Plasma Sword/Zelkin

Introduction

Overview

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

Strengths

Weaknesses

Air Maneuverability: Zelkin can air stall, air dash, and has strong air-to-air normals in the form of an extremely active j.K and a strong late j.A hitbox. Attack Before The Round: Because Zelkin's flight has a hitbox, he's allowed to hit the enemy before the round starts if they aren't blocking. Flight cancel pressure: Every normal that can be special canceled is a flight cancel setup thanks to the cancelable properties of Sky Destruction. Because kicks cannot be parried, this means that Zelkin has ways to constantly cancel into unparryable pressure off of 2K and any string with his 6K overhead animation. Opponents can try to step this if they want to risk it, but 5BB/2B/3B will tag attempted steps. 5BB leads to full combo, 2B is safe and virtually riskless, and 3B's range and cancel options allow him to flight cancel again even in situations where he might get pushed out. In general, Zelkin can stick to opponents and frustrate/overwhelm them easily. High damage: Sub-optimal Zelkin combos off of 2K and 5BB still lead to roughly 50%, setup up which-way mixups, and in general always keep Zelkin one or two hits away from winning at all times. 3A PF-Cancel Bug: Zelkin has by far the most useful PF-Cancel bug in the game, allowing him to cancel his 3A overhead into Plasma Field. Theoretical Infinite: Zelkin (console version) has an infinite loop off his 2KKK in the form of 2KKKx(Flight Forward, Cancel) j.K. This is extremely difficult if not completely impractical, but it does exist and, if nothing else, illustrates just how bonkers both 2K and j.K are. In the arcade version, he has several infinites.

High Execution: Even sub-optimal Zelkin combos require flight cancelling to be effective, and messing up any angle on air dashes can leave Zelkin open for a combo. Polarized Range: Zelkin is best at close range, and though getting in isn't the hardest thing in the world for a character with an air dash at his disposal, it does mean that characters that do a decent job of keeping him out or simply out-footsieing him can give him a bit of trouble. Sub-Par Anti-airs: Zelkin's best anti-air is to either air-to-air or step and whiff punish. This is far, far worse than what many other characters get in the game, even those that are below him on the tier list. Bad Alt Character: Eagle's super options cannot combo the way Zelkin's does, nor do they offer additional utility in neutral or in some other aspect of the game. Therefore, Eagle really doesn't do anything to help a Zelkin player's matchup spread, making him little more than a joke character with extremely good normals.

Move List

Vertical Normals

A

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

AA

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

AAA

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

AAK

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

AAKA

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

AAKAA

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

AK

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

AKA

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

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

K

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

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

Sky Javelin

Sky Javelin
(any direction) A+K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground
Can be done up to two times. Primarily used for chip kills and crossing up opponents in oki situations.

Thunder Blade
64B

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

Thunder Wheel Combo
K(from Thunder Blade)

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

Blue Storm
(Taunt)

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground
Despite having the same name, this is not your super. This is a taunt with the additional property of pushing opponents away if they are on the ground, giving it the very niche application of securing a time-out victory if you have the life lead and your opponent can't jump to get to you in time.

Super Jump
28

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground
Zelkin's Super Jump. Useful for niche situations where your trying to air stall at a height other characters would not be able to get to for safety, such as dropped plasma field combos or Plasma Fields that require extra steps to be useful, such as Gamof/Gantetsu's Auto-Throw.

Sky Destruction
236+K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground
This is a slightly-pilotable move that sends Zelkin into the air, then has him fall back down in a air-to-ground grab attempt. This function of the move is quite bad due to its ability to be stepped and ducked. However, Sky Destruction can be cancelled at any point with the M button, allowing Zelkin to go into free fall. During this fall, Zelkin can attack with any of his normal jumping moves. Because there is no height restriction on when you can hit the M button to cancel, you can effectively use this brief flight state to cancel the recovery of any cancelable normal, granting you frame advantage far beyond what you'd normally have.

623A
Rising Blade

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground
This is a flying uppercut primarily used as combo extension off of 5BB/2KKK. Despite the input and upwards motion, it's quite bad at anti-airing due to its slow speed and forward movement.

Kuuchuu Dash
6M or 66 while in the air

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground
This is Zelkin's air dash. Uniquely, it's also an attack, one of which is cancelable into air normals. Depending upon when you hit a button during Zelkin's air dash, you get wildly different speed and trajectories on attacks, all of which you should become familiar with. Generally, the earlier you hit the input, the faster Zelkin travels. Because j.K from this can also be cancelled back into air dash, Zelkin can effectively do Kuuchuu Dash->j.K as a loop until he touches the ground. This is quite difficult to do and messing up any part of it could cause you to land in a vulnerable state, but it is worth knowing it exists.

Gauge Moves

Crimson Phoenix

Crimson Phoenix
236 A+B (Zelkin only)

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground
A strange air-to-ground super with surprising safety. It cannot be parried, does good chip damage, and depending upon when and how its blocked can even be plus. Its great for sniping out whiffs on the ground, but your meter is generally better spent on Plasma Field and Blue Storm. The fact that a super this good is not useful to him says more about how good Zelkin is than how bad this super is.

Blue Storm
214 A+B (Zelkin Only)

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 - Transformation
BK

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground
Zelkin becomes a pilotable missile. If the type of hit that connects leaves the opponent standing, you can use Zelkin's guided flight to try and hit the opponent crossup.

Miscellaneous

Throw
5AB

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

Kuuchuu Nage
j.A+B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Hit Adv	Block Adv	Meter Gain	Property
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ground
Zelkin is a rare possessor of an air throw in Plasma Sword. Because of his weak anti-airs, this has niche use as a fast option in matchups where the opponents do not have fast/far reaching/active air normals to bully him away from using this.

Strategy

Combos