Capcom vs SNK 2/Athena

Introduction

Overview

Strategy

Combos

Matchups

Health (at Ratio 2)
13600	Low
Stun
60	Low
Dash Length
17 Frames	Long
Dash Type
Hop	Corpse Hop=Yes, Proj. Hop=Yes
Run Speed
8.5	Average
Roll Distance
120 pixels	Medium
Roll Duration
24f	Average
Wakeup Speed compared to Ryu
1f	Below Average

Story

Athena Asamiya is a Japanese teenage idol who is famous worldwide for her beautiful singing voice. She's also the reincarnation of another older Athena, who was also a rambunctious teenager, and was also a goddess from the Heavenly Realm. As her reincarnation, the modern day Athena shows incredible magical ability, especially weilding Psychokinesis. She's a trained martial artist as well, training under a highly respected Chinese martial art master named Chin Gentsai. Together with Chin, her fanboy and psychokinetic partner Sie Kensou, and another young boy who shows great power named Bao, Athena learns more about her powers, while maintaining her life as a famous musician.

Gameplay

Athena is a neutral focused character mainly, with a few surprisingly good mixup tools. Sadly, Athena tends to fall in with the low tiers of CvS2. Her low health, bad defense, and extremely low damage output makes it so she's constantly fighting an uphill battle. Still, Athena does have a single saving grace: her neutral is very good overall. Her buttons are stellar, especially her infamous 2HP which is a lightning fast poke with great range and a tendency to stuff any other midrange button the opponent presses. Her fireball can be quite useful as well, especially when roll cancelled. Her mobility isn't exactly a joke either, sporting a useful divekick and a teleport that can sideswap. She also possesses a somewhat scary mixup game, between her command grab which she can juggle off of, a slow and big fireball to end blockstrings in, and her aforementioned teleports to run a strike/throw mixup on opponents too scared to interrupt her.

While these sound like great pros, Athena just doesn't get the proper reward for the risk she takes. Her combo potential is virtually nonexistent, with her only solid combo ender special being her 623P which whiffs after most normal cancels. This leaves her either ending her pressure or combo at just a normal hit, or cancelling into a special and risking her short health bar for another low damage mixup. Her defense isn't that great either, since her 623P isn't a true reversal, leading it to get stuffed a majority of the time. Likely one of her biggest weaknesses lies in her supers, which are incredibly unfriendly to combos, leading them to be almost exclusively utility. Luckily, they do make for some very solid utilities.

Athena is a low-tier hero with some incredible normals, scary knowledge check mixups, and decent ability to run away.

Groove Selection

Best - C/S/A: C-Athena is likely her best Groove overall. While she gets very little from level 2 cancels because of her weak combo potential, her supers make for great utilities, especially Shining Crystal Bit. It's a 0 frame startup invincible reversal/anti-air that she can cancel out of with a PPP input. Even the level 1 version has full startup invuln and instant startup, making it very useful to have it often. Airblock makes her retreat safer, and Alpha Counters give her a very appreciated escape from pressure. S-Athena is a surprisingly great fit for her, as her lack of reliance on supers for damage means she doesn't actively need them to be a threat. Charging is a risk, but her scary neutral ability makes it harder for the opponent to react and punish. Infinite level 1 supers means she can constantly anti-air and reversal, making approaching her much more difficult overall. A-Athena loses her utility supers in exchange for much needed damage. Her Custom Combo is surprisingly good, though difficult, and makes it so that she can actually punish things more effectively. All of these Grooves actively sacrifice something in exchange for the others, so Athena has no one true fitting Groove, so play with these and see which you like.

Useful - N: N-Athena is arguably not that good, but being able to run more consistent mixups is never a bad thing. Run and hop give her more varied mobility, and also having access to roll for escapes is useful. Having consistent access to level 1 supers means she can anti-air and reversal with Shining Crystal Bit more. Still, her lack of damage overall means the usually offense oriented N-Groove just doesn't fit too well.

Worst - K/P: K-Athena gets the mobility of S-Athena, but the heavily rushdown based K-Groove just doesn't fit her runaway gameplan. While she does get some solid damage buffs, especially to her normals, she rarely gets to utilize her Shining Crystal Bit, and without a solid super punish Rage just doesn't work that well for her. K-Grooves lack of an escape option outside of JD hurts as well, and JD is usually more used to reversal into a punish, which she doesn't have. Keeping in mind how JD isn't too useful, P-Athena being at the bottom should be obvious. Parry means nothing with no good punish, and only having a level 3 Shining Crystal Bit once a round at best leaves her without one of her best utilities.

Athena is a neutral and runaway based character with some scary mixup potential against opponents who dont know her moveset. Low health, no real combo potential, bad defense, and a lack of any scary tools outside of her neutral holds her at the low tiers however. Athena is best in C, S, and A-Groove.
Pros	Cons
Buttons: Athena's 2HP is an infamously annoying button to deal with, but many of her other normals are useful as well Shining Crystal Bit: Shining Crystal Bit is a powerful instant anti-air and reversal, and Athena loves to have meter for it Neutral: Between her useful buttons, great runaway, and surprisingly good fireball, Athena can wall opponents out in neutral very well Mixups: With her teleport cancels, Athena can run a scary strike/throw mixup vs opponents who don't mash out	Low Health: Athena is in the lower health brackets, meaning a few mistakes spells the end of a round vs the high damage top tiers No Combos: She has virtually no combos, with a majority of her specials whiffing after a cancel and neither of her supers being very combo friendly. What she does have is very low damage as well Bad Defense: Psycho Sword isn't a real reversal, leaving her with only roll cancels to reversal with, and even then she lacks any solid one to use Fake Mix: While her strike/throw is scary vs opponents who don't mash, the moment an opponent knows that Athena can't really do much off of a strike, they simply won't be scared of mashing or jumping and denying her mixup Bad Offense: Without much to threaten in the way of plus frames or real blockstrings aside from using her fireball, and no real damage to back up her mixups, Athena's offense just isn't very scary

Moves List

Normal Moves

Button	Position	Buffers:	Itself	Specials	Supers	Hit	Block	Startup	Active	Recovery	Damage
Jab	Close		y	y	y	+7	+7	3	4	5	200
	Far		y	y	y	+3	+3	2	4	10	200
	Crouching		y	y	y	+4	+4	3	4	9	200
	Jumping		-	y	y	-	-	5	23	-	400
Strong	Close		n	y	y	+9	+9	3	5	8	700
	Far		n	n	y	+0	+0	6	8	14	700
	Crouching		n	y	y	+1	+1	5	2	17	700
	Jumping		-	y	y	-	-	7	6?	-	700
Fierce	Close		n	y	y	+1	+1	8	4	21	1100
	Far		n	n	n	+3	+3	8	4	19	1200
	Crouching		n	n	y	+1	+1	5	8	17	1200
	Jumping		-	y	y	-	-	6	6	-	1000
Short	Close		n	y	y	+4	+4	4	6	7	500
	Far		n	n	y	-3	-3	6	6	14	400
	Crouching		y	y	y	+6	+6	3	5	6	200
	Jumping		-	n	y	-	-	6	20	-	500
Forward	Close		n	y	y	+5	+5	5	8	9	800
	Far		n	n	y	-2	-2	6	4	20	700
	Crouching		n	n	n	+3	+3	8	8	11	800
	Jumping		-	n	y	-	-	6	8	-	700
Roundhouse	Close		n	y	y	+3	+3	5	8	15	1100
	Far		n	n	n	-2	-2	9	4	22	1100
	Crouching		n	n	y	down	-14	8	4	34	1000
	Jumping		-	n	n	-	-	8	6	-	1100
Command Normals
f+Forward			n/n	n/n	y/n	down	-7	6	3(9)3	24	400+500
(air) d+Forward			n	n	n	Down	-	8	20	-	800

Special Moves

Psycho Ball

+ P

Version	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit/Block	Damage
	15	N/A	46	-9/-9	700
	16	N/A	45	-8/-8	800
	17	N/A	44	-7/-7	900

- Notes: This is her Fireball. The fireball is big and the speed of the Light Punch version is her best one from full screen. While recovery is not very Sonic Boom-like, the speed of which that one travels makes it a very good fireball to run behind and zone with.

RC Psycho Ball is also a good anti air.

Psycho Sword

(Air) + P

Version	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit/Block	Damage
	8	15	23	Down/-12/-9(air)**	500 + 400 x2
	10	18	25	Down/-18/-9(air)**	400 x2 + 200 x3
	10	20	29	Down/-29/-9(air)**	400 x2 + 200 x5

• All Air recoveries are upon landing.

- Notes: This is her SRK. However, this move does not function like an SRK upon reversal. Her LP version has some lower body invincibility, while her MP version has some upper body invincibility. HP version has no invincibility at all.

The hitbox of this move is strictly vertical in nature, so the jump-in has to be right ontop of her for it to hit fully. This move is more often used inside a combo than a traditional Anti Air. However if you do land the ground version this move, it can lead into an easy Custom Combo from anywhere.

Phoenix Arrow

Air + K

Version	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit/Block	Damage
	10	N/A	19	+5/+5	300 x 3
	10	N/A	23	+1/+1	300 x 4
	10	N/A	51	Down/-30	300 x 4 + 500

-Notes: This move is great on chip with all versions. Differing strength means the speed and angle of the move vary a little. The roundhouse version is completely unsafe on block unless you hit with the tip of her toe.

This move can create some nifty crossup situations when the person is knocked down as well as being great for pressure when rushing down on the opponent. This move can be cancelled in the air for mixups.

Tiger Knee-ing this move is great for building meter from far away.

Super Psychic Throw

+ P

Version	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit/Block	Damage
All	6	2	21	N/A	400

-Notes: This is Athena's Command throw. It has very little range, you must almost be point blank to hit with this. There are many ways to set this up,including dash-ins, RC, teleport shenanigans, or upon activation of a Custom Combo.

Follow-ups:

» Psycho Sword - Standard Finisher for good damage.

» Jump Fierce - This will reset the opponent in the air. This can be good to push the person into the corner, or cancel the fierce into a Phoenix Arrow for some mixups.

» Crouch Fierce - Reset

» (jump) Super - Shining Crystal Bit will hit for good damage.

» Custom Combo

» Standing Strong - This leads to a perfect distance to cross up with j.mk.

Psycho Reflector

+ K

Version	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit/Block	Damage
	18	N/A	64	Down/-36	900
	31	N/A	64	Down/-36	500 x 2
	31	N/A	64	Down/-36	400 x 3

-Notes: This is Athena's Reflector. All versions reflect a fireball of any kind that is not a Super once out. The MK/HK versions hop her forward a bit.

Psychic Teleport

+ K

Version	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit/Block	Damage
	17	12	14	N/A	N/A
	17	24	14	N/A	N/A
	17	35	14	N/A	N/A

-Notes: This is Athena's Teleport. It has considerable start-up so consider using it inside a combo when planning to use it. This can be useful for getting out of corners, or starting some mix-up game. However this teleport can be THROWN while you are in motion, making it dangerous to use to escape throws or be predictable with.

Super Moves

Phoenix Fang Arrow

Air + K

Version	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit/Block	Damage
Level 1	4	Varies	44	Down/-24	2200
Level 2	4	Varies	44	Down/-24	2600
Level 3	4	Varies	44	Down/-24	3700

-Notes: This super varies in the amount of hits done at the height you do it at. There are a certain amount of repetitions where Athena must teleport back at the starting point of her super and come on down. The closer you are on the ground the faster it will teleport back up to the starting point of the super. Depending on the distance between you and the ground, there might be less hits.

Theres no real confirmed way to land this super, and its best use is to chip the opponent to death especially against taller characters.

Shining Crystal Bit

(Air) + P

Version	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit/Block	Damage
Level 1	4	96	54	Down/-31/-11(air)	1000
Level 2	4	128	54	Down/-31/-11(air)	1600
Level 3	4	150	54	Down/-31/-11(air)	3200

• Active/Recovery Frames are counted by if you leave the super untouched and let it run its course.
• Air Recovery is upon landing.

-Notes: This super comes out extremely fast at 4 frames. At the first active frame it may be canceled into Crystal Shoot. Due to its quick nature, it can be a great 'Get Off Me" super even at Level 1. The crystal balls always appear to the top left/right corner of Athena upon start up, and strike up and down. This does NOT mean Athena is invulnerable to any attack if you randomly throw it out. A super, or a well placed Normal can sneak by the orbs and hit you clean.

There is however no confirmed way of landing this super outside of crossup shenanigans and as an anti air. However blocking this super still regards in immense damage in the form of chip.

Crystal Shoot

((After Shining Crystal Bit)) (Air) + P (Hold)

Version	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit/Block	Damage
Level 1	8	1/5*	38/10(air)	Down/+1/+7(air)	500 + 500 x 2
Level 2	8	1/5*	38/10(air)	Down/+1/+10(air)	500 + 500 x 2 (x3 on ground)
Level 3	8	1/5*	38/10(air)	Down/+1/+13(air)	400 + 400 x 4

• Active frames are 1 frame start up where she holds the fireball on her head, and 5 for the actual throw.
• Air Recovery is calculated upon landing.

-Notes: This is the follow-up for the Shining Crystal Bit super. It comes out quite quick, has a huge hitbox when she holds it high, and you can direct the flight path of the fireball. Light Punch goes straight down the center, Medium Punch throws it in an angle arching upwards in the end, and Hard Punch arches upward quickly upon throwing it.

The air versions of the move give you a frame advantage due to the recovery upon landing.

» Corner Trap: Due to the fact of the frame advantage you could get from this Super if done at the air, and the amount of chip it can do, it is not uncommon to see people knock someone in the corner, run up, then activate this super upon their get up as a meaty. This makes it risky for the opponent to try to escape this corner trap.

You can do a level 3 for 40% damage on chip damage alone, and still do a level 1 afterwards relatively safely. This is not inescapable, but it can be very important to know when the going gets tough and you need the cheese.

Cancel

((After Shining Crystal Bit)) (Air) (3 punches)

Version	Startup	Active	Recovery	Hit/Block	Damage
Level 2/3	N/A	M/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

• If anyone has the data on this, it would be greatly appreciated! - Lionx

-Notes: This cancel stops all subsequent frames of the Shining Crystal Bit, and lets Athena recover quickly. Great for if you messed up or want to do a corner mixup. This is only available at level 2 and 3 versions of the Shining Crystal Bit. This move cannot be used once you activated your Crystal Shoot portion of the super.

Grooves

The Basics

Her best poke undoubtedly is her crouching fierce. It reaches far, goes under alot of projectiles, and recovers quite quickly.

Her jab version of her fireball (qcfb + lp) is slow, and big is good for pressure and running behind it.

Many normals can connect after a close standing strong, it has a insanely high amount of +frames. For example, using standing strong then a sweep, canceling the sweep with a whiffed command grab (for faster recover) gives you ample amount of time to have cross-up opportunity.

Her best AA's are crouching fierce (which cleanly beat everyone of Sagat's jump-in's (except foward at a certain cross-up angle) and standing strong. Also Strong Psycho Sword (dp) has upper-body invincibility, so it can work as an AA too.

Advanced Strategy

Match-ups

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