X-Men: Children of the Atom/Storm

Introduction/Summary

Storm can be extremely fast but also very difficult to control. Her low stamina means flying off in the wrong direction or unexpectedly can lead her to taking big damage.

Ground Chain: Punch to Kick (any)
Normal Jump Chain: Zig Zag 1 Rules with NJ limits
Super Jump Chain: Zig Zag 1
Tech hit type: Escape/Safe Fall
Weight Class: Feather

Moves List

Normal Moves

LP: Very quick but poor range and causes a ton of pushback (moreso when dashing), but has great juggle properties. Lighter characters get bounced pretty high but it's pretty easy to infinite heavier characters in the corner with this.

MP: Deceptively short range. Knocks downwardish after juggling. Sorta OK as a poke but c.MP actually has better range.

HP: Another one that looks larger than it is. s.HP xx c.LK (whiff) can be useful with the right spacing (combos).

LK: This must actually be blocked low. While most self-chainable moves can be crouched during the rapid-fire to chain onto their crouching versions, this move cannot be. It may also be her only normal not affected (or at least not really usable) by her hitstop bug.

MK: Not particularly useful as a poke, c.MK has more range, is faster and hits low. Cool points if you use it a combo in real gameplay, as it knocks downward and they need to be pretty low for it to hit.

HK: Deceptively high hitbox makes it miss shorter characters. Launcher.

c.LP: So quick but so small and pretty nasty pushback in a ground to ground combo. If you manage to catch someone low off a bounce in the corner you can mash it for a bunch of hits. When mashed it will hold them fairly steady, then they will fall after. If you can chain it back to standing, the standing one will pop them up.

c.MP: Has juggle properties if it hits them in the air close to the ground. Otherwise a good quick poke with respectable stun and range. Can also link onto itself but the pushback is harsh. Repeated dashing c.MPs are a common tactic.

c.HP: Launcher. Hitbox is pretty high so it will miss crouching characters. Pretty quick and whiff canceling with c.LK into another c.HP is good for launching heavy characters higher.

c.LK: has a quirk when self-chained. If timed right, you can "stand cancel" one of them, so that the hit comes out but you have zero recovery (it'll almost look like Storm hit them with nothing, bug-chain described below). Extremely fast, better range than c.LP and hits low.

c.MK: Pretty quick low poke with better range than c.LK

c.HK: Unlike later games, this is only a sweep, not a launcher. Actually not a great idea to cancel into Typhoon, since they will recover before you do!

j.LP: In combos, it will hold them then they will fall (much like c.LP). Very fast and with float, extremely mashable.

j.MP: Aimable projectile ball. UF, F (neutral) and DF. Quite slow.

j.HP: Spammable, especially when floating down. Knocks downward in air combos but if you're floating you can very likely catch them with j.LK to keep them close.

j.LK: Similar to j.LP except opposite in juggle properties, as it will trend them upward.

j.MK: Can launch grounded opponents (provided it can hit them) and great for air juggles.

j.HK: Has uses in combos and space control but j.MK and j.HK are typically more useful.

Notes: Recovery on most of Storm's light/medium normals is very fast.

Bug-chain - All of Storm's normals are sort of considered projectiles (when looking at recent emulator hitbox scripts). They also have bugs where if you have just-frame timing, you can cancel out to avoid hitstop (via chain, self-chain, special or SJ cancel), which makes for combos that wouldn't normally work. c.LK xx Lightning Attack normally would not combo, but c.LK x2 (when canceled properly to avoid the hitstop) will. Oddities can occur like this in the air as well during chains or hitting right before landing, then the landing cancels the hitstop effect on her. While many of the combos exploiting this in video are humanly impossible, a few are quite useful in real-match situations. Notably c.LK mashing (as said before into Lighting Attack), and c.MP xx c.LK as fast as possible, but not so fast that c.MP doesn't come out.

Storm's ground dash has frames of invincibility.

Floating Descent (float) - Hold up while descending during a normal or super jump. Speed of normal attacks is increased while floating.

Air Dash - Direction + 2p or 2k (no direction = straight dash). An air dash in normal jump mode will give you a full chain, but doesn't extend the one special per jump limit.

Throws -
Whether you hold towards or backwards, Storm will always throw in the direction she's facing.
MP throw: Mashable throw that shocks the opponent, then they fall.
HP throw: Throws up and away. In the corner if you HP throw, SJ then HP throw again for a combo, the second one will toss them really high.
-Storm is vulnerable after her tech hit for a surprisingly long time

Special Moves

Typhoon: QCF + P (ground/air)
A quick starting, controllable projectile with a bit of recovery. Punch strength determines relative speed, plus toward or back make it faster or slower.

Lightning Attack: Same Strength P+K+direction (if no direction, goes straight. ground/air)
2 hits (if in range) + can go into one other Lightning Attack. Storm can combo a ground to ground throw after this.
- Lightning Attacks done in normal jump mode cannot do anything except X-Specials/Supers on the way down. If an opponent attacks and Storm attempts to block, she can do normals, but still no specials. - Lighting Attacks in SJ mode can do specials on the way down (and from there, do normal attacks), and everything else. If Storm does nothing and the opponent attack/Storm goes into block mode, she regains all her actions save air dash if it was already used.

Wind Barrier Stand QCF + Kick (after being knocked down)
Said to give you some invulnerability on wakeup, research is needed.

X-Specials

Flight: QCB + 3P (ground/air, "spin up" has some invincibility frames)
You can block while flying, and have a fill zig-zag chain. Lightning Attack will cause you to land (unless the fall is cancelled by something), as will a downward air dash with an attack. You can attack while on the ground, but once you try to move, you'll be flying again.

Wind Push/Pull (ground/air)
QCF + 3K: pushes opponent away from you
QCB + 3K: pulls opponent towards you
Both have uses in combos, although push would be used in the corner (typically). During the push/pull, you are vulnerable to attack, hence pull should be used with caution unless it's in a combo.

Super Attacks

Lightning Storm: QCF + 2P (ground/air)
Has frames of invincibility on startup like all supers, but they run out before the super starts, so you could end up getting smacked out of it if not careful. HP Throw -> super works on most (light-middle) characters to combo into it. Storm can combo a ground to ground throw after this.

If you dash as the last sparks are flying off the screen (causing them to reappear), they will guardbreak airborne opponents.

Hail Storm: QCF + Start (ground only)
Some invincibility during the spinup(?), but it's still over a second until the super actually comes out. Does alot of chip and can be mashed for more, should it actually hit, it may leave the opponent frozen. If it actually hits, you and your opponent need to have a talk.

The Basics

Storm lacks basic, high damage combos (floating j.HP mashing the exception) and easy dizzies that most other characters enjoy. This means Storm has far higher execution requirements, needing consistent repeated dashing, instant air dashing/tri-jump, and understanding how floating affects her air attacks. While a lot of her bug-chain combos require inhuman precision, some can be quickly mashed and rather useful.

Storm can combo a ground-to-ground throw after a Lighting Attack and Lighting Storm.

Storm can SJ and dash up to the top of the screen and stay up there with:
-Lighting Attack (once or twice), Typhoon, repeat.
Varying the direction, strength, timing and amount should keep you from getting whacked so long as you don't get predictable. Great way to build meter. Mix it up with Wind Push (costs meter) to really keep them off you.

- If you're on a stage where the floor breaks, you can easily stay up and out of reach of certain opponents. Without using stage select codes, this is really only a threat to Colossus.

- When Storm is dizzy, you may note she stands up into a few frames of her regular stance. From here (and any point in her dizzy) she can Lightning Attack. Because it's not invincible it's not exactly a "get out of jail free" card.

Basic Combos

Easy, Anywhere, Up to Middleweight

• hold toward [st.MP xx Hard Lightning Attack] xN. For Wolverine, substitute c.MP. c.MP will work on most until you get into the middleweights. st.MP xx LA will work somewhat on heavies but does not seem to be as reliable. st.MP will miss a dizzy Omega Red, so start that combo with the LA instead. If you are holding toward, and mistime the punch, you may get a comboed throw.

Advanced Strategy

Matchups

• vs Sentinel
  

You can rush him like hell but if you're not tight with your strings or in control of her movement, you run a huge risk of taking big damage. Storm can make movement tough for Sentinel and make it hard for him to gain meter by having Typhoons in his face (while she stays across the screen) but guess wrong means getting Rocket Punched, or worse, launched into a dizzy combo. Once you have him though, his large size and heavy weight make him a combo dummy.
-Once dizzy, start flight and you can do a semi infinite consisting of only j.MK in the corner. First guide it straight to launch him, then guide up forward until he's at the top and offscreen, then hold forward, hitting him with j.MK the entire way. After you have him going up from the initial ground popups, you can add in j.LP, j.LK in front of j.MK as well. Once flight runs out, if you're still at the top of the screen, float down with j.LP x2, j.MK. Should be easy enough to transition down to s.LP, s.HK juggles once near the ground.

• vs Colossus
  

Another big heavy combo dummy if you can get the hits, but he has this nasty habit of ignoring your attacks via the Shoulder Charge armor and hitting you through it. Typhoon spamming (especially near the ground) and flowcharting with Colossus is usually a bad idea, you have to watch what he is doing carefully. He's still a big slow character with no air mobility though, just watch out for high shoulder charges and GC super if he has full meter. If you are on a breakable stage and manage to stay up around the broken area, you can do Lighting Attack x2 and Typhoon forever, and he can never get high enough to catch you with any move.

• vs Iceman
  

Watch out for giant iceballs and s.HK into big damage. Don't get predictable. He's pretty small so keep in mind which normals you can't use because they will miss him.

• vs Wolverine
  

Another pixie you need to be careful of whiffing attacks on. s.HK will go right over a standing Wolverine's head.

Misc.

Storm's stage has multiple color palettes. Dusk, sunrise and sunset (slightly different colors).

Version 2.X Differences:
All LKs have faster recovery.
Can't air dash at the lowest point in flight.
Air typhoons have less recovery.
j.HK juggles in the air instead of knocking downward.