Marvel vs Capcom/War Machine

Overview

Combos

Matchups

Strategy

Misc.

War Machine
Difficulty	Easy Gameplay, Hard Execution
Tier Placement	God Tier (SS)
Has an Airdash?	Yes
Standing Hitbox	Average
Crouching Hitbox	Average
Best Assists to Pair With	Colossus

Introduction

War Machine is the title adopted by James Rupert "Rhodey" Rhodes after he acquired the War Machine armor. He is a military veteran and pilot who began working for Tony Stark, eventually discovering that he was Iron Man and then taking Stark's place when he was incapacitated. Stark subsequently gave Rhodes the War Machine armor. The character is among the earliest African American superheroes in mainstream comics. His race, his military experience, and his sense of morality are often used to contrast him with Tony Stark and to analyze the themes of Iron Man stories through a different perspective. War Machine is the primary romantic interest of Carol Danvers, while many of his other supporting characters and villains overlap with those of Iron Man.

If you enjoy playing a character who resembles Iron Man from MvC2 or a character who has a fuckton of infinites then this is the character for you. War Machine paired with flight mode is a force to be reckoned with, with his hp airdash cancels and his lp airdash uncombos, it gives him access to 100% combos or even 200% TODs, making him the perfect character to play if you wanna do alotta links, and if that isn't enough, he also has a divekick in which u can cancel to flightmode, making him have access to not only disgusting crossups, but also access to Refly without even doing the complicated version of it. War Machine also has access to a plethora of zoning tools like Smart Bomb, j.hp and Uni-Beam, that paired with flight mode or even just super jumps make him an annoying character to deal with. War Machine also has access to War Destroyer, making him have one of the best, if not the best duo synergies. Unfortunately that comes with a cost, outside of his hurtbox which is kinda chunky, he is also sluggish without flight mode just like Iron Man in MvC2. War Machine also needs execution if you're looking to optimize him and not just play lame by playing him like a broke version of GWM, but once u do put the effort and optimize him to his fullest, War Machine becomes a force to be reckoned with.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Flight Mode: The only character in the game with this feature, War Machine can fly basically anywhere on the screen and reposition himself for combos, pressure, avoiding stray hits, and more. If you've played other MVC titles, then you probably already know how strong flying can be on the right character. 8-Way Airdash: War Machine can also dash in all eight directions in the air which he retains in flight mode, further boosting his movement power. Good Zoning Tools: War Machine has access to pretty good zoning with laser beam attacks and his War Destroyer super. While he shouldn't be played exclusively as a zoner, they're solid tools to work with and help him keep his ground. He's good at keepout, too, with buttons like f.HP and j.HP. J.LK and J.HP leads to air combos: By using flight mode, War Machine can easily convert into high damage combos off of stray pokes with these two buttons alone. Guard Break combos: War Machine can also break your guard with long blockstring combos, and easily, not to mention he can convert off them. Huge damage potential thanks to Uncombos: With flight, War Machine can uncombo the entire cast and do very high damage in the corner, making killing off characters a lot faster for him. Easily builds meter: His combos all give him a solid amount of meter to work with, but even without his combos, he can spam j.HK in the air over and over while in flight mode and build meter in a cinch. Gold War Machine synergy: If GWM is your teammate, pop a duo super and have both characters continuously activate War Destroyer. While you still need to set it up, under the right conditions (which are easy to get) your opponent is forced to receive giant amounts of chip damage they can't do anything about. It's enough to kill one character on its own, but even then, the super itself is a strong one in any team.

Stubby launchers: Without a crossup, or simply anti-airing the opponent, War Machine's launchers are too stubby to use well and has to get really close to land them. Average movement without Flight-Mode: War Machine's movement is lacking when he isn't using flight mode, and when grounded has nothing special to use. He feels a little sluggish on the ground in particular. Needs an assist or team duo to make supers safe: War Machine's supers are all easily punishable if he's too trigger-happy with them. He can usually mitigate it with duo super, but if he doesn't have access to that, he can only make them safer with assists. Poor pressure: War Machine mainly relies on assists hitting the opponent, landing air normals, landing a stray divekick or getting a crossup. If the opponent decides to run away, this makes it harder for War Machine who doesn't have the best mixup. High execution requirements - Sure, you can just lame and build meter, then do duos, but unless you have a secondary that you're really good with, it gets you nowhere against competent players. You need to practice mastering his guard breaks, uncombos, and even his TOD routes. He's very rewarding at the end of the day, but without putting the work in, he's underwhelming with some occasionally strong attacks.

Move List

Normals

Ground Normals

s.LP

s.LP (x2)
War Machine boxer

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
6 (10 if you press it twice)	Mid	2	3	4	9	+4	+3	-	Ground
War Machine throws a jab and a straight if pressed twice. Pretty safe on block but it could be low-profiled so beware, you could use this for strings but there are better options.

s.MP

s.MP
Backhand

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
9	Mid	7	6	5	18	+1	+2	-	Ground
War Machine does a backhand which deals 9 dmg. It's pretty solid but not a move you would use for pokes, usually it's been used in strings but not as the first normal of the string due to its stubby hitbox, it's safe on block though don't get me wrong.

s.HP

s.HP
Annoying button

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
19	Mid	11	17	9	37	KD	0 (+12 on Meaty)	-	Ground, Launcher
War Machine does a hadouken of sorts with his hands creating a big blue beam. Perfect Keepaway tool and good as an Anti-air aswell, you could throw this when you want the opponent to back off. You can even cancel it to Unibeam, Assist, or even start a combo by cancelling it to flight mode if you are in the corner.

s.LK

s.LK
Combo starter

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
6	Mid	2	2	8	12	-1	+4	-	Ground
War Machine does a kick to the toes of the opponent, deceptively looks like a low but it is a mid for some reason. Its pretty good to use for strings and starting combos though. It's also a pretty decent normal to pull out. Expect using this for your strings and chaining to launchers.

s.MK

s.MK
Another annoying button

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
9	Mid	6	10	6	22	-1	0 (+3)	-	Ground
War Machine does a kick to the stomach while bursts of energy fume from his boot. Another normal that is good for keepaway as you could chain this with st.hp or even cr.hk.

s.HK

s.HK
Leads to War Machine's massive combo potential

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
14	Mid	6	5	24	35	Launch	-6	-	Ground, Launcher
War Machine floats to the side and launches the opponent with a kick to the chin. This is gonna be his main launcher for setting up his air combos. Beware though for it is very stubby so you wanna make sure you are close to the opponent as you execute this normal. If you whiff though you can cancel to a super or assist because if not then prepare to accept a nasty punish.

c.LP

c.LP
Knee punch

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
6	Low	3	2	7	0	+1	+6	-	Ground
War Machine does a crouching jab like he's Johnny Cage or something idk. It's an okay normal to pull out and start combos from but I prefer the range of cr.lk for doing what this does but it isn't bad to use so give it a shot if you like.

c.MP

c.MP
Uppercut to GGs Shake my hand

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
8	Mid	6	3	10	19	Launch	+3	-	Ground, Launcher
War Machine does an uppercut to the opponent which causes to launch the opponent. Another button that is essential to use for War Machine because this is gonna be a starter you will be using alot because you can chain cr.mp to st.hk or cancel to flight mode, both routes can assure you a 30-40% combo or a GGs shake my hand 1 player combo exhibition.

c.HP

c.HP
Rocket Launcher

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
10	Low	13	Travelling	36	49	-8 (Point Blank)	-20 (Point Blank)	-	Ground, Projectile
War Machine shoots a rocket from a rocket launcher installed in his shoulder. Pretty slow but this works as a decent zoning tool once you synchronize it with cancelling to flightmode or cancelling it to Unibeam. It can also be used for a corner infinite by doing a string then doing cr.hp to smartbombs.

c.LK

cr.LK
His go-to low

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
4	Low	6	2	9	17	-3	+2	-	Ground
War Machine does a crouching baseball sweep-esque kick to the toes. This is probably his best low due to the trajectory of his hitbox when he does this normal. Good for doing strings and starting combos from a low.

c.MK

c.MK
Cool sweep

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
8	Low	11	4	21	36	HKD	-9	-	Ground, Sweep
War Machine kneels and does a slide causing beams of energy to burst and knock down the opponent. This is his sweep and you can use it to end a string to set for okizeme even though his okizeme is pretty limited. He has oki setups but they're pretty limited. If you're that guy though then you can suki cancel it to divekick then do st.hk or cr.mp to Air combo but that's pretty tough to land so do it at your own risk.

c.HK

c.HK
s.HP's distant cousin

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
8 (15 if you chain both hits)	Mid	12	20	25	57	KD	-5	-	Ground, Launcher
War Machine does a dropkick of sorts while laying down which does 2 hits if near to the opponent, works for pushing the opponent but st.hp does the job better due to it not only doing more damage but it doing 19 dmg with just one hit while this requires you to be near the opponent to get 15 dmg, if you are far you only get 8. Just use st.hp instead man

Air Normals

j.LP

j.LP
Glove of Doom

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
7	Overhead	4	9	6	19	-	-	-	Air
The glove of death as War Machine does a palm to the air. This is essential for almost all of his combos in the air, from his magic series to his Air Juggle to the deadly uncombo. His known uncombo with this normal is called the Glove Infinite due to his hand looking like a glove. If you get hit by this, it's either u wait for a bit or its a GGs shake my hand situation.

j.MP

j.MP
Chest pump

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
10	Overhead	7	9	8	24	-	-	-	Air
War Machine shoots a beam of energy from his chest, this button is also used alot for his air combos. Does a good amount of range and is used for alot of his air combos so don't sleep on this button.

j.HP

j.HP
The back off button

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
15-16	Overhead	9	7	14	30	-	-	-	Air
War Machine pushes a big beam of energy with his two arms, this button is a go-to for keepaway due to the range and the fact that it pushes back the opponent. It's also used as a way to end the magic series combo or a way to do an OTG. Very good button and does way better once synchronized with hops, superjumps, and projectiles.

j.LK

j.LK
The "I control the skies" button

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
6	Overhead	3	8	7	18	-	-	-	Air
War Machine does the same thing he does in st.lk but he does it in the air. Outside of combos, this is essential to use for his gameplan. Why? This button is used for confirming from stray hits and it does the job so well so depending from the execution you possess, you can deal from 40% to 100-200% just by confirming from this.

j.MK

j.MK
A hard hitting uncombo tool

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
9	Overhead	5	5	10	20	-	-	-	Air
War Machine does what he does in cr.mk but it becomes a kick due to him flying in the air. This button outside of it being combo fuel is a really damaging way to do an uncombo in the corner. This synchronized with the Glove Infinite and the wonders you can do with j.8hp will make you a force to be reckoned with.

j.MK

j.HK
Meter building button

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
15	Overhead	8	4	18	30	-	-	-	Air
War Machine does a stomp in the air which deals like 15 dmg. This button isn't the best as a combo ender but this serves as a really good button for meter building, synchronizing this with the 3p Airdash Cancel and Flight Mode makes you build meter like a charger on steroids.

Command Normals

Air Dash
Any direction + 3P

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Air
The aura and what War Machine revolves on outside of Flight Mode. This is the cornerstone of his combo game since War Machine can cancel any normal he has with an airdash once he has Flight Mode, giving him access to the tools he has at his disposal. He also has access to crossups with this which makes this a pretty dope tool.

Knee Dive

Knee Dive
j.2MK

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
9	Overhead	9	Travelling	Travelling	?	Travelling but minus	Travelling but minus	-	Air
War Machine does a knee dive falling to the ground, another important tool to use at his disposal due to it being a way to start combos and pressure the opponent. He can cancel this divekick-esque move to a normal which means he could start combos with this from air-to-air and air-to-ground, that also means he can set this to do refly by cancelling this button to j.8hp or j.8hk to flightmode to extend combos without even doing the traditional refly. For more info about the refly with j.2mk, refer to the combo section.

Upward Kick

Upward Kick
j.8HK

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
11-12	Overhead	6	18	15	39	Launch	-11	-	Air
War Machine does what he would do in st.hk but the difference is he does it in the air. This does not really work on neutral but this is a good way to set up to Flight Mode in the form of chaining moves like a magic series or the divekick which means you could use this buttons to start combos from the air, set refly combos, or even set up pseudo-infinites.

Laser Blast

Laser Blast
j.2HP or j.8HP

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
15-17 (19-20 for j.8hp)	Overhead	10 (8 for j.8hp)	6	19 (18 for j.8hp)	35 (32 for j.8hp)	-5 (-3 for j.8hp)	-14 (-12 for j.8hp	-	Air
There are two versions, j.2hp and j.8hp. The first one isn't really worth talking to outside of a way to cancel divekick from an A2G approach to set up a combo or to use as a hard knockdown. The second one though is a pretty wild thing to talk about, j.8hp is the thing that makes War Machine's combos such a force to be reckoned with. Even outside of combos this button is something not to be messed with due to the trajectory of its hitbox. Thanks to how jank this button is, you could use it not only to do an air-to-air to combo. You can also use it for Guard Breaks, making War Machine a character that can practically do 200% combos when the execution is pristine.

Throws

Normal Throw

Punch Version
4/6 MP/HP

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground
Perfect for pushing the opponent away from you. Does like 16 bars of damage which isn't too bad.

Normal Throw

Kick Version
4/6 MK/HK

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground
This drags the opponent to the corner, if the opponent does not roll then you can cr.lk to st.hk for a launch to combo, that's if they do not roll. Once they roll, you get brought to the corner which isn't the wisest thing to do. Use at your own risk.

Normal Throw

Air Throw
j.4/6 MP/HP

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Air
War Machine throws the opponent forward while in the Air. Works for pushing the opponent far from you once you're in the air and depending on the angle, you could do a divekick once u expect the opponent to wakeup.

Special Moves

Shoulder Cannon
Beamu
236P/K

Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
236LP/LK Light Version	11-20	Mid	17	16	16	49	-1	-2	-	Ground (P/K), air (P)
War Machine can shoot his lasers as P targets standing and can be used in the air and K targets crouching only. Good for zoning the opponent due to it being fullscreen, it's also good to synchronize it with smartbomb and buttons like st.hp, st.mk, and j.hp
Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
236MP/MK Medium Version	16-20	Mid	20	20	17	57	-4	-3	-	Ground (P/K), air (P)
Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
236HP/HK Heavy Version	20-24	Mid	24	25	19	68	-4	-7	-	Ground (P/K), air (P)

Smart Bomb
4/6 MP+LK

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
14 (27 if 2 hits)	Mid	18	Travelling	0	18	+2 (point blank)	-2 (point blank)	-	Ground/air
War Machine unleashes two bombs from his shoulders. Holding a direction enables on how far the bombs will be shot. Another button that is good for zoning, keeps the opponent on the ground due to the trajectory.

Repulsor Blast
Jank hitbox
63214P

Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
63214LP LP Version	25-37	Mid	8	Travelling	3	11	Launch	Travelling	-	Ground (P/K), air (P)
War Machine unleashes a projectile his palms as it aims upwards and when it hits, the opponent is drawn closer to War Machine. Not really worth using outside of boujee combos to be honest.
Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
63214MP MP Version	12-24	Mid	8	Travelling	3	11	Launch	Travelling	-	Ground (P/K), air (P)
Version	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
63214HP HP Version	24-37	Mid	8	Travelling	3	11	Launch	Travelling	-	Ground (P/K), air (P)

Flight
214K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	13	Travelling	Travelling	13	-	-	-	Ground (P/K), air (P)
This command allows War Machine to use his jetpacks and has the ability to fly around the screen. This is pivotal to his entire gameplan, not only does he use flight mode for his insane combos, he uses flight mode to play an oppressive neutral game in the air due to his buttons in the air being able to be cancelled via airdash for a combo. If you are not using flight mode as War Machine then you are not playing War Machine.

Hyper Combos

Proton Cannon
236PP

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
29-39	Mid	29	109	46	181	Launch	-36	-	Ground
War Machine summons in a giant cannon which shoots out a laser which nearly takes out near full-screen. Extremely Unsafe once it does not connect and also has a slow start. If you wanna use it so bad though without doing a very boujee combo then you can do it after the last hits of an assist that wall-carries or screen-caries like Rogue, Colossus, Psylocke, etc etc.

War Destroyer
His best super
236KK

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
43-51	Mid	54	Travelling	31	85	Launch	-10	-	Ground
War Machine summons in a jetpack-like weapon which aims a barrage of missiles up then targets down to the opponent. It combos after the launcher, too, and if you're using both War Machines, you'll be spamming this super a lot in Duo Team, since it leads to ridiculously high damage off of chip damage alone, especially when the opponent is trapped between both War Machines.

Overview

Combos

Matchups

Strategy

Misc.