Firebrand
TBW
In a nutshell
Firebrand uses flight mixups and projectiles to open an opponent's defenses. While he may not deal much damage, his combos are quite long, and his crossups, divekick, and ability to swoop through the opponent make it so he can frequently start new combos every few seconds. When his abilities are boosted by his speed boost hyper, he becomes one of the fastest and hardest to hit characters in the game, especially with X-Factor activated.
Players to Watch
Zak Bennet, ApologyMan, Udaterasu, Kresent, SkillzDatKillz
Character Vitals
Video Walkthrough
Combos
X-Factor Combos, X-Factor level 3 by Mikeydactyl
Technology
TAC glitch
x-factor level 3
kidnap glitch with vjoe, stalls opponent completely while being hit during kidnap
kidnap glitch interruption from acid rain
Team building thread on SRK Forums
Unblockable Set Ups
This section is dedicated to one of Firebrand's biggest strengths, the unblockables. All the characters presented here are using assists or DHC to set up an unblockable.
Doctor Strange: with Dante's Jam Session
Dormammu: using stalking flare and assist call
Ironman: Repulsor Set up
Storm/Doom: a concept using DHC
Super Skrull: a near infinite snap back loop
Amaterasu: Concept
Trish: After a kill with trish, DHC with round harvest
Hard Tags
Firebrand's biggest weakness is his damage, this section is dedicated to tagging in various partners for optimal damage. Use this as a reference to help build your team in conjunction with unblockables. It is worth noting that different hard tags work on different characters, so it is recommended to do some research on who they work on along with what positions on the screen they work at.
Doctor Doom: Doom BnB after Bon Voyage, Midscreen raw Bon Voyage confirm, Corner to Corner
Doctor Strange: a difficult tag that may be character specific, an interesting hard tag using wall cling fireball H after bon voyage, hard tags that lead to THC ToD
Frank West: BnB into Frank level 4
Hulk: BnB to Hulk
Nova: Concept after Bon Voyage
Shuma-Gorath: Bon Voyage into Shuma 1.1M
Zero: Lightning loops from BnB, another variant
Dormammu: Zak Bennett Combo, only on Firebrand, Wolverine, and Rocket Raccoon, Alternate Zak Bennett Combo
Move List
Assist Types
Hell Spitfire (H) per Flame Hit
proj
Demon Missile (H) 
Demon Missile (M) Normal Moves
nocancel
groundbounce
softknockdown ;
Leaves Firebrand in Flight.
Throws
+ 20,000
Special Moves
per Flame Hit
otg proj ;
strk and otg
only on Flame hit.
Hit + 70,000
softknockdown wallbounce ;
wallbounce caused only by last hit.
wallbounce results in a
hardknockdown . However, if
wallbounce has already been used
up in the Combo, a "fake" wallbounce
occurs that results in a softknockdown .
Firebrand will always drag opponent all
the way to the wall. The further from
the wall, the more damage he will do.
Hitgrab state during drag where Firebrand can't be interrupted
m version passes through opponent.
stagger (ground only)
softknockdown (air only) ;
Leaves Firebrand in Flight.
l goes straight up.
m goes up/forward.
h goes up/back.
another Hell Dive (up to 3).
l goes straight down.
m goes down/forward.
h goes down/back.
Leaves Firebrand in Flight.
b b
l shoots forward fireball.
m shoots down/forward fireball.
h shoots OTG fireball.
s jumps off wall without an action.
Hyper Moves
proj ; Mashable.
When performed in the air,
leaves Firebrand in Flight,
25% speed increase for entire duration
Can build meter for entire duration
Summons a clone that flies in the background at neutral jump height. Stays on screen for 10 seconds.
Controlled with l , m , and h .
The clone shoots a down forward fireball(Hell Spitfire M).
Mission Mode
Strategy
Tips and Tricks
- Firebrand has an unlisted move, performed with {{#motion: b}} {{#motion: b}} against a wall. This wall cling is great for avoiding moves and opponents, and saving time on your flight.
- Learn the ranges of all versions of Hell's Elevator and Hell Dive. Not only are these great mobility tools, but at certain ranges they can make for amazing ambiguous cross-ups.
- Perform a ground throw into the corner puts you at exactly the right range for an OTG Hell Spitfire {{#motion: h}}. Use this for relaunches out of your throw. Outside of the corner, it is recommended to do a forward dash before your OTG Hell Spitfire, as the juggle on the fire may cause the opponent to fall out vs certain characters if you are not close enough.
- While using the Devil's Claw dive kick, you are put into flight mode. On hit, use Hell Dive {{#motion: l}} to land with enough time to easily combo off of the dive kick. If the opponent blocks the dive kick in the corner, you can repeatedly use it (spam it) to add a lot of pressure. Use this in conjunction with assists or the Chaos Tide level 3 Hyper to lock the opponent down, or use Hell Dives to mix the opponent up or escape.
- With X-Factor level 3 and/or Luminous Body, Chaos Tide can be used to effectively lock the opponent down from full screen, causing a lot of chip damage. One way to do this is to press {{#motion: h}} to trigger the Red Arremer clone's Demon Missile {{#motion: h}} swoop, then immediately cancel into a Hell Spitfire {{#motion: l}} , causing a fireball / swoop loop.
- If possible, try to use Devil's Claw before Bon Voyage in your combos. Bon Voyage scales harshly and will decrease the damage of the rest of the combo. Along with this, Devil's Claw has too much start-up to connect at high scaling.
- Concerning throws: When on the ground, go for forward throws, as Firebrand cannot convert back ground throws outside of Luminous Body or XFactor. When going for air throws, try to go for back throws instead of forward throws. At super jump height, Firebrand cannot convert forward throws. However, he can convert back throws with QCB+M into j.L (land), QCF+H. At any height below super jump, go straight into whiffed Bon Voyage (land), QCF+H
- Firebrand's j.L can instant overhead a large majority of the cast. This is great for fuzzy guarding your opponent. Along with this, while in XFactor or Luminous Body, you can connect a j.L into Bon Voyage for a solo instant overhead conversion anywhere on the screen.
Combos
- Firebrand Basic Bread and Butter
L M H S Air M M H Air d + h air qcb + L land d + H S Air M H qcf + S Land Backdash S air M H S Dark Fire
Basic Strategy
Advanced Strategy
Firebrand is a dangerously fast and mobile character, especially when he activates Luminous Body. His overall damage solo isn't too great, meaning he'll need to rely on resets, TAC infinites, and hard tag combos to kill. However, due to his speed, he can often cross you up two times before you realize it, or go for a throw. However, given his relatively short melee range and low health, his approaches can often be stuffed with decent anti-air moves and normal attacks.
Bon Voyage Hard Tags
Bon Voyage is one of the most powerful tools in Firebrand's arsenal, and it is important to understand how it works. Bon Voyage can connect at 3 different heights (ground, normal jump, super jump), and at 4 different screen positions (corner, near corner, near full screen, full screen). This causes 12 different ways that Bon Voyage can hit. While each of them have minuscule differences, the most important thing to note is that grounded Bon Voyage ALWAYS throws farther into the corner than normal or super jump Bon Voyage. This is really important when considering hard tags, because a midscreen grounded Bon Voyage into hardtag will NOT work the same way as a midscreen normal jump Bon Voyage. Be very wary of how and where your Bon Voyage connects and if/how you can hard tag out of it. Be very wary of hard tag videos that use grounded Bon Voyage, as they may not work off of air Bon Voyages (which are way more common).
Wall Clinged Fireballs
Firebrand has the ability to shoot fireballs out of his wall cling using L, M, or H. However, the wall cling can only be done while airborne and with your back to the wall. Fortunately, there are ways to do this right off the ground. This technique has a lot of names, but the most common is "instant wall cling fireballs". These take a lot of practice, but are a big part of Firebrand's game. They can be put on the screen very quickly, and can be combined with standing or aerial fireballs to cover a lot of angles. If done at the lowest possible height, they will hit Morrigan while she is standing. As it currently stands, there are two ways to do this:
1. Back, up-back, neutral, back
This is the more optimal way to do it. You start at back, and then slide it into up back. This counts as the first "back" in the input, and also your jump. After you hit up-back, you need to go back to neutral. This is the only way the game can register a wall cling. After you go back to neutral, you tap back again.
2. Up, up-back, neutral, back
This method is the easier one to learn, but isn't as optimal. As in, your wall clings will probably be higher off the ground than if you can do the first method. On the input screen, it looks like a quarter circle starting from the top and going to back, but you still need to put the neutral in there.
This technique is easiest on a Hitbox, though it is definitely still possible on stick. It is considered one of the more executionally heavy things that Firebrand can do, but it's not something that you can do blindly. It takes a lot of practice to be able to instant wall cling fireball on command, and it takes even more practice to use it properly. However, it is recommended that you learn to plink dash as well to make use of this. It will allow you to shoot a fireball and then plink after it (probably with an assist behind you), or it will allow you to shoot fireballs until you are too close to do it again, where you can then just plink back to full screen and shoot more fireballs. This technique is becoming a staple in Firebrand's neutral, so don't skip over this part of his game. Watch Apologyman for some good examples of instant wall cling fireball use.
Unblockable Set-Up Basics
Firebrand can set up unblockables using his charged Demon Missile H. This seems overpowered at first glance, but there is more to it than meets the eye. As a Firebrand player, it is up to you to know what set-ups your team has, but also how to escape them. Here are some factors to be aware of when trying to unblockable an enemy:
- Incoming height/options: Different characters come in at different heights on incoming. For example, Magneto comes out significantly higher than Vergil. This makes it a lot easier for him to escape even meaty set-ups. Dante and Strider also come out significantly higher than others, but also have double jumps. This makes it a lot easier for them to escape solo or poorly timed incoming unblockables. Sentinel has an air okay invincible super, so he has a pretty good chance of escaping any unblockable that has a gap. Try to be aware of what options your opponent has on incoming and the heights their characters come in at.
- X-Factor: A lot of unblockables can be escaped using Xfactor. Set-ups that seem guaranteed can be escaped using XFactor guard cancelling. For example, Angelic's "Heaven or Hell" set-up (Shown above) can be escaped by blocking the Stalking Flare, and then XFactor cancelling the block stun and then taking the hit from the Purification assist. This carries you up too high for Firebrand to convert. Some characters can also XFactor cancel blockstun into invincible hypers. While it seems advantageous to force your opponent to use XFactor, try to be aware of how much of your resources you commit to your set-up.
- Available resources: As mentioned in the above paragraph, be very aware of your available resources. You do not want to blow all of your meter to unblockable a character and then be unable to kill them once you get the hit. You also do not want to waste a lot of meter only to have the opponent escape your set-up. Firebrand requires a lot of resource management.
- Opposing team composition: When trying to unblockable an enemy, make sure you are very aware of their team composition. If you were to get a hit on Magneto/Doom/Vergil, you could kill Magneto and attempt to unblockable Doom, but then later end up having to deal with anchor Vergil. On the other hand though, if you were to get a hit on a Magneto/Dormammu/Doom team, it would be better to unblockable Dormammu and leave the with anchor Doom. This aspect of unblockabling is open to interpretation and can vary a lot based on the player. However, it is still something to be aware of and requires a lot of thought.
- Ground vs Air: If at all possible, it is usually better to go for air-based unblockables. Only three characters in the game have air-okay invincible supers (Phoenix, Sentinel, and Morrigan). However, a large portion of the cast have invincible ground supers. Be very conscious of the opponent's available meter and whether they have XFactor, as you don't want to attempt a ground unblockable on Spencer, only for them to XFactor cancel into Bionic Arm and hit both Firebrand and the assist you are using to unblockable.