Capcom vs SNK 2/Iori

Introduction

Iori is a very versatile character whose moveset lends him to a rush-down/mixup style with damage mainly coming from his Rekka combos. Coupled with that, he has very serviceable pokes, good anti air, and a good reversal DP for use in defense and neutral situations. He also has one of the best poke RCs in the game with his Rekka, is the shortest character in the game, and has the best roll in the game.

His drawbacks are getting in against dominant "big button" characters (Sagat, Blanka, Cammy, etc), a relatively low ceiling of one shot burst damage (his supers aren't very strong), and characters who duck and outpoke his Stand Roundhouse.

In CvS2, he is often considered a "high" tier character, just below the established top tiers. He is a staple on N groove teams, as well as one of the Best SNK characters in the game. Conventional wisdom is that he is one of the easiest characters to use, and recent Japanese tourney play features him on two of the best players' teams. In C and A grooves, even.

Basic Stats

• Health at Ratio 2= 14000(Below Average, Median Health is 14400)

• Stun Bar= 70 (Average)

• Stun Duration Time= + 60f (poor)

• Guard Guage Recovery Rate: Fast Type

• Crouching height= 60 (Shortest in game w/ athena and maki. If it can be crouched, Iori can crouch it)

• Dash: Length= 102pixels, Duration= ??f, Height= 0 (Cannot corpse hop and hop ground fireballs)

• Run Speed= 7.4 (Average)

• Roll: 132 Distance, 27f invincible, 2f Recovery. (Tied for best in game w/ Kim,King, Athena)

• Wakeup-Speed compared to Ryu= 0f (Average)

Preferred Grooves

Roll Canceling Iori's rekka is critical to effective play, and Iori's run sets up post Rekka mixups well, so Iori's best groove is N. However, he is also extremely threatening in A and C grooves. Iori is also a strong P Groove candidate.

C Groove-

Advantages-

• Level 2 Cancels- While nothing to write home about, Iori's Level 2 Maiden Masher-> Fierce DP is extremely efficient use of meter for the damage it does. His level 2 maiden masher->wine cups, jump in combo can leave opponents 1 hit away from stun.

• Delayed Get-up- Unpunishable method to mess with setup/safejumps.

• Roll Cancels

• Air Block- Iori's probably not going to be jumping much anyway, but hey.

• Guard Cancel/Alpha Counter- Pretty useful, and Iori's is his DP.

• Stored Level 3s or 2->1

Disadvantages-

• His dash is just meh. Also it's not run.
• No Low Jump means you probably won't be jumping at all.

A Groove-

Advantages-

• Guard Crush custom (it's hard, but most Alpha Counters will lose to it)

• More utility on meter usage.

• Rolento/Dan OTG Grab customs!

Disadvantages-

• No run

N Groove-

Advantages-

• Low jump- Low jump RH and MP are effective pressure, and empty low jump is a effective mixup to low short.
• Run- Best way to chase down and mixup after rekkas, as well as punish tech rolls.
• Counter Roll- The BEST defense against A groove, period.
• Power Up- Without great supers, sometimes a just a pop is nice. Extra guard damage too.

Disadvantages-

• No access to big damage without popping.

Preferred Team Position & Ratio

Due to his big damage without meter, high pressure, and rush down, Iori is best in the front position. You will almost always die with a full meter w/ Iori.

New school thought is that matchups always outweigh battery/user/anchor theory, so if you want to move Iori away from a short/skinny problem character like Cammy to a better MU like Vega or Guile, go for it.

Moves List

Normal Moves

Cancelability or damage with slashes in it (ex. y/n or 1200/1100) refer to when the move hits early in the active frames compared to when it hits late. Frame data acquired from Buktooth's N-Iori Guide at: http://db.gamefaqs.com/coinop/arcade/file/capcom_vs_snk_2_iori_n_groove.txt

Name	State	Spc	Sup	Hit	Blk	Sta	Act	Rec	Dmg
Jab	Close	y	y	+7	+7	2	4	6	400
	Far	y	y	+5	+5	2	4	8	300
	Crouch	y	y	+3	+3	3	4	8	300
	Jump	-	-	-	-	3	22	-	600
Strong	Neutral	y	y	-5	-5	7	3	25	800
	Crouch	y	y	+5	+5	4	6	9	900
	Jump	-	-	-	-	4	7	-	900
Fierce	Close	y/n	y/y	+0	+0	3	6	24	1200/1100
	Far	y/n	y/n	-5	-5	7	5	26	1300/1400
	Crouch	y	y	-1	-1	4	5	20	1100
	Jump	-	-	-	-	11	3	-	1300
Short	Close	y	y	+3	+3	3	4	10	500
	Far	n	y	+3	+3	6	6	8	500
	Crouch	y	y	+5	+5	4	4	8	200
	Jump	-	-	-	-	4	22	-	500
Forward	Neutral	n	y	-6	-6	6	3	26	1000
	Crouch	n	y	-2	-2	5	4	20	800
	Jump	-	-	-	-	5	10	-	900
Roundhouse	Close	n	y	+3	+3	6	3	21	1400
	Far	n	n	-2	-2	9	7	22	1300
	Crouch	n	n	DWN	-16	9	4	36	1300
	Jump	-	-	-	-	7	8	-	1200
Command Normals
F + Strong	Ground	y	y	-8	-8	8	7	24	800
F + Forward	Ground	n	n	+0	+0	33	3	17	1000
B + Short	Air	-	-	-	-	5	12	-	500

Special Moves

Fireball (qcf + punch)

Strength	Hit	Blk	Sta	Rec	Dmg
Jab	-12	-12	12	45	800
Strong	-12	-12	12	45	900
Fierce	-12	-12	12	45	1000

Uppercut (F, D, DF + punch)

	Invuln.
Strength	Full	Lower	Hit	Blk	Sta	Act	Rec	Dmg
Jab	4	10	DWN	-33	4	10	38	1700
Strong	7	9(feet)	DWN	-42	4	[3/9]	48	1800
Fierce	6	7(feet)	DWN	-51	4	[2/2/5]	59	2000

Running Grab (hcb + kick)

Strength	Hit	Blk	Sta	Act	Rec	Dmg
Short	DWN	-18	5	32	12	1800
Forward	DWN	-18	5	48	12	1900
Roundhouse	DWN	-18	5	64	12	2000
Contact	-	-	4	5	29	-

Quote from Buktooths guide: "The above frame data for the three button strengths represent what happens if Iori never makes contact with the enemy. For example, a roundhouse whiffed Running Grab has 5 frames start up, runs for 64 frames, then has 12 frame recovery. If at any time during those 64 frames of running Iori makes contact with his opponent, he then takes 4 frames for his arm to whip around, which has an active hitbox for 5 frames, and has a 29 frame recovery."

Rekka Kens (qcb + punch X1-3)

Hit	Jab	Strong	Fierce	Hit	Blk	Sta	Act	Rec
1st	400	500	600	-5	-5	12	4	29
2nd	400	500	600	DWN	-13	12	4	37
3rd	800	900	1000	DWN	-33	16	8	40

Throws

Name	Motion	Dmg	Range	Sta	Act	Rec
Punch	F or B + Fierce	1800	52	3	1	13
Kick	F or B + Roundhouse	2000	52	5	1	13
Scum Gale	hcb, F + punch	0	52	8	1	32

Supers

StaB and StaA refer to the start up frames Before and After the super freeze.

Eight Wine Cups (qcb, hcf + punch)

Level	Hit	Blk	StaB	StaA	Rec	Dmg
1st	DWN	-15	5	22	50	800
2nd	DWN	+29	5	22	50	800
3rd	DWN	+29	5	22	50	800

Maiden Masher (qcf, hcb + punch)

	Invuln.
Level	Full	Upper	Hit	Blk	StaB	StaA	Act	Rec	Dmg
1st	8	12	DWN	-10	4	8	8	33	2200
2nd	14	22	DWN	-10	4	8	24	33	3700
3rd	22	30	DWN	-10	4	8	40	33	5000

The Basics

How to play the neutral game

Big poke of choice:

Stand RH=

• crouchable by half the cast (every female character, Ryo, shotos, Rolento, Haohmaru, Vega, Yun, Kim, Rock, Iori)
• treat this move like a budget Sakura or Yamazaki stand RH (yama speed/damage, but -2 instead of +2 on block)

RC Rekka

• Yeah, treat this as a poke. An invincible, -5 on block, uncrouchable, potentially 2200 damage poke.

Otherwise pokes:

• Crouch MP (If they crouch stand RH or you're too far away for jabs and shorts, hit this move)
• Stand MP/ F+MP (moves Iori forward a good bit, pretty negative on block, and is cancelable into rekkas or fireball, use caution)

Whiff punishers:

• Stand MK (deceptively big range, 6f startup, super cancellable, crap on block)
• Low RH (huge range, 9f startup, knockdown, you're dead on block)

Anti Air:

• C. HP (perfect 45 degree angle, only beaten by super good jump ins, bufferable into fireball for followup)
• Dragon punch (use HP for most damage if done deep. MP seems to have the most hitting invincibility though)
• Close HK (for people directly over your head)

Fireball:

• Throw jab at 3/4 screen range and follow. The end. It's pretty useless in neutral otherwise.

Bread and Butter Combos

-standard-

cr.short x 3, qcb + fierce x 3

s.jab x 3, qcb + fierce x 3

s.jab, s.fierce, qcb + fierce x 3

s.short, s.jab, s.short, qcb + fierce x 3

s.strong, twd.strong, qcb + fierce x 3

cr.strong x 2, qcb + fierce x 3

cr.short x 2, cr.strong, qcb + fierce x 3

s.fierce, qcb + fierce x 3

close s.fierce, hcb + roundhouse

jump fierce, Cl. Fierce, DP+Fierce (optimal stun damage)

-cross-up-

b+short, s.jab, s.fierce, qcb + fierce x 3

Almost any Iori B&B combo can be started with hcb-twd + punch (Scum Gale).

How to Land Hits

Iori has a good number of ways to open people up.

• 1) Low shorts (catch people not blocking low)
• 2) Scum Gale (leads to full combo)
• 3) Frame traps: the classic throw / attack mixup
• 4) Post Knockdown setups: ambiguous rolls, safe jumps, cross up B+LK, empty jump low
• 5) Guard Break: Via poke & RC rekka pressure or A Groove guard crush custom.
• 6) Overheads: F+MK is dreadfully slow, and short jump MP can work on tall characters.
• 7) Successful Parry/JD/Dodge/Roll Through/Counter Roll. Groove/Character/Move Specific.

Super Combos

cr.short x 3, qcf-hcb + punch (any level)

s.strong, twd.strong, qcf-hcb + punch (any level)

S.jab, S.Fierce, qcf-hcb + punch (any level) (max damage)

C.forward kick xx qcf-hcb + punch (any level) (c.mk is super cancel only, easy to do)

C Groove only-

any starter above into Level 2 Maiden Masher

Cancel into

-Level 1 Maiden Masher (most damage, no tech roll)

-Fierce DP (1000 less damage, saves a level and 20 more stun)

-Level 1 wine cups, then Jump HP, HP, HP DP (Full combo can instant stun characters, cancel maiden masher early if combo will stun for more damage on post dizzy combo)

Advanced Strategy

Discussion

http://www.shoryuken.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=48