With NECX creating so much MBAA hype, and and influx of new players coming in with backgrounds in other fighting games, I've written this guide to help those players adjust and adapt to a different game enough so that they can quickly make the most of their existing skills and spend less time learning "Melty Blood" while the rest of us MB players are still trying to learn "Actress Again".
This is not a generic "how to play MB guide" particularly because I use lots and lots of fighting game terms that you already need to know, and I also try to show parallels to SF whenever possible. This guide assumes that you already know a number of things about this game (
the differences between moon styles in particular), many of which can be read about on the
MBAA wiki. Think of this guide as less of a instruction manual and more of an answer to the question of, "I learned what everything does, how do I use it?" Note that with some of the mechanics, I barely glaze over the details in favor of explaining their functionality and usefulness; you should read about the basics and/or details of these elsewhere. Lastly, I'll be trying to hit everything as short and directly as possible while still not missing anything important, so as to not overwhelm the learner.
Here's a semi-categorized list of mechanics/techniques/etc about MBAA, with the ones I'll be going over in
bold. Note that the last part of this guide, the way the game flows and how all the small pieces are pieced together into the big picture, is the main meat of this guide, and the most important part to learn.
------mechanics
----movement
--dash
--backdash
--jump
--double jump
--airdash
--super jump forward
--super jump neutral
--super double jump
----meter system
----offensive
--normal chaining system
--reverse beat
--frametraps as staggers
--guard crush
--fuzzy guard
--OTG state
----defensive
--crossup protection
--shield
--shield bunker
--dodge/roll
--circuit spark
--teching
--heat activate
--superarmor
----moon specifics
-- ....
------techniques
----offensive
--okizeme
--IAD
--heat bait
--tech punish
--TKing air moves
--guard break
--crossup roll
----defensive
--chicken blocking
--inputting reversal heat
--inputting reversal backdash
------game flow
----offense
----neutral
----defense
----transitioning
Throw---
Please understand that
REGULAR GROUND THROWS SUCK IN THIS GAME. They are not anything like SF4 where any move that is not invincible or airborne by the time the throw lands, loses to the throw. In MB they are all high risk for low reward because they will get eaten up by just about any move that your opponent throws out. Many command grabs are great, some regular throws are decent with a specific setup beforehand or because of the setups they allow afterward, but realize that alone, all grabs give low damage and, if they have the short range that most throws do, they will win versus blocking, shielding, and dodging ONLY. Anything else gets fucked. This results in a game with more blocking than in traditional SF.
Something else to note is that while there are throw techs that you might want to use from time to time,
many strong throw setups will punish a throw tech harder than just eating the throw, because of recovery on the tech and proration on the throw.
Meter System---
The MB meter system is pretty standard once you learn about it a little, but has a bit of a twist with MAX. It can go up to 300% (unless in half-moon), and each EX move uses 100%, but once you get to 300%, you enter MAX. Once in MAX, your meter slowly drains, as noted by the orange bar, and once it finishes draining, you end up back at 100% if you're in Full Moon, or 200% if you're in Crescent. Each EX move you do while in MAX takes out a portion of the draining bar (so that it finishes quicker).
What MAX actually allows you to do, however, is three things: heat activate, arc drive (super), and circuit spark. If you do any one of these, however, you'll return to 0% meter instead of 100% or 200%.
Unlike SF, meter in MB is usually used for EXes rather than Arc Drives. In combos, arc drives/supers are rarely used because they usually don't offer enough damage for how much they cost in meter, and EXes usually suffice. Arc Drives, however, almost all have pretty good usefulness and functionality on their own and still offer great damage when not comboed into so it can easily still be worth it to save up the meter for an arc drive. Meter is useful for mostly just three main things: damage output for combos most of all, then after that, for reversal EXes, and coming in third, ++frame pressure EXes for rushdown. Note that none of these apply to neutral game and zoning. Therefore, with so much blockstring-ing and blocking and etc for gaining meter, you should easily be able to do EXes when you have the need to do them (as long as this is within reason).
There is nothing anything like where when Ryu has super or two bars or Rufus has three bars that your entire footsie game changes and your rushdown stops because of reversal fadc ultra and you stop fireballing and you stop doing barely-unsafe moves. In MB, although it can change your strategy and some of the risk/reward and some things that can be (lightly) punished, there is very rarely anything game changing in watching your opponent's meter, which is why in the MB community we rarely if ever use the phrase "if _______ has meter".
Reverse Beat---
Reverse Beat is another mechanic that's easy to explain what it does, but more difficult to really communicate the whole idea of how it is used. Basically, MB's chain-cancelling system is as simple as "you can pretty much use any and every normal anywhere anyhow in a single chain, once" with a few exceptions. However, chaining (basically) from a higher power normal to a lower one (
here's a thread with specific details, it's a little more complicated), you get a damage reduction. "Reverse Beat" actually refers to the action of making that higher -> lower chain rather than the reduction.
What it actually does is, firstly, create combos that would otherwise be impossible. However, looking at a perspective of how the game flows, Reverse Beat gives extreme variance in blockstrings. Overheads and lows can come in at any time, causing you to stay focused, and frametraps can suddenly be anywhere in the blockstring, and if the character's normals move them forward, the range that your opponent is at during said blockstring also can vary quite a lot through the blockstring depending on what order he chained his normals in.
Another, more practical thing that it does is called whiff cancelling. Obviously, a jab has less recovery than a sweep, so what if in SF, you could sweep, then cancel it to a jab to make it safe? This is essentially what whiff cancelling is, and it can make ground poking much, much easier, but offense can also be much stronger. This is because your chain of cancelled normals will reset, and you would be able to do the equivalent of a pressure string like, cr.short x2, cr.mp, cr.forward, st. jab whiff cancel, cr.forward AGAIN. You can use that forward again because when you whiff cancelled, your fast move completely finished quite fast, and your chain of cancelled normals was over, and you started a new one. However, because you whiff cancelled with a move that was fast, there was little time for your opponent to punish or react to your whiff.
Therefore, these whiff cancels, in addition to making many moves safe as pokes, also work to restart offensive pressure by ending your blockstring and starting a new, fresh one, with very little time between the two. When whiff cancelling is used this way, it works a lot like FADC. You get to cancel something and dash in to continue pressure, and although it's technically unsafe and you're at a disadvantage by a few frames, if your opponent isn't ready for it, you get to continue your pressure. Because of that slight disadvantage, they're often your chance to reversal or escape somehow, given that 1. your action is strong/fast enough and 2. that you reacted fast enough, or even simply guessed (judging on how many moves they have already used in the blockstring). It sounds a bit broken at first since it can be done for free with no meter, but the tradeoff is that reverse beat incurs a damage penalty, so if rebeats happened shortly before or during you got hit, you're going to take a lot less damage than usual.
Frametraps as staggered moves in a blockstring---
The blockstring concept works similarly in both games, with SF4 blockstrings consisting of manually-executed gaps based off of block advantage and spacing, while MB blockstrings work off of canceling the mostly-negative-on-block normals into each other with artificially introduced delays introduced by staggering to catch pokes.
...F-Moon as a whole may be a more familiar moon for SF players since the more limited cancel chain and safe ender specials are more SF-ish
Fuzzy Guard---
Fuzzy guard is where, after blocking an airborne move (standing), you will still have the hitbox of your standing character until you exit blockstun even if you choose to crouch-block. The way that this is applied is with characters have aerials that have large downward hitboxes and are fast and easy to combo out of. What happens is this: they will do their jumpin very deep, usually meaty, and then either land on the ground and follow with some low hits into a combo/blockstring, or jumpcancel the jumpin, and immediately do it again. If the defender was crouching, the second jumpin would normally whiff, but they'd also block the low followup. However, with fuzzy guard, their hitbox is still standing even though they are crouching, so it does not whiff, and because they are crouching, they have blocked wrong and get hit into a combo. This basically creates 50/50 high/low mixups with medium-to-high damage and are also low risk, but usually require strong knockdowns.
The SF equivalent to this would be instant overheads that have combos afterwards....which don't exist as far as I know. If Cammy had an instant overhead, and could combo it into a low divekick (which could be followed by more hits), her mixup would work exactly like a fuzzy guard setup: an airtight guess between blocking high and low, with high reward in nice damage and low risk in your following blockstring.
OTG State---
OTG state is when you are knocked down, but can still get hit while on the floor. However, while getting hit on the floor, you are counted as airborne, and gravity is increased by quite a lot to avoid easy relaunch combos. After enough time of being on the ground in OTG state and not being hit, you automatically get up. Also, you can generally be OTG'd only once or twice, after the second OTG string ends and you hit the floor for the second time in the combo, usually there is not enough vulnerable time on the ground or however the system works to be OTG'd again. There are a few special cases depending on certain specials and EXes and resetting of states and stuff similar to SF4's "free juggle opportunity" but with OTGs...and stuff like that, I don't honestly know the small details but it isn't something to worry too much about.
This is often applied in combos that don't end in a guaranteed knockdown, but a tech punish setup in the corner. After you decide not to tech, you'll be in OTG state and the offender will hit you with OTG strings. This is usually for a bit of extra damage (but not much, which is why there are a lot of reverse beats and 2As in strings) and often quite a substansial amount of meter. You can also ground tech once you hit the ground after the OTG string but is generally a very bad idea.
This is a little bit like hitting dead bodies in Marvel, but it is done at different times for entirely different reasons. The good thing is that it isn't something that requires much reaction or training: as the offender, you should have studied your character's combos and after what combo enders you should throw out your OTG strings (in the corner), and as the defender, just don't ground tech ever.
Crossup Protection---
This is really fucked up and will really fuck up your blocking at first, but in the end it makes sure a lot of really broken unblockables and retarded crossups don't happen. There are three basic points to the blocking system regarding crossups:
1. If the defender successfully blocks, until they exit blockstun, they may keep blocking in that same direction regardless of any side switches that may happen. Note that you only get the protection until you exit blockstun.
and most importantly
2. Block the character, not the item that they threw out. i.e. If kohaku's helicopter plant is behind me as I'm getting up and she's standing in front of me doing nothing, block away from her or you'll get hit. There are no Aegis-Reflector-type unblockables in this game.
3. If the opponent is facing away from you while they hit you, you can actually block either direction until they turn around.
I might be missing something, but in the end it is usually GG players that have trouble with this, not SF players. With enough playing you'll get used to the crossup protection pretty easily.
Shield---
This is essentially parry with it's own button. There are many properties to shield, but the general consensus is that it's been nerfed so hard in MBAA that it's generally just not that useful anymore unless you don't really have another option, which you usually do now because of air dodge. A SF equivalent of the new shield would be a Focus Attack that you can't dash cancel unless you hit it, and when you do hit it, you get very low damage. Also, when you whiff it, your guard meter changes a different color and goes to hell.
Shield Bunker---
Alpha Counter. Performed with 214D. Uses 50% meter, 100% in half moon (but half-moon's is better in that it has tons more invincibility). However it still comes out even if you aren't on blockstun, in which case it won't use meter, but will whiff horribly. No comboing off of it, but you get a free tech punish setup (and with that, a strong knockdown) afterwards, making it a very quick and easy way to go from defense to offense. More useful and important than it looks, but can be easily baited and punished.
Heat Activate---
Heat Activating was a very important concept in MBAC, and has become slightly less so in MBAA. What heat activating does is send you from MAX mode to Blood Heat, or if you're in cresent, from a regular state to just HEAT. It drains all your meter, but stops the game timer for as long as it lasts, and recovers your health (up until the red bar, either gradually or instantly depending on moon). You can also use arc drives in HEAT, or blood heat arc drives in BH (stronger versions), as well as last arcs in BH (basically successful parry into 65% life)
What's more important is the actual process of activating heat; activation varies from around 16 frames? startup all the way up to about 30. However, it's invincible and unblockable, causes wallslam, and the hitbox is the entire height of the character (sometimes more?), and quite a bit of the width, depending on the specific character. In short, it's a very effective reversal tool that will beat out every non-projectile (unless it clashes) and gives you bonuses afterwards. The problem lies in the long recovery in the case that it misses. If it is explicitly baited (which happened in mid-to-high level MBAC very often) the scrub will eat a full combo. A fairly good SF equivalent would be reversal FADC, with the exception that you get no damage versus your opponent when it hits. A better SF equivalent would be an unblockable lariat that costs 3 bars.
Okizeme---
This is the name for the offensive player doing something on the defending player's wakeup, like a meaty. However, it's usually a lot more complicated than a meaty; often the extra knockdown time will be used to use a move for a setup, like a plant, fire pit, summon, etc. With some characters, oki is very strong and will put you in very tough mixups that you'll have to deal with, usually making you guess between which way you should block.
A great example of oki in SF4 would be Akuma jumping or demonflipping at a knocked down character while he has a meaty air fireball going for them, the generic Akuma vortex, Dhalsim Ultra setups, Seth's weird crossup with sonicboom and teleport after his ultra, or doing anything similar with Fireball FADC -> follow the fireball as it hits knocked down opponent meaty.
IAD---
IAD stands for instant air dash, which is doing an air dash as soon as possible after a forward jump. Very simple, but the way it's used in pressure/offense is a little harder to explain. It functions almost exactly like KoF short hops. In SF however, an equivalent of the IAD would have to be a divekick; one that isn't as slow as demon flip in SF4, but as fast as SF4 Cammy's done at a lower height. It goes over all ground pokes, and nets you either a blockstring/advantage or a nice combo, but being in the air also comes with defensive risk (because in MB you cannot airblock ground normals). Another equivalent could be Fei's chicken wing, travelling far horizontally over most ground pokes, and netting you a combo (with a tight link) if it hits.
The reason why it's more useful in MB than the equivalent is useful in SF4, is because in MB, it's generally harder to AA than it is to ground poke. One of the reasons is because any air moves used for air-to-ground have rather good speed and have downward attack-hitboxes, meaning that it's basically hard to beat them with anything other than a move that has a hitbox that makes it very clear that should be used for AA. Moves that simply have a high attack hitbox but do not lower your own character's hitbox usually will not cut it if you want reliable AA.
Guard Break---
This is DIFFERENT than guard crush. Guard crush is when your guard meter hits zero and you're vulnerable for a long time for a fast combo. Guard BREAK is when your opponent is in the air, blocking your hits, but you hit the ground first, and do a normal on the ground (which is air unblockable), and follow up with a combo. The most common and easy-to-see example of this is Mech Hisui's Arc Drive. If it's blocked in the air, the move has so many hits and keeps them blocking in the air for so long that Mech can simply dash forward and get in a free launcher and air combo.
Note that virtually anyone (certain grooves of kouma and sacchin have a hard time) can do this, if they jump at their opponent in the air and land an air blockstring, and the trajectory/height of the jumps cause them to land before the opponent. If your opponent refuses to throw out pokes in the air, this is a good way to force damage on them until they do.
I'm actually not sure if this concept/technique exists in the alpha series or marvel, although I have a feeling that it might....
Chicken Blocking---
Chicken blocking is a little bit of a scrub tactic (hence the name) and refers to air blocking very close to the ground. It can get you out of some high/low mixups if the moves are airblockable and the mixup isn't airtight. Also, when you chicken block, you also are pushed back farther than you would be on the ground due to the fact that you had jump momentum and some other physics stuff. If you do it too much, you get guard broken (see above) pretty easily.
Inputting Reversal Backdash---
This is a little more interesting. There are only two requirements to do a reversal backdash out of blockstun, and it depends how you decide to input it. There's 44, and 4A+B. With 44, you have to have pressed back within the last 12 frames (the size of the buffer), and be holding back as you come out of blockstun, and the reversal backdash will come out on the first frame that you exit blockstun. 4A+B is similar, you can simply hold 4 and press A+B within the last 12 frames from when you come out of blockstun and it'll come out.
This probably also applies to getting up from a knockdown, but note that a properly timed meaty will always win versus a backdash because the invincibility isn't instant, so it isn't that useful to wakeup backdash.
Game Flow..........................................Offense---
Rushdown in Melty Blood is a little unique. First off, normal moves are much, much more useful and used more often than special moves for offense and for really most of the game. A lot of the rushdown consists of greatly varying blockstrings either completely airtight or littered with frametraps, depending on if the opponent is able to do a reversal or not. Usually offense is lengthened by whiff cancelling 5A and then dashing in or airdashing in again to keep going. A good SF equivalent of this would be randomly throwing in a level 1 or 2 focus and dashing in afterwards. However, in MB, whiff cancelling and dashing in usually results in being at a frame disadvantage rather than advantage, so it can be stopped, but it's usually not obvious when the whiff cancel will happen, requiring either good reactions, attention to the normals they've already chained with, or some guesswork. Moves, usually specials, that are safe on block or better are used mostly in offense rather than poking because you can end blockstrings with them safely before attempting to start new ones, which is a much safer and usually better option to restart your offense, but this often either costs meter or has a vulnerable startup.
Neutral---
Neutral game in MB is even more unique. Like most fighting games, when the game is at a neutral state, the players then resort to zoning, which in SF is usually footsies. Footsies and zoning still happen in MB, but the very very very different thing is that they happen in the air, not on the ground. This is generally because movement in the air is actually quite good for every character and even godlike for some (but no flying like in marvel), and in the air, most characters have at least solid air-to-ground and a solid air-to-air, whereas on the ground many characters are missing an anti-air that is as effective.
Explaining how to play air-footsies in MB is really tough, but the first step is understanding all of the movement options you have. Everyone has the same jump, airdashes differ a little from character to character, superjumping forward from the ground leaves you in the air at a unique trajectory, and a super double jump is a new addition that can also take you farther while already in the air. C and H moon have air dodge which not only add another movement option, but obviously will dodge anything your opponent pokes with which can directly be offensive or defensive as well as a movement option. Lastly, there are also character specific moves that can alter your momentum and trajectory.
From there, actually throwing out moves or blocking is kind of straightforward. Either there's a trade, or someone scores a counter-hit and lands and combos, or someone blocks too much and ends up being guard broken or airthrown, etc. Note that if your character does have a solid AA, landing and AAing also gets thrown into the mix. And as another note, even though ground throws suck in MB, air throws do not, so getting into your airborne opponent's face and airthrowing them isn't going to lose nearly as easily.
Defense---
Defense in MB has a lot of blocking. Block lots, try and shield bunker maybe, and then once you see that gap between the offense's blockstrings, they will usually be farther away from you, meaning if you want to counter-poke you have to use your longer ranged normals. If you're coming up from a knockdown, for okizeme chances are you'll have some kind of orb, flame, summon, plant, etc, on top of you that will force you to block and will give your opponent lots (and i mean lots) of frame advantage, forcing you to deal with any high/lows they decide to run on you while they are safe to do so. If this doesn't happen, then it's also likely that your opponent will manipulate different air trajectories or whatever else to put you in a crossup mixup, which here in the MB community we like to call a which-way when we're hype. Occaisionally neither of these will happen because of your opponent's character, or the type of knockdown they scored, in which case either they'll go for a simple meaty and you'll be facing standard pressure without crazy mixups or your opponent will back off SF4-style and the game flows back to neutral.
As a general rule, try your hardest not to ever ground throw or ground tech while on defense.
Transitioning---
Lastly is how the game flows from each of these "phases" to the other, which is actually very simple.
Offense and defense basically start when one players scores a random hit on the other and it leads into a knockdown, or when one player throws out a move that the other player blocks and it leads into a blockstring on the ground. Note that during a blockstring, offense/defense isn't going to last very long unless the defender's escape routes are limited and he's put into the corner.
The game flow shifts back to neutral once both characters are out of range of each other's normal attacks UNLESS one of the characters has a special move that can lead things back into their offensive despite being out of range of normals, for example EX deer.
..........................................With all of this, I hope that learning MB becomes easy for all of the new players we see in the future enough that our community can finally grow to truly rival other games. I leave our learners with a few quick, generic tips:
-It might be easier to learn the game with a full moon character rather than a character with more offensive and defensive mechanics. However, realize that your offense and rushdown will likely be weaker and you'll spend more time learning zoning and learning to spot gaps in pressure strings for you to escape out of or make more risky reversals against. However, this also means less time learning how to reverse beat and when you shouldn't heat or dodge.
-Unless the game's at neutral and you know it's safe, don't ground tech ever.
-Take tiers with a grain of salt. The tiers in this game are always rather tight and every character in this game is solid at worst. Play the character you like, because then you will play them more and you'll learn faster.
Feel free to ask questions, although I'd like to keep the criticism, especially non-constructive, to a minimum; we're here to learn, not to tell me how good or bad of a job I did writing this. If I'm missing something you think is important or got something straight up wrong please say something so that I can bash my head against the wall. Thanks for reading and good luck with your matches.
Addendum:
Character summaries- these are here to help you get a quick gist of the playstyle of each character so that you don't have to try out 80+ characters to find the one that suits your playstyle.
Sion------
Crescent-
Frame trap and Rush down. Sion is mostly an in your face rush down character. She has numerous frame traps and fast movement with a plethora of options to make an opponent block for a long time. She is a solid character with Plenty of options on offense and defense and even some zoning tools in her whips and gun shots. Her rush down is augmented by the fact she can easily circuit break and if you get caught in a whip combo you cannot burst. She also has some of the highest average damage in the game though her combos are somewhat tricky. Her downfall is her lack of range. She does have some range in her slow whips (which are easily punishable). most of her normals don't reach that far compared to most of the characters which means she is more susceptible to pokes and reversals. Her high point is nearly any hit you land leads into her main bnb which will net you an easy 4-5k damage.
Full-
Frametrap/Rushdown character. Her Air Slides and her gunshots have advantage, and she can put herself in scenarios where she can use these again and again, forcing you to take risks to escape. She has some weaknesses in her neutral game. Her Jump [C] bnbs have some variations which can be used to deal high damage.
Half-
Rushdown character. Several innate overheads combined with several forward moving normals. Also has a good DP. Has one of the game's best post knockdown scenarios, but does not always have what she needs to capitalize on it. She has some surprise zoning factor with her B whip and her Gunshots. Has some Fancy BNBs involving jump [C]
V.Sion------
Crescent-
Full-
Half-
The strongest character in the game. Very strong pressure, high meter gain, high damage, great mixups. She moves quickly, has good zoning with 6[ B ] and has 5B to use as a good anti-air. She literally has everything.
Arc------
Crescent-
Combo movie character. Not very beginner friendly, but still decent in terms of strength. Her greatest asset is the ability to corner from pretty much anywhere.
C-Arc has the most mixup/punishment potential of all the moons. See j.63214a/b (air rings). Also the hardest to combo consistently with, out of all the moons.
Full-
The strongest version of this character. Good zoning tools with 236A, 236B and 623B. Her damage output is the highest overall between the moons, and she has good mixup off her fuzzy guard. She also gets the highest damage off of random hits.
Half-
She's a generic H character. Her mixup game is substaintially weaker thanks to the loss of 5[ B ] - being able to play her well means you can hitconfirm well and generally understand MB well. Doesn't really stand out in any other way.
Warc------
Crescent-
The strongest Warc. Great zoning with j214A/j214B, and her jB is a long reaching, fast aerial. Her damage output is extremely high off random hits and off properly hitconfirmed hits. Her rushdown is extremely strong, and she can keep you blocking for a long time. Her mixup, while not amazing, is still decent, and if you use meter midscreen, can be a bit deceiving.
Full-
An interesting variation of Warc. Her rushdown is extremely strong, but doesn't have the same ambiguity that WarcC has. Her mixup is all right, but she is definately the best at guard crushing.
Half-
The weakest Warc. Basically used for matches where you may have to zone on the ground. Her rushdown is all right, but pales in comparison to C. Her greatest strength is being able to corner easily with her 624C and her 236A/236B on the ground.
Akiha------
Crescent-
The devs love this character. As far as mixup she has an easy 50/50 thanks to her tk j2C, an instant overhead. She can send you to the corner from pretty much anywhere. New to MBAA is a command grab that she can use as a combo ender. As far as midscreen she can zone with her air flametounges, the A version keeps her momentum and the B one stops her in place. However her range is mediocre and her damage output is sort of low.
Full-
The most technical Akiha. Her zoning is the strongest out of all of the moons. She can negative edge her flame pillars - on knockdown, this gives her a pretty strong high/low game.
Half-
Formally the strongest character, they nerfed her pretty hard but she's still pretty good. However thanks to her j2C being a mid, her mixup game is much weaker. Her damage output, while lower, is still decent. In the air, her greatest tool is jC, a big move thats great at fetching counterhits.
V.Akiha------
Crescent-
A hollow version of her former MBAC self.
Full-
The strongest V Akiha. Great pressure, great mixup, great damage. She gets an air flame puffball that hits below her and adds to her mobility. She also gains an air flame pillar to aid her zoning.
Half-
Not too shabby. Her pressure is stronger thanks to 5A6A, and she has auto ignite pits to keep enemies from sitting around. However, she doesn't have air flame tounges, so her air game is a bit weaker. She has two airdashes, making some of her mixup strong, and she is one of the fastest characters in the game. Her damage output is pretty good, and she can send you to the corner off a good hitconfirm, but she has the worst defense in the game.
Maids------
Crescent-
Full-
(With Kohaku on point) Trap character. Strong Zoning tools, good bnb damage combine with knockdown into corner pressure setup. Her corner pressure can go on perpetually for as long as her meter holds out, mixing in the occasional high/low to keep you guessing while chipping you down. She is especially strong versus half moon characters who cannot escape perfectly executed guard crush setups outside of using Bunker or Risking an inv move of some kind.
Half-
Hisui------
Crescent-
'Morphing' character. She starts as a soso zoner, using her Dust and her Stuff-Fu specials to establish pressure, while also abusing her 5[C] and her divekick. She transforms when she lands a hit close enough to the corner, setting up one of the game's best tech trap setups and forcing essentially guaranteed damage regardless of your tech or no tech options using j.BB from the perfect height into land 5A2C. She also has a strong post throw game. Her defense is lacking, forcing her to depend on calculated risks to escape.
Full-
Zoning type character.
She really wants to play on the defensive side throwing fireballs to space the opponent out, and a good ex dp that wall slams. Really good 5b, use it kind of like ST Guile's forward mk (even better since you can combo off hit on hit).
Half-
Kohaku------
Crescent-
One of the most improved characters from MBAC to MBAA. She gained two new normals (4B and 6C) to help with her pressure, along with 2BB and 5CC - manual inputs for her multi-hitting normals. She does big damage with her 6C loops, all of which lead into solid knockdown into mixup. Combine this with her great normals and her plant oki and you have a very strong character.
Full-
The weird Kohaku. She has great normals, but her damage output is a bit lower than C/H. Her mixup is a bit weaker than Crescent, but she still has plants. She has counter specials and can zone with her 236A/B. Definately the simplest Kohaku, easy to pick up and play.
Half-
One of the strongest characters in the game (some say the best). She gives up plant oki for a simple poke/throw mixup. Both of these options, if you have the execution, lead into huge damage into her bomb mixup, which resets the poke/throw mixup. Her normals are also great, but not quite as good as Crescent, and she loses 2BB and 5CC (replaced with 2B and 5C).
Mech-Hisui------
Crescent-
Zoning character. Focus is on jetpacks to cover the air, long range ground normals and lasers to prevent ground advancement. Her defense is weak but strong C-Mech players will use frequent heat activations and arc drives to push the opponent out far enough to reestablish her game. She also has occasional offensive spurts involving her whips as well as using deep jump C to set up a fuzzy situation.
Full-
Half-
Momentum-based character. H-Mech could be considered a "morphing" character, similar to characters like Venom (GGXX), Dhalsim, or maybe even E. Honda at a stretch. With access to a myriad of projectiles and zoning tools, H-Mech can control the screen and force the opponent to take the initiative in closing space, often putting them in disadvantageous positions. Once she scores a knockdown, she is free to begin applying her 3-way mix-up, usually protected from reversals somewhat by a meaty 63214A. Her tech punish game is very strong, especially at midscreen, thanks in part to long range normals such as 5B and 2B. If at any point you feel unsafe continuing offense, you are free to revert back to zoning/annoying your opponent, as you will likely outrange them and thus still maintain a situational advantage.
Tohno------
Crescent-
Full-
Half-
The hero of Tsukihime, you can kind of consider Shiki the Ken of the game. Fittingly, he doesn't have super complex specials to rely on and confuse opponents. He overcomes this by having simply fantastic normals. It is very easy to lead into generously high damaging launcher combos with Shiki. His 2A is one of the best in the game, as well as his j.c. His 6C, quite frankly, is one of the best moves you can have in any fighting game, PERIOD. While he does have a DP, he does not have a fireball, or any projectile or move that stays out on the field, so he can occasionally have trouble getting in on zoning characters. Regardless, Shiki is one of the best in the game.
Nanaya------
Crescent-
This character has very strong normals, almost every single one of them grounded moves him forward a lot (even on block), and his air normals also have great zoning potential. As a payoff, almost all of his specials are extremely weak/situational. He lacks good mixup, but the payoff is that once he has you under pressure, he can keep that going a VERY long time with many ambiguous frametraps/whiff cancels. He has fairly high damage output from clean hits but the amount of reverse beating/whiff canceling he does in his blockstrings leads to his overall damage being sub par due to proration penaties. Also the only character in the game to have a fastfall, j22. This cancels all movement and drops him to the floor very quickly, can be canceled into from air normals or done neutral. This allows him to get some decent mixups going for left right off a throw. (But, again, this fastfall counts as a reverse beat so your proration on this mixup is bad).
Full-
An almost entirely reworked character, most of his normals have much worse range/hitboxes, the only thing he retains in common with his other styles is his trolling potential. With an absurdly strong divekick that has no crossup protection and counts as an overhead along with his j22 fastfall this gives him some disgusting okizeme potential, further exemplified by the fact his basic combos go into rekkas for oki knockdown. He also has a ridiculously strong dragon punch in his 623b, doing the flip kick can make it near safe against some chars if they don't react very fast. Despite focusing on knockdown from easymode rekka combos, he does have a few notably hype combos, using his fastfall to net a second dp link in. Some like to compare him to Yun/Yang from 3S but specials aside, the comparison isn't too strong.
Half-
A sort of mix and match of Full and Crescent. Half retains some of the better normals (read, sillykicks) from Full, such as 5b and 5c, but also keeps more of the core of Nanaya's pressure game, his 2c. He also gains a low hitting 2a but as a result it's much slower than the other moons. His pressure game is even easier due to his 5a6aa reset ability, and his damage output is high...with meter. His 214 series is similar to Ryu's donkey kick in 3S or Shingo kick in KoF, except it can be used in the air as well. It's a strong but risky zoning tool. Half Nanaya for the most part is an "easier" Crescent, but overall doesn't get as much payoff and loses much of what little mixup game Crescent had in the first place.
Len------
Crescent-
Full-
Half-
Ciel------
Crescent-
'Jack of all Trades' Character, she can rushdown effectively using her amazing dash and fast air movement, but she also has powerful zoning using her variety of fireball specials. Has Decent mixup with her fuzzy guard and 214[a] 2c knockdown setups, and fairly high damage output in the corner. Isn't particularly missing anything but not really the best at any one thing.
Her rushdown is fairly effective because she has a variety of normals that can be used to keep her close to the opponent and bait the opponent into a counter hit situation. C-Ciel also has a nice selection of anti-airs with 4C and 22B. She is also great at punishing mistakes against zoning characters because of her 236C and 623C which can punish some of best zoning options at full screen in addition to sloppy ground techs. These makes her a significant threat when she has at least 100% circuit. Remember, she is a Jack-of-All-Trades, which also implies that she is master of none.
Full-
Half-
Nero------
Crescent-
Zoning character. One of the game's best jump normals for runaway (jump C.) Also has controlled risk in his 4C. His summons establish his ground game and allow him to pressure you into a knockdown or punish you for not attacking carefully. Notoriously difficult to antiair. Post Corner Knockdown ex crows establishes pressure that is unescapable for many characters and a high risk for others.
Full-
Half-
Lockdown/frame trap character. H-Nero is at his most fearsome with his opponent in the corner; standard mix-up tools such as 2A/2B and throw are simple, but effective. His 236A sonic boom crow and his 623A deer are both string enders which leave him at an advantage, allowing him to frame trap with 4C to catch jumps/mashing, or to reset his pressure for free once the opponent starts respecting the threat of 4C. H-Nero retains his trademark air normals, as well as his crescent moon 5B/2C and full moon 3C for anti-air, allowing him to control the space around him with authority. In the context of pure zoning, his projectile/summon game is a bit lacking compared to other moons, forcing him to play a bit more pressure oriented; however, he does have a very strong, albeit a bit unwieldy, tool in his 63214C Bee summon, allowing him to safely apply pressure to airborne opponents and disrupting run-away games to some extent.
Wara------
Crescent-
A char who's gameflow is average in every way, his zoning/footsie strength is fairly good (but sometimes difficult to hitconfirm off), his pressure game involves a lot of IADing for Highs/Lows but he lacks reliable ways to reset/good staggers, he has some strong okizeme mixups but these usually come at the cost of low damage. He has many long ranged/disjointed normals and is actually one of the faster characters in the game. Somewhat similar to playing a KoF character such as regular Yashiro, many safe strings/good normals/movement but doesn't shine outstandingly in any area.
Full-
Pressure based character. F-Wara excels at keeping momentum once he forces his opponent to start blocking. Unique to his character in the context of Melty Blood is his upward angled dash, similar to that of K-Morrigan (CvS2) and I-no (GGXX), allowing for a devastating wake-up game should he score a knockdown. Opponents who manage to block his mix-ups face the risk of 236C guard-break traps (236C being an EX fireball which eats up roughly half of a guard bar on block) and relatively safe pressure resets off of his 2B. Despite all of this, F-Wara is a bit underutilized in comparison to his crescent moon counterpart; this is most likely due to many of his better combos/set-ups being meter dependent (a factor alleviated somewhat by full moon being able to charge meter, but still notable) and the comparative lack of certain high-utility moves such as summons and 236x/623x kattos. Still, F-Wara is a solid choice if he fits into your niche, as he can easily decide a round off of a single knockdown provided he has a good stockpile of meter to burn.
Half-
Satsuki------
Crescent-
Plays very similarly to Full, but some combos and setups differ a little. The main playstyle stays very close to the same, however, so the only real difference here is the application of the moon style mechanics.
Full-
Mixup & Air Footsies character. Like Kouma, she gets only one air attack, but her j.B and j.C are very very strong air-to-air and air-to-ground moves respectively. Combined with her great movement, she can play a lot of air poking and baiting games by choosing to rush at people from neutral or baiting the risky ways that they use to try to combat her air game. Once she scores a combo into a strong knockdown, she has various 3-way-mixups that go into a combo and more mixup and so on and so forth, much like a vortex. Her pressure/lockdown isn't great, but if your opponent is either respecting or just afraid enough to block, she has good blockstring enders like her 236x series or her 22x series as well as moves that move her forward like 236- or her standing or crouching slides that let her rush down her opponent. While her ground dash has been much improved, a lack of good ground normals makes her ground footsie game weak, but the dash is great for comboing off of counter hit (which will happen often) or for utilizing her range with dash 2c or dash 3c.
Half-
Miyako------
Crescent-
Crescent Miyako is a character who is adept at unending rushdowns and wants to keep you in the corner as much as possible. Her okizeme is fairly weak but she makes up for it with damage in spades when a move connects. Her combo game relies on slamming you against the wall repeatedly, and she can do this from as far as midscreen. Many would argue that her anti-air capability is fairly weak, so she is more well suited to playing ground footsies compared to most characters that prefer to jump around. Also different from most characters is that she has more overhead moves than low moves. Her poor range makes it difficult to get in at times but she sports the best dodge in the game as it is fairly quick and moves her forward. If you like to MIX IT UP C.Miyako is the character for you
Full-
Risk versus Reward character. Highest consistent damage in the game. j.B And j.C are difficult to antiair and lead to big damage, they also can win air to air against defensive pokes. High/low game is also strong. This character is known as the one trick pony of the game, but is very effective at what she does - hit the opponent with a clean hit twice, you win the round.
Half-
Aoko------
Crescent-
Full-
'Morphing' Character. In her first phase she is a strong zoner, utilizing orbs to stop jump ins and tiger shots to pressure the opponent into wanting to jump. She also has one of the games best DPs, making her playstyle not unlike Sagats. After building meter she morphs into a trap character, using her Blue Fire to set up dangerous 50/50s, repeating until she is out of meter or you are dead.
Half-
Kouma------
Crescent-
'Grappler'/Rushdown character. Kouma in crescent moon plays similarly to hybrid type characters such as Alex (3S) or Abel (SF4); while primarily notorious for his 214x command grab series, he also boasts a set of more standard mix-up tools including his low hitting 2A/2B and his 6C grounded overhead, the former making his command throws more dangerous and vice versa. On top of retaining a useful set of rekka moves in his arsenal, this is also the only style in which all of Kouma's air normals are normal and jump cancelable; these facets of his character give him relatively high-damage BnB combos as well as solid damage off of random hits. To top it all off, C-Kouma has access to a number of reversal options, including his 214C EX Dunk, the ability to activate heat at will when over 100% meter, and his 22C which grants him 2 seconds of super armor.
Full-
'Grappler'. Many multiple use throws for defense or offense, some with high damage followups. His raw physical damage is high as well. He has 2 dead zones that cannot be effectively attacked by the opponent using his 2B and 5C, and can use these to pressure the opponent into bad positioning. Has a strong tech punish game after BNBs, allowing him to pile on the pressure after getting started.
Half-
'Grappler'. Inheriting aspects of both his full and crescent moon counterparts, Kouma in this style retains full moon's 2B anti-air as well as crescent moon's low hitting 2A. Access to 6AA and reverse beats makes his pressure strong and his grapple options scary, however the inability to do "standard" air combos causes his damage off of random hits to drop somewhat (BnB damage is still very strong though) and the lack of full moon's 623X series forces him to work a bit harder to keep momentum after a knockdown. Retains his reversal options from crescent moon with the exception of heat on command; in exchange he gets access to half-moon mechanics such as shield counters and automatic heat at full meter. Arguably lacks extra tools in comparison to crescent and full moon styles, however this style is more than playable simply because he can still apply his notorious hit/throw mix-ups and control the space around him using his excellent set of normals.
White Len------
Crescent-
Switches focus from Zoning to controlled offense. Better mixups involving her dash and her spin specials to cover the weakness of the loss of her fireball. Also has one of the games best DPs.
Full-
Zoning Character. High defense combined with Akuma style fireball traps. Her Ice traps are difficult for some characters to get around and can set confusing mixups post knockdown.
Half-
Roa------
Crescent-
Full-
Half-
Frametrap character. Lightning Bolts and his 236x moves establish difficult situations for the opponent to escape or reverse. His 236C is a full screen punish on reaction to certain popular zoning tools, preventing the opponent from zoning him out when he has meter. He has a strong guard Crush game on half moon characters in the corner, which is also surprisingly difficult to shield bunker out of. His lack of any real overheads weakens his pressure, requiring strong fear establishment to land hits on opponents with good defense.
Ries------
Crescent-
Anti Rushdown Character
Crescent Reis has a moves set that can be described as watching what the opponent does first then acting accordingly. Many of her moves lack the reach that the other moons have but makes up for it with strong hitboxes and speed. Her combo damage is lower than the other two but she can still create block strings and pin the opponent down in the corner. This character also has a guard cancel that has a lot of invincibility attached to it, making it very hard to perform extended block strings on her. Perfect for people that have a good grasp of the game's mechanics but do not want to play the air footsies part. This the most technical of all the Ries'.
Full-
Zoning Character
Full Ries varies quite a bit from the other moons. She loses her dash, but gains an excellent anti air and in addition to her long normals. She also loses her charge, but gains a locking move that gives her time to charge or okizeme. This character can be very successful while played defensively, but can easily switch to a solid offense when its her turn. Getting damage with her will require learning more difficult combos and the corner, but her oki-game is strong with just basic combos, allowing variability. This is probably the easiest Ries to learn.
Half-
Rushdown/Zoning Character
Half Ries combines many of the good parts of crescent moon and Full moon Ries, creating a character that has reach, damage and excellent movement. Half can lay down the most damage out of her other moons on a consistent basis and her strengths come out in the corner, with reverse beats and her long reaching moves, Half can easily create oppressive blockstings. One thing to be careful of is that her moves do not come out very fast, making it necessary to be reading ahead on a constant basis. Being aware of your strengths and weakness will give you a very capable character.
Ryougi------
Crescent-
Highest damage out of the 3 moons, has unique custom combo(63214C), but less range than her other moons. Low defense character. Amazing pressure with rebeats and can guard crush pretty easily. Like H-Ryougi, she has some Sandoori setups, but they are different and corner only. C is really easy to pick up to do her basic combos and deal a good amount of damage, but lacks the complexity and range of H-Ryougi. Unlike the other two moons, she doesn't have a command parry, but she has a command crossup attack instead (421A/B/C). C has the most unblockable attacks out of the moons (7). Her arc drive is unblockable if the opponent is close, and not in block stun or wake up animation. Her normal unblockables (5C and 6C) come out fairly fast and can be half-charged to make your opponent afraid to shield. Like the rest of the moons, she has no reversal.
Full-
F-Ryougi is a character who can control a lot of space, but has relatively weak rushdown. Her j.B and 214a dominate the air, but her reactive ground-to-air AA is poor. Her 22a allows her to extend blockstrings and pressure, land a far 3c in a combo for a crossup setup, or punish things from almost full screen with a knife and air combo. When played correctly her main threat is that, when spaced correctly and doing things safely, she can make the opponent on defense afraid to do anything; counter-shielding gets command parried, pokes get stuffed by pokes that are farther range, and long range unblockables, high guard bar damage, and BHAD setups (along with ways to easily get the meter) make the opponent afraid to block. However, keep in mind she still almost completely lacks a high/low and her crossup game is nonexistent other than one fairly weak and basic setup.
Half-
The only moon without any charged unblockables, H Ryougi has to rely on solid basics to win. This is the only moon with a ground roll and knife catching. Catching knives in the air will cancel dash momentum, which can create unique sandoori-style ground mixups on wake up. Combining the range of Full with the combo-ability of Crescent, Half moon can dish out significant damage with sweep loops, huge guard damage with knife throw extensions, and excellent zoning / pressure games. Her only drawbacks include slow normals with bad recovery on whiff, and a lack of anti-air moves, which makes her difficult to play on defense
S.Akiha------
Crescent-
Full-
Zoning type character.
Controls a character space in front of her with rings to force people out of the air to fight her on the ground where she's most strong at. Good blockstrings that always put her at a chance to land a 22a loop (which builds her a lot of meter) or a nice bnb. With full invincible EX dragon punch that has a huge hitbox and her constant source of meter makes her able to AA character reliably even with air back dash when they jump deep in. Able to knock down a lot, she has multiple options to cross the opponent up even if she doesn't land a huge damage bnb. She plays a lot like a street fighter character in the sense you want to avoid air to air situations, and jump in only when you know it will work.
Half-
Rushdown Character
The most quirky S.Akiha. She has many quick moves in her arsenal and very unique and quick movement, allowing her to be in the opponents face at all times. However, her special set does not really allow for variability with auto TK flames and slow flame pillars. These are mostly only blockstings moves but they do a decent job at it. She also has a command grab that you can combo after that is great for getting in the tightest of defenses.This character is good for people that want to be quick and rushdown.
Kohaku & Mech------
Crescent-
Full-
Half-
Mech and Neco------
Crescent-
Full-
Half-
Run-away/zoning character. Probably the most notable aspect of this character is its 22B meter charge, something unique amount half moon characters. Provided you can set it up successfully, you can usually keep yourself at or close to full meter (heat mode in half moon), utilizing constant arc drives and increasing your longevity significantly. While keeping H-Mech's long reaching normals and high damaging BnBs, H-MechaNeco trades 623x buffering tricks for Neco Arc assists; this lowers the damage output on random 5B/2B hits dramatically. Neco assists are surprisingly versatile though, with 214x replacing Mech's old fireball, 236x being decent for zoning, and 22A/C being great for oki provided you can set them up. Despite losing a lot of versatility in comparison to regular H-Mech, H-MechaNeco is actually pretty legit despite the stigma of arguably being a "joke" character.
As you can see this section is massive and I obviously can't do it on my own so it would be great if people can PM me with short summaries (a paragraph maybe two, and of course you will get credit) of the playstyle of a character that they know so that I can throw it on here. Don't need to main the character but even if you've just been watching a lot of jp match vids of them and understand how the character plays that's enough. This saves a lot of new players a TON of trouble and also will help character variety in the scene, giving us all more matchup exp. This helps everyone so if any help is greatly appreciated by everyone. Thanks
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