Strategy by Trulyamiracle
Everyone’s favorite sadistic grappler is back to bring more pain with anywhere juggle Sleeve, command throws and her beasty normals (which are even better after the patch).
Vice’s gameplan is mainly centered around forcing people to respect her normals and then going into her Gorefest grab mixups, Gorefest leads into an easy safejump (normal jump forward, hyperhop j.C) for setplay, she can become oppressive once she gets her gameplan going.
Vice has really solid pokes, used correctly she can stop any approach and keep people in check.
Far C (7f/-1), far D (8f/-4), CD (17f/-2), cr D (9f/-13) and far B (6f/-2) are her pokes.
Far C is quick and has ok range, mainly to check the area right in front of you as well as stopping hops. Whiffs on crouchers.
Far D is a high angle kick, can anti-air a lot of stuff and has decent horizontal range as well, but a bit slow on the recovery so don’t throw this out recklessly. Off a high enough jump you can MAX cancel into EX sleeve for a full conversion. Also whiffs on crouchers.
Far B is a straight kick and her best poke if you don’t want to take risks. It’s range is good as it’s the range where you can do run up command grab or hops.
CD is a bit slow but has a big hitbox, goes far and moves her quite a bit forward. CD into CD whiff cancel B sleeve combos from anywhere wallstick.
Cr D is solid and has decent range but it’s kinda slow and open to hops, but it covers the range between far B and CD. Combos into EX sleeve if you’re in MAX mode.
Her Sleeve (hcf+K) can also be used as a poke as it’s her longest reaching move, but keep in mind that it’s very open to jumps or hops, and it counts as a limb so it can trade with the opponent’s moves. This is important because sleeve allows followups like Gorefest or Grab super but it doesn’t do any damage on it’s own so trades are always not in Vice’s favor.
For hops she has far A (5f/+2) and far C. Both are quick and cover the hop area well, you can also MAX cancel into EX sleeve for a full combo if you’re godlike. If you happen to be in MAX mode you can also use it after you anti-air or even off of trades as long as you’re still standing. Far A is cancellable so it’s easier off of it.
Crouch C (5f/-11) and far D are for higher jumps, crouch C is crazy good after the patch and can even hit behind Vice so learn when to use this.
Vice’s air to airs are some of the best, she has j.CD (8f), j.B (6f) and j.D (6f).
J.CD has a crazy hitbox and once it’s out it’ll beat out most air approaches.
J.B is a quicker option with a bit more range than j.CD
J.D hits a higher angle so it’s better against floatier jumps like Beni or Loveheart.
Her jump-ins are j.C (6f), j.A (5f) and j.CD
J.C is the main one, similar to Iori’s and hits deep with a good hitbox.
J.A is a similar angle to j.C, personally i only use it to tickthrow off the shorter blockstun or to stop jump out attempts.
J.CD is for further jumps than the previous 2, but it whiffs on crouchers so be careful in abusing it. If it’s blocked deep enough you can do a free hop mixup or empty jump Low/Gorefest. On CH you can combo into Sleeve, if you’re in MAX mode it’s an easy pickup chance with EX sleeve into full combo on regular or counter hit.
Mentioned a few times already, EX sleeve is important in Vice’s gameplan. It allows full combo conversions after it and it has anywhere juggle properties. What this means is that it connects off basically anything, even stuff that flips people out like anti air normals or cr D.
Once you’re in MAX mode there’s a constant threat of a simple far A anti-air or a jump CD into EX sleeve for big damage so jumping against Vice is super risky.
This gives you a chance to start your offense or close the distance as the opponent will stick to the ground and throw out less limbs at you.
For this reason she’s generally used as 2nd or 3rd character, she’s a lot better and a bigger threat with meter stocked.
Her regular sleeve is decent as well, it’s her longest range tool and once it connects you can combo into Gorefest or Grab super.
This move is blockable (not a grab) but doesn’t do any damage on it’s own, and it doesn’t do any chip damage.
B (16f/-10) is quicker and has less range, D (22f/-8) goes almost halfscreen but slower. Does more hitstun so it combos into C mayhem.
EX sleeve (21f/-6) is similar to D version in speed and range, and you can combo cl.D after it for a full combo.
Gorefest (hcb,f+P) is a 1f command grab. Can’t combo off of but it does a hard knockdown which leads to an easy safejump with forward jump hyperhop j.C. This is what starts Vice’s gameplan as any combo can end with Gorefest to loop the same safejump scenario.
EX Gorefest has a bit more range and does more damage, plus it tosses them higher, you can connect Overkill (air super) or Obscura (Climax) off of it.
Mayhem (qcb+P) is a charging shoulder, this is Vice’s only move that does chip. Very unsafe so it’s mainly a combo ender. A (9f/-13) is quick and has less range, C (16f/-7) is slower but does more damage and goes further.
Once it hits you can do qcf+P for a followup slash. The followup is cancellable into Overkill super for damage.
You can also cancel the shoulder charge into Climax if you want more damage for more meter.
EX (14f/-8) is quick (combos from lights) and launches for a combo followup, you can do whatever into EX sleeve or C shoulder after.
Vice’s last move is Splash (dp+P), this looks similar to Mayhem’s followup. It’s a leaping dunk grab that connects if the opponent is grounded. Cancellable into Overkill super.
Very punishable on whiff as Vice does her animal growl animation on the ground.
A (23f) goes into a similar arc to a regular hop, and C (30f) goes really high and around 3/4 of the screen.
It’s in counterhit state the whole way through.
It’s mainly a gimmick tool to mix it up in blockstrings. Eventhough A version does have a good arc and is somewhat quick, it has a very obvious animation and Vice yells stuff letting the opponent know “here i come so do a neutral jump and combo me”. It’ll work every once in a while but it’s super risky so only go for it if you have meter to go into Overkill super after.
EX (21f) is quick and it tracks the opponent till around halfscreen or so. Great for ending matches as it’s hard to react to.
Negative Gain (hcb x2 +K) is a 1f grab super. Does a lot of damage and switches sides.
EX version does more damage and has a crazy range boost.
Cancellable into Climax before the last hit (once she flips them over and about to pounce on them).
Overkill (hcb, ub, u, d+P) is an air super. Also 1f. The input is dumb but you get used to it with time, if you do a 360 it’ll still come out but i think learning the input is better, rotate from F backwards to U then hit D and P.
Combo ender and can be used as an air to air.
EX is more damage.
This super also has anywhere juggle properties like EX sleeve, but it’s harder to use outside of the corner. Off of anti airs in the corner you can do it for more damage if you’re not in MAX mode.
Her Climax, Obscura (hcfx2 +P), (7f) is an anti-air leaping grab. Goes fullscreen. It’s invincible for a bit but not worth the risk.
Can anti air jumps but will generally whiff on hops or lower jumps.
Mainly use it as combo ender, but generally EX Overkill is similar damage and less expensive so it’s only worth it if it’ll kill.
Her combos aren’t complicated but she has a few routes she can use depending on how much MAX guage she wants to keep.
-Cr.B cr.B cr.A Qcb+A~qcf+P
-Cl.D f.A Qcb+C~Qcf+P
-Cl.D f.A Hcf+B Gorefest
-F.A MAX …
-Cl.D f.A MAX cl.D f.A EX Qcb+P cr.D EX Hcf+K cl.D f.A (Qcb+C~Qcf+P Overkill for damage, or Hcf+B Gorefest for setplay)
-Anti-air normal MAX EX Hcf+K cl.D f.A EX Qcb+P Qcb+C~qcf+P
Extra:
-f.A (20f/-6) is overhead if done raw, it’s cancellable into Negative Gain super or MAX cancel for more damage.
-cr.B (6f/+2) into cr.C is a great frametrap to catch poke out attempts in pressure.
-for run up Gorefest, there’s a trick in the input you can do. If you do the input quick enough (hcb,f) you are already hitting F twice so you’ll get a run, so you do it quick then delay the P input you’ll get a small run into Gorefest.
-cr.B cl.A A splash (corner) or cr.B cr.B cr.A A splash (midscreen) are good blockstrings into a splash “mixup”, but this is still a “gimmick” and very risky.
-Off of EX shoulder, if you’re out of MAX mode you can do cl.D MAX cancel roll for a mix up, depending on when you do the roll you can end up on either side. Really tricky if done correctly.