Ground Pound
“Ground Pound” (K) is an Ambush assist that slowly calls Jax onscreen to perform his klassic unblockable ability where he punches the ground with his fist, launching a grounded opponent for a juggle kombo unless they are crouching while holding block (which will instead trigger a quick knockdown). This move is given a “projectile” property and can be negated by certain projectile-invulnerable abilities, although others may still lose the exchange due to Ground Pound’s hit region being on the floor and thus evading the projectile-invulnerable region of the opponent’s move (i.e. Kenshi’s Ancestral Guard). This move can hit both players if they are on the ground when it activates (although inflicting 3% less damage to the executing player), which can make the ability most effective when set up with a jumping maneuver or an attack that puts the player in an airborne state, conditioning the opponent to block a potential Overhead jump-in and launching them as a result; it can also be used to technically hit an opponent OTG by interrupting an attack animation that has the opponent on the ground. Ground Pound costs half of the Kameo Gauge to perform and begins immediately recharging at a moderate rate as soon as the attack connects. On whiff, the gauge will turn purple and will continue recharging without any cooldown, as Jax remains onscreen attempting to Ground Pound two more times until he is hit out of it, misses a third time, or finally connects on the opponent. Jax will wait for 3 seconds after a whiffed Ground Pound before attempting to perform another, during which time he will stand onscreen and be vulnerable to attacks (which will disable him and delay his recharge). Jax will move with the players if they move away from him while he is standing onscreen, dashing towards their location up to three times before attempting another Ground Pound. By the time a third attempt has been performed, the gauge will be fully recharged and ready for another use.
Back Breaker
“Back Breaker” is an Ambush assist that acts as an air grab which will only connect against an airborne or juggled opponent. This can be aimed Close (B+K) or Far (F+K) to slowly call Jax in at the desired position, followed by him quickly jumping into the air vertically, grabbing onto the opponent and landing down breaking their back. This move ends in Jax throwing the opponent forward at a distance, which can create unique corner kombo and side-switch kombo situations by hitting the opponent before they touch the ground or while Jax is still holding them. While this may be very situational in its ability to create kombos, as well as requiring precise inputs & timing to call in between certain strings, this assist can be very beneficial to players attempting to maximize their damage at specific points on the screen, especially in the corner. Back Breaker costs half of the Kameo Gauge to perform and has little to no cooldown before recharging at a moderate rate.
Gotcha Grab
“Gotcha Grab” is an Ambush assist that calls Jax onscreen from behind the executing player to reach out and grab the opponent’s Kameo; this will only work against the opponent’s assist character while they are onscreen, and does not work against larger “big-body” Kameo assists (i.e. Goro, Motaro). This can be directed “Close” (FDB+K) or “Far” (BDF+K) to quickly call Jax in at the desired position, followed by him grabbing forward at the opponent’s Kameo, picking them up, and quickly punching them onto the ground. The initial grabbing of the Kameo will inflict 2% damage against the opponent automatically, with the following punch inflicting an additional 1%. Holding the (K) button will allow Jax to extend the grab and follow-up with successive punches, granting a total of 7 hits against the opponent’s Kameo that each inflict 1% damage. This move disables the opponent’s ability to use any assists or Breakers while their Kameo is being hit, until the grab ends or Jax is interrupted and the cooldown from their Kameo being hit has ended. This grants the executing player guaranteed damage as well as the opportunity to land unbreakable kombos with increased damage output due to the opponent’s Kameo steadily receiving unscaled damage. Jax has 5 hits of armor during the grab’s startup until the grab has become active and whiffs; if he successfully grabs the opponent’s Kameo, the armor window will extend until the first punch becomes active. This can allow Jax to be used defensively to absorb incoming attacks and/or projectiles from the opponent as well as their Kameo assists. This move is able to be inputted while in blockstun, improving the assist’s defensive capabilities by allowing defending players to negate the opponent’s attempts to cover their blockstring pressure with assists if the defender reads that their opponent will call their Kameo at a certain time. Using the “Close” version can also allow players to negate assists placed behind them that would normally be difficult or impossible to counterattack from the other side. While Jax is onscreen and the window of armor has expired, he is vulnerable to being hit by the opponent— hitting Jax on whiff will trigger the normal cooldown accordingly, however hitting Jax while he has the opponent’s Kameo grabbed will stop his attack but will not inflict any cooldown from being hit after running offscreen. Although it is a hard read due to how fast Jax appears onscreen, it is also possible to break his armor during Gotcha Grab’s startup with a fast multi-hitting attack such as certain projectiles (i.e. Reiko’s EX BF2 shuriken). This assist costs half of the Kameo Gauge and has a 1-second cooldown window before refilling the gauge at a moderate rate (with no cooldown window if the grab whiffs); this cooldown will be delayed if Jax extends the Gotcha Grab, recharging the gauge as soon as Jax throws out the final punch (assuming that the move is extended for the full duration).
Energy Wave
“Energy Wave” (D+K) is a Summon assist that calls Jax out to punch with a beam arc that has a large hitbox. This attack hits Mid with decent range and advantageous pushback/knocback, making it very useful for spacing out opponents and resetting the distance. This Mid is +7 on block with 4 active frames; although its already generous hitbox typically causes the move to connect on its first active frame even at max range in most cases, it is still possible to perform meaty setups that allow this move to connect in its later frames and become slightly more advantageous. Certain characters may also be able to use this attack in a corner kombo by launching the opponent high enough and then juggling with another high-hitting attack that has a fast enough cancel advantage for the Summon Cancel to occur and further juggle the opponent, recovering just in time for the lead character to connect another juggle before the opponent falls down. Energy Wave gains invulnerability on the first frame when used as a Getup. This assist has no cooldown window after Jax quickly runs offscreen and will begin recharging the gauge at a faster rate.
Quad Slam (Forward Throw)
Jax also has access to his klassic Quad Slam ability; by pressing Block at the right time(s) during the Forward Throw animation, he can extend his throw up to two times for 1 bar of super meter each. Enhancing the throw once will boost its damage from 11% to 16%, and up to 21% when enhanced a second time. Because each hit animation of Jax’s grab shows him slamming the opponent to the other side, this means the player can decide to only enhance the throw once and still throw the opponent to the same side as a back throw, effectively allowing him to choose which direction he throws the opponent. The universal damage boost from performing a Throw Punish against an Up Block will allow Jax to inflict a little over 343 damage for 2 bars of meter, which is unbreakable due to being a locked throw animation.
