For some reason, this Dead Apostle from the frozen lands of the far north has arrived in the city of Souya. Vlov is already starved of warmth and must feed on blood for heat, which he can then consume in order to create flames. In battle, he can switch from Flame Mode to Ice Mode when in danger. In this mode, Vlov’s abilities expand exponentially, granting him nearly unrivaled strength.
Gameplay
Vlov is a character who utilizes a strong projectile game alongside large mid-range special and normal attacks to crush his opponent's gameplan.
Vlov's moveset is largely geared towards space control and defensive neutral. He can easily hit people out of careless approach with Flame, Disease (236X) projectiles. His Homeward, Memory (22X) ground shockwave pushes and can pull opponents in when it connects. Should the opponent decide to play it safe, he still has his far-reaching normal attacks and Burya Tigr (214X) sword slash series (with its own mix-up followup) that cover wide area in front of him, letting him punish those who think he's no threat in melee. If the opponent decides to stop engaging, Vlov can go on the offensive and reveal the true breadth of his moveset, containing plenty of ways to extend his pressure and keep the opponent on their toes. On top of that, several of his special moves will be upgraded into faster, move powerful Ice version when he loses a round.
Despite his seemingly straightforward gameplan, Vlov has several things working against him. His height, slow start up on many of his moves, and a sore lack of reversals outside of his slow Arc Drive and universal mechanics mean he has very limited options when forced into defense at close range. As well as this, while his resource usage is great, catching him without any resources is going to be a very bad time for him. A good eye for when to press your turn and keep the advantage, and when to back off and bide your time, is key to Vlov's survival.
Strengths
Weaknesses
Ranged Offense: With Vlov’s projectiles, fullscreen lows from 22B and 22C, and his long range moon skills, Vlov is able to influence the match from just about anywhere on the screen.
Strong Mid Range Game: With far reaching disjointed pokes like 2B, 5C, and 214A / 214B Vlov is able to dominate the ground game from mid range.
Conversion Flexibility: Vlov is able to convert off of just about any hit, even from his projectiles fullscreen with the use of meter.
High Damage Potential: Vlov has some of the highest potential damage in the game with resources, combined with his aforementioned conversion flexibility makes his hits extremely potent in any game state
Great Resource Management: Vlov has many ways to use his resources effectively as well as many opportunities to gather more through his higher than average meter gain and his ability to leverage charge
Plus Frames On Demand: With many moves that leave Vlov plus on block such as 6BC, 2BC and 22C, Vlov has many ways to keep his offense going with resources.
Slow: Vlov has generally the slowest frame data in the game for normal attacks. When he can't leverage his range, he can struggle to contest the opponent. Pair that with his slower than normal pre-jump time and Vlov will find speed to be problematic at times.
Committal Defense: Vlov's specials are geared towards offense and zoning, leaving him with strong but committal normals like 2B on the defensive outside of system mechanics. Paired with his below average speed, tall height, and no reversals outside of arc drive, Vlov has a relatively difficult time cheating a turn up close safely compared to other cast members
Scrambles: Vlov's disadvantageous in situations where both players are close and actionable (throw tech, Shield-B, hitbox clashes). The lack of fast specials and further reaching fast moves forces vlov to gamble a lot or retreat.
Unique Traits
Principle: Freezing
Vlov has a unique perk that activates alongside Awakening, making all his specials transition from soul sucking flames to bone chilling ice. His projectiles are most affected by this, affecting their travel time, advantage on block, and damage distribution. Combined with the free bar of meter that comes with Awakening and the overall power boost these changes give him, Vlov has a powerful safety net that hangs over his opponents upon being 1 round away from losing the game
Long range sweep that puts the opponent into an airborne state
Primarily serves as a combo starter and staple blockstring tool
Leads to incredible damage, making it your best way to punish whiffed or unsafe moves
A situational poke that's more often than not outclassed by his other tools due to it having terrible recovery and less range/coverage than other options with little to compensate
While an ok air to air button, it can be difficult to challenge opponents with it due to it being slower than most other j.As, and not hitting very high vertically either
Still one of his best answers to directly calling out most air to air exchanges up close due to its angle and speed, as well as its safety on whiff
Essential for air to air blockstrings due to its ability to repeat into itself as well its variety of cancel options
Launches the opponent with Vlov performing a follow-up jump right after on hit
Leans back his hurtbox and stays in place during the move, giving it a pretty massive disjoint even for this game's standards
Lacks much horizontal range and is very unsafe on whiff so its difficult and unadvised to utilize it in blockstrings
Important for combos due to its utility as a consistent launcher into his powerful airthrow okizeme
One of Vlov's go-to anti airs for dealing with the space right above him due to its head invul properties and massive vertical range
Special cancellable on block, and has access to all of Vlov's stellar special cancel options to make it incredibly safe, otherwise punishable
Being a command normal, ground-to-air clashes with it can net volatile results if MD isn't available and you're not ready to jump cancel, as rebeating into 5A is not possible
Slow Overhead that launches on hit and leads to easy combos
Moves Vlov even further than the uncharged version
Lacks any clash frames on startup despite being a charged normal
Half charging into 214A is a safe and easy mixup that can catch opponents off guard
A nice tool to call out buffered low shields during pressure alongside 5[C]
Universal Mechanics
Rapid Beat 2
Rapid Beat 2
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Hitboxes On
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Vlov displays his mastery of fire and ice to pull the opponent in
Pulls enemy in on hit with a lot of untech time, allowing for confirms from any hit and combos into 22X
Might sometimes launch them behind you, making Rapid Beat 3 whiff (stop this from happening by delaying the autocombo 3C)
Shockingly good defensive option due to 5AA's utility as a fuzzy mash combined with this move's ability to catch people attempting to bait it with jump
In pressure, is a great point to special cancel after, such as with 214A, 6BC, 2BC, etc
Rapid Beat 3
Rapid Beat 3
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Same animation as 3C
Rapid-2 pushes the opponent too far for this to be any good in blockstrings, should only be used in combos
Vlov grabs the opponent by the neck and slams them down with a blast of fire/ice
Standard Melty Air Throw
Can be used as a committal anti air to call out shields and usual deadzones
His best combo ender as it leads to his powerful safejumps
The lower to the ground it connects, the better frame advantage
Universal air combo ender
Special Moves
Burya Tigr
Vlov's rekka series. A core part of all aspects of Vlov's gameplan as both an offensive poke in neutral and an excellent pressure/mixup tool once he has his opponents cornered.
A very versatile way to dump meter in almost every situation
Can easily string into this gaplessly off most of his specials as a way to continue his offense and guarantee massive amounts of chip damage
Launches the opponent on hit into a large amount of untech time, letting him convert off almost any hit when canceled into or run all kinds of okizeme when ending a combo with it
Its humongous range, quick startup, fast recovery, and strong reward on block and hit makes this Vlov's strongest EX move by far
Vlov sends a quick path of ice across the entire stage
A very versatile way to dump meter in almost every situation
Can easily string into this gaplessly off most of his specials as a way to continue his offense and guarantee massive amounts of chip damage
Launches the opponent on hit into a large amount of untech time, letting him convert off almost any hit when canceled into or run all kinds of okizeme when ending a combo with it
Its massive range, quick startup, fast recovery, and strong reward on block and hit makes this Vlov's strongest EX move by far