UMVC3/Frank West/Team Building

Team Building

Frank West teams are built around maximizing Frank's win condition through making level ups faster and easier while inflicting high damage. This means that Frank West will never really start a match as the Point Character, and that the point characters' first goal is to do a large combo that allows Frank to take a picture towards the end of it. There are 2 team types that Frank West teams generally fall under, the "Hard Tag to Frank style", which will have Frank in the 3rd slot to hard tag to, and the "DHC to Frank" style, which generally have Frank in the second slot. DHC to Frank teams tend to be easier, but have a lower damage cap and tend to have point characters with assists that are not as useful to Frank. The Hard Tag to Frank teams feature better point characters, but are also harder to play. While many characters have assists or tech that helps Frank level up, these are generally considered the best and/or most efficient of these.

This page is currently under construction.

Notable Points

Magneto

One of the first widely known users of the "Hard Tag To Frank" teams, Magneto is a fast and powerful point character that can combo and build lots of Meter without depleting ground or wall bounces. He can end his combos by doing a specific string at the end to hard tag to Frank, which opens up the option of THCs for instant level 4/5 or Snapshot to Survival Techniques.

Zero

Being one of the best characters in the game, Zero can use his many options to combo into his lightning loops. He can then choose to hard tag to level up Frank at the end of Lightning Loops.... or just stay in and do more lightning loops to terminate his opponent if they aren't dead. Zero won't be phased if levelled up Frank dies and Zero gets incredible mileage from Dante's Jam Session assist. While Shopping Cart can be decent for helping with confirms and controling some space, Frank's Pick Me Up is a good alternative in certain matchups. Zero can use the extra bar for extra Sougenmu uses though he will have to protect assist Frank from getting punished. As for Zero's assist, Hadengeki is an ok horizontal assist that gets better if tagged out while in Sougenmu. Ryujein is preferred in a lot of cases, however.

Vergil

Vergil is also a solid point character for Frank, as he can use his midscreen Sword Loops to hard tag to Frank, which will allow for a Knee Drop into a picture. One bonus is that if you start the match with Frank in the back, Vergil will take his place as the anchor of the team.

Spencer

Nova

The easiest of the points to use. Just do a combo that builds 1 bar, use Super Nova, mash it and then DHC to Frank with specific timing( It should sound like Nova is saying "Power of Frank!") and you have level 4 Frank. His assist is not as useful to Frank as the others point characters, and the damage cap of the combo that levels Frank is lower than the other points.

Spider-Man

Arguably the hardest of the "Hard Tag To Frank" characters to use, he requires optimal Web Throw combos for a good hard tag to Frank with sufficient meter. Web ball is a horizontal assist that is OK for Frank, but is not as good as Disruptor or Spitfire Twice.

Tron Bonne

Notable Supports

Dante

Dante is Frank's best partner in crime, by quite a margin. First off, Jam Session is by far, the best assist for Frank West for several reasons. It makes for easy level ups in just about any situation, allowing for double snapshots with 10 extra hits for more PP. Sticking Jam session at the end of any basic Frank combo will functionally allow said combo to gain another level, so if a combo would get Frank to level 3 solo, Jam can get that combo to advance Frank to level 4. It aids Frank in confirms, controls the area above Frank that he would have trouble covering, helps keeps foes pinned down when pressuring, makes Frank's lower level pressure safer, and allows Frank to do very nasty incoming mixups when he's at least level 2. There's more that Jam Session does for Frank, but basically, this assist does just about everything Frank wants from an assist, in terms of pressure, level ups, confirms, combo extensions, etc. Also Dante has the best THC with Frank in front. Not only does Million Dollars add several hits, it keeps the foe pinned down to allow Frank to get a Snapshot towards the end and extend the combo for more damage. It's also possible to position Frank deep in the corner before using it to save what would otherwise be a depleted wall bounce. It can also be a decent surprise option in special situations against foes that lack an invincible reversal hyper with hard reads as well. Dante also has many ways to get Frank in at the end of combos, through Hard Tags, Team Hyper Combos, and Team Aerial Combos. While Dante may not deal high damage, he does enough hits in a combo to make it worth using to level Frank West if he's still at level 1. Lastly, Dante has very practical TAC Infinites that can be used for either inflicting enough hits to almost kill and then hard tag to Frank for level 5 or running the clock to deplete the match timer.

There's more playable options but there's quite a drop-off after Dante.

Rocket Raccoon

Rocket Raccoon is the second best support for Frank West, with Spitfire Twice, Rocket's default assist, being strong for Frank, though not as much as Jam Session. Spitfire Twice is a horizontal assist with decent durability, and can let Frank either preserve his ground bounce or let him pick up OTG late combo with jumping Tools of Survival H. It can also be used in neutral to help Frank get in and clear away some projectiles, or give him room to throw Zombies. Spitfire Twice can also allow for some left/right mixups though Frank/Spitfire is going to be more limited than Frank/Jam Session. The option for the Wall Bouncing Assist, Pendulum, aka Log Trap, is there as well and is also really good for Frank, but it depletes a wall bounce which will put a limit on combo/damage extensions Frank can do late combo. Log Trap can also make for easy confirms or easy late combo extensions that result in an extra snapshot. The DHC from Survival Techniques to Rocket Raccoon's spring trap, Mad Hopper, if timed right, can allow Frank to hard tag back in, hit the foe into the Spring, and can give Frank another chance to Knee Drop into another picture. Rocket Raccoon also has a decent THC with Frank in front though it doesn't allow for extensions while levelling up in the same way that Dante's Million Dollars does.

Example Strong Frank West Teams

Team	Strengths	Weaknesses
	Has several relatively versatile options for levelling Frank The quintessential "Hard Tag To Frank" team that can level up Frank, deal massive damage, and can easily snowball into winning entire matches Disruptor is a great horizontal assist for Frank, giving him coverage while not scaling combos Has Jam Session, which enables a lot of Frank's gameplan and lets him do very nasty incoming mixups and pressure when levelled up. The THC with Dante and his Million Dollars in the 2nd slot is powerful for both Magneto and Frank Magneto is a strong enough character to stand on his own in case he's the last character standing	While Magneto can use Jam Session decently, some of Magneto's gameplan can be a bit limited due to the lack of a beam assist on the team, so adjustments have to be made Team may struggle if Magneto is defeated first due to the lack of a traditional anchor
	"Hard Tag To Frank" team that can level up Frank, deal massive damage, and can easily snowball into winning entire matches Has a very powerful point character that can not only level up Frank with lightning loops, but can also destroy teams without Frank Has Dante, who is very strong for both Zero and Frank Zero is powerful enough to be in just about any slot if the other characters are defeated	Frank can feel redundant on the team because Zero/Dante is self sufficient and optimizing Zero means choosing a proper anchor for the 3rd slot instead of Frank Zero's assists are not as good for Frank as some of the other hard tag teams, which can contribute to the above issue
	Powerful team that can level up Frank, deal high damage, and can easily snowball into winning entire matches Has a solid point character that is also one of the best Anchors in the game Vergil has great Synergy with Dante and his Jam Session Anchor Vergil being in the back is a strong contingency plan if levelled up Frank gets KO'd	Rapid Slash assist can be a little awkward for Frank's combo extensions Lacks a proper horizontal projectile assist for Frank when he's levelled up
	Very easy "DHC To Frank" team that can level up Frank while dealing decent damage Nova has simple confirms that can lead to combos that can help level Frank up	Nova assists are not nearly as useful to Frank as the other recommended points in neutral Nova doesn't use Jam Session as well as the other suggested point characters, though it's far from useless for Nova Nova has a lower damage ceiling, meaning that the team has a lower damage ceiling at match start