SvC Chaos: SNK Vs Capcom/Athena

Introduction

Well... Are you here because you thought that this was the Athena from KOF? Well... Those two can be the same person, but this Athena is based on the first Athena game (It was a platform game). She is (Without doubt) the weakest boss in the game, but she is pretty strong compared to some of the regular characters. Now, for her Good and Bad things:

Athena's Good and Bad Things:

Pros

Cons

Fun to play Small hitbox (She is a little taller than Zero but smaller than most characters) Some of the most damaging normals in the game Almost all of her normals can be cancelled Her arrows are great for pressuring tall crouching characters Can link some Lights with Heavies, and Heavies with Heavies Her Exceed is almost impossible to jump over Only needs meter for Blowback and maybe GCFS She will destroy players who don't know better

Hard to master Very one note character Doesn't have any super moves Some normals have the same animation and properties as other normals (in other words useless) Meter is almost useless as well outside of Blowback/GCFS Cannot do MAXIMUM Mode combos Extremely limited combos overall Specials are a death sentence on block due to GCFS and awful recovery Either Athena blows the other player up, or the other player blows Athena up

How to select Athena (Outside of Super Plus)

You want to play with Athena, but cannot select her, eh? Well... There are some bad news for you. If you're with the Arcade version, you can select her only by cheating, or with one of those hack roms. Now, if you're using a console (XBOX and Ps2 only), you can unlock her on that Survival Mode, just defeat her or Red Arremer in the 36th fight. Good luck if you want to do that.

Moves List

Normal Moves

Athena's arsenal of normals are probably her most important things, so pay attention.

s.LP - The Far and the Close versions are the same. This is a quick attack with her little shield. Can chain into itself(And all of her other Light Attacks), and even link/chain with her cr.HP(I don't really know what it is). This move is useful to do some walking jab pressure.
s.LK - The Far and the Close versions are the same. Athena stabs the opponent with her sword. This move cannot chain into itself, and cannot link with other normals, so it isn't very useful in Light Attack combos, but can be used to poke the opponent. Can be canceled too.
s.HP - The Far and the Close versions are the same. It looks like an anti-air, but it isn't that useful for that situation, because the move has bad startup. The first frame of the attack has that autoguard/armor property, but I don't think you'll use it(Maybe to counter projectiles?). The attack can be canceled too.
s.HK - The Far and the Close versions are the same. Can be used as an anti-air(It's her best one). Cancel it into her slide for her BnB.

j.LP - The Diagonal and the Neutral versions are the same. A quick stab aiming down with her sword. The reach of this move isn't something good, and it's hard to combo with it. It can crossup the opponent too.
j.LK - Exactly the same as the above(That's bad, SNK, very bad).
j.HP - The Diagonal and the Neutral versions are the same. Good jump-in, and it does nice damage. It can crossup, and it's way better than the two jumping attacks above. You can use it on combos too.
j.HK - The Diagonal and the Neutral versions are the same. Great jump-in attack and air-to-air move. This move has that autoguard property too, which is kinda strage, but you can use it to counter most anti-air attempts. It can crossup too, and it's very easy to combo after it(Easier than the j.HP). You can choose which one you'll use(It doesn't really matter, the two of them are good).

cr.LP - A quick kick(Even though this is a punch button. Nice, SNK) that hits low. Use it in Light Attack combos. You can cancel it when you want, but you can't do that much with it.
cr.LK - Exactly the same as the above(Please, SNK).
cr.HP - Incredible crouching move. The animation and properties of this move are the same as the cr.Light Attacks(Yeah, this Heavy Punch is a kick as well), but has more damage, and it is a little bit slower. It's cancelable, and you can link it with a s.LK/HK.
cr.HK - Athena sweeps her sword. This move has autoguard too, but use this move as a low poke, and only that(It's very hard to whiff punish it too, which is nice). It's very slow, and there's no point if you're going to cancel it. Avoid this move if you want. If you want to knock down your opponent, there are better options.

Command Moves

Sliding

• df+HK - This, ladies and gentlemen, is Athena's slide (Slides are cool). The damage is very high, it knocks down(It's better than that cr.HK mentioned above, and this is the better option mentioned in there), and it's great as a finisher for her short combos. You can use it to go under certain projectiles too.

Special Moves

Some of her Special Moves are really easy to block, and this makes them almost useless sometimes. Good luck if you want to learn them.

Heaven's Gate

• QCF+P - Athena summons a Lion and it throws some fast fireballs that can negate normal projectiles. In the LP version, the lion throws 2 fireballs, and in the HP version, it throws 3 fireballs. Athena can be hit while she is getting up in the lion. The mouth of the lion can hit your opponent too, and you can MAX cancel this move if this happens (No, you can't combo). This move is very bad due to the slow startup (Where she jumps on the lion), and the opponent can GCF it with ease, but Athena is totally invincible after she jumps. And you can ask: Is this move a Super/Exceed? I'm seeing the Exceed background in there. First, this is a special move. Second, you'll gain meter when you use this move. Third, she has her own Exceed (With the same BG).

Poseidon Rage

• QCF+K - Athena's "Animal Summon" move with the best startup. She will become a mermaid, and will slap the opponent 9 times if it wasn't blocked. There's no difference between the two versions. Good to use on the opponent's wakeup or even as a reversal (You're invincible, so don't worry with reversal DPs). The damage is very good too. You cannot MAX cancel any of the 9 hits, sadly.

Milk Crown

• QCB+P - Athena will summon a bird and it will peck the ground, causing an earthquake (It hits low, and the opponent can jump/crouch to avoid it). After that, Athena will follow it up with an iron ball with spikes (It will act as an overhead). The second hit of the move will hit as an OTG (On/off the ground) after the bird pecks the ground and the opponent didn't crouch/jump. You cannot cancel any of the hits. Don't use this move, most opponents will just know how to avoid it.

Bow of Judgement

• Charge b, f+P - Great move. It's unblockable, and the damage is amazing. There's no difference between the two versions. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that only the second hit of the move is unblockable (If the opponent blocks it, he/she will get only 6 hits), so the opponent can (Hardly) GCF it to avoid damage. It's very fast too. Good to punish projectiles. And it whiffs on most low crouching chars too.

end of the TRIP or NIGHT

• Charge b, f+K - Avoid this move. Slow, but the damage is good, and you can MAX cancel when she hits (On the second hit), but you have no reason to do that. The opponent will just jump over it, and if he blocks, he can GCF. Athena is invincible during the move.

Exceed

Pegasus Fantasy

• QCB+KK - This is her Exceed (Saint Seiya reference? I don't know). The damage is good, but it's very easy to block. You can use it as an anti-air, or even while the opponent is stunned. You can't confirm it from normals/on MAXIMUM Mode too, which is sad. It should be unblockable too. Athena is totally invincible until she lands.

Strategy

The Basics

Athena's Gameplan

Well... Athough Athena has damaging normals, she is a zoning glass cannon. Her Summon Specials can make her almost invincible, unless the opponent blocks it and in some cases, they can quite easily punish her with a GCFS that's not difficult to time. If you need an anti-air, just do a s.HP/QCF+K and be happy. If you need to punish, all she really has are her anti-airs or her very basic combos. While her Exceed also makes for a great punish, especially as an anti-air, you need to be careful not to do it too late or else it will whiff/be blocked, and thus you have just lost it. When it comes to characters with large crouching hitboxes like Demitri, Genjuro and Red Arremer, her arrow charge special is quite useful as although it's not unblockable, their crouch height means they'll still be stuffed by it for some pretty good chip damage, aside from being a good punish tool in some situations. Do be careful still though, since she's not invincible during the move, so it is possible to fight back against it. Of the summons Athena has, the Lion is not as threatening as he appears. The startup is almost completely invincible and has its own hitbox, but the recovery is pretty lengthy giving the opponent enough time to approach. The only real mixup you have is changing how many fireballs the lion throws out, but anyone with an ounce of patience will see through it. It's useful for forcing a guard break though, and if you need the emergency chip damage to close out the round. The lion is hard to use otherwise. Athena's QCF + K is a great anti-air to catch jump ins, and you can Max Cancel from the lion into it to make lion recovery safe, but if blocked, Athena is wide open for any sort of punish, so never use it willy nilly. Her beetle charge lets her be fully invincible, but it's not terribly useful. Mostly just there to shrug people off since they likely won't expect it. Whatever you do, don't summon the parakeet. It is arguably the worst special move in the game, and is extremely easy to punish. Against anyone who knows the matchup, they will never fall for it. Otherwise, when just moving about in neutral, her C buttons are useful for midranged pokes, her D buttons are useful for getting her BnB combos going. Her A and B buttons are pretty forgettable, unless you need cr.B to shrug people off. Lastly, since Athena hardly ever uses her meter, this is one character where Blowback is very useful. She has nothing else to spend it on, so why not? It'll give her breathing room to try and be annoying again, at least.

Some Combos(Without MAXIMUM Mode)
Athena isn't that good with combos, but she have some interesting ones.

1- [Jump Attack] s.HK, df+HK - 2 hits; 3 with the Jump Attack

Athena's BnB. Just learn this one and do it on the match. It's not hard, really.

2- s.LP(2x), s.LK - 3 hits

A simple and damaging Light Attack combo. Good if you're having trouble with the other combos. If you add a jump attack after the combo, the s.LK will still hit the opponent, but the stab will not connect with the other moves (It can connect on the corner).

3- [Jump Attack] s.LP, cr.HP, df+HK - 3 hits; 4 with the Jump Attack

Interesting combo. This is your main combo to punish your opponent too. It's very easy to do (Just time well), the damage is very high (Athena's normals are the source of her damage), and you can followup with a Charge b, f+P (The unblockable arrow) if the opponent isn't a low crouching char on his/her wakeup (The df+HK will knock down, and you'll have time to charge).

4- (Earthquake only) cr.HP, s.HK, df+HK - 3 hits

This is a bad combo, because you can only do it against one character, but you can link the cr.HP and the s.HK on every character in the cast. This combo works against some characters while they are crouching and on the corner, and they are: Shiki and Hugo. The df+HK part can hit the opponent, but cannot connect in: standing/crouching Genjyuro, and crouching Tessa If you're against EQ/other tall crouching characters, you can followup with a Charge b, f+P unblockable on his wakeup.

5- cl.HK (It needs to guard crush the opponent), Exceed - 1 Hit

Not a real combo, but it's a way to confirm the Exceed.

A glitch with EQ

Yeah, a glitch for one character. It's a little easy to do in a real match, it just depends of your opponent. Just wait for him to do a Fat Copy (That move where he warps and goes above you). Now, time well, and do a QCF+K when he's near from you. He will stop in a hitstun animation, and he'll be open for ANY combo after it, or you can even use it to confirm the Exceed! (And the combo counter will say "02 hits" forever. Oh yeah, you can just wait for a time over if you're with a life advantage too, which will probably make him ragequit). A video with an example is here (Just jump to 0:15, but in the beginning of the video, you'll see two more Athena glitches). (Note: The glitch works while EQ is on the corner, and Athena near from him, but I'm sure that it works on midscreen too, I just need to prove it.)

Advanced Strategy

While Athena may be easy to play and learn, actually getting a grasp of what you should be doing with her is another story. As mentioned in the basics, her parakeet is useless, and her beetle summon is just kinda there. All that leaves you with is her lion, wave attack and her arrows for specials, and her heavy buttons. The only optimal zone to use Athena's lion is from fullscreen as that makes it significantly harder for the opponent to punish it, but even from midscreen they will have just enough time to punish Athena upon recovery, assuming they do a successful GCFS followed by some extra dashing. It can punish hard reads, but it's unlikely to happen. Her wave attack is to never be used point blank range or even on the ground unless you have a hard read. Only use it for when the opponent is in the air otherwise, albeit it is invincible. Ideally, you should also never use her arrows unless those too are from fullscreen, due to being unsafe. So what does that leave Athena with in neutral if there's no good chance for her to use her specials? Her heavy buttons. Jump C and Jump D are her only meaningful jump-ins, but even these are risky since the range is quite short for jump-ins. It doesn't take much for the opponent to at the least force a trade. For the rare instances she actually needs to use GCFS herself, she can punish many things with her st.D > cr.D combo, which is way safer than any of her summons are while still doing good enough damage. Standing C and Crouching C are useful if you need the quick midrange poke to keep the opponent in check.

Athena, as you probably already know, is a knowledge check character. Either she blows up the other player, or they blow her up. Even if you're better than the other player while using Athena, her average damage output still requires you poke at the opponent several times, unlike most of the other characters who, even with basic combos, can mop Athena's health away. For example, say Athena is against Kyo, and he does a successful GCFS against her, then he has plenty of time to do a very simple combo: st.C > QCF + DD > QCB~HCF + P, thus removing a little more than a third of Athena's health. For Athena, it would take 2-4 hits for the same result against Kyo. The problem most Athena players have is the lack of patience, or carelessness. Especially if they fight someone and they win from spamming her summons, they get the idea that this is all Athena is and thus, she's a win button for little work. This is not at all the case. Competent players will call Athena out for anything unsafe she does, and if they have the life lead, they are effectively in control since now Athena is the one who has to approach them to open them up, not the other way around. Being able to huard break with her lion summon can help a little as it'll eventually force the opponent to start acting again, because otherwise they're sitting there and eating both chip and guard damage. It's still risky, though. Against rushdown/close up characters, Blowback is a very useful resource for Athena to spend by helping her knock the opponent across the screen and allowing her to potentially reassert her screen presence. Against zoners, Athena is definitely fighting an uphill battle, being that many zoners can force trades or setups that Athena doesn't have much of an answer for. That, or they can force her to jump which leaves her with few options she can use.

Overall, Athena is a zoner who you must play with a hit and run mindset. She's absolutely not designed for close combat, but sitting in one spot and repeating the same moves over and over is also a death sentence for her in most matchups. Athena players need to be very deliberate about when they use each of her specials and how they approach the opponent, because one mistake can lead to her losing all of her momentum. It's hard to fight back though if the Athena player knows their matchups very well.