Skullgirls/Big Band/Strategy
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Strategy
Big Band's goals:
- Patiently observe his opponent's habits and wait for his time to punish.
- Condition his opponent so that they play into his hands.
- Use his high risk, high reward tools to control space in neutral, punish his opponent, or convert off stray hits.
Big Band is a defensive playstyle character that excels at punishing his opponents habits, although not without risks in doing so. Boasting the biggest hurtbox in the game, slow mobility, and relatively slow moves emphasize his need of patient, defensive play.
Neutral
Big Band's neutral is a patient game of watching his opponent, using his specials to cover areas around him, and capitalizing on hard reads or an opponent's mistakes.
Movement
- His mobility isn't as great as other characters, but using Emergency Break during (H)Take the 'A' Train, is a great way to move across the ground. In order to chain together multiple E-Break H A-Trains, immediately buffer the charge motion (4) after inputting H A-Train, and delay the E-break as much as possible before the throw actually comes out.
- The ground recovery after landing with j.HK can help you move across the screen, as the ground tech after landing is invulnerable, but you can be hit any time before that happens, making it risky.
- j.MK(2) is another way of stalling your air momentum, but it uses up your double jump and still, you are vulnerable to being hit during the animation.
Pokes & Counter-pokes
- 2MP: A good poke for ranges too close for the likes of L Train or 2HP to be affective.
- 2HP: A fantastic disjointed hitbox directly in front of Big Band, with impressive reach vertically and horizontally. The sound stun property makes it trade favorably in most scenarios.
- 2HK: Disjointed sweep. This move stands out because it immediately leads
- L Brass Knuckles: This move has a terrific hitbox and good frame advantage at -6. Most of the cast cannot punish this when spaced. This version of the special has no armor, can be difficult to convert off of, and does not give you a knockdown, however, so backing it with an assist for some extra insurance is best if possible.
- M Brass Knuckles: The preferred choice of the two armored versions of Brass Knuckles. At -16, it is still somewhat difficult to punish if you space it, but nowhere near as safe as L Brass. However, the 2 hits of armor, the ability to visibly confirm into SSJ, and the Knockdown on hit makes it still useful in some scenarios, such as punishing bad assist calls.
- M Giant Step: A mid-ranged overhead, rewarding on hit because of it's big vacuum effect.
- H Giant Step: An unblockable move at full screen, important for discouraging and punishing keep away playstyles
Anti-Airs
- 5LP, 2HP, and 2HK are all strong at taking up space around the IAD zone of rushdown characters like Filia or Miss Fortune. The spacing between you and the opponent will determine which of these you should use.
- 2MK shrinks his hurtbox while surround his whole body with a hitbox, rather underutilized and unexplored as an anti-air, but deserves mention.
- L Beat Extend is strike invul frame 2, and has a taller initial hitbox than the other Beat Extends, making it the best anti-air of the three. If you're concerned about crossups or taking up more horizontal space, M/H Beat Extend are better.
- M Take The A-Train is tracking move that's unblockable while rising and has two hits of armor. It's great for sniping jumps in the mid-range, greatly complimenting his good ground tools.
Air-to-Airs'
- Cymbal Clash covers the downward angle below of Big Band and changes his air momentum. Massive disjointed hitbox with soundstun on hit, allowing you to convert off of it. Excellent move to poke with spaced. And takes up a huge amount of air space the opponent cannot contest. Use L Cymbals most of the time for its speed, but H Cymbals beats armor, and is more active, allowing for better reversal-baits.
- j.LP/MP/HP cover the area in front of Big Band, with each button strength affecting the height, LP being the lowest and HP being the highest.
Jump-Ins
- j.LK is fast, multihit, active, and plus on block, making it Big Band's most consistent jump-in
- j.MK is not quite as good as j.LK for crossup purposes, but deserves note as it's a better combo starter and more consistent option for crossups.
Counterplay
