Pokemon: Close Combat/Mienshao

Archetype:	Rushdown/Zoner Hybrid
Health:	36
Endurance:	10
Endurance Refresh:	3
Walk Speed:	2.5/-2
Prejump Frames:	6f
Fastest Attack:	623B (3f)

Mien catch fly with chopstick.

Introduction

Behold the graceful and elegant martial arts master known for its lightning-fast strikes and acrobatic combat style. The Mienfoo species are known for sparring deep in Unova's Victory Road, honing on their unique aerobatic maneuvers in hopes of one day becoming a master Mienshao. Mienshao is a dynamic character who uses high speed aerial options to bounce back and forth between strong pressure and mix up presence to a neutral heavy keep away character who uses their whip-like fur to control screen presence with moves such as 5A and Striking Seviper.

Mienshao has the widest variety of aerial options in the entire game due to being able to use Soaring Spearow to have complete control over their aerial approach. Mienshao relies heavily on a high low mix up due a unique dash mechanic: inputting jump whilst in the mid of a dash allows Mienshao to short-hop and use moves such as jA and j2A to approach and pressure the opponent respectively. With the combination of short-hop aerials, Leaping Liepard and Thrusting Taillow; Mienshao can easily close the gap when they decide to start their offense.

Mienshao's weaknesses only become apparent when they're not applying heavy pressure or able to zone properly: Mienshao's small health bar and exploitable low endurance makes any disadvantage potent. Mienshao's damage potential is also locked away behind meter and location-based combo routes and is not guaranteed to always get the most out of each punish. If Mienshao cannot snowball their advantage state: they'll have to win neutral several times over to compete with other offensive powerhouses who can deal more damage off stray hits and are less prone to guard breaks.

Playstyle

Mienshao is a glass cannon who trades off low health and endurance in exchange for outstanding mobility and a dangerous advantage state.

Pick if you like

Avoid if you dislike

Strong 50/50 Mix: Mienshao has extremely strong mix, being able to force opponents to guess between a meaty low or an extremely fast overhead in instant j2A. Great Metergain: Mienshao's main options usually lead to sweep, letting Mienshao gain meter more often than most other characters. High Mobility: Mienshao has multiple options letting them move around the stage extremely quickly, making them tricky to lock down and deal with.

Agile but Very Fragile: Mienshao is tied with Toxicroak for the lowest endurance and health in the game, meaning they both get blown up very easily for mistakes. Low Damage without Good Positioning: Outside of specific scenarios where you are able to get j5A loops off of 623B, Mienshao's average damage in neutral and from their mix is somewhat low. Somewhat High Execution: A lot of Mienshao's kit relies on quick execution in order to be true.

Normals

5A	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 3 2 Mid 5A4, C-Cancel - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 21 8 38 5 [-21] - Total: 66 Mienshao extends their arms forward and hits anything in front of them. Mien's longest poke, albeit very slow
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5A4	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 1 - Mid - - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost - 3 24 7 [-7] - Total: 27 Mienshao pulls their arms back, pulling the opponent in. Notably links into Mienshao's 623B
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4A	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 2 0 Mid 4A6A, Special - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 8 14 22 1 [-18] - Total: 43 Mienshao whips the air above them with their arms. Mienshao's fastest abare
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4A6A	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 2, 2 1, 1 Mid C-Cancel - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 12 12 21 4 [-8] - Total: 44 Mienshao lunges forward and stabs the air in front of them. Mienshao's best metered combo filler Great in neutral because of how low-committal it is
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6A	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 1 0 Mid 6AA, 3A, Special - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 7 4 13 -1 [1] - Total: 28 Mienshao does a small kick in front of them. Great combo starter, usually the one you'll use the most Exceptional at stagger pressure because of how low the blockstun is
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6AA	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 1 0 Mid 3A, Special - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 10 6 16 1 [-4] - Total: 34 Mienshao does another kick forward.
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2A

Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 1, 1 0, 4 Mid Special, Jump - Knockdown (2nd Hit) Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 9, 13 6, 10 40 +48 [-11] - Total: 75 Mienshao balls their fists and punches the opponent twice. Solid combo tool that can be forward or back jump cancelled on hit, linking into j2A and j5A Very unsafe on block and not jump cancellable on block, but can be cancelled into 5B for non-commital pressure Only first hit is cancellable into specials (excluding 5B which can cancel the second hit), and only the second into jump Cannot use jB or jBB during the jump unless cancelled from j5A

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3A	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 1 1 Low Special - Knockdown Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 16 6 32 50 [-20] - Total: 47 Mienshao sweeps the ground. Main combo ender for most grounded combos Mien's only low, albeit a very strong one Builds a bar on hit
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j5A	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 1, 1 0, 0 Mid j.B, j.BBB - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 12 31 6 +24 [2] - Total: 48 Mienshao does two kicks in the air. Advantage assumes done at the lowest possible height Main juggle for opponents in the air Using dash jump in combination with a delayed jA allows for quick burst option in neutral
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j2A Pick A God And Pray Pick A God And Pray

Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 2 1 High - - Knockdown (Air Hit) Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 11 Until landing 18 +10 [-6] - Mienshao divekicks. Advantage assumes done at the lowest possible height Mienshao is required to reach a height minimum to use, triggered after 6 frames of jumping Being fast and a high allows for nasty 50/50s with j2A and 3A Do not use this at the peak of Mienshao's jump, as you end up being in disadvantage if you do hit them; always try and use as low to the ground as possible

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Specials

Striking Seviper 5B	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 1, 1, 3 1, 1, 1 High - - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 23, 6, 6 5, 5, 5 12 -16 [-14] - Total: 49 Mienshao goes into the air and strikes in front of them 3 times. Mien is mobile during this move, allowing them to fade back to counteract its poor advantage on both hit and block Knocks down air opponents
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Leaping Liepard 6B High-level gameplay High-level gameplay

Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 5 1 Mid jB - Knockdown (Air Hit) Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 9 28 21 6 [-20] - Total: 57 Mienshao darts forward and bounces off its opponent. Use as a check for certain moves in neutral such as Bewear 6B, as you can use it reasonably without getting immediately punished Punishable by any character with a far-reaching move (i.e. Blaziken 2B)

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Leaping Liepard (Swift Star) B after 6B	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 3 1, 0, 0 High - - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 46 - Until landing + 23 - 1 Mienshao sends out a star projectile at a downward angle. Acts as a safety net if opponent blocks 6B For one meter, can be upgraded to Star Shower

Soaring Spearow 2B	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 3 1 High 2B8, 2B6, 2B6B - Knockdown (Air Hit) Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 11 Until landing 17 - - Mienshao soars back to the wall and then dives back down at an angle. When Mienshao hits the wall, you can choose from 3 followup inputs: 8, 6 and 6B
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Rise (Soaring Spearow) 8 at wall after 2B	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property - - - - - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost - - - - - Mienshao flips upward into the air. Mienshao is airborne after the animation ends, giving access to all of their aerial moves

Plane (Soaring Spearow) 6 at wall after 2B	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property - - - 2B6B - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost - - - - - Mienshao goes across the stage to the other wall before diving downward. Useful for escaping the corner in a pinch Because of how the engine handles interactions in the corner, can be used to stick to opponents after a 6B ender instead of being sent nearly fullscreen

Slice (Soaring Spearow) 6B at wall after 2B I hate neutral. I hate neutral.

Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 3 1 Mid 2B6B - Launch Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost - Until reaching other wall - - 1 Mienshao goes to the other wall extremely fast, hitting anything in their way before diving. Arguably the neutral skip tool. Mienshao is sent to the wall with a giant moving hitbox that is somewhat hard to stop, and then is close enough to start blockstrings Punishable by projectiles or DPs

Swift Star jB

Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 3, 1, 1 1, 0, 0 High, Mid jBB - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 50 - Until landing + 23 - - Mienshao backflips and sends a star projectile downward. Hitting with the first hitbox of jB means the opponent will only be hit by that single hit instead of the normal three Useful as oki because of how much blockstun it has, although somewhat hard to capitalize on

Hyper Moves

Thrusting Taillow 623B Screw your pressure *does 17 damage* Screw your pressure *does 17 damage*	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 2, 2 1, 0 Mid, High - - Launch Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 3 - 17 - 1 Mienshao darts upward rapidly to the wall in front of them before diving back. Mienshao's best metered option Acts as a DP (despite having no invulnerability unlike other metered DPs), a combo starter and a pressure extender
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Star Shower jBB	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 2, 2, 2 1, 1, 0, 0, 0 High - - - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 27 - Until Landing + 23 - 1 Mienshao backflips and sends a multitude of star projectiles downward. Good for catching mash after a blocked dashjump jA

Super

Qi Blast 624B Deleting health bars since demo.07 Deleting health bars since demo.07	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 14 4 Mid - Full invul (frames 1-48) - Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 48 [-44 Super Freeze] 12 52 29 [-25] 2 Total: 111 Mienshao charges up a powerful projectile before sending it forward. Travels about 2/3rds of screen Can end combos or to call out risky options Combos well out of 3A
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Throws

Forward Throw 6C	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 2 - Unblockable - - Knockdown Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 8 2 41 - - Total: 50 Mienshao spins around before throwing the opponent away. Standard throw, keeps the opponent in the corner

Back Throw 4C	Damage Endurance Damage Guard Cancel Invul Property 2 - Unblockable - - Knockdown Startup Active Recovery Advantage Cost 8 2 41 - - Total: 50 Mienshao spins the opponent around and kicks them away.

Combos

A = normal attack, B = special attack, cc = C-cancel, xx = cancel

j.2A 6A 6AA xx 3A (5 damage, grants 1 meter and hard knockdown)

j.2A 6A 6AA xx 3A xx 6B (8 damage)

5A4 632B (8 damage, costs 1 meter)

6A4 cc 6A 6AA xx 3A xx 624B (13 damage, costs 3 meter, easy meter dump combo)

6A4 cc 6A 6AA xx 3A (9 damage, meter neutral, requires 2 meter do to)

2A j.A 6A 6AA 623B (14 damage, slightly delay j.A after the jump, costs 1 meter)

Colors

A

B

C

D