bit of play against the same people for them to
start blocking option #1. Even then, sometimes you'll randomly get a natural
cross up instead of a turn-around cross up which they'll have to block
NORMALLY, and that'll totally mess them up. And since it's a natural cross up
you get a fatter distance 1 combo also. When the opponent starts to catch on
and does start blocking option #1, option #2 looks almost exactly the same and
hits from the front, making it a great 50/50 mix up. If you don't have the
super ready to take advantage of option #2 do the other ones instead; Just the
shell kick by itself does piddly damage and it's hard to combo off of.
Option #6 works well if you're expecting your opponent to wake up with an
anti-air super or CC. Against supers like Bison's psycho crusher super or
Blanka's electric ball super it works great. Against anti-air supers that
actually go up like Cammy's up drill super or Blanka's ground shaving super do
the cross up later so that you'll be higher in the air when they do the super,
giving you time to air-teleport out of there.
-After fierce uppercut:
1) Dash, dash forward kick
2) Dash, walk forward a bit, RC grab
3) Fly, hold up for a bit, let go and immediately hit forward kick
4) Walk to opponent's feet, dash, Generic Mix Ups
Since you land fairly close to your opponent after a fierce uppercut option #1
will ALWAYS result in a turn-around cross up. Kind of limits its usefulness,
but on the other hand pretty much nobody in the world except for me and a
handful of other Morrigan players know the specifics of her set ups. Just be
aware that you don't really have anything that mixes up with option #1 well
besides option #2.
Option #3 is REALLY hard to block. It's actually pretty random which direction
you have to block in. This is the most desirable mix up option after a fierce
uppercut against non-tech roll grooves.
Option #4 is what you should use against tech roll grooves until you make them
finally stop doing it. If they tech roll, simply walk up and hit low
roundhouse. If not, generic mix ups work fine at that distance you walked to.
OPPONENT KNOCKED DOWN IN CORNER
-------------------------------
While these usually aren't quite as hard to block as the ones above, they're a
lot safer to perform since you have the cover of a super-meaty jab fireball to
fly behind. Also, RC grab is MUCH more potent in the corner since it actually
sets up another mix up here. Your opponent doesn't have the option of jumping
back from it either.
Any successful corner mix up sets up the super-meaty jab fireball well, which
sets up another corner mix up.
1) Super-meaty jab fireball, dash forward kick
2) Super-meaty jab fireball, dash fierce, dash forward kick
3) Super-meaty jab fireball, empty dash, land, RC grab
4) Super-meaty jab fireball, empty dash, low short
5) Super-meaty jab fireball, empty dash, dash forward kick
6) Super-meaty jab fireball, walk ALL the way up to opponent, RC grab
7) Super-meaty jab fireball, walk ALL the way up to opponent, low short
Option #1 is totally and completely safe. The dashing kick after the fireball
is actually an uninterruptable combo.
Option #2 works well once you've conditioned your opponent to not stick out
anything with option #1. The dashing fierce makes the subsequent dashing
forward kick 90% free; only uppercuts and supers are fast enough to interrupt
it. The option works well since you're also introducing the threat of a guard
break to your opponent.
Options #3-5 are all mix ups for opponents who block option #1. And it won't
take much time for them to start since the dashing forward kick is pretty slow.
Again, RC grab is the most reliable mix up, but mixing it up with a low short
or a second dash is recommended if you have a lv3 super ready to go.
Options #6-7 are also completely safe. Your opponent doesn't leave guard stun
from the fireball until you are right next to them. They leave guard stun just
in time for you to be able to RC grab them in one smooth motion. Again, the low
short is to counter attempts to counter the RC grab, making this a fully 50/50
mix up.
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6. STRATEGY
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Coming soon! Mwa ha ha ha....
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7. KEY MATCH UPS
================
This I'm DEFINITELY not going to give away until after Evolution. >:B
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8. CREDITS
==========
Inkblot
-For creating shoryuken.com, and in doing so, keeping the spirit of Street
Fighter alive.
Ponder
-For thanklessly running the B/Evolution series of tournaments every year,
which give us players a common goal to strive for.
Kao Megura
-For (unwittingly) providing this newbie FAQ writer with a template to go off
of.
Famitsu
-For creating the excellent Official Guidebook for CvS2 that I got all of my
frame data from.
Ohayo1234
-For making me practice a lot more than I would without any encouragement, for
showing me my bad habits and making me break them.
D44Bas
-For being a real down ass nig and giving us American players some insight to
the Japanese SF scene. Back ofu.
Choi
-For continually beating my ass and providing me with the motivation to better
myself (to eventually regulate on you).
Gunter
-For letting me and Ohayo use your place as our practice center. Hurry up and
move to Japan so I can use your place there, too. EHHH!
Jackie
-For being the coolest and somewhat understanding/putting up with me and my
gaming habit. <3.
Peace.
[email protected] - If you need to contact me, make the subject of your
mail something that will catch my eye, lest it gets thrown away with my junk
mail.
You can also reach me on AIM . My handle is Buktooth88, which is also my handle
on shoryuken.com if you want to message me there. Place I'm most likely to
respond to messages? Shoryuken.com.
