JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future/DIO

Dio Brando and his stand The World.

Introduction

In 1888, Dio Brando, via the power of the stone mask, had become transformed into an invincible vampire, and killed Jonathan Joestar's father. JoJo (AKA: Jonathan), set out to stop Dio from fulfilling his ambitions, and in the process, learned how to use Hamon (a special breathing technique which allows the user to channel natural energy), which can destroy vampires. After tracking Dio down, and cornering him in his abandoned mansion, JoJo had succeeded in destroying Dio... Or so he had thought. Dio, before he could be completely destroyed, severed his own immortal head, preventing the loss of his life.

One year later, in 1889, JoJo is married, and for his honeymoon, decides to go on a steamship trip to America. Unknown to JoJo, one of Dio's zombies stows away on the ship, carrying Dio's severed head. During the trip, Dio's surviving zombies massacre the passengers, and lure JoJo, to Dio. Once in range, Dio uses his eyes to shoot a pressurized beam of fluid, piercing JoJo's throat, and preventing him from using Hamon. Dio then attempts to take JoJo's body as his own, but once again, JoJo destroys his ambitions by causing the ship's engine to explode, just as he is assuming control of the body.

One hundred years later, in 1989, Dio (who had escaped to safety in a near-by coffin) was brought up from the bottom of the sea by salvagers...

He is now used to Jonathan Joestar's body, and he only needs the blood of the Joestar line to perfect his use of The World - to be able to stop time as long as he wants.

At first glance he may seem to similar to Jotaro Kujo to be worth considering but with extra tools, such as his teleport and unblockable eye laser, he's definetly worth a second look. He is a solid close range fighter, that is cemented at the top of the B class tier list with a good set of normals and some of the best damage in the game. Don't let his hard execution throw you off, with a bit of dedication dio can be a very rewarding character to play.

Moves List

Normal Moves

For this I will be using the numpad notations. Look at your numpad 5 being neutral and the others representing eight different directions. Also standard JoJos notation a1-3 (attack1-3) and s(stand) will be used for the buttons. I don't have the info for the dashing attacks yet, when I do I will add that.

Moves without Stand

5.a1 - typical standing jab, can be used to start combos, it is duckable by most (all?) of the cast.
2.a1 - Your standard combo starter with dio, good pressure tool, hits low, all around good move.
5.a2 - A large standing roundhouse kick. The move is decently quick and makes good anti-air, can be used in combos though not useful all the time as the only link is from 2a1
2.a2 - a quick crouching uppercut style attack. This move is also good anti-air, mostly trades but can beat stuff clean. It is cancelable and is useful for combo starters.
5.a3 - Slightly slow overhead swing (does not have to be blocked high), on hit it launches people into the air and is cancelable. It has long range so can be used as a good poke especially when canceled into 214+a. Normally used as a combo finisher. It can combo off of 2a, as a link, not super hard but takes a bit of practice. It will not launch the opponent if it was done during a dash
2.a3 - Dio plunges his hand into the ground and it knocks the opponent down. A little slow on startup, and has a good amount of recovery, I do not recommend it. It is cancelable.

Moves with Stand will be added later....

Special Moves

-Muda Muda-

Description: The World rushes forward and delivers a barrage of punches. The distance The World travels and speed it moves at is determined by the attack level.
Normal Command: 236 + A
Notes: In stand mode this move can be done in midair. Mashing the attack button allows the attack to continue longer.
Uses: Great for combos, either starter or enders, this move is a staple move for Dio. Great to use as pressure and opponents as they wake-up. You may use a running jump over the opponent with a3, dash-in a1 and repeatedly do down+a1 if it connects.

-Mudaaaaaa!-

Description: The World rushes forward and delivers a heavy punch.
Normal Command: 214 + A
Notes:While in Stand Mode this move becomes a rekka, whose second hit (if the command is repeated) knocks down, but it is not safe on block anymore as Dio is attached to his stand. After inputting the command once or twice, Dio would travel to The World's location.
Uses:Great for combos, though a little hard to combo into. It is safe on block and useful to maintain pressure. Another staple move for Dio. Throw this move once in a while and don't be predictable.

-Super Surprise Tiggyaizu-
Description: After a delay, Dio shoots an unblockable beam from his eyes.
Normal Command: 6 -> A3 -> A2 -> A1 -> 6
Notes: Can only be performed without Stand
Uses: Can be used as a long range poke. But people with fast projectiles, like Midler can easily hit you during startup. Use this when the opponent is turtling, staying far or running/jumping towards you. Throw this move once in a while. If the first one hits, try to do a second one if the opponents tech, it may land. Don't be predictable as it was a slow start up and can be punished.

-The World-

Description: Dio teleports forward, depending on the button you press you go to a different place on the screen, a1 is the left, a2 goes to the center of the screen (determined by opponents position), and a3 goes to the right. The move has no hitable startup or recovery frames, but I believe like other teleports in the game may be thrown. You are vulnerable in the beginning frames after the teleport.
Normal Command: 632 + A
Notes:Can only be performed without Stand
Uses: It can be useful to keep pressure on an opponent who tries to pushblock you alot, as well as just an escape/movement tool. Can also be used as mix-up and in mind games by teleporting in the same spot you were standing in, but beware. If the opponent catches on, you'll be punished.

-Shinei!-
Description: This move replaces the teleport in Stand Mode. The World flies behind the opponent and strikes them, This move is slow and not very useful.
Normal Command: 632 + A
Notes: Can only be performed with Stand

note: move names and commands and some descriptions taken from cjayc's faq. Good work guy!

Super Moves

-Road Roller Da-

Description: Dio jumps off the screen and comes back down on top of a steamroller. If it connects, he then pounds on the steamroller until it explodes for extra hits and damage. Punishable if you miss or doesn't connect
Normal Command: 214 + A + A
Notes: Can only be performed without Stand, Can be performed in mid-air
Uses: Generally used at the end of your other super "Tokiyo Tomare!" when you have a bar or 2 left as it's one of the moves that does the most damage in that mode. Can also be used as a counter for time stop. Do the move as the opponent starts up "Time Stop." If done correctly, you'll be offscreen the moment time stops. You'll be able to avoid all attacks and waste all of the opponent's super meter in exchange of a chance to be punished when time resumes.
-Checkmate Da-

Description: Dio throws two handfuls of knives at the opponent. The formation of the knives would a wave similar to this ASCII character ">" but the ">" is much narrower.
Normal Command: 236 + A + A
Notes: Can be performed in mid-air only if your stand is out. If the stand throws the knives, it'll be scattered. Doing this standless would take a second to activate and doing with a stand is almost instantaneous.
Uses: Can be used as a counter move, an attack and in tandems and combos. Maybe be used as a surprise attack if you call your stand and use the super. A general way to surprise is to do a running jump, call stand and do the super. If it's blocked, you may tick throw or walk-in and grab the opponent whenever you land.

-Tokiyo Tomare! (Time Stop)-

Description: After a start-up delay, time freezes for the opponent.
Normal Command: 6 -> A3 -> A1 -> 6 -> S
Notes: Requires (and uses) 3 combo meter levels. Your combo meter drains away rapidly. When you use a super it'll drain exactly 1 bar. Time would resume when the bar is empty. Damage in this mode is lowered. If your opppoent stops time, you may enter the time frozen arena by inputing the command. You do not need 3 super meters but you'll still follow the same rules in time freeze.
Uses: Use this when you do a stand crush or the opponent turtles away, make sure this move is what's needed to kill or if you want to fool around/look fancy. When you freeze time, throw as many knives as you can, preferebly with stand mode on so you can throw as much faster. The knives would be frozen and would only hit if the opponent is close enough. Try to plant the knives close to the opponent. When you have 1 to 2 super bars left, do the "Road Roller Da" super. If it isn't possible, do qcb+a3 or dp+a to hit the opponent (this is the one time "Shinei!" is actually useful). If the oppoenent is hit any time before time resumes, they'll be flying towards the wall when time resumes. The knives would also resume motion. If the knvies were planted too far or the timestop was performed too far from a corner, they'll miss.
More notes: If the knives thrown with Checkmate Da in Stand Mode hit the opponent during a time stop (that is, you throw them up close) and hit them *before* any other attacks, instead of flying to the back wall when the timestop ends, the opponent will be affected by the long Checkmate Da hitstun and be launched (as if they had just been hit by Checkmate Da in regular conditions). The knives aren't as effective used this way due to the timestop damage reduction.

-Chi no Shoukan (Bloody Summoning)-
Description: Dio rushes forward and if he connects, sticks his finger in the opponent's face and drains them.
Normal Command: A2 -> A1 -> 6 -> A1 -> A3
Notes: Works a bit like a Raging Demon-style super, but blockable.
Uses: Lots of invulnerable frames in this one. Due to said invulnerability this can work quite well as a surprise move or counter. Try teleporting right up to your opponent and buffering this during the teleport end animation. Decent standalone damage, but can't be comboed into via regular means (requires a tandem + knives setup to link).

note: move names and commands and some descriptions taken from cjayc's faq. Good work guy!

The Basics

List of Moves you'll use alot
5.a1 - decent anti-air, good to catch people who jump back alot cancel into 236a1 for a decent anti-air combo.
2.a1 - general low poke into combo.
2.a2 or 662.a2 - decent priorty needs to be kind of close to hit, dashing version is a great combo starter also close anti-air.
5.a2 - Long range anti-air, decent poke.

Game Plan and the Mixups

Dio is in general a close range fighter, and has alot of good air to ground attacks, so abuse the jump system with alot of dashing low jump into attack, as well as high,low, throw mixups, by keeping them in guardstun with his 214a1. Below is the general mixup you can get off of 214a

The following is after the block or pushblock 214a

669.a1
This can be useful to maintain pressure and keep them guessing, j.a1 does enough hitstun that if they get hit crouching by it you can follow up with his standard combo. If they decide to block it you can procceed to go into a low, high, throw mixup as it puts you at basically neutral. Make sure after doing this to watch for people who like to mash buttons because they will hit you out of some of your mixup, but if they do you can always just cr.a and beat what they are doing and score your own combo! j.a3
This is good to do if you want to mixup which way they are going to block as well. If it hits obviously you can follow up with a combo, if they are blocking though you have a few mixups. Basically this stems from the jump system in the game. If you do a dashing low jump you depending on they distance you will cross up or not, and if you time it right even when you don't cross up you will land on the other side. This is your traditional ambiguous cross up mixup.
663.a1
dashing low to maintain pressure, if you get good at dashing low jump this becomes a serious threat because the opponent has to decide how to block pretty quickly.
'663.a2
' good if they try and jump away as a2 is an amazing anti-air.. better than doing dashing 5.a1 because this can't be ducked. It will usually beat lows if they try and hit you out of it, so if you see them go for something try canceling into 236+a3 to go for a combo off of the Murder attack.
Throw
If you are playing against someone who is really concentrating on blocking you can always just throw them useful to learn how to dash throw correctly with a 664 command. You will then stop and if you wait just a split second you should be able to throw. The throw will also catch them if they try and roll out of your mixup (happens mostly if you go for a dashing a2 or higher) or if they pushblock as pushblock has no throw invincibilty! It's very important to mix this in.
Extra
you can also follow up with a few different stand attacks, such as s+a3 for a good anti-air if they jump back or 664s+a1 for another good dashing jab, that if it hits you can follow up with a tandem attack. Also if you just want to keep them in more block stun, go for stand crush or chip you can also cancel into the Murder attack (236+a3 is the best) and go for a high low mixup through either another a1 or a jumping attack of your choice depending on what you are going for. If the Murder attack hits go for a combo. Also remember teleport is extremly fast and can be used to overcome people who keep pushblocking you out, just don't get too predictable!

more mixups and stuff to come......

Basic Combos

2.a1 xx 214a1~663a1,2a1,5a1+s,2.a1 xx 214s,a1a2,a3(repeat x3-5 times depending on your hand speed), DJ(dashing jump)a3, cr.a(repeat until stand rush ends) st.b xx 236c, j.a3, 66.a1, cr.a1X3,5a3

Match-ups

Vs. Shadow Dio:

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure