Shaman King: Spirit of Shamans/Wooden Sword Ryu

Ryunosuke Umemiya (梅宮 竜之介)

Introduction

SMP: 250
OSP: 65
Initial Spirit Percentage: 67%
GP: ???

Let's go Tokageroh!
Character Voice: Masahiro Tanaka

Ryunosuke Umemiya aka Wooden Sword Ryu is a former gang leader. He is part of Team "Funbari Onsen" in the Shaman Fight. Ryu's goal in the Shaman Fight is finding his "Best Place".

Overview

Wooden Sword Ryu is a neutral-focused character that excels at whiff-punishes, simple combos and huge damage in the right circumstances. He is semi well-rounded; having a strong reliable anti-air and good pokes, but he does not have any form of traditional projectile and also has a fair share of questionable-at-best moves.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Long Legs: Ryu has long-ranged W attacks, which are quite safe on block and especially excel at punishing whiffed moves. Tokageroh Specials: Ryu's specials, namely 5SP and 2SP, are great at punishing in different ways; 2SP is a fast, high damage anti-air that is active for a long time and doubles down as an amazing corner combo tool, and 5SP is a lightning fast, near-fullscreen whiff-punish option that is also a very strong simple chain-combo ender. Simple, Good Combos: Due to the universal property of chained moves sliding the character forward, combined with Ryu's long W attacks, he can confirm almost any stray poke into a good damage knock-down combo and set up his pressure afterwards, making gaining momentum not very difficult for Ryu. You Got Power: Ryu's Super, 214SP, is one of the strangest in the game as it cannot be used like any other super due of its huge start-up and is generally very situational, but when used in the right circumstances can be a terrifying combo tool as its OTG damage is extremely explosive. Big Foot: j.W, funnily enough a lot like Yoh, is an extremely consistent Instant Overhead that unlike Yoh does pretty good damage, which is very effective for mixing up and getting stuns when the opponent is at 1 OSP.

Lower OSP: While Ryu doesn't have the worst OSP in the game, it is significantly low at 65, which means that he can be victim of extremely high damage stun-combos that some other characters would not have to deal with. Bokuto Issues: Ryu's S normals, particularly his Far ones, are extremely slow for some odd reason and cannot be chained very easily. They have high pushback, but if you ever get one of these in a chain by mistake you'll be in for a world of hurt. Good Anti-Air, but Not Too Close: 2SP / Big Thumb Over-Soul can sometimes whiff due to Ryu stepping forwards during the move, and it not covering directly above Ryu. This makes the move require an annoying amount of good positioning in certain situations, but the step forward can help as much as it can be a detriment. 6SP: Don't press forward and square, worst mistake of my life. Unfortunate Power: While 214SP is an extremely lethal potential OTG super (and even an infinite starter in the corner), in almost all other circumstances it is extremely situational and struggles to find its use if Ryu is not already in an extremely advantageous position - The OTG combo set-up also fails to work at all on a few specific characters.

Move List

Startup DOES NOT include the first active frame.
Damage values are based on the characters initial Spirit Percentage.

Moveset

Standing Normals

f.5W	Damage Startup Active Recovery Frame Adv Guard 6 8 All Ryu performs a nasty boot kick. Okay range but its startup is rather unfortunate and it is bound to go over crouching opponents. It is at least decent for starting chains from afar. Hitbox extends a bit further than it may seem.

c.5W	Damage Startup Active Recovery Frame Adv Guard 6 4 All Ryu does a slightly lower kick. Very Fast normal that pretty much fixes all the issues of the far version.

f.5S You wanted c.5S and got this by accident You wanted c.5S and got this by accident	Damage Startup Active Recovery Frame Adv Guard 9 24 All Ryu does a big battaswing, slashing horizontally with his wooden sword. Extremely slow and does not combo from anything. It has a high hitbox that whiffs on some crouching characters and is not worth using raw.

c.5S Overhead that actually isn't one Overhead that actually isn't one

Damage Startup Active Recovery Frame Adv Guard 9 11 All Ryu slashes downwards with his sword. Being 13(!!!) frames quicker than the far version, this move is significantly easier to work into chains and also has a lot of hitstun. All around pretty great proximity normal, and due to being pretty safe on block combined with its high pushback, it can be very effective at trapping people into whiffing a move and punishing with f.2W.

Crouching Normals

f.2W	Damage Startup Active Recovery Frame Adv Guard 6 4 Low Similar to f.5W in range but 4 frames faster and hits low. Has very good range for how fast it is, starts chains easily, and is generally a great normal at mid range.

c.2W	Damage Startup Active Recovery Frame Adv Guard 6 6 Low Ryu pokes with the tail end of his sword. Slightly slower than f.2W for some reason, and is pretty average chain combo filler.

f.2S	Damage Startup Active Recovery Frame Adv Guard 9 25 Low Ryu slashes horizontally with his sword. Another slow far normal that is hard to chain into from longer ranges. Extremely unsafe on whiff, probably Ryu's worst normal.

c.2S	Damage Startup Active Recovery Frame Adv Guard 9 24 Low Ryu clutches and slashes upwards with his sword. Very slow for a low proximity normal, but can see niche use as a low profile anti-air. Extremely useful in high damage 2SP corner combos.

Chain Enders

W ender	Damage Startup Active Recovery Frame Adv Guard 9 ? ? Ryu does a one-handed sword swing down onto his opponent. Has pretty good range. Can be used to extend combos in the corner and midscreen, and easily combos into 5SP from anywhere.

S ender	Damage Startup Active Recovery Frame Adv Guard 9 ? ? Ryu does a two-handed downwards slash with his sword. Animation is similiar to the W ender, but is a lot slower which makes it combo from less normals during chains in general. Can also be used for extending combos in the corner and midscreen. Allows you to combo into your 214SP midscreen on some characters.

Jump normals

j.W	Damage Startup Active Recovery Frame Adv Guard 6 6 High Ryu kicks diagonally downwards and holds out his leg until he hits the ground. Hitbox is active for an extremely long time and can be used as an instant overhead. Very good range and can start combos as a jump-in but not a good air-to-air.

j.S	Damage Startup Active Recovery Frame Adv Guard 9 8 High Ryu slashes downwards with his sword. Also works as a combo starter since it has more hitstun than j.W, and is your preferred air-to-air (though it is still not amazing for air-to-air situations).

Dash normals

Forward Dash Attack	Damage Startup Active Recovery Frame Adv Guard 9 6 All Ryu does an advancing kick. Allows Ryu to advance with a hitbox. Sends the opponent to the other side of the screen on hit and knocks them down.

Backward Dash Attack	Damage Startup Active Recovery Frame Adv Guard 9 6 All Ryu slashes forward with his sword. Allows Ryu to evade safely with a hitbox directly in front of him.

Special Moves

Hell Dragon Scarlet Lizard (地獄竜紅蜥蜴) 5SP	Damage Startup Active Recovery Frame Adv Guard 49 28 All Ryu uses his Oversoul to perform a triangle slash while taking a fast step forwards. Having very long range and being hard to reflect makes it a good option to use from fullscreen, but at closer ranges it can be easily punished on block. Great tool for ending midscreen chain combos.

Heavenly Gathering of Clouds (アメノムラクモ) 6SP Just reflect, there is no excuse to get hit by this Just reflect, there is no excuse to get hit by this	Damage Startup Active Recovery Frame Adv Guard 49 75 All Ryu charges up before unleashing a huge barrage of snakes. ABSURDLY SLOW which makes it extremely easy to be reflected. Can't be comboed into other than by stunning the opponent. Can be used as a chip damage oki tool, but if you are looking to end a round in chip damage you have better (and MUCH safer) options.

Big Thumb Over Soul (オーバーソウルビッグ親指) 2SP Legendary hitch-hiking technique Legendary hitch-hiking technique

Damage Startup Active Recovery Frame Adv Guard 39, 39 (78) 11* (22) All Tokageroh appears as a huge thumb atop Ryu's wooden sword. Hits twice with a humongous aerial hitbox that is active for an extremely long time. An amazing on-reaction anti-air because of the sheer size of the thumb aswell as Ryu stepping forwards during the move, and a great combo tool in the corner (or situationally midscreen). (* First number is for the first hitbox of 2SP, which can only hit opponents in the air and Marco standing. Second number is for the lower hitbox and when it can first make contact with grounded opponents.)

Super Moves

Oh Stars! Give me power, too! (星よ！ 俺にも力を与えておくれー！) 214SP Stars, hear my words! Stars, hear my words!

Damage Startup Active Recovery Frame Adv Guard 124 83 (*119) All Ryu asks the stars for a power and gets a meteor that comes down horizontally from the upper corner of the screen. Hits OTG which makes it an excelent combo tool in the corner and can also be used in midscreen against some characters. Very slow so it can easily be punished if you try to throw it out from fullscreen. (* startup for OTG)

Combos

Midscreen

• both enders > 5SP
• both enders > 2SP
• (low hp) (character specific) S ender > 214SP > (stun) delay 214SP

Corner

• both enders > 5W > 5W > c.2S > 2SP
• W ender > 5W > 5W > c.2S > c.2S > 5SP
• S ender > 5W > 5W > c.2S > > 5SP
• (low hp) both enders > 214SP > 214SP... (214SP loops into itself infinitely in the corner)