Akatsuki Blitzkampf/Fritz

Background

A military surgeon who was involved in a research from the Imperial Army during the Great War. Although he was missing after the war, he reappears with Akatsuki's comeback and starts to eliminate those involved one by one. (from character selection screen)

Read the translation of his arcade mode!

Introduction

Fritz is the kind of character for those who like to trick their opponents into making mistakes and then come down on their heads with brutal punishment. Fritz forces his opponents to think hard and play carefully, unless they want to lose a good chunk of their health in a matter of seconds and 3 bloody slashes.

On the other hand, Fritz is forced to parry and/or use EX dashes in order to get out of extreme pressure (especially when cornered), simply because he's out of options as his attempts at countering will prove futile.

A good number of Fritz's normals act as special moves and deal guard damage.

Similar to: Samurai Shodown, Nagoriyuki

Strengths	Weaknesses
Great Movement: Fritz has great walk speed, the fastest dashes in the game, and his teleports, making it easy for him to mix up his movement and hard to pin down in neutral. Good Mixups: Fritz has a solid high/low and great strike/throw. "Get Out of Jail Free" Super: 236B+C/214B+C are fully invulnerable, allowing him to escape pressure with little consequence. Chip Damage on Normals: Any B or C attack involving Fritz's sword deals chip damage. This means he's almost constantly dealing chip. Great Whiff Punishes: Fritz's individual buttons are fast, long, and hit hard, while his Level 3 is the most damaging super in the game that covers great range with a decent 17F startup, making his whiff punishes dangerous especially on counter and back hit.	High Whiff Recovery: Fritz's B and C normals have a huge amount of recovery on whiff, leaving him wide open to punishes. His normals have to be carefully placed and can't just be thrown out recklessly. Poor Defense without Meter: Fritz doesn't have a meterless reversal and his abare is unrewarding. Limited Combo Potential: While his individual hits hurt, other characters, especially with meter, can convert into full combos that will have more damage, meter gain, and corner carry.

All damage values below were tested on Akatsuki with 1.000 armor ratio and full life on both sides (remember about "Health difference" and "Guts" systems)

Character Summary

Move list

Special Moves: 236A/B/C (EX OK) - Maegake: Forward dash; 214A/B/C (EX OK) - Ushirogake: Backwards dash
Level 3 Super: A+B+C - Hissatsu Kirikomi Touhou: High damage slash, but hard to combo
Unique Attacks: 4B, 4C, j.2A/B/C

Stats & vitals

Armor Ratio = 1.000
Walking Speed = 5.0 dots/F
Retreating Speed = 4.0 dots/F
Jump Startup = 3F
Backdash Duration = 18F

Quick combo reference

Basic BNB: 5B > 5C

Metered BNB: j.B > 2A > A+B+C

Notes on Ausf. Achse

Universal Changes

The nerfs to reflector combos affect him more since the latter are very important to his defence.

Character Changes

Gains a taunt with a hitbox. Does no hitstun or blockstun and barely any damage.

4B does 200 less damage (1600-1400).

His level 3 received a couple nerfs. It can now be guarded and the initial hit does 800 less damage (2000-1200).

The movement speed of his teleports is now slower.

His diagonal j.B got a new animation, and while it can't be verified, possibly a larger hitbox.

His standing reflector don't bounces an opponent as high, making level 3 combos a little harder.

His aerial reflector bounces an opponent higher, making level 3 combos easier and close 5C follow-up guaranteed.

The landing recovery of both versions of j.B can be special/super canceled now.

Complete Changelog

Fritz's official profile image

Fritz's pre-made colors

Universal Mechanics

Reflectors

Standing Reflector
4/5/6+B+C

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
500	High/Low	7	KD	-12^
Fritz slams the opponent with his sword. Causes a ground bounce and can be comboed into 2B or 2C. Quite large for a reflector attack, so it can hit where other reflector attacks might whiff.

Crouching Reflector
1/2/3+B+C

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
400	N/A	7	KD	-12^
Same as standing reflector.

Jumping Reflector
7/8/9+B+C

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
500	N/A	7	KD	VB
Same as standing reflector.

Throws

Standing Throw

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
2000	N/A	5	KD	N/A
Fritz performs a quick headbutt to the opponent. This throw is techable but the opponent remains relatively close to Fritz.

Aerial Throw

Go into training mode and do this throw, it's amazing.

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
2000	N/A	3	KD	N/A
Fritz slams the opponent into the ground using his knees and hops away. This throw is untechable.

Normal Moves

5A (close)

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
500~	High/Low	4	+0	+0
A hilt poke, cancellable and chains into itself. Otherwise can be chained into 2A.

5A (far)

This hitbox is actually real.

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
1000~	High/Low	11	-2	-10^
A fast sword thrust with quite a bit of range. This does not chain into any other move and is uncancellable.

5B (close)

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
1000~	High/Low	5	+4	+2
A generic uncancellable kick.

5B (far)

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
2000~	High/Low	13	KD	-10^
Fritz moves forward and does an upward katana slash. Knocks down and can be followed up by 5C before the opponent recovers. Can be teched in both cases. Inflicts guard damage.

5C (close)

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
2600~	High/Low	17	KD	-12^
A slightly delayed knockdown slash. Inflicts guard damage.

5C (far)

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
2800~	High	25	KD	-12^
Fritz moves forward and does a heavy slash that hits overhead and knocks down. Inflicts guard damage.

2A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
400~	High/Low	4	+0	+0
AA crouching hilt poke. Cancellable, chains into itself and 5A.

2B (close)

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
800~	Low	5	+5	+3
An uncancellable low kick.

2B (far)

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
1600~	High/Low	9	KD	-10^
A slash very similar to 5B, but with less delay. Also knocks down and also can be followed into 2C before the opponent recovers. Inflicts guard damage.

2C (close)

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
2000~	High/Low	17	KD	-12^
Crouching variation of 5C with the same properties but less damaging, thus useless. Probably exists just to deny use of far 2C up close. Inflicts guard damage.

2C (far)

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
1800~	Low	11	KD	-12^
Low slash that reaches about 2/3 of the screen and moves Fritz forward a bit, has long recovery time. Knocks down. Inflicts guard damage.

j.A

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
450~	High	5	VA	VA
An overhead kick. Cancellable into j.2X for some reason.

j.B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
1600~	High	9	KD	VA
A jumping overhead version of 2C. Good range and knockdown properties are intact. Inflicts guard damage.

nj.B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
1500~	High	5	KD	VA
A jumping overhead version of Fritz's far B attacks. Also knocks down, but unlike the ground versions, you can juggle the opponent after it. Inflicts guard damage.

j.C

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
2400~	High	4*	KD	-12^
An overhead incarnation of 2C(c), in terms of both animation and properties. Fritz holds his sword while in the air, and then swings his sword as soon as he touches the ground. Inflicts guard damage.

Command Normals

破天 - Haten
4B

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
1600	High/Low	10	KD	-12
Fritz does an upward slash that covers the entire jumping height, and inflicts guard damage. This makes it his best ground anti-air and can hit even opponents on the ground, but has terrible recovery.

玉光 - Gyokkou
4C

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
2000	High	10	KD	-10^
Fritz hops back while perfroming a quick fusion between 5C and 2C(c). Aside from traditional knockdown, it's overhead, but does 2C(c) damage. Inflicts guard damage.

天駆 - Amagake
j.2A/B/C

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
-	-	27	KD	-12^
Fritz does a very quick evasive descend, that deals no damage. With A version Fritz descends backwards, with B - drops vertically down, C - descends forward. Diagonal versions cover about 1/3 of the screen. All versions have a noticeable recovery upon landing.

Special Moves

前駆 - Maegake
236+A/B/C/B+C

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
-	-	-	-	-
Fritz does a evasive dash forward, that can go through opponent. A version is a fakeout, as Fritz will stay were he was. B version moves him 1/4 of the screen. C version covers ~2/3 of the screen. EX version covers 3/4 of the screen, and is invincible in all frames. All versions have a bit of recovery.

後駆 - Ushirogake
214+A/B/C/B+C

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
-	-	-	-	-
Same as the above, but in opposite direction.

Super Move

必殺切込刀法 - Hissatsu Kirikomi Touhou
A+B+C

Damage	Guard	Startup	Adv Hit	Adv Block
6822~	-	17	KD	-
Fritz dashes forward (~1/2) and does his 5B slash. If the slash connects, he will perform the remaining 10 brutal slashes against the opponent. The initial slash is unblockable and must connect in order for the rest of the super to be performed.

General Strategy

Neutral

Fritz's plan in neutral is pretty simple. Abuse his huge buttons in mid range and catch opponents off guard with his varying options. The safest poke to throw out is f.5A. Compared to his other far normals, f.5A has a low whiff recovery, and still has decent range and a disjointed hitbox. However, it is a far less rewarding than his other tools. f.2C is generally the next best neutral tool. It's an incredibly fast and long ranged low that very often will catch opponents standing. This move alone can make an opponent afraid to stand too much against Fritz. Unfortunately, it has a huge amount of whiff recovery, making it a fairly easy punish, especially if the opponent jumps in on you when you try to do it. Once the opponent is worried about having to block low, you can add f.5C to your neutral. f.5C also has huge range, mainly since Fritz walks a good distance before swinging his sword, but has a lot of startup, making it vulnerable to being hit out of startup. Most importantly though, it hits overhead, so when the opponent starts crouch blocking to avoid f.2C, this can catch them off guard. f.5C also has other more niche uses, such as using it after reflecting a projectile since from most ranges it will reach the opponent. Note, despite how the move looks, f.5C will often whiff on jumping opponents too, leaving it wide open for a whiff punish. Other strong neutral tools are his f.5B/2B. Effectively the same move, they have a deceivingly large amount of range since Fritz moves forward a good distance before swinging the sword, and are also pretty fast. They can be used for poking as well, although they too have long whiff recovery, but are especially good as punish tools. They lead to good damage especially on counter hits so they're a strong tool in general. 4C, while generally more of a mixup tool, also has use in neutral. Due to the hop back it can be used to catch overly aggressive opponents, and is relatively safe on whiff so it normally doesn't hurt to just throw it out. Similar to f.5C, it tends to whiff on jumping opponents so be careful about that. Incorporating his teleports in neutral, while not as important as his normals, can also be powerful. The meterless teleports don't have invincibility, but against some characters and respectful opponents, his forward teleport can close distance quickly. If close enough to the opponent after the teleport, you can often go for a throw. You can also use 236+B+C to go through any active hitboxes like a projectile and still reach the opponent, although since the opponent will recover before the animation ends, they'll be at an advantage and this is more of a gimmick than anything else. The backwards teleport dash, while not as useful, can be used to escape from pressure situations outside of corner.

Anti-Air

Fritz's anti-air game is very strong, although there is some flaws to it. 4B of course is the main anti-air, with a huge disjointed vertical hitbox that's not lacking in horizontal reach either. 4B has a few issues though. Like his other sword normals, 4B has a huge amount of recovery on whiff. It also doesn't make his hurtbox any smaller, meaning sometimes in spite of the huge hitbox it will get beaten out or trade (although trading can be beneficial). It's also slow enough that it can be hard to use on reaction, although it's definitely possible. Fritz doesn't actually have any other buttons particularly good for anti-air, although f.5B can sometimes catch jumpers, but his air to air game is pretty strong as can be read below.

Air Game

Fritz's air normals while unique are strong for their purposes. j.A is small but still has use in air to air and is his safest aerial to land with. Notably, j.A can be canceled into j.2X, meaning it can be used for some hard to deal with left right mixups (i.e. air to air j.A then mix between j.2A or j.2C to land to the left or right of the opponent before they can touch the ground). nj.B and j.B are in practice the same move, although j.B has a bigger hitbox and hurtbox. Being the giant disjointed normals they are, they're great for air to air, possibly the best air to air normals in the game. While it is hard to combo off air to air j.B, with the right air momentum and spacing it's possible. When used on landing, j.B launches opponents rather than keeping them standing. This can lead to combo extensions, and is the only consistent way to combo into his level 3 for huge damage. However, j.B has landing recovery, even on whiff, meaning it is possible to whiff punish and won't always be plus if blocked on landing. j.C is not very good overall. While it may initially look like a good landing aerial since it's safe on block and does big damage if it does hit, the move is so incredibly telegraphed no good player should be getting hit by it. Some players will just reflect it on reaction since it obviously isn't a reflector safe jump. Additionally, it has huge recovery on whiff, making it easy to whiff punish like his other big normals. j.C really should be avoided, as it doesn't serve much purpose.

Offense and Okizeme

Fritz has fairly strong pressure once he can secure a knockdown close enough to the opponent. His general mixup tools are f.2C, f.5C, 4C, and throw. Fritz has two lows, those being c.2B and f.2C. c.2B, while requiring you to be close to the opponent, is very plus on hit or block, even more so if meatied. This means that regardless if it hits, you are put in a favorable situation. From here, you can either walk up and c.2B again for plus frames, throw, f.2B if you read the opponent doing an option besides block, or high/low mix with 4C and f.2C. This is a very good mixup that you should setup when possible. c.5B can also start this mixup but it isn't as plus as c.2B. f.2C is slower but does a lot more damage, gives a knockdown, and can be spaced to be safe from some reversals. The range also means you can do it from a more distant knockdown where you otherwise wouldn't be able to do c.2B. 4C and f.5C are both overheads, but there are different situations to use them. f.5C hits harder and has more range, but is notably slower and is very susceptible to reversals or reflector. However, it's range allows you to use it for high/low pressure along with f.2C from a range, making even more distant knockdowns dangerous. However, if you're close enough for it, 4C is the better option. It's faster and harder to react to, not as much but still decent range, and most importantly since it hops backwards, a large number of reversals will whiff against it. This makes it incredibly valuable for mixup. Once the opponent is worried about blocking and starts respecting you, Fritz can incorporate his throw mixups. As described earlier, Fritz can setup tick throw from c.2B or c.5B, although he can also use j.A. You can also of course simply do throw without anything before it. The final aspect of his mixup game is his teleport dashes. While it's fairly reactable and gimmicky, you can use the teleport dashes to side switch. 236+B will cross over and keep you close while 236+A will do a fake. From there you can either go for one of his other regular mixups. This is of course fairly reactable, but it will work every once in a while. What's less reactable though is his j.2X crossups. Regardless of the version used, j.2X has the same animation, making it much harder to read (particularly in Ausf Achse where 236+X and 214+X were slowed down), and as described earlier thanks to j.A there's ways to setup outside of just on knockdown, although that works just as well. Combining all these options together can make things very tough for the opponent.

Defense

Fritz's defensive options aren't the best. 236+B+C and 214+B+C are effectively get out of jail free cards. For one bar, you get a fully invincible dash that can't be punished, and can be used to escape the corner or pressure. This is very strong. However, besides these Fritz can't really deal with pressure well. He has the universal options in 2A mash and reflector, but these have weaknesses of course, and his 2A and reflectors aren't especially strong compared to anyone else in the cast. This means that without meter, Fritz has weak defense and has to respect the opponent frequently, which is especially tough against some characters like Sai or Marilyn. And while 236+B+C and 214+B+C can't be punished, this comes at the cost of them not actually stopping the opponent, meaning some characters with good movement or specials that quickly move them across the screen, like Sai and Murakumo, can chase him down when he uses these options and force him to block something.

Overview

Fritz is a neutral focused character with a simple but effective gameplan. He's great at controlling space, but requires patience to find opening to deal huge damage. He also has weaker defensive options, meaning he can have trouble with character who have strong offensive tools. Still, if you are a fan of dealing huge damage in one or two hits and playing characters with a focus on strong neutral game, then you will likely enjoy Fritz.

Combos

Midscreen

2A x N

When the opponent gets close, just mash 2A on them until it stops working. Mainly just to get the opponent off you. Can actually hit Tank 11 times with it.

j.B > f.2B > 2C

Main conversion from j.B. Does pretty good damage.

j.B > 2A > A+B+C

Main level 3 confirm combo. Does great damage and is a great way to use meter since Fritz doesn't use meter too often.

Corner

j.B > c.5A/c.5B > j.A+B

Corner j.B confirm. Barely does more damage and is harder but gives a hard knockdown. You can use c.5B on most characters but a few need c.5A.

j.B > c.5A/c.5B/2A > f.2B > 2C

Corner damage focused combo.

j.B > c.5B > Micro Walk 2A > 2A > A+B+C

Corner level 3 combo. Does slightly more damage than the midscreen version.

j.B > c.5B > 2A > 236B > 2A > 2A > 2A > A+B+C

Incredibly difficult combo for max damage. Really not worth going for since it's not a major damage increase, but it looks sick.