Eternal Fighter Zero/FAQ/Character Choice

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Introduction

This page serves as a quick reference guide to help players pick a character. Use the Table of Contents above to jump to specific sections.

Character difficulty diagram by Shimatora & Co.

Characters By Strength

Neutral

Akiko

• Plays primarily aerial neutral by abusing her huge air buttons and high aerial mobility.

Sayuri

• Access to big, high priority normals.
• Projectiles in both the air and on the ground.

Mishio

• f5B and jB.
• Lightning mode has projectiles.

Rumi

• Armour on big buttons.
• Huge full invulnerable dragon punch.

Akane

• Assists.
• Nice buttons, such as 662B, f5B.
• Controls space with Shiiko summons.

Mio

• Long Range mode is like Dhalsim.
• Short Range mode looks to snipe during neutral with fast dash normals.

Mizuka

• Big, high priority buttons.
• Musical notes (214*).

Doppel

• Big, high priority buttons.
• 623B is huge and moves her forward fast.
• Spits fire, the kimchi kind.

Shiori

• Full screen beam projectile.
• Drops ice from the ceiling, Rimurimu style.

Mobility (Ground)

Kaori

• Fast walk speed.

Ikumi

• Lightning fast dash.

Nayuki (awake)

• Fast dash.

Mobility (Air)

Akiko

• Two air dashes.
• Rising ground dash.

UNKNOWN

• Perfect flight.

Ayu

• Can influence her airborne momentum with the S button, using limited flight.
• Two airdashes.

Mayu

• Can double jump after her first air dash (a rare ability).
• Vega style wall clings.

Pressure

Misaki

• Strong dash normals.
• Can make use of tick throws frequently.

Mayu

• Forward movement on normals. High/low invul on some normals.
• Strong frame data.
• A variety of throws and tick throw setups.

Mai

• Tandem pressure with her summon.

Minagi

• Tandem pressure with Michiru.

Nayuki (asleep)

• Scary pressure at high jam.

Nayuki (awake)

Sayuri

• Strong corner lockdown.
• Air tight pressure that forces the opponent to use Recoil Guard.
• Command throw super that deals massive damage.

Makoto

• Nice frame data.
• Her screen rebounding bullet is excellent cover to begin pressure.

Shiori

• Tandem pressure with summon.
• Strong dash normals.

Mizuka

• The best corner lockdown in the game. Mash safe, reversal safe, the opponent needs to respect it if executed correctly.
• Mixups during corner lockdown are incredibly strong. 6B/5A high/low.

Defence

Mayu

• High/low meterless reversal options.
• Anti-air throw super.
• Has access to RG into command throw.

Mizuka

• Lots of strong reversal options, including reversal option selects.

Ayu

• Lots of strong reversal options.

Mishio

• Meterless fully invulnerable reversal option with No Element and Fire Element.

Rumi

• Meterless fully invulnerable reversal option (not truly meterless as you need to Instant Charge to keep the shinai.)
• Has access to RG into command throw.

• A bunch of normals have armour.

Damage

Misaki

• Downburst combos.

Rumi

• Extremely high damage normals. (5C does 2200 damage base.)
• Command throw can lead to 4000 damage home run swings.

Akiko

• 4000 damage combos from anywhere with Red Instant Charge. 7000 damage from anywhere with Blue Instant Charge.

Nayuki (awake)

• Red Instant Charge combo damage is high.

Kaori

• Has access to long combos that build a lot of meter, allowing for multiple supers and Red Instant Charge in one combo.

Mizuka

• Capable of launching opponent into juggles without Instant Charge.

Mayu

• Red Instant Charge combos deal a lot of damage.

Setplay (Okizeme)

Almost the entire cast is capable of strong setplay (EFZ is a very setplay oriented game) but these characters stand out.

Akane

• Lots of left/right options on okizeme.

Mio

• Short Range j2C is very quick overhead that can cross up and stops her in the air to hit at nearly the same time as a low after landing does.
• Falling objects to lock down during oki mixups.

UNKNOWN

• Flight mixups.

Akiko

• Has a super that slows time for the opponent.
• jB is a safejumpable 5 hit normal that can be cancelled into jC(whiff) to choose when to land and go low. Land cancels are also strong.
• Easily loops okizeme multiple times into death. Hard to block.

Mizuka

• Musical note setplay, lots of safe left/rights.
• Her overhead (6B) is 19F.

Ayu

• Reversal baiting flight mixups.
• Looping setplay.

Misuzu

• Looping setplay.

Doppel

• Corner mixups (is capable of leaving a gap in the corner by using 41236B.)
• Midscreen left/right/high/lows.

Makoto

• Midscreen left/right mixups using bullets and firecrackers.
• Corner lockdown using smoke bombs.

Zoning

Kano

• Has access to some of the strongest projectiles in the game.

Misuzu

• Zones with her traps and curses.

Mio

• Long Range mode has strong zoning capabilities.

Characters By Archetype

Rushdown

Mayu

• Very strong frame advantage on her jabs, good walk speed, fast jumps, EX divekick has invulnerable startup and leads to combos, has a command throw that she can combo from, and has multiple special moves that provide fast stage-length movement to get into your opponent's face. With multiple normals that move her forward along with special moves that move her forward, she can maintain the initiative once the opponent starts blocking. She really wants to be right near her opponent all the time!

Ikumi

Footsies

Sayuri

Kaori

Akiko

• Aerial footsies.

Mishio

Grappler

True grapplers do not exist in EFZ. However, the game does have characters with incredibly strong command throws.

Rumi

• Closest EFZ has to a true grappler.

Sayuri

• Level 2 and 3 command throw super (6321463214) cannot be jumped post super flash. Sayuri's playstyle conditions the opponent not to jump.

Mayu

• Largest number of throws of any character with 5 different throw specials/supers. Her FM (23693S) cannot be jumped after the flash and is one of the most damaging throws in the game. Has many strong normals and good mobility to enable her throws.

Armour/Guard Point

Rumi

• Has access to armour on a lot of moves.

Misaki

• Has multiple normals that have guardpoint/autoguard, and a projectile that has autoguard during startup.

Puppet/Summon/Assist

Minagi

• Has a puppet that can stance switch, named Michiru. Her puppet is always on the stage (no summoning/unsummoning), and cannot be hit by the opponent unless it is actively attacking. If Minagi is hit, Michiru will continue her attack, so she is great at "sandwiching" the opponent. A puppet geared towards more frequent use.

Mai

• Has a summoned puppet called Mini-Mai, able to be summoned immediately performing an attack or summoned doing nothing. When summoned by the latter method, she can attack without the need for Mai to go through an animation to command her, similar to Zato-1 from Guilty Gear. However, Mini-Mai cannot be moved freely and she will instantly disappear if she or Mai is hit. A puppet geared towards more deliberate use.

Akane

• Has Captain Commando style assists as well as a delayed unblockable assist super.

Shiori

• Summons snowmen which follow her around and perform various attacks, similar to Dizzy from Guilty Gear.

Resource Management

Nayuki (asleep)

• EFZ's drunk figher. Levels up with jam, loses jam levels on knockdown.

Ikumi

• Specific moves produce blood which Ikumi has to collect in order to level up moves.
• Levelled up specials spend blood.
• Doesn't actually want to max out her blood.
• Think of a combination between Robo-Ky's Electricity and Heat mechanics from Guilty Gear.

Misuzu

• Has the ability to store super levels as feathers, which unlock the use of unique supers using her crow.
• Can store 3 feathers max. Using a unique feather super spends 1 feather.

Kano

• Almost all of her specials and supers are gated behind her Magic gauge.
• Magic is charged by using 5S and she can "charge cancel" normals like Order-Sol from Guilty Gear.

Gorilla

Mayu

• Extremely sticky character who is hard to shake off if the opponent lets you in.
• Obnoxious normals mixed with her tiny body makes her a menace.
• Can get away with a lot of weird and wonderful decisions.

Mizuka

• Huge buttons, easy hitconfirms.
• Any hit takes the opponent straight to the corner or knocks down into a left/right opportunity.

Doppel

• Huge normals and specials. Lots of forward movement.

Rumi

• Armour on huge, high damage buttons.

Traps

Misuzu

• Self activating traps based off Guilty Gear's Testament.

Mizuka

• Player activated traps. Musical notes have their hitbox activated by use of certain moves.

Makoto

• Bullets, firecrackers and smoke bombs.

Charge

No character in EFZ has a charge move.

Characters By Dash Type

Run Dash (adjustable, access to dashing normals)

Akane

Doppel

Ikumi

Kano

Makoto

Minagi

Mio

Misaki

Mishio

Mizuka

Nayuki (awake)

Rumi

Shiori

UNKNOWN

• Can dash through opponents and has some invincibility

Hover Dash (adjustable, access to air normals)

Akiko

• Can dash through opponents and has some invincibility

Ayu

Misuzu

Sayuri

• Has access to unique momentum tricks using her hover dash.

Step Dash

Mayu

• Can kill her momentum to gain access to dash normals

Mai

• Cannot act during her dash (except for controlling her puppet)

Nayuki (asleep)

• Has access to air normals, but they won't hit overhead

Boxer Dash

Kaori

• Fixed distance, low profile, can be cancelled into, goes very far if done after a backdash