Capcom vs SNK 2/Morrigan

Introduction

Overview

Strategy

Combos

Matchups

Story

Morrigan Aensland is a succubus, and one of the two protagonists of the Darkstalkers series, acting as an anti-hero. She is the daughter of Belial Aensland, and heir to Makai, the realm of darkness where the Darkstalkers live. She grew into a powerful succubus, but was sadly born into a time of political turmoil for Makai, as many foresaw its doom soon. Sadly, a succubus ruling Makai was considered unacceptable. Alongside all of this, Morrigan's power was enormous even for a Darkstalker. While this sounds like a great benefit in the harsh climate of the time, her power was so large that it threatened to destroy her. Knowing this, her father Belial split her soul into three equal parts, leaving her with only 1/3rd of her original power. He took one of the thirds, and another was sent to a pocket dimension. Morrigan is bored throughout her childhood, and frequently escapes to the human world. However, during one of her trips, her father died. Not only did this mean she was set to inherit the Aensland throne, it also meant she regained a third of her power. She is to be the true ruler of Makai, but only learns what that means when Jedah pulls her and the rest of Makai into his dimension. She meets Lilith there, the last 3rd of her power that Jedah gave life, and fuses with her to become once again the most powerful Darkstalker. She defeats Jedah, and assumedly lives life ruling over Makai to this day

Gameplay

Morrigan is a very unique character in CvS2. While on the surface she resembles the standard shoto character, with a fireball, DP, and decent pokes, she's actually an incredibly powerful mixup vortex character. Morrigan has a few main unique factors, but the most immediate one is her hoverdash. In dash Grooves, this is a standard dash and is a fairly weak one. However, the moment you put her in a run Groove, it becomes a very versatile mobility tool. She can end it very quickly, hold forward to hoverdash for a very long time, and even switch to holding up to angle her hoverdash upwards. From hoverdash, she can go into any aerial. This allows her to create incredibly ambiguous high/low/crossup mixups on wakeup. Mix that with her command grab, and you have a powerful vortex that can be hard to escape.

Her other main unique factor is her chainable normals. Her normals can cancel into eachother, akin to more modern anime fighting games, and a direct steal from the mechanics of Darkstalkers. She can chain punches into kicks, and standing attacks into low attacks. This gives her a more freeform combo and pressure structure, and also makes her combos notably easier, though also lower damage. This is alright, as she can combo into her Darkness Illusion super for much higher damage. Her neutral game is nothing to scoff at either, with a useful fireball and good DP, and solid mobility overall. If you don't mind her much lower health, and the lack of meterless damage, Morrigan is a great mixup focused character to play.

Groove Selection

Best - K/N: Both of these grooves do wonders for Morrigan and they fit her very well. K-Morrigan can get access to several chances to use her DI for massive damage and the damage buff makes each wrong guess hurt a lot more than it already did. JDs help her a lot as she has some long range normals for punishes, and the nature of her gameplay means that it's easy to tell when an opponent will strike and you can JD accordingly. N-Morrigan is more of the same, replacing JDs for rolls. Her RCs aren't incredible but still very useful. RC fireball and RC command grab are always going to help more than they can hurt and in particular the RC command grab can make Morrigan's oki hard to reversal against when she goes for that option. Her roll is pretty average, but it's still a roll that can check some laggy pokes. Though the damage buff gained from pop is much less than that of K, and while you won't have access to it as often, it's still dangerous and must be respected.

Useful - S: S-Morrigan is more so a gimped N/K Morrigan. Though she gets the run and shorthop, she doesn't have any of the mechanics N or K have to really put it all together. Although, once she gets to low health, she has 2 decent fireball supers to spam whenever she pleases while building a lvl.3. Her DP super is also a decent anti air that she can use freely. Her dodge attacks are pretty mediocre. Overall an alright S-Groove character.

Worst - C/P/A: These Grooves all have one thing in common: not having a run. This pretty much makes these versions of Morrigan very hard to use and overall just bad. C-Morrigan is the best dash Morrigan Groove. Instead of a powerful mixup character, she plays like your average shoto, just chucking fireballs and then anti airing with DP. Stored level 3 is nice, but when you lack the main tool that allows you to confirm into it, you actually land it far less than the run grooves. Her level 2s are also lackluster, offering minimal cancels for rather poor damage if combo'd into. She has an alright dash which can corpse hop, so you can still get a crossup on oki, but it's just a bad consolation prize. P-Morrigan gets very consistent punishes from a parry, and a shorthop which brings her mixup game back a little bit, though you would still rather have hoverdash. Parry into DI is a nice thing to have, although it is quite difficult. A-Morrigan is the worst groove for her. Though CC is gonna be powerful regardless of character, no DI is just not the way to go. It does not help her actual synergy with CC is pretty bad. Should only be used as a point character.

Morrigan is a mixup machine, with nearly unreactable high/low/crossup/throw mix from her powerful hoverdash. She has powerful okizeme, simple combo structure, and unique but powerful neutral. She pays for it with very low health and low damage output without a level 3 DI. Morrigan is best in K-Groove. Difficulty: Pretty Hard Tier: B
Pros	Cons
Mixup: Hoverdashing over an opponent puts them in a situation where Morrigan can fall down with a j.HP, fall with nothing and land with 2LK, land and command grab them, or dash further and cross them up. Reacting to all of these is nearly impossible, and they all lead back into this same situation, putting the opponent into a deadly guessing game Chain Normals: Morrigans normals cancel into eachother, punches into kicks, standing into crouching. This allows her to make her pressure a lot more freeform, and easily score knockdowns by comboing into 2HK, leading into her potent mixups Neutral: Even with her powerful mixup potential, she retains a good fireball for zoning and a good DP for anti-air, alongside multiple good pokes Darkness Illusion: Darkness Illusion, usually abreviatted to DI, is a powerful high damage level 3 combo ender that turns Morrigan with Rage/full meter into a very scary character to fight	Mobility: While not necessarily a weakness, her mobility is unique, and hoverdash forces her to use different options to quickly move forward or rely on walking and blocking to get in Health: Morrigan has very low health and is in the low tier for stun, meaning it only takes a few good hits to kill her Low Damage: Without DI behind her, Morrigan's combos often end in a simple 2HK, doing very little overall damage Guessing Game: Her vortex can quickly close out a round, but if the opponent guesses right, she usually eats a big damage super and is sent flying away. The risk/reward is never exactly in her favor in this sense, as one good guess from the opponent hurts a lot more than 5 good guesses from Morrigan Dash: If you are trying to play Morrigan in C, A or P-Groove, you'll quickly realize just how much she needs her unique run. Instead of mixing the opponent to death you have to play a more defensive Morrigan. The lack of run is simply too much to ignore and she's a pretty bad character without it, a low tier I would argue.

Players to Watch

Name	Country	Groove	Accounts	Notes
Wadatsumi	Japan	C-Groove	Twitter: @wadatsunami	The only Morrigan player to not use her in a run groove. Gets around her crippling lack of movement options by using fundamentals and her good dash. Sample Match
Tsugunosuke	Japan	N-Groove	Twitter: N/A	A mainstay on his team, Tsugunosuke plays a much safer Morrigan than one would expect, and only gets into his bag of mixups when the space has been closed. Sample Match
Buktooth	USA	N-Groove	Discord: buktooth#8799	Oldschool player who used Morrigan with aggression, but played very calculated as well. Sample Match
Sakomoto	Japan	K-Groove	Twitter: @sakomotee	Super aggressive with Morrigan and lands level 3 combos with ease, making him an extreme threat from most ranges. Sample Match

Normal Moves

Far Normals

5LP

Far Jab
Far Light Punch
5LP / Far LP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Far	200	2	RF/SP/SU	Mid	High	3	3	7	12	+5	+5	-
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5MP

Far Strong
Far Medium Punch
5MP / Far MP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Far	600	6	SP/SU	Mid	High	3	10	10	23	+3	+3	-
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5HP

Far Fierce
Far Heavy Punch
5HP / Far HP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Far	900	9	None	Mid	High	8	4	26	38	-6	-6	-
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5LK

Far Short
Far Light Kick
5LK / Far LK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Far	300	3	RF/SP/SU	Mid	High	4	3	7	14	+5	+5	-
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5MK

Far Forward
Far Medium Kick
5MK / Far MK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Far	700	7	SU	Mid	High	6	11	8	25	+4	+4	-
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5HK

Far Roundhouse
Far Heavy Kick
5HK / Far HK

Second Hitbox

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Far	1100, 700	11, 7	None, None	Mid	High	10	9	22	41	+2	+2	-
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clLP

Close Jab
Close Light Punch
cl.LP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Close	300	3	RF/SP/SU	Mid	High	2	3	7	12	+5	+5	-
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clMP

Close Strong
Close Medium Punch
cl.MP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Close	600	6	SP/SU	Mid	High	4	12	14	30	-6	-6	-
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clHP

Close Fierce
Close Heavy Punch
cl.HP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Close	800, 800	8, 8	SP, None	Mid	High	5	6	22	33	+2	+2	-
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clHK

Close Roundhouse
Close Heavy Kick
cl.HK

First Hitbox

Second Hitbox

Third Hitbox

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Close	1300	13	N/A	Mid	High	7	3+3+3+3	27	46	-6	-6	-
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2LP

Crouch Jab
Crouching Light Punch
2LP / cr.LP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	200+100	2+1	SU,SU	Mid	Low	3	3+3	6	15	+6	+6	-
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2MP

Crouch Strong
Crouching Medium Punch
2MP / cr.MP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	600	6	SP/SU	Mid	Low	4	15	6	25	+2	+2	-
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2HP

Crouch Fierce
Crouching Heavy Punch
2HP / cr.HP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	800	8	None	Mid	Low	8	3	24	35	-3	-3	-
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2LK

Crouch Short
Crouching Light Kick
2LK / cr.LK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	200	2	SP/SU	Low	Low	3	3	7	13	+5	+5	-
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2MK

Crouch Forward
Crouching Medium Kick
2MK / cr.MK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	500	5	SP/SU	Low	Low	4	11	8	23	+4	+4	-
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2HK

Crouch Roundhouse
Crouching Heavy Kick
2HK / cr.HK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	900	9	None	Low	Low	7	4	25	36	KND	-5	-

j.LP

Jump Jab
Jumping Light Punch
j.LP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
//+	500	5	SP/SU	High	High	4	22	-	26	-	-	-
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j.MP

Jump Strong
Jumping Medium Punch
j.MP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
//+	700	7	SU	High	High	5	10	-	15	-	-	-
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j.HP

Jump Fierce
Jumping Heavy Punch
j.HP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
//+	1200	12	None	High	High	10	10	-	20	-	-	-
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j.LK

Jump Short
Jumping Light Kick
j.LK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
//+	500	5	SP/SU	High	High	2	22	-	22	-	-	-
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j.MK

Jump Forward
Jumping Medium Kick
j.MK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
//+	700	7	SU	High	High	5	9	-	14	-	-	-
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j.HK

Jump Roundhouse
Jumping Heavy Kick
j.HK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
//+	1100	11	SU	High	High	6	7	-	13	-	-	-
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Command Normals

Shell Kick

Shell Kick
Drill
j.2HK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	300x3	3	None	Mid	High	7	Active until Contact (Up to 3 Hits)	7	Varies	+7	+16	-
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Throws

X

Generic Throw Name
Punch Throw
Near Opponent, 4/6HP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Close /+	1700	-	-	-	-	3	1	13	17	KND	-	-
52 Pixels of range.

X

Generic Throw Name
Kick Throw
Near Opponent, 4/6HK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Close /+	1900	-	-	-	-	5	1	13	19	KND	-	-
52 Pixels of range.

X

Generic Throw Name
Air Throw
Near Aerial Opponent, 4/6HP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Close /+	2000	-	-	-	-	0	1	-	1	KND	-	-
24 Pixels of range.

Special Moves

Soul Fist

Soul Fist
236+P / QCF+P
+

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
LP +	700	7	None	Mid	Mid	18	-	38	56	-4	-5	-
MP +	800	8	None	Mid	Mid	18	-	38	56	-4	-5	-
HP +	900	9	None	Mid	Mid	18	-	38	56	-4	-5	-
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Air Soul Fist

Air Soul Fist
j.236+P / j.QCF+P
+

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
LP In Air, +	700	7	None	Mid	Mid	18	Traveling	Till Landing +4	22+	-10	-10	-
MP In Air, +	800	8	None	Mid	Mid	18	Traveling	Till Landing +4	22+	-10	-10	-
HP In Air, +	900	9	None	Mid	Mid	18	Traveling	Till Landing +4	22+	-10	-10	-
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Shadow Blade

Shadow Blade
623+P / DP+P
+

Initial Box

Rising Box

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
LP +	1500, 800	15, 8	None	Mid	Mid	4	16	28	48	KND	-29	4 (Full), 3 (Lower)
MP +	1600, 800	16, 8	None	Mid	Mid	4	21	32	57	KND	-38	7 (Full), 3 (Lower)
HP +	1700, 800	17, 8	None	Mid	Mid	4	24	36	64	KND	-45	7 (Full), 3 (Lower)
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Shadow Blade

Vector Drain
63214+P / HCB+P
+

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	2000	-	None	-	-	6	1	23	30	KND	-	-
42 pixels of range.

Super Moves

Soul Phoenix

Soul Phoenix
232366+P / QCFx2+P
+

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
LP +	2100	-	None	Mid	Mid	10	-	41	51	HKND	-2	7 (Full)
MP +	3200	-	None	Mid	Mid	10	-	41	51	HKND	+1	12 (Full)
HP +	4700	-	None	Mid	Mid	10	-	41	51	HKND	+4	19 (Full)
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Air Soul Pheonix

Air Soul Pheonix
j.236236+P / j.QCFx2+P
In Air, +

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
LP In Air, +	1900	-	None	Mid	Mid	18	Traveling	Till Landing +7	25+	HKND	-11	7 (Full)
MP In Air, +	2900	-	None	Mid	Mid	18	Traveling	Till Landing +7	25+	HKND	-8	12 (Full)
HP In Air, +	4400	-	None	Mid	Mid	18	Traveling	Till Landing +7	25+	HKND	-5	19 (Full)
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Cardinal Blade

Cardinal Blade
236236+K / QCFx2+K
+

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
LP +	3000	-	None	Mid	Mid	8	3+3+2+(4x5)	32	98	HKND	-37	8 (Full)
MP +	4500	-	None	Mid	Mid	8	3+3+2+(4x5)	32	98	HKND	-37	14 (Full)
HP +	5900	-	None	Mid	Mid	8	3+3+2+(4x5)	32	98	HKND	-37	22 (Full)
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Valkyrie Turn

Valkyrie Turn
63214+K / HCB+K
+ (Air OK)

Fly

Attack

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
LK +	2800	-	None	Mid	Mid	96	Travelling	Till Landing +3	99+	+11	+11	-
MK +	3400	-	None	Mid	Mid	96	Travelling	Till Landing +3	99+	+11	+11	-
HK +	4800	-	None	Mid	Mid	96	Travelling	Till Landing +3	99+	+11	+11	-
Note: During the time Morrigan disappears off screen, press Kick again to "activate" the attack. If you don't she does nothing and is hittable througnout the duration. You can also determine if she starts in the middle, bottom, or top of the screen. Hold down for bottom, nothing for middle, and up for top. A pretty garbage super all things considered. It's a gimmick and nothing more. A savvy opponent is just going to run to the other side of the screen and hit you, since there's no way to mix up which side of the screen you end up on. It's far better to spend meter on the other supers.

Darkness Illusion

Darkness Illusion
Raging Demon
(Air OK)

Ground Version

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Ground	6000	-	None	Mid	Mid	9	44	13	56	HKND	-27	22 (Full)
Air	5600	-	None	Mid	Mid	5	48	Till Landing +4	57+	HKND	-29	22 (Full)
Your go-to source of metered damage. Morrigan does have uses for her other supers, but this one is easily her best. It can be combo'd into pretty easily from her chain combos, but can also be used raw for punishes and big reads. This is considered as your win condition super. If you have a level 3 stored and you get a hit, confirm into this super immediately.

Colors