Arcana Heart 3/AH3LM/Dorothy Albright

Dorothy Albright

Health Modifier	-3%
Guts Threshold	~40%
Maximum Guts	~30%
Guts Factor	~4.5%
Base EHP	~24377

Introduction

Dorothy is a setup character. Her normals all have very short range which makes her neutral game sub-par. However she is still a small character that is not easy to hit, and her wide variety of projectiles, while not made for zoning, still get the job done.

Once Dorothy lands a hit, her projectile based okizeme setups are second to none. She has excellent crossups, high-low game, throw tricks, and chip damage. Not only is she capable of all this, but there is depth to the way she sets things up - she has Poker Hands. All of her specials that set a card on the screen will count as a part of a hand, and when you complete different hands, you can get a variety of powerful attacks from them. If you're the type of person who likes to blow your opponents mind with crazy setups then Dorothy is for you, just remember that you also have to learn to deal with her weakness.

Dorothy's Story

Dorothy's Frame Data

Dorothy's Movelist Card

Arcana Selection

The best arcanas for Dorothy help her lacking neutral game and give her good meter generation and regeneration. However, she is not reliant on an arcana for anything else, it's all supplemental. An arcana such as love, flower, or sin is recommended for beginners. Once you get more familiar with the character, any arcana that you can think of that would be good for her is worth trying out.

Some known arcana that have good or decent synergy with Dorothy are: Evil, Flower, Ice, Love, Mirror, Plant, Sin, Time, Tyr, and Water.

The only thing you should be cautious of is an arcana like Time, which while it gives her a lot of unique setups for poker hands and high damage from certain combo starters, lacks the high meter generation that is very important to Dorothy's more basic game. You can view the passive stats of the different arcanas here.

Strategy

Movement

Dorothy has poor range on her normals, to sorta make up for it they are either very fast (A attacks) or have lots of active frames (B attacks). However her mobility is average at best so you need good spacing to be able to use those normals at the right time. She also has some good projectiles and traps that she can use for zoning that can help make up for her otherwise lack of neutral game. Even with the help of projectiles, normally she is still at the disadvantage until she can get in.

Her neutral homing is alright so get as much out of it as you can and never go through with the approach if it doesn't look like you'll be able to get close enough in time. If you can actually manage to get above the other player, Dorothy is at a huge advantage because her j.B is good for approaching people below her as are her j.236 face card series. j.236S~S~214+AB is one of the best sequences she has, when the face cards are blocked Dorothy recovers so quickly she can almost be guaranteed to get in, meaning getting above your opponent one time can mean it's all it takes to eventually win.

Vs people who are above you, if they are over exerting you can jump forward or up and tag them with j.A (amazing 4F startup move that can CH). If the situation is more dire or you have cover from various traps maybe a shuffle (623+A/B/C) would be a better option, use the A one so that it's hard to see coming unless you need the extra inv frames.

Most of the time Dorothy is doing actual significant movement, it should be with homing, normal jump, super jump, (air dash and double jump are still useful for stalling in the air). Grounded she is normally attacking or setting stuff, since her ground movement is poor. In some situations it's alright to 6D under your opponent with Dorothy's small hitbox, but it normally doesn't get you far because she doesn't move fast enough to effectively get away... better to be getting jumped in on midscreen than in the corner, though.

Setups

Dorothy, the master of setups. I hope you all come to see my latest trick!

Ten of Clubs setups - From a 4/6AD or 6B (air hit) knockdown

(the main setup for 6B knockdown is double jump air combo > j.236+AB > falling j.C > land 6B)

• 214A > 5C > 214AB > 214A > 214B > 66 > 5C

This blockstring deals a good amount of chip damage(usually 25%). If the 2nd 5C is done too early the opponent will be able to jump. If the opponent tries to 6GC the immediately after getting up be sure to have 623X or 623AB ready to take the hits. It's more than enough hits to handle the clashes and eventually hurt the opponent. If opponent 4GC immediately on wakeup, they will be caught in both the 214A and 214AB. Any kind of guard cancel after the 1st 214A/5C the opponent will be to far to do any real damage. Though make sure to watch out for DPs and Lock In supers or else you'll be sad.

Note that in this setup if you end with 6B knockdown and they back tech depending on character and spacing they may be able to get out of it.

• Alt High Mixup: 214A > 66 > 6B > 214AB > 2C > 6B (knocks down into same setup)
• Alt Alt High Mixup: 214A > 66 > 6B > 2C (knocks down but doesn't give the setup)
• Alt Low Mixup: 214A > dash 2C > dash 6B (knocks down into same setup)
• Alt Tick Throw: 214A > Dash 4/6 grab > (ten wiffs) > 214A (same setup)

After the 6B, you could either keep the mixup going with another 214A (chance to escape), or go for an overhead(6B) in the corner, IAD into pogo bounce(j.2B) or empty jump with j.C. Always keep the opponent guessing.

Ace of Spades setups - From a corner knockdown

• Air combo > j.236S~(S) > low to ground 214+AB > ...

...falling j.C into 2A low

...falling j.A or j.2B cancel into j.C (doesn't come out)

...nothing into throw

...airdash or homing into any of the above options

...falling j.B bounce into any of the above options

...land j9.C crossup / uncrossup (spacing and timing dependant)

Normally if they don't tech you do j.2B or j.A OTG then continue as usual. A common combination is to j.2B bounce, then j.A crossup which is char specific depending on timing. You can force a crossup with airdash or homing if it doesn't work normally, and naturally you can uncrossup the same way.

Two Pair setups - Situational midscreen combos

If you already have face cards of spades out you can just end the combo normally, this setup is even easier if you have no cards out already. Here's a standard combo.

• ...3C hjc 66 > j.C land > j9.C > land j9.B A > dj9.B A 236+AB > falling j.C > land > 236+A~A...

This puts them right in the middle of a 2 pair hand, which gives you quite a bit of freedom to do whatever you want. A mixup fairly unique to this setup that you can do is iad j.C or dash j9.C for a crossup / uncrossup situation where the j.C hits between the 2 hits of the 2 pair. If your timing is good, it's possible to have the first set of the two pair hit uncrossup, then a gap, then j.C hit crossup. But if they get hit by the uncrossup then it combos into j.C (at least in theory). Keep and open mind and remember you can do any array of dirty tricks while cards are spinning in your opponents face.

These are basic setups that any Dorothy player should know of. More advanced setups require advanced hand knowledge or are arcana specific.

Defense

The basics. Dorothy's DP is not bad when you're using the appropriate version, however it is very unsafe so use with caution. 4B and 6A anti-airs are decent under pressure. She's small, so High Jump Guarding is usually a good idea when you can do it.

Hands

Notes

Besides Shuffle, Riffle・Shuffle and Misdirection, Dorothy's special and supers deal with setting different cards. The cards determine what hands you can get and will disappear after a set period of time. If you set up more that 6 cards at a time, the old ones will vanish and the newer ones will be used. If you end up sending a card outside the stage, it will be treated as it was never set at all. Also, be sure that you are always aware of what cards you have already set out, because you cannot set the same card out more than once. The cards have suits just like regular playing cards. You can change what suit you get from your specials with each button. A will give you Clubs, B - Diamonds, and C - Hearts. You will always get spades from supers, and you can get Jokers from the super Misdirection. The aim of these moves is to develop a poker hand. After making a hand, the cards will become projectiles and attack the opponent based on what hand you made. The major poker hands you can make are: Two Pair, Three-of-a-Kind, Full House, Straight, Four-of-a-Kind, Five-of-a-Kind, and Royal Straight Flush. Each of these become a different projectile based attack, the can be difficult to get depending on what you are going for. Below is the properties of each hand, remember, you make them just like you would normal poker hands.

Hands

• (One Pair, Two Pair, or Three-of-a-Kind) - The paired cards will spin and bounce up for a delayed 2 hit attack, launches on hit. Only the cards that make up the actual scoring hand will attack. Not a particularly strong hand and this is normally what you get when completing a hand without specifically going for something. The fact that it's so easy to get makes it useful for extending pressure.

Examples: The actual hand compositions are self explanatory.

One pair - 214A > 214B > 236A A A

Two pair - 236A A A > 236B B

Three of a Kind - j.214A > j.214B > j.214C > j.236A A

• (Full House) - The cards bounces up and rotate to attack the opponent up to 12 times. Even though the cards mostly stay in place while attacking, they hit multiple times for quite a bit of damage making this a strong hand for okizeme or pressuring.

Examples: A full house is just a three-of-a-kind combined with a pair.

236A A > 236B B > 236C

214A > 214B > j.214A > j.214B > j.214C

• (Straight) - All cards leap forward in a large arc. This attack doesn't last very long, but at the same time it's also very fast and covers a very large portion of the screen. They bounce upwards and fly away, so if someone is sitting on the ground crouching they may all go flying over depending on positioning.

Examples: The only way to build this hand in AH3 is to have 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace, and have at least 2 different suits.

214A > j.214B > j.236C C C

• (Four-of-a-Kind) - With Aces, the cards move straight forward and attack the opponent multiple times, this is a strong attack however it's very obvious which is the main weakness. With 10s, the cards on the ground release projectiles straight up, due to the nature of the setup it's hard to make someone block this so it doesn't seem very useful. With Jacks (Joker needed) a stronger version of full house, this hand also seems to be difficult to set up but rewarding as it has properties similar to full house, each card hits 13 times instead of 12.

Examples: Hand construction is self explanatory, the other card can be anything but the same face.

Aces - 214A > j.214A > j.214B > j.214C > j.214+AB

Tens - j.214A > 214A > 214B > 214C > 214+AB

Jacks - 236A > 236B > 236CC > 641236+AB

• (Five-of-a-Kind) - A super version of Four-of-a-Kind with 10s, or Aces. The Aces version makes every card single hit, guard break, and travel much faster, meaning it's essentially unblockable. You can also combo off the Aces version easily. The 10's version just like 4-of-a-Kind 10's except for stronger. The Jack version is a much more powerful variant on the 4-OaK Jacks hand, doing a whopping 24 hits per card.

Examples: Setting up 5-OaK Jacks hand can be tricky but since it's all face cards it can be done on the fly.

Aces: j.214A > j.214B > j.214C > j.214+AB > land 641236+AB

Tens: 214A > 214B > 214C > 214+AB > 641236+AB

Jacks: near corner 236AB (so that the Queen and King go off-screen) > 236A > 236B > 236C > 641236+AB

• (Royal Straight Flush) - All cards spring up and face the opponent to attack. All the cards will transform into balls and bounce forward across the screen until they leave it. The ace will bounce higher the higher it's placed. The damage on each individual projectile is pretty high, and this can also be hard to avoid, meaning it's good for approaching the opponent. Also if set up right midscreen, this can create a lot of blockstun for the opponent.

Examples: A royal straight flush is having a 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace all of the same suit. This only works with Clubs, Diamonds, and Hearts in this game.

214A > j.214A > j.236A A A

• (Super Royal Straight Flush) - A RSF with spades... meaning you need to spend 3 bars to make this. All cards spring up and face the opponent to attack multiple times. The actual damage on the projectiles is lower than the regular version, however they are much larger, travel slower, and are multihit. If it was difficult to avoid the regular RSF this one is nearly unavoidable.

Examples: 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace all of Spades.

j.236+AB > 214+AB > j.214+AB

Combos

Basic Air Combos

j.B A dj.B A 236X~X

(corner) j.B A dj.A E 236X~X

(corner) j.B A dj.A E 236AB > falling j.2B OTG

Enders

SJIAD j.B(1) dj9.B(1-2) j.A 236X~X

(corner) SJIAD j.B(1) dj9.A E 236X~X

236AB > 3C > one of the above enders

Grounded Confirms

• • Low proration starters: 2/5A 2/5B(2) 3C, 5AA 3C, 5B/2B(2) 3C, 2A 3C, j.A 2A 3C, 6B HC6 3C

(Low proration starter) > SJIAD j.C > land j9.2B...C > land 5A IAD j.2B C > land 5A 3C > Ender

• • Mid proration starters: j.B A land 2A 3C, j.C dash 2A 3C, (A) 5/2B(4+) 3C, 6B HC6/EFC66 2A 3C, and most other reasonable starters

(Mid proration starter) > SJIAD j.2B C > land 5A IAD j.2B C > land 5A 3C > Ender

• • High proration starters: 214X 3C

(High proration starter) > SJIAD j.C > land (66) 6A > Basic Air Combo

• • Very high proration starters: j.214AB 3C

(Very high proration starter) > Ender

It's recommended to start out with the Mid or High proration starter combos on all grounded confirms if you are having trouble with the more difficult ones.

Airborne Confirms

j.B A dj9.B A 236X~X

(low to mid number of air hits) > 236AB > falling j.C > land IAD j.2B C > land 5A 3C > ender

(a lot of air hits) > 236AB > falling j.C > land 66 6A > Basic Air Combo

(a lot of air hits) > 236AB > falling j.C > land 6B 214X

These can be confirmed off of things like ATA crossup j.C, and falling j.A, so there's a lot of room to learn with Dorothy's air confirms.

Videos

Move List

Normal Moves

5A File:Img	fluff
2A File:Img	fluff

6A File:Img	fluff
5A File:Img	fluff

2A File:Img	fluff
6B File:Img	fluff

4B File:Img	fluff
5C File:Img	fluff

2C File:Img	fluff
3C File:Img	fluff

5E File:Img	fluff
2E File:Img	fluff

j.A File:Img	fluff
j.B File:Img	fluff

j.2B File:Img	fluff
j.C File:Img	fluff

j.E File:Img

fluff

Special Moves

Jack・Rabbit 「ジャック・ラビット」 Queen・Bee 「クイーン・ビー」 King・Bird 「キング・バード」 236X File:Img

Dorothy jumps up and fires a card diagonally downward at the opponent. You'll be using this move A LOT. As you can guess by the name, you will fire off a suit depending on the move, Jack・Rabbit will shoot a J, Queen・Bee a Q and King・Bird a K. You can use the follow ups to Jack・Rabbit just by pressing another attack button after the move. Keep in mind that the button that you use will determine what suit that you will fire off. For example, you could do: 236A→B→C and you would get JACK of Clubs → QUEEN of Diamonds → KING of Hearts. The cards from this move hang around the ground for quite a while and they are easy to make simple hands off of. The recovery off the ground version of King・Bird is short, the air version however is long. You can super cancel Queen・Bee to Speculation to help erase that opening though. However if you don't have meter, it's not recommended to throw that K often unless it'ss to finish a hand. The cards come out pretty fast and you'll find plenty of uses for it. A Version CLUBS B Version DIAMONDS C Version HEARTS

Ground・Ten 「グラウンド・テン」 214X File:Img

Dorothy sets a card, a 10 on the ground. It will automatically attack the opponent if they step on it. Not only does the button change the suit that is used, but also how far from you the card is set and recovery time. The card will be set off as soon as the opponent touches it even a little bit, so its rather hard to use it to as a trap. The card doesn't last too long and the recovery of the move is on the long side for a ground move (susceptible to jumpins), so you might eat a combo for your trouble of even trying to set it out during neutral spacing. This is mostly used for okizeme, but depending on your arcana of choice, and the matchup being played, this can be a very useful zoning tool. As of LOVEMAX!!!!, this move will now not activate on downed or ground teching opponents, making it much more useful on soft knockdowns. A Version CLUBS, slides a short distance, long recovery. B Version DIAMONDS, slides a medium distance, medium recovery. C Version HEARTS, slides a long distance, long recovery.

Flying・Ace 「フライング・エース」 j.214X File:Img

Sets an ACE in the air. It will automatically activate and attack the opponent up to 11 times after a set amount of time. However that amount of time is somewhat long so you can't use this move to directly attack your opponent. This is mostly used to complete a poker hand. The different versions not only change the suit of the card, but also how long it takes for the ACE to start its attack. Aces also deflect projectiles for the entire period before activation. A Version CLUBS, 357F before activation B Version DIAMONDS, 327F before activation C Version HEARTS, 297F before activation

Shuffle 「シャッフル」 623X File:Img

Dorothy spins and summons cards to spin around her for a multi-hit DP-like move. The different version change the "DP-ness" of the move quite a bit. This move leaves no cards. You can EFC or HC on hit for a combo on hit, or pressure on block. A Version No invincibility, but very fast start up B Version Invincibility to non-grab moves, moderate start up C Version Long invincibility, long start up

Super Moves

Triple・Face 「トリプル・フェイス」 236A+B File:Img	This is the super version of Jack・Rabbit. Dorothy sends a spade of all 3 face cards diagonally downwards at once. On hit, this will ground bounce the opponent. The properties of this move are roughly like Jack・Rabbit and this is mostly used for combos. If you are pushed out too much in the corner, or the combo proration is very high this may not combo properly, but you will still be extending a lot of combos with this move. There is a gimmick where this move will cross up when done very close. Sometimes bursts will wiff the jumping portion in the air. Once it connects, you can do falling j.C > 623AB as an unburstable combo to end rounds as well.
Riffle・Shuffle 「リフル・シャッフル」 623A+B File:Img	A super Shuffle, this version is larger than your regular Shuffle. Riffle・Shuffle is also fully invincible, making it more dependable than Shuffle in terms of being a reversal. It has even more active frames, which makes this move basically impossible to make wiff with 4D. So up close, this is a good move to force pressure reversal or deny defense options with by EFC or homing canceling after it is blocked or it hits. If you EFC and immediately 6B, most of the startup is actually hidden by the remaining pink cards.
Ten・of・Spades 「テン・オブ・スペード」 214A+B File:Img	Super Ground・Ten, sets a 10 of spades. this works much like the normal version and you can choose how far this goes out by holding the buttons down, but of course, you are open during that period of time. Like the non-super version, usage is pretty situational. However, the recovery on the super version is much faster, making it more usable. It is fast enough to do in a blockstring if your opponent is blocking another projectile already, as well as get out relatively safely in tough matchups where you need breathing room.
Speculation 「スペキュレイション」 J214A+B File:Img	A super Flying・Ace. The activation until the ACE actually attacks the opponent is MUCH shorter than the normal version and the recovery of the move is much better. More useful in spacing than Ten of Spades because it's even faster and occurs in the air, an easy deterrent for opponents flying directly at you. You will be using this move a lot to cancel Queen Bee as well as for okizeme in the corner.
Misdirection 「ミスディレクション」 412364A+B or 463214A+B File:Img	A fake out. After this move you get a JOKER to use for your poker hand. You usually use this when you have one more card left to complete a hand. It must be used to make Five-of-a-Kind hands, but can also be used to complete any hand on the fly. There is almost no recovery after this move. These feints are scary so it's easy to go for a throw or a low after these to catch your opponent doing (or not doing) something if you choose to use it that way instead of for hand completion. 412364A+B Version Looks like a super and has 4 frames of recovery 463214A+B Version Looks like an Arcana Super and has 5 frames of recovery

Critical Heart

Magician's・Choice 「マジシャンズ・チョイス」 222A+B File:Img

First, Dorothy sends a card out on the ground that will home on to the opponent for a low attack. This move has no invincibility so you will mostly hit with it by means of combo, or by wiff punishing your opponent in a sort of anti-zoning style at full-screen. On hit the opponent will be forced to choose from 4 different cards; only one card will spare them from damage. If they guess right, you and your opponent will recover some meter and health. If they miss though, they will take damage. During EF, there are 8 cards; one "safe" card, and one "die" card. The other cards are regular "miss" cards. The die card will do even more damage with some extra hits. You can change where the safe card goes during this; A B C D (respectively, from left to right) with the normal version, add 2 to the input for the bottom cards on the EFC version. You can constantly move the life card around until the last second while watching your opponents cursor, so if they aren't fast they will never get it. By the way, the round timer STILL runs during this. So the opponent can choose to not pick a card if they have the life and time is short...

Colors

Color 1

File:AH3LM Dorothy 1.png

Color 2

File:AH3LM Dorothy 2.png

Color 3

File:AH3LM Dorothy 3.png

Color 4

File:AH3LM Dorothy 4.png

Color 5

File:AH3LM Dorothy 5.png

Color 6

File:AH3LM Dorothy 6.png

Color 7

File:AH3LM Dorothy 7.png

Color 8

File:AH3LM Dorothy 8.png

Color 9

File:AH3LM Dorothy 9.png

Color 10

File:AH3LM Dorothy 10.png

Color 11

File:AH3LM Dorothy 11.png

Color 12

File:AH3LM Dorothy 12.png

Color 13

File:AH3LM Dorothy 13.png

Color 14

File:AH3LM Dorothy 14.png

Color 15

File:AH3LM Dorothy 15.png

Color 16

File:AH3LM Dorothy 16.png

Color 17

File:AH3LM Dorothy 17.png

Color 18

File:AH3LM Dorothy 18.png

Color 19

File:AH3LM Dorothy 19.png

Color 20

File:AH3LM Dorothy 20.png

Color 21

File:AH3LM Dorothy 21.png

Color 22

File:AH3LM Dorothy 22.png