Plasma Sword/Ghost Bilstein

Introduction

Overview

(Insert brief description about character and how they play, other details)

Strengths

Weaknesses

Great mid-range neutral: Bilstein has a big sword that eats up the mid range, and this, combined with his limited-range fireball, allow him to dictate the pace of the match at most ranges except point blank and max screen. High Damage: Both Bilstein versions can easily convert any cancelable poke into their supers, allowing them to score gigantic chunks of damage easily. Super Armor: Bilstein's Gigant Armor grants him super armor for a period of time, and can be safely applied after landing any combo. This is a powerful and unique tool that can play a big role in allowing Bilstein to keep up pressure in some matchups, especially since it stops cinematic attacks like Plasma Fields. INFINITE POWER: Bilstein's Plasma Field, INFINITE POWER, gives him infinite super meter during its duration, turns his 22A+B explosion into an unblockable launcher, and turns his normal grab into a high damage command grab. Getting touched by INFINITE POWER is often a round-ending mistake by the opponent. Taunt Float: Bilstein's taunt, "Floating", is a mini-stance and, surprisingly, his best escape option in many situations. It allows him to instantly take to the air faster than a jump would, and lets him escape some dicely frame trap situations he otherwise can't due to his large size and poor step options.

Needs Meter: Without meter, Bilstein's risk vs. reward is awful, and since 3B is the only real big source of meter building he has in his combos, he can often find himself behind in this regard if the opponents stick to him. 46B: Bilstein's 46B is one of the worst moves in the game, and unfortunately, it's very easy to activate when trying to walk backwards and do any B move as a whiff punish. This particularly shows up when trying to whiff punish with 3B, which is arguably Bilstein's best move. One accidental 46B could very well be the difference between winning and losing a round for Bilstein. Gigant Armor Scaling: The trade off of having access to super armor with high health is that each hit Bilstein takes in Gigant Armor is unscaled, meaning there are some attacks that will shred his lifebar that otherwise wouldn't. Weak to Meta: Piggy backing on the above, Bilstein's answer to June/Cats/Zelk's particular brand of BS is to pop armor and pray he doesn't die, which should tell you a lot about his stability against the field. He does have something of a place as a character that can keep Gantetsu/Gamof semi-grounded thanks to his own tanky health + strong mid-range normals, but that role is also covered better by a higher tier character (but lesser health) character: Blood. And if your looking to just pop Plasma Field and kill, well, Rain does that better, and fights the top tiers better, too.

Move List

Vertical Normals

5A

5A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	13	-	-	-	-4	-3	-	Ground
Main vertical poke, decent anti-air close to Bilstein, but it is mostly used to check grounded opponents in 50/50 throw situations

5AA

5AA

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-7	-	Ground
Natural combo for 5AA, cancelable. The second hit tends to whiff further out, unfortunately, so 5A->fireball is generally better for safety reasons, even though it doesn't combo.

5AAA

5AAA

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-7	-	-	Ground
A third vertical swing from 5A that doesn't combo with the first two, but does tend to hit both steppers and jumpers on blocked 5AA. It's also special cancelable! All in all, a decent pressure string

5AB

5AB

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-4	-4	-	Ground
A safe horizontal that does very little beyond covering step. Not cancelable and it doesn't combo from 5A.

While Running A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground

Horizontal Normals

B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground

2B

2B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	17	-	-	-	-7	-9	-	Ground
This horizontal low chop looks and feels like it should be the backbone of Bilstein's anti-step game. In some ways it is, thanks to its large range and the fact it hits low. However, there are many sidesteps in the game that can step in the direction he swings in and make this move whiff. That same direction is covered by Bilstein 3B, so ultimately its just on the Bilstein player to make the call as to which step direction he wants to cover.

3B

3B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	12	-	-	-	-6	-6	-	Ground
This horizontal mid is the start of a three string that covers step to one side (the opposite side of 2B, in fact) and natural combos into its followups. A must have string for neutral and big damage confirms.

3BB

3BB

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	12	-	-	-	-6	-7	-	Ground
The second hit of one of Bilstein's best strings. Safe on block and pushes out about a character length away.

3BBA

3BBA

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	12	-	-	-	X	-17	-	Ground
The final hit of one of Bilstine's best strings. Natural combos and launches for a full juggle. Just don't do it on block.

3BBB

3BBA

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	12	-	-	-	X	-4	-	Ground
If you feel some strange compulsion to do a move after having 3BB blocked, this is technically safe. However, it is also very slow and basically loses to any jump/parry/fast option attempt.

3BA

3BA

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	12	-	-	-	-	-8	-	Ground
3BA is generally used post juggles for its long range and cancel into special/super. As an i12 special cancel sword attack, it's not bad in neutral, either

3BAA

3BAA

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	12	-	-	-	-	-17	-	Ground
Looks like an overhead, but isn't. This is generally only used to end juggles when you don't have meter.

4B

4B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	16	-	-	-	X	-2	-	Ground
Turns around on hit and covers step in both directions at the sacrifice of speed and range compared to things like 3B. Combos into plasma field or really anything else.

Kick Normals

5K

K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	11	-	-	-	+4	+5	-	Ground
A fast stomach-height kick. Reliable, stable ground combo starter into special/super, and a must have for Bilstein. The additional frame advantage on block gives it some additional value for staggers into 2K/2B/5A/etc.

5KK

5KK

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	11	-	-	-	-	-5	-	Ground
A fast stomach-height kick string that natural combos. Reliable, stable ground combo starter into special/super, and a must have for Bilstein. Safe on block.

2K

2K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	14	-	-	-	+0	-3	-	Ground
Your primary low, for the sole reason it combos easily into super. An excellent whiff punish/check on back steppers, held back only by the fact Bilstein effectively has to commit to 236A if it whiffs. It's also easy to accidently do DP if you're trying to walk forward and do 2K->236A, so be careful.

Jumping Normals

While Jumping A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground

While Falling A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground

Special Moves

236+A Dark Vortex

Dark Vortex
236A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	24	-	-	-	-	-13 ~ +2	-	Ground
Your primary zooning tool. This is a projectile with limited range that can clip jumpers at certain heights, and on hit it knocks down and sends the enemy full screen. Without meter this is also your combo ender, as it gives you a free armor setup (or just room to breathe). Excellent pushout that keeps it largely safe, and its frame advantage can fluctuate up to +2 at tip range.

46B Hell Wind Sword

Hell Wind Sword
46B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground
Notable for being absolutely awful, this extremely slow move is unsafe and very easy to accidentally perform in neutral when trying to do the much better 3B string. Avoid at all costs. Luckily, it cannot be cancelled into.

Floating

Floating
Taunt

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Stance
Bilstein's taunt, "Floating", is a mini-stance with unique properties. It allows him to instantly take to the air faster than a jump would, and lets him escape some dicey frame trap situations he otherwise can't due to his large size and poor step options. Bilstein is considered airborne the exact frame he starts glowing red, which is frame 3 from neutral.

623+A/B Blade Sword

Blaze Sword
623+A/B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground
While technically two separate moves, the only real difference between these two DPs is that the second one comes down with an attack that may still hit stepping opponents if the timing of their step is off. These moves do not have invincibility at startup.

421+K Kieru

Kieru
421+K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground
If I hadn't of done this move by accident once, I would believe it didn't exist. There's something wrong with the input reader (or the listed command? But every site I've looked this up on lists it is as 421+K...) that makes this impractical, if not close to impossible, to execute. Luckily, it doesn't matter, because all it does is turn Bilstein invisible until he's hit. Note that his sword is still visible, so it's not even really true invisibility. If you want more tech or information here, you're first going to have to figure out what the rules are to make it come out consistently.

HCB+K The Final Bilstein

The Final Bilstein
HCB+K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Throw
A high damage but very slow command grab with a large amount of range. Not really critical to Bilstein's gameplan and overexposure to the animation could cause it to become useless against perceptive opponents, but its high damage is worth sneaking in once a set or so. Note that this throw has a buffering lock on it when the opponent is on the ground.

Gauge Moves

Dark Vortex End

Dark Vortex End
236AB (Bilstein only)

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground
Fire column. This is argubly the reason to play Bilstein over Ghost Bilstein, as his damage output + ability to use this as a whiff punish is almost unrivaled by anyone else in the game. It also makes great filler during INFINITE POWER.

Rasetsu Zan
214AB

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground

Plasma Revenge
AM

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground

Plasma Reflect
BM

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground

Plasma Field - Plasma Sword
BK

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground

Miscellaneous

Throw
5AB

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground

Strategy

Matchups

Vs. Rai-On/Byakko (3-7) Most characters, when they get put into the blender of the jab block string infinite, still have the ability to reasonably safely OS non-jab options in a variety of ways, and one of those ways is sidestep. Bilstein, however, cannot, which means he is almost always guaranteed to take damage the moment he blocks either divekick or jab. Gigant Armor really doesn't do much versus Rai-On thanks to his non-parryable super eating it alive. Rai-On is harder for him because Divekick->2K is extremely consistent sources of damage for Rai-On versus him and pretty much the only way out for Bilstein is to get lucky and have the second 2K miss or be too far away to combo right into super. Bilstein's health pool and giant damage potential are the only things that really keep him competitive at all in this match, plus the fact that he can use float to get away if he ever happens to block frame advantage moves that aren't jab/divekick, such as 2K.

Combos