UMVC3/Frank West

Frank West

In a nutshell

Frank West is a unique character that was built for supporting teams. He starts out weak, but by utilizing his snapshot ability, he can level himself up like Dead Rising and become stronger. However, leveling up is directly related to how many hits are done in a combo, so it's important to set up a big combo to maximize Frank's abilities. By reaching level 4 and 5, Frank can gain new specials, enhance his current specials, buff his hypers and vastly improve the range and damage of his normal attacks. To be accurate, he receives a 10% boost to damage as well as 10% damage reduction. Additionally, Frank's Snap Shot is an OTG and his Survival Techniques is easy to whiff, which means you can set up a DHC from a point character into a snap shot and level up. Though Frank can pose a threat on point, most teams have optimized Frank in the second or third slot.

Alternate Colors

Players to Watch

FizzyKups, Cless, Slipsization, Bee, Kusorou, Solid Abyss, Justin Wong, ApologyMan

Character Vitals

CHARACTER DATA

Health:

Base Ground Magic Series:

Zig-Zag

Double Jump:

No

Air Dash:

No

Air Dash/Jump count:

0

X-FACTOR

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

X-Factor Damage Boost:

35.0 %

60.0 %

85.0 %

X-Factor Speed Boost:

5.0 %

10.0 %

15.0 %

X-Factor Duration:

10.0 s

15.0 s

20.0 s

MINIMUM DAMAGE SCALING

L Attacks

M Attacks

H Attacks

Special Moves

Hyper Combos

Normal:

20 %

30 %

X-Factor Lvl 1:

35 %

30 %

X-Factor Lvl 2:

35 %

30 %

X-Factor Lvl 3:

35 %

30 %

Video Walkthrough

Leveling Techniques

This thread has a lot of important information and has a much bigger list of characters: http://forums.shoryuken.com/discussion/167438/frank-west-level-up-strategies

Solo Techniques: No DHC, X-factor or THC

Amaterasu: Hard Tag concept, using slow down DHC
Captain America: BnB to DHC
Chris Redfield: Grenade Launcher DHC, Level 5 Fire Grenade hard tags with Eye of Agamatto, Hard tags with Shopping cart and Jam Session
Dante: lots of conversions
Deadpool: Great video featuring Dante
Doctor Doom: whiffed tools DHC
Doctor Strange: several ways to level up frank, with dante
Firebrand: Hard Tag from BnB, DHC with firebrand
Iron Man: hard tag from Level 3
Magneto: Optimized set ups with Dante
Nova: BnB to DHC, Throw BnB
Sentinel: THC synergy
Shuma Gorath: Shuma/Frank/Vergil tech
Spencer: Spencer/Frank/Wesker tech, with bonus Nova stuff
Thor: using hard tags and DHC
Vergil: Using wall bounce and sword throw
Wesker: using TAC and THC, hard tag confirm from counter super

Move List

Assist Types

Name

Type

Damage

Special Properties

Cross-Over Combination

Shopping Cart

direct front

20,000 x 7

Blue Light Special

Tools of Survival

direct front

30,000 x 4 /
35,000 x 8 /
25,000 x 10

Blue Light Special

Pick Me Up

extra instant

0

Gives Team 300,000
Hyper Meter Points

Blue Light Special

Normal Moves

Name

Command

Damage

Notes (glossary)

Standing Light

l

48,000
52,800 (Lv. 5)

Crouching Light

d + l

45,000
49,500 (Lv. 5)

Standing Medium

m

60,000
68,000 (Lv. 3)
45,000 x 3 (Lv. 4)
49,500 x 3 (Lv. 5)

Inflicts chipdamage starting at Lv. 4

Crouching Medium

d + m

58,000
63,000 (Lv. 3)
43,000 x 3 (Lv. 4)
47,300 x 3 (Lv. 5)

Inflicts chipdamage starting at Lv. 4

Standing Heavy

h

70,000
90,000 (Lv. 3)
45,000 x 5 (Lv. 4)
49,500 x 5 (Lv. 5)

Inflicts chipdamage starting at Lv. 4

Crouching Heavy

d + h

63,000
69,300 (Lv. 5)

low softknockdown

Special

s

80,000
90,000 (Lv. 3)
100,000 (Lv. 4)
110,000 (Lv. 5)

launch nocancel
Inflicts chipdamage starting at Lv. 4

Object Throw

f + h

50,000
80,000 (Lv. 3)
100,000 (Lv. 4)
110,000 (Lv. 5)

chipdamage
nocancel
proj

Jumping Light

air l

50,000
55,000 (Lv. 5)

high

Jumping Medium

air m

63,000
70,000 (Lv. 3)
45,000 x 3 (Lv. 4)
49,500 x 3 (Lv. 5)

high
Inflicts chipdamage starting at Lv. 4

Jumping Heavy

air h

65,000
71,500 (Lv. 5)

high

Jumping Special

air s

70,000
90,000 (Lv. 3)
110,000 (Lv. 4)
121,000 (Lv. 5)

high aircombofinisher
Inflicts a groundbounce state starting at Lv. 3
Inflicts chipdamage starting at Lv. 4

Knee Drop

air d + h

70,000
77,000 (Lv. 5)

high hardknockdown ;
Only delay on landing can
be canceled into
Specials and Hypers.

Throws

Name

Command

Damage

Notes (glossary)

Forward Throw

f + h

80,000
88,000 (Lv. 5)

throw hardknockdown

Back Throw

b + h

80,000
88,000 (Lv. 5)

throw hardknockdown

Forward Air Throw

air f + h

80,000
88,000 (Lv. 5)

airthrow hardknockdown

Back Air Throw

air b + h

80,000
88,000 (Lv. 5)

airthrow hardknockdown

Special Moves

Name

Command

Damage

Notes (glossary)

Tools of Survival L

qcf + l

30,000 x 4
35,000 x 8 (Lv. 3)
25,000 x 10 (Lv. 4)
27,500 x 10 (Lv. 5)

airok
Lv. 3 version ONLY causes a strk on the last hit

Tools of Survival M

qcf + m

90,000
120,000 (Lv. 3)
30,000 x 8 (Lv. 4)
33,000 x 8 (Lv. 5)

airok
wallbounce (caused only by the last hit when in Lv. 4 or 5)

Tools of Survival H

qcf + h

80,000
100,000 (Lv. 3)
150,000 (Lv. 4)
165,000 (Lv. 5)

airok otg
softknockdown
groundbounce

Giant Swing (L)

qcb + l

50,000 + 80,000
55,000 + 88,000 (Lv. 5)

Last hit causes a softknockdown

Giant Swing (M)

qcb + m

50,000 x 2 + 80,000
55,000 x 2 + 88,000 (Lv. 5)

Giant Swing (H)

qcb + h

50,000 x 3 + 80,000
55,000 x 3 + 88,000 (Lv. 5)

Hammer Throw

charge b , f + atk

80,000
88,000 (Lv. 5)

h version puts grounded opponents in a cptr state on hit

Snapshot

qcf + s

10,000
11,000 (Lv. 5)

airok otg
proj
The core to Frank's level up mechanic. Gives Frank "experience points" based on the current number of hits in the hit counter.

Bottoms Up

d , d + s

0

Doubles gained experience for 10 seconds. When the effect wears off, Frank performs a vomiting animation, which can only be canceled by activating X-Factor. Tagging Frank out will remove the effect but will also prevent Frank from vomitting when tagged back in.

Roundhouse Kick

dp + atk

70,000
77,000 (Lv. 5)

Can only be performed at Lv. 2 or above.
l version is a feint.
m version puts opponent in a hardknockdown state.
h version hits low, puts opponents in a softknockdown state, and can otg

Barrel Roll

atk + s

0

Can only be performed at Lv. 2 or above. Frank performs a quick combat roll that can pass through opponents. Useful for cross-ups and for passing through careless Hyper Combos to set up punishes with Survival Techniques.

Hyper Moves

Name

Command

Damage

Notes (glossary)

Blue Light Special

qcf + atk + atk

30,000 x (8~17) + 70,000
33,000 x (8~17) + 77,000 (Lv. 5)

otg softknockdown
Last hit causes wallbounce
Mash for more hits.

Survival Techniques

qcb + atk + atk

253,100
312,000 (Lv. 3)
356,100 (Lv. 4)
391,700 (Lv. 5)

softknockdown

Funny Face Circuit

dp + atk + atk

20,000 x 6 + 40,000 + 100,000
22,000 x 6 + 44,000 + 110,000 (Lv. 5)
"Mashed" hits do 2,000 (2,200 at Lv. 5)

airthrow hardknockdown
Can only be performed at Lv. 3 or above. The joystick/d-pad can be spun for more hits, though while doing so increases the damage of the move itself, it will decrease the total damage of the followup combo.

Mission Mode

Strategy

Tips and Tricks

Frank's Camera can OTG, and an OTG camera shot can me canceled into his Survival Techniques hyper for big damage and DHC opportunities. This is a great way to finish any combo.
At Levels 1 and 2, Franks Tools of Survival {{#motion: h}} will still ground bounce, but at a VERY low height. However, using it to finish an Air Combo allows Frank to land soon enough to relaunch, extending even Level 1 combos greatly.
Using multi-hitting assists in conjunction with OTG Camera shots can allow extra relaunches, or even an extra Camera hit, netting Frank a huge amount of "experience".
Frank can use his Bottoms Up command to drink. While in this state, Frank gains double experience from Camera shots. However, after about ten seconds, Frank will throw up. Both drinking and throwing up have massive recovery and cannot be canceled at all. However, tagging Frank out will remove the double experience status, and therefore remove the recovery sickness.
Giant Swing is safe on block. Use this to make block strings safe, or to have more potent approaches.

Combos

Solo Combo 1)

{{#motion: l , m , h , d + h , s (launch), air l , air m , air h , air qcf + h (land), d + l , d + m , d + h , s (launch), air l , air m , air m , air h , air d + h (land), qcf + s , qcb + atk + atk}}

Basic Strategy

Every time Frank hits an opponent with the Snapshot, the number of hits in the combo are put towards Frank's invisible "experience" meter, known in the Dead Rising series as "Prestige Points." The PP breaks down as:
- 0 - 4 PP - Level 1
- 5 - 19 PP - Level 2
- 20 - 49 PP - Level 3
- 50 - 99 PP - Level 4
- 100+ PP - Level 5

Note that every time Frank levels up, he regains a portion of his red health, giving him more survival time.

The first priority with Frank is to reach level 2, to unlock his roll move. This increases his mobility, evasion, and mixup potential. At level 3, he gains his anti-air grab Hyper, and his Tools of Survival {{#motion: h}} move bounces the opponent high enough to be a valuable OTG move. At levels 4 and 5, he gains range and damage, but these are far less valuable in the long run than even reaching level 2. Rule of thumb, beyond level 3, focus more on dealing as much damage to the opponent as possible over leveling up, if the choice is necessary.

Advanced Strategy

Strategy vs. Frank West

Frank West

Alternate Colors

Players to Watch

Character Vitals

Video Walkthrough

Team Showcase

Combos

Technology

Leveling Techniques

Move List

Assist Types

Normal Moves

Throws

Special Moves

Hyper Moves

Mission Mode

Strategy

Tips and Tricks

Combos

Basic Strategy

Advanced Strategy

Strategy vs. Frank West