Plasma Sword/Byakko

Introduction

Overview

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

Strengths

Weaknesses

Among the best supers in the game: Byakko has both a dash-in super (which is invincible) and a Raging Storm type super which both come out almost instantly. He can not only reliably combo into both but his Raging Storm super is active for several frames and can reliably anti-air without any dropped damage. Blockstring Infinite: Byakko, like Rai-On, has a block string infinite with has 5A. This isn't totally game-breaking due to the overall power level of all the top tiers (and it also still loses to guard cancel reversals and whiffs versus a few characters at specific ranges) but it is a potential checkmate scenario only he and Rai-On have in certain situations. Air Mobility: Double Jump, Air dash, Dive Kick. Ground Mobility: In addition to just having a nice, fast box step, Byakko has two evasive stances on the ground that he can special cancel into: a large jumping backdash, and a cartwheel sidestep. High Damage Crouch Grab: Byakko, like Rai-On, has a launcher off of his crouch grab that he can easily convert into big damage. Cat Crouch: Byakko, like Rai-On, has a smaller than normal crouching hitbox, making moves whiff on him that would not whiff on other characters. Most notably, he and Rai-On are the only characters completely immune to each other's blockstring infinites.

Polarized Range: Byakko really only has one range: point blank. If he's anywhere else on the screen, he's just thinking about how to get in. Low->Super inconsistency: Byakko cannot rely on 2KK or Slide for consistent combo conversions, as the former string tends to not combo at certain ranges (and also won't combo versus specific characters,) and the later combo state is dependent upon how the slide hits. In general, he has to take bigger risks to break ankles, which might compel his opponents to walk away from him more. Because so much of his value comes from getting opponents to sit still long enough to land a mixup on them, and because his conversions tend to break in off-axis/odd ground-to-air hits, Byakko actually can struggle to enforce his gameplan despite having all the plus frames in the world. Low Health: Both of the cats take more damage than the rest of the cast. Needs meter: Byakko has no special moves that combo from his primary tools, and has to use his meter exclusively for confirms. This is a character that you can play around the meter of with reasonable consistency.

Move List

Vertical Normals

A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	7	-	-	-	+4	+21	-	Ground
Byakko's busted cat jab. Does not hit other cats crouching, or Gantetsu/Gamof crouching when at specific ranges.

5A

5AA

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-4	+14	-	Ground
Byakko loses frame advantage on hit, and without a fast special move to combo into, that's a rather large weakness, all things considered.

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

Kick Normals

2K

2K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	i5	-	-	-	+8	+7	-	Low
Byakko's main low string starter. The hit advantage might make you think he can link off of it, but due to push out + a weird buffer lock on the move, nothing connects afterwards. The combo counter will also lie about this comboing in training, sometimes. Cool! Despite these problems, 2K is still your primary pressure tool outside of 5A (which this pairs nicely with)

2KK

2KK

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	i5	-	-	-	-3	-	-	Low
Byakko's main low string. It has a tendency to not combo properly depending upon range/axis/character, so careful attention to the situation is required to hitconfirm this into the third hit. If it does hit, it does cancel into dash super, and serves Byakko's main low confirm into it. It almost never combos on crouching opponents regardless of axis.

2KKK

2KKK

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	i5	-	-	-	-	-13	-	Low
Byakko's main low string ender without meter. All things considered, probably safer than it should be, considering what it does, and the advantage is variable with spacing.

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

Shiden
236B

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

Shiden: Kai
214B

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

Byakko Hou
64K

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

623A/B
Guren

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

Ashura
222

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

Gauge Moves

Engetsu
236AB

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

Rasetsu Zan
214AB

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	7 (2 pre flash, 5 post)	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground
Byakko's swords are probably the reason you should play him. Fast, great anti-air, good damage, this is the glue that holds the rest of his movelist together.

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

Combos